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Gunwook notices from the get-go that there’s something strange going on between the statistics and physical education teachers.
Having spent most of his academic career as class president and a member of the student council, he’s learnt that the teachers’ drama is really not any of his business. If he finds them interesting enough, though, he would talk about it with his fellow council members (not very responsible of them, but hey, they needed to create some sort of escapism from their problems, too) and hope that they know something he doesn’t.
Being one of the younger members, it’s likely that his seniors usually have a bigger background on whatever conversation he had accidentally eavesdropped on in the teachers’ lounge, considering that the majority of them have been going to their school since they were barely teenagers. Gunwook, as much as he tries to be a good example to his peers, is not perfect, no matter how many times his friends try to argue with this. Yes, he’s an academic achiever, but he’s an academic achiever who thrives off of being a gossipmonger, which is why he’s decided to eat lunch in the council’s room today.
“How’s your first week as a second year treating you?” Jeonghyeon asks, simultaneously putting one of the hard boiled eggs from his lunch box in his mouth. Gunwook suppresses a giggle at the sight before him, thinking that the older boy looks somewhat like a hungry cat.
Taerae lightly hits him on the shoulder. “Jeonghyeon, don’t talk with your mouth full, that’s gross.” He scolds him like one would expect from a strict mother, and the vice president momentarily gives him an apologetic look.
Gunwook shrugs, ensuring that he finishes chewing before Taerae gets on his case as well. “Good enough for now. I’ve been cherishing the introductory phase before we continue on with lessons next week.”
Ollie, the youngest of them all, hums in agreement. “Is it just me or am I the only one who thinks that Mr. Kim isn’t as scary as people say?” He asks.
“Which Kim?” Matthew chimes in, sliding on the seat opposite Jeonghyeon’s.
“Oh, sorry, I meant Mr. Jiwoong.” He clarifies, triggering a few surprised looks from around the table.
“Mr. Jiwoong teaches freshmen now?!” Jeonghyeon yells a bit too loudly, and Taerae urges him to be quiet, even if the room they’re in is completely secluded. “Sorry about that,” He coughs. “So, he teaches freshmen now?”
Gyuvin quickly joins the conversation. “Yeah, Ms. Sakamoto told us that he got so tired of the sophomores last year that he begged her to switch with him.” Ricky nods along to confirm his statement.
“What the fuck, why couldn’t he have quitted during our year?” Matthew curses, and Taerae gives up at all attempts to prevent them from being rowdy.
“Don’t worry, Ollie, Mr. Kim isn’t that bad,” He reassures the Chinese boy with a smile, hoping to put him at ease. Neither Matthew nor Jeonghyeon seem to agree with him. “All you have to do is be attentive and answer him if he addresses the class… He does give out a lot of pop quizzes, though.”
Ollie groans in defeat, his head falling on the table. “I’ll give you my notes in P.E. later, don’t worry.” The blond says, patting his head for comfort.
Gunwook’s eyes light up at the mention of P.E., being reminded of what he wanted to ask earlier on. “By the way, I was wondering, have you guys ever had Mr. Zhang or Mr. Sung during your second year?”
There’s an obvious shift in the room as the three seniors eye each other pointedly, like predators waiting to pounce on their prey. He isn’t sure what’s going on, but whenever the trio acts like this, he just knows that there’ll be something good. From the corner of his eye, he sees that Gyuvin is also waiting for them to speak up. At least he’s assured that he’s not the only one who noticed something odd.
“I was waiting for you to bring them up,” Jeonghyeon grins mischievously, urging the rest of the boys to come closer. Oh, this’ll definitely be good .
“So, get this, yeah?” He begins, the group probably too eager to listen to his story. “Matt and I always helped Ms. Shen carry her stuff to the faculty room because her period ended right before lunch, and we’d automatically be the ones she’d call to help because we were in front.”
Matthew takes a quick bite from his sandwich before continuing Jeonghyeon’s retelling. “We meet Taerae along the way ‘cause he had to bring some papers to Mr. Jianyu’s table–”
“Let me tell the next part!” Taerae cuts him off before he could get to the climax. At this point, Gunwook and the rest are bewildered at their enthusiasm. “We heard some yelling just as we were about to go out, and Matt told us to bolt it because he didn’t want to get caught up in some teachers’ argument, then Mr. Zhang came out of his office with his hair all messed up. A few seconds later, Mr. Sung follows him, his hair just as sloppy– Mr. Sung’s hair is never sloppy!”
“And then we bolted it for real.” Jeonghyeon wraps it up quickly, clasping his hands together. “We couldn’t look them in the eye for an entire week.”
The quartet still looks confused, unsure of what they’re supposed to infer from the situation. “…What are the implications of this again?” Ricky questions with furrowed eyebrows.
“Easy, they had an argument in Mr. Zhang’s office, which means they fucking hate each other.” Matthew laughs, and this time, Taerae actually does hit him. “That’s only one of the many instances we encountered last year. If you guys still have the same schedule, then their classes are always next to one another.”
Jeonghyeon sighs at the memory, stressed just thinking about it. “One day, we’d be running on the field and next thing you know, Mr. Zhang would be shouting at Mr. Sung to hurry up ‘cause we have an important stats exam. The week after that, Mr. Sung would pull him in the hallway while we’d be answering a worksheet, then Mr. Zhang would suddenly tell us we only have five minutes left since we needed to be early for P.E., like give me a break?!”
Taerae’s watch beeps five minutes before their break ends, signaling that they need to return to their classrooms by now. “That was fun to look back at, but I’m warning all of you right now that Mr. Zhang isn’t as scary as you think despite his strict teaching methods. Mr. Sung is chill except when he’s with Mr. Zhang, but I don’t really have advice on how to avoid them being in the same room together.”
“Just go to the bathroom before they collide,” Gyuvin answers nonchalantly like it was that simple.
“I’m so thankful I don’t have to deal with this right now.” Ollie murmurs in between them, oblivious of the struggles of freshman year.
Gunwook walks behind the rest of them, pondering on the trio’s report of the event. He definitely observed some tension when they had switched classrooms on the first day. Mr. Zhang very clearly didn’t want the P.E. teacher in his presence while he still had a few minutes left to go over his curriculum, only muttering a short ‘morning’ to Mr. Sung on his way out. However, whatever tension they had was definitely not hatred. Maybe he’s reading into things too much, or maybe he’s reading them incorrectly, especially since Taerae and the other two have more experience with them than he does. He shakes the thought off, hoping that he’ll forget about it within a week.
_____
Gunwook, in fact, did not forget about it.
The first week passed by like a flash, and now, they officially needed to start their lectures. Some teachers have been more gracious with their lessons, introducing them to basic concepts first before proceeding to their syllabus, as most of the terms are still foreign to a bunch of 17 year olds. On the other hand, there are also teachers who dive in head first without any space for adjustment. Among the second type is Mr. Zhang.
Okay, to be fair, he spent two days discussing the history of statistics and how it came to be, but that was technically already a part of his program. Gunwook decided to ask Taerae more about him to prepare his mentality, and so far, everything checks out: 1) calls students out for tardiness, 2) notices when people are using phones during class, 3) not biased toward the smarter kids, but is very serious regarding deadlines, and 4) has some weird feud with Mr. Sung, which Gunwook doesn’t know why needed to be reinstated.
He wishes Ricky and Gyuvin were in his class because his recent observations have been outstanding.
After cross-examining Matthew’s previous schedule, Gunwook verified that the school is indeed using the same roster from before. He doesn’t know how they’ve managed to have all their classes be right next to each other, but he’s grown accustomed to the two greeting one another blandly whenever they had to switch. One time, Mr. Sung urged him to hurry up since they needed to go to the gymnasium, only for Mr. Zhang to give a snarky remark about how he could’ve arranged the gym for another day. It wasn’t the first time Gunwook wondered about what happened to promoting a healthy work environment and respecting your coworkers.
It appears to him that his fellow classmates have caught up on their behavior as well, exchanging nervous glances when the other half arrives in the room.
“Do you know anything about Mr. Zhang and Mr. Sung?” Junghyun quietly asks him during a certain P.E. class where they needed to execute moves in volleyball.
Gunwook isn’t an idiot, he knows that there’s something Junghyun is seeking to find out, but for the sake of his reputation, he pretends to be clueless. “Uh, Mr. Zhang has been teaching longer than Mr. Sung, but Mr. Sung has been here longer than him. I’ve heard Mr. Sung is a professional dancer and Mr. Zhang knows how to play the violin–“
“No, not that,” Junghyun stops him from rambling, inching closer to him in fear that someone will overhear them. “I mean, do you know if something happened between them? Why are they always so grumpy when they see each other?”
“Oh,” He lets out like he’s shocked. His mind drifts off to the trio’s story, Taerae’s voice echoing through his head as he remembers the details of yelling from Mr. Zhang’s office and him leaving the room looking like a mess. He then thinks about how Mr. Zhang glares at Mr. Sung whenever the latter would smile at him.
“No, no I don’t.”
_____
Gunwook has completely forgotten about it by the time finals roll around.
There are many times where he regrets forcing his parents to allow him to go to a science high school, and this night is one of those nights. Picture this: it’s the eve of your final exam, which consists of all the special subjects you take (to be fair, statistics is the only one he’s worried about). Just as you’re about to head off to dreamland, your student council president frantically messages you that you’ll be stuck in a meeting tomorrow for god knows how long to discuss the annual school foundation. What kind of madman holds finals right before their celebration, anyways?
Gunwook, as much as he treasures his position in the council, is merely a human. So, he reacts with a thumbs up, screams into his pillow, and wishes that everything will go smoothly the next day.
“How’d your exams go?” Matthew questions, a bright smile on his face. That lucky bastard didn’t even have any tests scheduled for today.
“Not good,” Ricky bluntly replies for the whole group, who all look as if they’re about to pass out any minute. Even Gyuvin, who is typically down to toast their momentary freedom, seems to have his soul sucked out of him. On the other hand, Ollie is mumbling to himself about “escaping this hellfire” while he still has time.
“That’s alright, it’s better to fail now than later into the year. Plus, teachers are usually more considerate around this time.” The Canadian boy says in an attempt to reassure them that it’s not the end of the world. “Trust me, I would know.”
Then, Taerae and Jeonghyeon barge into the room, clearly not as cheerful as Matthew is.
The older one sinks onto his chair, groaning into his hands. “I am so tired.” He muffles his voice, trying to keep his cool.
“Do we have water? I need water.” Jeonghyeon goes around the room like he was going to die of dehydration any time soon. Gunwook thinks it’s kind of amusing despite his initial concern; Jeonghyeon is arguably the most level-headed person in the room next to Taerae, who, at the moment, is also going through it.
“Can I ask what happened?” Gunwook speaks up, breaking the duo’s trance.
Jeonghyeon hurriedly swallows the remaining water in his mouth before he slams his fists on the table a bit too harshly, startling the two Chinese boys, although he and Gyuvin know that he’s only doing that for dramatic effect. “Mr. Zhang happened!” He shouts.
“Be quiet!” Taerae yells back, still slumped in his chair. “Also, what do you mean Mr. Zhang happened? Mr. Sung was the one who kept creating arguments about the room!”
“Who cares, they’re both irritating!” He grudgingly takes his seat. Matthew is on Taerae’s other side, doing his best to keep him calm.
Gyuvin scoots closer to Gunwook, whispering into his ear. “I thought we were supposed to be quiet.”
“I’m tired and I need something to get my mind off of my horrid algebra exam, so can someone please just get on with the story already?” Ollie unexpectedly rises from his seat, annoyed that he has to deal with the older boys’ shenanigans.
Taerae nods, clearing his voice. “Terribly sorry for that, everyone. Anyways, as we informed you, Leejeong and I had a meeting with Ms. Choi and the other club advisers to discuss which parts of the school can be used for them to hold their booths.” He explains, imploring Jeonghyeon to continue for him.
“Everything was going peachy since most of the club presidents had already decided on what they wanted to do– oh, by the way, the theater kids and the science club will send their proposals later to you, Matt.” He halts for a second, only carrying on when Matthew acknowledges him. “Then, we get to the math club, and Mr. Zhang says he’s going to use the gymnasium because his kids want to use it as a horror attraction.”
The president takes over again, finally having time to cool off. “Suddenly, Mr. Sung gets upset because he promised the sports club that they’d get to use it for a paintball tournament. And after that, it was just back-and-forth fighting about why they should get the gym. At the end, Ms. Choi got so annoyed that they dismissed the two of us early.”
“I thought Jingxiang already asked permission to take the gymnasium like a week ago?” Gyuvin frowns, noting that the sports club officer had taken dibs on it according to the minutes he took from their previous meeting with the other organizations.
Jeonghyeon scratches his head sheepishly. “That’s what we thought too, even Seungeon agreed on it.” He vouches for him, remembering that the math club president settled on using one of the seniors’ classrooms.
“If Seungeon and Jingxiang already had an agreement, then why are Mr. Zhang and Mr. Sung arguing about it?” Ricky scratches his head.
“Dunno, that’s their problem to fix,” Taerae sighs, sitting upright now. “I’ll make this quick so that you guys can rest for today. We’ll continue our meeting online tomorrow. On the discussion of booths, our immunity booth already got approved by Ms. Choi.”
Gunwook takes the responsibility of noting important details, as he’s the secretary. Most of what Taerae is rambling about is stuff he’s already heard before, but he lists them down anyway, knowing that he’s prone to forgetting things. It’s moments like these where he’s thankful for the council’s management, for he can rest easily knowing that the only thing he has to do for their booth is sell immunity tickets and Ricky and Ollie’s handicrafts. Is it low effort? Well, yes, but it’s also easy money.
“Gunwook, you got all that?” He asks, receiving a firm nod from the younger. “Great, I need you, Gyuvin, and Ricky to run some papers for Mr. Sung, and after that, you can go home.”
Gyuvin raises his hand, prompting a question. “How come Ollie gets to leave before us?”
“Because Ollie is a clueless freshman and isn’t as rowdy as the three of you.”
_____
The trio decide to hurry up and just get it over with after Ricky offers to take them to the arcade once they’re done. At this point, they’ve disregarded that they probably flunked a majority of their exams earlier, overtaken by the entertainment they got from the president and vice president’s stressful encounter earlier.
“Can’t you two go to Mr. Sung alone?” Gyuvin grumbles by the time they’re right outside the teachers’ lounge. “I’m scared I’ll run into Mr. Seo, you know how difficult the organic chem test was.”
“You’re worried about org chem when statistics is right there?” Ricky scoffs, and Gunwook starts praying that they don’t begin debating right here. “None of the answers I got were even close to the choices in the numbers that had the Z-Test distribution.”
“Don’t know about you, but I thought the Z-Test part was kinda fun.” Gyuvin murmurs.
Gunwook silences them both, hearing heavy footsteps approaching them. They breathe out a sigh of relief when it turns out the owner of them is the very man they’re looking for. Come to think of it, they’ve never seen him in casual wear before (he doesn’t understand how the teachers are allowed to do this on Fridays), and now Gunwook slightly comprehends why Matthew used to find him attractive before. He notices that Taerae’s statement is right, though– Mr. Sung’s hair is never sloppy.
“Ah, Gunwook! Did Taerae send you here?” He beams at them.
The youngest of the three hums, handing in the plastic envelope. “Taerae said all of the papers are arranged already, sir. There’s also a list of students that haven’t turned in their work.” He says.
“Tell him thank you for me, I can’t imagine how busy the three of you are right now with the festival nearing—“
There’s an abrupt pause in the man’s words as he turns his head to the side. Gunwook resists the urge to follow his stare and is about to stop Gyuvin and Ricky from doing the same, but they were two steps ahead of him. He might as well join along.
The sight in question is Mr. Zhang walking with his arms linked with Mr. Kuanjui, who Gunwook recognizes as one of the science teachers in Matthew’s year level, and Mr. Zhang is.. laughing?
He stops looking at the two and makes eye contact with Gyuvin, and the brunette looks just as surprised as him.
“Is this a normal sight to be looking at?” Ricky mutters under his breath, ignoring that Mr. Sung is still right next to them.
They soon hear another set of footsteps, activating Gunwook’s fight-or-flight senses. The chipper expression on Mr. Zhang’s face is now replaced by the stern look that they’re familiar with. On the other end, Mr. Sung is frowning, clenching his fists at his side. This is the exact reason the teachers’ drama isn’t his business.
The trio automatically greet the other man as he comes near them. He greets them back with a dull ‘good afternoon’, but it’s obvious to them that his attention is directed to the P.E. teacher. “Sung, I thought I told you to meet me at my office earlier.” He raises a brow, pushing up his glasses.
Is this what Jeonghyeon meant when they bolted it , Gunwook wonders for a second, empathizing with his seniors’ experience.
He coughs, being the bravest one. “Uh, we have to get going now, sir, Matthew is waiting for us by the gate.” He bluffs as a desperate attempt to escape.
Ricky nods along to sell his point, nudging Gyuvin to contribute something. “Yeah! They invited us and Ollie to go to the arcade.” He nervously laughs, not used to being put on the spot. At least it wasn’t a complete lie.
The younger of the two gives them a strange look but doesn’t question their demeanor. “It’s alright, you three, I’m sorry for holding you up.” He says, and at that, they immediately run for it, briefly saying goodbye to their teachers.
When they’re sure that they’ve gotten far enough (which really just means that they’ve gotten out of the building), Gyuvin is panting hard. “Why’d you make me speak?!” He points an accusing finger at Ricky.
“Calm down, you did fine,” He rolls his eyes, throwing a hand over Gyuvin’s shoulder. “Now, we need to actually get out before either of them come out and ask where Matthew is.”
The youngest stays silent throughout the car ride (even if it’s because he’s preventing himself from getting carsick), thinking about the interaction they witnessed. Ricky and Gyuvin agreed to not talk about it because they’re both scared of failing statistics and by their logic, if they talk about Mr. Zhang, then they’re likely to receive unsatisfactory remarks. He’s definitely going to talk about this with Taerae, though, because there are too many questions running around his brain and it’s going to explode if he doesn’t let them out. Why was Mr. Sung angry? Does it have anything to do with the meeting? Is it a natural reaction when he sees Mr. Zhang? How often does Mr. Zhang smile?
Gunwook huffs, gazing out the window. He’s never going to forget about this.
_____
Hanbin closes the door behind him, examining Hao’s face as he takes his seat.
“If this is about the gymnasium, Zhang, I’m not backing down.” He says, quickly getting defensive.
Hao laughs heartily, his eyes curling into crescent moons as he does so. “I thought we already agreed that we would share it.” He whispers, reaching for Hanbin’s hand across the table.
“We did,” Hanbin giggles, clasping their hands together. As expected, his boyfriend’s hands are cold like they always are, but he has no problem warming them for him. “It’s just fun to act like I don’t like you.”
The older man breaks off their hold, gesturing for Hanbin to come closer. Hanbin, ever so obedient, rises up to go to the other side of the table and picks Hao up from his chair, settling him on his desk. “I think you struck Jiwoong’s last nerve earlier.” He jokes, remembering how stressed the man looked during the meeting.
“I’ll apologize to him later,” Hanbin responds, switching to a more serious tone. “What was that with Kuanjui, though?”
The Chinese man struggles to hold back his laughter, shaking his head at Hanbin’s behavior. “Why? You know, jealousy isn’t a good look on you, Bin-ah.” He provokes.
“I wasn’t jealous, I was just acting because the council members were in front of us.” He gives a half-assed excuse, emphasizing that it was only a front. “You know I couldn’t risk blowing our cover in front of the student council.”
“Besides,” He grasps the side of Hao’s face, savoring the way his breath hitches when they make contact. “Why would I be jealous when I have the real thing right here?”
Hao, because he’s impatient and needy, pulls him by the collar, letting out a satisfied hum as their lips finally connect. He wraps his arms around Hanbin’s neck, giggling into the kiss. His lips taste like the strawberry lip balm he gifted for his birthday, remembering that the younger had it on during their first kiss as well. Hanbin removes one of his arms, placing it on his chest instead. Hao could now feel Hanbin’s heartbeat against his palm, thumping so quickly that he’s afraid it’d jump out his chest. He hears the melody of his own heart echo through his ears, a wave of emotions rushing over as he takes in the fact that there’s somebody who cares for him just as much as he cares for them.
They pull away after a couple of minutes, both of them grinning like a bunch of love-dazed schoolchildren. Hanbin nuzzles their foreheads together, maintaining eye contact. “Have I ever told you I love you, Hao?”
“Many times,” Hao confirms. “And I’ve said I love you back every single time.”
The pair startle at the knocks outside, followed by Jiwoong’s voice. “Hao, Seungeon is looking for you!” He yells, not daring to open the door and witness whatever the couple is doing.
“I’ll be waiting in the car.” He gives one last kiss on Hao’s cheek, fixing his collar. “I love you.”
“I love you more.” He responds, pecking Hanbin’s forehead in return.
“Oh, by the way, Binnie, I thought the student council already knew about our relationship.”
“No? Taerae’s the only one who knows. He’s been feeding into his kids’ assumptions and telling them that we hate each other.”
“Ah, no wonder Jeonghyeon was so glad to leave.”
“Hao, Seungeon’s been standing outside for five minutes!” Jiwoong repeats, prompting Hao to rush out of his office with his hair all ruffled up.