Meeting Taekwon

TWO WEEKS BEFORE D-DAY SOUTH KOREA THE TIGERS

Cruel laughter of his pack mates hung in his ears as they smacked him around as usual behind the campus dorms

He groaned and dropped to the cold hard ground wheezing his eyes tearing as a particularly painful punch to the chest stole his air

"Oooh is little tae crying?" one of them jeered

"that's all you're are good for! crying like a girl you f*g so utterly useless to the rest of us where the f**K is our money, you twerp!!

His words punctuated by a hard kick to the ribs

"Please!" he gasped "it hurts"

he clutched his aching chest with one hand, while the other hand and his knees were on the ground, shakily supporting his weight,

his eyes squeezed shut it felt as if something was really wrong this time, he couldn't seem to breathe well

his chest kept getting tighter with every breath he tried to take

"That's the f*****g point you pathetic brat" he kicked him in the gut this time

He choked and began cough dry heaving and then he vomited

He heard their laughter opening his eyes horrified he saw red blood,

Spattered on the black asphalt beneath him

And that's when he truly became frightened,

he had known his body was weakening from the daily abuse but he hadn't realized how bad it was until now

He realized that now there was a good chance that he was dying

He couldn't draw a breath and his vision swam he was about to pass out

"You f*****g bastards you think this s**t is funny?" someone yelled furiously

He felt more than saw the presence of someone else who now interrupted the guys beating him up

His dorm mates like frightened cubs with their tails tucked in turned to run but the stranger was too fast for them

The all too familiar sound of a fist smashing flesh scuffling and grunts of pain filled the air as they fought

But the three guys who usually smacked him around we're not able to hold their own against the newcomer

they were just common punks

Who felt that smacking around a weak lightweight like himself made them somehow stronger

or made others look at them with some kind of respect, they were the worst kind of bullies

The fight ended when the three was tossed on the ground to his level,

Unconscious, bleeding and bruised, their faces smashed and broken

He looked up seeing the silhouette of a pair of broad shoulders and muscular arms

He had the presence of mind to smile in thanks before passing out completely.

a pair of strong arms caught him before he collapsed into a puddle of his own blood.

"shit! Whoa, dude!" Ziesoo cursed as caught he the smaller blonde boy, the bigger assholes had been pounding on him before he could hit the ground

he had gotten a bit carried away,

his own personal problems, on top of this, had been too much for one night,

all his natural protective instincts and anger had roared to the surface, and there had been no holding it back,

but he couldn't bring himself to regret it, the mutts had no respect for the sanctity of life at all and he detested people like that,

and these mutts, in particular, had been a regular thorn in his otherwise peaceful life, this wouldn't be the first time he's had to clean up one of their messes, as he cradled the boy in his arms

his tiger spirit emerged going to him he dropped his snout to the boy's forehead he nuzzled him while making whining growls of concern

"what is it?" ziesoo asked softly

he nuzzled him again more insistently and the boy's inner spirit slowly emerged another smaller male tiger

he was battered and weak his form covered in cuts and scars ziesoo knew, they all couldn't be from this one beating alone

this cub had been abused all his life, he felt tears spill unbidden down his face without knowing why

but seeing his spirit had been protecting him all this time causing his form to become as it was now moved Ziesoo's heart

he was a brave beast he had been fighting all alone for so long and hard to keep this boy alive

as Ziesoo's spirit touched noses with his the golden celestial flames appeared

ziesoo gasped

"mine!" his tiger growled "mate!" ziesoo's arms tightened around the boy in his arms as a new resolve settled inside of him at this knowledge

"don't worry I will save him no one will hurt him like this ever again I will protect him from now on"

picking him up from the street cradling him in his arms he hurried home the two tiger spirits walked beside him into the night

When Taekwon woke up he was lying in a strange bed, in a strange apartment

He was no longer wearing a shirt, just his blood-stained jeans, and an iv drip was hooked up to his hand filled with blood

What the hell? he wondered stunned at this new predicament, he had not been able to see his rescuer earlier due to his weak condition

, and he was now he was well bandaged and his wounds patched up and someone had donated lifesaving celestial blood

His ribs we're also wrapped tightly

But why go to all this trouble to save him? he couldn't understand

He sat up cautiously not wanting to yank out his iv drip by accident

He noticed all the posters on the walls and the pile of records and CDs stacked haphazardly in a corner a music lover he realized like me

"Hey looks like you're awake finally!" an unfamiliar voice greeted him as a young man knelt and set a plate of food in front of him

All his sense prickled,

a guy early twenties just a few years older than he was and a celestial

he could smell his energy a tiger, like him but this guy was a pure alpha very high level

bright fiery red hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck

steady amber-brown eyes examined him carefully

He had a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, a sculpted square jawline, and cheekbones

"How are you feeling? You took a hell of a beating last night" he said

"who's asking?" Taekwon shot back defensively

He gave him a faint smile that made taekwon insides flip

"calm down I'm Ziesoo Young and you are?"

"Taekwon Park"

"I feel ok now and thanks for your help I think you saved my life," Taekwon said

Ziesoo arched a red eyebrow

"Think?" He responded with bitter amusement

"When you were nearly dead a few short hours ago?

you know you're lucky my upstairs roommate is a medical student to supply me with that drip line in your arm, and that's my blood in that bag you're guzzling down, without those You wouldn't have lived long enough to think anything,"

"You have some ribs broken so you have to take it easy, you also might have internal bruising to your organs given how you were kicked and punched in the gut multiple times

he said to take you to a real doctor if you didn't wake up or got a fever and got worse but you didn't so that means you're OK" He added

Taekwon smiled weakly "thank you" he replied "for saving me really"

"Yea it's cool," he said" eat some breakfast if you can and don't get any weird ideas OK I'm not going to do anything to you so rest easy"

His eyes widened as he realized that ziesoo realized what he was right away

"Ah don't look so worried," Ziesoo said in response to the expression on his face he was so easy to read