Archive of Our Own ^beta

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(6:50 AM, August 10)
Duncan yawns as he awakens from his sleep. His alarm was set to 7:00 AM, but he woke up earlier. Today, he was going to school; It was the first day and he was excited. He felt a twinge of nervousness, but he dismissed it.
It happens every year.

(8:45 AM)
He waited at his bus stop with a couple of kids that would also be going to his school.
Duncan watched as people ran to old friends and caught up with each other, laughing with joy at being able to talk again. He was disappointed for a second, but he caught himself. He would have people like that soon. Someone who was happy to see him. It was only the first day. He learned to be optimistic from his brother, Angus, who had been through more than he ever had yet was the happiest person he knew. He adored his brother and looked up to him. Duncan aspired to be just like Angus.

(9:45 AM)
His first period started. He walked down the hallway towards the open courtyard and made his way to the building across from him. When he got to his class, he spotted a couple of familiar faces, but nobody he talked to. Now that he thought of it, nobody had ever approached him before. Maybe because he was quiet. He didn’t really know the exact reason, but he felt like he could change that this year. He wondered how many friends he would have by the end of the month.

(9:50 AM)
The assignment was simple: Write a couple of sentences about yourself, your family, and things like that. Duncan thought about what was interesting in his life. Nothing was worth writing down, though. Except maybe his brother, and how he was the best person he knew. He picked up his pencil and began writing down things about him. How he was going to college next month, and how badly he'll miss him. And how he offered to let him stay in his house once he buys one. He didn't put the reason why, though. That was personal. Things at his house weren't great. Every day, his parents had some kind of argument and went to bed angry at each other. That anger had infected his whole family, and the house was tense. But Angus helped him so much. He had experience; He'd lived like this his whole life. Optimism was the only way he'd been able to bare with their parents.

(10:05 AM)
Duncan was getting off topic and soon the bell rang. He guessed he had enough on his paper, so he turned it in and quickly walked to his next period.
Most of his periods went by like that: daydreaming, writing icebreakers, and occasionally sharing things out loud to the class. Nothing out of the ordinary for the first day.

(4:15 PM)
The last bell rung and students were dismissed to the buses. There were so many people pushing and shoving eachother to be the first in line.
Duncan was one of the last people to find a seat, and he had to sit down next to a girl that he recognized from last year. They didn't speak. Instead, Duncan simply stared out the window.

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(6:00 AM, September 4)
“Hey.”
“Hey, Duncan. Wake up.”
“Bro, wake up. I need to go soon.”
Duncan was shaken awake by his brother.
“...What?” Duncan rubbed his eyes and asked.
“College. I have to move into my dorm. I’m going early because I’m meeting up with Max. We’re roommates, can you believe that?”
Max was one of Angus’ best friends. Duncan suspected they were more than that, but he didn't want to be nosy.
“Right now? Oh, I’m not ready for you to go!” Duncan sat up and hugged his brother tightly.
He was sad that Angus was leaving, but was glad for him as well. He couldn’t believe he was already in college!
“I’ll miss you bro. Hey, remember you can text me anytime you need to talk. And if you need me to come over.” He grinned, arm still slung around Duncan’s shoulder.
“I’ll miss you too.” He slumped back down on his bed and sighed.
He realized he’d be alone with his parents. Hearing their arguments, dealing with their leftover anger, all without Angus to anchor him and make sure he was ok.
He decided to go back to sleep. He still had an hour before he had to wake up.
(4:50 PM)
Duncan’s parents called him to the table to eat. They were having steak, which they didn’t have very often. He wondered what the occasion was.
There was a stale silence at the table. The only sounds you could hear were chewing and the occasional fork clinking against a plate.
Angus would’ve started a conversation already. He was great at doing that.
Duncan ate as fast as he could without looking suspicious. For some reason, he felt sick to his stomach.
“Duncan. This is your mom’s last day here. She’ll be leaving for a short vacation.” His dad said sternly before he could retreat to his room.

He knew it. He knew something bad was going to happen.
“...What do you mean?”
Duncan’s mom just looked at her plate.
“I… I want to take a little break from things. You know, just be alone by myself.”
“For how long?” He wrung his hands nervously.
“I don’t know honey. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can.” She said, a fake sweetness in her voice.
Duncan could tell she was happy to leave.

(10:55 AM, September 7)
“We’ll be doing group projects today. I’ll let you choose who you work with, but make sure it’s only 3 to a group.” The teacher said.
Duncan sighed. He really didn’t feel a drive to do anything anymore, especially school.
Everyone got up from their seats and paired up with friends. As expected, he was the only person without a group.
“Duncan, how about you go to that group over there?” The teacher asked, pointing to a group of two.
One of the two was someone he recognized from classes he’d had before. Jimmy, Max’s little brother.
He didn’t know the other kid, who had long, unkempt fur and wore torn up clothes.
Duncan shuffled to their corner of the room and sat down with them at the desks.
“Um. Hi.” Jimmy said awkwardly.
They used to be friends but drifted apart for no particular reason. They just never saw each other again. Maybe this was a chance at rekindling their friendship.
“Hi.” The other one peeped silently.
“You will be making a poster based on the things you’ve learned these past couple of weeks. Make sure everyone in your group is contributing to something. They’ll be due in two days.”
Jimmy immediately took the lead, as always.
“Ok, I'll be doing the research. Ollie, you design the poster and draw stuff. And Duncan, you can write everything down.”
Apparently the other kid was named Ollie. He recognized him only from one other period they had together: lunch. He always sat alone and never brang anything.
He was kind of like him. Maybe they'd become good friends.

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i may keep working on this but ive switched fandoms lol