"Fix You" LOTF ship AU (it's a secret, you'll have to keep reading)
this is my WIP AU, my pride and joy, but a few things should be said before anyone reads it.
TW: heavy language, underage smoking and drinking, gore, physical and verbal abuse, mentions of violent alcoholism, self-harm, and attempted suicide. I do not condone or encourage these acts, and please get help from someone you know and trust if you need help.
This is unfinished, so I'll be updating it as I go, but don't kill me if I have writers block, please ;-;
All rights to characters are reserved to William Golding, even though I altered them a lot :|
It was September. A cool breeze rustled the trees and the undergrowth. Birds chirped contently, nestled in their spots within the same trees. The leaves were a pale green, prepared to turn auburn as fall set in. A picturesque scene.
The birds scattered as a tall redhead crashed through the bushes in the bright afternoon sun. He growled curses under his breath as he approached a rather minimalistic two-story home. Running up to the door, he punched in the code hastily and nearly fell inside. At the street that marked the entrance of his neighborhood, a white Honda van stuffed with kids and driven by a similarly firey-haired woman pulled in.
Inside the house, the boy continued to scramble all the way to his room, just to realize that he had locked the door before he had left the house. He frantically tried to pick the lock, and succeeded, but lost precious moments of time. He crashed into the room and changed into his school clothes as fast as he could. The van pulled into the driveway.
He heard the car doors slam and threw on his backpack, and ran downstairs. To eliminate suspicion, he prepared a bowl of cereal and ate it at the dining table with his bag slung over his shoulder. Only seconds passed before the door opened and the boy's mother and siblings poured in. They seemed to occupy her attention enough that she did not pay much attention to the boy at the table.
"So, Jack, why didn't you bring your siblings home today?"
"I wasn't feeling good, so I drove home early," he lied, pretending to stifle a cough.
"That's weird. Funny thing that the school called to tell me that you never came to school at all today," She said, hands on her hips and most definitely pissed.
Jack smacked his lips and grimaced. That was the second time she had caught him in a lie that week. He happened to notice something interesting on his shoe at that exact moment, and studied it intently.
"So, what were you doing? Smoking Drinking? Having sex with girls? You might as well tell me at this point - you're already in deep trouble. Oh, and please tell me that you haven't been with Ralph today. He's a good kid who doesn't need you corrupting him."
"Oh please. He may be my best friend, but he would never miss school to save his life. I was hanging with Roger," he mentioned truthfully, as being 17 meant that his mom could no longer force him to 'get rid' of friends.
She sighed with exasperation and sat down across from him at the table."I love you, son, but I wish you'd stop this," she said, her eyes pleading with him silently.
"Mom, you know being young is about having fun while you can," he said, grinning, "before you're tied down with a bunch of kids. Besides, what're you gonna do to me anyway?" He could say this with confidence, because she practically never punished him.
"You underestimate me, son," she said ominously, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She intently stared at it, typing and tapping on it. Jack nervously stared at her as concentrated on the small screen. After a few moments, she looked up at him again, an unreadable expression on her face.
"What-what is it?" Jack asked nervously.
She turned her phone to him so that he could see the page displayed on it. It was quite bland, but it said, 'Mrs Madison's Home for Ill and Misfit Children', and it confirmed that she had registered him to go there. Before he could object, she slid in a few more devastating details. "It starts on Monday, and it says on the website that they'll help you with your... behavioral issues. It's about thirty miles north from here," she told him, but he looked a mix of panicked and outraged.
"You're sending me away?" He cried, glaring at her with icy blue looked as sharp as diamonds.She looked unphased, and if trying to hide her emotions, Jack thought, she was doing a damn goodjob of it.
"If you do well, you'll only be there for a school year, and back to us in the summer," she said in a monotone voice.
Jack stood and glared at her for a few moments, too angry to reply, then stormed off to his room. He slammed hiss door and tried to imagine life without his friends, much less with a bunch of mentally-ill weirdos. His head fell in his hands and he sat thinking for a while.
Isolated beams of light flowed through thin curtains, dimly lighting a small, messy room. A boy wearing a hoodie with long, straight hair sat in solitude, scrolling on his cellphone.
A knock sounded on his door, and he turned to look at the door.
An older, yet not very old, woman entered, and looked at him, before taking a seat next to the boy on his bed.
"I need to tell you something, but it would be better if I could see you. It's so dark in here," she commented. The boy's green eyes followed her, seemingly apathetic.
"Are you coming?" The boy shook his head, and the woman was clearly getting frustrated.
"Why do you need to see me? We can hear eachother fine enough."
"I want to see your reaction. You not take this news all too well," she said, glaring at his silhouette in the half-light. "So, I'll just turn this light on," she challenged, reaching over him to flick the switch.
Light flooded into the room, illuminating the boy's stormy green eyes and the light yellow hoodie he wore. "What do you want to tell me?" he asked mildly. He took a whiff of the air to test if there was a smell of alcohol on her breath. None.
"Well, Simon," she began, sitting back down on the bed," you've probably been thinking about starting school, haven't you?" The boy did not react, and seemed to be holding back tears, though it was unclear. "It turns out that there is this special facility, kind of like a school, for people with certain conditions, like your epilepsy. I thought it would be better to send you there rather than a regular school, because there they will be more careful not to... Set you off," she said, memories of picking up an unconscious child from school flooding her mind.
Simon was not totally sure whether to be happy or sad about this. But if it meant getting away from his mother, it probably was good, at least somewhat. He forced what looked like a genuine smile. "I'll be fine, mom," he said, trying not to smile too hard, and make it look unnatural.
"Either way, you'll be able to call me whenever you need while you're there. So, if you need anything, just call me, alright? It starts on Monday, so we still have a few days together."
Simon made a mental note not to call her. "Sure, mom."
She stood up, but did not leave his room yet. "I just wanted to let you know," she said, her hand on the door, "dinner will be ready soon."
She left the room, and Simon turned the light back off. The darkness calmed him. Eagerly, and somewhat hopeful for change, he began to pack his stuff.
A high-pitched bell rang several times, and a boy left his room. He wore nice shoes, a fancy cardigan, and his hair was nicely done. The blonde had recently gotten a haircut.
He went down the hall, across high-end carpets, and passed down the staircase to the dining room. Upon the table were plates laden with delicious foods. It looked like a feast, though, as far as the boy knew, nothing was going on that day.
"Master Ralph!" politely greeted the butler.
"Hello, Mr. William," Ralph said back, "Why the feast?" his dark blue eyes were clouded with confusion.
"Sit down, my boy," he said grimly. His tone had changed, and this made Ralph nervous.
Ralph sat at the far end of the table, all the way across the room from the butler, who sat at the other end of the long dining table. Occupied in his thoughts and unaware that he had made a mistake, the boy scratched his head and took a sip from a crystal wine glass. Thankfully, it's contents were not alcohol.
"You must come closer if you expect to hear me, boy!" said, the butler across from him, who raised his voice so that Ralph could hear him.
"Oh, okay," he replied, embarrassed that he had made such a foolish mistake. He hurried over to the other side of the table and sat perpendicular to Mr. William. "So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" asked Ralph, slight anxiety ringing in his ears.
"Your father, who I'm sure you're aware is in navy duty at this time," Ralph nodded, and Mr. William continued, "he has told me to enroll you in a private facility. He has admitted that he may have to serve for far longer than he thought, and he does not wish to hire a nanny."
"But - I'm old enough to look after myself, aren't I? I'm 17 years old!" he reasoned.
"That's exactly what I tried to tell him, my boy, but he was worried that you might get into trouble, in the case that you stay by yourself for several months," he replied, sympathizing with the teen. "However, the home I signed you up for is the same facility that your friend, Master Merridew, will be attending."
Atleast that, if he had to be babysat by a bunch of teachers. Jack would make things interesting. Ralph slightly smiled."Okay, Mr. William," he said obediently. The elderly butler would be worried for him if he complained any more.
"I'm glad that you understand, Master Ralph," he said kindly.
Ralph, dismissing himself from the table politely, went up to his room and grabbed his phone. 'U busy?' he texted Jack.
Sirens rang out loudly in the city, as the sun finally dipped below the treeline, shrouding downtown in darkness. A boy in a leather jacket splashed in puddles as he furtively ran from alley to alley, looking for someone."Come here, Piggy," he taunted. "Unless you're scared."
Clearly Piggy was, as he did not challenge the boy in leather. Becoming impatient, the boy lost his taunting tone and began to threaten the other.
"Get out here, little bitch. You can't say shit like that and get away with it. At least, not with my crew," the boy growled, still searching for Piggy.
Meanwhile, the heavier boy sat behind Still a dumpster, barely enduring the nastiness that flooded his eyes and nose. He hyperventilated, praying that he would not be found. He nervously cursed under his breath.
Apparently God had not favored Piggy's wish, as the black-haired boy found him.
Roger continued to beat up the boy, eventually letting him run off, though Roger remained in the alley, scrolling on his phone, sitting in the same spot Piggy had sat. He noticed a metallic smell, which was caused by the blood on his knuckles. He pulled up texts, unphased by the mess he had caused.
"Yep, always am' was the response almost immediately.
'Just laying in bed. My mom is sending me to some psychiatric whatchamacallit. Hbu?'
'Just beat up Piggy, lol. I see where he gets his nickname.' Roger laughed a little to himself.
'Finally. That little bitch had it coming.'
'BTW, whats that place called? My mom mentioned smith like that too.'
'Uhm... Mrs. Madison's.. whatever the fuck. I forgot. Smth like that."
'I think I'll be going there too."
"Gn." Roger stashed his phone in his pocket, and left the alley. He hopped into his black Nissan and drove home.
Lights burned brightly in the boy's eyes, and he groaned having been woken out of a pleasant dream.
"Simon. Simon," his mother roused him. It's time to get up, we have to go to the place." She looked especially disheveled, and Simon caught a whiff of whiskey. Definitely hungover.
He rubbed his eyes, and tried to fix his hair. "I can drive myself, mom," he said, concerned that her driving would be impaired. He was not sure, but did not want to find out.
"No, I'll drive," she said. "I want to say goodbye to you before you go in."
Simon sighed, annoyed, and reluctanty agreed. "Fine. But drive carefully, please," he said, picking up the bags he had packed, and walking into the living room to place them at the front door. Lastly, he combed his hair quickly, since his appearance did not matter to him. He walked back out.
"Mom, I'm ready," he called to her. She emerged from her room, only hardly more presentable than she had been when she woke him. The alcohol on her breath was now disguised by a strong, minty smell, similar to that of mouth wash.
"Then let's go," he said, his heavy bag slung over his shoulder. Liquids sloshed within, and Simon prayed that she could not hear. He got lucky, and she seemed not to notice.
She picked her car keys out of the basket by the door, and walked outside, not checking whether Simon had followed. Used to this treatment, Simon was unphased and said nothing. In fact, he wished to say something, but dared not do so.
They both climbed into the old silver Honda, and it's engine started roughly. She rolled down all of the windows as they began to drive, letting in a fall breeze.
"Can you roll up the windows, please? Simon asked, though he was wearing a hoodie.
"Why? It feels nice, and you can't possibly feel cold," she noted, gesturing to the dark blue hoodie he wore.
"It smells weird," he said, wrinkling his nose.
"Maybe because you don't go outside ever. You're like a hermit, constantly throwing pity parties for yourself," she criticized, as though trying to be mean.
Simon's eyes clouded over, and he sniffled, though he did not cry. He said nothing else to her for the entire drive, even when his arm began to ache suspiciously.
Jack glared at his mom as they walked into the children's home. He felt far too old for this, though there were college-age people there. Very quickly, he noticed Ralph in the crowd with his butler.
Leaving his spot in line to be held by his mother, he snuck over to Ralph. He went behind him and tapped him on the back. Ralph spun around, startled, but a smile quickly crept onto his face
"Jack!" he cried, hugging his tall friend.
"How have you been?" Jack asked after the embrace had concluded.
"Good. I'm so happy you're going here too! I thought I'd be totally alone," he added."Me too! But now my best friend is here. Roger's here too, somewhere," Jack said, looking around as though Roger would suddenly appear.
"Probably lurking in the shadows, waiting for a moment to strike," Ralph sneered. He had never really liked Roger. Jack rolled his eyes.
Jack had prepared a snarky response, but his mom called his name. He turned to see at the front of the line.
"Coming!" he said, but turned to Ralph first. "I'll be right back," he said, hurrying to his mom.
"Ms, it's your turn," said a grumpy desk lady to Jack's mother. Said mom looked at Jack, who was making his way over through the sea of people, the same way a child would look at their parents at the checkout when it was time to pay, but the parents were grabbing one last thing-nervous, and anxious.
"I'm here, mom," he said with annoyance. She was totally overreacting. Noticing his arrival, she quickly wrote the necessary information on the form to sign him in.
"Write your name, son," she said, pointing at an empty spot, underneath which "signature of applicant" was written. Jack quickly did so as well."Is it done?" she asked the desk worker.
"Looks like it," was the response, as she stuffed the form into a filing cabinet beneath the desk top.
Before they had even made it out of the walkway, Jack's mom hugged him. Due to his extreme height, nearly made it up to his neck. He went red.
"Mom..." he whined, embarrassed. He hoped people were not watching.
"I'll miss you," she said, releasing him from the hug. She grinned, perhaps noticing that she had embarrassed her self-conscious 17-year-old son. She waved to him, and walked out of the main entrance. Someone tapped him firmly on the shoulder.
He whipped around and was greeted by Ralph's cheeky grin. Pre-occupied Roger trailed close behind, scrolling on his phone.
"Hey!" he said. "So, are we all signed in?" Jack asked. Ralph nodded, and Roger ignored them, or perhaps could not hear them, due to the wireless earbuds that plugged his ears.
Jack raised one eyebrow at Ralph. "Did he follow you here, or did he just happen to be here?"
"I... don't know. If he followed me, I didn't notice," Ralph replied. Roger's eyes remained glued to the phone.
"Then let's just go. He doesn't seem very chatty right now," Jack told Ralph. The boys disembarked, side by side, and explored the large building. The floors were carpeted with a brown, soft carpet that was not too fluffy, yet comfortable. A fire blazed, in the large hearth, and several people gathered around it. Further in, there were large dining tables made of dark oak wood. A similarly wooden stage at the very back of the room rose up to the same height as the tables. There were three hallways: one on the left side of the main room, one on the right, and one located on the left side of the stage. Ralph had seen similar places, and was relatively unimpressed, but Jack stared at the place, shocked at it's grandeur.
"Damn!" he said to himself, quietly taking in the sight of the Impressive architecture. However, his thoughts were interrupted when someone bumped into him.
Jack looked to see who had done it, and was greeted by a black-haired boy wearing a dark blue hoodie with the most brilliant green eyes. The boy, whose height nearly reached Jack's shoulder, looked at Jack as though he was afraid Jack would hit him. Jack originally wanted to say 'watch where you're going,' but changed his mind.
"I- I'm so sorry!" The boy looked like he might cry. Jack was about to say something, but the boy ran off before he could slide a word in edgewise.
Ralph, who had been watching the event unfold, looked at Jack with confusion. Jack turned to him, looking just as puzzled.
"What just happened? Ralph asked, hoping Jack would understand it more than he did.
"He bumped into me, then.. looked terrified. Like I was about to kill him. Am I.. that intimidating?" he genuinely asked, completely confused.
"No, not really... but then again, you are a head and a half taller than him." Ralph also seemed puzzled.
"Students!" a voice cried over the loudspeaker. Jack noticed that a gray-haired woman had appeared on the stage.
"Come on, Ralph. We can find a seat next to eachother," Jack said. The boys walked beside each other to the dining tables, and found two seats together. A familiar sight caught Jack's eye.
The boy he had bumped into was at at the same table, across from them and several seats down. He did not seem to notice Jack or Ralph, for he was inspecting something on his bag. He sat alone, and was not talking to anyone. Ralph was focused on the woman who stood on stage, but Jack tapped him to get his attention.
"Ralph!" he whispered. His friend looked at him.
He tried to think of a way to discreetly point out the boy.
"Look over there," he nodded his head toward the boy. Ralph saw him and quickly looked back at Jack.
"He looks lonely. Should we invite him to sit with us?" Ralph put his hand on the empty seat next to his own.
"Do you really think he'll accept? He looked like he thought I'd kill him when he bumped into me," Jack said, still uneasy about the situation.
"I dunno. He doesn't look like the confident type..." replied Ralph, looking back over at the boy. He had turned to his phone, and sat between two empty seats.
"You're not wrong," he agreed.
A tapping on the microphone of the loudspeaker brought them to attention, and the boy, who Jack was still looking at, jumped and nearly threw his phone. He then blushed and began to check if anyone had seen him. Jack quickly pried his eyes away, hoping the boy did not notice.
"Students, welcome to Mrs. Madison's Home for Ill and Misfit Children! Don't worry: this place is not as intimidating as it seems. It is simply school, yet you stay here overnight and on the weekends."
Many people in the room groaned or signed. The gray-haired woman frowned. Clearly annoyed, she quickened her tone.
"Your dorm numbers are on those chalk boards, four per room," she said in a much less enthusiastic tone, pointing towards chalkboards which had recently been wheeled in by staff.
"Your schedules will be in your dorms, on your beds," she looked at the students once more, and yet again remembered something.
"Middle-school is on this floor, High-schools is on the second floor, and those older will be on the third floor, regarding dormitories. No boys in girls' dorms, and vice versa. We will make it very obvious which is which. Good luck."
this is all I have so far, and I hope y'all enjoy it!
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