Mingyu steered Seungkwan into an alley near the cafe.

"I can't believe I said all that," Seungkwan bemoaned. Tears were still streaming down his face and adrenaline was pumping through his veins.

"Sit down, stay calm, breathe." Mingyu directed. "I have to call mum to pick us up."

"She gave us money for the bus or subway, remember?"

Mingyu shook his head. "I'm not letting you on public transport like that, you're a mess. You'll hate me when you feel better. And sit down."

Seungkwan looked around, using the light from his phone to illuminate the dark alley. There was a few pieces of trash on the ground, a suspicious puddle of something, and a ratty piece of material. "If I become diseased by sitting down, I'll make sure you get it, too."

"Fine, stay standing. I don't care - just breathe. I'm not listening to you until you're breathing's evened out.

Seungkwan rolled his eyes and took a couple deep breaths. "There. I don't want want to go home."

Mingyu sighed and slipped his phone into his pocket. "What do you want to do then? Nothing illegal, so no drugs - which includes alcohol - and no ."

"I don't know. I want Vernon. But, he just keeps hurting me."

"Seungkwan, he's your soulmate. If you want him, go get him."

"He wants Chan."

"You don't believe that. He doesn't call him his boyfriend! He obviously likes -"

"No. I'm not getting my hopes up. He's stupid, and dumb, and not worth the hurt. I'm giving up on him, even if he is my soulmate. Maybe we're just platonic soulmates and I'm just that idiot who fell for their best friend."

"OK, whatever. I'm calling Jihoon because you're being even more stupid than I normally am, and I can't deal with this shift in dynamic. Hand me your phone." Mingyu held out his hand for Seungkwan's phone.

Seungkwan sighed and passed the taller boy his phone. Mingyu called Jihoon and explained the situation.

"He'll be here in ten. I'm going home. Where's the money?"

Seungkwan sighed and passed over the money, then grabbed his phone off Mingyu.

"Be safe, don't leave the alley. Call one one nine if anything happens."

Seungkwan held his breath as he watched Mingyu leave the alley. Ten minutes of waiting in the dark, by himself, in a dirty alley. Just great.

"I did not leave Jeju for this," he muttered to himself. He kicked the pieces of trash around and fiddled about on his phone.

He heard footsteps. He froze. He hoped it was someone friendly. It wouldn't be a murderer, would it?

"Seungkwan?"

He breathed. It was just Jihoon. Had it already been ten minutes?

"Yeah?"

The footsteps came closer, and Seungkwan felt a weight on his shoulder. "You should probably talk to him."

"I don't want to." He shrugged off the weight , which he assumed was Jihoon's hand.

"Ok, then I'll take you home. You can study for those university entrance exams."

Seungkwan had completely forgotten about them. He'd been too busy with all the drama with Vernon. "I don't want to go home."

"Seungkwan, I was in the middle of a song. You're lucky Mingyu said he was leaving or I wouldn't have come. Not everybody's going to drop everything because poor baby Seungkwan's not happy.

"I'm giving you two options - I can drop you off at you're place, or you can spend the night at one of my friend's houses."

"Which one? Wonwoo or the rapper?" Seungkwan would've felt slighted by the comment about him being a baby and everyone dropping everything for him, but Jihoon was a grump and too blunt with his words when he was stressed.

Jihoon was clearly irritated. "The rapper - but he smokes and is probably drinking tonight, unless he's got his soulmates over. Then, he'd be having really loud ."

"How loud would this be?"

"Oh my god Seungkwan. I didn't think you were serious."

Great, Vernon. How the heck had he even found them?

"Or, you could kiss and make up with pretty boy." Seungkwan could hear the eyeroll in Jihoon's voice.

"Seungkwan, were you going to have with him?"

"No. To both. Hansol, you're an idiot. I'm not - Jihoon, I'm not going to make up with Vernon."

"Whatever. You two are both idiots. Am I dropping you off-"

"No. You aren't. Get the hell away from my soulmate. I don't want to see-" Seungkwan couldn't believe Vernon was still being possessive after what he'd said in the cafe less than half an hour ago.

"You lost that privilege when you told me you'd still be with Chan."

Jihoon made a noise of irritation. "You two fight or whatever. I'm going back to my songwriting."

Vernon waited until Jihoon left to move closer to Seungkwan. "Were you going to let him screw you?" Seungkwan could hear betrayal in Vernon's voice.

"It's none of your business."

Vernon swore under his breath. "It is, though Seungkwan. We're soulmates."

"So? You still want to fool around with Chan, and you liked the idea of us being platonic soulmates. You shouldn't even care about my life unless you're one of five people. Me, my mum, my dad, my boyfriend, or my ual partner. Are you any of those? No."

There was silence before Vernon spoke up again. "Seungkwan, can we talk? I've been an idiot. I hurt you, and I've been a jerk. I'm sorry." Seungkwan could feel the expectancy radiating off of Vernon.

"An aplogy isn't goimg to fix anything, and I'm not ready to talk to you. I have the university entrance exams to study for. I should get home."

Seungkwan started walking. Why had he given all the money to Mingyu? Now he had to walk in the dark.

"Can I walk you home? We don't have to talk or anything - I just want to make sure you get home safe."

"What brought this on?" Seungkwan asked.

"You're my soulmate. My other half - platonic or romantic, you're still my other half. I don't want to lose you."

Seungkwan cleared his throat. "Is this because I'm in love with you?"

"No. It's because I care about you. I want you to be safe."

"Ok, but don't speak to me."

Vernon jogged to where Seungkwan was, just at the mouth of the alley where it met the sidewalk and the two walked to Seungkwan's in silence.

The night was chilly, and Seungkwan was only wearing a thin jumper Seungkwan rubbed his arms to create friction and warm himself up. Vernon put his hoodie around Seungkwan's shoulders. When they reached Seungkwan's, Seungkwan tried to take it off and give it back.

"Keep it, and give Jihoon's back to him." Seungkwan felt butterflies in his stomach. Vernon was giving him one of his hoodies.

Seungkwan opened the front door. "You should probably come inside while you wait for your mum to pick you up." Vernon went to protest but Seungkwan cut him off. "You're my soulmate, too. That's how it works, it's a two way street. I'm not letting you walk home alone."

Vernon shrugged, and followed Seungkwan inside.

"I'm home! Vernon's here, but he's going to stay in the loungeroom until his mum comes to pick him up!" Seungkwan announced loudly.

He headed to Mingyu's room to tell him what had happened. The first thing he saw was Mingyu, sitting at the edge of his bed, head thrown back. The second was Wonwoo crouched on the floor in front of him.

"Urm, sorry. You guys should lock the door - or do this stuff at Wonwoo's," he told them before leaving the room again.

With a sigh, Seungkwan went to his own room, and pulled out his school books. Time to revise.

The next few weeks were filled with studying. Seungkwan had thrown himself into it, it was a good excuse to avoid talking with Vernon.

Even Mingyu and Dokyeom took time away from their soulmates to study. The teachers at school were stressed, burying the high school third years with more schoolwork than they'd ever had in their life. Mornings were spent at home or the school library studying rather than at the cafe, and Mingyu and Seungkwan often studied together late into night or early morning.

"Why didn't I take school more seriously before this?" Mingyu whined one afternoon while they were sat at the dining table studying. "Two days until the test and I feel like I only know half of what I should!"

Seungkwan sighed. "I think we need a break."

"I can't take a break! I want to get into a good university!"

"You can answer most of the question I ask fairly well. Let's go to the cafe for a break, maybe Joshua'll be there - you can practice your English with him."

Mingyu nodded and stood up. "Ok, let's go."

The two left the house, books still sprawled over the dining table.

The cafe was fairly quiet, a few tables of students studying, cups of coffee littering their tables, an older couple, and Vernon, Joshua, Junghan, and Jihoon's rapper friend at the group's usual table.

"We can leave if you want," Mingyu offered. Seungkwan considered it, he hadn't talked to Vernon since the night Jun announced they were soulmates, but he'd wanted to for a few days now.

He missed his best friend, and the exam looming over him was stressful. Maybe, if he could get Vernon to agree to just forget about the drama, he could have a few hours with his best friend.

"I'm a big boy, I'll be fine."

Mingyu raised an eyebrow, but led Seungkwan to table anyway.

"Hey, look who it is; our favourite nerds!" Junghan joked once they reached the table.

"Shouldn't you guys be studying?" Joshua asked.

Mimgyu sat down. "Seungkwan wanted to tale a break, and I wanted to try find you to practise English."

"Hi, Seungkwan," Vernon greeted, an unsure smile on his lips.

"Hi, Vernon," he replied, suddenly doubting the entire outing.

"Seungkwan! I knew I recognised you! You're the one Jihoon had at his recording studio, right?"

Seungkwan nodded. "You're Scoops, right? Yeah, that was me. What are you going here? With my friends, I mean."

"Actually it's S.Coups, or just Coups. But call me Seungcheol outside the recording studio. Junghan and Joshua are my soulmates."

"You two know each other?" Vernon asked.

"Not really, we met at Jihoon's one time," explained Seungcheol with a one shouldered shrug.

Vernon perked up. "Seungkwan!" he said as if realising Seungkwan was there for the first time. "Can we talk, now?"

"After the entrance exams, I'm too stressed to add you to the list of 'things to think about'."

Vernon nodded. "Sure, whenever's good for you."

"I'm just going to get some coffee and leave. It was nice seeing you all."

Seungkwan went to the counter and bought a coffee, saying a quick hello to Jun as he waited for his coffee to be made.

On the bus ride home, Seungkwan wondered why he thought talking to Vernon had possibly been a good idea. It'd just dug up feelings he hadn't focussed on for weeks. He'd pushed them to the back if his mind, paying all his attention to school and textbooks.

Now, he wanted nothing more than to be cuddled up with Vernon, maybe having the other help him revise science between kisses.