Once again, Chaeyeong found herself on the bleachers beside the soccer field, watching Taekwoon and Hyunwoo practice with the rest of the school’s team. Hakyeon and Jaehwan sat on either side of her this time, the latter boy having made it to his spot before the eldest had a chance to block him like the last time. Hyuk was practically draped over the oldest boy, clinging to his hyung like a koala and laying across his lap whenever the maknae wanted to talk to the others.

 

Today, Hongbin had put an appropriate amount of distance between himself and Chae, still sitting close, but leaning against Hakyeon’s legs instead of hers. He did not seem cross with her for any reason, but Wonshik had chosen to join the rest of the group this time and Hongbin was trying to keep the elder boy in good spirits today. Wonshik was directly in front of Chae, having surprised everyone by choosing his seat before Chae once the girl was comfortably settled. He even turned to her on occasion to make a comment about the team.

 

Their conversation was a bit stunted and awkward, but Wonshik seemed to be carrying a good bit of it on his own instead of letting Chae’s words bounce off of him like he usually did.

 

It made her hopeful that their encounter the other day had left them in a better place than they had been before. Talking to each other without animosity was certainly a start, anyway.

 

“S’cuse me, Wonshik-ah,” Chae said as she nudged him lightly in the ribs. “I need to get by for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

 

“Chae?” Hongbin asked, seeming startled by the girl’s sudden appearance in his line of vision. He had been so focused on the practice that he had not even heard her speak.

 

“Restroom.” she offered as explanation, heading for the little building that sat a not too far from the bleachers. She offered Hyunwoo a wave as she headed past the opening to the fence where the team was gathered as they waited in line for some exercise they were doing.

 

“Looks like you’ve managed to cozy up to the rest of those boys, haven’t you?”

 

Chae nearly jumped out of her skin as Somi stepped around the bleachers and into her path, the third year unaccompanied by Moon Aera and the second year lackeys for once. Two other girls flanked Somi, nameless to Chae but slightly familiar from her other encounters with the leader of the girls.

 

“Do we have to do this today?” Chae asked in exasperation, tilting her head back to look at the sky as she tried to bottle her frustration with the older girl. “Like seriously, I get what you’re trying to say – what with the being cornered and the notes and all.”

 

“Do you really? Because if you did, you’d listen and back off. I’ve made myself clear on what will happen.”

 

“And I made it clear that I don’t give a flying about your creepy little ‘claim’ on Hongbin and the rest of the boys.” Chae said flatly, tipping her head back into a proper position to glare at Somi. “If anyone needs to back off, it’s you.”

 

Somi bristled. “Listen here you little b–”

 

“Chaeyeong-ah,” a soft voice called, startling all of the girls and cutting off Somi before she could go on with her threat.

 

“Taekwoon-sunbae,” Chae said, turning to find the older boy approaching them as he finished up his turn at practice.

 

He was frowning at them, brow furrowed, and his normally blank expression seemed like something darker. His shirt and hair were damp with sweat, the cloth clinging to him and his normally up-styled hair drooping into his eyes.

 

“You,” he said bluntly, looking Somi in the eyes as he spoke. “Leave her alone.”

 

What an eloquent guy, Chae thought, amusement tinging her relief at the elder’s defense.

 

“We just wanted to speak to Chaeyeong-ssi for a moment, Taekwoon-oppa,” Somi purred, smiling coquettishly at Taekwoon. “We were just getting ready to go. Chaeyeong-ssi, have a good day.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Chae snorted, unable to believe the way the girl acted around Leo. “I’m sure I will now that I’m done dealing with you.”

 

Annoyance passed over Somi’s face for a moment, but the older girl seemed to have good control over the emotions that she allowed others to see. Her face smoothed out again almost immediately, a pleasant expression back on her face as she turned away and lead the way from the soccer field, still flanked faithfully by the two girls who seemed to follow her everywhere she went.

 

Chae and Taekwoon watched her go in silence, an awkwardness settling over them now that they had nothing but each other to focus on.

 

“Hakyeon…” Taekwoon began suddenly, startling both of them with the sudden break in the silence. Their eyes met and the older boy looked away hurriedly. “He dragged you here to watch the practice, didn’t he.”

 

“No, not really. If you can believe it, Wonshik was the one to actually invite me along today.” Chae explained, twisting her fingers together nervously. “My… friend is on the soccer team too. Hyunwoo. I like watching you guys play – you’re both very good.”

 

She smiled, looking up at Taekwoon to show him how sincere her compliment was, and was surprised to find him going pink. He took a startled step back from her.

 

Our Taekwoonie’s adorable, Jaehwan’s comment from the last practice came to mind as she watched the soccer player become flustered from just a simple compliment.

 

Chae grinned mischievously, stepping closer to him and not letting him escape.

 

“Sunbae, I think you’re really talented! You always look so cool when you’re out there on the field. You’re so focused and you can tell that it really helps out your teammates when they’re close to you. Like you’ve got this influence about you. It seems like they really look up to you.” Chae cooed, grin growing as Taekwoon squirmed beneath the praise, hands coming up to cover his red face as he began curling into himself. “Hongbin and the others, they think so too. They think you’re really cute too, Hakyeon-sunbae especially.”

 

“What about me?” the boy in question asked, emerging around the corner of the bleachers and looking amused by the sight of his boyfriend and their tiny junior friend.

 

“I was just telling Taekwoon-sunbae about how cool I thought he was,” Chae turned to Hakyeon, finding the same mischief in his eyes as was in her own.

 

They shared a grin and Hakyeon moved to wrap his arms around his boyfriend, trying to pull Taekwoon back into a straightened position and failing.

 

“Ahhh, Taekwoonie~” Hakyeon smirked, resting his chin on the younger man’s head. “Don’t be so shy. Chaeyeong-ah, you know he has more talents than just playing soccer well? He’s really strong – I’ve seen him do push-ups with one of the other kids sitting on his back. That’s pretty cool, right? He cooks well and sings and –”

 

“Shut up!” Taekwoon wailed, jerking himself out of Hakyeon's grasp and running back to the field, face having gone fire-engine red.

 

Hakyeon and Chae howled with laughter at the reaction. The older boy caught her face in his hands, squishing her cheeks a bit as she giggled uncontrollably.

 

“Sunbae!” she squealed, still unable to control herself.

 

Hakyeon cooed at her, grinning widely. “Ah, Chaeyeongie-ah~ You had him all figured out. He’s not so intimidating when he melts in the face of a compliment, yeah?”

 

“No,” she snickered, sighing as she finally managed to relax some. She beamed up at him. “But you know, he is a pretty cool guy. Some girls tried to bother me just now and he stepped in right away. I feel pretty lucky, having such cool sunbae for friends.”

 

Hakyeon frowned at the admission that someone tried to bully her. “Those girls, do you know who they are? I’ll tell them off if you need me to.”

 

Chae waved him off good-naturedly. “It’s fine. They don’t scare me. They’re just petty – I can handle it myself. I appreciate your offer though, Hakyeon-sunbae.”

 

“If you say so…” Hakyeon sighed, not entirely convinced. Though, Chae did not seem as fragile as she looked. “Are you done here? Ready to go back to the others?”

 

“I haven’t even made it to the restroom yet.” Chae pouted, annoyed with the older girls’ interruption in her business.

 

“I’ll wait outside for you then,” Hakyeon declared, leading her over to the building where the restrooms were. He crossed his arms and leaned against the building to wait.

 

Chae smiled and shook her head at the sight.

 

In all honesty, she was glad for Taekwoon and Hakyeon’s help. The girls’ obsession with the boys was getting on her nerves and beginning to make her nervous that they were more of a problem than they had originally presented.

 

As promised, Hakyeon was waiting dutifully for her when she emerged from the restroom, still in his cool-guy pose. His face, though, did not match the position, as it lit up into a sweet smile when he saw Chae approaching.

 

“Let’s head back to the others now,” Chae said cheerfully, linking arms with the third year as they walked.

 

“Hopefully they haven’t destroyed anything… again.” Hakyeon hummed.

 

“That poor soccer ball never stood a chance.” Chae shook her head sadly, remembering how the boys had gotten hold of a stray soccer ball during the last practice and managed to pop it somehow.

 

Hongbin and Jaehwan’s identical expressions of horror had been hilarious.

 

By the time Hakyeon and Chae returned to the others, the rest of the boys had rearranged themselves so that Jaehwan was sandwiched between Hongbin and Hyuk, the third year’s voice ringing out as he protested the teasing of the two maknaes. It was not exactly clear what they were bothering him about, but he fell silent immediately upon seeing the returning duo, ears pinking. He coughed awkwardly and waved at them.

 

Wonshik sat above them on the upper bench and mimicked the elder’s movement.

 

“C-Chaeyeong-ah,” he called awkwardly. “Sit with me.”

 

Chae smiled easily at his effort and slid onto the bench next to him, unlooping her arm from Hakyeon’s to replace it with Wonshik’s. The other second year looked startled by the touch, and tensed up. However, before Chae could retract her arm and apologize for her forwardness, Wonshik relaxed and ruffled her hair lightly.

 

Chae relaxed as well, smiling sweetly up at her sort-of-friend.

 

Hongbin turned to speak to Chae about something she had missed while she was gone, and stopped abruptly at the odd sight before him. His brow raised, then furrowed in confusion.

 

“So… you two are being friendly now.” He asked slowly, looking over their linked arms cautiously.

 

“We had a talk,” Chae explained, loosening her grip on Wonshik’s arm some as she leaned forward to straighten up Hongbin’s fringe, the out of place lock in the front bothering her. “We’ve agreed to… be civil, at least. And he apologized. So I can’t be mad at my best friend’s boy anymore.”

 

Hongbin smiled a bit at her way of phrasing it. “Best friend’s boy… So, have you guessed it then?”

 

“Actually, someone let the beans spill on that.” Chae gave Sanghyuk a pointed look, having told him weeks ago that he needed to tell Hongbin and Wonshik himself that someone else knew about their relationship. The maknae flushed and ducked his head, trying to hide his broader frame behind Jaehwan. “But it honestly wasn’t that hard to tell. Context clues~”

 

Hongbin gave Sanghyuk the stink-eye while Wonshik frowned. “Oh really? I hadn’t heard anything from this ‘bean-spiller’. Maybe Wonshik and I ought to have a talk with him tonight…”

 

“I’m gonna go get a snack,” Sanghyuk said abruptly, standing so quickly that he almost knocked Jaehwan off the bench. The maknae all but ran away before any of the others could catch him.

 

Hongbin snorted at him and fell back between Wonshik’s legs, using his thigh as a pillow as his head lolled around towards Chae. “But I am glad that you know. I don’t really care much to keep it a secret… but there’s less trouble in keeping it in our little circle.” He hesitated a moment. “… we’re not that obvious, are we?”

 

“You didn’t walk in on anything, right?” Wonshik asked suddenly, jerking in horror. Hongbin’s expression took on a similar cadence.

 

A startled laugh made its way up Chae’s throat and she waved her hands at them defensively. “No way! I wouldn’t be able to look you in the eye if I did.” She dropped her hands into her lap and grinned at them, mischief radiating off of her. “But Hongbin-ah, at school? Really?”

 

Surprisingly, it was Wonshik who blushed, turning red to the roots of his hair, while Hongbin laughed with her, always able to enjoy teasing his boyfriend

 

“What can I say? My man’s kind of hot.” The dimpled boy snickered. He sighed, looking back over the soccer field. “Maybe we ought to get caught and go public. Might stop those weird girls that keep coming onto us.”

 

“Coming onto you.” Wonshik corrected, mouth twisting bitterly at the reminder of the girl that tried to confess.

 

Hongbin scoffed at the idea. “You act like I’m the only one that gets hit on here. The hyungs have flocks of girls trailing behind them like lovesick puppies and you need stilts to wade through the rivers of drool girls make when they see the maknae flex. And you.”

 

“What about me?” Wonshik growled, pushing Hongbin off of his legs.

 

The younger turned to look at him, his pretty face twisted with the beginnings of a sneer. “Oh please. I’m not the one roaming around the school with my shirt half open, flashing everyone with my body.”

 

“I thought you didn’t judge people for that sort of thing.”

 

Chae exchanged an alarmed look with Jaehwan as the couple beside her began to get louder as they shot barbs back and forth between each other, getting increasingly angrier with every word that tumbled out.

 

Wonshik stood abruptly, startling Chae and nearly toppling her over into Hakyeon’s lap. The oldest boy caught her with ease, sliding her across the metal bench and out of the danger zone.

 

“Wonshik, Hongbin.” he said sternly, trying to break up the fight in its early stages. “That’s enough.”

 

“Enough?” Wonshik laughed disbelievingly. “Enough? Hyung, I’ve put up with this kind of thing from Hongbin for months now. Aren’t you tired of it too? The way he eats up the attention? The way he eggs those fan girls of his own with that sweet act.”

 

“Egg them on?” Hongbin shouted, lunging to his feet so that Wonshik wouldn’t tower over him so excessively.

 

Jaehwan and Hakyeon did likewise, all of the boys on their feet and crowded together while Chae sat to the side, feeling very out of place and small in their presence, both figuratively and literally. She was short enough, even standing, but sitting down she was literally half the size they were and, for the first time since she had met them, Chae felt unsafe in their company. She scooted a bit further down the bench, scooping her bag into her arms in preparation to flee, but found herself unable to descend the bleachers. She clutched her bag to her chest, watching Jaehwan and Hakyeon pull the fighting couple apart, the younger pair now screaming at each other with no regards to their location.

 

Chae glanced over at the soccer team and found that everyone had stopped to stare, Taekwoon pulling away from the other players and practically running to join the fray.

 

Down below, Sanghyuk had returned, the giant maknae’s face a mask of worry.

 

“Noona,” he panted, bouncing up the bleachers to stop beside her, hand tugging at her elbow to turn and observe her. “Are you alright?” He looked at her as if she would shatter at the slightest breeze.

 

“I’m fine,” Chae answered faintly, glancing back over at the other second years. “Hongbin and Wonshik…”

 

“I’d better help them.” he muttered, letting go of Chae to catch Hongbin as the elder escaped Jaehwan’s grasp. The pretty boy did not stand a chance of getting away once the maknae had a grip on him. “Hyung, you’re scaring Chaeyeong-noona. Why don’t we go somewhere else?”

 

Hongbin glanced over at Chae, deflating a bit, and the movement caused Wonshik’s head to turn as well. The elder huffed, sliding Hakyeon’s arms off of him and moving away from Hongbin without a second glance.

 

“Chae,” Wonshik said stiffly, nodding to her as he passed. “Sorry.” He added, a bit more quietly and softly.

 

Chae turned to look at him as he moved past, some of the irritation leaving his face in exchange for guilt. When she turned back to the others, Sanghyuk was tugging Hongbin away and Jaehwan was coming closer to her.

 

“Jaehwan-oppa,” she greeted weakly, and felt a bit better at the smile that replaced his pinched expression.

 

“Finally,” Jaehwan sighed, his smile small but sincere. “I’m sorry about all that. Those two… haven’t been having an easy time since we’ve moved here.”

 

“I understand.” Chae nodded to the pair of maknaes headed away from the field. “Where are they going?”

 

“Home.” Jaehwan grabbed his satchel, swinging it over his shoulder. “To cool down. Hakyeon-hyung is going to stay here and wait for Taekwoon-hyung to finish up practice. He’s sorry that you had to get caught up in Hongbin and Wonshik’s fight.”

 

“It happens.” Chae murmured, wondering just when Hakyeon had left the bleachers. She looked over to find the eldest pair of boys standing on opposite sides of the fence, their faces tucked close together as they spoke. Chae turned back to Jaehwan, her brow furrowed. “Will they be alright? Hongbin and Wonshik, I mean. They… sounded very upset.”

 

“I’m sure they will be,” Jaehwan smiled wryly. “Hakyeon never lets any of us fight too long without talking it out. He says it’s the best way to keep us close and happy together. I have to admit though, this whole situation got looked over a bit.”

 

“A bit?” Chae asked dryly, arching an unimpressed brow at the older boy.

 

Jaehwan laughed. “Okay, more than a bit.” He relaxed a bit. “Anyway, Chaeyeong-ah. You want to go out with me? To get an ice cream?”

 

Chae ignored the strange thump in her heart at the way he phrased it and smiled. “Sure. Ice cream makes all problems better – well, unless you’re lactose intolerant. Then I guess it causes them.”

 

“Well, I happen to love ice cream.” Jaehwan grinned, linking their arms together. “So I know I’m not intolerant. Are you, Chaeyeongie?”

 

“Nope!” Chae said cheerfully, popping the word playfully. “Ice cream it is then!”