When they reached the outside garden, Kalen sighed happily with a gentle smile. Very few flowers blossomed during the winter as the frost would immediately freeze the roots of anything trying to grow, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still a beautiful picture. A light dusting of frost and snow coated the sculpted bushes, making the garden itself look a little eerie compared to what it would have looked like in the summer. “This looks like an amazing place to paint, don’t you agree?”
“I suppose so.” Claude nodded, breath billowing out in small clouds. “I can’t say I’d considered it before, but you’re right. I normally only paint spring and summer scenes, but winter would be a nice change of pace.”
Kalen looked up at Claude with a slight frown. He was still trying to figure out what kind of person Claude was, but the more they talked the more he became confused. Usually people had one clear personality, but it was difficult to find out what Claude's was.
The garden was beautiful in Kalen's eyes, but it was getting a little chilly even for him. He hugged the book close to his body, consequently hugging some sort of warmth into his body. "You don't sound convinced about the garden."
“I’ll be honest- I’m not. Winter is my least favorite season, so I don’t think I’ll ever see it like you do. If I try to find some beauty, I think I could, but for now I just can’t see it.” Claude sighed. He stared at the garden with an almost blank expression behind his eyes.
“Are you cold? We can go in if you need.” He looked down at Kalen, rubbing his hands together for warmth.
"I'm not cold," Kalen lied, something resembling sadness shone in his eyes as he glanced away from Claude. The blank expression in the latter's eyes was one that Kalen was all too familiar with… "However I shan't force us to stay out here if you don't like it."
He fell silent for a moment, just listening to the breeze, and everything was quiet until his stomach growled. Immediately a blush consumed his face. God, how embarrassing!
“No, it’s alright, I don’t mind— are you hungry?” Claude cocked his head, his tone bordering something of concern, but not quite. He checked his watch. “It’s about lunch, if that means anything to you.” The boy adjusted the collar of his uniform, fixing his necktie while he was at it.
"I mean I won't say no." Kalen shrugged, though what he really wanted to do was confidently say 'yes I am hungry, and yes lunch does mean something to me'. But he wasn't that rude, especially not to someone he had only just met. "Would you mind showing me were the dining hall is?"
“Not at all. This way.” Claude beckoned towards the large brick building with his head, slipping his hands into his pockets as he began to walk away. His pace was slowed, waiting for Kalen to catch up. “There should be a lot of people in there right now, so just prepare yourself. It gets loud.” The boy’s eyes were focused in front of him most of the time, although every so often he would look over at Kalen.
Claude wasn’t kidding when he said it would get loud. Kalen visibly flinched when the noise of the dining hall hit him, and was half in mind to cover his ears. With the ceiling being tall, it was only expected that the noise would be magnified, not that it made Kalen feel any better.
A little away he found the boy who had shown him to Claude——he was sat with some others——and looked up at the latter. “Is that Wilhelm? Are we going to sit with him?”
“That’s the plan.” Claude made his way over to the table, pulling out two chairs- one for Claude and one for Kalen. “Kalen, this is Quincy, Ivan, Enoch, and.. Victor. You’ve already met Wilhelm.” Claude definitely seemed to be the calmest of the group- two of the boys were arguing, the other three egging them on.
“They’re certainly a lively bunch.” Kalen states, remaining standing. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with just sitting down. This wasn’t his friend group after all, he didn’t know them on the personal level that Claude did.
“They are, you’re right.” Claude seemed to command the attention of the table when he sat down, the argument rotting away and the boys falling back into normal conversation.
“This is Kalen. Some of you’ve already met him, some of you haven’t, but he’ll, with luck, be spending time with us for the time being.” Claude laced his fingers behind his head, leaning back in his wooden seat.
A small, mouselike boy, presumably Quincy, gave a quick wave to Kalen, beckoning big to the empty seat. “Are you going to sit? Chair’s out.”
Kalen nodded meekly and hesitantly sat down in the spare chair. He clutched the library book closer to his chest and smiled the brightest smile he could muster at that moment—which wasn't very bright because anxiety took over. "Nice to see you all." his eyes flickered over to Wilhelm, and he gave a little wave since he was the person Kalen recognised the most out of the group besides Claude.
Quincy's yappy voice chattered on, animatedly miming out the story he was telling. Claude raised his eyebrows as he listened, looking over at Kalen with a slight, wry smile every to often. He placed a hand under his chin, leaning forward on his elbows. He mouthed a simple "wow" when he glanced at Kalen. It really seemed like Quincy never even stopped for breath during his monologue.
Kalen forced himself to hold back a chuckle when Claude mouthed to him. While Quincy's story was interesting, Kalen was finding it hard to focus on everything the boy was saying. Someone was staring at him from another table, and he didn't look at all happy with anyone at Claude's table. Kalen leaned towards Claude, not daring to make eye contact with the other boy, and whispered. "Over there, there's someone staring at us. Who is he?"
Claude turned around in his chair, searching for the other boy. "Him? That's Peter. He's a massive gaping cunt, don't talk to him." He turned back, drumming his fingers on the antiqued table. "I've gotten into more fights with him than should be allowed, if I'll be honest." The boy wrinkled his nose, a slight snarl on his lips. "He's a dick."
Kalen lowered his eyes, biting the inside of his bottom lip. While this 'Peter' person didn't look like he was a nice person, Kalen couldn't judge him just because Claude wasn't a massive fan on him. "What makes him a bad person?" he asked, turning to look at Peter for a moment before looking back up at Claude.
"Let's see.. how do I put this?" Claude rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out how to phrase what he would say. His voice was quiet as he spoke, but just loud enough to be heard over the background roar of the cafeteria. "Keep in mind, I was in school with him in the Netherlands, so I knew him before we came here. Two years ago, I thought I had a crush on a boy and told a close friend. Word got out, he beat the shit out of me for it for.. what, a year? Couldn't let it go." Claude laughed slightly, shaking his head. He could feel his heart pounding in his throat. "He still gives me shit for it, the asshole."
Kalen's eyes narrowed, his hands instinctively curled into tight fists. He didn't like the idea of people hurting each other, especially over something such as feelings, and while Kalen wasn't much of a fighter, hearing what Peter had done to Claude made him want to shove his fist into the other boy's temple and knock him clean out. But he bit his tongue and kept his head down. "That's awful." he whispered.
"It is what it is. If I thought that the kid could change, I wouldn't hate him so much." Claude shrugged, his tone plain and matter-of-fact. "Last month I gave that boy a shiner he won't forget, though. In my mind, that alone was worth all of it it."
After a moment of silence from Kalen, he cleared his throat a little. "I uhm.. I should go and finish unpacking." he mumbled to Claude. "Get my bearings of the room I'll be staying in and all." The noise of the hall was getting too much for him, it had even driven away his hunger with how badly he wanted to be somewhere quiet. "I think I'll see you later." Kalen rose from his chair and turned to Claude's friends, still clutching the book. "It was a pleasure to meet you all, again, I'll see you again soon." and without another word he rushed out of the hall, almost jogging with how quickly he was walking.
He didn't want Claude to follow him, he just needed somewhere quiet. Noise had never been something that agreed with him, especially since there were a lot of people in the hall.
"Uh- yeah, sure. I'll see you." Claude was slightly taken aback, unsure of why Kalen left so suddenly. Was it something he had said? Soon enough, Claude fell into conversation with his friends, his mind moving away from Kalen altogether. After a while, the lunch bell rang, signalling that it was time to go. Claude left the cafeteria, the gaggle of boys surrounding him and horsing around as they walked. The group split up, every boy except Claude and Quincy heading to their classes. The pair walked to the common room, conversation suddenly calm and levelheaded- a far cry from earlier.
Kalen hadn't gone to his room like he'd said he would, rather he was sat outside on a bench, reading through the library book. He wouldn't admit it, but he'd actually gotten lost while trying to find his way back to his room and so had given up searching. Perfect opportunity to read! He was so captured by the book that he didn't even realise someone was watching him from the other end of the garden.
The pair huddled in front of the fireplace, their conversation quickly morphing into a friendly debate. The drafty halls were cold, making the warm common rooms into sanctuaries for students.
"Well, here's what I'm saying, Quincy. You can't put something like morality into a box like that. It's too personal, too malleable. Somebody might find murder amoral but theft completely acceptable, and that's what I'm trying to tell you." Claude crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back.
"I want to say that you're right, but I just can't. What I'm trying to say is that if it's not for the benefit of others, or won't make a positive impact, it's simply not moral!" Quincy squeaked, pushing his mousy hair off of his forehead.
(I'm actually not sure what to write…)
