Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was about 7:30 on a sunny Monday when the alarm clock rang in Edward's room. He woke up, but refused to open his eyes, knowing that the daylight would blind him if he dared to open them so suddenly. While still under the covers, he reached over to the nightstand where the alarm clock was, and after a few failed attempts, turned it off. Then he let out a small sigh and sat up on his bed. He pushed himself out of the warm blankets and stretched both arms and his back. 

Rubbing his hands over his eyes, he yawned and tried as best as he could to wake up. Edward had set his alarm half an hour earlier than usual, because today he had to write a page of his diary and to do that he had to take time off from sleep. When he was not writing his diary, he usually woke up around 8am and if he did not hear the alarm, his mother would come into his room to wake him up a few minutes later. 

It only took a few moments for him to finally open his eyes. It was not as traumatic as he had first thought, he just blinked a few times to get used to the light before crawling out of bed and slowly making his way to his desk where he had already put the journal the night before he went to bed, hoping he would not forget to write an entry in the morning. Edward sat down on the chair and took a pen with black ink from the desk, which he had also put there as a precaution in case he would not find one.

—————

Then he smiled as he flipped through the pages he had already written. The diary was quite old, it had about 300 pages to write in and he had only used about 130, there were many more but that was good because he had a lot of things to tell in his life. Most of the pages were filled with math homework, doodles, attempts to make up fun puzzles for his classmates at school, and doodles of himself and other people he knew. He loved to illustrate what he was talking about on the pages. He loved to draw and express himself through colours and art. 

When he finally reached the last written page, he made himself comfortable in his chair and began to write. Not much had happened at school the day before, so he mostly recounted what had happened at home that day...

[Dad finally came back home! He was gone for two days and mum got really nervous, she yelled at me out of frustration but I know she did not do it on purpose, she loves me very much. I hope dad does not start drinking today. I want him to be happy when I win the math competition at school. Yes, I will win! I believe in myself! And I am sure you believe in me too, my dear diary. I must hurry now... I still have to paint here and get ready for school, today will be a big day, my friend!]

That's what he had written down for the day. Then he started doodling, drawing himself standing on a podium receiving the first place medal for the math contest he would be entering in school. He became so engrossed in the drawing that it seemed to come alive as he coloured it in with crayons. The lines moved on their own, the doodle of him cheering and waving to the crowd who applauded him. Edward chuckled as he lost himself in his thoughts, watching as the drawing bounced out of the page and began to run across his desk.

—————

This moment was soon brutally interrupted when Edward's mother called him, "Eddie, breakfast is ready! Get up! Do not make me come in again because you did not hear the alarm!" she said screaming from downstairs. Edward glanced at the clock, it was 8:01, time passed so quickly he did not even realise he was late. He closed the journal and got dressed as quickly as he could while answering his mother, "I am getting dressed, Mom! I'll be down in a minute!" he called out.

After getting ready for the day, he walked over to a calendar that hung on the wall in his colourful room. Today was the day, the long awaited competition, Edward would finally prove his father wrong by winning, he would prove to him that he was a very smart boy and his father would be very proud of him and his accomplishment. He grabbed a red marker and made a big wiggly circle around April 8, the day of the math competition, the day of his redemption. He sighed happily, "Edward! You are going to be late if you keep this up!" his mother called from downstairs again, this time her voice sounding a little more annoyed. The little boy quickly made his way down the stairs and hugged his mother before grabbing the toast she had made him for breakfast.

"Bye mom! Take care dad! I'll see you later okay?" He said as he bit into the toast, which tasted delicious. Then he ran outside and after 20 minutes of looking at the streets and walking at a decently fast pace, he arrived at his school.

Chapter Text

When Edward arrived at school, he was really looking forward to today. Sure, he was still a little anxious, but honestly, he knew he would do well and at least get a prize. he entered the backyard of the school a few minutes before class started. Unfortunately, he had not made any friends at school. People seemed to find him annoying, odd, strange, and they all avoided him, so he spent most of his time talking to himself.

He sat down under a tree in the large outdoor area of the school. He was used to sitting there every day, either to continue drawing in his journal or to watch the clouds form beautiful and creative shapes that he would later interpret. He looked up at the sky and began to look for fluffy white shapes. There was a cloud that really looked like a snake or a worm, and then there was one that looked like a fish.

He smiled brightly as he pointed to those shapes, and they suddenly came to life in his mind. The snake began to move, wiggling its body quickly and rattling its tail, the fish began to swim in the blue sky, it looked like a big ocean full of fun creatures, and the fluffy clouds became more detailed and colourful. Edward marvelled as he stared up at that fantastic blue ocean. Unfortunately for him, that did not last long, because the wind started blowing and the shapes became messy, they were ruined, they lost all their colours and their edges.

Edward saw that this happened to people sometimes too, especially his parents. When they were calm, their edges were intact and they seemed harmonious, but when something messed up their plans or just put them in a bad mood, those edges disappeared, they faded away and with them they also washed away the bright colours and harmony replacing them with chaos and uncontrolled rage...

—————

Edward frowned a little, sorry that his little cloud friends were no longer free to swim about in the sky. Suddenly the bell rang and all the children rushed inside to avoid being late, Edward of course did the same and arrived just in time for class. He was too anxious to listen to the lesson, all the excitement he had felt for the competition had turned to anxiety, he began to bob his leg nervously as he lightly bit the tip of his pencil, he was still looking out of the window trying to find his cloudy friends in the sky to be comforted by them but they were gone. 

The first lesson was coming to an end and now it was time for the long awaited competition. He had studied for hours every day to get the best results possible, he was ready. A teacher led him along with other students to a large room in the school that he had never been in before. It was almost empty, there were only chairs for the students to sit on and a large table in the middle. Edward sat down on the chair that had his name on it and he panicked a little, what if he was not good enough to win? 

He would deeply disappoint his parents and they would get mad at him again, he would also disappoint his teachers and he did not want that. He took a deep breath as he was handed a piece of paper with a few simple equations. He took a quick glance at it and immediately felt relieved, he knew how to solve them all, there was no way he could fail. When the timer came on he grabbed his pen and started writing. After only fifteen minutes he stood up and handed the papers to the teacher, "Miss teacher, I am done with my work" he said happily, skipping on the spot.

The teacher looked down at him and then said, "Are you sure you do not want to double check your answers, it did not take you that long to finish the equations, you might've gotten something wrong..." Edward once again became sad, his teacher did not believe in his abilities, just like many other people before her. When the teacher saw how frustrated little Edward was she grabbed the piece of paper and dismissed him from the room.

Edward went back to class and listened to the teacher while he waited for the results of the competition to be announced in an hour. All he had to do was sit in history class and he would know his results later.

Chapter Text

The time passed by so fast in class, Edward was so excited that he couldn't listen to the teacher's explanation. He was already thinking about where he would win the competition and be praised by everyone. He grabbed some empty notebooks in his backpack and started doodles. It was him, with a golden cup in his hand and a shining crown on his head, the crowd cheered him, and he could almost hear them screaming "Edward, Edward!" The crowd soon died out, replaced by A lady's voice, the teacher, who stood in front of him, looking down at his desk. 
Edward immediately came back to his senses and looked up at the teacher: "Edward, you have to check the results of the competition, class is over."

The teacher said and walked back to the desk in the classroom. "Thank you, Miss." Edward closed the notebook, put it back in his bag, ran out of the classroom with several other students, and returned to the room where he participated in the competition. About fifty students, judges, and several teachers were present. Edward was excited and wanted his little doodle to come true, he came a little late, halfway through the top ten, and he was jumping around nervously waiting for his name to be called.

“Number five is…”

“Number four is…”

“Number three is…”

Edward’s excitement grew stronger as he figured out that he could’ve at least made it to the top three, he had started fidgeting with his hands now, that amount of pressure was too much for little Eddie to handle.

“Number two is…”

“And finally number one in this math competition is…Edward Nygma”

—————

Edward immediately ran to the teacher who was giving out prizes to the first three students, with a look of joy, he had actually won the competition, he had done it, and now he could finally prove to his father that he was not an idiot, he could accomplish great things. He got a small fake gold cup, it was made of shiny plastic, but it meant a lot to him, this monument proved to everyone his incredible wisdom and intelligence, he was really proud of himself.

Edward turned around, expecting the never-ending cheers, as he had imagined and drawn in his little notebook doodle, but to his surprise, only a few were applauding, two teachers and a few students to be exact. The other students seemed pissed off, annoyed at him, and he could hear people muttering, whispering not-so-nice things about him. The smile on his face soon disappeared...

Everyone left the room and they were sent home, Edward holding the plastic cup tightly to his chest as if he was afraid it would suddenly disappear. He managed to cheer himself up, thinking about how his parents would react to him winning that award, they'd be happy, right?

It was quiet on the way home, so quiet that he could hear his feet on the concrete of the sidewalk and the wind blowing in his hair. When he got home, the door was open and some food was on the table, Edward decided to keep the competition a secret, for now, he wanted to have lunch and wait for his mother to come and ask him how his school days were like she usually did.

He sat on the chair and left the backpack with the small cup on the floor, he took a few bites of the food, and then his mother finally showed herself in the living room, she had a tired smile on her face as she walked by him “How was school today Eddie?” She asked sweetly, sitting in front of him at the table where he was eating his lunch.

"If waf goof mom" Edward's mouth was still stuffed with food, and he had a silly smile on his face. His mother smiled, grabbed a tissue, and wiped Ed's mouth, "Well, that's good, honey" she said, putting the tissue somewhere nearby. Edward ate until he was done, grabbed the plate and put it in the sink, washed it quickly, and went back to his mother to tell her the big school news.

He walked past his backpack and grabbed the gold plastic trophy he had won. He held it up proudly and then said, "Look, mom, I won this at school today, I won the math contest, see? I am a smart boy" his mother smiled at him and patted his head, slightly messing up his curly hair and the position of his glasses on his nose. "I am so happy for you, I always knew you were a smart little boy," his mother said proudly. "Wait until daddy sees this, he should be back in less than an hour, now go play in your room, I'll call you when he gets back, okay?"

"Okay Mommy, thank you" Edward said quickly before hurrying to his room, he took the small notebook out of his backpack and then threw the bag in a corner of his room, he wanted to write another page to update his journal on how his competition had gone and how his mother had reacted. Edward sat down in his chair and opened the journal and notebook that were lying side by side on his desk. He grabbed a small pair of scissors and cut out the doodle he had made in class and taped it to the journal as he began writing the update.

[My dear diary, the contest went very well, I WON! Can you believe that, my diary? Are you proud of me? My mom is, she told me that I am a smart boy. Anyway, I had soup for lunch today, I want to learn to cook like my mommy one day, you know? Well, I'll write back on this page when I get my dad's reaction too, you can not miss it! See you later, my dear friend]

—————

Just as he started to scribble something else he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, it was his father, he was back from work, then he heard his mother's voice from downstairs saying, "Welcome home honey, hey Eddie, come on down and show daddy what you learned in school today huh? Mommy has to go to work now, I'll see you in the evening, bye," she said before leaving and closing the door behind her. 

Edward grabbed the gold plastic cup once again and held it tightly in his hands as he ran down the stairs, stumbling a few times. When he got to his father, he was taking off his jacket and hat. "Dad, look," Edward said excitedly, holding the cup in front of his father. He did not seem to care, he just pushed Edward aside and got a beer from the fridge without saying a single word. 

"Dad? I won this at school today, you know. Look, I won the math contest, I am smart, look," Edward insisted with a smile, bouncing happily behind his father. "You did not win that contest, Edward, you are an idiot, you cheated, and if you think you can earn my admiration by cheating, well, YOU ARE WRONG" his father yelled as he turned snappishly and looked down at his son while his smile disappeared from his face again.

Ed sniffled, "But I did not cheat dad, I learned a lot and I won, I swear I did not cheat, I would never do that," he said as tears formed in his eyes and his hands shook. Edward's father snapped once more and, grunting, knocked the cup out of his hand so that it landed on the floor and poor little Edward stumbled and fell. Ed felt tears streaming down his face and his vision blurred by the tears.
"Stop crying and admit you cheated, you ungrateful son of a bitch!" his father yelled again, picking him up off the floor by one of his wrists, holding him a little too tightly for Ed's taste. "But I did not, Dad, it hurts, stop it," he yelled as he tried in vain to pull his hand away. His father let go of his wrist and slapped him with the back of his hand "YES, YES YOU DID CHEAT YOU MORON, ADMIT IT!" He screamed again and again. Ed's vision blurred, his glasses had fallen off and his eyes filled with tears. He felt his face swell from the slap as he cried and cried. He heard his father yelling at him, stomping his feet, and throwing the beer bottle somewhere in the room.

As soon as Edward tried to get up, he was hit, again and again, slap after slap, a kick, a punch, more tears running down his cheeks and onto the floor, filled with a red liquid dripping from his face. He could not do much, so he just cried and screamed while his father kept shouting "ADMIT THAT YOU CHEATED". After a few minutes of beating, he was pulled up by his hair. Ed was now hyperventilating and bleeding from his nose. "Listen to me, stop crying and listen!" His father yelled as Edward tried to stay calm, "Tomorrow you go back to school and you ADMIT that you cheated and if you come home without that stupid fake plastic cup, I will not tell your mom what you did to win Huh? You got that? SAY YES DAD", his father said angrily as he finally let go of his hair. 

"Yes, Dad" Edward managed to say between sobs, "Now get out of my sight before I change my mind," his father said. Ed did as he was told, he left him, walked up the stairs, and went to his room where he closed the door behind him.