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Language:
English
Series:
Part 4 of Uncle Clay AU
Stats:
Published:
2025-04-14
Words:
1,418
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
23
Hits:
308

Uncle Clay AU: The School Problem

Summary:

In which Ingo gets bullied, and Emmet gets grounded. These things are connected

Work Text:

  • When they started school, The twins had decided to try and keep the other kids from finding out who their uncles were so that nobody would try and “”befriend”” them just to meet Clay and Drayden.
    • That’s what TV said would happen
  •  However this made making friends hard, since they never invited anyone to their house.
  • Clay did most of their Parent-Teacher conferences, since if he dressed different than normal, people didn’t always recognize him
  • This worked fine until Ingo started getting bullied around age 8.
    • Between his volume, his lack of facial expression, and being just generally ‘weird’, he was a prime target
      • Ingo’s normal reaction to this was to freeze up and retreat in on himself
      • Emmet’s normal reaction to this was violence
        • Which meant he was getting into fights. A lot.
  • On top of that, Ingo was having some serious trouble with some of their classes that Emmet wasn’t
    • This was, naturally, frustrating for him as the ““older brother””
    • Emmet was helping with the homework, but Ingo was barely passing their tests
      • There were just some things he didn’t understand, and Emmet was telling him the answers instead of showing him how to do it
  • Drayden and Clay knew something was up though, and it worried them
    • Ingo had started to become quiet and withdrawn, sometimes not saying anything for days, and the spark in his eyes seemed to be going out
      • Though they assumed this was connected to his problems with taking tests
        • Since he was ‘fine’ when doing the homework and only getting bad grades on the actual tests
    • Emmet was lashing out at school, was always angry at home, 
  • Emmet spent a lot of the next few months grounded
  • The constant fighting finally resulted in Clay and Drayden threatening to ban Emmet from doing the Gym Challenge until he could learn to behave
    • As Gym Leaders, this was the worst threat they could think of. 
    • Neither of the boys thought this was fair at all.
  • Eventually, Ingo started protecting Emmet from having to protect him by not letting him know about the bullies when he could.
    • Unfortunately, this meant that the bullies got more brazen, no longer having to worry about any retaliation
  • Everything came to a head shortly before the twins turned 10.
    • Drayden was out of the Region at a Dragon Trainer’s conference, with Clay staying to watch the boys for the week, as was the norm when Drayden had to leave town
  • Ingo came home one Friday with a black eye and a split lip.
    • One of the bullies had gone quite a bit overboard that day
    • Emmet kicked up a huge fuss and demanded to know who did it, with Ingo trying to shush him before Clay heard
      • “I am Emmet, how am I supposed to protect you from the bullies if you don’t tell me when they’re picking on you?!”
      • “You’re not! You’re supposed to stop getting in fights! I can handle it!!”
  • Clay got back from picking up groceries to hear the boys arguing and sees Ingo’s face
    • Clay’s first assumption was that Emmet dragged Ingo into one of his fights but, when he asked, Ingo vehemently denied it and was offended he even suggested it.
      • When Clay pressed him on it, Ingo lost his temper
        • This is an nine year old child who was being badly bullied and not letting anyone know, struggling in school, and dealing with his beloved brother being in trouble all the time because he made a stupid promise.
      • He said something he really didn’t mean:
        • “WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE?! YOU’RE NOT EVEN ACTUALLY OUR UNCLE!” 
      • All three of them froze when he said that, and by the time the other two had recovered, Ingo had run off, horrified with himself
  • Ingo came home hours later, at like 11 at night, and tried to slip in quietly only to find Clay still awake and waiting for him 
    • Clay was beyond relieved when Ingo came in, any longer and he was going to go looking himself but wanted to give the kid some time to calm down first, and silently guided him to the bathroom to tend to his injuries
      • “…Uncle Clay?”
      • “Mmmhmm?”
      • “..I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-I didn’t mean-”
      • Ingo starts to cry and Clay scoops him into a hug “Aw c’mere kiddo. I know ya didn’t mean it, ya goin’ ta tell me what’s been up yer ass lately?”
      • Ingo finally spills about the bullies, which then leads to him spilling about the other bullies, which leads to him spilling that all the fights Emmet got in were actually Emmet defending him from said bullies
        • He also spills about how much he’s struggling with his math classes and “Emmet helps me with my homework, but he can’t during tests and I don’t get it!”
          • Clay, internally: 'Ohhh. Darn it, why didn’t we think of that?’
  • Emmet had been unable to sleep, not knowing where Ingo was, and when he hears voices he slips out of bed reaching the bathroom just after Ingo’s confession
    • Ingo and Clay both jump when Emmet runs in and grabs Ingo in a hug
    • “Don’t ever ever ever leave like that again! I didn’t know where you were and you were hurt and you could have been hurt worse and-”
      • Clay pulls both boys into a hug before Emmet spirals further and then takes them to the kitchen and makes some warm milk, as well as some actual food for Ingo who didn’t have any dinner
  • He puts the boys to bed, collapses into a kitchen chair and buries his face in his hands for a while, just processing everything, and then phones Drayden’s hotel room
    • He has to phone a couple times because Drayden was “Asleep, Clay. It’s ten at night here and nearly midnight there, what’s happened that’s so important it couldn’t wait?” 
      • Suddenly very awake Drayden: “Are the boys alright!?”
    • Drayden did not know what answer he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t “Ingo’s been getting bullied, badly, and all of Emmet’s ‘fights’ were actually him defending Ingo.”
  • The twins wake up the next day and go down for breakfast to discover that Uncle Drayden left the conference a whole day early because Uncle Clay told him what had been happening
  • They sit the twins down and have a long conversation about appropriate secrets and how to handle bullies properly
    • With the boys squished between their uncles on a sofa in what Emmet once referred to as ‘a cuddle sandwich’
      • Clay: “Why the blazes did the two of ya keep mum about it all this time? Emmet, you wouldn’t have been in near as much trouble if you’d been up front with us from the get go!”
      • Drayden: “And you, Ingo, why would you let us keep punishing your brother for getting into those fights instead of telling us he was defending you?”
      • Ingo shrugs wordlessly and gives a kind of half-glare at Emmet that feels, to the adults, very much like an ‘I told you so’.
      • Emmet: “I am Emmet, I made Ingo promise not to tell. I thought I could handle it. I was handling it.”
      • Clay:*sigh* “Emmet, yer a good brother, but it’s not yer job to protect each other. Not like this. That’s our job. It’s our job to make sure y'all grow up safe and happy. To be there for you if something like this happens and deal with it.”  
      • Drayden: “We are proud of you for standing up for your brother, even if you went about it the wrong way. You should have told a teacher-.”
      • Clay: “-Or one of us.”
      • Drayden: “Or one of us, yes. You should have told someone when all of this started. It should never have gotten this bad.” 
        • He gestures to Ingo’s injuries
      • Ingo: “…’m sorry. I wanted to tell, but Emmet made me promise!”
        • Which is the part that leads to the conversation about when it’s okay to break, or not make, promises, with the first thing on the list being ‘it’s about something that is hurting you’.
    • They also work out a plan to help Ingo with his current struggles in class
      • Starting with figuring out, and showing him, where he’s actually going wrong
  • Emmet is no longer grounded, and Drayden and Clay make a visit to the school to straighten everything out.
  • Then they take the boys out to the beach for the weekend
    • Both boys had been having a stressful time and deserved a treat

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