One string of his backpack slung over his shoulder and the hood of his jacked pulled deep into his face, Taekwoon made his way out of the school building. His eyes, like always directed down, barely allowing him to see what's in front of him while ignoring whatever words tried to attack him. Though none of the pupils that crossed his path said anything to him today, the past words they'd thrown on his head didn't leave him when he was in school. It was like they had fun tormenting his already troubled mind with those words.
 

Monster, they whispered in his ear.

God, why are you so ugly?

Freak.

Don't come near me.

Look, there's the monster.

Quick! Let's go before it attacks us with its ugliness.

Why where they attacking him? He hadn't chosen to look like that, with no hair and the right half of his head, his hands and other parts of his body covered in ugly scars, dead skin and burn marks. He definitely hadn't chosen that. He hadn't chosen to be the outcast. No, he hadn't chosen this. This decision had someone else taken for him. The person who thought it would be funny to set their house on fire. The person who thought it would be funny to set their house on fire, trapping him and his baby brother in his room, had made this decision for him.
And every time Taekwoon looked into the mirror, he was reminded of the flames, of the loud cries from his brother and his desperate calls for help. He could still feel the flames taking away their oxygen, could still feel his little brother trembling in his arms as he tried to protect him from the steadily closer coming flames, could still feel the flames hotness burning through his skin making him feel indescribable pain.

The grip he had on his bag strap tightened as he bit his teeth to prevent the gathered tears from spilling over the edge. He wasn't going to cry. Not when he was here. Not when he was so close to being away from this hell hole disguised as school.
Today wasn't even a bad day. The sun was shining, he'd gotten 100% on his maths test, no one said a word to him and there was no Hanbin or his clique to pick on him. But Taekwoon had long since gotten over thinking positively when he was in school, because every time he'd gotten his hopes up, they were crashed the next second. So why should he even try?

With the sleeve of his jacket he wiped over his eyes and sighed as he finally exited the school building and was greeted by the warm rays of sun. Only some more meters to the school gates and he had successfully made it through the worst part of the day-

“Hey freak!”

Of course it wasn't that easy, because life seemed to hate him for whatever he had done.
Ignoring Hanbin's unmistakable voice Taekwoon turned his speed slightly up to avoid a confrontation if possible. His misfortune that two of Hanbin's 'gang member' had already blocked his way, leaving him no other possibility as to halt in his steps. So close…

“Why the hurry, freak? We hadn’t had the chance to chat today.” He felt the nearing presence of Hanbin behind his back but didn't turn around nor did he look at the two in front of him. His eyes were simply glued to the ground beneath him in hopes it would just swallow him then and there. 
 

“Hey freak, he's talking to you,” Bobby said in an all too familiar voice and gave Taekwoon a push, making him tumble slightly as the other one came to a stand in front of him. Yes, they were definitely smaller and younger than him. Yes, Taekwoon knew Taekwondo and yes, he could easily fight them so that they'd leave him alone. But judging by his fortune he had already done enough bad things and therefore just let it pass over him. Besides, he wasn't the type for violence and only used his Taekwondo skills when he was in real danger. This was merely just child play with some overconfident teenage kids that thought they were the best of the best.

Their words though hurt nevertheless. His self-esteem wasn't exactly big to begin with and had just gotten fewer and fewer after the incident and whatever was left of that was cruelly ripped out of him with every passing day. Taekwoon was sure that it would be gone by the time he was finally finished with school.

“Sadly it's just the three of us today, because Yoonhyung is on a date. You know, on a real date with a girl. Something you will never have,” Hanbin sneered and his little minions laughed.
“Yeah, because they would run away screaming before you could even come near-” Jiwon's sentence was interrupted and replaced by a painful groan.
“Wha-” But before any of the other two could say something a hand slapped them on the head.
“Yah you little s!” Instantly Taekwoons head shot up to confirm his thoughts. There behind the wall of three stood the angel in human form with his bright blond hair.
“Hakyeon...”
“Who do you think you are, huh?! Haven't your parents taught you to be respectful towards your elders? Huh?!” he continued making the younger ones flinch. Even Taekwoon couldn't stop a slight twitch of his body at the angry note in Hakyeons voice.

“It's okay Yeon,” Taekwoon tried to reason, effectively pulling the elders angry glare away from the three delinquents to turn it to him, though without the anger. Instead it was replaced by a mix of worry and joy to see the raven haired.
“No it's not okay.” A tan hand came to rest on his scarred cheek, gently over it. “No one treats you like this and gets away with it.” He withdrew his warm hand and instead replaced it with a quick peck of his lips, before the blond turned around again returning to his previous angry glare.

“And now to you three!” Hakyeon said sternly. “You are the ones that are attacking my Taekwoon every day?”
“Yeah and what is it to you? You're not even from this school,” Hanbin confidently said, which earned him another slap to the back of his head.
“I may not go to this school but that doesn't change that I'm still your ing elder, so show some respect! And If you say another word, I'm going to beat you up and take your lunch money, kid!” Whatever the brown haired wanted to retort it was immediately cut off through Hakyeons words.

“And now you better listen well you little pseudo gangster: Taekwoon didn't choose to look like that! It was that ing psychopath that thought it would be a good idea to set their house on fire! He lost his parents in that fire and practically sacrificed his own live and body to at least protect his little brother from the flames! And if you think he's ugly just because of these scars, then you're ing wrong! He's a ing hero and heroes simply have scars! He's not a monster or a freak! He's a ing beautiful human being with feelings just like everyone else!”

Believe it or not, but Hakyeon really wasn't the type to swear, because unlike the three youngsters, his mother had raised him very well so he knew how to behave infront of others. But if it was about Taekwoon, he just couldn't keep it in his mind. The blond hadn't deserved half of the he had to live through nor did he deserve the hateful comments or judging stares that were thrown his way. In Hakyeons eyes, he deserved to be treated like the rarest and best thing that existed in the world.

“We uh… - we didn't k-k-now-”

“Why the hell am I not surprised by that?? Oh yes, because that's the case every time! No one cares about the 'why' because all you ignorant humans see is the result of what has happened! Don't just go around talking and assuming things you don't know anything about! It's not your right to do that! It's no ones bloody right! If you don't like someone for whatever ty reasons you may have, then just leave them alone! No one's expecting from you to get along with everyone! But don't hurt them, because you never know what they possibly had to go through! Just shut your god damn mouth and keep your nose out of others business!”

By the time he was finished with his lecture, Hakyeon was slightly out of breath. Yes, he had a big mouth, thank you very much, but even that were a bit too much words for him. Though the result was more than enough satisfaction for him. Their faces drained of all colour, eyes full of shame and nervously fiddling with their hands the three kids stood before him. He hated it when someone treated his Taekwoon badly, but he loved it once he was finished lecturing those persons. It was something that they should never forget in their whole lives or else Hakyeon would chase them to hell and back.

Of course Hakyeon had also noticed the other students that had stopped in their movement to watch the scene and of course he was aware of the fact, that they also didn't treat Taekwoon exactly like a human being.

Luckily though someone else took that task from his shoulders.

“I hope you all heard what he said!” The source of the shrill voice came from none other than Lee Jaehwan, who was standing at the school gates together with their friends Hongbin, Wonshik and Taekwoons little brother Hyuk. “For those who didn't: If you have a problem with how Taekwoon looks then just leave him alone! He has more than enough people that love him just the way he is, so let him live his life peacefully or else we're going to hunt every single one of you down and teach you a lesson you won't ever forget!”
 

A pair of warm hands came to rest on Taekwoons cheeks and gentle thumbs whipped some stray tears away, while the soothing voice of his boyfriend whispered “Hey Gorgeous, don't cry” into his ear. He was so entranced by his friends words, that he hadn't even noticed he was crying. Just as they locked eyes with each other he realized the slight blurr in his eyes, as Hakyeon leaned forward and sealed their lips, before he turned around again, looking into three stunned faces.

“What?? Never seen someone kissing their lover?? Huh?!” This time Hanbin didn't find it in him to retort to the elder, still a bit frightened by the fire in the latter’s eyes. Thus it was on Jiwon who seemingly had a difficult time finding his words.
“N-No… No that's uh-”
“Well then off and don't you dare bullying my Taekwoon ever again!”
“Y-Y-Yes…”
“What?!”
“Yes Hyung!” both shouted in unison and hastily scrambled of. Just like Taekwoon thought: They're only some overconfident teenage kids that thought they were the best until someone showed up that was even better than them, clearly putting them back into their place.

As if punched out of their frozen minds, the other students began moving again and quickly left for the places they had planed to go to, while trying to not make any eye contact with Hakyeon or their friends, which was understandable. Hakyeons eyes could probably freez hell.

Taekwoon carefully rubbed the last tears from his burnt face while the other four moved over to them.
“Well, I'm sure they won't bother you ever again, Hyung,” Jaehwan stated once by their side.
“Yeah, but just to make sure, I'll be the one picking you up some times and I don't care if it's a detour so don't even think about protesting, Jung Taekwoon,” the eldest declared cutting off any form of protest that lay on Taekwoons tongue and leaving him no other choice but to smile and nod.

Yes, his life wasn't the best, but with such friends he could definitely make it through it.

Normally I would say that I don't hate Ikon, but I just can't with them, which is why I picked them to be the bad ones. I know that they probably aren't bad or anything and I'm sorry if that offended anyone, because that definitely wasn't my intention. 
I hope you liked it nonetheless ^.^

MegaLia <3