Cities Made of Starlight [BoyxBoy]

Four

Calvin

"Mr. Marner, would you mind telling us what your biggest fear is?"

Calvin stands uneasily. He clears his throat. He can feel Tucker and Gordon's eyes on the back of his head, daring him to speak. He sees Lauren turned around in her seat, watching him with bright, curious eyes.

She thinks she knows. He almost laughs. Jayden has turned around in his seat too, but not to watch Calvin. With everyone else's eyes on his best friend, Jayden only has eyes for the girl sitting directly behind him. Ask him what his biggest fear is. Calvin resists the urge to shake his head. The fact that no one else has noticed Jayden's massive crush on Lauren is absurd. Maybe it's just a gay thing? He almost laughs again.

Ms. Hetherington clears her throat. Calvin looks back at her. Tucker and Gordon and a few other assorted members of the class snicker. Calvin gulps. No way is this happening. His palms start to sweat. He blinks rapidly a few times, trying to clear his head, to think of a convincing lie. That won't work, you're shit at lying, idiot.

The bell rings. Calvin breathes a sigh of relief and plops back down into his seat. Ms. Hetherington sighs, rolls her eyes at the class, and gestures for the door. Everyone files out. Calvin takes his time packing up, knowing Lauren won't be waiting for him today. There was no one to keep waiting. Jayden went where Lauren went, and that meant a swim meet four hours away, so Calvin had some time to kill on his own. Shouldering his backpack, he walks out the door, avoiding Ms. Hetherington's desk so completely that it would have been comical, had there been any one else in the room to notice.

The halls are almost entirely deserted by the time Calvin makes it to his locker. He's lost in thought as he removes and replaces his assorted books. What was his biggest fear? Losing Collin, probably. The thought makes him blush in spite of himself. I shouldn't have pushed him. Shouldn't have- Calvin cuts himself off. Did he regret it? Only partially. Only because of Collin's reaction. But did he regret that it was true? No. Not one bit.

A hand slams into his locker door, almost taking off Calvin's nose. He turns to see Tucker and Gordon and rolls his eyes.

"Careful, Tucker, I need that."

Tucker sneers. "So, how's your little boyfriend?"

"Who?" Collin blinks at Tucker innocently.

"You can play dumb, but we know you're in love with the freak, Marner."

"You know, I have a theory about that."

"Oh, you do, do you?"

"Yeah. I think maybe Collin Groves isn't the freak around here. I think maybe it's you two."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's just brilliant, now, isn't it? You think you're so smart, don't you? Gordon, what do you say we teach this jerk a lesson?"

"Yeah, I'd say he needs to sit in a quiet corner and think for a while."

"What?" Tucker turns and frowns at Gordon, "What the hell does that mean?"

Gordon leans in to Tucker's ear and whispers something. A manic grin spreads across Tucker's face and he looks at Calvin.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think that should do nicely." He smirks at Calvin for a moment, then punches him square in the face.

Calvin's head connects with the lockers behind him and his vision goes fuzzy. He tries to blink away the little white dots swimming around his face, but only succeeds in making them worse. He feels the boys grab his arms and start dragging him down the hall. He tries to fight back, but up and down have decided to take a vacation and he's left with feeling his arms bruising as Tucker and Gordon drag him outside. He feels them propping him up and opens his eyes to see Tucker's fist coming at his jaw. He tries to jerk away, but succeeds in banging his head against something metal behind him. He hears a small crack as Tucker's fist connects with his jaw and tastes blood.

Calvin spits at Tucker, earning a glare and a knee to the stomach. He keels over and feels them shoving him up a ramp. The ground in front of him gives way as Tucker kicks him in the back and he falls onto semi-soft plastics. He looks around, vision clearing slightly now, and finds himself in a dumpster.

"Aw, come on, guys. I thought you were more original than that."

Tucker sneers at him from above. "Want to call us freaks again, asshole?"

"Yeah, maybe. Let me think about it for a sec, alright?"

Tucker hesitates, unsure of himself. Calvin laughs. "Dude, you're so gullible."

"Try that shit again, I dare you."

"What are you gonna do, yell at me some more? To actually hit me again you'd have to come down here and we both know you think you're too pretty to do that."

"Fuck off, Fag."

"Tucker, have you ever considered that maybe you're gay?"

"The hell?"

"Yeah, too pretty for fuck-all, adamantly homophobic, surrounds himself with people who make him feel fuckin macho or some shit? Sounds pretty gay to me. How about you, Gordon?"

"Well, I-" Gordon stutters, caught off guard.

"Don't answer him, moron!"

"Look, all I'm saying is, you fight so much and it never gets you anywhere. Maybe give love a try for a change. You never know, you might like it."

"Fuck you, Marner."

"Nah, sorry, you're not my type."

"We'll tell your boyfriend you say hi, Marner. Maybe you'll care when he's the one paying for your arrogance." The dumpster lid slams shut and Calvin is plunged into darkness. His head spins and he feels himself fall backwards onto the trash bags again before he blacks out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Calvin blinks. He stands up and hits his head on something hard. Then he remembers.

After a few minutes of wrestling with the dumpster lid, he finally pushes it open and blinks in the sunset.

How long have I been out? Before he can check his phone, another thought pops into his head. Too long. They said- Collin.

Calvin takes off running. He barely notices anything as he runs. He gets to the cemetery, glances around, sees nothing, and takes off running again. He sprints to Collin's shack, screaming Collin's name. He pushes through the cloth and-

Oh God.

The boy lays completely still on the ground. His head rests in a pool of blood. One of his arms lays at an odd angle. Calvin kneels down next to him, tears pooling in his eyes. He gently lifts the small figure into his arms, holding the boy protectively to his chest. He sits on the small bed and gently props Collin against the wall.

For one breathless, heart-wrenching moment, the boy doesn't move. Then, slowly, Collin opens his eyes. He blinks, tears falling down his face, and shaky recognition registers in his eyes before relief washes over his face. Calvin smiles and brushes a tear off his own cheek, gently pulling the trembling boy closer.

Thank god. Thank fucking god.