“We look at the same stars,
And see such different things.”
—     George R. R. Martin

PART V

Jihoon shifted on his seat, and then again and once again – he was feeling genuinely uncomfortable. The teacher had entered the classroom a few minutes ago and had left a few minutes ago too, after shaking her head and calling out their names. Seungcheol had, once again, claimed everything had been Seokmin’s fault (which was true, kind of – but Jihoon still blamed everything to Kwon Soonyoung), while Seokmin said he strongly believed Seungcheol had been the troublemaker – flirting with the boyfriend of another person and everything (Jihoon had rolled his eyes at this, because weren’t they understanding what was going on?) and soon what had been a small chat, turned into loud yells and Seokmin almost hitting Seungcheol again, which reminded Jihoon he could be in his bedroom at the moment – maybe playing guitar or just sleeping, but he had decided to prevent a broken nose and there he was instead – in a dusty classroom with a mop of hair snoring next to him and two s murdering each other with their eyes. When Seokmin and Seungcheol’s talk got louder, Jihoon wished for, at least, five minutes of quietness and peace, but now, as the only sound that could be heard in the classroom was the curly-haired boy’s snores, he realized he’d rather heard annoying loud chatter than awkward nothings.

Jihoon supported his elbows on his desk, and sighed as he looked outside the window – surprisingly enough, the sky had darkened considerably since they got there, making Jihoon wonder if they had been in the classroom for more than he thought.

The dizziness on Jihoon’s head hadn’t left him for a single second, and neither the nauseous sensation, but he didn’t complain anymore – at least not about that, Jihoon thought, closing his eyes just slightly to rest. He was so tired… and the desk was really comfortable… the 18-year-old sighed contently, ready to put his head on the desk when he heard a whisper.

He knew that voice.

“Soonyoung is my boyfriend?” Seungkwan stated – sounding like he was asking that question to himself rather than being one hundred percent sure of it.

Jihoon glanced at him – annoying and relieved at the same time, because Seungkwan had talked, but Seungkwan had talked, too, and he really wanted to take a quick nap.

“Uh… no? How many times do I have to say I’ve been dating him since-

Seungcheol laughed loudly and interrupted Seokmin, shaking his head and leaning in his chair.

“He is my boyfriend, well, kind of.”

“Guys, really,” Seokmin said after rolling his eyes, “Soonyoung is pretty popular: he’s hot and attractive but that’s not a reason for you to lie, that’s… kinda creepy.” Seokmin frowned, and sighed dramatically as he fell on his chair.

Jihoon frowned too; he had also thought of that before. But now things were so clear! It was obvious that what Soonyoung was doing was nothing but-

“I literally told you that a few minutes ago, though.” Seungcheol glared at Seokmin and then smiled, “Why make up stories? Honestly, we all know you’re lying since Sungyeol said nothing about you in the corridor.”

Jihoon scrunched his nose, did they really-

“Soonyoung.”

“What?”

“It’s Soonyoung, not Sungyeol?”

“Ah, yes… yes… Soonyoung.” Seungcheol said, smiling broadly and making Seokmin roll his eyes in the process.

“He didn’t say anything about you either, and everyone knows you’re a freak! Do you really want me to believe you’re his boyfriend?”

“I said kind of!”

“You don’t even know what his name is!”

Seungcheol scoffed, raising his eyebrows and folding his arms across his chest.

“I do! We we’re going to- hey I’m not a freak!” Seungcheol argued back, yelling.

“So you are kind of dating Soonyoung?” Seokmin asked, mockingly, “He accepts your chocolates and reads your poems?”

“No? We make out in the counselor’s room.” Seungcheol frowned, answering as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You make out with my boyfriend?” Seokmin gasped, rising from his chair.

“Your boyfriend?”

“My boyfriend.”

“He is my boyfriend! Kind of!”

Jihoon looked at them with his mouth agape – shaking his head in disbelief. The 18-year-old frowned, and glanced at Seungkwan, who was silently watching the scene happen. Jihoon bit his lip – he wouldn’t interfere – he wouldn’t say anything. Not anymore.

“You know what? I’m done…” Seokmin yelled, “And for your information, ‘kind-of boyfriends’ isn’t a thing!”

Seungcheol scoffed.

“Soonyoung probably doesn’t even know your name.”

“You don’t know his’!”

The pain on Jihoon’s head made him want to scream at both, state the truth and have a good nap, but he knew he had to stay silent.

“Why did you hit me, anyways? If he’s not your–

“Because you provoked me! It’s your fault we have to be here with that kid and the president of Soonyoung’s fan club!”

President of… what-? … Kid?

Jihoon blinked twice, looking at Seungcheol and then at Seokmin – had they forgotten Seungkwan and him were in the same room? Or they were just shameless?

“You know it’s your fault- who punches someone out of the blue?”

“It wasn’t out of the blue, excuse me? It was–

“Shut up! Oh my God!” Jihoon yelled, breaking his silence. His voice had been a little louder than necessary, considering how everyone’s eyes were now on him – even the curly haired ones’, which closed seconds after.

Jihoon looked back at Seokmin and Seungcheol, and then at Seungkwan, who watched curiously.

“D-do you guys really think the fault is in one of you?” Jihoon asked, looking at his hands, which lied on his desk.

Silence greeted Jihoon, and he saw this as an opportunity to keep going.

“You are both wrong and right at the same time,” Jihoon continued.

“You’re both dating Soonyoung – Seungkwan too, and both of you are idiots.”

Seokmin raised his eyebrows, ready to speak, and kept his mouth slightly open when Jihoon raised a finger to the air – he had more to say.

“Kwon Soonyoung is cheating on you!”

“And I don’t know how the hell he could get away with it.”

Realization hit the three of them - Jihoon could tell, since Seokmin’s face showed embarrassment and Seungcheol’s understatement.

A few seconds passed without anyone saying anything, Seokmin would sometimes take a peep at them, open his mouth, and then close it immediately, while Seungcheol just seemed content to know the truth.

Jihoon didn’t dare to look at Seungkwan.

“You’re dating Soonyoung?” Seokmin asked Seungcheol, this time there wasn’t sarcasm on his voice.

Seungcheol nodded.

“It’s been a few months,” He answered, “We met in a college party a friend of us did, and you know we liked each other I guess.”

“Then we realized we went to the same school and he started to go to these concerts with me… we didn’t have a label, though, I didn’t care.”

“What about you?”

Seokmin smiled, looking down, “Well- uh, we’ve been dating for seven months, almost eight.” He muttered, ashamed, apparently. “We met in Music class and he just kept going on how he loved my voice- then he invited me to a basketball game – not that I cared about basketball, but he was hot and- I said yes. We started dating after that? I guess.”

Seungcheol nodded, and Jihoon stood there, thinking about their stories – now he really wanted to know Seungkwan’s.

“What about you, Seungkwan?”

The brunette was still looking at the floor, his shoulders were still curved and he seemed to be shaking – Jihoon felt really, really bad about him.

“We’ve just known each other since forever, he was this really… funny boy, and he made me laugh… I- I guess I fell for him. And uh, somehow we started dating, he-” Seungkwan took a deep breath, “It’s been two years.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened– because two years was a lot! Anger built in his stomach as he saw Seungkwan clench his fists in disappointment.

(Or was it his mom’s food?)

The other two exchanged looks and looked down, the whole classroom turning blue all of a sudden.

“Seungkwan I’m sorry…” Jihoon said, and cursed on his mind– he was the worst when it came to comforting people.

But Seungkwan smiled, and shook his head- and that was something, right?

“Don’t be.” Seungkwan muttered under his breath, gasping when he heard the door open – the teacher from before entered and yawned.

“You can leave.”

Jihoon and the rest nodded; quite relieved about the fact they didn’t have to spend any more time in the classroom. The 18-year-old, however, felt uneasy. He still felt dizzy and his steps were heavy, but somehow he worried more about Seungkwan, who was looking at him with intrigue and something Jihoon couldn’t figure out.

Feeling nervous under Seungkwan’s gaze, Jihoon decided to look away, only to see the stranger still sleeping. He raised his eyebrows.

“Shouldn’t we wake him up?” He asked.

Seungcheol only looked at him and shrugged, “Nah, he’ll wake up soon.”

The four of them nodded, and found themselves walking together towards the entry of the school, and as they opened the door, Jihoon realized the sky was now even darker than before – a few stars had shown up and were lighting up the sky, which made him laugh ironically. He had read from Shakespeare about the stars and the faults in them – not that this had been fate; Soonyoung had made the decision of cheating on three boyfriends all at once, but the stars, somehow had brought the three boyfriends together.

Twinkling stars made everyone forget about what had just had happened, they distracted them and made them wonder a lot of things Jihoon would never know. He smiled, though, and looked around to find Seungkwan.

He saw Seokmin, smiling at the sky just slightly.

He saw Seungcheol, with a straight line on his mouth but warm eyes.

He saw Seungkwan, looking at him.

Jihoon blinked twice, and made sure Seungkwan was still watching him – the 18 year old frowned, walking towards the brunette with heavy steps. Jihoon thought the sky had darkened even more since they got out, but he didn’t care, still walking to find Seungkwan. Jihoon looked at Seungkwan, who was still staring at him, and he looked at Seokmin and Seungcheol, with their eyebrows furrowed.

And then there was darkness.