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Arven had taken Director Clavell’s warning about being behind at the academy seriously. Really.
Except… he was definitely more behind than he had thought.
Once he thought about it, it made sense; he had spent the better part of his academy career studying herbs and foods with medicinal properties. The worse Mabosstiff had gotten, the more time he had dedicated to his research… and before he knew it, he was behind.
(Truly, if he admitted it to himself, he had known he was behind for a while. But Mabosstiff still wasn’t getting better, and none of his attempted cures had worked, and—
Well, if Mabosstiff had taken a turn for the worse, he wouldn’t be returning to the academy at all. So what reason was there to worry about it then?)
The earlier years had been easier, but as graduation grew closer, the classes required more and more knowledge being built off of from earlier classes. Now, with the Treasure Hunt nearly over, he only had a short amount of time with the lightened workload of the Hunt before classes began in full-force again.
Which led to him here, at his dorm room’s desk, surrounded by more textbooks and work than he had seen in his life. The small mountains of paper were intimidating, sure, but…
He could do this. He was studious — just not always for school — and knew how to research. There’s no way silly little classes would best him. They were nothing compared to a Titan!
—————
Classwork could, in fact, be a Titan of its own.
It wasn’t just the classwork; it was the combination of current classwork and catching up on everything he had missed. At this rate, he wasn’t even going to be caught up with his Treasure Hunt work before the real academic semester started.
He had been putting all of his free time and then some into studying, but it still wasn’t enough. He hadn’t even had time to meet up with the other three as of late.
Bzz!
…They still were making their best attempts to make it happen, he thought, as he picked up his Rotom Phone.
[Prez (Nemona)]
[>> juliana and i are back in mesagoza!! movie party 2nite]
[<< Sorry, still busy. Maybe tomorrow?]
[>> u’re always busy!!!]
He sighed. He wanted more than anything to stop working and go spend time with them, but…
Some part of him was worried they would all leave him behind. All three of them were involved with the League somehow by this point, only getting busier by the day and often away on League-related business. Meanwhile, here he was, holed up in his dorm room or the library, trying and failing to even stay on-pace in classes by this point.
It wouldn’t be fun, but he had to catch up. It’d be better in the long run.
Another buzz interrupted him before he could respond.
[>> juliana misses you : (]
He winced. Well, if that didn’t make him feel guilty, nothing would.
[<< I know. Tell her I’m sorry for me?]
[>> does that apology include sandwiches?]
[>> u better be free soon!! if not i’m dragging u out of that room >: (]
[>> gotta go, penns just got here!]
[>> and i wasn’t kidding about the sandwiches!!]
He smiled to himself at the last message, delving back into his studying for a couple hours until another text lit up his phone.
[Pipsqueak (Penny)]
[>> A s’more is also a sandwich.]
A picture of a half-melted, microwaved s’more was attached. (Somehow, the ice breaker between the two had started with Penny asking if a hot dog counted as a sandwich, which had spiraled out of control since then.)
[>> Juliana would text you too, but she and Nemona are both asleep already.]
[>> We all miss you, you doofus. Come over next time?]
He paused, staring at the screen even as it began to dim itself. What could he say to that?
[<< I’m too busy.]
[<< I can’t.]
[<< If I don’t catch up, I’m going to get left behind.]
[<< I miss you all too.]
The last message remained un-erased but unsent as he turned back to his work.
—————
Late one night, surrounded by papers and books at his desk, Arven had an uncomfortable realization.
With how long he had been in his room like this, he was really starting to feel like his father now.
(Was he abandoning his friends like his father abandoned him?
No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t push away that thought.)
After this next essay was turned in, he would call Juliana and at least talk to her. Maybe not tell her what was going on yet – his exhausted brain could only conjure up her disappointed face – but at least not repeat… that.
For now, though, he looked up at the photograph of him and his friends together hanging above his desk and sighed.
He got back to work.
—————
He didn’t get the chance to call Juliana.
He had stumbled into class the morning after, almost late and bleary-eyed after staying up half the night working on that essay. His plans of laying his head down were quickly dashed away into fear once he saw a flipped-over stack of papers on his desk.
Right. They were getting their take-home exams back today.
Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
…
…It was that bad.
Looking back at it, there had been a lot of sloppy mistakes; by the time he had started this assignment, it was due the next morning, and Mabosstiff had made it clear he couldn’t have any more coffee.
He didn’t even need to look at the grade to see how poorly he had done; the sea of red marks staring back at him did that job already. Before he could flop his head down in defeat, however, a scrawl in the top margins caught his eye.
His heart dropped as he stared at the paper.
Good effort but some core concepts missing. Put a little more time into revision.
Put a little more time into revision.
Put a little more time—
But he didn’t have more time.
“…ven? Arven? Arven!”
He startled, head snapping to the front of the room. His cheeks warmed as he realized the rest of the class was staring at him.
“Are you with us?”
“Sorry. Yes, Mr. Jacq.”
“You’re looking a bit pale. Are you feeling alright?”
His mouth opened, prepared to give a flimsy excuse, but nothing came out.
He had to be feeling alright. He couldn’t afford to get any more behind.
Answering that shouldn’t be so hard. But–
…He was tired.
Jacq interjected before he could respond after all. “How about you head down to the nurse’s office for a bit?” Arven’s protests died before he could speak up again at Jacq’s kind but stern look. “I’ll call ahead to let her know you’re coming down.”
There wasn’t really any arguing with that. He slowly collected his belongings — his head was still swimming, bobbing along with that empty feeling that hadn’t left — and quietly left the room.
—————
The nurse’s office was surprisingly quiet, he noted, as he laid in one of the beds.
(Outside the window, the sun was beginning to set. He was pretty sure by now that Ms. Miriam was prolonging her tests so he’d lay down for a bit, but he didn’t feel up to arguing with her. These beds were surprisingly comfortable, and he was pretty sure he’d dozed off at least once already.
Honestly, he really just wanted any of the other three here with him right now.)
His eyes slowly blinked open as he heard Ms. Miriam approach, heels clicking against the tile.
“Well, it’s not any bug going around, at least — no flu, no cold, or anything of the sort. However…” She trained her gaze onto him, surprisingly serious for her usual demeanor. “Arven, while you may not be sick, you certainly are exhausted. Have you been taking care of yourself recently?”
He paused. By her standards, he probably wasn’t, but how does one explain that they probably weren’t but really didn’t have a choice because they need to graduate and they’re doing their best?
(He didn’t think that was going to work very well. And even more, he still wasn’t used to adults asking him that.)
A buzz from her Rotom Phone interrupted their conversation, saving him from his dilemma.
Her lips pursed. “Director Clavell has requested you come to his office, provided that you feel well enough to do so.”
“I’ll head up there now. Thank you, Ms. Miriam,” he said, getting out of the bed slowly.
“Come see me if you need anything. And rest. No pushing yourself, you hear me?”
Nodding, he made his way out of the room, bracing himself for whatever conversation was to come.
—————
[Tera Trio (Juliana, Nemona, Penny)]
[Juliana]
[>> director clavell just contacted me]
[>> arven got sent to the nurse’s office]
[>> isn’t doing well]
[>> get back to mesagoza]
—————
Clavell realized, belatedly, that maybe he should have passed along through Miriam that Arven wasn’t in trouble, if Arven’s nervous fiddling with his vest hem was anything to go by.
“Ms. Miriam passed along to me that you were sent to the nurse’s office today for exhaustion. Are you alright, Arven?”
“Uh… as well as I can be, Director.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. He didn’t expect being that direct to work, but it was worth an attempt, at least. “Then, how have your studies been?”
There was a moment where it looked like Arven would clam up again, but instead–
“To be honest, Director Clavell… not good. That’s kind of the real problem here.”
“Oh?”
“You were right. I did get behind while trying to cure Mabosstiff. I’ve been trying my best to catch up this semester, but…” He looked away, eyes obscured by his bangs as he continued. “…I don’t think I can catch up in time.”
It looked as if those words physically pained him to admit, refusing to look back as Clavell realized what he meant.
Ah.
Well, that wouldn’t do.
Clavell adjusted his glasses with a sigh, breaking the tense silence that had grown between the two. “I must apologize, once again. I should have expected you would have thrown yourself into your studies full-force.”
Arven glanced up, looking very confused. “But isn’t that a good thing?”
“In most cases, yes. However, your studiousness lends itself to a drive with studying beyond most—“ Arven blushed lightly at that “—so going beyond your limits is not sustainable for your health and well-being.”
He fixed Arven with a focused, but not unkind, gaze. “One of the tenets our academy upholds is its pride in its flexibility. Every student is unique. That is why we emphasize finding your own treasure — your own unique values and path through the world. In your situation, it would be wholly unfair to expect you to drown yourself in catching up at the academy. Frankly, that would be far against our goals as an institution.”
“So you’re saying I should… just drop out?” Arven replied, tilting his head.
Clavell stopped for a moment, looking stunned. “Heavens no. I am saying we should find a path for you to finish your schooling at a reasonable pace, even if that might look different than other students’ journeys. More independent study, perhaps, to allow you to continue journeying, and seeing what we can do to review the material you have missed.”
“Oh. But… then I’ll be behind everyone else.”
“Now you have a reason not to be. Three reasons to be exact, I would assume?”
Arven nodded, slightly bashful.
“Let me tell you this: they would not want you to run yourself into the ground for this endeavor. However, I think it would be more beneficial to hear that from them directly rather than from myself.” He clasped his hands behind his back once more, tilting his head toward the door. “Speaking of that, I do believe one Miss Juliana is looking for you. She should be at her dorm by this hour.”
“…Thank you, Director.”
“You’re welcome. I’d hurry along now if you don’t want her to send Miss Nemona to find you.”
It appeared that his statement had done the trick, if the grimace was anything to go by.
(And even if said student wouldn’t admit it out loud, it was becoming quite obvious to the staff that said grimace was more fond than anything by now. Better yet, it was a much-appreciated change from the blank expression Arven had worn earlier.)
“That’s a… very good point.” He bowed his head one more time, pulling his backpack tighter as he left the office.
Clavell let out a sigh once he was truly alone in the room. He had anticipated there to be struggles after the quartet’s unique journeys, but he had hoped nothing as severe as this would happen. He would make sure to keep a closer eye on them to hopefully prevent this from happening again.
Beyond that, hopefully, the four of them would continue to support each other as they had already done.
(Though really, he didn’t doubt that at all.)
————
[Director Clavell]
[>> Mr. Arven should be making his way up to your dorm room now, Miss Juliana. Please do see to it that he gets some rest.]
Knock knock.
“Come in!”
After his earlier contact, Director Clavell had updated her on Arven’s reported condition – most likely realizing that if the trio assumed Arven was in grave danger, he’d have a torn apart school on his hands.
Waiting for him had been hard after that, but at least manageable; she had managed to relay everything to Nemona and Penny before they burst into the school looking for him.
(As if she wouldn’t have been halfway to the nurse’s office herself by then.)
She looked up from her spot on her bed, putting her book down beside her (having retained absolutely nothing – it was only there to keep her hands and mind busy).
Even from all of the way across the room, Arven looked…. drained. He may have been holding it together enough to fool someone at first glance, but she knew him well enough by now. The usual sparkle in his eyes was gone, and the usual flush across his cheeks was oddly missing. Even his bangs flopped limply across his face, unlike their usual fluffy and shiny state.
She resisted the urge to get up and meet him, instead patting the bed beside her. With how bad he was looking, she had a feeling it’d be best if they were both sitting down. (And she knew if she met him at the door, she’d be hugging him immediately and not letting him move.)
He sat down beside her, oddly still as they stared at each other. Unlike in their usual comfortable silences, he looked torn between bolting out the door and collapsing on the bed.
“Arven?”
She didn’t have to say anything else. His face crumpled, his shoulders slumping as he quickly buried his face in his hands. He didn’t even peek up at her as his voice broke, barely a whisper. “I’m so tired, ‘Ana.”
Frankly, tired didn’t even begin to cover it. She’d seen Arven tired on their journey; this looked like he had been running on empty for far too long.
Bracing herself, she broke the silence covering her room, gently placing a hand on his knee. “Does this have something to do with why you’ve been so busy lately?”
For a moment, she didn’t think he was going to respond, remaining unnaturally still. But then—
“I didn’t want you all to leave.”
She recoiled for a moment, accidentally jostling Arven enough for him to look up at her. That didn’t make any sense. “Wait, what?”
“I need to graduate on time so I can graduate with you all. But you heard Director Clavell; I got really behind while I was trying to cure Mabosstiff. So I’ve been working double-time this semester to catch up, but I can’t both catch up with what I missed and keep up with this semester’s work, and then I’ll be even more behind before next semester, and—”
He cut himself off abruptly, scrubbing his hands into his eyes. His voice sounded notably more ragged as he continued. “But then I felt like my dad, ignoring everyone for work, and that was worse. I didn’t have time to hang out with anyone, and then it was easier to not respond than let you all down again, and then I wondered if you were going to think I didn’t care. Or if you were going to stop caring about me.”
She had to resist clenching her hands into fists at hearing that. She knew none of them felt that way, but Professor Turo’s absence only left more and more warped perspectives to be uncovered with time.
Professor Turo was a… complicated man, with a complicated situation, but he didn’t have to live with the consequences of what happened. Arven did.
“Before we found out everything, I was… I was mad at him, but there was still a little part of me that had hope. That he would care and come back. If I was good enough, or smart enough, or something—”
He met her eyes for a moment, shifting ever so slightly into her side. Her heart clenched at the defeated look on his face.
Even though things had improved somewhat throughout their friendship, she still hated seeing Arven look as if he had to take on the whole world himself because he couldn’t trust anyone to stick around.
He continued quietly, “…I don’t know. I don’t know if there was anything I could have done to convince him to come back in the end, no matter how much he loved me. But I didn’t want to risk being wrong this time with you three and get left behind again.”
Juliana pulled him close as his voice faltered, wrapping her arms around his back as he buried his face into her neck.
“I just wanted someone to stay.”
Juliana swore she felt her heart crack at that. “We’re not going anywhere. Not me, not Nemona, not Penny.” She buried her face into his hair, tears beginning to form in her eyes as well as she continued, her arms tightening around him even more. “And that doesn’t make you like your dad for trying to catch up.”
She cut him off before he could finish a noise of protest. “It really isn’t the same. You were trying to catch up in an impossible situation, and you were miserable, and we just wanted to make sure you were okay. You didn’t leave us, and we’re not leaving you. I promise, one day you’re gonna know we really aren’t leaving you ever.” She rested her head on top of his, voice trembling as she continued. “I don’t care if you’re graduating on time or whatever. I care that you’re happy. And you’re not happy right now. You’ve spent your whole life taking care of things for other people. We’re gonna take care of you now.”
Those seemed to be the magic words for Arven to finally let go.
There was a lot to unpack on how Arven, despite being loud and prickly when mildly annoyed, was unusually quiet when he was genuinely upset. But this time, his shoulders shook as he sobbed into her shoulder. Juliana rubbed circles against his back as weeks of tension and exhaustion finally came loose, his hands gripping fistfuls of her shirt.
Eventually, his cries died down into quiet sniffles, and Juliana subtly tried to wipe her own tears without letting go of Arven. As he slowly came back to awareness, she felt him tense slightly, moving as if to pull away already.
“Thank you, Juliana. I should get going and get ready for class tomorrow—”
Before he could even manage to untangle himself, Juliana pulled him back down into her embrace, hugging him even tighter.
“Not like that you aren’t.” The hard-edged Champion voice snuck in, just for a moment. “You’ve already been excused from classes tomorrow. Nemona and Penny are on their way here, and you’re not leaving this bed unless it’s for food or sunshine.”
He relaxed almost immediately. (Juliana would have let him go if he really wanted to leave, but she wasn’t going to let him deny himself comfort on reflex.) He gave a wet chuckle, slightly muffled as he sniffled into her shoulder. “…Heh, you’re just as stubborn now as you were when we were battling Titans.”
“When it comes to you? You bet I am.”
She felt him slowly relax more against her as she continued to run her hands through his hair, gently scratching against his scalp. (He didn’t let her do this often — out of awkwardness or embarrassment, she wasn’t sure — but he always melted when she did.)
She breathed out a sigh of relief as she realized Arven was beginning to doze off, lax in her arms.
It wasn’t long before she heard her door creak open. For once, her friends entered her room silently, tiptoeing toward the bed.
She could tell the moment their eyes fully landed on Arven without even needing to look up. Arven was, typically, full of life. Not exuberant in the same way that Nemona was, but underneath his occasionally prickly exterior, he was a warmer personality than anyone else Juliana had met along her travels.
And now…
Juliana mentally kicked herself for being so busy the last few weeks. Realistically, she knew there was little she could have done about that, but…
Arven was the tallest of the group by far, but right now, he looked so small curled up in her arms. Not to mention exhausted. It wasn’t the sudden crash after their hectic day in the crater — rather, a deep, long exhaustion that had been building (and hidden by Arven) for a while now.
All three held their breath as Arven shifted with a small groan. He sleepily raised his head, eyes still closed as he shifted. “…’Mona? ‘S that you?”
“Got it in one, sleepyhead.” Her hand, in a rare show of softness, brushed a few stray hairs away from his face. “Came as soon as we heard you needed us.”
“Go back to sleep, you lug; we’ll be here in the morning.” The barb wasn't pointed at all, especially with Penny gently laying a hand on his side.
“P’nny…”
For a moment, it looked as if he would continue mumbling — but soon enough, Arven’s breathing smoothed out once more, now punctuated by tiny snores.
“Out like a light.” A small chuckle escaped Nemona, but her brow was still furrowed.
Penny started hesitantly, “Juliana, he looks…”
“Bad. I know.” She briefly summarized what Arven had told her, subconsciously pulling him closer as she explained his worries.
Nemona nearly woke him up again in her indignation at hearing that. “But that’s stupid! There’s no way we’d leave him behind just because he was in school longer than us.”
Penny shrugged. “Some of the Team Star leaders had similar concerns. Though, it’s a bit different for them because they’re all equally behind.” Her thumb rubbed circles into his side as she bit her lip. “We’ll just have to make sure he knows that then.”
Juliana made a quiet hum of agreement as Nemona stepped away, after one final brush against his cheek. Soon enough, a quiet thump landed next to the bed. A beanbag now sat on the floor nearby — presumably thrown by Nemona, who was crossing the room with multiple pillows and Poke Dolls in hand.
“Heh, it’s a good thing we didn’t clean up after our last hangout, after all.” She plopped down onto the beanbag with little fanfare, leaning back against the bed. “C’mon, Penny, get down here.”
Penny joined her without protest, sprawling across the rest of the beanbag.
(Juliana hid a smile; it was sweet to see those two so close now. No one would have expected that at the beginning of their Area Zero adventure, but here they were.)
Silence fell over the room once more, punctuated only by Nemona’s occasional shifting around and a few last tap tap taps of Penny’s fingers against her phone before she dozed off too.
Stifling a yawn herself, she slowly attempted to pull a blanket over herself and Arven. She had just gotten it pulled up to her shoulders when—
“Mm?” Arven nosed against her shoulder, apparently awoken by the movement.
She had really hoped she wasn’t going to wake him up, especially with how little sleep he had been getting. (At the same time, however, she couldn’t deny how cute a sleepy — and much less stressed — Arven looked cuddled up to her and mumbling.)
“Just pulling a blanket up.”
He made another small noise at that, seemingly accepting the explanation as he relaxed again. She had thought he had fallen back asleep, until a quiet whisper rumbled against her.
“Thank you, ‘Ana.”
Any sufficient answer she really wanted to give was far too long to convey at the moment. So instead, she mustered up the last bit of courage she had left, and—
Her lips barely grazed against his forehead as she tucked the blanket around them. “Anytime, Arven.”
(She’d have the time and energy to worry about if that went well in the morning — but if the soft, content noise he had made was any indication… maybe they’d be just fine.)
As she pulled them both tighter under the blanket, her thoughts wandered. There wasn’t enough in her pantry to make breakfast — not even something Arven could salvage, though there was no way she was going to make him cook after this. Maybe they could order breakfast sandwiches from one of the shops in town and take Mabosstiff out to play… That sounded like a good idea.
They’d face tomorrow together.
—————
—————
Arven blinked awake, squinting at the sunlight slowly spilling across the dorm room. It was far too early for him to be awake, his eyes were puffy, and he was… cuddled up to Juliana?
A quiet snore from beside the bed drew his attention. Why were Nemona and Penny—
Oh. That had happened. Right.
Last night was still a far too jumbled mess in his head, especially with one night of sleep not nearly having undone weeks of exhaustion. But… he did feel a lot better. Better than he had since this whole mess had started.
He clamped down on the urge to feel embarrassed about the night before. They hadn’t had that cry session last night for nothing. (And it was hard for those thoughts to win when he was still surrounded by his best friends.)
Though, his cheeks did flush when he thought of how gently the three of them had treated him.
(Especially the forehead kiss. He was almost positive he hadn’t dreamed that, and…
And he could maybe… return the favor.
He almost buried his head again as his cheeks burned bright red. He needed a lot more sleep to think about that with Juliana… let alone with Nemona and Penny, too. That was going to be even more complicated to untangle — but… it’d be worth it. If he survived the imminent meltdown of his brain thinking about that.)
For now, he curled back into Juliana and closed his eyes once again, burying his face into her shoulder. They’d have time to figure everything out later.