Beomgyu felt himself getting shaken awake by an excited Yeonjun. "Wake up, dumbass! Soobin's math test is today and we gotta wish him luck!" he squealed, and the hazelnut groans and pulled the blanket over his head. "What the hell is going on at five in the morning?" a groggy voice asked beside Beomgyu.
"The blueberry wants to wish his boyfriend luck for a dumb math test." The blankets were pushed away and both the half-asleep males were shaken awake. "Wake up, wake up! I gotta be a good boyfriend and be there for him, you know?" he chirps, slapping their butts. "Hands off the goods, Jun. Go by yourself if you're so desperate." Beomgyu groans and brings the sheets back up. "But you guys have to come with me! I'm scared to go by myself.." he whines, folding his arms.
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"Getting a boyfriend has really changed Hyung." Taehyun mumbles sleepily into his mask, hands in his black ripped jeans. "Yeah. Last time he came to ask us for something, he was all 'oh but I can do it by myself' and 'oh I don't need your help' but now he's all like this." Beomgyu sighs, adjusting his sling bag on his shoulder. "Also, why are we going to school so early?" he asks. "Yeonjun Hyung said that Soobin Hyung usually comes to school at this time, and he'd probably be here already because he's hardworking, and might be studying for it." Hueningkai answers.
"Guys, hurry up! Soobin will think I forgot about him!" Yeonjun yells back at them, a few metres ahead. "Jesus Christ, Hyung. It's not like he's going to break up with you." Beomgyu rolls his eyes and calls back. Surprisingly, Yeonjun didn't continue rushing. Instead, he looked down and seemed to be a little sad. The three notice this and quickly rush to him. "What's wrong, Hyung?" Hueningkai asks.
"..Am I being an annoyance? Do you think Soobin will be annoyed? What if he wants me to go away? What if he doesn't want to see me anymore? What if he wants to break u-" "My god, Hyung, what the hell are you talking about? Soobin would never leave you for a reason like this. Actually, I think he'd find it cute and nice to have a boyfriend who cares so much about him." Taehyun interrupts him.
Yeonjun dropped to his knees and covered his head with his hands. "I don't know, I don't know! I just want to make sure that Soobin knows I love him too!" his muffled screams were barely covered by the material of his hoodie. "Wait a second, someone's there." Taehyun tugged on Beomgyu's sleeve and pointed at the school's entrance. Sure enough, there was a lean, tall figure growing bigger and bigger, seeming to be heading in their direction.
"Is it a monster? Because I beg you, come and kill me." Beomgyu steps forward and opens his arms, closing his eyes. "Same here. Please kill me." Taehyun stepped forward and opens his arms. "Guys..? What are you doing?" A familiar voice sounded. The couple opened their eyes and saw Soobin standing there in the dimming light of the street lamps. "Why are you doing that?" he asks, clearly puzzled. "Ah, sorry, Hyung. I thought you were a monster that was going to kill us. Guess we were wrong, sorry." Beomgyu pulls Taehyun aside and rests an arm on his shoulder.
"..Who'd want to die?" Soobin asks, his face scrunched up, trying to understand why everyone started laughing really loudly. "..Who'd.." Beomgyu wheezed. "..want to die..?" he threw his head back and let out an obviously fake laugh. "You.. dumbass..!" he slapped Soobin's back hard, making him squeak and lose his balance, almost falling. "That's not important now.. where's Yeonjun Hyung?" he asks, looking around.
"Oh come on, you're not that tall that you can't see me here." Yeonjun stood up and dusted off his pants, trotting over to Soobin as if he wasn't just having a life crisis over whether he'd break up with him over a small matter. "How's the studying going?" Yeonjun grins and asks.
"Studying..?" Soobin tilts his head to the side. "..for your math test..?" the older folded his arms and mimicks Soobin's head tilt. "A-Ah, yes! I just remembered. Sorry, I got so tired last night that I kind of forgot about it. I better start studying, right?" he beams awkwardly, nodding his head and turning around to go back to the school's garden, where he left his bag.
Yeonjun sighs and grabs his shoulder and spun him around. "Bin, I'm not stupid. Were you lying to me yesterday?" he asks. "W-Why would I lie to you?" he looks away and fidgets with his fingers uncomfortably. "Bin." "I really wasn't, though!" Soobin begged him, his almond eyes brimming with tears. "Really?" Yeonjun puts a hand on his own hip and shifts his weight to one leg.
"Yes.." Soobin sniffs, overwhelmed by the pressure of having to lie, not only because they had to keep their relationship, but also to keep whatever thoughts he had last night a secret only to himself. "I'll believe you, but just this once. Lie to me again, and I'll punish you." he presses a finger to his chest, lingering it for a while before folding his arms again.
"Ooh, punish? What kind of punishment is Soob going to get?" Beomgyu snickers, getting a hard slap on the back from Taehyun and Hueningkai. "Alright, Hyung, that's enough. Why don't the both of you go inside? We'll be waiting at the café since it's still early." the youngest suggests with a sunshine smile, gripping Beomgyu's shoulder tightly.
"Ah, yeah, sure.." Soobin mumbled, still dazed by the sudden interrogation. "Well, Binnie, let's go and leave these idiots alone." Yeonjun grins brightly despite having given a full-blown Hyung lecture a few moments before. He hooks an arm around Soobin's shoulders and stalks away with him, leaving the three in the dust alone. Again.
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"I had no idea we had a garden here." Yeonjun gasps in awe at the vines tangled around white-painted metal patterns which formed the entrance, while pretty dahlias with shades of orange and red adorned orangey-yellow-reddish wilting bushes. "Probably because you've almost never gone to school." Soobin giggles awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood, or rather, his mood.
"You're right. Maybe I should go to school more often. I mean, these little bright blue flowers are so tiny and cute! They remind me of Taehyun." he runs his hands over the small patch of cornflowers growing beside the entrance. "Did you just call him short..?" Soobin asks incredulously. "Let's be honest, we all thought that from the start." Yeonjun nods, satisfied, and stood up.
"Not going to lie, though, he's a real midget, that guy." he chuckles, looking around to molest more flowers and strip them of their pollen grains. "Hyung, no. These pretties won't be able to reproduce." Soobin drags him away from some gomphrena blowing in the slight early morning breeze. "But it's so small and cute!" Yeonjun grumbles as he gets dragged away.
"Um, it was here just now.. where did it go?" Soobin had stopped at a white marble table with a fancy-looking metal stand at the bottom, with the addition of a matching white marble chair with a velvety cushion on it. "How exactly did we earn scholarships for this high school?" Yeonjun covers his mouth and grips the table.
"Hyung, I know you're busy admiring the view, but could you help me search for my school bag? My assignments and study materials are in it." he calls, bent over underneath the table. "Fine, fine. We should come here more often, though. I'm calling the rest to bring drinks here so we can drink them here." Yeonjun whips out his phone and begins to dial Taehyun's number.
"Hey. school bag." Soobin takes the phone away from him and ended the call. "Alright, alright, I'm going." Yeonjun groans and walks to a nearby bush to look for it. He pushes aside the branches, letting stray leaves flutter down slowly. Finding nothing, he shook his head and stood up, turning around. "Not here. I thought you were a responsible student, Binnie." he teasingly snickers.
"N-No, I swear I left it here!" Soobin protests, pointing at the chair. "I'm responsible..! Don't break up with me, please-!" He begged, taking hold of his boyfriend's shoulders. "Woah, slow down, Soobin. Who said I'd break up with you?" Yeonjun patted his arm gently and looked at him, concerned. "B-But.. no, wait.." Soobin trails off, lost for words. "..you're not breaking up with me?"
"Of course not. With someone as trustworthy, smart, cute and responsible as you, I'm a lucky guy to have you with me. Honestly, no one would break up with you." Yeonjun consoled him and pulled him into a hug. "Don't take me too seriously, hm? You know how annoying I can get." he giggles and looks up at Soobin, who was in a slight daze. "...would you stay with me forever?" he whispers under his breath.
"I will. And I'll never leave you." Yeonjun beams up at him, still enclosing him in his arms. "...even if I lied to you?" Soobin turns his head and asks in the same volume. "What was that..?" Yeonjun asks, puzzled. "N-Nothing. Anyway-"
"So it was true, huh?" a familiar, threatening voice quipped mockingly. The couple pulled apart quickly and looked in its direction. "Oh, my apologies, did I interrupt your 'moment'? Seonjae made a fake frown and pretended to cry. "Do you want to end up like last time? Is that it?" Yeonjun steps forward, folding his arms.
"Oh, no, so scary! What are you going to do, hit me?" Yeonjun lifted his hand up and prepared to strike, but was held back by Soobin. "No. Don't do it." He shook his head and mouths. Yeonjun moves back, but his expression didn't change.
"That's right, know your place, blueberry headass." he chuckles. Soobin gripped his shoulder tightly, whispering, "Left hand." Yeonjun didn't falter, but asked back, "What do you mean, left hand?" "Seonjae." Yeonjun finally looked at his left hand, and there it was: Soobin's bag.
"Yah. Give it back." Yeonjun told him in a soft tone. "Give what back?" Seonjae tilts his head mockingly and asks. "You know what I'm talking about. Give it. Now." He folds his arms and spoke in a firmer voice. "Why? What's so important about it that you absolutely need it back, huh?" he snickered, dangling the poor thing in front of their faces.
"It's Soobin's, and that's enough of a reason for me to take it back." Yeonjun growled, trying to snatch it back out of his hands. "Be careful there, there are many important and precious things in here that your 'Binnie' would hate to get hurt." he shoots a smirk to Soobin, who realised what he was talking about.
"S-Stop it, Seonjae Sunbaenim. Please give it back to me." he said, a slight tremble in his voice. "Or what?" he asks, his half-assed friends giggling behind him. "..or.." Soobin huffed frustratedly and thrusted forward to snatch it out of his hands.
"Fuck-!" Seonjae cursed, and the bag tumbled out of his hands and fell to the ground. Something in it bounced out of the small unzipped opening, and coincidentally, the bully had stepped on it in an attempt to balance himself from the fall.
"You son of a bitch, you.. crazy motherfucker!" he spat, kicking the bag and spitting on whatever he had stepped on, before turning his back on the two and walking away. Soobin quickly squatted down beside his belongings, quickly picking them up.
"Shit, shit, shit." Soobin ran a hand through his hair as he cursed, seeing Yeonjun coming to help him at the corner of his eye. "It's alright, Soobin. We'll just have to avoid him before he does anything worse." he put a hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring glance. Soobin only sighed in reply, continuing to pick his things up.
Yeonjun exhaled, and decided that it was not the best time to reassure him now. That stupid idiot had done many bad things to him. He notices the item that Seonjae had stepped on by accident, and he reached out to pick it up. Still covered in a bit of saliva, it was hard to make out what it was. It seemed to be some kind of photograph. "Hey, Binnie, what's this?" he showed it to him, and Soobin paused for a while before taking it.
"...Dad.." he whispered.