"What? An asthma attack?"
"Fuck," Ness immediately wiggles his backpack off his shoulders so he can grab his phone from it. "He hasn't had one of those in a long, long time." He rapidly goes through his phone while he speaks to Claus, "Do you know how it happened? Where he was taken? What time?"
"We were in science," Claus seems to have gained a little more self control, as his shoulders aren't so tense and he's not so loud. "doing some sort of experiment thing? And he had a bad reaction or something. He started coughing, and then choking, and then before we knew it the teacher was calling 911," I realize the sirens we heard were because of this situation, and I suddenly feel really bad for ignoring them when I first heard them. "I don't know what happened after that. Can he die from something like that?"
"He could," Ness pauses to begin dialing a number, which causes Claus to tense up all over again. "But I seriously doubt he will."
"Claus, chill out. I'm sure he's doing okay. Right, Ness?" I turn to Ness for reassurance, but the dark haired boy begins turning away to talk to someone on the phone. I rub the back of my head in embarrassment.
"...Fuck, that really scared me." Claus grumbles, crossing his arms and letting out a sigh.
"No kidding. I haven't seen you that upset in a long time."
We both pause, looking at our shoes.
"...Uh-huh, yeah, I will. Thanks, uh-huh, bye," Ness approaches us again while he ends his call. "Sorry, what were you saying Lucas?"
"Nothing, just trying to get Claus to calm down."
"Ah," Ness gives Claus a smile and Claus gives him an unamused look. He was probably embarrassed over how he'd freaked out. "He'll be fine, I'm sure."
"Thanks, I got that." Claus clenches his backpack straps awkwardly. "...C'mon, Lucas. We're gonna miss the bus and there's no way I'm making Dad pick us up." He pushes past Ness and begins heading to the door.
Ness gives me a confused look and I shrug. "Don't mind him. He's just upset because he damaged his own tiny ego." I couldn't help but wonder why he freaked out so bad in the first place, though. Did he consider Ninten a really good friend already? Normally Claus would just say something along the lines of 'that sucks,' and move on. Whatever. Maybe the guy actually developed a sense of caring over the years. I wave at a confused Ness as I run to catch up to my brother. "See ya on Monday!"
"...See ya."
….
"That Ness guy is weird," Claus says through a mouthful of omelette. We're both sitting at the dinner table, homework and textbooks sprawled across it. "He's like...too nice. I feel like he does it all for show."
"Or maybe you're just so used to being a jackass that you don't know what being a nice guy is like."
"Fuck off, as if you know how to be a part of society at all."
I flip him off and take a bite of my omelette. Not as good as Mom always made them, but I tried.
"But seriously, what's with him? He was all calm when Ninten was being transported to the fucking hospital! Wasn't he at least a little bit concerned?" Claus is eating more furiously now, and I give him an unamused glare.
"Of course he was, he's just probably dealt with this before and he didn't want to create a scene. What's your deal with Ninten anyway? I don't even think you'd be that scared if something like that happened to me."
"What the hell, of course I would be scared if that happened to you. I'd be more scared, actually." He takes a sip of water before continuing. "I just didn't expect someone like him to suddenly be so weak. Just a second before he was calling me shitty insults and goofing off."
"I guess so. It's still unlike you."
"Whatever," Claus sets his fork down and pushes his chair back to stand up. He collects his plate and sets it in the sink. "At least I'm not falling asleep on people's shoulders."
"It was an accident!" I hiss defensively, but Claus ignores me and heads into his bedroom. I sigh and look at the untouched plate across from mine. Dad must have been working overtime again. The house always felt so alone. I suddenly feel too sick to eat, so I get to my feet to grab some tupperware to put my leftover food and Dad's plate's food in. I place it in the fridge and go to sit on the couch, staring at the dusty coffee table.
A wet nose nudges my hand and I smile down at my dog, patting his head to acknowledge him. "Hi Boney." He whines and nudges me again, thumping his tail against the floor. "Nah...I don't feel like going for a walk today. Tomorrow, okay?" He jumps up on the couch, big paws stepping all over me as he tried to get situated. "Hey! Boney, oof-" He collapses on top of me and wags his tail happily. "You're ridiculous." I pet his head, laughing softly.
…
I must've fallen asleep, because I woke up in the middle of the night to my Dad coming home. I lift my head drowsily as I watch him kick his shoes off at the doorway, and flinch as I hear him opening and slamming cupboards. Must've been another hard day. I push the snoozing Boney off of me to get to my feet, stretching and making my way to the kitchen to greet him.
"I made omelettes, if you want some." I say with a yawn.
"What are you doing up at this hour?" Is all he says, but he opens the fridge to find said food anyway.
"I was on the couch."
"You should get to bed. And make sure your brother is too."
"M'kay," I say, happily willing to go back to bed. My back and stomach ached from the uncomfortable couch and dog that I slept with, and my bed was calling my name. "Night Dad." I say, beckoning Boney to follow me as I head to my room.
"Night."
…
Claus had been a nervous wreck through the entire weekend, and when Ninten wasn't at school on Monday that didn't help the situation any better.
"Where the hell is he? Did he get super sick?" Claus is furiously typing something on his phone as we sit in the cafeteria to wait for first period.
"He could be running late," I point out. "Besides, I think if it was really that bad Ness would have told us by now."
"Oh yeah, because relying on that fuckwad will sure get us places."
"Claus!" I hit the back of his head gently, and he flinches in surprise, taking his eyes off his phone to glare at me. "Leave Ness alone, he didn't do anything." I don't know why I was so defensive over Claus insulting him, I was used to him insulting people. I guess I just didn't feel like Ness deserved to be insulted...or something.
"Yeah yeah, defend your boyfriend all you want. I still don't trust him."
"...Boyfriend?!" I lean back and feel my face get really, really hot. "He's not my boyfriend! I don't like him like that."
"Ugh, don't turn this into some shitty gay fanfiction." He turns back to his phone, uninterested. "It's extremely obvious he has the hots for you, though."
I try not to give the idea much thought, and quickly turn the conversation back to being about my brother instead of me. "You're the one pissing yourself over Ninten getting sick." my voice cracks while I talk, which does not help my defense at all.
"There's a difference between pissing myself and just being genuinely fucking concerned about a friend who had to be rushed to the hospital in the middle of class." Claus' tone is extremely defensive and irritated, even for him. I decide to drop the subject before I actually make him mad at me.
We sit in silence for a little while before we hear someone approach us.
"Morning guys." I look up to see an exhausted looking Ness- uncombed hair, baggy eyes and all.
"Hey," I say, and Claus keeps quiet. "What's got you so tired?"
"Procrastination," Ness murmurs, taking a seat while rubbing at his eyes. "Stayed up til 2 am trying to finish this damn essay. What's up with you guys?"
"How's Ninten?" Claus interjects, completely uninterested in what Ness had to say at all.
"Oh right. He's fine, his mom's gonna have him stay home for the next couple days to make sure he's okay." Ness shimmies his backpack off his shoulders and grabs a small piece of paper from it. He holds it out to Claus. "He told me to give this to you. It's his number."
Claus snatches it immediately and murmurs a thank you while he assumingly puts it into his contacts.
"What was your essay about?" I decide to stir up conversation to pass the time.
Ness shrugs. "I don't know, really. Some kind of stupid compare and contrast thing for World History."
"Yeah, those are never fun." I don't know why I lied- I loved writing papers, I guess I just didn't want to sound like a loser or something. Ness gives me a smile and opens his mouth to say something before he is interrupted by the bell ringing.
"Well time to go I guess. See you guys later." Ness grabs his backpack and gets to his feet, shortly followed by Claus and I. We all part our ways to head to class as thoughts swarm in my head. Was Claus just messing with me or did he really think Ness had feelings for me? Part of me really hopes he's joking, because I've never really been the type to enjoy getting romantically involved with people. I just wasn't good at talking. But a small, small part of me hoped he was right...and it sort of scared me that I thought so.