Work Text:
"Hyunsuk! C'mon! Just do it, then run across the road quickly." Hyunsuk have always feared the tone of the entitled kid named Gon. He'd always make him do things he'll eventually regret later, and Gon won't even budge or get a single conscience from giving him anxiety issues at such a young age.
"B-But..."
And one of those things that really scared him when Gon and his friends planned to make Hyunsuk do a dingdong ditch prank to a lone elevated house that built from 80's, giving off a creepy vibe from horror movies Hyunsuk skipped a lot of times.
"Yah, are you scared? Just do it, and get over it or I'll make you run around the school field after the recess tomorrow. You want that little nerd Sukkie?"
What an asshole for a 17-year-old kid, Gon really excels in everything shitty except academics at highschool. While Hyunsuk is in love with studying, and his kinds are those whom those bullies loves to pull a trip on.
For example, now.
"W-What if... What if that Jihoon kid from class E appears and beat me up? I d-d—" The smaller boy's words were interrupted with Gon's palm hitting the tree beside them to warn Hyunsuk. Poor boy.
Hyunsuk sighs in fear, roaming his eyes around the dark road across them where the house located. "O-Okay.. Stay right there, please..."
"Do it!" Gon rolls his eyes, and shouts, startling Hyunsuk.
The smaller boy slowly takes his steps to slow run across the tree, silently as he can be. His heart pulsates in fear as he continues his tracks directing to the opened gate of the house. His feet halts as he reached the house's main door. He saw a light from a room upstairs, thinking that it was the boy from their school's personal room. His breathing gets unstable when the air coming from the open area around the house hits his young milky skin, sending chills inside his veins as he heard creaks from the stairs he put a step on.
It was a house that was built around 80's, and was left abandoned throughout the year not until a boy from the other side of the country decided to transfer schools and live inside the old property of his grandparents. Hyunsuk heard the rumors about the boy, and how his parents decided to send him nowhere near them because of his scary and creepy personality that the rumors says, he almost killed one of his classmates by getting stab with a pencil from his 5th grade. And who wants to experience that on their highschool days? No one, not even Hyunsuk, totally not him.
That's why he did all his best not to meet him in hallways, and he doesn't even know what the boy look like 'coz he always has his head down whenever the kids talks about that boy.
Hyunsuk hates darkness, and he hates the chilly vibe the house sents. Hell, he even felt like running away even before punching the doorbell. "Get this over, alright."
He whispers to himself as he reaches for the doorbell, tiptoeing as clicks it fastly. His eyes sparkles when it sends a small sound inside the house and the fear crawl in his body as he was about to run when—
"What are you doing?"
"Waaah!"
His knees wobbled, afraid of the cold tone coming from his back as he slowly turn his head to his back, eyes widening to see how a tall 17-year-old boy can be an iron wall with his broad shoulders, tapioca eyes ever so keen as they shot their sight on Hyunsuk's fearful eyes. And please, help the small poor boy when he completely got his ass on the floor of the main door while breathing frantically out of panicking.
He shifted his head towards the direction of the tree he hid earlier, and to his surprise, no one was there but a rustling away Gon plus his other friends while waving their hands to Hyunsuk, grinning like little devils they all are.
"Bye bye, nerd!"
The addressed boy's widened eyes slowly looked heavenward as they encounter the same undeniable intimidating eyes of the taller boy in front of him.
"I-I..." Hyunsuk already has his hand on his chest as he can feel his chest tightening. It happens when he's panicking or scared.
"I-I'm really sorry... I was—just," the taller boy tilts his head when he witnessed how the small boy kneeling in front of him breathes in and out fastly. "I won't—"
And before even saying another set of words, Hyunsuk fainted.
•••
The sound of piano playing softly awakens Hyunsuk. It intrigues him how he can hear a piano inside his room when their family don't even own one, or even his parents wouldn't even consider buying with their financial status. The dramatic light all over the place greets his eyes, earning a confused expression from the small boy. Since when did he have a chandelier inside his room?
"Are you awake yet?"
"Oh my go—" Hyunsuk almost fell from his comfortable position when an unfamiliar face greets him on his side, hand tapping the surface of the piano as he glances back at Hyunsuk.
It was the boy from class E.
"I-I—I'm really sorry! I know I shouldn't have pulled off a dingdong ditch prank to you and your house b-but they forced me to do—"
"Shut up," the tall boy interrupts him before shifting his gaze on the piano, and that tone made Hyunsuk feel like peeing on his shorts.
"It's okay."
It's almost a whisper in the wind, like small tone coming from an intimidating 6th grader came out and somehow shocks Hyunsuk.
He's surprisingly... soft? The smaller boy thought.
"Are you okay?"
"H-Huh?" Dumbfounded, Hyunsuk asks.
"For somebody who just fainted in front of my house while apologizing non-stop, your stuttering really annoys me at some point." The boy pointed before getting off from his seat in front of the piano, and walking beside the small couch Hyunsuk was on. And it scares the small boy.
"I-I won't stutter again. I p-promise!"
"There it is again."
Hyunsuk covered his hand over his reddened face. His face always turn to scarlet when he's either overwhelmed or scared. He doesn't know between the two what he feels at the moment, but the boy's cold eyes looking at him calmly just shuts his systems down.
"Here, water." Hyunsuk looks at the hand with a glass full of water in front of him.
"T-Thank you." It sounded like a small whisper, but the boy across him heard it and nodded.
A brief silence enveloped the scene. Hyunsuk's glass clattering a little when he placed it on the glass table. The only light coming from the chandelier gives a little calm vibe, and Hyunsuk's eyes are looking down on the carpeted floor without even meeting the eyes of the scary boy.
"You shouldn't have done it if you're a scaredy cat," his eyes moves to his side when the boy stood up from his seat. "Plus, it seems like you have some trouble with your breathing. Perhaps, asthma?"
Hyunsuk pursed his lips, shock with the boy suddenly initiating to converse. "Y-Yes."
"It's raining outside."
Finally, he got the courage of meeting the boy's face only to realize how soft his features are, completely opposite from the rumors describing how sharp and scary his eyes are; different from the tapioca eyes calmly looking at him. The intimidating aura from earlier disappeared, replaced with a warm one as the boy places his hand in front of Hyunsuk, hoodie on grip and says,
"I'll walk you at the stop. It's dark, my conscience won't let me sleep if I see you outside the streets tomorrow, fainted and all asleep once again because of being a scaredy cat."
Hyunsuk slowly took the hoodie from the boy's grip, and he felt his nervousness faded when the boy offered something he thought he'd never see plastered on an undeniably pretty face as if it is a some kind of contradiction for the rumors coming from left and right;
A smile.
"I'm Jihoon, by the way."
•••
"Hey, have you seen the new kid from class E? I saw his new scar on his right hand, I think he got someone beaten up again from the other school. They even said he always take off from his house at around 4 am," one of Hyunsuk's classmates whispers while writing down his notes. His ears immediately caught that as it made him frown.
"Yeah. I saw that too while preparing for the P.E class. I heard somebody from the cram school just got his face get full of bandaids and stuff, who knows anyway." The other girl says before sipping on his mango juice she got from the packed canteen.
Hyunsuk slumped his body on the table, silently listening to the gossips from the girls as he firmly closes his eyes from what happened yesterday.
Jihoon, the boy everyone got their tails waggling and scared of, walked him to the nearest stop while holding an umbrella and lending him his hoodie. He walked him to the stop without any sign of violence, or delinquency that the rumors spread.
It's just a boy silently walking beside the road, preventing Hyunsuk to walk beside the dangerous road with cars passingby as he calmly listens to Hyunsuk's heavy breathing yesteday.
The total opposite of everything he have heard.
"Hey, Sukkie,"
His eyes immediately widened when he heard the voice coming from the doorway. He bit his lips when he traces the steps coming on his way, making him let out apprehensive set of sighs. Here it is again.
The small boy felt a hard tap on his shoulder making him look slowly to his side and see whose fingers tapped him. He was greeted with Gon's grinning face, along with 3 of his friends that has the same grinning lips.
"You must've got beaten up so good—Eh?" Gon rock his head to his side when he scans Hyunsuk's face only to see nothing but a clear face without any scratch or wound from a fight. "Where's your scars or anything? Wait, what?"
The bully raises Hyunsuk's chin and scanned his whole face, and still no sign of beating can be seen on the smaller boy's angelic face for his own disappointment. His friends are all confused when they realized that Hyunsuk didn't get any scratch from the encounter with the boy from class E.
"Can you not touch my face..." Hyunsuk pleads, only to earn a laugh from Gon.
"You escaped didn't you?" He rose a brow at the smaller boy. "You didn't ring the doorbell and escaped when that Jihoon caught you, right?"
"N-No! I do rang the doorbell!" He contradicts.
"Liar," Gon glared at him, snatching the boy's snacks placed on his table that made Hyunsuk whine. "If you did, you should've gotten at least a messy face with wounds or what. We know Jihoon, he wouldn't let anyone mess with him, y'know—
"Maybe it's just what you thought," an almost whisper. "Maybe that's what painted in your minds..."
He remembered how Jihoon's eyes smiled at him that night when he bid his goodbye at the stop.
"Maybe he's not as bad as how you painted him to be."
With that sudden burst, a loud laugh that gets louder in milliseconds filled the whole room, getting all the attention from his classmates. Gon claps as he laughs loudly enough to be heard on the hallways, before slamming a hand on Hyunsuk's table and says,
"Shut up, nerd. You just got lucky you managed to escape from him. Now, see us at the field so you can run freely and as fast as how we wanted. Bye bye~" The loud steps left the room with Hyunsuk sighing for the ninth time. He did ring the doorbell even before Jihoon catches him, he knows that.
But since Gon and his friends are all the same devils he's been dealing with since day 1 in highschool, he'd just let it pass and surely secure the t-shirt from his locker once he gets the other one drenched in sweat when he runs around the field again.
The snacks the boys from the other section snatched earlier are all Hyunsuk's favorite. The break isn't over yet, so he decided to get off from his seat and get some snacks at the canteen. As usual, he does that when Gon just snatches his snacks when it's lunch break.
Hyunsuk's trying to not meet other eyes while walking down the hallway to the school canteen. He knows how glances can start a trouble since students at his school loves making fun of people who just loves studying and got problems with their eyes causing them to use specs and glasses, as entitled students call them "nerds." Pathetic, aren't they?
He just hates everybody inside the school. Personally, he just wants to study and get his highschool diploma to finally get some decent job while working on college exams. But students chose to be stupid people who loves making fun of those who didn't do anything wrong, and look lowly at them everyday. Hyunsuk hated everything about the school, except the studying part.
His thoughts were cut when he heard soft notes of piano engulfing the spaces of the oldest building where the old music room were located. Hyunsuk's forehead creased when he heard the little noises of lullaby coming from the ground floor music room, making him halt his step and listen a bit of the mellow notes.
"Who's playing piano at the old music room?"
Hyunsuk realized the fact that the building was too old, and rusty rooms are all filled with the other equipment from the new buildings. His eyes widened with a sudden realization of the possibility seeing a ghost at the ground floor. His heart jumps when the piano stops, and he felt like running in meters when he heard footsteps coming from the music room.
His feet betrayed him when his toes slowly tries to stand on its tip as he peeks over the window of the room.
Only to see a familiar tall figure gulping a bottle of water while tapping the surface of the old piano.
"Jihoon?" Hyunsuk immediately covered his mouth with his hand when he said the name out loud that the owner of the mentioned name looked over the window, brow raising at the smaller boy's direction with water bottle on his right hand.
"Hey," his lips instanly pursed when he saw Jihoon inside, peeking on the window before giving him a small smile. "What are you doing here?"
It's that smile again. Hyunsuk muttered when he saw Jihoon giving him a tiny smile that seemed so odd for a boy who constantly gets hate every single day.
"I-I'm on my way to the canteen to get some s-snacks but they're out of stock, s-so I'll just get back to the our r-room." Damn it. He hates how he perfectly stutter in front of the boy, he might not wanted to stop thinking about the rumors circulating around the whole school about the guy, but months of hearing it just makes him all nervous when Jihoon's around. He's not sure if Jihoon's not really the guy most of people described him to be.
"I got some snacks. You want some?"
"H-Huh?"
"It's okay if you don't want to," Hyunsuk didn't let the warm tone escape his hearing when Jihoon says, "You can go now, teachers do their patrols around lunch when student always ditches their classes."
"And you looked afraid." Jihoon continues.
Hyunsuk witnesses how Jihoon's face softly turned to him with a scratch on his right cheek, as if it is freshly carved. Dark circles complements his features as it perfectly fits his visible moles; his strong features screams danger and menace but why,
why does his eyes' smiles at Hyunsuk as it slowly pinned in the smaller boy's mind that Jihoon isn't as bad as what the spreaded rumor says,
"They said he had beaten up a lot of boys from his former school."
And if it's true, who's the one he's talking to, offering him a reassuring smile as he warns Hyunsuk to go to his designated room before even getting a ticket inside the detention?
"W-What kinds of snacks do you have?"
And by then, he decided to accept Jihoon's offer to share his snacks with him, and at some point, it made Jihoon shock but he recovered fastly as he taps the glass window.
"You're stuttering again, Hyunsuk-ssi."
"I-I'm not!" He denies, earning a laugh from the latter.
Earning a laugh from the latter.
A laugh from the latter.
A laugh.
Where was those rumors came from when they said that Jihoon has the most scary aura for a teenager inside their school? When all Hyunsuk witnesses is how his eyes crinkles, nose scrunches along the loud laugh filling the spaces inside the music room as it engulf the spaces of the hallway Hyunsuk was standing; where?
"I have pringles," Jihoon rose the snack and subtly smile when Hyunsuk's eyes sparkles.
"I-I want that! Can I have some?"
"No, until you fix your stuttering issues."
"I don't s-stutter!"
"No pringles for you I guess."
Jihoon taps the window with his fingers when Hyunsuk's brows created a line, a smile escaped from his lips.
Who would have thought that the old building wherein old materials, tools and equipment from the newly build ones can be a safe place for two people craving for pringles as they escape the world full of people's pry eyes, and slipping mouths?
Weeks had passed, they found themselves waiting for one another at the same place without telling a word to each other. Bringing snacks at their lunch break, it became like a part of their highschool lives.
Jihoon leaned against the desk, munching his last chip. "Did you eat breakfast? You eat like you aren't taking any decent one, Hyunsuk-ssi."
And the boy decided to call him formally.
"H-Hey! That's mean, I do ate breakfast," Hyunsuk pouts before eating another chip. "It's just, I love this one."
The taller boy get off from his seat and walked his way towards the piano, deciding to play it again for the ninth time of the day. Hyunsuk's eyes trailed on his steps as he sat on the chair, fixing his posture. Jihoon raises his hand and started to release mellifluous music from his playing, eyes closing as he can feel the music inside his body,
and Hyunsuk watched. He watched how Jihoon plays the piano like he's patting a baby's head, soft and sweet. His grimny long fingers touches the notes, and it brings much stories for Hyunsuk to hear. He continues eating pringles while listening to Jihoon play the piano like it was the best routine of his everyday.
Jihoon plays the piano everyday. And Hyunsuk listens, unlike his school lessons or discussion inside their club, listening to Jihoon's piano plays makes him forget how the world sees Jihoon.
How come people sees him as someone that brings violence and danger when he's here, playing an old piano as if he's trying to convey a message of softness?
The world did him wrong. Hyunsuk realized that.
"Tomorrow, do you want me to cook a decent lunch so we can eat it here, Jihoon-ah?"
Oh, that Jihoon-ah, it sounded like a piece from Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen written by Fritz Kreisler, Liebesfreud (Love's Joy) for Jihoon.
"Sure, as long as you won't put any poisonous liquid or anything." Jihoon jokes, still playing the piano calmly only to earn a groan from the latter that he enjoys for the past weeks.
To even realize that someone listens to him while playing piano sounds so good for him, but that to be Hyunsuk? Hell yeah.
It's like his life plays a note with crescendo as his heart beats are gradually gets louder time by time when he looks at the smaller guy, enjoying his pringles while listening to his music.
Nice view.
•••
Hand watering the dried plant on the far right of their room that closed to dying 'cause it's almost spring, Yoshi placed the sprinkler on the right desk before turning his head towards Hyunsuk.
"The competition month is near. Do you think the school will swept first places again this year?" He asks, chin on his palm as he watches Hyunsuk reviewing for the upcoming competition.
Hyunsuk shrugs, "I don't know. Last year's club presidents excels the pressure and swept trophies from other schools, but I don't really know if they'll keep things up until now. Y'know, they all graduated last year."
Yoshi nodded his head as a sign of agreement. "No doubt. But did you know that the music club's has been recruiting in the middle of the preparation? Too complacent, and brave aren't they?"
The smaller guy nods bewildered, "Woah. Maybe they don't really have a student to represent them," Hyunsuk stands up from his seat holding his backpack. "I'm going now, Yoshi. See you!"
Yoshi nods at him and sends a wave before getting back from watering the other plants. Hyunsuk got out of the room, taking his steps way to the next building where the old building is located.
It's been 1 week since his encounter with Jihoon inside that building. They started eating snacks inside the old music room, pringles on the rusty chairs and desk while Jihoon plays the piano. It became a routine in a week, and Hyunsuk can't still help but to stutter every time Jihoon darts his eyes on him as if it automatically messes with his tongue.
He was about to take the nearest route to the old building when he heard a familiar pet name being called, and it scares him like usual.
"Sup, nerd."
His steps halts when figures coming from the route he was about to take revealed themselves. It was no other than the assholes, Gon and his friends holding their back packs that surely full of snacks they snatch from the 'nerds' they met along the route. Looks like Hyunsuk's next.
"Haven't seen you in a... no, in weeks. How come you can run out of the school faster these days?" Gon put his fingers on his chin, gestured as if he's thinking about the days he didn't get to snatch snacks from Hyunsuk.
"I-I... the competition is near so I need to go home early to prepare, G-Gon." He stutters when he's scared, and looks down when he feels his knees closed to wobbling.
"Eh, excuses. I bet you just don't want to share your 'lunch' to us," Gon put a hand on the boy's shoulder before smirking. "Here's a punishment for you, Sukkie."
Even before the small guy reacts, one of Gon's friends pulled him at the old building's back, gripping on his backpack tightly before making Hyunsuk lean against the vandalized wall of the old building.
"Do you really think you can just ditch us out every lunch time, nerd?" Gon asks, gaining agreement from his companions as he pushed Hyunsuk, hitting his back on the wall, the smaller boy whimpers in pain when he felt his back hits a small rock fragment.
"Go and see what's inside his bag," he heard one of the boys said. One of them obeyed him as he snatches his backpack aggressively, and Hyunsuk couldn't complain 'cause his back hurts from hitting an edgy rock. "Wow, 2 lunch boxes? Is this exclusive for us, Sukkie?"
"H-Hey! That's—"
"Woah," Gon sniffs the appetizing smell of the homemade food from Hyunsuk's lunch box. "Did you cook this? Hey, wanna be our personal cook? It smells so good."
"I'll cook for you next time, just let me have that for no—" Hyunsuk pleads, but it was interrupted with Gon's strong push that leads him on the ground.
"We'll take this, nerd. Maybe this can be a, hmm, a free taste kind of thing to be our personal cook?" The bullies laughs in chorus with Gon's corny jokes as he cockily tilts his head, levelling his eyes to Hyunsuk's as small groans can be heard from the small space at the back of the old building.
"Hey nerd, do you have some beverage or anything to drink? Give it to u—"
"What about you drink your own blood if you don't stop bothering Hyunsuk-ssi?l"
They all stopped from moving when they heard a cold voice coming from their backs, sending chills inside the boys' nerves. They all turned their heads only to see a tall boy, keen eyes, licking his lips wet as he rock his head to the side.
"I bet you would love it, seems like your blood tastes like a salty gross rat who loves bullying people weaker than him 'cause he's a boy who hides under his mother's skirt once he encounters somebody tougher than him. Sounds delicious, right?"
Jihoon-ah. Hyunsuk mumbled in his mind, eyes almost closing when he can't still move his feet to stand up firmly.
"J-Jihoon... W-What—" Gon didn't finish his sentence when Jihoon takes steps towards them, making their knees wobble in fear. They all heard the rumors about the boy, and they don't want to get involved with any fight with him if it meant to kill them to death with beatings and all.
Jihoon stuffed his hand inside his pocketed jacket and spoke, "If you're broke, find a job than snatching snacks from other students like a retarded teenager would do, Byounggon."
"R-Retarded? What did you say?!" It kills his ego, Gon's. Jihoon grinned at them, making his companions waggle their tails like tamed dogs as they reached for Gon's shoulder and whispers to stop.
"You are, anyway." Jihoon shrugs, and Gon was about to take steps to the tall boy only to be stopped by his friends.
"Let's go! We just went from a suspension, and I don't want anymore bandaids on my face, Gon!" Whisper-screaming, the other brunette says which earn an agreement from the other 2. Gon gazed at the boy in front of them, feeling his heart races in fear and frustration as if his ego just get stomped a million times, but his friends are right.
Gon turned his head towards Hyunsuk and glares, "I'll see you around, nerd—"
"Have you gone deaf when I said I don't want anyone bothering him, Lee?"
Their bodies got frozen when they heard the tone of warning from Jihoon's voice. Gon gulps before slowly taking steps forward, keeping his distance from Jihoon whose eyes are boredly watching them to leave. When he passed Jihoon, he hastened away like what his friends did, leaving the two people behind at the back of the old building. The lunchbox were spilled over, and what Hyunsuk cooked are now on the ground which breaks him.
Once just the two of them were left behind, Jihoon took his pace faster towards the smaller boy, clencing on his back as if he's trying to stand still.
Jihoon leveled his eyes on Hyunsuk as he kneels down on one knee and asks,
"Are you okay?"
Hyunsuk then again heard the same words he heard from that night he met Jihoon at his house when he fainted. But this time, it felt a little comfortable for his heart.
"I think I broke a bone." Hyunsuk jokes, and pouts.
"Serves you right." Jihoon smiles before glancing to the boy's back and sighs. He turned his body, kneels down on one knee that makes Hyunsuk tilt his head in confusion. Jihoon rolls his eyes when Hyunsuk didn't get it, before saying,
"Hop on. I'll take you at the stop."
It sounded so clear. Clear as the day, and silent as dawn, Hyunsuk heard the total opposite of the tone Jihoon used to the boys that made fun of him.
It was softer, and sweeter.
"Hyunsuk-ssi, I don't plan to kneel down the whole day and wait for you to contemplate your life decisions of being involved with me," his thoughts stopped by Jihoon's bitter last statement.
"Hop on."
Hyunsuk couldn't do anything but to do as Jihoon said. He gulps when Jihoon held his thighs, pursing his lips as he breathes apprehensively. He glances on his lunch box when Jihoon carries his backpack, sadly looking at the dish he cooked for Jihoon to eat when lunch time comes.
"T-They spilled over my lunch box," he unconsciously mumbled, and Jihoon's ears didn't let those whiny words passed as he giggles. "It's for you. I cooked that so we can have our decent lunch together, y'know."
Jihoon never knew that Mozart or even Beethoven's music aren't the only ones that makes his ears resonate, but as well as Hyunsuk's whiny mumbling without knowing that his thoughts are being heard all over the small space they're passing.
"Let's cook at home, then."
"Wha—"
Jihoon turned his head to Hyunsuk's face on his side, meeting the latter's starry widened eyes with the sudden move from the taller guy. Jihoon couldn't help himself but to laugh, as it turns to a smile while staring at Hyunsuk.
"I'll cook for you, Hyunsuk-ssi."
Why does that formality just made Hyunsuk more fond of how Jihoon's eyes crinkles when he smiles, making Hyunsuk realize how right the people that spreads the rumor about Jihoon being dangerous.
His eye smiles is as lethal as volcanoes, and as deadly as thunderstorms.
Both unexpectedly beautiful.
They got out from the old building.
But not out of the pry eye of confused people looking at them, eyeing them in different expressions plastered on their faces—but for all they care.
"I'm allergic to salty foods."
"And you eat salty snacks at lunch?" Hyunsuk asks, shocked.
Jihoon shrugs, "I just eat it 'cause I don't want you whining how I don't eat the snacks you bought."
"Then you should've told me!"
"How can I reject you when you get all smiley?" Good thing, Hyunsuk didn't hear it.
Pry eyes, squinting ones, confused or even shock, in different manner of students trying to meddle in their own world, they just talked about the things out of the dramatic whispers—
and talked about allergies, shrimps, and salts.
With the ones that matters the most.
Themselves.
They got out from their school, and it was Hyunsuk's first time of sneaking out at lunch but it thrilled him, of course, Jihoon got his back.
Just then Hyunsuk realized how the students looked at them in different expressions as if they're barely humans walking out from the school gate, and it intrigues him. They walked passed some of his classmates who's eyes are worried as if he's getting kidnapped or what—and just then he realized,
people don't see Jihoon like how he sees him.
Hyunsuk placed his chin on Jihoon's shoulder, slightly sniffing the boy's cherry perfume and asks, "Aren't you mad at people, Jihoon-ah?"
Jihoon hums, "Hmm? About what?"
"The constant whispering when you're around, sneaky glances to spend their time judging you, or even the fear that grew in them when you passes by, aren't you mad at it?" Finally, Hyunsuk got to ask the guy about what he thinks to the fake rumors circulating around the campus.
"I find it funny, when they all get afraid of me when I hold a ball for dodge ball sessions," Jihoon sligtly laughs. "Or make way for me to get snacks at the canteen, making my job a little easier, y'know."
"You're not gonna get upset or what? They're ruining your image." He pouts, thinking about those students spread about the boy, smoking minor or even taking part on some riots across the region. He doesn't know how it get all formed but Jihoon is the total opposite of those. He knew it.
He knew where Jihoon gets those scars, or the wounds that plastered on his skin. He spend his dawn working at the butcher shop owned by his uncle, and as an amateur plus a teenager, he always get himself hurt with different knives. Getting himself the scars as the students call them, scars from riots or fight.
Jihoon was seen wrongfully.
Hyunsuk felt a deep slumber waiting for him, he tries to open his eyes still to fight the drowsiness, only to fail.
"No, they're ruining the image of me in their minds, not the one I intend to let them see 'cause you know, in the first place, I'm not the one responsible for the image of me they created in their minds, or how they painted me to be, because proving them wrong was never my responsibility if their words don't matter at all." Jihoon calmly shrugs, taking his pace a little slower. "And they'll never matter."
Jihoon turns his head to Hyunsuk's face, before a smile escapes his lips as he stares at the smaller boy sleeping soundly on his shoulder.
"They don't matter as much as you do."
See? Mozart would probably be proud of him if he plays his pieces for the one that gave him a chance to take a better look of the world. That's for sure.
They spent that night at Jihoon's house with cooking, and most of it were bickering if they should fry the chicken or cook a curry. It was a small cooking session with just the two of them laughing over a burnt chicken because of so much talking, and awkward dancing when Jihoon played violin pieces on his recorder.
But mostly of the scenes were filled of sneaky glances, smiles escaping from their lips while staring at the other, and visible nose scrunching as they wheeze over 2 burn chicken thighs.
It's as if Hyunsuk isn't just a science freak, and Jihoon isn't that dangerous brat from class E.
"You burnt it! You should eat the rest of it!"
"Do you ever consider burning my house down? Because I know you burn those, I'm outta here. I'm eating my perfectly brownish fried chick—Hey!"
"Bye bye!" Hyunsuk runs away from Jihoon, smiling.
In this scene, they're just Hyunsuk and Jihoon.
What a cut scene.
Because cut scenes are meant to be trashed, or dearly forgotten by the actors as they spend their entire career not even thinking any second of it.
Tragic.
"There's a competition in Russia I really wanted to attend. I've been preparing for it for about a year," Jihoon taps the surface of the piano while looking down on the notes.
"Really? That's nice!" Hyunsuk started eating his pringles they bought at the convenience store earlier.
Jihoon sighs when he heard how Hyunsuk jabbers excitedly.
"And if I win it, I might be a professional pianist," Hyunsuk's eyes sparkles with the statement and was about to scream or exclaim when the next words broke him.
"And will stay there for good."
That was the first time he ever contemplated whether to go and support Jihoon on slowly achieving the dream he dreamt eversince he was a kid, when his grandfather taught him how to play piano, and how his grandmother asked him to compete to Russia as her last wish, or stop him and let him stay with him for good.
"If you really want to, you can go, Jihoon-ah." Hyunsuk knew the consequence of saying yes, but who is he to take Jihoon's dream away from his grasp, anyway?
Jihoon plays the piece he composed for Hyunsuk 2 months ago, silently letting Hyunsuk cry while listening to the piece he'll offer to the man he'll never forget. He'll have him as his inspiration.
It was entitled, Long time no sea.
"I'll be back."
Plot twist: no one came back.
Hyunsuk, living his life as a personal assistant of the production team rented by the small arena, he can tell that it's not the life he clearly dreamt 2 years ago. But for him, it reminded him how much he loves working with people that appreciates his little efforts, so he found himself loving the job he never thought about before, in highschool.
As a 20 years old man, who stopped a year of college just to help a little in his mom's hospital expenses. He stopped pursuing being a scientist or a science teacher just to help his family with their financial problems and it was tough for him as the youngest. So he worked hard, and gained respect from his co-workers as time passesby.
He often forget about that guy that left him to compete in Russia, and note that, often and not completely. It has been almost a year but he didn't get anything, texts or mails, nothing.
It's almost like he's meant to be forgotten at the first place.
Tragic.
"Hyunsuk-ssi, can you go inside the tents and find the accompanist we selected for the event?" His thoughts were interrupted by one of the agents of the team, and he immediately ran out of the room after nodding at the guy.
"Where the hell was that?" He squints his eyes while trying to read the labels of the huge tents outside the set, until he finally spot the one with the accompanist's labeled one.
He sighs in relief, firmly closes his eyes when he can slightly smell the fragrance of cherry inside the tent that somehow gave him nostalgia. Sad.
Hyunsuk was about to tap the tent and call the accompanist when he jumps out of shock hearing a familiar voice coming from his back asking,
"What are you doing?"
"Waaah!"
Oh please, the familiar words—
"I-I..."
He turned his head to his back, as his eyes gets a greeting from a face that seemed to carved in his mind for ages that he'll never, ever, forget as it slightly smiled at him and asks,
"Still got some stuttering issues?"
"J-Jihoon-ah."
Hyunsuk's eyes widened on the sight as he can feel his knees wobbles, "I-I thought—"
"I said I'll be back," his eyes turned soft as he can clearly how his absence didn't witness changes in Hyunsuk through that 1 and a half year of training after the competition. "I hope you won't faint this time, Hyunsuk-ssi."
Hyunsuk knew, he knew that he wants to punch him in the face for leaving him for about a year hanging, with nothing left but an empty abandoned old house at the end of the street. And just memories, or the scenes he's closed to forgetting and burning—
but all those madness, Hyunsuk found himself hugging the taller guy as he can smell the chery perfume, and his tears falling on the man's coat.
"I fucking hate you."
"I know," The latter man laughed.
Jihoon being in a different country with nothing to think about but the upcoming competitions after winning from the competition he wanted to attend. Left and right invitations from different coaches, as he got his phone confiscated to focus on the training, he knew Hyunsuk had it rough through those months without communications.
"And I fucking hate how much I love you."
He said.
Oh my gosh, it slipped.
From his mouth. The words. The 3 words. Oh my gosh—
Jihoon laughs, and it made Hyunsuk nervous. He felt his hand clinging onto the hem of Jihoon's suit like a lost child at the park only to feel his chin getting raised by grimny fingers,
"You didn't stutter," he smiles and pinches Hyunsuk's cheeks. "And I love you too."
Sweet. A sweet-sweet plot twist, I must say.
"What are you gonna perform with the violinist?"
Jihoon kisses his cheeks as it painted Hyunsuk scarlet,
"Long time no sea."
It's as if in the midst of the whole arena, Jihoon plays his whole heart as it tries to reach and serenade the guy in millions of notes, and in between the first and last note, it only says the same three words,
"I love you."
If they were to be described in a musical term, their heart beats are like a crescendo, and their hearts are both in sync decresendo like the notes on the sheets, they're falling.
They gradually gets louder as time passes by, and falling side by side.
Loudly falling in love.