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braceletofteeth · 23 days ago

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Highschool/or college AU where Moonjo and Jongwoo are sitting at different tables across the cafe, completely alone (despite how packed it is), Moonjo keeps staring at Jongwoo, Jongwoo is alternating from looking at his book to looking up and narrowing his eyes at Moonjo... once Jongwoo starts to look angry, Moonjo smiles in endearment

The rest of the school (or the other og characters) just watch this daily interaction with varying distinct reactions

(srry, your post made me think of this loll)

[[One time Jongwoo throws his book down angrily and goes up to Moonjo but Moonjo is already meeting him halfway, everyone holds their breath waiting for a fight or- or something, because something is wrong with these young men. And to be fair, (Jongwoo looks like he's going to throw a punch.) But Moonjo is all casual with his hands in his pocket- which looks like a foreign movement from him like a doll, inhuman- and he just asks when they meet, "how's your book going, darling?" And Jongwoo sighs long suffering and, still slightly angry as he says, "you would know, you bastard." it's sort of soft too though and very familiar, and everyone is just ????]] rip.

(It's been a while, so, in case you'd like a refresher, this was the post that originally inspired you and I had to turn this blog upside down to find)

Ok, first of all, I love this idea of Jongwoo and Moonjo being at a place where a lot of people can observe their behavior (and get their conclusions of it). I got a little lost in the scenario you created, with the two of them sitting by themselves at the cafeteria, but directly opposite each other, on each other's sight, every day. Like... Is that Moonjo's fault? Does he pick his table according to where Jongwoo is sitting? What did Jongwoo do when he noticed? Did he try changing tables, to see if Moonjo would follow? What kind of relationship do they have? Does Moonjo follow him to other places, just to stare at him too? Is what they have casual enough that Jongwoo won't fight him on it, but not enough that he'll let Moonjo sit at his table?

I feel like I'm one of those students around them, because I too am thinking “the hell is going on here...? 👀”

And speaking about the others!! If you don't mind, I'd like to take a little tour through their tables, because I'm curious about their thoughts on this...

Let's see. I'm putting Junghwa and Seokyoon at the same table, with other unnamed friends around them, because they're friendly people. Seokyoon came from the countryside, and he had some trouble getting adjusted and being accepted in the beginning—for talking too much and without filter—but Junghwa took him under her wing. At school, she's considered an angel of sorts, because she's the first to offer help when someone is going through something.

One of those people had been Yoon Jongwoo. There were a few boys that liked to pick on him because he preferred to stick to himself and was short-tempered; therefore, an easy target. Jongwoo had got in trouble a couple times, because there was no one to take his side. The other boys got each other's backs, Jongwoo was alone; until Junghwa intervened, and spoke up for him. Since then, they are not as close as to be called friends, but there's mutual respect for each other.

Seokyoon is a little closer to him than that. Thanks to his initiative, Jongwoo had opened up to him. He was considered a good talking partner by Jongwoo because he fills the free space when Jongwoo doesn't feel like talking, and listens without judgment when he wants to complain about something that is eating at him. So Jongwoo is grateful, and fond of him.

But both Seokyoon and Junghwa know that lunch time is sacred, and every day, Jongwoo will be over at his own table, no matter how much they (Seokyoon) ask him to join them. Jongwoo uses lunchtime to read, and there are too many people at their table. He doesn't want to bother them, and most importantly, he doesn't want them to bother him. It's just better this way.

They have already noticed Moonjo, of course. There's hardly anyone who hasn't. He's the only other student to keep a whole table to himself, and all he does on lunchtime is look at Jongwoo. (Sometimes he brings an apple, but usually leaves it unfinished.)

He's one of the few orphan teens who go to that school because it's the closest to the city's orphanage. But he's also different from them. The others walk in groups, sticking to each other. They make big plates at lunchtime, like they don't get enough to eat at home. They also don't seem to care much about the school's dress code; while Moonjo's clothes are always pristine clean, shirt all buttoned up.

It's hard to tell if they have estranged him, or if he has estranged them.

Either way, be it another orphan like him or any of the others, Seo Moonjo doesn't seem to be friends with anybody. Except, perhaps, the teachers. The teachers adore him. He's older than Junghwa and Seokyoon, so they never had classes with him, but they have heard about it. The teachers made Moonjo class president. All the other students in his class hated that, but they couldn't do anything about it, because as far as the teachers were concerned, Moonjo was the most perfect, well-spoken, well-mannered young man.

He was just an insufferable asshole to everyone else.

Knowing that, Junghwa and Seokyoon worry. What would a guy like that want with Jongwoo? Surely, not anything good...? They are not even from the same year, and Jongwoo keeps to himself. Where would they have even met, talked, for Moonjo to show interest in what Jongwoo does at lunch?

Seokyoon brought it up directly with Jongwoo once, asking if he had noticed what he had decided to call “Seo Moonjo's suspicious and creepy behavior.” In response, Jongwoo had sighed, and talked at length about how annoying Moonjo is; but he didn't mention where they knew each other from, or why Moonjo seemed to be fixated on him. When Seokyoon offered his help (and Junghwa’s by default) to get rid of the guy, Jongwoo made a face, and said he would deal with it alone.

So here they are, for the past semester, waiting for either Jongwoo to “deal with it”, or to catch Moonjo doing something that they could report or call him out on—something morally wrong, instead of just unnerving.

And they are not the only ones interested in Moonjo's interest in Jongwoo.

A few tables over, Min Jieun is trying to take the right cues to laugh together with her friends, but today she keeps getting distracted by the sight of her ex-boyfriend... No, perhaps that's not the right term. They used to play as boyfriend and girlfriend, when they were kids. That was a long time ago. Then, they were good friends. After, high school started, and they split up for good, each following a different path.

Jieun wanted to be with the cool kids. She wanted to go to the shopping mall, to parties and concerts, and on trips to the beach. Jongwoo wanted to be with his books, in fantasy land. He hated her new friends, and her friends called him a weirdo. Jongwoo had always been over protective of her, too, and she had had enough of that. It was time she lived to her full potential, and she's been doing great since.

But that doesn't mean she's got bad feelings for Jongwoo now. Sometimes, when she sees him at school, she lets herself wonder how he's doing. This is one of these moments. Doesn't he ever get tired of these books? Why is he always alone? Oh, well, she thinks, looking in the opposite direction, maybe not totally alone.

The side profile of that sunbae is sharp, much like his eyes. Not now, resting on Jongwoo's face; but Jieun still remembers how cold they felt when they turned to her for the first time.

That day, she had said some things in the heat of the moment, and embarrassed herself during a conversation. She escaped from the awkwardness of it going to the school's rooftop, where she thought no one would be at. But when she opened the door, she discovered it already occupied.

Jongwoo and Moonjo were close to the edge, but not as close as they were to each other. Jongwoo was scowling and his mouth was open, the sentence he was saying cut short with Jieun's entrance. Moonjo still had the remains of a smile on his face when he turned his face to the door, but it slowly faded away when he saw her. He took just one look at Jongwoo, who had already taken two steps back, his head down, and in his next movement, when he met Jieun's eyes again, his gaze had turned glacial, sending a shiver down her spine.

At that moment, it didn't matter that it was her old friend by his side; she didn't feel safe to walk in with that guy there. Apologizing, she took a turn, and went straight back down.

She didn't think about them for a while—tried not to—, until one day during the last holidays.

Jongwoo and Jieun's mothers have been friends for decades, their houses facing each other, as well as Jongwoo and Jieun's windows. She knows Jongwoo's family leaves on trips to visit their relatives on holidays, and this year had been no different, as her mother had commented something on that week. For that reason, she was a bit surprised when, looking outside while listening to a friend on the phone, she saw a boy pass in front of Jongwoo's window. A boy that wasn't Jongwoo.

A boy much taller, with a gant look, much similar to the one who had sent her a murderous stare the last time she had seen him that close.

She waited there, unable to move, to see if he would cross the window again. But several minutes passed, and nothing of him. Alright then. Maybe she had imagined it. What would he be doing at Jongwoo's house anyway, especially when no one was there? Would Jongwoo have given him the key? Unlikely. The only plausible alternative that she could come up with, is that he could be a thief, and if Jongwoo's mother reported something missing later, Jieun would tell her what she saw. Or thought she saw.

But Jongwoo's mother reported nothing, supporting Jieun's most logical theory—there had been no one there. It was just her mind playing tricks on her.

She can't forget about it, though. She wonders what Jongwoo would say if she told him; if he would believe in her at all. She wonders if he would take Moonjo's side, or hers. She doesn't understand where they stand any more than she understood what was going on that day on the rooftop. Are they friends? Does Jongwoo trust him, or is he afraid? Does he even like him?

He doesn't even like him, thinks a boy at the other side of the cafeteria, at a table with other orphan boys, as it is him. This boy is Kihyuk, and he's still bitter about an event that occurred more than a few months back, when he tried to sit at Moonjo's table, but wasn't allowed to.

Moonjo had never minded that at dinner, when they were at home. In fact, Kihyuk was proud to say that, among all the kids, he is (was?) the one that least annoyed Moonjo. He isn't loud and he keeps himself as clean as he can. He's the one that takes it in his own hands to ensure the others won't bother Moonjo, will stay out of his way. Kihyuk is still relatively new at the orphanage, compared to the others, but he understands the hierarchy, and how important it is to be on Moonjo's good side. From the start, he has always been respectful and obedient.

But on that day, none of it mattered—Moonjo had looked at him like he was a specially nasty bug, that he'd take great pleasure in crushing under his shoe.

Crestfallen, he marched back to his usual table with the others and, mercilessly, they all took the piss on him. It was then that he learned about “Moonjo's Prayer Time”.

That's what the orphanage's director had called it, once the others had described his strange behavior back to her. Kihyuk didn't understand, at first, but watching Moonjo do the same thing, at the same hour, every day, religiously... He had to agree with them, to an extent.

But he still doesn't understand why. What does Moonjo do it for? Is he really praying? What is he praying for—that Jongwoo will look up at him? That he'll allow Moonjo to come over, like Kihyuk wishes Moonjo will let him?

He doesn't even like him, he thinks again, staring at Jongwoo just as intently as Moonjo, wasting away his lunchtime.

Far away from that table, there is a short boy with coconut hair and a broken nose, trying very hard not to look anywhere close to Yoon Jongwoo's general direction. He's Byeongmin, and he sits with the upper middle class kids—not because he's one of them, but because Han Jaeho is there, and he's got Byeongmin working under his thumb for the last three years.

They both study in the same class as Moonjo, and they both hate that fucker. In fact, no one in the whole world has hated, hates, or will hate Seo Moonjo as much Han Jaeho does, and the sentiment seems to be mutual, as Moonjo makes his life hell at every opportunity.

Jaeho is always looking for a way to break Moonjo, destroy his life, but there isn't much you can take away from a poor boy, who has no assets, no friends, and no family. He's also too smart, too handsome, and too cold to be made fun of. Had that not been enough, despite looking a bit scrawny, and sickly pale, he can hold himself in a fight too—Jaeho had found that out first-hand, and now he knows better. Not only is Moonjo strong, but he fights dirty, too. Dirtier than Jaeho himself.

But there has been one special card that he has been meaning to use. Because Jaeho knows, he just knows Moonjo is gay. He's gotta be, with the way he sits there looking at another boy every day. He's gotta be. Jaeho just needs concrete proof of it; once he gets it, Moonjo is done.

He's been telling Byeongmin that for months. They just need proof. If Byeongmin finds it for him, he'll take care of the rest.

That's how Byeongmin ended up at the library on a friday that the rest of the classes had been canceled for the day, looking for Jongwoo's “secret spot”. According to the rumor he'd heard, there was a space at the end of the library, hidden away by two bookshelves. Apparently, Jongwoo would occasionally move one of them, that stood before the space between the other bookshelf and the wall, and disappear inside with whatever book he's reading at the moment.

The person who spread the rumor mentioned that Moonjo had been seen doing the same thing.

So there was Byeongmin, walking on his tiptoes, hoping his footsteps wouldn't give him away, and the books on the shelves would cover most of his body, but still let him see what was happening on the inside.

Holding his breath, he saw Yoon Jongwoo on the floor, his back against the wall, and a heavy book on his lap. Next to him, there was an older boy that Byeongmin knew very well.

Moonjo's arms were crossed, his head was supported by the wall behind him, and his eyes were closed. Blinking in surprise, Byeongmin realized that he was probably asleep. He had never seen Moonjo sleep at school before. He looked like a different person.

Byeongmin took his phone out, letting the camera do its job. A picture and a short video. That would suffice.

He was putting it back down, when he noticed Jongwoo's eyes weren't fixed on the pages of the book anymore. He had lifted them up, and was watching Byeongmin from the other side of the bookshelf.

Still riding the high of his mission accomplished, Byeongmin stared back at him, not caring what Jongwoo thought now that he had already found what he had come for. He looked at Moonjo by his side, so frightening when he's awake, now sleeping like a stupid baby, completely unaware of what was coming his way—and he snorted, before turning his back on them and walking away.

He was almost home, past the sunset, when he felt a hand grab his shirt's collar, dragging him away and inside an abandoned building. He tried screaming, but the hand moved to his neck, cutting off his air supply. His eyes, still adjusting to the darkness inside the new area, were just focused enough now that he could recognize the face in front of him.

Yoon Jongwoo had pushed him to the ground and punched his face for what felt like a decade. They both felt it when his nose broke; but that just made him smash it harder, purposefully.

Belatedly, under all the pain, Byeongmin recognized that he should have kept that last sound—the last sound he made at the library, in Jongwoo's presence—to himself.

With his hands still shaking from the effort, and slippery with blood, Jongwoo had turned him over for his backpack, struggling with the zipper for a moment, then spilling all its content on the floor. He found his phone and quickly got rid of what wasn't Byeongmin's right to possess. Striking the phone on the space beside Byeongmin's head, he broke it for good measure.

Flinching away from the sound, Byeongmin tried to bring his hands up to protect his face, but Jongwoo was faster. He took his shirt on his fist and pulled Byeongmin's back from the ground, a finger coming between his eyes. He spoke for the first time since the assault had begun, and promised with a snarl that he'd break the rest of Byeongmin's body if he ever came after him or Seo Moonjo again.

Jongwoo didn't give Byeongmin time to answer, leaving him to fend for himself. Weeping, the boy found enough strength to support himself with his hands, lifting his upper body. He tried to think about what was he supposed to do next in a situation like this, but the pain made it hard to think. He wished he had passed out instead.

Before he could decide on his next move, however, a figure materialized from the shadows, walking in his direction. With horror, he realized it was his class president, very much awake, and not at all surprised by Byeongmin's condition. It seemed like he had been there the whole time, and it had never occurred to him that he could have stopped it from happening... or he simply hadn't wanted to.

Moonjo crouched down next to him, eyes on his level. His hand came in contact with Byeongmin's head, a gentle pressure.

Jongwoo is glorious, don't you think?, came a rhetorical, appreciative question, over the quiet sound of Byeongmin's sobs. The hand on his head closed, getting a grip of his hair. I need to show him how to quiet others better, though.

He brought out a tool from his pocket, forcing it past Byeongmin's lips.

The next thing he remembers is waking up at the hospital, with his face swollen all over. Purple eyes, a broken nose, and two teeth missing from the back of his mouth—roots and all. The police and his parents couldn't get a word out of him about the incident, and eventually he was sent back to school. To Jaeho's table, who got him into this mess, but didn't bother to investigate or question Byeongmin's absence and barely convincible explanation about what had happened to him.

So when again Jaeho says “we just need proof”, Byeongmin stabs his chicken soup with his spoon and doesn't say anything back. Doesn't even glance at the pair of freaks Jaeho is referring to.

He's found all the proof he needs.

—

Oh, wow 😀 Got a little carried away there... But I hope you don't mind me playing with this AU and extending it a little. I'd also like to apologize for taking so long to answer you *bowing all the way down*. This only took the past two nights to elaborate, in a sudden rush of creativity, but it's been almost three years of indecision on what to write here. I'm really sorry for that.

But I also believe you might still be around, so I'm wishing from the bottom of my heart that this will get to you and you will finally get to read your answer, Anon 🥹❤

#answered #strangers from hell #a few personality traits may have been exaggerated to fit these characters' teenager forms (🤚 DON'T SHOOT 🤚)#not sorry about Byeongmin tho (Jongwoo would have liked that)#I couldn't find the right place to throw in someone overhearing the “jagi”#but I believe when it's just the two of them Moonjo definitely already calls Jongwoo like that the entire time (as per usual)

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