Acceptance. Twiddler. 2.

Edward looked around as Harvey led him into the house, he'd never been in a student house before, his dads was rather close to his college, so he'd not even bothered to look at them. Things at home had always been bad, but since he came out he'd been scared to so much as leave his room while his father was home.

He was just... so disrespectful, and violent, he could barely stand it.

His father had been physically abusive before, but he’d never cut him, never left a wound this bad.

"So what happened," Harvey asked as they walked into the kitchen, his eyes fixed on the small spot of blood on Edward's collarbone that stretched down underneath his loosened binder.

Edward shrugged, lifting his arms to cross them over his chest, trying to hide the extent of the damage, "Oh, me and my dad got in a fight, that's all."

"That's abuse you know..?" Harvey said, still frowning, "You could get him put away for doing that."

Edward bit his lip and shook his head, "I couldn't..."

The other man frowned, letting out a small huff and pouring Edward a coffee.

"He is your dad, I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to go though that."

Edward took the coffee and took a sip, groaning softly and closing his eyes. He'd never thought coffee could taste so good. He smiled softly, watching Harvey for a moment.

Why would a man like that pay him any attention?

He was the head of the school student union, head of his class, leader of countless charity projects.

An icy stab shot through Edwards gut.

Was this charity?

Was he a charity case?

Sure he’d been in bad situations before but he’d never had anyone act like this towards him. Was he acting with pity? Edward hadn’t even considered this.

“Could I use your bathroom?” Edward asked, “I’d kind of like to clean this up,” he gestured to the wound on his chest.

Harvey nodded, “Sure,” he reached behind him, pulling a small box from one of the kitchen cupboards, and thrusting it towards Edward, “Here, you might want to use this.”

Edward looked down at the first aid kit and frowned weakly, “Thanks,” he said briskly as he walked to the bathroom, locking the door and quickly taking off his shirt and binder, looking down at and beginning to clean the cut that stretched down his breast.

It was worse than he thought it had been, he’d not realised before now just how much it hurt, the pain had been numbed by either adrenalin or the cold.

He’d been so angry…

His dad had been yelling at him, as he so often did, but Edward had had enough, he wasn’t sure why, but the mention of his girl name had just made him snap, and he’d yelled back, screamed at him. And that was when his dad had picked up a knife. He didn’t remember much after that other than his father screaming incessantly that he was a girl and should act like one ‘stop all this attention seeking bullshit’.

The next thing he knew he was running down the road.

He jumped and gasped as he heard someone try the door. “Harv, come on… Damn it I need to piss!”

He swallowed hard, preparing himself to shout back, but Harvey beat him to it, “That’s not me Bruce, we have a guest.”

The man behind the door, who Edward guessed was Bruce Wayne, stilled, letting out a low groan, “Sorry,” he shouted through the door.

“It’s ok,” Edward replied, hurrying himself to clean the cut on his chest and bandage it, putting his binder back on and replacing his shirt.

He tried to be quiet as he left the room, chewing his lip, he’d never met Bruce Wayne in person, he wasn’t sure if he was the accepting kind, he was from a rich family, that fact alone did not fill him with hope.

He walked into the kitchen, his eyes low, seeing four sets of feet rather than the previous two.

“It’s uh, Edward Nigma right?” Bruce said calmly, smiling softly, extending a hand to pat his arm.

Edward nodded, “Yeah,” he looked up, forcing a smile.

“You got in a fight with your dad again?” Bruce asked, how he was able to tell this Edward had no idea.

“…Yeah,” Edward repeated.

Bruce smiled, “Well you can stay here as long as you need to.”

Edward shook his head, “No, it’s ok, I’ll just… steal some of your food, have a shower and then be on my way, I’m fine.”

The two other men frowned softly, “Edward,” Harvey started, “We can’t just let you go, you’ve got nowhere to go, you slept on our fucking porch last night.”

Edward looked to the floor again, swallowing hard, he couldn’t defend that, but he didn’t want to depend on them, he was a smart man, he could do this on his own, he didn’t need help like that.

“You’re not arguing with us on this. You’re staying with us. You’ll sleep on the couch and eat our leftovers, but you’re staying here.”

Edward let out a soft exhale, looking back up at them, “…Fine,” he said bitterly, feeling a weight suddenly lift from him, “…Thank you…”