The sense of being watched.

Every step down the hallway was accompanied by whispers that he could almost, but not quite, make out. Every classroom he entered came with a few side-eyes and double-takes. He caught one girl miming a fainting motion to her friend, and another boy whispering, "Is that the kid?"

Rein resisted the urge to pull his hoodie over his head and crawl under his desk.

It wasn’t like he’d planned to faint yesterday. And it wasn’t like it had been that dramatic—okay, fine, maybe it was dramatic. But still! 

He sank into his seat and tried to focus on the teacher droning about quadratic equations. The new kid sat on the opposite side of the room, perfectly at ease, charming a group of students around him without even trying. Rein told himself he wasn’t going to look. He absolutely wasn’t going to—

…He looked.

The new kid was already looking back, chin resting in his hand, eyes crinkled like he knew something Rein didn’t.

Rein snapped his gaze to the front. Nope. Not dealing with that. Absolutely not.

The bell rang for lunch after his third class, and Rein had just started packing up his things when a shadow fell across his desk.

He looked up to see a classmate—Mark? Matt? Something with an M—standing there, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Uh… hey," the boy said.

"…Hey?"

"The nurse wants to see you."

Rein blinked. "What? Why?"

The boy shrugged. "I dunno. She just told me to get you."

Rein sighed then muttered under his breath. "Great. Guess I’m the school mascot now."

He trudged down to the nurse’s office, bracing himself for another lecture about fainting.

The nurse looked up as he walked in. "Rein! There you are. Sit down for a second."

Rein sat on the edge of the cot, fidgeting with his sleeves. "Am I… in trouble?"

She smiled. "No. I just wanted to check in. You fainted yesterday, and I wanted to make sure you’re feeling okay today. Any dizziness? Headaches? Chest pain?"

Rein shook his head quickly. "Nope. I’m fine. Totally fine."

She tilted her head. "Are you eating enough?"

His ears went hot. "I—uh—yeah? Probably?"

The way her eyebrows lifted said she didn’t believe him. "Eat more," she said finally, with the finality of someone who had adopted hundreds of teenage boys through sheer willpower alone.

Rein mumbled something like "okay" and made his escape.

Lunch was no better.

The cafeteria was a jungle of stares. He grabbed a tray of pizza and a juice box like it was a shield and made a beeline for the emptiest table he could find.

He’d barely set the tray down when a voice said brightly:

"Hi!"

Rein froze.

He looked up.

The new kid was standing there, tray in hand, smile turned up to about eleven. It was the kind of smile that could probably convince people to jump off a cliff just because it seemed like a fun idea.

"Uh… hi?" Rein said. His voice cracked on the last syllable. Fantastic.

"I’m Torren," he said, sliding into the seat across from him like they were old friends. "I just wanted to check up on you and see if you’re okay. You know, after yesterday."

"Yesterday," Rein echoed, like he’d never heard of the concept of time before.

"You fainted," Torren prompted helpfully.

Rein flushed, staring down at his pizza like it might save him from dying of embarrassment. "Right. That. Yeah. I’m fine. Totally fine."

"That’s good to hear."

Around them, the cafeteria had gone… well, not silent, but subtle. Students were trying very hard to look like they weren’t watching. One kid in line dropped a milk carton because he was craning his neck too far.

Rein wanted to slide under the table and live there forever.

Torren just kept smiling, completely unbothered, like he didn’t notice the whole room staring. Or maybe he noticed and just didn’t care.

Rein took the smallest bite of pizza in human history and tried to remember how to breathe.

                                       _____________

Rein chewed in silence, painfully aware of how loud the cafeteria seemed. Every laugh, every chair scraping against the floor, every clink of a tray — it all felt like it was aimed right at him.

Torren didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he was just immune to this kind of awkwardness. He sat across from Rein, bright and relaxed, like he had all the time in the world.

"So," he said casually, propping his chin in one hand. "Pizza’s not too bad here."

Rein blinked down at his slice. "…It’s cafeteria pizza."

"Still. I’ve had worse."

Rein snorted before he could stop himself. It wasn’t even that funny, but something about Torren’s calm confidence made it hard to stay wound up.

No one else came near their table. It was like the entire cafeteria had agreed that Rein and the new kid existed in some invisible bubble, untouchable but fascinating. Students whispered, craned their necks, and stole glances, but no one interrupted.

Rein finished his pizza under the weight of a hundred eyes and the soft hum of Torren’s presence.

When he finally glanced up, Torren was still smiling, like sitting across from him in complete silence was the most natural thing in the world.

And Rein, for the first time since yesterday, didn’t feel like he was going to explode.

                                             ______

The final bell rang, and Rein executed the perfect escape plan:

Grab bag.

Avoid eye contact.

Speed-walk like a man being chased by invisible ghosts.

The plan worked for approximately thirty seconds.

"Hey, Rein!"

Rein froze halfway to his locker. Slowly, like he was facing a firing squad, he turned.

Torren was leaning against the wall like he’d been waiting for him all day, which was ridiculous because he had friends. And just because they had once lunch together, that doesn't make them friends right? Right?! 

"Uh… hi?" Rein said carefully.

Torren smiled that same calm, bright smile. "I thought I’d walk with you."

Rein blinked. "...Home?"

"Unless you live in space or something."

Rein opened his mouth, closed it, and then managed, "Why?"

Torren shrugged. "Just making sure you’re okay. I didn’t want you to… you know…" He made a vague fainting gesture.

Rein groaned into his hands. "I’m never going to live that down, am I?"

"Nope," Torren said cheerfully. "But I think it’s kind of… charming."

Rein stared at him like he’d just announced that grass was blue. "Charming. Fainting is charming to you."

"Only when you do it."

Rein sputtered something that was probably English in another lifetime, then decided the best course of action was to turn and start walking. If he didn’t respond, maybe the conversation would die a natural death.

Unfortunately, Torren fell into step beside him like they’d done this every day for years.

The walk home wasn’t long, but it had never felt this long.

Torren hummed under his breath, glancing around the neighborhood like he was cataloging every tree and street sign. "You always walk fast," he said after a minute.

Rein frowned. "What?"

"Your steps. Quick. Like you’re trying to get somewhere but also… not be noticed."

Rein stared at him. "...Are you studying me?"

Torren grinned. "Maybe a little."

Rein groaned. "You’re so weird."

"I’ve been told that, but don't worry, where I come from weird is normal." Torren said lightly, hands in his pockets, entirely unbothered.

The conversation drifted into small talk, mostly Torren asking weirdly specific questions that made Rein feel like he was being interviewed for a job he didn’t apply for.

"Do you always take this route?"

"Why do you look at the sky when you cross the street?"

"Do you like quiet places?"

Rein’s brain: screaming.

Rein’s mouth: "...I dunno. Guess I do."

Somehow, by the time they reached his street, the awkwardness had worn into a strange, cautious comfort.

Torren stopped at the edge of the sidewalk and glanced up at the apartment building. "This is you?"

"Yeah." Rein hitched his bag higher. "Thanks for… walking me, I guess."

Torren smiled, soft and unreadable. "Anytime."

When Rein slipped inside, Damian was sitting cross-legged on the couch, scrolling through his laptop. His headphones were around his neck, jazz faintly humming from the speakers.

"You’re late," he said without looking up.

"Walked home with someone," Rein said, dropping his bag by the door.

That made Damian pause. He turned his head, eyebrows slightly raised. "Someone?"

"Just… a kid from school. The new guy. Torren."

Damian studied him for a long second, then went back to his laptop. "…He looked at you like he already knew you."

Rein blinked. "What?"

"I saw him yesterday. In the office. He's the one who helped you when you fainted remember. He didn’t look confused. He looked like he knew you."

Rein laughed it off, forcing a grin. "He’s just weird. You’d like him."

"I doubt it," Damian said flatly, but his lips twitched, and Rein knew he wasn’t truly upset.

That night, Rein flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.

He didn’t know why his chest felt buzzy. He didn’t know why he kept thinking about silver-gray eyes and that easy smile.

He sighed, rolled onto his side, and muttered to himself:

"Stop thinking about the new kid, Rein. He’s just a guy. A super weird guy. With stupid cheekbones."

The apartment was quiet, but Rein's mind was anything but.