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After a long day at school it was finally over. Tobias Schneien was ready to finally go home. After his discourse with Rudolph he’s been rather lonely. Aside from Emilio interacting with him at times. Tobias walked quickly, and he soon spotted his Uncle Luther. “Hey kid, how was school? Anything interesting happen like a fight?” Luther asked, “No, it was all the same Luther.” the blue eyed boy responded. “Mm alright. I’m kind of in a rush today since I have somewhere to go with my daughter, and it’s like a family function I don’t know-“ little did Luther know Tobias had zoned out the moment he said “alright.” Tobias was lost in thought, mostly wondering about his former friend Rudy. “TOBIAS!” Tobias flinched at the sound of his name being shouted. “We’re here so get out, and see you tomorrow.” Luther threw some finger guns at Tobias then drove off. For some reason Tobias had a massive pit in his stomach when he walked up to the church doors.
“Finally the bell rang!” A blue haired boy groaned. “Carmelo you haven’t even been here that long you came like 4 periods too late.” his friend Francis said. “Yeah but I just wanna go home ,take a shower, and lay down! Is that too much to ask?”, Francis looked shocked for a second,” Wow…you shower?” He was then met with a smack to the back of his head. “Shut up Francis!” Carmelo spat. Francis shielded himself, “Alright alright! See you tomorrow,.” “Yeah yeah see you tomorrow,” with that Carmelo stepped out of class. He then ducked behind a trash can upon noticing his classmate Tobias. Ever since the field trip it’s been so awkward between them—or rather Carmelo is the one making things awkward. “Yeesh, Tobias looks deader than ever…” Carmelo slowly stood up. He then remembered some cookies he had baked the other day and thought maybe Tobias would want one. Shuffling through his backpack until he finally found them, but Tobias had already made it to his car. “Damnit! No, no I’m not gonna give up that easily! The Carmelo Demonte does not give up!” And so, Carmelo followed the car to the ghostly-eyed boys house. “I didn’t believe him when he said he lived in a church but this, proves it.” He shrugged and then began his way towards the door.
When Tobias stepped into his house he felt a sudden cold breeze. “F-father? Mother?” Tobias looked around tensely. “Tobias, what is this?” His father appeared, and he had a paper in his hand. Tobias examined the paper discreetly. It was a test he had gotten a D on. “Oh…sir…I-I’m sorry for my mistake It won’t happen again-“ He was cut off short with a slap to the face. The sound of his body hitting the floor echoed through the halls, he could see his mother looking away from the scene silently. “No Tobias you should not be getting such poor grades do you understand?” His father, Lucas, kicked him hard on the back. Tobias was careful not to make too much noise to upset his father, so he kept the scream in. “P-please father I can do better! Just…please..” The boy with raven black hair gripped onto his fathers legs. “You know better than this, which is why I have no choice but to punish you.” “I-I.. I understand father..”
Knock Knock “Who’s here.” Lucas glared at Tobias, before picking him up by his collar. “Did you lead someone here Tobias Curtis Schneien? Answer me!” “N-no sir I have no idea who that could be!” Tobias croaked in a trembling voice as blood rushed down his nose from his fathers previous slap. “Open the door then.” Tobias walked slowly towards the door. His heart pounding in his chest as he felt his fathers presence creeping behind him. Slowly, he brought his hand to the doorknob and twisted. His heart fell to his stomach when he saw his classmate, Carmelo standing at his door.
“Okay Carmelo don’t be nervous! It’s just Tobias your.. freak-of-a classmate!” Carmelo brought his hand up to the door and delivered two solid knocks. The knocks were so solid in fact, he swore he could hear them echo from the inside. Creak Creak the sound of the floorboards creaking shot Carmelo straight up. “Oh shit someones actually coming,” Carmelo hurried to fix himself up and grabbed the cookies. Carmelo repeated to himself, “Hey I’m here to drop these off for Tobias, hey I’m here to drop these off for Tobias hey—“ the door swung open and what could be seen was a small, trembling, boy.
“Carmelo?!” “Tobias?…” the two greeted each other in a rather strange way. “Tobias who is this boy.” Lucas said authoritatively, not asking. “Oh um..this is.. uh.. Carmelo, he is a classmate of mine and I don’t know what he’s doing here father I assure you!” Tobias started to mumble. “Hello, Tobias’s dad…I was just here to drop off some um cookies.” Tobias swiftly grabbed the cookies from his hands, “How generous of you Carmelo haha goodbye now!” Tobias being this friendly scared Carmelo. “Now now Tobias don’t be rude, why don’t you invite him in?” His father said menacingly. “..oh of course father! Carmelo why don’t you come inside, follow me” Tobias grabbed Carmelo’s hand and rushed him to his room. Carmelo blushed at the sudden movement but payed no attention to it.
Tobias led Carmelo to his room and stopped for a second to breath. “Okay, I’m just gonna get cleaned up but do not move.” Tobias demanded. “Uh okay got it.” Tobias then left the room. “Hm so this is that freaks room huh.” Carmelo scanned the area, he couldn’t help but notice the amount of crosses in his bedroom. “Maybe he’s religious! hmm nah, I don’t think so.” Carmelo scoffed to himself. When Tobias came back his face was now clean, although his eyes still a little puffy. His shirt was stained with blood though. “Okay I’m back,” he looked down at his own shirt and noticed the stain, “one second I need to change my shirt.” “Oh okay are you gonna—“ before Carmelo could even finish his sentence Tobias was already undressing himself. “WOAH DUDE YOU CAN’T JUST CHANGE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!” Carmelo’s face was already burning up. “It’ll be quick just,” Tobias then remembered Rudolph’s reaction to his scars, “close your eyes..” Carmelo didn’t hesitate, but opened gaps through his fingers to peek through. That’s when he saw it. “..Tobias..what is that?” Carmelo was pointing at the giant cross-shaped scar on Tobias’s back. Tobias spun around quickly to hide it, “You said you’d close you eyes!” Carmelo got up quickly to examine the smaller boys back. “Tobias what the fuck is that?!” He was now grabbing onto the boys wrists and backing him up into a corner without realizing it. “It’s nothing! Let go of me! Carmelo!” Tobias was now backed up against a wall, defenseless. Carmelo spun the boy around and looked at all the scars and bruises on his back. “..holy shit Tobias..” Tobias tried to squirm free, “Carmelo!-“ Tobias was now backed up against Carmelo. A wave of heat washed over his face. “C-Carmelo I’m kind of..in an awkward position here..” Carmelo was snapped back into reality when he felt a sudden pressure up against his crotch, “OH OH HOLY SHIT IM SORRY TOBIAS!” He let go immediately. Tobias rushed to get his shirt back on. “It… it’s alright, what are you doing here anyways?”
Avoiding the previous awkward situation, Carmelo responded, “Well the plan was to just hand you the cookies and be on my way but..it looks like that’s out of the picture now huh?” Carmelo had a serious look on his face. “..what do you mean? You’ve already handed me the treats now you can leave.” Tobias was about to open the door when he was blocked by Carmelo. “No,” “what do you mean no?!” Tobias’s eyes grew wide. “I said NO. I’m not just gonna ignore what that was on your back Tobias that’s serious! I know I don’t know you very well but even I’m not shallow enough to just leave you like that! Especially since I walked in on your dad practically about to kill you!” Tobias rushed his pointer finger up to hush Carmelo. “You’re being too loud shut up!” The two stood there for a good second before continuing their conversation. “Listen, Carmelo I know you’d like to help but I don’t need any help. I deserve this, I’m the one who caused him to stress so it’s reasonable that he hits me..” Carmelo grabbed onto Tobias’s shoulders and looked him deep in the eyes, “Tobias I must not be hearing correctly because none of what happened there can be justified. You were so.. terrified… That is NOT okay and certainly NOT your fault.” Tobias’s eyes started to feel hot and he felt tears forming.
“Carmelo please! You don’t understand I did something terrible! My father is angry at me because of that and even if I don’t remember what I did I know it was horrible! So he has the right to punish me because…just because! Okay!?” Tears were dramatically rolling down the boys face at this point. Carmelo didn’t know what to do, or how to even handle someone like Tobias, a ticking time bomb. one moment he’s serious and stern, the next he’s awkward and shy, and then he’s angry, but right now he’s a mess. “Shit.. what would Rudy do..” Carmelo thought to himself. He thought, and then wrapped his arms around Tobias. “Listen, I’ll just be honest, I don’t know how to handle you Tobias Schneien. You’re like a giant question mark and I can’t figure you out. But I do know, that right now, all you need is some comfort in this life of yours.” Tobias was taken aback, but returned the hug. His sobs were fighting so hard to break through, but he wouldn’t allow himself to. Carmelo slowly walked over, while still cradling the boy in his arms, towards a bed. “There, there, let it all out.” The blue eyed boy’s grip grew stronger. The blue haired boy’s back grew weaker. Carmelo slowly inched closer towards the bed.
“Hey listen,” Carmelo used his hand to move Tobias’s face to look up towards him. His eyes now a deep red with all the crying, tears staining his face. “Let’s lay down a bit okay? My backs getting weak and it looks like you’re not gonna stop anytime soon so let’s make this easier for the both of us ok?” Carmelo rested on Tobias’s bed and Tobias clung onto Carmelo. Carmelo felt his cheeks glow a bit redder every time Tobias leaned closer and closer into him. Eventually Carmelo felt Tobias breath slower. “Oh shit did he die?!” Carmelo muttered to himself. He unlatched the boy off him a bit to see that he had fallen asleep. “He..Hes kind of cute when he’s not all serious and moody..AH WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING!!?” Carmelo shook his head. “Mm..Carmelo? You’re still here?” Tobias’s voice sounded raspy, his German accent sounded more pronounced than usual. “Uh yeah I’m still here!.. you.. kinda fell asleep” Carmelo tried to hide the fact his face was bright red. “Oh, you’d probably get going it’s getting late.. well I’ll..see you at school tomorrow then?” Tobias avoided making eye contact, feeling embarrassed that he had just broken down onto his fellow classmate. “Ah alright, see you tomorrow, Tobias.” Carmelo left the boy’s room and called his mother to pick him up.
The next day when Tobias woke up he ate the cookies Carmelo had made him. They tasted quite bitter, but also sweet.