Burn Bright (frerard)

Chapter 6

The bell rang and everyone started leaving for lunch quickly. I wiped off the board, the notes I had written leaving small smudges on it. I turned around and saw Gee still sitting in his seat, his head ducked down.

"Gee?" I asked softly, kneeling down next to him.

He sniffled, looking up at me. Gee started unbuttoning his shirt and I looked in shock. Then I saw the bruise on his ribs.

"Oh god," I muttered.

"I-I don't want the other kids to see that I was crying," he whispered.

"Stay here then," I said.

I gave him my lunch again, like I had last week. He ate quietly and I did paperwork until the bell rang. Gee still looked nervous and I reached across my desk to hold his hand.

"Do you want me to write you an excuse to go back to your dorm?" I offered. "You can have the rest of the day off."

He shook his head. "I-I don't wanna because then Bert's gonna come and I know he's gonna be upset with me. But I don't wanna go to class either."

"Okay, I'll e-mail your teachers and have you excused," I said. "You look tired, sweetheart, do you want a nap."

He nodded and I ran my fingers through my hair. The front of my desk went all the way down to the floor so I pulled my chair out.

"Wanna take a nap underneath my desk?" I offered.

Gee nodded, taking off his jacket. He used it as a pillow as he laid down on the carpet. Gee let out a sigh of content. I took off my own suit jacket, laying it over his body. He smiled happily, making grabby hands towards his backpack. I looked inside the front pocket and found a pink pacifier. Gee took it and sucked on it happily, closing his eyes just as students started walking in.

I went through the rest of the day, walking behind my desk to check on Gee every now and then. He slept peacefully the entire time. When the last class ended, I cleaned everything up. I stacked all the chairs up on the desks upside down and picked up crumpled pieces of paper. When I finished cleaning the board, I kneeled down beside Gee.

"Hey, sweetheart," I whispered.

Gee whimpered, curling into a little ball. I glanced at his phone, noticing how he had multiple missed calls and ignored texts from Bert. He got up, crawling into my lap as he yawned.

"Hey, sweetheart, you feeling better now?" I asked.

"It hurts more," he whimpered, placing a hand gently over where the bruise was.

I ran my fingers through his hair and he sighed.

"I-I don't wanna be hurt by Bert anymore," he whispered.

I smiled, wrapping my arms around him.

"B-but he's gonna be so angry," he cried. "And he's already angry now because I was sleeping and didn't hear my phone."

"C'mon, I'll go with you and we can go straight to the headmaster's office," I said.

"He's gonna hurt me, daddy, I don't want him to hurt me," Gee sobbed, clutching onto my shirt as he buried his face into my chest.

My eyes widened but I don't think he even really realized he called me daddy. I've just been taking care of him so much recently that maybe he's starting to see me like that. But fuck, it sounded so nice.

"Hey, hey, sweetheart," I whispered, running my hand through his hair.

I just hummed softly and rocked with him in my arms until he eventually calmed down.