Work Text:
panic. panic was the only thing you felt. you paced around your room, desperately trying to find your chemistry textbook, but to no avail.
the first thing you thought of was to phone your best friend, who you didn’t know if it was lucky or not that he was in a different class from you.
unlucky because you can’t goof around in class.
lucky because now you can scream for his help.
after much persuasion, he agreed. on a condition that his textbook returns to him with zero alternations. which meant no ripped pages or corners, no highlighting or pencil marks, and no spilling of coffee.
you swiftly agreed to his conditions and gave him a virtual hug through your phone screen. quickly, you packed your bag, glad that the frenzied search for your chemistry textbook is over.. for now.
when you arrived at the school, daehwi was already waiting for you at your locker, arms hugging the 5 kilograms worth of paper. you walked over to him, held out your arms, and wrapped him in a big hug. thanking him for letting you borrow his textbook.
you hurriedly rushed to your chemistry classroom as the class had already started. the professor wrote a reference page on the board and you quickly opened daehwi’s textbook to find the page.
upon finding the passage, you took notice of how neat and clean your best friend’s book was. nothing was out of place; pencil marks and highlighted sentences. ruler-lined tables and scaled diagrams. every single thing was for the benefit of his study.
you looked back up at the professor, he was talking about something to do with acids and alkaline. you have no interest in chemistry, only taking it as your parents have told you to.
basically. class was boring.
so you instinctively whipped out your pencil case, grabbed your favourite pencil, and started doodling on daehwi’s book; already forgetting about the initial promise. various small images started to decorate the white spots on the page, slowly being filled with pencil sketches of unicorns, dinosaurs, flowers and even slices of cake. as you giggled at your failed drawing of a penguin, the bell rang, signalling the end of the period.
you slowly walked to the cafeteria, hoping to avoid the crowds who were pining for the last melon bun. it’s always hellish when recess starts, students and staff alike rushing to the cafe hoping to get a single muffin.
you went to your usual table, hand still holding daehwi’s textbook. you took out your phone, wanting to call him to tell him where you were. but before you could hit dial, you felt a gentle tug on your ponytail. you turned around and there he was. smiling at you like you were the sun itself. you could feel your cheek burn crimson from the mischievous gesture, clearing your throat, you looked at daehwi. with a playful glint in your eyes before shutting them and crossing your arms.
“you shouldn’t do that to a lady you know.” upon hearing this. daehwi froze in his spot, hoping he didn’t offend you. you looked at his stance through your eyelashes, seeing how tense he was, you relaxed your expression and chuckled. daehwi took this as a sign that he was in the clear.
“daehwi. you didn’t do anything wrong, i was just joking with you.” you sighed out, still amazed at how seemingly wonderful your acting skills were. maybe you should consider dropping chemistry and take drama instead.
“okay good. i genuinely thought you would dislike me…” he mumbled the last part under his breath, hoping you wouldn’t catch it. but little did he know, you have perfect hearing. so you did hear everything he said and you felt your blood rushing to your face once again.
after a short period of silence. you looked back at the book that was still in your arms, completely forgetting the reason why you had planned to phone him in the first place. so you awkwardly stood in front of daehwi and handed him the textbook. honestly speaking, this scene felt like the cliched love letter scene. except its a chemistry textbook and not a confession letter.
seemingly lost in thought, daehwi was slightly shocked at the sudden movement from you, only to reveal his chemistry textbook in your hands.
after seeing his reaction to your seems-like-a-love-confession-but-its-not attempt at returning his textbook, you couldn’t hold it in anymore and started laughing out loud. scaring an already frightened daehwi.
“um.. y/n..? is there something wrong? are you okay?” your laugh continues to escape from your lungs, though you wanted to hold it in.
“no. i’m.. fine.. totally. yeah, i’m fine.” you said through your obnoxiously loud laugh.
you then looked at daehwi again, your gaze asking him why he isn’t taking his textbook back telepathically. and he understood you, so he walked closer to you and took the weight off your arms.
you sighed in contempt, before uttering a small “finally”. after that, you both parted ways, going back to your designated classrooms. him to chemistry and you to maths.
little did you know. after daehwi sat in his classroom, the first thing he did was open the book.
and he was shocked.
no it wasn’t because of the amount of doodles that covered the white spots of the paper. but rather, the subject of these doodles. he looked through his use-to-be-pristine textbook and compared it to whatever it was now. nothing but clean. every white space he could find, he would see one of your pencil doodles. unicorns, ice-cream cones, rainbows, dolphins, and even penguins were sprawled out on his book. a new universe on each page. he knew you had always kept your childish side inside yourself, not willing to let it go nor show it to others. it might be weird, but he felt proud knowing you trusted him enough to doodle all over his textbook.
he smiled to himself. he liked it. he liked how deep you were willing to let him in, how much you trusted him. he liked how your eyes sparkle looking at waffles, he liked how a slight brush of your hand against his would send his heart flying out of him, and most importantly, he loved how oblivious you were to his obvious crush on you.
daehwi wants to tell you. he really wanted to be able to just man up and confess how he truly feels, but his brain always find ways to stop him from doing so. multiple times he was so close, but he couldn’t. and he regretted it, so so much.
now, the both of you are stuck in the same relationship of “best friends”. everyone around you could see how in love both of you were. you don’t show it as much, but it’s pretty obvious how head over heels daehwi is for you.
he let out a sigh, looking back at the bulk of paper in front of him. the class continues as usual, not understanding the running contradictions inside daehwi’s head as he sat in his spot, flicking through the pages to study your adorable additions to his once boring book.
class went by quickly while he was looking at your markings on the paper and he quickly packed up when the bell rang. he had the widest grin on his face and he couldn’t wipe it off. not that he was complaining.
you noticed daehwi walk out of his classroom, and naturally, you waited for him to slowly make his way towards you. you glanced at him, not wanting him to see you eyeing him. it wasn’t unusual for him to be bubbly and happy, but you’ve never seen such a wide and genuine grin plastered on his face before. you felt a little sad, not knowing you were the reason for his smile.
“y/n.”
you slightly flinched at his voice, it was gentle but demanding at the same time. you slowly turned around in an almost cartoon way, he saw your hesitation and smiled at you, letting you know that he was not angry.
“i really wish you would tell me that you liked doodling. and its ice-cream and unicorns and rainbows too…” you casted your gaze towards the floor, slightly ashamed at your choice of subject. but daehwi wasn’t mad at you, he was far from that. he was enchanted by how your heart held on to these fantasies and lively colors, unlike his which was black and white until you came into his life.
“i’m sorry…” your voice was barely above a whisper. daehwi continued to silently gaze at you, not saying a single thing. you looked up at him, eyes glazed over with forming tears. immediately, that sent daehwi into a panic. he rushed to you, trapping you in a bear hug.
“shh… don’t cry. i don’t want to see you cry. i only ever want to see you smile.” daehwi whispered in your ear, sending a shiver down your spine. daehwi slightly parted from you, creating some space in between the two of you, and moved his hand up to caress your face to look into your glossy round orbs. he could see his reflection in your eyes and he saw how worried he looked. well, what can he say? he is worried.
he cleared his throat to hopefully gain some confidence in what he was about to do. you noticed his not-so-usual actions and looked up at him, arms still wrapped around his waist, waiting for him to say something.
“y/n? can you listen to me for a moment?” you nodded your head and hummed, hoping that it would help him get whatever he wanted to say out of him. daehwi took another deep breath, threading his fingers in your hair, and opened his mouth to speak his mind.
“the little drawings you did in my textbook is still totally uncalled for.” you looked at him in the eyes, pretending to be offended by his words. he gave you a look and you retreated back into your right of course, we made a deal whoops expression.
after a couple of seconds had gone by again, daehwi continued his unfinished statement. “but i loved it, just like how i love you.” he said the second part in the tiniest font and you looked at him, shocked that this kind of cheesiness came out of his mouth. at this, you felt your face heating up again as small droplets of water rolled down your cheeks. before daehwi could even open his mouth to ask what happened, you got onto your toes and pecked him on the lips.
“i love you too, daehwi.”
daehwi was visibly flushed at the sudden contact, but he recovered quickly, pulling you close once again to indulge in your hug. the both of you had completely forgotten that you were in the middle of the school cafeteria as loud cheers were heard, shocking you as they congratulated the new couple.