The Sunshine Boy and the Weaver King

Chapter Ten

He'd never been burnt out before. 

It was not a sensation he liked. 

"Listen, kid," Jeremiah had said not ten minutes ago, "until we agree that your control is good enough to set you free, no restraints, you're gonna be here shooting light out of your hands until your fingertips bleed."

He'd been mad a lot. Usually he just pretended like it wasn't there. But now, with no power whatsoever, drenched in sweat, bones aching, he was finding it hard to act like anything other than what he was. 

Mad, to clarify. 

He stomped up every step on the way to his dorm room, not caring that it used up energy that he didn't have to spare. He shoved the door open, ignored Maddox's presence, and flung his backpack onto the floor. Grabbed some clothes, taken a shower, downed a bottle of water. 

He felt like a robot by the time he dropped onto his mattress, glaring holes in the ceiling. He should have left with his parents. 

He was wrong. Like always. And now he'd dug himself in too deep, surrounded himself with people who knew him, when all this time he should have been a ghost, burying himself in new identities. Business deals with his father. Jumpstarting cars with his mother. 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Maddox sat up and set his book down. Anthony glanced over for long enough to know Maddox was reading The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, which he had never heard about (which made him more mad), and then turned to glare at the ceiling again. His teeth were grinding against each other. He vaguely wanted to punch a hole in the wall. 

"You alright?"

Maddox.

Anthony turned again to look at him. 

With it being Sunday, Maddox would usually dress slightly more casually than during the week. Today he was wearing tight jeans and a loose t-shirt. He was shoved up on his hands, shoulders curved forward, head tilted questioningly. 

Anthony blinked. Maddox had just asked him something. About his well-being. 

"Um," he said. 

Maddox immediately rolled his eyes and started to lie back down. 

"Rough day," Anthony finished lamely. 

"I can hear your jaw grinding from over here," Maddox said by way of explanation. 

Anthony grit his teeth again, shoving himself up on his elbows to glare more efficiently. "You have earphones." The wear them was implied. 

Maddox smiled slightly. It wasn't a very kind smile. "And you have impulse control. Hopefully. Well, maybe."

"Is that an insult about how I behaved last night?" Anthony arched an eyebrow. 

"Not an insult," Maddox replied. 

It was an insult. 

"I'm just curious," Maddox continued, "as to why you— socially awkward, stammers when ordering fast food, runs from the RA, you— would want to go get drunk and..." his smirk widened, "make out with a stranger."

"Unless you're volunteering to be the stranger, shut up," Anthony snapped. 

Maddox blinked. 

Anthony immediately felt bad. "Thanks for bringing me back last night, I guess," he muttered, scowling. 

"You're welcome."

He looked back at him again. "Something's off."

"You don't say," Maddox replied airily.