Hello, how are you? I hope you're well. I'd like to make a request for Suho. The reader and Suho are dating, and I wanted to know how Suho would react if, during that fight against Yeong-bin's cousin, the reader accidentally got punched.
Love You More...;ash
Ahn Suho x Reader
Warnings: Bullying mentions, fights, reader getting hurt.
Soo-ho kept one hand loosely linked with yours, his thumb brushing over your knuckles in that absent, habitual way he did when his mind was half on you and half on the day's leftover adrenaline. You swung your joined hands lightly between you, your school bag bumping against your hip with every step.
This was your routine. It had been for months now, ever since you had made it official after one too many late night convenience store runs where he had paid for your strawberry milk and you had teased him about the bruise on his jaw.
"You're quieter than usual today," you said, glancing up at him.
Your voice was soft, the kind that always cut through whatever thought was looping in his head. You wore your uniform skirt a little longer than most girls, blouse tucked neatly, hair falling in loose waves past your shoulders.
Nothing flashy.
Just you.
The girl who waited for him every single day after the final bell, even when he came out with a sleepy face and low mood.
Soo-ho shrugged, flashing you that crooked grin that never quite reached his eyes when he was thinking about trouble. "Just thinking about work later. Boss wants me stacking boxes till nine tonight. Boring stuff." He squeezed your hand. "But I'll walk you all the way home first, like always. Promise."
You bumped your shoulder against his arm. "Good. I was gonna drag you to the convenience Store for those new honey butter chips anyway. You owe me after you ate the last bag yesterday."
He laughed, the sound low and easy. "Yeah, yeah. I'll buy you two bags to make up for it."
You were halfway down the usual backstreet route. It was narrow, lined with parked scooters and carried the faint smell of street food from the corner stall.
That was when Soo-ho's phone buzzed in his pocket. Once. Twice. Then a third time, insistent. He fished it out with his free hand, frowning at the screen.
You watched his face change. It was subtle, but you knew him well enough to catch it. The slight tightening around his eyes. The way his jaw set.
"What is it?" you asked.
He looked at you. You could tell he was deciding how much to say. "Bumseok," he said finally. "Sieun's in trouble. Someone paid some guy to jump him after school. Alley behind the old gym... " He paused. "I don't care."
"But... Sieun... He's going to get hurt."
"My love, why would we care?"
She looked at him with obvious eyes, giving him a light tap on his arm. "Because they're crossing the line... Sieun has never done anything wrong, besides, he promised that he would give me chemistry tutoring."
Sooho looked at her, puzzled. "Are you getting tutoring?"
"Yes... Do you remember the last one... That doesn't matter! I'm telling you that you have to go help Sieun".
Another message made the cell phone vibrate. Sooho rolled his eyes looking at the screen. For a moment, his gaze lit up, looking at you out of the corner of his eye, as if he was thinking about whether to tell you what the message said or not.
"What?"
"Nothing, you're right, my love, come on, let's help our classmate."
He squeezed your hand again, harder this time.
"You stay back when we get there. Behind me the whole time. Promise me."
"I promise."
The old gym alley was a ten minute detour. It was dim even in daylight, flanked by chain link fences and overflowing dumpsters. The kind of place where fights happened and no one called the police.
You had seen places like this before. You had never liked them.
Soo-ho spotted them first. He always did. He had eyes for that kind of thing in a way you did not.
Sieun was backed against the wall. His uniform was rumpled and there was a fresh split on his lip. His breathing was hard but his eyes were sharp. Facing him was a broad shouldered guy. Older. Maybe early twenties.
The kind of guy you paid to throw punches without asking questions.
Soo-ho did not hesitate. He let go of your hand and gently guided you behind a stack of crates. "Stay here," he murmured. "Do not move from this spot."
You nodded. You could not speak. Your throat felt tight.
He stepped forward, his shoulders squared. The easy going mask was gone. In its place was something harder. Something you had seen before but never gotten used to. "Hey," he said to the guy. "Back off. He is not fighting today."
The guy turned, sizing him up. "Who are you, asshole?"
"None of your business," Soo-ho shot back. He was already rolling up his sleeves. Bumseok shot him a grateful nod. Sieun's sharp eyes met his in silent thanks.
Then the fight exploded.
It happened fast. The hired guy swung first, a heavy punch aimed at Sieun's head. Soo-ho intercepted, shoving Sieun aside and taking the blow on his own shoulder. You saw him flinch, but he grinned through it.
That was his way. He countered with a sharp hit to the guy's ribs, then a knee to the thigh that buckled the bigger man's stance.
You watched from behind the crates. Your heart was pounding so hard you could feel it in your ears. You hated this. You hated the sounds of fists on skin and the grunts and the way Soo-ho's face went hard and focused. But you trusted him. You had to trust him. He always came back to you after.
But then the hired guy recovered faster than anyone expected.
He roared and lunged wildly. Not at Sieun or Soo-ho. In a blind arc that clipped the edge of the crates where you were hiding. One of the wooden slats cracked and flew. You tried to dodge, stepping back quickly, but the guy's follow through swing missed its target and connected with your shoulder instead.
The impact spun you around. You hit the ground hard. Pain bloomed across your upper arm and collarbone, sharp and immediate. Your bag spilled open. Your notebooks scattered across the dirty pavement. A small cry escaped your mouth before you could stop it.
Everything froze.
You saw Soo-ho's head snap toward the sound. His eyes locked on you. You were crumpled on the ground, clutching your shoulder, your face twisted in pain. You could feel blood trickling down your cheek from where you had scraped it on the fall.
His face changed. You had never seen that look before. It was fury, yes, but something else too. Something worse.
"You son of a—" His voice cracked.
Then he moved.
You had seen Soo-ho fight before. You had seen him angry before. But this was different. This was something you could not look away from. He hit the guy. There was no more holding back. His fist connected with the man's jaw in a sound that made you wince. Another punch to the gut doubled the guy over. Soo-ho grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall hard enough to rattle the fence.
"You touched my girl?," he ask. His voice was low and shaking. "Answer me, you piece of shit."
Bumseok and Sieun tried to pull him off. You heard Bumseok's voice, urgent and scared. "Soo-ho, enough. He is down."
Soo-ho shrugged them away. He landed two more hits before the guy finally slumped, groaning, blood on his lip.
Only then did Soo-ho drop him.
He spun toward you and dropped to his knees beside you so fast that his scraped knuckles left smears on the ground. His hands hovered over you, afraid to touch but desperate to. His face was pale. His eyes were wide.
"Hey," he said. His voice cracked again. "Hey, look at me. Where does it hurt? I am so sorry. I told you to stay back."
You sat up slowly. Everything hurt. Your shoulder throbbed. Your cheek stung. But you reached for him anyway. Your fingers curled into his uniform jacket. You tried to make your voice normal, even though it came out shaky.
"It is okay. Just my shoulder and my cheek. I did not mean to get in the way. I was trying to move."
His face crumpled. The anger drained out of him and left something raw behind. Something guilty. He cupped your uninjured cheek with one hand, his thumb brushing away a tear you had not even realized had fallen.
"No," he said. "This is on me. I brought you here. I should have made you wait at the corner or something." He swallowed hard. "If he had hit you harder—"
He did not finish the sentence. He pulled you carefully into his chest instead. One arm wrapped around your waist. The other cradled the back of your head like you were made of glass. His heart was hammering against your ear, fast and unsteady.
Sieun stood a respectful distance away. He was wiping blood from his own lip, watching both of you in silence. Bumseok hovered nearby, looking guilty himself. "Soo-ho," he said. "The guy is out. Yeongbin will probably hear about this. But Sieun is safe."
Soo-ho did not look up. "I do not care about Yeongbin right now." His voice was low and fierce. Then, to you, softer: "Can you stand? I will carry you if it hurts too much. We are going home. Screw work. The boss can fire me for all I care."
You shook your head against his chest. The pain was still there, but you did not want to be carried. You did not want to feel helpless. "No carrying. I can walk. Just stay close. And do not blame yourself. You were helping. That is who you are."
He made a sound that was almost a laugh but not quite. It came out wet and humorless. "Yeah, well, my girlfriend getting punched because of it was not part of the plan."
He helped you to your feet carefully. His arm stayed around your waist for support. His free hand brushed your hair back, his eyes scanning your face for more injuries. The small cut on your cheek had stopped bleeding, but it would bruise. So would your shoulder.
"We are stopping at the pharmacy on the way," he said. "Ice pack, bandages, whatever you need." A pause. "And those chips. Extra spicy, like you like."
Bumseok gave a hesitant thumbs up. "I will handle everything from here, thanks. Seriously."
Sieun gave a short nod. That was his version of gratitude. Then he slipped away down the alley. Soo-ho barely acknowledged either of them. His world had narrowed to you.
The walk back was slower than the walk there.
Soo-ho kept his pace matched to yours. His arm never left your waist. Every few steps he would glance down at you, checking your expression, muttering apologies under his breath. "Should have told you to go straight home. Should have handled it alone."
You elbowed him gently with your good arm. "Stop. You are my boyfriend, not my bodyguard twenty four seven." You tilted your head up and gave him a small smile, even though your shoulder ached. "Besides, now I get to say I survived a fight. That is kind of cool, right?"
He groaned, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Not funny. I am never letting you near another alley again. We are taking the long way home from now on. Main roads only."
At the pharmacy, he fussed like a worried parent. He grabbed ice packs and painkillers and antiseptic wipes and a ridiculous cartoon bandage with little stars on it. "For the cut," he said when you raised an eyebrow. "It will make it heal faster or something."
The woman behind the counter raised an eyebrow at his bloody knuckles and your bruised cheek. But she said nothing. Soo-ho paid with a quiet "keep the change" and you both left.
Outside, he made you sit on a low wall. He pressed the ice pack to your shoulder himself, his touch light. "Tell me if it is too cold." His voice had gone soft again. "I am sorry. The second I heard you hit the ground, I- I'm so sorry, baby..."
You leaned into the cold press of the pack. Your eyes were half closed. "I know. And I love that about you. Also, I was the one who asked you to go help Sieun." You reached up with your free hand and traced the fresh bruise forming on his jaw from earlier in the fight. "You got hurt too. We are a team, okay? Even if the team sometimes gets punched."
He chuckled. The sound was warm and relieved. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead. Then one to the uninjured side of your cheek. He was careful not to press on the cut. His forehead rested against yours for a long moment. His eyes were closed.
"Team," he said. "Yeah. I like that." A pause. "I love you, you know that? even when you feed me broccoli"
"I love you too," you whispered back. You were smiling now. "Now take me home before I make you buy me three bags of chips."
The rest of the walk was quiet and comfortable.
By the time you reached your door, the sky had deepened to twilight. Streetlights were flickering on one by one. Soo-ho lingered on the step with his hands in his pockets. He had handed you the pharmacy bag already.
"Text me when you are inside," he said. "And if the shoulder swells or anything, call me. I will come back. Work can wait."
You stepped closer and rose on your toes to kiss him properly. It was soft and lingering. "I will. Go to work, just because Bumseok paid you doesn't mean you have the right to skip work"
Sooho was surprised, watching her smile and give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Go ahead, baby, I'll pretend I didn't see the messages."
He grinned. It was the full one, the bright one that made his eyes crinkle. "Goodnight."
He waited until the door clicked shut behind you. Then he turned and walked away. His shoulders relaxed for the first time all evening.
Inside, you pressed your back to the door. The ice pack was still clutched to your shoulder. A soft smile played on your lips. You pulled out your phone and typed a quick text.
"Work safe. Love you more than chips. See you tomorrow?".
His reply came almost instantly.
"Always, babe. Sleep good. I love you more than bulgogi".
You laughed quietly in the hallway. Your heart was full despite the ache in your shoulder.
You would be okay. You always were.