He always smacked his Wrigleys gum hard

As he waltzed into class,

His jaws working in vivacious determination

As he chewed  with forced effort

His spiked leather collar

Was dark black

Like the heavy eyeliner

that encircled his cold brown eyes

That were dubbed purple

Behind tinted contacts.

His spiked high tops

With a metal skull attached

At the front of each pair 

Left black marks 

On the imitation marble tile floor,

and made loud sounds of footsteps

That echoed down the hall 

His hair was dyed blonde

with pink for his bangs; creating an ombre-like effect

The color of nothing natural 

And everything manmade,

And blended in well against his

Smooth, flawsless China pale, porcelain face,

Chiseled with feline eyes,

Outlined by thick, black eyeliner

And cheekbones that were high and defined

And garnished with a generous helping 

of the unwanted BB cream,

And his heart-shaped lips 

that were painted with a light pink, with a touch of red gloss.

His leggings were tight and black

And his shorts that were above his knees

a little too short for a guy,

Was tight, purple and shiny

And squeaked a bit when he walked

And jingled the gold-link chain 

That he used as a belt

Against the silver zippers and shiny buckles

Of his $875 leather jacket

That was specially imported to him 

From a top designer in France

Named Pierre AdVassio

Who no one even heard of

But he thought was cool

Because its French leather

And took him almost 2^1/2 years to save up for.

Everyone looked up as he walked into class,

Up from their books about human anatomy

Issac Newton's apple tree incident,

And other things like the laws of relativity

That no one ever needs to know,

To stare into his eyes,

Normally hard, icy, cold

Even Hell in its mighty fury couldn't melt,

Though evryone was most sure

it burned in his veins.

He called himself "Key" ever since ninth grade,

and has six different piercings in both his ears,

All adorning different eye-catching studs.

Today, something captivated our attention

As Key sat in his chair,

Maybe it was because he didn't cross his legs

Seductively like he did

Every day

In every class

Every time he sat down.

Or because his jaws stopped chewing his gum

And he let it sit wet and hard on his tongue,

Instead of his consistent chewing

That was always as much a part of him

as his piercings.

Or maybe it was his eyes 

That looked different today,

Behind his purple-tinted contacts,

Like the ice has melted momentarily.

Murmurs hummed in the background,

As books of Washington, Aleister Crowley, and Newton

Closed, and all attention focused on Key,

Whose eyes in turn focused obliviously on 

The metal skull with a knife in its eye

Attached at the front of his high tops.

I remember the summer of ninth grade,

When his boyfriend and brother were shot to death

In a robbery at a gas station,

And he was there to see it all.

He blamed himself because he got away

And could do nothing to help them live.

He once told me that he thought it should have been him

Losing his life on the cold tile floor.

His hair had been black then,

with small steaks of red and green

His eyes deep and brown and warm

His skin not marred by any piercings

And he wore blue jeans with a white graphic tee

And Converse sneakers to complete the look

He was still uninterested in make up

Only trying it when he was out clubbing once in a blue moon.

That summer, and ever since kindergarten,

We had been best friends,

We talked about Jinki, who was otherwise known as Onew

Whom we secretly swore

would have a condition named after himself

because he was such a klutz; tripping over thin air.

I remember in third grade

When we watched Bambi

And he cried his eyes out

when his mother got shot.

I remember the plastic walkie-talkies

We had and used every night

To talk really late, past our bedtimes,

Because it made us feel "cool"

And didn't ring like the phone and wake

Our parents up.

I remember the time he stole a pack of gum

From a gas station and almost got caught

And swore never to chew that gum again,

But that changed, because he's been

Chewing for three years now.

He never cried at funerals,

And no one saw him cry at a sad movie

anymore.

He never talked to anyone,

Unless it was to criticize

Or curse at someone,

Or maybe just life in general.

Everyone thought he was hard and tough

And never needed anyone.

He even stopped talking to me,

And decided to call himself "Key"

To dye his hair blonde and pink

            And be hard.

But today he looked different,

And for the first time in too long

A silver tear fell from his eye

And smeared his eyeliner

Down his pale cheek,

And for a moment I saw

the warmth in his brown eyes

Peek out from behind their purple shields,

And I saw what he fought so hard to hide--

      Fear. Pain.

Someone whispered, "It's been three years!"

Someone else asked what finally made him cry,

And in the back of my head,

A tiny voice said,

"He's unlocking himself....."

I walked to his desk, remembering how he used to be,

And wrapped my arms around his shoulders,

Amazed when he returned the hug

And sobbed like a child losing innocence,

Against my brand-new purple sweater

I'd just bought the other day for $30

But I only smoothed his too blond hair

And comforted him as classmates gawked in astonishment

At his sudden display of emotion.

I never cared that his eyeliner stained my sweater,

Or that people in the hall stopped to look in,

Or that the teacher just called our names for the fifth time.

I just bent down to his ear 

And whispered tenderly, softly, so only he could hear

"Welcome back, Kibum."

-THE END-

A/N: Hello! This is my second fic and although I'm quite proud of what I've done, it would mean a lot if you guys could leave a comment after reading and telling me what you think about it. I know there's room for improvement and there might be some mistakes here since I typed this half-asleep. LOL. Just tell me your thoughts, okay? Love y'all for even reading this after the really horrible bad descrription. *yawn* Okay, I really need to sleep now. Good night people! I'll be back in a few hours after my class is over. (: