It was lunchtime, and Darryl, waiting for Zak, was frantically walking in circle under the stairs of the stadium, unable to stay still.
Questions and insecurities filled his head, making him more and more anxious as time passed by.

'What if he didn't found the letter? What if he did and decided not to come? What if someone runmagged in his locker and-'

"Hey Darryl." a voice behind him quietly greeted, cutting off his thoughts.

The Senior stopped walking, taking a deep breath before turning towards the voice.
Zak was there, wearing the hood of his hoodie and hands in the jeans' pocket, he looked stiff and his eyes were pointed at the ground. It was visible how much he felt bad.

"Oh my goodness, you're here." murmured relieved, getting closer to him. "Thank you, Zak."

He brusquely looked up at him, anxiously shaking his head.

"No, no, please, don't thank me or excuse yourself anymore. I've been an assh--... a jerk, I'm sorry." he quietly admitted, looking back down.

"It's okay," Darryl replied, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I can't even imagine what you're going through, so there's no reason to be sorry about how you acted. Just, don't forget I'm here if you want help or simply vent, okay?" he smiled as the little boy glanced at him. "But now Zak, we really have to talk about what happened with the school journal."

The Juniour flinched, taking a step back from him while anxiously messing around with the sleeves of his blue hoodie.
It was visible how his breathing increased, yet, his ability to mask his true emotions, made him look like he was totally fine, maybe just slightly upset.

"There's nothing to talk about." replied, aloof.

"Nothing? Zak, they committed a crime against us!" he exclaimed, confused.

Zak's mask started to fall apart once again.
Darryl was the only one with he couldn't act fine with.
That made him feel vulnerable.
He hated it.

All Zak was able to do was staring at him shaking imperceptibly, trying his best to not cede.
It was obvious where that conversation was heading to, and it was nothing good.

"Dude, uhm, I-I..." he stuttered, not having an excuse for the first time in years.

'I'm fucked, I'm so fucked.'

Darryl's expression became worried as soon as he realized there was something wrong with the short boy behavior.

"What's wrong?" worriedly asked him, arching his eyebrows.

"Nothing, I'm fine." lied, recomposing himself.

The Senior sighed, he wished that journal thing didn't happen.
Zak would be fine. He would be fine.
Yet, he wanted to punish the people who put the two in that situation.

"We are going to talk with the principal, Zak. End of the story." concluded, with decision in his voice, not soft as before.

The little boy shook his head visibly panicking.

"N-no Darryl, there has to be another way!" he talked back, clenching his fists while his heart was exploding in his chest.

"There is! Going directly at the police station!" retorted the blonde boy, even more confused by his reactions.

"I mean, a way where there's no fucking police involved!" shouted angrily, leaning towards the blonde boy.

"The police is the whole point of this, why- why are you trying to avoid it!?" questioned concerned, keeping his voice volume slightly lower than Zak's.

"Because my father is the cause of my fucking bruises!" yelled, his voice cracking after trying to contain a sob, even if tears were already uncontrollably falling down his cheeks.

Zak didn't break eye contact this time, letting Darryl to read his emotions through his eyes, while he stood there, completely stunned, not wanting to believe what the little boy just said.

"W-what..?" he stuttered in a whisper, slightly shocking his head.

The Junior, while trying to stop the tears wiping them away, tried his best to talk through the sobs.

"I-it's hard to e-explain, I-I'm sorry..."

Darryl didn't lose a second and wrapped that little body in his arms, gently caressing his back and starting hum a soft melody, trying to relax him.

"It's okay, little muffin." softly murmured, moving his worry aside.

Zak took a pair of minutes to calm down, still not able to stop sobbing, without unwrapping his arms from the taller boy's torso.

"Do you feel a little better, lil muffin?"

The Junior nodded, slightly tightening the hug.

"Would you like to vent about it with me?" asked, not wanting to specify for fear of trigger him.

This time, he nodded after a whole minute of silence and soft sobbing.

"You don't have to, obviously." specified, caressing his back.

Darryl felt Zak taking a deep breath before breaking the hug and, after quickly wiping the dry tears away, he looked up at him.

"I-I do want to."

Smiling softly, the taller boy say down, laying his back against the pillar who kept the iron stairs up in place. Reaching for Zak's hand, he made him sit beside him.
The younger layed his head on Darryl's shoulder, still slightly sobbing.

"My father always been violent, I remember seeing him hitting my mother since when I was little..." started to explain, slightly relaxing when Darryl started to softly caress his back again. "She left when i was thirteen, she took with her my sister but not me. I still remember her excuse. 'You look too similar to your father.'." he exhaled sharply, shaking his head in pure disgust at idea of looking alike him. "We didn't have a lot of money, so my mother for how much she wanted to put my father behind the bars, she couldn't allow the costs of the complaint and trail, then she simply ran away."

Darryl nodded, carefully laying his head on Zak's one, without stopping caressing his back.

"I took my mom place. I would get beaten every single day. I couldn't get any help, I was too scared to, and... you asked me why I lost two years of school, remember? well... the teachers at my middle school noticed the bruises and wounds on my body, and called the police. My father got arrested and I ended up changing "family" every month for no reason. My depression get worse and worse, I wasn't even able to get up from my bed or eat. I didn't have reasons to go on with my life, even if I was only fifteen, I didn't have friends, I didn't have a family, I didn't have nothing and no one, so..." Zak hesitated, clenching his teeth. "I tried to kill myself, twice."

Darryl felt his heart breaking.
Zak didn't deserve to live something like that. At all.
And it was absurd how good he was to hide all that pain.
He wrapped his arm around Zak body and pulled him closer.

"At the second attempt, the hospital didn't let me go home until I would get myself on therapy. They were convinced I tried to kill myself because I missed my father, and I was still so fucking scared that I convinced myself they were right."

He stopped, taking a little rest before continuing, the weight of his past was suffocating him, but he knew that was the only chance to let it go.
Darryl kept comforting him, and the little one appreciated every single gesture he did.

"Sorry..." murmured, voice choked by a sob.

"Hey, take all the time you need, we can skip next period, ok?" softly reassured, pulling him closer.

Nodding, he took deep breaths, trying to relax a little.

"So... After one year of prison, my father got released for 'lack of evidence' and 'good behavior'. It doesn't make any fucking sense, I know. When he got home, he became more and more violent, but also clever. He found his methods to take control over me, manipulating my thoughts, my emotions, everything. I was... his puppet." Zak closed his eyes. "And still am."

Darryl turned his head towards him, glancing a him with a worried expression.

"You don't want the police involved because they would investigate on where you got those bruises, and everything would repeat?" asked the blond boy, adjusting a tuft of his raven hair.

"Yes, but there's... more. I..." Zak regretted immediately his add. "Basically in five months I'll be eighteen and I'll be finally free to go away, so... I just have to wait."

The blonde boy stayed silent nodding, still caressing the little boy's back.

"Zak, if things get really bad before you'll be able to go away... I want you to come over my dorm. Even just for the night or something, I dont, just... I want you to be as safe as possible, ok?"

"Thank you..." quietly thanked.

Minutes of silence followed his last words, yet it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable at all.
The comforting warmth of Darryl body made Zak feel good.
He wish he could stay there forever.

"Darryl? Can I tell you something?" hesitantly asked, starting to bite one of the hoodie's strings.

"Of course." he softly replied, laying his head against his again.

"Uhm... so, it's strange. You... you make me feel so loved and protected. And you hear me out and actually try to help me instead of just saying 'mood' or 'I feel ya' like everyone else. I... I feel appreciated for once. I wanted to tell you that i appreciate everything you do for me..."

'Even if I don't deserve it.' completed in his head, clenching his teeth.

Darryl couldn't help but smile at his words, his heart was racing and suddenly he felt like jumping around and screaming. For some reason he couldn't understand, he felt that way. And it was a pleasant.

"Aw, of course I appreciate you, you little muffin, and: first of all, you don't need to thank me, second, it isn't strange." replied, giving a little kiss on his head.

"Well, I know you since three days, yet it feels like I've always known you." murmured, smiling a little. "And even if you don't want me to say this: thank you for everything, Darryl."

The Senior widened his smile, he felt genuinely happy.
Eventually, his thoughts changed direction returning to think about what to do next. He hesitated for a whole minute before talking. He really didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Zak... We still have to talk with the principal." murmured, raising up his head and turning it towards him.

" What?!" he exclaimed with squeaky voice, brusquely lifting up his head from the Senior shoulder.

"We'll tell her to shut down the production of journal and that there's no need to involve the authority, okay?" explained, with a reassuring smile.

Zak stared at him, not even knowing what he wanted anymore, he looked back down and nodded.
It was the right thing to do, yet, hated the idea.

"Don't worry Zak, it's going to be okay." reassured once again, getting up. "Last period is starting," he held out his hand, smiling softly. "Let's go."

×××

Last period passed in a flash, and Zak passed the whole class worrying about what he and Darryl decided to do:
They would talk with the principal once that hour ended, and he was terrified.
The bell rang when Zak already started packing up his stuff, glancing at Vincent, who sat in the opposite side of the room, the french boy still didn't want to talk with him, no matter what he tried.
Sighing and looking away from him, he put is backpack on his shoulders and headed out the classroom.
Darryl was waiting or him outside the classroom, and once he saw the short boy waking towards him, he warmly smiled and waved at him.

"Hey Zak, how was class?" asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Yo, boring as always," replied, shrugging. "what about you?"

While talking about random things, the two started to head to the principal office, then Zak sarted spacing out, feeling sicker at every step he made.

They stopped in front of the door, the Junior was already shaking and Darryl immediately grabbed his hand, feeling him tightening the grab right after.

"Is going to be okay, don't worry." reassured him, laying his free hand on the knob without looking away from Zak.

The short boy looked at Darryl's hand for a long moment before glancing back at him and nodding.
He softly tightened the grab on his hand and opened the door, entering the office.

"Zak, Darryl." greeted the principal as soon as they walked in, looking at them with an illegible expression.

They both froze as soon as they looked up.

There were two police officers behind the middle aged woman, both staring suspiciously at Zak.

"I was waiting for you two,"

"especially for you, Zak Carder."

[unedited, 2135 words.]