“Look what I've got!” Niel exclaimed, joyously as he plopped into his seat beside Chunji. The older boy raised his head, only to be met with a small, rectangular object the other boy was proudly shoving underneath his nose. It was so close to him, that when he tried focus his eyes on it, so he could figure out what it was, he went cross eyed.

He shoved Niel's hands away from his face, in the hope that he'd be able to get a better look at it, if it were a little bit further away from him. But Niel misinterpreted the action as him not wanting to see it at all, and redoubled his efforts to get the object up into his face.

“Hey, knock it off! You're going to give me a headache, if I have to go cross eyed to look at the stupid thing.” he yelled, annoyed. It was only after his words were processed by the other boy, that Niel finally realised what he'd been doing, and drew his arms back, putting a bit of distance between Chunji and the object.

Finally able to give it a better look, Chunji realised what Niel had been so excited about. “You got your licence?” He exclaimed, excited for his best friend, a wide smile breaking out across his face. “That's right. First try.” Niel cheered, squirming about in his seat excitedly.

“That's so cool. Congratulations.” Chunji responded, only for Niel to cross his arms arrogantly. “Are you kidding me? It's more than just cool. Don't you know what this means, Chunji? This means freedom! Never again will I have to have my parents in the car with me; I can go wherever I want, whenever I want and there's nothing anyone can do about it.” He shouted.

Chunji rolled his eyes at the comment, pushing the licence away from him, “Except for your parents maybe.” he countered. Niel narrowed his eyes at him. “What are you talking about? I have a licence now, they can't stop me.” “Yes they can. You may have a licence, but they own the car.” Chunji disagreed, making Niel stick his tongue out at him, childishly.

“Details. Details. They'd never stop me from using the car.” Niel countered, petulantly. “Well, you've seen my good news. I'm so happy right now, I don't think there's anything in the universe that could bring me down right now. You know what, I think I'm even happy enough to be able to stomach listening to you go on about CAP. Come on, talk about him.” Niel babbled, looking at Chunji expectantly.

Chunji froze slightly, a perplexed look quickly overtaking his light glare. “What about him?” Chunji questioned, confused. Niel looked at him blankly, apparently put off by Chunji's silence. Normally Chunji wouldn't even have blinked twice after receiving an invitation to talk about the other boy. He would've started on a tirade about everything he loved about him under the sun, only stopping when the teacher settled the class, or when he ran out of breath or something.

“What do you mean what about him? Just talk about him, I mean come on I'm actually being so kind as to invite you to talk about him here, stop looking at me like that.” Niel responded. “Like what? I don't get it, what do you want me to say about him?” Chunji asked, his confusion quickly turning into irritation.

“Anything you bloody well like. Jeez, normally you can't stop talking about him, what's wrong with you?” Niel enquired, amazed. Chunji shrugged disliking Niel's accusation. “There's nothing wrong with me, there's just nothing really to say about him that's all.” Chunji countered, stiffly. “How can there be nothing to say about him? You used to go on for hours about him, and that was when all you knew about him was gleaned from a distance. Now you have regular study sessions with him and you can't find anything to say about him?” Niel pressed, genuinely confused by Chunji's change in attitude.

“Well nothing really happened with those study sessions. I spent all the time talking at him, about stuff he didn't get, and we don't do that anymore. We were only having them in the first place because he needed help with particular tasks.” Chunji explained, evenly.

“Don't you like him anymore?” Niel questioned, confused. “Of course I still like him.” Chunji argued, astonished that Niel could even accuse him of something like that. Of course he still liked CAP. “I just haven't had much time on my hands these days to think about him. I mean between class and assessments and all the grief L. Joe's giving me about my grades now, I don't really have much downtime to think about CAP right now.” Chunji explained, feeling like he needed to justify his lack of thoughts about the other boy.

“You say L. Joe gives you grief, and yet you still put up with him an awful lot.” Niel commented slightly. “Please. Any time we spend together consists of him trying to annoy me.” Chunji scoffed, feeling a little defensive all of a sudden. Niel didn't need to know how touched he felt by L. Joe's concern for him. It only complicated matters, and would lead to Niel reading things into his feelings that weren't really there.

“For someone that annoys you so much, he seems to make you smile an awful lot.” Niel teased. “He does not.” Chunji denied, huffily. “Does too. You're even smiling now, and all we're doing is talking about him.” Niel pointed out, a victorious grin breaking out across his features. “I am not.” Chunji denied, his fingers hesitantly reaching up to touch his own face, only to realise that he was indeed smiling.

“You see? I don't think he annoys you half as much as you think he does. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I show up one day to find out that the two of you are going out with one another.” Niel commented offhandedly. Chunji's cheeks flushed, as he shook his head hurriedly. “No way. I like CAP.” he stated, defiantly, missing Niel's exasperated eye roll at Chunji's stubbornness.

“But I think I am going to miss him when we go off to university next year. I've gotten so used to having L. Joe around. It's nice, you know?” Chunji murmured, softly, as though the thought might drive him to tears. Niel knew as well as anyone else that Chunji had a hard time saying goodbye to people, once they made an impression upon him.

“Well, are you sure that you're going to different universities? Has he told you where he's applying to? Have you decided where you want to go?” Niel enquired, a lost look quickly taking over his features. Niel hated to be left out of gossip, even more so when it pertained to his best friends.

“No. I just assumed we'd be going to different places.” Chunji responded, a sheepish look plastered across his face. “Well you could ask him.” Niel suggested, starting to doodle on the open page of his workbook, distractedly.

“Are you kidding? We don't talk about stuff like that.” Chunji chided, giving the other boy a light nudge with his shoulder, his gaze drifting out the window as he waited for his teacher to return and continue their lesson. “In fact, we don't really seem to talk about anything whatsoever.” he mumbled to himself.

- -

“What's your favourite colour?” Chunji enquired, suddenly, as they stood in the field, watching the other team strike the ball and get their runs. Cricket was dead boring most of the time, but at least when they stood this far out, they didn't have to chase after the ball. They were really just waiting for the other team to get out. With their aim, the only people who were going to get anyone out, were the wicket keepers.

“Huh?” L. Joe questioned, not really expecting the question. Chunji didn't tend to ask him any questions unless they pertained to L. Joe's relationship with or discussions with CAP. He wasn't used to the other boy taking an interest in him: it made him suspicious.

“I asked what your favourite colour is.” Chunji repeated. “Why would you want to know something like that?” L. Joe asked, blankly. Chunji stomped lightly, trying to tell himself the heat in his face was from the sun beating down on their backs, and not because he was flustered. “Because. I realised that I don't know anything about you.” he mumbled, kicking at a clump of grass near his right foot lightly.

“I knew that. Why would that make you start asking questions about me?” L. Joe pressed, delighting a little in how uncomfortable his questions were making Chunji get. He was kind of cute when he looked like this; so uncertain and nervous about what he should say. “What I'm not allowed to ask you about yourself?” Chunji demanded getting frustrated by the other boy's refusal to answer his simple question.

“I suppose so, but you are kind of self-absorbed. I've never heard you take an interest in anyone else before now.” L. Joe teased, wondering whether he might live to regret baiting the other boy like this. Chunji clenched his fists, but said nothing, trying to draw a calming breath in, before he responded. L. Joe had a point, and it wasn't the first time he'd heard that same criticism.

But there was just something irritating about the way he said it.

“You're right. I'm self absorbed, and so I've never bothered to get to know about you.... But I've since decided.... I'd like to.” he mumbled hastily, hoping that if he spoke quickly enough, L. Joe wouldn't be able to hear what he said, or read anything into it.

But when he looked up, the other boy's face was aglow with that stupid, proud smirk of his. “I knew I was growing on you.” he cackled, a genuine warmth reflected in his eyes as he turned to regard Chunji once again. “So what did you want to know?” he asked, apparently prepared to stop teasing Chunji and give him real answers for a change.

“Everything.” he answered with a shrug.