Sehun entered Daehyun’s house on Friday night more than ready for the weekend to begin. It had admittedly been a while since he’d seen any of his friends outside of school and he smiled as he walked into the party and saw most of them already clustered together in Daehyun’s kitchen. Even Joonmyun was there, laughing at something Jongdae said before someone called his name from the other room and he left to see what they wanted.

“Why doesn’t Joonmyun ever come to the meetings? Isn’t he the other editor-in-chief?” Youngjae was asking the group, eyes on Joonmyun’s back in the other room.

“Joonmyun’s never there because he’s president of like a thousand clubs,” Jonghyun answered him.

Minho gave him a sideways glance. “Yes, because our school actually has a thousand different clubs.”

“It’s called overstatement. It’s a type of figurative speech,” Jonghyun said superiorly.

“It’s called sarcasm. It’s also a type of figurative speech,” Minho countered.

“Ha ha.” Jonghyun determinedly turned away to pour himself some punch.

“Why do our meetings have to be on Fridays? That’s what I want to know,” Jongdae said.

“Because it’s the only time the room is available,” Baekhyun told him. Jongdae sighed heavily as Chanyeol came up behind Baekhyun and wrapped his arms around his waist, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

“There you are,” Chanyeol purred. “I was looking all over for you.”

Jongdae swiftly turned to join Jonghyun at the punch table.

Sehun finally found a pocket of silence in which to say, “Hi guys.”

They exchanged various greetings before Sehun took a second glance around and asked, “Is Jongin here yet?”

“Hmm...doesn’t look like it,” Baekhyun answered. “Although he texted me that he was on his way, and that was quite a while ago...”

Sehun jumped in shock as two large hands planted themselves on his shoulders and someone shouted, “Sehunnie!” behind him.

Sehun whipped around to see Jongin standing there, his white teeth practically blinding him. Sehun tried to school his face into his usual neutral expression. “Oh, it’s you,” he said calmly, hoping it might distract from how well Jongin’s plan to startle him had obviously worked.

Jongin smiled and laid one arm across Sehun’s shoulders. “Were you expecting someone else?”

Sehun gave him a tiny smile back. “Not really.”

“Good. You’re not still worried about that story, right? I promise I’ll have it done for this week. I almost finished it during the meeting today.” Even if he was still annoyed about the other boy constantly ignoring the assignments Sehun gave him to hang out with Taemin, Jongin looked so sincere about this that it almost made Sehun want to laugh.

“I’m not worried,” he said, leaning into Jongin’s hold.

“Good,” Jongin said as he ruffled Sehun’s hair with his other hand. “You don’t have to worry. I promise.” He paused for a minute before continuing suddenly, “It’s been a while since we’ve hung out, hasn’t it?”

Sehun nodded slowly, not sure where Jongin was going with this. “Yeah, it has...”

Jongin looked him up and down and Sehun shifted a little under his gaze. Then there was that blinding smile again. It never really failed to dazzle Sehun even when he didn’t want it to, which Sehun found extremely annoying. “Well. It’s good to see you.”

They made their way down to the basement, where most of the party guests were gathered, including Daehyun himself.

“That’s right, this is Yoo Youngjae, our new writer!” Daehyun was telling anyone who wasn’t on the newspaper staff who would listen, squeezing a very flustered-looking Youngjae’s shoulder.

“Hyung, you don’t have to--” Youngjae started to say, trying to wriggle out of Daehyun’s grasp.

“Don’t have to what? Brag about you? But you’re a writing prodigy. How can I not brag about you?”

“I’m not...”

Jongdae and Kyungsoo snickered nearby as Youngjae’s ears became very pink.

“Hyung!” Jongin suddenly shouted, leaving Sehun’s side to traverse the width of the basement and greet someone at the foot of the stairs.

Sehun watched Taemin ruffle Jongin’s hair in greeting, making Jongin’s ears turn almost as pink as Youngjae’s.

“Who invited him?” Sehun muttered under his breath, glaring darkly at the two boys from across the room.

“Now you know how I feel when I try to talk to Joonmyun,” Jongdae said, suddenly appearing at his side and filling the place Jongin had just vacated. “Mr. Popular can only allot me about a sentence at a time before he’s whisked away by one of his many devotees,” he finished dramatically, complete with an eye roll.

The corner of Sehun’s mouth couldn’t help twitching a little and he laughed once as he sat down on the nearby couch.

“Really though, I think Jongin actually feels pretty bad about stressing you out so much with the paper. And don’t be too mad at Taemin, I don’t think that kid is aware that he’s a distraction.” Jongdae laughed.

Sehun’s smile faded again as he looked over at Jongin and Taemin again. They talked excitedly about something or other and bounded up the stairs.

“This...isn’t just about the paper, is it?” Jongdae asked slowly, sitting down on the couch beside Sehun.

Sehun took a shaky breath. “No,” he said in a very small voice.

“Ahh, I see...Sehunnie is jealous.” Jongdae tried to place a comforting hand on Sehun’s knee, but the younger swatted it away.

“I’m not jealous,” he insisted.

Jongdae gave him a pointed look.

“It’s just...now he’s not just blowing off my assignments to hang out with Taemin but he’s blowing me off to hang out with Taemin,” Sehun groaned. “We used to be best friends and now I feel like we barely even talk anymore. They’re always together.” Sehun’s eyes darted back to the stairs, where Jongin and Taemin had been a minute before.

“Jongin’s known Taemin even longer than you,” Jongdae pointed out.

“Not helping,” Sehun said, lowering his elbows to his knees and resting his forehead in his palms.

“I just mean that I don’t think it’s anything to worry about,” Jongdae amended. “He’s always talking about you when you’re not around, you know.”

Sehun lifted his head back up, but before he could ask what Jongdae meant by that, Daehyun was addressing the room at large. “Hey! I want all the staff members over here now! We’re taking the yearbook photo!”

Jongdae and Sehun reluctantly stood up. Within several minutes, the group was assembled near the foot of the staircase, and after a great deal of shuffling around (mostly consisting of Jongdae, Joongmyun, and Baekhyun trying to fight their way to the front so as not to be hidden by the taller figures of the others), they appeared ready to take the photo.

Sehun had positioned himself in the back row beside Jongin, who was standing so close to him that their shoulders were pressed together.

“Wait, where are Jonghyun and Minho?” Daehyun suddenly asked, a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

There was a beat of awkward silence before Jongdae coughed slightly. “Um, they disappeared off somewhere a while ago.”

Daehyun stared at him before understanding dawned over his face. “Very well then, I guess this is as close to everyone as we’re going to get...Kyungsoo, what do you think you’re doing, you’re not taking the picture, you have to be in the picture!”

“But I’m the photographer,” Kyungsoo protested from his position in front of the rest of the group, holding up his camera.

Daehyun huffed. “Just give the camera to someone and have them take it--”

“I’ll do it!” Taemin offered cheerily from a few feet away, accepting the camera from Kyungsoo.

The photo was finally taken and the staff members began to disperse again as Taemin handed the camera back. The party was in full swing around them. Small clusters of friends laughing at each other were scattered around the room, and couples were making out in dark corners or, like Baekhyun and Chanyeol, just out in the open. Sehun briefly forgot that Jongin hadn’t moved from his side until he asked, “Are you okay?”

Sehun turned to look at him in surprise. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You haven’t said much,” Jongin pointed out. Sehun puzzled over how to formulate a polite response to all the irony in that statement.

At that moment, Taemin bounded over to them. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I’m gonna go get a drink,” Sehun said abruptly.

Jongin opened his mouth to say something, but Taemin was faster. “Sounds good, would you mind getting me a glass of punch and add in a little extra sprite?” He crooked an arm around Jongin’s waist. “And something for Jongin too, of course. You two are old friends, you probably know what he likes.”

Sehun had to forcibly assemble his features into neutral again. “Um, sure,” he said, quickly following Kyungsoo and Youngjae up the stairs.

“So...Daehyun certainly seems proud of you,” Kyungsoo was saying as they approached the kitchen. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s shoved a copy of the paper with your story highlighted in the hands of everyone here by now.”

“I wish he’d stop,” Youngjae groaned.

“Oh, don’t act like you’re not enjoying the attention,” Jongdae said from the doorway, startling Sehun, who hadn’t realized he’d also followed them upstairs.

Youngjae turned the same color as his punch and finished drinking it in one gulp.

Feeling a little like a waiter, Sehun balanced his three drinks in his arms and carried them carefully back down to the basement, only to drop all of them when he reached the bottom of the staircase and his eyes were assaulted by the sight of Jongin with Taemin’s tongue down his throat, Jongin’s fingers tangled in the other’s hair as their bodies pressed close.

Sehun felt like the last stair been coated in glue, unable to move until he noticed the pounding in his head and the burn of the tears that were threatening to splash over his lashes. He the spot and ran back up the stairs and out the door before anyone could see him cry.