.five.

The Sin Is Yours

 

“I don’t want to spend all afternoon showing some stupid kid around school,” Himchan whined the following morning. He and Yongguk were in their homeroom, and Ms. Lee had just informed them that after the special presentation after lunch, they were to split off with their middle school partners and show them around the high school. 

Though he’d whispered it, Ms. Lee somehow heard it. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Mr. Kim,” she said sharply. “Perhaps an F on this project is more to your liking.”

“No, Ms. Lee,” Himchan muttered sullenly. 

She smirked. “That’s what I thought. And you’re to focus your time solely on the child you’re mentoring,” she reminded, sending a warning glance at Yongguk and Himchan like they were the only ones this was directed at. “That means no hanging out with your friends and ditching the kiddies. Got it?”

The class murmured their assent. 

“My kid is such a loser,” Himchan grumbled later when he and Yongguk were walking to the cafeteria to meet Youngjae and Daehyun for lunch. “He plays all those online role player games. He even learned English just so he could talk to players overseas. I have absolutely nothing to talk to him about.”

Yongguk chuckled. “Maybe you could just shove his head in a toilet and run away,” he suggested. 

Himchan seemed to think about it; it wasn’t like they hadn’t done it before. Their group wasn’t exactly known for being nice. “That’s a valid suggestion,” he finally said. 

When they reached their table, Daehyun seemed to be just as annoyed and bitter about their planned afternoon as Himchan. Youngjae, who seemed to actually get along with his partner, was trying to talk his best friend out of hanging the poor kid’s underwear from the flagpole out front of the school. 

“This project is so lame,” Daehyun complained when Yongguk and Himchan had slipped into their usual seats. “Were we as big of jackasses as these little brats are when we were third years in middle school?”

“Definitely not,” Himchan said firmly. “Our mentors loved hanging out with us.” 

There was a pause, and then they all laughed, rather bitterly. They had all had rather unpleasant experiences with their own mentors back in the day. Youngjae’s had been particularly cruel and even shaved vulgar designs into his hair. He had just now gotten it back to a length he liked. 

Yongguk was glad that Youngjae liked his middle schooler. It made Yongguk feel like less of a loser for spending more time than was necessary with Junhong. It wasn’t that he was friends with Junhong or even liked him, but he’d willingly hung out with the kid when he didn’t have to and that just wasn’t normal, especially for someone like him. 

“You okay?” Youngjae asked, giving Yongguk a strange look. “You’re staring off into space, Yonggukkie.” 

Yongguk jerked himself back to reality just in time to feel his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. “I’m fine,” he muttered, pulling the mobile out to check the text. It was from Junhong, as he’d known it would be. He was waiting by the front gates of the school. 

“Where are you going?” Himchan demanded, and Yongguk realized he had stood up without meaning to. 

He looked at his surprised friends, then forced a laugh. “My dumb kid’s here. He’s lost so I have to go get him from the school gate.”

“Want us to come with?” Youngjae offered. 

Yongguk shook his head. He didn’t think Junhong would be able to handle his friends just yet. They’d most likely dunk his head in the toilet, and Junhong probably wouldn’t forgive Yongguk if that happened. “Nah, it’s fine. I’ll see you guys later. We’re still going to that club tomorrow night, right?” 

“You bet your we are,” Daehyun grinned. 

Yongguk made his way more quickly than he needed to out to the front of the school. He squinted against the bright afternoon sunlight, scanning the front of the building. There were a lot of middle schoolers lounging around, looking uncertain, wondering where their mentors were or where they were supposed to go. 

It didn’t take Yongguk very long to spot Junhong. He towered head and shoulders above the majority of his classmates, after all. He was wrapped in his usual heavy coat, his mask over his face, his blonde hair a beacon in the sea of his dark-headed classmates. He was surrounded by a group of uniformed peers, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were bullying him. 

As Yongguk watched, a rather heavyset boy punched Junhong in the shoulder and the others laughed hysterically. Even though Junhong could probably have taken all five of his aggressors at once, he stood there and did nothing, his arms hanging down limply by his side and his face stony, impassive. 

Another boy, this one barely reaching Junhong’s shoulder, gave the blonde a hard shove. Junhong stumbled back a few steps, but again he didn’t retaliate. Yongguk found himself getting frustrated at Junhong’s lack of emotion about the whole thing. He could’ve simply sat on the short kid and effectively stopped the bullying. 

When another classmate, this one a girl, grabbed Junhong’s hair and gave it a hard tug, Yongguk found himself down the stairs and halfway to his middle schooler before he realized his feet were moving. He planted himself directly behind the group, but they were so caught up in tormenting Junhong that they didn’t notice. 

“Well, hello there,” Yongguk purred, his voice deep enough to startle all of them. “What have we here?”

The students shuffled nervously, both anxious at being caught and defiant like they hadn’t been doing anything wrong. “What’s it to you?” the short kid snapped, his eyes lingering a bit too long on Yongguk’s biceps. 

“Well, you see, that’s my friend you’re harassing there,” Yongguk said, and, even though he kept a smile on his face, his voice was ing scary. He could see the kids’ faces pale, and the girl looked like she was ready to run. “I don’t particularly like what I just saw.” 

The fat kid glared at Yongguk, his lip trembling even as he tried to stand his ground. “We weren’t doing anything.”

“That’s right you weren’t,” Yongguk said, and his voice was a growl now. “If I ever see or hear of you doing something to Junhong again, I will find you and ing kill you. Do you understand?”

They nodded, all pretenses of standing their ground gone. 

“Good. Now get the out of my sight,” Yongguk snapped, and they ran off as fast as their legs could carry them. He watched them disappear into the school building, then turned back to Junhong. “Are you alright, Junhong-ah?”

Junhong wordlessly nodded, still staring stonily at the ground. 

“Why didn’t you fight back?” Yongguk demanded, a little frustrated. “You’re way bigger than those little brats. You could’ve taken them, easy.”

“I don’t like violence,” Junhong muttered, his voice so low Yongguk had trouble hearing it. 

Yongguk sighed. He couldn’t really be angry with Junhong anyway. “Whatever,” he said. “They shouldn’t bother you anymore. And if they do, make sure to tell me.”

“I don’t need you to fight my battles,” Junhong said sullenly. 

“Yeah, you were doing so well on your own,” Yongguk answered sarcastically. But then, because he didn’t particularly feel like getting into an argument, he said, “Come on. Let’s get to the stupid assembly and then I can show you around the school.” 

Junhong still seemed sullen as he followed Yongguk towards the assembly hall, where a multitude of other students had already gathered, finding seats with their friends. Yongguk didn’t see any of his friends, so he simply chose a pair of seats at the back of the hall. Junhong sat down silently and crossed his arms, keeping his head down. 

For some inexplicable reason, Yongguk felt the need to initiate conversation. “So I’m going to need another movie night soon.” Now why the hell had he said that?

Junhong quirked his eyebrow, half-curious and half-amused. Yongguk almost missed the gesture as so much of the kid’s face was covered by his mask and his shaggy hair. “And why is that?” There was so much noise in the assembly hall that Yongguk had to lean a bit closer to hear, so their shoulders were brushing. 

“My brother,” he grimaced. “He’s being such an lately. Well, you know. You’ve met him.”

Junhong actually laughed, though it was short and a little bitter. “Yeah, I think he’d drive me up the wall if I lived with him.”

Yongguk felt a little relieved that Junhong was at least talking to him again, though he really shouldn’t care. “Yeah, he’s pretty much the bane of my existence,” he admitted. “So I need another movie night.”

“What about tomorrow night?” Junhong suggested, quickly enough that Yongguk got the suspicion that Junhong wanted to hang out with him too. 

He gave the younger an apologetic smile - which he should be grateful to get, as Yongguk was never that polite to kids like Junhong. “I can’t tomorrow night,” he said. “I’ve already got plans with my friends. We’re going out to a club.” The next part came out like word vomit. “You can come if you want.” Now that was something that most definitely could not happen. His friends would torment Junhong incessantly and then they would give Yongguk for hanging out with a middle schooler. It was practically social suicide. 

Thankfully, Junhong shook his head and went back to staring at his hands, folded neatly in his lap. “Ah, no thanks. Clubs aren’t really my scene. And I’m not old enough.”

“Neither are we,” Yongguk muttered. “We use fake IDs.” Why was he pressing this? He should have just thanked his stars that Junhong didn’t want to go and left it at that. 

Junhong glanced up again, and his eyes were almost pleading. “How about Sunday then? Is Sunday okay?”

“Yeah, that should be fine,” Yongguk answered, a little taken aback by the sudden emotion in the middle schooler’s eyes. “My folks will be out, and Yongnam is usually gone all day at the library. We should have my place to ourselves.”

Junhong sighed and smiled slightly. “Awesome. Sunday it is, then.” 

The assembly was painfully boring, as Yongguk had known it would be. It was mostly the teachers from both schools addressing them, blathering on and on about how important this program was and so on and so forth. Yongguk found his attention wandering almost immediately. 

Unfortunately, mostly his attention wandered to the boy hunched over in the chair beside him. Junhong seemed to be tuning out too, but he didn’t seem to be thinking about anything happy. He had an almost pained expression on his face - what little of it was visible - and his hands twisted the material of his heavy coat around and around anxiously. 

Without realizing what he was doing, Yongguk covered Junhong’s fidgeting hands with one of his own. Junhong flinched at the sudden contact, and Yongguk refused to admit that it sort of hurt his feelings. “Be still,” he growled through clenched teeth, withdrawing his hand. 

Junhong nodded shortly and looked back down at the floor, trying his hardest not to fidget anymore. Yongguk sighed. Now he just felt like an . 

After the assembly was dismissed, there was a mad dash for the doors and freedom. Yongguk, used to getting his way, shoved a few kids out of the way until they made a path for him, and he dragged Junhong after him out into the bright afternoon sunshine. 

He stretched luxuriously, glad to be out of the stuffy assembly hall. “So,” he said, turning to Junhong. “I’m supposed to show you around campus and all that other bull, but that’s pretty boring. Why don’t we go get some ice cream or something instead?”

Junhong looked uncomfortable. “I don’t have any money right now.”

“That’s fine,” Yongguk said, leading the way towards the school gate despite his homeroom teacher’s very strict instructions that he wasn’t to slack off on his mentoring duties. “I’ll pay this time. Let’s go.”

Junhong was quiet as they walked, but at least he didn’t trail behind Yongguk this time. The elder whistled as they walked, glad to be starting his weekend a few hours early. He led the way to his favorite ice cream shop - which was crowded despite how early it was in the season - and sauntered right up to the counter. 

“What flavor do you want?” Yongguk asked, wrinkling his nose as he scanned the extensive list of flavors above the counter. He didn’t know why he bothered, though; he always ordered the same thing. 

Junhong shrugged, not even looking. “I don’t care. You choose.”

“Hey, quit being a pissy little and choose a flavor,” Yongguk snapped, his frustration getting the best of him. 

Junhong seemed taken aback by the sudden harsh tone, as did the young girl behind the counter. “Um, I guess I’ll have strawberry,” he finally said. 

“Two scoops of Strawberry in a waffle cone and two scoops of Chocolate Delight in a waffle cone,” Yongguk said to the girl, giving her his signature gummy grin. Even though she’d just been eyeing him like he was a jerk, she suddenly blushed and scurried to get his order. He glanced at Junhong. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“You’re an sometimes, you know that?” Junhong muttered. 

Yongguk actually laughed out loud at that. “I am, in fact, aware of that. Most people are too afraid to tell it to me so straight.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” Junhong said defiantly, finally meeting Yongguk’s gaze. His eyes were fierce, but, as always, there was that secret something hiding deep inside them. 

Yongguk turned away awkwardly. “I’m glad,” he said, and that, at least, was the truth. He had enough people who were afraid of him. It was nice to have someone that was sort of like a friend - though of course Junhong wasn’t a friend of his. He was just a middle schooler that Yongguk hung out with because he had to. And sometimes just because. 

“Here you go,” the girl squeaked, handing them the ice cream cones. 

Yongguk paid and the two of them took a seat at a table in the corner. It was out of the way enough that other patrons probably wouldn’t notice them, though the girl at the cash register made sure to look in their direction quite often. 

“So do those kids pick on you a lot?” Yongguk asked after a few minutes of silence. 

Though he didn’t specify, Junhong knew who he was talking about. He shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t really pay attention.”

“How could you not pay attention to that?” Yongguk demanded, getting angry on the kid’s behalf. “Those kids were little es to you.”

Again, Junhong simply shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “They think I’m weird and I don’t fight back. I’m an easy target for them.”

“But why don’t you fight back?” Yongguk asked again, although he already knew the answer. “All it would take was one punch and those kids would leave you alone for good.”

Junhong looked up and their eyes locked. “Because if they’re picking on me, that means they’re not picking on other, smaller kids who can’t handle it.” 

That shut Yongguk up real fast. 


So poor Junhonggie is definitely getting bullied at school TT.TT

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crazygirlinlove #1
Chapter 21: I love this story! I reread this as 5 times (I think) and until today I dared to write a comment, I was too late but I want you to know, This fic marked my life a lot. It's my favorite BangLo story. Thank you!
Sorry for my bad english ?
gantzu91
#2
Chapter 1: Omg y Junhong es mi bias
aarya93
#3
Chapter 21: I absolutely loved this! First time reading this ship, I feel like I want more of this....! Thank you so much for this!
Xyakori
#4
Chapter 21: OH MY GOD, that was so, just wow I loved this storyyy(though you knoww.... everybody would love a peek at them saying I still love you lol)
Xyakori
#5
Chapter 19: Noooooooo, this is, I thought of this god why poor Himchan
the-orphan #6
Chapter 21: I re-read this because I recently remembered it, I read it years ago but this story has really stuck with me.
natsumi4ever
#7
Chapter 4: Who can't Zelo stand in his family??
nanaskyrk21 #8
Chapter 21: Why don't you let them meet again... i want more.. the story is really sad but sweet.^^