Nothing seemed to change between Jongdae and Yixing except for the fact that every now and then they were caught kissing or holding hands, but it actually meant something to the both of them now and they quite liked it that way.

"Are you busy tonight?" Yixing swayed back and forth lightly, biting his lip shyly with his hands placed gently on Jongdae's hips.

"Oh my God, is Zhang Yixing asking me out?" Jongdae gaped in mock awe. Yixing groaned in annoyance and made to move, but Jongdae trapped him by wrapping his arms around his neck, nuzzling into his shoulder, "I'm not busy," he sighed and Yixing shivered.

"Will you… Go out with me then?"

"Why are you even asking?"

"Jongdae," Yixing whined, "I'm trying to be romantic!"

Jongdae giggled, "Well, you're not doing a very good job of it, are you?"

"You're the worst boyfriend ever."

Nothing had changed at all.

Jongdae pouted and pressed his lips against Yixing’s softly, “What was that?” he whispered against the taller’s mouth.

“N-Nothing…”

Except for that.

That was new.

“Get a room!” Baekhyun groaned, crumpling a sheet of paper up and throwing it at the couple, nearly hitting Jongdae’s head.

That wasn’t.

“Hey!” Yixing frowned, “Don’t touch my boyfriend.”

Boyfriend. The word made Jongdae’s heart flutter in his chest; they were boyfriends. They were in a real relationship. They were finally together. Jongdae smiled at the thoughts and let his fingers fall into place between Yixing’s. They fit perfectly. They belonged there.

Junmyeon chuckled, “Settle down, kids,” he grinned, “Unfortunately, Jongdae is busy tonight.”

“What?” Jongdae frowned, “Since when?”

“Since about twenty minutes ago when I decided that you would be covering the art show opening tonight.” Junmyeon stated matter-o-factly and then tapped his pen against his lip, “And I think I’ll pair you with-”

“He’s partnered with me.” Yixing said taking Jongdae’s hand, “He’s mine.”

“Possessive much?” Chanyeol snickered.

Junmyeon rolled his eyes, “Yes, he’s yours, Yixing. But, tonight, he’s Baekhyun’s.”

“What? Why?” Yixing narrowed his eyes at Baekhyun who put up his hands in defense.

“Don’t look at me!” Baekhyun pointed dramatically to Junmyeon, “Talk to him!”

“I was only given two passes to the show and I need someone to take photos.” Junmyeon shrugged.

“I can take Jongdae’s place,” Chanyeol offered, but Junmyeon shook his head.

“I need you paired with Sehun,” Junmyeon explained, “He said he liked working with you last month when you suddenly switched partners.”

“All we did was edit a list,” Chanyeol sighed and let his fingers run through his hair.

“But it was fun,” Sehun giggled, wrapping his fingers around Chanyeol’s bicep, “Wasn’t it, hyung?”

Chanyeol’s face tinted pink and he coughed, swatting at the boy’s hands, “Yeah, sure, whatever…” he mumbled.

✐✐✐

The art show was being held in the cafeteria, the place temporarily decorated to look like a real art gallery, but it was anything than casual. The invites to the show were beautifully handwritten, by students no doubt, in cursive writing on thick, cream coloured paper. There were two teacher volunteers outside of the cafeteria doors that checked for invitations and allowed people to pass through the red rope at the entrance. It was an unexpectedly a posh event that called for a suit and tie.

Jongdae stood in front of the mirror, trying terribly to get his fingers to stop shaking and the knot died properly. Baekhyun burst out of one of the bathroom stalls, the distant flushing of the toilet in the background, making Jongdae nearly jump out of his skin. Baekhyun laughed and clutched at his sides at the look on his friend’s face.

“Relax, would you?” Baekhyun chuckled as he the taps of the sink and washed his hands quickly. He shook his hands and water splashed up on Jongdae who frowned.

“Watch it!”

“Sorry,” Baekhyun laughed and dried his hands off in his pants, “Your tie looks awful.”

“I’m trying!”

“Here,” Baekhyun reached with long fingers and easily fixed Jongdae’s tie, “That’s better.” he hummed to himself and let his hands fall onto the younger’s shoulders, “You look great! I’m almost jealous of Yixing.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes and pushed Baekhyun’s hands off of himself, “Get your camera and let’s go.” he muttered, tucking his notepad and pen into his pockets, “And turn your cell on silent, would you? These events are classy so there’s no time for distraction.”

“Alright, alright, Mom,” Baekhyun groaned. Jongdae punched his side playfully, but the elder still whined about it as they joined the lineup.

About ten minutes later, the two were finally standing in the cafeteria. The thing was, it did not look like the cafeteria in the slightest. The walls were draped with burgundy coloured fabric to hide the usual yellow paint, ominous stains, menus and bizarre posters of the room. The tables lined the walls and a row was pushed towards the center so that they could easily walk around them and view all of the artwork. The tables were lined in silk black cloth and each partition had a single piece on display inside of it. In front of each piece was a plaque with the artist’s name and the title of the work.

There would also be a silent auction on the pieces and so there were numbered, lined sheets of paper at each station with a pen so that anyone could place a bid so long as they wrote the number on their invite, signed their name and included the price they were willing to pay. As the lists got longer, the prices got heftier. Some of them were pretty impressive, the sums of money, not the artwork. It was without need to mention how impressive the artwork was - that was all too obvious.

On the back wall of the cafeteria, hanging on the curtain, was a large painting that a transfer student had painted. It was the big prize that everyone would get the chance to bid on at the end of the night. Half the proceeds would be going to charity, the decision made by the artist himself, and that was what the two newspaper reporters were really interested in.

“It’s nice, huh?” Baekhyun mumbled trying to readjust the lens on his camera, “Real nice. I wonder if we’re allowed to photograph it.”

“Probably not,” Jongdae hummed, “For copyright reasons. Though, your photographs are often blurry enough that no one would be able to reproduce it.” Baekhyun hit his side, “Ow! You could always ask the artist.” he finished off and then rubbed his side - Baekhyun hit hard sometimes.

“I’ll be back then,” Baekhyun sighed, “See if I can find him.”

Jongdae nodded and Baekhyun ran off towards the art show director hoping to track down the artist. Jongdae leaned closer to try and read the plaque next to it, he could almost pick out the words of the title when someone behind him cleared their throat. He nearly jumped out of his skin and spun around immediately to come face to face with a chest. His eyes slowly looked up at the boy standing there and he bowed his head quickly.

“Hello,” Jongdae smiled awkwardly, he knew who this kid was, “Can I help you?”

“No,” the student grinned and leaned down so that he was eye-level with Jongdae, “Admiring the view were you?”

“Did you paint this?” Jongdae asked, clear blush formed on his cheeks at how handsome this student was up close.

The boy nodded, “My name is Kris, but you probably already knew that.” he chuckled, “We have gym class together.”

“I know,” Jongdae smiled, “You tried to kick a soccer ball towards me and…” he trailed off and shifted uncomfortably at the painful memory.

“Yeah, ah,” Kris mumbled rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry about that,” he motioned very subtly to Jongdae’s crotch and the shorter almost winced, “Jongdae, right?”

“Yeah, that’s my name.”

“The school newspaper has been doing really well, thanks to you. So I’ve noticed.”

“Oh, thank you.” Jongdae coughed and looked back at the painting, “You seem to be doing really well too.”

Kris laughed heartily, “That painting is some of my best work. Almost hurts me to part with it, but, alas, that is the life of an artist. Besides, I can always paint it again. Maybe I’ll call it ‘Where The Sky Touches The Earth II,’ what do you think?” he snorted at himself as he straightened his back.

Jongdae grinned at let his eyes scan over the painting again. He recognized the scene as the Northern Lights behind silhouetted trees and a starry sky as the backdrop. It wasn’t that he had ever actually seen the Northern Lights before, but he recognized it from movies and his vague knowledge of Canada. It was breathtaking sight even in only a painting. If you looked close enough, you could almost feel the cool wind, see the bright lights, hear the rustling of the leaves...

“It’s beautiful,” Jongdae sighed.

Kris laughed and slung an arm around the younger student, “Isn’t it? If only you could actually see them, Dae - mind if I call you Dae? - they’re amazing. I miss it sometimes. I miss home.” he rambled and Jongdae had to struggle with keeping himself from laughing too loudly or at all by biting the inside of his cheek. This Kris guy was seriously genuine and he admired it.

“Alright, break it up, you two.”

That voice was familiar.

“Well,” Kris chuckled and turned to look at the boy behind them, “if it isn’t Zhang Yixing! I’m so glad you could make it!”

“Yixing?” Jongdae gaped whirling around to look at his boyfriend.

And there he was. In a well-fitted suit, tie hanging perfectly around his neck and hair looking as flawless as ever. He smiled shyly, a small indentation forming on his cheek and Jongdae could feel his heart skip a beat at the sight. He was so handsome and he was all his.

“What are you doing here?” Jongdae gasped after finally getting over the initial shock of how beautiful Yixing looked.

“Kris here invited me with his extra ticket,” he smiled sheepishly and held the cream-coloured paper up between two fingers, “We’re good friends, after all.”

“That we are,” Kris keened and wrapped his arm around Yixing’s waist. A sudden jealousy spiked up in Jongdae’s eyes and Yixing seemed to have caught it as he giggled and wiggled away from the taller student so he could let his arms slide around Jongdae from behind.

“How do you two know each other?” Jongdae asked, falling back into Yixing’s embrace even with the jealousy still lingering.

“The exchange program,” Kris explained, “We’ve done this together for three years now. It’s really that they only let you do three years, hey?”

Yixing’s face coloured suddenly, “Yeah.” he said softly.

“Wait, you only get to participate in the program for three years?” Jongdae looked up at Yixing curiously, “But, if this is your third year, then - “ he frowned and opened his mouth to speak again when, all of a sudden, the lights went out.

The murmuring in the crowd grew as the darkness fell. There was a bit of shuffling and Jongdae felt someone brush past his arm, pushing him forward so that his hands braced on the firm chest ahead of him, though he didn’t know whose chest it was. When the lights again, he looked up and saw Kris looking down at him a little flustered. Jongdae scrambled off of him quickly and turned to look at Yixing when he heard him take in a sharp breath. He figured he was in for a good talking to for having been in Kris’ embrace, but it wasn’t for that reason.

“O-Oh... My - “ Jongdae started slowly, but Yixing quickly closed his gaping jaw.

“Oh,” Kris said stupidly, “My painting is… Oh.” he blinked again and again at the painting, as if he was just seeing things. As if every time he opened his eyes that the large red ‘X’ painted and still dripping, dead smack in the middle of the canvas would go away.

The director of the art show immediately had the teacher volunteers close the doors to the cafeteria. Everyone in the room stood as a suspect.

Baekhyun sighed in annoyance, hitting his back against the wall and sliding down it slowly so that he was sitting. Jongdae joined his side and Yixing followed in pursuit. They watched Kris talking to the art teacher and constantly looking at his painting, fingers running through his hair, probably from the shock of it all.

“This is insane,” Baekhyun mumbled, “Who would deface a painting like this?”

Yixing shrugged, “Whoever did it is left-handed.”

Jongdae raised a brow, “And how would you know that?”

“It’s smudged,” Yixing pointed to the atrocious red marking, “It smudges towards the right a bit.”

Jongdae squinted and then he noticed and it hit him like a revelation, “That means the person who painted it has red on their left arm or sleeve…”

“Now you’re thinking,” Yixing winked, “The question is, who? Who in this room is left-handed?”

“I’ve got a way we can find out,” Jongdae smiled and stood up shakily, walking towards the art teacher.

“Jongdae, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this is not a good time for any of your antics.” Mrs. Noh, the art teacher, sighed.

“No, no,” Jongdae smiled cutely, “No antics today, Mrs. Noh. I was just wondering if maybe we should have everyone sign their names to a list - those who were here today and were witness of the event. You know, for the report for Mr. Lee.”

“How do you know about those reports?” Mrs. Noh frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Newspaper,” Jongdae scratched his head, “We’ve seen a lot of teachers fill out the same report this year. And, I thought it would be a good suggestion to have everyone else sign their names instead of you going around the room and asking for them.”

“That’s oddly considerate of you, Jongdae,” Mrs. Noh tossed her long black hair over her shoulder, “However, we don’t need to do that. We already have lists of names and those who are currently in the room have checkmarks next to them.”

Darn it. Jongdae had forgotten about that. He sighed and bowed, sending himself off with a bright smile and a wave of his hand. He slumped back down in between Baekhyun and Yixing dejectedly.

“That was a bust,” he muttered.

“I figured it would be,” Yixing chuckled, “Shall we talk to Kris now?”

Jongdae nodded, “Probably our best bet at this point.”

“Baekhyun,” Yixing turned to the boy who startled at the sound of his name, “I have a job for you.”

The younger groaned, “Please, no. Don’t drag me into this.”

“You were already in it when you joined the newspaper. Now, listen here, the culprit is most likely still in the room and never left. So, what does that mean?”

Baekhyun whined, “I have no idea, Yixing, I’m not a problem solver. I’m a photographer.”

“Oh,” Jongdae snapped his fingers, “The paint is still in the room too.”

“And what do we know about the red paint that was used?”

“It’s red… It’s in this room? Oh, it doesn’t dry very fast.”

“Correct. And what does that mean?”

“It means that whoever had the paint… Probably lost some on the ground when they tried to hide it.”

“And in the process, they probably got some on their shoes or pants. Someone in this room is covered in small splotches of red paint, with a red left wrist and a motive that we need to figure out.” Yixing decided and stood, pulling Jongdae with him.

Baekhyun stumbled to his feet, “What is it that you want me to do?”

“See if you can find a trail of red paint. Start at the painting and look very closely.”

“Aye, Captain,” Baekhyun saluted jokingly before walking towards the painting.

Jongdae and Yixing made quick progress in reaching Kris, who was sitting on a chair, drinking a glass of water and staring rather blankly at his ruined canvas. He barely looked up to acknowledge the couple when they greeted him. He sighed and took another sad sip of his water.

“We have a few questions for you.” Yixing said kneeling in front of Kris, “Mind answering?”

“Is this on official business, or - “ he noticed that Jongdae had his pen and pad of paper in his hands, “Oh. Official business. Yeah, sure. Might take my mind off of… That.” he raised his hand and gestured weakly towards the painting before letting his hand fall pathetically to his side.

“First question, how was your painting picked to be the big ticket item of the event?” Yixing asked and nudged Jongdae to click his pen open.

“We were going to draw names like we do every year, to be fair. But, something different happened this year. Mrs. Noh saw my sketches for potential art pieces for tonight and a few watercolourings in a smaller sketchbook I had. She really liked them and asked me to do one on a bigger canvas. So, I started working on a big canvas, that canvas and I was really liking the look of it. Everyone else seemed to as well.” Kris shrugged, “We pulled a name from a hat one afternoon and it was, Wonshik - he’s a freshman - I think who got picked. He’s been working real hard on this sculpture since the year started and I think it would have been better for the auction, but Mrs. Noh had other plans, I guess.”

“Other plans?”

Kris nodded, “She wanted my piece as the big auction item. I think that she thinks I’m some prodigy, because I can paint the Northern Lights. Wonshik hasn’t talked to me since they gave me the gig. I think he’s pretty mad…”

Jongdae quirked an eyebrow, “Kris,” he said slowly, “This might sound like a weird question, but which hand does Wonshik use?”

“What do you mean?”

“Which hand does he write with?”

Kris bit his tongue lightly as he thought, “Oh, he’s ambidextrous. I guess he has to be, since he does sculptures at all.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, but, I think that was trained. He usually writes with his left hand even though it smears everything.”

“Did you just say Wonshik is left handed?”

“Technically,”

“Yixing,” Jongdae breathed, “I think we have our guy…”

“What do you mean?” Kris blinked.

“Guys!” Baekhyun huffed running up behind them, “Hi Kris. Guys, I found the paint.”

“What paint?” Kris asked frustrated that no one was answering him.

“The paint,” Baekhyun mumbled, “I found it in the fake coat room. It was behind a leather Jacket.”

“Guys,” Kris stood up hesitantly, “What paint? What guy? Are you trying to say that Wonshik destroyed my painting and you’ve found the paint he used? Is that what I’m hearing right now?”

Yixing nodded, “Kris, calm down, okay? We’re about to solve another case.”

Jongdae huffed, “We’re not detectives, we’re reporters.”

“Whatever,” Yixing waved his hand and walked straight up to Wonshik who was talking with a few other students.

He looked up and smiled awkwardly at Yixing, cocking his head to the side, “Uh, can I help you?”

“Just coming to introduce myself,” Yixing smiled and extended his left hand, “The name is Zhang Yixing. I’m the co-editor of the school’s newspaper.”

Wonshik carefully accepted the handshake, “Kim Wonshik…” he said slowly.

Yixing kept his hand wrapped firmly around Wonshik’s, “That’s really interesting, you know, that red mark on your wrist.” The younger quickly used his other hand to try and pull down his sleeve. “And are those red splatters on your shoes intentional?”

“U-Um,” Wonshik cleared his throat and pulled his hand back, his face growing red.

“I’m afraid you’ve been caught, red-handed.” Yixing laughed at himself as Baekhyun led Mrs. Noh towards the two, the red paint can with a brush sticking out of it in his hands.

✐✐✐

“I can’t believe this is the title you chose for our article,” Jongdae groaned and slapped the newspaper on the table, “‘Caught Red Handed,’ honestly hyung.”

“I think it’s clever!” Junmyeon chuckled, “Good job, Yixing.”

Yixing beamed, “At least you think so, hyung.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“What happens to Wonshik now?” Sehun asked curiously.

“He’s been suspended from both school and the art club,” Jongdae sighed, “I feel bad about it though. He did really work hard on his own project.”

Baekhyun hummed, “More importantly, what is Kris going to do about this mess?”

“There’s going to be another art show next month,” Minseok piped up, “I saw it posted earlier today on the school’s website.”

“That’s true,” Yixing spoke, “And between now and then, Kris is convinced he can paint another Northern Lights, this time better. That’s what he said anyway.”

“Well, practice makes perfect.” Sehun said, sipping on a bubble tea.

“Where’d you get that?” Baekhyun asked incredulously.

“Oh,” Sehun giggled, “Chanyeolie-hyung bought it for me.”

“Really? Why don’t you do things like that for me? I’m your best friend after all!”

“Quit it, Baek, I lost a bet.” Chanyeol shot.

“What was the bet?” Jongdae asked curiously.

“You don’t want to know.” Chanyeol groaned.

“Well, I do now!” Jongdae exclaimed.

Sehun laughed, “Don’t worry, hyung, I’ll tell you later.”

The room erupted into laughter. And so ended March.

I'm so sorry this took me so long to update! I haven't had the chance to edit this plus it's 4:30 am... Oh and uni is more or less killing me... I cry. ;;; Let me know what you thought of the chapter! Oh, and hey, in either the next update or the one after that, the club members play truth or dare! So, if you all have any suggestions for dares/truths, then leave them in the comments ^^ Thanks for reading! xoxo

Edit: I know that Yifan was the social media club head in a previous issue/chapter/update and that Kris is now here as an art student and this is because they're two different people (I ran out of EXO members, so sue me lol).