Chapter Text
Aric had hardly set foot in Arbed House, and he was already plotting the best way to burn it down.
Everything from the pretentious wooden floors, to the boys sitting in quiet rows as they ate their (unappetising) lunch, to the dean’s voice, was making annoyance curdle in his chest. And with Aric, there was a fine line between annoyance and anger, and his anger often had violent consequences. That was how he had ended up in this hellhole in the first place; he’d taken it one step too far with one too many foster families. Even in somewhere as ‘good’ as Foxwood, people’s kindness had limits. Apparently, hitting his foster sister over the head with a table leg had been the final straw, and his so-called ‘parents’ had wasted no time in shipping him off to boarding school.
Boarding school, Aric snorted to himself, deliberately zoning out of whatever the dean was telling him, more like a prison.
Because that’s how it felt. Like an overly decorated prison ward that brainwashed its inmates into forgetting they were ever locked up in the first place. After all, there was no way teenage boys would be looking so happy about sleeping in glorified prison cells if there wasn’t some kind of manipulation involved.
Aric trudged down corridor after corridor, trying his best to drown out the dean’s nasally voice as she pointed out classrooms and toilets and broom cupboards… seriously, did she have to point out the broom cupboards? He was debating whether or not sleeping in the Endless Woods would be better than this, and wondering if the dean would be fast enough to catch him if he made a run for it, when they reached an unassuming brown door near the end of a corridor full of unassuming brown doors, where the dean finally stopped.
“And this will be your room,” The dean said, voice still relentlessly cheerful, as if she was unaware of why Aric had been sent to Arbed House in the first place. “You’ll be sharing with a boy around your age; Kei. He can show you to dinner and introduce you to everyone else.” She gave Aric a condescending pat on the shoulder, then trundled back down the hall with a final, “I’m sure you’ll be very happy here!”
As if, Aric grumbled to himself, before heaving a long sigh and shoving the door open with enough force that it bounced against the adjacent wall. Pity. He had been hoping to hit his new roommate - at least then he could be guaranteed some peace and quiet.
“Hi, you must be Aric,” The boy - Kei - greeted Aric with a grin that made Aric want to punch his teeth out, but he managed to refrain, just barely.
“Yep,” Said Aric, with as much disinterest as he could muster, while he walked past Kei and collapsed onto the bed nearest the window. His battered suitcase was sitting at the end of the bed, and he kicked it onto the floor in a petty act of rebellion. He wouldn’t be unpacking any time soon, because unpacking meant admitting that he was staying, and he had no intention of staying here.
Oblivious to Aric’s hostility, Kei continued to chatter on. “I’m so glad you’re here, I’ve been really lonely without a roommate. I asked to room with Rhian of course, but dean Brunhilde wouldn’t let him leave Japeth on his own, which I think is totally unfair because I know for a fact that Japeth would rather have a room to himself and I-”
Aric closed his eyes and stopped listening. He envisioned Kai as an irritating fly, buzzing around his room, and then imagined swatting him against a wall. He grinned, amused, then remembered where he was and the smile was replaced with a scowl. He supposed he could play along for a day or two, enough time to make sure he wouldn’t be better off staying (though the longer Kai talked, the more he doubted this). After that, he could take off running, and live on his own in the woods somewhere. It wasn’t exactly the most enticing of options, but at least then he would be free to go wherever he liked and do whatever he liked, without being shunted from household to household because nobody wanted to keep him. Aric squashed down any bitter emotions that rose as he remembered the words that last family had hissed after him while they handed him over to dean Brunhilde.
“Evil.”
“Villain.”
“Monster.”
He rolled over, and tucked his knees up to his chest. He would give Arbed House a few days, and then decide what to do. Until then… he supposed he would have to go to dinner with Kei, and meet the other boys. Aric almost shuddered at the thought.
Great. Just great.
The walk from their dorm to the dining hall was about two minutes, but Kei still managed to fill the entire journey with inane chatter that had Aric clenching and unclenching his fists. He was blabbering on about someone named Rhian, who Kei seemed to practically worship. Aric wanted to meet this boy, if only to ask how he managed to gain such a loyal follower. Or perhaps pet would be a better word for it. Kei was doing an excellent impression of a dog panting after its master.
As they sat down at the long wooden table, Kei grinned yet again, and introduced Aric to the fabled Rhian. He was an unassuming boy, with copper hair and a blinding smile that made Aric want to punch him, just like he did Kei. Perhaps this explained why they got on so well.
Rhian offered Aric a hand to shake, and Aric took no small amount of pleasure in ignoring the hand, and instead taking a bite of the stew sitting in front of him. The disgruntled look on Rhian’s face made Aric smile to himself.
A chuckle to Rhian’s left drew Aric’s attention away from the tanned boy, and towards… Rhian?
Aric blinked in confusion, but then looked a little closer. After the initial surprise at seeing a carbon copy of Rhian sitting across from him, Aric noted the paler complexion and ice-blue eyes, where Rhian’s had been green. This wasn’t him, but rather a twin brother, or at the very least an extremely similar looking sibling. Although Aric was fully prepared to ignore him the way he had ignored Rhian, something about the expression on the other boy’s face made him pause. Sure, he was laughing about a slight against someone who was practically his clone, but that wasn’t what drew Aric in. There was a glimmer in those blue eyes; something that spoke of violence, and deep-rooted anger. Aric could recognise that glint all too well. He saw it every time he looked in the mirror. But this was the first time he had seen it on someone else.
Rhian’s replica gave Aric a sort of half smile (an image that would remain imprinted in his mind for a long time afterwards) and offered him his hand, just as Rhian had done. “I’m Japeth.”
Aric gave Japeth a long, hard look, before giving him a smirk of his own. “Aric,” He took Japeh’s hand - oddly smooth and cold - and shook once, “Nice to meet you.”