The days went by quickly and the school break ended and everyone was back to school. Sadly enough, Ricky had caught the flew a couple of days after Christmas and stayed home in his dorm during New Years Eve. His love had asked whether or not he wanted him to keep him company, but Ricky had said no. He wouldn't let his New Years Eve get ruined just because of him being sick.
The day had been awful and taken boring to a whole other level. The reasons for that, was because he was all alone; not even Baekhyun had kept him company! His faithful best friend had been busy getting to know Chanyeol. From the moment he woke up, had he been seated in the couch watching variety shows and “You're Beautiful”. He was a er for Korean dramas and he loved how cute Hongki was in it! Not to mention the heart-breaking scenes where Yonghwa was rejected by Park Shin Hye...

Ricky stretched his arms out and snatched his head to the side as Mr. Choi wrote down different formulas on the whiteboard. He remembered when he first started in the school and he had met with Sohee. “But he's a devil in disguise”. Oh yes, he was, Ricky thought and rolled his eyes when the young man turned around with a wide grin on his face.

“Can someone please tell me what -3/4n + 3n = 3/2n - 13/3 is?”, he said and looked out over the students, looking for someone to mess with. Like normal, did Eunhee raise her hand, leaving the teacher to sigh. “Miss Eunhee has already solved the last twenty problems. Let's give someone else a chance... Lee Byunghun”.
Ricky grinned and looked over his shoulder to look at his boyfriend, who were seated at the back of the classroom, resting his legs on the desk and his arms clasped together behind his head.
“n = -52/9”, L.Joe sighed, making the class turn their heads to the back in pure surprise.
Mr. Choi chuckled. “And you solved that... how?”.
“I told you the answer... ask someone else for the solution”, L.Joe muttered and fixed his hair. When there was no reply, he let out another sigh. “I don't know how to say all of these stuff... so I'll just write it on the board”.
Ricky bit his bottom lip and watched as Mr. Choi nodded in approval and the blonde strode up to the board and took the red whiteboard pen and wrote with big, fat letters: “ you, Choi Dongwook. I hope you burn in hell and serve the Devil like the little you really are.”.
Even though Ricky wasn't “great” in English, the swearwords he did understand and the rest of the class as well. He gasped for air and heard a chuckle leave L.Joe's lips as he turned around to show his masterpiece, which made the teacher's eyes to darken.

“Lee Byunghun”, he said with a voice as smooth as silk and placed a clenched fist onto the teachers desk. With his free hand, did he fix his glasses. “I'm sure you're waiting for me to give you detention”.
Ricky gasped and knew where this was going; he was going to punish the whole class for L.Joe's stupid joke. And by the look of L.Joe's face, he knew it too and awkwardly turned.
“Mianhae seonsaeng-nim”, he muttered and wrote down the formula on the whiteboard, and made it very clear so that even Ricky who had a little problem with math understood. “Class's over. Ricky, gaja!”.
Before Ricky could collect his things, had L.Joe grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him out of the classroom. He heard Mr. Choi shout after them, something about how he wouldn't let them get away with this so easily. But at that moment, Ricky was too excited to even care.

“You're crazy”, he exclaimed when L.Joe finally stopped to catch his breath. “He's going to kill us the next time we have math!”.
L.Joe just snickered and gently the back of his hand over Ricky's cheek. “I'll deal with him. Don't worry, kay?”.
How could Ricky not worry? The school had just started and L.Joe was already tired of it. He opened his mouth to say something, but was being shut up by the soft lips of L.Joe's. He relaxed and added a little pressure to the soft kiss and s his both arms around his lover's neck to somehow gain more access to those lips.
L.Joe smiled against his lips and parted Ricky's, but Ricky quickly pulled back and coughed. “Y-y-ah”.
“Don't worry babe, I won't let anything happen to you”, L.Joe chuckled and played with Ricky's hands and swung them up and down in the air, while innocently biting on his lower lip. He then leaned in to plant a soft peck on Ricky's lips, making him blush and smile goofily. Even though he loved L.Joe's kisses, those quick and soft ones always created butterflies inside of his stomach.
“Neither will I. So could you please stop playing around with the teachers? You'll get in serious trouble if you continue like that”, Ricky said with a serious tone and shot him a look of both concern and his sincerity when it came to the boy. All he got in reply however, was a playful smirk and a pair of arms s around his waist.
“Babe... I love you. You know that right?”, L.Joe said and tilted his head slightly to the side, while putting on his deadly smile that no-one could resist, not even Ricky. “You don't have to baby-sit me. I'm older than you and can take good care of myself”.
Ouch, Ricky thought and frustratingly his lower lip. He didn't want to pick a fight with L.Joe, because picking a fight with someone who was stronger and... childish to the point where Ricky just avoided it.

“Babe... you're not mad, are you?”, L.Joe snickered and proved Ricky right by being childish. “Wow... you are mad”.
Ricky shrugged and plastered on a fake smile. “Mad? Me? Not at all. Why would I be?”.
“Oh I don't know... that murderous eye you gave me? The one that literally shot daggers at me”.
Ricky rolled his eyes. “I wasn't mad. I just... ugh, nothing. I have to go, I have class in less than ten minutes”.
L.Joe scoffed and circled his fingers around Ricky's wrist and held him in a tight grasp. “Leaving? Yah, you're not going anywhere until you tell me what upset you”.
“I'm not upset”, Ricky muttered under his breath. “I just want you to take things seriously, for once”.
“For... once? The hell's that suppose to mean?”, L.Joe sneered and emphasized the word 'once' with complete disbelief. Because he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
“You want me to list up all the times you've been to detention, the classes you've missed or the times you've spoken back to a teacher? Oh right; I lost track of them by the time I reached uncountable”, Ricky replied with a poisonous voice. Not many people could restrain themselves for long when someone pushed them to spill something out and at that moment, Ricky felt disappointed in himself for not lasting longer.
L.Joe widened his both eyes in complete shock and let out a sound that matched perfectly to that expression. “Mworago?!”.
As on cue, did the bell of the school ring and students from every classroom walked out, making their way towards Ricky and L.Joe. Ricky snatched his arm back and mimicked the words that they were going to clear this up later.
Baekhyun ran up to him and smiled his normal, adorable eye-smile. Until he realized that Ricky walked alone to the classroom – and not together with his former enemy.

“Where's L.Joe?”, Baekhyun asked and popped a strawberry flavoured lollipop inside of his mouth.
Ricky shrugged. “How is Chanyeol these days? I haven't heard from him in such a long time”.
The eye-smiling boy lit up like a sun and he breathed in a huge amount of air before opening his mouth to tell him everything. Ricky glanced over his shoulder and did spot his boyfriend's blond hair. He sighed in annoyance, he hated not being on good terms with people.

“He is just... so cute! We talk on the phone till late in the night and then I sing him to sleep! He said I should audition for SM, but I don't know... I heard they're really picky and I would probably just... not make it”, Baekhyun said with a dreamy voice and spun around in happiness.
Ricky rolled his eyes and didn't find the happy-go-lucky boy cute at all, but annoying. “I've heard you already. And it's not just “late” in the night, it's freaking 3 AM, Baek. Don't you know how to text?”. He didn't mean to sneer like that nor did he mean the words that came out of his mouth. The incident with L.Joe bugged him and that boy had quite the influence on him.
Baekhyun made a face and held up both his hands in the air. “Woow, take a chill pill or something. Why so... grumpy? Is it like... your time in the month or something?”.
Ricky rolled his eyes, passed by the brunette and accidentally bumped into his shoulder on the go. The classroom had already been opened, which meant that Park Jungsoo was already preparing the whiteboard with notes for them to write down.
He steered inside the classroom and greeted the man who was just like he had thought, attached to the whiteboard with a textbook in his one hand and a red whiteboard pen in his other.

“Ricky-ah! Sit over here”. Ricky heard someone say and caught the glimpse of Eunhee. Without any hesitation did he sit down on the empty chair beside her. “I'm so hungry... Kai said that he'd save us some seats in the cafeteria after history”.
Ricky waved her off and took out his notebook and a pink pencil. “Sure”, he muttered uninterested and hurried to write down the words on the board. When the classroom was filled and Baekhyun was seated in the very front beside Jia, Mr. Park closed the door and greeted his class with his most sincere smile.

“Welcome, students. I hope you've had a wonderful vacation. Before we get down to business, I'd like to hear what you guys did on your holidays. So, instead of history, take out your Korean books and write me a letter. You don't have to write a novel, but... maybe something special that happened”, he said with a friendly, calm voice and reached for his white cup of coffee and had a small sip of the warm liquid.
Ricky sighed and turned the page of his notebook. What was he going to write? Nothing “special” had happened-

“Seonsaeng-nim. Are we not having history today?”, Baekhyun asked innocently and blinked in a cute way so that his black thick eyeliner was completely revealed.
Mr. Park let out a soft, amusing chuckle. “Ofcourse not. I just rescheduled so, the history class will be held right after this. Good try, Byun Baekhyun-ssi.

Ricky tapped his pencil onto the desk as he tried to figure out what to write. He had done quite a few things during the holiday; and as he sat there thinking, he smiled. Even though his holiday hadn't been all L.Joe, it was the time with him that he remembered clearly.
He glanced down at his wrist and caught the pink bracelet with the charms on it. Should he write about Christmas?

“What are you going to write about, Ricky?”, Eunhee asked after finishing another sentence of her novel long story.
“I don't know yet. You?”, he replied with a sigh and tilted his head slightly to the side.
“Well...”, Eunhee said and brushed her fingers over the necklace hanging perfectly around her neck. “I figured if either of Them found my novel, it would just cause trouble. So, I chose the time where Baekhyun and I went to the movies”.
Ricky chuckled and shook his shoulders. “Smart there. Are they still... fighting?”.
Eunhee rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. “They never stop, Ricky. Instead of... giving up, they keep bickering and I don't know what. But now that SM is having their annual audition, Kai is busy practicing to get everything right. So, I'm hanging out more and more with Chunji, who isn't at all what I thought he would be”.
“He's a really nice guy, isn't he?”, Ricky said and watched the girl before starting writing again. He was relieved that she had let go of him, but felt bad that she had gotten into another messy situation.

When the class finally came to an end, Ricky had managed to write down small parts of his Christmas. If Mr. Park hadn't demanded the length of the story, then he could've added some more parts and written more details.
He met with Baekhyun's eyes and felt a blush appear over his cheeks. He owed that boy a huge apology, he thought and walked up to him.

“I'm sorry for earlier. L.Joe and I had a fight and I just... it was wrong to take out the anger on you”, he said with a sincere voice and received a smile from the brunette.
“I know. I witnessed the whole scene”, Baekhyun revealed. “You should talk to him and let him know how you feel about everything. I'm sure he'll understand, Ricky”.
Ricky nodded in defeat. He knew that Baekhyun was right, but he also knew that L.Joe wasn't one to... take things very serious. Sure, there were times where he had surprised him, like that one time where he purposely scolded Kai when he had fought with Eunhee; and because of the two's dislike towards him, they had reunited as friends.
Ricky walked out of the classroom together with Baekhyun and Eunhee to quickly get to the cafeteria and get a snack before Mr. Park started the next period.

“How are Kai doing these days?”, Eunhee suddenly asked and looked at the two with an expression Ricky couldn't read.
Baekhyun raised a brow. “He's dancing his off and taking every chance to see you. What else?”.
Eunhee sighed. “That's not what I meant. I don't see him a lot nowadays. We text a lot, but that's pretty much it. After New Years Eve, I haven't been outside school to hang out with him”.
Ricky saw that Baekhyun was about to snap something back, so he quickly cleared his throat, earning attention from both of them.
“Since he's always dancing, we don't get to see him a lot. Even though we live together and all... he gets up early in the morning and returns late in the night. But I guess Baekhyun met him a few times. And Kevin too”.
Baekhyun nodded. “Mm. On the nights. And let me tell you this: I did not believe in zombies till last night”.

Ricky felt a sudden clench of his heart by Baekhyun's words. He was working too hard, he thought and was going to ask him to take it slow once they met.
The three entered the cafeteria, and was met by Kai and Kevin who sat by a table by the window. And just like Ricky had feared, had the boy changed. The otherwise neat and handsome boy looked exhausted and the dark circles that surrounded his dark brown orbs. His body looked beaten, but the smile and the glimpse in his eyes were still there. It was... heart-breaking, Ricky thought as he walked up the counter, got himself a tray and put a bowl of rice and a bowl of kimchi noodles on it.
Eunhee was right behind him when he reached the table and dropped the tray onto the table. Kai jumped in surprise, but smiled widely as he recognized their faces.

“We were just talking about how lucky we are to be partnered up in biology. Nicole skipped class, so our teacher put us together”, Kevin said and grinned.
“Yeah... I can't imagine being with her. That'd be too awkward”, Kai laughed and patted at the empty chair beside him. “Are you guys going to sit down or are you more comfortable standing?”.
“Yah”, Eunhee said and forced herself to take the chair next to Kai. “What are you doing? Why is your face looking like that?!”.
Kai pointed at himself and glanced at Kevin. “Me? What? Do I have a pimple or something?”.
“KIM JONGIN! You're exhausted! You have to take care of yourself and not... not dance till you can't even walk!”.
He chuckled amusingly and rose from the table. “You've got it all wrong, Hee-ya. I love dancing and I just need to prepare myself for the auditions. Don't work yourself up before knowing the facts, okay? I'm going. See you guys later”.
“Yah...”, Eunhee muttered but shut when the tall boy was out of the cafeteria.

Kevin shook his head and sighed. “I know you care, but scolding him is not the right thing to do now. And you should know our Jonginnie by now. He's a fighter and he's been dancing for pretty much all of his life. He needs to pass that audition and we're going to help him by supporting him”.
Eunhee sneered. “I'd rather die than see my best friend work himself that hard. You should be ashamed of yourself, Kevin. You of all people should know that once he starts on something, he gets stuck and doesn't stop until something else pops up. We have to stop him”.
“Eunhee”, Baekhyun said with a sharp voice. “I agree with Kevin here. It's his passion”.
Ricky sipped on his hot noodle soup and shut himself out of their discussion. He knew that he should participate, but he didn't know what to say. He was aware of Kai's dancing and knew that he loved doing it.
He caught the slim figure of a very familiar boy and saw how he waved his hand in a gesture for Ricky to go up to him. He nodded and had a huge spoon of rice before getting up from the table. He walked without neither of the three noticing him going away.

L.Joe gave him a wry smile and caught Ricky's hand in his, gently brushing his thumb over the smooth skin.

“About earlier... I'm sorry”, he mumbled in a reluctant way. “I know that you care about me, and I love you for that. But really, I can take care of myself”.
Ricky sighed but nodded. “And I'm sorry for not acknowledging that. I just... want the very best for you, you know. I want you to be happy and success in life”.
“Ara... and I want the same for you”, L.Joe meekly said, but smiled in a more sincere way, making butterflies fly inside of Ricky's stomach. “So... peace?”.
“Peace”, he replied and planted a soft kiss onto L.Joe's cheek. “Could you just... not act like a kid next time I say something? It really bugged me”.
“Sure”, L.Joe chuckled. “If you don't act like an ahjussi who “knows everything best””.
Ricky rolled his eyes, but let out a giggle. “Fine”.

 

HI! I'm sorry for the LONG wait- and the NG chapter. I just wanted to post a little chappie
where they fought because... life isn't perfect, sadly enough. I think I failed though, since 
they got back together so... soon. xD