Chapter Text
The bloody nose wasn’t new. The big dumb grin on Tommy’s face while he gave Michael a bloody nose wasn’t new either. But Jake Dillinger, standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at Michael, that was new.
Michael didn’t think he had much of an expression on his own face. Getting his ass kicked was routine at this point. He didn’t particularly care anymore. Besides, he could take a punch a lot better than Jeremy so he supposed he was just glad Jeremy was late.
But Jake looked… well Michael couldn’t really figure out what he looked like. Surprised. Concerned? Upset?
The bell rang and Tommy finally let go of Michael.
“See you next week.” He shoved Michael backwards into the wall for good measure before stalking off down the hall.
Michael picked up his backpack off the floor and walked into the bathroom. He stood at the sink and washed the blood off his face. He was tenderly poking at the side of his nose when the bathroom door opened and he suddenly saw Jake standing behind him in the mirror.
For a second, Michael was scared. Maybe Jake was here to continue beating him up. He’d never seemed the violent type but he was still a jock. Plus, he hung out with Tommy all the time. Maybe that look in the hallway just disappointment that it wasn’t his fist connecting with Michael’s face. Michael braced, fingers gripping the edge of the sink. But then Jake opened his mouth.
“Are you okay?”
Michael glanced at him in the mirror before focusing back on his swollen nose. “Yes.”
“You don’t look… are you sure man?”
“Positive.”
Jake just stood there, looking helpless.
“Do you want something?” Michael spun around to glare at him. So what if Jake had never personally kicked his ass? Most of his friends had. So Michael wasn’t as big a fan of Jake as the rest of the school seemed to be. And he was reluctant to believe that Jake Dillinger was really just checking on him out of the goodness of his heart.
“I just wanted to know if-”
“You were there. You saw what happened.” Michael said shortly.
“Right.” Jake nodded. “I’m sorry… I mean uh, obviously I didn’t do it but I just mean… that it happened to you.” It was strange to hear Jake stumble over his words.
Michael snorted, which hurt.
“I’m just sorry.” Jake tried again.
“And I’m late.” Michael shoved his way out of the bathroom to see Jeremy hovering by the door.
“Hey, there you- what happened to your face?”
“It got punched. What’s your excuse?” He teased, shoving Jeremy’s head.
Jeremy laughed but it died quickly. Michael watched his eyes track Jake as he walked out of the bathroom and down the hall.
“Was that Jake?”
“Uh huh.”
“Was he the one who-”
“No.” Michael shrugged. “He just happened to be in there too.”
“Hmm.” Jeremy nodded. He turned back to Michael, eyes focused on the fresh smear of blood above his lip. He pulled a tissue from his backpack, reached out, and wiped it away. “You’re okay?”
“I’ll survive.”
“Going to class?” Jeremy asked, tossing the tissue into a trashcan.
“Nah. Not in the mood to conjugate verbs right now. Come ditch with me?”
“Can’t.” Jeremy sighed. “If I miss one more lecture on the American Revolution I’m gonna start failing.”
“Boo.” Michael whined. “Fine. See you after.”
“Bye.”
Michael spent fifth period in the nurse’s office, icing his face. He ignored her well intentioned questions about what happened. Ratting out bullies never did anything but piss said bullies off more. They’d get a stern talking to about the school’s “zero tolerance policy” and then they’d make their merry way right back to kick Michael’s ass again. No, Michael learned long ago that the administration was not going to be any help to him.
He liked the nurse, Miss Williams, though. She was sweet and she let him spend whole periods in her office, even if he didn’t really need to. She also grumbled about the people that sent him there even though he’d never tell her who they were.
“Michael I’m telling you, give me their names and I will take care of it.”
“I’m fine.” Michael smiled as she bustled around the room. “I’ve had worse.”
“Names, Michael. Come on.”
“You know the principal doesn’t do anything.”
“I’m talking about me.” She gave him a look.
Michael laughed.
By the time the bell rang he decided he wasn’t much in the mood for sixth period either. So he thanked Miss Williams, promised her he’d get to class, and made his way down to the football field to hide out under the bleachers.
“Oh for fuck’s sake.” He muttered, seeing the soccer team scattered across the field.
Specifically what he saw was Jake Dillinger in a tank top, stretching and laughing. Alright, so Michael didn’t particularly like the guy but he wasn’t blind. Jake was popular for a reason and half of that reason was because he looked like… that. Muscular arms, long legs, toned stomach peeking out from under his shirt. Not to mention his face.
Michael shook his head. He was here to smoke not stare at hot guys. He made his way under the bleachers and sat down. For the next few moments, his mind wandered to other things while he smoked. He thought about the econ assignment he was definitely going to have to make up tomorrow. He thought about how hungry he was and if he’d be able to persuade Jeremy to actually go somewhere good for their afterschool meal. Jeremy had a thing about only eating at the same three places every day. It nearly tore their friendship apart, their fast food preferences. So, Michael had to formulate a strong argument if he was going to convince Jeremy to eat somewhere different today. He’d almost completely forgotten about Jake when his face appeared around the corner of the bleachers.
“Hey man you-”
“I told you I’m fine.”
“Right…” Jake jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m actually here to tell you to stop smoking.”
Michael glanced at the joint in his hand. “Right.” He stood up. School was about to be over anyway. “Gonna rat me out then?”
“No.” Jake shrugged. “Coach doesn’t care that much. Just doesn’t want you doing it here.”
“Great.” Michael raised his eyebrows. “That all?”
“Yeah.” Jake hesitated. “But I am sorry. About earlier.”
“Why? You didn’t punch me.”
“Yeah but I also didn’t stop it.”
“Okay?” Michael crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “I don’t need you to rescue me Jake.”
“No, that’s not what I-”
“Yes it is. And I don’t need your help.”
“I just…” Jake sighed. Then he shrugged. “Put the joint out.”
Michael pressed the end into a metal post. “It’s out.”
“Thanks.” Jake turned and jogged back toward the field.
“Hey man.” Jeremy greeted him as they fell into step together on their way to the parking lot after school.
“Hey.”
“Everything okay?” Jeremy tilted his head.
“Uh,” Michael paused. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“You nose still hurt?”
“A bit.” Michael nodded. “Coming over?”
“Sure.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell Jeremy about his conversation with Jake. It was just weirding him out. And he didn’t need Jeremy getting all moony eyed at the prospect of Jake wanting to be their personal body guard or whatever. Jeremy was Michael’s best friend in the world, but sometimes he felt like they came from two different planets. Besides surface level interests, they really didn’t have much in common. Like the stupid popular kids. Jeremy was so desperate to hang out with them, to get them to like him. Michael just couldn’t understand it. All the football players sucked. And the soccer players. And the basketball players and every other athlete pretty much. They were assholes and half of them had bloodied and bruised Michael and Jeremy both. He just didn’t understand why Jeremy was so obsessed with them.
It wasn’t really a bad thing that they were so different, Michael and Jeremy, but it sometimes made Michael hold back from saying certain things around him. Like this.
“Hey, did you finish the math homework in class?” Jeremy asked as he got into Michael’s car. “He talked like the whole class my period so we had no time to work.”
“I finished most of it.” Michael nodded. “Did you get the econ homework for me?”
“Of course.” Jeremy whipped a piece of paper out of his backpack. “You know I got you.”
“Thanks.”
“What are best friends for if not getting homework for the class you ditch and knowing all your deepest darkest secrets?” Jeremy laughed.
Michael smiled. “Right.”