“No, but, really, what happened,” Kevin interjects, and suddenly the warm, glowing feeling is gone.

Jongin didn't want to answer, not right away, but if he didn't they won't stop asking until he answers. He's not willing to put up with that indefinitely, but at least he has a lesson first thing today, so he can hold off at least until lunch time.

He shrugs, and smirks at them, not promising to tell them anything at all. The bell rings and he stands, leaving Kyungsoo with everyone shouting at him and he laughs again. Laughing is nice, he thinks, as he slips his hand into his pocket and glances around to make sure no-one saw it.

Class is much harder than he expects it to be, even with the worry from earlier. He's so behind he wonders if it's even worth attending lessons. Maybe he should just drop out from school entirely. They've moved on from what they were studying last. Jongin doesn't understand at least two thirds of what the teacher is saying, because it requires knowledge of the stuff he's missed.

The teacher calls him to have a chat once everyone is leaving, looking serious and morose,

“Jongin. I know you were ill, and you were unable to do a lot of the work we needed to cover, so I'm proposing you go to extra sessions during your free periods to catch up. I realise most of your teachers will be suggesting the same thing, so I suggest you sort out a timetable and organise when you can do what, ok?” the teacher looks encouraging, and maybe if Jongin puts in enough effort he can catch up with the others right now; he's only a month and a bit behind after all.

Jongin nods his head and promises to try and do something about it. The rest of his lessons by similarly, with him struggling to comprehend what the hell is going on, and making promises to the teachers to catch up, while simultaneously keeping his hand concealed beneath the desk.

Now he has to go and tell his friends about how his hand happened. Or the cover story for it at least, which entails wild dogs and stupidity and is probably going to get him little sympathy. He sighs.

At least nobody's properly seen his hand- should he even call it that? It's only like three fingers- yet. He pushes open the door to the canteen, slightly uncomfortable with how many people there are, looking instantly for his boyfriend. He hasn't been in a room with more than five people in since the accident, and this is a little overwhelming for him.

He doesn't see Kyungsoo, or Sehun, Kevin, or even Kevin's girlfriend at their usual table. Not that he knows who that is at the moment, having been missing for enough time for him to go through two of them. At least.

No, instead there's a bunch of first years, laughing hysterically like the young naïve children they are. Give it a few more months, Jongin thinks, then you'll be too busy revising to laugh.

Where is everyone? They can't be playing a practical joke on him can they? It's his first day back for god's sake, that would surely just be cruel. He can feel his heart-rate rising minutely, the whole situation reminds him of that feeling you get when you're a little child and you lose your parents in a supermarket or something.

“Jongin!” someone is calling his name, but he can't tell where it’s coming from. He slows down, rather than stopping in the middle of the traffic and looking like a moron, eyes flicking everywhere to see who it was trying to get his attention,

“Jongin, to your-l-left, yeah,” Jongin swivels, still feeling confused. Finally he spots everyone sat around a smaller table-some people are on the floor instead of chairs, and Jongin cringes because god knows what's been on these floors- with Kyungsoo waving at him, more enthusiastically than he's seen him at school...ever.

He feels like he's just been saved from falling off a cliff or something. He's never thought of himself as anxious before, and he wonders what brought this on. Maybe just the surplus people, he concludes, as he makes his way over to Kyungsoo and stands behind him awkwardly, hands in his front pocket clenched tightly. Kyungsoo pushes the chair back and pulls a whining Jongin onto his lap by his waist, making himself almost completely invisible to the others.

“You ok?” Kyungsoo asks, inclining his head up as much as he can from his position so Jongin can hear him,

“Mm. I have a lot -a lot- of catching up to do,” he mopes. Kyungsoo's arms wind around his waist tightening in sympathy. Jongin feels tired. Tired of people tired of working just tired. He wriggles slightly until Kyungsoo lets him go, then he slithers forward onto the floor, no longer caring about the potential germs of mashed up food, and rests his head sleepily on Kyungsoo's inner thigh. He doesn't know how, since this isn't exactly the most comfortable position, but somehow he manages to fall asleep like this.

-

He's awakened by the pleasant sensation of someone through his hair, and the harsh shouting of his name, and he stirs, rubbing his face into whatever the plush pillow underneath of him is. Hands grab his head and hold him still, and laughter above him makes him wake up properly,

“Not in public, honey,” Kyungsoo is covering his mouth with his hand, eyes shaped like half-moons. It is then that Jongin realises where his face was- Kyungsoo's crotch. He's right, that really isn't appropriate, and he recoils shyly much to the amusement of everyone watching them.

“Why did you wake me up? Is it the end of lunch?” Jongin yawns, and slumps forward, careful this time to avoid Kyungsoo's more intimate body parts. His legs aches from sitting on the floor for so long

“No, they wanted me to wake you up. So you could tell them about your injury. I swear I tried to shut them up, but they. You know what they're like,” Jongin groans, voice cracking several times on purpose, in pure irritation. He was asleep, those idiots.

“Do I have to?” Jongin rubs his eyes, and hits his numb thighs to get the blood flowing back again, and before Kyungsoo can reply, 'no, of course not,' Kevin butts in,

“Yes, you do. You have to tell us. You can't just go AWOL for a month and say nothing. And, of course, if you don't tell us we'll just assume it's something way worse than it actually is,”

“Kyungsoo?”

“Hm?”

“Can't you just tell them instead? I just want to sleep,” Jongin complains, slightly surprised nobody has told Kevin already anyway.

“Jongin just tell us, seriously,” Kevin says, miffed that Jongin is behaving like a spoiled child. Making absolutely certain his hand is still hidden-he doesn't want to show them until he has to, or at all if he can help it- before rotating stiffly to face them. They're all literally looking down on him as he's sat with his face level to the table, and even though he's known them for several years, it's pretty nerve-wracking. He feels Kyungsoo touch his hand to the back of his neck, and he closes his eyes to hide the fact that he's rolling them,

“Ugh, it’s not even that interesting: I was in the woods with Kyungsoo and we -I- got attacked by a dog, ok? Happy now?”

“And here I was hoping for some kind of nuclear explosion or something. Jongin you're so boring,” Kevin scoffs,

“Sorry?” Jongin doesn't know why he's apologising, but he supposes it's better than them smothering him with sympathy he doesn't actually want. He's about to try and go back to sleep again, but this time Sehun interrupts him,

“How's your hand doing? Last time I saw you it was all bandaged up,” he looks uncharacteristically sombre, considering he's usually a life-of-the-party sort of person,

“It's fine now,” he placates him, pushing it further into his pocket,

“May I see?” Sehun bites his lip, eyeing his twisted up hoody. Jongin shrugs, but doesn't move, “please?”

“Ugh.” Jongin scowls at him, furious at his own inability to say no to him. It's probably because he's usually an , and never normally cares about his wellbeing. Well, that's not true, but he does a damn good job of making it feel like it is. Jongin yanks his hand out of his pocket and shoves it onto Sehun's lap, below the table so the others can't see.

Sehun grimaces at it, eyebrows crinkling so much his eyes are almost invisible,

“Does it still hurt?” he asks, tentatively touching the shiny pink scar tissue. Jongin shrugs. It doesn't hurt that much anymore, but he probably stopped taking the painkillers before he should have, as it still hurts from time to time, without warning or provocation, “it looks really bad,” Sehun says grimly, and there it is, the sympathy he never wanted. He sighs,

“It's not as bad as it looks, really. I can still do stuff, it's just a bit, like, awkward. It's honestly not a big deal,” he downplays his wound, mostly because he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. Kyungsoo leans over him, so his mouth is next to his ear,

“It is a big deal, Jongin. You don't know how proud I am of you for dealing with-with this- on your own,” Jongin does his best, but he can't quite force the smile spreading on his face to stay hidden. His reverse head-butts his boyfriend, and whines as Kyungsoo loops his arms around his neck. Sehun laughs at him, and kicks his leg.

-

another fluffy filler-ish chapter omg istg it picks up in the next chapter honest

actually i might do a double update....because this one is ....yh

also Laurie it's not the end of the world <3 you can do it (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ )