Troublemakers!Benchtrio AU

Chapter Ten

    Art is from Vita's video Drunk 'n Disorderly (figures they wouldn't last long in a bar). Song is Devils Don't Fly by Natalia Kills. /TW: the lyrics could be taken as suicidal./ 

  Note: This is a bulk update! Don't forget to read chapters 9, 9.5, and 5k special!

  How are you guys doing today? Make sure to be taking care of yourself. Get up and walk around if you've been on your computer/phone/consol all day (*cough cough* me *cough cough*) and maybe get a drink of water. Stay safe : )

  The angst refuses to leave people. 

  Trigger Warning(s): strong language, bullying, unsafe binding, mentions of suicide.

  Toby's POV:

  The sun was very bright. That's one of the things that I distinctly remembered before the fight. 

  It was very bright, annoyingly so. It was dumping heat down on top of us like there was no tomorrow. All the students looked miserable and sweaty, and professors and scholars stayed in the cool confines of their rooms and offices with the AC blasting. 

  I tugged at the neck of my shirt, making a face. Tommy was slumped against the bench, his shirt clinging to him. He was wearing a white shirt with red sleeves at the time. I'd pulled on an old green T-shirt in an attempt to find something with short sleeves. I needed to go shopping for some new summer clothes. 

  "Where the f*ck is Ry?" I mumbled, wiping my face. 

  "I wish I knew," Tommy sighed.

  "We're going to miss the bus," I groaned, laying down on the bench and throwing my hand over my eyes to block out the bright sunlight. As much as I hated sitting on the stuffy bus, I didn't want to have to walk home or wait for the next time a bus would swing around in this oppressing heat.

  We waited longer. Still no sign of him.

  I frowned, checking my phone. I had no texts. I glanced at Tommy, and he shook his head.

  "We need to go find him," Tommy decided.

  Something was clearly wrong, otherwise he would have either texted us, or he would already be here. 

  We got up, and I fanned myself as we walked. It really wasn't doing much, but whatever. I at least wanted to feel like I was at least a little bit cooler, even if I wasn't. Sweat began soaking through my shirt in between my back and my backpack. 

  We entered the building, and we both gave a sigh of relief. G*d, I was going to need to put on more deodorant when I got home. Just in case. I was so sweaty. 

  "Where would he most likely be?" I asked, staring up at the fluorescent lighting. It flickered every once in a while. 

  Tommy frowned. "I'd say either one of his classes, or his locker?" 

  I groaned again. If we had to go and check all the classrooms for him, we were certainly going to miss the bus. At least we'd be in air conditioning for at least a little while. 

  "Locker first," I said.

  "Locker first," Tommy agreed. 

  Now, might I interrupt again? I wasn't expecting to find Ry at his locker. It was highly unlikely that he'd be taking so long to get his stuff. It was much more likely that he was finishing some assignment or whatnot in some boring as h*ll class. But it wasn't so. 

  We rounded the corner, and we both froze. It literally took us a moment to process what we saw, because we'd been trying to convince ourselves that Ry was fine, and that sh*t like this was not repeating itself, for weeks now.