"Do you think I'm a monster?" Staring at him from my bed, upside as he was about to leave. His back stilled, hand hovering over the doorknob while a hum left his throat. Looking over his shoulder at me, his hand dropping, he stared for a long second before a careful smile found his lips and he turned back to me. He didn't give an immediate response.
"Don't look at me like that," He hummed, my gaze following him as he found himself sitting on my bed, next to my head. Brushing my hair out of the way I merely moved my head to his lap. "That's a question I can't give a yes or no to, I'm sure you know that," His voice was soft as he stared down at me gently. This wasn't like him. Adrian was honest and blunt. He should have given a yes or no. That was why I had asked him. He was being careful. He was being thoughtful.
"I asked you because you're honest, you won't spare my feelings with a lie," I stated, his finger guiding one of my ringlets with its curl. Not saying anything, just playing with my hair.
"... I believe I gave you a book," he finally said making me laugh, turning in his lap and hugging his hips.
"A book of questions, some of which I did answer, you know," I smiled, burrowing my face into his stomach, "This and that are different." I could feel the warmth of his hand as it hovered over my back for a moment, a sigh falling from his lips as he collapsed backward, covering his eyes with his forearms, his ears down farther than usual.
"You have never practiced weaponry before coming here Lilith, it shows, yet you've steadily been learning, you're keeping up with people who already knew they would be war class and have been training before coming here. You have magic that is stupidly quick, a dragon you made by accident, you frequently meet with the headmaster and other elites without battling a lash, you're the most intelligent person I know, and you've even summoned a holy beast." Staring at his chest as he breathed, a numbness pulling at my chest, I didn't comment. A sigh found my ears as I looked back up at his covered face.
"But I also know how hard you try. You are definitely someone I wouldn't ever willingly make my enemy, but you aren't a monster. You worked for your strength. You worked for everything you are. So, no, Lilith, you aren't a monster, you're just another person. Maybe smarter than the average, better at using your mana, and yes, I would even say you could be considered stronger than the average. But here? Here you are the average. Alright? Everyone in this school is freaking insane, Alex can swing around an axe that weighs as much as me, Ari can understand magic theory so advanced she's even stumped a few professors, and even I have things I'm good at,
"You aren't a monster, you're just better than those that want to call you one. Okay? Are we done? Cause I'm bad at this and this is honestly really embarrassing, I'm not Alex, I can't just say these things," He groaned his cheeks tinted as a wide smile found my face. Leaning against his side I tried to pry his arms from his face. "Hey- Come on! Don't! It's embarrassing!"
Laughing, our arms shaking as we fought with the strength we had, realizing I was gaining ground, he instead pushed, leaving me to squeal as I fell back with my own effort assisting on accident. He tried to make an escape at the new distance between us, but I grabbed the back of his shirt. With a choked cry, he fell back, and before he could run again, I trapped him under me, his hands firmly under my knees, which framed his stomach, and my hands on both sides of his head.
"I didn't think I'd see the day that Adrian Briggs would blush!" I snickered, leaning over him. He was still under me, his efforts forgotten, as we panted. His ears were down lower than ever, his freckles wildly blushed, and despite the fact that the larger boy could remove me from above him, he didn't, instead, he tried to bury his face in my pillow. Glancing at me from the corner of his half-closed eye I blinked at the sight of him.
His long silver hair was messy, sprawled out over my pillow, his sharp jaw turned to me as he buried his freckled face into my pillow, his droopy upturned eyes holding an unexpected shame, his full lips scrunched up half bitten, while his uniform was in disarray. His chest lightly heaving, and his flushed face hiding to the best of his ability. Leaning closer, my chest tightening, the door was suddenly opened and I froze.
Sitting up, my gaze whipped around to whoever thought to just open my door- finding Alex. He stared for a second, opening my mouth, trying to explain for a reason I didn't quite understand, he sped-walked right up to me. With a sigh, he easily picked me up, holding me like a child from under my arms. Looking down at Adrain, who had curled in on himself, covering his face, he let out an even longer sigh.
"Why are you bullying him?" He asked me, his gaze tired and his voice strained. Blinking, I looked between the two.
"I wasn't..." My voice died as I was kinda being a bit of a bully. "I mean- not, not really?" I offered with a sheepish smile and a wince. Instead of a whack to the head, he set me down, and swiftly threw Adrian over his shoulder with a shake of the head. The drow didn't fight back, still burying his face in his hands while I gapped at the lack of resistance. This was Adrain. And he was being complicit.
"Don't bully him, okay? He's especially weak to it, got it?" Alex rolled his eyes, readjusting the boy on his shoulder. Opening my mouth, knowing for a fact that was not true, he left before I could argue. Adrain always bit back if someone tried to harass him, in fact, I've seen him make someone cry just because they had made a comment and he happened to be irritated enough to dish out a whole speech in return.