Hurt Me Once- A Boyf-riends fanfiction

Chapter 5: Not Stupid

So I'm back! How's the coronavirus treating everyone? My schoolwork is 150% that of what it is when we're actually in school, so that's fun. Next week is finals week! I'm getting ready to die! Today's menu: RichJake fluff-comfort (I've decided that's a thing) with a side dish of Boyfs angst, and of course, our fluffiest girls, Jenna and Christine being treasures.

Jake

"That guy," Jake points to a table where three people sit, wrinkling his brow in confusion. "The one next to the one with the black hair. Yea-"

Rich points. "Tall one. Jeremy Heere."

"Yeah. Usually they have four people there, I think. The other guy is shorter, glasses, kind of a loser..." Jake scans the cafeteria as they make their way to the table with Jeremy. They've never sat with that guy, but Jake knows Christine and Jenna, and for their first day back to school after getting out of the hospital, he'd rather play it safe than sit with his popular friends.

He's still got broken legs. Rich shoots Jake a questioning glance, the brown eyes catching in the light. "So this other guy is the one who brought the Mountain Dew, and the other is the one who saved y'all, and these chicks here- oh hey, I know them."

Jake laughs at Rich's eyes light up and he's grinning. It's so nice to see the real Rich back, bubbly and delightful.

Jake eyes Jeremy, who seems to be glaring at his food. "Yo. You good?"

"Fine," the lanky boy growls, sounding anything but fine.

Jake opens his mouth to ask, but Christine widens her eyes at him and shakes her head. Rich punches his shoulder and jerks a chin to the corner, where the boy in the red sweater is eating on his own, looking miserable.

Rich turns his eyes to Jeremy. "Heere, right?"

"Yup." Jeremy shovels a forkful of dry rice into his mouth.

"Thanks for stopping, you know..." Rich says. "I tried but it didn't turn out to well..." Jake shifts as Rich looks at him, feeling heat rise in his cheeks the longer Rich gazes.

"It's fine," he murmurs for the trillionth time.

"Thank Michael," Jake thinks he hears Jeremy say, but when he asks, Jeremy just shakes his head. "Nothing."

What the hell is going on between those two?

Jake watches Rich swallow a bite, the muscles in his throat flexing, and lets his eyes roam over Rich's arms as Rich chats up the two girls, realizing Jeremy doesn't want to talk.

Rich's burn marks marr the smooth skin in places, though he's mostly healed, and Rich still wears muscle tees and shirts with the sleeves cut off- he doesn't seem to mind the markings, but Jake wishes he could run his fingers over the skin and pull the burns from them.

Then the tee shifts and Jake catches a glimpse of something else right below the cut of the sleeve. Purple, blueish, bruise-like. And when Rich reaches over to playfully tweak Jenna's nose, the light meets a few more bruises as the hem of Rich's shirt inches higher.

Rich

Jenna squeaks and Christine's eyes light up at the sound. Rich laughs despite the way it makes his ribs ache, and grins when Christine tucks the loose strand of Jenna's hair behind her ear.

They should be a couple if they're not already. Rich turns to ask Jake whether they are, catching Jake watching him contemplatively and... worriedly? Rich's pulse jumps at the idea. He discovered that Jake is really hot and also that it actually wasn't new information: he's known it for a while and... forgot, or something. A while meaning years, probably.