“You really should start looking at colleges, hyung,” Kihyun nags, glancing between Hyunwoo and his own boyfriend. “I’ve already picked out my top five, and I’m only a junior! What’ll happen if you two graduate without even thinking of life after you walk across that stage to get that empty envelope?? Absolutely nothing, that’s what.”

“Aiiish,” Hyungwon complains, pressing an index finger to each of his temples. “Please, either of you just name a random school to shut him up… Please .” Hyunwoo chuckles at his boyfriend’s sour expression, rubbing a consoling circle along the younger’s back. Hoseok laughs along with them, though he remains silent. He doesn’t have the heart to tell the boy that he doesn’t really want to go to college. It’s too expensive, and with his utter lack of extracurriculars, there’s no way he’d get any scholarships. It’d just be a big waste of resources, as what he wants to do for a living doesn’t even require a degree.

“I guess we’ll just have to figure out a list for you this weekend~” Kihyun concludes, winking at Hoseok as he speaks. Hoseok gives the younger a knowing smirk, blatantly ignoring the blush on his own cheeks.

“Jesus,” Minhyuk bemoans, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “You’d think that got you hot or something… No wonder you’re such a hardass for schoolwork.” Kihyun’s sweet gaze immediately turns vicious, and he whirls about to glare at his same-age friend as the tips of his ears blare red.

“Just because I want my boyfriend to succeed in life doesn’t mean I have a work , Minhyuk-ah!!” he outright shouts, earning a handful of curious glances his way. Changkyun snickers under his breath, nudging Jooheon amusedly while the older snickers breathily. Hyungwon only rolls his eyes, hopping off the table and stalking off. Hyunwoo calmly follows after like a well-trained pup, carrying their bags as they go.

“Well…” Minhyuk cackles, his raspy tones echoing through the air, “at first I was just joking, but you were just way too defensive!!! Youuu have a work kiiink~” Minhyuk sings tauntingly, poking Kihyun’s shoulder with both his index fingers. Kihyun pushes his same-age friend away from him, straightening his own glasses as he tries to calm down.

Hoseok watches the whole thing bemusedly. He shakes his head, glancing around casually at the other students milling about. He freezes, though, at seeing a grimly familiar sign on the far wall. He pales, gulping thickly.

Not again.

“... Hoseok?”

He glances back to Kihyun, his heartbeat slowing with the memory of that symbol seared into his eyes. The symbol of a tiger’s tail wrapped around a knife, blood dripping from its blade.

Hoseok blinks, trying to shake the image from his mind. He pushes on a smile, shaking his head.

“Sorry,” he mutters, chuckling breathily. “I just got distracted. What were we saying…?” Kihyun purses his lips, clearly skeptical. It doesn’t surprise the older. After all, Kihyun’s always been able to tell when Hoseok is lying.

“Colleges,” Kihyun finally answers, his tone clipped short as he looks to his home-packed lunch. “I was asking if you at least wanted knew what your major will be.” Hoseok feels Minhyuk’s confused glance on him, though he doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he looks back towards the far window, where he’d seen the symbol pushed against the wall, but it isn’t there anymore.

Typical. They never leave evidence of themselves out long enough to be seen by anyone they don’t want to see.

“Uh… yeah, yeah,” Hoseok mutters in response, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. He tilts his head to the side, the sight of his sweet, perfect boyfriend washing away the sudden fear that had entrapped his heart for that singular moment. “I have some ideas, but I haven’t decided yet.” Kihyun sighs, rolling his eyes and starting to nag him about how he’d be so lost without the younger.

Hoseok hums, unable to keep from faintly agreeing. The conversation flutters on, and Hoseok lets it fully distract him from his own worries. Maybe he’d only thought he saw what he did… Maybe it was just a trick of the light, a hallucination brought on by working too hard… That kind of stuff can happen, right? He’s pretty sure he’s heard of that kind of thing before.

After school that day, Hoseok goes directly to his mother’s cafe. Kihyun’s with him, and he’s pretty sure his mother’s smile brightens tenfold just at seeing the younger boy.

“Hi, Ms. Lee,” Kihyun greets with a respectful bow, though the woman immediately catapults herself from behind the counter to greet them both with a warm embrace.

“It’s been so long, Kihyunnie!” she says, her voice so overfilled with joy. “You shouldn’t be such a stranger! I told you, our home is your home.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I’ve been pretty swamped with school lately… I promise to come by more often!” He says it so sweetly, his signature ear-to-ear grin at full-force on his face. Hoseok feels his love for the younger grow at least twenty times stronger just seeing it.

“Aah,” Hoseok’s mother says, straightening up and setting her hands on her hips, “could you get our tteoki to focus more on his schoolwork? He barely ever does homework on his own, and by now I don’t even know if he’s going to get into a good university!”

“Moooommmm,” Hoseok whines, his cheeks shifting from their typical pale pallor to a deep scarlet. His mother coos, pulling at Hoseok’s cheek before turning on her heel.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” she says, gesturing towards their usual table in the corner. “Just holler if you need anything.”

“Thank you!” Kihyun calls after her, already going towards the table. He slings his bag off his shoulder and sets it in one of the free chairs, opening it to pull out his Master Notebook. He clicks his pen, flipping the pages until he finds the one he’s looking for. “Now, about this project we have in chemistry—“

“The only chemistry I know is the kind we have for each other~” Hoseok teases, scooting his chair closer to Kihyun on instinct. Kihyun rolls his eyes, hitting Hoseok’s shoulder playfully as he straightens his glasses.

“Keep this up, and I’ll just cancel on our anniversary date next week,” Kihyun teases back. Hoseok’s impish grin immediately falls, instead replaced by a frown through which the world’s most lamented groan falls.

“Nooooooo,” Hoseok pouts, reaching over to pull Kihyun into a tight embrace to sway him around a bit. “You can’t do that to me, Kihyunnie~!! It’ll just break my heart!!!” Kihyun sighs loudly, though he’s completely relaxed against the older’s chest. Hoseok stills, feeling all too comfortable with Kihyun this close. He deflates in his seat a bit, burying his nose in Kihyun’s soft pink hair and inhaling deeply. His heartbeat picks up ever so slightly, just enough to give him the butterflies. He doesn’t understand how he can still get butterflies for his boyfriend after nearly a year of dating, but he figures it’s just because it’s Kihyun.

His perfect, sweet, adorable, feisty, pesky, naggy, beautiful Kihyunnie…

The image he’d seen back in the courtyard flashes against the backs of his eyelids, and he freezes. He tries to explain it away, not see it as it truly is, but it’s hard to deny the truth.

“Hoseokkie?” Kihyun asks, pulling back to stare up into his eyes. Hoseok glances down at him, forcing yet another easygoing smile.

“I-It’s nothing…” he says shyly, not looking at Kihyun’s eyes. He can never lie to Kihyun, especially not when looking into his star-like eyes. Kihyun watches him skeptically, though after a moment he let’s it drop. He fully pulls away, though, pointedly keeping his gaze on his notebook as he starts to talk. He goes on into the original topic, class, and starts listing off possibly topics they can talk about during their presentation. Hoseok interjects where he can, saying he can’t talk about that because he didn’t pay attention during that unit, or that he thinks he remembers this so they could maybe do it.

Neither discuss the lie, though it hangs over them like a fog, oppressing their underlying joy and squashing any attempts at humor or fun during their work. Kihyun leaves as soon as they get done, claiming he has to get home to help his mom with dinner, and Hoseok only accepts the excuse.

There’s no reason for him to call Kihyun out on a lie, after all, not when he’s guilty of doing the same.