Eifion reads over Simone's research with Luca… he's terrified of what he sees.
A\N: Damn… just looked at the date. Ok, happy belated Christmas or holidays for those who do not celebrate Christmas, and an early Happy New Year for everyone. Work has been hectic, so writing has been sporadic for me.
Depending on how I go, and considering how long I've accidentally made Madelyn's confrontation… I'm talking two points in, and there's still a lot to work through… I might post one more chapter, before taking a give or take three-week break.
I'll be coming back roughly… the end of Jan or the first… oh, 1st Monday, which happens to be 1st of February.
"So, can you explain to me why you only marked their record and not expel them?"
Eifion looked up from the document in his hand, eyeing his best friend as he tried to think of a good excuse. He had a reason, but unlike with Luca, who'd normally take his excuses at face value… a simple they deserved a second chance, wasn't exactly the best reason.
"You're overthinking…"
"I don't believe you'll accept my answer…" The man returned his gaze to the journal, trying to understand the full scope of information being presented in the documents.
"Try me…"
"They deserve a second chance."
Luca flicked his gaze up, taking in his friend's neutral expression. He believed in those words, the concept… the idea of people who messed up in life, having a chance to redeem themselves.
He never understood why, it's just that the man has always felt that way… ever since he was a teen "I don't know why you picked me to help you out, all this stuff is going over my head."
Eifion looked up to flash his friend a sincere smile, "It's because I trust you."
"You know… You have a terrible track record when it comes to understanding why I like you." He returned the smile, taking in the expression of his best friend. From his soft eyes to the smile… he was taking it all in.
"My smile was not as endearing as you thought it was…"
"You have no idea…" The man went back to reading the reports, "in fact, I know you weren't faking any of them while you were around me."
"Are you certain?" The man gave him an incredulous look. What makes Luca think that not once in his life, had he ever received a fake a smile? Now that he thinks about it… was he always this close to the man?
As Luca flipped a page, he immediately held up a finger, "Hold that thought… I found another target that was, as he quotes… accidentally a guy."
"You'll find a few like that? Was it another negative reaction?"
"He says…" The man glossed over the report, going through the finer details, "It ended poorly, but he had a positive reaction. Then… he marked it as a failure… does he have something against guys…?"
"No, his initial target was women, because his best friend… who happens to be a girl, committed suicide. He considers them the harder sex to regulate their emotions because of… you know?"
"Their period…?"
"Exactly…"
"Well, to be fair… it's probably why I'm gay."
Eifion looked up to give the man a doubtful look. That can't be the reason why. Even if it was a joke… it was a lame one at best.
"Alright… that was a joke in poor taste." When the man looked back, he redeemed himself, "Considering the things some of these poor girls go through during their periods, I can understand why the boy targeted them mostly. If he can find something to help regulate people's emotions when they're suffering from depression, I feel like this information could bleed over to the birth control part, especially, those that help regulate periods…"
The man paused for a moment, before clarifying something, "I didn't mean to make that pun."
"Did you now…?" The man was unconvinced. It was a well-timed pun, slipped in at the right place, at the right time.
"Yes! I didn't mean to… However, I still don't understand why he considers it a failure, even though they had a positive reaction…"
"He's probably thinking along the lines of… because patient A, after consuming the drug, got as drunk as a skunk when they drank alcohol with it, it's a failure."
"He's pretty harsh on himself… most of the details of the client, along with a well-written contract… how they acted afterwards and after their recovery was marked down. Yet, if they got drunk… he marked it down as ending poorly, even though the patients had a net positive. He should've stuck to the basic version, the one that gave people a mental health boost, not try to branch out. Some of these earlier reports where tired and stressed patients, result in having a huge boost… it's as though they went from dead to invigorated. Something like this could prove useful in the right hands…"
"It could… but he was thinking on a bigger scale."
"You should release that information… then slap the kid's name on it so gets all the credit."
Eifion looked up once more, now frowning, "But how he gained the information… was illegal."
"I know… I know…" Luca held up his hand, stopping the man from further arguing about the situation, "But still… imagine all those who are just having a bad day and just need a small pick me up. Imagine if he took that information, checked to see if it has addictive problems. If it has none, this as a herbal remedy could be beneficial… It's like smoking weed, it's not as dangerous as some people want to scream about."
Eifion quirked an eyebrow, "You smoke weed…?"
"No… but I do have friends that do. The worst-case I saw was a girl got the munchies, ate a tub of ice-cream, then cried for about two hours about being fat afterwards… then she proceeded to look for another tub of Ice-cream, before crying that she had no more Ice-cream…"
Eifion returned to the document, "They sound like a fun bunch…"
"Aww…" The man faked an exaggerated whine, "Do I sense a little bit of jealousy…"
"None at all…" The man retorted without sparing his friend a glance.
"Well, fun or not… I enjoy spending time with you. I'll enjoy it, even if I'm reading depressing reports about a student's failures, even if there's success involved."
"More than watching someone cry over a tub of Ice-cream…?"
"Definitely!"
Eifion looked up once more. He felt his expression soften after hearing that. And while he could argue that it didn't make him fall madly in love with his friend, he could appreciate the sentiment behind the words, "That means a lot to me…"
Luca looked up, surprised by the words, and the expression on the man's face. He then smiled at the man, "Please tell me that's a… I have fallen for you, expression!"
"No…" Eifion looked down, "I don't feel that way with others…"
"You don't feel… or feel that way?"
"I mainly don't understand."
"You might be Demi-sexual or borderline Asexual… maybe a bit of both."
"Who knows…"
"Can I ask you questions about your feelings on the matter then?"
"Now is not the time, Luca…"
"I promise I won't ask you philosophical questions."
The man sighed, "Alright… ask away."
"Have you ever felt a physical attraction, not like in a he or she's hot kind of way, like… your body reacts subtly."
"I have…"
"Was it with me…?"
Eifion looked up, staring at the man through the top of his glasses, "Now… is not the time."
"I'm serious though. I would've asked it if it's any other person you were seeing at the time."
Eifion sighed as he looked down, flipping the page before continuing to read, "Yes… yes I felt a slight attraction to you, but it's nothing mind-blowing. It was a feeling… of comfort. I can argue that your attractive, but if someone would ask me if I want that… I would say no."
"Hmm…" The man rubbed his chin, "How about a-"
Eifion held up his fingers, stopping the man from asking anymore clarifying questions. He found something interesting, "Listen to this… From my reports, I found a trend. Ever since I changed the methods of how I made the product, it's always resulted in an unprecedented failure. I need to go back to the drawing boards, and find out where I went wrong…" The man let the words linger before he looked up and at the case, the one holding the drugs, "Huh… I wonder what he changed…"
The man placed the thesis on the table before flicking open the case, looking over all the vials that were accounted for. When he ran his fingers over a few vials, he felt a small trace of aura… "That can't be right…"
"What's wrong?" Luca brought himself closer before placing the reports on the desk.
"I think… we may have a problem…" Eifion activated his Gyo, taking note of the swirling aura lingering in the vial, "Simone might be a Nen user…"
Luca picked up the vial to inspect it, "But… it shouldn't be possible. Isn't Nen restricted while on school grounds?"
Something then clicked to Luca, he picked up the stack of reports, going through the pages "I remember him mentioning that he went offsite the school… when making these drugs as he didn't like to- Ah, ha… I found a reclusive place I'm able to frequent. It allows me to focus… to keep the doses in check as I'm mixing the ingredients. He went offsite to mix these."
"Then he brought it back in…" Eifion hummed with a questioning look, "Then why didn't I notice this odd sensation whenever it came onto school grounds?"
"A form of Zetsu or In, perhaps?"
"No… even so, I should've felt it." This was a problem. Not only did Simone fly under the radar as a Nen user, but he's also either hiding it… or they may have a genius on their hands. He'll need to have another talk with the boy, find out what he knows. If he has untapped power, he should be honing it…
Another problem is if on the off chance he's a genius, the question is how was he blending the ingredients in a manner that made it possible to bypass even someone of Killua's nature?
As for the third issue, that means his talents in that department wouldn't leave a bigger impact than he originally anticipated… which also means, he's less of a threat, if the only way it could blend the medicine was via his unconscious Nen ability…
The fourth issue is, if he's hiding it, they'll have a bigger issue on his hands. But considering how hard he pressed him earlier, it wouldn't explain why he hid that crucial point while he was pressing him for details.
Then again… it wouldn't have explained why he got so excited when he heard it bypassed Killua's immunity "I believe I might know why his drug didn't work in the way he intended it to."
"What do you mean…?"
"So, his original goal is to have a drug work across the board, no matter how strong someone's immunity system is. For instance, those who take too much Panadol, tend to need two or more tablets, just to get the same effect as one Panadol. What I think his aura is doing, is releasing a chemical binder, that's causes not only the drug but anything else ingested with it… to breeze past people's immunity. He was using gene therapy as the basis for his work, but because his aura was released as he was making the product… it bounded with the other ingredients, creating what he originally intended… a drug that works across the board… he might be a Transmuter if this is the case."
"Have you got any way to test your theory, besides… getting a teacher to ingest it with something else?"
"I'll have to get someone do a more intimate test with the remaining vials. A Nen user preferably. At least they'll be able to see what the aura is doing." Tapping his finger against the glass, he thought more about the advantages and cons of doing it this way, "Doing it this way has it's pros… considering none of the students who had swallowed this, have their Micropyles opened… I hope. We should probably test them just in case."
Luca offered a quick suggestion to the Deacon's worrying thoughts "I'll get some of the Nen teachers to talk to the students. They'll try to see if those who couldn't use Nen before, awoken after taking this."
"I rather this remains between us…"
"Then… I check the students out. I'll get a list to names, talk to the students, and see how they are while observing them for any fluctuations with their aura. Even if they can't use it on the grounds… it'll still flow around them at all times."
"Thank you… it means a lot to me." The man offered a meek smile to his friend, "Sorry for depending on you for this."
"The pleasure is all mine… So, what about the cons?"
"It means his findings wouldn't be universal; any test results he produces would be false positives. At best, if he were to continue this path, he'll become a drug overlord or something along those lines…"
His friend snickered at the assumption, "No… given how highly you talked about him, I don't think so. I believe he has a higher chance of making his own, brand of drugs that works… but without proper training, I'll agree with you here. He needs proper training in Nen, or I believe he'll shrivel up and pass away maybe in his 60s to late 40s."
Eifion agreed with the sentiment, "Even so… I believe the work he'll put in from now on, should be beneficial later. Maybe not to the levels Simone wanted… but it'll help push the field to a better level of understanding about mental and health conditions."
The man turned to face the vial once more, "I think… I need to bring this up with the guy when he comes here to make changes to the way the Nen field works. Neutral Nen doesn't give off a reaction… this could become a problem. I can usually sense malicious intent, or those who are moving around… but this kind of aura is neither alive nor attached to something, that is alive."
"So… How can we combat against something like this?"
"I'm sure Annex could think of something… I'll have to ask him."
Luca gave a nod of understanding. He only knows that man's name in pass… not what he's capable of. But if he created this Nen field on his own, he must be a skilled user.
Eifion will need to consider everything he knows before he starts to question the boy once more. As he was going through the process, mentally making knows of everything he has learned so far, a pair of arms wrapped around him.
"Uh…" Eifion reacted in confusion from the action, even though deep down, he could probably guess why Luca hugged him. He was overthinking, causing himself more stress than his mind could probably take right now.
He appreciated the action, even if it was considered unprofessional right now.
"Eifion, take a deep breath and relax… let me talk to Simone. I'll see if he's aware of Nen."
As Eifion got ready to open his mouth to argue against the idea, Luca interrupted him once more, "No buts… you almost expelled two students, you've piled work, upon more work for yourself… I can see you haven't been getting sleep, and to make matters worse, Killua got drugged."
"I-"
"I know… you needed to stay up because Killua and Daniel were trying to draw out Simone, even though he wasn't trialling the drug anymore… you got lucky this time. But what if they never managed to find this crucial point? Were you going to stay up for months, having only small naps every chance you felt like you could take one? Were you gonna let the boys do the same just to get a hint?"
"No…"
"I know you… you would've stayed up. However, you wouldn't have done the same to those two boys; you wouldn't have kept them going. Maybe a week at most, then you would've said something along the lines of… it's ok, I'll see if the person surfaces before I ask you to do it again. Then… you'd proceed to stay up for weeks at a time, screwing your mental health up in process of trying to find Simone… Knowing you… you'll need to be put in a straight-jacket and chained down to a hospital bed before you'll even consider the idea of resting at that point…"
Eifion looked down at the floor feeling guilty from having the truth be told straight to his face. His best friend was right… he'll push himself too hard, to the point he'll need an intervention before he even considers the idea of taking time off to rest.
He'll always admire that part about Luca… a small part of him will love the man, in a platonic way, for having the balls to come out and say the things he needed to hear more than anything, "I appreciate this side of you… I love it even…"
Luca smiled warmly, loving the words that came from the man's mouth. It meant a lot to him right now, "Good, cause tonight you and me… are gonna cuddle till the cows come home to roost…"
"Predictable…"
"What?!"
"You'll give me a choice that I have no say in… which, I'll willingly accept…"
Luca pressed a hand to his friend's forehead.
"What are you doing…?"
"Checking to see if you're sick, cause if not… I think you're really, tired right now."
"Probably…" or maybe I have started to fall in love with you…
"Hmm…" Luca hummed at the touch. It didn't feel like Eifion was getting sick from pushing himself to hard. Either the man was starting to accept him as being apart of his life, or… he was still out of it. Only one way to tell.
He moved around the man's side, kneeling before his crush with sunken-in tired-eyes. Smiling, he asked a question, one he was expecting to be answered with a no, "Will you be my boyfriend?"
"Buy me dinner and I might consider it…" He flashed the man a sly smirk.
"Fuck, if it was that easy… I would've brought you dinner every night for the last fifteen years."
He raised a curious eyebrow at the statement "You've had a crush on me since we were sixteen?"
"Yeah… I'm surprised it took you so long to figure it out."
"Well, I've known since… I was around twenty-five… maybe twenty-seven…"
The man gave him an incredulous look.
"Alright… two years."
"And you never thought to say anything? We could've been dating for two years now, man…"
"Let me remind you… I've had a serious talk with myself over the last few months. I've thought about it, and I concluded… there's a power dynamic here. I'm the deacon… you're a teacher. There's a power problem here…"
"Then I'll just resign, problem solved."
Eifion groaned in frustration, "I don't mean it that way… what if people assume the worst about us? About you… in particular?"
"That I'm sleeping my way to the top?" The man rubbed his chin as he stood up, deep in thought "Never thought I'd be on the receiving end of things… I guess I could bottom…"
"Luca…"
"Alright, alright… I'll be serious. I don't care. I've loved you for a long time, longer than I've worked at this school with you… If there's a power problem here, I don't mind. Because…" The man leaned forward, his hands resting on either side of the chair's armrest, Eifion was sitting in "you won't be like that… you haven't abused your powers since taking over as the deacon here, so why would you start now?"
"I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to profess my love for you…"
"You could… that will make me happy. If you throw in getting married, moving in with me and me getting to see your untamed hair in the morning… as well as your ugly sleeping face…"
The man raised a curious eyebrow, "Ugly…?"
"You press half of your face into the pillow and then lean slightly forward, so one half is pushed up and the other half is drooping…"
"Okay…"
"You also drool… a lot."
"I believe… I've completely lost my attraction to you."
"Nuu… you sleep like a beautiful princess… don't break up with me, after I never even got the chance to date you."
The man dropped his head, tired from not just the conversation, but dealing with Simone, Isaac and a very drunk, sexual Killua. Now having Luca not only profess his love but expect an answer from him as well… it wasn't so much annoying, but feelings aside, he didn't know if he was on love with Luca… or just admired him for caring so much about his wellbeing "I'll go out with you… but while at school, we have to keep it professional."
The man pretended to zip his mouth and throw the key away, "My lips are sealed! Does that mean I'll get to kiss and hug you as much as I like…?"
"Sure, but only-"
Luca wrapped his arms around Eifion once more, hugging the man he has been in love with for a long time. He wasted no time stealing his first kiss, and for a moment, it only felt better when a hand touched his cheek. I'll make every moment count… just watch me…
When he pulled back, he smiled at the man "How was your first kiss?"
He thought for a while before answering, "Nice…?"
Luca gave a nod, "It means I'll just have to improve."
"I guess…? Not sure how to feel right now, knowing that it's gonna be more frequent."
"Then I'll make every one of them count. That being said… I'll approach Simone, ask him questions, then report back to you. You finish the reports, dinner on me tonight, we'll cuddle and you'll wake up feeling refreshed. How's that sound…?"
"That sounds… nice…" He was so confused about his feelings right now. He enjoyed the kiss, but more importantly… he liked being pampered.
Luca kissed the man on the forehead. I guess I've got my work cut out of me…