˗ˏˋ ouch .ᐟ

the school felt different after dark. no shouting. no footsteps pounding down the hallway. no slamming lockers or sharp laughter from the girls who made your life miserable. the same girls who giggled whenever niki threw a punch. who looked at you like a bug under glass.

they were all gone now.

you weren't supposed to be here. you just needed a place to breathe — somewhere that didn’t echo with insults and shoves and that constant ache in your chest. somewhere without all those bullies that make you cry and get anxiety. that’s when you saw him.

niki.

crumpled near the back stairwell where the lights barely worked. slouched against the wall like he’d just given up halfway through standing. blood stained the collar of his shirt. his knuckles were raw and split, like always, but this time it wasn’t just his fists that looked damaged.

he was shaking.

you stopped in your tracks. your breath caught. for a second, you didn’t even believe it was him. niki wasn’t supposed to look like this. vulnerable. quiet. human — but he was.

niki glanced up. eyes half-lidded, mouth twitching like he might smirk out of habit, but didn’t have the energy to.

"what, you lost or something?" , his voice was rough. not sharp, just… tired.

you swallowed, "no. i- i was just-"

"figures." , he let his head fall back against the wall, "you’d be the one to find me."

you didn’t know what that meant. didn’t know if it was an insult or not. but you didn’t leave. he looks way too hurt.

you stepped closer. carefully. slowly. like approaching a wounded animal.

"you’re hurt.."

niki laughed, if you could call it that. it sounded more like a wince, "yeah. noticed."

then, you looked at him. really looked. the boy who made your life hell. the boy who never backed down. the boy who was bleeding alone behind the school with no one coming for him. what the hell happened? you shouldn't feel bad, but you do..