Waiting

It's Time To Go

"Where have you been?" Sungjoo busted through Yibo's door. The younger looked up from his homework, furrowing his brows at the other.

"What?" He asked, pulling his earbuds out. Sungjoo still had his backpack on and he was panting.

"Where." Sungjoo took a step forward, "Have." Another step, the door swung close behind him, "You." He was looming over Yibo now, but Yibo was still unfazed, not understanding why Sungjoo was acting like that, "Been?" He finished. Yibo stared into his eyes for a while longer, still trying to process everything.

Right before Sungjoo opened his mouth to scream the question, Yibo's thoughts clicked and a little noise came from the back of his throat. "I..." Sungjoo glared at him, analyzing his every move, daring him to lie, "I've had a lot of homework lately, I couldn't afford to wait for you." He tried his best not to break eye contact.

"You've had so much homework that you didn't even have time to wait just a little bit?" Sungjoo asked he didn't seem mad anymore, good. These were the times Yibo appreciated the fact Sungjoo was so oblivious.

"Sungjoo, I've waited 30 minutes. You're 'little bit' is not the same as mine." He looked back down at his homework and tried to make sense of the words on paper.

"You don't hang out with us at lunch either," Sungjoo whined.

"I work in the library because I need a quiet place to work," Yibo said idly, writing something down as if it was the right answer, he'll erase it later. "It's not as if I'm leaving you alone, though," Yibo's eyes focused on the point of his pencil, "Yixuan is there right?" He heard the 'us' earlier.

"Well yeah... but" Yibo glanced up, "Yixuan thinks that you're not sitting with us anymore because you don't like him." Yibo's eyes dragged back down to the paper, Sungjoo was only concerned because of Yixuan.

"I don't hate Yixuan, you know how I am around new people." Yibo began writing again, trying to clear his mind of negative thoughts while Sungjoo was there, "Plus, I have a lot of homework to do, I told you already, why do you think I haven't been on League either?" He kept his voice monotone so Sungjoo wouldn't be able to assume anything.

"Can you hang out with us tomorrow?" Yibo looked up again to meet Sungjoo's eyes. He sighed and nodded.

"I'm not promising any conversation, though like I said, I have a lot of homework." He shooed Sungjoo off. He stood in his spot before leaving Yibo alone. Yibo made sure Sungjoo was out the door before he started counting with his fingers and reciting the days of the week backward.

It took Sungjoo a week, with help from Yixuan, to confront Yibo about not being there after school or at lunch. A week. Yibo blamed it off of the fact he never spoke, but Sungjoo would always talk to him. He felt a tight knot in his chest again. He kept thinking about the fact Yixuan had said something about him, and that's what made Sungjoo burst through his door.

If Yixuan hadn't told Sungjoo about his concern, would Sungjoo even notice before Yibo left for the dance academy? He gripped his blond locks and rested his forehead against his homework. It would be a little tougher the next two days.

He had promised Sungjoo he would sit with them. Yibo thought of just walking home with Sungjoo again but he remembered he had to pack to school and finish up some documents. Sitting at lunch wouldn't be too much of a problem, it was only 45 minutes long.

-

"I don't want you to be sitting here just because Sungjoo told you to. If you don't like me you can go back to the library and I'll tell Sungjoo that you weren't able to focus with all the noise around here." Yixuan assured with a worried expression. Yibo pulled his binder and pencil pouch and shot a small smile towards the other.