Work Text:
He comes across it accidentally.
Eugene’s just scrolling through social media one evening. He's lounging in bed in the dorm, the lights are nearly all the way off, and Pugsley isn’t here at the moment, having gone off in the woods for some questionable activity that he doesn’t want to hear about so he has plausible deniability should his boyfriend get himself in trouble. Which he’s prone to doing.
He yawns. It’s a lazy Friday night with not much to do. The teachers have miraculously chosen not to assign any homework this weekend, giving them all a much needed break. Eugene’s been thinking how he can spend it - maybe tending to his hive! Usually, he has to manage his time between classwork, his bees and anything else he might be dragged into.
After countless videos he’s scrolled through, halfheartedly watching but nothing in particular catching his eye, something makes pause. He returns to the previous video he was just on.
Eugene sits up straighter, blinking, holding the phone closer. Quickly, he turns the volume up higher.
It’s Pugsley. He’s younger, face childlike. There’s a million and one questions swarming in Eugene’s head. He feels like he can’t breathe, like the whole world has stopped. The camera zooms in. There’s a small crowd of people surrounding him, hog tied on the floor. Pugsley’s eyes are wide in distress but he can’t say anything with the apple lodged in his mouth.
Oh my God. Eugene’s heart speeds up.
A guy drops down beside Pugsley, yanks his head back by his hair. Pugsley makes a pained noise, eyes squeezed shut. The guy grins at the camera. “Say hi to the camera, Pigsley.”
Someone from behind the guy kicks Pugsley in the side. The noise from Pugsley is louder, though still muffled.
Cruel laughter follows. Eugene feels ill.
“Grab his pants, Becca.”
Pugsley shakes his head violently, his eyes pleading. But there’s no mercy to be had; the girl - Becca - slides his pants and underwear right off. The laughter is louder. Whoever is holding up the phone moves so everyone can clearly see the back of him.
“Turn him over. Let’s see what he’s got to offer.
Eugene...he feels like he’s going to throw up. But he can’t pry his eyes away. He can’t move.
He’s horrified.
Pugsley never mentioned anything about this. Wednesday’s vaguely implied she’s had to save him on a few occasions but he never thought-
Is this why he left his old school? Pugsley doesn’t talk about his normie school much. Eugene’s never given it much thought but.... Now that he thinks about it, when the topic has come up, sparsely, Pugsley dodges the questions, changes the subject.
It makes sense.
He doesn’t want to talk about it. Doesn’t want to relive it.
“Don’t worry,” Becca coos, an oversaturation of affection in her voice. She taps Pugsley on the nose. “This can all be over soon. You just have to say the word.”
“Say oink,” the first guy orders, this sadistic gleam in his eyes. The cameraman zooms in again on Pugsley’s face. “Go on. Say it.”
The apple is yanked out from his mouth so hard and fast that it hurts Eugene’s teeth just watching him. Pugsley clearly doesn’t want to. In fact, he even thinks there might be tears in the corner of his eyes.
The silence stretches a bit too long, and the first guy is impatient. He leans down to slap Pugsley right across the face.
“What the hell are you waiting for? Say oink, Pigsley.”
The door bursts open at that precise moment. Eugene yelps, the phone goes flying out of his hands and onto the floor somewhere. Pugsley saunters in, bouncy with excitement as per usual.
“Dude, you’ll never guess what I found!”
Eugene shoots him a weak smile, desperately looking for where his phone landed because it’s not connected to headphones and the video isn’t over yet-
“Say oink, piggy!”
A deafening silence follows. Eugene throws his body half over the bed, hurryingly reaching for his phone to shut it off, his breathing heavier. He spares a look at his boyfriend, almost afraid to look.
Pugsley’s face is completely devoid of any color, not that there was much there to begin with.
“What-what were you watching?” He asks faintly.
Eugene swallows. “I was just scrolling and-” There’s nothing he can say to smooth this over. Pugsley looks like he’s seconds away from bolting. “I found it.”
“What do you mean you found it?” Pugsley asks, voice somehow steady.
“Um. It’s on Instagram.”
“It’s online?” Pugsley’s voice cracks. Just a little. Eugene’s heart falls.
“Uh, yeah. It’s on this one guy’s page. I guess you might know him,” Eugene says slowly, observing Pugsley closely in concern. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
He doesn’t. Seriously. Like he’s about to throw up or worse. Pugsley doesn’t answer him, just stares off into space with this haunted look that Eugene’s never seen before.
Needless to say, he’s more than a little alarmed.
“Come here,” Eugene’s at his side in an instant, holding him gently by the arms, guiding him over to the nearest bed which happens to be Eugene’s. “Sit down, okay?”
They sit on the edge. Pugsley is tense and not speaking and Eugene doesn’t know what to do.
“Um. Are- are you okay?”
It’s stupid. A really stupid question. Of course he’s not okay!
Pugsley bows his head a little, eyes shut. “I didn’t think anyone would ever see that.”
There’s nothing Eugene can say to that, nothing that can help. The comments for the video are worse. Some were upset on his behalf, some threatening to report it, but others found a sick enjoyment in it. A lot of pig emojis.
“Why....” Eugene hesitates. “Why did they call you that?”
Pigsley.
His boyfriend’s head snaps up. “Don’t do that,” he says harshly. Eugene’s taken aback.
“Don’t do what?”
“You know why they did it.”
“I don’t,” Eugene insists. He doesn’t.
Pugsley stares, then sighs. Eugene is alarmed to see how close to tears he is.
“Because I was fat. That’s why.”
“What?” Eugene says before he can stop himself. Pugsley wasn’t fat. Maybe a little chubby but it really wasn’t that bad.
“That’s why they put the apple in my mouth,” Pugsley says bitterly.
“I’m sorry,” Eugene whispers. Ugh. He can’t believe how cruel people can be - though, he obviously has some experience so it’s not a complete surprise. Still. All he wants to do is to hold Pugsley and never let him go.
Pugsley's breath comes out shuddery. “I never wanted you to know about that.”
Eugene can’t hold himself back anymore. He pulls Pugsley in his arms, lets his head rest in his neck, threads his fingers through his hair. “Hey. You don’t have to be embarrassed. They’re jerks and if I could send my bees after them, I would.”
He gets a small, watery laugh at that.
“Thanks.”
They don’t talk for a while. Eugene scratches at Pugsley’s scalp, breathes in and out softly.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
“They tricked me,” Pugsley mumbles into Eugene’s neck. “They told me they wanted to show me something and cornered me.”
Eugene holds on tighter.
“I’m sorry.” That's all he can say. All that comes to mind. “You didn’t deserve that.”
“They didn’t even get in trouble for it.”
He hears it, the pain and defeat, and Eugene never wants to hear Pugsley sound like that again.
“What?” Eugene says in disbelief. That went way beyond bullying. That has to be considered criminal.
“The principal liked them. So she didn’t really do anything about it.”
No. Eugene’s heart shatters into a tiny million pieces. That’s not - the principal is supposed to keep them safe and she just....she just let them go after that?
“But that’s - that’s not fair!"
“I know,” Pugsley says quietly. He’s tired and clearly still upset.
What can Eugene even do? He feels so helpless. It’s not like he can get that video taken down. He can’t go back in time and reverse what’s happened.
He can’t undo how hurt and humiliated Pugsley feels
So Eugene just holds him. Presses his nose into his hair. Caresses his fingers over the back of his neck.
“I love you,” he whispers. "And I'm here for you, okay?"
He needs Pugsley to hear him, to understand it, to know it.
And when Pugsley grips his forearm, gives it a squeeze. Eugene believes he does.