Khemu follows Elijah around for the rest of the day, poking and prodding at him to keep playing. But the next morning, when Elijah goes downstairs, there's no sign of Khemu. Elijah settles back in to wait, watching the stairs carefully.When noon comes, and Khemu still hasn't come to bother Elijah, he starts to get a little bit curious.
It's a surprising emotion, and Elijah spends some time sitting in his normal nest under a table on the edge of the ground floor workspace, watching the animus users and chewing over the idea of Khemu in his mind.
There's no reason for him to care where Khemu is or what he's doing. Khemu is unimportant. Khemu is here because of an accident, and by all rights he should be dead. Khemu is a distraction.
Khemu is usually here by now.
Elijah quietly unfolds himself from his awkward, half cross legged position under the table, and edges around the crowd to get to the stairs. No one is particularly interested in him, as per usual, and he makes it to the stairs without any trouble. He's only halfway up when he runs into Bayek coming down.
Elijah slides his gaze away from the man and doesn't slow down, but before he can pass Bayek, the man reaches out to grab his shoulder. Elijah stops in place, staring sullenly up at Bayek. He doesn't want to talk to him right now, but he doesn't have a hope of getting loose.
Bayek sits down on the closest step, and pulls Elijah a little closer. "Listen to me, child," he says, which Elijah hates. He's no child. He knows too much. "You say you need to be here, and so far you haven't done anything to make me think you shouldn't be allowed. But Khemu is my son. Do you understand that?"
"Yes," Elijah says. "I'm not an idiot."
"If you hurt him," Bayek says. "If you ever raise a finger against him, there will be consequences." He stands up again. "You know a lot of things, Elijah. Know that."
Elijah hasn't even considered hurting Khemu. He doesn't have a reason to, and it would only complicate thing. Besides that, Khemu is at least a year older than he is, and clearly spends a lot of time outdoors, running around and probably exercising. Elijah spends a lot of time waiting, mostly. Khemu could wipe the floor with Elijah, if he ever tried. "Alright," he says. "I'll remember that."
Bayek sighs, and his face goes… complicated. There are a lot of emotions gathered there, none of which Elijah is confident he can identify. People have always been hard for him to get a handle on. It's a lot of effort for him to be able to look at someone's face, to recognize the expression, and to match it with the emotion they must be feeling. And that's when it's something simple—fear, anger, sadness, the ones Elijah is used to seeing. Something like this, with all kinds of feelings mixed up in it, might as well be a foreign language to Elijah.
"Please let go of me," Elijah says, and when Bayek grudgingly releases him, Elijah slips past him, up the stairs to look for Khemu. He finds him easily enough—there are only a couple other people up here, some animus users that need to take a break to avoid the bleeding effect. Khemu's sprawled out on the floor with his chin in his hand, scrolling languidly through a tablet in front of him. It's probably the most still Elijah has seen Khemu since he arrived here.
Elijah stops in the doorway, remembers the other people in the room, and walks to Khemu. "Why are you up here?" he asks.
"Dad wanted to talk to me," Khemu mumbles.
"You could find a better friend than Elijah, Khemu."
"No I couldn't. There's no other kids here."
"He's dangerous, and I need you to understand that. I need you to stay safe."
"But…"
"Khemu. Promise me you're going to be careful."
"I'm not dangerous," Elijah says, and Khemu turns around to look at him, although he won't meet his eyes. He can still feel… he knows the conversation Bayek and Khemu had before he came upstairs, and it leaves a sort of sour taste in the air.
"Dad says you are."
"He's wrong." Slowly, Elijah sits down close to Khemu, not really believing that he's doing this. He's never had a friend before, never even tried. There's something pulling him toward Khemu, because Khemu is different, and Elijah has been different all his life. He wouldn't have to be the only one anymore.
Reluctantly, Khemu meets his eyes. "Then why do you act like that?"
"Like what?" Elijah asks, even though he knows. He wants to hear the words Khemu is going to use to describe it.
"Blank," Khemu says, after thinking it over. "You're not a whole person, are you? You never learned how to be like a normal person."
Elijah leans forward, and wrapping his arms around his knees. This is hard to talk about, because no one ever understands him. They shout at him for telling stories, or they tell him he's wrong, or they look at him like—
He swallows.
"I remember the day I was born," he says matter of factly.
"No you don't," Khemu interrupts. "Nobody can remember being a baby."
Elijah's hands curl like claws around his knees. So tight they almost hurt. "I remember," he says (again, more quietly), "The day I was born."
This time, Khemu doesn't interrupt.
"I remember already knowing so much," Elijah says. "I already knew who I was. I knew a lot of things I shouldn't have. When I started to walk, and talk, I wasn't learning how to do it. I already knew how, I was just waiting for my body to catch up with the things I knew. When other kids were… growing up, and learning how to… rely on people, and feel things, and care about things, I never needed any of that. I already knew everything I needed to know, and sometimes I just… know more, and I don't know why, so why would I need anyone to teach me anything? Why would I need anyone?"
Khemu pushes himself up so he's sitting, facing Elijah. For a long time he studies him in silence. Then he asks, "Is that all true?"
"Yes." He's waiting for the inevitable reaction, but Khemu's still thinking. Finally he scoots forward, stopping so close to Elijah that their knees touch. "You're weird," Khemu informs him.
Elijah manages a bitter smile. "I know."
"And I don't think I get all that stuff you said."
"No one ever does."
Khemu shakes his head. "But I still like playing with you."
Elijah looks at him, a little sheepish. After all, hadn't he come up here to find Khemu precisely because the other boy hadn't come down to play? "We can still do that," he says.
"Yea." Khemu nods. "And then we'll figure out all the other stuff." He springs to his feet, and offers Elijah a hand. "Come on. I can teach you a new game." His grin spreads across his face. "I bet you anything you don't know it."
Elijah finds himself hoping he doesn't. "Okay," he says, grabbing Khemu's hand to pull himself up. "Just… don't tell your dad, alright?"
-/-
Whoops, updating the side fic before the main fic. I just couldn't resist getting a little bit more into Elijah's messed up head.