꒰🍒꒱ AHHHHHHH another chapter, as promised (o˘◡˘o) sorry for the late posting, i always feel so bad  T___T but I love you guys who still read this and keep up hehe, your comments make my day :))!! hope you like this one !!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Taehyun felt like he could fall asleep at any given moment.

After parting with Kai, he stumbles himself into the bathroom to wash the drowsiness off his face. He was exhausted; eyes droopy to the point that he could fall into slumber while standing if he kept them shut for too long. He looks at himself in the mirror and clicks his tongue, he was an absolute mess. hair disheveled and dark circles under his eyes, and all just from one single night.

His clothes were creased and jacket wet from the rain that leaked from the roof where he had uncomfortably slept on. the wet patches sticking weirdly on his skin made him wince. it was cold. With his head heavy, he settles his hand on the edge of the sink, splashing water onto his face. He was absolutely lethargic. Surely there was no way to fix his sleep schedule now.

He plans to get to his first class early, wanting to get a few minutes of sleep before students pile in and his dreaded day begins. He was too tired to care about the longing gazes from the students in the hallways who had arrived early.

With his head rested in his arms on the table, his eyes fluttered shut in an uneasy rest, only soon interrupted when his homeroom teacher entered the class with a bright smile, his focus towards his lessons the whole day drifting every second.

Beomgyu doesn't attend the music lesson at the end of the day, and Taehyun isn't even surprised at this point.

.

"Hey, are you there?" Kai asked his best friend the moment they stepped out of school boundaries, their bags slung on their shoulders. The sun was hidden amidst the clouds, offering shade and a cold breeze that had Taehyun shivering. The water from his jacket had seeped into his shirt, there was no use taking off the thick piece of outer clothing anymore.

If Taehyun didn't look like a walking, soulless body, he would have actually enjoyed the weather.

He looked at Kai who was expecting an answer from the older, and he shrugged, "physically? yes. mentally? debatable,"

"Fantastic!" Kai beams, too enthusiastic about the deal to realize the lethargy lacing in the male's voice, "So does that mean you're still up for the dinner date? You promised, right?"

It just registers into Taehyun's head that he had countless of all nighters before this one, some probably even longer than the preceding. The sluggish feeling made his mind fuzzy. He hopes that he's not coming down with something.

He still hadn't had the time to ponder about the actions of the prior night. How odd it was for someone so merciless and supposedly 'tough' (Taehyun doubts that. There was absolutely nothing tough about him besides the fact the kid could pack a punch) to be crying his eyes out all because of being locked in?

For someone who wants to forget, he surely thinks about the latter a lot.

"Yeah yeah," he stifles a yawn voice laced with lethargy, "Now just zip it, Beom-,"

"huh?"

"I-I mean, Hyuka," Taehyun blinks repeatedly and straightens his posture, grabbing on the straps of his bag, "You've been so loud since this morning, and I didn't even take you as a morning person. I don't have any idea what kind of drugs you're on but whatever it is I'd like some,"

Huening Kai stays silent, and only then Taehyun realizes he had just stopped in his tracks. The latter sighs and turns around, meeting his gaze.

Kai had stopped to stare at Taehyun, making an exaggerated teasing face. His eyebrows drawn up, grinning at the older boy. As if he had caught him slipping something very embarrassing, something he could make fun of.

"What?" Taehyun asked.

"You called me Beomgyu!" Kai says, poking his fingers towards the boy's chest followed by his loud signature laughter, "No way! Does that mean you were thinking of him, Hyun?"

"You were literally crying your eyes out whenever you see him and now you're talking so freely,"

"Don't try to change the subject," Kai brushes it off. In all honesty, Taehyun knew the kid didn't like to keep bad memories at bay. It wasn't surprising to hear him talk about the older despite what he had been through because of him.

And adding to the fact that Kai might just found something to use against him.

"I'm tired, alright? I didn-"

"So you were!" Kai exclaims loudly, followed by a burst of laughter, "This is great, Hyunnie!"

"In what way are you seeing this as great, exactly?" he asks, frustrated.

Kai looks up after he finishes laughing, exasperating the older further when he slings his arms around the shorter male's shoulders, "Taehyunie, my dense as a rock best friend, do you have some sort of feeling towards him?"

"Yeah," he replies, and Kai actually looks shocked before he continues, "a strong feeling of hatred,"

"Oh, come on!" Kai urges, "Just admit it! I'm your best friend, right? You tell me everything! I totally don't judge if he's your gay awakening, you know? I mean, mine used to be a literal cartoon character,"

"You being my best friend is more the reason for me not to tell you everything,"

"So, you admit it? You do?"

"No,"

"Hyuuuuuun!" Kai pouts, "Why else would you be thinking about him on our way out of school, then? And don't tell me it's because you're tired, you could've called me 'mom' or 'Soobin' but the first thing you said was Beomgyu, and my name isn't as close to his," he grins, "You're thinking about talking to him?"

"Can you just go back to being scared shitless at his name or something?"

"Hey! There you go, changing the subject again!" Kai retreats, folding his arms across his chest, "We're outside of school now, silly! Unless he's some weird stalker who's obsessed over you, I'm pretty sure he won't kill me,"

"I'm pretty sure he won't kill you even if we're in school grounds,"

"Hyunnie," the younger frowns, "Are you going to talk to him again?"

"No," Taehyun lets out another tiny yawn, covering his mouth with his hand and stretching, "I want to see Mr. Min tomorrow and ask him if he could remove the fact that I got detention out of my report card,"

"And you're taking Beomgyu because?"

"Didn't say I was," Taehyun glances up at the tall boy, "I was mentally preparing a script on why he was the only reason I was sent there; and that I have never did anything to deserve it,"

"Or deserve the overnight treatment. It's like, abuse, isn't it?" he adds and Kai shrugs, Taehyun continues, "like false imprisonment or something,"

"But Mr. Min isn't stupid, though," Kai argues, "He must have... some justification for sending you in detention,"

"Yeah, Choi Beomgyu," Taehyun claims, "Not me. I mean, who sends someone into detention because they haven't sent in homework? And with their partner, at that matter,"

The other sweat drops, "I think it varies with different teachers," he says, "Last year my English teacher was in such a bad mood that she sent everyone in detention just because we didn't know basic English grammar and it was like... the subject we were supposed to learn that day,"

Taehyun gives him an odd look, to which Kai replies with a 'what?'

"Let's just get going," He says, grabbing Kai's hand so the kid doesn't lag behind, pulling him to walk alongside. Their footsteps fall in sync.

.

The restaurant was... empty.

Well, it wasn't really empty. But business wasn't booming that day either, as it usually had been. The air was warm, thankfully. It made Taehyun sigh in relief. Faint sounds of the news play in the background accompanied by the sizzling of meat. An old couple was having a nice dinner at the corner of the store, and a group of friends were celebrating one of their birthdays in the middle. The two opted for the seat by the windows.

"This is nice," Huening Kai chirped in front of him as a kind lady handed them a menu, "My sister works here, I'm sure some of the employees even know me!"

"Are you implying that we're getting a free meal?" Taehyun pushes the menu away, immediately grabbing the pen and paper to write his order. They came here often, it was a popular hang out spot for them, going over with Soobin and Yeonjun on weekends when they would release their stress by ordering plates after plates and end up feeling too stuffed to walk home. Kai shakes his head cheekily.

"You still owe me, Hyunnie~" he sings, leaning against the chair.

Taehyun rolls his eyes, looking down at the menu paper and tapping the pen repeatedly on the desk.

"Man, you really weren't lying when you said you stayed in detention overnight, huh?" Kai looks at Taehyun sympathetically, "Do you want to lay on my shoulder or something?"

A small smile tugs at the corner of his lips when he hears the offer. Kai was an absolute angel. Stupid at times, but an angel nevertheless. He was always one to stop and help someone despite how annoying he was, Taehyun knew he cared about his friends. It was rare for someone his age to still be so pure and kind. The older boy feels like he's won the friendship lottery.

Taehyun shakes his head and straightens his back, "I'm alright. Just a little sleepy,"

"No kidding, you gotta be really sleepy to call me Beomgyu," the boy grins, and Taehyun shoots him a death glare. If looks could kill, Kai was sure he would be six feet in the ground by then.

"You're annoying. Stop bringing that up already,"

"You know you love me either way," Kai teases, "I strongly disapprove if you decide to date him, though. So you can't do that,"

"I don't like him, for God's sake what is up with you?"

Kai shrinks, but Taehyun gets too riled up to notice, "I was just kidding..."

The older stays silent, picking at the corner of the napkin as he fights the sleepiness inside of him. Their food arrives shortly after, and Huening Kai picks up the conversation as quickly as it stopped. Taehyun thinks that it must be fun to be him. Always having a lot to talk about, finding it easy to escape an awkward conversation.

Eventually, the topic comes up. It was expected, but the fact that it took a long while of Kai whining about how much chores he had made Taehyun wonder if he had his priorities set.

"So how did you end up in detention anyway?"

"Don't you know already?" Taehyun chews at his food, brushing his hair from his eyes, "I told you, him being absent made Mr. Min send us off,"

"Well, I know that, but," Kai pouts, eyes on the grill to make sure he doesn't accidentally burn their dinner, "But it can't just be because of that, though," he says, "Like, isn't there anything else? Why would Mr. Min do that? Wait, he's the small pale skinny teacher that's always with Mr. Jung, right?"

Huening Kai looks at him expectantly, his doe eyes wide in curiosity. Taehyun deadpans. He still can't fathom how the younger doesn't know they were dating. Mr Jung was his dance teacher and all he did between classes was talk; him talking about Yoongi or at least slip the fact that they were together was sort of inevitable.

"You remember when Beomgyu was absent for weeks?" Taehyun asked, playing with his food, "Yeah, well apparently we were supposed to do a draft of our song, and of course, we had no way to do it. So Mr. Min asked for ours and we didn't pass up, so we got sent to detention,"

"That's... rough," Huening Kai hisses, "But fair,"

"How exactly is that fair?" Taehyun argues, "He was absent and, mind you, also kind of punched me in the jaw," he pulls at his collar to show the boy the faded bruise. Kai avoids looking at it by keeping his gaze on his plate of food.

The younger sighs, "Alright, alright you got a point. Now are you going to tell me what happened that made you look like your soul had been ripped out of your body by satan himself?"

"that's one way to put it," Taehyun chuckles, recalling the events of last night, bringing his hand up to rub at his temples. Honestly, everything that had happened felt so unreal that it had become a blur in his memories. He vividly remembers the thunderstorm and the weeping and there was no doubt that the other boy had slept on his shoulder judging by the ache that screamed at him everytime he moved as much as a little. He rubs the spot on his body with a wince.

"I'm not really sure if what i'm telling you is going to be accurate, though," he starts, looking at the platter in front of him. He lets out a soft exhale before continuing, "but it wasn't like the normal him, and i'm so sure about that,"

"The 'normal him'?" Kai asked, now more attentive, "What do you mean...? Did he do something?"

"Yeah," Taehyun looks up, "He- well, he kinda... cried,"

"Huh? He what? Why?" the younger asked, bewildered. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the information, "did you fight him or something?"

Taehyun scoffs, "You do realize if i did there's still no reason for him to cry, right? I mean, he literally fights everyone left and right,"

"Okay okay fine, please continue,"

The eagerness in the younger's voice was evident, he didn't blame him. It was a new thing, to hear such vulnerability from a person who acted so condescending and superior by lashing out and cursing anyone that passes him. The innocent face did not match his cold and antagonizing personality.

"I woke up from a nap and it was just raining heavily, right? But then I heard someone just... crying from the doorway," He says, "there wasn't anyone else in the room but us, so you can probably place your bets on who it was,"

Kai stayed silent for a while, until he spoke up in a whisper, his voice light as if he wanted to laugh, "he's afraid of thunder?"

"Well i guess if that's how you put it," Taehyun says. He was trying to piece it out himself as well, "What was the weather like at yours last night?"

"Oh it was storming real hard," he replies, making exasperated hand gestures, "The electricity got cut off just as i had finished studying-"

"You never study,"

"-and it flooded a little, I think," he ignores Taehyun's claim, "We had to use the flashlight from our phones, and mine has probably died now," he sighs, "But yeah, I guess it was stormy weather. Man, can't believe that the Choi Beomgyu was weeping while I was happily sleeping through it all," Huening Kai says the last bit with a slight giggle.

"Everyone's afraid of something," Taehyun mumbles, "Actually... there was something else that was odd... I- think he started calling me 'mom' or something,"

At this, Kai starts to choke, and Taehyun's eyes widened. The former starts to hit his chest repeatedly and coughs, alarming a family that had just entered the restaurant, and the waitress that had been gossiping with the receptionist. Their eyes turning towards the struggling boy.

Just as the latter had thought he would have to call an ambulance so his best friend doesn't die, Kai inhales and wheezes out, "WHAT?"

"Keep it down," Taehyun eased the boy with his hands, telling him to drink water and making sure he wasn't going to choke and die. (Taehyun made a mental note to not tell your very melodramatic best friend anything when he's eating)

"He called you what?" Huening Kai asked once more when he calms down, dropping his spoon and fork to engage in the conversation fully, "'Mom?' I didn't know he was that type of person,"

"What type of person?" he asks, but then he shakes his head, "Actually, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Let's change the subject before you choke again. Now what was it you were going to tell me in the morning?"

"Was that all? Why are you so tired then?"

"He was crying, I wasn't just going to leave him to sob alone, you know. I'm not an asshole," Taehyun exhales sharply, "He was grabbing onto me. He... had a look in his eyes. I don't know, but it didn't look like the ones he gives me in music class,"

"This one looked like fear," Taehyun mutters.

He sighs and turns to stare out the window, and Kai doesn't pry more, and Taehyun feels more than thankful for that. He rests his head against the back of the chair, staring at the cars that drive by them. Night had fallen and the roads were well lit, making him feel relaxed. June was coming to fall over the occupied city, the time where summer invites itself into the welcoming arms of students wanting a break off school. A time for sleeveless shirts and shorts,

a time he now loathes to come.

A comfortable silence engulfs the two for a good few minutes. The sound of someone flipping the news channel and a drama was back to back and running water from the kitchen penetrates the silence.

"Hospital," Kai says softly afterwards, and it causes Taehyun to look up at him, "I saw him at the hospital when I was out getting snacks for family movie night. Lea is obsessed with those little caramel sweets and I have no idea why they only sell them in the shop by the hospital- like, do you know how far it is from my house? And she won't even drive me there when-"

"Kai," Taehyun stops him, "Who was?"

"Huh?" Kai wipes his mouth, a little confused.

"Who did you see at the hospital?" Taehyun asks as he props his elbows on the table, leaning forward. Now feeling a little dim-witted. Who else could it be? The conversation prior to Huening Kai's rambling had completely left his mind.

"Oh, it was Beomgyu ssi," Kai replies, "It was odd, actually... I saw him through the window when I was paying, right, so he looked kind of bothered? He had this pondering look as if he was thinking hard about something, and he was carrying an unusual box," Kai shrugs, "Maybe he was visiting or something,"

Taehyun furrows his eyebrows and leans back into his seat when he realizes Kai's explanation was too vague, "Yeah, maybe,"

Taehyun, in the state of drowsiness he was in, tries to piece what little information given by Kai had to do with the absence of the new music student for three weeks. There were countless possibilities on why he had left the building. He could have visited a relative admitted or working there. He could have been sick. Heck, his parents probably worked there and for the sake of getting Taehyun in trouble, he had decided to stay there instead of coming to school.

Taehyun thinks the last one seemed a little far, but seeing that it was a sensible possibility, he would rather put it into consideration.

"Hyunie...what if he likes you?"

Huening Kai's voice breaks his train of thought, causing Taehyun to almost jump out of his seat from the sudden question. He looks at his best friend, and sends him an 'are you serious right now?' look. A sigh left his slightly parted lips. He was starting to get irritated with his friends constantly thinking that this guy had some sort of romantic feeling towards him. If they still thought the older had some romantic feeling towards him especially after they knew what Beomgyu had done towards him, they probably were the ones who needed checking up on.

"What gave you the idea? The fact that he can't go a minute without telling me how I suck or the way he can't seem to go a day without rolling their eyes every time i'm near? Because that's truly romantic, isn't it?" he snaps.

Huening Kai shrinks, and Taehyun bites back his tongue, "Sorry," he mumbles, rubbing his temples, "I just- just, no, Kai ah. Don't think like that, okay? I won't be talking to him anytime soon anymore. Actually, I shouldn't even be talking about him right now. All I'm going to do is talk to Mr. Min tomorrow and get everything settled. Everything will be okay,"

Taehyun finds himself saying the last part for himself more than he was to Kai. The truth was, he wasn't so sure. He knew so many things could go wrong, but he had to try.

A sigh escapes his lips, and his eyes finally flutter shut.