Winterbloom [BL]

Chapter 6: Restless Nostalgia

So Huey did end up getting some rest in the end. He fell asleep by dawn while drowning in his sea of unsettled, anxious thoughts. Unfortunately for him, he barely got in half an hour before being abruptly woken up by his alarm.

It was the sound of crows.

No, they weren't chattering again - they only do that in the evening. Huey had actually decided to record those evening crows one day since they were the most effective alarm he had ever woken up to... aside from his mother shouting, "Hey kid, and wake up!" from downstairs. Now that was some life-long trauma.

Actually, he missed that trauma. He didn't expect that he, being the asocial human he was, would come to miss his parents after just a week of living abroad. It wasn't like he terribly missed them either; the atmosphere was just a little... quite? His tiny dorm room began feeling ever so slightly 'empty' compared to the large bungalow in which he lived with his parents - despite the fact that the latter was technically emptier in terms of volume. Even though his parents were usually quite busy with work, they were still always... there.

He wanted to talk to them. They had always understood him.

Whether it was regarding his extreme obsession over plants or lack of fashion sense, they had always understood him or at least tried. His parents had painstakingly worked their way to success and knew what it was like to have a strong passion; a goal to pursue. So despite the fact that their goals were different and they themselves weren't as interested in botany, they'd listen to his occasional rants. He rarely displayed his thoughts outwardly anyway, so they treasured every bit of his rare expressiveness. They'd try their best to add to the enthusiasm and support him - unless he took it so far that it may affect his health and wellbeing, that is - like the blood fertiliser experiment. Unhealthy things were a no no.

Huey was more liberal on his own self-image as a child; He didn't force himself to be this or that. When he'd go through the school yearbook with his parents, he'd openly look at the class photos and point to the boy he thought to be the prettiest. He said how he didn't understand why "girls are meant to be pretty" and why only the boys and girls would kiss in those TV dramas and not the girls and girls or... boys and boys?

He asked his parents for the reason. Their initial reaction was surprise, then worry.

That was when seven year old Huey began realising something was off. Earlier, he didnt think too far about things like romance and relationships. Once he began to do so, he started realising how unique his taste was. But "uniqueness" isn't usually faced with this kind of reaction, is it?

"Is there something wrong with me?"

"Mum? Dad? Do I have a... what do they call it? A mental... mental dis... disorder? A mental disorder?"

As a child, Huey believed his parents knew everything. He was naive, after all. They were always able to come up with the most logical reasoning to all his questions. He just assumed adults were all wise and all-knowing.

Of course not.

Adults are sometimes more naive than kids; they even fool themselves. Fortunately, Huey's parents were ones to not get tangled up in stigmas and think rationally for themselves.

"But thinking differently from people on TV isn't a sickness is it? My teacher said that new ideas mean creativity. So... I'm creative?"

Silence.

"Or... is there something wrong with my brain? Am I crazy like that?" He was confused out of his mind from all the tension from his seemingly innocent query.

"No... no of course Huey you don't have a mental disorder nor are you crazy." It was his mother. At this point, both his parents shared a tensed expression but then mellowed it down immediately.