Bitties! [Post for MoiyaHatake]

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

Who: Leo Valdez and Sebastian Carter
When: Sixth grade >8D
What: Leo's the new kid, Sebastian's been bullied. Leo to the rescue?
Warnings: Course language, bullying?
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It was one of those schools.

Leo hadn't known what those schools were like until his mom died. In Houston? His school was kind of rough, but it was small, and he liked learning from his mom more anyway. He didn't have to put so much attention into the people, into fitting in, because he'd been there since the beginning. He had friends he'd invited to his birthday parties, and in return he'd go to theirs. All happy.

It wasn't like that anymore. Now, Leo had to pay attention to the people, because that's what kept him safe. If he got in with the right crowd, they wouldn't screw with him. Yeah, that meant bullies. That meant mean people, people who could take your head off. Leo had to get in right with them, smile and crack jokes and put up with the BS so he'd be safe. Anonymous in a good way.

These weren't those sorts of people, though. The school was kind of on the whitewashed side--not totally, but Leo didn't see many other hispanic or black kids. They weren't like his last school, either. When Leo raised his voice to (gasp) argue with the teacher? Everyone looked at him like he'd tried to shoot the guy or something.

Yeah, not one of those schools. Leo probably didn't help the situation in that math class by screwing with the projector when the teacher was answering a question (as usual, he ended up in the front and next to the teacher after he took one look at Leo's smile) to make have static in certain parts of the screen. Maybe into the shape of a smily-face with "x"s for eyes and stuff. Yup. Not a rough school.

It was weird having foster parents who actually could send him to an uppity school. It didn't really make much difference, and Leo was still bouncy in class, but still. It also meant he had a bunch of foster siblings though. And his foster parents had their own kids. Yeah, kind of really weird.

Leo grinned as he followed some of the other guys out to recess on his third day. They didn't let people go to recess as long here as they did at his last school.

Comments

[dulcet_cellist]

Sebastian, on the other hand, had been attending this school for a couple of years. He was used to the atmosphere. The teachers. The way things were suppose to be. Even the bullies and the teachers who turned a blind eye to the too emotional child who rarely spoke. The few times he had answered questions in class it was simply to avoid punishment.

Yeah. He knew the rules well.

Most of the time he could avoid the bullies by finding an out of the way place to hide during recess. Stick his nose in a book and wait. Sometimes they found him before he could escape quietly.

Today was one of those days. The book was snatched out of his fingers and a hard shove left a sharp sting on both knees and the palm of his right hand where he hit the cement.

"What are you reading today baby?"

"You do know girls wear dresses?"

"Is she crying yet?"

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Leo blinked at a nudge from the guy who he'd been walking with, a leer on his face.

"Let me go introduce you to Sebastian." That didn't sound good. Leo followed behind him, trying to play at nonchalance as they walked in on the scene.

...His stomach twisted a little, but Leo smiled, half a plan already in his head.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!" Leo stepped in and gestured for everyone to calm down. "Woah. Woah," He added, and looked around, making sure he'd caught everyone's attention. He ignored the sharp look from the dude he'd walked in with.

Giving Sebastian a very hard and speculative look, making it obvious that he was looking him over, before turning to the kids who'd made the comments.

"I think you guys need your eyes checked. How many fingers am I holding up?" Leo held two fingers next to his head and waved them for emphasis. "Cuz that ain't a girl."

[dulcet_cellist]

"Oh, yes he is. Aren't you Sebastian?"

"See. He agree's. My father says that if they don't disagree it means they agree and can't find an argument to use against you."

"You're father is a lawyer. Of course he would say that."

"Leo. Everyone here knows Sebastian is a girl. Because only girls like boys. Isn't that right Sebastian?"

Sebastian very carefully picked himself up. He didn't look at his skinned knees or his hand. He straightened his clothes and started to walk away like he always did. Stiffly because it hurt to bend his knees.

Until the book hit him in the middle of his back. He was on his knees again, head hanging between his arms as he breathed. Hot tears falling onto the cement.

"See. Told you he was a girl." The few girls watching were protesting that girls weren't cry babies and to stop comparing them to the freak.

"Good aim. You've been practicing for the baseball team as pitcher, haven't you?"

Sebastian heard two of the boys walk away as if nothing had happened.

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Leo looked on, eyebrows raised. Right, like he could believe anything these idiots said, who didn't even laugh at his joke.

"Blind and a lawyer for a dad? Wow, I didn't think blind snakes could father kids. Or that your mom was into that sort of thing." Smiling, Leo listened to the chorus of ooooohs from the kids gathered around. HE completely ignored Sebastian, who was still prostrate on the ground. The kid with the lawyer for a father turned around, giving him a very dark look.

"What did you say about me?" Leo felt the air tense up.

"Oh, nothing that your daddy can't sue me for. Go on and tattle to him, go feel better, baby." While Leo was on the shorter side, at least among these kids, he was older than most of them. Not to mention, they were all rich white assholes. The kid turned an interesting shade of purple, made a rushed and rude gesture with a glance over his shoulder to make sure there wasn't a teacher watching, then kept going. Leo scoffed.

"Talk about a cry baby! Did you see the look on his face?" Leo directed this to the girls, pulling his best exaggerated copy of lawyer's brat. He was met with a few scattered laughs. "Too afraid to even tell me to fuck off!" That was met with a bunch of round eyes. Right. Eleven year olds who'd been sheltered under their parents. Leo glanced at Sebastian.

So what if he was gay? They all had their sins. Leo had burned his mother to death. They could piss on the bible and go to hell together.

[dulcet_cellist]

"Why did you do that?" Sebastian asked quietly, still hiding his face as he very carefully moved to pick up his book.

He didn't know this kid. He'd noticed when he'd started. Sebastian noticed a lot of things most kids ignored. But he didn't understand why he'd made an enemy of a bully when he was still the new kid.

No one had done that for him before. Not since kindergarten.

His pants were torn a little where his knees burned and his hand throbbed, but it was nothing like the pain in the middle of his back. And all he could think about was why this kid had done something like this and what he'd tell his mother when she asked what happened.

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

"Do what, tell a piece of shit like him off?" Leo snorted. "They had it coming. Up you go, man," Leo told him, offering Sebastian a hand. The kids dispersed, losing their interest, and the guy he'd walked in with gave him a wary look too before leaving to join another group.

"Your back okay? He has a mean throw.' Leo made a face. Baseball. That was one of the stupider sports he'd encountered.

[dulcet_cellist]

"I'm okay." Sebastian lied, not sure how to feel about someone who seemed genuinely concerned or interested. Not to mention someone who had just helped him instead of jumping on the bandwagon.

He'd stared at the boys hand suspiciously for a moment before letting him help pull him to his feet. It hurt and he had trouble hiding it, but he had his book back and it wasn't as damaged as he'd feared. He held it tight against his chest with his uninjured hand and held out his injured hand without thinking.

His father always said a man introduced himself properly with a handshake.

"I'm Sebastian. Thank you for helping me."

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

Leo eyed the hand for a moment, before shaking it briskly. "Yeah. I'm Leo--you can call me the Supreme McShizzle." He nodded sagely with a grin, and then dropped his hand. He didn't do handshakes very often, and he kept his grip light to avoid messing with the scraped palm.

"You should probably wash that off, man," Leo told him, shrugging a little. "Infected wounds suck. Trust me."

[dulcet_cellist]

"Is McShizzle your surname?" Sebastian asked, more curious about Leo than he was worried about his hand. It was an odd handshake.

But Leo was right. He should clean up. He just didn't want to go to the school nurse. She'd tell the principle and the principle would call his father.

Father would be angry.

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

Leo stared at Sebastian. Damn. Boy was really sheltered, huh? "No, Valdez is. Where I come from, McShizzle is just a way of saying totally freaking awesome." Gullible kid was gullible. Leo wouldn't abuse it too much, really...

[dulcet_cellist]

"Oh." Sebastian wrinkled his brow in thought. "Is that how people talk where you come from?" He'd never heard of an English language that used words like McShizzle. And then he remembered with a small smile, "It's slang. An informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech."

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

"...What?" Leo stared at Sebastian, eyebrows furrowed. "Uh...right then. Yeah. Okay. That... yeah." Most of that went in one ear, out the other.

[dulcet_cellist]

Sebastian was used to that reaction. It was disappointing to see it again. But Leo wasn't calling him names or beating him up, just the opposite, so he wasn't sure if this meant it was time to end the conversation or continue it as if everything was still okay.

And this dilemma was the exact reason he didn't talk anyone. Well, it was one of the reasons. A reason that led to the other reason: getting beat up and called a nerd. He never knew how to talk to anyone and not knowing made his anxiety worse. But it been next to never since to the last person was this nice to him so he was sure he should make more of an effort.

Sebastian licked his lips, heart pounding. "My surname is Hokori-Anderson."

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

"Hokori-Anderson--dude, what a mouthful..." Leo scrunched his nose up, and rolled his weight. "Right. Dude, you, go wash that in the bathroom or something, 'cuz I ain't cutting your hand off for you if that shit gets infected and rots." Like all the zombie shows!

[dulcet_cellist]

"Oh. Okay." Sebastian didn't think it would get so bad as to rot off or need to be amputated, but he should clean his hand and his knees. Maybe he could hide it from his mother long enough to let them heal.

And his pants could be easily replaced. He could just throw them away when he was home. He wouldn't lie to his mother, but if she never asked then he wouldn't have to lie.

The bruise he knew marked the middle of his back could easily be hidden. So could the marks on his knees. He would have to think of a way to hide his hand. Which he really should be going to clean.

"Thank you for helping me, Leo."

Would it be rude to walk away now? Maybe he should ask the boy to come with him. Or was that too weird?

[snowintexasfrigginmelts]

"Yeah, man. Take it easy." Leo nodded to Sebastian, rocked on his heels, and then turned to go. Sebastian would be okay. He was a nice kid, even if Leo didn't really get him.