feet kicking at the leaves sprawled out over the ground, a few joining them from the trees above every now and then, yeosang reluctantly neared his school. it was his second day without wooyoung, and maybe it was his selfishness creeping up on him when he found himself growing impatient.

with his own eyes, yeosang had seen the fatal incident that had occurred by the school building, so surely the team of police were aware of it, too; in fact, he had no doubt that they were.

what was taking them so long, then? they're the police — for fucks sake — a department of authority, couldn't they just find the driver who was behind the crash with their number plate, or something? there's no way it's that difficult, yeosang thought.

the boy would've grasped onto the tiny amount of faith he had in the cops, but the sight of the same police cars from yesterday lined up by the school gates ruined those chances. what are they still doing here? they should be out there looking for wooyoung! yeosang frowned, confused. it was almost like they weren't taking the case seriously enough, the thought boiling up his anger as he entered the school doors.

contrary to yesterday, yeosang held his head up high, glaring right back at the many people who dared to take a glance at him. maybe he was being too cold, but he didn't care.

just two days ago he was a nobody at college, and he despised that fellow students perceived him differently because of his loss. once wooyoung came back, everything would return to normal, therefore yeosang decided to avoid any kinds of extra care and attention. it would only lead to nothing, after all.

on the way to his locker, a figure joined yeosang's side.

"hey, jongho," the coloured-haired male greeted, ignoring the fact that merely the strong cologne that had entered his lungs was all it took for him to recognise the younger. instead, yeosang managed to convince himself that being forced to sit directly behind him last night — and no, he didn't admit that he chose to press their bodies together — was the reason he'd memorised his scent.

"morning, sang!" jongho replied, a graceful smile drawn upon his face. when yeosang turned to him, it only widened, followed with his nose scrunching up and the sides of his eyes crinkling up.

yeosang found himself staring for a little longer than necessary. he averted his gaze once realising how odd it was, hoping jongho didn't think anything more of it than a friendly glance. because it wasn't, the pair were friends — barely. the brunette's features were just too captivating for his own good, yeosang figured was the case.

"um—" the elder cleared his throat, mind spiralling chaotically as it found a conversation starter. "did you, uh, have a nice night yesterday?"

ew. yeosang's eyes screwed shut in embarrassment momentarily, regretting the words as soon as they slipped from his tongue. why do i do this to myself?

"yeah, i did, actually," jongho answered, clearly naive to yeosang's inner thoughts. but, then again, how could he have been aware that the male wanted to rip out his own voice box on the spot? "would've been better if you texted me back, though," he added.

"oh, shit, sorry." yeosang nervously chuckled, hand finding the back of his head and scratching it sheepishly.

"so, turns out, you did ignore me?"

yeosang's eyes widened, and he mentally cursed himself for how shallow his apology came off as. jongho's accusation wasn't wrong, but he aimed to explain himself anyway. "not exactly. i just- i'm kinda a terrible replier... i'm not used to having anyone actually want to text me, either, besides wooyoung cussing me out for ditching him in the nether." jongho laughed, the sound being cheerily loud, and yeosang smiled before continuing, "i don't know if that counts, though."

"didn't take you as a gamer boy, sang." jongho nudged the latter's shoulder playfully. "and it's okay, you're just gonna have to get used to a whole lot of texts from me in the future."

"sure, whatever you say." yeosang giggled, turning his gaze to his walking feet in bashfulness. jongho was pretty straightforward, it seemed. he liked it. lots.

whilst being busy with conversation, yeosang and jongho soon made it to the older's locker. swinging the door to his open, yeosang strayed his attention from his new friend for a short moment, on the search for his chemistry textbook that was meant to be stored somewhere within the untidy mess of his locker.

after looking through every inch of the small box and not finding it anywhere, yeosang sighed disappointedly.

"hey, is something wrong?" jongho asked, frowning at the boy's show of misery.

why does he care so much? we hardly know each other... yeosang thought to himself, but quickly slapped some sense into himself. he's just being friendly, can't you appreciate that? "it's nothing, dont worry about it." yeosang nibbled on his lower lip hesitantly, before blurting out, "do you have a spare chemistry textbook i could use?"

"i do, actually. you're lucky i don't have chem today." yeosang grinned a little at jongho, who slipped his backpack off from his shoulders and pulled out a thick textbook.

yeosang smiled, small. see, he's only being friendly. "thank you."

"you're welcome, it's my pleasure to save you from a detention," jongho joked, triumphantly mirroring the expression at the amused laugh that met his ears. the sound made his stomach flip a few times.

yeosang opened his mouth to make a — probably snarky — comment in return, but the screeching of the school bell came in between his chances. holding the textbook he was borrowing close to his chest, he twisted his locker shut. "well, in that case, i better go. you're the last person i want to be keeping me from class."

"and here i thought you were starting to grow a soft spot for me." jongho scoffed, clutching his chest dramatically.

despite rolling his eyes, yeosang couldn't refrain from smiling. "i advise you to think more realistically next time, then." and the older didn't know what came over him when his hand found jongho's arm, giving it a light squeeze before letting go. "i'll, er, see you at break?"

jongho froze for a moment, causing yeosang to panic immensely, until the brunette's features softened, relaxed. "yeah, sure. see you then."

yeosang nodded his head in acknowledgment, sending jongho a short smile, before spinning around in the direction of his first class.

speed-walking to arrive to lesson on time, yeosang inhaled and exhaled a few necessary, deep breathes in an attempt to slow down his racing heart. something about jongho made him much more nervous than usual, and he didn't know why that was.

it's true that yeosang wasn't that keen on keeping up a decent social life, which lead him to find it slightly difficult to interact with others like a normal human being, but the way the smallest doses of affection with jongho sent him into a frenzy was weird to him. he'd grown accustomed to wooyoung's persistent cuddles whenever any of them were feeling down, therefore he couldn't help but wonder what made jongho's touches so different, so craved for.

yeosang was now stood outside of of his science class — not late, but not early enough for him to walk in and not have dozens of eyes eyes glued to him, either. fortunately, however, his over-analysing thoughts on the brunette had drifted away, even if it was because of the minor fear creeping up on him.

pushing the door open, yeosang immediately beelined for his seat, which was at the second row closest to the back of the room. once he was seated, he hurried to assort his school equipment onto his desk, his full attention on the teacher at the front who was in the midst of doing the register.

"choi hyunsuk?"

"here, miss."

"choi san?"

i share a class with pear hair boy? yeosang whizzed his eyes around the class, ignoring the slight pain jolting through his head at the sudden, fast movement, keeping an ear open for a response and—

"morning, miss lee."

the voice was quiet, hushed; yeosang would've been surprised to hear it in any other tone, though. the pear-haired boy was seated on the row behind him, right at the corner of the room. he gazed out of the window beside him, the same hoodie from yesterday worn over his uniform, one sleeve slipping off of his shoulder.

to yeosang, san looked vulnerable, somewhat childlike in certain ways. and even if it did just seem like that because of the way his eyes were still bloodshot from crying, the way he hugged his knees to his chest, and the way his hoodie was way too big for his petite frame, yeosang felt it was criminal to blindly accuse the boy of such cruelty like being a fucking kidnapper to begin with. the more he thought about it, the more shitty of a person he felt.

although yeosang so badly wanted to convince himself that san was indeed innocent, jongho's reaction to his accusation lead him to thinking otherwise. he didn't seem shocked, or baffled, and nor did he try to talk yeosang out of it. instead, he listened.

all jongho informed him of the pear-haired boy was his name, but surely that wasn't all he knew.

therefore, yeosang made a mental reminder to ask his brunette friend what he knew about san. because after everything that had occurred, what did he have left to lose?

———

a/n: ahhh happy three years with the teezers </33