&. open wounds
it’s one foot connecting with another when he fumbles back, losing balance and left to catch himself unsteadily. one hand stretched out, curled onto the fabric of sehun’s shirt to remain upright and gasping quietly when his lungs scream from breath. there’s only pain, throbbing, searing, consuming, and the taste of his own blood. his empty hand curled, bound into a fist before he swings it blindly in sehun’s direction. an action that comes with the shrill of the whistle over the room and the teachers voice calling out. not that the demand for everyone to stop was going to restrain hyungwon who exerted all his strength behind the undirected attack. one he wanted to end the confrontation with, but instead rougher hands were pulling them apart. the scolding in the teachers voice muffled by the ringing in hyungwon’s ear, one eye squinted shut as he stared sehun down, smearing blood with the back of his hand.
“both of you, to the infirmary. now,” the teacher ordered, “and i’ll see you both later about this.”
Sehun doesn’t flinch this time when Hyungwon stabs at him with more hurtful words, hides the way it cuts into his already wounded heart with an emotionless expression. He wants so badly to call him out, wants to call bullshit because he’s seen the way Hyungwon glares at anyone Sehun drapes himself over (that’s why he does it, after all) but the words fail to form on his tongue. It’s hard to have any hope that Hyungwon has any semblance of want for him now, not with everything that he’s said since they were paired up and with the way he’s been provoking him, the way he threw the first punch without hesitating as much as Sehun had hoped he would. It hurts, but Sehun can barely discern where the emotional pain ends and the physical pain starts – it’s all blurring together, leaving his body numb to everything Hyungwon throws at him. So he lets the words roll off him like water, like acid rain burning his skin as it trickles down but not showing any signs of how much it aches. “Whatever,” He tosses back listlessly, irritation still lacing his tone.
The adrenaline racing through his veins has him on edge, has him feeling numb to it all but the stumble from Hyungwon’s shove sets him off. As much as he desperately wishes to hate his ex-boyfriend for all the shit he’s put him through, he can’t and each punch he aims and lands on Hyungwon’s face causes him pain more than satisfaction. He feels worse with each connect of his knuckles to the younger male’s skin, but his anger takes precedence over the flicker of worry and regret. Hyungwon’s constant provoking doesn’t help and the words fuel the fire Hyungwon started months ago, when he just up and left with virtually no explanation for the breakup. Sehun feels his heart seizing painfully at the sight of blood decorating Hyungwon’s skin and his own pale fists. It’s a gruesome combination from both of them, his knuckles split and undoubtedly bruised underneath the coppery smear but he doesn’t stop until he stumbles a second time, this time from the other male grabbing onto him for balance. His arms fall by his side tiredly, feet stepping forward to keep himself from falling over at the imbalance of weight hanging from his shirt.
The shrill sound of the teacher’s whistle pierces the air, startling Sehun enough that he doesn’t do much to block Hyungwon’s last ditch attempt to retaliate in his surprise. The force behind the blind throw catches him off guard, drawing a pained groan when his ex-boyfriend’s fist connects with his skin, his mouth filled with the taste of copper when the punch splits his lip. He isn’t given the chance to return the favor because there’s a third pair of hands yanking them apart, rough and Sehun doesn’t have to look up to see just how pissed off their teacher is. He glares back at Hyungwon in irritation, though its effect is lessened by the tears prickling at his eyes and the blood smeared across his face. The adrenaline is wearing off now and pain sears through his body, leaving Sehun to breathe harshly through his broken nose in an attempt to keep himself composed long enough to get away from Hyungwon. After all that, he can’t afford to let the other boy see him breakdown. Shrugging the teacher’s hands off of him roughly, uncaring about how much more he’ll be punished for the disrespect, he pushes past Hyungwon with a hard knock of his shoulders. “Fuck you Hyungwon,” He hisses one last jab as he heads for the infirmary, trying for annoyed in hopes that the other won’t hear the defeat in his voice.
