Hyunseung waits in the line patiently, his face stony. Unlike the other students who have friends coming up to them for conversation, Hyunseung waits for his turn in the line on his own because all of his friends are sitting at their usual lunch table with Junhyung.

Junhyung.

Hyunseung doesn't really want to think about Junhyung, but it is not like he can help it when he has to guide the other male around. He doesn't understand what Heechul-hyung is trying to do, because it isn't like he and Junhyung are still friends. Whatever sort of friendship they had all those years back in middle school disappeared the day they graduated or, at least, that is what Hyunseung thinks. In fact, it wasn't even on graduation day. It was during the last week of middle school, when everyone else was excited for summer and high school next year.

"What school do you want to go to, Hyunseung?" Junhyung asked, skimming through the list of potential schools his mother had compiled for him. Schools that he qualified for and schools that she wanted him to appeal to.

Hyunseung was staring out of the window, watching two birds circling each other and chirping at each other. He turned to look at Junhyung when the other boy spoke, contemplating his response for a moment. Junhyung flashed a small smile as he waited, because he liked how Hyunseung always thought carefully before answering.

"I think I'm going to the Seoul Elite Academy for Young Athletes. They offered me a scholarship if I went to their school," Hyunseung said slowly, sounding as though he was still pondering about his answer as he was saying it. Junhyung's smile faltered slightly, briefly, as he glanced at his own list.

"Ah, I see." Hyunseung didn't see the need to ask Junhyung about where the other boy would be going for high school. It wasn't like he didn't know Junhyung or his parents well enough. He'd been going over to their house since the first day of middle school. Junhyung and his family were Hyunseung's second family, but sometimes, his only family as well.

So it wasn't like Hyunseung didn't know that Junhyung would be applying to the top ranked school in the entire nation. It wasn't like Hyunseung didn't know that Junhyung would never go to the Seoul Elite Academy for Young Athletes.

Hyunseung orders his lunch, just a sandwich and milk for himself. Yet as he walks back to the table, he finds himself with an extra sandwich and a can of Coke. He returns to the table to find Junhyung looking perplexed, Yoseob howling with laughter, Doojoon sniggering to himself and an indignant Kikwang. Hyunseung just sits down, feeling a little out of the loop but not to the point where he'll bother himself to ask, and he silently hands Junhyung the extra sandwich and the Coke.

Kikwang argues with Doojoon about how Hyunseung-hyung knows he's not such an easy guy and that he does love Dongwoon, so it couldn't possibly have been that. Though "that" is a mystery to Hyunseung. Junhyung looks at the sandwich and Coke a little disbelievingly for a moment and Hyunseung feels something uncomfortable gnawing at him in his chest. Maybe Junhyung no longer drinks Coke and hates eating chicken sandwiches.

"Thank you," Junhyung says anyway because his mother raised him to be nothing but the perfect polite gentleman. Even if he hates Coke and chicken sandwiches now, Junhyung wouldn't refuse what Hyunseung had offered him. That's just the way Junhyung is. He unwraps the chicken sandwich and Hyunseung sees the small wrinkle of his nose, but Junhyung takes a tentative bite of the sandwich anyway.

"Hyunseung-hyung! I wouldn't cheat on Dongwoon, right?" Hyunseung looks away from Junhyung to stare Kikwang with a look that, on anyone else, would have been incredulity but somehow just looks like Hyunseung is trying to simultaneously raise an eyebrow and keep a straight face. Yoseob is still laughing, Hyunseung doesn't know how he can keep laughing and not die from lack of oxygen, but Yoseob is still laughing. Doojoon is back to stuffing himself with the bowl of bibimbap and the side dishes he is having for lunch and Kikwang picks at his own bowl of noodles with a sulk.

Junhyung mainly keeps quiet throughout the entire lunch period, despite repeated prodding from Yoseob and Kikwang about how the academy has been, what kind of ty guide Hyunseung is – at this Hyunseung asks why he's a ty guide but Yoseob just goes into another round of choke-laughing so Hyunseung doesn't get a decent answer – and they ask about how his classes have been so far and how was the infamous Hyunseung during Debate.

When the warning alarm rings throughout the cafeteria, Hyunseung is done with his sandwich and his small carton of milk, but Junhyung is only nibbling at his chicken sandwich and he hasn't even opened his can of Coke yet. It makes Hyunseung wonder, for a moment, if in the years that he hadn't seen Junhyung, if the other male had changed. The idea is absurd to Hyunseung because Junhyung has always been a consistent, constant person. In all their middle school years, Junhyung has always topped their classes in every subject. In all their middle school years, Junhyung has always been a class monitor. In all their middle school years, Junhyung has always had the same playing style. Junhyung has always had perfect attendance and has always been the exact same shy, reticent Junhyung.

The thought that Junhyung might have changed in their years apart just doesn't make sense to Hyunseung at all.

---

"Have fun in the rest of your classes!" Yoseob says to Junhyung when they get ready to split up for their respective classes of the day. Doojoon and Yoseob are headed to the same Health class, which causes Kikwang to cringe and slip them a – why does Kikwang even have a in the first place? – And Kikwang is headed to his Literature class. Kikwang whispers to Junhyung that Doojoon and Yoseob don't really take Health the way other normal people do and that brings a blush to Junhyung's cheeks.

"I've never taken a Health class before," Hyunseung muses to himself as he waves bye to Doojoon, Yoseob and Kikwang before walking off. Even without turning to look, he can hear Junhyung walking behind him. It isn't like he has a sense of Junhyung, but the other male walks with a unique gait that makes a special sound that Hyunseung recognizes. There's a different squeak to his shoes when they hit the ground and it is something Hyunseung hasn't heard in a while. He tries not to think about how much he has actually missed the sound of Junhyung walking.

"I have Trigonometry next," Hyunseung nods in acknowledgement. He has a sneaking suspicion that Heechul just copied and pasted Hyunseung's own timetable for Junhyung when they were preparing the administrative details. He isn't so bothered about Junhyung having the same schedule as him. It's just that Hyunseung cannot really identify what the gnawing in his chest means. He doesn't think he's glad to see Junhyung, because he really isn't. He wishes Junhyung had stayed as a pleasant memory of middle school.

Before Dongwoon had dragged him to the main office, Hyunseung had avoided going there because he hadn't really wanted to admit to himself that whether he liked it or not, Junhyung would be coming back into his life again. His most precious memory of middle school, something that Hyunseung had preserved carefully and kept to himself, was about to come into his life once more and become the present. Hyunseung knew that he was afraid. He was afraid of marring his perfect memories of the Junhyung he had known from middle school. He was frightened to death that Junhyung would come and destroy the image he had left behind when he had chosen to follow his mother's choice.

Hyunseung isn't happy that Junhyung is back, but he cannot truthfully say that he is unhappy either. He thinks the gnawing feeling is the in between of being happy and unhappy. He isn't neutral, because then there wouldn't be a gnawing feeling at all. What bothers Hyunseung now, every time he looks at Junhyung, is that he doesn't know if it is because he is a little happier or unhappier that Junhyung is back in his life. He can't tell just from the gnawing feeling and he just can't find the indicator to tell him which one it is.

Hyunseung wonders why his emotions are such complicated things that even he can't understand as he enters his Trigonometry class and Junhyung takes the empty seat next to him (as he has done in every class that Doojoon, Yoseob, Kikwang or Dongwoon don't attend with Hyunseung).

---

Throughout the whole of Trigonometry, Hyunseung isn't really paying attention because Dongwoon took it freshmen year and had handed Hyunseung an organized pile of notes on the subject. Hyunseung takes the time to consider the gnawing feeling in his chest. Hyunseung considers Junhyung as well. He watches Junhyung taking notes with his left hand (in the notebook Junhyung had labeled Trigonometry with his distinctive print), right hand twirling the plain, unmarked silver band on his index finger.

Hyunseung doesn't recognize the ring. He has never seen Junhyung wearing rings before in middle school, even though it wasn't against the school rules. Junhyung had explained once that it wasn't because he was trying to be a model student. Junhyung disliked wearing rings on his fingers because they would attract attention to his fingers and Junhyung hated how his knuckles looked. The ring is one of the physical differences in Junhyung. Hyunseung has been picking them out the whole day.

Hyunseung notes down all the physical differences between high school Junhyung and middle school Junhyung.

Middle school Junhyung didn't dye his hair. It was natural dark brown that looked a little like chocolate in the sun. His hair was a lot shorter back in middle school and his mother liked to style his hair a little. High school Junhyung has dyed black hair, because it is far too dark to be natural. It's a little longer than his middle school hair and it isn't styled at all. It flops around a little whenever Junhyung looks up to the whiteboard and then down at his notebook. High school Junhyung doesn't push his hair out of his eyes the way he used to in middle school when his hair got into his eyes.

High school Junhyung looks more chiseled. The angles of his face aren't as soft as before and Hyunseung finds that Junhyung's cheeks look, if anything, chubbier now than when they were in middle school. Hyunseung pokes at his own cheeks because that was the only thing they had in common when it came to their looks. They always looked like greedy little children stuffing extra food in their cheeks.

Junhyung was the good-looking one when they were younger. Any middle-aged ladies who saw them would always tell Hyunseung that he was sopretty and that Junhyung was such a good-looking young man. Hyunseung remembers the ladies telling him to be careful of being friends with such a good-looking guy who would probably steal all of his girlfriends.

Hyunseung does think Junhyung is good-looking though. He has to agree with those middle-aged ladies because Hyunseung has always had a too-feminine face, but Junhyung is masculine without being too sharp and angular the way Dongwoon looks sometimes with his nose that could cut a steak.

Junhyung is taller now, but not a lot taller. They used to be about the same height, but Hyunseung is a little taller than Junhyung now. They've always been skinny, the two of them, but Hyunseung thinks Junhyung is much skinnier now than he has ever been before. Hyunseung wonders if it's because all of Junhyung's fat goes straight to his cheeks.

Hyunseung thinks about the nibbled at sandwich Junhyung threw away and the can of unopened Coke sitting on the edge of his table. At this point, Hyunseung concludes that the gnawing feeling must be a mixture of happiness and unhappiness. He isn't sure how his feelings have sorted himself because of a can of Coke, but the gnawing feeling is declaring itself to be happiness and unhappiness so Hyunseung just acknowledges that being two polar extremes at once is possible.

---

When Trigonometry ends, Hyunseung packs his pencil case and his clean notebook back into his backpack. When he hoists his backpack on and heads out of class toward his Psychology elective, he feels an uncertain hand catch him by the arm. Junhyung moves to stand in front of Hyunseung and the tennis player is caught off guard. He didn't expect Junhyung to open up so quickly and the gnawing feeling grows stronger.

For a while, Junhyung looks like he has something important he wants to tell Hyunseung, but when he actually speaks, he just tells Hyunseung that he has Calculus next.

Junhyung can only feel lost when Hyunseung walks off after telling him to look for someone carrying a huge reconstruction of the Indian Civilization.

A/N: So you guys might have realised that I have no life and today is Hyunseung's birthday so this is like a celebratory post, I even wrote in Hyunseung's point of view too (sort of)! I really like receiving comments and I'm thankful to everyone who has read and commented and subscribed and liked this and to everyone who wanted me to update soon, I hope you enjoy this as much as the previous chapter. I don't know if I answered any questions in this chapter or if I created more questions or if you guys don't have any thoughts after this chapter, but I really had fun writing this because Hyunseung is one of the hardest characters to write but also the one with a lot of depth so it is really interesting fleshing him out. I hope you guys also pick up on the little bits and hints of their history and character in these chapters, because I don't know if I'll write things out in detail in the fic.

Okay. So. I'm rambling and yeah. Hope you liked this and will comment now! :D