+BURST+ (Inanimate Insanity) (REWRITE)

~ Tough Guy ~

【ＬｏａｄｉｎｇＣｈａｐｔｅｒ．．．】
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"I can tell something's on your mind."

"Hm?" I flinched, tearing my gaze from the window I had been zoning out on to the dark brown eyes of Knife. He was leaning toward me slightly, his tall figure making me crane my neck.

"Quit zoning out, Suits-" He snapped his fingers in front of my face, "seriously, I know I don't care about school, but you do, and you're missing important shit."

I shrunk into my chair slightly, "S-sorry-" before glancing back at the board. Math wasn't my favorite subject, but I couldn't afford to fail. Knife rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, putting his boots up on the desk. I glanced down at my notes, trying to make sense of the symbols, but the hum of the fluorescent lights, whispering from elsewhere in the class and any passing thought of... Nickel... "Ugh- whatever, I'll catch up at home..." I muttered. Knife glanced over with a raised eyebrow.

"And that's the quadratic formula-" I put my hand up, "Yes, Suitcase?"

"May I use the hall pass?"

The teacher nodded, "Be brief, this is important material for the rest of the semester."

I pushed my chair in, heading for the door and taking the fake-gold cookie... what a strange hall pass. A break was much needed. I decided that leaning against my locker for a bit, pretending to be looking for something, was the best way to avoid class for the moment. Humming to myself, the halls were sparsely populated, it being the middle of 2nd period and all... I found my locker quickly, setting the hall pass on the floor, putting the combination in, and opening the door. The inside was decorated nicely, the top shelf that was rarely used had little figures; a brown-and-white plastic dog, one of those dancing sunflowers, a few random stones from outside, and one holding down a poem from Balloon, of course. On the door of the locker I'd put photos of the friends I'd made here so far... though, a certain newly empty spot made my stomach churn briefly. 'Just forget it, deal with that later-' Yellow plaid paper lined the inside with stickers holding it up against the gray-blue metal, though one corner had fallen, yet again. I pressed my thumb up into the crease to fix it, but it flopped down again. I sighed, "Wish I had some tape..."

"I can go get some."

"WH-" I whipped my head around, facing an illegible metal-band logo plastered on a black t-shirt. "Oh-" I looked up. "Knife?"

His expression was... blank, maybe mild amusement? "That's the second time I've scared you today, Suits."

"...Ok that first one wasn't me being scared, that was me being surprised- but- why did you follow me?"

"Why would I want to stay in math class?"

I sighed, "Well, did you have tape?"

"Uh... not on me, but I could get some."

"From where?"

Knife glanced around, noticing a poster about some old theater event. He walked over, ripping it down and taking the tape from underneath, "Does that work?"

Plucking the tape from his finger, I turned back to my locker and pinned the stubborn corner, squishing the tape down firmly over the old sticker. Carefully removing my hand, the paper stayed. "Looks like it does! Thanks Knife."

He glanced down the hall, "Yeah, yeah-" He tossed the poster aside on the floor... rude- "Anyways, I wanted to uh, talk to you real quick."

I frowned, "hm?"

"Look- I know I wasn't super close to... the situation- but," He leaned his head back, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Nickel..." I felt my stomach churn again, turning my gaze back to that empty space on the locker door. "I'm not super close to him, a family friend if anything. But, I could try to keep him away from you and whatever. If he's bothering you that much."

My legs trembled slightly, "Knife, I... ugh, how was I supposed to know this would happen?" I groaned, leaning against the adjacent locker. Knife shrugged, moving to lean next to me. I buried my face in my hands, "I hate this... If I'd even known this much drama existed between Balloon and Nickel I never would've-" I paused, glancing over to Knife as his expression shifted slightly, "...No, no I would've still met them. I..." I sighed, "...I appreciate it, Knife, but I can't just ignore him forever. I'd like to smooth things out eventually, just... I need time."

He tilted his head, "Well, you're stronger than I would be. I'd be beating his ass on sight if I were you-" He chuckled, which got a small smile out of me... I blinked, I hadn't considered that Knife and I were this close now. Sure, I'd give him homework answers and sure, I'd wave at him in the hallway and chat in class, but he always seemed... Unresponsive to it all, at best. Ever since I made that group chat in the heat of the moment, though, he'd seemed more... attentive? I sighed.

"Maybe I will beat his ass, but he'd have to do something worse before I do that."

Knife snickered, "I don't know if there's much worse than that trainwreck."

"You should hear what Balloon had to put up with before I got here-"

"Oh, I know some of that, pretty sure everyone does..."

"...right..." I frowned again, "Why didn't you do anything?" Knife raised an eyebrow, "About Balloon being bullied?..."

His eyebrows furrowed, "I... I'm definitely not innocent there, but, for what it's worth, I stopped bothering him a while ago," Knife shrugged, "And, I also just used to bully everyone, so..."

"Pff- alright so we aren't friends anymore-" I joked, shutting my locker and picking up the hall pass. "Can't be friends with a bully, sorry."

Knife fake gasped, "I'm crushed- I guess I'll have to bully you too-"

"I thought you said 'used to?'"

"Yeah, I don't care enough to bully these losers anymore"

"...you don't care enough?" I smirked, starting to walk back to class, "Suuure, Mr. Tough Guy over here."

Knife just gazed at his feet, "Yup- that's me, tough guy..."

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+Word Count: 1031+

【Ｓｈｕｔｔｉｎｇ　ｄｏｗｎ．．．】