Mismatched || Lookism Fanfic

Chapter 06: Bet

Mismatched

Chapter 06: Bet

*****

Daniel couldn't help but freeze at Alex's menacing tone, it's reminiscent of his entrance at the room this morning when he was upset and scolded Zack and his gang about their poor treatment towards Daniel in his original body.

(He can't help but admire Alex, on how kind he is to help Daniel even if he is virtually a stranger to him. The way he spoke that commanded attention and the way he delivered his words that got a whole crowd moved to tears and to see a new perspective. He was effortlessly cool and well deserved the respect others gave him. Even Zack seemed to listen to him. And from the looks of it, based on the class dynamics that Daniel saw so far, Alex has a lot of friends, even outside their class. Daniel hopes that one day he could be one of them.)

"I, ah, Sir, please don't! What if you get arrested for assaulting someone?" Daniel said, genuinely concerned for both Alex and the guy that's about to steal the phone charger.

Alex is just being a nice citizen for stopping a petty thief, and in Daniel's eyes he doesn't deserve to get arrested for this. And as for the guy, to Daniel he appeared guilty and ashamed when he saw his face. Daniel is very good at identifying these emotions, because he feels them most of the time. The boy was genuinely remorseful for his actions and it shows.

The stiffness on Alex's empty smile fades as he closes his eyes to inhale and exhale deeply. When he opened them again, calmness had overtaken his expression, giving nothing away.

Daniel couldn't help but squeak as he saw Alex's foot dig further on the perpetrator's back.

"Now, I want you to roll over to face us and don't even try to run away if you know what's best for you."

The thief nods vigorously and Alex removes his foot on the guy's back, shaking in fear on what's to come, the thief obediently rolls over to show his face.

"Jiho? Park Jiho?" Alex's surprise was clear in his voice, as the boy, Jiho, flinched at being recognized.

"What–" The look of confusion washes the blonde's face, his eyebrows knitting together, then he looks up and outside the window, realization filling his face as anger soon follows.

"A-A-A-A-Alex! I can, I can explain! Please it's not, I–"

Alex cuts Jiho off. "It's them, isn't it. They put you up to do petty theft for them." And it's not a question but a statement.

"I, they, I'm..."

Daniel stands unsure as Jiho scrambles for an answer. Before he looks away, shame faced and most likely wishing that the ground would just swallow him whole. Daniel knows that feeling very well, he can relate to a pitying degree.

Biting his lips, Jiho nods as tears prickle at his eyes, humiliation and self-pity reeks from his being.

(Is this what those girls see when they tell Logan to go easy on him?)

Alex's dark eyes softened, and if Daniel's seeing correctly from his glasses, through the reflection of the convenience store light, Alex's eyes were an enchanting deep green rather than the black he thought it was. And wow, how did he not notice that his lashes were not black as well, they were a pale yellow, just like his hair and eyebrows.

Wait, he was pretty sure it was black earlier this morning, how could that change over time.

(And it's embarrassing to admit that he knew and was pretty sure it was black because he spent an awfully long time staring at Alex's sleeping face imagining ways to talk to him and befriend him.)