a/n
tw: bullying

~mathematics
/maθ(ə)ˈmatɪks/
the abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts ( pure mathematics )~

~brett~

brett sat at his desk, finishing the last bit of his maths homework. of course, during the week, he had procrastinated. he used violin as an excuse just in case he didn't finish his maths, and already he used tutoring homework as an excuse for not doing violin. brett wrote down his very messy working out, because heaven forbid you don't show it, and wrote down the answer sloppily.

he finished and checked the time. the clock was one minute away from class starting. brett sighed and smiled, and he opened his book to a new page. he saw someone come through the door, they looked new. there was only one seat left, which was right next to brett. he watched as the boy prepared as if he'd done this many times before. must've been in a different class before, he thought. "hey," brett said to the boy. he look startled for a moment and whispered back shyly, "hey." and that's all they could say before the teacher started class. when they were getting their stuff out for break, brett asked the new kid if he'd like to join him for break. once again, the boy was startled and could only say "sure."

"so what's your name?" brett asked, ignorant from the roll call in class. "eddy," he replied. his voice was wary, as if he was afraid that brett would do something to him. he took out his red rock deli chips (somehow they were in stock) and gestured for the new boy-eddy-to take one. he smiled and took a smaller chip, "thanks."

brett was trying to think of ways to break the ice when eddy asked, "20 questions?" brett nodded, it was the perfect way for them to get to know each other. "i'll go first," eddy said. "um, what's your favourite colour?" "green." and the questions went on.

when eddy asked brett his 20th question, he was caught by how specific it was, "do you play violin?" brett nodded. "how do you know?" eddy chuckled and pointed to brett's arm, "you're fingering tchaikovsky violin concerto in D major." brett's mouth was open wide. how did this new kid know it was tchaikovsky? and how did he notice? "okay, my last question. do you play violin?" eddy nodded, and showed him that he was also fingering. eddy is so observant and self-conscious, too? "it's spring by vivaldi," eddy said. brett saw him suddenly glance around, as if there would be danger around. but brett decided to brush it off.

they continued to talk a lot. they talked about everything they could, and the conversation flowed by like the running water in a stream. that was until the lady called them all back in for tutoring.

~eddy~

the two spent all their tutoring sessions together, and when eddy finally convinced his mum, they did the same in violin. they enjoyed all their time together, and were sad when they had to leave each other. then, brett transferred to the same highschool, and they shared their breaks together.

brett used to tease eddy about how he was taller, but now eddy was the one that was taller, and brett was now the one being teased. they talked about everything, and eddy almost got over this one thing, but...

"there's no other friend like you," brett had said, out of the blue, and eddy's mind was racing. he heard the teasing voices of his old 'friends'. the words repeated over in his head, to boys teasing him, in a bad way. he heard them say "get me this and get me that." the words of disappointment were called on when it wasn't right and he was punched and kicked. he had bruises everywhere, but no one seemed to care, he was the scrawny kid. eddy heard them continue the sentence. "there's no other friend like you," they said. "no one's as shitty as you."

eddy instinctively cowarded down and covered his face. he whispered, "don't hurt me," over and over again. he felt the kicks and punches come at him again. but he heard a voice break through. "hey, bro, you okay?" the familiar voice asked. eddy took a few breaths and threw himself into brett. he curled his arms around him, and brett curled his arms around the shaking boy. "it's okay, you can talk to me, no one's going to hurt you," he whispered.

they stayed there for a bit, and eddy finally let go. he took a few deep, shaky breaths and asked, "c-can we talk about this o-o-outside?" brett nodded, and took him to the nearby park. eddy then dragged him to a more remote part of the park, away from everyone else. they could see every inch of the park, but no one could see them. 

eddy took a few more breaths at the count of 4s. he looked at brett and made him promise that he would never talk about this again. and he started, "in primary school, i... i was bullied, but i figured it out too late." his voice was shaky, explaining everything. "i thought i made friends, but all they did was make me do things and-and hurt me when i didn't do them right." eddy's eyes started watering again. he acted as if he felt the stings and points of contact again. "they kicked and punched me, and-and they said things..." eddy took a deep breath, to try recompose himself, which didn't really work. "once, they said what you said," he felt a pang of hurt when he remembered, "but they said it differently. they meant i was... i-i-i... i was the shittiest person ever." tears started travelling down his cheeks. the events played over in his head, but he found himself in time. "i-i trusted them, i th-thought they were my friends. i thought that's what friends did, until i... i found out the truth."

eddy trembled, but the other boy brought him in an embrace. "i'm so sorry for what you went through." eddy sunk deeper into his arms and cried, letting all the memories go. each tear helped eddy accept what happened, and to not dwell on it. each tear helped him with this lesson, and brett just said it to lock it in. "trust is something difficult to grasp, you don't know who to trust. it comes with time, so don't worry, it's okay now, you know who to not trust," he whispered. he tried to add some light-heartedness to the conversation, "it's the the speed of light times by the speed of sound, which is further divided by the square root of -1. just do the math." eddy chuckled softly from what the boy said.

 only a true friend would help lighten the mood like that, would help him like that, so eddy knew. "can you promise me, again, to not talk about this ever again?" eddy pleaded. brett smiled at him and responded, "talk about what?" eddy smiled widely, he could definitely trust him.