HEESEUNG feels sick to his stomach. He doesn't know how this happened or why. He just hopes Jake hasn't seen the picture and isn't freaking out. He walks into the canteen with a frown, keeping his head down. He can hear the whispers, and he can feel the eyes on him.
He sits down at the usual table with a huff. Riki and Jungwon offer him smiles but Sunoo just keeps his eyes on his phone, scrolling idly every few seconds. Riki smiles at him again, but it's clearly forced and fake.
"Hyung-"
"Stop," Heeseung interrupts, holding a hand up. "I know you guys have already seen it so don't try anything. It's the schools gossip page for a reason."
Riki rolls his eyes, sinking into his chair. Jungwon smiles apologetically at him. "I'm sorry that happened to you, hyung. Have you talked to Jake hyung yet?"
Heeseung shakes his head, slowly moving his food around his tray with a plastic fork. "I haven't but I'm sure he's seen it already."
"It's a picture of the two of you kissing and you both were tagged in it," Riki grumbles, arms crossed against his chest, pouting like an eight year old after they don't get candy from their parents. "There's no way he hasn't seen it. What kind of creep even does that anyway?"
Sunoo, who has been quiet through the entire exchange, grunts from beside Heeseung, turning his phone off and laying it on the table eerily. Heeseung notices that he's oddly calm about the whole situation. He lays a hand on Heeseung's shoulder. "You should be more careful of these things, hyung. You don't know who could have been following you."
He gets this look in his eyes that Heeseung can't quite place after he says the last part, but it's gone as soon as it came. Heeseung hums, staring at him for a moment longer before he turns back to look down at his food again.
Sunoo stands up, shoving his phone into his pocket and lifting his tray. "I'll see you guys later."
They watch as Sunoo dumps his tray in the trash, stuffing his hands into his pockets once he's done.
"That's weird," Jungwon mutters. "He usually waits for us to get finished too."
Heeseung shrugs, still playing with his food. "Maybe he's got a lot on his plate today."
"You guys don't think he was the one who sent the picture, do you?"
Heeseung and Jungwon both look over at Riki in a mixture of shock and surprise. He's chewing on his bottom lip, a worried look in his eyes.
"Riki.." Jungwon mumbles. "Sunoo hyung isn't like that. Why would you even think of something like that anyway?"
"Just think about it," he says, licking his lips and leaning forward so they both can hear him clearly. "He was jealous from the moment you first mentioned Jake, hyung, and how does he know someone followed you guys to take the picture in the first place?"
Heeseung sighs heavily, setting his fork down on his tray, a stern expression taking over his face. "Riks, please don't accuse Sunoo without proper evidence that shows he did it. If we do that and it turns out it wasn't him, then what will we do?"
Riki shrugs. "Okay, so it might not be him, but you don't have proof that it wasn't him so how can you know for sure?"
"Riki, that's enough. Just be quiet and finish your food."
He rolls his eyes. "You're not my mom, hyung. You're my boyfriend. You can obviously see something fishy is going on but you just want to ignore it. How is that any fair to Jake hyung?"
Riki is silent after that. He scoots his chair away from Jungwon and harshly stabs his fork into his food before bringing it to his mouth. Jungwon sends Heeseung another apologetic smile to which he returns.
The rest of their time in the canteen is blanketed with awkward silence.
❁❁❁
"You look stressed. Are you okay?"
Heeseung jumps, spinning around with a hand on his chest. Jake stands in front of him, head cutely tilted to the side, smiling up at him. Heeseung breathes a sigh of relief, reaching out to wrap a hand around Jake's waist and pull him in. Jake comes easily, placing a hand on Heeseung's shoulder.
Jake giggles, cupping Heeseung's cheek with a soft hand. Teasingly, he says, "I'm sorry. Should I kiss it better?"
Heeseung hums, immediately leaning down to fit their lips together in a soft embrace. The younger whines sweetly into Heeseung's mouth when he sucks Jake's bottom lip into his own, hand curling around his hip and pulling him impossibly closer.
He pets at Jake's hip softly, squeezing every so often. After a while they both pull back and Jake grins up at him, although it doesn't reach his eyes.
"I saw the picture of us, by the way. The one of us kissing?" he says softly. "Riki wouldn't leave me alone about it."
Heeseung groans, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Jake's. The action causes Jake to stumble back a little bit but Heeseung holds him tighter. "Don't even mention that kid. He's hell bent on trying to make me and Jungwon think it was Sunoo who had it posted."
Heeseung feels Jake tense up just slightly before he tries to laugh it off. "Sunoo? Who's that?"
Heeseung pulls back to look down at him. His eyebrows are furrowed and he's biting at the inside of his cheek, staring up at Heeseung with a painfully faux nonchalant expression.
"Um, he's my ex. We're all friends." Heeseung answers awkwardly, squeezing Jake's hip softly.
"You're still friends with your ex?" Jake asked with a frown, eyebrow raised to his hairline. "Is that.. Is that a thing you can do?"
Heeseung shrugs. "It was something we agreed on before we got together, y'know?"
But Jake doesn't look impressed. He's pouting now, both hands clutching at Heeseung's coat. "No, I don't know actually."
Heeseung nods. "Well, I just don't think it was him. So could you please tell Riki to not accuse his friends of things they didn't do? I'm pretty sure he likes you more than me."
Jake nods, smiling up at him, but it doesn't reach his eyes like usual. "Sure. Yeah, um. I think I could do that for you."
"Thanks." Heeseung smiles, trying to lighten the mood but it proves to be useless when Jake looks away from him, eyes unreadable yet beautiful in the moonlight.
"You're welcome."
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