Jongdae loves his job, he really does. Being a tutor meant he wasn’t confined to one space, he could move around freely in the city to houses of all sorts of shapes and sizes, and- depending on the family background- the job paid handsomely. In the time he’s been doing this, there hadn’t been any tutees who were particularly difficult. There were differences in the beginning, but they and Jongdae had managed to work together in the end, and their grades would improve massively compared to what they were previously.

Then Jongdae began tutoring Oh Sehun, and after every session he began to love his job a little bit less. Sehun was difficult to work with- Jongdae had established that after their first couple of sessions- but what it really came down to was just how much Sehun frustrated Jongdae. From some sessions, he had shown that he was smart enough and perfectly capable of getting grades much higher than he was getting, yet when it came to actual tests, his grades would fall right back down to some of the lowest in the class. Jongdae just couldn’t figure out what was wrong!

Progress had been slow, and there were so many times where Jongdae just wanted to quit on Sehun and tell his parents to get him another tutor, but Jongdae’s parents raised him to be a polite young man. He wasn’t going to give up on Sehun that easily.

Expecting to be met with the usual sight of Sehun slumped in his seat as he waited for Jongdae, he’s quite surprised when he hears what sounds like Sehun laughing as he approaches the room. Stopping short of the doorway, Jongdae takes a peek inside and sees Sehun sat at his desk, a younger boy sat next to him. Jongdae’s never seen the boy before, but what shocks him the most is how happy Sehun sounds talking to him, how patient he is… it’s the complete opposite to what Jongdae’s used to seeing.

“Is this right?” the boy asks, sliding a sheet of paper over for Sehun to have a look at

“Hm, almost. You were two off on this question and four off on this one” Sehun replies, making the corrections as the boy sighs and slides down his seat

“Fractions are so hard… and boring” he whines

“Everybody struggles with fractions. I know I did, but I got it eventually” Sehun says, lightly nudging the boy, “So don’t give up too easily. I know you’ll get it eventually”

“If you find it so easy, how come you have that man coming around in a bit?”

“Because my parents think I need him. I don’t, but they think I do because of my grades” Sehun explains

“Well, if you don’t need him, how come your grades are bad?” the boy asks, making Sehun sigh before he ruffles the boy’s hair.

“You’re too young to understand right now” is all he says and Jongdae chooses the moment that their conversation stalls to knock on the door. Simultaneously Sehun and the boy turn to face him and whilst the boy looks confused, Sehun lightly groans and turns back to his desk.

“Who’s he?” the boy asks but neither Sehun nor Jongdae have time to reply before someone begins to call for the boy

“Chanyeol sweetie, it’s time to go” comes a woman’s voice, making the boy whine as he gathers his belongings and says goodbye to Sehun, ducking his head out of shyness when he runs past Jongdae and down the hall.

“That’s Chanyeol. His parents are long-time friends of my parents” Sheun explains as Jongdae takes a seat next to him. Jongdae was still surprised at how Sehun’s had been.

“So, I was thinking today we’d focus on areas that you feel like you’re really struggling and making no improvements in. Is there anything you want to focus on?” Jongdae asks as Sehun opens his mouth to say something but then hesitates. For a moment Jongdae think he’s either going to get nothing out of Sehun or get the usual attitude he was met with during these sessions.

“Well there was a test on some things we learnt in Physics but I really didn’t get it… so I kinda did really bad on that” Sehun finally says

“Oh. Uh, okay. Do you have the test paper and notes you made during these lessons?” Jongdae asks, watching as Sehun starts looking for the relevant material. He didn’t want to jinx it just yet, but maybe today would be the day Sehun finally cooperated with him.

Progress with Sehun was slow, but Jongdae felt that they were getting there. He still remembers their first session when Sehun would hardly talk to him and Jongdae spent the whole time going through his previous exams to see where he was going wrong. If he wanted to get to know Sehun, he had to time it carefully, otherwise he risked Sehun shutting down and never speaking to him again.

From what Sehun didn’t tell him, Jongdae could kind of work out from how the boy acted, or how he spoke. Sehun was an only child, and his parents were quite well to do, it was very often that Jongdae would arrive at the house and it would be just the two of them. This didn’t seem to bother Sehun, in fact he was perfectly fine with neither of parents being around often. On the rare occasions they were home and Jongdae was around, conversations were short and way too formal between a child and their parents.

Then came the little moments where Jongdae could see that it did bother Sehun. Times where his mum or dad would come home and he would wait for either of them to talk to him, but instead they ignored him. Times where Sehun would tell them of upcoming events he had at school and they would either dismiss it or not reply at all. These were the times where Jongdae would see this tiny vulnerable side to Sehun before the boy put up his usual façade and carried on their sessions as normal.

“So, uh, I just wanted to check that you were still able to come to my dance recital in October? We’re uh… the tickets are being sold next week so I need to check” Sehun had asked his mum almost a week ago, Jongdae sitting next to him in silence.

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. I forgot and scheduled myself to go with your dad to a business trip in Taipei” his mum had replied, and Jongdae could see Sehun’s face instantly turn from that of nervousness to one of anger, almost like betrayal.

“B-but you said you would go. You promised me you would come!”

“Sehun I am sorry, but your father asked me to come with him and I couldn’t say no-”

“But you can! I asked you first, this isn’t fair! Just cancel the trip!” Sehun had shouted back, and now his mum wore the same angered expression

“Do not use that tone with me Oh Sehun! You’re being an unreasonable little brat, and until you can learn to act mature I will not be speaking to you about this matter anymore!”

After that incident, Sehun and Jongdae’s ‘friendship’ got a little bit better. Maybe it was because Jongdae hadn’t pressed Sehun on the argument, or how he looked close to crying afterwards, instead opting to go straight back into the work. After that incident Sehun began to tell Jongdae a bit more about himself; how he didn’t want nothing to do with his dad’s business and instead wanted to work with children, maybe as a teacher. How he also wanted to become more independent, not have to rely so much on his parents the older he got. It had been a slow start, but finally Jongdae was beginning to enjoy himself some more.

"So, I may have found the perfect little weekend job you’ve been wanting” Jongdae says during a break, Sehun looking up from his phone and raising an eyebrow

“Really?”

“Yep. It’s part time and for a couple of shifts it’ll only be weekends before they’ll consider giving you late afternoon shifts which fits perfectly into your school schedule. Plus, it pays more handsomely than other jobs we’ve been looking at.”

Sehun studies him for a moment, weighing up his options. With a nod of his head, he puts his phone down and turns his full attention to Jongdae, “Go on then.”

Someone commented in the last chapter that Jongdae was going to get Joonmyun a job at the café to be closer to Yixing and I'm not gonna lie, it gave me a good chuckle. Genious idea, but Joonmyun's supposed to be resting from his actual job like his boss told him to. Wouldn't want him losing his job and keeping Sehun jobless would we?

Speaking of Oh Sehun the little  

????

STAY IN YOUR LANE!! I still haven't gotten over topless Baekhyun! Do you know how long ago that was?!? 

And if that wasn't enough!

What is this?!? Are they trying to kill us?!? I updated a day earlier than I was actually going to beause of these guys!!

STAY. IN. YOUR. LANES!!

Hmph. Until the next chapter.