a/n: ending on cliffhangers too much recently i'm sorry anybody who is reading this. i had to rush when i wrote this, going out to an opera i know i won't enjoy- wish me luck!

For a terrifying beat, Cry thinks Felix is going to kiss him. They're hairs apart, centimetres almost. Felix's eyes are wide blue saucers, Cry's palms on either side of Felix's body, supporting himself up. It still doesn't change the fact that his foot is digging into Felix's thigh- he's sure it hurts more than Felix lets on- his knee is scraped red raw from the fall, his hands have concrete grains embedded into them, and Felix is still wearing that crooked smile that causes him to flush.

"Cry!" He hears Red shout before Felix opens his mouth or Cry thinks of good words to say, "Cry, are you okay?" She sounds breathless and concern laces her tone. It's disconcerting for someone to care about him, he's not used to it.

"I'm-I'm fine," he tries to push himself off Felix, and collapses trying. "Could you- could you help me here," he mumbles, not meeting eye contact. Cry flushes again; he wishes he had something to hide behind. A mask would be good. "Felix?" He tries again, after no response. He looks to Red for help with helpless eyes; she springs into action. Offers him a hand, which he grabs and hears her grunt as she pulls him to his feet.

"Thanks," Cry says, quietly. He still doesn't look at Felix, but from the corner of his eye sees a movement, a flash of something. He guesses it's Felix getting to his feet. He brushes bits of gravel clinging to his sore hands, winces from the pain. There's a trickle of blood from the few embedded deep, and when Red sees it, she freaks out and insists he needs to be taken to the school's nurse.

It takes some convincing, but he persuades here there's little damage to his hands, and states several times, "I'm fine." Behind them, Felix is uncharacteristically quiet, and that scares him. He can feel that pair of blue eyes boring into his back, and he's becoming fidgety on his feet. While Red looks over him and fusses about him, Cry's silently wishing they could leave, now. He doesn't feel comfortable around Felix.

"Don't worry about me, then," A Swedish accent that causes him to freeze, speaks out in the temporary silence. Red scowls at him from behind Cry. The look on her face is ferocious, and Cry thankfully thinks to himself he's lucky he's on her good side.

"Fuck off, Kjellberg," she hisses. The surname rolls off her tongue, and makes her sound fluent in the language. "It's your fucking fault Cry's hands are bleeding." It's a bit of an exaggeration, Cry thinks to himself, glancing down at the drops of dried blood on one hand. But he can understand why she'd exaggerate.

"C'mon, Red, won't you ever warm to me? I've been at this school for two years now." His voice is smooth, dripping with honey sweet. Cry recognises that tone with a twisting gut. It reminds him of Josh, all the times he'd try to make up to Cry, get him to forgive him for the multiple times he'd hurt him. Cry always fell for it, and he blames his stupidity and easy trust in people for that. He'll never let himself fall so deeply for a person again. He's a lot more reserved, less trusting now.

"Go fuck yourself," Red sneers at him, before she grabs Cry's good arm and leads him away. He sneaks a look over his shoulder as they go to see Felix's grin directed at him, lip ring stretched to the corner of his mouth. This can't be good. He gulps.


"That was close," Red breathes out when they've lost sight of Felix, entered the front entrance of the school. Luckily the receptionist isn't there, and there's no sign of the figure to the voice Cry heard earlier belongs to. He glances at Red; gets a startle when he sees she's been staring at him with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What?" He clears his throat, his voice has gone husky from the lack of talking. It happens. "Why- why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just thinking," she says seriously. "Wondering why Kjellberg has taken such an interest in you in particular. For whatever reason it is, it can't be good."

"Because he beats up people for fun and humiliates them?" Cry asks. She nods, affirming his worst fears. Felix is unwanted attention; as a matter of fact any particular interest taken in him is unwanted attention. He began this school day hoping to get through it without talking to too many people for his liking. Now, here he is, attracting the attention of the school bully, to put it simply.

"Exactly. Anyway, forget about him. He's not worth your time, and if he gives you any trouble, just tell one of the crew. We'll sort him out." Her threat concerning him doesn't reassure Cry as well as he'd like; he's met Felix's type before. He knows Felix will find some way to get around them, and get directly to Cry. "Okay?" Her green eyes are gentle, her touch is soothing.

"I will," he agrees without any intention to tell them should anything happen. He doesn't want to cause trouble, or go whining to them about his troubles. Red reminds him of his mother, when she cared about him and didn't harden into the person she is today.

"Good." She checks Cry's crumpled timetable that she's been holding in her hand; "you have English next. Good luck, the teacher's an asshole. Lucky for you Scott's in that class."

Cry says goodbye to her reluctantly, her presence gives him some confidence and the fiery words that contrast her sweet face protect him. His hands fiddle with his rucksack straps again; a bad habit he has when he needs to preoccupy his mind. English never was his strong point, writing or otherwise. Speaking publicly it's worse. He stuttered and stumbled over words, while people sniggered at him behind hands covering their mouths. Even reading aloud, he struggles. As for writing, he can't pick the right words to phrase sentences he has hovering in his head. He always has his pencil poised, hand trembling. Nothing comes out.

'Two more lessons, and the day is done', Cry thinks to himself as reassurance. Hoping he doesn't run into Felix again, see those tattoos and piercings again. He bumps into Scott on the way there, metres away from the door. Thanks to a map he's been given, he manages to find his way around easier than anticipated. He folds it and stashes it away deep in his bag, offering up a smile to Scott and a small greeting.

Cry's still shy towards Scott, but the guy's earning his trust bit by bit. He even feels brave enough to crack a joke, and feels successful when Scott laughs. They go into the classroom together, Cry's head down and his knees shaking. He feels pairs and pairs of eyes on him, which does nothing to help his confidence. He hears Scott's laugh again, and looks up to see him waving his hand and shouting to someone across the room, grinning. Cry's envious of how laid back he is about everything.

Muttering fills his ears, his back is stiff and his eyes are staring across to a poster-plastered wall. He's become incredibly good at ignoring stares. "Don't worry about them, man," Scott murmurs in his ear, yanking him to him so they shoulders bump, "they're just curious and rude."

Cry gets led towards an empty seat by the teacher, and catches the eye of a dark-haired, dark-eyed man across the room looking over at him with more than curiosity, fingers tapping against his lips. A blush creeps up from the back of Cry's neck, and he looks away. There's shivers going down his spine and a creeping feeling that tells him there's something to this guy than meets the eye.

A lot more.