a/n: omg this isn't a filler chapter!??!? SHOCKING!! joking.. but i havent had so much time to write that im pretty sure the rest of this fic will just be written at ass o clock in the morning bc of school LMAO
qotc: fav movie rn? (i really like blue beetle & wwdits..)
sotc: mercy by sir chloe
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haru wakes up to his eyes being blasted with the bright rays of the sun. he softly groans as he hears the clinking of the curtain rings against one another as one of his moms opens his dark curtains to the bright, yet cruel world. haru pulls the covers over his head and a sigh comes and he thinks that's it until someone's thin hand is prying his hand off of the blanket. haru flicks her hand away from his as she struggles to pull the blanket off of haru's head. he has such a tight grip on it that he can feel his nails pressing crescent marks into his own palm from how hard he was gripping the blanket. they both struggle in silence until the door slowly creaks open and a soft chuckle is heard from the door.
"oh my," yae chuckles as she covers her mouth with her hand, "this is a sight to wake up to."
yae watches as the two grunt, silently fighting each other like a pair of cats. haru peeks his eyes over the covers, his eyes squinted from the bright light for a second before he ducks his head back under the covers.
ei sighs as she glances to yae, "can you believe him?"
yae nods, "oh i can actually, seeing as he gets this from you."
ei almost gasps in shock from her words. her eyes glance back upon haru's body that is buried underneath the piles of blankets.
"haru, get up." ei says, she sounds tired of him.
"why?" haru asks, "are the cops here?"
ei sighs and yae shoots a confused look to ei but the elder woman does not respond to her unsaid question.
"no, they are not." ei pulls the covers off of haru who only just stares back at her blankly, "we're taking you to school today and for however long this whole thing lasts."
haru furrows his brows, "huh? but ajax usually takes me–"
"and there is the problem." ei says simply.
"what the fuck?" haru furrows his brows, "you can't just limit who i see, you're insane!"
"hey!" yae shouts sternly, "do not talk to your mother like that."
"it's not my problem that she's clearly out of control now." haru huffs as he tries to take the blanket back from ei's grip, which she does not falter in and only results in haru laying back in his bed only more exhausted than previously.
"i do not care what you think but be ready in fifteen minutes or i'm taking you however you look. okay?" ei says quietly and her voice sends chills down haruki's body. he never liked when she spoke quietly because she's always a stern woman who demands attention so for her to forcibly quiet down– it was horrifying.
haru nods carefully, "okay."
they both exit and then haru is left to his own devices to get ready if he so decides to.
the two women quietly stand in their bathroom as they get ready. various eyeshadows and lipsticks lay around the vanity area of the bathroom. yae brushes her shell-pink strands as ei dips an eyeshadow brush into a palette.
"what was haruki speaking about?" yae asks as she glances at ei, who seems more focused on her eyeshadow than anything else in the world right now.
"i don't know," ei shrugs as she puts a brush away, "you know how he is. he's been more ... unfocused lately and he's just out of control. i didn't want to worry you."
yae furrows her brows before she nods, setting her hair brush down and plugging her curler into a nearby outlet, "are you sure? he seemed serious about it."
ei laughs softly as she shakes her head slightly, "i never know with him."
yae still eyes her as ei continues on putting on dark lipstick while she curls her hair in silence. something was so unnerving about the way she had spoken.
they all drive to school in silence– not much is to be said nor can much be heard. at most you could hear the low volume of the radio with a host talking about the recent news and attempting to ignore everything about kazuha. yae eyes haruki in the rear view mirror, his eyes watching the road outside of his window with the large headphones he always wore. he was always so much more quiet and drawn away from them. she knew why– i mean his own mother was basically pushing him away from her but still, it hurt to see him turn into a shell of his past self. ei parks and nobody says a word once more. as they all get out of the car and haruki nearly makes a run for the school so as nobody sees him, yae quickly stops him.
"haruki," she says softly as she eyes the way ei walks away from the car, heading for the school, "you'll... you'll tell me if something is wrong, right?"
haru looks up at her with his wide eyes, "um, i don't–" he shrugs, "where's this coming from?"
yae's eyes saddened at his response, "nowhere, i just– you'll let me know, right?"
haruki nods and she smiles at him once more, "okay. be careful and i'll see you after school."
"bye mom," he says as he walks off and leaves yae with nothing but worry on her face as she stands in the parking lot.
yae sighs as she walks into school and into the teacher's lounge where a few of them were already drinking coffee and conversing.
"you look exhausted already," a deep chuckle comes from a coworker. yae shrugs as she pours hot coffee from the pot into her cup.
"what's wrong?" he asks as he furrows his brow, watching as she sits across the small round table from him.
"i just–" yae takes a sip from her coffee, "i think my wife is lying to me."
"like you think she's cheating or what?" he asks.
"not that, zhongli." yae shakes her head, "more like, she may be doing something to our son?"
"like something serious?" he asks, as he sets his cup down, "do we need to get the authorities involved?"
"no, no." yae shakes her head once more, "not like that. i meant like, she may be threatening our son and neither of them will tell me?"
zhongli chuckles, "what? like "oh if you don't clean your room, i'm taking away your walkman," or what?"
yae shrugs, "more so like "if you don't do something for me, i'll call the cops on you," i think."
zhongli stares at her with wide eyes, "what the fuck?"
"that's what i was thinking!" yae groans as she massages her own temples, "and i can't really say anything because i'm not haruki's like, real mom, i'm only his stepmom but still, i don't know what's going on."
"if you're treating him better than his actual mom, i think you're allowed to be concerned about this."
"i know," yae sighs, "i just feel bad criticizing her because well, that's her kid."
"he's yours too." zhongli says, "don't feel bad because hell, my stepmom was better than my biological dad by miles."
"yes, but haru and ei didn't really grow up with another person in their family– i mean the guy she was with abandoned her because they were so young and he didn't want a kid." yae shakes her head as she shakes a small sugar packet into her coffee, "she was only sixteen, you know. fuckin' asshole."
"i know, it's just– you have to know when to either let haru take it or to step in, and i kind of think this is one of the moments where you would step in." zhongli glances at her, where yae is staring at her coffee like it personally committed a crime against her.
"i hate this."
zhongli chuckles, "i know you do. if you need help, you know i'm always here."
yae nods, "i know. just– keep an eye on haruki when he's in your class, alright?"
"of course." zhongli says, "he's a good student just, i don't know why this is happening to him."
yae chuckles sadly, "you and i both."
the day passes rather slowly with yae teaching while her mind was completely and utterly occupied by haruki and ei. she can barely even focus on what she's saying and what she's hearing. at this point she doesn't even know if what she is saying is intelligible. she watches as some of the students' eyes glance to the small window in the door and now she notices barely any of them are paying attention to her and only what's outside of the classroom. whispers fill the room while yae can only feel a deep sinking in her heart, horrified of what could be happening behind the door.
"calm down," yae says shakily, "stay here."
she sets down the chalk she was previously writing god knows what as she walks to the door and opens it to see so many students and teachers observing what was happening. the halls were filled with whispers but that did not affect her hearing– she could clearly hear the sounds of struggling and despite the fact she could not see them, she knew.
"please, i'm sorry," she can hear a familiar voice sniffle, his voice wobbling as he speaks, "i didn't do this."
time almost pauses for her as she hears her son, her baby, sound so heartbroken and beaten up. he was never like this– he was always sort of monotone to the point where he almost sounded sarcastic with every word he spoke but he was still the most caring and sweetest boy alive. she remembers when he was younger he would play outside and come back with what was practically an army of kittens with the hope of wanting to adopt them. yae does not believe what he could have done– he was a child, not a monster.
yae looks out from the crowd and nearly gasps at the sight of him. haruki's purple strands are sticking out the way they would when he would wake up but they were not that way this morning, he had clearly brushed them down. his pale face had forming yellowing bruises around his eye, one of cheekbones and his lip. small scratches littered parts of his face and his body from what she could see. he looked awful.
a police officer walks behind him, gripping his wrists so tightly that yae is sure that it was bound to bruise. his hands were handcuffed, nearly sparkling under the yellowing school lights.
"haruki." yae whispers in complete and utter shock of his bloody and beaten appearance.
"mom," his voice trembles as he sobs, "i didn't do this. i'm scared."
"i know," yae says shakily, not trying to show that once he leaves, she will probably sob her eyes out in front of her entire class with no shame. "i'm gonna get you out, okay? just work with them."
a shudder travels through his body as he nods. he feels like he can barely breathe, internally panicking about what's going to happen to him. he can't go to jail, he's barely sixteen. he didn't do anything.
a creak of a door opens across from yae– the principal's office. yae stares at her with dark eyes that would shoot fear into anybody. anybody except her wife.
haruki's eyes shoot up to ei as he and the police officer walk (more like the police officer drags him as haruki attempts to follow-up) to the car. haru's dark eyes look as if they're made of glass as he stares at ei. ei stares back at him with nothing but hatred for him.
"why did you do this to me?" haruki whispers as his sobs shudder and gasp through him, "i was your baby."
ei says nothing– she only stares at him darkly as he sobs for his mother, the one that cares for him. yae can hear his sobs as they exit outside of the school and still ei shows nothing. not even an ounce of care for the young boy that came from her. ei glances at the school's entrance before she stares back at everyone who looks back at her in shock.
"everyone, get back to class." she says firmly and only then does yae's heart shatter into a million pieces.