"We have a problem."

San slammed his hands on Wooyoung's desk, startling the latter who's staring at his notebook.

"What do you mean, we have a problem?"

"Exactly, you have to be more specific." Yunho said, "As far as I know you don't have any problem. You two are the problem."

"Well fuck you, Jeong Yunho." San huffed, turning back to Wooyoung, "You really didn't notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Yeosang being weird." San narrowed his eyes, "You don't even have a single clue? Where's your 5 years of friendship?"

Wooyoung groaned.

"Choi San, I can't possibly know. I'm not in the same class as him, and I am busy with my project."

"Argument accepted. I'll enlighten you on what the problem is."

~

San elaborated on how Yeosang seemed to be extra sensitive, jumpy and anxious recently. For example, San was simply asking if Yeosang wanted an ice-cream treat, and Yeosang acted as if San was requesting him to fight a dragon.

"You know how calm Yeosang usually was. It's abnormal for him." San finished.

"Abmormal indeed..." Wooyoung scratched his head, "But what do I do? It's not like I have much extra time..."

"You're completing a chaptet of a novel for your project, right?" Yunho asked, "I can lend you a hand so that you can finish it sooner."

"Thanks Yunho! I'll buy you Harry Potter poker cards. Saw it online."

"For real? Damn, I will help you as much as I can!"

"Enough flirting and let me continue." San cleared his throat, ignoring the soft "we're not flirting" from Yunho and continued, "That wasn't all. I've also seen him trying to avoid the gazes from a few teachers and some students, yet I couldn't find the correlation between those he was avoiding."

"That sounds like a bullying problem." Yunho commented seriously.

"Doesn't seem like it. Those teachers I saw him avoiding are all known to be extremely nice and very encouraging. Don't know about the students though."

"Alright, I'm finishing this as soon as possible and dig into that." Wooyoung slapped his face lightly and took out his pencil, "Let's start right away, Yunho."

It took less time than Wooyoung expected to finish the first chapter, probably because he was assigned to write about fanatsy and Yunho was kinda a fantasy freak.

He immediately messaged Yeosang.

~

Baby Yeo

Yeosang? U free?

Uh.

Kinda.

I guess.

Idk.

How do u not know if you're free...?

What are u doing rn?

Stuff?

Yeo, if you have any difficulties you can find me, you know?

I know.

Just...I don't think you can help me about this...

Sorry

No no don't be!

Even if I can't help, I can still come over and listen to your problems

So please? I miss you anyway:(( It's been a while since we hanged out

Well

If you insist...

I can't really stop you, can I?

ヽ(｡>▽<｡)ﾉ

~

"Guys, I'm heading to Yeosang's!" Wooyoung yelled to the other two, "Any message to or favour from Mingi and Yeosang?"

"Tell Mingi that San felt sorry-"

"Jeong Yunho, if you speak any more words I'll kill you." San hissed.

"...I'll take it as a no then?" Wooyoung blinked, "Well then, I'll try if I can get anything from Yeosang. He even seemed down in the messages."

"Be quick then, and don't let that Mingi issue distract you." San said.

Maybe he should choke some words from Mingi too, Wooyoung thought.

~

Unsurprisingly, it was Mingi who opened the door for Wooyoung.

"Thank god you finally came," Mingi immediately started rambling on, "You couldn't believe how stressed Yeosang looked, and he wouldn't tell me what happened, I was hoping-"

"Yes, yes, I understand, please let me in." Wooyoung stopped Mingi, who's blocking the door, from continuing.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Mingi quickly moved, "The door to the right."

"Thanks." Wooyoung dashed to said door. He was surprised that he remembered to knock before opening the door.

"Uh, I'll go to the convenient store nearby, so call me after you finish!" Mingi yelled.

"Okay!" Wooyoung yelled back.

He heard the main door click before closing the door to Yeosang's room, and he finally turned to his best friend, who's hugging his legs on a corner of his bed.

Yeosang had been looking at him the whole time, eyes red and puffy. Wooyoung hadn't noticed because he's talking to Mingi, but Yeosang was sniffling softly as well.

It took everything for Wooyoung to not throw everything away to hug Yeosang, and instead sitting next to him carefully.

"Yeo-yeo, you're crying."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Yeosang's weak muffled voice came through.

"Do you mind telling me what happened?"

Yeosang buried his head deeper into his knees.

"Nothing bad happened."

"Yeosang-"

"For real, nothing bad happened. Mr. Park was encouraging me to continue on the vocal path as always, and apparently he asked Miss Kim if she'd let me participate in the talent show. And she agreed." Yeosang continued quietly, "But since I wasn't experienced, she asked if a few classmates could team up with me and join as a group. They agreed."

Wooyoung nodded silently so that Yeosang knew he was listening and he could continue.

"But they've only heard me singing for once. I feel so pressured by their expectations. They didn't know how I usually sound."His voice started shivering, "I - I sounded terrible-"

"Stop, Yeosang. Don't say that."

Wooyoung couldn't stay still anymore.

He always knew Yeosang wasn't exactly the most confident person, but he never knew Yeosang was degrading himself all along.

"Yeosang, you sound beautiful. You know what? I always feel soothed when I hear you humming."

"That means I sound boring-"

"No. It's different. Your voice made me feel relaxed, but not sleepy. I always make sure I wouldn't fall asleep because I want to keep hearing you sing."

"But I always crack."

"Every non-professional singers crack, Yeosang."

"No, not all." He shooked his head, "They are all really stable - I've never heard them made mistakes."

"Because they practiced. And I'm sure you can be as well after you do."

"No, you don't understand." Yeosang's tears finally fell, "I can't do this, Wooyoung. I can never-"

"Kang Yeosang. Look. At. Me."

Wooyoung gently lifted Yeosang's head up and wiped his tears with his fingers.

"You said you admired my dancing, right?"

Yeosang nodded.

"And guess what - you couldn't believe how many times I tripped before I go on stage. Hell, I had even twisted an ankle, scratched my knee, or bruised my elbow."

"You've never told me any of that!"

"I don't want you to worry, angel." Wooyoung squished Yeosang's cheeks, earning a soft whine from the latter, "Anyway, what I am trying to say is that you never know if you don't try."

"But I...don't want to practice in front of them..."

"How about with me?"

Yeosang looked at him with an incredible expression.

"I mean, you should be comfortable with me, right? I've been your best friend for 5 years." Wooyoung grinned.

To his relief, Yeosang let out a tiny giggle.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Thank god, I'm scared that you won't agree." Wooyoung hugged Yeosang tightly, "Ah, right. Mingi."

"Um, I can kick him to your apartment if you want." Yeosang mumbled.

"Huh?"

"You know...you're helping me practice, no...?" Yeosang licked his lips nervously, "Plus, I think he'd be glad to sleep with San."