“No uniform, no school,” the administration assistant snapped for the second time.

Lion had tried his best to plead with her, but it seemed to be doing no good. He would have to buy some second hand uniform for Inn to wear.

He begrudgingly held over the banknotes that were meant to pay for his next few ballet classes. Lion knew he would have to budget extra carefully for the following few weeks to make back the difference.

“You can change in the bathroom,” Lion told Inn, “I’ll wait outside and then we can go to class. I told the school you’re a family friend so they’ve given us mostly the same schedule.”

Inn nodded before disappearing into the toilets. Lion let out a long sigh, tipping his head forwards to take a much needed drink from the water fountain. He still couldn’t quite believe that he had actually wished Lord Hanuman into his world.

Lion had just been feeling so hopeless and angry at everything and he had always had stupid fantasies when he had been little of the white monkey and him going on adventures together.

“Oh my god, there you are!”

Lion half choked on his final gulp of water as Bluebell came rushing up. Her long hair had been tied into pigtails and she was wearing a shiny pink lip gloss that smelled like watermelon.

“I’ve been looking all over for you – did you do the Math homework? Can I copy? I’m totally panicking Lion – I forgot that…”

Lion cocked his head as Bluebell trailed off, her mouth dropping open as she stared wide eyed at something behind him.

“I am done,”

Lion squeaked and jumped into the air as Inn’s low voice breathed hotly into his ear.

“You know him?” Bluebell asked incredulously as she flicked her gaze between Lion and Inn.

“Bluebell this is my family friend, Inn,” Lion rushed quickly. He hated lying to his best friend but he couldn’t exactly explain that he had accidentally summoned a monkey prince from another realm. “He’s staying with me whilst his parents are abroad.”

“He…you…” Bluebell gaped before snapping her mouth shut and wrapping her small but surprising strong fingers around Lion’s wrist, yanking him over to the other side of the hallway.

“He’s a family friend?” she hissed, her eyes still trained over on a bemused looking Inn.

The other boy crossed his arms over his large chest and leaned back against the wall waiting for them. Lion gulped, Inn really did look quite something in his now appropriately fitted clothes. The shirt enhanced Inn’s musculature without being too tight and the top button was open to reveal the dip of his sternum.

Unlike Lion’s shorts, Inn’s were long enough to go down to just above his knees, his calves were thick and strong looking and he was by far the tallest boy in the vicinity.

“Yeah?” Lion offered, but it sounded weak even to his own ears.

“Is he a model?” Bluebell asked excitedly, “I think I recognise him from a drama my sister is watching!”

“No,” Lion shook his head and bit down a smile, “nope, definitely isn’t famous.”

“He’s going to be joining our school?” Bluebell questioned, still not looking at Lion but narrowing her eyes at where a gaggle of girls had congregated in a circle around Inn.

Lion glanced over to see Inn send him a lazy, amused smirk.

“Yes,” Lion nodded, “he is, and we’re going to be late for class if we don’t go now.”

Lion awkwardly tried to manoeuvre through the group of girls. They were seemingly intent on Inn adding them on Line, twirling their hair around their fingers and reaching out to stroke up Inn’s muscled arms.

“Oh – Lion?” one of the prettier girls looked surprised to see him. Her name was Nin and Lion knew her from ballet class. They had been training together for five years now but Lion was still shocked that she actually knew his name.

“Is this your friend?” Nin asked, eyeing Lion with an unsure smile.

“Yes,” Lion nodded, blushing as suddenly all the eyes turned on him. “This is Inn. He’s joining our school for a little while, please welcome him.”

All the girls immediately let out delighted coos and shuffled closer around Inn.

“We have to go,” Lion whispered to the other boy, “we’ll be late for class.”

Much to Lion’s pleasure Inn nodded and immediately extricated himself from the crowd, gesturing for Lion to lead the way.

“What is Line?” Inn asked curiously as they rounded the corner and approached their classroom.

“What?” Bluebell scrunched up her face. “Are you serious?”

“He’s come from abroad!” Lion exclaimed in a panic, clearing his throat before turning back to Inn. “Um, it’s a messaging app that you can get on your phone. Actually…we need to get you a phone.”

“You don’t have a phone?” Bluebell looked even more confused now.

“A new phone,” Lion laughed anxiously, “Inn’s old one got broken, so we need to get a new one.”

Lion frowned as he tried to work out how on earth he would find the money for a phone. Maybe they would get round it somehow. Or perhaps Lion would work out how to send Hanuman back before the need for one arose. For some reason, that made Lion feel guilty, the thought of Hanuman disappearing already sent uncomfortable prickles across his chest.

“If you lived abroad, do you speak English?” Bluebell smiled sweetly, nudging herself into Inn’s side. “Maybe you could help tutor me after school?”

“Russian!” Lion shouted. “Inn’s family were in Russia, so yeah…he speaks Russian.”

“Oh,” Bluebell looked disappointed before perking up again. “So what was Russia like? How did you deal with the cold?”

Lion shrugged hopelessly as he saw Inn looking at him, one eyebrow arched curiously.

“It…was difficult,” Inn replied as Lion’s shoulders sagged in relief. Thank god Inn had already established himself as not particularly talkative.

“Huh,” Bluebell replied thoughtfully as they pushed through the doors into the classroom.