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"So what changed?"
Gregory closes his eyes. He shouldn't be skipping class right now---shouldn't be falling behind on his work, since he's always prided himself on keeping up to date with any school assignments despite his fucked-up life. But he can't move, can't leave the solidity of Jeong-Soon's chest. His ribs ache and his face burns, but the phantom whisper of Jeong-Soon's mouth on his sends an unfamiliar warmth arcing through his entire body, filling him from his head to his toes. Something lodges in his heart---a feeling he hasn't felt in so long. Too long. He can't even tell what it is anymore.
"I saw you running. The headphones were hard to miss. I knew your fucking dumbass was going to do something stupid, and---" Gregory's mind whirls. Back to the day before, when he'd felt his heart crack in the pouring rain. Back to the morning, when he'd caught Jeong-Soon sneaking concerned glances at him from time to time. Back to twenty minutes ago, when the headphones had tried to hurl Kang Jeong-Soon off the balcony. "I didn't..."
He's suddenly acutely aware of Jeong-Soon's slender fingers threaded in his hair, stroking the ebony locks gently. There's no trace of the angry, vulnerable monster that had screamed at him the day before in his touch. There's only a boy---the boy Gregory had fallen in love with. And he can't help it---he melts, sagging against Jeong-Soon's chest, ignoring the pain that flares in his ribs. They aren't broken, miraculously, but they're bruised, according to the hospital Balloon Tits had rushed him to the moment he'd managed to drag his ass home.
"You didn't what?" Jeong-Soon's voice is soft, calm. Hot chocolate on a winter evening.
"I didn't..." Didn't want you to die. Didn't want the headphones to bother us. Didn't want to fight anymore. Didn't want to see you in the same state you were yesterday. Didn't want to fuck things up even more than I already have. A million words, resting on the tip of his tongue, yearning to roam free. He can't let them go. Not yet. "I hate you."
"So you kiss the boys you hate now?" Laughter escapes Jeong-Soon's mouth, and Gregory can't resist lifting his head, just in time to see a bright grin spreading across Jeong-Soon's face. It makes Gregory's heart subconsciously flutter, knowing that Kang Jeong-Soon is real, alive, and smiling. "Well, you know what they say, there's a fine line---"
