8 - True friend(s)?

The two teammates of Horknath that were holding him back had struggled at first, since he was trying to toss them off (he was definitely not up for any other insult right now, and being called out for being bloodthirsty by Piritoo after all the disgusting things he had been saying about Carleen was just not something he would stand by) - but he had managed to reign himself in in the end.
He eyed the phone that the football player was offering to him for a second as he took deep breaths to calm himself down. Then he accepted it with a shaky hand, taking a hold of it. "I'm fine", he murmured to his own colleagues, who let go of him soon after making sure that indeed he wasn't going to punch Piritoo again. "Someone should bring him to the infirmary. I'll- I'll need a minute", he added. He threw a glance filled with barely held back anger to Piritoo. "Wait until Theseus hears you've called his boyfriend his fuck friend, then we'll see who he'll want to listen to."

Piritoo clenched his teeth. "We'll see who he'll listen to, you thief. Give me my phone back."

The one who had given Horknath Piritoo's phone sighed, right after his other teammate had declared he'd drag Piritoo to the infirmary, and yanked him up, pushing there with no ounce of guilt.
"Sorry about that. We're... unfortunately used to him being a dick, so we didn't react before- well." He pressed his lips together, and looked down briefly at Horknath's bloodied knuckles. "We, uh. We'll try to cover things up a bit, but if I were you I'd take a breather before he gets the cops involved. He's quite an ass in that department as well."

Horknath absently looked down at his hand too - his fingers were still clenched into a fist so hard that his knuckles would've looked pale if only it weren't for the blood covering them, and he noted that he was shaking now. The weight of what he had just dawned on him, and had settled uncomfortably into his stomach.
If before he felt like he was bursting open at the seams with rage, now he felt like he could throw up. "... yeah", he answered, his voice now thin and tired. "Thank you-" He threw a quick glance at the other man, distractedly noting his name. "-Hector. I'll... I think I'll sit down for a bit." Maybe make a call, it came as an afterthought, but right now he just felt like he really needed to sit somewhere.
And he did, letting himself slump on a nearby bench, where he proceeded to hold his head in his hands for some minutes that felt like hours - during which he could only think of the consequences he was now going to surely face.
Would he be expelled? Arrested? What were his parents going to say? What was Asterius going to say, even? And Carleen-
He felt bitterness rise in his throat when his thoughts went to Carleen. He blindly looked for his own phone - he had thrown Piritoo's one in his bag - and hesitated for a good other minute before he managed to gather the courage to call her.

Carleen had just entered campus once more, and smiled to herself when she heard the specific ringtone she had set up whenever Horknath called her. She took her phone out and answered right away, with a cheerful voice. "Hey! I'm back on campus, I'm heading towards the stadium. Are you still around there?" To her, it was just a normal Friday, and they'd join and kiss and have a carefree evening together with Spike.

Horknath didn't answer immediately. He felt like choking when he heard Carleen's unsuspecting, happy voice, and he took a second to run his hand on his face before finally speaking. "I'm... I'm in the lockers, yes." He paused again. How could he tell her? "I- Carleen, I'm sorry. I think I am in trouble- or I will be, soon enough", he started, desperately trying to fish out the right words. Before she could ask, he took a deep breath. "I've hit someone. I... think I broke his nose. I'm pretty sure I did."

Carleen's unsuspecting giddiness had vanished the moment she had heard Horknath's tired, shocked voice. She stopped walking altogether at first, but then began to walk fast again. Her boyfriend was a sweet, gentle man. She knew him enough by now to know he wasn't the type to hit anyone. Hell, she doubted he was even the type to hit back. Whatever brought him there, it must have been big.
"I'm coming," she told him, in what she hoped was a soothing voice. "I'm coming for you, Horknath, and we'll sort it out, together. I'll be there in five minutes. Want to stay on the phone with me until then?"

Horknath swallowed down the thick lump of guilt that had formed in his throat and nodded his head, before realizing that Carleen couldn't possibly see him through the phone. "I... Yeah. Please", he answered, his voice growing weary again. He wasn't probably going to talk much, but hearing her voice was maybe going to calm him down a little bit while she reached for him. He hoped that would be the case, at least.

"I'm on my way," Carleen promised, keeping her pace fast. "I'll get you, we'll get to your place, and talk about it there, if you want to. If you don't, that's fine as well by me- but I want you to know that I love you, alright? Whatever happened, I'm sure it's not your fault."

She kept on talking to him on her way there, and didn't hang up right away when she got to the stadium. In fact, she spotted some of Theseus' teammates - Hector, namely - who guided her to Horknath right away.
She let out a gasp when she saw the blood still on his knuckles and hung up, dropped her bag and ran towards him. "Horknath, are you alright?" Given their size difference, she didn't have to crouch to get at eye level with him, and just cupped his cheek, to look at him with concern. "Are you hurt?"

Horknath did his absolute best to keep himself from weeping when Carleen told him so earnestly that she loved him. He had bitten his lip and answered a choked reciprocation to her.
After that he mostly just listened to her voice as she spoke to him, while taking deep breaths - and it succeeded into calming him down, at least enough to be sure he wouldn't cry when he would see her. He felt actually so relieved when Carleen ran to him, and cupped his face in such a worried way, that he could swear he felt better almost instantly. He threw a glance to his knuckles when she pointed it out and weakly shook his head. "'s not my blood", he answered in a mutter, still clearly ashamed by his instinctive, brash reaction. He struggled to meet her gaze, but he tried his best to. "I'm sorry."

Carleen let out a small smile, and laid a kiss on Horknath' forehead. "Don't worry. All the more reasons to clean this, then. Stay there, I'll be right back." She went to grab her bag again and took some tissues out, that she went to wet by one of the lockers' sinks before she was back, asking for Horknath's hand so that she might clean it. "We'll disinfect it once we're home, just in case. You can't be too cautious with this. She kept on holding his hand once she was done, clearly worried for him. "Will you be alright with walking?" Hell, her boyfriend seemed to be in such a shocked state that she didn't feel like pressuring him too much.

Horknath let out a light smile when Carleen started to fuss over him like that - kissing his forehead, cleaning his knuckles with tissues and water, and holding his hand in hers. It was such a loving gesture, and even if he wasn't sure to deserve that, he was very thankful for it. "I'll be alright with walking", he answered in the end with a sigh, nodding to her.
He even looked less pale now. Maybe a walk and some fresh air would have helped make him remember that he hadn't certainly hit Piritoo just for fun, and that he had some witnesses who could say just how vile he was being before he had punched him.

Carleen smiled at Horknath, and pecked his lips before she finally went to retrieve her bag. She arranged it on her shoulder and offered her hand to Horknath. "I'll explain to Spike we need to talk, and that we'll delay his walk a little bit. He'll understand if I ask, right?" She tried to joke, to ease his spirites a bit. She guessed Horknath might want to talk about it - anything it was - as long as they were still on campus, with wandering ears around them.

That joke managed to tear a little laugh from Horknath while he picked up his own bag. "Well - I think he will pout for a bit, but he will accept it. By that I mean he'll flop next to the door with his leash in his mouth and whine", he answered with a little smile, joking back to make her understand her tentative was more than welcome. He hesitated, but eventually grasped her hand in his own as gently as he could. "We can go."

Carleen nodded, gently squeezed Horknath's hand in her own and walked back to his place with him. There, she warmly greeted Spike, but she got inside with Horknath and sat him down on the couch instead of going out for the walk they had initially planned. She gently took his hands in hers again, and looked at him in the eye. "Would you tell me what happened? I know you're not the kind to lose your temper. If it happened, someone must have pushed you to it."

Horknath had walked silently by Carleen's side throughout the short patch of road that separated the University's complex from the apartment he shared with Asterius. He gently pet his dog as well, and Spike - who, like many animals, was quite sensitive to the mood of the ones that mattered to him - immediately understood that daddy was no alright, so he just followed them to the couch to flop next to their feet, in silence.
Horknath bit his lip when Carleen observed that he wasn't the kind to lose his temper. "Usually, I'm not. I don't really care if they call me names or make fun of me. But this time, it's just-" He took a deep breath. "This time, someone in the locker rooms was talking about you."

Carleen sighed heavily, and closed her eyes, wincing. "Please tell me it wasn't Brad. Two meters tall, black hair, awful Texan accent?" She opened one eye, readying herself for what she thought might be the worst.
She'd look at him with wide eyes, however, if she heard the name of Piritoo. And instead of sorry and worried, she would look furious.

Horknath blinked. No, that name didn't sound familiar - nor did the accent, or the description. "No, not Brad." He bit on his lip again, still feeling hesitant. "Your brother's friend. Piritoo."
He winced a little at that expression Carleen assumed, stomach dropping as his first thought was that she was mad at him for punching someone close to Theseus. "He was saying awful things, he spoke ill of Theseus, of my brother, he- called me an ogre", in his haste to explain himself he still managed to lower his voice at that word, since it was definitely considered a slur towards orcs, "and he said that you were-" He almost didn't have the courage to say it. "-a slut with a... size fetish." His hands twitched as he remembered how mad he had felt at those words, in the instant he had understood that Piritoo had been talking of Carleen, but he relented when he felt that he was holding her hands too tight now.

Carleen's expression darken, but she said nothing at first. She patiently let Horknath finish, and took in a deep, hard breath. "That piece of dirt," she spat eventually, before she sighed. "I know. He's always been like this. In fact, he's always like this when Thee isn't around. I'm- actually surprised he spoke ill of him so openly." She let go of Horknath's hands to gently cup his cheeks, and peck his lips. "He deserved it. Anyone would have punched him after hearing all of those things at once."

Horknath was surely not expecting that degree of understanding - and he was utterly unprepared to receive it, so he was unable to hide his moved expression. And his embarrassment. "I... it was just when he started talking about you, that I punched him", he murmured. "I wouldn't have cared if he had called me names. Sure, I would have told you that he was talking bad about your brother, but..."

"But you got mad because he was disrespecting me, and our relationship," Carleen completed with a softer smile. She kissed Horknath once more, and then hugged him tight for a while, before she sighed. "I'll talk to Thee about it. It won't be the first time I do, but I've usually never addressed how much of a racist and misogynist Piritoo is yet. I think it's high time he gets rid of him. And without Theseus to back him up, he'll lose his place in the football team. That'll teach him."

Horknath hugged Carleen close to him, wrapping both his arms around her. "Yeah. If that's not enough to convince him, I'll just need to repeat what he said about him and Asterius", he scoffed. "Even though, knowing Theseus, that would only get Piritoo a second punch in the face." Not that he wouldn't deserve it, but. Well. Something came to his mind all of a sudden when his gaze fell away from Carleen's gentle face and on his sportsbag. "... right. Hector gave me his phone", he added, uneasiness creeping back in his voice. "He said there are... pictures, there. Of you." He paused. "I haven't looked at it. I don't really want to."

Carleen looked genuinely concerned, and a little scared. "Picture of me? But I've never sent anything indecent to anyone." And that's what scared her. She took the phone and, since Piritoo just used the same safety pattern since middle school, she was able to unlock it. And since Horknath didn't feel like looking at the pictures, she wasn't fully showing him the screen, but her face with utter disgust, and uneasyness. She started browsing faster and faster. And the suddenly locked the phone again, dropped it on the table as if it was burning hot, and brought her hands to her lips.
There were angered tears in her eyes, and she was trying hard to take deep breaths in. In the end, she leaned towards Horknath and hid her face against his chest.

Horknath studied her expression with crescent worry, and when she saw her almost throwing the phone on the table and her eyes swell with tears, he was immediately ready to take her back in his arms, and hold her tight. "... what was-", he started, but then held his tongue. If she wanted to tell him about it, she would at her own conditions. He held her, murmuring soothing words into her hair, kissing her head, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "Should've punched him harder", he whispered to himself, muffled by her hair. "Do you want me to call someone?", he asked then gently. "Or do you still feel alright with staying the night?"

"I want to stay here with you. Please," Carleen mumbled against his chest, before she took in a shaling breath. "This piece of garbage has been stalking me. There are pictures of me at uni, in public, or even ay my own place when he came to visit Thee, that wretch-" she stopped herself, and progressively calmed down, before she shifted away from Horknath to look at him. She had shed a few angry tears already, so she sniffled a bit. "I'd just- I think I'll need to call my mom before we get out again."

Horknath felt sick, learning just what kind of maniac level Piritoo had already reached - and thanked whatever God or Gods had made sure that Carleen was always paired with someone who could defend her at all moments.
Hell, what could have happened if he had been just a second less decent and decidedto let her go back home by her own after one of their dates? Would Piritoo have been out there, ready to assault her? The thought made him shiver, and filled him with the undefeatable need to crush his bones. He took a deep breath, and his rage subsided into the simpler but more righteous need to just make sure that Carleen was okay. "Of course", he answered, letting go of her to allow her to shift away. "I'll give you some privacy and- get to phoning the chinese restaurant for that take-away. If you still want that for dinner?" He raised his hand to gently tuck her rebellious strand of hair back behind her ear in a practiced, affectionate gesture.