splinters 一 weak hero.

0-6

'hi, deoksu,' i beamed, 'fancy running into you here.' that statement had been a bit of a stretch. of course i knew he'd be here. if he wasn't in the back alley of school smoking, he was on a small rooftop on the floor of the first years (proclaimed his turf, and no one bothered him there), also smoking.

upon seeing a rectangular box in between his fingers, i asked suspiciously, 'what's that? i thought you said you were quitting.'

he drummed his fingers on said box. 'you'll have to remind me next time.' taehyung snorted, alerting deoksu to his presence. his manner seemed to become closed off almost instantaneously, lips becoming an unwaveringly straight line. 'where are your other friends?' deoksu asked, and even though his shaggy mess of hair covered them, i could see his eyes slide to fix upon taehyung's figure.

shrugging, i replied, 'i'm making friends.'

it was deoksu's turn to snort. 'it appears so.' in a low tone, he added, 'you're picking the wrong sort, though.'

i tilted my head to indicate i'd heard him, but didn't reply.

deoksu pursed his lips as he drew out a cig. he lit it and placed it in his mouth, and when he exhaled, i couldn't help but sigh. deoksu hovered the roll further away from his mouth as his brows furrowed. 'is that a good sigh or a bad sigh?'

'definitely a bad sigh. if i gave you a lollipop, would you take it?'

'mmh.'

'yejun. where's moonsik today?' taehyung asked.

'bunking.'

'and you weren't invited?'

'of course i was. i'm just studious.'

both deoksu and taehyung stared at me incredulously. 'sure.'

i grinned. 'hey, hey. it hasn't been my time to shine yet. you'll see one day, though.'

'alright,' taehyung said. deoksu still looked disbelieving.

'keep an eye out for the results after midterms,' i said, winking.

'where are you from?' deoksu asked taehyung out of the blue, tapping the body of the lit roll.

'my mother's-'

'no,' i cut in, unable to bear the nonchalant expression on taehyung's face as he spoke. taehyung grinned as i glared at him.

deoksu's expression didn't shift. he said, 'can you fight?'

'of course.'

deoksu took another long drag of his cigarette and didn't give a reply.

'i'm gonna go find jimin,' taehyung said suddenly. 'i'm starving and he owes me some jaepchae. see you in class, yejun.'

and with that, the red haired disappeared.

'he's too wily,' deoksu said. 'i can't tell you if you should trust him or not.'

-

moonsik, not to my surprise, wasn't replying to my messages in any of the afternoon classes either. which was just great (note the sarcasm). my only amusement lay in stacking tangerines on top of yoongi's head where he sat with his head buried in his arms. either he was utterly drained today or he'd just given up with my antics because he made no move to retaliate except to occasionally waft at the air lazily with an arm.

perhaps it was the weather. it was the hottest month of the year, and the school was too broke to afford air conditioning in all classrooms (bar the staffroom). the air was humid and left everyone's shirts translucent with sweat. with much regret, my cardigan had to be forgone.