Please Don't Tell My Parents - Espresseleine Highschool Au

♡Chapter 12♡

Spoiler alert, his parents weren't proud of him.

Espresso stood in shock as he watched his parents completely ignore him while congratulating and praising Latte for her average and pathetic 90.

Maybe they didn't hear him right. He held up the paper. "B-But I got a 120!" He said again.

His mother narrowed her eyes at him. "We heard you the first time, Espresso. What do you want, a firm pat on the back and a handshake?"

"Yes," Espresso bitterly thought to himself. "But Latte only got a 90. I got a whole 30 points more!"

He couldn't understand why his parents couldn't wrap their brains around this.

"Please!" He begged. "Please tell me why I'm still not good enough for you after getting 30 points more than Latte! Please!"

"She has tougher competition, Espresso," Father muttered as he crossed his arms. "You know, because she's... Well, a girl."

"What the hell does that even mean?!" Espresso yelled, shaking with anger. "That literally makes no sense!! If-If Latte got a 120 and I got a 90, you would be taking her out for ice cream and leaving me home to study!"

"You don't deserve ice cream. We expect these grades you get, it's nothing special," Father said.

Espresso let out a sob. "I'm so tired of your favoritism!!" He yelled. "You're abusive and terrible and I hate you! You're terrible parents and I wish I was never born! I hate you both so fucking much!" Tears burst down his face as he watched his parents' eyes widen at his words. Espresso was shocked he had dared to stand up for himself like this.

Silence filled the room as his father and mother stood there in shock. He glanced at Latte. Her eyes were wide but she didn't say anything.

Mother's hand slowly fell off Latte's shoulder as she took a deep breath. "There's no favoritism here. I don't know what you're talking about. We love you both equally. You just disappoint us more than Latte does."

Father began to shake in anger as he clenched his fists. "Abusive?!" He yelled, taking a step towards Espresso. "You think I'm abusive?! You ungrateful brat! God, you dare say I'm abusive?" He grabbed onto Espresso's shoulders, his fingernails digging into his skin through his shirt.

Espresso looked up at him, wincing in pain and fear.

"Are you really that weak and pathetic to think that this is abuse?!" Father screamed in his face, his eyes boring holes straight into his soul. "This is shit compared to what abuse truly is! You know absolutely nothing! You walk around acting like you know everything, but you're just a child. A stupid child who doesn't know anything!" He shoved Espresso to the ground.

"I'm just putting you in your place! There's no abuse—just discipline!" Father continued confidently as he paced back and forth. "Yes, discipline and punishment! If I wasn't as strict as I am, you'd be weak and unprepared for the real world."

Espresso rolled his eyes. "Discipline? Father, you beat me half to death whenever I get a grade below a 90."

His father turned to look at him. "You think that's me beating you half to death?" He knelt down in front of him, staring into Espresso's eyes. "You're weak."

"I am not weak."

Father stood up. "Sometimes I like to think about if you lived with my father," He said. "I doubt you'd even survive a day living with him. He was so strict and unpredictable, you... You would be dead within hours."

Espresso stared up at him. For a second, he saw something flash into his father's eyes. It was... Fear. Anxiety. Trauma.

It was so strange to think of his father as a scared little kid, just like Espresso. His father was once a small boy trapped in an abusive household, constantly trying to please his own father. Everything his father did was just a trauma response. In his eyes, he was doing what he was supposed to.