Title: Allotted Design.
Pairing: None as of yet; some to come; most all involving Envy.
Rating: Currently standing at 18, probably, for language and violence.
Plot: Bullied for his obvious difference, Envy abandons all hope of fitting in, and drops out of High School. Deciding that she's had enough, Dante ships her two sons off to a preparatory school.
Wrath's POV.
I nervously glanced towards the cracked clock across the room; 6:17. Envy should be home by now… usually he's home from school by 4:30, so where is he today?
I knew that I shouldn't be worried, because sometimes he takes the long way home from school, or goes to the underground coffee shop; but I have a bad feeling about today.
After distracting myself with videogames for another half an hour or so, I heard the front door open, and then crash shut. Assuming that it was Envy, angry after a bad day, I rushed towards the staircase.
"I can't believe you're my son!" I halted to a stop halfway down the stairs, listening carefully.
"Yeah, I'd like to deny our relation too." Envy started heading up stairs; I hung back in the shadows, hiding from view.
"Don't walk away from me!" Dante grabbed Envy's arm and tore him back. He stumbled down the few stairs he had conquered, landing on his back at the bottom. He struggled to get up, but before he could manage, Dante's foot pressed against his chest, forcing him to stay down. When Envy grimaced, and tried to push her foot away, I knew she was pushing the narrow heel of her shoe against his ribs.
I wanted nothing more than to run down and help him, but I didn't want to get involved; I didn't want to end up in Envy's position and punished for interrupting.
Envy kicked up with ease I'd never before witnessed from him, kicking the lower part of Dante's back and sending her stumbling away from him. She quickly caught her balance though, and lunged forward, grabbing his ankles before he could get away, dragging him across the room and out of my view.
I fought the urge to run down and help him, knowing that I'd do nothing to aid, but rather get myself involved and at the bunt of the same punishment he was now receiving.
I could hear Envy's clothing tearing; his screaming, and the blunt sounds of skin on skin. She was beating him; harder than she ever had before.
Why can't I help him? Why am I such a coward?
I slapped clenched fists over my ears, trying to block off their mixed, angry voices, and fled back to my bedroom.
"Y'know, Wrath?" I jerked in response to the sudden voice; I'd fallen asleep. A figure huddled at the foot of my bed, twisting around as if trying to get comfortable. "Mother's aren't supposed to treat their own children like this. What has the world come to? I mean, instead of communicating, and trying to fix problems, society fights. We start wars, and kill innocent people, just to get a point across. Why?" The room fell to a thick silence, and soon enough his breathing fell shallow. Whether he'd fallen asleep, or passed out, I wasn't sure, but left him to rest.
Envy slept soundly at the foot of my bed, still in the same position as the night before, when I finally awoke. For a moment I was taken back by his state of peace, despite the bruises and bits of blood caked to his face.
The cracked clock on the wall read 9:32. I didn't want to disturb him, in fear that he dwelled in a world of happiness, but I knew the later he slept the more trouble he'd be in for being tardy for school.
"Envy?" I crawled to the end of the bed, and gently shook his shoulder.
Envy's POV.
I almost immediately twisted into a defensive position, until the haze passed and I could clearly see the familiar dark eyes hovering above.
"I-I'm sorry for disturbing you, Envy, but we're late for school." It seemed to take a minute for his statement to sink in, until a quick glance towards the clock confirmed my suspicions. Shit!
"Ohgodohgodohgod." I leapt from the warm blankets below; the tension in my chest released, and I fell forward, body contorting as if it would help the pain swelling my ribs.
"Envy!" Wrath was suddenly on the floor, beside me. "Are you okay? Oh god, should I call for help?"
I grabbed his wrist to stop him from running for the phone. "I'm okay," I forced an assuring smile, and struggled to stand, arm wrapped protectively around my ribs. "I was just surprised."
When the two brothers parted way, Wrath snuck his brother an unsure gaze, not wanting to leave him in such a poor physical state, but not having much of a choice. Because of the grade difference, the two took classes in separate sections of the school, and so would rarely see each other throughout the day.
Envy walked as straight as he could, still holding tender ribs, the bruises on his face covered with layers of Concealer. Biting an already cracked lip, he contemplated various excuses he had already used in the months before to get out of participating in gym, and which could work again for him today.
Still fretting over an excuse for his physical state to give his teachers, Envy shifted the bag on his shoulder, and pushed open the doors to the gym. The co-ed class fought a game of dodge-ball, chosen by the teacher, but could have been categorized as popular vs. unpopular.
Gluttony scurried as fast as his small legs could carry him, trying to hide behind his smaller classmates.
Barely into the room, a ball bounced off Envy's face, toppling him over and to the floor.
"Envy!" A dramatic cry broke through the horrific screams of other students receiving balls in the face, and Gluttony lumbered through them all towards Envy. Throwing himself over Envy's small body, as a cover, he took a ball intended for Envy.
Taking on the irony of the scene unfolding around him, Envy squirmed out from under Gluttony, and began to shriek over his still body. "No, Gluttony! You didn't have to give your life for mine!" He clung to the fat man's chest. "Ooohhohoh, what has the world come to!"
The rest of the students froze mid-throw, or mid-collapse, and turned to watch the two performers.
"Gluttony, speak to me! You can't die now! I have something to tell you; I'm pregnant with your child! Speak to me!" Unaware of the attention he'd attracted, Envy pretended to pull a dagger from his pocket, and stabbed himself in the stomach, collapsing onto the body of his mock lover.
A few members of the unpopular team broke into a humored applause, while the various jocks and Barbies of the class scoffed, topped with an eye roll, and turned to ignore the two.
Raising to his feet, careful not to jostle his sore ribs, Envy gave a mock curtsey and reached down to help Gluttony to his feet, though really wasn't much help at all in lifting the large man.
"Envy! Envy bleeding!" Gluttony pointed a fat finger close to Envy's face. Sure enough, a thin stream of blood dripped from his nose, puddling on the wide semicircle fronting his Converse.
"Shit!" Envy shot up a hand as if to catch the falling blood, squeezing his nostrils together with two fingers on his other hand. Some of the Barbies lowered their cell phones long enough to shriek in terror at this human catastrophe, and huddled amongst one each other, then returned to their phone calls to tell stories of the horror they'd witnessed.
"Culus!" The gym teacher emerged from his small office at the far end of the gym, "Why were you late? Oh God! Let's get you to the nurse." He jogged over to the bleeding boy, and jerked him in the direction of the attached nurse's office. "All over my fuckin' floor."
"At least this'll get me out of gym class." Envy thought to himself, following his teacher's lead into the nurse's office. The small woman jumped from her desk, surely more excited to have something to do than worried about the boy's wellbeing.
"I'll take care of him from now on." She nudged the gym teacher out, closing the door behind him.
"So, take a ball in the face?" She stepped close and brushed the stained hands from his face. She smelt of soap, and other sterile things.
"Yeah." Envy tilted back his head, choking on the blood framing the back of his throat.
"Well, we can take care of that!" She passed behind him and fetched a cold cloth from a sink at the back. "Here, hold this over your nose, and squeeze your nostrils. But don't tilt your head back; you may end up gagging, and if you swallow too much blood you could vomit, or get diarrhea!" She smiled, crossing her hands over her stomach, and watched him carefully.
He smiled back with a mouthful of bloody teeth, backing up until he fell into a seat against the wall.
"As long as it stops within 15 minutes, we're good. If it lasts up to 20 minutes, I'll have to take you to an actual doctor."
"Oh, I'm sure it'll be quite okay; nosebleeds never last too long for me." Except for when someone punches me.
Within a few minutes, as predicted, the bleeding stopped. Envy took the liberty of rinsing the blood from the cloth, and washed off any remaining caked to his face or fingers.
"Quite a mess you had there!" The nurse hovered close behind him, as if fearing he may faint from the small amount of blood he had lost. Envy nodded, avoiding her eyes in the reflection of the mirror placed above the sink.
"Yeah, I guess so." He shrugged, disposing of the cloth in a near by garbage bin near by, and turned to leave.
"Mr. Culus?" The nurse gently tugged his arm, "Could I ask you a personal question?"
Envy looked around nervously, unsure as to what she may question. "Okay."
"How did you get the bruises on your face?"
Envy swallowed nervously, not wanting word to get out of how he was abused by his mother, fearing the punishment such news would earn him from Dante.
"I was play fighting with my brother, and it got a little out of control."
The nurse nodded, but didn't seem to believe him, and pressed a palm lightly to his chest. When Envy grimaced, and gave a sharp intake of breath, she nodded again.
"Please lift your shirt." Envy opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off with a repeat of her request. Envy nodded solemnly, carefully gathering the bottom of his shirt and lifted, careful not to brush the tender skin.
Broken blood vessels tattooed his chest, darker patches edging his ribs.
"Oh, gracious." The woman disappeared behind him, then reached around his small waist and carefully pressed his ribs. After a few moments, she spoke; "Nothing seems to be broken, but by the looks of things something could have easily been. Surely your brother didn't cause all of this."
Envy jerked his shirt down, ashamed of the sight he'd bared for her. "I-I have to go." He quickly pivoted around the nurse, grabbed his bag, and bolted from the room.
"Shit! Shitshitshit!" Envy swore, choking back a mouthful of coffee.
"Envy?"
"I can't believe I showed her. Damnit!" Envy tilted back for another chug, eager for the alcohol mixed caffeine to cloud his mind. "If she reports this, or even calls home… shit! Dante'll have my head!"
He swallowed the remainder of his drink and tossed the crumpled cup under the table. "What am I going to do?" He tore at handfuls of his hand, then dropped his head less than gracefully, face first onto the table surface.
Gluttony slowly chewed a mouthful of cafeteria meatloaf, watching the distraught boy with interest.
"Envy be okay." He rested a heavy hand on the smaller, and pulled the long fingers from tangles of hair. "Don't go home."
Envy lifted his face, gazing thoughtfully at Gluttony. "That could work… but if I don't go home, she may take it out on Wrath. I can't let that happen to him… Damnit! Why do I always have to cause trouble for this family?"
The elder teacher assigned to watch over Envy while out of class, after his violent outburst, tapped his shoulder, and gave him a side glance suggesting he watch his language. Envy snarled, launching himself down the bench and away from the poking finger.
"All this crap is only supposed to happen to people in the movies." He gave in with a dramatic sigh, resting his chin on the table.
"Envy be okay."
TBC…
A/N - Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters; and thanks for the compliments towards the title! I figured it was appropriate, suggesting that being gay isn't something you chose to be, but rather something you are given at birth. This is Envy's allotted design.
Yes, he is gay; it's not just something made up by fellow students.