“You are the sweaty boy,” you declared before you could stop yourself.

Jongup blinked up at you, his mouth slightly parted, as if still trying to figure out what just happened.

Himchan and Junhong sat at the benches, their eyes flashing between Youngjae, you and Jongup as if the action would help them decipher the secret of the universe.

Youngjae calmly stood behind you, watching the scene unfold with curiosity, if not amusement.

“I,” Jongup cleared his throat and stood up from his seat. “I do have a name, you know.”

You paused for a moment, retracting your finger that was rudely pointing at him. Youngjae watched as you pressed your lips together as if deep in thought. His eyes then flickered to Jongup who was standing awkwardly, one hand running over the front of his uniform.

"Yeah, I know that. But I just don't know what it is," your brows knitted and it fascinated Youngjae because Jongup was looking at you like you were the most challenging dance routine he had ever seen, and dearly wished to master.

Youngjae wanted to snort, but then it occurred to him that this was a weird situation since…weren't you two supposed to know each other? How else did Jongup send him your home address last night?

Jongup's eyes did not leave you when he offered generously, “I could just tell you my name.”

You blinked, gave him a once over and nodded. “Yeah, you could. Since you're not sweaty anymore.”

Before Jongup could reply, Himchan quipped up.

"He is sweaty most of the time, though," the oldest said. Junhong and Youngjae stifled their snorts at the teasing.

Jongup glanced over his shoulder and shot Himchan a quick glare.

You turned to look at Himchan and said, "Thank you. I figured--" you froze and eyed Himchan a little more. "You kind of look like a monkey. Did you know that?"

Himchan spluttered and Junhong broke out into a laugh while Youngjae nudged you from behind and managed to make you sit down beside Jongup. A grin was big on the honour student's face when his eyes met the dancer and gave him a knowing wink. He pushed Jongup to sit back down too, before making his way to Himchan's side of the bench.

“Do you not have a filter system?” Junhong quipped up at you, leaning over Jongup.

“Filter system? What filter system?” you asked him with a confused frown.

Jongup pushed Junhong off of him and turned to you.

“The one that filters your thoughts before you speak,” Jongup elaborates, looking genuinely concerned.

Junhong might have giggled behind Jongup but you were too busy wondering about this peculiar filtering system, in which you decided that, yes, you did have one.

“Of course, I do,” you made a face and turned away as if offended. “How do you think I decided that he-” you nodded to Himchan, “-looks like a monkey?” you turned back to both of them with a superior grin. “I used my filter system to process that.”

Junhong bursted out laughing and Jongup just stared at you for a long time. The corners of his lips twitched a bit.

“Okay then,” Himchan cut in. “How about the one you use to filter words before it comes out of your mouth?”

Your eyes widened as if you’ve just realised something that had never occurred to you before for the last sixteen years of your life.

“I’ve never used that one,” you epically concluded, resting both hands on the table as if that answer clarified everything.

Youngjae snorted. Himchan dropped his head onto the table and Junhong started clapping like a seal. Only Jongup was still staring at you.

You were starting to feel self-conscious, so you fidgeted, trying to think of a way to escape the table of weird dorks before you were permanently traumatised. An bony elbow made its way to your side and you looked sideway to see Jongup watching you. He looked amused and he actually smelled refreshing and earthy now that he wasn’t sweating. You were thinking how his hair was a little mussed up but it still looked good on him when you heard him mouth something to you.

“My friends are stupid, aren’t they?” he said in a low tone that only you could hear.

Your lips twitched into a small smile and kindly shook your head, “You’ve got to meet my neighbour. He self-proclaimed himself my best friend since second grade,” you chuckled quietly. “Once you meet him, all your friends would seem like geniuses.”

Jongup’s face lit up from amusement. “I’d like to meet him. Sometime.”

“No, you don’t,” you snorted looking away in time to see Youngjae whispering something into Himchan's ear. Before you knew it, Himchan was twisting around to face both Jongup and you again with a big grin on his face.

"So. Do you happen to have a boyfriend?" he asked you.

"Why? Would you like to have one?" you asked and Himchan spluttered once again.

x

“She really is something else, isn't she,” Himchan concluded to Youngjae from the other side of the table.

"Extremely alien, even for a girl," Youngjae sighed wistfully and his eyes flickered to Jongup who was shamelessly watching you as you tried to explain the concept of empiricism to Junhong who took philosophy without even knowing what that elective meant, thus, was going through some tough time.

“She's cute, though,” Himchan grumbled under his breath.

Youngjae elbowed Himchan who snickered at Jongup’s unabashed staring.

"So, are you going to tell us how you ended up knowing her?" Himchan finally puts in, leaning his elbows onto the table.

Shrugging dismissively, Youngjae nodded to Jongup. “I don't know, ask him. Jongup was the one who gave me her address last night.” Jongup snapped around and stared at Youngjae as if he had two heads. Youngjae continued, "When I went over, she opened the door and had no bloody clue who I was, nor what I was doing there." Youngjae shot Jongup a glare.

You looked up from Junhong’s work and eyed them suspiciously. “Are you talking about me?”

Himchan turned to you, “Yes, we are. Do you let strangers into your house often?”

There was a fraction of the moment where you froze, and Youngjae could almost sense your brain working at full speed and loudly too. The complicated look on your face was gone the next second and was replaced by a rude eye roll.

“He didn’t look like a stranger. He was wearing our school uniform,” you shrugged almost too lightly. “And besides, he was mumbling about having unreliable friends who thought his problems are jokes,” you gave all of them an almost reproachful look. “So, I told him to come in and my brother said he could stay.”

Jongup fidgeted, looking more concerned about this story than the others.

"Uh, you do realise my phone isn't with me?" he asked and you froze in your seat. "I accidentally switched it with someone else's after last period." He stared at the rest meaningfully before saying, "I wasn't the one who texted you last night."

A sudden chill crawled down Youngjae's spine and he suppressed the need to shudder.

“Then, who-” Youngjae's words were interrupted when heavy footsteps made their way into the cafeteria and stomped toward their table.

Himchan in a sharp breath. “Isn't that Bang Yongguk, the MVP of our school's football team?”

Bang Yongguk? That was ringing some bells in your head, Bang Yongguk, Bang Yong… mr.Bang?! Oh boy, you thought, holding your breath, you were in serious trouble now.

Junhong's voice cracked when he asked, "Why does it look like he's heading towards us?"

Jongup gulped, "Does any of you know why he is glaring at me in particular?"

Oh my gods, you thought, horrified, ‘Uppie’ is clearly Jongup and he must think it’s ‘Uppie’ who bothered him last night, oh crap!

The others were still too shocked to as much as shake their heads. And then the shadow of a tall buff man loomed over them, blackest of eyes scanning each one as they tried not to cower.

Slowly, his vortex eyes settled on Jongup and the boy tried to sit straighter rather than lean back into Junhong or use you as a barrier. Although, he dearly wished you were bulletproof.

"Moon Jongup, is it?" Bang Yongguk narrowed his eyes and the rest held their breaths. "Uppie of the dance club?"

Jongup tried to clear a lump in his throat and ignored the red alarm that was blaring inside his head screaming that he needed to run. He braced himself and nodded.

"Yes, t-that's me," he said, inwardly cursing himself for stuttering.

Bang Yongguk looked satisfied as he slowly crouched down to meet the sitting Jongup's eye level. He stared into them for a nerve-wracking time before, suddenly, Yongguk broke into a small smile.

Jongup blinked.

"Thank you," said Bang Yongguk. "You kind of saved me from ruining my life."

They blinked. You evidently slumped back down in your seat, as Yongguk slowly rose up again and his eyes were no longer mad or vengeful like you had imagined. As he stared at Jongup over your head, you only realised then that you were clutching hard on Jongup’s knee and he had his left hand wrapped around your elbow. Like, both of you were unconsciously gripping at each other in order to not shiver in fear or run away.

Awkwardly, you shifted slightly and the shift did not go unnoticed under Yongguk’s eyes as he stopped saying something about last night’s message and how he would’ve done something terrible and ultimately got kicked out of the football team if it wasn’t for Jongup who messaged him.

He blinked down at you as if only noticing then, that there was a girl there.

“Your girlfriend?” Yongguk asked, blinking so innocently as his eyes landed back on Jongup, who was still clutching your elbow for dear life.

Jongup cleared his throat as the others’ eyes settled on the two of you and Jongup straightened up and so did you. There was a slight flush on his face as he gave Yongguk an embarrassed smile.

“Uh, I,” Jongup started fumbling. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Youngjae stared at Jongup confusedly and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the dancer who decided to take the chatty approach in this intimidating moment.

“We broke up,” he said, scratching his nose, looking up to Yongguk as if he’d been his friend his whole life. “Few days ago.”

“Not again? This is like, the nth time!” Junhong gaped and spluttered when Jongup elbowed him.

“Oh,” Yongguk replied, leaning one hand onto the table coolly, making you crane your neck if you wanted to look at him. His eyes lit up in a knowing sort of way and snorted. “You were dating those kinds of girls. Trust me; dumb clingy girls, they are not worth your time.”

The others looked surprised to be getting dating advice from the most popular jock in the whole school, but nodded frantically either how. You, on the other hand, cleared your throat indicatively and Yongguk glanced down at you.

“Oh, sorry. No offence,” he said tactfully. “I didn’t mean you.”

“Of course not. I don’t even think I’m qualified to be a girl, sometimes,” you smiled at him jokingly before turning solemn. “By the way, you did the right thing, sunbae. I don’t know if I should say this, but I am very proud of you for thinking over what Uppie said. You made the right decision, and the best thing about this is that—you know it is right.”

Yongguk blinked at you a million times, his face heating up and he cleared his throat.

“Right,” he said, averting his eyes. “Thanks, I don’t hear that too often. Someone being ‘proud’ of me. I just-” Yongguk made a quick glance at his invisible watch and said. “Oh, look at the time. I gotta go. See you around,” he nodded to you once and to Jongup and ran off as fast as lightning.

They watched the star player of the school football team disappear and Jongup let out a shaky breath. They turned back to eye each other bemusedly.

“Thanks, for scaring him off,” Jongup said to you, voice still unstable. “I have no idea what he was talking about.”

The others nodded too, but you were too happy with this overwhelming feeling that was shining inside you, although you didn’t know what it was, you were too elated to care about anything right now.

You missed the suspicious look from Youngjae.