Chapter Text
"My god Jun, stop checking your phone, he's not gonna call" Jeonghan sassed, sipping his strawberry milk. "What would you know about it?" Jun replied with a pout, putting his phone back in the pocket of his jeans. Jeonghan just sighed and shook his head, how could his friend be so naive?
"He got your number because of a school project, not because he wants to go out with you." he said, jumping off the brickwork where the two were sitting after their football practice. Junhui pouted even harder and brought the straw of his banana milk to his lips taking a long sip. "But he keeps sending me signs! The other day he even helped me to get my arm out of the vending machine!" Jeonghan couldn't help but chuckle at his clumsy friend, starting to walk away from him. Jun was quick to jump off where he was sitting and follow him, starting to ramble again. "Don't laugh! I'm sure he feels something-" he said starting to drink his almost empty banana flavored milk.
"Jun, he helped you because he's a class president and you're an idiot, and because he's a nice person. He doesn't have a crush on you." Jeonghan interrupted him, throwing his empty bottle in the nearest trashcan. "But he must be starting to develop an interest, don't you think? Maybe, since you're in the same class as him, you could put a good word on-" "No." the older stated "I don't want to participate in your filthy games of manipulation." Jun opened his mouth, ready to comply, but his friend was quick to place a finger on his already opened mouth. "Shush. I said no, no is no, Junhui."
The latter groaned and crossed his arms on his chest. The two started to walk again, under the warm lights of the sunset in their little town.
"I'm sure you wouldn't be this mean to me if you had a crush too." Junhui protested, only earning a disgusted expression from the longhaired boy.
"Crush culture makes me want to puke." he said, mimicking a retching of vomit, making the other giggle a bit. He gave him a little push "You'll know how it feels when it'll come."
Jeonghan didn't know how to reply, he didn't like the idea of drooling over someone only to change person after a month, and then start it all over again. It wasn't for him. And to be honest he was kinda scared about actually feeling that way, like his friend described.
"You talk like an old man Junnie, remember that I'm older than you" He said, pinching his cheek. "Yah! That hurts!" The two started to laugh as they walked on the street, heading home. It was then that their attention was caught by a sudden notification. Junhui was quick as hell to grab him own phone after he felt the unexpected vibration. Jeonghan gulped "It's probably my mom, I left my phone home, that's why she-" "hyung."
Junhui had his mouth wide opened, staring at the screen like if he had seen some divine light. Jeonghan groaned and rolled his eyes, he knew what was coming.
"I-It's him...he just asked me out!"
"No, I can't do it."
Joshua turned around, trying to escape, but two strong arms were ready to bring him back in front of the door of the cafeteria. "Of course you can! You already asked him out, and he said yes, right?" Joshua looked up at his friend and sighed loudly "To be precise, he said: 'OMGOMGOMG YES FINALLY', all in caps lock." Seungcheol giggled "See? This is your chance, stop being a coward. Plus, I'm here." he tilted his head to the side, a smile connecting his two dimples.
Joshua brought a hand to massage his temple. He felt like he was exploding. He sighed again "You're right Cheol, and thank you. I don't know what I'll do without you." Seungcheol gave him a warm smile in response and a pat of encouragement on the shoulder "No problem, you know I love to help my friends out with their crushes. It's a talent, I'd say." he winked, bringing his friend to crack a smile, finally.
"Alright. I'm ready, let's do this."
As soon as the two walked inside the cafeteria Seungcheol looked around to find the face of this boy whom his friend was so whipped for, he hadn't ever seen him yet, and curiosity was eating him alive. He was scanning every table until one caught his attention.
There were two boys sitting one beside the other, but one of them had him staring. His hair were long, really long, and of a weird color, a mixture of light blue and lilac. Absolutely stunning. And his facial features too, were almost symmetrical. He watched as he moved a tuft of those hair behind his ear.
"Wait is that Yoon?" Joshua 's voice interrupted his staring session, bringing back to reality. "Quick, hide!" the American boy grabbed his arm and dragged in behind a bunch of vases, containing very tall plants. "Jisoo what the-" "Shhhhhh!" his friend quickly shut him up, sealing his mouth with his own hand.
Seungcheol was as confused as ever.
Joshua groaned "Our plan is ruined! He's here with Jeonghan!" Seungcheol managed to free himself from Joshua's hand, who looked at it with a bit of disgust "Ew. You drooled all over it." "You're the one who shoved it on my mouth-" "Shhhhhh!" Joshua hissed, sending him a death glare, making Seungcheol understand that maybe this Yoon guy was in fact a possible menace to their plan. "Who's this Jeonghan?" "You see that dude sitting beside Junhui? the one with long hair. He's in the same class as me." Seungcheol spied between the plants.
Oh, so those were Jun and his friend.
"Everything is ruined Cheol. Now that he's here you can't leave us alone at some point and I won't-" "I'll manage to bring the longhaired guy with me." Joshua frowned at him, perplex "What- How?" Seungcheol grinned, showing his dimples once again "Just trust me."
The two friends got out of their little hiding place and finally reached the table where the other two were sitting. Seungcheol saw Junhui's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Joshua approaching them.
He wished someone would look at him in that way too.
"Hey!" Joshua made the first move, sitting in front of his crush, leaving only one seat for his friend. In front of the pretty boy.
"Hi, I'm Seungcheol, nice to meet both of you." He accentuated the both, and it was only then that Jeonghan finally looked at him, momentarily looking away from his phone.
But it was enough for the longhaired guy to get all red. Wow ok, he was handsome, also he was sure he had already seen him somewhere. Why was he here? Did Joshua have the same idea as Jun? Well, if it was for that, then the two lovebirds were doomed. They seemed to be talking animately tho, how could they do that? Was the handsome boy still looking at him? He felt observed.
"What do you think Jeonghan?"
"huh..?" Jeonghan was compelled to leave his phone. He had spaced out, again. "Joshua suggested to go watch a movie all together sometimes, are you on it?" Jun smiled at him, but he knew by looking in his eyes that he had to say yes, or the consequences would have been severe.
He closed his eyes for a second. Why did I agree to coming here again? Right, I need to look out for Junhui and his delusional ass. He can't fall in any trick, his heart is too pure to understand a man's lies.
"Uhh, sure." he simply agreed, trying not to look at the figure in front of him. God he really was gorgeous, how could his lashes be so dark and long? And those eyes really were something else, and his red lips, those bright smiles were making his heart...
wait...
Why was he so affected by Seungcheol?
No, this was unacceptable.
"Oh, I can't find my phone, I think it fell somewhere. Maybe it's out of the cafeteria." Seungcheol suddenly said, getting up and frantically patting his pants' pockets. Jeonghan looked at him confused and frowned. "Maybe Jeonghan-hyung could help you look for it." "Excellent idea Junhui!" Seungcheol cheered and grabbed Jeonghan's arm.
In less then a minute they were both out of the shop.
Seungcheol sat on the bench near the entrance and ran a hand through his hair lazily. Jeonghan was still puzzled. "What the fuck? Are you not gonna look for your phone? Just so you know, I won't do-" his words got stuck in his mouth when the raven haired took out his phone and wiggled it in front of his face, a grin on his red lips. It took few more seconds for Jeonghan to understand, but when he finally did he was ready to head back inside.
"Woah woah woah, wait!" Seungcheol grabbed his arm again "If this is a plan to take over my friend then I'm not gonna wait here and let Hong break his tender heart!" Jeonghan thundered as he tried to desperately free himself, but he had to admit, Seungcheol was strong as hell. "What the fuck are you talking about? Joshua his hopelessly crushed for that Chinese boy, he would never break his heart."
Jeonghan stopped squirming, only to brutally remove the older's grip on his arm with a groan "That's what they all say, they kiss you then forget you." Seungcheol was honestly startled by the other's words, he couldn't understand why was he so distrustful. "I don't know what is wrong with you Jeonghan, but I can assure you on my behalf that Jisoo is really the kindest person on hearth. Trust me. Also, your friend really seems to like him, don't you want him to be happy?"
Jeonghan gave himself a few seconds to think. Seungcheol seemed strangely honest, his dark eyes seemed like they were telling the truth. Maybe he could trust him.
He wanted Jun to be happy, of course, but he still felt like he needed to watch out for him.
"Let's leave them alone for now, do you want to hang out? Maybe we could go to the basket ball camp, do you know how to play?" Seungcheol smiled at him, showing off his two dimples once again. It was a tempting offer for Jeonghan, but at the same time, it was a totally unusual thing to do for him.
He had just met the guy, then why did he find himself agreeing?
"He's so...radiant, Cheol. And he's so cute too! How can a guy be so perfect?" Joshua kept rambling about how awesome Junhui was, constantly distracting himself from homework, which was totally out of the ordinary, and Seungcheol had to admit, he was rather shocked.
"Wow, you really like this guy" Seungcheol acknowledged, moving the book they were studying under his nose only to go back to his own homework. "I'm sorry" the American boy blushed "he's really wonderful" "And you're very whipped" The older replied by giving him a little push, making him giggle.
"If you like him so much, then why don't you just ask him to be your boyfriend?"
Joshua smiled to himself "I just wanna take things slowly with him. I want to savor every moment."
Seungcheol didn't understand this approach his friend had. How could he wait? If someone ever confessed to him he would immediately seal things with them, probably because he was in need of feeling loved. He had never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, even tho he had several crush and dates, but every time something went wrong, leaving him alone and helpless.
He just wanted to find someone that could appreciate him wholly, making things look easy and smooth.
"How did things go with Jeonghan the other day?" Joshua asked, resting his chin on his palm, hoping for some good exciting story. Seungcheol just shrugged "It was good. He was a bit tense when we left the coffee shop, but he relaxed once we stared playing. I didn't expect it from him, actually." he subconsciously smiled to himself, fidgeting the pen in his hand, recalling how at ease he felt that day, how witty the guy was and how good his hair smelled...
"He's really good at playing basketball, he should join the team." he concluded, going back to his papers. Joshua nodded, it was nice to know that his and Jun's friend were getting along.
"Are you coming to my place later?" Jeonghan asked Jun as the two walked between the corridors of their school. They weren't in the same class, but their parents had been friends for a long time, that's why they knew each other since they were basically toddlers.
"Nope, I'm going to see Jisoo" The other replied, munching on his snack. "Right, he wasn't at school today" " he's not feeling well, I'm going there to take care of him" He winked at his hyung, who rolled his eyes, annoyed "Do you realize you depend on him?"
Jun shrugged "I don't depend on him, I just really like him."
"Well, see you tomorrow, hyung. Wish me luck!" and with that, the Chinese boy was gone and Jeonghan was left alone outside their school.
"Sure, as if you'd need it..." he sighed to himself. He looked around, almost all the students were gone, and it was better like this, he had no intention of talking to someone, he was too tired. He got his earphones out of his pocket and groaned loudly as soon as he saw them all tangled. He frantically started to untie them, it was then that he felt a tuft of hair escape his ponytail, falling right in front of his face.
He groaned once again, what was up that day? Could at least one thing go smoothly?
"Need help?"
The sudden voice followed by a deep giggle made him finch. Someone was holding his lilac hair, managing to help him to actually see the earphones. He slowly looked up, and as soon as his eyes met the smiling figure in front of him he felt his heart skip a beat.
Seungcheol was right there, displaying his gummy smile. He moved the tuft behind the other's ear. Jeonghan was frozen and the older must have noticed, because his expression chanced into a worried one, almost apologetic.
"I'm sorry- I saw you struggling and-" "What are you doing here?" Jeonghan finally managed to ask, his voice slightly higher than usual. He had to admit, meeting Joshua's friend here, now, was the last thing he expected.
Seungcheol giggled again "I study here, actually." Jeonghan suddenly felt dumb. Of course he did, that's why he felt like he'd already seen him the first time they met "Right, of course..." he mumbled, before going back to untangle his earphones. He was scared of looking up at the handsome boy, his stomach felt weird, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
Maybe it wasn't related to Seungcheol's appearance, maybe it was due to the stress. Yeah, it must had been that. Definitely. Nothing more.
Still, he preferred to avoid that feeling.
"So, are you planning on doing something else today other than trying to use those?" Seungcheol asked, pointing at the wire. "Homework." Jeonghan was quick to establish, mentally cursing at those damn earphones that were taking too much of his time.
"Jeonghan" Seungcheol called him by his name, succeeding in finally getting his attention. The longhaired male look at his in a lost but also startled expression. He looked so cute, he could have sworn he even saw him blush a bit.
"Do you wan't to hang out? I can help you with homework, I'm the best in my class. N-Not that I think you're not smart, you're probably smarter than me, but...ugh, the point is-" "Ok."
"huh?"
"I said ok." Jeonghan sighed "You can come over at my place, I mean, if you want to." he looked down at his shoes and then back at the other, who was gazing at him with his mouth hanged open. Jeonghan couldn't help but giggle.
Cute...
What? No Jeonghan. He's not cute. Not at all, he's just-
yeah, maybe he is a bit cute.
Seungcheol his forehead with his pen again. It's not like he was regretting his choice of going to Jeonghan's, but this definitely wasn't the type of afternoon he was expecting to spend with the boy. As soon as the latter was done explaining the math exercises he had to finished, he had dropped himself on the bed and suddenly decided it was the right time to take a one hour long nap, leaving his guest to do all his homework, because, let's be honest, Seungcheol wasn't strong enough to wake him up when he looked so cute.
He gazed once again at the sleeping boy. He looked like an angel like that. His long colorful hair were untied, spread over the pillow, a blanket covering half of his body, his mouth slightly opened as he drew soft breathes. Seungcheol smiled subtly. He didn't really know this guy, but every second he spent beside him, he seemed increasingly interesting. It was like something was moving Seungcheol to want to have his company more and more. He shifted his attention back at the paper on the desk and sighed.
"Aren't you done yet?" a voice kneaded by sleep broke his refund concentration. He turned around with a sly smirk on his lips to face the boy on the bed "Good morning sleeping beauty"
Jeonghan replied with a disgusted expression at the nickname and grabbed the blanket, wearing it as a coat, sitting next to the other boy. He scanned the papers and frowned "What's the problem?"
Seungcheol sighed and then leaned to reach for the paper, their shoulders touching, and suddenly sending shivers through both of them, none of the two knew what it was, they had no intention of moving away though. "Here, I can't manage to finish this one" Seungcheol pointed at the last math exercise, he was about to explain why but the younger was quicker, grabbing the pen from his hand and starting to write attentively. Seungcheol looked at him dumbfounded, how could he be so quick-
"Done." He said, before getting up and moving back to the bed, cuddling between the blankets. Seungcheol looked at him and then looked at the papers, and then at the boy again, until he heard Jeonghan laugh loudly "You look so dumb right now, not gonna lie." he said between giggles "It was easy." He grinned at him. Seungcheol sighed for the nth time that afternoon and rubbed his tired eyed "Why didn't you do the others too if you knew how to? I struggled."
Jeonghan shrugged "I was sleepy, plus, you volunteered."
"How can you be sleepy? It's literally 5pm-"
"Whenever I collapse is purely up to the gods."
"You're weird." Or maybe just a child.
"I get that a lot, you're not original, try again." He said, settling on the mattress in order to be able to look at the other still sitting in the chair.
Seungcheol laughed through is nose "You're intriguing then." Jeonghan nodded to himself, this guy had a way with words, this was undeniable. And to be honest he liked it, a lot. "Oh am I?" he asked, a grin forming on his lips without him realizing. Seungcheol looked at him directly in the eyes, like he was looking for an answer "Yeah. Definitely." he said before suddenly getting up, and walking towards the bed, only to lay down beside him. Jeonghan, surprisingly, wasn't bothered.
"You know nothing about me." He said, almost whispered, moving his face to make it coincide with the other's. Seungcheol didn't move a muscle, he just stared directly at his eyes, a gentle smile on his lips. "That's not true." he giggled, making the younger feel that weird sensation in his stomach again. "I know a lot of things about you. I know that you are in the same class as Jisoo, where you live, that you drink sugared ice latte," Jeonghan could feel Seungcheol's soft warm breath as he spoke "That you're very good at math, that you care a lot about your friend, that you're an amazing basketball player and that your hair have the best scent I've ever smelled..."
"That's enough!" he sat up, leaving the other confused. He panicked for a second, Seungcheol was talking too sweetly, so sweetly he wanted to keep hearing him whisper those lovable words.
Which was unacceptable.
Also, in those few seconds he felt a strange need to be physically closed to the other, something he had never felt towards anybody.
"I think I should go..." Seungcheol muttered getting up, noticing how the mood got suddenly tense. He grabbed his backpack and put his shoes back on. He was about to exit the room when he felt a tap on his shoulder, making him turn around instinctively.
"Let's do this again. It was...fun. I really- ugh, I liked spending time with you." Jeonghan gushed, and this time his blush was more than visible. Seungcheol couldn't retrain a smile.
"Yeah, let's."