It's been a month since Mana's death and Nea still hasn't been able to process it properly. Allen and himself have been keeping busy to keep their minds away from the topic. Nea has developed a parental love for Allen and almost views him as his own son! Cross has grown accustomed to Allen as well, though they still fight.
Nea is now waiting for Allen in the car. 'Allen's taking longer to get here.' he thinks. He sighs and gets his phone out. He texts Allen and gets no response. 'Maybe he's retaking a test or something.' Nea assumes. He waits a little more until 30 minutes have already passed. This concerns him. He decides to call him. After waiting, he gets sent to voicemail. This worries him more.
Nea takes it upon himself to enter the school. He walks down every hall and asks every adult he sees if they've seen his nephew. He eventually ran into Lenalee. "Ah, Nea, what are you doing here?" Lenalee asks. "It's been 30 minutes and Allen hasn't shown. Do you know where he is?" Nea asks. Lenalee gives him a sad look. "No clue, he's always in a different spot. Just to be sure, I'd check near the music building." Lenalee says and leaves.
Now Nea has to find the music building. He searches around until he eventually finds it. "Allen, you here!?" Nea shouts. When he gets no response, he sighs. 'Maybe he fell asleep again?' Nea questions in his mind.
He searches the empty classrooms and halls until finally, he finds his nephew. He gets concerned when he sees him curled up against the wall trying to stifle some sobs. Nea walks up to Allen and sits down next to him. "Hey, little man, what's going on?" Nea asks. Allen just grips his legs harder. "Is this about Mana?" Nea asks. Allen just unwraps himself and cuddles with Nea. He cries into his chest as Nea tries to soothe the poor boy.
After 20 minutes of Allen crying, the room finally goes quiet. "It'll be okay, Allen. Peopl-" "It's not about Mana." Allen states. Nea gets confused. "Then why are you upset?" Nea ask.
Allen knows he won't be able to hide what happened from Nea, so he sighs and prepares himself. "I got beat up by a bunch of girls and Omega men because I'm apparently stealing Kanda away from them," Allen replies. Nea laughs. "By a bunch of girls and a few Omega boys? Wouldn't it make more sense to be fawning over both of you? You and your little friends have to be the hottest people in this school!" Nea exclaims. Allen sighs. "Not me. People think I'm cursed and they hate me." Allen admits.
Nea instantly drops his smile. "Is you getting bullied a daily occurrence?" Nea asks. Allen nods. "How bad is it?" Nea asks. "When I'm with friends, it's not bad, but when I'm alone, they do unspeakable things. Today, they went easy and only broke my nose." Allen said with a light laugh as he tried to lighten the mood.
Nea didn't find it funny at all. He was pissed. He knew that moving Allen to a different school would be worse for him due to the fact he wouldn't see his favorite people, so he thought of a different plan.
- NEXT DAY -
Allen was embarrassed, but even that would be an understatement. Nea had decided to "enroll" in every single one of Allen's classes. And what's worse is that Nea is a famous pianist. So now he's getting even more unwanted stares. "I think they like me," Nea says. "Of course they do. You're famous!" Allen shouts quietly. Nea laughs and Allen rolls his eyes.
The two enter Allen's 1st period and sit down. That earned them a lot more stares and gossip. After a bit, a group of kids walks up to Allen. "So, is this your little sugar daddy? You paying to look good now?" A kid asks. Nea was about to speak, but Allen stopped him. "No, this is my uncle. He's here simply because he wants to. Nothing more." he states. A girl scoffs. "Like we believe that! There are still pictures of you coming out in new outfits," she says. Allen jolts as he knows what she was referring to.
He sighs. "Those were taken on the same day and I was forced into it," Allen says with a light glare. "Whatever you say, pervert." the girl says. She and her group go over to Nea and start gushing over him. Allen rolls his eyes. They start asking for autographs and stuff. 'The gall of these people.' Nea thinks to himself. He sighs and politely turns them down.
The girls whine in disappointment and leave them alone. Silence fills their little corner for a while. "What pictures were they talking about?" Nea asks. "You'll get Bluetooth bombed with them soon enough," Allen replies and leans on him. Nea looks at his nephew with a sympathetic look. He didn't like how he was being harassed.
Soon enough, Lavi and Kanda enter the class. Everyone starts cooing over them. The two friends sit in their seats. "What are you doing here, Nea?" Lavi questions. "Retaking high school with my nephew since I never graduated heheh," Nea replies with a weirdly confident smirk. The three boys give him a weird look. "Man, it's a miracle you were even able to do my homework a couple of weeks ago," Allen comments. "Oh, Mr. A+ is cheating?" Kanda questions. "it was only one time! I didn't feel like doing it that day!" Allen retorts. "He was being mean to me about it too." Nea cries. Allen sighs. The bell rings and Ms. Bell enters the class.
The whole day goes by and Allen received a lot less harassment, but he still got enough to the point of Nea actually yelling at a couple of kids. Of course, when they got to Allen's piano class, every kid there was fawning over Nea. Allen even got to learn that his teacher, Mr. Earl, used to be Nea and Mana's teacher when they went to school here. It was a nice surprise, to say the least.
