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"now that i've explained the project, i'm gonna need you guys to pair up." the teacher announced and the students immediately turned to their friends, excitement written on their faces.
except for one, juyeon.
juyeon didn't have any friends in this class and he knew not many people liked him.
the school was built on popularity, the jocks, cheerleaders and dancers were at the top of the pyramid. next were the rule breakers and class clowns. after them, it was the student council and the top 10% of the school. then it was the skaters and smokers, followed by the normal students.
the lowest tier was the band geeks and the chess team.
juyeon was apart of both the school band and the chess team. therefore people liked to pick on him, of course he knew how to defend himself, and he would if it ever got physical, but he would usually ignore any snarky comments made towards him. he knew they weren't really worth his time.
juyeon looked down at his desk and waited. he was fully expecting to be the only one not paired up and was already feeling embarrassment sink into his stomach when he realized he would have to get up and tell the teacher that he had no partner... again.
except none of that happened.
"do you want to be partners?"
juyeon heard that relatively close to him but he knew better than to think that it was directed towards him so he kept his gaze down, waiting until the whole class settled down.
but then he felt a small poke on his shoulder, he looked up and was met by the sight of choi chanhee, a cheerleader and one of the most popular guys in school.
"sorry, i just wanted to know if you'd want to be partners... with me?" chanhee awkwardly said, glancing around the classroom.
"partners?" juyeon dumbly asked, hoping that he didn't look creepy as he stared at him.
"yeah? sorry if you don't want to but my friends kind of ditched me." chanhee motioned with his thumb towards the back of the class. juyeon glanced back there and found changmin, a dancer, and younghoon, a football player, together.
"yeah, it's fine. we could be partners." juyeon lowly said, nervously turning back to his notebook.
"nice." chanhee tightly smiled although juyeon wasn't looking at him.
*
"changmin, you wanna be partners?" chanhee asked changmin, already expecting a 'yes' from his best friend but was instead met with a 'no'.
"sorry, hee. i want to pair up with hoonie." changmin apologized although he didn't sound sincere at all.
"sorry, chanhee." younghoon smugly said, swinging an arm behind changmin's chair.
"you're already replacing me with him? you just began dating." chanhee whined, looking around to try to see if his other friends wanted to team up.
"hee, this is perfect you can finally go talk to the nerd you've been hung up on." changmin told him, taping his arm excitedly.
"don't call him that." chanhee frowned but nonetheless glanced across the classroom to look at juyeon.
"i still can't believe you have a crush on him." younghoon snorted, shaking his head as he watched juyeon.
chanhee chose to ignore him and stood up, making his way to the other side of the classroom. he was stopped a couple of times by people who were willing to leave their teammate for him. he rejected all of the offers and finally reached juyeon.
when juyeon agreed he sat down next to him, glancing over at changmin and found his best friend giving him thumbs up. he smiled at him excitedly before turning his attention back on juyeon.
he first noticed juyeon during sophomore year, the cheerleaders and band always practice together so they were bound to see each other.
chanhee remembers how he sat down on the track, taking a sip of his water after they had to run a couple laps. his eyes accidentally met with a trumpet player, juyeon. juyeon had immediately looked away but chanhee kept looking at him, he was sure he's never seen someone as handsome as him.
chanhee took an immediate liking to juyeon and was always sparing him glances, he got so distracted that coach got mad at him and made him run up and down the bleachers as everyone watched.
chanhee then later found out that juyeon was part of the chess team as well and while back then that information made him scrunch his nose up in distaste, now he realizes that none of it matters.
he remembers the first time he saw juyeon smile, it was during a half time competition. the band had won 1st place and 5k dollars and juyeon was so excited that he picked up the girl next to him and spun her around with a big smile on his face.
chanhee was watching from the sidelines and felt butterflies erupt inside his stomach, he did feel a little upset that juyeon spun a girl around but he was nothing to juyeon so he swallowed it down and settled with watching him celebrate more.
he was smacked back to reality when juyeon spoke up.
"i can do it if you don't want to." he almost whispered, fixing the bulky glasses on his face.
chanhee stared at the side of his face for a second before he fully processed what juyeon said.
"what? no, i want to do it with you." chanhee rushed out, cheeks heating up when juyeon looked at him questioningly.
"i want to work on it too." chanhee clarified, his voice sounding small because he felt embarrassed.
"okay, if that's what you want." juyeon agreed before they started talking about the project they had to do.
*
juyeon was pleasantly surprised when he realized chanhee was actually smart. he thought he would just be another pretty air head but chanhee had great ideas for their project.
the bell rang and the students started putting their stuff up, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.
"do you want to work on it during lunch?" chanhee asked, swinging his pink backpack over his shoulder.
"yeah, we could go to the library?" juyeon suggested, he didn't have anything to do during lunch either way.
"chanhee, let's go! hyunjae and hoonie want to take us out to eat." changmin said, running up to them with younghoon attached to his arm and hyunjae, another football player, a couple of feet behind.
"sorry, i can't. i'm working on a project." chanhee frowned, glancing at juyeon, who seemed awkward.
"with him?" hyunjae asked, judging eyes raking up and down juyeon's body. younghoon snorted at this but immediately dropped his smirk when changmin elbowed him.
juyeon held back a scoff and was prepared to walk off when chanhee spoke up.
"yes with juyeon, is there something wrong with that?" chanhee asked, annoyance dropping from his tongue.
hyunjae laughed at this, not expecting chanhee to actually defend juyeon.
"calm down, princess. it was just a question." hyunjae raised his hands up in mock surrender. chanhee felt a flame of annoyance at the nickname, he knew he hated being called that.
"it's fine. we can just work on it some other day." juyeon suddenly said, turning to look at chanhee.
chanhee looked up at him with disappointment but immediately covered it with a small smile.
"okay." chanhee said before he was whisked away by changmin.
*
the next day they had early practice and they were out on the field to work out. juyeon sighed as he took a seat on the bleachers, they were running up and down the football field for 30 minutes and they finally had a 5 minute break. his eyes wandered over the field but found his eyes gravitating towards chanhee.
he sat on the field, stretching his legs.
chanhee turned to look at him and they locked eyes, juyeon was tempted to look away but then chanhee smiled at him and got up.
he was walking towards him.
juyeon straightened up at this, looking towards the rest of the cheerleaders and dancers, they didn't seem to notice chanhee walking up to him.
"hey, sorry about yesterday." chanhee said, taking a seat next to him.
"it's fine." juyeon shrugged with a small smile. he glanced at the his bandmates and wasn't surprised to see them staring at them in shock. cheerleaders never talked to band geeks. he ignored their questioning gazes and looked at chanhee again.
"could i get your number?" chanhee asked, slightly catching juyeon off guard.
"my number?" juyeon asked, pulling his phone out of his sweatpants nonetheless.
"the teacher won't let us work on the project during class anymore, we should figure out a time to meet." chanhee explained, inserting his number on juyeon's phone before sending himself a message.
"line up!" the cheer coach yelled while clapping his hands, causing all the cheerleaders to scramble towards the field.
"i'll text you later." chanhee promised with a smile, skipping towards the rest of his team.
juyeon waited until chanhee lined up with the rest before looking down at his phone. he smiled at the text message chanhee sent himself.
to: chanhee :)
keep working hard, you're doing great!!
*
"sorry i'm late, i was held back a bit." chanhee apologized as soon as he arrived at the table, juyeon looked up from his laptop and noticed chanhee's ragged breathing and red cheeks.
"did you run here?" juyeon asked, chanhee faltered for a second before laughing, a little embarrassed.
"yeah, i just didn't want to keep you waiting long." he explained, sitting down next to juyeon and pulling out his ipad.
chanhee sat crisscross on the chair and juyeon didn't miss the way his shorts rode up, exposing more of his thighs. he looked away quickly though, he was a gentleman.
"shall we get started?" chanhee asked, juyeon looked at him and nodded before showing him all the notes he already took.
*
"do you want to have lunch with me?" chanhee asked him once they were done for the day.
"to work on the project?" juyeon asked, stuffing his laptop into his backpack.
"no, just to eat. we can work on the project some other time." chanhee clarified, juyeon turned to look at him in surprise.
"um, i'm sorry but i really don't want to have lunch with your friends." juyeon denied, chanhee bit his bottom lip.
"it'll just be us, i promise." chanhee told him, juyeon smiled at him before nodding.
"great, i'll text you tomorrow!" chanhee excitedly said before walking out of the library.
juyeon smiled at his retreating form before he finished packing his stuff.
*
"we're gonna go get some chicken wings." changmin told chanhee, who mindlessly hummed, not really paying attention.
he was texting juyeon.
"great, let's go." changmin said as younghoon, hyunaje and sangyeon, the football teams quarterback, approached them.
"hmm, no. i can't." chanhee shook his head, looking up at changmin's face.
"why not? hyunjae will pay for you." changmin offered, hyunjae scoffed at the comment but didn't oppose.
"i'm meeting up with juyeon for lunch." chanhee told them, smiling when he received a message from juyeon. he was waiting for him in the cafeteria.
"bye." chanhee smiled at his friends before walking off.
"did he just ditch us for that nerd?" younghoon asked, changmin elbowed him hard in the ribs.
"ow, what the fuck!" younghoon winced, hyunjae and sangyeon laughed.
"chanhee doesn't want you to call him that. let's just go." changmin sighed, the rest nodded and left the building together.
*
chanhee entered the cafeteria and people were staring, probably due to the fact that chanhee never eats here.
he always goes out.
he spotted juyeon sitting on the edge of the cafeteria so he got in line and grabbed the only thing they were serving.
it was a burger with just a patty and two buns.
he sat down next to juyeon and ignored the way people around them were staring.
"i didn't think people would stare this much." juyeon told chanhee, who frowned before looking around.
"does it make you uncomfortable? do you want to leave?" chanhee asked, juyeon laughed and shook his head.
"it's fine, don't worry about it." juyeon assured him, chanhee nodded but he still looked pretty upset.
chanhee picked up his burger and stared at it for like 20 seconds, it didn't really look appetizing. he raised it up to him nose and sniffed it. he glanced at juyeon, who was staring at him weirdly.
as soon as they made eye contact, they busted out laughing.
"i'm sorry, it just doesn't look very good." chanhee defended himself, putting the burger down.
"it's not." juyeon agreed, he left his burger half eaten.
"next time we should go out to eat." chanhee commented, juyeon raised a teasing eyebrow at him.
"next time?" he asked, chanhee flushed red but stayed nonchalant.
"just for that, you're gonna pay." chanhee mumbled, juyeon laughed and nodded.
he looked really cute when he was laughing.
*
"with just 5 minutes of the first half left, the bulldogs are leading with 17-12, will the wildcats catch up!?" the mic crackled as the announcer yelled with excitement.
juyeon was stretching on the side of the field, the rest of the band and dancers doing the same. they were getting ready for their half time show.
juyeon was kind of nervous since he had a trumpet solo but he's been playing it perfectly during practice so he knew he had it in the bag.
his eyes were focused on chanhee, the cheerleaders were in the middle of a routine and chanhee was currently 10 feet in the air.
he was a flyer.
they threw him up and he did his splits in the air he then tucked his body in and two bases moved to catch him.
juyeon felt his heart drop when one of the bases tripped, his hands moved to catch himself instead of chanhee. the other base seemed visibly panicked but he had his arms out. chanhee landed in his arms but they both went crashing down to the floor.
"chanhee!" juyeon heard changmin screech from a couple of feet away.
chanhee winced as he hit the floor, everyone was now looking at them in a mix of shock and worry.
"woah, cheerleader down! cheerleader down!" the announcer yelled through the mic, some football players spared a glance at the cheerleaders before the coach was yelling at them to focus.
"changmin, he's fine. don't go running off!" the dance teacher demanded, changmin frowned but obeyed.
"hyunjae, i said focus on the damn game!" juyeon heard the coach yell, hyunjae finally looked away from chanhee but was immediately tackled down afterwards.
after a couple of minutes, chanhee was up on his feet but he was cradling his wrist. the base that tripped was arguing with the coach as the rest of the cheerleaders took care of chanhee.
"juyeon! we're leaving." jacob, the second chair trumpet, tapped him. juyeon noticed that the band had already moved to the back of the field.
"you think he's okay?" juyeon asked jacob, walking towards the back of the field, his eyes stuck to chanhee's form.
"i'm not sure, he could've either sprained his wrist or broken it." jacob shrugged and juyeon regrets asking because that did not make him feel better.
"let's look away from the unfortunate cheerleading fiasco and focus on our band that will put on a show!" the announcer yelled through the mic, clearly enjoying himself.
juyeon felt like punching him.
their show had started but juyeon wasn't focusing, he kept going off pitch and it was starting to annoy the others.
"juyeon get your shit together!" one of the drum majors, jay, yelled out, juyeon furrowed his eyebrows and gripped his trumpet just a little tighter.
the clarinets set the background music for juyeon to play over.
his solo was coming up in 3...2... 1...
and he blew it.
the first note was horrible and the drum majors, along with their band teacher, looked pissed.
juyeon closed his eyes and kept playing, it got better but it wasn't how he played it during practice.
thankfully the bad joined him after a couple of seconds and he could finally breathe properly.
as soon as they marched off the field, juyeon took off the ridiculous hat he had on and jogged towards the cheerleaders.
they stared at him weirdly but he didn't care, he just wanted to make sure chanhee was okay.
chanhee was seated on a bench and he had his wrist wrapped in athletic tape.
"chanhee are you okay?" juyeon asked, chanhee looked up at him and he had tears swimming in his eyes.
"no." chanhee shook his head before he stood up and pulled juyeon into a hug, burying his face into juyeon's chest.
"is your wrist broken?" juyeon asked, wrapping his arms around chanhee's waist as he hugged him back.
"no but they benched me for the next game." chanhee whined, juyeon laughed in relief, hugging chanhee a little tighter.
"you're so dramatic." juyeon told him, chanhee pulled away slightly from the hug to playfully glare at him.
"are y'all done? i want to hug him too." changmin asked from a couple of feet away, chanhee flushed red before completely pulling away.
"yeah, um, i need to go up there anyway. they still gotta yell at me for fucking up." juyeon joked, although he knew that they would actually yell at him.
"you were great." chanhee told him, a smile on his face.
"thanks, so were you." juyeon smiled back, they were gazing at each other until changmin loudly cleared his throat.
"right, uh, i'll see you later." juyeon awkwardly said before making his way up the bleachers.
"you lost focus because your boyfriend fell? he's a cheerleader, that's what happens to them." the drum major, jay, snapped, juyeon rolled his eyes when he blocked his path.
"get out of my way." juyeon calmly said, he really didn't want to deal with him right now.
"what? you think you're too good for us now that you got a cheerleader boyfriend?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest.
"what the hell are you talking about? just get out of my way, i'm not in the mood." juyeon scoffed, he looked down and noticed that chanhee was looking at them.
"eyes up here." jay pushed him a little, juyeon lost his footing for a second but thankfully he was quick enough to hold of the railing.
the rest of the band gasped and started yelling over one another. they had a strict rule that no matter what, never horseplay on the bleachers as it could lead to serious injury.
"you were about to push me down the stairs." juyeon gaped, jay didn't even look apologetic.
"i'm talking to you about something important." he snapped, juyeon glanced at their band teacher, he wasn't even paying attention to them.
"it was a halftime show, not a fucking competition. if you wanted it done perfectly then maybe you should learn to play the trumpet and do it yourself." juyeon spit back, pushing past him as he finally made his way towards his seat.
"i think you did pretty good!" jacob smiled at him as soon as he sat down.
"i blew it." juyeon laughed, taking a sip of his water bottle.
"you were worried about your boyfriend, if anyone was in your position they would've done the same thing." jacob shrugged, juyeon almost choked on the water at the word 'boyfriend'.
"he's not my boyfriend." juyeon corrected him, a blush on his face.
"oh, i'm sorry! it's just that when jay called him that you didn't oppose so i assumed that he was." jacob rushed to explain.
"it's fine, don't worry about it." juyeon assured him, looking down at the field, eyes searching for chanhee.
he was already looking up at him.
*
"i know you sprained your wrist but it's not like your arm's broken." hyunjae huffed, he was stuck carrying all of chanhee's textbooks.
"aren't you always bragging about your muscles? now when i put them to good use, you complain." chanhee scoffed, shaking his head as they walked down the hallway.
"shouldn't your boyfriend be helping you?" hyunjae asked, chanhee flushed red and glared at him.
"he's not my boyfriend." chanhee mumbled, hyunjae laughed at the blush on his face.
"then what was that dramatic moment during halftime?" hyunjae asked, chanhee gaped at him.
"how do you even know about that? weren't you in the locker rooms?" chanhee asked, hyunjae chuckled with a nod.
"there's videos going around." hyunjae told him, he looked up from chanhee when he suddenly heard whispers.
"there's your little boyfriend." hyunjae teased, motioning towards juyeon, who had just entered the hallway.
"why is everyone making a big deal out of it? we literally just hugged." chanhee mumbled, juyeon made eye contact with him and gave him a small awkward smile, which he returned.
"a cheerleader hugging a band geek plus a chess nerd, that's obviously gonna bring attention to y'all." hyunjae said, frowning when chanhee elbowed him in the ribs.
"don't call him that." chanhee frowned, hyunjae scoffed at that.
"what? you want me to call him chess master or something?" he asked, chanhee sent him a glare that finally made him shut up.
"hey, you feeling better?" juyeon asked as soon as he walked up to them.
"hmm, oh yeah. i can move it around with minimal pain." chanhee smiled, raising up his wrist and moving it around to show him.
"you're gonna hurt yourself." juyeon chuckled, gently grabbing his wrist so he'd stop moving it. chanhee felt a blush rise up his cheeks and he was suddenly aware of all the eyes on them.
"anyway," hyunjae loudly interrupted them, going up to juyeon and dumping all of chanhee's books onto his arms. "here you go, you can help him around now."
"hyunjae, what the hell?" chanhee asked in embarrassment, slapping him on the arm.
"what? he's your boyfriend, not me." hyunjae stated with a smirk, both juyeon and chanhee blushed at the word.
"hyunjae." chanhee whined in embarrassment, refusing to meet eyes with juyeon.
"what? listen, i gotta go so you two have fun." hyunjae smiled, patting juyeon on the back before walking off.
a few seconds of silence passed before chanhee snapped out of his embarrassed state.
"i can take my books. sorry about hyunjae." chanhee apologized, reaching out for his books.
"it's fine, chanhee. i can hold your books, it's not a big deal." juyeon opposed, moving the books from chanhee's reach.
"but-"
"no buts. come on, i'm not gonna let you hurt that wrist of yours more." juyeon told him, a blush rising up to his cheeks as soon as he said those words.
"w-well, thanks." chanhee stuttered slightly as he felt extremely flustered.
"shall we go?" juyeon awkwardly asked, chanhee nodded and they started walking together.
the silence was a little awkward but, weirdly, also comfortable.
"oh!" they heard someone yell before a hand slapped the books out of juyeon's hands and onto the floor.
"gotta have a better grip on those." minhee, one of the biggest jerks in school, hissed in fake concern. juyeon gave him a cold stare before he bend down to pick them up.
"what's wrong wit-"
"is he bothering you?" minhee interrupted chanhee, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"are you an idiot?!" chanhee almost yelled out, shoving minhee's hand off before crouching down next to juyeon.
"it's fine, i got it." juyeon muttered, he was clearly upset at what had happened.
"no, it's not fine!" chanhee frowned, glaring up at minhee before trying to help juyeon.
"oh come one chanhee. you can't seriously like him, right? is he doing your school work?" he asked, chanhee gaped at him as juyeon finally stood up.
"you're jealous?" juyeon asked before wrapping his hand around chanhee's arm to pull him up from the floor.
"don't worry, i think we both know that's not true." juyeon added, avoiding all eye contact with chanhee.
"what's not true?" chanhee asked, forgetting about minhee for a second.
"the possibility of you liking me." juyeon deadpanned, chanhee frowned at his words.
"why are you saying that?" chanhee asked, juyeon sighed as he finally looked at him.
"because that's all i've been hearing all day. do you know how it feels to hear 'i can't believe he thinks chanhee would actually like someone like him' all day?" juyeon exasperatedly said, chanhee opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say.
"you like me?" chanhee finally asked in shock, juyeon stared at him for a second before scoffing in disbelief.
"chanhee, everyone in this school likes you, why are you surprised?" juyeon asked, chanhee immediately felt butterflies explode in his stomach.
"i like you too." chanhee confessed with a shy smile. minhee, who had been quietly listening, gaped and was glancing in between them.
"chanhee, if this is a prank or someth-"
"why would i joke about this? i like you, juyeon." chanhee repeated, juyeon finally allowed himself to feel excited.
"i like you too. so much." juyeon smiled, minhee huffed before pushing juyeon back a bit.
juyeon stumbled back a little in surprise before looking at him with a blank face.
"what's your problem?" chanhee snapped, juyeon had just confessed to him and minhee had to go and ruin it!
"my problem is that this isn't how it's supposed to be. you can't date this nerd, you can do so much better." minhee scoffed, juyeon rolled his eyes at him.
"like who? you?" chanhee asked in slight disgust.
"yeah me, i've liked you since forever!" minhee snapped, chanhee frowned before looking at juyeon.
"well, i've liked juyeon since forever." chanhee confessed, juyeon stared at him in surprise.
it was then that minhee launched himself at juyeon and sent both of them crashing onto the floor.
"juyeon!" chanhee gasped, both minhee and juyeon started wrestling to get the upper hand. a crowd had formed around them and started cheering while recording.
minhee managed to get the upper hand and landed a punch on his face. that seemed to anger juyeon, so much so, that he managed to flip them over and also land a punch on minhee's face.
then another and another.
"woah, look at the chess nerd go!"
"minhee's getting beat up by a band kid!"
chanhee was tugging on juyeon with his good arm but it was useless.
chanhee thanked the gods for hyunjae because he suddenly appeared and pulled juyeon off of minhee. they both stood up and hyunjae put himself in between them.
minhee jumped to attack juyeon again but hyunjae slammed him against the lockers behind him.
"what? you're defending him now?" minhee asked him with a scoff, hyunjae glanced at chanhee, who seemed pretty upset.
"if that's what chanhee wants then yes." hyunjae answered, chanhee smiled at him in gratefulness before he turned his attention towards juyeon.
"are you okay?" he asked, placing his good hand on his cheek, where the redness was already blooming.
"i'm fine." juyeon frowned, a little embarrassed at the fact that everyone just saw him punch minhee.
"what? your little boyfriend can't take a punch?" minhee asked, he had blood dripping from his lip and nose and was still talking shit.
"ya, shut the hell up! do you ever know when to shut up?" chanhee snapped at him, his eyebrows furrowed in anger.
"i was jus-"
"he said shut up." hyunjae interrupted him with a glare. minhee shoved hyunjae's hand off before dusting his clothes off, clearly pissed.
"thank you, hyunjae." chanhee smiled at him before taking juyeon's hand leading them away from the crowd.
"where are we going?" juyeon asked, ignoring the way everyone watched them go.
"away from here." chanhee simply answered, weaving through the people that wouldn't stop whistling at them.
*
"sorry about all of that back there." chanhee apologized once they found a bench outside.
"it's not your fault. if anything, it's my fault, i shouldn't have hit him." juyeon shook his head, holding the ice pack the nurse handed him up to his cheek.
"well he attacked you, i think it was pretty justified." chanhee shrugged, juyeon gave him a small smile before he hissed slightly and placed the ice pack on the bench. he shook his hand to try to warm it up a bit.
chanhee then grabbed the ice pack and gently placed on his cheek again. the older looked at him in surprise before a light blush settled onto his cheeks.
"thanks." juyeon thanked him in a shy voice, chanhee smiled at him before slowly leaning closer to him.
juyeon's gaze dropped to his lips before looking up at his eyes again, his heart rate was starting to pick up and he was sure chanhee could hear it.
the last thing juyeon saw was chanhee's eyes fluttering close before he felt lips on his. he let his eyes slip shut as he kissed back, he noticed how soft chanhee's lips felt against his and he couldn't help the way his hand grabbed the back of chanhee's neck and angled his head to deepen the kiss.
chanhee must've been surprised because his grip on the ice pack loosened and it ended up falling on juyeon's private part.
juyeon jumped back in pain and removed the heavy ice pack before he cupped his genitals. chanhee covered his mouth in shock before he started apologizing. juyeon was shaking his head as he bent down as if that would ease the pain.
"juyeon, oh my gosh! i'm sorry, i didn't mean-" chanhee rubbed juyeon's back, cursing himself for being clumsy at a time like this.
"no it's fine, chanhee." juyeon assured him, reluctantly sitting up straight again, although he still seemed in pain.
"juyeon, it's like a 5 pound bag of ice, i would cry if that fell on my... you know." chanhee blushed on the last part, juyeon waved it off and shifted in his seat again.
"you're a good kisser." juyeon suddenly commented, trying to change the topic, chanhee giggled a little as a blush settled onto his face.
they seemed to blush a lot when they were together.
"thanks, so are you. sorry i had to ruin our first kiss." chanhee frowned a little, juyeon shook his head again.
"you didn't ruin it. in my opinion, you made it even more memorable." juyeon assured him, he placed a hand on chanhee's thigh and rubbed it with his thumb.
chanhee smiled once again, placing his hand on top of juyeon's.
*
"why are you still going to practice?" juyeon asked chanhee as they walked to the field together.
"coach still wants me to be there." chanhee shrugged, juyeon hummed in response, fiddling with the trumpet in his hand.
"also my wrist feels better so i might be able to practice again." chanhee quickly added, pursing his lips when he heard juyeon scoff.
"and so the truth comes out." juyeon paused before turning to look at chanhee. "chanhee you can't practice with an injured wrist, you're gonna make it worse."
"but i want to cheer." chanhee frowned, juyeon wanted to roll his eyes but held himself back.
"yeah and you won't be able to do that if you break your wrist." juyeon deadpanned, chanhee's lips formed a cute pout.
"i guess you're right." chanhee sighed out, looking down at the grass.
they already arrived at the edge of the field where everyone else was waiting or stretching until practice began.
"don't look too sad, you'll be fine by next week." juyeon smiled at him, tapping him on the chin. chanhee stared at him as he felt his face turn red and his heart start to hammer against his chest.
"juyeon! hurry the hell up!"
juyeon turned to look at the person who yelled, it was jay.
"isn't that the guy that tried to push you down the stairs?" chanhee asked, tapping juyeon's arm so that he would look at him again.
"hmm?" juyeon hummed, turning towards chanhee once again. "oh yeah, i better hurry before he starts getting more pissy."
"okay, i'll talk to you later." chanhee smiled, unsure if he should hug him or kiss him or something.
"yeah, talk to you later." juyeon repeated, a beat of silence passed before he leaned down and left a kiss on chanhee's cheek.
they heard a couple of distant whistles and also changmin's loud shriek.
"yeah." chanhee said in a daze, holding the cheek that juyeon kissed.
juyeon laughed a little before ruffling his hair and finally jogging towards where the band was stretching.
"finally, don't be late again." jay snapped as soon as juyeon reached them. juyeon stared at him and didn't say anything, he wasn't going to argue with him anymore.
"jay, let me worry about my section." the brass section leader, yoojin, scoffed, ushering him away.
"when's he gonna pull out the stick he has up his ass?" juyeon asked as soon as jay left, rhetorically of course.
"he's just salty that you're dating chanhee." yoojin shrugged, setting her trombone down as they were gonna start exercising.
"he can date a cheerleader if he wants to too." juyeon scoffed, setting his trumpet down next to her instrument.
"that's not what i mean." she rolled her eyes, walking towards the field when the band director started yelling at them to line up.
"then what do you mean?" juyeon and yoojin turned towards the new voice, it was jacob.
juyeon stared at him for a moment before looking back at yoojin, urging her to elaborate.
"i mean that he always liked chanhee." yoojin explained, raising an eyebrow when juyeon rolled his eyes and jacob gasped.
"let me elaborate further." she added before they could say something. "he never thought that chanhee would ever date someone like us so he never tried to win him over. clearly he was wrong because chanhee's now dating you."
"god, does everyone like chanhee?" juyeon exasperatedly asked, feeling jealousy bubble in his chest for the first time in a while.
"probably." jacob shrugged, juyeon glared at him but it went ignored.
the band teacher blew his whistle and everyone started jogging.
*
"so what's the real reason you're dating him?"
chanhee frowned at those words and turned to face the person, it was siyeon.
"what are you talking about?" he asked, glancing over to where the band was. juyeon was laughing along with a boy and a girl and chanhee felt butterflies erupt in his stomach at the sight.
"oh come on, i won't tell." she teased, chanhee frowned at her words before letting out a small scoff.
"you know, some people date because they actually like the other person." chanhee snapped, hands on his hips.
"yeah but you're choi chanhee. you can't be dating a bank geek just because you like him." she pressed, chanhee's eyebrows furrowed and he stared at her.
"instead of spewing nonsense, why don't you start practicing? maybe then you'll actually be decent." chanhee snapped, her mouth fell open in shock.
"choi!" chanhee's eyes snapped towards his coach. "we never bring our teammates down."
"i'm sorry coach." chanhee apologized, glancing over at juyeon, he was already looking at him in concern.
"you'll be sorry once you're done running up and down those bleachers." chanhee huffed at his words, eyeing the bleachers.
"and siyeon, while chanhee's doing that, go apologize to juyeon." chanhee brightened up at his words and turned to look at siyeon, she had her mouth open eyes in disbelief.
"yeah, go apologize to my boyfriend." chanhee repeated, the rest of his teammates gasped and started murmuring.
"juyeon!" chanhee called out, motioning for him to come over. juyeon glanced over at his band director before jogging towards chanhee.
"are you okay?" he asked as soon as he reached him, placing a hand on his back. chanhee heard some of his teammates coo but he paid them no mind.
"i'm fine but siyeon here wants to tell you something." chanhee pointed at siyeon with a smug smile. juyeon turned to look at her, uncomfortableness clear on his face.
"go on siyeon." the coach urged her, siyeon sighed out before looking up at juyeon.
"i'm sorry for talking bad about you." she apologized, cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. in turn, juyeon's cheeks flared up in what seemed to be embarrassment, too.
"don't worry about it." he shrugged, breaking eye contact with her to look at chanhee, who was smiling at him.
"great, now that that's cleared up. chanhee go run those bleachers." chanhee pouted with a nod and started walking towards the bleachers, juyeon not far behind.
"what was that all about?" he asked, bumping his shoulder with chanhee's.
"she was talking shit about you and i told her that instead of doing that she should practice so she wouldn't suck and now i'm stuck running up and down these bleachers." chanhee explained, juyeon let out a small laugh and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
"you don't have to defend me. they've been talking bad about me for as long as i can remember, it doesn't bother me." juyeon told him, chanhee rolled his eyes at his words.
"well it bothers me and i'm not gonna stay quiet when they're talking shit about you." chanhee huffed, they arrived at the bleachers and turned to face each other.
"thank you." juyeon thanked him, placing a hand on chanhee's cheek.
"for being nice to you? isn't that what every human deserves?" chanhee asked, placing his good hand on top of juyeon's and leaning into it.
"maybe..." juyeon trailed off, leaning in close enough to count chanhee's eyelashes. chanhee wasn't a very patient person so he closed his eyes and leaned in to connect their lips together.
juyeon gently placed his other hand on chanhee's other cheek, trying not to startle him like last time. juyeon pushed against his lips and tilted chanhee's head up to deepen the kiss.
after a few seconds, juyeon pulled away remembering that they were in fact in public.
"shouldn't you be running up and down those bleachers?" juyeon asked with a laugh, chanhee pouted and smacked his arm lightly.
"don't hurt your wrist more." juyeon smiled at him and chanhee couldn't resist cracking a smile of his own.
*
after the school settled with the fact that juyeon and chanhee were dating, they started liking juyeon.
"juyeon, are you coming to the party today?" some girl came up to juyeon, who just stared up at her in surprise.
"i'm sorry?" he asked, frowning when she laughed and touched his arm gently.
"you're so funny, i hope to see you tonight." she winked at him before sensually walking away from him.
"what the hell." he mumbled before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the textbook on the table.
but he couldn't concentrate.
he wondered why everyone suddenly liked him, well he knew the reason was that he was dating chanhee, but why are they suddenly treating him differently?
earlier this morning some jock that he's never talked to before bro hugged him and started talking to him as if they were casual friends.
"what's wrong with the chess master?"
juyeon looked up at the voice and chuckled when he saw hyunjae smiling down at him.
"nothing, it's just a little weird now." juyeon sighed, hyunjae pursed his lips and sat down next to him.
"what? the fact that people actually acknowledge you?" hyunjae asked, juyeon shrugged with a sigh.
"look dude, chanhee's one of the most popular guys in school. your relationship was bound to bring attention to you too, if you can't handle it then end it already. don't play with chanhee." hyunjae told him, juyeon scoffed and pointed at him.
"if i didn't know any better, i'd say you're in love with him." juyeon said, watching as hyunjae rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"i care a lot about him, wether it's platonic or not, you shouldn't worry. i just want to see him happy." hyunjae responded, juyeon bit his bottom lip and stared at him.
"i like chanhee too much to leave him over this, i'll get used to it." juyeon answered hyunjae's previous statement.
"i hope so because he really seems to like you. treat him well." hyunjae stood up, patting him on the back before leaving.
juyeon sighed and buried his face into his hands, thinking about everything that just went down.
a few minutes had passed before someone hugged him from behind, juyeon smiled as a wrapped up hand came into his view. he raised his head to look at chanhee, who had a big smile on his face.
"hey, hyunjae told me you were here so i wanted to check up on you." he said, taking a seat next him.
"are you okay?" chanhee asked, juyeon looked at him questioningly.
"well you know, i've been hearing that you're suddenly popular now..." chanhee trailed off when juyeon chuckled, a smile on his face.
"everyone in this school is fake as hell." juyeon shook his head, chanhee laughed and agreed.
"did hyunjae say something to you?" chanhee asked, juyeon paused and sucked of his teeth.
"he's really close to you, huh?" juyeon asked back, ignoring his question.
"he's my ex."
juyeon froze at the revelation, they've dated before?!
"he's one of my closest friends now, does that bother you?" chanhee asked, biting the inside of his mouth.
"no, i'm just surprised." juyeon let out a small laugh of disbelief, rubbing his face. "hyunjae's cool, i'm glad he's in your life."
"me too, he's been a really good friend." chanhee smiled before cupping the side of juyeon's face with his good hand, of course.
"we don't have feelings for each other, if you're worried about that." chanhee assured him, juyeon shook his head with a smile.
"i'm not worried about that, hyunjae's a good guy, i know he wouldn't do anything to hurt you." juyeon said, chanhee cocked his head to the side in confusion, a small smile on his face.
chanhee didn't know hyunjae still liked him.
"don't worry about it." juyeon waved him off, chanhee seemed to be even more intrigued but eventually nodded.
"you wanna come eat lunch with us?" chanhee asked, nervously biting his bottom lip.
"with your friends?" juyeon asked, trying to clarify. chanhee took in a breath before slowly nodding.
"just changmin, hyunjae, younghoon and sangyeon." chanhee clarified, looking down at his fingers to avoid eye contact.
"yeah, that sounds fun." juyeon grinned, lightly tapping chanhee's cheek when he looked up at him with lips parted in surprise.
*
people stared as the most popular guys walked through the hallway towards the exit, leaving for lunch.
changmin and younghoon were holding hands as they walked ahead of the others, too immersed in their conversation to pay attention to the others.
“hyunjae if you don’t stop annoying me, i’m gonna bench you next game.” sangyeon snapped, brushing off hyunjae’s fingers that were poking his back.
“you wouldn’t-”
“are they always this loud?” juyeon asked chanhee, watching them from behind.
“every single day.” he sighed out, smiling up at juyeon when the latter snaked his arm around his shoulders.
“i think i can get used to this.” if it means getting to be with you, he silently added.
chanhee’s smiled brightened as he wrapped his arm around juyeon’s waist.
“hey!” hyunjae called out, gaining their attention, “what does the chess master want to eat?”