Chapter Text
Juntae tightened his grip on the straps of his bag, staring at the building in front of him, still unsure whether to enter or leave.
People like him have nothing to search in such places.
No, actually, there were plenty of boys here. Around his age, older or younger. Wearing baggy, dirty clothes or school uniforms. Slicked hair and glasses or messy, bleached strands with piercings.
One argument —from the list he’d made in his head to keep himself from doing this— was already out of the window.
He took a deep breath, let go of his bag and decided to walk in. He could do it.
”Ah, hello.” His voice came out shyly while he bowed down a quick ninety degrees to greet the man behind the counter.
Juntae walked into the room with computers, the voice in his head was screaming at him, warning him, saying that he still had the chance to turn back and leave.
No. He was going to do it.
Even if there were still four reasons left on ‘the list’.
He finally spotted him. Seongje was sitting by a computer, far away from the entrance, clicking aggressively on the keyboard, cursing the hell out of whoever is behind those headsets.
- I shouldn’t distract him, he’d get mad.
Yes, that was a good reason to go back. Just as he turned on his heels, he heard Seongje swearing once again.
Argument crossed. Seongje had lost. Plus, he didn’t look that mad to be unapproachable. Juntae watched him as he stretched and loudly asked for a cup of noodles. This was the best moment to approach him, otherwise, he could just forget about the plan, and he could keep on living like the useless, weak thing he is.
He wasn’t going to let these thoughts win over his mind. He wasn’t a weakling, nor useless.
Juntae approached the table Seongje was sitting, his steps were short but quick. He took a deep breath on the way to prevent his voice from shaking.
“Excuse me.”
His voice still shook though.
“Where’s my ramyeon?” Seongje asked without turning to him. Juntae waited for a moment. “I… don’t have ramyeon…”
Finally, the taller one looked at him. “What do you want?” he asked Juntae, who couldn’t dare to raise his head but still looked at him. “I wanted to-“ Before Juntae could finish his sentence, Seongje jumped in with a grin on his face, “Ah, aren’t you from Eunjang? Baku’s friend?” then continued after watching him with a calculating look, as if remembered something. “If you want to ask the same thing as the newbie, no, I’m not interested.”
Juntae scowled. He didn’t even let him talk, and he was already rejected.
- He wouldn’t accept to help.
Yes. He wasn’t even willing to listen. But he couldn’t just give up, this wouldn't even be considered as trying. He was determined to make it work, to cross out all the reasons on the list to make him stop.
”Keum Seongje-ssi,” he managed to say, voice full of certainty. “You have to help us.”
”I have to do nothing.” bickered Seongje and pushed himself off the chair. His ramyeon arrived right as he was leaving, but he dismissed it with a swift motion of his hand. Juntae followed quickly, determined to change his opinion.
”It would help you, too… you know… if the Union went down. So accept it.” Seongje wouldn’t even acknowledge his existence. He stopped, his hands formed fists and shouted. “Please!”
Seongje also stopped walking. He turned back to face the shorter one. “What makes you think that I would help you, little thing?”
Juntae gulped at the nickname. Seongje was mocking him. He had thought that he would never let someone humiliate him once again. Juntae even thought of talking back to him, but he remembered that it wasn’t just anybody. İt was Geum Seongje. And if he wanted to, he could make Juntae even more miserable than at Daesung bikes.
This was it. Daesung bikes. Juntae averted his eyes and prepared himself for the thing he was going to say. He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea.
”Well… you did save me… at Daesung bikes. You helped me. Can’t you just again? One more time? For the last time?”
What was this now?
He wasn’t in his right mind.
He definitely wasn’t in his right mind.
His friends wouldn’t be glad to see him belittling himself like this. Gotak wouldn’t like to see him begging to that guy.
The furrow on Seongje’s brows, his eyes that were staring right into his soul, the silence that was thick as honey —alright, this wasn’t a good example, because honey is sweet, and right now, this moment felt like anything but sweet, oh, his thoughts were drifting apart, he had to come to himself, come back to this moment, where was he…— the silence that felt heavy in the air, all this made him feel like he was shrinking, and shrinking. “Alright, I’ll just go, I’m sorry for bothering you-”
”You’re cute.”
What.
This was just another one of his own overflowing thoughts. Seongje didn’t actually say this. It was in his head. He would put a stop to this. His eyes immediately found Seongje's as he finally spoke, trying to act as if it didn’t affect him—like it didn’t matter, like his cheeks didn’t flush. “That was not funny.”
Seongje tilted his head and talked, his voice steady. “It wasn’t supposed to be funny.”
Juntae huffed . "Whatever. I'll just-"
Once again, Seongje cut him off. "It's okay, I'll do it." He put his hands into his pockets of that bright orange windbreaker, that damn windbreaker, that damn annoying bright windbreaker, and leant a bit forward. "I won't do it for free. You know, you'd owe me twice, then."
Immediately, Juntae's face lit up, his eyes sparkled.
Cute. thought Seongje, again. Looks like a puppy. But he didn’t say it aloud, though, the boy didn’t seem to like it.
"Really? You're not joking, are you? Seriously? I thought you'd say no!" He blurted out, his excitement showing off brightly.
Smirking, Seongje straightened back his posture. "Don't get too excited. I said I won't do it for free."
"It's okay. I'd do anything in return if you would really help me- I mean us- really, anything."
“Well, I’m not sure yet what to ask for…” He took out his phone, swiped and tipped on the screen for a few seconds before extending it towards Juntae. “What about you give me your number, and I tell you when I know what I want, hm?”
Seongje’s gaze felt like it was piercing through his eyes, like he wasn’t asking, but demanding. Not a good idea. said a voice in his head. He didn’t listen, though, if he did, he wouldn’t even be this far.
”Alright.” Juntae reached out, a bit hesitant, and took the phone with both hands, his trembling hands.
puppy
Seeing the contact name Seongje had saved him as, Juntae could barely hold himself from gasping, but he couldn’t help the redness on his cheeks.
Meanwhile, Seongje watched him in amusement. The bright red face, the trembling fingers trying to type the correct numbers… it was just too adorable.
”Here!” Juntae handed him the phone, a bit too quick. As he accepts it, Seongje carefully brushed his own fingers over Juntae’s, savoring the light tremble he caused. “Good.”
Juntae realized how Seongje was getting under his skin without any big efforts, and it left a strange feeling. He couldn’t sort out what it was, he still knew that it wasn’t a good one, though. A knot in his stomach wasn’t a good sign, after all.
“Just be available whenever I text you. Be late for more than…” Seongje took a long pause, groaned and snapped his fingers while thinking in a way which made him look funny. Juntae would have laughed if it weren’t Geum Seongje.
“…five! Yeah, be late for more than five minutes, and forget about the deal.” Here continued.
Alright, he wasn’t funny anymore. And his request was impossible.
”But…!” Juntae protested. Seongje’s look changed at an instant. He watched him as if his eyes said ‘Go on, say no. Say no and see its consequences.’ and Juntae felt as if he was shrinking, again, as if he wasn’t already curled up to the point that he probably lost half of his height. He still pressured himself to add.
“I can’t use my phone at school.” Juntae forced out, carefully. “The teachers are collecting them. I’m sure it was the same at Ganghak, too.”
Juntae expected the taller one to say something like ‘Alright, then, forget about the deal.’ Instead, he reached out, placed a hand on Juntae’s shoulder and leant down, his face close to Juntae’s ear. “I’m sure you can make it work out, little thing. Weren’t you the one who stole his classmates’ phones. Sneaking around your own wouldn’t be difficult.”
Alright. This was it.
”Stop it.” said Juntae softly. He felt weak. He didn’t like the way this felt. How the truth felt.
”Am I lying, though?” Seongje asked, his voice sounded as soft as the way Juntae’s voice sounded earlier. “I’m counting on you.” He said as he gave Juntae a slight squeeze on the shoulder.
Just like this, he turned away, then strolled off, flicking a cigarette on the way, leaving a confused, flushed Juntae behind.
Juntae didn’t know how he reached home. He would find a solution to this. But he couldn’t stop thinking of Seongje.
No.
He should think of Seongje’s burner phone, not Seongje himself.
—————
At night, all Seongje could think was Juntae on his bed.
Ruined,
devoured.
So beautiful.
How pretty he would look.
Seongje couldn’t wait to see that beautiful scenery. His imagination wouldn’t be enough, he needs to watch the cute boy squirm beneath him in this reality, with his own eyes.
Who wouldn’t accept helping such a beautiful thing?
The only problem, the tiniest even, was that the phone didn’t exist anymore.
But a little lie would be alright if it meant a bit of fun with a cute little thing.