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quack-quack-snacks · 5 months

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Star Crossed - Chapter 1

The Star Crossed Masterlist

My All Of Us Are Dead Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

Warnings: Na-yeon. Word Count: 4,147

Waking up was always the hardest part of the day for you. Your body resisted it with all its might and sometimes the temptation was too strong to resist.

Or at least it would be if you didn’t have an older brother there to smack you with a pillow until you got up.

Your arms instinctually went up to protect your face as you screeched when your attacker would not stop. You heard Gwi-nam laugh as you rolled around in your bed, trying to avoid the insistent hits of the fluffy pillow. Finally, he stopped. He was grinning until it turned into an annoyed scowl.

“I have been trying to wake you up for the past 30 minutes, now you only have 15 to get ready for school or else I’m leaving you here.”

You knew the threat was empty and he would wait all day for you if you needed it but you still practically leaped out of the bed at his words.

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry! I’ll be ready soon, I promise!” You quickly rushed to the bathroom to start your morning routine, brushing your teeth only until you were satisfied they felt and smelled clean before going on to styling your hair into a simple but cute hairdo. Quickly getting changed, you rushed out of your room and slid into the kitchen using your socked feet. Grabbing a quick breakfast time you could eat on the way, you rushed to put your shoes on.

When Gwi-nam walked out of his bedroom, unrushed and calm, you looked at him, confused.

“Why aren’t you rushing?” You questioned, slightly out of breath and slowly catching on as his lips tilted into a large and mischievous grin. You looked at the clock on the wall of your living room and looked back at him comically slowly. It was 40 minutes before you needed to leave. “Oh, you little shit! I’m gonna kill you!” You stood up, one shoe still untied but that didn’t stop you from running after him as he ran away and laughed loudly at your reaction.

You and Gwi-nam walked across the crosswalk, both walking in a comfortable silence until you both saw them.

Myeong-hwan and his 'friends.'

The small smile you wore as you walked dropped as soon as you saw them.

“Have fun,” You whispered to Gwi-nam, trying to keep the bitterness out of your tone. It seemed to work because he just gave you a small smile and ruffled your hair which you smacked him for. Ignoring the way his entire persona changed as he walked over to the group, you put your headphones on and turned your music up until you could no longer hear the chatter of the people around you before walking into the school and heading for your classroom, knowing the bell would be going off soon.

You arrived just as the warning bell went off and went to sit in your assigned seat next to the window beside Nam-ra. She was already there, early as always, and you gave her a small smile before sitting down, taking your headphones out and putting them away as well as turning your phone off completely and taking out your old one. Luckily, you hadn’t been caught not turning in your phone yet and Ms. Park continued to believe the phone you turned in each day without fail was your only phone.

You were a good student, why wouldn’t she believe you.

Ms. Park was one of the only people in the school - including the teachers - who never really looked at you based on who you were related to, which you were always grateful for.

You slipped your actual phone into your backpack just as all the other students started to flood into the classroom.

You saw one person in particular who walked in. She always sat behind you, relatively quiet and you only ever saw her hang around one person who you assumed was her close friend if not her boyfriend. You never really knew her or anything but you remembered her name from it being mentioned in passing. Hee-su.

You turned around as you saw her walk unsteadily to her desk which sat right behind Nam-ra. Her skin was as pale as ash and her face seemed lightly shiny with a thin layer of sweat. She clutched her stomach almost in pain.

“H-hey, are you okay?” You questioned her hesitantly. Rightly so as she looked up to you in a panic and stared at you with a slightly terrified look in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said almost too quickly. You felt hurt for a moment as you figured she was just scared of you because of your brother like so many others were until you saw the fear in her eyes. This wasn’t a fear directed at you but more of a fear of getting found out, of being caught. “Y-yes, I’m fine.” Her hand found its way back down where she almost imperceptibly caressed her sweatshirt covered stomach. You let out a silent gasp and she looked at you with an unbridled amount of terror when she realized you had figured it out.

You gave her a hesitant and small, but extremely genuine, smile as you slowly reached for the hand that she had resting on her desk to give it a small squeeze. She returned the smile after a moment of her face being in complete shock as she was completely shocked by your actions. You let her hand go and turned around just as you noticed two girls behind her putting on sweatpants underneath their skirts. You let out a small faint laugh as you did see them. Although you stopped doing that years ago, it was always a perk to know how to change your clothes in public even while wearing a full set.

A large group of boys gathered your attention once you turned back around and you watched them as they talked and laughed with each other. You didn’t bother listening to their conversation but you just watched as your arms formed a pillow on the desk for your chin to rest on and you dreamed about what it would be like to be a part of a group like that.

Suddenly, the girl you knew as On-jo stormed into the classroom, obviously annoyed, and threw a backpack at Cheong-san who just smirked at her as she sat down. You smiled lightly as you saw their interaction, they did this every single day without fail and you couldn’t help but find it endearing. Anyone with eyes could see that Cheong-san liked On-jo except for her apparently.

Even though you didn’t know any of the people in your class, you knew all of their names. Perks of being the outcast you guessed. You hardly had anyone to focus your attention on so you focused your attention on the people around you. You had Nam-ra but she was always absorbed into her schoolwork.

She had disclosed her insecurities and fears before: how she was scared to let her grades drop and her mom to get angry at her; how she was scared to open up to anyone else and get to know them because of how her mother would compare her to them as well as because she never really knew how; how she was hesitant to let you over to her house or even just tell her mom about you because she wasn’t sure how she would react to you being apart of the Yoon family. Though Nam-ra never judged you based on your family for even a second, she knew her mother would.

It hurt at times but you understood.

So you decided to get to know your classmates through your ears and their voices.

Getting snapped out of your thoughts when the right classroom door opened again, you noticed a familiar tall figure walk in and take his bag off before walking over to the group of boys who were still talking about a girl who worked at a store they had went to.

You heard Wu-jin make a comment about smelling his feet from across the classroom and you let out a small giggle.

One which caught the attention of the talked about boy and he looked over at you with his brown eyes. He shot you a small smile before walking over and draping his arms over the shoulders of Gyeong-su and Cheong-san.

“Then I’ll break his fingers-” Wu-jin started but was cut off as a familiarly irritating voice filled the air and Na-yeon walked in.

“Hey!” Unfortunately for Gyeong-su, he was sitting on her desk so he gained the full force of her wrath.

“Whoa. What the fuck?” Joon-yeong exclaims as Na-yeon walks up to them and he flinches slightly at her presence which you stiffle a laugh at, not bothering to pick your head up from your arms as you continue to watch them, waiting for what would happen next.

“Get off of there. You stink.” Na-yeon said to Gyeong-su and he got quickly got off, a little confused by her harsh demeanor.

“Oh, okay. My bad,” he said while getting up. “What’s the big deal? Sorry.” He tried to use his sleeve to wipe the surface of the desk off before she yanked her bag off and smacked his hand away.

“Cut it out! You’re so dirty,” she insulted.

Gyeong-su blinked once as he comprehended what she just said to him. “Hey, what the hell?” He asked, you could hear the slight trace of annoyance and hurt beneath the calm outer tone he portrayed.

Cheong-san came up behind him and wrapped his arms around him to prevent him from starting something in the classroom. “Hey, just let it go,” he said as the bell chimed.

“What the hell is your problem?” Wu-jin asked as he walked past her and she elbowed him in the ribs.

At the display of slight aggression, you lifted your head from your hands and Na-yeon noticed immediately. The fight went out of her eyes and she just stood there, looking at you fearfully as you sat back in your chair and glared at her with your arms crossed and your head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

The others did not seem to notice her lack of involvement in the argument anymore and continued asking her questions before Ms. Park entered the room. “Hey, you punks.” Her tone implied how tired she was of dealing with her students’ shit and you turned your head to the window to hide your slight smile at it. “Come on guys. Take your seats. Come on, move it!” She rolled her eyes as she got to her desk and placed her things down as the class finally settled down and everyone was in their seats.

“Hi there,” she said to the class, her face still portraying her annoyed face until she heard half of the class repeat her greeting back to her, some even waving childishly at her. She smiled. “Hi. Good morning. Time to hand in your phones, everyone!”

Starting with the front row, everyone stood up to hand their phones in and place them into the grey box with little numbered rectangular holes marking each one for the phones to fit in until the end of each day. Before you could even consider standing up, Nam-ra grabbed your phone from where it was placed on your desk and started walking towards Ms. Park’s desk with it. It was something she had offered to do the second day you had started chatting and considering each other to be friends and she had done it ever since.

After everyone had given their phones over, Ms. Park started speaking again. “Who’s in touch with Hyeon-ju?” Nobody answered but a few looked hesitant. “Nobody? So none of you have tried calling her today?”

Joon-yeong cleared his throat before speaking, “Uh, we cleaned the science lab together yesterday, but I haven’t seen her since.”

She sighed, “Okay, if anyone hears from her sometime within the next few days, let me know right away, okay?” Everyone nodded and replied with ‘Okay’s.’ She pulled one of the phones from the box and started doing something with it as she started going back to the topic of school. “Exams start soon, so get your acts together.”

You could see from in front of you the two “brothers” fighting as Wu-jin saw Dae-su holding his phone underneath the table when suddenly his and another phone, you guessed either On-jo’s or I-sak’s just based on location, rang out with a notification.

“I heard that,” Ms. Park let out a little groan of annoyance. “Hand over your phones, please.”

As Dae-su and I-sak stood up to go and turn their phones in, Dae-su made a show of holding onto his phone for dear life with two hands as Ms. Park tried to take it. It slipped from his grasp and she gave him a certain look as he backed away and gave a slight bow in apology.

Noticing one of the phones was not what she knew it should have been, Park took it out and saw it was On-jo’s number slot. “On-jo. This is your phone from last year.” The class snickered. “Take it please.” As On-jo did the walk of shame to replace her old and broken phone with her new and working one, Ms. Park placed the box in one of her drawers. “I will be back in a few minutes. Nam-ra, please watch over the class in my absence.”

Nam-ra gave a nod and Ms. Park smiled before walking out. True to her word, she was only gone for a few minutes before coming back in and starting the class.

For the majority of the class, you just drew little figures and doodles in the corner on your notebook, not writing much down and only paying attention through listening. Because your brother took this class last year, you would often sit down with him at the kitchen counter after school and do your homework with him. Being too skilled for your own grade, he would always print a copy of his work for you to do. You would whine and complain each time but it was nice to have something a bit more challenging - especially something like learning a new language as complex as English - since you were constantly bored in class.

Little did you know it would lead to you being bored in most of your classes the next year too. Oh well, at least you were fluent in English now.

“‘In fact, none of us are completely free from prejudice. We all have preconceived ideas about others.’” Ms. Park recited in English before switching back to Korean. “Here, ‘free from’ means the lacking in or unencumbered by. Anyone want to interpret this?” She started tapping on the wall as she waited for someone to volunteer. Just before she was about to pick someone to answer, the scraping of a chair against the granite floor was heard and you turned in your seat to look at Hee-su as she stood up. She looked even worse than she did before. “Okay. Hee-su?”

Ms. Park smiled in relief as she waited for her to respond only to get a shaky and quiet reply back. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay. Go.”

You gave Hee-su a reassuring smile when she looked down at you in a panic and you could see some of her anxiety melting off of her shoulders before she grabbed her bag and slowly walked - or wobbled - out of the classroom and in the direction of what you knew to be the nurse’s office.

Just as you were about to turn back around, your eyes caught on another’s. Su-hyeok sat there and was looking at you with a soft look in his eyes and his lips upturned into a small smile that he seemed to only have reserved for you based off of how you’ve seen him smile around his friends.

To be honest you weren’t sure if you should feel special or left out.

Giving him a small smile back, you turned back around in your seat just as the teacher called on Nam-ra to answer and she expressed her interpretation of the quote.

“The truth is, all of us have some sort of prejudice. We all have preconceptions about other people,” she said confidently and you looked down to hide your proud smirk while twirling your pencil around in your hands.

“Hmm, okay, nice,” Park praised before directing her attention to Su-hyeok who was drawing and smiling into his notebook, obviously not paying attention to what Nam-ra was saying or anything being taught. “Next, Bare-su. Stand up.”

Some of the students let out small giggles as they heard what she called him. “Yes?” he asked, unsure of why he was being called on.

“What’s with ‘Bare-su’?” She asked and he just stood there for a few moments in silence as he comprehended her words. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you ask, Joon-seong answered for him.

“It’s short for Barefoot Su-hyeok. Bare-su for short.”

“He hates wearing socks. He’s so weird about it,” Dae-su interjected after Joon-seong was finished before looking back at Su-hyeok and maintaining eye contact while saying, “I can smell it from a mile away,” and plugging his nose dramatically as his face scrunched up as if smelling something extremely gross.

You let out an airy laugh that you thought was quiet enough to not be heard, especially under the noise of your classmates laughing as well, but Dae-su practically gave himself whiplash from how fast he spun around to look at you in surprise.

It was no secret you were not the most expressive of people at the school, competing with Nam-ra for how little you showed most of the time.

Although just like her, it was a defense mechanism.

“Okay, Bare-su,” Ms. Park said after her own laughs had calmed down. “What did Nam-ra say a minute ago?” She interrogated and you could basically see how Su-hyeok froze under her gaze.

Dae-su, who still had been looking at you in shock, whipped back around to face forward when you caught his eye and gave him a small and unsure smile.

“Uh…” Su-hyeok started and you looked back over at him only to see him looking at you almost in a plea for help. You were sure to everyone else, though, it just looked like he was looking at Nam-ra.

The whole class mocked him and he smiled while rolling his eyes. “She was absolutely correct. A hundred percent,” he confidently stated and the class, including Ms. Park, all laughed at his attempt to get out of the situation.

“What was her absolutely correct answer then?” Ms. Park didn’t let up.

“Hmm… All right,” he started again and shot you one last hopeful look. “I-huh?”

Everything stopped when the left door slid open and a bloody Hyeon-ju walked into the classroom. A few students stood up and walked toward her before she collapsed onto the floor with Ms. Park just barely catching her. At that, everyone, including yourself, stood up and rushed over to the scene. You slid onto your knees to kneel beside your teacher, ignoring how your knees ached from the impact, and placed your fingers over her pulse to find her heartbeat extremely irregular; speeding up to a BPM of 160 then slowing back down to a 40.

“Her heartbeat is irregular, I’ve never felt or seen something like this. She is also sweating profusely despite being very cold. She should be covered with blankets to help sweat off whatever infection she’s contracted as well as taken to the hospital immediately.” You told Ms. Park in a low tone that only the people in the small circle surrounding the girl could hear.

Then, you could hear the soft and slurred words she was saying, leaning your head down closer to hear what they were.

“Ms. Park…” she whispered, her eyes unfocused and head lolling back despite being in Ms. Park’s arms.

“Yeah, it’s me. Do you recognize me?” Said woman asked.

“He grabbed me… The science teacher grabbed me and locked me up.”

Ms. Park, as well as most of the other students, had a shocked look on her face before she shook it off. “He locked you up? The science teacher? Mr. Lee Byeong-chan?”

“He tied me up…” Hyeon-ju sounded more slurred yet scared by the second as she continued with her story.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Na-yeon said arrogantly from behind the scene.

“Na-yeon, shut it,” you spoke out quietly while taking off your jacket and using it to cover Hyeon-ju’s startlingly still body. You assumed it must have been because of the shock.

Because of your concentration, you didn’t see the petrified look on Na-yeon’s face and how she bowed down slightly toward you.

“I suggest we take her to the infirmary at least, there you should call for an ambulance to come and get her so she can be put into more suitable hands,” you started to take over the situation since you could tell Ms. Park was obviously too shocked and shaken by what was happening that all she could do was hold Hyeon-ju in her arms. “Su-hyeok, you’re the strongest so you should carry her there,” you looked him in the eyes as you spoke and could see the determination lighting a fire within them. “On-jo, I-sak,” both girls stiffened at your voice being directed at them which you tried not to let affect you or your voice and continued with your instructions. “You two should go along with him and Ms. Park to be of any assistance they might need. The nurse is alone today so she might need help.”

Both girls nodded at your instructions and you quickly grabbed Hyeon-ju to help situate her onto Su-hyeok’s back. Just before they all left, you whispered a quick, “Be careful,” into Su-hyeok’s ear and he only gave a very mild nod before rushing off with the three girls.

You all sat there as you waited for the teacher and students to get back, most ignoring Ms. Park’s instructions of staying in your seats and doing your school work in favor of gossiping or playing cards with each other.

You sat with your headphones in and your music playing just loud enough to blare out the noise of everyone talking as you rested your head on your arms once again. When I-sak came in, you lowered your music and heard her talking about what happened with the girl.

“It’s no joke. She was biting people and thrashing around!” As you tried to gather all of her symptoms together and come up with a diagnosis, the closest thing you could come up with was just a cold with how little information you were given. The biting part didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Whatever the science teacher did to her must have been something extreme.

Before you knew it, the bell had rung and neither On-jo nor Su-hyeok had returned so you wrote a note on a sticky note for Su-hyeok and waited for everyone to leave the classroom. Nam-ra told you she would save a spot for you at your normal lunch table until you told her not to worry about it and you were more than likely just going to eat it while underneath the cherry blossom tree like you did most days anyways. She nodded in acknowledgement and gave you a smile and a wink as she saw the name written on the sticky note. Once everyone had left, you walked over to Su-hyeok’s desk and placed the sticky note on his desk. As you went to walk away, you noticed a drawing of the top half of a girl holding a flower in the top right corner of his open-notebook. She looked familiar but you couldn’t place your finger on it. Noticing the slight pang in your chest, you shook your head and just decided you would ask him about it when you guys were to call next; maybe even earlier if you could catch him when nobody was around.

After grabbing your lunch and heading down to the garden section where only a few people hung around during lunch, you situated yourself underneath the cherry blossom tree and started munching on your food. With your headphones in and your music playing, you were unable to hear the screams of terror that were slowly getting louder as they approached you.

As you leaned your head back against the tree trunk, the rhythmic beat of your favorite song playing through your ears and the rest of the world canceled out, you didn’t notice the horde getting closer.

~~~

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#all of us are dead #aouad #cheong-san #dae-su #gyeong-su #nam-ra #on-jo #xreader #su hyeok x y/n #su hyeok x reader #su hyeok #lee su hyeok #suhyeok x reader #su-hyeok

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