the book of fluff (that usually isn't)

brave

i managed to get brave back

it's still inspired by "brave" by moriah peters

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

triggers warning: homophobic slurs, abuse

You make me brave.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Mitch shouted, and Scott sobbed in relief at the sound of his voice, weakly trying to get up. Mitch quickly shook his head and moved in front of Scott, gently pushing him back down. "Shh. Stay there, sweetheart," he whispered, kissing his hair. He turned back to the bullies, and instantly his eyes darkened and he drew himself up to his full height. "I thought I told you to stay away from him."

"Yeah, whatever." Cole, Scott's main bully, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "There's nothing you can do about it, faggot. You're smaller than he is," he said, and his friends snickered around him. Mitch's fists clenched and he marched forward to grab Cole's collar and tugged him down to his height. "I may be small, but if you touch him again, I swear to God I'll rip you apart," he snarled softly, fighting the urge to wrap his hands around Cole's neck and choke him to death for daring to lay a hand on his boyfriend. Cole rolled his eyes and easily pulled away from him. "Whatever, fag. Come on, guys, let's go." With that, they turned and walked away, laughing.

Mitch immediately knelt beside Scott and helped him up. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry. You've got to stand up for yourself. Try to be brave," he murmured worriedly, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Come on. Let's get you home, okay? There's no way I'm letting you stay here when you can barely walk." Scott sniffled and leaned heavily against Mitch as they made their way home.

This was a regular occurrence for them. Scott was bullied badly at their school, and Mitch was the only one to protect him. He constantly told him to stand up for himself and refuse to let the bullies get to him, but every time he tried, he just ended up unconscious and covered in blood and bruises behind the school. Mitch didn't know this, though. Those times, Scott woke up late and went home by himself. When Mitch would ask him the next morning why he didn't reply to his texts, he would just make an excuse. He couldn't let Mitch know how pathetic he was.

Mitch took Scott to his house, since his parents weren't home and they wouldn't have to make up an excuse for why they weren't at school. He helped Scott out of his clothes and gently cleaned his wounds, then helped Scott into his favorite sweater of Mitch's. They climbed into bed, and Scott buried himself in Mitch's arms. "I'm sorry I'm so pathetic," he whispered weakly, holding onto his shirt with shaking hands. Mitch softened and shook his head, lovingly running his fingers through his hair. "You're not pathetic, angel. It's their fault for not being a decent human being. You don't deserve this." Scott squeezed his eyes shut against the tears in his eyes and nodded slightly, leaning up to kiss him. Mitch kissed back gently, caressing his cheek.

Scott ended up falling asleep in Mitch's arms. Mitch sighed and kissed his hair, holding Scott's head in his neck. He wished that he could protect his angel from the bullies, but there was only so much he could do. He massaged the back of Scott's neck and closed his eyes, pulling him closer. "I love you," he whispered into the silence.

+++

Weeks passed, and things didn't get better. Mitch was with Scott as much as he could, but unfortunately, they didn't have their last class together, so Scott was on his own.

Surprisingly, Cole and his friends left Scott alone. He was still wary, because not a day went by where he went home completely free of new injuries. He figured Cole would get him at his locker before Mitch could get there and he'd be beaten up even worse than usual.

Scott glanced fearfully around as he left his last class to go to his locker. He was occasionally shoved, but no one was slamming him into the lockers yet, so he moved quickly. His hands shook as he got his stuff and slung his backpack over his shoulder, but fear grew in his chest when Mitch didn't come to get him. Had Mitch finally realized that he deserved better and left him for dead?

Scott waited until the last few stragglers had trickled out before he finally gave up. Tears in his eyes, he began to walk home, hating himself more than ever.

However, when he had exited the school, he heard the sound of taunting and laughter. He hesitated, but he remembered Mitch always telling him to stand up for himself and he knew he would want him to defend whoever was getting bullied. His hands shook at the mere thought of going anywhere near Cole without Mitch's protection, but he swallowed his fear and slowly inched towards the sound, whispering, "Be brave," over and over to himself.

"Stop! I swear, if you don't get away from me, I'll-" The voice cut off with a pained cry, and there was more laughter. "Oh, shut up, faggot. Not so tough now that your precious whore isn't here, huh? What would he think if he saw you like this, trembling and crying?" Scott recognized the second voice as Cole's, and his heart immediately began to pound. However, he told himself that Mitch might stay with him if he told him how he'd stood up to them finally. He had to make Mitch proud.

"In fact, why don't we go find him right now?" Cole continued, his voice loud and mocking. "I'm sure he'd love to watch." There was more laughter, and the first voice spoke again. "Don't you dare bring Scott into this," he croaked, and Scott felt like his blood had turned to ice. Suddenly, he recognized the first voice as his beloved Mitch's.

When he turned the corner, he felt like crying again. Mitch was being restrained by two of Cole's friends, and though he was bleeding from a cut on his lip and was very clearly hiding his pain, his dark eyes still glared at Cole. "Scott did nothing to you," he spat, but Cole rolled his eyes and punched him again. Scott made a small pained noise as though he had been the one that had been struck, and he shakily set his backpack down. Be brave. "Stop." He did his best to make his voice loud and clear, but it still shook horribly. Everyone simultaneously stopped and turned to look at him, and Scott shrunk into himself immediately, his breathing picking up. Mitch's eyes widened when he saw whom it was, and he struggled to free himself and go to him. "No. Baby, don't. I'm fine." One of Cole's friends slapped him to shut him up, and Cole regarded Scott with a wide smirk. "Faggot number two! How nice of you to join us," he taunted loudly, sidling over and grabbing Scott's arm to pull him over. However, Scott jerked his arm free and took a step away from him. "No. Let go of my boyfriend."

Cole's smirk fell. "What?" His voice was low and threatening, but Scott refused to let himself back down. "Let go of my boyfriend," he repeated, staring directly into Cole's eyes. Mitch bit his lip worriedly. "Scott, please go home. I'll meet you there," he said pleadingly, but Scott just shook his head without breaking eye contact. "No. You've protected me so many times. I'm not going to let them hurt you."

"Scott..."

Scott ignored him and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let go of him." Cole rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as well, mimicking Scott's stance. "Make me," he snapped.

Scott didn't know what made him do it, but suddenly Cole was holding his bleeding nose and glaring at Scott with all the hatred he had in him. "Oh, you're in for it," he snarled, but one of his friends held him back and murmured something in his ear. Whatever he said, Cole didn't look happy about it, but he calmed down and stopped trying to attack Scott. "You're gonna get it on Monday, I swear,"he growled, but his friends led him away.

Mitch collapsed as soon as Cole's minions let go of him with a soft, pained cry. Scott immediately rushed to his side, the tears he'd been holding back finally beginning to flow. "Mitchy, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay, I can't lose you," he whimpered, his shaking hands reaching out but stopping before they could make contact- Scott was too scared to touch him, having no idea what Cole had done before he'd gotten there. Mitch shook his head and carefully got up onto his knees, wrapping his arms around Scott's neck in a hug. "Thank you, sweetheart," he whispered, burying his face in his neck. "Thank you for saving me. But I wish you would've stayed out of it. He'll kill you now..."

"It's okay, Mitchy. I'd rather him kill me than touch you. I don't want him to hurt you."

"Oh, baby..." Mitch sniffled and hugged him tighter. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mitchy."