He sat at his desk, head down, eyes concentrating on the novel he was reading for an extra credit book report. The only light on in the room was a stainless steel desk lamp. It was a normal night for Tory. His mom always chided him, claiming that it would strain his eyes to be focusing on homework. In his mind, he was sure his eyes were already strained from the amount of hours he clocked in with reading, writing notes, doing projects and studying.

Tory yawned, not in the least bit interested in the book's subject matter nor did he have any desire to be holed up in his bedroom looking like an academic super kid. Which, despite his efforts, he actually wasn't. By no means was Tory stupid. His grades were slightly above average; extra credit projects and a good rapport with the teachers giving him a boost.

He felt irritated. Fuck it, I should be a genius by now. Tory groaned and placed a folded piece of paper that served as his bookmark into the novel. In the notebook beside him, he scribbled down what page he had gotten to. 357. Thankfully that had been the goal he'd set for himself earlier. He was tracking his reading progress to make sure he made the dead line and didn't slack nor have to rush at the end. The whole idea of having to actually plan this type of shit made him feel like an idiot. Too bad he'd been doing it for so long he was pretty good at it.

The sound of the front door opening shook him out of his "woe is me" session. It was Domnik returning home from work. Tory bolted out of his room, happy to have a reason to escape. He slowed his pace to go down the stairs, carefully eyeing each step he took. He had a history of slipping if he rushed. When he reached the bottom, he grinned, wide blue eyes regarded his step-brother who was currently slipping off his shoes.

"Hey, how's it goin'?" Tory asked, genuinely interested.