Jongin finds that rebellion doesn't only come with smoking a cigarette or two every night. It includes missing homework assignments that were forgotten about as he spent hours just sitting in silence with Sehun, and classes being skipped just to find his friend in the bathroom having a coughing fit.

     He tells his teacher he's going to the bathroom, and he's not lying totally, just a little bit, but only because it's to help his friend. He had gotten a text from Yixing who had sounded worried about Sehun who left for the bathroom coughing and had yet to come back.

     He's roaming the halls, feeling on edge that at any moment, he could be caught and brought to the office where his parents would be called but never arrive because as far as he knows, they're still in the middle of researching a work that'll make history.

     He finds the bathroom rather quickly, following the sounds of the hacking and finds Sehun there.

     “Sehun?” he asks, tapping lightly on the closed stall. “Are you all right?” he asks. He wants to smack himself because no, Sehun is most likely not all right. He's coughing up his lungs and last time Jongin checked, you needed those to live.

     The stall opens and Jongin comes face to face with a gauntly Sehun who has blood specks around his mouth.

     “Sehun,” he breaths, quickly pulling him over to the sink. He hands him a paper towel and is afraid to look back at the recently occupied stall and see the damage. “How long as this been happening?” Jongin asks, rubbing Sehun's back as he goes into another coughing fit.

     “The coughing fit?” he coughs again, “Or the blood?”

    “Both.”

     Sehun shrugs and drinks some water from the tap. “I don't remember.”

     Jongin refuses to accept that as a permanent answer but doesn't push when Sehun breaks out into coughs again. It isn't until a few minutes that he finally stops.

     “I think we should take you to the hospital,” Jongin finally says, worry in his eyes. Sehun shakes his head and leans back against the counter. “Sehun, you're coughing up blood for Christ's sake.”

     “I already know what they'll tell me,” he replies. Jongin arches his brow.

     “And that would be?”

     “It isn't important.” Jongin lets out a long, exasperated sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose.

     “Is your life so bad that you're fine to just die?” He regrets asking because Sehun gives him a look and then Jongin already knows his answer.

     “Yes.”

     “Your dad's a doctor, right?” Jongin asks Yifan at a friendly game of basketball on the weekend. He had invited Sehun, but he said he'd pass on it.

     “Yeah, why?” Yifan asks, shooting the ball into the hoop for fun.

     “What does it mean if someone is constantly coughing and coughing up blood?” he asks and Yifan pauses from shooting another ball. He eyes Jongin curiously.

     “Why? Do you know someone doing it?” Jongin nods and Yifan throws the ball. “It's bad I can tell you that. Who is it?”

     “It doesn't matter,” Jongin replies, his eyes moving over to Yixing and Kyungsoo talking and laughing.

     “Jongin, if they're coughing up blood, it kinda does matter. They should probably get it checked out.”

     Yixing then comes over, face bright and Kyungsoo next to him. “Oh, Jongin, I forgot to tell you,” Yixing starts, “I got that scholarship from that Chinese dance organization. It's a full ride.”

     “Really?” Jongin asks, grinning. “Congrats, man. You deserve it!” Yixing grins back.

     “Hey, are we gonna play, or what?” Yifan asks.

     Jongin wonders when his life had gone from Kyungsoo centric to Sehun centric. Before he met Sehun, Kyungsoo was always on his mind, and now he had to constantly remind himself to text and call Kyungsoo whereas before it was just out of habit.

     Sehun crosses his mind whenever he sees how great of a life his is and just how bad Sehun's is.

     When he climbs over to Sehun's room that night, Sehun in lying down, phone above his head doing whatever it is that he does and Jongin sits on the window seat for a while, not speaking. He can hear the cigarettes calling his name, but he knows he shouldn't. Seeing Sehun have trouble breathing walking up the steps at school reminds him of just how bad of a habit it is.

     “Sehun,” he finally speaks up. Sehun's eyes don't move from the phone and he doesn't reply. “Sehun,” he repeats again, louder this time.

     Either Sehun knows what Jongin's question is, or he just is too spaced out to hear him. He continues on without knowing which it is.

     “Are you dying?” Sehun stops scrolling and his eyes meet Jongin's.

     “We all are,” he replies shortly and Jongin shakes his head.

     “Not like that.”

     Sehun lets out a sigh and locks his phone. He sits up, hair bedraggled and looks at Jongin with a tired look. “Yes.”

     Jongin thought he was ready for the answer, but when it comes, he can feel the blood drain from his face. He has so many questions but none of them seem to come out. The silence is deafening as he watches Sehun look at him with blank eyes.

     Instead of speaking, Jongin leaves. It's probably the worst thing he could have done, but knowing Sehun, the other probably didn't want to talk about it.

oh dear this is so short....whoops. i didn't want to make it longer, because the next chapter is realy angsty and explains a lot of stuff and there's a lot more sekai even though i'm not sure that the other chapters aren't that much sekai...anyway, i'm getting off subject. so, yeah, the next one will be angsty and stuff so...yes. yolo