Chapter Text
"So you're Kay, right?" Sapnap asked as Kay composed herself slightly, forcing her smile down and replacing it with a poker face. Words of her past rules echoed in her head, simple and straight, and yet she'd already let them leave her mind and hadn't followed them correctly.
Rule #1: Never show emotions that others can exploit
Rule #2: Always pretend to be happy, no matter what happens
Rule #3: Don't fight
Of course, Kay always managed to break rule three. But it was always for a good reason, and Kay never technically started the fight herself, only finishing it when it happened. So what if she had provoked the person first? She still always fought for a good reason and left everybody but the bullies alone. She just couldn't stand the way that some people wanted to hurt others. So she put a stop to it.
"Wanna come for a tour?" Sapnap asked her, drawing Kay out of her thoughts.
Kay nodded slowly, careful to pretend to still be happy. She stood slowly from her chair, scooching it back into the table carefully, and then following Sapnap through the doorway and up a set of rickety, narrow wooden stairs that she had to take one at a time while he bounded up them. He was clearly well practiced. Kay wondered how long he had been at the orphanage exactly.
"You know, you don't have to pretend you're happy if you're not," Sapnap said when Kay reached him, a breathless, false smile forced onto her face.
Kay raised an eyebrow at him, "And what makes you think that I'm not happy?" She asked.
"Your face. It's pretty obvious. You're better than most kids at pretending, but I'm better than most kids at telling when people are pretending. So I'm saying to you now, you don't have to pretend to be happy," Sapnap explained.
"Sure," Kay shrugged. It wasn't like she believed him or anything. There wasn't a single place on earth where Kay could actually be herself and not be shunned.
"That's not true!"
Oh. Had she said that out loud?
It was about three hours before sunset, when Kay found herself alone in a small bedroom, perched on top of a creaky, but comfortable looking mattress. She heaved a sigh, leaning her head back. George and Sam had said that they wanted to talk to her, so she would let them come before she went to bed, but she really was tired and it was tempting to curl up in the actually thick, warm looking blankets.
There was a knock on Kay's door, and Kay looked up, "Come in," She said.
Sam poked his head in first, followed quickly by George. Both of them offered Kay a smile as George closed the door behind himself and then went to sit beside her.
"Kaylah," He said hesitantly, making Kay freeze. No one had called her by her full name in a long time.
"That's the name," Kay snapped, too startled to do anything else.
"Kaylah Jane Mariah Walter, correct?" George finished, her whole name falling from his lips like it meant nothing for him to say it, when in reality it meant everything to Kay.
"You read my file," She breathed, her eyes wide as she turned to really look at him for the first time. She could see sadness swimming in his brown eyes, as well as...concern? And maybe a bit of fear, as well. Maybe he was afraid of her, or maybe...he was afraid for her. Afraid for her future if she kept on acting like she always did. Afraid for the people she would beat up, but mostly, maybe, he was afraid for Kay herself when she walked out of the fight. And when that day came when she took on too much and eventually didn't.
"Of course I read your file, Kiddo," George nudged her shoulder gently, drawing her from her thoughts.
"No one else has," She told him truthfully. Because why lie to someone who cared enough to actually put the time into looking through the pages after pages of pictures and notes and bad grades and rejections.
"Well we all did," George gestured to Sam and himself, and Kay was absolutely sure that Dream was included as well. "We learned that your full name is Kaylah Jane Mariah Walter. Your parents were Annabeth Jane Walter and Michael Bruce Walter. And you went into foster care when you were six years old because of a car accident. I know that you still have scars, both physical and mental, from that accident. I know that you've been to nine foster homes, and this is your tenth. I know that this is your last chance before juvie. And I know that you're not happy at all."
"Were you impressed?" Kay questioned.
"By the way you've been treated? I was infuriated," George told her, reaching out to brush a bit of hair behind her ear gently. It was a calming gesture that made Kay lean into his hand slightly. She wasn't sure why she trusted him so wholly, but she certainly did.
"Why would you-"
Sam interrupted her as he practically read her mind, "Because we care about you Kay."
George shot him a look, but nodded, "He's right. We don't care about the bad grades that you've made before this house. Or about the fights, most of which were self defense. But we do care about you working to get your act together here. If you need help, I never want you to hesitate to ask. Actually, if you need anything, never hesitate. Even just a hug, which we'll all gladly provide."
Kay sniffed, "Can I have one now then?" She asked, surprising even herself.
George reached out immediately and tucked her against his chest, placing her ear quite deliberately on his left side, where she could hear the thumping of his heartbeat. "Of course," He said.
Maybe, Kay decided, just maybe, this place would be different than all of the others.