AN: Because I love to torture these poor, poor boys.
Disclaimer: Nope. Never have, most likely never will.
Everything hurt.
His arms, his thighs, his chest and stomach, all aching with promises of bruises to come in the morning. His head was pounding, and his wrists and ankles were chafed from struggling. His… unmentionables… hurt the worst, by far. Not exactly surprising, but…
And he was cold. His t-shirt was torn to shreds, as were his track pants and jacket. His skin was pressed against freezing cement where he lay cruelled into a ball on his side. His boxers were supposedly intact (they weren't ripped when he lost them…) but hell if he was going to open his eyes to look for them. Not yet at least. He could do that later.
But what if someone finds me? He thought, shivering again, a stark reminder of the fact that he was outside, in public. He held onto that thought, lifting his head from his knees and opening his eyes, bloodshot from crying. There they were, only a yard away. He uncurled himself further, before freezing, a hand over his mouth to keep himself from crying out.
Shit. That hurt. He thought, his breaths coming in quick pants. He felt tears return to his eyes. But I have to keep going. He braced himself for the coming pain, determined not to cry out, before forcing his muscles to move and quickly straightening himself out of a fetal position.
And nearly curling back into it. He froze again, gasping for air.
"Ow. Ow, owowowowowowowowowowowowowowOW." He sobbed out under his breath. He felt the tears begin to stream down his face once again. He lay there, gasping for air, trying to calm himself. He got his breathing back to an almost normal rate. Maybe he could just stay like this for a while… after all, his boxers could wait, couldn't they?
Come on, it can't be much worse than that. He tried to give himself a pep talk. He opened his eyes (when had he closed them again?) and rolled onto his stomach. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. He was encouraged by this, and moved to push himself to his hands and knees.
One, two, three… he counted to himself before quickly pushing himself up… and promptly falling back to the ground with a sharp cry. A sick squelching noise came from his lower regions as he moved. It made him nauseous and he pushed himself to his knees, managing to crawl a little way before vomiting. The heaving of his stomach hurt as it strained already abused muscles, but he couldn't stop. Not until he emptied himself, and nothing but dry heaves ran through his body as he sat back, bringing his knees to his chest.
He slammed his hand over his mouth, shaking as sobs racked his frame.
He looked up to see that his boxers where now within arm's reach. He grabbed them and pulled them on, attempting to stifle the cries of pain that escaped his lips but failing miserably.
He finally finished the daunting task of covering himself (at least somewhat) with the boxers, and promptly fell to his side, curling back into a fetal position. He gasped as pain continued to rush through him in waves, even though he had gone still. He didn't bother to try to cry quietly anymore, and his sobs echoed down the alley.
Until he heard the voices.
"Come on, I thought I heard someone cry out back here." A boy's voice spoke. It sounded familiar, but shock was finally beginning to overtake him, and he couldn't tell. He curled up tighter into a ball, trying to melt into the concrete.
"It was just your imagination. Let's just keep going with our jog." Another boy, his voice deeper, replied. The voices were getting closer.
"It won't hurt just to look." The first voice spoke again. It was definitely closer. Just around the corner.
He began to shake harder as panic rose in his chest.
After all, anyone could stumble upon him. Anyone…
Rin closed his eyes as he walked outside the dorm, breathing in the calm autumn evening air. Running always seemed to clear his head, and he liked it. Not nearly as much as he loved swimming, no, but he liked it all the same.
Besides, ever since Sousuke began to accompany him, it had become even better. They had taken to stopping at a local convenience on the way back to the dorms, and it was fun to catch their breath as they waited in line, chatting.
"You coming or not?" Sousuke asked, a few meters away. Rin scowled good-naturedly at him.
"Yeah, yeah. I swear, you're the most impatient person in Japan." He joked as they began to jog.
They were on their way to the store when it happened. Rin paused in his run, panting softly. His brow furrowed as he peered down an alley way that they had been passing.
"Oi, why'd you stop? Tired already?" Sousuke asked, walking back when he realized that Rin had stopped.
"No, I thought I heard something." He replied, glancing back at his taller friend.
"Huh?"
"Down that alley." He clarified, gesturing with his head. "It almost sounded like—"
He stopped. There it was again. He was almost certain this time. It was the sound of someone crying out. A rather familiar someone.
"Rin, what is it?" Sousuke asked, grabbing his wrist as the redhead began walking briskly down the alley way.
"Come on, I thought I heard someone cry out back here." He said, tugging away and continuing down the alley. Sousuke shook his head. He hadn't heard anything, and he had been jogging closer to the alley than Rin had.
"It was just your imagination. Let's just keep going with our jog." He said, following his friend, who was about to round a corner in the alley. Rin paused and glanced back. Then he heard the distinct sound of sniffling.
"It won't hurt just to look." He said crisply and continued around the corner.
He stopped dead in his tracks. His mouth fell open, and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head and he took in the scene in front of him.
Shreds of a distinctive white and blue track suit littered the ground, mixed with equally telling yellow T-shirt scraps. A disgusting white goop was mixed in with it all, and Rin was assaulted with the smell of sweat, vomit, and another even more revolting substance. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened.
But what hit him hardest was the person in the middle of it all. They were curled into a fetal position, their small form racked with sobs. Nasty red marks littered their skin, some already turning blue and purple. A shock of blond hair fell across their face, which was buried in their knees.
"Rin? What's wrong? Are you alright?" Sousuke asked. The Red head had frozen as soon as he turned the corner, and hadn't moved for nearly a minute. It was like his question flipped a switch. Rin blinked, then lurched forward.
"Nagisa!" Rin choked out, no longer paying any heed to his giant friend. He ran toward the smaller boy, and dropped down to his knees beside him.
"Rin? What's wrong? Are you alright?" the second voice spoke again.
Nagisa felt himself freeze. R-Rin?
"Nagisa!" he heard the older boy call his name. Then someone was kneeling beside him. "Oh, Nagisa." They murmured.
"Rin? Oh shit…" the deep voice
He felt someone, presumably Rin, gently lay their hands on him, one on a shoulder, and one on a knee. It was so tender, so gentle, but he couldn't help but flash back to the last set of hands that had been on him.
Rough hands grabbed his wrists, forcing them behind his back as he was slammed against a wall. He struggled, trying to cry out as he was bound tightly with a rough, scratchy rope. He fell silent as another hand smacked his forehead against the bricks in front of him. Another set began to tear away his pants with a knife, leaving small cuts on his pale, delicate skin.
"NO! No more!" He cried, scrambling blindly away from the touch. He backed himself away into the wall of the alley, curling into an even tighter ball then before. "No…"
"Nagisa… please." Let me help you.
He shook his head. No. Don't touch me. Not yet.
"I'm not going to hurt you..." Trust me.
Nagisa flinched as a hand once again brushed against his shoulder, but he didn't jump away like last time. The hand came back, encouraged, and came to rest lightly on bare, bruised skin. Nagisa finally peeked out from under disheveled bangs, pink eyes meeting red.
Rin caught his breath. He looked broken. So broken. The eyes that normally shone with an annoying amount of happiness, energy, life, now looked tired, hurt, and dull.
"Rin…" He said softly, his voice cracked. A fresh bout of tears welled in his eyes, and before he knew it he was flinging himself into the redhead's arms, sobbing into his shoulder. Strong arms hugged him closer, a gentle hand rubbing his back.
"Shhhhhh… Nagisa… It's okay. Everything's gonna be okay…" I'll never let anyone hurt you again.
AN: So. Yeah. I wrote this. It's on AO3 as well. I'm a terrible person. And I take pride and shame in that fact in equal amounts.
Please, review and tell me how I did!