//dear leo// barsandmelody︱au︱

Drown

 And I can't take one more moment of this silence.
The loneliness is haunting me.
And the weight of the world's getting harder to hold up.  

- Bring Me The Horizon; Drown

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Slight trigger warning, you have been warned, ofc :)

Have you ever met someone and it seemed that something in the universe just clicked in the moment when your eyes met? Is that how 'love at first sight' works? Or looks like?

Charlie was confused as he stared after the boy who all but ran out of the courtyard. Blonde streaks of hair peeked out from underneath his black hood and covered his chocolate brown eyes, but Charlie had a chance to see them clearly, despite the hair. And they were magnificent.  Warm and wide, with specs of green breaking up the brown here and there, but also filled with panic and terror.

A feeling of dread settled in the pit of Charlie's stomach, heavy as a stone, and refused to leave him alone. He didn't know the boy - he barely even knew his name.

"Leondre."

Before Charlie had a chance to even think about it, he shortened it to Leo - and it kind of suited the younger boy; with wild blond strands that resembled a lion's mane and careful, calculated eyes - Leo was a fitting nickname.

"You must be Charlie, because you're the only one I don't know here!" Charlie finally looked away from the place where Leo disappeared out of his sight a couple of moments ago and looked at the incoming group of guys. 

"Yeah?"

"I'm Jake. I'm supposed to show you around the school." the boy who introduced himself as Jake had a mess of dark brown locks on his head, styled into an unruly quiff, with equally dark eyes to match his hair.

"Uh, yeah, sure? Okay." glancing back at the school doors, Charlie wondered where Leo disappeared to and Jake caught on.

"You've met the entertainment, I see."

"The what?" he probably misheard that. One look at Jake's face convinced him that he really didn't mishear that.

"Lunch-time entertainment." after nothing but confusion appeared on Charlie's face, Jake sighed "You'll see, newbie."

12:05 PM

/leo/

After 4 long periods, lunch time came around. It was totally unnecessary to say that Leo would rather have 4 consecutive math periods at once then face the lunch hall. For a few moments, he considered ditching the rest of the school day, but his mum would have skinned him alive if he ditched on the first day of school. So with a sigh of frustration, he starts dragging his feet towards the lunch line.

"Hello Leondre! Did you have a good summer?"

He looked up at Ronnie, the lunch lady, who seemed to be the only one that was willing to talk to him, and nodded - offering a small smile in return for her kindness. Leo took his tray and scanned over the lunch hall, until he found the perfect spot in the far back.

"Eeeey, the fag's back!"

'Just ignore it, just ignore it Leo - they don't know shit.'

Keeping his head down, Leo reached his destination without major incidents, except for a couple of attempts to trip him - he sucessfully dodged those and sat down, facing the window that looked at the courtyard. He ate in silence, occasionally moving only to flip to another page of the comic that he was reading. No one bothered him, no one shoved him or pushed him while passing him and it was strange, but he wasn't about to complain about it.

He should have known.

Once he ate most of his lunch, Leo put the tray on the cart and gathered his things. He looked back over his shoulder and gave a quick wave to Ronnie and then walked out through the double doors.

"Eh-ey, there he is! You took  forever, chink." Leo did a mental eye roll at the usage of a derogatory term that didn't even apply to him in any way, but he knew better then to say something back. Jake and his company of wild chimpanzees stood right by the door - along with Charlie.

"Now, did you really think it would be that easy?" several people laughed, but Leo kept his eyes trained on the floor, anxiously counting the god-awful green tiles that covered it.

He knew the exact moment when Jake's smile disappeared; his whole body went numb as someone grabbed him by the shoulders and Leo found himself in the bathroom - what now? Another fight? More insults? None of that surprised him anymore.

But none of that happened. Instead, he was shoved up against the wall, the impact with the cold tiles forcing the breath out of his lungs.

"Is that what you like?" Jake dug his fingers into Leo's hips and got a pained groan in return.

"Stop." 

"Or what? You're going to tell on me?" with another laugh, Jake pulled on his hair, forcing Leo's head backwards and exposing his neck.

They were all alone in the small bathroom, and suddenly, Leo was terrified. Embarrassment turned to pure terror when he felt Jake's hands trailing down his sides and stopping above the hem of his jeans.

"No, stop!" Leo pushed back, trying to slip out of Jake's grip, but it was in vain - with the wall in front of him and Jake keeping him in place, there was no where that he could run. 

"Jake? We're gonna be late for our next class - what are you doing?" Charlie walked into the bathroom; just as Jake was sliding his hand under the hem of Leo's jeans. The touch disappeared as quickly as it appeared and Jake stepped away.

"Don't think that this is the end of that." he whispered to Leo with a terrifying smile and then left the bathroom with Charlie.

13:25 PM

/charlie/

The courtyard was filled with people; students more then ready to go home and parents that patiently waited to pick up their kids from their first day back at school. But my eyes were searching for only one person - and he was not here.

"Ey, Charlie, we're gonna go back to mine to hang, you wanna join?" Jake appeared behind me and I jumped, startled. The bathroom scene was hard to get out of my head and the fear on Leo's face was even harder to forget - the bathroom.

"No, I - um, I forgot something, you go on. See you!" with a half-assed excuse, I headed back to the school, pushing the massive doors to let myself in. I walked across the hideous green tiles and entered the bathroom.

Sure enough, Leo's bag was there, in the middle of the room, but Leo himself was nowhere to be found.

"Leo?" the middle stall is closed and after calling out for him, I hear shuffling. The stall doors open and Leo is standing there, with his hood up, covering almost a half of his face.

"What, you came for some more entairtainment? Well sorry, business hours are over." shoving me out of the way, he picks up the bag from the floor and it hits me - if I don't open my bloody mouth right now, he's going to walk out and we'll never talk again.

"N-No." the subtle quiver in my voice irks me, so I clear my throat and start over. "No, I came to see if you're okay." 

That seemed to stop him in his tracks.