[S.H.H Fanfic / CW: Ableism / Comfort-Angst]
Two people sat in detention.
One is a young adolescent boy with black dreadlocks, wearing a red jacket.
The other is a 8ft green monster with spiky yellow and red hair, wearing a green tracksuit.
"Now, care to explain what happened at lunch?" The headmaster, Mr. Abercrombie, demanded, crossing his arms at the two troublemakers.
"That little tyke in red thought it'd be a good idea to give me the ol' splat on the face!" Mr. Creeper, the plant monster / gym teacher, snarled, earning an annoyed eye roll from Mitchell Tanner, the kid in red.
"Be lucky I wasn't hitting you. You're only in the way." Mitchell muttered, leading to a mental button smash in Creeper's rage. The teacher grabbed the chair he's sitting on and glared at the boy with his sharp, red eyes, "Now listen here, you little -"
"ENOUGH!" The headmaster silenced them both, making them turn to him as he paced back and forth, "Thanks to your everyday-reckless-attitude, TANNER -"
There's a heavy destain mixed with disgust in Abercrombie's voice, sending Mitchell to grip his arms and glance away.
The headmaster continued on, " - And your impulsive, act-first mechanism, Mr. Creeper -"
Mr. Creeper bared his sharp teeth, regretting sparing that man to live and not run on a treadmill for that carbo-dioxie.
"- The cafeteria, hallway, second floor hallway, the toilets, gym, AND this very room had been covered in pie and vines! Do you think my funds would cover this whole mess again if you two keep this cat-and-mouse act?!"
"HUSH!" Abercrombie cut off Mr. Creeper, "I had enough, Mr. Creeper! From now on, you BOTH are cleaning the ENTIRE SCHOOL for the whole weekend! No excuses and no trouble! If I see any more, then you'll never set foot in this place ever again!"
Mr. Creeper glared; Mitchell gripped his sleeves even tighter.
"Uhh... Yarr ye sure to keep them here alone together over the weekend?" Murdoch popped his head out through the door, rightfully concern enough to made Abercrombie rethink.
"...Until midnight, then!" Abercrombie rephrased his correction.
--------- [3:30 PM - Friday] ---------
"Can you believe it, Mum?! He thinks he can boss me around like that!" Mr. Creeper complained at the greenhouse, turning to see his 'mum' water his head before she leaves. He had just finished cleaning the first and second levels while Mitchell's... Doing whatever.
"Squidgy Jr., he is your boss. He's the headmaster of this school." Becky Butters reasoned with a deadpan tone, pouring up until Creeper waved her off and she put the watering can down, "And I've told you - You can't just let your anger out on Mitchell like that. It was just an accident."
"Using a hand-made catapult made out of rubber, fork, and Chef's special pie is an accident?" Mr. Creeper raised a brow, counterattacking his mother's words. Becky sighed and face-palmed, knowing that she can't shimmer down her plant son's perspective on her friend. Even though Mr. Creeper knew how deep his mom's friendship is with Mitchell, he's becoming a bit annoyed when Mitchell dragged her into his troubles a lot.
It ranges from just missing class to being abducted by aliens AGAIN.
"Squidgy Jr., I know people say Mitchell is nothing but a lowly prankster - Though 80% of it is true, but you have to understand that he's just a kid like me. I make mistakes, and I ended up getting worried about it - However, I'm afraid those mistakes will happen again, and I worry about my worries being the cause of it and -"
"Ma - MA!" Mr. Creeper called out, snapping Becky out of her "Becky Loop" before she lost the plot, "I get it. But Mitchell's different from everyone in your class. He doesn't pay attention when he should - He's always a menace in everyone, and he's the reason why this place went down under! He's just as annoying as a wandering fruit fly in Summer."
At that moment, Becky stopped her worries, face turning from fear to... Disappointment. It's similar to Abercrombie, but the way she coldly looks at him makes the plant monster think what he had said wrong, "Squidgy, you can't call someone in that tone, that's ableist."
"Able-what??" Mr. Creeper quirked a brow, completely baffled in confusion. He had never been into reading a lot other than what he observed in Strange Hill High. Which is just trouble and basic repetitive stuff.
"Ableist - When someone is offensively against people with disabilities." Becky explained.
"But Tanner doesn't look disabled, unlike that Cast Kid Bishop or Samia!"
"He has ADHD - Which means he has difficulty understanding simple lessons or engaging in things we do. That's a disability itself! I get it that he's a troublemaker, but this school makes it harder for him to understand when they can't make things educationally supportive for him."
"In this school, every tests happen on Fridays - everyone, including you, degrades him like he's the reason they're suffering - Abercrombie specifically targeted him and made you all follow along like Templeton didn't just invaded the school with moles, thinking they're moles people!"
Mr. Creeper mentally shuttered, remembering whipping those moles away to stop them from eating his home.. And himself.
"Mitchell's only gonna get worse if no one makes an effort to trust him! To give him the support he needed! I can't say much about him, but maybe you should think about his feelings, okay?" Becky's eyes shifted into the eyes of a sad cat.
"Plants don't have feelings, mum..." Mr. Creeper snarled, but then he looked at Becky again to see her eyes getting bitter with watery tears. The man wanted to brush it off or even snap, but after moments of resisting, he finally gave in.
Becky smiled and wrapped her arms around her plant son, giving him a small peck on the cheek. Mr. Creeper grumbled to himself that this wouldn't work either way.
--------- [9:50 PM - Friday] ---------
"Tanner? TANNER!" Mr. Creeper called out angrily, marching down the hallways to find that boy.
It has been 6 hours and Mitchell had quickly vanished. The gym teacher nearly popped out his whip vein in rage, suspecting that kid might be out and ditched him to take care of the entire school.
Mr. Creeper slammed over every door, peering into every empty room. At the end of the hallway, he barged open the hall leading to History Class... Only to find Mr. Balding preparing to sleep on his desk.
"Ah! Mr. Creeper!" The old immortal jumped, surprised and slightly tired, "What.. (Yawns) What brings you here?"
"Have you seen Mitchell? He's supposed to help me clean the gym!" Mr. Creeper asked, panting heavily while gripping his whip. Mr. Balding smiled, "I believed that boy came early and asked me to hand him a flashlight. He said he might be going out to the clocktower... I think..."
"Ok - G'night!" Mr. Creeper called out on the other side, leaving the immortal History Teacher standing there.
Mr. Creeper grumbled to himself on the way, mimicking his mom's words. Once he climbed up to the door, he opened it to find...
Mitchell, with the clock head opened up and revealing the full moon shining down on him. He lay his head on his arms as he gazes at the moon, ignorant of the gym teacher barging in.
Mr. Creeper pinched the bridge of his nose and walked towards the boy, clearing his throat with a harsh, "AHEM! Tanner, what the flamin heck' you doing here?"
"Watching the moon." Mitchell casually answered, tilting his head at a different angle. Mr. Creeper was about to give him another earful when he recalled what Becky had told him earlier.
"He's just a kid. Think about his feelings... Give him support... This recall is only a mixture of what I had just said because copying the entire thing is painfully inaccurate in some cases..."
Mr. Creeper headed up near the open clocktower and sat on its ledge, where the clock should have been when it's closed. He gazed up at the moon with Mitchell. Unlike the bright sun that gave him energy, the moon and its stars seemed like an unnatural kind of light. It's cold, but gentle and soft like the touch of an icy baby.
The two sat in the quiet...
Until the silence became awkward...
"...Tanner." Mr. Creeper glanced at the boy, his red eyes staring at the boy's distant gaze, "Why did you make that catapult?"
"Got bored." Mitchell shrugged.
"Bored? Bored??" Mr. Creeper repeated with doubt.
"Yeah. I couldn't focus, so I tried to listen in, but then I decided to make a catapult, and ended up hitting you..."
"But you said I was only in the way." Mr. Creeper scoffed, hitting a flaw in Mitchell's words.
Mitchell glanced away, "... It's for Abercrombie."
"Why? For a prank on your daily rivalry?" Mr. Creeper tried to joke, but Mitchell's response left him froze.
"Because he said that I shouldn't even exist in the first place."
The cold went stale and frigid, and the silence grew intense and frightful.
"What?" Mr. Creeper frowned, eyes looking down at the boy. Mitchell wiped his eyes, as if he had prepared he might cry, so he didn't want to be exposed letting them appear.
"He and Grimshaw were talking about me earlier. I kept pretending I don't hear it, but ignoring made it worse... They say my friends are the same, yet still I'm the blackest of all sheep. You didn't catch the way he called me Tanner this afternoon?"
To be honest, Mr. Creeper was focused on being in trouble because of Mitchell, but he never seen the way the boy react when being told off. He's not aware of how people feel a lot... Except for Becky.
"Even in a new school, I couldn't get nothing out of it because everyone expects me to behave like normal people. I'm normal! I'm still me! Why -" Mitchell cut himself off and looked away, acknowledging who he's next to, "Nevermind. You wouldn't understand..."
Mitchell pulled himself away, hugging his knees close as he looks at the distance. Mr. Creeper turned to him, then sprouted out different ideas all over his head on how to handle it.
Finally, the plant monster sighed and stared at the boy, "I'll try. Can't leave ya dried out without water, mate."
Mitchell looked up, and for a moment, there's a bit of hope in his eyes.
Then the two looked back at the moon, shining bright as ever.