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Jungwoo brought his knees up to his chest and curled into a ball. Holding a sweater clad hand against his mouth, he tired his hardest to muffle the sobs coming out of him.
"I—I hate you..." he choked out as his fingernails dug into the skin on his arm. "I hate you! I h—hate you! Just be...be normal!" A loud sob escaped the boy, but he didn't have the energy to care.
Lost in his own self pity, Jungwoo failed to notice the light turn on or even the presence of somebody else next to him.
"Hey Jungwoo...why're ya crying in a dark, empty classroom?"
"I'm not!"
Doyoung flinched at the boys hysterics. "O—Okay then..." putting an arm around his shoulders, he pulled the boy closer to him, "Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"
Jungwoo relaxed into Doyoung's hold, letting his head fall onto the elders chest. "I—I don't know..."
"Well do you want me to take you home?" There was a gentleness to his voice that Jungwoo had never heard before.
"I don't wanna go home S—Soyeon is waiting for me there. I c—can't Doyoung..." The younger sobbed.
"You don't have to go home, but I can't just leave you at school all night. Do you want to come to m—my house?" It may have been a strange fear, but Doyoung had never invited a friend to his house before because of his parents.
He felt the boy shrug, "I don't want t—to bother you."
Without another word, Doyoung stood up and extended his hand to the other, "You're not bothering me, c'mon let's go."
✨✨✨
"Doyoungie! Doyoungie!"
Jungwoo couldn't help but smile at the little girl that basically tackled Doyoung when the two walked into his house. The elder got equally as excited as the girl, "Dahye!" He mimicked, "Did you have a good day?"
"The best day! Mommy took me to the bakery!" The grin fell from her face when she finally noticed the boy next to her brother. She fidgeted with her hands nervously in front of her and bowed to him before running out of the room.
"Am I that scary?" Jungwoo muttered.
A small laughed slipped out of Doyoung before he shook his head, "She has a hard time around new people. But she'll eventually warm up to you."
"Doyoung, why did Dahye—oh...you brought a friend?" A woman asked, her eyes widening slightly when she noticed the boy next to her son. Just as Doyoung was about to respond, another woman walked into the room.
There was a strange hostility fell upon the room as the two women and their son looked in between each other.
"Well enough of this," One woman spoke before stepping forward. "Welcome to our home, honey." She paused, taking a few seconds to examine the boys features. "Oh honey, you've been crying...what's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Jungwoo's bottom lip began to quiver under the woman's soft, caring gaze. "I—I'm okay..."
"Mama, we're going to go to my room." Doyoung said quietly before dragging the younger boy out of the living room. "I'm sorry about that, my mom just likes to make sure everybody's okay." After closing the door to his bedroom, he turned around to say something else, but was faced with Jungwoo sobbing even harder than when he'd found him earlier.
"I...I hate myself D—Doyoung!"
"Hey...don't say that." Doyoung started as he gently grabbed one of the boys hands and walked him over to his bed. "Can we talk about what's got you so upset now?"
A series of sniffles came out of the boy, "I—I...me and Soyeon we...we had sex and I ha—hated it! I feel...feel so disgusting!"
Doyoung's eyes widened when he heard that, he'd been expecting the boy failed a test or something...not that he had sex. "You're not disgusting Jungwoo, it's a normal thing."
"I didn't l—like it..."
His head fell to the side, eyebrows knitting in confusion, "I don't understand."
"What else do you want me to say!? I'm a f—freak because having sex with m—my girlfriend disgusted me!"
"You're not a freak. It's not a bad thing if you're different from most people." Doyoung said softly, hoping that he might be able to say something that would comfort the boy.
"I...I don't want to be different," he whimpered, using his sleeves to wipe at the tears racing down his cheeks. "But I'm lying to myself...a—and everybody."
Reaching out, Doyoung placed a gentle hand on Jungwoo's shoulder. "You don't have to force yourself to admit anything. And from experience, I can tell you that it's not all that bad to be different."
"I'm scare Doyoung...I—I can't!"
The elder grabbed Jungwoo's arms without warning and pulled him into a tight, comforting embrace. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise. I won't let anything bad happen to you."
"How—how do I know if I don't like girls the way I—I'm supposed to?" Jungwoo asked softly as his body relaxing in Doyoung's hold.
"I think I've just always kinda known," A small laugh slipped out of him when he remembered what his moms told him about that, "When I was in elementary school, there was this one boy that I would come home every day and talk about nonstop. I always held his hand and hugged him whenever I got the chance. One day during recess, we hid in the tube slide and he kissed me—the point of this is that I've known I liked boys since I was six and sometimes you just can't explain it."
A shaky sigh fell from Jungwoo's lips, "Do you think I'm...I'm g—gay?"
"That's not really something I can decide for you."
He let his head fall back down onto Doyoung's chest. He was almost sure he knew the answer, it basically presented itself. Instead of going home where he could be alone with his girlfriend, he was in Doyoung's arms crying about how he didn't like her. The scary thing was he wouldn't change anything that happened that night...he was oddly okay with the comfort his friend gave him.
