Whelp, I've finally got another chapter to upload for this. Dunno why I'm bothering though honestly cause very few people are interested in reading this. Oh well, I really enjoy writing it, so here it is anyways.
Hetalia and all these characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.
"Nnngg," Toris groaned as he woke up and stretched in bed. He looked up at the ceiling and frowned. That was a weird dream. He turned to his alarm clock and saw that his first class started in 40 minutes. I better get ready.
Toris dragged himself out of bed, yawning while he rummaged around for some fresh clothes. Normally he'd shower, but he was running a bit late since he forgot to set an alarm. He threw the clothes on his bed and stripped, dumping his pajamas on his desk chair. Toris pulled on his pants, and then grabbed his shirt. He gasped and dropped the shirt when he saw his reflection in the mirror out of the corner of his eye. He moved closer to the piece of glass and circled around.
All around his neck were deep purple bruises in the shape of fingers. Oh god, it wasn't a dream! Toris ran his hands over his neck and shivered. Now that he could see the bruises, he noticed his throat hurt a bit. He'd assumed it was just from sleeping with his mouth open, but he was obviously wrong. He froze and went wide-eyed when he realized that he had gone unconscious on the floor of the bathroom, yet woke up in his bed. He was in my room!
Feeling a bit dizzy, Toris leaned on the wall until he calmed down enough to think clearly. He switched out the shirt he had chosen for a turtleneck. Although he wanted to tell someone, he was afraid of what Ivan would do. The phone on the wall began ringing and interrupted his internal debate.
Half expecting it to be Ivan, Toris picked up the phone and said, "H-hello?"
"Mr. Laurinaitis, this is Miss Cooper, the counselor," a woman's voice answered. "I've tried calling twice already. I need you down in my office immediately regarding a change in your schedule. Seeing as class starts in ten minutes, I'd hurry if I were you. Thank you."
The line went dead abruptly, leaving Toris standing dumbfounded. He shook his head and hung up the phone, then set off for the counseling center. Maybe I'll tell her what happened with Ivan. Luckily for Toris, there were still some kids in the hall that pointed him in the right direction; otherwise it would've taken him hours to find Miss Cooper's office. Even with the help, the bell signaling the start of class rang right as he walked in through the open door. Great, now I'm late on my first day of school.
There was a boy sitting in a chair in front of Miss Cooper's desk. He seemed familiar, but not enough that Toris knew who it was by the back of their head.
When neither of them seemed to notice Toris' arrival, he cleared his throat and, being the brilliant speaker that he was, mumbled, "Um."
Both Miss Cooper and the boy looked up at him, but Toris only had eyes for the boy. Of course it was Ivan, complete with a new bruise over his nose to match the one surrounding his eye. For some reason, Toris wasn't surprised, but the realization still made him want to slowly back out of the room.
Miss Cooper didn't seem to notice his discomfort as she gestured to the empty chair next to Ivan and said, "Hello, Toris, please take a seat." Toris nodded and sat, trying his best to ignore Ivan's stare.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here," Miss Cooper began. "It's our custom here at the World Academy to assign new students, aside from freshmen of course, a buddy to help you feel at home. Naturally, you and your buddy will have a majority, if not all, of your classes together. We select our best students to help out with this. That's where Ivan comes in." Please don't tell me he's my—
Miss Cooper interrupted Toris' thoughts and continued, "Ivan has graciously volunteered to take over as your buddy. The previous boy, Kevin, abruptly decided to drop out and flew home early this morning." Toris looked over at Ivan and saw the larger boy grinning suspiciously. I'll bet he forced that kid, Kevin, to leave.
"Anyways, this meeting has gone on long enough. Your schedule was changed so that you have more classes with Ivan. You obviously can't have every class with him since you're in 10th grade and he's in 11th, but your previous grades allow you to take quite advanced classes for your age. Here you are," Miss Cooper said and handed him his schedule. "Now get going to your first class before it ends." Toris didn't even have time to look at the paper before they were ushered out of the room. There goes my chance to tell her about what happened. The two boys stood in the hall in silence, Toris too nervous to look up.
"Give that to me," Ivan ordered, pointing to the paper in Toris' hands. Toris shakily held out the paper, and Ivan snatched it up. Peeking over at the Russian, Toris saw his eyes scanning over the schedule.
"Let's see," Ivan began reading. "Period one: Trig with me. Then P.E. with your sophomore class, unfortunately. English as a Second Language Year 2 and Physics both with me. Then lunch with the entire school, so you'll be sitting with me. Then you'll end the day with Choir, Cooking, and European History. Choir's lame, so I'm not in that, and I have to take stupid American History so that just leaves Cooking for the two of us together. Not bad, but I would've liked more classes in common." Ivan thrust the paper back at Toris, who folded it up and stuck it in his pocket. Looking at the clock, the two started walking to their first class with Toris trailing behind a few feet.
"Why are you doing this?" Toris asked, gaining some confidence back.
Ivan quickly replied, "I already told you; we're friends."
"I never agreed to be your friend," Toris insisted. Ivan stopped abruptly, causing Toris to run into him. Ivan turned back to look at him with what appeared to be doubt in his eyes, but it was quickly hidden behind the usual unreadable mask.
"For a moment there I thought you were trying to say that we aren't friends, but I must've been mistaken, da?" Ivan said threateningly as he stared down at Toris.
Toris stood his ground and answered, "You heard me. Friends don't do this." Toris pulled down the collar on his shirt enough to show the bruises circling his neck.
A look of annoyance crossed Ivan's face as he said, "That was your fault. You hit me."
"I had every right to hit you!" Toris half shouted, stepping closer to Ivan. "And I'll do it a second time if you ever touch me like that again!" The two glared at each other until the bell rang. When students started pouring out of the classrooms, Toris turned on his heel and marched away.
/
I can't believe him, Toris seethed to himself as he changed for gym class. He acts like I should be totally okay with what he's done. I'm not some weak little kid; I've held my own in plenty of fights. Toris began pulling off his shirt before remembering the bruises on his neck. Shit! He looked around at the other boys busy changing and quickly stashed his P.E. shirt under his pants. I'll just pretend I forgot my shirt.
Once everyone was changed, they met their teacher outside. Everyone introduced themselves and paired up to go through circuit training. Toris was matched up with a loud boy named Alfred. The moment the whistle blew telling them to begin, Alfred started running his mouth.
"Hey, you're Toris, right?" the blond asked as he got down on the ground to begin his pushups. "I heard you told off that commie on the bus."
Toris groaned and replied, "Why does everyone keep asking me about that? If I'd known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have done it." The whistle sounded again and they switched to sit ups.
"Nah, dude, Ivan deserves it. He's a total ass, and everyone hates him," Alfred told him. "I've only known him for a year, but we're already mortal enemies."
"Why?" Toris questioned. "Did he try and bully you?"
"At first, yeah, but then he learned that I'm a hero, and it's my destiny to defeat evil villains like him," Alfred explained. The class went on for another thirty minutes like that, with Alfred describing how heroic he was and how evil Ivan was. To be honest, Toris couldn't help but feel Alfred was a bit immature, even though he meant well. He was almost relieved when the class was done, so he could think in peace.
A bit nervously, Toris walked into his next class, English as a Second Language II. When he saw no sign of Ivan, he chose a random seat in the middle of the classroom. He kept an eye on the door as the rest of the students streamed in, but Ivan never showed up. He wasn't in their next class either. Toris couldn't decide if he should be happy, or suspicious. Ivan didn't seem like the type to just let things go, and he was definitely angry earlier that morning.
The class was almost over when Toris' phone buzzed in his pocket. Making sure the teacher was looking the other direction, he snuck a peek. He saw a text from an unknown number and frowned in confusion. Toris opened the text, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the short message.
Wait for me in the hall after class.
There was no doubt it was Ivan who sent the text. Toris couldn't concentrate during the last few minutes of the lecture. All too soon, the bell rang for lunch. Toris stood slowly and debated intensely with himself as he walked out the door. He only realized he'd made a decision when he found himself standing uncomfortably by the wall, waiting just like he was told.
"Hey, Toris!" Feliks called out. The Lithuanian snapped his head up and saw Feliks walking toward him and waving. "Do you, like, wanna have lunch with me?"
"Well, I'm, um, supposed to wait for Ivan…" Toris tried to explain, too embarrassed to look Feliks in the eye.
"Ugh, don't tell me you're friends with that jerk," Feliks said disgustedly.
Toris shook his head frantically and said, "No, no, of course not. Let's go get lunch." The two walked into the cafeteria and went to the back of the line. Unable to relax, Toris was constantly scanning the area as they got their food and walked to an empty table.
They barely had a chance to start eating before Ivan found them. The Russian stalked over to their table and stood in front of them. Without a word, he took Toris' milk and dumped it over Feliks' head.
"Hey, like, what the hell?!" Feliks jumped up and exclaimed.
"Toris is mine. Stay away from him," Ivan warned as he grabbed Toris' arm. Anger shot through Toris, pushing aside his fear for the moment.
The Lithuanian stood up and wrenched his arm out of Ivan's grasp, demanding, "Why are you such an asshole?" The room went completely silent. Toris gulped as Ivan's eyes narrowed, but stood his ground. "You can't just ban me from being friends with anyone else, especially since I don't even like you." A collective gasp told Toris they had an audience.
"Toris, Toris, Toris," Ivan shook his head and admonished. "What would your parents say if they could see how rude you're being? You're supposed to be a good example for little Lukas and Karolina."
His gut twisting and fists clenching, Toris snarled, "What did you do to them?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Ivan asked with a growing smile. "I would never dream of doing anything to your family. Why don't you come with me so we can speak privately?" Toris wanted to say no, but he also wanted to know how Ivan knew his siblings' names.
Toris looked over at Feliks, who was currently cleaning himself up with some napkins, and said, "Hey, Feliks, I've gotta go. I'm really sorry about the milk."
Feliks paused in his cleaning and objected, "No way, I want him to apologize, not you!"
"I was only giving you a gentle warning," Ivan insisted. "Be thankful it was just milk. Now come, Toris." Ivan once again took hold of Toris' arm and pulled him out of the room, ignoring the protests coming from Feliks. Ivan walked just fast enough that Toris was forced to do an awkward little jog to keep up. As they went, the grip on Toris' arm slowly grew tighter. All of this was Ivan's way of showing Toris who had the power between them. By the time they reached Ivan's room, Toris was beginning to regret coming with the Russian.
Ivan pushed Toris inside and locked the door with an ominous click. He focused his gaze on Toris and said, "I thought I told you to wait for me."
"I chose not to," Toris snapped. "Now, tell me why you brought up my family."
"I will excuse your rudeness this time, but it will not happen again," Ivan warned. He opened a desk drawer, pulled a file out, and handed it to Toris. The Lithuanian opened it up and was greeted with dozens of pictures of his family. There was his father, hard at work, and his mother, chasing after his younger brother and sister, her belly just beginning to show another pregnancy. After the pictures, there were a few pages about each of his family members, filled with personal information ranging from birth dates to favorite foods.
Toris looked up at Ivan and asked, "What the fuck is this?"
"Well, those are pictures; you see, using a camera, one can capture—"
Toris threw the file to the ground and interrupted Ivan, shouting, "Stop being a smartass! Why do you have pictures and information about my family?"
"This is your final warning. I will not tolerate you speaking to me like that," Ivan growled, taking a step closer to Toris. "After our argument this morning, a brilliant idea struck me. You have to be my friend if you want your family to be safe."
A cold hand clenched Toris' heart as he realized what Ivan was saying. "I'll kill you if you so much as touch any of them."
"Ah, but killing me would not solve anything," Ivan said. "It would not bring back your family. If you really want to protect them, you will do as I say, da?" There's no way he'd really hurt them, Toris thought to himself. Who am I kidding? Those kids on the bus said he put a kid in the hospital.
Defeated, Toris broke eye contact and whispered, "What do you want?"
"See, I knew we would come to an agreement. All I want is friendship," Ivan explained. Toris could hear the grin on his face.
Thinking of his brother or sister who hadn't yet gotten to experience the world, Toris swallowed his pride and said, "Okay. You win."