Jiyong woke up the next morning with a hoarse yawn, eyes barely open as he glanced around the sunlit room. It took him a moment to grasp that he was completely entangled with Seunghyun, the other man pressed against his back and holding him tightly. Their legs were linked together, hands as well, and Jiyong nuzzled back into him.

It wasn’t like he was completely unaccustomed to waking up next to the other man, but it still felt like the air was charged from the night before and Jiyong smiled to himself, biting his lip as he let himself remember the everything that had happened.

Right, that happened.

Grinning happily, Jiyong flipped over, looking at Seunghyun for a long while and just taking it in. His lips were slightly parted and he was breathing softly through them, hair still mussed from sleep. Every once in a while he’d bite his lip or twitch slightly, completely unaware of the world around him until Jiyong ran his hand through Seunghyun’s hair.

“Hmm?” he managed to grunt out, opening one eye to look at Jiyong with a raised brow. His expression immediately slipped into a tired, relaxed smile, pulling Jiyong close to give him a soft squeeze. “Good morning,” he added, chuckling under his breath.

It was a great way to start the day, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. In a way, everything felt lighter. Every time Jiyong looked at Seunghyun something just made him smile. Even while he was brushing his teeth, fixing his hair, or getting dressed, Jiyong couldn’t help himself. Seunghyun seemed to feel the same way, all smiles as he got ready for class.

All of the good feelings seemed to stop the moment they set foot in the hallway before class.

It seemed like every eye was on them, and Jiyong shot an anxious glance at Seunghyun, who did the same. By the time they made it to their lockers Jiyong’s shoulders fell, head dropping forward with a loud sigh.

‘’ was spray-painted on his locker door, dark and imposing and full of hate. Seunghyun looked down at him, brows knit in frustration. He could practically see the will to fight back drain from him, and Seunghyun reached over to grab Jiyong’s hand and give it a helpful squeeze. He saw a smile flash onto Jiyong’s lips for a moment but then it fell as Jiyong opened his locker and got his books out.

“Let’s clean it off. Our teacher will understand,” Seunghyun offered, and Jiyong just shook his head.

“Why? It’ll just be back tomorrow,” he mumbled, then looked up to Seunghyun with a weak smile. “But thanks,” he added, slamming the door and immediately turning away to head to their first class.

When Jiyong and Seunghyun parted ways for one of the few classes they didn’t share, Jiyong could practically feel the weight of everyone looking at him. It was like the perfect night from the night before was slowly being erased by the most awful day he’d ever had to live through.

It was awful, and at times he just sank into his chair and tried to imagine himself anywhere else. He had never felt so alone around so many people in his life.

When he finally met back up with Seunghyun, he was greeted with a frown.

“It was on my locker, too,” he mumbled, shaking his head. Jiyong gave Seunghyun a soft smile, resting his hand on the other man’s neck and massaging it lightly with the tips of his fingers.

“Let’s just… Go back to the dorm,” Seunghyun said, taking Jiyong’s hand without hesitation despite the few people left in the halls giving them odd looks. He did his best to ignore them, though, instead just keeping his fingers laced with Jiyong’s until they got back into their room.

“Ji, I’m sorry for all of this,” Seunghyun said immediately once he closed the door, but Jiyong just shook his head, looking down.

“Seunghyun, it’s not your fault. It’s not like you wrote that ,” Jiyong replied, flopping down onto the couch. “I just… I almost just don’t want to go back tomorrow,” he admitted, pulling his knees up and hugging them close to his chest. Seunghyun sat beside him, arm wrapped around Jiyong’s shoulder as he pressed a kiss to the top of the other’s head.

“We have to,” he replied after a long silence, the sigh that slipped from Jiyong’s lips making him frown. He gave Jiyong’s shoulders a little shake, nuzzling up to him slightly and pulling a smile from him. “You can do this. Besides, it’s not like I’m not going to be there, too. The school year is almost over, you can get through it.”

For the first time since they met, Jiyong looked at Seunghyun with tears in his eyes. Yes, he was smiling, but there was a hesitant sadness there as well, and Seunghyun felt like his heart fell out of his chest.

This had to stop. He couldn’t handle seeing Jiyong like this. He couldn’t handle the tears, the frowning, the sadness – everything needed to go back to how it was that morning. If something else happened, he wasn’t sure how he was going to react to it.

For tonight, though, he would just hold Jiyong close and hope nothing got worse.

The next day Seunghyun refused to leave Jiyong’s side. They only separated when they needed to for class, but Seunghyun would be waiting for Jiyong outside the door when his classes had ended.

“How did you even manage that?” Jiyong asked, washing his hands as he glanced back at Seunghyun in the mirror. Seunghyun was leaning against the bathroom stall and he just shrugged.

“I had a chat with my teacher,” he admitted, noticing the thankful smile that Jiyong flashed him in the reflection.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Jiyong replied, finally drying his hands as he turned and walked over to Seunghyun. He gave him a soft kiss, Seunghyun returning it easily and with as much of a smile as he could muster. They’d pulled away by the time they heard a familiar set of voices as the door opened, though they didn’t look over until they had to.

“Well that’s a great thing to walk in to,” one said, and Seunghyun looked over with furrowed brows. He was greeted with sneers, taking a step forward and between Jiyong and the group in front of him.

“You lay a hand on him, and I won’t stop myself fr-”

“You think we won’t school you, too?” the leader interrupted, cocking his head at Seunghyun. “You think you’re safe because you’re taller or more tough or something? You’re not, you’re just as wrong and immoral and disgusting as he is.”

“Did Hyosonn put you all up to this? Is this all because of that? Because she’s taken it way too far. Do you have any idea how wrong what you’re doing is?” Seunghyun asked, taking a few steps forward so he was within range of touching the leader of this so-called group. The boy chuckled.

“How wrong what I’m doing is? Oh, I think you’ve got it backwards,” he started, but when Seunghyun heard him mutter ‘’ under his breath at the group he couldn’t help himself. Without warning, he just punched him, as hard as he could, in the stomach. He watched as the boy keeled over, coughing.

Then the entire room became a flurry of movement. A few people ran out, but the ones that remained took as many shots as they could at Seunghyun and Jiyong, who fought back as best they could. Jiyong couldn’t even keep up with what was going on – all he knew was that if he got punched or kicked, he did the same back to whoever tried to hurt him.

It was an all out brawl.

The only thing that stopped it was the door opening suddenly, one of the teachers bursting in followed by the students that had run out.

“He punched our friend, and he helped,” he said, pointing at Seunghyun and Jiyong. The teacher looked back and forth between all of them, eyes narrowed, then shook his head.

“All of you, follow me to the principal,” he finally ordered, leading them all in single file down the hall.

If they had thought that morning was bad, the stares that they were getting now were ten times worse.

By the time the group got to the principal’s office and took their seats, Jiyong and Seunghyun could feel the bruises, the swelling, and the pure soreness that was going to take them over. The principal called in the group of boys first, leaving Seunghyun and Jiyong in silence as they waited. And they remained in silence, the only movement being Seunghyun grabbing Jiyong’s hand and entwining their fingers as he squeezed reassuringly.

Judging by the almost smug looks on their faces when they left the office, the boys had gotten off easy. Jiyong could feel Seunghyun’s hand clench around his, though this time it was purely to control himself. When called, they both stood, Seunghyun keeping Jiyong’s hand in his own until they sat. Their principal paid it a passing glance before shaking his head, looking from Seunghyun to Jiyong and then down at his desk.

“I was told you punched Kangdae in the stomach without reason,” he started, and Seunghyun felt his jaw drop.

“Without reason? There’s plenty of reason,” Seunghyun interjected, though their principal held up his hand to quiet him. Seunghyun nodded, sinking slightly into his seat.

“The boys have been suspended, but since you seem to have insight on the matter that they didn’t, please go ahead.”

Seunghyun swallowed deeply. There were things he could say, and things that were better left unsaid. He had a sinking feeling that, if he mentioned the real reason behind all of this, he might just get brushed aside, so instead he went a different route.

“They’ve been bullying us both for a while. They call us names, ruin our stuff, and they beat Jiyong up a few days ago. I didn’t start this, they did. It’s unfair treatment, and it’s physical and emotional bullying.” Their principal nodded, seeming to accept the answer as he mulled over a paper on his desk.

“Well, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know who’s lying and who isn’t,” he said, looking at the two of them from over his paper. “So unfortunately I have to suspend you two as well.”

Jiyong stared at him in something akin to shock, Seunghyun obviously angry at the situation as he fell back against his chair. His principal was right, but neither wanted to admit it. He could show him their lockers, but that wouldn’t help as much as he hoped it would. Them being called names wasn’t on top of the list of concerns, and judging by how their principal had looked at them when they’d walked in holding hands, he’d care even less knowing what they’d been called. Instead Seunghyun just sighed, nodding with furrowed brows.

“Jiyong, Seunghyun, you’ll be suspended for two weeks, starting tomorrow. Be safe,” he added, offering them both a soft smile. For some reason it calmed them down, and both nodded as they slipped out of the room.

They walked back in silence, barely even looking at each other. The only thing that even happened between the two was Jiyong hooking their pinkies together as they walked, not caring where they were.

When the two finally made it to their dorm Seunghyun nearly slammed the door behind them, dropping his head forward as he ran his hand through his hair anxiously. Biting his lip, he looked back at Jiyong, frown apparent in his features.

“Are you okay?” he asked, taking a step forward and turning Jiyong’s head so he could look him over for any bruises and scrapes. Nodding, Jiyong reached up, taking Seunghyun’s hands and pulling them down.

“I’m fine,” he replied, a weak smile on his lips. “I mean, I’m not fine, but I’ll be fine,” he added, laughing awkwardly. Seunghyun smiled, nodding in understanding. Sighing, Jiyong walked toward the couch, poking absently at a bruise forming on his chest. “At least we have two weeks to recover,” he said, flashing a hopeful but weak smile to Seunghyun, who just rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch beside Jiyong, legs crossed.

“That’s true,” he said in a sigh, shaking his head at the other man. There was a moment of silence, Seunghyun looking over to Jiyong and letting his gaze trace the other’s features. Now that they were alone, Seunghyun saw a hint of the smile that he loved creep back onto his lips. All of Jiyong’s nervous habits came back – either he was playing with his fingers or his shirt, or making sure that he wasn’t looking at Seunghyun when he bit his lip, but everything he did made Seunghyun smile.

And anyone that tried to stop that needed to be talked to.

“Ji, I…” he started, not realizing that he’d leaned closer. When Jiyong turned to look at him they were close, lips barely separated as Seunghyun took in a quick breath. “I don’t want you to get hurt anymore,” he mumbled, gaze immediately dropping to Jiyong’s lips. Jiyong kept his eyes on Seunghyun’s eyes, though he bit his lip as Seunghyun leaned even closer. Their lips still didn’t touch, but Jiyong felt Seunghyun’s breath on his lips and he couldn’t stop his eyes from closing as he swallowed deeply.

Jiyong didn’t even get one word out of his mouth before Seunghyun cocked his head, hand slipping up to cup Jiyong’s cheek as his tongue swiped Jiyong’s lower lip. Seunghyun knew everything that made him tick, his fingers toying absently with Jiyong’s ear. The breathy moan that he let out let Seunghyun slide his tongue between Jiyong’s lips, working against Jiyong’s for a moment. When Jiyong turned to face him fully and his leg draped over Seunghyun’s though, Seunghyun pulled away, looking to Jiyong with furrowed brows and flushed cheeks.

“I love you so much,” he mumbled against Jiyong’s lips, the other man smiling as he nodded in agreement.

“I do too,” he replied, then playfully reached up to muss Seunghyun’s hair. Seunghyun immediately recoiled, lips pursed as he moved to absently fix the mess that Jiyong had caused. Jiyong just laughed, resting his forehead against Seunghyun’s for a second.

“You make me happy,” he mumbled, smiling mostly to himself as he took Seunghyun’s hand in both of his. Thumb running along the back of Seunghyun’s hand, Jiyong kept his gaze down for a moment before glancing up to catch Seunghyun smiling at him. “What?” he asked, almost blushing.

“You’re being cute,” Seunghyun replied with a soft chuckle. Jiyong just puffed out his cheeks, eyes narrowed at Seunghyun as he quirked his brow. Playfully smacking the other man in the shoulder, Jiyong stood, shaking his head. He was about to leave the room when Seunghyun continued. “Hey… Ji, can I ask you something?” he said, cocking his head. Leaning against the hallway wall Jiyong turned back around, arms crossed over his chest.

“Sure. What’s up?” he asked, watching Seunghyun’s expression shift to a more serious one.

“Do you want to talk to Hyosonn about all of this?” he asked, watching as Jiyong fidgeted in his spot. “Because I’m still really angry,” he added, letting out a deep breath. Thinking for a moment, Jiyong sighed and looked down.

“No. The last time I tried talking to her, we both know what happened,” he mumbled, frowning as he leaned more against the wall. Seunghyun nodded in understanding, though he was obviously not pleased with the idea that this could go on. There was a slight tenseness in the air before Jiyong exhaled sharply, walking over to the couch and taking Seunghyun’s hands. He pulled him up so that he was standing, smiling as he dragged him into his bedroom. “Come on, let’s just try and make the best out of today,” he added, hopeful smile on his face as he closed the door.

Thankfully, Jiyong’s smile was contagious, and the night returned to near normalcy after their conversation. Jiyong had an innate ability to relax Seunghyun, just like Seunghyun could do the same with Jiyong.

Since they were suspended, Seunghyun and Jiyong slept in. By the time Seunghyun opened his eyes, light was streaming in through the window. He shielded his eyes, glancing over at Jiyong, who was still fast asleep. Jiyong had settled his head on Seunghyun’s arm, the fingers of one of his hands linked in Seunghyun’s loosely. The smile that crept into Seunghyun’s features was one he didn’t even bother to hide, and he let his free hand trace along Jiyong’s side slightly, trying not to wake him.

Even though his arm had long since gone numb, Seunghyun found he didn’t mind. He spent a few minutes simply taking in the moment before he quietly slipped out of the bed, Jiyong curling into the blankets instead.

After stretching, Seunghyun walked to the hall that connected their rooms, closing the door as quietly as he could behind him. He had just started to brush his teeth when something hitting glass snapped him out of his daze of thought. Head immediately turning, he made his way over, glancing down at the lawn below.

Because they were only on the second floor, he got a great view of the rock that was pelted at their window. It shattered loudly as Seunghyun nearly fell backward to avoid it. A moment later and he was on his feet again, trying not to step on the glass as he leaned out what was now essentially a hole in the wall.

“What the are you doing?” he screamed, not trying to hide his anger at all. The boys looked up at him, sneering in silence. Seunghyun immediately recognized Kangdae, and they made direct eye contact for a few of the longest moments Seunghyun had ever had to go through. Then they turned, all running in the opposite direction as Seunghyun slammed open the door to his room.

“Seunghyun, what’s going on?” Jiyong asked, still groggy. He rubbed his eyes as Seunghyun hurriedly got dressed, but when he didn’t get an answer he continued. “Seunghyun, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“Don’t worry about it, Ji. I’ll be back in a bit,” he mumbled, offering Jiyong a soft smile. He leaned down, pressing an easy kiss to the other man’s lips and ruffling his hair before storming out of the room.

He nearly ran toward the dorms on the other side of the campus. Because they’d slept in so late classes were close to getting out, and when Seunghyun caught a familiar face heading toward her dorm he stormed up, lips turned down in an angry frown.

“Hyosonn, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled. For a moment she tried to ignore him, but when he grabbed her arm she yanked it away, looking back at him with her eyes narrowed.

“Let go of me. I don’t want to talk to you,” she said, but the look on Seunghyun’s face made her pause.

“Well, we’re going to talk. Right now. Go to your dorm, we’re going to chat,” he ordered. Hyosonn didn’t even have a comeback; she just nodded, Seunghyun following after her all the way to her room. Luckily her roommate wasn’t there, and when Seunghyun slammed her door she looked at him with wide eyes, sitting down on the couch. “Do you have any idea what you started?” he asked, Hyosonn just shaking her head.

“No, I… Did something ha-”

“Yes, something happened. A lot of things happened, Hyosonn. And they’re all your fault.” Seunghyun stared down at her, waiting for her to speak. When she didn’t he just exhaled sharply, shaking his head at himself. “I don’t know what you were thinking when you told Kangdae and his group about us, but you have no clue what you caused. Have you been living under a rock for the past week?” he asked.

“No, I just… Whenever I heard either of your names, I… I ignored the rest of the conversation,” she admitted softly. Seunghyun just stared at her in awe, not sure what he was supposed to say to that.

“They smashed our window this morning,” he said, staring at her. “They called us names. They spray painted our lockers, they’ve been messing with our schoolwork, they lied to the principal, and they beat us up, Hyosonn. Jiyong is lying in bed, bruised and cut up because your dumb thought it would be a great idea to tell the school about us.” Hyosonn’s eyes had gone wide and Seunghyun’s angry tone diminished slightly. Now his voice was softer, almost shaky. “Do you know how hard it is to watch someone you care about give up? Do you understand how hard we’ve had it? I’ve never been called a before this, Hyosonn.” She flinched at the word, looking down. “You seemed so nice, and we had good times. Yeah, we made a mistake. That’s an understatement. What we did to you was really ed up. But this,” he said, looking around, “this has destroyed any chance we had for a normal school year. A normal school life. I…” Seunghyun’s voice trailed off for a moment as he bit his lip, brows knit together in worry. “Ji doesn’t even know I’m over here,” he added finally, Hyosonn finally looking up. “He told me not to, actually. After all that you put us through, he told me not to talk to you.” Laughing at the situation, Seunghyun took in a deep but shaky breath.

“I… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Hyosonn mumbled softly, almost apologetically, tears in her eyes. “I only told one person, and I thought she wouldn’t tell, but I guess she did and I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I was just angry that night. I was just making threats. I wasn’t going to actually do anything else about it.” Seunghyun watched as she let her head fall forward, resting in her hands. She was crying, and Seunghyun honestly had no idea how to react. So he just stood there, waiting until she finally lifted her head back up to look at him.

“I’m sorry really isn’t going to fix this, Hyosonn,” he murmured, not even looking at her as he spoke. “You killed our chances for a good year. People talk behind our backs now. It’s awful. Jiyong tries to ignore it, but it doesn’t work. But… You did one good thing, I guess.” He rolled his eyes, Hyosonn sniffing as she wiped some of the tears off of her cheeks. “Ji and I bonded over all this . Considering we really have no one else that’s on our side, we had no choice. Regardless…” There was silence as Seunghyun sat down on the couch. He only looked forward and down at the floor as he took in a deep breath. “I told him I loved him,” he mumbled in something of a sigh. Hyosonn smiled weakly.

“I’m glad,” she replied, not looking at Seunghyun either. “You two really are good for each other,” she added.

“You’re the only one that thinks so,” he immediately stated with a sharp laugh, leaning forward as he massaged his temples. “I just… Can’t stand seeing Ji like this anymore. I don’t want him to be depressed. I don’t want him to give up. I don’t want to lose him. And I especially don’t want to see him hurt again,” Seunghyun finished, closing his eyes. Hyosonn remained silent, brows furrowed even as Seunghyun stood. “I just wanted to come over here to tell you all of that. I’m going back to my dorm, to clean up the broken glass if Ji hasn’t gotten to it already,” he said, not even saying goodbye as he headed to the door. He had already grabbed the doorknob before he turned back to Hyosonn, stern look on his face. “Don’t think that this means I forgive you. Just because we talked doesn’t mean that what you did is okay,” he added. When he slammed the door he stayed there for a moment, listening as Hyosonn broke down in tears again. He didn’t have time for her at the moment, though. All Seunghyun wanted to do was to spend the rest of the day away from everyone except Jiyong.

As he stepped outside Seunghyun took a deep breath, though his walk back to the dorms was brisk. Today already wasn’t going well – maybe a nice hot shower and a dinner in would make them both feel a little better.

What Seunghyun wasn’t expecting was someone grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around, a sharp punch connecting with his stomach as he coughed and keeled over slightly. He looked up to the sneering face of Kangdae as he was surrounded by a few more people.

“Out for a walk, ?” he asked, and Seunghyun bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from snapping back at him.

“What are you doing?” Seunghyun questioned instead, forcing himself to stand. “You’re already suspended, just leave us alone,” he added. Seunghyun knew that this was a bad situation. He knew that look. He knew exactly what it meant. Still, he was suspended, and so were they; he didn’t want to get into any more trouble than he already was. When Kangdae leaned over to his ear, though, Seunghyun froze.