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[Stefan Capper]

He shouldn't say anything. He shouldn't even look up. Shouldn't look over his shoulder or double check that he didn't have any bruises. It wasn't his business anymore. They weren't friends and they certainly weren't boyfriends.

But Stefan was a worrier. Who worried. About stupid things like Lyle being almost twenty minutes late to the one class they had together.

Everything...okay?

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[Lyle Malarkey]

Lyle had overslept. He had overslept because he had had two nightmares the night before, still not quite over his panic attack from three days ago, and had finally just decided to use one of the sleeping potions he kept in his bedside table. Unfortunately, the sleeping potion lasted a full, wonderful, rested nine hours. Which meant Lyle had slept through his first class and had been ten minutes into his second one before he had woken up. He had bolted out of the bed and into his robes so fast his neck still ached a little from where he had haphazardly thrown his bag over it.

His bag which did not happen to have his quick notes quill.

He bit his lip as he stared at the note in front of him, quietly sounding out the words in his head before sighing. He debated what to write for a long moment before he took another deep breath.

He drew a small smiley face under Stefan's note, with a single word beneath it:

O k.

[Stefan Capper]

He was okay. He had no reason to lie to him, so he must be okay.

So he should have left it at that. Now that he knew he was okay. Lyle hadn't wanted him around last time. They were very much still not friends and it was stupid to try to talk to him. It would get him nowhere.

But the smiley made his stomach flip a little in memory of the first conversation they'd ever had.

Good. Um. Why were you late?

It was so stupid of him to draw a moustache on the smiley but he did it anyway.

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[Lyle Malarkey]

Lyle sighed when the note came back to him. He reached up and rubbed at his face, though a small smile played at his lips when there was suddenly a moustache on the smiley face. He bit his lip and pulled the paper closer, drawing a quill and putting an X through it.

He drew on a top hat before he sent it back, though. In his defense, the smiley guy's head was probably cold.

[Stefan Capper]

No quill. Right. They'd never finished... learning the rest of the alphabet. It made his stomach twist.

What were they doing, anyway? It wasn't like drawing the smiley all over again was going to make everything go away. Wasn't going to be starting from a clean slate or anything. So what was this?

He matched it with a bowtie anyway.

[Lyle Malarkey]

Lyle frowned a little, wrinkling his nose up. He rubbed at his face again, exhausted, tired from his nightmares, tired from running all the way here, and now -- now he was tired because he was just so emotionally exhausted of... whatever this was starting to be again.

y r u

Frustrated, he sent the note anyway, drawing an arrow down to their smiley to indicate what he meant.

[Stefan Capper]

I don't know. I'm bored.

What else could he say, anyway?

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[Lyle Malarkey]

O.

R i te.

Of course he was bored. Stefan had no need for him now, did he?

[Stefan Capper]

This was all so stupid. Stefan reached up and rubbed at his forehead tiredly, dawdling with his quill for a while before he sighed. It was pointless, wasn't it? Whatever this was. It wasn't going to happen again. He needed to stop pretending it might.

Okay, well. I should pay attention to class. My OWLs are soon. I'll talk to you later see you around

Um. Okay. If you need anything Maybe we should I'll see you around.

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[Lyle Malarkey]

Lyle got to the second word before his frustrations grew to the point that he just gave up entirely. Gabby was helping to teach him to read, yes, but she didn't nearly have as much time as Stefan had to help him what with all the other things on her plate. And Lyle refused to use that spell --his spell -- because it used, well, his voice. And that just hurt too much.

So he crossed out what Stefan wrote, turned the page over and drew a picture as best as he could. He started to sketch himself out, holding Stefan's note, and then drew a question mark over it. Beside the picture, he drew a book and drew a large X over it.

Hoping that would get the message across, he sent the note back.

[Stefan Capper]

Stefan took the note back, chewing on his lower lip and held it in both of his hands as he stared at the picture Lyle had drawn. It was incredibly good. It made his stomach churn again at the sight of him. He knew Lyle couldn't read properly, but he had the spell...

Unless he wasn't using it.

He licked his lips. Why wouldn't he be using it? Wasn't it helpful? Frowning, Stefan traced his finger lightly over the drawing and let out another breath. Maybe Lyle didn't want to hear his voice anymore. It wouldn't be that much of a surprise.

This wasn't supposed to end with them talking to each other, was it? He refused to believe it had been what he wanted all along, so he folded the note up neatly and stared at the front of the class for a while before he turned around.

He hadn't had to turn around in so long ago. They used to sit together. After they got together.

"I can still teach you."

Which wasn't what he'd intended to say at all.

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[Lyle Malarkey]

He bit his lip and turned back, staring down at his hands. He carefully pulled another piece of parchment over, and started to sketch quietly, waiting for the class to end. He startled, just a little, at Stefan's voice. He just hadn't been expecting it.

He licked his lips and glanced down at his paper, where he had been drawing a heart. Blushing, he shoved it under his bag as subtly as he could before he looked back up at Stefan.

"You... will?" he asked quietly, biting his lip to keep himself from asking why.

[Stefan Capper]

Lyle looked back at him and Stefan's heart quickened again. He watched him when he asked and, would he? Why would he?

What was he doing?

He nodded. "Yeah, I mean...we never. I'd feel bad to just... not finish." Lips pressed together, he glanced around. "So if you want we could...finish.

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[Lyle Malarkey]

Stefan wanted to finish what he started. Wanted a clean ending to their messy, messy affair. Wanted this to be over, and Lyle wasn't sure he wanted the same thing. But Lyle was a great liar. Had always been a great liar.

He had just never lied to Stefan before.

"Gabby's helping me," he said quietly, watching him carefully. "When she can. She just doesn't have the time to lately."

That wasn't a lie.

"I don't want us to be finished, though," he said.

That wasn't a lie either.

Maybe he wasn't as good of a liar as he thought.

[Stefan Capper]

Lyle didn't want to finish learning how to read? Stefan watched him quietly, his cheeks having heated up at the mention of Gabby helping him now, taking over for what he'd left hanging, and said nothing for a moment. Just stared.

Trying to understand what he meant.

"You don't want to...finish?" he whispered, finally, frowning a little down at the desk between them, because it didn't make sense.

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