Super Hero Rejects

Sticks and stones

Eridan looked up and wiped the blood from his chin.
"Hey thanks. Please tell me I don't look that bad." he said and looked the other in his blue eyes.
Sollux wanted to tell him that for someone that just got the fuck beat out of him, he looked pretty damn good, but he stuck with a simple, you look fine. Eridan half smiled and stood up.
"Hey thanks, man. Sollux, right?" he said ans wiped more blood from his nose.
"Yeah, that'sth me. You're Eridan." he said it less as a question and more as a statement.
Eridan smiled and ran his fingers though his hair, fixing it almost instantly. Sollux half smiled at him and sipped his drink.
"We should probably get back to sthchool. Get you cleaned up, teachersth will be on your assth" he shrugged and started towards the school.
Eridan just shook his head and laughed a little,
"My day has been hell, so I think I'm going to head home. The teachers know I'm a good student so they won't count it against me."
Sollux was about to say something else but the school bell rang and he had to jet.
"I'll see you around, Sol." Eridan said as he walked away towards home.
He didn't know what to think about his guy, he was cute but not in a conventional way. He was small and looked like he needed to eat, but he had this way about him that drew Eridan close. He was broke away from his thoughts when his phone chimed, it was the cute boy he'd been talking to. All thoughts of Sollux drained away and he smiled as he saw the name. He was almost home when he opened it and when he did he almost dropped where he stood. He turned off his phone and ran the rest of the way phone, slammed the door and slid down it. Tears were falling down his face and he was starting to have an anxiety attack. He ran to his room and locked the door. All of a sudden his phone was buzzing every two seconds, he checked it and almost threw up. The words "whore" "slut" and "gross" were flooding his vision and it made him feel sick. He threw his phone and started rocking back and forth, his hands and forehead pressed to the floor.

Sollux basically bullshitted the entire rest of the day, since everything they were learning, he already knew. He rode the bus home and heard some people laughing, Eridan's name was heard somewhere in there but he didn't pay it much mind. He booked it home to make it home in time, the last thing he needed was another reason for him to get slapped. He ran inside out of breath and was relieved that he had two minutes to spare. He was greeted by his father putting a cigarette out on his arm. He yelped in pain but immediately went silent. He walked up to his room as his dad continued to scream at him and throw punches to him, which he just took without a sound. He locked himself in his room and popped two pills that he needed to take for his bipolar, and a few more from another bottle just to make him numb. Within a few minutes he was spaced out and he loved the simplistic feeling of nothing.

Eridan was shaking, he'd thrown up after the thirtieth message. His skin was stinging and he was bleeding from more place than one. He had a bottle of vodka in his arms and it was almost empty. Four hours had passed and he just wanted to sleep. He cleaned and bangaged himself up, grabbed his bottle and went to bed. He didn't want to feel anything and within ten minutes he didn't.

The next day Eridan was awakened by screaming and yelling from next door. He looked out his window and saw things being thrown at the windows and two people fighting. He was cut loose from his concentration when he bumped into his desk and a stinging pain rippled through his entire body.
"Oh fuck me. Not again" Eridan thought with disgust for himself.
He went and got ready for school, cleaning himself up and re-bandaging his wounds. He dressed out of his normal today, a baggy black sweatshirt, black skinny jeans and a pair of boots. He didn't want to draw attention to himself today. He reluctantly walked outside and to the bus stop, no way he was walking today. About the same time, Sollux was being tossed out of his house, his face was bleeding and he looked like he'd been crying. Eridan blasted his music and stared at the ground as he walked so he didn't notice. They both reacher the bus stop when Sollux finally noticed that Eridan was there. He saw the way the other looked today and he knew this wasn't normal, but he stayed quiet. They boarded the bus, Sollux sitting near the back and Eridan sitting a seat in front of him. Eridan was startled when he had a few pieces of paper and a pen thrown at him. They started whispering things about him and he just ignored it. He couldn't show how badly it hurt. Sollux overheard what was being said and he was shocked that people would speak so badly of him.
"What the hell could he have done that was so bad?" Sollux thought to himself.
They arrived at school and hell began for Eridan. People called him names as he passed and guys would keep grabbing at him, asking if he'd model for them. This continued into first period but not as bad since there was select few people who knew him that well here. Sollux saw him and wanted to say hi but his words get stuck. As per freaking usual. Eridan didn't look good, he was smiling and laughing but it wasn't real. Sollux knew what fake looked like, and that was it. He decided to find him during lunch and ask him what was going on.