t h i r t y - f o u r

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Compared to the last time they had met up after school to work on their English report, the mood was much more solemn. The boys stayed at the dinner table, Youngjae with his laptop before him and Jaebeom surrounded by a cacophony of his own books and notes.

They tried their best to avoid the elephant in the room. The whole group had.
When the pair had left the music room that afternoon they were met with the rest of the members with either overly happy expressions, or silently onlooking.

Obviously it was because Jinyoung had told them about what had happened, and everyone felt bad that they had to see their friends be the victim of petty rumours. Jackson and Bambam had tried to cheer them up and distract them from the increased number of looks and glares that they got. Meanwhile the others supported them from the side-lines, giving them hugs and telling them not to worry too much about it.

"Things will be ok.. right?" Youngjae asked quietly. Jaebeom was still entranced in his reading and the younger longed for a response.

The events of the day had put a sour taste on the relationship that had formed between the boys. As the reality of what was happening hit them, both felt nervous about the rumours, and both felt even more nervous at the thought that deep down they did like the other, but knew the other would never reciprocate those feelings.

Especially not now. Not after this.

"Jaebeom," the younger said more sternly, finally earning a small look from the latter.

"Things will be ok Youngjae," Jaebeom said, sounding not as confident as he wanted to be.

A dark idea formed in his mind, one that he knew would work, but one that felt too close to the idea of 'choosing the rain over the sun'. The irony wasn't lost on Jaebeom as he felt his thoughts mirror that of the protagonist of the book they were studying.

He pushed the idea away for now and did his best to comfort the distressed looking boy before him. With a dishonest sounding tone he tried to reply.

"I promise."

.

.

.

"You're not walking with me?"

Jaebeom's eyes shifted uncomfortably, "I'm sorry Youngjae ah.. I've got some things to do."

A few days had passed between their last study session and now. It was the start of the school day and as usual Jaebeom had waited for Youngjae outside his house, bought him a drink or snack of some sorts and walked him to the front gate. Unlike usual, Jaebeom was about to disappear somewhere.

"Oh. That's OK, I'll go find Mark hyung and the others. But come find us after ok?"

Jaebeom nodded and smiled softly before he left. Youngjae waved him off but couldn't help feel something wrong deep down.

It had been like this a lot. Ever since the dating rumours had started Jaebeom had gotten more and more reluctant with being around the other in the eyes of the student body. He claimed a lot of the time he was busy, but Youngjae never knew what he was busy with exactly. Meanwhile the rumours only seemed to get worse. More people were talking about them and more people were being direct in their reactions.

Nevertheless Youngjae stuck to his word and searched onwards for the remainder of his friends.

As the light haired boy walked into the school grounds he noticed Yugyeom standing not too far from a big crowd of people. He headed over and tapped the maknae on the shoulder, earning a small cry of shock at the sudden move.

"Youngjae! Ahh.. You're here.."

"What's wrong?" Youngjae asked.

Yugyeom pointed onwards into the crowd, a blurry figure and a loud voice slowly emerging to the latter.

Jackson was amidst the group of students looking angry, and raising his voice at another person within the circle. Mark was next to him trying to calm him down but to little success.

Not understanding what was happening, Youngjae turned back to the youngest.

"Jackson.. We- we were just walking into school and waiting for you and Jaebeom by the gate but these guys came along and just started talking a lot. And Jackson got defensive with them. And then everyone else just came.. Aishh.. What do we do now?"

"Don't worry Gyeom.." Youngjae said as he tried to reassure the maknae, even though in reality he needed reassuring most of all.

Youngjae attempted to smile before pushing his way past the wall of students separating him from the discourse within.

"-but it's none of your business!" Jackson snapped back aggressively at one of the students.

His eyes turned to Youngjae as he entered, almost relieved to see his friend again, but also guilty for having to start their morning like this. Youngjae tried to smile, except the energy he had to smile was slowly diminishing.
The rest of the crowd all turned to look at the light haired boy who was standing nervously as the centre of attention.

For a brief moment there was silence, the friends had thought that the comments and rumours would stop for now, that people would stop talking once Youngjae was actually in front of them-they were wrong.

It was from that point onward that the rumours grew and intensified.

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