When the Bough Breaks

.

"Hey, do you want a ride?"

That voice is recognizable and without even looking, the glasses boy already knows who it belongs to.

"No, that's illegal."

His tone and the glint of his glasses marks the finality of this small exchange. The boy with the cameo-colored hair gives the other boy one last look before he pedals away on his bicycle, leaving the student officer of his class, who is pushing his own bike rather than riding it, by himself.

He is grumbling silently as the teen walks home. 'Why does someone keeps piercing my tires? Can't they just deflate them?' At this rate, he is going to be broke since his money are all spent to buy tires.

It isn't showing on his expressionless face, but the glasses-wearing student is quite irritated with this act of bullying. More so since he doesn't know who is doing this or for what reason. He is a tattletale because it is his job as the student officer, but all of his classmates already know that and despite the complaints, they don't treat him any different.

Shaking his head, the black-rimmed spectacles loosens a little. He believes he has never reported anything major to the teachers, but someone can still hold a grudge against him. This student is also not very likable and sometimes, that alone can get him in trouble.

He doesn't have a clue on who is the culprit, so the quiet youth simply frowns while he is going home.

"Want a ride?"

Once again, Qi Fang offers his help. And once again, he is rejected.

"No."

The tattletale pushes his bicycle again without waiting for the tall student's reaction. The mophead tilts his head as he watches his classmate goes through the school gate.

"What's wrong? You're staring at him."

His best girl friend, the tomboy beauty, walks beside him. She hasn't brought her bike ever since she stalks the neighboring female student.

"He's rejected me two times already."

The girl laughs, her dark bangs swaying as she shakes from laughter. "You're feeling hurt because your charm doesn't work on Tattletale?"

The boy deadpans. "It's not like that. He said that we have different values and I thought…" His voice gradually fades away.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Qi Fang doesn't want to tell her, somehow. He sighs, "Just go away. You're going to make her wait if you don't hurry."

"Oh, crap! Thanks for the reminder, man!" She jogs away, all thoughts are gone from her head whenever her crush is mentioned. "Call me if you need me!" She shouts before she is gone. And without anyone else to talk to, the teenage boy increases his bike's speed.

He had cleared the misunderstanding between them. He had confronted the glasses boy. And yet, he is still restless. The unique and small student still intrigues him. Despite his efforts to be friends, he is met with a resounding 'no'.

Thinking that his attempts were too standoffish, the light brown-eyed student decides on a more direct approach.

There is no one else in the parking area, but the boy with the backpack is hunching down dejectedly while staring at the flat back tire of his white bicycle. His exasperation is reaching the limit and he needs to come up with something to trap the bully.

"Are you going by foot again with your bike?"

The student officer turns his head sharply, and his glasses gleams dangerously.

"Yes."

Qi Fang peeks from the right shoulder of his classmate. "Your tire is flat."

"Yes."

Their closeness doesn't bother each of them, but the tattletale moves to grab his bike and pushes the kickstand. He walks away with it by his side, but he hears the footsteps following him.

"Wait." The light brown ponytail shakes softly, the taller boy crouches down and his long arm holds the seat firmly. The smaller teen can't budge the bike. "There's a hole here. Did someone intentionally puncture it?"

"Yes."

Qi Fang looks up. The four-eyed boy's face is still as impassive as ever even though he just said something upsetting. The other male stands up, towering over the proper student, and asks with wide eyes, "Is someone bothering you? Who is it?"

The tattletale is quiet, though, before he answers. "I don't know. Don't trouble yourself over this." He says decisively and turns to grab the bike handles. He pushes it again. But then he halts. "I'm going to deal with this!"

He uses the same posture as before, proudly and honestly answers the cameo-haired youth. It reassures him, the student officer is still as strong-willed as ever.

"Okay. Tell me if you need any help."

The handsome smile that Qi Fang shows is filled with trust. The glasses boy doesn't understand why. Once again, he simply turns and continues walking.

The smile hasn't gone as the tall boy runs his fingers through his medium-length hair. He is going to keep an eye on his classmate.

Qin Xiong was taken away by his upperclassman and so the mophead wanders around the hallway by himself. Some girls had stopped him but he easily slipped away. The break is about to end and he has lost sight of the student officer.

He is about to go to the stairs when he sees a familiar back in the hallway. He rushes when he noticed the slightly rumpled and dirtied jacket, the staggering, and the red knuckles. He gets there on time just as the glasses boy's knees buckles, and Qi Fang catches him in his arms, hands automatically burrowing under the armpits.

"You really need to be more careful."

He smirks, but it falters when he sees the bruises on the other male's face. The tattletale pushes his head back, creating a weird pressure on the tall male's stomach, as he looks up.

"Thank you. Let me go."

"You can barely stand."

"…Help me, please."

And the brunet complied. He puts an arm around the small frame of the other boy, grasping his shoulder and pulling him flush against his side. The spectacles-wearing male turns his head quizzically.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you…?"

"I thought you're just going to help me lean on the wall."

"It's faster this way. Let's get you to the infirmary."

"Okay."

Qi Fang smiles, he slowly starts walking and the student beside him follows carefully. But still, it is painful and there are small pained grunts coming out of his mouth.

"What happened?" The tall boy guides the way and he asks to distract the pain away.

"I've dealt with it. He's just acting out because I took his preferred parking spot since I always come early." He clicks his tongue, "He thought he can mess with me just because I'm nerdy. Well, I proved him wrong."

There is a satisfied smirk forming on the student officer's face. Qi Fang does a double take to completely ingrains the rare expression to his memories. He didn't know that this boy can make that kind of face and that stirs something in him.

'He really is an interesting guy…'

"That's awesome, ―――."

It comes as shock for the glasses boy. He had never expected this rowdy classmate to remember his name.

He dubs today as a great day and lets the corners of his mouth upturns faintly, before instantaneously gone.

Nonetheless, the tall boy has imprinted that secret look to his mind again. He props his classmate and together, they are walking towards the nurse room in silence.

.

A/N: I'm not certain if it's illegal to ride a bike with more than one passenger in China since I based it on Japan's traffic laws, but from what I gather, China also adopts that law (unless the passenger is under 14 yo). Btw, I need more of them together...