Chapter Text
"Anaxa-"
SLAM!
The silver haired man groaned as he was met with the closed door in his face. Massaging his temples, the man turned away and left towards his office. In there, his secretary was gently arranging a pile of papers. He had long blonde hair, tied in a bun, pinned with red pins. "I assume that he didn't take it well?" The blonde man mused, watching as the latter arranged his glasses on the bridge of his nose, before falling onto his chair, grabbing some of the documents set on his desk.
"I believe I should be harsher with him." The silver haired man spoke. The blonde threw him a glare. "It's been a few months since the accident, not to mention the funeral, Alhaitham... It's still fairly recent. Let the boy grieve." He argued, taking a deep breath. "You are not truly the epitome of empathy, but it wouldn't hurt you to at least not act like you're made of stone." He added.
"I believe I did my due diligence by researching a good public school to enrol my son in. He said he wanted to go to school like the others, so I fulfilled the wish." Alhaitham argued. His secretary shook his head. "Fulfilling his wish doesn't mean you automatically show that you care, Alhaitham. No matter how hard you try to make it the best." He argued.
The silver haired man massaged his temples, before leaning more into the back of his chair. "Kaveh... Just bring me the reports for this month." He demanded. "And a please would be nice, but I guess hell would have a better chance to freeze overnight than that." The blonde rolled his eyes, nonetheless obliged with the demand. Alhaitham glanced at him, before towards the reports themselves.
"For a secretary, you are quite chatty to your boss."
Anaxagoras wasn't your simple normal boy. He came from a wealthy family, that was a given. His father was the owner and CEO of one of the biggest publishing brands. From TV channels to newspaper articles.
Despite that, he wasn't talked much about.
Alhaitham had a very delicate hand when it came to what is and isn't allowed to be spoken about him. Getting any information about him was like Searching for a needle in a haystack. And even if you are lucky enough to get something, he will make sure to shut it down before it could even catch fire with actual mundane context. That, unfortunately made him all the more wanted and famous. People look up to him and wish to peel away at the layers of privacy little by little.
So when Alhaitham agreed to enroll his one and only son to a public school, Anaxa was surprised his persuasion actually worked. Tomorrow he'll have to go to school, all set and ready.
Anaxagoras knew that it was all a ploy to just not have him around the house so much. That was all it was, in the boy's thoughts.
In Anaxagoras's eyes, his father was heartless. It was an open secret of the family that Alhaitham never loved his late-wife from the beginning. Anaxa thought at one point that his father would have a mistress just to cope with his loveless marriage, but then he remembered of who exactly he was talking about. So when she and the eldest daughter of the family passed away in a car accident, it was surprising that Alhaitham organised a decent funeral, of course, quiet, very private and with no interruption from curious paparazzi or journalists. The rest of the world was mourning the late mother and daughter more, but they only got a dry ass statement instead.
In Anaxagoras's eyes, his father was incapable of love.
And yet, a small knock was heard a bit later. "I don't wanna see you now, father!" The boy protested.
"Well, lucky me, I'm not him."
Anaxa perked to see the secretary already there, with a little medicine box. "It's time we clean up the bandage." He declared, gently setting the box next to the boy.
"He's still fussing about it?" Anaxa rolled his eye, as he took off his eye patch.
His right eye had a big scar, with skin and some muscle torn off and his eye was definitely blinded. Taking a deep breath, Kaveh quietly got to work, before applying a fresh bandage.
"Your father was very particular about this whole school debacle. He's very worried about you." The blonde mused. Anaxa didn't look towards him. "He just cares about his image." The boy protested. Kaveh rolled his eyes with a weak smile. "Are we even thinking of the same person?" He teased.
"Anaxagoras, dear... I know it's... A weird time in your life. But please, don't leave it to cloud your judgement of people around you. Your father's trying his best. He doesn't handle that well loss." Kaveh mused, gently patting the boy's head after he finished. "You'll see. You'll make friends and have a great time out there! But don't neglect your studies." The secretary smiled weakly.
"Veritas and Moze are going there as well. They are in older years, so if you need anything, they surely will lend you some of their help." Kaveh spoke. "Although Veritas is a bit busy with picking up a college to apply for. But I'm sure he'll be happy to help when he can." He added.
Anaxa nodded along. Soon, Kaveh had to leave him to go to sleep.
The next morning, it was very early when Kaveh had to wake up Anaxa, much to the boy's cargain. It was too early for him. His father was already eating breakfast when Kaveh ushered Anaxa to go and sit at the table. Apparently, Moze and Veritas were both gathering their things for school. For a first day back to school, Veritas wanted to start on the right foot and score himself a scholarship. Moze was aiming for a quiet year.
The 2 of them waited for Anaxa today. Kaveh was driving them to school, just as he usually did with his sons.
For Anaxa, it was weird to climb in a car and be driven to school. It was quiet, safe even. Veritas was checking onto some book, while Moze was tapping away at his phone. Kaveh wasn't that chatty, probably aware that his sons were doing something else.
"We are here now!" Kaveh announced with a weak smile. "Have a good day you 3." He smiled, letting the 3 to get out of the car. Anaxa was the first one, almost shooting out of there, with Veritas the last one. The oldest of the 3 leaned onto the window of the driver, which Kaveh already rolled down. "Bye, Baba." He spoke, earning himself a little pat on the head. Moze was next, getting his collar fixed a bit, with a smile. The boy mumbled quietly a short bye, which Kaveh caught immediately, replying with a soft smile. Anaxa only gave out a small hand wave, which Kaveh mimicked as well.
"See you after classes!" The blonde said before driving off, leaving the 3 before the said school.
Veritas was already 18, going on his last year of highschool, so he already knew the best how to navigate the new building. "Baba gave me your schedule. Sucks to have homeroom with Mr Tighnari. You're so cooked." The violet haired man mumbled, checking the little paper schedule. Moze already quietly left into a bee-line inside.
Vrrrr!
A long limousine pulled up behind the 2, as from there, 2 people got out. A short girl and a boy, both dressed like supermodels. The limo immediately leaved, having other people clamouring around the 2 with excitement.
And yet, the blonde boy caught sight of Veritas, immediately pouncing onto him like a predator. "Doc! Did you miss me?" He beamed, before his eyes settled onto Anaxa.
Then, a dramatic gasp escaped his perfectly treated lips. "Are you cheating on me?! With... With this guy?!" He dramatically accused. Veritas rolled his eyes. "Gambler..." He massaged his temples, nonetheless, he had one hand ready to catch the dramatic blonde, who crashed over it like some fainting damsel in distress, crying about their 'love being compromised' and whatnot.
"Anaxagoras is the kid of my baba's boss. At most, he's a kind of a brother for me more than anything else." Veritas mused. It seemed to immediately revive the blonde. "Oh! So a brother in law!" He concluded dramatically again. "Yes, brother in law." Veritas rolled his eyes, before addressing to Anaxa.
"It's just some harmless thing he goes on about." The violet haired man spoke. "Don't bother with it." He added, nonetheless he wasn't phased at all by the blonde running around him and clinging to him, all playfully attempts at dragging the other boy inside.
"Give me some time to get Anaxagoras to his class first, then I'll come." Veritas mused, trying to stop a bit the latter, who seemingly understood the assignment, giving a few teasing one-liners before leaving without any hassle, alongside the other people around.
Looking after Anaxa tho, Veritas found him helping some old man up. Most likely the horde of teens must've disoriented the poor grandpa or something. It happens, Veritas isn't surprised, so he quietly came to properly help, seeing how Anaxa wasn't really that well versed with physical exercises. It wasn't much, they could do, but help quietly the old man, then return to their initial mission of going to school.
"You are in Mr Tighnari's class. Now, I beg of you to remember this: When this man says Parent-teacher meeting, he means it. He spills all the beans and will not hesitate to out you. My former seniors had him as a homeroom teacher. Hell on earth, I tell you." The older boy explained. "It can't possibly be that bad." Anaxa shrugged.
Veritas did that thing, the one Kaveh usually does when Anaxa's father doesn't listen to him. It was a mix of wiggling the tip of one's nose, almost like a rabbit, and opening his mouth slightly, ready to fire a reply, before pressing the lips thin as paper. Veritas had a slightly less pointy nose than Kaveh, more rectangular if Anaxa were to say, so it wasn't as noticeable.
What Veritas did inherit was the bright red eyes, similar to the secretary's ruby hue, yet slightly toned down into a more sunset colour. Even the eye shape vaguely resembled his father along with the proeminent cupid's bow and the way his skin was sunkissed ever so gently. Was it not for the fact that this boy was built with a physique of Grecian gods, he would've been a spitting image of his dear Baba.
Not to mention Anaxa knows Veritas definitely had some box dye hidden under his bed. He can't prove it yet, but he definitely knows it!
"Nevermind... This place has middle school programs on the east side. So don't go there to terrorise the kids. All that you will ever need here will be in the west side or by the library, which is at the last floor. Moze works there from time to time, so he could probably smuggle you a card quicker, maybe snacks too if you're particularly planning to stay there for longer." Veritas explained as he pointed other places that will be of interest. The cafeteria, the art class, the science laboratory, sports lockers, so on and so forth.
Reaching his class for the first time, Anaxa felt oddly excited. Public school was something he never got to experience before. He only heard stories about it from Veritas and Moze. They seemed to have a sort of mixed bag of emotions regarding the institute.
Thus, once Veritas left him before the classroom, Anaxa entered with no remorses.
Inside, it was absolute chaos. It was loud and busy with all kinds of students running around and socialising.
And yet, all of them 0-ed onto Anaxa the second he got noticed.
"Oh! That's the new kid!" A short girl pointed towards him as if he was some sort of criminal on probation. Some people murmured about why he had an eye-patch or why he looked the way he did.
In his defense, his medical recovery left him to look quite scrawny if one was to say. He was barely recogniseable from the little slightly chubby kid from years ago. Not to mention, his father definitely pulled some strings so family connections won't be revealed all that easily. To them, he was just some random normal kid that joined them.
So, wary, Anaxa took a seat in the front row, next to a girl. She looked calm, composed, as she was sketching something onto a paper, one hand moving the pencil, the other seemingly touching the paper around in a sort of deliberate manner. Her eyes were foggy, a soft turquoise-blue with a bit of yellow like sunlight. Her blonde hair was short, nicely combed, as she wore a button up shirt and a long skirt with sandals. She was well put together, elegant and Anaxa supposed it was some timeless fashion, as it certainly was something more or so romantic, vintage even.
"Hello. I am Aglaea." The girl presented herself with a weak smile. "It seems that we are going to be deskmates from now on." She noted. Anaxa nodded along, right now totally dumbstruck.
The woman noticed that. "What is your name?" She asked. "Anaxagoras." The boy awkwardly replied. "Hmmm... Anaxagoras... It's quite the name." She pointed out. "So it's Aglea." He retorted.
Something told him that this woman will be, perhaps, his first friend.
And yet...
When Kaveh came to pick up the boys, Anaxa looked absolutely furious. He didn't say a thing, simply marching towards his father's office.
"I want to be homeschooled again! I cannot stand that woman!"
Alhaitham perked at that. "I take it school wasn't for your tastes?" He asked with a raised brow. "There is this girl in my class who's super annoying and it drives me nuts! She's a 1 to 1 replica of you!" He accused.
Alhaitham let out a long breath. "No." He replied. "You will be studying at the school properly. One random girl shouldn't define if you stay or leave." He explained, gesturing for the boy to take a seat in Kaveh's usual chair. Anaxa plopped there with a huff, arms crossed and frowning.
The silver haired man arranged his reading glasses as he pinched the bridge of his nose, gently shaking his head. "Anaxagoras... You have to understand that the high-school I picked is the best this city has to offer. There are bound to be some eccentric personalities. You included." He pointed out.
"Case and point, you aren't going anywhere until you finish the year. If, by the end of it you prove to me that this school experience is a negative, I'll return you to homeschooling. Until then, I will give you a list of goals to fulfill for this year, something to give you some motivation." He declared, handing to the boy a paper list. Looking over it, Anaxa raised a brow.
-Join a club
-Make a new friend
-Ace Mr Tighnari's test
-Try on new clothes styles.
-Go on a hangout with your friend/s
-Participate in a School contest/event
-Practice a sport
Anaxa looked at all the 7 tasks, then at his father. "And what is in for me?" He asked. "It's not a deal, it's a request, for fulfilling your wish and letting you attend public school. They are not all obligatory, but I expect to fulfill at least 2 or 3 of them. This is a list that I also had to get on through when I was your age." Alhaitham corrected.
"So I have hopes that you can do better than I did and fulfill it all."
Meanwhile, Kaveh was in Veritas and Moze's room, the older kid showing to him a few papers he redacted himself. "All abroad colleges... All on different profiles too." The blonde mused, flipping through the names before looking towards his son.
"Veri, dear... I know you want to do multiple things, but let's just start small at first, alright?" The said father said, giving a weak smile. "I'm aiming for scholarship too, Baba. I think I can do a few in tandem." The boy puffed with a swell of pride.
"And I don't doubt you, my dear... It's just... It's a lot. How about we orient ourselves towards options in Paris as well? Colleges here aren't that bad either. If you wish to multitask, wouldn't it be simpler to have at least one or 2 in here?" He offered, patting the boy's head gently. "It's a long list, Veri. You may think you can tackle them all, but the reality is that this is a great spike in difficulty." The older man explained, making a pause.
"Veri... I don't think we can financially afford to shoulder multiple universities. Especially abroad."
The boy pressed his lips thin. "I understand, Baba... I'll try my best to get in on scholarship at least in one. And I think I can work too to help." He insisted. Kaveh smiled weakly, kissing his son's forehead.
"Focus on your studies. I'll figure out money myself, don't worry."
Veritas was left with a sour taste in his mouth. He exaggerated, he knew it, but his wish was voiced and now his Baba was trying his darn best to fulfill it to the best of his abilities. It didn't sit well with the eldest. His Baba was already doing his best.
"You look upset."
It was the next day, at school lunch, when Aventurine said that towards Veritas. "I'm looking for a job." The taller boy replied.
Moze and Anaxa both paused. They joined in on Veritas's table, both for different motives the older won't debate about. "A job? This early, Doc?" Aventurine asked, blinking in surprise. "What does your father even work as? A secretary, no?" The blonde boy asked. "Yes, but now there's a demand that requires more funds, which he cannot provide in full. So instead I decided to shoulder the burden myself and work for it." The boy declared with a puff.
"Don't worry, Veri! I'm sure you'll get in for any job you apply for! Hopefully it will have a pretty uniform so I can admire you in it!" The said gambler beamed. "On a second thought, nevermind. No uniform! Only I should be able to have the luxury of that sight." He dramatically declared. Veritas rolled his eyes, but didn't say no otherwise.
"He's always stuck to him or what?" Anaxa whispered towards Moze, who shrugged. "Don't mind them. Aventurine doesn't actually do any harm." The boy shrugged. Anaxa frowned instead, looking at the 2.
Aventurine was a popular and rich kid. Definitely by how he wore expensive clothes, flamboyant and having that rich kid language Anaxa came to recognise from different parties he had to attend before. His father was too shut in to replicate those mannerisms, but his mother was a pro at mimicking those. Anaxa, personally, struggled with mimicking the tone. And yet... Veritas was Aventurine's shiny toy to play with and coddle. Veritas was very particular about everything, so it was a surprise that he let himself be tackled, hugged and pulled around by the alleged 'gambler'.
Something was going on in between those 2. He just knew it!
"You shouldn't mind them." Moze whispered to him. "No one really puts their mind to understand that. Aventurine just seems to enjoy the company of Veritas. And also getting better notes on his classes." He added.
There it was!
"So he's profiting off Veritas's charitable self?" Anaxa concluded. Moze shook his head. "Not really. He does ask nicely and he did buy us lunch a few times as payment. We managed to put my and Veritas's lunch money aside to buy a nice gift for Baba's birthday last year." The boy shrugged. "So there is payment." The youngest muttered, deep in thought.
CRASH!
The whole building shook. Kids, in a panic, all fled out, as something seemingly landed on the roof. The whole building was evacuated immediately, everyone sent home, with parents almost running one over another to get the kids back to them as fast as possible.
Kaveh, of all people, was especially fast, despite the fact that he was wearing high heels like every day. Anaxa didn't know why his second day at school was an emergency, but his father was heavily debating if he should actually pull him out of school it seemed.
"It's definitely a high risk for your safety." Alhaitham told him. "But Veritas and Moze-" "By legal means, Kaveh's income cannot afford them to be both homeschooled at the same quality compared to the prestige of the school they are attending." The silver haired man mused.
"Then why don't you raise his pay? Or hire his eldest? Veritas is looking for a job anyway!" Anaxa critiqued. "I cannot validate Veritas's need for a job properly to the same degree as his father. To do that, I'd have to cut from Kaveh's hours, which means the pay lessens in hindsight. Labour rules of the business doesn't allow me to give a higher pay to an entry level employee until they fulfill a quota of work time. The salary threshold is set by the accountants of the company. I cannot give him any recommendations because he did not formally work for me or have any professional interactions, but he can try a formal interview for a part time position. If he has the capability to do well, he'll definitely be hired." Alhaitham reasoned.
If there was one thing Anaxa could respect regarding his father, was his unwavering morals and fairness.
But right now, that also frustrated Anaxa beyond point.
"I know you wish to help Veritas in this... Best thing you could do is help him find some proper part-time offers." Alhaitham mused. Anaxa puffed, but said nothing.
He was right.
And that was frustrating to Anaxa.
Retreating to his room, the boy plopped onto his bed, opening his TV to at least see what the actual hell happened to close the school so suddenly. The TV news all cried about some giant stone monster ravaging towards the Eiffel tower.
Right... Maybe his father also had a point regarding the option of being homeschooled again. Which made it the more frustrating!
Reaching for the remote, only now Anaxa noticed the little black and red box onto his table. "Hm?" He tilted his head, grabbing it. Was it something his father gave to him again? Who knows. Maybe some trinket to occupy himself again. Or perhaps something Mr Kaveh dropped by accident after he came to help him change the eye bandages.
Well it wouldn't hurt to look and see what it was. So he opened it.
Fwosh!
Anaxa yelped as a bright light came out, circling him before it materialised into some floating creature, resembling a cat. "Woah!" He curiously tried to poke it. "Hey! Hey! No poking!" The creature spoke.
Was this some hallucination?
"What are you-" "I'm a kwami, kid. No ghost, no genie, a Kwami. Way cooler anyway. Name's Plagg, nice to meecha. I grant you the power of destruction." The feline-like creature puffed. "Fascinating." Anaxa noted, watching as the creature approached his TV remote.
Then he tried to bite onto it. "Bleagh! No good! Don't you have anything good to eat here?" He muttered. "Well excuse me?! I didn't know you existed to begin with!" Anaxa was quick to refute. "You're feisty, gotta need some work." The Kwami purred, floating around the room.
"Wait! You said you could give me powers! What's that about?" Anaxa muttered. "Yeah, yeah... You were chosen to beat the crap outta that thing on your magic box. That's an akuma." The Kwami gestured towards the TV. "And how am I supposed to do that?!" The boy insisted.
This had to be some prank!
"You just put the ring on, say 'claws out' and you transform. There's like a time limit after you use your superpower tho. But who cares? We can just lounge around!" Plagg purred.
Anaxa looked at the little box. It did have a ring inside. Taking it and putting it on, the boy watched how the piece molded over his middle finger, into a fitting gold variant of it.
For a good measure, Anaxa pinched himself.
It was real and this was real magic. He now had some sort of spirit that grants him powers. He had to fight some evil stone monster. Oh, his father would never allow that.
But who's to say Alhaitham had to know?
"Plagg! Claws out!"
Fwosh!
Anaxa couldn't help but beam, seeing his new look. He had cat ears and a tail and some very superhero-esque costume too. Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but bounce.
"Heh, you have a bell."
Yelping, Anaxa turned to see Moze lounging under his couch table. "How long were you here?!" He gasped. "A bit before you came in the room. Veritas is having a call with his 'dumb gambler'. I don't wanna hear them smooch through the telephone. I have like... A test tomorrow anyway." The boy in question pointed out, before returning to his book.
"Promise you won't tell father?" "Extra dessert bi-weekly." "Deal."
Moze did help out Anaxa to climb through the window and off he was chasing towards the monster.
It was a bit after when Veritas entered. Moze was still under the table. "Where's Anaxa?" He asked. The younger brother gestured towards the TV. "Turned into a super-powered catboy and is fighting the stone guy along the ladybug lady." He gestured.
"Should we like... Tell Baba?" Veritas asked. "I mean... Anaxa promised me bi-weekly dessert." Moze shrugged.
"Share one and I won't tell baba I know."