It wasn’t until he caught himself watching Dongho present in front of the class that Key realized what was going on. He’d only been sitting there leaning against his palm and staring at his friend while the rest of the class half paid attention or played with their phones under their desks. The fact remained that nobody cared about who was in front of the class doing what, it was boring and dull and the fact that Key was actually paying attention told him more than he needed to know.

His eyes widened slightly and he quickly looked away, determined to make it seem like he had not been so focused on Dongho. He pulled out his phone for a distraction and was quite pleased to see there was a new text from Mir to keep his attention now. He opened the message and nodded slightly as he read it.

Oh, since when does Mir have a friend? Key thought to himself as he stared down at the phone. I never heard anything about him having a friend but I guess that I’ve been spending so much time thinking about Dongho that I wouldn’t have noticed. No, I have not been thinking about Dongho!

Huffing loudly, Key shook his head and answered Mir back, telling him that it was fine if he brought a friend over after school. Heechul wouldn’t be home until later so it didn’t matter.

“How did I do, Key?” said Dongho as he slipped into his desk seat.

Key looked away nervously, careful not to look Dongho in the eyes. He had this fear that if he looked into someone’s eyes when he was feeling emotional that they would be able to read his thoughts and see inside his mind and if Dongho did that right now, Key was pretty sure he’d die.

“Oh, you did fine,” Key said hastily, waving his hand carelessly. He snuck a glance at Dongho and his heart fell when he saw the dejected look on his friend’s face and he knew that he should have been more honest. “Actually, you did great. You made the argument points very clear and finished with a strong conclusion.”

At this Dongho looked much happier and nodded a thanks as he tucked his essay into his folder. When he was finished he turned his attention to Key but frowned when he saw that Key was deliberately avoiding his gaze.

Did I do something wrong?

The bell rang and Key stood up quickly, muttering a sorry explanation to Dongho that he needed to get home. In record time he deposited his books into his locker and grabbed his coat, exiting the school in a hurry. Despite the harsh wind that blew against him, he made his way home with rosy cheeks and watery eyes and sighed in relief once he closed the door behind him.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. His heart was racing with adrenaline from running out like that. He didn’t know why he’d done it, but he just had to get away from Dongho before he realized what was going on as well. It was probably best if he put some distance between the two of them and went back to just being school buddies instead of best friends. He’d gone down this path before and even now the ending was still unclear.

Sighing softly, Key slowly walked upstairs, ready to lock himself in his room and listen to the most depressing songs on his iPod. Just before he stepped into his room, Kibum exited his own and shoved Key into the wall as he walked by, looking back to shoot him a glare before stomping down the stairs.

“What the hell!?” Key exclaimed, holding his hand over his still broken nose. He ignored the blood that trickled over his lip and quickly darted halfway down the stairs as Kibum reached the front door. “Hey! What the was that for?”

Kibum yanked open the door and glared at him before disappearing, slamming it shut behind him. A few seconds later, Donghae poked his head out of the living room to see what exactly was going on. He frowned as he looked from to Key the front door and then back to Key.

“What happened?” He asked curiously, stepping out into the foyer.

“He