Euro High: A Eurovision High School AU

Chapter 5: The Dark

The Five Guys sat on the bathroom floor, comforting Benji as he sobbed into Mikolas' shoulder.
"It's alright, let it out." Nikita whispered, rubbing his back softly. "Let it all out."
"He was covered in it, and that look in his eyes. I broke him, I broke him I did!
"Shh, it's alright." Kostya chimed comfortingly.
"You didn't do anything, don't blame yourself." Supportingly added by Ari.
"Are you sure it's okay we're skipping class?" He whispered to Kostya anxiously.
"You'll be fine, I've done it a ton." He replied. "Plus, i couldn't care if we got caught. I'm only worried about Benji right now. Fuck detention." Ari smiled.
"Yeah, good point. Benji's more important right now."

When the boys had went to find Benji after the bell rung, they found him in a heap in the corner of the men's room, hiding his eyes from the horrors that stained the sink across the room. As Benji saw them, the tears turned into floods as they charged towards him in a panic-driven hurry.
"So where's Robin now?" Kostya asked.
"Nurse's office." Benji sniffed. "What if  he comes back, he can't see me like this! He can't see us!"
"Good point." Niki raised his head
slightly to address the whole group. "We need a lookout." Their eyes slowly wandered over to Kostya, most likely being the bravest of them all.
"Oh c'mon." He muttered as he walked over to the door, opened it just a crack and peered through.

Just as he'd suspected, the coast was somewhat clear- an empty hall not including a few teachers walking past every now and then. Meanwhile, the rest of the group helped Benji to sort himself out.
"You should get going, I don't want you guys getting into trouble." He said, concerned.
"We'll be fiiine!" Miki promised.
"You should probably just say you were sick so you can go home for the rest of the day." Niki suggested. Ari sat up, rummaged through his bag for a stray piece of paper and began to write.
May Benjamin please be excused for the rest of the day due to unexpected illness. He then forged a signature of his Head of Year: Miss Bukle.
"Woah, how'd you learn to forge signatures like that?" Mikolas questioned, becoming very intrigued.
"Lots of practice. Plus, you have to build up your reputation so if someone finds out it's fake, you're never suspected."
"Can't say I have a pristine reputation but it's always worth a try." He sighed.

Kostya continued peering out of the what door when he saw a tall figure stumbling down at the end of the long hallway.
"It's him, I think it's him, everybody hide!" He hissed. Everyone gasped, attempting to find a good spot. There was always the stalls, but that would be obvious. They could hide in the cupboards underneath the sinks, but they found they were locked upon trying to open them. Then, Benji caught sight of a small janitors closet in the corner. He ran over desperately and pulled at the door handle. Locked. Footsteps could now be heard approaching, they were heavy and loud- as if they were storming up the hall.
"We're fucked!" Niki panicked, squashed up in the corner of the room. Kostya looked into his eyes.
"I'm not giving up yet." He ran over to the door at full speed, barging it with his elbow with full force. He heard the  door crack under pressure and proceeded to do it again and again until the whole door swung open, the lock hitting the ground. fell off in pieces on the ground. "Get in!" He shrieked as they ran to get inside. Mikolas held the door shut as they sat, waiting in the eerie dark; Kostya rubbing his aching arms.

The Five Guys waited, the only audible sounds being their quickened breathing. All was quiet, too quiet in fact. All of a sudden, they heard the bathroom door violently swing open as the familiar figure stumbled inside; Benji peeked through the hole where the door handle had once been. He saw Robin pacing the bathroom, his fist clenched under his bandages. His breathing was almost like growling, like a wild animal was breaking loose. Then he looked into one of the remaining mirrors, his fists loosened, his breathing silenced before tears began to fall from his eyes. Tears turned to sobs- he pressed his head against the mirror and let his gliding tears disappear into the drain.
"What have you done?" He whispered to himself. "You've lost him for real this time." When he saw those streams of tears pouring down, Benji had the urge to get out there and face him, but he was still so terrified of him.

"What's he doing? I cant see." Mikolas whispered.
"Shh!" The group hissed. That's when Robin turned away from the mirror. He stared at the closet door curiously. Then he saw the broken lock laying on the ground; Kostya. He'd forgot yo pick it up. Slowly but surely, he began approaching it. As he did, he wiped his face with his sleeve and started speeding up, closer and closer. The boys shook in fear as they saw Robin reaching for the door. They were being found, it was all over for them. Even Kostya was shaking like crazy as Robin was seconds away from killing the lot of them, he was so scared... until he felt someone grab his hand in the dark.

He couldn't tell who it was through the deep black, but he at least had an idea of who; he smiled through his quivering fear, feeling slightly better about Robin who was about to uncover their spot. The looming figure grabbed the side of the door and-
"Robin darling, we're going to take you to the ER now, just to make sure no glass was lodged under your skin. Are you alright in there?" The group recognised that voice anywhere- it was Cezar, a member of the school's medical team. Robin turned away from the closet and began leaving the bathroom.
"Yeah, I'm alright." The door shut. The guys shared a sigh of relief and crawled out of the half-broken door; they'd lived, barely, but they'd lived.

"You have such a strange taste in friends!" Niki breathed, he panted and clutched his chest.
"Tell me about it." Benji sighed. "I don't know what got into him."
"Well he's went from your friend to a popular, salty bitch to a homophobe to a slight dickhead trying to redeem himself to an absolute psycho. I think 'strange' taste is an understatement." Kostya explained, cupping his bruised elbow.
"Let's just look on the bright side!" Ari quickly commented. "We're okay, we aren't going to get mashed into pulp and after all that... Robin's just heartbroken. Have you ever thought of that?"
"No, I guess not..."

"He may be a little mean, okay, sometimes he's very mean. And aggressive. But tell me you haven't at least got a tiny bit of sympathy for him."
"His hand must hurt a lot..." Miki suggested.
"And he's pretty lonely dating wise." Niki shrugged.
"See? We don't have to be scared of him anym-" an unfamiliar voice interrupted him.
"Scared of who?"
The group spun around in unison and shock to see someone standing in the doorway, a tissue held up to their nose.
"Yes, I may have got hit in the face with a dictionary. Just don't talk about it." Roko sighed, embarrassed. "What are you all doing here?"
"It's... a long story..."