"You okay there?"

"My head hurts," Jeongin groaned. He stuck his bottom lip out, pouting as he winced up at Jisung, "It's so bad."

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

Jeongin laid his head down on the desk, the cold chill off the top soothing the throbbing in his temples. He closed his eyes in hopes to ease the pain doing his head in and disrupting his normally acute focus in class, only for a wave of dizziness to smack him back awake. He placed an arm over his head, covering himself from the bright sunlight as he croaked, "Maybe an hour... Homework to finish..."

"You get used to it after a while. That's how it is," Jisung said with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"No!" Jeongin flinched at his sudden raise of voice, shooting up off the desk to stare at Jisung. His cheeks flushed, muttering a quick sorry as he fiddled with his fingers, "I'm not going back. I can't, I'll be in trouble."

Jisung rolled his eyes. The younger gave him a questioning look, to which narrowed his eyes and he scoffed, "Who are you trying to impress?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it literally, who are you acting so... good for?"

"For me, who else?"

"Right," Jisung pressed his lips into a thin line, shaking his head slightly as he stared down at the sloppily tied laces dangling off his shoe. He hopped down from the school desk and began to trudge out of the classroom, making the subtle comment of, "That's why you haven't throw away that jacket."

Jeongin whipped around to protest, "Hey, he forced me...!"

But Jisung waved it off and was out of the door before he could make any further comments. Jeongin groaned, laying his head back down on the chilly surface of his disk. He once again closed his eyes and let his mind wander to it's deepest depths, his body succumbing to the headache as he drifted farther from the last bit if consciousness keeping him afloat. In his dreams he revisited the memories from last night, wondering about the leather jacket sat folded on his desk. Jeongin scrunched his face up. He should just throw it away when he got the chance, or give it to someone else who could use it.

The jacket... Why did it bother him so much? It was just a piece of fabric. His dreams wandered to it's owner. To the mop of blond hair. To the sly grin that haunted his mind. To the hand on his lower thigh.

A voice startled him awake, "Yang Jeongin, are you sleeping or contemplating Le Chatelier's Principle when involving applied pressure?"

"Yes!" Jeongin squeaked. With a red face he bounced up from his desk and chewed the inside of his lip, "I'm... Umm..."

The chemistry teacher raised an eyebrow at him, "Sleeping."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Park," He apologized and hung his head, bowing low as the teacher approached his desk. Mr. Parj was one of the few teachers hat Jeongin truely enjoyed being in his class, beyond the normal being polite and respectful. A lot of students liked him, something like a father to most of them. It might have been because of that they thought he shared a lot of their problems and could be trusted with them. Besides his pop quizzes that were often on difficult topics, no one really liked those.

Mr. Park offered a suspicious smile. He leaned back against one of the desks next to Jeongin's seat, balancing himself on the edge as he folded his legs and questioned, "Now, the sleeping. Are you feeling sick? Do you need to visit the nurse's office?"

"No, I didn't mean to fall asleep. I thought I could close my eyes for a few minutes," Jeongin briefly added in, "Since it's break."

"And young children are usually with their friends at break, no?"

Jeongin laughed gently, "We are not that young. My friends are busy so I'm staying in here, if that's alright with you."

"That's okay, however, I will put you to work so you're not dozing off. I have quizzes to grade and if you'd be willing to help it will take up the rest of said break," Mr. Park approached his desk, leaving the student behind. He began ruffling through the stacks and piles of graded papers. Moving a few to the side, he grabbed a bundle of stabled packets and slammed their ends against the top of the desk to line them up. With his eyes focused on the papers, Mr. Park stepped around the desk and stretched them out to Jeongin, "But, that shouldn't be an issue for the student body president."

"No," Jeongin replied flatly, despite his strong attempts to keep the formality in his tone. He gingerly took the quizzes from Mr. Park's hands and kept a smile no matter how strained it might have appeared as he stared down at the stack, "It would be my pleasure."

"Wonderful," Mr. Park turned on his heel and plotted down at his desk, pulling over a stack of his own papers. He marked a few before mentioning, "And don't expect to finish all of them by time the bell rings. It's unreasonable for me to ask that of you."

Jeongin nodded and muttered a tiny thank you to his direction. He plodded down at his empty desk and began flipping through the papers, noticing a familiar word written on one of the questions that the teacher had said prior. He lilted, "Mr. Park? What is that principle you mentioned?"

"Le Chatelier's Principle. It was the extra credit question on the quiz, mentioned in section six. If I answer your question, you can't tell the periods who haven't taken the quiz yet."

"No, of course I won't. But I read about it a bit at home and I'm just... Curious."

"You say that as if being curious was a bad thing. Although it is dangerous, there's no reason to fear curiosity; if you're willing to deal with the consequences," Mr. Park forced a gentle smile, Jeongin would know, it was the only smile he could manage, "We've mentioned equilibrium last chapter, the state in which reactants and product are completely balanced with each other. Le Chatelier's Principle states that if a system at equilibrium is disturbed, the equilibrium will move in a direction that offsets the disturbance. It will attempt to find balance again by relieving the stress."

Jeongin glared down at the quiz papers, the messy writing of students names and incorrect answers glared just as hard back at him. He glanced back up to the teacher, "But, why?"

"Hm. I could tell you the theoretical answer to the question but is isn't needed until you take an advanced chemistry course. Instead I'll offer you the ethical answer," Mr. Park leaned his arms on his desk. He spoke barely above a whisper, as if he were spilling the world's deepest secrets to the student, "Does something need to have a reason to be at peace?"

"I... Don't think so? You should be entitled to a certain stability in life. But you're implying that chemical reactions have thoughts and ideas or feelings."

"And? Some of your classmates have neither."

Jeongin let out a burst of laughter at this notion. He was inclined to agree with Mr. Park, but the better part of him was able to stop himself from going any further then a few chortles.

"And Jeongin?"

"Yes?"

"Le Chatelier's principle doesn't apply only to chemistry," Mr. Park turned his lips up into a smile that never reached beyond his mouth. There was something odd about the way it was said. Something that made Jeongin feel unsettled. He glanced up to the teacher. They were the trustful kind, not the mischievous eyes burned in to his mind, more like a father who watched his child walk on their own two feet for the very first time.

"Now, get to it. Those quizzes aren't going to grade themselves."

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