Parade

Encryption

"What is it Tommy?" Johnathan queried, what could Thomas be so excited about? Then, held up a book. The same book Sophie had. "Oh, yeah, what does that book say?" Johnathan asked, "Sophie gave it to you, didn't she?" "Yeah, But, honestly I can't tell you what it says, because, I have no idea! It'll take me at least a day to figure this stuff out and it's so encrypted that I can only tell you the first letter, which is I." Thomas said, peering through the pages, pushing up his glasses every now and then.
"We'll see you tomorrow then." Sebastian said, in a monotone voice that it was actually kind of frightening to hear no emotion there.
"Ok, I guess? See ya later Johnny! Later Seb!" Thomas walked off, nose still shoved in the book. It was dark anyway.
"I should be going home now, my mom's probably worried sick." Sebastian started to walk away, when Johnathan grabbed his
"Hey, Seb, I know that we..probably aren't on the best of terms right now so, I just wanna say sorry. For what I said about your mom. Would you mind if I...met, her?" Johnathan said, he was scared yes, but he was ready to put the past behind him and start a happier relationship with Dr. Brown. Sebastian smiled a little,
"Sure, I can walk you over there. It might be late after but I can walk you home then too." "I'd appreciate that." Johnathan said, smiling now that Sebastian was smiling too. Walking hand-in hand they went over to Sebastian's house. Sebastian opened the door, Cooper barking up a storm inside, once he figured out it was family coming back he started barking again, but happily. "Mooomm!! I'm home! We've got some company too! So like, don't be naked I guess?!" Sebastian yelled down the hallway. The last sentence made Johnathan laugh, almost laugh away the butterflies in his stomach. "Thank god it isn't a serial killer this time!" Sebastian's mom yelled back. She came out of her room and walked over to the two, her eyes flashing with regret as they landed on Johnathan. She grabbed Johnathan's hand and looked into his eyes.
"Listen, I know you and I have had a bad past, and I want you know I'm so, so, damn sorry about what I did. I don't expect you to accept my apology, but I just want you to know that I want to start over with you. Ok?" "I was gonna say the same thing, but you just had to steal the words out of my mouth!" Johnathan laughed. Eventually, the night wore on, practically flew by, and even though Johnathan and Sebastian's mom hadn't fully made up, they were closer. After Sebastian walked Johnathan back home they kissed just outside his home, and waved goodbye. Johnathan snuck inside of the house and got into bed. It was 10:30 so, he didn't really need to sneak around, his parents weren't home yet. It just made him feel happy and rebellious. He fell asleep clutching his favorite Teddy Bear, Snuggles.

The school day went like any other, until lunch, Thomas rushed over to the table clutching the book Sophie gave him.

"John, Seb! Y'all have to see this!" "Whoa, Tommy, your southern is coming out, slow down." Johnathan warned, Thomas's accent only came out when he was feeling a overwhelming emotion, like stress, excitement, or any other kind of emotion. So it was normal for Johnathan to be worried. "I can't John! This is so exciting! I'm so close to solving this whole thing and I just need the last letter!" Thomas exclaimed, he always got excited about nerdy things like this. Thomas set the book down, open to the page he was solving. Sebastian picked it up and stared at it for a while, then looked at Thomas's answer sheet he'd put on the table, it was a scramble of numbers. Sebastian took out anoher sheet of paper and started writing down some letters aligned to the numbers, it's a jumble at first until Sebastian and Thomas figure out what words those letters can even form. Johnathan sat there, watching his two nerds in awe. After a while of debate the two agreed upon what the page said: "I love you guys, Johnathan, Thomas, and our newest member, Sebastian. I'm glad I have a second family with you." Thomas read, they all started to tear up.
"Oh, no...don't cry." A familiar voice called out from behind Thomas, everyone looked at where the voice was coming from. It was Eden!
"Sorry to surprise you guys like this! And...now you're all hugging me..." Eden said, clutching her crutches. Everyone was a crying mess, because Eden was finally home! At long last she was back! "Just visiting, because I still have some bad injuries that need healing, but once I woke up I was scared about you guys so I hitched a ride over!" Eden laughed, "So, basically, you snuck out of the hospital?" Johnathan asked, of course she did, and promptly got scolded for it. Everyone was laughing again and Johnathan looked over at Sebastian. He was smiling again. Such a pure look of happiness was sobering, he remembered when they'd met at first, he had that same goofy smile on his face. For a moment, everything started to fade out and Johnathan just kept staring at Sebastian, wondering, questioning,

"How long would that smile last?"