Chapter Text
“What happened?!”
“I saw him slip...I tried to catch him, but I didn’t make it in time.”
“Someone call an ambulance!”
“Where’s his teacher?”
“Lu Guang? Lu Guang!”
Sights and sounds faded in and out around him. Pain throbbed up his arm, across his back, into his head. Blurry, indistinct faces moved around him. There were unfamiliar hands on him now. Strapping something around his neck. Moving his arms. Sliding him around until he was lying flat on something.
“That’s my friend...Lu Guang?”
He was moving now. He tried to roll his aching head to the side, tried to focus his blurring vision. He knew there would be a familiar face in the crowd if he could find it.
“Please, let me go with him! His parents are in another province, I’m all he’s got.”
Then a hand on his arm. The familiar face he’d been looking for. Words weren’t coming to him, but he managed to tighten his grip when that hand slipped into his.
“Lu Guang? Can you hear me? You’re gonna be okay, all right?”
His head was going to burst from the pressure. Something grated in his chest when he tried to breathe. One of his legs was burning, and the other one was numb. His hand—the other hand—felt swollen and stiff.
“We gotta go to the hospital now. You fell down the stairs, and you’re hurt pretty bad, but the doctors are gonna take care of you.”
The stairs?
He craned his neck as much as he could, scanning the crowd. He thought he spotted a tall figure with narrowed eyes. That sent an unexpected spike of fear through him. His breathing quickened until he was gasping for breath, coughing around the pain in his chest as someone tried to hold him down.
“What is it? What happened?”
The hand in his loosened, and he clutched onto it desperately. He couldn’t quite remember why, but he had to keep him here. Had to keep him away from the man with narrowed eyes. To protect him.
“Okay, buddy. It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here.”
He tried to relax, but the pain was too intense. The hand was pried out of his as he was lifted through the air, but it was back before he could panic. There were bright lights and strange sounds around him. Unfamiliar faces speaking too quickly.
A hand. Holding his. A tear-stained face leaning in. Familiar. Safe. He was safe. Safe from the man.
He wet his lips, his throat spasming as he tried to speak.
“Cheng...Xi...Xiao...shi?”
…
The next time Lu Guang opened his eyes, the world was much clearer. There was still too much pressure in his head, and it throbbed with his pulse like his skull was bruised on the inside. His hips, chest, and side hurt, and his right arm was immobilized.
His memory was still hazy, but he assumed he was in a hospital—and a glance down at his body confirmed it. Striped hospital pajamas hung loose on his body. His right arm was in a cast, resting across his stomach. His right leg was propped up, and he could see the shape of a brace around his knee under the blanket.
There were two other beds in the room. The one closest to the door had an older man sleeping in it, though the one between them was empty. And next to Lu Guang….
Cheng Xiaoshi. Slumped over the side of the bed, head resting on his folded arms. Lu Guang raised his left hand and tentatively poked the side of his friend’s head.
“I’m awake!” Cheng Xiaoshi bolted upright, bleary-eyed. “Can you repeat the question?”
Lu Guang raised his eyebrows, waiting for his friend to process his surroundings and fully wake up. “Who wrote the Dao De Jing?”
Cheng Xiaoshi blinked owlishly at him for a moment. “Lu Guang! You’re awake!”
He wanted to give a sarcastic reply, but he was suddenly too tired an in too much pain. “Yeah.”
“Dude...what happened? Coach said you fell down the stairs?”
Coach Zhang.
Lu Guang leaned back, closing his eyes. “He pushed me,” he finally said.
“What? What do you mean? Why would...what are you saying?”
He opened his eyes again, turning his head to face Cheng Xiaoshi. He was too tired to hide anything any more. In too much pain. “He heard me telling you to quit the team.”
“What? But you were just joking, right?”
Lu Guang sighed. “He’s been hurting people. I didn’t want you to get hurt, too.”
Cheng Xiaoshi was already shaking his head. “I don’t understand. Hurting people?”
“The practices. One-on-one ‘training’.”
“He’s trying to make us better.”
He shifted, wincing as pain shot across his chest. “That’s why I was there that day. I thought I could get some information. Figure out who he’s targeting. I just didn’t want him to hurt you.”
There were tears in Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes, and he looked down. “He, uh….”
Lu Guang sat up, biting back a hiss of pain. “Cheng Xiaoshi?”
“He thinks you’re my boyfriend,” Cheng Xiaoshi muttered. “I mean, we’ve heard the jokes all our lives, right? How we’re supposed to get married when we grow up? Hell, Qiao Ling’s been planning our wedding since fourth grade.”
“But we’re not—”
“There are some boys on the team who are...um. Anyway, those are the ones he trains.”
Lu Guang sank back against the bed. He hadn’t been expecting that. He’d thought it was widespread abuse. Authoritarianism. Not this. “And you?”
Cheng Xiaoshi was already shaking his head again. “I didn’t want you to know. I thought it’d, y’know, upset you. ‘Cause you’d think it was your fault or something, when it’s just Coach being an asshole. But he’s really a good coach, he’s just….”
“Abusive.”
“I’m not being abused.”
Lu Guang lifted his broken wrist. “He pushed me down the stairs.”
“Well, why didn’t you tell me?” Cheng Xiaoshi shoved away his tears, a trace of anger showing beneath his anguish. “I asked the guys about it, and some of them said Coach was egging them on. I know they’ve been going after you behind my back, but you never said anything.”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” he replied. His strength was started to fade, and he closed his eyes. “I thought I could handle it...on my own.”
“You should have told someone.”
He managed to force his eyes open to find Cheng Xiaoshi staring at him. “Who’d believe me? One measly art student against the basketball coach. That’s what he said.”
“I’d believe you.”
Lu Guang hadn’t even registered the other presence in the room, but Mr. Xiao was there. His teacher had a gift basket in his hands and a grave look in his face. He passed the basket to Cheng Xiaoshi and pulled a chair up to Lu Guang’s side.
“I believe you,” Xiao Li repeated. “So how about you tell me everything, all right? From the beginning.”
…
“Just a few more steps, all right?”
Their school had no elevator, so Cheng Xiaoshi was practically carrying him up to their classroom. Lu Guang hadn’t expected the sight of the stairwell to affect him so poorly, but his chest had tightened and his stomach clenched up as soon as he saw it.
He only vaguely remembered the fall, but the doctors said that was normal. Concussions and short-term memory weren’t exactly the best of friends, and he was lucky enough to come out of a fall like that with most of his body intact. His knee was still strapped up in a brace, though, which was why he was leaning heavily on Cheng Xiaoshi as they slowly worked their way up the stairs.
“Need a hand, boys?”
It was Coach Zhang.
Lu Guang, who’d kept his eyes closed as they passed the landing (it wasn’t the staircase he’d fallen down, but they all looked alike) felt his left hand clench against Cheng Xiaoshi’s shoulder, and Cheng Xiaoshi’s arm tightened around his waist.
He peeled his eyes open, meeting the coach’s disgusted stare with his own defiant glare—though he was well aware of the precariousness of their position. The coach was standing above them, the angle of his body blocking the view of the students moving around in the hall. He’d already claimed Lu Guang fell on his own once; what was there to keep him from doing so again?
“We’ve got it,” Cheng Xiaoshi replied sharply, unable to keep the edge out of his voice. “My friend and I are doing just fine.”
Coach Zhang’s nostril’s flared at the word friend, but he stepped aside to let them past. He put a hand out to stop them—Lu Guang’s entire right side was still sore from his fall, and he jerked away instinctively before the man could make contact.
“We don’t need another lesson, do we?” he asked in a low voice. “Why don’t you leave your friend out of this? This is between you and me.”
“Actually, it’s between all three of us,” Cheng Xiaoshi cut in. He hefted Lu Guang up another step, breathing a sigh of relief when they reached the hallway. “So how about you leave us alone.”
Lu Guang’s right leg could hardly bear his weight, so he awkwardly stood on one foot while Cheng Xiaoshi readjusted his grasp. He should still technically be resting at home, but being alone in Cheng Xiaoshi’s house made him too uneasy. He’d rather risk the discomfort of school than be stuck with his own thoughts all day.
This time, Coach Zhang succeeded in grabbing Lu Guang’s shoulder. The teen fought to keep his face neutral as the man leaned in, his breath hot against his cheek. “Let’s not forget what we talked about, hmm? You keep your hands off my team.”
Another hand landed on Coach Zhang’s shoulder, pulling him away and spinning him around. Mr. Xiao was there, a thunderous expression on his face, grabbing a fistful of Coach Zhang’s polo and pulling him in close. “How about you keep your hands off my students?” he snarled.
“Don’t touch me!”
He shoved Coach Zhang back, into the wall, knocking a nearby bulletin board down. “I talked to your players, Mr. Zhang. They told me all about you.”
“You’re lying. I didn’t do anything.”
“And I talked to their parents.” Mr. Xiao grabbed the front of the coach’s shirt and slammed him against the wall, pinning him in place. “I take bullying very seriously, Mr. Zhang. Especially when it comes from another teacher.”
Coach Zhang sneered at him. “You’ll never prove anything. This school needs me. They need my team. Who else is going to take this miserable dump to the top?”
“To the top?” Mr. Xiao swung around, still holding onto the coach. He took a few steps forward, forcing Coach Zhang to shuffle back. “Like you took Lu Guang to the top of the stairs?”
“What are you doing?” the coach grabbed onto the teacher’s wrists, panic written across his face. “You have witnesses! There are students here!”
“I don’t give a damn. You’re going down for this—one way or another.” He hooked a foot behind Coach Zhang’s ankle and shoved him back. The coach let out a frightened yell and made a grab for Mr. Xiao’s hands, but it was too late. He was already falling.
To the floor of the hallway. Eight inches from the top of the stairwell.
“You’re pathetic,” Mr. Xiao snapped, standing over the other man. “I expect you’ll be dismissed by the end of the day. But until then, consider this a warning: keep your hands off my students.”
The coach mutteered something under his breath, rolled to his feet, and scurried down the staircase. Mr. Xiao watched him go, heaving out a heavy sigh as the other man vanished around the turn in the stairs. “Are you boys all right?” he asked, turning back to the others.
“Dude,” Cheng Xiaoshi breathed as Lu Guang nodded. “That was awesome.”