Can't I Fit In Anywhere?

Chapter 65: Quarrel

The next time Slade saw Ryan, it wasn't how he imagined it. Petra quickly sent Ryan off to eat something after he woke up, since he still needed to do a small amount of training with Slade and Petra was doing the announcement for the competition today, after lunch.

So the next time Slade saw him, he figured Ryan would have been with Tori and the others, happy and stuff, not looking like he was having an argument with Tina.

They were outside, besides the Cafe wall, and Slade couldn't catch their words from the distance he was out. Though with the sharp gestures he could get the idea that whatever they were talking about wasn't happy. "Oh dear." Petra sighed out, seeing the two.

"-care what you think, no." Slade caught the end of Ryan's sentence as he went to break it up.

"Do you not trust them?!" Tina hissed out.

"Yes!"

"Clearly you don't! They don't even know!"

"Good! It's my life Tina, not yours!"

The activation of Runes made Slade and Petra speed up substantially. Using Runes out of class was against the Rules, unless supervised by an adult. So having the active wasn't a big thing, until they used them.

"Ryan! Tina!" Slade snapped out.

Both heads snapped towards them, then back to each other, continuing from wherever they left off. "Break it up you two." Petra pushed both of them backwards, separating the two at least they do use their Runes.

"What is this about?" Slade asked.

"Nothing!" Ryan snapped.

"Yes it is something!" Tina fired back.

Petra gave Slade a look. They weren't going to stop if they were next to each other, so they had to separate the two. Activating his Runes, Slade grabbed a hold of Ryan, and teleported away.

Instead of the school around them, Slade caught the sight of trees around them. There was only one place Ryan said he didn't know well enough, so Slade teleported there. The west side of the woods. Ryan wants to get away, and his size doesn't help that matter.

"Where are we?" His head snapped side to side, before turning around and looking.

"I figured you would try to get away, so I went to the one section of the woods you didn't know."

Ryan's mouth opened and shut, before he plopped down onto the ground. "I'm not going to apologize." He spoke out, crossing his arms. He glared at Slade, who only returned it with an unamused look.

"I figured. Do you want to at least tell me why you two were fighting?"

"Secret." He spoke.

"We all have secrets." Slade noted. "Sometimes from everyone, sometimes from only a few people. My mother plans on fostering." Ryan's head snapped up at those words." Can't tell anyone in our family besides who is in the house."

"Fostering isn't fun." Ryan looked to the side, where Slade could faintly catch the sounds of a small stream trickling.

He frowned as he mulled Ryan's words over. Ryan never said anything about his family doing that, but it also wasn't something that often comes up in a conversation. "Your parents fostered?"

Besides a small wince, Ryan didn't move or say anything, just staring continuously in the distance. "I don't wanna talk about it." He finally spoke.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then let's talk about why you and Tina were fighting?"

He didn't speak.

"Ryan, you do know we're going to have to talk about it before we leave?"

"I know."

The chirps of birds filled the silence, and Slade could visibly see Ryan getting anxious at the silence. "She didn't like how many secrets I was keeping." He finally spoke.

"Is there a certain reason why you are keeping so many?"

"I don't want to be treated differently...again."

"Is one of those about that medication you were taking?"

Ryan's head towards him, before his eyes widened and he looked away again. "Forgot he told you guys...." He grumbled out. "Traitor." He added quietly.

Slade sighed. "You know he didn't tell us what it was for, right?"

He nodded. "Still doesn't change the fact."

Sighing, Slade looked up at the sky. The sun was just peeking through the clouds, but it wasn't doing much besides that. "Was there a certain secret Tina was angry about?"

"Yep." Ryan paused. "I'm not telling you; you know that right?"

"I figured as much."

Silence engulfed them once more, and it seemed Ryan wasn't as uncomfortable as last time. Slade sighed. It seemed like it was becoming a habit of his. "You know," Slade began. "From what I read about other fire users, you are relatively calm."

Ryan perked up slightly, which was what Slade was hoping for. Runes had to do with science, which was a subject Ryan thrived in, along with the maths. If he could at least get him calmer, he could possibly talk it out with Tina, instead of probably (read: definitely) destroying the entire school.

"I'm calm?" Ryan spoke in disbelief, before tipping his head slightly, thinking. It was like watching a spring uncoil, Slade mused. Ryan uncrossed his arms, and instead of glaring at everything had a farther away look. "Would Runes have an affect on personality? Sure, there will be a few outliers, people and all, but besides that, most people with the same Rune act somewhat similarly. Most people with Beast Runes often are rough house type people, like Tina and Aaron. Ones that are up for a fight."

Then there is ice and water. Almost any person I can think of that has those two is calmer and more collected. There is Dan, but he also has Earth. Speaking of Earth Runes, they seem more hyper and fun loving, like Light Runes. That would also fit well with Matt and Adam; Though Adam also has Earth..."

Slade smiled. That worked easier than expected. If you need him to cool down, throw a science theory or math problem at him and let him work it out.

"Am I right?" Ryan asked.

"It is a theory about Runes, but yes, overall that is the theory. Which is why I pointed out that you were calmer than other Fire Rune users, though that could be the Psychic Runes countering the feisty from the Fire Runes."

"I am not feisty!"

"You are like a small Chihuahua."

"You take that back!"

"The glare kinda fails when you have a flower crown on. Stop glaring, it's true."

---

Hey guys! I actually have a reason why it is late. Last night, it was done and I was going to publish it, except anytime I tried to create a new chapter draft, it kept on saying an error occurred. So it wouldn't let me make the draft for me to publish it on, so ya, that's why you are getting it now instead!