“You’re exactly the kind of guy he would do it to.”

Junhyung stares at himself in the mirror. He had managed to make it to the Dormitories Block without much problem after leaving the Academic Block and he had found his dormitory room smoothly. He had unlocked the door with a key that he had been issued with in the morning at the main office and found most of his belongings set right behind the door.

The dormitory room was pretty standard. There was a double-deck bed pressed up against one wall, the upper bunk messy and the bottom bunk clean. On the opposite wall were two tables, one empty and another occupied but organized. There were two small, unused bookshelves squeezed in between the two desks. Perpendicular to the double-deck bed were two metal closets, not unlike the lockers at the Facilities Block. Attached to the room was a small bathroom, enough to fit a toilet, a squashed shower that could barely fit two people shoulder-to-shoulder and a tiny sink.

Junhyung stands in the bathroom, between the cold plastic door of the shower and the porcelain of the sink. He stares at his reflection in the mirror and he thinks about what Yoseob had said.

“You’re exactly the kind of guy he would do it to.”

He thinks he knows what kind of guy he is. He thinks he knows exactly what Yoseob had meant when he had said that. Junhyung is that guy. Junhyung is the weak, skinny, ugly guy that you could bully and he would never say a word. Junhyung is the kind of unworthy guy that no one would give a damn about even if he turned up to class with a black eye. Junhyung is the kind of guy that is easy to push over and bother. Junhyung is the kind of guy that gives his friends unnecessary problems, if he even had friends in the first place. Yoseob and the rest aren’t really his friends, more like friends on loan, friends that Hyunseung reluctantly lent to him on his first day of school. He knows tomorrow when he goes for classes they’ll just ignore him and leave him to be, as nice as they were on his first day.

Junhyung pulls on a tank top, another loose t-shirt and a hoodie before his boxers, a pair of shorts and a pair of sweatpants. It’s not too cold, in fact, the heating in the room is working perfectly fine, but Junhyung has the air conditioning cranked up high so that he can pile on layers of clothes without suspicion. He thinks his roommate will be the stereotypical “jock” – except everyone in this school can qualify as a jock as long as they are s – who picks on weaker students, but that is nothing compared to the kind of people who were in Seoul University High. Junhyung thinks he’ll be able to manage; after all, what hasn’t he gone through? A little bit of rough housing and verbal abuse will be nothing. Even if his roommate were anything like his old classmates, it wouldn’t be anything new. Junhyung knows that he deserves whatever they did to him anyway, despite what his therapist tells him.

He deserves to be used because that is the only thing he is ever good for. He isn’t beautiful, he isn’t smart, he isn’t the best tennis player, he isn’t good enough, he just doesn’t deserve anything. He barely even deserves to be used. At least when they use him, they touch him, he’s not disgusting to the point where people wouldn’t touch him, not yet. It’ll be okay no matter what his new roommate does, because he doesn’t deserve better. Junhyung makes sure that no one can spot the two extra layers of clothes before he unlocks the bathroom. He opens the first box of his books and begins to unpack his things.

—-

From: My Baby Maknae, Dongni
Hyung, were you guys talking about Taecyeon?

From: Lieutenant General Yangyo
Yeah. Junhyung is rooming with him, so Hyunseung is kind of worried. Don’t tell Kikwang though.

From: My Baby Maknae, Dongni
Kikwang knew you guys were talking about Taecyeon though, hyung. He looks stupid, but he isn’t really stupid, you know. Doojoon-hyung only ever looks that angry when it’s about Kikwang or their family. Hyunseung-hyung is worrying about Junhyung-hyung? That’s a first. Taecyeon was suspended though. Chansung told Jinwoon who told Nicole who told Kibum who told me. I don’t get why Jinwoon doesn’t just tell all of us instead of making this some sort of idiotic 91-line relay though.

From: Lieutenant General Yangyo
Oh thank god. I’ll let Hyunseung know. How long is he suspended for? What did the bastard do this time?

From: Yang Yoseob
HYUNSEUNG-AH. JUNHYUNG IS SAFE. THE BASTARD GOT SUSPENDED \o/

From: My Baby Maknae, Dongni
Well, from what I could conclude from Kibum’s random spazzing gossip fest, Taecyeon got caught visiting a brothel during the weekend. A gay brothel. This is his second suspension, so if he tries anything else after this, he’s definitely going to be considered for expulsion. Even his parents’ family won’t be able to save him from expulsion and he isn’t exactly the best player on the football team, so I don’t think he’ll risk Junhyung-hyung. I think this time he’s suspended for a week, which should be enough time to sort something out for Junhyung-hyung, right?

From: 4D Prince Jang
Okay. Thanks.

From: That Dude, Yoseob
Doo-leader, Junhyung will be okay. The bastard is suspended. Dongni says for a week. Stop worrying, old man.

“So that’s what they were worrying about,” Kikwang mumbles as he scrolls through Dongwoon’s message history with Yoseob, flopped on the bottom bunk of Dongwoon’s dormitory room. Dongwoon spins around on the black swivel chair, turning from his desk to face Kikwang.

“Yeah. I guess I could understand why Doojoon-hyung and Yoseob-hyung were worried, but it doesn’t make sense that Hyunseung-hyung would be concerned,” Kikwang chews on his lower lip as he meets Dongwoon’s eyes, pondering on the subject. Besides Doojoon, Kikwang is the closest to Hyunseung. Kikwang can’t be sure why Hyunseung would be concerned about Junhyung, to be honest. Hyunseung isn’t a heartless guy, he cares about his friends, he just doesn’t really seem to notice anyone else. With anyone else, Kikwang is sure Hyunseung wouldn’t have reacted the way he did if the new transfer student was rooming with Taecyeon.

“Maybe something happened during the day when we weren’t around? Maybe Junhyung managed to make friends with Hyunseung,” Kikwang suggests, even though the possibility is quite slim. The only reason why Yoseob, Kikwang and Dongwoon were friends with Hyunseung was because of Doojoon. It was extremely hard, if not near impossible, to make friends with Hyunseung. He either frustrated you first or you frustrated him first. It was a 99.9% chance that Hyunseung wouldn’t make friends with anyone. Doojoon only managed to make friends with Hyunseung during their freshman year because Kikwang’s older half-brother was just the most patient guy alive, in addition to the fact that the man could make friends with almost anyone in the world. Doojoon was Hyunseung’s absolute opposite.

“You know that isn’t even logical,” Dongwoon says as he scribbles on his worksheet, having turned back to his Anatomy textbook, the reason why Kikwang had come over to his room after dinner.

“If only Hyunseung-hyung was as easy to understand as that Anatomy worksheet,” Kikwang sighs as he rolls himself off of the bed and sets Dongwoon’s cell phone next to the younger male’s textbook. He sits down in the other swivel chair, belonging to Dongwoon’s roommate, Cheolyong. Dongwoon looks up indignantly, frowning at Kikwang. As much as other people might mistake Kikwang for a bimbo or a stupid idiot, Dongwoon knows much better. The older male aces all of his classes effortlessly. Dongwoon isn’t a stupid guy himself, he does fairly above average in all of his classes. He does well in languages and in Mathematical classes, but he still does struggle to keep up in his science and elective classes.

“Thanks, Kikwang-hyung, I feel so much smarter now,” Dongwoon says sarcastically as he flips through his Anatomy textbook. Kikwang’s copy of the worksheet is somewhere in the midst of the mess that is Dongwoon’s desk right now, but Dongwoon resists the urge to copy. Kikwang giggles from Cheolyong’s seat, because Dongwoon is always so adorable about how Kikwang is actually smart but never appears to be smart while Dongwoon appears to be smart but isn’t actually that smart. Kikwang rises from his seat and loosely wraps his arms around Dongwoon’s neck.

“You’re cuter than I am,” Kikwang runs his fingers along Dongwoon’s collarbone; looking at the question that Dongwoon is working on. It is, admittedly, one of the harder questions at the end of the worksheet that Kikwang had trouble with as well. He taps Dongwoon on the head, a hint about how to solve the question, and presses a light kiss to his taller boyfriend’s temple.

“Is it considered cheating if you always help me get the answers like this?” Dongwoon asks as he kisses Kikwang’s arm in the same brief, brushing way before writing down his answer with the help of Kikwang’s hint.

“The fact that you could tell that I was even hinting was all thanks to your own brain. I didn’t even say anything at all, so I don’t think that’s cheating,” Kikwang runs a hand through Dongwoon’s bleached blonde hair, the faint smell of chemicals wafting into his nose.

“Your roots are showing,” Kikwang mentions as he twirls a lock of blonde hair around his fingers gently.

“And you are being completely obvious,” Dongwoon says firmly as he places his pen on the table and manoeuvres Kikwang onto his lap. The petite brunet allows himself to be seated on Dongwoon’s lap and he wraps his arms around Dongwoon’s waist, leaning against the sophomore’s chest. Kikwang listens to Dongwoon’s steady heartbeat, his legs folded.

“Only obvious to you,” Kikwang murmurs with a light blush on his face. Dongwoon encircles Kikwang’s waist with his arms as well, securing Kikwang against him. Despite his broad shoulders and physique from swim team training, Kikwang was still considerably lighter than he looked. Dongwoon wasn’t as weak as his lean figure suggested either. Dongwoon Kikwang’s soft black locks, just relishing in the feeling of holding Kikwang.

“I’m just worried about Junhyung too, you know? He looks so fragile and it just doesn’t feel okay even if Taecyeon is suspended,” Kikwang expresses as he burrows his face into the crook of Dongwoon’s neck, inhaling the younger male’s reassuring scent, musky and strong. If Cheolyong were to return from bugging Sanghyun – although everyone just called him Cheondung – it would’ve been incredibly awkward since Dongwoon and Kikwang were in such an intimate position, but Kikwang didn’t really mind. Being surrounded entirely by Dongwoon was something that soothed the junior. Having Dongwoon all around him made Kikwang feel safe, as though Taecyeon would not be able to touch him as long as Dongwoon was around.

“You don’t have to worry too much, as much as I don’t understand what is going on between Hyunseung-hyung and Junhyung-hyung, I’m sure Hyunseung-hyung won’t let anything happen to Junhyung if he can help it. I’d ask Hyunseung-hyung about it, but I guess they’ll tell us when they feel like they should.”

“Do you think Doojoon-hyung and Yoseob noticed it though?” Kikwang asks as he pulls away from Dongwoon a little, careful not to use too much force or risk tipping the both of them off the swivel chair.

“I don’t-“

“OH GOD MY EYES, MY EYES. I’M SCARRED FOR LIFE AGAIN. WHY ARE THE TWO OF YOU ALWAYS LIKE THIS?” Dongwoon rolls his eyes as Cheolyong begins his usual tirade about how both Kikwang and Dongwoon have no respect for public places.

“I have no involvement in this issue, as usual, but you do realise that this is not a public place, right?” Kibum pipes as he leans against the doorjamb with a bored expression on his face, as usual. Dongwoon resists the urge to just bury himself into a giggling Kikwang’s stomach when Cheolyong begins to argue with Kibum about whether or not his dorm room with Dongwoon is a public place or not.

—-

Junhyung wakes up in the morning to the sound of his alarm trilling in his ear, clutched in his hands. He winces when he tries to look up, because his neck is extremely sore and his back aches. Junhyung finds himself sleeping on the floor, crouched in an uncomfortable position over one of his empty boxes. He had fallen asleep while unpacking.

Junhyung stretches his body slowly and notices that his roommate never came to the room. There is absolutely nothing different about the room from what Junhyung remembers. The blankets on the top bunk are still in the same mess, none of the books on his roommate’s desk have been touched and all of Junhyung’s belongings are still in the same places that he’d left them. Most of his casual reading books and textbooks have been organized on one of the bookshelves. The textbooks and notebooks that he would be using for the school year were all organized neatly with bookends on the desk, next to a stationary box that Junhyung had set up. His laptop was safely stowed away in the desk drawer with a lock, as well as his other valuables that he could not bring with him to class. Junhyung had also unpacked the contents of his luggage – mostly his clothes – into the empty stainless steel closet.

Junhyung unfolds the cardboard boxes into flat pieces to be kept underneath his bed, along with his luggage, and makes sure that the dormitory room is clean before he grabs his toiletries bag from his closet and heads into the unoccupied bathroom. He brushes his teeth and washes his face mechanically, because he is thinking about other things.

He thinks about the reason why his roommate didn’t come to the dorm room. Perhaps Doojoon and the rest were serious and had confronted the guy, Ok Taecyeon. Perhaps they had found a way to get around the check. He thinks that it might not be the interference of Doojoon and the rest though. It nags at him that Ok Taecyeon might have returned to the dormitory after Junhyung had fallen asleep flipping through one of Roald Dahl’s short story collections again. It nags at him that Ok Taecyeon might have returned to the dormitory room, seen Junhyung and been so disgusted that he had decided to bunk with some of his other friends. When Junhyung is done washing up, he keeps his toiletries and brings his uniform into the bathroom.

He makes sure to lock the bathroom door before he begins to strip off the layers of clothes that he has on until all that’s left is his shorts and underwear. Junhyung puts on four layers of shirts today under his white button-up, because having just two like yesterday wasn’t enough; Hyunseung heard his stomach and he was freezing without his duffle coat on in the evening, even in the school with the heaters on. His white button-up fits just nicely on him today with the four extra layers underneath and he adds his green school vest and black blazer. He pulls his school pants on over his shorts and thanks the designer of the uniform that the pants don’t hug his legs, so his shorts don’t show too obviously. When Junhyung deems himself presentable after a few minutes of intense scrutiny of his reflection in the mirror, he unlocks the bathroom door and walks back into the dormitory room.

The sun that was rising when he had woken up hangs cheerfully in the sky now as if mocking Junhyung with its sheer brilliance. The sun is beautiful, so beautiful and bright that no one can stare directly at it. Junhyung thinks he is hard to look at too but for all the wrong reasons. Junhyung picks his backpack up, stuffed with the necessary materials for the school day and his duffle coat before he exits his dormitory room at 7:17am.

A/N: More Junhyung monologue, Kiwoon and monologue again in this chapter, which I hope you guys enjoyed. I also hope no one got confused by who was sending what message and who was receiving what message! If there is any confusion, do let me know and I'll add little notes on who is sending what and who is receiving what (which I pray will be unnecessary). Not a very fantastic update, but an update nonetheless. I'm going to revise the foreword and the description and etc. so if anyone is interested in that, do look out for the changes in that. I think the direction of All-Stars has finally made itself apparent and I have a vague outline and idea for All-Stars, which actually started out from me writing something random after being inspired by a comment I'd seen on Tumblr. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this update and please, please comment guys! I really like and love comments!