-It's weird not having you in class.

-miss me already?

"Sanghyuk!"

Sanghyuk wipes the smile off his face and quickly looks up, shoving his phone under his desk. "Yes, ssaem?"

"Do you want me to take your phone?"

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"It better not."

The teacher continues, and Sanghyuk takes a small calming breath. Lucky for him Kang seonsaengnim is lenient - anyone else would have complained to the student council head about his behaviour, and truth be told Sanghyuk should be more embarrassed about being caught texting in class. Sanghyuk shifts in his seat only to catch sight of Sungjae in the next aisle staring at him, expression stony. Sungjae doesn't give him a chance to react but looks resolutely to the front once more; Sanghyuk grits his teeth. He's going to have to ask Namjoo what to do about this.

The lesson ends and Sanghyuk waits until the very moment Kang ssaem leaves the classroom. 

-Nearly got my phone confiscated because of you.

- such risks you're taking just to talk to me. You really must miss me that much.

- Shut up. What if I do?

- knew it.

Taekwoon feels like good and bad are both weighing on him equally, light and heavy at the same time. Sanghyuk misses him. Sanghyuk thinks he can fix all of Taekwoon's problems, but Sanghyuk doesn't realise things are not that easily fixed with words.

"If he gets into another fight he will be expelled," the discipline mistress tells his mother, and Taekwoon sitting next to her in the principal's office feels his heart speed up so fast it's a roaring in his ears. "Six fights in a year - and this latest one involving students from another school. Taekwoon, it would be better if you would just tell us what is going on."

"It's just - friends of a senior that I fought with before," Taekwoon manages to say, not looking at anybody. "I didn't start this fight."

"So you always say, Taekwoon, so you always say."

Sanghyuk thinks explaining to the football team will really be that easy - Taekwoon never really cared before about what his teammates thought about him. That was before Sanghyuk, before he started making friends, before his coach had taken a chance on him and let him play for longer than just as a sub. It was all a mess, and that's just how it all is.

I'm going to talk to your captain after school today comes another message from Sanghyuk, and Taekwoon wants to yell at the little flutter of hope inside his chest. This will all be sorted out by the time you come back to school, I promise.

*

"-Oh! Sir! Can I have a minute?" Sanghyuk darts after Lee seonsaengnim, sports head and teacher in charge of football. He was on his way to meet with Taekwoon's captain but this is even better and more direct; Lee seonsaengnim turns and slows, moving to one side of the busy corridor. 

"Yes?"

"This is about Jung Taekwoon's suspension from the team. I need to tell you something important."

"And who are you?"

"I'm his friend - his class president. Han Sanghyuk, I'm on the student council?" Sanghyuk smiles, hoping that would cement his credibility.

"What is this about?"

"I just needed to tell you, sir, that he's not getting into all these fights for nothing. He's not a troublemaker, he doesn't go looking for it. He's got gang members that want to get him in trouble, sir, like for the last match. They beat him up on purpose so he he would miss it."

Lee seonsaengnim looks at Sanghyuk, expression grim. "Are you telling me he's in a gang?"

"No! Not him. These are gang members from another school that - uh, he's a target because he stopped them from doing something. I just wanted to make sure you knew - Taekwoon isn't responsible for this. In fact he needs to be protected from them. Who knows what these gang members will do next? And it's not fair if he gets expelled for something that's not his fault or is suspended from playing-"

Lee seonsaengnim holds out a hand, stopping Sanghyuk. "I get the picture. Why are you telling me this instead of Taekwoon himself telling the discipline mistress?"

"He-" Sanghyuk halts. "I don't think he feels anyone would believe him."

"Right. Thank you for the information."

Sanghyuk watches Lee seonsaengnim walk off, feeling strangely unsettled.

"Where the hell were you?" Sungjae looks up from his math textbook as Sanghyuk slides into the seat opposite him, thirty minutes late for their study session. "Everybody's been glaring at me for hoarding this two-seater table."

"Sorry," Sanghyuk makes a face, and then pauses wondering if he should really tell Sungjae the truth about where he was. "I was talking to Lee ssaem the sports head."

"Why, thinking of joining football for your precious Taekwoon?"

Sanghyuk looks up, unimpressed, mood immediately dropping. "Why do you have to do that?"

"Why are you so obsessed with him?" Sungjae counters.

"I am not obsessed! He's my friend!"

"You used to dislike him and suddenly he's your best friend. I thought I was your best friend."

"Jealousy is really not a good look on you, Jae."

"I wouldn't be jealous if you'd just treat me as well as you treat him!"

Sanghyuk stops to take a breath, trying to repress the alarm that's making his temper flare. Sungjae is right, he has a point - but Sanghyuk knows the reason why he's spending so much time with Taekwoon and it's not platonic, and Sungjae cannot know about that. 

"Jae, I'm sorry. I really am. I want to be friends with you the same as we've always been, and I know i've been neglecting you. I'm going to work on managing my time better, okay?"

Sungjae just looks at him. "Am I being dumped?"

"Yook Sungjae!" Sanghyuk thuds his head down onto his textbook. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I mean it. If I'm being dumped you have to tell me clearly and obviously so I can leave your first."

"How can I dump you if we're not even in a relationship?"

"We're not?" Sungjae answers, indignantly, but he can't keep up the pretense for long and cracks a smile.

Sanghyuk merely groans, glad that for now the old Sungjae he knows is back and that the crisis has passed. 

"I'm a very jealous girlfriend," Sungjae warns him, going back to his books. "I don't take well to other people muscling in on my Sanghyuk."

"Clearly," Sanghyuk answers faintly, feeling the old panic kick in again.

-You're back today, right?? Why aren't you in class yet?

-i have to see the principal with my mother first Taekwoon types back to Sanghyuk, sitting in the principal's office next to his mother who's holding his hand. He's not sure if it's because she's nervous or she thinks he is. He catches his reflection in one of the glass cabinets lining the wall and feels thankful the suspension was for two weeks - his face looks more or less back to normal, with only a few scratches still remaining on his cheek. At least he won't have to put up with stares from the other students because he's walking around looking like a punching bag.

When the principal comes in she outlines the usual - rules for conduct, warnings for next time, only she makes it clear this time there will not be a next time. Taekwoon tries hard to keep his face impassive.

"One more thing," she adds. "One of your friends apparently told the sports head that the fights you get into are gang-related. Is that true?"

Taekwoon's mother gasps and turns to him, and Taekwoon's throat tightens at the principal's wording. This doesn't feel good - Sanghyuk wouldn't have been so careless as to make it sound like Taekwoon is in a gang too, right? Taekwoon forces himself to swallow.

"The guys who came after me the most recent time are gang members. I'm not in any gang."

"And they did this on purpose so you wouldn't be able to play in the match you had that day?"

"I - I think so."

"You never told me this!" Taekwoon's mother squeezes his hand hard, making him look at her. "What's going on?"

"How many of the fights you've been in have been with gang members, Taekwoon?"

"Not all, some of them," Taekwoon replies, breathing quickly.

"And do you think they are likely to come after you again?"

Taekwoon glances at his mother. "Yes."

"I see," the principal leans back in her seat. "I wish you'd told me this earlier so we could have tried to help you from the start. But right now.. Taekwoon, I'm going to have to keep you off the football team until we can get this sorted. It's a specific request from the sports head."

Taekwoon feels the floor drop away from underneath him. "What?"

"He's concerned for the safety of the other team members and I agree with him. There's no predicting what gang members may do and in the past we have had cases where the students around a gang's target were hurt just to get to him. We cannot take any chances here especially until we know more about who these people are. It was also his request that you be kept off the team to help with stability. You being suspended on and off like this doesn't help the team's bonding and dynamics."

Taekwoon nods dumbly, hardly registering the words.

"But once we have dealt with this of course you will be free to join the team once more."

Taekwoon nods again. He looks at his mother and the worry lines on her face, and the principal, and the empty chair next to her where the sports head may have sat. They'll never let him back on the team.

Taekwoon enters his classroom by the back door and sits down quietly, not looking at anybody. He's not sure why this time it matters so much - why it hurts so badly.

He can see Sanghyuk try to get his attention from out of the corner of his eye but he doesn't turn around, and class begins too quickly for him to come over. Taekwoon knows Sanghyuk had just been trying to help, but right now Taekwoon wishes Sanghyuk had just minded his own damn business. 

Football had been the one thing that had made everything bearable - no friends? No problem. Seniors picking on him because they heard about the fights he'd been in and wanted to compare sizes? No problem. But then he'd started making friends, and he'd played in a real match, and now everything matters way too much.

we have had cases where the students around a gang's target were hurt just to get to him 

What if this happens to Sanghyuk?

Taekwoon slowly lowers his head to his desk and closes his eyes. He knows the teacher will ignore him.