tutor ↬ chensung

6

time skip — 3 months later

by now, jisung is practically at the top of the class, in 2 years when they graduate he's already expected to be one of the students with the highest grades. but what will he do after?

"hey nerd" a tall guy, however smaller than jisung, bumps into him.

"i may be a nerd but at least i'll pass 10th grade." he snaps back, not in the mood for this.

"hey," chenle says softly behind him. "chill out." and intertwines their hands. over the past 3 months they've grown closer, and the tension has risen. they hold hands, but in their own no homo kind of way, however they both know it's all the homo.

they make their way toward the last class of the day and sit at the back, where they're hidden but the teacher still manages to call on them. before it was in a mocking way towards jisung, to embarrass him into wanting to learn more. now, however, it's because he's one of the only two that don't sadden her with their stupidity. the other, of course, is chenle.

by the end of class they're both exhausted. jisung because math is his worst subject still and chenle because he's worried jisung will give up after such a hard day. he's tried to several times before, but chenle never let him.

"let's get some burgers," he says on the way home. by now they practically live in jisung's room. "i'm so hungry."

"alright!" jisung responds immediately, seeming excited. too excited. chenle can tell something's on his mind.

"what's up?" he asks cautiously.

"nothing!" jisung answers defensively. his face drops, realizing he's caught. "it's just that ... i don't want to go home." and drops his head.

chenle pulls him into a hollow area between tree roots, as they're walking through a small cluster of trees to get to the nearby restaurants, and sits him down. "what happened?" he asks softly.

"i just, i cant, i-uh" and then he breaks down crying. "i cant take it anymore, the silence in my house is practically choking me, my mom refuses to talk to me."

"why? is it about college again?"

"yeah, it's always about college."

"i don't know what to say." chenle whispers, so instead of speaking he pulls jisung close and they lay in that hollow space as jisung cries his heart out.

"i-i'm really considering what i said a couple months ago, remember?" jisung manages to choke out.

"really? when will you do it?"

"i don't know when, i just know i have to. i cant take it anymore.

i'm going to run away."