Sorry this update's been so long coming as well, but apart from being hit with writer's block, my gran's been in hospital this weekend so I haven't really had the time to write nor really been in the right frame of mind.
Adrik woke up late that night, hearing someone crying. Sighing, he got out of bed and followed the noise to the next room along. Tala's room. He opened the door and found the little redhead sitting on his bed, hugging Henryk tightly and crying into the bear's stomach. "Tala?" He looked up, and Adrik sighed. His nose was all snotty and his eyes were red. "What's the matter?" Tala sniffed.
"Don't know." Adrik went over to him and lifted him into his arms, letting Tala rest his head on his shoulder.
"Was someone mean to you?"
"No..." Adrik knew from experience that Tala was lying through his teeth.
"What was his name?"
"Don't know."
"What did he look like then?" Tala burrowed his face into Adrik's shoulder. "What did he say?"
"Said I was a stupid little kid. Said my hair was stupid." Tala sniffled. "He was going to stamp on Henryk so I bit him and ran away."
Adrik held Tala closer and stroked his hair until he stopped sniffling, then sat him back on his bed. "You're not stupid if you managed to get away from your Grandfather. And I like your hair. There's no-one with red hair here. Well, apart from you. Now get into bed and don't worry about it. I'll look after you. Come to me if they tease you again." Looking much more happy, Tala snuggled into his blankets, letting Adrik tuck him in and kiss his forehead.
"Adrik?" Tala appeared beside his mentor and surrogate parent a week later, grinning. "Boris taught me how to launch a beyblade!" The older boy smiled and ruffled Tala's hair, pausing in reading his book.
"Good for you!"
Tala jumped up onto Adrik's bed, where he'd become used to sitting during the past week. He'd come to view Adrik as the father he'd never really had, and Adrik was only too willing to fulfil that role. Under his wing, Tala had nothing to fear from the older boys, and Boris was finally teaching him to beyblade. He was happy, happier than his private primary school had made him. "What are you reading?"
"War and Peace."
"Is it good?"
"I don't know, I'm not very far into it yet."
"My Grandfather liked books. But he said only rich people appreciated them properly. That was why he didn't like my mother. She wasn't rich. So he made her give me to him and he wouldn't let me see her. That was when I ran away. I want to meet my mother. Do you have a mother?"
Adrik sighed. "I did, once. A mother, a father, two younger sisters and a younger brother. But there was a fire in my house, and they all died. I don't have any family any more." Tala shifted closer and leaned against his friend.
"I'll be your family. And if I ever find my mother you can share her."
"I'd like that."
"Henryk can be your family as well. I put him under my pillow so Fedya and Gaver can't find him." Adrik nodded, then pulled Tala onto his lap, tickling him playfully. The little redhead squealed and giggled until Adrik finally let him go, panting and still laughing. A second later the door opened, revealing the blonde, snooty Fedya, who eyed them both and sneered. "I never thought you were the type to go for paedophilia, Adrik." Tala blinked. What did that mean? It was obviously horrible, seeing as Adrik went pale, standing up.
"How dare you say such a thing, Fedya?" The blonde shrugged, and Adrik shot over, grabbing him and pinning him up against the wall. "If there's anyone around here who is one, you know who it is. And it isn't me. Stop saying things like that around Tala."
"He doesn't understand anyway."
"Good! He should never have to!"
"Why not? I did! You do!"
"That's not how it works and you know it!"
Tala sat and watched as the two older boys stared each other out, then was surprised to see Fedya burst into tears. Adrik hugged him tightly, whispering to him. Bored by not being able to understand, Tala opened Adrik's book and started to read it. When the dark-haired boy came back to him a few minutes later, Tala had fallen asleep, curled up with the book resting under his head. Adrik smiled fondly and picked Tala up, carrying him back to his own room and tucking him into his bed.
No matter what had happened to him, to Fedya...no matter how many times he'd been beaten until he collapsed, burnt with cigarettes and screamed at...he would protect Tala as much as he could. Because that wasn't the right way to bring people up. It wasn't right to bring them up in fear. "Sleep tight, Tala." He walked to the door and flicked the light off, leaving the room.
R&R please!