Chapter Text
As Marinette stayed with Marc in the art room he spiraled into a panic, feeling like his friendship with Nath was crumbling between his fingers. How could everything go so wrong? How could it all fall apart so quickly?
What did Marc do wrong?
Why wouldn't Nath even look him in the eyes when telling him the news before running off the class without him?
How could Nathaniel's mother be so cruel as to hurt her son's future like this?
Who could possibly have the gall to treat someone so bright and genuine as Nath like that?
--------------------
"And I told you. These comics are worthless. If you want a future in art then you will find one that will pay the bills." As his mother dragged him out to their car to go home Nathaniel kept his head down, pushing down the tears that were welling up, "No, you will pursue something respected not this crap following whatever stupid storylines that boy came up with-"
Nath forced his gaze up to his mother, "His name is Marc and his stories aren't stupid. And if you truly cared about art you'd know-"
Smack
Nath went down. Barely held up by his mom's bruising grip on his arm.
She'd never backhanded him before.
And she'd never hit him in public.
In all fairness it was barely public, a side street with only a nervous looking older couple quickly walking away from them. She clearly had trouble finding where to park, but that wasn't unusual seeing as their school was by a few busy streets.
Nath always walked home, so he knew how busy those streets were.
Now, as he stood there, they felt empty for once.
No one was there to come to his aid.
His mother adjusted her hair as she calmed herself and said, "Nathaniel. Get in the car."
He bowed his head and said, "Yes, mother."
As she got in on the drivers side he got in the back.
When she started the car to their house and the throbbing ache in his cheek made itself known it finally settled in.
She finally did it.
She hit him.
There had always been a fine line in his family to show what was acceptable.
She would cuff the back of head, grip him tight when maneuvering him, pull his ear, pinch his skin to get him to behave, even taking away his food for days when she was really pissed at him.
But she had never hit him in a way that would bruise or even have lasting marks the next day.
"I think if you aren't feeling well we should keep you home for a few days."
He silently nodded his head.
"And don't tell anyone about this."
He nodded his head once more, "Yes, mother."
--------------------
When he got home Nathaniel immediately collapsed on his bed, and then winced at the pain flaring up on his cheek. He shifted to be on his back instead and took out his phone. He used his camera to check out his cheek.
It wasn't that bad. Just a little red.
He lightly touched it, and it hurt too much, so he decided to just sleep and mourn his comic book career with Marc he'd never finish.
The stressful day and his late night quest caught up to him, and he quickly drifted off.
--------------------
Holy shit.
The slightly red "mark" on his check was definitely a lot more noticeable now.
In fact it could barely be called a mark, it was now a full bruise.
When he went to the living room to get breakfast his mother looked at him from her aisle and quickly exchanged a glance with his dad who look at him with slight pity and disappointment.
His dad stood up from the couch where he had been reading the newspaper and made his way over. He kissed Nathaniel's head before sighing and putting his hands on his shoulders. "Look son, since you're still," He gave a glance to the bruise before continuing, "sick. We want you to stay home until you're better. Okay?"
Nathaniel quickly got the message. Keep this under wraps, and he'd be kept out of school for a while. At least until the bruise had faded enough to be unnoticeable.
It could take a while.
His mother finally gathered her stuff and left for work. His father called out to him, "Neil, I'm going to the connivence store. I'll be back in around ten."
Nathaniel went to his room and just played video games, taking this time to catch up on some of his favorites.
As he got to Gerudo Village and was beat up by the guards once again he heard his dad come home.
His dad knocked on his door waiting outside his room, "Neil, may I come in?"
He set down his controller and called out, "Yeah."
His dad walked into the room with a small bag from the connivence store down the street. "I want you to be able to go back to school, I don't want you to miss out on with your friends because of your mother's mistake." Nath looked in the bag to see a pale concealer, he grabbed it and looked at it, it was most likely his shade and read full coverage.
He looked up to his dad and muttered, "Thanks."
His dad looked at him for a moment, "Nath, I'd never hurt you. You know that." Nathaniel looked away as his dad continued on, "Your mother let her anger get in the way per usual. But I will always help you after."
His dad got up and collected the bag as Nath muttered, "Yet you're never there to stop it from happening are you?"
His dad stopped by the door for a minute but quickly composed himself and left quickly.
Nath continued playing his video game for a few hours when he got a phone call from Alix. He put the phone to his uninjured side and asked, "Yeah?"
"Where the hell are you?!" He turned his phones volume down at her loud tone.
"I'm home. Why are you calling me during school?" He mumbled as he continued fighting a Moblin.
"It's lunch, now why are you home? We were gonna work on the background for Kitty Section." He heard her shuffling around and saying to someone, "Yeah it's Nath. So, does this have anything to do with the whole quitting your comic books thing? You know, throwing away the whole project you and Marc have been working on for months. Which by the way I haven't seen him all day, but when you get back you need to talk to him."
He sighed at her rant, "I'm sick right now. I'll be out for a few days. It's a really bad cough though," He looked at the concealer, maybe with that he could be come back early, "Two or three more days."
She sighed, "You better be back soon. I can't deal with some of these idiots anymore. Kim even asked me to partner up for an English assignment and I had to say yes." He chuckled at that hearing her laugh along with him, "Talk to Marc though. I know you two are close and I don't want something as stupid as your mom to come in between you two. And if she does I'll kick her add myself."
Nath smiled to himself, "Thanks Alix. I'll call Marc today. See you soon."
As he heard the call cut off he sighed. He pulled up Marc's contact.
That call could wait till later that day. After school.