As time passes on, Sehun becomes increasingly weaker and weaker on the inside. The whole girlfriend issue between him and Jongin is never brought up again (Sehun never even learned the brunette’s name), but it seems as if Jongin gets bolder with his touching by the day. Even this morning on Sehun’s walk into school, he’s almost shocked to death when two arms wind around his stomach from the back, safely securing him to the person behind.

“What is with you?” Sehun asks incredulously, not even bothering to look back. He brings his own hands up to rub at the grip on his stomach.

“Can’t I just be happy to see my Sehunnie?” Jongin asks into his shoulder, and the other groans at the cheesiness.

“I’m so glad you aren’t in my class. Otherwise, you’d be the worst distraction ever,” Sehun says with a dignified huff, although it’s clear by his smile that he wants the opposite.

“Shut up. Of course you’d want me in your class, Sehun. I make everything fun,” Jongin replies, his growing smile felt by the other.

Sehun huffs, “Get off of me, you overconfident ,” before elbowing Jongin’s left side. Unwillingly, he releases his hold on Sehun and moves to face him directly.

“Why are you so shocked to see me?” Jongin asks, as he inspects Sehun’s confused expression with a close eye. The boy’s eyes had gone wide with surprise when he saw Jongin, and he had found it to be kind of cute, as if he was caught on a hidden camera or given a little scare.

“Nothing,” Sehun says, and he turns away to walk towards the school, knowing that Jongin will automatically follow in suit.

His surprised reaction was simply because Jongin looked stunning today, of course. On most days, he would keep his hair down in an adorable mess of strands, but for once he decided to switch it up. His hair was neatly gelled over the side and parted delicately on the right side, and all Sehun wanted to do was run his fingers through it in admiration.

It was just another reason to him that Jongin was a legitimate crush, because in addition to his kindness and touchiness, he was a visual epidemic. Not an epidemic in the sense that everyone was sick and suffering, but epidemic as in an infection to everyone’s eyes that would make them fall for him. That kind of epidemic. It was therefore to Sehun’s favor that they were no girls in their school, so his minor possessiveness wouldn’t have had to act up as much.

“Hey, would you slow down a bit?” Jongin requests as he jogs up to slide his hand into Sehun’s. Sehun tenses up at the sudden grasp of his hand but relaxes, finding solace in the small action. It’s oddly natural for them to do random displays of affection like this, and Sehun tells himself that he needs to accept it all in a platonic context. Sometimes he even mentally recites “Jongin likes girls. Jongin is straight,” to himself in order to ease the emotional pain of these touches.

~~~

Sehun and Chanyeol tend to spend their daily lunch in the same spot outside of the school, legs crossed on the concrete steps and backs against the brick wall. Usually they would just talk nonsense or gossip about any drama they had heard recently, but today Sehun’s eyes are no longer concentrated on Chanyeol’s. Instead, he looks outwards into the field of trimmed grass and spots Jongin walking across casually, the sunlight naturally emphasizing his appearance as he moves.

“Hey Sehun, did you even get what I was just saying?” Chanyeol cuts in, poking Sehun’s forehead with his finger.

“Yeah I was listening,” he insists.

“Then who were the two guys that I was just talking about. The ones that were caught doing you-know-what in the locker room?”

“Fine, I wasn’t listening, okay?” Sehun admits honestly.

“Is it cause of that Jongin kid over there? You know you don’t have to act like you’re not totally obsessed with him around me, right?”

“I am not obsessed,” he denies vehemently.

“Ever since you’ve met him, your eyes have been following him every second. I’ll be honest, I’m quite surprised that you haven’t even tried to tell him to join us at lunch,” Chanyeol continues, taking a sip of his oversized water bottle that Sehun constantly ridicules him for. “Even though I carry this large- water bottle around every day, I think you’re the thirstier one out of us,” he adds with an obnoxious laugh.

Sehun is a fool, but not so much a fool to easily take the bait that is thrown at him. He ignores Chanyeol’s last comment and responds to the first one, saying, “Jongin has friends to sit with at lunch, so I don’t want to be rude and take him away from them,” he says between tightened lips.

“The past week Jongin has been sitting under that same tree by himself,” Chanyeol refutes. “And I know that you know that because you are like his helicopter mother that monitors his every step. Just grow some balls and ask him to come over here. It’s not like you two are strangers.” He looks at the other for any hint of provocation, but Sehun is still and unwilling to budge the slightest.

“Fine, leave it to Chanyeol to play cupid today,” Chanyeol mutters to no one in particular, his resolve now logically formed. He takes another large gulp of water before setting it aside, wiping his hands free of any residue. “Hey Jongin!” he then yells out with his hand cupped over his mouth. “Come over here for just a minute.”

The boy looks quite confused by the sudden call, but as his eyes fix upon Sehun’s, he brightens up slightly and giddily dashes across the field. Sehun stiffens up in his spot but refuses to show that he’s nervous, deciding to instead close his eyes and tune in to the grass crunching beneath Jongin’s feet. Yes, the sound of demolished grass will keep his composure.

Sehun opens his eyes up as the crunches dwindle away. “Did you need something, Chanyeol?” Jongin says in front of him, despite seeming to direct the question at Sehun instead of the other.

“No, I just wanted you to tell you something that Sehun said,” Chanyeol replies, and Sehun slightly jolts up in his seat. He knew that when Chanyeol acted this pretentious, there was no telling what could fly from his mouth.

“Why can’t Sehun tell me himself?” Jongin smirks with a glint in his eye. Sehun, looking scandalized, peers at Chanyeol with an incinerating glare. He makes it a point to remind himself t