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There’s really little to be done when Baekhyun decides to confront Jongin. But really given that he’s only 16, and Kyungsoo had shown him definitive proof that he was just another notch on Jongin’s metaphorical bedpost, it isn’t surprising that this is Baekhyun’s decided course of action. What is surprising is that Baekhyun’s mid-sentence when he starts charging across the commons, Jongin firmly in sight. Kyungsoo, Yixing, Minseok and Jongdae trail behind him helplessly, each whisper-shouting for him to stop.
Baekhyun’s suffered too much to let the fact that Jongin isn’t alone stop him. He’s doing this now.
Jongin’s listening to Sehun talk about his hook-up last weekend when he’s bodily turned around by that 3rd year who can’t take a hint.
“I’m worth more than you,” Baekhyun blurts out, fists clenched and complexion crimson. He can hardly speak for the embarrassment that threatens to consume him. He slept with the most popular guy in school and was thrown aside in the same breath.
Jongin’s eyebrows raise slightly, but he remains silent. Baekhyun takes a deep breath and soldiers on.
“I’m worth more than you because I don’t treat people like they’re nothing. I am more than one of your fucking conquests. I am so much more than a fucking Instagram post on some fuckboy’s account.” Baekhyun’s literally shaking with rage and makes himself bite his tongue before he loses control of himself.
Despite the raw anger right in front of him, no emotion so much as flickers over Jongin’s face. When it’s clear the Baekhyun’s done ranting, Jongin sighs heavily. His friends laugh behind him.
“Listen, Baekyeon, I’m—Is that your name?”
In an instant, Baekhyun feels all of his righteous anger knocked out of him. He suddenly feels too small. Weakly, he manages to get out, “it’s Baekhyun.”
Jongin nods carelessly. “Right, Baekhyun. It’s a shame you’re placing all your worth on me. Clearly you have deeper issues going on, but don’t worry. There’s no reason for me to have sex with you again, once was more than enough.”
Baekhyun stands there motionless for what feels like eternity. The first thing to move unfortunately are his tear ducts and Baekhyun feels mortified as his eyes begin to well up with tears. He ducks his head and runs off. His friends are only capable of watching him leave, too stupefied by the situation to move yet. How could someone be so mean and rude to their friend? It’s unbelievable.
Laughter breaks the silence. Jongin’s head swipes to the right in disbelief. Is this situation funny? The laughter grows harsher the longer it goes on and lets Jongin know that this red-headed 3rd year does not find the situation funny, but extremely fucked up. Jongin takes in the shining brown eyes and the hard-set jaw that juxtaposes the wide smile on his face, and understands that this kid is furious.
Kyungsoo moves to stand right in front of Jongin, mirth and condescension clear in his eyes. “Oh my god, oh my GOD! I can’t believe it. Are you fucking kidding me right now? You’ve got to be fucking kidding. Without batting an eye, you can easily tell someone they’re worthless without a fucking thought for their feelings like you’re some kind of 90s TV bully. How fucking damaged do you have to be?”
Kyungsoo’s hitting his stride, his anger is at an all-time high and every word drips with sarcasm. Not even that fucking smirk on Jongin’s face can do anything to him. He gives Jongin a patronizing smile. “Did you never get any validation as a child? Mommy never complimented your drawings? Daddy never come to any of your games?”
Jongin’s friends whoop behind him and laugh. Kyungsoo’s obviously hit the nail on the head with the daddy complex, but he’s not done. He’s feeling dramatic. He looks to the left and puts his index finger to his mouth like he’s thinking. He even purses his lips to add to the illusion. He holds the pose for three seconds before he flicks his index finger forward with a knowing grin. He turns back to Jongin. “I’ve got it. You didn’t grow hair on your dick in middle school and you were bullied for it. That’s it, isn’t it? What else could it be?” And here Kyungsoo drops all theatrics. His blank cold-stare is enough as he gazes up at Jongin, letting every ounce of hatred show in his eyes.
“Whatever the fuck your problem is, get your shit together and stop acting like a fucking cliché.”
Kyungsoo drops his gaze, and walks right through the group of 4thyear boys, making sure to roughly shoulder Jongin on his way through.
………………
This entire situation with Minseok and Sehun and Suho is fucked up, and it’s even more fucked up that Baekhyun’s not talking to Minseok. Even Yixing and Jongdae are keeping a bit of distance right now, which leaves Kyungsoo to be the shoulder to lean on while the entire school calls Minseok a slut. It’s hard to cheer Minseok up though when the entire school is all to ready to remind Minseok of what he’s done.
It’s time for Kyungsoo to break out the big guns.
Sitting on a bench in front of the school, Kyungsoo throws an arm around his best friend. “Hey, Minseok, I’m going to let you in on my super-secret-100%-sure-to-make-you-feel-better song. I listen to it whenever I’m sad.” He fishes out an earphone and tries to hand it to Minseok. Minseok doesn’t take it.
“No thanks, Kyung. I don’t really want to listen to anything right now.”
Kyungsoo tries again. “No you don’t understand the severity of this, Min. If it got out that I listen to this, my reputation would be ruined. You don’t understand what I’m risking by even talking about this.”
Minseok rolls his eyes at Kyungsoo’s theatrics and simply holds out a hand. Kyungsoo grins and hands him the earbud. When Kyungsoo’s sure that Minseok has it in, he presses play.
At first Minseok doesn’t react to the music and only looks at Kyungsoo confusedly. The quick look of realization followed by laughter when the lyrics start, is exactly what Kyungsoo was waiting for.
“Is this the Pororo theme song?” Minseok manages to gasp out.
“Of course, it’s the best song,” Kyungsoo starts pumping his fist, “It really makes you want to fist pump, right? It’s the perfect song for it. Come on, try it.”
Minseok weakly starts pumping his fist along with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo starts pumping his fist more exaggeratedly to the beat, sending Minseok into new peals of laughter. He’s relieved that Minseok’s laughing. It’s really all he can ask for right now.
Minseok looks behind Kyungsoo and abruptly stops laughing. Kyungsoo whirls around alarmed until he sees who it is. He sighs and pauses the music. Leave it to Jongin to ruin a good moment.
Jongin straddles the bench and sits down. Kyungsoo begrudgingly moves to give him room.
Jongin smiles pleasantly at them.”Pororo huh? It’s a good show.”
The comment falls flat because Kyungsoo wants it to fall flat. He pokes his tongue against his cheek before sighing again. “Look, Jongup—“
“Jong—“ Jongin tries to interrupt.
Kyungsoo shakes his head immediately. “I don’t care. Listen, Jongup, neither I nor Minseok wants anything to do with you, so why don’t you fuck off.”
Jongin’s smile doesn’t droop at all, if anything he looks even more charmed. Kyungsoo feels his mouth thin. Fuckboys are another species.
“I came because I needed your help. I heard you speak English,” Jongin pauses to let Kyungsoo confirm or deny this fact. Kyungsoo does neither, and it’s with another smirk that Jongin continues. “I’m doing terribly in the class, and I’m completely fucked if I don’t get my grade up. Do you think we can maybe meet up so you can help me?”
“I don’t speak English,” Kyungsoo replies. This is a lie.
“I heard you speaking on the phone one day during passing period. You sound completely fluent,” Jongin argues. Kyungsoo frowns. Apparently Jongin is eavesdropping in on his phone conversations with his old American host family.
“That wasn’t me.” Another blatant lie.
Jongin keeps on smirking and it’s really starting to get on Kyungsoo’s nerves. Jongin stands up and easily swings a long leg over the bench. “Well if you happen to find someone who knows how to speak English or you magically remember how to speak English, DM me on Instagram.”
“Do your own work,” Kyungsoo grouses.
Jongin just gives a teasing grin before turning around and leaving. Minseok and Kyungsoo watch him leave. When he’s finally out of sight, Minseok turns to Kyungsoo. “What was that about?”
Kyungsoo shrugs. “Who knows what goes on in a fuckboy’s mind. Anyway, back to the song. I find it works better if you listen to it more than once. Pororo’s enthusiasm is infectious.”
………………..
Things are finally looking up for Minseok. Minseok had been able to hunt down most of the people who were the instigators of the bullying and get them to stop. Baekhyun, Yixing and Jongdae had officially come back and now all 5 are friends once again. The only way it could have been better, in Kyungsoo’s opinion, was if Sehun was ostracized by the entire school like Minseok was. It takes two to tango after all, but Minseok was fine with how things were going, so Kyungsoo guesses it’s alright.
“The Showcase is in a week. With everything going on, we haven’t really had time to prepare for it,” Minseok remarks looking at the flyer for it on the billboard.
Kyungsoo shrugs. “We’re spending the night at Jongdae’s this weekend to prepare. I bet we’ll pull through.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Minseok sighs. “I still wish we had more time though.”
“We’d have the same—“
“Kyungsoo,” Jongin says.
Kyungsoo huffs. What the fuck? He thought he already told this guy to fuck off. He turns to Jongin and glares. “What could you possibly want now?” His question garners a teasing smirk from Jongin. Kyungsoo wants to sigh. He just can’t win with fuckboys.
“I came to see if your missing English ability came back.”
“It’s still just as missing as your sense of respect. Fuck off.”
Jongin’s not dissuaded by Kyungsoo’s harsh words like usual. He doesn’t respond. He just keeps looking at Kyungsoo, eyes oddly sincere and Kyungsoo can’t deal with that.
“What?”
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
There is a split second where Kyungsoo can feel his heart speed up before his brain catches up to him. This is Jongin Kim, the guy who brutally hurt Baekhyun’s feelings. The guy who was able to get to Baekhyun through stupid compliments on his appearance. Kyungsoo won’t fall for that. The feeling of happiness burns to ash.
Kyungsoo scoffs. “So a fuckboy really only does have his one trick. Let’s go, Min.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t even bother looking at Jongin as he brushes past him, Minseok following closely behind.
………………
Kyungsoo’s not even surprised when Jongin finds him at the End-of-the-semester party. That’s the problem with inviting the 4thyears to things: they come to things.
“Well, well, well, Mr. Do, fancy seeing you here,” Jongin croons before taking a swig out of his red solo cup and leaning against the wall next to Kyungsoo.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Cliché,” Kyungsoo mocks. He takes a sip from his own cup. He’d leave, but he’s 100% convinced Jongin will follow him. It’s better to just get this over with.
“Your friend Baekhyun looks happy,” Jongin tries again. Kyungsoo has to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes. He knows what Jongin’s getting at. Baekhyun had been ecstatic when Jongin apologized. At first Kyungsoo had been suspicious because, he’ll be honest, for him, a fuckboy is a fuckboy. But he had grudgingly come around when Baekhyun said he had done the apology in private. Private apologies are usually sincere in Kyungsoo’s experience.
“Yeah, Ms. Kwon gave him a solo in the showcase, so he’s pretty happy about it,” Kyungsoo replies. He’s giving Jongin nothing.
“Are you always this hard on people?” Jongin asks, and this is the first sign of exasperation that Kyungsoo’s witnessed from him. He stifles a smile. It feels good.
“I’m always hard on people the are dicks to my friends. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you said to Baekhyun. I wasn’t kidding with what I said. Who says something like that to a person?”
“Look I fucked up, I really did. I was out of line with what I said. I know that. Baekhyun didn’t deserve any of the shit that I said to him.”
Kyungsoo can’t help but turn and lean against the wall so he can face Jongin. That claim sounds highly dubious. “ Really? All of a sudden you acknowledge what you did wrong? Even though you’ve been doing this for the past two years, you suddenly acknowledge what you did wrong?”
Jongin briefly acknowledges how happy he is that he has Kyungsoo’s full attention, but he has bigger fish to fry right now. “I was listening while you were speaking, and I’ll admit that my words were harsh. It’s easier for people to stop chasing me if I’m mean.”
“Because I guess you just can’t say no to someone,” Kyungsoo shoots back.
“You know that no isn’t enough for some people. Being mean has a 100% effective rate.”
Kyungsoo scoffs, “That sounds like a fucking excuse. Maybe it takes more time to say no, but it’s better than being a fucking dick. I think you’re just trying to make excuses. I bet you actually believe everything you said to Baekhyun.”
That makes Jongin angry. “I’m telling you,” he says through gritted teeth, “I fucked up and I don’t mean it.”
Kyungsoo laughs. He’s getting angry now. “No, I think you did! You didn’t even bother telling him you were in it only for a one-night stand. You have no communication skills and so when you get called out for the fuck-up that you are, you hit back with fucking lies to hide your insecure ass.”
Jongin’s seething. He leans down into Kyungsoo’s face. His voice is quiet and angry. “Look, I have my faults. I acknowledge them, and I’m even willing to fix them, but I’m telling you I’ve learned from my mistakes. I won’t say shit like that to anyone again. I’ve changed, Kyungsoo.”
Kyungsoo stands up straight and gives Jongin a familiar patronizing smile.
“Prove it, Jongup.”