Kellen had his Dad knock on the door. Kellen would have, but he didn’t really want everything in his little bag smashing against the door as he did so. He could have also asked for one of the Esper’s standing guard to knock, but it just made sense to ask his Dad.

Thanks to Kellen’s new heightened hearing, he could tell that there was a t.v. on inside, and he could hear the shuffling of footsteps. They weren’t speedy, but someone was moving around inside.

The silence rang out for a long time as Kellen listened to Casper shuffle around inside, like he was cleaning up. Kellen glanced at his Dad, curious if he could also hear everything that was going on. He was fascinated to find that it didn’t appear to be the case.

His Dad was frowning in concern, watching the door, tilting his body slightly to angle his head so that his ear was closer to the door. It was so strange to realise that Kellen’s body had changed in a way that meant his Dad didn’t have more experience then him anymore. It was a strange revelation in the moment, and one that Kellen quickly brushed off.

Instead, he bent, whispering to his Dad.

"He’s moving around, just slow. He’ll be here in a sec." Kellen told him. His Dad’s expression smoothed as he nodded, clearly feeling much better now that he knew that Casper was okay inside. Kellen didn’t think okay was a good use of the word, since Casper was not that, but he didn’t like using the word alive either.

They stood waiting for a while longer, to the point that even the Espers on either side of them shifted, but Kellen was patient. He could wait for him to get to him.

When Casper finally opened the door, he was pale, his eyes darted around, and his hair wasn’t standing up all over his head. Instead, he had flattened curls against his head, his hair looking like he had washed it that day, but he hadn’t done anything with it.

He wore a baggy sweater that bulged around his shoulders and forearms, but had a tighter knit near his wrists. It was a good way to cover up any marks, if Casper had gone with the normal way people tended to harm themselves.

Kellen had not told his Dad anything, didn’t plan to either. He only knew because he was Rhys’ partner, and because he was semi standing in for Casper right now. Kellen knew that he wasn’t close enough to Casper to know this information on his own, so he didn’t want to disclose that to the other man.

Instead, he just wanted to make sure that the man knew he had support, even if he felt like they were punishing him. Kellen couldn’t exactly take back what he had done when he knew it was the right thing to do, but he could try to prove to Casper that he wasn’t just angry. He was also concerned for him as well.

"Hey Casper. I know it’s a bit late, but I slept in today. I wanted to know if you wanted to do some baking with me?" Kellen asked, raising up the bag in his hand. Casper stared at Kellen, unblinking. Kellen didn’t falter under his grey, dull gaze.

"You wanted to bake? With me?" Casper repeated, sounding very disbelieving. Kellen understood where he came from when he was like this. It was a rather strange thing to request, even by Kellen’s standards.

"I know it sounds a bit strange, but I’ve been benched for a while too. I just wanted to...see if you wanted to." Kellen told him. "Also, Dad wanted to check up on how you were doing. Since you were running away from all of us and all." Kellen said it casually, shrugging as if it hadn’t caused a whole meltdown only a few hours ago. Casper didn’t need to know that.

They had fixed it, easy.

Casper stared at Kellen, then slid his gaze towards Kellen’s Dad. He didn’t say anything for a long moment, his hand still on the door. Kellen wondered if he was seriously considering closing the door on them, but then realised that he had every right to actually consider that.

Kellen had yelled at him, forced him to bathe, and shook up his whole world. He had every right.

Casper surprised him, though. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, and then stepped back.

"I’m not good at baking like you two. I’m just...basic." Casper muttered. Kellen glanced at his Dad, trying to see what kind of expression he was making and found that his Dad was scanning Casper with kind eyes.

"That’s alright, Casper. Neither of us started out as experts. In fact, I was about your age when I decided I should probably figure out how to work an oven before we started having kids." He said, taking the lead and entering the room.

Kellen followed after him, taking in the space, the layout, and how bare it was of any touch of Casper’s personality. There was a soft-looking blanket on the couch, probably courtesy of either Gunther or Pamela, but Kellen was leaning more towards Pamela for that. Gunther was caring, but he wasn’t a ’soft blanket’ kind of caring.

The man had a long way to go.

Kellen put the bag on the counter in the kitchen to the right, letting the door close behind him. Casper looked awkward, but followed the easy lead that Kellen’s Dad had given him. While they did that, Kellen looked around the kitchen to see if it had the things that he would need. Bowls, sheet pans, a whisk or spatula.

It turned out they were missing a few items, so they had to request some help from the Espers outside. They gladly went to the cafeteria to ask if they could borrow a few things since Kellen didn’t think it was a good idea for them to go to his apartment, especially when Rhys couldn’t go with them.

It meant there was a slight delay to the main distraction, but Kellen had ways to fill it. Kellen told Casper what had been going on with him, everything. Kellen would not have Casper say that he wasn’t open and honest, and he was sure that Casper would be interested to hear how Kellen had jumped Classes again.

It turned out that Casper hadn’t been blind, and secretly, he had kind of figured that something as ridiculous as Kellen jumping Classes again would happen. He did think it would happen after they had imprinted, but if they had slept together, he didn’t see why not. Rhys had a unique constitution, as did Kellen. There was a chance for weirdness.

Listening to Casper talk, it was like watching the man transform. The man who was shaking, trembling, retreating into himself was gone. Instead, in its place was the man that Kellen had first been introduced to. The man who had welcomed him, got upset at him, and while he hadn’t been able to fight off a rather uppity young Esper, he had authority and people had respected him.

It was like seeing a ghost of the man that Casper had been a few months ago, before everything started falling apart for him.

Kellen kept that line of conversation going, keeping the topics away from the sore issues for Casper. So, no Gunther, no Rhys, no Casper. Instead, Kellen told him all about what was going on with Brent, how he was doing, and how ridiculous his Aunt had been treating him.

Casper’s light had returned to his eyes slightly, clearly also happy to speak about something else as well. It was clear that he thought that Kellen was going to question him about what was going on in his personal life. He had been prepared for it, or had taken his time to prepare for it.

This was a nice change for both of them.

~

When the Espers came back with the few things that they had been missing, Kellen had already preheated the oven, they had been chatting, and the energy in the room had shifted from an awkward, tense atmosphere to something warmer.

Kellen’s Dad didn’t speak a lot, there to watch, observe, and offer help where he could. Kellen appreciated it, even if they had been arguing about who they wanted to replace Casper temporarily up until they had been within earshot of the Esper guards.

Kellen had brought enough ingredients to do a bunch of different recipes. He wanted Casper to choose, while Kellen’s Dad just said why don’t they make all of them? It’ll be easy with the three of them. Kellen could help them measure, while he and Casper made the batters. It wasn’t like Kellen was exactly capable of anything else right now with his injured hand.

Kellen took exception to his Dad’s words, but he couldn’t argue with them either. He knew he could only stand next to them and instruct them in his current state. Casper seemed to like his Dad’s dig at him.

His shoulders shook as he tried to suppress his laughter, his head bent as Kellen was roasted by his Dad.

In fact, that was the only thing his Dad did. Roast Kellen.

He helped with making the cookies, the cupcakes and the brownies, but he wouldn’t stop making little digs at Kellen that had Casper’s shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. Kellen would have gotten mad if it wasn’t for the fact that he was sure Casper hadn’t laughed like this in a while.

So, he took it gracefully. He sighed and rolled his eye when appropriate, giving his Dad a death glare when Casper wasn’t looking. His Dad just smirked and stuck his tongue out at Kellen, essentially telling him it was all in good fun.

Whatever it was, Kellen let it happen, and eventually they were sitting down on the couch with a few of their spoils, some more cooking away in the oven. Kellen was waiting for Casper to take a bite, same with Kellen’s Dad. Both men encouraging him with their eyes.

Finally, Casper raised a cookie to his lips, took a small bite, and Kellen and his Dad watched as Casper’s eyes widened in delight. Kellen felt the victory in his soul.