I was playing hangman and guess what my word was? Bioluminescence (yes, I did lose). And that was where this came in.

When Nathaniel woke on Monday morning it was to the feeling of air against his skin and the remnants of a peach-pale glow at the edges of his vision. The first of these occurrences was normal; he kicked in his sleep, violently to be sure. But the second, the glow, that was something he’d never experienced before.

He sat up, only mildly disturbed so far, and raised his hands. His palms looked relatively normal, but when he turned his hands over the skin was shimmering faintly. And now Nathaniel was just a little bit more than mildly disturbed.

“What the hell..” he mumbled, swinging himself out of bed and stumbling to his vanity with the air of someone who hasn’t used their legs for twelve hours. Which, in his defense, was true, but also completely irrelevant.

The face in the mirror was Nathaniel’s, definitely. But his skin was bright and clear and incredibly pretty–almost like a covergirl for skin care but...well, prettier, and it made his eyes look even darker than normal, his eyelashes thick and nearly pitch-black against his eyelids. In short, it was the kind of face his sister Zella would kill for.

And speaking of Zella, his bedroom door seemed to say as it shook on its hinges, she would kill him anyway if he made her late for school. Quickly, Nathaniel lunged for his closet and pulled out an outfit at random, throwing the shirt on and slipping into the jeans with just a little more difficulty. They were probably Zella’s, Nathaniel thought, making a face; they were almost the same size, something that irked Nathaniel endlessly. It probably had something to do with the fact that neither of the siblings could tell their jeans apart anyway, so she was most likely wearing Nathaniel’s.

He found out when he threw the door open, tugging the back of his converse over his heel and balancing on one leg. Yes, she was wearing his jeans; worn and faded and ripped at one knee. When he looked up to see her face, Zella’s expression went from irritated to awed in a few seconds, dark eyes wide.

“Jesus, Nate, when did you turn into a poster child for anti-aging cream?” She asked, poking him lightly. Nathaniel scowled, pushing his bangs away from his face. It was probably just a side-effect of having recently woken up or something, so he brushed it off as irrelevant.

“Shut up, Zella. I don’t know what happened, I just woke up like this.” Nathaniel pushed past her, jumping down the steps two at a time as she pursued him. “Is Kale awake yet?”

“He’d better be!” Zella replied, skittering past him as they reached the tiled floor of the kitchen. “I told him to get up ten minutes ago! If he’s not getting enough sleep he should go to bed earlier!”

Nathaniel snorted at that; Zella knew perfectly well why their older brother wasn’t one for early nights, but she loved to bother him about his habits. Especially the habits that involved his significant others, Dani and Zach, both of whom had still been awake when Nathaniel went to bed last night.

He found his cell phone on the kitchen counter, shoving it into his pocket and casting a glance at the clock on the microwave. Six-thirteen, four minutes before their bus arrived. Four minutes to get Kale, plus Dani and Zach, up and dressed and outside. They’d have to skip breakfast, which was fine with Nathaniel because he didn’t eat in the mornings anyway. But the other three would complain and whine, and Zella would end up singing at an incredible volume to drown them out, and that was why Nathaniel sat at the very front of the bus.

Three minutes, now, and Nathaniel called out a dismissal to the house in general and slipped outside, grabbing his backpack from beside the door.

Outside it was cool and gray, silent and still because only the poor, sleepy schoolchildren who were too tired to make noise at the ungodly hour were awake. Nathaniel shivered, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his foot impatiently. His siblings (biological and pseudo-adopted) were all going to be late if they didn’t hurry their sorry selves up, he thought crossly. Why was it that he was always the only one awake? Was it too much to ask to go to bed at a decent time the night before–

The door slammed behind him, startling Nathaniel out of his thoughts. He half-turned to see Kale, disheveled and half-dead, preceded by Zella. Behind him were Dani (his kind of not really girlfriend), a serious, sensible redhead, and Zach (his actual full-time boyfriend), a hyperactive blond, both definitely more alert than Kale. That’s what he gets for staying up so late, Nathaniel jeered mentally. Although it was probably all Zach’s fault, like normal, but at least he got up when he was told to.

“G’morning, Nate!” Zach chirped, practically bouncing to Nathaniel’s side. “I see you’re up bright and early!”

“Like everyone else on this patch of sidewalk?” Nathaniel retorted dryly, raising an eyebrow at Zach. He just laughed, rotating and taking both of Kale’s limp hands to swing back and forth.

“Tha-at’s right!” the blond sing-songed, grinning. Kale growled, too tired to pull away and too irritated not to try and make Zach stop.

“Cut it out, Zach,” Dani interpreted, rolling her eyes and pulling Zach’s hands off of Kale’s. Zach opted to dance with Dani instead, spinning her theatrically as she kept a blank, bored face. “You know, he’s going to get you for that later.”

“Kay’s never a morning person,” Zach said, tilting his head side-to-side with each word. “Not like–like, hey, Nate, what’s up with your face? You’re like, glowing or something.” He dropped Dani’s hands, coming back to scrutinize Nathaniel’s skin. Nathaniel leaned away, praying for the familiar screech of schoolbus tires because this was getting weird. Was his complexion really glowing like he’d thought it was this morning? No, of course not. Zach was just being an idiot like he always was.

“It’s like afterglow, almost,” Dani observed, smirking slightly. “Not telling us something, Nate?”

“What?” Nathaniel scowled, shaking his head. “That’s–”

“Stupid, I think,” Zella interrupted, grinning. “How many people have you ever seen Nate bring home?”

“Point taken,” Dani replied.

Nathaniel backed up, his scowl darkening. The bus had finally arrived, thankfully, and he took advantage of the opportunity to leap up the dark steps and find himself a seat. The blue pleather bench he chose first was empty, to his delight; he let out a breath of relief as he slid into it, dropping his backpack to the floor.

Zach was the next on, looking to Nathaniel like he was about to say something or possibly even sit down with him. But Nathaniel scowled and swung his legs up onto the seat so as to deter him, and it worked when Zach pouted at him and sat down across the aisle and back a row. Kale, who gave him a sleepy look that said ‘Be nice’, flopped down haphazardly next to Zach and leaned his head on the blond’s shoulder, promptly falling asleep. Dani was pushed aboard by an impatient Zella, who skirted past her to sit with one of her friends at the back of the bus. Dani didn’t seem to mind, just finding her own seat across from Nathaniel and pulling a fondly dog-eared book from her backpack.

To Nathaniel, who functioned well enough in the mornings as it was, sleep did seem rather tempting right now. Giving into the lure of black behind his eyes, he let his eyelids slide shut, his forehead pressing into the back of the seat. Because hey, if everyone else could sleep, then so could he.