Seunghyun got up when the sun rose again. He didn’t like getting up early but he was glad the sun decided to wake him. He needed to meditate. He needed to keep all of this under control. He couldn’t let everything out. He was too involved in Jiyong’s life now to let it all fall apart. He made his way to the corner and let the light from outside his eyelids disappear and darkness from within replace it.

45 minutes later Seunghyun slowly opened his eyes. Jiyong was in front of him just like the day before but this time dressed in his school uniform. He smiled at Seunghyun.

“You do this everyday, hyung?” Jiyong asked.

“Lately, yes.” Seunghyun answered, stretching his legs out in front of him.

“Well, you should hurry and get ready. I think omma made a big breakfast today. She seems to like cooking for you.” Jiyong said, bracing the wall while pulling Seunghyun to his feet.

Seunghyun went to Jiyong’s closet and pulled down a uniform. He looked over at Jiyong across the room and suddenly got really nervous. Jiyong couldn’t be here while he got dressed. He couldn’t see what he really looked like under all the clothes he wore. Seeing that Jiyong was taking his time leaving the room, Seunghyun went to change in the bathroom.

It was a rushed morning. Seunghyun and Jiyong shoveled rice into their mouths at Jiyong’s omma’s insistence. They ran out the door while pulling on their shoes, running to make their bus.

“Dammit. I forgot batteries.” Jiyong uttered, smacking his forehead, looking at his dead music player.

Seunghyun grimaced. He knew how important that player was to him. “We can stop and buy some on the way to YG later.” Seunghyun offered.

“Yeah? With what money? I kind of spent the rest of my money on our ditch day. I was hoping to scrape by until the next check.” Jiyong uttered embarrassedly.

Seunghyun felt terrible. He knew he should have turned down all the fancy things Jiyong was offering that day. Wait. He did have a few thousand won in his bag.

“I can buy them for you.” Seunghyun offered.

“No, I wouldn’t ask that from you.” Jiyong said guiltily.

“No, really. You bought all that stuff for me on Friday. I can at least buy you some batteries.” Seunghyun explained.

Slowly Jiyong’s lips turned up into a smile, then his teeth started to show. He was obviously trying to hide how happy he was.

“Gomowo, Seunghyun.” Jiyong said.

“It’s no problem, Jiyong-ah.” Seunghyun said with a small smile as he looked away.

Seunghyun sat in class like it was an alternate reality. It seemed vaguely familiar but things were so different from the last time he sat in the same desk. He listened to his teachers and took occasional notes. He completed the in-class assignments before pulling out his rapping notebook and continuing where both he and Jiyong left off.

When 10:00 came around and Jiyong walked in, he smiled at Seunghyun before sitting down. Seunghyun tried to make sense of the lesson but math was never his strong suit. He could feel Jiyong’s eyes glancing over at him, probably to see if he was working or not. He knew he was a lost cause when it came to this subject.

He sighed and opened his textbook, reading what it had to say. He was shocked. This wasn’t that complicated. Why did Jiyong and his teacher make it seem like rocket science? Seunghyun ignored the teacher and worked on some sample problems from the book. He got them wrong the first time but when he read how the book said to do it he was able to answer them mostly correct. Seunghyun beamed. He had never been so proud of himself.

He looked over at Jiyong who was writing notes down. He wanted to tell him he understood now but how could he? This teacher was not one to be lenient with class disruptions. He decided the constant stare should do it. He focused his eyes unwaveringly on Jiyong.

Soon Seunghyun noticed how Jiyong’s hair was tickling at his earlobe, the slope of his collarbone, the way he bit his lip when he was concentrating. He felt his face’s temperature escalate. Jiyong couldn’t see him like this. He had to think of something else, anything else. He thought of music. Music should work, right? Suddenly the image of Jiyong rewinding and fast-forwarding the tape player from yesterday popped into his head. No, no, no, not music.

Seunghyun sat there exhausting his mind of ideas without noticing that Jiyong was looking back, his ears turning pink. Seunghyun finally blinked and noticed Jiyong. He jumped a little. He gave him a small smile then turned back to his work. Jiyong must think he is a freak. He must have been staring for at least 15 minutes.

Seunghyun finished the in class assignment and opened his rapping notebook again. He glanced over and saw Jiyong’s expression. He looked jittery. He glanced at Seunghyun and up at the clock and back at his own open rapping notebook. Seunghyun was curious. Did Jiyong have something to show him or did he see he had his own rapping notebook open? Soon he was curious enough that he couldn’t focus on what he started on. He looked at the clock. 10:52. Only a few more minutes then he would know. His foot started tapping, his fingers drumming on the top of his desk. He tried not to look at the clock but he kept looking back.

When the teacher’s bell rang Jiyong practically sprinted from his chair to Seunghyun’s desk. All the other students looked at him with questioning looks, he didn’t seem like the type of student to be excited to get out of class or to talk to the loner Seunghyun either.

“Hey! What have you been writing? You have been making me go crazy with curiosity.” Jiyong said hitting him on the arm.

“Yah! You were doing the same thing!” Seunghyun retaliated, rubbing his arm. Jiyong really could throw a punch but it didn’t hurt too long, unlike the last time.

They put their notebooks side by side both gulping down ever detail in each other’s pages.

“Hey, Seunghyun, you notice something?” Jiyong began biting his lip, his tongue slipping out slightly from the gap between.

Seunghyun gulped. “What’s that?” Seunghyun nervously muttered.

Jiyong leaned forward and whispered in Seunghyun’s ear, “We are both writing about love, what could that mean?”

Seunghyun’s throat went dry, his mind blank. He was way too close. The room got really hot. He could feel sweat rolling down from his hair; see the smooth curve of Jiyong’s back.

“Do you…want to kiss me, Seunghyun?” Jiyong said, mere centimeters from Seunghyun with slightly pouted lips starting to curl up into a smile.