Seeing Jongdae yawn in front of him made Kyungsoo yawn too, and he covered his mouth, thinking himself lucky that Teacher Liu was facing the blackboard. He finished writing the information for the last timeline node, and stretched back as Teacher Liu dismissed them for the day. As chairs and classmates shuffled about, Kyungsoo read over his notes one more time. He heard sighs and chatter and scoffs, but most of all he heard Jongdae turn in his seat to face him. His friend would be leaning on the backrest of his chair, waiting for him to finish scanning his notes. 

Kyungsoo flipped a page, feeling a little guilty. He didn't actually suddenly gain an interest in history. It had become habit on days he had to attend Rho Eta Omicron's meetings for him to delay walking into the the math club room for as long as he could. He had learned that people wouldn't linger or toss more looks if they could leave, but they would entertain themselves if they were bored waiting for an event to start.

"Jongdae!" A deep voice called.

Kyungsoo gulped and dug around his pencil bag for a highlighter, trying not to let his hands shake as he drew the color over a date. 

"Hey, Chanyeol," Jongdae said.

"Are you done for the day? Me and Sehun are going to our shift to help out at the senior center. Wanna come with? You wanted to see it, right?"

"I do, but I'm not free today. I'm going to the pho club with Kyungsoo to tutor people."

"Pho club? Wait, is that really a thing?"

"Yes! Every Wednesday, there's tutoring and every other Wednesday, there's the tutors' meetings, which me and Kyungsoo have to go to."

"Tutoring for pho? Like how to make it?"

Kyungsoo sighed and tapped Jongdae's shoulder with his highlighter.

"It's Rho Eta Omicron: Math Club Tutoring, you dummy."

He knew that Chanyeol had played on the basketball team with Jongdae and that he was as tall as the doorway if not taller, but he had never felt just how tall his classmate was until he tried to glance up at him and the highest part of him Kyungsoo saw was his elbow. He had already spoken though, and he would finish what he started. In the corner of his notes, he wrote the Greek letters of the math club, turning it out towards Chanyeol.

"Jongdae likes to make the joke that it's pho club because the Greek letters look like the English letters for pho."

He saw Chanyeol's pant leg take a step forward and heard the rustle of fabric.

"It really does look like it."

"Aww, Kyungsoo, you spoiled my prank."

"Knowing you, you would have dragged Chanyeol-shi and Sehun-shi there and embarrass them by asking President Wei to get the club pho."

"You caught me."

Jongdae laughed and nudged Kyungsoo. He tried to smile along, but his face wouldn't move how he commanded it to, and his expression ended up in a half-turn up of his mouth and a twitch in his cheekbone. His hands were shaking, and he buried them in his lap to hide them. He turned back to his notes, trying to focus on the timeline of World War Two.

"Hey, Jongdae, is he normally like that?" Chanyeol whispered.

"Very studious? Yup."

"No, I meant..."

He didn't continue, and Kyungsoo didn't know if that made him more nervous or if Chanyeol finishing his sentence would have made him more nervous. When he saw a finger tap on his notebook, Kyungsoo decided that the uncertainty of the former was worse. He held his breath and looked up, high enough this time, to look at his classmate's face. He had always thought that Park Chanyeol had features steeled by seriousness, but the smile he showed Kyungsoo tugged his face into a child-like tease, and Kyungsoo noticed for the first time that his ears seemed to stick out from the side of his head, adding to the lopsided smile.

"You tutor math too, Kyungsoo-shi?"

"Y-yeah."

"Maybe you can help me with my homework sometime? Jongdae's always busy for track, and I at it."

"I don't believe that."

Chanyeol looked taken back, and Kyungsoo wondered if he said the wrong thing. His classmate had actually spoken to him! And in a polite possibly even playful manner! He had to explain himself no matter what. His tutoring morality also depended on it.

"I believe that anyone can succeed at a subject. Maybe not right away, but that's why tutors exist. They're supposed to help find the best studying technique of that subject for that tutee."

Chanyeol stared at him, and the longer he stared, the more Kyungsoo had to resist squirming in his seat. Did he say too much? Were his words too bold for his position? Or even the conversation? Maybe Chanyeol just wanted to leave already and then said the tutor request over his shoulder to be polite. Did Kyungsoo assume too much in his haste? What he said was his true feelings though.

A whistle broke through his thoughts, and Kyungsoo looked up to see Chanyeol nodding, his chin as if he had a beard.

"I feel like I just gained valuable wisdom."

"Kyungsoo's intelligence rubs off on you if you stick around long enough!"

Jongdae hopped up from his seat, cut in front of Chanyeol, and hugged Kyungsoo from his side.

"That's why he's such a good friend to have!"

Kyungsoo smiled then, even chuckled as he lightly pushed Jongdae off of him.

"So I'm only good for getting you smarter?"

"No, no, no, you're also good at making people kinder."

Kyungsoo had a witty reply ready for their usual banter but not to that. He didn't know what to say to that compliment. Or compliments in general, and Jongdae knew that. As sounds fell out of his mouth in stutters, Jongdae winked at him, and Kyungsoo knew that he picked this moment in front of someone on purpose to say those words.

"Then I'll take you up on that challenge sometime, Kyungsoo-shi. The math part, I mean. See you guys later!" Chanyeol said before jogging towards someone hovering at the door.

Kyungsoo guessed that the person, also as tall as the doorway, was his friend, Sehun. When he left, Kyungsoo turned to his friend.

"Why'd you say that in front of him?"

"Say what?"

"You know... that. Those nice words."

"You mean the truth?"

"The truth isn't always nice," he grumbled.

Jongdae chuckled and took up his backpack.

"But it was this time! More people need to know your awesomeness, Kyungsoo."

"I'd rather they not."

"Why not?"

He knew the answer: people would turn that confidence into arrogance, no matter what his or Jongdae's intentions were. But there was no way he could explain how or why or that they just would. He gathered his things and stood up.

"Let's start heading to the meeting."

He made his way to the back door when someone reached the door at the same time as him. He automatically stepped back for them to leave first, but they didn't move past him. They stopped in front of him, their arm swinging at their side, a familiar red patterned scarf twining with the coat in their hand. He looked up and saw Jongin wave at him.

"Hi."

"Hi. Uh, hi."

"You just said that twice, Kyungsoo," Jongdae laughed. "Heading to the pho club too, Jongin?"

He nodded, and Kyungsoo guessed that Jongin figured out Jongdae's nickname for the math club.

"Alright, me and Kyungsoo are heading the same way too, so let's go together."

Jongdae hooked his arms over both their shoulders and led them towards Rho Eta Omicron's scheduled classroom. It wasn't until Jongdae sat them down all together towards the back and he was watching Jongin listening to Jongdae talk about dairy-free yogurt that Kyungsoo realized that Jongin was attending the math tutor meeting. As in, he was still attending the tutor meetings. Kyungsoo wanted to ask why, but he didn't feel that he should intrude on Jongdae's in-depth lesson on correct yogurt consistency and tuned into the amount of creaminess he was supposed to taste.

The math meeting dragged the minutes by. There was an arithmetic competition coming up and volunteer tutoring at elementary schools. Kyungsoo wrote down the volunteer tutoring but mostly to tell Yuwon. She had a way with kids, and Kyungsoo recalled her saying that she wanted a job or volunteer opportunity that worked with children.

"Jongdae-shi, since you're back for the spring semester, will you consider being on the communications committee or do an advertising event for us?"

Kyungsoo turned his attention to the meeting again at the mention of his friend.

"I have track this season, so I don't know if I can commit fully to a committee."

"How about a one time promotional event like what I suggested before? The school's doing open house in April. You can work with the communications committee once and be done."

"What would we have to do?"

"Pass out fliers, make our club sound good and educational for both tutors and tutees, talk to a few parents. It won't be too bad because you'll be working with others to divide up the work. This offer is open to everyone, by the way."

Jongdae gripped Kyungsoo's knee from under desks at the word 'fliers.' Kyungsoo shook his head a little, not knowing how to help him out of the situation. Then one of the general tutors, Lin Inhae—the one who had sneered that he was second best—turned to face them. Her eyes were locked on Jongdae, and Kyungsoo grimaced at how her eyes roamed over his best friend.

"Oh, come on, Jongdae, you'll be great at it. You have such a loud and attractive voice."

Kyungsoo wanted to gag. He would never do a fake gag for when Jongdae or Yuwon flirted with each other again. Only the truly slimy flirting deserved it, he decided. Jongdae rubbed the tip of his nose, so Kyungsoo tugged his arm and made Jongdae face him.

"Do you want to do it?" He asked quietly.

"N-not really, but I do kinda feel bad for bailing Fall semester, and President Wei let me pay half the club dues but gave me the full year membership so..."

Kyungsoo knew from the moment he stuttered. He also saw green swirls in his eyes, and now that Kyungsoo knew what they meant (and that he wasn't seeing things), he made up his mind. He turned back to the awaiting club president, trying to ignore the glare that Lin Inhae didn't even bother hiding.

"Club President Wei, it's for anybody, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then I'll do it with Jongdae. Can you put us on the same shifts?"

"The planning for that isn't til March, but I'll make a special note of it," she chuckled. "Thank you."

He nodded and crossed gazes with the general tutor. Her glare turned into a roll of the eyes before she turned back towards the front. Kyungsoo reached to massage his shoulder and told himself that he had helped out his best friend, and that was more important. When Jongdae latched onto his waist and whispered a thousand thank yous a minute, the reassurance to himself felt a little more real, and he let out a little breath. When the meeting ended, Jongdae turned towards him.

"You are the bestest best friend ever, Kyungsoo."

"Grammar."

"But I'm seriousss."

"Don't be mistaken, Jongdae. I'm going to make you practice. You're going to have to learn public speaking someday, so we're going to work up to it, starting with learning to talk to strangers. When the time comes, you're talking to them."

"But Kyungsooooo."

"No buts."

"Fine." He pouted but it disappeared in the next second, replaced by a smile. "Thank you for signing up with me."

"Of course. I got your back."

Jongdae pulled him into another hug, and Kyungsoo came face to face with Jongin, who had been on the other side of Jongdae. His motor functions malfunctioned, but Jongin gave him a small smile and something warm swam in his eyes. Kyungsoo didn't have time to think about it through, because Jongdae whispered.

"Aikyang, I think my eyes changed color."

He pulled away from Kyungsoo and pointed at his eyes. Kyungsoo nodded when he saw the raspberry stripes had surfaced over the usual brown.

"Kyungsoo!" He whispered. "Stop making me feel appreciative!"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

He turned to Jongin. "Jongin! Help me stop feeling appreciative!"

His eyebrows lifted as he blinked at him, then he pulled out his math journal.

"Right. Tutoring. We should get to tutoring."

He took a breath and turned back to Kyungsoo, pointing at his eyes again. He gave him an 'okay' sign when he saw that the stripes had faded.

"Okay, nice. So Jongin, you get to pick between two tutors! Don't worry, my feelings won't be hurt if you pick Kyungsoo."

"Stop being dramatic."

Kyungsoo turned to grab his backpack, but curiosity nudged him. Now that Jongdae had time to do tutoring again, would Jongin go back to his original tutor? Jongin also wouldn't have to endure any awkwardness if he was tutored by Jongdae again. Leaning out from behind his friend, Kyungsoo peered over at Jongin. He tapped a finger to the back of his hand, thinking. He looked from Jongdae to Kyungsoo and then to his right. Kyungsoo followed his gaze and was surprised that he had looked over at Lin Inhae. He couldn't think of a reason why was all.

"This once, Jongdae."

His friend pulled back, surprised, but he nodded.

"Just for old time's sake, eh? Sorry, Kyungsoo, I'm stealing your tutee."

"Just treat him well. And you can flick him on the hand if he starts to get off-topic, Jongin-shi."

"Hey."

He stood and waved bye to them before heading towards the library. As he walked down the halls, he wondered why Jongin wanted to be tutored by Jongdae this time. He didn't have anything against it, and he trusted his best friends's tutoring skills, but Jongin said specifically just this time he wanted to be tutored by Jongdae. He didn't have to feel any obligation towards Kyungsoo. Maybe he really did want to be tutored by Jongdae for old time's sake, but a nagging feeling told Kyungsoo that the general tutor had had something to do with his choice. Did he want to see her? Kyungsoo wouldn't say anything, but he hoped that Jongin had better taste than a person who so openly ran their eyes over another.

Kyungsoo stopped, mid-step, and thought of what he just thought. At the recollection, he started speed walking down the halls, pumping his arms, leaving skid marks on the floors. He scolded himself, because he had absolutely zero right to judge what kind of person Jongin could like. As a friend, he would hope that Jongin's person of interest would be someone who respected Jongin, other people, had tighter morals, and decency, but they technically weren't friends yet so Kyungsoo wouldn't allow himself to think anymore or say anything. He was probably thinking too far anyway, because Jongin had looked at Lin Inhae like someone who failed to impress or flatter him. Kyungsoo didn't think he would see those eyes again, but maybe that was because he had gotten used to the warm or shy or even inquisitive look in Jongin's eyes instead.

As he reached the usual study room in the library and set up his books, Kyungsoo thought of his conversation with Chanyeol. He was a loud personality whose voice boomed down the halls and over the frenzy of the basketball court. Jongdae told him once that Chanyeol was great at defending in basketball and helped infect the team with enthusiasm. He was so loud that Kyungsoo knew that he wasn't one of the people who whispered about him but one of the ones who watched.

He wondered what kind of impression Chanyeol had of him, and if their conversation changed that. The giant seemed like he hadn't anticipated Kyungsoo being vocal about anything. Kyungsoo could understand why—he had never said anything about the gossip—but his tutoring morals was one thing he was willing to defend. He just hoped that Chanyeol wouldn't think of him badly, like he the fun out of everything and controlled Jongdae with it, or Kyungsoo had manipulated Jongdae into thinking that he was on his side. That was one of the rumors Kyungsoo hated hearing the most. There was a tap to his shoulder, and he shook out of his thoughts. Seulgi had come in and sat down at the table, tilting her head at him.

"Kyungsoo?"

"Seulgi, hi. Sorry, I was