October 17th

It has been a couple of days since he last said he would speak to Jonghyun.

He hated how he was making him feel, but he didn’t know how to tell him what he needed to tell him. He knew he wouldn’t take it well, at all.

But he will talk to him today.

Kibum was in class as he sat stuck in his mind, hardly focusing on the teacher and the lesson. It went by as a blur to him. His attention snapped back when the bell rung. He jumped up out of his seat and practically ran out the classroom.

“Hyung? Where are you going?” Minho said surprised at Kibum’s sudden reaction. 

Kibum needed to leave on time. He was trying to avoid something. And no, it wasn’t Jonghyun.

“I have to go! I have to meet up with one of my classmates for a group project!” Kibum lied while waving at him and quickly leaving him behind.

Minho looked at him strangely but he didn’t question him.

Kibum quickly and nervously walked down the hall on the way to his next class. It was a bit of a difference as it was on the other side of the school.

He was nervous.

He tried to walk swiftly and keep his head down as to not gain attention.

He had been trying to avoid some people for the past few months. It wasn’t as bad at first. It just started out as rumors and just people gossiping. Now some people had started to harass him. 

The rumor wasn’t wide spread around the school because Kibum wasn’t ‘popular’, so many people did not know him. So he was grateful the rumor wasn’t as big as it could be. But it still didn’t make it better.

He was still scared to tell Jonghyun, even though he promised himslef he would to do it today.

But how should he tell him? 

How should he say it? 

He knew he would be so upset.

Kibum was lost in his thoughts again to the point he hadn’t noticed that a few of his new found harassers spotted him.

“Ya! Kibum.” The voice called.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. He lifted his head up and stared straight forward so he wouldn’t give them his attention. He tried to look confident.

But Kibum hated confrontation. He didn’t handle it well.

“I’m talking to you, GayBum.” A male voice called. Kibum suddenly felt himself be pulled back as a boy grabbled hold of his backpack. He shook free and casted them a glare before turning back around to walk away. But he was cornered by someone else that was on the other side of him. 

It was a group of about five teenagers that had started to surround Kibum.

Some students walked by looking, but carrying on while not given a second glance at the commotion.

They started whispering to each other and giggling. Kibum tried to look confident but he was close to tears.

“What’s wrong GayBum? Can’t find your boyfriend?” One boy sneered.

Kibum rolled his finers into a fist. “I’m not gay. Stop calling me that.” He stated firmly.

They all laughed.

“Aww does Jonghyun know that his little boyfriend doesn’t claim him?” One girl said.

“He is my friend. Just my friend.” Kibum said. He tried to walk through the group but two of them closed the gap not leaving room for Kibum to escape. 

Kibum being gay was a complete secret, excluding Taemin, Jinki, and Minho.

It wasn’t exactly the same for Jonghyun. Jonghyun wasn’t loud about the fact that he was gay, but he never denied it either. Most people that know or heard of Jonghyun knew he was gay.

 It had caused him to have a crippling social life and made him an outcast, but he didn’t care. He had a few friends that cared for him and that was more important to him than being friends with many people and not being true to himself. He was often labeled as or referred to as the “Gay Boy” and he hated hearing it because Jonghyun was so much more than that. 

He was a sweet, kind, and brave person. 

He wish he was more like him.

“I’m just trying to go to class. Please leave me alone...” Kibum said dejected. He wasn’t great at standing up for himself.

The tallest boy walked up to him to get in his face. He started pushing him and taunting him.

"Just admit it, your gay! You and all your friends hang out with the Gay Boy all the time, you're probably all just like him!" The boy laughed.

Suddenly Kibum had the wind knocked out of him when he was aggressively pushed up against the wall. He was to embarrassed to pick up his things that had fallen out of his hands and leave. He wasn’t used to things like this happening to him. He froze and stood there with tears forming in his eyes as they taunted him more and he poked his finger in his chest. 

His vision was blurred by his tears but he blinked them away when he saw that the main boy that had pushed him get knocked down by a fist across his face.

“Put your hands on him again and I’ll make sure you can’t see out of your right eye for a week next time.” That voice.

“Jonghyun!” Kibum said surprised.

Said boy hovered over the boy that pushed Kibum. He sat on the ground as he held his nose. He could see blood seeping out between his fingers. It almost made Kibum nauseous.

“You better hope I didn’t break your ing nose.” Jonghyun growled. 

He saw Jonghyun was so angry that he wasn’t paying him any mind when he called his name.

One of the other boys that had been taunting Kibum pushed Jonghyun, which he saw infuriated him even more. The third one made his way to attack him as well but suddenly started screaming when Kibum noticed a figure had his arms s around his neck and was clinging onto his back. 

It was Taemin!

“Taemin stop!” Kibum screamed when he saw that he had jumped on the third boys back and had him in a choke hold.

Jonghyun and the boy had started to wrestle to the ground in a scuffle.

Students were supposed to make their way to class but instead started crowding around them watching what was happening.

Everyone was chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” which brought even more attention, which eventually led to the male teachers coming in to grab the boys. But not before Kibum had a moment of bravery and helped attack the boy who Jonghyun was wresting with. He tried to pry the boys hands off of Jonghyun so he could go free. But it wasn’t working.

Eventually a few teachers came restraining the students and attending to the boy on the ground with a bloody nose.

The boy had blood dripping down his face and spat blood that dribble down into his mouth at Jonghyun. Very disrepectful.

“ you!” Jonghyun screaming. The boys actions started to make him rile up again but the teacher held his arms behind his back restraining him.

“Your a bunch of faggots!” The boy yelled back with a look of hate in his eyes.

Kibum looked down ashamed at the comment.

Jonghyun and Taemin wanted to wiggle out of the restraints but the teachers weren’t having it.

-

The boys sat in the principals office together seated side by side as they waited for teachers and administration to explain what they witnessed to the principal before he came out to talk to them.

The boys that attacked Kibum sat in a seperate room as they waited their turn to be reprimanded. The girls that were apart of the torment ran away before they were caught. Lucky them.

Taemin said in the middle of the two older boys looking unbothered at the fact that they just got into a fight. 

“Did you guys see my choke hold?” Tamein blurted out. 

Kibum shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“My mom is going to kill me.” Jonghyun said closing his eyes and throwing his head back, lightly banging his head on the wall behind him.

“Jjong...you didn’t have to do that...Taemin you too.” Kibum whispered looking down at his shoes while picking at his fingers.

“I saw him put his hands on you. Did you think I was going to let that slide?” He responded. The two didn’t even bother to look at each other.

“If you didn’t hit him a fight wouldn’t have broken out. What were you two even doing over on this side of the school? You don’t have class over here.” Kibum said finally leaning forward to look past Taemin and turning his body towards the two.

“I was looking for you and Taemin said he saw you walking towards your class this way. I was trying to catch up to you, by the time we got to you they were surrounding you.” Jonghyun said  opening eyes and finally looking at Kibum.

Kibum gasped when he finally got a good look at his face. Jonghyun had a few scratches on his cheeks and his knuckles were bloody. He noticed he also had blood stains from fighting with the boy with the bloody nose. Taemin didn’t have an obvious signs of getting into a fight aside from his toussled hair.

“I’m fine.” Jonghyun said lightly brushing the scratches over his face noticing Kibum looking him over.

“What the hell was going on? Who are those people? Why were they bullying?” Jonghyun said in one breathe. Taemin turned his head with his eyebrow cocked to hear what Kibum was going to say.

The two, rather none of their friends in the group had heard anything about Kibum being bullied.

“It’s been happening for some weeks or a month or two...” Kibum whispered looking back down at his feet. Their stares made him nervous.

“Why have you been hiding this from me?” Jonghyun said sounding almost miserable and angry at the same time.

Kibum couldn’t stand to look at the sad face Jonghyun wore. 

“They’ve been bullying me because...they heard from someone...that I was gay.” 

Their eyes grew.

“Who?! Who said this?” 

Kibum’s friends knew it was dangerous for anyone to know of Kibum’s ual orientation, because if word got back to his parents...

“I-I dont know...” Kibum lied. Who knew exactly who started the rumor. But he didn’t want to say who. At least not now.

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me?” Jonghyun said quitly.

“I didn’t know how to tell you. And I didn't want you to get hurt if they saw you with me.” Kibum said as his eyes started watering. He held his head in his hands willing himself not to cry.

Taemin rubbed his back to try to comfort him. 

Jonghyun sat back and wore a look of disappointment and sadness.

He didn’t want his boyfriend to worry. He didn’t know how he was going to react, but after seeing him get into a fight for him he wished he would have told him sooner so the news wouldn’t have hit him this hard. He didn’t mean to bring them into his troubles. He felt so bad.

He felt terrible.

The three sat silent for the rest of the wait.

The principal ended up coming in to speak to the boys and spoke to the other boys after. Eveyone admitted the truth. 

Kibum’s bullies tried to lie about what happen but when administration checked the cameras they saw that they started the confrontation by cornering Kibum and putting their hands on him first. 

The bullies were suspended for a week.

Jonghyun also ended up getting suspended for a week since he came in and hit one of the boys in the face and started the fight. Taemin was only suspended for three days as he did not cause as much damage as Jonghyun did. 

The girls that were involved weren’t caught as the bullies refused to name who they were. But Jonghyun thought they looked very familiar...

Kibum was able to walk free as he was the victim, but they still called to alert his parents about the situation.

This wasn’t good. Either he or the principal would have to explain to his parents why he was being bullied. He dreaded going home.

He knew even if it wasn’t his fault he was going to be in some kind of trouble.

They were all sent home before they were really able to speak to each other about the situation again. 

Kibum knew he wouldn’t be able to forget the sad expression Jonghyun wore before he left the office to be sent home. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you again for the lovely comments!!!!

Kibum's secret is out, what do you all think?

Unfortunately I have caught COVID so forgive me if the updates are slow, im very tired and worn out.