Chapter Text
When they first met, Jongin was going to his ‘secret place’ on campus to sit quietly and read a book. This place was at the edge of campus, on top of a railed cliff that overlooked a couple of beautiful houses in Seoul. There was a single bench for him to sit on and soft pink cherry blossom trees surrounded him. It was his favorite spot to come to during lunch period and read, since the cafeteria was too noisy and the library was too crowded. It was such a shame that the cherry blossom path that his place overlooked was going to be torn down soon…
When he arrived at the bench under the cherry blossom trees, he was a little dismayed to see a smaller boy already there, standing and leaning on the railing. The boy was enjoying the view and laughing, not noticing the boy who was about to approach him to ask him to leave. Jongin was going to walk up to him and tap him on the shoulder before the boy’s voice broke through the air in beautiful song.
Jongin was captivated.
He’s never heard a voice this soft and smooth — it was as soothing as milk and honey. His breath hitched; he couldn’t move and words couldn’t leave his mouth. He watched the back of the boy, and suddenly, he was dying to see his face. What face would match a voice like that?
Jongin’s wish came true when the boy, who felt like he was being watched, turned around to see a stranger staring at him with fascinated eyes and a taut expression. Jongin’s insides screamed at how cute the boy was with wide eyes and heart-shaped lips. The boy’s eyes grew even wider with surprise when he saw someone was watching him sing.
The boy was now frozen, but his eyes looked Jongin up and down. When he spotted the book in his hand, he exclaimed, “Oh! I’m sorry, my singing must have been annoying and keeping you from reading your book!” He let go of the railing to turn around and bow 90 degrees to Jongin before picking up his backpack from the ground and scurrying off. Jongin watched as the boy ran and disappeared into the school.
That happened all too fast for him. What had he come here for again?
The second time they met, they were able to have a full conversation.
Jongin remembered the original purpose of the ‘secret place’ and went back to it regularly. He hasn’t seen the boy at the bench at all, until a week later. The boy was already sitting there on one side, head leaning back against the top of the bench and eyes closed. Jongin went to the other side quietly, as to try not to wake up the boy, and began reading his book.
Five minutes later, the boy’s head shot up and his wrist flew up to his face to check what time it was with his panicked eyes. Jongin glanced up curiously from his book and saw the boy’s eyes went back to a slightly more normal size with relief. The boy still hadn’t noticed anyone sharing the bench with him and almost leaned his head back on the bench when Jongin chuckled.
The boy’s head turned so quickly that Jongin could have sworn the boy should have been suffering from a whiplash. Then he breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s you. From last week. I think you saw me singing.”
Jongin grinned. “Yup, that was me. I’m Kim Jongin, senior,” he introduced himself with a little wave.
The boy hesitantly said, “Do Kyungsoo. Senior.”
“I come here all the time, but I’ve never seen you here before last week. This is not to sound rude at all, but what are you doing here?”
The boy looked down at the petal-covered ground and mumbled, “The lunchroom is a little uncomfortable…”
Jongin cocked his head to the side curiously. “Hm? Why is that?” Jongin was going to say this was his secret spot and no one was supposed to come here but him — but he decided to let it slide.
Kyungsoo felt like he needed to console himself and tell someone the stress he’s been feeling for a while. “Since I’m a repeating senior, I guess people are uncomfortable sitting with me during lunch. They probably think I’m too stupid to hang out with.”
Jongin had heard about a kid who had to repeat a year. He didn’t think much about it, because he was too busy studying really hard to get into a good college and aiming to become a doctor to be bothered with rumors and school gossip. This boy had no one to hang out with? Was he lonely?
“Well, that’s dumb. Why don’t you sit with your vocal club or theater club members?”
Kyungsoo blinked back surprise at the question. “There are no clubs like that… They were shut down since there were not enough people that wanted to join.”
Jongin was surprised. Was he really not that informed about his school?
“I kind of wish there was, since it’s my last year in this school…”
Kyungsoo seemed really sad, so Jongin felt a twinge of guilt pull at his heartstrings. He should have noticed this boy before. Jongin had only two friends: the playfully childish Oh Sehun and the overly-aggressive Luhan. He already had high marks; he had plenty of time for things to do other than study. He had room for one more friend.
“Hey, why don’t you work to form a theater club? I’ll help you,” Jongin offered.
Kyungsoo’s eyes widened again and his whole expression brightened up as he looked at Jongin. “Really?” His expression fell again when he said, “But I don’t want to bother you.”
“Nah, I have nothing else to do.” In truth, he didn’t want to go home, but he didn’t have to let the older know about that. He put on an encouraging grin. “Don’t worry about it. We just have to find members.”
Kyungsoo quickly got up, stood in front of Jongin, and bowed repeatedly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You have no idea how much this means to me!!”
Jongin nodded awkwardly and smiled, genuinely happy that he could help someone out.
“Where exactly are you bringing me?”
Oh Sehun was being dragged by Jongin to an unknown location; his friend wasn’t explaining anything to him as the walked through the halls during after school hours. Sehun made a determined face and jammed his food into Jongin’s heel, sending the older stumbling forward without his shoe.
“YAH!” Jongin yelled, rubbing the knee that he landed on.
“Jonginnie, tell me where we are going,” Sehun started with a sweet voice, now getting more hostile, “before I get Luhan to run you over with his bike!!”
“Hey, Luhan is already there, along with his brother. Calm yourself, we are literally a few steps away from the classroom.” Jongin put his shoe back on and got up; he led Sehun to a classroom, which had its door open already, welcoming anyone and everyone. Before they went in, Jongin leaned in towards Sehun and requested, "Now, Do Kyungsoo is very nervous about this, so I want you to be very open and encouraging. DO NOT SCARE HIM." Jongin gave him a pat on the back and went in before Sehun could ask anything.
Kyungsoo was already there, awkwardly standing in front of the classroom, and Luhan and Yixing were sitting on the floor whispering a plan to run for it while they could. Luhan jumped up when he saw Jongin. “Yo, what took you so long?”
“Flower boy here,” he said, gesturing towards Sehun, “couldn’t wait and assaulted me on our way here.” Sehun just smiled smugly before bouncing off towards Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo’s eyes got wider as Sehun approached, and he soon looked like he was going to faint. Sehun didn’t care, he wanted to introduce himself. “Hello! My name is Sehun. I’m that jerk’s friend over there,” he said, pointing at Jongin, who scowled. “I’m assuming you’re friends with him, since he’s the one that dragged me here. Luhan and Yixing are too lazy to gather a group of people here, so I take it that you are the one who organized this?”
Kyungsoo gulped and slowly nodded.
Jongin told everyone to sit down on the floor, where the area was cleared of desks. Kyungsoo stood in front of everyone and cleared his throat. Jongin had made him practice what he was going to say in front of everyone dozens of times. Jongin found out Kyungsoo was timid and had stage-fright. "What?! How are you gonna perform on a stage then?!" he had yelled out one evening, causing Kyungsoo to chuckle nervously.
"H-hello, everyone. My name is Do Kyungsoo and I'm a s-senior."
"WOOOO, KYUNGSOO," Sehun hollered, and started clapping obnoxiously.
"OH SEHUN. CAN YOU NOT, JUST FOR ONE MOM—"
“NO!! YOU TOLD ME TO BE ENCOURAGING SO I’M GOING TO CHEER FOR KYUNGS—”
"YAH!! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP OVER THERE!" Everyone turned around and looked at the back of the classroom to see a boy with black hair, now sitting upright with a blanket on his lap.
Kyungsoo broke into immediate panic. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were in the back there. I wouldn't ha—"
"SHH!" The black-haired boy waited for a moment with his eyes closed, before he got up and walked to the front of the room to sit with the rest of them. "Whatever, I'm awake already. Continue."
Since he was closer, the others were able to see the guy was Huang Zitao, a recently transferred Chinese student. He was notoriously known for being involved with the mafia before he was sent to attend this school. Luhan and Yixing shuffled nervously, while Jongin did nothing, oblivious to the guy's reputation.
Kyungsoo smiled. "I don't know if Jongin told you... But I want to start a theater club!" he exclaimed determinedly. "I hope you guys can help," he continued, faltering.
"Kyungsoo, you were doing great! Keep that grand sense of bravado going! Just like we practiced!"
Sehun’s hand shot up. “Question! When are club meetings?”
“Every week, Wednesday after school. It could be in this classroom. If we really want, we could try to meet more often than once a week.”
Sehun's hand shot up for a second time. "Question again! What kind of play are we doing?"
Kyungsoo thought a little. "Ah! A musical! On club fair day!"
Jongin facepalmed. Luhan elbowed him in the ribs, as Sehun snickered at his friend's pain.
"If you guys don't want to participate at all, I can do a one-man show," Kyungsoo suggested. He was already grateful that they had just shown up to form the club. In the rules to making a club, there had to be a certain number of members in it, and a club president had to be elected.
“No, we can do it with you! Doing a musical sounds fun!” Yixing piped up. “I don’t think any of us can sing, but Luhan, Sehun, and I can dance!”
“Nah, man, people are not ready to see this dance,” Sehun said, gesturing towards his body. He ignored Jongin’s “cocky mofo” remark and said, “Not all of us should be in the production. There’s someone who needs to take care of lights and sound effects.”
“Whatever floats your boat, bro,” Luhan said, slapping Sehun a little too hard on the back, which earned him a glare. "Jongin, aren't you going to dance?"
Something went wrong; the air became heavy once the question left his mouth.
Sehun started, "Uhh, Luhan—"
"I can't," Jongin cut in coldly. "I don't know if you remember—"
Realization dawned on Luhan's face and he clamped his hands over his mouth. "Jongin, I'm so sorry—"
"It's fine, forget it," Jongin turned back to Kyungsoo, who looked a little uneasy and confused. "Do you need anything else for the production?" he asked Kyungsoo, the tone of his voice sounding a lot nicer.
"Hmm," Kyungsoo was still unsure how to react with what just happened between Luhan and Jongin, but he ended up shyly turning towards Zitao. “Huang Zitao-ssi, are you going to participate in the production? I’m still really sorry for disturbing your sleep.”
The boy smiled at Kyungsoo’s sheepishness, which automatically made the shorter feel x10000 better. “It’s no big deal. You weren’t the one who was loud,” he said, turning to emphasize to Sehun, and Sehun specifically (because psh , Jongin didn’t say anything at all at the time). “I’m running for student council president so I don’t think I’m going to have time. Sorry… If I win the election, I’ll promote your club though!”
Kyungsoo was eternally grateful to each and every one of them, and he expressed this as they wrapped things up and got ready to leave. When they were all gone, and it was just Kyungsoo and Jongin, the older turned to the younger and said, “Thank you. I don’t think this would have happened at all if it weren’t for you.”
Jongin was beginning to feel a soft spot for Kyungsoo. He wasn’t aggressive or inconsiderate like Luhan; he wasn’t loud and obnoxious like Sehun; and he could actually hold a conversation with him, unlike how he could not with Yixing. He was really glad he met Kyungsoo at the bench under the cherry blossom trees.
After one particular practice, and when everyone else already left, Kyungsoo turned to his friend. "Hey, Jongin, would you like some bread from my cousin's bakery? You must be hungry after rehearsal."
Jongin smiled and nodded, and after packing their stuff, they left with Kyungsoo leading the way.
"You're basically going to my house, too, since I live above the bakery with him," Kyungsoo shyly explained. The only house or living space Jongin has ever been to was Sehun's.
When they arrived at a small bakery, wedged in between two other houses, a small young man burst through the door, sobbing into his hands and running down the street.
"JOONMA!! IT WAS A JOKE!! I LOVE YOUR BREAD!!" A second person pushed through the door and was about to stuff his mouth with the bread products and take off after the first one until he saw his guests. "Ay, Kyungsoo, you're home! And I see you brought a special someone," he said, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.
"Yifan! He's a friend!" Kyungsoo cried out. Yifan raised his hands up in surrender and laughed. "What happened to Joonmyun this time?"
A sigh escaped from Yifan's lips as he turned to look at the direction the crying one ran in, and then turned back to Kyungsoo. "I was on the phone, telling Yiyun about Joonma's new bread. He decided to walk in right when I was telling her I'd rather eat rocks than eat his new bread."
Kyungsoo facepalmed.
When he recovered, he noticed Jongin still existed; he had forgotten he asked his friend if he wanted some bread from the bakery. "Oh wait, Yifan, this is Jongin. He's the one who's been helping me with the theater club. Jongin, this is my cousin's boyfriend, Yifan. My cousin, Joonmyun, is the one you saw running out earlier."
Jongin bowed to Yifan, who only nodded his head and smiled. "Okay, I should probably go find Joonma," Yifan stated, before taking off in the direction of the distressed baker. Kyungsoo shook his head while smiling before going inside the bakery.
Kyungsoo picked up a wrapped bread and started opening it. Jongin was a little startled. "Wait, so you're giving me the bread when your cousin's boyfriend said he would rather eat rocks than eat that?"
Kyungsoo laughed. "No no, that was Joonmyun's special bread of the week. I am giving you the bread Yifan baked. The ones he makes are pretty good."
“We should probably watch the store until they get back,” Jongin proposed. Kyungsoo smiled and nodded in agreement.
“When they come back, you can stay for dinner!”
Ten minutes passed, and Yifan came back behind a now happy Joonmyun. “Hello! You must be Kyungsoo’s friend!!” Joonmyun shouted, as he went up to give Jongin a huge, tight hug. He and Yifan showed him the way upstairs, and Kyungsoo encouraged him to go up into his house. They said, “Giving you dinner is the least we can do for you, since you are helping Kyunggie with the theater club.”
When the food was finished cooking, and they all helped to set up the table, the four of them sat down, ate and talked, the topic of conversation revolving mainly around Kyungsoo. Jongin learned that Kyungsoo was actually very mean , and he was not afraid to hit his cousin and Yifan, even though they were both much older.
Jongin also learned Kyungsoo was a sickly child. He would always miss a few days every couple of months in school when he was younger, but last year was particularly bad. Kyungsoo missed about three consecutive months of school, which is why he was held back. Jongin felt bad because everybody just thought Kyungsoo was dumb and failed to pass the school’s curriculum. Yifan and Joonmyun were really scared to send Kyungsoo back to school after last year, because Kyungsoo almost died from his mysterious illness.
“We can’t figure out what’s wrong with him, and we’re still scared since we don’t know when it’ll show up again,” Joonmyun whimpered, while a supportive Yifan rubbed a comforting hand along his boyfriend’s back.
“It’s okay, if anything else happens to Kyungsoo…” Jongin declared, “I’ll be there to protect him.”
When it got a lot darker and it was time to go, Joonmyun and Yifan waved from the top of their stairs and Kyungsoo walked Jongin out of the bakery.
“Thanks for putting up with them,” Kyungsoo said, sheepishly. “They must have left a weird first impression on you.”
Jongin laughed. “It’s fine. They’re great people. Thanks for inviting me over for dinner.”
“Goodnight, Jongin. Get home safely!” Kyungsoo called out, as Jongin turned back around and waved.
It was a nice 15 minute walk back to his house, since the city they lived in was small and their neighborhoods were a little near each other. This was a little unfortunate for Jongin, since he was always reluctant to go home. Staying outside the house for as long as he can was Jongin’s goal each day.
When Jongin reached the front of his house, he pushed the key inside the keyhole and opened the door. He ignored the flickering lights from his dad’s room and the pungent smell from the living room and quickly strided into his own bedroom without batting an eye.
“JONGIN!! Eat lunch with us!!” Luhan said, grabbing Jongin’s arm when he was on his way to meet Kyungsoo at their “secret lunch spot” (the bench underneath the trees). Luhan didn’t even take into consideration to ask if Jongin was busy or what and dragged him halfway across campus. He led him onto a nice grassy spot on a little hill, where Yixing was already seated on a picnic blanket, setting up the food.
“Hi, Jongin,” Yixing said, blushing a little, although Jongin hadn’t noticed (he was a little dense when it came to people’s feelings, including his own). “I stayed up all night and made kimbap and some Chinese dishes. I hope you like it.”
“I stayed up and helped, too!!” Luhan cut in.
Jongin cautiously took a piece of kimbap from the container. “Why are you guys giving me food…?”
“We thought you’d like it,” Yixing said, in a disappointed tone, upset that he seemed to distress Jongin. Luhan’s head turned sharply and he shot the Korean boy a vicious glare. Jongin immediately panicked, because upsetting Yixing would trigger a violent Luhan.
“No, no, no!! I do!! Food is good! I mean, the food is good!! It’s just that people don’t usually ask me to eat lunch with them? But the food is great!!”
Yixing’s face immediately lit up upon hearing Jongin was enjoying the food.
Suddenly, Jongin remembered he had left Kyungsoo alone at the bench. Besides his fear of Luhan, he also thought it would be rude if he just walked out on Yixing, after all that hard work and effort he put into making this lunch. He took out his phone slowly while Luhan and Yixing were talking.
To: Kyungsoo
Hey... Sorry, I can't make it to —
"Who are you texting?" Luhan exclaimed, looking like he wanted to grab the phone from Jongin. "Are we boring you?"
"No, not at all. I just have to tell Kyungsoo that I can't meet him for lunch." While Jongin proceeded to finish sending the text, Luhan and Yixing gave each other worried looks.
When Jongin was done sending the text, he looked up at the two brothers, smiled, and said, “I hope I’m not eating this alone; Eat up! It looks great!”
Alert: from news.sciencemag.org/
Scientific Breakthrough in the Medical Field
Males Can Now Give Birth?
Sehun looked over Jongin’s shoulder and saw the first line. “You nerd, only you would download a science magazine app and get updates from it.”
Jongin shrugged and brushed Sehun off. “It’s good to know things when studying in the medical field. Don’t laugh at me when I’m more successful than you later on in life.”
Sehun winked and held up a peace sign. “With these looks, I’m pretty sure I can be successful whether it comes to becoming an accomplished dancer or picking up ladies.”
“Yah, I learned from this alert that you could possibly become pregnant in the future.”
“Please,” Sehun scoffed. “I’m the one who’s going to do the impregnating, don’t even with me Kim Jongin.”
Jongin shook his head and looked ahead to see Zitao walking towards their direction. “Hey, Zitao, how’s it going?”
Zitao bowed to Jongin, but looked scornfully at Sehun. “I am good. It’s been a pretty good day today.”
“Did you just glare at me?” Sehun broke in, unpleasantly disrupting Jongin and Zitao’s conversation. “Broooo, I just woke you up once, and Jongin was being loud too!!”
“He was yelling at you to be quiet!!”
“So you are still angry about that! Look, it’s not like you need a beauty sleep anyway! You’re not a girl!” Zitao looked away. “No way, it couldn’t be… You’re not actually a girl, are you?! Why are you looking away?”
Zitao turned back towards Sehun with a look of disgust. By this time, Jongin had already grabbed a bag of popcorn and was sitting cross-legged in a foldable seat, enjoying every second of Sehun’s stupidity. “I looked away and rolled my eyes, because your face and your stupidity are too annoying for me to see.” Zitao was going to turn around and walk away, when a very insulted Sehun lunged forward to grab the Chinese student’s shoulder.
Zitao’s hand flew up and caught Sehun’s from behind, and he effectively flipped a shrieking Sehun over his shoulder and onto the ground in front of him. “Do you want me to prove to you I’m not a girl?” Zitao asked cracking his knuckles. Jongin was in his seat, dying that his best friend was getting beaten up. “Forget it, you’re not worth it.” Zitao turned around and walked away with a stoic expression on his face, as if nothing happened. Jongin threw aside his popcorn and got up to go over to his friend.
“Shut it!” Sehun snarled, as Jongin was about to say something to mock his friend.
“Flipping you over! That’s all it took to get you to shut up! And who told you to tell him you thought he was a girl?”
Sehun got up to level his face with his friend and exploded to defend himself. “I heard the rumors about him liking Gucci bags!! When I asked about beauty sleep and if he was a girl, he faltered and looked away! Tell me if I am wrong.”
“You’re wrong.”
Sehun paused before he said, “You’re not a good friend.”
“You’re not a good person. You make fun of me for reading science magazine updates! Besides, if Zitao is what you say he is, you’ve just gotten beaten up by a girl,” Jongin said, smirking.
“...”
“Got ‘em.”
“It doesn’t matter!! I will prove it to you, Kim Jongin!!”
Sehun and Jongin were walking back from the vending machines in the school cafeteria when an idea popped into the blonde’s head. It was after-school and they had to wait for about 40 minutes for club activities to start.
“Yo, I just thought of something! I need to get back at Zitao!”
“Stop,” Jongin sighed before sipping his mango juice.
“No, it’s brilliant. This won’t fail. We have to go to that library storage room where that Kim Jongdae hangs out in.”
Jongin raised his eyebrow at his friend. “What would you want to do with Kim Jongdae?”
Sehun wrapped his arm around Jongin’s neck and leaned in closer. His voice dropped a couple of volumes, and Jongin knew he was about to exaggerate. “I heard he has a bunch of tricks up his sleeves. He has charms that get people 100’s on tests they’ve never studied for and luck for the unluckiest people.”
“If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, he’s not going to be able to make you automatically jacked in 5 minutes. You’re going to have to go to the gym and work out for months if you want to beat up Zitao, buddy.”
“No, no, no. You know what?” Sehun said, abruptly. “Let’s take a walk. Let’s explore the school.” Jongin followed Sehun, exiting the cafeteria and climbing up the main staircase.
“We’ve been in this school for three years. I think we both know the school and its grounds by heart.”
“Let’s still take a walk,” Sehun insisted.
“You’re just going to lead me to the storage room, right?”
“Of course not.”
“I’ll just come with you, so I can laugh when nothing works,” Jongin teased, climbing the last of the stairs. Jongin took hold of the door and swung it open for his friend, gesturing for Sehun to walk through.
Sehun turned direction towards the library storage. It was all the way on the third floor, at the end of the social studies hall. “Jongdae’s a nice person. He doesn’t make people pay him, so it doesn’t matter whether it works or not.”
“Whatever you say,” Jongin drawled.
When they got to the end of the hall, Sehun and Jongin started bickering over who would knock on the door.
“You’re the one who wanted to come here!”
“You came along!!”
The door swung open, revealing a curious and calm looking Kim Jongdae.
All three of them stared at each other for a few moments.
"Wanna come in?"
Sehun cleared his throat while Jongin thanked Jongdae for opening the door.
"Please, sit down," Jongdae offered. When they took their seats at the table in the the crowded room, Jongdae sat across them. "What are you here for?"
"This punk here wants your help regarding getting revenge on a person," Jongin immediately answered, cutting his friend off.
Jongdae drew his lips into a thin line and shook his head. "Sorry, I can't do that. The things I do here are only for good intentions."
"What!! Isn't getting people a 100 on their tests called cheating?" Sehun cried out.
"But it benefits everyone. Them, their grades, and their teachers. Getting revenge will only hurt yourself and your victim."
"Craaaaaaaap, that's bull," Sehun grumbled.
Jongdae ignored Sehun’s ill-mannered comment and turned to his other guest. "How about you, Jongin? Want to try anything out?"
"Jongin doesn’t believe your shit works,” Sehun tattled.
“Oh Sehun!!” Jongin hissed.
“It’s okay, Jongin. I wouldn’t believe it either,” Jongdae laughed a little. Jongin gave the boy an apologetic look and then turned to glare at his friend.
Sehun spotted a blindfold, with words written in black and red paint on it, beside a pile of books near Jongdae and pointed at it. “What about that? What is it?”
“A blindfold.”
“But there are characters on it that I don’t understand…”
“Yeah, it’s in Chinese. Wanna try it out?”
“Nah, Jongin can do it,” Sehun immediately answered, trying to act cool.
“You wuss,” Jongin bit out at his friend. “What does it do?” he asked Jongdae.
“You wear it around your head and over your eyes, and once you walk out the room, the first person you see is the person you’ll fall in love with. If the charm on this band is very strong, they’ll probably fall in love with you, too.”
Jongin had to bite back a laugh, just to keep a decent impression of himself for Jongdae. He really didn’t believe in this stuff.
“Yeah, sure, I’ll try it out,” Jongin agreed. “Since I’m not weak-hearted like Sehun.”
“Do you want to fight, Kim Jongin?”
Jongdae chuckled as he took the blindfold in his hand and walked over to the side the two guys were sitting. He stood behind Jongin and tied the blindfold from the back of his head.
“Good to go?” Sehun asked.
“Mhm. You should guide him around school, so he doesn’t bump into anything,” Jongdae advised. “Let me know who the person is when you return the blindfold!!” he called out to them as they walked out of the room and thanked him.
On their way to the main staircase, Sehun began laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I don’t know, you don’t seem like the lovey-dovey type,” Sehun snickered. “What if I removed the blindfold right now, and you see me first? What will happen then?”
Smack!
Jongin didn’t need to see Sehun to hit him.
"Fine then, who do you want the person to be?” Sehun asked after recovering.
“Well… who knows… we’ll see…” Jongin answered.
After a few steps, Sehun tugged on Jongin’s arm.
“What?”
“ What are you doing, Jongin?” asked a voice Jongin recognized as Luhan’s; he sounded curious and judgmental at the same time. He could imagine his face being scrunched up with distaste because he didn't approve of Jongin's behavior, and Jongin wasn't in the mood for that to be the first thing he sees.
“Nothing, just testing something out,” he answered.
"Alright..." the Chinese boy replied hesitantly. "I'll get going now. See you in 15 minutes."
Sehun waited for Luhan to round the corner and disappear. “Why didn’t you take off your blindfold? You don’t want it to be Luhan?”
Jongin shrugged. “I don’t care who it is, because I don’t believe it’ll work. As long as it’s not a teacher.”
Sehun and Jongin made their way towards the staircase and went all the way to the first floor.
They would have gone to the basement, but Sehun decided to leave Jongin stranded in the middle of the staircase, blinded with the band over his eyes. Unfortunately for Jongin, Sehun had seen Jung Daeun and decided this was the perfect time to hit on her.
He leaned against the wall of the staircase and waited for the moment until Sehun realized his own stupidity and came back for him.
He heard a door open and close overhead, and hoped that if it was a teacher, they were going up instead of down. Surely, if they saw him in this state, they would rip the blindfold off his eyes, and he wasn’t in the mood to later get in trouble for student-teacher pedophilia. His thoughts were interrupted very briefly. “Jongin? What are you doing over there? What's that around your eyes?” It was Kyungsoo’s soft and soothing voice, and Jongin soon heard footsteps coming down the stairs and closer to him.
He was completely caught off guard when he felt hands remove the blindfold, and his eyes met wide, innocent and deep brown ones.
"There, better?" Kyungsoo asked, smiling.
Jongin couldn't help but smile back. He had gotten lost in the shorter’s warm and welcoming gaze, that he almost completely forgot the purpose of the blindfold.
"Let's start going to practice," Kyungsoo suggested taking his hand, and Jongin thought it was too ridiculous, too absurd to be true (that the blindfold might have actually worked), but he felt his heart flutter a little.