Jin sat down at his desk and was instantly flocked by his classmates.

"Any plans for the weekend, Jin?" one girl asked, twirling her hair.

Jin shrugged. "Not sure," he said, but he knew what he was doing over the weekend, the same thing he did every weekend, and he wasn't looking forward to it (as usual).

"Well if you need something to do, just hit me up," another girl said, and Jin nodded absent-mindedly, already knowing that he wouldn't be hitting anyone up for anything.

"You should join us. We're going out for drinks," the guy next to him said, and Jin winced.

He didn't like drinking with his teammates, but he had a legitimate excuse to get him out of it. "Sorry, can't. My dad is really strict."

A few guys groaned since Jin was always making excuses for why he couldn't hang out, but just as Jin was about to say something, the door opened and in walked Jooheon.

The room got quiet, or maybe it just felt that way to Jin since he tuned out all the white noise of girls he wasn't interested and guys he didn't like altogether that much.

Jooheon calmly walked to his seat next to the window and dropped his bag, letting it hit the ground with a loud thud.

Someone muttered, "What's his problem?" but Jooheon either didn't hear it or wasn't fazed. He pulled out his phone and started scrolling throw notifications.

Jin didn't know why he was still staring at Jooheon. He made himself look away, but he felt uncomfortable.

He wondered what would have happened if things had turned out differently.

He wondered if it was Jooheon's fault that things had turned out the way they had, if they would have turned out this way no matter what.

When Jooheon became Jin's friend, it was as though Jin had just been introduced into society. People began to notice him, not as the subject of weird rumors, but just as a person. An attractive person who only got more attractive with age. People slowly began to include him, and at first, Jin was thrilled. He'd always wanted to feel included. It was finally his time.

And then they'd gotten to high school, and as a combination of his newfound inclusion, social pressure, and his lovely pair of broad shoulders, he was encouraged to try out for the football team.

Now he was their quarter back. Their second string quarterback, to be fair, but he was a lot more attractive than the first string one, so people had come to think of him as a star. Which wasn't necessarily true. He was decent but average on the field. It was his face that made up the brunt of his reputation. Still, being on the team had been a new form of inclusion. He was finally part of something.

But the more he was a part of, the less he felt like he was.

Jin didn't know if it was his fault that Jooheon had drifted away, or if Jooheon had made the choice to leave Jin, but it had happened regardless, and now the most contact the two had was sitting in the same classroom and trying to pretend the other didn't exist, trying to pretend their friendship hadn't existed.

Jin, trying to pretend that Jooheon wasn't the first real friend he'd ever had, the last real friend he'd ever had.

Jooheon didn't care how far he could throw a football.

Jooheon didn't care how fast his sprint time was or how many plays he'd run or how pretty his eyes were or any of that shit. Jooheon had never cared about any of that.

Whatever Jooheon cared about now, it wasn't Jin, and Jin wasn't sure why that hurt so much.

Shouldn't he be happy? He had it all now. Popularity, friends, status, a team.

But he'd lost Jooheon.

I guess everything has a price, Jin thought.

He wondered what price Jooheon had paid to be friends with him.

***

Class ended, and students everywhere in the building rushed out of their classes. Jin stepped outside the classroom, surrounded as always by kids he didn't really know, flying around him without fail like electrons stuck in his orbit. Jin was about to walk to his next class when he saw a familiar mop of hair growing nearer.

Jimin, with a friend on either side. His own two electrons.

Jin watched as Jimin's face lit up, but Jin's smile fell as he realized that Jimin wasn't looking at him. Instead, Jin watched in pain as Jimin ran up to Jooheon, who chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"J-J-Jooheon-hyung!" Jimin cheered, and the boy next to him rolled his eyes.

"He's not that great," he said. "I would know, I live with him."

"Shut it, Wonnie," Jooheon said with a smirk, and Hyungwon stuck his tongue out lazily.

"Don't call me Wonnie," he mumbled, but he didn't really mind.

"Jongup's being nice to you, right, Jimin?" Jooheon said, giving Jongup a stare before looking back at Jimin with concern.

Almost as though he were Jimin's older brother.

"O-of c-course he is!" Jimin said, rolling his eyes. "Y-you and K-K-Kookie and T-T-" He cut off with a frown, and Jooheon frowned back.

"You still haven't made up with him?"

Jimin shook his head, and Jooheon sighed.

"You need to talk to him soon, okay?"

Jimin nodded reluctantly. "F-Friday, m-maybe."

Jooheon nodded and, without turning to look at Jin, said, "Aren't you going to say hi to your brother while you're here?"

Jimin paused before shaking his head. "H-He's t-too busy w-with everyone."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind-"

"H-his f-friends will m-make f-fun of me, h-hyung. I d-don't want t-to."

Jooheon sighed before nodding. "All right, then. I'll walk you to your next class, okay?" he said, and he gave the three a slight push as he escorted them away from the classroom where Jin stood watching his brother disappear into the crowd.

Maybe Jooheon wasn't the only price he'd paid to be where he was.

Maybe there were other costs and consequences that he'd never even realized.

Or maybe he just didn't want to realize them.