Chapter Text
Marvin stepped inside.
He didn't knock or greet anyone or nothing. And Ash didn't even have to look at his face to know he was grinning.
"Been causing trouble, Ash?" He lulled.
Principal Glenreed didn't look too happy to see him. Any time Ash's guardian was summoned, it was Marvin who would come instead, and Max had always had a very bad feeling about this man.
Shorter full on glared at him, leaning over protectively in his chair as if to try and block Marvin's view of Ash, who hadn't reacted at all.
"Would it kill ya to knock, pig? We were talking." Shorter hissed, arms crossed as he debated standing up to kick Marvin out.
The man chuckled.
"I'm here on behalf of Dino, China boy, I don't need to knock. Come on Ash, we're going."
He said with a lilt, mocking Shorter's anger, as if just working under Dino gave him every right in the world.
Ash stood up wordlessly.
Shorter turned his head over to him, surprised. Then he caught the expression on his friend's face and his gut dropped.
Ash was biting his lip, eyebrows frowned but eyes resigned. He looked like he was being sentenced to death.
He didn't look back at Shorter.
Just walked towards Marvin, head bowed, slow.
The man's fat hand clasped his shoulder and it felt final already.
If he was being honest with himself, Ash didn't even know if the promise he made to Shorter would hold.
The smart thing for Dino to do would be to cut Ash off from his environment starting tonight, so he wouldn't have an opportunity to resist in any way to the decision that was made.
So this might be the very last time he sees Shorter at all.
And he doesn't even want to look at him.
His back stays turned to the room, his face close enough to Marvin's chest that he can smell the ever present sweat his body exudes.
Ash doesn't say anything as Marvin drags him out of the room without another word, the man ignoring the principal as Max tries to call him back regarding the police and all that shit.
Whatever...none of this will stick anyway.
Ash stares at his feet the whole time they walk back to the car, committing to memory each nook and cranny of this school and the streets that surround it.
He tries really hard to remember each person that attended here, to remember their faces, what they sounded like, what friends they had, imagine what their life is like outside of school.
Maybe when he'll be down in the renting rooms of Club Cod he could think back to them, and try to imagine what future they're gonna be having without him.
Marvin shoves him in the car for no apparent reason, until Ash realizes he must have been standing in front of the car door without moving for a little.
He doesn't bother to put his seatbelt on. He'd be better off as roadkill anyways.
He hears the car lock.
And they start to drive.
He cries.
Really cries.
Like he hasn't in a while.
He feels in a trans, way younger than he usually acts, as the road keeps sliding under the wheels and Ash wants nothing more than for it to stop.
He's almost died multiple times, too many times to count, but this is the first time he's experienced this much terror.
Marvin laughs at him, speeds up even more.
Ash knows he's insulting him again but his brain doesn't register it. His eyes are fixed on the road, grabbing onto his hair as he whines out of fear, sadness, anger.
Snot drips down his mouth and his eyelashes clump together from the tears.
He breathes so hard it doesn't work.
Marvin turns a corner, and Dino's mansion comes into view.
Ash screams.
He wails.
Marvin gets out of the car and opens the door on the passenger's side, yanking Ash from it by his hair.
Ash's legs give out and he lands on his hands and knees, crying so much he can't see anything anymore.
He tries to stand up, he really does, but the sobs wrack his body so hard that everything's shaking.
Marvin ends up dragging Ash on the ground the whole way to the door.
He dumps him like a trash bag as soon as they pass the door, and Ash crawls until his back hits a wall, where he can curl up and cry.
Cry,
cry,
cry.
He grabs onto his hair and pulls, so much that he thinks he's gonna rip some out.
He knows Dino's in the room, watching him.
He can practically sense him at this point.
But still, he keeps crying and crying and sobbing, past the point of feeling ashamed of what is probably a terribly pathetic scene.
He hears a chair screech, heavy footsteps coming towards him.
And warm hands enveloping him.
Except Ash knows those hands. The hairs on the top, the veins, the oblong fingernails, the ring, those stubby rough fingers...
Those hands, they've touched every part of him countless times.
They've had Ash's life, his dignity, his future in a chokehold for a long while now.
Ash cries harder, if that were even possible, flailing in the man's embrace, kicking and screaming and trying to claw his way out until Dino constricts him so hard that any movement is useless.
He can barely breathe, sobbing with his ribcage compressed between his rapist and a cold wall.
But still, he finally melts into the embrace, returning the hug, if it could be called that, hugging the man who was responsible for everything, who condemned Ash to hell, because...
Who else does he have now?
He won't see Shorter again, or Nadia. Arthur will probably still kill them anyways.
He won't see his gang. They'll be under Dino too soon enough thanks to Arthur. They'll forget about him.
Griff has been MIA for a decade. And on the off chance he's alive, he clearly didn't care enough to come find his little brother.
His father had probably stopped looking for him long ago. He's not even sure he ever has.
Who does that leave?
No one.
No one except Dino.
"Shhh...my boy...everything is alright." Dino shushes as he rocks the boy.
Ash sniffles, and buries his face in the man's fat neck. His lips quiver against the skin as he tries to get a hold of himself.
He finds himself hugging Dino harder than he's ever hugged anyone before.
"...I don't wanna go-"
"-I know you don't." Dino cuts in, in a gentle voice.
"Please, don't make me go...Please Papa, please, please..." Ash sobs, hiccupping, praying to whatever god that hates him out there.
Dino doesn't say anything.
"I'll do anything, Papa, I will, just-...not there...not there, I-I..." Ash wheezes, snot and drool drips down his face.
"I'm gonna die Papa..." He squeaks out.
Dino rubs on his back with one hand, slipping underneath his shirt to soil Ash's cold skin directly. Ash can't make the distinction between sexual and affectionate at this point, but he wills himself to believe it was care.
That Dino cares about him.
That maybe, he doesn't have a choice in this either, that it pains him to have to do this to Ash...that if he had another solution, he would take it in a heartbeat.
Who's he kidding?
Ash's breathing slows on its own. His emotions drain out of him, and he's met with a type of clarity. The one of certain powerlessness. The feeling that no matter what, no decision he makes from this point forward will have any effect. That his life ends now.
Nothing he does will ever serve a greater purpose.
His brain is useless now, the treasure trove of potential it has will never accomplish anything anymore.
It's only his body now. The only things he needs is to preserve its beauty and motor functions. Other than that, he'll be better off as a vegetable.
What's the point in trying to fight it? He knows it won't change a thing.
"...Can I-...May I just...do one last thing...? Before you send me back?" Ash asks monotonously, eyes going dead, resigned.
Dino hums, neither a yes or no.
"...M-May I just...go to the school event tomorrow?...I-I promised Shorter I would go, j-just for a few hours. I won't tell him anything, I promise...But please..." Ash tries, barely convinced it'll work.
He considers sliding his hands down Dino's slacks to up his chances.
But surprisingly,
"Of course sweetheart." Dino says softly.
Ash lifts his head from where it was buried in the crook of his neck.
He locks eyes with Dino, face broken by despair, but adorning a soft smile.
"Thank you Papa...Thank you."
That night, Dino leaves Ash alone.
The boy wonders if he's actually feeling empathy for Ash and decided to soften the blow or if he doesn't want to fuck a zoned-out blotchy faced version of his best whore.
Whatever...it doesn't actually matter.
Ash feels somewhat at peace.
He's made his due with it ending here.
He just...just wishes he could've seen Griff again.
Just seen his face. What it would've looked like with the smile lines you get when you turn 30.
He tries to imagine it. Shorter with that more mature face. Nadia with short hair, she's been saying lately that she wanted to buzz it all off. Bones and Kong looking older, maybe growing by a couple more inches...
There's nothing left to do now. Nothing that could be done.
Ash will try to warn Shorter tomorrow about Arthur. But he has a feeling he's doomed him and Nadia irreparably.
It's comforting, actually...that maybe he won't have to wait too long in the afterlife until they join him.
Though they won't end up in the same place, it's nice knowing they'll be there soon.
He feels guilty thinking about it, but he smiles softly nonetheless.
He nestles closer against the window of the library in Dino's estate, closing his eyes after watching the New York skyline for the last hour.
'Goodbye New York.'
'Goodbye everyone.'
'I know we'll meet again someday.'