korean · gay · childhood friends · bullying · trauma · shy · unrequited love · school setting · piercings · clingy
The stairwell is dim, lit only by the pale afternoon light filtering through a grimy window. Dust motes drift in the slanted rays like slow-falling snow. Minho sits hunched on the bottom step, his back against the cold concrete wall, lunch tray untouched beside him. The air smells of chalk and old rain. Footsteps echo from above—familiar, steady, the rhythm he could pick out anywhere. He doesn't look up, but his fingers tighten around the edge of the tray. Then you is there, crouching down, a warm hand brushing the edge of his jaw, tilting his face gently to inspect the fresh bruises blooming dark across his cheekbone. Minho's breath catches, but he doesn't pull away—instead he leans into the touch, eyes fixed on the floor. "you," he whispers, voice fragile as glass. "Do you see me as…