"Hakyeon,did you hear about the new kid?" Jaehwan asks,his voice giddy

"I did,this morning" Hakyeon said,shrugging

"Heard he's gonna be in our class" sanghyuk informs,his face giddy too but a little bit more less than jaehwan's giddiness 

"Why are people buzzing about this so much?" Hongbin grumbles,frowning

"Because apparently someone saw him moving in to the neighbourhood last week and they said,i quote, 'he's so ing handsome the straights would turn gay for him and the gays would turn straight for him' " wonshik supplies,snickering at hongbin's facial expression

"Ooh,binnie you have a rival then?" Sanghyuk giggles

"A rival in what?" Hongbin narrows his eyes

"The heart-throb of the school" Jaehwan joins in into the teasing,knowing that hongbin doesn't likes being called the heart-throb of the school

Hongbin lands a punch to their shoulders,rolling his eyes

"Ooh,i really wanna meet him!" Hakyeon,apparently,is even more giddy than jaehwan " i'd make him feels like home"

"What home?With you,it's just a nightmare" hongbin stucks his tongues out at hakyeon,making hakyeon give him his signature stink face

"You just ing wait,lee hongbin"
--
"Okay,settle down,everyone.We have a new transfer student here" the teacher says before beckoning the person outside the classroom to come inside

As soon as the kid walks in,silent gasps -because of how goodlooking he is,hongbin assumes- could be heard mixed with hakyeon's extra loud gasp

"Isn't that taekwoon?!" Hakyeon whispers-shouts,not really wanting to disturb the class

At the statement,the other four turns to look infront as well and sure enough,infront of the class,stands their beloved childhood friend,taekwoon.

"Hello,im jung taekwoon.Please take care of me" taekwoon says in a voice so soft it's as if he never spoke

",i never thought i'd be able to hear his voice again" hongbin whispers,eyes wide,probably a little glassy too but the others are too shocked to notice each other

"Taekwoon,you can sit there,next to hakyeon." The teacher says,smiling at taekwoon and motioning for him to sit

Nodding,taekwoon looks at the seat and hakyeon swear he could see taekwoon's eyes scanning the whole class and stops on the five of them for some seconds too long before walking to sit.

Hakyeon beams at taekwoon when he reaches him "taek-"

"Okay,lets start the lesson,stop talking" the teacher says,opening his own book

Sighing,hakyeon glances at taekwoon but he's just staring at his book,acting as if he's not meeting his childhood friends again after going missing after a whole few years
--
Right after the recess bell rang,hakyeon turns to taekwoon and speaks loudly in excitement "taekwoon!I missed you so much,where did you go,?"

Taekwoon turns to look at hakyeon and he was expecting a grin or some kind of a reply but all he did was stares blankly at hakyeon,as if he doesn't recognise him

"God,everyone really is staring at you" hongbin jokes,punching taekwoon's shoulder,expecting for him to strikes back but all he did is rubs the place hongbin punches and frowns

"Uh- woon- ah,i mean uh taekwoon,do you- remember us?" Wonshik asks slowly,afraid of the answer

Taekwoon scans the five of them before nodding once before staring at the floor 

"Anyways,im starting to get uncomfortable with all these stares,let's go and eat somewhere private" sanghyuk grumbles,trying to break the awkwardness

Nodding,jaehwan gets up before smiling at taekwoon and dragging him along

As soon as they reached the rooftop,hakyeon pulls taekwoon away from jaehwan so that he can sit next to him "So,woonie,do you really still remember us?"

Taekwoon seems to be a little hesitant but he nods anyways,eyes scanning them again

Raising his eyebrows,hyuk taps taekwoon's hand softly "what's my name?"

"Hyuk" taekwoon replies,voice still oh so so soft

"Ooh,you really do remember!" Jaehwan squeals,grinning 

Taekwoon's cheeks are tinted with soft pink,his head bowed "of course i do.."

"You're still so cute!" Hakyeon laughs,reaching out to pinch taekwoon's cheeks.An action he used to always do to taekwoon when they were small.

He was about to pinch but as soon as taekwoon saw hakyeon's raised hand,he suddenly flinches,making hakyeon stops his movement

"..are you okay?" Hakyeon frowns,putting his hand down "Did i surprised you?Im sorry"

Shaking his head,taekwoon grimaces "Sorry.."

The five of them looks at each other,concerned at how much taekwoon changed.Hakyeon shakes his head,smiling softly "Its okay!Im in the wrong for suddenly reaching out like that~"

"Totally your fault" hongbin said,glaring at hakyeon with a tint of playfulness in his eyes

Hakyeon glares at hongbin back,smacking him hard on his shoulder "Lee hongbin,you're on thin ing ice"

"That hurts,you old man!" Hongbin shrieks,pushing hakyeon away and rubbing his shoulder in pain

"Yah!We're the same age!" Hakyeon cries,chasing hongbin around the rooftop 

Wonshik watches them playing around,grinning at their antics before he turns to make small talks with taekwoon but stopped when he saw taekwoon watching the two friends running around the rooftop,his mouth curling up a little in a ghost of a smile,almost as if he's trying to stop himself from smiling or laughing

Frowning,wonshik leans onto jaehwan,whispering "hwannie,what do you remember our woonie as back then?"

Jaehwan's eyebrows raised,looking at wonshik confusedly before shrugging "I dont know.Playful,bubbly,outgoing.And soft spoken" 

Wonshik nods "He's nothing like that now except for being soft spoken,it's almost as if he changed 180 degrees."

"..Maybe he's just more matured now?" Jaehwan tries to reason,still whispering

"Jaehwan he- he wont even look at us in the eyes.And did you see how he flinches when hakyeon raised his hands?That's- that's not normal-" wonshik was cut off by sanghyuk yelling for all of them to hurry up because the recess is over

Frowning,wonshik stands up and looks at jaehwan in the eyes "we're gonna talk about this together after school ends"

Sighing defeatedly,jaehwan nods before following the rest of them out.
--
"Taek,do you wanna join us?We're going to hangout after school" Sanghyuk asks,smiling at taekwoon

Taekwoon frowns before quickly shaking his head no "im..busy."

"Oh well,see you tomorrow then" hongbin said,grinning at taekwoon and waving when he finally walks out of the class

"He's weird" wonshik says,his eyes narrowed 

They turns their heads to him,frowning 

"He's not weird,he just changed a little bit" hakyeon defends,smacking wonshik

"A little bit?" Wonshik frowns at hakyeon "He changed a lot."

Hongbin nods, "I didn't see him smiling even once today.He used to smile at everything back then"

"People changes,hongbin" hakyeon huffs,

"Hakyeon,you're just trying to run away from the fact that taekwoon really did changed so drastically " sanghyuk says from his desk

"Yeah..did you see how much he flinched when hakyeon just simply raised his hand?That's weird.." Jaehwan shakes his head,remembering the scene "i mean like,its normal to flinch when someone raised their hand close to your head,i guess.But he flinched so ing hard"

Hakyeon bites his lip,sighing silently "fine,he did changed a lot but let's not make a big deal for now.He probably just matured up"

"Yeah..we should just observe silently for now." Jaehwan nods,grinning "Let's go and hangout now that this is settled"