Who knows how long Luka had been in the Potion Brewing 101 lab? It didn’t matter. This wasn’t his first rodeo—staying up late, reading about curses, and trying to brew potions was his routine. Classical music blasted in his ears, Schubert’s Ave Maria bringing him a semblance of tranquility amid the storm within.

I have to keep researching… Keep reading… Keep testing.

A yawn escaped him, but he remained focused, reading over his notes and erasing anything that didn’t make the cut. “Crow’s eye potion didn’t do anything,” he muttered to himself as the only sound in the room was the scratching of his pencil on paper. “Neither did the bunny-rat piss…”

He let his pencil drop, groaning as he rubbed his face. Luka could feel the strange sensation of his thin skin barrier against his bones, a stark contrast to his human hand. He hated it, hated being different. He didn’t fit in anywhere, not with humans or monsters. Shaking his head, he reminded himself to stay on track.

A cure. You need to find a cure, a way out of this curse. So you can finally be normal and loved.

So absorbed in his thoughts and studies, Luka didn’t notice Anon entering. He moved his hands away from his face, startled when he saw them. He gasped loudly, falling backward in his chair, which tipped over with a loud thud. The papers on his desk flying in the air and his headphones landing by Anon’s feet.

Ave Maria played loudly from his headphones, audible to both of them. He scrambled to his phone, shutting off the song before looking at Anon. They couldn’t know he was into classical music. He was already a loser in their eyes, didn’t need to give them more reasons why.

Trying to sit up, he winced as his bones ached from the fall. “Agh… Once he managed to sit up, he used his bone manipulation to make his ache go away. His eyes glowed red for a moment before he rolled his shoulder and cracked all his joints. “Much better”, he muttered, while slowly looking up at Anon.

He cleared his throat and gave them a narrow, annoyed stare. “Didn’t anyone ever mention that it’s rather impolite to sneak up on someone like that? Or do you not consider such things important?” he asked with a hint of bitterness, rubbing the back of his neck. When he noticed they remained silent and just stared at him, his frustration grew. “Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”