0.8 [Different DNA]
Adam wakes, once again, with the worst headache in human existence. And he knows for sure that it's not due to sleep. Glancing at the clock tells him that it can't possibly be due to sleep, he's only been out for a few hours. Even still, the pain that it ringing between his eyes and ears is almost enough to warrant a few tears, but he holds them back long enough to sit up slow and steady.
The clock on his bedside table reads that it's almost nine thirty at night, and Adam sighs heavily as he runs his fingers through his hair. Nine thirty on a Thursday night. He'd liked to say that this week is blowing by fast, in which case it is, but not for the reasons he wishes he could say. How could he ever explain to anyone that the reason it's flying by is because of an inhuman lizard-tailed boy that he has a sudden fascination for named Tommy?
That's right, he can't.
Standing slowly, Adam looks over at the jar of roses that sits beside his clock. They're glowing again, bright and inviting in their cobalt hue. The glitter sparkles like it's some kind of a light show and Adam sighs heavily. He's going to take some Advil, grab a coat and his shoes, and go back to the ring of trees. He doesn't have to think twice about it.
Five minutes later, pills popped and jacket on, Adam shoves his feet into his boots before looking at the jar again. Going to his side table, he pulls open the drawer, looking inside for something he knows he has hidden away. Tucked in the back corner is a tiny vial about three inches long with a half inch circumference. Pulling the cork free, Adam sets the vial down and uncaps the jar of rose petals. He pulls a few out, accompanied with a few tiny thorns. He pushes the thorns into the vial, before curling the rose petals up and slipping them inside as well, before shoving the cork back into place.
Rustling through the drawer again, Adam withdraws a long silver chain, and slips it through a tiny glass hoop in the vial, before clasping it around his neck. He's not sure why he's doing this now, but he knows that the roses are, one, comforting and, two, a sort of guide. Whenever he gets close to Tommy, they glow brighter. If, for whatever reason, Tommy isn't at the ring, at least he can figure out where the blond might be.
Turning away, Adam grabs his keys from off his bed and hurries out of his dorm room, locking it up tight as he goes. The journey down to the first floor lobby is a familiar and rather tedious trip, and he makes a note to himself to ask Tommy why he must trek all the way out to the forest behind the soccer bleachers to visit him.
The air is cold to his face when he goes outside, and the night is dark and heavy, the skies clouded over with the promise of a storm. Adam sighs softly, feeling a chill from the wind scatter along his neck and cheeks, but the rest of him—specifically his chest—is warm, and he can only assume that it's the roses, hanging in a glass vial against his bare skin. When he brings a hand up to the tiny lump to test, he nods in confirmation. It's the roses.
But why are they warm? What makes them warm? Then again, what makes them glow, and sparkle? Why do they react when he touches them? He understands why them would react when Tommy touches them, since they're always around Tommy, but why him? Adam might have his talents, but he's nothing that's special enough to make roses fucking glow.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Adam hurries across the wide soccer lawn, cutting behind the bleachers and heading for the entrance to the forest. Ever since Halloween, he's had his mind wrapped around this place and the person that it hides. Some might say that it's a bit of an unhealthy obsession he's got, but he's not going to ask anyone. He's certain that the reason most of his meetings with Tommy are at night to keep them a secret. It's bad enough that Drake and Brad suspect.
Drake… Goddamn, how is he ever going to explain any of this to him? Naturally, though, he's damn sure that the brunette won't believe him. They might have been friends for years, but Drake doesn't take bullshit from anyone, and Adam's no exception to the fact. Who would want to believe Adam anyway if he's spewing some crack story about an alien boy who looks like a human with a lizard tail and a touch that's better than being on ecstasy?
Well, no one needs to know that last part.
Climbing through the underbrush, fallen trees and roots, Adam makes his way towards the ring of trees. He knows, because the rose petals are almost hot against his skin. Yet, in his dream where he was barefoot, he felt almost nothing at all. Hell, he'd laid in them, and felt nothing but pleasure. Then again, Tommy had been touching him, and he could focus on nothing else.
"Adam, you're hopeless," he tells himself, pushing up the small slope that leads to the ring. There's the faint blue glow coming from just ahead and he feels his heart speed up some as he nears it. His gaze pokes over the top of the slope and he seems Tommy kneeling in the roses, the blue silk robe draped over his frame. For a moment he wishes he had his camera to take a quick picture, because Tommy is clutching a fully bloomed rose, stem and all, in his delicate hands, his eyes staring at the petals as they glow and shine.
"Adam," Tommy's voice sounds without his head lifting and Adam feels the tug pulling him forward. He climbs the slope and, without thinking, kicks off his boots and socks. He walks forward, careful of the thorns before stepping into the pool of roses, and kneels in front of Tommy, mimicking the blond's position. "How kind of you to join me."
The first thing that comes to mind is something that Adam kicks himself for almost immediately, "Your English has gotten better." Tommy smiles softly, running his fingertips over the rose petals, making them shimmer.
"It has, yes. The more time I spend here in your world, the more I learn, even without leaving this place." Tommy says, and Adam frowns somewhat, biting his lip.
"How? I mean, if you don't interact with anyone, how do you learn?" He asks, trying to be as polite as possible. He really doesn't want a repeat of one of the first times he met with Tommy, where the blond had gone rabid and wild on him for trying to touch him.
"I can absorb the planet's knowledge through the nature. Trees and plants are just good for providing oxygen, you know. They're like… recording devices, in a sense. They tell the history of everything that's lived around it and within it. Also," Tommy says with a smile, finally looking up at Adam. Those burnt gold irises make Adam melt on the inside, "the jar of rose petals you keep… as well as the necklace you now have… They, too, record…"
Adam gets the idea that he should feel offended for Tommy spying on him through the rose petals, but he's not at all. He's filled with understanding and, well, embarrassment. If Tommy can see into his personal life, then that must mean the blond saw the effects of the dream Adam had, and how he makes Adam feel… But whether or not Tommy knows this is a mystery, for the blond looks away and doesn't say another word.
"I have to ask… why here? I mean… this isn't the most nature filled spot on Earth. You could have gone anywhere else to absorb knowledge… but why here?" Adam asks, shifting on his knees a little. Kneeling isn't the most comfortable of positions when you're in skinny jeans, but he doesn't want to change his position and die because it's disrespectful, so he stays put.
"I was..assigned here," Tommy says slowly, almost like he doesn't want to share the information. "Me and my brothers… we were sent to different places.. to learn and adapt to this world. I was sent here because of the potential…"
"But… why? Why are you here? Not that I'm complaining or anything but—" Tommy smiles a little playfully, looking back up at Adam.
"You're a very curious creature, with so many questions," Adam's face goes scarlet and he shuts up instantly. Tommy sighs softly, returning his attention to the rose in his hands. "It is.. complicated. A story that will be shared for a time when…you're ready." Adam frowns a little, not liking the notion that Tommy is hiding something, but he has to respect the… personal details.
"Well… I… I have a lot of questions that I could ask, but I don't want to intrude on anything I'm not meant to… so… do you.. have anything you want to ask me?" Adam offers, shifting again. Tommy looks at him, raising an eyebrow into a perfect arch before smirking a little.
"Would you like to sit a little more comfortably?" Adam's blush deepens and he nods. Tommy reaches out, touching Adam's jean covered knee. Instantly, his clothes mold into a similar silk robe. The material is comfortable and cool, though surprisingly heavy, yet not in a bad way.
Sitting crossed legged, Adam looks up at Tommy again, resting his hands in his silky lap. "Any other questions?" He asks with a gentle smile, and Tommy's eyes linger for a long while, never shifting or changing, just staring.
"Yes…" Tommy says after a moment and Adam nods once. "You asked me why I came here. While I cannot say, right now, I do have a similar question… why do you come back? I'm obviously not what your kind would consider normal. In fact, most of your kind fear mine… So why did you come back?"
Adam doesn't say anything. He's not sure what he's supposed to say. I came back because I really, really love it when you touch me? I came back because I want to know more about you? The second one sounds cliché, but the first is incredibly personal and Adam's not so sure he wants Tommy to know that despite seeing into his life because of the roses.
Biting his lip, Adam reaches into the pile of rose petals in front of him, watching as they glow brighter at his touch. Still not as bright as whenever Tommy touches them, but brighter than before. He caresses them with the pads of his fingertips, trying to roll his answer through his mind.
"Well… I hate it to break it to you, Tommy, but that's something that's going to have to wait until I think you're ready," Adam says with a sweet smile. He's got a feeling that Tommy kind of already knows the answer, but it's one thing to suspect it than it is to actually hear it from the person.
Much to his surprise, Tommy nods slowly, smiling tenderly back at Adam. "Fair enough, I suppose," his voice is soft and delicate.