Coalesce

TEN

[Trigger warning for reference to past self-harm; triggering comments will be deleted]

Niall sees Scotty and his friends before they see him, immediately ducking his head and speeding up a little down the school hallway so that Luke has to jog two steps to catch up to him.

"Jeez, Ni, what's the rush — oh," Luke stops suddenly, eyes catching on the older group of boys leaning against the wall next to the lockers. He winces a little. "Shit, they're headed over here."

Niall takes a breath and tries to prepare himself. Scotty and his friends have been picking him out of the crowd pretty frequently since he'd helped Ben out the week before. He doesn't regret stepping in the way he did, not even a little bit, but the whole having to watch his back everywhere he goes thing is getting old already.

Scotty steps in front of his before he can build himself up any further, lips tugged into that spiteful smirk of his. Niall halts mid-step, Luke doing the same beside him, frowning at the taller boy in front of them.

"Not so brave now, are we?" He spits, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest.

Niall bites at his bottom lip for a moment before he finally lifts his chin and tries to show confidence he doesn't possess. He swallows and narrows his eyebrows at the bully. "You're blocking the way," he states simply, glancing at the crowded corridor behind.

Scotty scoffs. "You gonna make me move?" He question, quirking one brow.

"No. I'm asking you to," he says, voice surprisingly steady despite the anxiety holding his heart in a tight fist.

He hates this. Hates confrontation, hates arguments, hates being hated by anyone — he doesn't know why Scotty needs somebody to pick on so badly, but he figures that he'd rather it be him than some year seven who still has years left of the hell that is high school to face. He's only got less than three years to go, he can handle this. Besides, Scotty is in Liam's year. He'll be gone next year; Niall can do this for a year if it means nobody else has to deal with him for even a day.

Scotty laughs, a mocking sound that makes heat prick in Niall's cheeks in embarrassment, makes him feel a hundred times smaller than he already does standing in the shadow of someone much larger than he is.

"You hear that?" He nudges his friend with an elbow and they join in with that mocking laughter. "He's asking me to. And what if I don't?" He turns back to Niall and the smirk slips away from his lips, eyes glinting with something cruel. "What're you gonna do if I don't, huh? Gonna go cut yourself?"

"Hey!" Luke bursts out, stepping in front of him and opening his mouth only for one of Scotty's goons to shove him aside so that he stumbles into the wall heavily, quickly righting himself and rubbing the top of his arm with a wince, brows still narrowed into a glare as he looks at the bully.

Niall feels frozen, heart suddenly pounding against his ribs, arms moving up to cross protectively over his middle, tears instantly springing to his eyes. "You don't know what you're talking about," he says quietly, avoiding looking the older boy in the face.

Scotty smirks, before reaching out suddenly to grab one of Niall's wrists forcefully and with enough speed to take him completely by surprise. He attempts to yank his arm away but the other boy is stronger and just pulls him closer.

"Don't I? Because I've heard you're all sliced up. I've heard you won't get changed for PE. And I've heard that you tried to kill yourself and failed," he hissed, and then yanks Niall's blazer and shirt sleeves up to his elbow to reveal his bare skin, twisting his arm wrist-up painfully despite Niall's attempts to pull away.