Shameless to update so soon, but I've been wanting to write this one for a while hahaha. Thanks to Substitute Deathberry For being my first reviewer for this story~

Mind racing, Rei tried to calculate his limited options. Right now he only had three. Stay and fight, take the lashing, or try and beat his father in a race upstairs and lock himself in until his father either gave up, or passed out. Rei didn't have the luxury of picking, though, before his father was upon him, yanking Rei by his shirt collar. Bristling with the anger he had internalized from the fight earlier, Rei wrestled his father's hands away from him, which proved to be a bad move.

"You little shit!" Rei's father slurred loudly, wild in the eyes. Rei tried to side-step and make a run for it, but a hand shot out and tangled itself in his hair, throwing Rei halfway across the room and straight into the hard edge of the solid coffee table, successfully causing it to crash onto it's side. Rei hit it crookedly, taking the full impact at the back of the hips. He stumbled even further from the painful blow before tripping over his feet and falling to the floor. His father came forward to kick Rei, but fell over, too drunk to stand. Rei made a break for the stairs.

He locked the bedroom door sharply and held his ear up to it, listening for motion. When he was sure that his father had settled down (probably with more alcohol), Rei sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He gingerly put his backpack next to his sitting table and flung himself onto the floor, staring at the ceiling. There was a sharp pain in his side, and he thought of all the work he still had to get done. All the work he'd have tomorrow. All the work he'd have after that, and after that, and after that...

Forcing himself up, Rei knew that he had to take care of his responsibilities. He had no other way out. His grandparents took care of most of his needs from abroad, and he had no idea if they knew the gravity of the situation and weren't saying anything, or if they just thought that his father was a little troubled and took responsibility to help Rei out and not dig into their lives. Rei couldn't remember the last time he heard from his older brother, and despite having the police called on them a few times, the police refused to get involved in family affairs, making up excuses that it's hard to work through a 'he said, she said' altercation, or that they were probably provoking each other. He hadn't told any of his friends, he knew that they would do everything they could to help but Rei just couldn't stand the thought of the shame.

But Rei had been living like this for a long time, so he had ways around it. He opened his closet to reveal a small refrigerator and stash of food. His father only bothered to buy the bare minimum of junk food to feed himself, let alone enough to feed Rei, so Rei became talented at depending on himself. If his father found out, he would get absolute hell with a beating for withholding potential alcohol money, but to keep up with swimming and running, Rei needed a strict and plentiful diet. Rei also worked with web design and some hacking from his own computer to make money. He couldn't bare taking any of his grandparent's while his own father took so much of their money. Boxes in his closet held medical supplies, various ointments and bandages. Perhaps his most valuable coping tool came in the form of a small tattoo cover-up kit. It was extremely expensive, but it was the only thing strong enough to cover up deep blues and purples, along with needing the specific remover. That way he didn't have to worry about it washing off in the pool, knowing there was no way he'd be able to come up with a convincing lie.

Taking the remover bottle, he wet a tattered rag with it and gently rubbed it along his face. As the concealer washed away, bruises seems to bloom on his face. A black eye, his left cheekbone, small beads along his jawline, the sharp edge of his mouth. He ran it up and down his arms, and his wrists and forearms reveled bruises all along the diameter, an indisputable sign of being violently grabbed there. His forearms were littered in defensive bruises from using them to protect his face. Rei ran his fingertips along them very gently, mentally noting which ones were yellowing and disappearing, and which were deep, dark, and concerning.

His fingers stopped at one of the few little holes that could be found hiding around his body. This one was found right in the crook of his inner elbow, an angry brown colour. He grabbed a cream from out of his medical stock in the closet and smeared in softly on the mark. Cigarette bun scars were hell to heal.

xx

Against everything in his body begging otherwise, Rei woke up bleary eyed and slowly dragged his body out of bed. Another night of being so exhausted that he fell asleep in his school uniform. He was too sore to go running this morning before catching his train.

'Gym today is swimming..' he thought absent mindedly. He had Physical Education as one of his earlier classes, so there was no point in showering now since he'd be required to before getting in the pool. He inspected his bruises in the mirror to see if they had gotten any better. Their deep colour wasn't a positive answer. Tender care was given to reapplying the tattoo cover-up to his face, neck, and arms. He hadn't bothered rubbing off the previous cover-up from his front and back before he went to sleep, but they could last a few days before they started showing on their own.

Rei quickly packed his school supplies and managed to get down most of his breakfast before he heard creaks around the house. Fearful that his father was coming out of a drunken stupor, he decided he'd rather sacrifice another chance at lunch if it meant avoiding a beating right before school. Quickly shooting out of the house and down the roads, Rei sighed as he found himself at the train station, wiping his glasses on his shirt while he waited.

xx

Rei's breath came in harsh, fast puffs as he stood locked in a bathroom stall. He had been in the middle of changing in the pool's locker room for his gym class when he realized that he hadn't even bothered to check if the blow he took from the table the night before had left a mark. Countless other bruises and the few burns were safely concealed, even the ones from the Samezuka students since he had had time before Iwatobi swim practice to reapply, but there was no way around this one. He had only five minutes to put on his suit, shower, and be out to the pool.

'You're slipping, Rei, you're fucking slipping', he thought lividly, unbelieving that he had been so careless. This bruise was massive, a pure navy and eggplant colour that jumped out in contrast to his pale skin. Rei begrudgingly slid into his swim suit when his heart stopped for a second time. The waistband just barely covered the very top tip of it. Rei let out a shaky breath and almost collapsed to his knees and then smiled with victory. He burst from the bathroom stall, threw his school uniform in his locker with his backpack, and ran out to the pool deck, right into-

"WHAT THE- underclassman, watch where you're going!"

Rei stumbled back, red in the face, desperately trying to play it cooly off, when he looked up and-

"R-Rin-sempai!"

Rin grumbled and ran his hand through his hair, glaring at Rei with a disapproving look. Being on the swim team meant having extra swimming-related classes, including being a mentor during the first year's swim period.

"You've got the body of an athlete. Let's see what you can do." Rin snorted as he waved Rei off and walked away. Rei made a confident fist and his eyes sparkled, thinking about how Haruka-sempai, Makoto-sempai, and Nagisa-kun had finally broken through and taught him to swim- or, er, not to sink.

After they had been dismissed from the pool, Rei waited for everyone to finish changing and leave for lunch before he grabbed his waistband and began inspecting the bruise. Morbidly, he beamed from successfully hiding it when all seemed lost. He theatrically adjusted his glasses and smirked at himself. When he opened his eyes, Rin was staring from him from across the locker room, arms full of towels. Rei didn't know how many times his heart could stop in one day.

"The fuck was that?" Rin asked with a contorted face. Rei's mind was rushing, yet empty. He blurted out the oldest excuse in the book.

"I fell!"

Rin stared at him for a long time. Rei struggled to keep eye contact while his throat constricted and his limbs shook as anxiety ripped through his body. They stared for a while, when suddenly Rin sighed and rolled his eyes.

"A total nerd and clumsy? Why am I even surprised. No wonder you're such a fish out of water- even when you swim. That was shit out there."

Rei almost burst out smiling, but he quickly caught himself. He put on a fake indignant look and said "It's hard to look beautiful in the water! And besides, you're on the school's official swim team! You need to level the playing field for me!"

Rin snorted and walked over to Rei, snatching the towel out of his hands. Rei filched and jumped back, fearful eyes staring at Rin.

"What, you think I'm going to beat on you like those asswipes from yesterday? I have better things to do. Now come on."

Rei slowly untensed and stared very suspiciously at Rin.

"Come where?"

"To lunch. Come on, you're making me late."