Jiyong found himself hanging out with Seunghyun more and more over the next three and a half weeks, even though there was at least four times Jiyong had lied to Seunghyun about the marks(like the bruise on his neck, and the scar on his cheek), but Jiyong tried to just ignore the strange look that temporarily crossed Seunghyun's face before he changed it.

 

Siwon still harrassed him brutally in his classes, but on the days Seunghyun was at school, Jiyong had a magic ability to lose Siwon. Mondays, and Tuesdays were days where Jiyong was either: beaten up for the five minutes Siwon had before going to play soccer, or harrassed verbally and made fun of consecutively until his eyes burned with tears, of course making it worse. 

 

Yet somehow, on the days when Seunghyun was at school, Siwon's friends seemed to have a need to distract him to the point of Jiyong finding an escape. It never occurred to Jiyong why this happened, instead he actually just thanked it,willing to take any amount of beatings to get those two days off, and to keep his secrets,well, secret. Even though it resumed on Friday as Seunghyun went home right before lunch, but Jiyong accepted that. He also spent that hour Seunghyun was on a break with him at the shop too. It was awkward for a while,spending so much time with the eightteen year old was strange to him, but Seunghyun always welcomed him with that warm,cat lipped smile he had. And whenever the convorsation was led down somewhere he didn't want to go,Seunghyun let off it and they changed topic. He did the same for whenever they were in the opposite position. It was, good. For the first time in a while, things were good.

 

It was a sunny Thursday with poofy clouds and a slight breeze. The two boys would meet by trees between the tennis courts and the math classrooms,just barely hidden to everything else in the school. Jiyong would get there first and wait, but that was because his class wasn't on the other side of the school like Seunghyun's, and he hurried to be hidden from Siwon, who was checking out some girl that Shindong thought was attractive when the bell rang. 

 

Jiyong scratched his head, blowing at the darkening blonde strands where his natural brown shown through lightly, and waited for Seunghyun.

 

Buzz. Buzz. Jiyong jumped slightly,startled someone was texting him. Who texted him at school? He checked his phone,lazily looking over the screen as he clicked to open the message from a number he didn't recognize. And then his blood ran cold. When did Siwon get his number? 

 

U hidng from me Jiyongie? Y dnt U come play with us now? I want to play with U.

 

Jiyong looked around, anywhere and everywhere. Siwon was no where in sight. He bit his lip,suddenly feeling like he might vomit the contents of his breakfast. Should he reply, or ignore it? If he ignored it, Siwon could continue texting him until he did reply, but if he replied, things could get worse! In the midst of his freakout, he didn't notice Seunghyun coming across the quad, even though he was still a good walk away. Jiyong pulled at his hair roughly, his mind going in many directions at once. 

 

I'm not hiding anywhere. Im at lunch. How did you get my number?

 

The blonde set his phone an arms length in front of him with the screen down as if the very device would latch out and try to strangle him. For all anyone knew, it might. Siwon might magically appear out of the phone and begin a new lesson on how Jiyong was inferior. The reply came quicker then Jiyong thought it would have. His phone rang the same moment Seunghyun called Jiyong's name as he was now roughly five meters away. Jiyong waved at him and then looked down to check the message.

 

Ur easy 2 figure out Jiyongie. Whos Ur friend?

 

That message sent chills down Jiyong's back. Was he watching him right  then? What would he do if Siwon started talking badly to Seunghyun? He was about to reply when footsteps appeared in front of him,and then the grass deapened to his left side where Seunghyun was now sitting. Jiyong almost dropped his phone into his lap when he looked up at the black haired male.

 

"Who you talking too?" He questioned, a friendly attempt at starting a conversation.

 

Jiyong laughed. "Nobody important, just Dami-Noona." He placed his phone on the opposite side of Seunghyun, slightly under his right leg.

 

Seunghyun sat back,leaning against the tree,his hair gently shaking as he nodded with a strange face. That one face he made strangely whenever Jiyong lied, but it changed quickly to a small crooked grin that left him unsure of how much was real. "Shouldn't she be classified as important? She is your sister after all,right?" 

 

Jiyong rolled his eyes,chuckling lightly as he hit Seunghyun's arm playfully. "You are too technical."

 

Seunghyun smirked, jumping forward to sit indian style,immediately meaning Jiyong had said something that he would regret most likely. With the way Seunghyun's brain worked, he had a feeling he would. "I am a car technition."

 

There was a brief silence, and then Jiyong fell over laughing with his hand over his mouth to be joined by a chuckling Seunghyun. Only Seunghyun did stupid things and put words together that were similar with much different meanings that somehow made him laugh. He began to mumble a jumble of letters that sounded similar to the way teens keyboard smashed for various reasons. "You are so-" Buzz. Buzz. Jiyong was cut off by the phone vibrating on the ground under him. 

 

Seunghyun looked at Jiyong, thinking nothing was wrong, but must have realized there was something wrong by the way Jiyong looked. When Jiyong picked up his phone,his hands were slightly unsteady,and if Seunghyun wasn't looking that hard, he would have missed the shaking. There was also a strange instant decrease of happiness as he picked it up to look at the message again with bangs over his eyes.

 

Were r U Jiyongie? Dnt U want to play? Do U want me to come 2 U?

 

Jiyong knew exactly what was going on. Siwon was going to resort to texting him crazy,scary, and mean messages to try and make everything worse. He texted back a quick message and dropped his phone into his lap again,looking up at a very unhappy Seunghyun. His face looked strict, and disappointed. His words made Jiyong's heart clench with pain. Why did he have such an effect on him?

 

"You're going to lie to me again, aren't you?" Seunghyun asked. The older's lips were set in a firm,dissatisfied line, and his eyes held an icy edge with his pained voice. It looked like something he would say to a girlfriend who was cheating on him,words, expression, and all. Why did Jiyong feel like he suddenly had a power over Seunghyun? There was no way someone as insignificant as Jiyong could make a difference to the life of the absoloutely worthwhile Seunghyun,right? Jiyong tried to assure himself of that constantly, but times like this, he had to wonder if maybe he did.

 

"I haven't lied to you." Jiyong grumbled back, looking at Seunghyun distastefully.

 

Seunghyun scoffed in response,running his hand through the long black strands on his head. For a moment, Jiyong wondered how soft his hair was; he fought to not reach out and touch his hair.

 

"I know when you lie, and you just did it again, just like you did when I asked who you were texting."

 

Jiyong shook his head, a heavy sigh coming from his lips. It surprised him that he didn't blow smoke with how obnoxious it was. "No, you don't. I don't lie to friends."

 

Seunghyun opened his mouth to retort, a very strange look coming over his face that Jiyong couldn't read. The look got Jiyong waiting to hear what he said.  Only Seunghyun knew what the face was created from and depicting, but he closed his mouth and rubbed his jaw twice. "Fine. Whatever Jiyong."

 

No, that wouldn't do. Now Jiyong was started, and it was going to be finished. Jiyong protested,"No. What were you about to say?" Buzz. Buzz. Jiyong felt horrified, and he knew that his strong appearance must have faltered as he was reminded of the one person who would always be above him. It was like Siwon had Jiyong on a string over a pool of lava, sometimes he would get really close to falling in, and sometimes he would be pulled up high enough so he didn't have to worry temporarily.

 

"Just answer your phone." 

 

Jiyong crossed his arms stubbornly,glaring at the man he had admired so much over his shoulder. "Tell me hyung."

 

Seunghyun took a breath. Jiyong was getting to him, it was obvious. Why, or how he wasn't sure, but Seunghyun was definitely thinking more things through, being careful. What was he so careful for? It was just Jiyong. No one special. Who cares if he got hurt,right?

 

"I'm not saying anything." He shrugged lazily against the tree pulling his knees up to put his arms on them,looking over towards the classrooms. A very prone habit he had, staring at paint when nervous or thinking things through, that Jiyong noticed. 

 

There was a sigh, and then moving over a space so he was directly in front of Seunghyun,sitting on his shins. "Seunghyun-sshi,what, were you going, to say?" His voice was angry,and his eyes were determined. The phrase was choppy as he said it between breaths. Jiyong was going to hear what was being held back if it killed him. Buzz. Buzz.

 

Now Seunghyun was grumbling lightly and looked at Jiyong. "Just answer your phone before I do for you. We'll talk about something else." 

 

Jiyong's eyes widened as he reached over and grabbed his phone hurriedly,and Seunghyun clapped his hands once, getting a confused look from the younger who momentarily forgot about the cellular device. Seunghyun pulled back his hands,biting at the skin on his left thumb before looking at him. Jiyong sat there, trying to pretend that he didn't just fall into a trap, but he knew. "See? How much more proof do you want Ji? First, you were shaking when you picked up your phone-"

 

"I was not!" The blonde tried to intervene to save himself,and there was a mock laugh as he heard the younger protest, but it didn't matter to him. Seunghyun already knew, and he replied to him before continuing his tirade.

 

"That's a lie! I saw it! And second, the moment I talk about grabbing your phone, you scramble for it. Not to mention the lies from before. Tell me something isn't wrong, that you are just fine, and so help me..." He paused,closing his eyes, and bringing his hand up to pinch his nose before looking at Jiyong with utter sincerity. Jiyong was completely frozen in everyway. There was no way he was going to move at all, even if he pleaded and begged to.

 

"I am not going to pity you, or yell at you if thats what you're so worried about. Hell, I don't know what I'll do, but I do want to help you. I want to be there for you, and I want to be your friend because you understand things, and your smart, and ugh, theres a lot of things I like about you Jiyong, but it feels like your pushing me away. Why can't you just let me try and help you?" Now Seunghyun was sitting indian style again with his forarms on his thighs. "Tell me I'm wrong, I dare you. And if I am, I'll bow and apologize all you want. But honestly, I'm just, I'm really worried."

 

Jiyong was stunned. He didn't move. He didn't speak. It was complete silence for a few moments. And then he began to cry like a child. It started out slow, just a strange, sad face that was decorated with a teardrop. Another fell after that, and then he collapsed in on himself and began to cry with ugly, annoying sounds running out of his mouth as he choked on his tears.

 

Seunghyun grabbed him quickly,pulling him next to him to crush him in an embrace. Jiyong laid against the broad male,crying into the soft material of Seunghyun's jacket, while the older held him and rubbed his back with one hand, and ran a hand through his hair with the other. It stayed like that a few seconds, but then Jiyong ended up clutching at the soft material as his head was buried in the collar of the older boy.

 

Buzz. Buzz.