𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 ~ 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧

𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

Monday. Sebastian had to go to school before the school board became suspicious. He was back at his own home, much to Letitia's distaste and anger, and was slammed against the wall the second he closed the door.

His father stood before him, gripping Sebastian's throat almost shakily. "You." He growls. "Where have you been!"

Sebastian flinches and feels it becoming harder to breathe. "I- I was at a friends." He stammers out. "I didn't tell her anything, I swear!" Sebastian whimpers.

Sebastian's father nods. "Good, because nothing happened, you hear me?" He yells in Sebastian's ear, cold as ice. "Whatever you imagined happening, wasn't real. And nobody will believe you."

Sebastian yelps as he's slammed against the wall, harsher this time, and left to slide to the floor. He watches his father stomp away, having a swig of the beer in his hand and forces himself not to cry. Because, he new what happened was real. He knew that his father and his friends each took their turn in putting their grubby, disgusting hands on Sebastian's body. He knew that they each took their turns in raping him.

Sebastian sucks in a shaky breath and wipes away the unshed tears. "Come on." He whispers to himself. "Get ahold of yourself." Sebastian gets back onto his feet. "You are going to school like nothing happened. Letitia knows, Letitia believes you, so you're fine."

Sebastian nods to himself and races up the stairs to his bedroom. He rummages through all of his drawers before taking ahold of the secret bank account number his mother had left for him and shoving it into his pocket. Sebastian was getting out of here no matter how hard it may be.

Checking the time and finding he only had a few minutes before the bell rang, Sebastian grabs ahold of his bag and runs out of the house and all the way to school.

When he arrives, out of breath and covered in sweat, Chris is waiting for him at the front steps wearing a worried smile. "Seb!" He calls, jogging over and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Sebastian shrugs it off and nods. "Fine." Sebastian breathes. He was fine. He was fine. Nothing has happened. He was perfectly fine.

Chris can't seem to stop himself from looking upset and nods. "Oh. Okay. How're you feeling?"

"Fine."

Chris nods once more. "Okay... um... I'll- I'll meet you in English I guess?"

Sebastian shrugs. "Kay."

Chris places his hand awkwardly on the back of his neck and turns on his heel, walking up the three steps. Sebastian covers his face with his hands, teeth digging into his lower lip. Why was I so harsh on him? Sebastian thinks to himself. All he was doing was making sure I was alright. God, I'm so stupid and selfish.

"Seb!" Someone calls from behind him, snapping him from his thoughts.

Sebastian flinches when arms find their way around his waist, holding him tightly. Sebastian felt as though he was suffocating. His heart begins to hammer and he swallows the lump in his throat. "Don't ever scare me like that again!" Emily growls, shoving him playfully on the shoulder.

"Sorry." Sebastian says, looking at the ground. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Well you did. Chris and I both. What the hell happened?"

"I'd prefer not to talk about it."

Emily sighs. "Suit yourself, I'll find out eventually. Now." Emily says. "Did you wash his uniform?"

Sebastian's heart skips a beat. No, I didn't. I was actually quite busy being a body for my father and his friends to fuck. "No-" Sebastian begins, but is cut off by Letitia.

"I did." She says, throwing the uniform over at Emily. "Seb here was busy." Letitia finishes dryly.

Emily nods. "Right, let's finish phase two." She says, grabbing Sebastian's stitched wrist harshly. Sebastian winces.

"Actually, Emily." Letitia cuts in. "Seb and I have to go and talk to our teachers for all the work we missed out on. I'm sure you can return the uniform on your own."

The two girls glare at one another before Emily scoffs and let's go of Sebastian. "Fine. Have fun." She spits dryly, turning and walking into the school.

Sebastian breathes a sigh of relief. "Thanks." He mumbles.

Letitia shrugs and lends her hand, only if Sebastian wanted to take it. Sebastian looks at her and interlocks their fingers, feeling the panic ease. "Of course, Seb." Letitia responds, leading him gently into the school.

"Your dad didn't do anything to you, did he?" She whispers for only Sebastian to hear. "I was really scared that he was gonna hurt you."

Sebastian shakes his head slowly. "N-no." He stammers. "Nothing happened, don't worry."

Letitia nods. "Okay. Let's go to history first, the teacher might even give us an extension."

"Okay."

****

Sebastian, just like any other day, was sitting in the library, trying not to cry. He was shaking almost violently, lower lip quivering. School was beginning to grow too much for him to handle.

All the beady eyes on him made Sebastian feel sick. All the worried glances made his heart hammer. He just wanted to go. Not home, just somewhere he felt safe.

"Hey, you okay?"

Sebastian flinches and raises his head, locking eyes with the soft blue hues he knew all too well. Sebastian shrugs. "I-I don't know." He whispers.

Chris frowns and takes a slow seat beside Sebastian, placing his hand over top of the shaking one and interlocking the fingers. The touch was soft, gentle, full of care. Sebastian hadn't a clue what to do.

Chris places his other hand on the small of Sebastian's back, tracing his fingers slowly up and down Sebastian's prominent spine. "Talk to me." He whispers. "What's going on?"

Sebastian shakes his head. "I— I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just- I can't." Sebastian responds, breaking down into sobs.

Chris acts fast; he pulls Sebastian into his strong chest, continuing to hold onto the shaking hand and rubbing slowly circles over the knuckles. He removes his other hand from Sebastian's back and places it through the soft locks, massaging the scalp gently. "Shhh." Chris coos, "Shh. It's okay."

Sebastian shakes his head. "N-no... it's n-not."

"Yes it is, Seb." Chris whispers. "You don't have to tell me anything. I pushed you too fast." Chris presses a hasty kiss to the crown of Sebastian's head. "Just know that you can talk to me about anything."

Sebastian doesn't respond, he doesn't need to. Chris knows that he understands, no matter how hard it may be to get Sebastian to talk, he understands that Chris is there for him. How could he not?

The two stay like that for the rest of lunch. No speaking, just silence, wrapped in each other's arms. And when the bell rings, Chris wipes away Sebastian's tears and leads him to his last class of the day. Art.

"Meet me outside of the locker rooms, yeah?" Chris says once they come to a stop and he has to pull his arm away. "I've got football practise and I really wanna see you before tomorrow."

Sebastian blushes and nods slowly, nibbling at his lower lip. "O-okay. Sure."

Chris smiles and ruffles Sebastian's hair. "Sweet, see ya."

He waves to Sebastian as he walks away, the grin still upon his lips even when he turns around. Even though they didn't talk, Chris felt as though he understood Sebastian on a deeper level than before. Just sitting there, holding Sebastian as he calmed down, no words spoken. It felt... nice.

Sebastian watches for a small while as Chris walks, almost as though he had a small skip in his step, down the hallway, grinning. Sebastian couldn't understand why Chris in his right mind still wanted to be friends with him. All Sebastian did was push him away, refuse to speak. Chris didn't seem to care. He was always there. He was Sebastian's rock.

Sebastian covers his face with his hands and shakes his head. Stop thinking about him!

Class went extremely well that day. Sebastian was able to get his painting done without any 'happy accidents' and would hopefully be able to give it to Chris once it was marked. It was of two people, boys, laying on the grass, pointing up at the sky that was detailed with every constellation possible. All bright, shining against the deep blues and illuminating against the see out in front of them. Sebastian hoped Chris knew what it was. Hoped he knew where it was from. He sure knew.

"My god," a voice behind him says, sounding astonished. "That's— amazing! What the hell, dude?"

Sebastian flinches and turns around, finding none other than Brie standing and staring at his painting. "Th-thanks." He stammers, suddenly nervous. He never really spoke to Brie, only if he was involved in the conversation. She seemed nice, someone who was very protective of the people she loves.

Brie smiles. "We missed you at lunch, you know." She punches his shoulder gently. "You really bring out a different side of Chris, it's nice."

Sebastian feels himself beginning to blush and adverts his eyes to the ground. Brie laughs. "Anyways, see ya tomorrow."

Sebastian can barely bring himself to nod. He brings out a different side of Chris? How? A buzz erupts from his pocket before he can overthink and Sebastian pulls his phone out.

CHRIS: Come to the locker room now.

A chill runs down Sebastian's spine at the affirmative tone Chris's text seemed and quickly packed his bag to not make Chris mad. He thanks his teacher before he leaves and runs down the hall, stopping in front of the locker room.

"Chris?" He says softly, opening the door and peaking inside. "Is everything okay—

A loud bang sounds through the air and Sebastian jumps, frightened. He turns his head in the direction and finds Chris with his fist in one of the locker doors, a large dent on it. "Chris?"

Chris looks up at Sebastian. "I'm gonna kill them." He spits.

"W-what?" Sebastian whimpers, gulping. "K-kill who?"

"Whoever's doing this!" Chris yells like it's obvious, scaring Sebastian into shaking once more. "They've gone too far!"

Sebastian was scared. He had never seen Chris so angry before. "Wh-what did they do?"

"Come see for yourself."

Sebastian takes hesitant steps towards Chris's open locker and gasps at the sight. Both Chris's uniform and the photo he kept on top of it were ripped to shreds, a nasty note left in its place.

Have fun playing, Evans.

Sebastian gulps. "Wh-who would do this?" He whispers.

"No idea." Chris says. "But I'll kill them when I find out."

****

Oop-