Fourteen, F. {Sano}

[fredlyin]

he couldn't handle third period.

The sandalled Italian weaved through the corridors of Ridgestone Detetention Facility in search of solace...anything, absolutely anything to raise him from the pits of this hell. It wasn't necessarily the restrictions on his freedoms, to roam as he pleased; no, the campus was expansive enough to easily get lost in the forest as he damn well wanted. On top of that, his second nature was that of being a skulk. Easily, the child could slip away out of sight (and with so few noticing him, he would rarely be missed.)

Ru wasn't bothered by his severe lack of friends, as he had grown to think of himself as a loner. No one around knew him and few knew of the creepy little slinky of the child that sat in a corner cooing to his Chickadee. He was the leper of the social class, bony of flesh, flashy of eye, and weak of voice. Anxiety debilitated the remainder of his masculinity, causing his body to shake and his lips to stutter.

It wasn't even the thought of being held in a detention center, an unsightly scar on his permanent record. He could probably never hold a job that was worth mentioning because of his behavior. The Italian was sure his uncle would help him out in that respect, as he always did. Nothing bothered him about working under Hermes Caducet, as he was both family and friend...rather...he preferred it, him being so close to the New Yorker.

It was simply that he was stupid.

The dark haired adolescent slipped into the library, eyes flashing over the shelved room. His section was generally empty, and the entire chasm was dead silent. Under any other circumstance, Ru would find this unbearably eerie, but now, quiet was welcome. Quiet contrasted the buzzing in his head of distant..distinct laughter. Laughter meant for him and his uncoordinated body, sick little mind, stupid little mannerisms. He wanted it all to shut up.

But it couldn't. A certain trance fell over Ruquezaokuu as he retrated to a study-desk in a grossly illuminated area of the library, staring at his Algebra II quiz. Scarlet letters burned into his eyes, advertising the "14/F" that he had earned. In the margins were scrawled chiding to study. Bitch. She knew "studying" for Ru was simply staring at the book in the bleak hopes of absorbing the material. It was obvious, how he squirmed whenever she looked at him, how he avoided the amble to the board to answer a question, how he shrunk into corners to attempt to blend in with the patterns on the wall.

His frail fingers pried into the tendrils of slicked hair, perspiration making it hot to his hands. He was hot. He was dizzy.

He was dumb.

Ru never did well in school when he was forced to attend...he could never catch on no matter how hard he tried. It was hopeless. He was failing, and he would forever be a fool. He wouldn't even leave Alaska as just a criminal, but a stupid one.

Hopeless.

[Sano Kemosiri Dyrovaske]

He had to help him.

He didn't even.. well, perhaps he liked him a little, but the kid was an idiot, and a nosy one at that. One might think he wasn't one to hold grudges, but if they did think that, then they were fucking idiots, and he was once again ruler of the blind foolishness he'd seen here. The fact of the matter was that Ruquezaukuu DePicto was perhaps the stupidest boy he'd ever met. Not only was he awkward in social situations (or perhaps that senseless stutter was meant to be appealingly cute?) but he was failing almost every class he came in contact with. Sano was purely convinced that he could fail a class, simply by walking into it. Now, this didn't mean that the boy was completely hopeless, though, and that was what Sano was determined to figure out. He couldn't just sit there while his roommate made a complete fool out of himself because it might, in turn, make a fool out of Sano, in some fashion or another, so he had to at least try to increase the boy's wits. He had never tutored someone before. He had always thought his patience would be too little for those who didn't give a shit about their grades anyway, though there really wasn't any place for Sano to speak—after all, he didn't really care about his grades, either, but he cared enough to do the work, and that was all he needed to do to be third in his class. Third, because as much as he cared, he didn't want to be known as the smartest kid in the year, so he would intentionally leave answers blank in his homework, so he could average out. Of course, he refused to do that with the tests, which was the other reason his grades were so high. The first being his cleverness in the first place, which was not something he was willing to say aloud unless someone beneath him actually thought that they were smarter than he, and then he was more than willing to pull out a sad little card as grades to shut them the fuck up. He hated stupid people, and he distanced himself from them, so why the hell would he want to help Ru?

The boy was pathetically awkward, but he eased him in the nights, when the dreams would be too much for him to keep quiet in his bed, and his words, though strange and stuttered, were gentle. Sano liked that, at least. It eased him down, though slower, more effectively than any cigarette. He had never been eased after a nightmare before. His mother would be too scared to leave her bedroom—Sano knew quite well what she was forced to do every night. He heard her, and it did nothing to calm him, but merely quickened the pace of his heart. Back then, though, his little Yavin would curl up in his arms and hug him, because he would be having bad dreams too, because of all the screaming from the movies that played when he was never in the room. Sano would push away those fears of his own to comfort his brother's, because he was the more important one. He remembered he would sometimes be bitter against him. Why was it that he had to be beaten and not his brother..? What had he done that was so good, that he was kept safe..? He didn't understand, and he never had, but he did now. Either way, it didn't matter. He had protected him all the same, with his life, with his sanity, and he had given those both away, literal or not, so that his kitten could be safe, and so, so happy. That had all gone to hell with that damn bullet through his father's brain, and watching him bleed out on the floor wasn't much better. Now his kitten didn't want him half the time, and clung to him the other, because as much as he wanted friends and a lover elsewhere now, he knew Sano was the one who could understand more than anyone else he'd met. Yavin always came back to him, even if he'd often be crying or yelling or screaming, or hitting and biting and kicking, until he broke, and Sano would hold him.. because Sano protected him, from everything he could. That was his job, to protect his brother with all that he could, and he couldn't do that here... It hadn't been long since he came here, that he dreamed about him dying... and it was all his fault. God, it was all his fault...

Sano shook himself and blinked a few times, taking a breath as he ran a hand through his hair as if it would help his eyes from stinging. How had he gotten on that subject? It was stupid. God, he was stupid... Ru! That's what he was doing... well, not sexually. Not yet, anyway. He wanted him, and yet he hadn't had him yet, and why? Why was that? .. Because he actually had a conscience. Fucking conscience. He liked to think that he was good to virgins, though, and as far as he knew, Ru was a virgin. He didn't like people having their first time with him, no matter how wonderful it felt, because he knew.... he just fucking knew that they would regret it, and above anything, he hated being regretted, unless it was mutual, and that was a rarity. Rare, for it had only happened once, and he did not intend on doing that whore again, and as far as he knew, she didn't want to be done again either, at least not by him. Annoying.. Ugh. He pulled the collar of his trench coat up as he wandered from outdoors, in, the cigarette between his lips inflaming with each drag, pain in his head as he moved his hands from his collar, then, to his pockets, one fondling a rubix cube. He planned to test this boy. He had noticed, that he was a genius when it came to painting, so perhaps colors could help.. Painting could help where words and numbers could not. He glanced between the children in the halls. Half of them were just that... children. How they had mustered enough something to be here, he didn't know, but they acted like children, something he prayed he did not... or would.. if he prayed. He ignored the wet from his boots, creating slippery stone on the ground, and moved through corridors until he could catch a glance of him, going into the main library. Why, he had no idea. It wasn't as if he could study, and classes were about to start in a few minutes, not that Sano's were. He had a free period... Ru didn't. The idiot was skipping. Sano pursed his lips a little and sighed, taking his cigarette and putting it out against a window and leaving it there as he moved into the library as well.

He waited a moment before he approached him. Waited, until he was settled, before he slipped through the dispersing students to wander to his section, to his table, and pause. Should he really do this? For all he knew, he could be hopeless, helpless, but something in him wanted to help, and since when was he never compulsive? .. Well, he supposed often enough, but that wasn't the point. The kid needed someone to help him, and no one even fucking knew him, so yes... he needed to help him, because he didn't want a moron in his dorm, and he didn't want to fuck one either. It helped both of them if he helped him, right? Why was he questioning himself so damn much lately? He blamed D. Damn kid put common sense into his head—common sense that was nice to people. He was not a kind person... or he hadn't been... Yavin would laugh at him and pat his head, say sure.. of course he was sweet to someone. He just wanted to fuck him—whore. Sano pulled out a chair and seated himself heavily into it, leaning his weight onto his elbows, propped onto the table as he kept his left hand in his hair, head leaned a bit against it, and he pulled the rubix-cube from his right pocket with his right hand (it would be dumb to move his left) to set in front of the boy, quiet for a moment more before taking his hand back and setting it into his pocket.

“Fix it.”