Jaehyun sat back in Doyoung’s office chair, letting his neck go limp. Looking up at the ceiling, he decided that he hated himself. At least today. The one person in his life that he wanted to be greater than had come back and proved that Jaehyun was still a big head, a crybaby.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in here.” Yeri said.

She was one of Jaehyun’s club members. Young, pretty and reserved, always ahead of the pack, but too doubty to act on it. Or maybe she just liked flying under the radar. Jaehyun had to admit he’d always had a tough time reading her like other students who wound up floating aorund him.

“How’d you get the door open?” Jaehyun sat up.

“Doyoung gave me the key so I could have lunch in here with my... boyfriend.” She admitted, looking ashamed. It was obvious she hadn’t wanted to tell the truth, but also didn’t want to lie to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun nodded, his standard plesant smile reaching her even in the dim room. “It’s not like Doyoung to be so nice.” He crossed the room quickly.

“I sort of begged him. I hope it’s okay, I mean, just for today.” Yeri hung her head.

“It’s fine. Don’t make a habit out of it, Yeri. And good work on the Math Olympics last month, I forgot to thank you for going in my place.” He gave her a warm pat on the head before stepping into the hall.

Looking out of place, Yuta paced without once looking directly at Jaehyun. Whether he was ignoring him on purpose or actually that oblivious...Jaehyun couldn’t tell.

“Yuta..” Jaehyun said barely above a whisper.

“Uhm, it’s open. We can eat now.” Yeri poked her head out from the room to look at Yuta with sweet, bashful eyes. This had to be a new romance, maybe even one-sided.

“Cool.” Yuta finally stopped the pacing.

Jaehyun tucked himself around the corner. “Having lunch with no fodd..” He pointed out to himself. Yeri had at least lied to Doyoung. Or maybe she’d lied to Jaehyun and swiped the keys from Doyoung. Maybe she was like Jaehyun, a lot different than how she appeared to be.

Either way, Jaehyun was still much too soaked in his own deprecation to play detective about two people he barely knew.

The rest of the school day had been a breeze for Jaehyun. Well, he skipped it. After leaving his brooding session in the club room, he’d strolled into the teacher’s lounge without so much as a knock on the door. He was welcome there, it was more his lounge than some of the newer teachers.

Lying that he was feeling ill and headed home with a family friend, Jaehyun obtained his assignments for the remainder of the day. Without even bothering to call Doyoung back or return the frantic, excited texts from Mark and Haechan, he left school in a bad mood.

“Mom, I got into a fist fight at school, I’m home early and I don’t care what you have to say.” He announced, shutting the door with the back of his shoe. Like most day, his mother wasn’t there and wouldn’t be for a few more hours.

It was bittersweet. He’d have to fill up the house with something other than his own thoughts, but then again, he had plenty time to come up a story about his busted lip that his mother would believe. Tossing his keys on the sleek kitchen island, he forced himself to only focus on his intense hunger pains. He couldn’t put off eating any longer.

Jaehyun ordered pizza, getting a weird look from the delivery boy. Maybe it was the lip or the fact that he was a student home in the middle of the day. Either way, the boy had forgotten the breadsticks, giving Jaehyun a coupon for the trouble.

“I can’t stay long, so cut the crap and tell me what happened!” Less than two hours later, just as he was starting to doze off, Chae-won’s voice flooded the living room. Jaehyun hadn’t even heard the front door open or her keys in the lock.

“By the way, you didn’t lock the door. Ooo, pizza. What is this? A celebratory meal after getting sent home from school early?” Chae-won snatched a slice of pizza for herself, taking the smallest bite before cringing and spitting it back into the sink. “Gross. Mushrooms. I’ll never understand the appeal.”

She sat on the couch furthest from her son, legs crossed professionally like she was still at work. With her high heeled foot bobbing back and forth to some natural mom rhythm, she just waited for Jaehyun to speak. Well, after he sat up and wiped the pizza grease from his face...and the mushrooms off his shirt.

“Would it kill you to use a saucer? Or a coaster?” She pointed at the sweaty soda can with her brows. “That’s a one of a kind hand-crafted coffee table straight from Paris.”

“Oh sorry, I must have forgotten since the last time you told me that.” Jaehyun bit back, knowing he was already testing his luck. “And I didn’t get sent home.”

“Oh, so you just up and left? Okay, that’s not any better. In fact, it’s worse. Who do you think you are? Some nobody?” Chae-won didn’t expect an answer. “Jaehyun, you got into a fight...an actual fist fight. Son, that’s not like you.”

“What do you mean? You think I can’t get mad and fight? You think I’m just some big head crybaby?” Jaehyun glared at her.

“Huh? Where did you even get that idea? Big head...yes. But crybaby? No. I just mean, you don’t usually lose control like that. I’ve never even seen you kill a fly.” She picked a pinch of lint off her deep green pencil skirt. It was almost a nervous tick, like there was something in front of her she didn’t really want to confront or...couldn’t confront.

“That sort of behavior, I know it seems shallow but...we can’t engage in it. We’ve got a certain status now, I shouldn’t have to explain this to you.” She clarified.

“Mom, just stop.” Jaehyun knew exactly what she meant and he was actually offended that she seemed to think he needed a reminder. “I know.”

“Do you? Word travel fast in this town, Jaehyun. Even in other towns.”Finally, she looked ready to say what was really on her mind.

“I mean, I just saw on the news this morning that Taeyong, your old friend, was being stalked in Generation City by some whacko.” Chae-won leaned in, her eyes bulging at every word, like she was watching the broadcast all over again.

“So, excuse me for not wanting the whole city to know that Red Exo’s Top Scholar is a thug who starts fights in the middle of school. I mean, you’ve got so much going for yourself. Your clubs, your connections, your crystal clean reputation, your...everything!” She finally stood, walking back to the pizza box for another nibble. That time, she picked off the mushrooms. “Gross.” She tossed the pizza right into the trash.

“Stop ordering this every other day.” She seldom cussed these days. Since Jaehyun’s dad had gone to jail and the rich handsome surgeon had come into their lives, she was proper, put together and desperate to shove all her old ways off some internal cliff.

“I want you to understand that...” Her phone’s plain text tone stopped her mid-sentence. Whatver text she read seemed to shake her. Jaehyun figured it was nothing too serious. She worked as general manager at an upscale clothing store so maybe a mannequin had come to life or caught on fire. Jaehyun had always seen her job as just playing pretend anyway. Just something to keep her busy when the surgeon was out of town. “Anyway, yeah, what the hell was I saying...I want you to understand that everything we do reflects on Sung-rok.”

((*NOTE* I didn’t know who was going to be his step-dad so I kept calling him Surgeon, but now, I’ve decided on Sung-rok lol))

“Your boyfriend, I know.” Jaehyun got up just to stare at his trashed pizza remains.

“My fiance.” She corrected. “Your future step-father, don’t be so rude.”

“Sorry, I guess I’m really not myself today, huh?”

“No, you’re even more of a sarcastic smartass than usual.”

“Wonder who I get that from.”

“Are you at least going to tell me who you got into the fight with? Is it someone I need to have handled?” Chae-won’s arms were crossed softly, her head tilted to get a good long look into Jaehyun’s peeved ones.

“What are you? Mafia?” Jaehyun half laughed. “Oh, and for your information, I’m not top scholar anymore. That was weeks ago.”

“What!” She shouted. Jaehyun knew that would get her mind off his fight. “But what about the Mayor’s breakfast? Only the top scholars from every high school get invited...if you’re not on top, then you won’t get to go and be on TV and be interviewed for that magazine.”

“It’s a lunch not a breakfast. And again, I know.” He shrugged.

“Well what the heck happened!?” She was panicked, like there was an actual gun to her head.

“That boy I mentioned before, Chanyeol. He’s really freaking smart.” Jaehyun felt delfated just talking about it. It was better than telling his mother Taeyong was in town and throwing fists, but still, not exactly a cheerful topic either.

“Dammit, Sung-rok is really looking forward to going to that Mayor’s breakfast with you.”

“I said it’s a lunch!” He hated how litter his mother’s attention span was.

“Whatever the hell it is! He wants to go and get interviewed as the proud step-father, okay!? So become smartest boy in school again.” She screamed right back. “Love you.” She punctuated with a wink.

“K.” Jaehyun groaned in response, his attention on what he was going to eat next. Macaroni sounded good. He lit up a pinch at the sight of some sugar cookie mix towards tha back of the walk-in pantry.

“Anyway, I’m late for drinks with the girls. Don’t wait up and don’t get into any fights with the furniture or the stray cats.” Chae-won paused all the way out of the kitchen. “Jaehyun.”

“Mom, what now?”

“I really love you. And when you act out of character like that, it scares me. It reminds me of your father. Please, don’t do it again.” She left right after, feeling horrible for dropping that on her son. But she believed it would help him more than hurt him. Back inside the kitchen, Jaehyun was absolutely hurt.

Despite the day he’d had, Taeyong couldn’t help smiling when he was with Ten. It had been a couple years since they’d seen each other in person, and Taeyong had almost forgotten just how chatty the dancer was. Ten was animated, expressing every word of every sentence in some way different than the last. There wasn’t much of a chance for Taeyong to actually converse with Ten, since the boy just skipped from one topic to the next without any warning.

One minute he’d be groaning about his endless stack of rejection letters, then the next he was laughing his off because he recently forgot to wear underwear to an audition. Ten was one of the few people who knew Taeyong was actually a good listener. Most people wound up infatuated with Taeyong, hoping to get as much information out of him as fast as possible..for whatever reason. Ten wasn’t that way, he had no problem going on and on about himself, giving up some embarassing details along the way.

“And yeah, so that’s when I realized I was having way too many wet dreams.” Ten blushed at his own story. “Hey, were you even paying attention?” He swatted Taeyong on the .

“I was.” Taeyong lied right away.

“Then what was I talking about?” Ten had that childish pitch that always made Taeyong feel like teasing him even more.

“Ask yourself what you were talking about, I bet you don’t even remember.”

“Of course I do, what kinda stupid idea is that? How can someone forget what they....” Ten stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, his eyes swirling around quizically.

“Exactly.” Taeyong sneered.

“You got lucky this time.” Ten ran ahead. “We haven’t seen each other in forever and you can’t even listen to my wet dream stories.”

“Who would want to?” Taeyong swatted him that time. “Whoa.”

“Whoa what?” Ten caught the door to the Rec Center just before three older women left in workout clothes.

“Your got bigger.” Taeyong made a squeezing motion with his fingers, eyes big in amazement. “Who are you trying to impress, huh?” He joked, poking one of Ten’s cheeks as they went inside the center.

It was a relatively low budget center with average amenities and more than a few sketchy looking people inside. Mostly dropouts with nothing to do during the day or adults trying to get away from society for a bit. Still, Ten spent most of his time there because of the big dance studio that barely anyone other than himself used.

Ten moved around the center comfortably. Following the Thai boy, Taeyong wound up at the front desk where Ten signed them both in. Taeyong’s name was supposed to go on the ‘visitor’ side but Ten just added their names together on the same thin line as TenYong.

“Of course someone with flat buns like you would think all butts are getting bigger at an increasing rate.” Ten waved it off. “And I’m not trying to impress anyone, I just like filling out my pants.”

“So you admit you got implants?” Taeyong finally stopped poking when they entered the center’s male locker room.

“It’s called squats, you dummy.” Ten scrunched his face at Taeyong, convinced his friend was really just that dumb. Sure, Ten was somewhat naïve but he never said half the airheaded things Taeyong did. Luckily, Taeyong was chic and good-looking enough to get away with his dense tendencies.

“It smells in here.” Taeyong said. It was the last thing he remembered saying before slipping into the quicksand of his mind.

Watching Ten change into practice clothes with a vacant expression, Taeyong thought about the fallout after Jongin’s vanishing so long ago.

After he’d told Jaehyun how much he hated him, Taeyong ran home. It was a really cold night if he remembered right. Or maybe it just felt that way since he’d been in nothing but a thin pajama set and a pair of rundown sneakers with a rip along the side of one of the shoes. Maybe being breathless after his grassy battle with Jaehyun had come with the shakes and shivers.

Taeyong remembered being at war with several parts of himself. Did he really want to run away with Jongin? Was it just so he could talk sense into the boy or was it because he was truly starting to fear his mother’s mental state? There was only so much medicine she could take and his father was around less and less, leaving Taeyong in her care. Which wasn’t much care at all.

Sweaty, panicked and covered in blades of grass, Taeyong thought about if he really hated Jaehyun for stopping him. Yes. He did. For now at least. And he’d keep that promise to hate Jaehyun if Jongin never came back.

As soon as the sun was up and Taeyong figured it was a reasonable enough hour, he went to Jongin’s home, knocking softly at first. There was no reply after four attempts, so he finally took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, following it up with a closed fist bang on the center of the door.

When Jongin’s mother had come to the door, Taeyong could see straight through to the living room where the man of the house was drinking a beer in front of a sports program. Hadn’t they noticed their son was missing again?

Okay, and? He’ll be back just like last time, and the one before that. You know, I’m starting to think you’re a bad influence on Jongin. He didn’t start running away until he started hanging out with you, kid.

Jongin’s mother had said. She tried to keep her voice low, directing it at Taeyong only.

Don’t come back here. Even when Jongin brings his back...you stay away.

She’d shut the door softly, leaving Taeyong on the porch. After ten minutes of feeling like a huge wimp, Taeyong had finally turned to leave.

Jaehyun. Watching from the sidewalk, looking like the big head crybaby he was. Taeyong had spared the boy, only hitting him with a hard glare instead of another fist.

“He’s not back?” Jaehyun peeped when Taeyong brushed past him.

“Don’t waste your breath here.” Taeyong barely moved his lips to say it.

Taeyong had gone home to tell his parents about Jongin running away, but it was more of the same song and dance. Dong-wook said Jongin would come back on his own like always or get dragged back by some local police officer that had picked him up along the road.

There wasn’t much of anything Taeyong could say to make them understand how far away Jongin already felt.

It wasn’t until late that night that Taeyong heard Dong-wook on the phone with a neighbor, asking if they’d seen Jongin and suggesting maybe the police be notified.

Again, Taeyong wished he could scream at the top of his lungs that it was too late. Already the city felt so much different without Jongin. It wasn’t until he was older than Taeyong would realize it wasn’t the city that felt reshaped, but his life.

“Seriously! You’re a rude jerk with no manners, Lee Taeyong!” Ten whined, his lips curled into a bitter pout.

“What, what?” Taeyong blinked back into the locker room, noticing Ten’s again while the boy tied the strings of his practice joggers. He had a black tank top on over them. It clung to his torso so tight it was like he’d painted it on himself while Taeyong had been preoccupied. “What did I miss?” Taeyong stood up, a bit guilty looking.

“A lot. I was teling you about dad’s new job, the company I’m auditioning for, the color I wanna dye my hair, my squat routine and where we can eat afterwards.” Ten ticked them all off his finger. “By the way, we’re going to the McDonald’s down the street.”

“You’re gonna eat Mcdonald’s right after your practice?”

“Better than eating it before.”

“Good point.”

“Anyway, I asked you a question...” Ten sat that time, making it clear they weren’t about to head anywhere else just yet.

“About what?”

“More like...about who.” Ten proceeded carefully. “Promise you won’t get mad.”

“I promise I guess.” Taeyong held up his pinky for Ten to wrap his around.

“Okay then....who’s Jimin?” Ten asked it as casually as he could, choking a bit on the actual name at the end.

Taeyong stared down at his friend’s curious face. After a long while, he sat with him. Side by side, but something very big and sensitive between them.

“You really wanna know?”

*Author Note*

Hi! It felt like a while since I updated but it wasn’t even a week! I’m actually kind of proud of myself for keeping up with this fic, usually it takes me so long to plan and get my ideas together.

Anyway, in this update I tried to bring some more of the past between Taeyong and Jaehyun to the forefront. Also, we got a look into what Jaehyun’s home life is like. He’s under a lot of pressure from his mother and step-father, and it’s going to steer some of his upcoming choices. Taeyong on the other hand is just trying to find the normal in everything. I really liked writing for Taeyong and Ten....hmmmm, too bad I have different ships in mind.

Moving forward, Jaeyong will be having another heated confrontation and we’ll find out a little more about Ten, Johnny, Heechul and even Yuta. THANKS for commenting and subscribing!

The romance and mystery bits are just around the corner, I promise! I have to take a couple days to plan the next couple updates because I’d like for things to start happening pretty quickly.