Besties || A Nintendo Fanfic || Rewrite

Chapter 1: Freak Accident

He stood outside the white marble academy, which loomed over him. Students passed by him, climbing up the steps to the front door. Cheers could be heard throughout the campus, the laughter of friends meeting each other again, the excitement for the new year, some celebrating the fact this was their last year. This one, however, was not so cheerful, or excited. There were a lot of people.

He gripped the straps of his backpack tighter. It held the few belongings he had brought, a couple changes of clothes, a toothbrush, soap, etc. He was wearing his new uniform, which consisted of a white button-up shirt, a red tie, black pants, and a blue vest. He was also supposed to wear a black jacket with the academy's emblem, but instead he wore a black, hooded sweater with purple sleeves and odd designs. It was sort of his comfort sweater, it made him feel a little less awkward in this new environment.

Truth be told, he was scared shitless. He had never been around this many people before. His hometown had less than a thousand residents and his old school had a hundred kids at most. Meanwhile, it looked like the entire town had gathered up here. It was a little nauseating, he was already sort of a loner and being around people stressed him out, so to say the least, he was not having a good time right now.

He pushed up the red-rimmed glasses that sat on the bridge of his Roman nose, groaning slightly at the fact this was the third time he had had to do this within the last minute. This was already his fourth pair this month after breaking one, losing another, and somehow having one stolen. At one point or another, he would stop having horrible luck, right? But alas, this was the life of Robin Grey. Constant bad luck and nausea.

To prove his point, as he finally gathered up the courage to walk up and take his next steps into this brand new school, he bumped into someone, causing him to lose his balance. He outstretched his arms in hopes to catch himself, but only ended up cutting his palm on a sharp edge. He looked at his hand, watching all the blood gush out of the wound. He hissed and held back the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes, tried to pretend it was okay, but holy shit that hurt. He noticed the person he bumped into, a lady, had also fallen, so he put his injured hand behind his back and offered her his non-injured one, saying, "I'm so sorry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry, I was looking at my phone and didn't notice you," She said. Oh. He had kind of just assumed it was his fault. "How's your hand?" She sounded worried, her sparkling blue eyes washed over with slight pity.

He held his hand out, blood continuing to gush out of it. They both hissed. "I think it's fine."

"That's definitely gonna leave a scar," the girl said. "Here, let me treat you."

"Y-you don't have to! I don't want to burden you," he said, but really he did need some treatment, treatment he knew he couldn't give to himself. His hand really hurt, and stung, and he was almost certain there were pieces of rubble in the cut. But he still didn't wanna cause anyone any trouble. He hated the thought of hindering someone else.

"No need to be shy, come on," she said, gently taking his non-injured hand and guiding him towards the building. Well, this was embarrassing. Goddamnit. He felt more nauseous than before now. That, combined with the pain in his hand, made him feel even more like shit.

They walked into the infirmary and the girl made him sit in one of the beds. She looked around the cabinets and grabbed some cotton balls, tweezers, rubbing alcohol, and a bandage. "I'm no medical expert," she said, "but, since the nurse isn't here, this should be enough for now." She grabbed a stool and pulled it up in front of him, taking his injured hand and putting it on her lap. She poured some of the alcohol into a cotton ball and used a tweezer to hold it steadily. "Now, this is gonna hurt, so feel free to scream if you need to."

She gently pressed the cotton ball to the wound, making Robin hiss as pain shot up through his entire arm. Tears sprouted in his eyes as he ran his free hand through his silky white hair, pulling on it slightly. He bit his lip, tapped his foot, anything to distract him from this overwhelming pain. He looked up at the girl. Her long, burnt honey hair slightly covered her face, but he could see the guilt in her eyes. Why she felt guilt, he didn't know. But, it was oddly comforting. Not that she felt guilty, he didn't like that, but rather her herself. The aura she gave was warm, gentle. It made him want to trust her immediately.

"This may be a bad time for introductions, but I'm Zelda," she said quietly. Her voice was deep, yet sweet and gentle, confident, with a hint of sternness. It suited her perfectly.

"...I'm Robin, thank you for your help, and sorry for bothering you," he said. Unlike her, his voice was deep but shaky, nasal yet a bit raspy, like he hadn't spoken in a long time. Zelda couldn't help but observe him. He was obviously holding back tears, for reasons she didn't know, and since earlier, he looked like he was about to throw up. It made her worried, she feared if he kept holding himself back like that, he'd eventually crack. She didn't know why she cared so much, but she supposed caring about others has always been part of her nature. To an unhealthy point.

"It's okay to cry, you know," she said. His eyes went wide. "This is a pretty big cut, anyone would be crying, or at least I would. So it's okay, go ahead and cry if you want to, there's no shame in it."

Those words, he needed to hear them. It felt like something within him had been freed after being trapped for such a long time. That nausea he felt earlier dispersed, and while his hand still hurt, it was no longer his focus. Without even realizing it, tears slipped down his cheeks. He closed his eyes tightly and breathed a labored breath, putting his free hand over his eyes as he nodded.

Zelda smiled and grabbed a tissue from a box, pressing it against Robin's cheek. He flinched and looked up in surprise, his beautiful maroon eyes shining with tears. "You can cry as much as you want, but try not to get your uniform wet. I get the feeling you're the type to not want others to know you were crying."

He laughed, taking off his glasses. His smile was beautiful. "You're right."

Zelda smiled and continued healing his wound. She wrapped up his hand with a bandage and set it carefully on his lap, palm up. "There you go, that should be good for now. You should come back later and get the nurse to take a proper look at it though, okay?"

He nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Zelda. For everything."