When a certain blue-skinned demon boil finally came to, it was on the floor under a cot in the nurse's office. The lights were off- he supposed it was after hours - so he at least afforded the dignity to be alone with his thoughts.

Alone. Such a bitter word.

The events that had transpired in the gym came back to him slowly, bits and pieces. It had all happened so quickly and yet seemed to span such an immense amount of time. He felt foggy, as he limped back to his dorm room. Disoriented; sore. He reached up to touch his throat, a feather light-brush, and winced. JD slipped into the demon's large hall with it's shadowy corridors, no one the wiser. The only sound was his hushed breathing, the creak of his door opening -the click of a light switch.

There was no one there to greet him this time.

He made his way carefully to the bathroom, inspecting his reflection. A necklace of bruises flushed the skin at his neck a darker blue, a color that matched the hair that brushed his shoulders and fell into a tangle down his back. He stared at himself, eyes still wide with shock. He'd died. Again. But what was perhaps more disturbing was that, right up until the end, it hadn't been entirely unpleasant. It scared him, deep into his core. It was something about himself he'd never had to face, something he'd never known. Maybe it changed everything; maybe nothing. He was only sure of one thing.

He was afraid he'd liked it.

JD spent the rest of the following day skipping class. He holed up in his room instead, reading old fan letters, listening to his favorite records. Watching skelevision. A bright red scarf was wrapped around his throat, hiding the marks. Out of sight, out of mind, right? He felt a little out of his mind, now. He just wanted normalcy. Couldn't think about that delicious weight against his, the feel of Herryk's breath against his skin. The pressure. Pushing, pushing; pushing until something finally snapped and he was washed away. It was as perverse as it was intimate. Had he really wanted that kiss? Had it been the pumpkin juice, the loneliness speaking? Or was it something else?

Did he have... Bromantic feelings, for his large, dark and handsome friend? He shook his head. No. He wouldn't think of it. Couldn't. He flicked the channels aimlessly, and his mind wandered. His hair had felt like silk, tangled and knotted in his fingers. Had he really bitten him? It seemed so strange. Only the mark around his throat attested that this wasn't some kind of strange dream. JD fiddled with the scarf unconsciously. If he closed his eyes, he could almost go back to that moment -

An hour and several cold showers later, a wet, shivering JD slumped back onto his sofa, hair plastered damply around his face. He'd donned a high-collar smoking jacket now. Maybe he should leave and go eat. Talk to other people. Be normal. Stop thinking about a flash of glowing blue eyes behind a black fountain of hair. He sighed wistfully, flinging an arm over his head in a dramatic fashion. He had this really odd desire to start scribbling his and Herryk's name inside a big heart on the edges of his notebooks. Maybe he could hunt down a copy of that mag that had implied they were lovers. Stick the cover in the edge of his mirror. Gaze upon it lovingly, yeah-

He had gotten so deeply involved in his fantasizing that he didn't notice his slow slide down the sofa, and he landed with a CLUNK and an estranged grunt on the floor. After a few minutes, a golden hand resurfaced, gripping the coffee table and bearing it's owner back upright. At least he wasn't still rooming with the guy. He must have a fever. Viking fever. Yeah, maybe that was like, his FEAR power or something. Somehow he couldn't recall any articles about warrior ghosts and switching teams, but it had to be SOMETHING. Some kind of foul, dark, sexy handsome chiseled jaw no no no no magic.

Yeah. Maybe he should go see Cricket after all.

He crawled back over to his room pathetically, digging through his clothing trunk until he found his favorite skinny jeans and the scarf he'd discarded earlier. That was the ticket. Just go and get checked out, medicated, x-rayed, analyzed. She could fix him up, easy. She had loads of experience to be working for this academy, right? She'd probably seen this kinna thing before. He just needed to get this taste for the tundra out his system. Lose his sea legs. And maybe she would give him a few protection charms, for good measure.

A few dozen. You never know when a er. Ghoul, yes, definitely ghoul. Would come along. Willing and able and all that.

And if he saw Herryk again, well... He just wouldn't. It was too confusing, too many... feelings. Besides, JD didn't need friends when he had fans.