“How exactly did this happen?” Kaya murmured as she poured another bottle cap of water over Youngbins hand in a desperate attempt to resolve the glue and wiggle it free from the desk. Both could feel the stares of students behind them, giggling to themselves, and if Youngbin had seen it right, one of them had pulled out their phone to film the rescue mission.

“I just put my arm here and then I couldn’t move it away anymore… Can you hurry up maybe?” Youngbin threw a look over to the classroom door, where more students were arriving now to have their next lesson here. He hissed when Kaya tried to rip off his hand less carefully now in response.

“I’ll have to get the janitor, Bin. We need alcohol for this or something. Unless you don’t-” Another rip. “-mind losing some skin.”

“Don’t go get the janitor, please? You can’t leave me here? Class is about to begin and I will die if I have to sit here alone and wait for you.”

Kaya lifted her head again, her golden eyes meeting Youngbin’s. She raised one of her eyebrows, quickly scanned the room, then went back to her operation on the table.

“So you want both of us to sit here when class starts? And then both of us get humiliated, and then we get detention, and then we both die.” Kaya poured two more bottle caps of water onto Youngbins glued on hand, and it started trickling down into his lap. Great. One more and it’d look like he peed himself along with getting glued onto a table.

“If we both died now we could go to heaven together?” He tried his best to lighten the mood, which really wasn’t his speciality, ever, then tried to rip his hand off the table more violently, letting out a pained hiss immediately after. He pressed his lips together when the giggles at the back of the class became more prominent.

Kaya was about to give off her usual comment about the “go to heaven” part, but was interrupted by loud chattering entering the classroom. Great, really. Youngbin wiggled his hand harder as he quickly lowered his head, biting down on his lower lip to prevent any noises of pain to escape his lips again.

“Romeooo, oh Romeo!” A voice broke through the laughter, calling out to Youngbin with a high pitched voice. “How come you’re stuck here, my dear Romeo!”

Of course it was him. Kaya and Youngbin lowered their heads further almost instinctively at the same time, knowing exactly who had just entered the classroom.

“Oh, Juliet! I’m trapped and dying in a glue trap! I’m stuck! I’m stuck~” The guy left out an uncomfortable moan as he stepped closer, and his friends continued to treat him like he was the funniest man alive.

Now it clicked. Leonardo “Leo” Harris, the world's most red faced white jock, constantly surrounded by the charming stench of sweat, had of course laid out this middle school level trap, specifically to catch Youngbin in it. And it worked. Youngbin hadn’t even noticed when he put his arm down, at least not until it was too late, and now he was caught like a fly in a spider web. The only thing left to do was to ignore him and get out of here before Youngbin’s face was once again blasted all over the gossip slash cringe compilation Instagram page this school had for some reason. Though, for that it might’ve been too late already, as Leo and his clique had already pulled out their phones.

Leo was by far one of the worst guys Youngbin had to deal with. Sure, on the High School Food Chain he wasn’t the top, but he was sure enough one of the loudest. He had money, well, his dad did but that was enough to inflate his ego to high heavens, he was a jock as dumb as a rock but relatively well built, his favourite pastime activity was stuffing nerds into lockers, and most importantly, he was friends with the guys that literally controlled the students here. A bit like a cat catching mice for its owners, Leo particularly enjoyed making anyone’s (but especially Youngbin’s) life a living hell just to impress him.

“Pull harder! Harder! Pull-”

Kaya’s eyes began twitching. She looked Youngbin right into the eyes when Leo let out another over the top moan, then mouthed ‘I hope he dies’. Youngbin only rolled his eyes in response, though he had to agree at least for a second.

Leo was never ashamed of the stuff he said and the noises he made. Sometimes Youngbin wondered if his friends were laughing with him or actually at him for making a fool of himself in an attempt to ridicule other students.

“Can you try to pull again?” Kaya hissed, elbowing a phone away that someone was going to hold right up her face. But Youngbin didn’t manage to go for another pull. Laughter was shut down in the matter of seconds when the door slammed shut and the voice of an old woman disrupted the class, freezing everyone in place for a fraction of a second.

“Sit down, kids. Put your phones away right now.”

Kaya pressed her eyes shut as she always did when she was about to get in trouble, and Youngbin’s head fell onto the table with a quiet thump. Great. As the students around them were scurrying to their seats, Youngbin was still stuck to the table, in a class he didn’t even belong to, and Miss Fernandez out of all teachers was the one that had to find him like this.

“And what is the plan right here? Mister Lee? Miss Rivers?”

Kaya quickly spun around to the teacher, with a fake smile on her lips. She was better at talking than Youngbin was, but knowing the old Lady Fernandez, she wouldn’t take an excuse from Kaya.

“We are so sorry, Miss! Youngbin had an accident-” The class began laughing. “-and I’m trying to help him, but he just won’t come off the table!”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Miss Fernandez furrowed her brows, and stared Youngbin right into the soul with her piercing blue eyes. The class was still giggling. Hard to believe most of these students were already legally considered adults, and yet they’d still pee their pants over silly school pranks.

“I- Someone, uhm- glued my hand to the table, so-” Youngbin spoke so quietly, it was a miracle the old woman at the front could actually hear him. She took her eyes off of the miserable sight that was Youngbin to instead scan the class.

“And who, Mister Lee, did this?”

Leo, clearly. But Youngbin still at least somewhat valued his life enough to not snitch. He’d be dead in three business days, otherwise.

“Well- I don’t really-”

“I’m late, sorry.”

The class, including Youngbin and the old teacher, snapped their heads towards the door that just burst open. Youngbin’s heart had already been at the verge of simply stopping, and this might as well have been the last push.

Brown eyes behind silver strands of hair stared right at Youngbin with a raised brow, then looked at the teacher at the front, and a corner of his mouth twitched upwards just the slightest bit. Alex Hill had entered the room. And judging by the look of everyone, Youngbin just so happened to be glued to his table.

“Three minutes late, Mister Hill.”

“Only Three? Not bad. But, I can also just leave again, if you’d like that more, Miss.” Alex’ voice was deep and smooth, sounded way too relaxed. Nobody dared to pick a fight with Miss Fernandez. Except for Alex. Of course.

Alex Hill picked a fight with everyone. Alex Hill talked back, Alex Hill got his way, Alex Hill had everyone wrapped around his finger, students and teachers alike. Alex Hill was terrifying, and nothing was allowed to get in his way. Well, but Youngbin was. Right this second.

“You even filled my seat with some else already!” He shot a quick glance over to Youngbin, still a smirk on his lips.

“You can be lucky I didn’t actually give your spot in this class away to someone else, Mister Hill. I could easily do that, seeing as you so rarely attend my class anyways. But I’m sure you wouldn’t like seeing another ‘failed’ on your report card.”

Maybe Alex Hill didn’t have everyone wrapped around his finger. Perhaps Miss Fernandez was the only person on eye level with him- despite her being at least 20 cm shorter than him. And even the other students seemed to have noticed that the schools biggest terrors had finally found an equal opponent, as the class had fallen quiet, not one pair of eyes fixed on Youngbin anymore.

Except for Kaya, who had started shoving a nail file under Youngbins hand to try to pry him loose from the table. And this proved to be successful- Suppressing another hiss, Youngbin finally ripped his hand off the surface, biting his lip in pain and holding his reddened palm.

Kaya quickly wiped down the table with her sleeve in an attempt to dry it, before she jumped up, dragging Youngbin up with her. With another beaming smile, she bowed to Miss Fernandez.

“Sorry about that! We will be off to our next class!”

Though of course the two wouldn’t be able to just leave the classroom and pretend like nothing had happened. Miss Fernandez was sharp and quick and she grabbed the handle of Youngbins backpack just before he could squeeze past Alex towards the door, making him stumble back.

“I’ll be expecting you in this classroom after your lesson, Mister Lee!” She let go, and Youngbin was pulled along with Kaya out of the classroom. “And you, Mister Hill, let’s talk as well. Sit down first.”

The door slammed shut behind the two, and Youngbin was spared from the class’ reactions to his quick exit. Running a few metres after his best friend, he then finally came to a halt. With a large sigh he leaned against a wall, rubbing his palm.

“Worst moment of my life.” Kaya leaned right next to him, closing her eyes as she calmingly twirled a single strand of hair sticking out from her head with her finger.

“Your worst moment? Who was the one glued to a table just now?”

Kaya didn’t answer that question, instead she exhaled dramatically, spinning the nail file in her hand and then letting it slip into the pocket of her overalls.

“How does that even happen? You're surely not the only one getting tormented by Leo like that. How is he not suspended yet? Or dead?”

“Because you haven’t taken the final step and killed him yet-” Youngbin moved his fingers one by one, as if he had to wake them up slowly from being paralyzed for at least a few weeks.

Leo had been suspended plenty of times. He had been kicked off school grounds, had been to the headmasters office a million times, had his grades marked down every year. But had that stopped anything? Not really. If anything, it fueled him more. After all, it was his dad that had sponsored new gym equipment and one of the biggest sources of money to Miller High. Get rid of Leo, lose the funding. He knew that, and he used it to his advantage.

“And now you not only got Leo on your ass, but also Alex Hill! What a catch!” Kaya pushed herself away from the wall, then patted Youngbins shoulder. “Oh, and the old Fernandez. Good luck surviving that.” She swung her bag over her shoulder, indicating that she wanted to move on to the next class. English class. Youngbin was never late to that class, ever. Until today, that is.

“Thank you for being your supportive and positive self, Kaya,” he joked, sighing, as he followed his friend down the corridor.

Miss Fernandez wasn’t the problem here. Yes, maybe she was the most terrifying old lady at this school, but Youngbin had never been a problem student, and he sure could talk himself out of any trouble with ease. After all, being the target of a glue trap wasn’t his fault. Well, not directly at least.

But Alex? Alex was scaring him. It wasn’t like Youngbin had done anything to upset him specifically, except for, well, being glued to his table, but it felt like that was enough to get on his bad side. Perhaps being on his bad side was the default.

It wasn’t like Alex Hill had ever hurt Youngbin, or even talked to him. Up until today, he probably didn’t even know he existed. And yet he was conditioned to be scared of him. Because who wasn’t?

Alex was a bad boy ripped straight out of a bad YA novel. Dyed hair, pierced ears and nose, always wearing a distressed leather jacket that was probably hiding dozens of tattoos. If he showed up to school, he was going to be at least 30 minutes too late. Youngbin had no classes with him, at least he didn’t think he did, but even if, Alex didn’t seem to attend most of them anyways, so how would he know?

He had his own little gang that would skip school right in front of the teachers eyes with him, that’d sneak god knows what kind of substances onto school grounds, that’d smoke all day behind the school gym, that’d trash school property for fun, but none of those were as influential as Alex. Youngbin didn’t even know their names, but he damn well knew Alex’.

He specifically knew his name ever since the- well, Kaya called it “the Dennis Nelson Incident”. That day probably made Alex into the most infamous student, along with aforementioned Dennis Nelson, the owner of lap dog Leo. Some students celebrate it like a national holiday. When the two got into a physical fight right in the middle of the schoolyard and both of them sent each other into the hospital. It must’ve been a terrifying event- for which Youngbin wasn’t present. But the stories he’s heard about it were scary enough.

Youngbin already saw himself with three teeth less and a bloody nose. Great, really. When he didn’t even do anything wrong in the first place. Except for being an easy target, and he hadn’t yet figured out how to not be a target anymore, when he had tried so damn hard.

Youngbin’s hand laid on the door handle ready to press it down and enter the classroom he had been called to an hour ago by Miss Fernandez. He didn’t fear her. He never feared any teacher, because there was no way for him to get in trouble- all he was doing at school was trying to appease the teachers. He’d talk himself out of the situation easily, explain what was going on, and everything would be forgotten.

And yet he hesitated. Because there was another voice coming from the classroom. A smooth voice, with a cocky tone, responding to the teacher’s threats of suspension with indifferent huffs and short worded answers. Alex Hill was in there as well, having an argument with Miss Fernandez that nobody could win. And that was exactly what Youngbin feared. But- He’d have to push that away, and get in there. Because being late would only get him deeper into trouble.

With one last exhale, Youngbin carefully pushed down the door handle and peeked his head inside first. In the classroom was, as expected, Miss Fernandez, sitting at her teachers desk, looking over the frame of her glasses with furrowed brows and pressed together lips, staring right at Alex Hill.

He had sat down on top of one of the tables, and had crossed his arms. He held his chin high, one corner of his mouth was raised slightly. If Youngbin hadn’t known this boy for the sole reason of beating someone right into the hospital, he’d actually think Alex was cool. But with added context, he’d almost look like- Perhaps some kind of demon. A bit unreal, a bit cartoonishly evil, lifting up his right leg to place his foot on the table like he was sitting on a couch at home and not arguing with a teacher.

“Sorry?” Youngbin let out, clenching the door knob in his hand like he’d have to hold onto something in case the floor opened up underneath him. Immediately, two pairs of eyes pierced him, and Youngbin hoped that the ground would actually swallow him up.

Miss Fernandez straightened her back, cleared her throat. She waved Youngbin to come in, then flashed Alex another cold look.

“Come here, Mister Lee. Let’s talk about disrupting my class.”

Youngbin mumbled another “sorry” before finally stepping in, he closed the door behind him and only hesitantly came closer to the teachers desk, playing with the hem of his sweater sleeves in an attempt to keep the numbness out of his fingertips.

Alex was about to jump off the desk he was sitting on when Miss Fernandez halted him.

“Mister Hill, you stay here, I’m not done with you yet. You’ll have to wait.” Alex groaned again, and now just laid down on his desk, lifting up both of his feet.

Youngbin pressed his lips together. Fantastic. Now Alex could watch Youngbin admit how pathetic he was. He might as well have put a sign around his neck spelling “STEAL MY LUNCH MONEY AND SHOVE ME IN A LOCKER <3”.

“So, Mister Lee? How come you did not attend your own class but instead decided to be… stuck in mine?”

“There was glue. On me. And the table. I was- I couldn’t get my arm off the table.” Youngbin tried to make himself taller, straightened his back as much as possible, and crossed his arms behind his back, looking right at Miss Fernandez- Not her eyes, he’d sink straight into the floor if he had to keep eye contact with anyone, instead he alternated between her nose, forehead, and the wall right behind her.

“And why was there glue?”

“Well-” He cleared his throat. “I assume it was- a prank. Uhm- I was sitting at this desk during my previous class, and it seems as though somebody put glue on it? And then-” He gestured vaguely with his right hand. “I got stuck. I am very sorry I wasn’t able to leave the classroom before your class started.” Now he lowered his head in a small bow, and didn’t lift it up again until his teacher would finally say another word.

“And this happens often?” She now asked, and Youngbin looked up to her again. Her brows were still raised, her forehead wrinkled- even more than usual.

“The- Well, this was the first time I got glued to a table.” Youngbin could hear Alex let out an amused snort, but Miss Fernandez only narrowed her eyes.

“I mean, these sort of pranks, generally, Mister Lee. Do they happen often?”

“Well-” The answer for that was easy. Yes. They did, all the time actually, for quite a while now. But he didn’t want to say that. “Sometimes, I suppose.”

“And ‘sometimes’ means? Every week? Every day?”

“M-Maybe every other day? It’s not-” Youngbin lifted up his hands in defence. “Not like it’s bad though, it just happens, I can deal with it. It’s mildly annoying, but-”

“Mister Lee, if you suffer from bullying, you’ll have to let a faculty member kn-”

“It’s not! It’s not bullying! It’s just-” He gestured again, trying to explain this situation without it sounding like bullying, when it very clearly was exactly that. “It’s just pranks and jokes at my expense. It’s not that I’m getting hurt or anything.”

Maybe that was a lie. Sure, nobody had beaten him up just yet, but his hand was still red from trying to rip it off a table, and he had gotten one or two bruises after being pushed and shoved. There was also the time where he’d gotten tripped up on the stairs, but it didn’t bleed a lot. And maybe it had already started to do a tiny bit of damage to Youngbin’s own confidence. Maybe being blasted and made fun of on the internet for something he loved had chipped at his mental health just a bit.

Maybe people mocking him for the last school play had made him scared of trying out for another leading role- maybe-

“Who’s doing that? Who stuck you to that table today, any ideas?”

“Uhm…” Miss Fernandez sounded oddly worried. Maybe she wasn’t the monster most students made her out to be. Maybe that old lady did actually care for the students she was teaching, for this job she chose what felt like a hundred years ago.

Now sadly, Youngbin was unable to take her help. Because if he answered, listed the names of people that had been awful to him for years, Miss Fernandez would surely go after them and then Youngbin was screwed. So, he just smiled, and shrugged.

“To be honest, I have no idea who could’ve been that toda-”

“Harris, probably. Leonardo Harris.” Youngbin spun around, now facing Alex, who had finally sat up. He had crossed his arms again, scrunched up his nose in disgust as if he could smell Leo right now. “Either him or Nelson. Or both. Or anyone from their clique.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Mister Hill,” Miss Fernadez hissed, and Alex just shrugged before laying back down. “Is he right though? Is it one of those?”

Youngbin just blinked, still maintaining a polite smile, and once again pulled up his shoulders in a shrug. Miss Fernandez wasn’t very satisfied with that answer, clearly.

“I don’t see why you’re smiling. I’d cry in your situation.” She adjusted her glasses, then shook her head. “I guess I will be having a talk with those two. Unless you suspect someone e-”

The teacher couldn’t even finish her sentence when someone burst through the classroom's door. Another student, a few years younger than Youngbin, stared at her with his eyes wide open, breathing heavily.

“Miss, there’s a fight! Dennis Nelson is trying to throw somebody into the dumpster!”

“Of course, he is…” She stood up instantly, adjusting her leopard patterned blazer, and hastily tottered towards the door, throwing one last glance over to Youngbin and Alex. “You two stay here, please. I will be back.”

And with those words, she closed the door behind her, and left Youngbin alone in the classroom- with Alex Hill.

Youngbin tried his very best to not move. Like prey hiding from the predator, maybe he just had to stand completely still and Alex would simply ignore him. The last thing he needed was Alex picking him apart now. Crossing his hands behind his back, Youngbin simply turned towards the door, anticipating his teacher's return.

“Lee, right? Youngbin Lee?”

Well. The ‘stand still and hope he forgets I’m here’ plan did not work out. Youngbin decided not to answer, at least not verbally. Instead, he nodded his head ever so slightly and prayed that Alex noticed it.

“Sounds rough.” Youngbin could hear Alex move around on his table-seat. “The bullying stuff, I mean.”

“It’s not bullying.” Youngbins voice was as careful and polite as possible. He felt like he was a bunny trapped in a cage with a lion, and he gave everything to not provoke the beast of prey right behind him. All Youngbin could think about was the telling of that ‘incident’ two years ago or so. He did not want to end up in the hospital like Dennis Nelson did back then.

“Sounds like it to me, to be honest…” Alex’ old leather jacket creaked as he moved. “Or how would you define it?”

‘It’s none of your business,’ is what Youngbin would’ve said, but he preferred to keep it to himself. No need to start arguments. Not now.

“I feel like some guy glueing you to a table to humiliate you is a textbook version of bullying.” Now Alex’ heavy boots landed on the floor with a thump when he finally got off the desk, walking around Youngbin to sit down on the teachers desk instead. He pulled one of his legs up again, resting his chin on his knee.

Who did Alex think he was to tell someone what did and didn’t count as bullying? Wasn’t he one of those himself? Well- it wasn't like Youngbin had ever seen him even make fun of someone. But still, he was the troublemaker. Students were scared of him for a reason.

“You were part of the school play last summer, right?” Alex narrowed his eyes as he scanned Youngbin and he felt his heart beat faster. “Romeo?”

“Y-Yeah. I was.” Youngbin quickly looked away. Why was this guy so desperate to have a conversation going?

“Huh. That was pretty cool.”

“I know that’s sarcasm,” Youngbin now blurted out. He had made the mistake of believing a compliment like that before. Obviously it ended in him being the butt of a joke again. But Alex only furrowed his brows.

“It wasn’t though?” He licked his finger, then started rubbing away some dirt from the toe caps of his massive boots. “I thought it was cool. I didn’t wanna go to that play but a buddy's little brother played, so…” Alex hummed a bit as he seemed to lose himself in cleaning a tiny spec of mud from his already shredded looking shoes. “But it was pretty cool. Well, for Romeo and Juliet. That story’s been beaten to death already, hasn’t it.”

Youngbin wasn’t sure if Alex actually expected an answer from him, so all he’d do is just let out a low energy hum in response. He could name countless variants of Romeo and Juliet that were actually interesting, in contrast to the school's painfully tame play, but if he did, he’d probably become a laughing stock in the matter of seconds for turning into a fountain of words and useless knowledge.

“What I always wanted to know is, isn’t it awkward to like… kiss on stage? I would die, like, a million times if I had to do that, with teachers and parents watching? Phew.” Alex still didn’t look up to Youngbin, yet his tone promised some interest.

“Well…” And Youngbin finally freed himself from his scared-rabbit-paralysis, now that the lion was too caught up in cleaning his boots to actually attack the prey. He pulled back a chair from one of the desks to sit down on it. “It’s not a real kiss or anything. Like not a proper one on the lips. Our teacher makes us fake-kiss because he thinks it’d be inappropriate to actually do it on stage. It’s still awkward though. But you get used to it, you practise it a lot.”

It was mainly awkward because Youngbin had to do it with a girl. That was the actual problem.

“Huh… Fake-kissing, hm? How the fuck does one ‘fake-kiss’?”

“Well- You can either kiss someone close to the lips on the cheek instead, or you put a hand on your partner's cheek, then put your thumb on their lips to avoid direct contact with the- Why are you even asking?”

Now Alex finally looked up, looking Youngbin directly in the eyes, and tilting his head.

“I think it’s interesting.”

“Sure. No, be honest, why do you want to know?”

“Because? I think it’s interesting, like I said. There’s no reason or anything.”

Youngbin blinked. He was lying. Was he? He couldn’t tell, Alex looked so nonchalant, hadn’t even laughed about him once, just listened and asked questions. Why wasn’t he laughing yet? Was this some kind of elaborate joke he had planned? Maybe he was secretly filming? Maybe-

“You gonna join the school play again this year?” He lowered his head again, now started to polish his other boot.

“I- maybe? Probably behind the scenes this time.” Despite risking being the victim of some large inside joke, Youngbin answered. He just couldn’t not talk about theatre, now that he had the chance. “We’re doing Midsummer Night’s Dream this year.”

“Oooh, I know that one! With the fairies and shit? And someone fucks a donkey?”

“I suppose that’s it.”

“That’s sick. How come you’ll stay off stage?”

Alex was too friendly. Way too friendly. Too interested and harmless. Was this the wrong guy? Did Youngbin switch him up with another guy this whole time? Or was he just trying to figure out his weaknesses to make an emotional attack easier for him? Something in Youngbin’s head was warning him. Something else ignored those warnings, and continued to speak, as though he physically couldn’t stop himself.

“Well, I kind of- became the laughing stock last time? Some people decided to record all my parts and then… I don’t know what they did, spread them around, posted them, made fun of me… I don’t know. I didn’t look at it too much. Privated all my social media and… yeah. I don’t need that again, I think.”

Youngbin pulled a loose thread from his sweater's sleeves, biting his lip. Of course it was the kiss that people loved picking on the most. ‘Kiss’, when it wasn’t even real. It had been uncomfortable enough for him to pretend to kiss a girl in the first place, but having it spread around like that- Youngbin’s stomach turned again, and he could almost hear the voices of students imitating his lines.

Silence. Youngbin didn’t dare to look up to Alex, it felt like as soon as he’d lift his head, he’d look into a phone camera and a big mean grin behind it. But there was just silence, then a huff.

“That’s bullying, dude. That’s literally exactly what it is. They’re like, actively trying to make your life hell.” Alex’ boots stomped on the ground again, and he now approached Youngbin, who finally lifted his head, and, to his surprise, looked into two worried seeming brown eyes. “Okay, so, I’m not trying to dictate how you're supposed to feel about this, but you’re kinda pretending like this kind of behaviour is okay? Which it isn’t?”

“Why do you care?” It just slipped. Youngbin tried his very hardest to not voice his thoughts, but that part just- slipped.

“Because-” And Alex crossed his arms again, tilting his head. “I’m pretty sure it’s Dennis and Leo and all those assholes that are targeting you. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Right. Dennis. Dennis Nelson, who was not only the guy that literally fist fought Alex two years ago, but also the one that dictated Leo’s every move. Of course Alex would end up on the same side as Youngbin.

Alex threw a quick look over to the classroom door, then put on a wide grin as he looked back at Youngbin.

“I’d be willing to help you out with this. Like, just help you be respected by those motherfuckers a little more. If you, in turn, would be willing to help me out as well.”

Youngbin now furrowed his brows, scanning Alex’ face exactly. Help him out? By what, doing his homework? Youngbin had gotten into a weird deal like this before, and he had made a stupid mistake that ended in him getting caught. Never again would he get into something like this. But-

“What do I need to do?”

“Okay.” Alex stretched, cracked his knuckles, with a mischievous grin on his face. This already didn’t seem like a good deal, judging by Alex’ mere expression. “Don’t freak out about this, it’s just a suggestion and you can just say no, no hard feelings. But: date me.”

“Excuse you?” Youngbin now stood up from his chair, almost in shock. This had to be a joke. He should’ve known that this was nothing but a stupid joke. Great. For half a second, he had actually started liking Alex a bit, and now this?

“Hey, hey! I said no freaking out! Listen to the idea first.”

“I don’t think I will. If you’re trying to make fun of me, you can go- go screw yourself now, this isn’t funny.”

“I’m not trying to- Hey, why the fuck would I make fun of you? I’m serious, I think you’d be perfect for that job!”

“Oh, why would I be perfect, because I’m-” Gay, is what he would’ve said. But thankfully Youngbin had this smart little block in his brain that prevented him from ever even saying that word out loud.

“‘Cause you’re an actor and played literal Romeo. If you faked being my boyfriend-” Alex paused, pressing his lips together as if to wait for another objection. “-then… people see that you’re with me, and they won’t come close to you, because they’re too scared I’ll fuck them up.” He clapped his hands once as if to end his explanation, when this was pretty much only causing more questions to pop up in Youngbin’s head.

“You could also just pretend like I’m your friend? Why on earth do I have to date you? What do you get out of that?”

Now Alex sighed, and his smile faded slightly, looking more embarrassed than anything else. He pushed his silver hair out of his face as he shrugged, letting out an awkward chuckle.

“Well- Do you know who Leia Zhang is?” Obviously. Who didn’t know about Leia? The most gorgeous girl in school, or so they said, and Alex’ girlfriend, from what Youngbin knew. “She’s- well, we kinda- She dumped me.”

Alex’ voice became quieter with every word, and his clumsy smile disappeared more and more. She dumped him? How hadn’t Youngbin heard of that yet? Or rather, how hadn’t Kaya told him yet, when she could never keep her mouth shut about any gossip?

“The news are spreading, and- Well, I kind of don’t want to seem- Like a loser?”

“So you think dating the school's biggest damn loser will help you?”

“Okay, first of all, you’re not the school’s biggest loser, and second- I kinda- Well.” He clapped his hands again as if that was it and Youngbin had to try to piece the rest together by himself. Sadly, he absolutely did not succeed at that.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Alex.”

“I just- I want her to think I already moved on, okay? I want to win this.”

“Win? How do you win a breakup?”

Alex had a desperate look on his face, as if Youngbin was supposed to immediately pick up on the mysterious ways and unspoken rules of high school dating. He wasn’t, obviously, none of this made any sense to him in the slightest.

“Have you ever dated anyone before?”

“No?”

“Well, okay, so- You know, breakups can get pretty… competitive. It’s like a petty little battle to see who gets over it first. And knowing her, she’ll be the one to start spreading shit about how she broke my heart, and then it’s all over for me. I have a reputation to uphold, you know. So-” Another grand gesture, expecting Youngbin to finally have caught up to the whole story, which, obviously, he hadn’t.

“So?”

“Okay. Listen. I want to make her jealous. Plain and simple. I want to make her jealous and I don’t want people to think I’m some pathetic wet dog that got dumped by his popular girlfriend for being too pathetic and wet.”

“And you want to date me because…?”

“You’re cute, good at pretending you’re in love, and you’re not my type at all. So.”

“But if I’m not your type-”

“Because, Mister Lee, she’s gonna think- Damn! I was so boring that he’d rather be together with some nerdy pretty boy! It’s all about emotional manipulation!”

“I don’t get it. But-” Youngbin cleared his throat. This sounded like an awful deal. Like, everything about it. Being friends with someone like Alex already sounded like he’d be the main topic of gossip, but dating him? Being in a relationship with him? Fake or not, Youngbin would be the only person people talked about. And he’d have to come out. God, he’d have to be gay, openly, in school. If people already ridiculed him for fake-kissing a girl, they’d tear him apart if they saw him with a boy-

But… The boy he was with was Alex Hill. Nobody touched Alex Hill. And so, if everything went just right, nobody would touch Youngbin Lee either.

“I mean… Okay. Deal, I guess.”

Kerning

Chapter 1 - an unlikely alliance

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