jisung was pushed into the wall by a hand. he looked up in fear to see chan and felix looking at him. he couldn't help but be fearful of the two. they tormented him every chance they got. "oh look it's jisung, the schools fag," chan said with an empty expression.
felix shared the same look as he held jisung to the wall. "do you know what we do with fags?" he asked jisung although he knew the boy knew the answer. "we beat it out of them," he said before punching him in the gut. jisung winced in pain and fell to the floor, only to be kicked by chan. this went on until the bell rang, the students just passing by and ignoring the poor boy getting beat. when they finally stopped and left, jisung struggled to sit up. he was sure that he would have even more bruises than before.
"what the hell happened to you?" he heard someone ask. he looked up to see another boy, minho, who he knew was a senior and two years older than himself. "well?" he continued impatiently.
jisung finally caught up after blinking a few times. "i got beat up," he replied quietly, his vision blurring. he rubbed his eyes, now feeling dizzy as well. a few moments later, everything went dark.
***
when jisung woke up, he was no longer at school. instead he was on a couch at an unfamiliar house. he sat up quickly, then lying back down from the pain in his sides. he almost cried out from it, but kept quiet. he couldn't help but be both curious and fearful of where he might be. a few moments later, he saw minho walk in the room with a glass of water and a pill in his hand. "look who's awake," he mused setting what he had in his hands on the oak coffee table in front of the sofa.
"what am i doing here?" jisung asked looking at the older male. he was slightly distrustful of minho having only seen him around school a few times, mostly doing what had to be illegal. minho gently lifted jisung up and moved him so that he was sitting upright, but without hurting him anymore.
"you're here because you passed out in the middle of the hall," he deadpanned. "i mean i wasn't just gonna leave you there," he added before handing jisung the glass of water and painkiller. jisung just nodded before taking a sip of the water and putting the pill in his mouth. he swallowed it before taking another sip of water.
"thank you," he mumbled handing him back the glass of water which was now half empty. minho sat the glass back on the coffee table before sitting by jisung.
"why do you let chan and felix hurt you like this?" he asked. sometimes minho would see them talking down to him or even worse. it's what first sparked his curiosity with jisung.
"there's nothing i can do to stop them," he replied with a shrug. "i'm just glad they didn't break any of my ribs to be honest."
minho couldn't help but scoff. "well maybe you should stand up for yourself," he said.
"no, that would only make it worse," he started. "they found out i was gay and since then they have made my life awful," he said looking away.
"i'm gay and you don't see them doing that to me," minho said before letting his voice soften. "you should hang out with me, they wouldn't dare mess with you then," he told the younger male. "we could be friends i guess."
jisung looked at him and something small in minho's gaze told him there wasn't much of a choice. "okay," he answered. he didn't want to get in the older males bad side. especially when he was offering to protect him from chan and felix. there was no way in hell he would say no.
"good, i'll make sure they never lay a hand on you again," he said as a promise. he gently took one of jisung's hands in his. "i mean that too."
jisung felt safe and gave his hand a light squeeze of appreciation. "thank you minho," he said sincerely. maybe things wouldn't be so bad now... boy was he ever so wrong...
