Requested by tofutorii.

You transferred to Eunjang High School a few weeks after everything fell apart.

No one there knew the full story. They only knew pieces—whispers about fights, about someone named Su-ho.

But you knew every detail.

Ahn Su-ho had been your best friend. One of the only people who ever stood beside you without hesitation. When everything escalated with Oh Beom-seok and he ended up in a vegetative state, the guilt pressed on your chest like a weight you couldn’t remove.

You weren’t depressed. Not exactly.

But something inside you had gone quiet.

Eunjang was different from your old school. Louder. Rougher. People tested each other with looks and words before they even spoke.

The first person who talked to you was Seo Jun-tae.

He smiled like he had known you for years.

“Hey,” He said, dropping into the opposite seat during lunch. “You’re the transfer, right?”

You nodded.

“Don’t worry,” He said with an awkward grin. “Eunjang isn’t that bad once you get used to it.”

Jun-tae was easy to talk to. Gentle, even. Somehow he dragged you into the group before you even realized it.

That was how you met Park Hu-min.

“Call me Baku,” He said the first time, clapping a heavy hand on your shoulder like you already belonged there. “Anyone who Jun-tae likes is fine by me."

It surprised you how easily he accepted you.

Not everyone did.

Go Hyun-tak stood just beside him that time, hands shoved into his pockets.

He watched you like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

You weren’t sure if he hated you.

For the first few weeks, he barely spoke to you. If you said something, he only nodded or gave short answers. Sometimes you caught him staring at you when he thought you wouldn’t notice.

It made you uneasy.

Until one afternoon.

You stayed late at school, sitting on the steps outside the gym with your headphones in. The sky had already started turning orange.

“Skipping practice?”

You looked up.

Hyun-tak stood there, a gym bag slung over his shoulder.

“No,” You said quietly. “Just thinking.”

He studied your face for a moment before sitting beside you.

The silence that followed wasn’t uncomfortable.

Then he spoke again.

“Jun-tae said you went through some stuff at your old school.”

Your chest tightened.

“Something like that.”

Hyun-tak didn’t push for details. Instead, he leaned back on his hands, staring at the fading sky.

“You look like someone who blames yourself for things that weren’t only your fault,” He said.

You blinked at him.

“That's a big assumption.”

He shrugged slightly.

“Maybe," A pause, like he was weighing words. "But I've seen that look before.”

That was the first real conversation you had with him.

After that, things changed.

Hyun-tak started walking home with you after school. At first he said it was “just because we lived the same direction,” but even when you took a different route, he still showed up beside you halfway down the street.

He trained with you during gym class, correcting your stance with quiet patience.

Sometimes you caught him watching you again—but now there was something softer in his expression.

One evening the four of you sat on the rooftop—Jun-tae talking endlessly, Baku laughing loud enough for the whole school to hear.

You sat beside Hyun-tak, shoulders almost touching.

“You’re smiling more,” He said suddenly.

You glanced at him. “Am I?”

“Yeah.”

His voice was quieter than usual.

“Good” He added.

You didn’t realize how close you had leaned toward each other until Jun-tae’s voice interrupted.

“Wait… are you two having a moment right now?”

You pulled back quickly, face warm.

Baku burst out laughing.

Hyun-tak rolled his eyes—but you noticed the faint pink on his ears.

But through the warmth that had swallowed you, you realized that—for the first time since forever—you felt like you were breathing.

Now you were patching each other up at your house. Jun-tae helping Baku—who just hissed at the disinfectant that was pressed against his cheekbone. Hyun-tak helped you, instead.

"Slow…"

"I am slow." He scolded. "If I go slower I'll go still."