Linger Like A Tattoo Kiss

1

Chapter TW
Usage of homophobic slurs.

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Gossip spreads around J Highschool faster than throwing a punch.

And Park Hyungseok had already known that the first time Jaeyeol gifted him an absurd amount of high-end fashion brand clothing on his then eighteenth birthday; he wore the hand-me-down limited edition sneakers on a Tuesday morning, and soon enough, not even three hours later, even the Animation Students—who says they don't have any interest in mainstream gossip—has Hyungseok's name on their mouth. Says that it's some sort of Japanese animation collaboration with the brand or something, he couldn't really care less, it's just shoes.

Or that time when word got out that Jinsung and Mijin were seen outside carrying a toddler that looks far too much like the young woman—god, Hyungseok still cracks up remembering the rumors about Jinsung being a young father.

So, yes, Hyungseok knows full well how fast word travels through J Highschool's grapevine... it shouldn't have been a surprise that a new transfer student would catch everyone's attention... Hyungseok is no different, he's still a teenager, after all. Being curious about new peers is just a given.

"He's joining the Animation Class?" Hyungseok hears someone whisper in the hallway as he sips the milk Vasco gave him.

"It's strange. I thought he was going to be another Animation loser but I've seen him during break time," One girl shivers as if remembering the transferee's face was such a scary thought. "He's all tattooed up and bulky—like a gangster you'd find in the province, those really tough ones..."

"Well, it's the middle of the semester. Maybe he got kicked out from his previous school and had to join in whatever course is available." The other shrugs. "Plus, I doubt that he could really cause trouble here, Vasco would beat his ass if he ever does."

Hyungseok feels off-put by the fact that he was eavesdropping on the girls' conversation, but he could not help the uneasy feeling settling at the depths of his stomach like the milk he had drunk had gone bad. He decided to tune out their next conversations, but there was this deep-rooted fear that tingles his spine—so familiar and primal that his body triggers unnecessary adrenaline like he was about to be thrown into the filthiest arena ring at this very moment.

"By the way, have you caught the transferee's name?" Hyungseok hears the other girl ask, "Just so we could avoid him, if ever."

"I didn't quite catch it, but rumors say he's called—"

Suddenly, a squeak of rubbered shoes destroys any resemblance of serenity in the whispering hallway, the thoughts in Hyungseok's head have muddled into curiosity before it turns into a poisonous gas of fear filling the room in his head to make way for a familiar trembling he had always known.

"Park Hyungseok!"

There in the dead center of the hallway stands the devil incarnate—the one that drenched Hyungseok's younger years with a thunderstorm, dousing dry whatever leftover fire of will he has to live. He had run away to Seoul for the sole reason of avoiding his demons and now—

"I heard that little bastard studies here—where the fuck is he?" The devil in the form of hardened fists and inked mass, Lee Taesung, flits his eyes everywhere to find the short plump boy he was so used to marinating under his hand. Hyungseok swallows a laboured breath, the empty milk carton in his hand had been crushed to death by his tight grip as his knees tremble, simply begging for them to kneel down and kiss at the feet of the boy-now-man who made his life hell. He walked backward, almost hitting the two girls gossiping earlier.

"Hyungseok, are you all right?" One of them, bless her heart, asks worriedly, her hand steadying him by his back.

Hyungseok avoids their gaze, his lungs seizing much too big for his chest. "I-I'm—"