"Can you let me go now?". Taeyong could hear Doyoung's erratic heartbeat but he was in no condition to interpret it in any way. How much time had passed? It could have either been five minutes or half an hour, Taeyong had absolutely no idea, but his eyes were finally dry again so he managed to convince himself to let go of Doyoung's collar and quickly start walking away.

"So we're not waiting for the next bus? Okay", Doyoung naturally followed him. "That was a dramatic confession, right?", the ginger chirped, making Taeyong turn around and look at him in disbelief. "I mean a simple 'I like you' would have been enough, right? What was up with the passionate monologues and the over-the-top ki-...".

"Shut up", Taeyong growled. "Please don't feel obliged to fill the silence with your bull and just go home".

"Whoa, you're just as dramatic as they are", Doyoung rolled his eyes in an effort to lighten the mood that only irritated Taeyong even more.

"You don't even know what you're talking about so I'll give you a final warning; shut your mouth".

"You liked Sicheng, right? That was obvious so I do know what I'm talking about. You're neither the first nor the last to get his heart broken and at least you weren't blatantly rejected after confessing so you can still be friends with him after moving on. If you look at the situation rationally, it actually worked out quite well so there's no need to-...".

Taeyong aggressively grabbed Doyoung's collar once again, ready to punch the out of him.

"What do you know about crushes and getting rejected?". The two of them were virtual strangers- what gave him the right and hurt him even more with his unwanted opinions?

He's right though, a tiny whisper popped up from the back of his head, stopping his fist mid air. This time Doyoung didn't say anything in his defense but he didn't try to pull away either; his sudden serious gaze threw Taeyong off. The ginger's eyes narrowed as if they were saying 'I know more than you think' with an almost accusatory look that perplexed him even more.

"Huh", Taeyong ultimately snickered, pushing Doyoung away. "You're not worth the jail time after all".

"Jail time?", Doyoung giggled, seemingly unaffected by Taeyong's threat. "Were you planning to beat me to death or something?".

I'll just ignore him until I get home, Taeyong nodded by himself, replying to him just adds fuel to the fire.

"I guess your heartbreak cancels today's studying session...", Doyoung scratched his head. "However, focusing on something instead of wallowing in self pity and regret would be much better... Should I come over and give it a try?".

Taeyong chuckled in disbelief, amazed by Doyoung's inability to take a goddamn hint. Studying? What for? The exam no longer mattered because there was no chance in hell he would go on that trip with Yuta and Sicheng; failing or passing, it'd be pointless either way.

"My heartbreak cancels all studying sessions", he mumbled with a bitter grin. 

"Wow", Doyoung exclaimed, "so every effort you've made so far is canceled just like that? All the time and schemes I wasted on you were for nothing? No, sorry, I can't accept that. I said I'll make you pass and I'm a man of integrity; unlike you, I have to stay true to my words".

They say choose your battles and Doyoung appeared to have picked a meaningless one- or at least that's how Taeyong saw it. Unfortunately, his exhaustion had surpassed his irritation long time ago and he had no strength to fight or argue. Whatever!, he mentally celebrated the moment of giving up on life and everything that it entails. 

"Sure", he sighed, "come over".

"Really?", Doyoung's eyes widened in surprise for a second and then quickly went back to normal, before Taeyong had a chance to change his mind. "I mean, of course, that's what makes the most sense".

It really doesn't, Taeyong silently smirked, this whole situation makes no sense. Calling Doyoung's bluff wasn't too hard, he was way too astounded by Taeyong's sudden cooperation and his miserable attempt to hide it didn't exactly help either. But Taeyong had to admit, the boy's annoying presence did comfort him in a weird way; his insensitive comments, his cheeky grin and even his stubbornness kept him grounded through what should have been an emotional roller coaster and truth be told, he was too scared to find out how he'd feel once he was all alone with his thoughts.

"How can you be so blissfully clueless?", he suddenly blurted out, making Doyoung scrunch his eyebrows in confusion.

"You think I'm the clueless one? That's funny".

"What is that supposed to mean?".

"You'd understand if you weren't so clueless", Doyoung shrugged.

At any other given moment Taeyong would have been pissed off by such a mysterious and not to mention, insulting answer but...

"Whatever!", he exhaled as loud as he could and threw his arm around Doyoung's shoulder, pulling his closer.

"W-what's this, what are you doing?", the ginger seemed quite startled but didn't push him away.

"You'd understand if you weren't so clueless".

                                                                                                       | | | 

"Honestly?", Doyoung  sighed and tossed his textbook aside. "You were calm and concentrated today, that creeped me out. Also the fact that you might actually pass this exam with less than a week's worth of studying pisses me off in so many different ways".

"Boy, you at compliments", Taeyong smiled and playfully punched Doyoung's arm. "Just admit that I'm a genius".

"I could be held at gunpoint and I'd still refuse to say such a disgusting lie".

"I'll engrave it on your tombstone after you've been shot then".

"I'll haunt you and your off springs for five generations, to say the least".

"Aww, are you saying we'll be best friends forever?", Taeyong cupped his cheeks, pretending to be blushing.

"What a sickening sight", Doyoung snickered as he stretched his legs. "Better get out of here before I barf".

"Seriously though", Taeyong's smile was gentle for the first time as he  was walking him to the front door. "Thanks for today".

"You don't have to thank me for the lessons, even though I definitely deserve it-...".

"No, I didn't mean the lesson, you wipe. You signed up for that yourself", Taeyong's eyes were fixated on the ginger, unconsciously monitoring his every move. "I meant what you did for me. At the bus stop".

"Oh", Doyoung's expression suddenly darkened; his smile no longer seemed genuine. "No... No problem". Why did it look like he was holding back something?

"Also, you were wrong", Taeyong smiled, oblivious to the other's uneasiness. 

"What?".

"At the bus stop, before that whole mess happened, you said the teacher was better at explaining things than you. I think that's bull, you helped me study for the exam way more than that boring lecture. You'd make a much better teacher than him".

"What's up with you?", Doyoung laughed awkwardly and took two steps away from Taeyong. "Why are you so nice suddenly? Do you want me to be your rebound or something?".

Taeyong couldn't hold back his laughter after such an absurd joke. "There's no way I would-...".

"Because I'd be okay with it".

Taeyong's laughter immediately stopped and his eyes finally caught all of Doyoung's bizarre little movements; his upper lip was trembling, his pupils were shaking and he kept wiping his palms on his jeans. Could that possibly mean he was serious? He's sweating so much, he must be serious. Doyoung was fidgeting, trying his best to maintain eye contact when something behind Taeyong's back caught his attention and turned his cheeks bright red.

"HA, SYKE!", he suddenly yelled and in the split seconds that Taeyong used to turn around and see what surprised him so much, he had already vanished thanks to his inhuman speed.

"Did I just witness a confession?", murmured the dumbfounded Taeil that was standing behind him, holding a cup of coffee.

"I don't know", Taeyong was lost beyond words. "Was that a confession?".

"I think it was going to be one but then I scared him away", Taeil scratched his head. "Did you finally decide to give up on Sicheng? Good for you but next time don't date such a ".

Taeyong's brain was about to explode, this was by far the most confusing and exhausting day of his life. Sicheng's tears, Yuta's bittersweet smile, Doyoung's warm embrace and fast heartbeat, all these details kept popping up incredibly fast in his head, one after another, making him dizzy.

"Aren't you going to go after him?", Taeil's voice brought him back to reality.

"No", Taeyong shook his head, carefully examining his options. "I've discovered that it's impossible to chase after him".

"Maybe you should still try though".

Suddenly all Yuta and Sicheng related thoughts disappeared as his mind filled with images of Doyoung smiling, running, and talking. 'You're clueless', 'you're neither the first nor the last one to get his heart broken', and finally, 'I've decided that I'm going to help you!'. It finally made sense; why he was adamant on helping him, why his smile always vanished at the mention of Sicheng, why he tried to protect him at the bus stop, why he kept calling him dumb. 

"How do you catch a prey that is impossible to chase?", after putting two and two together, Taeyong's grin was victorious; now that he understood the situation perfectly, he knew exactly what to do.

"How?", Taeil, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea what was going on but he didn't really care enough to find out every detail either.

"You set a trap".

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note: I finished another chapter, would you look at that!

I also read a comment that said the whole Doyoung-Yuta-Sicheng situation was confusing so let me explain: I was referring to the members' real roommates in their dorms. Yuta, SIcheng and Doyoung used to share a room but then Doyoung switched rooms with Mark and Yuta actually called him a traitor on a radio show. I thought it was hilarious so I decided to include it and in addition, Taeyong and Taeil are also roommates irl!

Hope that cleared things up, comments, subs and upvotes are greatly appreciated!