Jinyoung thought it would be easier to talk to him, but Gongchan’s brother wasn’t helping that much. He had found him early in the morning next to his locker, picking some notebooks and stuff, and even if he was friendly at first, things started to get complicated when Jinyoung first mentioned Gongchan.

“Sandeul-ssi” he insisted “please, I need to know what happened”

The chubby face of the younger had a troubled expression, not the relaxed one Jinyoung remembered from when they had lunch together the other day. He bit his lips.

 “I’m not the best person to tell you” he finally said

“Who then? You’re his brother, and all I need to know is if he’s okay”

“He is” Junghwan said and pretended to look for something inside his locker “I have to go, sorry hyung”

“Is he mad at me?” Jinyoung tried for the last time, his expression had to be lame, because Junghwan sighed and started talking

“No, hyung, listen, he’s not mad at you. Is just… dad doesn’t like him to be around boys okay? He got himself into big trouble when he took you to our place” he stopped talking abruptly, like he realized he had said too much. “I have to go”

“Is that the same reason you don’t want to hang out with Baro anymore?”

Sandeul’s face turned blue “Yeah”

Jinyoung entered the classroom a few seconds after the bell ringed, sat by Shinwoo and opened his notebook just to stare at a plank page. He heard the teacher talking but he wasn’t really listening, instead, he was just drawing circles on the pages while his best friend gave him strange looks over his shoulders.

“Dad doesn’t like him to be around boys” what was that supposed to mean? He wasn’t allowed to make friends? He got it, Gongchan was probably gay and his father was a hopeless homophobe, but not allowing his own son to make human contact with others seemed way too extreme. Jinyoung kept wondering if maybe the man had beaten him that night. The only thought of that made him sick in the stomach, and even if he was never an aggressive person, he found himself thinking about kicking his someday, too.

“Baro-yah, where are you going?”

Sandeul was taking his lunch out of his backpack, he and Gongchan had decided to have lunch inside of their classrooms so he wouldn’t have to see Jinyoung, his little brother should appear at any moment and Sandeul had taken for granted that Baro was going to join them, too.

“I have things to do”

“Do you want company? I’ll finish this in a heartbeat”

I bet you will. “No” he said instead “It’s personal stuff”

“Oh, okay then, good luck” the older smiled, Baro felt a tug of annoyance inside of him.

Calm the down, Cha Baro. It’s not like they couldn’t be friends anymore, they could hang out at school and it certainly was better that the auto imposed loneliness he had before the kid appeared in his life. He should’ve been satisfied. But I’m a greedy er.

Baro shook the thoughts off his head before going into the yard, those boys, Jinyoung and Shinwoo, were waiting for him sitting by a tree. He forced himself to calm down and went there.

“Yah, here I am” he threw himself on the grass “tell me what you must”

Shinwoo looked at Jinyoung, the boy just sighed. “It’s complicated”

“We have like an entire hour”

“They’re not allowed to hang out with us”

“Not allowed? What are they? Five?” Baro spit out, angry. That was just plain ridiculous.

“Listen, this is no joke, okay” Jinyoung seemed serious “Gongchan seems to be gay, and his father’s a total who doesn’t let him see any guys. I suspect he even beats him.”

“That’s impossible, we’re in the 21th century, no one’s like that anymore”

“I know what I saw, and even Sandeul told me. I’m being serious Baro”

Baro kept quiet for a while, looking playing with the leaves that had fallen from the tree. He finally spoke what was really worrying him.

“Okay but what does have to do with Sandeul?”

It was Jinyoung’s turn to look at Shinwoo, who seemed to only be there as moral support.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything, maybe their father doesn’t want to take risks?”

“That’s bull” because it was.

“It is”

***

A couple of days had passed and Sandeul was sure he’d never seen his brother so blue. He passed the time at home lying in bed with those damned earphones on all the time, and Junghwan was sure the music he listened to wasn’t anything specially cheerful. He almost didn’t eat either, which was alarming to Sandeul because how do you survive with no food. They didn’t talk much at night, and he was sure his brother wasn’t really sleeping.

That’s why he decided to take some action in the matter.

“Jinyoung hyung, Shinwoo hyung, do you mind if I have lunch with you?”

Jinyoung and Shinwoo were having lunch when Sandeul appeared at their table with his food, there was no reason for him to join them, but they guessed they couldn’t just say no, and anyways, he might just have a reason, but the minutes passed and the boy seemed focused only in his food, Jinyoung was plain confused.

“Sandeul-ah, is there something wrong?” he finally asked

“No, why?”

“I don’t know, listen, I’m not trying to be mean but why exactly are you here?”

Sandeul swallowed and looked at Shinwoo “Can he keep a secret?”

“He’s my best friend”

“So?” he shoved more rice into his mouth “Can he?”

Shinwoo looked annoyed “Yes, I can”

“Fine, I’m here because of Gongchannie”

Jinyoung straightened in his seat “Did he send you?”

“Not exactly” Sandeul looked around “Look, I’m worried about him, he’s not the same anymore and I think it’s because he misses you, I’ve tried to cheer him up but nothing works and it’s starting to freak me out”

“But your father won’t let him see me”

“I know, that’s why I’ve come with the perfect plan. He can’t use his phone to text because my parents might check it but he can use mine, so I was thinking you two can text each other using my phone. I promise not to read anything of course” he paused to see the reaction “See, I’m a mastermind”

“Would you really do that?”

“I’ll do anything for Chan” Sandeul said proudly “so what do you say?”

“I say I’ll give you my phone number”

“Yes!” Junghwan cheered way too loud but Jinyoung didn’t care about the other students staring at them, he was happy, too.

“I can’t do that, hyung, is literally the worst idea you’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot”

Gongchan and Sandeul were walking their way home across the park and for the first time in days, Gongchan didn’t look like a zombie.

“Then why are you smiling huh? Why?”

“Because you’re dumb”

“That’s not it, I’m not, my idea is just brilliant” Junghwan leaned on his brother’s shoulder, he was the shortest of the two, so he was always hanging from the latter.

“Yah, hyung you’re heavy, get off”

“Don’t change the subject” Sandeul said, still leaning “please tell me you’ll do it, I can’t stand seeing you sad anymore”

“I’ll think about it”

Even if Gongchan said he’d think about it, he had already decided he’d do it, but that didn’t make him any less nervous. What would he talk about? He wasn’t an interesting person. He wasn’t funny or clever or even talkative. His hyung might be dumb but in times like these he’d wish he could be a little more like him. At least he’d knew what to talk about.

At 10:30, Gongchan braced himself to do it.

Gongchan

Good night, hyung. Uhm, how are you doing? >.<

Jinyoung

Channie! I thought you’ll never write.

 I’m fine now that you’re talking to me <3  

Did you eat well?

Even if that was an easy question, Gongchan didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t have any dinner, but he doubted telling his hyung was a good idea and he also didn’t feel like lying. He decided to ask him other things instead, and the conversation went on and on, each message less awkward than the last, even after a few messages, Gongchan found himself laughing and chuckling at the texts he got, his brother was giving him mocking glances.

“Shut up, hyung”

“I didn’t say anything” Sandeul laughed

“Just shut up”

Jinyoung

Ah, Chan-ah, I’m very sleepy. It’s 1 in the moring, can you tell!

I didn’t even notice the time go by >.<

Hey, I know you can’t see me and all but can we hang out at school?

Like have lunch together or something? I really miss having you around

No one will know, I promise!
 

Gongchan

I don’t know hyung. I’ll guess we could do it but…

I’ll let you know tomorrow okay?

Jalyayo <3

Typing that last heart had taken all his will. It was just a stupid emoji, but he felt like it revealed too much, with a little luck, his hyung wouldn’t overthink it.