#hs!au))

would you show me a little of your time?

i just need a little bit of it

—

“i’ll come pick you up after your exam.”

joohyun tapped your chin with a gentle finger, unable to suppress an amused smile at your crestfallen expression. “yah, i have school to go to too, you know.”

“that early?” you complained, even though you knew it was futile when bae joohyun made up her mind.

the older student looked at you for just a moment. or maybe not…?

“what do you want as an after school treat?” she slung her backpack onto her shoulder, moving toward the door.

“nothing.” you pouted, only to hear your unnie chuckle.

“uh huh. see you tomorrow afternoon!”

you sighed, locking the door behind joohyun and shuffling back to your late night cramming.

—

the next day was miserable, as math exam days went. you studied furtively in korean and english class, but by the time biology rolled around you couldn’t be bothered and just spaced out sleepily. the weather was beautiful out the window. you knew joohyun was in that direction, just half a kilometer away, probably in gym class and walking laps around the track arm-in-arm with her friends. how much you’d give, just to feel the sun on your skin and chatter with her for half an hour.

it wasn’t fair when the lottery assigned you to one high school, and joohyun to the other. it was comical, when you lived two doors down from each other. each morning, you met up early on the street to chat or exchange your mothers’ extra batches of banchan. joohyun’s activities as a student body vice president meant some mornings she had to depart way too early in the morning—today happened to be one such day. you’d usually see each other off with a good luck hug on big exam days like yours, but duty called joohyun.

you sighed, dropping your chin to the desk until the observant teacher called your name. one more class period…an awful exam…and then joohyun would walk across the neighborhood to pick you up, just as she promised. bae joohyun never broke her promises.

—

as expected, the exam ran overtime. you weren’t the last to leave the room, but you grew fed up with triple checking your answers and knew that joohyun had probably arrived at the school gates by now. you hopped up, dropping off your test before speed walking out the door.

“y/n-ah!” joohyun called, waving furiously to get your attention as if she wasn’t standing in her usual spot. a few students turned their heads with amused curiosity, one pair of your grade mates giggling to each other. you couldn’t bring yourself to care very much, skipping across the yard with a broad enough smile that drew delighted laughter from your unnie.

“hi joohyun unnie,” you said, peeking your head through the bars and miming being a prisoner. “will you set me free?”

“oh, stop fooling around,” joohyun rolled her eyes, reaching around the post to tug you onto her side. she smiled, reaching up to rearrange your disheveled bangs in her usual impulse. “how was the test?”

“it was fine.” you shrugged, not particularly interested in pursuing the topic.

“did you check your answers?”

“two and a half times.” you started to walk, towing joohyun away from the godforsaken institution. she fell into lockstep with you, her arm automatically looping into yours.

“two and a half?” her brows knitted, trying to decipher what that meant.

“i gave up on the third pass because i’d keep you waiting,” you admitted, trying at an appeasing expression. joohyun frowned.

“you…” she trailed off, giving up on the scolding. “i brought you bungeobbang. choux cream.”

“oh!” you beamed, accepting the greasy wax bag and taking a bite out the head of the fish bread. the filling was still warm and fresh. “you’re the best, unnie. i love you.”

joohyun laughed softly, and you watched from the corner of your eye as she briefly dipped her head away from you.

truth be told, joohyun was acting strangely lately. it didn’t quite make much sense, but she suddenly seemed both clingier and more reserved at the same time. you’d wracked your brain to try and remember if anything had happened to trigger this change, or if you had done something wrong. you couldn’t for the life of you recall anything specific.

“unnie, do you have to head home?” you asked, stopping at a quiet crosswalk. cross the street straight and you’d make it home; a left turn, and your feet would take you to your favorite cafe. having missed your morning meeting, you figured an hour or two at a cafe wouldn’t hurt.

“yeah,” joohyun answered immediately. “gotta work out a few logistics for the year end festival.”

“oh,” you said, let down for the second time. joohyun sighed, turning to grasp your hands in hers until you looked up at her.

“it’s the end of the year, us seniors have a lot to attend to,” she said gently. you wilted slightly. your year gap was something that you liked hearing less and less of.

because bae joohyun would, of course, graduate with perfect marks. then, she’d probably disappear north to attend some top seoul university, be a star student and the talk of the town up there, and forget little old you, back in your stinky old hometown.

it was a chance childhood connection and against all odds that someone like joohyun had a best friend like you. she was even the talk of your school, her reputation as the most beautiful girl in this whole town drawing boys from your school to peek into after school student body meeting windows.

she was looking at you with those pretty doe eyes now, pleading for your understanding and probably a little too hung up on what you had to say about her time.

“mmkay,” you sighed, trying not to look too pitiful. the walk light changed, and joohyun threaded her fingers through yours as you crossed the street together. she glanced over at you when she thought you wouldn’t notice, squeezing your hand once with a silent apology.

the walk was short, of course. you two stopped in front of your house, which was the closer one from your origin. she turned to look at you again, her eyes warm as she regarded you.

“talk to you later,” you said sullenly, but she caught your arm and kept you in place.

“i’ll ask my mom if you can come over for dinner, okay?”

you looked up at her, unable to ignore the unconcealed hope in her expression as she extended her olive branch. you sighed, pretending to consider her offer until she let out an annoyed whine.

“okay, fine.” you sighed dramatically.

joohyun nodded, her expression brightening. the conversation could’ve ended there, yet there was something that rooted the two of you in place.

“i’ll miss you,” you blurted, your gaze darting across her face as you tried to decipher bae joohyun’s penchant for unreadability. “when you graduate.”

the older student exhaled through her nose, still clutching your arm as if the northward wind would blow her away that instant.

“i’ll miss you too,” she said softly, and you knew she meant it. she tucked an errant lock of hair out of your face, her lips pressing into a saddened smile. “i don’t know what i’m gonna do without you.”

“you’ll be just fine,” you shook your head. “i’m not worried about you. who’s gonna bother me about triple checking my work?”

joohyun laughed weakly. “you don’t give yourself enough credit.” she rested a hand on your cheek, giving it a gentle pinch. “you’re a clever kid.”

she gave you that look, in moments when you grew acutely aware of the difference between the two of you. it wasn’t pity, or anything like that, rather a reminder that in some ways, you were always chasing after her.

“text me, all right?” you moved to turn and retreat into your house gate, but she kept a grip on your elbow. you looked up at her curiously, about to make a playful comment about how she seemed to like playing hard to get, when the look in her eyes made your thoughts stutter to a halt.

she pulled you into the shelter of your house gate, out of the narrow residential street, and kissed you. it was short and chaste, but on the lips, and it made your heart fairly stop in your heart. it was over as soon as it started, joohyun pulling away and her eyes fluttering open.

she looked at you as if you’d been the one to kiss her.

“sorry.” joohyun said, releasing your elbow. her cheeks were nearly red, you realized, her gaze fixed on the brick wall by your side. she sniffled softly, and your heart dropped.

“hey, don’t cry,” you reached out to grab the sides of her arms. “why’re we talking like this? it’s not like you’re leaving tomorrow.”

“yeah, i know.” joohyun laughed once, her lip trembling. you could see the panic growing in her eyes, as she began to realize what had happened. she started backpedaling. “sorry, i just…i got emotional and…i’m being weird, i'm so sorry—”

“you’re not weird,” you replied gently, automatically. “well, not for feeling this way, anyway.”

joohyun finally looked up, and her beautiful face was tragically, nearly poetically distraught. your best friend was not frequently vulnerable, not even around her family or close friends. it was all the unbelievably similar ways the two of you aligned that seemed to set joohyun at ease, unlike with anybody else in her life.

so maybe this had happened because she had seen it in you, too; in the way you’d looked at her for the past ten years of your lives, falling in deep before you knew what any of it meant.

you threaded your arms around her neck, pulling her close into a tight embrace.

“you’re not weird.” you muttered, and turned to press a sweet kiss to her cheek. a thousand emotions settled in the eye of the storm, until nothing mattered but memorizing the girl in your arms. “none of this is weird at all.”

joohyun melted into your hold, and you knew the relief that was washing over her, because you could feel it, too.

Approaching the front walkway to their home, Iris slowed down a bit and Barry slowed down with her.

“What is it?” he asked.

“When we get inside, we go up to my room right away, okay?”

His brows furrowed, even as the blood started to pump heavily in his veins.

She doesn’t mean like that, his inner voice scolded him.

“Barry.”

He blinked.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, okay. Yep, sure, your room right away.”

She looked at him strangely, then decided to brush it off.

“I did some research during free period, and I sent it to my e-mail, so I’m going to pull it up on my laptop, and we’ll be in business.”

Impressed, Barry could only stare at her admiringly as she reached for the doorknob and twisted it open.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said, cracking a grin that she didn’t notice as she pushed the door open and stepped inside, him close on her heels.

In fact, he was so close to her, he nearly tripped over her when she came abruptly to the stop with the sound of “Hey, kids” as soon as they walked in the door.

“Dad!” Iris grew cold. “You’re home.”

“Yeah…” Joe West said, walking into the living room from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dish towel on his way and tossing it over his shoulder. “I thought I’d make up for how late I showed up last night.”

Iris smiled tremulously.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. We ordered a pizza. It was fine.”

“Yeah, but I like when we have dinner as a family, and I wasn’t able to make that happen yesterday.”

“Oh, tha-”

“So, tonight, I’ve decided we’re going to make dinner together, the three of us. You can tell me what you’ve been up to, and then after we’re done eating, maybe we can watch a movie together. If you don’t have too much homework that is.”

“Oh, we have loads of homework,” Iris said enthusiastically. “Don’t we, Barry?”

“Huh?”

She jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow.

“Oh, yeah, loads,” he wheezed.

“You see, Dad? We just…can’t make it happen tonight. Sorry.”

Joe frowned.

“Well, maybe we can’t make the movie happen, but surely you can help me with dinner.”

Iris’ jaw dropped.

“Can we at least change clothes?” she asked, scrambling for an excuse.

He mulled that over.

“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t want to get sauce on any of your nice-”

“Great! We’ll be back down in 10 minutes!” she declared, then muttered under her breath, “Come on, Barry,” as she tugged him by the sleeve of his shirt up the stairs.

Barry tripped over his own feet the second Iris let go of him about halfway up the staircase. Luckily, he didn’t faceplant, and managed instead to get a hold of the railing before Iris turned her head over her shoulder to make sure he was still following her.

He debated making a pitstop at his bedroom to change clothes, but given Iris’ urgency, he figured it was better to abandon that to hear about whatever research she had gathered during school hours.

“Okay, so.” Iris plopped down on her desk chair in the corner of her room and booted up her laptop. “From what Google could tell me, apparently it can take two to three weeks for a black eye to fully heal up – a.k.a. look like it was never there.”

Barry kicked his shoes off near the entrance of her room and padded over to her, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“No way Tony’ll stay out of school that long.”

Iris looked at him over her shoulder, a sparkle in her eyes that made Barry’s heart race faster.

“Exactly. He’s got a football game on Friday, so at the very least he’ll have to be there for that.”

“Will he come to school though is the question…”

“Check this out,” Iris said, digging through her emails and then presenting an attachment for him to see. A video. She pressed play.

“Why am I watching Matilda right now?” Barry asked, dumbfounded.

Iris jumped to her feet so fast she almost didn’t catch herself from slamming into Barry.

“We’re going to break into Tony Woodward’s house and haunt him.” Her eyebrows wiggled.

“I’m sorry – what?” He spun around as Iris brushed past him to dig around in her dresser drawers for new clothes to wear.

“That’s the turning point in the movie, Bear. Matilda realizes her powers really do work, and she uses them to freak out the evil principal of the school and thus, saves the day for herself and her favorite teacher, Miss Honey.” She paused and fluttered her eyelashes, holding her hands to her heart for dramatics.

“I know what happens in the movie, Iris. But in case you’ve forgotten, we don’t have powers. We can’t move things with our mind like Matilda.”

“Which just means we’ll have to be incognito.”

“Huh?”

“We’ll have to be sneaky, clever, on a mission, in disguise! Now, go.” She started pushing him towards the doorway. “Change clothes. I’ll make up an excuse to get us out of the house for a few hours after dinner, and-”

“Our curfew is 8 p.m., Iris.”

“And tonight our dinner is at 4:30. More than enough time to bring Tony Woodward to his knees.”

She smiled mischievously and pushed him into the hall, slamming the door in his face. He could hear giggles and knew she’d seen his jaw on the floor.

“Barry! Iris!”

“Coming!” Barry heard Iris say, then moments later her door swung open, and he found himself being tugged down the hallway and shoved into his room while she made her grand entrance to her dad via the staircase.

“Where’s Barry?” Joe asked with a frown.

“He’s coming,” Iris said, smiling prettily. “You know boys, they take forever getting ready.”

She skipped past her still frowning dad and into the kitchen.

“No, actually, I hadn’t heard that,” he muttered to himself, but he was one for two in the kid department, so he figured he’d let it slide.

…

About five minutes later, Barry had changed and found his way in the kitchen. He didn’t make his presence known at first, too enraptured by the sight of Iris smiling and laughing at something her dad had said. She was so damn beautiful, and he was so lucky to have her as his best friend. It was probably all he’d ever be to her, so he was going to treasure every moment of their friendship, even when it included crazy, outlandish things like breaking into the Woodward mansion.

“Barry!” Iris erupted. “Come over here. You’re missing the good part.”

“What took you so long, son?” Joe asked, his brows furrowing a little.

Barry froze, barely noticing the slightly panicked look on Iris’ face the longer he delayed answering.

“I-I couldn’t find my…socks.”

Iris laughed nervously, more so when her dad looked down at Barry’s feet and found them perfectly fitted with two white socks.

“Well, looks like you found them,” Joe said dryly.

Barry cleared his throat and shuffled over to help them with dinner. Iris, eager to move passed the awkward moment, quickly gave Barry something to do, and in no time they had prepared dinner for the three of them and were setting the table for a tasty meal.

“This was a good idea, dad. We should do this more often,” Iris commented, as she took a full forkful in her mouth.

“I am not going to argue about that,” Joe said with a chuckle. “With a little guidance from myself and occasionally your grandma Esther, the two of you will be master chefs in no time.”

Barry focused on eating, waiting for the inevitable conversation about how their night would or wouldn’t unfold to begin.

“So, how’s the homework load tonight?” Joe asked a while later. “You said you have a lot of it. Anything I can help with?”

“Actually…” Iris began, sounding overly confident, and Barry knew this was it. “It’s pretty hardcore stuff, science and math and all that. Even over Barry’s head some of it.”

Joe raised his eyebrows and looked at the boy in question.

“Even over Barry’s head?”

Barry shrugged helplessly.

“Who knew?”

Iris laughed to fill the silence.

“Anyway, Stacy suggested we go over to her house tonight to work on it. Jessica will be there too, and both of Stacy’s parents are home, which is the point, really, since her dad is our math teacher, and her mom is our science teacher. You remember that, Dad, right?” She tilted her head, guilting him into remembering a parent-teacher conference or two.

“Vaguely,” spilled out of his mouth in a stern tone, and Iris knew she had to double down.

Barry focused on his food.

“I’ll go give Stacy a call, tell her we’ll be on our way as soon as we’re done with dinner.” She started to get up, but Joe’s raised voice had her moving in slow motion back into her seat.

“Sit. Yourself. Down, young lady.”

She turned and looked at him expectantly.

“We are going to finish eating dinner as a family. Then, I will call Stacy’s mother to make sure she and I are on the same page, and that the two of you will be walking back through that front door by eight o’clock sharp,” he said, pointing to the door in question.

Iris smiled tremulously and took another bite of her food.

“Whatever you say, Daddy.”

Joe looked at his daughter suspiciously for another moment or two, then to a busily eating Barry before shaking his head and returning to his own meal.

The rest of the meal was held in silence. No further conversation was had, and each person stayed focused on their plates in front of them.

“All right, when the two of you are finished eating, you may clear the table and wash up while I call Mrs. Conwell and see what the situation is.”

Joe eyed both teens down before getting up with his plate and migrating into the kitchen.

That was when Iris lifted her head to look at Barry, and their eyes locked. She winked at him, which under normal circumstances would’ve given him butterflies due to his outrageous feelings for her that burst into full swing whenever she made the slightest gesture directed at him. At this precise moment though, he feared the intention behind that wink more than anything else.

“Uh-huh. Okay. Thank you, Lisa. Appreciate it. We’ll see you soon. Bye.”

Iris beamed at Barry where they stood putting dishes into the dishwasher, as Joe’s voice carried into the kitchen. As predicted, Joe came into view and hung up the phone in its carrier on the wall. Iris couldn’t contain her excitement.

“Before you get excited,” Joe warned, “Stacy’s mother hadn’t the slightest idea that you and her daughter were scheming to get together for a study session.”

Iris pursed her lips, not in the slightest dissuaded from her excitement.

“But she agreed it was a good idea, since some hard lessons were taught today in class, and she’ll drop the two of you off in time for your 8pm curfew.”

Iris squealed and jumped up where she stood before lunging across the room and hopping into her dad’s arms.

“Thank you, Daddy!” she cheered, and reluctantly he wrapped his arms around his daughter, hugging her back.

Barry couldn’t believe it. He knew Iris could be devious and clever and even sneaky when she wanted to be, but he honestly hadn’t thought she’d pull this off before she talked to Stacy to tell her that a phone call was coming to her mother.

“Well, son, don’t you have anything to say?” Joe asked when Iris had finally unwound herself from him.

Iris turned and raised one eyebrow at him, warning him not to ruin it at this venture. He was rendered nearly speechless still but managed to find a few choice words.

“I’m just glad we’re getting the help we need,” he said with a pursed smile and a nod.

Iris’ warning look dissolved, and she looked up at her dad, beaming again.

“Don’t mind him, Dad. He’s not good at admitting defeat.”

Barry shrugged helplessly and Joe shook his head.

“All right, you two. Finish cleaning up and get your stuff. I’ll drive you over in five.”

“On it!”

Iris nearly knocked Barry over as she jumped back over to him. When Joe was gone, Barry lowered his voice.

“How did you do that without talking to Stacy first?” he asked.

Iris looked up at him with a proud smile on her face.

“Girl code,” she said simply.

Castiel reaches the bank a split second before Dean, so Dean forgoes the rope swing entirely and uses all his momentum to shove the first boy into the river. He yelps and manages to twist around and grab Dean’s shoulder on the way down so they both crash into the water at once, and the resounding shout and splash echo through the quiet streets.

Neither of them care, though. There are birds chirping, and bugs buzzing, and the silence of the rest of town provides a false sense of isolation in their little bubble of sound. Castiel takes revenge by throwing an armful of river water into Dean’s face as soon as he resurfaces, and Dean retaliates, and the resulting splash fight is more fitting for boys of eight than eighteen. Dean is out of breath and laughing when he calls a truce, but as he watches Castiel his grin fades into a quiet pensiveness that clashes with the warm day and peaceful atmosphere.

Castiel, for his part, narrows his eyes. “What.”

“Nothin’.” Dean averts his gaze and half-heartedly splashes Cas again, both in a half-hearted attempt to distract from the embarrassing fact that he has feelings. “Just weird you’re leaving, that’s all.”

Castiel’s expression softens, and he sighs. This is not the first time they’ve had this conversation. “I’m not going far.”

Dean scoffs. “Chicago, man. That’s pretty far.”

“Are you saying I’m not worth driving 9 hours for?”

This earns him another splash, which he deflects before speaking again. “Come on. It’s not like I’m leaving forever.”

Dean nods but turns away, moving to haul himself back onto the riverbank. “You sure you’re gonna want to come home? When you’re all fancy in the big city?” he’s teasing, and Cas knows that. But he’s also not—and Dean knows he knows that, too.

Cas considers him with a hum and wades towards the shore until he’s only waist deep. “I’ll promise to keep coming home if you don’t promise to forget about me when you’re the Jayhawk’s best player,” he offers, sticking his hand out and everything. “Deal?”

Dean blinks at the offered hand for a moment before scoffing. “Yeah, sure.” The reply is noncommittal but he reaches out to shake his best friend’s hand anyway—his best friend who, with a mischievous smile, uses that hand to pull him off the bank and into the river again.

They have another half an hour there before Mary sends Sam out to call them both back to the house for sandwiches, and then another 25 minutes before Cas reluctantly heads home to start his homework—what for? You already got in—yes, but I’d like to not have the offer rescinded, Dean. They have another month until graduation, and three...three until Cas moves north to Chicago. 

Dean hugs his best friend tighter than usual at his front door and watches him get back on his bicycle, a mixture of fondness and anxiety unfurling in his stomach.

Three months.