Hard to Explain

“Well, he’s clearly not human, since I get along with him fairly easily. Most people make me panic.” He paused for a brief moment. “On that note, you can’t be human either, then, can you?”

A grin lit up Josh’s face. “Hate to break it to you, but I’m 100% human. Or, well, wizard-y human, but human. Both of my parents are human of the non-wizard-y variety. Maybe you’re getting much better with the human thing, after all. That would ruin my perfectly valid theory about Dodge, though.” Josh considered that for a moment. “Maybe I’m your human exception?”

“But why you out of all other humans?” Aiden asked seriously.

“That’s a very valid question,” Josh responded, equally seriously. “I wouldn’t think it would be likely, either. Maybe it’s magic. Josh magic.”

“Perhaps... or perhaps you lied about being human.”

Josh couldn’t help but crack up. “Okay, wow. Me lying is actually the least possible solution. Have you seen my face?” He pointed at it. “It is very, very expressive. It is also very, very not good at lying. It is actually terrible at lying. Like, the absolute worst at it. I get away with lying with this face about 4% of the time.”

“So about as often as I do.”

“Apparently,” Josh said, his grin widening. “Maybe that’s why I’m not terrifying. You can pretty much tell exactly what I’m feeling just by looking at my face and my hands.” He held up his hands. “Fidgety is a good sign. Anything else means trouble or subspace.”

“If anything, that should make you more terrifying. Because, sure, it’s there, but what if I read it incorrectly? That could lead to so many problems.”

“That hadn’t even occurred to me,” Josh mused. “Is it because I talk too much? There isn’t much chance for you to say something wrong if you can’t get a word in edgewise.”

“Dodge says I think too much. Or I think about things most people ignore. So lots of things occur to me.” Ai shrugged lightly. “And perhaps. But I don’t talk much to begin with.”

“RJ tells me I think way too much, too, about strange things,” Josh said. He hadn’t realized that he had anything in common with Aiden at all, but it seemed like more and more was popping up as the conversation was going along. “He’s constantly making me backtrack and explain myself, because my brain is always all over the place, and it makes leaps that don’t always make sense to other people who don’t have access to the wonky way my head works.”

“You’ve made perfect sense to me so far, if that means anything.”

“It means everything,” Josh said happily, “although I don’t think I’ve been particularly confusing today. My brain’s still not quite booted up yet. My mouth always warms up way ahead of my brain.”

“I’m surprisingly alert for the hour. Usually, I’d still be asleep, or on days with classes, asleep in my first class.”

“I’ve never been able to sleep through class, even though I don’t like mornings,” Josh said. “Once I’m up, I’ve got more energy than I know what to do with, most of the time. The trick is just getting me up. Food usually works pretty well, or persistent alarms. I’m more likely to doodle or get bored and accidentally start changing the color of my shoes than I am to fall asleep.”

“I don’t function completely until noon or so. Yet, I’m aceing my classes... Sort of.”

“I’ve mostly got my shit together where school’s concerned. Back in muggle school, I still got good grades, but I was an absolute terror to deal with. Magical teachers are so much better for dealing with unreasonable amounts of energy and magic than the muggle teachers are.”

“I’d have better grades if I really wanted them. But I’m doing well enough to be happy with them and myself, and that’s all I care about.”

Josh smiled genuinely. “That’s all you should have to care about, then. You being happy with yourself should be your priority.”

“It’s a definite work in progress. With lots of... helpful but mostly unwanted nudging.”

“Let me guess,” Josh said, “Dodger?”

“Dodger,” he confirmed flatly.

“He’s a good person, and he means well,” Josh said softly. “And, even just from what you said, it’s helping some, right?”

“I suppose so, yes.”