It would always be the same, no matter where he would be and he knew it. People would always talk behind his back and pretend to be his friends when facing him.
It didn't even surprise Seungjun when Hyojin told him that they've been talking about him in the Gryffindor common room once again.
He was tired of fighting against them, he even told Hyojin not to tell them off anymore, to just not say anything. He hoped that if he wouldn't give him any attention it would get boring but it never stopped.
With that he just stopped talking to people if it wasn't necessary, he even quieted down in his group of friends he actually trusts, which was pretty weird for them after he had been the super bubbly kid for three years and barely even spoke for the two following.
"Where are you going?" Seungjun asked Hyojin when they left the Great Hall, the older not going the direction he usually took.
"To the hospital wing," Hyojin informed him, getting a frown from the other.
"Did something happen? Did you hurt yourself?" the younger wanted to know.
"No, I'm fine, it's about Changyoon," Hyojin told him, making Seungjun huff.
It wasn't like Seungjun and Changyoon didn't get along or rather, it wasn't the same reason than with the other people on the school. But because they would often annoy each other in one way or another, despite not knowing each other well which mostly ended in them just glaring at each other before they would silently go back to annoying.
Still, he didn't want to seem like a total dick so he asked his friend what happened.
"He got beaten up earlier today, so he went to get it all treated. Turned out it was worse than expected," Hyojin told him.
"He got beaten up? What for?" Seungjun asked, actually worried now.
"You better ask himself," the older sighed, continuing his way, now followed by Seungjun.
"How are you feeling?" Hyojin asked the Hufflepuff once they got to his bed, Seungjun silently staying behind the older.
"Much better since the painkillers kicked in. I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow again," the other replied as he sat up, smiling as if his eye wasn't beaten black.
"What happened?" Seungjun asked in a small voice, scanning the other for more obvious bruises.
"Oh, just some people talking crap behind your back," Changyoon shrugged, still smiling.
"What do you mean? What did you do?" Seungjun wanted to know, his eyes already wide in shock.
"I told them off and apparently this is their way to deal with being called out," Changyoon told him.
"Why did you do that?" Seungjun's tone was almost whiny, as if he was the one who got hurt.
"Because it's not their business and they should just shut up if they don't have anything important to say," the older laughed.
"You could've just ignored it..." Seungjun argued, feeling bad that the other got hurt because of him.
"No," Changyoon said sternly.
"But-" Seungjun began.
"No, Seungjun, I can't just ignore that. It's not fair for people to judge you over something like that, it's not their right," Changyoon told him.
"Still, you got hurt because of it, because of me," Seungjun replied, looking at the older with worried eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's not like I didn't fight back, they just have too big of an ego to get themselves treated."
"Well, I'll be leaving first, I have some homework to do," Hyojin chimed in, leaving before either one of the other two could say something.
Seungjun let out a sigh, feeling a bit weird being completely alone with the other now.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, fiddling with his hands "and thank you".
"You don't have to apologize to me or thank me for anything, Seungjun," Changyoon smiled, placing his hand on Seungjun's shoulder.
He didn't know why but somehow his emotions got the best of him, tears pooling up in his eyes and he tried to hold them in as good as possible, failing pretty quickly though.
"It's okay, let it all out," Changyoon smiled, pulling him closer to the bed, hugging the younger as best as possible in his current position.
Once Seungjun calmed down again, Changyoon loosened the hug, caressing Seungjun's cheeks and wiping the remaining tears away.
"How about you sit down and we talk a bit more?" Changyoon suggested.
Slowly, the younger nodded, quickly finding a stool that he then placed next to the bed.
And so they talked, the entire evening they ended up getting closer to each other, something Seungjun ever imagined would happen again.
Soon, afternoon blended into dusk, the exhaustion of the day began to crash in over Seungjun, whose head was already placed on Changyoon's thigh.
"You should go to your dorm. The curfew should start soon, too," Changyoon told him, running his hands through Seungjun's blonde hair.
"But I don't wanna leave..." the younger muttered with a pout. looking up to him with big eyes.
"I won't run away, you can just come here again tomorrow," Changyoon told him with a soft smile, carefully placing his hand on Seungjun's cheek, softly running his thumb over it.
Seungjun continued to pout but sat up eventually. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" he asked, his voice going back to being small, almost whisper-like when he stood up again.
"I'll be waiting for you," Changyoon smiled, pulling the younger down by the cheek. "I can't wait," he grinned before placing a soft peck on Seungjun's cheek, quickly shooing him out after that, leaving Seungjun rather confused, blushing deeply.
