Bruised Knuckles || bad boy!hyunjin
Genre: angst to fluff, bad boy!au, college!au
Warnings: mature language, mature themes, mentions of sexual harassment
You drank every last bit of your coffee as you turned another page of your book. Every page had you more immersed in the world the book dragged you into. You began feeling like you were in the book, walking alongside the main character. That was, until suddenly a hand slammed the book on the table in front of you. You looked up and laughed as you saw Felix, your best friend, staring down at you. He flopped into the seat across from you and smiled.
“What’re you reading?” He asked, examining the page you were on.
“Just some sci-fi book.” You replied. He nodded and put your bookmark in the still-open page. After closing the book, he leaned towards you, a small smile across his lips.
“Are you busy tonight by any chance?” He hopefully asked.
“No,” you told him truthfully, “I’m not busy.” A mischievous look sparked in his eye, and you immediately regretted saying you were free.
“Do you want to go to a party that my frat’s hosting?” He inquired. You bit your lip as you thought about it. “Please, for me?” He pushed. You crossed your arms and sighed.
“Fine, you’re so lucky I love you.” Felix’s smile grew victorious, and he grabbed your arm and began dragging you away. You took your book as he began leading you out, laughing at his eagerness while on the way there.
~~~~
“I look kind of stupid, don’t I?” You asked, gesturing towards your tight jeans and loose crop-top. Felix slapped your arm at your question.
“Of course not. Why are you even worrying so much?” He asked, although you just shrugged, not knowing how to answer the question. “Don’t worry about it, only certain people are allowed at this party since it’s hosted by my frat. We’re a big deal on campus, you know.” He pointed out. You rolled your eyes and shrugged.
“Okay, whatever, let’s just go.”
So, you two made your way to his frat, you two were allowed in immediately due to Felix being a member. They put your name on the guest list from now on, upon Felix’s request. The party was great. There wasn’t an overwhelming amount of people, the drunk kids were lessened, and the music wasn’t overbearing. It was actually fun. You found yourself grateful for agreeing to come, instead of sleeping in like every other night.
You partied throughout the night, mingling with old and new friends alike, danced a lot and ate the snacks they had out. A few hours in, you walked to the kitchen to get yourself a drink. You poured yourself a mix of fruit punch and vodka, sipping it casually while leaning against the counter. That’s when you saw someone coming into the frat, that didn’t look like they belonged. He didn’t come in with a member of the frat, nor did he seem like someone that anyone here would be friends with. He had a spotless leather jacket on, a black shirt, and tight ripped jeans. You felt someone slide next to you as you stared at the stranger.
“I have no idea why he’s here.” You heard a familiar voice say. You knew it was Felix without even looking.
“Who is he?” You asked, turning towards Felix curiously.
“His name’s Hyunjin. He apparently has a reputation in this town. No one messes with him, no one tests his word, he’s like a bad cliché of some sort. That’s why he’s able to get in here though, no one wants to tell him off.” Felix explained quietly. You stared at him, ready to laugh.
“I’m not joking.” He insisted, and you turned towards the stranger, now known as Hyunjin, again. He had his hands in his pockets, looking around as if the walls had artwork on them. He walked towards the drinks, directly to where you two were standing. As he walked you noticed the way he carried himself: confidently, slowly, and lightly.
He stopped in front of you, raising an eyebrow questioningly. “Are you gonna get out of my way, or will I just have to stand and wait?” He asked, somehow already in a bad mood.
“You have plenty of room to get a drink.” You stated matter-of-factly, gesturing towards the open space. You would’ve been glad to move if he asked nicely, but he was being an asshole about it. He looked at you incredulously, as though he couldn’t understand how someone was talking back to him. In fact, Felix was giving you that same look.
“You’re still taking up most of it, so just move before we have a problem.” He replied. You stood your ground.
“Come on Y/N, this isn’t worth your time.” Felix said, grabbing your arm, and trying to pull you away. You shot him an icy glare and then turned back to this asshole.
Hyunjin took a step forward and trapped you where you were, you would be lying if you said it didn’t intimidate you, “I would suggest listening to your friend.” Felix nodded and tightened his grip on your arm.
“Please Y/N, it’s really not worth it.” He repeated. You poked the inside of your cheek with your tongue and reluctantly let Felix pull you away from him. You don’t know why, but he pissed you off more than you could express. However, you just chugged the rest of your drink and didn’t see him the rest of the night.
In fact, you barely saw the guy around campus. The only time you had seen him was on his motorcycle, speeding around like there was no one else on the road. You asked a few people about him, and they all gave the same response: “He’s an asshole.” Luckily though, it didn’t seem like you had any classes with him, so you didn’t have to see him often. Or at least, that’s what you thought.
One day, you—along with the rest of your school—received an announcement from your principal. Many of the kids that lived along your corridor noticed that their dorms were beginning to fall apart—literally. You had noticed it too. The walls were breaking, the ceiling was caving, and the floors had holes in them. The leaking in the roof was getting horrible. The floors below were afraid the rooms above would crash on them. So, to avoid many lawsuits, the school had to literally kick everyone in those corridors out. They began to give people more roommates, so the kids would still have somewhere to sleep. People that had a single room, now had a roommate, and some people even had two. Unfortunately, you were one of the many who had to get assigned a new dorm. It was completely the dean’s decision. You were one of the last to be rearranged. You were given one of the only people left that had a room alone. They didn’t give you any information on who it was, they just sympathetically told you the room number. It was like they were scared to tell you who you were rooming with.
When you arrived, you realized why.
“No fucking way.” You uttered as you opened the door. Hyunjin’s head snapped towards you as the words left your mouth. His face dropped in disdain as he looked at you.
“This is a joke right? You have the wrong room, you have to.” He said, laughing without any humor. You held up the paper, showing him the print that had his room number on it. He scoffed and turned around.
“Great,” he began, “I’m rooming with the infamous Y/N.” You burst into laughter after he said that, making him give you a questioning look.
“I’m infamous? You’re the one with such a horrible reputation, that I can confirm off personal experience.” You stated, walking over to the empty bed in the room, setting your stuff down softly. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, but you ignored him and unpacked your bags quickly.
When you were done, you turned to face him only to see him sitting on his bed, scrolling on his phone. “Okay, listen buddy,” you said, causing him to look up irritated, “I’m going to set some ground rules. No doing any type of drugs in this room, no bringing in any fuck buddies, no putting any mess on my side of the room, and no trying anything weird.” You stated.
“I’m going to do whatever I please in here, and as if I would try anything with you.” He chuckled, as if it was obvious. You rolled your eyes, turning your head away to hide the redness in your face from anger.
“Wow, I can already tell how much this is going to piss me off.” You muttered.
You wish you weren’t as right as you were, he pissed you off every day without fail. He would do an array of things that caused your blood to boil. Some days he would be loud and obnoxious when you were trying to study, and he would ignore your requests for him to be quiet like it was his job. He would come to the dorm drunk out of his mind, which would make him even more of an asshole. When he was drunk, we was louder than usual, and had a bad tendency of knocking things over. Or in more extreme cases, he would just be vomiting the whole night, and you had to take care of him without even an utter of gratitude. You even got him meds for his hangover! What did he have to say about it? Absolutely nothing. Not to mention the messes he would leave everywhere.
Like today, you came to the dorm to see him gone, but his stuff lying all over the floor. His leather jacket, motorcycle helmet, bottle of vodka, and a journal of some sorts was lying in the middle of the ground. You sighed as you looked at the pile. You grabbed his jacket, folded it, and set it on his bed. Then you put away his alcohol where he put his other bottles, as well as putting his helmet where he usually had it. Finally, it was the journal. You bent down to pick it up but whipped your head towards the door as you heard it open. You didn’t think anything of Hyunjin coming in and continued to pick up the notebook.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He exclaimed, ripping the book away from your hands. You were taken aback to say the least, usually he had no problem with you cleaning his shit for him.
“I was going to put away the notebook.” You said innocently, confused at his sudden outburst. He put the book on his bed before turning back to you, so angry that you could almost see the fumes emitting from him.
“Keep your hands off my shit! I don’t need you touching MY personal stuff!”
“I didn’t even look at it, it’s not that big of a deal!” You replied.
“Yes it is! Get out of my business for once, I seriously couldn’t have been given a worse roommate.” He spat.
“Oh, I’m the worst roommate, huh!? What about all the times I’ve taken care of your sorry ass when you drink too much? Or all the times I’ve hidden your alcohol when the dean comes in to check our rooms? Maybe all the times I’ve had to sacrifice sleep because your dumbass won’t shut the fuck up! All the homework I couldn’t finish, all the tests I’ve almost failed because of you. You’re so entitled! You think the world revolves around you! News flash, buddy, it doesn’t! Stop your “bad boy” act and just be a normal human. No one thinks the act you put up is cute or cool, everyone fears you. Or they’re like me, and they can’t stand the asshole you try to be. So, please, fucking check your attitude before you act like that to me ever again.” By the time you were done, you had tears of anger and frustration pouring down your cheeks. You were embarrassed at your outburst, but you just turned around and left. You slammed the door behind you and grabbed your phone from your pocket.
You: Felix, I’m coming over.
Felix: Why? What happened?
You didn’t answer his texts, rather just ran to his dorm in a fleet of anger. Your tears were still pouring by the time you arrived at his frat house, and you were so grateful he had his own room. He locked the door behind him and let you cry into his shoulder. You told him everything that happened while he held you tight. He rubbed your back up and down until you stopped crying, and your breaths began to come regularly again.
“It’s okay, Y/N, it’ll all blow over.” He whispered.
“I know, it’s just…” You trailed off, not knowing how to say it.
“What is it?” Felix insisted.
“I just don’t understand what I did wrong? He was mean the moment I met him, and his opinion of me hasn’t seemed to change much. I just don’t get why he doesn’t like me.” You admitted, feeling a weight lift your chest as you said it.
Felix smiled slightly, “You’ve always been a people pleaser. But, look, you have to understand that not everyone is going to like you, especially not someone like him. His walls are impossible to break. Everyone has tried.” He said, attempting to comfort you.
“I know that Felix, but people like him are the people who needs friends the most. He needs someone that won’t give up on him. I just don’t think I can be that person.” You replied.
Felix sighed, “You don’t have to be.”
You nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry I barged in on you.”
Felix gave you a look, “You’re acting like I would care, you’re my best friend, I’d do anything for you, idiot.” You laughed and hit him slightly. “I know, I know.”
“Now,” you said suddenly, “got any vodka?”
Then, Felix gave you a water bottle filled with vodka, and you went on your way. You didn’t want to go back to your dorm, but you also didn’t want to bother Felix anymore. He had his own responsibilities, and you didn’t want to add to them. You left his frat house and began walking around campus, drinking from the bottle occasionally. But the sad feeling you had wouldn’t leave your system. So, you kept drinking, and drinking, until the bottle was almost empty. You found that your steps had become clumsier, the night had become darker, and your mind was elsewhere. Some people still walked around the campus grounds, mostly as drunk as you due to leaving—or arriving at—parties. So, no one thought your drunk state was out of the ordinary.
However, one person saw it as an opportunity. You heard footsteps quickly approach you as you finally decided to go back to your dorm room. You were heading towards your building when this person came up to you.
“Hey, Y/N, right?” An unfamiliar voice asked. You turned towards the person in your drunken state, trying to figure out how you knew them.
“I’m Junyoung, we have a class together.” He said.
“Oh, hi there.” You slurred, speeding up your pace to your dorm.
“Where are you headed? Need any help?” He asked, seemingly innocently. You shook your head.
“No,” you told him, “I can get there myself.” You politely declined. He didn’t seem to like that answer. His eyes became darker as he looked at you.
“Come on, I’ll take you.” He maintained, his hand wrapping around one of your arms. You tried to pull your arm away, but he wouldn’t let that happen. You pulled harder, but he didn’t even budge.
“You’re coming with me.” He stated, before dragging quickly behind the building you were beside. His hand clamped over your mouth as you thrashed and attempted to scream. Your regular strength wouldn’t have been able to fight him off, let alone trying to in your drunken state. He threw you to the ground and immediately made a move to pull your clothes off. You held them down, causing him to try and rip them. He successfully ripped a few holes, as you tried to cry for help.
You then felt the weight of his body being lifted off you and looked up to see an upperclassman staring down at you. He was fairly popular around the school for being one of the nicest guys, but you knew him from being the leader of Felix’s frat. Bang Chan. He crouched down beside you and ripped off his jacket, using it to hide the holes in your shirt. You saw that he had a few of his upperclassmen friends with him, who chased Junyoung off. They all crouched around you, careful to give you room. You writhed in pain and drunken confusion as the situation made itself clear to you in your head. Chan discussed something with the guys you listened to but didn’t hear. He picked you up bridal style and began carrying you away from the area.
He turned to one of the guys, who you think was named Changbin, and asked, “Where did you say she lived again?”
“Building 4, room 38. Felix mentioned she lived with that guy Hyunjin, remember?” He said, to which Chan nodded. He carried you all the way to your room, receiving some stares on the way there. Him and the guys all walked with him there, making sure you remained safe on your way home. Throughout the whole way, you were unresponsive, it’s like you were completely frozen. You closed your eyes, letting them think you were unconscious. However, you were just unwilling to face reality right now.
When you entered your dorm building, you heard a door close, followed promptly by a gasp. Then footsteps running towards you became evident.
“What happened!?” Exclaimed the voice of none other than Hyunjin. He seemed genuinely worried and you were surprised to say the least.
“Someone attacked her while…well…I assume she was walking around drunk.” Chan explained. You heard Hyunjin shuffle his feet.
“What do you mean ‘attack.’” He asked, and you could hear anger rising in his tone. Chan sighed, lifting the jacket off your torso enough for Hyunjin to see the holes ripped in it. That told him enough.
“Who was it?” Hyunjin demanded. You could feel Chan shrug, but someone spoke up behind him.
“I’m pretty sure it was Junyoung, the second year who studies medical stuff.” The voice of Lee Minho replied. Hyunjin scoffed and then you felt his arms scoop under you to replace Chans.
“Thank you.” He said, “For saving her.”
Soon enough, the guys bid their farewells, and Hyunjin carried you all the way to your room. He was extremely careful with you, making sure you were held securely. He carried you into your dorm room and placed you softly in your bed. He took your shoes off and put one of his sweatshirts on over your ripped shirt. He pulled the covers onto you and sat next to your bed for a few minutes. You continued to pretend you were asleep. You listened to his sighs as you began drifting off into your actual sleep. Right before you fell completely, you felt his hand slide into yours.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, before finally going to his own bed.
The next day, you woke up without Hyunjin there, but instead there was about a thousand messages from Felix and the rest of your friends around campus who heard what happened. Apparently Junyoung had bragged about it, and the story spread around campus like a wildfire. You had never wanted to disappear more.
The texts from Felix ranged from him asking if you were okay, to blaming himself for letting you go out on your own. You texted him back and assured him not to blame himself. You told him you were okay and that nothing much happened. Eventually you just stopped texting people all together and decided to go through other apps. You tried to distract yourself from the thoughts in your head until a notification came up on your phone. It was a message from Felix, linking to a news article.
You opened it curiously, your mouth falling open as you sat up in your bed. The caption of the article was “Junyoung, a student at a Local Korean University Accused of Several Sexual Assault Cases Hospitalized After Being Beaten by an Unnamed Student.” You gaped at the new story, reading about how Junyoung might be arrested after recovering, due to admitting to several of the crimes.
You were shocked but felt strangely comforted by the thought of him being arrested. You leaned against your wall as you sat, wrapped in your covers. You stayed like that for a while and looked up when you heard the door to your dorm slowly open. You saw Hyunjin stumble in slightly, looking surprised when he made eye contact with you.
“Oh,” he paused, “how are you feeling?” You cleared your throat and sat up a bit more.
“Alright, still a bit shaken up though.” You replied. Hyunjin nodded and reached up to fix his hair, but you gasped when you saw his hand. His knuckles were all split and bleeding, dark purple bruises surrounded the gashes. You slid off the bed, suddenly remembering you were still wearing Hyunjin’s sweatshirt. He didn’t seem to notice, though, as you began to walk towards him, he tried to hide his hands. You reached out slowly, and eventually he let you see his hands.
You took his hand in your own, brushing your thumb on the back of his hand. He seemed to tense under your touch, but you didn’t care. You put two and two together in your head by then and knew exactly how he got these.
“Come here,” you said, leading him to your shared bathroom. He followed obediently, and you had him sit on the countertop before you. You ran water and rubbing alcohol over his cuts, receiving a few swear words and hisses of pain along the way. Then you took a bandage, wrapping it around his knuckles carefully. You did this without talking, hoping the actions would show your gratitude.
“You didn’t have to do what you did, you know.” You told him once you were done, turning away from him to put the items away. He slid off the counter.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, pretending to be clueless. Yup, there’s the Hyunjin you knew.
You gave him a look, “Thank you.” As you turned away, you caught sight of a small smile forming on his delicate lips. You smiled yourself, leaving the bathroom to go back to your bed.
As time went by, you and Hyunjin had more respect for each other. Things got better in the dorm, but of course, they weren’t perfect. The thing that changed the most was his attitude towards you. He still had his moments, quite a bit, however he wasn’t nearly as bad. He never came home drunk anymore, he let you work on homework by staying quiet, and he even tried to clean up more. Sometimes he still had a lot of attitude with you, and you two still got into little quarrels here and there, but it was so different. He was more careful with you, like you were fragile, and he didn’t want to break you. He even texted you when you were out late to see if you needed a ride back, or to see if you were okay. It was like he cared.
You also felt that his attitude towards you changed when a follow up to Junyoung’s story came through. Apparently his parents paid for his bail, and they got his named cleared of most wrongdoings, so he could stay at the school. When Hyunjin found out, he was livid to say the least. He went on a long rant about how, because he’s rich and comes from a well-known family, he would be let off with nothing more than some public shaming. He was raging on about how he should be taught another lesson, but you had to grab him to tell him to calm down. He took a few hours to cool off, but you convinced him to not make any irrational decisions.
Today though, you felt better than usual. Felix texted you about a party at his frat house again tonight, and you were excited to go. You wore some comfortable joggers, along with a tight top that framed your torso well. You were in the bathroom fixing your hair, when Hyunjin came into the dorm.
“What’re you getting ready for?” He asked curiously. Giving you a not-so-subtle up and down look.
“Felix’s frat is having another party, wanna come?” You asked. He seemed a bit shocked that you asked him to come, but he recovered quickly.
“I’m not sure, I’m not too big on parties.” He lied. You rolled your eyes and walked out of the bathroom.
“Yeah, right.” You sarcastically replied, “If you do end up coming, that would be cool though.” You said, before grabbing your phone and heading out of the dorm. You made your way to Felix’s frat, and they let you in upon seeing your familiar face.
You greeted some of the boys right away and found yourself talking to the upperclassmen that helped you that day. Chan was hilarious and just as kind as everyone made him out to be. You realized just how much the guys in the frat treated each other like family, and you were glad Felix was a part of it. You had a drink in your hand and you wandered around the party, talking to random people here and there. Until you saw a face that made your body tense up in fear. Junyoung.
He seemed to have seen you two, because after you turned away from him, you could sense that he was making his way up to you. You walked away swiftly but felt a hand clamp over your wrist before you could make it too far.
“Hey, Y/N, it’s been a while.” He said. You tensed up, feeling your entire body become rigid, unable to move due to fear. “How about we finish what we started?” He said, his tone scaring you even further.
“How about you fuck off.”
You felt a secure arm slide in place on your shoulders, and you looked up to see Hyunjin staring down at Junyoung with a fire in his eyes. Junyoung immediately turned around, speeding away from Hyunjin quickly. Hyunjin grabbed your hand and began leading you out of the house. You could see his jaw clenched in anger and could feel the tension rolling off his body. He led you all the way out of the frat house, taking you down to his motorcycle.
He released your hand and swung his leg over the bike. “Hop on,” he said. You stared at him incredulously.
“Just trust me, I want to take you away from here before I kill that bastard.” He said, and you eventually got onto the seat. He guided your hands to wrap around his waist and gave you his helmet to put on. You tried to get him to take it, but he refused. Eventually you two were on your way, and he was driving you away.
“Where are we going?” You asked as he drove you.
“Somewhere I like to go to clear my mind.” He replied. You nodded and decided on trusting him, somehow knowing that he wasn’t going to hurt you. He took you to the main building of the campus and drove all the way to the back of the building. He passed a sign that said, “No Trespassing” and stopped his bike. He helped you off his bike and kept his hand in yours as he led you to a ladder. He climbed up first, and you followed him closely behind, few words of explanation being shared between you two. You just trusted his actions and followed them.
Soon enough you were on top of the main campus building, and the view left your mouth agape. You could see everything around campus, and all the beautiful nature that surrounded it. You looked back to see him looking at you with a smile. It was a smile you’ve never seen him use before. It was genuine, it was sweet. He sat down on the flat roof and patted the floor next to him. You followed his cue and sat next to him swiftly.
He let out a sigh and looked to you, “You know, the night that everything happened, I felt one hundred percent responsible for the whole thing. Our fight made me realize what a dick I had been to you, to everyone, really. I’ve always been so closed off, and I’ve never had many friends. Obviously, that’s not a reason to be an asshole, but I’m trying to acknowledge my mistakes. That night, when I got so upset over a stupid journal, I realized I must’ve been in the wrong. What you said really made me wake up and look at myself.” He paused and placed a hand on your knee.
“But, after that night, when Chan brought you in his arms. You…you looked so small and fragile. You didn’t look like the girl that just put me in my place a few hours before. It was all my fault. You wouldn’t have stormed out or have gotten drunk that night if it wasn’t for my stupid outburst. All over a journal.” He said, and you could feel the guilt coming off him in waves.
“Hyunjin, it wasn’t your fault, Junyoung’s actions were his choices. You couldn’t have changed anything.” You told him, but he shook his head.
“It’s okay, Y/N, I’ve already accepted the blame. Quite frankly, I deserve it after all I’ve done to you.” He let out a sigh, before reaching into his jacket and pulling out the small journal from that night, “Here. I wanted you to be able to see it. I tend to…write songs in there. It sounds stupid when I say it out loud, but I was so ashamed of someone seeing it, that I just snapped that day. I’m so sorry about how I treated you.”
You shook your head as he handed you the journal, “Hyunjin, please don’t apologize, I would never blame you for what happened. It wasn’t your fault in the slightest, no matter what you think. And, I think that writing songs is amazing, you shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”
A half-smile appeared on his face as you said this, and he looked into your eyes slowly. You began leaning forward, and he did the same. Your lips met soon after, moving in a rhythm you didn’t know was possible. His hand slid up your side and stopped at the back of your neck, while the other gripped your waist. Your hands slid across his shoulders, wrapping around him delicately. His lips were soft and tasted like some fruity drink, and his hands felt like sparks on your skin. He used the hand on your waist to pull you closer, allowing you to straddle his waist immediately after. His hands both went to your waist as your own tangled in his beautiful hair. You two got carried away in each other’s arms for a few minutes, before falling back against the roof, becoming two giggling messes. He pulled your head on his chest and you two cuddled on the concrete surface.
You two talked the night away, while staring up at the open sky. Everything felt wonderful, and a feeling of ease settled across your body. You looked up at his handsome face and suddenly nothing mattered. All your responsibilities disappeared, your fears and worries melted away, and all you could feel was your overwhelming attraction to the boy in front of you. He saw you staring at him, causing him to smile at your cute expression. He leaned down and pecked your lips before holding you tighter.
The night felt nothing less than perfect.
