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Post by ashley on Jan 1, 2009 20:19:28 GMT 1
It had happened after he left Transfiguration class, his last class of the day. Ashley had his books in his lap, wheeling himself out of the room carefully after most of the other students had left. He was tired and hoped to make it to the Common Room before the dinner rush started. It was pretty difficult, trying to wheel yourself in one direction when the entire school seemed to want to move the opposite way, trying to get to the Great Hall on time. Other than that though, he was doing well. Working together with Aiden meant that he spent more time on his homework than ever, which was slowly starting to show in class. Quidditch was scheduled to start soon, so all in all he was doing well, a soft smile on his face as he waved goodbye to his teacher.
As he turned a corner, a few Slytherin boys came into view, standing directly in Ash's way. He called out for them to get out of his way, knowing that his wheelchair wasn't in any condition to swerve around the trio. Instead they stayed, leaving him to brake urgently, the books on his lap scattering over the floor. "Merlin, can you watch where you're going? It's not so easy for me to get out of the way, you know" His words were short, a little snappy even as he bent over to retrieve one of his books.
His fingers were nearly brushing the cover of his Transfiguration book when one of the boys kicked it away, muttering something about how foul disabled Mudbloods like him should get out of the way. One of the others laughed, adding how obviously Ashley must be mentally incapacitated as well, thinking that Hogwarts was a place for people like him, people who were never going to give something back to the world. The Hufflepuff bristled, whipping out his wand to cast a summoning charm on the books, knowing that even though he wanted to respond to their words, the mature thing would be to grab his stuff and leave.
Bad idea. The moment he grabbed his wand, the largest of the three boys kicked at his face, knocking him dizzy for a few seconds as his wheelchair was being pushed over by the other two. Ash fell onto the ground, wand slipping from his fingers as he tried to break his fall. The tallest boy kicked it away, spitting at the young boy on the floor. His laugh was cold, the shoe prodding in his stomach having a steel toe, leaving him whimpering after a swift kick. He registered it dully, his head throbbing and blood spilling from his bust lip, leaving him with the taste of metal in his mouth.
There were no other students around, all of them having taken the shortest route back to the Hall, instead of the longer but easier way that the boy in the wheelchair had taken. He coughed up blood as one of the others kicked him again, a horrible headache starting to come up. All he wanted was to curl up and protect his head - protect the brain that already had endured so much over the past six months, but he couldn't do anything except fling his arms over his face protectively.
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Post by mikeym on Jan 1, 2009 20:51:14 GMT 1
Taking the steps two at a time, Jake headed up towards Transfiguration to see if he could catch Ashley before he got back to the Hufflepuff common room. Turning a corner, he was almost run over by a few fifth year girls giggling to themselves “Jeez..” he mumbled to himself, glancing around the empty corridor he wondered where Ash might have been. He walked down to where the Transfiguration classroom was, peeking in to see if maybe he had stayed behind. No such luck. “Damn” He almost started to head back the way he came before he heard commotion drifting down the long corridor towards him from the opposite end. He headed down that way to see what all the noise was about.
The louder it got, Jake determined that someone was getting the crap kicked out of them. Once he turned the corner he just stared for a moment. Three bigger guys were surrounding someone who was doing his best to curl up and protect his head from their boots. Once Jake noticed the dumped over wheelchair, he started seeing red since that solidified who he thought the blond on the floor was. Pulling his wand out of his pocket he pointed it at the back of the boy nearest to himself spitting out the Bat-Bogey hex. Turning his wand quickly on the second closest Jake conjoured a flock of twittering canaries and used Oppugno charm to have the birds attack the second Slytherin. Breathing a bit heavily, nostrils flairing from anger, Jake shoved the two flailing boys out of the way. Turning his eyes on the last one that was just staring at him warily, he pointed his wand at the boy's crooked nose ”Unless you want to be made into a toadstool I suggest you get the hell out of here.” His voice was icy and calm, something that didn't happen too often because when it did, Jake was positively livid.
Once that boy had chosen cowardice the better part of valor and backed off, trying to help his friends Jake stepped closer to Ash and crouched down next to him looking worriedly at him. ”Ash?” he said softly, putting his hand on the other boy's shoulder. Jake kept glancing up at the three attackers, keeping his wand at the ready to either disarm them or protect him and Ashley if one decided to try and hex him back. He glared daggers at them as the one with bogeys flying at his face yelled out about filthy mudbloods staining Hogwart's name. “Every mudblood has more balls than you do, because they're not stupid enough to attack another student in the hallways when there's a teacher's classroom nearby.” He smirked slightly when all three of them blanched slightly and the one able to look around did just incase a professor walked by.
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Post by ashley on Jan 1, 2009 21:41:36 GMT 1
He vaguely heard someone entering the Hallway, sending away his attackers with a few hexes and some strong language. His sight was blurred when he blinked up at the vague shape hovering over him, not sure if it was one of the boys that had tried to hurt him or someone that was actually trying to make things better. Even though Ashley knew he should be grateful someone had caught the scene and tried to help, it didn’t make him feel any better.
Usually, even though he was in a wheelchair, Ash felt like a normal guy. He went through school, sometimes hating it, other times loving it, he had Quidditch and friends and the occasional date or boyfriend. Sure, aside from that he had physical therapy in the morning, but other people worked out. He could reason it all away well enough and with Aiden and other people being in weird situations as well, he generally felt accepted and accepted himself.
Not now though. No. Times like these...He felt every bit the disabled person that he was. It made him so angry he wanted to rip out the others throats, wanted to really make them hurt for what they’d done. If he got his hands on them...but that was just it. He didn’t. Ashley was the kid in the wheelchair, the one that only had to be kicked once to take him out of the game. He couldn’t run after people, couldn’t cast complicated hexes or even beat them up physically. What would he be able to do? Nothing, that’s what.
When the headache faded enough for him to open his eyes again, he noticed that it was Jake, kneeled down next to him and looking at him with those blue, worried eyes. The blonde attempted to smile, wiping some of the blood off his chin, sucking on his bust lip. Coughing up a little more blood, he hid it the best he could, not wanting the Ravenclaw to freak out on him. ”I’m fine”. No, he wasn’t. He was shaking with anger. With humiliation.
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Post by mikeym on Jan 1, 2009 22:14:56 GMT 1
Seeing the blood on Ashley's face made Jake even more upset. Worried about where exactly the blood was coming from and angry at which attacker made it show up. ”Just stay here for a moment..” he murmured, giving Ash's shoulder a squeeze before he stood up glaring at the three again. Having a few choice words with them, along with cursing at them and hexing one of them again because Jake could they finally gave up and told them their names. Jake made a mental note to find a professor or McGonagall herself to have this taken care of. He didn't care if he too got a detention for a month just because he had hexed other students.
After they skulked away, Jake knelt back down next to Ash and slid an arm under his shoulders to help him sit up. ”Do you need to go to the hospital wing?” he asked softly, worried blue eyes looking him over for any other signs of damage besides the blood on his face. Not finding anything obvious, Jake sighed softly in relief. He slowly started to rub circles on Ash's back since he could feel him shaking.
“They're gone now..” his voice was quiet, an attempt to be soothing. He wanted to know what happened and why they had attacked him. Was it just because he was a mudblood and in the wrong place at the wrong time or were words exchanged that set all four off? Even if the words were on the tip of his tongue, Jake got the feeling that Ash wasn't wanting to be asked 'what happened'. He wanted to scoop Ash up and take him to the hospital wing to make sure he was okay, but he doubted that would be accepted so he just sat there with him for the time being.
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Post by ashley on Jan 1, 2009 22:45:26 GMT 1
Jake really didn’t deserve to be snapped at, but Ashley couldn’t help it. He was angry, he was degraded, kicked around and hurt and the Ravenclaw was asking if he needed to go to the Hospital Wing. No. What he needed was to get back in his wheelchair, better yet, to be able to walk, so he could hunt those suckers down. He could take them. All three of them. Not a problem. He was in a murderous rage, they’d be lucky if they got away with their limbs intact.
”I said I’m fine” It came out as a low growl, the Hufflepuff pushing the other away from him. He didn’t need help. He didn’t need fucking pity. Not from Jake. Fuck, not from Jake. His fingers curled into his own hair as he practically ripped it out, wanting this stupid headache to disappear. If he told him, if he explained how fragile his brain had been, how terrified he was of losing more than he already had, then he wouldn’t be let off the hook with a simple ‘I’m fine’.
As he inhaled breath after breath, Ashley tried to get himself to calm down. If he snapped at Jake and pushed him away, it would only make things worse. He just...couldn’t right now. Couldn’t handle it. So instead of saying anything else, he just sat on the ground, trying to breathe in a way that didn’t hurt as much, trying to figure out if he was alright physically. Aside from the bust lip and the kicks to his stomach, not much had happened to worry him. Except that damn headache that made him want to scream.
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Post by mikeym on Jan 1, 2009 22:58:59 GMT 1
Not expecting the reaction he got from Ash, he almost lost his balance but quickly recovered. Jake immediately dropped his hands into his lap and stared at the Hufflepuff. A little shocked that Ash has pushed him then sad for thinking that he didn't need to be around him. He started to stand back up to honor that wish, then he saw Ashley jerking on his hair. “Whoa..what are you doing? he asked sounding alarmed, putting his hands on top of Ash's wanting to stop him but he let go just as quick as he touched him, as if his fingers were burnt. The last thing that Ashley seemed to want was someone touching him since he had pushed Jake away once already.
Confused and a little hurt at how Ash was treating him for trying to help the Ravenclaw just stood up and moved over to the chair, putting it back up right. He left it where it was at the moment and just started picking up the scattered books and the wand that was knocked away from the blond. Keeping one eye on Ash the whole time, afraid that he might try to hurt himself in some other way.
Once he'd finished collecting the items he came back over, kneeling next to Ash again. Looking at him for a moment, he waited for him to talk. The next two minutes were probably the longest of Jake Masello's life. Nothing but angry breathing coming from Ashley, it was starting to make Jake a little uncomfortable. Shifting his weight slightly, he cleared his throat softly, tilting his head in an attempt for blue to catch brown. ”What do you need me to do, Ash? Just tell me and I'll do it. Anything.”
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Post by ashley on Jan 1, 2009 23:26:25 GMT 1
As unreasonable as he was being, Ashley was glad that Jake gave him a little time, getting his books and wheelchair without saying a single word. He needed that, for the other to stick around despite the way he had treated him. There wasn’t a fiber in his body that wasn’t aware of the older male, and there wasn’t a single part of him that wanted the other to leave. He just...didn’t want Jake to see him like this.
”What do you need me to do, Ash? Just tell me and I'll do it. Anything.”
The boy suddenly felt tired, the anger seeping from him like the blood had done just a few minutes ago. He shifted slightly, leaning his head on Jake’s shoulder, closing his eyes and relaxing as much as he was able to. His body was still expecting an attack, or more pain, but he forced himself to breathe evenly, focusing on the scent of the other – this safe scent that despite everything made him smile.
”Just...stay here. And...hold me?” So selfish. This didn’t have anything to do with the way he was feeling, the anger that was still there, mingling with the fear. The Hufflepuff was worried that something would end up going wrong. And no matter how he tried, the others words stuck in his head. How he would never be a benefit to society. He knew he shouldn’t give a fuck about what they had said, but it kept swimming around in his brain.
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Post by mikeym on Jan 1, 2009 23:52:24 GMT 1
Ash could have told him point blank to piss off, but Jake wouldn't have left. He wouldn't have been a friend if he did. Plus he'd berate himself worse than anyone else would have been able to for leaving someone in need. Especially Ashley, who knows how long it would have been before someone came up and saw Ash's body in the hallway. Plus if it wasn't for Jake Ash might have been just a bloody, beaten pulp if he hadn't come along. Jake shuddered a little at that thought.
He watched Ash's face intently, wanting to help him any way he could right now. Letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, he scooted a little closer to Ash when he put his head on Jake's shoulder. Before Ashley requested that he be held, Jake's arms were already wrapping themselves around the smaller boy. Jake shifted to sit on his rear end, scooting closer to him just to hold him easier.
“Sure” he murmured, wondering if Ash's mother would hold him after he got hurt as a child. Jake's own mother did that a few times and being held always made him feel better. After a moment he started to rub Ash's upper arm gently, giving him a little squeeze just to clarify that he was there and would help in whatever way needed. He wanted to find the three he let go and just hit them until he passed out. No wands, no magic. Good old bar fighting brawl was what he wanted with those three. He was pretty sure he'd win too, because they went after the one person who couldn't defend themselves completely: Ash.
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Post by ashley on Jan 2, 2009 0:16:09 GMT 1
He swallowed when Jake wrapped arms around him even before he’d asked, leaning into the other boy gratefully. Ash wasn’t used to being this vulnerable in front of someone he liked, he’d even had trouble to depend on Seth in the beginning of the year. To be this broken and upset in front of Jake was quite a blow to his self esteem. ”I hate this” He whispered, so quiet that he couldn’t even hear himself over the pounding headache.
Pressing his forehead against the others shoulder, his face was smushed against the Ravenclaws neck, where he could feel hot skin underneath his lips that vibrated softly as he spoke. He wasn’t even thinking about how this might possibly be a turn-on, was only thinking that he wanted closer somehow. ”I didn’t want you to see me like this...” God help him, there were slow tears making their way down his cheeks, staining the others shirt as he sniffled quietly.
He probably looked like a little kid. Like a small boy who couldn’t even take care of himself. Hell, this wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t kept his stupid mouth shut. The thought made him bristle again though. He wasn’t the type to take those insults, regardless of his wheelchair. Was it so bad to want to be normal? To say fuck it, I’m living my life the way I would have pre-accident?
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Post by mikeym on Jan 2, 2009 1:49:24 GMT 1
Jake had experience comforting his siblings since his father was never around, and that was one of the reasons he figured Ash wouldn't mind the hug he was willing to give before he could ask. When Ash said that, he sighed softly and leaned his head gently against Ash's "I know.." he murmured into his hair. As he did this he noticed the smell of the Hufflepuff's shampoo, unable to resist the slight nuzzle he gave the crown of his head.
He felt horrible for Ash at the moment, but he tried not to show it since it would be taken at pity. He didn't want that or to be asked to go away. Jake didn't have to think twice about tightening his hold on the other when he felt his neck starting to get damp, as well as hear the small sniffles. Sitting in the middle of the corridor with Ashley in his arms felt like the most natural thing so Jake did it without any hesitation. "You mean you didn't want me to see you vulnerable like this? Everyone's vulnerable sometimes, Ash.." he murmured rubbing his arm still.
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