Sheraton Academy

A Rock and A Hard Place

Rating: PG

Warnings: cursing

Stacey swiveled around one more time, back toward Josselin and Meara. He pushed his finger up to his lips and raised his eyebrows and leaned forward, and it could only mean one thing: be very fucking quiet.

Meara pulled Josselin's blanket up to his nose in mock protection and nodded, and Josselin signed a quick, "We've got you."

He learned the hard way that a thumbs-up did not mean the same thing in Greece as it did in the States and England.

Stacey's eyes darted between the two older boys, then he nodded once, curtly, and carefully opened the door and stepped outside.

Although he couldn't hear the door, he could use his hands to judge the force and therefore the noise it would make while closing, and he was fairly sure he'd done so silently when he turned around to see another boy across the way and down the hall. He ducked into the shadows and tried to shrink himself even smaller.

He glanced down. The boy had a white and red cane. He was blind. And the badge on his lapel by his name tag was the same as his own for Ganelon: Holinshead Head of House.

Oh, shit.

He stayed still, silent, as the boy turned left, then right, as if listening for him. Stacey slipped one step to the side, and then, the boy's sightless eyes locked directly on him. He froze.

"Who's there?" At least Stacey could sort of read lips, even if he couldn't hear anymore.

Stacey lifted his hands and began to sign his name, then paused mid-sign and stared at them as if they were idiots.

"I know you are," the boy said. "I can hear you. I'm blind, not deaf."

Stacey frowned and nearly bared his teeth in annoyance.

"You're just going to make it worse for yourself when I figure out who you are," the boy snapped. "And I will."

Stacey looked down between his palms, then up at the blind boy's face. For a moment, he hesitated.

Then he ran.

"Hey!"

But by then, he was down the hall, around the corner, and halfway to the common room.

Camui frowned in frustration and annoyance. He traced his memory of the sound down to hallway and placed his hand against the door, feeling for the raised numbers.

407. Josselin. He should have known.

Even though it was almost midnight, he knocked tersely. There was a shuffling, than a silence.

"Really?" he said. "You really think I can't hear you moving around in there?"

The door creaked open and Camui left his hand hanging loosely in the air, slowly moving forward until it landed on Josselin's shoulder. He dropped it back to his side.

"Josselin, who just left your room?"

"I ...what?" his androgynous, nasal voice wavered nervously. What a terrible liar.

Camui's head turned to the quiet rustle in the corner.

"And you have someone else in here, too?" he sighed, exasperated.

"It's just me!" It was Meara's voice, so similar to Josselin's that when Camui had first met them, he thought they were siblings. "And you can't do anything to me because we're both in Uni and I'm allowed to be here after lights out as long as I'm not out and around."

"Like your friend was," Camui said.

"Oh."

"Are you aware that he didn't even respond to me?" he continued. "I could hear him. I addressed him. And nothing. He just ran. Who was it, Josselin?"

The beat of silence told him that the two older boys were sharing a glance about something. Camui turned toward the left, where he had heard Meara rustle the bed.

"Was your friend from London here?" he asked. "The one you're in the band with? Maybe stayed too late and tried to sneak out?"

"Uh –"Josselin started.

"Yeah," Meara said, much too quickly. "He, uh. That was my fault. We lost track of time. I'm sorry, Camui. It won't happen again."

Camui raised an eyebrow. There was silence.

"Meara, I didn't think your friend who was the type to ignore a blind guy who was trying to talk to him. Especially if I couldn't even do anything to him, anyway. He always seemed better than that."

Meara muttered something quietly in a language Camui wasn't familiar with. He turned back to Josselin when the other boy cleared his throat, and then there was silence again.

Camui frowned, turning between the two boys, then finally his face settled back in Josselin's direction and he said, "All right. But I'll find out, Josselin, because I'm smart. And you're not."

He didn't need sight or his hands to see the affronted expression on Josselin's face, and it was delicious.