Why'd it have to be like this?
It was like slamming his head against the wall.
And Bro didn't want to take it anymore.
He didn't want to think anymore, he didn't want to feel confused or alone or any of the feelings that had been introduced to him so suddenly.
He slipped beneath the water and let the bubbles flow smoothly from his mouth, it felt so pure, so right, this was it. This was the end.
"Bro, do I have to go to school today?" Dave pushed his cereal around the bowl and tried to look like he didn't care whether Bro said yes or not.
"Why? You sick?" Bro felt proud of himself for having got up early enough to see Dave off to school, but the idea of nursing him for the rest of the day was daunting, he'd have done anything for Dave, but the whole maternal thing wasn't really for him.
"No, I just, I don't wanna' go"
"Some kid givin' you shit?" Bro knew what that felt like, before he's built the persona of hard-partying-up-all-night-take-no-shit Bro Strider he hadn't exactly been Mr. Popular.
"No, I guess, I mean sorta', but I can handle it I just need a day"
"Dave, who is it?"
"Just this kid in my class ok, but like I said I got it"
"Oh no, no brother of mine is getting' kicked around, put on your shades, we're leaving" Bro hadn't meant to get this involved, but the idea of Dave getting shoved about by some kid was more than he liked to think about, "I'll talk to your teacher and we'll sort this out"
Dave complained all the way to school, but Bro could tell at least a small part of him was relieved that this was gonna be over, well hopefully. Dave's teacher was a bubbly blonde, who was only teaching the class to tide over her boob job payment, which she insisted on telling Bro about in lurid detail, including before and after pics and a real life demonstration, before she would even talk to Dave about his problem. At least once he started telling her about it she seemed genuinely concerned, and asked Dave to point out the kid who had been causing him trouble, after a few mumbled shuffling seconds Dave pointed to a dark-haired boy sitting with a pretty freckled girl on one of the back tables.
"Eridan?" the teacher looked surprised "are you sure, he always seemed so polite" Dave nodded, a slow brush creeping up his cheeks. "ok well, we'll have a talk with his parents and see what we can do, is that ok sweety? Are you free tomorrow night, so we can talk to his parents together?" this last question was directed at Bro, though he was pretty sure it was a pretext for her to show him more views of her stiff, snow globe boobs, he agreed, he had to do this, for Dave.
He was skulking outside the classroom; waiting for the teacher to finish talking to the kid's, who he now knew was called Eridan (weird ass name if you asked Bro), parent, a tall army general with scarred face. After he'd been waiting for over half an hour, he checked into the classroom, well, he said checked, he meant went close enough to hear the sex noises coming from within and beat a hasty retreat. That was when he bumped into Cronus; he was sitting cross-legged, on the scuffed linoleum floor chin on his hands staring into nothing. He was wearing a creased white t-shirt, the kind that hipsters pretended they bought from a thrift shop for $2 but were actually from Hollister and cost a vile of unicorn blood and the big toe of your first born child, over that was a leather jacket covered in patches and stickers, most of them were from obscure indie and classic rock bands, further re-enforcing the hipster theory.
"You know you're not allowed to smoke in here right? Trust me I've tried" the boy slipped the cigarette from between his lips and turned it to Bro without so much as looking up, "It's not lit? What the hell?"
He shrugged, but turned his face up, Bro could see him more clearly now, he had a small wavy scar above his eye and he was hot, like really hot, like 'I wanna tie you to a bed and fuck you 'till you can't see straight' kind of hot. Bro had a feeling this was gonna be an interesting night.