le dieu de l'or

i

the black cat nudged jeongguk lightly on the leg. it wanted his lunch.

"please. just go away," he genuinely talked to it, and it understood. but it didnt leave, merely leaped onto the picnic bench jeongguk sat at alone and poked at his sandwich.

jeongguk got angry again for no reason, really. "piss off!" he used the hand he wasnt holding his banana milk with to push the cat away–maybe too harshly–the cat screamed and bit jeongguks hand. he yelped.

the cat jumped back onto the grass and ran off into the forest next to where they were. maybe he deserved it, he thought and lifted his hand to look at it.

his third metacarpal taunted him. aching bones in the cold air.

jeongguk went home before he could finish his sandwich, leaving it there. it was horrid and tasteless anyway.

he washed the wound and covered it up, just in case. the pain was searing and made his wrists twitch and fingers cramp but jeongguk tried to ignore it as he walked back out of the house, back to his sandwich. somehow, now, it didnt seem so bad.

but when he got there, his lunch was gone, and only the leaking carcass of his banana milk lay, squashed into the grass beside his spot. jeongguk stared in disbelief but sat back down to ponder what couldve happened.

he did that for a while.

jeongguk found the cats skull, clean, unhampered by the regrets of cat life, later on that day, deep in the forest it ran into. this was the third time, so the cat was a third of its way there.

/

"hi," hoseok sat down in front of jeongguk with his half eaten weekly panini. (weekly, as hoseok was hardly ever in, but his favourite day appeared to be thursday.)

"whatre you doing here? arent you supposed to be in hospital?" jeongguk asked but only got a head shake and a toothless pity smile. "really, hoseok,"

"doctors said i have peculiarly fast healing rates. they let me leave way early," the older said, wiggling his now healthy fingers, as if he wore a new fancy engagement ring, and poking his ribs.

hoseok was strange. he was tan, his smile was one that obviously hid chunky braces behind it, and his grades were really quite bad. but jeongguk thought he was fun, so he stayed.

"but you broke all of your fingers, and half of your ribs last week," hoseok hummed to show he knew what jeongguk was thinking.

the brunet wiped his mouth as he finished the panini, "i know. not complaining though," hoseok said, and jeongguk agreed before they threw away their rubbish.

jeongguk went to walk away, out of school, but was stopped by hoseok slapping his shoulder with a concerned look. "the hell are you doing, schools not even half over,"

"... oh. i thought it was over already,"  hoseok heard jeongguk whisper damn it under his breath. he knew there was something else, but didnt bother asking. there was always something else with jeongguk.

"alright fuckers," mr kim, a young man with perfect eyebrows, swept back hair and a scowl plastered onto his face said whilst he slammed his thick binder onto his desk. "time to learn something," he plonked himself onto his not quite big enough teachers chair.

whilst he spun around on his chair, he slowly narrowed his eyes. "at the back, you, ive never seen you before," the puffy cheeked boy with pink hair contrasting with long dark roots jumped, as he knew mr kim was talking about him.

"i-i-im new, i– sorry..." he stood up, and, with the screech of his chair, the class shuddered and looked back. mr kim gestured with his hand for him to sit down again.