“Here I thought you guys hate each other”

Seungcheol had been tailing Joshua and Jeonghan for the past fifteen minutes. He could not help but to cut the tension between the two boys as he pinpointed the fact they were walking together, side to side, no sign of bickering.

The fact that there was still time left to actually reach school, and the fact both tensed up to Seungcheol’s statement made him curious. Fishy.

Being his positive self, Seungcheol joined between them swinging his arms around both of their shoulders, grinning as he popped a question, “I’m so happy to see you both not throwing shades at each other oh wow my pray has been answered THANK YOU!”

No words were traded after a while. Awkward filled in the air.

“Crickets singing, crows crowing, winds blowing- you can hear well when it’s all quiet like this” Sarcastically speaking, Seungcheol peered over his shoulders to see both looking at opposite directions.

Weird.

“I hate to be the only one to talk. I mean it” He narrowed his glance, “but seriously, I’ll keep pestering till I get what I want”

That’s Seungcheol for them, the one to never give up for his goals- in which this time, the source of Joshua and Jeonghan’s silent treatment.

“Nothing, Cheol. Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed” Joshua reasoned, walking a few steps faster to escape the latter’s further questionings, sparing glances at Seungcheol and Jeonghan half of the time.

Double weird.

Seungcheol glanced at Jeonghan, his next victim, shades of red forming on his face. The medium long-haired boy had his eyes half opened, replacing his usual smiling eyes.

“Are…you okay?”

Jeonghan trying to utter something but he could not form proper words. He noticed the slurs in his speech thus opt to smile.

Smile is the universe answer to all.

Sitting at the back row had its advantages after all. Joshua had been throwing glances at the person in front of him in between classes. The teachers still had no clue on his changing views, so far. His deskmate, Junhui, Jun for short, kept nudging his side everytime he averted his gaze onto the medium-long haired boy.

Thanks, Jun. I need that. Joshua gave the message through his eyes. Jun on the other hand replied with a raised brow. Probably wondering on his uncommon attitude.

Jeonghan had his left arm elbowed on the desk, supporting his head. Once in a while, his head would slip. Seungcheol snickered on his deskmate's behaviour, softly shaking his own head. Jeonghan assured with a smile before repositioning again.

The process repeated, amusing Jun and Seungcheol at the same time, smiling way too wide for Joshua's liking. 

Lucky bastard. Not even one warning from the teachers. Talk about timing.

Joshua sauntered across the huge hall as his eyes searched for any vacant table. He settled at an empty table located at the farther side of the cafeteria hall. He munched his lunch in a slow pace, ignoring the chitter-chatter background of a typical high school cafeteria.

He was casually sipping on his when a food tray appeared beside him. It was Seungcheol with his stupid grin. There was another tray coming to his view, just across the latter. He stopped his drinking, eyeing the figure.

A small boy with bangs covering half of his eyes, someone he didn't recognise. 

Joshua turned to Seungcheol as he shot a questioning look, eyebrows furrowed.

"What?" Seungcheol, you're unbelievable.

Joshua had his head tilted at the unfamiliar figure, trying to act natural by continuing to sip his drink again. Seungcheol couldn't help to chuckle when he finally read betwen the lines of what his friend was trying to say.

"Josh, meet Jihoon. We share the same Math class" Seungcheol gestured his hands to the person in front of them, "and this is Joshua, Jihoonie"

Although the last word is a bit toned down, Joshua could definitely heard it loud and clear. The nickname made his tongue clicked. He knew Seungcheol for too long for him to be giving random people a nickname. Hearing the Choi