Kyungsoo squinted at the whiteboard, trying to copy the organ names of the digestive system before the teacher switched to the next slide. He flipped to the next page of his notes to keep up with the teacher, but he saw that he had labeled the stomach (he knew where that was at least) as the jejunum, written liver up onto the line pointing to the person's mouth, and put the rectum off the diagram completely and sitting under the descriptions of the organ functions. He sighed a little. 

Normally, Kyungsoo never came so unprepared to his classes, but his mom had surprised him by coming home early from work, and he had wanted to spend every possible extra second with her before she was back to Miyong Hospital tending to patients. So of course, he hadn't prepped his notes, and a few parts of his homework questions were missing. 

As Teacher Zhang started demonstrating something with his hands, Kyungsoo's eyes followed the movement, watched for a moment as the teacher created a circle with one hand and used the other to push through it downwards, and he immediately lowered his eyes. He admittedly hadn't been paying enough attention to know what the gesture was supposed to mean in the context of biology class, but he felt embarrassed at the words Teacher Zhang said so enthusiastically.

"And so if we are not talking about constipation, bad hygiene, or eating too many spicy things, then generally, a spell of diarrhea or difficult defection can cause it to swell. And that is why your butthole may burn after doing a number two."

"Thanks for answering my question, Teacher Zhang!" a voice to his right shouted back with the same enthusiasm.

Kyungsoo facepalmed himself, knowing full well whose voice it was, and turned to look at his friend in the seat next to him. Jongdae scribbled the new information next to the rectum (labeled in the right space) before turning to Kyungsoo with a grin. His perky cheekbones accented even more as did, and Kyungsoo was still giving him his best pained look.

Why? Kyungsoo mouthed.

Jongdae wrote to the side of his journal and scooted it closer to Kyungsoo, holding the paper up so that he could continue writing notes on the next page.

Haven't you ever wondered why? It's interesting!

Kyungsoo had to chuckle then. He should have known that his best friend would ask a question like that. Kim Jongdae had been the holder of that title since freshmen year. He had moved into the country a week prior to the start of the school year, and they shared the same classes. Kyungsoo hadn't thought much of him at first, other than that he was a classmate who didn't speak as much as the others.

Plenty of people went up to him to ask his name and to tell him that he was handsome, but Kyungsoo didn't hear or see anything outside of that. People stuck to their own, the familiar faces from middle and elementary school. Kyungsoo didn't blame them. That clinging of familiarity left him by himself, but he was used to being by himself with his mom's forty-eight to seventy-two hour nursing shifts. Kim Jongdae, however, did not seem so used to it. The neutral face that he would walk into class with slipped a little every day, and his eyes that would watch people approach only to pass him by soon started permanently watching the ground instead. But that had just been Kyungsoo's guess, and he didn't want to seem creepy by bringing it up in a conversation.

It ended up happening anyway when Kyungsoo had finally plucked up enough courage to ask if he could eat lunch with him. He had planned on asking Jongdae once he sat down, but he took his food out of the lunchroom. Kyungsoo had followed him out to a bench under the tree shade behind the school. Sniffling and rubbing eyes as he ate a cheese shortbread, he hissed at Kyungsoo to go away and to stop staring at him in the classroom. While he was trying to think of an explanation for his staring, Jongdae coughed. He wouldn't stop coughing, and he started scratching at his neck and beating at his chest. Kyungsoo had never thanked his mom for beating the knowledge of basic rescue measures into his head more than that day when he did the Heimlich on first year Jongdae.

He apparently also needed a medication from his backpack, and Kyungsoo had dashed back to the classroom to get it. It hadn't been any kind of medicine that Kyungsoo had seen before, but it worked so he didn't question it. When the color had returned to Jongdae's face, that was when Kyungsoo allowed himself to shout a curse at the top of his lungs at the boy. Jongdae had only laughed as Kyungsoo started on a tirade of how stupid Jongdae must have been and how if he wanted to be alone, he had to at least know how to take care of himself.

"I don't want to be alone though."

Kyungsoo had huffed.

"I don't like it either, but sometimes we can't help it, can we?"

"Hm. We can help it by preventing it! Do you want to be friends?" 

Kyungsoo had since then unleashed the loose cannon that was Kim Jongdae. 

He tried to turn back to the whiteboard and where they were in the notes when his friend shot up another hand to ask if there had been any research to transform human appendixes into an extra vessel for waste collection, and he immediately looked down again to hide his face. 

Biology class finally ended with Kyungsoo's notes half scrambled and half missing. He gave up trying to organize it in the last minute of class time and just asked Jongdae if he could see his notes later. Jongdae snapped his fingers and clicked his tongue twice in a 'yes' just as Teacher Zhang announced dismissal. 

"Oh, Do Kyungsoo, please let me have a chat with you."

A curse word rose in his thoughts before he could smother down his panic. Had the teacher caught him with missing notes and homework questions? Jongdae signaled that he would wait outside, and Kyungsoo nodded, slipping his backpack on and moving towards the teacher's desk. He gave a polite bow, and Teacher Zhang responded back with a nod. Of all the teachers he had this year, and maybe ever, Teacher Zhang had been the most polite, approachable, and enthusiastic about the subject taught. He cracked a joke every now and then and always had the wit for Jongdae's off-the-planet questions. Kyungsoo liked Teacher Zhang—biology a bit less so.

"Hello, Teacher Zhang. Is there something you need from me?"

He smiled, his characteristic dimple appearing in his cheek.

"An answer, please. Maybe two."

"To what?"

"If you think it would be worth investing in research on turning human appendixes into a vessel for extra waste."

Kyungsoo couldn't help but sputter out a laugh and rolled his lips in to try stopping the laughter. "I sincerely apologize for the strangeness of my friend."

Teacher Zhang chuckled. "No, I enjoy it. Reminds me of a partner of mine when we were young."

Kyungsoo nodded an acknowledgement and waited for the teacher to finish smiling towards his binder of notes. He seemed distant in the past.

"Anyways, my second question. What are your personal beliefs in improvement?"

"For humanity or technology or...?"

"Individuals."

Kyungsoo wondered why Teacher Zhang was asking such a specific question and to him. He didn't think that he was being tested considering he was the biology teacher, and the question asked for personal beliefs. 

"I think it's always possible if the person has the motivation to improve themselves or their lives."

"What supplies good motivation in your opinion?"

"I guess desire? And interest?"

"Do you mean greed?"

"Not really. I think greed has an 'excess' connotation to it."

"Then is it greedy to want nothing?"

"It sounds more hypocritical than anything. To me, at least."

"Why is that?"

"Because you'll always have something left. Maybe not a house or money, but there's stuff like hope or another chance or a new opportunity."

"Another chance and new opportunity..."

Teacher Zhang's eyes had trailed past Kyungsoo's, staring at something behind him. Or maybe into the past. Teacher Zhang seemed to do so often.

"Uh, Teacher Zhang? Can I ask you why you wanted to ask me these things?"

"A friend of mine has recently hit a slump, and I wish to help him. I thought that an outside perspective would be helpful, and I see that it is. Thank you."

"Oh. No problem. I hope your friend gets through it."

The teacher chuckled and thanked him again before letting Kyungsoo go. He gave another bow and turned for the door when he realized that someone was still in the classroom. They hovered in the corner right before the backdoor and were watching Kyungsoo, turning away as they made eye contact. As the student ducked and slipped out the