Prompt: Can you please do a prompt where Aaron dies or gets arrested maybe? And like someone tells Kaz and we see his reaction?
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"Get that away from- GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!"
Beckett snickered and shot his yo-yo at me again. It hit the wall next to my shoulder and I flinched away in terror.
"You're such a baby," Beckett said, the yo-yo slamming back into his palm with a flick of his wrist.
"Would you expect anything else from Killian?" Mikayla said.
"I would spit out a snarky comeback, but your muscles terrify me," I said.
Kaz laughed a little, tossing a bag of chips to Pete. Pete opened them and shared them with Leo. We gathered in Kaz's and Pete's room, just hanging out. Beckett had taken to tormenting me for everyone's amusement and the emotional trauma was giving me a phobia of yo-yos.
Kaz's phone buzzed and he grabbed it off his desk. "Hey, mom."
"No," I said, my eyes widening as I saw Beckett getting ready to torture me again. "I can't scream like a small girl and risk Kaz's mom hearing it!"
"What?"
We all stopped, looking at Kaz. His face had gone horribly pale, and he was gripping the phone far too tightly.
"No," he said quietly. "No." His mom said something and he closed his eyes. "How did it happen? Where were Bruce and Vic?" She said something else and Kaz's free hand gripped the back of his neck. "How are his parents?"
We all watched him anxiously. Whatever his mom was saying was tearing him to pieces before our eyes.
"Yea," he said, clearing his throat. "Please, I want to be there. Thank you. I'll email my teachers tonight. I'll see you later. I know, mom. I know. I love you too. I'll be okay. I love you, mom. Bye."
He hung up the phone, staring down at it. He gripped the back of his neck even tighter, digging his fingers into his skin.
"Aaron's dead," he said, voice hollow.
My eyes widened. "Aaron Kizziar?"
He nodded, forcing his hand to drop back to his side. "Him, his brother Bruce, and their friend Vic were cutting through private property to get to store to buy food. The owner called the cops, and they were trying to run. Aaron ran in the road without looking." Kaz gave a smile, but it was alarmingly hollow. "He always did that. He always went in the road without looking. He didn't give a damn about his life."
"Kaz," Beckett said, struggling for something to say.
"Aaron's mom was so hysterical when they told her that she had to be sedated. My mom said they're monitoring her right now. His brother is blaming himself, and they can't get him to come out of his room. Aaron's dad...My mom said he's barely even a man anymore. Just a shell." Kaz wasn't looking at any of us, just staring down at his phone still. "Aaron never believed that his parents loved him. But his dad tried so hard to save him."
A tear crawled down Kaz's cheek. He seemed startled by it and hastily wiped it away.
"I left him," Kaz choked out. "He needed me. He trusted me to help him, and I walked away. He got more reckless. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't left him."
"He was abusing you," I said, standing up and going over to his bed. I took his hand in mine. "Kaz, he was abusing you. He was changing you. This isn't your fault."
"Kaz, I'm so sorry," Mikayla said. "But you have to know this isn't your fault. When someone abuses you at that vulnerable age, you blame yourself. You think it's your fault it happened to you. If you had stayed with Aaron, he would've just kept hurting you and hurting you. By now he probably would've broken your hands."
Kaz gripped my shirt, looking desperate and unbearably heartbroken. "Why didn't he care?" he said, his voice drowning in that sorrow. "They told him he was worthless and he believed them. He never cared about his own life. I think he wanted to die. He got a thrill from feeling his pulse race and now it's stopped forever."
I pulled Kaz into my arms, hugging him tightly. He struggled to get himself under control, to be our strong leader.
"Kaz," Leo said, eyes sad. "Cry."
And Kaz did.
I held him as he cried, his sobs just small slips as he fought to keep himself from showing too much of his grief. He hid his face against my shirt, and I rubbed his back.
"I'm right here," I whispered.
It was a little while before Kaz picked his head up, wiping at his eyes. "My parents are picking me up tonight so I can go to his calling hours and funeral. I'll be gone for a few days, maybe even a week." He forced a smile, putting a hand on Beckett's shoulder. "Keep up the fight while I'm gone. Don't let Constance gain any ground, or I'll be pissed." He held up Beckett's yo-yo. "I'll hold this hostage while I'm gone."
Beckett for once didn't look like an angry boy. He just looked like an eleven year old kid, too young to fully comprehend the trauma Kaz had experienced and the sorrow filling him now.
"I will," Beckett promised at last, and Kaz squeezed his shoulder.
"Call me if you need me," I said, putting my hand on his back. He leaned into my touch.
"Do you want us to stay with you for now?" Pete asked.
"If you want." He was struggling so hard to keep his composure. "My parents will be here in a little. Pete, don't fuck up the room while I'm gone."
None of us told him we were sorry for his loss. Aaron had been a huge part of Kaz's life, cruelly carving Kaz into the man standing before us. But we all hated that boy, even if we'd never met him. Aaron had been horribly abusive, haunting Kaz even when Kaz was physically away from him.
Still, he was a 17 year old kid who'd been killed just for taking a shortcut to the store. His family was mourning him. Kaz was mourning him.
My heart didn't break for Aaron's death, but it broke for Kaz's grief. I took his hand again and he let his body rest against mine.
"You're not alone," I promised, kissing him.
He cupped my cheek in his palm, his eyes infinitely sad. "Thank you, Malley."
Just another way Aaron would change Kaz. Another way he would haunt him. Just 17 years in the world, and Aaron had done a lifetime of damage.
