Butterflies [open]

School was pretty boring during the summer. There weren't many -- if any -- classes during the day so there wasn't much to do. All of Declan's usual activities of staring at his phone and grumbling had grown tiring the past few days. Nothing had really changed on any kind of social media or with the friends he really didn't miss. So now, after roaming the entire school, the spring sat on the roof, looking over the campus. Despite the heat, the scenery was gorgeous and surprisingly relaxing. There was a general sense of calm over him as he sat, admiring the sun and the gentle breeze. However, he'd already been sitting there for a while, but part of him didn't want to get up. His brain was still wrapped up with Thomas for some reason. Part of him even thought at one point today that this would be something that Thomas would like to see. It was such a weird idea that he confused himself, but he wouldn't let the idea go. After sitting a little longer, a plan formed in his head. Getting up, he walked out to get things together.

----

By the time he returned, it was dark. The roof was still vacant, but this time, Declan had his hands full, stuffed with several brown paper bags, plastic grocery store bags and a few lights to make sure the place was a bit more lit up. If the spring was going to stay out here, he was going to have some fun with it. To make things a little better, he already invited Thomas to join him tonight since, well... Thomas was pretty much his only friend. However, he had also left an open invitation to anyone else who wanted to join, but with it being the summer, he hardly expected to see anyone. After setting everything up, Declan sat down next to the railing with a smile, turning on his phone to wait.

Thomas's mind had been racing since he had been invited to join Declan on the rooftop. He had reread the text at least a hundred times as the day went on and he waited for the time he had been told to meet up there. He had even reread it a dozen times on his way up to the rooftop alone. The butterflies were going crazy as he ascended the stairway that led up. He opened the door and stepped onto the roof and he noticed Declan right away, holding brown paper bags with bottles aplenty in them. It made him a little nervous with all those bottles; he had never drank before. But hey, there was a first for everything, right?

"Hey Declan," he said, sitting next to the boy.

He'd seen movement on the rooftop of the school building. That had certainly captured Caine's attention. His vision had already begun to blur due to the whiskey that sloshed around his near empty stomach. It had occurred to him at some point that it may have been a good idea to grab something to eat from the dining hall, but that philosophy was lost along with any logical train of thought. Caine had given in once more to his comfortable conversations with the bottle. No, he wasn't quite drunk yet, just tipsy enough to be on edge. Since beginning high school, Caine had become a master at managing functional alcoholism. It wasn't like he drank every day either, only when the void appeared to be too much. If it ever took over his life too much, the boy knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up his neat facade.

In that moment, he didn't care much though. The night had set in. Everything here was new and weird anyways. A weird desire for human interaction overtook him. Caine had never been one for close relationship; he preferred being in his own head. Despite all this, his status at school had caused him to grow accustom to a crowd of people. Sitting alone in his dorm room would have most certainly driven him to complete insanity, more than he was already there. The random bombardment of thoughts in his head had briefly distracted Caine from his mission: getting to the rooftop. Stumbling slightly as he walked, the dark haired boy tried several doors before finding one that appeared right. Due to a couple run ins with athleticism, he avoided any severe wheezing from the climb. Much like he had done back in his own room, the door was quickly thrown open.

There were two boys. Neither looked like Caine's particular crowd, but he couldn't have cared less in the moment. He looked down at them, trying to size them up through the fuzz in his brain. After a second, he finally spoke, "So, I'm assuming this is where I can find something more entertaining to do than sit in a dusty old dorm room all day?" As soon as the Mallon boy finished speaking, he threw back the whiskey bottle once more.

As soon as the door opened and Thomas walked out onto the roof, Declan immediately stopped what he was doing, nearly slamming his phone down onto the ground as his cheeks flushed. Instantly, he reached backwards and grabbed onto the fence behind him to hold himself down. He had learned his lesson a while back in Thomas's dorm room. Even now, he could feel his body lift off the ground for a second before he consciously pulled himself back down. "H-Hey Thomas!" he said, his voice cracking before he cleared his throat. "I... I mean, hey. What's up?" he corrected himself, still awkwardly shifting as he tried to make himself comfortable.

However, shortly after Thomas arrived, the door opened again, revealing a face Declan had never seen before. It was weird watching him. He certainly wasn't acting normal. Was he... already drunk? Before the spring could ask any questions, the new kid started asking about entertainment before throwing back a bottle of whiskey. Okay, he was definitely drunk. Pursing his lips and letting out a huff, annoyance suddenly began burning in his chest as he crossed his arms in front of him. Who was this guy to barge in? "Yeah, sure! It's not like we're in the middle of something, dick. Shouldn't your drunk ass be somewhere else?" Declan grumbled, most of it under his breath but still perfectly clear enough for Caine to hear.

Thomas chuckled at Declan's awkwardness. He was glad it wasn't just him that was nervous. He was about to respond when he was interrupted by another student, already seemingly drunk off his ass. That irritated him a bit, but he was pretty laid back about life so it didn't affect him too badly. It was a different story for Declan. He heard what he said under his breath and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "It's okay, it isn't the worst thing in the world," he whispered into Declan's ear. Turning back to the taller boy, he crossed his arms. "Lots of things are better than sitting in a dusty old dorm. Such as: dusting. Dorms shouldn't be dusty. That's gross," he said.

The first boy seemed fairly unpleasant. Caine's brain was still a bit foggy from the booze induced state. It took him a second, but he still noted Declan's less than welcoming response. He took a step forwards to snap back at the other student, but his brain couldn't pick out a clever response fast enough. Caine opened and shut his mouth. Before he could come up with anything, the other boy was speaking up. This one seemed far more pleasant. Despite his not-so-smooth response, Caine found himself nodding along with Thomas. This was far from his normal crowd, but it was better than nothing. And even if Thomas seemed a bit quirky, there was something about the kid he enjoyed. At least there was one halfway decent person around here. He shot Declan a not amused look before coming closer to at least look like he was joining them.

It had been a long time since he had felt any sort of truly awkward feelings. For so long now, Caine had been the one on the top. Anything he did was the right thing, except in his parents eyes. However, now, the mood was one that almost caused him to shift uncomfortable. But he did not let that show. A Mallon never showed any internal feelings. The corners of his mouth only faltered to a slight frown for a brief second before returning to their usual poker face. Instead of sitting down, he stood a few feet away from the pair. His eyes scanned out over the academy from their place on the roof. A handful of lights were sprinkled throughout the pressing darkness. The campus was a sight to behold at night, and especially from this view. For the first time, the new student felt a sense of pride to be here.

"The name is Caine. And you are?" After a moment, he remembered he hadn't introduced himself. When it finally came out, the words crackled through the tension in the air. However, the way in which he said it made it sound like he had never forgotten a brief introduction. Caine stuffed his free hand into his left pocket. He noted the night air becoming cold, and considered putting down the sleeves of his button up, but that thought was quickly forgotten. Instead, he looked down at the two boys, more interested in what they had to say than the chill that had begun to creep down his spine.

Declan couldn't help but grit his teeth. Even as Thomas told him it was cool, he still felt frustrated that this guy just happened to show up out of nowhere. So, instead of saying anything else, the spring simply held his tongue and gave a blatant eye roll as he repositioned himself so that he was leaning back, propping himself on his hands as he watched Caine carefully for a moment until he finally spoke, introducing himself. "If you must know, I'm Declan. And this is-- wait..." the spring stopped suddenly, the statement that Thomas had said finally clicking in his head. "You actually like dusting? You enjoy cleaning? Dude, really?" he asked, stifling a laugh before turning back to Cain for a just a moment. "If you're gonna join us, you might as well sit. It's weird watching you stand around like that."

"I'm Thomas," he said, glaring at Declan. "Yeah I like cleaning, do you have a problem with that?" His face turned red as he punched the boy in the arm. It was better than being in a filthy pig sty, wasn't it? It was a moment before his face returned to its normal color. He turned to Caine. "Of all the places you coulda gone to to get away from the 'boringness' of your dorm, why choose the rooftop?" he asked, a slight tilt to his head.

Caine shrugged and sat down a short distance away from the pair, facing them. He still felt out of place. But that was nothing that the booze couldn't chase away. Taking a swig from the bottle once more, he watched both of them with a mild interest. There seemed to be some sort of close friendship between Declan and Thomas. The two bantered liked nothing he had ever seen before, and Caine had only been around for a few moments. Instead of dwelling on the thought, he tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Thomas' question. A grin peeled up the sides of his mouth. That was a valid question. Hanging out on a rooftop was a rather strange place to be. Rooftops were for workers and jumpers mostly. Maybe he was going a little crazy being here already. His parents would have had a fit if they found out he was drinking on the school rooftop with some strange boys.

"I saw you up here," He gestured towards them with the tip of his bottle, "and I don't have too many places to be. It's my second day." His phone buzzed in his pocket and for a brief moment Caine wondered who it was. Then, he realized it didn't matter. All the messages were from people back home who didn't matter much anyways. There was no point. If it was his parents, that was even less of a reason to care. Instead of pulling out his phone, he looked over the two boys curiously, "What were you doing up here?"

"Ow..." Declan groaned, rubbing the spot where Thomas punched him. It wasn't exactly like it hurt, but it had caught him off guard for sure. He wanted to say something back but was quickly cut off by Thomas speaking up to Caine about what brought him here. The spring didn't necessarily care, but his reason was essentially the same as theirs. Declan had asked Thomas to come hang with him for a night under the stars with a bunch of drinks to see what would happen. There was literally nothing else to do on campus otherwise. Picking up one of the bottles in its bag, he grinned. "Same as you. Got nothing else to do. And what's more fun than playing a bunch of drinking games on a roof?" He asked with a chuckle.

He nodded, Caine's reason being basically what he'd thought it'd be. "I was invited up here," he said. Granted, if it had been anyone else, he probably wouldn't have come up, but the other two didn't need to know that. As to what could be more fun than drinking games on a rooftop, Thomas could probably think of at least a dozen different things to do. None of them would've interested Declan, so he had refrained from saying much else. Hopefully the night would go smoother than it had started off.

"I already started my own drinking game." Caine smirked as he lifted up the bottle. The direct tension had all but melted away, leaving only a slight air of awkwardness that Caine missed in his less than sober state. His brain had begun to get a little fuzzy. It had been some time since the boy had not passed his drinking threshold in a while. Normally, he lived in a constant state of very functional alcoholism. However, there were rare times in which he lost control and overstepped that boundary. The last time had been when his father had smacked him around for getting a 'C' on an exam. He was told that any big name colleges would turn away those with unsatisfactory marks and he would not me a Yale grad like Mallon Sr. at this rate. Then, he had swallowed more than normal. The deafening silence of the empty dorm had helped to do him in this time.

"What do you say we keep this going?" He nodded towards their own supplies. Within a few seconds, he was throwing back the burning liquid once more. The fire of it had stopped its stinging and become soothing. It stilled the relentless swarm of thoughts in his borderline OCD mind. Caine felt the troubles of his mind melt away. Thoughts of being a failure, fucking everything up, and being a freak melted away even more as the alcohol rushed through his veins. In his pocket, the cell phone buzzed. But, for the first time in a while, he did not care who or what was on the other end. Tonight was the first time he would genuinely let himself go in front of other people without care. He barely knew or cared who these guys were, but he had no problem giving into a lack of control for the moment.

As Caine turned his bottle upside down once more and took a big gulp, Declan gave him a quirky and sly grin. This guy had the right idea. Obviously he was well on his way to being drunk already but the spring didn't care. While the new kid was busy drying out his bottle, Declan began pulling out all of his supplies. Bottle after bottle came out of the bags: vodka, rum, tequila and all sorts of mixers including sodas and fruit juices poured out until a delightful spread sat in front of the three boys. The best part about it was that none of this was hard to come by. Asking the right people around the school and town easily led to a small adventure to the back door of the liquor store with a very lax employee. All it cost was just a few hundred dollars. Nothing but pocket change.

Once it was all laid out, Declan grabbed the tequila and a shot glass, quickly filling it up to the brim for himself. "This is how this is going to work," he said. "Each time one of us is annoying or irritating someone in any way, you gotta drink. So like... Thomas if I'm even mildly irritating, you gotta stop me and tell me to drink. If you get called out by both people sitting here, you gotta take two shots. Easy, right?" He asked, glancing between Caine and Thomas. Sure it wasn't the greatest game, but usually there was some kind of show or catchphrases that went with this game. However, when Declan didn't know Caine at all and didn't quite know a whole lot about Thomas, it was hard to judge that. "I'll go ahead and get started." Throwing back the shot, Declan slammed the small glass down before letting out a small cough. It didn't matter how many times he did that, the burning radiating down his throat was so hard to get used to. "Damn, that burns so good!"

"Dude if we play that game you'll be smashed in 10 minutes," he replied, laughing. "There'd be no way you'd survive the night." He liked to poke fun at the boy, it was one of the many things he did to make up for Declan's rudeness and stubbornness. He was almost sure because of that comment he'd be called out to take a shot or two, but he didn't care. Drinking couldn't be that bad, could it? His parents had always warned him of the "consequences," but that was just parents being parents. Half the school was compromised of functioning alcoholics, so it wasn't like it was some taboo thing around the area.

"Huh. Well, I might as well keep drinking then..." Caine mumbled, half-jokingly. The quirky smirk on his lips had never left. His flask rose up to his mouth once more. He leaned back to prop himself up on his elbows. The sky was rather dark. As the sun had disappeared, so had the heat of it's rays. However, it was still decently warm. Everything about the weather seemed perfect. It was all so soothing. Yet, there was still a strange feeling in his chest. He couldn't enjoy the peace of the night. Something itched for his attention. With the interruption of the alcohol, the boy couldn't quite think straight.

"Suppose we add another element to this. Get to know each other a little bit with some questions. Ask anything. I'll start it off easy- What landed you guys here?" He sat back up and looked over at both of him. Caine wondered what kind of thing had labeled them as freaks to end up here. All he knew of what his abnormal hearing ability, but nothing else. Apparently that was enough to be thrown out.