Catch me, I'm falling. (Lexa/you)

Chapter 34

From the moment Aden stepped into school, the skin around his right eye raised and darkened, every eye was set on him.

Unlike Lexa, who basked in the limelight, Aden was unaccustomed to the stares, and immediately wished he could run and hide. He could hear them whispering, and they weren't exactly discreet with their stares.

"Hey, he isn't a goldfish, back off and move along."

In her usual outspoken fashion, Ellis came swooping in to save the day, pulling Aden gently along with her and glaring fiercely at anyone who stopped to gawk at the blonde boy.

"Thanks," Aden whispered, but she brushed off his thanks.

"Be glad it was me who got to you first and not Zedd," she told him, "I think he's going to have an aneurysm."

Amidst all his stress, the pain of actually getting beaten on a regular basis, and the anxiety of arriving to school with a black eye and hundreds of whispers about himself, his sister, and you, Aden had almost forgotten about the fluffy haired boy who'd quickly become his best friend. Almost . In a way, he was almost more scared of Atom's reaction than his own sister's.

When he arrived in Trikru's classroom with Ellis' guidance, Atom was already there, pacing and likely driving Nam insane, though he froze the moment Aden stepped through the door.

Aden released a soft oomf as Atom crashed into him, careful not to put too much pressure to the boy's aching stomach as he embraced his friend in a tight hug.

"Oh my god your eye," Atom worried, eyes shining with guilt even though Aden knew that Atom had no reason to be guilty, "does it hurt too much? Do you need an ice pack? I can go run to the nurse's office and get you one if you need."

"It's fine," Aden assured him, "looks a lot worse than it is."

Atom's hands cupped his cheeks gently, eyes searching for any sign of a lie.

"You okay?" Aden asked, and Atom balked.

"You're asking me if I'm okay?" Aden didn't think he'd ever heard the other boy so puzzled in his time of knowing him. "You're the one all bruised up and you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"Yeah," Aden laughed, knowing full well how ridiculous it sounded.

"I'm more worried about you," Atom said, hands still cupping Aden's face, "you've had to deal with this silently for so long and I'm just worried because you don't deserve this and..." the other boy prattled on, but Aden wasn't paying attention to his words as much as he should have. He was just genuinely touched at how concerned Atom was, the franticness in his tone, and blue eyes flicked down to the other boy's mouth, which was moving at miles a minute and, in a moment of pure Woods confidence, Aden leaned forward on tip-toe and pressed a quick, soft kiss to Atom's lips.

There was a moment of silence after Aden pulled back, noting the wide-eyes of Atom and the blush rising on the other boy's cheeks that was surely mirrored in his own.

"Well," quipped Ellis, "you sure shut him up, Woods."

"It's about damn time too," Nam muttered, pulling into his jacket pocket before handing a crisp twenty dollar bill into Ellis' already opened hand. "You couldn't have waited two more weeks?"

"You just..." Atom trailed off, thoroughly befuddled.

"Yeah," Aden agreed, scratching the back of his neck, "I've wanted to for a while."

"Really?" Atom asked, a small, dopey smile finding its way on his face.

"Yeah," Aden agreed, suddenly feeling very shy and very out of his element.