Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'We gild our wounds with flecks of buried petals. When we show them to the ones who see our souls, then they're golden.'

ㅡ in which Kim Mingyu is a famed school bully until he meets Jeon Wonwoo, a quaint guy with a love for tteokbokki.

Chapter Text

This was something to think about for the whole year, or at least to hear since the other students would never stop talking about it.

Wonwoo bit down hard on his lip. He stared at the tall guy in front of him, completely covered in hot scalding coffee.

The guy shifted his weight to his other foot and blinked continuously. He slowly faced Wonwoo with a glint in his eyes. "Are you crazy?" he asked with such contempt that Wonwoo felt it in his bones.

"I'm sorry," he offered apologetically.

"Are you really?" the guy asked. His lower jaw twitched, and Wonwoo could visualize the heat coming from the top of his head.

Wonwoo bowed his head and plastered his arms to his sides. "I'm really sorry!" he exclaimed. He hoped that it was good enough.

Fellow students started talking in hushed voices. Something made his skin tingle with gooseflesh.

The guy only grunted at his apology as if he had chucked it into a bin. "You better watch your back," he warned before sauntering away.

The students looked at him like he was crazy. Or dead?

So that was that.

Wonwoo had never been bullied before. People respected him because he respected them.

His previous school, which was miles away, had always kept a strict stance against bullying.

Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same for this one.

Just the day after, he opened his locker and found his things messed up. His papers were crumpled, there were holes in the cover, and stains of presumably mud inside. Please, let it be mud.

He couldn't say that he didn't expect this, though.

His blockmate, Seungkwan, had told him all about the guy from yesterday.

"Yeah, I kinda pity you. He's mad and not like angry mad but like crazy mad. I'm telling you. Everyone knows him, and now they know you too. But like, I don't blame you since you didn't know, but man..."

Totally helpful. Kim Mingyu was the guy's name. He looked like a typical bully, if Wonwoo was going to be honest. Tall and buff with a menacing aura.

Yet something about him didn't scare Wonwoo. Or at least not yet.

The guy was practically scorched from his coffee, yet he hadn't gotten physical with him. Not brutally, anyway.

Wonwoo stared at his locker. Some passing students snickered at the sight. He couldn't bring himself to be upset. It was his fault, after all.

Seungkwan had found him at the lavatories. "Where were you? Oh."

"Yeah," Wonwoo sighed.

"Is that...?"

"It's not. Thankfully?" Wonwoo said as he scrubbed off the confirmed mud which soiled his PE uniform. It had already caked up on the cloth.

It was Wonwoo's second day at the school, and he was about to fail PE class.

Seungkwan got into action by helping him scrub off the mud. He was really putting all his effort.

The water had turned brown, and so had Wonwoo's uniform. Oh, well. Better than skipping PE.

Seungkwan didn't have the same PE class as him, and it made him a bit sad. The guy was really fun to be with. Never lacked anything to say.

With his now-beige uniform, which supposedly was white, he attended his class with the excuse that he had slipped and dirtied his clothes.

The PE class was interesting. Their school coach didn't care about his uniform at all and proceeded to make everyone run laps.

Wonwoo kept his thoughts to himself and stayed quiet until he saw Kim Mingyu.

It wasn't accidental at all. The tall boy slowed his run, which looked quite intentional to match Wonwoo's pace.

The two of them had finally caught on to each other, and Wonwoo felt this terrible air between them. Maybe Mingyu really was mad at him.

His stare was evidence enough. Wonwoo fully expected the boy to snatch him from the field and just straight up beat him up. That didn't happen, of course.

Neither of them made any attempt at talking. Wonwoo tried to speed up, but Mingyu only caught up with him.

He noticed a small group huddled behind Mingyu. They were also looking at him with death in their eyes.

Finally, the coach whistled them to stop and to sit on the bleachers. Wonwoo tried to get away from Mingyu's company, but he still found himself surrounded.

The tall boy himself was beside Wonwoo, taking up his space from his seat. He felt Mingyu's arm resting on his.

Would people blame him if he ran away?

His heart throbbed quite quickly, and he tried to shush it down and focus on what the coach was saying. Mingyu scooted closer, and he failed.

The air shifted beside him, yet he didn't dare look.

"I told you to watch your back," Mingyu whispered beside him.

Gooseflesh. Where did it come from? Wonwoo wasn't sure. Maybe from the sheer fear Mingyu instilled in him, or maybe because his shirt just straight up fell from his body.

Wonwoo looked down and saw his bare skin, which was flush from the heat. He quickly tried to cover himself up with the torn garment. How the hell did it...

Mingyu's group snickered at the predicament. Everyone's eyes were on Wonwoo. He was burning up even more.

"Hey! What's happening there?" the coach yelled.

Everyone laughing turned quiet, but they still had smiles on their faces.

Wonwoo felt strange. Like his chest was pounding painfully. He stopped himself from tearing up, but he could feel his face burning. His head felt heavy, and his ears were ringing.

No one answered the coach, not even Wonwoo. He stayed quiet until the class continued. He gathered the garment in his hands and plastered it onto his body.

He could feel the sun burning his back.

Mingyu was looking at him with furrowed brows, his eyes fixed on Wonwoo's exposed skin.

Wonwoo gathered his bearings, taking deep breaths and muting everything else.

He would watch his back from that moment on.

He didn't dare take a shower. Wonwoo went straight to his locker and changed into his uniform instead.

Seungkwan already knew what had happened. He still had a frown on his face and mumbled under his breath.

"I told you I'm fine," Wonwoo reassured him.

"Yeah, right."

"I am."

"It's so unfair, hyung," Seungkwan muttered.

Wonwoo glanced at the boy. He was older than Seungkwan by two years, but they were in the same grade level. Accelerated, he said.

"What is?" he asked.

They were walking towards the bus stop. Seungkwan had his bike with him, yet he insisted on accompanying him to avoid any more mishaps from happening. Wonwoo felt extremely grateful for it.

"The way he treats you," Seungkwan said.

"Why's that?"

"Well, you see, Mingyu's never been this cruel to anyone."

"How so?"

"I don't know. It's just..." he sighed. "He deals badly with people but not this bad." He subconsciously flicked the bell of his bike.

Wonwoo watched Seungkwan frown.

"I've watched him ever since. He's always bullying people with words, sure. That's his baseline. The farthest he's come with actions is just simple shoving."

The younger made a shy expression, bashfully taking a glance at Wonwoo.

"He's done that to me before. But, like, humiliating you in front of everyone? That's just the worst," he explained.

Was Mingyu really that ticked off at Wonwoo?

"I'll be alright. No need to worry about me," he said with a smile.

Seungkwan obviously didn't believe that, but he just nodded. He probably sensed that Wonwoo was stubborn.

"Alright. See you tomorrow, hyung," he greeted as they arrived at the bus stop.

"See you."

Seungkwan rode his bike and returned in the other direction while Wonwoo sat on the bench.

He still remembered the emotions he had felt this morning. It felt all too familiar for his liking.

Wonwoo opened his bag and checked the torn PE uniform. He'd buy a sewing kit to patch it up. Did he even know how to sew?

He was sure someone from Mingyu's group had cut up his shirt at the back. Now, it was half open for the world to see.

Wonwoo noticed someone sit beside him. He quickly closed up his bag to hide his shame.

That someone was Mingyu.

Wonwoo's eyes widened and quickly glanced away. His grip on his bag tightened. Maybe this time he needed to run away.

No one else was with Mingyu. Wonwoo's heart started picking a quick pace in his ribs.

"Oh, hey," Wonwoo mumbled.

Which was stupid.

Why even greet him? He needed to be resentful to this boy. Angry, even.

"Hey," Mingyu greeted back.

Okay. He didn't exactly expect a response from him.

Wonwoo nodded and stared off. The sky was in the shade of a dark orange. The wind shifted as Mingyu did in his seat.

"You're going this way?" Mingyu asked, his tone casual.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Wonwoo asked back, completely hesitant and dreadfully terrified.

Mingyu shook his head. He took that as a cue to shut up and to not open his mouth again.

"Are you..." Mingyu started, but a honk abruptly cut him off.

The bus arrived from a distance, and Wonwoo stood up quickly to get on it.

Their seats were far from each other.

Wonwoo was the first one to board the bus. He took the farthest seat at the back while Mingyu stayed near the door. 

All trip long, he stole glances at Mingyu, but that's about it. The tall guy never turned to Wonwoo, so he felt his whole body relax. 

Sometime later, Mingyu got off without Wonwoo noticing. 

Not that he should've.