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Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé --
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Was there a more effective way to experience pain and humiliation than attacking Kyle in front of Dzolo? Probably. But don't mess with success, better is the enemy of the good, and anyway, why going too far?
Jay-Den wanted to go beyond the Academy fences, to the bay shore, to watch the birds. And Darem wanted to go along with him, to watch the birds and also to watch Jay-Den, who was watching the birds. The taciturn Klingon, who only spoke on special occasions, became increasingly interesting to Darem (after he'd destroyed Darem life's purpose and retreated back into his self-isolation).
Only Jay-Den didn't like the idea. He quietly but forcefully said, in a few words, that he planned to go on this mini-expedition alone, because Darem was loud, and the birds were shy.
'I'm not loud!' Darem protested, quite rightly. But what was the point of talking to a Klingon's back?
It was all the more offensive to hear, an hour later, blond Kyle from the War College chatting with Jay-Den behind the fence at the edge of the park. No, Darem hadn't even thought of eavesdropping. It was just... Kyle was the one really loud. It was impossible not to hear his voice. It was hard not to turn off the path after that to get closer. It would have been equally difficult not realizing he was talking to Jay-Den. Firstly, who else would Kyle call "kitten"? Secondly, it was Jay-Den's voice that answered him—deep, soft, rumbling—though the words were inaudible.
No, at first, Darem tried to turn and leave. But with each step, he realized more and more clearly that Jay-Den had treated him unfairly—both today and that time he'd told Kyle things he shouldn't have to discuss—so after only four steps, Darem decisively turned around, just to see if he could leap over that fence. And then—well, maybe look the traitor in the eye? He didn't usually think that far ahead.
Over the fence he could see the whole scene. The blond boy lay on his back, sprawled among the flatten grass—a spot of contrasting black uniform, pale skin, and golden hair. Seeing Darem leap onto the fence, Kyle smiled and waved. Darem forced a wry smile back, searching for the Klingon's figure. He couldn't find it.
Kyle followed his gaze and asked curiously:
'Are you looking for someone?'
"Well, you asked first..." Darem thought, so he jumped down on this side of the fence and, with a most detached air, asked:
'Where's Jay-Den?'
'Oh-on the shore, watching birds?' Kyle replied in his usual odd tone, as if he had been asked to guess.
'You just talked to him!' Darem flared.
'I-I... didn't know I shouldn't,' Kyle replied with such a blissful expression that Darem finally exploded.
'Are you kidding me?'
The blond boy's eyes widened innocently and he even propped himself up on his elbows, toward the angry Darem.
'Reymi? Are you alright?'
'Jay-Den!' Darem barked, looking around. 'Are you here?'
Kyle's laughter was the only response.
'What are you laughing at?'
'You don't know what a communicator is?' Kyle asked, his tone filled with genuine surprise and sympathy. 'May I show you..?'
"A communicator..." while Darem stumbled mid-sentence, blushing at his own absurdity, Kyle actually rose to his feet and, still smiling blissfully, handed him his comm.
'I wanted to invite Jay-Den out for a walk,' he explained, batting his eyelashes. 'But he was busy, and my call scared his bird, and he got upset. Want to contact him?'
Darem rolled his eyes in irritation and pushed Kyle's hand away, which had intruded too far into his personal space. Or rather, he didn't. Kyle leaned back with his entire body in response to his aggressive gesture, just enough to keep Darem out of reach. They stood facing each other—a flushed, nostril-flaring Darem and a serenely smiling Kyle.
'Hey, fishstick!'
Darem glanced back at the girl's scream. Dzolo, of course. Was she following him? He stepped back to keep them both in sight. The Romulan girl came right up to him and hissed:
'Get lost, quick.'
'Or what?' Darem retorted ardently, keeping an eye on Kyle. 'Will you gut me?'
'Simply. Smash you,' Dzolo promised.
'Well, try!' Darem offered cheerfully. As always, the threat caused a slight derealization, as if a wave were picking him up and carrying him along—and he needed to change course, but he couldn't, and he didn't want to. His peripheral vision told him Kyle's expression had changed, and Darem took another step to the side, giving himself space to maneuver.
'I do!' Dzolo warned, rushing forward with the clear intention of closing the distance. Darem's advantage in height and reach allowed him to keep her at bay, so...
Correction: it would allow, if he'd had time.
Dzolo slipped under his elbow without even ducking her head. A small hard fist sank under Darem's ribs. Then Dzolo dodged his fist, grabbed his wrist with both hands, and delivered a well-aimed kick to his ankle, causing him, without realizing it, to double over and fall to one knee.
And he slammed his nose into his other knee.
That would have been painful and humiliating enough, but the surprise made him inhale through his bleeding nose. The sensation of blood in his trachea collapsed the valve designed to keep water out of his lungs. Darem swallowed convulsively—the pain from his arm all the way to the back of his head was making it difficult to think—and belatedly realized that everything was about to get even more humiliating.
In a few seconds, he would feel nauseous.
'Dzolo, that's enough. He's had enough.'
'Are you defending this jerk?' the girl snapped, twisting Darem's arm, who was still trying unsuccessfully to remember how to breathe.
'Jay-Den says he's not a jerk. I trust Jay-Den.'
Dzolo growled, but stepped back, releasing the stunned Khionian.
'As you wish! Don't complain.'
Darem, huddled in the grass, rolled onto his side and saw the vicious little Romulan suddenly grab Kyle by the neck, force his head down, and quickly kiss his forehead. Then she gave Darem a menacing look and hurried away.
Darem, struggling to suppress the urge to vomit, hoped Kyle would leave with her, but Kyle instead sat next to him, scanning him with a curious gaze.
'What did you really want?' he asked, putting away the communicator and pulling out the dermal regenerator.
Darem brushed his hand off and turned away, protesting unintelligible. His stomach had just finished cleaning itself of indigestible protein, expelling dehydrated particles sealed in the nacre of his stomach epithelium. Rainbow glitter spilled from Darem's mouth onto the grass—and the last thing he wanted was to hear some stupid comment from Kyle.
'It's aesthetic,' Kyle said thoughtfully.
'Aesth... etic?!' Darem coughed, spitting out the last crumbs. Kyle took out and shook the hydration pack, starting the water condensation reaction, and handed it to Darem along with a tissue, casually patting him on the shoulder so Darem didn't have time to dodge.
'Aesthetic,' he confirmed with a smile, while Darem, snorting angrily, rinsed his mouth and smeared the blood still leaking from his nose. 'It's a tiny pearl fraction, right?'
Darem nodded reluctantly. Kyle finally turned on the regenerator and held it to his face. Yes, perhaps this was better than dragging himself through the corridors of the Academy to the hospital and explaining things to the Doctor... Darem closed his eyes, exposing his swollen nose to the regenerator emission, thinking how vulnerable his position was. None of his Khionian friends would have missed the chance to pinch him painfully or flick his forehead. He opened his eyes slightly, watching Kyle, but the latter was completely absorbed in watching the regenerator at work, his mouth half-open.
'What else Jay-Den said about me?' Darem muttered, realizing with a kind of reverent horror that Kyle wasn't actually trying to hurt him.
At the mention of Jay-Den, the blond boy beamed.
'He said you were deprived of being yourself for a long time. That's why people don't see you for what you are. But he knows you're awesome. Well...' Kyle turned off the regenerator. 'Can I?'
'Can what?' Darem tensed.
Instead of explaining it verbally, Kyle reached up and gently touched his nose. Darem made a disgruntled face, but the blond boy didn't get the hint and continued to trace his nose with his fingertips, then his upper lip, then the bridge of his nose again, stroked the frowning triangle between Darem's eyebrows, ran his fingers over the eyebrows, next the cheekbones, and seemed satisfied with that.
'Next time I won't go out without my tricorder,' Kyle promised with a smile. 'Well, I think everything's in one piece, lil' fish.'
'Thanks, lil' pup!' Darem muttered through clenched teeth, causing Kyle to suddenly burst into joyful laughter.
'You like dogs?!'
"What makes you think that was a compliment?" Darem thought, as the suspicion slowly surfaced in his mind that the compliment had been "lil' fish".
No, that's nonsense.
'We don't have dogs on Khionia, but we do have pet otters. I've heard it's almost the same dogs. And their babies are called "puppies", too.'
Darem still looked at Kyle doubtfully. Kyle, meanwhile, looked at him fascinated.
'I like otters,' Darem finished his thought, and was rewarded with a beaming smile. At least, when one of his own otters, Utal or Runrum, smiled at him like that, he felt rewarded. They were the ones who never demanded perfection, self-denial, or hard work from him—just a walk together, grabbing something tasty...
Darem glanced at Kyle again doubtfully, feeling himself being slowly swept away by a wave of derealization:
'If Jay-Den didn't mind a walk, where would you have invited him?'
'Just not to a bar,' came the immediate reply. 'He doesn't feel like himself there.'
'Okay... where do you feel like yourself?'
Kyle didn't even ask "what do you care?"
'Waterfall Campfire!' he replied in excitement, his head tilted dreamily just like Runrum did—slightly back and to the side. 'A ropes course with waterfalls, not far from here.'
Darem furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes, unsure how the conversation had gotten to something he hadn't planned, or even wanted, or even thought about wanting. But a ropes course with waterfalls... that sounded really cool. And besides, it wasn't just Jay-Den who can gossip about him with Kyle; he could play that game too. So Darem tried to maintain an air of independence, asking the question that seemed the only logical continuation of the conversation:
'What do you think about... going for a walk in that park now?'
Runrum usually threw himself at Darem's chest at the mention of "walk", nuzzling his cheeks. It seemed Kyle was close to doing the same, but he limited himself to grabbing Darem's hand and nodding with a perfectly happy expression.
"It seems I have tamed a Human, and now I'm responsible for him," flashed an ironic thought through Darem's mind, not yet willing to admit to himself that in reality, things could be quite the opposite.