“Holy .”

“I know, right?”

“Kim Jongdae, at a club.”

“Who knew he could sing like that?”

I do, Sehun wants to say. I knew. He sings to me when he thinks I’m asleep. The lyrics are always about a sweet dream.

His time is up so Jongdae bows before jogging down the stairs and grinning at the same tall man who went into Jongdae’s house a while ago. Sehun looks away.

Yixing grunts and taps Tao’s shoulder. “Isn’t that Yifan and his friends?”

Sehun perks up and asks, “You know them?”

“Yeah, Yifan, the giant, runs a music store. Me and Tao used to go there a lot to see new releases and stuff. He’s a pretty chill guy. Not a lot of fun, though. He and his friends think a ‘good time’ is going to sing karaoke or eating out. It’s weird seeing him in a club,” Yixing explains.

“Not as weird as seeing Jongdae in a club,” Tao says, frowning.

The four boys stand there for a few seconds, thinking, before Jongin breaks the silence.

“Well, I’m out to get chicks. Have fun with the .” He salutes before sauntering over to a beast with a big chest and microscopic shorts. The spell is broken and Tao drags Yixing to the bar.

Sehun is left standing by himself in the middle of a wild crowd, watching silently as a ring of boys surround Jongdae, laughing and ruffling his brown hair.

Brown? Jongdae dyed his hair? How did Sehun not notice this before?

“Hello, sweetie,” someone purrs, and he turns to find a girl rubbing up against him.

This is familiar territory, this is where he can forget about Jongdae, so Sehun smirks back at her and leans down to take her bottom lip between his teeth.

Twenty feet away, his best friend’s heart breaks.

“You didn’t think he was going to be an angel, did you?” Yifan sighs.

Jongdae doesn’t answer. In his head, images of Sehun and that girl play endlessly in a chaotic loop. His fingers digging into the small of her back, his teeth on her collarbone, the way they stumbled out of the club’s doors and didn’t return.

Minseok shifts in the passenger seat (he refused to drive the van so he’s riding in Yifan’s car this time, sentencing Luhan to deal with the others) to peer at Jongdae.

“Hey, you alright?”

Obviously not is the reply Jongdae wants to scream back but he keeps his mouth shut. Yifan and Minseok, along with the rest of the employees, are just trying to look out for him in the way they know how and Jongdae appreciates that, no matter how frustrated he feels.

“Maybe he picked up some tricks from his crazy cousin in Siberia,” Yifan says. Jongdae knows he’s probably right. Sehun never really went into detail about his summer and now it’s obvious why.

Jongdae ends up staying the night at Minseok’s house. His parents don’t call.

The night before the first day of school is quiet.

Usually Jongdae would be sleeping over, lying in the darkness and wondering out loud if Jinki actually got a haircut over the summer or if Taeyeon will put on too much mascara again to flirt with the young male teachers. Usually they would sit side by side, elbows bumping into each other as they compare schedules.

But this year Sehun finds himself on the phone with a person he thought he would never associate himself with.

“You think I should ask Soojung out again?”

“...didn’t she totally reject you last year?”

“You never know, she might have fallen for me.”

Sehun laughs. “She hasn’t seen you all summer.”

“It’s hard to forget a face like mine. I bet she’s into me now.”

“She spit on your ‘unforgettable’ face, though.”

“ you, Sehun.”

Sehun cracks up as Jongin ends the call. He’s always so sensitive when it comes to Soojung even though Jongin’s probably hooked up with like thirty girls in the past three months. Sehun doesn’t really understand how Jongin can keep running back to Soojung, but he guesses that love makes you do irrational things.

He sets his alarm clock and slips easily into sleep.

Jongdae’s fingers drum on his smartphone’s screen. He doesn’t know what he’s waiting for.

Sehun, maybe.

Jongdae knew he had it bad but he never knew his feelings would suffocate him.

It’s always been Sehun and Jongdae, Jongdae and Sehun. They’re always together and Jongdae feels empty and lost without him (as dramatic as that sounds).

But Sehun is unrecognizable now.

He’s with Jongin, the one person they swore never to become, the one whose friend broke Sehun’s ankle. The one who took Sehun away.

But it’s not Jongin’s fault, Jongdae knows that. Only Sehun has the ability to change and decide who he is. Jongdae just wants someone to blame and he hates the thought of blaming his best friend. Although, Sehun’s not really his best friend anymore.

They’re perfect strangers.

Lunch.

The day had gone surprisingly well. Jongdae hadn’t caught sight of Sehun at all, even though they walk to school together (he probably took the bus with Jongin), and the younger boy wasn’t in any of his classes so far. Jongdae was able to breathe easy.

But lunchtime. Where is he going to sit? Who is he going to eat with?

Sehun’s sitting at Jongin’s table and everyone there is obviously snickering at him, so that’s definitely not an option.

He doesn’t want to sit by himself. People will start bothering him about his ual orientation if he’s alone so Jongdae turns on his heel and walks away from the cafeteria.

Maybe I can go into a corner of the library, maybe I can-

“Jongdae?”

The addressed student turns around.

“Oh, hi, Mr Kim.”

Mr Kim is one of the most popular teachers in the school, young students hoping to get into his class when they become juniors. He’s young and good-looking, someone Taeyeon would layer on mascara for, and Jongdae’s favorite teacher from last year.

“What are you doing in the halls?” he asks. “You should be eating.”

“Oh, um…”

Mr Kim seems to pick up on Jongdae’s hesitance and says, “Why don’t you come eat in my room? The juniors are in their P.E. classes so I’m free.”

“Thanks, Mr Kim.”

His teacher smiles as they climb up a flight of stairs. “You can call me Junmyeon. You’re making me feel old, Jongdae.”

“But you are.”

Junmyeon frowns. “Hey, I’m twenty-six. That’s only an eight year difference between us, you know.”

“Old.”

Junmyeon playfully swipes at him and Jongdae finds himself laughing. He’s already considering Junmyeon as a friend.

They spend the entirety of lunch period laughing into their food and chatting aimlessly about what they think of the students and teachers.

Two minutes before the bell rings, Junmyeon remarks, “Is Sehun still on vacation?”

Jongdae blinks in confusion. “What?”

“You two are always together, and I didn’t see Sehun, so I just assumed he hasn’t come back from Siberia yet.”

“Oh.” Jongdae stares down in his lap. “No, he’s here. He came back a couple weeks ago. We just had a bit of a falling out.”

Junmyeon nods in understanding and stands to throw his lunch away. “Sorry to hear that. But you’ve got a whole school year ahead of you, I have faith that you two can set things straight again.”

“I guess.”

Junmyeon beams as the bell rings. “Have a great rest of the day, Jongdae!”

“Um,” the younger male says timidly, “would you mind if I continued eating lunch in here?”

“Of course not. You’re welcome any time.”

“Did you see his face? Oh man, I bet he’s eating in the bathroom,” Jongin cackles.

The students sitting at their crowded table all laugh. Except for Sehun.

He recalls the lost look on Jongdae’s face, the way everyone looked at him uninvitingly. He feels awful. Jongdae can barely even walk the halls in peace without someone jeering at him, so how could anyone expect him to sit in the cafeteria without a friend beside him?

“He deserves it, the little ,” a girl with long hair and bright blue nails comments. “Someone as disgusting as him shouldn’t even go to our school.”

“Why’d you stop beating him up, Jongin?” the boy next to her complains. “Damn, it was the best.”

Sehun’s grip on his lunch tray tightens and Yixing gives Jongin a pointed look.

“Eh,” Jongin replies. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Sehun swallows his anger and peers at the cafeteria doors. No sign of Jongdae.

Where did he go?

A/N: basically the indents are dumb and so is sehun and his idiot "friends". do you guys hate jongin + sehun yet.