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“He’s always by himself.”
“He’s always quiet.”
“It’s so hard to talk to him.”
“He has a nasty scar, terrifying to think how he got it.”
“It’s hard to be around him when he ignores your existence.”
“Better stay away from him and best to never interact with him.”
“I don’t get this assignment at all.. Eli, as honorary smartest in the group, turned this into my understanding!” Eli chuckles as he watches the frustrated rugby player stare at his paper assignment aggressively in hopes it’ll do itself. “You always ask Eli for things, do it yourself and pay attention next time.” Aesop scuffs, which in return made William deflate onto the table and exhale his remaining frustration.
“They’re talking about him again.” Interrupted by the voice next to him, Eli looks towards Naib as he was looking at someone else. The new student, Norton Campbell, came into their school a couple weeks ago. He's a bulky tall man with black hair and quite a distinguishing scar on the left side of his face. He joined the baseball team and became a really well known pitcher quickly, though, he unfortunately created a bad rep with everyone in school.
“You always stare at him, are you perhaps interested in him?” Eli asked the hooded man which resulted in a shrug.
Naib continued looking at the man but was interrupted by William’s nagging, “Naibbb~ do you understand this? Both Eli and Aesop won’t tell me.” Aesop mumbled something under his mask which caused Eli to chuckle again. Naib rolled his eyes, “if I knew I would’ve told you, but I didn’t pay attention either.” William deflates back onto the table.
Realization struck Naib and he got up from his seat and started heading towards the empty seat in front of Norton leaving the three behind. “What is he doing?” William asks the two, “Aesop, would you like to see Brooke later?” Aesop gives a nod while he continues on with his work. William blinks before excitedly starting a conversation about his next rugby game.
Norton glances up when he hears a chair screech in front of his desk. “Naib Subedar.” Norton says in a bored tone, he ignores the man in front of him as he continues to do his work, “Norton Campbell, though, wouldn’t it be nicer to say Naib instead of my full name? Kinda creepy of you.” The hooded man didn’t get a response, he watched the bigger man continue doing his work as if he wasn’t here at all.
“Well, if you weren’t an asshole, you would be pretty popular, got the looks and everything.” Naib wasn’t one to be looking at people up close but he could really see the complexion of how handsome Norton really is, any girl could swoon over a bad boy like him but unfortunately he’s a massive dickhead. He hears a sigh come out of the man, “what do you want, Subedar.”
Naib smiles, unusually excited than normal, “I don’t understand the assignment, you should help me out.” Catching his attention, Norton’s eyes get drawn out of his papers and makes contact with Naib’s with a raised brow. “Why don’t you ask your friends, why me.” There was a brief silence, the loud chatter of classmates, pencils or pens can be heard writing on papers, the squeaks of chairs; but between the two of them, it was as if the world had only stopped and focused on them.
As if they were the only ones to be there, together for a lifetime.
“I want to become friends with you.” Naib breaks the silence. Norton stares at him before a half-ass chuckle slipped out, “did William put you up to this? Cause honestly, wouldn’t expect this from the Naib Subedar.” Naib doesn’t break the stare he has on him, rather, he doesn’t want to keep his eyes off him.
Norton lowered his eyes to see any holes in Naib’s plan, but from Naib’s stance to his eyes, they were very much serious from the start. He sighs, he’s making a huge mistake for doing this, but Naib’s a stubborn man from what he has seen from a distance. “…Okay fine.” Naib beams and silently cheers to himself, he sits up a little properly and excitedly grabs his pen.
Norton rolls his eyes, ‘ this won’t take long, he’ll get tired of me eventually. ’ “Let’s do this one first…” Naib pays close attention and follows along with whatever Norton says if Naib didn’t start up conversations literally all the time while doing so.
“What’s your favorite color Norton?”
“Gold, now shut up and finish it Subedar.”
“Which do you prefer-”
“Prefer for you to shut the fuck up.”
“So you prefer to be a massive shithead than a dickhead? Both suit you honestly.”
Naib stops when he spots a tiny smile form on Norton’s lips. “God just shut up.” ‘ He’s…. ’ The hooded man lowers his hood down a little to stop himself from showing his massive smile he has for the man in front of him. They continued the rest of class doing these back and forth conversations.
“How daring of you to be in the jazz band in middle school.” Norton jokingly says as he uncomfortably sits next to Naib, the man who forced him to join him for lunch with his friends. “If it wasn’t for Eli, Naib wouldn’t have joined in the first place! Eli is a good singer!! You should hear him sing sometime!” William chomps down more food. Aesop looks in disgust as he slowly chews on his food.
Eli laughed as earnestly as he could, “Naib really enjoyed playing the saxophone, he still plays it till this day.” Norton throws a glance down at Naib who looks away when he feels the eyes hit on him. “It’s nice and all about middle school but why is Campbell at our table?” Aesop finally brings up, the mention of his last name made him stiffen.
“Well, I’ll gladly leave no thanks to you.” Naib held Norton down as he got up. “No, no, stay here Norton. Aesop, he is my friend and I thought it would be good for my friends to meet him.” The glare directed towards the white haired male made him slumber down on his seat, leaning a bit against Eli for cover. “Sorry.”
The uncomfortable, awkward silence filled the air around the group. William decided to break the silence, “do you think Ganji will like homemade pies?” Naib looks at William as if he decided that he wanted to go bungee jumping off the Eiffel tower. “Didn’t Ganji adore the homemade apple pies Ms. Violetta’s class did?” Eli ponders.
“He did… I want to try making a pie for him..” William pouts as he starts poking his food sheepishly. “Ganji?” Norton asks, specifically towards Naib. “He’s in the cricket team. I know you’re a baseball airhead but there’s other sports out there.” Norton elbows him which caused the shorter to burst out laughing. “William doesn’t admit it but he has a crush on him.” Naib wipes the tear away that was slipping out.
“That’s because it’s not a crush! We’re best buddies!!” William sighs as he shoves more food into his mouth. “More like two idiots in love.” Aesop comments which caused a stir with William in the end, involved Naib. Lunch was over and the five walked back to class, Aesop, William and Naib walking ahead.
“Naib is quite a hassle isn’t he?” Eli catches the taller man's attention. Norton looks ahead of him to stare at the brunette, who was getting his hair ruffled, a big smile plastered on his face as if it was brightening the whole area. “More like annoying to deal with.” Eli chuckles and stares at the three in front of them. “Aesop used to be just like you, with his passive attitude and lack of communication, he was just lonely. I took the step and befriended him, now look how he’s doing.” The soft expression Aesop wears that is desperately contrasting with his rolling eyes and sour look. He clearly was enjoying the time they had together.
Norton doesn’t say anything which Eli expected. “Trust me on this Norton. This will be the happiest point of your life, savor it.”
They arrived at class and went to their assigned seats, waiting for their teacher to come. Norton ponders on Eli’s words and glances over to Naib and what’s worse, as if the world was against him; Naib looks over, making eye contact and with a smile, he gives him a tiny wave. Badump. Norton is caught off guard by the gesture.. ‘Maybe… Maybe I will enjoy this while it lasts…’ He sighs; giving a wave back before looking away.
A couple of weeks flew by, Norton and Naib became inseparable, Norton could be anywhere with a Naib following close behind. Slowly, Norton started opening up more to Naib and to everyone. He still has a rotten personality but he no longer has any ill intentions behind it. Norton sits back down on his seat as his desk becomes crowded. “I think you’re just dumb when it comes to Ganji.” Naib pokes fun at William, the rugby player shakes his head and slumps on the desk as he sits down.
“Tell Naib that he shouldn’t be telling me what happened Norton!!” He says defeated, Norton scuffs before chuckling, “I think he’s right on this one though.” William groans while Naib starts laughing at him, in between breaths he’ll try to comfort the man. Eli and Aesop come by and pull seats to sit near Norton’s desk. “Don’t bully him Naib, anyways are we free for the carnival this weekend?” Eli asked.
They all nodded. “It’s gonna be my first time going to a carnival.” Norton slumps back on his seat. “I’ll make sure you’ll try everything!” Naib exclaims with excitement as he leans against the desk closer to him, Norton smiles at him before straightening up and lightly flick Naib’s forehead. “You mean the food stalls?” Naib huffs his cheeks before smacking the taller’s hand, causing Norton to laugh.
Eli smiles before he feels a tug next to him. Aesop tugs him down to whisper something which Eli whispers back. William notices the two’s off behavior and gives them a stank eye, this got Aesop’s attention. The white haired male glares at the other, William sticks out his tongue before smiling like a fool. They all chatted for the rest of break and class began right after.
The weekend rolls around slowly. Breathing heavily, Norton makes a stop in front of the group and tries to catch his breath. “Sorry I’m late, something came up.” He heaves out his sentence before finally slowing his breathing. Eli shakes his head, “You’re on time, no worries.” Naib walks over to him and playfully punches his shoulder, he wraps his arm around the taller’s and proceeds to drag him to the ticket booth with Eli, Aesop, Ganji and William trailing behind.
They get their tickets and Naib immediately, right off the bat, drags Norton to a food stall. Eli chuckles at the two before turning to Aesop who was talking, more like scolding, to William about something.
“Please, don’t leave me with Ganji!! What am I supposed to do??”
“I don’t know. Figure it out yourself buffalo man.”
“Hey, that was a one time thing!”
“Yeah it was a joyous time, now leave me alone and go have fun with your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!!!!!”
Eli smiles, he tugs Aesop which he gave a glance before glaring at William and proceeding to walk a different direction. “Have fun you two, we’ll meet back here before the sun sets.” Eli waves as he catches up with Aesop, leaving a distressed William and a curious Ganji. “He was extremely persistent in bringing Ganji and now he’s backing out.” Aesop mumbles and Eli chuckles again, “Well I’m sure the tides will come eventually, would you like some popcorn?” The white haired male nods.
“Naib, you bought way too much food.” Norton scuffs at the piles of food on the man’s hands. Naib sticks his tongue out before engulfing whatever food he spotted in his pile, Norton smiles and grabs something out of his pile. “The food is good, you have to admit.” The taller nods while he continues to scout out the rides.
“Is there even a point of riding if you ate so much?” Naib rolls his eyes, “I’m not that weak.” Naib next drags him on a ride. “The Gladiator, you think you’re up for spinning?” Norton glances over to Naib as he huffs before playfully punching him again, Norton erupts into laughter as he clenches his stomach. They got on and the ride lasted about two minutes or so and Naib was doubling over once they got off it.
“Told you so.” Naib glares at the taller and weakly kicks him.
“You spun it too fast, asshole.”
“Give you your own medicine sweetheart.”
“Fuck you Campbell.” Another laughter erupted from the raven haired male which caused Naib to smile, the pain suddenly going away. They walk around a bit more to calm down Naib’s upset stomach, Naib notices an open area with a lot of people dancing around in. He stops in tracks, everyone dancing, smiling big and having the best time, Naib grips onto the water bottle Norton gave him earlier.
Norton finally realizes Naib wasn’t behind him and looks at the shorter male who was staring at the crowd. He raises an eyebrow. “You coming Subedar?” This causes him to snap back into reality and look back at Norton.
The world seems to stop for Naib as he stares at Norton, the small smile on his face that contrasts his burned scar. His hair gently being a mess as from the ride, his hands holding onto the food Naib wanted to eat despite him complaining that he shouldn’t eat more. But he was still holding onto it.
Naib smiles, he walks up to the other and drags him into the dancing crowd. “Oh no Subedar, I don’t dance.” Norton exclaims as he is about to walk out of it, Naib holds him in place. “Just this once. Let’s enjoy it together.” The taller looks at the crowd and then his only exit, he sighs before smiling. “Fine.”
They danced together, more like Naib being the lead and Norton just begrudgingly following along. They joke around and laugh as the sun slowly starts setting, enjoying as if it’s just the two of them. Naib's smile softens as he watches Norton’s eyes sparkle with joy and how his laughter echoes in his ears. He was.. ‘ In love with him. ’ Naib pushes back that thought and continues to enjoy the fun.
But Naib wasn’t the only one who was looking. Norton enjoys when Naib beams with happiness and joy that he can’t help but smile at how happy the man seems to be. Norton can never take his eyes off him or he’ll feel like he’s missing out on the greatest moments of his life. The way Naib’s face glistens with sweat as the light shines on them, he was truly a delight to see. ‘ He’s so beautiful… I love him. ’ Norton gently smiles as Naib slowly finishes dancing.
The two exited the area and went back to the entrance to meet up with the others. It was night now as the sun had already departed for the day. They noticed Eli and Aesop, who were holding a lot of stuffed animals of mostly owls. “Lot of owls huh?” Naib comments, Aesop looks down at the ground as if it’s more interesting.
Eli nods, “They’re all for Gertude when I get back home, I’ll send them to her since I know she really misses Brooke.” Naib shuts his mouth as he realizes why Aesop was more interested in the ground. Norton fidgets awkwardly from the tension that Eli created despite not knowing what was going on.
William and Ganji arrived with both equally having the same amount of stuffed animals. Naib realizes he was empty handed with no stuffed animals. “Campbell, we need to win a prize.”
Norton rolls his eyes before smirking, “A prize for your stomach?”
“And a punch to your face.” Norton pulls his hands up to surrender, while the others chuckle.
“Well, there are a couple of booths nearby.” Eli says as he gestures around the area.
“There is a baseball pitch game over there! Show us the best pitcher in Oletus High Norton!!” William points over and Norton smirks looking over at Naib.
They all walked over and Norton gave the employee the tickets and got three baseballs to pitch. William, Naib and Eli cheered as Norton made all three pitches. “So what would you like sir?” The employee asks, Norton looks over to Naib as he points at a cat with a spot on his eye. The employee gets it off the rack and hands it over to Naib, a big smile plastered on his face as he retrieves it.
“Guess you are the best pitcher in Oletus High.” Naib mockingly says but the smile is still big and seen in front of Norton that he pushes it beside him and shrugs his shoulders. “The team calls me it but I just do the bare minimum compared to everyone.” The shorter nods, he holds onto the cat.
Eli leads the group to the Ferris wheel and waits in line patiently for their turn. “I heard fireworks will be going off tonight, so I thought it would be nice to watch it from a high place.” He exclaims excitedly, “But a Ferris wheel? Isn’t that a romantic cliché?” Aesop notes which Eli chuckles nervously about. “Well.. It would be nice regardless. We’re all friends, well some but if the fireworks don’t go off when we reach the top we can try somewhere else.” Aesop doesn’t say anything more.
It was a two rider wheel so they paired up and got on one by one, Naib went in first and Norton sat next to him, the handlebar went down on them. Norton watches as Naib smiles wider and wider as they get higher, the sparkle in his eyes was everything to him. “The view up here is so nice.” Naib looks around as Norton does the same as well. They sit in comfortable silence as they make rounds in the Ferris wheel. They were stopped before they reached the top.
“Well, that was nice, guess the fireworks didn’t come on as Eli expected.” Naib slumps back on the seat. Norton looks at the hand on the handlebar then back at his, he gulps before slowly putting his hand on top of Naib’s, this catches the other off guard as he stares at their hands. “Subedar I.. No.. Naib.” They both look at each other, nervousness crept up his throat.
Naib waits as Norton tries to get his words out. “Naib.. I... I’m..” They reached the top and an explosion was heard, they jumped from the sound and looked at the bright glow from the sky as others one by one followed behind, fireworks were set off. Naib smiles as Norton shakes a little from the explosion sounds, Naib rolls over his hand and gently squeezes the other as he continues to watch.
This eases Norton’s nerves, he squeezes back, catching Naib’s attention back to him. “Naib.. I’m… I’m glad we’re friends.” His eyes widened, the smile on Norton was unimaginable, it was there, it was towards him and it was genuine. Norton was finally looking at Naib the same he has always looked at him. ‘ As a friend…’ Happiness bloomed inside of him but it was quickly discarded.
Naib smiled. “I’m glad we’re friends too Norton.” They reached the bottom as they got off the Ferris wheel, they headed towards the others who were waiting nearby. “The fireworks were really pretty.” Eli blabbers on and on about as Aesop quietly follows in pursuit, William nods along as they all notice William happily holding Ganji’s hand.
“You two a thing now?” Naib snarks. William flares up and shoots him a glare, causing the shorter to burst into laughter. They go back and forth as Norton hangs behind a bit, what Naib said back at the Ferris wheel was repeating in his head. He wanted to confess but I guess it’s how it goes. They all eventually depart as Eli notices how tired Aesop was, they bid goodbyes. The night slowly glossed over the friends as they all went their separate ways.
The weekend ends and back at school they are, it was a normal couple of days, they hang out and do work together. Nothing was unusual, Norton had to stay behind to finish some work and Naib decided to stay behind with him as the others left. Norton continues to scribble down some things as Naib watches in front of him.
“Hey Campbell.” Norton nods as a gesture for a continuation as he writes more things down. Naib falls silent for a second, he leans down on his chair that he was backwards on so his chest was hitting the back of the chair. He lays his head on his arms as he glances up at Norton. “If the world were to end today, what would you do?”
Norton stops writing and raises his head to look at the brunette. “Off the bat with a question but honestly probably confess a lot of things.” He goes back to looking down at his notebook and continues writing. Naib hums and turns to look outside the window. “You know, I heard when the world ends, there will be one last symphony that plays. Loud but quiet music that will go around for people to hear, one last time, while everyone tends to their loved ones as their dying breath takes them.”
Silence other than the pencil hitting the paper filled the empty room that was just the two of them. Naib speaks up again, “Would you play me a symphony if the world ends?” Norton halts his writing, he looks at his notebook before looking at the brunette in front of him in the eyes. “You’re stupid Subedar, how the hell am I suppose to compose a symphony for you?” Naib bursts out into laughter, he wipes the tears as he smiles fondly up at him.
“Anything would be enough, especially from you.” Norton raises a brow before flicking the other’s forehead, earning another laugh. He goes back to writing as Naib went on and on about other things, discarding the previous topic they were on. Norton finishes and they head out of school, both walking home together.
Norton bids Naib goodbye as he heads into his apartment. He eats something and freshens up before going to bed, a tired night of countless talking with the man he loves so dearly.
“He’s absent today?” Norton stares in shock at Eli as he nods. “It’s unusual for him to be absent but he said he was sick.” He looks concerned at the brunette but he shakes his head. “He said it isn’t as bad so he doesn’t need us to barge in or anything. He’ll recover soon.” Norton sighs as he nods, not agreeing wholeheartedly to what Eli says but he’ll take it.
But a day turned into a week and into another week. Norton was losing his mind, he wants to know if Naib was alright, he needs to know. Eli has been telling him it’s fine but he always adverts his gaze, so he knows something that he can’t tell and it was driving Norton insane. Norton looks at the path Naib goes down when they walk home together, he takes it upon himself to go to his place, he’s only been there once but he knows enough to know where it is.
When he turns the corner he bumps into someone. “Oh sorry-- Naib!” Naib looks puzzled as he glances up at the man, Norton smiles big as he hugs the other. “I was so fucking worried about you, Eli wouldn’t tell me anything and I was just… I’m so glad you’re okay.” Norton hugs him tight, afraid of letting go. He nuzzles up to him and smells the lavender scent that always calms him down.
Norton finally lets go and the smile still hung up on his face like an idiot, “Where have you been? Wait, how are you doing? Are you alright? Well, I’m assuming you are since you’re out but, are you?” Naib doesn’t say anything at first but softly smiles up at him, “I’m fine.”
They chatted for a long while before the night came. “See you at school Naib!” The raven haired man waves off as he heads back the other direction, Naib waves back.
A week with Norton and Naib becoming inseparable once again, Norton has been getting weird looks but he’s been used to it to even bother. Eli, Aesop and William have been quiet around him but it doesn’t matter as long as Naib was next to him. “It was such a hassle to deal with, it’s really hard to deal with coach when he’s like that.” Norton slumps on his chair as he huffs in annoyance, Naib in front of him chuckles.
“He’s always talking to himself.”
“He’s so weird.”
“Why does he keep talking about him?”
“I think he’s going mad.”
“He needs mental help.”
Eli walks up to Norton, catching his attention. “Norton.. You want to eat lunch with us today?” Norton nods as he gets up. “Come on Naib, you haven’t eaten yet today have you? You always eat a lot during lunch.” Eli swallows his words before smiling nervously as Norton walks alongside him as they head to the cafeteria. They got their food and headed to their table, the two sat down. They were silent as usual but Norton didn’t care as he continued talking to Naib about anything really.
The school day ends and Norton starts packing up, Naib follows in pursuit and they both head out of the school to meet the group again. “So where are we heading?” Norton asks as they look at each other before back at Norton. “Well.. We need to talk, Norton.” He nods as he follows behind them as they lead him to a house, Naib’s house. Norton raises a brow.
Eli knocks as a middle aged lady opens it. They all walk inside and head towards Naib’s room but Norton stops. “Wait, why are we going to Naib’s room? He didn’t give us permission, more than anything he didn’t even say we should be here.” Eli sighs as he grabs hold of his friend and drags him into the room. Norton struggles but he doesn’t want to harm his friend so he reluctantly gets dragged inside.
It was empty. Not a speck of Naib to be seen anywhere. Norton looks in confusion as he looks around the room, it was left untouched but Naib was just nowhere to be. He spots the letter on his desk with the name ‘ Norton Campbell ’ written on it. He picks up the letter before turning to Eli who was looking at him with grief all over his face. “Norton…” He looks down, sighing, holding back his tears that were on the edge, he looks back up staring straight in Norton’s eyes.
“Naib… Naib died three weeks ago. He… He commited suicide three days after he told me he was sick.”
Silence filled the room before Norton started laughing, “Great joke Eli but you shouldn’t be joking something like this. Naib… Naib is right here. I was just.. Talking… to… him…” His words came to a halt as everything came crashing down. Eli looks down.
“Naib was never here, Norton… You.. You were hallucinating about him. When I told you the news about it the day after, you didn’t handle it well…. It seemed like you forgot about it entirely and waited for Naib to come back. When you were getting desperate… He appeared.. But not as the Naib you have loved for so long…”
His head was spinning, ‘ Hall...Hallucin...ating….? But Naib.. He was here… ’ He glances down at the letter and opens it slowly, hands shaking in steed as he tries to tell himself it was all a lie. It was a single paper, not a lot of words but enough for Norton to understand, he was truly gone.
My last symphony to you was all I could give.
I wish I could be with you till the very end, but we didn’t meet at the right time.
I’m sorry.
I love you, Norton.
The gentle breeze whistled past him as he sat down against a tree with a guitar in hand. He gives it a light strung as he smiles. He starts playing a piece, music filling the empty field with the gentleness of his guitar. Next to him, was a small tombstone with the craving of ‘ Naib Subedar ’ and laid there was a single red rose and a letter, ‘ Norton Campbell loves you too. ’