can i walk with you - heejay

chapter four

"ready?" taehyun asked jay as he gathered his trash. the lunch bell was going to ring soon and taehyun wanted to get to class early so he could introduce jay to the teacher.

"yeah," jay said getting up from his seat, taking a small glance at heeseung who was already looking at him. 'bye,' heeseung mouthed with a small wave. jay bit his lip trying to contain his smile as he replied, mouthing, 'bye.'

as the two were walking to their class, taehyun spoke up, "what's going on with you and heeseung?" jay almost choked on his spit in surprise at what he heard.

"w-what do you mean? nothing's going on," smooth, jay thought. he wasn't wrong though, nothing was going on between the two, they're just friends.

"uh huhh," taehyun said not believing jay one bit. sure, they may be just friends now, but there definitely was some underlying tension.

once the two had arrived to their destination, taehyun introduced jay to the teacher. after introductions were made, jay was told to sit in a seat by the back.

less than a minute later, students slowly started trickling in, the chair next to jay was pulled out and in it sat a familiar face. jake. at least it's not a total stranger, jay thought to himself. this is what he wanted anyway, he barely spoke to jake and sunghoon that night, so maybe now they can finally have a proper conversation.

just as jay opened his mouth, jake beat him to it saying, "yes, i finally have a seat mate! dude, it's been so boring without one."

jay smiled, letting out a laugh, "well, i don't know if i'll be a fun seat mate, but..."

jake picked up where he left off, "don't worry, i'll be in charge of the fun between the two of us." jake smiled at jay, he sort of resembled a puppy.

jay looked down at his hands that were clasped together in his lap, smiling to himself. the awkwardness was long gone and was now replaced by a more friendly atmosphere.

across the room, taehyun felt the tension leave his body, his muscles relaxing. he no longer had to worry about jay, he was in good hands with jake.

when classes had finally ended for the day, the two seat mates were gathering their things when jake turned to jay, "the guys and i are going to a cafe, do you want to come?" jay's eyes widened slightly in surprise, subtly he looked to taehyun, silently asking for permission. in return taehyun smiled at jay, giving him a small nod.

"yeah, sure, i'll go," jay said, trying to play it cool, but on the inside he was screaming in joy.

"cool, can i get your number, then?"

"um, yeah," jay said grabbing jake's phone from his outreached hand, putting in his number. "here you go."

"awesome, i'll send you the cafe address later," jake said, quickly sending jay a text so he had his number too.

as jake waved bye to jay, taehyun approached the latter, "you know you don't have to ask me to go somewhere."

"oh right, sorry. force of habit i guess." at his old school, taehyun was appointed by jay's father to watch over him. so that meant wherever jay went, taehyun went, though jay always made sure to ask taehyun first to see if he was okay with going.

even though the two had gotten close, jay always felt like he couldn't trust him as much as he should, so he found himself keeping things from the boy.

"it's ok, will you be alright by yourself? i already made plans."

"yeah, that's fine." jay didn't mind, it wasn't his first time hanging out with the others, he was already comfortable with them anyway. taehyun had also noticed this, so he wasn't too worried about leaving jay alone with the boys.