He drums his fingers on his desk, taps his thigh with his other hand, bobs his foot up and down. Jongin feels ridiculously bored without Sehun being all high and mighty behind him. Of course, Kyungsoo's company is a great help, but they can only see each other for so long every day and math class is utterly intolerable without the occasional witty comment from his now-absent best friend. Besides the boredom, he's also full of worry. Sehun is in danger. He could be dead and Jongin wouldn't know because, goddammit, he's stuck here.

He taps his fingers faster.

The lunch bell rings after what seems like forever, and just seconds later Kyungsoo bounds in with two lunch boxes in hand. Jongin thanks his lucky stars; Kyungsoo had cooked for him.

The food is absolutely heavenly and he finishes it in minutes, making Kyungsoo beam at him. One of Kyungsoo's greatest joys is seeing his boyfriend eat food that he cooked. He likes to picture this often, only the daydreams take place four years in the future within a big, posh apartment in a rich city filled with them, Jongin's three dogs, and a single bedroom. 

He reddens at the thought and Jongin pecks him on the cheek as thanks. Sometimes, he doesn't understand what the short boy thinks about, but he looks awfully cute sitting there staring at Jongin with those big eyes and heart-shaped, pink lips. Kyungsoo blinks a couple times at the soft impact on his face; it had awoken him from his imagination. He looks at Jongin with a smile and Jongin gives him another peck, on the lips this time.

Jongin leans back with a crooked smirk, and sighs as he rests his elbow on the desktop. 

"What's wrong?" Kyungsoo asks. His boyfriend never sighs; he's much too uncaring for that.

"Nothing's wrong, I guess." He tries to wave it off.

"Thinking about Sehun?"

Jongin admits defeat. "Yeah."

Kyungsoo feels a twinge in his heart. He isn't one to get jealous easily, but Sehun is a different story. Jongin is unnaturally clingy to his friend, and Kyungsoo understands that. They've been together since early childhood; Kyungsoo is the newcomer. But there's still something odd about it and he's not sure how to feel about the two.

He hugs Jongin, who responds by wrapping his arms around Kyungsoo's waist and giving him a squeeze. "It'll be okay," Kyungsoo says. "He's just fine, I'm sure."

Jongin pulls back and kisses him a third time on the corner of his lips. "Thanks Soo, you're the best."

The bell rings and Kyungsoo reluctantly leaves Jongin to his thoughts again. The day passes slowly.

Sehun finds the time in the morning to brew his own coffee.

He's never done it often before, but quite likes the earthy aroma that fills the kitchen and the hot mug in his hand. He breathes in deeply before taking the first sip. The bitter taste washes over his tongue and down his throat, and he lets it sit before taking another swallow.

Dim light streams in through the window; the sky outside is too cloudy to allow any more sunlight flood the room. He sits at the "kitchen", a place set up for more of the casual cooking around the house (coffee, microwavable leftovers, etc.) The real cuisine magic happens in a separate part of the house where the chef and some staff are, but this room is a nice disguise. Marble-top counters, overly-complicated kitchen ware, a few bar-stools, one of which he sits upon now. He spins around nonchalantly with his foot, kicking the side of the table and taking in his coffee leisurely. He has a lot on his mind, some things he'd rather avoid thinking about, so he lets himself get lost in the scents of coffee beans and the sounds of the metal chair squeaking as he turns around...and around...and around....

He's joined by Tao, who walks in running his fingers through his hair and yawning at the same time. He's dressed in a wrinkled tee and sweatpants and as he opens his mouth to greet Sehun, he's interrupted by another yawn. He finally flaps his hand over his face, as if to wave away the fatigue, and says, "Good morning, Sehun."

"Good morning." He sets his cup down and ceases his turning. "Do you want a cup?" 

The question makes Tao stop in his tracks; he's still a little wary of Sehun's recent somewhat-friendly advancements. At least I don't hear any sarcasm. "Sure." He answers hesitantly. Sehun stands and grabs a mug from the cupboard. "I can do it myself, sir." 

"I'm pretty sure I already told you to stop calling me that." The night his ill health had acted up is still a bit blurry to him. He pours coffee for Tao anyway. 

"Sorry."

"It's fine." 

There's a steady silence as the two boys get used to this adjustment in their awkward relationship with each other. Of course, Sehun acknowledges that Tao's presence here is strictly business. His past hatred for him isn't completely gone, nor will the suspicion ever disappear, but it's starting to wither and disintegrate. He finds himself learning to accept him here in the manor. And Tao's opinion of Sehun is a mess of confusion and calculations. However, it's a growing opinion and he doesn't much mind the straightforward approach Sehun has to others. Tao moves his arm around Sehun to grab a pack of sugar from the counter and Sehun slides his body to the right as if he'd already known he was going to reach for it. Like a telepathic moment, almost, and two find themselves thinking it's a starting point. 

The silence becomes more comfortable.

Sehun returns to his red bar-stool, and Tao takes the one next to him with no complaint from Sehun. It's a pleasant and relaxed situation, one of those times that makes one think nothing could possibly go wrong with things the way they are now. They patiently take in their coffee and wait for Luhan to arrive for another lesson. 

The quiet atmosphere is suddenly disturbed by an obnoxiously loud vibration of Tao's phone, who pulls it out of his pocket and answers immediately. "Hello?" He gives Sehun this look that says I'll be right back. Sehun shrugs. It has nothing to do with him.

He returns to his coffee.

From the other room, he hears Tao urgently say, "This isn't exactly a good time." He's speaking in hushed angry tones, to an unidentifiable caller -- at least, unidentifiable at Sehun's distance. Tao replies with a, "Yeah, I get it." and "Can't we discuss this later?" and after a few more mhm's and uh-huh's, he hangs up and plops back down on the bar stool with a sigh. 

"Who was it?" Sehun asks rather passively.

"The 'agency', I guess you could call it."

Sehun nods and regards the boy curiously, his thoughts racing. The current setting he finds himself in is peculiar. There's Tao, who looks like he just got handed another task from work. And himself, questioning his own position in this scenario. It feels...homely? He's not sure.

He decides against asking any more questions, once again concluding that it's "none of his business" and finishes the rest of his coffee. Already, he can feel the caffeine building energy inside of him and his earlier sleepiness disappears. He's not used to this amount of caffeine intake; despite drinking canned coffee all the time at school, pure caffeine was a different story altogether. 

He hears Tao set down his mug, having cleared it of the dark liquid. Sehun takes the two cups and places them in sink just as the clock on the wall gives off eight beeps. Still another hour before Luhan comes.

With nothing else to do, Sehun decides to crack open his laptop, something he rarely uses. It's still sitting on the desk in his room, so he stands, stretches, and starts walking towards the stairs. Seconds in, he stops, hearing footsteps behind him. He turns to look at a placid Tao staring back at him.

"Is following me everywhere part of your job too?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Pretty much." Tao folds his arms and shrugs at him. Sehun, with no other argument to give him, sighs and continues up to his room. Tao stands in the doorway as Sehun grabs his laptop and stays behind him as the two return to the kitchen bar-stools.

He types in his password and opens up a window. Logging into his email takes a minute and he immediately begins deleting whatever spam he finds. He folds his arm and rests the side of his head against it with his elbow on the table. Through his peripheral vision, he sees Tao watching him with a bored expression as he leans against the counter top. Checking his email doesn't take long, unfortunately, and he shuts down the laptop after some while. Still half an hour left.

Sehun gives Tao a look, who shrugs his shoulders carelessly in reply, and without another word, the two head to the lounge where the lessons are to take place. Telepathy, Sehun thinks to himself and he almost laughs out loud at such a thought. There was no such thing as two people being in such sync that they'd be able to share thoughts with each other. They start flipping through their notebooks, comparing notes. Which was pointless because they'd already done this once and there was no way they'd have different notes. Luckily, Luhan arrives ten minutes early, before their boredom could fully settle in, and Tao jumps to get the door. Sehun stretches his legs on the couch (just until Tao comes back, he tells himself) and he hears Luhan greet Tao with a cheery, "Good morning, Tao!" He hears Tao reply with a low voice, "Good morning, Luhan" followed by the sound of the door closing. 

Sehun leans back in his seat and reverts back to his original seating position. Tao walks in and sits down to his right, and Luhan waves as he takes his chair. " 'Morning, Sehun." He smiles at him.

"Good morning, Luhan." His returning smile is polite.

They launch into their lesson immediately, beginning with going over homework ("Wow, you guys got everything right!" Luhan says happily) and then onto the actually teaching, afterwards going into practice problems and review ("You two are really quick learners." Luhan praises them.) They finish earlier than expected, Luhan having rapidly realized that Sehun and Tao catch onto concepts faster than your average student, and he lets them start the homework before it's even time for him to depart. Of course, then they finish the homework faster than he'd expected, to which Luhan can only laugh. "Amazing..." He says at the sound of their pencils dropping on the table (almost at the same time too). "I wish I was as amazing of a student..." His smile turns nostalgic, but it shifts back to his normal cheery one as he starts packing up his materials. He says a quick thank you before leaving, and Tao and Sehun are left to clean up the lounge again. What Luhan hadn't realized was that he'd taught right through the lunch break. Not that any of them had minded much, but Sehun starts to feel a little hungry. 

"Hungry yet?" Tao asks. Sehun widens his eyes as the word flies into his mind again. Telepathy, is the word. Two people so in sync that they share the same thoughts. He nods his head at the taller boy.

They arrive in the dining room to find Wu Yi Fan laying out dishes on the table. He glances up as the two walk in. "Your lessons are over, sir?" He says directly to Sehun. 

"Yes. These are for us, I presume." 

Yi Fan nods. "The kitchen staff noticed your lack of timeliness for your usual lunch rest. These were made earlier."

"I see. Send my apologies." 

"Of course." Wu Yi Fan leaves them with a short bow and Sehun drops into his usual chair. Tao takes the one across from him, like he has been for the past few days.

Tao notices Sehun's lack of movement and tugs at the tablecloth to get his attention. Sehun's head snaps up and Tao raises an eyebrow. "After you." He waves his hand at the elaborately planned meal in front of them.

"Right." Sehun mumbles and he digs in. 

Tao takes a second before eating anything himself. They're done with the food fairly quickly, and Sehun almost wants to bring up the option of the gaming room again when they suddenly hear the doorbell ring. Naturally, the both of them are still wary of anything suspicious, Tao being more wary than Sehun, to be honest, so they're slow to get up and answer the door. At this point in time, Sehun really doesn't think there's anything to be worried about. After all, threats like this to the family never last long and so why be cautious of something that's probably already over? He walks ahead of Tao and pulls the door open before the bodyguard can protest. Tao puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him, but he's too late.

Just like he'd suspected, it isn't an imminent danger, unless a puzzled Jongin counted. "Hey." He says to Sehun as he looks at the two boys at the door. Jongin's still in his school uniform and he feels a little out of place as he sees they're in much more casual attire. Even Jongin isn't quite sure why he's here. He'd almost instinctively walked next door and rang the doorbell, and before he'd known it, he was facing his two ex-classmates.

Once again, the idea of the gaming room flashes across Sehun's mind. More specifically, the idea that Tao actually has a chance of beating Jongin and the thought of someone Jongin's barely met beating him at his favorite video is way too amusing. Sehun has on a crooked grin before he's even said anything. "Hey. What's up?"

"Nothing." Jongin stretches the word. His eyes dart back and forth from Tao to Sehun and then to the hand on Sehun's shoulder. "Came to see if you were alright."

Sehun senses what Jongin must've been looking at, having felt the warmth on his shoulder. Tao also notices, and slides his hand off hurriedly. "Yeah. Missed me?" Sehun's eyes sparkle with the playful joke.

Joongin snorts and lightly punches his best friend's arm. Tao observes the exchange between the two companions quietly with little comprehension. Friendship and social interaction probably aren't his strong point. He also can't quite understand why Sehun seems to act so differently with Jongin than he does around the house. Meanwhile, Sehun voices his idea.

"Jongin, wanna play video games?"

Jongin hunches his shoulders and squints his eyes. "Sehun-ah, I really don't think we can beat that mod today--"

"Nah," Sehun shakes his head, "Let's just do battle mode."

"All right." Sehun opens the door wider for him to step in and closes it after him. When Jongin looks over at him, he has this secretive smile on, the one where a corner of his lip curls up, and it makes Jongin nervous thinking to himself, what is he planning? He gets an idea when Sehun asks him, "Hey, do you mind if Tao plays too?" They start towards the game room.

"No, that's cool." Behind them, Tao's eyes pop. He hadn't been expecting to be included in the activity. He's beyond confused at this point, that fog in his brain only clearing up when Sehun flings the controller at him and puts in the disc for Brawl. 

Jongin sees the motion and asks, "Brawl? We haven't played that in ages."

"If by ages, you mean like three months, then yes. And this time, you're going to tarnish that beautiful, unbeaten record of yours."

"Yeah right, as if you're ever gonna beat me." Jongin sprawls across the one-person couch, his long legs dangling over the armrest and his head on the other. 

"You're right. I'm not."

"Excuse me?" 

Tao falls back onto the second couch and Sehun, to everyone's surprise, claims the space next to him on the floor, using his couch as a backrest.  "Tao is."

Jongin's head turns at the speed of light to give an inquiring look at Sehun, but he doesn't want to say anything in case he offends Tao's supposedly-amazing-gaming-skills. The second surprise to everyone comes when Tao smirks and says, "I could give it a go."

"Oh then it's on." He clicks "PLAY" even though Sehun has the P1 controller. "Are we doing teams?"

Sehun scowls at Jongin's temporary hold of the P1 controls. "Hell no. Every man for himself."

"Alright then." He selects all the modes and presses "start". After that, all that could be heard was the sound of weapons, explosions, and battle cries from the TV and the furious slamming of buttons from the three of them.

The third surprise comes when Tao's character places first. Well, surprise from Jongin and satisfaction from Sehun. There's a stunned silence that ends when Sehun can't help but burst out laughing and Jongin mutters, "My record..." Eventually, even Jongin is laughing and clapping his hands, and Tao has a wide grin. It's minutes later before they're finally reduced to giggling hiccups, and Jongin keeps saying, "Amazing, amazing."

They play round after round, Jongin only managing to beat Tao once while Sehun starts keeping track. By the time it grows dark outside and the sun is retreating, Tao has won twelve times in a row and Jongin's lost his Brawl-pride.

"I better go." Jongin jumps off his seat and heads back to the entrance.

"Yeah." Sehun says. "You should come over again."

"As much as I'd love to ruin my reputation again by not trusting Tao's place in the virtual world," Sehun rolls his eyes at the exaggeration, "I can't. Midterms are coming, and teachers are piling us with a load of tests."

"It's cool. See you."

"Mhm. See you, Sehun-ah."

He leaves. When the door closes with a loud bang, Sehun finds himself wondering how many more days will he be left in this house with Tao? How many more days, or weeks, or even months spent in the sole company of his bodyguard? As lonely as it sounds, he certainly doesn't feel that way. What a puzzling sensation it brings him.

"Should we go eat dinner, Sehun?" Tao asks from behind him. The young master is still staring at the door. Tao wonders if something is perhaps wrong with him; he's suddenly so quiet. Sehun snaps out of his thoughts at the sound of his voice. 

"Yeah." He says, turning his head to look at Tao. Tao notices the glazed look in his eyes, and something else he can't quite put his finger on. "Let's go eat."

A/N Oh gosh, thank you everyone for all the views and subscribers and comments! OuO I assure you, all questions will be answered in time, eheh~

If you like my story, please comment, vote, and/or subscribe and it'd really encourage me to update faster! ^u^ I love you guys <3

Happy New Years everyone!! Best wishes to you in 2014!!