To Put On An Act [bxb]

Chapter 20 - of dogs with teeth and tears

content warning: homophobia, violence (minor, not described in detail)

Today, things were a little bit different. Today, shockingly, it was Youngbin that picked up Alex from class. Yes, Alex had actually gone to class. For what felt like the first time, ever. Though, as it was so common with Youngbin's classes, his teacher actually had exceeded the lessons time, and spent five more minutes trying to come up with homework. So he was late, and it had become less of the cutesy "I'll be waiting for you when you get out of class" that Alex liked to pull, and more "I'm running towards you, I'm so sorry, you must've been waiting for at least three hours" kind of thing.

So now Youngbin was hastily shoving himself past the students that filled the halls, bumping into people here and there, but for once, he actually cared a little less about it, and the extended apologies he'd usually give were shortened to "oh, sorry!".

Alex finally came into view, leaning on the wall next to his classroom, his arms crossed, a typical sight. With him were the short pink haired girl, Margo, dressed in purples and pinks and blacks, and Lani, who was taller than him by a lot and chose to look as though she was attending a funeral every day of her life. This, of course, was by no means a negative thing. Just an observation he had made about the two friends, two polar opposites, and Alex somewhere in between.

His eyes lit up when he spotted Youngbin, as they did so often, a smile dancing on his lips. Youngbin, naturally, reciprocated, both their hands lifted for a high five that then melted into their fingers intertwining. A ritual. Something Youngbin would miss so dearly once they'd- *stop*. Ended their act. "Broke up".

"You went to class."

"Sure did." His gentle smile turned into a cheeky grin. "Proud of me?"

"Very."

"He only went because he fucked up his math exam." Lani patted Alex on the back, with a mean kind of smile. "Starting to feel bad about his grades, maybe?"

Alex rolled his eyes, and he cleared his throat, scratched the back of his head.

"If I fail maths, I'm probably- Well. I'll just try to-"

"Do you need tutoring, maybe?" Youngbin tilted his head, flashed a smile, and pressed down on Alex' hand which he'd still been holding. The offer was maybe somewhat genuine. Not that he was particularly good at maths himself, but he *passed* at least. And maybe Alex was actually willing to listen and learn from Youngbin. Though right now, Alex looked as though he had completely lost the capacity to listen to anything, looking at him with big brown puppy eyes.

"His gay ass wouldn't learn shit," Margo muttered, almost exhausted sounding.

"Fuck you, Margo, for probably being right." Alex rolled his eyes, then focused back on Youngbin, squeezing his hand as well. They'd do that a lot. A little act of comforting gentleness that nobody could see, but they could feel. A "I'm alright" and a "Let's keep going". "I'm gonna have to get something out of my locker really quick." Youngbin nodded, and followed Alex, Margo and Lani trailing close behind them.

When Alex had found his locker, he stared at it for a couple of seconds, as though he was waiting for it to open by itself. Slowly, he cleared his throat as his hand rose up to the lock. Then he hesitated.

"What was my code?"

"Probably like 123 or something." Lani looked over his shoulder, inspecting the lock. "When was the last time you opened this?"

"I mean, not that long ago. Maybe like three or four months."

"And you think it's not that long ago?"