Weightless [HSMTMTS]

Chapter 7

Thank goodness for the weekend. Ten was determined to lounge in his house and do nothing. Homecoming was long gone and he was going to relax and forget what happened in the last 24 hours.

Or so he thought.

Ten held the phone to his ear while he accepted a call from a very familiar name.

"Open up. I'm here with Hansol and Shua."

"What brings you to my house today?" Ten mumbled, ushering Vernon and Joshua inside after they slipped off their shoes along with the mastermind behind all this.

"Kimbap, made fresh this morning," Jeonghan replied, raising a bag as he followed closely behind; his roommates already moving their board games to the coffee table. "Can EJ join us?"

"He's with his water polo team." Ten stretched out on his sofa and closed his eyes. "Something about celebrating a birthday."

"Did he get his car back?"

"He went on a morning jog to school to collect his car. He won't be back until evening though."

"That's a shame, we packed more tuna kimbap for him."

"We could keep some for him later. No problem," Ten said, waving it off to not worry his friends.

"So, you never followed up from last night." Jeonghan slid the container of kimbap onto the kitchen counter, smiling when it barely managed to not fall off the edge. "I was worried about you."

Ah. Ten wasn't surprised at the real motive for this visit.

"Sorry about that. It was weird." Ten did not want to relive the awful moment of letting last night's words sink back into his head.

"Jeonghan said you sounded off and that you came home early from homecoming," Vernon said slowly, throwing a glance at Joshua. "Surely something happened."

Ten let a sigh escape his lips. He was unsurprised since this was what they did all the time. Given the concern hardly hidden in every single sentence they'd said since he let them in, his distress must have been quite obvious.

Funny how he thought he could still hide his emotions. These three knew him best outside of school and it would be foolish to think he could get away with it. However, that didn't stop him from trying.

"It was nothing," Ten said flatly. "I just didn't feel well. That's all."

Vernon raised his eyebrow at Jeonghan. "Really?"

"Don't think you can hide your feelings from us, Ten. You know we can easily see right through you," Jeonghan said.

"Am I really such an open book?"

"Honestly, yes," Vernon piped up from his seat on the sofa. "But that could just be us."

"Do you think I try to protect EJ so much because he's the only person I hang out with?" Ten relented.

"EJ? You've been friends for so long, I would find it unusual if you didn't care about him." Joshua started neatly arranging the cards and components on the smooth table surface. "Why?"

"Ricky called me out during homecoming and said I didn't have anyone else besides EJ which is why I stand up for him regardless of what he does." Ten could feel his friends look at each other before parting their mouths to speak.

"He doesn't know you, Ten. They don't know you at all," Jeonghan said, clasping his hands together as he exchanged concerned looks with Joshua and Vernon.

"Well, did this Ricky have any issue with you beforehand?"

"Oh, that's a long story."

"We have all day, Ten," Vernon said. "It's fine."