flower boy | seungjin

01

"I can't stand her."

Hyunjin hears his own voice echo through the phone, and the person on the other end replies with a sigh.

"I don't know dude," he says. "But if you fancy a trip back up here, I've got a spare room you can crash in." On the other end, a high pitched yell comes from somewhere in the apartment, and the guy on FaceTime groans before turning round. "Chenle! Shut the fuck up!"

"I might actually take you up on that." Hyunjin vaguely picks out the sound of his mother clip-clopping around down the hall, her high heels pressing into the dusty floor. He waits, until the front door opens and closes a second after. "I thought she'd be cool, but she's just a whore and I'm tired of having to listen to the guys she brings back every night. I feel like I haven't slept in months. Part of me wishes I was back with Dad and my brother - at least Jisung was fun to fuck around with."

"How long has it been since you moved away?"

Hyunjin shrugs, "Like, a year? It feels like at least five."

"Well, the offer's open. Just give me a bit of warning."

Humming in response, Hyunjin picks at a loose thread on his pyjamas. "Thanks, Jeno."

"See ya."

After ending the call, Hyunjin flops back onto his bed. The dark blue sheets crumple beneath him as he flips over onto his stomach, and leans over the edge to grab his phone charger. If this had been six months ago, the silence dominating the flat would have intimidated him, but now it just means that his mother isn't home, which fills Hyunjin with bliss.

He sighs deeply, allowing himself to relax. Even as he pulls up a contact on his phone - the chat filled with hearts and kisses to the point where Hyunjin feels sick - and starts typing, he remains almost emotionless.

babe💕💖
This isn't working. We shouldn't be together anymore. Don't message me again.

Even when his phone erupts with a dozen messages from that same contact, Hyunjin just groans, blocking the number before turning his phone on silent.

The girl had never been much fun anyway. She was just pretty, and made Hyunjin look good in front of others. Most of the girls - and guys - that he's been seeing since living with his mum were just that: people who would fawn over him and give him attention and popularity, but for some reason none of them ever expected that in reality they were just the same as all the others.

Hyunjin's been looking for an excuse to break up with this one for a while, and saying he's moving to the other side of the world seems plausible enough to him.

With every passing second, Hyunjin's eyes grow heavier and heavier, the warming silence of the apartment lulling him to sleep.

He wakes up again a few hours later to the sound of laughter and two voices - one is the unmistakable squeaking of his mother, while the other is unsurprisingly unfamiliar and raspy. Out of habit, Hyunjin's eyes flicker to his door, where the self-installed lock is pulled tightly against the door. After one too many times of his mother bringing home some violent guy who ended up beating Hyunjin in his drunken stupor, Hyunjin had bought the lock for himself. So far, his mum either hasn't noticed or doesn't care.

As the laughter turns into loud moans, Hyunjin sighs to himself. There's no hope of him going back to sleep now. He stares at his ceiling, which is slowly crumbling away and the paint has peeled off to the point where there's barely any left. 

At this point, the only thing that will distract Hyunjin is his phone. He grabs it and instantly plugs in head phones. Not wanting to turn any lights on and let them know he's awake, he bears it as the bright screen makes his eyes water and he opens up his Instagram.

Most of the things in his feed are stupid ads full of useless shit Hyunjin will never even consider buying - besides that he doesn't even follow many people, so a lot of the posts are old and he's seen them before. 

One post that catches his eye is recent though, from earlier in the day. 

A wave of something crashes through Hyunjin when he sees it, although he's not exactly sure what that something is. The picture is of Jisung - his half brother - and a boy that Hyunjin vaguely recognises. Jisung looks a lot older now, his cheeks aren't as squishy as when Hyunjin last saw him and he seems a lot happier.

Probably because I'm not there, Hyunjin thinks to himself.

He scrolls past it and instead stops on a random photo of a dog and two cats all dressed in weird ass outfits with a boy sitting behind them laughing. The caption is in English, and although Hyunjin is decent at the language after staying in New York for a while a couple of years ago, the sentence is clearly full of slang and Hyunjin feels his head lighten as he tries to read it.

Pushing his long hair from his face, Hyunjin gives up and shuts his phone off again. He doesn't take his headphones off though, in case he hears something he'd rather not.

When it's him with someone it's alright... but listening to his mum having sex is just awkward and fucking gross. 

Hyunjin stays like this for a couple hours, until he's confident enough to slip his headphones from his head and the sun is peeking into his room from under his limp curtains. He forces himself to get up and opens them, sighing as he's met yet again with the sight of dilapidated brick walls and junk filled streets. At least the sun is shining brightly. 

Begrudgingly, Hyunjin gets dressed. He hesitates before unlocking his door, but eventually does it anyway and walks into the corridor. If he's not gone by now, there's nothing I can do. And unsurprisingly, when Hyunjin walks into the small kitchen, there's a random guy lolled out on the sofa, sprawled out and watching the television. His lips curls up at the sight but Hyunjin forces himself to ignore it and moves to get some breakfast.

The only thing he can find is cereal - and the milk is out of date - so he eats it straight from the box and begins walking back to his room.

"Hey."

Hyunjin stops with a sigh. "What do you want?"

He turns around to see the stranger staring at him.

"Speak to me with a little more respect, boy."

He scoffs, "You're in my apartment, I can talk to you how I want."

The man sneers, "This isn't your apartment."

"But I'm the one that lives here," Hyunjin reminds him. "You're just a trashy one night stand that my mother won't even remember in four hours. So do your business and leave, before I call the police for a home invasion."

The man - maybe fifty years old and at least six foot - stands up, towering over Hyunjin. Normally Hyunjin is good at making himself seem big in front of others, but he's still pretty short and suddenly this situation is almost laughable. A burly middle aged man versus Hyunjin, who is smaller than most of his friends and still a lanky teenager. 

Definitely a fair fight. 

Hyunjin manages to dodge the first swing, but he doesn't get so lucky on the next one. The stinging on his cheek makes his eyes water like crazy. He throws a few well-aimed punches back, but his main target is either the front door or his room.

Thankfully being small means he's fast, and he manages to make it to the door of the apartment by ducking under the stranger's pummelling fists and making a run for it, the fresh ache in his leg starting to surface as he gets closer. He grabs the set of keys on his way out and locks the door behind him. There's a spare key in his mother's room - she can open the door again once she's woken up.

Hyunjin rubs at his cheek as he walks down the hallway lined with identical doors until he reaches the elevator. Once the creaking doors have shut and he's safely hurtling down to the ground floor, Hyunjin leans back against the mirror and heaves a deep breath into his lungs. He pulls his phone from his pocket and quickly opens it, wasting no time in sending a text to Jeno. 

*****

a/n: i'm so excited for this 

thoughts on what's happened so far?