always where I need to be

Like Kai, Lachlan had looked up as a feminine voice began addressing them. He recognised the girl, inasmuch as she was Kai's sister. But her words were barbed and Lachlan suddenly realised that perhaps he wasn't the only one getting some comfort out of this... whatever it was. Kai nudged him and he scrambled gracelessly onto the grass.

Kai offered their excuse and Lachlan just nodded along. He didn't know if it was true, and it didn't really matter, either. While he was annoyed at the interruption, there was a tiny part of him (ignored, unrecognised, never admitted to) that was relieved as well.

"All fun and games," he confirmed.

Lachlan knew from experience that family affairs didn't do well with an audience, so he was tossing up between his desire to leave them to work it out and an insatiable curiosity, when Kai's sister had... Had she threatened him? Kai certainly reacted as though she had.

"What?" he shot a glare at Dani. Thank you, Kai, that was her name. "Kai, who did you hurt?"

"Oh, I'm sure," she replied hotly with an eye roll of disbelief as the two boys awkwardly disentangled themselves. Naiveté was something Daniyah feigned. It did not come to her naturally, and she was all too aware of her brother's reputation. It was reputations like his that made Daniyah extra vigilant when it came to her own. Although Daniyah had been taught to love openly, much like her brother had, she clearly had not taken the teachings so literally. Discretion was important. 

When Kai's companion shot a glare in her direction she only fired back with her own withering expression, as if to say 'I have no time for your intrusions'. She didn't. This wasn't any of Kai's friends business, and the look she cast in his direction said as much. She cleared her throat, keeping her intellect stern. As much as Kai wanted to reason with her, it was too late. Besides, he had already proven himself untrustworthy the night of the party. She was no fool, and she didn't make the same mistake twice. 

Making it a point to ignore the other boys queries, she responded to her brother with polished intellect, "Talking? Kai, you and I both know that there would be no talking. I'm not doing this for myself, or Emil, or Mum... or anyone else. I'm doing it because I'm your sister and I give a shit what happens to you, even if you don't care about yourself. You've been lying for how long? How can I trust anything you say?" she argued firmly, balling her fists tightly. Her face felt hot and her voice shrill. She was getting heated, like she had at the lake the night of her party, despite her attempts to keep composure. She breathed in through her nose sharply and took a moment to unfurl her fists, thinking about mountains... lakes... big, wide, open fields of daisies. 

"I told them who was giving them to you, too," she let slip, an admission that had Dani looking perhaps a little bit guilty, mostly because she had no viable proof.  "I need you to understand I'm not trying to hurt you or get you in trouble."

While Kai couldn't put words to the appreciation he felt in Lachlan backing him up, Dani wasn't having any of it. And his arms wrapped around himself, hugging himself defensively as he did when confronted. Dani had a way making anyone feel small and worthless, but he never expected this to be turned onto him. It was... Beyond his fears at this point. Beyond that silly boggart in the forest, beyond her being belittled and torn apart. Daniyah, in her natural state, intact and poised even at her worst, was enough to wither Kai away into a sniveling child.

Lachlan snapped at her, and Kai gave him a pointed look to watch himself. However delusional it was for him to believe Daniyah was a precious angel, she was still ultimately right. It was better to let her steam roll them than fight back.

Before Kai could answer his question, Daniyah pressed on with her scolding, and he took a step back, as if wounded by her words. But, through quivering lips, he spoke again. "Mum always taught us to talk to each other; I would have talked, we should have talked," Kai began, shaking his head, "Y'didn't have to drug me to learn the truth. I never lied to you, I just... I just never told you." While he wasn't sure if he would have told her the exact truth, or the whole truth, Kai had yet to reach that point of delinquency. But, as their mothers pushed him about his grades, Kai didn't... exactly... ever really respond properly. "I'm not... I didn't hurt anyone, y'know? I just... my mums are good people, aight?" Kai finally replied to Lachlan, glancing over to him apology.

He expected to clean up his act before the end of the school year. Now it was... Not really going to happen without them finding out prior, was it?

"I told them who was giving them to you, too,"

Kai's eyes squinted, surprised by this. "Th- What...? The albino guy...? Albino Gerardo?" His brow furrowed dumbly, "How did you find out about him? Dani, what the hell have y'been doin' behind my back? Do y'really not trust me at all? Ya' invest-ah-gey-tin' me n' shit?" He was scratching his chin now. He couldn't quite understand what she was on about, and shrugged innocently in his confusion.

Lachlan picked at the grass, glancing up every now and again to observe the siblings having it out. The tension under the stands was palpable. He could tell Dani didn't like him there, whether it was because it forced her to confront Kai in front of a witness or because of what she assumed about his relationship with her brother.

Did girls get possessive that way? Lachlan had never understood brothers and fathers and uncles who acted that way about their female relatives. He knew Lucia was about as innocent as he was, but it never upset him. If anyone should be upset, it was the guys she dated.

As Kai mentioned being drugged, Lachlan's fingers dragged through his hair.

"Aw, shit," he murmured. This just got worse and worse.

Finally, Kai answered his question. It was clear Dani was just going to pretend he wasn't there.

"Cool," he replied, trying to be cool although he was not feeling very cool at all right now. Lachlan stood up, brushing the bits of shredded grass from his clothes. "You just sounded worried."

"I'm gonna go watch some quidditch or something."

Dani's sure-footed expression faltered and her arms slowly lowered themselves from the knot they had wrapped themselves in across her chest. 

"Albino Gerardo," she repeated, making certain she had heard her brother correctly. She had never heard of this character, but upon Kai's confusion a sinking sensation crept its way into her gut and boiled away at her tenacity as she realized the mistake she had made.

Daniyah had been so certain that she had connected all the dots, that she had figured everything out. All of her buttoned-up cross examinations had been seemingly so analytical. So logical, that anyone with a brain bigger than a peanut would have come to the same conclusion as herself... right? But now as she stood before the two boys with her smug expression collapsing at the foundation, being replaced with something that was perhaps all the more unsettling. Entirely unnerved, she looked down at the ground and tucked several dark strands of hair behind her ears, biting down on her bottom lip as she garnered understanding of the weight of her mistake. 

Shaking her head, she now addressed the Slytherin boy, her tone clashing entirely with the backbone she had shown only seconds ago. 

"No! It's fine. You can stay. I'm sorry, I just... forgot my manners. I'm almost done... here," her voice tapered off towards the end of her apology. A hand made its way up to her mouth and she timidly nibbled at her thumb nail: a disgusting habit that only took hold when she was overcome with restlessness. Meaning it did not happen often. 

"That... that doesn't make any sense though," a troubled strain could be heard in her intonation. She rocked on her heels for a few seconds and then began pacing in front of the boys, sorting through her thought process and trying to figure out where the error had occurred. 

"I thought..." she struggled, and then apprehensively dropped the statement again, pacing three times, and took a deep breath to try again.

"Do you remember when we all went to the fair this summer and it was a little cold so I didn't bring a jacket and he let me borrow his because he never gets cold? ... and I pulled something out of his pocket but I never told anyone because I thought maybe he was sick and he always looks kind of sickly and it's rude to blow up someones spot, and like... Professor Travis said at my party that you were shooting something so I told Mum because I was so worried," an edge of dread crept into her rapid panicked explanation. 'I don't know who Gerardo is."

Suddenly, she stopped her pacing. 

"I-I I'm so sorry Kai." 

With his friend growing tense at his side, and Dani suddenly looking shocked and possibly horrified, this whole mess was getting to be a bit too much for Kai. His foot tapped uneasily as they spoke, fingers digging into his ribs, looking to distract the dread he felt with absolutely anything. Puppies. Candy. Inane jokes, inappropriate laughter. But he wasn't the type to laugh when he was upset, to smile when being scolded. He was the type to cry. And it was taking a lot of effort to not cry, forcing him to even fall silent in moments he had so much to say.

In truth, he didn't want Lachlan there. He didn't want him knowing that his safe and loving family was crumbling apart because of Kai's stupid mistakes. There was something about having a haven for not only himself, but for his friends to hide in when their own families weren't... the best. And that's not what Kai was giving him here. Lachlan wouldn't feel comfortable hanging around the Ohme's anymore, would he?

It wasn't embarrassing. Just disappointing. And Kai sorta hated himself for it.

But, as he thought this to himself, Daniyah unearthed something.

"He?" Kai thought on this a moment, the fair in question. They were with... "Llewellyn?" She wore his jacket, didn't she? There was silence then, as he let this information sink in. At first, he had no idea what she was talking about. Sickly brought to mind cough medicine, which Kai cared very little about and he doubted Dani would to. But the bit about the party... He recalled her bringing up hard drugs, thanks to Professor Travis apparently, but he...

"You... You told mum that I've been shootin' up?" His gaze lifted from the ground then, voice clear in spite of the deepening red around his eyes, "You told--? You told mum that Llewellyn has been shootin' up?!" His voice was harsh then, uncharacteristically loud and abrasive. Kai's hand clapped against his face in horror as he yelled at his sibling, but unbridled fury began bubbling up, as it would if someone were to bad mouth his brother. Llewellyn was basically family to them, wasn't he? Finding solace in their home, trusting them. Kai was closer to Llewellyn than Daniyah, he supposed, as chilling as that was. Even if Llewellyn wasn't so open about his own issues himself, it seemed. And how shitty was it that she was bringing this up in front of other people?

If the drugs had been restraining him before, they weren't now. Tears trickled down his cheeks, but from anger this this time. Absolute disappointment. Not shame or regret, but pure fury. "No. No, no. You didn't. You couldn't possibly have-- I told you I wasn't doin' nothin' like that, just a few mollies, I literally was incapable of lyin' to you," He shook his head, eyes glaring down at her. A lecture pressed on the tip of his tongue: We should be helping Llewellyn, not isolating him; we should be coming together as a family, not ripping it apart; we should be talking calmly about things, not arguing under a fucking bleacher about who's right and who's wrong. It occurred to him then that, perhaps, the light he saw in Daniyah was a bit duller than he thought.

These matters were serious, they needed kindness and nurturing to absolve.

She was just a child.

There was a pang of guilt in his gut for thinking this. He gave Lachlan a pat on his back, in apology for him having to see this, but frankly Kai needed to get the hell out of there. This was beyond his comprehension. This was beyond his limits. Without another word, he brushed past Daniyah, to his waiting belongings, and gathered them silently. His teammates watched him, but did not stop him, possibly because they heard the yelling and the unnecessary conflict, and Kai wasn't the type to ever respond well to aggression or questions. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want to listen to Dani anymore.

So Kai left.

It often felt to Lachlan as though there was a hole in the centre of his self. He knew it existed because it ached, and he filled it up with whatever was at hand. Dancing or drugs or spite. Moments ago, he'd intended to fill it with Kai.

So perhaps that was why, as he watched Kai become increasingly distressed, his hands crossed his chest. One to cup the opposite elbow, the other to clutch at the collar of his shirt. As if he could hold the pain inside, and hurt for both of them.

But though he knew Kai was hurting, and he knew how it felt to run away and not have anyone follow, he stayed behind. This was the part of himself Lachlan hated most; the part that had already weighed the options and realised he'd come out looking a proper hero if he stayed here and consoled Kai's sister.

Hesitantly, he petted the girl's shoulder.

"It'll be all right," he assured her. "He'll calm down and realise you were just looking out for him."

"We should probably go inside and owl your mum."

"Mums. Sorry."