When the Leaves Fall [bxp] ✔

17

Haha hi everyone it's been a while. I have some personal things going on so I'm sorry I haven't updated. Hopefully, I'll be more active but I can't make any promises. Also, some big moments are coming up fast! Anyway, here's the update <3

Growing Together

"Hi guys," Quinn said loudly, sitting down at the table. The familiar loud chatter of the cafeteria surrounded them and Felix just grinned at her while Aeron grumbled something. Nils hadn't shown up yet, and while Jupiter still wasn't grinning as much as they usually did, they definitely seemed like they were doing better.

"Have you seen Nils?" Aeron said softly after Quinn set her phone down.

"He was with some dudes from the soccer team I think?" Quinn answered, scanning the cafeteria for- Felix guessed- Wren.

"Oh," Aeron just said softly, their eyes immediately turning towards their phone.

"Hey it's gonna be okay," Felix heard Jupiter softly reassure Aeron, the rest of what they said buried under the noise of the cafeteria.

Felix shut his eyes, he was tired for some reason. More tired than he normally was. Almost like worrying about other people made him exhausted. He hadn't even had the chance to properly listen to music in the last few days. Jupiter had ended up confirming with Felix, they were coming over with their dad on Friday night, but Felix was still worried about them. He had never seen them that distraught before and he wasn't sure what it meant. It wasn't just Jupiter who looked off though. Aeron had their eyebrows scrunched, wrinkles spread across their forehead. Felix was sure it was about Nils. Tarla seemed to be doing a lot better though, which was a relief.

Wren sat down next to Quinn, both of them immediately breaking out into some conversation. He had some rings on and was unconsciously twisting them. He'd started to war his rings more, and his collection was clearly growing considering Felix had never seen the ring with an infinity symbol before. He was glad, he remembered when Wren only had one ring and barely wore it, afraid someone would say something shitty, but now he was more comfortable wearing them and wore quite a few.

Despite the continuous chattering from the cafeteria, the sight of blonde hair cutting across the room to reach their table caught Felix's attention. Nils was back, since all of them were there, maybe they could make plans, but Felix faltered when he noticed the shiny streak across Nils' cheeks. What happened? Before his mind could come up with possible events, Nils spoke up.

"I think I just lost an entire group of friends?" Nils said quickly, his voice shaking a little, as he sat down.

"How- are you okay?" Tarla said first after the beat of silence that followed Nils' statement.

"Yeah?" Nils said slowly, "like I'm not doing amazing right now, but I'm kinda doing pretty okay?"

"What happened," a bewildered Wren asked, his mouth falling slightly open.

"Umm well, this was kinda a long way coming." Nils started to relax a little as he said that. And Felix pointedly ignored the way Aeron's concern deepened and how he had taken Nils' hand under the table. "They were nice, don't get me wrong, but the vibes were definitely off. It was well, first of all, it was some guys from the soccer team and some girls. The girls, well once I came out at least, kept being really weird around me. They kept wanting to talk about guys with them, and I had a girlfriend for a while and the girls kept brushing her off as well? Even if that relationship went absolutely terribly, they still didn't take the fact that I'm in fact pan seriously? And as for the guys, well after I came out, they just became super distant. Like they never text just me, it's always a group chat, and like I used to be pretty close to some of them but they distanced themselves immediately."