Hyunseung arrives at the tennis hall at 7:30am, right as the tennis team captain blows the whistle to gather the drowsy tennis team members. Hyunsuk, the male division tennis captain, runs through a simple warm-up before assigning different members of the tennis team to different exercises. The freshmen are made to practice their swing, the sophomores are allotted one court to practice passes and both the juniors and senior team members are allotted courts to practice drills. They run 10 laps as an entire team before dividing to their assigned exercises. Morning practice is a lot easier and relaxed than afternoon practice so Hyunseung allows his mind to wander during the warm-up run.

He doesn't spot Junhyung anywhere on the benches and even as he adjusts his pace to scan the whole body of the male division, he does not find Junhyung. Hyunseung approaches Hyunsuk after they finish up the last lap; the entire male division is crowding in the corner where all of their tennis bags are to grab their rackets.

"Have you seen the new transfer student?" Hyunseung asks Hyunsuk as the other senior bends down to grab his dark purple tennis racket. Hyunsuk straightens up and stretches his sides, his expression thoughtful.

"He came before practice started and told me he'd already let Coach know that he wouldn't be attending morning practice. Coach told me about him yesterday too. Said Heechul-saem had him excused for some temporary health problem. He asked where he could hang out, so I told him the cafeteria, library and study hall were open. Guess he went there. You were his guide yesterday, weren't you?" Hyunseung nods to Hyunsuk's question but doesn't elaborate. He thanks the captain for the information and goes over to his own bag to take his own tennis racket.

If Junhyung were in the cafeteria or the library at this time, the cafeteria ladies and the librarian would definitely keep him in sight and possibly report him for skipping morning practice. He wouldn't be alone in the cafeteria or the library. Hyunseung knew the school manager unlocked the study hall every morning at 7am for students who were excused from morning practice for whatever reason, but the manager did not stay to monitor the study hall. There were no teachers at the study hall until classes started either so if Junhyung were in study hall, he would be alone or with other students who had been excused from morning practice.

Hyunseung thinks that the chances of Junhyung going to the cafeteria are slim. From what Hyunseung suspects, he's almost sure Junhyung won't go to the cafeteria where the cafeteria ladies will be preparing food for lunch. Hyunseung deflects a rogue tennis ball that flies in his direction and sends it bouncing away lightly, a few feet away from him. He picks the ball up when he walks over to it and looks around for the owner of the rogue ball. One sophomore bows apologetically and runs over to where Hyunseung stands, taking the tennis ball and apologizing respectfully.

Hyunseung enters the court assigned to the seniors by Hyunsuk and is tackled by a gleeful Joon-hyung.

"Aww, where is Junhyung? He's so cute, you know, so polite and quiet. He's like a nicer version of Hyunseung," Joon-hyung teases as he drags Hyunseung to be his partner in the drill that Hyunsuk had instructed the seniors to carry out.

"I don't know," and the thought disturbs Hyunseung throughout the whole of morning practice.

---

Hyunseung finds Junhyung sitting in the homeroom classroom by himself after morning practice ends. The redhead takes the seat next to Junhyung, who is resting his head on folded arms, eyes closed. Hyunseung thinks Junhyung might be sleeping, but he isn't too sure. He hasn't seen Junhyung asleep in years and never really did even when they were in middle school.

He runs a hand through his wet hair and adjusts his uniform, because he was the first person on the tennis team in and out of the shower. When Joon-hyung had caught him on his way out, Hyunseung had merely waved the pouting, sweaty male away. Hyunseung knows that he hurried from the shower to find Junhyung. It isn't a disturbing or confusing thought, but it isn't an easy thought to think of either. Hyunseung finds it frustrating that he can't put his finger on the exact emotion he feels at the thought.

He watches the probably napping male. Junhyung's usually sharp and harsh features are softened by sleep. He doesn't look half as unfriendly as he does with his usual blank expression. Hyunseung catches himself staring at the defined curve of the Cupid's bow on Junhyung's upper lip. If there were any competition for the most model lips in the world, Hyunseung thinks Junhyung would put up a tough fight. His lips look exactly like the lip-shaped sofa that Hyunseung had seen once flipping through an art magazine that Joon-hyung had in the dorm room he shared with Doojoon.

The two of them are uninterrupted for a few minutes before Hyunseung begins to hear voices and footsteps down the hallways. The class clock reads 8:53am, which means that everyone is heading toward their homeroom classes for morning announcements. From the looks of the dark circles around Junhyung's eyes, Hyunseung thinks the skinnier male could use some more sleep, but he figures Junhyung wouldn't like to be so vulnerable in front of all his new schoolmates.

Hyunseung pokes Junhyung in the side, aiming for ribs, making sure to flatten his finger gently so that it doesn't hurt too much. He just wants to know after all, he doesn't want to actually hurt Junhyung. Once again, there isn't quite a word to describe how Hyunseung feels as his fingers sink through layers of material. Layers of material. There is a certain difference between the feeling of flesh under cloth and more cloth under cloth. Hyunseung knows because it amuses him to see Kikwang squirm and squeal like a little girl because his sides are ticklish, so he pokes Kikwang in the side a lot. During spring, when the school uniform is just the school blazer and the white button-up, Hyunseung can feel the taut muscles and soft flesh of the swimmer under his clothes. During winter time, when Doojoon goes into protective older mode, Kikwang ends up with an undershirt, the white button-up, the school vest, an extra zip-up jacket and then the school blazer and Hyunseung's finger ends up sinking into layers of clothes despite Kikwang assuring him that yes, hyung, it still tickles.

It is mid-autumn, the wind is picking up and it is getting colder. The weather warrants Hyunseung an extra parka and a beanie on the colder days, but just another sweater on other days. Kikwang gets along with no extra clothes besides the school autumn/winter attire because according to him, Dongwoon is a human heater so he doesn't need a sweater – Hyunseung promptly gagged into his bowl of noodles back then and Doojoon shot both of the youngest dirty looks that read like I did not need to know the details of your sordid affair while Yoseob attempted to free his airway after spotting Doojoon's expression.

Hyunseung understands that different people have different levels of tolerance for the cold. Doojoon piles on extra layers the moment a slight breeze blows his way. Yoseob has a whole collection of attire sorted by the temperature it should be used at. Kikwang wears as many layers as Doojoon insists on him wearing once the excuse of using Dongwoon has a portable heater starts getting unreasonable. Dongwoon never has on any extra layers besides the standard issue school attire for autumn/winter. But as Junhyung raises his head from his arms, eyes bleary from sleep, Hyunseung has this slight nagging feeling that – no matter how poor your tolerance for the cold is – Junhyung is wearing more layers of clothes than necessary.

The question that Hyunseung wants to ask is silenced when Doojoon comes into class and plops down into the seat on Junhyung's other side, stealing the skinny male's attention away with incessant blabber about one thing or another. Hyunseung closes his mouth, shakes his head and decides to just be pleased that he won't have to have another precisely directed tennis ball to his face – Hyunsuk was the captain for a good reason – for being distracted by Junhyung's absence.

---

Junhyung is a diligent student. He doesn't talk to anyone or answer any questions in class unless called upon. Junhyung cared a lot about his grades in middle school and it seems that he still does care a lot about his grades. Hyunseung peeps into his notebooks every period and it still boggles Hyunseung how Junhyung can take perfectly written and organized notes even while their teachers ramble on at unforgiving paces – Hyunseung disagrees with the excuse that the teachers are only training the students for college because it seems more like a trap to make students fail.

Hyunseung only knows two other model students in his circle of friends. Kikwang and Dongwoon. Of course, Doojoon, Yoseob and the other people of the tennis team who talk to Hyunseung all have subjects that they particularly excel at, but only Kikwang and Dongwoon do well in all of their subjects. The two of them consistently rank in the top 3 of their cohorts, although Kikwang has a tendency to slip from the first rank to second sometimes while Dongwoon maintains third position and occasionally rises to second place. The reason why Hyunseung only borrows Dongwoon's notes is mostly because Kikwang doesn't take notes at all. Hyunseung knows from attending AP Chemistry with Kikwang that the junior needs only to listen in class to absorb all and any information.

Dongwoon on the other hand does take notes in class and Hyunseung knows because he has Dongwoon's Trigonometry notebook in his backpack. Dongwoon's notes, however, look a little bit like they had been thrown into a war zone, had been near a few bombs that had detonated and were originally written by a chicken. Hyunseung doesn't have any other model student's notes to compare Junhyung's to, so he concludes that Junhyung is the only one who is able to process the information taught in class quickly enough to be sort out into legible, presentable notes. Hyunseung cringes when he mentally juxtaposes Junhyung and Dongwoon's notebooks.

Junhyung is a diligent student, so Hyunseung remains quiet and doesn't speak to the other senior during classes at all.

---

Lunch time rolls around with their 4th period Debate teacher massaging her temples as she ends classes a few minutes earlier and releases the class even before the 5-minute reminder bell rings.

"I wonder what's for lunch," Hyunseung muses to himself and waits patiently as Junhyung arranges his belongings back into his pack in order of height. A mental image of his own backpack flashes through Hyunseung's mind and he makes a silent note to himself to throw out the worksheets in his file that he doesn't need and to clean out the crumpled balls of paper that were probably beginning to attach themselves to the inner base of his pack.

Junhyung looks up from his packing to Hyunseung with surprise in his eyes. Hyunseung raises his eyebrow questioningly and Junhyung shrugs.

"You don't have to guide me around anymore if you don't want to. I think I can navigate around the school on my own," Junhyung offers as an explanation.

"I want to have lunch," Hyunseung says and he pauses for a moment, considering, before he adds, "with you." There is surprise again in Junhyung's eyes. Hyunseung wants to get rid of the constant surprise that Junhyung always seems to react with. He can't see any reason why Junhyung should be surprised that Hyunseung still wants to be friends with the best friend he had ever had.

By the time they leave the classroom, Junhyung bowing politely to their slightly distraught teacher and Hyunseung waving, the 5-minute reminder bell for 4th period rings shrilly and a collected echo of chairs scrapping the floors from the entire corridor accompanies it.

They are caught in the sea of students who are switching classes for their next period and others who are heading to the cafeteria as well. Loud chatter fills the entire hallway and Hyunseung makes sure to stick close to Junhyung so that he doesn't lose the other male. A taller, broader student that Hyunseung doesn't recognize bumps into Junhyung, mumbling an inaudible apology before moving off unconcernedly. Hyunseung is sure no one else notices because no one else knew Junhyung before he transferred, but the other male doesn't even react to being bumped into and barely even receiving an apology.

"Are you okay?" it bothers Hyunseung to the point of asking, because this isn't the kind of reaction he is used to from Junhyung. He is used to the other male bowing back politely with an equally polite smile and an "it's okay". Hyunseung isn't used to the lack of change in facial expression and the sheer sense of resignation to the situation that seems to emanate from Junhyung's scrawny frame.

"Yeah, I'm okay," surprise makes itself evident again in Junhyung's eyes.

"Why do you keep looking so surprised?" Hyunseung doesn't exactly regret the words after saying them, but he thinks maybe he shouldn't have asked in the middle of a busy corridor because everyone turns to stare and Junhyung bows his head in embarrassment. The hallways empty out a little more as students file back into the right classes as the 5th period bell rings.

"I guess I'm just not that used to being around you again," Junhyung speaks in soft tones as they walk along the corridor that leads to the noisy cafeteria. Hyunseung thinks the words and the tone of voice used are meant to offend the average person, but he isn't offended. Hyunseung doesn't reply, because there isn't a need to reply, and they continue the rest of their way to Hyunseung's usual table for lunch without conversation.

"Junhyung!" Yoseob and Kikwang both chime as the two seniors sit down at the table. Hyunseung eyes both of his friends who ignore his presence while bombarding Junhyung with questions about how was his day, was Hyunseung still an , were his classes fun, did he get a lot of homework so far.

"Don't you have a class with him?" Hyunseung directs to Kikwang as he eases his backpack off. Doojoon shoots Hyunseung a sympathetic and a pat on the back, which Hyunseung doesn't really need because it's okay that Junhyung would fascinate Yoseob and Kikwang. Junhyung is absolutely fascinating after all.

"Yes, but did I get to speak to him through the constant 'why do you wash it with water when you're just going to wash it with the acid after that anyway', 'why do we have to wash it this way, why can't we wash it that way' and the 'isn't it more effective to wash this that way'?" Kikwang asks back with a smug look on his face. Hyunseung thinks the other juniors must not be working very hard if Kikwang can top the entire junior cohort.

"Anyway, lunch period is for us to have lunch. This isn't called 'starve yourself and Junhyung' period. Come on, let's go get some food," Doojoon smoothly intervenes, although Hyunseung has a sneaking suspicion that it has nothing to do with the fact that he wants to prevent a nonexistent argument and more to do with the fact that they were serving meatball pasta.

"Junhyung, do you want cheese on your pasta?" Yoseob asks after they all decide on meatball pasta, Doojoon and Yoseob having volunteered to grab the food.

"Junhyung is allergic to cheese," Hyunseung says absentmindedly as he remembers the one time in middle school when he'd given Junhyung a grilled cheese sandwich and the other boy had broken out into rashes in addition to his cheeks swelling like balloons.

"What? How do you know?" Hyunseung does his best to ignore the surprise in Junhyung's eyes for the umpteenth time in the day.

"We went to middle school together. I'm hungry, so can you guys go get the pasta for me?" Doojoon, Yoseob and Kikwang all stare at him incredulously, as though Hyunseung had just told them that he had danced the samba on the principal's desk, with the principal watching.

"I thought you guys were hungry," Hyunseung frowns at his friends because there are meatball pastas to be had and the two juniors had already wasted enough time interrogating Junhyung upon their arrival. Hyunseung contemplates going to get the meatball pasta for himself and maybe a sandwich for Junhyung as the other three remain slack jawed and frozen in their spots.

"You didn't tell us about this! We thought Junhyung didn't know you! Do you know how worried we were about you bullying him? Are you serious?" Doojoon says in an unreasonably displeased manner. Hyunseung decides to go and get the meatball pasta himself.

"Do you want a Nutella sandwich and Coke instead? Do you still like Coke?" Hyunseung asks Junhyung as he rises from his seat.

"Hyunseung!"

A/N: To be completely honest, I'm not sure if I did well with Hyunseung's characterization in this chapter so if you have any opinions about that, do let me know in the comments! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have a lot of subscribers, but most of you aren't commenting on the story. I can understand commenting is very troublesome and sometimes irritating for some of you readers, but I do appreciate just a short comment to let me know if you've been enjoying and liking the story so far. I would be even more grateful if you don't mind to leave more comments about what you think of the chapters, because I'm writing this story partly for you readers as well, so it'd be nice to know what you guys like or don't like about what I'm doing so far. Thank you for reading! And I really, really sincerely hope you guys can comment as well! ^^