- 23 -

                                    

                                          
Only a day after his conversation with Gyuvin did Matthew find himself sitting in the familiar comfort of Taerae's bedroom. He'd stuffed himself snugly in the corner of his bed almost as soon as he'd arrived, instinctively, a mug of hot tea graciously prepared for him by the omega resting between his palms. Taerae had sat across from him, hunched over that arm chair he'd slept on during his heat. He'd been busy, that's what he'd told Matthew, and it was clear as he continued to flip through the pile of paperwork sitting on his lap. With the announcement of Ricky's disciplinary hearing scheduled a week from then, it didn't shock Taerae that Matthew had come for a visit. After all, they were all worried about how this would affect Ricky's future.
"D'you know what the hearing's going to be like?" Matthew asked; he genuinely didn't know. He'd only ever seen disciplinary hearings on TV shows.
Taerae let out a labored breath as he lifted his gaze from the paperwork. Matthew didn't have a clue what he was reading; still wouldn't have a clue if he did, it wasn't a surprise that Taerae seemed so stressed when he had piles and piles of paperwork to read through. "It's really not that complicated honestly. They'll go through what he's done wrong, list the evidence, and then give him a chance to explain himself."
"So what's all that then?" He pointed to the folder.
Taerae glanced down, flipped a page or two, then let if fall shut, "Well they've approved me as his support. I need to read up on the legalities of it all, see if I can find a loophole or something."
"Would there be a loophole?"
"Well from what I know, there's not any laws against omega's entering alpha exclusive spaces, however, each school board is allowed to choose their own rules about who they emit, so it's not going to be an easy argument to make." Taerae sighed, tapping his nails against the outer plastic covering of the folder, "I'm going to look into any prior cases of this happening, if there is any, I might be able to learn something from those."
Matthew nuzzled back against the pillows, letting the warm tea trickle down his throat, soothing the heavy feeling in his stomach, "I just wish there was something we could do. My dad was worried about upsetting the omega sponsors, maybe we could plead our case to them." He suggested, recalling how conflicted his father was the day of Ricky's exposure. Surely the sponsors would have the most pull of anyone over Ricky's future. 
"I don't know if we'll have the time to track them down and speak to them all." Taerae dropped his head against the heel of his palm, smacking it frustratedly a few times. Something quiet slipping out from under his breath, "Ugh if only I could have gotten that article published."
Matthew cocked his head, "What article?"
Taerae perked up again, eyes slightly wide, as if he was shocked he'd forgotten to tell Matthew about it, "I wrote an article about Ricky. I thought I'd try and get his side of the story out there, but Melting point didn't approve it." He reached down to the pile of folders sitting at the side of his chair, flicking between the pile to pull out the very thing Matthew had almost forgotten he'd come there for. "I still have it here." He twisted the pen drive between his fingers, Matthew following each and every minuscule movement before it was tossed off to the side carelessly. "There's no use focusing on that now. I'm determined to find some other way of getting Ricky to stay at that school."
It hadn't clicked with Matthew until then, not until Taerae had began searching through another folder, that he fully comprehended what Gyuvin wanted from Taerae. A pen drive isn't just a pen drive, it's a key, but what Matthew hadn't known before had now been unlocked unintentionally. So Gyuvin wanted that article, but why? Matthew wasn't completely sure. 
If Melting point had already rejected it, then it wouldn't make sense for Gyuvin's intentions to involve sabotage. Then again, it was possible he'd want to destroy it so it could never be published anywhere else, although, Taerae could always write the article again, he was smart enough to do so, so it really was unlikely that Gyuvin had bad intentions. He'd assured that himself. Gyuvin wanted to help Ricky, that's what he had to remind him of. Matthew wouldn't have agreed to the favor otherwise.