The class applauded after Yoseob, Doojoon, and Junhyung finished their presentation on school rules.

            “Thank you! Give me the poster and you may take your seats.” Yoseob, holding the poster, was too lazy to walk over to the desk. He rolled up the poster while the two hyungs were taking their seats and threw it in the direction of Mr. Kim’s desk. In midair, the wide sheet of paper unrolled and fell to the floor. The class stared at him as he picked up the poster and put it on the teacher’s desk. Mr. Kim shook his head. “Thank you, Mr. Yoseob.” He turned to face the class and announced. “Your assignments are in the office! I shall be right back.” And with that, he was out the door. Yoseob returned to his seat next to Doojoon.

            “Doojoon-hyung, I’m so bored!” The hyung ruffled the boy’s hair.

            “I am too. THUMB WAR?” Doojoon sat up and put forth his fist, thumb up. Yoseob shot up and immediately hooked with Doojoon’s hand, engaging into thumb war.

            “I will win, hyung!” The boy’s thumb wrestled for victory.

            “Haha, why are you so sure?” The hyung was obviously losing against Yoseob’s aggressiveness. He glanced off and pretended to freak out when he felt the boy’s thumb take over his. “AIGOO, WHAT IS THAT?! SPIDER! SPIDER!” Catching Yoseob by surprise, the boy let go of Doojoon’s thumb, trying to pull away from the hyung’s grip as he jumped up and down frantically.

            “SPIDER?! WHERE? DOOJOON, LET GO, I’M AFRAID OF SPIDERS.” Doojoon cracked up laughing and pressed down on Yoseob’s thumb.

            “I’m kidding, Yoseob. Stop being so silly, I win!” Yoseob stared at his overpowered thumb and gave his hyung a glare.

            “You cheater! I’m not playing with you anymore.” Doojoon continued laughing, making Yoseob pout and leave to Junhyung. “Junhyung, I’m bored. Doojoon-hyung’s a meanie.” Junhyung shook his and chuckled.

            “Yoseob, you are such a kid. What do you want to do?” The boy thought for a moment, staring at the ceiling. Doojoon sat and watched.

            “I know! Actually, no, I don’t.” Yoseob pouted and went back to his seat. He made a handgun and started shooting Junhyung. Junhyung stared at him and began to shoot back with his own handgun. Doojoon sat in the middle, serving as the protective barrier. Regretting cheating at thumb war, Doojoon wanted to stop the play between the two. He suddenly yelled out.

            “Look! Mr. Kim is back!” The shooting disappeared and the two turned their attention to the front, seeing no one there. Yoseob started to nag at his hyung.

            “Doojooooon, there’s no one there. Why do you have to be such a meanie? First, you cheat at thumb war, and now you’re stopping our game!” Doojoon chuckled and shook his head. On the other side, Junhyung resumed to shoot Yoseob, who looked back at him with a lost expression.

            “Hah, I won Yoseob.” Junhyung smiled and took out his notebook. He began to draw little doodles on a blank page he turned to. Yoseob frowned at Doojoon.

            “Hyung, are you on Junhyung’s side? You wanted him to win, didn’t you?” Doojoon put his arm around Yoseob’s shoulder and patted his other shoulder.

            “Yoseob, you complain too much. Haha, but it’s cute. Still, you complain too much.” He laughed a bit, not noticing that the blonde’s face was turning a soft shade of red.

            “Mmm, I’m sorry, hyung. C-Can you let go of me now, Mr. Kim is back.” Doojoon released the boy. Yoseob went back to his seat as the teacher came back through the doorway. He put his arm around my shoulder! And called me cute! Ahh, I feel so giddy, aigoo! Doojoon glanced over at the boy, who seemed to be bouncing in his seat.

            “You okay over there?”

            “Ahh! N-Neh, I’m fine!” Yoseob gave a reassuring smile and turned his eyes over to Mr. Kim, who was passing out the papers. After pass them all out, the teacher went back to his desk.

            Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring!

            Mr. Kim picked up the phone. Distracted, Yoseob listened to the conversation.

            “You need me in the office right now? What is it for? New-.” Yoseob felt a nudge. He turned over to see Doojoon staring at him.

            “Eavesdropping again? Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” Yoseob smiled and rolled his eyes.

            “Mianhe, hyung, but I can’t help it!” Doojoon stared at him a bit longer and returned to fill in random answers for his assignment. The blonde turned his attention back to the teacher, missing a part of the conversation.

            “Alright, bye. I’ll be up in no time.” Mr. Kim hung up the phone and started for the door again. “I won’t take very long now, just work on the assignment for the rest of the period!” and he was out the door. Yoseob groaned and pushed his paper aside. He looked over at Doojoon, who already filled out every blank. Doojoon smiled and shook his head.

            “Bored again?” Yoseob puffed up his cheeks and looked off in a direction.

            “Neh, there’s nothing to do! This class is ending soon, though. Then we can all go home!”

            “Yeah, so did you hear what Mr. Kim was talking about?”

            “No, I missed everything…”

            “Haha, mianhe.”

            “It’s fine, probably nothing interesting. Just a bunch of teacher talk.” Yoseob looked over at Junhyung. The hyung was asleep, his arms covering his face. “He seems to be enjoying himself…” Doojoon looked behind him but left his dongsaeng alone. “You know, when Junhyung was tickling me yesterday, he was really heavy.” Doojoon nodded and laughed.

            “Did you have fun with him?”

            “Yeah, it was pretty fun,” The hyung slightly drooped at Yoseob’s reply, until he heard the second half of the answer. “but you should’ve been there to rescue me!” Yoseob tried not to blush but his face quickly became pink.

            “W-Why? I would’ve ruined the fun.” Doojoon’s heartbeat slowly accelerated. Yoseob, if there’s anything you want to say, just say it.

            “Well…” Hyung, I really like you. I wanted you to save me and carry me away from Junhyung. Gosh, I sound like such a girl. “If you did, then maybe Junhyung could’ve started an intense battle with you to get me back! I’d probably be cheering in the background, though.” Yoseob laughed and scratched the back of his head. Such a stupid reason! Doojoon nodded his head slowly. He spirit dropped, but he shrugged it off and replied.

            “Oh. Well, I tried to get to you, but he got off as soon as he saw me. I guess he was just afraid he’d get in trouble with me.”

            “Maybe.” Yoseob looked over at Junhyung. The sleepyhead was waking up, stretching and yawning. “Annyeong, Junhyung!” Junhyung turned his head over to look but was too tired to reply.

            “This class is still not over? I’m so sleepy.” He slowly dropped his head onto the desk. Doojoon gave him a pat on the shoulder.

            “Don’t worry, it’s almost over. You can sleep all you want at home.” Junhyung gave a smile with his eyes closed. The rest of the class looked up from their work as they heard footsteps in the hallway. The door opened and in walked the teacher.

            “I’m sorry I took so long!” He motioned someone to enter the class. The figure took a few steps in, looking around curiously. It was a guy, his hair was down past his eyes. He had a tall, muscular body. Yoseob and Doojoon examined him, who was now looking at all the students. “Please, introduce yourself!” The new student nodded. He began to speak.

            “Annyeong, my name…” The voice ran chills down Junhyung’s spine. The sleepyhead lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes as the student spoke. “…is Hyunseung.” Immediately, Junhyung was awake and staring at the figure in the front of the room with wide eyes. Hyunseung said a few things and his eyes finally met Junhyung’s. Frozen, a smile formed on his face. After a moment of silence, he turned away and asked Mr. Kim for his seat. The teacher pointed to the empty seat beside Yoseob. Hyunseung nodded and walked over to the empty desk. Yoseob turned over to him and stuck out his hand.

            “Annyeong! I’m Yoseob! It’s nice to meet you!” The new student gripped Yoseob’s hand and shook.

            “It’s nice to meet you too!” He looked over to Doojoon, who also had wide eyes. Doojoon quickly smiled and gave a small bow.

            “Annyeong, Hyunseung.”

            “Annyeong, Doojoon-hyung.” Yoseob looked at both of them, confused.

            “You two know each other?” Doojoon nodded in response, and Hyunseung began to speak.

            “We went to elementary and middle school with each other. You see, I also know Junhyung, over there.” He waved over to Junhyung. The boy waved back and Yoseob nodded.

            “Ohhh, well that should be a good thing! Now Junhyung has another person he knows to hang out with!” On the other side, Junhyung was thinking to himself. He mumbled to himself.

            “H-Hyunseung? Is that…really?” It’s really him…

~

            Junhyung, Doojoon, and Hyunseung were close friends. They went everywhere each other went. They talked, played on the playgrounds, and ate lunch together, just like any other group of elementary students. After the day Junhyung’s father was killed, Junhyung came to school crying his eyes out. Doojoon ran into him first, and tried to cheer up his weeping friend.

            “Jun? What’s wrong? Why are you crying? I don’t like it when you cry! Smile for me!” Doojoon ran off and came back after a short while. “Look, I picked a few flowers for you! Please smile for me, what’s wrong?” Junhyung kept crying for another while as Hyunseung came over.

            “Juny! Why are you crying? Doojoon, what’s wrong with him?” Doojoon shrugged. Junhyung wiped away his tears, but they kept coming. The two hyungs group hugged him in attempt to cheer him up. Slowly, his tears went away, but he was constantly sniffling.

            “Nothing…I don’t want you guys to know.” The sniffling boy wiped his tearstained face with his sleeve.

            “Why not? Is it bad?” Hyunseung asked and pulled on his friend’s sleeve. Doojoon slapped his arm.

            “Hyun, of course it’s bad! Why else would he be crying?”

            “Oh, you’re right! I’m sorry, Juny! Mianhe!” He bowed a few times as he apologized.

            “It’s okay, but I don’t want to tell you.” Junhyung rubbed his eyes again, and began to walk off to class. The two older boys followed him, acting as bodyguards.

            Day after day, Junhyung became less and less sorrowful. But he began to become more and more of a bully. He picked on kids that were smaller than him. He called them names, took their lunches, sometimes even hit them if he felt like it. But he never bullied Hyunseung or Doojoon. This continued onto middle school. He never stopped his evil deeds and it eventually began to bother Hyunseung. Doojoon stuck with Junhyung no matter what, becoming a bully himself. Students began to hate on Junhyung and his hyung, Doojoon, so instead of giving them threats, he directly carried out actions. He talked less and less and became more vicious. Having enough of it, Hyunseung walked up to him one day and defended a helpless boy.

            “Juny, why are you like this? What have these people ever done to you?”

            “Hyunseung, don’t call me that. And I don’t really care if they haven’t done anything to me. I don’t know if they’ll ever decide to do something, so I’ll be the first to do the damage.”

            “Junhyung, they’ve done nothing wrong! There’s no need to deal any damage, you’re the one causing them to take second thoughts. I’m sure, they’ll all get you back one day. So please, just stop this nonsense, before you get yourself into trouble.”

            “You’re standing in the way of my lunch, can you please move aside?”

            “YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME! I KNOW IT’S PRETTY LATE NOW, BUT JUST STOP BULLYING EVERYONE. WHY CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND THEY’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG TO YOU?”

            “I said, I’ll be the one to deal the damage, before any of them do any to me, whoever they may be.”

            “YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT! DO YOU REALLY THINK, ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WILL EVER-“

            “My dad…He never did anything wrong…Yet he had to take a bullet in the head…”

            “W-What?” Hyunseung was shocked at Junhyung’s sudden change of tone.

            “N-Nothing. I’m just protecting myself from anything that could possibly come.”

            “But…haven’t you realized? You’re the bullet to the people you’re bullying.” Junhyung looked over the shaking boy who Hyunseung was defending. He sighed in frustration and shook his head.

            “You know what kid, you can keep your lunch. Consider yourself lucky.” He stormed off, trying to hold back his emotions. Hyunseung ran after him.

            “Junhyung!” Ignoring his friend’s calls, Junhyung continued to walk off. “Junhyung! Come back! Please!” Annoyed and angered, he turned around abruptly, causing Hyunseung to bump into him.

            “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”

            “I-I’m sorry, but, really. I’m only trying to help you. Can’t you understand that?”

            “Hyunseung, you are such a pain, you know that? I don’t need your help.” At a loss for words, Hyunseung felt a sharp stab in his heart. “Get out of my face, please. You already made me lose my lunch today.” Junhyung turned away, only to be stopped again by his hyung.

            “I’m sorry. I hope you’ll understand one day. If you need me, I’ll be here. Goodbye, Juny. I just wanted to say, I love-“

            “NEED YOU?! When will you understand that I don’t need any help from you? Just get out of my face!” Junhyung jerked his arm from Hyunseung’s grip and shoved him to the floor. The hyung’s head struck the side of a nearby railing. Not realizing his friend was in pain, Junhyung began to leave. “Don’t stand in my way,” was the last thing he said and he was gone. Gripping his head in pain, Hyunseung out as he heard a voice call for him.

            “HYUNSEUNG? HYUNSE-…! HY-…?” Doojoon shook him around and picked him up, taking him to the nurses. Due to his head injury, he was sent to the hospital .As the days passed, Junhyung gradually developed feelings for his absent friend, but he decided to keep it a secret for now. After spending a few months in the hospital, Hyunseung returned to school, his head still bandaged. Seeing his old friend, Junhyung, he ran over to greet him.

            “Junhyung! Annyeong!” Instead of greeting his injured friend, Junhyung left him standing there. Hyunseung sighed and thought to himself. Junhyung, why are you so stubborn?

            Junhyung continued walking and didn’t turn around. He felt the overwhelming guilt in him and stayed away from his injured friend after seeing his bandaged head. I’m sorry, Hyunseung, I really am. I’m too afraid to change who I am now. Please, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want to hurt you anymore.

            After the school year ended, Junhyung still hasn’t said a word to Hyunseung. Junhyung found his hyung, Doojoon walking home and started a conversation.

            “Annyeong, hyung.”

            “Annyeong. What’s up?”

            “Nothing…I haven’t said a word to Hyunseung after his head injury. I feel so guilty…but I’m afraid I’ll hurt him again.”

            “Well, there’s no need to worry anymore. Hyunseung’s leaving to a different school. He won’t be here next year.”

            “He’s…leaving…?” Junhyung suddenly stopped in his tracks. Doojoon turned around and nodded.

            “Neh, why?”

            “I…haven’t apologized to him yet…And…I haven’t confessed…my love to him…” Doojoon’s eyes widened. “Hyung, I feel so guilty…” Junhyung began to tear up. Doojoon quickly ran over and put his arm around Junhyung’s shoulder to comfort him.

            “It’s alright! You’ll see him again, no worries.”

            “Do you think so?”

            “I’m sure. Come on, let’s get you home.” Doojoon squeezed his dongsaeng’s shoulder tight and walked him all the way home. After the day, he watched over Junhyung more closely, caring for him whenever there was something wrong. Soon, Doojoon had taken over Hyunseung’s spot in Junhyung’s heart. 

----

I don't really like how I ended this chapter ToT. Thank you for reading/suscribing/commenting!