He tilted his head back, eyes open, letting the spray sting his retinas and fill his mouth.

His taste buds struggled to categorize the flavor, metallic, flat, like old pipes and city chemicals but he made no effort to wipe it away. He just wanted to feel something that wasn't the dull, magnetic thrumming in his chest.

He sighed for the nth time, trying to let the feeling out.

Finally, he stepped out, the bathroom air feeling unnervingly cold. He glanced at the man in the mirror.

Sunken eyes, pale skin. He looked like a sketch of himself draw by a blind five year old.

Another sigh threatened to rattle his ribs.

He knew Kael was sitting just on the other side of that thin wooden door. He could feel him. A heavy, localized pressure that made the air in the bathroom feel heavy.

The apartment had become a tomb of awkwardness after the police had finished their sweep and left them with a broken door and a million unanswered questions.

Throughout the questioning, Kael had been a statue. Noah had tried to brush it off as Kael being Kael, but the silence that followed Kathleen’s departure was different. It hung heavily, begging to be addressed.

Noah felt as if he were walking on eggshells made of glass. He braved the door, stepping out with the intent to shatter the quiet with even the most mundane small talk.

But the words died in his throat. Kael didn't even look at him. He simply brushed past Noah, his shoulder barely grazing Noah’s arm, a touch that sent a jolt through him and disappeared into the bathroom.

Noah sighed. Again.

As he wore his clothes, Noah stood in the middle of the room, staring at the wreckage. 

Some of his things still lay scattered like debris; the front door hung on a single, groaning hinge, and the carpet still bore the dark, oxidized stains of blood that refused to be scrubbed out. The furniture he’d saved up for was jagged wood and torn fabric now.

When Kael stepped back out, he was trailing steam. He looked wet, sharp, and... *hot*.

As usual, Noah caught himself staring, his pulse jumping. Usually, this was the part where Kael would drop a snarky comment about "human hunger" or tease him until his ears turned red.

But Kael just walked to the corner, pulled on his clothes with military precision, and remained a ghost.

Would it be overkill if I sighed again? Noah wondered, grabbing his backpack.

*********************************************************

"Getting on or not?" Kael asked bringing back Noah's attention to him.

Noah blinked, realizing they were already standing at the bus stop. He didn't even remember the walk down the stairs.

And the awkwardness had somehow followed them like a loyal dog, wagging it's tail nonstop.

The bus pulled up, brakes screeching. Kael already had one foot on the step when he looked back. It took a full beat for Noah to find his voice. He was shocked that Kael took initiative to talk to him, a whole four words at that.

A win is a win... I guess...

"Yeah" Noah finally said hoisting his bag higher and snipping the fresh awkwardness that begged to bloom. "Let's get on"

The ride was a specialized form of torture. Ever since Noah stepped out of his apartment he has been feeling uncomfortable in one way or the other.

Every time the bus lurched, the distance between them shifted, and Noah felt the spring of the tether tightening and loosening against his lungs. 

He felt like an alien. He watched a woman scroll on her phone, a student nodding off against the window, and a man checking his watch. They were so... normal.

He thought that by the time he reaches campus he would feel better but he was wrong.

By the time they reached the campus gates, the sore thumb feeling had become a physical ache. The crowded grounds were a sea of vibrant, loud human life, and Noah felt like a black and white photograph dropped into a color movie. Odd. Wrong. *Exposed*.

As they approached the massive concrete block of the lecture hall, Noah slowed down, his heart hammering. He finally remembered that he's not walking alone.

"Kael, what are we going to do about you?" Noah whispered, leaning in close so no one would hear. "You stick out. You aren't in my department. You aren't even a student. If a lecturer notices a random guy sitting in the back every day..." 

Kael didn't even slow his pace. He adjusted the collar of his jacket, his expression turning into something regal and distant, the mask of the protector.

"Don't worry," Kael responded flatly, his eyes scanning the crowd with a predatory sharpness that made Noah shiver. "I have a solution. Just walk, Noah. I will become the background."

*******************************************************

Noah tried his best to focus on class but two things made that feel like he's on a Mission: Impossible mission.

One of which being the, quite frankly, boring lesson coupled with his lecturer's monotone voice making the class a perfect place for a daydreaming sesh and the demon right behind him.

To Noah, Kael stood out like huge concert lights in pitch black darkness.

He could quite literally feel Kael despite not physically touching him.

Must be the tether Noah concluded.

But he wondered if Kael felt it too but when he remembered Kael's recent attitude he swallowed it down like hard pills.

Whatever Kael did seemed to work as no one paid any attention to Kael, even his class representative nodded to Kael in greeting as if he's an active student of the class.

"Hey, aren't you going to get the study material in front?"

Noah turned to the course mate who stood in front of him, returning to the present and noticed class was already over. 

He nodded blankly and stood up and made his way to the front forgetting the tether distance restriction.

The feeling of longing was pushed back in a daze as he pushed forward.

Kael behind him called out to him but I was too late and he says yanked back and crashed heavily on Kael.

The course mate who saw Noah literally fly backwards stumbled away from the two and bolted out the door leaving just the two of them in the hall.

Noah groaned and scratched his head in frustration. Kael on the other had silently pushed Noah off him signalling he wants to get out the hall.

This pissed Noah off. Royally.