None the Worse ✓

43) 'Martin Is The Gayest Character In The Book' And Other Conclusions...

"Can't argue with that, but... you never hug... anyone. Not even me."

Benjamin frowned. Did he never hug Thijmen? He should hug him more often then. He leaned forward to squeeze his arms around him again, and the boy let out a sigh so deep it felt like Benjamin was pushing the air out of his lungs.

"Benjamin."

"It's nothing."

For a moment, it seemed like Thijmen would keep prodding, but he just tightened his arms around him. "What can I do to help you with this 'nothing' you speak of?"

"Nothing."

"Great."

"It's okay. No one can. It's nothing personal."

At this, Thijmen laughed.

Six days.

Six days and Thijmen had actually laughed. He couldn't believe it. His parents were also laughing and Thijmen kept making jokes, because nothing mattered, and Benjamin cut his steak into teeny-tiny triangles to represent his emotional state. "Stop playing with your food," Benjamin II scolded.

"I think he's making swastikas," noted his mother.

"Stop making swastikikis."

"They're triangles," was Benjamin's reply, and he shaped them up Triforce-style to make a point, but since no one but Thijmen caught the reference, he was scolded again for making swastikiki triangles and, thus, receded into himself. He'd make hexagons, because six days, but his parents would probably associate this with summoning demons and make him bathe in the local church's holy water supply every day until the six days were over, and they couldn't afford that now.

Or, well, maybe he was overreacting. It wouldn't be a first. Maybe Thijmen's apparent disregard was how normal people reacted. His parents weren't normal people, so Benamin couldn't use them as reference.

Speaking of which, he'd never really heard the voices of Thijmen's parents (marents?) prior to two days ago. It had been... odd, to say the least.

What had Thijmen told them then?

Nothing mattered nothing mattered nothing mattered.

It'd hurt less if Thijmen didn't act like so casual about the whole thing damn it.

"So? Ben?"

"Four days," was his reply.

Pi groaned. "He's been like that all week. I told him school doesn't end until two months from now, but no, he's all 'six days five days four days' and I already checked if it's some game server going down, but—"

Maybe due to the end of the school year preying on them, maybe not, Heston had recuperated his horse mask. Heston was wearing his horse mask. He'd probably un-recuperate it again soon. As of now, he slapped Pi with its mouth and replied, "End of the world."

Benjamin wasn't even working on the Cows Are People Too!!! pamphlets like the rest of the squad. Messiah, thankfully, didn't pressure him to. Martin, thankfully, seemed to be too busy with Theo to pester them lately. Thijmen was nowhere to be seen—probably doing popular things at the back of the school building like smoking or watching tentacle porn. This was for the better.

"You can Skype each other," proposed Messiah, "it's not the end of the world, Ben."

"It is," replied Heston. The way his voice echoed through the mask only added to the effect.