Hidden in this Thing Called Life

Rumors, Cats, and Going Home

There were many rumors flying around Helios. There was two, however, that were the most prominent. The first was the new professor, Professor Lispen.

"Did you hear about the new training professor?" A girl looked at her boyfriend curiously who nodded in reply.

"Yeah, I heard he's really hot," He said when he noticed his girlfriends stare, "What? Like I said before. I don't need to be gay to know when a guy is spicy hot."

The other rumor revolved around a certain delinquent and a certain 'sickly' student.

"Ugh, I want to be carried like that by Baldwin.... And he carried a boy... I wonder if I fainted if he would carry me?"

"I doubt it. He's such a bad boy. A dreamy bad boy." A few girls giggled together while the first one huffed.

A certain short Idun walked by at that point and rolled his eyes at their conversation. 'A bad boy? Really? He's just an annoying delinquent.' He sighed and kept walking, ignoring the stares he was getting from the girls. 'Although... he did carry me to the nurse's office...'

Rood sighed once more and was about to walk into the dorms when he noticed a black ball of fluff near a bush. He frowned and walked towards it when he heard a soft meow. He kneeled down and gently touched the ball to roll it over when he realized that it was a small kitten.

"A- a cat? What are you doing here kitty?" The Idun looked at the small kitten when he noticed that it was holding its paw a bit odd. When he gently touched it, the cat gave a whimper and he quickly retracted his hand.

"What's wrong? Let me see your paw okay? I want to help." The kitten looked up and hesitantly showed him their paw, only to reveal that it had a thorn stuck in it.

"Ah, poor kitty. Now hold still I'm going to take it out. Hm... it's a pretty small thorn. I have tweezers in my room, so I'll have to bring you in there alright?" The cat gave a patient meow and allowed Rood to pick up them up. Rood stood up before quickly walking to his dorm room and opened it to a sight he hadn't expected.

Shicmuon, who had just gotten out of the shower, stood there in only a towel.

"Why do you have a kitty."

"I uh, why are you, um. Oh for fuck sakes, put some clothes on!" Roods face was red as he quickly walked to the bathroom to grab his tweezers. He set the kitten down gently on the counter, his mind still wandering to the boy who had only a towel on. His mind kept on the towel before he shook his head flustered.

The cat looked up at Rood before giving a soft meow and holding up its wounded paw. Rood blinked before rummaging through the drawer. He pulled the tweezers out with a little 'aha!' before gently taking out the thorn from the tiny paw. He took out some bandages and gently wrapped the foot before smiling at the kitty.

"There you go." The younger boy gave a small smile when the kitty gave a little purr and curled up on the counter. Shicmuon, now with pants on, leaned against the door frame.

"So why do you have a kitty."

"I- Oh for the love of god put a shirt on!" Rood huffed, blushing at the shirtless boy. The fit boy gave a groan and turned around to put a shirt on when Rood stopped him.

"Asujen wait a moment."

"Wait? I thought you wanted me to put a shirt on." Shic turned around with a huff and crossed his arms. Rood rolled his eyes before pointing to the older boys shoulders.

"Are those real tattoos?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you have tattoos. You're how old?" Rood frowned, absentmindedly petting the top of the black cat's head.