AU: And what became of the monk the monk the monk?

[Joshua Bernstein]

The three legged race had been a wash. They'd got off to a good start, but ended up falling over all tangled up as soon as Sean's school peers passed them. Josh didn't mind; he hadn't expected to win. After all, three legged races were hard, and he and Sean weren't close enough in height to have similar enough strides.

After untying themselves they had made a stop by the lemonade stand, and then gone to look at the homemade merchandise set out by enterprising locals.

"Wow! Can you believe someone made this?" Josh asked, holding up a ring that claimed to enhance psychic powers. "I wonder if it would work. Put it on and see if you can read my mind!"

He laughed at that. Sure, there were meta-humans, and some were psychic, but obviously nobody gained that sort of power from a ring or his mom would know when he hadn't cleaned his room without bothering to look.

Well, sometimes she seemed to know, but he didn't think it was because he had a ring.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean had managed only to get slightly scuffed in their fall, an outcome he considered miraculous given how he’d landed and how he hadn’t braced for the fall at all, and how Josh had fallen on top of him. His friend wasn’t fat by any stretch of the imagination, but he was heavy enough.

There was no shame in losing, at least, and nobody seemed to have paid any attention to them after their fall. Once they had untangled, he had congratulated the winners before his friend had dragged him over to the lemonade stand. That had been a good idea, since races were thirsty work, even when they lost.

Lemonades in hand, they had gone over to look at some of the crafts. Sean had seen a few items he thought that his sister might like – his parents were more difficult to shop for at these types of events – but before he could inquire about the bracelets, Josh was shoving a ring into his face and rambling about gemstones enhancing psychic powers.

That was about as likely as the telepath sprouting wings.

He had never understood why people would go in for that type of nonsense. Actually, he understood that people wanted to feel more in control than they actually were. But still, he didn’t think that they should be allowed to charge people and take advantage of them when they had no proof that their claims worked.

Sean shook his head and pushed away the ring. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Why not?" Josh asked, turning the ring over in his hand. It had a gemstone he couldn't identify but if he had looked at the tag he would have known was.

He didn't see why Sean should object; it wasn't as if it was in danger of working.

Oh. Oh

He hastily put the ring back down, trying to back pedal his way out of his mockery.

"Yeah, I guess knowing everyone else's secrets would be no fun." He picked up a bracelet instead. "Hey! This says it gives luck. I could use that on my next math test."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean felt embarrassed for both of them. For his friend for thinking that he would believe that gemstones could in any way imbue or enhance psychic powers. And for himself because, despite knowing each other for a few months, Josh thought that he could possibly believe that gemstones could in any way imbue or enhance psychic powers. He thought that Josh should know him better than that.

Then he thought about how he lied to his friend, by omission rather than directly, but he withheld information all the same. Why wouldn’t the other boy hold other erroneous impressions of him, when he already believed that he was a genius (despite Sean’s subtle hints to the contrary)?

Not that being a genius and believing in magical gemstones necessarily went hand-in-hand – one would typically expect the opposite – but that was something that the telepath could puzzle out for another day.

The discussion of good luck charms was something he preferred to psychic powers, since he didn’t possess probability manipulation.

“Let me see that,” he requested, reaching out to take it from his friend. It had none of the traditional symbols of luck in the few cultures he knew about, which made sense since the people selling the wares thought the gemstones themselves had mystical properties.

After turning it over in his hand, he gave it back to his friend. “It’s not a bad color, but I thought you liked green best.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Well...yeah," Josh conceded, putting the bracelet back with it's fellows and scouring the others for green. "D'you think I should get one?"

He asked this in his most painfully polite tones, still feeling guilt over mocking magical gemstones.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

The only reason Sean hadn’t turned bright pink with embarrassment was that only happened when he felt personally ashamed, rather than mortified on behalf of another person. Unbeknownst to him, that would surely prove to be a useful distinction during the course of his friendship with Josh. At the moment, he felt too mortified for both of them but on Josh’s behalf, since his friend now behaved as though the telepath might lash out at him for questioning the magical effects of crystals and gemstones.

Occasionally, Sean wondered why he bothered to uphold the school rules about pretending that Hammel was a school for the academically or artistically gifted, as opposed to a mandatory academy for meta-human power training (albeit coupled with middle school and high school coursework). It wasn’t as though all of the other students followed that rule, and he felt guilty for misleading his friend. But he didn’t know how to broach it now, months after they had first met.

So he would simply cope with the embarrassment.

“Are you much of a jewelry person?” Sean didn’t wear jewelry at all; men in his family typically didn’t beyond their wedding rings. “If not, you can help me pick out something for my sister.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Oh! That's a great idea!" Josh agreed happily. "Maybe I should look for something for Talia, too..."

He squinted thoughtfully at the jewelry. "Talia definitely needs luck with her school work, what do you think Kathleen needs?"

Given that Sean was in boarding school Josh had never met his younger sister, so he wasn't entirely sure what would be appropriate. "What about this?"

He held up a necklace inlaid with rose quartz.

"It says it helps with sleeping and calm."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

As he had several times since first meeting Josh at the beginning of the summer, Sean decided to try subtle correction in lieu of a more direct approach. For the most part, this had served him well. Not entirely, since his friend thought he believed in magical rocks, but for the most part. At the very least, it had spared them uncomfortable conversations and more blatant and embarrassing directions.

“Kathleen likes things that remind her of our heritage, so anything emerald.”

He hoped that by placing emphasis on the stones themselves and their cultural significance rather than on any supposed mystical properties Josh would take the hint. At least they might be able to completely shift the focus of their conversation, which he’d consider a victory enough. Even if the other boy continued to think that he put in for all of that mystical nonsense.

And, moving forward from that, he asked, “What colors does Talia like?”

That had to be a better system for shopping: focusing on colors and specific types of stones than on good luck charms and some nonsense about sleeping.

If anyone had trouble sleeping, there were pills for that. And there was some advice about not using backlit electronic devices an hour before going to bed.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh squinted at the display of bracelets, putting the rose quartz bracelet back in place.

"Green?" He repeated as he brushed one hand along the edge of the table, the tablecloth rough beneath his fingers. "What about this one?"

He picked up a necklace strung with moss agates and pewter beads, and a single charm etched with a tree of life design.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded to confirm what he’d said. Green. The color of emeralds and the color of his sister’s eyes, although not her birthstone. The telepath was the one whose birthday was closest to May, and his birthday was off by a month, although still closer to May than Kathleen’s was.

Not that he paid much attention to birthstones, since he paid so little attention to jewelry on the whole. He had a watch, but that hardly counted. Even if he was one of the only students to wear a watch at Hammel; perhaps one of the only teenagers to wear a watch with the advent of smart phones.

At his friend’s question, he turned to see what Josh had found, and he smiled. “That looks nice,” he replied, before reaching out to take it from the other boy, so that he could inspect it more easily.

He thought she’d like the color, and it wasn’t too ostentatious for her young teenage sensibilities. Certainly it didn’t look cheap, so that it wouldn’t earn a lecture from their mother about the type of bracelets that a girl should wear.

Plus, the Tree of Life had significance in Celtic culture (despite how thoroughly Americanized the Neville family was and had been for generations) as well as in Jewish culture. Sean could see how that would catch Josh’s eye.

After turning it over in his hand for a moment, he declared, “I think I’ll get her this.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh beamed at his friend, pleased that he had been able to help. Of course, Sean would probably have seen the bracelet if Josh hadn't been there, but he wanted to feel useful, especially where his friend was concerned.

It wasn't as if he had made other friends yet. At least it was only August; he had a whole school year ahead of him.

"Now for Talia," he declared, pulling out his wallet and riffling through the crumpled bills left from the spending money his parents had given him for this excursion. " she likes bright colors like yellow or neon pink. Oh and it has to be ten dollars or less," he added as he finished counting.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean knew about Josh’s family’s money problems. While his friend had never, exactly, said so outright, he’d made enough vague allusions to the situation: his father had been fired or otherwise let go during the beginning of the Great Recession with the collapse of the markets. Surely, the family had had a great deal of money beforehand, since people in the finance sector made more than doctors, but that source of income had disappeared, and it had been hard for Josh’s father to find work again, which had sapped the family’s funds.

Now he was a professor at a community college; academia notoriously paid poorly. Even worse at community colleges or for professors who had yet to achieve tenure.

Sean, by contrast, was given allowance money that he only spent on candy and snacks. Ever since his parents learned that he finally had a friend, they had sent him even more in hopes that he would use it to pay for fun outings.

To keep Josh interested in his company.

The telepath hadn’t told his parents that his friend was gay and had a crush on him. That would only needlessly complicate matters.

He had more than ten dollars in his wallet, and so he offered, “Let me buy it for you.” Then, before the other boy could object, he explained, “To make it up to you for losing the race.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh felt his face flush at Sean's offer. He was a bit self-conscious of his lack of funds; before his father had lost his job he had never worried about money, sure that they would always have enough. Now he had to carefully keep track of what he spent, because he couldn't simply ask for more allowance; he knew that his father didn't have the funds to give his children more than he did.

"Oh. Ahh. You don't have to do that. I still have a little."

He was sure they could find some trinket within his range.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean knew that Josh was embarrassed about his family’s financial situation, and he hadn’t wanted to cause any pain or discomfort to his friend. Despite having only known him for a couple of months, he cherished his friendship with Josh. The other boy was the only friend he’d had since coming to Hammel, and he didn’t want to jeopardize that with rudeness or smugness or by rubbing his face in something unpleasant. Both the loss of their financial status and the associated opinions from society about his father’s profession had to contribute to that embarrassment, and Sean, while naturally empathetic and with a leg up due to his telepathy, had no practical experience with that.

Complaints about the current insurance industry and certain strains of anti-medicine aside, the world would always need doctors.

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. We might have won the prize if my legs were shorter.” All of the contests had promised a prize, some of which had monetary value. By that interpretation, he had caused Josh to take a financial hit, and thus this was his attempt to right that wrong.

Of course, that wasn’t actually what happened, but he hoped that his friend would take the out and let him do this anyway.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Sean's reasoning brought a reluctant smile to Josh's lips. Although he may have held onto some incorrect notions regarding the other boy, one thing he had learned over their few months of friendship was just how thoughtful and caring Sean was. He listened without judgment and offered help with neither condescension nor criticism.

He offered support without bringing attention to either himself or the problem that required him. He simply was.

"If you insist."

The other teen ran a hand nervously along the back of his neck. Sean spent a lot of money maintaining their friendship, and he sometimes felt like he was taking advantage. Of course, Sean never said that, or even behaved as if he felt that way.

He probably didn't.

He was too good a friend for that.