Sebastian Moran was sitting at the kitchen table of a boy's home. A long dining room table that was covered in scratches, marks, and scuffs. He wore a scowl on his face, a mean glare for anyone who dared look over at him. His duffel bag was at his feet, and his case worker sitting next to him at the table. In less than a fortnight he had been removed from his emergency placement home. Too violent, unstable, not right in the head. Boys home for him, at least until his case was seen before a judge.
"Where are the others?" he asked the two men who sat at the head of the table. The social workers who lived and worked here. "There are other boys right?"
"School," he was told, "almost everyone goes to school, a few home school. I pick them up after."
The back door squeaked open right as the words were finished being said and a messy haired, baggy shirt wearing boy stuck his head through the door and cursed. He hadn't known that the stupid social workers would still be home at this time of day otherwise he would have just hid in the broom closet again.
He let himself in the rest of the way and stood staring at his feet trying to hide the bruise that was forming on his cheek. He didn't need to be yelled at about that to go along with the punishment he'd receive for ditching school yet again. He was wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the blond sitting at the table.
"James!" The older of the men yelled, standing quickly and grabbing him around the neck to drag him to the table and force him to sit. "How many times do we have to tell you that this is unacceptable?"
"None, sir." The teen hissed under his breath, glancing up to look at the new comer.
"What was that?"
"None sir, because no matter how many times you tell me I will not listen to your false authority. Who is this?"
Victor scowled from his seat and snapped, "Wilkes, just take him to his room for now."
Sebastian watched as James was frog marched towards the stairs, "He's just a baby," Sebastian commented, "How in hell did he end up here? Thought you had to be a right nutter..." Sebastian's case worker squeezed his knee and reassured him he wasn't 'nuts'.
"Anyway, sorry for the interruption, James has truancy problems we're sorting out. Might keep him home soon. We have five boys here currently. You'll make six. You'll be sharing your room and following the structure we have here. Alright, Sebastian?" Sebastian just grunted at Victor.
Jim was shoved into his small bedroom which contained a single desk and two twin beds that left a small strip of tacky 70's shag carpet to be seen, if it wasn't covered by Jim's mess. He was told to clean his room and the bath room, the toilet included before three or he wouldn't have dinner that night as punishment. He was also told to get new sheets on the other bed he had set up as his personal reading nook because the Sebastian would be sharing a room with him.
He just glared and spit at Mr. Wilkes, earning him a quick slap across his already bruising face. Not that he cared, it was worth it. He liked watching them turn such a lovely shade of red when they were angry at him. It was the only time anyone noticed him anyway.
He cleared off the bed, stacking the books he had nicked from local stores up in the corner and over the desk but that was it. He didn't clean the tooth paste test he'd been running from the bath room mirror or take the rotting tuna out from under the other bed. He just laid on his own with a record playing, zoning out and forgetting anyone down stairs existed.
Sebastian was told the rules. Told that he would be sharing with James, to tell them if anything happened, to not let the boy scare him. Sebastian snorted a laugh. Yeah. That fourteen year old spit of nothing. Then his case worker left, handing him his number on a card, telling him to call if anything happened. Anything at all. Sebastian pocketed it and was taken up to the shared room.
"James," Victor said, "this is Sebastian, Sebastian, James."
"Can the beds stack?" was the first thing Sebastian asked, walking into the room and inspecting the bed frame. His bed currently faced the door. He didn't like that. It made his skin crawl. If they could stack the beds that way neither would have to face the door.
"I don't want to stack the stupid beds. They are fine." Jim drawled, turning over onto his stomach to glare at the bloody intruders. "I like them the way they are."
"Shut up James, weren't you supposed to be cleaning?"
"No." He replied and rolled his eyes dramatically. Tedious, they were all so tedious. "And my name is Jim. Should I spell it for you J. I. M. The beds won't be stacked."
Victor ignored the boy's comments and turned to face Sebastian. "Why do you want to stack them?"
"It faces the door," Sebastian told him, "We could move the desk instead, trade their places. I'd be alright with that. I just. I don't like it when it faces the door." He didn't want to add 'because people can get in and attack you that much easier' because that sounded mental. Instead he began pacing out the room, trying to decide if it would work or not.
Smelling the air he grimaced, "What smells like rot?" he asked, not adding 'or fanny', because the kid was just fourteen. Jesus, he was tiny. Couldn't really be fourteen.
Victor didn't even want to start on the reasons the room could smell that way, especially not with Jim smiling proudly like that. "I will let you to decide that and get to know each other. James, you have chores unless you want a different punishment."
Jim just rolled his eyes again and pulled his legs tight to his body after the door was shut. He eyed the boy pacing the small space and laughed. "You paranoid little fuck, think someone's going to kill you in your sleep don't you."
"Shut it," Sebastian told the kid with a snarl, no longer caring for his 'feelings' about the room and beginning to move the desk. It wasn't that hard. He was large for his age, strong even though he was gangly. Shoving the desk into the hall he moved his bed so it was now perpendicular to Jim's so that where Jim's feet would rest Sebastian's head would be about a foot away.
"Oh christ what's that!" he shouted, the can of, was that tuna? Covered in bugs and maggots on the floor right where his bed had been. "Fuck that's disgusting!"
"Don't touch it!" Jim squealed and shoved Sebastian away from his Clostridium botulinum he had been allowing to ferment for a week now. It was the first that hadn't been taking away once one of his keepers noticed it. The bed had been the perfect hiding spot and with the windows locked tight and the extra blankets and lamp plugged in it wasn't only a passive aggressive tempt for fate to burn down the entire house but the perfect conditions the bacteria. He quickly gathered the cans up and the lamp and crawled over to Sebastian's bed to reset up the make shift incubator.
"No," Sebastian told him, "Under your bed or I'm tossing it," he said with a scowl. "And I'm using air freshener." There was no room to argue. It was that or he'd force feed the rotten food to Jim just so he knew not to disobey the next time.
"I can't keep it under my bed! Are you an idiot!" He didn't bother to stop, just slid the cans back into their air tight little bubble of blankets and trash and went to plug in the lamp.
Sebastian sighed through his nose and grabbed Jim around the neck, shoving him down onto the tiny space they had for a floor and sitting on his chest. "You have two options," he told him, thankful for how much bigger he was. This kid was a freak. "You put it under your bed or I feed it to you right now."
"Idiot!" Jim spat out, snapping his teeth trying to find some flesh he could latch onto. "You'll kill me!" He managed to get out before his lungs felt like they were collapsing and he was whimpering, scratching at the area around him desperately. He couldn't keep it under his bed and chance breathing in one of the air borne particles as unlikely as it might be, no, keeping it under the stupid dolts bed was a much safer idea. He wasn't trying to kill himself, just everyone else.
Sebastian had enough of this shit. Standing he took the thing all bundled up and started down the hall and the stairs, going outside. He would fling it off the porch into the yard. If he just threw it away in the bundle the kid would get it back. "I warned you!" he told Jim as he thundered down the stairs, Victor and Wilkes staring at them.
"No!" Jim screeched, launching to his feet and jumping onto the other's back, biting anyplace he could get a hold of. "You ruined it. Mine and you ruined it! Do you know how hard it is to ferment that?" He growled through his clenched jaw. There was no use trying to get the bacteria back now that it had been killed by the rough treatment. There was a new name to add to the kill list.
Victor and Wilkes were there in a second. They tried to coax the boy off Sebastian's back, promising that if he didn't stop biting that instant sever punishments were going to be dealt. Still the threats didn't seem to faze him as he just bit down so hard his head was shaking at the force and teeth starting to hurt. But that was his. He had worked on that and it wasn't fair that this mutantly large boy could come in and ruin it.
"Get off!" Sebastian screamed at Jim, grunting at the pain in his collarbone and soldiering on to the kitchen where he binned the stuff. He ripped Jim off of his back and deposited him on the floor in front of him. "Jesus Christ I'm bleeding you stupid fuck!" he shouted at Jim. That would scar. He'd have a fucking bite mark scar from some puny little boy. Great.
Victor was in between them instantly while Wilkes was looking at the trash, he gagged and stepped back, "Was that in your room?"
"No!" Jim screamed, starting to throw one of his tantrums. "It was in your bloody arse you monkey faced, faggot loser!" He was panting and frantically looking for an escape, when he came to the realization that no matter what he did he wasn't going to get away he started to crawl only to be grabbed and slammed against the kitchen wall by Victor. "Get off of me you ape! Beer gutted cow!" He was panicking, his heart was racing and his face was going red because he couldn't breathe. His legs started to kick out at all the men around him, hands smashing into the ground before he opened his mouth and screamed bloody murder.
Sebastian sighed, this was ridiculous. Jim was ridiculous. He did know a thing or two about panic attacks though, and he shoved Victor out of the way and took Jim in his arms into a bear hug, walking him to the living room where a blanket was and manhandling the much younger teen into it, swaddling him up before laying him down on the couch. "Hush," he whispered to Jim. Feeling guilty because he'd caused this. "Hush now. You'll be fine."
Jim glared at Sebastian, quickly kicking the sheet off of himself and crawling to the far side of the couch where he curled up into a tight ball. He didn't want to admit the softly spoken words had helped him or that his heart had stopped beating so fast due to the comfort he had felt. No one cared about him and that was okay, he was perfectly fine taking care of himself.
He continued to glare at the blond, top lip rolling up to show off his canines. It was his fault that his project was ruined. It would set him back another four weeks or more because he'd have to try and gather loose change from around the house again. In that time the boys at school would be able to hurt him worse, pick on him, torment him and then he would sneak home only for it to start up again here and it was all that stupid boy's fault. It was almost enough to make him cry. He wouldn't though.
"Is he calm now?" Victor asked Sebastian, Wilkes was busy taking the trash out to the curb to get rid of the smell then pick up the other boys from school. "I have never seen anyone do that to him before. Usually we just let him cry it out on the floor."
"Why?" Sebastian asked in a bit of a snide voice, "So he can have a breakdown? It's not that fuckin' hard to fix a panic attack. Even if it is from a mental." Sebastian stood from his spot on the floor and asked, "We get an allowance or something? Or no?" He got ten pounds a week from his da at home. If he was good. So he usually got ten pounds a month at most.
Jim's dark eyes narrowed into thin little slits at Moran. He wasn't a mental, the boy touched his stuff and that was a better reason to get all pissy than being afraid someone was going to kill you if your bed was on the wrong side of the room. "No, we don't get an allowance but if you don't eat lunch you can save that money and get stuff with it. That is as long as the bullies don't take it from you first but you're a big oaf, I highly doubt you'll have issues with that."
"You better be eating your lunch James." The boy made a quick correction to his name before curling into a tighter little ball and glaring off into a corner. "On government pension there isn't nearly enough money to give eight kids an allowance. So, simply put, no."
"Am I allowed to get a job?" Sebastian started before realizing it was a stupid question. Of course he wasn't. He wasn't allowed to leave the property unless he was at school or church.
"James, upstairs, to your room," Victor snapped. They didn't need him hanging about when the older boys got back from school. Jim was the baby of the bunch and they teased him whenever he was vulnerable.
"Need help?" Sebastian offered.
"Need help fishing the dick out of your arse, you fag." Jim got up on shaking limbs and made his way to the steps before turning around, "Will I be expecting you or Wilkes to be retrieving me from my room for my 'punishment'. I just want to know what underwear I should wear."
"Upstairs now."
Jim turned on his heel and ran up the steps then slammed his door shut behind him. He no longer instinctively reached to lock it because at this point he knew there wasn't a lock there. He collapsed over his bed and started shaking again. He had been doing good for a while. He'd actually been trying and now he just felt empty again.
Sebastian gave Victor a weird look and started up the stairs. Underwear? Either the kid was just being a prat or something nastier was happening here than his case worker knew about. He'd figured they'd be rough, it was a boy's home. They were here because they needed rough.
Sebastian wasn't a little kid anymore though. He was bigger than Wilkes... not Victor, but he was strong and tough, and mean. Had the scars on his face to prove that.
"Punishment?" he asked.
Victor smiled sweetly up at Sebastian. "James is a strange one; I don't even know what he is talking about most of the time, like you said, a nutter." There was something cruel hidden under the soft façade Victor and Wilkes put up. No one ran a boy's home out of the kindness of their hearts; it was more for the love the boys gave them. "Will you check on him for me? Don't want him hurting himself again."
Sebastian nodded and head up the stairs, knocking before he entered his own room just because Jim seemed so fragile. Sitting on his own bed after closing the door he looked over at Jim and asked, "Why were you building a deadly culture under a bed?" Only a few reasons. One the kid had no idea what he was doing. Two the kid was a freak and liked bugs. Three the kid knew exactly what he was doing.
"To kill people." Jim's response was muffled by the pillow his face was smashed against.
"That's a stupid way to kill people," Sebastian told him with a smile. "Spores would have been all over you. This room. Everything you own. If you want to kill people..." Sebastian leaned in and whispered, "You make it look like they killed themselves."
Jim rolled his eyes and sat up, sitting criss cross which somehow made him look even smaller than he was. It might have been the baggy shirt which had to have been five sizes too big. "Do you know what Botulism is?" He waited for a second then answered himself. "No, well it's a deadly disease caused by Clostridium botulinum, one of the most anaerobic lethal poisons known to man. It is derived from poorly packaged canned meats, like tuna and one spore can kill a grown man. The great thing about Botulism is that once it is figured out to be that it is written off as an accidently death." He smiled, his dark eyes glinting with pride. "That's a lot better than trying to cover a murder with a suicide."
"Cleaver, but what if you'd killed yourself trying to make that?" Sebastian offered with a look. "You need to be careful. Shit like that gets you killed... who were you trying to kill anyway?" Sebastian asked Jim, sitting down on his own bed, legs crossed as well. "Was it Victor and Wilkes?"
"Anaerobic, meaning doesn't really like oxygen. Therefore there is only a small chance of breathing it in, so, as long as I didn't rub it all over my fucking face I wouldn't die. Still, I used precautions. " Jim sighed and held his legs closer to his body. "We aren't friends. You'll hate me as much as they all do so save yourself some trouble and shut up."
"Look prat," Sebastian started with a sigh, "I'm not saying 'let's be friends' what I am saying though is: we share a room. I'd really rather not have you trying to kill me in my sleep. So could you just try not to be such a bag of dicks and get on with me?" Sebastian gave Jim a look, waiting for him to reply. The kid might be small but he sure wasn't a push over.
"No." Jim arched an eyebrow and flopped over onto his belly, ignoring the other. He could get along perfectly fine without getting along with the big oaf and anyways he wasn't planning on killing the paranoid fuck in his sleep. No, that would come when he killed everyone else.
"You're impossible," Sebastian said with a sigh, standing from the bed and leaving the room. Christ, why did he have to get put with that mental with big fucking brown puppy eyes.
Sebastian walked down the stairs and saw Victor at the door, letting two teenagers accompanied by Wilkes. Swallowing hard he went over to the group, standing just in the living room and refusing to move forward any further.
Wilkes hurried to get the boys to sit on the couch. Neither were as young as Jim, they had to be at least sixteen and tall for their ages. Once they were seated Wilkes and Victor stood in front of the group and started to introduce Sebastian.
"This is your new house mate, we want you all to respect him and try not to give him too much of a hard time." There were some nods and a lot of groans before Victor started to talk again. "So, we will leave you all to get better acquainted." Then the two left leaving all the boys alone.
"So, you get James huh?" A red haired boy asked from the couch, holding the remote away from the other boy.
"Yeah," Sebastian said, after realizing Jim was James to everyone else. "He's not too pleased. Not sure myself." Sebastian went over to the couch and sat down. There were two of them had come back from school and two up from the basement where the computers were kept. He was bigger, but not by much. And these boys looked just as hardened as him.
"So what's the deal with Wilkes and Victor?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Like, they seem a bit off. Jim said they're twats but... ya know can you give me some info?"
"Eh, they're alright. I mean, they treat us better than most of the homes I came from." The boys nodded in agreement, watching a soccer game on the telly and only half listening. "I mean they only really suck if you are James, but you will be one of us so it'll be fun for you." He smiled and held out his hand. "I am Robert, that's Carl," He pointed to an oily faced boy.
"So, do you like it here so far? I can tell you met James by now." Robert smiled and waved at Sebastian's shoulder and winked. "You bare his mark, he must like you."
"He hates me. I threw out some awful tinned meat he was keeping under the bed. This is from him trying to kill me, prat," Sebastian said with a sigh. Jim seemed to be the whipping boy, better to just accept that part now and fit in. He was tall, strong, capable... but these boys were just as tall, strong, and capable as him. In fact... he was starting to feel small.
The scars helped though, the gashes across his nose and eye. They turned his baby face into a frightening thing. That made it better. Easier. "Alright," Sebastian sighed, "Well, it's good to know this isn't some psycho house. Had enough of that already." Sebastian's stomach growled then and he looked to the other boys, "We allowed to grab anything from the kitchen or?"
The boy laughed and nodded, "Yeah, just try not to eat too much or they will make you pay them back. Course that's not always that bad."
Sebastian frowned but nodded, standing and walking to the kitchen. He opened the fridge first. Things were labeled with 'mealtime' and 'snacks'. Closing the fridge Sebastian went to the cupboard, found a loaf of bread and a jar of marmite and made himself a sandwich. Putting everything back before chomping on the sandwich and heading back to his room.
"You've got quite the reputation."
Jim scuffed and went back to reading the book he had started earlier. "So you have heard now. Can't wait for your turn to have a go or are you not like that, straight as a rod or something?"
Sebastian was genuinely confused, "What the fuck are you on about?" he asked. "I was just talking about how everyone seems to know it was you who gave me the fucking 'love bite'. What are you even talking about?"
Jim looked up just as confused as Sebastian was. He rolled his eyes and went back to reading.
Sebastian began unpacking his things into the little closet, taking the half that seemed most empty. After he was done they were all being called down for dinner. Friday nights were never time for family style meals at Sebastian's house, but he bustled down the stairs with everyone else because, fuck, he was hungry.
Taking the only empty seat once everyone had sat he looked around the spread and smiled.
It was spaghetti, Jim glared at it and reached forward to take as many pieces of garlic bread he could before the other boy's slapped his hands away. He managed to get two, one which he started to eat and the other he shoved up under his shirt so no one could grab it away. There was no talking for the first few minutes as five hungry boys all shoveled food into their mouths and plates but once they got everything they wanted Wilkes started to speak.
"James got himself in trouble again today." Suddenly all the eyes were on him and he slumped down into his chair, losing all his appetite. "I think its Robert's turn to talk to him; I will come get you two a few minutes before lights out." There were smiles at Robert and a few sighs in relief, while some of the boys liked it being their turn there were even more who dreaded it with the same passion Jim did.
Sebastian was confused, but simply accepted it as some 'tough love' type deal. They were all older, had been there before, fucked up before. They could offer something to Jim. Noting how little food Jim had eaten, Sebastian stashed the two pieces of garlic bread he'd gotten under his shirt and requested more pasta instead.
"You're a hungry one," Wilkes said to Sebastian as he passed down the spaghetti to Sebastian.
Shifting awkwardly Sebastian just nodded, "They took me for a checkup, when they um, took me into care. Doctor said I should be 6'5" before I stop growing. So... lots of room to fill up first."
"It's okay love." Victor smiled and chewed some of his own food. "We are used to accommodating big boys. 6'5" is very tall, you must be very blessed." The two of them, Wilkes and Victor, would keep dropping casual hints at overly sexualized subjects until it just seemed normal for Sebastian, and then they would take him down to the basement. It had worked with all the other boys. Why change a working plan.
Jim placed his half eaten piece of bread on the table and started to stand up. He didn't want to stay for this. He didn't want to watch all the people he hated gleefully shove their face full of food he got them.
"Sit," Victor told Jim in a dark tone. "We don't leave the table until everyone is done. Or do you want to have two boys talking with you tonight?"
Jim shook his head and reclaimed his seat, sliding his plate away from him and crossing his hands over his chest. He glared at everyone at the table, Sebastian included. His face even started to hurt once half the food was gone he was scowling so hard. When there were only a few boys still eating, Sebastian being one of them which just made Jim hate him more, Jim tried to stand up again. "There is only thirty more minutes before lights out, please, most of you obese pigs are done now."
"Go to your room," Victor snapped at Jim, glaring him down as the few boys still eating and chatting pushed their food away, feeling awkward after what Jim had sad. Sebastian just ate the garlic bread he'd been hiding for Jim. If the kid wanted to be a prat he could.
"Thank you!" He called as he bolted all the way up to his room and slammed the door shut then curled up into the corner of his closet, throwing out of his prick roommate's things since they were in his little corner. He needed that space. He stayed there; chin resting on his knees in the semi darkness. Part of him hoped that maybe they wouldn't find him that night, that he could wish himself into oblivion or maybe he could just disappear.
"Isn't nine a little early for lights out?" Sebastian frowned. Ten would be more reasonable. Maybe eleven if they were lucky. He hadn't gone to bed a nine since he was a little kid.
"It's up in your rooms at nine, ceiling lights off, personal lamps can stay on until eleven for homework, reading, and cards." Wilkes explained. Sebastian didn't really like the sounds of that though, not when he shared a room with that little asshole. Maybe they'd let him go into the other rooms... or just move in with the older boys.