With his chin rested tiredly in his palm and his eyes trained in a gaze out the window, Taekwoon tapped his pencil on his desk in a lazy beat.

Hongbin and Jaehwan made fun of him when he'd come down the stairs last night, face red and eyes sewn to the ground. Though no one said anything, there was a mutual understanding: they knew what happened, and he knew they set him up. He hadn't had the energy to do anything about it besides glare. Before he left, Hyuk pounced on him with a bright hug and promised to see him at school.

He closed his eyes at the memories, cheeks warming. He was embarrassed.

It crossed his mind that he could be the only one making things weird. Didn't friends do stuff like that? He used to share his bed with Yixing whenever they'd have sleepovers or he visited him in China . . . Maybe it was like that. But he wasn't even really friends with Ravi—or any of them (he wouldn't tell Hyuk that because A) Yongguk, and B) he didn't want to see a crushed look on that baby face)—they just . . . hung out a lot?

His pencil stopped its bounce.

They did things friends did; he'd gone to the movies with them, played football with them, slept at their house during the day, did his homework there. He'd even admit he liked spending time there more than at his own place. What did that make them?

The bell rang and he blinked.

Just after Taekwoon walked from the classroom, Jongdae fell into step with him.

"Hey, where were you yesterday?" he whined, slinging an arm around much taller Taekwoon.

"Homework, napping," Taekwoon replied, trying to shrug much shorter Jongdae off.

"That's what you were doing, nerd, not where you were doing it."

"Why does it matter?"

Jongdae scowled, pushing up his glasses with a smart finger. "It matters 'cuz I missed you, that's why! Stop being so mean, gosh." Taekwoon sighed, shrugging up his backpack. "Minseok said you were at the cafe before one of those guys drove you out. You didn't go home, I checked, you weren't at Seungho's—he fed me by the way, tell him I love him—so where were you?"

"You sound like a stalker," Taekwoon deadpanned. "I was at the library." he finally answered.

It'd be a lie to say he didn't know why he lied—but he wanted to pretend he didn't because at this point, lying was just easier. He was too lazy to deal with unnecessary, blown-up drama that would inevitably come with the truth. (. . . And not wanting to hurt Jongdae's feelings had nothing to do with it.)

"Lame!" Jongdae sang as they entered the locker room.

Taekwoon began to change with his back faced to Jongdae, but he couldn't shake the feeling of Jongdae watching him. Probably just his imagination.

After tying up his cleats, he turned around and Jongdae tossed a ball to him with a cheeky grin, nearly hitting him the face. Taekwoon had half a mind to chuck it back at his head, but he only snorted a laugh and headed for the field.

"You sure you're alright today?" Jongdae raised an eyebrow, munching on a bag of chips. He'd just watch Taekwoon's third attempt at kick-ups, only for him to bounce the ball two or three times, then miss it.

Taekwoon blew hair from his face as the ball rolled away. He was off his game and it was getting on his nerves. He tossed his head towards the small goal. "Go play goalie," he asked, and Jongdae shrugged, getting up and wiping his hands off.

Eyes narrowed in concentration, Taekwoon began dribbling the ball towards Jongdae and the goal, certain he could make it. Jongdae stood at the ready, not willing to let the ball pass just to get on Taekwoon's nerves.

He kicked.

Jongdae caught it.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, shooting up and tossing the ball up with excitement. "I just pulled one of over the Magnificent Jung Taekwoon! This should go in the history books, I'm a hero!"

Taekwoon stared, arms limp at his sides. He would never miss against Jongdae. Never. That was obviously a fluke.

"Again," he insisted, motioning for the ball.

Grinning, Jongdae passed it back to him. Taekwoon set it and then took a breath. He wouldn't miss this time.

He began with a dribble like before, but it quickly turned into a drive the closer he got—Jongdae let up on his defensive stance out of nerves. The ball went whizzing through the air with Taekwoon's kick, but the power behind it shot it too high. It bounced off the crossbar. Taekwoon stared.

Jongdae frowned. "Yeah, I thought I was gonna die. Your off-game saved me." Though he didn't sound cheeky and Taekwoon just felt bad.

He really was off his game today.

He clicked his tongue. It had to be because of stupid Ravi. That was the only explanation. Waking up in the same bed as him (even though he laid there first), his weird crooked grin, that stupid frown that threatened to come onto his face sometimes. Taekwoon was losing it.

He flinched when Jongdae pulled him down to press their foreheads together. Wide-eyed, he flickered from Jongdae's gaze to the grass and back again, a blush pooling in his cheeks. "W-What are you—" he stammered.

"You don't have a fever," Jongdae mused as Taekwoon snatched himself back. "Maybe I really am good!"

Still fighting back embarrassment, Taekwoon snorted and went to go collect the ball. It rolled near the bleachers, and before he picked it up, he let himself calm down and stretch out from all the stress and excitement.

Too many things were happening. Yixing coming to Korea, breathing easy in Ravi's house, Ravi napping with him, stupid Jongdae and his stupid questions . . . He didn't know where to start with all of it.

He looked up. A single girl sat up in the bleachers, kicking her legs. She noticed him and waved, and he frowned. With a bright face, she patted the spot next to him. He didn't move.

"What's taking you so long?" Jongdae called from somewhere behind him. "C'mon, we gotta get back to class."

Hurrying, Taekwoon picked up the ball and ran it back to Jongdae. "Take it." he said, pushing it into Jongdae's hands. "I'm going to run a few laps, you can go on without me."

Jongdae frowned at him, shifting with worry, but Taekwoon gave a small smile and it seemed to ease him. He wheeled around, walking away with the ball tucked under his arm, raising his hand to wave. "Don't be late to claaaaass." he singsonged, dancing away and chanting about beating the 'Magnificent Jung Taekwoon'.

Taekwoon sighed. He would be (probably) but Jongdae didn't need to know that.

He looked over his shoulder. That girl still sat where he spotted her and he swallowed. Something was vaguely familiar about her—which meant he might not want to deal with whatever she had to offer.

He jogged around the track until slowing down when he reached the other side where the girl was smiling brightly. He came to an uneasy stop and glanced up at her, biting the inside of his bottom lip.

"You're Leo, right?"

Taekwoon fought off raising his eyebrows; that name could only mean she knew Ravi and his friends. Then he remembered Himchan when he talked about his junior who'd seen him. She had to be the one he bumped into when he left Ravi's house.

It was her.

"Come sit with me!" she insisted, patting the bench next to her again, but he didn't move. She huffed and rolled her eyes with a good-natured smile. "I'm not going to bite you, gosh."

Turning around and leaving whatever she had to say to him behind was tempting, he didn't want to get more tangled in everyone around here than he already was, but curiosity got the better of him. He climbed up and over the bleachers railing and sat on the bottom bench. The metal clanged when she hopped down from her seat to plop next to him.

She leaned over to look at his face. "You're cute." She giggled and tried to pinch his cheek, but he turned pink and leaned away, not looking at her. "Aww, play along . . ." she pouted.

"What do you want?" he asked, regretting his decision to indulge himself.

"I just wanted to talk," She shuffled her feet against the metal below. "I thought all the kids here hated Ravi! I didn't think he had any friends from this school. It's surprising!" She laughed. "Him and them don't really have friends. Hongbin and Ken are such snobs, you know? And Ravi, gosh, he's such a big baby—can't keep people around to save his life!"

Taekwoon blinked at her, nervous. You talk too much . . .

She leaned forward again, the light in her eyes changing. "Are you really their friend?"

"Are you?" he big back before he could stop himself. He quickly looked away.

"I go to their house sometimes." she admitted, smiling. "It's nice there. Sometimes they have little get-togethers and stuff, but other than that, they don't really talk to people outside of themselves."

Tell him something he didn't know. He didn't miss her little jab at Ravi; he thought he should defend him, but what did he really know?

"So what do you think you'll get out of being friends with them?" she asked, seeming innocent. The weird question twinged at his nerves.

What was that supposed to mean? Taekwoon never planned to get anything out of being friends with them. He didn't even plan to be friends with them! It seemed like every stupid time being friends with them was brought up, some kind of negative connotation came with it. All the negativity around them was confusing, and he didn't know why he was ever wrapped up in it in the first place.

". . . What do you want?" he asked curtly.

She laughed—no wonder she was friends (or whatever) with Ravi and them. "I just wanted to tell you how Ravi can't keep his promises!" she piped, waving a hand. "He's terrible at it. Whatever he'll tell you is a lie. I'm not saying he's a terrible person or anything, I just want to let you know that if you expect anything from him, don't. Okay?"

Okay. Taekwoon got up. Okay. He didn't care? What did something like that have to do with him? Was there actually a point . . .

"I have to go." he said, and then climbed over the railing again.

She got up too. "It's Hyeri, by the way!" she called after him when he started walking away. He looked over his shoulder to see her waving enthusiastically at him, smiling brightly. “See you later, Leo!”

He frowned and continued walking back to the locker rooms.

As he got dressed, he snorted to himself. Go figure that he'd keep finding out more about Ravi from people he didn't know.

What did everyone want from him? Written consent to even be going to the school and hanging out with certain people? It was like they wanted their own leashes around him or string him up as a puppet to act this way or that. He poked his head through his shirt.

What was with her anyway? Maybe she used to date Ravi or something. Maybe he did something bad to her.

A heaviness settled in his stomach at the thought, but he shook his head and then stuffed his clothes into his back. It wasn't any of his business. None of it mattered to him. Needles prickled at his skin.

Taekwoon made a face.

"What's wrong?" Seungho asked, glancing at him over the counter.

"Salty." He frowned as he sipped at his tea. Seungho laughed.

"You're more than free to do your homework here, if you want." he offered. "I can make us dinner, or we could pick something up."

Taekwoon softened. Despite everything, being with Seungho had become easy. Seungho didn't force him to talk, he chided when it was necessary, and he wasn't constantly in his business. It wasn't like he couldn't ever breathe freely when he was living with his parents—they were never around much then, either—but they didn't exactly discipline him aside from school. On the other hand, here was Seungho who always urged him to do the right thing; he might stumble over himself sometimes, but the feeling that Taekwoon wasn't getting on his nerves was nice.

"Whatever you want to do," he replied, dipping back into his homework.

Seungho hummed, pouring a cup of his own. "Hakyeon was complaining about this tea, said he didn't like it." he commented, bringing the cup to his lips. "Let's see how bad it is," he teased.

Taekwoon looked up curiously, expectant for a sour face. Seungho raised his eyebrows at the taste. "It's sweet. Kind of spicy, but mostly sweet." he grinned. "I like it."

Sweet? Taekwoon scowled. It hadn't tasted sweet for him yet, so what made Seungho so special?