Status: I feel as though this needs a warning since there wasn't one... So- SLOW PROGRESSING SLASH. There we go~

Sweet Surrender

Chapter 02

Varian kicked on a burst of speed, not fast enough to scare other stragglers, but fast enough to get to his destination. Skidding to a halt in front of R.404- J-L. He pushed the handle down, and yanked the door open.

Sauntering inside, Varian ignored the snickers from several people already sitting. His original intentions were to just sneak to a seat in the back and disappear, but he decided against it. Instead, he stopped, turned to the class and met every single gaze with his brown, red tinted eyes, a smirk tugging on his lips.

"Joll, Varian? Is that right?" the Homeroom teacher asked.

Varian knew he was the last to enter. He always was.

"I'm only on time the first day. Don't get used to it," he said to the teacher as much to the students..

Tilting his chin up just a fraction, Varian knew that it would be the perfect angle to highlight the red in his eyes. Not enough to drench them in scarlet, but enough to scare the crap out of the people that had snickered at him.

He heard several gasps, and decided to use the mood to get to his seat. Choosing the last front row seat, he dropped his pack with a loud thwack!, jostling several students, and took a seat.

Varian sensed another Changed, and wasn't surprised to see the wimpy kid from the office scoot slightly closer to him.

"Do you have any idea how bad that was? You almost exposed us!" he hissed inaudible to human ears behind him.

"And you disgrace us. How is that any better?" Varian tossed back, venom underlying his tone.

"I'd rather be disgraced for submitting than exposing our kind. Or publicly making out with another guy." he shot back, saying the last part loud enough for people to hear.

Varian suppressed the urge to rip this guy to shreds. Instead, he did the opposite.

"You know you had a good time," Varian said teasingly, turning around and leaning in tentatively. At the last second he pulled away, a grin flashing his teeth; the needle-like incisors only visible to the wimpy kid.

As a response the wimpster swallowed, and ducked his head, hiding a flush of embarrassment at the whispers of the other kids in the room now centering around him. Of course Varian had done no such thing, but it was at no expense to him to blurt out things like that.

Oh how he loved first days.

***********************************************************************************

Nathan slowly walked into homeroom, taking a seat near the back corner of the room. How he had managed to make it there before 8:00 had amazed him, but he wasn't about to argue.

A few students had walked in after him, filling in the holes in the classroom until the bell rang.

The teacher, who's name he couldn't quite remember, began to call out names, Pausing every now and then at one he couldn't pronounce.

"Vogel, Nathaniel?"

Nathan raised his hand slowly from his spot, waving it for a second before the man marked him in attendance.

The rest of homeroom passed by relatively slow; everyone was too loud to allow for 15 extra minutes of sleep, and since it was a first day there was no homework or projects to finish.

When the bell rang again, Nathan couldn't be more relieved, slowly getting to his feet and preparing for his first class, which was American History.

Which he sucked at. Great way to start the day.

***********************************************************************************

Varian drummed his fingers anxiously on the desk, listening to the clock tick, but not needing to see it to know what time it was.

Thirty more seconds.

Sighing, he glanced around, noting heavy stares jerking away and very horribly trying to hide the fact that they were staring at him.

Varian ignored the whispering, but when it escalated loud enough for even the teacher to hear, Varian tried to see what he would do.

He just raised his eyebrows at certain sentences. One such example:

"I heard he grows marijuana on his farm. What kind of idiot does that?"

Another:

"I heard his little sister is actually his daughter and he calls her his sister to cover up that he had a bastard child."

Varian grit his teeth at that one, clenching his fists at his sides.

"Really? Well I heard that his parents ditched him because he never did any work on the farm, and they didn't want to raise their daughter after she'd been born because he never let them take care of her."

Varian couldn't handle that last remark. Shooting up from his desk he cleared the distance to the gabbing girls and loomed above them.

"If you're going to talk about somebody, do it in front of their face! And all that bull crap about my sister being my daughter? It wouldn't be any truer if you took it and shoved it up your butt. As for my parents getting angry at me for not letting them take care of my sister? They ditched us after she was born because they didn't want the responsibility of raising another child. Got it?" Varian snarled.

Just then the bell rang, and Varian stormed out of the room sprinting down the hall and shoving past the mass of people getting out of their classrooms.

Several people yelled after him, and he heard some kind of authoritative voice call after him, but Varian just wanted to get to his next class.

Focusing on nothing but room 208, he almost missed it and had to backpedal, knocking some girl down in the hall. Turning around, he knelt down and helped her up.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going...." he said.

The girl just looked him over, studying him, and blinked a couple of times.

"It's okay, I didn't see you were in such a hurry."

Satisfied, Varian quickly slipped into room 208.

***********************************************************************************

"Oh my God, Nate!"

Nathan shot up from where his head had been on his desk, glancing around as he saw Andrea running into the room toward him.

Shit.

"You have American History first too? That's awesome! Justin thought he did, but he read his schedule as room 308 instead of 208. Dyslexia and all. He has Marine Biology, but he's in my next class. What do you have next?"

Nathan took a minute to process her rambling before reaching into his pocket for his schedule, unfolding and examining it. "... Calculus. In room 105." he mumbled. Andrea visibly deflated, her good mood dissipating some.

"That sucks. Oh well, at least we'll all sit together at lunch, right?"

Nathan paused again, shifting his eyes slightly.

"I suppose." Part of him wanted to sit with his friends since he was being such a Jackass, but another part didn't care and wanted to be as far from humanity as possible.

He hated Mondays. Quite a lot.

***********************************************************************************

"What's your name?"

Varian paused past the door frame of the classroom. Great, he was the first one in. Small talk time.

"Varian. Varian Joll," he responded, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

The teacher was a younger woman, maybe mid-twenties, early thirties. She had long brown hair pulled tightly into a messy bun on the top of her head, waves of her hair cascading down in loose curls to frame her face in a way that might have made her appealing if Varian was looking at girls.

She had wide, doe-like brown eyes, and long lashes surprisingly not done with mascara. But she did have a light shade of red lipstick on.

"Is there a seating chart?" Varian asked, fingering the thread-bare strap of his worn out pack.

"On the board," she answered turning to greet the next student that filed filed in.

Varian glanced at the board, and headed for his spot. He was seated on the left side of a center table the second row back from the front. Next to some Justin Yamin kid.

Sliding into his chair, Varian set his pack down and pulled out a notebook and a pen that wrote in light brown ink.

Marine Biology. He wasn't sure what to expect, and what use did he have as a farmer for the knowledge of the life cycle of algae any way? What use was any of it going to do for him?

The second person to walk in was a guy. Not very tall, but rail thin. The reason Varian had turned to pay attention was at how loudly he greeted the teacher, shaking her hand vigorously.

"Hey! My name's Justin. You're a new teacher aren't you?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

A look of surprise and pain crossed her features. "Y-yes," she stammered. "You're Justin Yamin then?"

"That's me!" he exclaimed, and Varian winced from the decibels.

Then he pulled away and walked right up to the seating chart hanging on the board.

Varian groaned internally. Why did he have to get stuck with the loud and obnoxious guy?

Rubbing his face, Varian watched Justin. Justin was dressed a lot different than Varian was used to. A blue shirt, okay, he could handle that. Black skinny jeans? What guy wore skinny jeans unless he was a star sprinter with leg muscle that wasn't noodly or gangly? Everything Justin was.

And a white belt? Not only was it blinding paired with black skinny jeans and a blue shirt, but it was out of place on a guy. A straight guy anyway. And converse shoes? What happened to good old fashioned tennis shoes? Like Nike.

Justin made clucking sounds with his tongue and stood up to stride over purposely to where Varian was silently sitting. Justin's hand jabbed out and grabbed Varian's in a vice-like grip.

"My name's Justin. Who the hell are you?" he asked, a big dopey grin stretched across his face.

Varian noted his brown eyes. Deciding to be a good sport, Varian squeezed Justin's hand and shook it back.

"I'm Varian, and are you straight?"

Varian didn't think it possible, but his smile widened. "Straight as a noodle, my fine, really tall and scary friend."

Varian raised an eyebrow, and Justin's knit together.

"Wait... Noodles aren't straight... Damn it...." he blurted out.

"Just sit down already you clown. Everyone else is already."

"Well, I like being a rebel. If you want me to sit down so bad, make me." His facial expression gave nothing away, and then his tongue stuck out at Varian.

Varian's amusement level went from a near two to a negative twenty. Gritting his teeth, Varian heard the sound of his pen snapping in his tightly clenched fist.

"...You broke your pen."

"I got that!" Varian snapped, chucking it into an empty, plastic lined pocket in his bag for such situations. Wiping his hand on his stained clothing, Varian stared expectantly up at Justin.

"... What? ... Want a pen?" Justin asked, his voice sweet and gentle. Innocent. Varian growled loud enough for Justin to hear and grabbed his arm and forced him to sit down in his chair.

Once again those dreaded whispers started up again, but he ignored them. Class hadn't even started yet, and he knew it would take forever for the next period to come up.

One glance at Justin's perky expression and playful smile confirmed Varian's feelings. Sighing, he dropped his head onto his forearms, and huffed.

"Just let this hour be over!" Varian mumbled to himself.

***********************************************************************************

"I wonder how Justin's doing." Andrea thought out loud. Nathan was close to snapping his pencil, staring at the board with wide eyes.

She just wouldn't shut up.

"Nate?"

"I'm sure he's fine. Class is starting." Nathan grounded out, trying to keep the irritation out of his response. He knew she was just worried about Justin (who could be beaten senseless by a gang and would still be smiling) but Nathan could honestly care less.

Which sounded kind of bad.

The teacher had walked into the room after the bell had rung; a short, balding man with thick glasses and a horrible cough. Why were all History teachers so old in this school?

"All in our assigned," Pause to cough, "Seats, I presume?" he asked, glancing around at everyone before nodding. "I'm Mister Rollins, and I teach American History."

"No shit." Andrea mumbled with a smirk. Nathan ran a hand down his face slowly, chewing on his fingernails. Bad habit, which many people constantly reminded him of, but at times like this he'd rather bite them than someone's head off.

***********************************************************************************

"Alright class, first things first. Does anyone know what Marine Biology means?"

Varian rested his chin in his hand. Their teacher, who had written in big bubbly letters on the board "Ms. Whikler", was trying to start the class off with the basics.

"Biology of marine animals?" a young looking girl offered from the back.

Varian glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He realized then she was the girl he'd knocked down in the hall.

"Yes, that's a very good relation. Marine Biology is the study of marine animals and how they interact on both a personal and social level in their environments. Today we'll be looking at the most basic form of marine life. Can anybody tell me what that is?"

The girl raised her hand again.

"Yes Jecklynn?"

"Is it phytoplankton?" she asked, a light red color tinging her cheeks.

Miss Whikler looked surprised and then smiled. "Why yes actually."

Varian glanced at Jecklynn openly then. She had straight honey blond hair that brushed just past her shoulders, and bangs swept to the right, held in place by aqua colored butterfly bobby pins. Her skin was fair, but not milky, and she had slight freckling on her cheeks.

Jecklynn noticed Varian looking at her and she ducked her head, her face flushing.

"Moving on." Miss Whikler said.

Throughout the rest of the hour Varian sat bored, tuning Miss Whikler out. Every once and a while he'd act like he was paying attention, to keep the questions from falling on him.

In the brief time Varian knew Justin, he could tell he wasn't the type of person to lay low and be ignored. During one particularly boring part of class he turned to Varian and started talking to him.

"You have really cool hair. It's all curly and shit."

Varian frowned. "My hair isn't curly, it's wavy."

Justin's seemed lost for a moment but then it brightened and he switched the subject.

"Your clothes are weird."

Varian sighed internally and trained his eyes on Miss Whikler who was acting all animated, pointing at drawings she'd made on the white board.

"You're really quiet. Are you always so quiet? That's really boring."

With the earlier frustrations weighing on his shoulders, and now Justin's non-stop chatter, Varian couldn't find any peace. Shoving his book and notebook into his bag he got up and walked out of the class.

***********************************************************************************

Five minutes. Five more minutes of History. Then he would be free.

But fuck, between Andrea and Mr. Rollins, the voices were nearly constant.

Four...

"No homework tonight, but expect it every night after..."

"Probably has nothing to do but grades." Andrea whispered.

Nathan felt a migraine starting, near the back of his head.

Three...

"You can pack up now, and I expect you to have all needed materials by tomorrow." Mr. Rollins said, giving a pointed look to Nathan. He had barely brought anything to school; as per usual on first days.

Two...

"Nate! You have Calc next right? Maybe we could walk down there together. My hall is right next to yours." Andrea suggested. Nathan barely glanced up at her before the bell rang and he was out of his seat, walking around her and out of the door.

"... Or not." she mumbled to herself.

Nathan all but ran to his class, glancing briefly at the board for the seating chart and going to his designated seat- two seats back from the teachers desk. Of course.

***********************************************************************************

Walking around aimlessly, Varian headed to his next class. Physics.

The bell had rung, and lots of students were already clogging the halls. Weaving his way through, Varian tried very hard not to bump into anyone, but someone's shoulder checked him.

Growling in frustration, Varian turned around to see the wimpy kid from earlier.

"What do you want now? Because I don't give apologies."

Varian became all too aware that the students had stopped and were gathering around, whispering nonsense about a fight.

Expecting a harsh phrase or ignorant insult, Varian was surprised when the wimpy kid offered his hand.

Hesitantly Varian took it and looked the kid right in the eyes.

"My name's Stan. Stan Riley. I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"Varian, and I've heard worse," Varian replied glaring at the students clustered around them. They all backed up and scurried off to what they were doing, no longer interested if there wasn't going to be a fight.

"Physics for you too?" Stan asked, black hair flopping into his face. He pulled his hand away and brushed it back.

"I'm hoping that it isn't as boring as my first one."

Stan smiled, and for once it reached his eyes. Varian felt like maybe he and Stan could be friends. Than his mind wandered to Jecklynn. She hadn't run away from him yet. Maybe her too?

Shaking his head to himself, Varian walked with Stan into the Physics room and took their assigned seats. Like in Marine Biology there were tables, and luckily he got put next to Stan.

Stan didn't talk excessively like Justin for the hour. He was quiet and attentive, and Varian was surprised to find that he actually liked Physics.

"Anyone know what sig digs are?" their teacher asked. He was tall and slim, and had a full head of burnt orange hair.

Mr. Noll. Pronounced like Varian's last name. He was animated and extremely perceptive and didn't let kids vanish into the back of the class.

Varian liked Mr. Noll, and as proof, he raised his hand.

"Mr. Joll?"

"Sig digs is short for significant digits. They're used for math in subjects like Physics to keep the numbers exact. Decimals aren't Physics friendly."

"Exactly! Very good Mr. Joll." Mr. Noll recognized.

And class went on, for once the whispers about Varian centering on something that wasn't a rumor about his family but that he offered his knowledge.

Maybe today wasn't going to be so bad after all.

***********************************************************************************

What person, in their right mind, would willingly take Calculus?

Nathan was staring at the teacher, trying to understand the mess she had scribbled on the board.

Not a chance.

To make things worse there was a human giraffe in front of him, and a computer behind him who apparently knew every answer.

Well. He knew who he was cheating off during tests.

He rubbed the back of his neck, done attempting to see over the persons head in front of him. It just wasn't working.

At least he had Photography next. He liked Photography. He always did good in that class.

He'd need a new camera though. He'd managed to break it over the summer.

… Maybe he'd make this his sleeping period...

He leaned back, stretching his arms above his he'd until he felt a tap on his shoulder, causing him to glance behind himself.

"Could you put your arms down? And keep them down?" the nerd asked. Nathan stared back for a minute before dropping his arms onto his desk loudly.

The nerd rolled his eyes, looking back down to his note-filled paper.

No wonder Nathan didn't socialize....

***********************************************************************************

Trig. Short for Trigonometry. As in MATH. Math that Varian decided he didn't want anything to do with. Just taking his seat at a desk in the back near a window and looking around the classroom was enough to tell him he hated this class.

The teacher, Mrs. Noctunnel- what kind of name was that?- was old and wrinkly, and wore rose and pink colored clothing. Her glasses hung low on her nose, connected to a beaded chain, and she looked mean.

"I'd like to welcome you all to Trig. Trig is Algebra and Geometry based, and should not be too difficult to grasp. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask."

"When is class over?" some knuckle head from across the room from Varian yelled out.

"Class is over in about an hour. Now, can anyone tell me was SOCATOA means?"

Varian didn't bother to hide his boredom. Staring out the window, he let his mind drift to his job after school.

Not only would he have to pick up Venerra, drop her off, and go to Vogel's Tack and Tools to drop off some birdhouses, but he'd have to buy two new saddles and some more paint for the birdhouses unpainted in the work shed.

Then he'd have to tend the fields and finish at least four birdhouses to drop off the next day, and fix dinner for Venerra, get himself something, and put her to bed. After that he'd go to bed after locking everything up, and get up at four to begin the process all over again.

Eying the clock, Varian groaned. Five more minutes. Five more minutes until class was over and five more until American History. He'd have to be patient.

"Hey cutie."

Varian furrowed his brow but ignored the sentence. It wasn't for him, so why bother?

A hand reached out and touched his thigh, just a tap, but enough to put Varian on edge. Turning to glare at the source of the hand, he was surprised to see it was a guy.

"Get your hand off of me, I'm not interested," Varian growled.

The hand retracted. "I just wanted to see how zoned out you really were, but you are pretty cute. Maybe we could hang out some time?"

Oh great. A proposition. Varian studied the guy. Most people at this school didn't flaunt it if they were gay, but this guy obviously didn't give a crap.

Plus one for him.

His hair was long and framed his face, bangs swept into one eye and the other uncovered. He had black guy-liner on, a thin coat of mascara and some brown eye shadow that actually made his blue eyes pop.

There was something eerily familiar about his blue eyes.

Then they shifted. Their pure blue swirled with gold, and Varian knew. He was Mortal. This guy was Mortal, and suddenly the hope made sense.

"You want to be Changed."

The blue and gold swirl of his eyes shifted into silver.

"What Mortal wouldn't? But actually, I was more interested in you. Your cute, and look totally grope worthy." he said this last part with a grin, his silver eyes shifting red.

Varian groaned internally. That was all he needed, a horny Mortal chasing after him hoping to get some tail.

"Not interested," Varian said, repeating his earlier phrase.

The other guy leaned over, scooting closer. "You sure? I can show you a good time. You look untouched, I can fix that."

Varian caught his scent then. Almost minty like, not the gum kind. His sister had the same scent. Did all Mortal's smell minty?

"I'm sure," Varian said calmly, but internally he wanted to rip this guy's throat out. He had no idea what he was talking about, him being untouched? Varian was most definitely not untouched. He'd been touched before, by Grant.

Thinking about it made him feel a little sick. He didn't like to remember Grant.

Even now, his stomach rolled at the thought of him, and he swallowed. He just wanted Trig to get over with.

***********************************************************************************

Photography. Nathan loved Photography.

Especially when his teacher actually knew something about the art form itself.

He sighed, sitting at his table with three other people, on stools that hurt like hell.

Nathan noticed one of the people at his table was the nerd from the previous class. No doubt he thought he knew everything about photography as well.

“Alright, I'm Mr. Sample, and I'll be your photography teacher for the year. Yay."

Nathan smirked slightly. He had a feeling he was going to like this teacher.

"You will need a camera. I don't care what type of camera, I don't even care if you use your phone, so long as it take a decent picture. You get a camera that doesn't take good pictures, and you're SOL." Mr. Sample continued on, giving good examples of ideal cameras. Most being on the expensive side.

The nerdy guy snorted, saying he knew a better camera than those "cheap things they give out around here". Nathan was close to rolling his eyes, settling for propping his chin up on his hand.

There was also a girl at his table, who didn't say much and glanced at Mr. Nerd whenever he commented.

Nathan wasn't sure as to the gender of the final person. He settled for Hermaphrodite. He'd figure it out later.

Nathan began to turn the teacher out as he started asking questions, basic and just meant for everyone new to get the feel of the class. He sighed, doodling small pictures onto the table, erasing them, and then starting new ones.

One more period until lunch. Two more until he could actually leave.

This was going so. Fucking. Slow.

***********************************************************************************

Intent on ignoring the Mortal, he fixed his gaze on the teacher and actually tried to listen.

"'SOH' is the first part of the basic trigonometric formula. The 'S' stands for Sin(e), 'O' for opposite, and 'H' for hypotenuse. Basically speaking, to figure out Sin, you find opposite and divide it by hypotenuse...." bored, Varian turned his attention back to the window.

About half a second later he felt the hand on his thigh again, higher this time.

Without blinking Varian raised his hand.

"Yes Varian?" Mrs. Noctunnel asked.

"May I use the bathroom?"

"Someone will need to go with you."

"I will." Resounded happily from behind Varian.

Varian rushed out of the classroom grabbing the pass with the creeper guy behind him.

Dashing to the nearest bathroom Varian grabbed the gay kid and shoved him into the wall. Holding his shirt tightly in his hands Varian looked him in the eye.

"Do you not understand the meaning of keep your hands to yourself?" Varian snarled.

"Of course I do, just not when it comes to you. And do you realize how hot you look right now with that scowl on your face?" he replied, his eyes red and sparkling with lust.

Varian eyed him. He wasn't awful looking....

"What's your name?" Varian asked.

"Evan," he breathed, pushing up against Varian, his body molding to his in a very intimate manner.

"Why are you so intent on getting me into your pants?" Varian asked bluntly.

"I already told you, you're hot. And I've heard about you, you're a bad boy. I'm into that."

Normally Varian would smack anyone silly for saying that, but he felt forgiving. "You still want to be Changed?"

Evan's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah," he said, his voice husky.

Varian didn't give Evan time to hesitate. Pushing his hair aside, Varian sank his needle-like fangs into Evan's neck, their sharp points piercing his skin easily.

Evan grabbed his shoulders, but didn't make a sound, his nails digging in through the fabric of Varian's shirt. Varian could hear him breathing heavier, but ignored it.

Instead he concentrated on the sweet taste of his blood. He hadn't had any in a couple days, and it almost hurt for him to have some now. But he could feel his limbs and senses coming back to full strength.

When Evan's breathing returned to normal, Varian pulled back and held him up, offering his hand to him.

Evan clamped down on the meat of Varian's thumb, and Varian winced as his teeth punctured his flesh roughly, his incisors having pushed through his gums, awakened.

Evan let go of Varian's hand after a moment, and leaned back against the bathroom wall.

"How do you feel?" Varian asked, searching him for any signs of Rejection. The process in which the Mortal's system rejected the Changed tissues and began literally killing itself from the inside out.

Evan lifted his face to meet Varian's gaze, and Varian watched his eyes shift into the brown with red tint that all Changed had. It'd gone through.

"Alive. And really horny actually."

Varian pulled back. "Not today."

And then the bell rang.
♠ ♠ ♠
HOLY FUCK LONG CHAPTER. Nearly 5,000 words! Sorry, we got ahead of ourselves guys XD
It was fun to write though...