Chapter Text
Inuyasha was already in a sour mood when he got to the Higurashi’s home. He knew Kagome told him she wouldn’t back until tomorrow morning, but she was also acting strange about why she needed to be home.
He didn’t like the feeling that she was keeping something from him.
He knew he was risking a sit by popping in on her like this, but curiosity and something else, something darker, drew him here tonight. Until he saw her for himself and got rid of this uncomfortable feeling, he wasn’t going to be able to rest.
He could tell by the time he got to her window she wasn’t in her room, and shortly after entering it, he could tell she wasn’t even in the house.
What the hell? Where would she go at this time of night?
His dark feeling grew and, although he knew he shouldn’t, he pushed open her door silently and went down to the kitchen where he could hear Mrs. Higurashi moving about.
He came up behind her, but she didn’t turn, and he wasn’t sure how to let her know he was there without scaring her.
“Uhm…Mrs. Higurashi?” He tried to say it quietly, but she whirled around and pressed her hand to her chest in alarm. His ears flattened in dismay, so much for trying not to frighten her.
“Oh! Inuyasha….” She let out a relieved breath and then her expression took on a confused look. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight. Kagome isn’t home yet and I don’t think she plans on returning to you until tomorrow.”
Inuyasha shrugged at this, unwilling to admit that he was already aware of it. “That’s fine, I’m here now. I might as well talk to her. When will she be home?” He could hear Kagome’s grandfather and brother in their own rooms, so he knew it was only Kagome who was absent.
Mrs. Higurashi turned back to the counter where she was putting up the last of the dinner dishes. “I expect her back shortly. You are welcome to wait down here for her with me.” As Kagome’s mother finished up her chore, Inuyasha couldn’t help but feel like she was acting a bit strange too. It wasn’t anything she said, exactly, just a feeling. Or maybe he was being paranoid.
He shook his head to clear his suspicious thoughts. “Yeah, sure, if she won’t be long. Where is she at, anyway?” He asked, finally getting to the point of what he really wanted to know.
Mrs. Higurashi paused, then turned slightly back towards Inuyasha. “She didn’t tell you what she was doing tonight?” There was a note of surprise in her voice, and Inuyasha got the feeling that she expected him to already know. He shook his head, that dark feeling spreading. His instincts told him he was not going to like this.
“Oh…” Mrs. Higurashi let out a nervous chuckle and Inuyasha felt that darkness pull his face into a scowl. “Well, Kagome went to a dance.” There was a beat or two of silence, where Inuyasha tried to make sense of what she said, but before he came up with any kind of clear picture she continued on. “It’s at the school. They have one at the end of every year and this is the first time Kagome has gotten to go. Last year I believe she was injured…or maybe you were?” She angled her head in thought, then shrugged. “Anyway, it ends at 9, so she should be home soon.”
Inuyasha knew what dancing was, he wasn’t an idiot. He just couldn’t imagine Kagome doing the strange swooping and shaking movements he had seen. She wanted to wear a mask and swing around in a costume? Well, at least it made sense why she didn’t want to tell him about it. He smirked, starting to feel better about the entire thing. She was just embarrassed and knew he would make fun of her for it.
He could feel the tension start to release out of the muscles that he had not realized were coiled so tightly.
Mrs. Higurashi grabbed an object sitting on the table that Inuyasha hadn’t noticed and was flipping some of the pieces around. She held it up and squinted through it with one eye, then her eyebrows suddenly shot up and she smiled brightly. “Inuyasha dear, would you mind helping me with something?”
Inuyasha eyed the object warily, having discovered things from the future were not always as pleasant for him as they were for everyone else here. “Uhh…sure. Whad’ya need?” He started to approach, when she held up her hand for him to stay.
“Just stand still there for a moment. I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of Kagome before she left and wanted to take one before she went to bed.”
When she held up the metal and pointed it at him, Inuyasha braced himself, wincing when he heard a clicking noise. Nothing unpleasant happened though and he took a relieved breath that it was so easy. He should have known better.
Mrs. Higurashi was staring down with a frown at the metal box and clucked her tongue in disapproval. “Oh no, that is too dark. Just one more Inuyasha, let me turn on the flash.” Before he could do more then open his mouth to ask what ‘the flash’ was, Inuyasha’s eyes were being burned by a bright, unnatural light. He yelled and squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing them harshly, but the blazing light seared him even when they were closed. He opened them and, for a moment, feared he had been blinded. But even as he started to stagger forward, Mrs. Higurashi was there to help him.
“Oh, Inuyasha, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think about how sensitive to this you would be. Here, just sit a moment. The bright spots should fade soon, and your sight will be back to normal.” She guided him to a chair, even though his vision was already starting to improve, and for the next few minutes he just sat there blinking, willing his eyes to go back to normal.
“What was that?” He growled out, scowling at the metal box. He swore if it was pointed in his direction again he would Windscar it.
Kagome’s mom patted his hand again in apology. “Thank you, I know that was uncomfortable for you, I should have realized…” She held up the box and Inuyasha leaned away from it. “This is a camera. It takes pictures, like those.” She pointed to a wall that had several little boxes with the Higurashi family’s face in them. Inuyasha had looked at them all before, of course, having spent much time in the house waiting on Kagome to be ready. He had marveled over the detailed paintings, enjoying teasing Kagome about her missing two front teeth. He looked back at the object, this little box could make those?
“Here, look. This one is new, so it will show me the picture before I even print it out.” She flipped the box around and Inuyasha stared in awe at his own face. He had his eyebrow raised and mouth open, clearly about to ask a question. Mrs. Higurashi clicked something and another picture of him appeared, this one more difficult to make out, but he could still tell it was him. His white hair and ears stuck out in the darker image, and he could barely make out his nervous expression.
“I was just trying to test the camera, so I can snap a few pictures of Kagome when she gets home.”
Inuyasha nodded, secretly pleased that Kagome’s embarrassment would be saved for years to come with one of these ‘pictures’, when he heard a loud noise right outside of the house.
His ears swiveled to catch the sound, although it was hardly necessary, the screeching metallic noise could not be missed. It had to be a car. He had unfortunately become familiar with them in his travels through the city and they were one of the things he liked the least about the future.
He heard some chattering, although nothing distinct, and then a loud bang, which he guessed was the door of the car closing. Kagome’s footsteps heading toward the house were familiar but different, what was that click clack noise?
“Kagome’s home.” Inuyasha said, smirking in anticipation of being able to catch Kagome wearing her dance outfit and her mom taking her picture before she could stop it.
As the handle turned and the door swung open, Inuyasha turned toward it eagerly, ready to tease his wench. When he got a look at her, his words died on his lips and the gleeful expression slid off his face. His brain just fizzled out entirely.
She looked beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.
He couldn’t figure out where to look, his eyes flicked across her frantically, trying to take in everything that he was seeing. Her outfit was not the colorful, loose gown he had imagined, but was dark and sleek. It looked like it had been poured over her and it drug across her body sensuously every time she moved. Her eyes had a dark cloud around them, making them look deep and mysterious. Her hair was up, her graceful neck exposed…vulnerable.
When she saw him, her mouth opened in a surprised ‘oh’ and drew his attention there. When he saw the bright red color of her lips, he felt like he had been gut punched. He had flashes of his mother, wearing her red lip color, her delicate fingers dipping into a seashell that had been one of the only things he had left of her. The one he had given away.
The Kagome in front of him was a beautiful stranger. He recognized her scent, but nothing else, and it felt like a betrayal. He reacted in the only way he was capable of.
“What the hell is going on?”
His bellow made both Kagome and her mother jump.
**************************************
Kagome could only blink in surprised confusion when she saw a shocked Inuyasha in her living room. His yell brought her out of her stupor and immediately got her back up. How dare he show up on a night she specifically told him she wouldn’t be back and then get to be angry about it?
“Inuyasha, what are you doing here? I told you I wasn’t coming back until the morning, it isn’t my fault if you weren’t listening. You have only yourself to blame.”
She nodded, to emphasize her point and started to stomp passed him, but he caught her arm.
“Now, wait just a damn minute!”
Kagome rounded on him, ready to unleash her fury over the way he was talking to her, but Mama interrupted.
“Yes, Kagome, do wait a moment, dear. I wanted to take a few pictures before you changed.” And she held up the digital camera that Kagome had helped her grandfather pick out as a Christmas present.
Inuyasha let her go and scowled at the camera as if it were a demon, “You want to take a picture of her looking like this?” He gestured broadly to her and Kagome felt his words hit like sharp little daggers. She knew he didn’t find her attractive, but she had felt pretty all night long until he showed up.
“Of course I do, she looks lovely.” Mama pulled her to stand against the wall and began snapping away. “Smile, Kagome! I’m not sure why you are surprised, Inuyasha, I told you I would be taking some pictures. You even helped me with it!”
Inuyasha looked mulish and muttered something under his breath, still clearly unhappy about something.
“What was that dear?” Mama called back to him, “I didn’t quite hear you.”
Inuyasha was looking anywhere but at Kagome now, but he answered her mother. “I said that doesn’t look anything I’ve seen people dancing in.” His face seemed set in a permanent scowl now and, almost like he couldn’t help it, his eyes flicked back over to Kagome. “How did she even move around?"
Kagome found her first real smile at this, albeit a small one. She finally understood his confusion. “Dances now are not really like the ones at the villages, Inuyasha. They aren’t designed to entertain the gods.” She laughed a little at the mental image of her friends trying to perform the elaborate dances she had seen in feudal Japan. They would end up tripping over each other and laughing themselves silly.
Inuyasha looked over in surprise, “What are they for then?”
Kagome didn’t expect that question. “Oh…um…” How does one explain the teenage experience? Dressing up to hang out with your friends while possibly engaging in a bit of romance with your current crush over a punch bowl and some twisted crepe paper? Of course, Kagome didn’t have a crush at the school, but that didn’t stop some of the boys from asking her to dance. One boy in particular….
Kagome wasn’t at all sure how Inuyasha would take that answer, since she had delayed her time going back to attend this dance.
However, like the true angel she was, Mama sensed the awkwardness of the situation and gave her an out. “Alright, Kagome, I have enough pictures, you can go change.”
Kagome’s relief was palpable, she gave Mama a grateful look and escaped to her room, leaving a grouchy hanyou to wait on her couch.
Hopefully Inuyasha will have forgotten all about asking.
****************************
Inuyasha didn’t get his answer until the next day, and not in the way he expected. In fact, he hadn’t even brought it up again.
After Kagome had changed into pajamas, she had told him she had some homework to catch up on before they left in the morning, so he said goodnight and headed back to his time.
He didn’t sleep well though.
Surprisingly, images of Kagome from that night kept popping up in his head. He didn’t understand it. Even he could begrudgingly admit that Kagome had looked beautiful, but he also had to admit that Kagome usually looked beautiful. He might give her a hard time about it, but anyone with eyes could see that Kagome Higurashi was a stunning creature. And anyone with a good nose knew how delectable she usually smelled. These very facts had caused several males to pay attention to Kagome and Inuyasha had taken no small amount of satisfaction in either killing them or driving them away.
Everyone except for that fucking wolf who just would not take a hint.
Because Kagome was his. His…. shard detector. And friend.
So he didn’t really know why the memory of the way she moved walking into the house, or the shape of her red lips, would cause him to lose any sleep.
He had seen Kagome naked, a few times actually, and although those images were burnt pretty strongly into his memory, he had tried very deliberately not to dwell on them. Kagome had been in a compromising situation both times and it felt very disrespectful to use them just to, uh, entertain himself. And mostly he had succeeded. If one of those memories popped up unexpectedly during certain activities...well, he was also a male, wasn’t he?
But he wasn’t the savage that he was often accused of being and Kagome was a true friend to him. His first true friend. So why was he so bothered by the way she looked?
Ultimately, he decided that it was just such a shock to see her wearing something like that. He had thought Kagome would look a little silly and instead she walked in wearing….he didn’t even know what. They didn’t have clothes like that where he came from.
Maybe that was it. The strangeness of it.
Feeling a bit better, he had gone back to her house in the morning prepared to forget about the night before and move on, firmly putting the way the fabric slid over Kagome’s soft skin out of his mind.
But he had forgotten about the pictures and Sota’s habit of oversharing.
When Kagome told him she would need a few minutes to change and get her belongings together, Inuyasha waited for her in the kitchen. Sota and her grandfather were already at the table, eating breakfast and thumbing through the pictures on the camera.
Inuyasha scowled at it but didn’t say anything. Behind him, Mama was putting a plate together. “Would you like some breakfast Inuyasha?” But she was already sliding it in front of him and he just shrugged and dug in. He was barely listening to the conversation happening around him until he heard the word ‘dance’. He paused with a fork of sausages at his mouth and his years perked up.
Kagome’s grandfather was getting emotional over how beautiful she looked in the photos and Sota scoffed. “You’re not gonna catch me dressing up and going to any dumb dances.“
His mother smiled, “You might feel differently about it when you get older, Sota. What if there is a girl you like?” She threw an amused look at him over her tea.
While Sota made gagging noises, Inuyasha continued eating while trying to puzzle out this information. What did a dance have to do with liking someone?
Unfortunately, Sota cleared things up quickly. “No way! I heard Kagome’s friends talking about it! They were choosing which boys they were going to dance with and kiss. If I like a girl, she is going to just have to like video games, cuz there is no way I am dressing up to kiss her in a gym!” Mrs. Higurashi only smiled at him again, but Inuyasha felt the food he was eating turn sour in his stomach.
Was that what Kagome was doing last night? She was dancing with a boy and…and….and kissing him!
Sota had to have heard wrong. “Feh, kid, what are you talking about?”
When Sota only looked at him blankly, Inuyasha turned to Mrs. Higurashi. “That isn’t what Kagome was doing last night is it?”
For a few seconds, there was utter silence at the table. For every moment of it, Inuyasha felt a black fury come over him. He was about to spring up and confront Kagome about it when Mrs. Higurashi put her hand on his arm, stalling him.
“I think Kagome went to the dance to be with her friends, Inuyasha. I don’t believe she has any special feelings for a boy at school.” She tried to be soothing, but Inuyasha could tell there was something she wasn’t saying.
Once again, Sota provided the missing information. “Huh, well she might not like him, but I know Hojo has something for Kagome. The whole school knows!”
Inuyasha’s head whipped to him and, for a moment, Sota thought he knew what it might feel like to be one of the demon’s Inuyasha killed. The hanyou was furious and he could see the rage in his eyes.
“Hojo? The one from the culture festival?” Inuyasha well remembered being challenged by the weak boy. Kagome had assured him Hojo was only pretending, that they were putting on a show for the crowd watching, but Inuyasha knew he should have trusted his gut. That guy wanted Kagome.
He didn’t realize he was growling until Sota murmured, “That’s so awesome….” and Mrs. Higurashi murmured, “Oh dear…” and Kagome chose that moment to enter the kitchen.
“Hey Inuyasha, ready to go?”
*****************************
No one spoke.
Most of them wanted to, but the tension in the group was so high that they were afraid of saying the wrong thing. Especially since no one had any idea what was wrong.
Inuyasha was in the front, as usual, but he was being so cold and aloof he was doing a pretty good impersonation of his brother.
Kagome was in the back, head down and clearly upset. Every once in awhile she would give an indignant huff and mutter under her breath, but otherwise wasn’t speaking.
The four figures in the middle were staying close together, finding safety in numbers and attempting to have full conversations with only facial expressions.
It wasn’t going well.
Sango was fairly sure she could get Kagome talking if they were alone and she was attempting to convey that to Miroku, so he could distract Inuyasha when they made camp. Miroku genuinely wanted to help, but he was distracted by the fact that he had to focus on Sango’s face as she mouthed the words and his imagination kept getting in the way. In the end he just shrugged helplessly with an apologetic smile and Sango rolled her eyes.
Shippo wanted to go back and comfort Kagome, positive that whatever the problem was it was Inuyasha’s fault, but his first and only attempt had been shut down so quickly he had started to get left behind while he stood there in shock. Sango doubled backed and scooped him up when she realized it and quietly told him he could hang out with her for the day.
Things had not changed much since then.
Miroku would make an offhanded comment occasionally to test the waters and Shippo would start to say something to Kagome before he caught himself and just threw her a sad look, but otherwise it was a silent trek across the Sengoku.
When evening fell and Inuyasha pulled up to make camp and immediately jumped into the nearest tree, Sango saw her opportunity.
“Kagome, let’s get the water for dinner while Miroku and Shippo get firewood.” She gave Miroku a stern look that he was not to mess this up and he nodded solemnly while grabbing Shippo and taking off into the woods.
Kagome glanced her way, and replied “Sure, Sango.” In a sad, dejected voice. Determination made Sango impatient, so as soon as Kagome had pulled out the pans to bring to the creek for water, Sango snagged her friends arm and practically drug her away.
They had not even made it halfway to the water when Sango rounded on her. “Okay, Kagome. What is going on? Did you get into a fight with Inuyasha?”
For a moment, Kagome looked like she might refuse to talk about, but then she gave a deep sigh and her shoulders drooped.
“I don’t even know. I mean, I think I know, but I don’t KNOW. Ya know?”
At Sango’s lost expression, Kagome sighed again. “We didn’t fight, exactly. He found out something and…I think it bothers him. I just don’t know why it bothers him. Or at least, I don’t know why it bothers him this much.” Kagome realized she still wasn’t making much sense, so held her hand out for Sango to walk with her while they talked.
“I didn’t come back last night because I went to a dance.” At Sango’s surprised expression, Kagome realized she would think the same thing as Inuyasha. “It isn’t like the dancing here. This is something we do at school, usually for older kids like me. We dress up in really nice clothes and spend time with our friends and…if there is someone you like…you know, like a boy or girl…you might ask them to dance.” For some reason, as she was explaining it, she felt embarrassed. She didn’t know why, it wasn’t like she had a boy she liked. She might have danced with Hojo once, but he had asked her five times and by the end of the night she had been out of excuses. Besides, it wasn’t a slow dance and she refused to feel guilty. She had nothing to feel guilty about.
“Alright. So you went to this dance and spent time with your friends and danced with a boy you liked? I didn’t know you liked anyone.” The words ‘in your time’ went unsaid, but Sango was well aware of Kagome’s feelings for Inuyasha. It was surprising to her that Kagome would have interest in someone else and not speak to her about it. Kagome was already shaking her head though.
“No, I went to see my friends. I wasn’t able to go last year and, with everything ahead of us, I don’t what the future holds. I just wanted to have a normal night as a teenager I guess.”
Sango nodded, “So you didn’t dance with a boy.”
Kagome winced, “Well, I did actually, I just couldn’t think of a polite way to get out of it. But I don’t like him, not like that…Hojo is just a friend.”
The women had reached the water and were filling up, while Sango thought this over. “Is this what you and Inuyasha fought over? Staying to go to the dance?”
Kagome set her pan down and jumped up, pointing at her sharply, “See! That is exactly what I thought! He was mad that I stayed home just to go to something like that!” Kagome started pacing, now worked up all over again and more than ready to talk about it. “And maybe that is what last night was, but…even then. He kept talking about how I was dressed and…it didn’t feel like he was mad about me not coming back. I don’t know, maybe he was.” She shook her head as she thought back through the events of the morning.
“I thought we were over it. Whatever he was mad about last night seemed to be over this morning when he came to get me. He was totally normal. But when I went downstairs to leave…”
Kagome stopped pacing and looked at her and Sango could feel the absolute hurt going through her friend. “When I went downstairs, he was a totally different person. He wouldn’t talk to me. He wouldn’t look at me.” She took in a deep, hitched breath. “When we got to the well…he normally jumps out with me, but he jumped out on his own and was already gone on his way to Kaede’s by the time I climbed out.”
She bent down and picked up her pan full of water and just stared into it.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why he is so upset. I wish he would talk to me about it, but we both know that isn’t likely to happen.” Kagome stood and Sango along with her and they both made their way back to camp.
Sango looked over at her friend, knowing all the emotional turmoil that Inuyasha had inadvertently put her through over the years. It didn’t look like he would be done any time soon.
“If he was fine when he first saw you and upset later, was there something that could have happened downstairs?”
Kagome shook her head, “I can’t think of what it might have been. He was with my family in the kitchen. My grandfather can be kind of harsh with Inuyasha, but my mother loves him and Sota idolizes him. I can’t think of anything that would have made him this upset.”
“I’m sorry, Kagome. I wish I could be of more help. Inuyasha is a very complicated person, it’s hard to say what has caused this kind of a reaction.” Kagome nodded at this, in fully agreement.
“Thank you. I actually feel better talking about it. Maybe when I get home I can ask my mom if she knows anything. I just hope Inuyasha quits acting like this before then, it could be weeks before I get home again.”
Sango nodded in support of that plan and the rest of the walk was done in a more thoughtful silence.
Neither of them noticed the rustling in the branches above.
******************************
On some level, Inuyasha knew how much of a jerk he was being, but he was too upset to care. When he first heard about Kagome going to a ‘dance’ to kiss some stupid boy named Hojo, he wanted to go to the school and rip the boy apart. He had even flexed his claws in anticipation of how it would feel.
When she popped in the room, so happy and cheerful looking, he had wanted to lash out at Kagome. Not with his claws, of course. But he wanted to cause her the same level of hurt he felt. At the time, he hadn’t even bothered to try and understand why. If pressed for a reason, he would have stated that it was selfish to delay the shard hunt just for that. But the truth was…that wasn’t the truth at all.
It took him about six hours of solid brooding before he could acknowledge, at least internally, that it was the thought of Kagome kissing someone that bothered him the most. This wasn’t the first time he had to face that possibility, Kouga was always trying to sneak in a kiss, but Inuyasha was there and, not only could he rearrange the wolf’s face for it, but he could see that Kagome clearly wasn’t interested.
Now that she might be interested, it….bothered him. It bothered him a lot.
The longer he cooled off and his feelings settled, he was a little terrified to discover that it didn’t bother him because Kagome was his shard detector. It bothered him because Kagome was Kagome.
He didn’t want her to be kissing anyone. Well…anyone except…
And for the very first time, Inuyasha pictured himself kissing Kagome. His hand in her hair, her scent filling his head while he pressed against her soft lips. His heart pounded in his chest when he realized that this image didn’t bother him at all. Oh no…..
He couldn’t like Kagome. He could not like Kagome. As a friend, yes, he could do that. He had to do that, because now that he knew what it was like to have her in his life he could not be without her. But he couldn’t have those kinds of feelings for her. Even ignoring the fact that she was from the future, and his entirely too complicated situation with Kikyo, he was a hanyou. A half breed. He didn’t get lust after anyone. He had a too many reminders of why that was a terrible idea.
By the time he pulled off to camp for the night, most of his anger had burned away under the staggering revelations of the day. He fully intended to stay in the trees for the night and work on getting his thoughts and feelings back under control and in their proper place.
He did not have feelings for Kagome, and he would spend every day and night reminding himself of that if he needed to.
His plans were immediately abandoned when he realized that Sango and Kagome were leaving together and would inevitably talk about him. Normally he would not even consider invading their privacy, but despite forcibly telling himself he did not care about what Kagome did at that dance, he could not miss an opportunity to find out.
As he silently followed the women and listened to things from Kagome’s perspective, he started feeling like slime. Of course she was hurt and confused, she had no clue what had happened in the kitchen. Even if she had known, neither of them could have anticipated his reaction to it. Because he shouldn’t have that reaction to it. And he completely ignored the feelings suspiciously like relief when he realized Kagome neither kissed Hojo, nor felt anything for him.
When everyone was back at camp, Inuyasha looked down on them, realizing for the first time that day how truly uncomfortable he had made them all feel. He hadn’t cared at the time, of course, but now that things were a little more clear and no kissing had even happened, he realized how awkwardly quiet and careful everyone was being.
It was on him to fix it.
As Kagome got the fire going and put on the water, he dropped down beside her. Everyone stared at him except Kagome, who had turned her head and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but then went back to tending the fire.
“Feh, wench, what’s for dinner?”
Everyone seemed to hold their breath as Kagome finally looked up at him. They stared at each other for a long moment and Inuyasha hoped she could read the apology in his eyes. Kagome finally tipped her chin towards packet beside her, “Ramen.”
His eyes flicked to the package and then back to her. “I think I’m gonna catch some fish to go with it. Sound ok?” He needed to know they were good, and he hoped Kagome saw it for the peace offering it was.
But he really shouldn’t have worried. Kagome always understood him better than anyone else.
Her face softened and she gave him a half smile and a nod, “Yeah, Inuyasha. It’s ok.”
He gave a nod and a half smile back while a collective sigh of relief went through the rest of the camp. As he bounded away to get the fish, he could hear Shippo talking to Kagome about all the things he had wanted to say throughout the day and Sango was yelling at Miroku about some earlier lecherous behavior.
His friends were all back to normal. His friends, because that was all they were. He ignored the tightening in chest and the whispering in the back of his mind that one of them….one of them was a little bit more.