Title: Jump then Fall
Prompt: “You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.” – Ray Bradbury
Summary: “You’ve always done the right thing. But what if you don’t need to be right all the time?”

.oOo.

She is the class president. He is the class clown. Sungyeol watches from his seat near the back row, uncharacteristically quiet. He’s listening to her attentively, for some strange and unknown reason, and though most find this unusual, they disregard this as some sort of normal, yet odd, Sungyeol thing. Because Sungyeol doesn’t have a one-track mind like her, it isn’t as difficult to accept quick changes with him.

There’s something wrong with the way she’s speaking, he thinks. Sungyeol can’t quite put his finger on it, but it doesn’t seem like his class president is as confident as she is supposed to be. He thinks she lacks the vigor she usually has when speaking to a crowd.

He frowns. It’s unnerving, if Sungyeol has to be truly honest.

Sungyeol raises his hand and everyone is surprised when he asks her a logical question that is actually linked to the subject matter at hand. He finds himself shocked as well when he sees her looking chirpier after answering.

.oOo.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m rigging Myungsoo’s desk.”

“You’re friends aren’t you? Why are you doing this then? Sungyeol-ssi, you know I’ve had a lot of complaints from our classmates about your… erm… tricks.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?”

“Wha- I – Lee Sungyeol! I am only voicing out the concerns of our other classmates.”

“And what’s it to you? I’ve done nothing to you – at least I don’t think I’ve ever did. Why let them dictate your feelings?”

 “Yes, but – this isn’t right. There are people –”

“It isn’t right, but it’s funny as hell. He’s my best friend, he understands.”

“But this isn’t right.”

“You’ve always done the right thing. But what if you don’t need to be right all the time?”

“Sungyeol –”

“Just shut up and enjoy the show.”

.oOo.

Sungyeol easily grabs the book for her when he sees her reaching for it on her tiptoes. Height is a definite advantage for him, and it’s obvious how easily he towers over her. She’s surprised, but says quiet words of thanks under her breath nonetheless. She doesn’t look at him, fidgeting with the hem of her school uniform instead, staring down on the marble floor.

He hasn’t talked to her since Myungsoo got angry with him for rigging his desk the other week. He hasn’t talked to her properly at all, now that he thinks about it. He’s lost in thought trying to think of proper words to tell her. You were right? I should’ve listened to you? They don’t seem the right thing to say at all and to be honest, Sungyeol will never really mean it if he ever will be able to voice out those thoughts.

Sungyeol barely notices that she’s speaking if she doesn’t make small coughing sounds and nudges his knee with hers. She’s telling him to move aside because he’s actually boxing her in and the way he’s unconsciously leaning closer kind of makes her feel uncomfortable.

Sungyeol blinks, and steps aside. She passes by him with a nod and he smells watermelon and strawberries, and summer and spring, and it makes him dizzy but he craves for it all the same. He calls her name – the first time since the start of the school year – and tells her he wants to be friends.

.oOo.

“Why are you crying?”

“Wh-what- I’m not. I-I…”

“Prez, there are tears in your cheeks, I’m not blind you know.”

“Sungyeol, just leave me alone. You wouldn’t understand.”

“All you have to do is put a little trust in me and maybe I would.”

.oOo.

She always rejects his offer of friendship whenever he brings up the topic, tells him they’re far too different to ever get along the way he wants. He tells her it’s the exact opposite and that they’re more similar than she would have ever dreamed of. She constantly shakes her head after he says all this, and walks away. It isn’t until he sees her crying for the second time inside the classroom, dusting erasers all by her lonesome, does she get his logic somewhat.

She lets him comfort her by having him dust the erasers for her, because she’s actually allergic and has been sneezing nonstop for the past quarter hour since she has started. Sungyeol hears her sniffle and he slightly hopes to himself that it’s only because of her allergies.

He doesn’t talk to her when he finishes, doesn’t ask her what’s wrong or anything at all. Sungyeol doesn’t even look at her and she doesn’t quite know if she should be grateful, or irritated. Sungyeol does fidget in his seat though, and he doesn’t know if she can tell he’s inching ever so closer.

He stands up abruptly when he feels the warmth radiating off of her, and drops a handkerchief to her lap. Sungyeol gives her one look, ruffles her hair, and tells her to give back his hanky first thing in the morning next Monday, dried and pressed, before he leaves her alone. She feels oddly comforted by the gesture.

The handkerchief is on his desk the next morning, but she isn’t in school [or so he has heard]. There’s a little note attached with words of thanks and the word ‘friend.’

.oOo.

“The class clown and the over-achiever – who would have thought?”

“What are you talking about, Sungyeol?”

“I just don’t think you’d ever imagined us as friends at all.”

“Honestly, I never did.”

“Neither did I but I don’t think that really matters right now.”

.oOo.

She tells him he’s an okay guy, one day, when they’re walking down the hall, carrying a stack of books the teacher had been too lazy to carry himself. Sungyeol pauses and repeats the sentence in his head over and over. He realizes that she has already gone ahead for a few steps and easily catches up with a few long strides.

Sungyeol pesters her, what does she mean when she says that? What does this mean for them? He’s not ready for a relationship just yet, you know. She’s moving too fast, too forward, she should take a step back once in a while. When Sungyeol hears her laugh, his grin goes up to his ears and possibly to the heavens up above.

He decides then that he likes hearing her laugh. Her smile is pretty too.

Sungyeol suddenly stops then. His jaw drops along with the books he’s carrying and his eyes grow wide in realization. She stops when she hears the reference materials colliding with the marble floor, looking at him curiously. Sungyeol is paling, there is terror written all over his face, but his eyes stay alive – burning with an unfamiliar determination she has never seen in him.

Sungyeol tells her he might be in love with her and laughs in her face when he sees her transforming into a lovely shade of red.

.oOo.

 “Shut up and just go with the flow, Prez.”

“I can’t. This isn’t – nothing like this – I never planned this. This is too sudden. There are too many ‘what ifs,’ Sungyeol. What do we do when things go wrong?”

“We’ll know when we get there.”

“But when will we get there?”

“I don’t know. I just want to be there with you.”

.oOo.

He presses kiss after kiss to her lips when no one is looking, and she’s still flustered beyond belief whenever he does. She gets mad sometimes when they catch them, and she can’t even look at him at all.

Sungyeol simply laughs at her face, pokes her nose, and kisses her lips over and over until she smiles and calls him an idiot again.

A/N::
I was going to do this by age, but...
LOL.;; nvm.
Anyway, this'll most likely be on
random. u v u mm. enjoy?