Unspeakably Unique

F

Chris slid a box across the counter to me. “First day of school. How do you feel?”
I opened the box, blinking at the lunch he'd prepared for me.
“Um. Weirded out. This is like..”
“What parents do,” Chris said quietly. “It's much more healthy and less expensive than school lunches and I know if you had your way, you'd take nothing but fruit snacks and cheese to school.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Probably about right.” I put the lid back on the box and tucked it into my backpack. “I feel okay. I've moved schools a few times, it doesn't really bother me too much anymore. And I'm halfway through senior year, so it's not like it's gonna be a long haul.”
“Good. Do you want me to drive you or are you gonna take the bus?”
I waved my card at him, smiling slightly. “Bus. Thanks though.”
Chris glanced at the clock. “You'd better go now, it's as couple blocks to the stop.”
“I know where it is, Christopher,” I muttered, getting up off my chair.
“Hey,” he said, pointing at me. “Don't be a dick.”
“Whatever.”
I slipped out the front door, jamming my earbuds in my ears. I'd had almost two months off school, what with the hospital trips and settling in with Chris. It was a weird feeling, looking forward to getting trapped in a classroom with a bunch of other spotty teens, but it wasn't a bad one either. I walked to the stop and waited quietly, turning up my music and pointedly ignoring everyone else there. Until he turned up. He had headphones on, pushing his long red hair back from his rounded, but handsome face. His eyes were a soft hazel, his nose turned up slightly. But the most striking thing about him was his clothing choice.
The long sleeved tight black dress and the black high heeled boots weren't quite what I’d expected to see as I ran my eyes down his body, but it made me smile. It suited him, especially with the cat print tights. He stood a little way away from the group, avoiding eye contact with anyone even more than I was. When the bus arrived, he walked straight to the back and sat down. I took a seat nearer the front, cranking up my music as the bus pulled away.
I had just gotten my schedule from the office and was walking down the halls, trying to find the right classroom when I heard the sounds of a struggle in the men’s restroom. I ducked inside and found the boy from earlier, trying to shake off two much larger kids. One of them had his hand up the redhead’s skirt, the other pinning him against the wall and just generally sneering.
I cleared my throat and set my backpack down, rolling my sleeves up. The kids looked at me and laughed. “The fuck are you gonna do, short ass?”
One of them was about six foot, with cropped blonde hair and blue eyes. The other, who'd been attempting to grope the younger boy was taller, but slimmer, with messy black hair and dark brown eyes. I shrugged. “Put him down and you won't find out.”
The taller of the two jerked his head towards me and Blondie stepped up to me, laughing. “You're even smaller close up.”
I squinted. “I'm pretty sure that goes against a lot of rules of perspective.”
This threw Blondie off, whom I supposed was used to other kids quaking in their boots when he leaned over them. The redhead was watching me. I winked at him and brought my knee up into Blondie’s crotch while he was still thinking over my comment. He dropped and I walked to Gangly calmly. “Let him go.”
The boy glanced at his friend and stepped back, then whipped around and ran out. I offered my hand to the redhead. “Are you alright?”
He blinked and seemed to shake himself. “I didn't need a fucking Prince Charming, asshole.”
I sighed and walked away, grabbing my backpack. “Fuck off, then.”
I swung my bag over my shoulder and calmly left the bathroom, walking down the hall to the first class of my day. I slipped inside just as the bell rang and slunk to a seat in the back, throwing myself down in my chair. I got out a notebook and sighed, trying to forget the incident with the redhead.

I was smoking outside at lunch when Blondie and Gangly turned up, sitting down on either side of me. I stared straight ahead, taking a long, pensive drag. “The fuck you guys want?”
Gangly grinned. “Well, since you stopped us from having our fun with that little cunt this morning, we thought maybe you'd do instead.”
I chuckled and glanced down at my watch. “Mhm. Try it.”
Gangly reached across, running his hand over my thigh. I stared at it for a second, trying to ignore the rising nausea, then grabbed his wrist, bringing my cigarette down against the back of his hand. He bit back a squeal and I turned to face him, holding his wrist and the cigarette firmly. “Consider this a fucking warning to stay away from me and all the other kids at this fucking shithole of a school. If I see you so much as lay a finger on that redhead again, I will slit your fucking throat and dump you in a river somewhere. Do you fucking understand?”
Gangly managed a slight nod, his eyes wet.
“Good. Oh, and if you go to the principal about this, I might get in trouble for smoking at school. Maybe. But you will get expelled and possibly arrested for sexual assault. And probably sexual assault of a minor, because that redhead did not look sixteen to me. Get it?”
He nodded again and I let go of his wrist, tucking the cigarette butt in my pocket and lighting a fresh one for emphasis as they slithered away.
I smiled to myself and put the cigarette out on the concrete, tucking it back in the packet before opening the box Chris had given me. I was just finishing my lunch when I heard footsteps clicking towards me. I glanced up and smiled. “Hey, ‘I don't need a fucking Prince Charming.’ How was your morning?”
The kid went almost as red as his hair and sat down on the bench next to me. This close, I could see the little crystal earrings and the delicate key necklace. I could even tell he was wearing a little mascara and some eyeliner.
“I'm sorry about that,” he said quietly, placing the palms of his hands on the edge of the bench either side of him, his fingers facing forward. He looked uncomfortable. Very much so. “I'm not used to people helping me and I just...didn't know what to do.”
I shrugged and leaned back, running a hand through my hair. “Mhm. It's alright. Apology accepted and all that fuckery. You okay?”
“Yeah, they usually just...taunt me. I um. I'm kind of used to it? Not them touching me, but the shouting and the name calling. Most of it factually incorrect,” he said quietly, adding the last bit with a slight smile.
“That's a shitty thing to be used to. People are dicks.”
He nodded. “Yep. I uh...my name’s Gerard, by the way. I normally sit with my friends in the cafeteria if you wanna come hang out sometime..”
I didn't look at him, taking a deep breath. “Maybe another time. I'm Frank. How old are you?”
Gerard seemed taken aback, glancing at me. “Fifteen. Why?”
“I kind of threatened some people earlier and most of it hinged on you being underage, so…”
He stared at me as I smiled at him.
“You're a good judge of age, then.”
“Sometimes. You should get back to your friends, lunch is nearly over.”
Gerard stood up quickly, taking a couple steps before stopping and turning. “Thank you,” he said again quietly, not making eye contact.
“Anytime.”
He hurried off and I smiled to myself, folding my arms over my chest.

Chris dropped his keys in the bowl and walked into the living room. “Have you done your homework yet? No tv before homework, remember?”
“Yes, Christopher. I'm not an idiot.”
He sighed loudly. “I never said you were, Frank. How was school?”
“I threatened some assholes after catching them trying to sexually assault an underage student,” I said flatly, not looking at him.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard what I said, Chris.”
“Was she okay? Are you okay?”
I laughed softly and paused the tv show I was watching, looking up at Chris. “He was fine. They didn't even rip his dress.”
Chris stared at me for a couple seconds. “Okay, I'm confused. Start from the beginning.”
I told him everything, leaving out the part where I burned a kid’s hand with my cigarette.
Chris sighed and ran a hand through his long black hair, shaking it out. “Frank, I'm glad you defended this kid, but you gotta be careful.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can take care of myself. This kid tried to bully me in eighth grade and I punched him in the throat, sent him to hospital. Besides, I go to my kickboxing class every week, you know this because you drive me. So where's my medal?”
He laughed and shook his head slightly. “Alright. Count this as a point towards that tattoo you want. What do you want for dinner?”
“Food.”
“For fuck’s sake, I'm gonna start feeding you grass,” Chris snapped, slapping the back of my head gently and walking off into the kitchen.
He had this weird point-based system to ‘fixing my behavioral problems,’ and I could never figure it out. He kept tally in his head, but I never knew how many I needed for the thing I wanted, like concert tickets or a new speaker. In any case, when I acted like a decent human being, he'd tell me I’d gotten a point and act like it was a huge deal. I'd tired of it and stopped striving for points fairly quickly, but it was often still gratifying. And he never took points away unless I did something very very serious. Like the time he'd tried to help me set my knee brace and I'd punched him in the face. That hadn't been my proudest moment.
I wandered into the kitchen and frowned. Chris was leaning back against the counter, his head in his hands.
“Chris? Everything alright?”
He sighed and looked at me, smiling sadly. “I've just had a long day, Frank. I'm okay.”
I hopped up and sat on the counter across the room from him. “Why?”
“Well you know I work a lot with kids in the foster system and I manage a lot of cases..”
I nodded slightly, running a hand through my hair. “Yeah, I know.”
“One of the kids I manage the case for attempted suicide today. I placed her perfectly, an amazing family who'd fostered before successfully and she just...I don't know. I...I try so hard to make these kids happy and it's just impossible sometimes..”
I frowned, looking down at my hands and picking at a hangnail. “You know I...I don't mean to be..”
Chris smiled and walked over to me, squeezing my shoulder gently. “I know, Frank. It's alright. Sometimes you're incredibly exasperating, I must admit, but I know you don't do it on purpose.”
Chris hugged me loosely, letting me lean into his chest. A month ago, allowing him to touch me like this would have been unthinkable, but now I felt comforted and safe. He stroked my hair once before breaking away. “We’ll be okay, Frank. Now what do you want to eat?”
I shrugged and he rolled his eyes fondly. “Very helpful.”
“What have we got, Chris?”
He hummed and tucked his hair behind his ears, opening the fridge. “Not a lot. I could do quorn spaghetti? It would be fairly easy.”
I grinned, kicking my feet like a little kid. “Perfect.”

I felt hands on me, on my feet and legs as I tried to kick them away, screaming through the gag tied in my mouth. Someone started to laugh and light suddenly flooded the little room. My hands were tied above my head, my body laid out on a thin, bloodstained mattress. The man leaned over me and I screamed again-

Chris was shaking me, speaking to me quietly. “Frank, it's alright. It was just a dream...it's okay..”
I tried to take deep breaths, but the sobs got in the way as I clung to his arms, shaking and sweating all over. Chris pulled me into a hug and just held me until the tears stopped coming.

Notes

So I hope this isn't terrible, I have it up on AO3 as well, so yeah. It was a unanimous decision from all the people who had an opinion on which story I should post next, so I hope people find this interesting :)
Logan