“A loading screen?”

“Or something similar, I think. That's the only explanation I can come up with,” Lee murmured as he lightly traced the seam of Thomas' shirt with his thumb.

Laying comfortably within the cocoon of Lee’s arms, Thomas glared down at his phone as if the date and time it displayed was personally offensive to him.

They had successfully skipped past the entire weekend and arrived at the following Monday with less than an hour to get ready for class.

Well, more like twenty minutes in Thomas’ case, as the President needed to be in the classroom early. He was expected to sweep the floor and take attendance as usual.

Neither of them were particularly interested in moving from the relative security of Lee’s bed, but nothing would be accomplished if they wallowed in the dorms all day. Therefore, Thomas reluctantly extracted himself from Lee’s embrace and hurried back to his room so he could wash up and get dressed.

The second Thomas was gone from sight, Lee began to feel as if the walls of his room were weighing down on him. Being separated so soon after experiencing the isolating terror of his very existence going dark, only to eventually load back in was unbearable.

Lee speedran getting ready for class and rushed downstairs so he could catch Thomas before the President left the dormitory. He was relieved when they met up in the lobby, and if Thomas was at all surprised to have Lee join him he kept it to himself.

Together, they made their way across campus to the main school building. The early morning air was a little chilly and heavy with fog, so Lee huddled closer to Thomas.

During their brief time apart, the President appeared to have effortlessly bottled away the terror that had plagued him following their harrowing experience.

The redhead was currently optimizing his time by scrolling through the PARAMETERS app on his phone. He closely studied the silhouetted profiles, trying to pick out any identifying qualities they could use to possibly recognize someone.

As they walked side by side, Lee couldn't help but steal glances at Thomas. The determined set of the other boy’s jaw and the way his clover eyes laser-focused on his self-appointed task made Lee’s heart flutter with a mixture of admiration and affection.

He appreciated not only his partner’s dedication and work ethic, but mental fortitude as well.

The only sign Thomas wasn't as fine as he seemed was the way he’d taken hold of the strap of Lee’s backpack, keeping them constantly connected.

“I see two people here who ought to be easier to recognize in passing than the rest,” Thomas commented, holding out his phone for Lee to take a look at what he was referring to.

The shape of the first boy on screen looked to have short hair, pointy objects protruding from the neck area, and something dangling from one side of his face. An earring, if Lee had to guess.

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Thomas then scrolled down to show him someone who had a much wider build than all the others. The width of his shoulders completely filled the small square available for his image, and he appeared to have even shorter, very spikey hair.

“Memorize the details that stand out to you and keep an eye out for them,” Thomas recommended. “I’ll do the same.”

******

Arland finally walked in the classroom, one of the last to arrive. Lee was all but bouncing in his seat, so grateful to finally have his friend back on campus. He had to fight the unique compulsion to run up and toss his arms around him.

The urge to hug people at all was a rather new development for Lee; he must’ve gotten spoiled by all the closeness he’d been receiving from Thomas lately.

Arland paused just inside the doorway, speaking to Thomas as the Class President marked him down for attendance.

In a strange role reversal, Arland appeared to be surprisingly frustrated while Thomas seemed cool and composed about whatever they were talking about.

Lee lamented his inability to hear what they were saying over the chatter of the other students in the room.

A stray, infinitesimal bout of worry struck him just then.

Thomas wouldn’t… go behind his back and try to tell Arland about the curse would he?

Certainly not.

Thomas had been nothing but understanding and supportive thus far; Lee had no reason not to trust him to keep his word and leave Arland out of their plans.

He berated himself for even having the passing intrusive thought.

Speaking of Arland, he had walked away from Thomas and was now making his way toward his seat behind Lee. As he passed by, he tapped Lee’s desk and murmured with a strained smile, “Hey, man.”

“Good morning,” Lee replied softly as he turned to watch the other boy lazily slouch into his chair.

Arland immediately took out his deck of cards and began to aimlessly shuffle them in a self-distracting manner.

The flurry of things Lee had wanted to say fled his brain in the wake of the blonde’s uncharacteristically sour mood.

Their homeroom/english teacher chose that moment to finally jog into the room just as the late bell began to ring. Lee reluctantly turned back to face the front.

Ms. Marley looked a bit frazzled as she hurried to set her bag down on her desk. “Sorry for running late, boys! I had a last minute call to take in the office,” she apologized, huffing and puffing like she’d just run a mile.

Thomas handed her the clipboard for attendance and she gave him a fleeting smile of gratitude in return.

“Thank you, Thomas. I can always count on you to be on top of things,” she praised.

Thomas only nodded and stood beside her desk, awaiting his next inevitable task.

Ms. Marley clapped her hands together to gather the full attention of the classroom.

“Good morning, everyone! I’ve been instructed to remind you all about the tenth-grade field trip to Silent Valley Park coming up next Monday!”

She quickly opened up her bag and pulled out a stack of pamphlets, handing them over to Thomas.

“Pass these out to everyone,” she instructed, only to hastily correct herself. “Ah- except for Arland.”

She’d made no attempt to lower her voice, so the entire class heard the exclusion and glanced back to look at the boy in question.

Lee wanted to do the same, immediately concerned about why his friend was being left out, but didn’t want to add to the sudden attention on Arland.