Work Text:
If you asked Hwang Minhyun if he knew a Kim Jonghyun, you would probably be answered with a very blank stare and a tilt of his head.
To say he was anti-social was very much an understatement.
Okay, maybe he had come across Jonghyun a few times while walking along the corridors, but the boy always had his nose buried in some book that was almost as thick as Dongho's arms. How would you expect Minhyun to know him, much less know his name.
And there was always that tall, lanky boy trailing behind Jonghyun like a bodyguard, preventing Jonghyun from smashing into walls. Besides, Minhyun already had Dongho and Seongwoo as his friends, who more did he need?
"...and then Yongguk asked Baejin 'have you eaten?' in Chinese and everyone thought he was swearing, it was so funny!" Dongho laughed loudly as the trio walked back to class, "Baejin legit got so scared that his eyes widened as big as Geonhee's mouth!"
Minhyun laughed equally as loud as his friend, wanting to fill in his friends about what happened in his class as well, but his bliss was cut off by a violent body slam with someone walking from the opposite direction.
That someone's book launched out of his hands and flew a few feet away, landing very ungracefully, the straight pages crumpled.
His glasses also flew off his face and landed on the floor, right beside Dongho's foot.
crunch
Dongho and Seongwoo decided that was the best time to run, so they did. Leaving Minhyun alone to deal with a squinting boy who was on his knees trying to feel around for his glasses, and a very, very pissed skinny friend who looked like he was going to set Minhyun on fire with just one look.
Minhyun stood there like he had been frozen, partially because oh shit, Dongho broke the dude's glasses and he made it seem like I did it, but mainly because where was I this entire time to miss this handsome shit of a stranger??
He knew the stranger probably couldn't see his own hands in front of him by how terribly he was squinting, but even with that ugly face plastered on him Minhyun thought it was one of the most handsome faces he had ever looked at.
Before things got too awkward, the skinny friend noticed Minhyun ogling the guy on the floor and picked him and his book up, before hurrying away.
Minhyun continued staring at the floor, specifically at where the squinting boy was.
"Bro are you okay?" Seongwoo and Dongho came running to him a few minutes later, concerned at how their friend hadn't moved for about the past five minutes.
Minhyun still didn't move.
"Jesus, you have hearts in your eyes, you look like you just witnessed the love of your life leave right before your eyes," Seongwoo commented.
He turned towards his friend in slow motion, "I think I did."
Minhyun wasn't the type to pray every night before he went to bed, but after that incident, he prayed that he would never see that boy from that day ever again. He was pretty successful, considering that stranger got contacts and never looked up from his crumpled book again.
And also if he ignored the stink glances the skinny friend threw him.
But when Minhyun saw him sitting on a chair beside the stage which had a "President Elections- Candidates' Speeches" banner hanging on the wall, Minhyun kind of wants to die.
"Isn't that the really hot stranger I bumped into that day?" Minhyun leaned over to Seongwoo who was sitting beside him.
Seongwoo turned slowly towards him, giving Minhyun a look that was somewhere in between disbelief and disgust.
"You have a big, fat, dying crush on Jonghyun, yet you don't even know his name?" Seongwoo replied, "and don't call Jonghyun a 'hot stranger'. It's... wrong."
Minhyun felt all the blood rushing to his cheeks. "I don't have a big, fat, dying crush o-"
Seongwoo rolled his eyes so hard that only the whites were visible, and the sight scared Minhyun a lot a little .
"-Fine. I do have a big, fat, dying crush on... what was his name again?"
Minhyun could see the invisible hand that was face-palming Seongwoo right at that moment. "Jonghyun, my dear turtle, Kim Jonghyun."
"Jonghyun..." Minhyun repeated it to himself, liking the sound of it, "but why am I a turt-"
"GOOD AFTERNOON, TEACHERS AND MY FELLOW FRIENDS!!" Jisung's much-too-loud voice boomed over the speakers. The audio team must have forgotten how loud Jisung's voice was again before setting the volume of the mic.
"Let's welcome our first candidate to the stage, shall we?" Jisung gestured towards the row of sitting students, before showcasing his famous 'Jisung clap'.
The speeches went by like a blur to Minhyun, who was obviously more interested in the way Jonghyun blinked his eyes rapidly and licked his lips in nervousness than the student who was dressed in a pikachu onesie, dancing terribly on stage.
After a speech by a short student who looked like he had taped a dozen pokemon plushies to his body, Jonghyun rose from his seat and made his way to the middle of the stage. Minhyun let a very inhumane sound escape his throat, which made Seongwoo look at him in concern.
He was wearing a fluffy white sweater that was much too big for him, he had his hair fluffed out like a mushroom, and his eyes reflected a bright blue when the light fell on them... were those blue contacts?!!
Jonghyun handed the basket of pokeballs to a student behind the camera and took a deep breath, before beginning.
"Hello everyone! I'm Kim Jonghyun, who resembles an onibugi!" He flashed a small smile as he imitated the onibugi that was on the picture that he was holding.
Minhyun let out a whimper, his head collapsing on Seongwoo's shoulder. The rest of his speech went unheard by Minhyun, who was too busy basking in Jonghyun's cuteness to listen to all of the cute words come out of his cute mouth.
"Thank you! Please vote for onibugi Jonghyun!" He showed another huge smile and a cute wave of his hand before stepping out of the camera's range. Seongwoo's shoulders vibrated when he joined the crowd to clap his hands, but Minhyun's head stayed stone still on his shoulder.
Even when Jonghyun returned to his seat and a student who had a pororo piano with him took his place, Minhyun was still semi-conscious, whining so pitifully that Seongwoo didn't know if he should help his friend or leave him to suffer alone.
"Minhyun," Dongho magically appeared like a ninja behind Minhyun, poking his cheek, "is you ok."
"Wasn't that..." Minhyun sighed dramatically, "the cutest human being you've ever seen on earth?"
Dongho retreated his finger, grimacing. "Uh, no."
"Then you blind, my friend," Minhyun sat up and replied Dongho, eyes still fixed on Jonghyun, "because that is literally the cutest shit I have ever seen in my life, and fuck it, I'm not going to deny it anymore, I kind of want Jonghyun to date me right now."
If Minhyun thought that he couldn't be more obsessed over pokemons than he already was, boy was he wrong.
Specifically a blue-skinned turtle that had wing-like ears, a curly tail and a shell on its back.
"I can't believe you," Dongho commented one day as he followed Minhyun around, sticking the 'vote for onibugi Jonghyun' posters that Minhyun created, "if you like him, then go up to him and say 'hey, I kinda like you and I don't care if you like me or not but can we date'. Doing this," he gestured to the posters, "won't help, Minhyun-ah."
Minhyun sighed as he ripped off a section of bluetack from the sheet that was pinned on Seongwoo's shirt.
"You make it sound like confessing to a person who probably hates you is the easiest thing to do," he stuck his second last poster on the wall opposite a toilet, "and for a person like me, it's much harder than you think."
"That's because you're a damn turtle, Minhyun," Seongwoo looked up from his phone, "face it, the only people who you talk to are us."
Dongho nodded, looking at Minhyun with an annoyed but saddened look. "Your social life is like a frightened turtle: you're always hiding under your shell, unwilling to come out unless it's us. You have to fix that."
Seongwoo made a small noise in approval, "not to mention that you can't run for shit."
Dongho whacked the back of Seongwoo's head, shutting him up. "Anyway, we have to go now, practise starts in ten minutes," he slung an arm around Seongwoo, "see you tomorrow."
Minhyun watched his two (only) friends walk to the end of the corridor and disappear around the corner. He sunk down to the floor, sliding his back against the whitewashed wall, frowning to himself.
Why was it so hard for Minhyun to just maybe, talk to some other people and perhaps become their friend? Why would he always chicken out, break out into cold sweat and stutter like a dumb person when he had to talk to people other than Seongwoo and Dongho? He glanced at the last remaining poster in his hand and sighed- Dongho was right, being the person Minhyun was, he was never going to get Jonghyun no matter how desperate he was for him.
He heard footsteps in a distance but didn't bother looking up, thinking it must be some student who forgot something in class and came back up to get it-
-until that someone walked right up to him and plucked that last poster straight out of his hand.
"What the-" Minhyun might've cursed out loud if not for the fact that the face of that someone belonged to his very beloved crush.
Jonghyun examined the poster and smiled slightly at it, before looking down at Minhyun. "You made this?"
The shook boy could only nod.
Jonghyun's smile seemed to grow wider at the response and Minhyun could already feel his hands starting to sweat and his heart rate shoot up to the skies.
What if Jonghyun is creeped out by me- What if Jonghyun thinks I'm a creepy stalker- What if he hates me even more now- What if-
"It's cute. I love it," Jonghyun giggled as he held up the poster, "mind if I keep this? I want to frame this up and caption it 'the promotional poster that my secret admirer made for me'."
Minhyun didn't know if he should feel flattered that Jonghyun was going to frame up his hard work, or if he should faint right there and then because did Jonghyun just call him his 'secret admirer'??
"I- uh, no I just- um, you don't have to..." Minhyun's hands shook with fear and he mentally cursed, fuck, it was bad enough talking to his classmates but now, there he was, in front of his crush, messing up on his words?
"It's okay Minhyun, calm down, I'm not going to eat you or anything," Jonghyun crouched down so that he was on eye level with the panicking boy.
Minhyun's eyes widened. Fuck he knows my name
Jonghyun laughed, a small breath that escaped his mouth accompanied by an eyesmile. "I may not be friends with you, but I'm friends with your friends. Of course I know your name. They talk about you all the time."
"Oh, I-I see... uh, I have to uh, go now so... see you next time?" Minhyun stood up on his shaky legs and he would've fell if not for Jonghyun's arm that kept him steady.
"Hahat, you're cute," Jonghyun pat him on the back, "hope to see you around more, secret admirer." Then he threw Minhyun a wink.
Minhyun didn't bother walking away and let his legs give way.
Seongwoo and Dongho did not look pleased.
"Should I kill him, or should you kill him," Dongho huffed, a fist already getting ready.
"How about setting me up on a date with Jonghyun," Minhyun groaned, sprawled face down on his bed.
"Nope, you asking Jonghyun out is all part of the experience, sweetie, as much as we'd love to, we can't do that for you," Seongwoo sat on his bed and slapped his ass.
Minhyun scowled, rolling over, questioning himself once again why he had agreed to be friends with those two.
"No but seriously," Dongho commented, joining Seongwoo on Minhyun's bed, "you call us at eight at night, right after practise is over, when we're both tired out, groaning over the phone about how you have 'serious life problems', and it turns out to just be Jonghyun?"
"Jonghyun is a serious life problem!" Minhyun argued, sitting up to make room for his friends, "I've been questioning my existence ever since this afternoon happened."
"What happened this afternoon?" Seongwoo leaned forward, interested.
"He, Kim Jonghyun, freaking called me his 'secret admirer'-"
"That's a fact," Seongwoo nodded, earning the second whack on the head from Dongho on that day.
"-and he called me cute and winked at me before we left. wINKED," Minhyun ignored Seongwoo and continued, before flopping very ungracefully on his stomach.
"He probably had something in his eye," Dongho shrugged, bursting Minhyun's bubble of confidence, "but if he really winked at you... if he really feels something for you..."
"Then I'm so proud of you, baby boy," Seongwoo interrupted, squishing Minhyun's cheeks.
Ignoring Seongwoo again, Minhyun sighed, "it's not possible... the school's future president, the hot and cute Kim Jonghyun who wears blue contacts and looks like an onibugi... he can't like me back, it won't happen..."
"Oh yeah, speaking of contacts," Dongho sprung off the bed and rummaged around in his bag before pulling out a rectangular box. "Seongwoo and I dropped by the optician to collect new specs for Jonghyun after practise. Since, you know, I stepped on them that day."
Minhyun could feel something coming after that. "And then...?"
"And then, Dongho and I want you to give it to Jonghyun!" Seongwoo finished.
"M-Me??" Minhyun pointed at himself, not sure if he heard right. "But why me? You were the ones who bought it! You are his friends! Not me!"
As if on cue, Seongwoo and Dongho rolled their eyes in sync.
"We're doing you a favour, friend," Dongho shoved the box into Minhyun's hands, "we're giving you a reason to talk to him so that your anti-social ass can faster make a move and stop groaning like a lovesick puppy all day all night."
Minhyun opened his mouth to retaliate, but the non-existent words died in his throat.
"B-but... won't it be weird? To suddenly go up to him and be like 'Hi Jonghyun I got you new specs' all of a sudden?" Minhyun looked down at his hands in worry.
"Please, if anything, he'd be overjoyed," Dongho pat his back in encouragement, "and don't forget, we'll be spying on you, so you'd better make a move."
Minhyun rolled around in his bed for hours that night.
Minhyun didn't know if he should kill his friends or thank them when they pulled him out from the class's broom-and-dustpan closet, where he was hiding during recess, curled up in a fetal position.
"Put on your big boy pants Minhyun," Seongwoo linked his arm with Minhyun's and marched him over to Jonghyun's class, "I saw Jonghyun in his class, he probably either sleeping or studying like the nerd he is, I don't know."
"You have the glasses with you?" Dongho questioned and Minhyun nodded, using his free arm to wipe away the cold sweat that had already begun to trickle down the side of his face.
"You'll do great, buddy, trust me," Dongho took out a tissue and soaked up all of Minhyun's cold sweat, "if you screw up in one way or another, which you won't, Seongwoo and I will save you. Okay?"
Minhyun replied with a shaky "yes" just as they reached Jonghyun's class.
"It's all up to you now, boy, good luck!" Seongwoo ruffled his hair and him and Dongho proceeded to hide behind the lockers.
The shaking boy shuffled into Jonghyun's class silently, making his way over to the sleeping wartortle. He stopped right in front of him, unsure if he should wait for him to wake up or... no he couldn't, Dongho and Seongwoo were watching him. He had to be quick.
But Jonghyun's eyelids, his cute double eyelids. Minhyun crouched down to have a better look at them and his pretty eyelashes. Oh, how he wished he could just kiss them right there and then-
Jonghyun's eyes flung open.
Minhyun could faintly hear Seongwoo snorting in the background and Dongho smacking him again to shut his big goddamn mouth up.
"M-Minhyun?" Jonghyun sat up quickly, flustered at how close Minhyun was to his face just now, "uh, what are you doing here?"
"I, uh... I-" Minhyun caught a glimpse of Dongho's tiger gaze and swallowed nervously.
"I... came to... give you your new specs! Since, Dongho... he broke them that day and... wearing contacts everyday is bad for your eyes... but you still look really pretty in contacts! Just, uh-" Minhyun's slapped a hand over his mouth as he realised what he had just blurted out.
Jonghyun looked down at Minhyun's shaking hands, where the spectacle box was trembling in his grip. He threw Minhyun a reassuring smile and brushed their hands together as he retrieved the box.
"Thank you, Minhyun-ah, for the specs and for the compliment," Jonghyun's smile grew wider, "and you look pretty too."
Seongwoo's gagging was so loud that Dongho didn't bother to shut him up anymore.
Minhyun was trembling so violently at that moment that he could barely open his mouth and say something, but Jonghyun beat him to it.
"God, you're sweating so much, is it really that hot in here?" Jonghyun swiped away Minhyun's bangs and used his sleeve to dry his sweat. He held Minhyun's hands in his, warming them up, as he smiled again, "you don't need to be that nervous around me, you know. As I said yesterday, I won't eat you."
"I.. I know," Minhyun could feel his heart rate calming down as Jonghyun's efforts to make him feel at ease seemed to work, "b-but..."
"But?" Jonghyun raised his eyebrows in confusion. Minhyun just realised that he had dug his own grave.
"Uh... I... don't know but," Minhyun took a deep breath and Jonghyun squeezed his hands, encouraging him to go on.
"If you win this elections and become the school's president will you go out with me," Minhyun said so fast that he was pretty sure Jonghyun didn't hear him but hell naw he ain't repeating that again.
Jonghyun blinked once. Twice. And a grin slowly started to spread out on his face again.
Sayonara world.
"If I say yes, will you continue pasting those adorable onibugi posters around the school?" he asked innocently and Minhyun could feel all the blood rush from his head to his legs, making him feel light-headed.
"S-so... that's a yes? Because I have a huge stack under my table right now," Minhyun replied excitedly and Jonghyun giggled, nodding his head.
"Good luck then," Jonghyun let go of his hands, much to Minhyun's disappointment, "thanks again for the specs, Minhyun," another wink.
With that, Minhyun turned around and sped out of the class, and back into his class where he was far away from Jonghyun. Dongho and Seongwoo came running in a few seconds later, engulfing him in a huge hug.
"Our turtle finally asked his beloved crush out! Am I dreaming??" Seongwoo squished Minhyun's cheeks between his palms.
"I knew you could do it, son," Dongho patted his hair, "now there's only one thing left for you to do."
Minhyun lifted his head from its resting spot on Seongwoo's shoulder, and raised his eyebrows at Dongho.
"Make sure Jonghyun gets that first place."
A crowd of students herded around the notice board outside the school office, talking and pointing excitedly among themselves. Minhyun tilted his head to the side in confusion, he didn't remember any announcements being made, or any results of some-
Oh shit. Results.
He pushed his way through the crowd but didn't need to go far, his height giving him an advantage. Minhyun craned his neck to see the name at the top of the triangle-
Kang Daniel
Minhyun could hear the sound of his heart dropping to the floor. The guy who dressed up as Harry Potter for his speech? Students probably voted for him because he was handsome, Minhyun thought as his gaze shifted to the spot diagonally left of Daniel's name.
Park Jihoon
Again, Minhyun growled under his breath, probably got voted for because of his flower boy looks and his stupid winks and his childish 'nae maeum soge jeojang'. His eyes moved to the right, and there he was.
Kim Jonghyun
But Minhyun was deflated enough knowing that Jonghyun wasn't first. Not only had his hard work gone to waste making those posters, but most importantly, Jonghyun wouldn't go out with him.
"Minhyun!"
Called boy spun around to be met with the third placer. He let himself be dragged by Jonghyun to a corner of the school, where Jonghyun let go of his wrist and smiled at him.
Why is he smiling?
"You didn't get first," Minhyun pouted, "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? Your posters were amazing. I really framed one up in my room," Jonghyun chuckled and Minhyun's face burned up once again.
"I..." he kicked a pebble on the floor, sighing, "y-you won't go out with me."
"Who said I won't?" Jonghyun replied, Minhyun's head shooting up in surprise. "I said I'd go out with you if I was first, but that didn't mean I won't if I was third."
Minhyun's jaw dropped to the ground and he didn't bother to close it back.
"B-but... really? You're so willing?" Minhyun asked, still in disbelief.
"Please," Jonghyun rolled his eyes, "think about it, you shallow head, why do you think I always covered my face with my book whenever I walked past you?"
Minhyun thought for a moment. "I don't know..? Because your book was too big? Because your eyesight is bad?"
"Oh my God," Jonghyun collapsed on Minhyun's chest, "I'm going to kick Seongwoo and Dongho for not slapping some common sense into you after this," Jonghyun sandwiched Minhyun's cheeks in his hands. "Because, I had a stupid crush on this anti-social turtle in front of me too."
If not for the fact that Jonghyun looked dead serious, Minhyun would've burst out laughing.
"This seems like some fucking cliche love story," Minhyun grinned at Jonghyun, "we both had crushes on each other without knowing and were too afraid to go confess first."
"And who would've thought, Mr. Never-Speaks-To-Anyone-Besides-Dongho-And-Seongwoo made the first move," Jonghyun smiled proudly. "Today, after school?"
Minhyun saw the sparkles in Jonghyun's eyes and thought he just fell in love all over again.
"See you then."
"OUR TURTLE GOT A BOYFRIEND?!?"
Minhyun buried his face in Jonghyun's hair.
"I'M SO PROUD OF YOU, FINALLY, HWANG MINHYUN HAS BROKE OUT OF HIS UNBREAKABLE SHELL AND SEEN A WHOLE NEW WORLD IN ITS ENTIRETY-"
"Seongwoo. Shut up," Dongho sighed, but made no attempt to stop him from yelling the classroom block down.
"HAS JONGHYUN BEEN TREATING YOU RIGHT, SWEETIE? OF COURSE HE HAS RIGHT? OUR ONIBUGI IS SUCH PERFECT BOYFRIEND MATERIAL FOR OUR TEENY WEENY CUTIE BABY TURTLEY-"
"Your parents are so embarrassing," Jonghyun tightened his grip on Minhyun's hand as he smiled up at the taller boy.
"They're not my-" Minhyun glanced at Seongwoo who was about to break down into tears anytime, "yeah. They're embarrassing."
"When's the wedding?" Dongho smirked at the new couple, making Jonghyun burst into laughter and Minhyun flick Dongho's forehead.
"Anyway," Minhyun addressed both Seongwoo and Dongho, now that the former had stopped yelling, "it's time for you two to get boyfriends too."
"Don't worry, I've got that under control," Seongwoo flashed an 'ok' sign at Minhyun, "I've been eyeing that new president. Once I get him, we'll go on a double date and leave Dongho behind with his teddy bears."
"Hey!" Dongho scowled, "that tall skinny guy, your friend," he nodded towards Jonghyun, "he's pretty cute."
"Minki?" Jonghyun shook his head, "that guy is tough, you gotta be real impressive."
"I am real impressive," Dongho made a huge show of his muscles and his 'manliness', making the three of them collapse with laughter.
As Seongwoo and Dongho argued over who was better, Daniel or Minki, Minhyun turned to Jonghyun and planted a small kiss on his forehead, "you're the best for me."
Jonghyun fake-puked with a huge, stupid grin on his face, "I didn't know turtles could be that cheesy."
"Mind you, you're a turtle too," Minhyun pulled Jonghyun closer to him, "I guess turtles fall in love with other turtles huh."
Minhyun chuckled at how Jonghyun's fingers curled up instinctively, and rested his chin on Jonghyun's head.
He might've been an anti-social turtle before, but at the discovery of his current boyfriend, and the way Jonghyun tugged at his arms to hug him from behind, Minhyun thinks he'd never be the same again.