Chapter 3 - Friends and Responsibilities
Ryan was running late, as usual. It wasn't his fault though, not really. After all, it was Sunday, and Sunday was a day to sleep in. The fact that he had stayed up late playing his new video game had nothing to do with it. At least that was what he kept telling himself.
The fact that Luna had followed him the whole way, insisting that it was his fault wasn't helping.
"This can't keep happening Ryan," Luna said from where she ran at his feet. "How can I count on you to fight the Negaverse and find the Moon Princess when you have a hard time just being punctual?"
"Moon Princess?" Ryan asked in confusion, almost tripping over the small cat.
Luna hissed softly. "I thought you said you were listening to me last night while you played that infernal game."
Oh yeah, Ryan remembered now. He had been playing his new video game and Luna had been going on about the destiny of Sailor Moon and how he had to find the Moon Princess, the person he was sworn to protect.
"I remember some of it. But you were talking during a really tough part. It's not my fault I tuned you out."
The jingling of the arcade doors prevented Luna's response. Leaving her outside, he entered the arcade. As he walked in, he glanced up at the clock. One-fifteen.
Not as late as he had thought but definitely not a good first impression.
Making his way over to the counter he saw Darien talking to Andrew. Andrew saw him first.
"Speak of the devil," he said as Ryan set his books on the counter and climbed onto a stool.
Ryan bristled at the remark. He hated knowing that people had been talking about him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Instead of answering, Andrew just shook his head, chuckled, and walked away to serve a costumer. Ryan turned to Darien, expecting the answer from him.
Darien looked at the books on the table. "Obviously you have a lot to study. You think you would have been here on time so you could get it over and done with."
Ryan's mouth dropped open. The words that had just been said left him speechless, and oddly, left him feeling worse than all his mother's ranting, raving and hysterics. He clamped his jaw shut as anger replaced the hurt so fast that the hurt was quickly forgotten. "Nobody asked you to be here," he snapped.
"You're right, nobody asked me to be here," Darien agreed. "I'm here out of the kindness of my heart."
"What heart?" Andrew called from down the counter.
Darien glared at the blond waiter. Ryan couldn't contain a smirk, which Darien saw when he turned back around.
"What are you laughing about?" he asked, though the words weren't harsh.
"Nothing," Ryan assured, smirk still in place.
"Fine."
To change the subject and get them back on track Darien pulled one of the books out of the small pile. "Since you just failed that algebra test and are going to have to do a make-up, we may as well start with studying that."
Darien watched as Ryan tried the twentieth question of the afternoon. At first, he had been angry. The kid had been late after all. And he did have his own studying to do, his own life to live. He was giving up his free time to tutor the kid, who couldn't even bother to show up on time. But even as he had ticked off his reasons for being angry, his logical mind was rejecting each and every one. Like, what studying? His grades were already within the ninety-five percentile. Also, what life? What free time?
It was Sunday, there was no school and he didn't have to work. He would have been at the arcade anyway, passing the time visiting with Andrew between customers.
He had finally had to admit that he was angry because for some reason he had expected more from the kid.
Ryan finished the question and looked at it; he knew it was wrong but hell if he couldn't figure out how. How 3+X(9+4) was supposed to equal 55 he didn't have the slightest clue.
"Darien," he turned to show the man beside him the question and found that Darien wasn't paying any attention to him but rather was staring at the counter top as if the secret for turning lead to gold was engraved in it. "Darien!" he repeated.
This time Darien's head shot up and he looked over at Ryan with an almost guilty look on his face. "Sorry. I got to thinking."
"Hope it didn't hurt too much," Ryan said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he gasped and started to apologize for being so rude.
Darien finally smiled for the first time that afternoon, "Don't worry about it. It only stung a little bit."
It took Ryan a moment to realize what Darien had said. When he did realize that Darien wasn't offended he smiled and pushed the question over for Darien's inspection. Darien quickly had the question sorted out, showing Ryan that it did indeed work. And Ryan found that he was even starting to understand how. At that point, he looked up at the clock.
"Five-thirty!" he choked on the words. "Mom is going to kill me! She said supper at five! Sorry Darien, gotta go." Ryan was packing up his books even as he was apologizing. He was almost out the door when Darien's voice stopped him.
"Tomorrow after school?"
"Sure," Ryan agreed, and then bolted home.
Home was not a pleasant place to be. The run home had taken too long. He was almost an hour late for supper and the dishes had already been cleared from the table. Worse yet, his mother wouldn't believe he had been studying.
"Studying! You were at the arcade and you expect me to believe you were studying! No supper for being late. In your room studying for the rest of the night for lying. Go!" Ilene left no room for argument, standing at the bottom of the stairs pointing up to Ryan's room.
An hour later found Ryan sitting at his desk, leaning over his books.
Luna paced behind him, talking about something, but he didn't hear a word.
His mind had wandered away from both her and his books, back to the arcade. Something was bothering him about the afternoon, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
Absently he chewed on his pencil, eyes glazed over in thought. As far away as he was he noticed too late that Luna had jumped up onto the table.
With a cry of alarm, he flung an arm over his books, but not before Luna saw the comic book hidden inside the math text.
"Comics!" the feline exclaimed. "Ryan, you know you should be studying."
Glaring at her, Ryan deliberately went back to reading the comic.
"Ryan, have you been listening to a word I've said?"
"You know I studied all afternoon. Why are you so mad at me now?" he asked without looking up.
"One afternoon of studying is not going to improve your grade. You have to start taking things seriously Ryan. You have more responsibilities now. If you can't handle your homework than how are you going to handle the Negaverse and…"
"Finding the Moon Princess," Ryan intoned in unison with Luna.
"Could you at least modify the speech, so I'm not getting the same lecture yelled at me twice a day?" Getting up from the desk, Ryan began to ready himself for bed. Determined to ignore anything else Luna had to say.
"It is you destiny, your duty, and you must accept it."
Ryan felt his shoulders stiffen. He didn't want to react, but it had been a long day, with first Darien, then his mother and now Luna harping at him. "It isn't always about duty Luna. And destiny is a crock. Right now, it is about doing what everyone else wants me to do without any regards to what I want to do. So don't give me that crap that this is about duty, destiny or responsibility."
Turning off the overhead light he crawled into bed by the light of the moon streaming through his window. Once there he pulled the comforter over his head, hoping that Luna would leave it at that.
It wasn't fair, the voice in his head whined. His mother didn't trust him to study. Luna didn't trust him to handle being Sailor Moon. And Darien, what did Darien want from him? And why did he care so much what the older man thought. So what if he was older, and cooler, and had a hot car and his own life. So what if for some reason he cared what happened to some junior high kid.
Who cares what any of them think anyways.
They don't know what it's like. It's bad enough that he had to deal with all the normal teenage problems. He was supposed to be a hero too.
Maybe that part isn't so bad, he had to admit. But I don't want to turn into a girl.
That last thought in his mind as he fell asleep was that. And it carried itself into his dreams, causing him to toss and turn for the entirety of the night.