Monday
10/8/19
First days were always quite odd to Zak, but this one felt a little bit different. Maybe it was because this was a public school or maybe it was this is a completely different Institute yet the exact same town.
It was none of those things in reality, instead it was the boy he'd risked his life for and would do so again a hundred more times.
Zak sat in the car, starring out the window but he didn't care for what was his eyes were actually placed on. His stomach churned and he felt queasy; Was Bad going to be okay? How was Bad while Zak was at home yesterday? He couldn't help but be worried sick, Bad was his best friend after all.
"Zak, hello?" Zak jolted out of his thoughts and stared at his father with wide eyes, "We're here." Zane stated, giving his son a hopeful smile. Zak closed his eyes and took a breathe, it came out shaky and slow. Zane clutched the wheel and fidgeted with the knuckles of his free hand before speaking, "Zak I'm sure he's fine. If anything happens you call Sam or I, okay?" Zane reassured his son who's breathing shallowed more by the second.
The boy nodded, he couldn't face his father and instead looked out the window at the flurry of new faces that pranced around the school entrance. Large writing at the front read 'Sebring High School', this school didn't have the best reputation but it wasn't the private school so this was truly the only option.
Zak sighed before putting his hand on the door handle and pushing it forward, "Bye, love you." Zak muttered, giving his dad a quick yet faint smile.
"Have a good day!" Zane beamed, waving at his boy before the car was shut and he was alone.
Zane sighed, deeply. He watched as his son walked up the steps and disappeared into the crowd, he felt a knot form in his stomach. Zane thought back to his time at this very school, walking up those same stairs every day. A smiled at all the stupid memories, how the hell did he even graduate?
He stifled a laugh before his smirk twisted and fell. Zak was in grade eleven now,
'The exact same year we...'
Zanes thoughts trailed off, he gloomed over the sour memories and gripped the wheel ever tighter. Tears started to swell in his dark brown eyes before a loud car honking broke him out of his trance. Zane looked at his side mirror and saw a mother absolutely abusing her horn behind him, he chuckled before shifting his gears and driving off.
'Everything's going to be just fine.'
—
The school was very busy, expected for a public high school. Many characters wandered the grounds and Zak wasn't even inside the building yet! He searched through the young adults who reeked of hormones and fucked up emotions. His heart ached and his stomach churned.
After a while Zak saw him. Bad.
He wore his exact same black button downs, he fidgeted with the strap of his satchel and looked around as he bounced on and of the tip of his toes. All of the negative feelings that whirled inside Zak dissipated almost instantly when he saw the young man.
"Bad!" Zak shouted with glee and sprinted on towards him. Bad turned in the boys direction and smiled, beelining straight for his boyfriend, "Fuck I missed you!" Zak embraced the taller teen and gripped him tight, almost as if he did he'd disappear and never be seen again.
"It's been two days! And language, you muffin." Bad chuckled at Zak's words but he too missed the others presence. They finally let go but couldn't help but smile at each-other, staring into their eyes like there was no one else in the world.
"Are you ready?" Zak asked, innocently but voice dripping with concern. Bad's smile faltered and he tore his eyes from Zak, looking at anything but him. He stuttered, trying yet failing to get words out, "Hey it's okay. I'm here and I'm not letting anything happen to you." Zak lent forward and caressed Bad's arm, who looked back with a sheepish smile before mouthing a small acknowledgment and thanks.
Suddenly a loud alarm rang throughout the crowd and everyone started piling into the school.
Bad jumped at the sound and looked around alert. Zak tightened his grip on Bad's arm until Bad seemed to relax a little, "just the bell, forgot schools have those." Bad forced a chuckle before taking a gulp and walking towards the door along side everyone else. Zak stayed glued beside him, not letting go or having him out of his sight. Bad was going to be okay today no matter what.
"Roll check is on the second floor?" Bad queried, looking down at the boy beside him. Zak nodded back enthusiastically with the biggest, brightest smile he could muster, Bad smiled back and took in a deep breathe before letting it out slowly and steadily.
'It's just six hours, how hard could it be?'
—
"Okay class! Open up your text books!" The teacher roared to her students who all slowly tore open their overly massive books, looked for them or ignored their existence entirely.
Bad looked at the large book that lay in front of him, 'Grade 11; Physical sciences.'
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he was positively jittery at just the thought of reading this entire book and absorbing all its knowledge.
"Booooring." Zak huffed, closing his book shut after looking at it for fifteen seconds tops and lent towards Bad, "How am I supposed to learn all this and not be a nerd? It's impossible!" Zak exclaimed, earning both chuckles and shushes from his peers.
Bad rolled his eyes and shoved the other back to his desk, smiling to himself at his stupid antics.
Zak hummed, looking back down at the book and groaning at just the sight of it. A little tug against the bottom of his jeans caught his attention but he simply just ignored it before it happened once again. The hoodie wearing boy leant back and peered underneath his desk to find a foot playing with his own, he trailed the foot to see who it belonged to and found a girl smirking at him with a bit lip, she winked and tapped against his foot once more.
She caught a glimpse of another person, she looked at them for a moment and met the death glare of her life. Bad stared at her like he never had before and shook his head, slowly. The girl looked back, wide eyed and turned away, taking her foot from Zak's very steadily.
After a while, Zak and Bad met each-others eyes. Zak stifled a laugh and pressed his lips shut to try and suppress any noise that was rumbling and fighting to escape from his throat. From this, Bad slapped his mouth and sucked his teeth. The longer they looked at the other the harder it got to keep it in and eventually they exploded into a ball of high pitched giggles.
"Boys! Stop talking and turn to page 52!" The teacher hissed at the two, they both shut right up but Zak still struggled to keep it together, he looked back over at his boyfriend again and they both snickered. Mischievous little boys.
The class took forever, it seemed. Seventy minutes felt like days to Zak but for Bad it was wonderland; endless information but also being taught by someone other than his mother, than a book. "You look like you're in a good mood." Zak stated, beaming up at Bad. He chuckled and ruffled his own hair before looking down at his moving shoes,
"I just really loved being in a class room." A simple smile was spread on his face like jam on toast, even if you wipe it off it stains and leaves an impact on the cooked bread forever.
Zak smiled back, delighted with his best friends mood. They looked at the view in front of them and realised they already made it to the cafeteria; it was bustling and probably the loudest and packed room Bad had ever been in.
"Let's get some food! I hope it's bussin' or I'm gonna loooose it." Zak excitedly latched onto Bad's hand and guided him to back of the room to get their tasty meals.
After the lines cleared up and they finally got a hold of their food, they stood amongst the crowd and realised; there was no where to sit.
All the tables were full and it seemed no one was even going to dare let them sit amongst them.
"Well shit."
"Hey!" The two snapped their neck behind them to see a very tall blonde man holding his food, "You two are new right?" The two boys looked at each-other before nodding, worried yet hopeful. "Follow me..." he wiggled his eyebrows, and even though Bad and Zak couldn't see behind the face mask he wore you could tell he had a shit eating grin on his face.
The pair reluctantly followed, giving little glances to the other as they started their journey.
"If he does some sneaky shit then I'll grab him by the ankles while you just fucking go for it." Zak whispered under his breath, pumping out his chest and raising his eyebrows at the handsome boy that overshadowed him. Bad looked down at him and squinted, pulling a distasteful face.
"What is wrong with you?"
"Lots of things."
Bad squeaked as he almost collided with something, he looked around and saw they had stopped moving and had made it to a small table full of people. Looking down he could see that a very small man was staring right up at him, he extended a hand which Bad reluctantly took into his own and shook while giving a couple confused glances at Zak's way. The man smiled before speaking loud and clear, "You look like you have lice."
He returned his hand to his own and strutted over to the table and plopped himself down as if he didn't just commit a hate crime. "QUACKITY!" Everyone screamed while a pair giggled at their friends actions.
Zak giggled himself which earned a very sour glare from his boyfriend. The same man that guided them here turned around and profusely apologised before sitting them down.
Bad looked at the group, there was five of them and they all looked like the loudest people he'd ever met in his life, even Zak. "Welcome welcome, I'm Dream!" Dream clapped his hands together and set his own food down onto the table, "This is George and Nick," Dream pointed to two boys of the same height, both with scruffs that painted their chins comfortably. "Karl and final but of course least, Quackity." The two waved, Quackity giving the two newbies a wink with the most mischievous smile he could muster.
"I'm Zak and this Bad." Zak excitedly established as he beamed at the group that surrounded them. Bad shyly waved before taking the same hand into Zak's under the table, the other squeezed and gave a sympathetic smile.
"Well welcome to this very chaotic group." George grinned, taking a bite out of the sandwich that sat firmly in both his hands.
'Ooo British, I'm gonna bully you so much for that.' Zak playfully thought to himself.
"Feral boys! That's our groups name!" Nick sat up proud, exclaiming the groups name triumphantly. They all chuckled at the man's silly behaviour and turned back to Bad and Zak.
"We won't bite, I promise." Dreams voice was soft and the pair felt a little warmth form on their cheeks, he was a very charming man to say the least.
"Yeah, he could be a pastor with a voice like that but Jesus he's done some naughty naughty things." George elongated the first naughty, chuckling it out. Everyone was sent into a laughing fit, everyone but Bad.
All Bad could think of was Micheal, the charming pastor that everyone believed was an absolute saint. He started to shake and dissociate, fixating on the metal table in front of him. Zak tore his eyes and ears away from the noisy group and turned to Bad with a smile that disappeared quickly, his boy looked so horrified and disturbed he knew exactly what was wrong.
Before he could even say a word to the other Bad abruptly got up and sped out of the cafeteria, garnering many eyes following him. "Shit, I'll be back!" Zak quickly got up and followed the teen, leaving the group completely and utterly dumbfounded.
Bad ran to the bathroom as quick as he could,
"Darryl~" It's almost as if Bad could hear him, hear his name ringing against his ears like sickening poisonous vapour pours into your lungs. He crashed against the cold wood of the bathroom door and stumbled inside, grasping on to the sink that stood as his only life line. Slowly he sank, sank to the floor and held his head and pushed it down into his body as far as he could.
Everything felt different, the ground, the air, the tears streaming down his face. It was as if Bad had been thrown somewhere new, somewhere horrible. The distorted voice screaming his name pulled at Bad's ears and he swore it was Micheal. Micheal coming to take him.
"Bad!"
Zak came rushing in, looking around the bathroom before seeing the mess his best friend was on the floor. "Oh Bad..."
"No no it's okay! I'm just being stupid! G-go back..." Bad trailed off, choking on his own tears. Zak lent down beside him, caressing his leg.
"Honey, it's okay. It's okay." Zak slowly moved forward and held onto the trembling boy, trying to fight back the tears in his own eyes. "It's okay to be scared or-or triggered by this stuff. It's okay Bad."
"It's okay..."
—
The sound of the tires rolling across the tar road was comforting, it felt smooth and touched a part of the mind Bad didn't even know he had. A little pothole jolted Bad out of this state, reminding him of the cruel world was was actually in, reminding him he's in a car.
Ponk clutched the steering wheel, shifting glances to the teen that sat stiffly beside him. "Do you...want to talk about it?" He asked, trying to form a comforting smile. Bad shook his head, gripping his seat belt and staring into the void of Floridian homes that looked at the same from each-other. Ponk fidgeted, tapping the wheel and sighing to himself. "How about we get home and when Tubbo comes back from school we can all watch a movie together?"
Ponk smiled at the idea, giving Bad a small playful nudge with his elbow.
"Okay..." Bad's response was flat yet painful and it struck Ponk straight through the heart, still, he kept his smile and drove the boy home.
Home.
—
"Zak, is Bad okay?" Karl plopped himself down at the joint desk that Zak sat at. Zak jolted up wide eyed and chuckled at the sudden presence. Dream joined beside Karl, looking at Zak with a curious yet concerned expression. Zak smirked, fidgeting with a hole that was pre-etched into the desk that seemed to take a hold of his attention.
Zak nodded his head slowly, "Yeah, he just uhm...doesn't like priests." Zak winced at his explanation and scrunched up his eyes.
"Oh shit, we're so sorry." Dream placed a hand over his chest, apologising sincerely. Karl's mouth became a gaped and he put his hand on Zak's shoulder, "We'll make sure not say anything else about it again." Zak smiled, nodding and turning to the teacher.
He didn't listen, he didn't focus or even actually watch. He just thought. Thought about today, about him and Bad, about all they'd been through. Zak flickered his gaze to the two boys who were goofing off with a school book, Zak chuckled to himself,
'Yeah, these guys are gonna be good friends.'
Words: 2705