Behind My Back ✓ tk

T H I R T Y FI V E

»»——CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE——««
RUNNING AWAY FROM ALL UR BULLSHIT

AN arched eyebrow and crossed arms are what Yugyeom received once he stepped foot onto the field. He had put on his old PE shorts and a random black shirt, matched with beat up running shoes that were two sizes too small. He knew he stood out from all the runners who had new gear on and didn't actually look like they had bought their stuff from a second hand shop/picked it out of a trashcan.

He wasn't here to actually do sports. It would go against everything he stood for. Being active? Pfft, the only times he was active was on Facebook. But he saw no other way to approach the younger than by joining the track team. He luckily was acquaintances with the top runner and the team really needed new athletes if they wanted to win something for once.

"What are you doing here?", Jeongguk asked when the blonde stepped in front of him.

Yugyeom awkwardly rubbed his sweaty hands on his shorts and smiled, "I uh came to do the sports".

"Yugyeom", the ravenhead stated, "You don't do sports".

"You don't know that", the younger scoffed, "Maybe I love running in my free time".

Jeongguk couldn't fight the amused grin on his lips from forming, "Oh yeah I believe you. I believe you love running a lot of marathons... on Netflix".

"Stop roasting me", Yugyeom snapped, "I'm only here to try and talk to you & you know it".

The older knew his friend hated sport ever since kindergarten, so he had already figured that Yugyeom wasn't here to actually do exercise. But he still found it great to make fun of the guy, and especially now that he wasn't accompanied by that stupid friend group of his.

A whistle blew and that was a sign for their warm up to start. Jeongguk had already stretched a bit and started running around the track, the blonde following him – well trying to at least.

"We really need to talk Jeongguk", he started, his face already a little red, "And at least now you can't slam a door in my face".

"I could slam you onto the ground though", the ravenhead mumbled, the sentence going unnoticed by the other.

"I've been wanting to apologize for ages now", Yugyeom huffed out, "But I didn't get the-"

Jeongguk abruptly stopped running, making the younger collide with his back since he had been lagging behind. He fell onto his butt as the ravenhead turned around, eyebrows furrowed dangerously close.

"Apologize?", he spoke out slowly, as if the word was foreign to him, "Hmm seems like something I don't want to hear".

The blonde cocked his head to the side, getting a bit annoyed with the other's snarky comments and sarcastic behavior. "I know you don't like me very much at the moment. I dropped you because of them, I know, and that was a bad thing to do. But I thought that hanging out with them would make me- y'know – cooler. I wanted to be cool in highschool".

"I don't think that being cool means talking bad about your friend behind his back. That just screams asshole to me", Jeongguk replied, the image of a screaming asshole now suddenly etched into his head, "Also I don't think it's very cool to talk me? Since you know, apparently I'm not cool nor an asshole so you should maybe go".

He turned his back again, ready to run off, but a force grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back.

"Listen Gguk, I treated you badly when I shouldn't have. I said bad things about you so the others would like me. I got drunk and made out with strangers because I thought that was something cool kids did. I ignored you and chose them over you when I knew I shouldn't have. I was wrong. And I'm sorry for that. I wanted to make things up between us when I saw that we were roommates. I thought this could have been our fresh start, and finally without them. I wanted to get rid of them and start college with you", Yugyeom spoke, honesty laced in his voice, "I knew you were hiding around the corner when we arrived at the dorm. I know you heard what they said about waiting for you in the dorm, and that's why you ran off and ended up with Taehyung. I just wish we could have talked things out back then".

Jeongguk took a shaky breath, trying to take all of the information in, "Then why didn't you break ties with them. Why are you still part of their little group?"

Yugyeom sighed, "Well it wasn't my first intention to stay with them but when I noticed the plan-"

"Can we talk later? The coach is giving us the angry eyes at the moment and I really don't wanna get a scolding today. Come to my dorm tonight? We'll talk then", Jeongguk spoke, interrupting the other's sentence.

"Sure...", the blonde replied and watched with sad eyes how the older continued his jog, "I just hope you're ready to take it".