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Kyungsoo was not elected to the position of Vice President. No, he was bullied by Suho into taking the position since no one ran for the position. Kyungsoo doesn’t blame them. Who wants to be on a high school student council? They have no real power. All they’re in charge of is giving out money to the various student clubs and planning prom. It’s not any fun at all, so Kyungsoo approaches his position with a certain amount of apathy.
It looks great on applications, Kyungsoo reminds himself as he slides into his chair for the weekly meeting. The meetings are boring at best and insufferable at worst, and Kyungsoo just hopes that this meeting will be boring. He has no homework tonight, so he has grand ambitions to lie on the couch in front of the TV tonight and maybe text Jongin.
Kyungsoo counts the number of people sitting around the table. Excluding the council members, there are 7 people, which means 7 budget requests. Hopefully. Sometimes people just try to ask for money from the discretionary account and hope the council will give it to them. Even though the answer should be a quick and simple no, Suho has a way of dragging things out.
“How many things are on the agenda today?” Kyungsoo whispers to Minseok, the secretary and another of Suho’s victims. Minseok puts the least amount of effort possible into taking the minutes in hopes that he’ll be voted out of office, but he severely underestimates how desperate Suho is for a secretary. But Minseok struggles valiantly on regardless of his failures. To truly epitomize his dedication to his cause, on his laptop screen is a NC-17 fanfiction he’s been writing about Suho and the Student Handbook.
Minseok shrugs. “I think it’s like 8.”
“Oh, that’s not bad.”
Minseok shakes his head and starts typing. Suho spent 15 minutes in their last meeting talking about the dress code, and Minseok knows he can fit it into the fic. “4 of them are club requests, the other 4 are discretionary requests. I’d say maybe 2 of those are legitimate requests and the other 2 are pure fuckery.”
Kyungsoo groans. “Why do they do this? Sometimes I think Suho purposely goads them into asking for ridiculous things just so he can talk about the student handbook.”
Minseok starts deleting everything he’s written because that’s a much better plot than anything he’s written yet. The Student Handbook didn’t know it, but everything was just a ploy for Suho to spend more time with it…
Suho bangs the gavel on the table. Kyungsoo barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. He still can’t believe that Suho brought his own gavel.
“All right, we have quorum. The first thing on the agenda is the Fine Arts Club. This is a budgeted request. Chaeyoung Lim is presenting.”
The budgeted requests are easy enough, and they fly through the first 3 requests. The fourth request is from the Dance Club, but no one from the Dance Club is present, so the motion is left alone until the end of the meeting. The first two discretionary requests -one for the winter ball, the other for extra funding for the movie club’s movie night- pass just as quickly. It’s the last two that make Kyungsoo slump down in his chair, head carelessly perched in his hand.
The first one’s from Taemin for funding for a solo showcase. No one else, just him, and Kyungsoo feels almost gleeful shooting that one down. The second is for reimbursement for a murder mystery dinner that was thrown without telling the Student Council. This request results in a 30 minute speech from Suho about the problems of asking for reimbursements when it’s not budgeted.
Halfway through the speech, the door opens and Jongin slips in. He takes the seat at the far end and winks at Kyungsoo when they make eye contact. Kyungsoo smiles bemusedly. Jongin smiles back before looking down at his lap.
Kyungsoo phone vibrates in his pocket.
From: Jongin Kim
Do you come here often?
Kyungsoo slides his hand in front of his mouth to stifle his growing smile. If Suho catches him smiling, he’ll get called out. He’ll also get called out if Suho catches him on his phone, so he slides his phone down next to him before replying.
To: Jongin Kim
I’m here every week.
From: Jongin Kim
Oh! that’s so funny because starting right now, I’m here every week.
Kyungsoo can’t stop the fluttering in his stomach at the text. He turns his head away from Suho so he can fully smile. He wants to giggle.
“The really bad thing about being pale,” Minseok whispers, “is that when you blush, you turn really red.”
Kyungsoo kicks at Minseok’s foot under the table. It’s a quiet but effective indicator that tells Minseok to shut up.
Finally, Suho finishes his speech. (Finally Suho finishes his speech, disappointed that his time with the Student Handbook must come to an end, Minseok writes.) Then they all vote on the reimbursement; the motion does not pass. Kyungsoo can’t believe the amount of reluctance on Suho’s face as he calls for a motion to adjourn. Maybe Minseok’s not so far off with his fanfiction.
“Oh, am I not on the agenda?” Jongin interrupts.
Suho glares at Jongin for interrupting him and it’s with the utmost pomp that he sniffs delicately before replying. “ Ah yes, the Dance Club. We called for it earlier, but you weren’t here.”
“Yeah, it’s my bad. I didn’t think the meeting started until 4. Sorry,” and Jongin flashes that easy, disarming smile that makes people fall in love with him in droves. Kyungsoo feels his face heat up again and even Minseok feels his heart skip a beat before he scoffs and turns back to his laptop.
“Well, since you’re here before the end of the meeting, I guess we can go vote on your request. This is for the Dance Club. It is a budgeted request. Jongin Kim is presenting.” Kyungsoo snorts. That’s a close to an apology as Suho’s ever going to get.
“Thank you. The Dance Club is requesting the rest of its budget for the semester. It should be somewhere around 300. For the next 4 weeks, the Dance club is holding social dance classes to teach dances like waltz and swing to the rest of the student body. The money will go toward hiring instructors. These classes are to teach the student body more about dancing as well as help prepare them for the winter ball.”
Kyungsoo finds himself nodding as Jongin speaks. It’s a completely reasonable request, and it’s a budgeted request, so there should be no problems. And there are none. The motion passes and the meeting ends.
“Don’t forget to send out the minutes to the rest of the student body, Minseok.”
Don’t worry, Suho. I’ve got you.”
Kyungsoo makes sure to pack up slowly, so that Suho leaves before him. Sometimes Suho likes to debrief him on how he thinks the meeting went, and honestly, Kyungsoo just cannot bring himself to care. Luckily, Suho snags their Junior Tribune, Yixing, on the way out and starts debriefing him. Kyungsoo silently thanks Yixing for his sacrifice.
Jongin’s leaning against the wall outside the door when Kyungsoo finally steps out. A smile breaks out on Kyungsoo’s face before he can even think of stopping it. Just as inevitable as the smile are the butterflies in Kyungsoo’s stomach. They only increase when Kyungsoo sees that it’s just the two of them in the hallway.
Jongin stretches languidly before falling into step with Kyungsoo.
“Crazy meeting, huh?”
“You were only there for the end.”
“I know. I’m imagining how crazy the rest of the meeting must have been.”
Kyungsoo looks straight ahead, he’s mildly convinced that if he looks at Jongin right now, his heart will explode. He shrugs. “I mean you’re not wrong. Suho makes every meeting a bit crazy.”
“Yeah, even though we do the social dance classes every year, I thought he might shoot me down.”
Kyungsoo finds himself shaking his head. “No, that wouldn’t happen. The social dance classes are always well-attended and are for the entire student body unlike some of the events. If any motion was going to pass today, it was going to be yours especially considering it helps with the winter ball attendance.”
There’s a silence before Jongin starts speaking, hesitation clear in his voice. “You sound pretty knowledgeable about the winter ball.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t think anything of this slight non sequitur. Of course he knows a lot about the winter ball. The Vice President’s job is to know all of the statistics for student-run activities. Once a year he’s required to make a report for the school board. It is easily the most boring part about an already boring job.
“Eh, it’s my job.”
More silence. “So you don’t actually go to the winter ball?”
Kyungsoo shakes his head, still not allowing himself to look at Jongin. “No, I go, but I don’t stay too long. Parties aren’t really my thing.”
“But they can be fun,” Jongin argues. Kyungsoo finds himself involuntarily turning when he hears the whining edge in Jongin’s voice. Jongin’s pouting and there’s a tint of red running across his cheekbones. Kyungsoo’s brain grinds to a halt. He has no idea what to do.
“If you’re there, of course it’s fun,” Kyungsoo’s voice is acting on its own. He has no control of his body right now.
The blush across Jongin’s face grows until it reaches the tips of his ears. “So you’d go if I were there?”
Technically, Kyungsoo did just imply that, but every fiber of his being is telling him to say no.His next thought is that his brain is being really stupid since he does very much indeed like Jongin and he would very much like to go to the winter ball with Jongin.
“Yes.”
“So would you like to go with me to winter ball?”
“Yes,” Kyungsoo replies immediately. He’s not going to let his brain stop him from going out with Jongin.
“Oh, great!” Jongin replies a little breathlessly. He’s no doubt surprised that Kyungsoo said yes so quickly. Kyungsoo is just as surprised, but he decides he wants to ride this even further. Fuck his brain. Without allowing himself to consider it, he grabs Jongin’s hand and interlocks their fingers.
Jongin jolts at the sudden movement, and his fingers hang limply long enough for Kyungsoo to try and take his hand back. Kyungsoo can feel his face heat up. God, he was so stupid to try and hold Jongin’s hand. What kind of asshole just grabs someone’s hand without permission? Idiot!
Kyungsoo isn’t able to draw his hand back quickly enough before Jongin grabs his hand just as desperately. “No, no, stay. I like it.” Jongin almost says more, but he fizzles out in embarrassment. Neither of them is able to look at each other.
The handhold is terrible. Two of Kyungsoo’s fingers are smashed together because he’s apparently inept at holding someone’s hand, but that thought quickly vanishes as the situation hits him. He’s holding Jongin’s hand.
Jongin’s hand is warm and big, and there are thick callouses that rub against Kyungsoo’s palm with each step. The slight sensation sends shivers up his arm. He squeezes Jongin’s hand harder, an unconscious move to strengthen the sensation. Jongin’s reciprocates the movement, the callouses dragging even more deliciously across Kyungsoo’s palm. Kyungsoo has to duck his head to hide his obvious delight.
“I like it too.”