A Lifetime of Silence for Those Three Words

Ku’i Sinu was told he would never speak.

He lost his voice as an infant, near fatal bout of sickness permanently damaging vocal cords to the point of no return, landing him in a hospital and therapy until he was near 7.

Ku’i didn’t hate not being able to speak, there were definitely perks to his situation as it was presented. For 1, he could ignore other people whenever he felt like. The average American usually doesn’t bother learning sign language, so it’s easy to fake interest with a head nod or a loud breath.

Secondly it was also a cool thing to “bring to show and tell”. It’s not everyday when a kid comes in with a condition where the only noise they can make is gurgling that may vaguely sound like words if you squint hard enough.

Of course where there's pros there's also cons. And boy are there cons.

To start, most people avoid him and it becomes hard to make friend, especially when you can’t really keep up with their conversations. People also have a tendency to not believe in his mute-ness for lack of better word. He’ll often get pestered with ignorant questions about his condition.

He earned his reputation of being the loner, and kept that reputation throughout the majority of his school years.

Until this dumbass came out of nowhere and strutted straight into his life.

Theta was special to say the least. He lived with his 2 brothers rather then parents and having an almost obsessive outlook on art bringing up his singing or drawings in at least 1 conversation throughout the day.

Not that Ku’i minded, he could listen to Theta ramble all day long and never get tired of the older boy. Not to mention that Theta wasn’t a bad artist in any form of the aspect.

Theta grew interested in the younger boy when he moved into Anchorsville in 10th grade. At first he kept his distance and just observed. Watched as the smaller sat alone in class, sat alone at lunch, become the last picked, the unwanted.

Until one day he made up his mind.

Ku’i entered the English room as he normally did. 1st period was always the worst, not to mention that spoken English clearly was not his strong suit. He silently groaned in realization of the upcoming project.

Once class got started, the teacher announced about the group project and how everyone would be picking groups.

Before the echoing realization that he would be picked last even had the chance to surface, a tall raven-haired boy plopped down in front of him.

Ku’i blinked at him in both surprise and confusion as Theta cheerfully introduced himself to the silent boy. Unknowingly blossoming a friendship neither of them fully knew they needed.

They worked great together, Theta was patient and, despite not knowing sign language, did his damnedest to try and learn and give Ku’i time to express what he was fully trying to say.

This language barrier that Ku’i was always used to was suddenly almost completely gone. This was new to him, terrifying almost.

Both boys became almost dependent on each other, Theta found a way to fully express himself to someone who had nothing better to do then listen and Ku’i found someone to actually put his trust in.

It definitely wasn’t a smooth or easy process for either of the 2 and they both had fights. Ku’i, as Theta found out, didn’t need words to be expressive. It was actually rather easy to pick up on when the younger was mad once you learned the signs. Whether it be a slight tilt in his face, or smaller, less expressive arm movements during conversations.

Or at least that’s what he thought until the one night he got a call from the silent boy. Quite sniffs and gurgles came from the other end and Theta ended up sitting on call for nearly 5 hours with the other, responding to messages and sprinkling in stories or songs here and there.

It was then that Ku’i realized that he may or may not be as straight with his best friend as he thought.

That was not the last late night call the 2 would have despite the lack of spoken words from the smaller male.

It was senior year that Theta finally asked Ku’i out. Prom if we’re being specific.

Ku’i, of course, said yes.

Not many people were surprised when they found out, rather many were more shocked that the 2 wern’t together for the previous year.

They wore matching outfits to prom, of course, and had matching graduation caps to boot whenever the day came. It was about half a year after graduation when they evidently moved in together, and b o y was it chaos.