See In Him

4

The morning brought a phone call at nine o'clock. Micheal was asked to come into the office for the day, so Kennith and Jesse were left alone to read and clean. Kennith woke at five in the morning and refused to go back to sleep. Instead, he brought an old Chinese textbook, translated roughly into English braille, down into the living room to read in the quiet darkness. The stairs phased him slightly and made him ponder the idea of returning to his room, but finally feeling those little raised dots under his fingertips made the move worth it. Downstairs had much stronger wifi. There, he could listen to the music downloaded onto his phone without any interruption.

Jesse woke around the same time his father did. Kennith ignored him as he stumbled up the basement stairs and into the kitchen, beginning the day with a cup of coffee. Micheal refused a bagel and settled for an apple, barely shoving it into his bag before he rushed out the door. Kennith, although he could hear his father bid him goodbye, ignored him. Aja had left long before Kennith awoke.

In the blue light of the morning, Kennith continued to silently memorize text, often closing his eyes to spare himself of any blurry distractions. It was only at ten did he remove his headphones, drawn away from his book by the mouth-watering scent of food frying in the kitchen. It had been a long time since he'd tasted anything homemade, and the familiar smell almost shocked him.

The boy pushed his headphones back over knotted morning curls and looked up towards the doorway to the kitchen. The asshole was humming over the stove, almost as if he enjoyed cooking. It made Kennith shake his head dismissively. He didn't want to eat it if it was made by Jesse.

"Are you hungry? I made eggs," Jesse asked. He had been waiting patiently for Kennith to remove his headphones. He expected the boy to slide them back on and ignore him completely. Instead, Kennith sneered in his direction. "Smells disgusting." Jesse didn't believe him. His mouth was fucking watering; he couldn't wait for his toast to pop up from the toaster to complete his meal. "Your loss," Jesse shrugged with a smile, pushing the spatula back under his deliciously-scrambled baby chicks and flipped them easily. He really wasn't trying to produce a reaction from Kennith; he was genuinely unbothered. Kennith scoffed. "Fuck you."

"Likewise." His reply was automatic, calm and kind. Jesse had far too much patience to have any kind of conversation with Kennith, and they were both beginning to realize that.

"Excuse me?"

"You're really missing out. I make good eggs."

Jesse was excited when the Arches hired him, even when they told him that Kennith could be a handful if provoked. He found the parents to be almost... hesitant around Kennith, scared of him, as if he was a bomb ready to explode. Jesse didn't doubt that, but being a bomb was certainly no way to live, and being treated like a bomb was much worse. A blind bomb being treated like the timer was about to run out was one of the worst things Jesse could imagine. Normally by that time, bombs had warmed up to him and their timer had lengthened. Kennith was different, though. It was almost as if he had already gone off, like the damage had already been done, and the explosion was now setting off little land mines placed around his life. It almost scared Jesse when he began to realize just how cold Kennith was. His parents didn't resemble him at all, physically or emotionally. Finally, he was beginning to see more of the fact that he was adopted.

Jesse was making Kennith angry again. He could see it in the boy's beautiful hazel eyes, the way his jaw ticked and his eyes darted around the room, almost as if he was searching for something to punch. Jesse wondered what Kennith saw, how far on the blindness spectrum he really was. Just when he expected Kennith to lash out, to begin a swearing rant again, the boy sighed. Jesse waited while Kennith ducked his head and shook it angrily. "You know what, Jesse?"