After Rae had fed the Alien boys breakfast, and finally imbibed his morning coffee, they spent nearly half the day preparing for the first day of school. It had been an arduous process that had mentally drained Rae of his sanity, his patience, and his stamina. However, he had managed to mold the boys a somewhat convincing facade and back story.

Rae had gone over in minute detail basic normal mannerisms for teenage school boys. He had briefed them on what the building was like, what they could expect during school hours, the types of things they might learn, and any potential pitfalls he could think of that might expose them. He had also made it clear that while they should stick with him as much as possible; they had to pretend as if they had never met before.

Exhausted, Rae let out a tiny sigh and laid down spreading his arms, legs, and tail on the grass where they were eating lunch. He figured that it was fine if they came outside for a while since no one but him would be there until the evening anyways.

"Is it going to be enough?" Rae thought to himself. "I have my doubts. If I didn't prepare them well enough... I'll have let down the first friends I've made since Abi." He looked over at his friends through tired eyes, his tail curled between his legs, and his ears laid flat as his anxiety took him over. "At least Fuly was able to hack the Roan City's (the city where Rae lives), school system with that glowy device of his. So, I don't have to figure out how to fake their IDs." Rae thought back on the innovative use of Fulbrik's device. "I wonder what else it can do?"

Rae had made the boys sandwiches for lunch. He was quite skilled at cooking, besides studying it was one of the few things Rae was very good at. This was thanks to his longtime instruction from Elva, so preparing delicious sandwiches was a trivial matter.

The tired boy's right ear twitched, as he watched Dasnir begin to gnaw on the sandwich like a wild animal. It was just hanging out of the side of his mouth in a ridiculous fashion. The Prince's canines were sharply slicing through the middle of the bread, meat, and veggies which were exploding out of the attacked food. Tomatoes and lettuce flopped all over Dasnir's chin making a mess of his face. It was obvious that sandwiches were not a food that existed on Asgar, as the remainder of the meal began to fall out of Dasnir's mouth. Rae reached up and caught the sandwich, as it fell, and held it up to the hopeless Alien's mouth.

"You're supposed to hold it like this," Rae said, in an exhausted tone.

Dasnir's eyes went wide, and then narrowed, as he realized Rae was essentially helping him eat. He spit the rest of the sandwich out, and pushed Rae's hand away. The Prince rose and turned as if he were about to walk off.

"I told you... Don't touch me." Dasnir had a slight tremble in his voice, as he looked back down at Rae with a hateful stare. Even though he had not hit Rae, as he had previously warned, the look itself resembled an enemy bombardment blasting against the soul of their new friendship.

Rae sighed, "Technically, I only touched the sandwich. Which I saved for you," he said, with a playful grin. "I'm just... really trying to help you fit in," Rae looked down to avoid the Prince's gaze any longer. "You're not going to refuse to eat now are you? That'd be a waste."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Dasnir closed his eyes for a brief second, as if he was steadying himself from his inexplicable anger. He sat back down and quickly snatched his lunch from Rae's hand. He proceeded to hold it properly while chewing this time. Dasnir was hungry and Rae's sandwich-skills were remarkably impeccable. The Prince huffed in a show of reluctant forgiveness. As he carefully nibbled on his gifted meal, his eyes seemed to drift over to Rae occasionally, though his expression did not change.

Fulbrik had been reading Jamie's comic while eating his lunch. He had gotten the hang of sandwich consumption much faster than Dasnir, and without instruction. It was at this point, when he heard the two boys' abrupt argument, that he briefly looked up, observing the awkward tension that was building. He said nothing to them, but grew a small grin as he caught his Master looking at Rae, then continued reading.

"Why are you snapping at me like that?" Rae asked. "Can you just tell me what I'm doing wrong? I don't read minds... Wait, Do Aliens read minds? Is that what this is, haha?" He gave a small nervous chuckle at the thought of having his mind read.

"Do not push me. I have nothing to say about this, to you." Dasnir said. The Prince had a calmer but emotionless frigid tone as he looked down at the reclining Rae. "And of course, I do not read minds, only Ishtari have that kind of cowardly Eniris."

"You're so stubborn! It's fucking annoying," Rae quipped, as he could no longer contain his daily allotment of swears. "Unless you explain, I won't know what I did wrong. Or are you just always a grumpy jerk? What are you going to do at school if I have to hand you something? Are you just going to make a scene like this?" Rae's tail flicked to the side and his ears stood on end in agitation.

"How can I get this dick-head to chill, and stop freaking out on me, whenever I get the slightest bit close to him?" Rae thought to himself as he looked up at the sky. He had been avoiding looking Dasnir in the eye, since he had received such a nasty look from him. Then it dawned on Rae, there had been an interesting tidbit the grumpy Prince had casually tossed in to his rebuke.

"Wait, did you say Ishtari can read minds? Does that mean I can read minds?" Rae asked bluntly. He put his hands behind his head, and glanced upwards at Dasnir with a inquisitive look.

"Ov Curse yoo..." Dasnir muttered, while chewing and swallowing the last bit of delicious sandwich. He folded his arms and redressed his statement. "Of course you can. If you had the training to use your Eniris. Ishtaris have all kinds of Psionic Eniris." Dasnir said, with a flippant tone of disgust. He flicked his hand dismissively, and stood up having just finished his lunch.

"Whaaa!? Really?!" Rae jolted up straight in excitement, seemingly recovering from his fatigue. "Can you teach me how?"

Rae didn't like to go around volunteering that he was a bit of a nerd, since he was picked on for so much already. But when it came to wish fulfillment of this magnitude, caution could be thrown to the wind. The idea of possessing magical powers like a superhero or a wizard from one of Jamie's comics was something that hit the irresistible sweet spot of his nerdy desires.

"Princes do not teach," Dasnir scoffed, "they lead and command. Ask Fulbrik perhaps he will reward you for preparing us for this school we are to attend." The prince practically sneered at the audacity of Rae's request. Then turned his attention to other needs. "We have been talking and sitting too long. I must go for a run, this is intolerable." Dasnir said, as he began to stretch his tense muscular frame.

"He clearly has a lot of pent up energy. I suppose I have been keeping them in a small shed for 2 days," Rae thought, feeling slightly guilty that he could not provide better accommodations for his new friends.

"Young Master, should I accompany you?" Fulbrik piped up in concern.

"No... I need to be alone for a while." Dasnir replied quietly, as he stared off in the direction of the road.

"Don't talk to anyone while you're out there. And make sure you aren't seen when you get back. It's about 2 hours til the brats get home." Rae warned, looking at his phone.

And he watched the Prince run off, beneath the heat of the mid-day sun, to release his energy.