Under a Paper Moon

I froze in place as I felt Sam move his hand away from my waist and watched him stand up. Fraser's eyes were darting between Sam and I, his expression a mix of horror and distress as Sam walked towards him, his fists clenched. I pulled my gaze away from Fraser to look at Oli and Nicholls, both their expressions alarmed.

"Sam..." Oli warned as he stood up, grabbing the material of my school shirt and pulling me up with him.

"No no, it's fine," Sam said, not even looking back at us as he advanced on Fraser. Fraser stumbled back a few steps as Sam got closer to him, trying his best not to let the fear show on his face. I couldn't even move, I just stood there completely frozen, watching on as Sam grabbed Fraser by the tie and slammed him into the wall of the science building. "You're such a cunt," he spat as he pulled his fist back and threw it into Fraser's stomach, making him double over in pain. As he was bent over though, Sam brought his knee up to collide with his face. A horrible crack rang out around us and it wasn't until he punched him in the face that any of us three jumped in to stop him from beating him up any more.

"Sam, stop it!" Oli yelled as he grabbed onto Sam's forearm, preventing him from punching my boyfriend again. Even though for his size, Oli was incredibly strong-seeming, Sam was stronger. He ripped his arm away from Oli, but by the time he'd done that, Nicholls was standing between him and Fraser, stopping him from hitting him any more.

"You need to calm the fuck down, Carter," he pushed him backwards, "what's gotten into you? Jesus."

Sam just glared over his shoulder at Fraser who was shrinking back as far as he possibly could; his nose was bleeding, his eye bruising already, but he still seemed more concerned about Sam than about that. "Gustav, don't just stand there! Go take him to matron or something!" Oli exclaimed, snapping me out of my frozen stance.

I nodded at him, not even saying a word as I grabbed Fraser's wrist and began to drag him away from the scene. I didn't know where I was going to take him, I didn't want to take him to the matron - it wasn't that bad anyway... maybe I could just take him to the toilets and get him cleaned up there? Yeah that seems like a (moderately) good idea. I mean, if I took him back to John and Ben and Si looking like this, John would go ballistic.

Once we got around to the front of the science building, I pulled him through the doors and off to the right. No one really used these toilets, due to the fact they were disgusting, so when we got into the room it was completely empty. Thankfully.

Fraser pulled himself out of my grip and walked over to the mirror above the sink, flinching slightly as he saw his reflection. His eye had darkened to a deeper shade of purpley brown at this point, but the blood had stopped running from his nose and was beginning to dry and crust on his upper lip.

I pulled four or five paper towels from the dispenser and took them over to Fraser before I turned the tap on, placing one of them under the water and wringing it out so I could wipe away the blood. Not a word was spoken between the two of us as I cleaned him up, the only sound in the entire room was the trickling of the water hitting the base of the sink.

"Gus..." Fraser said eventually, after I'd picked up one of the dry paper towels and had begun to dry the water from his face. I rose my eyebrow at him in reply. "Why were you.... who was that guy?"

I swallowed, hesitating for a moment or two before I replied. "S-Sam," I stammered, "he's one of Oli's friends... I don't know, he just... I'm sorry."

Fraser shook his head, a weak smile forming on his face, "no it's okay...I.... I'm sorry, Gus. You haven't done anything wrong at all," he whispered, his fingers reaching up to push my blonde fringe from my eyes, "I'm an asshole, I messed you up so bad and I just... I'm so sorry."

I felt my cheeks heat up as his eyes searched my face for any signs of rejection. I couldn't reject him, I know he cheated on me and I know he's a cunt but I...I love him, he's beautiful and amazing and he's sorry. God dammit, even just thinking about it made me smile. I saw his face light up as my lips curled up into a smile before I pressed them to his softly.

I think it's about time I forgave this guy.