A/N: Of which bullies are bullies.
He hit the ground with a bump, but refused to cry. He should have realised that they went to this school too.
"You gonna cry, little baby? Your big bro ain't here to help you now," teased the boy.
It had to be them. The three who enjoyed tormenting him, for some reason.
"He'll probably burst out in tears any second!" the third snorted.
Sora felt his bottom lip tremble, but bit on it, forcing himself to blink away the tears. He stood up, intending to just leave.
"Where're you going?" demanded the first.
"Inside," Sora murmured.
"Oh, really? But we ain't done talking to you yet!" he snarled, grabbing Sora's shoulder and dragging him back. He pushed Sora against the wall, lifting the boy up by his collar. Sora gave a choked gasp, reaching up to try and make him let go.
"You're so damn cocky...thinking you're better than everyone else, huh? Just 'cause you got a big brother to watch out for you? But he ain't here now, is he?"
"Please...please let go.." Sora whimpered, and the boy laughed.
"Oh, so you've finally started remembering your manners? Too little too late."
He tightened his grip and Sora gasped, hands grabbing the boys wrists desperately. 'Ven...'
"Hey! What're you doin'!" yelled a voice. The boys turned slightly, and Sora's eyes slid over to the voice, spotting Riku. He scowled, running towards them.
"Stop that right now!" he shouted.
The other two boys glanced at the one holding Sora, and he considered, before shrugging. "Beat him up."
They boys advanced on Riku, who held his ground. As they leapt forward, he punched one of them in the gut, smirking as they slid to the ground. Then the other was behind him and he yelped. They grabbed his wrists, pining them behind him, then forced him to the ground and knelt on his back. The one he had punched stood up unsteadily, stumbling over with a scowl. He kicked Riku in the side, and the boy gave a cry.
"Brat," he hissed, kicking him again.
"No..stop it...please.." Sora begged.
"Keep going!" the guy holding him said to the others, and the one on his back tightened his grip while the other continued kicking him.
'Ven...Please...!'
'I'm here.'
Sora blinked then heard the bar separating the two schools rattle. He turned slightly, seeing Ven leaping over the top of the railing. Other kids and a few teachers followed him, though that was probably because he just ran out of lesson.
"Hey! What are you doing!" he yelled at the kids as he landed.
The commotion had drawn the attention of the other teachers and students, and they came round the corner, eyes widening as they saw what was going on.
"Justin! What an earth do you think you're doing?!" demanded one of the Primary teachers.
The boy holding him, Justin, gave a grunt. "Damn.." he hissed. He nodded to the other two boys, who got off Riku, but not before giving him a final kick. Justin glanced at Sora, slamming him against the wall before dropping him and backing away to stand beside the other two.
Sora began coughing violently, one hand on his throat. Ventus hurried over to Sora, pulling him onto his lap. "Sora? Sora, are you alright? I'm sorry I took so long getting here.." he murmured.
Sora shook his head, giving him a faint smile before looking over at Riku. He clambered off, padding over to him.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Riku pushed himself up, hissing in pain as his side flared up, then gave Sora a strained smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied.
"You didn't have to help," Sora mumbled.
"Well, you're a nice kid. I wanted to."
Sora gave a vague smile, then the two boys looked up as the school nurse hovered over them. They allowed themselves to be quickly inspected while the teachers told the boys off. Ventus hovered nearby, expression worried.
The nurse finally straightened. "Well, there's no lasting damage, but you should head home for the rest of the day. Is there anyone to take you back? Where do you live?"
"The village near the beach," Riku answered, and Sora blinked.
"Wait, you live there too?" he asked, surprised.
"You live there?" Riku also asked.
Ventus stepped forward. "I can take them back," he offered.
"And you are..?" the nurse asked, eyebrow raised.
"Ventus. I'm Sora's older brother. Our mum's out at work, and we don't have a dad, so I can take them."
The nurse glanced at the two boys, and Sora nodded. Eventually Riku also nodded and she sighed.
"Alright then. I'll give your parents' work places a ring and tell them what happened. Head home," she said, standing up. Ventus crossed over as Sora and Riku stood up. Riku gave a quiet whimper, and Sora looked at him in concern. Ventus eyed him as they walked out of the playground and Riku limped slightly.
As soon as they were out of eyeshot, he reached down and scooped the boy up. Riku made a sound of surprise and protest, but Ventus shut him up.
"We don't want you injuring yourself any further," he pointed out. Riku went red but sighed, burying himself into Ventus' arms and hiding his face in embarassment.
Sora gave a giggle, coughing slightly as he did, and Ventus reached down to grab his hand. Sora happily took it, swinging his arm as they walked down the road.
They ended up having to walk back home. The school bus only ran in the morning and end of school, and the boys hadn't taken any money to catch the normal bus.
Sora started out happily enough, talking quietly with Riku, but after five miles he began to get tired, his feet dragging on the pavement. His eyelids drooped slightly, and Ventus sighed. He lowered Riku a moment, bending down.
"Come on Sora, get on," he said. Sora blinked sleepily, and Ventus motioned to his back. Sora padded over, putting his arms around Ventus' neck. He stood, supporting Sora with one hand, then reached down and picked Riku up again. Sora gave a tired smile then fell asleep, his head nodding against Ventus' back.
Riku watched him for a while, then glanced up at Ventus. "Y'know...I don't remember you living in our village before a couple of years back."
"Yeah. Keiko picked me up two years ago, and she's been looking after me ever since."
"Then why'd you say you were Sora's older brother?"
Ventus considered. "Well...I kinda am. He acts like my little brother, at least."
Riku tilted his head, taking this in, then smiled. "He must be lucky, having a brother like you."
Ventus looked at him in confusion, but he just shook his head, burying his head into Ventus' chest. As they walked, Ventus glanced down at him.
"Do you want to come back to our place for a bit?" he asked.
Riku glanced at him in surprise, then gave a shy nod. "Yes please," he murmured.
When they arrived back at the house, Ventus gently lowered Riku onto the sofa, then turned and sat down, also placing Sora on it. Sora immediately started hugging a cushion, still happily sleeping.
Ventus knelt infront of Riku, gently prodding his side. Riku winced and he sent him an apologetic look before lifting his shirt, gazing at the dark bruise forming on his side.
Lowering it, he stood up. "Wait here, I'll just get something for that bruise," he whispered before heading into the kitchen. He returned a few seconds later with a bag of frozen peas, lifting Riku's shirt again and placing them against it. Riku flinched prematurely, then sighed in relief as the pain was nulled.
Ventus motioned for him to hold the bag, and he did so before Ventus turned to Sora. Gently he checked him over, frowning as the dark bruises forming around his neck and on his back, then sighed unhappily.
"I should have been faster..." he murmured half to himself. Shaking his head, the glanced over at Riku. "Thanks for sticking up for him, though. Sorry you got injured."
Riku shrugged. "M'fine. I've had worse, and anyway, those guys needed to know that they can't carry on hurting people. Everyone's fed up of them, but they're also too scared to stop them."
Ventus looked at him in surprise, then smiled. "You're a brave kid," he said.
Riku blinked then looked away, going a little red. "I'm not that good... Sora's probably been putting up with them for a few years, so he's braver than me," he mumbled.
"So have you. Don't put yourself down too much," Ventus replied.
Riku nodded, giving a small smile as he curled against the sofa as well.
The three of them remained in the living room for a while, Sora still fast asleep as Riku dozed lightly. Ventus sat gazing out of the window, blue eyes distant as he tried to figure out a solution to the problem that was the three boys.
The door was suddenly thrown open, and the two boys jerked awake, looking up blearily as Keiko entered the room hurriedly. She stood there a second, looking Sora over, then rushed forward and hugged him.
"Oh, Sora...Are you alright? When the school called me I hurried back as fast as I could..." she murmured.
Sora smiled. "I'm fine Mummy. Riku and Ven helped me, and Ven carried us both all the way back home," he said happily.
Keiko smiled, brushing back the tears in her eyes as she turned to the other two boys. "Well, I think you all deserve a treat for being such big boys. What do you want?"
"Ice cream! Ice cream!" Sora laughed, leaping off the sofa and hurrying towards the kitchen.
Kieko shook her head, watching as Ventus wandered after him and looking over at Riku. "Is that alright with you?" she asked.
Riku blinked, then nodded slowly, looking a little shy. Keiko smiled and stood up, wandering after the other two boys in the hopes of getting everyone some ice cream before Sora pigged it all.
A/N: I don't actually mention in this story, though it may come up in part 2, but my backstory for Riku is that he's the youngest of a lot of siblings and either ignored or beaten by his mum. He's also just under a year older than Sora*
*Explanation: Riku's birthday is in September, Sora's in August, of different years (Riku the year before Sora). In England, at least, the education system works from September to August for one year, so they would be in the same year but different ages - for about a month they would be the same age, then Riku would be older than him again.
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