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"You look good."
Klug was slightly taken aback as he adjusted his bowtie in the mirror. He turned around.
It sat on the closed toilet seat to his left, crossing its twiggy arms. It didn't look at him.
"Why do you say that?"
It seemed to get defensive. "'Cause I can tell you're overthinking it. How many times have you brushed your hair?"
Klug exhaled out of his nose, smiling a little. "Only the usual three. What's your point?"
"Nothing. No point. It was nothing, Smart. Just don't want you to be late. You're all about that stuff."
"That I am," Klug responded almost immediately, and matter-of-factly. He finished tying his bowtie.
When he picked up the book, he rubbed his thumb over the cover twice.
“All right! Good job, Smart!”
Klug breathed heavily, whatever Feli said in response before she stormed off falling on deaf ears. He held the tome out in front of him.
“What?”
“You beat her. That’s good. What do you mean ‘what’?”
“You’ve never told me that before.”
“I recognized the effort. Jeez, do you ever stop asking questions?”
“I- uh… you recognized it? Just- what does that mean?”
“Well, it was good. Goddamn, kid, if you keep pestering me, I’ll stop complimenting you.”
“Don’t,” Klug immediately responded. He flustered, swallowing and averting eye contact. “I’ll stop asking questions. Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” it responded.
Klug dusted himself off. He held the tome close to his chest as he walked through the woods.
“You really thought I was good?”
“What did I just say about the questions?”
“Oh- sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” Klug swallowed again.
As he walked, he leaned his head on the top of it.
“Sometimes I can’t believe how smart you are.”
Klug’s demeanor immediately lightened up, turning his head. He dropped his pencil, averting the desk lamp from his face so as to not irritate his eyes. He looked almost astonished.
“Really?” His tone was breathless.
It looked up, directly at him. Its mouth widened at the edges.
“Really,” it smiled. “I don’t know how you handle it all. You’re juggling magic and tests? Straight A’s? And you can understand me? You’re a real wunderkind.”
Klug’s head turned back a little, trying to conceal chronic downward-smiling. He looks back.
“It’s nothing,” he attempts to play it cool. “It’s child’s play for me and my genius. Personally, I don’t know how I make it look so easy.”
It strained a smile and nodded its body.
“And understanding you is second nature. Really, even a toddler could do it.”
“Nope,”
Klug faltered, turning his head to face the spirit. “What do you mean ‘nope’?”
“Oh, yeah… in everyone who’s checked me out from Kuma’s, they’ve all been boring. Stare at the pages for an hour and a half then take me back like a foster kid. But you? Hell, we’re having a full conversation! That’s advanced. You’re special.”
Klug stopped.
“...I am?”
“Oh, sure!” it grinned. “You’re already such a genius, of course you could understand, right?”
Klug turned back to his schoolwork.
He smiled harder than he has in months.
He slept well that night. The tome lay on the pillow beside him for the first time.
“You shouldn’t go out today.”
“Okay,” Klug responded with minimal hesitation. He then paused and set down his spoon, stopping his gnashing away at cereal while reading a textbook sitting at the bar. He looked to the spirit on his other side. “Why?”
“Just don’t. Everybody outside is going to pester you, especially because of the heat.”
Klug scoffed. “You think the temperature outdoors affects people’s tempers? I think that’s an old wife's tale. Besides, it’s September. It should be cooling down soon-”
“Don’t go outside.”
Its tone was assertive. Klug’s heart fell a little as he retracted back.
“Okay.”
“...Hey. Chin up, kid. There are some pages in me I need you to study. And you know you’re the only one who can, right?”
Klug nodded a little. “Yeah. Yeah, I can.”
“Good. I’m proud of you.”
Klug felt his ears redden as he smiled.
He went back to eating his cereal.
They fell asleep that night swaddled in blankets on the couch, in the middle of watching some movie Klug had never heard of that came on cable as they were eating dinner (“they” as in only Klug, with the spirit acting as an observer, complaining about how it doesn’t have a way of eating anything). They had laughed, they had criticized, and they had paid genuine attention, something neither of them expected. Klug had held the book close to his chest, legs crossed up on the cushions, a blanket surrounding him. The spirit was warm as it protruded out to watch. The air around it felt like putting his hands out towards a fire- not enough to hurt, but enough to feel comforted.
Klug closed his eyes after a while.
He didn't care about the movie anymore.
Klug was the happiest he’s ever been.
His grades were still as high as always, and he owed it all to his personal cheerleader who encouraged him to sit inside and study. He was excelling at magic, too, as it seemed like recently he won every Puyo battle he fought. And every single time, the spirit poked out to stick its tongue out at his opponent, causing Klug to giggle like a child. He’s been watching a lot more movies, and being holed up on the couch eating popcorn seemed to be almost a nightly ritual, something he hadn’t ever considered before. But sitting there, the warmth of the spirit consuming the left side of him slowly, he often found himself lulled to sleep.
“You need the sleep, kid,” it had said one day, as Klug struggled to keep his eyes open during a movie.
“No.”
“Yes. Turn this off. No couch today.”
“But couch is comfy.”
“Don’t care. You’re smarter than this.”
Something inside of Klug clicked. “I… I’m sorry. Yes. You’re right.”
“Good.”
Klug yawned, grabbing the remote and turning off the TV. He walked to his room sluggishly, making sure to hold the tome with two hands.
They settled into bed. Klug forgot the last time he set the tome on his desk, like he used to all of the time. The spirit had only gotten warmer with time. As the months turned to winter, Klug kept it closer.
The warmth provided comfort.
The moonlight peeked through the closed blinds. Klug didn’t shut his eyes.
The spirit protruded. Klug’s face lit up.
“What.”
“Nothing.”
“Go the hell to sleep.”
“I will, I will. It’s nothing. Just… you go to bed.”
“I can’t. Didn’t you know that?”
Klug looked away awkwardly. “Oh. Well. Right, y-yes.”
“I could, though.”
Klug stopped. On the other side of the blinds, the wind began to pick up. “What did you say?”
“I could, one day. Be able to.”
“Why would you want to sleep?” Klug smiled a little. “It’s far more efficient to stay awake. You have it lucky.”
“I want to sleep. I want to eat. I want to walk. I want to write. I want to stare at my hands.”
Klug sensed the tone of the conversation was shifting. He kept his mouth shut.
“You don’t know how easy you have it until it’s gone, Klug. Why don’t you try being trapped in this book, huh?”
“I-”
“I don’t know why I bother. At this rate, a vessel isn’t ever going to show up. I accepted my fate a long time ago.”
Klug paused. The wind howled. His grip on the book became harder. His eyes were wide and dazed, and he was slightly trembling.
The warmth provided comfort.
“Use me,” he whispered, almost too soft to hear.
The spirit feigned astonishment as it turned its body back to Klug.
“What?” Its tone was of a kindergarten teacher.
Klug barely blinked. His breathing was heavy.
“I want you to use me.”
He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. The spirit blinked its solid-colored eye shapes. It smiled.
“Really?”
It smiled wider.
“You’d do that for me, Smart?”
Klug nodded. “Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, I would.”
The spirit grinned as the warmth expanded. Outside, something fell over in their front yard.
“Sometimes I can’t believe how smart you are.”
Klug smiled harder than he has in years.