Chapter Text
He wasn't really fond of people. Often times, they were loud, obnoxious, rude, and dramatic. Nam Joo Hyuk himself didn't find that he meshed well with many people. He had maybe two people who he could really call his friends.
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The friend he had known for the longest was Kim Minseok, or as preferred, Xiumin. He'd met him when he was in his first year of middle school. He was a seventh grader and Xiumin was a year older than him. He had been wandering the sparsely occupied halls alone at lunch one day and ran into the boy. Xiumin had darted out a classroom and hasn't anticipated that they might someone walking past. At the impact, Joohyuk's stance wasn't steady enough to keep him from toppling over.
After landing on his rear, he glanced around to find that the person who collided with him had landed beside him. The pin on his blazer indicated that he was an eighth grade student and Joohyuk quickly got up. Dusting off his trousers with one hand, he offered out the other to his elder, mind the boy got angry at him for being disrespectful. When the elder finally noticed the outstretched hand, he looked at Joohyuk with a slightly crooked smile.
Joohyuk did his best to pull up the boy with the little upper body strength he had, but from how easy the boy got up, or almost seemed like he never needed the help in the first place. As Joohyuk observed him dust himself off, he took in the boy's nice features. His brown, swept-to-the-side hair and hipster-like glasses had Joohyuk staring for longer than he had realized.
“Oh…! Pardon me…” He quickly said, realising he nearly forgot to apologise. His small voice was almost too quiet to hear. Had Xiumin not been standing in such a close proximity, he wouldn't have caught the apology.
“Ahh no, don't worry! I should have checked before I ran.” He chuckled in reply, paying Joohyuk's shoulder. The physical contact made the younger boy flinch away and Xiumin frowned.
“Hey, people don't pick on you, do they?” He asked softly, but his tone of voice indicated that he was bothered by how the boy reacted to the friendly gesture. Joohyuk eyes widened and he shook his head.
“No… I mean, sometimes... I get pushed around a bit, but it means nothing… It's just because I'm quiet…” He looked at the ground, suddenly finding interest in the black loafers he had on. He didn't want to be dishonest, but he would rather not told the boy the extent to which his classmates liked to torment him.
The girls often did nothing more than talk about him and laugh, occasionally making fun of how girls would never talk to him because his family couldn't afford to get him a phone. The boys, however, were a nightmare. They would push past him, knock his books out of his hands, steal the few pencils he had, blame him for things he didn't do, they just never stopped. He never stopped them because to him, it was a waste of energy in his opinion.
“No, that's not right!” Xiumin exclaimed, making him look up again. “Hey, what's your name?”
“Oh… I'm Nam Joohyuk…” He didn't bother asking for the other boy’s name back, since he has never really had friends anyways. He had introduced himself to people many times, but even the people who took some sort of interest in him eventually lost it. He didn't really speak much, let alone interact with other people.
“Well Joohyuk, my name's Kim Minseok, but call me Xiumin!” He said, flashing a toothy grin. He took his hand that was resting on his younger’s shoulder and offered it out in a handshake. Before Joohyuk could catch himself, a skeptical expression crossed his features. It was only for a fraction of a second, but Xiumin caught a glimpse of it and lower his hand. The sad expression that took over his face made Joohyuk feel bad. He knew the boy was being nice, but he already knew how this would go.
“I’m sorry,” He bowed deeply, not bringing his eyes back up to his elder’s face. “But I don’t make friends…” It was a sad thing to say, but it was true. He had long stopped trying to make friends with people. In his mind, it made no sense to try to befriend someone when he had no interest in being around people generally. He couldn’t stand school because of the abundance of strangers that would flow through it, wreaking havoc and creating chaos here and there, but he liked learning so they countered each other in some sort of wicked harmony.
“Why?” The question took him by surprise. Normally, people would be offended and call him rude or antisocial, which the latter was not wrong, but Xiumin hadn’t been offended or called him anything. Joohyuk looked up to see genuine curiosity on the boy’s face.
“Why…?” He repeated, not really taking in that he should probably answer the boy.
“Yeah, why? I mean, why wouldn’t you want to make friends? Isn’t that really important in middle school?” Joohyuk didn’t know what to say. In fact, why was he even holding a conversation with this stranger?
When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to answer, Xiumin smiled and patted his shoulder again. This time, he only brought his hands up in a nervous defensive position. Xiumin shook his head.
“Do you like engineering?”
“Engineering…?” Joohyuk looked up behind his large, circular glasses before nodding his head. “Um, I like to build things… I find it fun to figure out exactly how things work and operate… so I can make one of my own… maybe even make it better…”
“Awesome! Same here! You wanna join my club?”
“There’s a club…?” He’s surprised he hadn’t heard of this club, but then again, he never listened to the morning announcements or the class president’s weekly speeches since he was usually listening to music until first period started.
“Yup! I’m the president.” Xiumin announced proudly, standing up straighter. “So whaddaya say?”
“Oh… well… I’m not really fond of clubs… too many people… besides, it would be boring to go by myself…” Joohyuk realised that his tongue slipped a bit too late and he turned away in embarrassment. He never dared to tell anyone that he didn’t have friends but he was getting a bit too comfortable with the boy and had lowered his caution levels.
“Hey, I have an idea!” Xiumin grabbed his shoulders and spun him to look at him. He shook his head at the fear that flooded into Joohyuk’s expression.
“Okay, so we really need to fix that,” He said, referring to the fetal position that Joohyuk looked like he was trying to curl up into, “but we have time for that later. As for my idea, whaddaya say we be friends?” Joohyuk couldn’t have looked more surprised if he tried.
“With me…?” He really couldn’t believe that this boy had really said that despite everything that he had already said about being friends with people.
“Yeah with you! You don’t really seem to have friends -- for what reason, I don’t know, but I think that we could be really good friends, regardless of whatever reasons that you don’t have friends now.” The bell to signify that lunch was ending and Xiumin looked behind himself in panic.
“Ah, crap. I gotta go, but I want to hear what your answer is first.” He looked back at his younger schoolmate and cocked his head to the side. “So, what do you say, Joohyuk?”
“Umm… well I guess that I’m okay with being friends, but--”
“Fantastic! Alright then, friend, I’m going to head off to class now, but I’ll see you soon enough!” He exclaimed, giving him a friendly shoulder pat. He waved his farewell and jogged off to the stairwell.
Joohyuk stood in shock for a moment before mentally shaking himself out of it. It was only a matter of time before Minseok would see that he wasn’t friend-material. He took off in the opposite direction, towards his classes. He wasn’t going to see the boy again, this was the first time he had seen him in his three months at the school, and he saw a lot of people being the loner he was.
He chuckled to himself as he went up the stairs. I’m not going to see him again. He probably wasn’t even really, he was a hallucination. He had a “friend” now, but really, what difference would he make in Joohyuk’s life?
Well surprisingly, a large difference.
About two days later, he still hadn’t seen his sunbae (elder) again, but it didn’t bother him. He could avoid people for months if he tried. He was good at figuring out the schedules of people that were often around him, which became useful if he was trying to avoid them.
He was sitting with his headphones on, listening to his usual music at the back corner of the classroom. He gazed out the windows, not looking at anything in particular. The relaxing R&B music made him feel at peace, getting him into the condition he needed to be in for the rest of the school day. At the front of his class, the class president was rambling on about whatever a class president was supposed to talk about. Joohyuk never bothered to listen from day one, so he even couldn’t say what he might be talking about.
In his peripheral view, he saw some kids approach him and internally groaned. He continued looking out the window in hopes that the boys would leave him alone but unknowingly, he provoked them. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder before it shoved him into the wall. He had just barely reacted fast enough to put his hand beside his head so that his knuckles impacted the wall rather than his head. He opened the eyes that he had squinted shut when he felt the hand touch his shoulder and tentatively looked at the boys who were surrounding him.
It was the class president and two other boys that he recognized, but never learned the names of. Kim Junmyeon, the class president, gestured to take off the headphones with an irritated smile. Joohyuk did as he was asked -- or rather, commanded to do, bringing the headphones down to rest around his neck.
“Ya, what the hell is your problem?” Joohyuk hadn’t even said or done anything and he was already being attacked. He opened his mouth to answer Junmyeon, but he was -- unsurprising -- slapped before he could say anything.
“Who do you think you are? What makes you think that your ears are too good for the words coming out of Junmyeon’s mouth?” The boy who had hit him demanded. He looked up at the black-haired boy and rather than responding, Joohyuk rubbed the now reddening hand mark on his cheek to try to sooth the pain. Clearly, this reflexive reaction was the wrong reaction and he was rewarded with a slap to the other cheek.
“Wrong answer, dipshit.” The other boy with dark red hair had slapped him this time. Joohyuk heard a chorus of laughter erupt from behind the wall of bullies and was reminded that his classmates were all assholes. They all sat there, every single one of them, and watched as he got tormented. No one helped him. No one asked if he was okay after. They just laughed at him for not fighting back.
“Joohyuk, fight back! What are you, a little girl?”
“Joohyuk, you act like a wuss, grow some balls!”
“Look at him, he’d probably hide behind a girl if he was attacked.”
“Even a 3-year-old girl would fight back more than you!”
He would even get the same crap from the girls.
“Joohyuk, no one is ever going to like you, you’re too weak.”
“I would never want to date a weakling like Joohyuk.”
“Guys, how much do you wanna bet that I could beat up Joohyuk?”
“You’d have to pay me a million dollars to sit beside him! I don’t want his weakness to rub off onto me!”
He absolutely hated every single one of the students that were in his class. They knew that he didn’t stand up for himself ever, so when he was forced to do group assignments, his group dumped all of the work onto him. He would do his work and all their work, but what they didn’t know is that he always told the teacher who did the work and who was claiming to do work. Truly, he got nothing out of it, but the feeling of screwing them over substituted the vengeance.
“How am I supposed to know that he’s saying something that I need to listen to…? I’ve never even heard his speeches…” Joohyuk finally answered after a few seconds, making sure to regulate his tone before speaking.
“How rude of you! Do you think you’re--”
“Listen,” Joohyuk cut off Junmyeon with a frustrated tone, “I have come into class every morning wearing these headphones, music on full blast. I only take them off when I see our first period teacher walk into class, okay?” There was a small hush around the room as this was the first time Joohyuk’s voice was so loud (and by loud, I mean a normal speaking voice). He watched as Junmyeon placed a hand on his chest daintily and scoff before looking at him with an intense gaze.
“Okay?” He chortled dryly. “Okay?! Do you think it’s--” Junmyeon didn’t bother to finish his sentence, he just tossed a hand up in some sort of exasperation. Now it only became clear that this was a signal when the two boys inched forwards with wicked smirks on their faces. Of course, it was far too late to escape from them and Joohyuk already knew he hadn't listened to enough songs yet to hope that the teacher would enter the classroom. He knew it was going to be a feeble attempt, but he wasn't prepared to have to replace the headphones his dad had worked hard for.
The moment the tallest of the two boys -- the red haired one -- reached to grab his collar, Joohyuk head-butted him in the chin. The boy cried out and stumbled back into the class president, the two of them falling onto someone who was sitting behind them. The other boy scowled at him as he got up at tried to run. He was grabbed by his elbow, but Joohyuk wasn't having it today and swung his other elbow back into the boy's chest with force. He felt the grip on his arm slip, just enough for him to move further, but not enough that he could fully get away. Around him, he heard the absolute chaos from the students at his sudden act of, no doubt, idiotic courage.
The feeling as the boy started pulling him back away from the door was almost defeating, but what should he have expected? It was foolish to leave his bag at the desk anyways; It would be raided and trashed, sending nearly 250 000 won ($250) down the drain. He didn't think his actions full thoroughly because the safety of his headphones was being prioritized over everything else.
He tugged as hard as he could, but he knew that he was too weak to pull away from the boy. As he felt his other arm become captive, he knew that he was done for. He could only make the sad attempt to try to run away still, but he knew that two strong people would win against a single, weak person.
“Where do you think you're going?!” Snarled Junmyeon, who had come around to stand to the side of them, but Joohyuk didn't bother to respond. He tried one last time to pull away, looking up at the door one more time before giving in.
It was only a short second, but in the doorway was Xiumin, a look of horror plastered across his face. He only saw a glimpse of the boy before his head got yanked back.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?” Xiumin's shout rang out through the room. Like some sort of Christmas miracle, everything stopped. Joohyuk's arms were released, his hair was let go of, and the chaotic sounds from his classmates silenced. Xiumin stomped into the class, visibly radiating anger. He stopped in front of Joohyuk and the boys, looking between all the faces as if assessing the situation.
“You… It's you guys.” The class was dead silent. It was rare to see a sunbae in the classroom, let alone an angry one. No one dared to make a sound. “YOU GUYS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE PICKING ON JOOHYUK!”
“Minseok sunbae-nim--” Junmyeon placed a hand on Xiumin's forearm but flinched away when he tensed up and balled his hands into fists, scowling at the boy.
“Shut up, Junmyeon. You're no better than anyone in here.” Xiumin turned to look at the class. “WHO SAW WHAT WAS HAPPENING?” There was no response from the body of students, all of them looking down. This wasn't acceptable for Xiumin. He took his balled fist and rammed it into the door of a locker cubby, causing all the students to flinch at the loud sound.
“ARE YOU DEAF?! I ASKED YOU GUYS A DAMN QUESTION, ANSWER ME!” One by one, all the students meekly rose their hands. While this was what Xiumin had asked, he was not happy with the answer. “YOU GUYS ARE SO DAMN LUCKY I HAVEN'T ALREADY TURNED THIS CLASSROOM UPSIDE DOWN!”
“Sunbae-nim, what brings you to our class?” The black-haired boy asked nervously, his voice audibly trembling.
“Oh, you wanna know why I'm here, Shit Baekhyun?” The word play on the boy's last name was vicious and the boy looked down in shame.
(A/N: For those who don't know, “Byun” is Baekhyun’s last name, which is roughly equivalent to “Shit”.)
“Sunbae-nim... that's kinda harsh…” The red-head spoke up, but it would have been better if he had just said nothing.
“Chanyeol, do me a favour from now and just shut the fuck up.” A small collective gasp came from the class, drawing Xiumin's attention back to what was going on. “I came here to find my friend Joohyuk and update him about the engineering club, BUT I CAME INTO THE ROOM TO SEE THIS BULLSHIT INSTEAD!”
“Your... friend?” Junmyeon repeated, shock evident in his voice.
“Yeah, my friend.” Xiumin snapped back. There was another chorus of gasps from the class with a few people whispering “Joohyuk has friends???”. He caught one person who didn't whisper it quiet enough.
“WHO SAID THAT?! WHO ASKED IF JOOHYUK HAD FRIENDS?!?” Everyone flinched at his loud voice and the class quieted quickly. The boy who whispered it last timidly raised his hand and the anger in Xiumin's eyes flared up even more.
He turned towards the locker cubbies and saw a box of paper clips sitting on top of it. He grabbed it and whipped around, throwing the open box at the boy. The boy shielded himself with his hands and the contents of the small box exploded all over him.
“Yeah! For your fucking information, Jongdae, Joohyuk has a friend and I am that friend!” Xiumin hissed.
Joohyuk's head was spinning. Everything that was happening was all too surreal. He was, for the first time, being stood up for. He had so many questions, like why Xiumin had made such a commotion for him, or how he had even found his class. He felt himself rocking slightly and his vision started to get spotty.
Xiumin saw Joohyuk rocking in his peripheral vision and immediately turned his head to look at him. He shuffled over to ask if he was okay, but ended up having to break his fall. Joohyuk’s eyes rolled back and he fell forwards into Xiumin's arms. Xiumin looked up at Junmyeon and scowled again.
“I'm taking him to the infirmary. If you guys do anything to him again, I will destroy your classroom.” While he was talk to Junmyeon, the threat was universal. “Give me his bag.” Baekhyun turned hastily to pick up the boy's belongs. “AND AS FOR YOU GUYS,” Xiumin started, turning his head towards the class, “IF YOU EVEN THINK OF TELLING THE TEACHER, I WILL HUNT DOWN EVERY. SINGLE. ONE OF YOU.” Everyone, and I mean everyone, nodded their heads. It was a mutual understanding. Xiumin would fuck up everything that had to do with class 7-A if anyone dared to rat him out.
He hoisted the smaller boy onto his shoulder and took the bag from Baekhyun. He spun on his heel and left the room, leaving 33 seventh graders in shock.
Joohyuk knew that Xiumin was a real friend to keep when he woke up in the cot and saw that he was waiting, sitting cross-legged, on the cot beside him, nose-deep in a book.
“Oh, you finally woke up! Gee, I felt like you were never gonna wake up!” The boy chimed when he saw Joohyuk shift. In turn, Joohyuk could only smile. He hasn't ever felt so happy in a while, so he basked in the feeling. He had someone who he, for once, felt like he could rely on.
Xiu surprised him by getting up and diving onto his cot, landing on his lap. He wrapped his arms around Joohyuk's middle and hugged him. This time, Joohyuk didn't flinch but rather, he hugged him back.
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