Ferris Wheel Vagary

Chapter V

So this was Mathieu Criss-Casimir's son. From a closer perspective, he held quite the resemblance with his father if it weren't for his eyes. He would've been an exact carbon copy. Mathieu stared between the two younger men, a look of rigged anticipation as his eyes made a constant back and forth to Jayus and Hera. Suddenly, Mathieu's words rang in Jayus' head. He definitely wanted them to get along with each other, Jayus could practically feel the sparks in Mathieu's eyes hitting him in the face as a silent plea. Jayus could do nothing but let out a sigh at that. Red eyes once again found those contradicting blue ones as Hera did nothing but stare at him in surprise. Personally, Jayus hopes they would get along. It didn't seem like a good idea to pick a fight with the son of the person who bailed you out of jail. He stood up from his place on the bed and walked towards the man standing by the door.

"Hi, I'm Jayus Adamil," Jayus said with a hand reaching out for Hera to shake. "It's nice to meet you."

What Jayus hoped would be a good first meeting between people who would now be living together, turned out to be the most shocking turn of events since stepping into this house. Hera, upon seeing Jayus approach him, froze in place before smacking his palm right into Jayus' face. A gasp echoed loudly in the big room from Hera's father as he stared in horror at his son's actions. Hera hadn't technically slapped him but his palm had downright taken full coverage of Jayus' face. Jayus flinched in pain at the contact and he froze in his spot as Hera's hand trembled through his cheeks. The longer they stood there, Hera's hand seemed to clench on Jayus' face.

"Hera!" Mathieu gasped, mortified. Hera snapped out of his trance, and before anyone could say anything, he left the room, visibly tense. Mathieu could only call after the young man's retreating figure.

As the silence once again stretched itself out, Mathieu turned to Jayus, his hand still hovering in air, awaiting Hera's supposed warm welcome. Mathieu trembled in his spot, "I'm so sorry about that. He doesn't usually act like such a brat. I don't know what's gotten into him today..."

Finally snapping out of his surprise, Jayus rubbed his nose where Hera had smacked his hand. Fortunately, he hadn't done serious damage as the stinging feeling hadn't lasted long. "It's fine, I'm not too upset." That wasn't true. Deep down, Jayus' heart rang in his ears. Just what was that guy's problem? It felt like a sudden play where Jayus would get extensively bullied until he got driven away.

"If it's fine with you, Mr. Mathieu's, I'd like to meet up with a friend." Jayus said. Feeling rather guilty on behalf of his son, and pity for Jayus, Mathieu's could only allow him, given the condition he came home before dinner which Jayus agreed to without a fight. Not like he had any pocket money to eat outside. His parents would occasionally send money through mail but considering his house no longer existed, he only expected that support would no longer exist either.

     "Dude, you're seriously so popular with people but you can't even hold a conversation with someone!" Felicity said, biting into a spoonful of cake before she waved it at Hera, who begrudgingly, leaned back into his seat. It wasn't like he couldn't, it was just that, he didn't want to. For years, people had tried to get closer to Hera in hopes to suck up to him and his father's wealth. But it was exactly that which made Hera take a neutral stance in befriending others. He couldn't blame them, either. It was a natural reaction to push yourself towards an option you'd deem beneficial to you. That was what Hera thought of as a survival instinct. Felicity had been one of his very few close friends who stuck with him through thick and thin. If you asked Hera what he thought of Felicity, he'd say he is very grateful for her. But if you asked on a deeper level, Hera wouldn't hesitate to trade her for a fry dropped on the ground.

"Why would I need to do that?" Hera asked, popping a fry in his mouth. It was late into the morning and they had decided to spend it by hanging out at their favourite diner. It wasn't packed, with only a few people coming in to eat brunch which made it a perfect place to sit by and slow down. What's more, the food was to die for!
Felicity didn't seem to share Hera's principles at all, she glared at her light blue eyes at Hera who only shrugged off her stare, which made her grunt in frustration. She took a huge sip of her milkshake through its spiral straw, "I'm not saying you should befriend them! I'm just saying, if you keep greeting everyone so passively, you'll end up scaring away others who might actually care about you."

"You still became friends with me," Hera pointed out, to add one more log into Felicity's growing wildfire. "Not everyone is going to be like me, idiot!" She towered over Hera, scaring the poor man into sinking in his seat.
"One of these days, you'll understand what I mean." Was all she said before she sat back down and drank the rest of her milkshake.

"Sure, sure. I close my eyes." Hera retorted, jokingly, provoking the blonde girl to practically climb over the table to attack him. Grabbing a handful of his hair, Felicity crushed his head in between her palms with rage. Despite being a head shorter than Hera, Felicity had a hobby of enjoying sports as opposed to Hera who preferred indoor activities. Needless to say, Hera had suffered numerous times under her strength.

"Fine, fine. I give! Just let me go!" Hera surrendered, giving in to Felicity's relentless scolding. That seemed to do the trick for the raging girl as she sat back down with a smile. As if a second earlier, she hadn't tried to rip Hera's head off his neck. Giving her a glare, he tried to comb back his hair with his fingers, then sighed.

"In hopes to become a better peer to my fellows, what advice shall the gracious and merciful Felicity of Emerald-Vill bestow upon this hopelessly handsome peerfolk?" In response to his sarcastic response to her response of his response, Hera was met with a fry attack to the face. With extra salt.

"Hey—!"
"You know what you should do? You should try high-fiving people that greet you at school. That'll really surprise them, give it a try next time." Felicity took a bite of a fry off of Hera's plate.

"And that'll magically form a bond with others, sure." Hera snorted, taking back the fry Felicity stole from his plate before eating it. "You owe me for half of that fry."

"Don't worry, I'll shit it out and leave it at your doorstep." Felicity said, casually taking another fry from Hera's plate. "And just so you know, casually high-fiving people means you're on good terms with them. So if you want to get close to someone, that might be a good way to start. Nothing like a casual greeting for a high-five."

On the ride home, Hera hadn't thought much of what Felicity had said. But as his friend, he knew Felicity couldn't have said that without any regard for Hera's well-being. They were friends, after all. He knew behind all those jokes and scoldings, Felicity had only wanted to look out for her friend. As soon as Hera got home, he found his dad's car parked right outside their door. Taking out a slip from his pocket, Hera unfolded the paper with the words 'Parents Permission Slip' written in bold letters on top.

"Dad, I'm home!" Hera walked through the door, closing it behind him with a click. When he got no response, he looked up to the second floor and was met with absolute silence. "That's weird, his car is literally parked out front." Assuming his father must have been in his study and hadn't heard Hera call out for him, Hera made his way to the second floor. On the way there, he could hear noises of two people talking, and a light beaming from the room where his father had asked him to clean up. Suddenly, he remembered his father's godson would be staying with them for a while as soon as he put two and two together, and he made his way down the corridor.

As he neared the door, the voices only grew clearer.

"Dad?" Hera's eyes immediately caught sight of his father standing on the other side of the door. As his eyes scanned the room, his breath got caught in between his lungs as ruby red eyes met his own. There was this man sitting on the bed he had personally arranged. His dark skin burned like bronze showered in light. His brown hair glimmered like gold under the sun, and yet when he stood and stepped out of the light, it had become the soil of the richest harvest and plants. He adorned himself in a beige flannel with only a white collared shirt underneath and tucked neatly in his khaki pants. Even though he had been so we'll dressed, the dirt and ash that clung on his clothes made a contradicting impression on Hera. And yet, behind the grime on his face, with his outstretched hand and charming smile, he had resembled a bonfire in the middle of the night at shore.

Hera hadn't known how long he had stood there for. When he had realized he hadn't taken Jayus hand in return, he realized he had completely zoned out. Suddenly, Felicity's words echoed in his ears. So if you want to get close to someone, that might be a good way to start. Hera raised his hand at Jayus' greeting. Nothing like a casual greeting for a high-five.

Before he could stop himself, Hera had realized too late what he had done as his hand made contact with Jayus' face with a loud smack.