Peaches 'N Cream

20. Darlin'

"No, are you okay?"

Joseph kissed his teeth and let go, turning his head away and refusing to look at him. That was a new, and it hurt. The brown-haired boy cared about him quite a bit, but this was a serious matter.

Jericho reached up to get a closer look at his face, but the other grabbed hold of his wrist, and it certainly didn't feel like he was going to let go anytime soon.

"Jericho."

That was his second warning today, he wasn't having it, though.

"Joey, please?"

He was begging now, an unfamiliar feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. The other boy grumbled something incoherent but dropped it after a few moments, stuffing them into his pockets.

Jericho pushed off his locker to stand in front of him, pulling his hood the rest of the way off, and cradled his face softly in both hands, assessing the damage.

"There's my baby..."

His nose was grayish-blue and sensitive to any sort of pressure. He flinched away even though he didn't touch it directly, and it was definitely bruised, but it didn't look or feel fractured.

Chin seemed ok as well, but he didn't know for sure because A: he's not a doctor and B: his beard was still hiding the extent of the damage down there. His cheeks and ears were steadily turning rosy as well, but he knew that had nothing to do with his injuries.

"Did you get it checked out at the hospital?"

He shook his head no, "My mom..." exhaled, "Nah, I've broken it before, this hurts but way less, just sprained. My jaw is sore too, but I'm tough, 's nothin' I can't work with." and then attempted a smile.

Joseph cut himself off, but he knew he wouldn't tell him. Jericho let go of his face, wasn't going to worry himself even more than he already was about asking either, especially not right now.

He'd hoped that the taller boy would say something eventually but, he wanted to know who the hell thought it was okay to punch him first. He had a few theories, none of them favorable.

"Toughest guy I know." He said it fondly, tried smiling too, worry still ripping through him "Have you been icing it? Was it one of those Northview fuckers?"

He paused,"...Yes, and no, somethin' like that, though. Caught me at a bad time, is all; I swung first, and they got a few hits in. I wasn't thinkin' too much about it. I'm fine, don't worry."

Jericho folded his arms across his chest and scowled.

"You look like you got hit by an eighteen-wheeler, and you're telling me not to worry about it? Can you really blame me for wanting to know what happened—?"

"Sunshine," he said softly, grabbing his elbows and uncrossing them, reaching up to smooth out the tension in his shoulders and neck too, "thank you so much. I'm good, okay? I don't wanna talk about it anymore, so drop it."

His last warning. Joseph wasn't asking.

"Joey..." he rubbed his eyes, beginning to feel a dull throb but in his chest this time, "Ok. Just—promise me you'll be careful if you play tonight?" The blond nodded, so he stood on his toes and held the other side of his face, leaning in to kiss and then hug him carefully. "I'll see you later, love you."

He figured that Joseph's expression matched his own, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, but he couldn't bring himself to look. The shorter boy stepped out of his now loose arms, grabbed his binder and books, and then bolted down the hallway instead.