The Boy in The Mask (Taeten)

하나

Taeyong walked past the small Chinese boy, Zhong Chenle, shoving him into his locker just for amusement, and the kid dropped all his books, gasping in pain. He kept his head down, not even having one glance to know who did that.

Lee Taeyong. The captain of the Basketball team, the red haired 17 year old boy that practically ruled South Korea High.

Younger boys pretty much avoided him. Girls drooled over him. And all the jocks his age wanted to be his friend.

Except for one.

"TAEYONNNNGGGGG!!!" A familiar voice screeched throughout the hallway as Taeyong's best friend, Wong Yukhei, also known as Lucas, caught up to him. He was panting, out of breath.

"I found, I found, omo, guess what, Taeyo--"

"Jesus Christ Lucas chill, what?" Taeyong cut off the rambling.

"I found it!" Lucas yelled, drawing attention to them.

Taeyong stopped in front of his locker, raising an eyebrow. He got annoyed with Lucas sometimes, sure, but they were still best friends. "Found what?"

"My pencil." Lucas grinned like a five year old.

"I hate you" Taeyong sighed, putting books in his locker.

"But you don't~" Lucas sang in a teasing voice. He paused. "But seriously, I've been looking for this everywhere."

"Stop losing your shit." Taeyong said while closing his locker and swinging his backpack over his shoulder. Lucas only laughed, glancing down the hallway. "We only have one class left, are you skipping?" He asked the older.

"No, cause I'd be bored as hell. I have nothing to do anywhere else." Taeyong replied shortly and made his way to the second floor, Lucas following. As they rounded the corner, Taeyong smacked into someone. They both stumbled back, the boy he'd ran into fell right on the ground, his backpack sliding across the hall.

"Watch it punk." Taeyong snapped, eyeing the black haired boy. Half of his face was hidden by a black mask, and he was wearing glasses with a black hood up.

The boy said nothing, just scurried to his feet, grabbed his bag and ran the opposite direction.

Taeyong scoffed and just continued walking. Lucas glanced over his shoulder, always feeling bad for the people Taeyong bullied.

But he followed Taeyong anyways.

Ten was looking down, watching his feet as he rounded the corner, instantly smacking into another boy, causing him to fall on his butt on the ground. When Ten looked up, his eyes widened seeing the Basketball team captain, the bully, Lee Taeyong. He was beside a tall, handsome brunette boy watching the scene, also wide eyed.

"Watch it punk." Taeyong had said.

Ten got up, grabbing his backpack from across the hall and he ran past the two boys.

Ten's heart was racing by the time he got into his next class, he'd been doing so well of avoiding bullies this year, he wasn't about to ruin that routine.

Last year, the year ended with him having 2 broken bones, several injuries and crying emotional during school. It was halfway through this year, and he'd been hiding. Not only himself, but his face too.

He couldn't take another 'You're ugly' from a high school boy.

Ten's eyes searched for his best friend, Park Jimin, and when he found him he walked to the back of the classroom and sat at the desk beside him. Jimin leaned over and said, "You look like you just had a heart attack."

Ten shot Jimin a look, utterly ignoring him, adjusting his mask that was over his face everywhere beside his home. His parents and Jimin were the only people who've ever seen Ten's whole face.

"Gosh, my heart, you don't have to be so rude." Jimin put his hand over his heart, gasping in a dramatic way.

Ten couldn't help but laugh quietly at his friend's stupidity. "Sh." He said and Jimin smiled, proud he could cheer Ten up.

After class that day, Ten was walking home alone, the heat of the day was killing him. He didn't have his license yet, although Jimin did and he usually gave him a ride, but Monday's and Thursdays he had to work right after school.

When Ten got home, he went straight to his room, throwing his backpack on the floor. His blinds were shut, so he took off his mask and glasses, falling onto his bed with a heavy sigh.

"Chittaphon!" His mom called from downstairs.

Ten didn't return her call, he didn't want to talk. He didn't want to do anything but sleep, he was so sick of school and life in general.

Several seconds later, his mom had walked in.

"Chittaphon, the neighbours were looking for you again. They wanted to play." She said, standing in the doorway.

"Are they waiting in the driveway?" Ten asked. "Yeah, why don't you go outside with them for a little while?" She smiled.

Ten groaned as an answer and rolled the other way in bed. His neighbours were Jaehyun, Jungwoo, and Doyoung, and yeah they were nice, but did they actually care about Ten? No. They always just needed another person to play Soccor with for teams.

"Hon, you can't be cooped up in your room all afternoon. It's a beautiful day!" Ten's mother exclaimed.

"Meh" Ten muttered. His mom sighed, and after a second he heard the door close.

When she was gone, Ten sat up and glanced at himself in the mirror. He never used to have a problem with the way he looked when he was a child.

But the more people pointed out flaws, the more he saw them and the more he wanted to hide.

Plus he was openly gay, yet he's never even had a boyfriend.

"HIGH SCORE! YES MOTHER FLIPPER!" Lucas shouted at his video game on the TV screen. "Mother flipper?" Taeyong arched an eyebrow, glancing at his friend, then he looked back down to his phone, scrolling through Instagram cause what else was there to do.

"I refuse to swear in Mark's house or his mom'll beat me." Lucas stated right as their other friend, Mark walked in.

"Who's beating who what now?" Mark asked while handing out sodas. Taeyong just set his aside, zoning out his friends voices while glueing his eyes to his phone.

"Oh so guys, my parents are leaving for China tomorrow instead of Saturday." Lucas said, pausing his video games and looking from Mark to Taeyong. "So I was thinkingggg...." He stopped talking.

Mark and Taeyong both looked at him. "Just tell us dumbass." Taeyong rolled his eyes.

"We should throw a party tomorrow night!" Lucas said. Taeyong slowly smiled. "I'm down."  "Yeah sick, let's do it." Mark agreed.