To Put On An Act [bxb]

Chapter 10 - DEJA VU

Alex and Youngbin had gotten into this kind of routine, where Alex would pick up Youngbin for every break, and then they'd walk around at school in circles, passing the cafeteria, the library, the school yard and the weeping willow growing at the very back of it, and back into the building. A perfect way to show off, visible to pretty much every student at school.

And after they'd walk their rounds, Alex escorted Youngbin back to his classroom, and then Alex could decide whether or not he'd go to his own classes or if he'd simply sneak back to his usual hideout behind the gym. Now, it wasn't hard to guess which of these two options he preferred.

It honestly was quite fun. Walking ever the same path holding Youngbin's hand, chatting about anything really, or maybe nothing at all. Youngbin knew all these interesting things, he knew about history and about music and about art and about movies. And once he started talking, Alex could just sit back and listen. That boy was smart. And talkative, once you'd find a topic he enjoyed.

Today, though-

Youngbin walked out of his English class, his eyes half open, his skin looking pale. Like any other person coming out of the classroom, really, except that this was Youngbin Lee and he was supposed to walk out and greet Alex with a smile and say something like 'Oh gee, I truly love that Shakespearean comedy we've been discussing for weeks!'.

But he didn't say anything. He didn't even see Alex, until Kaya, who walked closely behind him, stopped and greeted him. Though 'greeted' sounded a little too friendly.

"You again?" Her golden eyes gleamed at Alex like she was going to shoot laser beams from them any moment now.

"Well, yeah, I'm always-"

"Binnie, don't you want to go to the library with me today?"

Youngbin slowly blinked a couple of times, pushing away his glasses to rub his eyes.

"Kaya, it's-" He lowered his voice a little, it sounded so damn tired- and almost a little upset, in a strange way. "It's fine. I promise."

Kaya glared at Alex once again, then scoffed. She had a problem with him. A different problem than most people had, actually. A worse one.

"Sure. See you later in class, Bin." She patted his arm, then walked away without a single look back.

Youngbin, as if it was programmed into him, immediately took Alex' hand and began walking that same way they'd always walk. But there clearly was a fault in his code today. He wouldn't say a word. Bad.

"Hi, by the way," Alex said, as softly as he could.

"Hi."

An answer at least. Not a great one, but something. Alex now knew that he wasn't just a dead body walking next to him.

"How's, uhm- How was class?"

"Fine."

Fine. Fine must've meant something like 'fucking awful'. Alex pressed Youngbin's hand a little, as if that could ever be comforting, before he decided to just shut up for now.

They passed the cafeteria, stepped outside, and Youngbin was still silent. It had rained through the night, only stopped a couple of hours ago. The school yard had been flooded, the air was cool, though the sun shone harshly through the wall of clouds that finally started to cleared up now.

"So," Alex cleared his throat, keeping his gaze on the large willow tree as he spoke to Youngbin, "is everything alright?" Obviously it wasn't. Dumb fucking question. "You don't look good." Dumb fucking addition.