“That is so mean!” Chanyeol yelled at the screen, only to receive hushes once again. Jade slapped Chanyeol’s arm and he pretended to zip his lips, grinning afterwards. Fireworks appeared in the background of the scene, “Pretty!”

          “Shh!”

          “Shut up, will you?”

          Moments passed.

          “Run, Cat, run! Get that devil cat!”

          Jade covered Chanyeol’s mouth.

          “Kitties~” Chanyeol whispered as Jade removed her hand. “Dancing kitty~”

          Jade facepalmed. Bringing him to a movie was a bad idea. Especially one like this. They were watching Puss In Boots – the scene where Puss chases the mysterious cat, ends up crashing through things, then finally ends up in a crowd of cats and has to dance battle with the mysterious one. Chanyeol was enjoying it, dancing in his seat as the dance battle commenced. He had been hushed so much during the movie, Jade was afraid they’d come in and kick them out.

          Chanyeol’s laugh was heard halfway through the dance battle, and others were laughing, too, but Chanyeol’s was prominent. Jade watched him, a mixture of expressions constantly crossing his facial features and his arms stopping when he was shocked. Jade laughed quietly, amused with this. She noticed some others were focused on Chanyeol as well. He was like a giant child. Quite literally.

          A bowl of milk when flying across the screen and Chanyeol froze, eyes wide, mouth agape, as he watched. Puss flew across the screen and two swords clashed and Chanyeol covered his mouth with his hands, shock masking his facial features. A sword fight had begun and Chanyeol fiddled his fingers together, more expressions taking over; from shocked, to anxious, to scared.

          “Y-You’re a woman?”

          “Ooh~~”

          “It’s a she!” Chanyeol shouted, pointing at the screen. People were laughing, both at the scene and Chanyeol. Jade sank down in her seat, a bit embarrassed from everything Chanyeol had been doing.

***

          “Jade?”

          “Yes Chanyeol?” Jade replied flatly; she was focusing on her book.

          “What’s it like to kiss someone?”

          “Go kiss Jisook. That’ll answer your question.”

          Chanyeol crawled on the floor and Jade peeked over the book, judging him silently. He crawled to the side of her bed, sat down, and looked up at her. “I’m serious. People don’t kiss unless they are married or engaged. Like Baekhyun and Aria. They haven’t kissed yet. I don’t even think he likes her!”

          “Do I have to answer this?”

          “Yes. Or I will sleep with you again.”

          Jade shut her book. That sounded wrong in her mind. Good thing Chanyeol couldn’t read her mind. Or could he? She assumed he couldn’t. “It depends, I think. Kissing is different for each person.”

          “What’s it like for you?”

          “For me?”

          “No, for the bathtub.”

          Jade looked down at him, un-amused with his sarcasm. She didn’t know when he picked the sarcasm up but it was probably from her endless remarks. He just blinked at her, waiting for her answer. She sighed and tapped the book. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about that. Why do want to know anyways?”

          “I’m curious. Things are so different down here. People get to be with whom they want, people kiss at free will, and the food is amazing!” He smiled at the memory of the delicious food he had. “People don’t judge-“

          “Trust me, they do.”

          “Not like the Gods and Goddesses…” He looked down at his hands and then back up at Jade. “Have you kissed Kyungsoo?”

          Jade grimaced. “No. I told you, he is like my brother, that’s gross.”

          “But if he would have liked you more than a friend, would you have?”

          Jade just shrugged.

          “Jade?” Chanyeol asked again after the silence overwhelmed him.

          “Yeah?”

          “Jisook peed on the rug, by the way.”

***

          Jade thought about Chanyeol’s question until she finally fell asleep. She was relieved when she woke up the next morning to find an empty bed. She was afraid Chanyeol would stick to his word and sleep with her again.

          Jade exited her room, found Chanyeol asleep on the floor and not the couch, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She figured that since he was asleep and should know better, that she should leave the bathroom door unlocked. Besides, she might need to run out in case Chanyeol set the place on fire. Nothing like getting caught in your bathroom while your home is being burned down, she mentally mused.

          She got in the shower not long after, began washing herself and sang quietly along to a few ballads she knew. Little did she know that the boy had slipped in and was sitting on the lid of the toilet, listening to her sing. He patted the towel along to the beat as Jade’s voice had become louder as she sang the song. Her voice wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t entirely off-key either. Not that Chanyeol would mind anyways. He found it better than the mess of Sirens that his father made sing at dinner parties.

          When she finished she turned the water off and cursed at it as it became cold before completely going off. She pulled the curtain back and-

          “HOLY ! CHANYEOL!” Jade screamed, pulling the curtain back to its original position. Chanyeol’s eyes were wide and he looked away, not knowing what to do at the moment.

          “Sorry! I’m-“ he stood up and shoved the towel past the shower curtain, trying not to look, “Here! Take it- You-“

          “Leave!” Jade yelled, grabbing the towel. He quickly left the bathroom and shut – more like slammed – the door behind him. Jade wrapped the towel around her and exited the shower, walking over to the door and locking it. She leaned her back against the door and put one of her hands over her heart, closing her eyes. She about had a heart attack. How long had he been there? Did he completely see her ? So many thoughts crossed her mind. She wanted to hide in some dark hole.. or shove Chanyeol in one and bury him. Either would be good at the moment. Though, the hole for Chanyeol would have to be pretty deep. Jade never asked or really judged his height. She only knew he was really tall when he stood next to her.

          “I’m sorry!” Chanyeol called to her. “But you sing beautifully!”

          Jade groaned. Until Monday. Only a couple more days. Breathe..

          After putting fresh pajamas on and drying her hair, an hour after that incident, Jade left the bathroom and walked into the living room where Chanyeol was petting Jisook. He looked at her and his eyes immediately widened. He stood up and bowed, “Jade I’m-“

          “It’s okay,” she said abruptly. He stood straight. “Just.. completely erase all of that from your mind.” She walked past him and to the kitchen. She definitely wanted to hide or something. Anything just to get away from Chanyeol. She would call Kyungsoo over, but she feared Chanyeol would tell him about it. She could imagine it.

          “I saw Jade ,” Chanyeol would casually bring up and Kyungsoo’s naturally wide eyes would widen even more and he would question how and why and-

          “Jisook said she sees you all the time and not to worry,” Chanyeol said as he stood at the entrance to the kitchen. Jade’s cheeks flushed as she stared at the cabinet. She was glad she had her back to him. “Plus people on Olympus roam around in tunics and in the , so…”

          “That’s different,” she said, clearing afterwards. It was, after all. Jisook was a cat, like her child in a way and Chanyeol.. he was a stranger. And a boy. And this was Earth, not that Greek fantasy world.

          Chanyeol stayed quiet. When Jade finally decided to turn to him, she saw he was poking his cheeks and staring at the top of the archway. This wasn’t anything new, but hey. She wasn’t entirely used to every weird thing Chanyeol did and besides, it just seemed like everything he did just got weirder and weirder.

          “Chanyeol,” Jade said, trying to get his attention. It wasn’t hard, but Chanyeol was purposely trying to avoid eye contact with the girl. Inside, he was actually embarrassed about the incident. Sure, he had seen girls before. The parties up in Olympus got pretty out of hand, especially when Gods brought in faeries and Sirens and- That wasn’t the point. Chanyeol felt bad about invading her personal space in a way. His mother told him once, “Always respect a lady. If she gets flustered because of you, or embarrassed, respect her space and apologize. Be a gentleman.”  That, compared to his father’s advice, was actually pretty useful now. Though, at the time, Chanyeol would have gladly ignored everything his mother said.

          “Yes?” he asked, still looking everywhere except for at Jade. Jade just watched him.

          “Why won’t you look at me? I’m trying to speak here.”

          “My mother always said, ‘Respect a lady.’” That didn’t tell the entire quote or anything, and it left Jade a bit dumbfounded, but she didn’t question it. But the upbringing of the subject of his mother triggered a question in her brain.

          “Wait. Your mother is human, right? She’s allowed to live with your dad.. in the..” Jade bit the inside of her cheek. It still felt too weird to mention Chanyeol’s home world.

          “Underworld. Yeah. Well, no…” Chanyeol made a face, unsure of how to word things. Sometimes, when he tried wording things, they came out the exact opposite of what he needed to say. “Uh,” he began again, scratching his head. “My dad.. sort of.. had her changed in a way. I guess that’s what to say. It’s just.. humans aren’t allowed in the realms or worlds where Gods live. Time passes by so fast there and humans can literally die in a day or so.. and their body can burn up whilst travelling there.”

          “So... how are you nineteen?” Jade was absolutely confused at this point. From Chanyeol’s mixed up explanations for things, his stories not going in a simple path and taking a thousand turns – Jade just couldn’t grasp the idea here. “I am so confused, Chanyeol!” He let out a laugh. He was afraid of that. When he gets nervous, it just made his explanations ten times worse, and that was pretty bad. He assumed right now was one of those moments.

          “Sorry,” he said, looking down at his feet. “I can.. try to explain. Slower, I guess.”

          Jade nodded, liking that idea a lot better. “Let’s go sit on the couch and you can explain slowly and with more detail. I hate being so confused.” She walked past him and to the couch, where she sat down and waited for the tall boy to take his seat next to her. This conversation was going to be long, but worth it hopefully. Jade really did hate being so confused. Chanyeol was one, big, complex body and mind that needed some sort of organization.

➥ author's notes; ♡
confusion central.