✔️ BAD NEIGHBORHOOD | hyunbinlix

VII

➳ it's not this

➳ it's not that

little did HWANG HYUNJIN know when he walked into school the next day, a plan in his head on how to ask his friend out, that someone else would stand in the way.

the halls were quite empty when he arrived. a few seconds later, he realized why. from down the hallway there were loud shouts and yells. walking at a brisk pace, he soon came across the action. four popular boys (your typical bullies: on the football team, painfully straight, entitled, etc.) surrounded someone who was crouched in a ball on the floor, back leaning against the lockers. flowers that once bloomed from his hair wilted and drooped. hyunjin recognized the familiar colour of blood on the boys' hands and his eyes widened.

'why don't you speak, huh, freckles?'

'you're such a freak. little mute brat,' one of them spat.

the crowd around them was thick, and almost impossible to move through. the sheer claustrophobia that came with the entire grade packed into a narrow hallway, paired with the racket accompanying such a gathering, was overwhelming. nevertheless, hyunjin was already pushing his way through the bystanders to do something about the problem. they were all scared enough of him that, if he made a show of it, flashing his fangs and wings, he could get them to move out of the way.

but someone beat him to it.

a figure clad in all black emerged from the crowd. the look in SEO CHANGBIN'S eyes when he looked up from the ground was enough to send shivers through any sensible person.

'ooh, shorty's decided to join in on the action,' one of them sneered. 'thinks he's so strong.'

changbin could have passed as an oread with the stony expression on his face. 'don't think i haven't noticed all the rumors you spread about me since i've arrived here.' his voice was quiet, but venomous. 'the rumors about hyunjinnie, too.' somehow the boy found his friend's face in the mush of students, and they locked eyes. 'and when you gave me a black eye the other day, i was too scared to fight back, because everyone would probably see me as some non-human-hating dickhead. now you're hurting another one of your kind... that's crossed the line.'

to say the four jocks were scared when the short male started to crack his knuckles was an understatement. but they couldn't back down now. it would be an insult to their egos, which were at least double their IQs.

they all charged at him at once, completely abandoning the shaking boy on the ground; they had a new target now. to the surprise of everyone, including hyunjin, changbin dodged their terribly-aimed punches (if you could even call them that - it was more like arms flailing around randomly) easily. a few simple maneuvers had them tripping over their own feet.

'just fuck off,' he muttered, before walking over to the victim he'd saved. the students were starting to leave, and so with one final hiss at some stubborn popular kids, hyunjin also made his way over to his friend and the boy. 'hey, are you okay?'

whoever he was, he refused to look up. all hyunjin could see was a mop of orange hair, what looked like a bloody nose, and a black eye. 'let's get you to the nurse, yeah?' he said, looking over at changbin with a worried expression. 1, 2, 3! they hoisted him up into the air and draped his arms over each of their shoulders.

he was still shaking when they arrived at the nurse's office.