Kalos made a show of looking around. ”They could be not a kind you see.”

”Invisible? I suppose that’s always a possibility, though I don’t think we have any invisible students enrolled at the moment.” The teacher made as if he would move past Kalos and go for the pantry. Kalos stepped sideways into the teacher’s way. And then sideways again, exactly in the way again. The teacher narrowed his eyes and it took everything not to throw herself on the ground and beg forgiveness right then and there.

> “O-oh. H-hey…”

She just about jumped out of her skin. But it was Beau. Beau with… crackers? Gross.
He hugged her and that was also gross… until she noticed a certain plastic box hiding behind the Beau.

”What are you two up to…?”

”Had you met Beau? He has an ocean heart. This must be yours, Beau.” She had to reach up on her tippy-toes to drape his hoodie over the back of him, and the box. Suspicious? Oh yeah. Directly incriminating? Probably still that, yeah. But would they know right away if they made a break for it? And how fast could they hide or eat their ill-gotten gains?

”Run.” She whispered. And then bolted.

The crackers tasted like cardboard, but they got the job done; they were merely a decoy to distract from the prize. Much like the hug. "N-nothing," Beau stammered, his voice naturally shaking from the nervousness, but it helped that he was generally a jumpy little fellow anyway. "Y-yeah. I have...fish powers," he said, never making eye contact with the teacher.

He let the girl drape the hoodie over him, and he slid his arms into it as the hood naturally fell over his head. He knew this had to have looked suspicious, and he felt they weren't doing a very good job of hiding it.

Then she whispered "Run," and his blood ran cold. And then she was gone, and he was standing there looking like an idiot. So, he turned and ran as fast as he could. He never looked back, only focused on Kalos and trying to catch up to her, but she had a massive lead on him. He could hear footsteps behind him as he ran. He rolled up his sleeves as he ran, and it appeared as though he was pouring sweat as he ran. It dripped from his skin onto the floor, and it was quickly apparent that that was not sweat. In fact, not far behind Beau, the teacher stepped into the slime he'd created and slipped, falling on the floor as he darted around a corner and hoped to meet up with Kalos again.

"K-kalos?" he called quietly. "I-i-I think I lost him..." He rolled his sleeves back down, still coated in mucus-like slime. He didn't know how long that was going to last...Maybe that wouldn't make things weird.

He came around the corner and Kalos' hand darted out to catch hold of his hoodie. "This way!"

She yanked him hard to redirect his momentum into a little broom closet that was near the transitional hallway that led to the classrooms. It was full to the gills with brooms, mops, a rolling mop bucket, paper towel boxes, and other cleaning paraphernalia. There wasn't room for a proper adult to squeeze in, but for a kid? It was no sweat. Kalos shut the door and guided him silently, with her hardened coral hands on his upper arms, until they were both out of line with the closet door.

She wasn't sure how to tell him to keep his mouth shut so she breathed in the most silent voice that she dared use and told him to look down.

Her heart hammered as she watched the tiny sliver of light that shone through into the otherwise pitch black of their closet.

Feet blocked the light in a stepping pattern. Kalos tightened her grip on Beau's arms as the steps paused for a moment. She could imagine the teacher looking back and forth and weighing his options, but ultimately he chose to go searching in the classrooms beyond.

She sighed in relief and shifted in her awkward standing spot. She'd had to hop in the mop bucket for there to be enough room.

"Do you have a roommate in your room? The teachers know where I stay."

He jumped at first, but realizing it was Kalos, he relaxed and went where she was tugging him. His heart was racing, and they were now hiding in a janitor's closet. Wasn't quite big enough for the both of them, but Beau was thinking he should have been in the mop bucket. Oh well. He kept his mouth shut, and saw the feet block the light before backing off.

By that time, the slime he'd secreted had dried up. He really hated that he couldn't get the hang of that. It helped but...it was kind of disgusting.

"Oh, I have my own room. At least for now; I've only been here about a week and I don't...I don't do to well with s-strangers," he admitted, taking the box out of the back of his pants and stuffing it into his hoodie pocket. "I think it's clear. Follow me," he said quietly as he reached back and took her hand, leading her down the halls, his head darting around as he made his way to his room. Letting go of her hand he opened the door, and led her inside, closing it behind them.

The furniture was very standard and basic, and there was a stuffed alligator on the bed, along with a grey hoodie very similar to the black one he had on. The walls were bare, and there were some unpacked boxes in the corner. Without a word, he sat on the floor, taking the box of chocolates from his hoodie pouch and set it on the floor as he felt a smile come to his face.

"Hey, we actually did it! It was close, but..." He heaved a sigh of relief.

He had his own room! He also said that he didn't do well with strangers which seemed bizarre. Beau was doing well enough with her, but then… they had never really been strangers She'd claimed him from the start.

"Did I hear the teacher slip?" Kalos craned her neck to see what might have caused the teacher to fall over but other than a slight darkness in the carpet she saw nothing.

And he grabbed her hand. He didn't have to but he did. and he didn't immediately drop it either even though her fingers were hard, rough, and often cold like too porous bone.

She... She liked that about him. He could be brave when he wanted to be.

His room was Spartan, but that was to be expected since he was new. It was the kids who had been there forever who had the most junk. Kalos' room was buried in clothes like a rainbow riot snowfall.

> "Hey, we actually did it! It was close, but…"

"We did." She said with utmost pride in her voice. "Oh. Uh. I mean you did. I didn't helping that much."

She took a seat across from him and worked to peel the lid off of the chocolate box. It smelled like everything she'd ever promised. A deep, rich aroma foretold her future stomach ache because there was no way in Hades she was going to not eat all of this.

"T- To- Toff-" She picked up one of the thinnest candy bars and tried to sound out the letters on the front. Toffee.

"Did I hear the teacher slip?"

He blushed a deep purple; he'd been blushing more often than not today, it seemed. "Uh...yeah. I...remember how I shocked that big kid? Or how I said I glow in the dark sometimes? I can't control when I do things or even what I do, but my mutation tends to do what it 'thinks' I need it to when I need it. When the teacher was gaining on me, I uh...." He swallowed, looking away. "I sort of oozed...some sort of slime? And he...he slipped on it...It was an accident..."

He shook his head. "You did more than you think. You came up with the plan. If you hadn't have told me to run, I wouldn't have and we would have been caught right then and there," he corrected, looking into her blue eyes. She really was an interesting girl, even if they were probably going to be in trouble when they saw that teacher again.

Then, they got to the good part: divvying out the loot. He grabbed a handful, separating everything out by flavor, and then making sure they got one of each, and anything that was odd, he tossed into a separate pile. He paused, seeing her try to read the package, and he scooted closer to her.

"Toffee," he said gently. "See? Two E's together like that just sound like you're saying the letter E. Here, try these. I'll help if you ask, but I think you can do this." He pulled three pieces out of the odd pile: Milk, Dark, and Mint.

"This pile is mine, and this one is yours. The one in the middle, there was one extra of each flavor. We'll take turns picking one from this pile until it's all gone, and that's our share. Anything that's left, you can have. I'll probably be eating on chocolate for a long time now," he said with a small smile.

Beau stammered through an explanation that seemed to embarrass him... which was silly because it was all really, "cool." Kalos supplied her opinion freely and without any intent to deceive. It really was cool. "Why would I care if you have slime hands? My fingers are noodles. Beside, that sounds really good for getting away and maybe one day doing a fight." Kalos was not ready to do a real fight. She’d been in a few already and lost them all.

Chocolate was really more her speed. She brushed aside his attempt to share the glory. He was already sharing the spoils. Anything more was just insulting.

> "Toffee. See? Two E’s together…”

She looked at him rather than the candy bar at first. People explained the rules all the time. Never before did it seem to matter. But now… now it mattered. He hadn’t been snotty or exasperated. He’d just helped. Kalos collected her half and tried to focus. She didn’t want to let Beau down.

”Mynt.” She read and the backpedaled. ”Wait- what’s toffee?” Kalos’ experience was limited to milk and dark and cake/pie/cookie/chip varieties of chocolate. This was the absolute fanciest she’d ever experienced. So she opened this toffee up to inspect.

It looked normal to her. She broke it with a snap that surprised her into a yelp.

He smiled sheepishly, looking at her as she complimented him. She was really nice. "I...I've never been in a fight..." he said, looking down at his feet. "Though...when I was still in Louisiana, I was at school, and the school bully picked me up and put me in a bear-hug...I don't know what happened but I sorta blew up like a spiky balloon....and that's why I'm here. But...I wouldn't call than an actual fight.

"See? You can do this," he said excitedly. "Mint is my favorite, but my older brother and sister say it tastes like chocolate toothpaste..." he giggled, scrunching his nose a bit.

"I'm not sure what toffee is, but it's not bad. It's just very--" It was at that moment she decided to snap it open, and yelped in surprise. "--crunchy..." He gave her a soft smile, scooting so he was sitting next to her instead of across from her. "I can help you read more if you want. Maybe not now, but if we see each other around. I...I don't mind helping," he offered, blushing a little.

Then, he started going through the pile of odd candies, looking at what was left.

"I've been in a fight. Loads of fights. I... didn't win. But it happened for real." And that was why Kalos was here. The X-men intervened in one such fight and took it all the way to the top. They deposed the king and rescued the princess, Kalos of course was the damsel of that story. She'd gotten to go home with the winning party.

She gave him side--eye for his reading enthusiasm, but he seemed more genuine than the adults. They seemed to think she had to. Bae seemed to think she should want to. For the first time, she was thinking that might be true.

"Tooth paste!?" She giggled and dropped the mint. "Why would you do that to chocolate!?"

The toffee was crunchy, and it made her want to snap it more when Beau jumped, but... well, she didn't like it when people did things to scare her so she resisted. Instead, she got to taste was what she'd broken off. "It... it has sweeter. More sugar in it? It's good." He had his own, but she offered her already open bar to him. Sharing was caring and he was offering to help her care about reading. Seemed fair.

She spied a red and yellow bar and plucked it from the heap to try to read.

"kinn-a-" It was really quite hard to keep all these sounds in her head. "Kinna-min." She showed Beau a cinnamon sweet heat bar. Scorpion pepper, tag line "'it only hurts for a second.'

He nodded, giving her a small smile as he found himself relaxing even more, letting that last bit of wall down.

"I don't think it tastes like toothpaste...Mint chocolate is my favorite. But if you don't want those anymore..." He flashed her a goofy grin, his yellow eyes glinting with a hint of mischief as he spoke. She was seeing the real Beau now. Beyond the fear of everyone, the shyness, and the low-self esteem that he'd always felt about his powers. Under all that was a sweet, kind hearted, somewhat mischievous and fun-loving thirteen year old boy.

"Yeah, it's good. But puts a workout on your teeth," he said with a light giggle, taking the bit of chocolate she'd offered him and breaking off a small piece. He scooted a wee bit closer as she picked up another bar. He read the words, and cocked his head to the side. That was....odd.

"Cinnamon," he corrected gently, his tone not condescending or angry; he was just...Beau. "English is weird," he explained. "There are all these rules, and then there are dozens of exceptions to every rule...you're doing great. Really," he smiled over at her, but then it faded as he looked down at the red and yellow chocolate bar.

"Uhm...I don't know about this one...Cinnamon is a little spicy but not bad. I've never had a Scorpion pepper, but...it doesn't sound like it'd be sugar and marshmallows. And...see right here?" He pointed to the tagline. "It only hurts for a second? Why...why would chocolate hurt?" He looked over at her, if she decided to go for it, he'd be right there with her, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to talk her out of it first.

Mint Chocolate, the toothpaste kind, was somehow Beau's favorite. Hmm. She was going to have to try that one. "No no! If you like it, it can't be terrible." But maybe she could wait and try it last. She scooted it away from beau's reachy fingers and the scooted it a little bit more away. She didn't trust him not to take her chocolate, especially if it was his favorite.

She chewed a second snap of toffee chocolate as Beau explained that English was dumb (she knew that already) and he helpfully read the rest of the red wrapper.

It only hurts for a second.

> "Why...why would chocolate hurt?"

She looked at Beau. She looked at the chocolate.

"That is a very good chocolate- Uh! I mean question. A very good question." UGH WORDS WERE HARD. Kalos held her hand out for the red bar, too curious to pass it up.

"Maybe sharp things inside?" She opened it up and gave it a look, but it looked very smooth. He said that cinnamon was spicy so Kalos gave it a sniff. Immediately her eyes began to water. "Oh. That's it. Peppers are spicy and that is..." spicy. Just as advertised. And yet... it was still chocolate.

Kalos looked at Beau. She looked at the chocolate.

"Have you heard of the triple dog dare?" She smoothed the chocolate wrapper down around the bar as it lay between them. When had he snuck up so close? Kalos moved her mint even further away just to be safe.

"I triple dog dare you to eat a square of hurting chocolate. If you don't..." Oh wait. She hadn't thought that far! Kalos scrambled for an idea. "If you don't you have to be my foot stool for today." Hah! that would for sure get him to eat it! Feet were totally gross!

"I'll let you decide," he said, noticing how she scooted it away and then his eyes dropped a little. "I'm not gonna take it; it's yours. I'll only take it if you give it to me, promise. Besides, I already have a lot," he flashed her another smile.

He nodded. "Yeah. Spicy. Though where I'm from, we like spicy," he said, and then he regretted those words coming out of his mouth when she triple dog dared him. "Yeah, I've heard of it." The blue mutant exhaled as she laid out the terms of the dare, and he gave a nod. He may have liked Kalos, but the idea of being her footstool was not something that appealed to the kid. He looked down at the chocolate. So enticing, yet so intimidating. Blue webbed fingers reached out for the devil-candy and broke off a perfect square, and then popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Hey. It really wasn't so bad! A little zing from the cinnamon, but overall--Theeere was the pepper.

His face flushed purple as he winced visibly, the capsaicin from the pepper gripping the back of his throat and setting his entire mouth on fire. Closing his eyes, he swallowed, and then coughed. "Oh man...That...was good at first. But then it's not good. And now...slightly better but not good," he said, panting as sweat beaded on his forehead and a tear or two ran down his cheeks.

"But I did it." Part of him wanted to dare her but he didn't want to do that to his new friend. Even if she'd literally started it by doing that to him.

She dared him triple dog style. Like 3 of them. So he had to. It was silly to even suggest an anything else because you just had to do 3 dog dares. Beau did think it over, but he didn't take too long. Excellent. Kalos had almost chugged a bit of chocolate just to see what happened. Now she didn't have to.

She watched him very closely in complete fascination as at first, nothing happened. Then he started to slowly turn colors. He closed his eyes, which had also watered and there even seemed to be a little bit of sweat. Kalos reached out towards Beau's temple and captured a tiny bead of sweat on one of her hard fingertips.

"Do you need a toothpaste chocolate to stop it burning? You didn't slime anything." She observed out loud. Kalos thought he might, for some reason. He was oozing liquid almost everywhere else that was polite.

"And you didn't dog dare me." But he did, in fact do it.

So Kalos wanted to, too.

She took a chocolate square and gave it another sniff. Yeah. It even burned her nose. But... But Beau did it.

So she did too.

The whole thing went in her mouth all at once. She understood why he did nothing at first. She got that twang of cinnamon and it was good for chocolate. Then she breathed through her nose as the fire started to really hit. It hit her right in her love for chocolate.

"Hoooooot."

Eyes and nose running, Kalos thought breathing through her mouth might help more, but she didn't want to drool. She scrambled to open up her mint chocolate, flinging off a finger tip in the process. Her need was great. She could find that fingertip later.

"Yeah...apparently," he coughed, "fish don't have anything to protect against spicy." Beau did in fact grab frantically at his pile of chocolate, ripping open a green wrapped one and shoving the whole thing in his mouth, opting just to suck on it awhile, letting it dissolve and fight off the spicy. It worked, a little.

"I know I didn't. I don't want you to--No, wait don't--" But it was too late; she'd already popped a piece into her mouth. And then he basically watched her go through the exact same thing that she had. Except...her fingertip came off. That was...interesting. She was scrambling to open the chocolate much like he had, so the teen looked around the room, looking for her lost...fingertip. Some would have found that weird, but Beau understood. They were similar in that sense. He'd never lost a fingertip, but he gained weird attributes sometimes, and that was relatable.

It'd landed under his bed, so he crawled under there to fetch it, and when he was mostly under the bed, the area emitted a faint blue glow, which faded as he re-emerged and produced the lost fingertip.

"You uh...you lost this," he said meekly.

"I told you not to do it," he said quietly yet matter-of-factly.

He told her no, but she was committed. It was important. If Beau could, so could she— even if what he was doing was suffering.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, but Kalos wasn't sad. What an... odd sensation. She scrabbled at the paper for her mint chocolate and had to move on to the fingers that could still get purchase. Usually she didn't like to draw attention to the fact that she had noodly appendages, but it was a little bit unavoidable when Beau was there handing her finger back to her.

"Thanks." She took a much smaller portion of mint to put into her mouth in order to assuage the burning. Really, it was the way it made the back of her nose tingly hot that made everything cry all at once.

> "I told you not to do it,"

"It was good, though."

Kalos moved to put the whiteish cap back onto her finger to cover the exposed blue tentacle. With all the caps on, her hands looked like bone but they still looked like hands. With all the caps off, she'd been told there were eldritch beasts who were more pretty. Once she was put back together, Kalos mopped her face on her sweater sleeve. They could just... pretend that didn't happen, right?

"Besides," She sniffled and had to wipe her runny nose again. "I can't believe you didn't dog dare me. I actually HAD to because you didn't." Her logic was sound in her own mind, even if not in reality. In her excitement she started to jumble her words as she explained. "It's cooler to say no and be the boss, right? But then you were just having a hot mouth by yourself and that was the cool thing to have be doing. You tried to out-cool me." She would not be out-cooled.