“Dude, what happened?” Archer asked, taking in Eric’s messy appearance. He was fine yesterday, so what had happened last night? Maybe Eric was one of those people who got extremely nervous and can’t sleep before the first day of school?
.jpg)
Sylvain tilted his head.
"Yeah, man. You doing alright? Got someone we need to scare off for you? Something else?"
He had a concerned look etched into his face, but there was still the trace of a smile on his lips.
"Fell asleep again by accident," Eric said, between giant bites of apple pie. He'd gotten no rest because of his night terrors, and the half hour of sleep he'd gotten in the morning had left him with a kink in his neck. It was quite strange; he'd never gotten night terrors before.
"Oh, I feel that," Sylvain said, "Must not have slept very well, huh?"
He said this rather casually and without thinking very hard on it, but as soon as the words came out, it occurred to him it could very well be the case.
Eric stopped for a second as he looked at Sylvain, then resumed eating. "Uh, yeah. I don't know why, it was weird. I'm alright though, I got here in time, I'm fine." He'd probably overcompensated, but he kept his expression casual.
"Well, there are certain spells that help with sleep, I believe," Sylvain said, "Even if it's not a recurring issue, it's nice to have them when insomnia does happen. It's perfectly understandable before the first day of class."
“So, it was probably a one-time thing then?” Archer asked optimistically. He looked at his friend with a bit of concern, trying not to look too into what he guessed was probably a minor problem.
Sylvain shrugged. "I have no way of knowing. If you don't usually have trouble sleeping, it's probably nothing to worry about."
He yawned again and continued eating.
Eric put the fork down and wiped his mouth. "Yeah, I know. I don't have insomnia. It didn't take me long to fall asleep, I just had a-"
He cut off as a small piece of Navy's bread hit him in the face, and realized he'd almost told them about it.
"I don't know what happened there, honestly, it's never happened before." He shook his head. "It's fine, I'll sleep with an amethyst under my pillow for a while."
He wasn't about to seem weak in front of people he'd just met. They were just nightmares. Nothing important or notice-worthy in any way.
(eric be like: no braincells)
Archer realized that there was something that Eric wasn’t saying. He had done the same thing himself just last night, after all. But he decided not to push it; Eric would tell him when and if he wanted to. “I hope that you sleep better tomorrow,” he said with a small smile.
"Oh, so it's that kind of stuff," Sylvain said, "Eh… You'll probably be fine. You lost one night's sleep and that's not good, but it sounds normal enough to me."
He was trying to be reassuring, but he was worried he was coming across as dismissive instead.
Eric smiled at Archer. He was still surprised when people were this nice. "Uh, thanks, guys," he mumbled. He pulled at his tie, then realized his collar was still undone and attempted to fix both at the same time, clumsy fingers sliding over the buttons.
“Do you want me to help you with that?” Archer asked, watching Eric try to fix his collar. He had to keep from smirking at that.
Eric looked down. "The- oh. Yeah, alright," he sighed, closing his eyes tiredly.
Sylvain smiled in Eric's direction. He was actually pretty cute, even though at surface level he seemed like a disaster.
"I don't think they'll scrutinize what we're wearing too much until we're in class. Don't rush it, man."
Eric squinted at him. "You've clearly never been to a school with uniforms before."
Archer fixed the buttons on Eric’s shirt and his collar. He even straightened Eric’s tie for good measure. He smiled. “All fixed.”
"I have, but they never cared enough to enforce much," Sylvain said.
Yeah, he was one to talk. His own uniform was a disaster. His shirt was untucked and also wrinkled. His shoes were definitely not uniform-appropriate, and his jewelry most certainly violated at least a standard or two.
(me too sylvain)
"Well, we definitely went to different schools, dude."
As Archer spoke, Eric stared at him for a moment, then looked away and wet his lips. "Mm, thanks."
Navy stopped shredding the bread and looked at him quizzically.
“Anytime,” Archer said, still smiling. He glanced back at Eric before looking away.
(:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
"Hah, for sure. My school was a disaster," Sylvain admitted, resting his head on top of his hands where they were folded.
He was getting back to being his more bright and friendly self.
(Awww)
"Same here. Why do you think I moved to this prissy-ass magic school?"
Eric rummaged through his bag, then gave up. "Uh, what's the next class? It's in like, five minutes."
(yeah fixing someone's tie is gay culture sorry i dont make the rules)