This was a beautiful and sad prompt on the fanworkathon!

Writing Haruto getting bullied was one of the most painful thing i've ever had to write wow

"Eww, Haruto why are you playing with those weak cards!"

The words catch Haruto by surprise. He looks at the cards he's holding in his hands, raising an eyebrow. Photon Crusher, Photon Circle. They're in no way weak cards, he's seen them in action many times by his brother and other duellists that have come and gone.

"Pardon?" Haruto replies, looking up from the cards to find two boys that he sees around a lot, though they're not in his class so he has no idea of their names.

"These!" one of boys cries, and before Haruto can even react, the cards slip from his fingertips and he realizes that the boy has taken them from him. He pulls the cards closer to his eyes, reading them before releasing a tinkling laugh that echoes eerily in Haruto's eardrums. "Why would you bother playing with such stupid, weak cards? Look, this one only has one thousand attack points! Why would you bother having something so terrible in your deck?"

Haruto's hands drag along the ground in front of him, squeezing his eyes tight in an effort to control the burning anger building inside him. He remembered what father, and later nii-sama had said – try to not get too angry, it's for the best if you don't show people your powers – he agrees wholeheartedly though, how is he supposed to make friends if he's having freaky seizure things whenever someone talks to him?

"What do you mean?" Haruto continues, holding his arm out to receive the card back, furrowing his eyebrows when the boy doesn't comply. "It halves all battle damage you take."

"So what? It's still a stupid card, just like you." The boy laughs. "You're a little, worthless freak! No wonder you don't have any friends!" his laughing continues, though it's doubled by the boy beside him. Haruto's sure he can make it through it, after all they're just dumb comments right? As long as he can get his cards back and they go, he'll be fine.

He thinks he's finally home free when the cards slip from the boy's hand and flutter gently in the breeze until they collide with the slushy, muddy excuse of what was their playground after a rain storm. "oops!~" the boy calls mockingly, his eyes lining together in what Haruto perceived to be a challenge – will you try and mess with me?

Haruto unwittingly takes the bait with an "its fi-" before the cards are crumpled under the boys shoes in front of Haruto's eyes. A gasp flies from Haruto's mouth as the boys continue to laugh as they walk away. Haruto ignores his shaking fingers as he pulls the ruined cards from the ground, pulling them to his chest, not even caring as the mud smudges against his tidy uniform.

"Yuma said that school was fun." Haruto mumbles to himself, crawling into his corner to let his tears fall in the peace that came with his solitude. "Why did Yuma lie to me?"

"Hey Kaito, what's up with you?" Yuma buzzes as he chows his way through his ice-cream, completely ignoring Ryouga's 'don't talk with your mouth full' before continuing. "You've barely said anything. Like, less than usual. And you've barely touched your food! Come on I don't go to lengths to actually get you out of the house for you to not do anything."

Kaito grits his teeth as he tries to think of an excuse for his behaviour. He's aware it hasn't been exceptionally up to par with what he normally is like – he's aware he's not exactly a talkative person in the first place, but he's been ignoring everything everyone has said the past hour and yes, as Yuma so pointed out, he hasn't even touched his meal. Even Ryouga, Mr. I-Am-Too-Cool has at least made an attempt to try and bring some conversation out of him, all to no avail.

Sue him for having his mind where he considers it to be more important.

"Ah, nothing." Kaito murmurs, leaning forward and picking up his spoon. "I was just thinking about Haruto, is all." It's not necessarily a lie, he worries about his brother a lot and he wishes he'd brought him with him today, but he's at school and- "why are neither of you at school?"

Ryouga shrugs as Yuma gives a sloppy grin, covering his mouth to finish swallowing before he could speak. "Well, you're really busy and this was the only time we could meet up! It's okay, I have study period now."

"You've been hanging around Ryouga too much; I bet you're going to start ditching as well for the fun of it." Kaito quips with a smirk.

"No way! I have to be a good role model for Haruto now he's at school!" Yuma's still beaming, and as jarring as it is for Haruto to have a role model in the form of not himself, he's really had no experience at a proper school and Haruto insisted, so there isn't much he can do. He's just glad that Haruto attached to Yuma and not Ryouga. "Speaking of which, how is he going at school?"

Kaito tenses at the question, though he's sure he means no ill-will. It's just a question, get a hold of yourself, he groans to himself, but it's there, his worry that's eating at him alive.

"I don't know, he isn't talking to me about it, as much as I try and pry information from him." He pauses in confusion as he watches Yuma's reaction change from happy and bubbly and annoying to ... regretful?

"Kaito, I'm.." Yuma mumbles and its a few seconds before Ryouga grits his teeth and looks away, having clearly caught on with whatever Yuma is going. It's obviously some sort of school thing that Kaito's never had to suffer through, but from the look on their faces, it's not something good. "Kaito, I think Haruto might be getting bullied."

Bullied. It's only a simple word but Kaito's not stupid, he knows the connotations. Haruto couldn't be getting bullied, could he? " Why on earth would anyone want to bully Haruto though?" he spits out the words, suddenly furious at anyone and everyone. How dare they treat his little brother like that.

"It can happen to anyone really." Yuma mumbles. "Usually the ones who look weak. I mean, I hope I'm wrong, but it just sounds familiar.." Yuma trails off, giving a quick glance at Ryouga before staring at his ice-cream and picking at it nervously.

Kaito raises an eyebrow at the response from both parties, because they're certainly not what he expects from either of them. He asks himself whether he cares enough to enquire into this background that he's unaware of but Yuma and Ryouga obviously share, before deciding that he doesn't and continues with the current issue. If they wanted to talk about it, they would.

"So, how do I stop it from happening?"

"Just get Yuma to duel them." Ryouga pipes up, his eyes directed lazily at the ceiling with no intent on moving anywhere else. Yuma gives a snicker and Kaito's confused again, it's that something he's missing, some sort of inside joke between the two of them, but whatever, he's certainly not in the mood for laughter.

"Is that supposed to be some sort of joke?" Kaito demands. "Because I'm trying to be serious here. I don't need this."

Yuma swallows his ice-cream before giving the most apologetic face he can assume. "No, no Kaito you misunderstand! We're not being idiots, it's just funny because that's how I got through to Shark." Yuma elbows Ryouga, giving a laugh as he receives the reaction he expects, forcing Kaito to sigh and roll his eyes as he waits for the two of them to finally gain some maturity and stop poking or pushing at each other.

As he watches the two of them, Kaito connects the dots much quicker than he thinks he was capable of; Ryouga used to bully Yuma. He finds a small part of him not being surprised by the revelation, though he cringes at the thought of anyone wanting to hurt another like that. In a way, he finds himself even less surprised that Yuma's able to sit there and laugh with him; he guesses that it's really just how he's always been.

"I have an idea!" Yuma pipes through his laughter, swatting at Ryouga until he backed away. "They obviously don't think Haruto is cool enough right? You know heaps of famous people, and so does he. Surely they'd be cool with coming and seeing him and showing how cool he is?"

Kaito thinks it over. From Yuma, it's not actually that bad a plan. A lot of people famous in various duel circuits love Haruto and would do anything for them.

"Idiot." Ryouga pops up. "Not everyone has a cross-dimensional airship. How are they all planning on getting here today?"

Yuma frowns. "Well I didn't say they all had to be here today.." he trails off before giving a grin. "I know! Shark and I are pretty big in the Circuit too! Why don't we pick him up and walk him home while you call in some favours?"

Kaito ignores the string of comments between the two that include 'don't get me involved with this!' 'Come on Shark it'll be fun!' and he actually considers it for a while before deciding.

He slumps into the chair, sighing to get their attention. "Make sure you bring him straight home."

Haruto feels a sense of relief cross over him as he hears the bell chime for the end of the day. All he wants to do is go home, do his homework and maybe hang out with Kaito or his friends if they come over like they normally do.

As long as it's anywhere but here.

"Hey Haruto!" a mocking voice calls as he clumsily takes his books and shoves them into his bag hastily. He knows the voice; it's the mocking boys that have made a habit of picking on him whenever they had the chance. He slings his bag over his shoulder, tearing his way out the door to meet his nii-sama before anyone could talk to him.

"What's wrong Haruto, are you going home so you can be a weak little cry-baby and cry alone with your no friends?" one voice calls with a laugh. Haruto cringes but doesn't reply in hope that they'll stop, but the same as every other day, it's to no avail.

"Hey Haruto!" a familiar voice calls, older but still not very mature. He turns, and a smile crosses his face before he can stop himself as he takes in the sight of the two schoolboys standing at the entrance. Yuma waves enthusiastically at the boy, running up to him as the older male saunters up behind them. "Hey, how are you! How's school going?"

"What are you doing here?" Haruto asks curiously. "Where's nii-sama?"

"Kaito took his break to come have ic-lunch with us today, so we decided to take the long way 'round to come walk you home." Yuma gives a sly grin as he spots the boys hanging around Haruto. "Are these your friends? We should duel sometime!"

The boys whisper between themselves – is that Yuma Tsukumo? Hey that's the World Duel Carnival champ! And Shark too! What are they doing with Haruto? And Haruto is caught up in a hug between the two of them, even if Shark is pulled into the hug almost reluctantly by a grinning Yuma.

"Come on, let's take you home! Then we'll duel and play video games and stuff!" Yuma continues as Ryouga gives a small smile in reassurance as he holds out his hand and shoulders Haruto's bag for him.

They don't stay much longer before they leave, Haruto's spirits much higher as he has felt in a long time. He gets tired on the walk home, and Ryouga gives the bags to Yuma and offers to carry him the rest of the way, to which he complies with a grateful grin before jumping on the boy's back.

It continues for at least a week after, each after gaining more and more famous as the days go by. Tuesday, its Chris, who greets him with a dignified wave and takes him home in a fancy car; Wednesday its Thomas who makes a such a scene that Haruto goes red and drags him away; Thursday its Fuuya who swoops in, outfit and everything - and Friday its Gauche accompanied by Droite who have flown from Spartan City just to say hello and see how he's doing. Each time, his classmates seem more and more impressed and they become more and more involved – wow, you know Gauche the Star Man? How do you know IV?

Haruto plays along even though he doesn't know why it keeps happening, because they're his friends and it's nice to see them all, especially when they stay and watch movies and play games with him, because it's not often that Kaito lets people over, but he seems to be a lot recently and could he know?

He knows there's no point bothering to ask, Kaito will just give a roundabout answer that he'll never get the answers he seeks. Instead, he waits for the right opportunity, right when Kaito least expects it because he's tired but nii-san can you please read me a bed time story? He hugs Kaito as tightly as his tiny body allows him and tells him what a great brother he is before falling into the first peaceful sleep he's had since beginning school a few weeks prior.