“Is every Friday good for you guys?” Jongin asks and gets a chorus of various grunts from his group members. He's about to call an end to their meeting when Sehun tentatively raises his hand. Jongin makes a noise of interest and tells Sehun to talk.

“I-I can't do Fridays.” Sehun’s hand drops to his side as he anxiously waits for Jongin’s answer. He flinches when Jongin crosses his arms and hums.

“Well,” Jongin says, “what day can you do then? I'm sure we all can come up with a compromise.”

Sehun takes a second to think before glancing around at s. “I can only do Wednesday. Is that okay or…”

“Wednesday? But dude that's one of our early days,” Taemin points out with a flourish of his hands. “That means we have give up our after school hang outs! I don't know if I'm willing to give that up.”

“Oh calm down.” Jongin waves him off and addresses an anxiously waiting Sehun. “Wednesdays are fine. And we can do our hang outs on Thursday. Our other early day. Everyone good with Wednesday then?” Taemin grumbles, but nods. On the side Minho smiles and nods. Sehun nods as well. With everyone's approval, Jongin takes the liberty of asking for everyone's number, which really is just asking for Sehun's.

“I...I don't have a cell phone. Could you just tell me where and when? I'll make sure I'll be there,” he rushes out. Jongin's surprised face makes Sehun nervous as to whether or not he's just being a nuisance to the group.

“That's fine. What's your last class on Wednesdays anyways?” Jongin asks as Taemin audibly, and dramatically, groans.

“Physics with Ms. Kim. I'm actually in your class you know,” Sehun points out. He moves over to his backpack ending with that statement. Jongin stands frozen in his spot as he goes through every single person he knows in that class. Not only is Jongin surprised that he didn't remember, he's also disappointed in himself for not realizing this fact. He already forgot that Sehun was in his dance group once before. Now he forgets that Sehun is in his physics class.

Now Jongin is left asking himself if he shares any other classes with Sehun.

“Wow dude. You're such a ,” Taemin not so helpfully points out. “You forgot that he's in our class. Even I remembered. And that's saying something. Maybe it's time for you to stop drooling over your boyfriend twenty four seven.”

“Shut up Taemin.”

After a bit of unnecessary comments (thank you very much Taemin), the group of boys manage to come up with a time and place to practice. Unfortunately for Taemin and his precious after school time, they all agree to meet at two and end at five. It's also unfortunate for Sehun who now has to put off work. Luckily his boss was nice enough to give him the day off for as long as he needed it. With pay. Something about finally acknowledging labor laws. Which Sehun kindly ignores.

Now that the group of boys had decided on when to end, they finally get started on their routine. Which doesn’t exactly consist of anything concrete yet, but they all enter with an optimistic attitude.

The clock winds down to 4:30 before they call it quits. All four boys help with putting the chairs and tables back to their original positions facing the whiteboard.

“I think we’re gonna have to ask Ms. Park for some help. Unfortunately,” Jongin says. He sighs as he slides the last chair into its designated spot at a table. “I didn’t think we were going to be that unproductive. Unless any one of you guys have any last minute ideas.”

Taemin gives him an unhelpful shrug as he hip bumps a chair into its place. Minho shakes his head at his friend’s action and gives Jongin a pitiful look. “Come up with a theme? Or a type of song we want to dance to before we do any choreo? That might give up us a bit of a foundation to start with rather than just going at it with nothing.”

Jongin scratches his chin thoughtfully before nodding at the suggestion. “Sounds good. Better than trying to mash together all the dance moves we knew. Alright!” He claps his hands twice, startling Sehun. “Homework for all three of us! Come up with a few songs or genres that you want to dance to. Please don’t say you don’t know because that’s not helpful for anyone.” Jongin gives Taemin a pointed look.

“What?”

Jongin stops singling out Taemin and addresses the rest of the group. “Get an idea by Friday? We can discuss it during class. If you got titles or videos, that’d be awesome.”

“Sounds good to me,” Minho says as he slips his backpack onto one shoulder. “I’m gonna head home now. I’ll see you guys in class tomorrow.”

Taemin follows after him after sticking his tongue out at Jongin and complaining that he now has to go straight home if he wants to make it in time for dinner. The door closes with a thud, leaving Jongin and Sehun in complete silence.

Sehun is busy stuffing his uniform jacket into his backpack when Jongin shuffles his feet over to where Sehun was. “Hey, Sehun?” He only hums in response, without even taking a glance at the person who addressed him. Jongin awkwardly clears his throat and kicks the table leg lightly. “Sorry about forgetting that you were in my class.”

“It’s fine, not like it matters that much,” he says as he slips his parka on. Sehun gives him a blank stare as he sticks his hands into his pockets. “Is that all?”

“Um, actually,” Jongin starts. “Wanna join me and my friends? To you know, hang out for a bit? If you got the time. I just think it’d be a good idea to get to know each other. Since we do have the same classes together. I mean like, just if you have the time to. So yeah,” he ends lamely.

Sehun glances up at the clock above the whiteboard. Then he glances at Jongin, who has hope filled eyes staring straight at him. He glances back and forth for what feels like forever, before taking a deep breath. It couldn’t hurt to try to make friends for once...Right? “Sure. I have a bit of time before I gotta go.”

Jongin stares dumbly at Sehun for a good second before wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Sweet! Let’s head over to the auditorium then!”

xXx

They stop by Jongin’s locker before heading to the auditorium. Somehow their lockers were practically next to each other, but had never noticed (Jongin didn't notice. Hush). Jongin asked Sehun if he needed his locker, but just got a tense shake of the head from the younger. It seemed odd to him, but he brushes it off as just Sehun being uncomfortable around him.

Outside the auditorium has Baekhyun along with a few other people that are working on a large cardboard backdrop.

“Baekhyun!” Jongin grabs his attention by waving and yelling his name halfway down the hallway. Sehun moves away just an inch.

Baekhyun turns his head away from the underclassman painting the blue sky to where he heard his name being called. He has to stop himself from falling into the wet paint when he notices who’s walking next to Jongin. Somehow he manages to only get some paint on his hand, not his clothes. He thinks he would cry if it did.

“Jongin!” Baekhyun says as the two come up to him. He hopes his voice didn’t crack. “What are you doing here? Kyungsoo’s up in the music room if you’re looking for him.”

“Oh, do you know when he’s gonna come back down?” Jongin asks as he places a hand on Sehun’s shoulder, who looks at it in confusion. “Cause I was gonna introduce Sehun to everyone before he has to leave to wherever he’s gotta go.”

“Do you have to go to work?” Baekhyun asks. Sehun’s face scrunches up into even more confusion at the question. The elder wonders why he looks like that when he realizes, they don’t know each other. There would be no way for him to know that Sehun works. Oh God, he’s gonna look like a creep.

“How do you know I work?” Sehun asks, careful around his words. “I don’t talk to you.”

“You don’t talk with anyone.” Great, way to make yourself look better Baekhyun.

“Proving my point even further.” Sehun crosses his arms and his head to the side. “Why do you know I work?”

Baekhyun’s mouth opens and closes as he struggles for an answer. Jongin looks between the two. His eyebrows furrow in confusion. He takes a good look at Baekhyun and then at Sehun. A small sigh leaves him as he shoves his hands into his pockets. “I complained to Baekhyun the other day.” Sehun looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “You always leave right after dance so I just assumed you had something important to do after school.”

Sehun turns his attention to Baekhyun, who flinches slightly at the sudden glare. “So you assumed I work?”

“Yeah, I mean-I guess,” Baekhyun stutters out.

“Oh? What’s Jonginnie doing here?” A deep voice booms from behind them. They all turn around to see Chanyeol standing with a box in his arms. Kyungsoo stands next to him with a similar box in his hands. “Are we having a party?”

Kyungsoo sighs and kicks Chanyeol’s ankle to get him moving. Chanyeol stumbles slightly and pouts at Kyungsoo, but gets moving to the auditorium anyways.

Jongin smiles widely and leans over the box to plant a kiss on Kyungsoo’s cheek. “Hey babe.”

Sehun steps around Jongin to stand next to Baekhyun in order to get away from the couple. Baekhyun seems to have the same idea as he steps backwards.

“So, um, Sehun, right?” Baekhyun asks. Sehun glances down at him. “I’m Baekhyun. If you didn’t remember.” He offers his hand for a handshake, but all he gets is a stare. An awkward chuckle leaves him as he drops his hand to his side. “Um. How’s your bike? Did you get it-”

“The bike’s fine,” Sehun interrupts. “Look, I have to go. Tell Jongin that I’ll see him tomorrow.”

Sehun doesn’t even look back as he walks away from Baekhyun. Baekhyun can only watch him walk towards the nearby exit and slam the door shut behind him.

“Was that the kid you were talking about the other day?” His cousin comes up next to him munching on a granola bar. Baekhyun nods solemnly. “Man, that’s some attitude. Wonder which side of the bed he woke up on.”

xXx

“Gege, I’m hungry,” Luhan whines as he kicks his feet. He leans his chin on the dining table with a pout.

Sehun nods as he stirs the soup. “I know. The soup will be ready soon. Be patient, okay?” He turns around with a smile and gets a deeper pout from his brother. “Mama should be home soon. We’ll all eat dinner together. Does that sound good?”

Luhan grunts, keeping his lips shut. “Hungry.”

“I know, I know.” Sehun tastes the watery liquid and cringes at the blandness. “Hopefully mama will bring some more food. To fill up your empty stomach. That way you can grow up big and tall. Don’t you want that?”

“I want to be big and tall!” Luhan shouts as he raises his arms in a v-shape. “Just like you gege! You’re tall! And big!”

Sehun is about to respond when he hears key jingling and the lock unlocking. Luhan hops off of his seat and sprints over to the opening door. He almost bangs his head against the door in his rush to greet their mother. She smiles down at him as she shuts the door and puts down a plastic bag.

“Luhan! Did you behave today? Were you a good boy?” Their mother lifts Luhan onto her hip and picks up the plastic bag. She walks to her right, right into the kitchen. The plastic bag finds its way onto the counter and into Sehun’s hands.

“I was! I did my best. Baobao gave me a sticker today!” Luhan points to the ground and his mother places him down on his feet. He immediately runs over to his chair and s his backpack to take out a folder. He kneels on the chair and opens his folder.

Their mother beams as Luhan rapidly talks about the various animal stickers in Chinese.

The plastic bag crinkles under Sehun’s fingers as he opens it up. Happiness fills his chest at the sight of boxed food. It’s much more than watery soup and he couldn’t be more grateful for that. He takes out the box and opens it to find a chicken leg and some leftover vegetables. He's not too sure what to do with it, so he just dumps it into the pot.

After a few moments of stirring, he gets out three bowls and fills them all with the soup. He also takes the meat off the chicken and puts it into two of the bowls. Setting spoons into the same two bowls, he places them on the table in front of his mother and Luhan. “Eat up.”

Luhan thanks him and digs in. While his mother gives him a tentative smile and dips her spoon into the soup over and over again before she takes a sip. Sehun holds back a sigh and swirls the soup in his bowl before sipping straight from it.

Small pieces of vegetables are stuck at the bottom of his bowl when he finishes the soup. “Mama, I got another job.”

She looks at him in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah. I'll be quitting the post office to make more time for the new job. It pays a bit more,” Sehun explains as he swipes the vegetables from the bottom with a finger. “That's okay, right?”

“Y-Yes. Fine. That is fine,” she breathes out. “Do good job. Good?” She gives him a thumbs up and a smile.

Sehun nods and quirks his lip up in a smile. “I'll do good. Don't worry.”

She smiles fondly and resumes sipping her soup with shaky hands.

“I finish!” Luhan proclaims as he raises his empty bowl above his head and spoon. “Can I have more?”

Sehun takes note of the small amount of soup left. He sets his bowl down on the counter next to the stove. There was a small part of him that hoped that there would be enough food until his next paycheck. It seems like he might be wrong. But he could never reject his brother. If Luhan wanted something, Sehun would work his off to get it for him.

“Of course. Can you give me your bowl?” Sehun reaches out to grab Luhan’s bowl, but a stinging pain blooms across his skin. He holds his arm to his chest in disbelief as he states at his mother who is frozen, staring with wide eyes at nothing. The pain is beginning to subside, but his heart rate isn't. “Mama?”

His voice seems to snap her out of her trance. She doesn't apologize profusely like she did before. Instead she gathers up a confused Luhan in her arms and carries him to the bedroom despite his protests of wanting more dinner and why did she hit gege?

Disappointment fills Sehun's chest as he leans against the counter. It's already been four years. How much longer does this need to go on?

A/N: Hi! I hope you guys like this update. I also see that we’ve reached 18 subscribers, so I just wanna thank everyone who has subscribed and is reading. So thank you! Some stuff has happened and I’m kinda shaky? I just need some time to organize my thoughts and I can assure you that the next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it out.

Thank you all to are reading! And since I didn’t really get a response last chapter about this, I’ll say it again: Btw, I was thinking about opening up a tumblr, what do you guys think about that? Let me know!

Till the next chapter!