ugh

"Sorry, then. I just thought you might want your writing utensil since it looks fancy. Ish." She giggled a little. "Thank you though. I’m Kaia, it’s nice to meet you!"

"Apology accepted. And yeah, I know how fancy a one dollar pen can be. So fancy that one can break it in half with the same strength of opening a water bottle." He sighed, not really used to the whole optimistic, giggly appearance of the girl. "Jason."

"I don’t want to bother you, but I think you dropped something." She held out the object in her hand, her eyes flickering back down to it.

"You did bother me because it's just a pen but whatever. Keep it," he nudged his head towards the inked material. 

"A vet?" He hadn’t heard that word before, though he was sure he was supposed to know it. "Yeah, I think I told you my hands were busy," he remarked. He relaxed afterwards; he didn’t know why but somehow he wasn’t scared of Jason. He almost felt like he could trust him. "I live a few streets back," he said vaguely; an attempt to hide the fact he didn’t know the exact location of the house. He mostly guided himself with the buildings. 

"They take care of animals in simple terms," he explained to Steve, realizing that the boy might have come from a fairly remote area. But Jason couldn't really say anything because most of these things were taught to him by the owner of the building. "Yeah, yeah." The way the two conversed was almost vaguely familiar. It was a strange feeling to the man. Jason shuffled through some papers before sitting in front of Steve. "A few streets back?" He nodded his head. He didn't give the most accurate of answers either. 

"Oh, I’m sorry that not everyone can be as wise as you. I shall change my ways just for you and start to not get lost in a strange place. My bad."

"Apology accepted. And strange? Why is this place so strange? Not exactly different from the rest of the States."

He listened to Jason’s answer. It all sounded right. It made sense. He nodded, agreeing with every word he said. He snapped out of his thoughts when Jason asked if he was okay. Steve nodded again. “Yes. Sorry.” He shook his head slightly, then looked around the room to refocus. “Do you live here?”

"Here?" He repeated, following Steve's gaze. "Pft, no. I wouldn't want to live in this place. It's a place where a vet works." After looking through the closet in the corner of the room, Jason grabbed a small cage and plopped it on the table. He carefully put the bird and the small dish inside, including a small tray of bird seeds. "I live fairly close by here. And you? You do live in a place that has doors you know how to open, right?"

Steve watched carefully how Jason worked on the animal; he even leaned closer as Jason wrapped something around the wing. He nodded, feeling more relaxed knowing the bird would be fine after all. “Okay.” He looked at the bird again. “I wonder if it hurts,” he mused aloud, “A creature meant to fly not being able to…well, fly.” Steve knew there was something inside his head trying to push through his other thoughts, but something was blocking it. Something that was giving him a headache.

"Probably does. Probably sucks to have been ripped away your freedom too." Jason trod along the question carefully because he, himself, was curious. "Would probably feel trapped -- heavier even. Wings make everything seem lighter. Confused, maybe," he explained, putting away the supplies just as they were before. He always had a side for nit-picking details. "Probably would feel lost, maybe angry." Jason took notice of the change in the boy, "You alright?"

Steve held his hands up in defense after Jason took away the object from him. “Sorry.” He definitely wasn’t eager to get a punched, so he took a couple of steps away from the table. 

Jason grabbed what he learned was gauze tape, cutting a fairly long strip of it before putting the rest of the equipment to the side. He made sure his movements were slow but nimble, as to not alarm the bird so the damage to his wing didn't increase. He carefully wrapped the gauze tape around it, making sure that the wing was along the bird's body. After doing so, he grabbed a small dish and filled it with water, placing it in front of the now wrapped up animal. "Should be fine in two weeks," he told Steve to reassure him. "May have trouble flying for a bit, but it should be fine."

"Sorry." Steve didn’t even know why he called him that. Maybe because Jason was older, it was Steve’s natural instinct to address him like that, though now he was considering going back to ‘friend’. He exited the metal thing. "I didn’t want to drop it." Once more, Steve showed Jason the bird as proof. "I know how to open doors," he muttered.

"Sure, Steve. Sure," Jason let a small laugh, which was rare for him. 

"I can’t even begin to explain how many times I have gotten lost in this place. All of these buildings just look so similar to each other."

"Seriously? Why does everyone find it so damn difficult? They all have their own details that distinguishes them."

Steve nodded with a smile. “Yes, sir!” He said this even though he knew he’d probably do it again if it meant he could help somehow, but Jason didn’t need to know this. Fascinated, Steve continued to watch the road as they kept gliding through the streets. He was about to follow Jason, but then he turned to his door and found it even more confusing from the inside than it had been from the outside. He looked at Jason with eyes that said, 'I don't know how to do this.'

"You can stop with the 'sir'," Jason told him, raising his eyebrow. Although he often liked being addressed of a higher status, it just felt all too odd when the boy said it. Making eye contact with Steve, Jason deeply sighed, walking over to the other side to open the door. "Bird or door problems? If it's the latter, I recommend learning how to open doors." He waited for a few seconds to allow Steve to get out and then began to walk towards the building. He unlocked the front door with a collection of keys, swiftly allowing an entrance. Jason looked back every now and then to make sure the boy was following. Stopping in front of a door after walking down a collection of corridors, he unlocked it and ushered Steve inside, revealing the collection of medical supplies. "Put the bird on the table."

It might look like I’m doing nothing, but at the cellular level I’m really quite busy. Also, not willing to help you with this. At all.

"Nope. You are doing nothing. Didn't know people were that lazy that doing nothing is considered being busy. And I didn't know that asking someone to pick up after themselves was considered as asking the person for help."

"I’m not surprised; walking is so boring." He didn’t know why walking bothered him so much. Were his legs supposed to feel heavy all the time? He looked down at the injured bird in his hands. Maybe they both have more in common than he thought. He smiled when the stranger introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, Jason. I’m Steve!"

Jason nodded. He understood one way or another. It wasn’t that walking bored him, it was that he didn’t feel comfortable walking, as if he wasn’t meant to be walking in the first place. That didn’t work out well when he tried to ask people where he was.because he wasn't able to walk as straight as he wished to. “Steve, huh? Well, Steve, let’s stop standing in the middle of the road, okay?” 

How about fuck you?

"Well someone's feisty."

Steve slid over the empty seat after the stranger opened the door. He stared at the open door for a second, and then pulled it slowly until he thought it was closed. He didn’t want to tell the stranger this was his first time on one of those rolling things, after all he was supposed to act like he belonged there. “I…my hands were busy…” Steve showed him the bird as an excuse. “Uh, thank you. For helping. There are aren’t many kind people here.”

"Your hands were busy? Right," he rolled his eyes slightly, not exactly believing him. Although it did make sense one way or another. He turned the key and let the car run for a few seconds before placing his hand on the wheel. He turned to the stranger with a rather look of disbelief. He hadn't expected a thank you, especially with the cold nature of most people he had come across since his arrival. "Not helping you," he told him, pressing his foot on the gas pedal. "Just making sure another person doesn't become a criminal if they run you over." Jason stared at the road, wondering exactly why he was helping a stranger. He wasn't the kindest fellow around after all.

"Yes, sir! Won’t happen again…sir!" He was surprised at the stranger’s kindness but didn’t dare question it. Holding tightly the bird, he walked towards the rolling thing’s door and realized he didn’t know how to open it. "How…"

This kid is weird. He thought. When Jason saw that he couldn't open the door, he grumbled and leaned over to open the door for him. He couldn't really blame the kid, Jason was just as confused the first time he had arrived in the strange land. "Seriously, you don't know how to open a door?"

First of all, to me the sky is only interesting at night and second, a deer crossed the road right in front of me and I tend to get distracted by things like that.

"Thank you for telling me such unnecessary details about yourself. Do you understand that there are idiotic people in the world that wouldn't have stopped even if they saw someone in the middle of the road?"