click-track heart, chapter 1
click-track heart;
Author: narcoticblue
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen, drama
Warnings: very slight violence
Characters & Pairing(s): Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Junmyeon, Kris, Jongin, Tao
Disclaimer: This is entirely fiction. I do not own the characters; though I use the names of EXO members, the characterizations and events are fiction and not meant to reflect reality in any way. I am in no way affiliated with the characters or the management. I do not make profit off of these works. (In this case, some of the plot points are also based off the movie Good Will Hunting, for which I make the same disclaimer.)
Summary: Inspired by the movie Good Will Hunting: “Wildly charismatic. Impossibly brilliant. Totally rebellious. For the first 20 years of his life, Will Hunting has called the shots. Now he’s about to meet his match.” Now with 100% more Chanyeol.
Word count: 2,000 this chapter, 10,000+ total
Betas: june_natsuyuki and @lhg1205. Thanks babes.
---
(i)
A few minutes after midnight, Chanyeol gets an email. He’s been falling asleep at this desk, screwdrivers and CPU parts strewn about him, some dug into his arm and left red marks. He peers at the laptop screen through a half-opened eye and sits up quickly when he reads the title.
[00:06] From: Kim Jongin
[Subject] New problem up
IT dept’s new puzzle is up. Check it
Chanyeol takes one look at the prompt, flexes his fingers and lets them fly over the keyboard, his dinosaur of a laptop whirring loudly in the dead of night. Fifteen lines of code appear on the screen in neat, clinical rows.
[00:22] To: Kim Jongin
[Subject] Re: New problem up
Send it in for me
CY
-
“We got a solution in in less than thirty minutes since we sent it out yesterday!” Junmyeon announces excitedly to the lecture hall. “We would like to honor our mystery solver, so would that person please come forth.”
Junmyeon looks around and smiles at the hundred-and-fifty or so faces, the faces look around at one another and back at him, all blank. He rolls the sleeve of his sweater up and down for a long minute. No one stirs from their seat.
“Damn it,” he swears under his breath, “Not again.”
-
“We’re going to pick Kai up from school and then come to get you, so get ready.” Kris sounds like he’s close to shouting over the phone, traffic noise filling the background.
“Just pick Kai up. I’m at school too. Some dumbass managed to melt off a corner of his motherboard, I have to stay overtime. Meet you there.” Chanyeol nearly shouts back before he notices his client leering at him. “Sorry, another dumbass,” he grins at the man.
Chanyeol’s routine is surprisingly regular: he comes to SNU’s IT office three days a week, manages websites and fixes things; the two days in between, he can stay at home and take calls or come in (he stays at home). Some days he gets off early and goes to the regular watering-hole with the boys (live beer, blue collars, pool table); some days, people melt their motherboards and he stays overtime. All the other days (weekends, too), he goes to the university’s library in incognito white shirts and jeans.
“You know, you really shouldn’t use your laptop next to a fireplace, even I know that’s a hazard and I’m someone who’s blown up eggs in the microwave before.” Chanyeol sighs exasperatedly while he reconnects wires and chips on the new motherboard. The man gives him a quizzical look, between “Well of course I know that now” and “ Who the hell puts eggs in the microwave,” but doesn’t say anything as Chanyeol screws the bolts back on the laptop’s cover plate and turns the machine on for reconfiguration.
“By the way, do you mind if I use this to check my email? I forgot my laptop at home.” Chanyeol cracks a smile and pushes his glasses up with his left hand, right hand poised over the keys. As soon as the man nods, Chanyeol’s in his account.
[15:20] From: Kim Jongin
[Subject] Re: Re: New problem up
They put a new one up again. Seem determined to find you. Pretty funny innit? Check it
Chanyeol laughs and hits the table. Several round bolts roll off the edge. The man inches away from the maniacal guffaw and the squinted eye (just one, right) but he gapes in awe as he watches Chanyeol type out line after line of code in response, not one pause between any of the characters.
“Thanks for that. Here you go, it’s all set.” Chanyeol closes the laptop with a click and hands it back. “Please take care of it. Machines have feelings too, see,” he nods sagely.
The man feels like god pressed the mute button on him, just nods and bows in thanks and scuttles out the room, away from one giant waving hand and a toothy grin.
-
“Man, I am tired.” Chanyeol pauses to say between a gulp of beer and a mouthful of yam fries. “It’s fucking hot, and this one dude used his laptop by the fireplace. The thing was like melted cheese. Didn’t even thank me. People these days. No, wait this is even better: You’d think people who actually go to college would know better than to click on You are the 1000th visitor ads right, I mean, five thousand spam emails, a couple of trojans and a blue screen later, they’re practically begging me to fix their computers for them. What’s a grown man want of a new Wii anyway? Tacky as hell.”
“Hold up,” Tao interjects, “This coming from a guy who clicked one of those ads - Playstation, yeah? - and then freaked out because he didn’t even own a TV to hook it up to?”
“Whatever.” Chanyeol throws a fry at him. “What do I need a TV for, absolutely nothing at all.”
“Bunch of phony assholes. Man, can’t wait to graduate.” Jongin folds his arms across his chest. The plate in front of him is clean, not one morsel remaining. “What? I have to go by Kai for a reason.”
“Right.” Chanyeol throws the rest of his fries at Jongin and Kris across the table from him in utmost delight. Tao catches Chanyeol’s left hand and presses his thumb firmly into Chanyeol’s palm; Chanyeol yelps, caught between sobbing and laughing, and slumps against the wall. Bliss, he thinks, if only every day could be like this, making fun of people with the boys over cheap beer, not worrying about tomorrow’s food, not thinking of going back to his tiny apartment where no one waits.
The gods would let no such luck come to Park Chanyeol. Just as he’s starting to doze off to the low rumble of chatter of the bar, he’s rudely awakened by a loud voice. He swivels around to the sight of four guys nearing their booth.
“Hey boys, how’s it going?” The leader, in a dark grey hoodie, hood up and a cap on top, sneers at them, his cronies trailing behind.
“Get lost.” Kris looks up at them in distaste.
They had skidded with this group several times, but it had never resulted in more than a few bruises. Tension runs high between Kris and the local gangs; sometimes Chanyeol found it to be an exhilarating game and he had taken to counter-attacking every time, but sometimes it was plain irritating.
“What’s this, almighty Kris gone soft? Complacent now that the brother’s out of the race? Your father’s precious little underground regime’s gonna turn to shit with that attitude.”
“Fuck off, J.”
“That’s more like it. What about you, bastard, remind me who’s your mother again? That one by the stoplights or the one by the river?”
Chanyeol closes his eyes and clenches his fist under the table. Red hot behind the ears, spreading to his whole body. I have no parents, he repeats in his head, one step forward two steps back in his resolve, it doesn’t cool him down.
“Hey, you know what, I saw your sister the other day. Pretty little thing. Nearly gouged my arm out with those claws though, maybe the offer for gas wasn’t enough, think she’ll let me do a round for ten k?”
A white flash, before anyone reacts, Chanyeol’s jumped over Tao, a clean arch in the air, knocking backwards and landing on top of the hooded figure, knees scraping the ground, his eyes wide, dark lids, red rims. His arms shake as he pins the broad pair of shoulders under him.
“Don’t you dare -”
Behind him, someone lunges for Kris, he makes the mistake of turning around and gets swiftly thrown to the side before a searing white pain hits him in the face. He staggers back, head throbbing, neon lights swirling around his vision, and there’s swearing and cursing and chairs toppling over and glasses breaking and incessant ringing in his ears, and he barely dodges the next attack. The figure before him trips over something, though, and Chanyeol quickly pounces in on the opening. He’s on top again, dealing blow after blow, knuckles bloodying, don’t - you - fucking - dare, this one’s for Kris, this one’s for me, this one’s for my sister, someone’s shouting stop in the distance but his eyes are red with rage and something else. His right arm is halfway in the air, full of momentum, when two people grab him from behind and fingers clamp on his neck (Tao probably), immobilizing him.
“Chanyeol, what the fuck,” Kris is talking to him, face flushed but otherwise fine. “Can you hear me?”
He nods. Three figures scurry past them out of the door, one of them limping; another one lies unconscious on the floor, a bloody mess.
“Fuck,” Chanyeol rasps, “I broke a chair again.”
-
[21:46] From: parksh@seoul.edu
[Subject] Important
Junmyeon,
I think I’ve found our elusive master puzzle solver. Come with me to the IT office at around 4pm.
Park S.
-
Chanyeol has a court date. It’s unavoidable, he knows, but he doesn’t worry too much. He calls in sick to work for a few days, Minseok doesn’t question him, just asks if he can take calls from home, so he complies.
The court room is, not unexpectedly, empty. The plaintiff is absent, still nursing his broken nose at home. The only person on that side is the lawyer, cheap blue suit, lopsided tie, haughty airs.
Chanyeol stands by himself in the defendant’s booth. Kris had asked to come and see (perhaps he could ask his “connections” for help) but Chanyeol denied him outright. He doesn’t want unsolicited help, doesn’t want to be seen this way. Besides, he can do well for himself.
“Under article 41,” he says to the judge, “My actions could be taken as an act of self-defense. I have the right to stand my ground. I was provoked by libel, prolonged verbal abuse and, prior to this incident, physical attacks from J.”
“That incident was privately settled, I believe, it is unnecessary to mention it now,” the lawyer perks up.
“Undoubtedly it played on my mindset at the time. I was also not the one to land the first -”
“Mr. Park,” the judge booms, “I have to interrupt. Your files show records of misconduct of different natures. Vandalization of public property, physical fights, car theft, accused of hacking privately owned servers and databases, just to name a few.”
“Accused. I have been cleared, charges were dropped in that case.”
“And every other case, it seems. You know your laws well, but in the face of repeated offenses…”
The court room door opens suddenly and in walks two harried-looking men. Chanyeol racks his brain to remember where he’s seen them. One of them, the man who melted his motherboard. The other one is familiar - he’s definitely seen him before- but he can’t place it. The two stand at the back whispering to each other, the former nods several times.
“…In the face of repeated offenses, I can not forgo and ignore their obvious implications. You will have to serve time and community service.”
Chanyeol sighs. He wonders if they’ll let him keep his job and if it will count as community service if he does it unpaid. He wonders if he’s locked the door to his apartment. Wonders what Kris will say. Wonders a lot of things in his first defeat, and sighs.
-
Chanyeol’s sitting time is not long at all, because on the second day, he receives a visitor.
“Kim Junmyeon. I’m the TA for Lee’s Advanced Programming class.” The visitor, in his pressed collared shirt, smiles at Chanyeol from across the steel interrogation table.
“Okay.”
“Uh…” Junmyeon is flustered at the lack of reaction. “I can call you Chanyeol, right?”
“Yeah. So that’s who you are, no wonder you’re so familiar. What’s up?”
“Not much. You? I mean… I’m here to ask you some things, and I have a proposal.”
“Shoot.”
“First, you’re the one who’s been solving all the puzzles, am I right?”
Chanyeol stares back blankly.
“There’s really no other way to say this, but you forgot to log out when you borrowed a client’s computer to check your own email. He just happened to see your reply to Jongin.”
Chanyeol brings his hands up and puts them on the table, his fingers start to drum on the cool surface, a restrained display of his nerves.
“Jongin has nothing to do with it,” he says quietly after a while. “I guess you caught me though,” he shrugs and smiles lazily.
“Of course, Jongin’s fine,” Junmyeon hastily assures him. “Our question, rather, is that these aren’t problems that some amateur or third-rate programmer can figure out, even our professors had a hard time with them, how did you manage to do them?”
“Luck?” Chanyeol offers.
“What’s the probability of someone solving this with luck?”
“0.0000217, probably.” Chanyeol answers a bit too quickly.
“There you go.” Junmyeon takes out a sheet of paper from his bag. “Chanyeol, I have a proposal for you.”
Chanyeol cocks his head to the side, his bangs fall smoothly across and obscure one eye.
“You’re obviously very gifted. And yet you’re not in school, you’re not seriously employed, you engage in…” Junmyeon coughs, “volatile behavior, hang out with delinquents.”
“Friends.”
“I want to help you explore your talent. Push it.”
“I don’t want or need your help.” Chanyeol’s tone turns icy in a split-second.
“Listen - you can either stay here counting your days between gray walls - or you can think about these two conditions instead: one, they’ll let you on probation, you come into school, you do counseling sessions with me, we can figure something out. Past feelings, future plans, things like that. Two, you also work with one of our students in a programming project for the government, it’s intriguing, it’s complex and it’s completely in your line of abilities.”
“Fuck counseling.”
“It’s up to you. But, Chanyeol, I’m a friend.”
“Alright, whatever you say, Junmyeon,” Chanyeol’s expression does another complete change, a shielded, cheerful mask. He laughs and claps his hands together, but there’s an edge to his enunciation. “I’m down.”
-
(ii)
Author: narcoticblue
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen, drama
Warnings: very slight violence
Characters & Pairing(s): Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Junmyeon, Kris, Jongin, Tao
Disclaimer: This is entirely fiction. I do not own the characters; though I use the names of EXO members, the characterizations and events are fiction and not meant to reflect reality in any way. I am in no way affiliated with the characters or the management. I do not make profit off of these works. (In this case, some of the plot points are also based off the movie Good Will Hunting, for which I make the same disclaimer.)
Summary: Inspired by the movie Good Will Hunting: “Wildly charismatic. Impossibly brilliant. Totally rebellious. For the first 20 years of his life, Will Hunting has called the shots. Now he’s about to meet his match.” Now with 100% more Chanyeol.
Word count: 2,000 this chapter, 10,000+ total
Betas: june_natsuyuki and @lhg1205. Thanks babes.
---
(i)
A few minutes after midnight, Chanyeol gets an email. He’s been falling asleep at this desk, screwdrivers and CPU parts strewn about him, some dug into his arm and left red marks. He peers at the laptop screen through a half-opened eye and sits up quickly when he reads the title.
[00:06] From: Kim Jongin
[Subject] New problem up
IT dept’s new puzzle is up. Check it
Chanyeol takes one look at the prompt, flexes his fingers and lets them fly over the keyboard, his dinosaur of a laptop whirring loudly in the dead of night. Fifteen lines of code appear on the screen in neat, clinical rows.
[00:22] To: Kim Jongin
[Subject] Re: New problem up
Send it in for me
CY
-
“We got a solution in in less than thirty minutes since we sent it out yesterday!” Junmyeon announces excitedly to the lecture hall. “We would like to honor our mystery solver, so would that person please come forth.”
Junmyeon looks around and smiles at the hundred-and-fifty or so faces, the faces look around at one another and back at him, all blank. He rolls the sleeve of his sweater up and down for a long minute. No one stirs from their seat.
“Damn it,” he swears under his breath, “Not again.”
-
“We’re going to pick Kai up from school and then come to get you, so get ready.” Kris sounds like he’s close to shouting over the phone, traffic noise filling the background.
“Just pick Kai up. I’m at school too. Some dumbass managed to melt off a corner of his motherboard, I have to stay overtime. Meet you there.” Chanyeol nearly shouts back before he notices his client leering at him. “Sorry, another dumbass,” he grins at the man.
Chanyeol’s routine is surprisingly regular: he comes to SNU’s IT office three days a week, manages websites and fixes things; the two days in between, he can stay at home and take calls or come in (he stays at home). Some days he gets off early and goes to the regular watering-hole with the boys (live beer, blue collars, pool table); some days, people melt their motherboards and he stays overtime. All the other days (weekends, too), he goes to the university’s library in incognito white shirts and jeans.
“You know, you really shouldn’t use your laptop next to a fireplace, even I know that’s a hazard and I’m someone who’s blown up eggs in the microwave before.” Chanyeol sighs exasperatedly while he reconnects wires and chips on the new motherboard. The man gives him a quizzical look, between “Well of course I know that now” and “ Who the hell puts eggs in the microwave,” but doesn’t say anything as Chanyeol screws the bolts back on the laptop’s cover plate and turns the machine on for reconfiguration.
“By the way, do you mind if I use this to check my email? I forgot my laptop at home.” Chanyeol cracks a smile and pushes his glasses up with his left hand, right hand poised over the keys. As soon as the man nods, Chanyeol’s in his account.
[15:20] From: Kim Jongin
[Subject] Re: Re: New problem up
They put a new one up again. Seem determined to find you. Pretty funny innit? Check it
Chanyeol laughs and hits the table. Several round bolts roll off the edge. The man inches away from the maniacal guffaw and the squinted eye (just one, right) but he gapes in awe as he watches Chanyeol type out line after line of code in response, not one pause between any of the characters.
“Thanks for that. Here you go, it’s all set.” Chanyeol closes the laptop with a click and hands it back. “Please take care of it. Machines have feelings too, see,” he nods sagely.
The man feels like god pressed the mute button on him, just nods and bows in thanks and scuttles out the room, away from one giant waving hand and a toothy grin.
-
“Man, I am tired.” Chanyeol pauses to say between a gulp of beer and a mouthful of yam fries. “It’s fucking hot, and this one dude used his laptop by the fireplace. The thing was like melted cheese. Didn’t even thank me. People these days. No, wait this is even better: You’d think people who actually go to college would know better than to click on You are the 1000th visitor ads right, I mean, five thousand spam emails, a couple of trojans and a blue screen later, they’re practically begging me to fix their computers for them. What’s a grown man want of a new Wii anyway? Tacky as hell.”
“Hold up,” Tao interjects, “This coming from a guy who clicked one of those ads - Playstation, yeah? - and then freaked out because he didn’t even own a TV to hook it up to?”
“Whatever.” Chanyeol throws a fry at him. “What do I need a TV for, absolutely nothing at all.”
“Bunch of phony assholes. Man, can’t wait to graduate.” Jongin folds his arms across his chest. The plate in front of him is clean, not one morsel remaining. “What? I have to go by Kai for a reason.”
“Right.” Chanyeol throws the rest of his fries at Jongin and Kris across the table from him in utmost delight. Tao catches Chanyeol’s left hand and presses his thumb firmly into Chanyeol’s palm; Chanyeol yelps, caught between sobbing and laughing, and slumps against the wall. Bliss, he thinks, if only every day could be like this, making fun of people with the boys over cheap beer, not worrying about tomorrow’s food, not thinking of going back to his tiny apartment where no one waits.
The gods would let no such luck come to Park Chanyeol. Just as he’s starting to doze off to the low rumble of chatter of the bar, he’s rudely awakened by a loud voice. He swivels around to the sight of four guys nearing their booth.
“Hey boys, how’s it going?” The leader, in a dark grey hoodie, hood up and a cap on top, sneers at them, his cronies trailing behind.
“Get lost.” Kris looks up at them in distaste.
They had skidded with this group several times, but it had never resulted in more than a few bruises. Tension runs high between Kris and the local gangs; sometimes Chanyeol found it to be an exhilarating game and he had taken to counter-attacking every time, but sometimes it was plain irritating.
“What’s this, almighty Kris gone soft? Complacent now that the brother’s out of the race? Your father’s precious little underground regime’s gonna turn to shit with that attitude.”
“Fuck off, J.”
“That’s more like it. What about you, bastard, remind me who’s your mother again? That one by the stoplights or the one by the river?”
Chanyeol closes his eyes and clenches his fist under the table. Red hot behind the ears, spreading to his whole body. I have no parents, he repeats in his head, one step forward two steps back in his resolve, it doesn’t cool him down.
“Hey, you know what, I saw your sister the other day. Pretty little thing. Nearly gouged my arm out with those claws though, maybe the offer for gas wasn’t enough, think she’ll let me do a round for ten k?”
A white flash, before anyone reacts, Chanyeol’s jumped over Tao, a clean arch in the air, knocking backwards and landing on top of the hooded figure, knees scraping the ground, his eyes wide, dark lids, red rims. His arms shake as he pins the broad pair of shoulders under him.
“Don’t you dare -”
Behind him, someone lunges for Kris, he makes the mistake of turning around and gets swiftly thrown to the side before a searing white pain hits him in the face. He staggers back, head throbbing, neon lights swirling around his vision, and there’s swearing and cursing and chairs toppling over and glasses breaking and incessant ringing in his ears, and he barely dodges the next attack. The figure before him trips over something, though, and Chanyeol quickly pounces in on the opening. He’s on top again, dealing blow after blow, knuckles bloodying, don’t - you - fucking - dare, this one’s for Kris, this one’s for me, this one’s for my sister, someone’s shouting stop in the distance but his eyes are red with rage and something else. His right arm is halfway in the air, full of momentum, when two people grab him from behind and fingers clamp on his neck (Tao probably), immobilizing him.
“Chanyeol, what the fuck,” Kris is talking to him, face flushed but otherwise fine. “Can you hear me?”
He nods. Three figures scurry past them out of the door, one of them limping; another one lies unconscious on the floor, a bloody mess.
“Fuck,” Chanyeol rasps, “I broke a chair again.”
-
[21:46] From: parksh@seoul.edu
[Subject] Important
Junmyeon,
I think I’ve found our elusive master puzzle solver. Come with me to the IT office at around 4pm.
Park S.
-
Chanyeol has a court date. It’s unavoidable, he knows, but he doesn’t worry too much. He calls in sick to work for a few days, Minseok doesn’t question him, just asks if he can take calls from home, so he complies.
The court room is, not unexpectedly, empty. The plaintiff is absent, still nursing his broken nose at home. The only person on that side is the lawyer, cheap blue suit, lopsided tie, haughty airs.
Chanyeol stands by himself in the defendant’s booth. Kris had asked to come and see (perhaps he could ask his “connections” for help) but Chanyeol denied him outright. He doesn’t want unsolicited help, doesn’t want to be seen this way. Besides, he can do well for himself.
“Under article 41,” he says to the judge, “My actions could be taken as an act of self-defense. I have the right to stand my ground. I was provoked by libel, prolonged verbal abuse and, prior to this incident, physical attacks from J.”
“That incident was privately settled, I believe, it is unnecessary to mention it now,” the lawyer perks up.
“Undoubtedly it played on my mindset at the time. I was also not the one to land the first -”
“Mr. Park,” the judge booms, “I have to interrupt. Your files show records of misconduct of different natures. Vandalization of public property, physical fights, car theft, accused of hacking privately owned servers and databases, just to name a few.”
“Accused. I have been cleared, charges were dropped in that case.”
“And every other case, it seems. You know your laws well, but in the face of repeated offenses…”
The court room door opens suddenly and in walks two harried-looking men. Chanyeol racks his brain to remember where he’s seen them. One of them, the man who melted his motherboard. The other one is familiar - he’s definitely seen him before- but he can’t place it. The two stand at the back whispering to each other, the former nods several times.
“…In the face of repeated offenses, I can not forgo and ignore their obvious implications. You will have to serve time and community service.”
Chanyeol sighs. He wonders if they’ll let him keep his job and if it will count as community service if he does it unpaid. He wonders if he’s locked the door to his apartment. Wonders what Kris will say. Wonders a lot of things in his first defeat, and sighs.
-
Chanyeol’s sitting time is not long at all, because on the second day, he receives a visitor.
“Kim Junmyeon. I’m the TA for Lee’s Advanced Programming class.” The visitor, in his pressed collared shirt, smiles at Chanyeol from across the steel interrogation table.
“Okay.”
“Uh…” Junmyeon is flustered at the lack of reaction. “I can call you Chanyeol, right?”
“Yeah. So that’s who you are, no wonder you’re so familiar. What’s up?”
“Not much. You? I mean… I’m here to ask you some things, and I have a proposal.”
“Shoot.”
“First, you’re the one who’s been solving all the puzzles, am I right?”
Chanyeol stares back blankly.
“There’s really no other way to say this, but you forgot to log out when you borrowed a client’s computer to check your own email. He just happened to see your reply to Jongin.”
Chanyeol brings his hands up and puts them on the table, his fingers start to drum on the cool surface, a restrained display of his nerves.
“Jongin has nothing to do with it,” he says quietly after a while. “I guess you caught me though,” he shrugs and smiles lazily.
“Of course, Jongin’s fine,” Junmyeon hastily assures him. “Our question, rather, is that these aren’t problems that some amateur or third-rate programmer can figure out, even our professors had a hard time with them, how did you manage to do them?”
“Luck?” Chanyeol offers.
“What’s the probability of someone solving this with luck?”
“0.0000217, probably.” Chanyeol answers a bit too quickly.
“There you go.” Junmyeon takes out a sheet of paper from his bag. “Chanyeol, I have a proposal for you.”
Chanyeol cocks his head to the side, his bangs fall smoothly across and obscure one eye.
“You’re obviously very gifted. And yet you’re not in school, you’re not seriously employed, you engage in…” Junmyeon coughs, “volatile behavior, hang out with delinquents.”
“Friends.”
“I want to help you explore your talent. Push it.”
“I don’t want or need your help.” Chanyeol’s tone turns icy in a split-second.
“Listen - you can either stay here counting your days between gray walls - or you can think about these two conditions instead: one, they’ll let you on probation, you come into school, you do counseling sessions with me, we can figure something out. Past feelings, future plans, things like that. Two, you also work with one of our students in a programming project for the government, it’s intriguing, it’s complex and it’s completely in your line of abilities.”
“Fuck counseling.”
“It’s up to you. But, Chanyeol, I’m a friend.”
“Alright, whatever you say, Junmyeon,” Chanyeol’s expression does another complete change, a shielded, cheerful mask. He laughs and claps his hands together, but there’s an edge to his enunciation. “I’m down.”
-
(ii)