Parity - 7. Veikko - "The Dark Angel"

Thursday, February 1st

"Rei!" Veikko cried out, sitting up and panting. He was wet and panicked, and he flicked on his light. It was still dark. "Reima!"

"Mmmm?" Reima rubbed his face and sat up in his bed. "Youkay?" Veikko choked on a sob, sitting back and hugging his knees to his chest under the confines of his blanket. He was shaking and starting to hyperventilate. "No, you're not okay," Reima slid out from under his blanket and padded over to his brother's bed. "Bad dream again?"

"He's--he's here," Veikko stammered, the sequence replaying over and over in his mind. "He's here, and he's gonna kill me!"

"Veik, he's in prison," Reima reassured him, slipping under the covers next to his brother and putting his arms around him. "I'm here. You're safe. I promise."

"No, but I saw him," Veikko's throat was tight and he could barely see. His eyes watered and he felt as though his father's fingers squeezed around his throat. "I can't breathe!"

"Yes, you can. It was a dream, Veik," Reima gently rested his forehead against Veikko's as he always did when his brother was upset, agitated or struggling. "You're okay, little brother. I'm here."

Although Veikko choked and spluttered for a short while longer, he gradually slowed down and managed to get a grip on what was real and what was not. Reima's touch was warm and comforting, rarely failing to calm his brother down. The soothing connection they had was a mystery and a marvel, with Veikko able to calm his brother down by doing the same thing. Vilma, among many others, was amazed that they did this, largely because the twins spent nearly all of their time in utero with their foreheads touching that way. There were ultrasound photos to prove it, and many pictures she'd taken of her boys sleeping with their foreheads connected at different stages of their life.

"Can you sleep in my bed?" Veikko asked timidly. He'd regained control of his thoughts and his breathing, but he was still shaking. Reima finally took his face away, and Veikko felt vulnerable without him.

"I'm already in your bed. Are you alright?" He asked, still worried as he stole a pillow from his brother's side of the bed. "Veik?"

"Yeah. Thanks," Veikko replied shakily, sliding closer to his brother so he wouldn't feel alone. The air conditioning had made it cold in the bedroom - neither boy was able to sleep in humid heat - and he was now shivering. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Reima yawned and rolled onto his side under the blanket. "Just go to sleep."

"But what if--" Veikko began.

"Yes, I'll wake you if I see you dreaming," Reima cut him off and immediately an turned his back on his brother. "Just sleep! And your breath reeks!"

"Excuse you," Veikko murmured, and Reima chuckled as Veikko, still shaking, snuggled up to him. Perhaps they were too old to sleep in the same bed, but that was the only way he could bear to sleep after reliving that nightmare. Reima was his guardian angel. Of course, he fell asleep long before Veikko did, but he felt safe enough with his brother there to eventually doze off again.

He was woken again by his mother's unsympathetic banging on the outside of their bedroom door. Reima, still next to him, grunted with displeasure and sat up. Veikko rubbed his eyes crankily and yawned. Vilma, not hearing an objection, pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"It's go time, boys," she announced, stifling a yawn of her own. She was no more a morning person than her sons were and on the weekends she tended to both stay up and sleep later than either one of them - a true night owl. "Quicksmart. I slept through my alarm, so we're all going to have to rush. Shit, shower and showtime, c'mon!"

"Mmyep! Uh'm hmohlkgood," Reima slurred, slipping out of bed and almost losing the ridiculously oversized tracksuit pants he slept in. He's such a loser, Veikko thought with a fond smile.

"You too!" Vilma turned her eyes towards him and kissed the top of Reima's head as he lumbered past her into the hallway. She wasn't a tall woman, but she was still bigger than her sixteen-year-old sons. We're so tragic, Veikko thought. She must have smoked when she was pregnant or something. Why are we so short? Arrrgh.

"I'm coming!" Veikko whined back at her, falling back and covering his eyes with his forearms. It didn't matter if this was five or eleven o'clock in the morning. It was too fucking early.

"Don't make me get the spray bottle," she playfully warned him, tugging the blanket off and causing the cool air to hit his nearly naked body. "Come on, you lazybones. If I have to go to work, you have to go to school."

"So don't go to work!" Veikko suggested, managing to find a smile to put on his face. "Then I don't go to school. Everyone wins."

"Trust me, sweetheart," Vilma walked over and turned off the air conditioner. "If that were the solution, I would have worked it out long before you were born. If you want to waste power by sleeping with the air con going all night instead of just opening a window, I'm going to need to go to work and you're going to need to go to school."

"Bitch please!" Veikko finally sat up and put his bare feet on the carpet, putting his palm up between them. "I hear your air con going all night! Don't think I haven't noticed!"

"Bitch please!" Vilma leaned down to fondly kiss the top of his head and hugged him. Veikko happily squeezed her back. "I pay for the air con. I don't see you paying for yours." She pulled back and knelt down so the two were at eye level. "Did you have a bad night, darling?"

"Just some dreams," Veikko looked away guiltily. "It's fine."

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked. She always asked if he and Reima slept in the same bed. It was a telltale sign that her son needed comforting. "Do you want me to set up an appointment for you?"

"I said I'm okay!" Veikko replied, more tersely than he intended to. You can't do anything, Mum. Stop acting as though you can.

"Alright. Start getting ready," she instructed him, squeezing his shoulder as she retreated from the room. Fine.

Veikko was almost reduced to tears of horror when he looked at his reflection in the full body mirror. Blood stained his face, trickling from his broken nose and his left eye was red; the right one surrounded in a savage bruise that turned half his face purple and black. The eye socket on that side was fractured, as was the cheekbone on the left. Several of his teeth were broken, and his mouth tasted of blood. His body was a complete shit show. Every horrible colour from black to yellow to purple to red blotched nearly every part of his chest, waist, arms and legs. His left arm hung uselessly by his side, the compound fracture poking through his forearm. Most disturbingly of all, dark, purple bruises covered his throat. Veikko ran his fingers over the scar where his ulna had pierced through. It's over, he reminded himself. It's all over. Still, the image never went away.

"Hey!" Reima startled him, standing in the doorway wearing a towel and thoughtlessly letting water trickle onto the carpet from his body and wet hair. Ugh. The towel's not a fashion accessory, Rei. It's for drying yourself, you twit. "Shower's free. I left you some hot water."

"T Y V M," Veikko picked out a pair of shorts as Reima ducked out, leaving a wet trail as he walked. I always look cute in shorts. Dom likes the way my butt looks in jeans, but to hell with him. He's made his feelings clear, so he can fuck off and chase that Catholic idiot in circles for all I care.

There'd been five of them at this kitchen table at one point; now there were only three. Well, five still if he counted Brownie and Lana, the beagles sniffing and begging for loving at his feet, but as much as Veikko adored the pups Vilma adopted to help her boys with their grief, he'd rather have Jonna back. He'd accepted her death, but he still missed her every day.

"Can I please have another egg?" Reima asked, having inhaled his breakfast in no time flat. Mmm. Such a pig. "Please?"

"It sounds like you're finally ready for another growth spurt," Vilma observed with a wink. "I'm having my breakfast, darling. Can't you get it yourself?"

"But you know how to do them the way I like them," Reima whined, his round eyes wide and his lips pouted. "Your eggs are the best!"

"Ohh, of course, sweetheart," Vilma smiled at him and kissed him on the forehead, before abandoning her half-eaten meal to make her teenage son happy. "Would you like anything, Veikko?"

"No, my arse is big enough already, thank you, Mummy," Veikko remarked, poking his bacon with his fork. "By the way, it's not hard to make eggs, Rei, just so you know. You're not making a fucking croquembouche."

"Watch that language, please!" Vilma pointed at him from the cooker, where she was cracking Reima his third egg. He was in a protein craze now. So desperate to grow ten inches before basketball started that Veikko was expecting him to sacrifice one of the pups to Lucifer if this didn't work.

"What? Fuck or croquembouche?" Veikko smirked in response.

"I don't see you making your own eggs," Reima shot back at him. He had egg on his face in the literal sense. So charming. Selena's such a lucky girl. "Or your bacon or your toast."

"So? At least I know how," Veikko snarked and made a face at him.

"If you boys don't stop with this bickering, then this is the last time either of you gets anything cooked for you," Vilma interjected before the two of them progressed into something catty and drawn out.

"He's a dick for no reason!" Reima was appalled that Veikko's behaviour might impact the way his mother doted on him.

"So I heard!" Vilma reassured him, shooting a look over at Veikko, who made a point of tearing a bite out of his toast. "You," she pointed to him. "Stop winding up your brother. You're being rude. Don't give me that face! And you," she pointed to Reima. "Stop letting him wind you up. You boys are almost men; I wish you'd act like it. If either you think the other one's annoying, I want you to imagine what it's like for me when I have to put up with both of you carrying on!"

"Stop letting him wind me up? Legit?" Reima shot daggers at his brother. "He should be nice to me in the first place! I'm always waking up to take care of him after his nightmares, and he can't even keep his bitchy comments to himself!"

"I'm don't want to hear about it, sweetheart," Vilma sighed over the sizzling of the new egg she almost finished cooking. "I don't want to hear it, either. If you have nothing constructive to say to each other, then just be quiet, please. I don't need to start my day with a headache."

Fuck you, Reima mouthed over to Veikko. Ooh, how rebellious. How imaginative. It's no wonder you'd be flunking out of every class if it weren't for me. Veikko splayed his fingers and aimed the palm of his hand at Reima, but to his surprise, Reima mimicked him precisely at the same time with a ridiculous expression on his face.

"Piss off!" Veikko started laughing, and Reima's frown quickly lit up into a smile, his giggles betraying him. As suddenly as it began, the fight was over.

"That language, Veikko! Who taught you that?" Vilma scolded him as she dropped a new egg on her baby's plate.

"Thank you, Mummy," Reima beamed up at her, and he ravenously cut into it while his mother kissed him on the forehead. Maybe we're a bit spoiled.

"You taught me that language, actually!" Veikko loved reminding her. She always denied it, but one day she would let him record the two or three of them playing Mario Kart together for his channel. The streams of abuse that came from that woman when she was losing at a video game were enough to curdle every carton of milk from the supermarket down the street. Vilma didn't like the idea of appearing in her son's vlog, which was a shame because there was a lot of demand from Veikko's fans. He spoke about her a lot, and they wanted to see her for themselves.

"You're full of shit," Vilma winked at him, and just like that there was no more ill feeling in the room. Lana and Brownie were nearly driven mad with gratitude when Veikko scraped his leftovers into their bowls. Stupid dogs. He missed having Lana sleep on his bed, but she always got into his shoes and chewed them up. They weren't allowed upstairs anymore.

The boys were always at school by eight-thirty. If they wanted a lift - and they invariably did - it had to be on Vilma's schedule so she could be ready to teach younger kids at a primary school a short drive away. Dom would clock in at around ten to nine, and Selena managed to be late most of the time thanks to her dodgy school bus. It was never a lot of fun to see Reima immediately leave him to go and kiss Selena good morning and laugh and have fun with her, but that was okay. He had Dominic after all - someone to kiss, cuddle and love. Oh, except no, he didn't!

Dominic and Topher arrived together again for the third day in a row. Ugh! What is with them? You think I don't see you lusting after him, Dom? He's got it bad. Why the fuck can't I ever get him to look at me like that? Not just for a tight fit, but as someone he can't imagine life without? I can't imagine life without him. Why doesn't he understand that? Now, Veikko's brother abandoned him for Selena in the mornings and Dominic was with that stupid Catholic kid. I'm alone, and I have nobody. I hate this.

Although he swallowed the part of him that wanted to lash out at his friends and managed a polite hello to each of them, even Lynch, Veikko found himself overwhelmed and snuck out. I can't be around them, he thought unhappily. They're all moving on and growing up and I'm stuck in the same fucking revolving door. I can't even sleep on my own, and it's been three years. Ughhh. Tragic. No wonder they're so tired of me.

"Veikko!" A voice called from behind, and Veikko turned around to come eye to eye with Topher Lynch. Eww... why? He's tall, he's athletic, he's got nice blond hair, pretty blue eyes and even a better arse than me. Is it any wonder it took Dom all of five minutes to throw me aside for him?

"AHH, what?" Veikko answered, his reply jealous and bad-tempered.

"Look, I've wanted to talk to you since Monday," Topher began, and Veikko made a show of rolling his eyes. Topher ignored him and continued to speak, though. "You don't have to say you're sorry, okay? I know you don't like me, and I understand why you said what you did. Can we please put it all behind us? I'll tell Selena and Dominic that you apologised. It doesn't matter to me if you don't, but I'm tired of this, and I want it to be over."

"Oh, you're just so perfect, aren't you?" Veikko lashed out. "Why is it that every time I leave our homeroom, some superior fucking twat has to follow me out and remind me what a cunt I am? Yeah, good for you, Christopher! The moral high ground is all yours! It's all so easy, isn't it? Rich, straight guy with a whole church community worshipping him, shit! Life must be so simple for you! You're all pretty and innocent, and everyone loves you! I mean, Dom wants to get inside you so fucking bad that even I can taste it! Tell them whatever you want, but I'll say fuck off to you a million times before I ever apologised to you."

After the tirade, Veikko felt dizzy. A tremendous amount of anguish had come from his damaged heart and coated the other boy with all the anger, hurt and fear that was eternally swirling inside him. He felt lighter, but he didn't feel better.

"Do you know who I think is the worst person I've ever met?" Topher folded his arms. He looked angry - and it was out of place. Great, I'm getting an angry sermon. Watch out.

"Me? Did the little gay boy hurt your feelings?" Veikko mocked him, and Topher took a long, deep breath, his eyes closed and jaw clenched.

"You're a contender, yes," Topher snapped at him. I've done it! I've actually made picture perfect Topher Lynch break a sweat! Jesus isn't going to like that. How sad. "It doesn't matter to me how much you despise me, Veikko, or what clever things you have to say. I don't want or need an apology from you! This isn't for you or me; this is because Dominic is hurting, and if you cared about him you would do the right thing. Even after all this, Veikko, I still think Zackary McKenzie is the worst person I've met, and I will always regret letting him treat you like that. I hate that I never stood up to him. Well, I'm not going to fail again, and that's why I'm standing up to you. You're hurting Dominic. He is so loyal to you, and maybe I don't understand why, but I do understand that you don't deserve a friend like him. I'm telling you to stop."

Thirty seconds ago, Veikko was gloating about getting under Topher's skin. He hadn't been expecting that he would fire back like that, and especially with comments so sharp that they effortlessly drove right through the boy's heart. He was stunned. There was an avalanche of feelings coming down on him. He wanted to hurt Topher for saying those things but chose not to. He knew that his nemesis was right. This fight wasn't as much about burning Topher as it was about burning Dominic. That was the critical difference. I hate him, Veikko thought as he spun around and sped to the fourth-floor men's bathroom as fast as his little legs would take him. I hate him, but I love him so much. Ugh. Topher is right, though. I don't deserve him. If I did, maybe he might love me. Perhaps if he loved me, I could have stopped him. But no. I had to watch him die in front of me. He actually died. Oh my god.

He thought the bathroom was empty when he went in, and he leaned against the cold tiles. The school bell for Homeroom would ring at any moment, and he needed to be there or they'd ring his mother. I want this all to be over too, he thought sadly, tears creeping into his eyes as he glared at himself in the mirror. Why did he do it? Am I that awful?

"Rei, what's up?" A voice made Veikko flinch, and in the reflection of the long mirror above the basins, he saw Kellan McLeod grinning at him.

"Mmm, funny," Veikko sneered at him. "I've never heard that one before."

"Oh shit, you're not Rei?" Kellan asked facetiously, moving in dangerously close to Veikko, who slowly moved backwards. "Well, I know you're not Veikko because he's a chickenshit who never goes anywhere without his bodyguard backing him up."

"Well, it looks like you caught me!" Veikko replaced his initial feeling of dread with hatred when the back of his foot hit the tiled wall. If I'm gonna get bashed, so fucking be it. I'm not gonna be scared, though. He doesn't deserve my fear. "You want another kiss, is that right? Did you decide you liked it after all?"

"Do I look like I want a kiss?" Kellan was a red-headed boy, freckly and athletic with rich green eyes. He was certainly cute, Veikko had once thought, and there had been a measure of joy in forcing the kiss of life on him while his friends all watched and laughed. His hand lashed out, and he grabbed Veikko by the scruff of his neck, and the boy steeled himself, ready for the assault. "You fuckin' humiliated me, man. You should know better than to go anywhere without Faye because you've got a lot of enemies after that gay shit you pulled on my friends and me."

"So do it!" Veikko challenged him fiercely. "Stop talking about it! You're the one who always calls me a pussy, so why don't you be a man of action?"

Veikko wasn't sure if he was trying to bluff the bully or not. He didn't think Kellan would dare to hurt him again, but on the other hand, Veikko deserved punishment for the things he was doing to his friends and his brother. It would serve him right if he got bashed to a pulp. Kellan used his grip on Veikko's shirt to pull him forwards and then shove him hard back against the wall. It hurt. Kellan pulled him away again, but then Veikko saw his head snap backwards. There was a flash of blue, and Kellan's face seemed to throw itself right down onto one of the porcelain sinks with a mighty thud. The bully cried out in anger, surprise and pain as Maverick maintained his grip in the tangled, orange curls with his left hand, and he used it to steer Kellan around until they traded spots and Maverick was between the two of them before he released his fingers, shoving Kellan away.

"What the hell, you psycho?" Kellan exclaimed, holding his right cheek with both hands. There was no blood that Veikko saw, but there would be a bruise.

"Leave him alone, mate," Maverick replied to him firmly in that gravelly voice that Veikko was gradually growing fond of. "Nobody touches him. You get it?"

"You hate him too!" Kellan was confused, upset and in pain. "He forced that kissing shit on you as well! Did you turn queer or something, Matsuda? I remember a time you roughed him up more than I ever did!"

"Why don't you quit while you're behind, McLeod?" Maverick smirked, and Veikko peeked out from behind him, enjoying this display. "If yer scared I'm turnin' queer, I can always go nuts deep in your sister again. Maybe I'll put a baby in her this time so you don't have trouble remembering!"

Maverick's comment was so savage that Veikko managed to break down into a fit of giggles. Kellan's older sister had a reputation, and Maverick was a big part of it. The redhead's face darkened. Whether he was aware that Homeroom was imminent or he was scared of Maverick was uncertain. In any case, he retreated, and that left the two of them alone.

"Did he hurt you?" Maverick turned and swished his hair to the side, exposing his eye. Veikko still distrusted him. A few days of being suspiciously sweet and personable did not make up for eighteen months of vicious bullying.

"I'm not as weak as I look, for your information," Veikko folded his arms and leaned back against the tiles. "But... he might have if you weren't here."

"I suppose he didn't like his kiss as much as I did," Maverick winked at him, and Veikko felt something squirm in his tummy. It wasn't fear or disgust. It was... something pleasant.

"You're not supposed to like it!" Veikko reminded him, forgetting himself and giving Maverick a shy smile. "It's supposed to be a punishment!"

"I'm a slow learner," Maverick had one of the prettiest smiles Veikko had ever seen. It was a pity the Japanese boy was so gruff and antisocial that it was so rare a thing to witness. "Maybe you'll need to make another example of me."

"AHH, not in this lifetime!" Veikko blushed and nudged his frenemy on the way past. He needed to get to his class, not lurk in the bathroom with the puzzling bad boy who wouldn't stop flirting with him. "Thanks for being a stalker and showing up when you did, but I'm not a prize you get for rescuing the princess."

"Please yourself," Maverick gave a throaty chuckle. "I hope you'll come and see me during recess period again."

"I'll think about it," Veikko replied. He didn't give Maverick the satisfaction of seeing the smile that crossed his lips at the invitation.

"Think about it all you want, ya so gonna be there," Maverick teased. "In fact, there's always a seat next to me in Physics class."

"We're loners together," Veikko corrected him. "We're not friends. That would like, defeat the purpose of being a loner, wouldn't it? You're shit at this, Matsuda."

Maverick only chuckled, and Veikko felt the boy's fingers softly brush the skin on his forearm as he ducked into 11-A away from his admirer. What the hell is going on with him? I think I liked him better when he was leaving spiders in my locker. This is too weird. The touch ignited his skin and left it tingling. Veikko's mind was sharp, and he didn't want much to do with Maverick in the long term, but his body didn't agree. His flesh wanted more.

"Come and sit!" Selena immediately beckoned to him with a smile on her glossy pink lips. With her plump body, round face and comically large glasses, she had always reminded Veikko of an owl. There was often tension between the two of them. Not only was she stealing his brother's love, but she was the one in the clique who called the shots, and Veikko didn't like playing second fiddle.

"Why?" Veikko asked when he approached, his arms folded and his eyes narrow with suspicion. "Aren't you supposed to be hating me right now?"

"I'd never hate you!" Selena shook her head and yanked him into a hug, which he did not return. It was nice, but he was confused. "Thank you for doing the right thing. It took you long enough, but I knew you'd come around."

"Errr--" Veikko began to tell Selena he had no idea what she was talking about, but Topher got there first.

"It was nice of you," the blond boy broke in, and Veikko looked at him incredulously. You lied, didn't you? You said I apologised. Fuck. "Thank you again. No hard feelings, okay?"

That sounds good to me, Veikko thought. Selena released him, and it was then Reima's turn. They're treating me like a child who said please and thanks for the first time. It's a little insulting. Cheers. He looked over to Dom, whose eyes were full of melancholy. They looked away at the same time. It's nice to be back with my friends, I guess. But... that was never what this was all about. It's far from over. Ugh. I'm getting tired.

Physics had been gearing up to be a lonely class for Veikko. None of his friends shared it. The closest he had were Ava, a sweet-tempered Aboriginal girl with glasses and an hourglass figure, and Eddie, a dangerously fat Greek boy with a rapier wit that Veikko quite enjoyed. They were a very geeky but amiable pair of best friends from 11-B. He wasn't sure if he would consider them friends, but he got along with them. So when Veikko arrived in 402 for the Physics lesson, he planned to butter up to the them. He knew he was far more clever than the average student and he was willing to wager that if he put his brain next to those two, they'd quickly make fools out of the rest of the class. It might be liberating to have a class without Reima; to learn at his pace and not his brother's. Still, he made a decision that baffled him. Maverick shot him a cheerful smile with that handsome face of his - what little Veikko could see of it - and he decided to throw him a bone. He rescued me this morning. He rescued me during every recess and lunch period when I had no friends. This is probably the least I could do for him. If it doesn't work out, I can always sit with the nerds.

"Hi, cutie," Maverick almost seemed shy when Veikko took him up on his offer. He hadn't been expecting it. Well, you stay shy, Maverick. Like a good, reformed little boy, yes?

"I am a cutie," Veikko agreed with him, giving him the privilege of a small smile but nothing more than that. "Don't think this means you have to talk to me, though."

"I'll be on my best behaviour," Maverick shrugged, keeping enough distance to save his reputation - but he still looked so smitten. Does he... really like me? So he isn't just messing with me? That's... weird as fuck.

The lesson got stranger when Mr Quinn introduced Ember Matsuda - Maverick's younger sister. Fourteen and she was already in the VCE classes. Smart girl, he thought. Maybe I could have skipped ahead if I... didn't become so dependent on Rei. He thought about it for a while. He'd had the opportunity, but he turned it down. He couldn't stand the thought of being apart from Reima after everything that happened.

"Mmm like, isn't being in your sister's class awkward?" Veikko asked, not intending to be rude, but genuinely curious. Maverick blew his fringe from his face with a long gust of air.

"You're in most of ya brother's classes," he pointed out. "I'm proud of Em. She's probably gonna cure cancer one day."

"I can't say the same for Rei," Veikko laughed. Reima didn't even know how to cook eggs and had a long-running feud with the toaster. "Still, she's two years younger, right?"

"So?" Maverick continued drawing a gorgeous sketch of a Japanese spider lily on his textbook. Wow, he's talented. Maybe he hasn't been spending all his time in the art room just to mess around with that Tenth Year tart after all - he's good. Really good. "I'm not ashamed of that. She's a genius; that doesn't make me stupid. I bet I'm every bit as smart as you."

"You talk like you're stupid a lot," Veikko teased him, and Maverick pursed his lips into a smirk. Okay, maybe he is cute, but that doesn't mean he gets a free pass on everything he did to me.

"And you look like a pussy, but you're fuckin' fearless," Maverick looked over at him fondly, and Veikko felt a nudge of affection for him. "I'm just sayin', you never know until you get to know someone, you get me?"

"And you want to get to know me?" Veikko asked, enjoying the eye contact between them. It was enchanting. "Is that what you're saying?"

"I thought you were smart," Maverick chuckled, looking away and biting his lip. Oh my gosh, he's for real.

"Well the first thing you'll have to do is cut off that stupid hair," Veikko grinned. "Then maybe find you clothes that aren't so tragic and a magnet so we can get that loser shrapnel out of your face."

"So you want to get to know me too, is that what ya sayin'?" Maverick's grin widened, and his pearly white teeth shone in the morning light.

"AHH no!" Veikko put his palm up between them, and Maverick snickered. "I'm just giving you the opportunity. That doesn't mean I'm interested."

"Then you wouldn't be here right now," the gothic boy reminded him.

Oh... well... I suppose that is true, Veikko admitted to himself. He doesn't need to know that, though.

Thank you for everyone who reads my stories, including Parity. You guys rock!
Maverick's chapter is next.
Have a lovely day x