Chapter Text
No matter how much Anya relied on her telepathy, she would never decipher the incomprehensible garble that was the second son’s mind. She didn’t even have to read his mind, she just knew his mind was going bonkers from how he suddenly fled the scene she “caused”.
What was so wrong with feeding him a piece of bread?!
“It’s alright, For- I mean, Anya” Heinrich kneeled down to her level and patted her back. “Your actions are very courageous and I applaud you for them.” He reassured as he tilted his head up to the two other blondes who stood there, completely baffled by the scene that had previously unfolded before them.
“I thought you two would have left by now.” he commented as he assisted Anya off of the ground.
Ewen darted his eyes to the cafeteria door and back to Heinrich. “Well-”
Before he could even raise his index finger, Emile was quick to snap back at Hyatt “Did you see what that commoner was doing to our boss?! That was so gross that all I could do was freeze in horror!” he whipped his head in Anya’s direction, who was still sulking on the ground.
However, there was a sight that truly was offensive to his poor eyes; broke his heart even!
“You dummy! Instead of dropping a piece of bread, you dropped the entire thing!” he stomped his foot as he pointed at the tragedy. “Not only did you try feeding our boss like a dog but now you’re gonna eat like one too?!” he accused her with crossed arms.
“Ewen, I am going to get the boss. I trust you to cast revenge for me, my brother!” he turned around and started running towards Damian’s direction. “Don’t hold back!” his voice faded as he disappeared into the crowd.
Egeburg’s eyebrow twitched as he was now left alone to deal with 3 insufferable people.
“ Well- ” Becky mocked him. “Spit it out, Eggboy.” she rolled her eyes as she placed a hand on her hip.
He wrapped his hands into a fist. For once, he was at a loss on what to say now that he didn’t have Emile or Damian to be an echo for.
“We don’t have all day, come on!” she grew impatient as she tapped her foot, hovering her wrist as if she had a watch.
He lowered his head and sighed, losing the grip he had built into his hands. Tilting his head back up, he grabbed her by the wrist, turned around, and started to drag her away from the group; all in silence.
“HEY, HEY, HEY! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME!? YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR THIS, YOU HEAR ME?!” she bickered as she tried to pull her wrist from his grasp but her attempts were futile, the boy was just stronger than her.
He rolled his eyes to his head as he continued walking “Shut up, Blackbell. I just wanna talk to you without them listening!” he harshly explained as he navigated against the flow of the crowd, his grip on her wrist tightening when the path got more and more narrow.
Now it was Becky’s turn to be stunned.
“Oh? Really now?” her expression gradually morphed into a smirk, allowing him to take her where he pleased.
“Yes. You’re the only person I can ask about it but it’s important Anya doesn’t hear this, got it?! Don’t go yapping about this to her or else things won’t go the way you want them to!” He stopped a short distance from the cafeteria door.
“What are you saying, Egeburg?” she raised an eyebrow. “Do you know something that I don’t?”
Before he revealed anything, he held out his pinkie finger to her. “You need to pinkie promise on it, Blackbell. You CAN’T let anyone else know about this, okay?” he demanded as he shifted his body to the side, looking behind her. “And no crossing fingers or toes!” he furrowed his brows as he retracted his pinkie back.
“Ugh you’re no fun!” she stuck her tongue out before bringing both her hands out front and firmly placing her feet onto the marble tile. “Fine. I pinkie swear not to tell anyone about whatever you’re gonna tell me.” she extended her hand out and held her pinkie finger in front of him.
Ewen didn’t budge.
“ And I pinkie swear I am not double, triple, quadruple, or quintrouple crossing! ” she rolled her eyes in a sigh, growing antsy over what’s to happen next.
“Good Blackbell.” he smirked as he firmly locked his pinkie with her’s.
She narrowed her eyes as her grip on his pinkie finger tightened.
“OW-OW-OW-OKAY!!!” He immediately pulled back as he winced. “Geez, sorry! It was just a joke!” he shook his hand as an attempt to soothe his pain.
“Whatever, loser.” She scoffed with an eye roll. “Can you tell me what you were gonna say now?!” She eagerly begged as she took a step closer to the young blonde; her attitude being a complete 180 from a second ago. “You can’t leave a lady waiting, you know! Especially if it’s about her best friend!”
“What an impatient little spoiled brat.” He took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself.
“Alright, alright fine.” he complied as he straightened his posture. “It’s actually not about that shrimp but more about Bossman.” he confessed as he crossed his arms, staring pensively at the wall to his left side. “He… has been acting weird since the ball and I have no idea why.”
Becky bit the inside of her cheek in thought. “Hm. Interesting. He’s smarter than I thought he would be.” she held back the urge to laugh.
Ewen snapped his head back to the brunette, clearly offended by the face she was making right now. “What!? Come on! You saw it, too! I can’t be the only one here!” he gestured his hands in defense.
“Relax, Ewen! I get it!” Her pigtails swung forward as she started laughing, holding her stomach from the pure enjoyment she got from his reaction. “I just can’t believe it took you this long to see it.” she grinned as she wiped a tear from the outer corner of her eye.
This girl did not help with his confusion whatsoever. “What are you talking about, Blackbell?! Spit it out!” he demanded as he was growing agitated.
“Is it not obvious to you!?” She raised her hands as she leaned forward. “He’s clearly in love with her! Why is that so difficult to understand?!” she spelled it out for him. “Ugh! You boys don’t understand anything! Not even your own feelings!” she complained as she turned her back to him.
Ewen was left no words, just pure bewilderment.
“You have to be joking, Blackbell.” He slapped a hand over his forehead.
“Damian Desmond , in love with a commoner like Anya Forger ? That has to be the dumbest thing I heard all day!” he pointed an accusatory finger. “You must be crazy because Lord Damian would NEVER catch feelings for a stupid pig like her! I mean- he HATES her!” he argued. “His face literally turns red like an angry bull everytime he sees her! What kind of world are you living in?! Because it’s not this one!” he mirrored his back to her and crossed his arms with his head held high.
Just as he was about to walk away, he heard a giggle coming out of the young girl.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?” He snapped as he turned right back around; clearly fed up with the girl’s antics. Just as he was about to go off on her again, he heard her speak up.
“Oh, nothing. You know, I just find it funny how you came to me asking about your precious little bossman.” she sneered as she hovered a hand over her mouth. “You know what I can do as a Blackbell.” She threatened, her eyes darkening as her ego consumed her.
“If you really don’t believe me, then I will bet on one of my daddy’s rocket ships if you can prove me wrong.”
Ewen was in shock, not just because this girl just decided to bet on some military-grade rocket ships, but because she was so convinced in her ridiculous delusion that she was willing to throw down something that she is fully aware was a huge desire of his to own.
“Are you kidding me? Just how crazy are you!?”
Her smirk only grew.
“Very crazy.” she teased. “Either take it or leave it, egghead.”
He could only respond with an eye roll and his arms crossed. “Alright, fine. If you are right then what?” he raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
“Oh, you know… stop bullying Anya for the rest of her time here?” she simply responded as she checked her nails. “I am tired of hearing you bozos calling her silly names. Even my dog can come up with better insults than all three of you combined.”
“What!? Shut up, Blackbell!” he squawked as his face turned red, so embarrassed that he couldn’t even come up with a comeback. “Whatever, sure.” he agreed on his end of the bargain.
“Anyways, are we done here? My poor Anya is left alone with Ketchup boy thanks to you." She stopped checking her nails and started preparing to walk back to the cafeteria.
Ewen scoffed in response. “Yes, we are done.”
The pig-tailed girl grinned “Okay, good! If you hear of anything else, please tell me! Our secret is safe, I promise~” she reassured with a sing-song voice as she started skipping to the cafeteria.
His face softened a bit as he watched her skip. “Okay, it better be.” he turned around and started heading towards where Emile went.
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Emile ran out of steam as he stopped in the middle of the courtyard, having lost that head of brown hair just minutes ago.
“Man…” he huffed as he laid his hands on his knees, catching his breath. “Bossman is way too fast.”
“Maybe I should have been the one to stay and deal with Forger.”
A familiar depressed-sounding voice loomed over the chubby boy as he was lost in his own thoughts.
“Yeah…” they sighed. “It’s too bad you weren’t there to see it…”
Emile shot back up and whipped his head over to the direction of the voice.
“George? What are you doing out here?”
He held onto his upper arm as he looked off into the distance, being his usual gloomy self. “Oh, nothing… I was just eating lunch underneath those trees and then I heard Desmond screaming his head off about something.” He recounted. “I don’t remember what exactly though… I am sorry for being so useless.” he sighed, slouching his back in defeat.
“It’s okay, Glooman. Thank you though.”
“Of course… it’s the least that my pathetic little self can do… after what I did to everyone, I can’t help but feel like I owe everyone every little favor I can do…” He started rambling to the other boy. “If only I had not jumped to conclusions that day then I wouldn’t be sitting outside like a sad little monster hiding in the darkness… man, maybe I am the sad little monster hiding underneath your beds.” he lowered his head down, completely enveloped in his own depressive thoughts with tears in his eyes.
“You must understand how I feel right, Elman?” he turned his head to face the blonde, only for him to be no longer there.
“Emile?!” he frantically looked from side to side.
“Where did you go!?”
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Damian finally got to his dorm and slammed the door behind him, his heart still pumping with adrenaline.
“Why did I run off again!? I was so hungry too! Damn it… I allowed my feelings to get the best of me again.” he took a deep breath before he plopped himself onto his bed face-first.
“Why is it so hard just to be around her? I even left Emile and Ewen alone to deal with her! What kind of friend am I to ditch his friends like that?” he hugged his pillow as he buried his face into it.
“DAMN IT WHY IS THIS SO HARD!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” ” he screamed into his pillow as loud as he possibly could, kicking his feet onto the mattress beneath him.
“They must be looking for me too…” he muffled into his pillow. “What am I going to say to them next time I see them?” he rolled over to his side, keeping his pillow close to his chest.
“...Was she really gonna let me have that piece?” he blushed as his hold on the pillow grew tighter. “She’s so stupid…in front of all those kids too…” he recalled the way her mouth was gapping slightly as she was hovering the piece to his mouth, the subtle rouge that dusted those chubby cheeks of hers, and her eyes… the way those emeralds were caught in those artificial cafeteria lights- UGH! The sight was horrendous!
He’s a lost cause.
“This is useless.” he muttered as he sat up from the bed, the pillow still glued to his arms.
“It will be okay, sy-on boy.” the sweet, melodic voice echoed.
“What the?! GET OUT OF HERE!”
He aggressively threw the pillow on the floor as he took several steps back, traumatized by what his imagination did to his 6-year old mind. However, after a few seconds, he hesitantly picked up the pillow and gently placed it back down onto his bed.
“Stupid… I only do this because I don’t want to see your pret- pathetic face filled with snot and tears.” he thought as he darted his eyes to the side, embarrassed by the idea that he’s even pretending his pillow was Anya Forger of all people. The audacity of this girl to invade his personal space.
He imagined that sickeningly sweet grin of her’s through the pillow.
Rolling his eyes, he whipped his whole body around and crossed his arms. “Whatever. Don’t get used to it.” he muttered as he went over to his desk and took out his notebook. With a deep sigh, he flipped the page to where he previously left off.
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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
QUESTION: Can people read minds?
RESEARCH:
- They turn their heads to look at you when you think about them.
- They are really good at card games.
- They seem to know what you want them to say.
HYPOTHESIS:
I think that people can read minds if they are close enough to them.
EXPERIMENT(S?):
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He sat there for a moment, tapping his chin with his pencil as he thought of a good placeholder for Anya. “Hm… would calling her Subject A be too obvious? Maybe… How about Subject 1? I think that should be fine.”
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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
QUESTION: Can people read minds?
RESEARCH:
- They turn their heads to look at you when you think about them.
- They are really good at card games.
- They seem to know what you want them to say.
HYPOTHESIS:
I think that people can read minds if they are close enough to them.
EXPERIMENT(S?):
- Subject 1 answers with thoughts with face, hands, and emotions.
- Attempted to speak to Subject 1 and Subject one answered with voice.
- Subject 1-
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“Why am I even going through the effort of writing all this?” he thought as his pencil halted abruptly. “She already confirmed it by telling me that she’d meet me at that place… so it’s real …right?” he pursed his lips as doubt started to bubble in his stomach.
“What if she’s just really good at knowing what I am thinking?” The second son rested on the palm of his hand pensively, staring off into his work. “ ...No, I doubt that. I just have to trust her.” he stood up from his desk and continued to look down at his notes.
“If I trust her, then…” he delicately slid his hand over to the page.
“Then I don’t need to take notes like this. I just have to take her word for it.” He thought with resolve as he had crumpled the page beneath his palm, ripping it out of its threads and shredding it into pieces.
Satisfied with his work, he couldn’t help but smile. “You are definitely an enigma to me, Forger. But I am okay with that.” he hovered his covered hand over the trash can and dropped the remains of his “notes” inside.
After watching the pieces of paper float down into the bin, he stood there for a moment, allowing himself to take in the realization of the decision he just made.
Then he suddenly burst out into a fit of laughter.
“This is so stupid! To believe I wasted a good piece of paper on something so dumb!” he wiped the corner of his eyes as his cheeks grew pink from the warmth radiating from his laughter.
“It’s alright though. I am glad I did it.”
Feeling better from his actions, he placed his notebook back into the drawer and decided to leave.