Big Daddy D -slow updates

Fraying

Disclaimer : Kinda sad. If you're feeling down, maybe close this and wait until I post the next few chapters. ❤️

Duka tried to attend class as usual. Behave at home like usual. But something inside him had changed. He was jumpy and constantly looking over his shoulder. He stopped dressing up for school and started wearing only dark, baggy clothing. If he was alone, he was unusually quiet. Not that he was chatty but he'd speak to his classmates from time to time and smile and joke around with them. Now, he stayed to himself. Normally an even and neutral person, he became gloomy and withdrawn.

Teachers noticed but he wasn't causing problems and his grades were still holding so they didn't bother him. Even at home, nobody seemed to notice Duka becoming a ghost of himself. Only his closest of friends found he wasn't quite right. But they knew the reason.

For a month, Duka slid deeper into depression.

Unknown to him, his friends sought help on his behalf. Spaz tried to talk to his mom without getting into too many details. Being bad at organizing his thoughts into coherent sentences when it came to serious topics , his mother misunderstood that he was the one trying to take advantage of someone with drugs and took her slipper off to beat him. She chased him from the kitchen, up the stairs, down the stairs, out the door, and halfway down the street all while cursing him out. 

It was that day he learned his mother had done track in high school and did regular jogs in the morning while he was snoring away. He got the cussing out of his life, and he just abandoned the quest hoping the others would have better luck.

Hector was more successful when he contacted one of the hotline numbers written on a poster in the guidance office. He told the person on the other end he had a friend who had a friend who had a cousin whose sister they suspected had been drugged and assaulted. The person was helpful and gave him a bunch of numbers and web addresses to shelters and agencies to help women in her situation. After a long pause, he asked the person,

"There is so much help for these girls. What if this happened to...a man?"

There was a brief silence on the other end. Thinking the call dropped, Hector looked at the phone screen before putting it back to his ear. "Hello?"

Caught off guard, the person on the other end stuttered before saying, "Let me connect you to another department."

Then the call disconnected.

Mitchell took a more direct approach. He called Donnell. Without saying too much, he informed Duka's big brother that something happened to Duka involving a girl and alcohol. Before Donnell could jump to conclusions and think bad things of his baby bro, Mitchell stressed that Duka had been the victim.

Duka was surprised when he came to the office to see Gio standing there. Though handsome and casually dressed, he looked like a man that shouldn't be missed with. Duka glanced at the secretary wondering why he'd been called out of math to find his brother's husband waiting for him. She smiled.

"Your uncle has signed you out for the day."

He looked at Gio with raised eyebrows. Gio was old but not uncle* old.

Gio pursed his lips. What -not young but not old- man wanted to be called uncle? "There's something at home so I'll pick you up." Seeing Duka wanted to speak, Gio held up a hand. "We'll talk about it in the car."

Duka noticed the students and staff overtly and covertly paying attention. Many had the decency to look away when he looked at them but a few kept staring trying to catch some gossip. After all, how many black kids had a good looking, tall, buff white guy picking them up from school? Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Duka walked out of the office with his head down.

Once in the truck, Gio simply asked, "Are you in trouble?"

Duka knew he wasn't being accused of doing anything wrong. Gio asked simply because he thought Duka had run into something he couldn't solve on his own. Taking a deep breath, Duka closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the window.

His voice was filled with emotion. "Yeah." He felt a moist heat behind his eyelids and a stinging in his nose. He wanted to tell them but he could never find the words. The shame and embarrassment had a hold over his vocal cords anytime he tried to talk about it. There was anger and sadness balled into one. Frustration and irritation made him throw up a wall keeping people at bay.

Why did she do this to him? He had only been good to her. But he was beaten and now this.

He wanted to scream at her. Ask her why? Why?

Why?

Duka tried desperately to control himself but something warm and wet rolled down his cheek. Once one fell, there was another and another. He covered his face with his hands and leaned forward in his seat.

Gio's grip on the steering wheel tightened as he gave Duka space to vent his emotions. After a few moments, Duka sat up and used his sleeves to wipe his face. Gio handed him a tissue from the center console.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Gio waited until he blew his nose to ask, "Are you ready to talk about it?"

Duka shook his head. "Not yet."

"Do we need to get involved?"

Though it would be easier if Gio and Donnell got involved, Duka didn't think it was beyond his ability. "No. I think I can handle it."

Gio half nodded. "Do you need to get away?"

Did he need to get away? Getting away would make everything go away. But then he'd be leaving everyone behind. Where would he go? Who would he rely on? He wasn't entirely ready to be fully on his own so he rejected the idea. "No."

Gio was about to throw his hands up in frustration.

"But maybe that would be best," Duka quickly added.

A third voice spoke at that moment.

"Was it that girl we told you to stay away from?"

Duka nearly hit the roof of the car. The seatbelt strangled him back in place rubbing painfully against the side of his neck. He whirled around in his seat with wide eyes. "Donnie?!"

Donnell looked at him in amused confusion at his reaction.

"When did you get in?"

Sharing a look with Gio, Donnell chuckled. "I've been here."

Annoyed, Duka rubbed the side of his neck. "You're just sitting there and didn't say anything."

Donnell shrugged. "I did but you were too in your own head and looking out the window."

Covering his face with both hands, Duka tried to curl up in the seat. He hadn't cried in front of his brother in years.

"You still didn't answer my question," Donnell pressed. "Was it that girl?"

Duka sat up and nodded. "Yeah."

Gio and Donnell exchanged glances in the rearview mirror. After a few seconds of silent communication, Donnell sighed.

"You know how to cause me trouble."

"It wasn't intentional," Duka protested. How did he know this girl, out of all the hundreds of girls in the school, would be so much trouble?

"I know." Donnell reached over the seat to squeeze his shoulder. "Just relax. We'll take care of it."

Feeling his nose sour, Duka put his hand over Donnell's on his shoulder and rested his cheek on it. "Thanks, you guys. For everything."

*The connotation of 'uncle' here is more like Ahjussi which is like an older man in his 40'-60's. She's implying our man is old. Gio's not there yet 😁

**There will be a major time shift in two chapters.