Chapter Text
The summer holidays had ended and it was time for a new school year to begin.
The school was relatively quiet during mornings, teachers making their way to their classrooms, the janitor making one last sweep around before the bell rang, the few morning students that liked to show up early to get ahead on work or stick around for the breakfast club that for some reason only served breakfast at 7 AM, which was way too early for most to even bother.
Ein was one of the five or six students that showed up super early, it wasn’t that he wanted to do work he didn’t need to and not that he wanted the schools awful sludgy gruel that they promised was nutritious. He only showed up early because he quite literally had nothing better to do other than throw glares at the other students who looked at him a second too long and move back and forth from the front stairs of the school to the cafeteria as he waited for the day to start.
He sat outside looking down at his phone with nothing to do as the morning sun hit his eyes and made him mildly irritated. He scrolled endlessly on Tumblr and Instagram watching random videos or reading posts. Just as he was about to head back inside for the third time his eyes landed on a dark jeep that pulled up at the dropoff. A large imposing man stepped out from the driver's side, dark beard, short hair, serious face and…horns?? Ein had never seen whatever those were on an actual person before. He looked important from the way he held himself, shoulders drawn back and posture ridged.
From the passenger side a boy stepped out, he didn’t look much different from the man who Ein assumed to be his father. He didn’t have facial hair, his hair was longer, tied back in a low tail. His horns were smaller and bright blue in contrast to the older man’s midnight ocean ones. The boy was tall like his father, with a straight posture and his head held high with a neutral expression.
’Tch, overkill.’ Ein thought to himself as he glared down at the horned newcomers with the slightest bit of curiosity, wondering why these guys showed up looking like they had secret government work to attend to as if they were in a movie.
The younger one slung a bag over his broad shoulders. His school uniform was smooth and looked like the teacher’s idea of ‘uniforms make all of us look smart’, something Ein had called bullshit on but was still made to wear the white shirt and the stupid blazer with the embroidered school logo, which he had tied around his waist or forgotten in his locker most of the time. ‘Waste of fabric,’ he thought.
The two of them walked up the stairs beside each other. The younger boy locked eyes with Ein for a moment, stare unwavering. Most usually avoided Ein’s eyes for obvious reasons, this kid was a little too self assured for Ein, and a little too tall, and a little too strong.
They walked right past him and into the school, Ein noticed the foreign military symbol on the back of the father’s jacket, it looked like any other species specific military symbol, there was one for regular humans, Witches, Werewolves, Maifwas, and apparently there was one for horned freaks as well.
Ein slung his own ragged bag over his shoulder and followed them at a distance into the school. The very few other students that were in at this time all turned their heads to stare at the horned newcomers like they were aliens. Whispers already starting about the horns on their heads. It was like finding out albino people were actually real as a kid after never actually seeing one in real life.
They walked up to the principal's office, the larger man giving a firm knock on the door before being let in, the door closed behind them sharply. Ein peeked through the window of the office, being the regular nosey bastard he always was. He could only make out a few things from the conversation, Principal Layla seemed her usual welcoming self, albeit a tad weary, he could understand that though, being in a small office with a military man that looked over six foot five and his son who was a bit shorter would keep anyone on edge.
Ein’s tail swishes slowly behind him, his ears twitching as he listens in on the conversation, “oh yes, I sincerely apologise again for our lack of Daemos specific classes here, we’ve never actually had any Daemos students attend here…ever.” The man’s deep voice fills the office, “no need for apologies. My son received all of the important learning already, anything he wasn’t taught is taken care of at home. He’s here for a general education and I heard from an acquaintance that this school would be a good choice.”
”Ah, I see, well I’m honoured that our school has such good things said about it, we work very hard to give our students the best education we possibly can,” Principal Layla smiled wide, using that formal tone Ein never understood the use of. “Well, here is your son’s timetable, I’m sure he’ll thrive here,” she hands over a timetable to the boy, who gives a small nod and a deep “thank you.”
Ein backed away from the window and pulled out his phone, leaning back on the wall and looking down at it as they came out of the office, acting as if he wasn’t sticking his nose where it didn’t need to be like he usually did.
The father didn’t pay him any mind as he turned to his son, “you’ll be fine. Anyone gives you trouble, don’t hit them unless they hit you first. You have money for lunch. And you’ll walk home today.” The son nods, “yes sir.” He watched his dad walk away before turning and staring directly at Ein.
Ein looks back at him, giving a look up and down with a nasty glare. “...What?” He scoffs. The boy looks Ein up and down as well, his expression less rude and judging and instead awkward and blank. “Nothing.” He said before walking away from the office and down the stairs.
Ein scoffed to himself and looked at the clock. He may as well head to his registration class early. ‘What a weirdo,’ he thought to himself as he walked down the hall.
Ein walked by himself to registration class, once in the classroom he took his usual seat by one of the windows and put his earphones in, putting on his playlist of digital hardcore and turning it up so he couldn’t hear if anyone came into the classroom.
’What the fuck is a Daemos?’ He thought to himself as he swung back on his chair lazily.
The bell rang after twenty minutes and people started to walk into the classroom. No one filled the seat next to him, no one ever sat next to him and today was of course no different. Everyone else chatted and talked about their summer holidays. What had Ein done all summer? He’d been sent off to a werewolf camp because Zach didn’t want to take care of him, he had only gotten into fights and tried to run away, all of the other wolves there didn’t exactly like him from the first day onward.
”Ein, earphones,” he barely heard as music blasted in his ears, he huffed loudly and took them out, wrapped them up and stuffed them in his pocket. He heard a few of the girls giggling behind him as they talked amongst each other.
”Did you get a look at the guy with the horns?”
”Yeah, he’s so big, apparently he's a senior, he moved here from one of those tropical paradises and that’s why he’s got those horns, at least that’s what I’ve heard.”
”Well I heard that he’s from Russia, I mean, they always have the weirdest stuff up there, including species stuff, maybe he’s some weird experiment or something and that’s why his dad is wearing that military uniform.”
”He’s so pretty though, too pretty to be some experiment, maybe he’s just blessed by Irene. It would explain why his hair is so gorgeous.”
’Are they actually serious?? They're gossiping about some new weirdo and spreading rumours already? He probably hasn’t even spoken to anyone yet. And he and his dad didn’t even have a Russian accent, I mean, his dad didn’t at least.’
He rolled his eyes dramatically and looked out the window, watching the gym teacher setting up for first period. He had gym in the middle of morning interval and lunch today, fantastic. It’ll probably be a partner exercise and he’ll probably be left with no partner and he’ll get stuck in a trio with two other people who don’t like and who he doesn’t like back.
’I can’t wait to get out of here forever,’ he sighs internally.
The bell rang to signify first period, everyone got up and started to head to class, Ein included. He weaved through the busy halls, bumping shoulders and making unwanted eye contact with other students until he got to his first class of the day, English. He didn’t love English, but it wasn’t the worst subject he had. All he had to do was read some book and write an essay using fancy words that made him sound smarter than he was. He actually found it pretty easy because he made up half of the stuff and still passed anyway.
He sat down in his usual seat in front of the teacher’s desk, to “keep an eye on him” the teachers said, it was like this in every class and he assumed it would carry into this year as well. Everyone filed in and took their seats, voices mashing together as they talked.
”Alright class, we’ll be starting our first topic, we’re doing Romeo And Juliet.” The teacher announced, some students groaned and others seemed excited. Ein just rolled his eyes. Perfect, guy and girl fall in love, like he hasn’t already done something like this so many other times before. “We’ll start off relaxed by watching a stage play for the period, if we don’t finish it we’ll just finish it next period.”
The teacher put on the recorded stage play and everyone sat in silence watching the screen, Ein sat there half asleep, only half paying attention to the screen, "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" Came a female voice from the screen at some point during the period, Ein sighed quietly and looked out the window with half lidded eyes. He'd probably write some poetic bullshit about depending on love and being vulnerable or some utter crap for the extra marks in the essay.
Ein’s eyes landed on that same horned boy from before, he was out for gym class with other seniors playing basketball and he was killing it. He was on Aaron’s team, the fucking bastard. He was pretty big for being a teenager, he wasn’t ‘grown up’ jacked but he looked strong enough to know he definitely worked out in his free time.
’Who actually is he??’ Ein wondered, this guy had the audacity to show up to this school with a military dad and a set of horns like he was from some fantasy game and didn’t give any explanation, at least not that he had heard. Time passed in a slow blur as he watched the new guy absolutely destroy the other team with Aaron, a slight sneer on his face as he watched them. He hated Aaron, and the new guy seemed to at least be chatting with Aaron a bit, even if he didn’t even know his name yet. Something about him talking to Aaron pissed him off.
It seemed like he was sitting there forever until the bell rang, bringing him out of his train of thought as he automatically stood up with his bag and started to head to his next class. Werewolf class. He walked to the other side of the school where the werewolf and magic classes were, luckily not running into anyone as he took his seat in the class. He’d had Mr Kevin last year as well, he usually called him Gavin just to see that bit of irritation on his face during class time, it was one of the few things he liked about school.
Mr Kevin bit back a deep sigh and smiled tightly as he saw Ein, “Ein,” he greeted politely. Ein grinned and nodded at him, “Gavin.” The teacher just sighed and shook his head, looking up at the ceiling as if to glare at Irene herself for placing Ein in his class again. The class filled up and Mr Kevin, or Gavin, started the class. They were doing their first topic on werewolf anatomy of both forms, regular and transformed. That wasn’t so bad, he’d just look up explanation videos for dummies if he didn’t get the work.
They started out with the basics, stuff that all of them learned before highschool. Ein didn’t even bother listening as he preoccupied his mind with what he’d do when he got home, he’d absolutely ditch any homework he had, because fuck any teacher that gives homework out on the first week of a new school year. He’d probably play video games, maybe he’d go on Minecraft for a little while and finish building his farm.
The class passed quickly and soon enough it was time for morning interval. Ein made his way outside and sat out on the bleachers. It was warm outside, annoying birds singing in the trees over the school wall. He sat there listening to music as he gnawed at a plain snack bar that had no real nutrition and no taste. Zach didn’t bother buying things that tasted good, said it costed extra and he didn’t want to spend too much time shopping, because apparently he had things to do, whatever they were.
His eyes landed on that horned freak again, he was walking with Aaron and…Aphmau, she walked with her hand loosely holding onto Aaron’s arm as they talked to the newcomer. She was kind. So cute. So nice. The horned guy nodded and responded to questions politely, he didn’t seem too casual or laid back as a person, he was polite and formal. His voice was pretty deep as well, Ein’s ears flicked as he listened from afar.
”So where’d you move from?” Aaron asked, “...I don’t think I’m allowed to say,” “Ookay…so what kinda school did you go to?” Aphmau smiles, “just a private school.”
He wasn’t one for conversations at all it seemed. Short answers, blank tone.
Ein scoffed to himself, this guy was funny, not ‘haha’ funny but just…funny. Ein had never really gotten the chance to mess with someone who was older, but maybe he could use this dude for entertainment, another reason to actually come to school if he gets to fuck with him sometimes.
He finished his painfully bland snack and threw the wrapper behind him. Maybe he’d just skip out on gym, the teacher didn’t exactly love him and he didn’t have anyone to do partner work with. He stood up and stretched his arms above his head with a big yawn before he walked over the grass and up the stairs to go inside. He glanced down at the guy for a second before snickering and walking inside with a grin on his face. If he was stuck here for a whole other year then he was going to at least mess with the new senior.
The bell rang sometime later to start the third period of the day, Ein ignored it and went to the library instead, sitting himself down at the back with a book propped up to make it look like he was reading, in reality he’d never actually chosen to read a book in his life. He pulled out his phone and started scrolling on Twitter mindlessly as he, again, drowned out his surroundings with music.
A blue glint caught his eye and he looked up. Irene just happened to be on his side today. The new guy walked into the library and closed the door behind him softly. He looked around and locked eyes with Ein for a second before looking away and sitting down a little bit away from Ein. This must have been a free period for him.
Ein waited until the librarian left to go to the printer that always had her standing there for an hour while it slowly coughed up blurry work sheets. He stood up once the door closed and sat himself down in the seat next to the new guy. They were the only ones left in the library. Ein stared at him until he sighed and looked up and stared right back.
”Hey,” Ein grinned, “whatcha doin?” He asked as he looked down at the textbook on the table. “...Magic textbook.” The guy responds, voice like velvet. Ein nods and closes it over slowly, still holding direct eye contact. “Good for you big guy, my name’s Ein.” He says with that stupid, cocky grin. The new guy nodded politely, “my name’s Pierce.” He responds.
“I saw you peeking through the window when I was in the principal’s office.” He stated blankly, Ein laughed a little and shrugged, “can’t blame me, I haven’t exactly seen anyone with horns before.” Pierce nods, “I suppose you rarely ever see other species here, I’m a Daemos, we tend to stay in cool climates.” “Ooh so you like the cold?” Ein swings back in his chair, “I never really like the cold, I haaate snow, I prefer warmth, better than freezing my balls off.”
Pierce just hummed, he clearly wasn’t used to people talking that, vulgar and unfiltered. Ein could tell, and it made this so much more entertaining. “Sooo, where exactly are you from?” Ein asked, “I really don’t think I’m allowed to say…” Pierce mumbles, “oh come on, can’t be that deep.” Ein prodded, leaning in with that shit eating grin on his face. Pierce cleared his throat and opened up his textbook again, “I’m very sure it is that deep.”
Ein rolled his eyes dramatically, ears twitching, “wellll, how about we become friends?? You seem like you need it,” he tilted his head, his tone low and mocking. Pierce looked him up and down before shaking his head with a heavy sigh, “no thank you.”
Ein pouts and leans in closer, “come on big guy, I can help you out, I saw you hanging around with Aaron and Aphmau at interval, you don’t wanna be around them-” “they already told me a little bit about you.” Pierce interrupts, “you don’t seem like a good person.”
Oof, now that stung a little, it wasn’t meant to sting, this was just for fun. But something about how guarded and firm this guy was made Ein feel a little…down crested. He scoffed immediately and shook his head, “they’re liars. They just don’t like me because I’m confident.” “Yeah, I can tell.” Pierce sighed, “listen, I would really appreciate it if you left me alone.”
”...Tch, fine, whatever,” Ein huffed and stood up, he retreated back to his previous space at the back of the library and crossed his arms, ‘why did that actually hurt?’ he asked himself, he wasn’t exactly able to give himself an answer.
During lunch Ein followed Pierce from behind like some scent drawn stray dog. Any time they locked eyes he’d give a nasty look or a judging glare up and down. Pierce ignored him, he had this infuriating way of glancing over at Ein and then completely ignoring any looks he gave him. What a fucking cunt. Even throughout the rest of the day he barely saw Pierce in the hallway, he was probably trying to ignore the weird kid in the year below that wanted to fuck with him. Ein grinded his teeth at the thought of someone ignoring him instead of being weary or scared of him. For some reason it bothered him so much more than if someone else were to do the same thing.
After his last class he went to his locker to shove the new text books that he’d never read into his locker, he slammed the door and shoved the key into his pocket. At least Zach wouldn’t be home, he’d have the house to himself after being away all summer, after all he’d only gotten back two days ago. He walked out of the school and down the stairs, glancing at all of the other students who were with friends or getting rides home, his eyes then landed on Pierce, who was saying goodbye to Aaron as he walked in the other direction to head home. Ein had to walk home too, and Pierce just happened to be walking the direction Ein had to go, maybe he’d moved in close to where Ein lived.
Ein felt an unexpected urge to follow after him and try to talk to him. So that’s what he did, after all he usually acted on impulse. He skipped a few steps as he jumped down the stairs and skidded around the corner, he jogged until he was right next to Pierce who bit his tongue and looked at Ein with a tired glare, “what do you want?”
Ein huffed as he caught his breath, “well I just happen to be walking this way as well,” he scoffs, “what, you thought I was following you? Don’t flatter yourself,” “I didn’t think that,” Pierce mumbled. Ein kicked himself in his head, ‘what the fuck was that? Just act normal you fucking dumbass,’ he forced a smile and nodded, “right, yeah of course…” They walked in an extremely awkward silence for a while, past the store that Ein would stop by sometimes after school to get snacks, past the nail salon that had been closed for 4 years, past the trail that led into the fields a few minutes away from the road. Ein cleared his throat loudly, “so…you play any games?” He asked, “like, online games?” Pierce nodded a little, “uh yeah, I play Minecraft sometimes, and I play pokemon…” “No way,” Ein smiles, “I love those games, who’s your favourite pokemon?” Pierce glanced at Ein for a moment, a glint of what could have been surprise or relief in his eyes, “I really like Mareep…because it’s a sheep.” He mumbled.
”You like sheep?” Ein quipped, suddenly forgetting to be condescending and rude, “yeah, they’re pretty relaxed animals when you don’t bother them,” Pierce shrugs, “what’s uh…what’s your favourite animal?” The question sounds odd coming from him, like he’d never had to ask something remotely personal like that, even if he was just acting nice so that maybe Ein would just back off after a while. “My favourite? I mean I’m pretty basic, I like dogs…” he mumbled, realising that no one has ever actually asked him that before.
They exchanged a glance and continued to walk, both turning the corner to walk down a quiet street at the edge of town. Zach said this was the best place to be because it was quiet and he wouldn’t be around loads of people more than he needed to be. They continued to exchange small questions and answers.
”What do you think of birds?” “They’re annoying,” Ein answered.
”What’s your favourite food?” “I like roast mutton,” Pierce said.
”Do you like people?” “...Not really.” Both of them mumbled.
Ein reached the gate to his house and turned to Pierce, “you uh…live around here?” He asked, Pierce nodded and pointed to the last house at the near end of the road, “yeah, we moved in over the summer.” Ein nodded, “cool…I’ll uh, see you at school then,” they both nodded at each other, “yeah, bye,” Pierce gave a small salute before he turned and walked away, scaly tail idly swaying behind him.
Ein watched him walk away before walking past the gate and into his own house. It was painfully empty, basic furniture and no decorations. It was Zach’s house, but he travelled a lot so he was barely home. Leaving Ein there alone most of not all week. He sighed and walked up the stairs to his room, a small room that had a bed, a dresser, a desk and a chair; a TV, a console and a few posters that Ein had bought with his own monthly allowance.
He threw his bag at the legs of his desk and sat down on his bed, kicking his shoes off and not giving a second glance to where they landed on the floor. He rubbed his hands over his face and rolled onto his back, arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.
’Pierce isn’t actually that bad,’ he thought. They liked a few games and they seemed to have shared interest in staying away from extroverted activities. He also didn’t seem like a very reactive person, which frustrated Ein a bit, he wasn’t used to messing with people and not getting any reaction out of them.
Pierce walked into his house and could already hear his mother in the kitchen making dinner, the TV in the living room was on and playing some educational kids programme. His little brother was kneeling at the coffee table and drawing with blunt crayons. He looked up from his drawings and smiled, little baby blue horns dirty with yellow and purple crayon streaks, “Pierce! How was school?” Pierce smiled and took his shoes off at the door, “it was fine,” he shrugged simply. “Oh come on sweetheart, give us a little more detail than that,” his mother called from the kitchen, “did you make any friends?”
”Uh…I guess you could say that, yeah,” Pierce walked into the kitchen, his mother was at the stove frying off some homemade nuggets, “oh well that’s good, anyone staring at your horns?” she turned around, she herself was a human, a bright and rosy woman with fair skin and curly dark hair. “Of course they did, none of those people have ever seen someone with horns before.” He shrugged, “they weren't mean about it, just…overly curious.” His mother sighed and wiped her hands on a tea towel, “well that’s good, you’re too big to bully anyways, just like your father,” that made Pierce smile a little. “Oh, he’s in the garage by the way, not to be bothered,” Pierce nodded, “alright, I'll be in my room then.”
Pierce’s room was pretty normal, his bed was made, desk organized, no clothes in sight, and military decorations he’d been given from his father displayed on shelves above his bed. Pierce closed his door quietly and sat down at his desk, he pulled out some of the textbooks he’d been given. He was good at reading, always ahead of everyone else because he’d finished the whole textbook or novel within a week.
He looked at his ‘Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery Higher Class’ textbook and placed it down on his desk. He thought back to Ein and how odd he had been, he couldn’t quite place his behaviour, he looked at him like he was judging him heavily, in the library he had been a bit of a dick, but the conversation they had on the way home was normal enough. Aaron had told him Ein was just another bad bolt, an orange slice with a seed inside it, a stray thread on an otherwise perfect jumper. He couldn’t decide whether to believe that or not.
Whatever, he had things to do.