The Only Exception

Mike sighed softly when Pierre didn't look at him. He wanted to know what was going on with him.

"Mike... have you ever just felt... unhappy?" Pierre asked quietly, slowly looking up at Mike.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, plenty of times. Why?" he asked quietly.

Pierre sighed. "I just... I feel... unhappy." He whispered,tears clouding his vision. "I mean, I'm happy with you. You make me smile. But... before I came here, I was depressed for a while. No one knew. I became happy again when met Mathieu. But he dumped me, I left home, Payne makes my life miserable... and I feel unhappy again." He whimpered, looking at Mike as if asking for help.

Mike's heart broke. He cupped Pierre's face gently. "Baby, I am so sorry. Payne is an asshole to everyone. He might come around to you. And we can get you help, Pierre.You can go to a therapist," he said, looking into the other man's eyes.

Pierre looked down, a few tears escaping his ice blue eyes. "I don't know..." He whispered. "I just.... I want... I'm frustrated. I hate feeling like this." He whispered. "Make it go away...: He groaned quietly, resting his head on Mike's shoulder.

Mike sighed and wrapped his arms around Pierre, wishing he knew what he could do to make the young man feel better. He hated seeing him like this,

When the bell rang, Pierre groaned. He had gym class with Payne. Joy. Pierre looked up at Mike. "Could you walk me to my next class?" He asked. He just realized how much smaller he was than Mike. He was still 15, and had skipped a grade.

"Of course," Mike said and stood up, wrapping an arm around him and walking him to gym.

Pierre kissed Mike's cheek before walking in the gym. He signed in and the gym teacher gave him a uniform before telling him to go change. He walked into the locker room, hoping and praying to avoid Payne.

Payne was already changed and talking with his friends, sitting in the bleachers. He saw Pierre and smirked. "Guys, that's who I was telling you about. The whore on the floor," he said, pointing at Pierre when he came back out after changing.

Pierre frowned when Payne pointed at him, the guys around him laughing. "Americans..." He grumbled and sat on the bottom bleacher, the other kids asking him a billion and one questions about France.

Payne smirked when he saw how distressed Pierre was. It made him happy.

Pierre glanced at Payne before looking down at his lap. The coach split them into teams... for dodge ball. Pierre mentally groaned as he and Payne were put on opposite teams. This was going to end badly.

Payne smirked and waited for the coach to blow the whistle. Once he did, Payne picked up a ball and chucked it at Pierre's shoulder.

Pierre fell to his knees as pain shot through his shoulder, letting out a quiet cry. He glared at Payne, tears starting to cloud his eyes from the pain. He blinked them away and slowly stood, focusing on dodging any balls thrown at him.

Payne smirked and threw balls at other people, though he always had one eye on Pierre.

Pierre felt a ball hit him straight in the face. He fell and groaned, already knowing it had come from Payne. He held his head, the room spinning as pain shot through his skull.

Payne smirked, seeing Pierre in pain making him happy.

When the class was finally over, Pierre slowly went back to the locker room, his shoulder and head in pain. He sat on the bench, trying to hold back his tears as he gently massaged his temples.

Mike stood outside the locker room, waiting for Pierre to finish changing so they could walk to class together.

Pierre walked out when he was finished changing. He saw Mike, taking his hand. "H-Hey..." He whispered, his body still hurting as they walked to lunch.

"Hey," he said softly. "You okay?"

Pierre shrugged. "My head... I got hit on ht head. But I am fine." He sighed as they walked in the lunchroom.

"Are you sure?" Mike asked as he led Pierre over to the lunch line.