BEASTLY

xx. strange and beautiful

"Julian... he's an odd fellow. He took some time to get acquainted with when I first arrived here. He was a genuine smart ass... still is, honestly." Avi chucked, which made me smile a bit. "He's been bruised, and not just mentally. He's got a lot of scars, both on and in his body, and he's putting up a lot of walls. I do think that he got knocked down a bit when you first arrived here, closing him out like you did. But I completely understand why you did it. I would have too, were I in your shoes. But you've got to understand that he's possibly the most anti-social human being I've ever met, and that's saying a lot considering I can't even see anybody. He... hm. He likes to slink down hallways, thinking that I won't hear him. I'm very sound sensitive..."

"Clearly." I smirked. "So, does he think I hate him? I want to make my time here tolerable, and don't want him to avoid me... does he also think I don't want to look at him for his, well... scars?"

"I'll let him tell you about those. As far as the hate, I'm not sure what's going on in Julian's head. I was hoping that you could get through to him. I was also hoping that maybe you could get him to study a bit more, because his grades are starting to sink just a bit." Avi smirked and stood up, smoothing out his shirt to rest perfectly against his body. "I'm going to go get some sun. You should go find some darkness and shed some light on it." He winked, which seemed rather peculiar to me. I found anything that Avi did to be peculiar, honestly. He never ceased to amaze me. I almost wish that I had him as a teacher when I was still in public school...

-.-.-.-.-

Mitch Grassi

I remained in my room for a majority of the day, hiding out and hoping that I wouldn't feel obligated to show my face to anyone. The only person I cared about seeing right now was Naomi, and even she didn't make her rounds to me. I figured it might have been because Avi spoke to her about what happened with Scott. Scott saw me. He looked at me and I could've sworn he looked disgusted. Why did I even have a sliver of a thought that he'd fall in love with me?

My life's journey was hopeless.

Nighttime rolled deep and it was eventually half past nine at night and my stomach was grumbling. I figured that there must have been some sort of dinner left out for me and I could've gone down to get it myself. Or, worse, there was dinner outside of my door this entire time and Wyatt made a perfect little feast out of it. Either way, I decided that it was time to leave the room for a moment. I'd get sick of those four walls eventually.

I barely touched the door handle before I heard footsteps approach. My entire body froze, my hand still hovering near the door handle. I could almost feel a body presence on the other side. The steps were quite heavy, telling me that those feet belonged to Scott. I steadied my breathing, making sure to not make anything audible. Once I heard retreating footsteps I carefully opened my door, revealing a plate with one slice of pizza with all of my favorite toppings, a glass of wine, and a little note taped to the glass. I grinned and leaned down, picking both things up and holding them close to my body. Once I made sure there were no wandering eyes in the hall I shut my door and immediately put the plate and glass on the counter. I bit my bottom lip very gently, hoping and praying that the contents of the note would assure me that the pizza was gluten free. To my surprise, there was a lot of ink.

Dearest Julian,

For starters, I asked Naomi what your favorite meal was. She said pizza, but it had to be gluten free. So, yes, you can eat up. I made it myself, so I hope you like it. Also, it's Scott. I mention that mostly because I'm not Avi... not saying that Avi can't cook a bad ass meal... anyway, enjoy this pizza and Chardonnay while reading a little poem that I wrote. I hope it answers any questions/alleviates any feelings you have towards me.

Scott Hoying

I paused for a moment before continuing, taking a big bite out of the pizza, some of the mushrooms almost falling off. I managed to catch them in time and put the straggling mushrooms in my mouth, savoring every bite. He did pretty good, and I had to admit that I was impressed.

Okay. Now, for this poem.

A monster dwells within this home
He separates himself, self-loathing seeping into his bones.
Rage and fear fill his self-made catacomb
A vow of silence, broken only by pity-filled moans

This monster deserves to be hated
This monster must own up to his sin
But deep breaths, don't cry, hurt and irritated
For the monster is not you, but me dear Julian.

This is my apology for causing your soul such strife
This monster I have been sometimes comes out to play
This is my gratitude for protecting my life
I have sent the monster far from here and far from here he will stay.

P.S. - This isn't a part of the poem, but Avi needs you to study a bit more. You're failing. Stop failing.

I held the piece of paper close to my heart and let out a sigh.

Because of this short, sweet poem, I found myself coming out of my room more often, but not letting him see me. I did see him, though. And there were times I felt extremely creepy. I even wore my large sunglasses in hopes that if he did see me, part of my face would be blocked out. I always paired this new look with my favorite hoodie... and I had plenty of them. They were all black, like my soul. Like my scars. I could hide underneath this and still be somewhat social.

-.-.-.-.-

Scott Hoying

I sensed that there was a new beating heart in the room over the past couple of days while I watched season six of Supernatural. I didn't dare call him out in fear that he would leave. I lifted my phone once to prove to myself that I wasn't going crazy and I saw him in the reflection, leaning against the door frame wearing a black hoodie and huge white sunglasses. Any time I would laugh I felt like he was grinning. Any time I got scared I felt he would get scared too.

As the days went on I felt sad that he had such a barrier between us. I felt that if I never spoke up, we'd never make contact. I had to be the braver person now. So, I spoke up.

"Hey, um, Julian. If you'd like, sometime, you can sit down in here. It's a lot more comfortable than leaning against the door frame." I didn't hear a response, but I felt that I heard his feet shuffle that day.

It took two more days of Supernatural episodes (I was watching four a day at this rate) before we made progress. Julian came into the living room mid episode and quietly sat down far from me, making sure he was always facing the television. He moved like a cat. Slow and mysterious. But it was worth it, to know that he was comfortable around me. A couple more days of this and maybe we'd be talking. But for now I was satisfied with this.

I looked at the boy, looking so small in his black hoodie. It was an interesting hoodie at that... It even said the word 'Hoodie' on it. His wardrobe was so... Dark. It reflected how he felt, I suppose. I really wanted to see more than just those big white sunglasses and a hood over his head. I never even saw his hands.

He was sitting criss-cross next to me on the couch. This was the closest he'd ever been to me, and I was feeling a little anxious. We'd made quite a nice habit out of watching television together. We'd finally made it into season seven of Supernatural. I always got scared over things, but this show was frighteningly intriguing. I got frightened enough by those Leviathan things that I reached my hand out and grabbed his arm. He gasped, but didn't pull away."I'm... I'm sorry." I pulled my hand away slowly and twisted my body slightly so I could be facing him a bit more. He didn't budge once. How could he even see beneath those sunglasses?

"Y-you don't have to wear those inside. I won't stare, I promise." I was so concerned. I'd never seen his face, but I already knew he was so beautiful. But he was too scared to reveal anything to me. I respected that. But I was more than shocked when I saw him slowly remove the sunglasses. He set them down to his left, next to his phone. But he didn't once turn his head towards me.

And then he spoke.
"My eyes don't hurt as bad."
And then he laughed.

And it was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.