Alec had completely froze up upon the spitefulness of Wyatt again. Alec had only asked because it was the right thing to do. Alec had let almost every word slide till it got to the last line.

"-No wonder your mother clearly wants nothing to do with you.”

He knew Wyatt was upset and hurting but.. Why would you.. Why would anyone.. Go that far? It was very obvious Alec's blood was boiling with that last comment. But Alec just stood there. Whether it was Alec just letting the words sink in or even just not knowing how to react. He still just stood there, frozen as a statue.

“I apologize for my behavior, but you should understand most how much of a git your brother can be.”

That one didn't sting as much at least. Alec knew he could be pretty annoying. And rude he could be at times.. But he never tried too. Someone else always started it. And then Alec was the bad guy. Alec was still trying to wrap his head around why anyone would just walk up to someone criticizing them then being so upset and not understanding when karma hit them in the face. Crying about it and pretending like they're the one who's been wronged. When clearly the person who was obviously already upset was trying to keep their cool. Then you decided to push past the li-

“I appreciate what your mother is doing for me, but that’s where my respect for anything related to Alec J. Mason begins and ends.”

He couldn't just keep his mouth shut, could he? At least he'd remembered the J. though. If you really wanted to disrespect Alec you'd leave it out. Although that was beyond the level of petty. You'd be making a fool out of yourself by how petty your being.

Alec was only working himself up more by thinking like this. Who was he kidding, Snake-boy wasn't worth his time anyway. And now finally Alec let go of his frozen state being able to speak. He turned his attention to Jackie. "Night Jackie.. Think I'm just gonna head in early tonight" Alec mumbled paying no mind to Snake-boy. "night!" The little girl said grinning, oblivious to the whole situation, really.

Nina who was now standing at the end of the entrance at the dining room rolled her eyes. "You do realize he either has to sleep on the couch or the guest bed in you room. Right?" Nina asked. "No?" Alec said. He knew. It was more he just thought if he could keep someone Ahem *cough*Nina*cough* from saying a word then Wyatt would never know. So that on the very low chance he actually would do it. He wouldn't know about it.

And to think Alec thought his summer couldn't get any worse.

_{English
Parseltongue}

Wyatt didn’t want to sleep in the same room as Alec at all, but he definitely was not sleeping on the couch. How embarrassing would that be?

“Well, I’m definitely not-”

Before he could say his answer though, his backpack by the front door fell over by itself. Wyatt spun on his heel and heard a small sound that came from the bag as it hit the ground.

“The hell…?”

The Slytherin half-blood walked to the bag with a hefty amount of caution. What the hell was in there? He knelt down, and unzipped the bag. Looking inside, he saw something light green laying in between a hoodie and his potions textbook. He whispered, “Perseus,” so quietly that it would have been impossible for Alec to hear unless he was kneeling right behind Wyatt.

The snake answered, “where are we,” something only a parselmouth could understand, and Wyatt picked the bag up as fast as possible, zipping it up as he lifted it from the ground. He put the bag on his back and lifted his suitcase and guitar cases.

He spoke hastily and quickly. “I will be taking the guest bed, please give me a minute to get my things ready before you come in, thank you.”

With that, he walked off quickly to the room with the open door that looked like Alec’s bedroom. Wyatt didn’t think the boy would have chosen the dark color scheme, but it had two beds in it, so he assumed it was Alec’s anyway. He shut the door behind him and put all his things in the corner.

He opened the bag and a long, thin, green snake emerged and slithered onto the bed.

“You need to get out right now-”
“Shh, someone’s coming… footsteps, Wyatt!”

With that, the snake slithered under the bed and the door to the bedroom opened.

_{@Alec Mason}

That snake better leave poor Cookie alone

Alec had thought it was a little weird how Snake-boy ran up to what could only be assumed as Alec's bedroom in a rush. But he'd decided it best not to say anything regarding it. Or even ask.

Stupid Wyatt. He could've just been a decent human and take the couch but noooooo. That and there was no way Alec was leaving Wyatt in his room alone. Hopefully, he was decent enough, at least not to go through Alec's stuff. Alec didn't even bother saying a word to Wyatt upon walking in. Just giving him a glare.

Then kneeling down opposite of the bed the snake was under and grabbing his box out. "If you can just not talk to me the rest of the summer or mess with my stuff. We'll have no problems" Alec said as he grabbed his journal out from the box.

Then shoving the box under his bed. He turned his attention to the corner of the room by his desk near the ceiling where the spider Alec had named 'Cookie' and its web was. "Do not touch Cookie either or we will have even more issues" Alec said pointing to the spider who was now crawling down the wall. The spider unlike most Alec had seemed actually had a personality. Or well enough brain cells to know it was smart to stay on Alec's side so it wouldn't get brutally killed.

Alec then proceeded to sit on his bed as far away from Wyatt as possible. Alec was going to write into the journal but with Wyatt standing right there where he could clearly see anything Alec wrote, it wasn't exactly encouraging Alec to write anything. Because not only were his thoughts on display, but they were recorded on paper. Which Alec sometimes thought was much worse than talking out loud. Which there was rarely any evidence left too. Surprisingly not noticing the snake under the guest bed throughout all this.

@Wyatt Starkey

"If you can just not talk to me the rest of the summer or mess with my stuff. We'll have no problems."

“What do you mean, problems? I have no interest in meddling with your personal items.” Besides that, Wyatt thought as he saw Alec pull something out of a box that was under the boy’s bed. What is that? It looked like a book, not just any other book, though. A diary? A diary!

"Do not touch Cookie either or we will have even more issues," Alec said, pointing at something before he sat down on his bed, visibly making an attempt to be as far away as possible.

“Cookie?” Wyatt turned and looked up at what Alec was pointing to. There was a spider in the corner of the room, crawling on Alec’s wall. “I will not be touching the spider in the corner of your room. Why would even I try?”

He wished the snake knew English, then he would be able to tell it right now that he must not eat that spider. He also had another few questions for Perseus, like how long have you been in my bag, and why are you here. Other than those, his questions were just why, huh, how, when, where, and what?

That Cookie better stay in its corner if it knows what’s good for it.
He sat on the bed and looked down at the floor.

_{@Alec Mason}

Alec let out a small sigh. Nevermind. The journaling was going to have to wait. It's not like he could write anything like what he was going to write. In front of Snake-boy, anyway. "Because your mean. And I have no doubt that you'd hurt innocent things that didn't even do anything to you." Alec said simply. It was a petty and stupid remark but at least something was better than nothing. Besides, Alec did believe Wyatt as the type of kid who'd just walk up on an ant hill smashing it and stepping on it just for fun.

Through Alec's little sentiment he tore two pages of paper out of his 'journal' diary , he decided it was about time he writes those letters to his friends. They still needed to come up with a back to school prank after all. It was going to have to be big if it was going to top the whole great hall howler prank they did. Heh.. The muggle song baby shark had never been so much fun.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Alec zoned out for a bit as he tried to figure out what to write. Alec knew bringing up the whole big back to school prank to Leo would be best. He'd have the best ideas for it, he was great at actually carrying on plans with little to no flaws. Which was a lot better than when Alec tried to do anything. It made Alec wonder what Leo was doing for the summer, anyway. He probably had some great big summer plan. I mean, this kid did plan everything out he was going to do at Hogwarts. From how many friends he was going to have and how much time he was going to spend with them. Even planning out enemies and certain situations where he'd get them. It was brilliant, actually. He even knew the best places to hide howlers!

And Clifton. Apparently he'd gone to some muggle sports camp or something. Alec was a bit curious about it. As well as how he was doing. Alec knew Clifton's parents hadn't exactly been happy that he'd gone to Hogwarts in the first place. Clifton also knew about Wyatt. And he didn't exactly like him.. That's for sure..

[font=Trebuchet MS] Dear Clifton How are you? How's your summer been so far? You would not believe what happened this summer. Remember the Wyatt kid right? He's staying at my house this whole summer. And he hates me.. My summer vacation is going to be the worst. But besides that what were you thinking for a back to school prank? I'm so excited to get back to working on SOATOP! Best regards Alec J. Mason. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS] Dear Leo How are you? What are your plans for the summer? We all seriously need to work out another prank for the starting of the school year. Not exactly sure what. It needs to be something big though! I'm so excited to get back to working on SOATOP! I hope your doing alright! Best regards Alec J. Mason [/font]

Alec looked over the letters are he'd written them. Not bad.. Clifton would've asked what was happening during Alec's summer, anyway. And Alec wasn't exactly sure with Leo. Alec didn't even think Leo knew who Wyatt was. Maybe Leo had heard about him seeing as they were both Slytherins? Alec wasn't exactly sure. But if he knew Wyatt he hadn't brought it up, that's for sure.

And Alec would've never told Clifton about Wyatt in the first place if he hadn't seen Alec and asked what happened. But Clifton seemed to want to be in tune with everything regarding Wyatt. Well, with everything regarding Wyatt bothering Alec. Hufflepuffs can be very scary sometimes.. especially if you try to lie to them.. lesson learned.

@Wyatt Starkey

"I have no doubt that you'd hurt innocent things that didn't even do anything to you."

That couldn’t be further from the truth. Wyatt loved animals and related to them more than humans. They’re so easy to talk to. They don’t really say much, but they always listen.

“Like a murderer? Or a psychopath?” Wyatt knew it was a cheap tactic, but he knew that for some reason, Alec hated being called a psychopath, so Wyatt assumed he hated it as much when the word was even mentioned generally. He just couldn’t help but use the trigger as a comeback.

“I like animals, but of course you wouldn’t know that because when you look at me all you see is an angry pest. It’s crystal clear why you’re not a Hufflepuff, Mason, you can’t see past first impressions. What a lonely existence it must be.” Wyatt said it like he was just casually thinking aloud, or asking about the time.

Wyatt wondered why Alec seemed to be such a father figure to his little sister. He never had siblings, and he always wondered what it would be like. He envied people with brothers and sisters, but sometimes he felt it was best being an only child. Fewer people in the house means more quiet. If he thought about it long enough, he always was able to convince himself it was better to be alone.

_{@Alec Mason}

Alec looked up. "No. It's because I don't have patience to deal with complete gits of a person like you." Alec said. "I've been trying to be nice to you." Alec said running a hand through his messy curly hair. "But every time I try, you open that cursed mouth of yours and say something horrible. Does it kill you to be nice? Every time I try to help you, you just start being mean to me. What did I do to you? And if your going to bring up when I shoved you your clearly not any better than me," Alec said.

"I'm talking to myself minding my own business minding my own business and you start being mean to me for no reason. Do you expect me not to react to that? You act like your so innocent like nothing is ever your fault. Like your not the instigator. I try to play a harmless prank on nobody in general and you happen to be the victim. I offered you help. It's not my fault you rejected it" Alec said. "And now your here. I've been trying to be nice to you. All I did was ask if you were okay. And you bring up how my mom basically hates me. I-I know I'm not perfect.. And I make a lot of mistakes and I can be pretty stupid sometimes." Alec said, pausing as he tried to figure out his next choice of words.

"But at least I'm trying." Alec said. And in his mind that was good enough for him. From the start of everything, he'd been trying to make sense behind why Wyatt acted so mean to him. Right after he got out of the hospital wing, in fact. He'd even planned on finding a time to apologize to Wyatt about everything that happened when they first met. Because he felt that apology wasn't enough.

Although that was before the whole prank thing. Which has completely knocked Alec's plans all out of the way. He knew after that, that a sorry and a bit more than that wasn't going to cut it. After that Alec didn't know what to do, so he'd been avoiding him since. But it just seemed the world always found a way to push this kid right back to Alec. And he was starting to get sick of it. Being mean to Wyatt after that point had been either unintentional or after Wyatt said something first. Like psychopath. Which he very obviously knew was a trigger word for Alec. It hadn't been that bad this time since he didn't have to be reminded of what exactly happened that night.

Wow, that was heavy. It did make Alec feel a bit better though. Alec gave an awkward laugh. "Probably should add hot-headed, and talks too much to the list too" Alec said. Hopefully Wyatt wasn't too upset with Alec being very blunt.

@Wyatt Starkey

After Alec’s rant/monologue, Wyatt was not backing down.

“Alec J. Mason. The bloody hero! At least I can take responsibility! I only act like the victim when I am one, and if you had a pair of eyes you could see that it’s quite often that I’m antagonized or victimized. From rumours that I worship the Dark Lord to "casual" bullying which entails getting dumped into the black lake at least once a week if you were wondering. You don’t know the half of it, Mason!”

Alec spoke like his life was so difficult, when in reality, his worst enemy was a scrawny Slytherin and a Hufflepuff who he ticked off. Ignorant, that’s what he was, and who could blame him? Sheltered in a manor for his entire life, Wyatt assumed the boy knew nothing of the real world. It was a shame Wyatt had to grow up so fast, but he had to live with it now.

“You walk around thinking you’re a quirky loner who can do no wrong. If a few comments questioning your sanity and a vague insult is enough to make you lose your mind I suggest you toughen up, Mason. And last time I checked, I’m not the only instigator in the room, and Cookie can’t talk, I assume.”

Wyatt was nothing if not angry right now. Alec was not as innocent as he implied. Who was he trying to lie to with his silly little “I’ve been trying to be nice to you”? That boy knew nothing of pain, and pretended to feel all the world’s hurt that someone wasn’t being nice to him.

“You can’t pretend you have said a few rude or sly comments during our time as enemies, one could call it. If you say I’m pulling the victim card, what are you pulling? The sorry suburb boy card? Now, will you stop whining about how terribly horrid your life is? Because I’m sick of it. You disgust me.” Every word he said, he stood by. He looked straight at Alec, not daring to look away.

_{@Alec Mason}

Alec should've expected this reaction. What was he thinking when he decided to even say anything? Alec should've just kept his mouth shut. Stupid him and acting on his feelings. He always did things without thinking. Well, this time it still wasn't any different.

"Right because that gives you the right to just be a git to everyone else? I'm sorry I have no pity for you. I'm probably just a psychopath, right? Because, I'm crazy enough to even try being nice to you" Alec asked, flinching slightly as he said the word psychopath. "And maybe your right maybe I do need to toughen up because every time I get called a psychopath I'm reminded of a bunch of teenagers beating me up. But whatever" Alec said.

"I shouldn't have even said anything. It was stupid to do so when I knew nothing good was going to come out of it. Besides, I dare you to live in my shoes. Ignored all the time, half the time I have to feed my little sister because otherwise she's not getting fed because neither of my parents have time too, not allowed to even go outside and play with kids my own age, being told not to go home till the summer because I got placed in gryffindor, which is just another thing to add to the list on why everybody in this house except my little sister hates me, and I literally just learned what a hug was this year, my parents are always arguing about something or another." Alec said, then paused. His listing seemed almost unfinished, as if he was going to go on but stopped himself

Alec shook his head. "Nevermind this is stupid and childish, I don't even know what I'm trying to prove." Alec said. His father had always said disagreeing is a good thing. How the whole world is made up of people disagreeing and it's a good thing. Different view points, different perspectives, and different insight on the world. It's a good thing to question what's thrown at you in life and disagree with things because it helps you learn and grow. But just because you can disagree with someone doesn't mean you should get into an argument about it. You just give the facts and they choose what to believe on their own. Although it was a bit hypocritical is Alec's dad's case considering he was getting into arguments with his wife all the time.

@Wyatt Starkey

"Never mind this is stupid and childish, I don't even know what I'm trying to prove."

“Yes, you were being quite childish, weren’t you?”
Wyatt could go on forever about the shit he’d gone through, but he wasn’t going to use his past or personal troubles as leverage in a petty argument, especially when it meant Alec would know about his past and his personal troubles.

It was all so silly to Wyatt, but at the same time, eye-opening. Who wouldn’t want to be in Gryffindor, he asked himself. Well, besides me. Alec seemed to be the kid who would wish to be in the house of the brave, the courageous, and the loyal, or at least that’s what he had thought before. Apparently, the Lion’s parents wished otherwise.

Wyatt rummaged through his backpack and found a homework assignment he hadn’t turned in last year. He crumbled it up. Laying on the bed, tossing and catching the paper ball he made and staring up at the ceiling, he asked “Did you really just learn the concept and action of hugging this past year or was this the first year you’ve ever gotten one?”

He understood he was just proving Alec’s idea of Wyatt, that he was a snotty Slytherin who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, correct, but he needed the clarification. He couldn’t believe, at age twelve, Alec J. Mason had only just learned about hugging, though he doubted Alec would answer since Wyatt’s tone was definitely mocking the boy.

Wyatt had been hugged before, he could only remember the one time. It was magical. It was nice to be in someone else’s arms, it was nice to feel that level of safety and comfort.

_{@Alec Mason}