Chapter Text
It’s almost Valentine’s Day.
It’s not that Seungmin hates Valentine’s Day. It’s just that he despises being reminded of the fact that he’s still single. And yes, he knows that finding love or meeting the one isn’t the main goal in life, but it sure is hard to have that mindset when the media, the internet, and his real life all point otherwise.
He has grown up to be quite the salty romantic, due to the serious amount of teenage chick flicks that his older sister has made him watch. Posts all over his social media also fuel such construct with photos captioned with my partner this, or my girlfriend this, or my boyfriend that. Worst yet is when he goes grocery shopping with his mom, and a whole aisle is adorned with tasty chocolates and pink hearts and red notecards and cute teddy bears. And it’s all both annoying and adorable at the same time.
Because although he hates being reminded of the unfortunate fact that he’s single, he truly likes the idea of love. Unlucky for his romantic soul, he has never had a real Valentine before (no, the preschool Valentine notes and candies don’t count). Which is why he’s so surprised when, a week before Valentine’s Day, he finds a sky blue note taped to his desk.
The note is cut into a heart, the blue paper standing out against his plain, cream-colored desk. The romanization of his name is written on the card in cursive followed by a short yet incredibly cheesy poem.
Day 1: Kim Seungmin <3
Roses are red, forget-me-nots are blue,
Your cherry-red hair makes me go uwu!
Seungmin scans it once, twice, three times to make sure that it’s meant for him. It does, in fact, say Seungmin. And it does, in fact, say his cherry-red hair makes the person’s heart go uwu. Surprised and slightly embarrassed, Seungmin looks around to see if anybody is watching him, hand unconsciously reaching up to the tips of his scarlet hair. As usual, nobody pays him any attention except his best friend Jisung. (Technically he’s his only friend, but that doesn’t diminish the depth of their friendship).
“Did you see who put this here?” He whispers to Jisung, the love note held in place between his pointing and middle finger.
“No,” the other boy shrugs, looking slightly disinterested but smiling nonetheless. “I read it though. It’s pretty cute.”
It’s definitely cute, but Seungmin frowns because it’s all very fishy. Nobody has ever given Seungmin any type of note before, especially not one this adorable, and most definitely not leading to Valentine’s Day. But upon reading it once again, Seungmin can’t help the giddy feeling that tickles his chest. He turns the card over to see if there’s a signature on the back.
There isn’t. But there is another sentence, and it makes Seungmin’s tummy feel funny.
Things I adore about Kim Seungmin: (1) his cherry-red hair~
He almost gasps. There’s no way this is real. Seungmin surveys the surroundings once more, eyes accidentally making contact with his baseball teammate Hyunjin. The taller boy gives him a hello gesture with his hand along with a crooked smile, and Seungmin returns it with an awkward wave. Hyunjin usually sits in the back, too many people complaining about how his height makes it hard to see for the people behind him. And though Seungmin is almost the same height, he has a habit of ducking so nobody has complained about him sitting somewhere in the middle rows.
He continues his search, eyes flitting over a gaggle of students that he never really talks to, before resting on a familiar mop of orange hair somewhere on the front row. As if sensing that Seungmin is looking at him, Felix turns around, orange locks twisting with the motion. Felix gives him a breath-taking smile and an encouraging fist before mouthing ‘fighting!’ Seungmin returns it with a smile and a ‘fighting!’ of his own.
Their homeroom teacher Mr. Tuan strides in, depositing his messenger bag on his desk. This prompts all of the students to turn their heads towards the teacher, giving him their full, undivided attention. Seungmin can almost hear the soft sighs from half the students at the beauty of their young teacher. He can’t really blame them since Mr. Tuan is unfairly pretty, especially with office casual attire. He wonders if the students know about the young teacher’s infatuation with the librarian.
Mr. Tuan does his usual morning greeting. It’s incredibly adorable, and Seungmin has almost memorized it by heart.
“Good morning, class. And welcome! I hope you are all doing well, and I hope this lecture does nothing to change that.”
The whole class takes out their notebooks and writing utensils, ready to jot down whatever Mr. Tuan is going to regurgitate from their textbook. Seungmin, giving his heart-shaped card a glance, pulls out a folder and tucks the note neatly inside one of its flaps. Satisfied, he puts it back in his bag before finding his Math notebook and his favorite pencil.
“Last week, we talked about anti-derivatives. This week, we’ll be going a step further and venture into the world of indefinite integrals.”
And then Seungmin finds himself zoning out for the rest of class, jotting down letters and symbols that his teacher writes on the flat LCD screen with a virtual marker. For a Math class, Calculus equations sure do lack numbers. He looks over to his left, seeing Jisung’s head making a drunk back-and-forth motion, surely beginning to nod off. Seungmin chuckles to himself before writing down some simple and common examples of integrals that may or may not come up in tonight’s homework.
When lunchtime comes, Jisung immediately drags him to the cafeteria by the hand. “Hurry up, best friend. One of the sides they’re serving today is pajeon, and I sure as hell will not be late for it again.”
Seungmin huffs but follows him nonetheless. Sure enough, when they get there, the queue for lunch food is still pretty short. They both pick up a tray, a pair of chopsticks, and a spoon before they stand in line.
“How do you even know what they have today?” Seungmin asks incredulously, tippy-toeing to see what’s being served.
“They serve the same things on the same days, best. Mondays are obviously kimchi jjigae and pajeon day,” Jisung snorts. Seungmin wonders how he remembers these tiny details when he can’t even remember the year the Korean War started.
When Seungmin gets served his lunch, he’s not surprised by the items on the menu. Like Jisung predicted, the main course was kimchi jjigae accompanied with rice, noodles, nori seaweed, more kimchi, and a mini pajeon . They find a seat in their usual table, talking about whatever comes to mind.
“Sho hoo ju ding ish fum?” Jisung tries to say between mouthfuls of food, eyes looking around. Seungmin snorts at the way Jisung quite literally stores food in his cheeks, not unlike the way squirrels stuff their cheeks full with whatever they find.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Seungmin lectures him softly. “Or else people won’t understand what you’re saying.”
Rolling his eyes, Jisung finishes his chewing before he starts again. “So who do you think it’s from?”
“The note?”
Jisung nods. Seungmin shrugs. “I don’t know. But I sure hope it’s not from Hayoon. I once saw her pick something up off the ground. And eat it.”
Jisung scoffs. “Hey, I do that! Don’t knock it till you try it.”
“I’d rather suck my own toes than eat something off the floor,” Seungmin shudders, mentally bleaching his tongue. “You know full well I’m not fond of germs.”
The shorter boy laughs. “And that’s why you’re always sick, and I have the immune system of an alligator.”
And then Jisung is attacking him with his chopsticks, using them like it’s the mouth of an alligator. Seungmin, already familiar with his best friend’s antics, quickly joins and defends himself with a chopstick on each hand, making humming and buzzing noises as he twirls his chopsticks like lightsabers. Half the cafeteria give them weird glances and side eyes, but they don’t care. They’re used to it.
The day goes by pretty quickly, and before they know it, their last class is over. Jisung quickly gives him a goodbye hug and tells Seungmin to text him once he’s home. Seungmin nods and Jisung goes towards the cubbies before switching his indoor shoes with outdoor ones and speeding out of the classroom. Unlike Jisung, Seungmin attends extracurriculars each weekday. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are reserved for baseball practice while Tuesday and Thursday are saved for hagwon .
“Seungminnie,” someone says from behind him. And he already knows who it is from the way their voice goes up at the end.
“Hyunjin-ssi,” Seungmin turns around. Sure enough, the lanky boy is standing in front of him looking like he just walked straight out of a magazine, the top two buttons of his uniform undone with his blazer hanging from his hand. He’s carrying his backpack by one strap on his shoulder, and Seungmin admits that it makes him look unfairly cool.
“No need to be so polite all the time. I feel awkward if I call you Seungminnie and you respond with Hyunjin-ssi,” He laughs airily, crinkly eyes and crooked smile seemingly misplaced with his dashing aura. “We’re friends right?”
Seungmin supposes they are more than acquaintances, indeed. Upon closer inspection, he concludes that he does enjoy the older boy’s presence, so he guesses they are sort of friends. “Yes, you’re right. Do you prefer that I simply call you Hyunjin?”
“Absolutely,” the other boy instantly agrees, smile getting bigger than it already is. “Anyway, are you ready to go to practice?”
Seungmin nods. They change from indoor shoes to outdoor shoes and make their way towards the boys' locker room. Hyunjin is walking right beside him, head lolling from side to side like he’s listening to fluffy music. He feels the telltale buzz of a text message, and he immediately drags it out of his pocket to look at the notifications. There’s a text from Felix.
Felix:
are u absolutely sure u don’t wanna go to hagwon today? Hahaha
Seungmin snorts and begins typing his reply.
Seungmin:
I know you know I can’t because of baseball practice -.-
Felix:
eh it was worth a try hahaha
Seungmin shakes his head playfully before stocking his phone back in his pocket.
“You go to hagwon with Felix?” Hyunjin asks curiously.
“You know it’s not nice to read people’s conversations over their shoulder,” Seungmin says with a smirk. It instantly brings Hyunjin to a stuttering mess.
“I didn’t mean to- I was just… I’m tall so I can see clearly. Though you’re right, I shouldn’t’ve-”
“I’m just joking, Hyunjin,” Seungmin says playfully. “And you’re not that much taller than me.”
“Wanna bet?”
Seungmin confidently measures himself up against Hyunjin by standing face to face, and the way the other boy smells like an interesting mixture of the outdoors and, strangely, of honey has him a little dizzy.
“It’s a few centimeters,” Hyunjin chokes out.
“No,” Seungmin argues, stepping back and crossing his arms. “A couple of centimeters.”
“A few.”
“A couple.”
“Whatever.”
They spend the afternoon exercising so that their bodies are conditioned for swinging bats or pitching or running from one base to another. The sweltering heat has all of his team members dripping with sweat, but it’s really only Hyunjin that looks truly glistening.
There’s something about the way the tall boy runs, some of his hair sticking to his forehead while the rest bounce mesmerizingly in rhythm with his steps, the determined look in his eyes, the way his passion for the sport seems to be oozing from every pore of his body. Seungmin admires him a lot, wishes he was a little bit more like Hyunjin. But alas.
They work on swinging stance today, Seungmin feeling like a noodle compared to the other more athletic guys on the team. Coach Im continually corrects his posture, and Seungmin feels slightly humiliated at the fact that he’s the one that needs the most help. But it’s okay, he’s here to get better at the sport, to compete, not to give up because he may or may not be the lousiest on the team.
They spend the next hours swinging, the balls coming at high speed from a pitching machine. Of course, their star player Seojoon makes the most contact, Hyunjin a distant second. Unsurprisingly, Seungmin only does alright, hitting second to least compared to the rest of his teammates. Better than last week, at least.
They’re in the locker room when Hyunjin approaches him again.
“Practice was tough, huh,” the taller boy starts, sweat slowly drying against his face. There are still some beads resting on his cheeks though.
“Sure was,” Seungmin agrees. “Though you did pretty well during the batting session. As usual. Good job!”
“Thanks,” Hyunjin chuckles softly, hand coming to rest behind his neck. “You did well too. You hit more balls than you did last week!”
Seungmin laughs. “I suppose.” He’s not wrong about the hitting percentage. But to outright say that Seungmin also did well? That’s saying a bit much. Hyunjin wanders back to his locker. Seungmin unlocks his own so that he can begin changing, but one look around shows that all of his teammates, even Hyunjin, has beaten him to it. They’re all shirtless or are already putting back on their schoolwear. Seungmin tries not to stare at anyone, lest his team members call him gay or something.
He’s not. He’s bisexual, so. Yeah. Changing time is always an awkward time for him. Anyway, he got a quick glance at Hyunjin’s wide back earlier. It looked milky, and Seungmin doesn’t know what to do with that information. Instead, he focuses on zipping his pants back up and buttoning his uniform. He’s the last one to finish, and Hyunjin is outside waiting for him.
“You always take so long,” Hyunjin whines. Seungmin doesn’t know if that’s a jab or if he’s simply being playful.
“You don’t have to wait for me,” Seungmin says tiredly.
“But then I won’t have anybody to ride the bus with, and that’s no fun.”
Seungmin snickers. “You big baby.”
They both live north of their school, and bus 4419 stops at both of their destinations. Seungmin, however, lives two stations farther than Hyunjin. When they sit down on the seats, Hyunjin offers his left earbud, and Seungmin takes it gratefully. It’s a melodic song about the harsh cold of winter, miracles, and meeting someone who melts their world into spring.
The song is nice. But his attention is broken by the surprising buzz of his phone. He immediately takes it out of his pocket and sees two notifications from Felix. Both of the messages are links to memes, one of Kim J*ng Un looking delighted at choking Sasuke, while another is of Vladimir P*tin looking equally happy doing the same thing. Seungmin can’t help but laugh at the stupidity of this meme.
Seungmin:
asjdfhj I feel like someone is missing… It’s not an unholy trinity without you-know-who.
Felix:
???
Seungmin chuckles to himself. What the heck? He has to be joking.
Seungmin:
Starts with T and ends with rump?
Felix:
ooooh, i gotchu.
Sure enough, after two minutes of waiting, the next message is Donal Tr*mp choking Sasuke.
Seungmin:
Oh my god ashdg this meme is so funny but so dumb.
And then Hyunjin is tapping at Seungmin’s knees.
“Hmm?” The younger turns to him.
“It’s my stop,” Hyunjin states. “And I kind of need half of my earbuds back.”
“Right,” Seungmin totally forgot he was wearing it. “Here you go.”
“See you tomorrow~” Hyunjin says as he exits. Seungmin gives him a smile and a wave goodbye.
When Seungmin gets to his family’s apartment, he immediately takes off his shoes and gives his mom a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey sweetie,” she says. “I’m almost done with dinner. Why don’t you wash up first before we eat.”
Seungmin looks at the stovetop to see what she’s making. “Can I invite Jisung for dinner?”
“If he hasn’t had dinner yet, then of course.”
Seungmin thanks his mom and hurries to his room. He knocks on his bedroom wall three times and pulls the sliding door open so he could get to the balcony. In exactly ten seconds, Jisung appears at the balcony next to Seungmin’s.
“Best friend!” He says in lieu of a greeting.
“Hey, Ji,” Seungmin responds happily. “What did you do today?”
Before Jisung has a chance to respond, Seungmin beats him to it. “Let me guess. You played Mario Kart, then made some ramyeon, and then watched youtube videos on your phone.”
Jisung scoffs, hand on his heart in mock offense. “Excuse you, I watched youtube videos first before eating and playing Mario Kart. And I ate tteokbokki, thank you very much.”
“Same crap,” Seungmin rolls his eyes. “Did you even start on homework?”
Jisung gives an affronted gasp. “Of course not! I never start homework unless you’re here with me.”
Seungmin raises his brows. That’s an outright lie if he could smell one.
“Okay, okay, I got to the first problem and couldn’t figure it out. Calculatus is hard, man. And stop it with the eyes, you remind me of my mom.”
“You mean Calculus?”
“Same shit.”
Seungmin rolls his eyes before straightening his face. “Anyway, Mom’s making beef & radish soup for dinner. You wanna come over?”
“Beef?” There are literal sparkles in Jisung’s eyes. Seungmin laughs.
“Yeah, she said you’re welcome to come over. But I’m going to shower first because she’s not finished yet.”
“I already ate some dinner, but I’m always down for beef,” Jisung admits, mouth slightly salivating.
“Okay. Well, I’ll signal you when to come over.”
“Alright, best friend. See you in a bit!”
They both go towards their respective rooms, with a spring in their steps. Seungmin showers slowly, scrubbing away at the dirt that must have surely accumulated on his skin from baseball practice. Sure enough, he sees the literal grime that’s going down the drain in a swirl.
Seungmin shivers when he gets out, hair smelling faintly of citrus and soap. He towels quickly, tummy growling from lack of food. Slipping on a plain white shirt and gray sweatpants, Seungmin puts on his slippers and knocks on his bedroom wall three times before bounding out of his room.
When he gets to the dining room, dinner is already set up. There’s a beef & radish soup in the middle, along with the regular side dishes of rice, kimchi, seaweed, sigeumchi namul, and pickled garlic stems.
“Can I heat up some fish cakes?” Seungmin likes fish cakes. Loves them. Would eat them every day if need be.
“Of course, dear. Is Jisung coming?”
And as if the boy heard his name, there comes a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it,” Seungmin says eagerly. “That’s probably him.”
Without a doubt, when Seungmin opens the doors, in comes a bouncy Jisung ready to devour some beef. He shuffles inside quickly, slippered feet dragging across the carpet.
“Thank you for having me for dinner, Mrs. Kim,” Jisung says politely with a bow. “I will eat well.”
“Such a polite boy,” his mom giggles. “You should be more like him, Seungmin.”
Seungmin huffs. Jisung is anything but polite. He’s just really good at fooling parents. When Seungmin takes a seat next to the shorter boy, Jisung gives him a smirk and a wink. The nerve. First of all, Seungmin invites him to his house-
They start eating, Seungmin’s dad usually not getting home until well into the night. His mom asks them the usual things, like what they learned today, and if the lessons were helpful, and how baseball is going.
Seungmin answers the questions with relative ease. Dinner goes smoothly, and both Seungmin and Jisung do the dishes.
“So, wanna come over so we can do the homework together?” Seungmin asks as he scrubs the last of the plates.
“Thought you’d never ask.”
The two spend the next two hours slugging it out with Calculus and Korean History, their homework taking a big load out of their energy supply. They’re now lying down on Seungmin’s bed, staring at the ceiling and the Day6 poster that’s yellowing at the edges.
“What do you think university life will be like?” Jisung asks, and Seungmin can tell by the tone of his voice that he’s being serious.
“I don’t know,” Seungmin shrugs because he doesn’t. They’re in their last year of high school, and he’s still not quite sure what he’s supposed to be doing with his life. “But I hope that we’ll still be best friends even if we’re train rides apart.”
Jisung snorts. “Of course, we will.”
And then, as if the moment was too serious, Jisung changes his tone. “Bet you fifty thousand won that I’ll get into the same college as you.”
Seungmin giggles before shaking on it. “I need the money. Thanks, Ji.”
Jisung leaves late at night, homework not quite finished, but mostly done. Seungmin lectures him about not finishing, to which the blonde only replies with it’s fine, Seungmin. I’m not trying to ace everything like you.
When Seungmin is finally alone, he takes a deep breath and pulls out the heart-shaped note from his folder. He reads it once more. And just like last time, it makes his tummy feel funny. Things I adore about Kim Seungmin.
Seungmin hopes someone truly is out there who adores him, and that this isn’t just some big celestial prank on him. Otherwise, he’ll be truly gutted at fate for being so cruel.
Day 1, it says. Is it possible that there’ll be more of these notes coming his way? He sure hopes so. Though the butterflies in his stomach stay awake, Seungmin falls asleep looking forward to tomorrow.