THE PLAN

The first thing Minseok notices when she walks in is the bright sunflower lying on her desk two rows from the front of the classroom. The second thing she notices is how the students already in the room smile or look at her with curious looks on their faces. Trying to ignore them, she walks to her desk. She drops her purse on the empty desk next to hers and pulls out her chair to sit down. Taking the flower in between his fingers, she twirls it around. Surprisingly, it’s real.

Someone whistles behind her and stage-whispers, “Looks like Minseok has a secret admirer.”

She doesn’t turn around to acknowledge them, continuing to look the flower over as a soft smile settles on her face. The thought that it’s from Han passes through her mind but the gesture is so sweet that it can’t be him. He’s not enough of a gentleman to think of something like this. But then again…

I want to be that guy who comes into school early on Valentine’s Day and obnoxiously fills your locker with rose petals.

Minseok bites her lip, trying to fight off the heat that creeps up her neck every time she thinks of his words that day. She tries so hard to forget about it — there’s no way Han was serious, no way at all — but she can’t. Minseok isn’t necessarily one for cheesy romance but no one has ever said anything so sweet to her before. And the look in his eyes while he said it…

Shaking her head, she fingers the bright yellow petals. For all she knows, it’s from Chanyeol being the sweet muffin that she is. As the rest of her class files in and their teacher returns with a stack of freshly copied papers in her arms, she moves the flower to the side of her desk and grabs her bag in order to take out her binder and a notebook.

All throughout class she can’t help but glance at the vibrant yellow of the petals and each time she looks the smile she’s been trying to keep in check brightens again.

Han’s Minseok-senses tingle as he’s taking out his books for history and he turns around to catch her walking in his direction. She looks ethereal as ever in a loose, red flannel shirt and black jeans tucked into combat boots. He starts to call out to her when he notices her gorgeous smile is directed at the flower in her hands.

“Minseok!” he calls, waving when she looks up and scans the hall. She rolls her eyes but her smile doesn’t shift as she walks over to him. Han takes that as a good sign.

“What?” Her voice is lacking the usual snappiness it has whenever he tries to talk to her outside of dance practice. Maybe this is a sign their rocky friendship is heading in the right direction.

“Will you allow me the honor of walking such a beautiful woman to class?” He holds out his hand, palm upwards, and bows slightly.

Minseok stares at his hand. She really should say no. They’re going to the same class but being around Han for more than thirty seconds is always tiring. “Ah…fine. Just don’t touch me.”

Han snaps his head up, eyes wide and mouth agape. “For real?”

“Hurry up before we’re late,” Minseok mumbles, averting her gaze to watch students walk through the halls.

“O-Oh, yeah.” His smile widens and he turns around to grab his folder from the top shelf of his locker. Shutting it with his elbow, he looks at Minseok and nods his head in the direction of their class. She meets his eyes for a brief second and powerwalks ahead of him. Jogging lightly to catch up, he glances at the sunflower in her hand. “What’s up with the flower?”

Looking at it as well, Minseok smiles lightly. “I don’t know. It was on my desk in math class this morning. Everyone thinks it’s from a secret admirer or something.”

“Do you like this kind of thing?” Minseok only shrugs but Han doesn’t miss the light dust of red over her cheeks. Pride surges through him and he squashes down the -eating grin that threatens to stretch his cheeks. Instead, he frowns and plucks the flower from her fingers. “Don’t accept things from other boys. It makes me jealous.”

A small wave of disappointment dampens a bit of Minseok’s excitement and her smile falters around the edges. Of course it’s not from him. What was she hoping for anyway? It’s not like Han was going to suddenly stop being a total ert and start being a respectable human being. Scowling, Minseok snatches the flower back. “Stay jealous then.”

She quickens her pace and Han smiles at her back. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and trails behind her quietly the rest of the way to class. It's kind of hard to be jealous of myself.

“I’m off to the store, Xing. You’re welcome to stay for dinner, Han.”

Han easily catches the apple shaped stress ball he tossed and gives Yixing’s mother a charming smile just before she closes the door behind after herself. Her exit leaves them in silence, the whirring of the fans of Yixing’s laptop, a lingering white noise. Han tosses the red ball into the air again, entertaining himself well enough considering Yixing is more interested in whatever he’s doing on his computer. But they’re at that point in their friendship where ordinary silence is never awkward.

Still Han finds himself getting bored as the minutes pass. He glances at Yixing, the younger boy rocking back in his rolling chair.

Completely focused on his twitter feed, Yixing doesn’t immediately react when Han chucks the ball at the back of his neck. After a second, he sniffs. “Do you mind?” he sighs, calmly scrolling through his feed.

Han slides to the edge of the bed and snatches the stress ball off the floor before it can roll under the bed. Tossing it between his hands, he crosses his legs in a pretzel. “So…I have this plan.”

“No.”

Stopping his juggling, Han frowns. “I didn’t even tell you what it’s about.”

“All of your plans are about getting Minseok’s attention.”

Han opens his mouth to protest but he can’t find anything to say. It’s true. All of his plans are about Minseok.

Knowing Han has no defense, Yixing continues. “And all of your plans end up with her hating you more.”

“But I switched up my game plan!” Han whines. After his and Minseok’s not-date two weeks ago when he all but professed his undying love, he couldn’t stop thinking about how cute she looked when she was surprised. He didn’t miss the way the tips of her ears started to turn pink after his confession. Not to mention how happy she was about getting the sunflower at school this morning. When he bought it yesterday he didn’t think it would make her smile as bright as it did. He didn’t think it would feel so great to make her happy. He’s been giddy all day.

Sighing again, Yixing pushes his chair away from his desk and spins around to face Han. He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest. “Oh yeah?” He lifts an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Complete one-eighty,” Han confirms. “I’m a changed man.”

Not bothering to hide the skepticism in his gaze, Yixing nods. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the plan?”

Han begins to juggle once more. “Oh, I’m not going to tell you what it is right now. You don’t know how to keep secrets. You’ll ruin it.”

Yixing frowns, choosing to not respond to the slander. “Then why’d you bring it up?”

Without pausing, Han shoots Yixing a toothy grin. “Because when I finish setting it up we may or may not have to break into school before hours and I may or may not need you to be on lookout.”

another short one because i haven't posted anything in a while so instead of studying for my japanese final i wrote this.

guess who finally figured out how minseok is fall for luhan?? meeeee. and it begins.