Gabriel came back with a popsicle in each hand, and the first thing he saw was Misha's bright red face. Even his neck had taken reddish colors due to anger. His furrowed brows, pursed lips, and clenched fists gave off the feeling that he had suffered a grave injustice, the unforgivable kind.
But most importantly, the boy seemed about to explode.
'Not good,' Gabriel thought, shifting his eyes to the four children who surrounded Misha in a semicircle. They appeared a bit older than the boy, and because they didn't have Misha's health problems, they were taller by a few centimeters. The child in the middle was even almost two heads taller and looked down on Misha with a mocking gaze, seemingly taking great pleasure in towering over him.
Gabriel didn't need to hear their conversion to understand what was going on, for the sneers distorting their lips and the conceit on their faces spoke volumes.
"I can tell whether the brat loves troubles or troubles love the brat," Gabriel tsked as he hurried over, slipping the wrapped popsicles into his pockets. But before the teenager could intervene, Misha moved.
Without an ounce of hesitation, the kid leaped, grabbing the tallest boy's shoulders to add more strength to his momentum, and kneed him in the stomach. The moment his foot, the one that didn't hit the child, landed on the sandy ground, Misha nimbly veered and elbowed him in the side, near the floating ribs. The tall boy's legs became weak, and he collapsed to his knees, holding his stomach while coughing and throwing up saliva.
Before the rest of the group could recover from the shock, Misha found his next target, the nearest boy to him, and skillfully headbutted him. A second later, blood was profusely coming out of his nose, flooding his chin and his lips before dripping onto the sand, rapidly forming a murky puddle of blood.
Instinctively, the boy put his hands under his nose to stop the bleeding, trying to slow down the flow of blood, but to no avail. Soon enough, the blood slipped through his fingers, and his white hands turned dark red. Meanwhile, his teary eyes were locked on the child they had thought to be easy prey, disbelief written all over his face.
The little girl choked with sobs, taking a few steps back in fear, while the third boy finally snapped out of his stupor. His friends' pitiful state made his insides burnt with anger, and he glared at Misha as if he was a murderer.
Screaming his lungs out, the last boy threw himself at Misha. When he was about to punch the girly kid in the face, a big hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him dead in his tracks. Misha, who had taken a defensive pose, was also held in place, a hand gripping his shoulder and pushing him down. At one point, a teenager had approached and slipped between the two, handily stopping their fight.
Then, a gentle yet firm voice echoed in their ears. "I think that's enough, all of you."
After his words fell, only the noise from the crowd could be heard. Some curious passersby had come over, wondering what was going on, and some asked around about the situation. Thus, the people were chit-chatting about what had just occurred, giving their opinions on everything while criticizing the children. Their senseless remarks were enough to anger Misha to death, but Gabriel didn't pay them any heed. Instead, he stared at the two children and asked slowly, "Do you mind telling me what happened?"
Although he had a warm smile on his lips, the children felt a shiver run down their spines. Their gut feelings told them that this guy was a wolf in sheep's clothing; underneath the smile, anger was boiling. Only Misha wasn't affected by it, even snorting at the teenager's words.
"Nothing. We were playing, that's all."
"You call that playing?" Gabriel asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at the kid with a nosebleed and then at the one curled up into a ball, coughing and moaning in pain.
"Yes," Misha shamelessly lied, smiling at the teenager.
The seemingly innocent smile was cheerful and adorable, the kind that softened the heart. Usually, it would make people want to smile in response, but right now, it only made the crowd of onlookers uncomfortable. And in the bullies' eyes, that smile was nothing but frightening.
"I don't think your 'friends' call that playing, though," Gabriel sighed, insisting on the word 'friends' by deepening his voice.
"Well, they started it," Misha pouted, puffing out his cheeks like a pufferfish.
Leaving the other children aside for the moment, Gabriel gave Misha a strange look. The boy didn't say anything, pretending he didn't notice his gaze. 'They started it with words, and I answered with my fists. What's wrong with that? Am I not even allowed to defend myself?'
"For now, let's go inside the cabin," Gabriel suggested, loosening his grip on the two children. "I think there is a small infirmary."
"There's no need." Misha shook his head, then pointed at the child's bloody nose. "I didn't break it. Well, I didn't hear a cracking noise. So, it should stop bleeding soon—"
When Misha saw how the child was clumsily dealing with the blood rushing out of his nose, his mouth twitched.
"Would you not throw your head backward like an idiot!?" Misha grabbed the child's ears and forced him to tilt his head forward. "Do you want to choke on your own blood? Don't you know that your nose is connected to your throat? When are you going to pinch your nose instead of cupping your hands under it? For God's sake, how can you be so useless! You never had a nosebleed before or what?!"
"And you!" Misha focused his attention on the boy curled up on the ground after taking care of the kid with a nosebleed. "Are you done whining? You should be able to breathe correctly now. It's not like your ribs are broken, so suck it up and stand up if you're a man!"
Hearing these words made the tall boy feel deeply humiliated, and he couldn't help but let out another groan. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but it truly hurt! Enough to make him want to cry for his mom! Still, he bit his lips and forced himself to get back on his feet, holding his sides.
Satisfied, Misha nodded. Then, after looking at his work of art once more, a grin slowly stretched his lips, and he said in a vicious tone that contrasted vividly with his soft voice, "So? Am I still a girl pretending to be a boy? Say? Am I a girl?"
The four children immediately shook their heads, not daring to say anything for fear of getting their asses kicked once again. They didn't want their ribs and noses to be broken for real. They were no fools, and they also understood their error. In truth, they genuinely thought that he was a girl, resulting in this joke. Now that the reality had hit them hard, they wouldn't run after the stick to get beaten up a second time. They weren't masochists!
"Good. As long as you understand," Misha scoffed. "Now, scram, and don't you dare run back crying to your daddy!"
The kids left without looking back, and now that the show had ended, the crowd started to scatter. Some wanted to comment, but they changed their minds when they saw the teenager smiling politely yet coldly at them. Anyway, it wasn't like something serious had happened, and they did ignore the bullying at first, so it wasn't their place to say anything. They weren't that shameless.
"So," Misha glanced askance at Gabriel, "where is my popsicle?"
"Here," Gabriel smiled, taking out the popsicles that he had put in the pockets of his swimming trunks. The white packages were a little crumpled, but the popsicles were still fine.
Stars twinkled in Misha's eyes, and he instinctively tried to snatch one from the teenager's hands. However, Gabriel raised his arms above his head, so high that Misha couldn't reach them even if he jumped. His momentum interrupted mid-way, he crashed head-first into Gabriel's stomach.
"We're going back to the campsite," Gabriel declared.
"Why?!"
"Didn't you hurt your ankle?"
"..." Misha blinked. "No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
"No, I didn't!"
"It's swollen."
"What? It can't be swollen! It's just a small sprain!" Misha retorted before glancing at his ankle, only to realize that Gabriel had tricked him. His ankle wasn't even red, still as white as ever!
"..."
"Let's go back," Gabriel chuckled, waving the popsicles under the boy's nose as if teasing a dog with a bone. "Don't worry, I'll give you a piggyback ride, and you can eat your popsicle well seated on my back."
"No! I don't want to!"
"I'll give you two choices. I can forcibly drag you to the infirmary, or we can go back to the campsite to wrap your ankle in a bandage. Which do you prefer?"
Misha made a sullen face. "I still can walk on my own."
"You just tripped over your own feet."
"That was an accident! And it was your fault! If I'm careful, it won't happen a second time."
"It's much better to be safe than sorry. There are many roots and stones in the trail."
"So what? I'm not blind, and it's daytime if you haven't noticed yet! I don't need your patronage, thank you!"
"Even so, it won't be easy to steady your stance with your injured ankle. I don't want you to fall and hurt yourself badly. The sprain is already too much." Gabriel paused slightly before adding, "You better make your choice quickly. The popsicles have started melting."
"Blackmailing is what bad guys do!"
Gabriel smiled like an old fox and said, "So? What do we do?"
"..." The boy hung his head low and whispered through gritted teeth, "Piggyback ride."
Misha inwardly sobbed. No matter the timeline, he wasn't a match for Gabriel when it came down to verbal jousts, and sadly, he couldn't beat the crap out of him with his current body. The teenager and the children weren't on the same level of strength at all! It was like comparing a final boss from a dungeon floor to level 1 monsters!
__________
Mini Theater
MC: OMG! I talked so much in this chapter! My throat hurts now.
Author: Yeah, you fought like an old married couple!
MC: Shut up. We didn't.
ML: It looks more like a parent-child fight if you ask me.
MC: I don't want you as a father!
ML: Good, I don't want to be your father, either. I don't have a daddy kink.
MC:???
ML: You will understand when you're older.
MC:...
Author has something to say: Because a few readers showed me drawings of what Misha looks like in their minds, it made me want to draw him! So here you go, that's more or less how he looks like in my mind. But I have a lot of chapters left to edit, so I only drew him in black and white, haha.
The clothing is from the amusement park arc, and that face of his is saying, "Gaby, where's my ice cream? I want my ice cream! Now!"
Chapter revised on 2022-05-05
Edited by Clozed! ♥
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