Chapter Text
Ten’s never been much of a romantic. Being a delinquent wasn’t quite attractive to people unless it was a girl who wanted to defy her parent’s wishes of a perfect, hard working husband. They were typically rich girls Ten didn’t particularly like but still ended up dating because a hundred dollars was a hundred dollars.
Though Ten believed his life of piano playing, going to private schools was rather boring and he wasn’t living up to his potential until he turned 13 and moved from Thailand to Illinois. He was just like those rich girls who were after him for the thrill of it, trying to get away from their golden planned out lives.
13 year old Ten was put in public school when he decided, hey why not begin this clean slate off by becoming a total disturbance to his new neighbors? Piss off his own parents while he was at it?
And so he became known as the community’s little nuisance and gained a title for himself. The only reason he even thinks about romance even once is because of his best friend, Kunhang, the complete opposite of Ten. Besides the fact that he was also a transfer student, but from China. He’s always nagged to Ten about dropping his resting bitch face and to live life a little.
‘Is lighting things on fire and graffitiing the back of our school in broad daylight not living enough?’ He asked in rebuttal to his friend’s snide comments about his lifestyle. Kunhang could only stare at him with his mouth agape before snapping at the younger,
‘I meant your love life idiot!’
Ten was perfectly fine being alone and messing with people. He doesn’t even mind the bruises he has on his cheeks from fights anymore, it’s not like he wanted anyone to worry about them or tell him to stop fighting. Not at all. Even if the idea did sound a little cute. But never mind that, he didn’t need love to fulfill anything. He’s already living his life, having fun doing things he wants to do with the excuse of being a reckless teenager. So fuck love, he thought. He could do anything he wanted without someone holding him back.
Well, he lied.
One thing Ten really never wanted to do, and completely dreaded the thought of it, was attending Kunhang’s swim meets and competitions. It’s not like he wasn’t proud of his best friend being one of the best swimmers on the swim team. Ten suffered sitting atop the bleachers under the hot sun, bored to death as he sweat buckets squinting at the heads popping up from the waters. He hated being sweaty while wearing his signature oversized black hoodies to the events.
But that wasn’t the only thing he hated, not even close. Again, he lied about needing love at all. Why would he when a whole Johnny Seo existed.
Besides being completely sweaty, occasionally getting splashed with water and having to witness Kunhang and his boyfriend’s PDA, Johnny was just the worst of it all.
Ten didn’t actually hate Johnny, of course not, he just had a stupidly gigantic crush on him. He was in denial of it all and hid those feelings under his leather jacket. Johnny was too perfect for him. Johnny was everything Ten was not. He was cheerful, cool-headed, had a bright, gummy smile, kind, and the captain of the school’s swim team, three-time-championship winners. Which Johnny led two of. So it made him completely unreachable.
No matter how much Ten denied he like-liked anyone to Kunhang, stating love was pointless and short-lasting, always saying he didn’t need anyone (hypocritical of him, really), he still practically had heart eyes every time he looked at Johnny.
He wasn’t lying when he said Johnny was kind, the angelic boy tried his best to befriend everyone no matter what. Even Wendy, their residential pothead slash drug dealer. He just never tried to befriend Ten of all people. It stung a little at first but Ten understood why, he was a delinquent that got into fights and got into trouble constantly. Of course Johnny wouldn’t want to be associated with him considering how well-liked he was. (It was a pretty bullshit excuse Ten could think of for Johnny but it didn’t blow his ego and heart as hard.)
Contrary to how often Ten attends Johnny’s swim meets, the first time Ten saw Johnny wasn’t when he was diving headfirst into the deep end of the pool. It was at their local 7 Eleven just a few blocks away from Ten’s house.
He remembered when he first had his bisexual awakening at the convenience store late at night after Ten stormed out of his house after a heated argument with his mother about Ten’s attempts to sabotage himself.
Johnny looked weary as he stared at the assortments of candies in the snack isle, his hands shoved in the pockets of his grey sweatpants. Even though he was wearing a red beanie, Ten could tell from where he stood in the refreshments isle later, there were strands of long brown hair sticking out.
Ten was floored when he first made eye contact with Johnny’s curious gaze. He had barged into the store, slightly nodding at the boy dozing off at the register who could only lazily nod back. There weren’t many people there but Johnny jumped at the sudden sound of the bell ringing harshly when Ten stomped in. Ten’s sharp eyes immediately fell onto Johnny. He felt his cheeks warm up in embarrassment and narrowed his eyes as he walked towards the fridge holding refreshments.
He could still feel Johnny’s eyes burning into the back of his head for a slight second until he went back to deciding whether to get Chips Ahoy or Oreos. 12 year old Ten, who had only recently started causing massive trouble for everyone, felt insecure about his actions for the first time. It never stopped him. Subconsciously though, he probably continued doing all these things just to get Johnny’s attention like he’d done before. The only time Johnny ever really looked his way.
So Ten still admired Johnny despite his cold attitude. He had already known Johnny from word around school, how he already had a guaranteed spot in the freshman swim team, how every girl in the 8th grade fawned over him. He understood why as he shyly watched Johnny pay at the register. He was tall for a 13 year old at the time, had longish, straight brown hair that reached his nape but was currently tied back into a mini ponytail under his beanie.
He’d kept that style even until they entered high school. Johnny was pretty cute all that time until puberty hit him in the middle of freshman year of high school and he became hot as fuck. Back then, Ten was sure Johnny knew of Ten too, everyone always talked about what trouble the new transfer student caused that day. Kunhang excluded since he stuck to Ten’s side like glue since the first day he arrived.
The following day Ten found out he and Johnny shared History and PE together. Which also explained his bisexual awakening because his face always turned cherry red whenever he accidentally made eye contact with Johnny who was changing out of his gym shorts.
Oddly enough he had never seen Johnny as often in high school, sharing no classes together yet Ten always skipped so he wouldn’t know anyways. But it was enough for Ten to think the other was cute and ended up harboring a small crush on him for 3 years behind his best friend’s back. Curse Kunhang’s romantic rants. And curse his hypocritical self for having eyes for only one boy as if he was in love with him.
“Earth to Ten?” Kunhang’s voice snapped Ten out of his long, deep thinking. He felt Kunhang’s index and middle finger press against the middle of his eyebrows and spread apart on his skin. His eyebrows were still furrowed and he hadn’t even noticed. Ten blinked, looking around realizing he was still in his chemistry class blanking out. Their teacher was no where in sight, indicating the day has already ended.
“It’s a little invasive of you to intrude on my thoughts like that.” Ten muttered, moving his head so Kunhang’s fingers slid off of him. Kunhang could only chuckle as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on Ten’s desk with raised eyebrows, his dark hair dangling in front of his eyes,
“Sorry I pulled you out of your deep thoughts again while you obviously weren’t paying attention the whole period. You’re gonna get wrinkles if you keep thinking that hard,” Kunhang hummed, “So.. You coming today?”
“Of course I am. I always do.” Ten bluntly answered, even though he skipped out on everything anytime anyone invited him to do something, he’d never miss his best friend’s swim meets. Kunhang thinks it’s sweet the school’s bad boy has a soft spot for him but Ten says it’s only because he gives him his red bean buns during lunch.
“Good! Make sure to bring me some strawberry milk though, today’s gonna be extra long and tiring,” Kunhang sighed, watching Ten grab his semi-empty backpack and hook it around his shoulder.
“Oh yeah,” Ten said, standing up, his friend following behind, “Isn’t your swim tournament this Friday?”
“You remembered! Johnny has been on everyone’s asses, kindly of course, all week. My arms have been killing me,” Kunhang limply waved his arms around to dramatize his weariness, Ten could only snort before stopping in his tracks. Kunhang looked at him with a raised eyebrow, they had already left the classroom until Ten suddenly had a bright idea.
“I’ll be right back.”
Kunhang furrowed his eyebrows, watching his friend go back into the classroom and following him, checking through the small window the door had. Kunhang could only facepalm as he watched Ten grab a sharpie from the teacher’s desk and approach the whiteboard.
Anyone can already guess what Ten’s mature, pea brained self had drawn on the whiteboard.
“You’re literally on the edge of becoming an adult.”
“Dick drawings are still funny.”
“If you could have the hots for anyone on the swim team who would it be? Excluding Yang though or I’ll beat your ass,” Kunhang questions, leaning back into the shotgun seat of Ten’s pot smelling car. He scrunched his nose up at the stench before shoving his cherry popsicle in his mouth. It was Thursday, just one day before Kunhang’s swim tournament.
And before Ten would go back to taking sneaky glances at Johnny without anyone suspecting a thing. He wasn’t at practice Tuesday, Kunhang had told him he was in the locker room making a roster for who was going to compete in the tournament.
Ten narrowed his eyes at his friend, taking another hit from his pipe before nudging Kunhang to take a hit. Kunhang shook his head,
“I say no to drugs, sorry, dude. I shouldn’t even be allowing you to even smoke!”
Ten rolled his eyes,
“No one.”
“Huh?”
“I wouldn’t wanna fuck anyone from the swim team. All of you are too..” Ten paused, struggling to find a word to generalize the swim team. He decided on the word ‘soft.’ Kunhang seemed to take offense to it.
“Soft? Soft?” Kunhang bit down on his ice pop and the latter cringed at the sound of teeth chomping down on ice. Ten put out his pipe and placed it in the cupholder below, ready to hear Kunhang start bragging about how most of them had abs and won two championships while Ten was high out of his mind. Ten drowned out of the conversation soon after that until a certain name was brought up,
“But Johnny‘s like a giant baby honestly,” Kunhang stated, carelessly throwing his popsicle stick in the back of Ten’s car. The elder glared at him but Kunhang continued, “He’s buff as hell since he’s our captain. But he’s a little soft if you catch my drift.”
“You’re trash talking him because your arms still hurt.” Ten sneered, slightly hitting his friend’s arm until he sat up, “Anyways, we should get going now. Our sweet little dimpled fairy has to rest up for the tournament!”
Kunhang furrowed his eyebrows beside him. Kunhang doesn’t even have dimples and Ten didn’t care about Kunhang enough to ask him to take care of himself, which meant...
“You’re too high to even drive aren’t you?”
“Yup.”
Ten was fucked. Well, metaphorically.
He sat on the bleachers, first row, right in front of the pool, with Johnny sitting right in front of him on the sidelines. Ten tried so hard not to scream when his eyes traced the dangerous lines of Johnny’s back muscles. He just turned to talk to Jacob, one of his teammates, and his back still managed to flex without trying. What the hell.
Even his goddamn mane he let fall down when he pulled off his hairband bounced like a fucking anime character’s would. Whilst Ten sat on the bench, hunched over, coal hair hanging in his face, grey tank top to show off his (somewhat) muscles, looking like he was about to beat the living shit out of anyone who dared to breathe in his direction. It was barely 9 am, how does anyone look as good as Johnny so early in the morning?
Johnny was an angel and Ten was a stupid, scowling delinquent frustratingly sipping on one of the strawberry milk cartons he had brought for Kunhang Speaking of that lovesick fucker, Kunhang was the one who had chosen where Ten should sit, closest to the pool so he can properly see his best friend cheering him on during the butterfly relay of the tournament.
Curse Kunhang. He was currently animatedly talking to Yangyang who nodded back enthusiastically. They were probably giving each other disgustingly sweet, couple-y encouraging words before the tournament started.
A siren blared, making everyone around Ten cry out in annoyance (even Ten covered his ears with a scowl). The announcer on the overhead stating the competition was starting in 5 minutes was way too chipper for a dude being paid 50 bucks to do commentary on a bunch of teen boys swimming for 3 hours. But money is money. But not even Ten was desperate enough to do that. And he was Ten.
He was already bored, head resting against his palm, watching as Johnny’s team all stood up to stretch. Ten’s eyes almost bulged out of his sockets when Johnny turned, caught the younger’s eyes and.. smiled up at Ten. Ten squinted in confusion at Johnny’s now turned back, looking around him to see if that smile was meant for someone else.
It turned out, it was really meant for Ten. Ten could only sigh, his heart hammering in his chest as he glared at Johnny bending down to touch his toes. His ass looked pretty nice in those trunks. Ten smirk slowly creeped onto his face. This was going to be a long 3 hours.
They had won. It wasn’t much of a surprise to Ten since he’d been at most of the practices, seeing the team practicing hard when he wasn’t terrorizing the old lady living next door to his family. Ten really liked living up to his delinquent title, as far as scaring the old lady next door and teaching her chihuahua to piss in her garden of lilies. He snickered at the image of his neighbor screeching her head off when sweet, tiny Mr.Pickles had his leg sticking up in the air letting it rain down on the granny’s well tended lilies.
Ten leaned against a wall near the boy’s locker room, his leg stretched out in front of him and the other against the wall as he waited for Kunhang to come out. He took a long drag from the cigarette he held between his index finger and thumb and blew little rings with his mouth.
“Nice tricks. But you do know you’re not allowed to smoke in public grounds like these, right?” A somewhat condescending voice said out of nowhere, scaring the living daylights out of Ten. He quickly scrambled up from his position and was prepared to beat the shit out of whoever was trying to tell him what to do.
“What the fuck I almost dropped a perfectly good cigarette you dip-“ Ten choked up on his words before he could finish when he had realized who he was talking to. Johnny stood in all his angelic glory in front of Ten with his arms crossed over his chest, grinning down at the shorter boy. Eyebrows raised and everything. Johnny looked cute as fuck with his oversized hoodie, skinny jeans and tied up hair.
“Thanks? But my statement still stands, hotshot.”
“Oh fuck I said that out loud..” Ten cursed quietly, smacking his face with the hand he was holding his cigarette in and immediately regretted it, “Fuck, fuck, fuck-“
Amazing. Ten managed to look like a complete idiot in front of his crush twice in only under two minutes. Goddamn it.
“For a delinquent you’re kind of dorky,” Johnny laughed, his gums evident and oh Jesus Christ he was covering his mouth with his sweater paws. Ten wanted to die on the spot. How dare this guy make Ten, of all fucking people, feel this way? And why was he speaking to him anyways?
“S-Shut it pretty boy,” Ten stumbled on his words. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole, “I could still rock your shit if you kept messing with me. But you won today so I’m keeping my hands to myself.”
“Ooh. Tough guy.” Johnny cooed, he came closer to Ten and the younger just pressed his back closer against the wall. He had to look up at Johnny from under his bangs with a glare. What the hell was this guy so tall for?
Johnny leaned over and gently took the cigarette from Ten’s hand and dropped it on the ground, smashing the material with his foot, “Anyways. You’re Kunhang’s friend that always comes to our swim practices, right? Thanks for coming to cheer us on. The team appreciates the school’s bad boy caring about the school’s swim comps,” He paused, grinning and tapping Ten’s nose with his index finger as if he was messing with an aggressive puppy on the verge of biting his hand off, “I’ll see you around.”
Before Ten could even say anything, Johnny stalked off waving slightly at the younger boy who just stood there wondering what the hell just happened. Then Johnny turned around once more and called out to the raven haired boy,
“Oh! And again, stop smoking in public areas! It’s not good for you or anyone else around you!”
Ten was at loss for words. He glanced between Johnny’s disappearing back and the ashes beneath his feet. He couldn’t even curse at the boy for smashing his cigarette on the ground.
Ten didn’t even have to care. He could’ve just walked by Johnny and whoever was pulling him by the collar and slamming him against the wall during lunch break. He could have ignored it, not get into trouble for once in his life. Not for another boy. Ten didn’t have to drop and waste yet another perfectly good cigarette by stepping on it to stop whatever was happening just for Johnny. Yet as he tried to just walk past it, a tiny voice in the back of his head was screaming for him to go and help stupid swim team captain Johnny Seo.
“Oi!” Ten called, tossing his backpack aside and walking up to the pair, glaring at the offender. Johnny was curious to who was trying to get this guy off of him but his eyes widened when he had noticed it was Ten interfering. The guy, however, was not afraid of Ten and promptly ignored him. His grip tightened on Johnny’s collar and Johnny was visibly choking up. Even if he was taller, the other was three times his body weight and size.
Ten sighed and snapped his fingers in front of his face as he stood in front of them now, his tilted his head, “Are you deaf? You interrupted my smoking session. Leave him alone and beat it.”
“Who are you to tell me what to do?” He dropped Johnny’s collar and Johnny fell to the cement floor on his bottom with a loud thud. The bigger boy that held Johnny was bulky, tall, and well built for a high schooler and his face looked almost like a bulldog. Jesus how many times has this guy gotten held back?
Anyone with eyes could guess The Bulldog guy would win in a fight between he and Ten if they bet on it. Ten had the body of a 12 year old yet everybody feared him. But it still wouldn’t stop him from a good fight. Bulldog guy pushed Ten’s chest with one hand as if to taunt him for being short. Ten bared his teeth in anger.
“I’ve been patient with you, asshat. You asked for it.” Ten’s fist immediately connected with Bulldog guy’s frowning face, catching him off guard. He swiped his leg between his legs and tripped him over with ease, mounting on top of him and forcefully grabbing his hair. He pulled the perpetrator’s hair back and he hissed in pain, Ten’s face dangerously close to his. He spit in Ten’s face, grabbing his arms and reversing their roles, now Ten was under him and looking angry as ever.
“You fucking bitch.”
“Fucking try me shithead!” Ten yelled before thrusting his elbow up and jabbing it into boy’s jaw. Soon enough punches and kicks were heavily being thrown around whilst the two delinquents spewed insults towards each other, attracting attention from other students. A full fight had broken out. Johnny could only stare at the pair throwing blows at each other before shaking his head, pushing his long hair back shakily and running off to get the principal.
Ten should have been grateful Johnny ran off to inform the teacher about a fight that broke out in the courtyard. He would’ve gotten his ass kicked for sure if it continued, his stamina was not up to his usual standards in the moment.
They sat in the office with Ten having a grumpy expression across his face and Johnny keeping a neutral, composed one. The principal discussed Ten’s punishments of another week of suspension and trash duty until Johnny spoke up. If it wasn’t for Johnny’s honesty getting Ten out of trouble, stating that ‘Chris’ started the fight first and had tried to hurt Johnny in the beginning.
The principal was especially surprised to hear that Ten tried to help Johnny of all people. She asked Ten to leave the room for a second before turning to Johnny with a concerned look,
“Johnny, I know you’re strong enough to defend yourself. If Ten is threatening you into covering for him-“
He winced.
“Miss.. I’m not covering for Ten. He really intervened.” Johnny spoke calmly but behind his calm facade he was just as surprised at his own words coming out of his mouth. He’s heard of Ten before, of course, one of his teammates is best friends with him, he’d seen him around before as well. They were in History together in the 8th grade. He’d even talked to him from their last tournament to warn him about smoking on public grounds.
And he had only seen him in class once on the first day of junior year with Ten’s head flat against the desk, sleeping. Until he suddenly woke up, looked around the room warily, even eyeing Johnny sleepily and immediately standing up from his desk and walking out of the room. The teacher just continued her lesson like nothing happened. Johnny could only wonder to himself why no one cared about Ten during that time. So he kept his distance.
He kind of understood why now. But he couldn’t put a finger on why no one wanted to help him. They gave up on him so easily.
“If it’s not too much to ask for, can you not suspend Ten for this? He was just trying to help,” Johnny asked, nervously scratching the back of his head, “The detentions may be good for him but suspension is unnecessary..”
The principal looked at Johnny, raising an eyebrow at his suggestions as if to ask, why the hell would you even suggest helping Ten out of this? But instead, she sighed and agreed,
“Alright, fine. I trust your judgment, Seo. He will only get two weeks of detention. I’ll send him a notice, now if you’ll excuse me I have to send in Chris now.”
Johnny just nodded, getting out of his chair and walking out the door until he heard Ten sneer from where he sat,
“Isn’t it a bit off that the swim team’s captain isn’t strong enough to fend for himself?”
“That guy was way too strong for me, you saw how big he was.” Johnny said quietly, slinging his bag over his shoulder, he looked down at Ten with his famous million dollar smile, “So, You’re only getting a week of detention because I told Principal Jung not to suspend you for your brave actions.”
“I-I-“ Ten stammered, he never stammered. What was this kid doing to him? Johnny still smiled, noticing Ten tripping over his words but decided not to tease him for it this time. He grabbed Ten by the wrist and pulled him to the side, grin still spread across his face,
“Let’s walk out together, yeah?”
“Fuck..” Ten muttered under his breath as Johnny dragged him towards the entrance. They were doing fine with just Ten cursing to himself while Johnny was trying so hard to be blissfully ignorant towards Ten’s vulgar language and the extra pairs of footsteps behind them.
“So I heard you messed with my boy.” The extra pairs of footsteps owner announced behind Ten and Johnny as they walked out of the front doors together. Ten just raised an eyebrow at the guy, Johnny gently held Ten’s elbow to hold him back,
“Yeah so? He was messing with someone he wasn’t supposed to.”
“What, your little boyfriend?” The guy was aggravating Ten now and he had no time to deal with a buffoon and the tall puppy behind him at the same time. Ten just let out a deep sigh, rolling his head around his shoulders before clutching the strap of his backpack,
“You’ve got three seconds.”
“What? I’m not scared of a—“
“One.” Ten took a step forward, taunting the boy in front of him, his shit-eating grin widening with each step he took, “Two.”
“Hey, Ten..” Johnny said weakly from behind him, Ten shrugged off his hand with a frown. The boy seemed to be afraid of Ten’s threat yet stood his ground, still wanting to see what he was made of.
“Three.” He was taunting him now.
“Shit! What the-“
Ten had swung his backpack across the boy’s face harshly, quickly grabbing Johnny’s hand to drag him away from the confused but dazed dude behind them. Johnny seemed just as confused but decided not to question when Ten had already answered him halfway across the campus.
“Anything can be a weapon if you aren’t a little bitch, Johnny.”
Kunhang noticed something was off about Ten lately since his swim tournament only a week ago. He only tagged 5 buildings this week instead of 10 and hit his bong once all week. Usually Ten would be high out of his mind coming to Psychology class whenever he even showed up but this time he was just.. Sitting there!
Even their teachers were amused with Ten’s attendance and he didn’t seem to be showing any disruptive behavior throughout the whole day. He he sucked on a lollipop in each class until he had licked to the core in his final class. He didn’t even skip a single period.
“Um. Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?” Kunhang asked, poking Ten with a ruler during Chemistry when they were paired up together for a lab. Ten just shrugged, scribbling down on his paper the formulas and making sure he copied them down correctly.
Kunhang could only watch in horror.
The only reason Ten had been acting strange was because of well.. Johnny. He’s all that’s been on Johnny’s mind. More than usual at least, he usually only thought about him whenever he would pass by or he’d see him at swim practice. He’d kept thinking about Johnny’s words to him last Friday and the incident just a few days prior.
Was he flirting with Ten the day of the tournament? He wouldn’t know because he’d never been in a relationship nor had he bothered to pay attention to whatever flirting came his way. He was oblivious to what flirting even was. So he might’ve just been plain wrong.
Ten kept thinking about how fucking tall Johnny was. He was never that up close to the elder so when he had realized Johnny was a whole head taller than him it made him regret having a dying crush on him. It made him feel soft.
He hated being shorter than people. Especially if it was someone he liked. He decided he didn’t like Johnny anymore. Yet his mind still trailed off to him so he shook his head and continued copying the board.
It was odd, really, how Johnny’s been all over Ten’s scrambled mind and Ten had decided he didn’t like him anymore because of how tall he was. Then all of a sudden Johnny shows up when Ten is hunched over on the bleachers during Kunhang’s regular swim practices, wearing his leather jacket in the blistering heat as he furiously texted his dealer, ‘what do u fukin mean ur gonna charge me ten bux extra im gonna fuk u up, kevin. jus wait till i get 2 wendy and she has herself a new regular’.
“Busy?” Johnny asked, plopping himself next to Ten. Ten squeaked uncharacteristically when he had realized Johnny sat next to him. He smelled of chlorine and lemons, an odd smell but Ten kinda digged it. Johnny’s long hair was wet, covering some of his face until he swept it back unbeknownst to him that Ten was malfunctioning. Ten could see some crystal beads of pool water dripping onto his aqua colored towel and down his bare back. He had barely gotten out of the pool.
“What the—“ Ten’s cheeks began to heat up. What the fuck. From Kunhang’s spot, wading in the water, he spotted his best friend and the titled Angelic Swim Captain sitting next to each other, a sight he never thought he would see in a million years. Something else he thought he would never live to see the day of— wait, was Ten.. blushing? Kunhang gasped so hard Yangyang thought he was going to inhale the pool water. Kunhang had composed himself before freaking out on the inside.. Ten never blushed.
“I-I’m..” Ten cleared his throat, glaring at Johnny who still smiled slightly, “I’m busy, yes. Texting my drug dealer why the hell he’s charging me extra and how I’m gonna fight him.”
“Ah, what did I say about smoking from last time?”
“Huh?” Ten dumbly stared at Johnny who could only furrow his eyebrows, slightly pouting. Oh fuck. He was pouting. Did he do something wrong?
“You don’t remember what I told you at the swim tournament? Smokings bad for you, bad boy. I should’ve reminded you the last time we spoke and you called me a little bitch.” Johnny tutted, sitting up straighter than before. Ten quickly shook his head, ignoring how the way the younger said ‘bad boy’ made him feel.
“No, no- Fuck. I’m sorry about that- Yes I do remember what you said. But this is a different kind of smoking. Like. You know,” Ten made a crude motion with his hands pretending he was rolling up a blunt, “420 and all that shit. Not cigarettes.”
“Cannabis?” Johnny chuckled, his eyebrows raised. He seemed amused by Ten’s explanation from what the elder boy could tell. Okay, good, he didn’t think Ten was a complete idiot.
“Oh wow, fuck. You said the scientific word for weed. That’s cool.” Ten said dumbly. Johnny had to hold himself back from bursting out laughing at Ten’s dazed state. He found it sort of cute.
“Um, I don’t think it’s the scientific term for weed. Just the formal word for the plant.” Johnny laughed and Ten could hear bells.
Which was the actual bell, not Johnny’s melodic laughter. Johnny smiled warmly at Ten before standing up, slightly drying his hair with his towel.
Ten could feel droplets flicking onto him but he didn’t mind this time, “I just came over to ask why you’re wearing a leather jacket, a black one at that, in 85 degree weather. And if you’re taking my advice on taking care of your health.”
“Hey man, it’s not like we’re friends or anything for you to be worrying about me. Buzz off.” Ten said, showing his resting scowl towards Johnny.
“Well, you did help me out from getting beat up. So, this might’ve been my way to try and thank you. Maybe even befriend you.” Johnny shyly smiled, a visible glint in his eye before turning and walking off the bleachers, careful not to slip over any wet spots. Ten could only stare at the long haired angel walking off, starting a conversation with another teammate as they walked into the boy’s locker room to change out of their swim trunks. Unfortunately, his thoughts were yet again interrupted by his best friend’s loud outburst. He grabbed Ten by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth.
“Why didn’t you tell me you have a fucking crush on Joh-“ Before Kunhang could even slip out Johnny’s name with his leftover teammates cleaning up equipment listening closely, Ten quickly cupped his hand over his friend’s mouth.
“Shut the fuck up!” Ten hissed, shaking his friend back and forth, “The chlorine must be getting to your head if you think I like Johnny of all people!”
The other students were now staring at the two friends glaring at each other, one with his hand over the other’s mouth and the other looking like he was about to chomp off his hand.
“The fuck are you guys looking at?” Ten snapped down at the students, who quickly returned to picking up equipment. He looked back at Kunhang who glared at him accusingly.
“You fufin fufed!”
“What?”
Kunhang slapped Ten’s hand away from his mouth, glaring at him. Ten may have been too much sometimes but not telling his own best friend about his crush is unforgivable. He’d have to make Ten spit it out himself.
“You. Fucking. Blushed.” Kunhang said, now grabbing his friend by the shoulders and shaking him again, “And you were actually at school all week? What does Johnny have that I don’t to influence you to be a responsible person?”
“Okay, okay. Yeah, whatever, fuck off. I like him, okay? B-But not in that way, dumbass,” Ten exclaimed, pushing Kunhang’s shoulder when he noticed his friend’s smug grin. Kunhang just clicked his tongue and wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulder. He pinched Ten’s cheek and cooed, much to Ten’s displeasure.
“It’s okay to deny it Tenny, you’re just a bit too stubborn to admit it. I guess my words of romance have gotten to you!”
“You’re cheesy as hell and the thought of the L word makes me wanna barf.”
“Yeah, you definitely like him.” Kunhang leered, poking Ten’s chest where his heart was located. Ten promptly smacked his friend’s hand away.
“I will push your dumbass into the pool.”
“How rude, anyways it’s very cute you’re finally getting more friends besides me. I mean, I know I’m perfect but—“
“I regret ever befriending you in the eighth grade.” Ten groaned, standing up from his seat and jumping off the bleachers as Kunhang carefully followed behind him with loud protests.
Ten had declared a little crush wouldn’t change the fact that he could still scare the living shit out of people. Apparently, he was only half right. Now everyone in the hallways looked at him, sporting a few scratches on his face as he stomped down the halls. They weren’t staring because he was roughed up or anything, everyone was used to it already. But because one of the swim team members that had witnessed Kunhang’s accusatory screaming after practice and had gone around spreading that Ten had a crush on someone. What was this, third grade?
“I wonder who’s the unlucky person that has Ten of all people liking him.” Someone whispered.
“Right? Ten would probably beat the crap out of them if they even breathed the wrong way—“
“I’ll beat the shit out of both of you and your moms if you don’t keep my name out of your filthy mouths,” Ten sneered, towering over the two gossiping girls whose eyes widened in fear. They scurried off quickly.
Ten pursed his lips in thought, shaking his head as he kept brushing through the whispers surrounding him. They don’t know anything.
“This is straight out of a bad chick flick.. The bad boy falling for someone way out of his league? Do you think he likes student council president Kun?”
“Pft. That’s even cheesier! I was thinking maybe his friend that always sticks around him.. The guy with backstrokes for days! Kunhang was it? They’d make a cute couple.”
Ten had soon scurried to the bathroom to wash the disgusting taste he has gotten in his mouth thinking of Kunhang as his boyfriend or even love interest. He regretted ever telling Kunhang he had a crush on Johnny or even bothering to talk to Johnny in front of his nosy friend. Now he was everyone’s target of gossip for the week, students he had no idea existed trying to find out who the school’s troublemaker had a crush on.
He just hoped they didn’t find out about his little rough up with the other student to help Johnny. He doubted the other delinquents cared enough about those kinds of things to tell anyone else. Unless they wanted something from Ten but no one was stupid enough to try it.
Still, Ten had to keep low about his interactions with Johnny. He just had to keep away from the elder for awhile so people wouldn’t drag him into the mess called Ten’s Life.
Johnny never approached Ten in school anyway. He’d only ever talked to him twice this whole time. And both times were after school so it was safe to assume Johnny would only talk to Ten if no one was around. Even when he mentioned he wanted to befriend Ten. Ten wasn’t sure if Johnny meant it.
That is, until said captain approached Ten in his history class with an small smile. He sat in front of Ten, his smile never wavering.
“Hey!”
“Oh, wow, you were serious.” Ten said, his eyes wide, “And since when were you in my history class?”
“Have you really not noticed me here for like the past year?” Johnny looked a little hurt but Ten managed to save face.
“I mean yeah, I kinda skipped class for most of the year and slept through most of it, so.”
“Anyways,” Johnny said, cooly brushing off Ten’s shitty excuse, “Yes, I was serious about wanting to befriend you. And now I want you to be my partner for this assignment, is that okay?”
“Are you pranking me right now? Where are the cameras?” Ten wrinkled his nose, looking around the room for said cameras. Johnny could only chuckle, giving Ten’s shoulder a friendly pat.
“Of course I’m being serious. Unless you’re too cool for me I totally understand, you can work solo. Do you understand this first question, then?”
‘Which Fascist leader was called "Il Duce" by his followers?’
Ten looked down at the question with a tight smile then glancing up at Johnny who smiled down at him expectantly,
“You know what, fine. Just help me with this stupid worksheet.”
“My pleasure, Tenny.”
“Don’t call me that or I’ll knock your teeth out.”