Heaven ➳ Taegyu ✔

5. Hyunnie

*The next day*

"Taehyun-ah," Beomgyu said, entering science and sitting next to the boy. "Hyunwoo isn't here today. I'm gonna hang out with you, okay?"

Taehyun nodded and noticed students staring at them. "You might not want to."

"Why not?"

"Everybody will think you're friends with me." He shook his head and looked down. "At this school, you'll want to be popular. You don't wanna be seen with someone like me."

Beomgyu became frustrated and flipped all of them off before facing Taehyun again. "You think I give a shit what they think? So far, all they've done is mean mug us for being smarter than them. All I have to know is that I'm better than them and their words won't matter to me. You should think that way too Hyunnie."

Taehyun's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something when the teacher came in. After a bit of instructions, they got a packet about their upcoming project and Beomgyu looked through it.

"Do you wanna do our research on organisms in the Savanna biome?" Beomgyu asked.

Taehyun was just staring off into space, but eyed him for a moment at that. "What do you mean 'our' research?" He didn't say it in a malicious way. More like he just wasn't expecting Beomgyu to choose him.

Beomgyu bit his lip and showed the paper where he wrote both of their names. "You're my only friend in this class..."

"Yeah, and I'll continue being your only friend." He snorted and grabbed the paper. "I know that we opened up a lot last night, but..." he tried to find an excuse. "I'm too insecure to have any type of relationship with you."

Beomgyu's jaw dropped and he looked Taehyun up and down. "You?!"

"It's not my physical appearance." Beomgyu shrunk in on himself and nodded. "I'm just afraid."

"Of what?"

Taehyun looked at him and his breath shook at how soft he looked. "What if my anger gets the best of me and I yell at you?"

"Then we'll talk it out."

"What if I hit you like how I hit everyone else?"

Beomgyu thought for a moment. "Then you'll tell me what's going on in your life and I'll help you, okay? But you made a promise to yourself and you need to keep it. I think doing that is another step towards taking care of yourself."

Why was he so poetic?

The bell rang and Taehyun frowned when Beomgyu quickly scurried out. He didn't know what it was about that playful little brunette that made him so intriguing to Taehyun.

Taehyun has never had a crush on anybody, so he knew that's not what it was now. Sure he's had a hell of a lot of hookups and other things in past years, but they were never anything more than him seeking a night of pleasure.

He didn't want that with Beomgyu. Fuck any of that with Beomgyu. No matter how much he wanted anything from him, he wouldn't stoop to Hyunwoo's level to get it. He wouldn't get it because he would never want to terrify Beomgyu just to ask him to have sex with him.

That would never happen.

And now that he was thinking about it, he decided he wouldn't let Hyunwoo do it either. No matter how much Beomgyu hated it, he would continue telling him to stay the fuck away from the danger that was Hyunwoo.

Because no matter how violent Taehyun was, unlike Hyunwoo, he would never touch Beomgyu in a sexual way and play it off as "friendly".

***

Beomgyu saw Taehyun sitting alone at lunch and went to walk over to him, but his arm was grabbed by Hyunwoo who got to school late.

"You're not sitting with him, are you?"

"We have a project we have to work on." Beomgyu turned to walk again, and again, Hyunwoo grabbed him.

"You can't. At least not here at school."

"It's an assignment for school though."

"I don't care, okay?" Beomgyu's eyes narrowed at his aggressive tone. "You can't be seen with him here. It's bad."

Beomgyu sadly looked at Taehyun who was doing something on his phone and walked away with Hyunwoo. "Well can we at least sit with Kai and the others?"

Hyunwoo rolled his eyes, but nodded nonetheless. "Sure."

After lunch, Beomgyu went to drama and sat down. Someone suddenly sat next to him and he gasped. "Hey," Taehyun said. "Did you get any of the science work done?"

Beomgyu stared at him with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sitting in the back yesterday. I have this class too."

Oh.

A documentary started playing on the big screen and Beomgyu felt bad about lunch. "Taehyun."

"Hm?"

"I wanted to sit by you at lunch, but Hyunwoo didn't want me to. I'm sorry."

Taehyun looked down and clenched his fist in anger. "He didn't let you sit where you wanted to sit?"

"No because he has the same mindset as you. That if I sit with you, nobody will like me."

"Quiet," the substitute said and Beomgyu quickly apologized.

Taehyun didn't say anything for a while and he felt like he somehow made him angry. Maybe Taehyun really was upset that he didn't sit by him at lunch.

"Are you upset?" He whispered.

"No. I'm mad at him."

"Don't be mad at him. He's my friend."

Shaking his head, Taehyun turned to face him and put his hand on his neck. "This is what a friend does?"

Beomgyu's eyes widened. He didn't feel anything when Hyunwoo did it. But it felt different this time. "I-I don't know."

"Or maybe this?" He put his hand on his waist and Beomgyu shivered. "That's what friends do?" He looked at Beomgyu's lips. "They don't kiss each other, that's for sure. He's harassing you."

He pulled his hand away and Beomgyu looked at him in shock. Why did it feel like that?

"I'm sorry for touching you." Taehyun massaged the bridge of his nose and groaned. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Both of you." The sub paused the documentary and pointed at both of them. "Detention."