xvi. Benefits of a Thick Skull

You flinched as Jiyeon slapped you hard on the back, not holding a single ounce of strength back, before flashing you a grin, “Loosen up. This’ll be easy.”

It’ll be easy? To you, it would be anything but easy. What would? That would be the impending fight with Jiyeon and you against Kyung and Jaehyo. The impending fight that was now less than a few minutes from starting as you were all gathered here. And “all” was the correct term to use.

Each and every werewolf from the two respective packs was here.

U-kwon sat perched on a tree branch above the clearing along with Sungyeol. The two nudged each other, whispering about who they thought would win. Sungyeol was only hoping you wouldn’t get hurt and that Jaehyo would get socked hard, just once. Just enough so that he himself could feel it, the satisfaction of it, despite not doing it himself. U-kwon tossed down two apples from the ones he had gathered before leaving the house. They landed in Dongwoo’s hands who yelled a word of thanks before biting into one and giving the other to Hoya by his side as they leaned against the trunk of a tree together.

Taeil was squatted down between the two, resisting the urge to simply sit on the slightly snow covered ground. He rejected the offer from Hoya for the fruit he himself had just received though Dongwoo forced one on him promptly after by asking U-kwon to toss down another, to which he gave to him.

Sungjong and P.O., the two youngest of the wolves, were leaning together against the tree nearby as they both seemed to take pleasure in watching Jaehyo and Kyung lose. P.O. for comedic reasons and Sungjong for well, the same and yet quite different reasons altogether.

Woohyun, B-Bomb, and Myungsoo were together as well, whispering to each other and nodding to themselves, engaging in a conversation you were much too far away to hear. But, based off of the laughs and the smiles they had on their faces, it was hilarious. Even Myungsoo turned away to laugh once or twice, a rare sight that should be viewed much closer. You found it a shame you weren’t able to at the current point in time.

Woohyun caught you looking towards the three of them and his smile got wider as he waved from their place behind Kyung and Jaehyo’s current position, “Rooting for you Hyunjoo!” Jiyeon laughed at that, much too amused at how he went so cheesy in front of you when based off of her personal experience he may have been sweet but, he wasn’t so sickeningly sweet except for when he was with you.

And Sunggyu and Zico, these two were standing some distance apart from you and Jiyeon and Jaehyo and Kyung. They were the referees apparently, as Zico brought a whistle for the sheer fun of it.

“Let’s not waste anymore time, shall we?” Zico asked as he looked over to Sunggyu at his side, raising his whistle in his hand.

“Sounds good.” Sunggyu nodded before turning back to the four of you, his eyes glancing over each one of you before resting on you alone. And his lips quirked into a smile, only for a second, and your comfortable anxiousness ruled you once more. That is, until you flinched at the sound of Zico blowing his whistle.

Only to go falling right after as Jiyeon pushed you onto the ground that was covered in a thin layer of soft snow. The reason being that as soon as Zico put his mouth to the whistle, Jaehyo went rushing forward, heading right towards you.

“Cheater!” Jiyeon yelled at him from her retreated position a few meters away as he glared back, not at all pleased that she had foreseen his underhanded move beforehand. Whilst she was out of the line of fire, however, you were still getting over the backlash of hitting the ground that knocked the wind out of you no matter how soft the landing was.

Jaehyo used such a state to his advantage, as anyone would, and sent a low kick flinging towards you. You leaned back, rolling out of the danger zone as you gripped onto the snow underneath your bare fingers. And you both cursed and thanked the fact that you didn’t wear gloves today. Cursed because it was like dunking your hands into the artic ocean and thanked because it allowed you to more easily palm at the ground and gather it in your hands as a small idea dawned on you. An idea you utilized almost immediately as you balled your fist and swung it back before flinging at Jaehyo something of your own design.

A snowball.

A snowball that hit him squarely on the face.

And you heard the sound of Sungyeol boisterously laughing from above before he suddenly stopped, a gasp of surprise leaving his lips as he almost fell back off the branch he was sitting on and thus out of the tree if not for U-kwon catching him before he did.

While Jaehyo was disorientated and slightly stunned, still trying to process the fact that yes, he did just get hit with a snowball, you swung your feet under his own. You succeeded in effectively sending his foot twisting and his body thereafter slipping and falling down. You stumbled to get up, though you had to retreat back onto the ground almost immediately as Kyung threw a swift punch through the air where your head would have been had you continued to stand upright.

That was when a haired beauty came to your rescue. When Jiyeon sent her fist smacking right into Kyung’s cheek. He didn’t go down but he did stumble back. She leaned over you, reaching out her hand to you to help you up as she spoke words that didn’t sound all that great, “I have a plan.”

A plan, she says.

Already the plan seemed to be going downhill from the outset considering she had chosen you as her partner to fight against the duo of Kyung and Jaehyo. Both of whom didn’t like holding back.

Jaehyo had recovered within this time and came running towards the two of you with snow flakes hanging from the ends of his fringe.

Jiyeon pulled you up in one tug, disorienting you. “Let’s end this,” she told you as she bit down on her lower lip, a smile tugging at her lips at the thought of her plan, “quick and easy.”

Jaehyo cared neither for her whispered words nor for the movement of you as Jiyeon pushed you behind her, your own back on hers.

“Just go with it.” She whispered as she bared her face and clenched her teeth, no defensive backup to be found as Jaehyo reared back his fists and sent it socking her in the jaw. It didn’t hurt, something she couldn’t help but jeer at. He was holding back for her own benefit, not wanting to hurt her but still showing her he could if he had to. And this, this only served to prove to Jiyeon that her plan was foolproof.

Completely foolproof as she flexed her arms that were hooked through yours and spun around, sending you, whom had your back to her, appearing in front of Jaehyo instead, the force of her spin causing your legs to lift.

And that’s when you saw what she meant but “just going with it.” You let her give you the head start as your legs lifted higher and you took over as you aimed a kick at Jaehyo. He leaned back, avoiding it.

But, that wasn’t the end of it. Jiyeon continued to spin, to pivot on her heel, and she was in front of him again, raising her leg and sending it out to kick him right in the gut. He coughed as he hunched over, stumbling back a few steps. Jiyeon unhooked her arms from your own and walked over to him, putting a single finger to his head and pushing. Pushing as she pouted her lips, shaking her head back and forth as she tsked. Pushing him so that he fell over, his hand still clutching his stomach.

Zico’s whistle blew as various “ohs” and “ahs” escaped the werewolf crowd.

“Jaehyo’s down.” Sunggyu announced, knowing that if Jiyeon had been fighting seriously, then Jaehyo truly would have been put down for good just then.

So then, what was her plan? What was her plan that you figured out as she sent your body lifting from the ground? It was simple.

To work together. To work together to take down the two who didn’t seem to realize they themselves could.

Kyung was left now and while he had tried to grab you before you were able to go spinning from the ground via Jiyeon, he was too late. He was too late to do a thing for Jaehyo as right after Jiyeon unhooked her arms from yours, you sent your own fist towards him. He dodged the first one, just barely, but the second one he caught a hold of.

“If this lands you know,” he smirked, something that really, in this situation, pissed you off, “You’d be the one getting hurt.”

But then, a hand gripped down on his own, forcing him to let go of yours before pushing him back. It was Jiyeon’s hand. Jiyeon whom had already dealt with the easy task of knocking Jaehyo over with a single finger. “Let’s see who’ll be the one hurt in the end.” And she roundhouse kicked, and he dodged.

But, landing it wasn’t her intention in the first place. Not at all. Her intention was to leave him open. To leave him open and allow you to move past her and get at him. She expected a distraction at the most, for you to startle him so that she herself could move in. But, what you did next was the farthest from what she expected though it certainly worked just as well.

So, your fists weren’t strong enough. Your legs were fast but didn’t hit hard. But, there was one thing about you you could count on. The same thing that sent him under you that day last year in the fall. You closed in on the recovering Kyung, getting close.

Nose to nose.

The feeling of your rough breaths hitting his face.

And then, the feeling of your hard head ramming against his.

And there were the “ohs” and the “ahs” once more.

You had headbutted him and the regret was immediate, among other things. The pain was immediate for you and the shock was immediate for him. As you gripped down on your forehead, his eyes blinking multiple times as he took steps back in a daze, someone called for you.

“Hey, Hyunjoo.” You glanced at Jiyeon from your peripheral, your hand on your forehead, steadying yourself as your mind continued to spin. Though you were anything but in the right mind, you knew what that look in her eyes meant and you acted quickly as a single word left her lips, “Duck.”

You did just that.

You ducked and Jiyeon went running forward like a blur and what you felt next was her hands on your shoulders as she lifted herself off the ground, her body like a feather as she spun her lower body around, sending her left foot impacting right on Kyung’s temple, landing her kick this time. Delivering to Kyung’s temple an earth splitting blow that sent him to the ground like a glass vase in an earthquake, his head wobbling all the way down.

You felt her hands leave your shoulders as she settled herself back on the snowy ground. You stood up to meet her eyes, her eyes that were filled to the brim with excitement and pride and happiness and well, other overpowering feelings you couldn’t analyze due to your head that still felt as though it were trapped in the movie Twister.

“Hyunjoo and Jiyeon win.” Sunggyu announced and Zico blew the whistle right after.

And with that, you breathed a sigh of relief before spreading out your arms and falling back. Falling back onto the soft white blanket of snow beneath you. Jiyeon walked over to you, her face coming into view from above as she bent over at her waist, her hands on her knees, “Pretty exciting, huh? Knocks the wind right out of you.” Yeah, it did. Though maybe it was her push in the beginning that did that. Either way, you laughed at her words. A sound that was muffled out as the crunching of footsteps that sounded like a stampede on snow neared you.

“,” Kyung cursed as he peered over you, having crawled to you from where he himself fell over. His facial features were contorted into a look of worry you rarely, if ever, got to see, “And here I was trying to keep myself from going too far.”

Jaehyo arrived not even a second later, gathering snow in his hands before patting it down onto your forehead, cooling your head that felt like it had just exploded into a million tiny pieces as soon as it met Kyung’s own. He packed it on tightly, the cold ice soothing against your heated skin.

“What the hell?” Kyung cursed again as you felt his hands slip through yours, rubbing roughly against your own, “Do you just want Frostbite to stay over for dinner? Is he that charming?” You weakly laughed at that as you caught your breath, his hands continuing to rub against yours to warm them. It wasn’t long until the numbing sensation began to fade. Such things were the perks of being friends with werewolves during the wintertime in Springfield.

“Looks like I don’t have to do anything this time.” Taeil commented as he watched the two fret over you from a few feet away.

“I’d still like it if you did though.” Sungjong whispered in his ear, not all too sure of Kyung’s adeptness when it came to actually healing and not hurting people. Of course, Kyung overheard him. Everyone did.

“I’m doing a damn good job, thank you very much!” Kyung yelled back, before you felt him lift your hands up higher, “Look, the redness is almost gone!” He grumbled profanities as he went back to rubbing your hands, not liking that Sungjong so openly agitated him when it was usually the other way around.

Sungyeol, unlike Sungjong had with his seemingly reincarnated enemy from a past life, didn’t say a word as he stood behind Jaehyo, silently approving of his current actions though too prideful to say a thing. Or maybe too used to butting heads with the foxlike werewolf that he rather not change his attitude towards him so suddenly.

“Well, like you said,” P.O. spoke up, his words directed towards Jiyeon, “It was pretty exciting to watch.” She looked up at him and laughed once before slapping him on the back, hard. And you knew even he must have felt the power behind it as he squinted right as her palm impacted against his shoulder blade.

“Exciting doesn’t even begin to cover it.” U-kwon grinned as he remembered the look on Jaehyo’s expression one more time just as the snowball hit his face, “If only I brought a camera.” He looked down at you, the serene look on your face as you breathed slowly, your eyes barely open and your lips parted and then the silly stack of ice on your forehead put there by Jaehyo. And, he wished it again, that he brought a camera to capture this moment. But, it seemed as though the snapshot mode of his memory would have to suffice.

His thoughts weren’t far from what Woohyun was thinking as without hesitation, he pulled his phone out and snapped a picture, causing your own eyes to snap open.

“What? What was that?” You asked, disoriented now by the flash that blinded you momentarily.

“Nothing.” Woohyun shook his head innocently, knowing his tone gave him away, plus the laugh he stifled right after, but not caring for it anyway. He had found his new wallpaper.

“Hey, send it to me.” U-kwon nudged him, his eyes wide as he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that.

“Send what?” You asked as you peered up, trying to catch sight of what they were doing.

“Nothing.” B-bomb covered for him as he knelt down, patting down the snow on your forehead and causing you to blink with each pat, “Just relax.” The frown on your face caused a smile to form on his own.

You weren’t convinced of this “nothing” he spoke of as you sat up slowly, only a few flakes of snow falling from your forehead as you did so. What you found when you sat up was a Cheshire-like Dongwoo, a composed looking Hoya, and Myungsoo. Myungsoo whose lips weren’t smiling. No. But, there was that corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

He was smirking.

He was smirking and you reached up, pushing the snow off of your forehead as you gathered it in your hand and with a simple flick of your wrist, there went a snowball splattering on that unrealistically handsome face of his. That face that nature carved and nature now proceeded to mess up as he squinted, the snow sticking to his face. And he coughed once, the snow on his lips falling off in flakes. And so erupted the laughter of everyone once more, Dongwoo being the first to crack.

That was the end of the small versus fight. The end as Sunggyu concluded as he leaned over towards Zico, “It looks like we have some issues that need to be sorted out.”

And Zico replied with a cocky smile that didn’t match his troubled sounding words, “So, you noticed it too?”

He was there again this Friday, just like he was yesterday, sitting in front of you with his eyes stalking your every move. Every shift of your shoulders. Every turn of your head. Every jerk of your pencil as you scribbled down into your notebook. Every move tracked by him. The fact that this was all he was doing even today caused a question to tick into your mind. To tick like the ticking clock on the wall, your curiosity growing stronger with each tick, tick, tick.

Until, you cracked.

You drew your eyes upwards, blinking once. You saw briefly through the mesh of your eyelashes as you peered up at him that he blinked as well, mimicking your action.

“You’re not bored?” You whispered lowly, one of your eyebrows rising upwards on reflex. He didn’t answer with his voice that could dominate the room should he choose to use it. He didn’t answer vocally at all. He merely shook his head back and forth, denying the prospect that he could ever be bored. “Am I that entertaining?” You meant it as a joke. A joke to this male named Cha Hakyeon whom was someone you were okay with joking openly with. Someone you were somehow okay with stifling a laugh in front of as soon as you posed the question.

His response was a smile. A wry smile as he caught sight of you laughing, his eyes glowing that golden sheen under the rays of the morning sun that shone through the tall windows of the town’s library.

“What?”

Why had you questioned him? Why had you questioned that look? That smile? You didn’t know why. You just did it. You did it and you didn’t regret it.

“What what?” He repeated back, his smile still on his face.

You grimaced, disliking that he was messing with you, “You know what.”

“I know what what?” He said again and you stared at him blankly. Silence passed between the two of you. Silence passed as a crooked smile engrained itself in his features. Silence before a single tilt of his head, a single tilt to the left coupled with the raising of eyebrows and the shifting of feathery like silver hair, caused you to scoff and look away from him again.

You went back to your work, refusing to question him again. And you didn’t. He was the one who questioned you as without even realizing it, your eyes snuck a glance at him.

“What?”

There went his head tilting to the left again. There went his fluffed hair like sheep’s wool falling over his forehead again. And there went his lips again as they curled upwards, the insinuations held behind them a mystery. A mystery that made you all the more drawn to the male named Cha Hakyeon.

An interest he noticed and was in the process of taking advantage of.

“Hey.” You muttered as you pulled a seat up to his desk, your body’s soreness from yesterday hitting you only as you started to walk up the steps to the school’s front entrance. You wanted to simply sink onto his desk and bury your head into your arms. Maybe take a short nap. Maybe something longer than a nap considering there was still a long while until homeroom started.

Yet, because it was his desk, you couldn’t do any of these things. In fact, it took quite a lot out of you to even approach him first what with the sudden change in his attitude that made him unpredictable and put him at an undeniable advantage when it came to controlling the conversation you would have with him. Then, there was also the issue with the snowball yesterday, something he seemed to have gotten over but an issue that still could come up at any moment. But, it was also because of a range of other reasons you couldn’t put your finger on despite how anxious you knew they made you. 

His dark eyes locked with yours, shifting his gaze from his notebook, and he stared at you for a bit. He stared at you as he silently questioning why you would come to him without him having to do a single thing. Without having to lift a single finger. He had posed no teasing question. He had done no action of great interest. Yet, here you were. Here you were looking less and less confident by the second.

And honestly, it made him feel better. It made Kim Myungsoo feel better about everything. Everything that would remain a mystery to you and to everyone until much later.

He let his eyes fall from our own, drawing them back down to his notebook as he found the words to reply to your oh-so-casual-it-was-awkward greeting, “Is that headbutt from yesterday finally settling in, then?”

He was insinuating something and you weren’t too dense to realize what it was. He was insinuating that you had gone crazy from that headbutt you delivered to Kyung, for the second time since you met him by the way. Maybe you were a little crazy. Maybe you were more than a little crazy. You had to be to jokily say back, “Like you weren’t impressed with that.”

Though maybe he was the crazy one for responding so naturally without missing a beat?

“I was impressed. You put your thick skull to use for once.”

You sighed, resting your chin in the palm of your hands as you propped your elbow up onto his desk. He caught sight of it and his eyebrow lifted up in question of your newfound confidence. You didn’t see the small change in his facial expression as you replied to his statement, “I didn’t exactly come over here to be insulted.”

“It wasn’t an insult.” He reasoned simply, his tone amicable. Then again, if anyone else used that tone it would be taken as casual, indifferent, nonchalant, and the like adjectives. However, with Myungsoo, that tone was amicable. It was polite. It was cordial. And he kept it up even as he pondered out loud a question you rather not have to answer, “And, why did you come over?”

“Maybe I miss it?” You mused, you yourself questioning the reason, “The arguing. The name calling. The frustrations. Maybe, I miss it?”

Then, there he was, locking eyes with you again. As you watched him watch you, you counted. You counted how many times those eyelashes of his fluttered downwards. It was three. Three times. Three times in response to your ten or so. He was calm. He was calm in the face of you being anything but. He was calm as his lips started to move and it took you a moment to realize he was actually speaking, “Well then, aren’t you the weird one?”

Yes. You knew you were weird. Why else would you approach Myungsoo so? Maybe that’s why you approached him. Because you were irrefutably and without a doubt, weird.

But, while your weirdness and the absence of any real conversation between the two of you in a while definitely played into you approaching him, that’s not the real reason why. In fact, you knew exactly why.

It was because this was Myungsoo.

Myungsoo, who made you curious.

And curiosity had not killed the cat just yet.

You were promptly freaking out now. Promptly flipping out as you saw Dongwoo walk past you, joining Hoya and Taeil who both welcomed him to their side with open arms. You questioned if this was really happening. If you weren’t just imagining all of this. The series of bad events continued as Jiyeon departed from your side, the side she thought for sure she would end up being on, whilst giving you a sympathetic look before griping as soon as she joined them.

Who was them? Why were they all walking past you one by one?

Well, that was due to what Sunggyu and Zico announced not even ten minutes ago.

It was back.

Back with a vengeance.

Back because Sunggyu and Zico agreed that some issues needed to be sorted out. Issues regarding teamwork.

So, what was back?

“So then, that’s it. The teams are decided.” Zico clapped his hands beside you, quite pleased with himself despite your not so excited expression and the uncertainty of whether working together was even possible in some aspects in his “team.”

Again, what was back?

That’s right.

The team training exercise.

Seven people were on each side of the clearing in the forest on this slightly snowy day.

Who were the team leaders? None other than the werewolf leaders Sunggyu and Zico themselves.

Who got to chose first after winning a round of rock, paper, scissors, proverbially winning the right to decide the outcome of the entire training exercise? Zico.

Who did he, for some odd reason, chose first? Well, in his words, “Who else but Song Hyunjoo?”

Thus, you joined up with Zico, the “Red” team.

And Sunggyu, in response, picked someone who was quite surprised when he said, “Lee Taeil, you’re with me.”

Followed by even more confusing and unreasonable decisions by Zico and even more sensible decisions by Sunggyu.

And now you stood opposite a team that in some ways mimicked the same situation you faced last fall.

There, on the other team, the “Blue” team, stood leader Sunggyu, Jiyeon, Taeil, Hoya, Dongwoo, Woohyun, B-bomb, and U-kwon.

And your team? Well, could it even be called a team as even now two certain pairs of people were close to exchanging blows?

On your team, the “Red” team, stood leader Zico, P.O., Kyung, Sungjong, Jaehyo, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, and you.

And you couldn’t help but ask yourself what possessed Zico to ever decide on such a team.

And you couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen not tomorrow but next Saturday.

And that, those ill-boding thoughts, made you wish your exam week would never come to an end.

“I’m not doing this with you right now.”

It had been a long time.

“Doing what?”

Niel’s eyes narrowed into a glare as he looked on at his childhood best friend, Ricky, whose fluffed up black hair poked out from behind something purple, the item itself completely covering his face.

It had felt like forever.

“We’re supposed to be studying.” Niel growled as he leaned forward, the pen in his hand tapping onto the book in front of Ricky, the history textbook they had been studying until a few minutes ago. 

“Why study,” Ricky asked as he pulled the purple item in front of his face, a purple 3ds, down just enough to show his eyes coated in child-like excitement, “when we can play Fire Emblem?”

It had been far too long since you hung out with Ricky and Niel after school.

Well, it was more around seven o’ clock now. After Zico and Sunggyu made the big announcement about the team versus team exercise, you were able to come home early. And while you happened to be driving back, you spotted the two of them walking towards Ricky’s house, where you currently were. Since you actually had free time today, you wanted to spend it with them.

Ricky’s mom left earlier, leaving the house to the three of you, but not before she insisted on you staying over, something she said she had already gotten permission from your mother for. Apparently, Ricky’s mother and your own agreed to letting you stay over whenever. Which meant she must really like Ricky and Niel. A fact that made you quite proud. Swelled with pride even as you watched over the back of the couch as the two bickered at the round dining table right in front of you.

“I’m not playing Fire Emblem with you.” Niel said though only after taking a long pause as though he were contemplating the temptation that was playing the game instead of studying for history, a subject the three of you agreed to dislike together. Not because of the subject itself but because of the teacher, the same one that hated your guts.

“That’s a shame since I bought another copy for you too, considering it has multiplayer online capabilities.” He watched as Niel’s facial expression faltered for a moment, just as a hardcore fan of the game series’s expression should have, “But, I mean, whatever.” He shrugged his shoulders, a nonchalant pout of his lips that held behind it a smile that stretched from ear to ear. 

You couldn’t help but have the corner of your lips quirk as you saw Niel gulp down, his Adam’s apple bobbing once. Ricky was getting to him, as he had the ability to do to most anyone. At this point, it seemed as though Ricky decided to incorporate you into his plan to stop studying for tonight as he snuck a glance at you, his pout forming that smile that he had resisted to show moments before.

“Hyunjoo,” he purred as he stood up from his seat at the table, his legs carrying him around the couch towards you. He made sure to flash a few screenshots from the screen of his 3ds Niel’s way the entire time before he plopped down onto the couch next to you. “Want to play?”

You looked back at Niel who, despite looking quite disgruntled and just about ready to pummel Ricky due to his teasing, was starting to pack up his stuff. His stuff which included his own blue 3ds he took with him everywhere since Ricky always was prone to never bring his own and end up nagging at him about how bored he was during passing period. Who brings the game but not the portable game console for the game? Well, that would be Ricky.

“Where are you going?” You asked Niel as he was standing up, his backpack slung over his shoulder. He frowned in response, his eyes turning towards the ground, and you knew. You knew and you couldn’t help but smile as well now.

You knew Niel had given in.

“Where’s the game?” He asked, falling into Ricky’s trap. Falling and not caring one bit.

“My bookshelf in my room.” Ricky pointed without turning away from the screen on the 3ds in front of him as he mimicked a certain character’s high-pitched, husky voice, “Go, go get your precious.” Niel pivoted on his heel, about to do just that when you couldn’t help but voice out the sudden feeling that washed over you. The guilt that you hadn’t been around to watch these scenes play out every day. To be a part of them every day.

“I’m sorry I don’t hang out with you guys as much anymore.”

Niel stopped in his tracks and turned towards you, his eyebrows furrowed downwards as though he didn’t understand your apology. As though he understood you had a reason for it and wasn’t going to put blame on you or criticize you for it. And in truth, that’s exactly how he felt. Ricky, however, was his usual self as he answered back.

“Well, you’re not forgiven.” He shrugged, his eyes not even glancing your way. You heard Niel scoff from behind you and it felt like you were transported back into the past. The past where these two were your afternoon and night. These two who had become your best friends without even trying. They were simply themselves and that was enough. That was enough to make you want to spend every afternoon and night with them, loneliness nowhere to be found.

“I missed you guys.” You sighed as the words left your lips, the bottled up words you hadn’t said until now because you of the guilt you had towards them. The words that you felt they needed to hear because they were true. Completely and utterly true.

“Weirdo.” Ricky said out loud before lifting his feet from the ground, swinging them onto the couch, and laying down, his head resting on your lap. He still held his 3ds in front of him, his eyes darting this way and that as the sounds of what you assumed were victory came out of it’s small speakers, “If you miss us, tell your boy toys to get to steppin’.”

You rolled your eyes as his choice of words though still, your smile remained. It remained as you lifted your hips upwards, causing his head to roll off of your legs and his body to follow. And thus Ricky was on the floor, a place Niel found quite appropriate for this inappropriate friend of his considering how often he ended up on it.

Ricky shrugged again, not at all affected by your rejection of the idea of using your lap as a pillow.

“That’s cool, I can play down here too.”

You saw Niel shake his head out of the corner of your eyes, “I’ll go get my precious now.” And with that, he ran up the stairs before depositing his backpack in Ricky’s room and searching through the contents of his bookcase.

And with that, you were reminded why these guys were your best friends of the human variety.

“Cha Hakyeon.” Sunny called out to him, knowing full well he was attempting to escape up the stairs of the house. She heard his footsteps pause on the stairs and the shifting of weight as he turned around, his eyes now looking at her as he stood over the railing.

“Yes?” He asked, his tone one of absolute ignorance. Absolutely faked ignorance. She knew where he had been this morning. For two hours so early in the morning she hadn’t fully waken up yet, she knew who he was with. And she, perhaps slightly affected by the criticism she received from the Elite Enforcers who shared the same image, was not going to passively put up with his behavior anymore.

“Don’t make me tell you again.” She snarled, her upper lip curling in anger as she continued to stare forward at the flashing television screen in front of her. He had already made contact so soon, too soon, but he could still withdraw. He could still pull away so that things remained as they were, going down the course they were. A course he was supposed to enter in as a factor much farther down than where he was entering now.

Whilst she had orders, obligations, and the like all holding her back, all leading to her having to ring him in, he didn’t. He didn’t and thus did not care for her own. Even if he did, it was not in his personality to care about the consequences of his actions.

The next words that flowed from his lips only affirmed this fact about his personality.

“I’m not going to make you do anything. You’re just going to have a volatile reaction to whatever it is I do.”

A/N:

The author's note today may be shorter than usual due to the length of this chapter? Maybe? Maybe not? We'll see. 

Anyway, do any of you know about the new Fire Emblem: Awakening game that came out for the 3ds? I mean, it sold out like everywhere and UGH I wanted one. I'm a hardcore fan of the series and UGH UGH UGH. But then, my mom surprised me with it and now I'm all AH because I have it and I'm just all fluffy and gushy like a marshmallow filled with happiness. I love you Mama! Ahem, so like I was saying, Fire Emblem, great game series, I love it, I added it in here, deal with it. 

What else now? Um, oh yeah! Go here. Click on that word "here." Seriously. I mean, you don't have to. But, I mean, I want you to. And if I want you to then that means it's something worth looking at and you should check it out and click on it and stuff, you know? Come on, you know you want to~

Now, about this chapter. It turned out really long. I can't even understand why because in the beginning I was thinking, "Hmm, this will probably be a short chapter even with the fight scene. Oh well." And then, it turned out like this and whoa. That's all I have to say. Whoa. So, since it was so long, here's a recap. Jiyeon/Hyunjoo vs. Kyung/Jaehyo fight, N Scene, Myungsoo Scene (been a long times since one of those), Deciding of the Teams scene, Ricky/Niel Scene, and a Sunny/N Scene to close it up. 

That's. A. Lot. Of. Scenes. 

Here's a promise for the next chapter, another N scene followed up by exam week and perhaps the start of the team training exercise? 

So, it seems it turned out long in the end.