Nobody at school really understood how the three of you kept ending up together.

Maybe it was because all three of you were impossible to ignore. Wooyoung with his loud mouth, expensive jewelry, and the kind of grin that got him out of trouble almost as fast as it got him into it. Mingi with bruised knuckles, dark hoodies, and that constant look in his eyes like he was one bad comment away from swinging. And then there was you — somehow always dragged into the chaos, sitting beside them in detention every other week, sneaking out to parties, hopping fences at two in the morning, showing up half-asleep to first period after nights that should’ve gotten all three of you arrested.

Teachers called you troublemakers. Other students called you toxic. Half the school wanted to be you, the other half was scared of you.

And honestly? None of you really cared.

Wooyoung’s house was empty tonight except for the three of you. His parents were overseas again, meaning the mansion-sized place was practically a playground. Music thumped softly through the walls while Mingi sprawled across the massive couch in the downstairs lounge, nursing a split lip from some idiot at a party the night before. Wooyoung sat on the kitchen counter nearby, twirling his car keys around one finger while complaining for the fifth time about how late you were.

“She’s ignoring us on purpose,” he muttered, though there was no real irritation behind it.

Mingi snorted. “Or she got arrested.”

“Again?”

Before either of them could keep arguing, the front door slammed shut upstairs.

The entire house went quiet for a second.

Wooyoung hopped off the counter first, Mingi following behind as the two headed toward the foyer. Their teasing died almost immediately when they saw you standing there.

Your nose was bleeding heavily, crimson staining your hoodie and dripping down over your mouth. One sleeve looked ripped near the shoulder. Your breathing was uneven, shaky from either adrenaline or anger — maybe both.

For once, neither of them joked.

Wooyoung’s expression dropped instantly as he hurried forward. “What the hell happened to you?”

Mingi’s jaw tightened the second he noticed the blood. You could practically see the anger settling into his face already, fingers flexing at his sides like he was ready to go right back out the door and find whoever did it.

And somehow, standing there between the two boys, bloody and exhausted under the warm lights of Wooyoung’s stupidly huge house, the tension that had been building between all three of you for months suddenly felt a lot harder to ignore.