Splintered [Complete | GB+SB]

Thirteen: Complications and Sean Green

Kota stayed the night with me, sleeping curled around me in my hospital bed, stripped down to his boxers with his clothes folded neatly on the chair that he picked up and set back into place after we were done making out for a while. We didn't go much farther than a whole lot of kissing and me stroking the firm planes of his chest under his shirt, and him copping some strategic feels over my clothes with warnings about our rules lest I go too far, too fast. Once we were in bed, our combined shyness kicked in and we just cuddled together, talking about our favorite books until we both dozed off just before dawn.

In a supremely unfortunate surprise, it was his mom that woke us up around seven o'clock, stopping in before her shift because she knew he was going to be in my room for the night. She was just as embarrassed as both of us were — if I thought the "incident" on North's lap was awkward, it had nothing on being woken up by Kota's mom when he appeared to be naked in my bed. Luckily I was clearly dressed (at least on top), so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But she ended up being pretty cool about it. Surprisingly cool. Actually, she seemed a little too...pleased about it? I don't think I was the only one who noticed, because Kota rolled his eyes at her at least twice. I decided not to think about it ever again.

After she cleared out, warning us to "be good!" in a tone of voice that didn't sound like a warning at all, and after Kota apologized for his mom's enthusiasm over our relationship, we had a couple more very sweet, very soft kisses — and some mutual blushing and apologies over morning breath — and then we took turns using the facilities. He borrowed my toothbrush, we cuddled for a bit longer and enjoyed minty kisses, then he got up and began to get dressed.

He got as far as putting his pants on but was still shirtless and barefoot when I noticed the cracked up mess I'd made of his tablet. "Kota! Shi— shoot! No, this warrants much stronger language," I said, running my finger over the spiderweb of a screen. "Fuck. I'm so sorry about this."

He looked down at the tablet ruefully and sighed. "Yeah, Victor's going to kill me. He just bought it to replace the last one that broke."

"It was Victor's?! Oh my God he's going to hate me!"

"Oh, no, it was mine. But he paid for it." He looked really uncomfortable. "Vic buys all of our stuff." Now I must have looked uncomfortable because he continued quickly, "He wants to, Sang. Victor is really wealthy — he inherited a lot of money from his grandparents and he's made a decent amount with his music — and he likes to spend his money on other people. And it has an added bonus of really pissing off his dad."

"Yeah... about that..." I said, concentrating on the broken tablet and not him, although I could see his reflection in the cracked screen. "Is it true that he's being abused?" I asked in a quiet voice. "Some people would say it's none of my business, but I find myself not caring about being polite when it comes to this. Not anymore." Even in the upside down and skewed reflection of the tablet screen, Kota looked nauseated by my question.

"It's complicated—"

"Stop. I'm tired of hearing that. Everything is always complicated with you guys. News flash: EVERYTHING is complicated. And I may not be as educated as you all are, but I'm smart enough to be able to follow along if you use small words and speak slowly. UNcomplicate it." Yeah, I was being a bit bitchy, but seriously? This was about the twenty-third time I've heard that phrase in the last week.

"Sang, no! I am not trying to imply you aren't smart enough to understand! That's... no. That's the last thing I want you to think. We— I think we use that phrase when things touch on the Academy too closely, because we're all so used to having to avoid answering questions about it. It's an easy way to dodge the question, to make it seem like there just isn't enough time to explain everything." He sat down on the bed next to me, slightly hunched and almost defeated looking. His hand twitched like he wanted to reach for mine but something held him back, so I set the tablet down and grabbed his hand, twining my fingers through his. He gripped it hard, but not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to make it clear he had no intention on letting go.