Before the Band

By: SEES

Edited by: Keru and SEES

Chapter Four

To put it simply, Skwisgaar had a hellish weekend. He had not remembered that it was Friday and had spent his weekend inside his cold house, putting up with his mother.

Funny how they didn't have heat, but they had cable.

So he had sat, shivering, trying to play his Behringer in his room with numb fingers, ensconced in relatively thin blankets. He had to put his only pair of gloves on to try to immerse himself in his world away from her, but it couldn't work. His fingers were already muted without his amplifier, and he could barely make any sound with those on.

Hell, it was beginning to sound like he played bass.

Also, the gloves got daily use now that the weather had turned, and plucking at the guitar strings was not good for them. He had worn holes in the tips, where he needed the coverage the most. His circulation had never been good, but this was not good.

So, needless to say, he was quite ready to get his coat back. It was the only thing that had kept him in the house the entire fucking weekend, because he would be unable to stand the cold if stepped outside for longer than his walk to school, and if he wanted to get to town or that café, it was too much.

Once he made it to the school, he deposited his backpack in his homeroom and shook the water out of his too-long-for-a-boy's-and-bordering-on-girly- hair, pulling it behind his head. He waited for about five minutes, rubbing his hands together and trying to get feeling back into them. It was taking too long for the kid to show up- and he mentally scolded himself for the words. The kid was Toki, he had to remember that he actually had a name.

But he was also taking too long. It took a moment before he realized that he had not told him where to meet. With a huff, he makes his way towards the front and only entrance, nearly running him over in the process. He was used to looking for someone a bit taller, after all.

"Oh, there you a-" Skwisgaar stopped midsentence, disbelief flooding his features. "You've got to be kidding me."

Toki had obviously walked to the school in nothing but his T-shirt and shorts, all articles of clothing that were on his body soaked through. His little body was shaking with the cold, as it was snraining (the technical term for snow and rain mixing together) and his hair dripped onto his shoulders. The water darkened spots on his shoulders for a moment before disappearing, as the thin fabric could only hold so much water in one place. He held out the jacket, unworn and with an effort to have kept it dry, and water dripped off his arm to join the growing puddle that was forming around his feet.

"I let you borrow that 'cause- but you- you- why didn't- I-…" He was lost for words, and after living with his mother he had a snappy comeback for pretty much everything. Toki looked so…

Pathetic. Not the kind of pathetic that you'd want to give a hug to, either, more like the kind that you'd rather view from a distance. Like a bum with no teeth, crazy and alone. But right now, he had a face full of it, those dead eyes staring up at him, begging him to just end the humiliation and take the coat.

But he couldn't. Once more disgust crept into his face and voice as he turned away, not wanting to deal with it.

"L-look, just keep the damn coat, alright? Jesus…" He called out to some deity he had only heard his mother's lovers call out to, those foreigners and the ones who called themselves "good Christian men." It had slipped out, and now he began to walk back to his class, appearing to worry about being late.

Soft squelches sounded after him, and Skwisgaar whipped his head around, confused. He was being followed, Toki half-jogging to keep up. Little footprints were made with every step, and he had tucked the black jacket under his arm for safety. Now getting a bit irritated, The older boy stopped and turned around, waiting for him to arrive within speaking distance.

"What are you doing?" It was an icily delivered question, and it came with a glare of annoyance. He didn't want to deal with this kid.

"Your coat. I'm giving it back, like you said." The words could barely be heard over the din of the halls, and Skwisgaar's frown became much more pronounced. Toki seemed to cower even more, holding out the ploy-fleece like an offering. With a roll of his eyes, the Swedish boy turned on his heel and walked away, curling and uncurling his fists, for he did not want to be seen with him any more. He was already a social outcast with his accent, but he wasn't so desperate he was going to try to make friends with a first grader.

The ten minutes before the bell rang were going quickly as Skwisgaar made his way to his class, fuming in his own little world. He plopped himself into his desk, ignoring the giggles around him- except when he noticed a form much too small to be in a seventh-grade classroom out of the corner of his eye.

The kid had followed him all the way into his classroom, and was standing like he didn't know what to do. Well, actually, he probably didn't, and had probably never even been on this side of the school before. He stood in the doorway, and then took one tentative step inside, leaving a small footprint on the carpet floor. He looked at it (or at least, seemed to- his hair was in his face again) and stepped back onto the tile, his hands twisting the jacket nervously.

"Odin…" With great hesitation, he got out of his seat to go talk to him once more. The only two times he had actually talked to him it was so awkward that it made him want to grab his guitar and play the blocky feeling out. So he stood before the kid, nearly twice his height and looked down his nose with as much disdain that a seventh-grader could muster.

"Seriously? What now?" Toki barely raised his eyes enough to look at the blond boy and very carefully held out the coat.

"I know I got it dirty and wet but I didn't mean to and you said to give it back so here." He said it all in one breath without actually looking at him, and the greatest eye roll ever seen was performed. Skwisgaar reached out and snatched the jacket, making the younger kid jump hard and immediately place his arms by his sides. With the most frustrated motions, he wrapped the material around the boy, a bit too tightly.

"Gak!" Toki stumbled and Skwisgaar stepped back, the boundary between carpet and tile solidified. He crossed his arms as he was stared at from all angles, but mostly from a pair of cold blue eyes that couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

"I said keep it, so you keep it." And he just nodded, and began to walk away. Skwisgaar huffed and went back to his seat, shivering slightly with the cold. He wanted to just disappear… The girls were laughing and for once more than ever he wanted a music player, to drown them out. His face was burning from embarrassment and awkwardness, but somewhere he couldn't see, he felt…

Sad.

But he wasn't going to make friends with a first grader. Seriously. He might need someone and his parents were quite obviously not taking care of him, but he wasn't going to have that responsibility put on him. He was nice to him twice, but it wasn't going any farther than this.

A/N: Toki is actually a third grader. Just saying.