Chapter Text
“Keonho-yah, if anything happens just call me, you know?”
His sisters’ voice echoed throughout his room. He snorted, “I think you’re the only one worried about me.”
She scoffed before hanging the call.
His older sister had been ringing his phone for the past few hours before Keonho finally gave in, at some point he would’ve been forced to call her back anyways. He didn’t really understand the fuss; sure, she was going to college abroad, but she’d already told him all about what high school would be like. Probably more than he liked to know if he was being honest, but that never stopped her from adding in notes like,
“Keonho, seriously don’t even try to eat in your labs.”
“Don’t sign up for English with Mr. Kim, trust me it’s the worst, anyone who says otherwise is a liar.”
“You better not be hanging out too much with weird seniors.”
Those were just a few of the ‘pieces of wisdom’ that his sister had decided to bestow on him; he wouldn’t admit it often, but he did appreciate it. Not in the sense that any of her advice seemed particularly wise, but calling her the day before his first day of high school made him feel like she was at least somewhat near him. He’d already been familiar with what high school he’d end up going to, since his sister had gone to the same one. He even knew what teachers he would’ve had two years ago, so the idea of a first day wasn’t quite daunting.
He would go through four years in this high school, swim on the varsity team, and probably hang out with Juhoon and Martin, since he’d known them since middle school. He wasn’t being overconfident about anything, but he’d been living in the same city all his life, so the sense of change wasn’t strong.
Like most things, this would pass.
❀
And it did.
He had already gone through history, biology, and algebra one, before finally reaching lunch A, which thankfully was with Martin and Juhoon. One of the downsides of continuity was that it didn’t leave Keonho with a lot of room to try to meet new people; most of the people he knew were people he’d seen since kindergarten, and he wasn’t planning on breaking that status quo. The gossip, on the other hand, was one of the upsides.
“I think Jihoon and Minji broke up over the summer,” Martin says loudly in the courtyard.
“Christ, can’t you chew with your mouth closed,” he complains, before asking for more details.
There are crumbs spreading across Martin’s mouth, and since growing seven feet tall over the summer didn’t come with manners, Juhoon tossed him a napkin.
“They’re sitting on opposite sides,” Martin says expressively before wiping crumbs off his mouth with the back of his hand, “in my third period.”
“That makes sense,” Juhoon chimes in this time.
Keonho raises a brow, “Why does that make sense? Haven’t they been together since sixth grade?”
“A lot of couples break up before high school, same with college too I think,” the elder notes off-handedly.
Martin raises his eyebrows teasingly, “how do you know about that?”
“I’m just saying,” he replies, and Keonho catches the way his eyes move from Martin.
He leans into him a little bit with an oblivious smirk, “Juhoon’s always got some secrets.”
Keonho checks out of the conversation. He sometimes wonders when they’ll get their act together; Juhoon had technically been a new addition to the duo, having transferred in the middle of seventh grade, but Keonho had instantly taken a liking to the guy, along with Martin.
In that way, they’ve easily been friends for years, and with those years, he’d always suspected something between the pair. He’d catch Juhoon looking both at and away from Martin too many times for him to think of it as a coincidence. Maybe this school year he’d have a little more success, but until then, Keonho was an unofficial third wheel for most of their lunches.
❀
Noona ♡♡♡: did you find out when the swim try outs are?
Noona ♡♡♡: hello?
Noona ♡♡♡: keonho seriously make sure to find out when they are, the coach is no joke
Keonho sighed at the sight on his phone before entering his next class: French, which was definitely not right. He made a mental note to talk to his academic advisor at the end of the day; he was supposed to be in Spanish, which his sister had insisted on. Regardless, he walked into the class figuring that if he skipped there wouldn’t be much to do anyways.
He looked around before settling on the empty seat in the back of the class, there he was sure no one would bother him. He rested his head for a few minutes before the final bell rang, and the teacher began,
“Bonjour everyone! I am Madame Ha, and I want to insist that this is the only day that I won’t be speaking in French. We’ll go over the syllabus first,” her voice was rigid.
He rolled his eyes before looking around the familiar faces in the classroom, was everyone taking this that seriously? Half the people here had been taking the beginner French since middle school, in the same way he’d been taking the beginner Spanish in middle school, and Spanish with Mr. Lee was supposed to be an easy A. He’d never cared to take French because of Madame Ha specifically. Three years of grinding the alphabet and colors in Spanish was obviously not enough, what was a whole class of fake nodding going to do for any student trying to learn.
“Bonjour, je m’appelle Seonghyeon,” a smooth voice pulls him out.
He glances at the boy to his right. There was no Seonghyeon in their school, or there hadn’t been, until a few minutes ago. He finds himself staring, a sharp line to his nose and excited almond eyes. Pretty, is the first thing that comes to Keonho’s mind, before the boy then begins to stare back at him. His eyes shift slowly from confused to annoyed.
Keonho just smiles back.
Had there always been someone this charming at their school?
“Keonho?” Madame Ha coughs, “Your introduction?”
His face grows red, “Oh, uh it’s Keonho.”
The teachers’ brows twist further, “En français s’il vous plaît?”
“Ja-uh, maple Keonho?”
“Je m’apelle,” she enunciates each syllable with far too much force, before going back to the board to continue going over the syllabus.
The rest of the class laughs a bit as Keonho smiles sheepishly. He glanced over at Seonghyeon, in hopes for a smile, but the boy didn’t seem to find it funny. His eyes are straight at Madame Ha, and Keonho isn’t sure if he just imagined that his desk is a bit further now than before.
The rest of the period goes by uneventfully, and Keonho catches how Seonghyeon chooses to talk to his desk mate on his other side to avoid Keonho during one of the ice breakers. He doesn’t mind though, the girl sitting in front of him seems excited enough to partner with him.
“Quelle est ta couleur préférée?”
The way she licks her lips doesn’t go unnoticed by Keonho, and he remembers that this is Jimin from his first grade class. He drops the whole French thing in an instant,
“Not sure what that means,” he grins.
She laughs a bit too hard, “It means what’s your favorite color,” before pausing, “wait, didn’t you take Spanish in middle school?”
“Yeah, someone must’ve messed up with my schedule,” he pouts.
She hums, “Too bad, it would be nice for you to stay in this class,” her cheeks are pink.
He leans a bit forward, “Maybe I will, who’s to say?”
A scoff.
And Keonho’s head immediately shifts to Seonghyeon, but he’s already back to chatting with the boy near him.
Prude, is what Keonho finds himself thinking when leaving the classroom.
❀
“Only appointments are allowed today,” the sign read in large red letters at the front of Jaehyun’s office.
“Fuck off,” Martin mumbles as Keonho tilts his head back in frustration.
“Isn’t it supposed to be open during everyone’s free periods?”
“They’re trying to fix the seniors’ schedules first. It’s priority-based,” Juhoon says.
“Great,” he kicks Martin’s shoes.
“What’s up your ass? I have real things to change in my schedule,” the taller boy quips.
“I’m stuck in French one with a know-it-all.”
The first impression of Seonghyeon was now long gone, and replaced with a likely mutual annoyance. Who did he think he was, laughing at Keonho’s French? He could totally take French if he wanted to, the fact that he didn’t want to was all that really prevented him from keeping it in his schedule.
“French? That’s not so bad,” Juhoon replies.
“I’m sure you would say that, you’re taking Latin, which is almost insane.”
“I’ve heard it’s useful for languages in general,” Martin tacks on.
“Whatever,” he mumbles. He doesn’t need to know about Martin and Juhoon’s impressive academic endeavors. For Martin’s bleached blonde hair, and Juhoon’s pace of a turtle, they were both on student council as sophomore representatives, something that they had been urging him to join too.
Not a chance in hell, was Keonho’s response. The entire reason he was at this high school was for swimming, and anything in the way of that lacked any real appeal. It explained his lack of other extracurriculars and why Spanish with Mr. Lee was a change that needed to happen before the drop period was over.
“You sure you don’t want to at least see what student council is like?” Martin shoves him a little.
“I’m fine.”
“You might like it!”
Juhoon’s voice stretches into the hallway, but Keonho’s already headed toward the pool.
❀
He’s mostly going to the gym to see if Coach Choi is still there, but as he glances inside his office, he’s met with an empty silence and a twist in his stomach.
So much for an easy first day, he thinks to himself.
He decides to not re-join Martin and Juhoon, maybe the time would give Juhoon a bit more bravery. Walking aimlessly in the large gym, he decides to head towards the pool doors. He normally would’ve gone to bother some other classmates. He’s sure Jimin wouldn’t mind him joining her group for a few minutes, but sometimes he finds the whole situation boring. He doesn’t hate it all the time, but he’s pretty aware of how these things work. He’s had the same group of girls following him around in middle school, and he’s not a stranger to having chocolates fill his locker. He just knows that each of those stamps of desire are aligned with something just as superficial, and that doesn’t align as easily in him.
The smell of chlorine crashes his senses as he opens the door to the lap pools, and Keonho loves it. There isn’t a better feeling than water overtaking all his senses; he can’t wait till try-outs.
A faint buzz catches his eye as he sits on the edge of the pool near him. His eyes wander till he sees him.
It’s Seonghyeon, but this time his eyes are closed and his wired earbuds are vibrating a familiar tune. His jeans are rolled up as much as he can, and his feet are kicking in the water. His hair’s slightly covering his eyes, and Keonho stares for far too long. He’s never seen someone enjoy water like that. It’s so peaceful that for a second Keonho realizes that Seonghyeon might also be trying out for the swim team. His head feels dizzy, was this karma for not listening to his sister enough?
He decides to walk out and talk to Jimin and her friends instead.
He takes a final glance back at the boy seated. He hadn’t opened his eyes once.
“Weird,” he mumbles before the door swings behind him.
❀
Seonghyeon ends up being the center of his attention for the next few days. The boy’s an enigma, can you blame him? He doesn’t catch him at the pool anymore, since he decides to bother Martin and Juhoon during his free periods, but he finds himself searching for him a lot. French today was an example of that.
“Seonghyeonnie,” he says before the boy can avoid him.
“What,” his voice is sharp.
“I don’t get a oui?”
Seonghyeon clicks his tongue, “It’s quoi.”
“What is?”
“What.”
“What?”
That was about as much success he had when talking to Seonghyeon. Keonho was definitely trying, but he was sure the new student had already made some assumptions about him. Those assumptions weren’t all false, but to Keonho’s credit, scoffing at his incoherent attempts at French wasn’t all that nice on Seonghyeon’s side either. He didn’t really understand him that much. Seonghyeon seemed so nice to almost everyone, genuinely. It never once felt fake, which was saying something since he greeted Madame Ha in French everyday. He was also one of the few students who took the time to help others out in French, even Jimin the girl who sat in front of him, who also seemed to not care much for the class with Keonho sitting behind her. He moves his seat around to help others during the listening practices, and he doesn’t fail to help clean up at the end of each class.
Ultimately, Keonho thinks Seonghyeon is strange, but he thinks he might be more strange since he still hadn’t switched out of French.
❀
“You sure you don’t want to try for student council?”
This time it’s Juhoon bothering him about it, which is saying something.
“Is student council that much fun? What’s up with you and Martin?”
Juhoon pours his yakult into a red solo cup, “You’re just not around that much lately. And you have time, why not?”
Keonho pauses before stepping back, “Not around?”
Juhoon closes his mouth, then opens it, “I mean, I know this is fun,” he gestures to the general atmosphere, they’re at Lucas’ party, “but, you’re smart and you might gain something greater in high school by doing something other than just swim.”
His words settle on Keonho, but there’s something about them that pokes him. He doesn’t really know what it is that Juhoon’s suggesting, especially here and now, but he doesn’t like it.
“I’m fine, what would you know anyways,” he grumbles before walking away from Juhoon.
It’s not right to walk away from Juhoon. He’s being nice, and he’s being concerned for him, in a way that no one ever seems to.
Keonho knows all of that, but he also doesn’t really like dissecting whatever it is Juhoon always seems to know better than him.
❀
Martin has a terrible memory.
It’s a known fact within the trio. He forgets almost everything: the type of idiot who walks into rooms with an obvious task and immediately gets distracted by something as mundane as the color of the walls. He buys school lunch every Wednesday, and he still forgets to grab napkins and utensils from the cafeteria before walking to the courtyard to meet Keonho and Juhoon. He submits assignments at 11:58 PM instead of 11:59, so in short Martin was a forgetful sort of human.
Keonho on the other hand has a wonderful memory.
He remembers that Martin likes to eat his gross pineapple pizza with a fork so he grabs it even though it weirds him out. He remembers that Juhoon’s afraid of water so he never tries to push him in. He remembers how his teachers don’t take him all that seriously when he does try. And he remembers crying in his bed for hours after dropping his sister off at the airport.
Keonho stopped seeing his memory as a good thing around middle school. Because for all the warm moments where he remembers him and his sister dancing to pop songs and dressing him up in her clothes, he also remembers sitting on the stairs to listen to his parents decide that university abroad was a better choice for his sister.
At that age, he didn’t fully get it. His sister went to the doctor’s office a lot, but he’d always figured she had a weaker immune system. And the pills she was taking were probably for some medical condition, but then words like clinical diagnosis, psychiatrist, and gap year kept coming up, and soon enough, she was being shipped off. He remembers the last late night ramen they shared, and mostly it brings out something kinder in him.
It’s only at night when he admits that not remembering would be easier.
It was around then that Juhoon began to talk a bit more, asking questions or just sitting in silence near him. He never really opened up about it that much with him or even Martin, whom he knew longer. The timing never felt right, but he supposes there’s never a good time to bring something like that up. Instead, he pushed himself into swimming more, becoming closer with his swim mates and hanging out with random ‘friends’ when the concerns from Martin or Juhoon felt too consuming.
He could appreciate it, but for the most part he didn’t want them to know.
❀
“Keonho,” Seonghyeon’s head tilts.
“Huh?”
“The project? I’m asking if you have any siblings?”
His head snaps at the question.
Right, they were working on the French project together. By a stroke of luck, Keonho had been paired with him based on seating alone; luck was more in terms of being partnered who seemed to actually know and care about what was happening in the class. And luck may have also been a slight interest on his part, but Seonghyeon didn’t need to know that.
“Sorry,” he tries to make sure the boy knows that he’s at least trying, “I have an older sister, you?”
Seonghyeon replies as he types, “Younger.”
He’s still just as short-tongued as before, and Keonho finds it refreshing. He leans back into his seat, trying to balance himself, “Frère right?”
The boy’s older by just a month; something Keonho found out only fifteen minutes ago, but as he looks up to the ceiling before replying, he looks almost as old as Madame Ha.
“That’s brother, sister is soeur,” he notes with little to no patience.
“Oh,” he’ll remember it for next time, “that’s cool.”
Seonghyeon finishes typing and shuts his laptop, “I have everything so I’ll just write out your script, and then we can practice some other time since the free period is almost over.”
The class is empty, except for Keonho and Seonghyeon, normally he wouldn’t be allowed in a classroom during free period, but he guesses that Madame Ha trusts Seonghyeon to a certain extent, which explains why they’re working here rather than the library. It’s a lot more quiet, and Keonho thinks that it would be nice if Seonghyeon wasn’t rushing to leave.
He watches the boy hurry to slide his items into his bag.
Would it be weird to ask about the weather?
Or his younger sister? I just found that out, that’s not too bad.
Or-
But Seonghyeon catches him off guard first, because his bag is zipped up, ready to go, but it’s still resting on the back of the chair.
He hasn’t left yet.
“Why haven’t you switched out of French yet?”
His breath disappears for a moment, and Seonghyeon waits.
“You’re not supposed to be in this class,” his eyes narrowed down at him, “are you?”
And for the first time, Keonho doesn’t have a sharp response.
French sucks, all things considered, and the last day to switch out is tomorrow, but he’s here, working on a partnered project with Seonghyeon for a class that he should’ve dropped a week ago.
“Well?” Seonghyeon clicks his pen
Click.
Click.
Click.
His patience is running low, and he’s raising his eyebrows at him in question, but Keonho really doesn’t know.
Seonghyeon sighs before grabbing his bag with force, “Fine, we’ll meet here tomorrow.”
He doesn’t watch him leave the classroom, but he hears the door slam on his way out, and Keonho feels like he’s made a mistake.
❀
Lo and behold, he gets an awfully formal email from Seonghyeon later that night, and Keonho also finally schedules one of the last slots with Jaehyun, his advisor, so that he can figure out what’s going on with his schedule.
“French One: Partnered Project Script Keonho,” the document reads.
He decides against reading it on his own. He was sure Seonghyeon would rather teach him the pronunciations than Keonho learning in a round-about method anyways.
“What’s that?”
Martin reaches over, but Keonho moves faster, exiting the tab in a beat, “What’s what?”
“You’re so private, lately,” the taller boy leans back into Keonho’s bed.
“Get off my sheets,” he says mindlessly, but he doesn’t really care. They normally hung out at Keonho’s place after school since it was nearest, so if anything he was used to Martin taking an afternoon nap in his room.
Juhoon calls it without glancing at his monitor, “You’re still in French?”
His tone is obviously judging, so he feels obligated to reply, “I just got lazy, okay?”
Juhoon shifts himself in the beanbag chair near his carpet, “It takes fifteen minutes max to change it, make-”
“Sure to do it by the end of tomorrow, yeah I know,” he finishes the older boy’s sentence, and adds, “everyone’s been telling me.”
He remembers his parents had even gotten on to him last night, when they were asking about his classes after coming back home from visiting his sister.
“Why are you in French? You took Spanish all three years in middle school,” his mom had asked softly.
He still didn’t know. Did he like French? Not really. Was there any interest in the culture? Also no. Snails freaked him out, but there was something there, a change of sorts that made school a little less of a routine. He wasn’t familiar with the students in this class the way he was with the Spanish kids, and even the teacher was a breath of fresh air. Mr. Lee already knew him through his sister being an excellent student in the past. In fact, just this Wednesday, he’d greeted him in the hall.
Meanwhile, Madame Ha had glared at him as he entered the classroom while she was leaving to let them work there during free period.
And he was also there, Seonghyeon. Quiet some days, explosive on other days, Keonho found himself watching him, all the time. The way he got shy when praised for his pronunciation, or the way he didn’t hesitate to slap Keonho’s arm after a bad dad joke in the middle of lectures. It made sense for him to be curious about him. There was something different about him everyday, and French just so happened to be where that change could be observed.
“Do you think it’d be that bad to stay in French?” he says out loud.
Juhoon’s eyes widen, “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
He rolls his eyes, “I mean, three years of Spanish in middle school isn’t like some concrete learning for high school. Can’t I just take French?”
Juhoon’s eyes widen more, if that’s even possible, but Martin speaks first, “Yeah man, why not?”
Juhoon’s voice is louder than it normally is, “Are you serious? Everyone taking that class has some idea of the language, and you have none, why on Earth would you keep French?”
“I don’t know,” he mumbles. The idea is strange.
“I think you could,” Martin interjects, “it’s a new language, and it’ll be harder, but a lot of people in that class are also just as bad even with the three years of middle school French.”
Juhoon scratches his nape, “I guess that’s kinda true. I heard Jisung took French, and he’s barely coherent in English.”
“You gonna do it?” Martin glances at him.
Keonho’s chair is spinning at his desk, “Not sure.”
Juhoon snorts, “Typical.”
❀
French is once again a nightmare, but today feels harsher, words are being thrown like swords, and Madame Ha keeps asking him questions he doesn’t understand. He also notices a distinct lack of Seonghyeon side eyes, which was saying something since usually that was the least judgemental thing he did.
They finally get a ten minute break out session, and he’s paired with Jimin again, who seems to have no interest for the prompt on the board.
“Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ce week-end?”
His words feel short and long in the wrong places, and Jimin’s laugh feels too authentic for Keonho to not get irritated.
“Not much, what did you do?”
She’s batting her eyelashes, and Keonho just tries his best to answer himself, “Je fa-”
She waves her hands immediately and wipes a tear in a dramatic fashion, “Gosh, just to stick to swimming,” her nails are painted light pink, he notices, before she continues “you don’t have to try so hard Keonho!”
Her smile is all teeth, and he knows it’s with good intentions, but he still strains to reply, “I hung out with some friends, that’s it. What did you do?”
She launches into a six minute monologue about the party he was also at on Saturday. He takes a mental break from her, simply nodding and adding in a few filler words when she seemed to notice his decline in attention.
He catches Seonghyeon seated elsewhere, helping Jisung, the same kid Juhoon mentioned yesterday. He’s standing beside his desk, pointing his finger at the textbook and speaking slow enough for Jisung to catch his words. Jisung’s face is lightly red, but sure enough, he copies along, and by the end of the text, Seonghyeon pats him on the shoulder encouragingly.
His eyes tune in to his, and there’s that excitement again, the one he saw on the first day of school.
Seonghyeon catches him staring, and he tilts his head, in confusion, but Keonho’s already looking at Jimin.
“I think they broke up? Honestly, I don’t know, but still-”
Keonho keeps nodding, hoping it’s not too obvious that he’d been staring at Seonghyeon for a few minutes.
The bell rings, and Madame Ha dismisses them before catching Keonho, “A word please?”
Keonho feels an incoming headache, and he doesn’t miss the small glance that Seonghyeon throws at him before leaving with Jisung for lunch.
The class clears out, and Madame Ha points to a desk, which Keonho chooses to stand near it
“I meant sit, but whatever, this works too,” she tuts.
“Oh,” his face is hot, “sorry, I can,” he shuffles to sit, but Madame Ha dismisses it.
“No need to be on guard, we can talk in English. I’m not punishing you or anything of that sort.”
“Oh?”
“I wanted to speak with you. I ran into Mr. Lee earlier. The head of the Spanish department here, and I was surprised to find that you didn’t take French prior to this.”
“Right-” he struggles to respond.
“I’m not done,” she pauses, “I had not known that before, so I wanted to apologize. I believe that today is the last day to switch-”
“I was plan-”
“Still not done,” she clicks her tongue, but there’s a hint of a smile, and Keonho has no idea why.
“I love French. It’s why I study it, and it’s why I teach it. I know Spanish is the easier alternative. I’m not unaware of the ease that arrives with Mr. Lee’s course, however, if you choose to stay in my class, I have a student who would be more than willing to help you through lessons outside the classroom, and I promise to be more patient with you in the future. What do you think?”
“Thanks? I actually,” it feels weird to say it out loud to an adult, a teacher no less, “I’ve been thinking that I kind of want to stay.”
Madame Ha’s voice tilts upward, “I’m glad to hear. I don’t want you to be discouraged in my class. I know it isn’t easy, but I do think you would have something to gain, even if it’s not complete mastery of the language.”
He nods, and checks his watch, “Um, okay thank you, I’m gonna- just,” he smiles awkwardly before heading out the door, and the laugh that he hears doesn’t feel as mean as Jimin’s just a while ago.
He has about fifteen minutes until his specific slot, and he ends up waiting outside Jaehyun’s office. He catches Juhoon outside too, greeting a few of the freshmen with brochures filled with the school’s upcoming sports try-outs and clubs for the semester. Juhoon quickly sends the kid off once he spots Keonho,
“Hey, you’re finally having that appointment?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do? Or is it going to be a spontaneous decision inside?”
It’s odd because he does know what he’s going to say to Jaehyun.
“I do, for once,” he laughs lightly.
Juhoon smiles as he places a hand on his shoulder, “I’m glad. Whatever decision you make will be the right one.”
His chest warms because of course Juhoon would say something like that, so effortlessly caring.
“Also I talked to Martin’s dad, and I think he knows some baseline French , if you ever need any extra help.”
He feels warmer than before.
“Ahn Keonho, freshman?”
Jaehyun’s voice calls out as the door opens, and Keonho sends a small nod to Juhoon.