3 CLUELESS BABIES EXPERIMENTING ON NOSES:

Kayden, Hudson & Kyle : 14

Derrick: 12

Nathan, Gabriel, Rex and Shane:15

KAYDEN:

"Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success." ~Bo Bennett

Frustration.

It is a feeling that can make one act irrationally only to later regret it. Kayden father was an alcoholic. Even though his memory of him were vague he could still remember moments when he sat him down to play his role as a father. This was only when he was sane which was once in a full moon. "Alcohol gives you confidence to do and say things that you would otherwise not let slip when sobber." He would say. Whether he was trying to justify his alcoholism or not, Kayden didn't care. After all all he ever told him were lies. This was just a clear proof that all his father told him were no truth. To him, what made you say things you wouldn't say sober was frustration, not alcohol.

He was on his phone. Nathan always said he was pretending to be on his phone. This was, to some extent, true. It was easier to pretend being on the phone than make a conversation with his brothers. It was also an easier way to hide his lingering gaze on a certain someone. A certain someone who paid him no mind.

Derrick William was oblivious to his surrounding because his eyes were always on someone else. It was always Kyle. It had always been him even when he and Hudson were wrapped into each other, not able to notice anything else. The three of them got his blood boiling with exasperation and right then, when he was confronting Derrick, he was just as irritable. "I notice how you look at him because I'm always looking at you." He snarled.

Derrick paused, regarding Kayden with an almost disgusted look. "I'm not gay. It's disgusting."

"No it's not. The only thing disgusting is your attitude." Kayden retorted viciously. Maybe keeping mouths shut was a thing. Kayden wished he realized this sooner and not while nursing a wound... probably a broken nose. Derrick's punches hurt like a bitch.

However, to him, his crush breaking his nose immediately after confession was not bad at all. What hurt him the most was his crush probably finding him disgusting. As disgusting as the tears that wouldn't stop cascading down his cheeks. "I look pathetic," he thought.

His next dilemma was tending to the injury. Why were all first aid kits on the third floor? He didn't want to implicate Derrick in any way and going through the hall was as bad as crucifying his crush. Between getting Derrick into trouble and his nose becoming worse the next day, he decided on the latter. After all it was scientifically impossible to die from a punch...from an eleven year old boy, right?

That's how Kayden found himself in his room just pondering on examples of bad decisions one could make when high; high on frustration. Sleeping sounded like a good idea then. Maybe the pain would magically fade when he woke up.

Five minutes after he dipped into temporary unconsciousness, a knock sounded on the door. Deciding to ignore whoever was there to pester him, he blocked the sounds with the pillow and continued his slumber. Nonetheless, he overlooked a very important fact. Knocking, to Derrick and Nathan, was just a courtesy. Nathan,because he was the leader and the leader had access to almost all rooms on the third and fourth floor. Derrick, on the other hand, was because he was the boss' son. He was the second most privileged person in the whole building after Dario. So when the door clicked open, Kayden surrended himself to his fate. How could he disregard that important fact? He just hoped it was Derrick and not Nate. He was not prepared to answer any questions from the eldest then.

"Hey, you asleep?" A soft voice asked. Derrick. He gathered as much. Heaving a sigh of relief, he looked up. The intruder looked almost sorry, an expression he found funny on him, because of course, he was Derrick; aloof Derrick.

"What do you want?"

"You're gonna miss lunch if you sleep." He even sounded nervous making the masochistic side in Kayden think it was probably not bad to be punched by Derrick once in a while.

"So?" That sounded mean but he did not care. Kayden figured it wouldn't hurt him as much his nose hurt anyway. Call him petty and he'll ask you to be punched on the nose then you'll understand.

"I'm sorry okay. I understand that you are mad but maybe I could help with the injury so it doesn't swell tomorrow."

Derrick looked almost pitiful and Kayden was ready to do anything to erase that look on him but, "You do realize that you're like 12, right?"

"What has my age got to do with this?"

"You're literally a clueless baby. I'm not letting you experiment on my nose." Derrick allowed a soft snicker before moving to sit on the edge of the bed. He had already brought the first aid kit with him. He only needed Kayden permission to allow him tend to his injury.

"Please be careful. " That was permission enough, he decided.They were silent, as Derrick worked on cleaning and disinfecting the injury, except for the occasional hisses of pain from Kayden. It was bearable, Kayden decided. Maybe Derrick was not so bad at this first aid thing.

"Why are you doing this even after I hurt you?" Derrick asked as soon as he was done playing nurse.

"Doing what?" Kayden faked. To his defence, he didn't want to assume anything. His nose still hurt!

"Protecting me."

"Why are you so blunt?" Kayden murmured impassively, averting his gaze. This was embarrassing enough for him and too much embarrassment was harmful to health! "And I wasn't really protecting you, I was protecting myself from your father's punishment and you know...(explanation)."

"You realize that I was the one who hit you, right? The punishment would have been solely on me. Explanation on the other hand wouldn't have been as embarrassing as you fangirling over those k-pop boybands." Kayden narrowed his eyes at the mention of k-pop. "I'm not hating on them or anything," Derrick quickly defended, "I'm just trying to say thank you. I'm sorry I hurt you. Just know that I don't find you disgusting... subjectively, I'd be disgusting if I were to be attracted to another guy." Kayden bit back the comment on how deluded he was thinking he was not attracted to another guy. I mean the rate at which his eyes stayed on Kyle was not healthy at all.

"It's okay."

"It's okay?"

"Yes Derry. I forgive you."

His flushed at the nickname. It wasn't like nobody called him Derrick but it, coming from Kayden felt different. He liked it though. He was not going to ask him to take it back.

"Can I bring your meal here?"

"Not really. They'll just be suspicious. Me, missing meals is not something new anyway."

That Sunday ended up being the best day of his life. The two spent most of the time together. Even though he said he didn't need food, Derrick ordered them snacks and they just lounged in Kayden's room.

~

Procrastination.

Kayden realized they had just been procrastinating the inevitable when he woke up the next morning. Monday meant back to business as usual. His nose was surprisingly not hurting anymore but the bruise was forming and it was swollen. Maybe they should have iced it. In their defense, they were still clueless kids who knew nothing about noses. Everyone was going to notice the bruise. He just hoped they would fall for the lie he had planned to tell. But..."Who broke your nose? Please don't lie because I can tell you didn't bump it on anything." He spoke too soon.

He should have realized his mates were not idiots. If Hudson, the most clueless one could call him out, then the rest of them could have caught on his lie.

"What about falling off the bed?" He asked sheepishly. Nathan chuckled, moving closer to him to take a good look at his wound.

"Nice try Kay. Does it hurt?" He shook his head in response. "Why didn't you ice it? Tht would have prevented the swelling." He shrugged. "Is this why you didn't come down from your room yesterday?" He looked down. With the way things were going Nathan was going to figure everything out without him saying anything to him. There was a few seconds of silence before Nate spoke again, this time round, he was not addressing him. "You did this."

Derrick looked down in guilt. There was no need denying the obvious. He was, however, not admitting anything. He had a right not to self-incriminate!

Nathan left Kay's side allowing him some space. "It's gonna be okay." Kay whispered to Derrick reassuringly. Before any more could be said, their tutor came in. They would just suck it up until Mr. Thompson was done to know what their fate held.

Fate, seemed not to be on their side though. Their topic of discussion was on assault and battery. Fucking accurate. It didn't help that Nate was kinda holding a grudge against Derrick. It was motifying almost everytime he asked a question directing the tutor's attention on Derrick. The last question he had asked was petty, at least Kayden found it petty.

"Hey Derrick, did you have any intent while punching Kay?" For a moment, Kayden was scared Derrick would answer something along the lines (Yeah, my intention was to make him stop creeping me out with his weird looks). It was unfair pre-judgement which was shitty. He felt even shittier when Derrick nervously answered, "No. It was an accident and I'm really sorry I even did that." This answer seemingly pacified Nate who toned down his pettiness allowing them some peace.

An hour later, they were sitting in groups of two, ready to do their assignment. As usual, Kay and Derrick were paired. It was during that hour that Nathan let them know what their fate was.

"I really don't wanna do this but Dario is going to see your nose anytime soon which would be even worse." Kayden nodded in agreement, he expected that anyway. What he didn't expect was a bottle of strawberry milkshake being forced into his hands. "Go to Dario's office." Kayden smiled warmly at Nate, whispering a soft thank you before motioning for Derrick to follow him.

~

"Is anyone going to tell me what happened?" Kayden and Derrick were silently looking down. It's been five minutes already since the were asked to give an explanation. None of them were ready to get the other into more trouble, hence the silence.

"Okay. Since none of you is ready to speak, I expect both of you here tomorrow at eight in the morning. You'll be needed to sort out some documents."