A safer place

chapter nine

requested by rosiesavocados

Billy's day had been absolute hell. Max was staying over at a friends place and was going to school with them in the morning, so the boy had no annoying redhead shout at him until he got out of bed.

Given that, he missed the first half of his first period, getting yelled at by the worst teacher in the entire highschool.
Since then, things had been going downhill, starting with a bad grade and a fucked up presentation, and now he was tired, overwhelmed and spacing out at the lunch table, chewing on his bottom lip.

„Hargrove, I'm talking to you?" Tommys voice cut through the cotton in his head, and his eyes slowly followed where the noise had come from, looking at the other.

„Sorry, what?" he asked, stopping to fidget with the hem of his shirt now that he wasn't dissociating anymore.
„I said I need you to cover my spot in training later, I fell and now I'm on the bench" Tommy scoffed, and Billy just nodded.

„What's with you today?" Steve asked, looking over at the blond.
Billy swallowed thickly, steadying his voice with a cough before answering.
„What do you mean" he pretended to be clueless, but it was obvious to him what Steve was talking about.

„You've been spacing out all day dude, are you getting sick or something?"
Steve asked while putting his hand on Billy's forehead before the other could stop him.
„Yeah, is little Billy catching a cold?" Tommy mocked, earning a scoff from Steve, but the blond shivered.

„Shut up" he growled, pushing Steve's hand away and scooting away from them a little, uncomfortable with the attention being on him while he was on the verge of slipping.

Steve raised a brow at him but didn't say anything, but Tommy wasn't done yet.
„Why? Are you gonna have a temper tantrum otherwise?" he teased, and Billy couldn't help himself but whine, stomping his foot on the ground.
„Stop it!" he exclaimed, realising he had slipped in fear.

Tommy laughed at him in shock.
„God, you're actually so weird. What are you, a baby? Get it together, Hargrove" he mocked, and Billy felt tears forming in the corner of his eyes.
„Alright Tommy, knock it off" Steve said, voice calm but warning as he looked over at the blond who was making fun of their friend.

„Fine, if you say so, Steve-o" Tommy shrugged, grabbing his tray and getting up.
„See you in class" Steve muttered as he got up as well and left Billy alone.
The boy hid his face in his hands, whimpering as he felt tears slowly starting to fall. He couldn't do anything about it but hope no one would see.

The fact that Tommy had made fun of him bothered him more than it should, making Billy feel like he was actually being weird for regressing.
Gritting his teeth, the blond wiped his tears away leaving the cafeteria after the other boys.

Tommy was right, he shouldn't let his guard down like that, it was wrong and dangerous, and people could use it against him. The little thing was getting out of hand, he almost slipped in school! Or, he did, but luckily Steve stopped Tommy from making fun of him for longer.

Steve looked back at him worried, but didn't say anything-
Only as Billy stumbled over his feet as he found walking rather complicated now, the brunette quickly turned around fully and caught him.
„Hey there, careful" he said, and Billy whimpered as he clung to the blue fabric of Steve's polo shirt.

„Oh god what's with him today?! He's acting like a baby!" Tommy exclaimed, and Steve shot a warning look back at him.
„Shut up, go to class and we're coming after, alright? Geez."

Billy hid his face in the other boys chest, not wanting to look up.
He knew it wasn't his sissy who was holding him, but he felt safe and didn't want to go.
Steve sighed as he looked down on the other, confused and not knowing what to do.