Chapter Text
Living in his small hometown of Mokpo was easy and enjoyable, Sion liked to think. School life was normal–great in fact, Sion was the current holder of first place in his class, thank you very much. It also helped that Sion was on good terms with everyone, especially the girls he guessed, because they liked to stare and whisper about him. What those girls didn’t know however, was that Sion couldn’t care less about them. He just wanted to focus on his schoolwork and home life, and he was only allowed to play video games at his best friend’s house every Friday after school, but that was good enough for him. Sion was content on living this way until the first day of his last year of middle school, where the world he knew would be flipped upside down. Sion knew all the other kids in his class because they were usually the same batch of kids he started kindergarten with, so imagine his surprise when a bright-eyed boy named Kim Daeyoung is brought to the front of the class and was introduced to everyone.
“Everyone, I know you are all familiar with each other as most of you have been here since the start of your school days—but today we have a new student joining us, and his name is Kim Daeyoung. Please give him a warm welcome, and don’t be shy to introduce yourselves.”, says Sion’s teacher Mrs. Lee. Sion says a joint welcome with the rest of the class, but what he didn’t expect was his teacher to sit Daeyoung down right next to him.
“Sion-ah, I’m going to have Daeyoung sit here for now okay? I know you would be able to help him if he has any questions, so could you please help him out if he asks?”, Mrs. Lee asks.
“Hm, okay..”, Sion agrees. Daeyoung seems quiet enough, so maybe he won’t even need to ask Sion for anything in the first place. Sion supposes he should introduce himself to his new seat mate, since he doesn’t know how long they’ll be seated together.
“Hi, I’m Sion.. Nice to meet you, Daeyoung.”
“Hi, I’m Daeyoung! Nice to meet you too.”
The two don’t say much beyond that until their art class later that day. Daeyoung was just thinking that he should start making friends with Sion if he wanted to quickly adjust to his new life in Mokpo. He heard that Sion had the highest grade in their whole class, so yeah, Sion really does know what he is doing, right?
“Hey Sion,” Daeyoung whispers as he leans over but still facing forward, “Do you think we can be friends?” He finally looks at Sion with a shy smile.
Sion, a bit taken aback by the sudden request, as they should be listening and following the teacher, mind you–politely says, “Okay.. Yeah, sure..” He can feel his ears getting hot for some reason, so he averts his gaze and turns away. ‘How is Daeyoung so bold now when he seemed too shy to say more than a simple hello earlier?’ Sion thinks to himself, but he shrugs it off as the first day of school jitters.
A few weeks go by of Daeyoung and Sion getting used to being in close proximity to each other as seat mates. They exchange greetings every morning, exchange small talk in between classes or when they need to for in-class assignments, and when the day is done, they say their goodbyes. There is nothing complicated about it. They just seemingly viewed each other as classmates, forgetting about their initial agreement to actually become friends. Daeyoung was able to befriend the other boys in the class easily enough, and to Sion, it looks like he forgot that he even asked Sion to be friends in the first place. That’s fine for Sion, it’s not like he was really eager to be friends with Daeyoung anyway, he was just trying to be polite to the new student, right?
One day, during free period, Daeyoung and the other boys in the class were outside and having fun kicking a soccer ball around. It’s innocent enough, until Daeyoung launches the ball high into the air—and Sion, returning to the group from the bathroom and unbeknownst to him, is at the exact point of impact for said soccer ball.
*THUNK* The ball crashes down directly to the top of Sion’s fucking head.
“OWWW WHAT THE FUCK?” Sion is in mild pain and is confused as hell.
“Oh SHITTT—I’m so sorry!” Daeyoung exclaims as he rushes over. “Sion, are you okay?” he asks as he tenderly cradles Sion’s face in his hands, with a concerned puppy-like expression on his face.
“Yeah..yeah, I’m fine,” Sion manages to get out as he can feel his ears start to warm up. He removes Daeyoung hands from his face and starts to walk away, because, HELLO that shit was embarrassing!
‘Why was I feeling shy right now? Why was Daeyoung looking at me like that?’ Sion tries not to let himself think about it much longer.
The rest of the school year goes by without any major incidents between the two boys. Then, in the next school year, Sion and Daeyoung were sorted into separate classes, and so they did not interact much at all. By the time high school comes around, Sion isn’t nervous, and is really looking forward to what high school has to offer. Unfortunately for him though, there were no classes with Daeyoung in his schedule, and so was the case for the next two school years.
Sion found himself getting reminded of Daeyoung all the time though, whether it was during gym class when they played soccer, or even hearing Daeyoung’s name come up in his classmates’ conversations. And if Sion was lucky enough, he might catch a glimpse of Daeyoung sitting in his classroom as Sion walked by, or if the two crossed paths in the hallways. Sion couldn’t help himself but keep his eyes on Daeyoung. He had to take whatever he could get after all. Sometimes Daeyoung would be seen with friends, and other times it was just Daeyoung walking alone to his next class. But every time Sion looks, he could swear he would also catch Daeyoung looking back at him.
‘Um, am I hallucinating? Why isn’t Daeyoung breaking eye contact? Fuck, I hope he doesn’t think I’m weird.’
When they reached their second last year of high school, Sion and Daeyoung still had never once been in the same class. So on the first day of school that year, when Sion walked into his Biology homeroom, he did not expect to find Daeyoung’s name written on the seating chart, and in the row behind him no less.
‘Oh fuck–Daeyoung’s in my Bio class this time..AND RIGHT BEHIND ME TOO? Oh my fucking god I’m gonna die in here aren’t I..’ Sion tries to pull himself together as he goes to his seat. Luckily, Daeyoung wasn’t in class yet, so Sion had a few minutes to calm himself (and his heart) down. Sure enough, as Sion is taking out his notebook, Daeyoung, with his perpetually pleasant and puppy-like aura, walks into class, checks his seat assignment, and makes his way over. Daeyoung catches Sion already watching him and instantly flashes his signature eye smile, making Sion freeze up like a deer caught in headlights.
“Oh, hey Sion!!’ Daeyoung greets Sion like an excited puppy. If he had a tail, Sion’s sure it’d be wagging like crazy. Sion felt himself fall a bit more in love with Daeyoung at that moment.
“Hey Daeyoung, how are you?” Sion shyly asked, trying not to make eye contact with the boy, as if he’s never interacted with Daeyoung before.
“Not too bad–you know, I didn’t think we’d have a class together this year, but I guess not too many people want to take Bio in the first place huh?’ Daeyong says that last bit a little fast, but Sion thinks the way Daeyoung speaks is endearing. Along with everything else Daeyoung does.
“Hm, yeah I guess you’re right.” Sion isn’t able to come up with anything else to say to that, so he turns to face the front as the class begins.
Two months of school go by, and Sion is living in bliss. His grades are perfect, he is doing well on the school track team, AND he gets to see Daeyoung everyday in Biology. The only thing that could make Sion’s situation better was if he was actually in a relationship with Daeyoung of course, but hey, he’ll take what he can get.
Their Biology class was currently in the Genetics unit, and their teacher had just finished explaining how scientists can use Punnet Squares to determine the physical traits in individuals’ offspring.
“Alright everyone, for the remaining 30 minutes of class, I’d like you to partner up with someone of the opposite sex. With the list of traits you each wrote down, you will compare and determine the theoretical traits of a child between you two.”
‘Um what? Is Mrs.Park taking this Genetics unit too far? This is a bit embarrassing, but maybe I’ll ask Jimin since she sits next to me..’ Sion thinks to himself, but before he can even open his mouth to ask his seatmate Jimin to work with him, she gets up to work with one of her guy friends across the room.
Sion signs in defeat, and scans around the room for another girl who may be looking for a partner for the assignment, but everyone else is already busy. Just as he gives up, Daeyoung of ALL PEOPLE stands up and asks him, “Hey, do you want to work together?”
Sion is totally about to shit his pants, but he plays it cool. He doesn’t really understand why Daeyoung asked him to work together in the first place, since they are supposed to work with someone of the opposite sex. Sion shrugs it off since he has to remind himself to lock in and keep from blushing whenever Daeyoung says something to him. This is incredibly bad but also very very good for him.
Daeyoung settles into the seat next to Sion, and Sion is reminded of that very first day they met. Sion smiles to himself and actually says, “If you think about it, this is exactly how we were seated on that day you joined my class—the day we met, remember?”
“Oh–yeah, you’re right!” Daeyoung gives him his signature eye smile. Sion really is about to die in this Biology class of all places. “Okay, let’s get started on this before Mrs.Park notices we haven’t started yet” Daeyoung says. They put their notes next to one another and read over their traits, noticing they have all of the same as they read down the list.
“Oh.. They’re all the same? This will be easy then.” Sion says and breathes a sigh of relief, since all he has to do is copy the same traits for Daeyoung to complete the assignment.
“Haha, yeah. Um, let’s get to it then.” Daeyoung says, a bit fast while looking down at their notes. Sion guesses he just wants to get this over with. Daeyoung probably asked Sion to work with him as a last choice after noticing that no one had asked Sion yet, and that he didn’t move from his desk. Sion tries not to read into it all any further as he finishes up. The two of them continue working in silence until class ends.
As the bell rings, Mrs.Park says, “Remember to take the results of your Punnett Squares and come up with a drawing of your child for class tomorrow!” ‘Oh god, I totally forgot about that. What the fuck do you mean that I have to draw what a child of me and Daeyoung would look like?’ Sion brings a hand to his face. He can’t believe this assignment isn’t over.
When Sion pulls out his drawing in class the next morning, Daeyoung asks to see Sion’s drawing and exclaims, “Oh that’s my kid!!” Sion lets out a nervous chuckle in response, and turns back quickly to face the front of the class so Daeyoung doesn’t see his ears turn red.
One day, their seating plan had changed and Sion was moved up to the first row, with Daeyoung still in his same spot at the back. There were only four rows in between them, but to Sion it felt like they were a valley apart now.
As the days went by, but Sion swears he would catch Daeyoung doing little things around the classroom within Sion’s line of sight on purpose, because whenever Sion would look at him, Daeyoung would always make eye contact until Sion shyly looks away as if nothing ever happened. One time, Daeyoung was even standing at the teacher’s podium in the corner, a few feet away from Sion, seemingly busying himself looking for something in his notes. Another day before class started, their classmate Jimin, who was moved to sit next to Daeyoung, calls for Sion’s attention.
“Hey Sion!” Jimin calls from the back of the class. Sion turns around and both Jimin and Daeyoung are looking right at him. “Do you know what day our Religion class is going on the temple trip? I can’t remember but I’m pretty sure it’s sometime next week right?” she asks.
Sion checks his planner and turns back to Jimin to confirm, “Yup, next Friday May 8th.”
“Ok, thanks! See Daeyoung, I told you..” she says. Jimin and Daeyoung continue their conversation, but Sion can’t hear much of it where he sits. They seemed to be having quite a time back there. ‘That should be ME with Daeyoung. This is so unfair.’