Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

First day of 5th year, 2nd September 2024

To say Preston Doyle wasn’t particularly excited for his first day in a new secondary school would be a gross understatement. The jump from being the only trans boy in his all girl’s catholic school in quiet Cabra to being lost in the crowds of students at a mixed secular school in what was certainly one of the rougher areas of Finglas was massive, no matter how much his well-meaning ma tried to downplay it. 

His 7am alarm brought with it nothing but dread as it echoed throughout his well-decorated room, the boy’s bleary eyes opening to the dim light of the same fairy lights he’d had strung across his walls since he was a young child. Running two hands over his face, he sat up slowly, the batman T-shirt he’d slept in sticking to his back with sweat. Preston’s eyes drifted from item to item as he fought off the urge to go back to sleep. He was more than happy with his room and the way it managed to capture every one of his interests. From where his DC action figures stood side-by-side with his sylvanian families; his collection of funko pops that stacked up to the ceiling and teetered worryingly every time he opened a window; to the assorted owl-themed pieces that littered every corner, namely the squishmallow he’d just been sleeping on.

If there was one thing about this school that seemed promising, it was the lack of uniform. Perhaps it was just Preston’s struggles with the rules at his last school and the punishment for his refusal to wear a skirt that filled him with relief at the fact he could wear whatever he wanted here, but whatever it was, he was making the most of it. Facing his mirror, he dressed in his carefully curated outfit for the day, pulling on his beige cargos, a plain white t-shirt, a brown zip-up Nike hoodie and black converse to finish. Once done, he found he couldn’t stop himself from carefully studying his own appearance, biting his plump bottom lip as his eyes flit across every feature of his face carefully. Preston just let his brain pick apart every aspect of his looks, every transphobic comment ever thrown at him sticking in his mind and destroying his self image, even if the boy was more than capable of blending in as cis. He had a soft face overall, with smooth skin only tainted by light, complimentary freckles across his nose and cheeks; his pale blue eyes were bright and innocent, his spark slowly coming back after months of being dulled; ash brown hair topped his head, fluffy and cut with a fresh taper fade. 

“Now, are you sure you’re ready, love?” Preston’s Ma checked for what was the fifth time since he’d first got out of bed this morning.

“Yeah, ma! I’ll be grand.” The teen reassured, slinging his bag onto his back as he pushed any nerves down to the pit of his stomach. 

“Ah, God. C’mere.” She fussed, running fingers through her son’s hair and smoothening his slightly crinkled t-shirt with cold hands, smiling proudly as she stood back.

“All grown up; your Da would be proud.” She smiled, that familiar look of long-standing grief flashing through her eyes.

It had been 16 years since Preston’s Dad had died and his Ma hadn’t ever truly gotten over it. The boy himself had never met him, but was consistently reminded of how much his mother saw the man in him, even before he’d transitioned. 

Leaving the house not soon after, Preston walked the short few steps to the bus stop for Finglas, his knee bouncing nervously as he sat waiting. Although, when the bus pulled around, he was only faced with the day’s first issue.

“Yer ten cent short, pal.” The bus driver grunted, an overweight, ugly man whose beady eyes glared down at Preston from his seat.

“I- Wha? Oh, it's probably… in me pocket.” Preston fumbled, already feeling his pale cheeks heat up as he had another two people waiting behind him to pay in cash and could not for the life of him find that missing coin. 

The bus driver huffed, clearly not the type to just let someone off with such a small difference like most would, “If ye’ve not got it ye can get off me bus. I’ve not got time for shite like this.”

Just as Preston felt he was on the verge of tears with the amount of stress this morning was causing him, a girl around his age pushed past to tap her leap card on the bus driver’s scanner.

“I’ll pay for him.” She smiled, being far too kind to the driver in Preston’s opinion, “Two kids, please.” 

The man just grunted and punched in the numbers, shooing the two along and grumbling about time wasters, not at all helping Preston’s flushed cheeks.

“Here.” The girl spoke sweetly, passing him his ticket and heading off to her own seat before Preston could even get a proper thank you out. 

At least one thing was going his way so far.

That was, however, until he got off the bus ten minutes after school had already started, clearly having misjudged the journey time from his house on Broombridge to ‘Finglas community academy’, which was further than he’d thought. Almost tripping over his own feet as he scurried up to the gates, he soon slowed as a group of three fellas in similar disgusting tracksuits came into view. They were all similarly tall and off-putting, each one talking loudly and so indistinguishably it seemed they were all speaking at once. Preston just hoped to god he didn’t have to deal with fellas like that in his class.

After prolonging his lateness even further by having to wait for his timetable at the office, Preston finally reached his classroom. Sighing deeply, he pushed open the door, his eyes landing on his teacher who opened up her mouth with a smile to greet him before being rudely cut off by a grating voice.

“Oh my god, boys. What is tha?” Taunted a rather intimidating fella from the back. 

He smirked cruelly as he spoke, joined by two friends at either side of him, crowding together like a pack of mangy hyenas. Who, if Preston wasn’t mistaken, were exactly the same lads he’d had the misfortune of trailing behind on his way into school. The speaking fella in question was, of course, Darren Whelan. A tall, lean boy with pale skin and dark hair that was long overdue a trim. To his right was Calum Doherty: a stocky blonde with eyes of ice that carried a piercing stare, his face was slashed with a deep scar and his thin lips twitched unconsciously. Perhaps his stark opposite, on his left, was Eoin Kelly. The boy held the same mean gaze, although his seemed so fabricated you could hardly find him alone to be scary. His tight cut hair was the type of brown that glowed auburn in the sun and his hazel eyes along with tanned skin created a beautiful harmony of features that was wasted on such scum.

Dismissing the boys in such an unbothered manner that showed this was the norm for their class, the teacher greeted Preston and gave him a free choice of seats. Palms now sweaty, he sat at the front next to, to his even further surprise, the exact same girl who had paid for him earlier on the bus. Taking the worksheet that was passed to him, he made sure to actually thank her now, before getting on with the page in front of him. 

“Fuckin dirty fag.” Calum spoke, no hint of a smile on his face as he practically shuddered the words from his lips.

“Ha, he looks like a bleedin’ girl.” Eoin was quick to agree, all three boys focused in on the back of poor Preston’s head, finding far more entertainment in this than they ever would in trigonometry. 

Their insults and cheap jokes continued to fly out throughout the lesson, not one of them even trying to keep things quiet, Calum the least so. It was almost a sort of punishment for Preston in their eyes, since he’d chosen to sit so far away from them. To the lads, that just confirmed how much of a pussy this fella was. 

However, Preston knew better than to give them any sort of reaction, as that was all they were looking for after all and why should lads like that ever get anything that they want? The lack of response from the new boy began to agitate the three at the back after a while, Darren being the first to properly show this. Reaching down, he picked up a rubber from the floor and threw it right at the back of Preston’s head, all three boys erupting into laughter as it hit him. The Cabra lad’s cheeks burned pink yet he didn’t dare turn around, especially not after the poor girl next to him did and was faced with just as much abuse as he would likely get. 

“Ignore them.” The girl, who had introduced herself as Amelia, huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “They’re just horrible bastards.”

Preston nodded, although didn’t take much comfort from the girl’s words. That was all he needed: to come from one school where he was constantly targeted to another where the exact same thing happened.

Finding amusement in this torment, Eoin and Calum didn’t take long to join in for themselves. Every time their teacher would turn her back, another rubber, ruler, sharpener or pencil would go flying over at Preston, this infantile bullying very clearly hilarious for the inflicters. 

“Windy in here, lads. Shite flyin everywhere.” Darren commented loudly, earning more snickers and similar jokes from the two at his table.

“Pencil’s pure flyin out me hand.” Eoin chimed in, Darren rolling his eyes at his badly copied joke.

Preston just contained himself for the remainder of the class, finding great relief in the noise of the bell when it rang. He wasted no time scrambling his belongings together and stuffing them in his bag to leave, tears pricking his eyes. Not entirely from the comments alone, more so from the literal headache those bastards had caused him.

He skipped the next lesson, sitting in a toilet cubicle on his phone instead. God, this was just like third year playing on repeat, only this time people at least saw him as a fella, or so he hoped anyway. Silently, he scrolled on tiktok for the next half an hour, ignoring the crude graffiti and piercing sting in his arm from how he’d foolishly taken out his frustration after maths. Although, much to the boy’s dismay, his silence was interrupted after those peaceful thirty minutes by an all too familiar voice. 

“Here boys, d’ya not think that fella from earlier looked mad like a bird? Is that just me, or?” Darren Whelan posed as he entered with Calum and Eoin and sat up on the row of sinks, completely unaware that the boy in question was sitting in a cubicle as they spoke. 

“Wha? Ye need to get yer head checked, Dar.” Calum disagreed, pacing around the bathrooms and lighting up a joint as he did so, “He’s just a fag or su’um, it’s obvious. Isn’t it, Eoin?”

Eoin looked up from his phone like a bewildered meerkat upon hearing his name, just nodding and murmuring a few ‘yeah’ s before returning his attention to his dry snapchat.

“Course he’s gonna agree with ye. Stupid pox just agrees with whatever the last person says.” Darren grumbled, slapping Eoin around the back of the head.

Meanwhile, inside the cubicle, Preston just sat on the closed toilet with his legs pulled up to his chest and phone turned off in case anything played loudly. He listened to the fella’s ongoing conversation with shaky breath, his stomach suddenly dropping with just a few words.

“Here, is someone in there?” Eoin snickered after a moment, nodding to the only occupied cubicle in the bathrooms, Darren and Calum smirking at the sight. 

“Bro, come out!” Calum piped up, his voice the most threatening that Preston had ever heard be directed at him.

The blonde paused for a moment after speaking, as if for effect, before booting the cubicle door as hard as he could, making the entire thing shake on its hinges and the other lads burst into laughter. His mate’s reactions only spurred him on more, the fella moving back so he could kick it again with more force, almost fixated on making it fall in now.

Preston couldn’t take it any longer in there. He’d thought it was bad enough being bullied relentlessly by the girls in his last school, but now it was fellas he had to deal with.. well, that was a different story. After freezing for what seemed an eternity, he finally built up the courage to just take a deep breath and open his stall door, trying to leave as quickly as possible, although of course Calum wouldn’t let that happen. The taller boy slammed a rough hand down on Preston’s shoulder, thick fingers squeezing him harshly.

“Leavin so soon, are ya?” He sniggered sickeningly, his eyes flashing with that insane glint that all his mates would recognise.

Darren stepped in quickly, as much as he’d have liked to see that new bastard get bated. He pushed Preston along with a rough hand, stepping in front of his blonde friend, “Ah, here, let him go, Calum. Gowon.”

He hadn’t stopped the interaction because he felt bad, far from it. It was just that everyone that knew Calum Doherty knew he was off the loaf - massively. No fella needed to get bated by him on their first day, unless they’d really done something. All this Preston lad had done was be gay, Calum could save it for now.

Preston hurried to science with hands that were still visibly shaking, sitting down in the middle as he managed to get there for the start of the lesson. He just hoped those three would pick some other seats were they to arrive, he didn't need any further reason to change schools again already. 

Darren alone arrived at class about 20 minutes later, having been caught skipping by his year head when he left the bathroom for a second and escorted to lesson by his year head. 

“Sit there, Darren, where I can see you.” His teacher instructed, gesturing to, to both boys' luck, the chair next to Preston, whose heart dropped immediately.

“Ah, Sir, come on! Are ye takin the piss or su’um?!” Darren protested, not even once looking at Preston as he spoke.

The teacher was firm in his order, however, not budging no matter how much Darren went on, each word just making Preston feel worse and worse. Irritably, the taller boy took his seat, making sure to scoot it as far away from the other as possible. 

“The fuck are ye looking at?” He snapped at a level that only Preston could hear this time, instead of announcing everything to the rest of the class as he had done earlier, his eyes burning into the Cabra lad’s own pair before he tore them away with a huff. 

Science passed at a snail's pace for Darren, the dark-haired fella having nothing to entertain himself with now he was alone in the class, even one of the group’s other friends, Niall, being sat at the opposite end of the room to him. Begrudgingly, he pushed himself up from where his head lay in his arms, his eyes flitting to Preston as he scribbled away at a set of stupid, little drawings. 

“What ye drawin, pal?” He smirked in a condescendingly friendly tone, poking an unwanted head over Preston’s shoulder in an attempt to get a better view. 

Preston flinched at the sudden action, his face only flushing up as he did so. He said nothing, although still allowed his arm to move back so Darren could see, as if he’d even want to anyway. 

Leaning more over for a split second to see the drawing, Darren raised his eyebrows, expression otherwise neutral. It wasn’t as bad as he’d expected, although he’d rather shoot himself in the foot than compliment this fella.

“Not bad, bro.” He nodded, turning away as he spoke to resume his earlier position.

*** 

Lunch came soon enough and brought with it the illusion of freedom. Preston, of course, hadn’t made any friends yet and so walked down to the shops alone. He wasn’t exactly bothered about that fact, it just meant no drama, or so he thought. 

“Here, Picasso! Do us a drawing, yeah!” Came Calum’s voice booming out of the blue, making Preston inwardly freeze up for what felt like the twentieth time today. 

Their footsteps audibly sped up until Preston felt Darren’s clammy hand slam down on his shoulder, almost sending him off balance.

“Slow down, bro. We only wanna talk to ye.” He sniggered, squeezing his grip uncomfortably against the lad before letting go. 

Preston bit his bottom lip, eyes glued to his phone as they all bombarded him. Short, plotting laughs rang in his ears as if warning of something further happening, Calum’s heavy arm around the Cabra boy’s shoulders soon confirming that.

“Paint me a little picture, yeah, bro?” The blonde teased, leaning his face in so close that Preston couldn’t stop his nose from wrinkling at his breath. 

The teasing only let up as the four grew closer to the shops, Calum taking his arm away and studying Preston’s flushed features as he did so.

“Fag.” He scoffed, shoving the poor boy in the opposite direction as he led his trio over to the shops, Preston just deciding to skip the rest of the day and go straight back home, tears finally free to fill his eyes as he did so. 

Chapter Text

The next day, 3rd September 2024

Darren could hardly believe the messages he opened his phone to the next morning when his Ma’s screeching voice rattled around the house as an unwanted wake-up call. Blinking his groggy eyes awake, the lad opened his few snaps from Eoin, face immediately falling as he read the first three words. 

-Not comin in bro 

-Cal wants me for sum

-Sorry

For a fella that was supposedly his best mate, Eoin had grown irritably closer with Calum over the Summer. The blonde barely ever asked Darren to do anything now, it was always just Eoin at every turn. He knew why, of course: the brunette would do anything Calum wanted, whenever he wanted it. It was as if a backbone didn’t exist in his body, he was always bending over backwards for whoever asked last. Which Darren didn’t hate when it benefitted him, but when it meant he was going to be left alone in class on the second day of the new school year, the lad was at his wits’ end. 

Groaning to himself irritably and shouting back to his Ma, he slid out of bed with as much enthusiasm as a man getting ready for his own funeral. As a last resort, he opened Snapchat to text Niall, only to be immediately shut down there too.

-Sorry bro need to drag me ma down to welfare office or im not gonna eat lmao

Great, so he was definitely going to be alone. Who was he going to hang around with in class now? That new gay fella? Yeah, right.

After twenty minutes of pained begging to his Ma and Da for them to please just let him have the day off, Darren just gave up, snide comments from his older brother, Cameron, only pissing him off more.

“Get to school, Darren. Yer a fuckin joke of a fella, ye know that?” The twenty-one year old called down from the stairs, clearly having just stuck his head out of his bedroom to get involved in the argument for no reason other than his own amusement.

“ I’m a fuckin joke?! You won’t even get a job to feed yer kid, ye lazy pox!” Darren yelled back, his anger at first his friends and now his parents only adding further vitriol to his words, his Dad already pushing him out the door at this point, “I’m goin’!”

The trek to school was a laboured one, the complete lack of motivation Darren was left with bogging him down with each step he took and his dreary surroundings hardly helped him feel any better. It was just street after street of uniform terraced houses, each one somehow more miserable looking than the last. Every so often you’d come by a place that was entirely boarded up, complete with a front gate hanging off its hinges and usually an explanatory burnt-in roof to top it all off. Empty fast gas canisters, discarded disposable vapes and other general rubbish littered the ground, normally just an ironic few metres away from a bin. The only people out so early were either other students like him or washed-up junkies who seemed to never be anywhere but the streets. 

And so, by the time he finally reached the door of his English class, the lesson was already half-way over.

“What time do you call this, Darren?” His elderly english teacher questioned in a snapping tone, Darren not even gracing him with a glance as he just waved the man away with a grumble, sitting down abruptly in the empty seat next to Preston.

Preston’s eyes widened and his body instinctively stiffened up as Darren sat down next to him. He was hardly going to speak to him or anything, I mean, the fella obviously didn’t choose to sit next to him for some light conversation, this was probably just the first seat he saw. 

“Yup.” Darren grumbled bluntly, his eyes on his phone which he scrolled through under the desk, his whole unbothered demeanour amped up wildly to try and hide the fact he was speaking to this lad in the first place.

“Uh.. heya.” Preston mumbled, his mouth immediately drying up, as if his body’s way of warning him against talking to this fella.

Darren looked up from his phone momentarily to gaze at their teacher, checking the old man wasn’t looking anywhere in his direction. Which, to the boy’s luck, he wasn’t.

“Where ye from?” He asked, not daring to look anywhere near Preston in case anyone in the room would catch on to the fact he was even speaking to someone who was so clearly below him - in Darren’s mind, at least.

“Eh.. Cabra.” Preston replied in a slightly louder tone this time, hardly wanting to come off as a complete fanny, as if some part of him deep down still cared about what fellas like this thought of him, no matter the mutual hatred between the two.

“Cabra rat.” Darren scoffed, Preston half-certain he heard a slight laugh in his tone, although turning to look at the lad’s face it showed no hint of even a smile.

The two were silent again for a moment, Darren more bothered about his phone than the two’s conversation - if it could be called that. He spoke up again after a few seconds of further scrolling, unable to find a video that he deemed worth his time.

“Why’d ye come here, then?” He asked, actually meeting Preston’s gaze for a split second now, taking in what he could of his face in that time and mentally picking apart his features.

“I got kicked out me last school.” Preston answered quickly, hoping he didn’t sound like he was trying too hard even if he was only telling the truth.

Darren snickered in disbelief, soon returning to his neutral expression however as he realised he could be starting to give the lad next to him the impression that he tolerated him. Which was certainly far from the truth, “Yeah, right. Bashed some fella around, did ye?”

Preston shrugged with a hint of a smile, his action confirming the other boy’s joking guess. Not that it was exactly a fella that the Cabra boy had been fighting with, but he was hardly about to correct the gender of his opponent when he was almost certain Darren and his friends viewed him as cis. 

“Fuck off. No ye weren’t.” Darren dismissed with a small smirk that flashed across his lips for a few mere seconds before vanishing.

The conversation came to a close for the next fifteen minutes at that point, Darren deciding to actually get some work done now he had no mates in the room to impress by slacking off. It wasn’t until the last few minutes of the lesson that the taller boy looked up, Preston catching his eye as he pulled out a small sketchbook from the pocket of his cargos - a grey pair today. Flicking through the filled pages of artwork to find a fresh one, Preston looked up to meet Darren’s gaze, feeling the lad’s intimidating eyes on him ever since he’d first moved.

“You fuckin drawin’ again?” He asked rhetorically, his tone more than judgmental as he stared over at the book in the boy’s hands. 

Preston tensed at the unnecessary questioning, his hands freezing up for a moment where he held the sketchpad, before quickly stuffing it back into his bag.

“Wha? Nah.. aha.” He fumbled, only making himself seem even more pathetic to the lad sitting next to him, who rolled his eyes with displeasure.

“Grow up.”

Preston’s gut twisted at Darren’s final words, feeling as if nothing he did was right. If he kept it out he’d likely be slagged for being a ‘faggot’ and teased further, but now he’d put it away he just looked like a pussy. Everything was just weighing down on him at this point. To think he’d moved to this school for a fresh start only to be targeted from the very first second of his first day. He didn’t even know what to do anymore, but he certainly was not staying around Darren as far as he could help it.

The bell for second period rang after only a few more minutes, Preston wasting no time in bolting out of the classroom to reside in a toilet cubicle once again. Pushing in through the door, he paused for a second to see if anyone else was there, upon taking it to be empty, he allowed himself to break down, taking the last cubicle and shakily locking the door through teary vision. God, he hated them all, every single person in that class, whether that was logical or not. Those lads didn’t even know him enough to dislike him so vehemently, they’d just taken one look at him and decided he was bad news. What, because he wasn’t head to toe in monterrain? It was hardly as if Preston even looked alternative or anything remotely similar in the slightest, he wasn’t even wearing a single piece of black clothing and he’d already been called an emo by some random fella in the halls. He just wanted to go home. Every second he spent here he longed for it more, despite telling his Ma that he’d had a great first day and only came home early due to how sick he’d felt.

Darren had had his eye on Preston the entire time the two had been walking the corridors together, unknowingly so for the latter party. He entered the bathrooms around thirty seconds after Preston did, immediately calling out to him.

“Here, Preston!” 

He didn’t care if there was anyone in here to hear him, if they thought he was looking for the lad to be friendly that was their own stupid mistake, he obviously was just looking for a bit of cruel entertainment.

Preston rolled his eyes in pure frustration, of course he’d followed him in here. Who was he to think he’d get even a single second of peace in this school?

“Fuck off.” He replied, tears evident in his voice as he spoke, only embarrassing him more.

“Shut up. Let me in.” Darren snapped back, not letting Preston’s words hang in the air for even a second.

He leant against the outside of the cubicle, just waiting to hear that familiar slide of the lock, not imagining for a second he wouldn’t get what he wanted. And, of course, he did.

“What d’ye want?” Preston asked with disdain, his head only poking slightly out through the small crack he’d opened the door, Darren soon barging straight in and sending the smaller lad flying back.

“What's wrong with ye?” He asked, far more accusatorily than at all comforting, although of course he wasn't going for the second option in the first place. His frowning eyes looked Preston up and down, the fact he’d visibly been crying and in fact still was only irritating him further. How could a fella be that soft?

“Nothin’! It doesn’t poxy matter, just piss off, Darren!” Preston dismissed, unable to hold back on his anger as he tried to barge past the other lad.

Darren’s expression changed from his previous relatively neutral one to a scowl of pure hatred in a matter of seconds, Preston only having to blink and he would have missed it. Without giving the other fella a second to even begin to regret his outburst, Darren shoved him hard by the shoulders, sending him stumbling back and nearly fully losing his footing as his legs hit the toilet. 

“I’m sorry! I’m-” Preston protested pleadingly, bringing his hands up in surrender only to be met with a harsh slap from Darren that definitely left a sting along with its mark.

“Don’t you fuckin speak to me, ye queer!” He warned, staring piercingly into Preston’s soul for a prolonged moment before storming out and slamming the door behind him, making the surrounding stalls shake with the sheer amount of force he’d put into his movement.

Preston only fell sorrowfully to his arse, his head in his arms and knees pulled up to his chest as he began to cry once again, feeling utterly defeated. If this was what he would be putting up with for the rest of the year, he didn’t know how much he’d be able to take.

***

4th September 2024

Thankfully for Darren, both Eoin and Calum had decided to come into school the next day. The dark-haired lad had of course filled the two in on the events of yesterday, although left out and tweaked any parts that could easily be turned around and used against him, like how he’d willingly sat down next to Preston. God, he didn’t even know himself what he’d been thinking. As the trio entered their Irish class, they saw the lad in question sat in conversation with Amelia, all shooting each other mocking glances in response. Walking past, Eoin smacked Preston around the back of the head with considerable force, sending his head falling forward in a way that was more than hilarious for the lads. 

“Pullin’ already, bro?” He snickered, immediately looking to Darren and Calum for validation after speaking, his eyes lighting up when they laughed along. 

Preston sank in his seat, knowing full well he looked pathetic as he didn’t give them a response, even more so when it was the girl next to him that did so instead.

“Shut up, Eoin. Still wearin’ your sister’s fake tan, are ye?” Amelia retorted before turning back around, making the fella on the receiving end of her joke visibly blush, even more so when his own mates sniggered too. 

“Gettin yer bird to fight ye battles, Presto? That’s low, bro.” Darren called over, the nickname entirely mocking and carrying absolutely no friendly familiarity with it whatsoever.

Amelia rolled her eyes, not at all judging Preston for not saying anything back to them. They didn’t even deserve to be justified with a response anyway. 

“They’re horrible bastards, you can always sit with me.” She whispered, smiling at Preston sweetly, the boy meeting it with his own tired but grateful expression.

Preston had been a mess the night before, his arm still ached now if he were to move it in a certain way. His skin was littered with faint slashes which he tried desperately to hide from his Ma, he wasn’t having her worrying about him again, all he wanted was for her to believe he was having a good time at this new school; that the events of his last were a thing of the past for good.

“Thanks.” He smiled, really just wanting to go home as much as he appreciated having at least one person he could maybe consider a friend here. 

***

As much as Amelia had meant her words, they hardly carried over when their next lesson was science, which she just so happened not to take, although clearly felt terrible about leaving him in, which Preston couldn’t help but feel comforted by.

“I’ll meet you outside history, yeah?” She assured, Preston agreeing with a smile that immediately dropped the second he turned away to step into the classroom.

The work benches at the back were littered with scientific equipment, the majority of the class ecstatic to be getting a lesson free from ‘real work’ as their teacher began to explain their practical experiment, barely anyone actually taking anything in.

Darren, Calum and Eoin had already claimed their spot at a bench, all just talking amongst themselves as their teacher went on, the blonde half-way through pressuring Eoin into drinking some of the hydrochloric acid that sat in front of them when the woman came over.

“Lads, we need groups of four.” Their teacher stated, Preston standing behind her and looking as if he’d rather be anywhere else right now, his eyes fixed on his shoes and not even daring to make eye contact with the fellas for a second.

Eoin began to groan childishly at the sight, Calum not best pleased either, whilst Darren’s lips curled to a cruel smirk.

“Yeah, miss, we’ll take him.” He agreed in mock kindness, the other two copping on as he spoke, his tone clear to seemingly all but the teacher.

The trio went straight back to messing around with the equipment as their teacher walked off, Preston having been the only one listening and becoming slowly agitated by the fella’s messing.

“Er.. we’ve to heat the hydrochloric acid.” He spoke up after a moment, switching on the bunsen burner and lighting it, the fellas watching on momentarily.

“Yeah, grand. You can do that, can’t ye?” Darren dismissed, turning his attention back to where the other three had been childishly mixing all the components together, jumping back with laughter as the mixture began to froth up out of the cup.

“Can one of yous pass me the small test tube?” Preston requested after a few minutes of silently getting on with things himself, not minding the slight serenity of being left alone for a short while, until he eventually had to speak up that was.

The new boy had to ask at least three separate times before he got any of the lad’s attention, their attention fixed on filming Calum snorting some iron filings off Darren’s house keys and pissing themselves laughing as he coughed and spluttered up bits of metal, black liquid running from his nose too.

“Wha? Here.” Eoin replied carelessly, tossing the test tube over to Preston. Literally tossing. The glass smashing all over the floor as he and his mates only laughed further, Preston growing closer to just walking out of this class by the second.

“Stupid cunt.” He mumbled to himself, thankfully out of earshot of the others.

Over the next thirty minutes, Preston finished the experiment by himself, their teacher coming around to each group to check her students' results, Darren, Calum and Eoin having no issue in claiming everything as their own, smirking smugly when they were used as the example for the best in class. Preston couldn’t help but smile sheepishly at the words, even if his happiness was considerably dampened by the others in his group. 

“Nice one, Pres.” Darren smirked, thumping the boy on the back in a show of mock friendship, Eoin joining in as well, of course.

“Not as thick as ye look.” The tanned boy snickered, Calum and Eoin following Preston out the classroom and into the bathrooms as the lesson finished up, Darren not getting the memo as he headed straight off to his next class. Preston hadn’t noticed them behind him until he emerged again from his toilet cubicle after a few minutes, his eyes widening with the unexpected sight of the group.

“Alright, bro?” Calum smirked, immediately taking advantage of Preston’s slightly startled nature.

“Heya.” The Cabra lad replied with a forced smile, just going to wash his hands and hoping to leave soon, which of course wouldn’t go to plan.

“Ye think yer a fighter or su’um, then?” The blonde continued, Eoin snickering on like a backing track in the background.

Preston froze slightly at Calum’s words, although refused to let it show, even if he didn’t like where this was going at all.

“Well nah-”

“Dar said ye got kicked out yer last school for batin’ someone though, why ye lyin’?” Eoin chimed in, seemingly only ever speaking if it was to back up one of his friends. God, he was pathetic.

“Well, yeah .. but it was only ‘cause she deserved it.” Preston shrugged as he dried off his hands with flimsy sheets of toilet roll that only stuck to his hands instead of actually helping, not realising the detrimental mistake he just made.

The two looked between each other with a shared incredulous frown, as if neither could believe what they’d just heard, Calum first to speak on it.

“ She ?! You battered a fuckin bird ?” He questioned, nose wrinkled in disgust as he pushed himself up from his seat on the row of sinks, squaring up to Preston as the other boy cowered in fear, his legs turned to jelly.

Eoin didn’t say anything, although he wore a similar expression on his face, only his being considerably less scary.

“I- Nah, nah, I just.. I just messed me words up, it wasn’t-” 

“No ye fuckin didn’t, ye filthy pox!” Calum cut off, holding Preston by the fabric of his hoodie, the poor boy now pressed up against the dirt-stained walls with no way out of the blonde’s terrifyingly strong grip no matter how much he wriggled, “That’s fuckin rotten!”

Each word Calum spoke was accompanied by flecks of his own spit, Preston scrunching his face up distastefully at both the sensation of it and the stinging pain from the older fella’s bony knuckles pressing into him relentlessly. However, his shouted words also came as a blessing to Preston, as they only meant Calum drew outside attention to himself. Attention that thankfully came from one of the few people with authority over him. 

“Calum! Get off him, now!” A teacher who must have been around in his late thirties called out, barging into the bathrooms and yanking the blonde off of Preston with as much force as he was allowed to use. In the few moments the Cabra boy saw the man, he managed to take in as much of his features for him to still be present in his mind hours later. He wasn’t at all bad looking, his hair seemingly incredibly soft and coming down to just below his ears, a small moustache above his lip complimenting the look perfectly.

However, Preston wasted no time in waiting around for the teacher to turn to him, scurrying straight out the door with a heart racing at the speed of light as he made his way to history, apologising profusely to Amelia for being late upon arrival, as if any of the previous events were at all his fault.

Chapter Text

The same day, History

Darren was definitely more than annoyed when he realised both Eoin and Calum had seemingly ditched him on the walk from Science to History, although it began to be tainted with more confusion when he realised there was no sign of Preston either. He swallowed with a slight pang of guilt as his mind flit through the likely scenarios, neither of them exactly good for the new boy. Of course, he didn’t feel terrible, but he still couldn’t push past the fact that Preston hadn’t exactly done anything. Except get smart with him in the bathrooms yesterday, but he’d already got what he deserved for that. Calum wouldn’t hesitate to swing him around simply for the fact he was gay, which rang clear in his mind the longer no sign of any of the missing boys came. It was more than ironic really, how the fellas could be so outwardly and openly hateful towards lads like Preston who were really just trying to get on with their life yet pal around with Niall with absolutely no issue at all, despite him being fully open about liking lads. No-one took him very seriously in fairness, he even had a few mates that didn’t even believe he was gay, despite the fact he’d talk about being on Grindr in the same manner his straight mates would with pulling girls on snapchat. Supposedly it was just the way he dressed that gave him a pass though. He didn’t look gay, in fact, he looked the stark opposite with the way he’d swan around in his canada goose puffer and monterrain bottoms. It worked in his favour for the most part; he at least wasn’t getting put in any situations similar to Preston’s.

Preston arrived at class around ten minutes late, Eoin following close after him. The first boy took his seat immediately down next to Amelia, Eoin heading over to Darren, clearly about to burst the longer he held in whatever had just gone down.

“Cal’s probably getting expelled.” He huffed out as he sat down, his tone making it clear he was exaggerating.

“What happened?” Darren asked curiously, sticking his neck out to try and get a better view of Preston from where he sat.

“That Preston fella, right, he’s only at to getting kicked out of his last school for batin’ a bird.” Eoin began to explain, pausing for some extra dramatic effect, nodding vigorously as Darren met him with a baffled but equally disgusted expression, “I know, bro. He’s a fuckin rottener; thinks he can get away with it ‘cause he’s a queer or su’um.” 

Preston’s face was blocked by the back of Amelia’s head as Darren tried to get a look at him once again, shaking his head with a repulsed tut as he turned back to Eoin.

“Dirty scanger. How’d ye find out, anyway?” He asked, knowing if Calum was involved then the means of interrogation were hardly going to have been calm.

“He just said it to Cal.” Eoin shrugged, skipping over a few details with his recollection, “Fuckin Mr Dunne came in though, pure pedo, ripped Cal off Preston ‘cause he had him up against the wall. I just left though, but I dunno.. he’s definitely gettin’ kicked out this time.”

“Fuck Dunne.” Darren grumbled, recalling the countless art lessons with the man where he’d targeted him for, what the teenager would call, ‘no reason’. He’d only chosen art because Eoin did anyway, thought it’d just be a doss subject, which was far from the truth.

Calum was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the lesson, or the one after that, so it became apparent to his friends that he’d been sent home early, which was hardly a punishment. Neither Darren or Eoin could be too jealous though, Wednesday was a half-day for their school anyway and so after Irish they were free to go.

“I’m goin’ ‘round Cal’s.” Eoin yawned as he and Darren left the gates, the latter of the two rolling his eyes as he heard that nickname for what must be the millionth time today.

“Grand, see ya, bro.” Darren nodded, heading off in his own direction, shrugging his schoolbag up further on his back as his irritation grew.

Fuck those two. Everyday now it seemed they were going off and doing something without him. Why couldn’t he have been in the bathrooms with them earlier, for one? He would have been better physical back up than Eoin for god’s sake. Not that Calum would have needed it against Preston of all people, but still. He just felt like both of their second options ever since the start of Summer, which was just ridiculous, especially since he’d been friends with both of them first. He’d known Eoin since they were babies!

Distracted by his annoyance, Darren hardly realised he’d been slowly gaining on Preston as the fella plodded on ahead of him. The Cabra boy, however, had been all too aware, biting at his nails with nerves until he decided to just get this over with.

“What d’ye want, now?” Preston snapped, turning around to face Darren and stopping the confused fella in his tracks.

“Wha?” Darren blurted out, looking up to the fella in front of him with a confused frown which became tainted with more anger upon realising who it was, “Piss off, I’m just walkin’ to me gaff!”

“Not gonna batter any birds on me way, either.” He added in a grumble, walking past Preston with a shove.

The shorter lad wasn’t about to take this being used against him for the next few weeks just like his sexuality already was. Even if the truth of it was that he had got into a fight with a girl, the lads couldn’t know that, in the same way that they absolutely couldn't know the reasoning that made it acceptable for him to have done so in the first place.

“Here, I didn’t get into a scrap with a girl!” He protested, storming after Darren a few steps to catch up with him, “Yer mates must be deaf or su’um ‘cause I said ‘he’ and they clearly heard me say ‘she’.” 

Darren looked down at Preston with slight disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe a lad like him had the nerve to come over and snap in his face, yet here he was. He was lost for words momentarily, such an outburst genuinely taking him off guard. 

“Whatever, I don’t even care, bro.” He dismissed, beginning to walk off again only for Preston to come along with him.

“Well fuckin tell them that too.” Preston implored, his tone coming out biting despite the overwhelming nerves that were bubbling inside him with each word he spoke. 

Darren rolled his eyes, genuinely having become so drained in the past few hours that Preston could say almost anything to him and it wouldn’t garner much reaction. Especially not anything about his ‘mates’, if anything he was more likely to join in than defend them right now.

“Alright! Just fuck off, will ya?” Darren dismissed, speeding up considerably now as he stomped up the road, Preston just watching him confusedly from his bus stop which they’d conveniently reached just as the taller boy had decided to make his dramatic exit.

***

16th September 2024, almost two weeks later

Preston hadn’t returned to school since that Wednesday when the whole bathroom situation had gone down. He’d come down with some sort of sickness bug, which was undoubtedly due to the stress of school, although he of course hadn’t let the reason slip to his Ma. It had pretty much cleared up by half-way through the second week, but the boy dragged it out as long as he could for some time away from those bastards at school. He kept the act up to Amelia as well, feeling bad for lying to her over text but not wanting to lose the only friend he had there at the same time. When Monday rolled around, however, he had no choice.

“No, yer gettin’ up, Preston. Come on, I’m not having a letter from that bleedin’ school askin’ me where you’ve been - they’ve already rang for a doctor’s note!” His Ma went on as she stood over his bed, pulling back the warm duvet and making him squirm.

“Ma! I’m sick!” Preston tried to fake, although couldn’t hold back his smile once he met his Ma’s knowing gaze, “Awh, Ma, come on!”

“There’s nothin’ wrong with ye anymore.. except laziness. Up!” She instructed, although was laughing along ever-so-slightly with her son too, “There’s a trip on today anyway, yous won’t even be doing work.”

Preston perked up at the mention of a trip, sitting up in his bed as he did so, any attempt of faking sick immediately scrapped now. 

“Wha? Where?” He questioned, fingers idly playing with the press-fastens of his duvet. 

“Custom house.” His Ma replied, snickering as Preston groaned in response, “Come on, it’ll be a break from school, no matter how boring.”

She left him to get ready with that, the boy knowing he didn’t really have a choice, unless he really wanted her to worry again. He dressed in a baggy pair of grey joggers and a black hoodie with a graphic on the back, fixing his hair in the mirror. It’d been bleached with highlights over his time off, his Ma hoping it’d lift his spirits slightly, which it certainly had, although the thought of returning to school with even such a small change in appearance was a daunting one. Picking up his phone, he opened Snapchat to text Amelia, grinning at her immediate response.

-Could i sit with u on the bus? Im coming back in today 😭

-Ofc!! I'll meet you outside school x

The two text back and forth as Preston made his way to school, the boy at least now having some consolation that part of today would go decently.

***

Similarly, Calum had not been planning on coming into school today, school trip or not. Although, after a mostly sleepless night of screaming matches all throughout his house, the blonde decided he wasn’t staying there any longer. 

Calum’s bedroom was cold and entirely uninviting. Three out of four of the walls were painted dark blue, the odd one out being a stained off-white. Paint and chunks of plaster were chipped off all around, some from just general carelessness whilst the majority came from the teenager’s frequent violent outbursts which had plagued him since childhood. His bed was pushed up in the corner of the room, usually not even being covered by a mattress sheet, which only added to the off-putting image of it all. A dark grey duvet sat bunched up in the middle of it, his latest disposable vape discarded somewhere inside after he’d fallen asleep with it in his mouth. Lent up against the wall were his two pillows, one covered with a matching pillowcase to the duvet, whilst the other was bare and turned a discoloured yellow from sweat. Clothes both clean and dirty littered the floor, his wardrobe standing pointlessly over to one side, only used to hide the money his uncle would sneak him from his thieving mother. Cold morning air filed in through the crack in his windowframe, the black mould that had begun to sprout around it hardly helping his already damaged lungs.

Searching through the masses of clothes on the floor and judging their cleanliness with a mere sniff, Calum sorted an outfit, leaving the house as soon as he could afterwards, his Da shouting after him even still.

“Fuck off, Da!” Calum croaked out, his voice paining him slightly to speak at this point.

The walk to school was hardly far, Calum spotting Eoin straight away as he turned onto the road, the fella always picking out the most vibrant tracksuits he could find, leaving him walking around looking like a giant ice-pop. 

“Alright, bro?” The blonde greeted, placing a strong arm down on Eoin’s shoulder and physically pulling him out of conversation with Niall, who scowled but clearly wasn’t bothered to deal with Calum right now.

“Heya, Cal.” Eoin replied, smiling slightly awkwardly as he hoped the blonde hadn’t noticed how he’d just jumped when he was greeted.

“What the fuck are yers all doin outside?” Calum asked with a furrowed brow, sitting down on a short wall beside him and taking a puff of his vape, handing it over to Eoin afterwards.

“There’s a trip on, bro. I mean.. sounds fuckin borin but.. better than school.” The brunette shrugged, trailing off as he realised Calum didn’t even look like he was listening to him properly, which he wasn’t.

“Yeah, okay.” He mumbled, running a tired hand over his face as he fought the urge to just fall back asleep, that one hour of rest he’d got not exactly doing wonders.

Eoin just pulled out his phone after handing Calum his vape back, staring down at Tiktok as he mindlessly scrolled through videos, wishing Darren would hurry up so he’d actually have someone to talk to. Although, of course, he didn’t. The only fresh face Eoin’s eyes were met with was Preston’s, a sight which caused an immediate frown. 

“Bro, look who’s back.” He murmured, nudging Calum as he did so, waking the fella up from where he’d almost drifted off.

“Wha?” He asked irritably, his eyes following Eoin’s over to the new fella, his gaze narrowing at the sight.

“Fuckin hell, state of his hair.” Calum grumbled, pushing himself up from the wall as he spoke to board the coach that had just pulled up.

Eoin snickered on command at his friend’s comment, eyes fixed on Preston so forcibly that he almost didn’t notice Calum walk off to get on the bus, scurrying along embarrassedly after him when he did. The two sat at the back, of course, Calum with his back against the window and feet up on the seats, Eoin copying him on the opposite end, as if to even be caught sitting next to your friend on the bus could be considered gay. The two didn’t speak for the majority of the journey, Calum falling asleep after the first few minutes of being on the move anyway. Eoin texted Darren multiple times but received no reply, the tanned boy biting his lip as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, overthinking every recent conversation the two had had to try and find some evidence of where he may have slipped up, although nothing came to mind. 

When they arrived at their destination, Calum woke up like clockwork the second the bus stopped, his twenty minute nap seemingly being enough to have energised him for the time being, the blonde storming off the bus with Eoin in tow, snickering as he shoved some random weedy fella out of his way.

“Fuckin queer.”

Eoin smirked widely as Calum began to act like himself again, even if that was something no sane fella should really be celebrating, he hurried to catch up with his mate, walking with his chest puffed out further as Calum slung an arm around him, the touch a sort of status symbol to Eoin. 

“Right, guys!” Their history teacher, Mr Tierney, spoke up in his grating Southside accent, Eoin pulling a face as he did so and revelling in Calum’s accompanying snigger, “The first part of this trip is a tour, so I need you all to stay together, right. No bunking off in the toilets; Talking to you, Calum.”

Calum’s expression immediately soured as the teacher called him out and a few heads turned to him, Mr Tierney speaking in that irritating tone that teachers always put on when they try to joke with you as if you’re friends.

“Fuck off, sir.” The blonde spat, arising a few sniggers from his classmates that the teacher attempted to shut down.

Calum hadn’t even been planning on slipping off like that, although now the man had put the idea into his head, there was no way he and Eoin were sticking around for some mind-numbing tour. I mean, what even was a custom house? Certainly not something Calum cared enough to find out about. Just from the outside it looked dull as anything, he highly doubted there was something inside the place that could change his mind, apart from a decent bathroom to smoke a joint in. 

After a few minutes, a haggard old woman with a lanyard around her neck stepped outside to greet the group, Eoin and Calum shooting each other a similar disgusted look.

“What a ride.” Calum smirked, Eoin unable to hold in a snort of laughter, making a group of girls in front of him turn to give him a judgmental stare, which Calum had to look away from to not laugh himself.

They were all led inside soon after, Calum already scouting out a sign for the bathrooms, nudging Eoin in the direction of them once he spotted it.

“Here, fuck this, come on.” He mumbled, Eoin the more wary of the two as he checked his back at least fifty times as they walked off, Calum scoffing and pushing him along.

“Come on, it’s only Tierney. The fuck is he gonna do?” He pressed, hand still digging almost painfully into Eoin’s back until they reached the door to the bathrooms.

An over-powering stench of bleach hit the two lads as they entered, the piercing whiteness of the bathrooms almost enough to blind them. There was a wider cubicle at the end of the row which was clearly for disability access, Calum and Eoin selfishly occupying this one so they had more room to sit down. The blonde took a seat on top of the closed toilet, Eoin taking the space on the floor next to him, slumped down as he let his legs sprawl out across the floor. Not wasting a second, Calum pulled a pre-roll he’d bought from his dealer, Aidan, the night before out of his pocket, holding it between his lips as he lit it. Eoin rolled his eyes at the thought of where it had come from. He couldn’t stand Aidan at all. In fairness, the two had only met once, but Eoin found that was more than enough for him. He was a scruffy pox, to put it kindly. Calum was his only friend, no matter how much Aidan tried to act like that wasn’t the truth. He went on like he knew everything about the blonde; Calum had sided with him too when he’d begun slagging Eoin off, which only added to the boy’s dismay. Every time Eoin tried to say anything though, Calum would just either snap at him or jokingly accuse him of being a racist, as if him being Romani had anything to do with the fact he was a massive prick.

“Eoin, bro? Hello!” Calum called out, waving his hand in front of his mate’s face patronisingly and snapping him out of his thoughts.

He was holding the joint out to him, smirking with an eye roll as Eoin took it now, clearly having been thinking about something.

“Fuckin spa.” He tittered, gaze lingering on his friend as he watched him take a puff, always finding it funny how he seemed to cough his guts up every single time he had the first drag, which of course played out exactly as Calum had expected it to, the blonde finding himself in fits of laughter as Eoin spluttered the smoke back out, his eyes watering with painful tears.

“Fuck off!.. It’s not.. fuckin funny!” Eoin protested, thumping Calum on the leg with a balled up fist and only making the other fella laugh more. 

Eoin kept his forearm rested atop Calum’s knee as he slowly regained his breath, the taller boy leaning down to snatch the joint directly from Eoin’s mouth, his fingertip accidentally poking into his mouth as he did so, the brunette flinching back when it did.

“Wha?” Calum immediately snapped, his own insecurities so embarrassingly deep-rooted he couldn’t handle even the slightest insinuation that he’d meant to do something so minimally intimate with his friend, “I didn’t do that on fuckin purpose, ye know that!”

Eoin just looked back at him with widened eyes, internally cursing himself for reacting to the touch as Calum looked set to really kick off, his childish nature coming out massively. In a fit of anger, he shoved Eoin’s arm from his leg with such force it sent the fella’s entire upper body slamming into the locked door of the cubicle.

“ Just fuck off! Makin’ me out to be a fuckin’ faggot?! Fuck off, Eoin! ” He yelled, properly this time, the brunette not even daring to try and protest, just leaving the stall in a huff with his head hung low, only annoyed at himself for ruining something more. For fuck’s sake, it was always him, wasn’t it?

Chapter Text

17th September 2024

Darren’s morning had started as miserably as usual, the fella barely having gotten any rest the night before. Eoin had been around until nearly eleven o’clock, the majority of their time together spent with him complaining about how much of a cunt Calum had been to him. Darren silently revelled in it at first, how it seemed as if the fella was finally opening his eyes to the reason their other friend kept him so close. Although, the more this dragged on, the more sick of hearing the blonde’s name he became.

“Just shut up about Calum, for fuck’s sake! Ye go on like yous are riding or su’um!” He’d snapped after about two hours worth of the same drivel, Eoin at least then getting the hint and being some decent company for the rest of the night.

Darren’s Ma was quick to dampen the mood as soon as Eoin left though, storming up the stairs to scold him for having friends in the house on such short notice. The teenager had barely given her the satisfaction of a reply; he knew she didn’t care in reality, she was just picking fights for the sake of doing so. She’d gone funny like that ever since Darren’s older brother, Lee, had died three years ago. His Ma still felt her grief exactly the same as she had done in the first days, only now it had festered for so long that it just came out as anger. Love shrouded by anger that she constantly fired off to all those around her. 

The morning had been no different as he awoke to the woman as his own personal alarm clock once again, shouting back at her just to shut her up so he could get an extra twenty minutes of sleep. Although, of course, this only meant that by the time he got downstairs, the toast that had been made for him was stone cold and beginning to harden around the edges. Still, he ate it on his way to school, passing by the same dull scenery as always. 

He found Eoin waiting around for him in the hallways, his arms folded in a huff as he looked over to Calum, who was talking loudly on the phone.

“The fuck is he talkin’ to?” Darren asked with a furrowed brow, his gaze on the blonde now too.

Darren’s abrupt words made Eoin nearly jump out of his skin, having not even seen the fella walk up to him. 

“Wha? Oh, poxy Kayleigh.” Eoin grumbled, Darren unable to hold back a snicker as the brunette essentially revealed he was jealous of a girl of all people.

“Bro, she’s rotten. Why’s he goin’ for her?” Darren asked, steering Eoin - and hopefully the conversation - away from the blonde as the two began to walk the halls, his arm around the tan boy’s shoudlers.

“That’s what I’ve been sayin!” Eoin replied, clearly very passionate on the subject, “She pure got fingered by Mark Sweeney in the Stretch, bro! She’s probably riddled!”

Darren snickered as Eoin reminded him of that story, shaking his head at the thought of being caught dead doing anything with a bird in a public park like that, especially one as filthy as the Stretch. Thankfully, the conversation slowly drifted to topics that were separate from 

Calum, Darren happy to listen to Eoin bang on about one of those stupid animes he watched and acted like he didn’t so long as their discussion wasn’t just a repeat of the night before. His good mood could hardly last for long, however, as right as the two rounded the corner onto an adjoining hallway, they were met with the one fella Darren hadn’t wanted to see today.

Preston stood at his locker alone, taking the few things he’d need for the morning classes out and putting the other rubbish back in. He hadn’t seen Darren or Eoin but it didn’t take long for him to hear them.

“Ah, what the fuck has he done to his hair!” The dark-haired boy complained loudly, seeing one little thing he disliked immediately ruining his mood once again.

Eoin snickered along from the side, speaking up now Darren had given him the confidence to, “Tryna make himself look more like a fag.”

Preston bit his lip, closing his eyes momentarily to regain his composure before shutting his locker, pushing down any nerves he had when he turned to the two lads.

“Wha?” He asked simply, tone full of attitude as he frowned back at them.

Darren wasn’t about to take disrespect from a lad like Preston when he was already having such a shitty start to his day, especially not when this time it was in front of people instead of how things had been the other week on the way home from school, that one encounter clearly making Preston feel bigger than he was.

“Who are ye talking to?” Eoin jumped in before his mate could, stepping towards the other fella as if he even had the balls to do anything that would land him with a suspension.

“What’s yer problem?” Preston retorted, Eoin’s expression faltering momentarily as he was actually met with some opposition. 

“You, bro.” Darren butted in immediately, not even giving Preston’s words a chance to hang in the air, “Comin’ in here with tha’ fuckin’ gay haircut. Tryna pull Niall or su’um?”

Eoin laughed at his mate’s joke, although it only left Preston confused as to why Niall was being brought into this, presuming they must not be referring to the fella in their class in the end. What was gay about him? He’d thought the three were mates anyway.

“What’s wrong with my hair? It’s a bit of bleach.” Preston continued to try and defend, although he knew in reality this wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“Yeah, exactly . What fella’s goin around dyin’ his hair?” Darren argued back, seeing how Preston was cracking already and smirking at the sight. 

“Yer a pure queer, bro. Cop onto yerself.” He added in a slightly more snapping tone, stepping in just a small amount and making the other boy flit his eyes to the ground with growing fear.

Couldn’t they all just fuck off? For one day, at least. Preston had only spent such a little amount of time at this school and already he was debating everyday whether or not to tell his Ma he was dropping out. Sure enough, he had one friend who was really sweet, but the lads brought him far more torment than Amelia did comfort.

Sighing shortly, Preston moved to just walk away, Darren catching him with a shove right as he turned and sending the young lad head first into someone’s open locker. Laughter rang out from some of the few people in the corridor who’d been witness to the cruelty, others meeting Darren’s actions with words of disapproval that didn’t carry any actual sympathy in them at all. 

“Oh my god, Darren, yer so mean!” A girl giggled as she walked past with her group, using Preston being a victim of bullying to try and flirt with the fella tormenting him.

Preston’s forehead stung sharply as he pushed himself up from the floor, the fella clasping a hand to it and wincing, heading off in the other direction as quickly as he could.

***

“You have to tell someone, Preston.” Amelia begged futilely, studying the lad’s forehead as they sat together in English, biting her lip with worry.

The mark had shown itself to be a fully fledged cut now, the few bits of blood that had pooled out of it dry and crusted, able to be flicked off with just a wipe of his sleeve. It still stung from time to time when his hair would brush off it in certain ways, or when he’d forget it was there all together and go to rest his head in his hand.

“I’m hardly reporting him.” Preston dismissed, this not being the first time the two had had this discussion since the school year started, Amelia far more adamant about it now that there was physical proof of the fellas’ torment, “It’ll just make things worse, I’ll have Calum at me door waiting to batter me by the time I get home.”

He snickered lightly as he spoke, trying to play this all off as a joke to get the girl off his back, although as she raised her eyebrows in response, Preston’s face only fell.

“What and you think that won’t happen anyway if you keep letting them get away with it?” Amelia countered, the boy next to her just looking down with slight shame, “I’m not trying to be a bitch, Pres, but come on. They clearly need teaching some sort of lesson.”

“I know. I’ll think about it.” Preston compromised, hearing Amelia sigh next to him as she turned back to her work and hardly feeling great about it.

The constant drone of the same lads who’d put him in this situation in the first place of course accompanied him in this lesson too, as in all. Even art - bar Calum. Preston hardly had much experience being around fellas like this after only going through girl’s schools all his life, but he’d never expected yup bros of all people to be sitting in his art room. I mean, genuinely, what was Darren Whelan going to do with an art leaving cert? Eoin was surprisingly and even more annoyingly good at the subject but Darren ? God. 

Darren and Eoin must have recounted Preston’s earlier crash into the locker to Calum at least fifty times by now, each time the blonde finding it funnier than the last.

“Bro, I wish I saw tha’!” He laughed on from the back of the room, neither of the other two boys at all tired of retelling this yet. 

“Ye were too busy pullin’, bro.” Darren messed, Calum pulling a smug face in response.

“I’m goin’ to her gaff at the weekend. Tried to come to mine I said fuck tha’!” Calum laughed on, making a joke out of his home situation really the only way he could stand to go back to it. 

“Have to get through piles of yer shitty jocks to reach yer bed.” Eoin chimed in, Calum slapping him around the back of the head in what he would consider to be a joking response.

“Fuck up, Eo. Rather be in my gaff than yours.” He lied, Darren still agreeing for the sake of it. 

“Scaldy little gaff you live in, Eoin, bro.” The dark-haired fella joined in teasing, despite the trio knowing that Eoin’s house was by far the best out of any of theirs.

“Shut up, Dar. Rather be on the traveller site than deal with your fat Ma breathin’ down me neck all day.” Eoin clapped back, part of him bracing for the impact of another slap, although finding it thankfully never came. 

“Whatever, bro. Yer sister’s ridin’ a traveller anyway.” Darren retorted, the truth of that statement to him perhaps more of a slap than Calum could ever give, the brunette shutting up afterwards.

***

For the three fellas, today seemed to be flying in, lunch feeling as if it came much sooner than usual. They walked down to the shops with Niall tagging along too, the other fellas he usually sat with in class having just gone home.

“Bro, Niall, seen that new fella in our class? What d’ye reckon?” Darren asked jokingly, Calum looking like he was going to be sick at even the mention of something gay, focusing his attention back on texting Kayleigh.

“Wha, that Preston fella? Nahh, bro. He’s like.. too gay.” Niall shut down, laughing slightly out of awkwardness as he did so, not so stupid that he didn’t see how Darren’s question was taking the piss out of him too. 

“Fuck d’ye mean ‘ too gay’ ? Yous both take it up the arse.” Eoin countered, Darren nodding over like he’d just made some profound statement. 

“Fuck off, Eoin. Ye know what I mean.” Niall shrugged, not really having so much against Preston that he’d be going off slagging him just for a bit of a laugh. 

“Yeah but like.. have ye seen his hair?” Eoin pestered.

“Bro, don’t mention that fuckin hair to me.” Calum piped up angrily, eyes still on his phone, the other lads sniggering at his annoyance, “Fella looks like a poxy hamster. It’s rotten, it is.” 

“Hardly that bleedin bad, Cal. Fella suits it at least.” Niall countered, Calum rolling his eyes as he shoved his phone into his pocket.

“Course you’re gonna stick up for him, ye queer fuckin bastard!” The blonde started, clearly having been waiting for a chance to take his irritation out on Niall.

The other fella only groaned, not at all in the mood to be dealing with one of the blonde’s ‘moments’, especially when all he’d done was say he liked a lad’s hair. 

“Piss off, bro. I’m not startin’ with ye.” Niall dismissed, pushing past Calum as he headed to join the queue for the deli counter that had stretched outside the shop with how busy it was, Darren just nodding a goodbye to Calum and Eoin as they went back to the latter’s gaff, the blonde’s grumbles audible all the way down the road. 

Niall took his phone out from the pocket of his coat as he stood in the queue, pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger from where they’d begun to slip down. He felt Darren’s presence behind him and stepped to the side to allow the other lad to wait with him, neither really speaking for the time being. 

The spectacled boy had his eyes glued to his screen, biting his bottom lip as he tried not to get sick at the sexual messages he was receiving on Grindr from a fella who claimed to be thirty-four. Although, upon closer inspection, there was no way he was less than fifty. He typed back exactly what the man wanted to hear even so, knowing Darren was watching the entire time.

“Bro, would ye not just sell some weed or su’um?” Darren asked, his tone sharing the same repulsed nature that Niall was feeling, even if he was used to it by now.

“Sellin’ a bit of weed doesn’t get ye a grand in one night.” Niall shrugged, his words no more than a mumble as he slipped his phone away, ignoring the persistent buzzing that continued even with it out of sight in his pocket. 

Darren just shook his head and looked away, his hands in his pockets as he waited for the queue to slowly go down, only growing hungrier all the while. 

***

Niall was the first to speak again once the lads had left the shop, chicken fillet rolls in hand. He was planning on just going home, although the bus stop that would get him to Ballymun was past the school and so he still had to walk the same way. 

“What’s even your problem with Preston? Has he done attin?” The teen asked, looking to his friend curiously as he ate his way through his roll.

Darren’s brows furrowed as Niall spoke, the question certainly catching him off guard. 

“Wha? He’s g-… I mean…” Darren trailed off embarrassedly, Niall raising his eyebrows with a knowing expression.

“So am I, bro.” He reminded, taking another bite of his roll before continuing, “He’s literally just a normal fella though. Like, he wears Nike jackets ‘n’ all. It’s not like there’s some big bleedin’ emo walkin’ around the class. I know I said he’s ‘too gay’ earlier but, like, come on, Dar.”

Darren scowled across at Niall, although couldn’t help but let his expression slowly soften the more he went on, the Ballymunner somehow able to get through to him. 

“Just don’t be a prick, bro.” Niall  finished, dapping his mate up before leaving to catch his bus.

With Niall’s departure, Darren didn’t have anyone to spend his lunch break with. A problem which could be easily fixed should he just walk to Eoin’s house, although he pushed that thought away as if it had never crossed his mind. Instead, he just strolled the corridors and yard, chicken fillet roll in one hand and a blue energiser in the other, slowly making his way through both. 

Amelia had had to leave school for a dentist’s appointment at the start of lunch, which she apologised for extensively as if it was her fault. Preston had only laughed, saying he’d just ask his own Ma to send him home, only for her to end up saying no. So now, the fella was stuck sitting against a wall around the back of the outside of the school, an area which he supposed not many people knew about based on how empty it was. At least, until he began to hear slow footsteps growing louder from around the corner. 

“Eh- What’re you doin’ here?” Darren’s voice came ringing out, Preston’s heart dropping at the first word, looking up from his phone to rather timidly meet his gaze, more put off than usual by the fact that there was no-one else around. 

“Er.. I’m just sitting here..” Preston replied, unsure what else to say. Was he not meant to or something?

“Well, yeah. I know.” Darren tutted, kicking a bit of gravel before sitting down on the ground with Preston, still leaving a good gap between the two. 

Preston could hardly believe the fella as he just sat down like he hadn’t slammed the boy’s head into a locker only this morning. He looked at him with a bewildered expression, Darren able to feel it and grumbling to himself, looking back up at Preston to say something but faltering.

“Is tha’ from me?” He asked, tone faintly laced with what Preston would dare to call guilt as Darren’s gaze slid up to the other lad’s cut forehead.

“Obviously.” Preston replied sharper than he’d intended to, not about to let his guard down just because the fella had shown a bit of sympathy. It didn’t take much to do that.

“Oh..” Darren responded, looking down for a moment before back up to Preston.

He hadn’t expected it to be that bad. In fact, he hadn’t expected it to have left a mark at all, let alone cut the fella. It was just a little joke, he’d hardly meant for Preston to actually get hurt.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled, noticing Preston’s face momentarily switch to an expression of even further confusion, before he just settled neutrally.

“Whatever, it’s okay.” He shrugged, even if he cursed himself internally at being such a push over.

Darren nodded, looking off to the side before sighing, pushing his half-drank bottle of energiser towards Preston. As if that was some intensely sincere gesture, to be given a half-empty sports drink with some yup bro’s spit all over the top. Still, he accepted. I mean, he was hardly going to say anything out of line when he’d only, this morning, been given a slice in his forehead by the lad next to him.

“Thanks.” He muttered, just resting the bottle in between his legs.

After a quiet moment, Darren stood up, nodding once more. He hovered in place for a second, before speaking again.

“Err.. just ignore Calum if he ever starts on ye.. there’s probably su’um wrong with him…. See ye.”

Even Darren hadn’t a clue what that was, cringing as he walked away and couldn’t get his last words out of his head. ‘Ignore Calum..there’s probably something wrong with him.’ Jesus Christ. He couldn’t have just said ‘bye’ like a normal person? Although, of course, it was Preston that was left more confused by that entire conversation.

Chapter Text

23rd September 2024, the next Monday

The rest of the previous week had passed rather quickly for Preston. Granted, he was still dealing with torment from the three boys, but with how normalised that was becoming, he found it only really affected him now when something major happened, which thankfully didn’t occur past the locker incident. Darren’s apology had soon proved itself to be an empty one, Preston just feeling stupid for even having that glimmer of hope that things could be  looking up for him. Only the very next morning Darren was back to spewing his usual homophobic hatred towards him, Preston not even giving him the satisfaction of a reaction at this point, just walking off whenever they all started. 

One thing he did notice, however, was that Darren seemed less bothered by Preston’s presence when it was just the two of them. He’d still throw a dirty look the boy’s way when passing him in the halls, but that was the worst of it. Whatever, he’d take what he could get. 

***

Eoin couldn’t help but notice the fact that Calum was acting stranger than usual, Darren agreeing with him when he’d brought it up, although a little dismissively in his case. He was tetchier than usual, but quieter too, like there was something on his mind. He sat in between Eoin and Darren at their desk in maths, nibbling at the skin on his bottom lip as he stared off into space.

“You alright, Cal?” Eoin tried nervously, only to be immediately shut down by the blonde.

“Piss off.” He snapped, looking to Eoin with a piercing glare, the brunette turning back to his work straight away, even if he wasn’t actually doing any. 

Darren only raised his eyebrows with a slight I-told-you-so look on his face, moving his head to look away from Calum to avoid becoming victim to his next burst of anger. It wasn’t at all unusual for Calum to be like this. In fact, it was something of a weekly occurrence by this point, Eoin and Darren going back and forward with what little thing could have got under his skin this time. Although, today nothing came to mind. Apart from…

“So wha’ happened with Kayleigh, then?” Darren piped up, instantly noticing Calum’s face twitch in that certain way that it tended to when he’d been caught out. 

“The fuck d’ye mean? I rode her.” Calum replied, telling the truth, although definitely not the whole story.

“Why ye in a pisser about it now then? Was yer dick too small for her or su’um?” Darren teased, so bored in this class he’d do anything for a laugh, even if that meant riling up the psycho next to him.

Eoin scooted his chair away from Calum the second Darren spoke, wishing he wouldn’t keep doing shite like this when he was around. Darren could hold his own with Calum in a fight whereas he’d get killed with the first punch. 

Calum’s face instantly flashed with anger as he snapped his head back towards Darren, the fella in question only snickering right back at him. Two strong hands lifted to catch the dark-haired boy’s monterrain jacket in a tight grip, pulling him in just that little bit closer that Calum needed.

“Ye wanna fuckin say that again?” He snarled through gritted teeth, Darren far too used to all of this to even react past laughter. 

“Yeah. You’ve got a tiny cock, bro.” He repeated smugly, a few people in the vicinity turning around to watch, Preston and Amelia included.

Calum’s anger burned even more powerfully inside him with every word spoken, the growing number of eyes on him only pushing him to prove himself, as if anyone in this room doubted his capability to defend himself. With an angered grunt, he shoved Darren backwards, the fella falling out of his chair and to the floor. Calum stood up as the other lad went down, hovering over him as everyone in the room watched on now. 

“ Go on, say it again! ” He near-yelled, kicking Darren provokingly in the hip as the fella remained down on the floor.

Darren scrambled to his feet with a deep frown after the pain of the kick hit him, Calum somehow hitting right on his bone. He shoved his friend back with as much strength as he could work up, a few fellas around the room pulling their phones out to film whilst others called out to egg the two lads on. Their poor teacher, Mrs Sharma, fretted around by her desk, being such a little woman that she could hardly break up a fight between two girls let alone these seventeen and sixteen-year-old fellas.

“Boys! Boys! Stop this please!” She called out panickedly, seeming as if she had a death wish as she neared the pair. 

She was only met with racist abuse in response from Calum, the class giving a mixed reaction of disgusted shock and laughter to his words, Mrs Sharma looking on the verge of tears as she walked away pitifully. 

“Erin, please go and get Mr Mahone.” She instructed as she headed back to her desk, the girl in question getting up immediately to fetch the teacher from next door.

By the time Erin had returned with Mr Mahone in tow, Calum had Darren pinned down against a desk, neither of the lads getting many good hits in as their arms tangled and squirmed. A crowd had gathered around the pair, Mrs Sharma doing her best to keep the students back but to no avail. The male teacher, however, simply stormed through the group of teenagers, grabbing Calum by the hood of his jacket and yanking him up, the blonde having to move with him to avoid being choked by his own attire.

“ Fuck off me, sir! Ye can’t touch me like that! ” Calum called out, flailing his arms around like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

“I can, Calum, when you're putting another student in danger.” Mr Mahone replied, sternly but with a professional calmness.

The blonde’s further protests went ignored as the two were led out of the classroom and into the principal's office, Darren too being held by the back of his jacket as he was walked through the halls. 

*** 

“How many times are we going to do this lads?” The principal, a bald man who must be in his late forties at the youngest, spoke up, looking across his desk to Darren and Calum with a disappointed expression.

Upon getting no response, he sighed, pinching his nose in defeat before continuing, “Calum, you’re an adult next year, you’ve already been held back a year on top of that. You should be taking the leaving cert this summer but because of your own stupidity you’re back to square one.”

Calum hung his head shamefully, the looming fear of failure always coming back around to haunt him, no matter how much he tried to act as if he didn’t care. He didn’t have a single person in his family to base his life off: his Ma never achieved anything better than a part-time job at Euro giant; his Dad was an alcoholic that drank away every wage he earned and his Uncle was only two steps away from being a junkie and made a living selling knock-off perfumes around the back of the Ilac. Not to mention his Ma’s side of the family had completely cut them all off when Calum was around ten years old. Really, all he wanted was to actually succeed in something; to get on a career path that didn’t involve drugs at any point, but, realistically, he knew he had more chance of being in jail by the time the year was out than passing his summer exams. 

“I know.” He grumbled flatly, unsure what else he could say at this point, “Don’t care anyway. I’m just gonna fail.”

The principal huffed irritably at Calum’s words, turning his attention towards Darren instead, having labelled the blonde as a lost cause months ago already. 

“And you, Darren,” He began, “I thought you were getting on the right path, what’s all this fighting for? You two are mates, aren’t ye?”

Darren sighed lightly, kicking at the carpet with his shoe, not making eye contact with the man in front of him either.

“Just a scrap, sir. I started it.” He shrugged, not about to let Calum get into more trouble than it was worth. Especially when he could hardly be far off expulsion at this point. 

“Fine, Darren, if you want to take the blame for it.” The Principal tutted, clearly not believing the teen even as he told the truth. He signed off two sheets of paper to be sent to both boy’s parents as he spoke, sliding them down into his drawer before returning his gaze to the pair, “Go on, back to class.”

***

Darren sat separately from Eoin and Calum in their next lesson, taking a desk to himself in the corner and actually getting on with his Irish work for once, even if part of him wished he’d just been able to still sit with them to scrounge all the answers from Calum, what with him going to a gaelscoil. From the corner of his eye, he could see the two of them talking, no doubt about him. Darren just played it off as if he didn’t care, focusing on what was in front of him only, although that social anxiety that chose when and when not to come to the forefront was going wild in his mind, every laugh that came from the lads’ desk making him wince as he was certain they were all aimed at him.

Of course, a few were, but after fifteen minutes in the class Calum had grown bored of talking about Darren, Eoin not taking long to realise this and quickly switch the conversation up.

“What did happen wi’ Kayleigh, then?” The brunette asked, having no time to backtrack after he’d spoken, having just let slip the first thing that came to mind.

“Wha’? Wha’ ye tryna say?” Calum questioned, visibly stiffening as he frowned down at Eoin.

“Wha’? Nothin’! I just mean.. ye know.. what happened? ” Eoin smirked cringely with his last two words, Calum unable to not laugh as his mate just embarrassed himself, getting his anger out on Darren earlier having put him in a considerably better mood. 

“I fucked her, what d’ye think? Ye pure virgin.” The blonde retorted, scribbling down a few phrases as he spoke, Irish one of the only lessons he actually participated in seeing as how he had it so easy. 

Eoin’s brows furrowed defensively at Calum’s accusation, even if it was completely true. He was deadset on not letting any of the other lads find that out, despite them all being fully aware.

“Bro, ye know I’m not a virgin.” He mumbled, his cheeks likely visibly red if he didn’t spend so much time on the sunbeds, “I literally fucked loads of birds in third year, Cal. Ye know tha’.. haha.” 

Calum only snickered, deep down glad that the conversation had been steered away from the events of Saturday night, the strangeness of it all still sticking with him. 

He’d got to Kayleigh’s house at around eight o’clock at night, her parents both out and the girl having the place to herself, as was planned. The two had been getting on far better than Calum ever had with a girl, friendship wise, girls seemed to fall at his feet otherwise, as if drawn in by how much of a horrible scumbag he was. Kayleigh was different, though, he found he could actually have a laugh with her; that she got the same jokes he did and would mess on with him - in a way - as if she was another fella. But that’s not to say she was at all a tomboy of any sorts, she was the exact opposite really. Calum had never seen her without her hair perfectly straightened, its natural dirty blonde colour highlighted with bleached streaks that complimented her beautifully. Her nails and lashes were always freshly done, as was her tan which genuinely never seemed to be patchy. 

Although, of course, Calum hadn’t gone around to her house just for a laugh. The two did end up sleeping together, no matter how much the blonde’s earlier tantrum had made it seem as if he was lying, it was just.. something about this time seemed off in a way. Kayleigh was far from the first girl Calum had had sex with, so he really couldn’t understand why this time had been so different. He’d liked it, he supposed, so had she, but it was like whatever it was had left both of them incomplete. 

“Er.. we can just not talk about this, Cal. If ye want.” She’d suggested a few minutes after they’d finished, turning her head to face him as the two lay in bed together, Calum looking down with an unreadable expression as he bit his lip. 

“Yeah.. sound.” He’d nodded, not even making eye contact with her as he responded, only getting up from the bed to find his boxers on Kayleigh’s floor, tossing over her own underwear in the process.

“Ye want a spice bag?” Calum eventually spoke again, turning to face the girl on the bed with hints of a smirk, Kayleigh soon to return it.

“You’re paying.”

From that point on the night had gone as usual, the two moving past the earlier events as they just actually enjoyed themselves, even if Calum couldn’t shake the thought of Kayleigh spreading around how weird he’d been to everyone they knew, as if the girl wasn’t having those same thoughts herself. The two continued to speak, even right now, in fact, Calum receiving a snap from her as Eoin caught sight of his phone, smirking in a way that he thought was knowingly.

“Piss off, bro.” He snickered, hardly able to get mad at Eoin again if he didn’t want to raise any more suspicion. 

Opening the snap, he was greeted with a photo of Kayleigh and who he remembered to be Chloe, her best friend, taking a photo under the desk in class together. Smirking to himself, he nudged Eoin to get in with him, both lads posing with their fingers up, Calum’s arm around his mate’s shoulders. As Eoin pulled away, he clicked to add text to the snap, laughing aloud at the brunette’s immediate protests, pressing send just as he tried to grab the phone away.

-Eoin wants ur mate 😂😂

“Bro, Calum, fuck you.” Eoin grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest in a huff as if he had any clue who that girl was and vice versa. 

“Just tryna help ye, bro. Can’t be a virgin for the rest of yer life.” He laughed, miming the words he knew were coming next before Eoin even had a chance to speak them.

“I’m not a- Ah, fuck off!” He whined, the blonde finding himself more than hilarious.

***

Darren, once again, found himself alone at lunch today, Calum hardly seemed like he’d forgiven him yet and Eoin wouldn’t dare to put a toe out of line with the other boy lest he get the anger turned around on him. So the dark-haired lad headed down to the shops by himself, getting a chicken fillet roll and a drink as he did everyday. 

Walking back up to school, however, he spotted a familiar figure in front of him. Preston was walking along on his own too, munching on his own roll as he scrolled through his phone. Darren sighed to himself, knowing just how lonely this made him look to anyone who knew him, but doing it anyway. 

“Alright, bro?” He greeted relatively dryly, popping up behind Preston and visibly giving the other lad a fright.

“What d’ye want?” Preston asked curtly, rightfully wary around the fella, especially when it was only Friday afternoon that he’d called him ‘a dirty, little fag’ for simply existing. 

Darren shrugged dumbly, not really having a plan of action for how he’d convince the brunette to sit with him this lunch and more so just making this up as he went along, “Nothin. Where’s Amelia?”

“She’s got detention, didn’t do her English homework. Why?” Preston replied, furrowing his brows with confusion the more Darren spoke to him.

“Who ye sittin’ with then?” Darren asked, hoping he didn’t sound as desperate as he was, as if he wasn’t asking the boy he’d been bullying for the past three weeks if he could eat his lunch with him. 

“No one wh-?” Preston cut himself short, his face falling to an irritably blank expression. Of course, what else would Darren be asking him where he was sitting for? Obviously this was just some ploy to get him to sit with his trio so they could all take the piss out of him for the next hour. Well, he wasn’t that stupid.

“I’m not sitting with you and yer poxy mates so yous can get a laugh out of me, Darren. Ye can fuck off.” Preston denied, speeding up slightly and only making Darren have to scurry after him embarrassingly.

“Wha? Calum and Eoin aren’t even talkin’ to me, ye smart pox. They’re at Cal’s gaff.” He explained, with a slight snap in his tone, pausing before grumbling, “Thought gay fellas were supposed to be nice.”

Preston turned to Darren with an incredulous look on his face as he spoke that last part, his mouth slightly agape as he went over what he’d just heard. Was this fella serious?

“Yeah, well not when ye bully them every single fuckin day.” He retorted, Darren rolling his eyes as his torment was labelled as bullying, as if that wasn’t exactly what it was. 

“Ah, here. Cop on, bro. I’m literally gonna sit wi’ ye on yer lunch, stop cryin’.” Darren dismissed, slamming an arm down around Preston’s shoulders and guiding him into the toilets, the two having arrived back at school by now.

Preston just huffed and went along with it, letting Darren take the seat in the toilet as he sat with his back against the door, wanting to be closer to the exit were the other fella to start anything. They both ate in silence for a good moment, Darren the first to break it after a few moments.

“Why were ye off the other week, then?” He asked, mouth full of food as he ate, a few bits of chicken falling from his lips to his trousers, only for him to pick them back up and return them to his mouth again.

“Was sick, I’m fine now.” Preston replied monotonously, practically feeling the eye roll Darren gave him at his response.

“What was it, AIDS?” Darren ridiculed, smirking down at the other lad as he took the lad bite of his roll, licking the butter from his fingers.

“Yeah, I’m riddled.” Preston played along for once, taking a small bite of his own in comparison, a little put off by Darren’s presence still.

The taller lad snickered, actually going as far as to say he wasn’t minding the other lad’s company so far. He was hardly too bad for a gay fella, in fairness.

“Don’t be giving me any.” Darren messed on, gulping down the last of his Dr Pepper and burping loudly in just another show of his disgusting habits, Preston feeling as if he was about to get sick again the longer he sat in here with this lad.

“You’re a scruff.” Preston spoke with a hint of a laugh, hating how easily Darren seemed to be getting into his head recently. One decent action and it was as if Preston was following along behind him like a lap dog. God, he hated him, although he hated himself for being such a pushover more so.

“And you’re a faggot, mate.” Darren tittered in response, eyes on his phone as he scrolled through TikTok, a Snapchat from Calum popping up and catching his eye. 

-Come yard bro were r u 

Darren smirked at the sight of it, glad it hadn’t taken the blonde a good few days to get out of his mood with him. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking coming in here with Preston, especially now his real mates wanted him back around.

-Bathrooms ill come rn

He responded as he stood up from the closed toilet, barging past Preston without a word as he left the stall, leaving the brunette more than confused once again. 

***

Preston had just decided to stay in the cubicle after Darren’s sudden departure, moving to sit up on the closed toilet as the other boy had been, able to finish his roll in peace now he was alone. He really didn’t know how he felt about the lad this past week. Granted, he was a total scumbag and clearly would always have something against Preston even if he didn’t against him, but these short little bursts of humanity that had begun to spring up recently were really confusing the poor Cabra boy. He couldn’t think what could have suddenly changed Darren’s mind on the day he’d come and sat with Preston for a few minutes behind the school, ‘the energiser treaty’ as Amelia called it. Had he suddenly decided to be a nicer person out of the blue or something? Preston could hardly think of anything that made more sense than that. Whatever it was, it was baffling, and in all honesty it seemed as if Darren himself wasn’t even sure of his actions.

Familiar voices soon pulled Preston from his thoughts however, namely Darren’s, as three sets of footsteps made their way into the bathrooms. 

“I swear he was in that last one there.” Darren told Calum, pointing to the cubicle he and Preston had only just been residing in together around 10 minutes ago. 

Preston’s stomach dropped at the dark-haired lad’s words, feeling betrayed by someone he knew he never should have trusted in the first place. Biting his bottom lip, he pulled his knees up into his chest so his feet wouldn’t be visible were anyone to peek under the small gap in the stall, staying as silent as he could as his nerves only grew. 

“Haha, dirty cunt eatin’ a roll on the toilet.” Calum taunted, as if he himself was in any position to comment on another’s hygiene. 

“Probably used the wrapper to wipe his arse.” Eoin chimed in, smiling smugly as the other two actually found him funny for once. 

“Preston, bro!” Calum called out, up against the stall door as he thumped on it with a balled-up fist, the other two sniggering along in the background, “Givvus a bite of yer sausage, yeah?” 

Preston just remained as silent as he could, hoping the trio would eventually grow bored and walk away. He couldn’t believe himself, letting Darren Whelan into the bathrooms to eat lunch with him. What had he been thinking? Of course something like this was bound to happen. 

Calum continued to bray on the cubicle door, shouting into the boy inside for a good five minutes before he grew bored, the lack of response irritating him more than anything. 

“ Fuckin faggot !” He yelled into the stall, booting it hard and making it shake on its hinges so much Preston bit his lip as he begged it didn’t actually fall in on itself. 

“Come on, bro. He’s just bein’ a weirdo.” Darren shrugged, slinging an arm around Calum and leading him out of the bathrooms. 

***

Preston had been scarlet when he entered the classroom after lunch, feeling all three boy’s eyes burning into him but ignoring each one. Thankfully, he had Amelia to sit with now, who he recalled all the events of the lunch break to, the girl only ending up feeling guilty for being stuck in detention as if it was really her fault, Preston at least touched by how sweet she really was.

When school had ended three hours later, the boy took his usual route up to his bus stop, hating how it seemed to be on Darren’s walk home too, which was confirmed when he saw the taller lad begin to walk up the same road. Preston was waiting at his bus stop by now, although his bus wasn’t due to arrive for the next eighteen minutes, which Darren snickered to himself at when he saw.

Unsure why even himself, although landing on the fact he was just taking the piss, Darren stopped to talk to Preston once he reached him. Obviously just for a mess. 

“Alright, bro?” He greeted, hands in his coat pockets as he looked up to the electronic sign where the bus times were displayed.

Preston had tensed up slightly as Darren headed over, even if this was him alone, the events of earlier had taught him not to trust even that, “What, Darren?” 

The fella snickered softly at Preston’s abrupt reply, as if it wasn’t more than justified, “Wha’? I only wanted to talk or su’um.” 

“About what?” Preston huffed, visibly cold as he stood there in just a thin hoodie, the notice board above displaying the temperature to be only 5°C.

“You cold, bro?” Darren asked quizzically, the answer to his question so obvious you’d likely think the fella was taking the piss, although as Preston looked up to meet his gaze he showed himself to be fully serious. 

“Er.. yeah. I didn’t bring a coat.” The brunette explained, as if that itself wasn’t also more than obvious just by looking at him. 

Darren furrowed his brows for a second, partly judging the lad for being so stupid and partly mulling something over in his head. He’d had the same idea from the second he’d first came over and saw Preston standing shivering, although the longer it sat in his mind, the longer he grew increasingly unsure of what he was even thinking. I mean, what would the lads say if they knew? 

“D’ye wanna wait in my gaff? It’s only like.. five houses up.” Darren offered, interrupting his thoughts with his own stupid proposal. Although, he could hardly take it back now.

Preston frowned over at Darren, his immediate answer, of course, being to have said no. But as the amount of goosebumps on his arms grew and a look back at the bus times showed the wait had now gone up to 21 minutes, the brunette found himself nodding.

“Yeah, alright.”

Chapter Text

As the two lads began to make their way down to Darren’s house, Preston found his nerves growing by the second at the prospect of actually being alone with him like this. The same Darren that had relentlessly bullied him for the past three weeks and only deemed him worthy of talking to when he had no other options. His mind tangled and filled with increasingly worrying thoughts of what it was this fella actually wanted from him. He hated how easily he was being won over as of recent, even if he did try to convince himself that this occasion was different because all he was doing was waiting for his bus. Right, as if he couldn’t have done that all the same at the stop. 

As Darren had said, his house wasn’t far at all, the pair only on the move for about thirty seconds before the taller boy turned off to the side to walk up the path to what must be his house. It looked the same as every other home in this area of Finglas: a terraced house with smooth brick that had been painted a yellowish cream colour. It was contrastingly cleaner than the one next door, whose front window had been smashed in and the surrounding walls stained with black smoke. Darren caught Preston’s eyes lingering on it with slight confusion and soon spoke up casually. 

“Oh, yeah, someone threw a firework in there. Blew the fella’s dog up.”

He shrugged the information off like it was normal, Preston staring at the back of his head like he was insane as they entered the house. The front door opened right onto a set of stairs, clothed in grey carpet that had been worn down over the years. To the side was a thin hallway that led off to the living room and kitchen, a smell of cooking already coming from the latter room. Purple wallpaper, baby photos and tacky signs adorned the walls, continuing into the landing as Preston tentatively followed Darren up his stairs that creaked with every movement. His bedroom was the first on the left, the ashy brunette unable to fathom that he was actually here right now doing this. For all he knew, he could get himself killed. 

Darren’s room was rather small, although not exactly what you’d call cramped. To one side, there was a double bed pressed up against the wall and a window behind it, the windowsill littered with mugs, wrappers and a small vape or two. He had a TV attached to the wall in front with his PlayStation below; a dresser and mirror against the other wall topping everything off. The room was far more messy than dirty, the few clothes strewn around hardly putting Preston off. One thing that did catch his eye, however, was a scraggly teddy bear sitting atop Darren’s pillows, the ashy brunette unable to hold in a snicker as he looked to the lad beside him.

“Wha? That’s not mine, it’s me fuckin’ niece’s.” The taller fella lied as he tossed the bear to the floor, never able to actually get a believable story out.

“I don’t care. I have loads meself.” Preston replied with a timid shrug, taking a seat next to Darren where he’d moved to the bed. 

Darren sat pressed right up against the wall, as if even coming any closer to Preston would give him some sort of disease, he just scrolled through his phone awkwardly, the other lad studying the room for anything to make conversation about. Honestly, why was he even here?

“Err.. d’ye wanna play su’um?” He posed after a moment, Darren looking across to him with a confused frown that soon softened once he saw the lad’s eyes on his console.

“Yeah, whatever.” He shrugged, dropping his phone down on the bed next to him as he got up, “I don’t have any faggy games though.” 

Preston rolled his eyes internally, although refused to give Darren any sort of reaction close to what he wanted. The fella got his own way enough.

“Darren, I’m a fella. I play the same shit you do.” He replied in a neutral tone, squinting to try and make out what games Darren had on his shelf, “Just stick Mortal Kombat on.”

The dark-haired lad nodded, taking down the box and slipping the disc into his PlayStation, smirking to himself at the thought of how awful Preston’s gameplay was about to be. At least that would be entertaining.

Turning around from where he’d crouched to sort out the game, Darren’s gaze landed back on Preston, his expression curling to an appalled frown at the sight of what the brunette had removed his shoes to reveal.

“What the fuck are they on yer feet?” He asked with a tone full of disgust.

Preston couldn’t help but freeze up, any confidence he would have were this not taking place in Darren’s house of all places nowhere to be found. He forced a smile across his lips, even as he knew his cheeks were flushing an embarrassing pink.

“They’re just fluffy socks,” He replied in more of a mumble than he intended to, “It’s bitter out.”

Darren gave no verbal reply, apart from a muttered ‘fag’ that Preston couldn’t tell if he imagined or not as he moved back onto the bed. Begrudgingly, he handed the controller over, before going back to scrolling through his phone like he hadn’t a care.

Preston just ignored him, his thumping heart betraying the calm persona he was trying his hardest to put on. He picked out a character rather quickly and played a good few rounds before he could feel Darren’s eyes burning into him, Preston flitting his eyes away from the screen only momentarily to meet his gaze. 

“Yer actually mad good.. for a gay fella.” He commented, his head turning back to face the TV as he spoke, as if embarrassed to have even given Preston such a slight compliment.

“Thanks.” Preston responded rather dryly, which was more than deserved, although it came more out of distraction than malice, his attention fully on his gameplay.

After he finished his round, Preston turned to pass the controller to Darren, smiling sweetly as if anything had passed between the two for his kindness to have been earned.

“Here, I’m pure hogging it. Have a shot.” He offered, only to be shut down.

“Nah, I’m shite. Keep it.” Darren denied, his cheeks tinged slightly pink if Preston wasn’t mistaken, although he only smirked to himself instead of making any comment.

“Well, I’m done. Ye can pick something else out if you want.” He shrugged, getting up from the bed to return the game disk to its box.

Darren only shook his head, mumbling something in response that was mostly incoherent, only leaving Preston feeling awkward once again. The brunette returned to the bed, about to open his mouth to suggest he left right as Darren started up laughing out of nowhere, startling poor Preston somewhat.

“Oh my god, bro. Look at this.” He chuckled, scooting in a little closer and holding his phone up to the lad next to him, scanning his face intently for a reaction as he showed him a reel.

Preston couldn’t help but laugh as he watched. The video itself wasn’t even that funny, it was just the fact he was being shown it by someone else that made it hilarious. As his eyes remained on Darren’s phone and the fella just continued to scroll, he shuffled in as much as their confusing relationship would allow, soon finding himself comfortable enough to relax against the pillows behind him.

“Ah, here, bro. Watch shit on your phone, my reels are at to goin’ shite.” Darren instructed after around twenty minutes, Preston nodding and doing as the lad suggested.

The two had been getting on far better than even previously today in the bathrooms in the short while they’d been scrolling through Darren’s feed, the dark-haired lad even cracking jokes and messing on with him almost as normally as he would with any other lad. Preston knew better than to think this would last this time though. He appreciated it for the moment, although the thought that this was essentially all just fake still left a pit in his stomach. 

As Preston scrolled through his for you page, he slowly began to notice Darren’s replies getting less and less frequent. When he eventually looked over to his side, he couldn’t help but snicker at the sight of the taller boy laying on the brink of sleep, his eyes fighting to stay even just that tiny bit open.

“I can leave, Darren.” Preston suggested, Darren only murmuring something that he definitely thought was a coherent sentence in response, Preston just laughing more at this.

“Alright, bro.” He nodded as he slowly stood up from the bed, Darren grunting irritably in response to the movement.

By the time Preston had finished putting his shoes on, Darren had already drifted off into what seemed to be quite a deep sleep. He lay sprawled out on the bed like a starfish, bar one arm that was wrapped around a corner of his duvet and holding it tightly to his chest. Preston tittered, allowing himself to properly take in the lad’s features for once, hating how he found himself smiling as his eyes roamed over his face. It didn’t take long for him to notice a messy clump of hair resting irritably on Darren’s forehead. Debating his next move carefully and praying the fella didn’t wake up at all, Preston reached a hand gently out to brush it out of Darren’s way, taking his expression slowly softening as a sort of unconscious thank you. 

Stepping back, Preston stayed still for a moment before getting an idea. Heading quietly over to his school bag and taking out a pen and a small piece of paper he’d ripped from a copy, he quickly wrote up a small note. He hardly wanted to leave without saying anything, and since he didn’t have any of Darren’s socials, this was really the only way he could.

‘Left coz you were asleep - Preston’

It was only a simple little thing, but that’s all it needed to be. He set it down on top of Darren’s bedside table and left straight afterwards, thankfully not causing the other lad to stir as he did so.

***

It was another three and a half hours before Darren woke, the fella almost completely forgetting about the day’s earlier events until he noticed that piece of paper on his bedside table. Picking it up with confusion, he read the words as he fought back a smile. Whatever, that was just stupid: leaving a note. Obviously he knew why Preston left. What did he think he was? Thick?

Even so, he dropped the note into the small drawer of his bedside table, telling himself it was just because he was too lazy to get up to go to the bin, despite getting up to go to the toilet only a few minutes later.

***

24th September 2024

Preston arrived at school around twenty minutes before his classes started the next day, his confidence naively boosted by the events of yesterday, even if he knew himself they meant nothing to Darren. Of course, more bullying would come, more taunting words and intimidating stares. It seemed unavoidable anywhere he went, both in and out of school. 

He thudded up the stairs to his locker with his gaze glued to his phone screen, snickering quietly to himself at a tiktok Amelia had sent him, the girl in question sadly running late today and leaving him alone. Preston hardly felt anything other than that as of recent: alone. Of course, he had the one friend, but that was it. One friend. In fairness, it  wasn’t as if Amelia had her own group either, she’d moved to the school this year for the LCA course, which her previous secondary didn’t offer. Although, to put it bluntly, she wasn’t coming into school with wracked nerves and nails bitten down to the bed every morning. Preston was.

As Preston reached his locker, Darren turned the corner into the same corridor with Eoin by his side, Calum of course nowhere to be seen until at least halfway into their first lesson. Eoin rolled his eyes with a dramatic groan that Darren only snickered at, the brunette treating spotting Preston the same as stepping in a pile of dirt.

“Fucks sake. Miss when I didn’t have to see that yoke around.” He grumbled, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his tracksuit bottoms.

Darren nodded in agreement, as if Preston wasn’t in his bed a mere twelve hours ago, “Queer little cunt.” 

As the dark-haired boy spoke and they passed by Preston, a near perfect idea sprung its way into Eoin’s head. Working out his timings, he quickly shoved into Preston with a rough shoulder, slamming the ashy brunette right up against his locker.

Eoin turned to Darren with a laugh that immediately dropped upon seeing the other boy’s irritated expression.

“Always have to take things too fuckin’ far. No-one thinks yer funny, Eoin.” Darren scolded, his voice raised enough for the few people in the vicinity to easily overhear, Preston included.

He’d originally began to storm off with his books in hand after the shove from Eoin, although at Darren’s words he stopped, looking back with a curious frown. Darren caught his eye for a second with an expression that showed no compassion, although Preston wasn’t so stupid he didn’t realise when someone was putting something on. The two parted ways after a second-long shared glance, Eoin stood in the middle angrily complaining.

“Fuck off, Darren.. ye fag! I know you’d do the same!” He called out, the cracks in his voice hardly making for an intimidating shout.