WITHOUT TAEYONG by his side school had become a boring place to ten. of course he also had other friends, but it simply wasn't the same. going to school without taeyong was boring, going back home late in the afternoon was also boring. but the worst was that he had no one to spill out his worries to.

still, he entered the classroom like a ray of sunshine and walked over to his friend kun. he had been sticking to him for a while already, since he was his second closest friend- or now that taeyong left, the closest.

he was just so awfully afraid of annoying the latter, with taeyong he could always be sure that it was almost impossible to annoy him; that's how close they used to be.

one week and four days had went by since taeyong and ten had stopped talking and with every day, ten felt more devasted; not even dancing could hype him up as much as it used to.

but why was it so horrible for ten? well, he had always looked up to the older, to him taeyong was the most perfect person to ever exist, in terms of talent, looks, intelligence, kindness, basically everything.

that day after school ten decided to go to the café, where he had went a few times with taeyong just after the new school year had started. originally he wanted to study there, but eventually he just sat down without doing anything.

the waiter looked slightly familiar to him, but he wasn't sure where to sort him. was he in taeyong's class? maybe... he didn't know.

ten ordered an americano, rejected to order a blueberry cheesecake and took out his folder and books to study. everything went well for about half an hour until the knot in his throat started to tie again. 

obviously he felt awful and he still didn't know what he had done wrong. in order to torture himself he took his phone and looked at taeyong and his old pictures; he even went as far as checking his instagram. while it used to consist mostly of pictures of them fooling around, taeyong had only kept his selfies or the ones with other friends.

before ten even knew it, tears started dropping on his paper. it was as if taeyong and him had never even been friends.

now that taeyong was gone it made ten realize something: he loved him a lot more than he should.

-

meanwhile seo chayu kept watching ten from the corner of his eyes and felt just as terrible. just where was taeyong to cheer him up? because as much as he wanted to, chayu knew that he couldn't even hand his crush a tissue.

it broke his heart, not because he had a crush on ten, but because he actually loved cheering up others but no one ever seemed to need his help; everyone was fine without him.

when lee taeyong entered the store, chayu sighed in relief, because he thought that taeyong had come there to cheer ten up.

soon he just realized that this wasn't the case, when taeyong went straight to the counter and ordered an iced coffee to go, while completly ignoring ten. eventually taeyong even greeted chayu with his actual name and a smile, but latter was way too confused.

anyway he had to do his job, there wasn't much time for keeping up with the drama of his classmates, so he turned around to prepare taeyong's coffee.

after he had finished the order, chayu wasn't even capable of understanding the scene that had happened; taeyong was on his way to leave the café, when ten suddenly arose from his seat in the corner and chased after him. desperately he reached out for his friend's sleeve, but latter quickly pulled his arm away.

"please, just tell me what i did wrong!" cried ten, while taeyong just looked down on his shoes. "i told you already, so leave me alone." and with that he exited the store, leaving a messed up ten behind.

chayu felt so embarassed, since this was probably a scene that he wasn't supposed to see and there was nothing he could do.

ten just went back to his table and kept on sobbing quietly until he asked for the bill about an hour later. completly overwhelmed chayu scribbled a small motivational quote on the back of the bill and put a tissue underneath. was he being creepy? probably.

the younger boy took the tissue gratefully, but threw away the bill as soon as he left the café, without reading the note on the back of course; not that it mattered that much, chayu had just tried to be kind towards someone in need.

quick reminder to yourself: nobody needs your help.

for three more hours chayu worked in the café until it closed at 9 pm; he knew he was working more than he had to, but he really needed the money.

in the dark he went outside to bring the trash bag to the containers around the corner. what he found there really left him speechless. lee taeyong sat crying on the cold ground in between the trash bins, his coffee partly spilled on his hoodie.

awkwardly chayu put the trash away and walked over to his classmate; he couldn't help it. everytime he felt down he just wished anyone would take notice of it, so maybe others did too? right then he forgot everything about taeyong, he just saw the boy his age suffering.

"i would give you my hand, but i just touched the trash." chayu said while squatting down in front of the other. "the café closed, but would you like to come in and warm up a little?"

taeyong just nodded in reply, so chayu led him back to the café and made another coffee for the boy. latter gave him a very judging look.

"i know you're very popular at school, but don't worry, i won't tell anyone about anything." said chayu quietly, hoping that taeyong wouldn't hate him forever.

"thank you for everything." mumbled taeyong and took small sips of his coffee. meanwhile chayu finished cleaning up and before he went to change, taeyong left with another silent thank you.

on his way home chayu broke down in tears too, because he realized something. ten and taeyong were so close, even though something happened between them they cried for each other.

maybe jihye and jaecheol might do the same for him, but he never told them things like this. so when chayu was down, there wasn't anyone who shared his feelings.

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wow almost 200 reads, that is so fast! also i'm always getting so many comments, i'm so happy :)

who should taeyong meet with in the next chapter? any nct member or a female oc?