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"Yongguk, don't." 

The addressed stopped what he was doing halfway and turned around, fist in mid-air. If it were any other voice, he would've been ready to punch them so hard their descendants would come out with readily concave faces, but he knew who it was and therefore had no choice but to let go of the collar that was currently scrunched up in his fist and stand up. A quiet cough broke the momentary silence and their attention landed on the boy who was now currently lying feebly in between Yongguk's feet.

"The you still lying there for?" Quick as a flash, the boy who had been pinned to the ground under Yongguk's weight just a few seconds ago was scrambling out the door, miraculously with minimal bruises (or perhaps some were yet to form). 

Yongguk faced the smaller, and pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. He lifted his chin as a half-assed greeting as the other stood there looking exasperated.

"Can you just spend one day-- just one day-- without doing something that could get you suspended or expelled, honestly?" 

"Hey, not my fault kids these days don't have respect." 

"He's in your year! You're not any less of a kid than he is, if that's what you wanna call him." Daehyun rubbed his forehead, "Look can you just stay out of trouble for two seconds? I have a math test tomorrow and I'm trying to study but I can't do that if people are interrupting me by dragging me out of the library every couple of minutes just because you are threatening to end the life of someone who looked at you funny!"

Yongguk attempted to stifle his obvious laughter at a stressed and frantic Daehyun flailing about in front of him.

"Okay?!"

"Okay!" Yongguk responded, throwing his hands up in defeat, "Geez, don't get your in knot." 

"I don't ing wear ." Daehyun muttered as he pulled Yongguk out of the male toilets by his sleeves, ignoring the stares that followed. A glare from Yongguk thrown in their direction was enough to send them off running with their tails between their legs.

。。。。。。。。。。

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To: yongguk is amazing (((-:
[4:02pm, 24 September 2008]

Clearing?

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Daehyun contemplated changing the name in his contacts, the result of allowing Yongguk to play around with it when he had first bought the phone. But he finally decided against it.

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From: yongguk is amazing (((-:
[4:03pm, 24 September 2008]

-blank- 

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From: yongguk is amazing (((-:
[4:05pm, 24 September 2008]

oops. yeah k.

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。。。。。。。。。。

The second time they met was on the bark-covered floor of their elementary playground. Whoever decided that bark was a suitable cushion for kids falling off monkey bars and swings was obviously not thinking straight, because Daehyun found himself groaning in pain as an especially sharp piece of bark dug painfully into his back. 

"This swing is mine." It was an extremely petulant statement, but it was to be expected coming out of the mouth of a haughty second-grader, "Woo. Ji. Ho. Don't forget it."

It was the third day of elementary and Daehyun had concluded that he was 101% done with this whole "school" thing. He had only been sitting on the swing and he wasn't even swinging, just literally sitting there and trying his best not to attract any unwanted attention. His plan, however fool-proof it may have seemed at the time, did not work. 

"S- sorry..." Daehyun scrunched his eyes up as he pushed himself up with tired arms.

"Yeah so don't-- AH!" 

There was the sound of another body landing on the ground not so far from him, and when he opened his eyes, his bully was now in the position that he himself was in not too long ago. 

"Really? Your swing?" The mysterious bullier of bullies sounded older than both of the two now on the ground, "I don't see '-faced ' written on it though?"

"What's your problem?" The boy spat back, despite his disadvantaged position on the ground.

"Your existence. Also, I don't like your hair. ing beat it, before I punch you so hard your mom's mom will feel it."

Daehyun watched the scene unfold in front of him in silence, not sure whether to be relieved that his bully was now hurrying away or be afraid that an even more dangerous person was now standing over him. 

"Hey. You okay? Remember me?"

He stared at the boy in front of him who was offering a hand and his face broke into a smile. Yongguk was two years ahead in terms of schooling, so of course, when Yongguk left the kindergarten, Daehyun still had another two more years to go before he could join him in elementary-- not that they planned to even end up in the same school. He likes to think that it was fate.

"Hi Yongguk." Daehyun said softly as he took the hand, calloused from monkey bars and flying foxes and concrete and footballs.

"We're in the same school now! Awesome!" Yongguk exclaimed all too eagerly as he claps Daehyun on the back, all too roughly, "come with me!" 

And for the second time, Daehyun's heart flutters happily with those words as a hand takes his own and leads him away.

。。。。。。。。。。

The pencil spins between his fingers as he chews his lip and stares at the godforsaken piece of paper mocking him on his desk. Daehyun ponders how great it would be to have superpowers to help him with this predicament. For example, time-control, he could stop time right there and have all the time in the world to go and grab his book or whatever and write down all the answers for this stupid test and then resume time when he was finished. Or, he thinks, if he had the power to read minds then he could read the mind of that guy who sits directly in front of the teacher and absorbs all the knowledge like a sponge. 

He leans on the back two legs of his chair and thinks about more superpowers like telekinesis that could aid him in his current time of need, and his eyes briefly leave the piece of paper just in time to see Yongguk (surprise surprise) skipping class and loitering around outside his classroom. The boy outside mouths something and Daehyun drops back forward, squinting as if that would help translate Yongguk's miming. He shoots back a confused look and mouths "what" and Yongguk waves his hand around in dismissal. The conversation was headed nowhere. Daehyun is about to reply with some hand gestures of his own when,

"Jung. Dae. Hyun. Is there a problem?" The steely voice of his math teacher cuts through the air as she peers at him over her horn-rimmed glasses and his head snaps to the front of the room.

"No sir-- MA'AM." He says the last part especially loud and he's sure the teacher caught his mistake, "I mean...ma'am..." He struggles to hide a smirk when a few sniggers echo around the class before they are harshly shushed. Daehyun shudders when she shoots him one more deathly (and dare he say ugly) glare before clapping her hands, signalling the end of the period.

"Okay time's up. Everyone pass your papers to the front." 

And Daehyun groans when he looks down and realizes that he spent so much time thinking about superpowers and playing some ty nonsensical version of charades with his idiot best friend that he had only managed to complete 5 out of 20 questions, and most likely incorrectly. He reluctantly hands his test paper to the girl in front of him and lets out a sound of pure and utter despair as he drops his head onto his desk with a loud thonk.

Yongguk tries to cheer him up and takes him to the bubble tea shop a mere ten minute walk from the school. It also doubles as an apology for distracting him during the test.

"I ed up." Daehyun mumbles miserably into the table, untouched bubble tea in the hand of his outstretched arm. He's splayed across the metal table and Yongguk watches in amusement as Daehyun sobs about his math test that probably didn't count for anything.

"I only did five questions, Yongguk, five!" And as if to emphasise his failure, he lets go of his bubble tea for a short moment to wave his hand in the air and it results in him knocking over his drink. The lavender milk-tea spills messily onto the table, though Daehyun couldn't care less, even when the worker at the store sees him moping and making a mess.

"Does the mark go into anything?" Yongguk asks off-handedly as his wipes the spill off the table with a tissue stolen from the neighbouring table.

"Hm?"

"Like, does it count for anything or go into your report or..." Daehyun thinks for a moment then goes back to .

"Even if it doesn't...if my grades don't improve, Mrs. Choi is going to force me into a supplementary class, or she might get me a tutor. One who smells of...saliva and-- and...spits when he talks and has dandruff falling off a badly-styled bowl-cut with every jerk and awkward shake of his oversized head..." Daehyun's hands are out in front of him, displaying the (abnormally large) approximate size of the head of the tutor of his nightmares and Yongguk is staring at him with what looks like a mixture of pity and confusion. Daehyun's head drops back onto the table and Yongguk winces, wondering if it will leave a mark.

"Help me, please." Daehyun whimpers softly into the table (which seems to be Daehyun's main partner in the conversation).

"You must be pretty horrible at math if you have to get me to tutor you."

"You weren't my first choice you know, it's just that Youngjae is apparently 'too busy' to tutor me. But you know," Daehyun takes the first sip of his drink in the twenty minutes they've been here, "I think he's just making excuses because he doesn't want to tutor someone whose brain might just as well be a rock. A non-existent rock."

The amount of self-loathing and self-pity hanging in the hair is just too much for Yongguk at this point.

"Ugh." He takes a sip of his own drink-- jasmine flavoured-- and gives in, "Fine. How bad could it be?"

"Oh friend..." Daehyun says almost wistfully as he rests his cheek on the back of his hand, "you've completely underestimated my stupidity."

。。。。。。。。。。

"Where you heading off to so fast?" Daehyun sighs when he's met with a solid chest blocking his way.

"Off to your mom's obviously, douchebag." The other boy is slightly caught off-guard, but bounces back with a laugh.

"Hey, Jaehyo, look here our little Daehyunnie has finally grown a spine." Daehyun rolls his eyes.

"Can you guys just hop off my already? I mean, I've tolerated your for like, what, 5 years? I'd think by now you'd get the message that I'm not interested--"

"Little ."

"Hands off."

The sound of body slamming into metal suddenly echoes throughout the hall and people are turning to see the cause of the disruption. Jiho, now otherwise known as Zico, is pressed against the lockers and Yongguk is there, one hand on his collar and the other covering Zico's balled fist that had been aimed at Daehyun just seconds ago, not that Daehyun would know because he was too busy rolling his eyes and looking away to pay attention.

"Look, Yongguk, I appreciate this but really I can take care of myse--" 

"ing lay a finger on him I dare you." Daehyun sighs as Yongguk ignores him and Zico chuckles, an irritating sound that grates on Daehyun's ears.

"You again? What are you like some kind of bodyguard now or what?"

"No but I might as well be, so you ing watch it 'cause if I see you pulling this again you're gonna have a face full of bullets."

Zico roughly shoves Yongguk off and tugs sharply on his uniform, straightening himself out.

"Whatever. See ya later, nancy boy."

Yongguk's eyes don't leave Zico and his little posse until they reach the exit.

"That piece of ."

"Yongguk, you don't always have to come to my rescue you know that."

"Yeah," Yongguk finally brings his gaze to the boy beside him now fishing a drink bottle out of his backpack brought to his front, "but I'd prefer you leaving those scraps without bruises or injuries."

Daehyun stares at him, cheeks puffed out and mouth full of water. There's something about the way Yongguk's eyes drop to the ground and they lose their usual playful glint. They walk down the corridor together, ignoring the many pairs of eyes now trained on them. They barely make it out the door before Youngjae pounces out from nowhere and throws himself at Daehyun and paws at his face and his arms, checking for bruises or marks.

"Are you okay?! I heard some people talking about Zico throwing punches at you but--"

"I'm fine." Daehyun laughs at how motherly Youngjae is being and pats his shoulder assuringly, "I had my courageous knight in shining armour to save me."

He points to Yongguk who, Youngjae notes, for some reason is beginning to develop a bit of pinky colouration on his face and he assumes it's due to the cheesy title he had been given. Youngjae slowly, and hopefully subtly, steps away because he and the other students know that Yongguk was dangerously easy to provoke (in fact, he heard that Yongguk had once beaten someone up and left them lying on the ground of the first floor boys' bathroom because he "didn't like the way he peed"). And although Youngjae didn't pee funny (he likes to think he doesn't anyway), he didn't want to test the waters.

"A-anyways, I'll see you later, Dae." And Youngjae flees after patting Daehyun lightly on the arm.

"Am I really that scary?" Yongguk asks as they continue walking.

"Trust me, you are beyond scary."

。。。。。。。。。。

On the days they should be studying, they end up sprawled on the floor of Yongguk's small bedroom, Daehyun with his head heavy on the other's lap. If Yongguk's mother thought it was going to be fine putting a tv and a gaming console in her son's room, well obviously, she thought wrong.

They had been playing co-op but Yongguk noticed that for some reason Daehyun was having a bit of trouble surviving and Yongguk was getting sick of having to revive him every minute. That was, until he heard a soft snore and looked over to see Daehyun dozing off in the middle of a mission and he had the urge to wring his neck because who ever sleeps while playing video-games?

Daehyun had sleepily adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, at Yongguk's expense.

It was in that moment that, for perhaps the first time in the whole span of their friendship, Yongguk admitted to himself that Daehyun was surprisingly pretty. Of course, it was a sudden thought and it caught him off-guard. It isn't the typical kind of pretty that Yongguk had usually associated with the word, because usually he had associated that word with girls and flowers (and guns). But no, Daehyun held a different kind of pretty. Yongguk does admit, his blond hair is surprisingly soft despite being bleached too many times to even warrant this level of softness, but it wasn't like Daehyun's individual features were exuding this prettiness and it was definitely more than just those features working together to paint this pretty picture (not exactly a masterpiece) that was Jung Daehyun. Soft breaths and soft hair and soft skin and soft lips-- this wasn't Daehyun. Daehyun was snarky, loud and perhaps a bit annoying and whiny at times-- anything but soft. But here he was was, lying with his head on his lap and he was nice and warm and perfectly, perfectly soft.

Perhaps this was the prettiness that Yongguk saw. The Daehyun that only he was allowed to see and hold and admire. He wanted it to stay that way. Only him.

No, it isn't the typical kind of pretty that Yongguk usually associated with the word, but yes, it is enough to make Yongguk's heart flit around like a bird with a broken wing. It is enough to make Yongguk want to brush stray strands of hair from his face and lean forward and--

"Yongguk!"

His head shot up and his hand whacked Daehyun's face, on accident of course. Daehyun groaned as he finally awoke from his thirty minute nap and scrunched his eyes up,

"What the , you didn't have to hit me in the face to wake me up you ..." he mumbled as he stretched, the moan that accompanied sounding way, way more sensual to Yongguk than it should've, "you could've just nudged me, or you know, seeing as I'm a total sleeping beauty, you could've kissed me awake."

Yongguk scoffs.

"You're ing disgusting." 

。。。。。。。。。。

The sky was dark purple by the time Yongguk dropped him off at his own place after another unsuccessful study session with a "study hard". He stepped into his house and as usual, it was completely silent. His father is, thankfully, sleeping on the couch with his prescribed bottle of sleeping pills beside him.

The house looked the same as he'd left it, save for the few plates left on different tables such as the one in front of the tv and on the kitchen island, some still holding bits of last night's dinner. Before making his way to his room, he first collected all the plates and dropped them into the sink, telling himself that he'd do them first thing tomorrow morning.

There was nothing more welcoming than the way his blanket hugged his body, the way his pillow cradled his head ever so softly and he loved the way the silence allowed him to clear his mind, to process the events that happened, to think about things that seemed otherwise insignificant. To ask questions that perhaps nobody had the answer to.

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A/N: when I said that this would be the final chapter I lied. Not intentionally ㅠㅠ I had originally planned to just put the rest of the story into one big chapter as a huge oneshot but I decided to spilt the supposed-to-be-oneshot into two parts because everything just escalates so quickly and-- okay no spoilers but you guys would've probably been like woah there stop right there you are moving too fast you crazy so yeah )^:

I realised I said I'd update within 24 hours yeah I lied to you guys then too because it's been more than that. Idk by how much my math balls. 

Since I've figured out how to reply to comments (I'm such a bum) I will try to reply to all your adorable comments woOoOoO
Also, I've developed a fondness for emotes with noses :^D

(^:  ♥ goodnight good people!