Look away (BxB) [COMPLETE]

Forty-three: Puppet Master

"Pencils down." The teacher said as the timer went off. Louis was looking out the window, he'd been done a long time ago. Louis knew that he had gotten all the answers right, the dread he was feeling was from something different entirely. He put his hand over his sore cheek, it was still aching.

Ever since the middle of April, Bran had been acting strange. Bran took Louis everywhere he went. He wouldn't let him out of his sight for even a second. If Louis went to the bathroom, Bran would wait outside. If Bran needed to go to the bathroom, he would force Louis to sit outside the door, making some kind of noise to show Bran that he was still there. It could be clapping, tapping, knocking on the wall or speaking. As long as Bran knew that Louis was there, he wouldn't do anything to hurt him. There were moments when Bran would hold him tightly for no reason and whisper in his ear. He would whisper things like "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, without you I'd be lost and lonely, you're the only thing keeping me together", "I don't know what I would do without you, I'll support you no matter what", "Don't ever leave me or I'll die of heartbreak" and "Promise to always obey me and do as I say. That would make me happy". But those moments were always short-lived. Only minutes later Bran could hit him, yell at him and tell him that he was "the most useless and disgusting person on the planet" and that "Do you think anyone will ever want you with all those scars and flaws? No one will ever want you except for me. You're not good enough for anyone. I'm only with you out of pity because no one else can stand you."

Louis wasn't sure which side was telling the truth, or at least what was closest to the truth. After every hit and every aggressive comment, Bran would tell Louis that he wouldn't have to say or do those things if Louis would just "stop being pathetic". But after that, Bran would be like a sleepy puppy, treating Louis as the only source of warmth it could find. It was confusing. The bipolar way in which Bran's emotions came and went made Louis doubt himself. Maybe he really was a pathetic person who needed to be disciplined.

On multiple occasions, Louis had considered speaking up about his own feelings. But with the confidence of finally letting himself tell the truth came the pain of Bran's own feelings spilling from his mouth. It was a grey loop. Nothing came and nothing left. All that was there was the void. The void in which Louis slept, held in the iron grip of the predator behind him.

He glanced at Bran across the room. He was staring at the teacher with a bored expression. There was a time when Bran would stare at the teacher as if she was the most beautiful person on the earth, now his gaze was empty. It wasn't as if she looked any different, she was still curvy with long hair and a gorgeous face, but Bran has stopped caring for the woman. She was boring now that he had discovered the excitement of Louis and his submissive obedience. No one else had ever satisfied him quite like Louis Carter. The small boy with the porcelain face and skin paler than snow. No one had cheeks quite as perfectly rosy or lips as beautiful. Bran wanted to bite him every time he looked at him. Perfection like his needed protection from the ugly world around. If anyone other than Bran touched him, he'd be stained, Bran was sure of it.

In a few days, high school would be over forever. All the seniors would be going to college and disappear, Louis would disappear, Bran would disappear, Isaac and Eddie would disappear, Kyle wouldn't be going anywhere. No one knew if they'd see each other again. The only one who knew was Bran. Bran knew that he would see Louis but his other friends would probably be lost. He'd just make new friends anyway.

...
Oscar Mathews' heart pounded with rage and sadness as he watched Brannon Begum kiss the person he had dreamt of for so many years. He wanted to cry and scream. It hurt so bad to see Louis in the arms of another and he was to blame. Oscar blamed himself for letting Louis slip into the darkness, he blamed himself for letting him run to the beautiful monster that was Brannon Begum. Had he only stood up for Louis, everything would've been fine. They would've been side by side, happy, maybe not lovers but they'd still friends.