Xeno was cut off by him lifting the desk like it was nothing. He noticed that despite his slightly shorter stature, he was built, with thick arms and a wide stance that allowed him to hold the table.
He promptly unwrapped the desk, ripping the paper away without much effort, before looking back at Haiden, who put it down.
"You're really strong."
"Thanks, I go to the gym a couple times a week. It helps with the old social anxiety, you know?" Suddenly, Haiden's weighted dinosaur small business that had originally seemed slightly odd to him made sense. Of course he'd be making them, he'dprobably made the first for himself. Not that that was a bad thing.
He began clearing up the waste paper into a paper bag, noting that whoever this assailant was, at least they used recyclable paper. Meanwhile, Haiden began meticulously replacing the unwrapped items from the floor onto the table.
"Oh, no!" Haiden muttered under his breath, clutching what looked to Xeno like a piece of scrap paper.
"What?" Asked Xeno, looking up from his bag.
"These photos of me and my sister got damaged; I think they must have put tape on it and I didn't realise when I took it off."
He held up a photo strip from when he was younger of him and his sister, who looked to be three or four years older than he was. In the photos, Haiden couldn't have been more than eight years old. His sister's face on the second photo had been ripped cleanly off by the tape.
"Haiden, I'm so sorry."
He stared for a second before steeling his resolve. "It's fine, it isn't your fault. I probably just got careless when I was opening them. It's just that my sister's moved away since. I can get this re-edited, I'm just sentimental is all." He picked up the piece of tape that had his sister's face on it. They really looked alike, Xeno thought. With light, hay-blonde hair and freckles. Haiden's sister looked sunburnt; Xeno wondered if they were on holiday when this set of photobooth pictures was taken.
Haiden set the photo and the tape down on his desk, and looked back at him. There was quiet for a second as his light-blue eyes pierced Xeno's green. Finally, Haiden broke the silence.
"This whole situation won't stop until someone figures out who it was that killed Steve. It's just going to get worse and worse otherwise." He said, matter-of-factly. "I wanna look into it, but I don't know that I can do it alone."
"I could help you." Xeno replied, getting slightly excited at the prospect of a murder-mystery of sorts. Plus, if they found out the culprit, it would certainly boost his prospects of becoming the head of Astronomy.
"Really? You'd do that?" Haiden asked, looking at him gratefully.
"Of course!" he replied. Then, he decided to try his luck again. "Isn't that what.. friends do?"
"Right." Haiden replied, grinning. "I'm kind of excited, aren't you?"
"I am. I promise that I'll help you find the culprit. Doesn't that make you Watson?"
"I'd like to think that I'm Sherlock." Haiden countered, playfully. "I mean, it was my idea."
"To each their own." he looked away with sarcastic indifference, smirking.
"Where and when do you wanna meet up tomorrow?" Haiden asked, masterfully changing the subject to avoid a stalemate.
"I could do Octavia's cafe at 12?"
"Sounds good!" Suddenly, Haiden glanced at the clock on his desk. "Oh my goodness! I'm late to tour the primary schoolers from Willowheath primary! I've got three minutes to get to the front of the museum from here!"
Haiden looked around frantically, before his eyes settled on Xeno. "Thank you so so much for your help today, I really owe you one. I'm sorry to cut this short, but-"
"You've gotta run!" He exclaimed, gesturing to the door. "Being polite can wait. We can discuss it tomorrow!"
"I'd be glad to!" quipped Haiden, running out the door.
As he looked around Haiden's well-kept office, it struck him how odd it was that someone who was so organised in terms of his possessions could be so bad with timings. It was the complete opposite of him; his office was an absolute state usually, yet he was absolutely exact with his timings.
While he was leaving his office, he began to think about what he'd agreed to. It would be difficult, but surely they could narrow down the list of potential suspects.
"I'm totally Sherlock, look at me thinking like a detective." he thought to himself as he made the walk back to his office. Strangely, without Haiden, the walk seemed much longer.
As he was going back through the Astronomy hall, he came face to face with Dr. Aruda, who was removing what looked like silly string off of a display. She heard him coming, and she looked up to see him. He saw her interrogative, stony gaze soften as she realised who he was.
