For the past half-year (not to mention all of middle school, when he simply admired him from afar) Jongdae was trying to not-very-subtly court Junmyeon, the member of the student counsel. Junmyeon was not only the most responsible and universally liked senior, but also the best looking and the nicest boy in school. He was everything one (read Jongdae) could want; sweet, caring and talented. The boy even sung in the choir, like how perfect he could possibly get. There was only one thing about Junmyeon that Jongdae didn’t like and it was the fact that Junmyeon wasn’t his. He tried numerous times to confess to the boy, but the other was always surrounded by other people. Liking the person the whole school had a crush on was not Jongdae’s best idea.

On the rare times when Jongdae managed to find Junmyeon alone (he was in the choir as well) one smile from Junmyeon was enough to turn his brain into jelly. So confessing was not an option. All he could do was to make the other boy notice him, so for the past half-year he was a constant presence in Junmyeon’s life. If the boy went to library to study, Jongdae would follow suit and spent hours pretending to do something while in fact he is swooning from that beautiful sight that is Junmyeon in glasses. Some days Junmyeon would notice him and make a small talk and even offer to explain the problem Jongdae was supposedly working on. Junmyeon was too nice for his own good. Most of the time though, the boy was terribly oblivious and it was both endearing and annoying. Jongdae would also leave presents in Junmyeon’s locker on Valentine’s day, but the locker was always full of chocolate on that day, so he wasn’t sure Junmyeon would notice his unnamed present among the others. So far Jongdae’s stalkerish behavior went completely undiscovered by Junmyeon and sometimes Jongdae felt like smashing his brain on the nearest wall.

Jongdae was an optimist and he knew (hoped) that sooner or later Junmyeon would notice his feelings and maybe even agree to date him. Junmyeon was too nice to reject someone without giving them a chance. But then that happened. That being the new student from China. The boy was in the same class as Jongdae and Junmyeon and at first Jongdae didn’t mind him, and even liked him for he seemed nice and had a cute accent, but after a while the boy turned into his worst nightmare. Yixing (that was the boy’s name) spent a lot of time with Junmyeon who was the class president and one of the few students who could speak Mandarin. What’s even worse is that Junmyeon seemed to enjoy the boy’s presence. Sometimes Jongdae would catch them whispering things to each other in Chinese and giggling, other times he would notice Yixing’s heart-eyes directed to Junmyeon. Just great.

For the past month, every time Jongdae went to the library to see Junmyeon, Yixing would be there too, sitting a table away form him. Sometimes, okay, most of the time, Junmyeon offered him to sit beside him and the boy, of course, didn’t object. Why did Jongdae never get invited to sit beside him? Because you told him you like being alone when he asked why you came here that one day when you forgot to put books on the table to pretend you were studying, you moron. Jongdae’s brain helpfully supplied.

Yixing was also in the choir. Damn him and his voice. So for the last month every time Jongdae saw Junmyeon he was accompanied by Yixing.

Today also Yixing was there. Junmyeon agreed to rearrange the music classroom since the rest didn’t feel like working and he, being his precious, helpful self, agreed to do the work on his own. Knowing this (he bribed his friend Minseok to tell him about Junmyeon’s schedule) he stayed after classes. He could help Junmyeon to arrange the classroom, then maybe Junmyeon would notice how nice and caring Jongdae is and maybe fall in love with him. His plan wasn’t full-proof but what if it worked.

So when Jongdae opened the door, while rehearsing his excuse for being in the school, he was greeted with a sight he’d rather not see. Junmyeon was putting the books on the upper shelf while standing on a ladder, but this wasn’t what annoyed him. Yixing was there too, keeping the ladder still, while not subtly checking out Junmyeon’s . Jongdae’s previous good mood disappeared in seconds. He cleared his throat. The boys looked at him.

“Oh, Jongdae, what are you doing here?” Junmyeon looked good even with a towel wrapped around his head and old books in his hands. Jongdae would smile at the sight if there wasn’t a certain someone glaring at him. Jongdae wished he could take a picture to show Minseok, who claimed that Yixing was a pure angel who was physically unable to be rude to anyone. How did he manage to make everyone think he was innocent? Jongdae hated him more day by day.

“I had stuff to do, so I stayed behind, thought I could help you. Didn’t know there would be someone else helping you.” Luckly, Junmyeon was getting off the ladder and didn’t notice the sharp glares the two boys directed at each other.

“Jongdae, you are so good to me.” Junmyeon came and ruffled Jongdae’s hair. Jongdae thought he’d die right then and there. “See, Yixing, he is as nice as I told you. He is such a good dongsaeng.” Junmyeon was beaming at Jongdae and for a moment Jondae forgot there was someone else in the room.

Yixing snorted.

“He is particularly nice to you.” There was a certain undertone with which the boy said this. Jongdae really wanted to know how other people fell for Yixing’s niceness, this guy is the devil himself.

“Well, I’m his favorite hyung, aren’t I?” Jongdae quickly nodded, trying to control his blush, “You’re so cute!” Junmyeon pinched his cheek.

Jongdae thought he had died and went to heaven. The loud crash from the other side of the room made him rethink where he really was.

“Yixing, what happened?” Junmyeon rushed to Yixing’s sight. Jongdae had a slight suspicion the crash wasn’t accidental.

“I wanted to put these things on the top, but when I put my hand on the bookshelf, something cut me and I dropped the books." Indeed, Yixing’s finger was bleeding.

Yixing wouldn’t stoop so low to cut his finger for Junmyeon’s attention, would he?

“Oh God! We need to clean this right now. Jongdae, please put these books on the shelf while I take care of Yixing’s wound, okay?” Junmyeon seemed far more stressed than Yixing who was silently looking at him.

When Yixing was being dragged by Junmyeon to the bathroom, Yixing told Junmyeon how his hand hurt and the latter blew on his finger. Junmyeon was too busy to notice the meaningful wink which Yixing directed at Jongdae.

If a war is what you want, a war you’ll get.

xxx

 Jongdae put the present in the doorway and hid in the bushes. Jongdae made sure to find the best birthday present for Junmyeon’s birthday. If there is one thing that his stalking taught him is that EXO is the biggest love of Junmyeon’s life, so he spent half of his savings to get EXO’s new album and the rest on Sehun’s photocard since apparently he was Junmyeon’s favourite from the band. Jongdae might not be able to visit cinema anytime soon, but if it is what it takes to seen Junmyeon smile, he’d gladly sacrifice his hobby. So, here he was hiding behind the bushes near Junmyeon’s home waiting for the other to open the door and see his present.

Jongdae let a very unmanly screech when someone cleared their throat behind him. He turned around to see none other than Junmyeon and Yixing.

.

 “Jongdae, what are you doing here?” asked Yixing. Even if he managed to sound casual, his eyes clearly screamed he was barely containing his laughter at finding his opponent in such a compromising situation.

“Um…. I ….um” . Jongdae didn’t know what to say. Yixing’s smirk was annoying him to no end and his brain couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

Jongdae just ran away.

xxx

The next day Jongdae didn’t really want to go to school, since he’d have to see Junmyeon. A few days earlier this was the exact reason he came to school full of motivation, but today he just felt like hiding in his room. He couldn’t face Junmyeon after yesterday’s incident. Junmyeon probably thinks he’s a creep who hides in other people’s bushes and runs away after getting caught. When he entered the classroom, however, something weird happened.

Junmyeon hugged him.

Jongdae could practically hear his brian making that Windows XP shutting down noise.

“Thank you so much Jongdae! This is the best gift ever!” Junmyeon was practically bouncing on his feet. There was the EXO CD on his desk. Oh.

“N-no problem. I’m glad you liked it.” Jongdae’s voice sounded weird even to him, but honestly he couldn’t care less right now since Junmyeon’s hands were still around his shoulders.

“I didn’t expect to get anything from you and I was so surprised when I saw you around my house yesterday. But then I saw the present and put everything together. Why didn’t you sign the present? If I didn’t see you yesterday, I wouldn’t know.”

That was the point.

“I didn’t want to make you think you have to get something for my birthday as well.” Wow. Nice save.

“You’re the cutest!” Junmyeon pinched his cheek. His grandpa tendencies were too endearing to get angry at him. “Thank you again. I’ll listen to this everyday.”

Jongdae just looked back at Junmyeon, but before it got weird the teacher came in and started the class. A few moments later there was a note passed to him.

Nice move, but it’ll take more than a present to win against me.

There wasn’t a name, but he knew who it was. The suspect was looking at him with determination in his eyes and smirk on his lips.

ing watch me.

Jongdae smirked back.

xxx

Life is unfair. Why was Jongdae born with such useless limbs? Why couldn’t he dance? What had he done to deserve an opponent who moves his hips like a ing stripper? A week ago Yixing invited him and Junmyeon to the showcase his dancing crew held. Jongdae agreed to go just to make fun of him. Who knew the clumsy Yixng was actually a pretty decent dancer? Okay, a really good dancer. If Jongdae wasn’t already biual, Yixing’s dancing would totally make him question his ual orientation. . The worst thing is that Junmyeon seemed to think the same. He didn’t pray his eyes off the dancers and if during the group dance he was loudly cheering, during Yixing’s dance he was terribly quiet. Jongdae couldn’t believe he had to witness his dream crash just before his eyes.

After the showcase ended, Yixing rushed to them.

“So what do you think?” he asked only looking at Junmyeon.

Of course, he wouldn’t ask me, why would he? Also why am I so bitter over this? This is totally because I’m jealous of Junmyeon, totally.

“Yixing, you were amazing!” Junmyeon hugged Yixing tightly.

 “I’m glad you liked it.” Yixing smiled earnestly.

When he isn’t being a , he is really cut… the hell? This has to be because of the dancing. It has to. 

“What about you, Jongdae?” asked Yixing sounding quite sincere, if you don’t know his motives, that is.

“It was okay,” said Jungdae fake smiling.

“Glad you like it,” replied Yixing with a similar fake smile.

“Guys, we have to celebrate this. Let’s go to my favorite café. My treat.”

Jongdae sometimes wondered how oblivious Junmyeon had to be not to notice the tension between Yixing and him.

xxx

They were quietly looking through the menu when someone came near their table.

“Hi guys.”

The boy was freakishly tall (although for Jongdae a lot of people were freakishly tall), with blond hair and piercings in his ears.

“Hey, Yifan. Sit here. I’ll introduce you.” Junmyeon’s voice suddenly got softer and more affectionate.

What the hell?

“Guys, this is my boyfriend, Yifan. Yifan, these are the guys I keep telling you about - Yixing and Jongdae.”

Yixing chocked on his water, while Jongdae’s chin dropped. When Yixing calmed down, he looked between Yifan and Junmyeon before turning to Jongdae, who was seated beside him, with a face that screamed ‘did you know?’. Jongdae shook his head still dazed from the news.

“Um… Nice to meet you too.” Yifan looked uncomfortable, definitely not expecting that reaction.

Yixing recovered after this.

“Sorry, it’s that Junmyeon never told us he had a boyfriend. We are surprised.”

To say the least.

Junmyeon blushed before turning to face Yifan.

“I might’ve forgotten to tell them about you. Sorry. It’s that we never discussed personal life and you were in China so I wanted to tell them when you met in person.” Junmyeon said sheepishly.

Yifan just snorted and shook his head before looking back at Junmyeon.

Jongdae was still processing the news and didn’t know what to say. Luckily, Yixing was in a better condition.

“You are Chinese too?” Yixing forced himself to sound interested. He couldn’t show them how broken he was.

“Yeah, I’m from Guangzhou. You? I remember Junmyeon often mentioned his Chinese friend but he didn’t say where you were from exactly.” Yifan didn’t seem to catch on Yixing’s fake politeness. Thank God.

“Changsha.”

After this the conversation went smoothly. Junmyeon was gazing at Yifan and sometimes taking part in the conversation. Jongdae managed to pull himself together but he still couldn’t talk. Yixing was talking animatedly. Jongdae wondered how he managed to do that when his heart literally got crashed a few seconds ago. Maybe Yixing didn’t love him like Jongdae did? No. Jongdae had noticed the way Yixing stared at Junmyeon, there is no way it wasn’t love.

“What about your friend?” asked Yifan looking at Jongdae.

Jongdae didn’t even know what the question was about, he just stared back.

“He wants to study music. He is just shy, that’s why he isn’t talking.” Yixing butted in.

“Yeah, he really is shy, so don’t expect him to talk much.” said Junmyeon trying to pretend he believed that. He needed to have a conversation with Jongdae after this.

Yifan understood and changed the subject, saying something to Junmyeon again. Jongdae looked at Yixing trying to thank him for saving him, but the boy just smiled at him. It was the first time he saw Yixing’s smile, genuine smile directed at him. Jongdae felt his stomach flip. This wasn’t good. He quickly looked away and didn’t face Yixing until the other two left, saying they have to go to Junmyeon’s since his parents want to see Yifan as well. This left Jongdae and Yixing sitting on the table both equally quiet and shocked.

“Well, this was something.” said Yixing chuckling lightly. He was sprawled against the table and was looking at Jongdae with this head on his hands.

“Yeah.”

“Did you know about Yifan?” Yixing asked with farrowed brows.

“Of course not. Do you think I’d go after a guy if I knew he had someone?” Jongdae sounded offended.

“Not really. I was just checking. You don’t seem the type.” Yixing sounded relaxed again.

“Then what type do I seem?”

“The type to buy yellow roses a day after your crush remarks how the yellow roses are the prettiest flowers. The type to stay behind on a rainy day because he didn’t bring an umbrella. The type to clean an entire classroom just because your crush asked you to since he was busy cleaning you rival's totally accidental wound.” Yixing was still on the table so Jongdae couldn’t see half of his face, but he seemed to be smiling.

“That was really low of you, you know.” Jongdae couldn’t fight the blush that spread on his face and Yixing seemed to have noticed as his eyes had been scanning Jongdae’s ears and neck.

“I know.” He chuckled. Jongdae wondered why he never noticed how cute his chuckle was."Sorry about that, but you have to do what you have to do.”

“You know, I always wondered how you managed to convince everyone that you are an angel. Like if Minseok or anyone from our class was here they still wouldn’t believe you said that.”

“That’s because I am an angel. I’m just a bit ambitious and competitive.” He raised his face to look at Jongdae more clearly.

“A bit,” deadpanned Jongdae.

Yixing chuckled again.

“I couldn’t help it. You were a serious competition and I’m not used to losing. Also it was really fun seeing your face get red from anger.” If Jongdae didn’t know any better, he’d think that Yixing was gazing at him.

“With an opponent like you, who wouldn’t get angry. You are a dirty player.”

“Excuse you. Who has managed to find EXO’s new album on the first week of the sale and bought it for Junmyeon? I was on three different online shops and they all run out of them in a few minutes. You tried to buy his love and here I am being called a ‘dirty player’,” Yixing tsked.

He is so cute…. Wait what?

“If it helps, it didn’t actually work.”

Yixing chuckled before leaning back on his seat.

He really is cute. .

“All that time I spent researching Junmyeon and you, all for nothing.” Yixing sounded a bit disappointed.

“Wait, why me too?”

“You should know your opponent better than your target.” Yixing sounded serious.

“You’re so scary, honestly.”

“I get that a lot.”

They just looked at each other. For some reason, it didn’t feel weird. It seemed as if they saw each other for the first time. Jongdae noticed Yixing’s soft hair and thought it must be nice running your hands through it. Yixing noticed Jongdae’s lips and wondered how kissing Jongdae would feel like. They’d continue staring if the waiter didn’t startle them.

“Sorry for breaking the mood, but we are closing,” said they waiter with a knowing smirk, as the boys blushed and quickly got their things before heading out.

They silently walked down the road avoiding eye contact.

“Are you free this Sunday?” asked Yixing suddenly.

“Yeah, sure, why?”

“I have another showcase. The dance is the same, but … I’d like it if you could come.” Yixing sounded shy.

Jongdae’s jaw dropped the second time during the night.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t…” Yixing begun panicking.

“I will.”

“Really?”

“Of course, you dance really well. It’s a big compliment coming from an ex-opponent,” smiled Jongdae.

“It really is.” Yixing looked equally happy. “Maybe we can go somewhere after that?”

“I’d love that.”