Chapter Text
One
The first trial had come to an end, faces scattered around the room filled with anguish and horror. Burned into the back of their minds was the wretched sight of the ultimate mathlete - pure, unfiltered terror planted on her face as she fell backwards into the blazing pit of fire. One by one the students reluctantly filed into the elevator; leaving just three figures in the trial room.
Diana stood staring at the floor - the speech she had shared running on repeat. Was she really not taking this seriously enough? She thought she was being encouraging yet when she had looked around the room to gauge reactions, all she received was uncomfortable glances glazed with resentment. What she said was true. She would follow in Wolfgang’s footsteps and keep the group together, but doubt had started creeping into the confidence she held.
Her feet began slowly dragging her to the elevator before a voice interrupted her thoughts from behind her. She turned around to find the words weren’t directed at her, rather the blonde boy standing there hunched over.
“Come on, dude, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Kai was talking in an unexpectedly soft tone with a frown, hand hovering by Damon’s shoulder, “staying here will just make it worse…”
No response came from this, causing Kai to look nervously around the trial room until his eyes caught onto Eva’s podium; memories of the scream that had echoed through the air came to mind. His lip quivered at the thought, voice shaking, “please- please, we need to go.”
“Just go without me,” his voice was monotone - the dried tear stains on his cheeks remained the only sign of his dismay. He finally moved his head up from staring at the floor to look at the boy comforting him, green eyes meeting amber.
“N-No!” the pink haired boy shook his head aggressively, “I’m not leaving you here, man, that’s like… totally uncool!”
“I’m giving you permission to go.”
“I don’t care… It feels wrong,” Kai looked away, cutting off eye contact with the other boy, “also I- uh, I can’t be alone in that dorm room.”
“You can manage.”
“I’ll stay with you then,” he spoke with an unusual amount of confidence yet the underlying presence of fear was still evident in the way his voice wavered slightly, and the unshed tears shone in his eyes under the dim light of the trial room.
Damon scowled, looking at Kai with furrowed eyebrows, “and what if I don’t want you here?”
“I’ll be quiet!”
Diana watched over this interaction with wide eyes - expecting him to be shut down immediately and sent away with no hesitation - yet none of that happened. Instead, Damon didn’t respond and reverted his gaze back to the floor. A solemn silence fell over the pair, Kai cautiously looking at the other boy as if he was a ticking time bomb.
“Are you… uh, I saw you crying after the-”
“What happened to being quiet?”
“Sorry! I’m sorry- just, if you need to talk to someone I’m here,” he sounded almost unsure of himself as he said this, but his posture remained strong, “I know everyone sees me as some selfish asshole but I really can listen.”
Damon glanced up and nodded slightly, the smallest trace of a smile quickly disappearing back into a frown, “...okay.”
Seemingly alright with this answer, Kai kept his words to himself. Both boys stood there in tandem - showing no signs of moving - and continued giving each other quick glances out of the corner of their eyes.
Figuring she had seen enough, Diana pressed the button on the elevator to bring her back up and cringed at the loud rumble it made. If Kai didn’t want to be alone, why didn’t he just seek someone else out? The question mulled over in her head. She hadn’t realised how close they were before, but the idea that one of the most isolated people was starting to befriend the others… She was proud of him.
And if she noticed the way that Kai walked into the silent dining hall the next morning to grab two bowls of cereal, and how he left straight away with one in each hand, she wasn’t going to mention it.