"hm..." Koda muttered. "That's a good law. They should have it so parents can't search your things either," he added with a roll of his eyes. Privacy was definitely a good thing. That's why he was always hanging out on the porch roof.

Declan chuckled, "Technically once you turn 18 you have that right to privacy from your parents as well. Until then, they are responsible for you and to do so effectively they have to be able to understand you." he turned to look Koda in the eye, "and what teenager is going to help their parent understand them. I know I never helped me parents with anything." Declan said, the memories making him slip into the Irish dialect a bit more, his accent a bit more pronounced.

"Yes, 18!" Koda cheered, punching his fist into the air in victory. He glanced furtively into the tv room. "Besides, I don't want my mom to understand if that would mean invading my privacy. she would send me to a boarding school if she knew what I was up to!" he exclaimed.

Declan shook his head chuckling at Koda. "You know, parents often know more than you think, but they fight the battles they can with information that is certain." He also decided not to mention that he was under contract to discuss whatever he and Koda talked about with the parents; Declan had a feeling he'd be violating that part of the contract. Koda needed someone older that he could trust who wouldn't rat him out. If Declan had to break a few policies to be that guy for the kid, then so be it.

Koda kind of wanted to tell Declan all of the things he never told his parents, but he bit his lip before he could. "I don't think my mom really knows much. My dad definitely doesn't" he muttered, mentioning his father for the first time.

"What happened to your dad? He's not around much is he?" Declan asked. A part of him had kinda assumed that Koda's parents were divorced, but he couldn't be sure.

Koda's eyes blazed for a second before he looked away from Declan, bitterness coating his voice as he snapped. "Oh, he's around somewhere on some 'business trip' or other. Maybe Germany." He let out a little laugh. "He doesn't come home much."

So that was definitely a bitter subject, but there wasn't a divorce. Declan sighed. It really seemed as if Koda was living his life with people that were never their for him if he need them. It seemed completely unfair to the kid, but you couldn't choose your situation. He reached a hand out and patted Koda on the shoulder lightly.

Koda just blinked at Declan's hand, obviously surprised and very confused by the comforting gesture. "What?" he asked dumbly. normally, when he talked about his dad, he got snide remarks or a shrug and a don't-care attitude.

"Just I feel for you kid, my mom walked out of my family when she found out we'd have to move to America. I haven't heard from her sense." He paused, "Sometimes, parents can just be lousy." he said the last part softly, aware that Koda's mom was probably somewhere in the house.

Koda glanced back into the tv room. "Oh..." he muttered, hearing Declan's story. "Where were you before here?" he asked, remembering Declan's obvious accent he really should recognize, but didn't.

"Ireland." Declan said smiling gently at Koda. "We moved to America when I was fourteen. I haven't been back home since, but try as I might I can't shake the accent." He smirked a bit at this.

"Ah, Ireland! I knew I knew that accent!" Koda exclaimed. He should probably feel stupid for not noticing that. "Aren't there leprechauns there?" he asked.

"It's easy to get us mixed up a bit. Those Scots sounds kinda similar y'know." he said, purposefully accentuating his accent. "And those would be part of our mythology, yes. But Americans have kinda changed what it means."

(pleae don't have koda ask to explain. i don't feel like looking up irish mythology

"hm..." koda muttered. "But not like in the Leprechaun movies?" he asked, figuring not. the movies were some of the strangest things he'd seen.

Declan suppressed a loud laugh at that. "Most definitely not. That was a horror film about people fearing things. Leprechauns are creatures of mischief. Just as faeries and imps are." he chuckled again, "Those are entertaining movies though."

Koda's first image of a fairy was a little pixie with butterfly wings and he couldn't think of that as being mischievous at all, but he chose not to comment on it. Instead he just shook his head with a tiny smile. Since the ice in the towel was mostly melted now, he set it down on the table. "Wow, I feel a lot better now," he said without thinking and then quickly looked away when he realized he'd said something embarrassing.

"Hey now, no need to be embarrassed. That was my goal to make you feel better and take your mind off of things." Declan grinned widely at Koda. "I'm glad I managed to make you feel better."

"I'm not embarrassed...." Koda muttered. He picked at his shirt as he kept his gaze away from Declan. "I'm just surprised.

Declan didn't a believe a word Koda just said, but he just shook his head. "Either way, I'm glad I could cheer you up. It does no good to sulk after a fight." he sighed, not really wanting to refocus the session but needing to, "We should probably get back to the lesson though."

Koda sighed and suppressed the whine that wanted to come out. He didn't want to go back to the lesson. He was starting to think that Declan wasn't so bad a guy...as long as he wasn't trying to teach Koda something. "Can't we just like....not do the lesson and say we did?" Koda said in a hopeful tone with a slight smile.

Declan arched an eyebrow at Koda, did he actually want to have a conversation with Declan? That was both shocking and exciting, but at the same time could be really bad. He studied Koda for a few minutes just kinda thinking. "How about this? I'll make you a deal. You've had a rough day, so I'm fine with not continuing the lesson, but I want you to be able to demonstrate to me on Monday that you have least tried to understand these principles. If you can do that, we won't talk about them again and you have today 'off' as it were." he tilted his head to the side, "If you don't succeed in this, I will not allow this again. I still have to do my job after all."

Koda nodded vigorously. "I can do that!" he exclaimed, definitely excited at the thought of getting out of a lesson. He was grinning like a little kid and didn't really care.

Declan laughed and smiled brightly at Koda, he'd never seen the kid so exuberant about something. It was kinda nice; it was probably an expression Koda didn't wear to often. It was nice to see and be the cause of it. "Okay, I'm going to trust you then." He then kinda cleared his throat awkwardly, 'did this mean Koda wanted him to leave?'

Koda jumped up from the table and disappeared through a door and came back a second later with a box of coco puffs and some sweet junk food type-snacks. "wanna have a snack with me?" he asked, not noticing Declan's awkward throat-clearing.