[middle school au]

[angstennou]

Who: Teen!Nephrite and Homura
What: Nephrite helping a girl who fainted at gym class
When: ??
Where: Some middle school?


Nephrite was late to class. He had gotten in a fight with another school's bullies on his way to school again. His only luck was that this day started with P.E. class, and he did good enough at that so the professor cut him some slack. While he rushed to the field where the other boys were finishing their warm-ups, he passed by the girls' side and noticed some agitation.

Looking closer, it seemed one of them had fainted and no one was doing anything but freak out? Are you stupid or what? With a huff, Nephrite opened a path through the girls (what was easy, because as soon as they saw him they backed off) and picked up the girl to take her to the nurse.

Comments

[angstennou]

"No, I will carry you." Sorry Homura, he is stubborn and he decided that you should not walk before the nurse says it's okay. "And you are not a burden. I'm doing this because I want to."

[braidstobows]

She was half afraid of falling out of his arms even if he did try to carry her. She wasn't feeling too well, still.

"It's happened before," she said quietly, "so, so I know my own limits." She was trying to say she'd be fine trying to walk a little. But she didn't seem to be backing up her words with much action. Or movement.

"Um... but if you don't mind me asking... is it really alright with you? Do you really want to?"

[angstennou]

Hey, he's not that clumsy. And he's being extra careful to not drop her because she is unwell.

Nephrite frowns as he gets concerned. "You should see a doctor if it happens often, you know?" So yeah definitely not letting her walk.

He wouldn't have minded a question if it hadn't stung. "Do I seem that bad of a person?" He got in a lot of fights due to his short temper and skipped classes, but he tried to help people he knew if there was anything he could do.

[braidstobows]

Well, no, he didn't seem like a bad person, and she'd never heard of him doing anything to get into trouble that was anything worse than a quick temper when he was provoked, but he was forceful and brash and she didn't really know how to deal with that. "It's not that!" she assured him.

"I've been to the doctor," she started hesitantly. "That's why I missed so much school. I was in the hospital for awhile." It was actually kind of a relief to tell someone that, instead of realizing everyone knew it because of the teacher's homeroom announcement when she first transferred in.

[angstennou]

"Why you don't want my help, then? Did I do something to you?" He didn't think he had, he hardly got anywhere near the girls, but with his luck, who knew.

Nephrite was probably sleeping or had skipped that class, so he didn't know. He had just noticed a new girl some random day. But he was getting more concerned here and started walking a little faster to the nurse. "The hospital? And they said it's normal for you to faint?"

[braidstobows]

"I just don't want to be any trouble," said Homura softly. Although he made her nervous, it wasn't really about Nephrite, except for the fact that he wasn't Kaname-san who had taken her to the nurse on that first day, but who hadn't been there for the gym class incident.

"I was in the hospital for a heart condition," she explained, "so I'm still pretty weak." And useless. But that was a whole different issue.

[angstennou]

"I told you already that it's no trouble!" Really, she wasn't heavy and Nephrite didn't care about missing classes, so.

A heart condition? That sounds serious. "Can't you ask for being dismissed from gym class then?"

[braidstobows]

Homura shook her head. "Now that I'm well enough to attend school again, I want to participate fully."

It wasn't quite that simple. Mostly, she wanted to... well, try to be less of a waste of space. She wanted to silence the people who whispered about her difficulties behind her back. She wanted to stop being embarrassed when she didn't know the answers in class,and she didn't want anyone to have to carry her again.

[angstennou]

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard though. And school isn't fun, I'd rather do something else outside."

Nephrite might like school better if people didn't badmouth him all the time, or if he understood anything in classes, but yeah. Even when he was trying to be nice he wasn't welcome, so he wanted to try to find somewhere he fit in.

[braidstobows]

Homura glanced downward. "But..." she protested, "if I don't push myself, I won't ever become anything more than useless!"

Although it was a bit of an outburst, she meant every word. She didn't like the life she lived now, where she was dependent on so many people, unable to do so many things for herself.