Title: Honey Ramen (5/?)
Author: jaesunbb 
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): 2MIN, JongTae
Genre: angst, AU, school life, romance, drama
Warnings: language, homophobia, bullying, OOC
A/N: It's a bit short, but it's filled with juicy drama.

     Minho pulled out a cigarette and lit it up, sighing deeply. He sat with his back against the side of the school building, balancing a cellphone in one hand and the cigarette in the other. He walked to school pretty early for no reason. He was wearing only the school uniform short-sleeved shirt, and it was cold as outside. He didn't seem to care though. He was trying his best to shake off the image of Taemin's crying face. But the image kept appearing in Minho's head.

    He admittedly felt a little embarrassed about the little action he had did to Taemin, but it was too late to be regretting that now. 

    He takes a long drag from his cigarette. He didn't know what to do. It had only been four days since this started, and he was already so ed up from it. He should have known better and not even talked to the younger boy. 

    Minho stared at his phone for quite a while. He went to his contact book and searches for Taemin. Minho wonders if Taemin knows he has his number and if he has his. Without much thought, he presses the call button and waited. After about seven rings, he was directed to Taemin's voicemail. Minho scoffs and flips his phone shut, shoving it into his pocket.

    He jerked his head up at the sound of feet pounding against the concrete, seeing Junhyung jogging towards him with an angry expression across his face. He stops right in front of Minho, his teeth clenched.

    "You're a ing idiot," Junhyung stated bluntly. Minho just shrugged at him and fiddled with his cigarette. "I bet you're a one of those fags too huh?" 

    "What?" Minho snapped back as he glared at him angrily. He started to push himself up off the ground but found himself being forcefully pushed back down by Junhyung. Minho was getting even more annoyed, but he keeps his cool.

    "I better not see your face at our table." At that he leaves, and Minho raises his hand, merely flipping him off behind his back.
 

    Minho extends his hands and pushes the classroom door open. He pauses and glances around the classroom, he doesn't spot the younger boy or Key and sighs in relief. He's certain that Taemin has not arrived yet and he doesn't know exactly what happened to Key. He notices the board and reads the big, red words.

    PRESENTATIONS TODAY.

    . He just remembered about the project presentation. Luckily, he still had it in his backpack. His presentation plan was just to smile and greet the class while Taemin would do all the talking. 

    The second he was about to finally move, someone bumps into him. Minho was about to tell that person off until he turns around, his expression softens.

    Taemin.

    He says sorry with his eyes and slips past him.

    Minho eyed him as the other boy took a seat at their shared desk and felt something off about him. Taemin's tie wasn't tied correctly and the buttons of his shirt were misplaced. His coffee eyes are dull and his expression dark. The bruises on his face were still visible, but more concealed unlike the day before. Minho takes his seat beside Taemin but doesn't bother to talk to him.

    When it was time to do their presentation, Minho's plan didn't go as he expected. He was the one who ended up talking for the most part while Taemin just stared off into space. Their presentation earns them a B- and Minho doesn't mind. He didn't exactly care since his grades are currently pretty decent. Though Minho feels irritated at Taemin's behavior but decides to brush it off since the younger boy looked so distressed... not like he cared though.
 

    Minho doesn't return to his usual spot at the senior table at lunch and instead sits with his junior friends. He doesn't remember half of their names since he always sat at the senior table right from when he was a freshman, but he knew he was on good terms with them. 

    "Hey. Minho. I heard that you're dating that freshman kid... wait, what's his name?" Seohyun looks questionably at Seunghyun and he shrugs his shoulders.

    "Oh right. Taemin! Lee Taemin! Is it true?"

    Minho furrows his eyebrows together, his face scrunched up in disgust. 

    "No. Who the told you that?"

    "It's been going around since this morning. I heard it from Nana, then Nicole, then Mir, then Jinwoon--" Seohyun continued rambling on as something inside Minho's brain clicked. He knew exactly who started this bull. He darts his eyes towards the senior table, but was only greeted by a vacant space. Where did they go?

    Minho wandered outside the cafeteria, entering the courtyard. He hears snickering and he quickly hides behind a thick column, peeking out to see his ex-senior friends kicked back on the picnic table.

    "Minho and that , Taemin, huh? Oh my God, ahahaha, who knew?" Minho balled his fists tightly, ". Wonder if it's fun." 

    He hears Doojoon smack Kikwang upright on the back of his head, "Shut up, man."

    Their laughter booms in Minho's ears before he finally stomps angrily out into the open, throwing his backpack roughly on the ground near them.

    "! Who says I'm going out with that freak?!" Minho barks, he's breathing heavily as he throws himself at the person nearest to him. Minho's no match for five people, but he hits his hardest and tries his best to dodge the incoming blows. Junhyung lands a hard and swift punch to his stomach. It hurts but Minho stubbornly returns the punch. Now the group of seniors are throwing punches at him. A low grunt left his lips as he finally fell forward, chest heaving against the cement, curling with his arms encasing his head. 

    "The world needs to get rid of freaks like you!"

    They hovered over his body, stomping and kicking at his sides as hard they could. Minho bites his bottom lip hard, not wanting to scream out in pain. For what seemed like forever, they finally stop because of the bell.

    “Let's go,” he hears Doojoon say, and Minho lets out a strained breath as he felt an uncaring foot nudge him in his side. He hears footsteps retreating and Minho coughs, body trembling a little as he saw droplets of blood in his cough’s wake. He lays there for a couple of minutes, trying to regain his strength. He slowly picks his own weight up, dragging himself towards his backpack he had thrown in fury earlier. He picks it up and carefully flings it over his shoulder, wincing slightly in pain. He walked to the nearest entrance to the school, but takes a long pause. 

    He probably looks like . He's already late for class. His body ached everywhere and he couldn't feel his thigh.

    it. He was going home.
 

    Once again, his parents were out doing whatever. Minho was pretty used to this ever since the soccer incident, they thought it would be best to give Minho space. It had its benefits, but sometimes, Minho wishes he had someone to talk to.

    He drops his backpack near the couch and goes into the kitchen. He pours himself a glass of cold water and chugs it down. He looks disgusted as the taste was of blood. He places the glass in the sink before he headed towards the bathroom.

    Minho hunches over the bathroom sink, turning on the cold water as he splashed his face with it. He glances up at his reflection in the mirror, his face dripping with water.
    
        .

    He looked terrible. He looked like how Taemin was after the beating the day before. A split bottom lip, a black eye, a gash on his chin, and a couple of small bruises.

    They were even.

    Two freaks.

    Minho shakes his head. How could he consider himself as one of them? 

    He dries off his face with a towel before he reached for the small orange bottle beside him. He twists it open and places one white pill into the palm of his hand. He stares at it and angrily throws it in the trash. He took the whole prescription bottle and threw it away. He didn't care if the doctor told him to take it every day.

    This ing pills weren't even helping him anyway.

    He goes into his bedroom and changes into a plain shirt and sweats. He flops himself down onto the bed, laying there until his eyelids felt heavy.
 

    Minho hears the doorbell rings and he figures it's his mother with a handful of groceries, unable to unlock the door. He tosses himself out of bed and took slow steps towards the front door. He needed to come up with an excuse on why he looked like . He reaches the door with a fake smile across his face. 

     He opens it. 

     His expression grew dark. 

     Taemin was standing at his doorstep, a jacket folded over on his arm. Taemin looked up at the tall boy's bruised face with a stunned look.

    "W-what happened?"

    Minho growls and pulls him roughly inside his house, letting his jacket the boy was carrying fall onto the floor. He shuts the front door and Taemin is looking at him with a frighten expression. Unexpectedly, Taemin is punched across the face by Minho. 

    "Because of you, you freak! Why can't you get out of my life?!"

    Minho hits him again, "Don't pretend you know me!" Taemin winces in pain as he crashes down onto the carpet floor. Minho grabs him and hauls him up by the collar of his shirt, making him stand straight.

    "Get up fool." He readies his fist to hit the younger boy again, but he doesn't hit him.

    Minho pauses and stares as Taemin lifted his head to meet his gaze. His expression looked as if he was about to cry, his lips trembling. Before Minho knew it, tears were forming at the corner of his eyes. He tries to blink them away, but fails.

    Minho looked at him with widen eyes, his stomach were in knots, his heartbeat increasing. Swallowing the lump in his throat, his fist falls and grips onto Taemin's sleeve. He roughly pulls in Taemin and kisses him deeply, his eyes squeezed shut. Taemin doesn't stand there with a shock look across his face, even though he felt really surprised by the sudden action, he instead closes his eyelids just like in the movies. Minho tightens his grip on the younger boy's sleeve as they stood there, lips crushed together.

    Minho pulls away, loosening his grip on the shorter boy. This time he was the one who looked like he was about to cry, his eyes glistening as his dark brown eyes stare at Taemin. Minho lets out a low groan as the waterworks finally turn on. He covers his crying face in shame with the palms of his hands. He turns his body away from Taemin not wanting him to see his face.

    "... I-I'm sorry." Minho whispers, choking on his sobs, "I'm sorry for treating you like . I'm just confused. I don't know what the 's happening to me."

     Taemin's expression softens as he takes a step forward towards the taller boy. He wraps his arms around Minho's waist tightly. They stay like that until Minho finally calms down. Minho apologizes once again and tells Taemin to go home.

    Taemin obeys him and leaves with his insides fluttering.