“Hey Luhan.”

              “How you doing, baby face?”

              “What’s up, Luhan!”

                Luhan’s semi-curly hair bounced lightly with each step he took. He turned his head left and right, waving at his fellow students who welcomed him with warm smiles. He wasn’t wearing a tie, unlike any other day, but his green sweater-vest was perfectly ironed and no speck of dust or loose fabric was hanging off his shoulders. The first two buttons of his clean white shirt was undone and his protruding collarbones were slightly visible if the person talking to Luhan was taller by an inch.

                “Morning Suho!”  Suho peeked above his bangs as he gently placed his books into his locker. He dusted off his books, although they weren’t dirty, and looked back at Luhan with alarming eyes.

                “Luhan,” Suho hissed, pulling the older by the ear, “Your collarbones-!”

                “What about my collarbones,” Luhan pressed himself closer to Suho, enough to invade Suho’s privacy…if you know what Luhan meant.

                “They’re swollen and speckled with red marks! Do a nice deed to the public and button up! I don’t care how the other students hide it away because you only do those things to those you choose, but you know you wouldn’t want your teachers to question you.”

                “Fine, mom, I’m sorry,” Luhan mocked, bobbing his head away from Suho’s grimacing look and towards the mob of students, “Gee, I wonder if-“

                “I hope this would suffice for today’s session, teach’,” Jonghyun’s breath hit the back of Luhan’s neck. He quickly placed the crumbled dollar bills into the curly haired boy’s hand and patted it twice.

                “Study well, Jonghyun! Let’s meet at the library,” Luhan smiled, hugging his books closer to his chest.

                “Oh I will study well,” his smirk could be heard in his voice as he walked away with his crew of jocks.

                Suho frowned, trying to pretend he didn’t see the dollar bills in his best friend’s hand. He saw him slip it into his corduroy pant’s pocket, smoothing it over as if it would fall out as soon as he let go of it. Of course, money is precious, but Luhan is more precious than anything else. Luhan was Suho’s savior and vice versa-the two were in synch and couldn’t live without each other since they first met. It’s overdramatic, even Luhan’s brother thinks that (and Sehun is quite the romantic), but it’s the truth and the truth is something no one should mess around with. Even if it goes under your skin.

                Kris stared across the cafeteria and towards the teenage boy wearing his blue and yellow varsity jacket with his jersey number on the pocket. The words read Kamjjong, a nickname blazing with some inside joke he didn’t understand while the whole school did. What was so good about him anyway? Was it his dark, black hair that can be styled up in a faux hawk and down in a bowl-cut? Should Kris dye it black? If he did, would the younger guy next to him pay more attention to him than that Kamjjong?

                Kris let out a steamy sigh, a little too long for his taste, but what does it really matter because that’s what he does most of the time. Sigh a lot, sleep a lot, and read a bit. Not much socializing, although Yixing scolds him from time to time about not being confident enough and Sehun doesn’t forget to mention it every other day.

                “Hey, I keep telling you to listen to me! Why are you sighing when I’m talking, Kris?” Sehun stabs his so-called lunch with the black spork (which he thinks is the most ridiculous idea in the world. If the school offers forks and knives, then they should afford enough for all students), then proceeding to point at Kris in an accusing manner.

                “Sorry, I’ve just been-“

                “Out in the sky? What is this-a once in a blue sky type of deal?”

                “I think you mean once in a blue moon, Sehun-ah,” Tao softly corrects him, tugging the back of Kris’ shirt after answering. Kris looks down at the blushing Tao. Obviously, he isn’t the only one with speaking problems.

                “Who is this guy anyway? Kris, isn’t he the one who spilt grape juice over you and why is he talking so informally to me? Hey, we just met y’know?”

                “Don’t be too harsh on the kid-he’s new, remember? Do you ever remember me interrogating you when you came running towards me because you were scared of being alone?”

                “It-it was only that one time!”

                “It was every day after school, Sehun,” Kris rolled his eyes at his friend’s childish act and brought his attention back to Kamjjong, but he wasn’t found sitting on top of the brown, cafeteria table.

                “Looking for me?” Someone blows air into Kris’ ear from behind. The hair on his neck stands in shock and he turns around slowly, meeting eye to eye with the missing boy. JongIn cheeky smile never fails to make Kris’ stoic face melt into a happy one, but he isn’t the only one affect by the younger’s act. Tao straightens his posture; his flaming red cheeks appear rusty red than crimson. JongIn slides an arm around the blonde, bringing him closer so his lips are barely touching the blonde’s pierced ear.

                Tao his head to the side, trying to drone out every other noise except for the two next to him (it’s not an easy task because Sehun keeps talking with his loud voice and he wouldn’t stop until some kid named Baekhyun comes to smack his head). He couldn’t hear anything, though he noticed Kris’ face to turn back to the original expression and staring straight out to nowhere. He tugs his Gege’s sleeve and looks up with questioning eyes. Kris only smiles, squeezing Tao’s hand in reassurance and quietly gets out of his seat.

                His footsteps are barely audible in the crowded hallway. He sees girls fan themselves as he moves forward. He gives them a smirk and the girls fall on themselves as their friends scatter to support their fall. He laughs a little on the inside and steps into the empty classroom.

                “I wondered how long it would take,” He slides the door shut and doesn’t bother to look at the arms that are tightly hugging his body. The matching silver bracelet peeks out from the sweater’s sleeve as if to remind JongIn he is tied down. His wings are no longer there and he cannot take flight from one person to the next.

                “I was busy, you know how it gets,” JongIn pats the arms and turns around in a slow manner, too slow for the other man’s liking, but he doesn’t say anything-being able to see JongIn brings joy to his heart.

                “And besides, I don’t understand why I have to keep sneaking around to meet you, Chen,” JongIn sighs, wrapping his arms around his secret boyfriend’s neck. It’s strange how they’ve been going out for almost one month, but no one dared to say a thing. Even Kris, his secret best friend and foe, hasn’t blasted the news around the whole school. Then again, Kris is a man of few words.

                “Do I have to keep explaining?”

                “ your parents and let us live happily.”

                “If only it were so simple.”

                “Why do I even bother with an estranged artist?”

                “I never said I wasn’t attracted to you,” Chen brings his arms to his side and looks deeply into his lover’s eyes, “I’m just terrible with words and-“

                “Yadda, yadda, yadda. All I hear from your mouth are noises,” Kai rolls his eyes, ignoring the frown that appeared on Chen’s chiseled face.

                “Well, maybe you can change that,” Chen tries to smile, but it’s not use-this relationship is breaking in two without any consent.

                “Chen, you said you had to tell me something. Hurry up or I’m going to leave. You know on Wednesdays that I have practice during study hall,” Chen stayed silent after the string of words entered his ears. Hurry up? When did JongIn become so full of rage and impatience? The JongIn he knew was understanding and was kind. Chen admits that he may have been stubborn, but he was never narrow-minded.

                “Never mind, you seem to be busy. I’ll show you next time.”

                “Thanks for understanding babe,” JongIn kisses Chen’s cheek, “I’ll come to your house after the game on Friday, okay?” Chen doesn’t answer verbally. Instead, he nods his head and sees his lover off. Why couldn’t Chen be more of a man and stand up for what he wants?

                “Gee, that was nice of you,” Kris drums his fingers on the wall opposite of Kai and stares with blank eyes. JongIn walks past him, expecting Kris to follow, but soon realizes he wasn’t moving from where he was. He turns back to look at Kris. He looked like he was planted on the floor and from his facial expression, he didn’t seem like he was going to move anytime sooner.

                So JongIn decides to scoot back to Kris and rests his head on Kris’ shoulder once Kris sat on the floor with his feet crossed.

                “It’s not like I wanted to do it,” JongIn admits, clasping his hands together in the quiet hallway. The bell seems to have rung, but he doesn’t care because he’s the ace of the team and the ace can do whatever he wants.

                “Oh?”

                “I’m tired of having to sneak around,” his voice turns into a breathless whisper, but Kris hears everything.

                “I wish I could be happy with who I’m seeing. My parents don’t mind who I date, boy or girl. As long as I stay the ace and get good grades, they could care less what I do. But his are so strict. Why did they come to an international school in America only to keep acting like the strict Koreans back in Korea? I thought they came here for a change, not a change of scenery.”

                “JongIn, you have to realize he wants his parents to change, too. It’s not like he’s hiding around because he wants to.”

                “Well if he wants to go public with me, he should show it sooner or later.”

                “You’re really not thinking of-“

                “What do you think?” JongIn snaps his fingers, “At this rate, I can get any boy or girl to go out with me. Why not go out with someone who’ll love me for who I am and not be ashamed of whom they’re with? Speaking of which, what about that Tao guy?” Kris’ toes curl in his socks. His eyes twitch a tad bit. His mouth twerks up into a half smile.

                “Tao?” Kris tries to make his voice sound as normal as he can.

                “Yeah, he’s pretty cute. Do you think he’s gay?”

                “JongIn! You should never question a person’s uality just because you want someone better. It’s wrong and truthfully, if you love Chen, then you’ll make an effort too. Support your boyfriend; don’t throw him away in the dust.”

                “I hate that you are so right sometimes.”

                “Don’t you mean always?” And with that, Kris earned a not-so-playful punch on his arm. He swears that it left a bruise.

A/N: So...surprise ;;^^

This Chen/Kai pairing was never done intentionally-I never thought about putting them together, but as I was writing I thought "why not?" and just added him in the story. Is Chen/Kai a real OTP? I've never heard of it, but the idea of Chen!artist and Kai!jock sort of seem nice...right readers?
The story is starting to unravel itself and you're starting to grasp the feel of the story and the characters relationships with each other, yes? Leave comments in the comment box below and tell me what you think:)

Just for those who are worried (or not): Chen/Kai is only a temporary pairing (omggg spoiler! haha)

I apologize for any mistakes!