Kyuhyun was smart. Not only book smart but also people smart. Lee Donghae intrigued him. The boy did nothing but annoy Hyukjae yet there were those little things that didn't make sense. Certain looks the popular guy was giving Hyuk. When Kyu saw one of those, he felt his heart ache. They were filled with so much sadness and desperation. Then the spider incident and the money. He had seen Donghae shove those bills into Hyuk's pocket the other day.

Kyu also noticed his best friend was spacing out a lot lately. The boy came to school looking exhausted, he was even more moody than usual. He also noticed that Donghae had noticed. Here and there a sudden worried glimpse had been seen on Hae's face. A tightening of a fist, a slight bite on the lower lip. Kyuhyun was sure. There was way more to Donghae and Hyukjae than people thought. That Sungmin guy knew more. That was obvious.

Kyu had decided to investigate a little more by following Donghae around from a safe distance. He saw the boy take a sudden stop. Kyu frowned and then he heard the girls.

'I've given some tainted food to Hyukjae, our plan will work for sure.' The first girl said with a smirk.

'Only if he eats it, that is.' The other girl said.

'It will work, you'll see!'

Donghae's eyes widened. The first girl was the one he had rejected a couple of days before and it seemed she was going to let Hyukjae suffer. Donghae didn't think any longer he just started running to the lunch room. Kyu followed him quickly.

As Donghae arrived he saw Hyuk with a tray filled with food. He ran towards the boy, grabbed the tray and started running.

'Hey!' Hyuk yelled but Hae just kept going. Hyuk started to run after him. Donghae noticed and panicked. He quickly started to shove the food into his mouth, barely chewed and swallowed it.

'Don't eat it!' Hyuk screamed as he saw what was happening but it was too late. Donghae suddenly stopped, swallowed the last bit and turned around with a smile.

'What the hell are you doing?' Hyuk yelled.

'Was hungry.'

'So you stole my food?' Hyuk hissed. He was worried. He knew the food had been tampered with. He had been thinking how he would get Donghae to eat it but the minute he saw the boy fork it down, an ill feeling in his stomach had appeared. He was worried. Donghae had eaten it all. What if... Tears were appearing in Hyuk's eyes.

Kyu leaned against a tree in exhaustion. He had followed the both of them. He was sure now, Donghae was protecting Hyuk. The question was why?

'Please don't cry.' Hae whispered to Hyuk. 'I-I'm sorry, I'll buy you food.'

'You idiot.' Hyuk cried. 'You keep taking stuff away from me!'

Hae froze, then he nodded. 'I'm sorry.' He turned around and left. He was a couple of feet further when his stomach started to act up.

Hyuk saw Hae clutch his stomach.

'Hae?'

'I'll talk to you later, see you at practice!' Hae tried to sound cheerful and quickly took off.

Hyuk reached out but dropped his hand. He sat himself down in the grass. A couple of seconds later Kyu joined him.

'Hi.' Kyu said.

'Hi.'

'Everything ok?'

Hyuk kept his head low.

'Was that Donghae I saw leaving?' Kyu tried again.

Hyuk sobbed.

'Hyuk?' Kyu quickly lifted Hyuk's face.

'H-he took m-my tray.' Hyuk said.

Kyu opened his mouth to explain but Hyuk continued.

'It was spiked.' Hyuk whispered.

'What?' Kyu said. He knew?

This girl that Donghae had rejected, came to me with a plan. She wanted Donghae to eat the food. And he just grabbed the tray and ate it all and...

'You knew?' Kyu gasped.

'What?'

'You knew the food was bad?'

'Y-yeah the girl...'

'Oh my god.' Kyu whispered.

'W-what?' Hyuk said.

'You are the idiot, Hyuk. Donghae overheard the girls and thought you were in danger, that's why he took your plate, you dumb .'  Kyu snarled as he got up and ran quickly after Donghae, leaving a shocked Hyuk behind. He found the boy bent over between some trees, hurling.

'Donghae.' Kyu said gently.

He saw the boy freeze. 'Let me be, please.'

'Don't worry, I won't do anything.' Kyu said softly as he rubbed Hae's back. As the boy started throwing up again he made sure to keep his hair back a bit and kept saying soothing things.

After a while, the nausea seemed to have settled a bit. A weak Hae shoved his phone to Kyu. 'Please call Sungmin, tell him to go to my coach and explain I won't be able to practice in an hour and possible not even in the match tonight.'

Kyu saw a tear run down Hae's face. He silently nodded, took the phone and searched for the number.

'Hae! Where have you been? Let's...' Sungmin's cheerful voice sounded through the phone.

'This is Kyuhyun. Donghae...'

'What have you done to Hae? Why do you have his phone? If you hurt him, I'll....'

'Shut up!' Kyu snarled.

Sungmin was shocked and involentarly did as he was told.

'Donghae is next to me, he ate something bad. He asked me to tell you to inform his coach he won't be able to join today.'

'Why would I trust anything you say?' Min sounded hostile.

'Sungmin' Kyu just said.

Min heard something close to desperation. 'Alright, but tell me where Hae is, please.'

'Don't worry, I'll take care of him.' Kyu said and ended the call.

'Thanks.' Hae whispered and then out.