"Adopt" - Deadly Class (2022)

𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚙𝚝;

Marcus knew it was a bad habit.

Smoking, drinking, fucking; they were all 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙨. Stupid impulses driven by the stupid monkey brain housed inside Marcus Arguello's stupid fucking head. The same head that couldn't pick between the two most dangerous women at Kings Dominion, the same head that currently boasted a slew of injuries for his indecision.

Splattered into a Picasso mess of bruises and blood, Marcus' right eye was already swelling closed. He'd felt his cheekbone shatter under Chico's fist, his nose crunching in quick succession. Dual trails of crimson trickled from his nose, into his mouth, where he tongued at the fleshy hole that used to contain a tooth. The bridge of his nose bloomed with constellation bruises, the purple-yellow splotches peppered with microcuts from aggressive jewellery. Splotchy, lumpy, bumpy and bloody - Marcus Arguello; walking roadkill.

Fat lip stinging around his dwindling cigarette, Marcus blew wobbling smoke rings into the dusky evening. He was used to it now; the copper taste of blood in his mouth, the dull ache throbbing in his temples, the rosy rings around his spent cigarette stubs. He'd wash it away with a mouthful of whatever alcohol-adjacent contraband Lex had smuggled into the school - whiskey, vodka, fucking moonshine. Tonight though, the best he could find was 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳.

It'd do. He'd adopted worse habits from living on the streets, and finding a high almost anywhere ended up as more of a blessing than a curse. Throwing back the dayglo blue liquid, Marcus winced. It scalded his throat on the way down, and stung the toothless cavities in his mouth. Sighing and spitting a shot of fizzing blood to the concrete, Marcus mumbled an admission into the temperate night.

"You fuckin' deserve it, Arguello."

𝘔𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘷 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴) 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘎𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘵. 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 Rick Remender.

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Originally written and shared as part of Verbuary 2022: https://tinyurl.com/bp7fc4da