Chapter Text
Yoonji didn’t particularly care for guys, not in the ways her classmates seemed to. She’d scoff when she saw her classmates squealing and swatting at each other over a cute boy walking past, would roll her eyes when Jimin would shove her phone in Yoonji’s face and hoot about some boy group or another. (‘Seriously, unnie? How can you not find Taeyang-oppa hot? Ahh, you’re so cold!') That’s why she always hesitated to say she had a type. If she had to, gun to her head, maybe she’d give vague adjectives like friendly or enjoys music.
If she had to say what wasn’t her type, it had to be Kim Seokjin.
Just.. the very essence of him.
From the moment she first transferred and saw him, looking pleased as punch with a swarm of girls orbiting him as though he were the sun, she knew. A guy like that is exactly what she wouldn’t want. Too vain, too loud, too in your face. She found she much preferred the other boys in his circle. She was a little shocked to discover how someone as polite as Kim Namjoon or as agreeable as Jung Hoseok managed to be thick as thieves with him. It didn’t compute for her at all.
Kim Namjoon, she remembers, was utterly helpful when she first transferred, gladly showing her the way to their shared class and making polite, but not boring, small talk as they walked. If it were her in his shoes, she thinks she would’ve said nothing and quietly guided him to their classroom, never sparing him a second glance. But, he didn’t. He asked her things like where she was from, (‘Daegu.’ ‘Oh, Daegu? Kim Taeyeon, one of our classmates, she’s from Daegu too! Maybe you guys can be friends, I know she really misses it over there.’) her hobbies, (‘I play piano. Sometimes, I play basketball.’ ‘Woooow, that’s really cool, Yoonji-nim. I remember that last time I tried to play basketball, Seokjin-hyung– ah, he’s my friend– he totally nailed me in the face. It kind of turned me off from the whole thing, really..’) the like.
The few interactions they had after made her realize he was one of the good ones. The kind of person who was actually, truly to their core, nice.
Jung Hoseok was someone she surprisingly didn’t mind either. He was loud, yes, and sometimes on sleep-deprived nights she hated that about him. But it wasn’t in the flashy way Seokjin was. It was just who he was. She’d never admit it out loud, but sometimes she’d find herself having to hold back a laugh when he loudly proclaimed things like ‘Ahhh, Namjoon-ah, girls don’t like it when you mansplain to them,’ or ‘Hyung, don’t you think showing your aegyo to the cafeteria workers is a bit much?’ Hoseok’s noise was never a performance, never done to pander to an audience of girls. It was just the overflow of whatever he was feeling in the moment, an unfiltered brightness that made people giggle rather than roll their eyes.
Next to boys like Namjoon and Hoseok, boys who flowed with authentic charm, Seokjin’s lack thereof was glaring.
—
Yoonji lazed around on a bench as Taeyeon and Jimin waited in line for snacks, eyes squinting as the sun glared in her eyes. As bright and annoying as it was, it was a really lovely day out. The grass looked impossibly green, and the chatter of her classmates served as a good ambiance. She dreaded the math lesson waiting for her after their break, but for now, she let herself sink into the warmth the afternoon reprieve offered. Just ahead, she watched as Seokjin performed a rather clumsy rendition of the new routine he was learning in the company he was under. She was, against her will, force-fed the knowledge that Seokjin was recently signed to an entertainment company, with Jimin being unable to shut up about her after hearing it from a friend of a friend.
He looked a bit.. Awkward, and she wondered how he managed the gig in the first place. Probably just another door his stupid, handsome face managed to open.
‘Ahh, Seokjin-oppa needs to be a bit more grounded in his movements..’ She heard from above her, and peeked an eye to see Jimin hovering above her, Taeyeon digging into the shrimp chips Jimin carried. They plopped down next to her, and she watched Jimin fix Seokjin with the hyper-focus only a dancer could manage. If there was anyone at their school that she could see as a trainee, it would probably be Jimin.
Taeyeon nodded beside her, an expression of faux-perception on her pretty face. ‘Hmmm, yes yes.. I agree. You took the words right out of my mouth, Jimin-ssi..’ Jimin giggled, and lightly shoved Taeyeon. ‘I’m serious! Ahh, Tae-ah, you’re being so mean, mocking me!’
‘Mocking?’ Taeyeon blinked, and Yoonji could see the beginnings of a fake squabble forming. It was always like this with the two of them, a dynamic push-and-pull that only years of friendship could afford.
It was surprising to Yoonji that the two befriended her, despite how friendly they both were to everyone. They were so.. Close. So intertwined with each other. They even had matching keychains on their bags from middle school, something Taeyeon proudly proclaimed when Yoonji first asked about it. The connection the two girls shared was tangible, and yet they’d managed to make space for Yoonji too. She didn’t really understand why, she knew she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with at first, but she was grateful and gladly accepted the companionship the two offered her.
The sound of the two bickering lightly provided ample background noise for the spring day, and her gaze slowly drifted back to Seokjin.
He was still dancing, but had a light sheen of sweat across his face now. His brown hair stuck slightly to his forehead, and he pushed it back in a flick that was definitely more for show than any semblance of practicality. The girls around him chirped encouragement, and Hoseok provided light ribbing from behind him.
‘Hyung, you look like a headless chicken!’ He called out, doubling over in laughter.
Seokjin threw him a glare that was more playful than anything, but yelled back in that same theatrical way he always seemed to, ‘Yah! I don’t see you under contract, now do I?’ His voice carried across the courtyard, and even Jimin and Taeyeon paused their.. Whatever they were doing to giggle. He basked in the mirth wafting off the girls around him in waves, and straightened his posture like he was on stage rather than the 15-minute snack break they were on. It was ridiculous, but he only doubled down on the bratty-idol bit with such confidence that the small crowd around him only grew more entertained.
He was just so.. Eugh.
Yoonji finally opened the bag of chips Jimin had gotten her, and continued to watch.
He was mid-spin and let his gaze sweep across the courtyard, clearly enjoying being at the center of it all and then – unfortunately – landed his gaze squarely on the bench she sat on with Jimin and Taeyeon. They made eye contact and Yoonji watched as his eyes widened a fraction and he.. Erred. He looked away just as his foot landed a bit too far to the side and his balance was thrown off. His posture wobbled then, his weight shifted awkwardly, and he swung his arms out to jerk himself upright. The recovery was clumsy, and he looked up again at them.
His expression flickered with something between embarrassment and.. Something else. Yoonji felt weird about it. Just why was he looking at her with any real, tangible emotion. The uncanny moment was broken as Hoseok threw himself at his friend, and he finally stopped his reenactment of the choreography. He looked away just as quickly as he had the first time, and Yoonji got a perfect view of his red ears as he trailed off back inside. Their break was ending in just a few minutes anyway, and she figured she should probably go soon.
The weird interaction did not go by unnoticed by Jimin, the nosiest person she knew, and she suddenly pressed against Yoonji. ‘Did you see that? He totally messed up after looking at you!’ Jimin squealed, eyes wide with delighted horror. Taeyeon’s perfume filled her senses as she leaned in front from her other side, a matching boxy grin on her face. ‘He totally did, ooooh. What if he likes you?’
Yoonji rolled her eyes, and looked between the two of them. ‘He’s been messing up this entire time.’ She said flatly, and refused to think about how it did seem that way. He was flailing around before and, loathe to admit it, he had made his biggest error yet right after looking at her. Whatever that meant.
‘Not like that, that was a Yoonji-induced mess-up!’ From her peripheral vision, she watched as Taeyeon nodded his head vigorously. That looked like it hurt.
She was proven right after a moment or two she stopped, and put her hand to her neck. ‘Totally. I know you have some weird girl hate-boner for him, but he’s actually really nice.’
‘I don’t have a girl hate-boner for him,’ Yoonji said, mildly offended by the outlandishness of the statement. ‘I’m just not obsessed with him. He’s so…’ She made an unimpressed face, like a cat being offered lemonade. ‘He– ugh. I don’t need to explain this to you guys. You’re, like, utterly bewitched, or whatever, and you wouldn’t understand.’
Jimin’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t on multiple occasions swooned and fawned over Seokjin like the rest of the female population, ‘He’s really is nice. And cute. You don’t like cute guys?’ ‘I can’t say that I do, no.’ Yoonji replied, not missing a beat. You’d think she said she hated puppies, the matching look of disbelief on the best friends.
There was no response from them, and she stupidly felt the need to continue her tirade. ‘He’s just.. I don’t get why you all act like the sun shines from his ass.’ She continued, waving a chip vaguely in the air, before she kept going. Why was she still going? ‘You’d think he was God’s gift to humanity or something. So annoying..’
‘Wow.. Seems like you have a lot of opinions on the matter, huh?’ The comment from Taeyeon hit the air like a needle popping a balloon, and Taeyeon had an insufferable look on her face. Amused and knowing. Just what did she think she knew so much about? There was just something about him that nagged her to the depths of her being, to her bone marrow. She had to move on from this conversation before it haunted her for the rest of the day. ‘Whatever. I’m done talking about this.’ She muttered, and proceeded to shovel chips into her face to avoid any further comment. What wishful thinking that was. Taeyeon and Jimin pounced onto any falter from Yoonji like predators, and she their prey. ‘Oh, now you’re done?’ Jimin asked, looking like the cat who caught the canary; smug, glowing, and utterly pleased with herself. ‘Oh, well.’ A light tilt in her voice, sing-song and utterly insufferable. ‘Whatever you say.’
‘Okay, unnie.’ Taeyeon sighed from next to her, digging her chin into Yoonji’s bony shoulder. ‘We’ll totally drop it.’ With the faux-innocence of her tone, she felt they wouldn’t. But, so long as she kept the distance she always had with Seokjin, it wasn’t like they’d have much to talk about anyways. He existed in his annoying orbit, and she existed.. Away from that. In her quiet corner with her stupid friends and her piano. Their worlds didn’t overlap, they never had.
‘Yeah, okay. Thanks.’ She drawled, and just as she finished the last chip, the bell rang. The hot sun that felt so refreshing a second ago now felt oppressive, and she felt the need to scram from this stupid, cursed courtyard like it too had heard her anti-Seokjin outburst. Taeyeon shoved the last of her kimbap in her mouth, cheeks bulging, and quickly linked arms with Jimin to head back to their classroom.
She fell into step with them easily, and welcomed the blast of air conditioning on her flushed face.