Yelling is how you show concern too.

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Chapter 10: Mangled Miscommunication

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"Kid? Kid!" Black Star repeated as he used his free hand to bring he and Kid to shore. Though Kid's eyes were open, his gaze was distant and hazy and that sent Black Star's heart racing.

Should he try slapping Kid? It worked in movies…

No, that was probably a stupid move. Besides, Kid was slowly shifting in his tight grasp. Maybe he hadn't fully snapped out whatever trance he was in, but he was getting there.

Dammit, what had happened to Kid? At first Black Star had thought Kid had seen something, or maybe realized that he wasn't going to win the race, but then Kid stopped moving and his eyes were closed. When Black Star grabbed him out of worry Kid started sinking and Black Star had quickly went up, with Kid weighing him down quite a bit.

Black Star's foot touched the seabed and he dragged Kid to the shore. Kid put up a bit of resistance, occasionally stumbling, but eventually both of them were sitting on the sand, waves lapping at their feet. Kid, now almost fully conscious, hunched over and hacked, occasionally throwing up water.

After a few minutes, when Kid didn't look like he was about to cough out another lung, Black Star reached out to Kid. "What happened?"

Kid wiped his mouth and swiped Black Star's hand away. "I'm fine-"

"Dude, that wasn't fine," Black Star shot back with a frown, "that was like, the exact opposite of fine-"

"I told you, I'm fine-"

"And I'm telling you you're not-!"

"And you know that, how?"

Black Star's eye twitched at Kid's nonchalant tone. "You weren't moving! And you started sinking-!"

Kid looked away. "I'd be fine-"

"No you wouldn't-!"

"You don't know that-"

"Then tell me what the hell happened!"

Kid didn't answer immediately, letting out another cough. His expression momentarily softened but was quickly replaced by a scowl. "You first."

Black Star frowned. Of all the things for Kid to be right now, the last thing he expected was childish. "What? I don't have to say anything-"

Kid let out a bitter laugh. "Oh sure, I get to tell you, but you don't tell me anything-"

"Huh?!" Black Star shot back, genuinely confused as to where this trainwreck of the conversation was going. "What are you talking about-?!"

"You disappeared!" Kid yelled over him and both he and Black Star went silent.

Black Star could only stare in increasing confusion and dread as Kid's frame deflated and rested his hand between his palms. The suffocating silence was barely held at bay by the gentle lap of waves and the occasional cry of a cicada that hadn't been scared out of its territory yet.

"Why…?" Black Star cleared his throat, trying to make his voice softer, "why are you bringing this up again?" At this point Black Star was willing to admit that his disappearing act hadn't been one of his wisest decisions, but he didn't get why Kid held such a grudge of it, as if Black Star had gone and eaten a soul or something.

"Because I had no idea if something had happened to you."

Black Star's frown deepened. So Kid had been worried for him? "Like what?"

Kid sucked in a breath. "Oh, I don't know, take your pick! Abducted, tortured, hell even an accident," he counted each possibility with his fingers before sighing and rubbed his eyes. "Even with Asura and the Gorgon sisters gone, there are so many bad actors out there that I just..." he trailed off and glanced at Black Star. "I was afraid. Afraid that next time we saw each other would be the last one."

Black Star had to admit, that last line was grim. Most importantly though…. "Pfff, nothing will happen to me, I'm basically a God-"

"Gods die, Black Star," Kid said with a tired sigh. "We've both had our fair share of them and it's the reason we're here in this stupid island."

Black Star did grimace this time. He had a pretty good idea why they were here.

Plus, Kid hadn't been holding a grudge at him all this time, like Black Star imagined. Sure there was anger, but it was one born out of worry, like whenever Tsubaki cry-yelled at him when he showed off his bungee-jumping-without-a-rope technique.

Black Star felt stupid.

"In any case, I don't know what happened while we swimming, so there's that," Kid sardonically added. "Lots of good that'll do," he muttered under his breath, barely audible.

Black Star held back a flinch. Maybe, he should try sharing some personal stuff that had to do with this island too, namely Black Star's increasingly likely theory was that the reason he'd been picked as a Champion was because he had a crush on Kid. This was about the worst time to bring this up, but maybe Kid would calm down a bit if Black Star revealed the most embarrassing and less horrific details concerning it. Hell, Kid may even find it funny and cheer up a bit.

"Uh," Black Star began with all the eloquence he could muster. "About the… uh, why we're here part…"

"Yes?" Kid asked without bothering to look at him.

"I, uh… I have... a confession to make." Black Star continued and felt his cheeks warm up. Dammit, why had he said 'confession'?! Of all the other less embarrassing phrases that in the English language, like 'admit guilt', 'let the cat out of the bag' and, best of all, 'spill the beans', why had Black Star gone the way of a bad rom-com?

Kid narrowed his eyes in confusion but nodded nonetheless. "Go on."

Black Star swallowed a knot that had formed in his throat. "I think I know why I was chosen as a Champion."

Kid's face fell. "I don't have time for jokes. If you're about to say because you defeated a Grim Reaper before-"

"That's not it!" Black Star protested, and more heat rose to his face. "I… Ugh..." Goddammit, he was the one who had surpassed God, not a blushing schoolgirl.

"You what?" Kid's eyebrow rose in concern. "Are you in trouble-?"

"No it's not like that…" Although Black Star now wished what he wanted to say had more to do with him being blackmailed by what remained of Arachnophobia than admitting his crush to the Grim Reaper. "Ok fine! Here's it is!"

Kid stared expectantly.

"I… may…" Kid inched in closer, "haveacrushonyou!" Black Star blurted out, following the 'tearing off a band-aid' method of dealing with unpleasant conversations.

"You… what?"

"Ilikeyoubutlikereallylikeyou, ya… know…" Black Star repeated, only with less conviction.

Kid stayed silent.

"Uh ha, well, ya know how it is… uh…" Black Star continued and trailed off when Kid remained silent. He tried to grin but it came out as a grimace. "Sorry?"

Kid frowned. "Why are you apologizing?"

Black Star let out a stream of incomprehensible sentence fragments.

"How long?" Kid cut him off.

"…I dunno." Black Star scratched the back of his neck. "It's not like a clear-cut thing, but uh, I'd say before we ended up here…."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kid said with a strained tone.

"I didn't want to!" Black Star shot back louder than he expected.

Kid's face switched to a scowl. "Why-?"

"Because!" Black Star cut him off, now full-on yelling again. "And you can't get mad at me about that, it's not like I can control who my crush is!"

"This doesn't have to do with your crush, it has to do with keeping it a secret!" Kid cut him off.

Black Star did a double take. "…That's what you're mad at me about?!"

"Of course I'm mad about keeping it a secret! What else would I be mad about?!"

"I thought you were mad because I liked you!"

Kid tilted his head and spread his hands in utter confusion. "What- Why would I be mad at you about that?!"

Black Star copied Kid's gesture. "I don't know, it seemed obvious!"'

"It's not!"

Black Star paused. If Kid wasn't angry about Black Star liking him, then that meant… "Then we're yelling at each other again for no reason!"

"Apparently, but what else is new?! Ugh!" Kid let out a long-suffering sigh and rubbed his temples.

Black Star crossed his arms and kicked at a stray pebble. He didn't feel like screaming back this time.

"You should have told me earlier," Kid softly began as he looked up at Black Star. "You think has to do with why we're here?"

Black Star shrugged and looked away. Even with the truth out, Black Sar was still embarrassed. Kid's nonchalant-but-not-really attribute just made things worse. "Think so. I kinda realised I had a crush during that whole Champion spiel." His throat tightened, and he let out a cough. "After that, we uh, had that convo and from what you were saying then I thought it would be a dick move to bring it up…"

"That's…" Kid gave Black Star a long look, "thoughtful of you."

Black Star puffed his chest. "Hey, I can do thoughtful."

"Were you planning to tell me anytime soon, or…?"

Black Star frame slightly deflated. The only chance Black Star had had to bring up his crush was after the conversation about the Champions, but he and Kid had fought and then the two figures came into their room…

Dammit it all. If it was up to Black Star, Kid would never know about what being a Champion of the Light fully entailed and Black Star would bonk his head after they went back home so the matter would be completely forgotten.

"Maybe, but after we got out of this weird island," Black Star said with another shrug and frowned at Kid. "Why did you want me to tell you in the first place? Most people don't want to know about uh..."

"Because then we could talk," Kid said with a sigh. "And sort ourselves out, like we're doing now. But with less screaming," he added as an afterthought.

Black Star crossed his arms. "There's nothing to talk about. I now know you don't do romance, so don't worry about that I…" he paused, the memories of their nightly stay at the Atlantean village being once dragged up like a reanimated corpse. "I'm not gonna be a dick about it or anything…" When Kid's response was a calculating look, Black Star gave him a frown. "What?"

"Right, well, since you two are in the same boat, I suppose she won't mind you knowing…" Kid muttered, mostly to himself than Black Star, before composing himself. "I've been in the same situation with Liz."

Black Star choked on his own spit and his jaw hit the floor. Liz? With Kid? He knew Kid and Liz were close but as far as Black Star had known it was like the relationship he had with Tsubaki; very close but strictly platonic.

Also, that was extremely juicy gossip that he would certainly tell it to Tsubaki when they got home. The teasing opportunities alone were endless.

"It was less… loud, but the conversation was similar to what we're having now."

"Stuck in a weird island with no way out?" Black Star blurted out.

Kid gave him an unamused look. "I was referring to the talking past each other part."

Black Star gave him a sheepish look.

"She got closure," Kid continued with a sigh. "And I think in the end we both benefited from knowing where we stand, instead of this…"

"Unresolved sexual tension," Black Star jokingly said. Honestly, the awkwardness had mostly gone away by now, replaced by a layer of acceptance, like fondly remembering a non-traumatic awkward event from childhood.

Kid's resulting grimace had Black Star try and fail to hold back a laugh. "I was going to say 'ambiguity' but that term works well enough I suppose."

Black Star let out another laugh. Damn, if this was awkward for him then he could only imagine how Liz felt, especially when she didn't have an adventure to distract her. Also, Black Star hoped there wouldn't be a growing 'rejected-by-the-Grim-Reaper' club he'd have to join. That'd be embarrassing.

His laugh was interrupted by a faint rumbling. Black Star looked inland where dark clouds gathered, lightning occasionally flashing among them.

Kid's expression went taut again. "And a thunderstorm is coming. Perfect. We won't be able to start a fire with all this rain and I don't trust these buildings to hold strong…"

"Spooky mountain's close," Black Star interrupted Kid's mumbling, pointing to the jagged mountain line that rose opposite to where they'd come from. "You said the temple there is empty right?"

"There was one more person, but they were unconscious…"

"Then we can go there!" Black Star and gave Kid a thumbs up. "I mean, it looks like a box so we won't have to worry about the storm and stuff. And I can carry the fish." Also, maybe that weird person was still in the temple. They may know what the hell was going on with this Champion business, the encroaching night as well as whatever had happened to Kid.

Kid narrowed his eyes at Black Star. "Have you been holding out on me?"

"Hey! I'm not an idiot-"

"No," Kid said with a small smile. "You're very thoughtful."

Black Star was stunned into silence and only let out a mumbled 'thanks' as he and Kid packed up and headed towards the Temple protruding unnaturally from the dark mountain, a storm behind them.

Hopefully that place would have some answers.

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