Atop the Mountain

Chapter 11: What We Want

Raihan's a bit of a pushover, when he's a kid. It doesn't come up often, because he's fairly popular, so no one really bothers trying to push him around, and if they do, he has people that will defend him.

At sixteen, Raihan's mastered most of their school curriculum- it helps that his dads basically wrote the entire thing, and he's certainly not opposed to helping people who are struggling with it. He soon learns, however, that not everyone wants his help.

"You know you look like a right tool lecturing everyone, right?" one of his classmates says, leveling a glare his way as he covers his parchment with his arm.

"I'm not trying to lecture you," Raihan says, "I'm trying to help."

"Well I didn't ask for help. If I wanted help, I'd ask your dad."

Raihan frowns. His dad had left early to take care of a few donations to the library, leaving Raihan to help out anyone who needed it in the last hour of class, but if he doesn't want his help... well, so be it.

After class lets out, some of the boys in his class corner him. It's a weird sight, because none of them even come close to him in terms of height, but there's three of them, and one of him, and they're looking at him like they might start throwing punches. Raihan likes to fight- in safe, regulated settings. He likes rules and structures to operate within. He doesn't like classroom brawls. He raises his hands in surrender and one of them chuckles.

"Dude, we're not gonna hurt you- but if you like the work so much, well, we figured, why don't you just do it for us?"

"That's not very productive. You're not going to learn very well that way."

"Uh, yeah, so I super don't care. Just do it." Several papers are shoved roughly into Raihan's hands. He should shove them right back. He should tell them no, or maybe tell his dad what they're trying to do.

But he just takes the stack home and gets to work.

When he hears a knock on his bedroom door, he shoves the papers under his blankets and pulls out a sketchbook. "Come in!" he calls. His dads aren't usually home before nightfall, so it's weird that they're checking in on him now.

He breathes a sigh of relief when Leon steps through the door. He leans back to pull the stack of papers back out. "Want to help me with this? You're good at Maths, yeah?"

Leon furrows his brow- one of Raihan's favorite looks on him- and takes the papers. "You've already done this." He says, frowning Raihan's way. "I saw you talking to Reed and his friends after class. This isn't theirs, is it?"

Raihan swallows, "If I say yes?"

Leon's shoulders slump. He sits on Raihan's desk, leaning down to force Raihan to meet his eye. "Rai-" he whispers.

"I know. I just- I don't want them to fail, you know?" he says, flipping through the papers, "and I don't even mind it's just- tedious."

"They won't learn that way."

"I told them that."

"Of course you did." Leon smiles at him, the nice wide kind that Raihan likes. He reaches over and takes the stack from his hands. "Listen, how about we slip these under their doors, and we go for a swim in the river? It's gonna be too cold soon."

Raihan really wants to do that. He looks at the papers dubiously, "They'll be upset."

Leon shrugs, "They're not gonna bother you. I'll just get Flick to stand around and look mean. Deal?"