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Kuyo notices it entirely by chance.
Rei had agreed to spar with Arlo afterschool on the last day before winter break, so naturally, Kuyo was going along with him to help, like a good Jack. (The fact that Arlo was going to sulk about Kuyo’s presence was entirely irrelevant. Definitely.)
The two of them were walking out when they noticed Arlo by the gates. Predictably, Rei lights up, about to wave and call out to him when Kuyo stops him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey. Do the thing,” Kuyo says discreetly.
Rei cocks his head. “The thing?”
“You know. The thing.”
Rei stares. Kuyo sighs, which seems to clear things up.
“You mean run at him?” Rei deadpans.
“It’s just harmless fun,” Kuyo insists. “And he could stand to lighten up a little.”
“He hates it when you do it.”
“He won’t care if you do it,” Kuyo says, like it's obvious. Because it is.
“Is that so.”
"Yes, it is,” Kuyo insists, narrowing his eyes. “I’d bet money on it.”
This time, Rei seriously considers it. “…Lunch.”
Kuyo grins, knowing full well he’s getting what he wants. “Only if you go full out.”
Rei is conflicted, furrowing his brows and grumbling exaggeratedly before he finally heaves a sigh. “Okay, fine. Just this once. And that’s for the good stuff!"
“Hold on, I didn’t—“
Rei is gone in a flash. An actual flash, of his eyes and entire figure.
Huh. Didn’t think he’d use his ability, but I’m not complaining, Kuyo thinks to himself, smirking as he settles in for the show. It’s hardly a blink before Rei gets to Arlo and claps a hand on his shoulder. The strangled “what the hell” and the way Rei stumbles a bit as Arlo spins around is almost worth the hit his wallet will take.
Arlo whirls around on Rei, fuming. The constant scowl on his face looks about as intense as it normally does when Kuyo decides to mess with him. “Dammit, Kuyo! I told you—“
And then, as Kuyo expected, the words die in his throat.
What he does not expect, however, is the glimmer in his eyes as he realizes that it was his precious Rei instead of Kuyo this time. The way his mouth hangs open just slightly, like he’d whisper something reverent if he only knew no one would hear.
“Sorry about that, Arlo. I was promised lunch,” Rei says with his usual easy smile, but Arlo is still standing slack jawed.
Kuyo knows that look. And he also knows exactly what caused it.
The glow radiating off of Rei, aura and lightning. His already tousled hair flicks out with static energy and his stupid, cheerful grin that somehow looks a thousand times more impressive than it has any right to. The warmth in his eyes that he readily offers to anyone.
Kuyo has been the one to bear witness that sight dozens of times, and he’s seen others doing it even more. He knows exactly what it can do to someone, what power Rei holds.
And currently, Arlo has the look of someone who’s not just smitten. He’s absolutely, positively gone.
Kuyo bursts into a fit of raucous laughter, which seems to finally snap Arlo out of his stupor. He looks to Kuyo and snaps at him like he always does, and Kuyo downright cackles like never before.
Rei, like always, is entirely oblivious.
After the initial register, a lot of things become clearer to Kuyo as he watches the two of them spar. Arlo’s sulking whenever Kuyo shows up along with him to a meeting with Rei. How he always always tries to stand straighter (ha.) when they’re together, and how he gets noticeably angrier about Kuyo’s teasing if it’s around Rei. Kuyo snickers to himself about how obvious it really was in retrospect.
This new perspective is really only useful for one thing: messing with Arlo. It’s one of Kuyo’s favorite pastimes, honestly. He’s never seen someone so aggressively passive aggressive. This won’t be useful too often, but still—
“You look like you’re planning something annoying,” Rei says bluntly as he slides into the seat opposite to Kuyo, concerned and slightly intrigued. His voice easily cuts through the chatter of other patrons as he drops ‘the good stuff’ (Five Guys) onto the table unceremoniously, already nose deep into a burger half the size of his cranium.
Kuyo grins and snatches a container of fries, plucking one out and eyeing the rest to see if there are any burnt ones (his personal favorites) (and also Rei’s personal favorites). “And what if I am?”
“Well, I’m on the edge of my seat here.”
“Enjoy the fall, then. Tell me about the weather down there.”
“Wait, what?” This time concern takes the stage entirely, Rei’s expression contorting slightly into something just a little reminiscent of a pout. Mostly, though, with the curled brows and scrutinizing stare, he looks too much like he’s thinking. When did Kuyo’s dumbass start doing that? “You always tell me when you’re doing something stupid. Why not this time?”
Because, however damning it is for his reputation to admit it, he is not enough of an asshole to be so cruel as to tell Rei about Arlo’s crush. He can’t say that he knows the guy that well, button pushing aside, but he’s pretty damn confident that Arlo would be within his rights to deck him for that.
“Sworn to secrecy, sorry.”
Rei’s face scrunches up as he balls up the emptied burger wrapped and takes his next one. “It’s at least not going to cause any major trouble, is it?”
Considering how pissy Arlo gets… In lieu of a response, Kuyo takes a long sip of his soda.
“Kuyo,” Rei groans. “Okay, y’know. I’m obligated to remind you that Kass will come back to strangle you if you pull stupid shit. ‘You’re a Royal, you’re setting the example for the rest of the school’... do I need to go on?”
Kuyo rolls his eyes, taking a handful of fries. “Are you forgetting that the only reason you can remind me that she’ll do that is because she threatened us at the same time?”
“Irrelevant,” Rei says confidently.
Kuyo would argue, but then Rei is pushing halfway up from his seat and leaning across the table to snatch an especially crisp fry out of his hand, and he’s close, and even that annoying, self-satisfied look on his face can’t get Kuyo to snap back fast enough.
“By the way—I didn’t miss you taking all the good fries, dick.”
A string of desperation guides Kuyo through the next few seconds. He doesn’t break eye contact as he reaches to Rei’s side of the table and steals his burger without missing a beat. The smugness is replaced by indignation and frantic complaints and, blessedly, Rei’s Rei-ness is back at manageable levels again.
Maybe Rei is less oblivious than Kuyo gives him credit for. Or maybe he’s even worse.
In a similar manner, maybe Kuyo only noticed Arlo’s crush because it’s obvious. And maybe, just maybe, Kuyo also noticed it because he has personal experience with being afflicted by feelings for Rei, of all people.
Contrary to expectations, Kuyo gets his chance to tease Arlo sooner than expected. It’s a week into break, and like a good friend, he comes to Rei’s house bearing snacks and horror movies. Like a best friend, he doesn’t bother trying the door, and enters directly through a window.
Halfway inside, he bumps into a barrier that definitely wasn’t there last time he came over, and he feels cuts open worrying close to his eyes. Wait a minute—
“Kuyo? What are you doing here?” Arlo asks, appalled. Kuyo groans.
“Back at you, shrimp,” Kuyo bites out. “Care to let this down?”
Arlo bristles. “Answer the question first.”
“Probably the same reason as you,” Kuyo acknowledges begrudgingly.
Arlo pauses. “...They didn’t tell me you’d be coming.”
“Samesies,” Kuyo says dryly. “Now, barrier. Down, boy.”
Oh, that pissed him off, Kuyo thinks, blinking in mild concern at the shrinking barrier.
“Arlo? You okay over there?”
The barrier disappears and Arlo whirls around, the picture of manufactured innocence as Rei comes around the corner. “Everything’s fine. Just welcoming the intruder,” Arlo says,
“Oh, Kuyo made it! Nice. Popcorn’s in the microwave. Did you bring the mo—”
Without warning, Rei freezes. Was he finally going to scold his protege for threatening people with bodily harm? “What?”
“Oh my god,” Rei murmurs. “I was right! You do have to cosplay Buggy!”
Kuyo stares, unimpressed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Come on, I’ll show you!” Rei says quickly, already dragging Kuyo off god knows where.
Minutes later, Rei is snapping pictures while Kuyo glares into the bathroom mirror. The cuts from Arlo’s barrier just so happened to open around his eyes, diagonally, supposedly making him look like a certain clown pirate.
“You can’t tell me you don’t see it,” Rei laughs from behind his phone.
“I can.” He really can’t.
“You look just like him! You don’t even need a wig. C’mon, we can take you to a con, it’ll be fun—“
“If this is all you pulled me in here for, I’m leaving and I’m taking the movies with me,” Kuyo threatens.
Rei is still laughing as he finally puts his phone away, starting to dig through the cabinets. “This wasn’t all, don’t worry. I also wanted to get you… uh, hold on…” The pause for dramatic effect loses impact as Rei continues digging around, although he gets points for looking no less triumphant when he finds what he was looking for. “Got it! Ointment for the cuts.”
“It barely broke the skin, I’m fine,” Kuyo says simply.
“Consider this an apology,” Rei says, nudging the cabinet shut. “‘It’ was Arlo, right?”
“Who else could it be?” Kuyo says, and then quickly corrects himself at the same time Rei does.
“Remi,” they say in unison. Rei adds, grinning, “I wouldn’t put it past you to piss her off enough for that.”
“Yeah, yeah, I bring out the worst in people, we know this.” Kuyo rolls his eyes, reaching for the ointment and grabbing only air.
“You’re an asshole,” Rei says bluntly. When Kuyo looks back, he sees his counterpart holding the container out of reach. “It’s one of your… charms, let’s call it! Your only one, really. I wouldn’t say you only bring out the worst, though. Remember when you made Arlo so upset during sparring you had to go to the infirmary? That certainly wasn't his worst, was it?"
“Don’t remind me. And give me that, you little shit,” Kuyo orders, reaching again for the container and missing. Rei laughs like he’s proud of it, tossing the container from one hand to the other just as Kuyo finally almost gets it. Even if he’s got better reach, Rei is still faster. Not one step ahead, but quick enough that Kuyo is always staring at his back anyway.
Except—no, he’s not staring at his back right now. They look each other dead in the eyes, closer than Kuyo had realized he was. Since when did that even—?
Proximity is nothing new for them, not with all the sparring, let alone the real fights when they were underclassmen. Unlike those times, Kuyo’s heartbeat is steady—pounding so loud he’s almost worried Rei can hear it, sure, but nonetheless steady. Certain. There's something between them now, and Kuyo knows it like he knows his own name—
And yet he’s still willing himself deathly still as Rei’s palm settles upon his cheek.
(Coward, coward, coward—)
(If he wanted to, he would do it himself—)
“You’re the worst,” Kuyo mutters. Rei’s thumb brushes down the path of the cut, applying the ointment, and Kuyo can feel his laughter through the pads of his fingers. Nobody else believes Kuyo, but now, cornered by nothing more than the counter and the hand cradling his face, trying and failing to look anywhere other than at Rei, he knows he’s right.
The door is wide open, because this isn’t anything special. Rei is a little shit by nature when Kuyo is involved. And unfortunately, Kuyo can’t focus on anything else when that’s the case.
So he doesn’t notice Arlo passing by the doorway, lingering for a second too long, eyes wide and then squeezed tightly shut. He rushes off like he’s been burned.
And of course he doesn’t notice that Rei is too focused on him to see it, either.
Arlo is being annoying, and for once, Kuyo doesn’t find it hilarious. It’s tragic, how light he feels, that Arlo’s pettiness is barely even funny. Why’s he in such a good mood, anyway? He would compare himself to a monk having reached ascension or something like that, but he’s not nearly virtuous enough.
“How did you end up starting a movie night tradition with Kuyo and Remi at the same time?” Arlo asks. Rei’s digging in the pantry for more snacks, so he can’t see the look on his face that’s saltier than the Dead Sea.
Rei sighs as he tucks a party size bag of Doritos (which Kuyo knows the siblings will eat entirely on their own) under his arm. “Well, long story short, it was the only way to save the world,” he says sagely.
Arlo blinks several times, visibly buffering, and still quite clearly grouchy. Kuyo snorts.
“What he means is that me and Remi never would’ve let him hear the end of it otherwise,” he clarifies. Really, he’s putting it mildly—there was a cold war that would have suddenly gotten very, very hot had this disagreement ended any other way.
“Uh-huh. Why did you invite me, then?”
Rei chuckles and nudges Arlo’s arm. “Isn’t it obvious? ‘Cause we wanted you there.”
This time, Kuyo smothers his urge to laugh as Arlo visibly flounders. He can help him out, just this once.
“Plus, I wanted to see if you’d be the type to scream over horror movies,” he teases.
Arlo’s head whips around, the boy glaring. “You didn’t even know I would be here!”
Despite his complaints, Kuyo can see past the set of his brows and the brass in his voice. The extra tension in his stance has begun to dissipate. That’s good.
“Doesn’t make my point any weaker!” Kuyo laughs. “Rei, I brought Thirteen Ghosts. He’s probably squeamish with an ability like his, I bet that scene will—”
“We agreed to start with V is for Vendetta,” Remi reminds, the glow and frizzy hair indicating that she heard them from the living room and rushed over. Kuyo tries not to laugh; it’s difficult to know whose anger is more difficult to diffuse between the two. (Granted, he rarely bothers doing it with Arlo.)
Arlo blinks. “Isn’t that banned?”
“Just hard to come by.” Kuyo waves him off without a glance and quickly refocuses on Remi. “Anyway, the deal is rock-paper-scissors when we can’t agree, isn’t it?”
“But we did agree. To V is for Vendetta.”
“And now I’m saying—”
“If you guys keep arguing, I’m letting Arlo choose,” Rei announces as he steps out of the pantry. “And he mostly watches documentaries.”
Arlo picks Saw. Kuyo says it’s out of spite, which the boy denies. No one believes him.
After the second death to make three-quarters of the group shut their eyes (it can be left to the imagination who did what), Rei pauses it and declares a snack-and-bathroom break before taking his leave. Arlo follows, leaving only Kuyo and Remi, which everyone should know has been a horrible combination since she became a tween and decided he and her brother alike were hellspawn. (In other words, Rei’s affection became embarrassing in public, and she finally realized Kuyo was annoying.)
“Kuyo,” the girl begins suddenly, unusually serious.
“...Yeah?”
“I… need help. Advice.”
“Rei’s—”
“Not from Rei.”
Kuyo raises a brow, silently urging her to continue.
“A girl in my class told me she liked me,” Remi admits quietly. “I, um. I don’t know what I should do.”
“And you’re talking to me instead of Rei, why?” Kuyo asks, appalled. “He’s not the type to make fun of you. And you know damn well I’m going to make fun of you.”
“You really think Rei can help me with this?”
Kuyo snorts. She really does know her brother. “Okay, fair point.”
Remi sighs. “What do I do?”
Arlo walks back into the room before Kuyo can answer. In true ‘someone just walked into a private conversation without realizing it’ fashion, Arlo blinks several times when the two of them wordlessly turn to him.
“What’s going on here?”
Kuyo glances at Remi. You wanna tell him?
She gets the message and sighs again. “It won’t hurt anything, I guess…” She turns to Arlo. “Someone told me that they like me.”
Kuyo laughs into his hand when he sees how downright frazzled Arlo is by the slightest mention of a crush. Arlo glares, holding silence only for a moment.
“And you chose to talk to Kuyo about it?”
“Hey!” Just because he agrees doesn’t mean he has to take this crap from Arlo.
“Rei would be worse. Let alone my parents.” Remi shudders at the thought. Knowing her mother, Kuyo understands the feeling.
Arlo sighs and sits down with them on the floor. He looks terribly reluctant, but ultimately resolved. It’s not the worst look for him. “What do you want to do?”
“I mean… I’ve known her for a while, and—“
“Her?”
Kuyo and Remi both take pause.
“Yes…?” Remi clarifies.
The resolved expression completely changes. He’s apprehensive, and a little… upset?
Oh. Kuyo has an idea of where this is going, suddenly. He hopes he’s wrong.
“And you didn’t tell her no immediately?” Arlo says, his tone harsh. “What next, is she a low tier?”
Okay, Kuyo thinks. I’ll give him some time. Maybe it’ll be okay, and they’ll work it out.
“Hey!” Remi hisses back. “She’s my friend! What’s your problem?”
“My problem is that you’re so okay with… with this, with her. Do you not realize the issue here?”
“The fact that she’s a girl isn’t a problem. I was hoping to ask for help with what’s actually bothering me,” Remi says, glaring. “And I didn’t even ask you.”
Arlo scoffs. “Considering you still have any uncertainty about what to do, Kuyo clearly wasn’t the best person to ask about this. You have to turn her down.”
Remi looks like she’s about to punch him, which Kuyo takes as his cue. No one gets to say that he didn’t give him a chance.
“Big talk from the kid who’s been crushing on Rei.”
Remi and Arlo both turn to him instantly, all of their anger changing to shock.
Remi is the first to recover, opening her mouth to question Kuyo’s ‘accusation’ (at least, that’s what Arlo will call it). However, Arlo manages to snap back first.
“I do not—“ He cuts himself off, lowering his voice. “I don’t have a crush on Rei. That’s ridiculous.”
“Uh-huh, and the sky is neon green.”
“I don’t.”
“You’ve been all about him since forever. It’s obvious.”
“I said I don’t like Rei.”
“You talk about him like he’s your personal hero, like he hung up the sun and stars or something.”
“He’s my mentor, of course I—“
“Even though you’d clearly never support how Rei runs things, you’ve never said a word to him about it.”
“He’s the King! Once I take over, I—“
“Why are you trying so hard to deny it?” Kuyo sighs. “You’re really not that subtle. I honestly don't get how Rei hasn’t noticed. Well… actually, no, I—“
“I don’t like Rei!” Arlo finally snaps, his hands balled into fists at his sides. The room goes dead silent as Arlo stands up.
With slowly growing panic, Kuyo realizes that his eyes have gone glassy.
Shit.
Arlo isn’t moving all that fast—slowly, in fact, because Kuyo knows he’s always had a quick pace—but Kuyo still feels thrown enough that it’s difficult to string together a sentence. Arlo does it for him.
“…Since neither of you are able to listen to common sense, I see no reason to stick around. Tell Rei I had something come up.”
With that, he storms out, recovering whatever fire that Kuyo had knocked out of him.
“Arlo, wait!” Remi calls, rushing after him and then pausing. She stops in the doorway and turns around, glaring at Kuyo.
“I’m still mad at him for what he said, but you shouldn’t have done that.”
The door slams shut.
Kuyo sighs. Getting scolded by a thirteen year old girl is a real high note, huh?
Thinking on it now, he guesses that he doesn’t really get to call Rei oblivious anymore when it seems like even Arlo himself didn’t even realize how he felt about him.
As if on cue, the source of all of mankind’s problems walks back inside with a bowl of popcorn in hand.
“Hey, I just saw Remi and Arlo running out. They both seemed really upset. What—“
Kuyo chucks a throw pillow at his face and refuses to elaborate any further.
Kuyo doesn’t see Arlo or the siblings for the rest of winter break. He tries not to think too much about the look on Remi gave him when she left, let alone Arlo. Rei, evidently, is the only one kept out of the loop. He asks about what happened over the phone, but Kuyo is able to hold his ground with the distance.
That ends almost immediately upon returning to school. Rei is on him, and he doesn’t think that it’ll be long before he’s backed into a corner that he can’t escape.
…Well, it’s not like I’m not already, Kuyo thinks, a prime example of a student as he stares straight ahead at the blackboard to avoid Rei’s death stare from across the room. Unfortunately, that isn’t the reason he’s so sure he’s screwed.
He feels guilty. It’s a horrible color on him, he knows. He’s good at apologizing for things he doesn’t care too much about, but in this particular instance, he finds that he really, really does care. It’s gross, and way too much emotional energy, and childishly, he doesn’t want to.
But he will. If not because of Rei, if not even because it’s the mature thing to do and he needs to make sure he doesn’t get absolutely brutalized by Kass, then because, so very begrudgingly, Kuyo will admit that it’s the right thing to do. Rei must be rubbing off on him. Once again, failing his reputation, while he is apparently enough of an asshole to out someone, he’s at least going to apologize for it.
“I want to talk to you.”
The ice in the glare Kuyo gets is enough to rival the iceberg that took out the Titanic.
“And, astonishingly, I don’t want to talk to you.”
Kuyo sighs, scratching at the back of his neck. “Listen, I just want to apologize.”
“Apology not accepted. Can you leave me alone now?”
“That wasn’t the apology.”
“I don’t. Care,” Arlo says, clipped.
Kuyo pauses. Arlo’s stubborn at best, and he’s pretty confident that this doesn’t count as such. And anyway, if he doesn’t want an apology—
…No. He’s not giving himself an out this time. Consequences, or whatever.
“Rei wanted me to,” Kuyo tries.
Instantly, Arlo is at attention in the same way a cornered animal looks for an escape route. It takes a moment before it clicks for Kuyo.
“I didn’t tell him why you’re mad at me,” he assures. Arlo settles, a little. It feels like puzzle pieces are coming together. Really obvious ones, like the kind in those tiny kids' puzzles. Was Arlo always like this? High-strung, yeah, but pulled taut? Did he really not notice?
Arlo doesn't look especially reassured, so he goes on. “Didn’t tell him that you were seriously mad at all, actually. He can be an oblivious dumbass when he wants to be, but he’s still got a brain in there. He probably figured it out on his own after you and Remi left.”
Arlo stares at him for a while, considering him and his explanation. Reluctantly, he stands up.
“...Fine. But not here.”
“How is that an apology?”
Kuyo blinks. “...I literally apologized for outing you to Remi?”
Arlo bristles. “You didn’t out anyone, I’m not—” He really can’t even say it. If not for the incident that led to this situation to begin with, Kuyo would probably be laughing about it. “...I don’t like Rei.” Kuyo’s sure his expression twists in some way. Arlo’s own face is a warped mirror, following suit with irritation as the contrast to Kuyo’s bewildered confusion.
“Okay, again, how is this supposed to be an apology? Especially if you still think I have a crush on him.”
“I—” Kuyo swears on Rei’s title that he isn’t trying to get under Arlo’s skin right now, but the most succinct response he can think of is ‘my gaydar is better than yours’, and he knows that’s not the correct answer. Arlo gets more annoyed the more time they spend standing in silence, and somehow Kuyo feels like this might be kind of important, and—
“I like him, too,” Kuyo blurts out. (He realizes, belatedly, that this may be the first time he’s said that out loud.)
Everything but Arlo’s legs stop and start again, like a puppet with caught strings. At least he’s not mad. Kuyo tries to take the opportunity while it’s there, although for what purpose, he doesn’t even really know.
“Your point?” Arlo snaps. Something in his voice is splintered to match, and Kuyo knows he’s on the right track. (Towards what? His subconscious has made a connection that his ego is unable to comprehend or give up on in equal measures.)
“That,” Kuyo says, gesturing vaguely towards Arlo as a whole. He can't say that he's taken the time to know him very well, sure. But he's learned how to read people well enough to know when he’s gone too far, and he especially knows what Arlo is like when he’s upset. “You’re annoyed.”
“Great catch. Have you considered that it’s because you’re annoying.”
“Crushes are annoying too,” Kuyo points out, deciding resolutely to not mention his own personal experience with that.
“It’s not a crush,” Arlo insists.
“Even if it were, what’s the big deal?” Kuyo pushes back.
“Oh, ‘what’s the big deal’, you say,” Arlo says, sardonic. “You would never understand.”
“And you can?” Kuyo goads. It works as he intends.
“Yes, I can. I know the hierarchy, I know the authorities, I know how things are supposed to be, and you—even Remi, even Rei—” It comes out like something vile, like it hurts him to say it. “None of you. You don’t get it. It’s not right.”
“Why do you care so much? A crush won’t hurt anyone. It’s not hurting you if a guy likes a guy. What does it matter if some girl likes Remi? Arlo, half the school has had a crush on Rei at some point. I like him.” Oh, he said it again. “And that’s fine. And if you like him—”
“I keep telling you, I don’t—!”
“Okay, fine! You don’t. Just humor me for a second, okay?”
Arlo pauses. There’s still a frenetic, anxious air to him, but he settles, slightly. His posture finally loosens some. “...If it’ll get you to shut up.”
Kuyo laughs despite himself. He leans himself against the wall and lets himself slide down until he’s sitting in the grass, his back pressed to the concrete. He pats the grass a few steps over in an invitation that Arlo elects to ignore. “Alright. If you did like Rei, and this is only an if, what’s the problem?”
Arlo looks down for a long time, eyes on his shoes instead of Kuyo. It's an odd action coming from the person who openly admits to liking looking down on people, one that Kuyo thinks might be an act of self preservation.
“…My aunt would disown me.”
Oh. That… that explains a lot.
And there's the puzzle in all its guilt-coated glory.
After a long pause, Arlo continues again. “No, she—she wouldn’t, but she wouldn’t approve either. She’s always said… no, she never said anything, but…” He tries to change the image, cover it, but the admission has laid things bare for both of them. Before long, maybe without even realizing it, Arlo’s gone quiet and followed after Kuyo, back to the building and sitting in the grass. He curls in on himself ever so slightly.
“I know where she stands, and I know where I stand,” Arlo finally says.
“Okay.”
“Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not.” He's just realizing that he's way in over his head. "Sorry," Kuyo says again, after a beat. He means it more than almost anything else he's said so far.
Arlo doesn’t even have the energy to glare anymore. He brushes his hair out of his face and somehow the gesture morphs into cradling his head in his hands, eyes falling shut. His voice comes out muffled when he speaks next. “I’m supposed to be better than that. I am better than that. I know she would hate it if I were…” The boy falters again. Looking at him like this, Kuyo would be an idiot not to finally realize just how small he is. It hits him again that he’s been deliberately screwing with this kid—this kid, he’s only a year older than Remi—just as a way to pass the time.
God, I’m an asshole.
“Why did I even agree to talk to you about this?” Arlo wonders aloud.
“Because I’m saying sorry for outing you to Remi. And because Rei wanted me to.”
"You don't know me at all," Arlo says. There's no bite, nothing. But he doesn't correct Kuyo this time, either.