Three Scoops of Heart-Wrenching Sorrow(Ray)

[Deleted]

Nao didn't think he was being obvious, especially since he was normally so untalkative and absent-minded anyway. But Ray noticed. And he had to admit, having someone pay attention to the subtleties in his moods like that, especially when they had no reason to, was heartwarming.

The hug caught him by surprise, however, and he dipped his head to hide his fluster over the sudden close contact. "T-thank you," he said. "I'm okay, really." He took another moment to resettle himself before continuing his explanation, nibbling on the cone of his ice cream the whole while. "I can call. I just don't. I've never been that great at calling." Especially not just for the sake of conversation. If there was something he needed, like a specific question he wanted to ask or permission to do something, Nao would call right away. "I suppose it's because I've never been away from my family for this long. We always do everything together, or not at all." Nao remembered one year when they just couldn't make the quota for their yearly summer trip and had to put it off for a couple of weeks. Nao was young that year, but he remembered it was because the air conditioning had gone out earlier that year and needed to be fixed. Water had pooled up under the paint in the ceiling. It damaged some of the infrastructure of the house, so they had to fix that too. The ridiculous memory made him smile.

"I'm okay though," he repeated. "There's a lot of things to do here, and I have friends like you to keep my spirits up." Ray had already helped just by being there and being…well, being Ray.

Even this whole fiasco with the napkins and confusion with Ray's wings was enough for Nao to forget his sadness and just live in the moment with what was right in front of him. He was all smiles over it and Ray's worry in addition to his clumsiness was just completely adorable. The taller boy really did need to grow into his new gigantism. If he asked, Nao would be willing to teach him a few basics of defense, which would help with finding his center of balance as well(unfortunately they never got that far in the conversation). It was worth looking into and maybe Nao would bring it up another time.

But those thoughts quickly were erased from Nao's mind(actually most other thoughts were) as he was still flailing in his own embarrassment from the blatant teasing that Ray was subjecting him to. Nao had to think that he was actually pretty good when it came to teasing and, more specifically, bullying. But there was just such a difference when coming from someone who….well, who wasn't such a stranger anymore. And Nao hadn't experienced much of that over his short 15 years. Any other person set in this situation would probably be laughing along with the older boy, and Nao supposed, he felt like it. Just a little. If he wasn't so embarrassed. He felt himself relax a little as Ray took the napkin and removed the ice cream from Nao's button nose, scrunching his eyes shut like a little kid. When he re-opened his eyes, his breath caught as he saw Raylaigh's face right there. So close….so close, Nao could see his eyelashes. So close….he could lean in an kiss him.

No, that was ridiculous! He couldn't do that! Just the same, Nao's face hadn't gone back to it's normal color yet and it didn't seem like it would anytime soon. "Th-thanks," he stammered out, taking a step back and turning slightly as if to move on. "W-we should…stop messing around and get going…" he suggested, trying to hide his ruddy face behind his hair again. He'd almost completely forgotten about his ice cream, he was so flustered, and that it was almost gone. Nao took the next few moments to occupy his mouth by finishing it off.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

It was easy for Ray to tell when people were upset, he was good at picking up facial clues, but he was also very naïve and gullible and so he was easily fooled. Nao was quiet and he seemed like a rather private and reserved person but it wasn’t hard to see that something was different in this silence than the happy silence of Nao nibbling away at his ice cream. It still made him shiver the way that Nao had just bitten into the ice cream. Ray smiled to himself when Nao ducked away. Ray let him go after a good squeeze and set himself to listen. For a talker, Ray was a surprisingly good listener. He had a tendency to babble away about unnecessary things but things like this Raylaigh liked to do his best to help. Ray shrugged, “There’s nothing wrong with that, I mean maybe try a little more, that might help,” he suggested and gave Nao a smile. “I wish we did more stuff together, but my brothers are older and it was never ‘cool’ to hang out with us.” With ‘us’ being Ray and his little sister. They had their own things and the younger ones were just annoying.

Raylaigh beamed and nodded. “I’m glad, I’m really glad I met you Nao,” he said hoping he’d said his name right this time, he’d been avoiding it for a while. “Though I’m not glad I knocked over your ice cream, but eh, fair warning, personal hazard.” He joked placing a hand on his chest like he were making a hazard sign. He giggled at his own joke and went back to slurping the icy goodness. It was a good thing it wasn’t too close to summer or even spring, the ice cream was resisting freezing very well. He wondered how much it would suck to work at an ice cream parlor where they had to keep it cold all the time. Ray really like summer and warmth, mostly because liked being outside and cold generally made him want to stay inside. Especially on days when the cloud ceiling was low and dreary with the scent of snow on the air. Not to mention the freezing line doesn’t just shift south but down as well and Ray had to make sure he had himself bundled in preparation for freezing temperatures at a low altitude. He shook his head wondering how he had gotten off on that tangent and he looked back at Nao interested in his interests. But then he dropped the napkin.

Ray couldn’t help but giggle at Nao’s reaction to it all and he was liking the color his cheeks had at the moment. Raylaigh loved teasing and flirting, but he wasn’t fond of bullying, he tried to not cross that line ever. It was a hard thing to do high school and middle school alone, but throw in the fact that there were middle schoolers and high schoolers here at the same time, and not to mention the fact that they all had meta human powers. Yeah, bullying could be a terrible terrible thing. Raylaigh smiled as he examined Nao’s nose and how he scrunched it up when the flyer tried to wipe the ice cream away. He grinned and let his eyes flicker for a moment over Nao’s features. It he wasn’t mistaken the younger boy had just stopped breathing. It was then Raylaigh moved back a bit and smiled to himself. He was too much of a peacock for his own good and he preened at the idea that someone thought he was attractive, because that was totally the only explanation, not the fact that he might smell or something. But he’d put on deodorant this morning.

Straightening up fully Ray watched Nao take a step back with a sly grin on his face. Ray coughed into his hand and nodded making himself serious, or at least his interpretation of a serious person. “Right, stop messing around,” he said with a bob of his head, as if that were his idea all along. He started walking with Nao and licked at his ice cream for a while before he smiled and finally asked, “So, uh, where are we headed?” He wanted to know because he’d totally just been following Nao and the turn for Hammel was a few blocks back the other way. Raylaigh was so good at the whole direction keeping thing. After all, he’d seen it all from aloft and he could recognize things fairly well. Fairly because sometimes things did not look the same on the ground as they did from the sky.

[Deleted]

Ray had a point, and the encouragement helped. Nao just needed to try a little harder to keep those connections alive. Well, they were his family. Nao felt that even after a long time of not seeing each other they could probably reunite as if they'd never spent a day apart. Still, he could imagine Yuri vehemently getting on his case for not calling after all this time(just once over the holidays). When Nao got back to the dorms today, he was going to take some time and call his mother, even if for only five minutes(though she'd probably try to keep him on for hours), just to let her know he was thinking of them. That would probably make her happy.

Nao gave Ray yet another look of confusion. "I don't understand. Why do you have to be "cool" to hang out with your siblings?" The concepts of what was "cool" and what wasn't were still things that the quiet boy never quite grasped the importance of. Sure, he wouldn't go out with his baby sister and the twins with his friends, but that was because Nao didn't really have a whole lot of friends he spent time with outside of school. Most of his time spent otherwise was at home taking care of his little brothers and sisters. But if he had to really think about it…he supposed he wouldn't want Yuri to be popping in and interrupting this time he was spending with Ray. Mostly because she would definitely get the wrong idea and start saying mean things to Ray.

"Yeah…me too," he agreed, dipping head head again for another blush. Really, with the number of times this guy had flustered Nao so far, Ray was probably going to think he was….weird or something. He managed a light, but honest, chuckle over his joke. Ray really was hazardous, but probably not in the exact way he was thinking.

Like sudden close-ups of his face. Definitely not good for Nao's health, because he wasn't sure if he would ever breath again for a moment there. His heart was positively thrumming against his chest long after Raylaigh had moved away, he was certain that Ray could hear it from where he stood. It's no wonder he missed the turn-off which led back to the school, he was too busy getting caught up with…Ray. Everything, every word, hug, blush, tease, poke and prod, Nao was completely caught up in that little world he was being even more absent minded about his surroundings than usual.

Nao stopped when Ray asked about their destination and looked around like he didn't know where he was. If Ray's goal for the day was to see how many times he could get Naozumi to turn as red as an apple, then he had more than achieved it already with some to spare. "I…I was just following you!" For the most part. After all, Ray didn't make any moves to head them in the right direction either. He blinked as he looked again. "…..where are we anyway?" Nao was completely directionless so he rarely went off of his normal routes. He'd never been in this part of town before.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Smiling at Nao, Ray really had no idea that he was helping, Nao would do what he wanted and Ray could only offer an encouraging action. Family was an important thing, hell Raylaigh even made time every so often to call his dad. Family was supposed to be the comprised of the people who would love you no matter what. They were obligated. Ray laughed a little, probably one of the few reasons his brothers ever kept in touch. Though usually conversations with Van or Kyle were about ten seconds long, more like verifications of life than actual socializing. Shrugging off the thought Ray hoped that Nao would call, it might do something to alleviate the loneliness the little Asian felt. True, it might increase it for a time, but missing people was a fact of life, no one could be around all the time at all hours of the day. Honestly that sounded horrible, they’d probably get sick of each other.

He smiled to himself and shook his head. He could think that all he liked, but what he wouldn’t have done to have been able to be with his ex all the time. Oh well, Ray bit his lip, he needed to stop letting him into his mind. Nao asked a question then and Ray was glad because it distracted him. He shrugged. “I mean it’s not like that but I mean, when you’ve got older siblings they can do more stuff than you and they don’t wanna be dragging you all around,” Ray said, he understood really, he did the same thing to Andrea sometimes, mostly when he wanted to do something that she wasn’t allowed to do because she was young. “I mean I’m sure you get sick of your siblings sometimes, I know I do.” Just because he always had to love them didn’t mean he had to like them all the time, or even most of the time for that matter. The point was that he’d be there if they needed him and they’d do the same for him.

Nao was precious with his blushing and it really made Ray just want to snuggle with the younger boy. He was definitely enjoying making Nao flustered, it was certainly easier than he’d expected and now he was finding it a hard thing to stop. Nao just made it so easy. Ray smiled into his ice cream and crunched happily on the cone letting his thoughts get carried away by the wind and into Nao. Ray was really enjoying Nao’s company and not to mention that Nao was about as adorable as they came. And the fact that they both agreed meeting today was great, yeah Raylaigh was going to never leave Nao alone after this, he enjoyed his company far too much. Besides they had to determine which of the two of them was faster, was it the wings or the feet. It would be an interesting thing to determine, Ray’s flying was variable, he could get fast if he went horizontal and shot himself off like a rocket, but he couldn’t really steer well that way, it was a catch.

Ray was a flirt, and he knew he was flirting and he wasn’t even ashamed in the slightest. Ray was watching Nao out of the corner of his eye and they walked in silence for a little while the only sound their slurping and the occasionally crunching as Ray bit at his cone. He smiled and removed the napkin he’d wrapped around his cone to avoid ingesting paper, that wouldn’t be very happy making. Raylaigh wondered slightly what he was gaining by this, he couldn’t very well tell. It wasn’t like life went fast but relative to everything else in geologic time Raylaigh would be hard pressed to comprehend the span of his life, but he shrugged it off, unconcerned with the span of the planets.

Ray walked a few steps before he realized Nao had stopped and he turned back to Nao and grinned innocently at the accusation. “Oh well, uh… I was following you.” Ray ducked his head and blushed with embarrassment. Well this was a predicament. Had they really been so caught up that they hadn’t noticed that neither of them knew where they were going. Instead of answering Ray held out his ice cream to Nao and pressed it into Nao’s hand. “Be right back,” he said and maybe it was because he wanted to show off but he took a few steps back and took off. Now there were more subtle and easier ways to do that than straight up, but Ray was feeling very much like a peacock and wanted to show off so he rocketed away from the ground above the rooftops and had a look around. What he saw only verified what he knew and he swooped down toward Nao.

Now the hard part. He was never very good at landing, and he would have to try to avoid knocking Nao over again. He sighed, he hadn’t thought this far ahead. He just didn’t want to eat it in front of Nao. He was too much of a peacock. He slowed himself and tried to make a landing feet first. His wings beat rapidly and tried to slow his descent and he hit the ground and ran a few steps waving his arms to try to keep his balance as his body still tried to move forward but the ground’s friction held him. He managed to keep his feet under him and he turned and smiled back at Nao (who had had overshot by several feet) with his arms out like he’d totally planned that. “Hammel’s that’a’way,” he said pointing as if he did this kinda stuff all the time.

[Deleted]

Naozumi was a practical one. He didn't see the point of calling someone just to say hello or have a ten second long conversation. His real life conversations were often only that long. Combined with his hesitance to initiate a call for anything less than absolutely necessary, it was no surprise that he saw a phone call as something that was cumbersome, invasive, and interrupting of his day, especially if they were short and about unimportant things. But…well, Ray did have a point, that Nao should try harder, so he would.

Probably.

As the eldest sibling, Nao wouldn't know what it was like to be actively excluded from the activities of your older siblings. He still wasn't sure he understood the sentiments behind the an older sibling wanting to exclude his younger siblings. But he did think about it, how he might feel. "I guess…when I'm home, there's very little time or space to have to myself, so I hadn't thought about it. But…." Now this was going to sound hypocritical, considering he was just moping around about being homesick. "As much as I miss them….it is a bit of a relief to not have to take care of them all the time." He snickered lightly, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth with loosely clasped fingers.

Nao only had a general idea of how he came off to others. He knew he was quiet, and that could come off as unsociable. He knew he was blunt, which could be interpreted as rude or standoffish, though those were never his intentions and because of his naive nature, was one of the hardest opinions for him to understand. But rarely did anyone let him forget about his feminine and childish looks. It was the primary feature of his that was targeted by bullies for years, even the "harmless" jabs given by his own family. So he was particularly self-conscious about his face and comments which labeled him as "cute" and 'adorable". He wasn't trying to be. Nor had he ever considered it as something particularly attractive. So Nao would be surprised(and possibly perturbed) if he ever learned that Ray was intentionally flustering him in order to get those kind of reactions from the younger boy.

Nao was also extremely inexperienced in the act of flirting. A relationship in general, while nice to think about, was something that he'd already deemed as unobtainable. Naozumi would find and maintain his crushes from afar, but because of his sexuality(and even his appearance) he never expected them to move farther from friendship. Which was why the possibility that Raylaigh was flirting with him hadn't even registered to the emotionally naive boy. And it was also why he was vastly underprepared in his reactions to that sort of teasing. But even so Nao…didn't think he hated it. No…he didn't. It kept him on his toes, which was something few people were able to do. It made his stomach flip and his heart stop, and not in a bad way. While it was unsettling and frustrating, Nao found he didn't quite mind it and had him wonder just what Ray had in store for him next. And that was exciting.

Like with this whole debacle with getting lost all of a sudden. Neither of them knew where they were going! How…how did that kind of thing happen anyway!? And then before Nao had any time to protest, he was holding onto Ray's ice cream cone and Ray was darting up into the sky like a bird…or a man with wings on his feet actually. Still, it was….amazing. Nao wondered what it was like up there as he cranked his neck back to watch the fluttering peacock show off his feathers, his mouth hanging open in amazement the whole while. He followed the flying boy with his eyes and tracked him all the way up to his landing. Nao had nothing else to compare it to so…he thought it was magnificent! With a bright smile, he jogged over to Ray's landing point. "That was amazing!" he praised the older boy with excitement. Then he looked down with another light blush. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't taken a look." Probably wander around the city for hours. "I'm terrible with directions." Nao chuckled again as he handed Ray back his ice cream and fell into step next to Ray. "Thank you." He looked back to Ray, tilting his head up to him with a clear smile of appreciation. Nao really…really liked this guy. He wanted to be friends for as long as possible….because obviously he couldn't hope for anything more…right?

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Maybe it wasn’t practical, but Raylaigh was interested in what his family was up to. Even if just for a moment it was nice to hear that they were still doing well. Conversations with his mother usually were longer and involved a span with Andrea. His conversations with his dad were awkward but they traded off and so if Ray didn’t call for too long his father would eventually call him. He didn’t know how his father felt about him, he just figured that he was doing it for the purpose of not dropping right out of their lives altogether. It wasn’t something worth dwelling on. No, not when there were so many good things happening all around him. Like meeting Nao. Adorable and cuddly Nao. Ray smiled a little to himself, he was digressing very quickly at the moment.

Ray nodded, “Yeah, that’s pretty much it, I mean it’s more like they don’t wanna drag their kid brother to the mall if they can avoid it, that kinda thing.” Mostly because then they would be responsible for watching out for them and couldn’t really just be with their friends because there was also someone who could potentially tell their mother what they were doing. Ray’s smile widened at Nao’s giggle. “Yeah, we have a three day rule in my house. Once you’re out, you get three days before you have to leave,” he joked waving a hand in a shooing motion. Now that was more of a joke than anything else, of course they didn’t kick each other out and they had a grand time together. He laughed to make sure Nao knew it was a joke, the other boy seemed to take things so seriously. “Jokingly, of course,” he added for good measure, just in case Nao did miss the joke.

Nao was very quiet, and if Raylaigh hadn’t run into him he might have missed him, and that would have just been tragic. If Raylaigh knew that Nao was so self-conscious about being called cute Ray would have to change his word of choice because he was having a hard time not grabbing Nao and snuggling him because he was so adorable. Raylaigh was definitely finding that a very attractive feature, hell Ray had always been small himself and he’d only recently grown, people had called him cute before, then after he’d grown that description had shifted. Which of course did not do anything to keep Raylaigh’s arrogance down and he was even more a peacock now than he was before. He was very careful about how he dressed his new body he’d grown into. Nao was still young, who knew, maybe he would grow and they’d be forced to drop the ‘cute’ descriptor, but to Raylaigh Naozumi would always be adorable.

Ray’s flirting was an outward sign that he was feeling something a little more than friendship, but he also was hesitant because of several reasons. But it didn’t matter, he’d flirt until Nao told him to stop. Raylaigh found himself wondering if Nao was single, then wondering if they played for the same team. Despite it all, Ray still believed in love, but he was afraid of what a relationship might mean. After all, he hadn’t known that Jack was violent until a few weeks after they started dating. And even then it had been so subtle and slow to start that it was easy to believe that they were isolated cases. As sad as it was Ray was afraid of what a relationship might bring, and after all that had been his first boyfriend, he wasn’t sure what else there was supposed to be in a relationship. ‘Cause his wasn’t like the ones that they showed in the movies.

The color on Ray’s face was starting to match what Nao’s had been a few moments ago when he ran over. Raylaigh scratched his head sheepishly and smiled at Nao give him a nervous laugh in thanks. He was glad that Nao didn’t see that as the blunder that it was, he really needed to work on his landings. But that was quickly brushed out of his mind as Nao started speaking again. Taking back the ice cream, Raylaigh gave a shrug, “It’s no problem, I’m okay with directions, but it’s really just easy to get a good look too.” He smiled back at Nao. “You’d have made it back eventually,” He said, “But you know I didn’t really feel lost in the first place.” He bumped lightly into Nao. Nao for all that he was quiet and shy, he was like a tiny sun hidden in the midst of many larger gems. Maybe he was someone who was often overlooked because he was shy, but Ray was glad they’d gotten talking, because Nao was one of the nicest, not to mention the cutest male, that he’d met in a while. He had met so many nice people and he was so happy. It was like he had a bubble in his heart that was giving him extra lift and a little extra light to the sun. Raylaigh nibbled more at his cone before swallowing and giving Nao a happy look. “I hope the weather stays this nice. At least ‘til Fall.”

[Deleted]

Yeah, okay, yeah. Nao could understand that. It wasn't a malicious thing like his impression was previously, but just…a privacy thing. Wanting to have time to yourself and be able to do what you wanted with your friends without being worried about what trouble your kid sister was getting herself into. Because Yuri got into a lot of trouble, all the time. Nao often wondered how she found the energy, or even the time to get into some of the situations she found herself in. And their parents were often too busy during the daytimes to keep the rambunctious little girl in line. Nao wasn't even sure they heard about most of the stunts he'd seen her get into. Of course, he would never tell on her, Nao didn't want Yuri to get in trouble, but that didn't mean that he didn't worry.

“Yeah, we have a three day rule in my house. Once you’re out, you get three days before you have to leave.”

Judging from Ray's smile and the fact that he said outright it was a joke, Nao could only assume that it was. But despite that, Nao wasn't entirely sure he understood what Ray was joking about. He kept the small smile and chuckled hesitantly, a mite confused at the context. "Ohh…." he said somewhat unsure of how to respond. "Okay…"

If Naozumi knew how to flirt properly, then he would probably be doing it. Though as it was, Nao still wasn't sure what to make of Raylaigh's strong personality. He enjoyed it. The teasing was uncomfortable, but he didn't hate it. No, if Nao was truly bothered by anything that Ray was doing or saying, then Nao would have said so outright. Because it wasn't the malicious kind of teasing that he used to get, it was…friendly, if that made any sense. As he got more comfortable around Ray, Nao was likely to start opening up more and might try to get back at the taller boy for all these embarrassing moments. For now, he'd just take them and enjoy it with a smile…..maybe...

"Heh…you look like a cherry," he pointed out, referring to the color of Ray's face. Nao didn't know for what reason Ray would be blushing so much, but he assumed it was from self-consciousness in displaying his power so extravagantly. Either that, or it wore him out somehow. Either way, the older boy was very delightfully red and Nao felt like expressing so. Especially since after all this time it'd just been Nao feeling flushed and flustered for reasons he wasn't sure Ray would appreciate.

Nao shook his head. "No. I'm really bad with directions." Nao was likely to wander around until some old lady asked the pathetic on-the-verge-of-crying boy if he was lost and made sure he got "home" alright. The small amount of contact from Ray's bump against the small boy left him feeling even more gleeful. There were…a number of impulses he was experiencing now that he'd never considered before - one of which was climbing up on Ray's shoulders, geeze! There's no way Nao could get the courage to do something like that! He'd just die! - and he was using much of his own willpower to hold them back. That wasn't, unfortunately(or fortunately), keeping him from smiling a little like a loon. "Me too. It's nice," he agreed, looking up at the sky. "We don't get a lot of snow in California, but I think I've seen more than enough now." Nao was walking at a idle pace, but definitely following Ray this time. He didn't want to get lost again.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

It was primarily a privacy thing, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t occasionally used for malicious reasons. Raylaigh knew his brothers didn’t always have something to do that they didn’t want him doing, sometimes they just wanted to rub it in that they could go to R rated movies and he couldn’t. Raylaigh would have liked an older brother like Nao, Kyle told on him all the time. He was a little snitch, the ass. Van was probably more like Nao in the protective aspect. It was a strange relationship his family had, it consisted mostly of teasing, but there was love there. There was still a lot of sensitivity about some things and the family just never talked about it. Like Raylaigh’s sexuality to their parents, or their father to their mother. The three day rule had been started as a joke because initially it was his father visiting and right around the three day mark they were pretty sure their mother would soon ask them to help hide the body.

Of course that didn’t really exist for any of the siblings. Their mother loved them and frequently cried when she had to send them back to college or Hammel or something. It was clear that she and Andrea were getting closer now that she was the only one home. Raylaigh got his easy loneliness from his mother and maybe that was why he called his family so frequently and could talk for hours to his mother about nothing. There was nothing better about what his relationship with his family was compared to Nao’s. It was just different. And there was nothing wrong with either, and nothing better. Just different. It might seem strange to each but it was just that, just something different.

Ray smiled at Nao and found himself feeling flirty and shy at the same time, the only thing that kept his tongue moving was that he was too nervous to keep himself from talking. It didn’t usually happen so badly when he was with someone who was attractive, but Nao was more than just attractive, he had a sweet disposition and a kind nature. His wings were fluttering randomly and giving away his excitement, he felt like he was floating, but also paying attention to keeping his feet on the ground so he didn’t hurt himself. At least until he decided it was a good idea to go flying. And that brilliant goof he’d had on the landing. He was lucky he didn’t face plant into something, or run into a pole or otherwise hilariously injure himself as he had a habit of doing.

His hands went to cover his face when Nao called him out on his blushing. Raylaigh was definitely a show off and he was embarrassed about his landing. He recovered slightly, well enough that he could take his hands away from his face and stick his tongue out at Nao. And the exclamation from Nao about how exciting it all was wasn’t helping his shade of face. “No more than you,” he said and poked Nao in the nose. Nao should be prepared to receive just as red a face after he pointed our Raylaigh’s. In a sense Ray was lying at the moment because Nao’s complexion was a sweet tanned color and not red at the moment, but Ray had a feeling that his actions would be able to bring that nice rose back into Nao’s cheeks.

“Pilot Ridge is only so big,” Raylaigh pointed out, Nao could wander around for hours, sure, but he would eventually find Hammel again. Well, the school was really a little ways out of the way, but not that hard to find. Nao had a beautiful smile and it made Ray smile to see it. It was something so innocent and simple that made it precious. Raylaigh wanted to snap a picture and keep it forever, but that would be strange. After all, they had just met. Ray nodded emphatically, “Seriously! This is ridiculous. I mean this had to be a worse winter than normal. And that polar vortex thing, I’m glad it finally went back to where it belonged.” He grinned and wrinkled his nose. Walking with Nao was pleasant and Ray was almost tempted to miss the turn again to linger with him, but he didn’t want to freak out Nao again so he paused before crossing the street at a little trot. Ray let out a little ‘mmm’ sound as he finished his cone and set about cleaning his fingers.

[Deleted]

Naozumi normally didn't like to show off, at least not like Ray here was doing in a very "lookie what I can do" fashion. If someone asked him to demonstrate a skill, then he'd do it without question or hesitation. But for the mere sake of showing off? Just to potentially see another's promising reaction? Nao was far too humble and self-conscious to enact them with such intent. The first thing they teach you in aikido was to approach everything with an empty cup. With humility. Don't think that you've learned all there is or that you know better because there is always room for improvement. Don't assume that one art or skill is superior to another, because they all take their own due amount of discipline to achieve. However, after seeing such an impressive display from Raylaigh, Nao was wondering if he should give Ray a demonstration of his power in return. Simply because he wondered if Ray would enjoy seeing it. And if he did, then that meant that Ray would laugh. And smile.

The biggest problem, though, was finding an opening to do so. Naozumi wasn't the most attentive person. If there was an opportune moment to use it, Nao would undoubtedly miss it. Already he was thinking that chasing after the napkins that had blown too far away would have been the perfect opportunity, but he'd decided against it for practical purposes. Now he wished he had more incentive to simply break out and do things like Ray had. Or to just straight up ask. He….could do that. At the right moment, of course. Whenever that would be.

Not now, definitely. Not when his face was already turning red again. He should've known that Ray was going to retaliate from that remark. The sensation of Ray's finger lingered on his nose, feeling cold next to his warming cheeks. "That's…not my fault!" he protested, insinuating that Ray had everything to do with it. Though the mere fact that he snapped back in such a manner had him on the verge of reddening even further. Nao averted his eyes and puffed out his cheek with insolence as he tried to keep the color down.

In the meantime, Nao just followed along beside Ray. The older boy had a point, though. Nao might've found his way back eventually, but the directionless boy still thought it was a long shot. Nao probably wouldn't have such a problem with navigating through town if he actually came down more often, especially for something other than sweets. He nodded as Ray continued on about the freak snowstorms which had plagued the northern part of the country this past winter. Nao didn't even know that snow could get so bad, so he'd been more than surprised. "So, it doesn't get that bad every year?" It'd be nice to know that much, so he knew how to better prepare in the future. Nao snapped his head up as Ray took off across the street. "W-wait up!" he complained as he jogged slowly after the tall boy.

Right, now things were starting to look a little bit more familiar to Nao. Hmm...Nao wondered if they could...? Ray just finished his cone(Nao did a long time ago) so there was little holding them back now. He probably could even find his way back by himself from here. His face fell back into that stoic stare as he contemplated a few moments over asking his next question. "….Want to race back?" Would Ray even be up for it right now?

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh could use a lesson in humility. At least on the surface, there was the wary and uncertainness that rested beneath the surface as thoughts given to him by Jack had been engrained so tightly in his mind that he needed to be confident and showy to prove to himself that he was worth something. It wasn’t something he’d ever tell someone, nor something that would show to other people, not when Ray was smiling brightly and puffing his chest and out and strutting like a pigeon imagining itself as an eagle. There were easier ways to show his power, but he wanted Nao to like him and perhaps it was flawed but he thought that showing off his power might be useful in that regard. Ray was just a boy still trying to figure out love and life. They were both so young, Nao was adorable and Ray really liked him. But at the same time, he’d been in a relationship and it had been horrible and he wasn’t looking to jump back into something. He was also jumping to conclusions again, he had no idea if Nao was even into him at all. Though the blushing made it hard for Ray to ignore.

The flyer was grinning like a loon as he watched the redness spread across Nao’s cheeks. He giggled and gave Nao a look as if he were terribly insulted. Or rather, it would have been if he could have kept himself from smiling. “Nao, I don’t understand. Are you saying that this is my fault?” He asked his eyes wide and he used the same inflection that Nao had and looked at him with innocence. Nao was so cute when he tried to keep himself from getting more red. Raylaigh found this only more fun because of it. Eventually he was going to have to stop teasing Nao so much, but Nao was making it so easy, and so rewarding at the same time. Red was a good shade for Nao, it went nicely with his skin tone. Raylaigh was perhaps behaving very wickedly now that he knew he could get a blush out of Nao.

Raylaigh waited until they had crossed the street to answer and he laughed. “I thought you had super speed,” Raylaigh teased as Nao caught up. Then Ray backed up in conversation, “Yeah, I mean it usually snows a ton, that’s a given. But I feel like it’s been colder than usual. But that’s also probably just because anything under fifty is just too cold.” He laughed a little. Raylaigh didn’t know anything about the climate here, he just thought it was a ridiculous amount of cold air, but he actually had no idea how it compared to last year because last year it had felt like the worst winter ever too. Ray just really didn’t like cold weather. Really, really didn’t like cold weather. Sure he didn’t mind snow so much, but he longed for a more temperate climate. Really, who thought putting the meta school in Vermont was a good idea? They couldn’t have done like Hawaii or something. Now that would be awesome. On the opposite side, he supposed they should be lucky it’s not in Alaska.

Raising a brow at the suggestion, Ray smiled in return. “Alright, Speedy, you’re on,” he said his eyes flashing with excitement and his wings fluttering a bit in anticipation. “From here to the school?” He asked, he wasn’t sure how far of a distance it was, but it couldn’t be too long. Ray was really good at short bursts of speed, even while flying, he wasn’t one of those long distance runners. His coach gave him anything more than a mile and he would trot around the track complaining until he didn’t have to do it anymore. Which was starting to turn into Ray shutting his trap when his coach added a few laps for his complaints. “You wanna call it?” Ray asked, he was so ready to go, he was bursting with energy and his wings were definitely down for some sprinting.

[Deleted]

Naozumi's face was never going to go back to it's normal color at this rate. He was going to be perpetually red as long as he was in the presence of and stuck under the overconfident thumb of his new flirtatious friend Ray. Even if Nao did manage the timing right to retort against him with his own quips, he'd be doing it with two red cherries propped up on either side of his meek smile.

“Nao, I don’t understand. Are you saying that this is my fault?”

"Yes," he affirmed Ray's suspicion quite blunty, still keeping his face turned away and failing to keep that rosy tinge from invading his cheeks. He'd at least been able to keep himself from smiling again like a loon. Nao was going to have to learn how to not let Ray's teasing get to him so easily if he was going to continue to be friends with him. No…no 'ifs' there, Nao was definitely going to stay friends, but that still meant he was going to have to get used to Raylaigh's constant and infectious energy that the younger boy so easily got caught up in and swept away with.

Nao frowned slightly at Ray's quip. "I'm not using it right now." If he had been, Nao would already be several dozen feet ahead of Ray. Nao had to be careful when using his speed on the spur of the moment. That's usually how the short boy ended up tripping over his own feet. Nao may be able to move that fast, but that didn't mean he could think at moving at that speed, if that made any sense. He'd spent most of his life thus far just moving along at the same speed as everyone else. While he could definitely run quickly and move his body quickly, his brain was still getting used to processing commands that quickly. It wasn't like the world slowed down when he moved at super speed.

But he at least agreed with the older boy about the cold. Nao didn't like it much either. He didn't like wearing so many layers of clothes just to keep the nip at bay. Nao much preferred his shorts and sandals to a heavy coat and scarf. "I don't think I would be able to tell. I go numb once it drops below 60." Or somewhere around there.

The request seemed to come out of nowhere from Nao, he wasn’t sure that Ray would actually accept. Obviously, Nao was good with long distances, but that was only because of his power. He had some stamina, but he could only keep up the speed running for a short amount of time, which was usually enough for him to get to wherever he needed to go. He was certain he could make it from where they were at to the school in one go. It never occurred to him that Ray might not be so well equipped with stamina. “Yeah. Just to the courtyard though.” Because any further than that and Nao ran the risk of running into a building in an attempt to stop. Which would be both painful and embarrassing. He offered a smile to Ray, who looked more than ready to take him on, and nodded.

Nao didn’t do much prepping, he didn’t really need a kick-start, but he did do the classic starting mantra after he lined himself up next to Raylaigh. “On you’re mark, get set….and go!” Hopefully that was enough of a warning to allow Ray to get himself ready. Nao was already off, though not at full speed. He wanted to check behind him to see how closely behind Ray was. but then he’d probably run into something…

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray threw back his head and laughed. He wrapped his arms around his torso as if afraid he was going to burst from laughing so hard. His eyes closed in happy arches as he laughed without reserve. Nao was adorable with that glow in his cheeks and in his own way he was feeding Ray’s fire and Ray was having a hard time not teasing him. Raylaigh was not the easiest person to get used to. He knew that he sometimes overwhelmed people, but that was the way he liked it, if he looked confident than no one would know he wasn’t. He was definitely better in small groups too, especially where he knew a lot of people, he turned shy and reserved if there were a lot of people that he didn’t know. Which was perhaps why Nao was getting a full dose of Raylaigh today, because Ray really liked him, as a friend and perhaps a little more and he couldn’t help but be happy when there were people around to be happy with.

“I know that, Speedy,” Ray said sticking his tongue out and winking at Nao like he was a child. Honestly, who wanted to grow up, life was so much better carefree like this. It was a challenge, often when one was young all they wanted to do was grow up and be their own person. As reality sets in for the new adults they long for nothing more than to be children again where they didn’t have to hold up fronts and deal with bills and challenges of other people and life itself. Hold onto sixteen as long as possible, people said, it was a moment of independence but there was still the safety net of mom and dad to help bail them out of their mistakes. The world kept on turning and the Earth kept on hurtling through space with the a velocity incomprehensible to the human mind.

Raylaigh never would have through that the mind would have to catch up with the speed of the body. It was an interesting concept, Raylaigh’s mind often moved faster than he knew what to do with, but then again he wasn’t moving at super speed so he didn’t have to pull up commands, process them and react faster than normal time. Ray smiled at Nao and nodded. He did not like cold. Often times if he wanted to go high flying he had to wear a heavy coat even on the warmest day. But he wasn’t a huge fan of high flying. He would much rather stay within the few hundred meters of the mixed boundary layer that was nice and warmed by the surface. Well, at least more so that it was below the freezing layer. It was nice that in the summer the freezing layer was above how high Raylaigh had ever gone and he could get away with a light jacket. Raylaigh shivered and shook his head. “Cold weather, no thank you.” He laughed, maybe he’d move to the tropics where the freezing level was really high all year round.

“Okay,” Ray said with a nod and prepared himself. He flapped his wings and his eyes found Nao’s and he gave Naozumi a sly grin before he braced himself for the start. The courtyard was a little far, but if Raylaigh conserved his energy well enough he could do it. It wouldn’t be a spectacular sprint, but if he could sprint at the end he might have this race. He crouched a little, but still when Nao cried the start Ray was barely able to keep up. He just needed a little bit of space, like an airplane in cases like this he needed a little bit of speed before he could get some lift. He watched Nao’s back with determination and wondered if he could perhaps dive into a horizontal flight where he might get the most speed. But he would need a rather long straight away, which Hammel wasn’t really on a straight road and he would probably suffer the same fate Nao was worried about if he tried too close to the school.

His wings flapped and he jumped the air catching him and his running altered and about a foot above the surface Ray started air running. Without friction to stop him, he jumped forward gaining on Nao now as his feet moved as if he were skating over ice and his wings drove him forward. His heart beat raced and he smiled in joy at the feel of the wind in his face and hair. His eyes trained on Nao and he pushed himself faster and lengthened his stride getting more distance out of each stride. Raylaigh was gaining ground on Nao and he wondered for a moment if Nao was holding back. He’d give Nao a swat if that was the case. His wings fluttered like hummingbird wings and became a blur of white as he pushed himself faster. He was reaching his peak speed air running speed and he was passing a few cars on the road now, but only barely and he was starting to feel weariness set in. He could see the road for Hammel now. He would have liked to call out to Nao but he couldn’t breathe. If Nao were to go his full speed Ray would probably be left in the dust, and it would probably be just as well for his arrogant nature.

[Deleted]

Really, Ray may have been older and looked like an adult, but he was definitely the one acting like a kid. In all honestly, Nao could barely remember there being many times when he’d acted quite so silly. Maybe when he was younger, around some of the very few close friends he had, but Nao was such a quiet and subdued person even back then. He knew he’d had some quite fun times with Savannah, because she was about as bubbly and cheerful as Raylaigh. It took that kind of persona to draw such feelings of childishness from Nao, and he was enjoying every giddy, playful, and embarrassing moment of it with a smile that some never got the chance to see.

Were it not for Ray, for example, Naozumi would never have gotten it into his mind to do this race he suggested earlier on such a spur of the moment. He wouldn’t have been looking for an opportunity to instigate the occasion, to try and appeal more to the other boy because…well, Nao knew he was quiet. He knew he wasn’t the spinning burst of energy and excitement that people tended to favor and gravitate towards. He knew he didn’t talk much. And he knew that wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, however he’d long since accepted it and never let it bother him. After all, he didn’t mind being alone, just like he didn’t mind being around others. But he did realize he didn’t want Ray to think he was…boring maybe? Who knew? If he did, if Nao didn’t respond more…extrovertedly…would Ray lose his newly found interest in being Nao’s friend? Naozumi didn’t think so, but the thought did cross the young boy’s mind briefly, which was a likely drive for his attempts.

Even so, Nao wasn’t going to turn into a complete peacock like Ray had been doing, fluttering around and showing off his feathers to get Nao’s attention, which was admittedly quite effective.

It crossed his mind that maybe he shouldn’t be going easy on Ray, that he should just go ahead and take it like he meant to win. But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, to just leave him in the dust. Though due to the curves in the road, it wasn’t like he could go at full speed anyway. And even if it was, Nao wasn’t sure he would want to. It wasn’t practical for such a short race, he would have to spend the time speeding up and then calculate at which point he would have to start slowing down so that he didn’t overshoot the courtyard and, again, run into one of the school buildings. Or worse, one of the other students. Because then it wouldn’t just be Nao getting hurt.

So taking it slower, more steady, but still reasonably fast was the safe way to take it, Nao decided. He slowed in order to take the curves in the road and kept his eyes forward just in case a car or another student happened to be on it. It wasn’t much further now. Nao was barely breathing hard after this much exertion, but he was starting to feel the rumblies in this tummy as his stamina was slowly depleting with every superhuman stride forward.

Then it hit him. Literally, right in the face. Actually, no, right in the eye, and he shut them both tight as he brought his hand up to rub the whatever-it-was that had splatted in his eye. Owie, owie…it stung. But with his eyes closed, and the sudden jerking movement of his body with the whatever-it-was that hit him, Naozumi easily lost his footing. At the speed he was going, though he was trying to slow down once it’d happened, he still managed to trip himself up and before he knew it, the small boy was down and tumbling on the road like in a little ball until he came to a halt. If his martial arts hadn’t made him an expert at falling, he probably would’ve ended up with a lot more than just a few scrapes and bruises on his forearms and legs and back.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

If Nao thought he was going to get rid of Raylaigh by being boring he was barking up the wrong tree. It took a lot to get Ray to avoid someone once he knew them and he was friendly with most everyone. He’d told Nao he was going to be his best friend and Nao wasn’t going to weasel his way out of that. Raylaigh was aware that he could be a little overpowering at time but oh well, he’d never really seen it as a problem. Ray didn’t want to be anything more than who he was and he would never ask for someone to be anything more than what they were. Besides if Nao thought he was boring than he and Ray had very different ideas of boring. Boring for Ray was things like math and studying. Nao was neither math nor was being with him like studying so, therefore not boring.

Once Ray lost the restriction of friction he was catching up to Nao but then Nao started to pull away again and Ray only pushed himself faster. Unlike Nao Ray was starting to feel the burn in his limbs and lungs as he panted. He was racing at his fastest pace and Nao was still pulling away from him. Under normal circumstances with the pain seeping through his bones and his weariness and no chance of victory would make Ray pull up and skate his way lazily to the finish accepting a defeat far before it was officially labeled as such. This was why Ray was a sprinter and not a long distance runner. He simply couldn’t be bothered to try for that long a period of time especially if he was watching people pull away from him.

Right now, though, Ray was pushing through the pain with a small smile on his face, because despite the pain and weariness he was having a blast chasing after Naozumi. At least until he saw Nao fall. “Nao!” Raylaigh yelped and kicked off from the ground and dove through the air shooting forward not that he had reduced his air resistance and set a blast of whatever energy for speed he had to get to Nao. He pulled up as he reached Nao and his landing was rough and he probably scraped up a knee as he fell on his hands. They stung a bit but Nao had just gone skidding across the pavement and so Ray got to his feet quickly and went to Nao fretting terribly. “Nao, Nao are you okay?” He blurted before he was forced to take a moment and breath hard as his lungs demanded oxygen. Ray’s hands patted Nao’s arms as he tried to get his breath back, unconsciously he was expecting Nao to be as delicate as he was and have broken something. Ray knew by now that a fall like that would have probably put Ray in at least one cast, if not more and he was so afraid that Nao was badly hurt.

The adrenaline that had pumped through him to get to Nao drained and he sank wearily to his knees next to his new friend and worry etched his face as he inspected Nao for injuries. “What happened? Are you okay? Do you need to go to the emergency room?” He asked his hands going to brush Nao’s longer hair away from his face. What if Nao was seriously hurt? He would have to call the ambulance! He’d probably have to call Hammel too, he was frantic and halfway through pulling his phone out. He was talking so fast it was probably going to be hard for Nao to get a word in that he was okay or not. Raylaigh was already thinking that if he were in this situation he would most definitely need an emergency room, and therefore Nao’s lack of immediate answer clearly meant he needed one and not the fast that Raylaigh was speaking a mile a minute.

[Deleted]

Okay, new rule to running and racing with powers: wear goggles. Or some sort of eye protection. Because that was exactly what Nao’d problem was with reaction time. He could run at high speeds, he may even be able to react at those speeds, but he had to be able to see it coming for him to be able to react to a bug or a rock flying right at his face. And for something that small while he was going so fast, making the rest of the world essentially a blur as he passed it by, there was no conceivable way he could have seen that obstacle coming, much less reacted to it.

The fall itself was only a few seconds, but it seemed to go on for an eternity. Even with his horrible memory, Nao could probably relive every one of those dozen rolls he tumbled over from the moment he hit the asphalt to the moment where the inertia stopped propelling his tiny body forward. If he wasn’t mistaken, he was even momentarily airborne after what felt like a bounce at some point during the skid. Looking outside in, and not being so close to the situation like Ray was, one might even think it an amusing thing to watch….or not, because no matter how amusing it was from the outside in, it still hurt to be rolling around the hard ground like a rag-doll that was just chucked from a motorcycle racing by at high speeds.

Nao stayed frozen in the ball he was curled up in for more than a few moment, his body instinctively afraid to move and find out what sort of damage might have been done. He was breathing. Now his heart was racing. He was tensed up and slowly, one by one, working to relax his muscles once he knew they weren’t in pain…or were at least within something tolerable. Nao might not have heard Raylaigh’s cries the first time. He barely heard him the second time. While he might have answered, Nao was still a bit in shock from his tumble and was working to regain his bearings. He rolled over and pressed his stinging palms against the grainy asphalt, making them sting just a bit more, though it wasn’t too much for him to bear, then pushed himself up to his knees. His hair was frayed up, a couple of rips in his shirt and jeans, definitely covered in black residue from the road…but he was fine. At least he thought so. Nothing seemed to be broken. Nothing felt broken.

A trickle of something streamed down his face and he wiped it with the back of his hand, which came back smeared with red. His forearms were scraped and a reddish-black as well. Hmm….well then. Nao might have to see a nurse but…his first thought was that he’d been in fights worse than this. “I’m okay,” he said finally, though he didn’t know if Ray heard him. The boy seemed about ready to have a aneurysm from sheer panic. “Ray!” he tried again with more force to get the older boy’s attention. “I’m okay…I think.” Nao wiped at the eye that he still had shut tightly, clearing away the remains of what had splatted him in the face. He looked down to see goop, itty-bitty twig legs, and pieces of gossamer wings. “A bug flew in my eye….”