Something new

chapter 45

Adrien assumed that (Name) must have been doing good since they were apparently able to joke around with Felix on the phone. However when he saw them, they were quite the opposite.

"Oh my God, did you get hit by a bus?!" Marinette asked in shock of seeing the teen with the heaviest eye bags she had only seen once on herself.
"I bought this new game yesterday, played it all night." They casually lied. They were dressed poorly, their hair was a mess and their eyes and lips were swollen. Their nose was slightly red.

"Are you sure you're not sick?" Alya asked, slightly disgusted even. They shrugged, "I left the balcony door open all night, might've gotten to me."

They quickly changed topics and just sat down next to Adrien, "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked them with a more quiet tone, just for them to hear, they turned to him and nodded, "Never felt better."

Felix then sat down next to them, "Could you lend me that game you played tonight?" He asked them, leaning his face against his palm. Adrien stared at him from the side, He doesn't even like playing video games??

"..No. I need to give it back to my friend, who I got it from.", they excused poorly.
"I thought you said you bought it?" Nino asked, confused. Alya nodded, "Right, I'm sure you said that."
(Name) chuckled nervously, "I did buy it. Off of them, I'll bring it back to them today and get my money back.. It's something I always do." They grinned at the crowd. Why are my lies so bad??

"Enough of the game already! I'm tired, I want to catch up on sleep." After having said that, they fell unconscious on the table.
A light snoring could be heard.

"Did they just, fall asleep on the spot?"

_________________________________

Even in class, they were in a deep slumber. Nathaniel covered them from ms Mendeleiev, he could see their exhaustion and didn't want them to get into trouble.

What did you possibly do last night to look like a corpse now?? He kept wondering, slightly worried even. It wasn't anything new that they would fall asleep in class, or that they would sometimes not sleep at all, but they looked like they got traumatized and then stabbed.

He listened to the class and noted everything twice, one note for him, the other for them.

Adrien tried to sneakily glance up at them but that would be sort of difficult considering that Miss Mendeleiev would immediately take notice of that. "Are you worried about them?" Felix asked him, making him jump. "You scared me for a second.." He exhaled quietly. Felix stared at him before scoffing lightly.

"Today we'll be deciding on the topics. I hope you all have already found your groups." Miss Mendeleiev announced. The students held their hands high to tell the teacher who they would be in a group with.
Adrien raised his hand as well seeing that Nathaniel was too busy hiding (Name) and taking their notes.
"Me, Nathaniel and (Name) are one group." He announced once he got picked. Felix raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly.

Felix turned to his cousin who was satisfied seeing that his group got noted down, "Would you mind if I would accompany you with this little group project?" He asked him. Adrien turned to him, confused on why he would want this. "Uhm.. I wouldn't mind but I'd first need to ask the rest of the group." He pointed at the two students who were sitting above them.
Felix turned around as well and his gaze, purposefully, landed on (Name). Adrien saw it. He knew that Adrien saw.
"I'm sure (Name) wouldn't mind.." Felix mumbled just so loud that Adrien would hear it.

And Adrien isn't stupid, he could see that there was something off about his tone and behavior towards them. Is he doing this on purpose..?

Nino, who was sitting beside the two of them, immediately texted Alya.

Idiot💕
I kinda feel like Adrien and Felix are competing over (Name)???

Mine❤️
What makes you say that??

Idiot💕
I'm a DJ baby, I hear everything. And right now I'm hearing jealousy from Adrien.

Alya showed Marinette her phone and she gasped quietly. "We really need to focus more on these things!", she whispered to her as they both stared at Adrien and Felix.

(Name), unbeknownst to all of this, kept sleeping like a baby.
A really ugly baby, they looked like a mess.

_________________________________

Nathaniel was over at (Name)'s place and they were currently eating lunch with their parents.

"Oh Nathaniel, it's been so long! How have you been doing?" Nicole asked the redhead who sheepishly grinned. "I've been great! I have been pretty busy with this story I'm working on, so I was kinda busy. Sorry for not having visited in so long."

Nathaniel used to come over everyday but when him and Mark started that project together and found each other, every day turned into once or twice a week. After (Name) had met Chat Noir Nathaniel never asked to visit again as he was in his deep working phase, and (Name) was busy with the hero so they didn't invite him over.

But now the two finally found time for each other again.

After lunch Nathaniel and (Name) sat on their bed talking and gossiping. Nathaniel noticed the slight change of behavior. Usually, (Name) was the first one to hate, but now they were quite silent, occasionally snickering at a statement or a fact. But that was it.

"So, what's up with you today?", Nathaniel suddenly asked, breaking the ice. (Name) hesitated, contemplating if they should tell the truth or not, since lying wouldn't be of any use anyway.
Nathaniel could read them like a book, so even if they'd drop the best lie mankind would've ever heard of, he would know that it wouldn't have been the truth.
They sighed, giving in.
I don't need to tell him who this is about..
"Okay, so.. i had this friend."
Nathaniel nodded, smiling about the fact that they decided to tell him.

"This friend and me would hang out every day. We kinda bumped into each other and... from then decided to meet at that place every week, that kinda turned into every day though.", they continued, feeling a smile creep up on their face by just thinking about him.
"But that friend never told me anything about themselves. Seriously they have a nickname that I know them by, so I don't even know their real name!" Nathaniel cringed hearing that, and (Name) knew that he would have reacted differently if he knew who they were talking about.

They went on and on and ranted about their friend and what had happened between them.

When they finished their eyes were red and slightly glossy. Nathaniel sighed, "Is that why you didn't sleep tonight?"
They nodded and stayed quiet, their gaze dropping to the bedsheets the two were sitting on.
Nathaniel sat up and crawled over to them, giving them a hug. "When did you turn into such a crybaby? I thought we went past that phase?" He cooed in a playful matter, trying to stop the tears that were welling up in their eyes.
They scoffed and punched his stomach, "Shut the fuck up, Nath." They cursed at him and chuckled.
Nathaniel winced in pain and smiled at them. "You're just mad because I'm right."

He inhaled and exhaled a couple time and then gave his attention back to them.

"You know, to me it just sounds like you had one of your anxiety take overs again." He said, stroking their hair, trying to comfort them while they were sitting next to him with crossed legs.
They turned to him, a slightly confused look on their face, "What?"

"Dude, I saw you talk about your friend. To me it doesn't sound like they were such a stranger to you. How about you try and reflect on what your heart wants, instead of what your unstable mind is trying to yell at you." He tried to open their eyes and poked their chest where their heart was.

(Name) was zoned out.

Oh, how they wish Chat Noir was here right now..