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Ajax rubbed his eyes, looking up at the ceiling from where he sat at his desk, subconsciously counting the small bumps that decorated the surface above.
He should take a break.
The screen was hurting his eyes in the darkness of his bedroom—he hadn’t even realized how late it had gotten.
His gaze dropped back to the screen of his laptop, at the half-finished application and empty text box in front of him.
Admissions essay, six hundred words.
Why should they accept me.
He sighed, closing the laptop before flicking on the lamp next to his desk, leaning back in his chair, letting the wheels roll across the room to his bookshelf
Why should they accept me?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Ajax ignored the tapping, pulling the clothbound copy of Dracula from the shelf and pulling down the brim of his beanie, not liking how the knit material itched his skin.
He needed to find softer ones at some point.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Taptaptaptap.
He frowned, glancing around for the source of the sound, before his gaze reached the window to see Xavier.
Xavier.
Who lived several states over.
At his window.
He shot up from the chair, crossing the room in a few quick strides before opening the window. “Xavier?”
Xavier nodded. “Yeah. Hi.”
He looked…tired.
“Wh- What are you doing here?”
“I drove. Parked my car around the block. Can I come in?”
Ajax backed away from the window, and Xavier slipped in, his sneakers making contact with the wood floor. His shoulder-length hair was tied back, and his grey zip-up hoodie was open over a white T-shirt and jeans, wrinkled from use.
He rubbed his eyes. “Alright, so let me get this straight. You drove here.”
Xavier nodded. “Yes.”
“From your house. In Maine.”
“Mhm.”
“You drove seven hours to Pennsylvania?”
“Ten and a half.”
“Wh- Xavier!”
Xavier sighed. “I need to talk to you.”
“You have my number, man.” Ajax picked Dracula back up and slotted it back onto his bookshelf.
“I needed to talk to you in person.”
“About wha-”
“My dad’s sending me to Switzerland.”
Ajax turned back around to face Xavier, eyes wide.
Xavier stuffed his hands into his pockets, sighing. “You see what I mean?”
He pressed his lips into a thin line.”...Do you want coffee?”
“Please.”
——————————————————————
They exited his room the same way Xavier entered, slipping out through the window and walking around the block to where Xavier’s Toyota was parked.
Ajax pulled onto the main road, Xavier in the passenger's seat as they rode in silence, the radio turned down enough that he couldn’t quite decipher what the host was talking about, just that they were speaking.
Most of the local places were closed at this time of night, so Ajax pulled into the drive-thru of McDonald's, getting them both coffee and fries to share before finding a spot in the near-empty parking lot.
Ajax toyed with the lid of the to-go cup, letting the cup warm his hands. “So… when do you leave?”
Xavier sipped his coffee. “Two weeks before the semester starts.”
“You’re not going to Nevermore, then?”
He shook his head. “Reichenbach Academy. Really prestigious outcast school in the middle of nowhere. Didn’t want me to go back to Nevermore after the whole thing of me being accused of murder.”
Ajax popped open the lid of his coffee, tearing open the sugar packet he had gotten. “There are other outcast schools in America, though?”
Xavier shrugged. “If I’m not in the country, he can pretend I’m not actually his son.”
Ajax’s brow furrowed, glancing across to him as Xavier took another sip from his coffee. “Have you gotten any… visions about it?”
He shook his head. “Haven’t been getting much of anything recently, just flashes. It’s like there’s this… block in my head.” Xavier reached into the backseat and pulled his backpack into his lap, unzipping the main pouch and pulling out his sketchbook. He flipped through the pages before landing on one and handing it to Ajax.
Ajax turned on the overhead light in the car, his eyes skimming over the sketch of a crow with a white eye, perched on the branch of a tree.
“...I mean, it’s nice.”
Xavier sighed. “I appreciate it, but not the point,” he took the sketchbook back. “I just– I needed some semblance of control in all of this.”
“And you came here?”
He nodded.
Ajax rested a hand on Xavier’s shoulder. “I’m glad you came. Not that you drove ten hours and showed up in the middle of the night, but I’m glad you’re here.”
Xavier snorted. “Not like you were sleeping.”
“Yeah, but now we’re in the McDonald’s parking lot at one am while my moms are still asleep. Gonna be kinda hard to explain this.”
“They love me, we’ll be fine.”
Ajax laughed. “That’s true.”
“How’s Enid?”
“Ah, yeah, she’s good. She’s been out with her pack, so we haven’t been talking that much, but she’s having fun.” Ajax sipped his coffee before putting it in the cupholder. “Can’t wait to see her again.”
Xavier grinned. “That’s good.”
“What about Wednesday? She ever get back to you?”
He shook his head. “Hell no. Honestly, I expected it. One less thing to worry about, at least.”
“Yeah… Last year was a lot.”
“I am not envying you for that.”
Ajax paused. “...D’you know if your fancy Swiss school is still accepting applications?”
Xavier shook his head. “I didn’t do the applying, so I’m not sure.”
“Right,” he took a fry from the small box. “Probably for the best I don’t anyway, I’m an RA this year.”
Xavier hit the dashboard. “That’s right, we were supposed to do that together!”
Ajax laughed. “Yeah, yeah… Kent is the other RA for Callahan.”
“Tell me you’re joking.”
“Can’t, sorry.”
“Son of a bitch…” Xavier rubbed his eyes. “Kent? I didn’t think he wanted to.”
“I think his mom made him.”
He hummed. “No, yeah, that sounds right.”
Ajax glanced out the window at the bright sign illuminating the parking lot before looking back at Xavier.
“Where you wanna go next?”