The Demon Next Door

14

Yixing was so happy his parents took him to dance class since he was three.

The constant spinning and twirling had forced his body to adjust to heavy amounts of physical activity. He tired less, ached less, and was much more efficient with speed and agility.

And as he ran through the school, Yixing was glad to have both of those things.

He had to find Kyungsoo. There was a bomb he really didn't want to drop, but had to. He didn't know how it was going to affect his friend, but it was best not to keep secrets.

He just had to come out with it. Be straight forward with no edge. He'd be ready to provide emotional support if needed. But first, he had to find Do Kyungsoo in the midst of the students pouring into school for first period.

Yixing had to resume a walk once he got to the second floor. The hall monitor was on duty, and there was no way in hell Yixing was going to get in trouble. Not with this particular hall monitor.

Yixing tried to look cool and collected as he walked past him. His flaring cheeks and sweaty palms immediately gave away his feelings. The other didn't seem (or pretended not) to notice.

"Good morning, Xing Xing."

Yixing wanted to curl up into a ball and die. Nonetheless, he turned around and made eye contact out of respect. Fuck, those eyes.

"Morning, Joonmyun."

"Where are you off to?" Joonmyun asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in the office until third?"

"Yeah, but I need to talk to someone." Yixing hesitantly walked over to the wooden table Joonmyun was sitting at. "Have you, by any chance, seen Kyungsoo?"

Joonmyun shook his head.

Yixing chewed on his lip as he looked down at the hall monitor. Were his eyes decieving him or did Joonmyun look like a fucking angel? Yixing blinked a couple of times to come back to reality.

Joonmyun leaned forward, elbows propping him up. "Say, Xing, have you noticed something's up with Soo, by the way?"

"Yeah," Yixing answered, sitting down beside Joonmyun when the older scooted over in his chair to give him room. "He's been acting weird lately."

"Yeah."

Joonmyun might have said something after that. Yixing didn't hear him, though. His fiercely thumping heartbeat drowned out all other noises. Why couldn't he calm down?

Oh, yeah, because he was near the fucking love of his life, that was why. Yixing had liked Joonmyun even before Jongin met Kyungsoo, before Tao and Kris completely embarrassed each other, before Chanyeol screwed up with Baekhyun, before elementary school.

After all of these years, Yixing could not move onto anyone else. It was ridiculous. He felt so pathetic sitting there right next to Joonmyun, their thighs brushing, and not being able to confess.

It would lift so much damn weight off of his shoulders. But he couldn't. Yixing would certainly die on the spot if he so much as breathed a word about his feelings. Grief was the price of his silence.

Yixing was just about to lose it being so close to Joonmyun. Thankfully, a certain petite brunette (redhead, the hell, when did this happen?) appeared right around the corner of the hall.

Joonmyun nudged Yixing. "There he is."

Yixing waited a few seconds until Kyungsoo was close enough to hear his voice over the toil in the hall. Cupping his hands together over his mouth, Yixing called out to him.