Daehyun woke up to his mothers high heels hitting the ground upstairs. He finds it annoying how he had to live in the basement because his younger brother needed to have his bed room beside his parents room. Taemin was still only six. He constantly had nightmares that were so bad that his mother and father had to console him until he fell back to sleep. With a loud groan, he rolls out of bed and lazily makes his way to the bathroom that he has for himself. It was still an hour before he usually woke up, but he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. As he looks at himself in the mirror, he brushes his teeth. He stares back at himself, feeling drained from lack of sleep. His eyes are red, his face is swollen, and his hair is a rats nest. 

 

The night before he didn't fall into sleep until two. It now being six, he regretted not getting enough slumber. But it wasn't entirely his fault- he just couldn't get him out of his mind- but that wasn't unusual. Daehyun shuts off the tap and throws his tooth brush into its holder. His slippers rub against the ground as he drags himself over to his closet. His uniform is washed, dry cleaned and ironed and waiting for him- thanks to his mother.
 

As he was about to finish tying he tie, his phone beeps. It was a notification from Facebook, letting him know that one of his 'close friends' posted something on their wall. As he jumped onto his bed with his phone in his hand, his mother called for him. Daehyun ignores her for a moment because Youngjae just posted a picture of a selca. Daehyun finds himself slightly fanboying because he looks so beautiful and y and God is he human? No, he's an angel, Daehyun decides. He bits his lip as he quickly saves it and makes it his new background before running out of his room to see what his mother wants. He doesn't think its weird that he keeps his crush/target as his background on his phone, lots of teenage girls do it with their favourite idol. Of course they are thirteen year old girls, not a gay high school male student. 

 

Daehyun enters the kitchen and finds his mother preparing breakfast for him and his brother. She greets him with a warm smile and a light kiss on his cheek. Shes still wearing her house coat, silk and gray, paired with her pumps. It was seven in the morning and Daehyun didn't understand why his mother insisted on wearing her heels in the house when she wasn't going anywhere. She's mother is a stay-at-home while his father is a business man, also a volunteer priest.

 

It was normal growing up without his father being around all the time for Daehyun. His mother was always the one who was there when he needed someone. Even though his presents wasn't around a lot, Daehyun's father made his rules very well known. God was number one, family was second, and there will be no tolerance for homouality in his household.


Daehyun didn't know why his father spent so much time telling his kids that men is suppose to lye with women growing up. But he didn't question it--he didn't want to make his father hate him. 
 

--------

Daehyuns favourite subject is Gym. Himchan's and Yongguk's Gym class was first semester, which left Daehyun by himself--but of course he has Youngjae. 


Whenever Youngjae drops the football in class, or when he gets a strike during a baseball game, or how he pouts and furrows his brows when he gets hit during dodge ball-- Daehyun can't help himself. He thinks its the most adorable thing he could ever see with his eyes and it makes him almost want to confess to the younger boy. Almost. 

Daehyun watches Youngjae from a bench in the corner of the gymnasium. He got eliminated when someone hit him with a dodge ball, because he was too busy staring at how short Youngjae's gym shorts were (they were so tight that it made Daehyun flustered, showing just enough thigh to make Daehyun's mouth go dry and  did he have nice calves) to notice anyone else that was around him. 
 

He watches as a boy from the other team throws a ball pretty hard, almost hitting Youngjae spot on in the head. Youngjae picks himself up and walks towards the 'out' bench, taking a seat beside Daehyun. 


Daehyun, almost immediately when Youngjae sat down, started to lightly slap the other boys head. Then he's squeezing the poor boys arm hard, until he reaches Youngjae's exposed thigh were Daehyun continues to press his blunt nails into the soft flesh. The skin-on-skin contact was making Daehyun light headed because Youngjae was so smooth and warm. He rubs he hand up and down Youngjae's hairless upper thigh before their teacher blew the whistle, making Daehyun stop his molesting of the younger boy. 

Daehyun loves gym class. Especially since there was no sign of that freshman.


The bell rings, an indication that class was over.
 

Daehyun enters the boys locker room. He feels sticky and gross and wants to shower immediately. He was about to enter the shower after he retrieved his shower things, but stopped when he saw two boys exciting the showers. 
 

"Let's see how he's going to spend the rest of the day without this!" The tallest boy laughed with his friend, holding up a uniform in his hands. 

 

"Who's uniform is that?" Daehyun asks. 

 

The taller one turns to face Daehyun, "Yoo Youngjae's,"  A smirk grew on his face. "heard the talking about how he needed to hurry up and talk to his last period teacher, something about an important make-up test." He laughs with his shorter friend, "Lets see how he can write it in a towel."

 

A growl ripples out of Daehyun's throat as he snatches the uniform out of the others hands. He takes a step forward so the other boys back is being press against the changing rooms cold wall, Daehyun's right hand coming to wrap around the latters blazer collar. Daehyun's face was only a few cemeteries from the other boys face as he spoke, "Don't let me ever catch you doing anything to Youngjae, or I'll personally deal with you," 
 

"What, so other people can't pick on your target, only you can? Do you have some sort of territory mark on him?"  

 
"Yeah, I do." Daehyun pushed the other off of him, and made his way to the showers. The wet floor rubs loudly against his rubber shower slippers. The room wasn't steamy anymore. There siting alone on one of the benches with his face barred in his hands was Youngjae, his shower supplies beside him and a white towel wrapped around his waist.


Daehyun slowly steps forward, placing Youngjae's uniform beside him.


"It wasn't me this time," Daehyun shifts from heel to toe, kicking at the invisible dirt on the ground, "I promise." He lifts his gaze to see Youngjae looking back at him with puffy and red eyes. There's wet trails leading to Youngjae's chin, and Daehyun knows he's been crying. He's too familiar with Youngjae's crying face. So familiar to the point where it's in graved into his brain. 
 

Youngjae breaks the eye contact, lowering his head towards his uniform. He touches the slightly damped fabric of his pants, before looking back at Daehyun. He doesn't say a word to the Older boy as he begins to put on his uniform. 
 

Daehyun knew he wouldn't thank him. Not that he'd expect him to.

-----

It was Social Studies class, Daehyun's worst subject. The teacher was boring, his friends sat on the other side of the room and it was the only class out of the entire school year that Youngjae wasn't in. 

In his second year of high school, Daehyun got into a fist fight with a younger student (guess who it was over), resulting in Daehyun having to spend the rest of the school year working in the main office as a helper with all the students paper work as his punishment. After his punishment was up, the principle offered him the position, which he happily took because it meant that he would have full access to Youngjae's time table, which Daehyun then would use to his advantage- choosing the same classes that Youngjae took so they would end up together.  

Unfortunately for Daehyun, Youngjae had dropped Social Science before Daehyun could do the same. So there he sat by himself in the back corner, looking out the window as the teacher went on and on about something that Daehyun didn't care enough about to write down. He was failing anyway. 

He took a deep breath in, and then exhaled when he looked out the class room door and into the hallway. It was at the moment when he saw Yoo Youngjae walking past his class. His backpack was swaying behind him as he disappeared from Daehyun's sight.

Daehyun instantly raises his hand, asking for the bathroom pass. He took the little blue wooden boy and ran out of the classroom.  He followed the other down the hallway quietly, wondering where Youngjae was going before school ended. As he turns the corner, moments after Youngjae did, he breath hitches.
 

Youngjae was hugging that stupid ing freshman again in the middle of the hallway. That annoying but still beautiful eye smile was plastered on his face, a smile that Daehyun only seems to see when he's around Junhong. Daehyun's foots steps start up again, louder and heavier than before, making the heads of the two other boys in the hallway snap around to see who was coming their way. That well-known feeling of jealously and hatered fills Daehyun quickly. When Daehyun is close enough, he reaches between Youngjae and the freshman, grabbing onto the back of the Junhong's collar, roughly dragging the younger boy away from his crush. "Get lost, freak." Daehyun spoke with harshness in his voice. Junhong looks at his friend, terrified, before biting his lip and running down the hallway, his backpack swaying violently before he's out the back door. 

Daehyun turns to Youngjae, whose head is now hanging low. He takes Youngjae's small neck into his hand, bashing Youngjae's head against the bathroom door, using it to help open the door so that the two of them can have a more private conversation.  

Once they were in the privacy that Daehyun wanted, he pushes Youngjae to the ground where the weaker boy scrambles to the farthest corner in the bathroom away from Daehyun. He watches from the corner at the obviously frustrated teen.  

Daehyun grips his hair roughly, pulling slightly before running his hands over his face, "I really don't understand you sometimes, Youngjae." He says in a more gentle tone than what he used with Junhong, but it still had that harshness in his voice that gave Youngjae nervous goose bumps, "We honestly would not have a problem if you weren't such a ing flirt with the guys in this school Youngjae!" His voice raises as he feels the anger build inside him once again, "it's like, every time I see you, you're ing a guy! And you still have to audacity to say that you're straight!" He steps closer to the boy who had pulled his knees to cover his face, fearing the worst. Daehyun's too angry to notice the other boy shivering with fear, so he continues. "I have no other choice but to beat some ing sense into your head, Youngjae. You have to understand that your way of living is wrong," it was was dad speaking for him now. 

 "You're a ing lover, Youngjae. And that's so ing disgusting." He squats down, he face now closer to Youngjae's. He's so close that he can smell the others mouthwash that is still lingering from the early that morning. It makes Daehyun's pulse race, being this close to the other boy, but he ignores his now pounding heart. "Now," Daehyun takes Youngjae's small jaw into his big hand, his grip like iron, making sure that Youngjae doesn't move out of his hold. He forces the other boy to look him in the eyes, "What's your relationship with that freshman?"

"W-we're just friends, Daehyun," Youngjae has trouble speaking because of the hold Daehyun has on him, but still manages to utter those words. Daehyun notes the wetness forming in Youngjae's eyes, but quickly dismisses it. 

Daehyun's fingernails press deeper into the other boys jaw, creating nail marks most likely,"I don't think so~ do you have with him?"

"N-no...please just.. Leave me alone?" The tears were now falling onto Youngjae's flushed face. 

Daehyun jolts away from the younger boy- before he can ask anymore questions- when he hears the bathroom door open. He's ready to kick the kid out, until he realizes it's Yongguk. 

"Daehyun where-- oh okay. Now I understand why you were gone for so long, should've known." Yongguk rolls his eyes as he walks past his friend to help the other one up. He hands the still-afraid teen his backpack, before telling him to leave. Yongguk looks at his friend with an unimpressed look. "I still don't fully understand why you pick on that poor kid, Daehyun." 

Daehyun replies with an eye roll, that makes his friend more frustrated. "Of course you don't, hyung." He leaves it at that, turning away to leave the bathroom. 

 
He storms out of the hallway with his hands in his pockets. He heads to another bathroom because he knows hes about to cry, and he doesn't want his friends and classmates to see him crying. 'why you pick on the poor kid, Daehyun.' , the words of his best friend repeats in his head as he finds another empty bathroom to spend time in. He finds an open stall and sits on the ground. Daehyun cries into his hands, because he doesn't fully understand why he picks on Youngjae either. He doesn't understand why his father hated people like him, why he can't just be open to Youngjae and everyone else about his feelings for the younger boy.


But he knows one thing; that no one can ever find out about him being in love with another boy. Not his parents, younger brother, his best friends or his classmates. And certainly not, Yoo Youngjae.