The next few days of Jongin's life are blissfully uneventful, and blessedly uninterrupted by a certain crazy person. He actually manages to get some work done, it’s great.

In fact he hasn't seen him at all, not even from a distance. This is a good thing, definitely.

That's why he's so annoyed when he spots Kyungsoo waiting in his seat when he walks into the canteen in the morning. It’s like he's rendered three days’ worth of normalcy into nothing with one fleeting look.

When Jongin inspects his presence closer, Kyungsoo seems to be alternating between glaring at his friends- who also don't look too happy to see him-and watching the door.

And unfortunately it's too late to get out of here and hide, because Kyungsoo has seen him already.  Oh , now he's standing up and walking towards him. Jongin looks around frantically but there's nowhere he can possibly hide without Kyungsoo chasing after him, and hunting him down.

 And it’s already too late to get away anyway, as Kyungsoo is standing right in front of him. Upon closer inspection, he looks tired. Exhausted actually, huge purple bags under his eyes, and ruffled bed hair.

“Come with me,” Kyungsoo says, leaving no room for feasible rejection, and he takes hold of Jongin's mid forearm disconcertingly gently and leads him out into the corridor. Jongin honestly cannot fathom why he’s being nice (or at least not mean) now, when he’s been nothing but hostile before now.

Jongin leans his body away from Kyungsoo, still inexplicably afraid. But not really afraid, he doesn't know how to explain it. That's why it’s inexplicable, he guesses. Why is he going with him? Jongin doesn’t know.

 Kyungsoo's eyebrow tremors as he looks over his shoulder and registers Jongin’s unsavoury expression, then he directs another angry glare at the wall.

The hallway is still bustling with people trying to get to their first lesson, or to the canteen, and Kyungsoo appears to be nervous with people walking so close by so he drags Jongin -still lightly- across the foyer and outside. The carpark is busy and also fairly full of people. It looks like Kyungsoo's trying to find a place devoid of the populous but Jongin's not gonna help him solve that problem. The more people around the better. If there are witnesses he’s far less likely to do anything, right?

Kyungsoo's hand slips down his arm to his wrist, bordering on dangerously close to his hand as he's led towards the field on the edge of the school grounds. At this time of the day the grassy space is less likely to harbour the hundreds of people that swarm over it during lunch in the summer.

They reach a nice patch of grass that's not covered in litter, or dog from the people who live around here and seem to think that this is public property, and Kyungsoo sits down delicately, placing his bag beside him.

“Sit,” he says, letting go of Jongin, and giving him what looks like a choice, but feels more like a command. Jongin sits, but not too close. A good distance between them. And he makes sure he could probably get a good running start should Kyungsoo decide to do anything to him, even though he said he wouldn't. At least the grass isn't wet today,

“You think I'm crazy,” it’s not a question, and neither is Jongin's response,

“Yeah,” he mumbles. Kyungsoo sighs heavily and dramatically, yanking tufts of grass with a violent ripping sound and scattering the remains around him.

Another few minutes of Kyungsoo not saying anything, and all Jongin can think is I'm glad I don't have a lesson first thing.

The only thing Jongin can hear is the velcro noise of Kyungsoo uprooting innocent plant life, the undercurrent of student chatter has gone, which means first period has probably already started. He reaches into his pocket for his phone-this feat made unnecessarily awkward by being sat on the pocket containing the device- and checks the time.

Indeed, it is past the time when he should be snoozing. He doesn't get why he can't just sleep in if he has a free like anyone else does. If only there wasn’t just one bus that goes by where he lives. If he misses that he doesn't go to school that day, unless he can wrangle a lift from his mum.

That takes a lot of persuasion and begging, though, so he prefers not to.

He thinks that if this were anyone else, he'd start whistling obnoxiously to draw attention to the awkward silence in a way that might make the other person smile, but it isn't anyone else. It's Kyungsoo, so he just says,

“Did you want to talk to me..?” in a tone that implies that if this is not the case can I go now?

Kyungsoo looks at him, with eyes that for the first time don't scare him. It's the tiredness he noticed earlier. It's sapped most of the hostility from him, and now he just looks petulant.

“I was going to tell you...everything. But you already think I'm insane, and telling you will just. You won't believe me, ok?” Jongin wonders what it is he doesn't know. His brain supplies the usual answers, criminal? Mentally disabled? Traumatic childhood? He’s a fairy?

“Try me?” Jongin asks,

“I'd really rather not,” he scowls, and rips up another bunch of grass-there's not going to be any left at this rate- “but unfortunately, for both of us, I don't really have much of a choice,” his voice his a little high, and his intonation kinda song-song-y like a child complaining about something. It makes Kyungsoo seem just a bit more relatable.

“...well, what is it?” Jongin feels himself slowly relaxing in Kyungoo's presence- which is something he never suspected to be possible-but he can still remember the first time he met him.  First impressions make a difference.

“It's to do with..my parents. My family,” Kyungsoo says, facing away from him and making it harder for him to hear,

“Your family wants you to date me?” Jongin is bemused, what a weird concept. Kyungsoo bites his lip, and...is he smiling?

“Close enough,” he says,

“Why was that so hard?” Jongin speculates, and maybe Kyungsoo wouldn't actually be that bad a person to spend a bit of time with, “but I'm not going to date you by the way, your family is just gonna have to be disappointed,”

Kyungsoo shrugs, “Maybe when. If. You met them you'd understand.” he's stopped vandalising the scenery now, and instead is messing around with the unlock screen of his phone, “can I please be your friend, though? It would make my. My parents happy,” he mumbles,

“I don't know,” Jongin knows pretty much everything about his friends, and inviting a new one to the group would upset everything, wouldn't it? And if the person was Kyungsoo it would make everything that much worse, because everyone there has heard all about what Kyungsoo has done, and how Jongin felt about it. He’s like a whirlwind, or some other poetic simile that means he’s wrecked everything.

And they all saw him hide from him. If one of them decided to bring up that embarrassing story, it'd be pretty hard to explain. But then at the time he'd been convinced that Kyungsoo was out to get him. Actually it still hasn’t been confirmed that he isn’t: this could easily just be a front. Get him to relax, lull him into a false sense of security and then he’ll pounce.

He’s starting to sound stupid, even to himself.

“I guess I don't mind in principle, but only if you don't act like a lunatic ever again,”

Kyungsoo snorts, “No promises,”

Jongin smiles, this type of camaraderie unforeseen and uncomfortably comfortable. Kyungsoo lies back on the ground and closes his eyes, breathing deeply,

“Thank you. I know I scared you when I first met you but I was annoyed with my. Parents. For making me. Be friends with you. But you're not actually too bad a guy. I don't think I mind you after all, even though there’s all those rumours about you,”

“Excuse me? You're the one was acting like an asylum escapee,”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. You're never going to let that go, are you?”

“Nope” Jongin lies down next to him, after some hesitation, but still retaining a safe perameter, “How old are you, by the way? I've not seen you around school before,”

“Nah, you wouldn't have; I'm new. I'm a year older than you, I think, actually. You're seventeen, right?” Jongin nods, “yeah, I'm a year older. I, um, failed an exam or two at my last school, let’s just  say,” he sounds a bit embarrassed. Academics aren't for everyone, Jongin would know.

“What subjects are you taking here, then?”

“Uhh. Music tech, graphics. Um. And Maths.” he cringes at the last one, and Jongin guesses he doesn't really enjoy that one. Maybe he's not doing it by choice, maybe that's a parent-induced decision too.

“Graphics? Is that like drawing or what?” Jongin asks, inspecting the cloud cover for a gap. There aren't any, but there are a few thinner looking parts, and a lot of darker looking spots in the distance; it's likely to rain later on. His heart sinks: he’s going to have to walk home in that.

“...close enough,” Kyungsoo smirks, “what about you?”

“Science, maths and Law. You must be in a different class to me,”

“Yeah,”

Jongin keeps checking his phone during the time he spends with Kyungsoo, for when he has to leave to go to his first class. Most of their conversation is a little awkward, stilted, but Jongin thinks that's only to be expected when they've only just started spending time together. It’s sort of new, he doesn’t even talk all that much with his closest friends, except Sehun, and he's a lot busier than him anyway, helping at out a few extra-curricular clubs. He forgets which.

They have a minor squabble over whether or not being a music tech student makes Kyungsoo a good singer, but then Kyungsoo sings a few lines of his favourite song, and Jongin shuts up. He does have a pretty good voice, Jongin is forced to admit, and Kyungsoo lords it over him like a little kid.

Maybe this won't be such a hard friendship to maintain after all, Jongin thinks as he walks into school nearly an hour later.

--

i'm really far ahead, like ive written up to chpt 30, and im slightly excited for u guys to read that far XD hehe

next update.....boxing day? 

comment pleasseee. don't make me beg - oh wait