A/N WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I AM FREE FOR THE SUMMER BABY!!!!! I'm also SO SORRY this chapter took so long!!! Finals were a *beep* and I didn't have any time to work on this story 😭 Plus a bit of writer's block sprinkled in there for funsies... BUT I'M HERE NOW AND I HOPE I DIDN'T LEAVE YOU GUYS WAITING FOR TOO LONG!!!! ENJOY!!!!!
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"Wow, I feel kinda bad for Mitch." Todrick said, throwing away Kevin's bag. "He looked really upset about it."
"Yeah, he was thinking about how he wished he hurt the guy more, in the car." Kevin told him, and Todrick blinked.
"He... what?"
"He was thinking about how he wished he hurt the guy more, in the car." Kevin repeated.
"How... do you know what he was thinking about?"
"Oh, I can read minds." He stated simply, and Todrick stared at him.
"You can... read minds?"
"Well, sometimes. It seems to come and go at random times, but yeah. Did I not tell you?"
"No! When did this happen?!" Todrick exclaimed, and Kevin chuckled.
"About three, almost four days ago? I just know it showed up the day before the others and I went to Puerto Rico."
"Can you read my mind?"
"I can't really control it right now, but I can try."
Kevin squinted and tried to focus on Todrick. For a while he didn't hear anything, then a whisper of Todrick's voice came through his head.
'-ead minds, right? What if he's reading my mind right now? Um... Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter-'
"If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better." Kevin said out loud with a chuckle.
"So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter!" They finished in unison.
"That's amazing..." Todrick smiled, and Kirstie chuckled.
"Who is Betty Botter and why does she need so much butter?" She asked, putting some sliced cheese on the counter.
"Betty Botter's probably a baker who needs the butter for her batter." Kevin told her.
"But it can't be bitter butter?"
"The butter better not be bitter for her batter."
The two erupted in a fit of giggles. Once they calmed down, Todrick noticed Kevin had his thinking face on.
"What's up?" He asked, and Kevin looked at him carefully.
"How do you feel?"
"Whaddya mean?"
"About... all of this? About me being able to read your mind? About being surrounded by people who have powers while..."
"What, while I don't have any?" Todrick finished when Kevin trailed off. He gave a soft chuckle and thought about it. "Honestly? I feel fine about the whole thing."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I don't really care."
"You don't? You're not like... jealous or anything?" Kirstie questioned.
"Let me put it this way; I'm more fascinated about how you guys have powers and how they work for you than I am frustrated or upset that I don't have any." He explained, and Kevin smiled.
"Well, that's good to hear."
"And speaking of powers and how they work~..." Todrick trailed off, nudging Kevin in the shoulder and Kevin playfully rolled his eyes.
"Alright. What do you wanna know?"
"Um... well firstly, what does it feel like when you use your super smarts? Do you feel anything specific or does it change every time? Can you control how much you want to know about or is it unexpected every time? Can you only learn a little bit about something or do you instantly know the entire history of it?"
"All great questions." Kevin told him with a laugh. "Okay, let me see. How does it feel when I use my super smarts? I guess the easiest way to explain it is... it feels like common sense? Like how everyone should know not to leave the house without clothes on."
"So you don't feel like you've learned anything new?"
"No, it just feels like I'm remembering something I learned a while ago. Or when someone tells you a fact that you already know about."
"Huh, that's actually really interesting." Kirstie said with a smile.
"Do you have any control over how much you want to know?" Todrick wondered.
"I think it depends on the situation," Kevin told them. "For example, I know that in an emergency, a crayon can burn brightly for about 15 to 30 minutes. But I know this because crayons are made from paraffin wax and non-toxic color pigments, and paraffin wax is a substance derived from wood, coal, or petroleum, which are all flammable, and I can determine how long it burns based on the size of the crayon."
"That's great and all but there's one thing you haven't factored." Kirstie cut in.
"What's that?"
"There's no way you can know what a crayon defines as an emergency."
"A crayon's an inanimate object, it can't-" He started, but Todrick cut him off.
"No, Kev, she's making a joke."
"Oh... oh, right." He gave a soft chuckle. "Sorry, I guess that's a downside to having super smarts. Sometimes my brainpower makes me take things literally."
"Good thing I'm here, right?"
"Yeah, thank God. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Definitely get into a lot more awkward situations." Todrick teased, and Kevin playfully rolled his eyes.
Kirstie chuckled and asked, "Hey, how long have you two known each other and been friends?"
"Well, that's two different answers." Kevin told her.
"What do you mean?"
"When we first met, I couldn't stand him." Todrick explained, and Kirstie's jaw dropped.
"What?! But you two are such good friends!" She gasped, opening the fridge and putting back the rest of the cheese.
"We are now, but back then, I hated his guts."
"Hey, Kirst. Whatcha makin'?" Avi asked, coming into the kitchen and washing his hands.
"I was thinking about making a sandwich, but now I wanna hear this story." She told him. "Apparently, when Kevin and Todrick first met they hated each other!"
"What? But they're such good friends!"
"I know, right!"
"Correction," Kevin cut in. "Todrick hated my guts. I was impartial about the whole thing."
"Okay, I know I could use my powers to see for myself, but I actually wanna hear this from the two of you." Avi told them, and they chuckled. "Let's start from the beginning, when did you guys meet?"
"Umm... Oh geez, when did we meet?" Todrick wondered, furrowing his eyebrows. "Was it second grade or third grade?"
"We met in second grade, but became friends at the beginning of third grade." Kevin remembered.
"Oh, that's right."
"So what happened?" Kirstie wondered, becoming more engaged.
"Well, we were in... Ms. Tambrie's class?" Todrick paused to see Kevin's nod of approval before continuing. "We called her Ms. T, but she did that thing teachers do when they make you stand in front of the class, give your name, and an interesting fact about yourself. Most kids said they had a pet at home or shared something fun they did over the summer, but Kevin's fact was weird, and I still remember it to this day because it was so weird."
"It wasn't weird." Kevin argued.
"It was for a seven or eight year old kid in second grade to be saying."
"What did he say?!" Avi and Kirstie yelled in unison.
"He said, and I quote, "My name is Kevin and over the summer, I learned that the 'L' in 'Could' was added in the fifteenth or sixteenth century just so it'd match the spellings of 'Would' and 'Should'!" And everyone in the class tilted their heads cause they were so confused! Even the teacher!" Todrick laughed.
"That's not a weird thing to say! I learned a fun fact and wanted to share it with the class!"
"What's going on?" Scott asked, walking into the kitchen, and Kirstie quickly caught him up to speed.
"Kevin and Todrick are telling us when they met and became friends and apparently Todrick hated Kevin's guts back then."
"What? But-"
"They're such good friends, we know." She cut him off with a giggle. "Todrick just told us that Kevin introduced himself to the class and gave a weird fact he learned over the summer, and then you walked in."
"Oh, okay. My family says hi by the way."
"Tell them we said hello!"
Scott sent out a quick text before turning his attention back to the story being told.
"I didn't immediately hate him," Todrick continued. "But over the next few days, I noticed he was answering all of the teacher's questions. At first, I thought he was a try-hard, then I thought he was being a teacher's pet. About a week later I figured he was just showing off."
"And that's what made you hate him?"
"Not necessarily. I think the thing that really pissed me off was that he was answering hard questions so easily, and I couldn't understand why. There was this one time where Ms. T gave us a difficult assignment. Everyone was struggling with it because it had stuff on it she hadn't taught us yet. Within, I kid you not, five minutes, Kevin turns it in and gets a hundred percent."
"That's when you decided?"
"Uh huh. I remember thinking to myself, 'Yep. I don't like him.' But can you blame me? The worst part was, like Kevin said, he was impartial about the whole thing. He was getting straight A's and didn't even care!"
"I did care!" Kevin argued again. "I just didn't put my heart on my sleeve like other people."
"You didn't even smile!"
"I did smile! You just didn't see me because you were too busy pouting."
"Whatever..." Todrick huffed, rolling his eyes while everyone laughed.
"Anyway," Kevin resumed, picking up the story. "Throughout the school year, Todrick continued working hard and studying as much as he could. I noticed his hostile behavior but didn't say anything."
"Wait," Avi interrupted. "You noticed he was angry with you and didn't do anything?"
"Well, he wasn't exactly subtle about how he felt. Did I mention he completely ignored my existence on the last day of second grade? Then again, what kid is good at hiding their feelings? And I never said or did anything because he was entitled to his own opinion and how he felt. Plus, I was focusing on schoolwork."
"So, how did you guys become friends?" Scott asked, and Kevin chuckled.
"That was at the beginning of third grade. I went to the library to see how long I had to wait to check out a certain book. The librarian said that I could have it once a student was finished with it. She pointed to the kid, and lo and behold, it was Todrick, sitting at a table, angrily taking notes."
"I wasn't angry..." Todrick mumbled his weak protest.
"Well, from where I was standing, you definitely looked angry. Anyway, since it was the beginning of the school year, I had time to talk to him. So I went over to say hi. Todrick, of course, told me to go away."
"Well, what would you do if you were studying for something important, and someone you didn't like came up to you and tried to hold a conversation?"
"I guess I would be pretty annoyed, but there was nothing to study for. It was the first week, the beginning of the school year."
"Says the guy who constantly got straight A's like it was nothing. You'd think someone so smart would be able to pick up on passive aggressiveness."
"Hey, give me a break! It was the beginning of third grade, I was still learning stuff. Besides, we'd barely been alive for a decade."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Anyway, after a bit more pressing, Todrick finally got really annoyed and told me he didn't like me. I asked why not and he said it was because I was smart."
"Hey! I didn't say I didn't like you because you were smart, I said I didn't like you because you were getting good grades, barely trying, and didn't seem to care. I was studying so hard but I was still... somehow behind you, and I just didn't understand why."
"Wait... did you cry?" Kevin asked with a smirk, and Todrick looked confused.
"What? I'm not crying."
"No, no, back then. Did you cry?"
"Oh, uh... no?"
"Mmm, I think I remember you crying." He teased, and Todrick shook his head.
"Must've been someone else."
"Pretty sure I remember you started crying."
"I didn't cry!"
"Yes he did." Kevin told their audience, chuckling. "But I think it was a frustrated cry."
"Awwww." Scott, Avi, and Kirstie gushed.
"Hush." Todrick snapped, shooing them away. "Anyway, it was after that, that Kevin told me his secret."
"Well, not immediately after." Kevin corrected. "I had to make sure you wouldn't tell anyone first."
"And you did that by asking me if I could keep a secret, and leading me to the back of the library?"
"Well, I had to be sure! Plus, again, we weren't even ten yet so I had very little to go on when it came to people keeping secrets."
"And going to the science fiction section of the library seemed like the best place for you?"
"What do you want me to do? Travel back in time and change it?"
"Girls, girls, you're both pretty. Can you continue the story now?" Kirstie interrupted, and they playfully rolled their eyes as Avi and Scott chuckled.
"Anyway, after I led Todrick out of earshot from everyone, I told him that I had an unfair advantage because I had superpowers." Kevin remembered. "Obviously he didn't believe me, so I gave him proof. I took him back to the table he was taking notes at and asked the librarian if we could borrow a calculator."
"Once he got it, he gave it to me and told me to make any random equation for him to solve." Todrick continued. "I put in random numbers, added them, subtracted them, multiplied, divided... every time he got the right answer. It wasn't until I started putting in decimal points that I actually believed him."
"Wow... so what did you think when you found out he was telling the truth?" Avi asked, intrigued.
"Honestly? I thought it was a little freaky at first." Todrick admitted, and Avi felt Scott stiffen a little beside him. "But then I immediately asked him, "What else do you know?", and he told me another fun fact he learned about fire not having a shadow or something."
"Wait, fire doesn't have a shadow?"
"Nope, and the reason why fire has no shadow is because the flame itself is a source of light." Kevin explained. "A shadow is the surface area which is less bright than its surroundings because something is blocking light partially or fully from that area. Therefore, a shadow is nothing but a darker area with the absence of light, so fire itself doesn't have a shadow."
"Thanks, Wikipedia. We can always count on you." Todrick teased.
"Ha ha. So, after that whole thing, Todrick and I talked some more, but I can't remember what exactly it was. Something to do with English?"
"Oh, I remember! You said if you got good grades like you did last year, your mom was going to let you learn a new language."
"That's right!"
"And I remember being so confused and excited for you because I think that was when I learned, English wasn't the only language in the world. There were more than one."
"That's adorable." Kirstie commented.
"Yeah, class started shortly after that, but now I didn't hate Kevin anymore... Now that I think about it, hate's a pretty strong word. I'm sure I just really disliked you because I didn't understand, but now that I understood, I saw you as a friend. Also, you helped me out whenever I was confused about something and needed that extra explaining that some teachers don't give."
"Yep, and we've been best friends ever since." Kevin finished, throwing his arm around Todrick's shoulder and giving him a noogie.
"Aww, yay! What a cute story!" Kirstie beamed, wiggling a little.
Todrick pushed Kevin away with a chuckle and straightened his shirt. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. By the way, Kev, you never answered my last question."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, being a kid, I was stupid and never thought to ask those questions before. But when it comes to using your powers, can you only learn a little bit about something, or do you instantly know the entire history of it?"
"Honestly?" Kevin asked, and Todrick nodded. He chuckled again before answering. "It takes a bit of time but... I know the history of it. How else do you think I knew that crayons are made of paraffin wax?"
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A/N HAPPY GAY MONTH!!!! I was gonna upload this yesterday but decided today would be more fitting (Plus if I uploaded yesterday, it would've been around 11 something pm EST and I wasn't sure how many people were already sleeping lol) Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Let me know your thoughts in the comments and have an awesome day! I LOVE YOU ALL AND DON'T FORGET TO BOOP THAT LITTLE VOTE BUTTON WITH YOUR NOSE!!! BAIII!!!!~