incomparable » changki

nineteen

"Dude, you look rough," Jooheon commented once the three of them stepped though the door, Kihyun making his way towards the mirror in the hallway.

He shrugged. "It's not too bad. I'm still beautiful."

Jooheon rolled his eyes and walked off into the kitchen to fetch a bag of ice for Kihyun.

"How about you? Are you doing ok?" Kihyun asked, turning to look at Changkyun with a smile on his face.

The boy's face was so pale that Kihyun actually wondered whether or not he would pass out. He placed his hand on Changkyun's forehead, seeing if he felt hot. He didn't. In fact, he was freezing.

Despite having dried blood smeared across his nose and lips, Kihyun still thought Changkyun looked beautiful. There really was nothing that could ever make Kihyun think otherwise.

"I'm really sorry," the boy croaked, looking up at Kihyun with his eyebrows furrowed. "I should just go back, it would make everything easier."

"Hey, you're not going anywhere!" Jooheon called out from the kitchen, and Kihyun snickered.

"Honestly, Changkyun, I would go back and do it all over again if I had to," the pink-haired male reassured, and Changkyun bit his lip.

This was the first time that Changkyun had seen Kihyun's face up close without the tears to cloud his vision. He looked like he should be in so much pain, but Kihyun was still smiling. His whole jaw was bruised, his bottom lip split and dried blood adorning the cut. Furthermore, he had a black eye and a bruise up on his temple.

And all because of Changkyun.

"I know what you're thinking and I want you to stop," Kihyun interrupted his thoughts. "None of this is your fault. You didn't know he would come to the college, you didn't know he would start a fight. You didn't know, Changkyun, and that's ok. I'm not blaming you, Jooheon's not blaming you - no one's blaming you. How could we? You've done nothing wrong."

Changkyun sniffled and nodded, looking down at his hands. Just yesterday, those same hands were painted red with his own blood and today, red with someone else's. Jooheon returned with the ice bag for Kihyun and a wet wipe for Changkyun, letting the younger boy clean his own face.

"Your nose is bruising," the redhead commented, studying Changkyun's face. "Does it hurt?"

Changkyun shook his head, yet was still careful when cleaning the dry blood from underneath his nose. He would be lying if he said he couldn't feel some pain, but it was bearable for him.

"You know I'm proud of you, right?" Kihyun asked when Changkyun looked in the mirror to make sure he'd gotten all of the blood from his face.

"Why?" Changkyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and Kihyun smiled at how cute he looked.

"Because you didn't go with him," he answered simply. "It would've been the easy thing to do but you didn't do it. And did you see how Soonyoung and Minhyuk and Hyunwoo came to help? They all care about you and want what's best for you, otherwise they wouldn't have stepped in."

Changkyun's frown disappeared once he heard those words, and an unfamiliar sense of pride filled his chest. He'd never made anyone feel proud of him, nor had he ever felt proud of himself, and it was a good feeling.

"Why did you step in to help me?" He asked, looking at Kihyun's reflection in the mirror.

"Why wouldn't I?" The pink-haired male asked rhetorically, and Changkyun could think of a few answers in his mind. "I couldn't just let you get taken away by him, not when I was right there and definitely able to help."

"I think you helped a bit too much," the younger boy teased, and Kihyun shrugged, his own smile stretching across his lips.

"I still got the job done," he retorted, and Jooheon patted the two of them on their shoulders.

"Ladies, ladies, you're both beautiful!" He exclaimed, and Kihyun rolled his eyes. "All that matters is that Changkyun is ok and Kihyun looks better than he did before."

Kihyun went to elbow his friend in the stomach, but Jooheon dodged just in time, and Changkyun laughed at the show in the mirror. He could feel that sense of happiness he had felt before Yungjae showed up at the college again. It was swelling in his heart and he loved the warm feeling it gave him in his stomach.

"You don't have any lessons on Thursday, do you?" Jooheon asked Changkyun, done with teasing Kihyun for the time being.

Changkyun shook his head, tossing the wet wipe in the bin behind the couch.

"Great. I'm coming with you to get your stuff from that guy on Thursday," the redhead stated, and Changkyun blinked. "You're going to live here with us and I don't care if you argue - we'll just put you in time out."

Kihyun laughed at that last comment, but Changkyun's brain didn't even register it.

"You guys-"

"Don't make us put you in the corner, Changkyun," Jooheon warned teasingly, and the younger boy felt a smile stretch across his face.

"Fine," he relented. "He has my phone anyway, and Soonyoung cried because I didn't answer his texts."

"Here you'll finally be able to finish your art project," Kihyun reminded, and Changkyun nodded.

"I'm so behind everyone else, it's unreal," the hazelnut-haired boy groaned, following Kihyun as he went to sit down on the couch.

"You'll do great," Jooheon ruffled his hair, and Changkyun smiled again, feeling at home for once in his life.

~*~

i feel like this is a good time to add in another ask the characters segment lmao i love doing these

changkyun

kihyun

soonyoung

minhyuk

hyunwoo

jooheon

hyungwon

hoseok

yungjae (please be gentle lmao)

author (me lmao)

answers will be posted at the end of the book!