SUBURBIA ━ hyunbinlix ✓

十六

Tuesday, October 15th

Hyunjins hands shook as he stood in the bathroom stall. reading the messages that the two anonymous students wrote to him. He had felt bad for leaving the two for so long, but his depressive state had swallowed him whole, making him a different person.

He raised his hand to reply to the two, trying to find a good place near all of the messages.

"sorry, family business..." he wrote, making an excuse to cover up the truth.

After he was finished he capped the pen and returned it to where he found it originally. He grabbed his bag and walked out of the stall, heading to his third period class.

He walked into the full classroom only seconds before the last bell had rung, taking his seat next to the boy with raven hair.

He had been becoming more distant with Minho since his mother had walked in on him, but he still felt bad for not acknowledging him when he entered the room, so he offered a nod in his direction receiving a small wave in return.

"I noticed you weren't in class yesterday," Hyunjin said, starting a conversation with his seatmate. "Everything okay?"

The black haired replied in a few hand symbols that Hyunjin couldn't understand, so when Changbin saw the confusion evident on his face he slid his notebook over and began writing.

'everything is okay.' he wrote, 'you don't even know me, why are you worried?'

Hyunjin shrugged in reply, sliding Changbins notebook back over to where it had originally sat.

"I've known you since grade school," Hyunjin announced. "Was I not supposed to care?"

Changbin replied with a stiff shaking of his head, and turned to look at the teacher as she spoke.

Hyunjin let out a shaky sigh, and took out his journal and a pen from his backpack.

it seems as if random people writing on a bathroom wall care about me more than my own parents. i don't reply for two days and get multiple messages on where i've been or why i've left. i leave for two days at home and get yelled at by dad, i guess there goes my plans for running away.

Things have been weird with Minho lately, ever since mom walked in on us. I've been noticing little things about him like how his eyes sparkle in the sunlight or how his smile lights up a room. i don't want to notice this, i just want it to stop. i can't become attached to someone who's just going to leave.

like you left.

Hyunjin put a cap on his pen and closed the notebook that he wrote in, he already wanted to rip the page out because he spilled too much on it. Letting his emotions out had never been his strong suit, he even felt guilty when it was just on this page for nobody to see except himself.

"Ca-can I be excused," Hyunjin heard a voice from the other side of the room, he recognized it as Minho and locked his eyes on the scene.

A line of blood dripped from Minhos nose, his eyes were heavy and his words came out quickly.

Hyunjin felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to his seat-mate, looking down at the paper he offered.

'is he okay...?' it read.

Hyunjin slowly shook his head, beginning to turn his bead back to the scene.

"I don't think so..."

•••

"Mind if we sit?" Minho asked, putting his tray of food on the table before he asked the question.

Hyunjin sat beside Changbin as Minho took a seat next to Felix. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in the elders presence, especially since he had a feeling that he didn't enjoy his company.

Changbin nudged the youngers shoulder to grab his attention, showing him the message on his phone.

'can you ask if he's okay?' It read.

As Hyunjin read the message, Changbin directed a look in Minhos direction just to make sure Hyunjin knew who he meant.

Hyunjin gave a shrug in reply, "ask him yourself."

Changbin blankly stared at Hyunjin before sending a derogatory hand sign his way.

"Woah, is there a problem?" Minho asked as he saw the exchange between the two boys.

"He wanted to know if you were okay," Hyunjin told the elder. "I don't know why he couldn't do it himself."

Minho waved his arm in the raven hairs direction so that he could grab Changbins attention without noise.

'are you deaf?' Minho signed to the elder.

His younger brother had been deaf, so he and his family had to learn sign language to be able to communicate with eachother. Once he was born, Minho had spent his days learning the language until he was fluent, he would do almost anything for his brother.

Changbins eyes lit up at the sight of Minho signing and caused Felix to slightly smile, happy seeing Changbin so joyful.

'no,' He signed back. 'i'm mute.'

Minhos mouth formed an O shape as Changbin told him. He had dealt with many deaf people in his life, but mute wasnt something he was used to. Changbin could hear every word anyone said, so signing wasn't even necessary in his case.

'sorry about Hyunjin,' Minho continued. 'Its just...family business'

After he finished signing to Changbin, He turned back to Hyunjin to explain why Changbin had been so silent.

"He doesn't speak." Minho spoke, "He's mute."

"Huh," Hyunjin let out a sign of confusion. "So you dont speak?"

Changbin shook his head, returning to the half a sandwich Felix had given him for lunch.

"Why?" Hyunjin continued.

Changbin signed a sarcastic, 'for fun,' resulting in Minhos laughter filling the cafeteria.

The younger of the two could feel that they would be good friends in the future.