break ins, break throughs

who: kaysen and tad
where: graevaraet middle school
when: midday

Kaysen was out. She didn't feel like being home, since things were still massively tense, Isaac was still leaving, and there wasn't a single good place to be in that house. So, she'd taken off. She'd grabbed her board, and was going to do some really stupid skateboarding in the snow. Down steps. And just general mind numbing shit. Whatever, she just wanted things to be over.

She'd ditched a few times, so was looking a bit worse for wear. But hey! She was out in the cold so at least that was like an automatic ice pack, right? On her last pass, she'd knocked her cheek on the handrail so she was currently holding a packed snowball to it. Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out, looking at the text message. Hello. How are you today? But it didn't seem to actually be coming from anywhere. Like, no number. Which made her wonder if it was some weird mistake or whatever. Debating whether or not she answered back, she absently shifted the snowball on her cheek, and tried to work out who would be texting her from a blocked number.

If he was going to be honest with himself, which he was trying to do more, Tad was looking for Kaysen. Not really seeking her out looking for her, because then he would have just wandered by her house and rang the bell, hoping she was home. Instead his plan was more to wander around town on a Saturday while Grams was busy hosting the monthly old ladies from the church club at their house happening to drop by places he thought Kaysen might be in hopes that he'd find her. Luck was definitely on his side when he spotted her on the steps of the middle school looking at her phone.

"Hey Kayce," Tad called out as he rolled his bike to a stop at the base of the steps, trying very hard to seem cool and casual about "happening" upon her. The clump of snow she was holding to her face reminded him of her shoving the snowball on his puffy eye when they first met so he just leaped to a conclusion. "You bite it on the last time down?"

She glanced up, not finding his happening upon her weird in the slightest. "Hey. And yeah. Ate shit last time. Kinda...banged my face on the rail." she explained, feeling like an idiot now. Funny, how she hadn't like two seconds ago. But now she did. "Did you text me?" she asked, shifting the snowball a bit on her face, so she could see him slightly better.

Internally he breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't flip out at the site of him. Hell, she was almost welcoming. "Damn rail, getting in the way and such," he teased. Dropping his bike to the side he closed the gap between them making it clear his intent was to check out where she'd smashed her face, yet without touching her right away. "And no I didn't text you, don't you have my number programed in your phone? Or did you delete it?"

She gave him a half-confused half-dudewtf Look. "Why would I have deleted your number?" she asked. Okay, she was antisocial and shit, and she didn't want him talking to her at school, that didn't mean she didn't actually y'know. Like him. She moved the snow away from her cheek though since he apparently wanted a look at it. She was definitely going to have a shiner. "I just got some weird text that doesn't have a number attached."

"I didn't think you would delete my number, but it was worth checking. Especially when you're getting weird texts. What did it say?" Reaching out Tad used his hand to tilt her chin up gently to get a better look at the spot on her cheek. "That's going to leave a cute mark," he told her the teasing still laced through his tone. His hand lingered just a second longer on her chin before he let go. "You should keep the cold on it."

She shrugged one shoulder. "I dunno. Hi how are you or something." she answered him, holding her phone out so he could read it himself. Then she made a face at him, which hurt her cheek a little. Ouch. "Keep teasing and you're going to have one to match." she threatened, holding up one fist. Which...really wouldn't happen, but she could threaten it. "And thanks a lot, Einstein. Keeping cold on it. Like I totally already am? Thanks! wouldn't have thought of that myself." she continued in her usual sarcastic manner.

Tad leaned in to read the text and raised an eyebrow to the message. It seemed harmless enough, but still weird. "Are you gonna answer?" Kaysen's threats should have made him cower a little, but instead he just grinned, leaning back and running his hands through his hair. "You'd have to catch me to give me that matching bruise," he told her with a wink. He didn't think she'd actually hit him, but then again it was Kaysen. She'd surprised him more than once.

Kaysen gave him a Look, which was actually helped by the darkening bruise on her face. "Don't push your luck, Ghostal." she told him gravely. Then she just dropped it, wondering why he was winking at her, and if she should wonder about that, or if it was just a thing and people did that all the time and she was just way too out of touch to get it. "I dunno. Maybe. Think I should?" she asked.

"I dunno," he answered shrugging and shoving his hands in his pockets. "I guess it depends on the answer. How are you doing today?" The teasing aspect of his voice was gone and the concerned friend from a few days previous had surfaced again. "You doing any better?"

She sighed heavily, pocketing her phone for the moment. Whoever Mystery Person was could wait. She considered giving Tad the blowoff answer, but in the end chose not to. If she was giving the friends bullshit a shot, she might as well get used to people asking her out of for real concern. So she tried to curb her paranoia that he was just asking to throw it back in her face, and she curbed her sarcasm as well. "...not really. Kinda worse, honestly." she admitted, looking down.

Tad's face fell and most of the cheer drained out of his expression at her response. The resulting look he gave her was one of genuine concern and he struggled against his own insecurities to not reach out for her and drag her close. "Worse? What happened Kayce?" She'd been pretty bad before, he couldn't imagine what worse was or where it would take her.

She shrugged at first, not answering right away. Then she decided if they were having this conversation, she wanted it to be someplace inside. So, she stood up, and waved for him to follow, grabbing up her board. She skirted the building, and got to the door she knew she could jimmy the lock on, and she did that, breaking into the building easily. It was a middle school, not fort knox. So, once inside, she waved him in, then shut the door behind them. She kept her snowball for her cheek, though. "My brother's leaving. Like...his stupid band got a record deal or some shit, so he's fucking off to New York."

He'd willingly followed her around the building and watched in silent awe when she broke in and prayed she couldn't sense the rush of adrenaline that coursed through his veins when she waved him into the building. His excitement at their brief moment of rule-breaking faded after she started explaining the situation. Tad wasn't the type to really understand sibling relationships, being an only child and all, but he could assume what she was going through. Especially if they were close. "That kind of blows and is cool at the same time," Tad told her, leaning awkwardly on his bike which he'd brought inside with him. "I mean the record deal is really neat, but New York's hella far away."

"Whatever, Thom's not going with because he's a dumbass, so he's gonna like, become a coke head groupie banger in no time." Kaysen said, with her usual amount of tact. She dropped her board down to the floor with a sharp clack, and stepped up onto it, pushing off gently to start up the hallway. The lights were off, so it was a little dim in there, but not too bad. "And he's not gonna be here, and it's going to be lame, and the parents are having a shit fit about it all, and he's going anyways, and I don't wanna like, piss all over his dreams or anything but I don't really for real want him to go, he's my big brother, and I dunno." she rambled, realizing she was just kind of venting.

Tad followed her down the dim hall on his bike. It was easier for him to navigate the hall because the bike was actually a smidge too small for him, but he'd decided it just made it look more like a trick bike rather than a mountain bike. Not that it mattered, it still got him from point A to point B which was crucial when he didn't have a car. "Thom's not going? I thought he was like the really super talented one of the group?" Tad didn't comment on the Thom becoming a groupie theory because that didn't seem to fit, but he'd realized that she was sort of just laying it all out in the open. "So he's just going, no matter what they say? That's crazy..." He trailed off as they continued to roll forward down the hall.

"Well, he kinda is. I mean, not that the rest of them suck, cuz they don't, but I know Thom like...wrote most of their songs n shit." Kaysen said. "I tried to talk him into going, but he wouldn't listen to me. Did I mention he's a fucking dumbass? He is." she said, swurving around a corner to go up another hall. "I dunno if it's crazy. I mean...it's his dream and shit, y'know? And like, he could be a total rockstar and if it's going to happen he can't have passed shit up now. So...whatever. I just worry, I guess. And I thought he'd at least be here another year before he fucked off and left me by myself."

"Maybe there's something more important that's keeping him here. His mom or something." Tad did his best to ignore the pang of jealously that followed her mention of the conversation with Thom. There was no valid reason to assume that Thom thought of Kaysen as anything more than his best friend's little sister, but Tad couldn't help it. He checked the curve of his handle bars to follow her around the corner. "You aren't really by yourself ya know," Tad pointed out. "You've got me and Porter."

"...dude, his mom's like...kickass. And scary. Like if I didn't know that I could go there whenever I wanted and she wouldn't care? I'd treat that house like the fucking Addams Family house and steer the fuck clear." Of course she'd also seen the woman with a sword. Like a for real fucking sword that she planned on using. That played into things. "But yeah, I know what you mean. He says he's got shit he needs to be here for or something. I don't know. I think it's stupid. I think the whole thing's stupid, and I don't want Isaac to leave." she admitted, sighing as they got to some steps, and she hopped off of her board, starting up them. "...I guess I've got you guys. But...like no offense or anything, but you're not my brother." she said. She could appreciate them, definitely, even if she was still getting used to them at all. But her big brother was her hero. That wasn't a replaceable thing.

"Kickass eh?" Tad actually did sort of treat Thom's house like the Addams Family house, but he kept that tidbit to himself. "Well if he's got a reason, he's got a reason. You can't hold that against him." He thought though, most of Kaysen's animosity towards Thom might be rooted in her animosity towards brother. It was easier to drop blame on someone she wasn't as close to and it kept her from being forced to admit how angry she was at Isaac for leaving. "I know we're not the same; I wouldn't really want to be the same. Granted if you were to give Porter the chance to move in and be your stand-in brother he'd probably jump at the opportunity. I think his 'rents are making him nuts." Tad left his bike at the bottom of the stairs and followed after Kaysen on foot.

Kaysen was a girl who could hold just about anything against someone, but she didn't argue that. She knew he was just trying to roll with things or make her feel better or something. When he mentioned the bit about Porter, she frowned a little, and looked back at him, some of the snow from her melting snowball slopping on the step, though she ignored it. "His parents are driving him nuts? What's going on? Is he alright?"

"Huh?" The conversation change caught him off guard. "Oh Porter? Yea he's fine. I don't think they like his girlfriend much, granted he wasn't really specific. He just seemed really annoyed at them for it. Then he got distracted talking about he and Medea are in love and that sort of trumped the conversation." Tad tried very hard not to roll his eyes at the mention of love. Sure he didn't actually know Porter's girlfriend, but something about the super hot new girl dating the superhero nerd guy made Tad skeptical. Either that or Kaysen's paranoia was contagious.

That...actually totally didn't surprise Kaysen at all, and she laughed a little bit. "In love, huh?" she asked. "...c'mon, the guy's like a walking comic book story, of course the L word's gettin dropped." she said. Of course, that made her think about Chance, and how Chance had told her he loved her, and like, kept telling her that for ages before she said it back to him, and then she got all down again, and being a girl who projected pretty much everything, it showed. She got to the top of the steps, and just turned up another flight of them.

"Yea I guess. I guess I just don't trust her. But then again I've never even been on a date so what do I know about girls right? And it's not like I've even met Medea." Tad caught Kaysen's change in demeanor and sped up to catch up with her so they were on the same step. Given the topic, Tad made a decent guess as to what got her down. "Thinking about him?"

"I dunno, Porter seems on the level with character judgment, I guess." Kaysen mumbled. Then he asked the right question, and she nodded a little, shrugging. "yeah." she answered him, but she didn't get into it. She hadn't seen him around, and wondered where the fuck he'd gone. And if his mom was like, in on it, or worrying about him like she was, or plotting revenge, or what.

Braving possible injury for when she pushed him backwards down the stairs, Tad grabbed Kaysen's arm and pulled her to a stop. Once he'd stopped her, he moved in closer, so their shoulders were touching. "He told you the same thing right? About being in love huh?" Tad hadn't let go of her arm, but his hand had drifted down so it was around her wrist.

Kaysen had absolutely no idea what to do just then. She stopped, of course, but she felt like she'd missed a stair or something. She looked at him, turning her head to do so, snow still held to her other cheek, and she blinked at him, trying to figure out what it was he was up to. Or maybe he wasn't up to anything, and she was a paranoid bitch, and whatever. She just definitely wasn't used to closeness of any description. "Y-yeah, he did." she said, hesitating there before finishing the statement.

Tad bit back the anger and the desire to punch Chance in the face for saying something like that to Kaysen and then walking away, leaving her heartbroken. Once he'd composed himself he turned to look down at her. "Makes sense really, I don't really see how he couldn't feel that way about you." Letting go of her wrist Tad started up the stairs again, not really sure where they were headed since he'd been following Kaysen before, but he figured she'd take the lead again soon enough.

That confused her and she didn't follow for a second, frowning up at him as he walked. "...Cuz I'm so loveable?" she asked doubtfully. "What the hell do you mean by that?" she asked, because she didn't get it. But she started to walk up the steps again, her snowball melting more, so she waited til they were at the top of the stairs, then she looked over the side, down to the first floor, and she dropped it so it splatted down there. It gave her a momentary distraction from wondering what Tad was on.

He didn't answer her until after watching her drop the snowball over the edge of the railing. "You're an acquired taste, but yea, lovable." It was a weak explanation but it was the best he could do without actually admitting that he could see himself falling for her. "C'mere lemme look at your eye."

"...don't say that shit to me." Kaysen mumbled, it making her feel self conscious, and out of her depth. She just flat out didn't know how to respond, and what he meant. Well, besides the acquired taste thing. That she understood. She knew she was an abrasive person by nature, so yeah. She did walk over to him though, and she turned her face so he could look at her eye. It was puffy and darkly bruised, a little red around the edges just from the cold from the snow. It was easier to let him do that than to think about the rest of it. "'m fine." she mumbled.

Tad ignored her comment about what he should and shouldn't say to her. He meant what he said and he knew her attitude was rooted in not believing him. As far as he was concerned, whatever she said didn't matter if he wasn't lying to her. As before he took her chin and tilted her head a little, this time though very lightly rubbing his fingers over the bruise to test the swelling. "Does it hurt a lot?"

She felt the brush of his fingers against her skin, even if it was sort of a weirdly distant sensation since it was mostly numb. "I dunno, it's kinda numb." she told him. It probably hurt. She'd had bruises like it before, and they'd been a bitch, really. She was just used to it. If you were going to be a skateboarder, you were going to have a lot of bumps and bruises, scrapes and road-rash. It happened.

"Yea the snow will do that." If anyone knew a thing or two about face bruises it was Tad. That he'd gone almost a whole week without one was some sort of miracle. "Looks alright though. It should change colors a few times before it heals though." He'd not let go of her again and now wasn't sure what to do, standing just in front of her with his thumb along the edge of her chin and the other at her hairline along her temple. In fact he'd probably held on too long at this point and any sort of release would be even more awkward than before.

Kaysen just figured he was still inspecting the stupid bruise, so she didn't immediately catch onto the fact that he'd been touching her a little bit on the long side. "Yeah, I know. I've had bruises before, ya know. you don't actually have a monopoly on them." she told him. "It'll be gross browny yellow eventually." That'd be attractive.

Tad grinned, relieved she didn't jerk away. "Actually I'd guess you're gonna go through a green stage for sure. That's always the best, looks like your skin is gonna fall off." He did let go this time, but not before gently smoothing back her hair as he'd done in her room before. "I think you'll survive though. There's no need to amputate your cheek or something."

Okay he really was just a touchy guy. And she still didn't know what to do with it, or why he was. Though, she was willing to bet if Porter was sporting metal-hair that Tad wouldn't be playing with it. which was kind of a funny mental image, actually and she snorted a moment. Then covered by starting to head up the last flight of steps. "I don't think there is cheek amputation. If there is I don't want to try it. Or see results. Or think about it."

Tad caught her snort and assumed it was in response to him trying to be cute. Feeling rather embarrassed he shoved his hands in his pockets and followed after her. "I think they could amputate your cheek if they needed to. What if you had gang green on there or something? You'd want that stuff amputated off."

"Nope." Kaysen said. "I'd just rot. Eventually it would turn into zombieism and I'd go eat half the student body." she said, dropping into that effortlessly, getting to the top of the steps. Then she veered off to the left, knowing where she was headed. "I probably wouldn't eat you though. Just don't like, poke me with sticks and taunt the Kaysen-Zombie. I can't make promises for that behavior."

He stared at the back of her head with a raised eyebrow. On more than one occasion she'd told him he was weird and here she was talking about becoming a zombie. He shook his head from side to side. "Alright no poking or taunting the Skater Girl-Zombie. Any other suggestions? And how can I get moved from the 'probably won't eat you' to the 'definitely won't eat you' list?" When she turned with an apparent destination in mind he got curious. "Where are we going?"

"There's a room upstairs." she said. "It's the top room? Like all on it's own up there, good view." she told him, leading him to the final staircase that wasn't at all with the others. It was thinner, too, quite clearly not for the student body proper. It was also darker, not being near the windows. "Just figured we could sit up there for a while." she suggested, shrugging one shoulder. "And I dunno. Feed me and keep trying to get my feeble zombie-brain to recognize you as not-food?" she suggested.

Ok, that almost caused him to fall down the small staircase they were on. A different room? All up on it's own above everything else? He knew Kaysen, and he knew full well how she thought of him, but just briefly Tad wondered if he'd wandered into the storyline of a teen romantic comedy or a cut scene from The Breakfast Club. "I'll keep you in the shed out back," he offered although it lost it's glamour as his stomach started to turn flips in anticipation.

"You could probably just keep me at my house. It's big and shit, and I'll probably accidentally eat my parents first." kaysen said, not noticing any change in him there as she bound up the last few steps to the door, then she opened it up, walking into the room. It was a big, wide open space, and did in fact have a nice view. It was the fourth floor, after all, and had windows on all sides, so you could look out all over town. She dropped her board down next to the door, and headed over towards the one that overlooked the parking lot and playground, where they'd be much less likely to be spotted. It was also a wall that had the heat registers on it so she wanted to warm up a little.

"Eating annoying parents is always a plus," Tad answered, taking in the room. She'd missed the movie reference, but he wasn't worried. His lack of concentration had caused him to deliver the line terribly anyway. "This is awesome." Following Kaysen towards the specific set of windows, he took a moment to look out over the town before turning to face her. "How'd you know about this place?"

"I went to school here when I was in middle school." Kaysen said. "I broke in one night because you can see the windows from the street." Then she smiled a little, wincing faintly because of the bruise on her cheek. "Actually the first time I noticed them was when I totally ditched and was on my back, staring up at the sky as I contemplated a concussion." she admitted. "And I saw them, so, I had to check it out."

Tad returned her small smile with a much wider smile. Watching her in the afternoon sun that slanted through the windows he wondered what it would be like to be a different person. To be the kind of guy who'd take this perfect moment and make something of it. "That sounds like you. Good to know you've made a habit of breaking and entering ever since you were a kid." No, he just wasn't that guy.

She shrugged. "...guess I get curious about stuff and just don't see a locked door as a problem." she said. Which really was true. Her curiosity was mostly the driving force behind any buildings she'd broken into in her time. That and her parents--up until recently, anyways--had been a little overly focused on Isaac so she had a lot of time to herself, doing whatever. She didn't get caught, usually, and so it hadn't really been brought to her parent's attention. She crossed her arms on the windowsill then rested her chin on them.

"Should I worry about you trying to sneak in my window at night then?" he asked teasingly as he went to join her on the sill. "Totally random question for you. Well it's kind of a favor in a sense." Tad didn't look at her, he just looked out the window, worried he wouldn't be able to ask if he looked at her.

She looked at him. "I hadn't really planned on it. I've seen your room. No mystery." she said. Then she bit at her lower lip, noticing that he was looking away, and so she wondered what was up. "...what's the favor?" she asked.

"Porter's got this idea in his head that he's going to find me a girl or something. He started talking about introducing me around and then getting together with people for movies with him and Medea and the whole idea sounds like some sort of terrible double date with way too much pressure." Tad sighed, looking at her reflection in the window, seeing her watching him with her lip bit. "At one point he did mention you, me, him and Medea getting together for one of his double date style ideas, but you know minus the date part on our end. The thing is, I've already got someone I'm interested in, and Porter's idea of setting me up feels like a waste, given that I'm stuck on someone else ya know?" Tad sighed loudly this time, frustrated that he wasn't able to just tell Kaysen. "What I'm asking is if you'd be willing to suffer through a night of them being gross and couplely in order to save your best friend from an unwanted blind date."

She listened, and kind of wanted to know where the glaring logic failure happened. "Um..." she started, frowning a little. "If you've got some chick in mind, why don't you just tell him, and he can insert said girl into plans?" she asked, since that was the sensible thing to do. "I mean, what if she likes you or something? Can't hurt, right?" she asked. She was also absolutely fucking oblivious.

It was about then that it really dawned on Tad how little idea of his internal drama Kaysen had. So he went out on a limb and hoped it didn't crack underneath him. "That's a swell idea, but let's look at it this way. Hypothetically if your situation was different and such, would you like me Kayce?"

So, that took a second to sink in properly. Her first response was "Huh?". Highly intelligent of her, really. Her head came up and she blinked at him, opening her mouth, then shutting it again. Then she frowned, and looked confused, doing the open-then-shut mouth thing a second time. "I--huh?"

"See why I'm not asking her out?" Tad turned it into a joke, giving Kaysen his best half grin that he could muster through the stinging sensation building in his chest. "I'm sure she'd have the same reaction. Without the luxury of it being hypothetical."

She was even more confused then. She'd not made the first leap, and when he switched it up, she definitely missed that one too. Shaking her head, she looked around then back at him. "Okay, first of all, don't do that to me." she stressed. "You don't like...come at someone with like-things at random then totally drop it and shit! That's so not fair!" she accused, swatting his shoulder for it. "And whatever, you're like...cute and shit, and sweet I guess, maybe chicky does like you, so fuck off with that noise." she added, huffing a little and not taking her whole stumbling over everything terribly gracefully.

He took the shoulder swat with a smile, and was somewhat relieved to be called "cute and shit" but he still didn't see why she was so angry. "I didn't drop it. You didn't have an answer. Do you have an answer? We can easily go back to the original question of if you'd like me or not. You just sort of looked at me as if I'd asked you if you wanted to see me fly off the roof." He paused briefly attempting to figure out a way to word what he wanted to say without being painfully obvious. "Let's just say if you could like me, then she would too. It's sort of a gauge thing. So yea. If you say it's impossible I'm ruling asking her out as ludicrous and going back to unrequited love."

"Well I wasn't expecting it!" she said. "I was expecting you to drop a name, so I could tell you whether or not she was a flaming bitch, or whatever." she said, huffing a little and settling back down with her chin on her arms. "I dunno how to answer somethin like that. I mean, how do I know? I'm new at liking anyone ever. I hadn't really thought about it. I just broke up with my boyfriend, who's like pretty much the only guy in the universe who could put up with my shit, I haven't been thinking about who else would, y'know?" she added. "I just think you're an idiot if you think that someone wouldn't like you just cuz."

Tad chuckled to himself, watching her now, not worried about being embarrassed any more. At this rate she could figure it out and they'd still be standing here and she'd end up lecturing him on being sly. "I'd like to point out that I put up with a fair amount of your shit. So don't go tagging him as the only guy in the universe." His smile faded though as he addressed her last statement. "It's not just cuz. I'm horribly shy, with girls even more so. I'm weird, and let's face it, I have the worst hair ever." For further affect he stuck his tongue out to fake concentrating really hard on taming his curls.

She glanced up at his hair as he mentioned it. "Why's it the worst hair ever?" she asked. Chance's hair used to curl a bit when he let it get longer. "And whatever, stop being shy. Just talk to people. You're not bad at it or anything. And, if you really wanna use me as a gauge, then hello--there's your proof. Most people don't get past a first conversation with me, dude." she told him honestly. "And yeah, you put up with my shit, but I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't want to put up with even like half of what he did. Did I mention that like the first time we kissed was right after I slapped him right across the face?" she asked. "I really hit him, too.

"Well I guess it's not that bad, it's just...different and tends to attract attention. And I'm working on the shy thing. I've made friends with you, and with Porter. That's got to count for something." Tad turned so his back was against the sill and rested his head on the cool glass. "I'm sure I'd be willing to put up with whatever you threw my way, but recently you told me to stop letting you do it. And you've told me about the slapping and then kissing story. I still think he lucked out that you didn't hit him afterward. With my luck you'd slap me after the fact for trying."

Kaysen was quiet for a few long moments. She was putting together a picture here, and while she didn't quite know how to deal with it, it was a little blatant for her to ignore. The silence stretched out as she kept her eyes on him, debating.

When she didn't come back at him with some snarky retort, Tad brought his eyes up from his shoes where his gaze had settled and looked at her watching him. "Kayce?" Up until about thirty seconds ago, there was nothing in the world scarier than Kaysen unleashing on him. Now her absolute silence filled him with a new kind of panic.

She still didn't answer for a second. Then she opened her mouth, shut it, then tried again. "...Ghostal, do you like me?" she asked. It was a simple question, but man it was hard to put out there.

It was the simplest of questions but it knocked the wind out of him. It made sense that she'd figured it out, he'd been almost obvious about it, but that didn't stop him from going pale first then flashing red. "That depends," Tad choked out the answer. "What exactly are you going to do to me if I say yes?"

"I don't know!" Kaysen said immediately, though that was mostly in response to the idea of him liking her in the first place. That blindsided her, really. He hadn't even known her that long, and she wasn't the fluffiest person in the world. "Nothing? I---dude, answer." she said, almost wanting to take the question back but it was out there now, so the suspense needed to end. Even if with his answer, that was kind of an answer in itself.

Since her "nothing" was phrased as a question it didn't really instill loads of faith in Tad, but he felt obligated to answer, she had asked. That didn't stop him from sliding away from her beforehand. "Yea?" His voice dared to crack slightly, but he coughed and avoided it. "Yes, sure. Since like day one. But it's not a huge deal. Really." That last part there was a lie. Just telling Kaysen made it a huge deal.

She noticed him edging away from her and she huffed, throwing her hands up in the air and she walked off into the room. "I'm not going to hit you!" she snapped first, because she wasn't. When she'd cracked Chance, it had been for a good reason...they'd been in the middle of a big fight. There'd been tears and shit. But then again, she was kind of a violent thing, so it wasn't exactly fair to be offended by him thinking she might at any time hit him. And that made her wonder how he could even contemplate liking someone who he had to wonder if there was imminent abuse coming his way at any given moment.

"I didn't actually think you'd hit me," Tad told her as he pushed off the wall and followed her into the room. "I already told you, you're more likely to hit me after I try something stupid rather than beforehand." He'd caught up to her, but kept his hands burried in his pockets. "I was merely shifting my weight in case you attempted to tackle me with kisses." It was a joke and he was grinning, although sure that if she didn't laugh along with him, he'd competely deserve whatever violence she fed him.

She winced, really, because she and things like kisses were kind of a strange animal. She was a fire elemental, and that kicked in hard when she got into anything like that, and she kind of didn't have an 'off' switch. Once she got going, she got lost, really really quickly. She knew that was normal for people like her, but that didn't make her feel any better about it. ...er. Afterwards, anyways. During, she was far too into things to care. "You um, kinda don't wanna go there..." she said, not even sure that made sense and she didn't think she could figure anything else out to tell him.

It didn't make sense, but Tad had his own interpretation of what was going on. Pulling his hands out of his pockets, grabbing her shoulders and ducking a little so his eyes were level with hers. "I'm not going anywhere Kaysen. It was a joke. Look, I adore you, but I'm not asking anything from you. I know you aren't in a place for that, and I know you don't seem that way. You don't have to. We can totally be friends, just friends. I won't stop caring about you, but I'm not going to guilt you into caring about me."

She squeaked a little bit when he grabbed her, and for a second, she did think he was going to kiss her. Just lay one on her right then, to see what happened. And she had no idea what she would have done if he'd gone that route, but he didn't, so that was probably a good thing. She just also didn't know what to say or how to deal with the situation. She watched his eyes, and wished something brilliant would come to mind to say, but she was so rabbit-in-the-headlights that nothing came out.

She'd gone silent again and his panic was starting to come back. Tad was torn between two options: either tightening his grip on her and pulling her into his arms, or letting go and walking away. He didn't want to let go, but when she'd squeaked when he grabbed her the first time, he figured it was for the best. "I'm sorry Kayce," he told her with a soft voice as he pulled away. "I should probably go." Taking a step or two back from her, he tucked his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.

Again, she was totally at a loss. Total flaily panic seemed to have set in, and Kaysen didn't deal well at the best of times. She dealt even worse when flailing started kicking in. "God, don't look at me like that, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything and you don't have to be fucking sorry or whatever and I don't get why you'd like me anyways, I'm a basket case and a bitch and I was pretty sure there that no one was ever gonna like me again and I dunno now you say you do but i don't know why and I don't know how much or what it means or how to deal with it and I'm really really bad at all this stuff." she rambled, really only stopping because she had to gasp in a breath.

"I don't care about that stuff. I know you can be a total bitch and you've put me in my place more times than I like to count, but that's not all you are Kaysen. Every time I think I've figured you out, everything changes, and I like that. I dunno. You don't have to do anything. Really I can just bail and leave you alone. We don't even have to talk about it ever again." Tad had stopped moving away, but didn't close the space between them yet, because he wasn't sure if he should or not. "I want you to be happy, I'll do anything to make you happy. Watching you the other day when you were crying, that almost killed me. I don't want you to ever have to go through that again."

God, what was it with boys? He sounded a lot like Chance had, back before she'd given him a shot. That kind of...willing to do anything, sacrificing, willing to take the abuse type. And she had no idea what to do with it. None at all. Welcome to the flail. "I...really...don't know what to do right now." she admitted.

Tad wasn't any better off than she was and he was farther from sure on what he should do. Every thought that crossed through his mind seemed ridiculous or the wrong thing to do. For once then he opted to stop thinking and just go. Slowly he took the few steps back so he was standing in front of her, and then wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, resting his chin on her head. "Then don't do anything Kayce, just be."

So, she hadn't expected that. Though really, she didn't know what she had been expecting, and wouldn't have been able to come up with a single thing upon pain of death. She blinked, and eventually sort of remembered herself enough to think it was a hug kinda, so maybe she should hug back, and so she did that, even if it was all close, and personal, and confusing for her. Because that kind of kicked her mind in a different gear. Like, what if she did just go with this? Would it make the pain of Chance going away easier? Would it stop? But that was bad, right? Like on all kinds of crazy levels?

It was everything he could ask for, standing in this room, with the sun the way it was, the perfect view, and Kaysen with her arms around him. So he just stayed there, holding on, one hand a little tangled in her hair. Sure he had no idea what this meant or what was going to happen, but for just a few seconds it was ok to ignore everything else right?

Okay. So if she did something, that would be bad. Because she didn't really know how she felt about Tad, she hadn't really thought about it at all until faced with the whole him liking her thing. So, it wouldn't really be fair of her to do anything. It'd probably equate to using him, and as much of a bitch as she could be? She didn't want to do that to him. She liked the guy. He was sweet and hadn't really done anything bad to her. He'd even probably had reason he could have, since she gave him a lot of shit, but he still hadn't. That just didn't help her situation at all.

They hadn't moved in a few seconds, she hadn't said anything and he hadn't either. Tad knew this wasn't exactly ideal given that honestly he didn't have any idea how she felt about him. He'd just sort of thrust himself on her, just like he swore he wouldn't. He pulled away from her slightly, mostly so he could see her face. "You ok?"

Kaysen looked up at him, and opted not to say anything. Because really, the whole world got worse when she opened her mouth. It was a Thing. She spoke, and things went sideways, pretty much universally. So, she was doing the smart thing and instead she just kind of nodded for an answer.

"Ok," he said in response to her nod. Gently he brushed the hair that had fallen in her face off of it. "I'm here, no matter what you need, even if it's just a friend." Part of him would kill to kiss her now, but he decided not to it was safer to ignore the desires. "You're my best friend Kaysen, no matter what happens. Don't forget that."

That was scary for her. She guessed other girls in the world would eat that shit up, the whole declaration of devotion thing. But for Kaysen? it was scary. She barely had friends, she certainly didn't have any that were long term. The longest term one that wasn't Thom and only there by default was Chance, who'd just disappeared on her. And it was her fault. still, though, it was frightening. What if she depended on it? Would it go away like he had? What if it was true, and he was actually sticking around, and she was just her crazy ass self, and was mean to him all the time without even really trying it? What if she did something insane like push him back onto the table nearby and climb up after him? She was not a girl to be trusted, that was for damn sure. She bit her lower lip hard, and tried to come up with something to say, watching his eyes. He looked like he meant it.

He was searching her eyes too, looking for a sign of anything, an explanation of what was going through her head, but mostly he just saw what looked like turmoil. Careful not to push against it, Tad ran his fingers across the bruise lightly again. "You look like me with this bruise. Almost exactly like the one I got the day you met me."

It was almost imperceptible, but she turned her face just a tiny bit into the touch. Was it just because it felt nice? The light brush of his fingertips? Especially when she'd spent every day since Chance left crying at some point, and thinking her life was over in that department? And now she was faced with someone who would like...just step up and fill that role, if she let it happen. "Mine's self inflicted." she said, voice quiet. But hey--speech! She'd managed word-things!

Did he feel that, her turning into him? Or was he just imagining it? Because it was something he wanted to feel, he wanted her to want him, but he didn't want it to just fill a space that Chance left wide open. It would only be worth it if Kaysen wanted him there. Not wanting to worry her though, he still smiled at the sound of her voice. "If you remember correctly, technically most of mine are self inflicted as well."

She shook her head a slight bit. "No, you just get followed around by assholes, and don't wack them with something heavy the first chance you get." she said. She still thought he should, even if he'd talked to her before about the crazy violence thing. But then again, she was a fire elemental, who'd burned vampires up, did that make her any different? She just didn't know.

"You might be right there, about the assholes. But it is kind of nice having you around to beat on them with your deck." The classic grin he usually wore was starting to creep out, and he was relaxing, enjoying being this close to her and being able to just talk to her like usual. "I'm working on it, I've found that being around Porter helps. They push him around during the day but they don't beat the crap out of him. When it's the two of us they can't decide what they would rather do and eventually the opportunity passes before they can make a decision." His hand dropped a little lower twirling the hair at her collar bone between his fingers.

She noticed where his hands were. That much was really clear to her. She just didn't stop him, still kind of in the middle of a big swirling mass of doomy doom. "That's good...the you two looking out for each other thing." she said, following the conversation even if her mind wasn't necessarily focused on it. She was focused on other things. Like being close.

"It's totally weird having friends. Sometimes you get used to just being on your own, skirting along the edge of everything and now all of a sudden I have commitments and people to spend lunch with when I'm too sick with my own history than to eat." And of course there was Kaysen, who seemed to be more real with every second that passed.

"I'm still getting used to the idea." she told him. Which was true. She'd even been at it for longer than Tad, apparently and it was still weird to her. But then again she didn't really bridge the gap like he had. She didn't do the school socialization thing. At school she still just disappeared as much as possible. But it sounded like Tad was settling into it well.

"That makes sense, given that you still avoid me at school." It was hard, not leaning in closer, not pushing the limits and seeing how far she'd let him go. But he couldn't do it without knowing something first. "You never really answered my question from earlier. Hypothetically, or well eventually, when all the other shit is over, do you think you could like me back?"

Kaysen sighed, and glanced away, the first time she'd managed to since he stepped in close. "I don't know, Tad. It kind of sounds like if I say yes, then you're gonna be expecting it, and if I say no, then it's going to be this huge thing and I dunno about anything right now. I mean, I don't think it's impossible or anything, y'know? But I just broke up with my boyfriend, and there's stupidly heavy stuff involved and I'm still messed up over that, and I just..." Her head was a mess and she didn't know what to say.

Tad nodded along with her diplomatic answer. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear but it wasn't a complete let down either. The statement gave him just enough hope to hold onto, but not enough to hang himself with. "Heavy stuff?" he asked, distracted from his other thoughts at the statement. "You didn't mention much in the way of heavy stuff earlier. You sort of just left it as normal break up stuff. What else is going on?"

She took a few steps away, reaching up to rub at her cheek, which now that she'd warmed up was starting to be owie again. She sighed and really tried to figure out what to say to him. "There's no such thing as a normal break up where people just like, walk off into the sunset and no one's hurt down to the core." she said first, because that much was true. Plus, if he wanted heavy, he should probably remember that she'd said that Chance had told her he loved her and all that shit. That was heavy. Damn heavy. "There's just...bad shit. You shouldn't know, really. Might...no, it'd really just be bad for you."

The drop in temperature when she moved away surprised him and he was left feeling alone and helpless. "I've not been through it but I know enough to assume normal breakup stuff isn't easy, especially with how intensly you felt about him." He took a step after her, not completely closing the gap between them, but trying to regain some of the warmth that had left him. "Don't shut me out, this is more than just your heart broken and you don't have to protect me from it. Let me help."

She looked back at him when he got closer again, not moving away once more or anything. It wasn't really like she felt the burning desire to get herself far away from the guy. He was confusing her, not pissing her off. "There's nothing you can help with. I'm serious, it's just...like ten shades of fucked up. And I don't wanna be the one who drags you into it, when it's totally not at all something that's good and could wind up being dangerous even and I just..." And she'd just sold herself out on there being way more than just normal breakup stuff.

"Dangerous? Seriously? You're in a possibly dangerous situation and you're just going to let me sit on the sideline? Have you heard anything I've said since we got in this room?" Tad was a tiny bit miffed at the idea of being benched when she needed him because she was implying he was weak and couldn't handle it. "Does this have anything to do with the fire? That kind of dangerous?"

She frowned a second. "Not really, actually." she admitted. That was just her-specific stupidity. Her own freak nature and all. It didn't have anythign to do with Chance's psycho mom. "Chance didn't set the fire or whatever, that's not anything you have to worry about." she promised, because she didn't want him to worry about it. She didn't want him to worry at all, really, if he didn't have to. "And I don't want you to get hurt or whatever." she added, since it was the truth.

Tad wasn't entirely sold that the fire wasn't something he should be concerned about, but it was obvious enough she was keeping something about it from him. Flashes of beating Chance to a pulp came to mind but he shook them away quickly. "Awesome. I appreciate being babied because you think I can't handle it. I'm willing to take on hell and all its warriors for you Kayce, and yet you keep me locked up in a tower like Rapunzel."

That got her pissed. She turned fully to face him, and heat raged up around her without her noticing. "Oh do not pull that bullshit on me." she snapped right away. "I'm not fucking babying you. I'm not saying you can't handle shit, asshole, I'm making a call on my own fucking business, and you don't get to say what is and isn't yours in that. And you don't get to put words in my mouth either, about what I think about it. It has shit to do with what you can and can't fucking handle, I'm making a call because I care about you and don't want you hurt and you could be, and if you want to make me into the bitch for that, then fuck. you." She walked past him, checking her shoulder hard into his as she did so, needing to get outside. Outside had snow. Snow was cold and might mean there was less shit that might accidentally go up in flames. Which would be Bad.

He'd felt the heat rise up in the room. When just seconds before he'd been feeling licks of cool air along his skin from where she'd left his arm, he was suddenly almost sweating under his hoodie. It was worse still when she banged into him and it left him wide eyed. "Kayce," he called out as he stumbled after her, trying to keep her from leaving. "I wasn't trying to piss you off, I was trying to help. Who else are you going to go to? I know I'm weak and normal and everything else, but you're the one who keeps telling me to rise above that. That's what I'm trying to do. I want to be there for you."

"Well, how about you try not pissing me off by not getting shitty and bitchy at me when you don't get your way!" Kaysen snapped, still walking off, though part of it was really thinking she needed to not be too close to Tad, because she didn't want anything bad to happen. There was a handy snowbank outside right? One she could just like, dive into? "Help in ways that aren't making me into a shitty bitch because I care about your wellbeing! It's manipulative and bullshit and just fucking sucks, and you don't treat friends that way!" Not that she could talk a whole lot. Though she didn't go in for twisting things, she was just irrational and overly short with people a lot of the time, even when she didn't try it. Though right now she was in fact, truly hurt, underneath the pissed. She hadn't appreciated that, or what he was implying there, especially not when he just said that he was trying to help. If that was his version of help... She was down a flight of stairs when the rest of what he said filtered through the red haze, and she whirled around again. "For fucks sake, Tad, would you quit on the 'I'm weak' riff?! You just gave me shit, thinking I think you're weak, and that's just your own bullshit issue! Stop putting it on me, I don't think you are! I've even fucking told you that so quit it already!" she demanded, the air around her looking squiggly, as heat rolled off of her. "I want you to rise above it too, just with this here? Not the time! This isn't just something you can help me with, Tad, it's--it's bad. Bad bad and way more bad and there's no good here, and I don't even know what would happen, and I don't want you to get hurt, and I still don't even know what to do!"

Tad was bounding down the stairs after her but she had a head start and seemed far more determined to get the hell away from him than to slow down so he could catch up. "Hold up, Kaysen! Look we can just figure this out. I don't have to be involved; I want to be, but if you're right and there is nothing I can do in the situation other than get hurt then fine, count me out. But it doesn't mean I'm not still worrying about you." Then he noticed it, the way the air shimmered around her. The same shimmer the air gets on a hot summer day. It slowed his pace almost to a stop before he started going again. "Kaysen, what is going on?"

"Nothing!" she snapped first, not quite catching onto the change in tone, but it sank in a moment later, and she stopped. she growled to herself and squinted her eyes shut. "Fuck." she said with feeling. "Don't...just...stay back for a minute, kay? I'm...I'll be back." she said, calming down some since the attention was brought to the whole heat thing which was what she was assuming, because hey yeah, it was really clear and shit. Well past time to calm the shit down. "I'm just gonna sit outside for a few...I'll be back. Promise." she added on the end there so he didn't think she was just trying to ditch him.

"Let me come with you," Tad begged even though it was almost clear she didn't want him there. Soemthing was definitely up and he was not about to let her out of his sight until he'd made sure it wasn't sometihng serious. Although begging he had stopped and was still a good clip from her, at least four or five steps. "Please tell me what's going on."

"I will in a second, just...not right now, I have to calm down." Kaysen told him honestly. "If you come just keep the fuck clear." she mumbled, and turned to head back down the stairs again, rushing through the building and going out the first exit she found. Once outside, she really did just fall backwards into the snowbank, and she sank down faster than anyone else would have.

"Calm down?" Tad asked but she was already gone and he was following right after her, even though she was moving far faster than he did. He slid out the door just in time to watch her drop into the bank and he stopped dead, dropping on his butt on the top of the stairs. "Seriously Kaysen, what the hell?" He was out of breath so his voice came out haggard.

She didn't answer him right away, kind of trying to get herself all calmed down, and the snow helped. Of course, a lot of it melted and shit but whatever. Eventually she sat back up, and sighed heavily, looking over at him. She looked around, but she'd gone out the back, and no one was around. Hell, she didn't even see anyone period in the kind of cut off area of the school. "I'm...kinda different." she said, looking down. "Ever read Firestarter?"

"The Stephen King novel about the little girl? I didn't get past the third chapter, but I got the gist of the idea. What does that have to do with...wait." Tad's voice trailed off as if things were starting to make sense in that they didn't make any sense at all.

"I'm kinda like that only without the psychofuck psychic experiments and shit." she said. "It's called a 'fire elemental' I guess. I dunno. I only found out this summer. I kinda sorta fell into a bonfire and didn't get hurt." she explained, keeping her voice low.

There was probably something appropriate to say, but Tad didn't know what it was. He mimicked Kaysen from earlier, opening and closing his mouth more than once as if about to say something and then changing his mind. "And just now?" he mumbled after the third attempt to speak.

She shrugged one shoulder. "...I don't have the best control in the world." she admitted, fidgeting with the snow, and she grabbed up some more to hold to her cheek again, because it was hurting. "Guess it comes with the territory and shit, or that's what the book said. But...yeah. I get upset and sometimes things kinda...y'know. Melt, or burn or something."

"The fire the other day? After Chance? It was you wasn't it?" His voice was quiet and he was watching his shoes. Tad wasn't entirely offended or put off, he was just worried. Although she said it couldn't burn her, that didn't make him any less worried for her.

"yeah, that was my fuck up." Kaysen admitted. "I didn't mean it. I just...like i said. Control and I aren't real good friends most of the time." she said, dropping her snowball back again, and she focused her attention on Tad. "...I know this is...well. Really messed up." she concluded. "Are you like scared now? I'll understand if you are." It scared her a lot of the time.

"Scared is not the right word. Or well not scared of you." Tad kept his gaze on his shoes, the green ones, which he would have sworn brought nothing but good luck just a few minutes ago. Now he wasn't as sure. "For you is more accurate I guess. But scared still isn't the right word." For the first time since he'd gotten outside he looked at her, taking in her now damp hair and the blackening bruise on her cheek. "It's fine. You know my secrets and now I know one of yours." He reached out a hand to her. "If you're feeling better you can come back over here."

She had to consider, looking at his hand, then him properly again. And sighing, she got up from the snowbank and walked over, sitting on the step next to him. She sat hunched forward, kind of picking at the cuff of her hoodie. "You prolly should be scared of me. I mean, I get too hardcore into flail mode and shit starts melting and all that. And possible fires. I'm immune, but you aren't. Burns suck. My brother, when I fell in the bonfire, he pulled me out, got his hands burned up kinda bad. I never really..." forgave myself for that.

"He's your brother, I doubt he holds it against you." Tad leaned forward a little so their shoulders were touching. "Remember how just a few minutes ago you were yelling at me about letting you decide your shit out and whatever? It's my turn to decide what I'm going to be afraid of and what I'm not. I refuse to be afraid of you."

"He didn't hold it against me. I do. And okay but when your hair's on fire, don't say you weren't warned." Kaysen said, even if she was secretly relieved that he wasn't going to be afraid of her. Porter just thought it was wicked sweet. Which reminded her. "...Porter knows. like..I dunno. If you need someone not-me to talk to about it."

Tad chuckled a little before answering. "On the list of things that Porter and I will probably re-hash from this afternoon, your quirk is a little low on it. We'd probably start with me telling you how I feel about you like some total sap." He burried his face in his hands for a moment and then ran his hands through his curls. "As far as my hair is concerned, I wonder if it would grown in straight if we burned it off..."

Kaysen smirked. "Yeah we're so not trying that." she told him. "And quit going on and on about your damn hair. You sound like a chick." she added, at least in a teasing sort of tone. "Christ you talk more about it than I've ever talked about my hair in my life." The whole twice that it came up.

"Technically you brought it up first this time," he reminded her poking her in the side just a little. "But if you like it all out of control then I guess I'll have to keep the curls." To punctuate his point he did is best to try and blow the few stray curls that had dropped into his eyes out of the way.

"I'm sure you're the envy of chicks everywhere who want curly hair." Kaysen told him. Then she sighed. "...we should probably go get our shit. Kinda...not hang out at the scene of the crime all day and all." What with them having broken in and all. Plus she was wet now and would need to go home and get changed at the very least.

"You're probably right," Tad said as he got up, reaching down with both hands for Kaysen, hoping she'd consider actually taking hold this time. "Are we going to be ok, with everything out in the open now?"

She shrugged, and after a hesitation, did take his hands for the help up. "yeah." she answered him. She hoped so, anyways. She knew she had a tendency to freak about shit, so she couldn't promise she wouldn't again, but she would try not to.

Pleased, Tad held on to one hand as he drug her towards the building after him. At the doors though, he stopped and using the hand he was holding on to pulled her in close for another hug. "You're going to be ok, you know that Kayce right?"

She was being hugged. Right. It took her a second before she tried hugging back, still not a hundred percent sure what to do. "...if I say no, are you going to lecture me?" she asked him. Because as far as she was concerned, she knew no such damn thing. Not with her brother going, and everything else.

Tad smiled into her hair, and then leaned back a little so he could see her again. "No, I won't lecture. But I will remind you that you aren't alone. You've got me, you've got Porter and we're here if you need anything." Reaching down to tilt her chin up so she was forced to see him. "I'm a helluva lot harder to get rid of than you'd imagine."

He liked the touching her face thing. He did it a bunch. She didn't mind so much as she just noticed it then. And sure, a lot of things came to mind to say but what she blurted out instead was: "Thom said we could go hang out with him sometime, look into um, magic stuff, he does white magic and all that shit and...stuff..things." Whee! Total vocabulary as well as sense failure.

Whatever suave and cool composure Tad had somewhat mustered upstairs, holding her close and such died away at the sound of the one name: Thom. Jesus, he was jealous of the guy when all he knew about him was that everyone thought he was so cool and he was some uber talented musician. And apparently he's interested in spending quality time with Kaysen. Tad let his hand drop and stepped away from the hug. Once he was free he pushed open the door and tucked his hands into his pockets holding the door open for her. "That sounds, random, but interesting." Tad's awkward self floated back into the moment and his shoulders hunched as if he seemed intent on folding in on himself. His gaze stayed firmly planted on his shoes.

Kaysen blinked, the change was kinda abrupt, and really obvious. "Er." she started, following, but wondering what just happened. And since she didn't know, and didn't want to venture a guess because she wasn't good at that shit, she asked. "Dude what the hell just happened?"

"Nothing just happened," Tad lied. "Where did the whole Thom thing come from? I mean if you were just thinking about him that's cool I guess."

"...you're a suckass liar." Kaysen said first, tone sullen. "Plus I don't like it, so knock that shit off." she added. "And anyways if you are going to lie at least do it when you haven't just had some weird conniption fit. And what are you talking about the whole Thom thing? I just thought about it because he said something about it and shit." Then she walked a few more paces before she stopped. "....okay, are you snitting at me because I was thinking about Thom for a second? Seriously?" she asked, wondering if she was imagining that but with the way he worded things and the like, she wanted to know if that was the case.

Tad sighed just a little. Even if he'd ever had a chance to master the art of lying, lying to Kaysen would probably always be impossible. "It wasn't exactly a conniption fit, I just, let's just not talk about him at the moment ok? Let's table that one for a little later." He motioned back inside for her to follow him. It was still cold outside and she was wet again. As nice as it had been in her room the few days before there was no need to relive the freezing walk home.

Kaysen wasn't good at 'later'. She was a fire elemental, things needed to happen rightthefucknow. Patience was never going to be her strong suit. Patience kind of didn't really fit in with her world view. If something was bugging, it was bugging bad. There was kind of not a lot of middle ground. "Gah, no, what was that about?" she demanded, trying to puzzle it out, and the only thing she could come to was like, he was jealous or something but that was ridiculous, wasn't it? She did follow him, though.

"Him, it's about him. I think the only person who could trump your brother for giving another guy an inferiority complex is Thom." Tad was rocking back and forth on his feet a little, obviously nervous.

She looked really confused. "...whyyy?" she asked, drawing the word out. "Jesus fucking christ, Tad, he's my brother's best friend. I like, grew up with the guy. He's like my big brother that's just a bigger pain in the ass than Isaac. You're not seriously fritzing over me just mentioning him, are you? Because that's messed up. That's like, way crazypants over the top bullshit." Warning bells were going off in Kaysen's head. Mostly because if she ever did consider Tad, which wasn't outside the realm of possibility or anything, did she really want to go there for someone who was going to freak out and get stupid over her just thinking about someone who was as much a fixture in her life as her brother? And just as much of a non-threat? The idea of having to police her thoughts and what she said to avoid a jealous breakdown was enough to make her want to back off fast, especially since they weren't even considering going out yet. Man did she ever hope that wasn't the case.

As usual Kaysen's hotheaded reactions to things had the opposite affect on Tad than they would on most people. While others might feel defensive at her rant, he felt relieved. If she was going to lump Thom in with her brother that made him breath a little easier. "He's a bigger pain in the ass than your brother? That's got to be impressive." The lightness was back in Tad's voice and he was half smiling again. "I've seen the way girls at school stare at him is all. It seems to be some sort of instinct to drool on the guy."

Kaysen wasn't so ready to let it drop yet. She did roll her eyes though. "Whatever. I wanna know if you were seriously throwing a fit over me for two seconds thinking about another guy." she said, as they headed through the school, and she rubbed absently at her cheek. Stupid bruise. It was hurting and her whole making faces and such wasn't helping her out. But she made faces all the time, so she was going to have to deal with that...and like, get more snow.

"That's not it exactly. Just that guy. And I didn't through a fit. I just realized that I probably shouldn't be all over you since you aren't even sure if you want that or whatever." He was keeping pace with her, but once she started rubbing her cheek he reached out and grabbed her hand, holding it in his. "Rubbing on it it's not going to make it better. Actually it's going to make it hurt worse."

She eyed him when he took her hand but she didn't snatch it back or anything, though that was mostly because she knew she'd just keep doing that and he was right. Kaysen was a girl who tended to pick at wounds. She was the chick with the scabs that never healed because she couldn't quite leave them alone. "Well you got all weird, and it was cuz of Thom-mentionings." she said, not quite sure she believed him that he 'just realized' shit. That was because he was currently holding her hand and really he'd been up close and personal for like, most of the afternoon. Didn't seem to bug then.

"Well yea. I was being all 'dude who's crazy about you' and you're talking about another guy. It kind of came across as a hint, or you were wishing it was other guy there." He'd not let go of her hand, but it made him far more nervous to be holding it than before. Actually holding her close enough to be kissing her just a few minutes ago had been more comfortable then walking down the hallway and holding her hand to keep her from messing with her banged up cheek. "I'm not trying to pressure you into this Kayce, and if you're into someone else in the end, so be it. Hell, part of me wonders if I should have just kept my trap shut about the whole thing."

Kaysen's fears weren't really settled with that. She listened, and he sounded like he thought it was reasonable, but she still didn't know. "...I wasn't talking about another guy like fucking gushing over him or anything." she protested. "And seriously, if I can't even speak my mind and mention someone else who happens to have a dick around you without you getting weird over it and shit, before we're even going out then there ain't much hope for that." she said honestly. "Cuz...no, man. Not cool. And I'm not feeling pressured right now, I'm feeling kinda creeped out with you going all jealous for just like, me having a point-two second thought about Thom." At least she was remaining calm about it, something she noticed belatedly.

Tad listened to her, knowing that she was right. He really didn't think of himself as the jealous type, but how was he supposed to know? It's not like he even knew the first thing about dating, or girls or his reactions to normal relationship stuff. Hell, he'd never even been kissed before, which was rather pathetic for being seventeen and knowing how to use deodorant. "I'm not sure what got me all jealous. I know less about this whole speaking to people you like thing than you do. You've at least had a boyfriend." They were at the base of the stairs now and he'd stopped walking, knowing he'd have to let go of her hand to retrieve his bike. "I'll work on it? I'm not really keen on being the jealous type."

"You do that. Cuz...yeah. That shit'll not fly with me." Kaysen said. Even if she knew she could be jealous sometimes too, at least when she had flashes of it in the past, it had been for good reason. Like her boyfriend going to parties with other chicks and word getting back to her that they were like holding hands and shit. That was a much more acceptable trigger for jealousy, as far as she was concerned. She took her hand away when she got to her board and she grabbed it up, dropping it down on it's wheels again so she could step off on it to head them back.

"Consider it done," he told her with a smile. She'd been vague enough in her response to his inquiries, but she was acting with a positive attitude towards the idea of them being together. While it wasn't a flat out admission of what she wanted it was easy enough to assume that she, at the very least, hadn't completely ruled him out. Retrieving his bike he climbed on it, and followed her back down the halls.

She got them to the doors, then out, holding the door for him so he'd have an easier time with the bike. "Anyways...guess I should be getting home...all wet and shit now." she muttered, rolling her eyes at herself for getting herself into that position in the first place.

Tad rolled through the held open door, giving Kaysen a nod of thanks. He sensed that tension between them, he assumed she was just as nervous as he was about where this left them as a duo. Hell where it left the three of them, him Kaysen and Porter, as a trio. He was definitely going to have to call Porter and hash this out. "Probably a good idea. No need to freeze to death again." He dismounted from his bike to get it down the stairs, not wanting to risk another bruise like Kaysen's. "You're good to go on your own right? I can come with if you want, but..." The statement trailed off, just leaving it open for her interpretation.

"It's okay. I only live like a couple blocks away anyways, and honestly I've got to think about shit. And if you do come by and everything...with as much fighting is going on at my house right now, I wouldn't even want you to remotely get dragged into it." she said honestly there. It was why she'd been out in the first place. "I'll see you around?" she suggested, sort of feeling the need to put it out there that she still planned on being around him and such.

"I get it," Tad told her with a nod. He was a little relieved actually. There wasn't any doubt he'd do anything she asked, but the afternoon had been overwhelming enough. Admitting his feelings, finding out that Kaysen herself was the source of the fire, and apparently Thom does magic? He wasn't sure he could handle another hour of new discoveries. Looking back down at her, he wished again that he was a character in one of the romantic comedies he always wound up watching with Grams. Those guys would take this quiet moment to make some grand move and drag Kaysen in for some amazing kiss or say something perfect to make her heart melt. Instead Tad just stood there, trying to figure out if he should hug her goodbye and instead just gave in for reaching out for her cheek. "Make sure you put some more ice on that too. It looks like it might be trying to swell again." Smooth. Very smooth.

"I will." she promised. She'd do that as soon as she snuck back into the house and dashed back to her room to hide out with Edison. 'Course that was the great thing about it being winter. She could open a window and grab snow for her cheek. No trip to the kitchen through the minefield of issues required. "See ya." she said, stepping back and turning to head off, head just as much of a mess now as it had been when she'd bailed on the house earlier. Now it just had more things rattling around with everything else.

"Later," Tad called after her, not moving but rather just watching her leave. His head wasn't much better off, replaying every moment since he'd found her on the steps. What changed now? Would they stay close even though he'd admitted wanting to be closer? Still she had told him her secret, which was a good sign. In actuality, today could easily be the best or the worst day of his life thus far. Only he couldn't determine which it would be until he saw her again. Sighing, Tad mounted his bike and pedaled off in the opposite direction.