rated PG-13 for language
4415 words

Back to the starting point again

Junhyung was new to the big city. Seoul was brilliant, fashion forward, and a zillion times more desirable than his hometown. The prideful boy would never admit himself as a country bumpkin, but an overly excited and dramatic Doojoon wasn’t exactly helpful in keeping that from the public.

“Yah Jaesoon-ah! Look at that! Man… I swear we don’t have such tall buildings in Gwangju. And look look…”

Junhyung just kept walking. He needed to walk. He needed that movement to distract him because if he stopped, he wasn’t sure if Doojoon would still be able to talk after that, not without a broken jaw and swollen cheek.

The duo didn’t own the nicest personalities (scratched that, they were the worse) which was evident from the number of fights and detentions they got into after joining the school for only a month. But that didn’t affect their instant popularity among their schoolmates. Some were obviously love-struck (cause whoever claimed that country boys couldn’t be hot?), while most just came to admire their I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude. And very soon, two other dudes saw the new kids as we-are-of-the-same-frequency-beings (and vice versa). They were none other than Lee Kikwang and Son Dongwoon, the gayest couple in the whole school. Hence, an alliance was established among the notorious quartet.

My memory of your innocent face

“Get out!!!” The English teacher screeched in horrid and hysteria upon realizing what the devils were doing while she was going through the test papers.

“You bunch of atrocious kids!” was the typical line that was overused by the discipline master by now. “Shooting handguns during English!! And having a competition?! What have the two of you been learning in school?! Don’t you have any shame?! Oh my goodness! My years of teaching in this education industry and this was…” the discipline master ranted off while Junhyung and Doojoon stood impudently along the classroom corridor, minds churning out plots for revenge against their bimbo English teacher.

“Jang Hyunseung, please come out,” the discipline master called. A lean, fair, with big black rimmed glasses covering almost half of his delicate features figure appeared through the door. The bimbo teacher trailed closely behind.

“Hyunseung-shi, I’m so sorry to trouble you. But since you’ve practically aced through all the tests, can you please help to look after these two brats while I go through the papers with the class?” the teacher blinked expectantly. If goosebumps could really fall, Junhyung and Doojoon were sure theirs could flood the corridor and conveniently buried the woman alive.

“Sure Miss Park.”

The teacher smiled at him sweetly and left. Her screechy voice could be heard beyond closed doors as she began reprimanding the class for their poor results. The discipline master then concluded the case by commanding the two to report at his office after school before hurrying down the corridor, muttering words that old men always did.

“God, I swear she uses at least half a bottle of perfume a day.” Doojoon began to gasp for fresh air.

“ that bimbo,” Junhyung rolled his eyes.

“ teased much?” Doojoon mocked.

“ this, Doojoon. I need to get rid of it now before I start ing your , or his.”

Doojoon laughed hard before locking eyes with the delicate boy in front of them, who was watching them with knitted brows, scrutinized eyes and puckered lips.

“Hey nerd, if you don’t wanna get into trouble, just said we ran off ok.”

Hyunseung’s relaxed and transited into a stoic expression, “Sure, hurry up and go.”

Junhyung and Doojoon looked at said nerd with raised eyebrows. Hyunseung smirked and continued, “What? We don’t wanna waste each other’s time don’t we?”

I want to go back to those days

“Hyunseung-ah, Junhyung will be your buddy from today onwards. Please guide him with his studies and hopefully, improve his insolent attitude. And Yoseob, please do the same with Doojoon.” Mr Kim, their homeroom teacher told them in his office one day.

“Oh my life.” Hyunseung cursed as they walked back home.

Yoseob’s impish laughter echoed the sidewalk, “You know the proverb, Looks can be deceiving? You’re the perfect epitome for it.”

“Shut up. If I know this will happen, I’d have made sure they were chained to the door like guard dogs! ing liars.”

“Woah woah chill bro. Who knows they’ll get caught by our Medusa discipline mistress, we all thought she’s on vacation. But she probably had enough of those.”

“They had the nerve to say that it was ME who release them?! ! Ah !”

“Yah! You’ve hit the daily limit of profanity my friend. And by the way, it was true that you let them go isn’t it, so stop blaming the whole world.”

Hyunseung stared, “We did agree that I let them go because I was threatened, not mutual! They made me their accomplice and land me in this .”

“Yea and I’m honorably together with you in this Seungie, so can we go for dinner now cause I’m so deprived of hot piping bibimbap.”

Returning to the classroom when I was sitting in front of you

“I’m actually pretty excited,” Yoseob beamed. “Doojoon’s quite a charmer.”

“Oh god,” Hyunseung facepalmed. “Well, same can’t be said for Yong Junhyung.”

‘What?! Are you blind?! Can’t you see that how many girls and guys out there are suffering from hyperventilation and broken heart cause of your soon to be buddy?” Yoseob probed in disbelief.

“Yea, very soon I’ll be joining them in the sufferings, but from a totally different symptom.” Hyunseung grieved.

The two friends were talking halfway when Junhyung and Doojoon finally strolled into the class with the discipline mistress and their homeroom teacher walking in front. Hyunseung scowled at the sight while Yoseob gave them his million dollar smile. The elders guided the two delinquents (Hyunseung would later complain to Yoseob that ‘delinquent’ sounded way too cool and would much prefer to call them s, pea brains and bastards) to the seats in front of Hyunseung and Yoseob respectively.

“There, please take care of these two and help them as much as possible. I trust that I’ll be able to see improvement during their finals if it’s Hyunseung and Yoseob who are guiding them.” Mr Kim and Miss Medusa left shortly after their little prose.

Deliberately teasing you for your gentle scolding

While Yoseob and Doojoon didn’t have much difficulty working together (Hyunseung knew there was more going on behind these two), he was literally banging walls and tables and chairs and blackboards and someone’s face was going to be next while peer tutoring Junhyung.

“Yah, you’re not supposed to leave yet.” Hyunseung threw a dirty look at the figure sitting infront of him, who was obviously packing his stuff. This was his third session with Yong Junhyung and he thought that he was about to transform into one of those superheroes due to his fervent desire to protect mankind from the spreading of irresponsibility and stupidity under the name of Justice. And he would kill.

“Look nerd, the class is already empty. I’m saint enough to stay till now.” Junhyung said calmly while continuing packing his belongings.

And something in Hyunseung snapped (but he didn’t transform into superhero though), “Tch, said who? Precisely, the class is already empty and you’re still not done with your work. Seriously, your brain must be smaller than a Stegosaurus. Oh, was that an understatement? Your intelligence must be worse than a dung beetle.”

Hyunseung should probably see this coming. Junhyung flipped around, pounced on Hyunseung’s desk and grabbed one side of his shirt collar, the other hand balled into a fist ready to land onto Hyunseung’s humble face. The latter flinched and shut his eyes in reflex. After a minute of the-pain-is-coming mentality, Hyunseung opened his eyes to see an enraged Junhyung grimaced at him, fist parked near his very own face. Hyunseung gulped and stared back.

“Just because you’re a goody A-star student doesn’t mean that you can look down on people who doesn’t get good grades, er.” Junhyung spoke through clenched jaws and gritting teeth.

Hyunseung would later agree that he must be out of his mind that day when he continued to preach, “This is what always gets you into trouble. Getting all physical just because you’re unhappy over something someone said or did. You’re behaving like a loser. I’ve never looked down on people who can’t get good grades. I look down on people who don’t even work hard but have the cheek to look down on people who worked hard. I don’t find it cool at all. Yong Junhyung, I don’t find you cool at all, you’re pathetic, and stupid.” Hyunseung went breathless after speaking off his mind at the fiery man.

The top scholarship student was sure that he’d need to make an appointment with the cheapest plastic surgeon for a severely broken nose and jaws when Junhyung grabbed both his collars and threw him back into the chair harshly. Unexpectedly, the antagonized teen only lowered at Hyunseung before grabbing his bookbag and turned to leave.

Hyunseung knew by now that he should just shut the up, but he just needed to his mind out. “Egoistic moron! I don’t wanna look down on you so prove to me that you aren’t just pea brain!” Hyunseung shouted before Junhyung disappeared into the corridor.

Would you bear to erase the lines of memory written on the blackboard?

Hyunseung didn’t know why he cared. When Yoseob asked, he shrugged and said “I have a reputation to keep”. To Hyunseung’s surprise, Junhyung began to attend all the classes and even stayed back for extra lesson with him. They’d never sat side by side. It was always Junhyung infront of Hyunseung, and they communicated without even facing each other. At times when Hyunseung saw that Junhyung was apparently nodding his head too frequently to be considered as acknowledging what he was explaining, the older boy would stand up and whacked Junhyung’s head with his textbook, or poked Junhyung’s back with his classic blue ballpoint pen, ruining those sparkling white uniform each time the tip landed. The irate victim who got woken up by those ridiculous treatments would get back at his assaulter with a readied fist as a form of reflex. But Junhyung’s fist had never landed on Hyunseung, and the latter would always respond with his brazen glare before ducking his head back to his school work, hiding his relief. It didn’t turn out too much of a surprise when Junhyung scored an average of Bs for his mid term exam after months of peer studying with Hyunseung.

“Let’s have a competition during the next mini tests.”

Junhyung turned around and stared at Hyunseung with raised eye brow, “Should I feel flattered?”

“Shut up. Are you game or not?”

Junhyung was quiet for a minute.

“Scared?” Hyunseung teased.

“Please. You know your number one position would have been thrown to the end of the solar system and devoured by blackhole by Yong Genius Junhyung if I have been studying all along.”

“So?” Hyunseung probed.

“You’ll have to remove your nerdy glasses and wear pink beanie for a month if I win.” Junhyung smirked.

“And my Chris Brown’s album will be on you when I win,” Hyunseung beamed.

“Deal.”

Every day without fail, they would stay back in school to study. They often have mini competitions, where they’d divide the blackboard into half (they actually spent 15 minutes doing so just to make sure that neither of them had a millimeter of space more than the other) and scribbled their working and answers on it. While Junhyung would leisurely write down his working, Hyunseung would build up the rivalry atmosphere by scribbling at a faster pace. Being such a competitive freak, Junhyung would begin writing at bullet speed too. It always turned out to be a speed writing competition rather than revisions where both of them would end up with aching arms and numb fingers at the end of the day.

“Damn, what was that turbo writing speed about?” Junhyung chuckled.

“Aha! Something that I’m better than you in terms of physical stamina.” Hyunseung said while having a battle with his chopstick and his cup noodle as his fingers couldn’t stop trembling. Junhyung couldn’t stop laughing at his buddy.

Whoever’s that gonna sit with whom

“Yah, I swear I did what you’ve taught me, but why can’t I surpass your score? You’re keeping a wand up your sleeves in case I’d win you right?” Junhyung accused in an incredulous tone.

There was no response coming from his back so Junhyung had to turn around only to see a sleeping Hyunseung. Junhyung rolled his eyes, stood up and went over to his buddy’s desk. “Yah,” He kicked the leg of the desk lightly several time; his failed attempt to wake Hyunseung up.

“Yah Jang Nerdseung, I’m spending my godly precious time here studying with you and you have the nerve to sleep?”

Hyunseung mumbled something in his slumber but didn’t wake up. Junhyung bent down and stared exasperatedly at the sleeping boy with his hands tucked in his pockets. He frowned at the black rimmed glasses that were jutting at a weird angle due to Hyunseung’s sleeping position and decided to remove it for comfort sake. He then noticed how delicate Hyunseung’s features were up close. Unknowingly, Junhyung began to take in Hyunseung’s flawless skin, long lashes, perfect nose and slightly parted pink lips and wondered to himself what would happened if Hyunseung were a girl. Just then, Hyunseung stirred and his eyes fluttered open ever so daintily (something only Hyunseung could manage), making direct contact with Junhyung’s.

“Junhyung-ah, what’s wrong?” Hyunseung’s voice was a little soft, a little hoarse, a little… cute. And Junhyung realized that it didn’t really matter whether Hyunseung was a boy or a girl anymore.

He still loved her

From: Yoseob           19 July, 2006 10:41PM
Hyunseung-ah, quickly get to the back alley of M2. I’m trying to discourage Doojoon. But I’m afraid Junhyung will get into trouble >.<

Hyunseung ran out of his house upon seeing the message. He was welcomed with a crowd choking up the back alley of the said club. Some nonsense cheering and loud sound of crashing and hitting could be heard. He pushed his way through the rough crowd and prayed that he wasn’t going to see what he didn’t want to see. But Junhyung was there, bruised, bleeding, fighting. And the crowd was cheering.

Those years, we’ve missed the pouring rain

“Did you see my roundhouse kick onto that dickhead’s face? I ing owned!” Junhyung’s eyes glistened in victory. “I swear I look cool as !” Junhyung exclaimed, excitement still oozing from the fight.

“You think it’s fun?” Hyunseung questioned. His voice sharp and audible despite the heavy late night pouring rain that trapped the two boys under a poorly sheltered bus stop.

“What?” Junhyung let out a breathy laughter, clearly not expecting the seriousness from his friend.

“I said if you think it’s ing fun?” Hyunseung articulated each word with spite. Junhyung stared, his impish grin gone in a flash as Hyunseung continued, “Getting yourself injured for nothing?!

“Yah, it’s not nothing. It means a lot to me ok?”

“You might friggin die out there and nobody’s gonna care cause you kinda deserve it.”

Junhyung exhaled, obviously annoyed, “Thanks to the higher deity up there that I didn’t die and am ing listening to your goddamn bull. What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“And what the hell is ing wrong with your brain Yong Junhyung?!”

“My brain?! It tells me that it’s ing thrilling and it makes me feel good, thrashing those ers who dare look down on us.” Junhyung reasoned with pride.

“Thrilling?!” Hyunseung gasped. “So in the end you’re still that childish brainless hooligan that prefers using brute strength, and stupid enough to get yourself ing injured by fighting with some random dudes at some random alley behind a club?! Junhyung, you’re not even of age to enter a club! What the hell were you doing there?!”

“You’re unbearable. Are you ing enough?!” Junhyung snapped. “If you’re that smart of an aleck then off back home and those textbooks of yours and mind your own business!”

“I’m asking why the were you at a club?!” Hyunseung demanded. “Finals are coming and do you wanna flung?!”

“Tch! Why will you care?!” Junhyung challenged.

“What the hell?! Why will I not care?! I’m your buddy, I’m supposed to make sure that you’re ing studying and not doing some stupid thing like getting into fights and hanging out at a club at 1 am!”

“Yea, you’re supposed to because you’re told so by your godly discipline master. You just ing bothered because of your reputation, because Jang Hyunseung can not only ace through his own studies, he’s also able to help his screwed up buddy to get good grades. That’s enough to make a remarkable reason for the whole school to glorify your capability and nobility Mr Goody Two Shoes.” Junhyung’s words stung and burnt.

Exasperation was an understatement when Hyunseung had to refrain himself from yelling (but he kind of failed), “Yah Yong Junhyung, what the hell are you talking about?! You think I did all this just because I was told?! You’re ing insulting my moral value you ing !” his voice began to waver a little at the end.

“Moral value? Woah… You wanna talk to me about moral value now? Seriously?!” Contrary to Hyunseung’s agitation, Junhyung was cold and sarcastic.

There was a peaceful moment where harsh words were no longer exchanged; when all could be heard were the pitter patter raindrops that were bouncing off any surfaces they landed on and the occasional splash of rain water caused by the vehicles passing by. The pair were just staring into each other’s brown orbs, one in decadence, another full of rage.

“I don’t get you Yong Junhyung. I ing can’t understand you at all.” It came up as a whisper but Junhyung caught every single word.

“I’ve never needed you to understand me.” Junhyung’s words were coated with resentment. “Just go away, get out of my life. You’re messing up everything.” And he walked off into the rain.

Those years, we let our feelings slipped by

From: Yong Pea Brain           20 July, 2006 02:37AM
I’m not sorry

Hyunseung stared at his phone through his blurry vision; he didn’t know why he was crying, and worse, he didn’t know why he was still sitting at the damn busstop for nearly an hour (not that he cared about getting wet). Then, something wet started dripping on his laps, and all over the screen of his phone and within seconds, a figure knelt down and a familiar face was infront of him.

“Yah, I’m… I’m sorry ok? So please stop crying…” Junhyung’s voice was tender as he brushed away a fallen streak of tears from the flawless face.

“I’m not a girl.” Hyunseung sobbed.

They ran back to school, since it was the only place nearest to the busstop they were at. While Hyunseung was scared less of being caught, Junhyung treated the school premises like his owned mansion. They ransacked (more like Junhyung doing the solo mission since Hyunseung was still scared less) the school for hair dryer, towels, some spare clothes and first aid box before scurrying back to their classroom.

“Stupid.” Hyunseung scolded while applying antiseptic cream onto the cut on Junhyung’s arm.

Junhyung grinned, “But I won. Aren’t you proud of me?”

“What.” Hyunseung glared. “Am I you mother? What’s there to be proud of moron.”

Junhyung laughed, “The princess nags more than my mom, I’ve had enough from you just now so please don’t start again.”

Hyunseung slapped Junhyung’s arm pretty hard, “Shut up.”

“OUCH! That hurts like you violent princ-AHHHH!!!”

Hyunseung glared at him, “I dare you to say that again and don’t you ing move unless you want this nasty stuff to get into your already non existing eyes.”

And somehow, Junhyung proved that his eyes were not that tiny as it dilated involuntarily upon what Hyunseung just said, “No you’re not touching my face, the alcohol swab hurts like hell!” Junhyung swapped away his friend’s hands and back away.

“AHA! Who was that brave warrior who fought like a boss just now? Roundkick my . I’m not giving you a choice you moronic gangster.” Hyunseung commanded.

The duo then began their dodge game as they ran, jumped and climbed around tables and chairs; Junhyung running for his dear life. It ended up with Junhyung being held down on the ground with a triumphant Hyunseung sitting on top of him so that the former couldn’t escape.

“Godammit! Stop being such a wimp. It’s just alcohol swab to clean off those stupid blood off your constipated face Yong Junhyung.” Hyunseung chided. The injured man kept flinching and twitching his eyes like he was having a fit. The older couldn’t help but laughed non stop at his friend unusual comical reaction.

“Yah, are you planning to melt my face with those?! Why the hell are you taking so long?” Junhyung complained in agony.

“Stop whining kiddo!” Hyunseung warned again. He bent forward, inching his face closer to Junhyung’s to have a better access to the cut above his right eyes. They were silent for a while as Junhyung miraculously stopped his muscle spasm.

“Hey, you know what?” Junhyung asked after a long break.

“Hmmm-?” Hyunseung made use of the chance to apply some antiseptic cream on the cut under Junhyung’s right eyes.

“We… kinda look right now.” Junhyung chuckled nervously at his latest discovery.

“What.” Hyunseung turned to face Junhyung and realized just how intimately close their bodies and faces were. A gush of warmth rushed to the older’s face as he drew back abruptly to crawl off Junhyung. He was instantly stopped by a pair of arm wrapped securely around his slender waist as Junhyung sat up. He stared down at bare chest and toned stomach and blushed into a deeper shade of pink.

I wanted to hug you

There was an awkward silent, amplifying racing heartbeats. Hyunseung felt warmth as Junhyung caressed the side of his face, making him looked into the younger’s burning orbs. Hyunseung was beyond confuse, because he couldn’t understand why his best friend (besides Yoseob), who was always annoyingly jovial and confident and shameless and irritating was now looking conflicted, lost and a little afraid. Junhyung sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head on Hyunseung’s shoulder as his hand fell onto the elder’s nape.

“Seung –ah, I think I’m hopelessly in love... what should I do?”

To embrace the courage that I’ve lost

The next day, the two friends met at a park near Hyunseung’s place before heading down to meet Doojoon and company at the mall.

“For you.” Junhyung sounded especially awkward as he shoved a parcel to his buddy without even making eye contact.

Hyunseung eyed his friend skeptically, “What? Time bomb?”

‘Yah,” Junhyung looked at his friend irritated. “Just take it with gratitude you weirdo. I don’t owe you anymore ok.”

Hyunseung took over the parcel carefully, still suspecting if it could be something (Junhyung had pranked him several times with lingerie and weird toys). But then he was surprised, very surprised, and elated, but still more surprised to find the limited edition Chris Brown’s album collection in the package.

“What the hell, did you rob the bank?!”

“The appropriate response is to say ‘thank you’ and maybe shed some tears of joy cause you should be touched but I know you wont cause you’re always abnormal, and I won’t mind if you don’t give me a hug.” Junhyung reminded half assed-ly.

But his words were obviously ignored when Hyunseung didn’t pause to ask the next question, “Where did you get the money from?” The older then scrutinized his friend from head to toe, “Seriously, your body can hardly sell…”

“Oh my god Jang Hyunseung, can’t you just accept and shut up?!” Junhyung couldn’t help but feel annoyed. But as he stared incredulously at his friend, he was dreading his internal fear of Hyunseung’s killer interrogative aura that was emitting at the speed of sonic boom. Atlas, the younger had to give in (but it wasn’t like he was trying to hide anyway).

“Fine. I worked part time.”

“When? Where?” Hyunseung continued his pursuit but it ended almost immediately by his sudden self deduction. “Wait… couldn’t be… the club?!”

Junhyung let out a shaky laughter, “Bravo Inspector Jang. It’s a pity that you’re not considering being a prosecutor as your future career. Now I’m freezing my off here, let’s go.” He stood up and walked off leaving behind his perplexed friend at the bench.

“Yah Yong Junhyung, how did you get the job? You’re still underage.” Junhyung continued to walk, ignoring.

“Yah! What were you working as?! Wait, have you quitted?! And why are you walking towards my house?!” Junhyung’s figure had become smaller and smaller.

“Yah yah!! Wait for me idiot!” Hyunseung chased after.

For the rest of that year, Hyunseung was spotted in pink beanie and contact lenses. And damned, nobody expected the nerd to look so hot, with the exception of Junhyung of course.

I’ve dreamt to conquer the world

The six of them, Junhyung, Hyunseung, Doojoon, Yoseob, Dongwoon and Kikwang were always hanging out together since who-knows-when. It began when Doojoon and Junhyung introduced Hyunseung and Yoseob to Dongwoon and Kikwang during lunch on a random afternoon. They were pretty famous in school (obviously since it was a peculiar clique formed by a pair of coming out gay couple, a charismatic soccer captain, a friendly golden retriever (not literally), a chic ex-delinquent and a valedictorian-to-be). The combination was just really weird from an outsider point of view. Truth was the tet did share many common interests, such as dancing and being gay (to which Junhyung had yet to admit).

“You’re sucha loser Yong Junhyung.” Doojoon said one day while changing out from his soccer jersey.

Junhyung snapped immediately, “What the ?”

“Just admit it.” Doojoon beckoned. “If not maybe you can try to explain why you’re even dating Goo Hara when you obviously –”

“The , shut up.”

Doojoon looked almost empathetically at his best friend, “You can’t deceive the whole world you know.”

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reference:

not too sure if you guys get what i mean by 'shooting handguns'. it pretty much means the M word xD *run to hide

anywhere, hope you've enjoyed! like i've mentioned, it'll be a 2 shots, so next chapt will be the finale~

comments are will be loved x)