#k;para

[kevinvytr-blog]

Been Here Before - OPEN

He’d been thinking about those jokes about “Least Likely to Succeed in Life” or “Most Likely to Become President.” He’d awoken with the sheets clinging to his skin, mouth dry, and his nose running a marathon. First thought: “Most Likely to be Sick Every Day of their Life”

Inhaling thickly through his mouth, an abrupt cough rattled in his brain like a hammer hitting the back of his skull. And after that glorious prelude and approximately three minutes of feeling miserable about himself, he managed to roll in an exhausted tangle off the bed. Extricating his legs expended whatever energy he had left for those next three minutes as he breathed there, clogged like Rapunzel’s shower drain.

His appearance in the cafeteria some time later was somewhat pathetic if not completely so. Swaddled in a comforter, he shuffled his way over to the hot water dispenser and stared blearily at it.

“I hate this,” he mumbled. “I hate you.” The hot water did nothing to defend itself against his words. Kevin fumbled for a cup.

[kevinvytr-blog]

0 Days Since Last Accident

Breaking things wasn’t his forte, so to speak. It was more not breaking things was an impossibility. Unless he wanted to move at the pace of a snail, he just had to be willing to accept that things might topple and at least two-thirds of the time, it would be himself. He’d never broken a door before, though.

This one can’t have been his fault. He was just walking, for Christ’s sake. The door came out of nowhere. Someone must have opened it in his face and he was very, very unwilling to claim the hole in the flimsy thing as the fault of his elbow. Granted, he shouldn’t have been walking where doors would be opening, but still. His elbow was bleeding, he suspected. “Did you open the door just now?” he asked, not bothering to try to identify faces nor tone down the accusatory question.

@denitr-ia

[kevinvytr-blog]

You Can’t Be Serious

Kevin genuinely tried his hardest to be invisible. This applied to classes, to the halls, to everything if he could manage it because for once in his life, he actually could. There were the occasional people who stared or said hello and he could handle that from time to time, but on a day to day basis, he didn’t willingly interact with people. So, in some ways, the times he was forced to due to his own shortcomings was just about torturous. 

It started and ended with depth perception, this one. He usually waited to start cleaning up just so he wouldn’t run into people and elbow them accidentally and whatnot because that was trouble on its own, but it didn’t stop him from knocking over his entire cauldron, apparently. He didn’t need to have perfect vision to see that it was going to spill down someone’s back. “Watch out!” he choked, lunging to wrap his arms around the cauldron and getting a slop of it on his forearm. Shit. He was literally just thinking how stupid the potion was and that anyone who wanted to come in contact with it was stupid and here he was both knocking it over someone else and—everything is spinning.

@jiwon-ia

[kevinvytr-blog]

Define “Lost”

His last memory of being this deep in the woods was a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand, Kyungsoo had brought him into a new future and he’d left the one he had been trapped in for too long. On the other hand, it had been the second time he had been abandoned completely and he well remembered how long he had stood waiting. But still, the woods were a comfort, heavy with woodsy smells and soft light and browns. It was like the library, but living. 

In any case, there probably should have been more concern on his part when it came to wandering about in the woods, but he was tired. He was tired of the people and the noise and yes, the heat was painting his skin in sweat and it was gross, but it was peace. It was only when he started to get faint that he began to be concerned. Should probably have considered a water bottle or a sandwich. Leaning against a tree, he pressed his nose into the bark and inhaled. Time to go back, if he could find his way.

@ronan-ia

[kevinvytr-blog]

Poké Bail

“I have no idea what the hell these are.”

He finally said it. He’d been pushed into a mass crowd of other students signing up for this thing and he put his name down (‘Kevin’—he had cringed) because he had started to be prodded from behind to let someone else sign up now please. 

And now he had been delivered these hollow things that were mostly red and kind of white and they sure as hell weren’t edible. He peered around, his nerves spiking, and saw someone else with whatever orbs-of-dubious-menace these were and he thrust his three out to them. “Do you want these? I signed up to get them but I don’t think I should have. I don’t even know what they are.”

@dylan-ia

[kevinvytr-blog]

A Mutant Mutation

It required the library books to be half an inch from his face, really, but Zach had never had a lot of information on Mothmen in his lab. Kevin had, thusly, curled up in a corner and nearly pushed his nose to the pages to read. The orphanage was to thank for his literacy, but he would have gladly gone without it if it meant avoiding the experience entirely.

Learning that half of his gene pool was very likely a mutation was like suspecting he had blood in his veins but not truly knowing until someone had cut him open. It made sense that he’d be a mess in a healthy 75%, but it made him tired and want the isolation of his dorm room.

Moving down the library steps and turning the corner, he stumbled to a stop just in time to avoid pinning his nose to someone else’s face instead of a book. For a moment, he was uncomfortably close until he pulled himself out of the way. Kevin bit back an apology and looked down, instead, waiting for the other to pass quickly so he could resume his mission to cocoon himself in blankets and glare at the coffee maker.

@minwoo-ia

[kevinvytr-blog]

Distractions

Kevin had the excuse of having no deadlines as far as classes went for him to take a few paces out of his comfort zone. That took the form of Vighulir and an entirely inappropriate excuse to go there. The plain coffee that the cafeteria served was just a bad idea, but for someplace like the village with its supposed small coffeeshops, there was bound to be some brews that wouldn’t kill him, right?

He fiddled with his wallet and stared into the window of Dusdrouni, the faded smell of fresh coffee making his willpower thin for every second he stood there. He missed it. He missed having coffee. He hadn’t had it in a very long time, since the lab only contained dubious substances and water but the Academy had it everywhere and he wanted so badly to cave.

In defeat, he sat at one of the plaza benches and hugged his knees. He propped his chin there atop them and was completely unaware that he had just joined someone at their bench in favor of being miserable.

@leex-jinki-ia

[kevinvytr-blog]

Hiding, Kind of

With some luck, he’d happened across the library and everything was wood and warmth and orderly clutter and a small, secret part of him loved every bit of it. With a small hum of contentment, he climbed the library steps and could already smell the dusty pages of books. It was almost disorienting, but it was mostly delightful.

Still, he kept his head down until he reached the study desks, taking in the soft browns of the atmosphere. His fingers grazed the glossed surface of the first desk he came across and again, there was that pleasant hum. He did it without thinking, really, and gravitated toward the farthermost desk, way off in the corner. Kevin, after so many years of already deviating from the norm, never was bothered much by doing strange things if they made him happy and hell, if it was crawling under the desk and tucking in his knees to squint at his textbook alone, he’d do it. So... he did, and it was comfortable and he wished, just a little bit, that he could live in the library forever. Coffee would have been nice, though.

@taeyong-ia