Chapter Text
⋘ here we go again ⋙
⋘ i kinda want to be more than friends ⋙
“Psst.” Johnny taps Jaehyun, who then takes out his earphones to hear him better. “Look at Nakamoto, out there at his game again.”
Jaehyun follows the direction where his seatmate nods to and sees Yuta by the door, talking to a girl from another class who’s making it way too obvious that she’s interested in him. Seeing it makes Jaehyun drop his mechanical pencil, completely abandoning the math homework he’s working on.
“Well, not exactly surprising.” He tells Johnny, who already moved on from their conversation because he’s playing with his gameboy underneath his desk.
Jaehyun frowns, he’s aware that Yuta’s quite…popular, both with girls and boys. He knows that, and almost the whole school population knows that. Ultimately among everyone, Yuta especially knows that, with how he basks in the attention he gets and reciprocates them even if he’s not exactly interested. But there’s still a pit in his stomach that makes Jaehyun jealous despite this not being the first time he sees Yuta flirting with someone else.
He removes his earphones and gets up from his seat. “I’ll buy some bread from downstairs.” Johnny barely looks up when he asks his friend to buy him some too.
Yuta and the girl are still hovering by the door, so Jaehyun is conflicted on how he’ll maneuver himself to leave the room. He decides to head to the other exit instead.
“Hey Jaehyun!” Yuta suddenly calls him. “Where are you going?”
Jaehyun turns around, the girl is also looking at him. “Cafeteria, gonna buy some snacks.” He tries to make his words sound like it’s not laced with envy, but he’s aware that it’s very much so.
“I’ll go with you! Let me just get my wallet.” Yuta heads to his chair to fetch his bag.
Jaehyun blinks. “Wait, are you sure?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
He glances by the door again, the girl already left. Heat shoots up to Jaehyun’s chest and his heartbeat quickens. He feels special that Yuta would ditch someone else to go with him but he tries not to make a big deal out of it. He’s probably just hungry.
Yuta puts his hand around Jaehyun’s shoulder. “What are you looking at? Let’s go!”
⁕
⋘ so take it easy on me ⋙
⋘ i’m afraid you’re never satisfied ⋙
Jaehyun puts two bread snacks on the counter, one for him and the other for Johnny. He pats his pocket to get his wallet, but after going through both, he realizes that it’s not with him. “Ah shit.”
Yuta peeks from behind the line, wondering what’s taking Jaehyun so long to pay. “You forgot your wallet?”
Jaehyun nods, embarrassment coloring his face. “I forgot to take it with me.”
Yuta walks forward, combining their snacks into one tray. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for it.” He takes out some bills and hands them to the lunch lady. He looks back to Jaehyun as he puts the two packs of bread into a plastic bag. “This is all, right?”
Jaehyun swallows nervously. “Uh yeah, that’s all.”
It’s probably an act of kindness that Yuta will do to any of his friends. This isn’t special. At least that’s what he’s trying to tell himself because he finds it endearing, he finds Yuta endearing. He’s crushing on Yuta so much that he tries to put meaning in every little thing that he does.
“I’ll pay you back when we get up,” he tells him as they maze their way through the number of students.
“Nope, no need. It’s my treat!” Yuta smiles. Jaehyun had to briefly look away to hide his blush.
They exit the cafeteria and turn to take the stairs. Yuta takes out a juice pouch with a straw from the plastic bag and hands it to Jaehyun. “This is yours too.”
“What?” Confused, Jaehyun takes it anyway. Yuta gets another juice for himself and attempts to poke the straw through the hole, but fails. He tries once more but the plastic is just too soft for him to be successful.
Jaehyun watches him struggle for a little bit more. He wants so bad to help him. He slowly gathers courage bit by bit so he can offer to open it for him. He’ll do anything for Yuta. Hell, he will even offer his life if it means making Yuta’s life easier.
“Why is this always hard to open—”
“Give it to me.” Jaehyun finally says and takes the juice from Yuta’s hand. In one swift move, he successfully pierces the straw through the hole.
“Woah, as expected from Jaehyun! Thank you.” Yuta flashes a blinding smile to Jaehyun and he happily sips the beverage as they climb up the stairs. “Me treating you snacks and you opening the juice for me? This might as well be a date.”
Jaehyun tries to suppress his smile. He ultimately fails.
He totally won’t give the other bread to Johnny.
⁕
⋘ here we go again ⋙
⋘ we’re sick like animals, ⋙
⋘ we play pretend ⋙
“Your class rep, Doyoung, will be handing out the forms, pair up with someone and then fill them out with your data doing the exercises together.” Their gym teacher blows his whistle and the whole class stand up from sitting on the gym floor. “That’s all. Go, go, go!”
Jaehyun watches as his classmates disperse and pair up with their friends. He scans the court trying to find Johnny, or anyone else for that matter.
“Jaehyun!” Someone taps him from behind. He turns around to see a smiling Yuta, wearing their soccer team’s jersey with a head sweatband. Fuck. Sporty Yuta looks so hot.
Breathless, Jaehyun tries to speak. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Yuta hands him a form, the exercise sheet that they were supposed to answer by pair. “Do you have a partner already?”
He looks at his own paper, then at Yuta. He’s holding a form too. Huh. So he already got two sheets from Doyoung. Did Yuta get two because he was planning to give the other to him?
“I…I don’t have one yet.”
As if automatic, Yuta puts his hand around Jaehyun’s shoulder. He lightly shivers by the touch. “Great, me too. Let’s pair up then!”
Oh god, Jaehyun’s too far gone.
⁕
⋘ you’re just a cannibal and
I’m afraid I won’t get out alive ⋙
“Okay, so we’re done with the sprint and the jump ropes. Next on the list is the push up and then the curl ups.” Yuta looks up from the list, grinning at Jaehyun. Despite the sweat, he still looks so handsome. He had to stop his urge from wiping it off him. “Are you ready to continue?”
Jaehyun’s not sure if it’s because of adrenaline rush or being too tired from the exercises, but his heart has been beating so fast for the past half hour. Thump thump thump.
“Yup, we can move on to the next now.”
It’s probably because of Yuta.
“I don’t wanna do the push up yet though,” Yuta whines, flinging his arms around, as if emphasizing that it’s very light and not push-uppable. “Can we go through the curl ups first?”
“Of course, of course.” Jaehyun agrees, nodding fast. He’s too distracted to say otherwise anyway. Jaehyun, who ranks second in their class suddenly isn’t able to form long sentences at this very moment. There goes all his medals and high exam scores. Having a crush makes him crazy stupid.
“Okay nice, I’ll go first.” Yuta happily claps his hands then lays down with his back flat on the floor. He crosses his arms and props it above his chest. Jaehyun freezes at the sight of him lying there, and there are definitely imaginative things running through his mind at the sight. Thump thump thump.
From the floor, Yuta’s frowning as he looks at Jaehyun, confused. “What are you waiting for?”
“What do you mean?” There goes stupid Jaehyun again.
“You’re supposed to support my feet as I do the exercise. It’s the reason why we’re doing this by pair.”
“Oh?” Jaehyun looks around the gym, and some of his classmates are indeed doing it in pairs. From the far right, Johnny is holding down Doyoung’s feet as he struggles to do a curl up. “Oh, right.”
Jaehyun lowers down and positions himself in front of Yuta. He presses down his feet, carefully distancing his upper body a little bit. He’s sure to put in some space between them because he’s directly facing him, meaning that when Yuta does the curl up, they would only be inches away from each other, face to face.
Thump thump thump.
“Come closer to my knees so you can put in more of your weight.”
What? Yuta will be Jaehyun’s demise. He takes a deep breath before following his instructions, and moves in closer to Yuta’s body. He puts in all his strength to press down
“Alright, I’m gonna start now.” Yuta prepares to start his curl ups, carrying his weight to sit up. And after easily rising up, with only inches between them, he looks at Jaehyun straight in the eye and Yuta, he—
Yuta winks.
What the fu—
“One.”
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump.
Before Jaehyun could even recover, Yuta’s back down again. He looks to his side, aware of the tiger that is his heart beating non-stop, wanting to come out of his rib cage. Yuta is driving him crazy, crazy crazy, it’s so hard being around his friend that is also very much his crush.
“Two.” Yuta comes up again, but Jaehyun’s avoiding his gaze. Because if he did look him right in the eyes, he would surely melt into a pool of nothingness.
“Three…four…five.” Yuta continues his curl ups with Jaehyun looking away as far as possible. He waits for him to finish, twenty-five more curl ups, making sure not to have any eye contact. He begins humming a song in his head, any song, to distract himself. To make sure that he’s still breathing.
It feels like the longest thirty curl ups in the world ever.
“Thirty.”
After singing happy birthday fifty times in his mind, Jaehyun finally faces Yuta to tell him that he did a good job. But before he even got a chance to do so—
Yuta winks again.
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump—ERROR.
Right then and there, Jaehyun short-circuits and his brain turns to mush. Fuck. He’s too far gone and the presence of Yuta is undoing his whole being. His whole body shuts down and the only thing in his mind is Yuta Yuta Yuta Yuta Yuta YUTA.
Good thing that this is their last subject for the day because he’s sure he won’t survive this if it prolongs even more.
⁕
⋘ no, I won’t sleep tonight ⋙
unknown number:
hey !
It’s just right after dinner when Jaehyun gets a text from an unknown number. After everything that happened from the day’s event at school, his mind has just been floating with nothing and no one but Yuta. He can’t even get himself to start on this essay that’s due in two days.
Absent-mindedly, he quickly replies as he prepares to start on his homework.
to unknown number:
Hi, who is this?
unknown number:
it’s yuta :)
Jaehyun almost spills his drink.
Wait, he’s not even drinking anything, but if he were, he would be spitting water all over his desk because what the fuck? Nakamoto Yuta just texted him?
It’s not that they’re not friends, they are, but he’s not as close to him as he is as close to Johnny. They talk and interact a lot, but not to the point of texting each other. The only person that Jaehyun has been texting aside from his mom and Johnny is Doyoung, and that’s only because he’s their class representative who messages the whole class of any important announcements.
If he wasn’t able to focus earlier, he’s not able to focus even more now. Why the hell is Yuta texting him? And how did he even get his number?
In the event of your crush texting you, what are you even supposed to say!?
He takes a deep breath and tries to clear his mind because he cannot fuck this up. He tries to play it cool and thinks up a reply as he normally would if he’s just texting with his friends.
to unknown number:
oh, hi yuta :)
what’s up?
Fuck. He double texted. Is that too obvious!? Would Yuta figure out that he’s completely whipped for him? What even is the reason why Yuta would be texting him? Does he need something? Did Doyoung lose his phone and ask Yuta to text the class instead of him!?
unknown number:
nothing, haha!
just wanted to talk to someone
what are you doing?
FUCK. Is this a prank? Is Johnny pranking him? Perhaps, did Johnny sense that he has been harboring feelings for Yuta and wanted to fuck around with him? That’s cruel. That’s crueeel.
He double checks Johnny’s contact to see if it’s him.
to Johnny Suh:
Hey Johnny
What’s up
It’s not, and the number saved is a different number.
Could Yuta really be the one texting him!? This is not a dream? What is this??
Johnny Suh:
yo wassup
nothing much just cramming our math homework
were you able to finish it already?
to Johnny Suh:
yeah i already got it done yesterday
alright was just bored and asked you lol
Johnny Suh:
lol you were never really the type to cram
oh and by the way
yuta asked for your number
i forgot to tell you a while ago
What!?
to Johnny Suh:
oh i see
i was wondering how he got my number lol
He quickly types a follow up message.
to Johnny Suh:
so
…do you want a copy of the answers to my math homework?
If a while ago Jaehyun has been spun to death about the possibility of Yuta texting him, the thought of Yuta asking Johnny for his number just kills him even more. Did he save the world in his past life? This can’t be true, can’t it?
In the process of trying to calm himself, he’s suddenly jolted up when he realizes that he hasn’t even replied to Yuta yet. He reads the text message again and again, as if familiarizing himself with the words will somehow make it more real than it already is.
unknown number:
nothing, haha!
just wanted to talk to someone
what are you doing?
to unknown number:
just preparing for our essay due the next day.
how about you? have you eaten dinner yet?
unknown number:
not yet actually :(
our PE class got me so tired
i’m hungryy
but we’re still waiting for my sister before we eat
now i’m thinking about the bread we bought earlier
it was a tasty bread :]
to unknown number:
haha, it really was!
thanks for the treat by the way
i’ll make it up to you
just let me know what you want and i’ll treat you to something
unknown number:
ohhhhh
that is duly noted ;)
i’ll be thinking about what i wantttt
A wink. Is that a wink!? Jaehyun can definitely die now at this very moment! RIP Jung Jaehyun 1997 - today. Cause of death: Nakamoto Yuta
to unknown number:
yes, just think of what you want
i’ll buy you anything :p
unknown number:
alright alright.
i’ll be thinking well of what will be our next “date”
Lol :p
oh it looks like my sister just arrived
we’ll be having dinner now!
to unknown number:
that’s great. you’ve been really hungry
have a great dinner :)
unknown number:
thank you, we’re having buttered crab so i’m excited
save my number btw!
because this won’t be the last time we’ll be texting :p
good night for now! see you tomorrow :)
Jaehyun giggles and lays his head on the desk, internally squealing. He can feel the heat rise up to his cheeks and ears. See you tomorrow!? Yes, it’s true that they’ll be seeing each other tomorrow because it’s a Thursday and they have classes, but oh my Lord does Jaehyun want to explode from all the feelings that he’s feeling inside him. Yuta said good night . Yuta said see you tomorrow…. Yuta said date.
He reads the text message again, and notes the first line. Oh, right! He hasn’t even added him to his contacts! He had been too whiplashed from everything that he didn’t even notice that he forgot to save Yuta’s number.
Trying to still his beating heart, he saves his number.
New Contact: Yuta :)
He’s still smiling to himself, and he thinks that all this adrenaline and rush won’t die down until the end of the day. Would he even be able to sleep? Would he even be able to move on and function as a person after everything that just happened?
One thing’s for sure, Jaehyun is really fucked.
Because at this rate, he’s probably falling for Nakamoto Yuta.