Chapter Text
let's just say ahn keonho already lost the plot of the plan.
only three days into the school year and he already managed to act like a lovesick fool in front of seonghyeon (keonho is, but he does not want to admit that right now). how does he do it? literally no one knows. it's a skill how keonho can find ways to humiliate himself in the presence of the love of his life.
it all started on the second day of school. thankfully, keonho was able to make it to orientation this time around, no more wandering around school like an idiot! for now, at least.
he was in his fourth period, aka his favorite period dance. he's been dancing since he was three, and fourteen years later he still hadn't lost his spark. he's warming up with his classmates when his teacher, mrs. auclair, loudly claps.
"alright everyone, welcome back! hope you guys had a great break, rested well, actually stretched 'cause we are jumping straight into a new project!" mrs. auclair adjusts her cardigan and folds it into her core as she speaks. the class audible groans at the news, keonho following in suit as he drops his head down to the ground. he just got back from break, how come they have to start a new project two days in?
"oh, quit with the whining. you know i don't usually start dances so early into the year, but this is special. this time, we're collaborating with the orchestra department!" her smile doubles, excitement flourishing all over her. it rubs off on the other students as well, with claps and cheers being heard. it's not that surprising for keonho, he knows that everyone at this school love working with other departments. that is what makes this school so fun!
keonho would've been cheering too if it wasn't for the fact that eom seonghyeon himself was in fact in the orchestra department.
he knew that seonghyeon has been playing the cello since he was seven, thanks to small conversations they've had about their respective departments. he's also heard his playing when he does gigs for the dance recitals, and damn can seonghyeon play.
for as little keonho knows about instruments, all he knows is that seonghyeon is insanely good at the cello, and looks so effortlessly beautiful playing. the way he hyper focuses on the music, immersing himself in the notes, and how he makes fingers running around on the strings look so hot. sometimes he wishes he was a cello so that seonghyeon co-
stop keonho. have some decorum.
point is, he's very talented. and having a talented cellist is the same vicinity as keonho while he tries not to fumble a grand jeté is not ideal. keonho's guaranteed to fall on his ass and look idiotic, not graceful and elegant.
trying to distract himself from his brain's constant fear mongering, he locks back into his dance teacher's explanation.
"since there's an even number of orchestra and dance students, me and mr. astor have decided to pair each dancer with one orchestra student. the orchestra students have already either created or selected a piece to perform, so your duty is to create a choreography for said piece. mr aston's class should be coming in any minute, so be prepared. i advise you to warm up cleverly." mrs. auclair pushes her dark cherry red cat eye glasses up, her nails being the same color. she crosses her arms yet again as she sits down in her chair and starts typing on her laptop. keonho settles on finishing his stretching.
moments later, mr. astor's orchestra ensemble conspires into their studio. mrs. auclair and mr. aston are grouping up students, and keonho is praying he doesn't get seonghyeon. as much as he wants him, he simply cannot imagine seeing him play the cello. keonho only has so much restraint.
"...lee wonhee and hokazono iroha, eom seonghyeon and ahn keonho..."
you've got to be joking.
there's no way i got paired with him, keonho's gaslighting himself to believe. there's no way! he almost believes himself until the beautiful boy himself starts walking over to him, cello case slung over his back.
he still has his blonde highlights in, except his hair is a bit darker compared to their first encounter. guess it's a personal choice he adopted a bit ago, and thank god seonghyeon did. it makes him look even more ethereal if that was even possible.
seonghyeon's wearing a gray striped shirt with light blue jeans, which seems pretty simple right? except you'd be insanely wrong. this is eom seonghyeon we're talking about!
the way everything fits on him is just perfect, like the gods crafted seonghyeon's clothing by hand to make sure it made the boy look so effortlessly alluring. his hair cascades down his face, slightly covering his eyes and framing his face as if he's the most expensive painting in the louvre. as he walks up to keonho, his signature boxy smile that showcases his dimples appears. geez, doesn't he know that keonho's but a weak man for him?
"hi keonho! how are you doing?" seonghyeon says, his eyes sparkling at the black haired boy still planted on the floor. in a very keonho fashion, he malfunctions and suddenly forgot how to speak. it's like every word in his vocabulary got yanked away from him in some sort of cruel, unusual punishment. instead of being coherent, he attempts to blurt out literally anything that isn't idiotic.
"uh, i- hi seong-seonghyeon. i'm-um, doing great. splendid even!" already off to a bad start. way to go, ahn keonho!
seonghyeon raises an eyebrow, a smirk fighting to form on his lips as he asks "are you sure? that wasn't very... convincing."
"yeah, i am! sorry, it's been a day." keonho finally gets off the floor and runs a hand through his hair, his face pink from the teasing.
"okayyy... i'll believe you. but seriously, i'm so happy we're working together! i don't know anyone in this department besides you and james, and i already know you're very good at what you do so i know i'm in good hands!"
keonho gets even more flushed from that comment. the concept of seonghyeon having so much trust in him for his project is so endearing. keonho just doesn't know what to do when the eom seonghyeon so easily compliments him like that. he can feel his body shutting down and accepting his fate of such an embarrassing death. here lies ahn keonho, 2009-2026. cause of death: eom seonghyeon.
"wow, um, t-thank you! but really, i'm not that good. there's so much better dancers in this class than me! but thank you for the uh- compliment. i couldn't really do this project without you though, seonghyeon." keonho chokes out while having his eyes glued to the ground. for his own sanity, he's choosing not to look at the boy in front of him so he can attempt to collect his thoughts.
however, he looks up as he's down with his sad excuse of a word vomit and sees seonghyeon staring back at him with this look. it's a look he hasn't seen in seonghyeon before, some sub genre of amusement. it's mixed with something he just can't put his finger on. along with that, a small smile is painted onto his face, his arms crossed over his chest with veins popping out. if it wasn't for the fact that seonghyeon was right there, keonho would've taken the rest of class time ogling his arm veins. unfortunately, professionalism comes first.
seonghyeon slightly chuckles at the black haired boy in front of him before saying "rightttt. i would love to debate that 'better dancers' statement with you, but i still need to show you my piece. follow me, i'll take you into a practice room." he turns around on his heel to the door, with keonho following behind.
♥︎
if keonho thought he was going to die earlier, he definitely will now.
because now he's in a practice room with the eom seonghyeon listening to him play his song. and honestly keonho is not focused on whatever seonghyeon's playing right now
it's impossible to think about dance moves when seonghyeon's right there, eyebrows slightly furrowed as he intensely stares at his ipad. he doesn't just play the song, he feels the song. and it is so. intoxicating. he moves his body with every note, more fluid with softer parts and harsher with rougher parts. and seonghyeon is just so... effortlessly gorgeous? this is insanely unfair. keonho's face morphs into the ugliest shapes imaginable while he dances, and seonghyeon gets to serve face the whole time? oh yeah, let's just have eom seonghyeon look even more jaw dropping while he plays a fucking instrument.
cutting off that rant, seonghyeon's piece is a slow, flowy song which is perfect for keonho. actually listening to the piece instead of staring at seonghyeon's fingers, he starts to get ideas and creates dance moves. see, keonho can actually get work done! do not doubt his abilities!
they're both insanely focused, with seonghyeon perfectly playing his piece and keonho already conspiring ideas for his choreography. after a couple minutes, seonghyeon finishes his song and looks up at keonho. he's still thinking of ideas when he realizes that the song's done and looks back at seonghyeon.
"sorry, i kinda got too into it." keonho sheepishly says with his face turning pink for the hundredth time today.
"it's fine, i get it. but what do you think? of my piece, i mean."
"it's really good! the song's so beautiful, it's kinda similar to you. and you play so well!" seonghyeon smiles at his compliments, and keonho swears he melts.
"thank you keon, but what do you mean it's similar to me?" a slight smirk replaces his smile, and keonho only realizes what he said. why would he even say that?
"oh, um, well it's just really pretty and-" "you think i'm pretty?" and seonghyeon's giving him that look again. the one he gave keonho in the studio.
right, so this is how keonho dies. in a practice room, with the love of his life, while he's still in his dance wear. no, he refuses to go out like this! that's way too embarrassing for a grave stone, so he mentally gets himself together and tries to say something.
"i- um... yeah?" never mind. god take him out now.
to make this even worse, he can 1) feel his face turn redder than a fucking tomato, 2) feel the cold sweats all over his body, and 3) see how seonghyeon has a tint of pink on his cheeks that wasn't there before as he pushes his hair behind his ear, and looks back at keonho with a bug smile. like the kind that makes his eyes slightly disappear. and right now seonghyeon is so, so cute. keonho is so, so doomed.
"well thank you keon. if it makes it any better, i think you're handsome as well."
"w-what?!" seonghyeon giggles at keonho's... whatever is going on.
"you're cute when you're flustered, but i think if i tease you anymore you might combust." seonghyeon takes a quick glance at the digital clock on the wall before sighing and pouting. "ughhh, we have to go. you can go ahead if you want, i know you have to change and whatever."
now, keonho would've usually stayed. he changes quickly compared to the other dancers. however, he simply cannot stay in this room with seonghyeon any longer. so he nods and high tails it out that practice room. he can already hear james making fun of him, yikes.
♥︎
"oh my god! i can't- i can't breathe! oh my-"
"okay it's not that fucking funny hyung." keonho says as he chucks a pillow straight to james' face
he's already regretting telling james. he's knows james since he was five and james was six, and they've been inseparable ever since. the good thing about their friendship is that keonho can tell james anything and he knows it will not go out, the bad thing is james will clown him for it if it's embarrassing. and when it comes to eom seonghyeon, everything's embarrassing. just imagine how much james made fun of him for eating straight tile on their first encounter.
james is still laughing despite the pillow, head leaned back on the couch as he clutches his stomach. when he calms down a bit more, he starts to speak.
"dude, you're a loser. fuck you mean you accidentally called him pretty? oh my god i wish i was there!"
"thank god you weren't! only good thing about us having different periods this year." keonho pouts and sinks into the couch. as much as he hates to admit it, he did miss having his best friend dance with him during class.
"i seriously don't understand why there's two advanced periods. like that's so stupid! wait that's not important—let's talk about he was blatantly flirting with you?!"
"don't feed into my delusions right now, we need to be realistic. he was doing anything but flirting."
"my god, bitch are you dense? he literally called you handsome and cute like what more do you want?" james puts his feet on the couch and leans against the arm rest. he grabs a bag of gummies off the ground and rips it open.
"so? my grandma calls me handsome all the time!" keonho sits up as he defends himself.
"that's your grandma dude. of course she's gonna call you handsome. i'm your best friend and i would never randomly call you handsome, especially if you're in your ugly ass dance wear." james plucks out a gummy and eats it before pulling out another drink that keonho doesn't even know where it came from. it's a mystery how james always has food on him.
"do not bring my dance wear into this! but i don't know hyung, i don't believe he meant it in that way."
"then what way would he mean it in? 'cause i'm telling you, it's unlikely he meant it in a friendly way."
and for some reason, that stuck with keonho. like maybe, just maybe, he already had a chance? or maybe it's the delusion speaking. who knows?
but the thought still lingers with him all the way to the next week, as he's in the library trying to find a book to read. he impulsively decided that he needed to go to the library to read something that'll get choreography ideas and seonghyeon's alleged flirting out of his thoughts, and contrary to popular belief, his local library has a solid book selection that he loves to abuse. so he threw on a random hoodie and walked to the library, like what every sane person does! right...?
he's going through the shelves of books when his eyes land onto one particular book. it's a book he's been having his eye on for a while but refuses to buy in fear he might hate it. if keonho's buying a book with his hard earned money, it better be good as hell. he reaches for the book, but apparently someone else had the same idea as him. their hands brush and keonho instantly goes to apologize.
"oh, i'm so sorry! you can have the bo-" he freezes when he realizes who it is.
it's no other than eom seonghyeon himself. he's wearing a black compression shirt with grey sweatpants, his hair placed back with a headband. keonho just might lose his shit in this library with how good seonghyeon looks. however, keonho recovers and pushes up his glasses before continuing, "oh, hi seonghyeon. i didn't expect to see you here."
"yeah me neither! i never knew you wore glasses though?" seonghyeon pouts and it's so cute, keonho wants to kiss it away so bad.
"usually i wear contacts, but i kinda wanted to get a book last minute so i just threw my glasses on." keonho shyly replies. seonghyeon smiles and pokes his cheek.
"well they fit you so well keon! you should wear your glasses more often, you look so cute with them." there he goes, just so calmly calling keonho cute like the black haired boy won't explode right now. keonho tries to redirect the conversation, so he grabs the book off the shelf and holds it out in front of the other boy. "um, the book... you can have it!"
"no, it's okay. you were there before i was, you deserve it."
"no i insist! i think you'd like it more anyway."
"you'd only know if you read the book, hence you should take it."
"i can just feel the vibes and it's saying that seonghyeon should have it."
"hmm, i'm getting more of a 'give it to keonho' vibe?"
"your vibe is wrong, try again."
seonghyeon dramatically gasps and places his hand over his chest. "i'm getting 'keon is a big meanie' vibes now."
keonho and seonghyeon stare at each other for a moment before softly laughing. keonho softly pushes the blonde-brown boy's shoulders before speaking.
"we're not getting anything done here!"
"i know right?" seonghyeon pauses for a moment before continuing, "why don't we just read together?"
yeah, let's just be right next to the prettiest man ever, probably shoulder-to-shoulder, huddling over a book. because that sounds like an amazing idea. keonho does not want to do that. well he does but he does not want to do something he will regret. and with his horrible luck, he can feel it coming. he would pass on the offer, but the way seonghyeon's looking at him with his big, doe eyes, it's really hard to not say yes instantly. he adjusts his glasses again and runs a hand through his hair as he speaks.
"read... together?"
"yeah! it'll be fine i promise, please keonie?" seonghyeon clasps his hands together and pouts.
yeah, there's no way he can say no now. keonho let seonghyeon calling him 'keon' slide, so what if he calls him a nickname? he probably does that with everyone! but there's something about how he calls keonho 'keonie' instead, with the cutest pout playing on his lips. if he said no to that face, it would be the equivalent of kicking a puppy. he physically cannot say no to him. so—with a sigh and an eye roll—he reluctantly says "okay fine. find us a spot somewhere."
seonghyeon's eyes sparkle and his smile replaces the previous pout. "okay! i know a spot, come with me!" he grabs the black haired boy's hand, interlocks their fingers together, and drags him out of the maze of shelves. keonho instantly blushes at the contact. he knows seonghyeon's a little touchy, he's seen how he interacts with his friends martin edwards and kim juhoon. it seems like his arm is always glued around juhoon's shoulders, or he's always hugging martin. but he did not expect this at all. seonghyeon's hand is soft and ice cold, a perfect contrast to keonho's chronically warm hands. their hands fit into each other's so perfectly keonho has to force himself to look ahead.
sooner enough, they get to a tiny, empty room. they sit on the floor, backs against the wall, and started reading together (opening the book was a struggle, as they both only had one hand and seonghyeon refused to let go of keonho's hand). seonghyeon was so attentive with keonho. if keonho wasn't does with a page yet, he would softly stare until keonho finished before flipping the page. somewhere between page 50-whatever, keonho fell asleep. maybe pulling an all-nighter the night before wasn't the brightest idea. when he woke up, he felt something solid under his head. he looked around his surroundings and saw seonghyeon staring back at him, his hair now flowing down his face freely. he pushed his glasses up and raised his head.
"sorry, did i fall asleep on you?" he tried to stretch his arms, but forgot his right hand was on lockdown due to seonghyeon's annoying perfect hand.
"you did. don't worry, i didn't mind it." seonghyeon softly giggles as he uses his available hand to softly touch keonho's wavy locks. "your hair is so messy!"
keonho covers his face with his hand. "ughhh that's so embarrassing! what time is it anyway?"
"um, like 6? you only napped for a half hour." he fixes keonho's bangs before moving his hand away from his hair. keonho groans even more into his hand.
"fuck, i promise james-hyung i'd be home by 6. he's probably banging on my door right now." keonho finally releases his hand from his face and pushes himself off the ground, seonghyeon following.
"do you need me to walk you home?"
keonho softly smiles at the other. "no, it's okay. it's only a ten-minute walk from here."
"are you sureee?"
"yes seonghyeon, i'll be fine! don't worry so much." seonghyeon pouts and unlocks their hands before holding his arms out. "can i at least get a hug?"
keonho is so weak for this boy. he's so cute, all keonho can do is nod and wrap his arms around his shoulders. seonghyeon's wraps his around keonho's waist and happily sighs into the hug. if keonho didn't have to go home to let james in, he'd probably stay here forever to hug the boy in his arms. he soon releases and steps out the hug.
"are you always this clingy?" keonho asks, tucking a hair behind the brown-blonde haired boy's ear. he does not know where this confidence spawned from, do not ask him. something must've shifted when he was sleeping.
"i'm not even clingy!" keonho looks at his waist—where seonghyeon's arms are still clinging onto him—and back to him. seonghyeon retracts his arms as he replies "okay, maybe i am a little."
keonho bids his final goodbyes to seonghyeon before leaving the library (which was almost impossible, because seonghyeon was being so cute and pretty he almost ditched james for him. he didn't though, he's a good friend). he pulls out his phone to see five missed calls from james. he calls the older back, who instantly picks up.
"KEONHO WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?? IT'S HOT AS FUCK LET ME IN!"
"i'm coming! but you will never believe what happened at the library."
♥︎
keonho looks back at his ceiling, eyes glued on the plan list. the first part is staring back at him. it's like him and this damn piece of paper are having a staring contest. this plan was supposed to be very straightforward: talk to him, become friends, make him like me, date. now it's as if him and seonghyeon are tap dancing between the first three steps. damn you eom seonghyeon and your sweet talk!
but now keonho doesn't know what to do. does he just go with the flow, or keep on progressing according to the plan? to be fair, keonho doesn't even know if they're technically friends! on one hand, they don't really text much except when seonghyeon sent him a recording of his piece, they don't really hang outside of school, they don't do most friendly things. but on the other hand, they held hands for probably an hour, which is way more than friendly. maybe seonghyeon's just like that!
keonho gives the paper one last glare before closing his eyes and falling asleep. he'll let whatever deity that's up there decide for him, because it seems like they're better decision makers than he is.