Chaerin leant against the balcony railing with a cig hanging out . Her hair was pulled up into two massive buns on each side of her head, her eyes done up in bold eyeliner. “Alright?” I nodded, shouldering my backpack.
 
“What you looking at?” she jokingly growled. I saw my mum coming up from the car park and I dashed into our apartment quickly.
 
“Seungri! Why did I get a call saying you missed sports again?!” my mum slammed the door shut and dropped her bag in the hallway. I pulled the end of my jacket round my wrists and shrugged. My mum stood with her hands on her hips as she looked down on me with concern. “They name calling again?” he said quietly.
 
“No! Mum” I protested. I walked out of the front door and stood by Chaerin again. She was humming something but when I approached her she blushed and stopped immediately. “Aw come on, give us a tune” I laughed. She shook her head and took another drag out of her cigarette. “Come on Chae” I whined. She groaned and cleared .
 
“You ready for this?” I nodded and she broke into song, shaking her hips and prancing backwards and forwards as she sang. She was an absolute nutter. Her sunglasses slipped down her nose and she pushed them up and belted out a high note.
 
JiYong sidled up the stairs looking deep in thought and chae stopped singing when she saw him. I laughed slightly and smiled at JiYong. He ruffled his hair up and walked over to us. “Fancy a cig” Chae asked him and he shook his head.
 
“Sorry, I haven’t got time to chat, I need to make dinner”
 
“You’re always making dinner!” I protested.
 
“Sorry!” he shrugged, opening his front door and entering. I groaned and turned around to go back into my own apartment.
 
“Right Hun, I have to go to work, I won’t be back till late but make sure you do all your homework I’ll be checking when I get back “ she kissed my forehead. “Theres mac n’ cheese in the fridge you just need to heat it up” I nodded and turned to my desk. She grabbed her handbag and dashed off through the front door.
 
I did my homework as I was told and was just heating the food up when music blasted through the walls. It was Chaerin again and I groaned. “Shut the up” I banged on the wall. It didn’t quiet down and I opened my front door. JiYong had rushed out of his front door and was bashing on Chaerin’s.
 
“Shut the up Chaerin, you’re gonna wake my pa up!” he shouted, with tears in his eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows. All of a sudden, JiYong’s older cousin who lived with him came out of the stairwell. He bashed on the door and Chaerin’s mum opened the door. “She won’t turn it down” JiYong’s cousin rushed up the stairs and got Chaerin to open the door eventually.
 
Life of Pablo was booming through the house and Chaerin was prancing around in a face mask with a lollipop hanging out of . JiYong’s cousin slammed her radio down to zero and stormed out again. “Don’t you dare turn that ing up again.” He threatened before storming out of her room. I gave her a side eye before leaving her bedroom.
 
“Ya’ll so boring” she shouted after us. I left her apartment and I saw JiYong looked relieved now the music was turned off. He turned back to his apartment and when he saw smoke pouring out the windows he swore loudly and ran back into his apartment.
 
I sat back down to my cold dinner and inwardly groaned. All of the TV shows were a bit boring and so I settled down with a classic film and a cup of tea. I paused the film when I hear thumping noises from next door. But then I guessed that they were just moving furniture so I resumed the show and sat back.
 
I was sitting in bed much later when my mum came home. “Seungri baby?” I flipped my magazine shut and got off my bed.
 
“Yeah” I opened my door.
 
“Uh, JiYong’s gonna be staying here tonight.” She stepped aside and I saw JiYong looking timid behind her. “You’ll have to top and tail, there’s nowhere else for him to sleep” she pushed JiYong into my room and he shut the door behind him.
 
“Do you always where glasses when you read?” JiYong asked when he was sitting at the other end of my bed.
 
“Yeah, sometimes” I said, flicking through the magazine again.
 
“You don’t wear them in school though” he mumbled.
 
“Yeah, they look weird”
 
“I think they’re rather fetching.” I smiled shyly.
 
“You think?” he nodded and I wiggled down in the blankets. His feet were next to my head and I smiled softly at his manicured toenails.
 
“Do you want to sleep?” I asked. He nodded wearily. I shut the light out and closed my eyes.
 
“JiYong?” I said.
 
“Yeah?” he mumbled.
 
“Are you alright?”
 
“Yeah” he said quietly. We were quiet for a minute.
 
“JiYong?” he mumbled in reply.
 
“G’night”
 
“Night Seungri” I closed my eyes and the room finally fell silent.
 
It was baking the next day and JiYong and I went down to the riverside with some mates. I wasn’t really friends with them but JiYong seemed to be close. Then again, JiYong was popular and I didn’t really have any friends, I was a little bit of a recluse. They were using my football to have a kick around.
 
Seunghyun kicked it into the river and they all splashed in after it. “Yah make sure you get it!”
 
“You get it!” Youngbae laughed pushing me into the river. I let out a yell and swam back to the side. JiYong grabbed my ball and floated around. As soon as we got home I peeled my wet clothes off and replaced them with some shorts and a t-shirt. I walked out my bedroom and saw JiYong in the bathroom and I froze.
 
He was just pulling his boxers over his and my eyes widened at the sight of his back. Large purple bruises covered his back and legs. He saw me in the mirror and he quickly pulled his shirt over his head and paced past me.
 
Later on in the evening we were all sitting on the balcony outside the apartment. “Hey” JiYong smiled, standing next to me. “I’m going to see a boxing match with my dad; we have a spare ticket if you want to come?”
 
“Ah, my mums having some friends over later and I need to help.” He nodded.
 
“Okay then, no worries.” He grabbed his jacket from the side and left through the front door.
 
When JiYong returned it was late in the evening and he was in a bad way. Tears pooled at his eyes and he entered wordlessly. I took him to his bedroom and he just flopped down on the bed. I quickly ran to the bathroom and grabbed some lotion.
 
“I-I can rub some of this ointment into your back if you want, it might help the bruising” he hesitated but nodded and his back. I gently lifted his shirt and he lifted his chest up so I could pull the shirt right up to his shoulders. His bruises were revealed and I frowned down at his scarred back.
 
I poured the lotion onto his back and he winced. “Yeah it’s cold, sorry” I said breathily. He buried his head in the sheets and I gently rubbed the ointment into his back. His skin was so smooth and tanned and I felt a weird stirring every time his muscles moved under the smooth skin of his back.
 
“Done” I smiled. “I-if you turn over I can do your front if you’d like”
 
“I’m sore” he sighed, pulling his shirt down and turning onto his back.
 
“Okay”
 
“I’m gonna sleep” JiYong sighed. “Turn out the light”
 
“I don’t want to” I said.
 
“Please” he begged. I sighed and switched the light off, delving the room in darkness.


“Can I come and sleep down there, with you?” I asked quietly.
 
“No”
 
“Please”
 
“You stay where you are.” I sighed and fell back against my pillow, disappointed. He let out a groan in the end and shuffled round so his head was on the pillow next to mine.
 
“Satisfied?”

“Yeah, goodnight” I stared up at the ceiling, caught up in my own feelings. And then without even thinking, I sat up on my elbow and looked at the boy next to me. Leaning down, I gently placed my lips on his; it lasted two seconds before I pulled away. He stared up at me, obviously confused. I looked anxiously for a reaction.
 
“Do you think I’m gay?” he asked quietly.
 
I shook my head “It doesn’t matter what I think” I bit my lip before speaking again. “Can I touch you?” he blinked slowly before replying.
 
“I’m still a bit sore”
 
“Yeah” I mumbled, my hand leant up to gently trace his cheekbones, softly dragging my thumb across his chin and then down to his side where the bruises were. I rubbed his side through the fabric of his t-shirt and he propped himself up on an elbow. I leant down and kissed him again, this time longer and less innocent. He struggled with the fabric of my t-shirt but made short work of the thin shorts I was wearing.
 
Waking up the next morning and alone in bed was rather a blow to my ego but I knew that JiYong had to get home before his dad realised he had even left and I understood completely. I quickly pulled my boxers on and slid out of the covers.

There was a party tonight and I was only going because JiYong was going. I hadn’t seen him since he’d left and I was pretty sure he was avoiding me. I just hoped with all hopes that he wasn’t avoiding me. I got dressed properly in the evening and got on the subway to the house the party was at. It was loud and crowded and I walked around couples making out and grabbed a drink from the side.

I saw Chaerin grinding on some guy on the dance floor and I looked around before seeing JiYong heading outside. So I quickly followed him through the back door. He was sitting on the garden wall drinking a beer and when he saw me, he turned to look at me.

I approached him hesitantly. “I haven’t seen you around at all today” I said quietly.

“Yeah I was out, am I not allowed to have friends.”

“No, of course – its just, I was worried about you”

“Don’t be” he yelled. “Nothings happened yeah, I’m alright! I’m ing fantastic!”

“You’re black and blue!” I finally shouted back.

“Give it a rest, Seungri!” muttered.

“Oh so things are getting better then are they? Daddy laid off the fist work?”

“Shut up!” he raised his voice again.

“You’re scared” I whispered.

“No I’m not! I’m not scared of anything!”

“Yeah you are” he put his beer down and was about to speak “You’re scared of being called gay” he froze and looked around to see if anybody heard what I said.

“Are you?” he said quietly.

“Maybe” I moved forward “Maybe not”

“I like you” he rushed out “I like you a lot” I smiled and ruffled my hair slightly.

“I-I like you too” he smiled.

“Let’s go inside yeah?” he got off of the table. I nodded.

Chaerin was playing some bull game and we readily decided to leave. “Do you want to stay around mine?” I asked, knowing how terrible his home life was.

“Dad’s getting back late and he’ll probably be too drunk to notice if I’m gone so I guess.” Chaerin saw us leaving and stumble along beside us. When we got back to my apartment and she saw us both going in she gave us a side eye.

“I wouldn’t do that y’know” she was so wasted and I frowned. She indicated to JiYong “Your cousin comes up to me the other day asking about the two of you, you know how the walls in this place are, paper thin. He says he’s heard some dodgy noises from your end of the apartment, I promise him that JiYong slept on the sofa I did. I protected you. He doesn’t believe me but I get your mum to back me up, then she tells me that the two of you are bed sharing and my brain gets working about all them strange noises I heard during the night” she makes a ual gesture with her hand and then smirks.

“I might not be able to protect you next time that happens.”

“What are you implying!” I yelled.

“You know what I’m implying and you know I’m right! You two are ing” I started at the accusation.

“What the is wrong with you no we’re not” JiYong yelled. She shrugged and opened her apartment door.

“I won’t be protecting you again” and then she disappeared inside. I pulled JiYong into my apartment and shut the door.

“If your cousins guessing” I pulled at my hair anxiously.

“Don’t worry babe” I froze at the pet name. He moved closer and my hair back. “As long as we’re together it doesn’t matter, I’ll run away if need be” I moved closer and nuzzled my nose against his before gently placing my lips on his and kissing him tenderly.

“We’ll escape your dad one day, one day you wont be black and blue when you come home in the evening, one day our love will be accepted. One day.” I wrapped him in my arms and we rocked back and forth in the sitting room, away from any care, away from the abuse, away from the stress. It would all be alright, one day.

Thanks for reading. This was based off of a film I just watched and really liked so yeah whoooO!!!
 

Please comment, it makes me super duper happy.