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It had been nearly two months since he had met everyone in person that day on the staircase, and a week and a half since he had moved in with Nya and Kai.
Today...hadn’t been great; Chen and his group had managed to separate him from the others and trap him in a corner of the cafeteria.
Needless to say, he went back to class with a moderate black eye, bruises that ran from his left cheek to his chin, and a split lip.
The Smith siblings had both been pissed when they found out later during Psychology, Nya dangerously so, but Kai not as much.
He was just about to drift off to sleep when someone knocked on his door and opened it slightly, letting a sliver of light from the hallway lamps to enter the dark-ish room.
“Lloyd?” Nya whispered, quiet enough that she wouldn’t wake Kai.
“Don’t wake Kai; but come on, get up and chuck on some shoes and maybe a hoodie? We’re going up to the roof,” The ravenette disappeared from the doorway soon after she told him what they were going to be going.
Still half-asleep, he climbed out of bed and pulled on a hoodie that he had thrown over the back of a chair and a pair of shoes and left the room, careful not to wake Kai who was sound asleep.
Nya was waiting for him in the kitchen.
“Thought you weren’t going to come. Anyways, let’s go,” she told him as she carefully took a set of keys from the table and opened the front door.
Lloyd glanced at the clock before he left the apartment, 1:07 AM. After they were both outside the apartment, she locked it behind him.
“Why are we going to the roof at one AM?” he asked as they made their way up the stairs toward to roof.
The ravenette flashed him a smile and answered, “You’ll see,”
After ascending what felt like a dozen staircases (but was actually only four) and the steps to access the roof, they arrived at their destination.
He usually didn’t come up here as he was usually too busy with school and his job at Mystake’s store or more recently, spending time with the others.
The only thing that looked like it didn’t belong there was an electric keyboard that sat upon a squat concrete pillar [a/n: you know those rectangle concrete things that are about a meter tall?].
“I still don’t know why you brought me up here and why you brought your keyboard up here either,” he told her as they stepped out onto the roof.
Nya still wasn’t giving him a proper answer, instead, she went over to where her keyboard sat and took a seat on the concrete pillar.
“You haven’t heard me play yet, have you?” she asked, he shook his head in negative.
“Well,” Nya said, smiling. “I’ll have to change that.
Before she did start playing, that was what she was going to do, wasn’t it? She motioned for him to join her on the pillar.
When he had taken a seat, she started playing. What he hadn’t been expecting was for Nya to start singing.
***
“I stare at my reflection in the mirror.
Why am I doing this to myself?
Losing my mind on a tiny error.
I nearly left the real me on the shelf
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
Don't lose who you are.
In the blur of the stars.
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing.
It's okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart.
Tears don't mean you're losing.
Everybody's bruising
Just be true to who you are,
Who you are, who you are,
Who you are, who you are,
Who you are, who you are,
Who you are, who you are.
Brushing my hair, do I look perfect?
I forgot what to do to fit the mold,
The more I try, the less it's working.
'Cause everything inside me screams,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
Don't lose who you are,
In the blur of the stars.
Seeing is decieving, dreaming is believing.
It's okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart.
Tears don't mean you're losing.
Everybody's bruising,
There's nothing wrong with who you are
Yes, no's, ego's, fake shows, like woah!
Just go and leave me alone.
Real talk, real life, good love, goodnight.
With a smile,
'Cause that's my home,
That's my home.
No-ooh-oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!
Don't lose who you are,
In the blur of the stars.
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,
It's okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart.
Tears don't mean you're losing.
Everybody's bruising.
Just be true to who you are,”
***
As Nya’s voice and the last few notes faded out into the night air, the two just sat there, side by side, watching the stars above them.
Eventually, she spoke up, “That is why I brought you up here -- not to hear me play but to hear that song, Who You Are by Anna Clendening,”
He sat up from where had been leaning against her back.
“It was amazing, you can sing really well but why that song?” he questioned.
Nya leaned back on her hands.
“Because Lloyd, I want you to be you, no matter what Chen or anyone else tells you,"