o9. Romance is in the Air

"I will spend an eternity loving you, caring for you, respecting you, showing you every day that i hold you as high as the stars."

-Steve Maraboli

Youngjae

Monday came way sooner then I wanted it to, I decided as I trudged through the slowly filling hallways to get to my locker. I really didn’t want to open it today, not if it meant another god awful pick up line that would be sure to have me falling to the ground cringing from its god awfulness.

I sighed softly as I spun the dial to put in my lock code before pulling off the lock and opening my locker. I glanced down at my feet expectantly, waiting to see the flutter of a paper.

Nothing.

I narrowed my eyes, turning my attention to the bottom of my locker, only to find the space clear of all of the crumpled up and ripped in half pick up lines that had begun to cause a threat to the free space in my locker just last week. I let out a small sigh, stooping down and picking up the only thing that sat at the bottom of the plain locker now.

“Hey~ Youngjae hyung! What’s the pickup line of the day~?”

I glanced around the locker door as Zelo propped himself up on the other side, staring at me with a wide grin.

“Hey Zelo… uhm… there isn’t one…?” I said, standing up straight once more.

“Oh, seriously… aw, they were so good~”

I rolled my eyes, “Your sarcasm , you know they were terrible, don’t lie.”

Zelo beamed, “That’s what made them great though, hyung!” He interjected and once more I had to let out a huff of a sigh.

“If you say so, Zelo… if you like them so much, you should have taken them.”

“Nah-uh, hyung, someone was leaving them for you~” Zelo smiled with excitement and honestly, I don’t understand this kid. “Didn’t you like them just a little bit?”

“No. Not at all…” I glanced at Zelo, “Why would you even think that?” I asked before looking back into my locker to grab the books I needed for class.

Zelo pointed down at my hand, “What’s that hyung?”

I glanced down at the stem that I had clutched between my fingers, “What? Oh... I don’t know, really… just a rose?” I mumbled, glancing down at the flower that I had picked up from the bottom of my locker. Its bright red petals were only partially open and I had to resist the urge to see if it still held its sweet smell. I’m not some teenage girl, I don’t get all giddy over flowers and do that cheesy drama with smelling them and clutching at my heart and wondering who would ever leave behind such a pretty rose. I don’t like flowers. Period…

… okay maybe I like them a little bit, shut up.

Zelo smirked, “Oooh~ so now you’re getting roses?”

I pouted my lips, tossing the flower back into my locker as though I didn’t care, but really, I hope I didn’t hurt it or knock any of the petals loose. “What, no. It’s just one rose, Zelo. Look, don’t you have somewhere to be?” I snapped, shutting my locker quickly.

Zelo still had a smirk on his face though, “You’re blushing.”

I quickly put my palms to my cheeks, feeling the small bit of warmth, “I am not, oh my god, go away, Zelo!” I said quickly, adjusting my books in my arms as I stalked away.

Of course with his stupid long giraffe legs and stupid height and stupid face and ulgh, just… stupidness, Zelo caught up quickly with me, slinging his arm over my shoulder. “Aww~ Hyung, why are you so red! Do you know who the rose is from? Is there someone you want it to be from~?”

His fingers pinched at my still flushed cheeks and I whined softly shoving at him, “Zelo! Stop it!” I tried to duck out from under his arm, but it was practically useless as he kept me pulled to his side.

“Zelo~ Why are you assaulting Youngjae hyung?”

I looked up, pouting as Jongup approached us, “Uppie, make Zelo stop~” I whined again, still shoving at the giant that was attached to my side.

Jongup let out a light laugh, “Zelo, I leave you alone with Youngjae hyung for one week and you’re practically smothering him…” he said.

Zelo pouted, “That’s cause you are always with Himchan hyung, besides, Youngjae hyung likes it!”

I let out a loud scoff, “Yeah, okay then.” I replied, trying to tone down the sarcasm a little bit. Zelo ignored me anyways though, little er.

“Oh! Guess what hyung got in his locker this morning… Someone left him a rose!”

Jongup grinned, “Really? Hyung’s got a secret admirer, what happened to the pickup lines?”

“I don’t know, they stopped—“

Zelo waved his hand in front of my face to get me to stop, “Oh! Hold that thought, Youngjae hyung… Jonguppie, I need to talk to you real quick…”

I nearly fell over into the lockers as Zelo pushed off of me and grabbed a still grinning Jongup and drug him off down the hall. I rolled my eyes, rubbing at my sore cheek from Zelo’s pinching fingers and made my way to class.

Why couldn’t it be Tuesday? Why was it a Monday? I hate Mondays.

I love my Music Theory class, anything to do with music and singing was great by me. But unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the people in the class.

Namely a certain few that wouldn’t remove their eyes from my person.

And by certain few I meant one.

Just one.

I walked into the classroom and dropped my stuff onto the desk top and sat down. I should have taken Jihoon’s offer on the second day of class and moved to the back row with him, now with all of the seats taken, I was stuck in this one unfortunate spot.

“You’re cheeks are flushed, do you have a fever?”

I pursed my lips. Can I just punch him in the , just once please? “No I’m not running a fever…” I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

“Are you sure?” Daehyun asked and I tried not to flinch backwards as the back of his fingers pressed to my forehead.

“Stop that! Do you even wash your hands?” I demanded, shoving him away as I looked over.

Daehyun was smirking at me now, “I don’t know. I might have sometime last week?” he said, shrugging his shoulders as though that were no big deal.

I blanched instantly, wanting to rub my face down in germ-x and wash up with boiling water. Gross, this guy is gross. Oh my god, is it socially acceptable to put someone in a box and mail them back to Busan??

Daehyun laughed, facing the front, “I’m kidding, Youngjae, of course I wash my hands…” He shook his head, “You’re cheeks are redder then before…” He noted and I pressed my palms up to the warm flesh.

“That’s because everyone here .” I groaned, hoping the signs of obvious embarrassment would go away soon.

Jieun

Why does it always feel like Mondays drag on the longest? I mean, I know that all the days have the same amount of hours ticking away, but geez, Monday, can you go any slower?

I sighed as I hoisted my bag up onto my shoulder and hurried down the hall, trying to chase down a certain brunette before he ran off to god knows where to do things that I don’t even want to think about.

“Himchan… Yah… Himchan~” I sighed heavily as he ignored, “Yah! chan!”

Himchan stopped, looking around before turning back to look at me, a smile breaking onto his face. “Hey! Jieun… Sorry, I didn’t hear you…”

“Yeah right, , you were ignoring me…” I said, walking up to him. “Anyways, got a minute, I need to talk to you…”

Himchan nodded his head, “Yeah, I was just looking for Jongup, but it can wait… what’s wrong?”

I pursed my lips, falling into step next to Himchan, “I don’t know… I mean… just…” I sighed heavily, trying to find a good place to start, “Was Yongguk acting weird yesterday morning when you all had breakfast?”

Himchan shook his head, “Oh, I don’t know, Jieun, you’d have to ask Dae… I had Jongup over Saturday night so… uhm… I didn’t get out of bed Sunday morning…” He smiled sheepishly.

I quickly elbowed him in the side, “Yah, Himchan, keep it in your pants for like, 24 hours, please…”

He pouted, “Well, I’m sorry, Jieun… anyways, why would Bbang be acting weird?”

I shrugged softly at this, “I don’t know… he woke up before me this morning and practically ran out the door, didn’t even give me a good morning kiss… and he’s been avoiding me all day… I feel like he’s hiding something…”

Himchan stopped walking, grabbing my arm to get me to stop with him. I turned and looked up at him, “What, Chan?”

He shook his head, a grin breaking out onto his lips, “Seriously, Jieun, I worry about you… just go about your day as normal, and don’t be late getting home, okay!” He said. “Aish, you two are so cute I could just hit you, oh my god…” He giggled a little bit.

“What are you talking about, Himchan? Wait… Himchan!” by now he was already taking off down the hallway, “Yah! Himchan get back here!”

“Hwaiting, Jieun!!” he called right before disappearing from my line of site and leaving me in the half crowded hallway.

Stupid hoebag. He could have at least told me why Yongguk was acting so weird instead of being so damn cryptic.

But aside from me, even when he has been preoccupied with Jongup, there was nobody who knew Yongguk better than Himchan.

Except maybe Daehyun.

Where did that punk Busan boy go anyways?

Daehyun

I wasn’t following Youngjae.

I wasn’t following him, I swear. We just happened to be going in the same direction at the same time and, , okay I was following him. Just a little bit though, I swear! I wasn’t like, trying to stalk him or something, he was just headed in the direction of his locker and do you know how early I have to get up in the morning to leave stuff in there for him and how long it took me to find just a single rose to put in his locker, I just wanted to see if he liked it or if like the other notes, he just left it at the bottom of his locker.

He was just spinning the dial on the lock when a hand clasped over my shoulder and I jumped nearly a foot, spinning around, “What , I wasn’t doing anything… … why did you sneak up on me like that!” I demanded as I clutched at my heart and stared at Jieun.

“Aww, aren’t you the cutest little thing, I swear it’s like scaring a little baby bunny!”

“Why aren’t you with hyung, oh my god…” I whined, trying to duck away from Jieun as she ruffled my hair in a motherly manor.

“That’s why I was looking for you, Dae…” She pouted, “He’s been acting weird all day and has been avoiding me… Chan said that you had breakfast with him yesterday…”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Yeah, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

Jieun let out a huge huff of air, flailing her hands around a bit, “You know! Was he acting weird yesterday? Did he say that anything was wrong?”

I shook my head, “Nah, he seemed normal, had his camera out and everything… Oh by the way, how did your girl’s day go yesterday…” I knew I ed up as soon as the smile dropped from Jieun’s face and she stared blankly at me.

“My what?”

“I… uhm… I think I need to go… I’ll talk to you later—ow!” Jieun’s fingers were quick to grab a hold of the back collar of my shirt and I had little to no say as she drug me down the hallway and to a nearby empty classroom.

“Explain, Jung Daehyun.”

I stumbled forward away from Jieun, instantly straightening back up the collar of my shirt, “It’s nothing, noona… Clearly I just misheard hyung yesterday—“

“Jung Daehyun, I swear to god I will kill you and hid your body where no one will ever find it.”

I whined softly, turning away from Jieun before spinning back to face her, “Promise that you didn’t hear it from me if he’s in trouble?”

She nodded her head and I stuck out my hand, holding out my pinky, “Promise, noona!”

“Okay, okay, I promise, now spill, Jung.” She said, locking her pinky with mine.

“Okay, So yesterday we were waiting for Himchan hyung to show up, but he was off getting some last night and he told us to eat without him because he didn’t want to get out of bed and so I asked hyung where you were and he said that you had class work or something to do and after wards you would be hanging out with Ga-in and Narsha noonas because you wanted to have a girls day.” I rushed out, taking a breath at the end of my sentence as I watched Jieun’s face.

She pursued her lips, crossing her arms, “That’s not right… Guk asked me yesterday morning if it would be okay to have breakfast alone, he said that you needed to talk to him.”

I shook my head quickly, “Nah-uh, I got new advice from Himchan hyung, because Yongguk hyung gave me ty advice, I don’t want any more advice from him… besides… there really wouldn’t be anything that I wouldn’t be willing to talk about in front of you, noona…”

Jieun nodded her head, “What time did you guys finish breakfast?”

“Uhm, I don’t know, like… 9?”

“Did you hang out afterwards?”

I shook my head, “No, I had to cover a shift at work, and he said that he was heading home… please don’t get me into trouble for telling you all this, noona!” I begged quickly.

Jieun however, waved me off. “You’re not in trouble, Daehyunnie~” She said, breaking out into a smile that frankly just creped me out as she ruffled my hair again, “Thanks though… uhm… go back to stalking that poor kid now…”

I let out a quick scoff, “I wasn’t stalking anyone—NOONA I WAS NOT STALKING HIM!!”

Jieun

Talking to Daehyun proved to be very insightful, I decided as I made my way down the street. Each footfall had purpose as I glared at the small apartment complex as I approached it. Anger seethed inside of me the closer I got to the apartment, and by the time that I got to the door, I was all but fuming.

It’s not like me and Yongguk have to be at each other’s sides 24/7, and every now and then, we both like to take breaks and do things on our own and we both respected when we needed those breaks.

But he lied to him. To my face and went behind my back doing god knows what. Daehyun said that they had finished breakfast at 9, and I knew for a fact that Yongguk didn’t get home until nearly 6pm that evening. Nearly 10 hours, unaccounted for where he blatantly lied to me and said that he had been with Daehyun for the whole day.

Himchan and his cryptic didn’t make it any better, I decided as I pushed open the apartment door. The whole front hallway was dark and just as I reached for the light switch, an arm looped around my waist.

“Babe, close your eyes, okay.”

“Oh my ing god, Yongguk, you nearly scared the out of me… no I won’t close my eyes, why are all the lights off??” I demanded, shoving at my boyfriend as he continued to hold me close.

“Jieun… baby, why do you sound so upset, did something happen in class?” Yongguk’s voice held so much concern; I could honestly punch him in the face.

“No something didn’t happen in class, but you would have known if it did if you hadn’t been avoiding me all day!” I pouted, wiggling about in his hug as he held me tighter.

“You’re mad at me?”

I decided not to reply, letting out an angry huff as his fingers covered over my eyes.

“Jieun… c’mon now… don’t get all pouty with me, please…”

I followed his guidance, my arms still crossed firmly. “Why shouldn’t I? where were you yesterday, Guk…?”

“I was out with Daehyun—“

“No you weren’t… I talked to him earlier…” Yongguk’s chuckle was deep right behind me.

“I knew I should have brought him in on this… no matter, keep your eyes closed, okay?”

I let out a sigh, “Why, Yongguk, you’re being weird!” Still, I kept my eyes closed as Yongguk moved away from me and left me standing there, pout still on my lips and my arms still crossed. I could hear something clicking and for a moment, I could see a bit of light through my closed eyes.

“Okay, open up your eyes…”

“Yongguk, can you just explain to me what your—oh…” I stopped, my arms falling to my sides as I from Yongguk to the table. Everything was illuminated in the soft glow of the candles that Yongguk had just lit and Yongguk gave me a wide smile, his gums on full display. “Guk… what is all this…”

“Well, I have that retake test I have to take next week, and you have that exam coming up and…” He walked over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he pulled me close. “Happy early anniversary, baby… I didn’t actually, you know… cook anything, but it’s all of your favorites from that restaurant down the street, I talked to the staff yesterday and they agreed to cook it all to go for me… Yah! Why are you hitting me!”

I continued to hit his shoulder, pushing him away from me, “You… You er, Yongguk! Why didn’t you just tell me! I thought something was wrong all day!”

He grinned sheepishly, “I’m sorry, okay, I just wanted to surprise you…”

I nodded quickly, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him back towards me as I pressed a kiss to his lips. It wasn’t long until he had me pressed back against the wall, his hands gripping onto me as he picked me up and on instinct, I wrapped my legs around his waist to help hold myself up.

“Babe, we should eat first, it’s going to get cold…” Yongguk whispered, his lips trailing down my neck.

“We have a microwave…” I tightened my fingers into his hair, his lips back on mine.

We’d just made it back into the bedroom, nearly completely stripped down when the darkness of the room was lit up by the glow of Yongguk’s cell phone.

He let out a small growl, rolling away from me as he grabbed it. “What, Himchan? … yes, this is a bad time…. What, yeah, I surprised her, can you please hang up now—we are about to have , Himchan unless you want to hear it, goodbye!”

I giggled as I rolled over, taking the phone from Yongguk’s hand, Himchan was still going on about what ever on the other line, “Goodbye, Himchan!” I flipped the phone closed, hanging up on him mid sentence before I tossed it to the floor. “Now where were we?”

Himchan

I pouted at my cell phone, “He hung up on me… well, Jieun did…” I said, looking up at Daehyun.

“Not my fault… they were probably getting ready to eat or whatever, right? Didn’t you say Yongguk hyung planned dinner or something?”

I shook my head, “Nah, Yongguk said they were about to have —“

“Oh my god! Why didn’t you hang up then! Hyung you are terrible, why do I even hang out with you!”

I smirked, shrugging my shoulders, “Because you know you love me… Now c’mon Daehyunnie… I gave it some thought earlier today, and I’ve finally determined the reason that you have lacked the ability to pick up this guy you are crushing on—“

“I’m not crushing on him—“

“Clearly it’s your sense of fashion, but don’t fear, hyung is here to help you, Appa said that he needs someone to model a new line he wants, and I volunteered you! No need to thank me!”

Daehyun made an odd series of whine like noises but followed me anyways as we made our way to the bus stop.

This time tomorrow, with just a little help from the fashion fairy, I was sure Daehyun would at least get to second base with this Youngjae guy. 

I'm a day late OTL sorry you guys asdfhkl; after all of this bad weather down here, i ended up having to go up into Neshoba county with my mum for god knows what i wasn't even paying attention she just needed a second driver with her in case she got tired (idk), and so my internet connection was crap and the whole trip was crap and then i had to work yesterday, I had this all finished, but i didn't have time to edit it before work,a nd upon looking at it today, i went to go run a spell check and, nothing was misspelled and no grammer issues... somethings amiss. So ignore any typos :D

Sorry for the lack of... BangSong scenes, you guys, i just realized this is like, the third time i've almsot written them doing it but like, i've written het once, i'm not ready to write it in first person. I don't really ship het couples OTL I AM SORRY~!!

Cuddles,
Lynn