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It’s barely past eleven in the morning when Soonyoung settles himself at his lunch table. He props his elbows on the table and locks his hands in front of his mouth, squinting. “Look at his face,” Soonyoung grits behind his hands. “Dumb little face.”
Wonwoo, his best friend, follows Soonyoung’s line of sight to see Moon Junhui, Soonyoung's number one enemy since the fifth grade, from across the cafeteria. He sighs and looks away, not wanting to entertain his best friend’s one-sided rivalry. “Uh-huh,” he takes a big bite out of his apple. “Sure.”
Despite being ignored, Soonyoung continues. “Look at him talking to Myungho.” The blonde shakes his head. “He’s probably trying to flex that he knows more languages than me.”
“Or he’s from China and he’s talking to someone else who’s from China,” Wonwoo replies, not looking up from his phone.
He shakes his head again. “No, no, I know what he’s trying to do. I can feel him flexing from all the way over here.” He sits back against his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. “He—“
A backpack is slammed onto their table before Soonyoung can finish and he immediately lifts his head to stare at the culprit. Seungkwan smiles down at him and waves his hand. “Happy Wednesday,” he says, pulling out his seat.
Soonyoung scoffs. “Happy Wednesday, my ass. That guy over there—“
“It’s about Junhui, right?” Seungkwan deliberately ignores Soonyoung’s words and directs the question to Wonwoo.
“You know it,” he deadpans, taking the last bite of his apple.
Seungkwan heaves an exasperated sigh. “For the millionth time this week, Junnie-hyung’s a really good person! You know, he bought me a snack the other day and I didn’t even ask for it!”
“That’s what he wants you to think! So you’ll be on his side!” Soonyoung exclaims as if he has a point. “First of all: since when do you call him hyung? Second of all: I’m way nicer than him!” Wonwoo and Seungkwan share a glance that doesn’t go unnoticed by the blonde, who scoffs at them in response.
“To be honest,” Wonwoo starts, “it’s kinda dumb that you still hold a grudge against him. It’s been more than half a decade since your first science fair and I think it’s time to get over it.”
“It is not my fault for holding a grudge against the kid who turned the whole school against me because he had a better science project!” he rants, throwing his hands around angrily. “How did the magnet he made beat my large-scale solar system!? Jupiter was so big that it could barely fit in the car!”
Wonwoo blinks. “His magnet was strong enough to pull the projector off of the ceiling…,” he says and Seungkwan, who didn’t know this, almost choked on his water at that.
“The magnet was that strong?” Seungkwan is practically shaking in surprise and Wonwoo nods.
“Jihoon and I actually saw the magnet again after a few years,” Wonwoo mentions.
Seungkwan’s eyebrows shoot up. “Did you? How was it?”
“Huge. When I was younger, I thought it was ginormous but it’s still big to me.”
“I should ask hyung to see it later.”
Wonwoo nods and encourages him to check it out. Soonyoung rolls his eyes and stands, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “I’m going to class early. Continue cooing over Moon’s stupid little magnet,” he spits before turning his back towards them. Seungkwan sticks his tongue out and the elder suppresses the urge to flip him off.
Another hand knocks into his own as he tries to open the classroom door, making him jump at the touch. His gaze lifts and he almost pukes at the sight of Moon Junhui right in front of him. “Oh, sorry. You can open it first,” he says with a nice smile on his face. Soonyoung feels that he’s staring for longer than he should but he can’t help it when Junhui’s hair looks really nice today and his red sweater compliments his skin tone. Junhui looks a bit confused that Soonyoung isn’t replying or moving, so he steps forward to wave his hand in front of his face. “Soon—“
He takes a step (or a leap) back, almost as if he’s afraid of Junhui’s hand. “No! No,” the younger one says in a panic.
“...No?”
“No, uh...you open it!”
Junhui raises an eyebrow but slides the door open and steps inside anyway. The brunette bows to the teacher and is beckoned over by his friends, who are hollering the moment he steps in. Soonyoung does the same and quietly goes to his seat, his gaze locking on the brunette a few rows in front of him.
“No way, are you looking at Junhui?”
Soonyoung practically jumps out of his skin and shoves the source of the noise, Jihoon, slightly. “No! In what world would I be looking at him?” Jihoon blinks, not saying anything. “I’m just looking in front of me to see, uh, the teacher! I’m looking at the teacher.” He takes his finger and points directly at the man in front of the class.
Jihoon looks to the front of the room and gives Soonyoung a look before he shrugs and forgets the whole thing. The teacher announces a partner project and it elicits groans from the entire class until they all realize that they could potentially be paired with Junhui or Soonyoung. In that case, the students start to urge the teacher to recite the list of partners quickly. It takes a while for Junhui and Soonyoung’s name to be said because it isn’t until the very end of the list does the class realize that they’re paired together.
Soonyoung’s jaw drops to the floor and Junhui glances behind him to give him a polite smile. They both agree to meet after school the next day, just an hour before dinner time, and, while Soonyoung agrees, something inside him burns wildly. He makes a mental note to rant to his friends about this and he keeps this promise to himself because the moment he sees Seungkwan in the halls, he sprints.
“Kwan-ah, can you believe this shit?” he practically yells.
Seungkwan continues to walk, not sparing a glance at his friend. “If this is about your partnership with Jun-hyung, I already heard,” he replies dryly, gripping at his backpack straps.
“How do you—”
Seungkwan’s phone and kakao chatroom is shoved into his face. “Jihoon-hyung texts during class.”
Seokmin joins them after a second of walking and Soonyoung waves at him. “Seok is staring at your ass again,” he mentions to Seungkwan, who sighs.
“This happens every day from 1:13 p.m. to 1:17 p.m.” He stops walking and lets Seokmin step between him and Soonyoung, who laughs at that.
Seokmin laughs. “I can’t help it! Do you even know how fat your ass is?”
“It’s always 'how fat is your ass?' and never 'how is your fat ass?'” :(,“ Seungkwan replies, turning to continue walking to his last class.
Seokmin and Soonyoung share a look. “H-How did you make that sound with your mouth,” Seokmin asks, visibly shaking. Seungkwan doesn’t reply.
“Oh, Seok! Did you hear that my number one enemy and I are partnered for the next physics project?” Soonyoung crosses his arms over his chest. “This is seriously the worst. Now I’m lawfully obliged to see him outside of school.”
Seokmin blinks. “Okay? This sounds more like a win, though?”
“I know right? I would kill to have Junhui as my partner. He’s so nice!” Seungkwan pats his friend on the shoulder.
“Oh, tell me about it! I had a group project with him in Geometry a few years ago. The guy’s an angel.”
Soonyoung can’t stand to see his friends praise Moon Junhui for another second so he groans and smacks them on their backs. “You guys are no help, I’m going to tell Wonwoo,” he says, pointing to Wonwoo from across the hall. At the sound of his name, Wonwoo perks up and starts sprinting down the hallway, away from Soonyoung, who starts to desperately chase after him. Seokmin starts laughing, covering his smile with his hand, and points at the two.
“Is it just me or is there more sexual tension between him and Jun-hyung that he knows of?” Seokmin asks, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“Psh, he’s so whipped for Junnie-hyung, you have no idea. He’s literally in love with him.” They both turn a corner.
“How do you know?”
“A few weeks ago, hyung’s pencil case fell from his backpack and Soonyoung-hyung ran to pick it up and shoved it back into his bag without getting noticed.”
“Isn’t that just being nice?”
“Then, on Monday, Soonyoung-hyung heard that Junnie-hyung forgot his lunch so he gave me money to buy him some.”
They both take a step into the classroom. “So what did you do?”
“Of course I bought Junnie-hyung lunch. He thought I paid for it and I’m gonna keep it that way,” he answers. “The weirdest thing, though, is that Soonyoung-hyung doesn’t even realize that he’s doing this.”
“You’re saying hyung doesn’t know he’s in love with Junnie-hyung?”
“Exactly.”
“Doubt it.”
“You wanna bet? I swear that after they have to work on that project together, they’ll be dating by next week at most.” Seungkwan brandishes his wallet as they take their seats. “20,000 won. Deal?”
Seokmin nods, smiling. “Sure. I’m down.”
Seungkwan stuffs his wallet back into his bag. “You sound confident.”
“And you sound a bit too confident,” Seokmin replies, laughing. Seungkwan only answers with a shrug before class begins.
Soonyoung paces around his living room for a solid ten minutes before their meeting time, unsure about what the feeling of his gut means. He assumes it’s pooled up hatred and stomps harder, making the house shake a bit. The doorbell rings and he runs to the door faster than he had ever run before, composing himself before opening the door. Junhui smiles at him but Soonyoung just steps aside and gestures for him to come in. The blonde slightly squirms at the sight of Junhui’s sudden frown, but he slams the door shut and sits back down on the couch next to Junhui.
In proving his superior intellect to Junhui, he claims that he already finished half of the project and puffs his chest while saying this to him. The brunette brightens a bit and reaches over to grab at the packet. “Oh, cool! Let me just check it over. You really didn’t need to do this, you know,” he says. Soonyoung doesn’t reply but waves his hand in dismissal. Junhui glances at him a couple of times while sifting through the papers and clears his throat. “Um, Soonyoung these aren’t right.”
His eyes go wide. “What?”
Junhui slides closer to him and shows him the packet, pointing to a set of questions. Soonyoung’s cheeks heat up a bit more than he would like at the proximity. “You used the wrong formula for numbers three and four, I think you misread the question for number five, and, um, number eight is just wrong.” The packet is practically ripped out of Junhui’s hands and Soonyoung curses at himself because Junhui is absolutely right.
“Shit.”
“It’s okay! I think the rest is right so we should work on the poster.”
The elder turns to his backpack and pulls out markers and poster paper. “I got this nice paper from the kind lady at the library for free so I think we should use it!” He spreads it out onto the coffee table. “I also completed a bit of the project,” he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
Soonyoung glances at it briefly before bringing his eyes back to marvel at how nice it looks. The whole thing is perfect: the color scheme is pretty, the information is correct, and he even added a fun facts corner! It makes the blonde instinctively roll his eyes. “As expected. Perfect.” He grumbles, throwing the packet down. “You don’t miss a chance to make me look bad, huh?”
“What?” Junhui asks, incredulous.
Soonyoung scoffs. “What, not done making a fool of me?” He stands to his feet with a huff. “You’ve been like this to me every year! Until when will you stop berating me?”
Junhui stands to his feet, too, leveling himself with Soonyoung. “I’m sorry, in what way am I berating you? I wanted to help and take some load off of your shoulders so I did this whole poster last night despite the English exam I had this morning!”
“Oh, right! Go ahead and flex how much better you are than me at English, too!”
“English is a required course! You’re taking it too!”
“Do you find joy in always being right and being better than me!? See? This is all because you won the science fair in fifth grade!”
“What? Are you talking about my magnet? It tore the fucking projector out of the ceiling!”
“Ugh, I know!” Soonyoung turns and starts to walk away but Junhui grabs him by the hand, keeping him in his place.
“Don’t go anywhere, I’m trying to settle this! What’s your problem with me?” Junhui exclaims back and the younger can see tears forming in his eyes. “Do you hate me that much?”
“No!” Soonyoung says and suddenly he feels both déjà vu and the urge to wipe his tears away.
Junhui looks confused again and more déjà vu ensues. “So then what is it, Soonyoung?”
Words start spilling out of Soonyoung’s mouth before he can even catch them. “Maybe I’m treating you this way to cope with the fact that I’m actually in love with you and, in a way, punishing you for making me fall for you! Hm!? What do you say about that?”
“I say that maybe I liked you for years now but have been reluctant to confront you about my feelings in fear that you would hate me even more than you do right now!”
“But I don’t hate you and I apologize for creating this five-year-long misunderstanding!”
“Thank you! I’m glad that you can admit your mistakes!”
“Can I please kiss you!?”
“Go ahead!”
Soonyoung doesn’t need to be told twice before he crashes his lips onto Junhui’s. His weight sends both of them back onto the couch and he finds that Junhui’s lips, hair, and skin are way softer than he thought they would be. He can smell coconut shea from his hair and it’s driving him crazy how nicely it suits him. It doesn’t help that Junhui’s such a good kisser either because he finds himself chasing Junhui’s lips every time the elder tries to turn his face away. Junhui giggles so cutely at Soonyoung’s relentlessness that it takes strength akin to that of the American military to stop Soonyoung from kissing Junhui senseless.
Eventually, Junhui has to physically stop the younger from showering him with kisses because an hour has already passed and they have a whole packet to complete. Junhui starts to correct the latter’s work on the packet and compliments Soonyoung for getting most of it right, prompting him to ask “Do I get a kiss for that?” and Junhui just can’t say no. Night falls as the two finish up the project and exchange some kisses now and then despite Junhui turning his face away each time Soonyoung leans in.
Junhui starts to pack his things away when they finish, blabbering about how their presentation will go as he stuffs the markers back into their respective places in his pencil case. He’s about to stand up when Soonyoung drags him back down to the couch and corners him against the armrest. “Hey,” he whispers.
The elder stares right into his eyes and instinctively breaks into an awkward smile. “Hey there,” he says back.
“I’m sorry for what I did over the years.” He grabs at Junhui’s hand and kisses it softly. “I kinda despised you for winning all of the science fairs.”
Junhui laughs. “Do you know why I wanted to win all of them?” Soonyoung, confused, pouts and shakes his head. “This is gonna sound so cringy...but it was to get your attention.” The latter’s shocked expression makes Junhui hide his face in his sweater paws.
Soonyoung moves the hands away from the elder’s face. “Well, mission accomplished,” he replies, making Junhui laugh. “By the way, does this make you my boyfriend?” he inquires, brushing the hair away from Junhui’s eyes and keeping his hand there to cup his cheek.
The brunette leans forward and gives Soonyoung a big, fat kiss on his lips. “Does this answer your question?” he asks through a sheepish smile.
Soonyoung hums, tapping his index finger against his chin and pretending to ponder. “Hm...I don’t know, I think I need clarification,” he answers, leaning closer. Junhui laughs beautifully and Soonyoung never knew he could become this whipped for someone who was his enemy until a few hours ago.
“Now, would you look at that?” Seokmin muses, pointing to Soonyoung and Junhui, who are practically on each other’s lap in the middle of the cafeteria.
Seungkwan looks up from his phone and smiles widely. “Told ya so,” he says, crossing his arms. “Now, where’s my 20,000 won, hyung?” Seungkwan demands, holding his hand out.
Seokmin sighs, sadly takes out his wallet, and hands it over.