KiHyuk Valentine's Day Fic
Title: Love is a 9 letter word: Confusion
Pairing: KiHyuk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: highschool AU, romance, a twinge of drama
Summary: Hyukjae isn't gay. Neither is Kibum. But somewhere down the line, Hyukjae wonders if it can be counted as being gay if the only boy he likes is Kim Kibum, or if it's just love.
Author’s Note: I am thoroughly disappointed in the lack of plot-driven KiHyuk. More to the point, I am tired of only KiHyuk smut! KiHyuk can be about love too! I shall prove it! And...HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! P.S. This was written at like, 1 in the morning, so I am very certain that there are still typos in here somewhere.
--- > Love is 9 Letter Word: Heartache
---
The soda splashed across his face, an ice cube bouncing off of his cheek. The carbonation tickled his nose and he barely managed to clench his eyes shut to protect them. He opened them moments later, trying to see from behind the soaked fringe of his bangs. He pushed aside the sopping wet strands to see the girl standing in front of him, all five foot five inches of her quivering with righteous fury.
He wanted to apologize, but all that came out was a comment on how he was glad she hadn’t grabbed his caramel macchiato instead.
She stared at him in disbelief, letting out a soft laugh as she crossed her arms over her chest. There were tears in her eyes, “I can’t believe you.”
He simply grabbed a napkin from the counter and began patting his shirt. The coke was probably going to stain.
“You’re an ass.”
He didn’t wince because he’d known it was coming and he supposed he kind of deserved it. In retrospect, he deserved the drink-to-the-face too. He also didn’t say anything back as he waited for her to either continue or storm out.
She did the latter, fuming as she grabbed her purse and turned on her heel, skirt swishing with the harsh movement as she pushed past the small crowd that was forming. In the dramas, this was the part where he ran after her, told her he loved her, and then kissed her senseless on the street in front of a conveniently gathered crowd as he murmured romantic apologies.
This wasn’t a drama, though, and he didn’t think he’d ever do something as stupid as run out and profess his love publically on the street. That was embarrassing. Besides, he hadn’t paid for their drinks yet.
He placed the money on the table with a soft, apologetic smile, nodding at the waitress before he grabbed his own coat. He pulled it on slowly, because he certainly wouldn’t want anyone to assume he was going after her.
---
Lee Hyukjae stared up at the large building in front of him in a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Transferring to a new high school in the middle of his senior year probably wasn’t the best idea, in hindsight.
Then again, it hadn’t been his decision at all. If he’d had his way he would have stayed in Goyang with Junsu. But his father had gotten a new job in Seoul and they’d been forced to relocate…and now he was here.
And his uniform was too big.
He bent down, rolling up the hem of his slacks to keep them from dragging. His mother hadn’t been certain about the uniform measurements and they’d picked it up late last night so there’d been no time to make adjustments to it for his first day. He’d just have to suffer through it for today.
Pain exploded at the back of his neck and he yelped, leaping up. He tripped over his not completely rolled up pants leg and fell on his butt, groaning.
The sound of a ruler smacking against flesh echoed and Hyukjae looked up to see a professor looming over him, ruler held firmly in the palm of his hand. Hyukjae assumed that same ruler was the cause of his stinging neck. He reached up a hand to rub it tentatively.
“You’re late.”
“Wha?”
“This late into the year, can you really afford to have this on your record?” The teacher continued, grabbing the back of his jacket and hauling him to his feet. He dragged him through the gate, “Come on!” Hyukjae thought he heard him muttering something about “delinquents” under his breath as he pulled Hyukjae across the front lawn.
“W-wait! I can explain!” Hyukjae whined, but the teacher didn’t pay him any attention as he let go and smacked him on the head with the ruler again. “On your knees! Hands up!”
Hyukjae blinked, staring at the line of students already in said position, all of whom were looking around in various states of annoyance. Hyukjae swallowed, not willing to be hit again, dropping to his knees and obeying quietly.
This was a really shitty first day!
“Hey!”
Hyukjae continued to stare straight ahead morosely, contemplating whether or not bursting into tears on his first day of school would affect his image.
“Hey! You!” The voice was louder, more insistent, and Hyukjae finally turned his head to look at the boy kneeling next to him.
He was grinning like an idiot, long bangs falling in his face in a messy disarray. He shook his head and the bangs swayed, before going back to their original resting place over his eyes. “I’m Donghae. I haven’t seen you before.”
“Uh. Yeah.” Hyukjae mumbled. “I’m new. Lee Hyukjae.”
Donghae blinked, before he was suddenly in Hyukjae’s personal space, nose practically pressed against his own. Hyukjae nearly fell over in surprise, barely remembering to stay on his knees and keep his hands in the air. “What are you doing?”
“You look like a monkey.” Donghae finally answered.
“Quiet!” The teacher smacked them both on the head and the two let out a collective groan. “Hands UP!”
---
Despite their unorthodox first meeting, Hyukjae found that he rather liked Lee Donghae. And if he hadn’t liked him it would have been much worse, because Donghae had followed him the entire way to the principal’s office to get his class schedule and then had proceeded to follow him to homeroom-which they coincidentally shared.
After being introduced and stuffed into the back of the classroom in the only available desk-Donghae sat near the front, but that hadn’t stopped him from turning around and waving at him and whispering loudly until the teacher threw a piece of chalk at his forehead-the rest of the morning had gone by smoothly.
When the bell rang for lunch, Hyukjae slowly got to his feet, reaching into his pocket for the money his mother had given him. He paused, his fingers grasping nothing but air, and let out a groan as he turned his pockets inside out to find that they were indeed empty.
He must have left his money on the kitchen table.
Donghae came up behind him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Hyukjae! Come on, it’s lunch time!”
“Uh…yeah…” Hyukjae stared down at his stomach. It let out a loud growl and he in turn sighed.
The cafeteria was just like his cafeteria back home: too small to fit all of the students comfortably, loud, and separated into cliques. As Donghae dragged him across the lunchroom he mentally labeled them all. The student council, the popular crowd, the soccer team, the gamers…Donghae pushed him into a chair and he found himself facing a boy with a blank stare.
The boy reached out a finger and it was only thanks to the person sitting beside him (who swatted him away with an exclamation of “hyung!”) that saved Hyukjae’s philtrum from impending rapage.
…and the freaks.
“This is Yesung!” Donghae nodded at the philtrum rapist. “And that’s Ryeowook.” He pointed to the boy that had saved Hyukjae’s philtrum virginity. Hyukjae wondered if it would be a bit much to erect a shrine in Ryeowook’s honor: here stands, forever enshrined in immortal glory, the protector of gentle maidens’ philtrums.
Maybe that was taking it a bit too far…
“I’m Hyukjae. Lee Hyukjae.” Hyukjae introduced himself, nodding awkwardly in greeting. Yesung shrugged, going back to his rice. Ryeowook smiled at him brightly. Hyukjae only then noticed that there was a fifth person sitting at the table. A silent boy with chubby cheeks that was staring at him rather intently.
Hyukjae opened his mouth to ask why the boy was staring-and better yet, who he was-when squeals erupted behind him and he found himself turning to see what the fuss was about.
“Already?” He heard Yesung groan, “I thought we’d get to eat in peace today.”
The female population of the school was clamoring to their feet-or hugging themselves and whispering to one another loudly and blushing-as the cafeteria doors opened and two people walked inside.
The first thing that Hyukjae noticed was that their uniforms were messed up. Instead of a white button-up shirt under his uniform jacket, one of them wore a bright pink t-shirt. He was the first that Hyukjae noticed because he was the more flamboyant of the two and was smiling brightly.
Also, he had a bunny clip in his hair.
The second person walked a little bit behind the flamboyant, cheerful, possibly gay one. He also wore a t-shirt under his jacket, though it was a plain black and white graphic tee rather than bright pink.
The second thing that Hyukjae noticed was that they were both more attractive than he was. This was something he always noticed right away because well, he was a guy and he needed to gauge the competition.
“Wah…seriously, do those two have to strut around like that?” Yesung grumbled. “When they do that, the rest of us look like losers.”
“That’s just you.” Donghae shot back, but his gaze hadn’t left the two boys that were making their way to another table. He blinked, before shrugging, going back to his meal. Donghae and the rest of the “freak table” as Hyukjae had dubbed them seemed to be the only ones content with going back to their lunches.
Everyone else was still staring.
The table the two sat at was in another corner of the cafeteria, practically opposite where their own table stood. There were a few other boys, similarly dressed that were already there.
“…are they in a gang…?” Hyukjae asked aloud, still staring.
“Uhn.” Donghae shrugged, mouth full of rice. “Kind of.”
Hyukjae didn’t know why, but his gaze seemed focused on the not-pink one. He was talking with another person at the table, a slow smile gracing his lips, before he looked up and his gaze met Hyukjae’s.
Hyukjae swallowed, his throat suddenly tight. He didn’t know why he felt cold-and then hot, uncomfortably hot-or why his heart was slamming against his ribcage. Instead, he averted his gaze quickly, turning back to the others.
The boy at the end of the table was still staring at him silently.
“They weren’t in first or second period.” Ryeowook murmured, looking over Hyukjae’s shoulder. “They probably just came in.”
“They never come for homeroom.” Donghae took a swig of milk and grinned. “Kibum’s always been like that.”
“I heard he broke up with his girlfriend.” Yesung replied glumly. “That’s why he wasn’t here earlier.” He sighed. “She had big boobs too…that’s the fifth one in three months.”
---
Over the next couple of days, Hyukjae adjusted rather well to his new school. He learned that the last member of their “group” was Henry, a foreign exchange student from Canada that had opted to join them rather than the foreign exchange group-they were higher up on the high school hierarchy, which made Hyukjae want to cry (he’d been rather popular back at his old school, seriously)-because Ryeowook had been the first person he’d met here and he’d been nice to him.
He’d also learned the names of the school’s popular “bad boys”. The pink one was named Lee Sungmin. Despite his cheerful persona-he’d skipped into Hyukjae’s sixth period class and Hyukjae swore he saw glitter-he was known as one of the top fighters at the school. He was the second in command to their jjang.
Their jjang, it seemed, was the boy that made Hyukjae’s stomach do flips. He was Kim Kibum. He’d transferred in the middle of freshmen year from California, but he’d lived in Korea for most of his childhood before then.
Despite being the school’s strongest fighters, they weren’t exactly delinquents. No one in the school regarded them as troublemakers, and aside from their disregard for proper dress code they acted like normal students. Henry held Kibum in high regard especially, because he’d apparently saved him from bullies in Henry’s first week and occasionally spoke to him in English.
Hyukjae soon forgot about the look he’d shared with Kibum on his first day of school. “Out of sight, out of mind” seemed accurate on that account, because despite the fact that the entire school was infatuated with the two, Hyukjae hadn’t actually seen Kibum since that first day.
---
Hyukjae sighed loudly, opening his locker and stuffing his text books inside, grabbing for his gym shoes. A few weeks ago Donghae had suggested they start a dance group, and they’d begun actual practice a few days before. Hyukjae had been storing his dance shoes in his locker for that time.
He reached for the apple sitting atop his chemistry book when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, barely avoiding hitting his head on the inside of his locker to see Kibum standing in front of him. He swallowed, because suddenly his mouth was dry again and his stomach seemed to have turned itself inside out.
Kibum was even more good looking up close. His features were soft, like a “flower boy” or whatever it was that girls liked these days, but his spiky hair and the tattoo on his throat-had he always had that? Had Hyukjae just not noticed because he hadn’t seen him up close before?-gave off the air of the “bad boy” that he was known as.
“…uh, what?” He’d realized that Kibum had been talking to him, and the other boy was staring at him, one eyebrow raised.
“What do you keep in your locker?”
“Huh? Why?”
“It smells.” Kibum answered, not unkindly, nose wrinkling a bit. “…like feet.”
Hyukjae swallowed, and found that he still maintained the ability to formulate proper sentences. “Well uh, why do you care? It’s my locker.”
“I smell it every day.” Kibum pointed to the locker beside Hyukjae’s.
Hyukjae blinked, staring at the locker. That had…always been Kibum’s locker? But he hadn’t seen him once! “…oh.” He coughed, “Um…sorry.”
Kibum shrugged, opening his locker and pulling out his backpack. He paused, seeing that Hyukjae was still staring at him. “What’s your name?”
“Ah, Lee Hyukjae.”
“You’re Donghae’s friend, right?” Kibum asked casually, closing his locker and leaning against it, hands stuffed in his pocket. “Sungmin says you guys hang out a lot.”
Sungmin. Right. He was in several of Hyukjae’s classes. “Ah, yeah. I know Donghae.”
Kibum nodded, “I see.” He pushed off of the locker. “See ya, Eunhyuk.”
Hyukjae blinked. “…Eunhyuk…?”
---
Donghae was waiting in the dance studio when Hyukjae walked in, still a bit shell-shocked with the realization that Kibum’s locker was right beside his and had been there for months.
Donghae grinned, “What took you so long?”
“Sorry.” Hyukjae apologized, before he sat down on the floor next to Donghae. “Hey, do you know Kibum?”
Donghae stilled, the smile on his face fading slowly. “Why?”
“Uh, he just seemed to know you, is all.” Hyukjae shrugged, noticing the tension.
Donghae pursed his lips, beginning to stretch. “We knew each other before.” He paused, looking up at Hyukjae again. “…when did you become friends with him?”
“Huh? Oh, we just have lockers near each other.” Hyukjae answered, before leaning forward, “Um, he called me Eunhyuk, do you think there’s a reason for that?”
Donghae snorted. “He always coming up with nicknames for people. He does it because it’s easier than remembering real names.”
“Oh.”
“He usually only does it with girls he dates.” Donghae continued, and his face was expressionless. “he doesn’t give guys nicknames.”
---
Hyukjae avoided his locker for several days after that, embarrassed and a little angry. First it had been because of the whole “giving nicknames to girls” thing. Hyukjae was not a girl. He didn’t particularly like the fact that someone assumed he was girly.
The other reason was because he’d learned why Donghae and Kibum weren’t friends anymore. He’d asked Ryeowook.
“Oh…well, they used to be best friends. Kibum and Sungmin used to hang out with us, freshmen year. Ah but, that girl that Kibum broke up with…she was going out with Donghae first. She cheated on him with Kibum. They got in a big fight a few months ago. After that, Donghae quit their group and they stopped sitting with us.”
If there was one thing that Hyukjae hated more than anything else, it was cheating. It was even worse that Kibum had betrayed his best friend to do it. No way, ever, would Hyukjae like someone like that.
…but he really needed his chemistry book.
“It must be really bothersome to carry all of your books around all day.” The familiar voice spoke from his right.
Hyukjae slammed his locker shut and refused to look at Kibum. He couldn’t, because he could already feel that odd fluttering in his stomach and his heart was beginning to beat faster. “Why do you care?” he snapped out.
Kibum blinked, “…what?”
“Why did you call me Eunhyuk?” He didn’t even know why he asked that question, because it wasn’t what he really wanted to say. Why did you steal Donghae’s girlfriend? Why did you betray your best friend? Those were the kinds of questions he wanted to ask. Instead, he’d said something so stupid…
Kibum stared at him for a few moments blankly. “…you were wearing silver earrings that day. And Lee Hyukjae reminds me of that old comedian.”
Hyukjae stared back. “That…that’s it?”
Kibum snorted. “Why? Is there supposed to be something else?”
Well, yes, because Donghae had said that he only ever called girls by stupid little nicknames. He wondered why he felt oddly disappointed that it was something so trivial, but then he remembered that Kibum was a backstabber and merely glared. “Don’t talk to me. I don’t like you.” He turned on his heel and stomped off, missing the surprised, confused expression on Kibum’s face.
---
“Helloooooo!” Sungmin sang, slipping into the empty seat beside Henry. The entire table went silent, staring in surprise at the pink-clad man. Today his bangs were tied up in a glittery pink scrunchie. He continued to smile at them, as if his face were going to split open.
“Uh, hey Sungmin.” Yesung murmured. He and Ryeowook exchanged a glance, before turning back to him. Henry stared at him guardedly. He didn’t seem as comfortable around Sungmin as he did around Kibum.
Donghae had gone to his locker to pick up something, so he was absent from the table at the moment. Hyukjae looked around, noticing that Kibum was nowhere in sight. Not that he’d expected him to be-or cared, he didn’t, he really didn’t-because he hadn’t seen him for three days.
…not that he’d counted.
“So, you must be Hyukjae.” Sungmin turned his bright smile toward Hyukjae, and suddenly, the smile seemed more feral than cheerful.
“Uh…yeah.” Hyukjae resisted the primordial fight or flight instinct-as well as the desire to use Yesung as a human shield-and smiled back hesitantly. “I’m Hyukjae.”
“Mmmm…” Sungmin hummed, resting his chin on his hand as he peered at him from behind half-lidded eyes.
“Um, what do you want with Hyukjae, hyung?” Ryeowook asked curiously.
“Oh, nothing much.” Sungmin shrugged. “I just heard through the grapevine that you didn’t like Kibummie. Actually, the rumor going around school is that you smacked him and called him a “dirty fucking cheater” or something like that.”
Hyukjae stared in horror. “What? I never said that!”
“Of course you didn’t.” Sungmin blinked innocently. “If you had, the entire female population of the school would have stoned you already.”
“What are you getting at, Sungmin?”
Everyone turned to see Donghae. He was standing behind the cheerful pink man, his own gaze less cheerful and more angry.
Sungmin continued to smile, but it had morphed into a sneer by the time he turned, standing. “Nothing. Just wondering how much longer you’re going to hold a grudge.”
Donghae growled in the back of his throat. “My business with Kibum is my business. Tell him to stay away from Hyukjae.”
“Since when did Hyukjae become your property?” Sungmin’s gaze flickered to the still bewildered Hyukjae, then back to Donghae. “Or are you afraid that Kibum is going to steal him away too before you can get in on the action?”
“Hey!” Hyukjae had stood by this time, “Shut the hell up! What right do you have to say any of that? Kibum was the bastard that took Donghae’s girlfriend away from him!”
Donghae stared at Hyukjae in surprise, and the table went silent. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sungmin laughed, and lifted up his hands, clapping, “Wow. Congratulations. What bullshit story have you been feeding him?”
Donghae grabbed Sungmin’s shirt and pulled him forward. His chair clattered to the ground behind him and the cafeteria went silent, save for a few gasps. “What did you just say?”
Sungmin continued to smile, “I asked what kind of story you’ve been spreading around.”
Donghae glared back. “Just because Kibum won’t fuck you doesn’t mean you can be a bitch to everyone else.”
Hyukjae saw the flash in Sungmin’s eyes, his smile twisting into something savage before he’d slapped Donghae’s hand away, grabbed his throat, and thrown him down on the table with a loud crash. A few girls screamed in surprise and Henry, Yesung, and Ryeowook had jumped away from the table. Hyukjae had scooted back in shock.
Sungmin’s grip tightened around Donghae’s throat. “Take it back.” He hissed.
“Sungmin! Let him go!” Yesung was making his way around the table, Ryeowook a second behind him. Hyukjae found himself frozen in place, staring as Donghae squirmed under Sungmin’s grip.
“What’s going on?”
Everyone turned, including Sungmin, at Kibum’s question. He stood in the cafeteria doorway, his expression unreadable. He walked toward the group, his gaze only on Sungmin. He didn’t seem to notice anyone else.
He stopped a few feet away. “Let him go.” He ordered softly.
Sungmin faltered, and it was all it took for Donghae to wrench his hand off. He tried to shove him away, his face flushed, glaring. Sungmin took a step back, looking nonplussed, as he turned to look at Kibum, “Kibummie-”
The crack of Sungmin’s jaw echoed.
Sungmin stumbled back, clutching his face, his eyes wide in surprise-and a little bit of hurt. Kibum unclenched his fist and turned back to the others. “…sorry.” He muttered, not looking at Donghae, but Hyukjae figured that the apology was directed at him.
Kibum then looked to Hyukjae and gave a small smile. “...your locker doesn’t smell anymore.” And then he turned and walked out of the cafeteria. Sungmin followed silently.
Hyukjae’s gaze followed them until the door swung closed behind Sungmin and he blinked, coming back to reality. The cafeteria began to buzz with chatter, the other students all shooting glances at their table. Ryeowook was looking over Donghae’s neck worriedly.
Donghae was glaring at the door, and Hyukjae swore he saw him wipe his eyes as he turned to pick up the chair that had fallen over earlier in the scuffle.
Hyukjae didn’t know what was going on, but he felt that somewhere along the way, everyone else had gotten a little lost as well and that’s how they’d ended up like this. But he couldn’t help but remember Kibum’s soft smile and think that he couldn’t be as bad of a person as Donghae seemed to think he was.
---
Sungmin came to class the next day with a band-aid covering his split lip. He didn’t smile as he sat down, and the entire class seemed darkened by his sour mood. It didn’t even matter that the band-aid was Hello Kitty. Sungmin refused to look at Hyukjae, and Hyukjae was relieved. He wasn’t sure what he’d say because he had a feeling the entire situation the day before had somehow been his fault.
He didn’t know why he felt like apologizing.
At the end of the period, Hyukjae grabbed his books and began hastily stuffing them into his bag. Someone sat on the edge of his desk and he blinked, looking up-he didn’t want to, because he knew who it was going to be but did so anyway-and trained his gaze on the Hello Kitty bandaid.
“I need to talk to you.” Sungmin murmured softly.
Hyukjae glanced up and saw Ryeowook standing at the door, looking on worriedly.
Hyukjae lifted his gaze to Sungmin’s eyes and saw that he looked sincere. “Um…ok…”
---
The roof was cold, and Hyukjae’s coat was in his locker. He shivered, rubbing his arms.
Sungmin stood with his back to Hyukjae, staring out across the school grounds.
“…so…um…” Hyukjae began to break the silence, but he was cut off as Sungmin started talking.
“Don’t hate him. He isn’t a bad person.”
Hyukjae blinked. “Huh? Who?”
“Kibum.” Sungmin turned to look at him. “Kibum’s not a bad person. No matter what Donghae says, he’s not a bad person.”
“But he stole Donghae’s girlfriend.” Hyukjae blurted out, and clamped his mouth shut a second later, wincing. Sungmin was going to kill him now. Sungmin was going to kill him very dead and stuff his body in his locker. The smell of his gym shoes would cover the scent of his decaying body for at least a few days.
Sungmin’s jaw tightened but he merely leaned against the railing. “It isn’t like that. Donghae got it wrong.”
“What?”
“Kibum and her…they never actually dated.” Sungmin murmured. “She told Kibum that she only dated Donghae so she could get closer to him. She was going to break up with Donghae after she confessed to Kibum.”
Hyukjae stared.
“Kibum didn’t want Donghae to know. So he told her not to tell Donghae. Then he broke up with her after Donghae found out that the two were “dating”.” Sungmin continued softly.
Hyukjae remained silent, processing the information. So…Kibum really wasn’t a bad person? He’d done it to protect Donghae? But…why was Sungmin telling him this? Why did he feel like Hyukjae needed to know?
“Because Kibum likes you.”
Hyukjae hadn’t even known he’d asked his question out loud. Sungmin was staring at him now, lips pursed.
“He…wh-what?” Hyukjae managed to get out.
“He likes you.” Sungmin repeated. “So I want you to know he’s not a bad person. He isn’t. So don’t hate him.”
Hyukjae swallowed, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he spat out, “I’m a guy and he’s a guy!”
Sungmin rolled his eyes. “You’re such an idiot.” He looked him up and down. “…I don’t know why he likes you. You look like an anorexic monkey and when you walk, you bob your head like a chicken. And your smile is all gums. You aren’t cute at all.”
He left Hyukjae on the roof.
---
Hyukjae didn’t see Kibum for several days after that. After the first two days he concluded that Kibum was avoiding him, because he’d staked out the locker and Kibum refused to come and get his books.
Donghae was angry and gruff during this time, and Hyukjae couldn’t decide whether or not he should tell him the truth. He knew that coming from him, Donghae wouldn’t believe it. He didn’t know if Donghae would believe it no matter who told him the truth, because it would be easier to continue hating Kibum than to apologize.
And besides…Kibum had kept it a secret this long, so Hyukjae had to respect that, right?
Hyukjae sighed, sipping his strawberry milk as he continued down the street. He looked down at his watch. He still had twenty or so minutes before school started. He fiddled with his headphones, humming along to 2PM’s 10 out of 10 and doing a few dance steps as he walked.
He was so engrossed in his dance steps that he wasn’t watching where he was going, and bumped into someone. “Ah, sorry!” he glanced up and gave an apologetic smile at the boy he’d almost knocked over. “I wasn’t looking.”
“Che.” The boy smirked, “That’s alright. It was my fault. Right?” He looked to his side, and another boy appeared.
Hyukjae blinked, pulling out his headphones as three other boys came up behind him. He looked around the street. It was deserted. Dammit, why had he taken a shortcut?
“You’re Lee Hyukjae, right?”
“Uh…why…?” Hyukjae looked around furtively, trying to find an escape route. No luck, he was surrounded. He swallowed. This was bad…really bad.
“Kibum’s bitch, right?” One of them grinned, and the others snickered.
Hyukjae glared, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh come on, all the gangs know it. Who would have thought that Kibum liked it up the ass? Then again, we should’ve known after seeing what a pink-loving fag his second-in command is.” One of them sneered. “But really, I would’ve thought he’d choose a better looking guy, at least.”
“If you look at him from this angle he’s almost like a girl.” One of them squinted, holding up his fingers in the form of a picture frame and turning it. They all began laughing.
Hyukjae swallowed, face burning with anger and embarrassment, heart beating painfully against his ribcage.
“If you have a problem with my sexual preferences then take it up with me. You’re from Yeong High right?”
Hyukjae turned in surprise to see Kibum walking down the street toward them.
“Oooooo, the knight has come to save his princess.”
Kibum snorted, his gaze cold. “Let him go while I’m feeling generous.”
“Or what?”
Kibum slammed his fist into the first boy’s face, grabbing him and throwing him into the second before anyone could react. The other three lunged, completely forgetting about Hyukjae, who pressed himself up against the nearby building in an attempt to get out of the way.
He watched in shock as Kibum held on to one of the men and kneed him in the stomach before turning, lifting up his leg and kicking another in the face. The boy flew backwards, landing on the ground with a groan.
Kibum ducked a sloppy swing, elbowing the man in the face. It made a sickening crunching sound and the boy stumbled back with a yell of pain, clutching his nose as blood bubbled out from behind his fingers.
It was over before Hyukjae could process what exactly was going on and Kibum grabbed his arm. “Come on.” He ordered gruffly, pulling him down the street by his wrist.
Hyukjae allowed himself to be led, nodding numbly.
Kibum let go of his hand in front of the school. “…go in.” He murmured, turning to leave.
“Uh, thanks.” Hyukjae whispered, feeling his cheeks heat up. “…for saving me.”
Kibum gave a stiff nod, “You’re welcome.”
“Uhm, I’m not gay!” Hyukjae shouted as Kibum began walking away. Kibum stopped, stiffening, before he looked back over his shoulder.
“What I meant to say is, um…” Hyukjae fumbled for the right words. “I’m not gay and I don’t like boys but um…”
“Neither am I.” Kibum answered back readily, his face unreadable.
Hyukjae stared. “…oh.”
Kibum walked off and Hyukjae was left standing in front of the school, feeling like the world’s biggest idiot. …but I was going to say that I didn’t mind, as long as it was you…
“…stupid.” He whispered to himself. “…really, really stupid…”
---
“You look like Yesung finally managed to rape your philtrum. Why the long face?” Donghae grinned, sitting down in the empty desk beside Hyukjae. It wasn’t usually an empty seat, but the person that was supposed to sit there was sick that day and Donghae had decided to move back to sit with Hyukjae rather than in his normal seat.
Hyukjae blinked. “Huh? Oh…nothing.”
Donghae eyed him warily, but merely grabbed for his notebook. “You’ve been spacing out all morning. Did something happen?” He wasn’t teasing anymore, gaze serious and searching.
Hyukjae swallowed. “It’s…don’t worry about it.” He smiled his trademark gummy smile. “I’m fine, really.”
Donghae nodded, but he didn’t look entirely convinced. He probably would have prodded further, but the door to their classroom was thrown open and Henry stumbled in, looking panicked. “Fight!” He stuttered out in his broken Korean. “Kibum hyung…fight…bad!”
“What?” Donghae stared, but Hyukjae had already stood, heading for the door. Donghae followed, and so did half of the class. They met Yesung and Ryeowook in the hallway.
“A huge gang from Yeong High appeared a few minutes ago. Sungmin and Kibum went with them. They’re outnumbered.” Yesung gasped out.
“You’re from Yeong High, right?” Hyukjae felt his stomach plummet. Was this…because of earlier? Did those people come back for revenge? He sped up.
“Where are you going?” Donghae grabbed his arm.
“We can’t just leave them! They’ll get hurt!” Hyukjae shot back, “Come on!” Ryeowook, Yesung, and Henry nodded, and Donghae stared at them all, as if he wanted to refuse, but he gritted his teeth and nodded curtly. “…right.”
Hyukjae ignored the shouts of the teachers for them to stop as the five of them ran out the front door toward the gate. Hyukjae’s ears were ringing and all he could think about was that this was his fault and that Kibum was going to get hurt for his sake.
They found them in the abandoned lot a few blocks down. Kibum and Sungmin stood back to back, surrounded by twenty or so others. A few boys were already lying on the ground, unconscious. The boys from Yeong High were all holding bats or lead pipes. Sungmin was clutching his arm in pain, and blood was trickling from Kibum’s forehead.
“…Kibum…”
Hyukjae turned at Donghae’s whisper. Donghae’s face was pale, before he ran forward, “Kibum!” Hyukjae wanted to follow, but Ryeowook grabbed him back, shaking his head. Hyukjae swallowed, but watched as Donghae and Yesung joined the fray.
Donghae grabbed one of the bats, wrestling it away from one of the boys and throwing it to the ground, kicking him in the stomach. He backed up a few feet and bumped into Kibum. Kibum turned to him for a moment before giving a small smile, “Just like old times, right?”
“Someone had to save your stupid ass.” Donghae muttered, before putting up his arm to block a punch.
Kibum gave a feral grin, before grabbing a lead pipe and twisting it out of a man’s grip, swiping with it to take out another guy’s legs.
Hyukjae watched in building apprehension. They were outnumbered and injured. This couldn’t be happening. They were going to get hurt. Kibum was going to get hurt and Hyukjae hadn’t even confessed to him yet!
“…jae…”
“…yukjae…”
“Hyukjae!”
Hyukjae blinked, turning to the person that was calling his name. He blinked, before he realized that he was staring into Kibum’s cool gaze. “…what…?” he looked around to see that there were more people than before, well, more of their people. Someone had alerted the rest of Kibum’s gang and they’d arrived to take out the last few fighters left standing.
Hyukjae swallowed, before he lifted up a hand to brush against the cut above Kibum’s eyebrow. The other boy winced, but didn’t pull away. “…are you ok?” Hyukjae whispered.
“Yeah.” Kibum murmured with a small smile. His gaze went serious again. “…Hyukjae…I lied.”
Hyukjae stared at him in confusion. “Huh?”
“I am gay. At least, I think I am. I wasn’t before.” Kibum looked away, and Hyukjae could see the color rising in his cheeks. “But now, I think it’d be ok. You know, since you’re cute.”
It took a few moments for Hyukjae to comprehend what Kibum was saying. He didn’t even notice that everyone else was staring at them, waiting for Hyukjae’s answer. He simply stared at Kibum’s uncomfortable expression and thought that it was horribly cute.
He gave a slow smile that quickly grew into a full-fledged grin. “Yeah. Same here.”
Kibum blinked, and then he smiled, a bright, blinding smile that left Hyukjae blushing and dazed. “Good to know.”
---
The next day, Hyukjae found a heart shaped note stuck to his locker.
Your locker never actually smelled. I just wanted an excuse to talk to you.
--Kibum