Seungcheol sighed as he watch Jihoon (carefully) slide into his homeroom seat. From his spot in the back of the classroom, all he could see was the boy’s newly-dyed pink hair. The empty desk beside him where Jihoon usually sat seemed to mock him. He knew that he couldn’t be upset with Jihoon, it was his fault that the boy was mad at him (not that he knew why), but he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. Jihoon had hardly given him time to explain himself over the weekend, and it’s not like he could just walk up and apologize to him.

    “You know,” Jeonghan slid into Jihoon’s the seat next to Seungcheol, “You could just go say sorry to him.”

    “And you know that I absolutely can’t do that.” Seungcheol sighed again, resting his head on his folded arms. He stared at the back of Jihoon’s head, willing him to turn around, to smile, to throw something at him, anything that would make Seungcheol feel less terrible.

    “See, I think you’re wrong there.” Jeonghan followed Seungcheol’s eyes to Jihoon’s figure. The poor older boy was acting like some abandoned puppy. If it wasn’t his friend group that was being torn apart because of it, he probably would have laughed.

    “It’s Jihoon we’re talking about.” He continued, “He seems all rough and tough on the outside. But deep down, and especially when we’re talking about you, he’s the biggest softie I know.” Jeonghan paused, worrying his lower lip between his teeth as he thought about what he was going to say, “I’m not saying you should get up and go apologize right this second, but maybe you should think a bit about why Jihoon is so upset.”

    With that he leaned forward to pat the dark-haired boy’s shoulder, smiling a silent encouragement. Seungcheol watched as Jeonghan floated back across the room to where his boyfriend sat. As soon as they were within distance of each other, their fingers intertwined in a familiar motion. Seungcheol couldn’t help but feel the twinge of jealousy that wrapped around his gut. Shaking it off, he thought back to what Jeonghan had said.

‘Think about why Jihoon is so upset’

    He frowned. That probably should’ve been the first thing he did. But Jihoon was usually pretty open about the arguments they had. Within a day they’d talk it over, hug it out, and things went on as usual. Going multiple days without even seeing Jihoon’s face wasn’t something Seungcheol wasn’t used to. He must’ve done something terrible to the boy.

    But he couldn’t figure out just what he had done. Obviously the boy had been upset by his announcement, but he had figured Jihoon would be happy. He had gotten with Doyoon for Jihoon, so why wouldn’t he be? Seungcheol’s frown deepened and he glanced up at the clock. There were still another ten minutes until class, that was just enough time to talk to Hansol.

    Getting up from his seat, he crossed the room quickly and leaned down to whisper in Hansol’s ear, “Room 417, ten minutes, bring Seungkwan.”

<><><>

    “Okay, why are we meeting in the creepy- abandoned classroom again?”

    “I need your help sorting out my thoughts,” Seungcheol said as he pointed to Hansol, “And I need your help figuring out what Jihoon is thinking.” He pointed to Seungkwan.

    Seungkwan raised an eyebrow, “I am quite the master of that. Get talking.”

    Seungcheol stopped his pacing and sat on a nearby desk, pulling his legs up with him, “I know that Jihoon’s mad at me because I’m dating Doyoon, but I just don’t know why. I didn’t do it to hurt him, hell, I didn’t even know it would hurt him! I asked Doyoon out because I’m graduating this year, I’m going to need to grow up and be on my own soon, Jihoon reminded me of that the other day after school. And he doesn’t need to be dragged down by that, it’s not his job to babysit me for the rest of my life. So I thought that maybe if I went out with someone who we don’t know, who has nothing to do with Jihoon, maybe I could get over him.”

    “Wait wait wait,” Seungkwan interrupted, “Get over him?”

    Seungcheol seemed taken aback, and he looked to Hansol, who gave him a small nod of encouragement, “Uh, yeah. Hansol’s really the only one that knows, but I’ve, uh, kinda had a thing for Ji for a while. Like, a few years actually.” He glanced down at his lap, a bright blush spreading across his cheeks, “But that’s just the thing. Jihoon’s smart, he’s talented, he’s gonna go places. And I’m just not. He deserves so much better than some lazy boyfriend who’s probably gonna fail his way out of college. I can’t give him anything. Sure, I could take him to a pizza joint every now and then and maybe buy him a ty scarf or something every other Christmas, but doesn’t he deserve so much more than that?”

    Seungkwan was quiet for a second, taking in what he had just been told. He’d figured this had been coming, based on the small pieces of the story Hansol had been telling him over the past few days. He was just relieved that he was getting the full story now instead of months down the road. Slowly, he leaned towards Seungcheol, “You wanna know a secret, Cheol? I don’t think Jihoon wants much more than greasy pizza and an itchy scarf. Especially not when it’s coming from you.”

    Seungcheol’s brows furrowed for a moment, thinking, before his eyes got wide, “Wait, really?”

    “Yeah, really,” Hansol rolled his eyes as he answered for Seungkwan.

    “I’ve really ed up then, haven’t I?”

    “Yeah, you have.”

    “And I should probably go fix this, shouldn’t I?”

    “Yeah, you should.”

    Seungcheol jumped up from his seat on the desk, quickly hugging the two underclassmen before grabbing his bag in a flurry of papers and rushing out the door, “I owe you two!”

    Hansol chuckled once Seungcheol had disappeared, leaning his head onto Seungkwan’s shoulder, “Not bad, detective.”

    Seungkwan smiled down at him, “I don’t think you could really call this detective work. He kind of solved it himself.”

    Hansol shrugged, “Well then I’ll gladly take the credit for it. Plus I don’t think we should drop this detective thing so easily, I hold firm to my opinion that you’d look great as one.”

    “Really?” Seungkwan hummed, “I beg to differ. I’d look like dirt next to you."

    Hansol chuckled and Seungkwan was suddenly extremely aware of the younger’s breath fanning across his face. A blush was crawling up Hansol’s neck and Seungkwan probably would’ve about it if his mouth wasn’t suddenly busy. Hansol kissed with a bit too much force at first, but Seungkwan couldn’t find it in himself to care as the kiss quickly melted into something much slower and softer. There was no rush, no distractions, no Jihoon to yell at them. Seungkwan sighed as he pulled away from Hansol, breaking the kiss before he got too into it and hiding his red face in the younger’s shoulders. Everything was almost perfect, now if only his friends would get their acts together.

A/N: as always this is unbetaed and hardy read through, so i'm sorry for any errors. we're nearing the enddd :O i'm planning another jicheol fic though, so don't worry! thank you for 300+ subscribers, almost 4k views, and all of your amazing comments! i'm going to sleep now, but i'll start replying to them in the morning n.n