Tutoring you...

When he woke up that morning he had a pretty big nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach. At first he thought maybe it was a cold, but his temperature was fine. After dressing himself in his usual SexPot attire and fixing his hair, being sick was definitely ruled out. Something was going to happen today, something he already knew he wouldn't want. As he walked out of his room he saw his mom passed out on the couch, an empty bottle of sake near her hand...

Sighing he took the bottle into the kitchen and scooped his mom up, taking her to her room. As he laid her on the bed and walked away, she woke up with a groan, "Mou... Takuya? Such a good boy... I'm sorry honey..."

"Don't worry about it Mom... get some rest, I'm going to school." Maybe this was the dread feeling... He hated seeing his mom like this. But when he got to school he found out why he was feeling like he was, both the basketball coach and his teacher were begging him to tutor the all star basketball player. He was reluctant at first... but eventually caved. Even though it was types like Hyde that usually teased and tormented him to no end... hopefully the jock was smart enough to know that if he gave him any shit he'd be screwed tutor wise. Takuya was the top student in his grade, there was no better than him. This tutoring would leave for no free time after school for a while now though, so all of his little side jobs and cash flow would suffer... it was only two weeks, he'd make it.

So arrangements were made for them to meet in the back library after school, it was always quiet back there and was hardly disturbed by anyone. He sunk into the big corner couch as he waited, pulling out his own homework to work on until Hyde decided to show up.

Hyde was really wanting to talk to the guy they had tortured for years...he was cute, and smart, and wouldn't give him the time of day...normally. Hyde had developed a large crush on the class top geek. So, to get to spend time with him he started flunking english. It was one of his best subjects and he was flunking to spend time with a guy. Hopefully this would work.

"Hey tutor. Sooo...teaching me English? Or would you rather just skip to the flirting?"

Takuya looked up from his book, a slightly confused look on his face. Hyde had arrived... And of course he wasn't worried about actually being tutored... Great. So the teasing was going to continue here too. Well one person he could handle, it was their whole group he couldn't manage.

"Supposedly." He closed his book with a quick snap, pushing his reading glasses up a bit as he did. "Skip the flirting. Get your book out, what exactly are you having problems with?" From what he'd gathered it had just been overall laziness...

Hyde looked at Takuya curiously. He rolled his eyes and took out his book. Nothing. He had trouble with none of it...but how could he make it so he didn't give himself away? Be a total jock.

"Everything? When I'm class all I think about is practice after that. It's my last class of the day. Who ever pays attention in their last class of the day?"

"So I was right in my assumptions. I gathered info on you, you're being lazy or as you put it distracted. Maybe you should get kicked off the team if you can't balance your activities." If Hyde was gonna play the role of a brainless jock, he'd be the blunt outcast. Maybe agreeing to help this guy was a bad idea, it'd only end badly anyways.

He sighed and ruffled his hair, "I guess we work on everything then..." It would look bad on him if Hyde failed even with his help.

Hyde glared at the man but gave up the fight anyway and pretended to somewhat concentrate. He really did actually need to pass. This was what he did just to get the guy to talk to him. How pathetic was that?

"Okeh...so where do we start blondie?"

"Excuse me?" Takuya's head popped up from looking in his bag for today's notes. Blondie? Oh hell no, he had a few small bits of blonde in the under layers of his hair, but not enough to all for him to call him blondie.

Glaring he grabbed his books up and then his bag, "We don't." He said nothing more as he left, he refused to deal with his teasing here too. If he wanted help he was going to have to get serious or find some damn fan girl of his that would do all his homework and turn it in for him.

Crap. Hyde got up and followed Takuya out. "Hey wait! Look I'm sorry. I just noticed you got some blond put in your hair recently and made a comment on it. I really do need that grade. Help me please. If you don't I'll fail and then I can't play." Hyde was looking sincere and seemed to actually be sorry about the comment.

Takuya quickly turned, "I hardly see how calling me blondie is a comment. If you think for one second I give a damn about you playing or not, you are sorely mistaken. If you want that grade you're gonna have to drop your act and work with me! It's not like there's anyone in that library watching you to make sure you're still keeping your image." While Hyde seemed to be generally sorry, he still needed to make a point. They'd get along a lot better if he dropped his attitude.

"First sign I see of asshatery and I am gone, no amount of begging will get me back either." Takuya chose to ignore the fact Hyde said he liked guys with blonde in their hair, it wasn't important. And he had to have some sympathy for him, he needed the scholarship for college... He was in the same boat really.

"Come on... let's just start with today's lesson and go from there..." He led him back to the comforts of the hidden part of the library. Though as they worked on the homework he couldn't help but not notice Hyde wasn't really struggling at all...

"Deal." The weeks went by and Hyde wasn't sure how much more they had to cover. But he did really good on one test with something he actually had to work at a little and celebrated.

"Sweet!! How bout a kiss for student's good grade huh?" Hyde was grinning and leaning on the table. He had his jersey on since he'd just come from practice. If the other guys on the team knew he was into guys and not girls...he'd be dead meat. No one but Hizumi knew. They'd been best friends since forever. It was just something Hizu knew. It wasn't a big deal between them. But it would be with the rest of the team.

Takuya was happy for Hyde, but thrown off by him wanting a kiss... Though to him it was quite easy to tell he liked guys, after spending a couple of weeks with a person you tend to discover a lot. Especially when said person wasn't hindered by others. In response to his request though he just sort of half smiled, "No. I'm happy for you, but it it doesn't warrant a kiss from me."

He tried to stay light hearted about the whole thing, but it could turn bad fast. Not to mention Hyde and his friends had teased him since middle school... definitely wouldn't work. "Beside, we're from completely different stereotypes. It wouldn't work." Hyde's friends and team mates would kill him before they'd ever allow even a small friendship between them.

"Wouldn't work? Let me tell you a story. There was this girl and she was a goth. A bookworm. And a total outsider. And there was this guy who was the star of soccer team and a damn good player. He was a total jock. They grew up in the same town. Same block. Four houses down from each other. 19 years as neighbors and he didn't even know she existed.

"Then he ended up in hospital after his friend blew out his knee. She was there with her mom who was there for a dialisis treatment. They met and spent the whole night in the waiting room talking. Three years later they got married. And then had they had me...different circles, different stereotypes their entire lives...wouldn't work huh? If that was true I wouldn't be here." Hyde had given up immediately on the kiss and simply started to walk away. Hizumi was waiting for him outside.

"Still taking tutoring sessions in a subject you need no help at all in?"

"He still won't give me the time of day. Why did I have to fall for the top geek. The one that we helped torment all those years?"

"Because you liked him Hyde...even back then."

"Well it's no use now...I'm so screwed. Come on...let's go." Hyde's dejected voice made Hizumi frown a little. Poor guy. Love sick and unable to get the one guy he wanted. Hizumi felt bad for him.

"Well hurray for your parents! It seems you've forgotten though that you and your stupid friends have only gave me nothing but hell since middle school!" He growled a bit as he snatched up his things and stormed the opposite door. That stupid bastard... thinking he could get something like that after years of teasing? Bullshit... and just when he was starting to think Hyde may have been okay he went right back to his old ways... Fuck this sucked.

A few weeks passed, the championship that would decide if Hyde got his scholarship was tonight... He wanted to go and watch, despite his strong distaste for sports. It wasn't like there was anything waiting for him at home, a drunk mother and her date for the night. Yeah... best to just leave for the night, the game may not be so bad anyways.

He bought his ticket and found a seat close to the ground floor, keeping an eye out for Hyde while the people filed in. When he spotted him, he smiled and waved. Despite their minor falling out a few weeks ago he still wanted Hyde to do good. This was his way of silently cheering him on, and during the game it seemed Hyde was playing harder than ever. Takuya never made it past halftime though. Hyde's friends grabbed him when he'd gotten up to go get some water, dragging him outside where nobody would see them beating the shit out of him. The insults were flying as they punched and kicked him. He tried to fight back but it got to the point where two guys held him while the others attacked. When they finished they tossed him aside like a broken doll, nobody would find him until morning unless he made him self noticeable... but it hurt too much to move. Thirty minutes... and the game would be over, but as he watched people leave nothing seemed to catch their attention. Ten minutes after everyone left he saw Hyde, even Hyde couldn't hear him...

"Hyde..." Wincing he dug into his pants and pulled out his ipod, tossing it as hard as he could and was happy to hear the expensive device clatter loudly against the concrete sidewalk. Hopefully Hyde would notice and investigate. Otherwise he was stuck here until he gathered the strength to move.

Hyde stopped going to the sessions but still soared back on top in English. He found himself at the championship and saw Takuya. Takuya came? Wow...the teen played his hardest for Takuya, to show that he was really good at what he did. But at the end of the game he didn't Takuya anywhere...did he leave? Feeling dejected again Hyde left the school. The sound of an Ipod hitting the pavement drew his attention. He went to get only to see a very beat up Takuya.

"Takuya! Jesus...what happened to you?"

"Hyde? You alright? Whoa...is he alright?" Hizumi had moved over to the pair and looked appalled at the markings on Takuya's body.

"Yeah. Tell my mom to go ahead home. I'm going to take care of him. See ya Hizu."

Though he wanted to be found he couldn't help but to wince when he heard Hyde say his name in such a way. It was odd but comforting. He barely managed keeping his head up to keep eye contact with Hyde, "It would seem... your friends--ow... don't want me to make any special appearances at your games..." Takuya groaned in pain as he finished speaking and laid his head back down on the ground. His head was throbbing...

"Hyde? You alright? Whoa...is he alright?"

Another voice? Wait... Hyde wanted to take care of him? That meant Hyde coming to his house... His drunken mother would be there with one of her boyfriends... No, no, no! Hyde couldn't see that! But he knew he needed the help home... Once the other person was gone and his arm was around Hyde's shoulder he finally spoke up, "Thank you... if you can just get me to my front door I'll be alright..." Though it was obvious that there was no way he could walk by himself, even crawling would have been a huge feat at that moment.

Takuya was having a hard time even with his help. So Hyde simply picked him up and started to carry him. His words however made him stop. "Home? Who the hell said I was taking you home? Takuya you need a doctor. I'm taking you to the hospital. Don't argue with me. I've done enough damage to your life...it's about time I helped you. Especially since I'm the reason this happened to you..."

"Hyde don't... I'm fine, I'm just sore... we can't afford it anyways. Just take me home..." A doctor would have been a good idea, but with his mothers ways... and his own lack of working recently, there was no way to pay for what it would cost.

Still, he found his head resting against Hyde's shoulder and his hand half heartedly grasping his shirt, "You were just doing what everyone else was... you never started anything. I know who started things... and you were never one of them. You have no obligations to me..."

"My dad's a doctor. He can take a look at you. Don't give me that look okeh. I still need that scholarship. My dad won't pay for me to go to college for basketball. It's what I want to do and he thinks it's a waste of time. And it is my fault...they wouldn't have tortured you at all if it weren't for me...at least not today." Hyde never stopped on his way to the hospital and once there he got his dad to come look at Takuya.

Takuya looked down at his hands after listening to Hyde, "You make it sound like you only want me around to tutor you so you can make sure you get that scholarship..." He said it after being handed off to Hyde's dad, not even managing to be able to look at Hyde anymore. His head hurt too much.

The doctor could tell right away something was wrong, and quickly had Takuya wheeled away for an emergency exam. Takuya was drifting in and out of awareness the whole time. But Hyde's dad never once let him fall asleep, it could have been dangerous... After being examined though he was quickly put under for emergency surgery, he had some internal bleeding that needed to be stopped and fast. A few hours later a nurse came out to Hyde, telling him that his father needed to speak to him.

"He's lucky... Concussion. Three broken ribs, one was pushing against his lung. Internal bleeding here and here, a lot of bruised muscle tissue... Had you taken him home he would have been dead by morning. Good judgement call son... But what was he talking about before we took him? He sounded quite grim about the topic."

Hyde sighed and went to Takuya's room. Standing there looking at his frail body. Looking at his dad he sighed again. "Okeh. I started flunking English so he'd tutor me."

"But English is your best subject Hyde. Why would you flunk?"

"To get to spend time with him. He's the guy that my friends have been beating on for years. I...I started to like him. I really like him. So I started flunking so he'd tutor me. That way I could talk to him. He isn't much for me though. He's an outcast and I'm a jock. He doesn't think they mesh well. I-...I don't know how to act around him. He came to the championship game tonight but my friends had found out I was starting to become something of friends with him and they wanted to put a stop to that immediately. This happened to him because I developed one hell of a crush on him." Hyde sat down in a chair as his father took it all in.

"This was the guy you were telling your mother about. The one you were afraid to tell about because of your homosexuality...oh. Well...at least you picked a girly guy. I can live with that at least." The man's son smiled a bit.

"Problem is he thinks I only want him around for that scholarship for basketball...I can get that in my sleep. I want him around because I want him. I'm just too scared to tell him."

"Well son... think about how you act around him, is this the side of you that he's seeing? Or does he get caught in that jock act you wear around your friends?" The man put a firm hand on his son's shoulder and gave it and encouraging squeeze, "If you're serious about him you can't hide, or else he's just going to see the other kids that put him in their. You think it was easy for your mother and I to be together at first? It took a lot of disagreements on my friends part before they could ever just accept us... and now you'd never be able to tell they ever even cared about what stereotype she was.

"All I can offer as advice is to be there for him. He's got a long night a head of him, he'll be waking up soon... Why don't you go sit with him? We couldn't get a hold of his parents yet..." About ten minutes later Takuya started coming too... he was happy to find he didn't hurt... Maybe it hadn't happened? He opened his eyes and groaned... "Guess it did happen... Hyde?"

Hyde nodded and sat next to Takuya. He smiled a bit when said his name. "Yeah I'm here. I'm sorry about my friends...you don't deserve everything we've put you through. And for the record, my scholarship has nothing to do with why I want you around." He smiled at him and gently squeezed his forearm.

"How you feeling?"

Takuya let out a small 'heh' and shook his head, "Would you stop apologizing for that? It's not like you told them to or anything. Besides, it could be worse." He probably had all rights to hate Hyde for everything. He was just glad Hyde knew nothing of his home life, he'd probably feel even worse then.

The slight squeeze to his forearm hurt a bit, but not enough to make him wince thankfully, "You want honesty or the sugar coated edition?" He smiled a bit despite Hyde's seriousness, "Like I got hit by a truck, a big one at that... Honestly I hardly remember any of what happened after you handed me off... Thanks for not listening to me by the way, guess I owe you majorly." He didn't sound too terribly upset by that, though he knew he was going to have to work a lot of extra hours to even hope to pay this bill off before the end of the school year.