It's You or Hilary
Feeding a person who hates him more than life is the last thing he wants to do, but the trail of bright red tracking down his left cheek doesn't sit right with his conscience. He hadn't planned to hit that hard but his temper had gotten the better of him. His fingers tighten around the glass of water in his grip as he stares down at Granger, his anger still a very real and living thing in his chest, held back and clenched between his teeth.
Granger notices the blood when he touches the side of his face and his hand comes away wet. He seems to be in disbelief as he looks at his crimson fingers and then lifts his gaze to Kai. As if he never expected Kai to strike him, which is absurd because he'd made it abundantly clear that he thinks of Kai as walking evil.
The look he gives him further fuels the fire in his lungs, but so does it add to the reminder that Kai was wrong to do what he did and that he'd never intended to use any amount of strength against him. He'd failed to keep his anger in check and that's a living thing in his chest too.
The regret he feels is enough to push the glass towards Tyson, holding it out for him.
Granger regards the water as if it's an even more alien object, finding the gesture more bizarre than the punch.
He glances away, resentment in the action, and tries to stand on his own. He's successful at it, though it takes some struggle. As soon as he's on his feet however, he sways slightly, blinking in quick succession, bringing an uncertain hand to his temple.
"Sit down" Kai grinds. "You're concussed."
"I'm going home," says Tyson, trying to act tougher and stronger than he is right now.
Kai bites his tongue, decides to humour his bullshit, and hangs back as Tyson 'goes home'. He takes one step and nearly crashes back to the ground, but he doesn't because Kai grabs him by his elbow and drags him to the couch and drops him on the cushions. He lands with an 'oof' and the throb in his head must worsen because he cringes in pain and holds his head.
"Drink some water, you're exhausted and bleeding and dehydrated, you'll fall asleep," he attempts to force the glass into his hands but he thwarts it away, almost spilling it. Kai's nostrils flare as he moves it out of his way before his hand can smack it.
"I don't want anything from you," says Tyson, steel in his eyes and voice. Anger, betrayal, and resentment fills the gaze he directs at Kai and Kai is momentarily armorless.
"Fine" says Kai after a beat, setting the glass down on the coffee table.
Granger glances at the tumbler and gulps, before attempting to clear his vision and gather himself. He breathes quietly. In through his nose, out through his mouth. Once he feels confident that the dizziness has passed he stands up, but blood must rush in his head, because that sudden movement almost knocks him clean out. He's lucky that he hadn't strayed far away and falls against Kai's shoulder who stops his fall with an arm braced around his waist. Strands of his hair brush against his nose as Kai notices that his full weight is upon him, sagging in his hold. It's strange. He nudges him back, uncomfortably, then his gaze lands on Granger's face and he finds that his eyes are closed.
Alarm courses through him.
"Hey" he calls, gently, urgently, all malice leaking out of him. "Hey" He shakes him lightly. "Tyson, wake up." He moves a soft lock of hair that had fallen in his eyes. "Don't fall asleep," he says, gently patting his cheek where it isn't injured. "Tyson"
His eyes come open slowly, irises wan and unfocused.
"Hey, stay with me," Kai urges in a whisper.
Tyson blinks, attempting to swim up against the current of oblivion. Kai helps him down onto the couch and cants the glass of water against his lips, having him drink from his own hand.
He swallows with difficulty and he closes his eyes a few sips in.
Kai touches his hand to wake him. It's warm. "Tyson, stay with me."
His lashes lift again as he struggles to get the water in. Once he drains the full glass, Kai sets it aside and calls for a doctor.
Tyson touches his own face, at the bleeding wound, drawing Kai's attention to it. The cut isn't deep. The skin had broken from the impact with his fist. It can be dressed easily. Kai stands up to get the first aid kit.
"How long has it been?"
"Ten minutes at best."
"What's that on his cheek?"
"A slight graze. It doesn't matter."
The doctor takes his word for it and checks Tyson's vitals. "Well he isn't bleeding anywhere and his vitals seem alright." He shines a torch in Tyson's eyes. "A proper meal and a good night's rest should fix the dizziness. He's fatigued more than anything."
He turns to his medical kit and pulls a small bottle out of it. "Here, it's a hydration drink," he says, handing it to Tyson. "Should help with the exhaustion."
Granger accepts the bottle, unstoppers it and tips the contents into his mouth.
Kai escorts the doctor out of the house. When he gets back, Granger seems more like himself again, alert. He rises to his feet when he sees Kai.
"I'll pay you back for the doctor and...and this," he says, gesturing to the empty container of the hydration drink.
Kai considers him quietly then looks away with a slight scoff. "You don't have to."
"Well, I will," says Tyson. "And, I need to go home."
"You can sleep here," says Kai.
"I can't" Tyson declines resolutely.
Kai raises a silent brow at that.
Tyson's lips part as he takes a deep breath and then walks around Kai, leaving the house.
Kai watches him disappear down the hall and then follows his footsteps.
He drops in the foyer, right before he reaches the front door. Losing complete consciousness as expected. Kai intercepts his fall and hesitates for a moment as Tyson's soft perfume permeates the air under his nose. He figures there's nothing else he can do and lifts him into his arms and takes him to the guest bedroom, laying him down and carelessly throwing a blanket over him.
Julia nudges the door open and peers at the boy through the crack. He's deep asleep, snuggling the blanket to his chest. She closes the door again, gently, not wanting to wake him.
"What the fuck is going on here?" she asks Tala in a soft voice, turning to face him in the hall. "This is getting out of hand."
He considers her worry and confusion with a nonchalant demeanor. "He said he was going to take care of Granger himself and I thought that meant he was going to be more lenient with it than me but it turns out, he's no better." He mutters, "'Don't bully the juniors', he'd said. What is he doing now?"
"What did Granger do for Kai to be going after him like this?" Julia muses out loud. "He's not some enemy of his. He's just..a guy."
Tala meets her eyes. His icy blues offer no answers. She sighs.
"Guess I'll try to talk to him."
It's a fitful sleep. He gets an hour of proper rest before his mind starts supplying him with terrifying scenarios involving Kai. He tosses and turns unable to escape. When he finally wakes he does so with Kai's piercing crimson-flecked gaze painted vividly behind his eyelids.
His heart hammers in his chest as he takes in his surroundings. This is one of the guest bedrooms in the Blitzkrieg house. How did he get here? He has a vague memory of walking down the hall and feeling faint.
Oh hell
He'd probably passed out. No one else was in the house except him and Kai too which meant…
Tyson shoots to his feet and grabs his satchel. He scrambles toward the closed door, inching it open with halted breath.
He scans the halls and finds them empty. There's light coming from the kitchen however. Voices too. The Blitzkriegs conversing casually with one another at the butt crack of dawn.
He quickly surveys the living room again because it feels like something's missing on his person, but he can't find any of his belongings there so he scutters to the front door and gets the fuck out of there.
Max is sleeping blissfully when he reaches the dorm.
He's still in his ball outfit. The suit that Kai had gifted him. Tyson brings a hand to one of the jacket buttons, vowing to launder it and give it back as if it was brand new. He doesn't want to keep anything that isn't his and he certainly is not going to accept anything from Kai Hiwatari.
He knows that man hates him. He can't imagine spending another minute in these clothes.
Tyson quickly strips, careful not to damage the garments and heads to the showers. He glances at his reflection in the mirrors as he passes by them and notices something on his left cheek.
He takes a closer look.
It's a bandaid. He frowns, touching it. There's a sudden flashback of Kai, focused, brow poised in concentration, deft fingers working on cleaning his wound.
Tyson steps away, gasping slightly. He hopes that's a nightmare, but has a good hunch it's not as he recalls further scenes from the night before. The doctor. Kai's hand on his elbow as he lost his balance.
He rips off the bandaid and examines his cut in the mirror. The bruising is ugly and purple but the wound itself is not too bad. It isn't bleeding anymore and will heal quickly.
Tyson lets out a heavy exhale through his nose, glancing one last time at his beat up face before getting under the shower head with bitterness in his mouth.
He feels like a fool.
How could he let his guard down like that? What was he thinking picking a fight with Kai when he was in no shape to handle one?
He knows what he was thinking. He didn't expect Kai to hit him. For some reason, verbal lashing was as far as Tyson's imagination went. He never thought he'd physically raise a hand against him.
That's so fucking stupid.
Why did he think that?
In what world was Kai a forgiving person? The one in his head, his brain helpfully provides. He's been making shit up in his head.
He scrubs his torso more forcefully than he should, trying to wash away all remnants of the night before. He wishes he wouldn't have to face that bastard today, but he knows not to get his hopes up. He's not that lucky.
The best thing he can do for himself right now is to put all thoughts of him out of his mind. Block it out. Focus on what's happening around him.
The campus is cheerful. Tyson feels wrong walking across the quadrangle. There's a heavy feeling in his chest, something niggling at the back of his mind that's keeping him from enjoying the bright sunny day.
He meets Hilary on his way to class and she is immediately concerned. "What happened last night?"
"The usual. I don't want to talk about it," he says.
"But your face…Tyson, what happened?" she insists, holding his arm, sounding close to tears.
"Nothing. I- I fell."
"Fell where? How?" Her forehead creases. He knows she doesn't believe him.
He takes a breath. He doesn't want to worry her but she's worried anyway. He might as well tell her the truth. "I got in a little fight last night."
She covers her mouth with a gasp. "With Kai?"
"Yeah"
The bell rings. Students hustle past them in the corridor.
"Hil, we need to go to class," he reminds her.
"He hit you?" she asks softly, pointing towards the bruise on his cheek. "He did that?"
"Yeah and then I fell too," he adds because he wants to assure her he wasn't entirely lying.
"Oh my god" Her tears finally fall. "This is all my fault."
"It's not your fucking fault," Tyson hisses at her harshly and feels bad immediately after when her eyes go wide in shock. "Sorry, just, it's not your fault. I threw a book at him. It's not a big deal."
"What do you mean it's not a big deal? Tyson, you got hurt."
"Hil, we need to go to class. We can talk about this later."
She frowns, not liking that he was attempting to run away from the conversation.
She lets his arm go however.
"In the cafeteria. Promise?"
"Yeah" He nods, feeling partially relieved.
"Okay" Hilary shoots him a small concerned smile and walks in the opposite direction to her lecture.
The next hour goes by uneventfully. Boringly but he'd take boring and dull over whatever the fuck his life is most of the time now.
Tyson's crossing the hall, towards the next lecture when he accidentally notices Kai and Tala standing and talking a few feet away. His heart seizes up immediately, like a knee jerk reaction to the sight of him.
He's reacting to something Tala is telling him, making a face that most people would probably find attractive - people who didn't know him. He catches sight of Tyson a second after Tyson sees him and the expression on his lips disappears. The halfway raised brow is all that remains and an indiscernible look enters his eye.
He surveys Tyson's face and holds his stare, not exactly at ease himself. Tyson forcibly tears his eyes away and continues down the hall.
He doesn't like the way he makes him feel. Those two seconds felt like an eternity. His stomach seemed weighed down with lead. And his chest was filling with resentment as if he expected better.
Stupid.
He's so stupid.
Always trusting everyone so easily.
He's not calling him. In fact, he spent his entire day not having to cross paths with him once except for that unfortunate moment in the hall in the morning.
It's nearly 7 pm in the evening and his phone hasn't rung once with his name on the screen. It's a miracle!
Or it's deliberate. He's avoiding him. Whatever it may be, he is glad that he got to go almost an entire day without having to deal with Satan's followers.
He's outside the engineering block now, talking to his friends and they're making plans to hang out.
Like they used to do before.
"It opened last week," says Mike. "I've been wanting to check that place out."
"Kiki said they serve banging sushi there," says Eddie.
"Who says banging anymore?"
Tyson's laughing when his phone rings.
And he has a feeling.
He knows what name is on the screen without even checking it.
He drags the mobile out of his front pocket, his friends looking at him expectantly and it feels like everything is moving in slow motion as he flips the phone around and presses the power button.
Dick is calling.
He exhales, disappointed but not surprised. And anyway, he's not feeling as bad as he did in the morning. It'll be alright.
He answers the call.
"Get over here," says Kai, tone unfriendly.
"Where is here?" asks Tyson, cold.
"I've texted you the location. Where are you right now?"
"On campus" says Tyson.
"You should be here in ten then."
"W-" The line goes dead before Tyson can say anything else. He sighs, checking his texts.
Yep, he did send the location.
"I'm sorry, guys," he starts and they answer in tandem.
"It's alright, we get it," says Mike.
They're all used to it and sick of it too.
"We'll hang out another time," says Tyson. "You guys go ahead and have fun."
"Good luck"
"Don't die out there," Eddie calls after him as he walks away.
"Bye" says Tyson.
He's not feeling optimistic.
He isn't familiar with the place and has to take a bus there. He thinks about Hilary during the ride, how she is getting more worried for him each day. Tyson just hopes she doesn't do anything stupid that gets her in trouble too.
There's a lot to walk once he gets off at the bus stop to reach the exact location Kai had sent. He gets lost a couple times too but he eventually makes it there.
Walks down a long road and finds the Blitzkriegs loitering around in the middle of it.
He doesn't understand.
Kai's sitting on a log and Tyson braces himself as soon as he sees him.
He wordlessly holds out a hand to Tyson and Tyson gives him the book he'd been asked to bring.
He takes it, opens it and gets immersed in it. Not sparing him another glance.
Tyson stares at him, wondering what he's up to and why he'd called him. Was it just for a book? If so, why didn't he say anything about it at first? It seemed like an afterthought. Something he'd wanted him to bring along with him but not the main reason for asking him to come.
He swallows as Kai continues to ignore him. When he takes his eyes off him at last he sees Julia looking at him. She's on her feet. She was bored, walking around before he joined them.
Tyson shoots a glance at Kai before asking Julia a question out of pure curiosity, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Hanging out" She smiles. "Come sit" she says, reaching for his hand.
"No" says Kai, looking up from his book. Tyson meets his gaze. "He's not here to hang out with us, Julia."
"Well, what is he here for then?" she asks. "To do whatever you ask of him? What did he do that was so bad that you're bullying him, Kai?"
"You can only call something bullying if it was unprovoked."
"So he punched you. So what? You punched him back. It's over."
"If only" says Kai, his eyes finding Tyson's. "This was all his idea. He said he wanted to make up for what he did by carrying out everything I asked of him. Let him fulfill his promises, Julia, or is he a wish washy coward who makes other people plead his case so he has an excuse to break his promises?"
Tyson puts a hand on Julia's fingers and removes it from his elbow. "It's alright" he says to Julia, feeling like shit. "I don't want you to get involved."
She looks at Kai and then back at him. "I'm sorry I-"
"It's okay. Thank you-"
"Granger, walk a mile down this road and stand in the middle of it," says Kai.
Tyson glances at him, uncertain and confused.
"Do it" he says, steel in his voice, getting up from the log and pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Unfamiliar dread settles in his stomach and he searches in Kai's eyes to get a clue of what he is intending. He is faced with anger and.. a trace of disgust. Tyson blinks, shocked to see it. He looks away and gives a quick smile to Julia before walking forward, passing by the other blitzkriegs who have been silently watching the exchange.
His heart slams in his chest as he marches to the spot. He uses his phone to measure how much distance he's covered. When he thinks he's walked close to a mile he stops and looks around. The roads are deserted.
He gets a text from Kai: Other lane
He moves to the other lane and stands there, clutching the strap of his satchel, breathing shallowly as he faces the unknown stretch of asphalt.
"Does he really deserve it, Kai?" asks Julia.
"Yes"
She presses her fingers against her temples and looks worriedly at the figure standing still a mile away.
"Are you just going to make him stand there like a flagpole?" asks Tala.
"For some time," answers Kai.
The guys crack up. Julia meets his gaze and tries to plead Tyson's case again. This time making it clear that he never asked for her help.
He ignores her.
A cold feeling enters Tyson's chest. He can faintly hear the Blitzkriegs chortling. He tightens his grip on the satchel, fingers sweating.
He gets a call after what seems like hours. He checks the time as he answers it. It's been thirty minutes.
"Do you see a car?" he asks at the same time Tyson spots the Land Cruiser in the distance, heading towards him.
"Y-yeah" he says uncertainly.
"Don't move out of its way," says Kai.
A thunder starts in his chest.
"What?" He thinks he heard him wrong.
"Stay there," he says calmly. His fingers start to get clammy. The grip around the phone becoming slippery. "Don't move or your friend's tape will be all over the internet."
Tyson's eyes widen, breath arresting in his lungs. He watches the white car speeding towards him and every nerve in his body shrieks at him to run to the side.
What is Kai doing? Why is he doing this? Does he want him dead?
If he saves himself, he'll be ruining Hilary's life. If he doesn't, he might lose his legs or worse.
"Kai, I-"
"It's either you or Hilary."
He falls silent, shifting his hold on the phone because it might fall out of his fingers. Kai's still on the line.
The driver will see him right? Is it a stranger or is it someone Kai knows?
He doesn't have time to worry anymore because the car reaches him. He closes his eyes and thinks about all the people he loves.
The Blitzkrieg are excited around Kai at first, all except Julia who looks at him with outrage.
"You can't be serious," says Julia.
"Holy shit" exclaims Tala, rubbing his hands together. "Holy shit"
They watch the car nearing Tyson laughing and hooting gleefully at first but when it doesn't stop they glance at him.
"You aren't serious?" asks Tala.
"He'll move" says Kai, sure of it. No one's putting a friendship above their own life.
"Kai"
"He will move." He eyes Granger's back as he stands there, phone held to one ear, bravely facing the oncoming car.
He will move, he thinks. He still has time.
He can move.
Why isn't he-
He doesn't move.
Tyson closes his eyes, bracing for impact, expecting to feel impossible pain.
He hears the squeal of tires and a horn.
The car bumps into him and he falls on the ground, losing his balance.
The phone skitters away from him.
When he opens his eyes he's sitting on the road, hands slightly scratched, but unharmed otherwise. The car is a couple of feet away, idle. The driver is getting out.
"Oh my god, I am so fucking sorry," says a guy with dyed blonde hair and a distressed jacket. "He said you'd jump out of the way. I swear he did I- are you alright?" He helps Tyson stand.
"I'm…" He stares at him in shock. He can't believe he's alive. "I'm okay"
"Damn that must have been such a scare. That scared me! I'm so sorry."
"It's okay" He's dazed. He's still expecting the car to hit him. His entire body is wrought with tension.
He hears footsteps and shouts. The blitzkriegs surround him. He sees Sergei and Bryan. Julia touches his arm, asks him if he's okay.
He hears the driver say, "Kai, what the fuck, you said he'd move. Do you realize what almost happened? I could have killed that boy. I could have gone to prison."
Tyson turns around, looking towards the driver's voice, and locks gazes with Kai.
A/N: In another universe, you were freed that night, Tyson baby. But not in this one.