Niall used to walk down the halls with his shoulders squared and his chin tilted up, but that was before.

Before he came out. Or was forced out, really.

Before he came out he used to run with all the popular kids, he was vying for the number one slot. The only one who was ahead of him was his best friend, and even though there was some friendly competition between the two he didn’t really mind it. He was still invited to all the parties and he still was a part of all the gossip.

After he came out things turned ugly, the popular kids that admired and wanted to be like him were disgusted by him. He stopped getting invitations to parties; he was still a part of all the gossip but for a different reason. And worst of, all his best friend in the whole world turned on him.

So the only thing poor Niall could do was walk with his frame scrunched around his stack of books, his eyes trained on the ground, in hopes of not being noticed. Because when he got noticed that’s when things got bad.

“Faggot,” the larger boy, Joshua, sneered as he shoved the dainty blonde, Niall, forcefully into the row of hard metal lockers, just barely missing the open one that Niall was standing in front of. Niall grabbed for the door of his locker to keep himself upright, but he staggered and only managed to keep from falling all the way.

That sort of treatment was nothing new to Niall as of recent. He had been confident and very popular but that was before he was invited to a bash to end all bashes and drunkenly revealed the truth about his sexuality. It wasn’t like he could keep it a secret seeing as how it happened in front of just about everyone he knew. Since then incidents such as this one occurred almost daily.

Niall bit his lip, to keep from shooting off his gob and making it worse, turned back to his locker to continue retrieving his school supplies when he thought he saw a flash of dark skin and even darker clothing. But he just shook his head free of the image and reminded himself that chances are if the new kid had really saw what was going on he would have aided Joshua and his posse in further torment. He had only been in attendance at Eastridge Academy for about a week, but he had already made it perfectly clear he was the definition of a bad boy.

“What are you doing little Leprechaun faggot? Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore people when they are speaking to you?” Joshua queried giving Niall another, smaller shove, one that Niall was able to keep his balance for and Joshua’s little posse sniggered at their leader’s actions, making Niall cringe. They were trust fund babies and were very well educated, but obviously still very stupid and very immature.

Hearing Joshua laughing at his own cruel slurs and being shoved into the lockers for the second time caused Niall’s cheeks to flush ruby red and his pulse to leap. And suddenly he didn’t care what happened at the party, he just was not in the mood to be getting any more lagging, so he whirled around, laser-beam blue eyes flashing to an icy steel blue, and he began speaking without really thinking first. “Don’t you know it is rude to belittle people solely on their sexual preference?” He paused, his whole body shaking slightly, and turned to the others. “And don’t you know how hanging on his every word just shows how little individuality and intelligence you really have?”

Joshua’s posse, Lucas, Bradley, and Dylan, all huffed, puffed out their chests, and advanced at unison, to illustrate Niall’s theory that they all shared a brain. Joshua shoved a hand backward to call them off, making it apparent to Niall that he was the only one of them aware of their surroundings.

“Listen here you mouthy little mick, no one talks to me or my mates that way. Be prepared after the final bell for a game of Smear The Queer,” Joshua threatened and then made a point of pushing past the quaking blonde, even though it was clearly out of his way. His plonker for brains friends followed suit.

As soon as they were out of sight, Niall’s legs gave out, and he collapsed, books and all, to the cool hard ground. And on his way down he noticed a dark flash zoom through his line of vision. This time he could not scold his mind for his eyes playing tricks on him, because the new kid most certainly had been ghosting around. That only gave him something else to worry about for a while, but it got pushed to the back of his mind as soon as he got into class because Niall’s stomach slammed into his trainers, like a runaway elevator car every time the school bell rang to signal a class end. It meant he was one hour closer to becoming graffiti on the walkway.

When the last bell finally rang Niall nearly swallowed his tongue. He lingered around the halls for as long as possible, even stopping by his locker for a while even though it wasn’t really necessary. Realizing that he had nothing left to do to stall Niall wandered outside using the back exit. He figured that they would have gone home by then or at least would be waiting for him at the front doors. He thought he was home free until he heard snickering, snickering that unmistakably belonged to one person.

In a flash Niall was surrounded by Joshua and the rest of the gang. He didn’t even have a chance to utter a single word before he was knocked onto his bum. “We warned you, you little Mick! Now you’re getting it double for making us wait so long!” Joshua sneered as he began kicking Niall anywhere that was unprotected.

Niall tried his best to block the kicks coming his way, but Joshua was captain of the footy team and was very skilled, so it was very hard for Niall to block anything but his face . He was kicking away like he did during a match and it was all Niall could to keep from giving up, curling in a ball, and crying. But he decided against it when Joshua got in a cheap shot that most certainly brought him up and onto all fours, in an attempt to keep from barfing.

“What is this? Is the little Leprechaun going to fight back?” Lucas guffawed sending an equally strong hard kick right to Niall’s rib cage.

Joshua stepped back, with his arms crossed, amusement clear on his face. “What do you not want to play Smear The Queer, little Mick?”

Niall shook his head ‘no’ and somehow managed to get up to his feet even though he felt as if he had been ran over by a double decker bus. He tucked his arm across his aching torso and tried to get away, but his legs weren’t up to usual performance and he didn’t make it very far. Prompting Joshua to shout for his cronies to bring Niall back to him and hold him upright and still this time. Bradley and Lucas each grabbed an arm and Dylan grabbed Niall by the back of the head and jerked towards him allowing Joshua full access to every part of Niall’s already bruising body. Niall looked at Joshua with half lidded eyes scared and uncertain of what was yet to come.

“That’s too bad,” the leader all but growled before throwing punches at Niall. He littered the Irish lad’s body with licks and kicks, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Niall tried to break free from the other boy’s grasp, but it only made them grip him tighter, and it made Joshua angrier. He had caught Niall in the face a couple times, but when he saw his prey was trying to get away he decided to sock him good, which incidentally broke Niall’s nose.

Niall resolved to not make a sound because he didn’t want to seem weak, but he couldn’t control the tears that streaked down his face, mixed with the blood pulsing from his nose, and dripped onto his shirt. Seeing Niall’s tears and bleeding nose only fueled Joshua’s crazy.

Niall bit through his bottom lip trying to keep quite as Joshua pounded his fists into the flittered boy’s flesh. It was then, when Niall could taste his own blood, that he accepted defeat and stopped any form of fight he was putting up. He knew that no amount of bargaining was going to save him. He was going to be beaten within an inch of his life and he had no way out of it.

And then out of nowhere Niall was falling to the ground, happy to be free of his captors grip. He drew from deep within himself to roll his head up just enough so that he could see what was happening.

The dark mysterious transfer student had come to Niall’s rescue. He was single handedly getting the best of not one but four lads. By the looks of it the dark skinned boy had broken Joshua’s hand and possibly his jaw, dislocated Bradley’s ribs, and severally bruised Lucas and Dylan. But Niall couldn’t know for sure, he wasn’t a doctor.

Finally, all the trust fund babies ran for the heels, leaving the new kid and Niall alone. Niall just laid there unsure what to do and taking inventory of his injuries. His nose seemed to be in the worst shape, but he couldn’t exert enough energy to cup it with his hands.

The tan lad bent down in front Niall raking him over with black unreadable eyes. It was impossible for Niall to know what he was thinking, his face gave nothing away. For all he knew the bloke could have wanted to finish Niall off for himself.

“Get up. I’m going to take you to my mate’s house the next block over to get you cleaned up and checked out. He’s going to uni to be a doctor or something, and he can treat you,” the dark skinned lad commanded.

Niall blinked a couple times and tried to follow the blunt orders he was given. “I, uh, don’t think I can on my own,” Niall murmured, feeling so nervous his accent made his speech almost unintelligible, after trying to get his feet.

The lad just grunted and only semi-gently hoisted Niall up. He gave Niall a hard once over again and spoke. “Can you make it on your own,” he paused and waited for Niall to respond. When he shook his head no, the new student rolled his eyes and made it so that he was supporting Niall’s weight, once he was satisfied he started walking and talking again, “You know if you didn’t act like a bloody p****, they wouldn’t be so hard on you. I saw it in your eyes, you could very well take that d**** head off, but you refrained and used your words instead.”

Niall cringed because of how insightful a complete stranger had been. “It’s complicated. I shouldn’t even have spoken to Joshua that way, but him and his gaggle of idgits kept pushing my buttons.”

The lad snorted and shook his head in disapproval. “What’s so complicated about it? Smash his gob when he shoots it off like that and it won’t happen again.”

Hearing his savior’s blatant disregard for the situation at hand troubled Niall. He frowned and wondered if telling him the whole story would make the transfer student understand. “Believe it or not before you got here I was one of the most popular lads in the school, only second to Joshua-“

“Bullf*****s****, there’s no bloody way!” he interrupted, Niall.

Niall attempted to shrug and ended up wincing in pain instead. “Anyhow, I was invited to Dylan, the red haired one’s, party and I got three sheets to the wind and stuck my bloody tongue down Joshua’s throat right in front of everyone.”

“So you really are a bum bandit? I guess I really can’t say much, I enjoy a good bugger every now and again.”

“I would’ve taken you for straight. But, anyhow, the worst part is Joshua and I had been best friends and was sort of courting in secret and that, well, that outed us. Only he didn’t want to be out yet, so he turned it around on me, like I was so hammered I forced myself on him instead of blurred the lines of acceptable social behavior. He still got a good bit of slagging from it until he started belting the s**** out of me on the daily basis.”

“F****** h***,” the lad breathed. Niall could feel his muscles go rigid against him. “Listen, le-I mean Niall, I don’t reckon I realized it was like that. Just because things are so complicated like that doesn’t mean he can be an a**, though you don’t deserve that.”

Niall winced and slowed his pace, he was becoming more sore by the minute and he wasn’t sure how much farther it was until they arrived at their destination. “It’s okay, I still don’t know your name,” Niall admitted. “I didn’t exactly broadcast it.”

“Zayn, without the ‘e’, Malik. I guess I just got an idea about you in my head and didn’t think you would be any different. I’m glad I was wrong, it makes me like you a lot more now. For more than just your face, that is,” Zayn revealed without skipping a beat. “It’s not too much further to my mate’s now.”

“Zayn, eh?” Niall muttered to himself, seeing how the unusual name tasted. “I’m not sure how much more I can get on, if I’m being honest.”

“You did get a good leathering,” Zayn admitted in a muted voice. It was like it pained him to acknowledge what had just happened to Niall. But, then again, Niall did just get his dial busted.

The two walked in silence, well one walked and one sort of limped along, until they finally came to the row of gaffs containing Zayn’s mates. The two walked up the walk side by side, but Niall hesitated when it came to the set of stairs. He wasn’t really expecting them, and the way he was feeling they might as well have been Mt. Everest. Zayn noticed that Niall had stopped and the injured lad gave an apologetic look.

“Hold still,” Zayn said, much to Niall’s confusion. And before he knew what was going on he was up and cradled gently against Zayn’s well-muscled chest, and it hurt a bit, but it didn’t really matter because all he knew was he wasn’t on the ground anymore and he didn’t have to climb Mt. Everest.

Zayn carried the smaller Irishmen up the stairs and let the two of them in with the spare key that was kept in the mail slot beside the door. There scattered about the living room were three lads that Niall had never seen before. He just kept staring for a moment trying to figure out how they were all mates; they didn’t seem to have a bit in common, with each other or Zayn. Except for the overwhelming amount of tattoos they all had. That was it then, they were in some sort of tattoo gang, Niall decided looking down at his own pale, flawless flesh, he did not fit in.

The lads carried on as if they were oblivious to the new company.

“Do you reckon any of those Apollo dudes jacked it on the moon?” A petite lad, almost the size of Niall, asked the curly headed lad whose lap he was curled up.

“I reckon they would if they were anything like you,” the curly headed one chortled, earning a snort from the one with a backwards cap.

“If you’re done arsing about, I could use your assistance, Lou,” Zayn ordered walking further into the living room with Niall lent against him feeling as if he were going in and out of consciousness.

Niall did not get a chance to learn the rest of the lad’s names besides Lou’s before he lapsed into unconsciousness.


--

Niall’s head felt all swimmy and he blinked his big blue eyes open because he felt something warm under him and something pinching at his skin worse than any bee sting he had ever sustained. “Aww naw, what’s going on?” Niall wondered aloud, closing his eyes again to let them adjust.

Without warning, Niall’s head was tilted to the side by someone else and his lips were attacked by a pair of soft pink one’s. Normally, Niall would freak out if someone snogged him out of nowhere, but this was sort of nice and it helped his still cloudy mind ignore the pain he was feeling, plus he just felt so lonely since the party.

Niall moved his lips in sync with the ones against him, and tangled his fingers in what he thought was sheets. And then as sudden as the kiss happened it was over and Niall was left feeling so gobsmacked he decided to open one of his eyes.

“Christ! I was so worried something serious was wrong! Lou, told me you were fine, those a** clowns had just worn you down, or that you might have a slight concussion, but I reckon I just always get to thinking the worst of things.”

It took Niall a moment to realize that the voice was coming from above him, and that it belonged to the transfer student, Zayn, the one who saved him from Joshua and his goons. “I’m fine, but something stinging the bloody h*** outta me and to be honest it’s rather painful.”

Niall barely had time to take in Zayn’s laugh before the one he only knew as Lou started shooting off apologies. “That would be me! I’m so sorry! I thought I could stitch you up right quick while you were still out and you’d be none the wiser! I am so very sorry that you are feeling so much discomfort.”

“Stiches, why in the h*** do I need those for?” Niall wondered.

Zayn rubbed small circles on Niall’s forehead, which made him relax slightly, and shifted his weight under Niall, and it was only then did he realize he was lying in Zayn’s lap.

“You have a particularly bad gash from being kicked,” Zayn explained, tracing his fingers delicately over Niall’s features.

Niall frowned; he had never gotten a belting quite like that before. It was certainly embarrassing to have Zayn know. But he couldn’t seem to remember to be that upset with the other lad’s fingers trailing so gently over his face, he felt more safe than anything else.

“Harry, be a dear and get me some painkillers,” Lou asked the tall curly haired boy, whose lap he had been curled up in early.

The one called Harry dashed off to do as Lou asked him, and Niall noted that he still did not know the other brown eyed lad’s name. But he didn’t dwell on that for too long because another thought entered his head. “How’s my nose?”

Zayn frowned. “Lou says it’s broken, and the only thing he can do for it is put this numbing cream on it. And there’s a chance it’ll be crooked.”

Niall’s eyes involuntarily moved over to the lad working over his torso and saw on his face that it was the truth. He already had to live with the possibility of a scar on his side, and he quite liked his nose just the way it was; now he had to live with a crooked nose too.

Zayn mistook Niall’s completive silence for fear, and looked down into Niall’s big blue pools and stated firmly, “Don’t worry, Niall I will take care of you. This will never happen again. I promise.”

Notes

This was a tumblr prompt and it took to long and it wasn't very good, but I hated writing Niall as a bully victim. I just love that precious baby too much to do that to him.

Anyway if you still liked it ask for your own. -xoxo