Comfort

Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself

Stephen didn't like school. He was never one for sitting still and listening to a teacher go on and on about whatever they were supposed to be teaching. It was awful. Just because he didn't like it doesn't mean he wasn't good at it though. Stephen had this whole school thing down and he figured 'why bother?' So he didn't. He didn't try, he didn't work himself to the bone, and he didn't force himself to be the best and the smartest in his class. He just didn't see the point which was why he was honestly so confused.

There he sat, in all his beautiful glory, Gray Yeon. Short silver hair glimmering in the sun splashing across his face, smooth, pale skin looking angelic in the golden light, and violet eyes staring down and nearly blocked out entirely by his thick, black eyelashes. He was nothing sort of stunning. Stephen was always quick to remind him and Gray was always quick to tell him to shut up. To Stephen he was perfect minus this one little habit. It was really fixable and he didn't understand why he hadn't fixed it before since he knew the silverette had noticed it. His tendency to work himself to the point of illness was becoming more common, and his habit to brush it off was beginning to cause worry.

It confused him. He didn't have to work this hard he was already incredibly smart, but here he was practically killing himself for a perfect score. Why? Gray himself had said it once before.

"I'm going to die, Stephen. My schedule is going to be the death of me."

It didn't stop him though. It didn't stop him from staying up all night going over perfect notes, doing practice test after practice test, and reading books and answering questions for high school levels. After all, they were only in middle school and it was supposed to be where they set up their futures. Stephen didnt have a clue what he wanted and he didn't really know what Gray was striving for either. When they were together Stephen's only goal was to prevent Gray from being sucked into school work. He took his job very seriously and often found himself carrying the smaller boy away from his desk, throwing books across the room after making sure the bookmark was placed, he wasn't that mean, or begging him to go on walks and get something from the closest convenience store. It often worked, but as of late Stephen couldn't get Gray away from his studies which was why he was so confused staring at his friend. He looked so sad, so scared, so frail yet all of his energy was pouring into the book in front of him leaving him an empty husk of a person.

Stephen sighed as his eyes traveled from his friend to the teacher lecturing about whatever he was supposed to be teaching, and then to the clock on the wall ticking closer and closer to the end of the day. Even waiting for the clock was a bore. He decided that thinking about Gray was better. Much better. Thinking about Gray when he pulled him away from studying, when he would nuzzle his way into his body, when he would wake up from a nap with his hair fluffy and face flushed, and when his slender fingers would wind their way into his auburn hair when they were watching movies. Thinking about Gray was a wonderful past time. So wonderful that it only felt like a few seconds when the bel rang, loud and clear, through out the building and the teacher dismissed them.

Stephen smiled grabbing all of his stuff quickly and shoved everything into his bag without second thought. He knew it would be a bit before Gray was ready, he took his time making sure everything was neat and his notebooks were adjusted, but he couldn't wait to talk to him. Gray had been pulled aside first thing in the morning by teachers and then again during lunch. He didn't know if the shorter had eaten anything during the day so he had hoped to get an answer, but it also meant that the two hadn't talked all day other than a short good morning Gray had sent him with a small, beautiful smile.

"Hey!"

"Good afternoon, Stephen Ahn."

Stephen smiled. He loved Gray's stoic ways of greeting as he could make believe just about any silly little thing his heart desired. "Good afternoon, my good sir." He bowed elegantly. "May I aquire to how your day has been?"