Swim? No? Good.

[Abel Smith]

Abel was feeling sick. Not because he had eaten something bad - in fact, he had not eaten much at all - but he just did not want to be here. He wanted to be at home - or better yet, just alone. Being alone would be nice, in a house in the middle of no-where with lots of locks and barred windows and doors that would never open, no matter how much he slammed against them. That would be really helpful. If his parents really wanted to help him, that was what they should have done, not just separate him from his younger siblings, put him in his room and just ignore the problem. This was not a cold. This was not some growth that would drop off and go away. He was going to be a monster for the rest of his life, and now he had to deal with it. For the sake of Merlin, was he even a pure-blood anymore? Abel no-longer had any idea what he was, let alone who he was going to become. The Slytherin never really had an identity problems, since he knew how his life was going to end up. He would graduate, go back to Scotland, get a job doing something that would be boring and tedious, get married to a pure-blood girl chosen by his grandmother, have a couple of kids, and then die. That was it. The end.

But he couldn't do any of that now. He would be ridiculously lucky if he even managed to graduate before just deciding it wasn't worth it and dropping out to be home-schooled. His other siblings had been home school in the past, but then again, would his parents let him? He doubted it. Besides, his friends were here. He didn't have may, but none-the-less, they were here. However, after the letter he had written to Killua, he doubted he would be in his fellow Slytherin's good books. It wasn't out-rightly mean or anything, since Abel doubted he could ever truly be mean (especially now), but it was nice either. Abel blew his fringe out of his face as he walked around the edge of the lake, on the side of the rocks. He didn't like the rocky sandbank, because the little rocks would get into his shoes and be a downright pain to get rid off. He was also not in the attire to swim, so he was not planning on taking a dive. He was, however, attempting to wash away his thoughts with the lake, and so began to just watch the water.
​

 

[Killua Freecss]

Killua had been feeling lonely. It was quite the new feeling for the boy. Being the assassin that he once was, he was taught to be devoid of emotions. That he did not need any friends. That the Freecss were enough to be considered as his companions. And he followed them, until he came to realized that what they were teaching him were all psychotic. He was a child! He needed friends and he did not need to learn how to kill! He used to punish himself when he felt sad or lonely but he came to learn that emotions were a natural part of being human. He knew that now, and with that knowledge in his mind, he no longer wanted to be within the Freecss manor. He preferred to stay within the castle cause even without the presence of friends, he knew that he would have at least people to turn to. There was Mitch whom he considered to be his only family. And there was also Aaren. And Abel. Especially Abel. He considered the Slytherin to be his best friend and hopefully Abel did too. He was the mostly the only one he could turn to after all. But then, Abel had suddenly turned different towards him after the letter that he had last received and he couldn't help but be worried.

Shaking his head, Killua decided to get out of bed. He had been laying down for quite sometime and it's also been quite a while since Abel had left their room. And since then, he hadn't been back either. Killua was really getting worried, he knew Abel had tendency to be awkward around people, but it seemed like ages since they were awkward. And so, the boy had decided to look for his best friend. He started out with the dungeons, the Great Hall, the Courtyard then eventually outdoors. Killua didn't mind searching at all. In fact, he enjoyed it, walking and exploring the whole castle was always nice. In the midst of his search, he had finally found his dear friend. He was looking towards the water and Kil just approached the boy and when he was just behind the boy, he said in quite a loud yelling voice just to surprise him. "Hey, Abel. Whaddya doing?" he asked quite innocently and waited for his friend to reply.

 

[Abel Smith]

Abel was in his own world, since it was better than the world he physically inhabited. Not that the entire planet was terrible, but he certainly was. Questioning ones self was never a good feeling, and Abel was feeling a pit-full of confusing that made him feel sick. In fact, he felt like crawling back to bed and just sleeping the day away. He had been doing that a lot lately, and he knew it would not help anything. Considering it had yet to help him at all. He sighed to himself, deciding that he would just go back to the castle. His pale skin was beginning to crawl under the sun - the beginnings of a sunburn that he really did not need on top of his current health status that would forever stay with him. That was, until he heard a loud noise behind him. Usually, Abel was not one for loud noises, but especially after the experiences he had had over the holidays, loud noises caused him to have adrenaline to run through his veins. He knew the voice, but this was purely reflex and this reflex had kicked into overdrive since he was now slightly paranoid about everything. And this included sudden noises - even if they were created by his best friend, who he should be able to trust and not run scared of.

The Slytherin, being so close to the lake, literally flopped in face first, and began to sink. He opened his eyes in surprised, and quickly swam to the surface, staring up at Killua with eyes wider than those of a cat. "Ahh..." he was probably redder than a tomato. Killua knew he was pretty weird, but this was seriously wider than he usually was in Killua's company. How was he going to explain this away and not ruin their friends and keep a secret from one of his only friends? How could he possibly do this? "Hey Killy... what brings you here?" Abel's hands gently caressed the waters surface. "I just came for a swim..." he added, trying to make it appear that this was totally planned - never mind his screaming and the fact that he was in his Slytherin robes and shoes.
​

 

[Killua Freecss]

Killua felt bad like laughing at his best friend's expense. Abel really never ceased to amaze him with his clumsiness and panicked situations. Call him evil but everything that would actually happen to Abel out of pure clumsiness, Killua found it amusing and most of the time, hilarious. Just like now. Of course, he should have known better that there really was a huge possibility, because it was Abel, of falling into the lake. Nevetheless, after Abel had found himself within the lake's waters, still in his Slytherin robes and shoes, Kil couldn't help but have a grin of amusement plastered upon his features. And he just stared in amusement, his hands on his robe pockets as he watched his friend float upon the water. "I was looking for you. I've been bored like hell in our room and you were out here for hours," the former assassin replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Riiiiiiight... You sure you planned this?" Killua asked as he raised an eyebrow. Of course, he knew better that Abel had only fallen into the lake. After all, who, in their right mind, would go swimming in the lake only a few weeks after winter, when it was still spring, wearing his shoes and robes? He was pretty sure that nobody was dumb enough to do that, even Abel. Thus, his conclusion, yet again, he felt quite sorry for his friend since it was partly his fault that he even fell to the lake in the first place. And so, with a sigh, knowing that he might regret this a bit sooner or later, he dived into the lake. The water was freezing he knew, but being used to harsh temperatures was part of his training before and so he did not mind at all the temperature as he too swam to the lake's surface. "I was planning to ask you to swim with me," he said which was totally obvious that it was not true. He grinned though, as he swam further from the bank and had finally decided that he might as well enjoy this little swim, even if he was still wearing his Slytherin robes and shoes like Abel was.

 

[Abel Smith]

Abel sighed as Killua seemed to be enjoying his misfortune, as he often did. He was a good friend - when of Abel's only best friends that he knew he could trust with a lot, but Abel never expected Killua not to laugh at his expense. He had known the Slytherin since first year, he grew to just laugh along with him. Abel looked away from his friend, feeling a pang of guilt for being a terrible friend. He had just left Killua in their room without bothering to even greet him. In fact, he had failed to have a proper conversation in any form with Killua because he was feeling sorry for himself. He sighed, and forced a smile on his face. "Yeah, sorry about that. I totally lost track of time and I just needed to clear my head a bit. Hope you weren't too bored."

Abel looked at himself, knowing that he looked like a complete fool. "Well... yeah. I plan lots of stuff like this..." The Slytherin smiled slightly as Killua jumped into the lake with himself fully clothed as well. He was an idiot, sweet, but still an idiot. The water was not chilly to Abel, from his robes, and the fact the Scotland water was much colder than this. But he wasn't sure whether Killy would be cold. He was not exactly a responsive person to most stuff, and he didn't appear to be shivering, so Abel shrugged to himself and simply accepted that his friend was fine. "Oh really?" he questioned, brushing his hair from his face and swimming out to be closer to Killua, since he really did not want to be screaming out to his friend so that others could hear them. "It's peculiar that you planned it with your robes included, Killy." He had to talk to his fellow Slytherin, he had been a reclusive idiot as of late and he knew that it would not help either of them. He sighed to himself, and shook his head, now that he was in front of his friend. "Killua, I'm sorry. I've been a recluse. I've just been really distracted with family stuff." He was a horrible liar and he knew that Killua knew that, but he wasn't totally lying. Things had happened with family, they were just a little less important to him than the other problem.
​

 

[Killua Freecss]

Killua was a friend in his own subtle way. Well, perhaps not-so-subtle as he chose to be a friend who laughs and enjoys the misfortunes and antics of his one and only best friend. Who could blame him? Abel's clumsiness really was something and it was too different from the others in a not so bad way. In fact, Kil's pretty much thankful that he and Abel had become friends, and right now he was quite missing the said boy as he had been pretty much silent and unapproachable lately which was worrying the previous assassin. The Slytherin's features showed a bit of worry as his friend tried to force a smile which really wasn't working in the eyes of Killua. From the years they were friends, he could already pretty much know when Abel was forcing a smile or not. "Nah, I'll be fine. Your head all clear yet? Or do you need my help to take those things in your head out?" Kil asked as he looked at his friend, his gaze fixated on the other's eyes.

"You could have said so and invited me for stuff like this," Killua said as he pushed back his wet hair out of his face. The Slytherin knew that the water must be freezing for others, but for him, it was just a little colder than lukewarm water. He knew it came from the fact that his father used to train him with colder temperatures as he was learning to become an assassin. "Is it really that peculiar? I had thought it was quite normal considering you are swimming in your robes too, Abel," the Slytherin replied as he tried, really, really tried, to sound innocent. He figured that didn't sound so good and decided that he will not do that again. He must have sounded like a complete idiot on a whole new different level. "It's all good. You can tell me about stuff anytime," he said as he suddenly splashed water on Abel's face. The atmosphere was getting tense after all, and he did not like it. That should lighten up the mood in no time at all.

 

[Abel Smith]

It was quite odd to think about how his only friend was probably one of the most annoying people he had ever met. Other than family members, which sort of meant that Abel could easily see Killua as a family member. He could never take his friend home, as Grandmother would rip him a new one, so he had never invited Killua to Scotland. It wasn't like he would want his friend there anyway. Scotland sucked. The weather was terrible, the people were terrible, and the food was terrible. Especially now. Now, everything about Scotland made the Slytherin sick. Simply thinking about his home made him pale. Abel shrugged, feeling awkward under Killua's intense gaze. "As clear as it's ever going to get, I'm afraid," he replied. Probably the truest statement he made all day. He forced a smile on his face, in an attempt to let Killy know that he wasn't overly upset. Just confused, and distraught, but not to the point that he could actually be convinced to talk about it. If he persisted to force these smiles, they were bound to work someday. Even if he saw that he was not being convincing it was the effort that counted, surely.

Abel chuckled - genuinely - and shook his head. "It must have been lost." It was good that he could just talk to Killua, without having to focus on other stuff. It was just like old times, really, except Abel was sure he would be a little less awkward. But he was always pretty awkward. He looked at himself in the water's reflection, and smiled slightly. "Well," he looked at Killua through his fringe. "If you don't act like this is abnormal, than I wont. Deal?" He needed to hang out with Killua more. It was nearly a necessity for him to have his best friend with him. Abel nodded as his fellow Slytherin continued, and nodded quietly. "That's... that's good to know Killy," he said, wondering if his friend was being generic, or genuine. He could just tell him, and then find himself to be the target of bullying because of how much of an abomination he was. Or he could continue lying, obviously so, and possibly piss of his good friend, and loose him all together. He sighed at his predicament. "Killua... you know how I do Care of Magical Creatures and stuff, right?" he asked, trying to think up something on the spot was ridiculously difficult. "I've got to write an... essay about werewolves and vampires and centaurs." Such an essay did not exist, but he doubted Killua would know that. "Could you help with that? Like, i know nothing about any of the creatures, except that vampires drink blood, centaurs live in the forest and werewolves transform."
​

 

[Killua Freecss]

Killua thought about his options. He really didn't think of swimming in the water with robes and shoes on was abnormal. Or perhaps it was but he just didn't think of it as such? After all, his mind works in ways different from those whom had not grown up like him. He used to be an assassin, he used to be a killer and because of that his way of thinking was just to different from those around him. Even counting Abel. The Slytherin sighed and tried to get said stuff out of his mind. "Good enough deal for me," he said with a shrug as he continued to create ripples within the water as he continued to float about. He tried to get his wet hair out of his eyes as he looked at his friend whilst both of them swam in the freezing water.

"Pretty interesting essay you got. I would've gone to Care of Magical Creatures if I knew you were discussing cool creatures," Killua said as he thought about the various creatures Abel had mentioned. The former assassin had never seen any of the creatures that his friend had mentioned though he had heard about them in the time that the boy had spent within the castle. "Well, I haven't read about them very much. Mitch knows a lot more about them," he said coolly before wetting his hair as he tried to remember what he knows about the creatures that Abel needed for his little homework essay. Within a few moments, thoughts had entered his mind that would probably a little not too useful for the other Slytherin. "If you want to, we can go to the Forest to find some centaurs, that would be more reliable when it comes to information," he muttered as he thought about the other two. "Vampires. I hear the women vampires are hot and feisty. As far as the men are concerned I have next to no idea," Kil thought as he began to search his mind for answers of what he had to know for the meantime. "And werewolves, I think they're cool. Well, I don't know much but Mitch reads a lot and tells me about them. They transform and they are cool," he said with finality before swimming around and submerging himself n the water for a small amount of time then heading back up and looking at his friend.

 

[Abel Smith]

It was, admittedly, working slightly better than Abel had expected. his friend, while claiming to have not known much, was answering Abel's question almost flawlessly. The Slytherin could careless about whether Killua actually knew anything, it was all how he perceived them. Even if his thoughts on the subject were drastically - well, all subjects really, even the vampires, Abel was only interested in what he had to say about werewolves. His idea of werewolves was... sort of like being slapped in the face. Sure it wasn't anything negative - the exact opposite - but now Abel was concerned about whether his friend liked werewolves in theory. It's all well and good to think they're cool, but actually meeting one would probably be a different thing. One day, if they were ever gallivanting about in the forest, and Abel had forgotten to take his potion, and they lost track of the time and it happened to be a full moon? Killua would die. That would be it. No amount of 'Merlin, that's super cool!' would save his dear friend. Abel certainly didn't feel cool at all, he just wanted to curl up in a cave and stay there for the rest of his existence.

Upon seeing his reflection in the water, Abel made a conscious effort to remove that grim expression from his face. And as his friend resurfaced, Abel locked eyes with him once more. He was feeling a mix of fury and shock, with maybe a tiny pinch of relief. Maybe Killua wouldn't hate him- but Abel would certainly be an idiot to actually believe that Killua should be told. If not the fear of him rejecting Abel, simply the fear that he would explode if Killua were ever to say 'that's so cool' because it wasn't cool. It was the most uncool thing to have ever happened. Deciding that if he spoke to Killua right now he would probably end up saying something he would regret, the Slytherin decided to take his leave and attempt to swim back to the edge of the rocks without having Killua pull him back.
​

 

[Killua Freecss]

As soon as Killua emerged from the water, he just stared at his silent friend. Well, it wasn't that Abel was silent all the time. He just was ever since the last letter he received from him during the last break and he could easily tell that his best friend wasn't handling things quite well. Sure he was socially awkward, but that had been quite fixed when it's between the two of them and Kil was quite sure that whatever was happening with Abel was bothering him greatly. And though long ago he made it a point not to get his nose in anyone's business, Abel was not just anyone. He was his first and only best friend and though he would not admit it out loud, he had actually been worried nuts. Because of his continuous train of thoughts, Kil had been a moment late to notice that Abel was starting to swim back to the edge and he had to admit that he was quite irritated by it.

Not wasting a moment too soon, Killua instantly swam towards his friend and caught up to the boy with much ease to get in between the rocks and Abel. He had a serious look on his face as he looked into his friend. "We're both wet and maybe a little cold, but I ain't letting you get out until you tell me what's wrong," he muttered, or more like complained. He wasn't really angry that Abel was letting him off the clouds by keeping stuff from him. He just didn't like the fact that he knew nothing about his friend's problems even when there was a 0.0001 percent chance that he could help. He continued to lock his gaze at his friend maybe a bit too seriously, though if one knew him well enough, they might see a hint of a frustrated, pouting child. He really wanted to find out what was wrong with his best friend and know if he could help. After everything being considered, Abel was one of the few people that actually mattered to him.

 

[Abel Smith]

Abel's swimming skills were pathetic at best, and it showed when Killua easily lapped him and was now stationed between Abel and the rocks that would lead to his salvation from this situation, as the Slytherin was a much better runner. The pure-blood adverted his eyes from the face of Killy, since his friend was so obviously in an annoyed mood, and Abel knew that it was his fault. He swam closer to Killy, invading his fellow Slytherin's personal space as best he could while in the water. He refused to say what he was about to say any louder than a whisper against his friend's ear, because it was something he planned on keeping to himself, his family, and now Killy. His cheek brushed Killua's as he took a terrified breath and released all he had to say in one breath. "I'mawerewolfbyeKilly." And, without giving time for his friend to react, he pushed against him, pushed the Slytherin beneath the water, and swam to the rocks. That was it, he was planning on avoiding Killua for a few days now. If he told anyone, Abel could just deny everything. And if he was okay, then he could find him later. Either way, Abel was gone.
​

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-FINISHED-​