Chapter Text
WARNING: Depictions of bullying
“Get back here punk!”
Not now. Not today.
His legs were on fire as he ran away. The school’s minute warning bell rang, raising his anxiety. Next class was math, he had an important exam, but that was not at the front of his mind. Roman, the school bully, was chasing him down the hallway. Most of the highschoolers vacated to their next class, leaving the hallways clear. Allen hoped he’d run into an adult administrator, but alas none were present.
Glancing back, the much older student was at his tail. If he were to drop his backpack, maybe he could run faster. His textbooks held a lot of weight on his thin bony shoulders. Making a compromise, he opened his pencil pouch and let the contents spill on the tilted floor behind him. The pencils created a high pitched song, as the wood clanked on the floor. Roman tripped over them, but quickly regained his balance.
Further ahead, was the emergency fire exit. No escape, except to pull the alarmed door. If he were to pull that door in a non-emergency situation, he might be expelled. It was too late to contemplate that decision. Roman had him cornered to the lockers.
“I’m sorry, Roman!” Allen pleaded, as the senior snared.
Once he caught up, he cornered Allen into some lockers. He was out of breath from the running, but started wheezing in fear.
Thus far, he’d avoided Roman's wrath. In fact, he avoided most people. Just the way he liked it. He was not the most social teen. It wasn’t what he was used to, being homeschooled until now.
The late bell rang, and it was just them in the hallway. He’d never been late to a class before.
“Hey, that was the late bell. We got to go to class.” Allen shyly suggested.
Roman snarled at him. “Do you think I care about that? All I care about is the fact you sneezed on me!”
It was an accident. His allergies were always worse in spring. Plus, the stress from studying for his exam didn’t help.
“I just have allergies. It wasn’t my fault.”
“Give me your bag.” Roman said, while already taking it from his hands.
He unzipped the first pocket and took out his large container of hand sanitizer. He brought it everywhere he went. Public schools were rarely cleaned and covered in germs. Roman dropped the bag on the floor and started to pump the sanitizer aggressively onto his palm. He was using a whole lot.
Roman didn’t stop pumping it. “Let’s get those disgusting germs off of you.”
He flicked the glob at his face. The sanitizer rained in his eyes, and burned. The strong alcohol smell burned his nose if he used too much, but this time it was in his eyes, overwhelming all his senses. Now disoriented, he hunched over and yelped. Through his wincing, he got a glimpse to see Roman was unscrewing to pump on the bottle. Before he could react, Roman dumped it on Allen’s hair.
“Stop!” Allen cried.
“Fine.” He responded, when the contents were empty.
Roman fake sneezed on Allen, then left the hallway.
Allen was crying from a mix of the alcohol in his eyes, and from the situation. He heard Roman was rude, but he never witnessed it first hand. All he did was sneeze…
He could feel the hand sanitizer starting to dry out, and harden his hair. Picking up his backpack, he ran again, towards the bathroom.
After washing up, he quickly went to his math class. The hand sanitizer hardened in his hair, but he got most of it out. Luckily his vision was fine. His eyes were a bit red. As for his wet hoodie, he took it off and just had his t-shirt underneath.
It was so unfair Roman picked on him. There was a grade difference between them. He was a 15 year old Sophomore, Roman and practically 17 and a Junior. Roman seemed to like to pick on the younger kids. So far, he was not having a prime high school experience. It was nearly summer vacation and not even finishing off a year was enough to mend his impressions of public school.
Forgetting he was late, he entered the classroom and every eye looked up from the test and at him.
“Allen! You are 10 minutes late! Hurry grab a test and get started.”
“Sorry, Ms. Sinclair.”
He quietly, nearly tip-toeing, grabbed a test and took a seat. Opening his backpack, he realized he had no pencils.
His desk neighbor, Rooky, whispered at him. “Hey, are you ok? Your eyes are a bit red.”
“Yeah. It’s just allergies.” He lied.
She passed him a pencil. “Here. In case you need one.”
“Thanks.”
Sinclair stepped by their desks. “No talking, you two, or else I’ll have to fail both of you. Rooky, you can’t afford to lose your perfect report card.”
“Sorry ma’am”
Allen snapped his head at his own paper, and started working on his test.
Finally, it was the end of the school day. Walking out of his math class, he walked behind large crowds to blend in. He was pretty short, so it was easy enough to hide in the masses. He did not want to run into Roman again. He heard if Roman bullied someone once, it was likely he’d do it again. At least Roman wasn’t on his bus, or in his neighborhood. The only time he’d have to worry about him was at school.
If only his hoodie wasn’t soiled. It was his favorite one, plus it was comfortable. Somehow still being in a T-shirt made him feel vulnerable.
While lost in his own thoughts, he suddenly snapped into reality when someone threw a flier at his face.
“There’s an opening as the student council president! Put in your application! The decision will be made at the end of this week! It’ll be intense!”
“Thanks Dynamo.” Allen said while taking the flier and mindlessly folding it up.
He had no desire to be the president of the student council. There would be no way he would get in, or even be able to do the position properly.
Dynamo was still really close to his face, practically breathing on him. From what little he knew about him, this was pretty much how he was. He reminded him of a caffeinated golden retriever, ready to play fetch. He was the morning announcement guy, and had way too much energy for 7 am. Did he just wake up with immediate energy? Needless to say, it woke everybody up when Dynamo screamed “ Good morning Lego City High!” during announcements.
“So, what happened to the last president? Why is there an opening?” Allen said while backing away, trying to make small talk.
“His grades dropped, so he had to step down. Oh! I forgot to mention! Your grades have to be B’s and above!”
He was living on that line, but he wasn’t positive he’d meet the criteria after that math test. Losing 10 minutes probably dropped his grade. But it didn’t really matter, because he did not want the position.
Allen turned to leave going toward his bus. He just wanted to go home after the day he had.
“Wait, dude, are you ok?”
It wasn’t the phrase “are you ok” that got him. It was “dude.” The way he said it made it seem like they were already friends. He turned around and saw Dynamo’s entire vibe change. He suddenly looked so much more serious than he did giving him the flier. It was odd, because Dynamo wasn’t close enough to be his friend. They were merely acquaintances.
Dynamo tilted his head. “Your eyes are red.”
“Allergies.”
The blonde guy frowned. “Did someone hurt you?”
He didn’t want to talk about this right here. There were people brushing past them, people who probably also knew Roman. High schoolers flocked at the sight of gossip.
“I’m gonna miss my bus.”
A crowd blocked their conversation. Allen almost allowed himself to get swept away from the stampede, but Dynamo stepped in a clearing, close to Allen. “I’ll drive you home.”
He didn’t know why Dynamo was so adamant about his emotional state. This couldn’t have been a thing all extraverts did? Yet, Allen didn’t say no. He just stayed frozen. Dynamo took the lead and grabbed his arm. He guided him away from the crowds.
Seriously, why did Dynamo care? He had nothing to gain. He wasn’t even 100% Dynamo even knew his name. The only reason he knew Dynamo's was because he said it each day during the morning announcements. They were in the same grade but didn’t even have any classes together.
They walked down the gym hallway, and out the doors to the field.
Allen followed, and let Dynamo do his thing until they were close to the bleachers. They were going weirdly far away. Yet, a part of him yearned to get the Roman episode off his chest.
“What are you doing? Is this some sort of tactic to get people to join the student council? Cause honestly, I’m not fit for the position.”
By the bleachers, he let go of his arm, and urgently looked at him.
“No, this is about you. Who hurt you? Why?”
Allen shook his head. Even though he wanted to talk, he didn’t want to be vulnerable to a random sophomore.
Allen challenged him. “Why do you care?” He said while tightly folding his arms, uncomfortably.
“Because, I think you are like me.”
Allen became less defensive. “Did Roman bully you too?”
The taller teen’s jaw dropped. “Roman messed with you!?”
“Yeah, I thought that’s what you were trying to lead to.”
Dynamo looked a bit panicked. He mimicked Allen’s folded arms. “Do you mind telling me why? It’s ok if you don’t wanna talk about it.”
“I literally sneezed on him, accidentally. Anything could trigger him.”
“So it wasn’t because-“ Dynamo stopped mid sentence, “I’m glad not he would drop that low.” He said to himself.
“What do you mean?” Allen asked.
Dynamo snapped his eyes back to Allen and his face turned red, realizing he spoke out loud.
Was there something that he did that was supposed to get him bullied? Either way, he was weirded out by this encounter and wanted to go home. Too bad Dynamo was now his ride, as the last bus left by now.
Dynamo’s had brushed off his own previous comment. “You know what you gotta do to guys like Roman?”
“I’m not going to throw a punch.”
Dynamo lightly laughed. “No, no. You gotta find your voice. Like sure, Roman might not listen, but you can’t stay silent forever. Even if the only way for you to use your voice is to vent to someone afterwards then so be it.”
He was not particularly used to talking about his emotions. He didn’t really have friends being homeschooled, and his parents were nice, but he couldn’t tell them everything.
Allen turned his attention to Dynamo. “Have you been bullied too?”
Dynamo kept his arms folded. “Yeah, but it wasn’t by Roman. Roman is more of just a ticking time bomb type of a jerk. My bullies were once my friends, but stopped liking me. I had to use my voice.”
He was surprised to hear that. The announcer sophomore always seemed happy, even happy to be in school. That was an uncommon thing to accomplish. Seeming to read Allen’s thoughts, Dynamo quickly changed his serious demeanor and smiled.
“But that was in middle school, in my old town. I haven’t had any problems in high school. Lego City High is more accepting of people who are different. It’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience here. I think you deserve to have it good too.”
He felt as if he should be skeptical of Dynamo's suddenly friendly motives. Yet, maybe it was just him genuinely being friendly.
“Thanks, Dynamo.”
“No problem, and I’ll drive you home soon. I just gotta set up my sound equipment here for the game tomorrow.”
So that’s why Dynamo brought him here. He couldn’t lie he was nervous when he was first brought here. Everyone knew that people either fought or made out under the bleachers. He absolutely did not want either .
Dynamo ushered him to follow up the metal stairs. It was impossible to keep quiet with each step echoing off eachother. Dynamo scaled the stairs so quickly it rumbled the entire setup. Frankly, it worried him. There was a small room at the top of the bleachers that had a view of the entire playing field. Inside was a control panel and a microphone.
“This mechanism is how I announce the sports. The cord on the mic broke last time, cause I think I was screaming too much. But anyways, I brought up a replacement.”
He flung his backpack forward, and dug in, trying to get the cord detangled from the pencils. His backpack had a flame pattern on the bottom. Without looking away from the tangled mess, Dynamo spoke with Allen.
“So, where’s that gray hoodie of yours? You wear that thing all the time.”
Allen remembered his blue T shirt he was wearing, and tugged on the collar. “Roman poured hand sanitizer on it. I can’t wear it without the smell burning my nose of alcohol.”
Dynamo got all the knots in the cord and looked at him. “That was really rude of him.”
He took the mic, and plugged in the new cord. Once he did, he took off his jacket, leaving him just his green tank top. “You can have mine.”
The gesture was so quick, and so matter of fact to Dynamo, but he was still processing it. He held out the red jacket that had a flame pattern, just like his rad backpack.
“Oh, I couldn’t. I don’t even know why I wear mine. It’s warm enough outside. The springtime here is warm anyways.”
Dynamo threw it at him. “You don’t need to think of excuses. You can just take it.”
Allen examined it again. There was a loose thread on one of the sleeves, the zipper intact. It was a pretty intense jacket for him, he never wore the color red, yet there was something about it he liked. It looked better on Dynamo, but if he insisted on him keeping it, he wouldn’t say no. He was not about to turn down free clothes.
“Alright, we can head now. Sorry for keeping you for longer.”
Allen put on his new jacket and zipped up the front. “Wait, aren’t you a sophomore? Can you even drive?”
Dynamo pulled out a key from his white sweatpants. “Sure. I’m 16. Like I don’t have my six months or anything so I can’t legally drive others, but whatever.”
“How long have you had your license?” Allen squeaked.
“Bout a week.”
“Hmm.”
Dynamo opened the door. “It’ll be fine dude. I promise. I had to pass my test to get my license.”
He nearly had a heart attack when he thought Dynamo fell down the stairs, but he was actually riding the railing down. Oppositely, Allen walked down carefully, putting both feet on each step, and holding the railing. Even through his care, he slipped down the last four steps. Dynamo wasn’t there in time to catch him.
“Are you good, bro?”
“Mmm” Allen groaned, face planted, but got up. “Let’s just get to your car.”
That was embarrassing… Wouldn’t be the first time he got a face full of dirt on the school ground. He was not very coordinated, even though he always watched his feet when he walked.
Dynamo twirled his keys, connected on a lanyard. The colors were shades of blue and green with a white stripe in the middle. Suddenly he recognized it as the gay man pride flag. That had to be intentional.
What if Dynamo was acting weird cause he had a crush on him? He looked down at the Dynamo jacket he was wearing. His mouth suddenly felt dry and started coughing. Oh no. He didn’t think of Dynamo in the same way. He literally just met the guy. Like he was nice and all, but he was a bit odd at times.
Dynamo opened the driver side door. Allen tried to open the passenger side but it was still locked. Dynamo reached all the way over from inside the vehicle and pulled up the small pin.
“So, where do you live?” Dynamo asked, while backing out.
“Do you know where the gray apartments are? The ones by the park with the vending machine.”
Dynamo nodded, and put the car into drive. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he started a small conversation.
“You know, if you wanted to come with me to the game at the end of the week, that would be cool. The football team is going against our rivals from the sister city. It’ll be intense.”
Allen’s stomach turned. Was… was he asking him on a date? No. It couldn’t be. Clearly he was jumping to conclusions. Just because he had a gay keychain didn’t mean he had a crush on him. He didn’t even know fully if the lanyard was intentional.
“Sure I’ll go with you. I really don’t know much about sports, but I guess it’ll be fun to have something to do.”