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“Oh Eth, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Sorry, Lexie.” Ethan apologised sheepishly, like a curious child getting caught with their hand in the weed jar, rubbing the back of his neck with his bloody hand.
“The fuck happened? You look like shit.” Lex gently brushed a piece of hair out of Ethan’s swollen left eye. She touched his bruised jaw, and clicked her tongue in sympathy when he hissed in pain. “I’m gonna get a cold washcloth and some ice. But please, if you don’t mind, I’d love to get an explanation as to why my boyfriend is currently covered in bruises and fucking bloody lacerations .”
“Do you remember that ‘Elephant Path’ bar, the one next to that rundown CVS that you used to do deals at?” Ethan started, watching Lex run cold water over an old rag. Lex nodded in confirmation. “Well a couple of hours ago I was nearby there- don’t ask why- and I saw this asshole guy yelling at a girl in the parking lot. And she looked hella scared; as anyone would. Motherfucker was scary . He was like 6’6 and muscular as fuck, and the girl was tiny. Even shorter than you, which is apparently possible.” Lex rolled her eyes and flipped him off. Ethan laughed, and winced at the throbbing pain in his ribs.
“Ok, what happened next?” Lex wrapped a few ice cubes in a paper towel. “And sit down. It’s ok. You’re safe now.”
“Fine, mom.” Ethan teased and sat down at the kitchen table. “Anyways, so uh, I was already ready to intervene and tell him to fuck off, when he fucking hit her.”
“Oh, fuck that guy.”
“Right?? As soon as I saw him smack the poor girl I was like ‘ok fuck this that motherfucker is going down’ and so I ran over there and- ow, fuck! Lex!” Ethan yelped as Lex pressed the makeshift ice pack a little too hard on his eye.
“Shit, sorry. Can you even see out of that eye? It looks pretty bad.” Lex pressed the ice pack on his eye again, lightly this time. “Hold on. Nurses shine a light in people’s eyes to make sure they don’t have a concussion right? I don’t have a flashlight but I do have my phone. Gimme a sec.” She fished around in her back pocket for her phone.
“Lex, you are not shining your phone’s flashlight in my eye.”
“Shut up, yes I am.”
“No you’re not. And usually, you ask someone if they have a headache before going to the whole “blind them for two seconds to make sure they’re not brain dead” step.”
“Alright. Do you have a headache?”
“...Yes.”
“There you go. Now open your eyes as much as you can.”
Ethan gritted his teeth while Lex peered into his eyes, examining his pupil size and the extent of his injuries. It was… sorta sweet that Lex was going this far to check up on him. Still wasn’t pleasant though.
“Alrighty then.” Lex turned off her phone flashlight after what felt like forever. “After careful inspection, I can confidently say you still have eyes. I diagnose you with not dead.”
“Oh, thank God. I thought they fell off in the fight. Thank you so much, Dr. Foster. What a relief.”
“You’re quite welcome, Mr. Green.” Lex pressed her lips together, trying her best not to crack up. “Don’t get in any more activities that’ll cause your eyes to fall off for a while now, you hear? You were lucky this time.”
“Damn shame, Doc. I just love doing ‘activities’ where my eyes fucking–” Ethan interrupted himself with a small little wheeze, which then erupted into uproarious laughter from both of them.
“Ah, fuckkk.” He grimaced and clutched his ribs. “That hurt.”
“Oh shit. My b.” Lex immediately went back into concerned mother hen mode. “Take off your shirt so I can see.”
“You sure you don’t just want to see me shirtless?” Ethan teased with a wink.
Lex rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen you shirtless a million times. It’s not a big deal anymore.”
Ethan pouted. “Ouch. So I’m no longer attractive to you, Lexie?”
“Shut up.” She grumbled. “You know the answer to that you asshole.” Without waiting for a reply she pulled Ethan’s shirt off, and cringed at the sight.
A large, ugly bruise with varying shades of purple and blue had formed over his upper right ribs. Lex had patched Ethan up after fights before, but she had never seen anything like this. “Fuck, man. Are your ribs broken? You look like you’re breathing kinda funny.” She whispered in horrified awe.
“I don’t think they’re broken. And besides, even if they were, I couldn’t afford to go to the doctor or the hospital. Too expensive.” He shrugged.
“Fair. What other injuries do you have? Besides your bruised ribs and your black eye.” She stepped back to look at him fully.
“Uhh, my knuckles are split and he punched me in the jaw. Other than that nothing else.” Ethan tilted his head and held out his hands to show off his injuries.
“Fucking shit. You must be in a lot of pain.” Lex swore quietly. “Dumbass. Please tell me you at least got some punches in and you didn’t just get beat up like a shitty ragdoll.”
Ethan scoffed. “First of all, rude. Second of all, I did get some punches in. Lemme explain.”
“Hey asshole!”
The asshole and the girl froze as Ethan stormed up to them.
“You talking to me?” The asshole growled. He was even more intimidating close up. Fucker was a goddamn goliath.
“Who else would I be?” Ethan returned with a scowl. “Did you just hit this girl?”
“The name’s Mason, not ‘asshole’. And that’s none of your business.” Mason grunted. Ethan looked back at the girl, who timidly nodded. She looked at him reverently, like he was an angel from God who came down from Heaven to save her.
“Are you ok? Do you need me to call the police?” Ethan asked the girl lowly. Even in the low light, he could see a horrid red mark on her cheek. The sight made his blood boil. The girl shook her head. “Do you know this p.o.s.?”
“We met at a bar a month ago. He wanted to go again tonight. I said no.” She explained, her voice so quiet Ethan had to strain his ears to hear her.
“Oh, so we got a would-be rapist on our hands huh?” Ethan turned back to Mason and cracked his knuckles threateningly. “Knowing the police, they wouldn’t do anything about the fucker anyway, even if we did call them.”
“I’m not a fucking rapist.” Mason snapped.
“You smacked someone because she said no to your creepy advances. No fucking decent person would do that.” Ethan shot back.
“Why are you so defensive? Are you her fucking boyfriend or something?” Mason cast the girl a disdainful glance. “Fucking figures a whore like her would go for a trash guy like you. Isn’t that right, Elania?” Tears filled Elania’s eyes at the accusation.
“Actually, no. I’ve never met her in my life, and I already have a girlfriend. I stepped in because that’s the right thing to do and I don’t like seeing women treated like that.” Ethan curled his hands into fists. “So I suggest you back the fuck off and leave her alone.” He turned to Elania again. “Can you get out of here yourself, or do you need a ride home?”
“I-I can go by myself.” Elania sputtered. She looked a bit disappointed, most likely because Ethan had a girlfriend.
“What a white knight. How cute.” Mason cooed, voice dripping with sarcasm. “But you’ll regret fucking with me, kid.”
Ethan scrunched up his face. Kid? I’m not a fucking kid. He’s like, 2 or 3 years older than me. Hypocrite.
Mason made a move to grab Elania’s arm, but Ethan was quicker and blocked him. “Don’t fucking touch her, you goddamn creep.” He snarled.
Mason replied by punching him in the jaw so hard blood filled his mouth.
“Fuck!” Ethan clutched his aching jaw and spat out blood on the pavement. Behind him, Elania screamed.
“Motherfucker! You can’t just bust in and tell me what to do.” Mason yelled, spit flying from his mouth, and punched Ethan again, this time in the ribs. It immediately knocked the wind out of him. Goddamn, that man had a killer punch. Those asshole boys at school got nothing on this fucker.
“Elania, run!” Ethan choked out. “Get out of here.”
“But–”
“I said fucking run!”
Elania sprinted to her car, already in tears. “Th-thank you… um…”
Ethan wiped blood off his mouth. He had to focus. “Just go already goddammit!”
“Should I get the police?” She called, instead of fucking leaving like she should. Ethan shook his head desperately. The police hated his guts. They’d totally arrest him.
“No need, sweetheart.” Mason fixed Ethan with an insane grin. “By the time they get here, it’ll all be over.” He grabbed Ethan by his shirt and yanked him closer. “I’ll make sure you never see your little girlfriend ever again, you little shit–”
Ethan cut him off by punching him full force in the throat.
Mason grasped his throat, wheezing and gasping for air. Ethan took that opportunity to punch him behind the ear, catching him off guard. Ethan unfortunately knew from experience that getting socked behind the ear was not fun and fucking hurt. Based on Mason’s bellow, it fucking hurt for him too.
“You bitch!” Mason roared. He socked Ethan in his left eye who stumbled back cursing profusely. “Eat shit and die!”
“Eat shit and live.” Ethan spat back. Mason reared back, ready to punch Ethan again. Luckily Ethan managed to sidestep him, like a matador dodging a pissy muscular bull. But with his left eye nearly out of commission, he wasn’t sure if he could dodge all of the creep’s 50 lb punches.
Deciding to go on the offensive, Ethan swung at Mason’s cheekbone, but missed and hit his sharp collarbone instead, splitting his knuckles. He bit his cheek to stop himself from crying out- Mason would surely taunt him if he showed too much pain. He tried again to hit Mason’s broad crooked nose, and while it didn’t break, blood began to gush from his nose rapidly. Mason cupped his fucked up nose, though he looked more annoyed than hurt.
“That all you got?” He jeered.
“Nope. I’m not gonna go down that easily.” Ethan sneered. Out of the corner of his eye he checked for Elania’s car- thankfully she had left by now. Hopefully not to get the police, though. Then he’d be totally fucked.
It had been a while since he had done this, so fingers crossed he remembers where the spot was exactly. If it works, great. If not… uh, shit.
Mason opened his dumbass piehole, probably to start some smarmy monologue, and Ethan took the opportunity to take his knee and kick that douchebag right in dick, then with all his strength uppercutted him directly under the chin. Mason made a pained OOF! noise and landed flat on his back, out cold.
“Fucking finally.” Ethan muttered. Usually he didn’t like doing dick shots because like, not cool dude, but this guy was a creep so he was an exception.
Ethan spit out some more blood that accumulated in his mouth next to Mason’s body (not on him, as that’d be DNA evidence) and wiped his bruised face. He’d check out the full extent of the injuries later. For now, he needed to leave. As he walked the few blocks to his car, he pondered where he should go. If he remembered correctly, his parents were gone for the night, so it’s not like they could help him. Perhaps Lex would be able to patch him up. The problem would be getting to her home. Though he certainly wasn’t in good shape and really shouldn’t drive, what choice did he have? He sighed heavily as he got in his car. Hopefully he didn’t get in a crash and die. Lex would fucking kill him if he died.
“Jesus Christ, Ethan.” Lex hugged him tightly, not letting go until he whimpered in pain at his sore ribs getting squeezed.
“Sorry. But jeez Eth, getting all beat up just to save a random girl… wow.” She smooched his forehead. “You could have called me to pick you up though. I wouldn’t have minded.”
“Yeah, but then I’d have to leave my car in fucking Skidrow overnight. And I don’t want it to get fucking stolen.” Ethan pointed out. “But does that mean you’re a little less mad at me?” He smiled.
“Only a little.” Lex smiled back, then squeezed his hand one, two, three times, taking special care not to brush his bloody knuckles. To her surprise, he took the back of her hand and kissed it gently.
“Thanks for being so worried and helping me.” He murmured into her skin.
“Of course, babe.” She lowered her hand and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I’m just glad you didn’t get more beat up. That asshole could have seriously damaged you.”
Ethan arched a brow and pointed to his ribs and black eye. Lex rolled her eyes. “I mean sent you to the hospital, idiot.”
“Oh, true.” He shrugged while Lex wiped off the dried blood from his hand and mouth. “I don’t regret it, though.”
“Really?” Lex rummaged around in a nearby drawer for some bandages.
“Nah. Even if he did kick my ass for a bit, I’d rather have that happen than an innocent girl get raped or killed or whatever, ya know?” Ethan said as Lex wrapped up his knuckles.
“Wow, so brave. A white knight indeed, albeit a beat up one.” Lex gave him a sarcastic smile, but she meant it. She fondly stroked her hand over the non bruised side of his face. “You should rest over the weekend, k? No more doing stupid shit. Just take it easy.” She kissed his forehead, then his lips.
“Can I get an eyepatch for my black eye?” Ethan asked excitedly.
Lex rolled her eyes. “Eth, you’ve gotten a black eye a thousand times. What’s so special about this time that you want an eyepatch? I thought for boys having a black eye was like, a badge of honor or something.”
“Yeah, but consider this: Eyepatches are cool.” He pointed out.
“Welp, ya got me there.” Lex acquiesced with a shrug. “Maybe fuckin uh…. Walgreens or some shit might have an eyepatch. I dunno. You can crash here for the night. It’s late anyways.” She glanced at the clock. “I’ll go to the store in the morning.”
“What about your mom? Or Hannah?” Ethan said as Lex carefully put a bandage on his bruised jaw.
“Hannah’s asleep already. Mom’s out, probably drinking. So the usual.” She gently dabbed at his black eye with a wet washcloth. “If you want you can have my bed and I’ll sleep… I dunno, on the floor? You need a proper place to rest. Just don’t fall on me during the night.”
“We can share a bed, Lexie. We’ve done it before.” Man, Lex was so cute when worried. “It’s no big deal.”
“But I don’t want to accidentally push you and make it worse–” Ethan interrupted her fretting with a kiss.
“It’s fine. Really.” He whispered against her lips. “I’ll sleep on the inside, ok? It’ll all be fine.”
After a beat, Lex sighed. “Alright, alright. You win. I want you to heal quickly and be comfortable. That’s why I’m worrying.” She gave him a sweet peck. “I love you, you know that?” She squeezed his hand one, two, three times. “Now lemme get some painkillers. You probably want something to take your mind off the pain, right?”
“Oh, I can think of other things to take my mind off the pain.” Ethan smirked and grabbed Lex, pulling her down into his lap.
Lex made a cute noise of surprise and opened her mouth to say something, but her protests were silenced as Ethan swallowed her words up with a passionate kiss. She eagerly reciprocated, wrapping her arms around his neck and scooting in closer.
After breaking away, Ethan immediately swooped down to mouth at Lex’s neck, not sucking hard enough to leave marks but just enough to make her shiver and her breath hitch. “Ethan,” she gasped, but Ethan either ignored her or didn’t hear her. “Ethan!” She tried again, louder this time. This finally caused him to stop and draw back.
He tilted his head in confusion. “What is it?”
“We shouldn’t… you need to rest.” Lex insisted, though her breathing was heavy and her cheeks were flushed. “You’re hurt, you shouldn’t be horny.”
“Yeah well, I can do both. I’m good at multitasking.” Ethan quipped. He tried to kiss her jaw, but she put a hand on his chest in a clear sign to stop.
“How about this,” Lex laced her fingers through Ethan’s non fucked up hand and squeezed one, two, three times. “When you get better, we’ll ‘celebrate’ like that. But I don’t want you to go too hard and accidentally fuck up your wounds even more or some shit. Better safe than sorry, right?”
Ethan sighed deeply. “You drive a hard bargain. Though… if you don’t want to go that far, then ok. I’m not gonna force you to do anything.” He squeezed her hand back.
“Still…” He tapped his lips with a boyish grin. “Maybe if I get a few kisses I’ll feel better.”
Lex laughed. “Of course, babe.” She leaned forward to give him the first of many, many “feel better” kisses that night.