A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been studying for my exams recently but once they're over look forward to more regular updates! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

“WHA-“ JR squealed before clambering off Jaebum who was dozing off on the ground. JR wiped the sweat off of his own forehead before grabbing his bag, which was upside down in a tree. He managed to catch his breath when Jaebum rose up, coughing. He rubbed his eyes and immediately held his head before looking up at JR, “Is this a dream?” he muttered before closing his eyes. JR mumbled and bit on his thumb. Jaebum opened his eyes and extended a hand, “Can you at least help me up?” he asked. JR nodded and tried to help Jaebum up. Half pulling on a tree and half using his own strength, Jaebum stood up and leaned against the bark of the tree. He coughed and spat on the ground before holding his head, “I must have drank too much last night…why did you come stumbling on me anyway?” JR stared at him before speaking softly, “A bunch of guys chased me…and I fell here…”

“And then you kissed me?”

“N-o! You kissed me…I don’t even know how-“

Jaebum laughed before sliding his hands into his pockets, “Who were you running from?”

“Jackson and your other friends…they wanted to beat me up”

Jaebum looked up and bit his lip. In his heart he knew it was wrong what they did to JR but he couldn’t just risk his popularity and his friendships with Jackson and the gang for one little boy. He pursed his lips before speaking plainly, “You know, I don’t like them guys…I’m sorry for-“

JR shook his head and looked at the ground, “Don’t apologise…I’m an easy target it’s my own fault”

“I know you don’t owe me anything but do you have any bandages…?”

JR was apprehensive about showing Jaebum to his sleazy apartment in the worst district in Seoul. Jaebum was part of an exclusive clique of the rich and famous and he would probably bully JR even more so now that he knew how poor he was, but still JR trusted his wit and brought Jaebum back with him. He put his arm around Jaebum as Jaebum hobbled up the flights of stairs to the apartment.

“You couldn’t have got a ground floor apartment?”

JR pushed open the door and let Jaebum fall down onto the old couch. He slid his feet up onto the couch and let out a groan before holding his head. JR made his way to the kitchen and grabbed two painkillers and a glass of water before handing them to Jaebum. “Here” he motioned and then went to work on Jaebum’s cuts from falling last night. He applied some antiseptic wipe to Jaebum’s grazes and put a Band-Aid over Jaebum’s cut above his right eye.

Jaebum studied JR very carefully as the younger one set to work on fixing up Jaebum’s cuts and bruises. He had pale white skin and big brown eyes, red lips and a nice round face. He was very thing, dangerously so, and Jaebum couldn’t imagine how many bruises lay under his shirt. He frowned and instead drew his attention to the now finished JR who was bringing a cup of tea to his former tormenter.

“Thank you” Jaebum whispered before taking the sweet tea to his lips. He sipped on it and took a look around the shabby apartment, looking at the dusty curtains, the old TV set and the murky window. Then he took another look at JR, shakily trying to clean a stain from a counter top. Suddenly Jaebum began to feel guilty and almost wished he could give JR his money. He didn’t deserve to live in such a hole as this place; he deserved his own castle in some European country.

“Shall we go to school?” the small pale one asked. Jaebum looked up and snapped out of his daydream, “Ah…yeah lets go”.

The two set off for school, a little later than usual and met up with Mark and Bam who were at the front of the school. When Jaebum came into view, Mark immediately took a step forward and frowned, almost trying to square up to Jaebum. JR smiled reassuringly at him, “We both had a bit of a fall…”

Mark raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure you’re not covering for him? Did he hurt you?”

“NO! Really…we just fell”

Jaebum smirked and walked off, waving a concealed hand at JR. JR smiled a little and nodded at him before turning around to a questioning Mark and Bam.

“What was that about!” Bam asked, leaning up to put his head on Mark’s shoulder.

“Nothing…we talked for a bit and that was it…He was nice to me though”

“Brother! How is it hanging?” Jackson called out before putting his arm around Jaebum

Jaebum stood a little awkwardly, taking one earphone out and raising an eyebrow, “How are things…dude?”

“Things are great! Listen-“ he said, walking over to the other side of the bathroom, “I have a great idea of how we can beat up the new kid some more-“

“Enough” Jaebum whispered before putting his hands in his pockets

“Enough?” Jackson muttered, smirking to himself, “Enough what?”

“Leave the ing kids alone, he’s gone through enough as it is-“

Jackson slowly walked over to Jaebum before pinning him up against the wall and whispering to him, “You better watch your step Jaebum, it’s obvious that you’ve been infected with the homo bug”

Jackson turned his head before swinging a punch at Jaebum. Jaebum took the hit and hit his head against the tiled wall behind him. He swore and stumbled forward, trying to swing for Jackson but he was long gone, having slipped out after he stuck Jaebum.

“ing …doesn’t he know you can’t catch being gay?” Jaebum muttered to himself, chuckling a little at the end. He stumbled over to the sink to try and wash away the blood from his busted lip.

JR’s day had went from awful to pretty damn good. Ever since he had landed on Jaebum and they had accidently kissed, JR had a feeling that things would be different in school. He walked out of his classroom, the period before lunch, and headed for the bathrooms where someone walked in behind him. As soon as the door clicked shut he felt someone brush up against him. He froze and turned slightly to see Jackson peering over his shoulder, his arms around his waist.

“Wow JR I didn’t know you liked that-“ he whispered before attempting to kiss JR’s neck.

JR freaked out and began to squirm, yelping until Jackson’s sweaty palm covered his mouth.

“Listen up kid” he said, he hand brushing over JR’s crotch, “If you don’t stop hanging out with pretty boy Jaebum then I’ll have to hurt you, you wouldn’t want that would you”

JR squirmed in his grip, shaking his head.

“Good boy…” Jackson whispered, throwing JR against the sink and kicking him to the ground before spitting on him, “Your kind of people disgust me-“ he muttered before walking off, leaving a whimpering and hurt JR alone on the tiled floor, his books scattered everywhere.

After cleaning himself up and picking all of his books up, JR made his way to the cafeteria where he spied Mark and Bam holding hands over by the table in the corner. He blushed a bit to himself and went to grab his wallet to buy some food. He felt for a bit in his pocket, just feeling air, and thought back to when he last had it.

“Maybe it fell out of your bag when you dropped it in the bathroom” Jackson whispered to him, JR jumping at the sound. JR turned around and stormed off through the doors and went straight to the bathroom, pushing the door open to find Jackson’s other friends. He gulped. He had ran straight into a trap. Jackson came up behind and pushed him into the bathroom, leaning against the closed door.

“Well…well what up JR!” one called out whilst another one chuckled and prodded at JR’s shoulder, “Ah look how skinny the northerner is!” Jackson put his arms around JR’s waist and placed his head on his shoulder before nuzzling into him, “Aw look, JR is my little baby!”

JR shrugged him off and jerked his head up, “Get your dirty hands off of me,” he said, sounding more confident in his head than he actually was. In reality his hands were shaking and his lip trembled from raw fear. Jackson grabbed his arms and held them behind him as one of the others jabbed their foot into JR’s stomach. He screamed out in pain until Jackson’s sweaty palm came to cover his mouth again.

JR continued to squirm and shake violently in Jackson’s strong grip until a force sent them falling forward, the door was pushed open and Jaebum appeared, looking down at Jackson and JR on the floor and then to the other boys in the gang. JR immediately stood up and looked at Jaebum awkwardly before Jackson grabbed onto his ankle, “Jaebum, if you don’t slap this right now you are officially on our hit list”.

Jaebum smirked a little and yanked JR by the hand over, looking down at Jackson, “If you ever touch him again, I swear god so help me”. Jackson’s jaw dropped a little, a sadistic smirk forming on his, “See you in hell-“ he shouted after Jaebum who was already trailing JR down the corridor by the elbow. JR stopped in his tracks and held onto his elbow; rubbing it a little, “Why are you being so nice to me…” he trailed off before looking down.

Jaebum turned around and looked down at JR, his thumb resting on JR’s chin. He pushed his head back, looking for any damage but when he was sure there was none he stood back up straight and smiled a little, “You helped me this morning and I’m returning the favour…don’t think anything of it.”

“Thank you” JR muttered, looking down at his untied shoe. Jaebum looked down and got down onto his knee and began to tie his lace before looking up and smiling, “You’re a good kid JR, try and stay out of trouble”. That was the last thing Jaebum said before walking off.

The minute the bell rang, acknowledging the end of the school day, Mark, along with Bam, ran to find JR who was sitting outside with a book waiting for them. “Come with me” Mark started, “I have somewhere we can talk”.

The two followed Mark to the park near the school, the same one JR had been in that morning and the three sat down on a grassy hilly secluded by a giant oak tree.

“We need to do something about that gang” Mark began, clearing his throat with a cough before he talked, “The beatings and the taunting have gone on too long, we need to split them up”

“They’re not bad kids, they’re just scared of Jackson…just how I used to be” Bam piped up before looking at Mark. JR studied the two very carefully and noticed their feet were interlocked. He smirked a little to himself.

“We’re useless, as 3, because we have no real power…to the school we’re losers”

“That’s true JR…” Mark confirmed, looking down and picking at the strands of grass

“Unless…”

“Unless what Bam?” JR looked up, a little bit of hope in his eyes

“You know the way you and Jaebum are kinda-“

“Kinda what?” JR shot back, looking away and blushing a little. Mark noticed the small blush and pushed him playfully, “Yah- you don’t like the guy do you?”

“Well…he’s been nice to me recently, he might help” JR affirmed, looking up, smiling a little trying to avoid Mark’s grin.

“AH! Our little JR has a crush” he spat out before placing his hand on JR’s thigh.

“I do not! I swear!” JR blurted out, blushing bright red.

“On a serious note, if he does help, I want apologies to all of us, especially you JR…he made your life a living hell, right Bam?”

“Yeah I’m with you on that one, it was awful” Bam agreed

“I doubt we’ll even see each other again outside of school but if we do, I’ll be sure to ask him for our help”

The three boys sat around in the lasting afternoon sun for a while before making their separate ways, Mark and Bam going the same way. JR smiled to himself before making his way back home to throw on his uniform for his long night shift. He gave his teeth a quick brush and put his homework in his rucksack before setting off for the café, he hoped he could do some work on his break.

The night shift was incredibly quiet with just a few customers arriving and leaving every few hours or so. JR stood at the counter, waiting for a customer’s sandwich to finish toasting and was too engrossed in a day dream to even notice someone he knew walk into the café. He was knocked back to reality when the sandwich was finished toasting and brought the sandwich down to the lady who ordered it. Upon returning up to the counter one particular costumer caught his attention, a boy about his own age but with a much stronger build than JR had. He did a double take and looked right at Jackson who was looking intently at his book. JR froze and continued to stare, turning around and nearly stumbling up to the counter.

“What the hell do I do?” he muttered, pretending to look down at his books. When he finally mustered up the strength to look up, he saw no such boy sitting reading a book. He even stood up straight to find an empty seat where the boy had been sitting. He shook his head and laughed to himself, he was just imaging things.

“Since it’s not busy tonight I’ll let you go home early kid, make sure you get that work done now, you hear?” “Thank you sir! I’ll see you tomorrow for my next shift!” JR shouted as he ran out of the café, taking a minute to look at his watch. Since it was only 9 he had plenty of time to do his homework, actually have a meal and maybe even relax for a little. He smiled to himself with glee and almost skipped along home. That was until a masked man stopped him in his tracks.

The masked man appeared to come from the bushes near the café and immediately pushed JR up against the wall. The man was breathing heavy and attempted to search JR’s pockets, trying to find money.

“Where is the damn money?” he shouted in JR’s trembling face

“I-I-I-I h-ave none” he muttered, his lips trembling and his hands shaking.

The man scoffed and slapped JR across the face, putting his arms around him on the deserted street and pressing a concealed and pointy weapon at his back. JR yelped and attempted to escape the man but he only retaliated by placing his lips on JR’s soft white neck, his hands tracing the length of JR’s body. JR squirmed and attempted to scream before the man’s palm covered his mouth, something that reminded him of Jackson. He looked the man in the eyes and they made eye contact; it was Jackson, JR was sure of it.

“Jackson- please no, I’ll do anything-“ JR squirmed, trying to escape Jackson’s vice like grip

“I want this” Jackson whispered before attempting to JR’s shirt. Before JR could even begin to try and push the unstoppable brute, a car came speeding down the road and stopped beside the boys, a man getting out whilst leaving the car running.

Jackson turned slightly and upon seeing the man, quickly jabbed the knife into JR’s lower stomach, making a small yet significant wound. He sprinted away, dropping the knife as he fled.

JR fell to the ground as the man ran over, placing his arms around JR’s feeble body. JR twitched his head to the side ever so slightly and saw the face of the man who was holding him up, the face of the man who had saved him from possibly worse than his wound; the face of Im Jaebum.

“I need your help” was all JR could muster before he fell unconscious, he head falling back into Jaebum’s palm.