How to Survive as a BL Villain-Chapter 54: He ran

Hey there please don’t read this Chapter of possible cause I have done a blunder skip it

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"Don’t touch me," Cassian hissed, his voice low and trembling, but laced with a cold fury that surprised even himself. His eyes blazed, a raw, untamed fire.

Lucian, recovering quickly, merely watched him, a slow, dark laugh rumbling from his chest. It wasn’t a laugh of amusement, but of satisfaction of victory.

He had achieved his goal.

He had shattered Cassian’s fragile peace, and he had done it in front of everyone.

The crowd, now a hushed, wide-eyed semicircle, watched the unfolding scene, their whispers growing louder, more speculative.

The damage was done.

The seed of doubt had been planted.

And Cassian, caught in the harsh glare of unwanted attention, felt the ground crumble beneath his feet.

His normal morning was brutally broken.

Lucian finally released a soft, satisfied exhale and stepped back. He didn’t look away from Cassian not even once. His gaze roamed over Cassian’s trembling form with quiet ownership, with a chilling certainty that made Cassian’s stomach twist. Then, with a slight incline of his head, Lucian murmured, just loud enough for Cassian to hear:

"We’ll talk soon... Elliot."

He turned and walked away through the crowd. Students parted for him as if he were royalty or danger. Not one person attempted to stop him. His presence lingered in the air even after he disappeared around the corner.

Silence clung to the hallway for a beat too long.

Then the whispers began.

"Elliot? So his name isn’t Cassian?"

"Why did that guy kiss his hand like that?"

"Are they... together?"

"Wait, is Cassian cheating on Leonel?"

"No, i think he was with Aiden not leonel"

"No, maybe he was someone else before he came here -"

"What kind of name is Elliot anyway?"

"He looked terrified maybe he’s into weird stuff?"

The words blurred, layered, twisted.

Cassian’s pulse erupted in his ears, drowning reality in a suffocating thrum.

Aiden turned sharply, fury etched across his face as he glared at the nearest gossiping student. "Shut your mouth before I break your teeth."

The student paled and backed away, but dozens of others remained, staring.

Leonel stepped closer to Cassian, voice low, steady, controlled but urgent. "Cassian. Look at me. Hey Cassian."

Cassian couldn’t.

The hallway - the voices, the stares, the name -

Elliot.

The syllable struck him like a physical blow, knocking the breath from his lungs. His throat tightened, vision blurring at the edges. The walls seemed to warp and tilt, closing in, shrinking, trapping him inside a memory he never wanted to relive.

His mind snapped backward.

Flashback (Life as Elliot – Age 16)

Shoving sounds.

A locker slamming.

Laughter sharp, gleeful, cruel.

"Move, freak."

A hard shoulder slammed into him, sending him stumbling into a line of lockers.

He clutched his books, knuckles white. Someone slapped them out of his hands, papers scattering across the hallway like debris.

"Aww, poor Elliot. Gonna cry again?"

Hands grabbed his backpack, yanked it off him, tossing it further down the hall.

A circle formed around him.

He remembered the smell of cheap perfume, cafeteria lunch, and floor cleaner. He remembered the sound of sneakers squeaking on cheap tile. He remembered his heartbeat rabbit fast, desperate.

"Stop," he had whispered once.

Wrong choice.

A boy grabbed his chin roughly, forcing his face upward. Their breath smelled of bubblegum and malice.

"Don’t act innocent. Everyone knows you’ll sleep with anyone who gives you attention."

Laughter loud, echoing, merciless.

A girl wrinkled her nose dramatically. "Ew. Why is he even in the boys’ locker room? Isn’t he, like... confused? Maybe he wants to peek."

Someone shoved him from behind. He fell to his knees. His papers crumpled beneath his palm.

His ears burned. His eyes stung.

Another voice, dripping disgust:

"He’s a slut. Acts all quiet but spreads his legs for anyone."

They laughed harder. Phones recorded him. The humiliation sank like acid beneath his skin.

His heart cracked tiny fissures that never healed.

((Present time))

"Cassian."

Leonel’s voice sounded far away, muffled behind glass.

The crowd around him now looked eerily similar ringing him in, whispering, judging, assuming.

Same stares.

Same disgust.

Same suffocating heat under his skin.

Not again.

Not here.

Not this world, too.

His breath shuddered. He forced air into his lungs, but it wouldn’t stay. His vision flickered. The corridor stretched like a tunnel.

Aiden stepped close, lowering his voice. "Cass? Hey, breathe with me. It’s okay, we’re right here."

Cassian’s fingers twitched, reaching blindly for something, stability, air, escape but everything slipped through him like smoke.

They see me.

They’ll say things again.

They’ll twist it.

They’ll ruin me again.

Voices morphed into the ones from his past.

"Disgusting."

"He’ll do anything for attention."

"Slut."

"Fake."

"Gay freak."

He flinched. His breath hitched sharply, chest tightening until it hurt.

His knees weakened.

Leonel caught his arms before he collapsed. "Cassian! Look at me. Focus on me, not them."

Cassian looked up and instantly regretted it.

Dozens of eyes, staring.

Phones raised.

Recording.

Not again.

No.

Please no.

Something inside him broke.

Cassian tore himself from Leonel’s grip with a ragged gasp. His legs moved before his mind did.

He ran.

Through the gasps, through the whispers, through the suffocating air.

Someone called his name Aiden, maybe Leonel but it blended into noise.

He ran until the hallway blurred, until the world narrowed into one desperate instinct:

Escape.

Cassian ran.

He didn’t think just fled, lungs burning, vision tunneling, legs carrying him on pure instinct. Past lecture halls, past startled students, past the echoing shouts of his name Aiden? Leonel? blurring into noise. He turned sharply down a narrow corridor lined with practice rooms, the scent of rosin and old wood filling his nose. At the end, half-hidden behind a stack of music stands, was a door marked STORAGE – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

It was unlocked.

He yanked it open, slipped inside, and slammed it shut behind him, pressing his back against the cold wood, chest heaving.

Darkness swallowed him. The air smelled of dust, old sheet music, and varnished wood. Moonlight seeped through a high, grimy window, casting long shadows over stacked instrument cases and broken chairs.

His breath came in sharp, jagged gasps. His chest tightened like a fist squeezing his ribs. His vision blurred at the edges, flickering between the storage room and the high school hallway of his past.

And then the voices returned.

"Ew, he’s disgusting."

"He sleeps with anyone who gives him a second glance."

"Slut."

"Gay freak."

"Don’t act innocent."

They echoed in his skull, layered over the present, twisting every whisper from the campus crowd into the same cruel chant from years ago. He sank to his knees, hands gripping his hair, trying to ground himself.

Five things you see...

Dust. A broken violin. A stack of chairs. A cobweb. Sunlight.

Four things you feel...

Cold floor. His own trembling hands. His racing heartbeat. His tears.

But it didn’t work. The panic wouldn’t loosen its grip.

"Not again," he whispered, voice cracking. "Not here. Not again."

Outside, footsteps pounded past urgent, frantic.

"Cassian!" Aiden’s voice, raw with fear.

"Check the music wing!" Leonel called back.

Cassian pressed himself deeper into the shadows, holding his breath. He wanted to call out. To let them save him. But shame wrapped around his throat like a noose.

They saw me break. They saw me run. They’ll think I’m weak. Just like before.

He stayed silent.

Then a new set of footsteps. Slower. Calmer. Deliberate.

The doorknob turned.

The door creaked open.

Sunlight spilled in, outlining a tall figure in the doorway.

Lucian.

He didn’t look surprised. Only... pleased.

He stepped inside, letting the door click shut behind him. His eyes adjusted quickly, locking onto Cassian curled in the corner, trembling, tear-streaked, barely breathing.

A slow, satisfied smile curled his lips.

"Your old habits didn’t change," Lucian said, voice soft, almost fond. "You still run to the storage room when the world gets too loud."

He crouched down a few feet away, arms resting on his knees, watching Cassian like he was something precious and broken.

"Back in high school, it was the janitor’s closet near the gym. Here?" He glanced around the dusty room. "Music storage. Fitting. You always did love hiding in places that held someone else’s songs."

Cassian flinched. He remembered everything.

Lucian tilted his head, studying Cassian’s panic the shallow breaths, the clenched fists, the way his eyes darted like he was still seeing ghosts.

"You’re spiraling," Lucian murmured. "Heart rate’s through the roof. Pupils blown. You’re not even breathing right." He leaned forward slightly. "Let me help you. I know how to bring you back."

Cassian squeezed his eyes shut. Don’t listen. Don’t trust him.

But the memories crashed over him anyway

Lucian finding him in that closet after the locker room humiliation,

pressing a water bottle into his shaking hands,

saying, "They don’t see you, Elliot. But I do. And I always will."

Back then, it felt like mercy.

Now, it felt like ownership.

"No," Cassian choked out, voice raw.

Lucian didn’t move. Just watched him unravel, his expression soft, almost tender.

"You think Aiden and Leonel understand?" he asked quietly. "They’re out there shouting your name like you’re a lost dog. But they don’t know why you ran. They don’t know the sound your breath makes when you’re drowning in your own skin."

He shifted closer, just enough for Cassian to feel his presence like heat.

"But I do."

Outside, voices grew louder -

"Cassian!"

"We’re not leaving without you!"

Lucian didn’t even glance toward the door. His eyes stayed locked on Cassian, dark, certain, possessive.

"They’ll find you," he said, voice dropping to a whisper. "And they’ll promise to protect you. But they can’t."

He reached out, not to touch, just to hover near Cassian’s knee.

"Because the thing that’s breaking you?" His smile returned gentle, chilling.

"It’s not out there. It’s the boy you left behind. And he’s still screaming, Elliot."