I looked towards the playground slide where some kids were apparently playing according to Brian, to me it just looked like the older kids were bullying someone younger and smaller than themselves. The joy of being outside slowly drained away.
Sigh
'Please for the love of God, don't be the bullying cliché. It's so overused to the point that I didn't even put one in my own academy arc.'
I made a beeline toward the slide, and just to be sure I glanced at Brian as he gave me a thumbs up. 'Atleast he is keeping watch over me.'
Thud
I turned my attention back due to the sound and saw the bullied kid lying on the ground.
'Hah, of course it has to be this crappy cliché. Sorry kid, but you are on your own, I mean this is how you learn to man up, right?'
I tried to walk around the scene playing out before me, only to be stopped by one of the lackeys. He towered over me, and looked to be around ten years old or could be nine. Either way he was definitely older than me, that's for sure.
"Hey—" I tried to speak only to be cut off.
"Where do you think you're going pipsqueak?"
I simply pointed towards the metal swing next to the slide. "I am just going to sit there. You all can continue what you were doing."
I took a step forward, only to be shoved back. Hard. As I tried to get my bearings and not fall on my back.
"Hey! Thom we got another pipsqueak trying to take over our base." he shouted with the same excited energy as if he had found a new toy to play with.
'This brat, if he touches me again. I am gonna smack him.'
I immediately rein my thoughts, 'No, Arwin calm yourself. Don't be impulsive. These are just kids, some stupid young brats.'
I looked around to see the supposed leader. A kid who looked around thirteen or somewhere close, walked towards me leaving the other two lackeys to bully the younger kid.
"Where did you come from? Tiny squirt."
Before I could even say anything, Thom grabbed me by the collar and threw me near the bullied kid. I fell on my ass, a sharp pain shoots through my palm. A quick glance showed scratches on my palm, with a few deep ones bleeding a little. I looked back at Thom and the smug kid as they walked towards me.
Sniff
The bullied kid had also begun to cry. He was quite young, although still older than me but only by 2 or 3 years. I immediately stood up to see all four bullies had surrounded me, trying to look intimidating. To someone my age they were more like snot-nosed brats, who needed strict parents to keep them on leash.
I glanced towards Brian, who sat besides a sleeping homeless man. He gave me another thumbs up, as if cheering me would solve this issue.
'Why the fuck are you giving me a thumbs up, Brian? What am I supposed to do with that? Help me godam...'
"Hey, where are you looking at? Look at me, arsehole." Suddenly I was jerked forward, as one of the lackeys had once again grabbed my collar, copying what their leader had done and tried to shove me back.
I instinctively grabbed his wrist, gripping it tightly. If I was going down then I am taking one of them with me.
Other kids closed up on me, as both I and the lackey struggled a bit.
A large shout stopped all of us in our tracks.
"Hey! Knock it off." apparently it seemed Brian was now satisfied that Arwin 'has made some friends'.
The tall lackey looked shaken from the shout as he immediately let go of me. The other kid also seemed fearful of the rough looking man, except Thom, who seemed annoyed as if someone had taken his new toys away from him. He glared at me.
"You take your papa with you in toilet too?"
"You stink, ever heard of bathing?" I remained emotionally unmoved by his pathetic attempt at a jab. I had heard better trash talk than this.
Thom raised his fist, but I pointed towards Brian.
"Loser." he spat on the ground as they backed off, looking like they had just successfully committed a heist, with sneer on their faces.
'What the hell? Do these kids think they are in UK or something.' I looked towards Brian and then back to bullies who were walking towards the slide. I also walked towards the metal swing aiming to waste time playing around for an hour and hope that Brian would take me back home. Only for it to be ruined.
"Arwin you do know he is older than you right? Be kind and help the kid up, will ya." Brian shouted from the bench, not overly loud but just loud enough to be heard from the distance.
'Great, just great. Arwin, you are now a babysitter while also being a child.' Sighing. I walked back to the crying kid on the ground, although it was more of a sobbing than outright crying.
"Hey, uh.. you okay?" no response came, as he only sobbed. I grabbed his shoulders only for him to suddenly jerk backwards as if I had hit him.
I looked around for his supposed parents if they were nearby, 'Ok, what do I do? He is not responding to anything I am saying, and it's not like this is some anime where the kid will just magically stop crying and listen to me. I can't find his parents either.'
I shouted towards Brian, "What do I do Brian?" hoping that atleast he would have an answer, cause this was my first time encountering a crying kid in a park and that with no parent in sight.
The sobbing kid straightened up for a few seconds peeking at me, before slouching once again.
Brian ignored me, with his arms crossed over his chest. He was asleep, 'Tch, he is no help either. What the hell? What kind of birthday is this? I had to deal with a bunch of Dickhead kids at first and now a damsel of a kid. Think brain, think. What could calm a crying, weak child who has just been bullied.'
"Hey, can you atleast tell me your name?" the kid continued to silently sob. "Uhh, do you want me to call your mom? or like, can you tell me where she is?"
Like a reflex the kid immediately stopped sobbing. He looked up with a scared expression, "Pp-pplea-please do-don't call my m-mom. P-p-please."
A chill went down my spine. The sobbing kid looked more scared of his mother than those bullies. He shivered either due to cold ground or...
'What the—Ah fuck me.' I forcefully grabbed his arm and pulled him up, which was quite hard for me with my weak arms, he was not only taller but also seemed way heavier than he normally should have been.
'Damn, am I that weak? I should start working out if pulling a kid up is this hard.'
I look for any injuries on his face, only to see a bruise on his cheek. "Hey, you ok? No, before that what is your name kid, I am Arwin."
The kid looked down at the ground as if his name was buried in the dirt. My attention fell on his clothes, which was definitely oversized for a kid this age, and dirty. Not the kids playing in the park kinda dirty but more like the clothes haven't been washed. Interrupted from my speculation, as two hand fidget in front of my vision. The kid tried to speak but his words came in stutter.
"Speak clearly, kid."
"I-I, m-my name is B-Brian."
Pfft A held back laugh came out, as I desperately tried to hold it.
'Brian!? Oh what a great name. I know a Brian as well.'
Calming myself after taking few deep breaths.
"Yeah? I know a Brian as well." I pointed towards the rough looking man sleeping on the bench. "His name is also Brian."
I patted his back weakly, walking towards the metal swing. Avoiding the bullies who were eyeing us. "Sooo~ what do you like Brian?"
I sat on the metal swing not caring for ice-cold metal, as my legs felt like noodle after the encounter with bullies. Brian was just stood in front of me looking at the ground.
"Brian, you can sit on the other swing. Those dic- I mean, bullies won't hurt you, as long as Brian is here, well the other Brian." I tried my horrible attempt to crack a joke.
He slowly moved to the empty swing but not before checking on what the bullies were doing. Meanwhile I just weakly swung, pushing against the ground to gain speed and pulling my legs in when it came down.
I looked around for anything interesting, as I had a terrible conversational partner. Being that there was a large digital clock at the center of this playground. 7:48 am. 14/11/10.
Interestingly many of the benches were now empty, with only few people sleeping on them, either they woke up before the morning patrols officers came or they had a job. Which made the question why Brian would sit on an occupied bench more interesting, but not less interesting then learning programming. This world had made major improvements in pretty much all sectors of technology, now being ever more closer to achieving Tier 1 on Kardashev scale.
My pondering was interrupted as Brian, well kid Brian as I named him. Although old man Brian sounded nice to tease but he wasn't that old to be called an old man, so kid Brian had to take a loss this time. He stood up from the swing and left for the entrance.
"Hey, kid Br- I mean Brian, where are you going?"
Stopping in his track, he skittered back towards me, coming closer to my swing as he replied softly, so the bullies wouldn't hear him. "I-I have to-o go home, m-my mother said to-o co-come home ea-early."
Even though he was talking to me, His attention was somewhere else.
"Oh, well. It was nice meeting you. Take care, kid."
'Seems like I should also go hom- wait, if this kid leaves and Brian has decided that I should make more friends. Then I will be stuck in this playground with these dumb kids, who hate my guts.'
'Hah, what should I do? Should I convince him? I could-nah he is too stubborn and it is his weekend so he is no hurry. He might as well keep me in this playground for far longer. I-'
I suddenly looked at kid Brian walking towards the gate, under the scrutiny of bullies. I turned towards Brian's direction, who was glancing at his phone. 'Oh! You are now awake, are you? But I will let you go this time. On the other hand I could use this kid to go home early, which would save me from whatever shenanigan he had planned.'
'Thanks kid, you maybe a crybaby but you are my ticket to go home early, to my sweet-sweet warm home.'
I called out to him, "Hey! Brian!!, me and my uncle can take you home."
I immediately reached him, grabbing his arm and barely dragged him to Brian. He tried to pull his arm away, as I called out to Brian. "Brian, can we drop this kid to his house?"
Brian looked up from his phone, carefully observing kid Brian and then glanced behind us. He asked, "Did you make friends, Arwin?"
"Of course, me and Brian, oh and his name is Brian as well. I made a new friend today, thanks."
Brian stared at me suspiciously but before he could say anything. I grabbed kid Brian's arm and stared him in the eyes, "We are good friends right?"
Kid Brian immediately nodded. As I turned back to Brian with a smile, he shook his head in amusement, and said, "Well Brian, uhh... you don't mind if I call you kid, right?"
As we headed towards Brian's car, kid Brian stopped and bowed his head. "Uhh-h th-thank you I can-n go alone. I k-know the path.", he stuttered.
"Kid, What is your surname. Since Arwin over here didn't do a good job at introducing his first friend.", gesturing towards me with his shoulders as I was already opening the door of his car.
"S-sir I can g-go back h-home, I kn-know the way b-back."
Brian shook his head with dismissal, "Look kid, I ain't leaving a child as young as you to go alone. Come with us or if you are scared of me then I could request patrol officers to escort you home."
Kid Brian immediately looked up, shivering. "NO! I-I... I mean, mo-mom told me not to-to trust any patrol o-officers."
"Don't worry kid, even if we kidnap you. Who would we sell you to?" his jerked towards my direction. I pointed towards the car gesturing him to accept it. He relented, and walked timidly towards the car. I glimpsed at Brian's face masked with a serious expression. He also seemed to be contemplating whether kid Brian was in bad situation and hoped to be wrong, which even I hoped I was wrong about.
'Man, I really hope that his parents aren't assholes.' Sigh 'But why would it even matter, its not like I can change his life.'
As we got in, I could finally feel the warm air and giving me relief from the cold and painful nasal breaths. Kid Brian's tense shoulder relaxed a little .
I felt the car move, passing by the different buildings. Hoping that when I was done with this issue, I could finally go back home and relax.
---
AN: The old ch was posted on 30/11/2025