Page 31 of Elemasters

But they had no idea that he was the one responsible for it.

How could he possibly face Leo’s parents and offer them his condolences, knowing that he was the one who took their son from them? He couldn’t bow his head and cry with his teammates, and he certainly couldn’t look at Leo’s body lying in the casket…

He may have been an Elemental Sage, but he was still so painfully human.

The house was empty; his parents were both working late, and Chris was at basketball practice, meaning Dustin’s only company were the creaking floorboards and the steady sounds of rain plunking against his window as he lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. He knew he should probably get out of bed and eat something, but he genuinely couldn’t force himself to care about his own wellbeing.

His cell phone was on the nightstand next to his bed; battery critically low with at least fourteen unread texts from Bailey and James. He didn’t even bother taking it to school with him that day; all he grabbed was his iPod so he could drown out the world around him. The more his thoughts circled the drain, the better just going to sleep early was starting to sound.

But of course, life had other plans; this time in the form of the doorbell ringing.

At first, he was just going to ignore it… but then it rang again. And then again. Before it could ring a fourth time, Dustin heaved himself out of bed with a groan and shuffled through the house with bare feet to answer it.

Before that though, he glanced through the living room window to see if there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway. There was a car there… but it was anything but unfamiliar.

A spotless, white BMW that only one person at Kochiyama High could afford to drive.

James.

Dustin sighed, deep and full of anguish. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see James, hell, he always wanted to see James. He just didn’t want to have to explain himself. Didn’t want to be asked questions or offered solutions; he just wanted to exist. And he’d always done that best by himself.

Still, he knew better than to expect James to just give up and go home, so he took a breath and opened the door.

Relief fell over James’s face at the sight of Dustin, but all Dustin could focus on was the wet clumps of hair pressed against his cheeks; he was fucking soaked just from walking from the driveway to the front porch. Despite that though, he was still grinning ear to ear.

“There you are! I thought maybe you were taking a depression nap or something,” James looked Dustin up and down, “you look good,”

Dustin glanced down at his black tank top and Pokémon pajama bottoms with a tiny hole in the left butt cheek.

“I look like shit,”

“Impossible,” James replied, holding up a large brown paper bag, “I brought takeout from Wong’s. I didn’t wanna bother you at lunch today, but I noticed you didn’t eat… you didn’t eat yesterday either,”

Dustin wanted to send James away, to construct a lie about being okay to put James at ease and preserve his solitude… but he’d brought Kryptonite to a Superman fight. Wong’s Imperial Wok? And from the smell slowly wafting across the threshold, Ms. Wong’s steamed buns were in that bag.

Gold Kryptonite. This boy brought the big guns.

“Alright, fine,” Dustin relented, trying to stop himself from visibly salivating, “come on in. I’ve got some dry clothes you can change into,”

About twenty minutes later, they were sitting on Dustin’s bed, sharing a huge helping of General Tso’s chicken and steamed buns. They didn’t say anything for a while, but the food and the company were nicer than Dustin expected; perhaps wallowing in loneliness wasn’t the only way to make himself feel better.

“Thanks for opening the door for me,” James said, fighting the too-long sleeves of the borrowed shirt as he popped a piece of chicken into his mouth, “I really just needed to see you and make sure you were okay,”

“’Okay’ is a strong word, but I’m getting there… probably,” Dustin replied, “but I’m not surprised by you looking out for me. You always do. For some reason,”

James looked slightly offended.

“For some reason? Why wouldn’t I look out for you? You’re my b... my best friend,”

“Best friend?” Dustin scoffed, “you make a habit of making out with your best friends until you pop a boner?”

“Okay, okay, maybe we’re more than that,” James giggled, “but the point is that I really care about you Dustin. As long as you’re good, I’m good, no matter what insane bullshit we deal with,”

Dustin nearly dropped his chopsticks. It wasn’t really surprising; James wasn’t even attempting to hide his feelings. It was just… confusing.

“But, why though?” he began, his eyes focusing on the buns in front of him and not on James, “you’re acting like I’m some kind of angel, but I’m a fucking murderer James. I killed Leo. I’m not even sure I deserve to be alive if I’m honest,”

Dustin barely got the words out of his mouth before James was gently tilting his head so they could make eye contact.