Some things changed after the trio of students had decided to visit, and some things didn't. For one, the visits continued.

They had lingered for hours on that first day, speaking softly and through Alya most of the time. The Kitsune dutifully translated anything Nino wanted to pass along, which wasn't much. He barely spoke after a while, but Alya and Marinette combined continued to monitor his reactions, and at no point were they asked to leave. A lot of that time was spent in silence, Nino speaking primarily to Alya but padding over to the others every once in a while, trading a subdued wag of the tail for a smile.

Eventually though, as lunch drew near, they were forced to leave.

Marinette was chittering quietly about how they probably shouldn't have skipped so much class even if they had been given permission, but Adrien just patted her on the shoulder, assuring her that it was all alright and that no one would be getting in trouble (for as much her benefit as Nino's who seemed to be worried about it, though he couldn't say as much to him directly).

He was the first one to ask if Nino would rather have some privacy, or if he could bring him some food during the lunch break and hang out with him for a while. The knowledge that Nino was going to be alone for the weekend was nagging at him deeply, and even if he knew that he might be pushing it he was having a hard time leaving him alone knowing it would be days before he would be able to come back.

It was to all of their relief when Alya passed along that that would be... fine. He wouldn't mind it if they did, but that he wanted them to go back to class for the rest of the day after. He didn't want anyone falling behind for his sake, and Alya had huffed in disbelief at that.

'You have every right in the world to worry about yourself too you know,' the fox had told him as the group made to leave, leveling him with her sharp, unyielding gaze. 'Not just everyone else or how everyone else feels about you.'

Nino had thought about that for awhile after they left.

He didn't move much or speak much as time slowly passed him, wrapped up in the things that Alya had said to him. He was still... terrified. And misplaced and... and a thousand hard, heavy things. But he was thinking.

When he had been cowering under the bed alone, ignoring Ms. B and anyone else kind enough to try he had hardly been thinking really, he wasn't sure if his dark, circling thoughts counted. It all always fell back on itself, every moment only colored with shame and self-hatred.

Those things weren't gone, not even remotely, but he was thinking now, grasping at threads and trying to remember how they all went together.

Alya's advice seemed like bullshit, the rest of the time they had been there only resulting in her rephrasing the sentiments she had originally shared, but it was all he had and he refused to just disregard it. He had watched her shift, in the same instantaneous way he had, it was the only grounds for comparison he had and he wasn't sure if he'd survive it if he just ignored what she had to say. He needed something.

But accepting what she had said was...

Hard.

"You can't be Nino without this anymore."

How could that be true?

He was still sitting in the same spot when they eventually came back, and he was unsure how much time had actually passed. He could hear them approaching from ages away, and spent the time passively trying to guess which footsteps belonged to who.

The only one he could pick out right away were Marinette's, if only because the other two were so much quieter by comparison. Marinette was hardly thundering down the hallway but the others just moved so quietly.

It was a nothing thought that yielded no purpose, but some part of him liked the idea of being to tell instantly at some point... if their kindness held out and he managed to reciprocate somehow. If they kept coming by, despite the state he was in.

He smelled the food they all had with them second, and his stomach crawled hungrily once he did. He was surprised by it actually, since he had had absolutely no appetite at all ever since... well.

Ever since.

Carter had been trying so hard to get him to eat every time Ms. B came by with something, but the only thing it had resulted in was a few stale pieces of things left discarded under the bed after his loyal dog had dragged them to him with worried whines. He had been too numb and detached to have even acknowledged him then...

As the students approached however he held on to that feeling of hunger, knowing that despite how horribly uncomfortable it might feel that he needed it. He felt like he owed it to Carter to at least try, knowing that he had been refusing to eat so long as Nino went hungry.

When Adrien entered in the lead he was carrying two trays, one presumably for himself and one for Nino which was piled generously with several types of things (all human, which he appreciated). He was surprised but happy to notice that Marinette also had a second tray with her, filled specifically with Carter in mind.

As the gang settled in it became instantly clear to Nino that despite his intentions for Carter's sake that he was far too ashamed to actually eat in front of them, knowing he would be forced to pick at it with large unwieldy teeth like an animal. The mental image of doing so was so uncomfortable that he found his appetite quickly waning, and Carter was left whining in concern again.

He had been about to try and explain it to his dog when he suddenly felt that wave of nearly indiscernible static, and he whipped his head in time to see Alya shift once again into a fox, crouching over her food and shooting him a glance as she did so.

He watched for a while, which felt weird to do but she seemed to allow it. Alya didn't appear to be making any effort at all to be lady like, picking at things and chewing them apart in her own, sharp teeth. Some pieces fell to the floor and she was making a bit of a mess, and any time she did she would give him a look.

Nino had glanced nervously at the others at the time, gauging their reactions to their friend first before... slowly, and delicately, he took a piece of his own food.

As soon as he had eaten even a bite Carter leapt at his own tray, tail wagging in excitement as he finally gave himself permission to eat and the sight filled Nino with just enough guilt and just enough concern to continue. Eventually, as he struggled his way through the first few bites, his hunger got the best of him and he kept going, checking for the others' eyes less and less as they talked amongst themselves. They ignored him completely, seemingly by design, and he was once again grateful to them and their thoughtfulness. Even the choices of food on his plate seemed to have been deliberately picked to be as easy for him as possible, and though he himself did not participate much in the discussions they all had... he was fine with having them there.

Glad even.

The weekend passed. He didn't remember most of it, to be honest. It was a blur of stress and disgust, and hopelessness, pierced every once in awhile by a fierce kind of stubbornness that he clung to like a torch in the dark. Carter continued to dutifully feed him, insisting on the meals that continued to appear.

It seemed that the school was not as abandoned on the weekends as he had at first assumed, although no one but the worker who left him things outside his door every came through his hallway. Carter had reported, after several scouting missions of his own volition, that some other students lived on campus as well and wandered the premise, but never down his hallway. Never ever.

He was glad for that.

Despite his hours of effort and concentration he never once felt like he was getting close to finally changing back, the days where he had been trapped as he was slowly stacking up and driving him deeper and deeper into his own head. The only thing that kept him from succumbing entirely to his numbness was the things Alya had told him.

He had yet to follow her advice sufficiently, so he couldn't actually disregard it yet. It seemed stupid, and useless and impossible, but it was the only thing he had been given and until he managed it and failed then he couldn't really be sure it was useless. Even though his failures frustrated him... it was something.

He had to come to terms with the fact that this was him, as much as anything else. Somehow, if he did that, she said it would help. If he could decide who Nino was... what Nino was would become irrelevant.

Or something...

The only thing the weekend actually served to accomplish was that he got used to moving around, though he tried not to as much as possible. Whether he liked it or not he was better at eating and walking. Using the bathroom was a trick but, if he could make Carter do it he could do it.

Carter himself was a steady friend, no matter what. He never got impatient or frustrated, he was only even concerned. He put so much hard work into dragging Nino out of the darkness, even just a little bit, even just for a moment, that there were very fleeting moments where Nino couldn't resist entirely.

They played once, only once but it had made Carter so incredibly happy. It had felt bizarre and sort of... demeaning, but then Carter would bound at him and skitter across the tiles of their room and he'd feel a surge of fondness that made it a little easier to indulge him. Besides, he had reasoned with himself, how many times had he rough housed with his dog and chased him around the yard when he was at home, it was essentially the same just a little more... engaging. Instead of pushing his dog to the ground or wrestling him and picking him up he found himself forced to mimic Carter's movements, able to actually lose himself in his dog's eager enthusiasm for just a little while. It felt kind of like turning his brain off for a second, refusing to dwell in his horrible thoughts and doing away with them just for a moment, actually leaning into this new form without being outright disgusted of it.

Carter had charged at him and gripped him with his teeth, trying feebly to wrestle this much much bigger creature to the ground and never successful, although he didn't mind it the slightest. It just took one big push from the wolf to send him sprawling, Carter laughing and barking as he tried to tackle him again. At first it had only been Carter laughing but eventually, this his amazement and immense relief, Nino laughed too. It was the first time he bowed back, spreading out his front legs in an invitation for Carter to try again, and his heart had soared. It was the first laugh without a trace of bitterness that Carter had earned since he tackled his boy in the woods on the side of the highway, but even then that laugh had been laced with tears and fear. This laugh was just... a laugh. It made him so happy.

Eventually they had stopped, panting in exhaustion and laying together on the ground. Carter's heart had been so light that he was childishly hoped that the worst was behind them but...

Time keeps passing, even in the bright moments in long stretches of darkness time unfairly moves forward. Eventually Nino stopped laughing and he grew still. Eventually his thoughts returned to him and the bitterness Carter had barked away crept back in, and though Carter attempted to engage him again it didn't work a second time. He would bound at him and ask him to chase, but Nino would stare forward at nothing and Carter's tail would hesitate... and stop wagging.

That was the thing about pain, Carter was slowly coming to realize. Pain wasn't exactly what he had thought it was. There were no things to fix or things to change. He couldn't alter the path forward to avoid pain in the future, it was harder to learn from then that. Pain was sometimes a... state. It was a place you could get to and be in, and get lost in...

Carter was terrified that Nino might get to some place he couldn't follow, where even if he was standing right there Nino would still feel like he was alone, like he had been abandoned somehow. What could he possibly do then, if he stayed right there but Nino couldn't see him?

It scared him so much.

But he didn't let his boy see that, or at least he tried. He hoped, and worried and tried. He cared for him and tried to understand, he tried all kinds of things. He wasn't sure he was doing any of them right... but he tried.

For Nino's sake.

Monday came, eventually. Nino had some okay moments and some bad ones. Mostly he was just quiet, thinking. Working at something Carter could never understand.

Along with Monday though, came something else, something that Carter eagerly waited for. They had just been sitting quietly when Nino's ears swiveled at some distant sound. Carter was a little bitter that Nino's hearing seemed to be so much better than his own these days, a little put out that one of his key services to his boy was rendered moot, but he hardly worried about these things for long. He was instantly distracted when the noise came close enough for him to hear himself, distant at first but certainly... yes, it was-

'Footsteps' Nino huffed for the first time in a long time it felt like, poking his head out from under the bed.

'Food?' Carter asked, but it didn't sound right for that. Nino shook his head, tilting it slightly as he listened.

'No, I don't think so. Maybe its... yeah. I think so.' Nino started to crawl all the way out. 'It's Adrien.'

It was the start of a routine. Very first thing in the morning, as the week picked back up and the school began to swell with others Adrien would run to his room. He was usually running behind and a little scatter brained, barely beating the bell or even sometimes appearing after it, but no matter how late it was going to make him Adrien always stopped by Nino's room first. From Monday onward, Nino could come to expect the eventual pattern of footsteps, sometimes accompanied by others.

It seemed like none of these new people in his life had any grasp on when school actually started, something sort of... humanizing, for lack of a better word. While at first he was always ashamed to have them appear when he had made absolutely no progress at all, eventually he started to adjust. At this point they had seen and interacted with him more as an animal then as a person, but it didn't deter them from continuing to show up. Despite everything... they really didn't seem to mind all that much. He had convinced himself over the weekend that the pity and kindness of good-hearted people could only go so far, but as Adrien continuously made an effort he wondered how much of it was still obligation. Nino hardly had anything he could give back, he couldn't even speak to him unless Alya had managed to make it to school with enough time, but regardless Adrien showed up every morning.

There were days at first where Nino could barely do anything, barely raise his head or look at him in the eye... but some days he was stronger. Some days he managed to look at him while he rattled on about something. Once or twice he even approached him on his own, headbutting him softly in one of the only gestures he was capable of.

He didn't need Marinette's ability to see how happy those little efforts made him, even if it was such a small useless thing to give back.

Nino came to look forward to lunch time. He leaned into that feeling and allowed himself to be dully excited in whatever way he could manage, knowing that it was probably good for him no matter how tiny it may seem. It was something.

Marinette, Alya, and Adrien came by every single day for lunch, always showing up with two extra trays in hand. Once or twice Ms. B came by during this time as well, just to peep in and see how it was going. She visited him often on her own as well but actively encouraged her students to keep up the habit, but it was unnecessary. Without her prompting she saw their patterns change and move to include someone who needed them. And she was astounded again at the kindness of children.

It was the start of the lunch period on Wednesday that Adrien knocked and entered the room to discover Nino already waiting for him, the large creature out in the open without being encouraged and waiting for him patiently. The girls were right behind him and seemed about as delighted with the change as Adrien was, everyone greeting Nino warmly as his tail wagged gently. He even stood and crossed over to them, greeting each of them with a light touch. It was simple but he couldn't speak and he didn't exactly have hands, so he mirrored something he thought Carter might do and pressed his weight into their legs as he came up to them, looking each of them in the eye before trotting over to his spot.

To everyone else it seemed like fantastic progress, so the atmosphere was right away just a little bit warmer.

"You missed some fun stuff in class today Nino, I can't help but think that you would have known a lot about it," Adrien started conversationally after they were finished greeting each other, sitting down in one of the desks they had dragged out at some point to eat on. He stooped to put Nino's down on the floor where he could get it, taking Nino's tilt of the head as an encouragement to continue. "It's all about media today. I was thinking Ms. B just meant like 'mediums' as in like art mediums? And she was talking about poetry and painting and singing and sculpting and stuff but she like right away lost half the class when she started talking about all the other stuff. The human ones."

Nino tilted his head even further, and Marinette piped up around her mouthful of sandwich. "He means like human art forms," she mumbled a little incoherently, swallowing quickly and making a vague gesture with her hand. "Like TV and movies. The discussion topic was on storytelling I think, all the different ways that creatures tell stories to their race and others." She quickly took another bite, nodding to herself thoughtfully before swallowing again. "It was really interesting. I hadn't exactly though about it, but it's pretty true that the ways certain races tell stories to themselves is different than how they would share it with others. The act of crafting and passing down stories is nearly universal in all cultures though, isn't that crazy? It seems pretty simple, but its so rare for there to be anything that exists across all realms. According to Madame Bustier it's one of the only but biggest examples."

"Well it makes sense doesn't it?" Alya chimed in, still in her human form though she did tend to switch over at some point or another. "Any sentient creature has some form of communication, no matter how different it is from our own. The act of sharing information and data is not all that far removed from telling a story, even if it's just the recounting of an event. That's still a story isn't it?"

"Yeah I suppose it is," Adrien answered, Nino swiveling his attention between each of them as they spoke. "It might just be told like a memory but its still the passing of info. Which I guess still qualifies it as storytelling."

"Yeah, which is pretty much a given no matter what race it is. I bet for some it might just stop there, but lots of races get really complex with it. Humans just went nuts with the concept I guess." Marinette giggled at her last sentence, enjoying the look of utter exasperation that came over Adrien's face.

"No kidding, I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about after a while. I mean she kept making analogies but I'm still super lost..." Adrien pouted and looked at Nino, including him again as he stated in defeat, "There's no way I'm passing this test."

When Nino pitched his head to the side again in confusion Adrien chuckled a little, but immediately rolled it back to try and deduce what Nino's question might be. He hazarded a few guesses but smiled sheepishly when he was wrong a third time about what Nino was asking, the wolf fidgeting a little in frustration as how hard communicating was. Alya didn't have to be asked to stand then, stepping away from her desk where she was eating to shift over and shake out her fur.

'Okay sorry, what were you asking?' Alya asked him once she was in her fox form, stretching a little.

Glad to have someone who could understand him (aside from Carter who was distracted by food and couldn't answer anyways) Nino craned his head to look at her but was still pointed towards Adrien, who he was indirectly talking to. 'I wanted to ask him what exactly has him so confused since he seemed to get the concept fine. Like what exactly is he worried about failing, the human part?'

'I think that's what he means yeah cause I don't get it really either.' She answered for herself, before repeating the question out loud for Adrien. She didn't have to switch over when she did it, able to be heard even though the fox's mouth didn't move at all. It was like a disembodied voice that just projected out loud, and he found himself wishing once again that he could figure out how to do that.

"Yeah! The human part," Adrien answered right away, looking at Nino when he did it. "Like, Ms. B started going in to all these human exclusive story telling mediums that you guys have and we don't, or at least I don't I mean, in the Never Never. We have things that are... kind of like that. Sort of." He paused, mulling it over as he realized they really weren't all that comparable. "Like okay we have moving images, but we don't have fake ones, for fun. We don't really..." he paused again, clearly struggling. "We HAVE plays and shows and concerts and things, but I've never seen something like a play with actors but shown just in moving images. Am I making any sense? I really don't get it."

"He means movies," Marinette supplied helpfully, waiting until Adrien had thoroughly confused himself before chiming in with an answer she knew would make sense to Nino.

'Oooooooh, okay. Wow seriously?' Nino said at Alya directly this time. 'The fae don't have movies?'

'I don't think so,' Alya supplied with a vague approximation of a shrug, 'at least not how she was describing it. The fae have all kinds of ways to tell stories but the way she was trying to explain what movies are really lost some people. I've seen one before at Marinette's house so I get it a little, kind of. But Adrien's never seen one I think.'

'Adrien's NEVER seen a MOVIE?' Nino barked out, Adrien looking over at Alya with an expectant smile as he hoped she would translate the sound.

Once she did everybody laughed.

"I don't even know that that is!" Adrien exclaimed, laughing as he did but gesturing in exasperation. "What is that!? How am I supposed to understand that from a description, I was not the only one who was confused."

Marinette was giggling helplessly as Alya agreed, and Nino shook his head at the confused cat man.

"What, are you judging me? What's a movie then, you describe it."

Adrien's watched as the wolf's expression became abruptly contemplative, the animal form still expressive enough to convey how deeply he was considering the question. How do you explain a concept like that to someone who's never seen it?

He thought it over for quite a while, Alya popping up onto her seat and then onto the desk to continue eating as he considered how to put it. Eventually the wolf looked over at her and the group awaited his response, which took him and Alya a few moments to get across as she had to keep pausing the get the next bit.

"It's a lot like a play that shows a fictional story with people playing different roles within the story that are different from themselves. They have set lines to deliver, and by doing that it tells a story that is not real and might not even be BASED in reality, it can be anything. It is recorded visually on a machine and can be shown on a different machine at any time, so its like getting to sit in the audience of a play whenever, without actually having to be there in person. You can watch the play from somewhere else as many times as you want."

Alya finished repeating what Nino said and then mulled it over alongside Adrien, Marinette nodding in agreement. Adrien still looked a little confused but clarified. "So, it's like a device used to show the same story later?"

'Like a book you can see. You can read a book whenever so long as you have it, same thing with a movie. If you've got the stuff for a movie you can watch it whenever too.'

"That's INSANE though, a book you can see? That's crazy." Adrien shook his head, getting lost in thought over it as he continued to eat.

"It's something you just have to see for yourself, human's have a lot of stuff like that," Marinette explained. "They have inventions for pretty much everything. My mom didn't grow up in the human realm so she says that adjusting to stuff like that was really crazy at first. I was raised here though so it's something I see all the time. I hadn't realized other people might not get it until I invited Alya over for a sleepover."

Alya looked up at her name. "I loved it though, it was really cool. That sleepover was so fun girl, I love your house it's amazing."

"Aw I've never been to your house," Adrien whined a little, and Marinette rolled her eyes.

"We can all have a sleepover again maybe, if my parents are okay with that." After a moment she seemed to consider what she said and then abruptly her face lit up. "Oh my gosh a sleep over! That would be so fun actually! It was great when me and Alya did it! And we can say it's for studying too because then we can all watch movies and it will help you guys with the test too! I have all that stuff at my house we can all do it, even if you guys can't spend the night it would help right?"

Adrien immediately jumped on the idea, surprised that his little complaint had actually gotten him somewhere all of a sudden and he was taking about it excitedly. Alya told her that her mom would probably let her spend the night no problem and Adrien happily reminded them all that his guardian barely knew where he was most of the time anyways, and it was only when Marinette started talking about an outing for 'the five of us' that Nino realized this included him somehow.

Nino's heartrate instantly spiked at the idea, looking anxiously between them as they talked and moving to his feet. While at first Adrien and Alya didn't notice, Marinette looked right at him immediately, aware of the sudden surge of panic.

He couldn't go out, he couldn't leave. The idea of leaving the school at all and meeting anyone and going out into the human world like this put him right on edge immediately. Marinette lived in the city he couldn't-!

And then she was kneeling in front of him, demanding his attention as she was instantly apologizing.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry of course you don't have to hang out with us! I shouldn't have assumed I just- I'm sorry." And she really was, the petite little witch was sunk in on herself, her baby blue eyes entirely genuine. "I didn't mean to upset you I just- I got excited about the idea of us all going out together. I was just talking; I didn't mean that you had to. Of course you don't have to. I know you probably don't want to leave the school; I shouldn't have even said it."

Her ability to detect emotion and act on it before he was even done feeling it was once again a little jarring, her reaction to what he was thinking often too fast for him to have even fully processed it. His heart was still beating quickly, and he was aware of Carter appearing by his side the second the atmosphere got tense, Nino left feeling a little exposed

'Don't apologize! I-I'm sorry too. Just hang on. I'm not mad you're okay.'

Marinette looked over her shoulder as Alya said it for him, both her and Adrien looking a little on edge themselves. Nino felt a brief surge of guilt over having ruined the entire conversation all of a sudden, and then a slight edge of frustration as he could tell that Marinette picked up on that as well.

It was only when Nino was getting read in the middle of what he was feeling that Marinette's empathic ability could get a little frustrating, because often he wasn't even done thinking about what was happening just yet. Getting read for your initial reaction was ripe for misunderstanding, even if in this case he was actually uncomfortable with the idea he didn't think that was her fault.

He conveyed the last thought to her through Alya, explaining that she was totally fine and that he didn't blame her for anything. He also asked her to give him just a second to formulate his feelings first, and she hung her head a little.

"I'm sorry. I... I do that all the time. People always tell me not to do that, I really try I just sometimes," she gave him a sheepish look, "... get nervous. If I think I upset people. I'm sorry."

'It's okay, don't apologize. It helps out most of the time. I don't mean that I don't want to hang out with you guys, I just... I can't leave. I can't.'

His ears flattened as he said it, unable to help certain physical giveaways. Adrien and Alya both nodded right away and everyone rushed to assure him that they completely understood. But he still felt just a little bit rotten over it.

'I like doing this,' he suddenly said, surprised that he meant it. He really was coming to enjoy lunch time, and he found himself wishing every once in a while that he could be out there with them and not stuck cowering in his room. 'I like that you guys visit. I want to be friends.' ("We are friends," Adrien interrupted when Alya translated.) 'Hanging out and watching a movie sounds... nice. And normal. And something I could actually participate in... I wish I could. I'm sorry that I can't, but I hope you guys have fun.' He peered up at them with his ears still folded back. 'Tell me about it when you do. I'll wait for you guys.'

Everyone was frowning by the time that Alya finished saying it for him, looking between each other as a short silence fell over them. Nino fidgeted uncomfortable as it went on, briefly wondering if they could telepathically communicate without him from all the looks they were trading each other. It didn't feel like anyone seemed to like the idea now.

Then, once again but more hesitantly this time, that same bright energy seemed to flicker back into place in Marinette's eyes. She leaned towards him again, still crouching in front on him and looking kind of small compared to how big he was.

"Maybe, only if you want, and it doesn't have to be now if you don't want, but... maybe, do you think, we could get permission to stay here?"

There was a pause as the beast looked back at her, before tilting its head further to the side then he ever had at this point, looking a little silly actually.

Marinette giggled just a little before hesitantly continuing, fiddling with her dress as she said it. "It wouldn't be too hard to get a TV in here, I actually think most of the classrooms in this wing have a really super old one on wheels we could probably take! I could bring all the other stuff over from my house since it's really close and we could all bring blankets and stuff here. We wouldn't have to stay the night if you didn't want us too, but we could maybe get permission from Ms. B to stay here after school and watch a movie in here instead. There's lots of students here after classes end so I don't think anyone would mind. What do you think?"

"That could be really fun too!" Adrien chimed in right away, "And then we could still have you come! You could explain how it works and even pick a book to watch."

"Movie," Alya corrected quietly, smiling in that foxy way she managed, watching Nino for his response.

Marinette and Adrien were both grinning hopefully as Nino slowly straightened his posture, looking between all three of them as he struggled to pull the thought together.

'You guys want to... hang out? Here? But it's so dusty and terrible. I don't want you guys to not do what you were going to because of me and be all uncomfortable. It's... really cool of you to include me and it sounds like a lot of fun but, don't-'

'No hang on, stop, you're being stupid,' Alya interrupted him. The wolf gaped up at her and she ignored him with a swish of her tail, saying out loud a not so literal approximation of what he said this time. "He says his room is really dusty and crappy but that he is really happy you guys want to include him. Then he started saying something stupid about us not putting ourselves out just for his sake even if it sounds like fun for him, and then I stopped listening."

'Hey!' he barked indignantly, but she was looking away from him smugly, letting the others jump in urgently.

"It wouldn't be putting us out! We want to! We only wouldn't do it if you were uncomfortable with the idea but don't say no cause of us," Adrien urged him eagerly.

"Besides!" Marinette jumped in, "Maybe we can make this room not so bad! I know you say all the time how you hate it, we could make that part of the fun! We could bring all sorts of stuff and clean up and make it better for you. I can't believe they gave you such a depressing room anyways."

"Seriously," Alya said to everyone, looking around. "This place doesn't really give off a 'welcome to school' vibe. I bet we can make it way better, home makeover style."

"I've got loads of stuff my mom always wants to give away," Marinette was saying, checking Nino's emotional state again and again as she went but mostly finding him shocked and frozen. "It's all just sitting around in bags for us to donate, I bet you'd like a bunch of it!"

'Y-you guys, you don't have to do that! You've already been so cool!' he huffed at them, hopping a little bit on his paws to get their attention. 'I mean, if you really want to, if you seriously don't mind then... I mean, then, sure! I guess. I'll really try, I promise. I know I can kind of get... moody. But I really will try. It would be cool, I promise I won't ruin it. I'll try and keep my head up.'

"He says yes, he wants to do it."

'Say the other stuff I said too!' Nino growled a little, the fox chuckling and rolling her eyes but complying after a second. It yielded the expected reassurance from the group that he wouldn't ruin anything, and an unexpected addition from Adrien.

"You don't have to fake it around us Nino," Adrien told him very seriously, smiling a little. "We want to have fun as a group cause you're our friend now. If you need space from us or time alone or whatever you can always step out and we won't bug you. If you want us to leave early we will, and if you ever need something from us just ask."

Everyone nodded at his sentiment, said so simply and easily without any hesitation at all. Clearly its how they all felt from how quickly they agreed, moving on to discuss planning the event itself and who to ask and when, what to bring and so on. They talked amongst themselves to have a night in together, but Marinette could feel what he was feeling.

The wolf bowed its head and was supported by his dog, Carter nuzzled into his side. Nino had a quiet moment mostly to himself at what Adrien had said so effortlessly, and in the moment he didn't have it in him to be ashamed that he needed it. What would being proud get him, when there were people who were trying to help right in front of him. How could he beg for a lifeline when he might be too stubborn to take one once it was there? Watching a grainy VHS with people he's barely met might not have seemed so important a few months ago, but now? When he was so confused and scared every moment he was undistracted?

He wanted it so badly...

'Okay,' he eventually said, his tail thumping slowly and his ears facing forward. 'Okay... let's do it. I'm in.'