~ Chapter Twelve ~

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{Possible trigger warnings: minor swearing, uncomfortable situation (for Dorrian)

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

It occurred to Logan that he hadn't looked into any symptoms of his condition that Dorrian had acquired or developed over the years. Saturday afternoon he locked himself and his roommate in the basement and began to run tests.

Dorrian's sight was what he was most interested in. One human eye and one snake eye, both functioning (whoever did this whole thing to him had to have been very talented or very lucky). What did that do to his vision?

As it turned out, it was a strange mix of human eyesight and that of a snake's. Some snakes were nearly blind while some had very sharp sight, and Dorrian's was pretty much at human sight standards. What was more intriguing was his color sight.

Half of his vision was normal, every color that a human could see. The other half was dichromatic blues and greens, and Dorrian had some sort of UV sense in that eye.

"It's fascinating." Logan told him as he went through the results and explained what they meant. "You've clearly had this for a very long time and your brain has sort of fused the two different parts of you together to help you function. It's an incredible display of long-term adaptation."

Dorrian flickered his tongue at him, which reminded Logan of something else he wanted to check. He pulled a small box of essential oils that he'd borrowed from Patton out of his backpack.

"I'm going to put these on a few paper towel scraps and see if it's easier for you to identify the smells through your nose or the Jacobson's organ you seem to possess."

As he set the bottles up, Logan ticked through the different scents in his mind. Dorrian should be able to identify some better than others regardless of which sensory path he used, but some were more subtle and he had no doubt the boy's smelling organ would pick up the differences more easily.

Dorrian was frowning when he turned around. Logan set down the bottle he was holding and walked over to the bed.

"Are you okay?"

'I feel like a specimen again.'

Logan sat down next to him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Dorrian stared at his hands for a few moments before answering. 'I just... I don't know. I feel like you've become more interested in me as an anomaly today. I don't like it.'

There was a pang in Logan's chest and he reached over to take his roommate's hands. "Dorrian. Look at me?"

He looked up slowly, his face drawn in a sad expression. Logan squeezed his hands gently.

"I apologize for acting insensitively. I've been enamored with snakes my whole life, and I was simply curious about the differences between your human senses and your reptilian ones, as you are to my knowledge the only person to experience both... I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable."

Dorrian blinked at him a few times, then nodded slowly. As Logan let go of his hands he lunged forward for a hug.

The cool feeling of the other boy's scales against Logan's neck as Dorrian hid his face in his shoulder was rather comforting. Logan hugged him back and they sat like that for a few moments.

'What do you think of me?' Dorrian asked once they'd pulled apart.

"What do you mean?"

'Do you see me as being different?'

Logan paused. "Well... sort of. But it isn't your fault, and you can't do anything about it. Your condition is not... normal, to be certain, but I don't think it's something that should be regarded as freakish or scary. You're just a boy with a skin condition, really."

Dorrian offered him a hesitant smile and tucked his arms in around himself. Logan nodded and got up to put the essential oils away.

He had this itch in the back of his head, wanting to know more, but he wasn't going to push it if Dorrian was uncomfortable. It would make him no better than the people who locked him in a cage and profited off of him.

By the time he had cleaned up, his roommate had curled up in the papasan again. Logan wasn't sure if he was awake or not but he decided to leave him alone and turned on some quiet classical instead. He dragged his backpack across the room and began to work on some homework.

'What is school like?' Dorrian asked when he took a break an hour later. Logan tipped his head, thinking.

"I quite enjoy most parts of it. The pursuit of knowledge is, in my opinion, one of the most noble pursuits there is. But school systems can be incredibly flawed, and the problems that are seen are ignored. It causes problems."

'Do you think I would like it?'

Logan smiled. "Well you certainly pick things up quickly. Your signing is impeccable for how recently you began learning. However, I can't be sure how you would enjoy sitting through long class periods being lectured at. You seem like the sort of person who would rather learn by hands-on simulations and work problems."

Dorrian cuddled up in the blanket that was draped over him. 'I think I want to try to go to school one day. I want to see what it's like.'

"A lot of people take it for granted. I imagine you'd be a wonderful student to many teachers."

He smiled sleepily and closed his eyes. Logan cracked his neck and went back to his homework.

So Dorrian wanted to go to school. It seemed like a simple enough request at the surface, but Logan could already think of a dozen complications he would probably have to work through. A lack of previous schooling, the 'genetic anomalies' involved, accommodations for a nonverbal student...

He pulled a blank notebook from the stack in the bottom drawer of his desk and picked a black sharpie from his cup of writing utensils. In large letters across the front of the book, Logan wrote 'Dorrian Schooling' and underlined it.

He opened the notebook and began to write what he might need to get through eleven years of schooling in a few months. Maybe there were crash courses he could find somewhere, and once he got Dorrian into the school there were plenty of resources to help him catch up.

If Dorrian wanted to go to school, Logan was going to help him get a d*mn diploma.

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