That Was Then - Sungjong and Myungsoo
[please note that this is a flashback, it takes place in the past -not in the current now of Atrapado]
It was late afternoon. School had ended and Lee Sungjong had only a short walk to get to his current foster home. As foster homes went... and he'd had seven since he'd been declared an orphan and the ward of the state at ten... this one was pretty sweet and he did his best not to do anything to make him get taken away from there. He had a foster sister and a foster brother, neither of whom tried to beat him up or make him do all the chores they didn't want to do. He had a bedroom to himself with a door that actually locked and his foster parents were pleasant if a bit distracted people. There was a yard and television and lots of other things he appreciated. It was unaccountably nice there. For Sungjong, at fourteen and a little bit, it was almost heaven.
He was humming to himself, the last song he'd been working on from piano lessons as he gathered up his book bag and gym clothes to take home with him. Piano lessons. Another little slice of happiness that he'd found since he'd been with the Parks. Who knew that he could love the cool smoothness of the keys under his fingers and the sweet ring of the music that his fingertips could coax from the beautiful polished piano in the parlor? Just thinking about it made him want to hug himself and twirl the way he'd seen his foster sister do when she was happy about something.
Even now though; he sensed more than understood that acting the way Ahyoung did was not acceptable even though he felt confused by that knowledge. Even the pale gleam of the pink nail polish he'd let her paint on his fingertips and the blue crystal sparkle of the earrings in his newly pierced ears... he knew people looked at him funny because of them. The "Why" of their stares though, escaped him.
He forced the confused and disturbed thoughts away from his mind though,turning his attention to the new piano piece he would practice after he got home and the fact he'd be able to show the piece to his friend Myungsoo. Sungjong started humming again, the two thoughts making him feel pleased with life all over again. His friend Myungsoo was older and about the smartest, most handsome, kindest person he'd ever met. Sungjong still didn't really understand why Myungsoo gave nobody orphan Lee Sungjong his time or rescued him from any number of unpleasant moments... but he did. And that made Myungsoo a hero, an angel in Sungjong's eyes.
He was almost to the Parks' house, caught out in a field behind the large and expensive housing development where the Parks' lived. Theirs wasn't the biggest house in the area but it wasn't the smallest either. Sungjong was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice the small group of older boys that were following until one of them jumped in front of him with a wordless shout. A moment later the petite young boy was surrounded.
Swallowing hard, Sungjong did his best to keep his composure, lifting his small chin and giving the leader of the little gang his best "Myungsoo thinks you're a small cow patty of a human being" stare. He'd seen his friend give this look to someone the other day and it'd worked perfectly to get the idiot to go away. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as he'd have liked.
"Yah! Lee Sungjong, what kind of a creeper girly boy are you?" The leader demanded, giving Sungjong a shove in the shoulder to the sound of the rest of the group laughing and jeering.
Sungjong wanted to deny being any such thing but experience had taught him that arguing only led to things getting worse faster. He said nothing and merely blinked.
He got another shove, a harder one. "Don't you know that boys don't wear nail polish? That's for girls."
Sungjong bit his lip. He wasn't going to explain that Ahyoung just wanted to paint someone's nails and he'd happened to be there. The fact he'd liked it was also none of their business.
"What are you, a deaf mute besides being a creeper girly boy?" The leader demanded, taking Sungjong's chin in rough and dirty fingers, squeezing hard.
It wasn't the pain of the grasp that brought tears to Sungjong's eyes. It was the fact that this whole scene was so old, so tiresome, so confusing. He was never going to understand and this was going to keep happening for no reason.
"Leave me alone," he muttered with as much poise as he could muster, pushing against the leader's chest to make the point. "I haven't done anything to you."
"You're too fucking girly and cute," the older boy hissed back. "You need to stop it."
That made even less sense to Sungjong than anything he'd heard so far. It wasn't like he could help what he looked like and he wore the same school uniform everybody else did. So what was the big deal? He blinked up at the older boy completely confused and stunned. That was why he didn't duck when the leader smacked him in the face with an open handed slap that rocked his head to the side and made his whole cheek explode with pain.
"Just stop being all gross and shit," the older boy commanded, letting Sungjong go with a hard shove that sent him stumbling into the dust of the path. "Boys don't get their ears pierced and wear eyeliner and lipgloss either, you dumb orphan."
As confrontations went... it wasn't that bad. Not too much swearing, no punching and just a few jeers and name calling. His face was gonna bruise and his pride was hurt. Sungjong knew all that logically. He'd had much worse "meetings" just because of being the orphan new kid.
That didn't change how he felt. Crushed. Bruised. Most of all weighed down with confusion and a blank almost dull lack of comprehension. That hurt the most. Biting his lip, he scrambled to his feet and gathered his stuff. All thought of piano practice had flown out of his head. All he wanted was to be with somebody who didn't make him feel like an alien all the time. Myungsoo.
He ran all the way to the Kims' enormous house, trying not to cry and wincing at the bruises on his hip gotten when he'd fallen. He rang the doorbell until their maid answered the door, ignoring the woman's questions about his hurt face.
"Myungsoo," he shouted, heading in the direction he knew that Myungsoo would probably be in. "Myungsoo,hyung! I need to talk to you please? Are you here?"
