Midterms were less than three weeks away. His economics teacher still wasn't satisfied with his homework, even though everything was solved correctly. If he complained to his father again…
And tomorrow—
Kyle's gaze slid to the clock on his screen.
—more precisely, later today, there was another lesson with Darren.
Studying with him genuinely helped. He explained things well and never pushed too hard.
The lessons themselves dragged on forever, though — and afterward Kyle always felt emotionally drained dry. Every time, focusing on the actual material became harder.
Focusing on someone else's hands, on those long fingers — was easy. Way too easy.
Kyle shook his head.
Yeah. No wonder he hadn't properly slept for three nights in a row. Too many thoughts swarming around in his head.
The loading bar filled across the screen, switching to the game menu.
Next to the username Brain, the microphone icon lit up.
"So, one more round?" an energetic voice came through the headset.
Kyle blinked and checked the time again. Almost seven in the morning.
"Shit," he muttered. "I'm out, guys."
"What, why?" Sponge asked.
"I've got plans tomorrow… well, technically today. I should at least try to sleep a little."
A wave of voices exploded almost simultaneously:
"Plans? You??"
"With actual living people??"
"Not with Megan?"
"Ha-ha. Very funny," Kyle rolled his eyes. "In-person tutoring session."
"O-oh, that's way less interesting than I expected. Typical you," Gladiator commented.
"What kind of tutor?" Brain asked.
"Economics," Kyle answered. Then added, "Megan's friend from work."
"Ooh, congrats!"
Kyle's brows pulled together.
"For what?"
"Well, that means he's basically your friend by association now," Sponge laughed. "And if he's a friend, he won't be as annoying as regular tutors."
"Friend? Not sure about that." Kyle exhaled shortly through his nose. "And the second part's debatable too."
"What do you mean?"
"Forget it," Kyle cut the conversation short. "I'm heading out. Finish the round without me."
"Oka-a-ay, sweet dreams."
"Good luck."
"Bye-bye."
A short disconnect tone rang through the headset.
Exit to main menu → Desktop → X → Shut down.
Kyle set the headphones on the desk and stretched back in his chair. Morning light was already insistently slipping through the thin gap between the curtains.
He rubbed his face with his palm — not wiping away the exhaustion so much as smearing it deeper into his skin.
"Yeah…" he groaned. "Well, three hours of sleep is better than nothing."
----------------------------------------
Three hours? Yeah, right.
That hope aged well.
In the end, he couldn't fall asleep at all. Those pathetic thirty minutes of dozing barely counted as sleep.
He should've just texted in the morning that today wouldn't work. Said he felt sick or needed rest… But that would've looked rude — Darren already had plans later in the day, and he'd specifically made time for this lesson.
Though that wasn't what bothered Kyle most.
Megan wouldn't be back until evening — she'd stayed over at a friend's after a party last night. Which meant… they'd be home alone together.
Warm tension immediately touched his cheeks. And Kyle had absolutely no control over it.
He finished arranging the textbooks and notebooks on the desk, braced both hands against the surface, and leaned forward. His bangs fell over his eyes, covering his vision like a dark curtain.
"God, help me survive today…" he muttered under his breath.
Deep inhale. Sharp exhale. Kyle straightened abruptly.
In the bathroom, he splashed cold water onto his face mercilessly, trying to bring himself back to some semblance of consciousness. Dark circles stood out clearly beneath his eyes in the mirror, the whites red from exhaustion.
Back in his room, he collapsed onto the bed, desperately clinging to the last few minutes of rest — and simultaneously fighting the urge to just fall asleep.
The clock hand slowly crawled toward eleven.
Kyle rubbed his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.
When the doorbell rang shortly after, he went to answer it almost immediately. Faster than usual. He wanted today's lesson to start — and end — as quickly as possible.
A brief "hey". An equally brief reply. A smile.
A chair from the kitchen.
The room again.
A sequence of actions already familiar enough to feel strangely routine, despite how little time had actually passed.
Paper rustled softly. Blank pages gradually filled with equations, solutions, and theory. More and more notes appeared in the margins.
"You okay?" Darren asked suddenly, about twenty minutes in.
He was looking at Kyle, concern evident in his expression.
"Hm?" Kyle asked. Then the meaning of the question seemed to catch up to him a beat late. "Ah… yeah. I'm fine."
"Alright. Let's continue then."
"Mhm."
Another twenty exhausting minutes passed.
Kyle struggled to hold his focus. Information seemed to enter his brain enthusiastically — only to disappear immediately. At some point, he started making mistakes on problems he usually handled without thinking.
Darren exhaled through his nose and rubbed the bridge of it with his fingers.
"Ugh. Did you even understand this one?"
Frowning, Kyle stared down at the notebook for almost a full minute, trying to process the problem. But today, the processor in his head was clearly running on minimum.
He lifted his reddened eyes toward Darren. And nodded — completely dishonestly.
They moved on to the next problem — almost identical to the previous one. And Kyle failed again.
"Damn." The irritation in Darren's voice came out sharper than expected.
Kyle flinched and dropped his gaze guiltily to the pencil in his hand.
"Sorry," he mumbled quietly. "Honestly… I didn't get it."
Those quiet, discouraged words were enough. Darren's expression softened immediately.
"What's going on with you today?" he asked, calmer now. "You usually pick things up fast."
Kyle awkwardly rested a hand on his neck and smiled faintly.
"I barely slept," he admitted. After a short pause, he quietly added, "There's just been… too much lately."
He fell silent.
That pathetic shadow of a smile disappeared without a trace.
Darren set the pen down on the desk, clasped his hands together, and stretched.
"Alright. Let's take a break."
Kyle watched him get up and disappear into the bathroom. Then nervously rubbed his eyes and closed the notebook.
Deciding to relax for a bit, he lay down on the bed. First stretched out fully, then curled onto his side.
A light breeze from the open window drifted pleasantly across his skin.
One minute. That was all it took for him to fall asleep.
Through the haze of sleep, Kyle's body instinctively shifted, adjusting position slightly.
Warmth touched the strands of hair that had fallen over his eyes. Then his brows. His cheekbones. His cheeks.
Someone else's breath tickled his skin from so close that the strands of his bangs stirred faintly.
What a strange dream.
But soon enough, Kyle realized: this wasn't a dream.
He didn't rush to open his eyes. The warm, careful touch grew more noticeable — like it had gained a little more resolve.
Chaos swarmed through his head.
Yeah… this definitely wasn't a dream. And there was only one person that touch could belong to.
There had to be some explanation for this.
Kyle finally opened his eyes — and suddenly forgot how to blink.
Darren's hand hung frozen right in front of his face. Kyle's gaze drifted slowly upward — and met blue eyes staring back at him. They seemed clouded over with something. Hypnotized.
Darren wasn't blinking either.
Like two frozen figures, they both held perfectly still.
Kyle forced himself to speak.
"What are you doing?"
Too direct a question for whatever this was. And somehow, it seemed to be exactly what brought clarity back to Darren's gaze. His brows drew together slightly in confusion.
A finger brushed briefly across Kyle's cheek.
His heartbeat thudded louder.
"You had something here," Darren answered calmly. "Ink. From your pen."
The hand pulled away almost immediately.
"Oh…" Kyle exhaled quietly. "I see."
He blinked several times, squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
Darren had already straightened up and was now looking down at him.
"How did you even manage to fall asleep in, like, two minutes?"
Kyle sat up and stretched slightly.
"I'm surprised too," he said. "Guess three nights of bad sleep are catching up."
"Mhm." Darren tilted his head slightly. "I was wondering why you had such dark circles."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Not really. Could be worse."
Darren returned to the desk and glanced over the textbooks.
"But you do look exhausted."
"Yeah…" Kyle sighed.
"Can you keep going?" Darren asked, quieter.
Kyle nodded silently, got up from the bed, and returned to the desk. Darren sat back down.
Surprisingly, the short nap actually helped a little. His vision cleared, his thoughts felt slightly more organized. He looked down at the lines in the notebook, and understanding slowly started to form.
He reached for the pencil.
Wait.
Kyle froze, his hand hovering above the notebook.
He stared at the pencil for a long moment. Then at the filled pages. A new wave of confusion washed over him.
He sharply turned toward Darren.
Darren followed the movement. Then followed Kyle's gaze back to the pencil.
Kyle slowly raised his left hand to his cheek.
Where would ink even come from… if he'd been writing with a pencil the entire time?
At some point their eyes met. And the eye contact stretched on unexpectedly.
Neither of them blinked.
Darren's throat moved. He exhaled slowly through his nose and leaned forward, almost imperceptibly.
Kyle tensed. He nervously ran his tongue across his lip and lightly bit down on it.
"Oh!" he blurted out way too quickly, snapping back toward the notebook. "I think I understand this problem now. Let's try it."
It sounded incredibly unconvincing.
Nope. He definitely hadn't understood a thing.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of Darren's lips, and he nodded. Then he pulled his chair closer to Kyle and rested a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't the first time. But somehow, this time it felt different.
Kyle could see Darren's face in his peripheral vision and tried with everything he had not to look at it.
Focus on the numbers. On the letters.
But his concentration was falling apart again. He strained his brain, genuinely trying to work through the problem — and still ended up feeling like he was just writing meaningless symbols on the page.
He'd forgotten everything. He understood nothing.
Darren let out a quiet hum, lowered his head slightly, and looked into Kyle's face.
"So you understood it, huh?"
His voice sounded soft, almost amused.
And at that voice, a knot of heat twisted somewhere in Kyle's chest again, slowly threading itself through his entire body.
"Thought… I did," he admitted quietly, dying of embarrassment.
Darren finally gave in and laughed.
Kyle flushed even harder, tightening his grip around the pencil.
"I'll explain it again," Darren said once he'd calmed down.
And pulled his chair back.
Kyle let out a quiet breath.