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Adrien Pirla -☆- "Oh. Oh..." Adriens eyebrows furrowed. "Wait-... you pick at the scabs?" He questioned, giving him a confused look. "But they're on your back? Like, how does that work?" He said in confusion, and he reached behind him to demonstrate. Adrien was obviously confused. He moved his hands back in front of him as Trixie jumped up and began pressing against him for attention. Adrien scratched the cats head as he looked at Nicholas. "Like- would wearing a hoodie help? Or...?" He questioned. Adrien's coldness seemed to melt a bit as he asked each question.
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Nick Browns - Nick's face flushed a deeper pink. No matter how welcoming or how trustworthy someone was, Nick still was unsure and awkward talking about this. "...no, I don't pick the scabs... I learned not to do that the hard way, but if I move the wrong way, I can open up the scabs and I'll end up bleeding again.." he explained again, glancing up and looking at Adrien. Maybe he could trust this boy, it was progressively and slowly getting easier to talk about this with him. Though he'd talk to Aaron about his dad sometimes, not the abuse, but even still, it never got easier with Aaron.
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Adrien Pirla -☆- "Oh..." Adrien muttered, nodding. He picked Trixie up and cradled the cat like a baby. Trixie pawed at the air toward his face softly. Adrien smiled slightly at the cat, his lip ring curving up with his lips. He glanced up at Nicholas again and studied him. "I can help you if you need it. And I'm not about to tell you to trust me, but I'm also not about to tell the whole school about your abusive dad... I can now say my father is not horrible..." He said, shrugging slightly. Though, he had no idea Aaron had told Nicholas nothing either. Adrien and Aaron usually... downplayed, the emotional abuse from their dad... it was fine though...! Right...?
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Nick Browns - Nick watched as Adriens lip ring moved with his lips. He'd never met anyone with a lip ring, and something about it made Nick want to touch it. Nick listened to the boy, and was immediately thankful for him. Maybe he could trust this boy. "...thank you, that means a lot." Nick said thankfully. It was true, Adriens words did mean a lot. Nick hadn't realized his cheeks had gone pink and he was actually smiling at Adrien, until now. He looked away from the boy and down at his hands, but he kept on smiling and the color didn't fade just yet.
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Adrien Pirla -☆- Adrien noticed the smile tugging at Nicholas' lips and stared at it. He had a nice smile. He didn't know why he was just now noticing this. But, he assumed it was because this smile looked genuine. Highly different from the one he saw at school. Adrien stared for a moment longer until he was jolted out of his thoughts by a loud, bellowing voice. "Adrien, get down here!" Adrien hurried up, taking Trixie with him. He set the tuxedo cat on Nicholas' lap and quickly made his way to the attic exit. "Sorry, one sec. Feel free to mozy around. Just don't touch the unfinished painting." Adrien said, trotting down the stairs. He reached the loving room to find his dad holding Ginger by his leg. Adrien rushed forward, grabbing the pained cat. "What the Hell!?" He shouted, holding the tabby close to his chest. His dad scoffed, wrapping an arm around his girlfriends wife. "Get rid of those *things.*" He growled. "Maria is allergic to them and she's moving in." His dad added. Adrien glared at him. "No. I'm not getting rid of my cats! Are you insane!? Ginger was mom's!" Adrien shouts, earning him a swift, silencing glare. "Do not talk about your mother. And I want the filthy creatures gone. That black and white on and that orange one. Both of them." His dad growled. Adrien scowled at him. He tightened his grip on the older, tabby cat and turned, trotting back up the stairs. "Adrien. Don't test me! Get those flea bags out!" His dad yelled from behind him. Adrien ignored the yelling and went up to the attic, plopping down and pulling his knees to his chest, keeping enough room between them for Ginger to lay comfortably. Adrien fixed his face with a small breath. He could worry about that later.... Adrien avoided looking up from where his hand stroked Ginger's fur. He could feel Nicholas' eyes on him. And it didn't feel fair. He shouldn't get to supk. His dad wasn't NEARLY as bad as Nicholas', and yet here he was, sulking.... He just... couldn't get himself to look up into Nicholas' burning gaze at the moment.
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Nick Browns - Nick watched at Adrien left, and willingly took the black and white cat. As Nick pet the tuxedo cat, it started to purr and Nick could hear yelling from downstairs. Nick could hear and decipher most of the words said downstairs that he knew most of what had happened when Adrien came back upstairs. He gazed at the dark haired boy sitting next to him, letting them sit in silence for a moment before saying something. "...are you ok?" Was all Nick could think to say. Adrien obviously wasn't ok, but he didn't know what else to say. If Adrien had to get rid of the cats, then Nick probably wouldn't be able to stay here for much longer either. The tuxedo cat rolled over in his lap, exposing her belly and Nick scratched her throat for the little cat as she purred. Nick had always wanted a cat, and he probably could have kept it a secret from his dad, but no pet deserved to be put in that situation.
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Adrien Pirla -☆- "Yeah. I'm fine." He lied through his teeth, going crisscross. Ginger curled into his lap, and Adrien grabbed his phone, opening the message Orangutan He typed out his message, 'Dad wants me to get rid of the cats for his stupid @ss girlfriend.' He sent it, and Adrien sighed and looked back at Nicholas, studying the blondes face. He had a feeling Aaron hadn't told him anything about their dad. And he hoped he was right. It was fine. Their dad wasn't horrible. And he didn't hit them. It was fine. He turned off his phone and set it aside. Stroking Ginger's chin, he sighed. Adrien didn't know what he was going to do....
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Nick Browns - Nick already knew Adrien wasn't fine. How could he be? The guy he was tutoring, practically a stranger, showed up at his door bleeding last night and now his dad wanted him to get rid of his cats. Nick didn't really know what to say or do. After a awkward moment or two, he looked away from Adrien and back at the black and white cat in his lap. He started thinking about where else he could stay. His sisters, Taylor and Eloise had gotten out as soon as they could. Taylor left and went to live with their grandparents in Texas, and Eloise was smart and saved up to buy her own place in New York. Nick knew Eloise didn't have much money, barely able to pay for her weekly heating and grocery bills. Taylor was still pretty young, and still relyed on their grandparents for everything, but his grandparents themselves might be able to help Nick. His grandparents where multi billionaires, so maybe he could ask for a little help. He hated to ask for help, especially for money, but if he had to, he had to.
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Adrien Pirla -☆- Adrien stood up, taking the ginger cat with him and holding the cat in his arms as he walked over to the window. He peeked outside and looked around it. It was about... noon. And Adrien knew Aaton would be telling him to eat something. "... are you hungry...?" He asked, setting Ginger down as he rubbed against Adriens' leg. "Aaron's going to assault me to eat here soon, so..." He sighed, glancing at Nicholas and fixing his face to look not as... not alright. Adrien walked over to the table, grabbing his phone and shoving it into his pocket, letting his hands slip into his hoodie pocket. He picked at his hang nails as he waited for an answer. (... I'm so so sorry this took so long to post 😭😭- I've been so lazy lately) Edited at October 4, 2024 05:23 PM by Oakwood Barn
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Nick Browns - "Um-" Nick started to say, but was cut off by two pings from Adrien and his own phone. Nick pulled out his phone from the front pocket of Adriens hoodie and read the message. *New Message from Carrot* Nick read Aaron's text over quickly. Well, I guess he was eating whether he liked it or not.
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