Disclaimer: While this is a story about two high school students they are both over 18.
Justin was getting really tired of Clark's shit.
Clark was the star quarterback, king jock, and a walking clichΓ©. A man devoid of anything resembling a personality that hadn't come from an 80's sports movie and the looks to match. He was Hollywood handsome, big and tall and built like, well a footballer. He wore khaki pants that were too tight, pink polo shirts, and was never seen without his stupid letter jacket. The only thing that made him stand out from the entire rest of the team was his long wavy caramel blond hair that he wore loose around his ears.
The girls all swooned as he walked by.
Justin cowered.
Justin had just moved into town recently and apparently that alone had been enough for Clark to decide that he needed to personally make Justin's life a living hell. Justin was a shy and quite boy. Not exactly a nerd but definitely not a jock either. Sure he wore glasses and collared shirts and yeah he liked nerdy things like anime and comics but that didn't make him a nerd. He ran track and attended martial arts classes too. The fact that he also played dnd and cosplayed shouldn't matter. But it did, and he was teased ruthlessly by all the boys on the football team and their cheerleader girlfriends. Yet none were as bad as Clark.
Today alone Clark had pushed him over in the lunch line which made him spill his lunch all over himself, he'd unzipped Justin's bag casing his books to spill onto the floor, shot spitballs at the back of his head during biology, tripped him in the hall twice, and made dozens of rude an inappropriate comments ranging from jokes about how stupid Justin was to implying that he was both a promiscuous homosexual and a virgin. And the day wasn't even over yet.
In fact Justin knew the worst was yet to come.
Today was Tuesday, which was the single worst day of the week for Justin. Tuesdays were Anime club days for Justin and football practice for Clark and unfortunately both activities let out at just about the same time. Which meant that inevitably Justin would find Clark sitting and waiting for him at some point on his way home.
He knew that he could just find another route or skip his club all together but Justin refused to give the jock the satisfaction. He refused to not see his friends or to walk miles out of his way because Clark couldn't stop being an asshole for one single day. Even if it usually meant going home fighting back tears.
Today Justin had made it almost all the way home without seeing Clark. He was actually starting to hope that today might actually be different. All he had to do was make it through the forest behind his house and Justin would be home free, literally. He felt his pace quicken, and he had to actively stop himself from sprinting into the treeline.
"Cartoon club run late?" Clark's voice rang out from the trees.
Justin froze in place. He'd just gotten into the forest, far enough into the treeline that no one walking by would be able see him anymore. Not that anyone was going to walk by here. Justin was all alone with Clark and they both knew it, no one was going to interrupt them here. Justin tried to ignore Clark, continuing on as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't heard anything, as if he hadn't just stopped in his tracks, frozen in fear.
"Did you run out of gay cartoons to watch together?" Clark went on.
"It's fucking anime club." Justin blurted out unable to stop himself.
There was a small hill that Justin had to climb and once he got to the top he saw Clark sitting in a tree holding a familiar looking book.
They were deep in the forest now.
"Where did you get that?" Justin demanded his voice shaking, though from rage or fear or both he didn't know.
"This?" Clark asked flipping the book over and studying the cover as if he'd forgotten what he was reading. "Oh yeah, some girl dropped it out of her backpack this morning. I was going to give it back to her on her way home but now I'm not so sure I should."
Justin recognized the book. It was his, or rather he'd had it in his bag this morning. It was a library book he'd checked out earlier in the week.
"Give it back." Justin ordered.
"No." Clark said with the cockiest smile Justin had ever seen
In his chest Justin's heart was on fire. Pain and fear and adrenaline were sending his body into overdrive. His breathing was sharp and shallow. He hated this. He just wanted to go home.
"Please." he whispered.
"No." Clark said again, this time more authoritatively. He snapped the book closed and slid down from the tree.
"Why not?" Justin asked. He was on the verge of tears now. It had all been too much. Day in and day out this asshole had made his life a living hell for no reason. Why did he have to do this kind of thing? Why?
"Why?" Clark repeated. "Why? Because it's smut."
"It's not-" Justin interrupted him.
"Yes it is." Clark shouted advancing on the smaller man "It's fucking gay smut!"
"No it's not." Justin tried to protest.
"What's this then?" Clark demanded, thumbing through the book until he found a two page spread of a shirtless muscular man and held it up to Justin's face.
"It's not-" Justin began again.
"It is!" Clark shouted at him smiling. "It's fucking gay and you are too. I bet you-"
But Clark didn't get to finish his sentence.
Justin had finally had enough. He balled up his fist and slammed it into the side of Clark's face, sucker punching him as hard as he could. The jock collapsed to the ground and Justin jumped on top of him shedding his backpack as he went.
"What the fu-" Clark began and then Justin was on him, the two men struggling, wrestling in the dirt.
Justin's glasses flew off, lost in the mess of dirt and leaves which covered the ground. But it didn't matter, the fight was on.
For a few moments the two men were indistinguishable from one another, just a whirling mess of arms and legs as the two fought for control. Justin was in the better position but Clark was both bigger and stronger. They grappled, panting and grunting as they struggled in the dirt. Their hands grabbed at the other's bodies searching for any kind of purchase they could use to gain the upper hand. Then Justin's hand grabbed something and suddenly he was scrambling backwards, desperately trying to disengage.
"What the absolute fuck!" He shouted.
"Shut up." Clark said in a tone of voice that Justin had never heard from him before.
"No! What the fuck was that!" Justin repeated.