eight;

“Hey, Hyukjae,” Kyuhyun distractedly calls as he rummages through his back. “Did you see my math book?”

“You should be ashamed of yourself, you little .”

What. Frowning exasperatedly, he looks up and is startled to meet Hyukjae’s hard glare. The redhead student is looking down on him, his arms crossed on his chest and a sneer plastered on his face.

“I can’t believe you’d do that,” he adds furiously, before he dramatically whips around and stomps away.

His frown deepening considerably, Kyuhyun watches his best friend walk away from him with confused eyes, before he shakes his head in disbelief. It’s Lee Hyukjae, after all, and he should start getting used to the fact that he doesn’t make any sense most of the time. Or all the freaking time, he thinks bemusedly, but he’s trying to be tolerant.

Still – “What the is wrong with him?” he mumbles under his breath.

=

New-friend-D,

Okay, this is awkward. But you’re right, I guess I can tell you. And you even told me about your incredibly embarrassing accident with your brother (I definitely laughed, by the way. I still am right now, actually). Just so you know, even my crazy best friend doesn’t know about this. I mean, he probably does but I never directly told him, because it’s sort of embarrassing. I’ll trust you not to say anything about this to all the damn school, even if you don’t actually know who I really am.

I know I probably look like an arrogant bastard in all these letters, and you must think that I’m a complete jerk who is overly confident about himself and his looks. But truth is, I’m really not. To be honest, I have a huge complex about my visuals ever since I was a child. When I was in primary school, kids constantly made fun of me and said I was ugly. I really tried not to listen to them because they’re all mean s, but I was young and it still hurt. I just hoped it’d stop when I went to Junior High.

It didn’t. It actually became worst, to be honest. I was a shy kid at that time and it was easy for the seniors to pick on me. My ugly looks were an easy target, I guess. While I thought the kids in elementary school were mean, now they were all cruel. I even cried a few times – isn’t that pathetic? I know I’m not the most handsome one of the lot, but they didn’t have to bully me either, right? It became a concern, and then an actual complex.

When I reached high school, I decided I needed to do something about it. You know, so I wouldn’t end up like a pathetic wimp anymore? I worked out and studied a lot, until people started to like me. Even if you’re not incredibly handsome, the fact that you’re smart and talented in something like sports or anything else considered as ‘cool’ always helps you to get a bit more popular. That's complete bull but true, unfortunately.

But still, I’m self-conscious about all this , and I guess you could say I’m scared I might get rejected because of my looks. I guess my complex stuck with me. It’s always easier not to get too attached to someone; this way, you don’t get hurt as much as you would if you had.

Okay, I’m sorry about this if it makes you awkward. I know it’s boring and everything, but I swear I’m done now!

On another note, problem solved about best friend and Sehun! DUDE WE JUST SAVED AN INNOCENT LIFE FROM TOTAL DOOM. The poor kid did look horrible when I talked to him, though.  

Vacations start at the end of the week! I can’t wait! My parents are out of the country by Friday night, which means I have the whole house for myself.

- Embarrassed-friend-H

P.S: And that’s your fault! What the hell was I supposed to understand when you say ‘we have a bit of a history’??

=

There’s a deep frown plastered on Donghae’s face as he makes his way to the cafeteria, just after having read the last letter he received. He knows there are very small chances that he’s one of the guys who picked on his penpal, but he still feels bad about everything that happened to him. A small pout pursuing his lips, he suddenly hopes that he actually knew who the guy is so he can find a way to comfort him. Even if he doesn’t know what he looks like, he simply can’t wrap his mind around the fact that he actually is as ugly as he seems to think.

With a small sigh, he walks in the line forming in the cafeteria and hungrily eyes the yummy-looking snacks on display. While he is absently wondering what kind he is going to buy today (he really wants to take the red bean-filled carp pastry), he starts wondering who his penpal might be; from what he managed to gather in the letters, it’s probably someone with a bit of popularity in the high school. Which means a lot of possibilities, to be honest.

“What can I give you, honey?” the cafeteria lady warmly grins at him when it’s his turn.

As he asks for the carp pastry he’s been ogling at for the past minute, his attention is drawn to his right when he hears a familiar voice burst out in laughter. He turns around in mild curiosity, until he spots Lee Hyukjae slumped in a chair at a few tables away from him. He’s sitting with two of his friends – Kyuhyun and Kibum, if he isn’t mistaken – and apparently, one of them said something really funny, because he’s doubled up in two with laughter. His plump lips are curled over his pink gums and white teeth, while cute wrinkles appear at the corners of his single-lidded eyes. Without even realizing it, Donghae curiously gazes at him. To be honest, no matter how much he claims that Hyukjae totally isn’t his type, he still is really handsome (he swears it’s a really bitter thought, though).

Not that the needs to know that, of course. Actually, nobody needs to know about his opinion.

Then, Hyukjae happens to turn his head in his direction and catches him staring.

“What are you looking at?” he says with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. “Admiring my handsomeness? Bet you’re jealous.”

“ you,” Donghae scoffs back.

Hyukjae’s smirk gets wider before he retorts easily “With the you have, I think that’s actually the other way around, babe.”

Donghae furiously splutters and curses at him, ignoring the cafeteria lady who had been trying to give him his carp pastry for the past minute, while Hyukjae proudly burst out laughing.

Okay I may have walked into that one. Then, a treacherous voice snickers in his head; But you liked it, stupid.

=

When Hyukjae finds a new letter in his locker the next day, he feels nervousness rising in him. He eyes it a little bit warily, before he sighs discreetly and quickly hides it in his backpack. With a huff, he stomps to his next class, half cursing himself for telling all his problems to someone he barely knows and half groaning in despair because he’s apprehending whatever his penpal wrote in that letter. Despite the fact that he’s admittedly a bit reluctant, he has to admit that he’s still as excited about receiving something for the D-guy as ever. Even if it sounds a little weird, and that it would definitely ruin his difficultly earned reputation in the school, the pen guy is now one of his friends, no matter how much he tries to deny it when Kyuhyun and Kibum ask him. But he knows that the guy probably thinks the same way as he does. It’s not really a bad thing to be a part of the penpal club, but there’s definitely no legit reason to brag about it.

A while later, he finally walks in the classroom and goes to flop down at his usual desk, at the back and next to the window. After he makes sure that nobody is paying attention to him, he takes the letter out of his backpack, exactly when Donghae-the-Fish decides to appear at the door frame. Hyukjae stops in his tracks and looks up to see the other student goofily smiling at Hara-the-Minger (it’s actually a lie, but it makes him feel better, so he guesses it’s a good reason enough – he really doesn’t like her, after all). They share a short kiss that makes him want to throw up his breakfast, before Donghae turns around and immediately spots him at the back of the room.

Hyukjae smugly notes that a familiar sneer automatically creeps on his face, and for a short moment, he can almost believe that Donghae has completely forgotten about Hara.

It feels oddly satisfying.

=

Definitely-better-looking-than-all-those-idiots-H,

Please, tell me you don’t believe them anymore. They’re all ers and they don’t deserve all the time you waste thinking and worrying about them. I bet they were just jealous bastards because you were the most handsome of the whole school! :)

I can’t say I understand because I’ve never been bullied in any kind of way – and I’m happy I didn’t. But still, I know what I’m talking about when I say you shouldn’t build an obsession on your looks only because of all the they said to you. I know it must be horrible, and that since you were a child it had even more impact on you, but they’re not worth it. It’s horrible that they hurt you when you were trying to be more confident about yourself.

But look; you’re the best out of them all. Even if I don’t know you, I’m sure you’re the most handsome guy I would ever meet! You’re a great guy, funny and nice and witty, and probably gorgeous (can you say gorgeous for a man, though?).

And all the girls and boys who reject you only because of your looks, well they’re all blind, ok? They don’t deserve you. I’m sure you’ll find someone who likes you for whoever you are someday, and that she/he’ll take care of you just the way you truly deserve it.

In the meantime, you all the others and tell them to mind their own business. Gosh, if I knew them I’d totally beat them up for you. I seriously hate this kind of mean stuff.

Don’t worry about it, I’m glad you told me. Dude, stop being so awkward about this whole thing! We’re buddies, now, no? So it’s fine. It’s not boring and I hope you won’t hesitate to tell me about anything else. Just, don’t ing lack confidence only because of those ing bastards, ok? Actually, that’s not even a question, that’s a ing order! :)

OH MY THAT’S GOOD NOW TELL ME YOU KICKED YOU BEST FRIEND’S . Glad I made my good deed of the week, haha! Even if I didn’t do that much… ._. And of course, he’s sad. He thinks he actually likes him.

Vacations at the end of the week = ing awesome! I can’t wait to go to my grandparent’s! I know it’s getting cold and all but that means I’ll see my brother and we’re going to the creek!

And by the way, I wanted to ask. I won’t have my phone during vacations because I’ll probably forget to plug it in, but do you want to exchange numbers? No need to tell each other who we are since the anonymity stuff is kind of fun, and we definitely have to continue the letter stuff to get the additional points, but I guess it was just a random idea. I mean if you don’t want to, it’s totally fine. Just wanted to know if you’d be fine with it?

Okay I’ll stop ranting now bye.

- Ready-to-kick-asses-D

P.S: You’re stupid, do you know that??

When Hyukjae finishes the letter, there’s a pleased grin tugging at his lips and it just keeps widening when he sees the small smileys his penpal clumsily drew at the end of his sentences. The letter is so long, and awesome, and great, and it just makes him so happy.

He doesn’t even get pissed-off when Donghae starts throwing paper pellets at him again, and decides to reiterate instead of kicking him the (which still looks as able as ever) – it’s kind of fun, actually.

Eunhae interaction everywhere = all my feelssssss \o/ So there's a bit of development in the middle of their dumbness, ain't that about ing time?

Hope you guys like it <3 Plz leave me lots of feedback because it makes me happy and then faster updates ;) hohoho