standsonhigh | High school AU open post

Ah. Wonderful. Barty kicked the boy curled up in front of him lightly in the ribs.

"You're blocking my door." He didn't sound annoyed, at least, since it was fairly obvious that the other wasn't here by choice. His hair was wet, his face was bruised and his hands had been tied to the door handle using his own tie. Someone had written 'For Tom' on his forehead with rather crude handwriting, but maybe he'd still been struggling at the time. Definitely out of it now, though.

"Do yourself a favour and wake up." Preferably before Tom actually got back.

Everything was exceptionally blurry. The last thing he remembered was being in the boys bathroom when someone had thrown him into the nearest stall and he was fairly sure he'd been beaten and probably got a face full of toilet. Always a charming thought, it at least explained why his shirt felt wet. Another shirt ruined then, not just by blood but by ... well, he didn't want to think on it. The rest was one very swift mess of him resisting a gang of boys who were determined to humiliate him.

Mission accomplished. Koschei could say, for certain, this was the most embarrassed he'd been for a very long time.

He mumbled something inarticulate, a mix between a moan of pain and a curse of anger. Then struggled anew, trying to free his hands from the handle he'd been tied to. He refused to be some gift for Tom, he wouldn't stoop to that level. The more he tried for freedom, the less he actually got free, and the angrier he got. "Untie me, you moron! This isn't funny!"

"Manners, Koschei," was all Barty said at first, now that he recognized the boy's face. What a mess. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at him, weighing his options. The easiest might be to somehow get into his room past him, but that was unlikely to happen. Freeing him could potentially upset Tom, if he heard of this whole scenario and, well. Upsetting Tom was never a good idea, not even for his roommate.

But the hell with it, he wanted to get into his room. "Say please. Never call me a moron again." He put a hand in his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife, opening it up with a certain ease of practice that might be worrying, then he crouched down in front of Koschei and caught his eyes. "Apologize for blocking my door."

When the knife appeared, his first assumption was that the prick intended on cutting him. Wouldn't be the first time someone had attempted to slice a part of his anatomy off, they seemed to think it was funny to push against that thin line. Tom's lot were always pushing, one day it was going to backfire on them all.

He closed his eyes tight and hissed pre-emptively, recoiling against the door. Till nothing happened. He pried his eyes open slowly and looked at Barty in disbelief, unable to believe what he was being ordered to do. Little prick, he wasn't going to do any such thing. "No. I'm not blocking your way, I'm tied to a door. Want an apology? Ask your mates."

"See, that's the problem. You're blocking my way by being tied to the door." Barty wet his lips and shook his head. "If you'd not always be so stubborn, you'd not be tied here in the first place. Now hold still."

Primarily, Barty didn't want anyone to walk by while he was talking to the boy tied to his door, so he didn't prolong this, tempting as it was. He cut through the tie, only to free it from the handle, Koschei's hands were still bound. Barty opened the door as soon as he stood again, this time the one blocking Koschei's way.

"Get in." He was still holding the knife, but he expected an argument anyway, so he immediately set to dragging him inside and letting the door fall shut behind them. Turning his key in the lock and pocketing it was done quickly and then he realized that he perhaps should have figured out what his plan was before this point. "Who was it? Who brought you here?"

The room was as tall as any of the others, although one of the bed had noticeable fancier sheets, more expensive books on the shelves and so on. Tom was an orphan, he didn't have any money himself, but among his friends were some of the richest kids in school. Barty definitely wasn't one of them and even if he had been, he doubted his father would have let him benefit much.

"Well I am sorry, next time I'll think twice before being assaulted. I could inconvenience you," Koschei snarled back, hardly able to keep his anger back. Once again, he'd need a new uniform and probably some ice for his face. He had to get the swelling down before home-room, he was tired of being stared at and having Theta looking at him in pity. He doesn't need pity.

He was going to protest at the idea of stopping in this freaks room but he was hardly given a choice. He stood there, hands behind his back, glaring at the twerp who just happened to be lucky enough to be roommates with Tom. He didn't get how or why but Tom had a way with people, any friend of his was set for life.

Any enemy ended up like Koschei. And he was always displayed publicly after a beating as a warning why it was stupid to piss off Tom.

"Rodolphus and -- I didn't catch the others," he had his head in a toilet before he could take note of who was there and who did what. All he knew was that one day he'd get revenge, there was no doubt in his mind. He already had little plans and ideas working away. "There was a lot of water in my eyes."

This was an odd situation to be in, he didn't like being in Tom's room. He had bad feeling about it, he seriously didn't want to be partially stripped and beaten again on the football field, that was embarrassing enough the first time. Eyes looking around with clear unease, he shifted uncomfortably. "Can I leave now?"

"Your consideration is appreciated," Barty replied dryly, obviously a lot calmer than Koschei was feeling. Rodolphus. Well, that would definitely mean that Tom would learn of all this. He chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully for a few moments before quite suddenly closing the distance between them and pinning Koschei against the door he was already so familiar with.

Knife against his cheek, he made sure to catch and hold his gaze. This was important. "You don't tell anyone that I freed you." Just a whisper, just a warning and then he moved his hand behind Koschei to cut his hands free. "You stink," he informed him, then he pointed to the side.

"Look into the mirror first. You might want to scrub your face. Don't worry, Tom won't be back for another hour."

Koschei winced once more, the blade against him, cold and unforgiving. His heart started to race and he could feel it in him, contrasting with the annoying noise that drummed away in his head. He couldn't get another slash to the face, the head of their year was starting to get suspicious and if he even tried to tell off Tom then Koschei was going to pay dearly for it.

He wanted this kept a secret as much as anyone else. It was a matter of self preservation and pride.

Swallowing hard, Koschei pulled away from Barty as safely as he could, tentatively moving to look in the mirror. He didn't even want to look, could it get any worse than the C word? That had been awkward.

The moment he saw it, he knew what it was and it was so much worse. It was backwards but it was easy to read, painfully easy. He went bright red, gaping at the sight. How many people had seen it? Oh God, could this get any worse? Hastily, he tried to scrub it off with his sleeve but the ink was permanent and stubborn.

"No, no, no, no," he muttered under his breath, making frustrated noises as he fought to either remove it or take his skin off.

There was really nothing Koschei could have done to avoid this. As soon as they saw him come out of the school building, they pretty much literally hounded him. Ten boys, all quite a bit bigger and clearly much happier with the situation, surrounding him and grabbing at him to pull him along.

"You're just who we needed, Koschei," Rodolphus told him while placing a heavy arm on his shoulder. "You can help raise our team's morale. Aren't you happy?"

He ruffled his hair, since when one was being a git, one might as well go all out, and then let go of him as they arrived on the soccer field, near one of the goals. "Take off your jacket."

"Trousers, too," someone else added from the side.

"Bathroom," Barty suggested after watching Koschei for a while. If he felt pity for him, it at least didn't show, the advice might as well just be practical. He pointed at the door that he hadn't locked, leading to the bathroom he shared with Tom.

"The green towel's his." If he wanted to use it, for the irony. Or if he wanted to avoid it, which Barty could imagine quite easily, too. He was still watching the other boy, trying not to think of where his thoughts had wandered while he held him before. Maybe it was a good thing he had been dunked in a toilet, it kept him from taking these thoughts further than he should.

Strange, anyway. Pathetic wasn't generally his type, what he felt for Tom proved as much. On the other hand, here he was going behind Tom's back and robbing him from what apparently had been meant to be his present. Strange indeed.

No, not again, he couldn't do that again. Koschei knew he wasn't just outnumbered but out matched, it made his stomach drop just to think about it. Last time this had happened, he'd been younger and weaker, he thought it would honestly never happen to him again. Despite the horrible feeling inside, he refused to let this happen again.

He wasn't just going to stand here and let them make an idiot out of him.

"No," he said defiantly, keeping his face as neutral as he could, glaring at Rodolphus. Such a sadistic little bastard, he was going to get him first. "I'm not taking anything off. Just go away and bother someone else."

Christ sake, it was freezing out! He wasn't going to be stripped on the football field again.

"You keep bringing these things on yourself. You're only making it worse," Rodolphus informed him. Then all it took was a wave and Koschei would found himself held in place and very forcibly stripped off his clothes. They didn't just stop at trousers and jacket, either, but kept going until he was in nothing but his underwear and even so they were discussing whether to take it further.

"Think he wants to be naked?"

"He might. I don't know." Rodolphus was grinning, stepping in front of Koschei who was held by three of the boys. "Want to keep on what you have right now? Just say 'Yes, please.' like a good boy."

Cue snickering and some lewd comments, mostly about the many shortcomings of Koschei's body, now that it was on display.

Koschei hurried into it, turning on the sink and shoving his head right under the taps, trying to get the horrible toilet water out of his hair and remove a little of the ink. Hey, Barty had offered, he wasn't about to stall. He knew there had to be another motive for this, some sort of trap, but he was taking whatever chance he had to remove the mark before it.

He scrubbed at aggressively with a nearby wash cloth till it had faded, wincing at the feeling of his raw skin. He could still see Tom horribly embedded on his head, outrage shook him and he just couldn't take seeing it. He'd scrub till he bled if he had to.

"You're all so pathetic," Koschei snapped, splashing more water onto his face and hair. He couldn't help it, he was angry and knew something was coming yet so he may as well get his thoughts out while he could. "He's not even that great and you all worship him like a God. He's not even strong or powerful, he just has you all wrapped around his finger. It's sad, really."

Koschei panted heavily, thrashing under the boys and refusing to lie still. The grass was damp and muddy, the wind was horrible and chilly, he really didn't want to lose his last shred of clothing. But the idea of begging for it, of asking nicely, it made his gut churn. He refused to play this game and let himself lose the last scrap of dignity he had here.

"Piss off, you overgrown moron. Bet mines bigger than yours anyway."

Okay, that was going to come back on him in a bad way but fuck it, in for a penny, in for a pound. He may as well go all out. Leaning up, he kicked his legs out aggressively so no one could get close enough and spat in the nearest boys face, causing one to recoil enough that Koschei had a free arm. Not that he could do much with it but he grasped at the floor, gripping a handful of mud and trying to rub it into the other closest boy's face.

At least he put up a fight, at least he'd be able to say that. He could cling to that while naked and shivering tonight.

"I'm just rooming with him. But, hey, if he has enough people wrapped around his finger to get you in this state for him without even knowing about it, I'd say that qualifies as at the very least quite influential, by school standards."

Barty shrugged, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded. The sentiment wasn't surprising, but he had to admire Koschei's courage in actually saying it out loud.

"Hurry it up, will you? I want to take a shower."

"If you want me to leave then unlock the damn door," Koschei shot back, knowing he wasn't about to sit in their shared room and wait for him to shower before he could leave. If he could avoid a confrontation with Tom, he would. Every time they met, things got worse. And he really didn't think he could take worse, pretending it didn't hurt and he was better than them only got him so far into the day.

Once the lettering was gone, he wiped his forehead with his arm and let his wet hair just drip down him. He didn't need anything off them, he didn't even want to touch their towels. All he wanted to do was leave.

"I want to go back to my room now, I have a lot of work to do and I've missed all my study hours."

Yes, that definitely hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Get him up!" Rodolphus shouted the order and apparently everyone else knew what he meant by it. There was a kick to his ribs from the boy he'd rubbed with mud, but everyone else was focused on, indeed, getting him up, pretty much carrying him over to the goal. Obviously they had been prepared, because they actually had some rope that was used to tie his arms above his head to the goal, leaving him to hang pretty much exactly in the middle between the two posts.

Of course things didn't stop there, his ankles were tied together as well and then... "The great reveal, gentlemen! Let's see it."

Surrounded by laughing teenage boys, it was, of course, Rodolphus who pulled down that last item of clothing.

"It's only locked so no one can come in and see you here." Barty rolled his eyes, but he did smile when he added: "Moron." That did seem to be one of his favourite words, after all.

He looked at Koschei when he turned to him, wondering where the confusing want to rub him dry with a towel came from. He must be tired or something, he was hardly the protective type normally.

"This is probably going to come back to haunt you. If they find out you got off so easy. But you know that, hm?"

Barty shrugged and headed for the door, unlocking it and then waiting for Koschei to walk past him. "I don't know what's so special about you. Just lucky, I guess."

He could barely breath for all the people wrestling him, his ribs were throbbing painfully and he couldn't seem to do anything else to stop this. He knew what was going to happen and all he could really do was close his eyes and pretend it wasn't happening at this point. His hands were already tied by the point he'd totally given up on this fight and accepted defeat.

His face went red as he felt his underwear get yanked down, gritting his teeth at the laughter. If he could, he'd of killed them all. Literally choked the life out of them. But as it stood, all he could do was shiver and seethe.

How could he ever get out of this one?

... God, he really hoped today wasn't a day Theta had game practise. He couldn't face a reality of his dearest friend seeing that. Trembling, he forced his eyes open to look at the laughing boys with such loathing.

"Okay, very funny, let me go. Now!"

He resisted the urge to argue, he wanted to but he was just too tired now. His body hurt nearly everywhere, the water was making him cold and he really just wanted to go hide under his covers and pretend this wasn't happening. And hopefully Theta would stay out all night so he didn't have to actually spend time with him.

"Nothing is ever hard enough for them to think I've suffered," Koschei said bluntly as he eyed the door, not making a move for it. Because he didn't trust it and he didn't trust Barty. They were outside waiting to jump him, he just knew it.

With a deep breath, he tentatively gripped the doorhandle, praying he got a break this time.

"I guess I am," Kochei agreed, gently twisting the knob and opening the door slowly, making his mistrust obvious. People weren't nice, they were all liars and cheaters. "He never liked me, not once. I never played his games."

Once he was sure the coast was actually clear, he finally stepped out, a picture of paranoia as he crept free.

"Now? But you've just finally turned useful. Target practice."

Obviously in good cheer, they were indeed starting to play around with a ball now, quickly forming teams and at first rather harmlessly passing the ball to and forth like a warm-up training.

Then came the first shot at the goal and, of course, the ball hit Koschei right in the stomach.

The first shot, but not the last. Not even close. There were more and more shots, some of them narrowly missing, others hitting his chest, his face, every bit of his very exposed body. Target practice indeed.

"Too bad, Koschei. Who knows, you might win."

Barty looked outside after him, because his paranoia was apparently spreading. But the hallway was empty and there weren't any steps to be heard, either. "See? Nobody out here. Off you go."

Now he should probably clean the bathroom before Tom got back. He never liked a mess.

Each one hit him harder and harder, bouncing off his head, his chest, his shoulder and crotch. The last one actually managed to get a cry from him, a stifled noise of agony that got the boys cheering and laughing. He was in such pain, his body was beyond tense now and he couldn't stop trembling.

Not from the cold, but from anger. From all this pent up rage he could do absolutely nothing with.

If he waited, it would soon be over. He could leave and hide away in his room for a few days. Maybe he'd catch a cold? That'd get him some time off. There was nothing Koschei liked more than a few days break from this to just read his books or do some recreational maths. That stomach bug last month was ironically the best time of his life.

Though, man, what a day to where his teletubby boxers. They wouldn't even grasp the irony either, that was the worst part.

"Of course I'll win," the Master said with a strange bout of pride, despite standing in the hallway with so much twitchiness that anyone would think he was about to be jumped by a whole army. "I always win. You watch, I'll destroy him first."

It sounded like the words of a desperate kid but hey, he was serious. He would destroy Tom when he had the right moment, he really would.

Without even offering a goodbye, he stormed off, still scrubbing at his head with his sleeve.

"Koschei?" The voice came hesitant, though mostly just because Theta didn't quite trust his eyes at first. But he stepped closer and straightened up, trying not to look the least bit intimidated as he turned to the group - the large group - of Koschei's tormentors. "Leave him alone!"

"Are you his friend?" Without waiting for an answer, Rodolphus kicked the ball at Koschei again to make sure he had his attention. "What did we tell you about having friends?"

"Yes, I'm his friend. He's my roommate." The boys were closing in on him and perhaps Theta was beginning to realize that he should have told a teacher instead of confronting them alone.

High school AU open post

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