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Yes, Howl was a lad, not a lady.

No matter how much like a girl he looked, he was 100% male. Even if he did take particular care of his looks, from his beautifully brushed teal hair, to his regularly cleaned (but never polished) nails, he was still male. And now as he walked down the hall with his books pressed across his chest and adding to the "chick" appearance, he was still quite male. Howl had always been the type to prefer bringing briefcases to class instead of backpacks. Given the option of using his locker or using a backpack, he readily went with the first option, since backpacks were rather tacky looking, and it was something he could not risk being seen with.

Classes were over for the day. The next thing he needed to do was deposit his unnecessary books in his locker, gather the essential ones for his homework that evening, and walk to fencing practice. After the fencing tournament, his will to continue up the team seemed to have blossomed. His efforts had not been in vain, and the boys had actually learned a little something. They were far from champions, but so was Howl. Yet any ability to score a point meant something. Especially scoring on a well established team like Crystal Academy's.

He sighed one of those whimsical sighs, the type that meant he was thinking about something pleasant. His thoughts apparently obscured his hearing though at that moment as footsteps began to approach from behind him.

It would seem that luck was not on his side today. All plans of making it to Fencing practice in a timely fashion seemed to disappear in his mind, and now plans on visiting the Hillworth school nurse seemed to dance about in his mind.

In a rather respectable tone, Howl answered Jesse's prompting without a stutter or any relative sign of weakness. "Rather strange that you would be speaking of me, Mr. Alvarez. I was under the impression we were merely acquaintances at best."

There was a formality to his voice that kept him from sounding as kind as usual. As his hair was pulled out of its proper place (which actually did bother him slightly, the hair was still attached to his head and his scalp did have feeling), his eyes glanced to the offending hand. The momentary question of how often Mr. Alvarez washed that hand that was desecrating his hair did pass through Howl's mind, but he pushed it out of his mind, brushing it off as the answer Never. It was this thought in his mind that prevented him from removing that hand from his hair.

"Merely one time a day, Mr. Alvarez." There was a pause as the next comment was left to hang in the air for a bit. When he finally felt able to dignify such a comment with one of his own, he uttered in the same formal tone "I disapprove of your antics, but I am certain you already knew that." Jesse had yet to move onto the "hate" list in Howl's mind, which only consisted of one lad at that point named Brandon.

Once you were already caught, there was no hope in trying to escape. Howl's mouth was pressed into a straight line as he basically took this situation with as much dignity as he could muster. Of course, in comparison to a bloody nose, which could possibly tear that hardly noticeable piercing he had there, this was easily a welcomed option. Toilet water washed out, but a broken nose was up to chance whether it healed properly or not. He did not exactly want a kink along the bridge of his nose for the rest of his life.

Regardless, restraining orders were a b*tch.

Even in this situation, he did manage to find a rather entertaining phrase that he felt the need to comment on: "So you are boys that enjoy playing with 'dollies'... that is indeed interesting. I was under the impression that homosexual boys were the ones who played with dolls."

Mentally, he prepared to hold his breath soon, since getting the toilet water in his mouth wasn't his idea of a good time.

Ah yes, Mr. Alvarez knew the whole story. Howl was apparently now gay, apparently in an intimate relationship with Franz (and such a thought in itself was pretty disturbing), and apparently unloved by his family due to being in the Hillworth facility. Of course, all of this was extremely false, but why would Mr. Alvarez attempt to figure such a thing out. Howl was in love with a girl in another city, Franz was in love with Janice, and his parents were legally fighting to gain some sort of visitation rights for him. Yes, he was aware he had disappointed them with his whole legal situation, but disappointment and love were two separate things.

The boys were able to rather easily position Howl as they desired in front of the dingy yellow-gray porcelain bowl. He had nothing to say in retaliation as they had attempted to peck at him like filthy little crows.

When given permission to speak he quickly offered "Your material is quite stale," before shutting his mouth tight. Toilet water in the mouth was something he hoped to avoid. Teasing over sexuality was something he was quite adjusted to, though he was used to more witty comments over the current neanderthal-leveled insults.

It was an odd feeling having your head in a toilet when you weren't puking up the contents of your stomach into it. It was even stranger to have the cold water actually touching your hair and bare skin. As he was forced to keep his head and hair in the water, he pressed his eyes tightly shut. Though everything happened so fast, it felt as if it was all going in slow motion. Each splash of water against his face felt at least like a full minute, and there was much water splashing about. After what felt like an hour of mental torture more than anything (Howl knew how much bacteria there was in toilet water, no matter how clean it looked), he was pulled out and cast aside like a rag-doll.

Even though the "worst" was over, as he took in a deep breath of air to cool off his burning lungs, he felt a foot meet the side of his body. More out of surprise than anything, he grunted out, body falling against the cool floor. He attempted to hoist himself up with one arm as Jesse gave him his little threat. Howl's upbringing was cringing at how horrible annunciation of the word "gorgeous," but that part of him shut up completely upon receiving a second, more harsh kick to the ribs. As the gang said their fond farewells, his slender body curled up out of pure instinct to nurse the injured part of him. Underneath his head a puddle of water was beginning to pool up thanks to the toilet water rinse cycle.

He could not stay in the restroom forever. Howl rolled his body so his back was flat against the floor. That Jesse Alvarez definitely had mastered the art of kicking someone when they were down (in the physical sense). His delicate right hand reached across his body and clutched the spot which had been kicked. The pain had dulled down from a sharp sting to a gradual pain that was eased slightly when applying pressure.

"Well," he managed to cough out, "at least that is over."

Still holding onto his side, he used his left hand to push himself off the ground. With his books now scattered across the floor near the toilet, the teal-haired lad was forced to gather his belongings. The task should have been no problem, but each time he leaned down to grab a book, the pain in his side eased back into existence. After about five minutes, he had completed this task and set his books up nicely on the floor by one of the sinks. He was quite aware that his hair would need a proper washing after fencing practice, but that part of him that remembered the bacteria in the water insisted that he quickly rinse his hair in the sink.

Apparently, this was going to be a part of his new daily schedule. After the rinse and a quick wringing of his long hair, he picked up his books and exited the bathroom with as much dignity as he could muster. He had one hand clutched to his side and dripping wet hair, but his expression tried to make it seem as if nothing had happened by remaining neutral.

I will have to apologize to my teammates if they are still waiting for me to get fencing practice started he mused. After all, his dripping locks should have been enough to explain why Howl was not on time today.

[FIN]