All the Stars on Your Ceiling

The second Vic saw other students begin to collect their things from the desk and return them to their bags, he was on his feet. The conversation volume had risen to an unpleasant level, but that meant that everyone was too distracted to notice his movement. He managed to dodge to the front of the class unnoticed and paused by the door to the far left of the teacher’s desk, eyes drifting nervously to her to see if she would stop him. She only smiled softly at him, jerking her head at the door to encourage his departure. He almost let himself smile thankfully at her, but he could feel anxiety rising in his chest and instead simply nodded his head, dodging out of the room before anyone else could notice him. The noise disappeared as he closed the door and Vic was left in the deafening silence of the empty hallway. His choking breaths seemed even more oppressive in the silence and he fumbled to get his phone out of the pocket of his skinny jeans. He didn’t know what to do; he needed Mike.

Hands trembling as his anxiety increased, he could feel his eyes burning as he continued to miss the correct button to open messages. Finally, a string of messages headered “Mike” appeared on the screen and Vic let out a shaky breath of relief. He knew that no matter how incomprehensible his message was, his brother would understand.
“hhelp mike th ey hate me i hate thiss fu ck olease”
He only had to wait moments before his brother replied.
“I just left class, where are you?”
“i dont kn ow mike help please i m scared”
“You’re in English, aren’t you? You’re in A block. Go to the bathrooms on the top floor. Everyone is about to go to next lesson”
Biting back his impending, pointless tears, Vic turned and rushed upstairs to the top floor. Catching sight of a door marked “Men’s”, he practically ran across the hall and locked himself in the far stall. The seconds seemed to stretch on for hours as he waited for his brother, breathing getting all the more difficult as he continued to rile himself up and suppress his tears.

The toilet door creaked open quietly, and dull footsteps slowly entered the room. Vic held his breath.
“...Vic?”
His brother’s voice, kept even and soft, seemed to destroy the dam he’d created to suppress his emotions. He threw the stall door open and let it bang loudly against the wall as he rushed forwards and threw his arms around Mike, burying his face in his brother’s chest and sobbing breathlessly. Mike seemed shocked by the display of affection, but decided that in the privacy of the bathroom they were safe. His arms slowly rose to wrap around Vic’s shoulders and calmly rock them back and forth in what he hoped was a comforting motion. The affection was so rare and foreign to them both that it only served to increase Vic’s misery, his sobs turning sharp and painful-sounding. Mike was aware that they were making far too much noise, and the second the hallways filled up they would be discovered by a student - or worse, a teacher.

“Come on,” he said softly, shifting so they were approaching the door, “Remember Jaime told us about the roof? You wanna go up there?”
Vic didn't know what he wanted to do, but the roof seemed to be a good idea. It was freezing, way too cold to be outside in just a hoodie, but he hoped the cold would help ground him again. Mike cracked the door open and peered out to check no one was in the hallway, turning back to take Vic by the hand when he was sure it was safe for them to rush out. The utility door was opposite the bathroom door and a little to the left, so it was easy to move between the two. With a gentle tug with the hand not holding Vic’s, Mike found that the door was thankfully not locked and also pleasantly quiet. He had a feeling they’d be sneaking in here a lot.

Vic simply let himself be pulled along by his younger brother, trying to calm his rapid breathing and stifle the sobs attempting to accompany the flow of tears running down his cheeks. He didn’t have the mind to shut the door behind him, or do much of anything as his thoughts raced, but Mike seemed to understand this and leant past him to shut it himself. He allowed Vic to climb the staircase before him, likely so he could catch him if he fell, and again leant around his brother to open the door. The cold air from the roof immediately rushed into the comfortably-sized hallway, and Mike was able to see his breath with a deep exhale. He gently prompted Vic to walk forward, which he did, and Mike followed before turning to shut the door behind them. It felt as if they were in another world as the atmosphere and noise of the school vanished. There was merely an expanse of concrete and chain wire fences, metal ventilation shafts and old classroom furniture. Vic thankfully decided against disappearing amongst them, and instead simply sat down against the nearest ventilation shaft and pulled his knees to his chest. He now allowed himself to sob, face pressed against the torn, dark fabric of his jeans and hands rising to tangle in his long hair. Mike felt helpless as he watched his brother fall apart; Vic’s panic attacks were not uncommon and Mike often found himself locked in hidden places trying desperately to keep him calm and quiet lest they be discovered, but distress of this level was rare.

Neither of them had wanted to move, but their parents had insisted. They were about to be evicted anyway, and needed a “fresh start”, but both boys knew that nothing would change. The process would merely be repeated, pushing their luck and not paying rent until they were kicked out and then moving once again. At least this time they’d ended up back in San Diego, somehow lucky enough to be back in school with their friends from childhood - Jaime and Tony. Mike was unsure how he would deal with leaving them again, but tried to push the thought away. They were here, they had a home, they were safe, but Vic was already falling apart and Mike didn't know what to do. His brother had yet to stop crying, but his sobs had calmed to gentle hiccups and his hands were no longer yanking so violently at his hair. Moving slowly to prevent alarming Vic, Mike walked over and sat down gently next to him. Unsure of his actions and the reaction they would receive, he reached an arm out and wound it around his brother's shoulders. Vic cried a little harder and Mike prepared to pull away, but Vic then leant into his brother’s embrace. They were both content with silence, neither of them willing to break it, but Mike knew he had to.
“What did they do to you?”
Vic inhaled sharply.
“N-nothing,” he said, trying to keep his voice even lest it sound like a lie. Mike prepared to speak again, but Vic continued.
“They stared. Stared at me like I’m some sort of freak, a fucking animal at the zoo for them to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at.” Vic’s voice was laced with such venom each word was practically spat, tears rolling down his reddened cheeks. Mike didn't know what to say, but once again clamped his mouth shut as more hurt words spilled from Vic’s mouth.
“And don't tell me it's not true, don't tell me I'm imagining it, because it happens everywhere. Everyone always stares at me because I'm a fucking freakshow, I'm wrong and I'm not meant for this world.”
He cut himself off with a broken sob and Mike felt like his heart was made of lead. The silence hung heavily around them and neither of them knew what to say. Vic finally spoke again.
“Kellin Quinn was making fun of me.”
Emotions foreign and unreachable suddenly came crashing back down, and Mike felt anger bubble in his chest.
“Fuck, that asshole Jaime told us about? What did he do? I swear to god--”
“He just..talked to me. Asked if I wanted to be friends, in this tone like the mere prospect’s totally hilarious. He was passing notes with this guy in front of him, and he kept looking at me weird - they were obviously talking about me. Guess they knew better than to laugh out loud, like I might believe them if they acted serious.”

Mike probably would have been more forgiving of the situation had he not received strict warning of Kellin Quinn from both Jaime and Tony. They said he was a complete asshole, rich and living the high life off his parents’ money - because of course they were willing to give their baby boy anything. Jealousy perhaps contributed to Mike’s hatred of the stranger, but he also knew that Kellin was not a nice person. If he’d made a target of his brother, someone was going to die. And Mike wouldn’t let it be Vic.
“What does he look like? I’ll beat the shit out of him--”
“Mike, it’s not even worth getting angry about..”
“Of course it is!” Mike was on his feet now, looming over Vic, and the older boy found himself shrinking back. He felt threatened by his brother’s anger, but Mike wasn’t going to let it go. He was too riled up to notice his brother’s slight fear, releasing his confused emotions in the form of pointless anger as he often did. He only stopped his pacing and angry ranting when the sound of the door scraping open sounded behind him.

Well, speak of the devil.