Before starting, I really really wanna thank you all for everything. From the nice and funny comments, to the support and encouragement you all gave me.
I never thought I would ever get this far, especially in only three weeks.
I love you all. Thank you. <3!

First in #skeppy, 03/09/'19. <3

I know for fact it isn't gonna last for long, but just having reached this goal makes my heart go crazy. Thanks again <3. Aight I'm done being mawkish, enjoy the angst hehe.

×××

The sun already disappeared behind the buildings by the time Zak got back at school, anxiously checking behind him as he felt observed for the whole course. That sensation started way before meeting up with Clay, and it wasn't reassuring.
Furthermore, the short boy wasn't in the mood to argue or even discuss with Vincent, yet, he forced himself to accept as the only idea of rejecting him once again, aside of making himself feel like shit, would end up putting a end to their friendship.

Walking down the empty stands of the stadium, he looked for the french boy chewing once again his hoodie string, anxiously running his eyes across the bare seats all around him.
After searching for way too much, Zak gave up and turned back, ready to go home, freezing after seeing out of the corner of the eye a occupied sit. It was obviously who he was looking for, sitting in the corner of the last tier, feet leaned against the top of the seat in front of him and his black hod covering part of his face.

Wishing he had taken the pills already as the anxiety made him unable to breathe properly, Zak walked up the stairs and hesitated before entering in the tier where Vincent was sitting.
The french boy winced slightly as he caught the movement causes by his friend, who sat down in the seat next to him, tucking his hands in the hoodie's pocket.

"Hi." Zak quietly greeted, keeping his eyes pointed at the empty playing field.

"Hi." he replied, aloof.

Nobody between the two opened their mouth, both of their eyes busy examining the field.

"I thought you wanted to talk." pointed out the short boy after a while, bringing his legs against his chest hugging them, resting his chin on the knees.

"You're the one who should talk, since I deserve explanations." murmured in reply.

"Uh?" Zak hummed, glancing at him confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You know perfectly what I'm talking about, Zak. The journal, the police, school but especially," he leaned his head toward, clenching his teeth. "Darryl."

In reply at those words, the Junior stared at him for some seconds, taking a long deep breath before talking.

"Well, you saw yourself what was written on the journal, and don't play stupid with me. You knew about my father. The police was involved against our will and I had to talk..." Zak hesitated, looking back at the playing field. " about everything. Not only about my father."

"What do you mean?" asked Vincent, furrowing his eyebrows together still refusing to look at him.

"Y'know, there's plenty of illegal stuff against me. And... I have no idea what is going to happen." murmured, tightening the grab on his legs.

"Is it true or they're stereotyping once again against you because you live at North?" questioned the french boy.

Zak answered at his question staying silent.

"I see. What did the principal said?" Vincent calmly continued.

"Since I won't end the year, I'm free from that grades shit and I'm free of playing baseball as much as I want to, I guess."

"What do you mean?" asked once again, moving slightly his head but not moving his eyes away from the playing field.

"I'm moving out by the end of the month, Vincent. My father will be arrested shortly." answered in a shaky whisper.

As expected, his friend stayed silent.
That silence stabbed Zak in the back.

"I'm sorry, maybe I should leave..." murmured, getting up but getting stopped halfway through by his friend's hand who grabbed his arm.

Vincent dragged him back down, still not looking at him.

"We aren't finished." blurted out, without letting him go. "What about Darryl?"

"Yeah, what about Darryl, Vincent?" Zak retorted, narrowing his eyes.

"What does he have that I don't. Why he deserves to know and help you more than me?" harshly asked, finally looking at him.

"He offered me help and-" he tried to explain with a squeaky voice.

"I've been offering you help for five fucking years Zak!" shouted brusquely getting up facing him, his voice breaking on his name.

"Vincent, please let me-"

"No! You know what? Forget it. I'm done with you. I'm so fucking done." blurted out, trying to walk away.

"You're done what Vincent?! I literally just told you I'm gonna get the fuck away because that man I have to call father fucking abuses me! Why are you acting like a crackhead thinking only about yourself?! Darryl here, Darryl there, stop it, god damnit!" he snapped, getting up and blocking the only way out.

"What?! Now I'm the selfish bitch here?! Yeah, sure, go on Zak." returned, narrowing his eyes. "You're literally the one who ignored my help, my support, everything I did to you never returned!" yelled, brusquely opening his arms.

"What am I supposed to do, Vincent! It's pretty fucking obvious I can't even help myself, how I'm supposed to help you?! And I tried, I really fucking did, but you're just so concentrated on yourself that you became fucking blind!" shouted back, adrenaline filling is body at the point of making his legs shake.

"Do you realize that it isn't about myself but about my mom who's fucking dying, right?!"

"What the fuck does that mean?!" shrugged Zak.

"Oh, right, sorry for a moment I forgot you don't have a mother, you can't underst-"

Zak's fist hit Vincent cheek, violently slamming him against the seat on his side. With a groan, he wiped with the back of his hand the trickle of blood that came out from the corner of his bruised lips and nose.
The Junior stood there, panic took over the anger he proved before hitting him provoking a strong desire to puke.

'Shit... I'm just like my fucking father...'

"Fuck..." groaned the french boy, bringing his hand in front of him at the feeling of the dense liquid on it.

"I-I'm..." whispered with shaky voice, taking a small step back. "s-so sorry..."

Zak's lungs hurt at the point he felt himself soffucating, but he kept running away, accompanied by the street lamps flashing above him.
Every inch of his body was screaming in pain, he wanted to throw up, even if he didn't eat a single thing.
Unconsciously finding himself where only an hour before he met his friend, he stopped, leaning against the wall then sliding down. Fighting to catch his breath back, Zak started panicking.
He took his phone out of the pocket and immediately called Clay, not wanting to involve Darryl once again.

"Zak? What's up?" asked the voice behind the other side, clearly worried.

"H-hi Dream..." murmured, his voice muffled because of the sleeve covering his mouth. "Could you please come back?"

"Uhm, I don't think I can. Did something happened with the pills?" questioned, there was music and voices in the background that disturbed his voice.

"No, I haven't taken them yet. Uhm, are you busy...?" replied, wiping the semi-dry tears away.

"I'm sorry Zak, I really can't leave. Take the pill, I feel like you just cried and I'm sure it will help you, ok?" worriedly recommended.

"Ok, no problem, and I will. Thanks..." said Zak, hanging up and putting his phone back in his Jean's pocket.

After staring at his backpack who left on the ground before laying against the wall, Zak grabbed an pulled it towards him, opening then the front task and taking out the orange container. Without hesitating, he opened it and versed a pill of each type on his hand, both were white, on each of them there was written an 'AMB10' while 'Xanax' in the other.
Clay told him by text to only take one pill of Xanax, and the other one only before going to bed, then he putted it back in the container.
Leaning the pill on his tongue, Zak grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down without thinking too much about it.
After some moments, Zak grabbed his phone back out and dialed Darryl's number.

'Why do I have to be this fucking pathetic...'

The Senior surprisingly answered almost immediately.

"Hi Zak, is everything ok?" asked, his voice full of worry.

"Hi... not really. Uhm, are you busy?" hesitantly asked, hoping to be able to stay with him again.

"Nope, I'm all yours!" exclaimed, probably with his dorky smile printed on his face. "What do you need?"

"You."

'What the actual fuck, Zak?!' thought, mentally insulting himself.

"O-oh, aw, guess your needs will be fulfilled." replied, clearly flustered. "Where are you now? I'm going to pick you up."

"Uh? You have a car?" squeaked the short boy, furrowing his eyebrows.

"It's not mine, it's my roommate's! He's very kind and let me use it when I need to. And I have a driving license of course, don't worry." explained, in the background was audible a pair of keys tingling.

"Oh, cool."

"So? Where are you, little muffin?" asked once again.

"At seven eleven down Saturn street." replied, getting up and actually going there.

"I'll be there in five! Bye." happily exclaimed, hanging up only after hearing Zak's goodbye.

After the expected time, a car entered the empty parking area and stopped in front the short boy, at least five feets between it and him.
The door on Zak side opened, revealing Darryl who was leaning back on the driver seat.

"Get in." said, reassuringly smiling at him.

The junior forced a small smile, getting up with his backpack on his shoulder, throwing it in the back seats once in the car.
The senior restarted driving, getting out of the parking lot and heading in an unknown direction.
The radio at low volume and the engine running were the only sounds filling the silence.

"Did something happened, Zak?" Darryl asked, entering the McDonald's drive by line after a pair of minutes of driving.

Zak nodded hesitantly.

"I... really don't want to annoy you with all my problems." murmured, fidgeting with his fingers.

"You won't, I promise."

The cashier disturbed voice through the speaker asked for the order.

"What do you want?" asked the older boy, busily studying the menu illuminated by a backlight.

"I'm not hungry." Zak replied, lying.

Darryl didn't listen to his answer and ordered food for both of them, ignoring his friend complain about it right after.
He parked in the lot of McDonald and turned off the car, letting the light inside on.
The bag full of food filled the air with a pleasant scent of fried, making Zak's stomach grumble.

"Guess you were wrong." said the older boy giggling, pulling out the food and giving him the one he ordered for him.

"Thank you, Darryl. I'll pay you back." quietly murmured before taking a bite of the chicken nugget he took out of the carton.

"There's no need, you muffin. So, can I ask you what happened?" asked him, leaning his back against the closed door, giving full attention to Zak.

"I... argued with Vincent." answered, taking another bite.

Darryl freezed, remembering what happened with him in the bathroom the same day.

"O-oh, uhm, about what?" dared to ask.

"Dumb shit."

"Language."

"Sorry."

"Can I ask what those dumb things were about?"

"About... how I didn't accept his help and how i didn't give back what he gave me." answered, avoiding to mention him.

"Oh, poor muffin... I'm so sorry." murmured, arching his eyebrows.

"I..." Zak hesitated, grasping his pants and thightening the grab. "...p-punched him. He kept backstabbing me and... I lost it."

"Zak..."

Darryl leaned forward, carefully grabbing his bruised hand, examining it and caressing it before letting it go.

'Woah, what the fuck...?' thought Zak, feeling his body suddenly relax. 'Is it kicking in now?'

Only then he realized how tired he was.
Every inch of his body was hurting.
It was the first time in years he felt that relaxed.

Sighing Darryl looked back at him, noticing he looked abnormally tired.

"Hey? Are you okay?" asked worried.

"Mhm... I just... don't want to go home..." quietly groaned, slowly sinking in the seat.

"Do... do you want to come over?"

"That would be awesome..." sleepily answered, closing his eyes.

The senior smiled, the car's engine and the radio broke the background silence once again as he turned on the car.
Five minutes later that looked like hours for Zak, the auto stopped and the driver door opened and closed.
Right after, the door by the short boy side opened, the cold air made him shiver, but he warmed up at Darryl's arms that wrapped around his body, helping him out the car.

"Lay against car for a second so I can grab your backpack." kindly requested, letting him go once he did as said.

The older boy opened the back door of the car, getting in and pulling towards him the backpack.
Noticing the front task open, he decided to close it, but freezed as the orange container inside of it catched his attention.
The tag where there was supposed to be written the Name and middle name of the patient, was hidden by two black stains.

'What?'

'Zak stole these from someone?'

[unedited, 2300 words.]