It’s been weeks after the day Baekhyun witnessed Aeri in her caterpillar-like state, and he’s been keeping an eye out for her ever since. He made the resolution to take action on the words he said long ago and here he was, staring at her for the billionth time today. Whether Aeri noticed or not, he wasn’t sure if he cared.

“Baek, have you got the hots for that girl or something?” Chanyeol teases, as Baekhyun choked on his spit, navigating his eyes away from Aeri. “You’ve been staring at her for a while. Should I be concerned? I mean a wingman I can be, but a murder accomplice…I suggest you find new friends.”

Baekhyun wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and glares at Chanyeol, who just continued to take notes. Maybe he cared a little whether or not she noticed. But from all the staring he’s done the past while, he learned some things. Some sad things.

For the longest time he thought that their classmate was dating Aeri, but he was terribly wrong.

“Hey Kyungsoo, are Junghwan and Aeri dating?” Baekhyun asked one day.

“Sandeul? As far as I know they’re just best friends. Why do you ask?” Kyungsoo replied, as he continued to read. “She clings to him like no tomorrow though. It’s kind of cute.”

And she really did. Everywhere Junghwan went, Aeri would follow and vice versa. She was like a little chick with her mother. And if it wasn’t him, it was Junghwan’s other friends. Wherever she walked, she would cling to him to avoid accidentally being touched by others. That was just one of her introverted habits.

Another habit Baekhyun noticed was that she rarely ever started conversations or even spoke to other people. When she did speak to others, it was always either Junghwan and his friends or her quietly apologizing for who knows what. She looked down a lot, winced at sudden loud noises, and clung to walls when she walked in the hallway. Baekhyun felt almost sorry for her.

But amongst all of those things, there were things that slightly astonished him. Aeri was surprisingly sarcastic to her friends, she often broke into awkward dance when under the impression that it was only her and her friends around and in those rare occasions that she did hold conversations, she always looked at people in the eye.

Baekhyun leans back in his seat and lets out a sigh. “I’m hungry,” he groans aloud. His classmates laugh at his declaration and so does he. But for a second, when he looked over to Aeri, he swore that she looked at him too. But with the saddest eyes he’s ever seen.

--

It’s about eight in the morning, but Baekhyun’s already roaming the hallways. As he comes across Aeri’s locker, he whips out his notepad and writes “Don’t be afraid of living,” in big bold letters.

Would those sticky notes someday work?

He wished he could make them happen. All he needed was the chance. Baekhyun slaps the piece of paper on her locker and shrugs, making way to his locker.

When Aeri arrives to school with Junghwan by her side, she looks at the sticky note and sighs. She agrees.

--

Baekhyun is waiting outside his second period classroom before anyone else, and smiles upon seeing his teacher, deciding to make small talk before class begins. “Good morning, Mr. Kim,” he smiles, following his teacher in. “What are we doing today?”

“Hello Baekhyun,” Mr. Kim brightens, putting down his coffee. “I was thinking about introducing you all to your ongoing project today. But I was thinking, do you think your classmates would appreciate me deciding on partners or them deciding?”

This was it.

“I think you should decide,” Baekhyun replies. “I know this is kind of cheating, but can you partner me with Aeri this time around?”

“I don’t see why not,” Mr. Lee laughs, writing their names down, “thank you for your input.”

Perhaps Baekhyun did have the power to help Aeri out.

--

“This assignment is a self-conducted science experiment that will take about half the year to complete,” Mr. Lee announces, leaning against the chalkboard. “That gives you plenty of time to decide your topic, your hypothesis and to actually conduct the experiments. I expect there to be real results and separate lab reports submitted by you and your partners. You may look up experiments, but you must perform it yourself. The groups have been decided by me. These are the groups…”

The assignment outline was passed along rows and Aeri didn’t think she could breathe for a second. Groups were decided this time around. She didn’t personally know anybody in the class besides Junghwan. As she grabs the papers being handed to her, she drops them upon hearing her name.

“Aeri and Baekhyun,” Mr. Lee announces, continuing onto other groups.

Aeri felt like crying. How could one of the most outgoing kids be paired up with her? Junghwan glanced at Aeri and raised a brow, debating whether or not he needed to request that Mr. Lee switch partners.

“This period may be used to discuss the assignment with your partners,” the teacher declares, as he sits down.

When Baekhyun rushes to Aeri’s side within a few seconds and crouches by her desk, Junghwan smiles a little and decides against saying anything. He has a good feeling about this. Perhaps it’s time for the caterpillar to start trying.

“So how about conducting an experiment on people?” Baekhyun suggests

Aeri fidgets in her seat and speaks in hushed tones, “sure.”

“Actually, how about an experiment on plants? I think that’d be neat too,” Baekhyun smiles.

“I… Okay.”

“Let’s do an experiment on hair growth,” Baekhyun jokes. “Our principal could be our dependent variable.”

Aeri looks up and smiles for a bit before playing with her hands again.

He doesn’t want to say it, but it is getting increasingly difficult to make conversation with Aeri. For the past half hour, he’d been receiving nothing but short, curt replies, all of them being agreements to everything he’d said.

“Hey maybe we could…” Aeri speaks up before shaking her head. “Nevermind…”

Baekhyun was going to lose his mind if he didn’t hear a complete sentence any time soon.

“What days are you free to work on this out of school?” Baekhyun sighs, feeling dejected.

“I-I’m usually free on Saturdays,” Aeri says, albeit with a slight stutter looking at Baekhyun.

A complete sentence.

“Me too,” Baekhyun smiles.

--

“Junghwan please be my partner,” Aeri begs, almost sobbing into her lunch.

Junghwan bites into a piece of chicken and swallows, pretending to think about her plea. “No,” he deadpans.

“Baro, make him be my partner,” she whines.

Junghwan shoots Baro a glare as he aggressively eats his rice. “I do not believe in forcing Sandeul into things he does not want to do,” Baro says, looking away from Junghwan, his voice sounding almost inhuman. “I believe in considering the opinions of others. I also believe in living a long and healthy life, sorry.”

“Cha Sunwoo, I swear on my ancestors’ graves…”

“I don’t see why you’re so against this,” the upperclassman interjects. “I see nothing but good in this.”

“Shut up, Jinyoung. I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Aeri hisses, crossing her arms.

“I agree with Jinyoung,” Sunwoo says, “I mean you’re being given an opportunity to work with someone other than Junghwan. Who would pass that up? Hey, Shinwoo hyung back me up on this.”

“Leave me out of this,” Shinwoo groans, munching on some vegetables.

 “Channie?” Aeri bats her eyelashes at the younger. Gongchan shakes his head violently and turns away from a dumbfounded Aeri.

Gongchan pokes at his food for a while as Aeri continues to beg. “Seriously though, what’s so bad about being partnered up with someone you’re unfamiliar with? I know you’re not exactly the most extroverted person but I mean maybe this is a chance to break out.”

Aeri looks down in defeat and sighs. “Why won’t you switch, Junghwan? You would do it any other time, why not now?”

Junghwan pinches Aeri’s cheek and laughs at her upset expression. “It’s about time you made new friends.”

a/n: sorry for any inconsistency with the tense and names, i'm still trying to work things out with my writing style