Chapter Text
The air wafted thickly from the heat radiating off steel machines in the cafeteria, so much so that his lungs felt stuffy for every ridiculous attempt Fang tried at breathing. Obnoxious yelling paired with chattering amongst groups of people filled the room as the clatter of trays against eachother rang painfully in his ears. Fang slightly moved his eyebrows in a fixed concern as he sat with his friends, utensils left abandoned on his lunch tray.
It was a stimulating hell.
Ugh, it's so loud. Did they forget there might be other people trying to eat in peace here? he prayed that whatever was assaulting his ears right now would stop soon.
Resting his chin on his palm, Fang detached from his surroundings, his brain miraculously tuning his friends conversations in to a mere static in the background, not really paying attention to whatever they were yapping about. Probably some lame old gossip they resurrected from the dead as a lame excuse for a topic.
This morning, there was someone he saw in his dream who looked familiar to him. This person—this boy–had dark brown hair with an orange cap that bore dinosaur horns on it, with little spots around the sides topped with a yellow lightning bolt at the middle. He wondered who on earth this person could be and why they showed up in his dream. How strange, Fang kept pondering on until—
Snap!
"Yo, earth to Fang?" someone waved a hand aggressively in front of his face which took him off guard and didnt help make him any less irritated than he already was. It felt like the volume bar in his ears slid from zero to max in mere seconds, even though he wasn't wearing any earbuds in the first place.
Scowling, he moved his head to get a proper look at them. It turned out that the annoying person who yelled at him was one of his friends, Rione, who started staring down at his face, full of intrigue. "What?" Fang finally spoke.
”What do you mean what? You've been spacing out lately, Fangster," Rione playfully smacked his shoulder. This made Fang hiss out a quiet, exasperated "Ow, what was that for" while instinctively reaching to soothe his own shoulder.
"Are you thinking about something Fang? You can tell us y'know," Bezel suggested with a worried glance at the ravenet.
Fang eyed his friends, hesitant on telling them what he was thinking about because they might poke fun at him for it and that was for goodness sake the last thing he wanted to tolerate at this very second. Although he knew that deep down, they would understand—his body still shifted uneasily in his seat.
Fang decided to only sigh in response. He stared at his tray for a few seconds before grabbing his fork to pick up some food as he started to eat.
After chewing some rice and carrots, he swallowed. "I need to tell you guys something." his voice was quiet, but it was loud enough for everyone at the table to hear.
"What is it?" Rione spoke first. Fang hesitated for a few moments, still debating whether he should tell them but at last he gained all his courage and spoke.
"I'm moving away this summer," he managed to blurt out, albeit too fast. The group stared at Fang for a couple seconds, the silence weighing heavy between them. A few people started rubbing their necks, since it was hard to believe that one of their best friends was moving away so soon. Almost immediately, Fae slammed the table, sending a few spoons to vibrate. The sound was only enough stop the group from gaping at the ravenet due to his statement seconds ago.
"Nitwit... I thought we were going to high school together?!" Fae cried out, tears forming in her eyes. The others at the table were left shocked, seemingly less interested in speaking now.
Fang sat silently as the air around him crackled with tense. Contrary to his decision, the boy did not want to move and certainly did not want to lose his friends either. It was like he had no other choice. The group was quiet for a moment, to try and decide what to say.
"You'll stay in contact, right?" Bezel spoke with her head lowered, barely above a whisper, but with the quietness around them—everyone at the table heard her.
Fang lifted his head to look at the girl diagonal to him.
"You're in the group chat and you have our numbers, you promise to stay in contact right?" She tried a little louder this time and raised her head to see what Fang decided to say. The rest of the group turned to look at Fang. Eventually Fae sat down, wiping her tears with the edges of her sleeves.
Fang thought for a second. "You guys are my friends, of course I will," he spoke softly with a genuine lilt. The gang sighed in relief knowing that he would still talk to them after the year ended.
Fae then grabbed Fang's shoulders and started shaking them aggressively. "You better send us something while you are away, Eggplant!" not bothering to wait for his reply, she quickly butted in with a whisper. "—and tell me the gossip and stuff in the school you're gonna go in next year dude, I'm nosy as hell." she smirked while nodding at him, as if to further solidify her point.
Fang waved her away. "Yeah, yeah I'll tell you about it. You better tell the things that will happen in highschool too!" he muttered, mouth twitching into a grin.
The rest of the day was a blur of classes, until it was finally the last period. Fang wasn't listening to what the teacher was saying, rather his mind had drifted into thought again. He wondered how the new school would be like for him. He really wished the teachers were nice. Was he nervous of what the students there might be like? Well yeah. Was he excited to actually go to the school? Definitely. Although he had a small amount of anxiety pooling in his stomach, worrying about whether he'd be liked there. Shortly after, his thoughts were abruptly stopped by the ringing sound of the bell.
He got up from his seat and started packing his bag, neat stacks of books shoved into their respecting compartments. In that amount of time, some students were already gone while some stayed back for their respective club practices. Fang wasn't in any club, so he was out the door in a few minutes. As he walked through the busy hallways, he tried to absorb his last moments in the school, hoping they would soon grow to be a core memory long seared in his mind.
This afternoon, he walked a little slower than usual, using the same route he used 100 times before. Due to the amount of times he went down this path, it was like muscle memory to him.
Not realizing how many people were near him, someone suddenly bumped into his side with a harsh graze on his shoulder. Instinctively, he grabbed his left shoulder and groaned in pain. It was the same one Rione had hit earlier. "Ah, sorry !" A soft voice yelped behind him. Fang turned around to see who it was—but before he could get a good look, the boy had already gotten lost in the crowd.
Fang could've sworn he saw the boy from his dreams. Same hair and same shirt. Fang shook his head and tried to forget about it. Am I going crazy? Are the effects of all those sleepless nights finally showing? he thought. Nah, yabadadoo. He sighed and continued to walk to the bus stop, standing for a few minutes to wait for the bus.
It didn't take too long to arrive and Fang rode the bus in peace, leaning into the glass window while getting deep in his thoughts for one last time before getting home.