Chapter Text

Pale morning light bounced off blackout curtains not quite pulled tight enough to keep it at bay, the small tendrils of light broke through, drawing shapes of light on a deep purple blanket, bunched and tousled by a fitful sleep. A small body lay halfway off the bed, fair skin exposed to the bedroom air, eyes screwed shut and drool pooling out of their open mouth, a frame of violently purple hair rested of their head, the natural black only showing through at it's roots.

A soft snoring was the only sound in the dimly lit room, stuffed full of band merch, anime posters, and a touch of macabre, a fake human skull on their desk, a dreamcatcher in the shape of a pentagram hung on the wall, and purple L.E.Ds were spread like a vine growth, draped over everything, painting everything in a soft violet glow.

There were clothes and papers littered all over the carpeted floor, far more then could be accumulated in just one night of neglect, instead being a sign of something more chronic, the snoring continued, filling the space

Then, in an eruption of noise, the phone lying next to the mattress rung out it's morning tune, an 8 bit rendition of an anime opening that while may have been fun to listen to at some point, it's use as an alarm had made it's charm rapidly shift to hatred.

The body jolted awake, muscles all tensing at once as a very loud grunt escaped their mouth, they stretched and fumbled their way to grab the phone, missing several times before bringing it close to their face and quickly silencing the alarm.

“Uuuuuuggggghhhh.” A disgruntled cry left their mouth, and moth their arms ended up above thier head as the gazed at the ceiling in retrospection, wearing a black pair of boyshorts and a tee with a faded, nondescript band printed on the front. They looked at their phone, eyes a deep magenta as they squinted, looking at the time.

It was 6:30 in the morning, too early, in this person's opinion as they rolled their eyes before rolling over entirely before facing the black, grey wall.

“Uzi! Get up! You have school!” A voice called from behind her bedroom door, Uzi sighed deeply, nibbling on her lip as she tried to find the energy to get up and get ready.

She found it difficult to find, forcing her brain to send the correct signal to her arms and legs was like trying to pull teeth, but eventually, after much forcefull squirming she finally managed to sit up, her joints groaning in a way that shouldn't be normal for someone who's only 19.

She stood, groggy and irritated though what else was new. At a resounding 4,8. She yawned, scratching her head and only made her already impressive bed head look like a tangle of briars.

“I'm up!” She yelled through her door, voice montone despite her volume, while she heard no response, she seemed satisfied she'd been heard, and stepped over the mess on the floor to her closet, where she quickly picked out shorts, a purple tank top, and a hoodie made by one of her favorite bands “Dead Batteries.”

She was lucky to have a bathroom connected to her bedroom, so she made her way to it, stepping over more junk to take a shower for the first time in like 3 days, she hadn't been stopped by anything, not really, it had just been not worth the effort when she had nowhere to be.

She washed herself and her hair, causing just a little bit of the dye to come out in her hands, staining them pink, she rolled her eyes, oh well, she wasn't going to be making a good impression anyway, everyone already knew who she was.

She got dressed, throwing on her purple socks, boots, and beanie before walking out into the combined kitchen and living room of her house, her father, Khan, a bald man with a mustache, steely grey eyes, and age lines on his face was making breakfast, eggs, bacon, with a side of toast.

“Good morning! I made breakfast!” His voice was naturally deep, but right now it was loud and booming and immediately made Uzi wince at it's intensity.

“Thanks.” She offered quietly, sitting down and eating absent-mindedly as she looked over a the television they had mounted on the wall in the kitchen, it was turned to the news, and Uzi had to surpress another eye roll.

More Prostests at the JCJenson head office today, the popular technology company facing heated backlash after it announced a campaign to delve more into their recent exploration into artificial intelligence, despite the recent controversy after a government sting operation found human brain scans within thier internal documents.

“Dad, please watch something other then the news. It's nothing but rage-bait.” She hummed with egg still in her mouth, Khan didn't seem to pay any mind to his daughter however, as he was too focused on the television.

“Don't talk with your mouth fill honey.” Was all he said, and Uzi closed her mouth, breaking her eyes from the screen onto a new one, her phone, where she scrolled through pictures her classmates had posted over the summer.

Her eyes landed on a picture of Lizzy, self-proclaimed “Queen of Mean.” Of Copper High, though Uzi had to agree, the girl was always doing her best to make Uzi's life a living hell, this picture only continued that. Lizzy was pretty, gorgeous even, with her immaculate blonde hair and strangely florescent pink eyes, she was skinny, yet muscular from being on the cheer team. And the two peice pink bikini showed off her figure even more.

Uzi would think she was hot, if she wasn't such a bitch.

She only half finished her breakfast, scraping the rest of it into the cats, Salem's, bowl, who purred and danced around her legs in thanks, Uzi scratched the black cat's head, before finding her backpack by the door and slipping it on, it was faded, and while it used to have two cute little bat wings they'd since been torn off, leaving two little black scars where the wings should have been running down the face of it. It was whatever, it was just a backpack.

“I'm headed to school!”

Khan was still too busy looking at the TV, but Uzi left anyway, sighing to herself as she put black earbuds in her ears to listen to nightcore as she walked to school.

Her pace was slow, she was in truly no rush to get to her destination anytime soon, or really, at all, if she could get away with it, she'd simply ditch and then buy some mushrooms off Sam, her kinda freind/dealer. But she couldn't, not now. There was a reason she was still in high school at 19, that being one of them.

So she grit her teeth and bared it, stopping to stare at the school building, being a classic, flat roofed high-school made of red brick and tears before heading inside.

She wasn't late, couldn't be late. With her guidance counselor breathing liquor fumes down her neck about her attendance and very thin ice she was on with the rest of the schoolboard, so she at least attempted the bare minimum of being on time, and actually showing up.

She only had one more year of this anyway. Though west she planned to do after was up for debate. Probably somewhere between homeless and prison if what the police told her dad was true. Which it was.

She knew her homeroom, it was the same as last year, but her saving grace was that Lizzy and her best friend Doll wouldn't be here this year, as they had already graduated. So no more getting shoved into lockers and being blamed for shit she didn't do.

She did plenty already to get her in trouble, she didn’t need help, thank you.

She expertly weaved her way between the tall, sweaty high schoolers and walked onto her homeroom, Mr. Brown was sitting at his desk, looking over his itty bitty glasses to read the newspaper.

Who the fuck read newspapers in the year 2024? This dumbass man, apparently.

“Uzi. Didn't expect to see you again this year.” He said before she had a chance to sit down somewhere, she looked at him blanky.

“Bite me Mr. Brown, you know damn well why I'm here.” She snapped back, knowing that he knew why she was back, it had been him that had caught her high in class, and him that decided to call the on campus police on her, and got her suspended, and was the one that got her held back a year.

Granted, she was the one high, but if you thought she was going to take credit for her own behavior then you haven't been paying attention very well, now have you?

“And with that attitude, you'll likely be back next year.” He still didn't feel the need to look at her, taking a sip of his coffee instead, she felt a feral hiss claw its way out of her throat, but chose to just sit down, though she slammed her backpack down a little hard.

The room steadily filled in with students, a few she recognized from the year below her last year, a few more she didn't, most didn't pay her any mind which she preferred over the other options, the attention she got was usually negative.

A very tall figure caught her attention, someone she really didn't recognize, because she would have definitely remembered them. They were male presenting, had a shock of decently long platinum blond hair that went down to his shoulders. His eyes were amber, though so bright they were almost golden, and honestly, he looked like he was about to hurl.

His hands tapped together in what was obvious to Uzi as some type of self-regulatory behavior, and he looked to be trembling with anxiety, eyes scanning over the mostly filled room. They made eye contact.

A wide, sunny smile broke onto his face, she felt as though she was almost flashbanged by it, she blinked before she turned away from him, she really hoped that he wasn't in her class and was just lost, because she had a feeling she'd have to find some way to ditch this kid if he did.

“Nathaniel, go sit down, you're in the right class.” Mr. Brown spoke up, and Uzi quickly looked around at the empty seats, only to realize the only two were near her, the one in front, and directly beside her.

Fuck.

He found the seat next to her, making her curse a few more times internally, he looked around again, either trying to see if he knew anybody or maybe catch anyone else's eyes to speak to.

Before he turned back to her with another massive ass smile.

Double Fuck.

“Hi, I'm Nathaniel, but you can just call me N.” His voice was just as bright as his smile and Uzi kinda just wanted to keel over and die rather then interact with him, Jesus, he was like a walking sunbeam.

“Uh, Uzi.” She replied in a noncommittal fashion, though the one letter nickname intrigued her just a little bit, it reminded her of anime.

“Oh, like the submachine gun?” He cocked his head curiously, still smiling, Uzi didn't even really want to look at him, but she was appreciative that he knew that. Her mom had been really into guns, what can she say?

“Yeah.” She replied simply, giving him nothing to work with in terms of more conversation, not her fault, she hated small talk and eye contact, both of which he was trying to initiate.

“Oh, um sorry, I just recently moved here, I don't know anyone, I can stop talking if you want.” He suddenly turned sheepish, and he was doing the tapping thing with his hands again, Uzi almost winced, as much as she didn't exactly want to talk to him, he suddenly looked too much like a kicked puppy, and it was wearing on what little empathy she had left.

“Nah, I just don't talk much… you can keep talking.” She offered, she could at least do that right? Let him talk without the expectation of her responding? Yeah, that was fine, he was probably in just her homeroom anyway, and once he met some more people, he wouldn't talk to her anymore.

“Oh! Uh okay!” He glanced around again, before focusing back on her.

“I like your piercings! They look cool!” Uzi looked surprised for a moment, she didn't remember putting in piercings this morning, but she felt her ears and sure enough the two black studs and the small gauge were there. Oh right, she hadn't bothered taking them out.

“Thank you?” She really didn't know how to respond to that, she never really got compliments ever, especially not about her piercings, most people just told her they looked “unbecoming.” or “god awful.”

“You're welcome!”

“Morning class.” Mr. Brown began, standing up and addressing his class from the front of the room, N immediately turned his attention to him, making Uzi have a sigh of relief internally.

“I'll be passing out your schedules, make sure you read it and memorize it, most of you already know the layout of the school, so there's no excuse to be late to your classes.” He was always monotone, which was unfortunate because he normally taught history, making an already boring subject even more boring.

Uzi picked up her phone again, putting one of her earbuds in, on the side opposite to the one N was on, so he could still talk if he wanted, and began a scroll through Tumblr, there wasn't really anything new, but it was something to do with her hands, so that was something.

“Hey, uh… wanna see if we have any classes together?” N was turned towards her again, holding his schedule in front of him and again looking a little nervous.

Uzi groaned, not out loud, but internally, she wasn't creeped out, she knew what guys were like when they were being creepy, and this wasn't it, but he was being so friendly, it was putting her off, people weren't this friendly, not for no reason. She just couldn't understand what his was yet.

Chapter Text

“Uh, I guess.” She replied to N's question tentatively, causing him to light up again, he brought his schedule closer to her, and she held out her own.

“We have lunch together!” He exclaimed happily after a moment, Uzi could swear if he had a tail it would be wagging, he sounded so happy about it too, like he actually wanted to spend time with her.

The hell was this guy's deal?

“Looks like it.” She replied, her tone remaining the same tone despite the fact N's personality was somewhat weirding her out. Though now she was almost curious, what would it take for his friendliness to drop?

“We also have an english class and a computer literacy class together! Kinda looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other!”

Triple Fuck

His smile was so beaming though that she turned to him to give him a wobbly, wary smile of her own and nodded, it looked more as though she was in pain then anything, but N didn't seem to mind or even notice.

Then, blessedly the bell rang, sending them off to thier first class of the day. N gave her a freindly wave as he got up to go off to his first class, but left his backpack sitting under his desk.

She stared at it, then back at his fleeing figure before deciding that yes, she did want to say something.

“H-Hey!” Oh fuck, that was way louder then she had intended, stupid fucking volume control. Still it did get his attention, as well as several other students, she did her best to ignore them despite their stares making her skin itch.

“You forgot your backpack…” She finished, volume much lower as she pointed to the boys simple black backpack still sitting at it's place underneath the desk, N looked at it for a moment, before he turned sheepish.

“Aww biscuits! Thank you, I'd loose my head if it wasn't attached!” He pulled it over his shoulder, gave her a very silly salute and then he was off again, Uzi felt herself fighting back an genuine amused smile, what a weirdo.

Her first class was math, witch for most students would be a living nightmare, for Uzi it was a dream, she really liked math, she was really good at math, she could pull equations out of her brain with ease, unlike most other things. It just made sense, math didn't change or have weird exceptions she had to remember, it was just fact, logic. And it was pleasing to her brain which liked routine.

Her height was both a blessing and a curse when it came to navigating the school halls, on one hand she was small enough to squeeze between the gaps between the sea of students, on the other, she was very easy to miss while walking, meaning she was bumped into often, making her more irritated even before she got to class.

Her irritation skyrocketed when she entered her class only to see the very last person she wanted to today, or any day honestly.

Lizzy was sitting where the the teacher normally would, looking down at her phone, a pink ribbon was tied in her hair, and she was wearing a black and pink dress that only barely adhered to the school dress code.

Why the hell was she here? She didn't need to be back here, who would willingly subject themselves to more school?

Her Math Teacher, Mr. Reese, was on the younger side, being in his late twenties, his fit the description of tall, dark, and handsome, being of Latino decent and having a well kept beard, paired with warm, brown eyes. And he came in behind the bulk of the rest of his students, looking slightly worried.

Lizzy looked up at him and smiled, getting up out of his seat and handing off some papers to him, his worry seemed to dissipate, and he smilled back down at her in thanks.

So, chances Lizzy was banging her Math Teacher? Definitely above fifty percent.

“Welcome everyone! I am Mr. Reese, I will be your Advanced Algebra teacher for this year. This lovely young lady here-” He gestured to Lizzy, who for now hadn't seemed to notice her number one victim in the class, and she smiled, Uzi thought she looked a bit like a shark. “Will be my aid and your's if you struggle, she's shadowing me to become a teacher herself one day, so I want you to be nice to her, alright?”

Nodding heads responded back, Uzi was not one of them.

Oh great, how great. The one subject she was good at and it was going to be ruined by this bitch, did she have to choose this class? Couldn't she choose a class she wasn't in?

On the other hand, the chances they were banging rose a little bit more, and Uzi couldn't help but snicker a little bit in response to that thought.

She did her best to avoid being seen, even though Mr. Reese had started to take attendance and was spouting off names, so it wouldn't last very long. Couldn't the universe give her a break? Hadn't she suffered enough at this stupid place?

“Uzi Doorman.” He sounded off, and the girl in question winced as Lizzy suddenly looked around, likely looking for her.

“Here.” She raised her hand lazily, no point in trying to hide anymore she figured, she looked to the side to avoid eye contact with both her teacher and Lizzy, but when she looked back in their direction, Lizzy was still looking at her, a shark toothed smile etched on her face.

This was shaping up to be a wonderful school year…

Even so, Lizzy didn't actually do or say anything to her for the duration of the class, and since it was just orientation, there was very little actual work to do. So she counted that small win as the bell rang an hour later to go to her next class. English.

She'd almost entirely forgotten about that strange boy in her homeroom, too busy in her own head trying to find some way to somehow transfer out of that class, even if she knew that was neigh impossible with her reputation. At least, until she heard her name.

“Hey! Uzi!” A bright happy voice came from behind her and she jumped, not used to hearing her name in any other context except with disdain or anger.

N came bounding up to her side, a bit like a dog who wanted head pats, and smiled at her, so large it stretched to his eyes, Uzi gave him a half-hearted wave in response, feeling unable to just ignore him.

“How was your first class? Mine was kinda weird… there was like… a deer head floating in a jar and it was kinda creepy.” Uzi snorted, managing a light chuckle that seemed to make N's smile a little brighter, so he must have Biology first, Mrs, Spark's classroom always was Uzi's favorite, with all the preserved animals in formaldehyde sitting on her shelves.

“She has a pig fetus too. Have you seen it yet?” She asked, the first peice of actual conversation she'd had with him. He looked at her, horrified in every way.

“What?! No! Oh no that poor piggy…” He scrunched up his fingers next to his face, looking sad, she couldn't help but laugh lightly at his reaction, he was so animated. Like a cartoon.

“Also it was, fine. I guess, there was someone I knew in it…” She answered, after the ice had broken she felt…a little more comfortable speaking around him, maybe it was just his attitude, it was a little hard to be moody when someone was constantly giving you thier sunniest smile.

“Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?” His face fell a little, passing friendly into something that almost looked concerned, but that couldn't be right, no one was concerned about Uzi Doorman, not even her old man.

“They don't… like me very much.” She answered, voice becoming wary again, she didn't need to give too much away, it's not like he'd stick around for too much longer, she gave it about a week, tops.

“Oh… well why not? You're hair’s pretty and you seem pretty cool!”

She squeaked, a pink filling her cheeks as she processed what he said. Her hair was pretty? And she was cool? This boy was delusional! But… for someone who didn't often get compliments, it did feel nice.

“You've only just met me.” She found herself saying, almost in warning, like she was telling him to stay away before he got hurt, or dissapointed.

“What's that matter? You haven't been mean, if anything you've been really nice!” He responded, clearly not taking it for the warning it was, she sighed, feeling a weight in her chest tighten even if she didn't know precisely why.

“You… have a weird standard for niceness.” She replied, and all he did was giggle, of course he giggled, he seemed the type.

“Maybe!”

They reached their class together, and when Uzi found her seat near the back he sat right next to her, before he looked around at the floor.

“Biscuits! I forgot my backpack again!” Uzi looked over at him, feeling a pang of sympathy for him. This boy was kinda forgetfull wasn't he?

“Is there anything important in it?” She asked quietly, and he seemed to dissolve into his chair in quiet frustration.

“No, not really, but now I don't have a pencil or anything to put the syllabus in.” He said sadly, holding his head in one of his hands, he tapped his fingers on the desk, clearly upset.

Uzi paused for a moment before digging in her backpack to find her pencil case, she picked out a purple mechanical pencil, one of the fancy ones with a grip and handed it off to him. He stared at it for a moment before another huge grin broke his face.

“Thank you, I'll give it back, I promise!”

Somehow Uzi doubted that, if he forgot his backpack twice already, he was probably going to forget to give it back, but that was okay, she wasn't particularly attached to that pencil anyway. And with his words, at least his intention was to give it back.

Sure enough, when the class ended at it was time for them to go their separate ways. He forgot to give it back.

Chapter Text

The cafeteria was loud with the murmur of high school students, and Uzi was already gritting her teeth, it wasn't so much the volume that got to her as much as the consistency, it didn't really matter what she did, there was always noise. And it was making her more irritable then normal.

“Did you hear about Rodney?”

“And Like, I told him it was fine or whatever.”

“God my uncle is so hot…”

She got snippets of conversations as she made her way to the lunch line despite her best efforts to block them put, she put an earbud in to try and help to block out the constant noise, but it only helped so much.

She picked up a stainless steel tray, ones that reminded her of the one's in prison shows. And she wouldn't be surprised if they were the same honestly. The quality of the food had to be similar, anyway.

Speaking of, a lady in a haircut dumped a spoonful of mushy peas, then a spoonful of carrots, and a sandwich on her plate, none of it looked appetizing in the slightest, the peas didn't even look like they had salt on them.

She sighed as she moved through the line, grabbing a milk cartoon that had a 15 percent chance of being spoiled and a cup of peaches. Before finding an empty table to sit at near the middle of the cafeteria. If it was anything like last year, people would avoid sitting here unless they didn't have anywhere else to go.

She broke into the peaches immediately, it was the only thing that ever had a chance to taste any good, since it was prepackaged little fruit cups instead of being “cooked” by the staff.

“Hey Uzi!”

N came to sit beside her, something she should have probably been preparing for, considering his behavior all day, but it still caught her off guard and she found herself choking on a peach as she startled, she beat her chest a few times, struggling to breathe until she was able to force it back down her throat.

“Whoops! Sorry! I need to stop sneaking up on you.” He laughed lightly as he sat his backpack down between his legs and started digging into it, by the sounds of it, the thing was almost full to bursting.

“You got your backpack.” She hummed, trying to play off the fact she'd nearly died in front of him. What a way to go, death by peach.

“Well it has my lunchbox in it… can't really forget that when my stomach feels like it's about to digest itself.” He replied, pulling out a blue lunchbox that had been completely stickerbombed with dog stickers, you could barely tell the box underneath was blue to begin with.

He unclamped the lunchbox to reveal one of the best looking packed lunches Uzi had ever seen, there was a plastic covered bowl of soup, crackers, a whole ass salad and a tuna sandwich with the crust cut off.

Because of course the crust was cut off.

“Holy crap. Who packed your lunch? A chef?” Maybe that question was a little rude, or a little loud. And Uzi found her face heating up as she heard it come out of her mouth. Why was she like this? That was such a weird question what is wrong-

“Oh.” He laughed a little nervously, and his cheeks were dusted pink “N-no that would be my older sister, Tessa, she packs all our lunches.”

“Looks way better then…this.” As she said that, she stuck a plastic spoon into the green mush that was supposed to be peas, lifted it above the tray and dropped some off the edge, the peas slid off the spoon and met the rest on the tray with a wet and disgusting slap.

“Gross.” She muttered, leaving the overcooked peas alone in favor of the sandwich. Well… at least it was hard to fuck up a sandwich.

“You wanna share? Tessa always packs too much.” He offered, giving her a genuine smile as he also eyed the peas with apprehension.

The heat on Uzi's face worsened, she'd just met this guy today, she wasn't that interesting she was sure, so what was this boys actual deal? Did he have a goth fetish? He probably had a goth fetish.

“And let you poison me or something? No way.” She grumbled, knitting her brow into a frown and looking away, she wouldn't let this rando get any closer, not until she figured him out.

“Why- Why would I poison you? Also that would imply that I'm risking eating poisoned food as well.” He looked a little confused, but also fairly amused, with one eyebrow up in curiosity but a half-smile on his face.

“Bite me. I don't want your food!” In indignation, she bit into the sandwich she'd been provided with without checking what was on it, and it gave a good crunch.

What? Oh. Oh no.

There was lettuce, fucking lettuce, it felt like thin rubber and tasted like lame water and almost instantly set off every single nope response off in her brain, she gagged, immediately covering her mouth as her eyes watered.

Of all the food aversions, why did her brain bless her with one to the texture of lettuce.

“Woah, Uzi! Are you okay?” N Immediately leaned forward, hovering but not quite placing his hand over her back and she immediately lept for a napkin and coughed her lungs out into it until the flavor and texture was out of her mouth.

She was silent for a moment before she crushed the napkin in her fist and flipped open the sandwich to glare at the offending green, which whoever had made her sandwich had piled on like it was about to go out of style, she couldn't even tell what the other ingredients were aside from mayo.

“Fucking seriously!?” She exclaimed a little louder then intended, as the sandwich mocked her, apparently one could fuck up a sandwich.

“Wow that's a lot of lettuce.” N remarked, before looking over at her with a look of concern. “Are you alright?”

“M’fine. Just don't like lettuce.” That was a severe understatement, but N didn't really need to know that.

She waved him off, grumbling, looks like it was peaches and corn for her lunch today, great. Hopefully she could scrounge for something else when she got home, wouldn’t be the first time she would have to without.

Then, without warning, there was a crustless tuna sandwich being offered to her, along with N's beaming smile, she still wanted to say no, but damn that sandwich looked good and having eaten only half her breakfast… she was hungry.

She took it from him, giving him a side eye and a mumbled “Thank you.” As she took a bite of it tentatively.

“I promise it's not poisoned.” He chuckled, turning to dig into the bowl of soup he also had, but Uzi barely heard him, she couldn't belive she was about to think this about a simple sandwich, but it was one of the best tuna sandwiches she'd ever had, it also had some kinda of rich cheese and… something else that was probably really expensive.

“Oh my God this is so good…” She said after taking several bites of it, she probably looked like a pig. But she didn't care at the moment.

“Yeah that's Tess's cooking… glad you like it!” He beamed, dunking a cracker in his soup and popping it in his mouth, then sticking his tongue out in some goofy pleased expression.

Uzi couldn't help it, he looked so silly. She snorted and giggled, something that sounded completely foreign coming out of her mouth. If anything N's smile got even wider as he was able to draw a genuine laugh out of someone.

After her little outburst, she found herself a little bit embarrassed. It wasn't often she genuinely laughed, even less in front of someone she barely knew, but something about N’s vibe was making it easy to let down her guard.

Which… was a little bit scary, and Uzi didn't know what to think about that.

Chapter Text

Uzi came home from school that day exhausted, both socially and physically. And was ready to jump for joy when she realized her dad was still at work. Leaving her to have the house to herself. Although she shouldn't have been been expecting anything different, Khan almost lived at his job; installing security systems for JCJenson.

The rest of her classes were normal, not counting her Computer Literacy class which she shared with N and he'd done what he'd done all day, sit right next to her and just… talk. Sometimes she didn't even have to reply and he'd still take it as an answer and keep talking to her. It should have been annoying, but it never felt that way.

But even though it wasn't annoying, it did drain her social battery to the point that it was empty, and now all she wanted to do was rot in her room watching anime. Plus… she had something squirreled away for when she had the house to herself.

She threw her backpack down by the door and ran at a dead sprint to her bedroom, where she kicked off her boots and hoodie and threw herself onto her bed with a content sigh. Although it was broken by a loud mewl, Salem; who had been taking a nap on her bed, had been interrupted and wasn't exactly happy about it.

“Sorry buddy, just had a long day.” She reached up to scratched the black cat's chin and he purred, seeming to accept it as an apology, he licked her face with his scratchy tongue and she immediately grumbled and jerked away.

“Ew! Sandpaper licks!” She yelped to herself and lifted the cat up in her hands, dangling him in front of her face before she sighed and buried her face into his fluffy underbelly and sighed. Salem didn't react in the slightest, only bleped.

“You know what sounds good right now buddy?” She pulled back and asked him, a smirk on her face as she shook him gently.

“Breaking into my stash, hell yeah.” She stood up and sat the poor cat down, who only returned to his previous activity; napping.

She looked around like she was afraid someone was watching before heading over to her desk and opening the bottom drawer, at first glance, it was full of nothing but old folders and sketchbooks, but a quick brush of her hand reveled that the drawer had a false bottom, that she quickly removed and pulled out a baggie of dried, green leaves, a lighter and material to roll a blunt.

A gift for herself, bought with allowance she'd gotten from her dad. She'd been rationing it all summer, knowing she'd need it way more during the school year and now she had no more reason to wait.

It didn't take long for her to roll up the paper into a blunt and light it up, reveling in the smell that permeated her room almost immediately, she stuck it in her mouth and took a huff, some of the static that had been building in her head all day dissipated as she gave a relaxed sigh.

Now, what was the best thing to watch while high…?

Meanwhile…

Tessa’s car pulled into the front of the school exactly fifteen minutes after it ended, it was a dark grey, like wet slate, and a pristine little BMW sedan that had never once been damaged.

“Tessa!” N gave her a wave as he came up to the passenger window before opening the door, throwing himself clumsily onto the plush leather of the seats, a feminine, accented voice giggled at his entrance.

“Have a good first day then?” The woman driving the vehicle asked, she was a young thing, 23, with shining green eyes and long brown hair held in two separate small pigtails near the front and a proper bun in the back, right now, she was dressed in her work attire, a white labcoat partly stained with something unknown and a green dress shirt underneath. Black slacks and weathered, black leather boots.

“Yeah! I mean… I got a little lost in the halls. But I met someone who was really nice! She let me sit beside her and ramble! Oh! And she really liked your tuna sandwich! And! She let me borrow a-” He suddenly stopped his excited talking, his eyes going wide as he realized.

“Aww biscuits! I forgot to give Uzi her pencil back…”

Tessa threw her head back and laughed, before shaking her head and beginning to pull out from in front of the school.

“Uzi? Like… the little submachine pistol?”

“Mmhm! She's cool, she has purple hair!” N smile got wider as he framed his face with balled fists. An energy which seemed to bleed into the woman driving, because her smile grew as well.

“You think she's pretty don't you?” She asked, smirking while lifting one brow up, driving through the small town of Copper, it used to be a mining town, but now it was the home of one of many JCJenson appliance factories.

“T-Tessa!” N's face filled with blush his eyes growing wide as he suddenly gripped the seat underneath him.

“What? Do you?” Tessa’s smirk grew wider, as he voice took on a teasing tone, if anything his blush grew worse as he leaned forward, his hands moving forward to clutch the air in front of him.

“I-I, No! We've only just met! Don't do that!”

“Oh but you were blushing! You have a little crush? On your first day?” Tessa loved her little brother, she did, but lightly teasing him was also something she took great joy in, he was always so animated with everything he did.

“No! Tessa stop that! I don't have a crush on her! I just thought her hair and piercings looked cool!” He crossed his arms and looked away from her while his blush cooled.

“Oh I know, Nathaniel! I'm just teasing you!”

N grumbled, while he knew that, he didn't really appreciate it, how could he have a crush on someone he just met? That was weird wasn't it? Sure, he thought her hair was pretty and her laugh was fun, but those were so… shallow. He was more into personalities, not any kind of physical attribute.

Tessa made a left, off the main road and onto a gravel one, leading into a wooded, secluded area, with it being the middle of spring, the trees all along the long driveway were in full bloom, little white flowers breaking up the hues of greens.

N always liked this part of the property the best, it still held all of Copper's natural beauty, instead of the perfectly manicured hedges and color coordinated flowers of the manors garden. Speaking of…

Tessa stopped in front of a huge wrought iron gate, the only entrance to the tall, spiked fence that led to the rest of the property, Tessa leaned out of the window to press a button on a large stone pillar.

“It's me, let me in.” She sounded tired already, but the voice on the other side was about to add too it.

“Mrs. Elliot requires all passengers to be acounted for, young master Tessa.”

“Oh for- it's Nathan! He lives here!”

The voice on the other end didn't respond, but the gate did open. She sighed and N just looked at her sheepishly.

“You know Mr. And Mrs. Elliot only want our safety, that's just them keeping everyone safe.”

“From what, were not in the big city anymore, I don't think anyone even knows this place exists.”

He didn't have an answer for that, so he just rested his elbow on the door and watched out the window as the Elliot Manor came into view.

The entire building was painted white, with plenty of windows in a style that portrayed it's age, there was a fancy, two door garage on the bottom floor, a fountain and a garden both in the front and in the back. The driveway went from gravel to newly paved cobbled road, which Tessa went over to pull into the garage.

“Alright, we're home!”

Chapter Text

N and Tessa made their way through the foyer, decorated with mahogany and antique furniture, the windows adored with velvet curtains and cleaned until you couldn't tell it was glass anymore.

There was a servant waiting for them, dressed to the nines. A clean shaven face, and short black hair with steel colored eyes. A pressed black vest over a white dress shirt and a black bow tie, N didn't know his name, he didn't know any of the servants names.

“Young Master Tessa, Master Louisa requests your presence in her study.” The servant said, monotone, with his hands behind his back.

“Of course she does… ‘ight N, see you at dinner.” She sighed and waved him off, leaving him in the foyer smiling warily at the servant, going up to his room alone it was.

There were two sets of spiral staircases the led upwards, and two hallways either side, one lead to an expansive library, full of every book, magazine and article you could imagine, the other a large dining hall, despite the table being made for twenty people, there were only ever five people sitting there at a time… usually less.

He started his way up the stairs passing hall after closed off hall of doors that lead to the different rooms of the manor, if he was being honest he didn’t know what was in most of them, they'd just moved. And he hadn't had time to actually explore his own home.

Not… that he wanted to, going from living in a modern, sleek, polished marble and right angles to this was a little bit of a culture shock. He didn't mind the rural setting; much preferred it to the foggy, polluted skyline he was used to. It was the manor itself that was… creepy.

If you would have him describe “haunted manor.” Then he'd describe the inside of this place down to the tan walls with wood accents and the ancient, well maintained hardwood underneath his feet. It wasn't just how old the place was either. Mr. And Mrs. Elliot had hired enough servents to keep the place spotless and looking like new.

It was just so big. So empty, so… oppressive.

And lonely…

He shook off those thoughts, it was fine, he'd just have to adjust to it, he was always good at going with anything, surely this would be no different.

“Don't be such a bitch J.”

“Then don't be such a pussy, V.”

Ah, that sounded like his sisters off in the next room over, bickering as per usual and probably about something small or nothing at all.

“I am not letting you anywhere near my room! Not my fault it has a window and your's doesn't, your's is bigger anyway!”

“But I'm the oldest, I deserve the window.”

“By eleven minutes! I want to see the garden, you have access to the library! Which you bitched and moaned about until you got, in case you don't remember.”

“You just want the window because it looks over the garden.”

“And? You just want the window because I enjoy looking over the garden and you have the inability to feel joy and must drag everyone else into the misery pit with you.”

“Give me your room.”

“No. Fuck you, suck my dick.”

N sighed, of all the things that had changed. That didn't, and he doubted it ever would. When he rounded the corner that's when he actually saw them, instead of listening to just their voices bickering.

V was the middle child out of the three, and she was the shortest too, if you call 5'10 short. She had short platinum blonde hair that was styled in a bob, a hairband keeping it in place perched on her head. Right now, she was in grey sweatpants and a black crop top, her arms crossed and amber eyes looking up and irate at her older sibling.

J was looking down at her, hand on her hip and long, similarly platinum hair going all the way down to her waist, she usually wore it up in a dual pair of pigtails or a ponytail, but that was absent for the moment. She wasn't in nearly the same casual clothes as V. With a short, black skirt, black, 4inch heels, and a grey business jacket over a white dress shirt. The sunglasses perched on her head were ever present, only leaving when she was sleeping. She had to have just come home if she was dressed like that.

“Hey guys.” He gave a smile towards the both of them, V gave a half-hearted smile and a wave at him, while J just rolled her eyes and scoffed, sticking her nose up at him.

“Ugh, whatever.” J walked off, heels clicking as she went down the hall towards her room, V let out a long suffering sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose before she looked N over.

“Good first day?” She asked, leaning against the wall and giving him a small smile, he relaxed a little bit, without J around, V tended to be in a better mood.

“Yeah! My teachers all seem nice! And I made a friend… I think.” When he thought about Uzi, she seemed…quiet, but also not? He wasn't entirely sure if he would consider what they had a ‘freindship’ per say. He thought she was cool, and they'd talked a handful of times.

Which was… more then he had with most people honestly, most found him a little… much.

“You think? What's that supposed to mean,” She curled

“It was mostly me talking…” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. “But! She let me borrow a pencil! That I… forgot to give back… but still!”

“Sounds like you just met someone and they took pity on you.” V replied, a dry sarcastic tone to her voice that gave away that she was teasing… mostly.

“Hey!” He yelped, ears turning pink.

“What? Don't call it a friendship if it's clearly not. Did you guys talk… about anything?”

“Uh… Mrs. Sparks had like animal heads and stuff floating in jars, we talked about that and… she told me she has a pig baby in one of them.”

“Ew. Anything else?”

“I gave her some of my lunch! The cafeteria kinda… completely ruined her food and so I gave her the tuna sandwich.”

“How'd they ruin it? Actually, don't answer that it's public school food.” Still she pondered it for a moment before shrugging. “That's like, an acquaintance, but whatever.”

“It's… the same thing isn't it?”

“Nope. But I gotta get to work, clothes don't model themselves.” She gave him a breif wave before checking her phone and grumbling to herself, walking off and out of sight.

Her and J , being out of school and a bit older then him, had other things to do. J was still going to college, business school of course, V took a different route, said no to more school and put herself on display, literally… she modeled for a few designer brands, and was sometimes stopped on the streets for her picture.

N was the youngest out of the three, being 18 and still in high school, though his last year thankfully, he'd always done decently in school, forgotten homework assignments and disorganization notwithstanding.

He entered his room, the heavy, creaking wooden door snapping shut loudly behind him as he looked around his room.

It was… bland. The bed was huge with crimson blankets made out of the smoothest kind of cashmere silk imaginable, the sheets light pink and light enough to feel like nothing when slept in.

But the walls were bare, his desk clean and devoid of everything but his grey laptop and a cup of pencils. The floor having only a basic rug directly underneath and around the bed. He had two small windows either side it, looking over the front of the manor and the driveway.

The only real thing of note was a well loved golden retriever plush resting on the bed, faded and the fur pressed down from being hugged night after night, he smiled at it, hooking his backpack on the back of his chair.

“Big brother Nathan?”

A small, shy little voice called out to him from behind the door to the connected room and he smiled, kicking off his shoes and taking off his hoodie, showing the basic grey t-shirt underneath.

“It's me!” He called back, opening the door to his little sisters room. Cynthia, or Cyn and everyone affectionately called her. She was reading, though now she looked up at him with big, innocent eyes that matched the rest of the siblings, along with her hair, held in a similar style to Tessa’s; mostly because she was the one who always styled it.

Her legs were covered by the blankets of her bed, and she beamed, sharing her older brother's sunshine of a smile as she made grabby hands at him.

Cyn was 6, the last and true youngest of the siblings. She was sweet… if having a peculiar interest in superstition, and N couldn't ask for a better little sister.

“Welcome back! How was school? Did you meet anyone? Were they cool? Can I meet them?” She immediately asked four questions in quick succession, each one making his smile a little wider.

“Good. Yes, yes. Maybe. In that order.” He replied as he wrapped her in a gentle hug, her arms gripping loosely around his neck. She giggled when he blew a raspberry on her cheek.

“And what did you do today Cyn?”

“Tessa brought up some more books for me to read! And then I got lunch… I heard J screaming at someone!”

“Have you not been out of your room today?”

“Uh. No… haven't felt very well, Tessa was at work and Big Sisters Vanessa and Jessica were busy…” She seemed a little sad, but N was here to make sure that didn't last very long.

“You want to take a stroll around the garden before dinner. I can take you.” He asked gently, and Cyn’s eyes lit up and she beamed.

“Yes! Thank you!”

With that, N leaned down and reached under her bed;

And pulled out a neatly folded wheelchair.

Chapter Text

N hoisted Cyn off the bed by spinning her around, causing the young girl to squeal in delight as for a moment she felt as if she was flying. He chuckled with her until he sat her back down on the now unfolded wheelchair. He knelt down and adjusted her legs so that they lay flat, being as gentle as possible.

Cyn had a condition that weakened the bones in her body, something about calcium not processing correctly in the body… he wasn't quite sure, everything the doctors had said went a little bit over his head. But he did know that her bones broke extremely easily, especially the ones in her legs, though every bone was fragile, it also effected her heart, making it weaker as well.

“Comfy?” He asked, cocking his head as Cyn rapidly nodded, before reaching over to her bed and putting the grey, felt blanket over her legs. N smiled up at her.

“Good! Off we go!” He spun around to grab at the handles before speeding off out the door and through the halls, causing his little sister to laugh uproariously. Despite his speed, he was being careful… extremely so, going quick, but no so quick he couldn't stop on a dime safely.

He strapped her in to the little elevator on the stairs and sent her down as he walked along side her, cracking a goofy joke or two to keep her laughing and keeping a smile on her face, Cyn’s little smile always seemed to reach her eyes when she was truly happy, making those amber eyes sparkle warmly at him.

When they reached the bottom they were off again, N running at speed through the halls, making several servants turn to look at them weirdly, but he didn't care, he was making his little sister happy.

Then they reached the door to the garden, and he stopped, a little out of breath, Cyn was too, out of breath from laughing too hard. Then she coughed, struggling hard to catch her breath, and N patted her back gently.

“Sorry… too much?”

“No! No! I'm-” she was interrupted by flurry of coughs, and a wheezing intake of breath that had N looking even more worried then before, his look softened until the coughing fit was over.

She leaned back for a moment the energy and wind knocked out of her before she turned to look at N and smiled, putting her small hand over his.

“M’Okay big brother.”

He nodded, opening the door and pushing her into the garden. Cyn smiled as the cool evening air hit her face, taking a deep breath, N pushed her down the ramp leading down to the fountain, reflecting the sun as it went down over the hills of the valley.

“Did Tessa do your hair this morning?” N asked as he pushed her past the neatly trimmed hedges and near where the rosebushes were, Cyn leaned forward and touched one of the healthy red flowers, her delicate fingers ghosting over the petals as she brought it up to her face to sniff.

“Did you know that red roses are known to represent true love, passion, and commitment? It's why people always give them out on dates.” She hummed speaking in the way she always did when she was repeating things she'd learned; Slightly robotic.

“You read that today?”

“Vanessa lent me one of her books.” Cyn snickered, putting a hand over her mouth. “She is a hopeless romantic.”

Cyn always had an extensive vocabulary, likely due in part to how much time she spent reading, she was intelligent, probably more so then N himself if he was being honest.

“Maybe don't tell her that to her face?” N suggested, laughing a little as he leaned over her shoulder, causing them both to laugh quietly. The moment was quiet, peaceful and she continued to look over the flowers intranced.

Until there was a shrill noise behind them and they both flinched, so much so that Cyn accidently snapped one of the flowers off it's stem and the beautiful head came to rest on her lap.

“My roses! What on earth do you two think you're doing?!” N whipped around, coming face to face with one Louisa Elliot, lady of the manor and N’s as well as the rest of the platinum headed siblings, adoptive parent.

“I-I'm sorry Mrs. Elliot- Ma’am, Cynthia hadn't been out of her room all day, and I wanted to show her around the garden.” His smile faltered before being forced back on his face by the woman's peircing brown eyes and dark, raven hair spun up in the world's tightest bun. Cyn remained turned towards the rose bush, N almost body blocking the wheelchair.

“And tear up my rose bush?!” Her voice was shrill, coated in aristocracy and grated even N's ears, but he didn't dare make a move or say a word.

“Uhm, n-no of course not, that's never the intent- ah!” In a split second, Louisa's hand reared back and caught him across the face. Hard. Tears pricked on the sides of his vision and Cyn herself winced, she didn't see it, but hearing it was enough.

“Don't talk back to me!” She huffed, and N stood stock still, his cheek red and already swelling, his hands balled into fists and stuck to his sides.

“A-apolgies, Mrs. Elliot.” He choked out, barely holding back his tears, mostly out of shock then anything else. Entire body trembling but still not making a move to go anywhere.

“Inside! Get away from my flowers!” She huffed before she walked off, her heals clicking on the cobblestones as she went back inside.

There was a tense silence, N's breath was coming out shaky as he slowly turned back to grip the handles, Cyn started to turn back to look at him, but he stopped her. “I'm alright, it didn't hurt.”

He lied, her nails had caught the flesh of his cheek and it was starting to bleed, but he didn't want Cyn to see that.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! I'm a hundred percent okay!” He kept his normal tone, pushing Cyn past the fountain and inside, he moved quickly, strapping her into the elevator without turning his cheek to her, she tried to lean forward to look, but he was too fast.

He got her back into her room in record time, flashing her a smiled before setting her on the bed and quickly rushing to the bathroom to assess the damage to his face in the mirror.

He hissed as he looked at himself, two shallow cuts on his cheeks which were seeping out his life essence, the redness making it look a lot worse then it was, when he touched them he winced, looking at the smear of blood on his hand with apprehension. He'd really hoped he'd done a decent job in hiding the worst of it from Cyn.

It wasn't the first time he'd been hit. Far from it, it was a common thing, not enough to write home about, and certainly not the worst one he'd indured the six years he'd been adopted. There was no reason to cry over it.

But he did anyway, the shock of it happening with very little warning and the fact he was currently cracking into the medicine cabinet to disinfect the cuts with isopropyl alcohol made the tears come easily. He wasn't loud about it, they fell silently with the occasional drip of blood and runoff from the bottle. The only thing that gave him away was the shuddering intakes of breath that he was doing his best to be quiet about.

He worked on the wound, wiping the blood away as best as he could while his other hand rooted around the medicine cabinet for the bandaids, he'd found himself lucky enough that the scratches were close enough together to hide under a single thick bandage, so he stuck it on his cheek and looked at himself.

Hair disheveled, tears still forcing themselves down his face and slouching over the sink to steady his trembling frame.

He looked miserable, and he looked pathetic. Neither of which would do. He would have to see the rest of the family soon, if just to bring Cyn her dinner. And he'd rather not worry them… plus he had school tomorrow, he couldn't go looking like this.

He wiped his face, and took several calming breaths, even as his fist tightened slightly as the anger he was ignoring lashed out and hit him in the chest, causing him to growl slightly before continuing his breathing technique. The anger was temporary…

Until he opened his eyes, sorted out his hair with a brush and then cracked a smile in the mirror, it was sunshine, blinding, just like before. The illusion that everything was fine.

That was better…

Chapter Text

In homeroom that morning, Uzi was bored as per usual, an earbud in one ear as Mr. Brown stood at the front of the class, looking over the 20 or so heads that made up the classroom. The bell would ring any minute and Uzi glanced at the still-empty seat next to her.

Where was he? It wasn't like she cared, really. But N didn't seem to be the kind of person who was late for school. That was more her thing. She took a glance at the clock; 7:59.

Like the thought of him summoned him, he came through the door looking like he'd run here, hair slightly disheveled and breaths coming out in quick pants. He just caught the bell, his body passing the threshold of the door just as the bell rang.

Mr. Brown looked up at him, being the only student still standing, Uzi saw his face turn a bit red at the attention. But that wasn't the only thing on his face.

A large adhesive bandage covered his cheek, just below his eye, the area around it slightly red. It didn't seem to be hurting him that much though, not when he gave her a thousand-watt smile and sat down next to her.

“Mr. Elliot, please be in your seat before the bell rings. There are teachers in this building who will not be so lenient.” Mr Brown scolded, making N immediately scrunch up into a ball and avert his eyes, a lot like a dog who knew what they did was wrong.

“S-sorry, Mr. Brown.” He mumbled, and the teacher only nodded his head breifly as he took attendance, Uzi's eyes were still trained on N, maybe for a little longer then nessisary. Because he noticed and turned to her.

He blinked before his eyes flickered to the bandage on his cheek, and he gave her a smile, though not as big and bright as the ones she'd come to expect from him.

“Oh! It's nothing, I fell on the steps in front of my house when I got home. Got too excited I guess.” He ended the statement with an amused huff, like he was embarrassed of himself, and Uzi turned back towards the front, though she could still see him.

“You uh… didn't break your face too bad?” In a roundabout way, she was asking if he was okay without asking if he was okay. The size of the bandage implied either something deep, or something large, and neither were good in her experience.

“Nah! I'm kinda used to hurting myself… I'm kinda clumsy.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head, before his eyes seemed to light up and in a single quick movement began to rummage around his backpack.

“Here! I forgot to give it back yesterday!” She backed up slightly as his hand was suddenly way closer then it had been a minute ago, before she realized he was giving her back her pencil from yesterday, she half expected it to be empty or broken if she ever got it back at all.

She handled it, noticing a slight difference in it's weight and screwing off the eraser to look inside.

“You refilled the lead?” She asked, almost incredulous.

“Oh yeah! I did do that… heh, you were almost out so I just refilled it. Take it as a thank you for letting me borrow it!” Then, another sunny smile, and this one rubbed off on her, a small smile invading her face without her permission.

“It's just a pencil.” She quipped, the knee jerk reaction being to just wave off his small act of kindness, but then she sighed and took a glance over at him, his smile had faded slightly. “But, thanks.”

Another smile, brought back by her gratitude. And she found herself amused by it, this boy was so easy to make smile.

The bell rang for them to go to their first class, and N looked almost a little dissapointed before he turned to her.

“Aw, dang… I'll see you at English!” He hopped up, and Uzi could see that he was about to leave his backpack… again. But this time instead of saying something, she grabbed it out from underneath his desk and smacked it gently into his chest.

“Don't forget this again.” She grinned at him, a smug smile on her face as he was taken a little bit by surprise, this time his face turned a little red as he grabbed it from her.

“Heh… maybe I need you in all my classes just so I don't forget it.” He suggested, making her face heat up as well, it wasn't really a compliment, but the soft way he said it almost felt like one.

“I'm not your keeper, if it happens again I'm letting you leave it.” She tried to bite at that weird, warm, stupid feeling prickling on the back of her neck and her ears, but instead all she sounded like was playful.

“I'm sure you will.” He laughed as he walked out, leaving her with a goofy smile thar somehow made the heat worse. She grumbled and shook her head.

Whatever, he wouldn't stick around for long anyway.

Chapter Text

Weirdly enough, while she certainly saw him in English, Mrs. Gable, the teacher. Made sure that not a sound came out of any of the students in her classroom, she looked like a librarian, and wanted silence like one. Looking over her beaded, old lady glasses and shushing the class every time anyone made a noise… intentional or not.

Which made sure N couldn't even begin to speak to her at all, and every tap of his foot or fingers on the desk was met with instant ire from their teacher, which meant he couldn't do that either. And Uzi had to watch him squirm uncomfortably in the oppressive silence, aside from thier teacher occasionally addressing the class about the book she'd assigned them to read… which is what they were supposed to be doing.

And considering his next class was clear on the other side of the building, he gave her a wave goodbye before he rushed out the door so he'd make it to his next class, if she was being honest, watching the tall lanky boy try to run was… cute.

In a incredibly awkward, dorky way. He was literally all limbs and clearly had just hit a growth spurt recently because he was clumsy as all hell.

So the next time she saw him was at lunch. And by the time she'd exited the line with a cold burger, soggy fries and a salad she didn't trust. He was already sitting down and had dug into his lunchbox. He looked over to her, waving with some sort of breadstick in his mouth.

“What is it today? Your sister make another gourmet meal?” She teased, looking over into the box, this time it was pasta, a couple of mini breadsticks and a small salad. “That would be a yes.”

“This is just leftovers from last night.” He replied after sucking down a breadstick like he was a rogue vacuum cleaner, though he did look over at her tray. “At least it looks a lot better today.” He offered, and Uzi just frowned as she took a fry between her fingers and wiggled it, the fry displaying it's bungie cord like properties to the world.

“Or… not.” He looked sympathetic, but Uzi sighed, dumping ketchup all over the fries and the burger before wrapping a cluster of fries in a slice of cheese and popping in in her mouth.

“It's not the worst.” She hummed before realizing N had stopped eating just to stare at her incredulously, blinking like he'd just seen a ghost. “What?”

“Did you just… wrap your fries in a slice of cheese?”

“Yeah? What? Judging my food choices?” Her eyes narrowed at him, and he threw his hands up in defense at her glare while shaking his head.

“No! Nothing like that! I just… was caught of guard I guess? It never crossed my mind to do that.” He looked inquisitive, cocking his head as he looked down at her, amused, and the defense she suddenly put up went down again.

He wasn't judging her… just was curious.

“It's better then doing anything else with it… they don't have any salt.”

“Gross.” He agreed.

“You wanna try it?” She asked, surprising even herself at the suggestion, maybe it was his genuine curiosity, or maybe she was just trying to prove she wasn't crazy.

“I'm down for anything once. But I don't wanna take your food…”

“Trade for one of your breadsticks?”

“Deal.”

He placed one of his breadsticks on her plate along with a small dab of garlic sauce while she prepared a cheese roll with the second slice of cheese on her burger and handed it off to him, he took a long look at it, before popping the whole thing in his mouth like she had.

She watched his reaction, his face scrunching up as if he expected it to be bad before relaxing as he went on, he nodded after a moment, a surprised and amused look on his face.

“That was way better then what I was expecting!” He hummed, smiling down at her and causing yet another smug look to grace or face. Along with one of her classic gremlin laughs.

N immediately got a huge smile on his face. Oh my god, that laugh is adorable.

“See? Though actual cheese fries would be better…” The moment quickly passed and she tried the breadstick he'd given her, it went without saying, but it was unfairly good paired up with the garlic sauce and in comparison to what was already on her plate.

“I think I would be four hundred pounds if dad could cook like this…” She mumbled, being entirely honest with him for a moment, and he laughed while digging his fork into his pasta.

“I'll take the compliment up the chain.”

“That sounds like you live in a fancy restaurant or something.” She took a drink of the milk cartoon before tensing, looking into it and closing it again… looks like she lost the coin toss on weather it was spoiled or not.

“Think I'd be a good busboy? My speeds not bad.” He replied, meeting her sarcasm with more of his own.

“You definitely have the winning smile for it, bet you'd get lots of tips.” She replied, smirking at him, it wasn't intended to be flirting… but it did almost sound like it.

At this he blushed, not used to getting compliments even if it was only an implied one, she liked his smile? Most people thought it was weird, too wide, or fake.

“Thank you…” He mumbled back, not sure what else to say. Uzi looked at him for a moment, confused on why he was thanking her, and even more confused on why he'd gotten so quiet.

She'd said something weird again, now he's not gonna want to talk to you anymore. Just like every other time you've started talking to someone, good going.

Fine. That was fine. She'd kept him at arms length for a reason. This wouldn't hurt, he'd sit somewhere else tomorrow, stop talking and that would be okay, easy come, easy go.

She got quiet, really quiet. Refusing to look at him anymore.

“Uh… you okay?” He asked suddenly, making her look back at him, the smile was back on his face, though now mixed with a little bit of concern.

“You started looking a little sad, then got really quiet… I didn't upset you did I?” He asked, looking nervous while talking to her for the first time ever. The mental spiral she was going down stopped abruptly.

He thought he upset her?

“Oh- uh, no I'm fine. Just… thinking about something.” It technically was true, she was thinking, though maybe she should stop thinking, considering that she'd completely misread the situation.

The bell rang moments later, leaving them both without finishing their lunch.

“Aww, biscuits…”

Chapter Text

The computer lab was full of chatter when Uzi came in, her bag on one shoulder as she went into her seat in the dusty room. Tables lined each wall, stuffed with as many chairs and computers that they could hold, to the point the cheap plastic tables were bowing with the weight.

“Hey!” N was excitedly patting the chair next to him, beaming, though that seemed to be his default expression. Even still, Uzi wasn't used to someone so genuinely happy to see her, and couldn't stop the smile that invaded her face in return.

“Hey, Teacher come in yet?” She replied, carelessly throwing her bag underneath the table and plopping into the chair, of witch her legs dangled from slightly due to her height, so she swung them idly.

So… small. N thought as he noticed her slightly swaying legs, he'd noticed her height before, but it was only now that he was realizing just how small she was compared to him.

“Nope! Not yet!” He replied, trying to ignore how cute small she looked kicking her feet and instead just focusing on the question she asked.

“Good afternoon everyone!” The computer literacy teacher came through the door the second he answered, like he'd been summoned. He had salt and pepper colored hair, and vibrant verdant green eyes, wearing a tan sweater vest and jeans that looked ancient. Uzi's favorite teacher had just arrived.

Mr. Terrence J. Adams had been Uzi's computer literacy teacher since freshman year, he was the only one granted, but that was neither here nor there. But he was her favorite for one reason and one reason only;

“Yesterday was a nice easy day, but today I will be assigning your first, and only, assignment.”

Mr. Adams was notorious for assigning only one project for the entire year, a rather large project of course, you couldn't ignore it all year and do it at the last minute presumably. But having just one thing to worry about in a class was honestly amazing. And perhaps enabled her to procrastinate even more then usual.

“This year, since you all are seniors - and Principal Alice is up my ass - you'll be partnering up, choose wisely, you'll be working with them the whole year.”

Uzi blinked, that was a new requirement. And one she very much didn't enjoy. She'd always done her project by herself, at home, where she felt the most comfortable, not to mention no one would ever want to partner with-

“You wanna be partners?” N asked, completely eviscerating her train of thought and making her genuinely stare at the boy like he'd suddenly grown a second head.

“You want to?” She asked back, like she didn't quite believe she'd heard those words put of his mouth, but his smile got wider as he nodded like someone has just offered him candy.

“Yeah! It'll be fun!”

“Um… Yeah, okay.” She stammered, not sure how to respond at all to N. She didn't in general… but definitely didn't now.

“Yay!” He let out a childish squeal that had her chuckling under her breath, covering her mouth to hide her smile as his eyes seemed to get even more golden.

“Your project will be… creating your own blogs! Find a topic you both enjoy and maintain a blog about it until the end of the year.” Mr. Adam's explained, leaning on the desk in the center of the room, gesturing to everyone.

That didn't sound too bad, though it did require trying to find something her and N had in common, which couldn't have been much… he was like an excitable puppy and her a creature of the night.

Still… if she had to partner up, she'd rather the guy that was endlessly freindly rather then any of the other people there.

“I don't expect anything tangible for at least a couple weeks, but I will be checking your progress throughout the year. That being said, choose your partner and discuss!”

That turned to each other, we'll, more then they were already, and made breif eye contact which made Uzi's skin crawl for a moment as she adjusted to it.

“Sooo… what’r you into?” The blonde boy asked, gesturing to her and making her dart her eyes to the side as she thought of the more mainstream stuff she was into, Nightcore was probably the main one, niche but not too revealing or embarrassing, but he probably wouldn't be interested in that.

So she thought harder, mainstream, something he might be into… not revealing…

“Cryptids? That wouldn't be too hard to make a blog about right?” She suggested after a moment of introspection, and N raised his eyebrow in curiosity, making a soft ‘hmmm’ sound as he thought about it.

“I know a bit about them, Bigfoot, Loch Ness, that sort of thing?” Thankfully, he didn't seem judgemental, and after a moment, he smiled “Oh! Can we go ghost hunting? We can be ghost busters!”

She grinned “That's more supernatural then Cryptid… but we can definitely do that instead! Ghosts are cool!”

“I don't know any haunted places though…” His face fell a little, despite the fact that the manor he currently lived in exuding haunted vibes, it's not like he could just… invite her over, that would be weird! And he didn't want Mrs. Elliot to get upset he invited someone over.

In fact… if he could prevent them even knowing about each other, that would be preferable.

“I do! I've been wanting to explore the woods outside the old copper mine for awhile. That could be our first post.” For once, Uzi felt excited, a chance to explore a potentially haunted area? That sounded like a dream! And she wouldn't even be lying when she told her dad it was a project for school.

“If that's what you think we should do!” He beamed sounding just as excited even though he had less of a reason to be. “I don't know if I could convince Mr. and M- I mean, mom and dad to let me go into a haunted forest though.”

“They'll probably say yes if it's for school right? It's not like your going to a party.” Uzi replied leaning back in her chair, “And if that's what you're worried about just… don't tell them that's where you're going. Just say, ‘Hey I have a group project and I need to meet them at ‘insert normal public location of your choice.’’”

“But… that's dishonest…” N pointed out sheepishly, making Uzi shrug her shoulders.

“Yeah, but some adults are always gonna be weird about certain stuff. Best way to get around it is to just avoid it entirely”

N thought for a moment, telling Mr. And Mrs. Elliot that he was meeting up for a group project wasn't technically lying. And Mrs. Elliot did say to be sure he got good grades, and he couldn't do that unless they had content to actually blog about.

“I guess? I've never really lied to them before.” That was… not really true, he'd tried once or twice, but when they found out… well he was quickly corrected in his behavior and could never bring himself to lie again…

But it wouldn't really be lying.

“Somehow that doesn't surprise me…” Uzi's tone was teasing, not malicious, so he only laughed before changing the subject to the supernatural again, something that made Uzi's eyes light up and go off in a ramble about ghosts, the supernatural, and cryptids.

He just listened, happy not to be the one talking for once.

“Uh, wait. You don't have my number! How are we going to plan this outside of school?” He asked after she'd finally run out of steam, making her blink before she pulled out a small strip of paper and wrote down a string of numbers.

“There's mine, once you text me, I'll have yours.” The bell rang a moment later, a signal that meant it was time to go to their last two classes, and likely wouldn't see each other until the next day.

“That's the bell, thanks for the number!” He took the strip of paper and sped off, having to get to his next class quickly, as it was a long way to go in only five minutes.

Uzi nodded as a way to say goodbye, before she stopped in her tracks.

She'd been so preoccupied with talking about the supernatural that She'd just… given a guy her number.

It wasn't like what he said wasn't true, they'd need each other's number to plan anything. But giving out her number wasn't something she just did. Especially not on her second day of knowing the guy.

She sighed, already regretting her impulsive decision.

She hoped he wouldn't be weird about it…

Chapter Text

He had her number!

No one had ever given him their number before! Were they friends now? Did he actually make a good impression!? It was like a dream come true!

Sure, she'd given it to him under the pretense it was to plan for their project, but still! This felt like a grand occasion. And he nearly vibrated in excitement all the way home until he got to his room. Where he fished out his phone from his backpack.

Technically… he wasn't supposed to have a phone. Mr. And Mrs Elliot had confiscated or banned anything he could use to really talk to anyone outside the manor with, this one was a hand me down given to him by Tessa, who thought him not having a phone for emergencies was dumb.

Despite it being used, it wasn't damaged or worn, it was a few generations outdated, with a black otterbox shielding the already black casing, the only thing really signifying his ownership being the single golden retriever sticker on the back.

He was giddy as he punched the new number into his contacts, the only other ones being Tessa and V. (J would probably rat him out if she found out he had a phone.)

He sat on the edge of the bed with the text window open, watching the little line blink as his mind completely blanked on what to say.

Should he be texting her immediately? He wanted to but… she did say she wasn't much of a talker, although today proved that to be inaccurate after her rant about the supernatural. Still… it might come off as desperate or weird if he texted her immediately.

But he didn't want to seem disinterested either… she was the one who gave him the number. Maybe she was expecting something from him?

Gah… freindship was confusing.

He'd just… send her message so she could have his number too… yeah, that was the best option.

Hello. This is]

He shook his head and erased to message, too formal.

Hey, what's up its]

Nope! He sounded like a dudebro… or a streamer greeting thier audience.

He was most definitely overthinking this, he just needed to relax and text her like he would speak to her. He took a breath and began to type something out.

…

Uzi threw her backpack onto the floor of her room and divebombed her desk chair, which spun with her momentum, she'd been hung up on giving N her number all day, even when it shouldn't have been that big a deal.

He was just her lab partner, and that was the only reason she'd given it out. Nothing more.

Still she found herself sitting at her desk with her phone face up, waiting on him to text her while she pirated the latest season of The Boys with bitTorrent. Blasting nightcore in her ears as she watched directories get processed by her laptop.

Her dad was still at work, again. And probably would be well after she went to bed, so she was safe to do whatever the hell she wanted until she got tired enough to crash.

Her eyes flickered down to the drawer that hid her stash, thinking about how easy it would be light one up and ride a wave of bliss while she waited for the download of her dad's incredibly shitty internet.

And while tempting, she shook her head and went back to watching the downloader do it's thing, her head didn't feel full of static and cotton like it had yesterday, she felt… okay. So it was best to save that for a day when she didn't quite feel the same level of ambivalence.

She stared at her laptop for another moment before her phone vibrated and lit up with a message from an unsaved number;

Hey! It's N, just texting you so you can save my number!

Ah, there he was. It had honestly taken a little longer for him to text her then she expected, with how energetic he seemed to be at school, she kinda assumed she'd be texted immediately.

The way his text was phrased meant she didn't technically have to respond. But that felt a little rude, especially since the guy had been nothing but nice to her since they'd met, so she decided to at least give him some sort of response.

Hey. Thanks, was wondering when you were going to text.

There, that was okay right? It was basic, bur it got the job done, and now she could save his number in her contacts.

N: Didn't realize you were expecting me to?

Uzi: Was expecting one a lot sooner, u talk a lot.

She winced, she hoped that didn't come off as her being mean, she didn't really mind his talking, it was a nice change of pace really instead of sneers about her appearance or attitude.

N: Says the one who talked for 45 minutes about poltergeists.

She smiled a little, pleased he took that as the playful teasing is was meant to be rather then an insult.

Uzi: Not my fault, you asked.

N: I did indeed ask.

N: What r you up to?

Uzi stared at that text for a long moment, that was… a little bit more casual then a conversation brought on by a project. But he was probably just being polite.

Uzi: Doing my part against the capitalist agenda.

N:???

She chuckled at his reaction as she relaxed a bit in her chair, attention now fully on her phone instead of obsessively checking the download like it would magically make it go faster.

Uzi: Pirating a tv show because I refuse to give money to streaming services.

N: Isn't that illegal…?

She smirked as she typed.

Uzi: Everything is legal when the cops aren't around! >:3

N: I don't think that's how law works.

Uzi: Bite me, yes it is.

She grumbled as she texted, though there really wasn't any malice behind it… in fact she almost preferred interacting with him this way. She could take as long as she needed to think up a response, and felt way less pressured to smile or physically respond to anything.

N: Whatever you say!

N: Gotta go, little sis is calling me, night Uzi! 😄

She was slightly taken aback by the abruptness of his sign off, but was also slightly dissapointed, why, she wasn't quite sure.

Uzi: Night

She put her phone down and looked at the laptop screen, groaning when she realized it wasn't even halfway done. She sighed, looking back at her bed, then at the time; 10:30.

She hadn't had dinner, though honestly that was nothing new, even if she did scrounge through the cabinets the chances of finding something solid that was in date was slim to none… Khan often forgot to get groceries since he ate at work.

She rolled her eyes and closed her laptop just enough for the screen to turn off, but for the computer to remain on, and fell into her bed, ignoring the slight flips her stomach was doing due to her hunger. And fell into an uneasy sleep.

Chapter Text

N was… nervous.

He was standing in front of Mrs. Elliots study. One of the servants was at attention to his left, who knocked on the door for him. He gulped, touching his bandaged face lightly as if trying to will away the phantom pain of her stinging nails.

“Come in.” Her shrill voice prattled off from behind the heavy door, and the servant opened it for him before bowing out. N hated that. He could knock and open doors by himself just fine.

“Ma’am.” He greeted, giving her a stiff and proper bow that was done more out of fear then genuine respect. He refused to meet her eyes, like he was trying to reason with some feral animal that would take eye contact as a threat.

“What do you want, Nathaniel?” Her words spoke his name with venom, like she was referencing a rat that had been caught in the kitchen, he gulped again.

“I was assigned a group project at school, it requires me to meet up with my partner at Bunker P-Park.” He stammered during his bald face lie, he was never very good at it to begin with, it didn't help that now he was nervous. “I want to ask your permission.”

“You know how I feel about you being outside unsupervised.” Her tone turned threatening, sending him into immediate and instinctual appeasement mode.

“I-I'm well aware. Ma’am. It's the o-only assignment for the class, if I don't do well then I w-will fail. I wouldn't be asking for any other reason.” He needed to stop shaking, he had to, lest she accuse him of-

“Are you lying to me Nathaniel?”

He supressed the urge to tense up or to let out the sound of surprise that accompanied it, he took a deep breath, come on N, Uzi can't do this project on her own.

“Of course not. If you would prefer conformation, I'm sure my teacher would be glad to provide it.” His voice shifted slightly, refusing to buckle under pressure even though he still felt his knees threatening to give out, he stood up straighter, and looked her directly in the eye- or tried.

He realized Mrs. Elliot wasn't even looking at him, and probably hadn't been this whole time. She was looking at her desk, jotting something down. How would she even catch his body language if she wasn't even looking?

“Ugh, I'd rather not.” She hummed with distain, as if talking to a teacher was far beneath her. “ Very well. Tessa will take you, I need her to fetch something for me this weekend anyway.”

He also supressed the urge to jump for joy.

“Thank you, Ma'am.”

“Dismissed.” She responded dryly, looking up at him for the first time the entire conversation, and he nodded briskly before hurrying out the door as fast as he could without it being suspicious.

The second he was out of earshot though, he jumped a full foot in the air and pumped his fist. “YES!”

He rushed up to his room, locked the door and pulled his phone out of the recesseses of his bookbag to text Uzi that he got permission, diving into his bed.

They'd been texting some during the week, not a lot, and it was mostly him initiating, asking her what she was doing or just idle chatting. But she always responded pretty quickly, which somewhat surprised him. He figured she had better things to do then reply to a random, meaningless text.

N: They said yes to this wknd!

Uzi: Great! Meet up at Bunker Park Saturday right? How long u got until the warden gets sus?

N laughed a little, Uzi had taken to calling his parents, or the idea of them, “the warden” or “the jailors”. All he'd told her is that they were pretty strict, wanting him supervised always. But she already seemed to dislike them.

Or maybe she just had a problem with authority, that seemed more apt.

N: 10pm? 11 is curfew.

Uzi: That's just when things get good! Ur parents suck.

N: They just care about my safety.

Uzi: Oh no, the park is so scary. OoOOoo

N had quickly learned, though probably should have suspected, that Uzi was a sarcastic little shit, and anytime it was an option it was the option she chose, and he could almost hear her voice making the ghost noises.

N: But that's not where we're going! Spooky Haunted Mineshaft Forest!

Uzi: They don't know that.

That was fair, but so was the 11pm curfew, he figured, Mr. And Mrs. Elliot didn't know exactly where he was going, and why would he need to stay out late in a park working on a group project?

They would just have to work around it.

“Big Brother?” Cyn called from her room, making him look up from his phone with a small smile.

“Yeah?” He replied back, not moving to get up off the bed just yet.

“Come?”

N: Sis needs me, ttyl

Uzi: She a baby or something? U say that a lot.

N: Six.

Uzi: Gotcha. see u Saturday.

N re-stashed his phone away, hiding it in a pencil case before creaking open Cyn’s room gently, she was sitting on the floor, a tea party with her plushies and dolls in progress.

“Join me for tea, Nathan?” She cocked her head at him, smiling hopefully and gesturing in front of her, N chuckled and sat down criss cross applesauce, bowing exaggerated to a comical degree.

“Thank you for the invitation, Miss Cynthia.” He replied, raising his voice to be a few octaves higher then it usually was, creating cheerful giggles, out of his little sister. N was slightly concerned on how she'd gotten on the floor though.

“How'd you get on the floor?”

“Did it myself, just slid off the bed.” She gestured behind her to her small bed, which explained why her legs were in an odd angle. He furrowed his brow slightly.

“You shouldn't do that, what if you get hurt?”

“I am not fragile.” She replied back, an upset look on her face, and he wanted to say that yes, by definition, she was fragile. But kept his mouth shut, Cyn rarely felt good enough to do anything by herself, so he wouldn't scold her for it, she wasn't hurt.

“No, you're tough as nails, but you are my little sister, it's my job to help.” He grinned a booped her nose gently. The frown on her face turning upwards into a smile as she handed N a very small teacup.

“Would you like some tea?” She asked, holding a teacup full of imagination in both her hands, he held out his very small teacup.

“Of course.”

The tea party went on for a small while, usually, they were an excuse for Cyn to vent her frustrations or ask questions she wanted answers to but wanted an excuse to ask them. She was doing a bunch of the first, asking one of her stuffed animals why he yelled all the time. Probably referencing J.

“Who have you been talking to, Big Brother?” She asked him after a breif pause, looking up at him curiously as she poured another cup of imagination out for a doll.

“Oh uh, group project partner, just getting an outline for our project.” He replied, being only slightly awkward about it. It wasn't like he didn't trust Cyn, but he knew if he answered, ‘that cool goth girl I told you about’ she would ask five billion questions that he probably couldn't answer.

“Is it a funny project? I heard you laughing a lot.” She asked again, probing.

It wasn't his fault Uzi's dry sense of humor was funny.

“Uh, nah, just my partner is. S-They’re cool.” He stammered slightly, slipping up on the pronoun, hoping he wouldn't give himself away.

“Oh! Is it that girl you met? You got her to give you your number?”

Drat.

“It is. Yeah, just for the project though.”

As if he could've gotten it any other way, he imagined if he did hit on her, she'd probably kick his ass into next week. Not that he wanted to! She just… didn't seem like the type to appreciate that kind of attention.

“Can I help? I know lots of things. I would like to meet purple haired lady.” She smiled, cocking her head once more, he swore she did it to look more adorable.

“Her name is Uzi. And I don't know… not sure we're allowed outside help.” He shrugged, trying to get her off this topic. While he was sure Cyn would like Uzi if they ever met, it would almost definitely require Uzi to come here, to the manor.

Something he absolutely did not ever want, Uzi dressed and acted like his parents worst nightmare, and he'd rather not be punished for it, thank you.

“I don't need credit, I just want to help.”

“How about I talk to her? Hmm?” He suggested, and Cyn furiously nodded her head in agreement, beaming.

“Yay!”

Chapter Text

Uzi sat on the park bench scrolling through songs on her phone, the air around her was warm and humid, summer seemed to come faster every year and this year was no different. It was marginally cooler in Copper, the valley it resided in shielding it from the sun's rays most of the day, but not by much.

The park itself was nothing special, a small playground in the middle with a few covered seating areas around it, she was just on the outskirts, sitting under a dogwood tree that was spitting it's big, pink flower petals out at everyone who passed it. She'd already had to pick several out of her hair.

And at exactly 6:30pm. A dark grey BMW pulled into the parking lot, and Uzi looked up at it before looking back down at her phone.

N:I'm here! Where are you?

Nvm! I see you!

Uzi blinked, looking back at the fancy BMW that had just pulled in and sighing, oh so N's family had money, money. That made a bit of sense, though she was a little surprised he'd never mentioned it before.

She stood up, dusting herself of and trying to look as presentable as possible, suddenly feeling a little self conscious in her tank top and (currently open) jacket.

A tall woman with long brown hair and gorgeous emerald green eyes stepped out of the sedan, doing a once over of the park before the passenger door opened and out stepped N. A hoodie and jeans despite the temperature. (Though it's not like she had room to talk)

N pointed at her excitedly, which made her freeze for a moment before awkwardly smiling. Stepping up towards them a bit warily.

“Um, heeey?” Oh fuck everything, she was so awkward. Someone please come rescue her from this conversation.

“Hey Uzi! This is Tessa! The chef of the food you like so much!” She winced, they hadn't shared lunch that often, but being put on the spot so suddenly made her heart speed up and breath get caught in her throat.

“Oh-uh, it's nice to meet you. I guess.” She curled in a bit on herself, feeling more out of place then ever. She felt her face getting warm despite her efforts to stop it.

“Oooh, N didn't tell me his ‘partner' was the girl he met on the first day.” She side eyed N, a smirk growing on her face as she turned to him.

“You didn't lie to mom to go on a date did you little bro~?” She teased, earning a squeek as N turned an impressive shade of cherry red, something that seemed to also spread to Uzi, as she looked down to hide her own fluster.

It wasn't a date! It was an exhibition to gather data! No romantic undertones at all! Nothing romantic about hunting for ghosts!

“Tessa!” N seethed, being the first time Uzi had seen him look genuinely upset since she'd known him. “Its-Its not a date! And I didn't lie! She is my project partner!” He defended, fidgeting his hands.

“Riiiight, alrighty then. It's nice to meet you too Uzi, N was right, you are very pretty.” Tessa winked at her, and Uzi felt whatever oxygen she had escape in a tiny gasp as N looked like he was about to perish on the spot.

“I'll be back at ten sharp. Have fun you two!” Tessa waved them off, chuckling to herself at the way she embarrassed her younger brother before hopping back in the car. N was still stuck ramrod straight, face redder then beetroot.

There was a moment of very tense silence, before N cleared his throat, trying to calm down a little.

“Ah-uh… don't mind her, she likes to embarrass me…” He explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, smiling like a fool.

Uzi gave a half-laugh. “I-Its okay. She's your older sister, it's kinda her job right?” Her hands gripping onto the bottom fluff of her jacket as she also tried to coax the heat from her face.

Right. She just likes to embarrass him. He probably never said that about her…

“You are- you are though.” He murmured, looking down at his own feet to avoid looking anywhere near her.

Well that certainly didn't help calm her fluster.

“Oh… thank you?” She managed to get out before she had to look away, a dumb, smiley look on her face. She still didn't know how to take compliments, and this one made her heart feel all fluttery… for some reason.

“You have petals in your hair.” N said after a moment of awkwardly walking back to the bench she was at before. Pointing at the pink petals caught in her beanie and purple locks.

“Huh? Agh! Come on!” She shook her head and huffed, watching as a few petals floated down around her, crossing her arms.

“Uh… there's still… here.” He suddenly stepped incredibly close, hand brushing through her hair as he fished for the final stubborn flower, she almost wanted to yell at him for invading her personal space, instead all she could do was squeak and watch his arm like a mouse watching a cat.

The moment was over quickly. N pulling back with an intact pink flower in his hand, he was beaming, letting the flower float out of his hand and onto the ground gently.

“There! It really wanted to stay with you!” He giggled, fidgeting with his hands again.

Uzi blinked. Before figuratively slapping herself. Pulling herself put of whatever weird headspace she'd just fallen into and clearing her throat.

“T-thanks. Uh, you wanna start walking? The forest is thata-way.” She pointed forward through the park, past the fenced in area of it's well trimmed confines, the forest grew thick and untamed.

“Yeah! Let's go, I love doing anything!”

Chapter Text

Uzi hoisted herself over the chain link fence with scarily practiced ease, landing on the other side with a light thud and turning back to look at N still on the other side, looking up at the tall fence as if he was intimidated by it.

Which, you know. He was.

He'd never climbed a fence before, he'd never climbed anything before. Why would he? He didn't tend to have a habit for getting into places he shouldn't be. Unlike Uzi it seemed.

“It's not gonna bite you. Your legs are long enough you could probably just jump over it.” Uzi deadpanned, but it did seem like she was taking some amusement out of his nervousness. He looked from side to side, as if checking to make sure no one was watching him.

“No one's watching, and if they are, they don't care. Come on, we're burning daylight!”

Okay. Fine. He could do this, Uzi was right the fence was only a couple feet taller then him he could probably just jump over it if he got a running start.

He backed up from the fence, steadying his breath as he took a only half correct sprinters position before sending himself careening towards the fence, trying to get as much upwards momentum as possible.

To his surprise, we was clearing the fence quite well, he launched himself over it, feeling a bit like he'd just learned to fly.

It was…. oddly freeing.

At least, until his ankle got caught as he was halfway over the fence and he found himself loosing all forward momentum, slamming him breifly into the chain link on the other side before dropping him unceremoniously on his head.

His ears rang after his head made contact with the ground, feeling hands grab his head and neck firmly and strangly gently, he was moved into a laying position, his eyesight was strangely wavy, like he was looking through water.

“N. Hey, can you hear me?” He heard after his ears stopped ringing and his eyes refocused, she was looking at him, an expression of both concern and deep amusement etched on her face.

He tried to nod, but Uzi's hands were stopping any movements from it, he looked at her confused, and she scoffed.

“You just landed on your head, idiot, you could've broken your neck. When I said jump, I didn't mean give yourself a concussion.” She explained, before gently tilting his neck to either side, her hands were pleasantly cool, in contrast to his constant, radiating heat. Pink flared up in his cheeks.

“Any pain? Your heads going to hurt but does your neck?” She took on an oddly clinical tone, as if he was getting checked up at a doctors office. He gulped, before truly trying to feel for any pain.

“No. I mean my head kinda hurts, but my neck is fine.” Even as he said this, Uzi moved his head up and down gently, after seeing no reaction from him. Her hands snapped back into her pockets as if just touching him had somehow harmed her.

“I didn't expect you to try to clear it. I just meant jump and grab the top so you could pull yourself over.” She lifted a brow, smirking a bit as he slowly got up; somehow he'd avoided any major injuries aside from his head being bit sore.

“Ooh… yeah that makes more sense.” He admitted sheepishly, making Uzi roll her eyes, even still though, she was smiling even if it was a small one.

“Let's go, and let's avoid trying to fly over anymore fences. You don't have wings, last time I checked.” He laughed, falling in directly behind her as she led the way through the dense underbrush.

She seemed to move through it with ease, not afraid to grip onto a tree or a bush or dig her fingernails into the dirt if she felt she needed to. She was sure footed, even as the terrain shifted and sloped downward she never once stumbled, it was almost graceful. It was graceful in comparison to what he was doing.

Which was stumble and trip over literally everything. He'd yet to fall, but he had come close, the only thing stopping him being grabbing onto a tree and holding on for dear life as he regained his footing.

“You wanna know how to walk on slopes like this?” She asked after the second time he'd nearly fallen. As to which he breathed out an exasperated “Yes, Please.”

“Angle your feet to the left or right, not down, there's more surface area for your shoes to grip.” She demonstrated, angling both her feet to the left as she effortlessly climbed down into a clearing.

So that's what he did, angling his feet to the left, he found that it was indeed much easier to keep his footing then walking normally, he joined her at the edge of the clearing, this time without falling.

“Why didn't you show me that when we first started?” He whined, causing her to laugh lightly.

“You've gotta try on your own first, so you can feel the difference between the right way and the wrong way.” That's was… strangly sage coming out of her mouth, but then, much quieter came;

“At least, that's what mom always said.”

Before he had a chance to comment on thar, she gave him feral smile, gesturing in front of her. “We're here!”

He glanced around. Taking in the clearing.

It was immediately obvious that this place was long abandoned, old, 70's style vehicles were sat rusting in the middle of the clearing, which on further look, was actually an overgrown parking lot. Pressed up against a steep hill (the one they had just spent fifteen minutes climbing down) was the mouth to a decrepit old mine, the rotting support beams looking about ready to crumble, though the light hanging directly in the entrance was on, if flickering ever so often.

Yeah, it definitely looked haunted.

“Spooky.” He acquiesced, looking down at his project partner, who was setting up a camera facing the mineshaft opening, humming to herself.

“Hehehe, and this will film us, and catch anything we can't see with the naked eye!” She tapped the tripod, looking proud of herself, before having to lurch foreward to catch it, as she'd accidentally knocked it over.

“Cool! Uh… what now?” He asked, unsure how all this “ghost hunting" worked, he wasn't even sure he believed in ghosts. She'd just looked so excited at the prospect of going, he'd went along with it.

“You can test out the radio!” She fished again into the large bag she'd carried with her. (How had he missed that?! Not only had she been completely sure footed, but had lugged that down as well.) And handed him a very strange looking radio.

“You turn it on like this.” She came up to his side, leaning slightly on his arm as she pointed to the big button in the middle, N felt his face heat up a little again, Tessa’s teasing voice mocking him, asking him if it was a date. He shook of his thoughts and  pressed the button, and after a quick second. A burst of static hit his ears.

“It cycles through different frequencies, it's supposed to let us communicate with ghosts.” She explained, N couldn't help but find her utter excitement about it cure, she was cool and collected most of the time, but not when it came to ghosts, apparently.

“Have you ever heard anything?” He asked, genuinely curious, but at this she stopped, looking back at him sheepishly. “Uh… no. Nothing that was anything clear anyway.” She looked slightly dissapointed, which N decided immediately that he did not like.

“Aw, maybe that'll change tonight!” He suggested, trying his best to cheer up his freind. Group partner?

She smiled, not a sarcastic or feral one, but a real one that spread to her eyes and made her already bright violet eyes seem to sparkle even more. “Maybe, help me film this intro?”

Freind. They were definitely freinds, and that made N feel all the more warm inside.

Chapter Text

Uzi finished setting up the camera, pointing it towards the mineshaft entrance and rest of the parking lot and pressing a button that made the camera blink with a red light. She took a nervous breath, before she grabbed his shoulder and made him stand next to her.

“Hey everyone! Welcome to the first uh… night? Field study?” She started off strong, sounding decently confident before her voice began to falter, N blinked, before speaking up himself.

“Investigation! We're ghost hunting!” He beamed into the camera, gripping Uzi's shoulder as he threw a hand up in the air in excitement. Uzi froze for a moment in his grip, before gently pushing him away.

“Right, Supernatural Investigation. I wanted to start off strong by going to the most haunted place in Copper I know of… the old mine.” She tried to match his energy, but found the feat to be impossible, any excitement came out sounding like sarcasm.

“Uh does the mine have a name?” N asked dumbly, rubbing the back of his head and turning his full attention to Uzi.

She blinked for a moment. “Not sure… it's been abandoned so long the names rubbed off.” She pointed to a very old wooden sign, the only word left legible was ‘Mine’.

“But it doesn't matter, there's a ton of rumors about this place. Hehehe.” Uzi wiggled her fingers, a small smirk gracing her face.

“Like?” N urged her to continue, unlike her, he had zero problems with the camera of their invisible audience, smiling into it like a pro.

“It's said that JCJenson experimented on the miners here in the 70's and that those tortured souls still haunt the forest around the mine, looking for vengeance.” Voice taking a creepy cadence, she look a glance at N, who looked a little spooked.

“Wait, you didn't tell me that part!” He whined, making her laugh like a gremlin.

“I had to leave some secrets! That's what makes it fun.”

After that, they continued to flim, Uzi taking a long establishing shot of the surrounding area before picking up the camera in her hands, ready to start exploring.

“Ready N?” She asked, sticking her thumb up in front of the camera before turning to him, he looked nervous, sweat visible on his cheek. Fumbling with his hands.

“Ah… yeah! I guess!” He gave a wary thumbs up before Uzi took the lead, getting close up shots of the rusted out vehicles and N cutely waving on the other side of car through the window at her.

It was the mouth of the mine next, N next to her as she took an approaching shot up to the darkened maw, looking inside where darkness took over within a few feet in, almost oppressive.

“Wanna go in?” She teased, watching N look reprochfully at the mouth of the mine, at her question he took several steps back, shaking his head.

“No! Nope I'm good!.” He quickly replied, his hands out in front of him as he backed up, and she couldn't help but laugh.

This… this was fun, which was something she hadn't felt while out with another person in a long time. N was the perfect partner for something like this, he was easily freaked out, reacting with fear at the slightest noise or movement. Which meant of course, it was endlessly fun messing with him by intentionally snapping sticks or pointing out a nonexistent shadow.

There wasn't any real evidence of ghostly activity, and most of the footage was nothing but them talking while trudging through the underbrush, or small landmarks, like discarded mining equipment or trees that looked exceptionally creepy.

“Oooh, what's that?” N spoke up after a small lull in conversation. At this point, the sun was going down, making the shadows on the forest floor look longer and more intimidating, and the air had begun to cool.

N was pointing off into the distance, where there was a strange shape through the trees, it almost looked like…

“A cabin! Sweet! Let's check it out!” Uzi immediately started sprinting towards it, only vaguely hearing N's yelling of her name as she hyperfocused on it, and only stopped until she was directly in front of it.

The cabin was old, extremely old, the wooden siding sloughing off with rot, the windows had been cracked, some shattered, and every one of them boarded up in some capacity, a stone chimney breached to top of it, and a rusty pickaxe sat on the outside of the door.

Thumping footsteps came up behind her, along with exhausted panting and a grumble. “Man you are fast Uzi…” She turned the camera to face him, catching him resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

All she responded with was another maniacal giggle. “Oh come on, your legs are like double the length of mine, don't be a baby.”

When N did catch his breath, he looked up at the cabin in awe, taking note of every detail. He pulled the radio out of his pocket, and turned it on.

Static.

“Might get something if we go inside.” Uzi suggested, clambering onto the rotten porch and gesturing to the door, N in response, looked horrified.

“That's breaking and entering!” He seethed.

“Nobody lives here! It'll be fine!” Uzi replied, adjusting the camera in one hand as she reached our for the rusted handle, the metal trying to fall apart in her hand as she gave it a turn.

The doorknob crunched as corroded metal attempted to move, groaning and grinding before stopping suddenly.

“Locked.” Uzi grumbled, and N couldn't help but inwardly jump for joy. No more illegal activities today, thank you.

“Hey, maybe we can head back and try this out at the entrance to the mine?” He suggested, before noticing Uzi lifting up the moth-eaten welcome mat and making an ‘Ah-Hah!’ noise.

And lifting up an ancient looking key with a shit eating grin.

N gulped, climbing up into the rotten porch, holding onto his little radio like he could use it as weapon, his eyes darting in every direction as Uzi unlocked the door and pushed it open.

The door creaked heavily, as if it was surprised it was being used after so long, the air inside was musty and damp, with the smell of mildew permeating into their nostrils and almost making N recoil in disgust.

“Cool” Uzi noted, taking a few steps inside, using her phone as a flashlight. The light bouncing around the inside of the one room cabin.

There was a ratted out double bed stuffed into the corner, still made and ready for someone to tuck into, a nightstand next to it, covered in stacked, now ruined books. There was a small kitchen surrounding the stone hearth, and a dining table that had fallen apart into a heap.

N looked at his radio.

Static.

“Looks like this place hasn't been touched since the mine shut down.” Uzi hummed as she picked up one of the books on the nightstand;

The Anatomy of The Soul.

N was directly behind her, not quite touching her, but it was clear he wanted to, hovering just above her shoulder as he scrunched in on himself, trying to make himself look small.

“Chicken.” She teased, causing him to pout into the camera.

“Am not!’ He protested, before yelping like a little girl at a spider that decided that the moment was perfect to drop in front of his face.

“Mmhm, sure buddy.” Uzi chuckled, before heading over into the remains of the kitchen, picking up an old fire-stoker and whipping it around like it was a sword.

He-ll-ooo

Both teens froze in shock as N's radio suddenly blasted out a noise that wasn't static, N himself holding it far away from him as if it would attack him. And Uzi dropping the stoker with a loud clatter.

“Holy- Oh my god we actually got something!” Uzi exclaimed, looking excited as she closed the distance between N and herself.

“Hello. Can you hear me?” She spoke into the room as clearly and loudly as she could, ignoring the fact N was trembling and scanning every corner of the room for any sort of movement.

Static

More Static

“Maybe it was a flu-”

Y-es. Came distorted out of the radio, shutting N up instantly, the voice sounded distinctly female, if not slightly monotone. N whimpered softly.

“What is your name? What happened to you?” Uzi asked again, smile getting wider as she lifted the camera to scan the entire room.

There was another small beat of silence.

H-hurt. Coool-d. Tru- Bettt-raye-d

Uzi looked at N again, who honestly looked like he was about to pass out. But she couldn't contain her excitement, proof! Actual proof of something supernatural!

H-help. Wire. S-shockkk. Tr-rappp-ed.

“Who hurt you?” Uzi asked, before feeling a light chill go up her back, making every hair stand on end suddenly, for a moment- just a moment, she could see her own breath.

But no reply ever came.

“Nope! We're leaving!” N suddenly said, grabbing her by the wrist and all but dragging her own of the cabin, she jumped at his touch, being several degrees warmer then her own normal temperature. Her cheeks warmed too.

“H-Hey! I wasn't finished!” She protested, though she didn't make any true effort to fight him, letting herself be lead back through the forest, until they were back in the overgrown parking lot.

“I am! I've seen horror movies!” N replied, sounding truly freaked. Uzi only pouted slightly, adjusting the camera again.

“I wanted to communicate with the dead…”She whined when he finally released her a safe distance from the accursed cabin, making N turn to her with a half-amused smile, lined by incredulity.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” At first, that comment hit her directly in the heart, thinking that he was judging her in some way, thinking that she was weird or creepy for being totally into the paranormal.

But the soft smile on his face and genuine look in his eye made her realize he meant it positively, he wasn't judging, he was fascinated. And possibly also slightly intimidated at how fearless she seemed to be.

So she just shrugged. “I dunno. I just think it's more cool then scary.”

N gave her a breathless laugh in return.

“You're way braver then me then, I don't- er didn't even believe in ghosts until now!” He tangled his hands in his hair, looking incredibly perturbed at this revelation.

“Oh Biscuits! Ghosts are real! I'm never going to ever sleep again…” He admitted, causing a very soft giggle to escape Uzi's mouth.

“Easy, Scoob. As much as I was excited… it easily could have been the radio picking up bits of broadcasts… it's nothing concrete.” She replied, feeling that little bit of disappointment rise within her, knowing she was entirely correct, even if she didn't want to be.

“Sooo… no ghost?” He blinked.

“Sooo, maybe ghost.” She replied, sighing and looking at her phone for the time. 8:55 “We only have about an hour left, we should crawl out of here before it's too dark to see.”

He glanced back at the direction of the cabin like he was looking for something to appear before sighing.

“We're… not ever going back in there… are we?” He looked at her, a spot on impression of puppy dog eyes that made her heart skip and immediately turn away, an angry blush on her face, before it was replaced with a teasing smirk.

“No promises~”

“Uzi!”

She laughed as she lead them back out of the woods, making sure to pick up their supplies.

Yeah… this was fun. Maybe she didn't have to be so distant with this one.

Chapter Text

It was 9:30 when Uzi was clambering over the fence again. Night in full swing, dew settling on the grass and covering everything in a glistening sheen. The pale light of the moon doing its best to illuminate their path.

Instead of going all the way over though, she sat on the top, looking down at N with a confident smirk, the moon giving her a sort of ethereal glow.

“I'll help you this time. No more head injuries.” She laughed lightly, covering her mouth with her hand. Her nails were painted, he'd just noticed, matte black that seemed to make everything else about her pop.

He felt his face warm up again, a dorky smile sticking to his face as she held her hand down to him, legs tangling within the chainlink to keep her locked in.

She was so… unlike him. Free to do whatever she wanted, go where she wanted to go. Fearless, in a way that was admirable and inspiring.

He wanted to be like that. Out of his gilded cage.

He took her hand, despite how small it was in comparison to his, her grip was strong, powerful. And she was easily able to start pulling him up, his feet hooking into the chainlink as he joined her sitting on top of the fence.

A small breeze hit his face as he looked over the park, now empty this late, the lanterns dotted about leaving bright spots and dark shadows that lingered between trees and around corners.

“You don't get out much, do you?” Uzi suddenly asked, looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face. He felt sheepish.

“Is it that obvious…?” He murmured, causing another teasing smirk to cross her face.

“Painfully.” She chuckled, he felt himself blush again.

Before anything else could happen though, he heard a rumbling noise that seemed to come from Uzi, who immediately recoiled slightly, face turning an impressive shade of cherry red before she grimaced.

“Ugh, sorry… I haven't eaten today.” She admitted, which immediately pumped the breaks on every single one of his internal thoughts.

“What?” tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop himself, she hadn't? They'd just hiked up and down rocky terrain, she'd lugged an entire tripod and a dufflebag as well, and she hadn't eaten?

“It's not a big deal, Dad forgets to fill the pantry sometimes. It's not the first time.” She waved it off casually, beginning her descent off the fence, he followed clumsily, nearly falling off.

“It is a big deal! That's not healthy at all!” He dropped in behind her with a soft thud, concern dripping off his features, Uzi didn't seem to notice what the big deal was though.

“Probably not. But… I'm used to it.” She shrugged, adjusting the strap on her duffle bag before beginning to walk back into the park. N felt nothing but terrible.

Nobody should be left hungry! Even on bad days, Mr. and Mrs. Elliot would always feed him; they never cooked themselves, but they would make sure food was a least available.

He frowned, looking upset for her before something caught the corner of his eye. A little food truck with it's light still on, a short, paltry woman was stacking boxes into it.

A grin passed across his face.

He grabbed her wrist, making her yelp as he dragged her off course and towards the food truck, she protested and yanked slightly back, but she didn't put her full strength behind it.

“N! What the… hell?” He released her in front of the very garish looking truck, poorly painted foodstuffs displayed on the sides, he gently tapped the trucks frame in a knocking motion, catching the stocking woman's attention.

“Hello! I'm sorry to bother you, but are you still open?” N asked, hands folded in front of him politely, slightly bowing out of habit. His smile seemed to be turned up to an even higher wattage then usual.

“Oh! I was just closing up shop dear, I'm sorry.” The woman looked back at them apologetically, looking kindly with her auburn hair pulled back in a single long braid.

“Oh… um, that's okay, it just my friend hasn't eaten today… and I was wondering if you had anything that wouldn't be too much of a hassle for you.”

“N, it's fine. Let's let her close up shop.” Uzi on the other hand, was slightly mortified. N just went up to a total stranger and asked for a favor! There was no way this woman wasn't irritated at being interrupted.

Instead the woman's gaze turned to her, her hand falling to her hip as her small smile dissolved into a frown.

Yep…

“Oh! You're so skinny! Look at you!” And suddenly she was being fussed over, the woman hovering over her like a long estranged aunt.

She suddenly felt a little self-conscious, yeah… she was small, and you could sometimes see her spine through her back or ribs trough her chest, but that didn't mean she was starving.

Her stomach made another noise of indignation, twisting painfully for a moment.

“I think I have something for you. Don't go anywhere!” The food truck owner hurried inside the truck, the clattering of utensils hitting their ears.

N beamed. “Thank you so much!”

Uzi was a little bit starstruck, but reality quickly caught up.

“I… don't have any money…” She admitted quietly, feeling a little embarrassed. But N's smile didn't falter in the slightest.

“That's okay, Tessa gave me her credit card! I can pay!”

“You don't have to do that, I'm-”

“Hungry, and you're my friend. Let me pay? Please?” He finished for her, looking at her so innocently and deeply she couldn't look at him. Her cheeks tinted pink at the word friend.

“I-I Okay.” She caved, she wouldn't lie. She was hungry, and chances were there would be nothing at home either.

She hadn't had someone who'd considered her their freind since… she was much smaller. It made her feel all gross and mushy, but warm. And the warmth was kinda nice.

“Here ya are girlie! It's what I could make with what I had left.” The woman stuck her head out of the window, handing her a warm cardboard basket, it was potato wedges, completely drenched in chili and cheese. It smelled divine.

“How much?” N asked, dipping his hand into his jean pocket, the woman hummed.

“It was mostly just leftovers, two bucks?” She suggested, so N just handed over his card, which she took for a moment to scan.

Uzi looked back up at N, watching as he conversed with the woman idly, laughing and making her laugh. Clearly cheering the truck owner up before Uzi looked back down at the little basket.

It was by far the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her, and it wasn't even that big. Only a little basket of fries that cost him next to nothing.

“Thanks again!” N chirped back to the woman, giving her a friendly wave as they both walked back towards the park bench they started at and sat down, waiting for Tessa to take him home.

Uzi just continued to stare downward, even as she sat down next to him on autopilot, N looked curiously over at her, still smiling, though now it was smaller, a little more worried.

“Aren't you gonna eat it?” He asked, a fair question, but one she ignored, instead answering with a question of her own.

“Why… are you so nice?” She asked slowly, looking at him like it was a genuine question, brows furrowed.

“What- what do you mean?” He responded at first, with confusion. Not quite understanding the question.

“I mean… I don't know. I don't think I've met anyone as friendly as you are.” She explained, “At least not unless there was something in it for them.”

He thought to himself for a moment, fingers coming up to frame his chin. “I like seeing people smile. I guess that's something.” He admitted, before thinking on it again.

“I don't know? It's harder being mean. You have to go out of your way to come up with mean things.” He explained, rubbing his arm slightly.

“It's way easier for me to just be nice.” He shrugged, seemingly the best answer he could give her, smiling softly at her.

She nodded, accepting his answer even if in the moment she was having trouble wrapping her head around it.

He really was just like that. There was no alterior motive, or ploy to get her to lower her guard. He wasn't even trying to get into her pants like many of the ‘nice guys’ she'd run into.

He was just, nice.

So finally she began to eat her little basket of fries, they were slightly rubbery, and with a bit too much salt… but with how hungry she was, it was delicious.

“Thank you.” She said after a couple of minutes, making him smile warmly at her.

“Of course! Anytime!”

And then that grey BMW pulled into the parking lot, and his face visibly fell slightly, hers did too, but far less obviously.

Tessa honked once, and N sighed.

“Guess this is goodbye for now. Uh… I had fun.” He grinned awkwardly, shuffling his feet.

“M-me too.” She blushed, looking down, before a mischievous laugh burst out of her “Next time, we're totally gonna catch a ghost!”

He smiled again. Next time?

“Yeah! Totally!”

And with that, Uzi began to walk down the sidewalk, giving him a small two fingered salute as he got into the car with a big dopey smile on his face.

Tessa didn't skip a beat.

“So. How was your date?”

“Tess!”

Chapter Text

Fucking Lizzy.

She'd been silent for three entire weeks, perhaps waiting until school was in full swing to truly start her torment, or just to catch Uzi off guard.

But at the beginning of math class, when she was turning in her (hastily done) homework. That she struck, her prissy, chemically sweet voice attacking her ears.

“Didn't expect you to still be here, Doorman.” She said with a sneer, a quick glance around the room confirmed the fact the teacher had left the room, making it safe for her to make her attack.

“I could say the same, weren't you the one who said you could “finally spread your wings?” at graduation?” Uzi spat back, setting her paper down in the pile the former queen bee was standing next to.

“It's called an internship loser, not that you would know. It's a real job.” Lizzy flipped her hair, nearly smacking Uzi in the face with it. The smaller girl rolled her eyes.

“You know it's not a job unless they pay you? You're just providing free labor. So jealous.” Uzi sneered back, sarcasm dripping off every word. Lizzy made a face one between disgust and annoyance, before a small smile replaced it.

And with a quick, subtle movement. Sent the neat stack of papers on the teachers desk tumbling to the floor. Giggling Uzi stepped back in surprise.

“Whoops.” Lizzy hummed, a shit eating grin on her face. A long-suffering sigh escaped Uzi's mouth, already, she could feel the headache coming on.

“You're the teachers assistant dumbass. It's your job to clean this up.” Uzi deadpanned, standing in the middle of the flurry of papers.

“Not if I tell him you were being disruptive and knocked it over on purpose.” Lizzy grinned back, flashing her a shark-toothed smile.

“Ugh.”

Uzi bent down slowly, beginning to pick up the scattered papers with a grumble. Lizzy as a student was bad enough, at least she didn't have any real power over her, but now she was worse, no way any teacher would belive Uzi over a teachers assistant.

“Missed one.” Lizzy pionted at a paper closer to her own feet and Uzi could feel herself growl in annoyance as she bent down again to pick it up.

Only for Lizzys knee to connect with her stomach. Hard. Knocking all the wind out of her with a strained grunt. It took everything in her power not to tumble over, pain wracking into her ribs and chest.

No one else in the classroom seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn't say anything. But Uzi refused to show any amount of pain, not to Lizzy, not to anyone.

She picked up the last sheet and placed it on the desk, Lizzy was smirking, trying to pretend she hadn't just kicked the shit out of her.

“Aw. You okay?” She asked, false sugar to insure she knew she'd done it on purpose.

“Fine. You kick like a bitch.” Was her immediate response ignoring the way her ears rang loudly and pain radiated through her torso. Heading back to her seat just in time for Mr. Reese to come through the door.

Immediately, Lizzy went up to straighten the papers, making them look all nice and tidy where Uzi had haphazardly slammed them down. The young teacher smiled at her.

“Ah, thank you Miss Brown.”

Uzi just sighed and held her throbbing stomach.

Two faced bitch…

It was hard to focus in English, she was supposed to be paying attention to the lecture about the meaning of the book they'd just read. But her insides felt… uncomfortable. Like something had been moved or bruised by Lizzys knee.

If she moved a certain way, the pain would flare up again and she had to force herself to not react with a wince. She looked around, eyes settling on N, who unlike her wasn't having any trouble paying attention to the lecture, and who's eyes were locked onto the front of the room.

She did her best to absorb the information, honestly. But a droning voice talking about sled dogs and the representation of freedom was hardly any distraction from the pain.

A small adjustment in her seat had her hissing in pain quietly, a sound that seemed to rouse N's attention from the lecture and he looked at her curiously.

“You good?” He whispered, cocking his head to the side.

“Fine.” She replied automatically, placing a hand over her aching stomach to try and stop the throbbing, it only about half worked, the skin there was tender and she gritted her teeth as the pressure agitated it further.

“You sure, you look like you're hurt.” His voice was a little louder now, a little more urgent. She looked over, taking in the concerned look on his face.

“I'm fine. Stop asking.” She snapped, which she almost immediately felt bad about but couldn't exactly help it. Her temper on a short fuse.

N flinched at the venom in her voice, but did as she asked, turning his head back to face the front.

He was still looking at her from the corner of his eye though, something was clearly wrong. And she was trying to hide it.

Every time she sifted to the left, she would (barely) wince. Her hand holding her stomach tenderly, sometimes her breath would catch shakily, and she steeled herself to try a breathe normally.

He knew that behavior. She was in pain but didn't feel safe enough to express it. So she was riding it out, pretending it didn't hurt when it very very much did. The only problem was that he didn't know how to help.

He didn't know what happened, or how, or where. (Though he could at least guess generally) and she clearly wasn't willing to tell him if she wasn't even comfortable displaying that it hurt at all.

So when the bell rang and class ended, he was the one who bent down and picked up her backpack from under her desk beaming wide as he handed it to her.

She froze and stared at him for a moment, standing up with a little bit of effort.

“Thank you…” She mumbled, something he could barely hear but he grinned all the same.

“No problem buddy!”

“Sorry…” Came even softer, and he had to force himself not to give into the sudden urge to wrap her into a hug. Instead he didn't even acknowledge she said it, just continued to smile radiantly.

“See you at lunch!”

She was trying to wait until she got home, but the pain was not getting better, it had waned a little at lunch, enabling her to interact with N fairly normally, but now it was back, and she was squirming in her seat during her entire history class, unable to absorb anything the old man had said.

So she headed to bathroom in-between classes. Going inside one of the few stalls which lock wasn't broken or nonexistant. And lifted up her shirt.

She winced at the sight, there was a large, nasty bruise beginning to form on her side, already a light shade of purple and grey that she was certain would only get darker, she ran a tentative finger over it. Wincing as the muscles jumped in protest.

Fuck.

She sighed, the nurse would probably have painkillers and something to stop the swelling, but if she went she'd have to explain where she got it, which she was sure the woman wouldn't believe. She couldn't just say she fell either… her pride wouldn't let her.

She grit her teeth and sighed, dropping her hoodie and tank top and heading to computer literacy, just two more classes… she could get through two more classes…

Chapter Text

Computer Literacy was blessedly easy at least, she thought as she stumbled into the classroom, taking a steadying breath.

Her eyes almost automatically glanced up at N, who had nearly always given her a wave when he saw her enter, though today it looked like he was completely absorbed in conversation with someone else, a boy in a red backwards hat, brown peeking out from underneath it. Who was leaning on the back of her usual seat with his arms crossed.

She warily approached, was she going to have to find somewhere else to sit? There were a couple of others still free but, her and N were partners, how would they still work together?

She ignored the second train of thought, the one that was making her heart ache slightly at the prospect of having to go elsewhere, bring replaced by a more interesting friend so easily.

But, she didn't even have time to question it before N noticed her, and he gave her a radiant smile. “Hey Uzi! Sorry Thad, that's her seat your leaning on.”

The boy looked back at her, his eyes a dull green, like grass that had been shocked with weedkiller. A sports jacket clung to his shoulders, ‘Copper Football Team’ emblazoned on the front in yellow letters.

“Oh Hey, I'm Thad, sorry for taking your seat.” He moved off the back of her chair, dunking his hands in his pockets as he smiled, it was friendly, not as bright as N's but still warm and inviting.

“It's… fine.” She said awkwardly, in no real mood to socialize with the pain in her side.

“N said you two went ghost hunting last weekend. It's Gnarly, you two are braver then I am. I still get scared by the raccoon that lives under my house.”

Uzi blinked, taking a moment to register that she was being talked to, and a second more for her to realize it wasn't negative.

“Oh uh- Yeah, we did.” Uzi replied after a moment of struggling to bend down to put her backpack under the table, she didn't catch the way N looked at her worried lying when she flinched. “I wouldn't call N brave though, he got scared of an itty bitty spider, hehehe.”

“Hey!” N protested, pouting but not in a way that suggested he was actually upset.

“Aw she exposed you dude!” Thad laughed, but his attention was quickly back on her. “You're Uzi right? N mentioned your name, it's super badass. I wish I shared my name with a gun.”

Uzi felt herself blush, still not used to being complimented. And she couldn't really find the words to say to it either.

“I don't think Thad's a bad name.” N came to her rescue, thankfully. And Thad looked at him deadpan.

“When you find any character named “Thaddeus McFlynn” who isn't just in the background, or doesn't die a horrible death. Let me know.”

Uzi winced, man had a name like an old british man. She didn't envy him. N just shrugged.

“Anyway, I gotta get back to class, coach will chew my ass if I'm gone too long, I just came here to pick up his prints.” He picked up a stack of what looked like sign up papers, and turned back at N.

“Hey, I'm serious about signing up for one of our teams, you'd be great!” Thad gave him a finger gun and Uzi a small salute before he left the classroom, Uzi watching as he left.

N didn't really reply to that, just looked a little sad before shaking his head and returning all his attention to Uzi.

“Sorry about that. He was talking about me joining the basketball team since I'm so tall, then we somehow got onto what we did over the weekend and… yeah.” He rambled, but Uzi just nodded softly, it wasn't like she was expecting to remain N's only freind or anything, not with his personality. It's what she expected… honestly.

“It's fine.” How much had she said that today? It felt like a lot, her side throbbed uncomfortably as she tried to adjust.

“Hey uh. I know you told me to stop asking. And I promise I totally am, but… are you okay, you've looked uncomfortable all day.” He spoke up again after a second, and Uzi felt every single muscle in her body tense up, she was fine. She'd been through worse, way worse.

She turned to glare at him, words of vitriol bubbling up in her throat, but she only halfway opened her mouth before his soft, warm expression made them die into nothing, a gentle smile worn on his face and genuine concern behind those caramel eyes.

She sighed.

“I'm fine, really, just… had a run in with someone. I've been through worse.”

“Oh… well um…” N really didn't know how to help, that answer was… vague at best. But he didn't want to scare her off from opening up more by pushing her. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

She looked at him for a beat, taking in his nervous smile.

“No.” She replied simply, and the window he'd had was abruptly shut in his face. His smile fell a little.

“You can keep distracting me though. That's helping.” She added after a minute, and his head snapped back up, she was avoiding his eyes, but he caught a small smile gracing her face.

And with another brilliant smile, thats what he did, dragging her into a conversation about dogs that she did her best to listen intently to, the pain being slightly buried under the weight of his voice.

When it was finally time to go home, Uzi was bracing herself on one of the brick pillars in front of the building, knowing all she needed was to walk home and she could treat herself with some sweet, sweet painkillers. It was just… actually getting there that was going to be the difficult part.

It wasn't that far away, but with how difficult walking had become, she knew it was going to be complete and total agnoy. Stalling, she was stalling.

What were the chances of her dad actually being home for once to drive her back? Probably slim to none, but… she could check.

She pulled out her phone, Khan being the first name in her contacts, the second, and last, being N.

Uzi: Hey Dad, just wondering if u could pick me up from school today.

She stared at the messaging app for almost a full minute with no response before she grumbled, leaning against the brick and closing her eyes for a moment.

When she did eventually bring her head back up, she realized that she'd been standing against the pillar for way too long, the second wave of busses already on their way out, meaning she'd been there for at least ten minutes.

Maybe she was in more pain than she thought…

“Uzi?” A voice caught her attention, and she spun around to be face to face with N's stupidly tall figure, Thad was right… he would be good for basketball.

She was starting to feel warm, and slightly nauseous, neither were any good signs, bit both she ignored.

“O-oh hey N.” Shit, her voice was a little shaky now too, she placed a palm onto the brick behind her, feeling a bit like she might pass out. Crap, that probably meant Lizzy pinched something in her somewhere, that was great.

“I thought you would've left already. Don't you walk home?” One of his brows were raised, he looked behind her, Tessa had pulled in and was waiting for him.

“Just… enjoying the day…?”

“Why did that sound like a question?” He asked, clearly not believing her in the slightest. Uzi blinked, trying to stifle the painful tremble in her voice.

“It didn't.” She tried, trying to begin to walk away, only to stumble and nearly trip over nothing.

Fuck

“Woah hey! Uzi!” His hands were on her now, she didn't want them to be, she didn't want to be seen as weak, but her stupid body had at this point completely betrayed her, she felt the bile begin to burn it's way into her throat.

Oh shit not he-

She scrambled over to the nearest bush, throwing his hands off her and completely emptied her bruised stomach, holding onto one of those weird round concrete nubs for support.

When she finished, she shakily stood up, wiping her mouth, a small amount of blood coming off onto the back of her hand.

Still… she did feel marginally better.

N was behind her, looking between Tessa's car and her franticly, a hand gently resting on her back. She tried to catch her breath.

She heard a car door slam and rushing footsteps coming her direction before light invaded her vision

I'm about to pass out…

She thought before she felt herself begin to slowly fall backwards, before all her senses went to static…

Chapter Text

N caught Uzi on the way down; looping his hands under her arms and her limp body resting against his chest, worry wracking his entire being as he glimpsed the small amount of blood on the back of her hand.

“Uzi!?” She was completely unresponsive, limbs all limp and head lolling to the side… was she supposed to be this light? It felt as though Cyn was in his arms, and she was six!

Tessa was at his side in a split second, voice hurried and urgent. “Need to get her in the car, she just spewed red.” She wrapped an arm around his back, the other lifting Uzi gently forwards so that she could help carry her.

“O-okay, yeah.” He stuttered “I-I got it, she's not heavy.” Tessa nodded, opening the back door to the car so that he could get her into the rear passenger seat, he held her in a princess carry, catching the attention of the few students that were still waiting either for busses to pick them up or their parents to. A murmur of snickers followed.

Did they not just see her pass out? Or unleash her guts out into a bush, flecks of red shining through? Whatever, they weren't important right now.

He sat her gently into the seat, buckling up her seat belt much like he would for his own little sister and adjusting it so it wouldn't rub into her neck, he threw her long forgotten backpack in too, thankfully not forgetting it like he would his own.

“Sit in the back, we're taking her into my office. I can patch her up.” He did as he was told, finding a place beside her and looking at her worriedly. He knew she'd been in pain, he knew! If only he'd pushed a little harder, maybe he could've convinced her to get help sooner.

Tessa broke the speed limit, heading into the opposite direction of the manor, deeper into town. N didn't know what to do, seeing a freind suddenly puke blood and pass out on top of him wasn't exactly something he knew how to deal with.

So he did the only thing he could think of, he took her very small hand and squeezed it gently, letting her know that someone was there, even if she was knocked out.

Tessa peeled into a small clinic, parking in an employees only spot in front of the white brick building, where she pulled the girl out of the back seat, N following close behind her with her stuff.

This was one of those moments where she was glad to have been to medical school, yeah, it was a little dissapointing when she landed a job here instead of in the big hospital in the next town (she suspected her parents had something to do with that…) but right now that was working in her favor.

N was right, she was light, like, a hundred pounds soaking wet kind of light that made her several times more worried about the girl. She pushed open the clinic doors, ignored her startled receptionist and made her way to her office, N trying to follow.

“Sorry buddy. You can't be in here, I've gotta do an exam.” N's eyes were worried, form trembling slightly, gripping onto Uzi's backpack like a stressball.

“B-But, I wanna help!” He whined, making his older sister smile breifly.

“You are, you've done super well so far, but now you gotta let me do my thing alright?” She put a hand on his shoulder and he whined before sighing, nodding softly as he sat right outside her office, in one on the weirdly uncomfortable waiting chairs.

“O-okay.” He mumbled, and Tessa ruffled his hair before closing her office door, Uzi propped up on the exam table, she was starting to stir now, hand pressed over her side as her eyes fluttered open, a low grown escaping her lips.

“Mmm… Huh? Wha…?” She lifted herself up a little, eyes darting around suddenly, fear gripping her features before they made a moment of eye contact.

“Tessa? What happened? Where am I?” At least she seemed perfectly aware now, but scared wasn't optimal either, Tessa put both her hands up in a placating gesture.

“You're in my clinic, you spewed red and passed out, so I brought you here.” She explained, and Uzi seemed to calm down slightly, but she didn't seem keen to stay, trying to get up though being stopped by both her height and a wince that had her going back down onto the exam chair.

“Hey, if there's blood in your bile that's not good. Let me try an patch you up.” The young doctor came a few steps closer, Uzi glared at her, if looks could kill, she'd be buried, but another wince, this one paired with a light hiss, and the girl seemed to admit defeat, nodding once in her direction.

Tessa was filled with relief, good, she'd cooperate, no need for a sedative.

“Can you tell me what happened? I will remind you that starting now I am your doctor, and nothing said here will leave this room.” That speech was practiced at this point, but it felt more poignant when it was N’s freind she was treating. The goth girl pouted for a moment, before grumbling;

“Got kicked in the stomach.” Uzi wouldn't meet her eyes again, but Tessa nodded carefully, hovering over the girl delicately.

“May I?” Tessa asked, gesturing to her, and at this she heard the girl give a small growl, Uzi herself lifting up her hoodie with a dusting of pink on her cheeks, giving the older woman a clear view of the now deep purple and black bruise on the goths side. Tessa winced.

“Ooh, got you good.” She whistled, putting on gloves before gently proding the wound, Uzi grunted in pain above her, but didn't give any more indication that it hurt at all.

“I've gotten worse.” She deadpanned, and Tessa really didn’t like the casual way she said it, but held that unprofessional feeling down for the time being.

“Right, mind if I take a quick flash of your insides, make sure you aren't bleeding?” She didn't wait for the answer, getting out the equipment for an Ultrasound.

“Uh… I guess.” Uzi replied, and Tessa went right to work, pushing up Uzi's hoodie a bit more before putting a dollop of clear goo on her stomach, trying to ignore the fact she could see the kids ribs poking through her chest, did no one feed her!?

Maybe she should start making even more extra food for N, just for her.

“Fuck! That's cold!” Uzi yelped. Tessa laughed at the reaction, smiling gently.

“Yep, that's pretty much the concensus, hold still yeah?” Tessa pressed the ultrasound gently into the skin, Uzi shivered and winced.

“Isn't this for looking at babies?” Uzi asked, gripping the side of the chair hard enough for her knuckles to go white.

“Yup! But it's the least intrusive way to take a peek in ya. Aaaand, there we are!” Tessa looked up at the imaging screen, looking for any particularly dark spots, thankfully, there weren’t many, some yes, but not nearly enough to be considered severe, or a reason to operate,

But she could see, vaguely, where her intestine had been pinched, which was probably what was causing most of her issues, the young doctor sighed in relief, but was also incredibly impressed, a pinched intestine would be enough to put anyone on the floor in agony, and Uzi was still walking, talking, and broody. Her pain tolerance much be off the charts!

“Right, nothing leaking, but your intestines been pinched, I can send you home with some painkillers and advice to not eat anything too crazy for a bit. Sound good?” Uzi nodded, before seemingly getting sheepish, rubbing her arm.

“I… don’t have any money to pay for anything…”

“Don’t worry about that. You’re friends with my brother, it’s alright.” The reply came automatically, Tessa waving it off with a smile. “It’s just ibuprofen anyway.”

“I don’t wanna owe you anything.” She murmured, and Tessa put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a radiant smile and a small laugh. “Girl you are a teenager, you got nothing I want. Just keep keeping my little brother company yeah?”

“W-where is N?” Uzi asked, a little more softly, and the young doctor could barely keep the smile off her face.

“Just outside, he was really worried about you, you pretty much collapsed on top of him.” Uzi went a little red, coughing into her sleeve awkwardly.

“In fact… N, you can come in now, I know you have your ear pressed to the door.” Tessa's voice was marginally louder, and within the next moment the door swung open, N racing to her side and wrapping her in a bone crushing hug.

“Oh my god are you okay!? Why did you keep saying you were fine when you weren't!? What happened?!” He asked so many questions at once she was having trouble keeping up, but it was his crushing hug that had her floundering more, when was the last time she'd been hugged? She couldn't even remember, she was trembling slightly now, very much not used to any kind of gentle touch.

“I-I'm fine! Get off N!” She yelped, instinctively trying to throw him off, but he was way too strong. She groaned outwardly as she crossed her arms, forced to accept his worried affections with a light blush.

Still… It was nice he cared so much…

“Alright, lay off little bro, don't want to suffocate her.” Tessa gently peeled him off handing Uzi a little baggy, a shake confirmed that a pill bottle was inside.

“I probably don't need to tell you how to take ibuprofen right? Every six hours, no more then four per day?” Uzi nodded, looking back up at N, who looked like a kicked puppy.

“Thanks for catching me…” She mumbled, opening the bag and popping open the pill bottle, shaking a pill into her hand and swallowing unaided. N beamed, but also looked slightly grossed out. Pill without water? Ew.

“Gotta say, you're a tough one, anyone else woulda come in here for that and they would've been writhing in pain.” Tessa complemented, making Uzi smirk.

“Told ya, I've been through worse.” She squirmed off the chair, legs at first unsteady, N holding his arms out to catch her before she batted his arms away, steadying herself with a deep breath.

“Am I free to go ooor?” She asked awkwardly, noticing that N had her backpack clutched in his hand.

“Oh you are absolutely not walking home like that. I'll drive you.” Tessa stood up, dusting off her coat, Uzi was about to protest, but a stern glare from Tessa had her sighing.

“F-Fine.”

Chapter Text

N: U sure ur okay?

Uzi sighed as she crashed into her mattress, body feeling sore and head full of cotton balls. Tessa had just pulled out of the driveway and N was already texting her.

She wasn't sure when they'd actually become friends, maybe somewhere between ghost hunting and getting kicked in the gut she'd somehow made that connection. But she was absolutely not used to someone being this worried.

He'd incessantly asked what had happened for her to get so injured. And she'd incessantly deflected, either saying that it was nothing serious- which was bullshit, it hurt like hell. Or, at the cost of her ego- she lied and said it was an accident.

She just wasn't sure how he'd react to the truth, he'd probably be even more worried then, knowing that someone did this to her on purpose.

Or… he'd laugh at her. Because she was weak, because she'd put herself in a vulnerable position and then couldn't take a little pain an-

N: You can talk to me.

N: No pressure.

N: Just worried about you :(

The new messages stopped that train of thought. No. He wouldn't laugh. Even her chronic cynicism couldn't convince her of that.

Finally, instead of staring at his messages, she responded.

Uzi: Promise you won't say anything? Or laugh.

N: Promise

She sighed, here goes nothing…

Uzi: I got kicked in the stomach, u know how I seemed upset that I knew someone in my math class? It was them.

The reply actually took a minute to come back.

And that was because N had all of air knocked out of him at that reply. She'd been hit? Purposefully? And hard enough to give her a serious injury? Why? She was so nice! And cool!

N: Who?

Uzi: Lizzy, she's a teachers aid now, but she was in my class last year.

Uzi: It's not the first time she's thrown a punch, just caught me off gaurd this time.

Once again, N was floored, a teachers aid!?

N: I'd never laugh at you. But you should report her, she shouldn't be working with students if she thinks that's okay.

Uzi huffed through her nose, a half-laugh that was drenched in a depressing kind of acceptance.

Uzi: It's not like they'd believe me. I'm not exactly a model student.

She sat her phone down and shucked off her jacket and beanie, hissing as her side throbbed dully. This had been such a day…

Her hand instinctually reached for her stash drawer before she even realized, and in another, she was looking at it's false bottom.

As tempting as it was- and it was very tempting. Drug mixing wasn't smart even if one of them was just an over-the-counter pain reliever, and adding a bad trip on an already shitty day didn't sound fun.

So instead she wrapped herself in the biggest, comfiest shirt she could find and grabbed her laptop, maybe she could distract herself with YouTube.

N: What do you mean by that?

Oh right, she'd never mentioned the fact she'd been held back to him, whoops.

Uzi: I was held back a year. I'm 19.

N: Oh wow! You're older then me!

N: Still it can't have been that bad. Failing a class isn't a reason to not belive you.

Uzi smirked, fingers clicking on the keys of her laptop as she tried to find something to watch- settling on an analysis video of one of the shows she was watching.

Uzi: I was high in class and a teacher called the campus police.

It took nearly twenty minutes for him to respond to that.

N:Sorry, got home and had to get up to my room.

N:You were WHAT?!

N: That's a crime!

Uzi: And so is trespassing on JCJenson private property to ghost hunt.

N blushed, now laying on his bed in a grey pajama shirt and pants with dogs printed on them, he held his phone close to his face as he grumbled, she had him there, but that hadn't really felt like a crime at the time…

N: I think you're a bad influence.

N: Also you're deflecting, drugs are bad! And unhealthy!

Uzi rolled her eyes at that, he wasn't the first person to tell her that. But you know what was worse? Dealing with herself unmedicated, without her stash, her head just got fuzzier and fuzzier, and before she knew it… she'd be having a full mental meltdown at the slightest provocation. Which she hated, she never felt like herself during those…

Uzi: Probably. But you see why they won't believe me over miss perfect.

N: Yeah okay, now I'm gonna be worried tho. I don't want you being hurt.

She smiled at that, this boy was so endlessly empathetic, and thankfully, her unloading some not-so-great facts about herself didn't seem to put him off either.

Uzi: Ew, don't worry over me. That's gay.

And yet she couldn't help but make a joke over it.

N: ???

N: how?

N: how does my worry make me gay?

Uzi: It's not manly.

Uzi: Empathy is a girly emotion.

She was snickering to herself, she didn't actually believe that of course, but she could almost see his reaction to it. That stupid, confused and amused smile that he wore when she made a particularly dumb joke.

N: Guess I'm gay then.

N: Cause I'm always going to worry. You're my freind.

N:Best Freind?

Her heart fluttered full of butterflies at that. Is that what he wanted? From her? She was so convinced he'd find someone else to hang out with but here he was, asking to continue this…

Whatever this was.

Uzi: Always knew I'd end up with a gay best freind.

Uzi: u can't borrow my makeup.

N: Awww, but it would look so good on me!

Uzi thought about that for a moment, imagining N with dark eyeshadow, lipstick, and black nails, and she about choked, she wasn't sure if it was funny or weirdly attractive.

Uzi: Dude that mental image.

Uzi: It's so cursed, I about choked.

N: Blursed

N: It's Blessed and Cursed

The conversation continued, the fuzz in her head slowly dissipating even without the assistance of her stash, and it continued late into the night… up until she heard Khan pull onto the driveway at 2am.

Uzi: Oh god, it's 2am. We need to sleep.

N: I didn't realize! We're gonna be zombies…

Uzi: More of a zombie u mean?

N: Yeh. U still in pain? Are u going to sleep ohay

N: Okay* oof, sleepy fingers.

Even while about to pass out. He was still worried…

Uzi: I'm okay, pain isn't bad. U need sleep N

N: Ok, text you tmmrow, Uzi. Goodnight.

Uzi: Night N.

Chapter Text

When Uzi sat down in her homeroom the next morning, it was like trying to wade through thick oil. She'd gotten three hours of sleep, tops. And it showed.

She was dazed and paying even less attention then usual, her eyes felt like lead and everything felt varying degrees of tingly, not to mention her side still hurt dully.

“Where's your boyfriend?” Came from the person sitting in front of her, “Isn't he normally here by now?”

Uzi blinked confusedly, her brain misfiring several times before the sentence processed correctly.

“Who?”

“The guy who always sits next to you? He is your boyfriend, Right?”

Holy flying fuck, she was talking about N.

“N? No! He's not my boyfriend! We're just freinds!” Her voice raised almost immediately, where the hell was that coming from?

“Really? Huh…” The girl turned back around, going back to being an unimportant background character and Uzi continued to blink in confusion.

Her and N? Yeah, they'd been talking, they were freinds. Definitely, but there wasn't any reason anyone would assume they're dating.

Speaking of the golden boy, he walked in, shuffling a bit like a zombie and sitting in his seat with a half smile, his hair being a touch more messy then usual.

“Oh my god, you look like a wreak dude…” She laughed at his disheveled appearance, and he responded with a much more tired version of his signature smile.

“Haha! That's okay! I was talking to you!” He assured. “That's worth some sleepiness.”

Her heart fluttered again, warmth flooding her cheeks before both dissipated quickly.

“Ew. Consideration.”

N laughed quietly. “Is that also gay?” He lifted an eyebow with a slightly smug look.

She snorted, having to cover her mouth to stop from being too loud, the word leaving his mouth catching her completely off gaurd.

She giggled like a schoolgirl “Yes, absolutely.”

“Darn.” He giggled as well. “Can't escape it.”

When Mr. Brown started speaking, they both turned to the front, though Uzi wasn't really paying attention, instead looking down and scrolling through social media.

When she came across a video.

A video she was in.

It was of yesterday, at the end of the day, where'd she'd passed out and N had apparently caught her.

Yeah, he definitely did. And then proceeded to lift her effortlessly in a princess carry and lovingly check her for injuries, before gently setting her in the car like she was made of glass.

It was the caption that sold it though.

Get you a man that treats you like this!

It was like several of her worst nightmares getting together and having an abomination of a child.

The worst part, it had several thousand views. Meaning most- if not the entire school had seen it.

She scrolled through the comments obsessively.

Hope she's okay!

Lucky Girl! He's hot!

Ew, those piercings don't suit her. He can do better.

Goth GF! Goth GF!

She found herself frowning, most of the comments were fine, wishing “the goth girl" well. But some were jabs on her appearance, and those always seemed to be louder.

“Uzi? Uziiii?” N's voice brought her out of her thoughts, cocking his head worridly. “You good? You've kinda been staring at your phone.”

“I-I’m fine. You weren't talking to me were you?”

“I asked how you were feeling. Any pain?” He smiled softly, eyes filled with care. Tingles prickled up her neck once more.

“Meh… it's better.” She said honestly, just as the bell rang and they had to part ways, he looked a little sad at that.

“Take it easy today! See you in English!” He gave another goofy salute before grabbing his bag and running off to his next class.

She smiled, returning it with a goofy little two fingered salute of her own. When she looked around though… people were looking at her, with sly grins and smiles of knowledge they thought they had.

The smile was quickly demolished in the face of this unwanted attention, and she pulled her beanie tighter against her head as she walked out… feeling eyes on her back.

Chapter Text

Math was uneventful, thankfully. Lizzy hadn't shown up, so Uzi didn't have to face the embarrassment that was seeing her least favorite person's smug little face after sending her to the hospital with one little kick. (Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if you couldn't see her ribs as it was)

There was still dread building up in her chest from earlier today, even more so as she felt herself being watched as she worked through her tenth algebraic equation. Every time she looked up though… no one was looking at her.

It was plucking the strings of her temper, especially as she kept pulling out her phone and checking the video and watching as the veiw counter ballooned to 12,000, 13,000- either it had escaped containment from the school or people were re-watching her fall dramatically into N's arms like a damsel in distress.

At least they'd been kind enough to cut out the part of her dumping her insides out into a bush…

…

N hummed to himself, decidedly ignoring the freaky deer head in a jar behind the teachers desk and instead resting his head on his hand, doodling in the margins of his notes after he'd taken Mrs. Sparks first pop quiz.

His foot tapped against the floor as he got into it, and he was about halfway through the doodle when he realized he was drawing a cat with a beanie.

He smiled, and leaned into what his subconscious clearly wanted by making the cat look deadpan and giving it a bat shaped bow around it's neck. He chuckled, imagining what his new best freind would think about it.

Probably complain about how she's too cool for a bow. His thoughts answered for him. Or ask why your doodling her in class like a weirdo.

He didn't like that last thought, so he banished it, shaking his head like a wet dog and pulling his eyes away from the drawing to look back up to the rest of the class.

To find one of his classmates staring at him.

He blinked, looked behind him to make sure he wasn't just in the way of her intended target, and then moved side to side to make doubly certain, but her eyes followed him intently.

He formed a smile and waved at the blue haired woman, her bangs dyed red instead. Her big blue eyes fluttered and she smiled back before slowly turning back in her seat.

He cocked his head in confusion, if she wanted to say hello, then why stare?

The bell rang. His eyes lit up. Now he could go see Uzi! Maybe he'd ask her about it, she probably knew, she was so smart!

He hoped she'd eaten today… her lightness still worried him, yes she was small. But she definitely shouldn't be that light. But he was fixing that, or rather, Tessa was, she'd made him two lunches! One to give to “his new girlfriend” using her words.

He felt his face grow warm as he grabbed his backpack. She wasn't his girlfriend, and it was just Tessa teasing, he admired her sure! She was cool and strong and had so much freedom. It was hard not to. He just… couldn't figure out why the thought of it made his heart skip a beat-

“Heeey!” A female voice catches him before he can leave the threshold of the doorway, and he spins around to look into the blue eyelights of the girl who was staring at him before. She was curling her finger in the locks of her hair. “You're Nathaniel right?”

“Uh- Yeah! Thats Me! But I'd rather be called N.” He smiled ,giving her a friendly face to talk to.

“Ooh, nickname, Cool… I'm Rebecca, N. I saw you in that video from yesterday, you were sooo nice helping that girl.” She smiles right back; fluttering her eyelights. N wondered if she had something in her eye.

“Video? What Video?” He cocked his head again.

“How have you not seen it? I think the whole school has!” She explained, bringing out her phone and heading to her social media.

“Oh I don't have any social media… Mrs- Mom tells me it rots your brain.” N admited sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“Ah! So kind and internet healthy~” She smiled with half-lidded eyes before shoeing him the video by handing him her phone.

It was of Uzi! Oh but it was when she was passing out and he caught her… this very much shouldn't have been recorded. She was hurt and needed help!

“Oh.” Was all he said as he processed, scrolling through the comments. Smiling at the ones saying Uzi was pretty and frowning at the ones that seemed to be poking fun at her appearance, his hand tensing as a flash of anger went through him, though it quickly dissolved when he read.

:Man loves his Goth GF

And that wasn't the only one, there were hundreds now, all declaring how cute they were together or even how he could do better- which made the anger return breifly, but it was quickly drowned out by his cheeks filling with blush.

“Is she your girlfriend? She's… very punk.” Rebecca hesitated until she found something that sounded sorta like a compliment.

“Uh. N-no, we're not-" He gestured wildly with his hands, not exactly sure how to reply, “Uzi's my freind, my best freind, she wasn't feeling well that day so… I helped.”

He doesn't notice the girls eyes in front of him seem to light up.

“Awwww, well arent you a good freind!” She smiled, grabbing back her phone like she was stealing a snickers. “Oh! We better get to our classes! See you around N.”

And off she went, leaving him standing there holding a bag of questions.

After a moment of confused blinking, he's shot off towards English to hopefully make it on time…

Chapter Text

Uzi sighed as she rested her head on her hand, she was nearly begging for this day to be over already- even though it had just begun.

“Hey Uzi!” N greeted as her sat right beside her in thier shared English class, smiling, as per usual, as big as physically possible without being creepy. He grabbed out a folder and the book that was mandatory for them to read. “H-Have you seen…?”

“Yup. How’d you see it?”

“Some girl named Rebecca showed me.” He explained, looking to the side as if the wall was suddenly interesting. “She was acting really weird about it…”

Uzi’s hand suddenly balled into a fist as the recalled the name, She was in the grade underneath them, held back similarly to Uzi but not for the same, completely bogus reason, no. Rebecca was held back for sleeping with the principals son.

She had a reputation to begin with, being from out of town, where she bragged about having a boyfriend from her old school that was “super hot”. Before a month later she was caught making out with another classmate in the janitors closet, which of course created a buzz around her for a bit. A buzz that unfortunately, gave her a taste of attention that spiraled into- what she was known for now; stealing other peoples boyfriend’s.

It kinda made Uzi want to laugh. If she wasn’t disgusted at the thought Rebecca was only interested because she thought N was taken, or because he was new, it could of been a mix of both honestly. There were plenty of reasons to be interested in N that weren’t so damn shallow!

…Wait what?

“Not to tell ya what to do, but I wouldn’t get too close to her.” She found herself saying. “She’s trying to make you her next victim.”

“Victim?” N cocked his head to the side, leaning in slightly into her personal space as his eyes followed the English teacher to her desk

“Boyfriend.” She explained quickly, in a near whisper before the teacher obsessed with silence sushed the room.

“Good morning everyone.” She announced to the class, before they began the mind-numbing task of reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Perhaps it would have been slightly less if she hadn’t already read the stupid thing-

N however was still reeling from this information. Blinking as he stared blankly at the same page. Someone was interested in him? Romantically? That had never happened before.

Granted he was mostly homeschooled, so it would have been weird if it had.

His brow furrowed as he thought about it. Uzi spoke about her like she was bad news, and he trusted her judgement on most things, she’d lived here all her life after all! And they were freinds! So wouldn’t just lie to him.

Still, it did make him curious. He wasn’t interested in a ‘relationship’. He didn’t know Rebecca, she was pretty sure, but… most people were, but how fun would she be to be around? Would he be able to hold long conversations with her?

Would she want to get her hands dirty when He and Uzi went on another ‘field trip?’ Would they even get along? Probably not…

Maybe he’d ask around.

…

Lunch came quickly, which was good because Uzi was starving, she hadn’t had breakfast that morning since her dad had left early for work; so she near rushed to the lunch line and- meatloaf.

She despaired, she was wondering why the line was so short today.

The fucking meatloaf was barely that, it was ground meat, burned, and then covered in what was probably ketchup. served with corn and green beans mixed together in a bowl and a small oatmeal cookie, she grabbed a juice and dumped the garbage into the bin, aside from the cookie and the drink, which were both pre-packaged and therefore couldn’t give her food poisoning.

She ripped open the cookie package and popped the pastry in her mouth, it realistically served only to make her hungrier, but whatever. N took his usual space next to her, being silent as he observed her taking her time with the smallest cookie of all time, trying to make it last. “That bad?”

“I’m not eating unseasoned ground meat no matter how much ketchup they try to save it with.” She replied bitterly. “I understand budget but salt packets are like 90 cents.”

He chuckled. “Well, I hope you’ll like pork dumplings better.” And sat a brand new purple lunchbox in front of her, N had doodled a bat with her name above it in black sharpie. She stared at it incredulously. “W-what?”

“Tessa packed you lunch! She pretty much adopted you, she told me to tell you not to resist.” He laughed as he sat down and opened his own lunchbox, where a bowl of dumplings slathered in gravy rested, along with an apple and a bowl of rice.

Uzi stared at the internals of his lunchbox, looked at her half-empty juice and tentatively opened the one given to her. It was the same meal, portioned the same, though instead of an apple there was a whole, peeled peach.

She blinked again. “And what other perks are there to being adopted by your sister?” She asked plainly.

“Hmmm… Unconditional Love?” He suggested, popping a dumpling in his mouth with a plastic fork.

“Ew.”

He chortled. “Free checkups at the clinic aaaand being sent outdated memes.”

“Huh.” She took a bite of a dumpling and her taste buds were sent to nirvana. “Mmmmm… I surrender.”

He laughed hard at that. “Apparently the way to your heart is food.”

“Absolutely.” She agreed without a moment’s hesitation. “Fuck this so good…” She murmured with her eyes closed. “She needs to like… open a restaurant, she’s wasted on being a nurse for this shit-ass town.”

“She likes helping people. I think that’s why she chose to go to medical school instead of culinary school.” He shrugged, “And I like it here! It’s quiet, and pretty! And I met you! That’s not bad!”

She felt the blush rising to her face as she looked away from him to hide it. “Y-yeah.”

…

Uzi sighed as she sat down at home, her chair spinning as she threw her weight on it. Salem looked up from his nap on the bed for only a moment, dissinterest plastered all over his furry face before he curled back up to resume his nap.

Today had been weird.

The video circulating around was it’s own nightmare and a half, she’d heard about her and her ‘new boyfriend’ in pretty much every classroom , hall and school lunch table. She was half-sure she’d hear about it on the damn moon.

The fact N had seen it too had mortified her, but the fact he seemed mostly unaffected by it helped ease her anxiety about it. Of course he wouldn’t let himself be effected by silly things such as the words of other people-

Then there was the lunch that she absolutely devoured before returning the lunchbox to be refilled for next time, she wasn’t sure why they bothered getting her her own lunchbox if she couldn’t actually take it home; maybe it was just easier for her to portion it out.

She shook her head, feeling her head getting fuzzier and fuzzier the more she thought about it.

Before she knew it, she was lighting up a blunt and taking a rip.

She sighed as the fuzz in her head was replaced with wonderful emptiness, a small, blissed smile appearing on her face as she leaned back in her chair, creating a ring of smoke in the air as she breathed out.

With her head now devoid of pesky thoughts. She decided it was a great time to edit the footage from thier last excursion so that they could post it to the blog.

The footage was clear and stable, which filled her with a (dulled) sense of pride at her camerawork, and the smile got bigger when N’s goofy smile and wave appeared on camera during their intro.

His hair was so fluffy…

As the footage kept going, she cut out long periods of silence or moments of shaky footage when she momentarily lost her footing or had to climb over a log. Then the moment where she pointed the camera down the old mineshaft arrived and she near choked on air.

Far down the shaft, further then the human eye could reasonably pick up there was a soft, faded white figure, short-ish, and blurry enough she couldn’t make out any features, but there it was, plain as day. The figure was just standing politely, with it’s arms looking to be tucked in front of it.

She paused the video and stared.

Before screaming at the top of her lungs. “HOLY SHIT!”