The Altered.

Chapter XXXVI.

The next morning, Miles was thoroughly fatigued.

Aaron was also, but he said nothing that suggested he regretted offering to stay up the whole night with Miles. The last time Miles had had such a thrilling night had been with Ty, and after last night with Aaron, he was starting to notice that there were many of his memories of Ty that were gradually being replaced by new memories with Aaron.

That didn't mean Aaron was replacing Ty - nobody could ever replaced Ty.

Miles followed Aaron back into the treehouse via the window. He found that everybody seemed livelier this morning; it was miraculous what an extra few hours of sleep could change. The exception was, of course, Percy, who still looked like he'd just risen from the grave. He looked worse today than he had so far - Miles wasn't sure how long it had been since the boy had eaten or slept comfortably.

Miles took a step towards Percy before he was intercepted by a tall figure he found easy to distinguish.

Aaron immediately slipped away into the background as to not get involved in that conversation.

Miles stared up at Declan, not a single trickle of anger left in his body. Just regret, regret, regret. Declan's face was purple and blue and swollen, and Miles had no doubt it was just as painful as it looked. Declan opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Miles blurted, "I'm sorry!"

All conversation in the room quietened, and all eyes were on Miles and Declan.

It was hard to read Declan's expression, but he didn't seem angry at all. Then he said, "I'm sorry for calling you useless. You're not useless."

Miles wasn't going to let himself accept that apology. "Don't say sorry to me!" he demanded, but not aggressively. "Don't - you don't have to. I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking. I should have been. I'm sorry." He'd never been so desperate to apologise in his life, but he had a feeling this apology was more for himself than it was for Declan. He needed to believe that he wasn't a dangerous person.

Declan stayed silent for a few heartbeats. "Well, you didn't kill me. Guess you're stuck with me for a while longer." Miles couldn't tell if Declan was trying to be funny or not, but it lightened the mood a little, anyway. "Look, I'm sorry and you're sorry. I don't really want to have to be enemies or whatever, so, um -" he looked like he didn't know what he was meant to do now, so he just extended his hand hopefully.

Miles stared at Declan, finding it a little hard to fathom how this was the same person that he had argued with yesterday. But then Miles' eyes found everybody else, crowed in the corner, watching intently, and he realised that Declan wouldn't have offered peace of his own accord. For a minute, this irked Miles, but then he forced that feeling down. He couldn't afford to be so easily upset anymore, and he couldn't keep isolating himself from the group despite what he'd said to Aaron about him being completely willing to do just that.

Miles shook Declan's hand. It was too formal a gesture, in Miles' opinion, but a verbal agreement didn't seem quite as promising, and he couldn't just leave Declan's hand hanging in the air. "Again. I'm sorry."

That was all Miles said before pulling his hand free and sidestepping around Declan. He let out a long breath of silent relief, and the tension in the air seemed to ease as he did. He walked wearily towards the food, watching as the crowd of teens dispersed around him.

There was a moment where he thought he hadn't been forgiven - which, he couldn't deny, would be completely reasonable - but then conversation resumed and Kano approached him. The boy had obviously been crying again; his cheeks were blotchy and his eyes red. Miles guessed the loss of his closest friend still plagued him, and considering it had happened yesterday that was completely unsurprising. Miles felt a stab of sympathy for the boy and was about to say something when Kano spoke instead.

"You must be hungry," Kano said with an attempted smile. "And tired. You've been up for ages."

Miles rubbed his eyes conveniently right as Kano said that. "Yeah. Exhausted. But it could be worse, I guess." He sat down and started sorting through one of the still-full bags of food, trying to find something that would at least temporarily satisfy his hunger. "Hey, did we get any more water, by the way?"

"Oh! Yes." Kano scrambled for another bag and tipped out a number of bottles of water.

Miles looked gratefully at Kano while he reached for the backpack he and his group shared, and from it, he pulled the empty glass water bottle that he recognised as his own. Well, not really his own, but the one he'd been using since they'd gotten these bottles from the high school. Unscrewing the lid on one of the plastic bottles - which was large; at least twice the size of his bottle - and then on the glass bottle, he started pouring water from the former to the latter until it was filled completely. He screwed one lid back on and set down the half-filled plastic bottle.

Miles took a drink so long from his bottle that it almost needed to be refilled again. Kano had already disappeared again, leaving Miles to his own devices before he could check if Kano was doing alright. At that thought, Miles cast his gaze discreetly to Aaron, who was laughing at something with his sister.

It was absolutely impossible to tell what Aaron was feeling, but Miles found that he cared too much to leave it alone. It was a peculiar thing, that after last night when Aaron had seemed so wholly miserable about living his life wrong, Miles had taken to actually caring. He'd lived his life in freedom and Aaron had lived it like a bird in a cage.

As if sensing Miles' eyes on him, Aaron murmured something to his sister and then left her with Lia to meander over to Miles. Aaron promptly plonked himself down beside Miles and silently grabbed a small packet of dried apricots from a shopping bag.

Miles kept his eyes on Aaron. Aaron, before he said a single word, tore open the packet with his teeth, popped one of the slices in his mouth, and folded his legs. "In case you were wondering," Aaron said after swallowing, "I'm in a perfectly fine mood right now."

"I was not wondering," Miles lied. "I wasn't interested in hearing that."

"Mm. Night-Miles would've said something else."

"Yeah? What would he have said?"

"Something like..." Aaron pondered for a few seconds. "Something like 'I'm glad, Aaron. You can console me if you ever need to.'"

With that, Aaron stood up again. Before Miles could even consider responding, Aaron turned away with the packet of dried apricots and left, ceasing to say a single other word before the departure.

"Bye, then!" Miles called after Aaron, who ignored him save for a half-hearted farewell wave as he crossed the small room. Miles wondered if - no, he was sure that - Aaron had only said what he had because he'd wished it had come out of Miles' mouth instead. Miles, too, was now wishing he'd said something comforting rather than scathing.

As he continued digging clumsily through the bags in hopes of finding something to eat, Miles let his gaze fall away from Aaron.

Next time, he told himself, he would say something that ensured Aaron did know he cared.

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+1295 Words.