Chapter Text
High school, Euijoo decided, was a social jungle.
Not in the metaphorical teen movie way. Like, actually. There were predators. There were prey. There were cliques and chaos and those upperclassmen who looked twenty-seven and already had beards.
Euijoo, meanwhile, had a backpack full of color-coded folders, a fresh planner with sticky tabs, and a heart rate that skyrocketed anytime someone made eye contact with him in the hallway.
Which was why he was currently speed-walking to Chemistry and clutching his schedule like it might save his life.
He turned the corner too fast.
Slammed into something solid.
Stumbled back.
“Oh my god—s-sorry I didn’t mean to—”
The something was a person.
A very tall person. Wearing all black. Headphones around his neck. One eyebrow raised, RBF in full force. Looked like he belonged on a skateboard or in a band with feelings.
Euijoo was going to die.
He squeaked, “Sorry,” again, and tried to sidestep.
The guy blinked. “You’re new.”
Euijoo nodded. “Yeah, I—first day, um, sorry.”
“Relax,” the guy said, voice lazy, amused. “You’re shaking.”
Euijoo’s brain short-circuited.
“I—I’m not, it’s just—caffeine,” he lied. (He didn’t drink caffeine. He wasn’t emotionally prepared.)
The guy tilted his head like a curious cat. “What’s your name?”
“Euijoo.”
“Mm.” He held out a hand. “Nicholas.”
Euijoo blinked at it for a second too long before shaking it. Firm grip. Rings. Callused fingers.
Nicholas didn’t let go right away.
“You heading to Chem?”
Euijoo nodded mutely.
Nicholas let go. “Cool. I’ll walk with you.”
“Why?”
Nicholas shrugged. “You look like you might walk into a locker.”
Euijoo made a sound like a dying computer.
They walked in silence for about two minutes.
Euijoo kept glancing sideways. Nicholas didn’t talk much. He didn’t smile, either. Just… existed. Casually, confidently, terrifyingly.
But he didn’t walk fast. He didn’t look at Euijoo weird. He kept just enough space between them so their arms didn’t bump, which Euijoo found… oddly thoughtful.
When they got to the classroom, Nicholas nodded toward the seats in the back.
“Wanna sit next to me?”
Euijoo blinked. “Don’t you have friends?”
Nicholas smirked. “Sure. But you’re more interesting.”
Euijoo flushed straight to the roots of his hair.
He sat down.
He stayed there for the next four years.