Chapter Text
metanoia (n.) the journey of changing one’s mind, heart, self, or way of life, spiritual conversation
“So, we took care of everything?” The student body president smiles, his calm gaze traveling to all the student council members around the table. Slowly, the president's gaze lands on Seungmin, and the junior representative leans his elbows against the table in front of him and lets his head fall into his open palms. It was yet another Friday where Seungmin had clashed with their lovely president, Lee Minho.
“Yeah, I think we covered everything,” the sophomore representative, Lee Daehwi, speaks up next. Seungmin continues to keep his head buried in his palms. From his right, Seungmin feels a soft pat on his shoulder trying to comfort him. He knows it's the student council's treasurer, Choi Soobin, because he always sits on Seungmin’s right. Plus, it’s a natural occurrence for the treasurer to comfort Seungmin due to his lovely conversations with their even lovelier president.
“Awesome!” From beside Minho, the secretary, Kim Jiwoo, who sometimes went as Chuu, claps her hands together, a wide pretty smile on her face. “Everyone, don’t forget the first baseball game is tonight and everyone is required to attend! Minho, Soobin, and Seungmin have all volunteered to help out the team tonight, correct?”
Seungmin nods, though a little uncomfortably due to his head still being buried in his palms.
“Great, and next week we will be having an additional meeting after school on Monday to go over everything for the assembly on Friday,” Jiwoo finishes with a wide smile, looking across all the student council members.
Seungmin finally looks up, not trying to hide the frown on his face, and makes sure to look everywhere else but at Lee Minho.
“And that’s it on reminders!” Jiwoo looks down at the agenda in front of her before giving everyone one last beaming smile. From across the table, Seungmin can see the many different color highlighters she uses to organize. He smiles to himself, glad that Jiwoo was the secretary for their student council. And if everything went according to his plan, she would be his secretary next year when he becomes president.
“We don’t have much coming up until after the assembly,” Minho starts talking again, and Seungmin feels his mood drop, for the nth time in that meeting. “Is there anything else anyone wants to cover before we officially end the meeting?”
“Oh, I do!” Just a little away from his left, the student council's historian, Lee Chaeryeong, lifts a hand up to get everyone’s attention.
“What is it?” Minho asks, and Seungmin’s gaze goes back to the president, almost like a magnet. Minho has that same stupid smile he always has, it’s incredibly soft, and whenever he would tilt his head he would almost look feline. That’s what he was doing now, tilting his head just a little in Chaeryeong's direction, his soft smile looking like it belonged to a cat. Seungmin looks away angrily.
“I would like everyone to make a post on the Instagram story about the assembly,” Chaeryeong says cheerfully, her gaze shifting over to the student council's committee, Huang Renjun, who was sitting on the other side of Soobin. “Renjun and I went over the number of attendance in the last couple events we’ve done, and it shows that when we post about upcoming events regularly on our social media page, we get more attendance, so I would like everyone to make a post on the story and then we’ll have Minho make an official post after the meeting Monday.”
“That sounds amazing, Chaeryeong,” the vice president, Park Seonghwa, says when Chaeryeong finishes with a proud smile, “good job you two!”
“I agree with Seonghwa,” Minho smiles and Seungmin regrettably looks over at him, again, but as soon as he looks at the president, he’s shocked. He wasn’t smiling his usual smile, this one was different, this one looked genuine.
“We are all really glad to have you two on our team,” Minho practically beams, and Seungmin looks at the committee and historian to see both blushing softly at the compliment, or maybe at the president’s smile, who knows.
It was rare for a sophomore to have a position outside of the representative, so when Seungmin had found out that Chaeryeong, a sophomore, had gotten the position as a historian, he was surprised. Though after getting to know her, he learned that there was really nobody better for the position than her, and her getting the position as a sophomore just showed how well she did her job.
Seungmin had been a member since he was a sophomore as well. Though he had had the representative position just like he did this year, it wasn’t uncommon for the representative students to stay in the same position as they got older. Though he had never seen a student who was as interested in student council as Chaeryeong was, maybe besides Jiwoo but she was just an optimistic and cheerful person naturally.
“Anything else?” Minho asks, but this time Seungmin has the self-control to not look at him. Everybody shakes their head no, Seungmin doesn’t even bother though, because he knows Minho won’t pay him any mind. “Meeting over, and Soobin, I would like to talk to you a bit about the bake sale before Monday.”
The sound of chairs scraping against the floor of the classroom overpowers the groan Seungmin lets out as he turns to the right to his friend.
“Just ignore him, please help me escape, don’t go,” Seungmin pleads to Soobin, ready to get down on his hands and knees to beg his friend.
“Seungmin, you know I can’t do that!” Soobin says affronted like he can’t even believe Seungmin was suggesting it.
“Please, Soobin, I would do anything,” Seungmin says, this time really ready to drop to his knees and beg .
But he is too late.
“Seungmin!” Minho’s voice invades their space as the president walks up to the two juniors, the same soft smile on his face like always.
“Hello, president, sir,” Soobin bows low, almost 90 degrees, and Seungmin has the inkling to take out a proctor just to see how close he is to 90 degrees.
“Soobin, you don’t need to be so polite,” Minho laughs, it’s airy and carefree, and Seungmin can’t help but think it sounds nice. The thought makes him want to throw up.
“Can we talk a little about the bake sale during lunch? It’s okay if you can't, I just wanted to go over some details before we all begin planning it,” Minho faces Soobin, the way he talks sounding professional and understanding, the perfect air of authority and kindness a president should have. Seungmin hated to admit it, but Minho really was the perfect president.
Last year, only two juniors had run for president. Lee Minho and Park Seonghwa. Both Minho and Seonghwa were perfect for the position, but Minho had beaten Seonghwa to be president. Minho had chosen Seonghwa to be his vice president, and they had been a perfect pair for the student council.
“Yes! Of course, sir!” Soobin says almost going down to bow again, but Minho catches him on the shoulder before he could get the chance.
“Great, I’ll meet you at the door, I just want to talk to Seungmin for a second,” Minho looked away from Soobin to lock eyes with Seungmin. Like usual in the presence of evil, Seungmin felt a shudder go down his spine.
Minho cornered Seungmin after almost every student council meeting, it would have been every meeting if Seungmin hadn’t sprinted out of the room or used his friends within the council for help to escape. It was just his luck that he didn’t make it out in time that day.
“Yes, sir!” Soobin stutters out, Minho preventing the boy from bowing again by the hand still on his shoulder. Soobin wiggles out, quickly bowing to their dismay, and scuffles back to wait by the door. Seungmin lets out a sigh, now alone with Minho.
“I’m sorry we disagreed so much today during the meeting,” turning his gaze away from Soobin, Seungmin looks over at Minho to see the president’s eyes already on him. Seungmin could feel his chest tighten a little, but he tries to pay it no mind.
“That’s pretty normal between us, isn’t it?” Seungmin says, knowing he should probably try to be nicer to the president since he gave evaluations on each member to Mr. Song, their advisor. In the future he would have to talk with Mr. Song to set up his campaign for when he ran for president the next year, so he always tries to be on his good side. Minho just laughs, and it sounds genuine, like his laughter earlier. It’s just like before, carefree and airy, and Seungmin really hates how nice it is on his ears.
“It is, but that’s what everyone is here for,” Minho gestures to around the room, where some of the members were still hanging around the room: Soobin waiting at the door, Chaeyeong and Renjun in deep conversation towards the corner of the room, and Seonghwa and Dahyun laughing, still sitting at the table.
“We all have the qualities to challenge each other to be the best, to make the best decisions for our school, we were all chosen because of that,” Minho tilts his head, that feline smile ever-present.
“You aren’t wrong, Mr. President,” Seungmin begrudgingly agrees, using the nickname for Minho, he started using when they first started having their disagreements. Just like always, Minho was right, and it boiled his blood.
“And maybe when you start making more valid points, I’ll start agreeing with you,” Minho smiles, showing his perfectly white slightly crooked teeth, and oh does Seungmin want to knock them out with his fist.
“I can say the same thing to you, Mr. President,” Seungmin forces himself to smile, his cheeks stinging with the force of it. He is 100% positive it looks absolutely fake, but he really does not care.
“I look forward to clashing with you on Monday, Seungmin. Oh, and see you tonight,” Minho winks and Seungmin freezes in his spot. Minho notices the slight change in his demeanor and quirks the corner of his mouth just enough for Seungmin to notice, giving the junior representative one last look before walking away towards Soobin.
Seungmin gulps, staying frozen in his spot as his stomach erupts into somersaults. Sometimes Minho surprises Seungmin with just how mad he can make him.
Though he was happy that this time their conversation was shorter. Sometimes Minho would corner him to debate some more. One time Minho had tried to get Seungmin to see his point and called his opinion lazy and uninteresting, Soobin had to put his arm around the junior representative so he wouldn't jump on the president.
He takes one last look to where Minho was walking off and catches eyes with Soobin. Seungmin gives Soobin a smile and a reassuring thumbs-up hoping it would help with the slightly younger boy.
Soobin was a really confident person. He was confident in pretty much everything; with who he was, his studies, his position within the student council, but something about their president sent his nerves crazy. It was a little funny as Soobin absolutely towered over their short president.
Once both Soobin and Minho had walked out the door to the classroom they were in, Seungmin finally let himself breathe.
Seungmin picks his backpack up from where he was resting it against the back of his chair, putting his notebook that he uses to take notes during the meetings in one of the pockets, and leaves the room trying to breathe normally again.
Seungmin’s rivalry with Minho had been going on longer than he could really remember. They had met last year when Seungmin was a sophomore and newly elected as the sophomore representative for the student council and Minho had just moved up to the junior representative. Seungmin had looked up to him because everyone knew that he was next in line to be president of the student council. He was also close to Jeongguk, the previous president, which Seungmin had found amazing. They had barely talked then, only talking when it involved something within the council that the representatives had to take care of. They hadn't clashed at all then. It wasn't until the next year that something just seemed to snap between them. Seungmin doesn't know the first time they clashed or fought, it just seemed to happen and then after that, it was all they could do.
Seungmin makes his way through the school, past the familiar route he took every Friday after their meetings from their advisor's classroom.
The student council held mandatory meetings every Friday before lunch. They had those meetings as a way to end and start a week, plus in case some members had after school priorities that would cause them to miss outside of school scheduled meetings. All members were excused from their classes during the meetings. It was nice because the teachers whose classes he missed were always super supportive and gave him help for lessons he missed. He figured he got that special treatment for being such a good student and a major kiss up.
After the short walk from Mr. Song’s room, Seungmin walks through the thrown open doors to their school's lunchroom. He’s immediately hit with the spell of kimchi stew. Fridays were always kimchi stew days. Seungmin casts his eyes towards the farthest end of the lunchroom, to where he always went after Friday meetings and spots a familiar head of faded lavender hair. His feet move on their own, so used to this routine.
“Hey,” Seungmin says tiredly, setting his bag down on the table and sliding into the seat next to his best friend.
“Oh, hi!” Lee Felix looks up from the book he's reading, his eyes just slightly blown wide in shock from being so invested in his book and Seungmin’s sudden appearance.
Felix had been Seungmin’s best friend since last year when he had been the sophomore representative and had to welcome the brand new sophomore into the school. Felix had moved from Australia to accommodate his parents' new job the previous year. When they had first met they had talked and laughed together so naturally that they immediately became good friends. Now, Felix was his best friend.
Seungmin smiles fondly at his friend, “did I scare you?”
“Just a little,” Felix laughs a little flusteredly.
“Whatcha reading?” Seungmin asks and reaches into his bookbag, pulling out the lunch he packed for himself the previous day.
“It’s new, kinda basic, but I really like the way the author writes so I’m dealing with the cliches,” Felix shrugs and slides a random piece of plastic between the pages of his book. Seungmin smiles at the action, Felix’s ability to make anything into a bookmark has always amazed him.
“How was the meeting today? Did Minho drive you crazy, again?” Felix asks and laughs when Seungmin groans and buries his hands into his palms.
“All he did was question everything I said,” Seungmin whines through his hands.
“That's not exactly new,” Felix reaches out and rubs Seungmin’s back.
“It’s like he does it on purpose! Like he singles my ideas out and just completely annihilates them!” Seungmin looks up and dramatically flings his arms out to prove his point.
“Did you mention your idea for the halftime game?” Felix asks, laughing at his friend’s dramatics.
“I did, and again, he just questioned everything and then decided to stay with the normal game,” Seungmin whines, not being able to hide his frustration for the topic.
“That sucks,” Felix pouts and brings a hand up to play with one of the strands of Seungmins hair that always liked to stick out on the side. “I liked the idea.”
“See! It was a good idea!” Seungmin groans and presses his fingers into the bridge of his nose when the memory of Minho shutting his idea down resurfaces.
Felix was well used to his Friday rants.
No matter what, Minho always had something to say about Seungmin’s ideas, and it was never something positive. It always resulted in Seungmin coming back from the meetings and ranting to Felix about everything that went down. It wasn't even a surprise that Minho had shut down his idea.
“You know, you could always talk to Mr. Song about Minho,” Felix says, dipping one of his baby carrots in ranch and munching on it.
“I could,” Seungmin sighs, “but, he's the president, and I don't want to complain about him to a teacher, it just seems so childish.”
“A little, but it could fix your problem with him,” Felix says, bringing his chin down to rest on his palm.
“I don’t think anything can fix my problem with Lee fucking Minho,” Seungmin grumbles, stealing a carrot from Felix.
“It kinda seems like Minho’s just teasing you,” Felix suddenly blurts, lifting his head up from where he was resting his chin on his palm.
“What?” Seungmin sputters.
“I don’t know!” Felix laughs a little like he can’t believe what he said, or like he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of what he said sooner, Seungmin wasn't sure. “Well, most of the time when you tell me what Minho says, it just seems like he's trying to get you riled up, and it's certainly working.”
“Why would he want to rile me up?” Seungmin asks, bewildered.
“I’m not sure, maybe he likes you,” Felix shrugs, and goes back to rest his cheek on his palm.
“He doesn't like me!” Seungmin argues.
“Sure, whatever you say Seung,” Felix laughs, and his eyes go up into cute little crescents.
“Okay, enough about Minho, I don't want to talk about that arrogant prick anymore,” Seungmin frowns, unsure how their topic had derived so much, and to such an insane topic at that.
Felix is quick to do as Seungmin says and mentions a new rap group he's listening to. Seungmin promises that he'll listen to them some time; though as Felix was about to send him the link to their music he quickly forgets and gets distracted, suddenly remembering how one of his classmates had pranked their teacher with a water balloon that day.
Seungmin forgets all about Minho while talking to Felix, and the tension in his shoulders dissipates. It was one of the many things he loved about Felix, just being in his best friend's presence was relaxing, and he always managed to make Seungmin smile. Felix just had a talent at making anyone laugh until their chest hurt.
The bell then suddenly rings all too fast. They say their goodbyes, and promise to meet up at the baseball game that night. Seungmin is then rudely reminded that he has to see Minho again that night at the game. Felix promises that he’ll be there to protect him from the student council president.
When Seungmin begins walking to his next class, he remembers what his best friend said, and Felix’s words ring through his head.
Maybe he likes you.
It’s stupid, Seungmin assures himself. Minho obviously didn't like him like that. And even if he did, Seungmim wouldn't have even cared. He totally wouldn't have cared at all.