"I said I'm fine," Hyungwon muttered, batting a hand at Minhyuk, who was trying to get a better look at Hyungwon's head. "And you hovering over me isn't going to change anything."
Minhyuk pouted but stayed seated in the desk next to Hyungwon.
The doctors on call had examined Hyungwon and determined an absence of internal bleeding, releasing him back into their classroom several hours after the incident. Classes had been cancelled for the day, and they'd all been locked inside the classroom. At lunch time, they'd remained at their desks instead of forming a circle. Eating lunch without Hyungwon, despite his lack of definitive presence, was...odd. Discomforting.
That said, the incident hadn't bothered everyone to the same degree. Minhyuk was worried about his deskmate, but Changkyun seemed oblivious to the whole thing, hunching down in his desk and whispering about little buggers that crawled under your fingernails, killing all the cells until your fingernails turned black and fell off. Shownu was responsive but quietly restrained, and Kihyun seemed to be worried more about Jooheon than Hyungwon. Wonho remained warily neutral, as he hadn't really had time to get to know Jooheon, and he felt like automatically taking Hyungwon's side was unfair.
Not that there were sides. While the event had been out of the ordinary, it wasn't the first time it had happened. They'd all caught a fist from Jooheon one time or another. The smart ones managed to avoid a second. Hyungwon was just the first to actually black out from it. Which wasn't that surprising in itself considering how thin he was.
Back in the classroom, Hyungwon looked past Minhyuk, taking in Jooheon's body language. Guilt, anger, regret, frustration. Hyungwon didn't know how to handle the boy. He wasn't much upset about taking the punch. He'd deserved it, he thought, for being so stupid as to approach a reckless, out of control boy with anger issues and a penchant for violence. But he didn't want what had happened to drive a wedge between Jooheon and the others or even between Jooheon and himself.
When class was dismissed despite no class having actually taken place, Hyungwon hurried to follow Jooheon out the door, ignoring Minhyuk calling his name.
"Jooheon," Hyungwon said, panting slightly and already out of breath. He'd never had much stamina.
Jooheon turned, scowling at him. "What, you came back for round two?"
"Uh, no," Hyungwon mumbled, trying to figure out exactly what he needed to say to diffuse the situation. "I...um...I should have just......good shot," he finally said, and Jooheon's eyebrow shot up.
"I'm sorry, what was that, skeleton?"
"Your punch. It's very, um, strong. I've still got a headache. And I'll have some bruises if I'm lucky." Hyungwon sucked his bottom lip in. He was screwing this whole thing up. "I just, I just meant to say, it's fine, I don't really mind-"
"Did I ever say I was going to apologize to you?" Jooheon snapped, and Hyungwon squinted at Jooheon.
"Well, no, but you looked sad today and I don't want it to be because of me getting in the way of your fist."
What Hyungwon wanted to say was that, he knew what it felt like to be alone. He'd been alone for a while now, surrounded by faces but separated by things he wasn't supposed to say, and Jooheon was alone too, isolated by rage. He lashed out because it was the only way he could connect with people. Hyungwon had tried to reach others too by telling them what he saw, but he'd realized in the end that it only shut him farther away. That was how Jooheon's rage worked as well; when he finally lashed out, he was left more alone than when he'd started. But violence seemed to be the only way he knew.
Hyungwon didn't blame Jooheon. The punch didn't hurt that much because Hyungwon had blacked out almost immediately, and although he had a headache, he didn't really blame Jooheon for it. "I just..." Hyungwon fumbled with his words. "I guess...I wanted to say thank you."
Jooheon's laugh cut sharply through the air. "You want to thank me? Is this a joke? Do you really want me to cause some internal bleeding this time?"
"No, I'm not really a fan of pain so I'd prefer if you didn't hit me again, but..." Hyungwon licked his bottom lip, nervous. He didn't like hanging his vulnerabilities outside to dry, but the only way to stop being alone was to open himself up to the only people who had a shot at understanding him. "If you punched me because you don't like me...Thanks for being direct about it at least and not, you know, talking behind my back or any of that stuff." That was what Hyungwon really hated, when people were nice to his face but scathing when his head turned. Duplicity.
Jooheon snorted. "I don't do shit like that. What do I look like, a teenage girl?" He snorted again, rubbing his knuckles, and Hyungwon was glad to see that the frustrated set to his shoulders was gone. Jooheon was once again the overconfident, somewhat obnoxious guy eager to throw the next punch. "You're welcome for doing you a favor," Jooheon said, tilting his head up slightly. "Skeleton."
Hyungwon smiled at Jooheon. "Thanks, Jooheon."
Jooheon frowned at Hyungwon, having been unsuccessful at getting a rise out of him, but Hyungwon took note of the slight flush in Jooheon's cheeks, as he was embarrassed and didn't know how to handle the spindly boy. "Stop talking to me like we're friends."
"Okay, Jooheon."
"I mean it! Say my name one more time and I'll-"
"Sure thing, Jooheon."
"Skeleton!"
"Yes, Jooheon?"
The two walked back to their dorm rooms, Jooheon yelling at Hyungwon the whole time, Hyungwon trying not to wince as Jooheon's yelling exacerbated his headache.
It was another unlikely friendship in the most unlikely of places.
