This Story (so you can decide whether or not you want to spend time reading it; I'll do this for every chapter): Bullying AU with Will and Horace (lots of Hill bromance)

Horace always acted like it didn't hurt him at all, but Will knew he was lying. Will always knew when Horace was covering something up just for Will's sake, just so Will wouldn't get angry. It was sweet, but in the end it only made Will frustrated.

Will saw Horace, almost every day, with a black eye, or a bruise somewhere visible on his body. This day was no different. Will met his friend in the locker room after Horace stayed a little late for football practice. Will had club activities that same day, so they usually hung out after they were done and walked home together.

"You've got to stop them," Will said. He was leaning up against one wall, not too far away from where Horace was putting his clothes in his locker.

Horace shook his head. "It's fine, really," he replied. Will glanced back down at the large bruise on his arm that said otherwise. "I've gotten worse just playing the sport."

"Yeah, but it's not just about the pain," Will said. He leaned off the wall and walked towards Horace, hoping that by getting serious he could encourage him into doing something about the seniors that were beating him up. "It's the fact they're targeting you, and they're going to get away with it."

Horace closed, almost slammed his locker door shut. His voice was calm, but it wasn't really reflecting how frustrated he was. Most of that frustration wasn't coming from his daily arguments with Will about this situation; it was from Horace being angry at himself for not doing anything. He tried his hardest not to take it out on anybody who didn't deserve it. The people who did deserve it… well, that's why he was angry.

"We both know that whenever the victim tries to fight against their bully," he said, "the victim always gets in trouble. Especially in this case… The teachers won't mind suspending me over the three best players on the team."

"Who cares?" Will asked. Horace started walking away from him, to change out of his uniform, but Will put his hand on his shoulder and stopped him. "You'll be suspended, and when you come back, they won't bother you again."

Horace sighed, and he turned around, at the same time brushing his friend's hand gently off his shoulder. "I'm not strong enough to win," he said. "If I fight against them, I'll lose, I'll get suspended, and they'll bully me even worse. I'm going to change, now, so just drop it." He walked away before Will could get another word out.

Will was seriously thinking about seeking out these bullies himself. If they hurt Horace one more time, Will swore to himself, he was going to do something about it. He might not be that strong, but when it came to Horace… Will had a feeling it was somewhat like the burst of strength mothers got when their babies were in danger. It would come to him in the moment.

But he still didn't bring the subject up in front of Horace again, when Horace was done changing. He dropped it. Horace was already sensitive about it, so for the time being, Will pretended like he wasn't bothered at all. If Horace knew Will was planning on taking care of it himself, he'd flip.

The school was like a ghost town. Their voices echoed around the halls like something out of a horror film. It was strange being in the school after school hours, but it was only scary if you were alone. Will and Horace didn't pay attention to it anymore. If anything, they liked it. It always felt so carefree, like they could run around the school and do anything they wanted because no teachers were around to tell them what to do and what not to do. No bullies to frighten Horace into doing anything he didn't want to do. They half expected Simple Minds to start playing out of nowhere.

That was, until Will and Horace turned a corner and saw the three people they had purposely been avoiding.

Alda, Bryn and Jerome didn't look as surprised to see Horace as Horace Will were to see them. Maybe they'd done this on purpose. If so, that was stalking, and that was a whole new level of bullying.

"Oh, Horace," Alda greeted with a casual smile. Will saw it as a smirk. "Hey, dude."

Horace opened his mouth to say something, but Will grabbed his arm and tried to leave the scene before they got too involved. Now wasn't the time for a fight.

"Hey, where're you going?" Jerome asked, and the trio started to follow them.

"Leave me alone," Horace muttered. He was walking as fast as Will, now, but Will still didn't take his hand off him.

"That's kinda mean of you," one of them said, Will thought it was Alda again.

One of them grabbed Horace's other shoulder, the one opposite to Will, and Horace weakly tried to shrug them off. He failed. Their grip was too tight. "We just wanna hang out," Jerome said. "Introduce us to your friend."

That was it. 'We just wanna hang out', said the guys who punched and kicked Horace till he bled and manipulated him into taking it. Will felt that fire, the fire he'd been waiting to spread inside him. Suddenly he was letting go of Horace's arm, and tearing Bryn's hand off of Horace.

"My name is Will Treaty," he hissed through clenched teeth. "And if one of you touches Horace again, I'll kick your asses."

Of course, the trio snickered. "Oh really?" Bryn asked, taunting. Will could feel Horace trying to get a word in, to tell Will they should just cut their losses and leave, but Will wasn't having it. This was as far as he was going to let this go.

"How do you think you're gonna do that?" Alda asked. He crossed his muscular arms across his chest. "I've seen kittens scarier than you."

Will's fists were tightening by his side, but he told himself to be as calm and confident as possible. He thought better, and he would probably fight better that way. Granted, Will hadn't been in a fight since he was in Elementary school, and that was barely a fight. This was highschool, and these guys were football players.

"Will, please," Horace said behind him. "Let's just stop this. Go home."

"No, I'm not going anywhere until these guys take you seriously." Will stepped closer to Alda, the ringleader; a bad move.

Alda smiled at the corner of his mouth. They stared at each other for moments on end, waiting for the other to make a move. Alda already had his move, and was just waiting for the right moment. He knew Will was serious, but he thought there was no way he was going to win.

The first punch came out of the blue, an uppercut to Will's chin. Behind him, Horace gasped, and readied himself to catch Will if he fell. Through some kind of miracle, Will stayed standing. His head was ringing and he couldn't hear a thing. Direction was lost of him; he could've been falling, and he would've had no idea. He was clearly stumbling. Blood was running down Will's chin, but he couldn't feel it.

"Dumbass," Alda sneered.

Horace could see Will had at least a concussion, but Will didn't care. He charged forward, swinging at Alda's head. Alda just leaned back, barely out of his reach, and swept his legs out from under him. Will's balance was so off, he fell like a sack of bricks.

Will grunted, trying to stand up, but Alda put his foot down on his arm and held him in place. "God, what an idiot," Jerome said, rolling his eyes. "Kick our asses my… ass," he finished, lamely. Alda paid him a quick glance back out of pity, but nobody said anything about it.

"Keep your damn hands off of him."

The three football players looked back at Will, ready to retort with something about how he couldn't do anything at this point, but they realized when they saw Will's expression that he wasn't the one who talked. Will was just as confused and surprised as they were. Their second choice was Horace, and they were right.

On Horace's face was a look they'd never seen before.

His fists were clenched so tight they could see the veins on his forearms, and the lights in his eyes were flaring. It didn't look like Horace, or, at least, not the Horace they knew. He had the stare of somebody ready to kill.

"Did you not hear me, assholes? Take your foot off him now!" Horace yelled. Alda didn't know what to do except step off of Will. He didn't lose his confidence.

"Oh, wow, now that your boyfriend's the one getting hurt you're gonna stop acting so pathetic?" Bryn asked.

"What's pathetic is you." Horace took one stride forward, tightening his arm to drive his fist into Alda's cheek. Even though anybody else would've seen it coming from a mile away, Alda, Jerome and Bryn still doubted Horace would lift a finger against them. The next thing they knew, he was knocking the teeth out of their ringleader.

Horace's next punch was to Alda's stomach. The quarterback stumbled and held the spot where Horace had hit him, trying to get his breath back. He'd never felt that much power before, even on the field. Horace couldn't have been as strong as that punch felt. It was like he was channeling power from somewhere else inside of him, not his muscles.

His fists were smoking by his sides like guns. Horace stared with the look of a predator to Jerome, and Bryn, and waited for them to attack him while their leader caught his breath. Neither of them budged.

Finally, Jerome stepped forward, but he was already intimidated and had the feeling he was going to lose. He was hesitant. It wasn't hard for Horace to dodge his punch, and then hit him on the right side of his face. Jerome stumbled to the wall.

Bryn knew it was smart to get out of there, and he was the first person to run the other way, followed by Jerome. Alda stayed for half a second, glaring at Horace.

Horace's glare hadn't lost its power yet. "Run, and don't so much as look at us again," he spat.

Alda, feeling embarrassed and powerless to do anything about his anger, turned and ran as fast as he could to where his friends had gone. Horace watched until they had disappeared around the corner. He wished he could never see them again.

When he bent down on one knee to see how Will was doing, all the fury had left his eyes. All that was left was concern. "Will, are you okay?" he asked. He turned his head to get a better look at where Alda had hit him. "You've probably got a concussion from that punch- we've got to get you to a doctor or something."

Will wasn't thinking about that. He was grinning, admiring Horace in a light he'd never seen him in before. "H-Horace…" he chuckled, "that was incredible."

"What's incredible is how you manage to ignore how badly you're bleeding. Here, stand up, I'm getting you to a hospital." He slowly got to his feet, first wrapping Will's arm around his shoulders and taking more than the majority of Will's weight. He was definitely strong enough.

"See?" Will said, as Horace carried him out of the school. The sky was still light, but it was getting closer and closer to dusk. It must've been about 5:30 by then. The streets and the school were empty, like everything they'd seen back there was a dream. "You were strong enough to beat them."

"Only now," Horace replied. He shifted Will's weight a little when he was slipping, and they had to walk down the stairs. "Couldn't have done it if it wasn't you." He was brushing it off like it was nothing, which was stupid. It's exactly what he did when Alda was bullying him, except now he was being too modest.

"Thank you," Will whispered. It was kind of an embarrassing thing to say, but just what Horace needed to be less embarrassed himself.

Horace looked over at Will, and their eyes met. "Thank you," Horace said. They smiled.

Will noticed, it had been a long time since Horace looked that carefree.