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"Ninety eight?" Hyunjin frowned, he thought he didn't get any wrong on that test.
"Hundred percent," Jeongin bragged, placing his test in front of the olders face, "suck it, Hwang."
"So rude and for what?" Hyunjin sighed.
"Fun," Jeongin replied with a satisfied sigh, "first test of the year and I'm already winning."
"I'll catch up, don't worry," Hyunjin replied, "and then pass you as normal."
"Normal? I beat you last year and that was only training. Now is when the real battle starts," Jeongin said, "and look at that, I'm already winning."
"That's okay," Hyunjin replied, "be cocky, I'll pass you when you're not looking."
"You won't catch me with my guard down long enough to pass me," Jeongin replied, "I can promise you that."
"We'll see," Hyunjin replied as he stood after seeing other students getting up to leave.
"Senior year," Jeongin smiled as he followed behind the older, "the final year. Final battle. Good luck to me."
"Shame, thought you were going to wish me good luck," Hyunjin said with a teasing smile.
"No. I don't even need the good luck for myself," Jeongin replied before leaving Hyunjin behind and heading over to where their friends were for lunch.
"Hey Innie," Jisung greeted.
"Why hello," the younger replied as he sat down, "guess what."
"What?" Felix asked.
"You're supposed to guess," Jeongin chuckled as Hyunjin sat down on the other side of Seungmin.
"Too hard to guess," Seungmin shrugged, "could be so many things."
"I got a higher score than Hyunjin on the first test of the year. I'm in the lead," the youngest gloated.
"Not this again," Jisung sighed.
"Yes this again," Hyunjin replied, "I'll catch up to you, Yang. Just watch out."
"Okay buddy I'd like to see you try," Jeongin replied.
"Aw am I your buddy now?" Hyunjin teased.
"Never," the younger replied.
"Okay okay," Jisung interrupted, "anyway, what are you guys up to this weekend?"
"Going over to Chan's place," Seungmin replied.
"Aw going over to your boyfriends place?" Felix asked. He always loved to tease Seungmin about that one thing.
"Okay one, he's not my boyfriend and how many times do I have to tell you I used to have a thing for him, used to. Meaning, not anymore. And two, who are you to be teasing me? You're going over to Changbin's place this weekend I bet. So I won't have to deal with any of you." Seungmin replied.
Everyone else shared a look before Felix said, "you acorn, he's Chan's roommate?"
"Acorn! New nickname for Hyunjin has been unlocked," Jeongin cheered.
"Thanks, I think it's cute," the older responded.
"New nickname for Hyunjin has been lost," Jeongin sighed. Hyunjin snickered from the other side of Seungmin.
"Anyway, I vote we all go over to Chan and Changbin's place this weekend," Jisung nodded.
"I'll let Bin know," Felix added as he pulled out his phone.
"No need," Seungmin shook his head, "we all show up unannounced all the time anyway."
"That's true," Hyunjin shrugged.
"Fair enough," Felix replied as he put his phone away again.
"I have a quiz on monday though," Jeongin informed, "so I'll be studying for that."
"You mean we?" Hyunjin corrected.
"Same difference," Jeongin rolled his eyes.
The others sighed at the bickering. It had been like that for pretty much the whole time that Jeongin and Hyunjin knew each other. Back in sophomore year. For three years they had an academic rivalry all because Hyunjin once got a one hundred percent on a test while Jeongin had gotten a ninety nine.
It was Jeongin's goal to be valedictorian. He wanted it in high school but Beomgyu had gotten that. And he wasn't really angry about that fact, the other had wanted it for longer than Jeongin did anyway. So once he got into his advanced college classes (that would allow him to graduate a year early if he kept up his hard work) he made it his top priority to work towards being valedictorian.
Jeongin had spent all of freshman year following the same unhealthy routine. Wake up early, drink an energy drink or two as he attended his classes taking tedious notes. Head back to his dorm the second classes ended and stay up way too late studying before he eventually crashed, only to wake up the next day and follow the same steps. He made no friends and was exhausted all the time. So when sophomore year hit and he made friends, he was pretty happy about it. The only problem was...Hwang Hyunjin.
Their rivalry started one random day when Jeongin was pouting over the fact that he had missed a dumb question on a test that he absolutely knew the answer to, and he heard someone whisper cheer from in front of him, "hundred percent, nice."
It wasn't obvious that Hyunjin wanted valedictorian. But the comment had made Jeongin irritated so he said, "brag about it why don't you."
Hyunjin turned and saw the younger looking all pouty, "oh, did you miss some?"
"Shut up," Jeongin rolled his eyes, "I should have gotten a hundred."
"We all miss questions sometimes, it's alright," Hyunjin told the younger.
"Sure, but this is what's going to make my gpa a three point eight isn't it..." he wasn't even asking Hyunjin, more so himself.
"Why is that so sad? That's still good," Hyunjin chuckled, "I have a three point eight. Or maybe seven, I'm not sure."
Jeongin's eyes widened and gasped, "are you going to be trying for valedictorian?"
Hyunjin studied the younger's look before saying, "...yeah..."
The younger's eyes narrowed, "then bring it."
And that was how their battle started. So petty and dumb. Something that had gone on for so long that their friends were used to it. They dealt with the bickering, just dismissed it. All because they had tried getting the two to stop arguing and get along, but nothing seemed to help.
They couldn't complain too much if they were being honest, because Hyunjin and Jeongin had calmed down a little over the years. And they didn't physically fight either. And sometimes it just felt like playful banter more than an actual argument between the two. They used to be more brutal towards each other.
"Ugh, why are you here?" Jeongin asked when Hyunjin sat down.
"We have the same friend group," Hyunjin replied.
"Can't believe I have to see you all day every day," the younger scoffed.
"And you think I want to see you?" Hyunjin rolled his eyes.
"Go away you weren't invited."
"Neither were you."
"Both of you knock it off," Seungmin sighed.
The duo just began to ignore one another for the most part, and when they did bicker, no one could really tell who started it. They both were just so petty and stubborn to give it up. And while their friends were sick of it at first, but it had become such a normal thing that it was almost like they didn't even notice.
As they finished up their lunch, Hyunjin and Jeongin went to stand and throw their trash away at the same time. The younger sighed and sat back down which made Hyunjin laugh, "oh come on, you're not going to come with to throw your trash away? That's a new low, Yang."
"I just don't want to be in close proximity to you," Jeongin shrugged, "I'm claustrophobic."
"Sure, okay," Hyunjin scoffed as he walked off.
"Liar," Felix chuckled.
Jeongin only shrugged, "eh."
"I swear, anytime that I think that maybe just maybe you guys are starting to get along, I'm proven wrong," Jisung sighs.
"Oh please, I will never get along with him," Jeongin replied, standing to throw his trash away as Hyunjin sat down again.
Seungmin hummed, "challenge accepted."
"What?" Hyunjin questioned.
"Oh, nothing," the younger replied.
"Should we be concerned?" Felix asked.
"It's Seungmin so maybe," Jisung shrugged.
"No, you shouldn't be concerned," Seungmin shook his head, "I was just messing around anyway. How is that possibly a challenge? I don't really think there's anything I can do."
"True, we've tried before and nothing," Jisung nodded.
"What are you guys talking about?" Hyunjin asked again.
"Oh, nothing," Felix smiled, "don't worry about it."
Hyunjin nodded, "worrying."
The other three chuckled but didn't say anything else on the matter. Didn't know what else to add, really. And instead, they all headed off to their separate classes. And luckily for Hyunjin and Jeongin, they had another class together. Jeongin had closed his locker when he noticed that Hyunjin was walking by and he sighed, "don't walk so close to me, people will think we're close."
"We don't want that, now, do we?" Hyunjin rolled his eyes and continued walking, looking at the ground and sighing.
Jeongin then made his way to class, and took a seat on the opposite side of the room than where Hyunjin was. He did that in any class he got the opportunity to. In his class right before lunch, chemistry, his teacher was pretty new and wanted to keep a seating chart for a little while as he learned everyone's names. He had allowed people to sit where they wanted and Jeongin wasn't aware that it was Hyunjin right in front of him when he sat down. So he got stuck there, behind Hyunjin.
But in his class after lunch, math, he didn't have to sit by Hyunjin. And he had chosen to sit as far away from the other as he possibly could on the first day so that he wouldn't get stuck by the older for a second time during the day.
And during his math class that day, his teacher went on a tangent about something completely unrelated to math, and Jeongin sat back in his chair, setting his pen down as his teacher talked. He rolled his head around, cracking and stretching his neck when his eyes stopped on none other than Hyunjin. He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to make sense of what the older was doing. Then, he realized that Hyunjin was on his ipad and by the movement of his hands, was drawing. Jeongin rolled his eyes, hoping Hyunjin would get lost in whatever he was drawing and forget to take notes. And then the male got mad at himself for knowing that the older was more than likely drawing. He knew too much about the older male.
It really wasn't his fault though, he was friends with people who were also friends with Hyunjin. And obviously the others knew about Hyunjin's likes and dislikes. His hobbies and his music taste. His favorite food and drink. And they all, as a group of eight, hung out often enough that Jeongin knew some of those things too. And he assumed Hyunjin knew some of his as well.
Was he okay about that fact? No. Not really. If he could have it his way, Jeongin would chose to know nothing about the older, and that the older knew nothing about him either. But that wasn't how it worked, unfortunately.
Jeongin sighed as he looked back down at his math notes, grabbing his pencil to start up his note taking again when his teacher got back on track. And let Hyunjin fall out of his mind. Like he always did. And funnily enough, across the room was Hyunjin who really was drawing and not really paying attention to the lesson. Not fully anyway.
He never was a huge fan of math, though he understood it quite well. And luckily for him, his teacher normally put up the notes from the lesson after classes had ended for the day. And so, Hyunjin could draw as much as he pleased during class because he could just read through the notes later on and save them for when he needed to study. A simple process he'd been following for a good couple years and had never failed him.
Sometimes he would play games, only when he felt that he could get away with it. He found it kind of funny. How Jeongin worked so hard to take notes and study for tests just to get scores that not always beat Hyunjin's, when the older worked less hard, and still managed to beat the youngers in tests scores sometimes. If he was being honest, it inflated his ego just a tad bit.
It wasn't really like that in every class though. He enjoyed chemistry and astronomy, so there was no reason for him to not pay attention. And he did like taking notes, just on other subjects other than math. Math was just dumb.