Jongin glanced at Sehun from across the cafeteria again. The latter was sitting alone, reading some book while eating his lunch. It was odd seeing him sit all alone again and Jongin kept contemplating on whether he should go sit with him. Not because he took pity on the guy but because he genuinely wanted to. But he couldn't just ditch his friends, right?

It had been a few days since Luhan left and things sort of went back to normal. Except the fact that Sehun was still staying in the guest room at his place and that his mother was so oddly infatuated with the boy. She was so happy having him around at their home that she even told him jokingly that he wasn't allowed to leave anymore. Maybe she was just glad there was some new company around the house. Sehun, equally, seemed to like his mother too. As for things between Jongin and Sehun, they didn't really talk much at school, each busy with their own classes and activities. At home, they would occasionally watch some random movie together when there was nothing else to do but one thing Jongin was sure of was that Sehun spent a lot more time in his room after Luhan left. He was a little distant, too.

"You know, you never really told us what was up between you and Sehun. I mean, you guys come and go to school together. And don't think we didn't notice you looking at him during lunch." Kris inquired.

"It's nothing really." Jongin shrugged, picking at his food, "We just got close recently." None of his friends actually knew that Sehun was staying at his place and he wasn't about to mention it to them either. The bombardment of questions would never end.

"Are you sure that's all?" Baekhyun asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Yeah what else could it ing be, genius?"

"I don't know, maybe you're going homo on us." 

Jongin gasped indignantly, "Are you ing nuts?"

"Nah Baek I doubt it," Chanyeol said, "This is Jongin we're talking about. Don't you remember like a couple weeks ago he was ready to burn all gays to the ground."

"I know a couple weeks ago he would have burned me to the ground if I said that." Baekhyun snickered, "But seriously though, what changed? All you told us was that you fixed your with Luhan and that you didn't hate gays anymore, but you didn't tell us how it happened."

"Let's just say someone talked some sense into me."

"We've been trying to talk sense into you for the past year and a half." Minseok stated with a roll of his eyes.

Jongin hated to admit it but the elder had a point. These were his friends whom he had known pretty much all his life and they kept trying to get him to make up with Luhan but couldn't do anything. Yet this one guy he hardly knew did it so easily. Or at least it started with him.

So what was it about Sehun?

"What happened happened. What's important is that it's over now." He said finally, shoving some fries into his mouth.

"Well since you guys are partners now, why don't we go sit with him? I mean yeah he's awkward as and all but if he's your friend then he's ours as well." Chanyeol suggested.

"No thank you. I don't want you guys ruining him." Jongin wasn't sure why but the words came out of his mouth on their own accord. He probably just said that as a hyung who was protective of dongsaeng. As cold as Sehun was, he had the innocence of a five-year-old. He was almost a little too innocent for this harsh world. Jongin didn't think the guy had ever even kissed anyone before. Secretly, he was glad Sehun didn't drink anything in the party because if he got drunk, knowing the girls in his school, they would take full advantage of the situation. Even though the two were just a year apart, Jongin felt protective of the younger. And he knew what exposure to the ratchet people at their high school could do to you (the sole reason he lost his ity at fifteen).

But Sehun... he was like a breath of fresh air in this place.

"Oh, we'll ruin him? If anything we'd protect him from the likes of you." Baekhyun retorted.

"Okay I know I'm a pig and everything but I definitely don't want him turning out like me."

"Why are we talking like he's some sort of toddler, anyway? I'm pretty sure the guy can take care of himself. He did it for this long." Kris cut in.

"Because he's a year younger than everyone in our grade." Jongin answered. Though it was true. Sehun was very much able to take care of himself. He wasn't one to be indented by what others said. He didn't feel the need to do something just because everyone else did it. Jongin knew he was perfectly capable of handling himself.

But he thought of it this way. Though Sehun was bulletproof, Jongin didn't want the bullets hitting him anyway.

"Clearly smarter, too." Minseok pointed out, "Well, I'm up for it. Let's go sit with him. A friend of Jongin is a friend of ours."

"Right behind you!" Baekhyun stood up from his seat with his lunch tray and the rest followed suit. Jongin wanted to tell the guys not to because he knew how much Sehun liked his peace and quiet and these guys were anything but. But seeing that they were already halfway to his booth, he stood up with a sigh and ran after them, wanting to take the seat next to Sehun before any of the rest could. The latter jumped in surprise when he saw Jongin and four grinning boys plopping themselves down at his table.

"Hey!" Chanyeol waved excitedly with his signature creepy grin, earning a confused look and a brief wave of Sehun's hand.

"I tried to tell them not to do this but they insisted." Jongin said in Sehun's ear, sighing.

"It's okay." Sehun shrugged as the book in his hands was suddenly snatched away by a curious Baekhyun.

"Whatcha reading?" The boy asked as he examined the cover of the book before skimming through the pages, "It's gotta be interesting if you're reading it all the time."

"It's about the everyday struggles of a guy who lost all his limbs in a war." Sehun briefly explained, voice as monotonous as ever, making Baekhyun freeze.

"Well that's... depressing." He stated, placing the book back on the table. Sehun was a little annoyed now that he lost the page he was on but didn't say anything. "I was gonna borrow it from you if it was one of those ty vampire stories. Of course I was only gonna read the ." He muttered the last part and winked like it was some sort of secret but everyone at the table heard it.

Jongin face-palmed as Kris and Minseok simultaneously rolled their eyes at their openly erted friend.

"Don't mind Baekhyun. He'll never do anything for the sake of education. That is why, as you can see, he is mentally challenged." Kris stated as he took a sip of his soda.

Baekhyun scoffed, "Says the guy who needed a calculator to find two plus two."

"At least I'm not the one that used to think octopuses were reptiles."

"Are you seriously gonna hold that against me for the rest of my life?" Baekhyun asked indignantly.

"Until the day I die."

"I hope you die soon."

"Oh my God can you guys shut up?" Jongin groaned. He was just as crazy as his friends really, but he still couldn't help but feel embarrassed of them at the moment. However, when he saw that Sehun had a small amused smile on his face, he found himself smiling too. It had been a while since he saw Sehun actually smiling. He had tried so much to cheer the guy up for the past few days but nothing seemed to work. Who could blame him though? Someone he really liked and had feelings for had left, probably to never come back ever again. Sehun was handling it quite well on the outside to be completely honest, but it was still obvious to Jongin that he was hurting.

"These two are always like that." Minseok said with a snicker, "Anyways, how are you finding dance classes, Sehun?" He asked, being the only other sane person at the table.

"It's uh... A lot of fun." Sehun wasn't lying, dancing was the only other thing that made him happy, now that his Hyung was gone.

"I know, right? I used to go too, but I stopped when I realized I wanted to be a pilot. Dancing is great and all but aviation is my true aspiration."

"Oh, that's great... What about you guys?" Sehun asked the others at the table, wanting to keep some sort of conversation going and not being an awkward turtle for once.

"Me and Yoda here are also going for performing arts." Baekhyun said, pointing at Chanyeol, "Music, to be exact. He might not look it but he plays the guitar and the drums and I'm an incredible singer, not to brag of course."

"Right." Jongin muttered under his breath as Sehun laughed softly. The former couldn't help but notice how his eyes scrunched up into little crescents when he laughed. Like, it was something he always knew was there but now he was like noticing noticing it, like really paying attention to it, if that made any sense. 

Eye smile and a sweet ing . Can I kill this guy?

With charms like that, Jongin wondered how the blonde was even still a . He remembered overhearing a few girls in the hallway talking about how nice Sehun's was a few days ago. How come Sehun never noticed the way girls, super hot ones at that, ogled at him? Jongin swore he could almost see them undressing him with their eyes and all he wanted to was throw a ing blanket over the boy and sprinkle holy water on those girls (and he wasn't even a religious person). As he said before, he was starting to feel protective of the younger and hated the way girls stared at him like he was a piece of meat. Jongin would rather they stared at him like that instead, but not at Sehun. Sehun was too innocent for those stares.

"I'm just gonna finish school and become a model." Kris said with a shrug.

"Yeah, he's too confident for his own good." Baekhyun commented. It was obvious to Sehun those two liked to bicker a lot.

"My looks are something I'll never question. Plus I got the height for it." Kris said with a cocky grin.

"No you're just freakishly tall."

"Ladies, you're both pretty." Chanyeol cut them off, "But I think we should get to class now. Lunch break's over."

"Aw man, but we just got here!" Baekhyun pouted, "Well, Sehunnie, don't freak out if you see us sitting here again tomorrow. See ya around! Come on, Yoda." The petite male dragged the giant along with him by the ear as the latter grunted in pain. 

"You guys go ahead. I'll walk Sehun to class."

"I can walk by myself." Sehun mumbled under his breath as he stood up, waving at Minseok and Kris who were leaving.

"Come on, partner. What do you have now?" Jongin asked as he led them out of the cafeteria.

"Chemistry. I can go alone, you know. You'll be late for class." Sehun said.

"That's okay. I'm known for being fashionably late, anyway." Jongin grinned, "Sorry about my friends, by the way. I know they're really crazy and all but they're harmless."

"It's okay. They're pretty funny. Just a little too noisy."

"Well you can always read your vampire some other time." Jongin remarked, smirking.

"It's not vampire . This a real story with a message. But you're too dumb to understand that kind of stuff anyway."

"Says who?" Jongin gasped, offended, "Of course I can!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! In fact, I'll read the goddamn book to prove it."

Sehun froze, turning to look at Jongin with a raised eyebrow, "Really? You're gonna read a book?" The words sounded almost alien to the blonde.

"Yup! I'll finish it off in a week, too!" Curse Jongin for being a little too competitive for his own good. He just always had to prove himself no matter what, even he if he knew ing at some stuff. That didn't stop him.

Sehun looked at him, amused, "Okay." He nodded slowly, handing Jongin the book. The first thing Jongin did was turn to the last page and he gasped.

"Six hundred ing pages? What the ?"

"So you give up then?"

Jongin scoffed, "Kim Jongin never gives up."

...

"Make that two weeks though."

* * *

"Your class trip will be next week." Ms. Ahn, their homeroom teacher, announced, "We're gonna go camping for three days."

Sehun tapped his fingers on his desk in disinterest while the rest of the class cheered excitedly. Soon after, everyone was engrossed in giddy conversation about their plans for the trip. Sehun didn't really care much though, he had never gone on a class trip before. Ever since he was young, his parents told him it was a 'waste of time'. That's simply how it's been for so many years that he simply didn't care anymore. After their homeroom teacher dismissed them, Jongin quickly made his way over to the blonde boy.

"So you going to the trip?"

"Nah." Sehun replied with a shrug, making the elder pout.

"Why not?"

"Yeah, why not, Sehunnie?" Baekhyun appeared from behind Jongin, throwing an arm around the younger, "No air conditioners, no Wi-Fi, tonnes of mosquitos and the best part, five guys sleeping together in a cramped tent alongside spiders and cockroaches. What's not to like?"

Jongin scowled and pushed Baekhyun's face away, effectively unwrapping his arm from around Sehun (which strangely satisfied the tall brunette).

"Forget what Baekhyun said. It'll be fun." Jongin urged, "And it's your senior year. If you don't go on a class trip now, when will you?" 

Sehun sighed, "I'm just not interested."

"Jongin's right though." Chanyeol pointed out, "Come on, what will you lose? You might really end up having a lot of fun. Plus you're with us, we'll make sure you do."

"Yeah totes, bruh. We're like the most hilarious and awesome bunch of people in this entire school. You can't not have fun with us." Baekhyun said casually, sassily playing with his nails.

"For once I agree with the bacon." Jongin grinned, "Besides, you should try coming out of your comfort zone sometimes. As comfortable as your comfort zone is, coming out of it has a beauty of its own."

Sehun sighed at Jongin's miserable attempt at being poetic. But he hated the fact that the brunette had a good point. Last year of high school... might as well, right?

"...Okay." He muttered, albeit hesitantly.

"Hell yeah!" Baekhyun threw his fist up in the air while Jongin grinned happily when he heard the blonde agree.

"That's more like it." Chanyeol grinned his signature creepy grin and threw his arm around Sehun. Jongin glared at the giant, What's up with people throwing their arms around him all the time? He's obviously uncomfortable with it.

As they walked out into the hall, Jongin pushed Chanyeol away and wrapped his own arm around Sehun instead. Chanyeol threw him at 'what the hell?' look and Jongin childishly stuck his tongue out at him.

"He was my friend first, hoe."

Chanyeol simply rolled his eyes at his friend and let the matter slide while Sehun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the elder's odd behavior. Gosh he sounds almost possessive.

So sorry if this was meh, I'm just trying to build their relationship up a little bit. Plus you get to know a little more about Jongin's friends so... yay I guess. (Btw, anyone ever notice if there's any EXO fanfic with ANY ship, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are ALWAYS there as the two crazy side characters? Lol.)

Next chapter will be about the class trip! Look forward to it!