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Baku practically crawled over to their usual bench – completely drained of both physical and mental energy – and collapsed onto it with a thud. His head immediately hit something soft, and he closed his eyes, exhaling in contentment.
Oh, how boring and tiresome classes are these days; Baku has absolutely no energy to sit through them, let alone listen and answer questions. It’s a warm, almost hot summer right now, and instead of playing basketball shirtless in light shorts, he’s sitting here sweating in this stupid school jacket during these stupid classes.
He groans painfully and adjusts his position – settling more comfortably, moving his head a little further, closer to the other’s body – to where it’s softest, and exhales contentedly again. Long, familiar fingers immediately sink into his hair and begin to smooth it out.
Baekjin’s fingers and their monotonous movements through his hair already feel so familiar. They smooth out the restless strands, gently running through them, and Baku, like the happiest cat in the world, practically purrs on the younger guy's lap.
The fingers start on his right side: they take a strand of his bangs between them, pull it back while gently stroking his temple and tucking it behind his ear as if to leave it there, but at the last moment they pull it out again, repeating the process over and over. Every other time, he scratches him behind the ear, like a puppy, causing Baku’s imaginary tail to wiggle with delight.
When these movements start to irritate Baku’s skin, he shakes his head slightly. The hand, instead of disappearing from his hair entirely, moves to the middle.
Now the fingers starting from the middle of Baku’s hairline, slowly comb his hair back with massaging motions, creating even more chaos on his head. Strands fall chaotically onto his face, tickling his closed eyes. After several cycles of these movements, Baku nods his head again, and the hand moves to his left side, repeating exactly what it had done on his right side.
Baku truly believes he's in heaven and this gentle hand is his savior.
How he would love to lie like this forever, and to die here as well, in this exact position. And at some point, he thinks that's exactly what is happening.
He has lost track of time, completely immersed in the rhythmic movements of those long fingers, and it feels as though he has been lying like this not only for minutes – an hour or more, but that can’t be true. There are only twenty minutes left until the break, since that nasty math teacher kept Baku after class to once again politely tell him how stupid he is, stealing precious time from the young man. And if it weren’t for him, Baku really could have spent a whole hour laying on his friend’s lap, maybe even fallen asleep.
Disturbed by a nagging thought, Baku decides to shift his position. Baekjin’s hand pauses in the air – it doesn’t disappear entirely, but waits until Baku settles back comfortably before returning.
Baku rolls onto his left side, facing Baekjin. He moves closer to Baekjin’s groin, but neither of them has any perverted thoughts; on the contrary, it just feels cozier and warmer inside. He wants to reach out his hand, to wrap his arm around that slender waist, but he really doesn’t want to move... his whole body is melting from the warmth, and all he can do is snort softly and bury his nose in the other’s thigh.
Now even the back of his head is at the mercy of that hand – fingers immediately begin massaging the back of his head. An incomprehensible sound involuntarily escapes Baku’s throat – something like a sigh and a groan – but he is so deeply absorbed in the caresses that he pays it no mind. Besides, only Baekjin could have heard it, which wasn’t a problem at all. He’d heard worse from Baku.
But for some reason, right at that moment in his train of thoughts, he wanted to see his friend’s reaction. Yes, his hand hadn’t twitched at all, but his face could always give something away.
Baku flips into his original position – on his back again, but now with his eyes open. His eyes widen in surprise when he notices that Baekjin is running his hand through his hair – all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the math problem on the table – and resuming the repetitive movements of his fingers. And it's at this very moment that Baku notices something else.
As soon as Baekjin’s fingers touch his hair, the corners of their owner’s lips – completely unnoticeable to anyone except Baku, of course – lift ever so slightly. So slightly that it would be hard to see even under a magnifying glass. It’s such a tiny movement that even his cute dimples haven’t started to form yet. But that’s not all! His eyes, sharp and cold to others, also narrow ever so slightly at the corners, adding warmth to them, but of course, only Baku sees all this.
Mesmerized by the other boy’s behavior, Baku slowly shakes his head to shift the hand’s position – and there it is again. Once again, for a split second, Baekjin’s mouth and eyes twitch ever so slightly. And then Baku shakes his head again and sees the same thing. Baku really wants to pinch his cheek, but instead, he lies there with a smile stretching from ear to ear, watching the handsome face above him.
To complete his experiment, Baku decides to lie on his left side again. Without taking his attentive gaze away, he rolls over to see what will flash across the other face this time. And what he saw made him hold his breath, just as one does when trying not to scare away a wild animal.
He sees Baekjin using his free hand to hold the sheet of homework paper right up close to his face, trying to hide the smile that’s spread across it. The very one where his cute dimples are finally visible. And his eyes crinkle playfully, almost closing completely. And all of this is hidden from others behind some stupid sheet of homework.
But Baku sees it, sees it from the very front row. No, right from the stage. And he can’t tear his eyes away.
He’s overwhelmed by emotions that are about to burst out either as tears or as dumb action. And Baku can’t stop it.
“Can I kiss you?”
A loud voice rings out, popping the bubble that had formed around the two of them. And Baku, somewhere deep within his mind, feels as though he really did hear that pop from bursting the bubble.
Baekjin finally looks at him. He looks stunned. The tips of his ears slowly begin to turn pink under Baku’s serious gaze. And Baku notices him nervously swallowing – his Adam’s apple moves tellingly.
There is no reply, and Baku, being the most impatient, repeats his question again, but this time quietly. As quietly as Baku can manage, which probably isn’t very quiet at all.
“So, can I?”
And Baekjin, who needed the question repeated to make sure he hadn’t misheard, finally moved.
He nods his head slightly and leans closer to Baku. The crumpled piece of paper in his hand moves with him. He stops it at the edge of the table so that his face is completely hidden from prying eyes. And Baku thinks it’s so damn hot.
Baku props himself up on his elbows and meets Baekjin halfway. Their lips touch in the most awkward and uncomfortable position in the world – poor Baekjin is bent over double and can’t seem to turn his head into a more comfortable position to bring their lips together better. It’s like a baby trying to shove a square block into a triangle slot in one of those educational toys.
But for Baku, it’s perfect. The most perfect kiss in the world. It’s so awkward and raw that, unable to contain the storm of emotions, he grins widely into the kiss, making it even more unbearable. And Baekjin feels it, feels that awkwardness and feels that stupid, wide smile on his own lips and smiles it back.
Pulling away, Baku gently bites Baekjin’s lower lip, pulling it, and then kisses it only. And he nearly explodes when he hears Baekjin gasp. He drops his head back on the lap, continuing to look at Baekjin. At his eyes, nose, cheeks, dimples, lips, mouth–
“What the hell?!”
…and at Gotak, whose face had appeared out of nowhere in front of him, replacing Baekjin’s. He jumped onto the table, startling Baekjin so much that he would have fallen off the bench if not for Baku’s head on his knees and the hand that managed to grab his waist.
Next, he was struck by the sight of Juntae, who, just like Gotak, had climbed up and lay down on the table, looking down at Baku from above.
“Are you two?!”
His eyes were so wide open that Baku thought about holding out his palms to catch them if necessary.
“Since when?!”
And Suho’s face, appearing to the right of Juntae, was also incredibly shocked by what was happening.
Gotak looks at Baekjin, then turns his offended gaze toward Baku.
“Are you two dating?”
“Why didn’t you tell us, huh?”
Suho, looking just as offended, chimes in, moving closer and closer to the edge of the table until his head is practically hanging over Baku’s.
Baekjin nervously glances at Baku, who in response only smiles even wider and pats him on the waist. But instead of taking it as support and an attempt to calm him down, Baekjin took it as a call to action.
He hesitantly opens his mouth and, stumbling over his words, replies to the three guys lying on the table in front of him, “well, we... just... just... started?”
In response, he gets three shocked stares and a synchronized exclamation from all three.
“What do you mean?!”
But then a quiet, but sharp and slightly irritated voice speaks up.
“Can you guys not? It’s up to them whether they tell you about it or not.”
Sieun looks at them from under his eyebrows. More precisely, at the three butts lying on the table in front of him. He freezes in the pose of someone who was solving a math problem – a pen in his hand, a sheet of paper in front of him, but already crumpled and dirty from Suho’s foot stepping on it.
The main source of his irritation turns to face him, now sitting on the table.
“Why are you so calm tho? Did you already know about this?”
“What?” Sieun doesn’t grasp what’s being talked about for a second, but quickly catches up, “no, just like you guys, I just… found out.”
As he says the last word, he leans slightly to the side, trying to look at Baekjin. Just to back up his words with facts. But Baekjin does his best to pretend that neither Sieun nor the three gossips in front of him are there.
"Come on, you definitely knew what was going on. What else could you and Baekjin possibly be doing for hours on end while pretending to solve math problems? Just sitting there gossiping, the two of you," Gotak snorts, turning to face Sieun himself as he sits down at the table. Now poor Juntae was pinned between them, unable to turn around either.
“No, you idiots, we’re actually doing our homework, not like you – crumpling it with our butts and knees.”
After those words a quiet “oh” escaped from Juntae, who immediately backed down, climbing off the table. The remaining two, however, continued to sit on the table completely unfazed, crumpling all the papers beneath them.
It was so nice for Baku to watch all this; it felt very cozy, somehow. He had rolled over a while ago and propped himself up on his elbows to watch his friends. And the whole scene filled his entire body with a pleasant warmth.
Hoping that Baekjin shared this feeling, he turned toward him, still smiling brightly, but, to his horror, he wasn’t met the same. On the contrary, Baekjin’s face was contorted with a look of terror, and he himself was practically trembling with anxiety, on the verge of panic.
Baku immediately jumped up to sit down as close to Baekjin as possible – almost right on his lap, and took both of his hands in his own, immediately beginning to gently stroke them. Baekjin slowly turned his gaze toward him, and oh, how Baku longed to simply kiss that worry away. To kiss the tip of his nose, the corners of his eyes, his cheeks, and then run his lips over his once more – to seal it.
But Baku knew that wasn’t what Baekjin needed right now. No, he needed his words. Baekjin had always loved words more; they always grounded him and let him analyze everything. He needed to hear words from Baku, not actions.
“Will you be my boyfriend?”
Baku stares intently into the eyes across from him, waiting. From somewhere behind him, he hears a muffled but painfully familiar Gotak’s “what a moron!” followed by something else about a “kiss,” “before,” and “confession,” but he doesn’t care anymore.
For him, the most important and clear one right now is Baekjin, who squeezed his hands in response, then slowly intertwined their fingers. Baku thought he was going crazy because Baekjin suddenly chuckled to himself, then finally looked back at Baku.
“Yes.” He smiled just as widely and foolishly as he had during their first kiss, then added with a smirk, “what else am I supposed to do now?”
Hearing that answer, so longed-for and needed, Baku was ready to throw himself on the boy right there, but the last words Baekjin had spoken slowly sank in, and his face twisted into confusion. He raised and lowered his eyebrows questioningly – it seemed to click, and then it slipped away again.
So what was this? Had he agreed out of pity? Did Baekjin not want him? Didn’t want him the way Baku wanted him? Had he agreed just to please Baku?
But just then, his serious thoughts are interrupted by Baekjin’s ringing laughter; he thinks this is his funniest joke he ever said – an attempt to reduce Baku to bitter tears. He laughs so hard that he bends forward, burying his face in Baku’s shoulder to stifle his laughter. And Baku starts laughing too, and they both look like
“Lunatics.”
Suho speaks up, already sitting on the bench across from them and straightening out Sieun’s homework sheet under his watchful gaze. Juntae lets out another quiet “oh” at the surprise of Baekjin’s laughter, and later begins to smile, happy for the couple. He even gave them a light applause in congratulations. Gotak turned away, covering half of his face with his hand and muttering some insults at the two who had “staged who-knows-what here,” his own ears red with embarrassment.
A bell rings, signaling the end of lunch break, and brings them back to reality. But to Baku, it all seems so far away: the grumbling of his friends as they gather torn and dirty scraps of paper from the table; the crowds of other pupils crawling back from the outside into the school, back to their dumb classes. Just some noise.
But Baekjin is so close – right in his hands. And Baku is in Baekjin’s hands.
“Kiss me,” Baekjin whispers.
His gaze rises from Baku’s lips to his eyes, pleading. And Baku is his servant, a servant of his every word.
And he kisses him. He kisses him slowly and tenderly, pressing his lips against the other’s time and again, and Baekjin responds with equal tenderness, causing Baku to let out an involuntary whimper. He runs his tongue over the other’s lips and receives a similar whimper in return.
It gets warmer in his lower abdomen, and Baku, chasing the sensation, leans slightly toward Baekjin – his hands on either side of him on the bench. And they grow even closer, and the kiss grows hotter. Light nibbles and sucks on the other’s lips reward Baku with moans that feel good in his groin, and he wants more, and more, and more, and–
“Get the fuck up, you pervert. Classes ain't over yet.”
And Baku gets a sharp slap on the back of his head, making him yelp – though more from surprise than pain, and turn to face his attacker with the saddest puppy eyes ever. Gotak sticks his tongue out at Baku with exaggerated disgust and heads toward the school, catching up with Suho, Sieun, and Juntae.
Baku watches them go, thinking what terrible friends they are for not waiting for them, and he was about to say this to Baekjin too, but Baekjin suddenly stood up and began shoving all his belongings from the table into his backpack. Baku grabbed his wrist in panic.
“What’s wrong? Where are you going? Did I do something wrong? I–”
“Baku, we’re going to be late!” Baekjin looked at the clueless Baku in horror.
He shook his head and corrected himself, “Baku, I’m going to be late!”
Baekjin was never late – Baku knew that perfectly well. Cursing under his breath, he jumped off the bench and started helping Baekjin. As soon as Baekjin’s backpack was zipped up, Baku grabbed his hand, running back inside the school.
They stopped in front of the door to Baekjin’s classroom, trying to catch their breath and compose themselves.
“Ah... I’m sorry, Jinnie. I got a little carried away... I don’t know what came over me,” Baku pants, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Baekjin stands up straight in front of him, but is still breathing heavily. “I’m sorry. I–”
But before he can finish, the light, barely noticeable touch of Baekjin’s lips against his own stops him in his tracks.
“Wait for me after my cram classes, okay? We’ll go back together.”
Baekjin smiled sweetly, and then, without waiting for an answer, opened the classroom door, stepped inside and closed it behind him.
Baku remained standing in the hallway. He didn’t go to class afterward.
How could he solve math problems when his head was filled only with thoughts of Baekjin, of his plump lips, of his rosy cheeks, of his beautiful eyes, of his–
“Hey! Get to class right now!”
The teacher’s voice echoed down the hallway as he spotted Baku. Baku flinched, gave an awkward bow, and ran to his classroom, thirty minutes late.