BUGBOY | DORBYN [DISCONT.]

06

corbyn nearly had a heart attack saturday morning.

he stayed up to an unknown hour, only knowing that he'd slept through his alarm and he had roughly twenty minutes to get himself ready and go to the insectarium. thankfully he made it on time, but nothing stopped him from being an absolute mess anyways.

not in his outfit, no. his presence.

"besson!" daniel's voice seemed far too cheery, arm held up in a wave as corbyn's pace slowed to walking. he tried to catch his breath, fingers drumming along his backpack straps. daniel had brought his bag too. he may hold up his promise.

corbyn didn't want to have too much hope, though, so he was almost automatic when composing himself.

"sorry if i'm late." his voice was quiet, eyes trained on the building as he could feel daniel's gaze drag along him. it made his skin burn and freeze all at once, wishing he could coil in on himself.

corbyn wanted nothing more than to turn on his heel, say, "adios!" and run all the way home to hide under his comforter until monday was to slap him in the face.

instead, he hummed when daniel responded with an, "oh, no, no, you're cool... shall we?"

shit. this was his thing, daniel didn't know the ways around like corbyn did. he wouldn't know what the tarantulas ate, wouldn't know how to find the queen bee, that was all corbyn.

daniel didn't know a lot about the biology of bugs, either. but corbyn mustered up and looked on the bright side. he's at least interested in it, right?

"we'll go in through the back."

corbyn seemed very blunt and confident in what he was doing, hopefully, but on the inside he wanted to shrivel up like a raisin and never face daniel seavey ever again.

the parking lot wasn't very full, but when asked, corbyn told daniel how a group of maybe ten to fifteen kids would come in for an hour or so, around one-thirty in the afternoon.

they came to learn about the different types of bugs, and they loved the butterfly unit so corbyn always brought them in towards the end of their hour. only if he was in, of course.

"hi darlene!"

it didn't go unnoticed of how cheerful corbyn's voice was in comparison to how he spoke to daniel, seeing a woman, roughly in her thirties, smile and wave and the two boys.

"hi corbyn! i see you've brought someone new," she hurried over with a beaming smile, appearing that nobody could ever wipe it off.

corbyn had dropped his bag on the floor, shaking his head as he reached out to the coat rack to grab an apron for himself. "no, we're here for a biology project. i'll help out when i can, though."

daniel wasn't entirely paying attention, glancing around the room more than anything else. there were two leather couches and a coffee table in the middle of the room, a door on the back left and a hallway to the right. on his general right was a kitchenette, making the room more open and easy to maneuver.

daniel, once again, kept his bag near corbyn's. he felt a lot more lost in this place, and it was only one room. darlene had left through the hallway on the right, presumably leading into the main building.

the attention was soon shifted to corbyn, who bumbled around the kitchen area with clattering drawers and cabinets, muttering to himself.

"what'cha lookin' for?"

corbyn's brow raised, head turning momentarily. somehow, when looking for an admission bracelet for daniel, he'd forgotten about how he left daniel to stand awkwardly near the doorway.