can i walk with you - heejay

chapter sixteen

"hey guys," jay said, taking seat at the lunch table, "where's heeseung?"

"he has a meeting about the field trip tomorrow," jake replied, looking up at jay briefly before going back to helping niki with his algebra problems.

the lunch table was relatively quiet, niki and jake's bickering wasn't so bad and jungwon would jump in every time it started escalating. jay had been mindlessly turning his food around with his chopsticks when hushed whispers started spreading throughout the cafeteria, the sound of phones going off with notifications resonating across the room.

sunoo was the first to see it, immediately turning his phone off as his darted across the table to jay who had a confused frown on his face.

"jay," the younger boy hesitated, not being able to look the brunette in the eye, "heeseung got in a fight with one of the third years."

the lunch table grew quiet as everyone looked at sunoo in disbelief.

"which one?" jay set down his chopsticks.

"um hold on," sunoo turned to his phone, brows furrowed in concentration. after a moment sunoo looked up, "it's seo donghyun. do you know him?"

jay abruptly stood from his chair, grabbing his things, "do you know where heeseung is?"

~

"are you dumb?" jay felt like punching heeseung himself.

the older boy was sitting on one of the beds in the nurses office, watching as jay anxiously paced the room. was it bad to say that he enjoyed watching the younger worry about him?

"your lip is still bleeding," jay said, stopping his pacing to grab a tissue, "where the hell is the nurse?"

"she's off today," heeseung watched as jay bent down and started lightly dabbing his wounded lip.

"then why are you in here?" jay's eyebrows were pulled together, frown on his face as he looked at the older boy in confusion.

"just to rest." heeseung replied, sighing as he watched jay's confused frown turn into one of worry. before the younger could spiral any further, heeseung gently clasped onto jay's thin wrist, a soft smile on his face, hoping to ease the younger's worries, "i'm fine, love."

heeseung let go of jay's wrist, and instead wrapped his arms around the younger's waist, pulling him into a loose hug.

"are you in trouble?" jay asked quietly, hand wavering for just a second as he reached down to run his fingers through heeseung's hair.

"no, it was self defense since he threw the first punch and there were witnesses on my side," heeseung smiled up at jay, chest blooming with warmth as he saw the younger's worried expression.

"why'd you guys even fight?" jay said, letting out a small sigh.

"no reason," heeseung looked away from jay, his smile was gone, lips now set in a straight line as he tightened his hold around the boy's waist, bringing him closer.

"hee," jay almost let out an exasperated sigh as he looked down at the older who was sitting on the cot.

"i'm serious jay," heeseung looked back up at jay, "he was just being an asshole."

jay let out a quiet breath, "okay," he said, continuing to soothingly run his hand through heeseung's soft hair.

the moment felt oddly peaceful as heeseung sat on the small cot, arm wrapped around jay's slim waist, his head resting on the younger's flat stomach. jay just silently stood in between heeseung's legs, a soft smile gracing his lips as he tenderly played with the older's velvety black locks.

the two stayed in that position for a while, just enjoying each other's presence, not parting ways until the bell rang.

~

"did you beat his ass?"

"niki!" sunoo exclaimed, covering the younger's mouth.

it was the end of the day, they were supposed to be practicing for the showcase but they all decided to meet up in one of the bigger dance rooms and just hangout.

niki rolled his eyes, peeling sunoo's hand from his face, muttering quietly to the older boy, "what? i'm just asking."

"anyways," jake cut in, trying to change the subject, "do y'all want to do something after school?"

jungwon nodded his head, leaning back on his palms as he spoke, "yeah, i'm down."

the rest of the group responded similarly, all agreeing to go.

jay turned to heeseung, lowering his voice to a whisper, "are you sure your up for it?"

"yes," heeseung smiled at jay, bringing a hand up to pinch his cheek, "i'm sure jay."

the brunette brought his hand to his cheek, rubbing it, "ow, that kind of hurt hee."

"sorry," the older chuckled, bringing his hand to jay's cheek, gently massaging it.

"okay lovebirds," sunghoon interrupted, giving the two a pointed look. "are y'all coming or not?"

"yeah," heeseung said, glancing at jay before he turned to sunghoon, "we are."

the rest of the class was spent goofing around plus the occasional yelling match between sunoo and sunghoon.

"okay," jake said, clapping his hands together after the bell had rung. "what do you guys want to do?"

"arcade?" jungwon asked, looking around the group of boys.

the first year was met with a positive reaction and the boys decided they would go to the arcade.

the group of boys walked through the school doors talking loudly amongst each other. jay walked beside heeseung, having to take two steps to keep up with the taller boy.

"hey," jay tugged on the sleeve of heeseung's hoodie, "can you slow down? you walk really fast."

"oh, sorry," heeseung chuckled softly, looking down at the younger.

jay playfully rolled his eyes, sighing as he muttered, "you need to shrink a few inches."

heeseung cocked his head to the side, looking at jay, "i heard that."

"oh," jay said, turning to walk backwards as he looked at heeseung, "did you?"

the older boy smiled, watching as jay almost tripped, "be careful."

the brunette just rolled his eyes in response, spotting the familiar arcade building down the the street.

jay was still walking backwards as he turned to heeseung, "race you to the arcade!"

the younger had already turned around and started sprinting toward the building. heeseung's response was almost immediate, a bright smile on his face as he bolted after the boy, trying his best to not bump into people.