|Weak Hero| The Bridge Between Us [Wolf and Grape's Backstory]

Prologue: The Photo

Jake's eyes followed the piece of paper as it drifted along the wind, having escaped from Grape's pocket. When he saw that it was about to land in a puddle, Jake lunged forth and caught it just in time.

"Hey Grape," Jake called, noticing that the tired boy hadn't realized the photo was no longer with him. "This came from your pocket," He was curious as to what the photo was of and looked down at it.

The photo was of three middle schoolers and from their poses, it was obvious that they were all friends. But what shocked Jake the most was that he recognized two out of the three boys as Grape and Wolf.

"What the fuck!?" Jake couldn't help but exclaim.

"Don't look at my stuff!" Grape immediately snatched the photo out of Jake's hands.

"That photo—"

"Is none of your business!" Grape snapped before storming off.

"Hey Eunchan, how much do you know about Grape's past?" Jake inquired.

"Not much," Eunchan shrugged. "I befriended him during the summer but he doesn't like talking about his past. All I know is just as much as everybody else: Wolf hates Grape and Grape fears him,"

"What was that photo of?" Timothy asked.

"Wolf, Grape, and a third guy," Jake answered. "They were happy and actual friends in that photo,"

"There's no way those two could have been friends," Dean shook his head. "Like Eunchan said, Wolf hates Grape and Grape fears him. If they were friends in the past, why would they be enemies now?"

"You probably mistook one of Grape's friends in that photo as Wolf," Timmy agreed with Dean. "It was probably because of something like them also having purple hair or glasses,"

"Maybe," Jake had only seen the photo for a brief moment. 'But I'm sure that it was Wolf in that photo,'

XXX

"Why are you snooping around for info on Grape?" Forrest demanded. He knew Jake Ji was stronger than him, but Jake wasn't the type to beat someone up without reason. Forrest wanted to know why Jake was suddenly interested in learning about Grape.

"I just wanna know why Wolf hates him so much," Jake answered.

"Wolf doesn't need a reason to hate Grape," Forrest pointed out. "Wolf literally beats people up for looking at him for three seconds,"

"But Wolf seems to especially hate Grape," Jake claimed. "There's gotta be some history between those two,"

"Jake, you don't need a reason to specifically target someone," Forrest told him. "I'm literally a delinquent too. I beat people up because it's fun. Some people are more fun to beat up than others. It's obvious that Grape's traumatized by Wolf's bullying, so leave him alone,"

XXX

There was one person left that Jake could ask, but he'd be the most uncooperative. It was guaranteed that Wolf wouldn't tell him what his real reason for his hatred of Grape was. Still, Jake had to try. Maybe whatever the reason was, Jake could somehow resolve the issue so that Wolf wouldn't be so hostile to Grape.

So after the Union meeting between executives, Jake caught up to the purple haired teen. "Hey Wolf, I wanna ask you something,"

"What?" Wolf growled as he lit a cigarette.

"Why do you hate Grape so much?"

Forrest was shocked that Jake had dared to ask Wolf that question. Then again, he was Jake Ji and he had the strength to protect himself in case Wolf decided to attack him.

Wolf glared at Jake. He took a whiff of his cigarette and was silent for a brief moment. The silence felt like ages but Wolf finally broke it. "Because he killed my best friend," He finished his cigarette and then drove away on his motorcycle.

"He's lying," Forrest said to Jake. "Grape may be a bully, but he wouldn't kill anyone. And why would Wolf even tell the truth? It's probably a lie he made up to isolate Grape,"

"No," Jake told him softly. "He was telling the truth. I saw it in his eyes...flashes of nostalgia, happiness, pain, sorrow, and sadness. He was experiencing all of those emotions when he was thinking about the reason he hates Grape,"

"Grape's not a murderer!" Forrest denied.

"Maybe he didn't directly cause the death of Wolf's friend," Jake theorized. 

"So what?" Forrest knew that Grape wasn't capable of murder. "Grape bullied Wolf's friend and that friend committed suicide?"

"No," Jake shook his head. "Grape used to be Wolf's friend too. I saw a photo—Grape's photo that he carries around—and it was of him, Wolf, and their third friend,"

"Jake, don't go snooping around Grape's past," Forrest said. "He doesn't want to talk about nor think about it. If he did want to talk about it, he'd have told me, Robin, or Eunchan instead of you. It's none of your business,"

XXX

Grape laid in bed, eyes dull and blank as he stared at the photo. A six pack can of beer rested on his nightstand, a few of the cans already opened and drunken from. A couple cigarette butts crowded his ashtray. 

"I'm sorry..." Grape whispered with a quivering voice. "I'm so sorry...Atlas..."

And now the flashback chapters begin. It'll start all the way from the beginning, from when Atlas and Wolf first meet and then to when they meet Sam.
First I'm gonna build up their friendship and then break it down.

Atlas means "enduring" and Hart means "strong/brave". He's a foreigner which is why his last name isn't Korean.

My goal is to finish within ten chapters or less, but it might exceed that depending on how the story goes. Believe it or not but Hidden Gems was supposed to only be ten chapters yet it's over twice that amount.