“BYUN BAEKHYUN!”

A ferocious screech echoes down the hallways of Seoul Academy, the unpleasant noise ricocheting on the walls and startling most, if not all the students who are strolling out the corridors.

“Byun Baekhyun, come the out!” Chestnut brown hair, wide eyes and an incredibly irked, bristling red face; that’s how one would describe Seo Yeonhee of Class 6-D. Right now, she’s a dark raging storm, personified, and everyone is scampering out of her way to evade her electrifying glare. “Come out! Don’t you dare hide from me! I will kill you!”

In the middle of her hunt, she catches sight of a very familiar figure not that far away from her. She storms her way towards that figure, hell-bent on finding out Baekhyun’s whereabouts.

“Jongin!” She shrills. Almost immediately, she snatches Jongin’s attention away from the book he is reading. Jongin straightens at the sight of the approaching girl. “Have you seen Baekhyun?!”

At the mention of his best friend’s name, Jongin releases an exasperated sigh. “What did he do this time?”

“He’s being the tard that he is, that’s what!” Bitterness leaks in Yeonhee’s voice. Her dark expression tells Jongin that Baekhyun has done something ty yet again. “Can you please tell your best friend to stop hiding and grow a pair?! Tell him he should take responsibility for our relationship because it’s the last ing straw!”

Ah, Jongin’s sigh brims with resignation. I knew it.

With a sheepish smile, Jongin speaks, “He’s being problematic again, isn’t he? I’m really sorry Yeonhee, but I don’t know where he is right now. I’ll tell him your message though, don’t worry.” Jongin apologizes, on behalf of his best friend.

Seeing the conciliatory smile on Jongin’s face makes Yeonhee sniff. “Why couldn’t he be an angel like you? He’s the complete opposite of his best friend,” she blabbers. “He’s a little devil with horns I want to pull off because he’s driving me nuts!”

That pulls a nervous chuckle out of Jongin. Actually, he drives everyone nuts.

“I don’t think anyone could tame that er,” Grumbles Yeonhee. She taps Jongin’s shoulder and sniffs pathetically once more. “Anyways, I’m gonna go. If you see him, kick his for me. See you around, Jongin-ah.”

“Yeah, see you.” Jongin reciprocates her smile and watches as his schoolmate’s brooding figure disappears around a corner. Once he is sure that Yeonhee is far away, he releases the breath he’s holding and walks over to the janitor's closet just right behind him. He yanks open one of its doors, startling Baekhyun who’s hiding inside.

Jongin lets out another agitated sigh at the sight of Baekhyun’s sheepish grin. “I don’t know what to do with you anymore.”

Gingerly, Baekhyun peeks his head out of the closet, checking left and right to see if Yeonhee is still in sight. Certain that the other’s nowhere near them, Baekhyun leaps out of the closet and brushes his dusty bum. “Then don’t stress yourself anymore and just let me have some fun, Jongie.” Baekhyun winks, hanging an arm around his best friend’s shoulder.

Jongin scrubs his face in mild annoyance but allows the other to cling onto him anyway. “You’re the student council president, Baek.”

“Yeah.”

“That position is no joke.”

“I know.”

“If you know it then why don’t you…I don’t know, be responsible for once and actually do your job?”

Baekhyun guffaws, his voice bouncing across the now empty hall. “What do you mean? I’m doing my job perfectly!”

Jongin doesn’t seem impressed. His blank face tells it all. “Attending parties thrice a week, not going to your council’s meetings, flirting around 24/7 and running away from your relationships without resolving them first isn’t ‘doing your job perfectly’.”

Well, all of it are true. Baekhyun isn’t about to deny his shenanigans but that doesn’t mean he’s guilty in any least because he’s definitely not. He’s living in the thrill of it all, actually.

Instead of succumbing to his best friend’s reproving gaze and apologizing, he lets out an overdramatic sigh.

“Oh, Jongie. Jongin, Kim Jongin, my ever responsible, dutiful buddy,” Baekhyun croons affectionately. His best friend throws him a weak glare despite holding back a laugh. “I know you’re jealous but baby, there’s nothing to be worried about. There’s this thing called multitasking, so don’t fret.”

“Yeah, you’re multitasking everything but your council duties,” Jongin snorts. He then smacks the back of Baekhyun’s head, hard enough to make him stagger. Baekhyun shoots him a dirty look. “You irresponsible brat.”

“You know mom, let’s just save the sermon for later, yeah? Our next subject’s my favorite so I can’t have anyone spoiling my mood.” Dropping one abrupt smooch on Jongin’s face, Baekhyun saunters his way to his desk, which is situated in the middle row, just next to his best friend’s.

Jongin rubs his cheek in disgust. Baekhyun is naturally a touchy feely person, especially when he’s with him, so Jongin’s learned to just let Baekhyun do whatever the hell he wants. Be it engulfing him in a big bear hug for a long moment, kissing his cheek or forehead or the back of his neck—Jongin doesn’t care.

That gives other students the wrong impression, though. Most of them still firmly believe that he and Baekhyun are secretly dating. It’s repulsive, honestly.

Once he and Baekhyun are settled comfortably on their chairs, Baekhyun rambles on about how ‘this sophomore had so much gall to ask me out right when I was with Yeonhee so of course she went all bat crazy and stuff’.

“I know Yeonhee, she wouldn’t react this violently if you didn’t do anything wrong,” Jongin places his chin over his palm, an action he always does whenever boredom and sleepiness strike him. “What did you do?”

“Well, I said I would go out with him,” Baekhyun casually answers, like what he just said is the most regular thing on Earth. Jongin is embarrassed on his behalf, really. Baekhyun’s a lost cause since freshman year.

“Figures why she’s so mad! What were you thinking?” Jongin almost scowls. He’s aware of Baekhyun’s reputation, how his best friend probably is the most popular student in their batch, and that his head has been stuck in his for four years now.

Baekhyun is always getting love confessions every day that Jongin already lost count. Still, that doesn’t give him the right to humiliate his current girlfriend by practically agreeing to his suitor’s offer right when Yeonhee’s with him. Controlling his best friend’s ways proves to be the most tedious task ever.

“I’m done with her, seriously!” Baekhyun gives a plaintive whine. “She thinks she can hold me by the neck? Hell no. I won’t put up with anyone who keeps on asking for my whereabouts every minute of the damn day! She’s acting like my goddamn wife, ugh.”

Jongin can’t exactly empathize with Baekhyun right now, seeing as he’s never dealt with a girl like Yeonhee before. She must be a handful, for Baekhyun to complain about her like he has never done with his past flings. Jongin feels sorry for him.

Nonetheless, he personally thinks Baekhyun deserves all of this. Because if he didn’t do any of this bull, he should've been living a stress-free high school life right now. “Don’t make it complicated for yourself, Baek. If you’re so ‘done’ with her, then just tell her what’s bothering you and break it off.”

“Easy for you to say! You don’t have a psychotic girlfriend who follows you even inside the male’s comfort room,” Baekhyun inwardly shudders, recalling how at one point in Yeonhee’s obsessiveness, she prowled outside his cubicle without sparing any shame for the other guys who were taking a piss inside. “And hey, you shouldn’t even give me any advice at all because as far as I’m concerned, you’ve never even had a relationship before.”

“Not having been in any relationship at all doesn’t revoke my rights to admonish your insensitiveness.” Jongin scoffs airily, poking the other boy’s nose.

“Touché.” Comes Baekhyun’s amused snort. Whenever Jongin talks to him in such a formal manner, he can’t help but laugh. He knows Jongin is just ting with him but it still sounds hilarious when Jongin’s all teacher-like.

Speaking of which, a man wearing casual clothes comes strolling inside their classroom. His sudden presence daunts the students of Class 6-A, enough for the noises to simmer down. The man suddenly sits on the edge of the teacher’s table rather coolly, regarding the entire room with his austere midnight orbs. Silent anticipation lingers in the air as all eyes zero in on him.

Two pairs, in particular, broaden at the sight of the man. Jongin is floored, whereas Baekhyun can’t keep his gaping mouth shut. Pure, unadulterated shock paints their faces, and nothing more.

After studying everyone, the man finally speaks. “Good afternoon, 6-A,” rumbles his deep voice, causing shivers to run on every student’s back. Jongin’s heart is pounding, but he knows no one in this class would be more appalled than Byun Baekhyun. His best friend seems like he just forgot how to breathe.

“My name’s Do Kyungsoo, and I’ll be your music teacher for the whole semester.”

***

Jongin anchors the soles of his feet flat on the gravel, eyes squinted under the blinding rays of the afternoon sun. Sweat trickles on his forehead and temples, dribbling down his chin and seeping in the back of his singlet. The moment feels onerous and everything just sort of slows down within that split second.

And then Jongin hears the bang of their coach’s shotgun, signaling the start of the race. Adrenaline courses through his veins as his legs begin sprinting on autopilot, picking up speed with every millisecond that rushes by. The wind breezes all over his skin, the exhilaration of running engulfing him as he listens to the constant thump of his shoes on pavement and his breath in his lungs.

He reaches the finish line shortly, the shrill sound of his coach’s whistle marking the end of their training. Jongin hunches over, hands leaning on both of his knees. He’s panting heavily and his damp fringe looks like he just took a quick shower.

“Your record is five seconds earlier than the last one,” His coach informs, showing Jongin his timer. “Great job, Jongin. Keep it up!”

Jongin beams brightly at his coach, obviously satisfied with the results of his hard work. As he lumbers over to the bleachers, the next batch of runners jog past him, but not before giving him a congratulatory smile. Jongin easily reciprocates the gesture back before reaching his destination to pick up his towel.

Only, there is no towel. The bench is empty and his gym bag is nowhere to be found. A muddled frown crosses Jongin’s face upon seeing nothing. Before he could ask a nearby teammate, a whistle shrills behind him. Jongin wheels around at the sound of the call and finds his towel soaring mid-air. He barely catches it as it smacks him right on the face.

Obnoxious laughter rings around their part of the field. Jongin pulls the cloth away from his face, eyes landing on a smirking Zitao. He has Jongin’s gym bag dangling on his shoulder.

“Taozi…” Jongin grumbles, lips pouting in annoyance. Said one just grins lopsidedly and steps beside Jongin, swinging an arm around his shoulders. In turn, Jongin recoils away from him. “Oh no, no no no.”

“Why?” Zitao draws his arm back in confusion.

“I’m…kinda sweaty? You don’t want my germs passing onto you,” Jongin explains while wiping his sticky arms and face. Zitao shrugs nonchalantly and swings an arm around Jongin anyway, despite the other’s cautioning. The older guy doesn’t miss how some of Jongin’s track mates—who just recently joined—are throwing him the stink eye, obviously envious of his close proximity with the younger boy.

Covertly, Zitao sneers, flipping them off with his middle finger before Jongin can see. It’ll never be a good thing if Jongin catches him being rude to his (equally rude) teammates because he has a strong animosity towards swearing, verbally or physically.

Jongin’s fully unaware of Zitao’s eyes raking up and down his figure as he chugs his water bottle half way. Well, he has always been inattentive with his surroundings. He’s painfully oblivious.

Oblivious, but so damn gorgeous.

Smirking, Zitao leans forward, lips almost grazing on the shell of Jongin’s ear. “Let’s get you to the locker room, y.”

The puff o