Started with a Fight (Anic, Undertheweather, Dusutii)

[UndertheWeather]

Fredric (barely) recognized the face as the new neighbour. He had appeared in the house next door just under a month ago, and had since made only two or three public appearances, which included swiftly walking into his house and swiftly leaving it. The tall man had never approached anyone, nor had he made any eye contact or conducted any social gestures; he just appeared and disappeared like a ghost.

 

He was tall and neatly dressed. For that matter, he was way too neatly dressed in expensive looking clothing to live in this neighbourhood. A crest on the breast pocket of his navy-blue jacket revealed his identity as a student of the prestigious school in town.

 

His grey eyes met Fredric’s green eyes, and that seemed to make him more annoyed. He squinted.

 

“What do you mean by asking me that?” he uttered slowly, not so much a question but a statement.

 

He paused for a moment. “Your dog’s been barking its head off,” he shifted his gaze over to Buster the German Shepherd, “and it’s blowing my head off.”

 

Surprisingly his eyes were soft when they were fixed on Buster, and he remained silent for the longest time since his arrival at the door.

[Anic]

“What do you mean by asking me that?” the other asked but Fredric didn't have the time to get up with a good reply to that. “Your dog’s been barking its head off, and it’s blowing my head off.” Fredric was a bit insecure with the other person and looked confused on Buster. "Do you really bark that much when I'm not at home?" he asked the dog that only tilted his head as he looked as his owner. Fredric returned his attention to the neatly dressed man and gave him a insecure smile.

 

"I beg apologize for Busters behaviour. If there is anything I can do to compensate you. You just have to tell me." Fredric said as he widened the gap in the door a bit. He knew that Buster wouldn't make a break for it as long as the other person was calm enough. "If you want to, you can come in, because I have some urgent matters to attend to inside, so I shouldn't be standing in the door like this..." he finished his sentence by lowering his voice that truly showed that he was insecure with this situation. And he completely forgot to ask who this was.

[UndertheWeather]

The man averted his gaze from Buster over to Fredric. His eyes searched Fredric's insecure face as he spoke; the annoyance seemed to have faded. He watched silently.

 

When Fredric widened the gap in the door, he stepped forward, closer to the door, his gazed moved back to Buster, who was sitting quietly a distance away. In a low voice, and eyes fixed on Buster, he asked, "I understand that you've got an urgent matter to tend to, but may I come in?"

[Anic]

Fredric opened the door more widely so that the other could come inside. "Welcome in." he said and stepped away from the door. "..and if you don't like dogs, then don't pay attention to Buster. If you ignore him he will let you be." he said as he turned away from the man and the door and went right into the kitchen to defend his groceries from their fierce attacker -the red cat Giggi and the black one, Champ. "The living room is the door to the left." he said so that the other might hear him and he felt that he didn't have time for this. The stranger Kyo in his bedroom needed to be patched up.

 

Buster sat left behind and watched the neatly dressed man as if he was thinking if he should greet him or not. He was a dog that waited until given permission, or when he made sure that no one watched him.

[UndertheWeather]

The man remained standing where he was left, and watched Fredric's shoulders as he made his way to the kitchen to defend his groceries. When the brown haired lad disappeared into the the kitchen he continued watching, but this time, the door frame. Then he heard, "The living room is the door to the left". In a reflex response to the words, he averted his gaze to the door to the left, and continued watching for a little longer.

 

Then he turned to Buster, who was sitting quietly and watching him the entire time. He could not help but notice and acknowledge the similarity between Buster and the way he was standing quietly and watching Fredric the entire time. A smile stretched over his face. A smug smile.

 

He bent his knees a little, leaned over, and slowly stretched his left arm towards Buster. The smile on his face had changed into one that is tender. "Here, boy."

[Anic]

Fredric first had to pick out Giggi from one of the bags she had dug deep into. Champ moved away the second he got closer. While mumbling something about noisy cats he put the bags on the counter instead. Still not out of reach, but at least the cats won't jump up there as long as he was home. He then turned his attention to the cabin he had all his bandages and such in.

 

Buster gave the man a short look with his head tilted before he slowly walked up to the man with a low head and wagging tail. He showed his submission, for him all calm humans were the rulers in his world - if they wasn't calm, neither would Buster be. But other could say that Buster was a gentle and nice dog and given the chance even he could be as playful as a puppy.

[UndertheWeather]

When Buster moved closer to him with lowered head and wagging tail, he reached out and gently caressed the dog's head. He heard the bustling in the kitchen but he was more interested in his encounter and developing relationship with Buster.

 

"What's your name?" he asked Buster, half-expecting to get an answer from the German Shepherd, if not by impossible speech, by some absurd telepathic way. He locked gazes with Buster, hand still stroking its head, but soon gave up on the stupidity of his idea.

 

"What's his name?" he asked in a raised voice, hoping that Fredric, who was busy in the kitchen, would hear him.

[Anic]

Buster was happy with the other's touch and made himself comfortable in front of the man while happily wagging his tail. When Buster heard the man speak to him he tilted his head as if he tried to understand what he was saying and when he was given the chance he moved in closer like if he gave the man permission to stroke the whole of him.

 

Fredric that was involved with the contents of his cabin turned when he heard the other say "What's his name?". Picking up the things he needed to patch up Kyo he answered the stranger. "His name is Buster." He guessed that he was talking about his dog. He then walked out to the hall again with the black cat Champ at his feet and looked over at the man at the door. "You are welcome in. You don't have to sit there." he said with a smile when he was how Buster tried to charm the man.

[UndertheWeather]

When Fredric stepped into the hall, with the black cat around his feet, and looked over at the man, he instinctively looked up, and his grey eyes caught Fredric's green eyes. There was a twinkle in his eyes. But it did not last long for he quickly averted his gaze back to Buster, and ran his hand gently down its head to its body.

 

Hearing Fredric said, "You are welcome in. You don't have to sit there," he looked up, smiled, and nodded to Fredric. His lips moved to form the words "Thank you", but it was barely audible. He tried to say it the second time, but for some very weird reason it did not come out properly. He let out a sigh, stood up, and extended his right arm. "I'm Glen. I live next door."

[Anic]

Fredric wasn't ready for the man to be so quiet, so he didn't hear what he said at first. He didn't say anything about it, out of respect for the other, maybe it wasn't that important for him to hear it anyway. When the neatly dressed man sighed and stood up Buster figured that the petting time was over and went into the living room right after Champ that didn't seem to care about the German Shepherd tailing him.

 

Fredrik instead looked a bit surprised on the other's hand when he introduced himself. Carefully but still clumsily he tried to rearrange the things he was holding to get his right hand free. It only resulted in one of the bandages to fall to the floor and Fredric couldn't help it but to smile a bit relieved that it was only one thing as he reached out his hand to Glen to shake hands with the man. "My name is Fredric. Nice to meet you Glen."

[UndertheWeather]

When they let go of each other's hands, Glen immediately bent down and picked the bandage up and handed it to Fredric. "One of your nice pets hurt?" he asked with a soft smile, and at the same time quickly glanced over at Buster who was in the living room by then. He seemed to pay little to no attention to the felines, though.

 

"I could give you a hand," he offered, "with carrying that is. I'm hopeless with first aid."

 

He smiled. His body language showed that he was somewhat embarrassed, but his countenance was more sad and pitiful than embarrassed.

 

"Here. I'll help you with those."

 

He closed the front door before moving close to Fredric to get the items.

[Anic]

Fredric gave the man a smile when he offered him the help. "It's not one of my pets that needs the treatment, it is more or less a friend that needs it." he explained as he handed over some of the things he was carrying to Glen when he the other said: "Here. I'll help you with those." Fredric wondered if he really could call Kyo his friend, all he knew was that that man seemed to have troublesome life going on.

 

Fredric turned towards the living room and gazed over his shoulder at Glen. "You don't have to take of you shoes, I haven't cleaned the floors yet anyway." he said and walked into the living room to pass through it to get to his bedroom and the passed out Kyo. "I was planing on doing it today, but things don't seems to want me to clean my floors." he said and finished his sentence with a short laugh at how funny it sounded.

[UndertheWeather]

With the items in his hands, Glen trailed behind Fredric through the living room to the bedroom. He winked at Buster when they passed the German Shepherd, and once again, hardly paid any attention to the felines.

 

When they were just a few feet away from the bedroom, he asked, "Isn't this too much medication?" A brief pause, then continued, "How serious is your friend's injury...?" His voice started to trail as he slowly fell into a swirling pool of imagination, but he soon picked himself up, and went on, this time with a note of hesitation in his voice, "Er...did your friend do something...illegal? Marijuana? Murder? Mafia activity?"

[Anic]

Fredric hadn't been struck by the same thoughts as Glen gazed over his shoulder to see the other when he took the step to enter the bedroom. The room was simple, on the wall over the bed was the window to the backside of the house and on each side of the small bed there was small bed tables placed. The wall, directly to the left when entering the door, was covered behind white embedded wardrobes.

 

"I don't know actually. All I know is that he was in a fight with some people before I meet him. But I don't think he is involved in those kind of social circles." he said as he hoped he got it right. He would still have helped him, but he hoped for Kyo's sake that he wasn't involved with that kind of people.

 

Fredric put down his share of things on the table to the right of the bed and looked at Kyo with a worried look before he crouched down beside the bed. At least it looked like he was breathing. "Kyo?" he asked and gently pushed the unconscious man's shoulder to see if he would get any response from him.

 

Buster on the other hand saw the humans actions as a social gathering and invited himself to join in on the fun. And the fun for Buster was to follow the neatly dressed stranger that was awake.

[Lady.Taser]

Throbbing dominated his head, a heavy throbbing which seemed to resonate through his head then through his entire body. There was barking, and then it stopped he couldn't tell if he was hallucinating or not. Kyo could hear muffled voices from below him and registered that he was lying down on a bed. Slowly it seemed as though the voices were coming nearer.

 

"...something...illegal? Marijuana? Murder? Mafia activity?" He didn't recognize that voice and only caught the end of the sentence in his dazed state. he had yet to move or even open his eyes, both seemed like the hardest thing, as though walking through fire could be easier. "I don't know actually. All I know is that he was in a fight with some people before I meet him. But I don't think he is involved in those kind of social circles." Ah that was Fredric's voice, still not able to find the strength to move Kyo just lay there unmoving until he felt a nudge on his arm and Fredric's worried voice calling his name.

 

Groaning he attempted to open his eyes and succeeded. They only opened a crack however it was enough to acknowledge that Fredric was beside him.

[UndertheWeather]

Glen stood behind Fredric, watching silently as the concerned man nudge the injured man, whom he now know is called Kyo. There was a moment of pin-drop silence, but if the mind could make any sound the room would be booming with the voices of their thoughts. Then Glen noticed the facial movement from the body which he thought would not move any time soon. He was sure that Fredric did notice it too.

 

In his mind, he didn't agree with Fredric. He was somewhat convinced that Kyo was involved in some crazy event, maybe not as terrible as mafia activity, but marijuana was a huge possibility. No one would be in such a horrible condition as being beaten to a pulp without the involvement of the so-called dirty activities; at least everyone he knew, who was beaten up, was like that. He looked at Buster to see if the dog agreed with this idea of his.

[Anic]

Fredric was happy and relived at the same time as Kyo showed signs of hearing him. At his moment he didn't pay much attention to Glen or anything else. "Kyo, I have some painkillers with me, not the strong stuff but maybe it will help ease the pain for you." he said as he turned to the table whit the things he'd put there. Nope - he looked up on Glen that should be holding them. "Would you give me the jar, please?" he asked in a focused tone and reached out a hand towards Glen.

 

Fredric didn't think much about his surrounding at the moment, his thoughts was set on how to help Kyo in the best way he could. He wasn't used to treat humans like this. But he figured that it couldn't be much different from treating an animal. And one of the first steps was always to ease the pain for the patient.

 

Buster that also was in the room and sat by the feet of Glen followed the movements of the humans with a tilted head as if he was trying to understand what they where talking about. Almost as if he waited for something special to happen.

[UndertheWeather]

Glen gave Fredric an awkward look before handing the jar over to the man who had a very different expression than the ones that he saw earlier on. But his face was not contorted out of discomfort or disappointment or embarrassment, but more of uncertainty as to whether Kyo deserved the jar.

 

"Shouldn't you take him to the hospital?" he asked Fredric. At the back of his head, he was somewhat hoping that Kyo would be sent to the hospital and tested positive for marijuana. Then all his ideas would be proven true.

 

Glen looked at Kyo's bruised face, and that made his marijuana ideas moved further back in his head. "Are you sure he doesn't need professional attention?" he asked Fredric, "What if he has broken ribs, or wrists?"

[Lady.Taser]

Kyo was half conscious throughout the man's questionings. "n-no h-h-hospital.... d-dangerous." he managed to whisper through the explosion of pain that was caused as he tried to move his face. He was afraid that if he went back to a hospital then it would all happen again, the pain, the kindness and then the subsequent pain. In truth his mother had done him a kindness by leaving him, and though on a deep level he understood that now it still seemed as though kindnesses were not true to him.

[Anic]

"Shouldn't you take him to the hospital?" Fredric didn't answer that question, he had been struck by the idea of bringing Kyo to one, but Kyo didn't want to go to one for some reason Fredric didn't know. "Are you sure he doesn't need professional attention? What if he has broken ribs, or wrists?" Fredric was close to answer Glen when he heard Kyo's words. Dangerous? he thought. Why? Without a word he opened the jar and tipped it to get one of the pills in his hand.

 

"I will just have to examine him, and if I do find anything broken I guess the only thing we can do is take him to a hospital even if he don't want to. Because I don't have those kind of things to patch up a human with at home anyway. Not over at work either." he said as he looked for a glass of water that he didn't bring. Stupid, what was I thinking? This is a human, not an animal... Can't just shove it down his throat.

 

He turned to Glen and looked up on the man, thinking if he should send him into the kitchen to get a glass of water. But he figured it would be faster if he did it himself. His gaze fixed at Buster as he stood up, to get himself ready to go out into the kitchen.

[UndertheWeather]

Kyo's words rang in Glen's ears. He did not know what to make out of having the words "hospital" and "dangerous" together in the same sentence. The marijuana idea got back to the front of his mind, but it was quickly pushed back as he watched the injured man groaned, and contorted his face in an attempt to do something that he could not quite catch. Perhaps Kyo's thinking, he thought to himself.

 

Then Fredric turned to look at him, and his face seemed to be saying something, yet he could not understand what was going on inside that skull. So he just stared at the face.

[Lady.Taser]

Kyo was conscious, and the talking to the side of him without seeing those who were speaking worried him. The idea that they could be planning something without words was a worry, he didn't trust others to not betray him. Though he hadn't really known Fredric long enough for it be betrayal it would still feel that way. He needed to see them, he needed to move.

 

Very slowly Kyo moved his legs and arms into a position where he could sustain his weight and moved himself back so that he could lean his weight against the wall behind him and then, once he was in a sitting position he forced his eyes to open and stay open. He say the unknown man in the room and watched him silently, knowing that if he tried to say anything right this second he would only groan from the pain he had just caused. Nothing felt broken but it was still painful.

[Anic]

Fredric didn't know what he should say to them both. But he broke his gaze on Buster as he put down the jar and gave Kyo a worried look when he changed his position in the bed. "Take it easy." he said simply to Kyo while moving his free arm up and down in a 'stay-calm' movement. "I'll rush out into the kitchen and fetch you some water for the painkillers." he explained and took a step towards the door of the room before he realized that Kyo and Glen was even more strangers then he was to them.

 

He turned to Kyo and said "This man is my neighbour Glen. I'll just leave you in his care for one second." He turned to Glen. "It's okay with you?" he asked. He didn't want to push any responsibilitys on his neighbour, that's why he was planing on being fast.

 

Buster noticed that his owner was on his way to leave the room, the dog simply sat where he was, ready to move if he had to. This was a interesting human gathering for the dog.

[UndertheWeather]

Glen nodded to Fredric when asked if he was okay with being left to take care of Kyo for just a second.

 

When Fredric was on his way out of the room, Glen turned to look at Kyo, who was sitting on the bed against the wall. Kyo's eyes, even though they were opened, did not seem normal to Glen. Kyo seemed to be having difficulties with opening them, and keeping them opened; perhaps they were swollen, perhaps something tore. He would not know unless someone examined those eyes, and told him what was wrong.

 

Glen snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed the silent watch.

 

Promptly, he returned the gaze. Silently. The engines inside his head seemed to be working at full speed, but neither his face nor his body revealed anything. Only his grey eyes uttered the language of vision. But they only showed a passing glow as Glen and Kyo locked gazes for what seemed forever.

[Lady.Taser]

Keeping the silence Kyo held the grey gaze. Despite only being able to see through his right eye he could still open both eyes. The bright green searched his body language as well as his gaze trying to decided how much of a threat he found this seemingly cold man. The dog seemed to like him well enough, that should be enough he thought, dogs had an amazing sense for judging people. It wasn't enough though, not yet, he hadn't exactly seen trust in Fredric's eyes towards his neighbour, more of a lack of choice, and since Fredric was the closest he had got to trusting someone in a long time and he still expected Fredric to up and betray him, this Glen would have to do something impressive for Kyo to do anything but stare at him.

 

Kyo didn't break the gaze and continued watching until Fredric returned to the room.