A/N: Here we go! Another drabble expanded into a full story. I hope you all enjoy!
Pale skin had turned dark, drawn tight, looked painful. His lips were split and red, but the ring around his left eye was black and yellow and almost purple. When he spoke, he winced.
"Jonsey. Shouldn't you be at work?" asked Darth, and it was clear that he wasn't in a good mood.
Jonesy stared, and he frowned. "What happened to you?"
Darth paused, quit stocking the shelf but didn't look at the taller man. "What are you talking about? Nothing happened."
"Tell the truth." insisted Jonesy.
Darth wouldn't. "Go away, Jonesy."
"No." Jonesy crossed his arms over his chest. "Not until you tell the truth."
"I am," insisted Darth. "So leave me alone."
Jonesy wouldn't. "Start talking, Darth."
"Jonsey!" snapped Darth, but he backed away as he spoke. "Just because you don't like an answer doesn't mean it's a lie. It just means you're wrong."
"I'm not wrong," insisted Jonsey. He crossed his arms over his chest, frowned down at the shorter male.
Darth stared back, didn't give in. "Yes, you are. Now go away. I'm busy."
With that, Darth turned his back on the taller male. Jonsey left a few minutes later.
-x-x-x-
"What's up, dude?" asked Jude, tilting his head to the side.
Jonsey gave a loud sigh, sinking down into the chair across from the blond boy. "I don't know, but it isn't good."
Jude blinked, frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, something happened to Darth." said Jonsey, and he was frowning too now, eyes shining with worry.
Again, Jude blinked. Didn't know what to say at first, and then he gave a slow nod. "Oh, yeah. You mean the bruise, right? Pretty gnarly looking."
"It's not cool, Jude." snapped Jonsey. "Someone really beat him up! And he wouldn't tell me who when I asked!"
"Well, that's kind of expected. I mean, you two aren't really close or anything." Jude popped another fry into his mouth, offering Jonsey one a moment later.
Jonsey opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. Couldn't speak because Jude may have been correct right then, but had it been three, four, five years ago it would have been wrong. And that bothered him to no end.
-x-x-x-
"Tell me."
Darth didn't look up from the television that he was fiddling with, completely ignored the older man.
Jonsey frowned, crossed his arms over his chest. "I mean it, Darth. Tell me what happened."
Again, he was ignored. Darth shifted the wrench to his other hand, the knuckles across his right hand bruised and swollen. One of them may have been cracked, he wasn't sure. Just knew that it hurt.
"If you don't tell me right now, then I'll-" Jonsey paused for a moment, had to think of a good threat. After a moment of silence, he realized that he couldn't come up with one.
Didn't know Darth well enough anymore to threaten him.
Darth gave a loud sigh anyway, finally setting the wrench down when he decided that he couldn't work on the television any longer. "Just go back to work, Jonsey."
Jonsey refused. "No. Not until you tell me what happened to you."
A pause. The corners of Darth's lips twitched up, forming a wry smirk. One of them was split, noticed Jonsey, still red and encrusted with dried blood. "I fell on my way in to work."
"You fell? On what? Someone's fist?" demanded Jonsey, unswayed by the obvious lie.
Darth shrugged. "You asked what happened, Jonsey. That's what happened. I fell."
Jonsey did not believe him, but left all the same.
-x-x-x-
"Just find out what happened for me, alright?" asked Jonsey.
Caitlin gave a nod, had no problem agreeing. The grape-vine was her friend, after all, and finding secrets was one of her best capabilities.
Nikki, however, was not as easily swayed. "Why are you so interested in this, Jonsey?"
Jonsey paused, then he frowned. "I just am."
They could not get any other answer from him.
-x-x-x-
It turned out that someone had seen it happen, those dark bruises being formed. And Darth had fallen, in a way. Pushed was a better word though, onto the ground and then someones shoe came down, down, down.
Jonsey didn't understand why no one had stepped in to stop them. At least, he couldn't help but think, someone had paid attention to the two boys doing it.
Robert Howl and Thomas Kuhns, frequentors of any large gathering of jocks. Large boys with broad shoulders and low IQs, who didn't mind roughing people up to get what they wanted.
That morning, it had been an easy way out of summer homework.
Darth, it seemed, had said no.
So Jonsey read the text that had come through on Caitlin's phone and clicked the link, watching as the video began to load. Began to play.
Jonsey felt sick.
Then, he felt pissed.
Then, he decided to get even.
-x-x-x-
"You lied," accused Jonsey, eyes narrowed.
Darth didn't look up. "I don't lie."
"Yeah? Then why didn't you tell me that someone beat you up?" demanded Jonsey.
Darth froze, swollen and sore hand hovering over the stack of paper-work that he was sorting through. And then he picked up the first sheaf, acting as though nothing was wrong and it was just any regular old Thursday.
But it wasn't.
"I already told you that I fell," said Darth, with a sigh that sounded a little too heavy to be natural.
Jonsey crossed his arms over his chest. "I saw the video."
Another pause, this time longer. Then Darth picked up the next piece of paper, refusing to meet the taller boy's gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Silence.
By the time that Darth looked up, Jonesy was already gone.
-x-x-x-
It took four hours and the loss of his newest job to put it together. A favor with Nikki and two chore-trades with Jen. A bribed off Ron, and who knew the guy hated bullies so much?
But Jonsey did it and now he was just waiting for the right moment.
Noon, to be exact. When the food court would be at its fullest and everyone would be there, getting lunch and talking with friends and all Jonsey could imagine was the look on Darth's face.
Eventually, they showed up. Robert and Thomas, with two lanky blonde's hanging off of their arms. They were carrying trays from the Wonder Taco - and then everything was put into motion and Jonsey felt triumphant.
The chord was pulled and Robert tripped, stumbled, fell right into the fountain by his feet. When he sat up, sputtering and water dripping off him, his skin was an ungodly shade of blue.
It was also permanent, but the jock didn't know that then. Didn't realize that he would look that way for days. Weeks, even.
But people around him stared in silence and then laughed, even Thomas who was completely unprepared for the bucket of pink dye that was thrown on him, curtousy of the Khaki Barn.
"Hey!" he yelled, hands coming up to wipe it from his face.
A moment later and a video started to play on the big screen of the food court. A young boy with red-hair and freckles, wearing a ballerina outfit and dancing to Mozart. It ran on repeat until Thomas looked absolutely mortified.
People were laughing louder now, pointing even. And Jonsey stood in front of them both and looked imposing, even though he was more lanky then anything else.
"Don't mess with Darth again," he warned.
-x-x-x-
"Hey," said Jonsey.
Silence for a moment, before Darth looked up from the circular in front of him. "What do you want?"
"Just tell me what happened next time," said Jonsey, lips twisted into a serious looking frown. "I'll take care of it for you, no problems."
Another moment where neither of them spoke, and then the corners of Darth's lips twisted up into a slight smile. "Thanks, Jonsey."