WHO: Kaden and Chicky WHEN: Monday 2nd of May WHERE/WHAT: Detention! WARNINGS: Unlikely
Kaden had never been very into cars. Not like Tragos was. Yeah he understood the status symbol gutsy growly metaphors blah blah blah but back in the day, back in the Hole, his favorite thing to do with cars was climb on top of them, crash from one to the other, risk life, limb and tetanus in the junkyard. If there ever was a window left intact (rare) then chucking stuff at it till it wasn’t really was the only option.
That was back in the day, though. Now, the thought of getting under the hood of the car Tragos built from scratch felt like he was about to step into someplace holy. Kaden never believed in holy back then either, but he’d had way too many experiences with it not to understand what it felt like. Creepy and heavy, those’d be the words he’d use. Sometimes quiet and heavy.
Heavy, though, always.
Heavy, the thought of going with Marcie back to the Enodia, of untying the tarp they’d stretched over the car before they left for Wisconsin. Heavy, carrying the responsibility of making it run again. So heavy, the thought of driving it again, Tragos' ashes in the glove box.
Kaden didn’t know how to carry it, but he and Marcie had agreed, during last Friday’s conversation that had gutted him and exhausted him and made him feel more things for Marcie than he could put into words. They’d agreed they were gonna get the car back on the road, and every spare moment Kaden had over the weekend (and there hadn’t been many, between running a job for Merlin and some really boring errands involving Marcie, groceries and a laundromat) Kaden spent thinking, reading, and watching videos about car maintenance. He didn’t wanna fuck this up. He didn’t wanna let Tragos down, and he was sure Marcie was gonna assume he knew a lot more than he actually knew (he'd made a few real rookie mistakes when he was helping Cathal, but he didn't think Cathal had told Marcie, even when they were hooking up.)
Car maintenance was, especially, something to focus on to stop himself thinking about the last time he ever saw Barak alive.
When school rolled round again on Monday, his mind was on the car, trying hard to continue ignoring background Barak-shaped twists in his gut. Tucked in his lap under the desk was his phone, headphones plugged in, the cord sneaking under his hoodie, up his sleeve and into one ear, which was hidden by his hand. He could be glancing down and watching the video and look pretty convincingly like he was doing his work, he thought. It wasn’t like he wasn’t gonna catch up on schoolwork later, it was just, right now, nothing was more important than being ready to tune up the only tangible bit of legacy any of his brothers ever left.
He heard a murmur of his name – Kaden – but was focused too hard on the video to register that only one person in this building called him that and if Vincent was trying to get his attention then he should damn well notice, like, immediately. When it clicked, seconds too late, and he snapped his head up, he was looking straight into the face of Ms Molina.
It wasn’t even that that earned him the lunchtime detention. Ms Molina took his phone off him (which smarted, but okay, there were rules) but when she turned, Vincent pointed out that he had tried to warn Kaden and maybe Kaden should pay attention to him next time, and Kaden instinctively flipped him off in response. (Sure, Vincent was right, but Vincent was also not so keen on Kaden driving a War Dog’s car around the city, and Kaden wasn’t dealing with that super well, either.)
Caitlyn the next aisle over noticed his gesture, snickered, and Ms Molina turned back in time to see him drop his hand, and she made some assumptions about what happened.
And since he wasn’t gonna explain that no, no he’s been flipping off a ghost, not her, then lunchtime detention it was.