Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 38: Between a laughing stock and a bruised face

The soldiers were roaring with laughter.

Noah rolled his eyes, trying his hardest not to blush but doubted he could accomplish that. At that point in his life he would have thought he'd be used to being laughed at, what with having a sister like Luna and those scumbag bullies around, but his flushed cheeks still suggested otherwise.

Calvez stopped laughing to attempt a couple of deep breaths, but soon looked at Noah again and went back to laughing with the others.

"Well I'm happy someone thought it was funny," Noah said dryly to Winton and Cassius. Being forced to talk about his humiliating time at school in order to not be tortured wasn't how Noah had expected his time at war to go, but it could have been worse. It could have been both physical and mental torture. Now at least he got to pick a favorite.

Hurray.

"I'm sure those kids who did that to you found it funny as well," Winton replied, unable to hide the grin on his face. Noah pursed his lips together and pretended not to notice.

"I doubt Lawrence and Duncan would've found it funny if they'd been the ones with a lack of eyebrows." He shuddered at the memory. "Or about to have their hair set on fire."

"Didn't Finn do anything to stop them?" Cassius asked. "You could've been seriously hurt."

"Well he wasn't there." Noah frowned, trying to remember while adjusting his position to sit more comfortably. As comfortably as one could sit on muddy ground at least. "It was after school and I guess he was busy or something."

The soldiers finally managed to stop laughing and went back to listening to Noah's story, impatiently waiting for him to reveal some other humiliating events.

"Honestly, and I'm not saying I don't understand it since he had to be around you, but Finn seems to have been quite the asshole," Winton said and Noah pursed his lips together without replying.

"He... Never did seem to care much about you being bullied," Cassius agreed with Winton, albeit hesitantly. "I mean, I suppose he didn't always know about it, but could he really avoid not knowing at all?"

"No, no. He knew." Noah shook his head. "One time Lawrence and Duncan locked me in a supply closet at school. Now if it was a dumb coincidence or not that they knew my issues with darkness I'll probably—" Noah hastily cut off his sentence and looked over at Marteau, who let a smug grin slowly show on his face. Noah drew in a breath through his nose.

Fuck.

This was why they weren't supposed to talk at all, regardless of what the subject was. Sooner or later they'd slip up and tell their captors something they wouldn't want them to know.

He made an attempt to nonchalantly shrug it off and cleared his throat.

"Yeah I'll... I'll probably never know. Anyway, Finn got me out of there. He'd been looking for me everywhere until he finally figured out those two had done something, so he made them tell him where I was."

Winton and Cassius didn't inquire further. They seemed even more concerned than Noah about Marteau's recent expression, but Noah refused to let fear take over. The more he showed concern about what he'd just let slip, the more likely it was that they'd use it against him. So instead he decided it was a wonderful time to move on.

"It was just... A new sensation for me. Being appreciated and cared about like that. Even with my family, no one really paid that much attention to me, so when Finn drowned me with all that affection... It was intoxicating."

"Is this leading somewhere?" Marteau arched an eyebrow, and Noah sighed.

"I guess... The whole harassment story didn't stop just because of that. Because of Finn caring about me, that is. After that time, they actually went out of their way to harass me in front of him." Noah stopped to sigh deeply. "My nineteenth birthday party, for instance, was a chaotic mess. Luna had tried her hardest, and I can't stress how rare that is by the way, to make Finn and I be alone together."

He coughed again and took a moment to gather his thoughts while attempting to blow a lock of hair away from his eyes. His hair in humid weather was a curly nightmare.

"Initially she was the one supposed to spend time with him after all. Engagement and stuff, you know? Chaperoned of course, but still. She wouldn't have it, and when I left the party to go be upset about... Things, she sent him to go after me. As my stupid luck would have it though, Lawrence and Duncan showed up to interrupt us."

The soldiers seemed to be paying more attention to the story again, much to Noah's relief, so he continued.

"They, uh..." Noah's eye twitched. "They went as far as to pull my breeches down and show Finn a bruise I'd gotten on my thigh from when they used me to practice fighting with glass bottles."

Cassius frowned and mouthed what Noah guessed said 'what the fuck'.

"They hit you with glass bottles? And you have not mentioned it before?" Calvez wanted to know.

Noah shrugged.

"I mentioned it now at least?"

"And you're saying Finn had absolutely nothing to say to that?" Even Winton seemed to think glass bottle practice was going too far.

"He did, I... I think?" Noah knitted his eyebrows again in thought. "Or, at least he pulled me to the side and checked the rest of me for bruises, and then..." Noah trailed off and his face flushed red. He looked down at the ground. "I, uh... Well, maybe we should move on."

Winton cocked an eyebrow.

"Lost some innocence at that party, did you?"

"Winton, come on," Cassius said, still whispering.

"Well, isn't it obvi—"

"Yes, so you don't need to ask."

"Anyway." Noah pulled up his knees towards his chest. He knew the others were expecting more embarrassing stories, but he really didn't feel like sharing the more intimate details he'd experienced back then, despite it containing an awful lot of awkward fumbling on his part. "The party was far from over. I wasn't there for the last of it, thank Phion, but apparently Luna ended up in some heated argument with this scary inquisition lady." He smiled weakly. "No surprises there really, and it served as a good distraction so people didn't wonder where Finn and I were, but also..."

Noah clicked his tongue. He didn't care much for the next memory.

"... People were pretty busy talking, because it was also the night my supposedly other father returned to South Kerilia."