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AUTHOR'S FINAL NOTE: Because I'm more attached to this story than I thought, an epilogue to MarkJin's "Just Right" will be made as the last parting gift. But until then, here's the 2Jae spin-off~ Enjoy~

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“Yo, Cap! What you’re doing afterwards?”

 

Shutting his locker, the swim team captain grabbed his backpack from the floor, “Nothing.”

 

The other members shared a look. They had just finished their final practice for their competition next week. Everyone was hoping to have a team hangout with their captain, who almost never present in whatever they do outside of school. “Come on, Cap, hang with us!”

 

“No, you guys go on ahead,” the captain pursed his lips, “I know tomorrow’s Saturday but don’t drink too much, got it? The competition is next week, I want all of you to be in great shape.”

 

“We know, we know,” they sighed, a bit disappointed, but it was expected, considering what kind of person their captain was. “We’ll be heading out now! Have a great weekend, Captain!”

 

The captain just nodded as he watched his teammates exited the locker room, arms around each other, talking and laughing. Turning off the lights after checking that everything was where they were supposed to be and locked off, the captain silently made his way out.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Being a person who’s closed off and preferred the perfect company of himself, sometimes of his close circle of friends, Im Jaebum didn’t greed over the social life. It's not like he didn’t have one or proven it to be a hindrance in his perfect balanced life, it’s just Jaebum doesn’t think it was relevant enough for him. He could handle well without having to constantly making plans and hanging out with people. Besides, he liked his peace and quiet.

 

“Jaebum!”

 

The all too familiar voice had Jaebum rolling his eyes but still stopped on his track and turned around, “What?”

 

The person caught up to him and panted breathlessly, “Where you’re going? We went by the lockers' to pick you up.”

 

“For what?”

 

“Oh, my God, did you forgot?”

 

Jaebum’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. What did he forget?

 

“Looks like you did,” the friend sighed, “We promised to support Bambam and Yugyeom at the soccer game?”

 

“Bambam and Yugyeom? Aren’t they, like, middle schoolers? What soccer game?”

 

“Our school’s soccer tournament, you idiot! And yes, even though those two are middle schoolers, they’re still participating. They’re substitutes for two injured players on the team.”

 

“That doesn’t make sense…”

 

“Yes, it does, Im Jaebum! Their middle school is the sister school with our high school!”

 

Jaebum still found it unconvincing, or he’s just looking for excuses not to go, “But didn’t Mark already set on them joining his basketball team?”

 

“Can you listen? I said they’re playing as substitutes, not them joining the ing team!”

 

The shout was directly in Jaebum’s ears, making him winced in discomfort, “Calm down, Jackson! What the .”

 

“No,” Jackson scoffed, “I can’t, because you’re being such an anti-social lil’ ! Get out and enjoy yourself, Jaebum. For ’s sake! Everyone is going to be there, you should come, too. You know how excited the kids were when they told us to come and watch them play.”

 

Sighing, Jaebum rolled his eyes, “I don’t even like soccer. Why-”

 

“You’re coming anyways. We’re supporting our babies, all right?” Jackson glared. Despite Jackson’s loud and bubbly personality of the captain of the fencing team, he’s probably the one in their group to take real good care of the youngers. Well, Jackson was the person who introduced them. “Plus, the new Captain is super cute~”  

 

Jaebum sneered, “What are you talking about? Yoon Doojoon is not cute.”

 

“I said new, Jaebum, NEW. Doojoonie already graduated. The new one is only a Sophomore and he’s, like, so adorable.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, you call everything adorable.”

 

“Come on, let’s just go~ It’s boring staying home anyways-”

 

“Actually, my favorite dance show is going to be on-”

 

“You can watch that online later. Let’s go!” Jackson wrapped his fingers around Jaebum’s wrist tightly and dragged the swim captain back towards the school building, “Mark’s already there. He’s saving spots for us.”

 

“Why is he there? I mean to support, yes, but didn’t the basketball team have a hangout today?”

 

“Park Jinyoung’s there as a volunteer,” Jackson laughed, “Why else would the Mark Tuan was so eager to go? It was easyyyyyyyy bait~”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Jaebum was right. He should have just distracted Jackson and ran away. He’d rather be anywhere than here.

 

“LET’S GO!” Jackson screamed on the top of his lungs, clapping wildly as he cheered on with the rest of the audience.

 

Jaebum sighed. It was so ing loud. His eardrums felt like they’ll pop any second. He turned to his left side, appreciating that Mark’s been quiet the whole time and not screaming like a certain someone. But then again, the only purpose that the hottie of the school is even sitting here right now is to stare intensely at the number one nerd, Park Jinyoung. And Mark did exactly just that. Jaebum followed his friend’s line of sight and caught the nerd just sitting by the bench of players, handing out water bottles and towels. Out of boredom, Jaebum decided to stare, too.

 

So now, the hottie and the bad boy participated in a staring contest with the nerd, who’s still oblivious to two pair of eyes straining on him. One pair obviously has ulterior motives while the other was just bored.

 

“Look! It’s Bammie and Yugie!” Jackson shouted enthusiastically as he pointed to the two, only eight graders, players with long legs, “Hey, are you guys-” The fencing captain turned to his buddies, only to find them looking somewhere else. Jackson squinted his eyes, curious of what they’re staring at. He spotted Park Jinyoung and let out a small “ohhhh,” nodding his head that Mark’s attention was on that particular person. But what’s Jaebum staring at?

 

Just when Jackson was about to find out, the entire field suddenly roared like never before since the match had started. He looked around to see what’s the commotion was about. And of course. It could only be that.

 

Out on the field, on the sidelines, the new captain of the soccer team proudly performed some basic stretches with a bright smile on his face, getting ready to enter the field. The entire audience screamed and cheered on for the captain. It was so loud that Jackson was a bit taken back. He knew everyone was talking about this new captain, but he didn’t think the Sophomore would be this popular already. But who was to blame. The captain, like the rumors had said, is a total cutie.

 

“Jack-Jackson!”

 

Hearing his name, Jackson turned to the owner of the voice, “WHAT?” He shouted.

 

“Who’s that?”

 

“WHAT? Jaebum, you have to speak up, man! IT’S TOO ING LOUD!”

 

“I SAID WHO’S THAT?” Jaebum actually yelled in Jackson’s ears.

 

Flinching for a bit, Jackson grimaced but still held his ground, “Who’s who? What are you talking about?”

 

Jaebum pointed, Jackson’s eyes followed. A grin broke out on the fencing captain’s face, “THAT’S THE NEW CAPTAIN!”

 

“I know that, idiot!” Jaebum rolled his eyes, of course that’s the new captain. The whole ing stadium lost its when he came out. Apparently, Jaebum, too… But no one needs to know that. “I meant his name! What’s his name?!”

 

“Um, uh, his name…” Jackson thought for a bit, “OH! YOUNGJAE! CHOI YOUNGJAE!”

 

“Choi Youngjae…” Jaebum repeated the name, mumbling under his breath. He looked out to field again, finding himself drawn to the soccer captain’s agile movements as a midfielder. Jaebum watched, suddenly feeling his body woken up by the pumping of his blood. He was completely into the game now.

 

Choi Youngjae was very good, Jaebum concluded, like, very good. No wonder he’s the captain even though he’s only a Sophomore. The way he moved was so smooth like he’s comfortably skating through the fields, stealing the ball with his footwork that could be defined as art. The sweats rolling down the side of his face and trialing down his neck probably so many people who were watching him like a hawk creeping on its prey. His hair stuck against his forehead, his uniform hugging his skin so filthily, his mouth parting in heavy pants, his eyes sparkling, his face flushed with tints of red that continued their way littering all over his exposed neck, and his lips curving to a beautiful smirk as he crossed his opponent and successfully stole back the ball.

 

Jaebum watched in awe. Never had Jaebum ever felt so restless just from watching someone. His eyes couldn’t stop following Youngjae. His brain screamed at him to stop staring and being such a creep, but his heart continued beating so ing profoundly in his ears, nurturing itself back to warmth from the longtime coldness.

 

“Come on, come on,” Jaebum’s mouthed moved on its own as he whispered, eyes straining on the soccer captain’s figure. Jaebum rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. “Come on, come on, come on…”

 

Everyone held the breath as the captain expertly swift passed the other team’s midfielders and cleanly passed the ball towards a readied striker, which happened to be Yugyeom, who received it with a little bit of a struggle, but nonetheless, still in possession of the ball. With a swung of his leg, Yugyeom sent the ball straight towards the goal. The ball shot forwards, almost not making in the net, but it curved slightly and-

 

“GOOOOOOOOOOAL!”

 

Jaebum immediately leaped on his feet and cheered like he never cheered before in his life. The crowd screamed and clapped as the bleachers shook violently at the foot stomping. Jackson jumped in excitement and turned to pull Jaebum in a hug. “THAT WAS YUGYEOM! DID YOU SEE THAT?! OUR YUGYEOM DID THAT!”

 

Adrenaline pumping through his veins as he cracked a wide smile, “The Captain assisted!” He returned his gaze back to the field where Youngjae wore a smile that could torch the entire planet. Jaebum’s smile only grew, feeling oddly happy that the soccer captain was happy, too. But the smile quickly turned a bit sour as Jaebum watched Youngjae hugging and patting and just touching the other players. Something ugly churned inside Jaebum’s stomach. A frown settled on his lips. He couldn’t pinpoint the feeling at the moment, but he knew for sure that he doesn’t appreciate people laying their hands on that soccer captain.

 

Few more minutes of the ball being kicked around, another goal for Youngjae’s team scored, earning an uproar from the team’s audience. And once again, a smile spread across the captain’s face as he ran through the field. Jaebum’s eyes never left Youngjae. He doesn’t know what it was, but he for sure know that he don’t mind staring at that soccer captain all day. Because everything Youngjae did was just so mesmerizing. Everything he did just took Jaebum’s breath away.

 

Before he knew it, the game was over, and of course, their high school took home the trophy. It was a huge celebration out on the field. Players were crying and hugging each other. Some were even kissing their teammates’ heads with tears dripping down their chin. The battle was over and they’ve won. Every seconds of practice paid off. Jaebum could sympathize. Any captain of any sports team could. Jackson, for instance, covered his mouth and held back his tears when he saw Yugyeom and Bambam fell into each other’s embraces on that eventful field.

 

“Wow,” Jackson shook his head, hand touching his chest where his heart lies, “That was just beautiful.”

 

Jaebum scoffed, rolling his eyes and turning to Mark, who’s still staring. Sometimes Jaebum finds it quite amazing how long Mark could stay just staring like that, but now, the swim captain experienced it for himself. Following Mark’s gaze again, Jaebum wasn’t surprised to see Jinyoung there, but shortly, not even a second after, that soccer captain was also there, too. Youngjae was walking with his teammates but stopped in front of Jinyoung and gave the nerd a water bottle with a smile plastered on his red, sweaty face. Jinyoung had looked hesitant at first, but it looked like Youngjae insisted, so Jinyoung nodded and took the bottle with his head hung low.

 

“I smell L-O-V-E!” Jackson’s voice rang loudly in Jaebum’s and Mark’s ears.

 

“NO!” The two captains both turned towards Jackson and objected, a scowl displayed on their faces.

 

“Woah, woah, woah,” the fencing captain held his arms up, eyes widen and surprised that Jaebum reacted, too. That comment was completely directed towards Mark only, not Mark and Jaebum. “I was just kidding… No need to get all tensed up… Damn, the ? Jaebum, what the ?”

 

A roll of his eyes proved to be enough to signal for Jackson to back the off. Jackson, honestly, was confused. Jaebum didn’t want his obviousness to show anymore, so he quickly stood up and announced exhaustedly, “Let’s go pick up the youngers. We’re going to celebrate tonight.”

 

“You’re paying?” Jackson quirked an eyebrow at the change of attitude. Jaebum never suggested a hangout. Never. It wasn’t his thing.

 

“No,” Jaebum smirked, leaning close to his friend and whispered secretively, “Mark is.” They looked back at the basketball captain, who’s still fixated on his crush, oblivious to whatever scheme his two friends were planning.

 

“Seriously?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Awesome! Let’s go then!”

 

Jackson hauled Mark up to his feet, ignoring the whining from the redhead about wanting to watch a little longer, which quickly got shot down by Jaebum pointing out how much of a creep Mark was being. That shut the redhead up pretty good. The three Juniors confusedly roamed around the halls leading towards the locker room of the soccer players. Both Jackson and Jaebum actively looked around for the right room while Mark just there bored off his mind. Soon, Yugyeom and Bambam exited the locker room from the end of the hallway, making Jackson waved his arm back and forth in the air excitedly.

 

“Hyung!” Yugyeom shouted, running over and pulled everyone in a group hug. “Did you see me scored?! And we won!”

 

“Yes, yes, yes,” Jackson grinned, patting the younger’s back, “You both did so great! Congratulations!”

 

Bambam widened his eyes as soon as he realized that Jaebum was also here, “Woah. What conspiracy is this? Im Jaebum is here? The last time I checked there’s no swimming pool around here, so why are you here, hyung?”

 

“I dragged him along. We gotta go support our youngests~” Jackson cheered, pinching Yugyeom’s and Bambam’s cheeks at the same time.

 

“That’s new,” Bambam laughed, “But thank you, hyung! I-”

 

“Hey, Yugyeom-ssi?” An unfamiliar voice interrupted the group’s chatting. Coming out from the locker room, the captain of the soccer team dressed himself in his school’s white button-up, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and black pants, hair still sticking to his sweaty forehead, eyes still shining like a thousand stars, and skin still glowing so prettily. Jaebum almost fainted, because Choi Youngjae is one fine young man. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”

 

“Captain Choi?” Yugyeom and Bambam simultaneously turned to face Youngjae.

 

“No, no,” Jaebum suddenly spoke up, “N-not at all. We were just congratulating the kids.” With Jaebum’s sudden attempt at human interaction surprised the out of Jackson and Mark, as they shared a look together as if an alien spaceship landed in front of them.

 

Youngjae just smiled, knocking the life out of Jaebum because, Lord have mercy, if looks could actually kill. “Well, I just want to say that Yugyeom-ssi, you did really good today, and of course, Bambam-ssi as well. I’m very grateful that you two could join us tonight. And I just want to ask Yugyeom-ssi, since you’ll be a Freshmen at our school next year, would you like to reserve a spot in my soccer team?”

 

Without much hesistation, the youngest flashed an appreciative smile, “Thank you, Cap! But Mark-hyung here already called dibs on both Bammie and I. I’m really sorry.”

 

“Oh,” the soccer captain glanced over at the basketball captain, who just shrugged and smiled apologetically, “That’s okay. It to lose good players like you two, but I guess it’s understandable. Mark-ssi is very famous around here.”

 

“We’re sorry…” Bambam bowed, pouting a little.

 

Youngjae just shook his head and laughed, creating a stir of butterflies within Jaebum’s stomach. “It’s really all right! Well, now, I won’t bother anymore. Have a great night! See you guys around!” He waved with a bright smile permanently glued on his face. Jaebum honestly felt like dying from all that happiness radiated from that smile alone.

 

As soon as the adorable soccer captain was out of sight, Jackson grinned and whistled suggestively, “He’s cute, huh? No wonder everyone’s basically drooling over him. The kid got everything.”

 

“Thighs,” Jaebum breathed, unaware that he’s thinking out loud.

 

Jackson quirked an eyebrow at his usually coldhearted friend, “Excuse me?”

 

“Thighs,” Jaebum repeated, eyes straining hard on the spot that Youngjae had stood before, “His thighs are everything. They’re so ing thick.”

 

They all stared at Jaebum with weird expressions on their faces. The youngers were wondering if their hyung was okay, because Jaebum’s piercing gaze could cut and kill someone. Mark didn’t want to comment on it, because Jaebum seriously looked like he was on a hunt for a very delicious prey. The redhead nodded, knowing that exact feeling. Jackson, the only one who didn’t looked as shocked, but more amused than anything. If these reactions from the school’s coldest bad boy aren’t raising red flags, then what would?

 

“So, how about we go celebrate, and our kids here can tell us all about their temporary Captain, Choi Youngjae,” the smirk on Jackson’s face was undeniably scary.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

If there’s a place in school that Jaebum hated, it’ll definitely be the cafeteria. Yes, the place homed foods, drinks, and snacks, but at the same time, it’s so loud and all just a mess in Jaebum’s perspective. Especially on a Monday, the first day back after the weekends. Groaning in distaste at the disgusting piece of meat he just happened to put in his mouth, Jaebum lost his appetite for lunch. Across from him, Jackson raised an eyebrow.

 

“You okay, bro?” Jackson asked, genuinely concerned. Everybody knows Jaebum was hard to please, but right now, Jaebum seemed as if someone stabbed his cat in front of him. “Horrible weekend?”

 

A sigh came through as an empty response, only made the fencing captain more curious. Jackson nudged the redhead next to him, who’s sipping on his milk with no clear emotions resting in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

 

“No,” Mark replied, almost immediately, like he was waiting for someone to ask him that. “Got kicked out. Let me camp at your place for the rest of the week.”

 

“Again? Damn, what did you do this time? Threw a ing chair at your stepbros or some ?” Jackson stared in disbelief. Mark had never actually told him everything, but Jackson knew Mark has heavy family issues. But Jackson never asked about it, because he also knew his best friend won’t say anything anyways. “Okay, but until Thursday, though. We’re leaving during the weekends to visit some relatives.”

 

“Thanks, Jacks. It’s okay. Until Thursday is enough.”

 

“If you want to,” Jaebum looked up from the ugliness that was his lunch, “You can crash over my place. I live alone. Need some company.”

 

“Wow,” Jackson scoffed, “Im Jaebum did not just talked right now.”

 

“That’ll be great! I swear I make an awesome company!” Mark smiled at Jaebum, “Thank you so much! Honestly don’t want to be stuck at home during the weekends with a bunch of- Whatever.”

 

“House always open, Mark,” Jaebum said, stabbing the dried meat with bored eyes.

 

Glancing back and forth between his two friend, Jackson whined, “Stop it! I’m supposed to be the best friend here! Don’t steal Mark away from me, Jaebum!”

 

“You’re childish,” they both said in unison, not even batting an eyelash at Jackson’s behavior, because it was a pretty normal thing. If anything, they were used to it.

 

“I-”

 

It was like Heaven answered prayers, because as soon as Jackson opened his mouth to say some bull again, the cafeteria’s noise level rose as an important figure made his entrance. Give it enough seconds and the place erupted with cheers and congratulations toward the current rising star of the school. Of course, it couldn’t be none other than the famous captain of the soccer team, Choi Youngjae. His presence was like an angel materialized out of thin air. So fresh. So addictive. So attractive.

 

If Jaebum wasn’t interested in whatever the that’s going down in the cafeteria, he sure does now. Suddenly, Choi Youngjae’s appearance made everything better. And if there weren’t a smile plastered on Jaebum’s face before, there was one now, a very big one.

 

“Look at him,” Jackson sighed, watching Youngjae and his entire soccer team made their way to an empty table at the far back near the windows. “So young, so active, so cuuuuuute~”

 

“You sound in love, Jacks,” Mark chuckled, shaking his head at his best friend’s heart-eyes at the Sophomore.

 

“See, I just sounds in love, not looks in love,” Jackson nudged Mark and wiggled his eyebrows, side-eyeing their coldhearted friend across from them. The fencing captain’s usual loud voice dropped to a low whisper for his best friend’s ears, “Jaebum’s creeping me out. It’s weird to see him so, I don’t know, whipped? Is there a better word?”

 

Mark stole a glance at Jaebum, and indeed, the bad boy looked like he has a ing heart. And honestly, that does crept Mark out a little. Im Jaebum’s eyes never looked this warm before. Never. Leaning back into Jackson’s bubble, Mark whispered, “Oh , who’s he’s looking at? Choi Youngjae?”

 

Jackson only rolled his eyes, “No , no, he’s totally into Sana, you blind .”

 

“Hey, no need to be a about it, besides, Sana’s cute. It’ll be understandable.”

 

“You’re in love yourself and you can’t even tell? Lame.”

 

“All right, Jacks, you wanna play this? You want to?”

 

“Shut up, Mark, you can’t do .”

 

“Jackson-”

 

Jaebum cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at the bickering duo, “You guys do know you two aren’t very secretive, and I can hear you, right?”

 

“Then we’ll cut the chase,” Jackson shrugged, “So, our coldhearted bad boy finally got a crush? What is this? Some kind of miracle?”

 

“You’re ridiculous,” Jaebum rolled his eyes, “It’s not a crush.”

 

“Sure it isn’t,” Mark whistled, lips tugging upwards just to tease his friend.

 

“I mean, Jaebum, you literally been acting like a ing the whole day, and now, Prince Charming walked in and you’re all giddy and like a Snow White in love-”

 

“Um, wrong movie, Jacks-”

 

“-Like, come on, dude, you’re so obvious it hurts! You legit made Yugyeom and Bambam talked nonstop about that soccer captain throughout the entire celebration dinner. You kept on asking questions, and honestly, Jaebum, I’ve never seen you more alive. So, stop denying it. You like him.” Jackson pointed his finger at Jaebum with a serious look glazed over his eyes.

 

“I…” The swim captain looked over to his redheaded friend for a way out, but Mark only pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders. Jaebum sighed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t ing know.”

 

Jackson just smiled sympathetically, “It’s this why you’ve been in a bad mood? Because you like him?” Receiving no answer from Jaebum, Jackson continued, “Are you not comfortable that you like him? That you like a boy?”

 

“That’s not it.”

 

“Then what is?”

 

“It’s just,” Jaebum groaned, “I really want to make a move, but I can’t figure out what to do, so I’m all stressed about it. And it’s just… It’s just in general. Like, look at him. God, he’s so ing attractive. There are people around him all the time. It’s very stressful to find yourself competing with so, so, so many people.”

 

Mark and Jackson shared a surprised look. Obviously, none of them expected Jaebum to easily admit it like this. A silence took over between the three captains. Jaebum now has his head against the cold surface of the table while his two friends just stared at him, probably trying to figure out what to say to cheer him up.

 

From the way Jackson’s mouth seemed to sew shut, Mark decided to take the ball. “It’s okay. You’ll find a way. Make yourself appealing. You know, put yourself out there.”

 

“He won’t notice me,” Jaebum frowned, looking genuinely really sad, like this was all he thought about throughout the weekends. Which wasn’t wrong. It was all Jaebum could think about through the weekends. Looking over his shoulder towards that table far back there, the shine in Jaebum’s eyes disappeared. A defeated sigh escaped his lips, “Don’t you hate it when you want to feel possessive of someone, which you are, but then others are touching them and they’re also touching others, and it’s just annoys you so much, but you can’t do or say , because that someone isn’t yours?”

 

“Yet,” Jackson finally spoke up, also did the honor and reached over to pat his discouraged friend’s shoulder. “Have some hope, dude. You’re Im Jae-ing-bum. The entire school knows you, bro! I’m sure Youngjae does, too! And you two would be so cute together! Right, Mark?”

 

“D-definitely!” Mark smiled, seemed a little forced, but Jaebum didn’t noticed.

 

“See? Mark agrees!”

 

“Course I do!”

 

“Go make him yours!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

Normally, these fools would embarrass the out of Jaebum, but for some weird, odd reason, their cheers kind of made him felt better. “Thank you?”

 

“You’re welcome!” Both Jackson and Mark grinned, holding up thumb-ups. The whole scene was cheesy. But it made Jaebum laughed.

 

“You guys,” looking at those grinning idiots he has as friends, Jaebum shook his head and smiled, “I guess I do appreciates you kiddos.”

 

“Awe~ We love you, too~” Jackson cooed, blowing kisses to Jaebum, who furrowed his eyebrows and tried to dodge those disgusting air kisses.

 

“All right, all right, I have to go now,” Jaebum got up and gathered his untouched lunch, “See you two afterschool.”

 

“Take care! And go for it! Doesn’t matter how many competitions, you know you got this, Jaebum!” The fencing captain waved enthusiastically as his friend walked off. When Jackson was sure Jaebum was out of the cafeteria, he immediately turned to Mark with a concerned face, “Hey, do you think…”

 

Mark shook his head with a apologetic smile, “I don’t know, man. From what I heard, Choi Youngjae is, like, the opposite of Jaebum. How are they going to…” The redhead sighed, “Like, really opposite. We’re talking about one person known to be the perfect possible replacement for the Sun, while the other have eyes that spelt nothing but empty and darkness. I’m actually feeling bad now. This is going too hard for Jaebum. I mean, he’s already stressing about it so much.”

 

“Yeah, he must really likes Youngjae then.”

 

“But then again, if you look around, who doesn’t? The kid’s basically everyone’s happy virus, little vitamin. Everyone likes him. It’s hard not to.”

 

Jackson sighed, resting his chin on the palm of his hand as he stared over at the soccer team’s table. “What’s Jaebum going to do, Mark? It’ll hit him hard if he fails. I’ve never seen Jaebum so interested before. Oh, God, imagine how hurt and broken he’ll be if his efforts weren’t paid off.”

 

A shiver ran down Mark’s back in a way that possibly posed as a prediction for something bitter to come. “Let’s not think about that… But yes, Jaebum would surely breaks Hell.”

 

Sighing, Jackson pouted, eyes casting down at his awful lunch, “And even if they do get together, Jaebum would still have to constantly be on the lookout. He’ll be so insecure about the relationship, and it’ll just not work out in the end.”

 

Mark grimaced at Jackson’s truthful thoughts, “Can we just not talk about this? So depressing.”

 

“You right,” Jackson nodded his head and thought about something for a second. “I know what we could be talking about now…”

 

Seeing the evil smirk decorating his best friend’s face, Mark rolled his eyes and groaned, “No, Jacks, we’re not-”

 

“How’s your little pretty boy, Park Jinyoung?”

 

“Oh, my God.”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

With the soccer tournament finally over, and them winning the First Place trophy, the team resorted to more relaxed, playful practices. Youngjae sat on the bleachers, peacefully keeping an eye on his teammates while they messed around with each other. Everything became less stressful now that the big game’s out of the way. Youngjae could finally breathe calmly for once. The pressure was so heavy on his shoulders. Who would have thought he’d be selected as a captain as soon as he passed the soccer try-outs. Obviously, the coach was hesistant at first, but of course, Doojoon, the former captain, poured nothing but praises about the new Sophomore player onto the coach. Eventually, Coach Jung gave in and listened to Doojoon, because the team needed a captain and Doojoon’s already graduating.

 

Youngjae sighed, shaking his head at the memory of his childhood hyung excitedly clung onto him and blabbed about how awesome of a team leader he’ll be. Honestly, Youngjae wasn’t feeling it. He wasn’t sure if he’s even confident enough. Sure, Doojoon has been the one teaching him soccer, and Doojoon’s a great player himself, but unlike Youngjae, Doojoon has great leadership qualities. Then again, his Doojoon-hyung has a very smooth tongue, so it didn’t took long for Youngjae to smiled back and accepted the position. Might as well repay back all the years Doojoon had trained him into perfection.

 

“Why sitting here by yourself, Youngjae?” Coach Jung swung by, taking a seat next to his best player.

 

“Just thinking, I guess,” Youngjae gave a polite bow of his head, “Is it time already?”

 

“Yeah, but the boys having too much fun,” the coach laughed, watching the boys tackling each other down the field. “Maybe a little longer?”

 

Youngjae faked a gasp, “B-but it’s a Monday? You would never- Oh, my God. Who are you?”

 

“Haha. Very funny, kid. Don’t get cocky with your own coach now that you’ve won your first trophy.”

 

“I didn’t win it. My team did.”

 

“But you trained them well. Just like Doojoonie said you would.”

 

“Doojoon-hyung tends to exaggerates a lot. I thought you would know that.”

 

Coach Jung laughed, patting Youngjae’s shoulder, “Of course I do, but he’s right, you know. You’re great, Youngjae. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll go far!”

 

“Thanks, Coach.”

 

They sat in silence for a while, just watching the others chasing and screaming at each other down below. Youngjae let out a sigh again, catching his coach’s attention. “Something’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be less stressed now? Or are you not getting along well with the boys? It’s that’s why you’re sitting here by yourself? Did they-”

 

“Jeez, Coach, calm down. Nothing’s wrong. And no, I do get along well with the boys. If I don’t, how am I supposed to manage and train them? I mean, I’m not as close to them as Doojoon-hyung was, but I love them as much as Doojoon-hyung. My team’s my family. Don’t ever think that we don’t get along, Coach.”

 

“Okay then,” Coach Jung raised an eyebrow, “What’s up?”

 

“Nothing,” Youngjae replied, keeping his head down, showing obvious signs that something was wrong.

 

Seeing how Youngjae being protective about it, Coach Jung nodded in understanding, pursing his lips, “All right. But I’m here if you need to vent. I’ll head home now. My wife wants me to cook dinner.”

 

Immediately took up that opportunity to change topic, Youngjae smirked, “What a good husband you are! Finally.”

 

“You punk! What do you mean ‘finally’?!”

 

Avoiding a kick from his coach, Youngjae doubled over in laughter, “But that’s good! She’s a lawyer, barely has time. It’s good that you’re helping out!”

 

“You’re ridiculous,” Coach Jung glared, but a little blush laid over his face, “Anyways, tell the kids to go back in soon. Today’s only Monday. I’ll leave now. See you tomorrow, Cap.”

 

“Bye bye, Coach! Don’t burn down the house!”

 

“Shut up, you brat!”

 

Youngjae waved his coach off until the man disappeared behind the doors. He returned his attention back to the field, staring for a moment before cupping his hands over his mouth and shouted, “All right! Get your asses inside before I break Hell!”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

“Can’t believe he’s, like, two years younger than us, but we’re getting stepped on like this,” one of the Senior player sighed.

 

“Be better than me then,” Youngjae approached from behind and swung an arm over the Senior with a teasing grin and stuck out his tongue.

 

“Can’t. No matter how hard I try, I can’t be compare with the person who was personally trained by the Yoon Doojoon, ya feel?”

 

“I feel!”

 

“I feel you so much, dude!”

 

“Same!”

 

The locker room piped up with people agreeing and raising their hands, pretending to be upset about their depressing soccer skills, but Youngjae knew better. “You kids funny!” He laughed, causing everyone to laugh, too. Shaking his head, Youngjae turned back to open his locker, but only to be stopped dead by a bright post-it smacked right in the middle of it. Youngjae tilted his head, staring at the neon green post-it with utter confusion. The note read:

 

 

Your eyes sparkle

When you’re on that field

Your hair blows softly

Against the wind as you run

Your lips has a permanent smile that

I cannot resist.

What rights do you have?

 

 

If someone were to murder a dog in front of Youngjae right now, he wouldn’t even know, because his mind went blank and hands shook as his fingers tighten around the shirt he’s holding. His face burned bright red. And heart just started picking up its speed like it does whenever he’s out running on the field. All these effects just from a couple of embarrassingly cheesy lines written on a ing neon green post-it.

 

“Which one of you did this?” At the tone of an angry captain, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and straightened their backs, facing their captain with full on attention. Youngjae took a good look at everyone’s face, “This wasn’t here before. Which one of you er thinks it’s funny to do this?”

 

“Youngjae,” Gikwang, the team’s vice president, a Senior, left his locker and walked over, “What’s going on?”

 

Without saying another word, Youngjae shoved the post-it against Gikwang’s chest. “It’s not funny.”

 

Gikwang took the note and read it, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “What’s wrong with a secret admirer’s note? You know, you’ve been popular recently.”

 

“It’s not a secret admirer!” Youngjae retorted, arms crossing his chest, face dark with unwritten anger.

 

“How do you know?” The vice captain sighed, then turned towards the team and smiled, “Go back to changing, kids, nothing’s serious here. Your Captain just throwing a tantrum.” That comment earned a couple of laughs from the team and a dead glare from the captain himself. Gikwang shrugged, “I don’t see what’s so bad about it? It’s kind of cheesy, but it’s cute.”

 

“No, it’s not!” Youngjae groaned, “It’s so creepy! How do they know my locker? And read it! It sounds like this person’s been watching me since forever!”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down. It might just be a cute girl who’s trying to get your attention.”

 

“But it’s not a girl!”

 

At this, Gikwang quirked his eyebrow, “Okaaaay, how do you know it’s not a girl?”

 

“Just look at the handwriting! It’s so obvious that’s a dude.”

 

“What do you mean? The handwriting is pretty neat-”

 

“I just do, okay?”

 

Gikwang chuckled, amusingly watched his captain stubbornly huffing in a frustrated manner, “Oh, do you want to believe it’s from a guy, because you want it to actually be from a guy?”

 

Youngjae clenched his jaw and shot Gikwang a venomous look, “What’s that supposed to mean, you jerk?”

 

It stopped surprising Gikwang at how rude the younger always is towards his hyungs. Youngjae never really respected anyone besides the teachers and, of course, Yoon Doojoon. Other than that, doesn’t matter if you’re a Junior or Senior, Youngjae would treat you all the same despite his sugarcoated “hyung” and “noona.” But everyone just let it slide, because Choi Youngjae is one adorable kid.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Gikwang opted for a kind smile, “You’re overreacting over something so irrelevant.” He didn’t miss the blush flashing across Youngjae’s face. “See? You seems to like it, so why being so childish about it?”

 

Sighing, Youngjae snatched back the post-it and stared at it, eyes squinting at the words written. He scoffed, “What rights do I have? This is bull. I have all the goddamn rights!”

 

Raising an eyebrow, Gikwang rubbed his nose, “So, um-”

 

“Oh, my God…” Youngjae gasped, eyes suddenly widened and face froze in shock.

 

“What?” Gikwang curiously shook his captain’s shoulder.

 

“Do you think…”

 

“What, Youngjae? You’re killing me here.”

 

“I… I think I know who it is…”

 

“Already? Who?”

 

Youngjae looked at Gikwang and mumbled, “C-could it be Mark Tuan?”

 

Honestly, if Gikwang’s sipping on a drink right now, he’ll spit it all over Youngjae’s face. As much as everyone could clearly sees how cute and adorable this soccer captain is, it’s a bit of reach to think the school’s hottest male god is drooling after you. “Youngjae-”

 

“I-I saw him holding a stack of neon green post-its the other day! I swear! And-and in the halls today, we passed by each other, and he smiled at me!”

 

“Uh, Young-”

 

“Oh, God, what if it’s really is him?” A smile attached itself on Youngjae’s face as the male’s eyes shone with excitement. “Mark Tuan likes me? The Mark Tuan-”

 

Like lighting, Gikwang’s hands shut down the next words that almost slipped out of Youngjae’s shameless mouth. Covering the captain mouth with his hands, the vice captain shook his head in disbelief, “You’re saying he’s your secret admirer just because he has neon green post-its and smiled at you in the hallways? You’re basically saying seventy percent of this school likes you! Well, that’s probably true… But what I mean it’s that… Aren’t you, I don’t know, taking this a bit far? Mind stepping back a bit?”

 

Smacking Gikwang’s hands away, Youngjae frowned, “So you’re saying the possibility of Mark Tuan liking me is zero?”

 

“Why you’re upset? You like him?”

 

“W-what? No! I just thought it’d be cool to be the crush of the most popular hottie.”

 

“Hm. Sure.”

 

“Gikwang-hyung~”

 

“Not falling for it."

 

“Hyung-”

 

“Anyways,” Gikwang exhaled, clapping his hands together and offered his infamous eye-smile at his captain, “I hope you don’t go around and get your hopes up. Mark Tuan would be the last person I could think of to like you.”

 

“What do you mean???”

 

“Mark-ssi’s too great for you, my little bro. Try someone a bit more casual. Like Im Jaebum,” Gikwang stuck out his tongue and winked.

 

“Who?” Youngjae scrunched his nose at the weird action his normally matured Gikwang-hyung just did.

 

“Im Jaebum,” Gikwang shrugged. “You know, the other school’s hottie, captain of that swim club filled with shirtless male students in tight, tight spandex, oh, and he also does B-boy from what I heard. He’s pretty cute. Wait, I take that back. He’s hot.”

 

“Of course,” Youngjae scoffed, “Im Jaebum, the well-known ‘bad boy,’ right? Please, the last time we ever spoke to each other, he scared the out of me. I mean, does he, like, hates life or some ? Does he even smile? How can someone live like him? I’m honestly offended. Someone like that can’t be with me.”

 

Gikwang just laughed, finding Youngjae’s reaction to the infamous name quite adorable. “I don’t know, you sound a bit interested. Hey, I kind of know him through Jackson. Let me know when you changed your mind-”

 

“One more word and I’ll fired your .”

 

“Live a little, Youngjae-ah~ You’re still young~”

 

“Lee Gikwang!”

 

“You two would actually look good, though, just saying.”

 

“What are you-”

 

“It’ll be perfect, you know, since you two considered to be, like, polar opposites. I bet the entire school would freak if you two end up together. It’ll be very entertaining.”

 

A split second later, a sweaty uniform shirt went flying towards Gikwang’s face. The Senior caught it timingly and laughed, earning himself an annoyed growl from his young, adorable, easy-to-tease captain.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

I miss you already

Will we be able to

See each other today?

 

 

Youngjae sighed, carefully removed the bright, hot pink post-it from his locker. He held it in his hand, staring at it as if the person who wrote it would magically appear through a puff of white cloud. A pout formed on his lips as he scratched his head, looking around the locker room to see if there’s a clue that he’s been missing. Apparently, none. But the curiosity gnawed at his chest. Will he be getting these everyday? That’s kind of…

 

“Romantic,” the sudden materialization of another presence made Youngjae jumped a bit on his spot. Of course it’ll be Lee Gikwang. “The first bell hasn’t rung yet, and you already got a love note? How sweet~” The vice captain smiled and walked over to his locker, unlocked it, and started stripping out of his school’s uniform.

 

“Why are you here so early when there’s no practice?” Youngjae asked.

 

“Just wanna run around a bit. Want to join?”

 

“Uh, sure?”  

 

“Great,” Gikwang nodded, “Then hurry up and change. We can talk about that while running.”

 

Nodding back, Youngjae unlocked his locker and stuck the pink post-it next to the green one on the door of his locker. He took a glance at the green post-it from yesterday and couldn’t stop the tiny curve of his lips at the words written on it. This secret admirer really knows how to win someone over just by a few words. Youngjae shook off that thought. He’s not an easy person. He definitely won’t let just two post-its shook him like this. Except it did. And was pretty obvious that it did.

 

“Do you admit the fact that you love compliments and praises?” The vice captain smirked, seeing the smitten look on Youngjae’s face as the younger continued staring at the post-its stuck on the back of his locker’s door. “You’re whipped already? Come on, you gotta put up a fight, Youngjae-ah~”

 

Rolling his eyes, Youngjae didn’t even retort back, just silently took off his uniform and puts on his practice clothes. Gikwang shook his head knowingly and waited for the younger to finish.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

“So you’re planning on waiting it out for a week?” Gikwang asked, feeling his age catching up to him, even though he’s not that old, but he’s tired.

 

“I guess?” Youngjae kept a steady pace, waiting for his vice captain to catch up a little. “I mean, it’s even harder now that it’s not a consistent schedule. The first note was during late afternoon. And the second note was during this morning. This person must stay afterschool as late as I do and go to school as early as I do. If I were to caught them in an act, how?”

 

GIkwang hummed, biting down his lip, trying to connect-the-dots of some sort of clue to help out his troubled younger captain. Before any plan could formulate, something else caught his eyes. He stopped running and looked across the track. Not hearing the little huffs from his vice captain, Youngjae turned around and found Gikwang had stopped running. Confused, the captain ran back over to his vice.

 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Youngjae nudged Gikwang’s shoulder. “Why’d you stopped?”

 

The corner of Gikwang’s lips turned upward in a little smirk, “Nothing. Just looking, I guess.”

 

“At what?”

 

Pointing, Gikwang whispered, “That’s the swim captain, Youngjae.”

 

Following Gikwang’s finger, Youngjae found himself looking a some broad shoulders. He blinked a couple of times to regain the composure he lowkey lost just seconds ago, because, damn, those shoulders could carry the whole ing Pacific. “A-and?”

 

“And?”

 

“I’m asking you!” Youngjae smacked his tongue annoyingly.

 

Gikwang smiled softly, “Why you’re acting sensitive? I’m just saying that’s the swim team’s captain.”

 

“Why would the swim team’s captain be running the track? It’s a swim team. Isn’t he supposed to swim?”

 

“You’re funny.”

 

Youngjae scoffed, “What? I’m just asking.”

 

“He’s running for lower strength, you idiot. It’s also for exercise and stamina, too.”

 

“Whatever,” Youngjae shrugged, “You coming or not?”

 

“Tired,” Gikwang responded, already heading towards the bench to take a seat. Youngjae sighed heavily and followed his vice to the bench. “Taking a little break won’t hurt. Stop pushing yourself.”

 

“I’m not pushing myself,” Youngjae grabbed his water bottle, “You’re just losing your touch.”

 

Chuckling, Gikwang dapped his forehead with the small towel that he brought, “I’m actually offended.”

 

They sat there for a while. Just watching the swim captain from afar doing his laps. It’s not really that interesting, watching someone running around with sweat damping their shirt and sticking to their skin, but for some reason, Youngjae couldn’t stop drinking his water. Gikwang looked over at his captain and smiled, “Told you he’s hot.”

 

Youngjae almost spat out his water, “What-” The soccer captain stopped dead on his words, because his eyes just- “, Gikwang, he saw us.”

 

“We’re friends, it’s okay.”

 

“Um…” Youngjae put down his bottle and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. He turned his entire body towards Gikwang, attempting to look like they haven’t been staring all this time. But Youngjae suddenly turned stiff and awkward.

 

“Youngjae…” Gikwang leaned over into the younger’s personal space and whispered, “I think he’s walking towards us…”

 

“Act natural then,” suggested the captain, who’s currently in a completely unnatural state just from first glance. Youngjae closed his eyes, waiting for the moment to come. He was so screwed. And there’s no way out of this. He cursed Gikwang for dragging him into this.

 

“Hey, Jaebum!” Gikwang greeted, all smiley and friendliness oozing out like a river. “Morning run?”

 

“Mhmm,” the swim captain hummed in response, eyes darting over to the soccer captain and stayed exactly there for a while, patiently waiting for the younger captain to take notice.

 

Gikwang cleared his throat and tapped Youngjae’s thigh, which did wonders and snapped the younger out of it. Youngjae slowly looked up timidly. As soon as his eyes met that cold gaze, Youngjae’s world froze over. An indescribable feeling pooled at the pit of his stomach as he tried hard not to gulp or show any weaknesses. But seemed like it failed, because the next thing Youngjae noticed, other than his Adam’s apple shamelessly bobbed up and down in a mini swallow, was a little lift of Jaebum’s lips. Like a smirk.

 

“My bag,” Jaebum said, pointing to the bag that’s resting peacefully against Youngjae’s back.

 

“H-huh?” Was all Youngjae could managed, leading to the tips of his ears to burn with crimson. God, he must looked so stupid in front of the school’s baddest boy right now. “A-ah… Your-your bag…” Youngjae reached behind, grabbed the bag, and give it to its rightful owner. “Here…”

 

“Thank you,” Jaebum said, reaching out to retrieve his bag.

 

Like any cliché that Youngjae could name, their fingers accidentally brushed against each other a little, and Youngjae had to bite down on his teeth to not quickly retract his hand like he’d touched some kind of dirt. He was going to act natural. And he will. Even if he wasn’t good at it. Even though it’s so obvious that Jaebum had noticed how unnatural Youngjae was from far away.

 

Feeling the air thickened around them, Gikwang faked a cough to break the tension a little. “So, do you run in the morning often? I never actually saw you do morning runs before.”

 

Swinging his bag over his shoulder while eyes still strained on Youngjae, Jaebum replied, voice harbored no color whatsoever, “Competition this Friday.”

 

“Oh,” Gikwang nodded, “I see.”

 

“By the way, Youngjae-ssi,” the sudden mention of his name made Youngjae responded almost immediately. But Jaebum smiled a little and said, “Congratulations. I didn’t get to say it last time. Thank you for taking care of Yugyeom and Bambam.”

 

“Oh, no, that’s no problem,” Youngjae decided two could play this game. He smiled wide, “Thank you. I wouldn’t expect a ‘congratulation’ from you, though, much appreciated.”

 

For a few seconds, Jaebum seemed speechless under that cold gaze, Youngjae wasn’t sure. The swim captain nodded and pressed his lips together. He turned to Gikwang, “I’ll go now.”

 

“Of course!” Gikwang waved, using his signature smile.

 

And just like that, Im Jaebum left. Youngjae scoffed, “Rude. I’m sitting right here. He could see me!”

 

Gikwang laughed, shaking his head and pinched Youngjae’s cheek, “You’re cute.”

 

“Not.”

 

“But he’s hot, right?”

 

“… I guess…?” The look Gikwang gave Youngjae was a full on seriously-you-need-to-cut-the-bull. Youngjae groaned, covering his face with his hands, “Okay, fine, he’s a lot hotter up-close, all right?”

 

“Right.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Youngjae?’

 

“What do you want?”

 

“Swim team’s competition is this Friday, want to come see your future boyfriend swims in his shirtless glory?”

 

“I’LL FIRED YOU, LEE GIKWANG!”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

School was the place Youngjae enjoyed going to. Strange, but it is what it is. Youngjae has friends, and he also enjoys doing what he loves most right on the school’s huge soccer field. This place was perfect for Youngjae. He belongs here. School rarely gave him stress, not even the load of homeworks. Youngjae was content with school. Until it becomes a lot more stressful than he had thought.

 

 

Enjoyed your lunch?

You’re so cute.

You know that, right?

So cute.

Like a baby.

My baby.

 

 

Grabbing his hair in frustration, Youngjae banged his head on his locker. His entire face probably drowned itself in a deep ocean of redness. The tingling feeling grazing against his skin made him shiver. Youngjae bit his lip, embarrassed and overwhelmed. He calmed down a little and exhaled slowly with his eyes closed. When he opened them again, he’s back to his composed self. Peeling the orange post-it off his locker, Youngjae unlocked it and stuck the note next to the other two. And blood rushed to his cheeks again as his eyes happened to glance over at the other two post-its filled with nothing but sweetness.

 

“I hate myself,” Youngjae groaned, slamming the locker close. The timing changed again. Youngjae wasn’t going back here right after lunch. He just forgot his notebook so decided to head back to the locker room. And he found the note. It wasn’t stuck on his locker early in the morning, even though he was expecting it. Whoever this person is, they’re awfully smart at hiding themselves. Because now Youngjae’s confused. Probably gave on catching this secret admirer in the act.

 

But whoever this secret admirer is, Youngjae has to give them credit. Because only after three post-its, the bubbly soccer captain already felt himself falling.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Jackson had the most unimpressed look on his face, “You’re… I don’t even know what to say, man.”

 

“You didn’t have to follow me,” Jaebum shrugged, taking out a blue post-it and a pen.

 

“I followed because I thought you’re stopping by the store to get snacks, and because Park Jinyoung legit has Mark wrapped around his finger. That redheaded long neck bastard wore his heart on his sleeves, like, could you believe he’s been sitting in the library for hours just to stare at Jinyoung. What the ?” Jackson rolled his eyes.

 

“Why are you complaining? You know he’s like this since Freshmen year.”

 

Looking down at Jaebum, Jackson squinted his eyes, trying to read what’s Jaebum writing on that post-it. When he got the gist of what bull was being put on there, Jackson scoffed, “You’re such a fake!”

 

Jaebum looked up and smiled, “He don’t know that.”

 

“He will! Gikwang’s been on my about someone who’s stays late afterschool, comes early in the morning, and has free time between classes. They’re going to catch you.”

 

“Well, then when that time comes, I’ll think about it.”

 

“You’re awful, Im. You’re worse than Mark, oh, my God.”

 

“I’m worse than him? How am I worse when I’m actually making a move unlike his scared just sits and stares like a creep? How am I worse, Wang. Elaborate, please.”

 

Stealing the post-it from Jaebum’s hand, Jackson glared at the blue note, “You’re misleading him! He’s going to think you’re this cheesy, sweet-loving nice guy, when you’re actually a ing Devil in disguise prowling with possessiveness and dominance. You can’t do that! You can’t just lie about who you are.”

 

“I’m not lying,” Jaebum snatched back the post-it and frowned after seeing the corners crumbled up a bit. He balled up the post-it and patiently sat down again, getting ready to write a new one cleanly.

 

“Yes, you are.”

 

“No, I’m not.”

 

“What-”

 

“I can be the cheesy, sweet-loving nice guy if I want to.”

 

Jackson sighed, “Yes, you can, but that’s not the real you. You can pretend for a while, but eventually, you’ll go insane. Don’t do this to him, Jaebum-ah. Don’t do this to yourself.”

 

“So what? Do I quit now? It’s too late, Jackson.”

 

“This is why you should have consulted me or Mark about this before you went and embarrassed the out of yourself.”

 

Jaebum patted his friend’s back, “Sorry, you were busy with all the fencing stuff for your team’s upcoming competition. I didn’t want to bother. And Mark? Please, he’s getting bold these days. The kid legit stalks the out of Park Jinyoung whenever he has the chance. I feel like Mark’s the crazy one here, not me.”

 

“All right, but my Vice is taking over for the being, so I’m sort of free now.”

 

“Got it,” Jaebum smiled, standing up to stick the post-it on the soccer captain’s locker. “I’ll tell you everything.”

 

“Good,” Jackson smiled back, “I don’t like being left out.”

 

“I-”

 

“Jackson?” The voice rang deep in the two captains’ ears as they both turned their heads, eyes wide, because they’re caught. Standing at the door was a surprised vice captain. “Jaebum?”

 

“G-Gikwangie-hyung!” Jackson greeted with an awkward wave and smile. “Um, uh, hey, hyung! Wha-what you’re doing here?” On instinct, the fencing captain stepped backwards, leaning his body against the row of lockers to block that specific one from Gikwang’s view.

 

“What do you mean? It’s my team’s locker room. What are you two doing here?”

 

“Um, uh, we, uh, we were, um, we…” Jackson looked back at Jaebum for assistance.

 

“Yugyeom and Bambam said they might have left something here, so we decided to come check to see if they did,” Jaebum assisted in a swoop, smooth and convincing.

 

Gikwang titled his head, a little bit suspicious of the two captains’ presence, but he nodded and softly smiled, “I see. Then what was it that they left? I can help you. It’ll be faster, too, since this is the soccer team’s locker room, and I’m the Vice Captain.”

 

This time, Jaebum looked over to Jackson for a quick save, which ended with nothing, because Jackson was also panicking on the inside. Gikwang glanced back and forth between the two with an expectant expression. Time only confirmed the vice captain’s suspicion. He might be a bit slow and gullible but not in this kind of situation.

 

Sighing, Gikwang opened his mouth to ask the most important question. “J-”

 

“How’s Youngjae-ssi?” Jackson cuts in suddenly.

 

“What?”

 

“Youngjae-ssi, you know, your Captain?”

 

“What do you-”

 

“Guys,” a fourth voice startled everyone. Their nerves only chill down when a familiar redhead poked through the door. Mark greeted Gikwang with a smile, which made the soccer vice captain blushed, because the Mark Tuan just smiled at him, before turning his attention back to his two best friends, “Yugyeom and Bambam said you don’t need to look for it anymore. They already found it in their bags.”

 

Jaebum looked taken back for a second but regained himself as he caught Mark’s knowing wink and charming canines-bearing smile. Jackson wiggled his eyebrows at his red haired best friend, obviously proud at the fact that the redhead had came on time to save both his and Jaebum’s dumb asses.

 

“Okay then,” Jaebum exhaled softly, “We’ll take our leave. I have to go back to practice.”

 

A bit puzzled but decided to let it go, Gikwang just smiled, “Good luck tomorrow, Jaebum. I’ll come to support you!”

 

“Thank you, sunbaenim.”

 

“Oh, bring Youngjae-ssi, too, if you can,” Mark suggested, purposely ignoring the shocked looks on his best friends’ faces, “Just for the experience. We’re all going to be there, that also includes Yugyeom and Bambam. It’ll be fun, yeah, sunbaenim?”

 

There wasn’t a reply right away, because Gikwang was busy studying every feature on that perfectly handsome face. He’d never really seen the basketball captain up-close before, so this will be a quite memorable experience. After admiring the school’s male god for some good long seconds, Gikwang flashed his signature eye-smile and nodded, “I’ll try!”

 

“Great! That’s settled! All right, we’ll love to stay back and chat a while longer, but we gotta return the Captain back to his pool, or his little soldiers are going to rip us apart,” Mark reached out for his best friends, telling them to hurry. Jackson grabbed Jaebum’s arm and dragged them both over to Mark, where they’re safe and sound behind their superior red haired friend’s back. Mark grinned, “See you tomorrow, sunbaenim~”

 

Gikwang bid the three Juniors “goodbye” before turning back into the locker room. He headed over his locker to gather his dirty practice clothes. Shoving all the dirty laundry in a plastic bag he brought, Gikwang sighed and looked up briefly. But he did a double take because something definitely caught his eyes. A blue post-it smacked right in the middle of Youngjae’s locker. Gikwang walked over, feeling this unease, because that post-it, for sure, wasn’t there when he was here ten minutes before meeting Jackson and Jaebum back in here…

 

Something’s raising a lot of flags, but Gikwang stopped himself from jumping into conclusions or connecting the wrong dots. Out of curiosity, and it’s not like Youngjae was keeping this a secret from him, Gikwang leaned close to the post-it and read it.

 

 

I think about you a lot.

To the point that

It’s painful to sleep.

You make me like this.

Please, take responsibility.

Can we meet tomorrow?

 

 

His lips pressed together in a thin line. His eyebrows furrowed together. Gikwang sworn he didn’t see this note here before. It’s only here after Jackson and Jaebum left. “So, it’s one of them?”

 

“What’s up?” Youngjae’s voice pulled Gikwang back to reality.

 

Smiling, the vice captain shook his head, “Nothing. But you got a new note.”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Over the course of the last few days, the post-its muddled with Youngjae’s mind. A lot. More than he’d like to admit it. He found himself just giving up on trying to catch the culprit red-handed, but instead, he expected it. He expected to find a post-it sticking in front of his locker. They always make him smile even when on bad days. Youngjae wouldn’t admit it yet, but he thinks he likes his secret admirer already. Maybe he should write back. Youngjae wanted to, but he didn’t needed to anymore. His lovely secret admirer will reveal themselves today.

 

Though, instead of standing and waiting by his locker, Youngjae was brutally dragged by his vice captain to watch the swim team’s competition. So far it’s been a bit boring, mostly because the other schools’ players were obviously slower than his school’s swim team. Also, Youngjae wasn’t really into swimming all that much. But from the enthusiastic cheers, a lot of people really do enjoy a bunch of shirtless guys in tight spandex ripping through water with their arms. Youngjae sighed, looking somewhere else as the competition continued on. He spotted Park Jinyoung near the resting area of the swimmers passing out towels. Youngjae always has a soft place for the poor male in his heart. He feels bad. People shouldn’t be picking on someone whose IQ confirmed to be three digits. Putting his hand up and waving frantically at the school’s nerd, Youngjae face broke into a smile. He waved until Jinyoung finally noticed. Their eyes met for a few seconds, but Jinyoung looked away right when Youngjae mouthed a friendly “hello.”

 

“Who are you waving to?” Gikwang asked.

 

“Park Jinyoung,” Youngjae replied, “He’s volunteering again.”

 

“Of course, he’s a model student.”

 

“To the teachers.”

 

“To the teachers,” Gikwang repeated with a soft exhaled, “The kid’s really smart.”

 

“Obviously.”

 

“I meant, like, other than being academically superior, Park Jinyoung has a really smart mouth. Maybe that’s why he gets bullied a lot. People don’t like others who can successfully talk them down like Park Jinyoung can.”

 

“Stupid.”

 

“I know, but that’s how society is, I guess.”

 

Observing Jinyoung for a while, Youngjae felt a tugged of his heart when Jinyoung took a seat and pulled out a book. The soccer captain smiled, nodded to himself, and looked away, pulling his attention back to the competition. Another handful of boring participants, Youngjae’s attention span shortens. He looked a little to his left and found the fencing captain and basketball captain sitting together, very calm, too calm, because next to them were, of course, a shouting Yugyeom and a hyping Bambam. Youngjae smiled at the two youngers. It’s such a shame that Mark Tuan had already called dibs. Youngjae really wanted those two on his soccer team.

 

The competition dragged on more for another hour. Youngjae and Gikwang joined seats with the other four. At least it wasn’t as boring as before. Jackson, apparently, took a great interest in Youngjae being a soccer prodigy and whatnot. Mark didn’t say much, but actually rather out-of-it, like he’s focusing on something really hard that he doesn’t give two s about anything else. Youngjae found it strange, because wasn’t the Mark Tuan here to cheer on his friend? So why does he kept looking towards the team’s resting area. Curious, Youngjae followed Mark’s gaze. At first, he didn’t get it. But as soon as he saw the cover of To Kill A Mocking Bird blocking the face of a very concentrated reader, a grin unconsciously grazed upon his lips. He gets it now.

 

Youngjae looked down, trying to hide another wide smile that’s already spreading contagiously over his slightly blushing face. He secretly took a glance at the redhead. And wow. Youngjae wished he could find himself someone who could look at him like he’d hung the moon and stars, like he’s the creator of the universe, like he’s the only thing in this world that matters, like he’s the most beautiful being that ever walked this reality.

 

“That was unexpected," Youngjae mumbled alone, still smiling and biting down his lip from letting his smile grew any bigger. “Cute.”

 

After a few more minutes of internally squealing, Youngjae finally regained composure and determined to pour his undivided attention back to the pool. Perfect timing, because the place exploded with screams and shouts. Youngjae craned his neck, confused by the audience’s reaction. When his eyes landed on a pair of bare shoulders and curved, round back with muscles poking, bulging against the slightly tanned skin, as if wings could sprout from those bones. For the lack of a better word, or any word at all, that’s a ing hot body. And, of course, whom else could it belong to other than the Im Jaebum.

 

The screams intensified when the swim captain turned around towards the audience, displaying his smooth, tones abs as he ran a hand through his hair. This triggered a lot of people, because damn, Youngjae thought he could go deaf. Also, it doesn’t help that he’s next to Jackson, Yugyeom, and Bambam. If anyone ask him what’s it’s like to visit a cage of wild, angry monkeys, he won’t hesitate and point to those three. Thank God Mark and Gikwang were more civilized.

 

“Hey, look,” Gikwang nudged Youngjae, “Someone’s looking at you~”

 

Youngjae raised an eyebrow at his vice captain. “What-” His eyes met with the person down below. And Youngjae stopped breathing. The way Jaebum’s sharp, cold eyes were looking directly at him pierced through his soul, straggling him, making him squirm and gasping for air. Something stirred wildly within Youngjae as they held their stare. Jaebum smirked, breaking the contact, and turned away. Only then could Youngjae breathe again.

 

“What was that?” Gikwang glanced at his captain. “That was intense.”

 

“No,” a slow huff rolled out from his constricted throat. “No, this can’t happen… I won’t let it…”

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“I will not let myself fall for a bad boy!”

 

Gikwang quirked his eyebrow, taken back at his captain’s sudden declaration. “What are you talking about?”

 

The glint in Youngjae’s eyes ignited, determination bled out his eyes. “My heart will only be with that sweet secret admirer! Not a bad boy like Im Jaebum!”

 

“So you admit it?” The soccer vice captain teased, liking the juice he’s hearing.

 

“Whatever,” Youngjae crossed his arms against his chest stubbornly, pouting and feeling his cheeks burning up. “But I will not fall for Im Jaebum.”

 

“You don’t know that,” Gikwang muttered under his breath, couldn’t help himself from smiling a bit, because he knew.

 

Doesn’t matter how much Youngjae chanted in his head that he won’t fall for a bad boy, the fact stayed clear as day that Jaebum deemed to be an incredible swimmer who possesses such a body that Youngjae would love to-

 

“Stop drooling, honey,” and the enthralled soccer captain drew his eyes away, amused a smirking Gikwang, “What were you saying about ‘not falling for the bad boy’?”

 

“Shut up…” Youngjae muttered, side-eyeing his vice captain as tints of pink stained his cheeks. “I’m not the only one staring, so you can it.”

 

“Yeah, but you’re the only one he wants attention from.”

 

“You don’t know that.”

 

“Oh,” Gikwang laughed, “Sweetie, I know.”

 

Shaking his head and ignoring Gikwang, Youngjae rolled his eyes and returned his attention back to the match, which he suddenly took interest in. Definitely not because a certain captain had made appearance. Yep. Definitely. Youngjae continued to lie to himself, eyes automatically glued to only Im Jaebum. Sure, he’s supposed to stay loyal to his secret admirer, but can’t he just live in the moment for a while? Passing up preying a full course meal was just too much of a loss. No one could resist. Not even Choi Youngjae.

 

“This is ing ridiculous,” Youngjae sighed, watching Jaebum got out of the pool, wet and dripping from head to toes.

 

Gikwang just laughed.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

As much as Youngjae wanted to, he couldn’t leave as soon as the swimming competition ended. His new group of friends kept on making conversations as if trying to stall him. Youngjae doesn’t know. But his instincts were telling him that something’s fishy. Even Gikwang was acting a little too nice. So Youngjae just stood there, anxious and wanting to leave, while his friends chat up about the competition. He wanted to go, but wouldn’t that be rude? Well, they’ve been standing here for at least fifteen minutes already…

 

“Hey, um, I think I’m gonna have to go,” Youngjae finally spoke up, earning unwanted stares from five intense pairs of eyes. “I got something to do… Um, it’s great knowing you all, um, I guess we could hang sometimes? But n-not right now, though, you know, ‘cause I, um, got,” he flashed an awkward smile, jabbing his thumb towards the exit, glancing over at Gikwang to help him out.

 

“Awe~ Already? But hyung, we were getting to the best part of the competition!” Bambam whined cutely, hoping to pulled Youngjae’s attention back into their conversation.

 

“Yeah, Youngjae-hyung, just a bit more, yeah?” Yugyeom also whined, reaching across and lightly grabbed Youngjae’s arm.

 

“We just started becoming friends, what’s the rush?” Jackson chimed in, obviously assisting the two youngers.

 

And of course, next to Youngjae, Mark puts a hand on his shoulder and pulled one of those charming-smile-with-his-teeth-baring-so-much-that-his-cute-and-hot-canines-showed, “Stay a while?”

 

Okay, yes, Youngjae should stay loyal to his admirer. Or, yes, he should at least stay loyal to Im Jaebum. But, let’s be honest here, it’s Mark ing Tuan. There’s no way anyone could reject that goddamned perfect redhead. And Youngjae ain’t about to start that trend. So he stayed.

 

For another five minutes.

 

Now, he really needed to go.

 

His secret admirer didn’t set a specific time, so Youngjae wanted to go to his locker and waits. He’ll kill himself if he misses this.

 

“All right, I really have to go now,” Youngjae unintentionally interrupted Jackson’s chicken story, or whatever the Hell it was, but that didn’t matter. Youngjae was already backing away when he smiled apologetically and offered a tiny wave at the group, “I’m sorry! I’ll make it up next time! See you all around!” And he his heels, bolting out of the place.

 

They all looked after the running soccer captain with little smiles adorning their faces. Bambam was the first to say something, “Think Jaebum-hyung had enough time?”

 

Mark shrugged, “Who knows. It doesn’t take him that long to shower and put on his uniform.”

 

“Yeah,” Jackson grinned, swinging an arm over Gikwang’s shoulders, “He better be ready, though, we’re talking about the speed of a running soccer captain here.”

 

“You all missed it when Jaebum literally ran back to his lockers as soon as they announced First Place, right? He didn’t even stay back to give s hugs. As soon as that First Place trophy touched his hands, his already scurried off,” Gikwang laughed, eyes disappearing into crescents endearingly.

 

“Shaaaaaame,” Yugyeom whistled, “Can’t believe he left his team for a boy~”

 

“But hey, at least everyone now knows our school stays superior in all sports,” Jackson winked, feeling awfully proud.

 

“Yours next, Jacks,” Mark scoffed, “Go practice!”

 

“Um, excuse me, but fencing ain’t next, mister.”

 

“Then whose is?”

 

All four of them, in perfect harmony, without missing a single beat, diverted their eyes on a confused redhead and shouted, “YOURS!”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Each step added onto his anxiety. Each step brought him a little closer to Death. Each step felt like an eternity. Each step felt so heavy, so suffocating, so overwhelming. Youngjae exhaled sharply, pushing himself to walk down the hall. The soccer team’s locker room was just right at the end of the hallway. He could do this. He won’t back down. He’ll face it head on. Whatever it may be, he’ll accept it.

 

As Youngjae approached the locker room, a faint “” slipped out from the other side of the door. Youngjae’s heart sped up. Is it… Is it… He twisted the knob and pushed the door opened. The sight that greeted him completely threw him off guard.

 

Because standing right in front of his eyes was the swim team’s captain, Im Jaebum, with wet hair and in disheveled school uniform, holding onto his opened backpack, eyes widened as soon as they met Youngjae’s shocked ones. Youngjae slowly moved his gaze down onto the floor. He should have known. What he saw left him frozen. On the ground, laid pads of post-its in different colors, all in their rainbow glory, teasing Youngjae as they relaxed against the cold surface of the floor.

 

“Youngjae.” Hearing his name being called for the first time from someone he totally never would have dreamed of, the younger male lifted his head up, eyes meeting back at his secret admirer. His admirer calmly picked up the post-its, putting them back into his backpack and zipped the bag up. His admirer stared at him for God knows how long, but Youngjae guessed long enough, because now there’s a smile spreading across his admirer’s face, which subtly scared Youngjae a little. Because Im Jaebum never smiles. “You’re early. They did a bad job stalling you, huh?”

 

Still shocked, no words could be formed. It’s like Youngjae had lost the ability to speak and understand as soon as he entered the room. Everything’s happening in front of him was so surreal. He would have never imagined that… Never would imagined Jaebum… The Im Jaebum… Never…

 

Jaebum advanced closer, slowly closing the gap in between them. Youngjae found himself unconscious backing away with each step that the bad boy took forwards. The raw fierceness resting within Jaebum’s cold eyes sent shivers down Youngjae’s spine. That gaze smacked him right in his face in a brutal manner. No mercy on him as it penetrated through his soul. Youngjae felt small under Jaebum’s gaze, feeling like the older could clearly read through him.

 

Youngjae didn’t notice that Jaebum had reached behind and closed the door until his own back hit flat against it, trapped with Jaebum’s body hovering over him. He flinched a little, hearing the resonated click as Jaebum locked the door. Youngjae looked down and gulped. What did he got himself into…

 

He waited. He waited for Jaebum to distance them both, so he could have some personal space to breathe. But that moment never came, because Jaebum got him all pinned up against the door helplessly. Youngjae let out a shaky breath, trying to will himself back to his right state of mind, hoping to think of something to say at least. But he couldn’t. His head was all mushy from the strong scent of fresh shampoo ticking off of Jaebum’s body. His head was all pooled from the little droplets of water dripping from the tip of Jaebum’s onyx bed of hair that Youngjae thought would feels so nice to run his hand, threads his fingers, all over it. And Jaebum’s so, so, so close to him, basically tearing down any walls Youngjae’s trying to put up last-minute to protect himself from this threatening predator.

 

But all methods failed.

 

Because Youngjae couldn’t help but be intoxicated with Jaebum’s oozing amount of dominance and rawness.

 

He’s ed.

 

“Not saying anything?”

 

Youngjae shook his head slightly, sniffed once, and cleared his throat once.

 

“That’s fine. Seeing you coiled up in defense already made me satisfied.”

 

Youngjae’s mouth stayed shut.

 

“You should see a mirror,” Jaebum chuckled, leaning in closer and whispered in Youngjae’s ear, “Your face and neck are flushed. It’s pretty cute.”

 

Youngjae swallowed, closing his eyes, clenching his jaw. He’ll sure to explode if Jaebum decided to try anything.

 

“Are you that scared of me?”

 

Of course he was. Anyone would. Sure, it’s kind of a turn-on due to the awful stench of tension in the air, but it’s Im Jaebum and the reputation Jaebum got around here sure as Hell aren’t sunshine and rainbows. But Youngjae didn’t want to back down like that. Two can play this game. And so his decided to face it head on like he had planned. Finally lifting his head, meeting his eyes with Jaebum, Youngjae scoffed, “No, just disappointed.”

 

“Disappointed?” Jaebum’s eyebrows furrowed and face immediately turned darker.

 

All right, Youngjae took that back. He’s scared as .

 

“Why? Were you expecting someone else? Was there someone else in mind?”

 

If looks could kill, then Jaebum’s stare alone could stab someone to death.

 

“Youngjae,” Jaebum called, voice a lot softer now.

 

“Y-yeah?” Youngjae cleared his throat awkwardly; he’ll try again, because why should he sound so defenseless? “Yeah.”

 

They stared at each other for a while without any words passing between, just a whole ing lots of tension that desperately needed to be vent off. Jaebum just hummed and removed his hand from the door, pulling away, giving Youngjae the much needed space. Youngjae finally exhaled softly, releasing the breath he didn’t know he was holding. After he was done, he looked back up at Jaebum. Let’s finally get down to business. “A-are you really?”

 

Jaebum didn’t answer right away. Instead, the bad boy reached into his uniform jacket’s pocket and pulled out a red post-it. He handed over to Youngjae with a small smile that legit holds the power to stop Youngjae’s world from spinning. Jaebum replied, “Yes, really.”

 

Unconsciously his dried lips, Youngjae continued to stare for a bit more before looking down at the red post-it in his hand. He read it slowly:

 

 

I'm the one who loves you.

My heart beats only for you.

Just for you, baby.

Are you feeling the same?

Even if you don't expect it?

Baby, will you accept me?

Us, will you accept?

Me, will you accept?

 

 

Reading the note over and over again, Youngjae felt his heart sped a little faster each time around. And when it finally dawned on him, Youngjae couldn’t help but be impressed. He returned his gaze back up at Jaebum, this time, Youngjae smiled shyly, “You really did not just made an acrostic poem out of your name.”

 

Jaebum smiled back, “I did. Just in case if we missed each other.”

 

“Never,” Youngjae said, even surprised himself at the confidence he had in that word and the ones following right after, “We’ll never miss each other.”

 

“Is that your answer?”

 

Youngjae blushed, avoiding his admirer’s affectionate gaze, “Um…”

 

And the next thing he knows, Jaebum pressed him against the door again. “Is it?” The bad boy leaned in, face just centimeters away from his.

 

He knows he should think this through. He knows.

 

He knows he should probably make a decision to let Jaebum wait a while. He knows.

 

He knows he shouldn’t just agree with everything so quick. He knows.

 

But he also knows how relieved he was to open the door and found Im Jaebum standing there, clumsily trying to hang onto the falling backpack.

 

Youngjae was relieved that it’s Im Jaebum and not anyone else.

 

“Yes…” Youngjae nodded his head as he whispered out the answer that will change his life from this point onwards.

 

And soft lips plush against his, locking them in an incredibly calming kiss. There wasn’t anything violent lingered in their first kiss. It was just chaste, sweet, and innocent. Jaebum grinned in between their kiss, winding his arms around Youngjae’s waist and pulled the younger closer. Youngjae gripped onto the lapels of Jaebum’s jacket, eyes closing, lips moving in sync with his lover, entire body just melted against Jaebum as the older held him close, cradling him lovingly as if he’s fragile.

 

“You’re mine now,” Jaebum smirked against Youngjae’s lips. “And forever will only be mine.”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Honestly, Mark have better s to do, like study with his Jinyoung, than sit here, watching these two shameless ers make out. The redhead rolled his eyes, wanting to shoot himself dead on the spot. “All right. Can you two stop? You called me here, and my had to postpone my study date with Jinyoung, just so I can watch you two eating each other’s faces? Like, what are you trying to prove? The whole goddamned school knows how shameless you both are. No need to keep rubbing it. Good grace.”

 

Youngjae giggled, pulling away from his boyfriend, not without another quick peck on Jaebum’s lips, “He’s so cute when he’s frustrated.” The soccer captain removed himself off of Jaebum’s lap.

 

“I know, right,” Jaebum threw Mark a smirk, earning a glare from the redhead.

 

“ off, both of you,” Mark groaned. “What do you want?”

 

Jaebum shrugged, throwing his arm around Youngjae’s shoulders, staking his claim even though there was nobody around except them three, “Youngjae thought we should go on a double date.”

 

“Yes!” Youngjae’s eyes sparkled so blindingly that Jaebum couldn’t resist and leaned over to plant a kiss on the younger’s flushed cheek. “It’ll be so fun~”

 

Mark just stared at the couple in front of him in disbelief for a good ten seconds before slamming his fist on the table as anger fumed off of him. “Oh, no, no, no, no! You did not just ing called me over here, make me watch you two make out for ten minutes-”

 

“-You’re exaggerating. It was only five,” Youngjae rolled his eyes.

 

“-shut up. It felt like ten,” Mark grumbled, “Anyways, I did not push back meeting my ing boyfriend so y’all could tell me y’all wanna have a double date. You could have done that through text!”

 

“You’re being dramatic, Mark,” Jaebum scoffed, pulling Youngjae closer. “Stop being such a drama queen. We all know Jinyoung won’t mind waiting a bit.”

 

“EXCUSE YOU!” The three flinched at the booming voice. They immediately whipped their heads towards the familiar intruder. Of course, who else could it be? Jinyoung crossed his arms against his chest. “No, I will definitely mind waiting, Im Jaebum.”

 

“Jinyoung-hyung!” Youngjae reached out, about to take Jinyoung’s hands into his but was pulled back by a disapproving Jaebum. “How was your trip to Japan? Did you have fun?”

 

Taking his seat next to Mark, who gave him an apologetic smile, Jinyoung nodded a little and sighed, “Good, I guess. Brought you all souvenirs, though.”

 

“Thank you, hyung!”

 

“Yeah, but no thank you to you two! I haven’t seen Mark in three weeks and you’re going to me?”

 

Jaebum shrugged, “Not our fault Mark’s academic records aren’t pretty enough to win a trip to temporary study in Japan.”

 

“Jaebum,” Jinyoung warned, eyes narrowed and aura oozing with malice. Mark just smiled and patted his boyfriend’s head affectionately, saying it’s okay because they joked about it all the time. Jinyoung rolled his eyes, “Doesn’t matter. In the presence of me, no one gets to degrade you like that. No one.”

 

Youngjae smiled warmly, “Don’t worry, Jinyoung-hyung, I’ll personally talk to Jaebum-hyung later. But it’s cute that you’re protective like this. Sometimes, Mark-hyung does need some protection, but he’s too prideful to admit it.”

 

Clearing his throat now that the center of their conversation steered back to him, Mark attempted to change the topic, “So, uh, about the double date, how we’re going to do this?”

 

“Why are we doing this in the first place?” Jinyoung asked while moving Mark’s red fringe over the side, so he could see his boyfriend’s face better after weeks of not being able to.

 

“Well,” Youngjae exhaled heavily, causing Jaebum to rub his shoulder in reassurance. “You three are graduating in a month… And… Uh… I don’t know. I just, um, I-”

 

“We’ll do it,” Mark grinned, “This double date thing. It’ll be fun, right, Jinyoungie?”

 

“Of course!” Jinyoung nodded, giving Youngjae his best smile, “Don’t be sad, Jae-ah~ We’ll make it the best date you’ll ever had!”

 

“R-really?” The look in Youngjae’s eyes was enough to melt the olders’ hearts. They all gazed at their precious younger friend with softness. This must have been stressing the younger out for a long time now. Jaebum leaned over and kissed Youngjae’s head, smiled with such indescribable fondness for his lover. Youngjae bit his lip to suppress his sudden urge to cry. “Thank… T-thank you... I know I’m being dra-dramatic and every-everything b-but I j-just… I just don’t want Jaebum to go away…”

 

Mark and Jinyoung shared a look and nodded, taking their cues to leave. The two offered small smiles to Jaebum before getting up and intertwined their fingers. Youngjae was going to break, and it won’t be fair if Mark and Jinyoung were to witness it. The only person should witness it is the person who’s the reason behind his stress and sadness. And that person could be none other than Im Jaebum.

 

“I’m sorry… I’m being such a child…” Youngjae sniffled, feeling the uncomfortable lump sitting in his throat, but he couldn’t swallow it down. The more time passed, the more Youngjae realized how much time he has left with Jaebum. He tried to push that thought to the back of his head and won’t think about it. He tried to just enjoy his time with Jaebum as much as he can. He tried to. But it’s hard. It’s so hard when Youngjae loves Jaebum so much. And now, they only got a month. A month before Jaebum would be packing his bags and leaving for the big city for college. A month before Youngjae would be going through Senior year alone. A month before the only things that would connect them are late-night phone calls and occasional video chats. A month before everything would weight down on them both. A month before the stability of their relationship would be put to test.

 

And that scared them both.

 

“It’s okay, Jae-ah,” Jaebum smiled bitterly, hugging his boyfriend close. “We’ll make it work. I don’t want to lose you.”

 

Instead of replying with the same “I don’t want to lose you, too,” Youngjae buried his face into Jaebum’s chest, wrapping his arms around Jaebum and let it go. Let it all go. The more tears Youngjae spilt on Jaebum’s white uniform shirt, the tighter Jaebum hugged him, the softer Jaebum became, the more pain Jaebum felt. Everything else was long forgotten. They were so caught up in each other’s worlds that they forgot there’s an entire reality in front of them.

 

Jaebum pulled Youngjae away from his chest, wiping the younger’s tears with his thumbs, cupping that lovely face in his hands, he smiled softly, confidently, “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll try to call everyday, and-and we could video chat on the weekends, and I’ll come during the holidays. And if you need me, if things get hard, if you can’t handle s by yourself, I swear I’ll drop everything and come back to you, okay? We could do this, Youngjae. It’s only one year. We could do this, all right? We’ll make it work. We’ll keep fighting for each other. No matter what, I’ll always be here for you, and you will always be here for me. I’m not going to leave you behind.”

 

Youngjae nodded, sniffling and breathing unevenly, trying to control his tears, but it wasn’t working. Because seeing Jaebum’s face had already reminded him of how much he’ll miss him. It’s so hard. It’s so hard to pretend everything was going to be all right. It’s so hard. And Youngjae wasn’t strong enough.

 

Pressing a kiss on Youngjae’s forehead, Jaebum closed his eyes, wanting Youngjae to promise him just one thing. “Trust me, Youngjae. Please, will you trust me?”

 

“I trust you,” Youngjae whispered through his broken voice, “I love you.”

 

“I love you, too. So just trust me. That’s all you have to do.”

 

They sat there for a little longer, lingering in each other’s warmth and love, soaking in as much as they can. Youngjae was still a little sad, and Jaebum knows, but that’s okay, because everything would be all right. Even if everything wouldn’t, at least Youngjae trusts Jaebum. They’ll walk through this together. They’re not going to let go. Not that easily.

 

“Promise me you won’t let some random seduce you,” Youngjae muttered, fingers drawing random patterns on Jaebum’s stomach.

 

“What?”

 

“I heard there’s a lot of pretty people in the big city…”

 

Laughing, Jaebum took Youngjae’s hand, brought it up to his lips and placed a little kiss, “You’re the prettiest, though.”

 

“Liar…”

 

“I’m not.”

 

Youngjae didn’t say anything, but the blush laid over his face was the only answer Jaebum needed. “How about you promise me you’re not going to let some laid their hands on you?”

 

“You’re being ridiculous,” Youngjae rolled his eyes.

 

“I tolerated Gikwang last year, because I trusted him. But he already graduated, so there’s literally no one I trust now. And I’ll be gone soon. I want to know for sure that my baby won’t be feeding off of somebody’s impurity while I’m gone.”

 

“You say it like you’re the one that’s pure.”

 

“Am I not?”

 

“Uh, no. Who the Hell tries to their crush right after a confession?” Youngjae stared at Jaebum accusingly.

 

Jaebum scoffed, “Really? You’re going that route now? That’s a low move, Jae.”

 

“I’m just being real, Jaebum. I appreciates you wanting me, but like, you were so eager to have me right there in the locker room, right after I accepted your confession. Did you think I was an easy guy? What happened to the sweet, nice guy who posted cheesy love letters on my locker? You only courted me for a week, Jaebum, a week, and you already want to have ? ”

 

“Well, in my defense, you wanted me, too, so-”

 

“No, I didn’t-”

 

“-and you were a , so of course, I have to do something fast. Also, yes, you did want me right then and there. Stop trying to denial it.”

 

“I didn’t!”

 

“Babe, you did, and why are you making this such a big deal? We didn’t actually ed, though, since you stopped me halfway. We didn’t officially had until, like, weeks later, after a couple of dates like you wanted.”

 

“Yeah, okay, but I didn’t want you,” Youngjae scooted away from Jaebum, arms crossed stubbornly in front of his chest.

 

Jaebum raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, say that again to your Sophomore self who wouldn’t stop staring at me during that competition. Great talk, babe.”

 

“I wasn’t-”

 

“Sure, I believe you.”

 

“Jaebum-”

 

“I mean I understood why you’d stare. No one could resists my body so-”

 

“Listen, I wasn’t-”

 

“I actually worked out a lot harder to look good for you, so you’re welcome.”

 

Youngjae gave up, sighing, cheeks flaming red, “You know what, you’re narcissistic, nothing I said would go through you anyways.”

 

Jaebum shrugged, a winning smirk played on his lips, “If that’s the reason you’ve been using to convince yourself that you didn’t want to see me that day, then okay, whatever makes you feel better, babe. I know I look good. I’m sure you know that, too, since you’ve seen me many times already. There’s no way to denial it.”

 

“I hate you,” Youngjae pouted, looking away and seated himself at the end of the table.

 

“Awe~ Love you, too~” Jaebum cooed, sliding right next to his lover, running his hand up and down Youngjae’s thigh.

 

“Go away! Don’t touch me!” Youngjae tried to escape but only got held down firmly by Jaebum’s strong hands.

 

“We only have a month together and you want to push me away?” Jaebum nuzzled against the crook of Youngjae’s neck, hand squeezing the soccer captain’s thick thigh, “I’m hurt.”

 

Youngjae’s head started to go hazy as his face flushes with sudden sensitivity. He hates to admit it, but the year they had spent together, Jaebum done a damn awesome job at conditioning him. Of course, Jaebum would know which trigger to pull. “I h-hate you!”

 

“Hmmm,” humming and nibbling lightly on the milky skin of Youngjae’s neck, Jaebum smiled, “Let me hear more of that.”

 

“Jae-Jaebum…” Youngjae gasped as Jaebum’s hand moved a little, his inner thigh, running fingers teasingly, “N-not here… Wha-”

 

“Of course not here,” Jaebum smirked devilishly, lips leaving the patch of gently bruised skin, and hand removed from wherever it was. He got up, the smirk still plastered on his face as he his lips, watching a flushed Youngjae snapped out of it, “See you in an hour.”

 

Youngjae’s wide eyes and confusion were enough to pull Jaebum back in for a lip-biting kiss. “What… Where you’re going?” Youngjae asked, a little into their playful kiss.

 

Pulling away with a smile, Jaebum left the last kiss on Youngjae’s cheek, “I think you’re forgetting that we’re both Captains, and there’s a team meeting for both of our teams that’s happening in about ten minutes. So, I’ll see in an hour, babe.”

 

“But you can’t just leave me like this!”

 

“Yes, I can.”

 

“Im Jaebum!”

 

“You’re coming over today, right? And staying over the weekends, too?”

 

Pouting, Youngjae gave a little nod, “Yeah…”

 

“Cool, I’ll stop buy the market later,” Jaebum patted his boyfriend’s head, “Gonna make you dinner, baby.”

 

“I want kimchi stew…”

 

Laughing, Jaebum leaned in again, planting a kiss on top of Youngjae’s head, “Of course you do.”

 

“I hate you,” Youngjae scoffed, rolling his eyes and fixing his uniform.

 

“I’ll make it up to you after dinner,” Jaebum winked, “Or we have the whole weekend to.”

 

Didn’t open his mouth to say anything, the soccer captain stood up, adjusting his tie neatly before looking at the swim captain with bored eyes, “What makes you think I’ll let you touch me?”

 

Jaebum quirked his eyebrow, “What?”

 

“Your house has three guest rooms, Jaebum-ah. I’ll take one of them,” Youngjae shrugged nonchalantly, giving absolutely no s at all.

 

Scoffing, Jaebum ran his tongue over his bottom lip. Two can play this game. “Fine. Let’s see how long you could hold it off.”

 

That’s right. Two can play this game. Youngjae smiled brightly, sarcasm tearing at his lips, “Yeah. Let us see how long you could go without laying a single finger on me.”

 

“Oh. So we’re doing this.”

 

“Course we are! You don’t get to me over like this. Taste your own medicine, love.”

 

“I can’t believe this. We legit only got a month together and you’re like this.”

 

Smirking, Youngjae waved off, walking away, “The table have turned.”

 

Staring after his lover, Jaebum wanted to bite down his lip and scoff, but the only thing that broke through his façade was an affectionate smile. God, help him, he loves his Youngjae so much.

 

And will only love his Choi Youngjae now and onwards. Forever.