Arthur King was many things, but he was not a fighter. And Arthur King was many things, but he was not a quitter, so it was only natural from him to react when Brian – he was almost sure that guy's name was Brian – decided it would make for a grand joke to ruin his perfectly lovely jacket. And he loved that jacket. He had bought it during a short vacation in Milan with his mother, from a small boutique that didn't have low prices.

Now his perfectly nice jacket had a not so perfect coffee stain on the back. It wasn't all that hard to figure out that Brian – or maybe it was Liam, Arthur was terrible with the names of people that served him no interest, and a jock certainly couldn't help him with anything – was either very gay or very closeted or just a bit of a homophobe that couldn't handle when men looked good. Later, Arthur concluded that Brian, or Liam, was both.

Arthur turned, feeling his jacket wet. His instinct was to smile. So he smiled and swallowed back his instinct to step on the man's head.

"Coffee?" Arthur asked. "How cute."

"What's so cute!?" Brian – Liam asked, opening his arms and taking a few steps towards Arthur When he walked, Arthur had a very vivid image of a duck throwing its' tiny feet around. It amused him.

He shrugged. Brian – Liam was a tall guy, dark-haired and broad-shouldered, looking like the poster boy for any high school football team, mainly because all of his teeth looked faked. Arthur would've fucked him if he wasn't so obnoxious. Or maybe he wanted to do it BECAUSE he was so obnoxious. His taste in men wasn't the best.

Brian – Liam was close to him now, towering in a manner that some would describe as "intimidating". Arthur was not intimidated. Arthur thought he was ridiculous and a step away from beating his own chest and jumping into a tree.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Brian – Liam asked. Arthur thought for a second, and there was always the option to end a fight before it started. He could've done that, and maybe he would've done if Brian – Liam wouldn't have pushed him. He detested when people put his hands on him.

Arthur made an evaluation in his head. He was at school, but he was not INSIDE the school. He was outside, on grass, with trees around and people watching, and the man was bigger, taller, and most likely stronger. Arthur had to be smarter. And what is smarter in a situation like this, when a man bigger than you seems to want to fight? You kick him in the balls. Hard. One could argue that he was the one that started the fight because he was the one who threw the metaphorical "first punch". Arthur didn't think so, but he also couldn't give a shit.

Brian – Liam crouched over, cussing like it was the end of days and threatening things that, after a while, stopped making sense. Arthur wasn't unfamiliar with threats, and he had heard things far more creative than what Brian – Liam could muster.

He smiled, made a fist, and punched him right in the jaw. Maybe it was a dirty move on his part, kicking a man below the belt and striking him when he was suffering. Arthur didn't care. He was not a fighter; therefore, the rules of fighting didn't apply to him. He wanted to walk out of the situation with his teeth intact, and if that called for an under the belt hit, so be it.

Brian - Liam retaliated. Arthur felt the punch in the roots of his teeth and inside his nose. His glasses broke, and the world was suddenly blurry. Arthur didn't like that very much, so while he could still feel pain in his teeth and head, he grabbed Brian – Liam by the collar and head-butted him as hard as he could. He felt the pain too, but he was sure Brian – Liam felt it worst.

He knew that advantages were important and since he already decided he had no morals while fist fighting, he kicked Brian – Liam in the balls for the second time and watched the guy fall on the ground.

Arthur stepped on his chest, close to his neck, and wiped some blood off his nose. He was beyond fuming. He pushed his heel into his chest and thought he could just stomp his throat once. Or maybe twice.

"Fag!" Brian – Liam spat, and Arthur stepped on his head, or maybe he kicked him. He couldn't remember exactly. He would've done it again, harder, if someone hadn't pulled him off. It would've been fine if that someone wasn't the principle.

He didn't care when he got dragged into the principal's office. He didn't care when Miss. Maria Jones told him that she was going to call his parents. He didn't care when she did. He did care when his father came in.

He hadn't seen his old man in almost a year, and he looked the same. Every time he was around his father, he realized how much he didn't look like him. His father had a completely different set of looks, starting from the color of his hair and ending in the way he could grow a full beard if he wanted to. He looked like he spent time in the sun. Arthur did not. Arthur burnt in the sun and always had freckles on his face during the summer.

He told Arthur to get in the car, and Arthur did, after being kindly informed that the school did not tolerate that kind of behavior. It was an excellent way of being told he was being expelled for stepping on a guy's head, even if the guy threw coffee at him and called him a fag.

"Did you win?" His father asked. Arthur nodded and wiped some dried blood off his face.

"Good," his father said. "If you're going to get involved in fights, you have to win them, no matter the reason."

"Fair," Arthur said and didn't explain the situation further.

Arthur thought that was the end of it. That he could change schools and forget about Brian – Liam and that stupid fight. He was wrong. Two days later, he got an unsigned text.

"You got kicked out?"

Brian – Liam had gotten a hold of his number, somehow, and he was initiating conversation. He ignored the text.

"Look, I'm sorry, it was a dare."

Arthur ignored it again. He had better things to do. One of those things was trying to cover his bruising eyes for his mother's dinner party. His sister was struggling to learn how to color correct by watching a lot of internet videos. She was still experimenting.

"Sorry for your jacket too." The third text came, and Arthur unlocked his phone to answer.

"Pay for the dry-cleaning, and I'll think about forgiving you." He hit sent.

"You want dry-cleaning? I think I broke your nose."

"You'll have to hit hard to do that." Arthur texted.

"Look, I'm sorry. It was a shitty dare; Dylan said I'm a fag if I don't do it."

Arthur raised an eyebrow because it was all so clear now. He loved closeted, terrified, sexually repressed assholes that lost their minds when called "gay".

"Dylan probably wants to suck dick." He texted.

For a while, Brian – Liam didn't answer. "I'll pay for your bill," he finally said. 

"You can send it to me."

"I'd rather give it to you." Brian - Liam said. 

"Tomorrow?" 

"No," Arthur said. "After my face is normal again. You also owe me a pair of glasses."