Please Don't Tell My Parents - Espresseleine Highschool Au

♡Chapter 5♡

Espresso was humiliated by the rumors.

Everyone was laughing at him and whispering about him as he walked by in the hallways. In only a few days, the rumors had gotten so much worse. He felt ashamed just to be around Madeleine.

Even though none of it was true, he felt like it was all his fault. Maybe if he had declined Madeleine's invite to his house, this wouldn't be happening. But how could he decline an invitation to come over to the house of the most popular guy at school?

While it was terrible for Espresso, he couldn't even imagine how bad it must have been for Madeleine. Since he was so popular, this probably ruined his reputation, and it was all Espresso's fault.

As he pondered this, he glanced up to see a group of students standing in front of his locker. He stepped up to them. "Uh, excuse me, you're in front of my locker."

The tallest boy looked at him. "You're the nerd who's dating Madeleine." He grinned.

He looked away. "We're not dating. We were just paired up for a project in our class."

"I heard you went home with him and had sex," He said as the other people in the group laughed.

Espresso shook his head. "W-We didn't. We just thought we'd get a head start on the project, that's all. I swear." He felt his face heat up. He hated this. He wanted the Earth to swallow him up so he didn't have to be in this situation anymore.

The boy pushed him back. "Faggot."

A gasp escaped his lips as he stumbled back, barely catching his balance as he stopped himself from falling over. He pushed his glasses back up. "I'm not gay!" Espresso said. "I'm not dating Madeleine!"

One of the girls spoke up. "I doubt he loves you. He's not gay, all the girls have a crush on him. He can't be gay."

"We're not dating!" He insisted, his face heating up.

The boy slammed him against a locker and Espresso fell to the ground. He winced and groaned as he looked up at him.

"You're a gay freak and you should fucking die." The guy smiled as he grabbed him by his shirt collar, pulling him up and slamming him back against the locker again.

He threw him back to the ground and kicked him. Espresso saw a group of people starting to watch. He looked away, trying to stand back up.

He was punched in the stomach, causing him to immediately fall back to the ground. Everyone watched as Espresso was punched and kicked.

"Stop!" Espresso forced out through sobs. He tried to shield his bleeding face from them. "Leave me alone!" His lip had been split open and blood dripped from his nose.

The group laughed as they continued to beat him up, ignoring his cries.

"Get the hell away from him!"

Espresso looked up to see Madeleine shoving the students away and standing in front of Espresso's shaking body, shielding him.

The boy seemed shocked that Madeleine was standing up for Espresso. Madeleine's normal, happy self was completely changed. He looked furious.

"I said, get the hell away from him!" He repeated. He turned to the group. "All of you."

They glanced at each other before stepping away from them. The crowd of other students watching realized the fight was over and slowly scattered as well.

Madeleine turned and crouched down in front of Espresso. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking at his bloody face.

He stared back at him before nodding, glancing away. "Y-Yeah, sorry," He mumbled. "I should probably go." He stood up, slightly leaning against the lockers for support.

"Wait," Madeleine said, grabbing his wrist. He looked back at him. "You're bleeding. Like, a lot. Come on, I'll clean you up." He pointed to the bathroom.

Espresso didn't resist as Madeleine took him to the bathroom, wetting a paper towel and cleaning up the blood.

Espresso winced at the pain.

"Why were they doing that to you?" He asked as he cupped his face in his hand. He dabbed the wet paper towel against his cuts, trying to stop Espresso's bloody nose.

He sighed. "The rumors," He mumbled. "They think we're dating. Everyone hates me because all the girls want to be with you and they think I took you from them..." His voice trailed off. "I'm just so, so sorry. This must be terrible for you."

He continued to help his wounds. "It's okay. It's not that bad for me. Everyone just asks me if I'll ever break up with you," He laughed. "But... You obviously have it worse."

Espresso glanced in the mirror as most of his wounds stopped bleeding. "Everyone stares and yells at me. I wish this never happened. I wish we were never paired up for this stupid project." He felt tears sting the backs of his eyes.

"But then we wouldn't have started talking," Madeleine said, slightly tilting his head.

"Everyone calls me gay; I don't think I am." Espresso ignored him as he began to get stressed again. He started fidgeting with his fingers. "I mean, I might be, I don't know. I might be bisexual, girls are cool. But so are guys. I don't... I don't know."

Madeleine nodded. "It'll be okay," Madeleine said. "The rumors will die down and this won't be an issue anymore."

Espresso didn't say anything. He just looked at himself in the mirror. His nose and lip had stopped bleeding, but he saw places where bruises would start to form. God, he hated this.

Madeleine noticed he was sad. "Do you want a hug?"

Espresso nodded, hugging him tightly. He smiled as his face heated up. It did feel nice to be in his embrace. It felt so safe and warm, like everything was okay when he was in his arms.

He understood why people thought they were dating. I mean, they were hugging in the bathroom, that's kind of as gay as it gets.

Espresso pulled away, blushing. Madeleine gave really good hugs. He wanted to stay like that forever. He thought for a moment. Madeleine made him so happy. He was so happy he was his friend, he really needed someone... And now he had Madeleine.

"Are you okay now?" Madeleine asked, snapping him out of his trance.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Sorry," Espresso quickly said.

"If anyone tries to beat you up again, I'll punch them too." He punched the air to show him. "See? I'm good at punching."

He laughed as he stared into his blue eyes, smiling slightly. He was so silly.

They walked out of the bathroom, waving as they went in separate directions down the halls.

Espresso thought to himself. Maybe he did love Madeleine. He wasn't sure, and all these rumors were making it a lot harder to tell, but Madeleine made Espresso feel something he had never felt before.

But who knows? It might be just friendship. Like Latte said, he had never really had a friend before, so he didn't know what all these new and confusing feelings were. Either way, he wanted to be near Madeleine. He was an amazing person, but everyone gave him dirty looks anytime he was even close to him.

Espresso bit the inside of his mouth. He was sure he could push through and ignore the rumors. For Madeleine.