Smile

[Warning - references to sensitive topics. For more details, see the warnings at the beginning of Nim's bio.]

Nim was smiling. Really, he was.

Today had been a great day. Jeff was absent, his teachers were pleasant, his dishes turned out delicious. The test run on the game he was designing went without flaw, and the fun parts could finally be started. Even his clothing was nice! After all, he needed to look presentable for a presentation. Nim was in a mature olive hoodie, a white long sleeve and khakis - perhaps not clothing for summer, but he hated to wear anything less. Nim hoped the outfit would cut it later on.

Before he went, though, he needed to buy facial concealer.

See, even though Nim smiled, nothing really changed. His body ached, his eyes were blank, and his every step was heavy and hard. His day was good, but it was only one in a sea of terrible. Nim walked away from his class building with a pleasant air, but nothing changed at all.

That smile couldn't subtract from the dark bruise across his cheek, no matter how he tried.

But he hit it on a shelf.

Really.

Even though he was too tall for that.

[ @Ghost ]

((My posts are gunna suck for a little while, but I'm absolutely determined to post them. I'll make sure there's enough to reply to, at the very least. @Ghost ))

Nim was taken aback at first. He experienced a sort of weird mini-panic for a bout five seconds, internally screaming when he was suddenly latched on to. However, it only took a few moments before he registered the soft scarf and the fox ears, the gentle voice and the worry etched into it. Careful to control his sudden anxiety, he patted Versailles' back, awkward and embarassed as he wasn't used to affection.

It only took a few words for his panic to spike again, though. His face. He forgot.

Nim's eyes widened, and he fought to mask his nervousness with calm amusement. It worked as far as his expression went, but his posture... was tense, to say the least. Normally, people weren't hugging him when he had to lie.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing!" Nim said, and his tone was nothing short of perfected. He'd spent years learning to lie about this. It was like a second skin. "I was on something of a baking kick yesterday and forgot about the brownies. I was rushing to get them, but socks - slippery on tile, you know - and I totally crashed. Hit my cheek on the corner counter."

Nim knew his excuse was viable, but he wasn't out of the clear. It all depended on just how much he said while drunk in the funhouse.

God, the funhouse. He'd messed up so much there. So much.

Nim hoped Versailles bought his lie.

((So this one wasn't actually that bad, but get ready. They're about to totally flop.))

Nim furrowed his brows as Versailles touched his face. He fought the urge to pull away, knowing that doing so would be a dead giveaway that something wasn't right. However, he didn't like to be touched... not like that. Not when he was inwardly panicking and his bruises were still tender. Still, he managed to fake it. He always managed to fake it.

"I'm... not lying," Nim said, looking honestly perplexed. He needed her to stop. No one was allowed to know anything, and though he knew how to lie, he really wasn't feeling up to it.

Nim watched Versa as she sifted through her bags, taking the cream when it was offered to him. He inspected it, reading the label, figuring out what exactly it did, etc. As it turned out, it was the nearly same kind Nim had at home. He unscrewed the top and got a small amount on his fingers, smearing it across his cheek, before wiping the excess on his hoodie and handing the container back.

"Thank you," he said, offering a smile, "but... Why do you carry bruise cream with you?"

The worry was genuine. It was, but so was Nim's need to change the topic. It was a win-win action — ignoring the obvious problems, anyway. Versailles needing to carry bruise cream obviously wasn't a plus. Nim needing to use it wasn't either. And, while he was at it, Versaille's noticing Nim's bruise definitely wasn't a good thing.

Nim shook his head mentally. He just hoped she took the bait.

Nim had to force himself not to flinch back when Versailles touched his face — and it was kind of ridiculous in his mind. He'd just had the girl hanging off of him. Why was he so tense? That was a stupid question. He knew why. He just didn't need those thoughts invading his mind at the moment.

Ignoring his own subconcious, Nim nodded at Versailles' words. "Ahh, I see, that makes sense," he said. "Mine too, really. I've always been pretty sickly."

However, as she continued, Nim had to fight to keep his gentle expression up. Versailles wasn't stupid - he knew that. He did, and that was why he knew that just insisting on his first story wouldn't cut it. But there was no way in hell he would be honest. That was a no-go. That wasn't happening. He'd give a half-truth. Those were the most effective lies.

With a practiced ease and a little bit of honesty, Nim let his expression fall. He took on a sheepish, careful, almost distraught look about him and scratched the back of his neck. "Ah... Alright, you win," he said, schooling his voice to sound sincere. "Honestly, I've had... I, uh. People. At school. You know. I'm kind of a, well, nerd, and I'm pretty thin, and I'm not exactly the most normal person around, and, well, they can be a bit... hostile."

Nim took a deep breath. Alright. It was still true, and it was still hard to admit. However, i wasn't the hardest thing he had to admit, and he wasn't going there. No way. It wasn't happening at all. The bullying was true and that was enough. Who cared if it wasn't the cause of that specific bruise?

"So... yeah. It's not something you should worry about. Stuff has been - well, you've seen me around, right? It's only once in a while, and like, normally I can handle it well enough. This one just took me by surprise, so I kinda, you know, took a hit. But--" Nim took another breath, pausing in his rant, "but, really, I'm alright, yeah? I'm alright."

He hoped his gentle expression was enough to make her drop it. And his story was true. It was. It really was. Partially.

Nim wasn't sure if this 'half'-truth was even close to the half of it.


[[bleeeeeeeh @Ghost ]]

Nim was tense and awkward as Versa, yet again, clung onto him. He couldn't help it. Everything was still sore - he had more bruises than just the one on his face - and he wasn't used to comforting other people. Instead, he felt his anxiety spike as he head her sniffles. Nim became aware of the eyes watching them, watching him, and so he quickly wrapped an arm beneath Versa's and led her off into the cover of a shaded tree.

Concern and confusion coloring his face, Nim carefully dabbed away Versa's tears, offering a slight smile. "Hey-- Hey, don't cry for me, okay? I haven't brought it to the staff because the whole 'tell the adults' thing doesn't work past second grade," he said, chuckling a little at the end. It was a desperate attempt to lighten the mood, even if it might have been a bit off-kilter in humor. "Honestly, though, it's gotten better through the years. Really. And I can defend myself okay half the time, yeah?"

In truth, while it HAD gotten better, and he COULD defend himself, he was a ragdoll when it came to home. Nim... was often sporting bruises. He was usually just better at hiding them.