Nine Percent

TWO

Everywhere Xukun went, Linong was there. The floppy haired bunny took a liking to him, it seemed. Linong never failed to tell him: good morning, have a good day, goodnight, and sweet dreams. And he never failed to say it without that toothy smile on his face that caused his eyes to squeeze into little crescent moons. For some reason, all of it made Xukun loathe Linong. 

Surely the younger boy had some kind of flaw besides being overly happy all the time. It was excruciatingly painful to not have some kind of real motive to hate Linong. It made him feel so weak and hopeless. 

"Kunkun," Ziyi said, waving his hand in front of his friend's face. "Please stop this." 

"Stop what?" 

"Stop... doing nothing." Ziyi sighed and ran his hand down his face. "You haven't been yourself lately. Let's get out of here. We can go for a walk." 

Xukun shook his head. He didn't feel like going for a walk. He buried himself deeper into Ziyi's bed as his friend sat a few feet away at his desk. "I'm tired."

"You're always tired lately."

"I just had a soccer game," he argued, which, in any other situation, Ziyi would have understood. 

But Ziyi was done watching his friend sulk everyday. It was time for a change. "No. Get up. We're going out. Right now."

It took nearly half an hour of arguing and urging for Ziyi to manage to drag Xukun out of bed. Eventually, the two of them were walking outside the dorms, Xukun huddled in a hoodie and sweatpants whilst Ziyi fared off with shorts and a sweatshirt. 

"Are you coming to the Halloween party?" Ziyi asked. 

Xukun shrugged. If he was being honest, he really didn't have a care for parties. The only times he went was when he was in dire need of free alcohol. The socialization aspect of it though was a bit of a problem to him. Xukun didn't like having to talk to so many people and interact. He was more shy and reserved, or at least, he liked to be. He was more comfortable being alone than being with others, but no one, with the exception of Ziyi, seemed to realize. So he played along and went to the parties from time to time, just to keep up appearances. 

"We can just stay in my room and watch a movie," Ziyi offered. 

It sounded so tempting. 

He was about to agree when he suddenly smelled a bitter burning scent. His face scrunched up in disgust and nearly gagged at the smell of the cigarette. It didn't take a genius to know who was the owner of the foul cancer stick. 

Standing behind the boys' dormitory stood Lin Yanjun. He had his eyes closed and his head tilted towards the sky. His lips parted slightly, letting out smoke. His dark hair stood wildly in every direction, and a bandana was wrapped around his forehead, keeping the hair from falling into his eyes. 

Yanjun was always a paradox to Xukun. He was always quiet and brooding in class, but outside, he would flirt and fight and do things that the teachers would never approve of. He was intelligent, but that was probably the reason why he was never caught. Xukun sometimes thought Yanjun was wasting his life by doing destructive things, such as now, but he knew that Yanjun's perspective on life was a lot more different than his own. 

Xukun tore his eyes away from Yanjun with a slight huff. He continued to walk on with Ziyi, trying to think of all the ways he could overcome the emotional slump he's entered ever since Linong showed up. 

"Is this still about Linong?" Ziyi asked after awhile. 

Xukun shrugged dispassionately. 

"Kun..."