The next day, Quincy waited for Bruce outside of their school. He was limping ever-so-slightly. He thought Quincy wouldn't notice. Quincy noticed. "What happened?" The concern was evident in his voice. Bruce looked at the ground and murmured something Quincy couldn't hear. He grabbed Bruce by the chin and forced him to look at him. "Bruce." He was angry, and made no attempt to hide it. "Tell me who did this to you." After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity to both parties, Bruce wrenched himself from his grasp and ran off, slowed down by his ankle. Quincy just stood there, wondering what had just happened.

*~*~*

That day, during lunch hour, Bruce was nowhere to be found. Quincy found himself rather worried; it was an extreme rarity that Bruce sat somewhere else. What infuriated him most is the fact that his buddies wouldn't let him look around for him. He sat for about ten minutes before remembering he had a phone. They had been talking face-to-face so often he didn't even remember he had his number in the first place. He quickly shot him a message asking where the hell he was. He was scared, worried, and most of all, angry that he didn't know why. To the friend sitting right next to him, though, it was obvious. And he, of course, was not happy.

*~*~*

Bruce was lying in a cot in the nurse's office. He had a black eye, 3 broken fingers, and a plethora of bruises and scratches. The nurse was calling his mother, but she'd yet to pick up. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Once he had fished it out with his only remaining, he found Quincy's message waiting for him. He replied with 'Nurse', mostly because it hurt to move too much. He dropped his phone by his side and stayed that way for about 10 seconds before his phone buzzed again. Quincy wanted to know what was wrong, of course. Bruce begrudgingly told him about his current situation. There was no reply.

*~*~*

Seconds later, Quincy was at the door of the nurse's office. He ran to see Bruce. As hard as it was to admit, even to himself, he looked awful. It was like he had gotten into a fight. "Allow me to restate my previous question. What happened?" Quincy asked. Bruce shrugged slightly and trained his eyes on the wall. "Got beat up," he said quietly. Quincy knew he wasn't getting anything else out of him, so he decided to just sit there, keeping him company. Neither of them noticed his mother coming in until they heard her say, "Let's go see Doctor Scratch, huh, kiddo?" Quincy withheld his comment about the doctor's name and smiled warmly at Bruce. Bruce smiled back and then proceeded to walk with his mother out to their car.