Annnd Luce officially starts becoming OOC. I am sorry guys why do you all put up with me. 8|

Did I ever mention how much I love Doma Yuset? Seriously, guys, she is my sister and her Kid!Rad is adorable.

HAHA THIS IS THE REAL CHAPTER THREE.

SOME OF YOU ACIDENTALLY READ THE FUUUUUTURE.

And I took some of this drug-Hazy-ness from my own past when I used to take ADHD medication. Total zombifacation. Only I dramatized it a bit more here.

Conrad had been a model student that was aggravated for the first time, and reacted violently for the first time. Because of this, he only got a two day suspension as a warning- rather gracious of the principal, who was known to be quick with punishing students with hard labor or volunteer work. Mother, however, wasn't pleased. Conrad got to enjoy a full 48 hours of her expressing that disappointment.

During that time, she did his laundry, and found some of the clothes smelling like smoke. This caused her to yell at the boy some more, refusing to listen to his excuses that would contain a certain blonde Aussie who didn't seem to know the meaning of personal space. She even smacked him across the face for becoming a 'liar', a liar just like him.

On the second day of hell, he was dragged to the doctor and was immediately prescribed some anger medication. He didn't think much of it as he took the first pill in the morning, or the next few mornings. But eventually as he returned to school he noticed for himself, noticed the sudden slowness and the change of usual quirks. His eyes gained a hazed look.

It was lunch again, and after taking his pills of the day, the teen wandered into library and pulled out his folder of paper and drawings.

"..."

Conrad stared blankly at the sheet- hand hovering over the paper.

"..."

Nothing. Nothing. Numbly, the freshman pushed the paper aside and took out a book, trying to read it.

"..."

He found himself re-reading the same page over and over again because it just wasn't sinking in. He kept trying -but didn't seem to care either way.

He was too tired to care.

~x~

After Luce's return from the hospital, he was finally punished for injuring several kids. His punishment? Library assistant. ("Do'I get a fuckin' nametag ta go wit' it?") Every day at lunch and after school he'd have to help put books away and catalog shit, but they were pretty far in the year with cataloging and no one came to the library anyway, so he basically did nothing the whole time. Still, it was an improvement to the students, as he was confined there and therefore not really capable of injuring anybody. With nothing to do, Luce had been studying the biology books; other than all the nude pics he would get to look at (little pervert that he was) they were actually pretty neat. He started thinking about medical careers a bit more, but today, as he read, he noted someone a couple tables away.

It was Connie.

He looked exhausted, sick even. Luce closed his book, making sure to mark the page, and rose from his table. Taking a spot next to Conrad, he reopened the book to his page, continuing to read. "Not lookin' too good, kiddie." He raised an eyebrow, still reading. "New meds er someth'ng?"

Conrad blinked a bit slowly and looked up at the elder teen. "..." He nodded slightly. Who was he again?... Ah! Luce Worth. He knew him. He knew him. He wasn't supposed to like him. But he couldn't find the hatred. Couldn't summon up any real emotion really.

"I can't pronounce the name... but yes." He didn't remember why he didn't like talking about his medications, and found himself just babbling slightly "I can't pronounce most of the names though." That said, he turned back to the book and re-read the page for the third time.

"...Eighteen..." the younger student muttered to himself mostly. He remembered how many different bottles there were currently that he had to take from. Some were daily, others bi-weekly, weekly, and one was even monthly. "This makes eighteen..."

Luce was a bit surprised he actually responded, that he didn't jump away or anything. The kid was babbling, and he allowed him to; Jesus, he looks ill. To his discomfort, Luce was actually a little freaked about this, and the slightest twisting in his gut that was always there tightened a little more at the mention 'eighteen'.

"Holy fuck kid." The senior looked up from his book to study Conrad. His reactions were slow at best; his eyes, normally rather bright and panicked, were glazed; fuck, he looks majorly drugged. He straightened from his slouched position and narrowed his eyes at Conrad. "'Ey, wake up."

He closed his book and gently but firmly wrapped his fingers around the kid's wrist. "Ya got any sense, ya'll stop takin' the meds. Yer liver should be failin' at this point if'ya don't stop!" His voice was lowered, but sharp, hopefully sharp enough to cut through the haze in his companion's mind. "Yer makin' yerself sick. Get it?"

Conrad didn't make eye contact, but his eyes were drawn to his wrist, currently grabbed but the elder boy. He didn't react. "My liver?"

He blinked, then closed his own book and thought for a moment. "That's alright I think... My insurance covers transplants."

This subject used to scare him to death, but now... It didn't seem a big deal. Might as well be talking about the weather even. "Besides... Can't stop. Don't have a choice. I'll make people mad." His tone the entire time was flat and lacking of emotion. Like he was reading a word problem out loud. What else was there to say? He couldn't stop taking the pills. That was like asking him to stop eating or to stop washing his hands

"Yer insur- "For a moment, Luce just stared. "Who gives a fuck what people think?" Eyes, already narrow, became like slits; his voice rose and caught a couple stares, and his grip on Conrad's wrist tightened. "Don' have a choice? Fuck tha-"

"How's your nose?"

"Mah no-"

Luce blinked in surprise; the kid would never let go of a topic that easily, he was way too uptight for that. He stared for a moment before letting go of his wrist and rubbing the bridge of his nose darkly, looking away. "S'fine." He was starting to seriously worry that if Connie was acting like this, something was really up now. "S'perman'ntly crooked, bet s'fine." Luce was slightly angry now; how the hell could Conrad do this to himself? How did he allow it?

"'Ow's mum?" The question was drenched in sarcasm; at this point he hated the woman.

"Fine. She's angry that I picked a fight at school, but that's all." Conrad rubbed at his wrist for a moment. "She says this is what happens when I talk to people..."

He paused, wondering why he was still talking to Luce if he wasn't supposed to. It was difficult to think. He lost track of what he was thinking and stared off at some distant thing, then snapped back for a moment."...You're the first person that's talked to me more than once." He paused again. "You should stop though."

Luce blinked in irritation. "Well if ya don't talk ta someone yer gonna end up in real shit." Then the words clicked, and his head snapped back to look at his companion. It would be rather a bit sad that he was the only one.

"Why should I stop? Got nothin' better ta do. Plus, ya respond." God, he looked so tired. Luce was actually tense about the whole thing; the kid was beating himself half to death! Luce needed to keep an eye on him before he did something stupid.

The senior leaned back on his chair "Ya finally got s'me comp'ny. Ya really wanna lose it?"

"I thought you hated me? I broke your nose." Conrad took the scattered blank pages of paper and piled them back into the folder- Bell rings in fifteen minutes. He'd given up on drawing anything.

Luce smirked gently, almost fondly. "Don' hate ya. Ya fought back. I was proud." He looked up as the other boy piled his papers away. "Was a nice change, ya doin' s'mth'ng 'bout things tha' madeja angry. Better than ya bein' a priss." He kept smirking, the trademark expression looking far more familiar. "Mas'chis', 'member?"

Conrad didn't seem to hear him, and continued speaking. "And it doesn't matter what I want. I don't know what I want."

Frowning, Luce stared at Conrad, tempted to just force him to look at him. "Doesn't matter?" He shook his head lightly "'Course it matters. Just gotta make up yer mind..." he trailed off; was Connie even listening?

The boy wasn't reacting a bit to what he was saying. If he did hear, it wasn't sinking in and sparking anything. He shoved his things back into his bag. As he zipped up the bag to get up, something must have clicked-

"...proud?"

Proud, he said he was proud of him.

That… The idea of someone being proud- it was a joke. He was making fun of him.

But…

"... You're confusing me. Please, just leave me alone." Swinging bag over his shoulder, he left the table.

Luce Worth stared after him, something akin to a perplexed and worried frown on his face. He couldn't leave him alone, not with all this shit going on.

This couldn't end well, even on this kid's standards where everything ended poorly; Luce was going to do something about it. He's not going to leave Conrad to get hurt, not going to leave him to hurt himself. He'd following him home tonight, then, and every other night. Just to make sure he gets there safe, for now. Luce rested on the back of his chair, rubbing his eyes, and then, too, got up to gather his one bag for class.