Walking to class with his backpack slung low over his shoulder, the bottom of his books nudging him annoyingly in the back, Jongdae (the self proclaimed Law Genius and third year student) vows that this year will be different. It's the first class of his third year of Law and he swears he'll work extra hard, especially with all this free time he has after losing his part time job. It’ll take his mind off the crushing poverty he now has to incur as a broke student with no job. It's not like he actually enjoyed his job working at the drive through KFC, but to be passed over for promotion for his whiny arch nemesis Byun Baekhyun and then being mysteriously fired 3 days later he was still pretty pissed about it.

 

He got to class early, a whole minute before it started, a wonderful start to his hardworking semester. He gave his Professor a quick hello and sat at his desk, emptying it of Joonmyuns books with a quick swipe onto the floor and settled in to diligently listen to the lecture. Twenty minutes later however his pen felt heavy in his hands his eyes started to drop shut. Maybe he shouldn't have stayed up late arranging his class material and testing out his pack of coloured pens. However, the rude poems he wrote about a certain someone sat next to him did make him laugh and were completely justified now that said man was incessantly poking Jongdae’s cheek with a pen, and kicking him under the table. He lifted his head from the book he fell asleep on, the page sticking to his cheek, to send Joonmyun a death stare. “Sorry, you were starting to snore. It was cute but I don’t think the professor agreed.” Joonmyun whispered when the professor had stopped glaring in their direction.

 

After making it through the rest of the lecture powered on by his 10 minute power-nap Jongdae packed his things back in his bag, along with this semester's books Joonmyun had picked up from the library and headed back to his dorm room to start on his reading. While taking his well travelled shortcut back to his room Jongdae couldn’t help but notice the collection of badly taped posters on the wall by the student union

 

“Law tutor wanted, I guess. Send an email to [email protected]”

 

He laughed at the handwritten sign and would have probably kept on walking if it wasn’t for the drawing of what seemed to be a cartoon judge slapping a criminal in the face on the corner of the poster. Thinking he might need to laugh a little later after all his reading he ripped it off the wall and folded it up into his pocket. Once Jongdae reached his dorm room, which he unfortunately shared with non other than messy Kim Joonmyun, he threw all his course materials and books onto his desk and flopped onto his bed. He cracked open his textbook and started on the chapters he had to get through for tomorrow’s classes, thanking god that he only had one class on a Monday but also silently cursing him for making it a 9am lecture.

After two hours of reading, which was far more than necessary in Jongdae’s opinion, he fished into his pocket to find his phone and text his roommate to bring back coffee after his shift. However instead of his phone he pulled out a piece of paper instead, suddenly remembering the poster he’d picked up earlier. He’d ripped it off the wall for a joke but did he really want to tutor anyone right now? I mean he was a self proclaimed Law Genius (when he actually decided to do his work) and he could do with the money right now (goddamn Byun Baekhyun) but could he actually be bothered? He was interested to see who was behind the stupid posters though and the silly doodle had made him laugh so he opened his laptop and sent an email to Oh Sehun and his , or was it sass? After that was out of the way he sent his coffee demands over to joonmyun, adding on that a muffin would be good too and decided it was due time for another nap.

 

-

 

Jongdae woke up to find a reply from his email, except all it said was “campus cafe 3pm, be there or be square” Wow he thought to himself checking his watch, he hadn’t heard anybody say that since the 90s. It was 2.30pm, if he got up and out of bed now he could make it to this strange meeting. He grabbed some of his law notes and headed to the shared bathroom to freshen up and wipe the drool of his face before running down to the cafe to meet his new potential tutee. Once he’d gotten the to the cafe however he suddenly realised that he actually had no idea who he was meeting, and it was pretty busy in the cafe too with the second year law class just getting out. He wandered around the cafe looking for someone sitting alone, who could be an Oh Sehun and who may have a nice . He spotted a petulant looking kid with green hair sat drinking a tea by the window. His notepad, full of little doodles that looked exactly like the ones from the poster, sat open on the table in front of him. He was a few minutes early so Jongdae grabbed himself a coffee first, silently cursing Joonmyun for not turning up earlier with his coffee delivery (Jongdae’s body was seriously lacking in caffeine right now) before finally introducing himself to whom he hoped was the green haired Oh Sehun.

 

It turns out that he was correct, the petulant looking kid was in fact Oh Sehun. Jongdae took the seat across the table and deposited his books on the remaining chair. “So you’re looking for a tutor? What do you need help in?” Jongdae asked, sipping his coffee and watching Sehun size him up from behind his green bangs.

“Everything, my parents said they’d stop sending me money if my grades didn’t improve.” said Sehun on the straw of his iced tea. “That seriously can’t happen, I’m not giving up the lifestyle I have right now. They will pay you, so if you’re interested just let me know how much you want”

 

He was starting to regret answering the poster, this kid needed help with all of his classes? What had he actually been doing for the first year of his degree. Jongdae was swamped as it is without taking on someone else as well. However, Sehun did look kind of cute, and this would definitely look good on his employment application. Plus it would be nice to have some extra cash, he’d have to look up how much to charge before he gave Sehun a price.

 

“Ok well, we can meet a few times a week then if you want? Just let me know your schedule and we’ll work out the when and where. Oh and let me know what classes you’re doing so I know which notes to dig out” Jongdae said gathering his books and getting ready to leave.

“Yea sure whatever, I have your email address” said sehun replied nonchalantly waving him away. Jongdae wasn’t sure what else to say, Sehun wanted a tutor but he didn’t seem that enthusiastic about it.

 

-

 

Their first session didn’t exactly go very well from the get go. Sehun had wanted to meet in his room however Joonmyun was forever leaving his clothes and books all over the place. It looked like a bomb had exploded so he’d insisted on the library instead. Jongdae wasn’t exactly sure why he was bothered about Sehun seeing the mess in his room, but convinced himself that the library would be better anyway; he could make sure that Sehun had taken out all the books for his classes that way. However, once he’d actually met with Sehun (who was 10 minutes late) he discovered that even this might be more of a challenge than he’d originally thought. He hadn’t shown up with any of his class schedules or reading lists, he’d not brought so much as a single pen with him. Jongdae tried to breathe, this was the first time for both of them so he was sure it would take a while to settle in. After looking up Sehun’s reading and class lists on the university intranet he got his books checked out from the library, and after finally convincing Sehun to actually carry his own books back to his room they’d sorted out a schedule and a price for him to tell his parents.

 

He’d headed straight to the cafe where he’d first met Sehun after to see if he could grab a free coffee from Joonmyun. He waved his roommate over to his table, slamming his head against the table in a show of desperation shouting. Joonmyun, being used to Jongdaes demands set down the coffee he’d already prepared and left Jongdae at his table with a look of pity.

 

The second session went better than expected, not that Jongdae had many expectations this time. They’d met in Jongdaes room this time, Sehun had still insisted on doing these tutoring sessions in there. Jongdae wasn’t actually sure why he was humouring Sehun, there more loads of more appropriate places to tutor him, however he’d demanded Joonmyun clean up his side of the room anyway. At least he wouldn’t have to leave his room he thought to himself. Sehun had even brought his books with him, even though Jongdae noticed that they hadn’t been opened he was still proud of his progress nonetheless. Around 40 minutes into their hour session however he could tell that Sehun had long since stopped paying attention to what Jongdae was saying. He was surprised he’d actually managed to listen to him for that long actually.

“Ok, let’s leave this for now and take a look at your assignments for this week instead. We got more done today than I expected” Jongdae said watching as Sehun slowly came back to life and put his books away in his bag, he brought out his diary and scanned through the week ahead.

“I have an essay due next Tuesday on accountability in the courtroom that i’m sure we can finish together by then. I mean you just tell me what to write and i’ll write it. Or better yet, why don’t I just borrow your essay from when you took the class?” said Sehun stuffing his diary back in bag.

Dumbfounded by Sehuns comment, Jongdae sat in his chair and stared at Sehuns expectant expression. “I’m not sure what you think a tutor does but there is no way i’m doing those assignments for you, and there is definitely no way I am lending you mine. What if someone see’s them? You can do the assignments yourself and we’ll check on them together during our sessions” said Jongdae giving him a stern look before ushering him away from the desk and to the door. “Let’s meet again tomorrow at the same time, my roommate will be here but just ignore him if you really insist on meeting here again”

-

 

“So I see your tutoring Oh Sehun, the kid with the bleached out brain?" Said Joonmyun, as soon as Sehun left at the end of their third lesson.

"Kim Joonmyun! You shouldn't throw stones, you're not the brightest bulb yourself. He tries hard, and don’t make me remind you of that semester you would have failed without the help I kindly graced you with” said Jongdae throwing the sock he was taking off at Joonmyun’s head.

“He spent most of the lesson trying to get you to do his homework, I don’t get why you didn’t set him straight. He’s obviously just trying to use you.” Joonmyun said adding the sock onto his ever growing pile of washing.

Jongdae cringed, he knew this after all but Sehun had tried a different tactic this lesson, casually passing off his homework questions as questions he’d had for Jongdae. Which didn’t make sense seen as they weren’t even talking about the topics that Sehun kept bringing up. He was pretty sure that Sehun thought he was some kind of devious mastermind, not a rich kid that just about passed his first year of Law. He was looking forward to seeing what he’d try next time, his silly attempts definitely brightened Jongdaes day. Just as long as Sehun was actually learning something from these lessons and Jongdae was still getting paid then he’d just put up with it for, he’d bring it up again if Sehun stopped paying attention or something.

 

The next few weeks flew by in a haze of classes, tutoring sessions and all nighters trying to actually finish his own work. Sehun had improved in his classes, however he hadn’t given up trying to make Jongdae do his work for him. His attempts had become more and more ridiculous and far fetched as the weeks went on ranging from just flat out begging to looking through Jongdae’s work while he was in the bathroom (he’d only found out about that attempt because Joonmyun had walked into the room and caught Sehun red handed.) Jongdae would kill anyone who ever brought it up but he did think that Sehun was secretly kinda cute whenever he tried. Plus sometimes the things that he said seriously cracked him up. He hadn’t decided if Sehun was actually that dumb, or if it was some kind trick to gain sympathy.

 

-

 

Sehun had shown up to tonights tutoring sessions with a new hair colour, it was now a bleach blonde and Jongdae hated to admit it but it suited him. It was definitely an improvement from the rainbow he’d been sporting these days, it gave Sehun an air of charm (even if that disappeared as soon as he opened his mouth.)

"I mean I probably would have murdered that dude too, from what we've read so far he seems pretty annoying" said sehun looking over the practice case file again.

"Sehun, you're supposed to be deciding on what defence to give. I'm not sure that the annoying defence is going to work. Try again" said Jongdae shaking his head with a smile.

 

Sometime later, when Jongdae had decided that Sehun had listened probably as much as he physically could he decided to call it a night. “It’s late and I missed lunch, do you wanna grab some dinner with me? My roommate Jongin is visiting his family this weekend so I don’t have anyone to eat with?” Sehun asked while packing up his things.

“Sure, but don’t you have any other friends you can eat with? I always see you after class at the cafe with your classmates.” said Jongdae, slightly suspicious as to where this was going. He wouldn’t lie to himself and say that he hadn’t thought of seeing Sehun outside of the tutoring sessions also. He was kind of endearing, in a bratty annoying sort of way. The times he’d seen him in the cafe, or around campus he’d always wanted to say hello but never plucked up the courage while his friends were around.

“Nah, they are all pretty boring. Plus I still have a few questions that I want to ask.” Jongdae sighed and put on his jacket.

“Seriously Sehun, we can work on your homework questions together like I said but i’m not flat out answering them for you no matter how much you ask” Jongdae replied for the unpteenth time.

“Oh don’t worry about that, i’ve given up on that. The questions aren’t about the work, they’re about you this time. Don’t you think we should be friends? I mean I see you more than I see some of my other so called friends and you’ve helped me so much already so let me treat you to dinner huh?” said Sehun, not noticing the slight flush on Jongdaes cheeks.

 

The place Sehun took him to was actually kind of nice, he’d secretly been expecting they’d just end up at KFC. (He’d been worried he’d have to kick Baekhyuns if he saw him there.) Also thankfully the restaurant didn’t look too expensive, even for cash strapped Jongdae, and was just far enough off campus that it wasn’t full of students. It did however seem to be full of couples, in fact the tables in the restaurant mostly seated two people. They sat down awkwardly at a table near the window, Sehuns long legs touching Jongdae’s under the table “Order whatever you want Hyung, it’s on me remember” said Sehun picking up his menu. ‘Hyung?’ Jongdae thought, since when did Sehun ever call him Hyung. The only times he’d ever addressed him was with a ‘hey’ or a ‘you,’ he was definitely starting to get suspicious about this meal. The nice couplely restaurant, the sudden respectful Hyung, was this just another way of buttering Jongdae up or was he being sincere? Jongdae decided not to care, it had been ages since someone other than Joonmyun had invited him out so he was going to enjoy himself anyway.

 

Things were different after Sehun had invited him out, he’d started talking to him around campus, even when he was with his friends. They’d even met at the cafe a few times and shared a coffee and muffin in between classes. He’d started listening more during their tutoring sessions (even though sometimes Jongdae still felt like ripping his impeccably styled hair out, he’d never give him the satisfaction of showing his annoyance though) and they were actually starting to make progress. Sehun had shown him some of his finished work and his grades had improved, not by much but they were definitely getting there. Jongdae was starting to enjoy his new routine, and especially his new blossoming friendship with Sehun. He’d been so busy with his studies and his work during the past few years he didn’t bother making many friends apart from Joonmyun and a few people he met at work so it was nice seeing another face for once. Especially since Joonmyun was busy with his own social life now, even if he was being secretive about his new “boyfriend.”

 

-

 

It was finally Christmas break, a whole two weeks free from University. If you didn’t count the course load of work Jongdae had to take home with him. He’d given Sehun strict instructions to study for at least some of the holidays, lest their progress go down the drain in two weeks.  He’d been looking forward to staying with his family and catching up with old friends, it’s what had gotten him through the last few stressful weeks of this semester. However, by the end of the first week he found himself thinking of Sehun. Should he call him to make sure he’s studying, or would that be too much of a nag? Maybe he could just call him and wish him a Merry Christmas, but were they good enough friends for him to just call him out of the blue like that? Why he was so worried about this he had no idea, but that is what kept him awake for most of Christmas eve night. Only managing to sleep once he’d drafted himself a simple text message to send Sehun in the morning.

 

Jongdae woke from his pitiful up Christmas morning to the shrill ringing of his phone, he worried that is was Sehun for a split second before noticing Joonmyun on the caller ID. He answered the call with a “Merry Christmas” and a “why the heck are you calling me so early i‘d finally got to sleep.”

Joonmyun chuckled and wished him a merry christmas in return. “Why couldn’t you sleep though? You always fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow” he added.

"I don’t know, I was thinking about Sehun for some reason. All I seem to think about is him these days, it started off just wondering if he was studying then sort of drifted into wondering if he was eating well or dressing warmly.” Jongdae admitted to his roommate.

“Well sounds like someone’s got a crush if you ask me. You’ve never once been bothered if I skipped a meal or underdressed for the weather” Joonmyun said smugly.

“Wow, you get a boyfriend and suddenly you become Dr Love. I’m hanging up, i’ll see you next week” Jongdae angrily replied trying to hangup the call.

“Wait, wait, wait! Before you go I have to tell you something. I’m dating Baekhyun, we met at the cafe and he asked me out, okay well bye then! Merry Christmas!” said Joonymun before hanging up on him.

 

To say he was shocked at Joonymuns confession was to put it mildly. His roommate dating his arch nemesis, the man who got him fired from his job and ultimately led to this strange tutoring relationship he had with Sehun. There better be more than one Baekhyun on their campus Jongdae thought to himself, because if his roommate had secretly dating the guy who got him fired then there was going to be hell to pay when he got home. Pushing that thought to the back of his mind he opened up his messages and re read the text he’d made the night before. With a confused heart, he hit send before he could change his mind. He’d tried to pretend he wasn’t checking his phone all day for a reply, and later on he’d tried to pretend he wasn’t sad that a reply never came.

 

-

 

Jongdae got caught up in line at the cafe buying them both a coffee and was running late for his tutoring session with Sehun. Thankfully he knew Joonmyun was in their room to let Sehun in so he didn’t need to run across campus carrying scalding coffee. After his talk with Joonmyun over the Christmas break he’d finally decided to confess his feelings to Sehun, or at least try and broach the subject. However, once he got to his room he heard arguing from the hallway, cradling the coffees in one hand he pushed open the door to his room, only to find Sehun and Joonmyun looking oddly compromising sat at his desk. He could tell from the look on Joonmyuns face that something was annoying him, he was never good at hiding his emotions. They hadn’t seemed to notice he was there yet, carrying on with their argument oblivious.

“Just do this one essay for me one Hyung. I promise Jongdae will never find out. You’re in the same class, I know you can do it easily You helped me out last time, please save me again Hyung” said Sehun holding Joonmyuns hands on the desk.

 

Jongdae couldn’t watch this anymore “What the is this Sehun? I thought you’d finally said you’d do your own work? Didn’t you promise that you’d start to working harder in your classes? Your grades have been improving lately. I was starting to feel proud of us both” Jongdae said slamming his hot coffee down on the table. Ignoring the burning feeling all over his hand he turned to face his two friends  “Has this just been one big joke to you? You couldn’t get me to do your work so you’re moving on to someone else now. Has all my effort meant nothing? Are we even friends, or was that a lie too? And you too Joonmyun, don’t even get me started on you. I’m surprised at you, my closest friend, you knew my feelings and this is what you do to me?”

 

God he was so disappointed. He turned away from his friends, he couldn’t stand to look at them anymore, and left the room. After a few seconds of pacing the corridor outside Jongdae looked to see who had followed him out of the room, secretly hoping it was Sehun but secretly disappointed when it was Joonmyun.

“I heard him say that you’d helped him before, don’t lie to me. I’m not stupid” he told his roommate angrily.

“I promise it’s not what it seems, he just came by the room one time to borrow a book from you but you weren’t in. I just lent him mine instead, since we have all the same books.” Joonmyun said begging Jongdae to understand him. “There was never anything else, I know how you felt about Sehun and how you wanted him to succeed on his own” He looked away from Joonmyun to see that Sehun had joined them in the hallway.

 

“I wanted to get a good grade to impress you, at first it was only for the allowance but after I saw how hard you worked I started to want to impress you. I’m too stupid to do it myself, so I asked Joonymun. But it was only this one time, I really like you Jongdae. You’re the only one who hasn’t ever treated me like the spoilt stupid rich kid that I am.”  admitted Sehun.

“Well you’re right about one thing you are pretty stupid. Don’t you see the reason why I’ve put up with you for so long, why i’ve never thought that you were spoilt or annoying?” replied Jongdae, letting go of his anger.

“Because my parents pay you a lot of money?” guessed Sehun.

“No you moron, because I like you too. I was going to confess today, before you totally screwed it up. Maybe i’ll take it back now” he jokingly said pushing Sehun back into his room. People were starting to gather in the hallway, searching for the cause of all the noise. Joonymun had thankfully left, giving them some privacy.

“Please don’t take it back! I swear it won’t happen again. Can you forgive me and let me take you out on a date?” said Sehun, practically begging.

“Ok, but seen as you’re the so called rich kid you get to pay”