his throat was raw | minsung

5

'good morning students , i am mr.Kim and i'll be your P.E teacher for this period' a tall and quite muscular male greeted everyone , both boys and girls , that were now gathered around the teacher . everyone had their own P.E bag in their hands , waiting for the teacher to show the locker rooms so they could change and get started on the activities already .

'let's talk about some rules first , okay ?' no one even answered and gave him permission to talk about them but he just kept talking like every other teacher does . 'don't be late to my class or i will make you run laps , don't swear or bad-mouth your fellow classmates or you do 10 push ups , don't trash the locker rooms- or do , i will make you clean them up yourselves anyway' the teacher said and earned a couple of understanding nods from the students .

'okay lastly , the girls' locker rooms are on the left and the boy's on the right . go change . you have 10'

the students immediately started rushing to the locker rooms to claim a locker since no one wants their stuff to be pushed around . everyone was gone except for han . they hadn't even moved from the spot they had been originally standing from the very start . they were conflicted . feeling so out of place .

why am i like this ? why can't i just choose ?

minho , who was walking towards the locker rooms , noticed that han wasn't following him anymore . he turned around just to see the other standing there like their shoes were glued to the floor with super glue .

'han ?' minho voiced out , making the younger jerk their entire body towards the voice . 'let's go ?' he questioned , feeling unsure as to why the other wasn't showing any interest on the subject .

'i-i don't know i-if i can ?...' han stuttered . they had their head low , brushing their gaze over the dusty gym floor , afraid of making eye contact with the older , which would only intensify their stutters and nerves .

'what do you mean ?' minho just knitted his eyebrows together in confussion . he had no idea what the other was saying .

'boys' locker r-room' han softly said , nervously playing and bitting on their lip piercing which was starting to hurt . 'i can't'

'you don't know if you can change in the boys' locker room ?' if minho wasn't confussed enough 5 second ago , he sure was now .

'm' han hummed as in yes .

'why ? are you insecure of changing in front of them ?' he stepped closer to the weak-looking person in front of him . he really tried to understand but it wasn't that easy since han wouldn't issue what was wrong and why they couldn't change in the boys' locker room .

'no , n-not that' han murmured to themselves .

'what is it then ? i won't be capable to help you if you don't say what's the matter , han' minho said , slightly annoyed at the other procrastinating on stating the problem and wasting their time they should be spending changing into their gym attire , and minho really wasn't ready to run laps on the first day of school as in result of being late .

han was fighting with their inner self inside . should they tell minho right now or wait a bit longer ? maybe if they told the truth , it wouldn't hurt anymore when used the wrong pronounce .

'they won't judge if that's what you're afraid of , we're all men at the end of the day' minho carelessly spat out , making han's heart drop . they just froze at the older's choice of wording and just couldn't bring themselves to say anything else .

it hurt han . it really did .

but minho didn't know .

'han , what's wrong , talk to me' he leaned slightly downwards , trying to catch han's eyes that were wandering low .

'i-i-' they started , but the words just simply got stuck in the back of their throat 'i-' they paused again , obviously frustrated with themselves . han finally lifted their head , trying to find comfort in the older's eyes while trying to get a sentence out of themselves .

'take your time' minho reassured . he hated seeing the other struggle and stumble over their own words so much , it just looked so exhausting and pathetic .

'i-i'm not r-really a-' han started , voice getting quieter and quieter by each and every word that was nearing the end of the confession . 'a boy' they finally said , almost in a whisper .

minho stopped for a second , confussion brushing over his face .

'what ?'

'u-uhm , i-i said-' han began repeating in case the other didn't catch that since they were talking in a relatively soft and quiet tone , but was soon cut off .

'no , i heard what you said'

'o-oh'

'i'm just confussed , that's all' minho confessed , not wanting to sound rude or scare the other away with a thought that he won't accept han . 'do you mind telling me more , so i could understand how you feel better ?'

'i-i'm non-binary .. so i'm neither a b-boy or a girl' han shyly said , scared to see minho's reaction . what if it's negative and he would be too grossed out to be roommates anymore ?

'oh okay' minho nodded , finally understanding . he of course had heard about non-binary people and all , but he had never interacted with someone who was actually non-binary . 'so , what pronounce do you prefer ?'

han was , nonetheless , caught off guard by this question . they did not think minho would actually care and bother enough to ask something like that , let alone - actually use the correct pronounce . han could feel their little heart warm up .

'they , them' han shyly said almost in a whisper, but it was definitely loud enough for the person who asked the question to hear .

'okay' he nodded his head lightly .

'w-what about you ?'

'hm ?' minho hummed .

'w-what pronounce do you prefer ?' han asked emphasising the last part .

'oh , he , him'

'okay' han whispered to himself .

'and i'm sincerely sorry for misgendering you the whole time . it was wrong of me to assume in the first place , since you really don't look like neither a boy or a girl . i should have known better . i'm so sorry and i hope you will forgive me' minho said out of nowhere .

'no no no ! d-don't apologize ... you didn't know , i-i should have told you'

'still , i'm sorry' this brought a smile to han's face .

'it was wrong of me to assume in the first place , since you really don't look like neither a boy or a girl .'

it feels so good .

a/n : thank you for reading this book , i hope it's not too bland and simple . tell me how are yall doing ? what's your kpop ult bias ? mine are felix, jin and yoongi<3