forum •Hollow Tune• [one/one]

Started June 30, 2022 by @Dayzed forum

tune

Kohen's eyes danced around as he took in Beck's face again, a giant smile on his face now.
"Great!" Kohen's voice went a little higher than it normally was. "Because I wasn't going to take no for an answer" He nudged Beck gently, trying to create friendly banter, the smile still plastered on his face, only slightly flushed, trying to keep it together.
Even though it was just a joke, Kohen really wasn't going to take no for an answer. He always had it his way and when it came to friends that was no exception. Course, he wouldn't have immediately taken the violent route, he would have pursued him like a lover did to their crush, trying to impress, only to fail miserably. It wasn't his style at all, but Kohen found he couldn't hold himself back when it came to someone who caught his eye.
At this point, Kohen didn't know what else to say so they walked in silence. The class wasn't too far, it was on the first floor near the back where the exits were. Mrs. Bruen was a nice teacher to everyone.
…
Everyone except Kohen and his friends. She had tried to form a relationship with Kohen prior as his teacher, giving out advice the best she could. Kohen had really felt a connection with her, almost like a parent.
Kohen had really liked her at one point, she had helped him out a lot, not a lot of people did that for him. The only reason they weren't so close anymore was because of one incident resulting in a kid having to be rushed to the hospital. Mrs. Bruen had given him a chance, and it had been right there. He had been so close to leading a normal high school life, but it seemed as if Kohen destroyed any potential help he received. He wasn't…easy to deal with. You had to try again and again.
After the incident he had been yanked out of school for suspension, it was a surprise he wasn't expelled after that. The next day Kohen had been absent, and that went on for weeks. And when he returned? All of the progress that was made had been burned to the ground.
Some speculated that the parent of the injured kid put a restraining order on Kohen, and took him to court, but it was nothing of the sort. It had little to do with what happened, and a lot more to do with his father and his expectations.

(yeah! i'm a little better now, still stressed with things going on, but we'll get through it haha and that's a relief, sorry for the wait, it was a long one, i didn't expect things to take this much time. and thankssss, i'll keep ya in mind if i ever need to talk to someone, it means a lot <3)

(Alright! Sorry for my wait this time lol, I've been busy with classes and work. Alright! Fair warning, I'm not the greatest at comforting (my ability to comfort amounts to Zuko in ATLA, ie "that's rough, buddy" lmao) but I will do my best to at least be a listening ear)

Beck let out a faint exhale of a laugh, shaking his head just a little at Kohen's words. He knew the young man was joking, but it still was a…loaded combination of words. Ones he had heard before, in various contexts. Most of them never good. He cleared his throat faintly, tugging on his sweater sleeves again in another quick, nervous gesture. He wished sometimes htat he was less like he was, more like someone else. He was not the only kid the Altairs had taken in that had been abused. Rowan and Lilly's biological parents had tried to burn them alive when they were younger, which was why both twins bore burn scars now, Lilly on her left leg and hip, and Rowan on his left arm, shoulder, cheek, and torso. He had thrown himself in front of Lilly to shield her, and had taken the brunt of the flames. Despite that, both twins were thriving. Rowan was the star of the basketball team and Lilly was one of the editors of the school newspaper. Everyone knew them. Everyone liked them. Even people who didn't like that Lilly was trans still thought she was a nice person, even if they sneered at her for something she couldn't help.

But he melted into the background. He could barely hold a conversation without stammering or looking away or shrinking into himself, so afraid to let someone in that he had alienated himself from almost everyone. Most of the kids at the school wouldn't have known who he was if someone asked if they knew him. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and did his best to refocus. His therapist had said that it was easy to let your thoughts spiral, but harder to pull them out, so the quicker you tried to the easier it would be to refocus. So he did his best never to let himself spiral for too long, though it was easier when he had a distraction.

A distraction like Kohen, who was walking next to him. Beck had known they were in the same class, but only vaguely. Kohen was usually across the room from him, and they had never interacted before. Why would they have? Beck didn't go out of his way to talk to people, and he didn't think Kohen did either.

Once they both had entered the classroom, the class, teacher included, looked up from the sheets of paper they were reading. They were taking a quiz. The class had just begun and they were taking a mini quiz. Great. Kohen sighed in an annoyed manner.
The teacher stared at both Beck and Kohen, hands on her hips as she held the papers in the same hand. She knew the reason why Beck was late, but Kohen had no excuse.
"What happened this time? Why are you late?" Mrs. Bruen called Kohen out. "You can sit down Beck." She said right afterward, her attention still on Kohen, a disappointed look on her face.
"Oh you know, I was out smoking to get the anxiety out of my system," He said in a mocking tone. The class was quiet, but some looked at each other and others snickered.
Mrs. Bruen did not like that one bit.
"Go sit down. I'll have a word with you later. And since you two are late, unfortunately, you two will have to pair up and do the next assignment together. We already picked partners, so this is final. Sit with Beck." She said as she went back to reading the sheet of paper, then scribbled something on it in pen.
Kohen would have made a scene had he been paired with someone he didn't like, but since it was Beck, he didn't see this as an annoyance, but as a chance to get to know him a little more. He went to sit beside Beck, making the person who sat beside Beck move. They begrudgingly got out of their seat and moved over one. He put his backpack down and rummaged through it before he found a broken pencil, the eraser gone.
Soon the teacher came over to give both Beck and Kohen the quiz. Everyone was mostly done with theirs, so they waited patiently till the teacher said anything else.
Kohen looked over the sheet and began answering the questions, scribbling in his poor handwriting, it was sloppy and he could definitely write better but he was too lazy to try, that and it hurt to move his wrist. Once he was done, he got up and turned in his sheet. It hadn't taken him long since he studied a lot. Not something you would expect from him, but with nothing but time on his hands, he resorted to studying and reading books that were interesting to him. He only aced the classes he liked and failed the others miserably, he just found no motivation to do those.
It wasn't long before they were all doing their respective assignments, the murmurs of others filling the air, some louder than others. Kohen looked over at Beck, wondering if he would have liked to have a friend as his work partner instead of Kohen. But!! Technically Kohen was his friend, so that was okay, right? Even though that was his thought process, it still felt like he was annoying Beck. He tended to do that a lot.
"Got any ideas on what we should do our presentation on?" He asked Beck casually, thinking about the math that would be involved. "How about equations and how to solve them? Like velocity and acceleration?" He said, looking at the board and their options. Some ideas were already taken, but usually, the ones Kohen was interested in were left last.

(alright! Sorry again for the long wait tho lmao)
(alright, cool)

Beck didn't mind too much that Kohen had been put next to him. He pulled out a pencil and started working on the quiz when Mrs Bruen handed it to him, his own handwriting neat and precise, written carefully. He did doodle, though, while reading through the questions, pencil moving over the paper and leaving little faces and clouds behind, small little nonsense bits and pieces of disconnected images. Nothing concrete, nothing too practiced, just the easy, cute little doodles of an artist preoccupied with something else.
When Kohen spoke, he glanced up, blinking as he tried to find what to say. "Oh. I…I'm not very good at math." he finally said slowly. "So…I'm not going to be the most helpful with any of this." he could put together the presentation, sure, but his math skills were…shaky, at best. He was lucky he wasn't in remedial math classes, with how badly his scores had suffered when he was still with his bio father. He was lucky he had passed his grades, really.

"I don't really have any preferences for, ah, what we do." he ducked his head, setting his quiz aside and looking down at the table for a moment, then grabbing out his notebook and opening it up to a blank page, writing "Math partner assignment" at the top, then a bullet point. He didn't write anything else, though, waiting to see what they would decide first.

(you're all good :> also, I love Beck so much oh my god, his silly little doodles, i love him!! :0)

Since Kohen had finished before Beck, he would glance over at Beck answering his questions from time to time, wondering why he drew on his paper but found it charming. Maybe he was an art student? That would certainly be interesting. Kohen raised an eyebrow at the thought but kept it to himself.
When Beck said something along the lines of not being good at math, he perked up. This was his chance. His chance to impress. He wasn't sure how impressive algebra-based physics would be though. Kohen found it interesting for whatever reason, but most when talked to about it let out a huff, bored out of their minds.
"That's okay! I can do most of it, you can uhh, put it together? Oh! I know! You can write it down- well, I'll write it down first, then you can write it in your handwriting since it's….better than mine." He admitted frowning but decided to go with it.
"I'll do the mathy parts, you can do the research?" Kohen asked, wondering if Beck would be okay with that, though something told him he would, or well, he hoped. They just needed to reference the book they had been given, while also doing a little bit of research on the web.
At the last bit, Beck said, it made Kohen's eyes light up. This was perfect! Out of the last few that were left, he'd choose the one he felt he could do. Had he been paired with anyone else, they would have wanted to do the easier one, but sometimes that would be boring for Kohen and he would not engage at all, leaving the whole presentation to the other person. He wouldn't get credit on it, but somehow he always managed to do the tiniest bit so he could get at least something of a grade.
"Okay, so we'll do chapter 10 page 140, Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration." Kohen started as he took both his book and computer out.
"I'll say the equations we'll use, you write them down, then we'll switch and you write down some of the information here" Kohen pointed to a paragraph in the book.
"And I'll do the equations and apply them to the scenarios I'll look up on the internet," He said, now sounding a little distracted as he looked something up on the computer.
"Teachers never really ask you to memorize this stuff, so just paraphrase it and we'll be good to go," Kohen said, sounding so confident in himself. He knew that sometimes teachers did call for you to memorize the information provided but knowing Mrs. Bruen, that probably wasn't going to happen.

(:D thanks!)

He got out his book, opening to the page that Kohen had said. "I can do the research." he agreed softly, giving Kohen a soft, faint smile. Kohen sounded excited about this, which was certainly interesting. He hadn't really pegged Kohen as a math lover, but maybe he had been wrong. That was fine. He wrote down some bits and pieces of information about the things that they had decided to research, doing his best to write some notes down. "So, uhm, what exactly are we doing?" he asked slowly, doodling again in the margins of his notebook as he looked over at Kohen, red hair falling into his face just a little bit. He looked soft and tired, in all honesty. Like he hadn't slept well. But he looked comfortable, too. Relaxed. "Are we supposed to do a slideshow, or just the presentation?" he had missed or forgotten that bit, really, but figured Kohen would probably know what they were supposed to be doing.

"We are-" Kohen's scanned the screen of the computer. "Doing a study on the relationship between displacement, velocity, and acceleration and how they correlate to each other- in other words, we'll be using a lot of graphs to show the equations we will choose, kind of like explaining what we learned and giving examples" He looked over at Beck, who was doodling in the notebook now. Kohen stared at how gentle of a being Beck looked at that moment.
"Uhm- either or…" Kohen trailed off, tearing his eyes away from Beck. He looked a little grumpy as he did so, though not in a hostile way, just a little confused.
"You can choose" Kohen decided. "And you can make it look pretty," He said, gesturing over to what Beck was drawing.
"We can do it online in a slide show or we could do it on a poster and present it that way" Kohen said, looking around to see if anyone else was doing on via poster board. There were only one or two partners doing that, which meant that the slide show was the most popular.
"But we have time…we have a few days to do this so there's no rush, I just like to get everything done as soon as I can, that way I don't have to worry about it, besides, it's not like it's the most boring thing out there," He said, even though most of his peers thought so.
"And you look tired so we can do whatever right now, you don't have to write anything down today, just, you know, when you can. Like homework" Kohen said, though, he'd never done any homework in his years in high school. Homework was work done at home, so when teachers assigned them "homework" Kohen did them all at school, as fast as he could. He needed the extra time outside of school for work.
Kohen looked over at the teacher who was getting up to help a student in the back of the class. He leaned a little close to Beck.
"If you want, you can take a quick nap and I'll cover you" He whispered, eyes still glued on the teacher who was too busy talking to notice Kohen looking at her.
Kohen looked at Beck and when he realized he was too close he sort of jumped, as if he had startled himself.
"Er- if you want, just an option, nothing wrong with sleeping in class, I do it all the time" He boasted as if that was a good thing. There was a nervous smile on his face now, though he also seemed proud of his words.

(i am so so sorry for making you wait for an eternity)

Beck nodded faintly. "Okay." he said. "Do you want my number to contact me about it later?" he asked, already tearing out a small piece of paper. He wrote his name down, then his phone number, and slid it over to Kohen. "Here. If, uhm, if you want." he said, giving a faint, slightly sleepy smile. "And I don't need to take a nap, I'm fine. Thanks, though." despite his words, he yanwed quietly, shaking his head afterwards. "Mm, sorry, uhm." he looked down at his sheet of paper, writing down the things they needed to do. "Do you have a preference for Powerpoint or Posterboard?" he was leaning towards Powerpoint, really. It was easier. If this was an art project, he would probably care a little bit more, but…to be honest, he didn't. He could put together a powerpoint easier than a posterboard.

He stretched a little, a soft hum leaving his mouth as he considered what to do. "And, uh, you can choose the equations." his voice was still quiet, still shy. "I don't really…I'm not good at math." he had already said that earlier. Why was he repeating himself again? Stupid stupid stupid.

(it's no worries! take your time, i'm not in any rush! also, sorry for my mega super long response here, i hope it's not too exhausting to read, i tried to keep it short and did cut a lot of the other stuff i was gonna say out just so you don't feel too pressured to match my length. if you want me to make shorter replies in the future i can definitely try to do that!)

---

Kohen's face turned slightly red at the mention of exchanging numbers- or well, Beck giving him his number. This was purely for homework purposes, though, he couldn't get too excited. It didn't matter anyways, it wouldn't happen, Kohen could dream all he wanted but that didn't change the fact that there was a slight discomfort when thinking about being with a guy again. Maybe it was internalized hate for all the things he felt that he wasn't supposed to feel, it was a mix of feelings that left him confused, but at the same time, it was exhausting. Couldn't he just pick a side? If only it were that easy.
It was hard when you tried your best to hold certain beliefs, knowing that it would lead you to a better place, but also the pain of wanting something- someone you couldn't have.

When Beck gave Kohen his phone number, Kohen dumbly stared down at the piece of paper. After realizing that he was staring at it for too long Kohen snatched it up and gently put it in between his notebook for the class.
"Either is fine" Kohen replied smoothly, not too worried about it. He could work with either one, though, he also preferred the PowerPoint. It was on a computer and much easier to take around with him. Posterboard was too flimsy and could tear if you handled it too roughly. Not ideal for Kohen's household.
Kohen looked at Beck curiously when he said he wasn't too good at math. He wondered if there was a reason to that, but maybe it was the fact that Beck liked to draw. Kohen didn't mind it much though, this was perfect.
"Okay! I shall do that" Kohen said sitting up a bit straighter and giving Beck a small grin. "But don't worry if math isn't your thing, I can explain a few things if you need me to" He went back to typing on the computer.
A few minutes passed and soon the bell rang for the students to go to their other classes. Kohen quickly typed up what he had left and then shut his computer.

"Would you like to work on this at lunch? Or would you rather me call you after school? Or! We could meet up somewhere?" Kohen was way too excited to be making plans with Beck, what he didn't realize was that his friends were approaching.
Tamryn took one look at Beck and rolled his eyes. He had no interest in talking to someone like him.
"This the new one?" He questioned, a mischievous smile appearing on Tamryn's face, giving Kohen a knowing look. Kohen looked from Beck to Tamryn and his playful nature soon came to a stop, his body stiffened. He looked to Tamryn, then the girl behind him.
"No, he's just my partner for a class project" Kohen shrugged and avoided looking at Beck.
"I'll see you around then," Kohen said, not wanting his friends to be around Beck too much for fear that they would catch onto the way Kohen was acting.
Tamryn wrapped his arm around Kohen playfully and talked with a huge smile on his face, though it seemed less than sincere. Kohen didn't say anything as he was led away by Tamryn, looking slightly back at Beck and wishing things hadn't ended so soon before he had gotten an answer.

(it's fine lol. Longer responses from you encourage me to write more myself, which tbh isn't a bad thing lmao. Just respond however you want and I'll do my best to give you something decent in return!)

Beck packed up his things as the bell rang, letting Kohen talk without interruption. As he was opening his mouth to respond, though, Kohen's friends came over, and the other boy's whole demeanor changed. His brows drew together faintly, but he didn't say anything as he watched Koehn walk away with the other people. "Oh…kay." he said faintly, mostly to himself. Then he shrugged, popped an earbud in, and headed to his locker to put his books away and grab his stuff for his next class. He didn't quite understand what had just happened with Kohen, but it was fine.

His next class, at least, was art. His favorite. The teacher in that class was amazing, and she was his favorite teacher at the school. Art had always been the only subject easy to keep up with and easy to do while living with his father, though he had learned very quickly that any pieces he wanted to keep had to be kept hidden, away from his father's rages and drunken fury. Not many had survived. But that was alright. He had gotten so much better at art since then, and the Altairs didn't mind that he was always needing new sketchbooks. They encouraged him to draw as much as he wanted.

So did his therapist. She said it was a good outlet for him to have, or whatever. She said it was a coping skill and that his pieces were how he expressed his pain. He was sure she was right about all that, but it was also just simply something that he enjoyed, no matter the other reasons behind his enjoyment of it.

In any case, he did art nearly all the time. The walls of his room were covered in various drawings and paintings he had done, and the Altairs had some framed in different portions of the house. One of his favorites was a pencil drawing he had done of their whole family, based off of a photograph. That one had been hung above the mantle of the fireplace, because the Altairs were proud of him.

He still couldn't believe how lucky he was, sometimes, that he had been placed into the Altair family. He knew a lot of kids in the foster system ended up in families that weren't as nice, but the Altairs were perfect. Well, maybe not perfect, but they were pretty close, especially to a boy whose upbringing had been as bad as his. They had loved and accepted him for who he was, and had been supportive in everything. Rowan and Lilly had, too. Even the younger Altairs.

(Thanksss, also, i couldn't sleep tonight so i wrote something up)

Tamryn was nearly burning holes into Kohen's face with the way he was staring at him.
"Your eyes were sparkling back there you know" Tamryn elbowed Kohen as they walked and Kohen shot him a dirty look. It was embarrassing. The fact that he was attracted to the same sex. Tamryn and Aster knew about this secret and since they were Kohen's friends, they kept it between themselves. Aster herself was into girls but had agreed to date Kohen as a cover-up since his reputation followed him from previous years. Tamryn was straight however and didn't mind Kohen or Aster being who they were.
Who did mind the whole ordeal was Kohen's father, who had teachers, his Christian friends, watching him and reporting back to him like they were some sort of cult. Which at this point Kohen wasn't sure if they weren't.

Anyways, he'd play the part, even if that meant he had to hurt others to prove to himself and others that he wasn't gay. And so his friends were his partners in crime and did Kohen's bidding. Deep down Tamryn knew that Kohen was struggling and this was his way of desperately trying to convince himself that he was quote-on-quote "normal", so he pushed. He pushed for Kohen to take his anger and frustration out on others. It was Tamryn who had first introduced the idea to him and ever since then, it had stuck. It wasn't Tamryn's intention to do this all the time, to hurt others to the point of hospitalization but sometimes Kohen took it too far. Though, Tamryn was still at fault. He never told Kohen to stop. He never told him that maybe there was a healthier way of dealing with his emotions.
Tamryn acted the part as well, to be even spiker than Kohen because if he wasn't, he'd get caught up in Kohen's bullying, and the tables would turn on him. He was partially afraid that Kohen would find a new friend group and start attacking him.
Kohen was so convinced that this would help him, that he needed his friends to help him with it. Aster only did it because she knew Kohen would crumble without it and it broke her heart. Tamryn did it because he liked being feared by others, because just like Kohen, Tamryn had been a target for others since he was a kid. It was nice not being on the receiving end for once.

"He's just new." Kohen muttered.
"New? Hasn't he always been here? He's not like a transfer student, I would have noticed" Tamryn said, a touch of softness to his voice. He knew not to press Kohen for information, he was touchy when it came to things like this. Tamryn, although seeming like a bad kid at first, always tried to warn others before Kohen locked eyes on them. He tried to give them a fighting chance.
Tamryn always knew before Kohen when he had a crush on someone because he'd act differently. Kohen was a little more toned down when they were alone as a group, away from prying eyes, but when he acted friendly around others who weren't in the group, it was an indicator that Kohen would most likely go after that person next when he developed feelings that were too hard for him to handle.
"No, he's just….quiet." Kohen said, his eyes trained on the floor, a slight blush to him.
"He seems nice, I just hadn't noticed him before is all. Like i said, we have a project." And I'm going to call him. Kohen thought to himself. It made his heart flutter, not something that happened often, but when it did, it was confusing for Kohen. Was this just the side effect of being friends with someone or was it something else? This had happened with Tamryn too when they had first met but had turned out it was only because he really liked his company as a friend, that he could be himself. Maybe this was the case with Beck too. Either way, he was eager to see if he could bring him into the friend group as well. If he didn't like what Kohen did then….
Kohen frowned at the thought. He'd just have to be okay with it. He had to. Or he'd make him wish he had been.

(i'm not sure if you had anything else to put here so that's why i waited for a few days, just in case yanno? i hope you don't mind me posting again! if you wanted to add anything else i can delete my reply and repost)

The end of the day had come and Kohen was honestly so exhausted. The thought of going to work later made him want to drop dead, but the number tucked away in his folder made him feel a little excited despite having been drained from the day's classes.

He had it all mapped out. He would call Beck, they would meet up, maybe go to a place to work on their project- where? That he didn't know yet, but he was sure he'd figure it out when the time came. After that, he'd spend a few hours with Beck and go to work. After work was sleep, finally. He melted at the thought of sinking into his bed, the transgressions with his father from prior completely slipping his mind.

Tamryn looked Kohen up and down suspiciously, to which Kohen gave him the meanest glare.
"Are we going to hang out at our usual spot?" Tamryn asked. The spot in question was an arcade that doubled as a hotel. The bottom portion had an old worn down arcade, it was fairly small but it had Kohen's favorite games- and! A plus, it was cheap. The back of the arcade had one of the bigger rooms that the hotel rented. It was always quiet nowadays.
Kohen remembered the days when he would hear tussling in that apartment since he always played the games that were in the back. The fights never seemed mean-spirited from what he remembered, but one day it had just gone quiet and he never got to know why. Sometimes, he would hear crying. A man weeping, but it only had happened a few times.
"No, I'm going to do some school work, then go to my actual work" Kohen said, stuffing his hands into his pockets uncomfortably.
A devilish smile appeared on Tamryn's face.
"Don't tell me you're scared. You think the apartment behind the arcade is haunted don't you?" He teased. To which, Kohen scrunched his nose up.
"Wrong, I just have work. Simple." Kohen moved his hands from his pockets to his backpack's straps, holding them tightly, wanting to get out of there already.
"If you say so scaredy cat," Tamryn said and gestured for Aster to follow him, which she did. Aster never really said anything but she knew what had happened in that apartment. It had involved her brother Jake, but it was a sensitive topic so no one spoke of it.
After they were gone, Kohen quickly made his way down the streets and dropped his backpack on the floor, digging through the loose papers and wrappers of food he hadn't bothered to clean up. There were broken pencils and two old books he carried around to read in his free time.
Once he found the number, he smiled to himself, eyes bright as he quickly dialed the number. He let it ring until someone picked up.

(i've just been pretty busy recently, that's why I wasn't responding lmao. I didn't want to give you a rushed, short response. But it's fine! I don't mind haha)
(also sorry that so much of this is just. short paragraphs of conversation lmao)

Beck had gone through the rest of the school day relatively quietly, interacting with the few friends he had. Once school was over, he met up with Lilly in order to go home. Rowan stayed later for basketball practice, so Beck often didn't see him until the older boy came home, around dinner time. They got into Lilly's car, and she paused for a moment to turn on some music through her phone, the music filtering through the car's speakers. Her car was a regular old beater, and some of the speakers would crackle and pop whenever the car went over a bump, but Lilly liked to say it gave her car character and personality. It was a quirk, not a flaw, she would say, whenever someone offered to take a look about fixing it, or whenever anyone complained about it. She had named it Bertie, because of course she had.

"Ready to go home?" she asked Beck as she adjusted her mirrors, careful little touches to make sure they were still accurate for her to drive with.

He nodded a little bit, buckling up. "Mhm." he replied.

"Perfect. I'm going out with some friends later, we're going to go to the mall. Do you want to come?" she asked as she drove out of the school, eyes on the road, though she occasionally glanced over at her younger brother.

Beck squinted at her, tugging on his sleeves in that same absent, nervous gesture he always did. "Ah…no thanks." he replied, shrugging a shoulder. Lilly always invited him out with her friends. He almost never accepted. It wasn't anything against her friends, he liked most of them, he just didn't enjoy going out with groups. Her friends were loud and energetic and, yes, a lot of fun, but they were a bit overwhelming for him to interact with, especially in public where he couldn't retreat into his room if he needed to.

"Alright, no problem." she shrugged a shoulder, eyes flicking to Beck again. "You should get out more, though. Talk to people. It would be good for you."

He sighed, leaning the side of his head on the window and looking over at her. "I'm fine, Lilly. I have friends."

"Do you ever hang out with them outside of school or online?" she asked. "Beck, you can't isolate like this forever, you know." her voice was gentle, but he still felt like she was judging him. Like he had been found lacking, for not having a group of friends like she did.

He grimaced. "Lilly, I'm fine. I'm in therapy, remember?" he knew she was just worried about him, he knew that, but he didn't like being pressured like this. Didn't like the way she kept telling him to do things. He loved her, and he knew she loved him, but it still got annoying sometimes, even though this was just one of the ways she expressed her love.

The rest of the drive was relatively quiet, save for the music and the slight crackle of the speakers. Lilly parked in the driveway, and they headed inside.

"Beck, Lilly, how was school?" Mrs Altair greeted them as they came in, wrapping her older daughter in a hug and giving Beck's arm a gentle touch. The Altairs all knew how he struggled with physical touch sometimes, and always gave him space by keeping touch to something small. Something easy for him to decide if he was alright with.

"Great. The meeting for the paper went really well. Still ironing things out with William. He's being such a dick." Lilly replied. "I'm going out with some friends later, by the way. So, I'm going to go get ready." she gave Mrs Altair a smile, then headed upstairs.

"What about your school day?" Mrs Altair asked Beckham, shaking her head a little at Lilly's flight up the stairs, then her gaze returned to the redheaded boy standing before her. "Everything go alright?"

He nodded a little, sliding his shoes off and setting them aside. "Mhm. Everything was fine." he replied. "I have a project to work on for my math class."

"Alright, well, just let your dad and I know if you need any help." she said. "Anything else happen?"

"No." he headed upstairs, going into his room and closing the door. His kitten, Smoke, was curled up on the bed asleep, and the little grey kitten opened one eye when the door closed, letting out a sleepy "meow" in greeting. He came over to the bed, scratching gently behind the cat's ears. Then his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and answered, bringing it up to his ear. "Hello? Who is this?"

(oh shoot! i hope i didn't rush you or anything! take all the time you need to reply, i'm usually okay with long response times so you're all good! as for your answer, i am in love :> i really love seeing your characters interact amongst themselves, it gives me joy haha)

Kohen patiently waited for the other end of the line to connect. As it rang, he kept thinking about all the ways he could invite his new friend out. It was very out of character for Kohen but he craved a more innocent friendship, maybe something a little more than a friendship but he wouldn't admit to that. Kohen had been surrounded by rough individuals ever since he hit middle school and years of not having anyone and dealing with his father made one spiky in a sense. He didn't want to be spiky though, he wanted softness and kind words, he was tired of getting yelled at for the smallest things and being pressured to do certain things. He was tired of being shoved here and there.
Someone looking at Kohen from the outside might think that he had everything under control and he did what he wanted, but they couldn't be more wrong.
Soon the phone picked up from the other side and Kohen froze. He hadn't rehearsed what he was going to say. He could simply ask him out, but what if he didn't want to that day? They had a few days to complete it so it wasn't like they needed to be in a hurry, but Kohen desperately wanted to talk to someone else besides his other friends.
"H-hi!!" Came Kohen's voice which was a little too high-pitched for his first words. He immediately slapped his hand onto his mouth. Too much.
He uncovered his mouth and stayed quiet for a minute before speaking up again.
"It's uhm, Kohen, your project partner from Mrs. Bruen's class?" He managed to squeak out at the end. "I don't know if it's too soon, but would you like to work on our project with me..?" He asked, then quickly followed it up with "We could do it at your house or we could go somewhere else to do it!" When Kohen spoke through the phone you could basically tell what his facial expression was by the way his tone shifted. Right now he had the biggest smile on his face as he zipped up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder.
"If you want to eat somewhere I can pay! Or maybe just go out for drinks? Or well, whatever you want to do, if you want to, there's no pressure! We could also do this another day, I'm up for anything really" He rambled on. Kohen wondered if he was annoying like most students had told him in the past. He wasn't usually this chatty, in fact, it was quite the opposite, but with his new friend, he felt the need to let loose. Beck was like a secret. Kohen knew that Tamryn knew something was up, but he would deny everything to the bitter end. For right now he could be himself until it came time for him to not be himself again.

(hello it has been two months, i'm so sorryyyyy)

Beck blinked as Kohen rambled, sitting down on his bed and still petting Smoke. The kitten was perfectly happy to press into Beck's hand, enjoying the petting that his owner was giving him. He listened, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. Kohen sounded so…smiley, which seemed different to how the other boy had been when in person just earlier that day. Not that Kohen had been unpleasant to be around, but he just seemed different. Maybe it was because he was home, rather than at school. That was probably it. He didn't know why else there would be that change in vocal tone.

"Today?" he asked, brows gathering for a moment as he considered the question. "I mean, uhm…I guess we can. I would have to see if my sister will let me borrow her car, though." he didn't have one of his own yet, even though he had his license. The deal that the Altairs had with the kids was that they would pay half of the price for a vehicle, and Beck was still saving to get one. There were a few other stipulations to that price that the Altairs were willing to pay (car had to be affordable to begin with, and had to be a practical vehicle, not just a flashy thing), but the fact that they were willing to pay anything was something that Beck knew was extremely lucky to have to begin with.

"I can pick you up, if she lets me borrow it, and then we could either go somewhere or come back here." calling this house home still stuck in his throat sometimes. Yeah, the Altairs had adopted him, and this was home, it was, but sometimes he still couldn't call it home. Some small part of him was still afraid that something would happen and that familiar comfort of home would get ripped out from under him. He knew, logically, that that wouldn't happen, but another tiny little part was just waiting for the other shoe to drop on him and ruin everything. "My, uhm, parents wouldn't mind if you were here for dinner." Mrs Altair never minded if any of the kids brought a friend over for dinner, Beck knew that Kohen being there likely wouldn't pose a problem for her. She would probably be glad to see him making more friends. She didn't think he had enough.

(haha you're all good fam! i've been lacking a bit of motivation these past few weeks so i might be a bit slower at responding, though, don't stress about not being able to answer right away, no need to apologizzeee, i completely understand :)

At the mention of borrowing a car, Kohen's mind immediately went to hijacking one- not that he knew how to do that, but it was a fun idea in his mind. It took him a second to understand what Beck was saying. The other knew how to drive. Kohen felt his cheeks grow hot.
If it weren't for his father he'd also know how to drive, but he had only been given lessons at school, after that, it was his job to get his permit and get his own car. Unfortunately for Kohen, that would not be happening any time soon. Maybe somewhere in the near future, but for now he walked places, sometimes with the aid of his skateboard.
Kohen was quiet for a long time before he piped up again.

"Cool, uh" He seemed unsure of what to say after that. It was the first time in a long time that he had been vulnerable with someone else. Vulnerable in the sense that he was being himself. It felt like…a fresh start. If you could even call it that. It was like being given a second chance to not mess things up with someone new. Though he was sure it was only a matter of time.
"To your place…?" Kohen asked, thinking about being in someone else's home. He wasn't against the idea, but it made him nervous being around other adults. Every single adult that had been in his life so far had proven to be untrustworthy- except his mom. How did he know that Beck's parents wouldn't be the same? The other seemed to have turned out alright, so maybe that counted for something. Shy and soft spoke, but alright.

"Is that okay-" He was cut off by the mention of dinner. Kohen grumbled suspiciously at that. "As in like, food, or just to work on our project together?" He asked, wondering if he'd get to have a homemade meal cooked for him. He didn't want to be selfish and ask that of them, but if they were offering…
Kohen's mouth watered at the thought. That meant he didn't have to eat fast food for dinner this time. It had been a long while since someone had cooked a meal for him. He stopped. He was getting ahead of himself. Maybe it was just to work on the project and then go straight home. No. Not home. Just…somewhere else. Anywhere else but home.
Kohen thought for a minute.
"I could also walk to your place," He said in an effort to give his part, also so Beck wouldn't just pick him off the streets somewhere. He didn't want the kid to think he was homeless, though it was partially the truth. Being a place in public comforted Kohen, it didn't bring that much stress as he was free to do what he wanted as long as the cops weren't involved but at someone's house…it was different.
"Well uhm, that is if you want to do this at your house, I'm pretty much down for anything," He said casually. Though that was a lie. He was down for anything except doing it at his house.