a blooming friendship.

This was totally unexpected; Mingyu could’ve never predicted this was going to happen.

I’m afraid you’ll have to attend detention, the voice of the principal constantly replayed inside his head and all he could do was release a long-lasting, distressed sigh. He was known in the entire school as an intelligent and respectful figure and it was a true fact; teachers admired him and students perceived him as a role model. Hearing his name suddenly reverberate through the speakers to visit the principal’s office offered him a strange feeling especially when all his classmates’ attention in his Mathematics class was all focused at him. Loud gasps could be heard from a few and several “oooooh’s” resembling immature elementary students followed behind. Mingyu felt uncomfortable upon witnessing the unnecessarily abrupt reaction from the others and he was incredibly gratified when the teacher decided to put an end to it.

After excusing himself out of class to pay a quick visit to the principal’s office, he admitted he was feeling a bit frightened. He had only been in the headmaster’s office once or twice and usually the reasons for his presence were positive but he doesn’t remember accomplishing any remarkable tasks lately other than always receiving straight A’s on his examinations which is normal so the discussion was probably of a little different topic. And Mingyu has a small feeling that he knows exactly what it’s going to be about.

Mingyu was right. After the thirty-minute conversation with the principal that seemed like forever to the tall male, Mingyu wasn’t pleased at all. He understood perfectly that from the impulsive action he has done earlier with his friends, there ought to be some consequences at the end but he expected it to be more lenient and definitely not detention. If anything, he was one of the most responsible person there is but all of his friends aren’t necessarily all that responsible and that was the problem. The whole thing wasn’t all his fault―he had accompanied his friends and that was an irresponsible decision on his part to actually agree and come. Perhaps, Kim Mingyu himself wasn’t all that responsible.

He’s familiar with the concept of detention before since a few of his friends had previously acquired it and it was simultaneously difficult to avoid attentively listening to their incessant complaining about how immensely terrible detention was. When a topic like that usually ensues, Mingyu would feel like a total outsider because he can’t lament nor share any experiences he’s encountered in the detention classroom. It wasn’t his fault he wanted to maintain an impeccable record by avoiding particular situations that’ll inevitably cause him serious trouble. One of his friends, Minghao, was like that too but it was understandable because he came from China and doesn’t really have enough knowledge about the Korean culture or the language itself so he prefers to stay reserved and well-mannered. Mingyu’s certain that once Minghao learns more about Korea, he’s immediately going to escape out of his shell and possibly become the biggest bad boy in school―well, the second biggest.

An hour later had went by and the awaiting dismissal bell finally rang and indicated the ending of the school day, Mingyu was wandering in the hallways aimlessly as he still had a few minutes to spend before time marks the beginning of detention. He wasn’t looking forward to it at all. Few students walking right behind him were pushing each other back and forth while bursting out into fits of laughter and Mingyu just raised an eyebrow at them though they didn’t seem to have noticed it. As he abruptly halted on his tracks right next to the school garden replete with various types of beautiful flowers and other viridescent, leafy plants, he intently scanned his eyes around to see if any of his friends are walking around and oddly enough, he was unable to discern any of them. He figured he would most likely meet them in detention soon since it would be ludicrous if he was the only one being held responsible for the act so he ended up shrugging his shoulders as a response.

Getting out his plastic water bottle from the side pocket of his backpack slung on his shoulders, he drank a sufficient amount of the cold, tasteless liquid and right in the verge of gulping it, a sudden tap on his shoulder was felt and instantly resulted in him spitting the water from his mouth and to the person’s face. Mingyu’s chocolate brown orbs widened upon seeing his friend Soonyoung’s face covered in water and frantically searched his pockets for a napkin but unfortunately, there was none that he could find.

“I’m so sorry! I really am,” Mingyu said with an apologetic expression plastered on his face but only received an, “It’s okay man, don’t worry. The fresher, the better, right?” reply from Soonyoung.

“I swear it wasn’t intentional―I just didn’t know you were behind me,” Mingyu explained, ignoring the fact that Soonyoung had already clarified that he was completely fine.

“Mingyu darling,” Soonyoung placed a hand on the taller’s shoulder. “It’s just water. Don’t worry about it, it’s not like it’s pee or anything.”

“Okay, whatever you say. Anyways, what are you doing here?”

“It’s school, I’m here to learn,” Soonyoung replied sarcastically, allowing a light chuckle to escape his lips.

“Well, that’s helpful,” Mingyu playfully rolled his eyes at the shorter male standing in front of him. For Mingyu, he happened to be the tallest out of his own group of friends but never was there a time that he felt superior to any of them. In fact, the shortest of the group, Jihoon, was more terrifying than all of them combined. Believe it or not, one time, Jihoon even tried threatening to hit him with a guitar and that marked the last time Mingyu or anyone ever messed with the young, 164 centimeters man.

“I have dance class today so I’m very excited to learn more complicated moves, that’ll be very fun. What about you? It’s weird seeing you lurking around here after school ‘cause you normally run home and do your homework and do next week’s homework,” Soonyoung shook his head playfully at how ridiculously dedicated Mingyu is with learning; it scared him a little bit too.

“I don’t run; I just walk very fast,” Mingyu denied with a small pout of his lips before adding, “Plus, I have to attend detention. The guys probably told you about everything that happened already.”

“I just heard about it but that’s really unfortunate,” Soonyoung answered in a sympathetic tone. “Shouldn’t they be more merciful towards you though? I mean, you’ve never gotten into trouble before so they should at least be more nicer to you.”

This was one of the reasons Mingyu liked Soonyoung―in a brotherly and friendly way―the blonde was kind. Actually, all of his friends have very amiable personalities and Mingyu knows that the only reason they had performed such awful activity yesterday was because Soonyoung wasn’t there. Two days ago, Soonyoung and his family had to leave the city to visit their relatives up in the province so nobody was there to lead the group and keep them all organized. Therefore, with Soonyoung’s absence, there was no one that could stop them from involving themselves into troubles and it was a serious matter―even Mingyu, the school’s prominent role model, found himself being dragged to the mess.

Soonyoung has been Mingyu’s friend for quite a long time starting from the time the younger transferred to school in Seoul during the third grade and over the years, they’ve just built up a strong, unbreakable friendship. As mentioned before, Soonyoung’s role in their group of friends is the leader, responsible for keeping everyone in shape and Mingyu doesn’t know how he does it but Soonyoung is always successful in being the leader. None of his friends are the troublesome type considering their gregarious and vibrant nature and Mingyu’s a sociable person too though he knows better to pick friends that can be good influences and he did; it was just a matter of befriending one who also has friends of their own and those friends have friends of their own who aren’t really that good of an influence.

“Without you telling us to be behaved, we become impulsive idiots,” Mingyu commented, well-aware that he’d just blatantly insulted himself and his own friends but the obvious had to be verbalized. Upon hearing the raven-haired’s statement, Soonyoung released a lighthearted laugh before the realization dawned on him and he playfully questioned with a dramatic gasp, “Are you telling me that this is all my fault?” The blonde male did possess a great sense of humor.

“Maybe,” Mingyu shrugged innocently with a thin smile before sparing a momentary glance at his wristwatch and as soon as he finished looking at the time, his eyes enlarged in shock and said, “Oh my god, I’m late for detention! I have to go,” Mingyu sent the older male one last of his designated genial smiles and the said male did the same, they quickly traveled to their separate directions―Soonyoung at the end of the hallway and Mingyu at the second floor―along with a, “good luck!” and a “good luck to you too!” then eventually disappearing from each other’s vision.

As Mingyu expeditiously sprinted down the hallway, different emotions chose to engulf his frame. He was genuinely clueless whether he should be infuriated, miserable, or even apprehensive. Infuriated because he doesn’t deserve such cruel punishment and besides, he should at least be getting special treatment such as allowing this inconvenience to be easily fly away and be forgotten because he’s naturally a very polite student. After all, like what Soonyoung said, this is his first time getting himself into trouble so it shouldn’t create such a huge issue. Miserable because he’s expected to attend detention rather than instantly heading home to do his homework like normal―it’s a foreign feeling and it saddens him. A slight apprehension as well because he’s going to be surrounded by troublesome individuals who could potentially harm him in any way there is. He contemplates searching for better and cooler friends but Seungkwan’s, “we are the coolest friends you can ever have!” plays in his head and all he could do was nod and grin.

At least some of his friends are going to be in detention as well so he can rely on them to keep him safe.

Or so he thinks.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Mingyu is known for his punctuality―sometimes even ten or fifteen minutes earlier for his classes depending on how fond he is of the subject. Detention isn’t one of his favorite classes though, a plausible excuse of why he’s arrived later than the given time. No, he was just admittedly being oblivious. That was the precise reason.  

Nearing the classroom where the detention is declared to be held at, Mingyu grabbed his half-filled plastic water bottle from the pocket of his backpack again and decided to drink as much water as it took to eradicate all the worrying thoughts running through his head about detention. The particular strategy didn’t seem to provide him that much assistance considering that as soon as he arrived in front of the classroom’s beige-colored door, all of his concerns unknowingly returned.

“I’m never gonna talk to Seokmin again or Jeonghan or Jisoo or any of their friends, they are bad influence,” He busily complained to himself, letting out a scoff. “Wait! I’m their friend..Does that mean I’ve prohibited myself to talk to..myself? But, I’m talking to myself right now! This is so confusing; I’m going to lose my sanity!”

Getting the urge to yank all his hair out of his head due to sheer frustration, Mingyu was quickly reminded by how attractive his raven locks are and how smooth each strands of his hair sticks around when it’s either soaked from perspiration or from the shower or when he wakes up in the morning and it’s disheveled. For such a sophisticated person (or at least tries to), he was slightly narcissistic but who wouldn’t be?

Exhaling a heavy breath of air, Mingyu tentatively reached for the metallic doorknob in front of him and leisurely opened the door with the expectations of seeing plenty of students sitting around doing absolutely nothing but what he was greeted with was a stark contrast of what he expected. A classroom practically isolated with the exception of the teacher, Mr. Choi, sitting comfortably on his chair concentrating his attention on his computer and a boy right around Mingyu’s age with dark locks and cold eyes that Mingyu easily recognized was Jeon Wonwoo, the notorious delinquent in the entire academy. Other than the pair, there were no other individuals occupying the room and Mingyu was welcomed with perplexities. Taking silent steps inside in an attempt to remain unnoticeable, he quickly flinched right when he hears an abrupt, “Kim Mingyu, I hope you’re aware that you’re late.”

Slowly shifting his eyes towards the teacher, he flashed him an apologetic expression and retaliated with, “I know, Mr. Choi, I sincerely apologize. I was talking to my friend and I jus―” His statement became incomplete when the said teacher interrupted by saying, “I didn’t ask for an explanation; sit down.” Due to how anxious he was, Mingyu quickly took a seat on the nearest desk and much to his luck, Wonwoo was sitting right on the seat beside him.

Jeon Wonwoo, a young man with ebony hair and cold, intimidating eyes, he possesses a contemptible reputation and almost everyone in the school is well-aware that he’s nothing but a bad influence. Even though he essentially terrifies everyone around him, he still has a group of friends who are exactly similar to him―bad influences. One year, when the school celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday by reenacting his humorous play Much Ado About Nothing, everyone participated in preparing all the required equipments and the next day when the play was supposed to be held, all the equipments were both haphazardly scattered around or destroyed and few days later, the whole school discovered it was two of Wonwoo’s friends―Hansol and Seungcheol’s―wrongdoing. With all the rumors spreading around about Wonwoo and his friends, Mingyu promised to himself that he’d never associate with any of them or even be near them.

All solely because of detention, Mingyu has shattered his promise into pieces.

Mingyu was uncertain if he was just being paranoid but he could’ve sworn he could literally feel Wonwoo’s piercing gaze darting right at him and consequently, it only offered him discomfort yet sadly, he couldn’t do anything about it. Detention would only last for an hour; he can endure the tension and avoid looking and talking to Wonwoo by being remarkably quiet.

I can do it, you can do it Kim Mingyu, Mingyu mentally told himself, eyes splashed with determination.

Just as Mingyu thought the room was going to remain noiseless until detention is over, Mr. Choi settled his book on top of his desk and began, “The both of you should think about what you’ve done. Being a disgrace to the whole school; that is what you’ve done. Do you both know the reason why you’re in detention?” Mingyu had hesitantly nodded his head whereas Wonwoo disregarded the question and only rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Mingyu, I am shocked to see that you’re here. This is your first time, am I correct?” Mr. Choi eyed the tallest male in the room expectantly and Mingyu once again nodded.

“Even the best students find themselves being corrupted,” Mingyu heard the teacher elaborate yet he wasn’t too sure if it was meant for him and Wonwoo or to no one in particular. A good minute passes by filled with nothing but frozen silence until Mr. Choi stood up from his seat and announced, “I’m going downstairs to the teacher’s lounge; If I don’t return when detention is over then feel free to just go home. Behave properly,” And with that, he grabbed his briefcase sitting next to his desk on the floor and exited out of the door.

As he watched the teacher’s retreating figure depart the classroom with perplexed eyes, he was skeptical. It didn’t make sense in his head that a teacher would just neglect a classroom and leave a couple of apparently ‘disgraceful’ students by themselves. Right as the door clicked close, Mingyu knew this wasn’t a good idea. He was trapped in a classroom with the one and only Jeon Wonwoo with no other indication of a human being supervising them. Mingyu still wanted to tell his parents that he loved them and his friends too even if they are the one who had gotten him into this situation―he’s not ready to be taken to a secluded island where he can never catch a glimpse of the sunshine and all the food there is are brussel sprouts.

Just keep your mouth shut Mingyu, Mingyu internally reassured himself. Keeping his mouth closed the whole time is by far the best method to prevent communication with Wonwoo unless he can think of a better idea which will be impossible since he can’t even think straight at the moment.

Excruciating tension was what their atmosphere were covered with and the taller of the pair desperately wished it was going to stay like that until detention ended. Trying to fight the temptation to take a brief glance at what Wonwoo was doing beside him, Mingyu ended up with the victory and there was a small triumphant smile present on his lips. It’s not like he actually really cared what Wonwoo was doing―he assumed probably whatever bad kids do in their free time―According to Mingyu’s analogy, Wonwoo was like the Greek mythological monster Medusa (an extremely attractive one that is); when you look at his eyes, you get lost in it and eventually become one of his people.

Folding his hands together on the desk, Mingyu suddenly jumped out of his seat as he heard the alarming sound of a phone ringing and at first, he supposed it was Wonwoo’s phone but when the ringing seemed to have not ceased, he realized it was indeed his phone and quickly fished it out of his pocket. Not bothering to see who the caller was, he pressed the ‘answer’ button and brought the phone against his ear before muttering out a hushed, “Hello?”

“Oh nothing much, Jisoo-hyung, you know here stuck in detention; just the normal,” he responded, a distinct hint of sarcasm evident in his voice. “What do you mean you all are at Seokmin’s place having a party?! Are you kidding me right now? They should be here in detention with me,” When he noticed that his voice grew a pitch louder, his voice became softer and quieter just in case Wonwoo―whom he isn’t sure is still sitting next to him as of the time being―is bothered by it.

“What do you mean you can’t hear my voice? You’re at a party; geez, what do you expect? Did I just hear you say they skipped detention? I can’t believe this,” Mingyu shook his head incredulously, unable