Sticks and Stones

05: Decisions

You want to leave him.
As Jeon Jungkook, your worst enemy, lays limp and unconscious in your arms with his weight dragging you down, the thought crosses your mind.
This is the boy who tortures you. He hurts you. He doesn't have a kind bone on his body. Your freaking rib is broken, Y/N, and it's his fault. Leave his butt on the street and don't look back.
Don't look back.
You glance down at the boy in your arms, chewing your lip as you debate.
Stay and help?
Or should you leave the boy of your nightmares vulnerable and asleep on the cold, dark street?
Said boy moans softly in pain. Wincing at the heaviness of his body, you gently drag him over to the wall and lean the both of you against the solid surface, sinking to the ground.
A streetlight finally illuminates all of Jungkook's face, and you cover your mouth in horror.
Somebody beat him.
His lips are busted and bleeding, one eye blackened and bruised to the point that it's swollen shut. The skin at the crest of his cheekbone is also ripped open and bleeding. The collar of his shirt dips down underneath your fingers when you move it aside, pushing away the extra fabric of the hoodie as well. More bruises blossom up over the elegant hill of his collarbone, and even though he's a mean-spirited bully, you want to vomit.
Who did this to him?
"Excuse me, ma'am?" A voice abruptly pulls your attention from his face. There's a man in front of you, a few more people hovering behind him and watching in concern. "Is he okay? Do you need any help?"
This is your chance.All you have to do is apologize. Make excuses, and run away into the sunset without any guilt.
I'm sorry, but I don't know him. Could you take him to the hospital? I have to go home.
You can leave him here and never regret a thing.
But if you did...
What makes you any better than him?
"Could you catch a taxi for me?" you mumble gratefully to the man. "He's okay. I think he just, um, drank too much?"
Relief flows across the crowd's features.
"Sure," the man says. "One second." He scurries off to the street with his phone in hand.
The group of people hovers near the two of you until your cab arrives, then a man helps you get Jungkook's heavy, unconscious form into the backseat.
Your rib cries out in gratefulness.
"Thank you so much," you tell them all through the window as the car rolls away.
See? you say to yourself. There are still good people in this city.
You just have to exclude the boy in the car next to you, headed to your home.

***

Jungkook's POV
His eyes flutter open, pain racking his head.
"Ah," Jungkook groans hoarsely when the pounding worsens.
"Oh!" says a worried female voice. "You're awake, sweetheart! How are you feeling?"
Who the heck...
Jungkook squints hard, looking around for a face to match with the unfamiliar voice. As he does, pain streaks through him when he tries to open one of his eyes.
Wait.
Where is he? What happened?
He tries to recall the events of the day.
School, and the laptop, and kissing Choi Y/N. Then he went to the coffee shop with the boys, and went home where his uncle...
Grimacing at the painful memories, Jungkook skips past that part.
The next thing he remembers is stumbling out of the house, no destination in mind but just desperate to get away.
He wants out of that house.
There's too much pain there.
But after that?
All there is is a black void in his memory, totally devoid of any hints or clues as to where he is, and who he's with.
Jungkook finally opens his one functioning eye enough to see the person leaning over him.
It's a middle-aged woman with her hair up in a bun, kind face creased with worry over him.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" she asks gently. "Your eye is swollen shut on this side, but it'll be okay after a while. Do you want to sit up? Are you thirsty?"
Jungkook allows the kind lady to help him sit up, rotating his head in confusion.
"Where am I?" he grunts.
The woman takes a step back, observing him with a watchful eye. "My daughter brought you home like this," she murmurs. "She said that you're her friend, and you got in a fight."
Daughter?
What girl does he know and trust enough to be friends with?
And what girl likes him enough to bring him home when he's unconscious?
"Right," he says slowly. "Is she...here? Can I see her?"
He's too curious to find out who this mystery girl is.
"Of course!" The lady claps her hands in satisfaction at his request. "She's just in the kitchen! Give me one minute."
She leaves the room, giving Jungkook a moment to observe his surroundings.
He's laying on a bed with soft green sheets, in a room the size of a broom closet.
No way someone lives in here. At home, his bathtub is almost the size of this room. Scanning the walls, a picture frame catches his eye. It's the woman from before, younger and thinner, hugging a little girl that strikes Jungkook as hauntingly familiar.
Who is that? It feels like he knows her...
A glance at another picture frame makes his breath lodged ok his throat, disbelief blossoming in his chest.
Isn't that Choi Y/N?
Surely not.
Surely she can't be nice enough, stupid enough, to bring him to her house after everything he did to her today. The idiocy of that would be ridiculously comical.
There's no way.
As he mulls over the possibilities, the door creaks open wider to admit a sullen figure.
And sure enough, it's Choi Y/N that slinks cautiously into the room, arms crossed defensively over her chest.
Her hair is pulled back into a bun and she has glasses settled on the thin bridge of her nose, something he hasn't seen at school before. She's got an oversized T-shirt on over a pair of cat-print leggings; in her hands is a steaming mug of something that smells delicious.
"Here," Y/N says stiffly, thrusting the mug at him. "It's tea. It should help your head feel better."
He's in shock and, he has to admit, is more than a little embarrassed. Of all the people to find him in this condition, Y/N is the last one he would hope for. To her, he's a powerful figure, commanding and in control, but seeing him like this?
He wonders how much she laughed at him.
Roughly, he grabs the mug from her hands and takes a gulp. It burns his tongue but he forces it down anyways, because Y/N is still watching him suspiciously.
He can't let her think he's weak.
He isn't weak.
"Where am I?" he growls with a glare.
Lips pursing, Y/N cocks her hip out to the side. "We're in my apartment," she says. "About a mile from the school. This is my bedroom."
He can't help but watch her pretty pink lips move as she talks.
An abrupt tingling sensation flows across the sensitive skin of his lips as he remembers the feeling of hers pressed against him.
The heck, Jungkook?
Shaking the memory off, the black-haired boy bares his teeth in a snarl. "I don't get it. Why are you helping me?"
A dry snort comes out of Y/N. "Lay back down," she says, and he follows her command. Not because he wants to do what she says, but because the pounding in his head has suddenly worsened. He drops back down to the pillows, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to fend off the pain.
Y/N takes the mug from his hands, then leans over him. Something cool and soothing is laid across his forehead.
Jungkook sighs at the minimal relief.
"You know why I'm helping you, Jeon?" Y/N whispers. His nose catches a whiff of her scent; something sweet and warm that leaves him straining for more.
"Because some people actually have hearts."
The words shock him out of the warm lull he's drifted into.
He forces his eyes back open to growl at her, but she's already gone.

[A/N]
Unedited