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He's never seen his school this busy. Not even when their previous principal passed away in the middle of a typhoon when the classes wasn't suspended and they were having their final exams back in 8th grade.
It's the week before prom.
Hanbin had tried convincing himself that he wasn't excited. His friends were getting invited left and right. Just a while ago, Jinhwan was asked out by the Koo Junhoe, president of the Student Council and Jinhwan didn't even let him finish before he kissed him. Like they just got engaged. Hanbin can feel the bitterness at the tip of his tongue. His convincing is obviously not working because he's getting super antsy.
There's only a week left to know if he'll go stag or get laid. It was a matter of life and death really.
Especially since he's been hoping for a certain someone to invite him.
It was all planned out. Him and Bobby color-coordinating their ties, them dominating the dance floor, and kissing once the song changes into something more mellow just in time for the fireworks display.
But the thing is, it was all planned out by Hanbin only. Bobby seems to have something else in mind.
Hanbin looks at him while he stuff his mouth with food, sweat forming on his forehead like he's been starving for days. Training must be tough.
"Slow down, Ji." He mutters. Bobby moans in satisfaction. He doesn't slow down.
"Chae just accepted my promposal. Goodbye virgin boys. Me and my girl's gonna hit it hard in the faculty room while you bust your asses on the dancefloor." Chanwoo exclaims with a smug smile as everyone ignores him.
"That's rough 'cause you don't keep condoms in your wallet." Bobby sneers after gulping down a glass of water.
"Excuse me, Mr. Sex Expert, I just bought a whole box so stop coming for me when clearly you got more problems on your own." Chanwoo eyes him purposely and Bobby rubs his hand, confusedly muttering, "Do we have a problem, Bin?"
Hanbin scoffs, rolling his eyes as Bobby stares at him intently, more lost than ever.
"Welp, that's my cue. See you guys later. Bye!" Chanwoo dips faster than lightning and everyone else bid their goodbyes. He was left alone with his too dense of a boyfriend.
"Hey." Bobby calls.
Hanbin doesn't want this to come from him. He doesn't want Bobby to know how much he's been anticipating this certain event.
Everything was perfect in his imagination. He would be walking in the hallways, hugging his books tightly and then Bobby would show up out of the blue, a bouquet of roses and sunflowers in hand and he would ask him if he would like to go with him to prom. And of course, Hanbin would say yes. Hell, he was even planning on crying a little. He practiced it for days!
But here was Bobby in reality, far from his imaginations, with ketchup on the corner of his mouth and a creased forehead, waiting for him to answer a question he wasn't expecting in the very least.
He wipes the sauce off Bobby's mouth and onto a tissue. Bobby licks his lower lip. "Are you actually expecting me to invite you to prom?" Bobby asks.
Hanbin was starting to get livid. Because, the audacity! He thought Bobby would already know that by now. He gave him so many hints these past few days and apparently, none of them were able to pass through Bobby's mind.
"What do you mean actually? Aren't you my boyfriend or something?" Hanbin tries to stay calm. He was gripping tightly on the hem of his shirt when Bobby laughs. He's so fucking dense and Hanbin's getting frustrated. If he didn't know better, he'll think Bobby's making fun of him. He wants to punch him for it either way.
"Well, I thought prom wasn't your thing." Bobby shrugs.
Hanbin scoffs, rolling his eyes for the 10th time this day. And it's still 9 AM. He wants to say clearly you thought wrong but he doesn't like sounding too immature about it. Maybe he's really making a big deal out of all this.
Prom wasn't even anything important.
He whines in his thought. Prom is important. It's a one time thing and he luckily got himself a hot boyfriend before it all happens and now everything seems to crumble into ashes because said boyfriend may not be interested in asking him out at all.
"Sure." Hanbin says passive-aggressively. Bobby surprisingly catches on to his tone of voice. He scoots over to be closer to him.
"Tell me honestly, Bin. Do you wanna go to prom?"
This must be it. Hanbin thinks. This must be Bobby's way of a promposal. Pretending not to know about it and then asking straight to the point like nothing happened. Bobby's question seems to sound otherwise though. He didn't ask Hanbin to go to the prom with him.
"You should know by now." Hanbin says.
Bobby pouts. "I'm so confused. I don't know what you want me to do." His hand soon finds Hanbin's thigh, rubbing it lightly, asking him to explain whatever was on his mind.
Well, if Bobby won't invite him then he should take action and just do the work. He clears his throat.
"Wanna go to prom with me?" Hanbin asks in one go. He rests his hand on top of Bobby's, too small to cover that of the latter's but enough to keep it warm.
Bobby suddenly removes his hand on his thigh, surprising Hanbin. He pretends it didn't bother him but it knocks the air out of his lungs and he wants answers now.
"Oh." Bobby mutters, sighing. He scratches the back of his neck. "That...well..."
Hanbin raises his brow to coax him to continue, getting impatient and more anxious by the minute. His mind wanders to a breakup and no, Bobby can't break up with him. Not during prom week at least!
"I can't." Bobby pushes his lower lip between his teeth, his eyes placating and Hanbin wants more explanation than those two simple words.
"Why?" He tries to sound calm but the sternness in his voice was evident.
"I got varsity tryouts for a university. It's for a college scholarship, Bin and I can't miss it."
Hanbin wants to tell him what about me? but that'd be too selfish. Instead he sighs. He's getting accustomed to alternating between sighing and rolling his eyes these days.
"It's fine. It's not like I got a suit prepared anyway." It's not. And he already got his suit dry cleaned and hanging peacefully in his closet waiting to be worn.
"Come on, Bin. I know that look." Bobby pulls him in a hug, his chest pressing on his back and his chin resting on his shoulder. "I'm sure it'll end early, the tryouts I mean. Take yourself to the prom and I'll see you there." Bobby kisses his cheek.
Hanbin purses his lips and Bobby catches it too, giving him a peck. "I'd look pathetic alone. I've been showing off to Jinhwan about how we'll have matching red ties and now I'm forced to go stag." He pouts even more when Bobby chuckles in his ear.
"Red tie. Okay, noted. I'll see you there all dashing and shit. Wait for me?" Bobby lets go of him so they can face each other.
"I'm not gonna expect anything from you so don't promise." Hanbin crosses his arms.
"Ouch." Bobby clutches his heart, feigning a heartbreak. "Anyway, we're gonna go beat Chanwoo and his girlfriend and hit it hard in the faculty room first."
///////
He looks like shit. Feels like one too.
His mother was calling him from downstairs telling him Jinhwan was already outside. The boys rented a limo and they were all going together. With their respective partners, of course. That which he doeasn't have.
He wants to just cancel and sulk all night but he already did his hair, styled in a messy pompadour probably using his tears from failed hopes and dreams.
Before he could finally show himself outside, his phone rings. Bobby was calling. He picks it up excitedly, hoping for a little miracle.
"If this isn't about you telling me that you're done with the tryouts and that you're outside my house in a suit waiting for me, please hang up." Bobby chuckles on the other line.
"Tryouts haven't even started yet, Bin." He can sense him pouting like a child. "I just called to ask you to send me a pic so that I don't feel lonely."
"Lonely my ass. You can see me for yourself once you keep your promise of getting there by the last minute."
Bobby whines. Hanbin feels a smile creeping on his face. "I bet you look really hot. I wanna see you so badly."
"Good bye, Mr. Kim. I'm hanging up."
"Love you!"
Hanbin hangs up, muttering a quiet love you too and blushing like a teenager (well, he is one) even though Bobby couldn't hear him anymore. It's like he has forgotten about being alone.
He looks at his reflection one last time before heeding his mother's yell.
"Looking good stag huh?" Jinhwan smiles at him teasingly and he glares at him, the feeling completely coming back in waves.
"Call the others so I can take a picture of you guys. This is a one time experience so I need everything photographed." His mother says holding a camera in one hand.
"Don't cry, Mrs. Kim." Jinhwan jokes as he calls their other friends from outside.
Junhoe immediately wraps his arm around Jinhwan's waist, Donghyuk and Yunhyeong walking hand in hand as they head towards them and Chanwoo closely following Chae behind. Hanbin almost wants to smile except for the fact that he's the only one without a partner and he couldn't be satisfied with that.
The minute he heard the shutter of his mother's camera going off is the minute where he looked like a bitter loveless fool.
"One more. Hanbin-ah, smile!"
He smiles awkwardly, in the middle of three couples. The odd one out.
The atmosphere inside the limo was even worse. Jinhwan and Junhoe were making out. Yunhyeong is lying on Donghyuk's lap while they laugh at something in their phones. Chae and Chanwoo were arguing about who will ask the driver to turn the stereo on and Chanwoo seems to win as Chae was whining about how nobody likes her boyfriend's music taste except, well, Chanwoo.
"Where's Bobby, by the way?" Yunhyeong asks out of the blue.
Hanbin shoots daggers from his direction. The stereo was turned on and some indie artist from the West sings about something Hanbin doesn't understand.
"Uh oh. Sensitive topic." Chanwoo says.
The couple from his left stops making out just to be in on the gossip. Junhoe whines.
Jinhwan looks at him inquisitively. "Did you guys breakup?"
There was a slight commotion. A bunch of nahs and no ways. Hanbin shakes his head to confirm. "He's up for college tryouts."
"Babe, aren't you on the same team as him? Why didn't you go?" Chae turns to Chanwoo.
Chanwoo pinches her cheeks. "Well, you're more important to me than some college scholarship." Chae says one awww and then they kiss.
Hanbin rolls his eyes. Whatever. Chanwoo's not even half as good as Bobby. He's sure even if he tries he'll never get in.
That's just his bitterness talking. Of course, his future is more important for Bobby. It's not like they'll be together forever. For all he knows, they might break up right after graduation. Now, that would suck.
Hanbin feels someone's hands on his. When he looks up, it was Donghyuk. He smiles a little to ensure the latter that he is fine.
"You guys shouldn't celebrate my defeat yet 'cause Ji told me he'll go to prom right after the tryouts so I'm not actually completely stag." He says confidently.
Junhoe snorts. "Sure."
He throws a crumpled paper he found in the pocket of his coat at him. Donghyuk giggles and tells him, "He'll come through. Bobby never disappoints."
He wasn't sure so himself.
///////
The one week preparation was worth it.
Their school gymnasium has turned into something more elegant and everyone looked like they were off to attend a high end Hollywood award show. You wouldn't find any trace of sweaty tracks and muddy floors. The place was exactly as how he imagined it.
No matter how much Hanbin denies, or tries to, he admits to himself sometimes that he is quite a romantic. He prefers watching romantic comedy movies and he gets to choose it everytime he and Bobby were on a date night.
He doesn't know why he and Bobby clicked. They were too different from each other. For example, Bobby liked sports, maybe more than studying and Hanbin plays but he has no particular interest in anything that makes him sweat. The hardest exercise he's been on was doing an extremely difficult Math problem during the Interhighschool academic competition, which he ended up winning, by the way.
Bobby also has a different belief than him when it comes to The Creator. His boyfriend was fairly religious, but not so much. And Hanbin doesn't really indulge himself with these things but he prays sometimes, in case someone was out there who could hear.
Funny enough, they met inside a church.
It was actually Donghyuk who introduced them to each other. He invited him for their Church anniversary and Hanbin didn't have the nerve to refuse after all the favors Donghyuk had given him.
He knew of Bobby. The guy was quite popular, being the captain of the Football team. He was shocked to find him friendly though. Bobby was fun to talk with. By the time it was time to go home, he found himself being walked to by Bobby and not Donghyuk.
Then there were few questions. But the most important one was, "Would you like it if we have lunch together tomorrow?" And Hanbin didn't have the nerve to refuse either.
They kissed on their 3rd date. Finally out of school right after Chanwoo's birthday party. It was outside his house when Bobby walked him home. He pulled him close for a proper kiss just in time for Hanbin's mother to come outside and catch them. Hanbin was sure he heard a few camera clicks.
The pictures were taped on his wall just above his study table.
It was a little lonely without Bobby. He takes it back. It was too lonely without Bobby.
The couple, Junhoe and Jinhwan, got scolded for making out in the dancefloor so they were just dancing very close to each other, laughing at something only they can probably understand. He's pretty sure the bulk in Junhoe's coat pocket was a mini flask and judging from the way his feet move, he may be a little tipsy. The student council president sure is a role model.
Yunhyeong and Donghyuk were having a heart to heart talk, still seated on their table. Hanbin wanted to give them a little privacy so he saunters off to the where the food is.
Chanwoo and Chae were gone. Probably doing the deed in the faculty room. He rolls his eyes. It was still pretty early for a fuck but what can he expect from Chanwoo.
If Bobby was there, they're probably doing the same. He sulks. He's always thinking about Bobby and he can't help it. This was supposed to be their day. Their moment. Prom is like a rite of passage for couples. How can he move on with his life without experiencing the most anticipated and critically acclaimed prom kiss?
Chanwoo was back in their table (which the only occupant is him because the couples have found their way to the dance floor), hair a mess and buttons in the wrong places. He looks ecstatic and his pupils dilated.
"Wow, that was fun." He exclaims, taking a drink from the glass of punch on the table.
"That's Junhoe's. Probably spiked." Hanbin warns.
"Even better." Chanwoo winks at him.
From time to time he would look at his phone to check if Bobby had texted him. From time to time, he received none.
He must be really busy. It's not Bobby's fault that he keeps on waiting. Hanbin knows even though Bobby promised to be there, the chances are slim to none. By the time the tryouts were to finish, Bobby must've been tired to even go and fix himself up. He probably hasn't even rented a suit. Still, Hanbin hopes.
And then he stops hoping.
The fireworks display went off along with the shouts of excitement from his fellow students. When he looks at the dancefloor, every couple was kissing.
It was an unfortunate sight if you're Kim Hanbin, boyfriend of the captain of the Football team who is currently MIA.
One by one, students start to go home. Either off to an after party or to bed. Jinhwan and Junhoe had already excused themselves. Donghyuk and Yunhyeong are still inseparable on the dancefloor and Chanwoo got invited to the team's post-prom party but he said he'll take Chae home first 'cause the latter was obviously tired.
Hanbin wants to go home too but he was supposed to go with Donghyuk as per his mother's request so he had no choice but to wait and stay.
He helped the officers arrange the chairs as the lights went off one by one. He wonders when Donghyuk and Yunhyeong will break apart, sooner or later they'll be the only one left on the dance floor.
Hanbin visibly shivers when he feels a warm breath on his cheek, partnered up with a tight hug coming from the back and he knows exactly whom that warmth belongs to.
"Sorry, I'm a little late." Bobby plants a soft kiss on his neck and Hanbin closes his eyes, his heart hammering in his chest and all the butterflies in his stomach are having a concert. It's funny how Bobby can make him feel things just by being around. Still, like the very first time.
"I'm gonna cry." Hanbin jokes. Bobby's lips hike up to his earlobe, pulling it in between his teeth and he can feel Bobby's smirk from his cheek, he sighs in contentment.
"Wanna dance?" He whispers. Hanbin wasn't going to say no.
Bobby looks more ridiculous than he is. In fact, Hanbin doesn't even look ridiculous in the first place. He just thinks he does because he's all dolled up going stag but Bobby...good Lord.
Bobby was wearing a black coat over his red jersey and slacks. His hair was fortunately styled upwards with remnants of hair gel still unfurnished and mixed with sweat. Bobby should be thankful his skin is as clear as glass and that he's naturally good-looking so it's working. Hanbin laughs as he places his hand on Bobby's shoulders.
"Look, I have to borrow one of my brother's coat 'cause apparently the rent shop nearby closes at 10." Bobby pouts. Hanbin laughs at him, forgetting all his worries awhile ago.
He looks at him with unrivaled fondness. "Do you have any idea how happy I am?" Hanbin tells him, moving his hands up to Bobby's nape, keeping the small distance between them.
Bobby's hold on his waist tightens, rubbing his thumb on the smooth surface of his coat and Hanbin can feel it. No matter how many layers apart his skin is from Bobby's.
"Even if I almost didn't make it?" Bobby pulls Hanbin's face and buries it on his chest as he kisses the crown of his head. His lips rests there. Hanbin can hear every beat of Bobby's heart. It mirrors his.
"Even if you didn't make it." He whispers.
///////
Bobby insisted to walk him home. He told him he should just go home because he was clearly tired, but Bobby's too stubborn to listen, already walking ahead of him and Hanbin runs to follow.
He'd told Donghyuk he'll go with Bobby and the latter nodded and asked them to keep safe. They stopped by a street food stall to eat and continued to walk home after.
Bobby holds his hand, Hanbin intertwines their fingers. They both have a dopey smile on their faces as the cold breeze hits their skin.
"What's the verdict?" Hanbin asks, regretting that he didn't bring his earmuffs as what his mother told him before he left. Now he feels like his ears are going to fall off any second.
"Verdict what?" Hanbin squeezes his hand and Bobby seems to get it as he mumbles a quiet oh. "I got in." He smiles even wider.
Hanbin pretends to wipe his tears as he congratulates him and Bobby pushes him lightly with his free hand.
"Why were you so hell-bent on getting a slot in this university anyway? It's not like the others won't hold tryouts the next few days." Hanbin muses, remembering Chanwoo's answer to Chae's question back in the limo.
Bobby shrugs. "It's the same university you're planning to study for college."
Hanbin hums. "What about it?"
He hears a bit of Bobby's sigh. He sure is tired. He feels sorry. Bobby lives a few blocks from theirs so it wouldn't be much of a nuisance to go home but he still feels guilty.
"Well, I'm not smart enough to get an academic scholarship like you so I figured if I become a sports scholar, we'll still be able to go to the same college together." Hanbin halts at his confession. Bobby looks at him, eyes asking if he said something wrong.
Now, Hanbin really wants to cry. He was sulking about being alone to prom and Bobby was working his ass off for tryouts just so they can be on the same university. He sucks in a few breaths before speaking.
"I didn't know you were thinking about that." He hears his voice break a little and Bobby seems to be startled. He grips his arms, shaking him lightly while smiling.
"Are you gonna cry?" He was half-laughing when Hanbin punches him in the chest.
"Bin, don't cry. Of course, I would think about that. If I'm gonna be miserable in college, at least you're there with me. Let's be miserable together, okay?" He forces him to look up and in his eyes.
"You're the corniest guy on Earth, I swear." Hanbin manages to say before laughing too.
Bobby removes his grip on his arms and shuffles to get something in his coat pocket. "Don't think I forgot about the red tie." He wiggles the tie in between his fingers. Hanbin laughs more. "I don't know how to wear it. I'm sorry I'm useless." Bobby fakes a tear too.
Hanbin puts it on him while smiling, tying it perfectly as it hangs from his neck and down to his red jersey. He looks more ridiculous now and even cuter. "Oh and I got you something." Bobby says, now holding a rose corsage. He clips it on the mini pocket of Hanbin's coat and smoothens the fabric out.
"We're like the Prince and the Pauper." Bobby claims. "You're the prince, of course. You're always perfect."
Hanbin rolls his eyes. Biting the inside of his cheeks to keep him from smiling too much. "I'm not perfect. I'm cold." He blurts.
Bobby leans down to level their faces, lips moving closer, warm hands covering his cold and numb ears and a deep kiss.
Hanbin rests his palms on Bobby's chest, moving his lips in the rhythm Bobby had guided him into.
This was definitely better than what he imagined.
He hears a few camera clicks and he was sure his mother had caught them.
Those will be taped on his wall next morning.