Title: Bruises

Rating: M

Warnings: Xanxus(violence), Squalo(swearing), Byakuran(bullying), XS (sex)

Word Count: 3900~

Prompt: For KHRfest (lj community) III-87. Xanxus/Squalo - quick and dirty; "Sometimes you just need to go for it."

Summary: Xanxus doesn't share his toys.

Note: This fic is AU and I've tried to make all descriptions of their schooling as generalized as possible. I use 'headmaster' instead of the North American (and possibly other) 'principal' and 'football' instead of 'soccer' to imply that they're being schooled somewhere in Italy. Private or public, all-boys or co-ed is up to the reader.

When Xanxus was young, he'd been expelled from his all-boys school for trying to overthrow the headmaster. There was a group of them who had stormed the office in the hopes of scaring the crap out of the old man. Although it worked (he had a heart attack and was hospitalized, nearly dying – Xanxus was not too happy about the nearly part), Xanxus was identified as the leader of the group and expelled. The rest of the kids had been suspended for a week and severely reprimanded. For the next several years, Xanxus was forced to do his schooling at home with a tutor who also worked for his father as a hitman. Xanxus wasn't particularly impressed with the stature of his tutor, but his annoying habit of encouraging his studies with the barrel of a beretta pressed against his temple had to be acknowledged.

By the time he was seventeen, his father had managed to find the right amount of bribery and blackmail to get his son into a nearby academy for his last year of high school. Xanxus wasn't too impressed when he had learned of his acceptance from his tutor until the man casually let it slip that some of his old friends might also go to the same academy.

On his first day of classes, he found Levi without any help (or desire). Although he had tried to keep out of his line of sight, the moustached man had been helpful in pointing out Lussuria, Belphegor, and Mammon. He knew Mammon would be a useful ally in his new school, but none of the others were who he was looking for specifically. When he asked about Squalo, no one would meet his eyes and Bel snickered cruelly.

"What would you want with that piece of trash?" the freshman replied when Xanxus asked again a week later. He would never admit to it, but he'd spent a lot of time looking for his wild, white hair or listening for his loud voice, but the only thing he'd found was the happy grin of some guy named Byakuran.

"Are you questioning me?" he growled out in reply. Lussuria put a calming hand on his arm.

"You know we would never question you, but even I have to wonder at your motives for finding poor Squ-chan." He shook his head, regretfully.

"What the fuck is so poor about that scum?" Xanxus was curious about why they all treated his old acquaintance like he was dead.

"You know Byakuran, right?" Mammon asked. Xanxus cocked an eyebrow. "He transferred in the year after you were exp–" Bel clapped a hand over the little guy's mouth. The 'E' word and any other word referring to Xanxus' removal from the school system was taboo.

"He came in the year after you," Lussuria continued for him. "Naturally, we all went our separate ways after that incident, and Byakuran quickly became the next big threat. Squ-chan kept referring to him as Mini-Xanxus." Xanxus chuckled at that. No one could take over a school like he could. "Anyways, Byakuran didn't like Squalo's attitude and took it upon himself to break our poor little shark." Xanxus snorted. Maybe they were right and he would have no more use for the other boy now that he was someone else's used garbage.

"So he's this Byaku-whatever's lapdog now?" He laughed at the image. "That's pathetic."

"Not… exactly…" Lussuria trailed off.

"He's half-broken," Levi explained for him, "and half-insane."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Xanxus threw his can of pop at Levi's head, unopened.

"He's their bitch," Bel spoke up. "But he bites the hand that feeds him, so he gets the shit kicked out of him regularly."

"I haven't seen him," Xanxus admitted. The only short, white hair he'd seen belonged to that Byakuran kid.

"Really?" Lussuria looked surprised. "Oh, well it's impossible not to run into him eventually."

"And you fucks let him take over the school?"

"Well, we were hardly a group." Mammon stole a fry off of Bel's plate. "None of us do anything for free. And he ignores us. He only targeted Squalo because of the hair and Squalo's insults. The odds are ten to one that he was originally planning on picking us off one by one starting with Superbi. That plan didn't work when we failed to group up."

~*~

Just when he thought that was the end of his search for Squalo, he was told to bring a package to the infirmary. He was about to tell the teacher to 'fucking do it yourself' when Lussuria leaned over and reminded him it would get him out of the class half an hour early. He hated running errands for lazy teachers, but he would rather be an errand boy than listen to his teacher's monotone for another half an hour.

He pushed open the door, but found no one in the main room. There was a quiet voice coming from behind the curtain surrounding one of the beds. Xanxus wasn't usually one prone to bouts of curiosity, but if it meant he avoided annoying teachers monitoring the halls he wasn't against satisfying the urge to find out what the curtains were trying to hide.

"Peru, sweetie, you cant keep falling down those main stairs." The voice belonged to a woman, Xanxus assumed it was the nurse and pulled back the curtain. Sure enough, the woman was sitting on the edge of the bed tending to another girl who had her back to Xanxus. She looked up as she dabbed at the pale cheek, making the girl hiss in a low voice. Xanxus frowned.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" The nurse spoke up, looking at the package in Xanxus' hand, waiting for him to explain his presence or at least hand it over. Unfortunately for her, Xanxus did things in his own time.

"What the fuck happened to this chick?" he asked bluntly.

"Who the fuck are you calling a god da–" The 'chick' whirled around on the bed, but 'her' masculine voice died in 'her' throat at the sight of him. "Xanxus." Xanxus stared at the boy for a moment before he recognized the face under all of the hair.

"You look like a fucking girl, Superubi." He laughed harshly and ignored the nurse's disapproving frown. Apparently, she at least knew who he was and didn't chastise him for their foul language.

"Shut the hell up. I fell down some stairs." Squalo shrugged at his own excuse, turning away from him and scratching at one of the bandages on his arm.

"Is that what all battered wives say when they get treated after their husbands beat the shit out of them?" Squalo flinched and pulled away from the nurse.

"Could you give us a couple of minutes alone?" he asked her quietly. She nodded and patted his hand fondly, giving Xanxus a hard stare as she passed him on her way out. She took the package from him as well.

"You in here often?" Xanxus asked, prompting Squalo to glare at him and stand up.

"What the fuck do you care?" Xanxus chuckled, shaking his head.

"I don't, but I find it amusing that I leave and you go whoring yourself out for the next best thing. Are you a masochist or something? You like it rough? Maybe that's why you grew out the hair, to give them something to hold onto." He laughed. Squalo was turning red.

"What the fuck do you think you know about this?!" Squalo yelled at him, throwing the first punch. Xanxus felt the jarring hit to his jaw, but none of the expected pain. Instead, it was Squalo who yelled out, cradling his bandaged hand to his chest. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he hissed out.

"How do you break fingers falling down a flight of stairs?" Xanxus asked. Squalo glared lightly at him, but knew he couldn't lie his way out of that question.

~*~

Xanxus didn't really give a shit one way or the other about this Byakuran bastard, until the other boy came up to him during lunch a couple of days later. He felt Squalo stiffen beside him, like he was caught doing something he shouldn't have, but didn't feel any inclination to look up.

"You're blocking my light," he growled, shoving some of his pasta into his mouth. "So get the fuck out of here." Instead of obeying like most people did, Byakuran chose to sit down across from him.

"So you're the Xanxus kid that my Squ-chan has told me so much about." This time Xanxus twitched. Although he hadn't made any sort of actual claim on the long haired boy, it was just assumed that he belonged to Xanxus. End of discussion. That and no one ever called Xanxus a kid. Not even when he was one. "You're a little thinner than I was expecting, to tell you the truth." Xanxus looked up and glared. Byakuran didn't even bat an eye. He kept grinning like the whole world belonged to him.

"He's not your Squ-chan," Xanxus spat out, but Byakuran wasn't intimidated in the least.

"Oh, but he is." He grinned brightly. "And he's been mine ever since that night under the bleachers three or four years ago." Xanxus straightened up in his seat. Lussuria and the others hadn't exactly mentioned that.

"What?" he growled out. Byakuran laughed, sensing that he had hit a nerve.

"Did no one tell you?" He shook his head as though it was a terrible misunderstanding. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Squalo is no longer as pure as he was when you left him in my care." Though Byakuran obviously hoped to pick a fight with the 'new kid', Xanxus disappointed him sorely by just laughing.

"You think I give a fuck about his virginity?" He threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Not everyone is as big a faggot as you are, Snowflake." Byakuran laughed as though he wasn't offended by Xanxus' attempt to insult him.

"You're such a pitiful thing, Xan-kun." Xanxus visibly stiffened at the butchering of his name. "Are you always such a poor loser?"

"Shut the fuck up, Byakuran," Squalo spoke up, throwing a piece of his sandwich at the other boy. It landed mayonnaise-side against Byakuran's cheek. Although he just laughed it off, both of them could see Byakuran wasn't happy about the flying food.

"You're so cute when you're mad at me, love." Squalo gagged.

"Suck my dick," he retorted and Xanxus felt one of Squalo's legs move under the table to deliver a swift kick to one of Byakuran's knees with the words.

"Oh, but I believe this week was your turn to go down on me!" Byakuran pouted. Xanxus knew the whole thing was a show to irritate the fuck out of him and he hated that it was working. He never liked giving someone what they wanted at his own expense.

"Maybe you should grow something between your legs if you expect anyone to suck you off!" Squalo's voice was getting louder and the teachers were looking over at their lunch table. It didn't help that their topic of conversation was also drawing attention. Xanxus stepped down on Squalo's foot hard.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch," he growled. "Your voice is giving me a god damned headache." He glared at Byakuran as well, silently telling him their conversation was over. Byakuran chuckled and took the hint.

~*~

Xanxus yanked Squalo under the bleachers roughly, holding onto a fistful of hair. The rest of the school had been let out early to watch their football team compete against a rival school. Xanxus never understood what was so interesting about kicking a little black and white ball around.

"Show me where the piece of shit fucked you!" he yelled, shoving Squalo forward to walk ahead of him.

"FUCK!" Squalo growled, tugging at his hair, trying not to rip it out. "Let me go, you bastard! That fucking hurts!! Byakuran is a fuckin–" Xanxus tugged again, interrupting Squalo's tirade and making him stumble. The cheering in the bleachers above them drowned out even Squalo's loudest yells.

"Show me, scum!" Xanxus repeated, pushing his friend into the dirt. Squalo yelled, pulling himself back to his feet, not really caring that his school uniform was now covered in dirt and grass.

"VOIII!!! What the fuck is your problem?" He shoved Xanxus wildly, trying to pull back before he could grab a hold of his hair again. "Byakuran is full of shit!!" Xanxus wove his fingers into Squalo's hair again, yanking him closer.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he hissed out. Squalo was already panting from the little fighting they had done.

"Byakuran has been saying that shit about me for years," Squalo explained. "It's not true. He fucking chickened out when he tried it. He prefers his sluts to beg and I don't do that bullshit." Xanxus pulled him into a rough kiss, not once loosening his hold in Squalo's hair. There were loud cheers from above them.

"That will change," Xanxus grunted against his lips. He was fed up listening to the rumours about Squalo and Byakuran.

"For you I might beg, Boss." Squalo smirked.

Xanxus laughed roughly. Sometimes there were benefits to acting without thinking about the consequences. He shoved Squalo down into the dirt, pressing down on top of him. For all of his bitching, Squalo was actually really turned on by the hair pulling. Xanxus rocked against him, pressing between his legs. Beneath him, Squalo moaned and arched into the movements.

"Do you have…" he trailed off, gritting his teeth. Xanxus wasn't impressed with Squalo's level of control during this situation. He would have rather his friend be completely unable to form a coherent thought.

"Do I have what?" Xanxus growled back at him, beginning to undo Squalo's pants.

"Lube," Squalo breathed out.

"What the fuck do I need that shit for?" Xanxus knew, he was just being belligerent and moody. He thought there was supposed to be less talking. "What do you know about any of this anyways? Someone else fuck you?" Squalo shoved him back with a withering glare.

"I'm a virgin, asshole, but even I know the basics of doing this properly." He crawled out from under Xanxus, his undone pants loose and starting to fall down his ass as he grabbed his fallen book bag. He pulled out a small tube of the stuff and tossed it at Xanxus.

"How long have you been carrying this stuff around?" If Byakuran had ever found it on Squalo it would be like an open invitation. Squalo blushed angrily in response.

"Only a couple of days." Xanxus raised an eyebrow at that.

"Since I arrived?" He grinned, grabbing Squalo by the arm and pulling him into another bruising kiss. "You're such a slut."

"Mmm not!" Squalo resisted him for a moment, but relaxed when the hand that moved to slide through his hair was gentle and soft. Xanxus began to move his lips along Squalo's jaw and down his neck, nipping and sucking on the skin, as his fingers started to unbutton the dirty uniform shirt. He frowned at what he saw.

"Is this from Byakuran?" he asked, poking at one of the purple bruises. Squalo hissed at the twinge of pain and punched him in the chest.

"Stop being an asshole and just fuck me." He tugged at Xanxus' belt, unbuckling it quickly. Xanxus growled and shoved him back into the dirt.

"Those bruises, shark. You aren't to let him or any of his pathetic lackeys leave any more marks on you. I don't like people damaging my stuff." Xanxus knew that his claim would piss off his friend, but he felt it had to be said. Squalo moaned at his words. He grabbed Xanxus by the tie and pulled him down on top of him kissing him hungrily.

Xanxus tugged down Squalo's pants just as the spectators watching the game above them let out another whoop of excitement.

He grunted softly once he was finished. Squalo collapsed fully into the dirt, no longer able to hold himself up. There were dark red fingertips pressed into his hips that would blossom into sensitive bruises by the next day. Xanxus smirked to himself when he noticed those, pleased that the marks he left on Squalo would be more welcomed than anything Byakuran ever left on him.

Above them, the crowd continued to roar.

~*~

Xanxus knew it wouldn't be long before Byakuran noticed the slight limp in Squalo's walk or the renewed pride in his posture. Sure enough, the very next morning Xanxus watched as Byakuran strolled up to Squalo and leaned one arm against the lockers beside him.

"I didn't mean to be so rough with you last night," Byakuran said, loud enough for his voice to be carried through the hallway. Now everyone would notice the difference in Squalo's gait. Xanxus had to admit, Byakuran was good at playing the hand he was dealt, even if it was a pile of shit. He knew how to turn anything into an advantage for himself. Squalo barely reacted to his words and merely put his locker door between himself and Byakuran.

"Aww, don't be like that, baby," Byakuran cooed, still keeping his voice loud enough that it would draw attention. "Maybe I should've used more lube, but you just kept begging for it."

Xanxus was about to step forward and put Byakuran in his place when Squalo slammed his locker shut and shoved his bully roughly.

"Shut the fuck up, you loser!" Squalo yelled, lifting his shirt up so the gathering crowd could see the bruises on his stomach. "You think I'm masochistic enough to beg for this bullshit?!" He pulled the shirt over his head to reveal the ones on his back as well. There was a collective gasp among their audience. Byakuran frowned. He could see the fingertip bruises poking out just underneath Squalo's belt that Xanxus had left behind.

"Did you forget that you fell down a flight of stairs, sweetie?" he asked. "You and I both know I've never laid a finger on you like that."

"No," Squalo reluctantly agreed. "You're too weak to fight your own battles, that's why you get Kikyou and Zakuro to beat the crap out of me instead."

Xanxus found himself growing bored with the scene they were causing and stepped forward, shoving past Byakuran roughly on purpose. He bent down to pick up Squalo's discarded shirt and threw it in his friend's face.

"Put your shirt back on," he growled at him, glaring at Byakuran. "Nobody wants to see your scrawny body like that. Come on, idiot." He turned to leave, but Byakuran was standing in his way.

"I'm not done talking with him," he said. "So maybe it's time you learned to stop interfering with our relationship."

"The shark is mine," Xanxus replied bluntly, smirking when he saw Squalo's face flush hotly out of the corner of his eye. Byakuran didn't quite so amused.

"Do you really want to cross me over a cheap piece of ass?" Kikyou and Zakuro stepped forward menacingly, but Byakuran waved them back. He was still trying to keep his image aloof and amused, but even Xanxus could see he was fuming.

"Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" Xanxus laughed loudly. He turned his back to Byakuran and continued walking, unconcerned with the other boy's threats.

Byakuran kept his rage hidden under a tight smile, waiting until Squalo had passed him before he reacted. He grabbed a good clump of the long, white hair and, using the element of surprise, yanked backwards, pulling Squalo off his feet with a yelp.

Xanxus whirled around at the sound and growled softly in his throat. Without a second thought, he pulled out the beretta his tutor had given to him two Christmases ago and shot Byakuran in the foot.

Squalo rolled out of the way and hopped to his feet just as Byakuran went down cursing. The crowd around them was completely silent.

"Don't you fucking touch my god damn hair again, you bastard!!" Squalo screeched, kicking Byakuran in the stomach. Xanxus rolled his eyes and grabbed a fistful of the stuff himself, pulling him back.

"Your voice is giving me a headache again, shark." Squalo glared, but refrained from trying to kick him, too. He tugged his locks free of Xanxus' tight grasp.

"You fucks think my hair is a toy?!" Despite his anger, he followed Xanxus out of the crowd. Xanxus noticed that all of the teachers who had been cautiously watching their little show had disappeared. He chuckled in amusement. Even with Xanxus' reputation, they were more than willing to turn a blind eye to the brief moment of violence. They'd silently agreed to go with what they saw as the lesser of two evils. Though he hated to be thought of as the lesser of anything, Xanxus appreciated the way it worked in his favour.

Though Byakuran was hardly worth thinking about now, he'd just heard from Mammon about a new freshman who was starting to catch some attention and he wasn't quite ready to get expelled again.

AN: The sex scene was cut out to follow ff.n's rating guidelines. The full version including the juicy bits is located on my lj account or at the khrfest community.