Jongup frowned, waiting at the bus stop. He was sure he had seen Daehyun leave school the same time he did, so what in the world was taking him so long to come?

He checked his watch. It was 3pm in the afternoon, and he and Daehyun were supposed to take the bus to the nearest town with the marketplace to buy the hearts of the pig and frog. They both had gone home to change into normal clothes, and agreed to meet at this bus stop immediately after that. Jongup had always been squeamish around blood-related things, so he desperately hoped Daehyun wasn't planning to stand him up.

It was a cold day, and Jongup sniffed,  shivering. He wrapped his scarf around his neck tightly, and glared when he recognized a figure from a far, taking his own sweet time to walk over to the where Jongup was waiting. He was a lollipop, and grinned at Jongup who had his arms folded in front of him.

"Took you long enough," he snapped.

"Be glad I even came Jonguppie," Daehyun said, giving him his signature smirk. Jongup huffed, and turned to the front, wishing for the bus to come quickly. He had invited Youngjae over to his house later on for a homework session together, and he really didn't want to take more time than necessary.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out, expecting a message from Youngjae, but much to his surprise, was one from Himchan.

From: Himchannie hyung

You going into town today? Be safe okay, there are always shady people around (/=_=)/we can always have another date next time if you really can't make it this Saturday (｡╹ω╹｡)

Jongup giggled to himself, as he remembered the message conversation he had with his senior the previous day. After explaining about the assignment and apologizing for putting off their date, the humorous senior had demanded to see the whole of Jongup's schedule so that he could plan out stuff that they could do. There was almost no time for large-scale dates, and they could only think of small dates to squeeze in between lessons and practice.

Jongup found Himchan to be cuter and even more perfect after messaging him. His senior liked to use a lot of different emoticons and emojis and what started off as an awkward notice from Jongup apologizing for not being able to make it on their first date, turned into a humorous conversation of the both talking about trivial things like school work and duties.

They talked about other stuff like the things they were interested in, and Jongup found out that he actually had a lot in common with Himchan.

Jongup typed a quick reply back.

To: Himchannie hyung

Ok! I will try to finish as much as I can this Saturday and see if we can still squeeze in some time >_<

Barely a second after he pressed the sent button, however, a reply came back.

From: Himchannie hyung

Aigoo, don't stress yourself too much, it's really okay! Jongup hwaiting! ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶

Jongup chuckled, feeling his heart flutter as he grabbed at his scarf again. He had nearly forgotten about Daehyun's existence until he felt the other male breathing down his neck. He jumped back, surprised, rubbing his neck as he tried to rid of the unpleasant feeling of having Jung Daehyun breathe on him. Who knows what disease could have passed from that mere contact of his. He glared at the other male, who snorted, having read his texts.

" 'Himchannie hyung'? You guys are disgusting." he gagged, forgetting that he had called Jongup 'Jonguppie' mere seconds before.

"You are just jealous," Jongup retorted, placing his phone back into his bag.

"Jealous of what? Having an overly greasy male stalk me and know where I am 24/7? I don't think so," Daehyun said, tapping his foot as he waited for the bus to come. He started to bite really hardly into his lollipop, the sweet cracking around the white stick and getting caught on the molars of his teeth.

He grimaced, but continued to on the near-gone lollipop again.

"You are just jealous you don't have a gorgeous counterpart asking you out on a genuine date."

"Genuine? You had only known him for one day and you are talking about him like that? And I have no reason to feel jealous of someone who stands below me in terms of looks. In case you haven't noticed-" Daehyun stopped to give his hair a comical flip. "I am gorgeous too," he said, grinning at Jongup.

Jongup would have nearly grinned back if it wasn't for the bus that finally came. He sighed in relief and started to get on the bus, Daehyun disposing of his eaten sweet and following close behind. Jongup stood on the steps and fumbled around a bit for some change for the bus trip, leaving Daehyun to stand a step below and having a clear view of Jongup's (glorious) . He was wearing tight jeans, the denim material tightly fitting his toned thighs and legs.

"A bit tight dontcha think?" Daehyun said, smirking as he playfully slapped Jongup's , earning a loud squeak from him. He stumbled, nearly falling, and turned back to glare at Daehyun, putting his hands protectively over his . His face was a bright red, too shocked and mortified at Daehyun's audacity to even speak.

People were staring at the both of them, and even the bus driver chuckled at the two.

"Quite a feisty boyfriend you have there son," he said, winking. Before Jongup could even blubber out that Daehyun wasn't his boyfriend, he got interrupted by him again.

"Can't you hurry up Jonguppie?" Daehyun whined. "I might have to smack you again."

Jongup dropped the change into the machine and got his ticket, hurried to walk to the end of the near empty bus, trying to get as far away from Daehyun as possible. Jongup glared at Daehyun who calmly sat next to him, leaving him to squirm uncomfortably, trying to press himself against the side of the wall.

Two schoolgirls sitting two seats in front of them bus giggled as they kept stealing obvious glances at the two males. They started to whisper, and Jongup's ears reddened as he caught some words of their conversation, like 'boyfriend' and 'cute couple'. Daehyun grinned at the two females, seemingly to have heard too, and naturally draped his arm over Jongup's shoulder.

"Hey!" Jongup said, trying to shake Daehyun's arm off, but not before he heard a flash. He looked to the front, and was horrified to see that one of the girls had snapped a picture of the two of them, squealing as she did so. Jongup glared at the two annoying females and jabbed at Daehyun's stomach, causing him to retract his arm in pain.

"Will. You. Stop. It," Jongup hissed. He was beyond irritated with Daehyun's personality and he was being exceptionally irritating today.

"Will. You. Stop. It~" Daehyun copied Jongup's tone mockingly, "stop being so uptight over everything, what are you so afraid about anyway? I was just giving those girls a little fan service, that's all." Daehyun's voice trailed off at the end as he casted his gaze towards his lap.

There was silence and Jongup suddenly felt guilty all of a sudden. He started to think that maybe, just maybe, he was being too harsh.

But all those thoughts flew out the window the moment Daehyun grabbed him around the neck and pulled him into an awkward one shoulder hug, saying "Cheese!" through clenched teeth as he smiled and posed at the phone that was held up by one of the girls.

The phone flashed and Jongup blinked, unprepared. The girls in front squealed and turned the phone so both Daehyun and Jongup could see the ending shot, which showed photogenic Daehyun looking like a model with his pristine white teeth and Jongup looking as shocked and awkward as ever.

Jongup refused to speak to Daehyun for the rest of the bus journey, stubbornly keeping his line of vision trained on random objects that passed outside the bus.

-----

"Hold it Daehyun, oh my god please," Jongup said, holding the bag of the bloody test subjects that the ahjumma passed to him an arm's length away from himself.

Finally reaching the marketplace after walking around for almost an hour, they had finally found the stalls that Jongup's mother had oh-so-nicely recommended. Jongup had to grit his teeth and try his hardest not to faint as he asked for the items, trying not to accidentally look at or breathe in the 'icky' and 'yucky' smell of the different organs of the animals.

And Daehyun had a great time teasing Jongup because of it.

"Ohhh look Jongup, the man is just skinning that duck right there-Oh, oh my god did you see that? The head just went off like pheeeuuu~"

Daehyun imitated the way the duck's head flew off, angling his arm towards the sky and then diving it straight down. Jongup cringed, and tried to cover his ears as Daehyun launched into another exciting live broadcast of a chicken getting chopped up.

He thanked the heavens when he finally found and paid for the items, but was hesitant in holding the hearts.

Daehyun smiled playfully and started to eat another piece of fruit that was given to him by the ahjummas from the different stalls.

"Well my hands are full, in case you haven't noticed," he said, mouth stuffed.

Jongup glared at Daehyun, but it was true though. The ahjummas cooed and gushed over how handsome he looked and how they all wanted a son-in-law like him, and stuffed food into his hands until he couldn't possibly carry anymore.

Jongup couldn't fathom why he had Daehyun come along with him for this trip, for he did almost nothing at all except help reduce the price of the items by flirting with women that were old enough to be his grandmother.

"Do you want me to put them in an ice-box for you, son?" The woman from the stall asked. Jongup nodded, gratefully smiling again.

Jongup breathed easily again after they left the marketplace, hands holding tightly onto the styrofoam box that contained the hearts. Something about having a barrier thicker than that thin sheet of plastic that held the hearts before put Jongup at ease immediately.

Daehyun burped, before throwing his empty plastic bags that were filled with food before into the rubbish bin. Having grown up with Daehyun, he was no longer surprised by his monstrous appetite and inability to gain weight anymore. The only thing he could never stand was his personality.

"I swear you are like a girl, you eat those animals for lunch and yet you act like you have got some fatal allergy of them," Daehyun scoffed.

Jongup pursed his lips, not replying. He did try to rid his phobia of these icky stuff before though, but he just couldn't. He remembered the time he tried to help his mother make some stuffed chicken, his mother putting him in charge of stuffing the chicken. But he had backed out the moment he saw his mother cut open the chicken to rid it of its organs.

Not that Daehyun cared anyways, he thought, not noticing Daehyun's silence.

He frowned as they reached the bus stop, which was filled with people. Checking the time, he realized it was already 5.30 p.m., which was peak hour. People and students alike were all rushing to get home after a long day at work. Jongup groaned at the prospect of having to stand on the bus, and sighed as he tried to squeeze in into the line of people.

The bus came earlier than expected though, and Jongup gratefully clambered on, motioning for Daehyun to pay for his trip for he had no hands at the moment.

It was incredibly stuffy and crowded in the bus, and Jongup gulped as people pushed and jostled around. His face flushed uncomfortably as Daehyun was pushed right onto him, the only thing separating them being the styrofoam box. He tried his hardest not to lose balance as the bus jerked and accelerated without warning.

Daehyun was quiet throughout, and Jongup kept his gaze on the box, deeming it too awkward to actually look at Daehyun, whose face was just centimeters away, and start a conversation.

Everybody was pressed really close to each other. Like, really, really close.

So when a hand suddenly brushed against Jongup's , he dismissed it as an accident. But then it brushed again and again, each time the getting longer, until the entire hand was resting on his .

Jongup's eyes grew wide, and he choked, trying to turn his head as back as he possibly could to see who was doing this.

It was a man who looked twenty years older than Jongup, standing right behind him. He wore dark shades, so Jongup couldn't see his whole face. His face was stubbled and he had graying hair, and when he made eye contact with Jongup, he grinned to reveal yellow, discolored teeth. He squeezed Jongup's cheeks, making Jongup jump and blush a dark red.

As it was incredibly crowded, no one saw Jongup getting d by the man behind him. He squirmed, but couldn't really do anything as none of his hands were free. His bottom lip quivered, not knowing what to do.

Daehyun looked at Jongup in front of him, who had been fidgeting for the past few minutes. He raised an eyebrow as Jongup looked at him, his eyes watery and face flushed, mouthing a word 'help'.

Daehyun's brows furrowed, but then he looked at the man standing behind Jongup. He was being unusually close to the younger, and he narrowed his eyes as he tried to look at where he was placing his hands.

Oh...OH.

Daehyun's eyes flashed angrily, and he was quick to transfer the styrofoam box from Jongup's hands to his. In one swift motion, he pulled Jongup next to him, not caring if the large motions were causing him to roughly knock into the people around them. He growled, flipping the man the finger before using the same hand to clasp tightly around Jongup's waist and pulling him close to his body, all the while balancing the styrofoam box underneath his other arm.

Jongup blushed at their close contact, and looked at Daehyun, who was glaring at the man with a hint of menace in his eyes. He had never seen Daehyun get this angry before, but brushed it off as an act to try and scare the e a bit.

The people standing around the bus who hadn't paid enough attention to see what had happened, started to buzz, giving the suspicious looking man with shades weird looks and wondering why the handsome teen was glaring at him. The man gaped at Daehyun, apparently not expecting his plan to have backfired like that. He kept his head down, avoiding the stares from people, and quickly got off the bus at the next stop.

The buzzing died down, and the people were left to jostle around again. They constantly stole glances at the two boys, especially the taller and exceptionally good-looking one, who still had his hand tight around the shorter boy's waist.

Jongup was dying.

Here he was, hands placed on Daehyun's chest, as there was nowhere else to place them, bodies pressed together, uncomfortably close, and their crotches literally grinding against each other as the bus went on its turbulent little journey, jerking and bouncing up and down for all heaven's worth.

"C-can you please let go of me now?" Jongup stuttered, not daring to look into Daehyun's eyes.

Daehyun's hand slid tighter around Jongup's waist still, pulling him even closer, if that was even possible.

"I can't," he stated simply. The bus was still crowded with people, and after that little scene, everyone immediately moved to take up the empty space, forming an unbreakable barricade around the 'Daejong' couple.

Daehyun smirked as he calmed down from the incident a bit, and was now enjoying every second of this. He lowered his head, whispering into Jongup's ear, his hot breath tickling his neck.

"I think someone owes me one~" he teased, lowering his hand to Jongup's to give it a pinch. Jongup squeaked and he hit Daehyun's chest hardly, causing the other male to cough and his eyes to tear up. Heck, even though Jongup was shy and quiet, his hits still packed a punch. Those dancing lessons sure paid off.

"ert."

"You say that to your savior?" Daehyun pouted, his eyes still watering. "I don't deny that fact though."

"S-Shut up. I-I could have helped myself," Jongup said abashedly, though he knew it wasn't true.

"Yeah right, says the person who was practically begging me for help. I told you those pants were too tight," Daehyun said, chuckling as he placed his chin on Jongup's head and feeling the boy stiffen below him.

"My arms are dying, just let me rest a bit," Daehyun whispered, breathing in Jongup's mint-scented hair, smiling to himself.

-----

Jongup groaned, tossing his pen onto the floor with his other assessment books and pushing his textbook towards Youngjae, stuffing his head into the pillow and mumbling about not knowing how to do a question.

Youngjae looked at the question before scoffing and pushing the book back towards Jongup.

"It's easy enough, just a little complicated. you just can't be bothered to think straight because of the things that happened today."

Jongup blushed, remembering as he shook his head, burying it deeper into his pillow.

An hour ago, Jongup's mother had invited Youngjae into their house when he came for the study session, and mentioned that she was going out to attend to some stuff, telling him to wait as Jongup was still out doing his assignment with Daehyun.

Youngjae was greeted to a flushed Jongup at the door twenty minutes later, ice box tucked under arm, sweaty and panting. Ignoring Youngjae completely, he had immediately rushed to his bathroom to bathe, turning the water heater on full blast and stating that he needed to rid of all the 'Jung retard Daehyun DNA' that had got caught on him throughout the day. And that disgusting feeling of that e groping him.

Youngjae had been Jongup's close friend for many years, apparently not affected by the image Daehyun had always tried to set of Jongup. He was scarily smart, his test scores all nearly perfect, and his ability to see through people was creepy too.

Youngjae was a smart , never afraid to tell people what he thought about them straight out. And as a result, he didn't have that many friends, though he was admired by people in class who were constantly impressed by the way he held himself.

Jongup had nothing much to hide about himself, which Youngjae rather liked as he was constantly tired of people who were always acting fake. Youngjae liked that Jongup was always straight forward in his thoughts and though most people would find him a bore, Youngjae actually liked hanging out with Jongup.

He sometimes felt like he seemed to know Jongup more than the kid did himself.

Jongup mumbled something into his pillow, and Youngjae sighed. "I can't exactly hear you Jongup."

Jongup turned his head to face Youngjae. "I want to change assignment partners. I can't stand Daehyun."

Youngjae propped his head on the small table on the floor, stopping work on his fractions for a while.

"It's only been one day."

"I know."

"He isn't that bad you know," Youngjae sighed. He knew more about the two people than they could ever suspect. He had met Daehyun a few years ago, during another attempt of trying to make Jongup seem like a loser again.

Youngjae was surprised to find that Daehyun actually had a pretty genuine character. Like him, he spoke his mind constantly, but was even more blunt and cruel in his insults or retorts.

He was constantly amused by the two's bickering, and could easily see past what Daehyun was trying to do. Jongup groaned.

"Why does everybody say that. 'Daehyun isn't that bad' my . He . I swear, as a baby he probably climbed out of a hell-hole somewhere and mistook a baby cot for his devil crib because of his idiocy, and now he is just roaming about, mingling and waiting, trying to get us humans to drop our guard before he starts to annihilate us all."

Youngjae sighed, not really wanting to get himself involved in this but felt that Jongup needed some sort of hint because he would was too painfully oblivious of the things around him. He hoped he was doing the right thing. Maybe he should try a more round-about approach.

"You know I have been liking this girl since the start of this year-"

"You what?" Jongup said, sitting straight up, temporarily forgetting about Daehyun. Youngjae had never confided in him about these kind of things before. Youngjae held out a hand to stop Jongup before he went any further.

"And you know what I do to try and get her attention?" Youngjae asked, his eyes serious. "I pull her hair, I call her names. I try to stick with her as much as possible because I enjoy every second with her, even if she hates my guts."

Jongup paused, staring at Youngjae, trying to recall if he had ever seen gentle Youngjae pulling a girl's hair. The worst things he ever did to people were his snide remarks, which could easily reduce people to tears.

"She thinks I am an , but I'm okay with that. And because I get jealous when I see people around her, I embarrass her in hope that those people would stay away."

Youngjae stared at Jongup's face, which slowly lighted up.

"Is it Hyosung noona from the class next to us?"

Youngjae blinked, and realized that he had forgotten Jongup's brain worked slower than the normal person did.

"You know guys bully girls when they like them," Youngjae said, and Jongup nodded.

"So why do you think Daehyun is bullying you so much?" it couldn't get any more obvious than this. There was silence for a while, and Youngjae could almost hear the gears in Jongup's brain clicking together and running at full speed, trying to work out what Youngjae was trying to say.

It was like waiting for a microwave ovens timer to go off. In 3...2...

Youngjae dodged as the pillow flew towards him, missing his head by centimeters.

"What Youngjae," Jongup scowled, narrowing his eyes, though Youngjae could see the faint blush visible on his cheeks. "Could you repeat that."

"I am just saying, it could be a possibility," Youngjae said, acting thoughtful. "Why do you think he is always acting like an around you?"

"He acts like an to everyone."

"He seems more -ish towards you if you ask me," Youngjae said, shrugging. Jongup was about to reply, but then his phone vibrated.

From: Himchannie hyung

Hello! You are having dance practice tomorrow right? I think my swimming would be ending around the same time, would it be okay if we hung out after that?  (◕‿-)

Jongup grinned, and quickly typed a reply back.

To: Himchannie hyung

Sure! I might be ending early tomorrow too because my instructor has a personal issue to attend to :D

There was movement at the table and Jongup looked to see that Youngjae had placed his books back into his bag, standing up to leave. Jongup looked at the digital clock next to his bed. It was already 10 p.m.

"You don't want to stay overnight?"

"I will pass," Youngjae sighed. Jongup nodded, and stood up to walk Youngjae to the door.

Just as Jongup was about to lock the door, he suddenly remembered something.

"Wait!" he called to Youngjae, who was already on the pavement. He turned back and raised his eyebrows in question as he saw Jongup running towards him.

"So...is the girl you like Hyosung noona?"

One would have heard the distinct sound of skin coming in contact with forehead that night in that district.

A/N: oh my I haven't finished writing my third chapter yet ㅠ.ㅠ but leave lovely comments neh? Let's all be friends and love Daejong :D