rumble fish #gingerwoo

#24

Gingerboy didn't say anything to Yoonsun and stayed quiet for the rest of the time his friends were there, thinking about the situation. He knew they were right. He couldn't run away much longer and his friends would soon get in trouble too if he continued. He watched his friends continue have a good time and when the night came, leave home with their loved ones or best friends. He didn't feel good and he didn't want to be alone.

Luckily Hyunwoo decided to stay without Gingerboy having to even ask. He knew the younger didn't like hearing he should leave - even if there was a good thought behind it - and just wanted to hug him to sleep to make sure he wouldn't be too upset.

"I'm never getting used to this hair," he said, stroking Gingerboy's raven hair softly.

"You'll have to. I'm not dyeing it back," Gingerboy said simply, laying comfortably on Hyunwoo's lap. The fingers running through his hair made him feel like falling asleep.

"I'll come up with a new nickname for you," Hyunwoo chuckled, still not letting go of Gingerboy's hair and continuing feeling it.

"There's not much time. What Yoonsun said is right," Gingerboy spoke in a quiet voice and his face got filled with worry. "I should go back and try to beg my foster dad for mercy."

"Don't worry about that just yet. I arranged you a meeting tomorrow with a social worker," Hyunwoo said and got startled by how fast Gingerboy sat up and pulled away from him.

"Who are you to try to control my life?" he raised his voice a little more than he meant to. "I don't want to meet anyone.

"He's a good person. He will do what's the best for you," Hyunwoo tried to speak calmly so Gingerboy would relax too but it didn't work.

"You have no idea. There is no such thing as 'good' when it comes to social worker. They are all evil and care nothing about money and shoving us kids away as quickly and far as possible," Gingerboy sounded like he was on the verge of breaking down and he was still speaking loudly.

"Honestly I would rather have you be anywhere else but that old house of yours," Hyungwon said quietly, realizing right away that it might not have been the right thing to say, even though he meant it.

"And I would rather be there than anywhere else," Gingerboy let out, this time not as loud but he still sounded incredibly angry regardless.

"I won't tell you what to do but meet up with that guy and he will listen to you and help you. I understand how you feel so-"

"You have no idea! You don't know how it's like to have nowhere to belong and no one to care about you. You think you can relate to me just because your dad is some random guy your hooker mom slept with but you can't!"

Gingerboy was about to continue yelling but stopped upon noticing he had hurt Hyunwoo. The older was frozen and his face was blank but Gingerboy could still notice straight away how much his words had hurt Hyunwoo.

"I'm sorry I can't control my emotions and I'm just a giant mess I try my best not to hurt you but I can't even handle myself, you have every right to be mad at me now," Gingerboy started talking fast with a completely different tone and he sounded like he was holding back tears again.

Hyungwoo got a fake smile on his face. "You're right. There's no way I could know how do you feel and it's wrong for me to try to make decisions for you."

"Hyunwoo, stop, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. I know you only wanted to help," Gingerboy couldn't stop a tear from escaping his eye.

"It's fine, I know you didn't mean it," Hyunwoo sighed and looked away, thinking about how Gingerboy probably felt even more horrible than he did.

"I'll meet up this guy. What's his name?" Gingerboy gathered himself and wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Lee Euijin. He will pick you up from the skate park tomorrow," Hyunwoo told. He put an arm around Gingerboy's shoulders and pulled him closer as a sign that everything was okay now, running a hand through his hair again.

-

Gingerboy didn't exactly think positively about this meeting Hyunwoo had arranger to him but he thought he should go through it just so the older wouldn't feel bad. The experiences he had had with social workers in his life made him unable to trust any of them and see everyone who tries to help him as an evil person.

Around afternoon, he went to the skate park, with his skateboard so he could ride around with it as he waited. He was anxious so he couldn't stay still anyways. He kind of wished Hyunwoo could have been there with him, but the other was in school so he was left alone.

It had been a while since he skated outside and the air felt fresh and even though it was chilly, he didn't mind it at all.

He skated around for some time before hearing a familiar sound of wheels running against the asphalt approaching. He turned around to see if someone was coming his way and saw a blond-haired guy on a cruiser. It was an unfamiliar face and the guy looked like he was in his mid-twenties so Gingerboy immediately understood it was the guy he was waiting for.

What a poser. He probably doesn't even skate, Gingerboy thought, the negative thoughts entering his mind as soon as he came to knew it was a social worker.

"Gingerboy, right. Black hair suits you," Euijin said with a smile on his face, stopping his small cruiser in front of Gingerboy with only a tiny bit of clumsiness. Ginger, of course, picked that up immediately and gave the older a nasty look.

"You know who I am. Don't try to be friendly," he said with a strained voice.

"I know you don't like social workers. I'm not here to send you away, though. I just want to talk," Euijin managed to keep his voice positive and didn't get affected by Gingerboy's angry tone.

"That's what they always say," Gingerboy's voice remained threatening. "Hyunwoo might think you're a good person but I know all of you are the same. You brought me to this skate park to make me think you're cool and win me over but you don't  even skate."

"You're right. I'm too busy to skate. When I was your age, though -" Euijin leaned down to snatch the skateboard that Gingerboy was holding against his leg. "- I skated over twelve hours a day. I was a foster kid just like you and skateboarding was my only escape from that terrible household I used to be in," he brought the skateboard to his eye-level and pointed it at Gingerboy.

"Yeah, right. Now you're trying to make me think we're even more similar," Gingerboy said, feeling weird.

Euijin stepped on Gingerboy's skateboard and kicked the ground a few times to pick up some speed. He jumped on the rail and grinded on it all the way to the end before landing back on the ground, having to make the board jump a bit to fix the direction he was going to. He did another trick on the edge of the ramp and Gingerboy just watched and evaluated him.

He felt awkward as he already knew he was at least slightly wrong about Euijin but couldn't admit it - at least out loud.

"My skills are a little rusty since it has been over two years since I last touched a skateboard," Euijin told as he came closer to Gingerboy again and stepped off the board.

"I can see that," Gingerboy said quietly, the anger fading from his voice little by little.

"Should we sit down for a while? My legs are cramping from cruising all the way here from the center," Euijin suggested and surprisingly Gingerboy complied. They sat on the bench as Euijin tried to think about ways to get Ginger open up about his life situation.