Jinyoung is not sure if his brain is making things up or if those are his hormones talking, but he has an odd feeling that there is this undefined ‘something’ between him and Jaebum lately. It’s like some kind of tension: every time their eyes meet he can feel his skin tingling with electricity, his hyung’s features become softer and even when Jaebum flicks Jinyoung’s nose in a playful manner it doesn’t feel like it felt couple of years ago. A couple years ago when ‘JB’ was only a nickname, not a word that wrings up small shivers in Jinyoung’s core and when Jaebum-hyung calling him ‘JR’ wasn’t making him weird in the head.

“Junior,” a low whisper reaches him in his small, currently very dark world, so he looks to his left, locking gazes with Jaebum.

“Concentrate or he will throw you out and we don’t want that, do we?” the blond asks with a glint of amusement flashing through his brown orbs. Of course it is Jaebum who will be concerned about JR well-being, while still being so annoyingly sarcastic. Of course it must be him of all the people in the class, because Life answers to Jinyoung’s ‘why’ with ‘ you, that’s why’. The raven-head knows he’s blushing – he can feel the heat in his cheeks.

JR doesn’t have idea when it all began. In fact he has problems with thinking about this whole thing without starting to freak out. He tries to act normal in front of everyone, including Jaebum-hyung, but the guy’s a lot more perceptive that he lets on. That’s why Jinyoung starts to get scared. It’s a helluva hard work to pretend to be normal when there is clearly something wrong. Plus Jaebum’s intelligent – he won’t be deceived that easily, he knows JR longer than anybody else, maybe except his parents. The same sandbox, kindergarten, elementary, middle and now high school. They’re even friggin’ neighbours.

Childhood friends with common interests. Perfect setting for a romantic movie, if not for the fact that they’re both teenage boys and in spite of all these mean things that are said about adolescent brats, Jinyoung’s also quite a smart cookie himself and he knows that this configuration could only mean trouble.

Besides, Jaebum-hyung has always wanted ‘a girl who catches his eye and is cute’ and Jinyoung knows that even though he did catch JB’s attention and is in fact a real fluff ball, he’s still not a girl.

“Dude, what’s wrong with you? Are you ok?” This time around Jaebum’s voice sounds legitimately concerned. It shouldn’t, because Jinyoung feels like looking straight into his eyes to say that he’s ok, just a little tired.

Jaebum doesn’t buy it. The crooked eyebrow adds to the incredulity of his I-don’t-believe-you look, so JR manages a whispered explanation that the last night’s party was pretty crazy and everybody was all over him because of his dance skills and he didn’t want to disappoint them, so it kind of escalated into a small showcase. The disbelief in Jaebum’s eyes slowly turns into something else. It really isn’t like Jinyoung to be the one reading too much into other people behavior and he seriously doesn’t want to have a false hope, but for a moment there his hyung sure looks like he is about to unleash a cold, green-eyed monster JR himself nurtures every time Jaebum gets a love confession. In addition to that, this is not the usual ‘my is longer than yours’ jealousy: it’s sadder, darker, angrier. However, with Jaebum’s next words, Jinyoung’s assumption bubble pops right into his face.

“I told you, you would do great in the entertainment industry, man. You dance, you sing, you rap and in school you’re already almost as popular as me or Jark duo,” the blond grins at him, leaving JR hating him and wanting to kiss the stupid grin away.

“Are you two love birds planning to listen to what I have to say or do you want to confess your undying love before the whole class?” Mr. Kwang sounds irritated to say at least. Jinyoung can feel blood draining from his face and he wants to do a nice follow-up like he always does but Jaebum is first to speak.

“Everybody knows about our undying love, Mr. Kwang,” Jaebum’s cocky, almost asking for a detention with his bored tone. JR can hear a sharp intake of breath. He looks around to see his peers’ horrified slash amused slash shocked expressions. Jaebum’s rarely like that – normally it would be Jinyoung who’s all sassy and defiant against the school rules, while JB gets formal just to save him from the teacher’s wrath. JR tries to remember when was the last time he saw his hyung acting that way in front of a teacher and to his surprise he is unable to recollect if that kind of incident has had ever happened. This small revelation might in fact justify the frightened and surprised stares they are now receiving from their classmates. Only couple of them treat Jaebum’s inexplicably brass behavior as some sort of entertainment, one of those few being Jackson who looks like he’s about to bring the popcorn out from his backpack. Now Jinyoung is almost sure that they will be a talk of the school even before the day ends.

“Im Jaebum and Park Jinyoung, you guys are going to stay after classes to scrub the tables in the cafeteria. Now take your notebooks and start writing down the notes. And if I catch you talking one more time you’re both going to visit the principal office,” Mr. Kwang says in an unnaturally calm and collected manner, which can only mean they’re screwed. This time Jaebum doesn’t retort, quietly going back to taking the notes. It Jinyoung’s turn to stare down his best friend with the same incredulous look he got earlier, but as always JB has to be too cool to even notice. Or so Jinyoung thinks until he catches a small smirk playing on the blond’s lips.

JR wants to believe that it’s only a mirage, because if it isn’t the butterflies are going to tear his stomach into shreds.

He smiles stupidly at his messy desk. Somehow, Jinyoung’s thoughts about detention aren’t as unpleasant as they ought to be.