| b u g s | MCYT(OC)

~School Bells~

"Get in loser!" Fern yelled out their car window, Markus snickering in the back seat. Nine groaned, walking like a zombie from her front door.

"Before I get in trouble, this is not my fault." She huffed, plopping into the passenger seat. Fern snickered, getting a glare from her. "Next time you look for a childhood friend, I'm turning off my notifications."

"I got hundreds more than you."

"You fell asleep with your phone notifications off. Knowing you, actually, you probably didn't even have your phone near you." Nine huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Fern couldn't fault her, she wasn't wrong.

"You could've turned off your notifications, though." Nine turned her glare to Markus as he smiled sheepishly back to her.

"Markus, shush." Fern cut in, shaking their head as they pulled out of Nine's driveway. "You didn't sleep either."

"I'm simply built different." Fern snickered. When they glanced over to see why Nine hadn't, all they found was her unconscious in their front seat. Groaning, the looked through their mirror to meet Markus' eyes.

"You get to carry her in when she refuses to wake up."

"FUCK YEAH!"

~

"Hi, Mrs. Miller." Fern muttered sheepishly, holding the door open for Markus. Nine's backpack was slung over their shoulder, Nine herself being slung over Markus. Mrs. Miller smiled, waving to them.

It was a common sight in her classroom.

"Hi Fern, hello Markus." She chuckled, bracelets clicking when she waved. "How are you guys?"

"Tired." Fern groaned, slumping into their seat. Markus sat Nine in her seat next to theirs, sitting on Fern's desk once he knew she'd be comfortable.

"I'm doing amazing, Mrs. Miller." Fern gently shoved him, smiling when their teacher laughed. "You know what we should do today?"

"What should we do today, Markus?" Mrs. Miller asked, leaning on her desk. She knew where this was going.

"Watch Spongebob." He said, holding up his hands as if already envisioning it. "Imagine it: analyzing the cinematic masterpiece that is season one." Mrs. Miller chuckled, shaking her head.

"As much as I love the idea, let's save it for Friday. If we finish all of this weeks work by tomorrow, I'll bring in snacks. Sound good?"

Markus held out his fist, getting a fistbump from her.

"Don't encourage this." Fern groaned, resting their head in their hands. "He'll talk about it all day."

"It is not my fault that you refuse to see the appeal of Spongebob." Markus huffed, arms crossed over his chest.

The door creaked open on the other side of the room, but the group ignored it. Mrs. Miller briefly waved to the newcomer, but she said nothing until they approached.

"It's not that I don't see the appeal," Fern clarified, fully debating him now. "It's just that-"

The newcomer's eyes went wide, racing over to Fern's desk. They visibly jumped, face blanking of any actual emotion.

"Oh my god, you sound exactly like this streamer I watch!" The girl yelped. Fern laughed nervously, glancing at Markus for help.

"Oh, cool." They chuckled.

Her name was Dani. They'd spoken to her a couple times for assignments, but never for something outside of school.

"Are you Moth?" The girl asked. Fern had to give it to her, she was definitely bold.

"No, they're not." Markus cut in, playing it off for them. "That's really cool, though. I never realized, but they do sound really similar."

The girl and Markus fell easily into a conversation about Fern, one entirely unaware that the subject was right there. They glanced to Mrs. Miller nervously, glad to escape the room when she nodded.

They slipped casually into the faculty bathroom, phone already open. One tap and Scott was on the line.

"Fern?" He asked. "You're in school right now. What are you doing calling me?" He chuckled. The sound was already calming them down.

"This girl in class recognized my voice." Fern huffed. "Sorry, I just wanted to hear you talk." Scott laughed a little more, making the stress bubbles in Fern's chest pop.

"Fair, fair." His laugh died out a little, falling into regular conversation. "So how are you?"

"Tired." Fern groaned. They both knew it was coming; it was the only response they seemed to know. "Tired and stressed. I didn't do any of my homework." They chuckled, listening to Scott yell about how bad that was.

"You're going to get in trouble!"

"My teachers love me." Fern shrugged him off. "The only teacher that doesn't didn't assign anything yesterday. I'll be fine."

"Still," Scott huffed. "You shouldn't get in the habit."

"I promise I'll start doing my homework soon." Fern chuckled, and Scott accepted it knowing full well it was a lie.

Through the door, Fern could hear the warning bell go off. Scott must've heard it, too, because he quickly said goodbye and hung up. Fern huffed, not bothering to read the text he sent after.

How dare he hang up on them? Rude.

~

"And finally, before you guys go, Markus and I made a deal." Mrs. Miller chuckled, shaking her head again. Fern groaned, loudly slamming their head into the desk. Nine jerked awake at the noise, looking around the room with bleary eyes. "If we get the work for Friday done for tomorrow, I'll bring snacks in on Friday and we'll watch Spongebob."

Cheers erupted in the class, the loudest of which coming from Markus. Everyone was quick to promise they'd read ahead and complete whatever they were given, not to Fern's surprise.

The bell went off again, this time forcing Fern out of their safe class.

It's not that they didn't like their teachers. They wouldn't lie to Scott like that. They really were close with most of them. Mrs. Miller, though, was their favorite. Not only was she super chill, but-

"Addison Nelson."

"Here." Fern mumbled, raising their hand.

Mrs. Miller knew about them. She called them Fern and accepted papers with that name. She was the only one who'd bothered to make an effort, the other teachers claiming they couldn't because they were Addison in the system.

While other teachers wouldn't even change their name on the seating chart ("It's not even a real name. A fern is a plant."), Mrs. Miller acted like Addison didn't even exist.

Fern really liked Mrs. Miller.