One week.

One week of being an 🍑hole to Yuri before going back to sweet little innocent boy wanting to learn a lot about World History, Biology, Algebra, and all that good stuff.

One week of eating strawberry tarts and cake with y/n, seething whenever she stopped to feed her attention starved husband instead before Kilian snatched the fork and shoved the sweet treat down the unsuspecting man's throat out of nowhere.

One week of learning to play chess with Yuri, playing board games with the young couple, and studying non stop with the occasional cuddle break which was rudely interrupted.

One week, and then a message from heaven arrived.

"What? You're leaving?"

Kilian paused, looking up from the Biology textbook he'd buried his face into for the past thirty minutes to give his Aunt and her husband a round eyed stare.

Y/n was in the middle of preparing a little snack, having intended to use it as an excuse to get Kilian to stop studying like a no-life and take a little brain break before he continued. Y/n knew he was determined to take in as much information as possible, Yuri was there with her, and they'd been discussing something in hushed voices until y/n spoke up.

The words "You're leaving" filled Kilian with such joy that he almost jumped to his feet and whooped with delight. He didn't, of course, his plan would be ruined if his Aunt realized just how much he disliked her husband.

Kilian tried not to look interested as he listened intently to the conversation.

"It's another business trip, so I won't be here to see if Kilian passes the exam or not." Yuri explained, "But I'll be here for the interview, I promise! If he even gets in-"

"Yuri."

"I MEAN, OF COURSE HE'LL GET IN, HAHA-!"

Y/n shook her head with a small sigh, "That's good news, but I'm a little disappointed. You and Kilian have been getting along so well recently..."

Kilian was rather pleased to know that his Aunt suspected nothing, 'No, we aren't. I'm merely using him to learn as much as possible before the entrance exam.'

"When are you leaving?"

"Sometime tomorrow afternoon."

"Hm, good." y/n clapped once with a look of delight upon her face, "Then you can take Kilian to the exam tomorrow morning."

"Wait, what!?" both Yuri and Kilian demanded.

"W-Why can't you take me there?" Kilian questioned with round eyes.

"I'm busy tomorrow, Kil, I'm really sorry." y/n apologized as she picked up the tray of snacks she'd prepared for the little boy, "I'll be there to pick you up and take you to lunch, but..." 'I really would like to see him off to the exam... but Gabe said that this was important...'

Kilian stared at his Aunt in dismay before giving Yuri an irritated look, 'Oh well... guess I have to settle for this nutcase. It's not like I'll have to spend much time around him anyways, he'll be gone soon enough.'

The little boy scooted to the side to allow his Aunt to sit down next to him, watching ruefully as she nudged the textbooks and notes he'd taken out of the way and placed the tray of snacks down, "Come on, it's time for a break."

"But I-!"

"All that studying you do will be useless if you're hungry." y/n interrupted, "At least eat a little, alright?"

Kilian let out a quiet groan, averting his gaze as he debated silently.

"If he doesn't want anything, I'll gladly eat!" Yuri interjected, taking a seat next to y/n and resting his head on her shoulder with a sparkly eyed look.

The little boy jumped, startled by this, before snapping, "No, it's mine! Back off!"

"First come, first served, kid!"

"Auntie made it for me, butt out you food thief!"

"Do you pay bills?"

"Do you have a healthy work-life balance!?"

Y/n wearily watched the duo bicker before chuckling to herself.

She picked up two crackers, slapped some cheese on them, then handed one each to her husband and nephew, "There you go! Make sure you eat some fruit as well, and be sure to try those olives!"

Kilian decided to eat in silence, glowering at Yuri while the man did the same.

Bah, he didn't have the time to fight with a fool like this one!

The young boy glanced back at the textbooks with a worried look before turning back to the snacks on the tray in front of him, 'I guess it's about time I took a little break...'

Kilian ended up falling asleep before he could even eat much of everything, and y/n ended up tucking him in and staying up a little later to set out his clothes and everything for the next day.

✄ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The exams were exactly how Kilian expected them to be.

When Kilian and Yuri first arrived, that horrible feeling returned to Kilian's stomach at the sight of so many people gathered in one spot at the same time. He honestly wanted to turn and flee down the street, screaming like a psychopath, but refrained from doing so.

That wouldn't be very cool, now would it?

The young man and his nephew walked in complete silence as they made their way through Eden Academy's grounds, making their way to a large building. As they were walking, Yuri took notice of Kilian's antsy and frantic behavior.

"Hey, brat." Yuri suddenly spoke up and Kilian gave him a sharp glare, "What's 4²?"

"16."

"9²?"

"If you're trying to get me to think about math to calm my nerves, it's not working." Kilian sat flatly, giving the young man an irritated little glare, "There's way too many people here?"

"You have such a bad attitude..." Yuri sighed, "Even if you get in, you're definitely not going to have any friends with an attitude as bad as that."

The young boy crossed his arms with a, "Humph!"

"You like math, don't you?"

"No, I hate it." Kilian replied curtly, yet he could already hear Anya's voice.

"Kilian is a bad liar."

"Hm, well, do whatever calms you the most." Yuri sighed with a dismissive wave of the hand, "What was it that you've been doing... counting prime numbers?"

'Ugh, this dude-!' Kilian thought with a furious look, 'He noticed!?'

Kilian paused before frowning, 'Wait, he's a member of the State Security Service. Isn't it basically his job as an interrogator to notice this kind of stuff?'

The little boy pouted, but Yuri felt satisfied when he heard the soft mumbling of numbers coming from the kid as they made their way over to the hall where the exam would be taking place.

When they got there, pausing off to the side so they wouldn't block others entering the building, Kilian had stopped murmuring numbers under his breath and turned his gaze to Yuri instead.

"Erm... have a nice business trip." he mumbled, "And thanks for helping me with studying. Hugaria is really fun, at least that's what I remember, so have fun and please don't come home looking like you haven't slept in weeks. It worries Auntie."

Kilian gave him an awkward punch to the arm before hurrying up to the line of children waiting to be let into the hall, leaving Yuri in stunned silence.

"...wha?"

Did... did Kilian just say something nice to him?

Yes, but actually no.

He was basically telling the man not to cause y/n any stress, but it came across as a simple request for him to enjoy himself and take it easy.

Kilian continued counting prime numbers as he was given a number and a seat where he wandered and sat down. The noise of the world around him was fuzzy as other children wandered to their seats and tests were passed out.

When his eyes landed upon the math questions and scanned over some problems involving telling time and some literary problems as well. He felt a rush of relief, 'It's stuff that I recognize...'

This exam wouldn't be that bad.

When it began and some professor strolled around the room to look out for any signs of cheating, Kilian and the many other children in the room began their test.

'Easy-peasy...' Kilian thought with delight as he continued circling answers, but paused at the sight of one, 'Wha... what is this!?'

The boy gawked at the biology related question on his test, something about valence electrons or whatever. The sight of this made Kilian grimace, 'Eugh...'

He hastily flipped to the next page, 'I don't need to do the Biology problems, haha, perfect exam scores are overrated anyways. Besides, it'll be bad if I stand out too much. Attention leaves way too many risks of those people finding me again, or someone finding out about my abilities.'

As Kilian was nearing the end of his exam, he noticed that the girl next to him seemed to be struggling a little. He'd subconsciously been aware of how quickly the girl was progressing, but it seemed like she was struggling with the question.

It was asking about the definition of the word 'Pulchritudinous'.

Even Kilian faltered at the sight of the word, only managing to recall its meaning after a quick scan of the answers provided on the paper. Sheesh, how the heck was any kid supposed to answer that!?

There'd be those who would guess and somehow get it right, or those who didn't try at all and just skipped it, so Kilian came to the conclusion that it was a sort of bonus question. A question meant to test the children.

Ah, the girl seemed smart. It'd be fine.

...

"Beautiful."

The girl beside him blinked and gave him a curious look, finding that Kilian was still looking down at his own exam and answering the questions with a focused look.

The girl looked around with puzzled brown eyes before looking back at Kilian, "...pardon?"

Usually, Kilian would be worried that he'd be caught for helping another kid with their exam, but the simple use of his ability fixed that right up.

To everyone else in the room, Kilian and the girl were still diligently writing away at their exams without paying each other any mind.

"The answer. It's beautiful." Kilian repeated quietly before glancing at the dark brown haired girl beside him, "It's a tough word, difficult to answer if you're not familiar with Latin, I just figured I'd let you know. As a... a learning opportunity."

"Oh." the girl smiled before speaking in a quiet tone, "Thank you, I'll be sure to remember this little learning experience from now on."

Kilian nodded curtly before returning to his exam.

'Huh.' Kilian felt the familiar sinking feeling of eyes on him, 'Why do I get the feeling that I made a huge mistake just now?'

After the exams were done and all the children were returning to their parents, Kilian stood alone by the street as he waited for Y/n to come pick him up. She was likely being accompanied by her bodyguard again, and Kilian figured that Miss Elena would be coming along so the two of them could become familiar with one another.

Ah... Kilian wanted cake. He felt drained of all energy, and really needed something sweet to get him back to tip-top shape again.

"Hey! Latin boy!"

'Latin boy...!?'

Kilian turned with a curious look and his heart almost dropped in his chest when he saw that girl from before strolling towards him, smiling and waving at him.

He suddenly felt tired, 'Oh boy, I did make a mistake.'

The girl joined him beside the road with a, "Are you waiting for your parents to come pick you up?"

"My Aunt."

"Your Aunt, huh? What does she do?"

"Is that really important?"

The girl paused, blinking in surprise before smiling, "Haha, you're right, what I should be asking is your name! I can't just go calling you Latin Boy, now can I?"

Kilian rubbed the back of his neck, cheeks going warm. Sheesh, talking was difficult.

"Kilian." he said simply, averting his gaze as he fidgeted with his hands, "Kilian... uhm... y'know what, let's just leave it at my first name.

After being taken in by y/n, they had to have his last name changed from Leone to Briar to keep him and his Aunt out of trouble. It was still a little difficult for Kilian since this meant he'd be sharing a surname with that disgusting man y/n called her husband, so he decided to just avoid having to say the surname at all.

Kilian inhaled shakily, calming his nerves as he met the girl's gaze with the steadiest gaze he could manage, "And your name is, pulchritudinous girl?"

The brown eyed girl's eyes rounded and Kilian realized his second mistake as she smiled and giggled to herself, '💩, she called me Latin Boy so I thought I'd call her Pulchritudinous Girl to refer to the question she'd been having problems with as a way to make a joke of some kind but THE WORD MEANS BEAUTIFUL AND SHE PROBABLY THINKS I'M FLIRTING WITH HER OR SOMETHING AND NOW SHE'S GONNA-!'

"Hehe, my name is Becky. It's very nice to meet you, Kilian." Becky replied with a warm smile and offered her hand to him, "I hope we can be really good friends, maybe we'll end up in the same class!"

'NOOOOO, THIS IS THE LAST THING I WANTED!!!' Kilian thought in despair as he shakily took her hand and shook it, 'AUNTIE! HELP! HELPPPP!!!! I DON'T WANT FRIENDS, I WANT PEACE AND QUIET!'

"Young Master Kilian?" came a voice and Kilian felt a rush of relief as he released Becky's hand and glanced over to Elena who stood nearby with a little smile.

She waved, "Oh? Did you make a new friend?"

"Erm, yeah, this is Miss Becky." Kilian hummed, letting go of her hand and gesturing to her instead, "Miss Becky, this is... my Nanny. Miss Elena."

"I see." Elena chirped with a nod, "Well, Miss Becky, I would invite you to join us all for lunch but I'm sure your parents would want to know first. Perhaps another time, but for now, we must go."

Kilian glanced at Becky before awkwardly nodding to her with a smile, "Ahem, I've gotta go now. Farewell, Miss Becky, do have a nice day."

The boy and his Nanny began walking away together after Becky said goodbye, and Elena gave the clearly exhausted young boy an amused little smile.

"Hehe, farewell, eh? You speak very formally, Young Master Kilian." Elena chuckled, "You must like your new friend a lot."

"H-Huh!? I do not!"

"Got a crush on her, hm?"

"Of course not, we only just met!" Kilian protested before sighing to himself, 'But I can already tell, I'm going to be seeing a lot of her in the future.'