After Sehun’s fallout with his mum, Jongdae could sense the tension in the household during their next session. The tension was such that Sehun had reverberated back into his old state of not saying anything to Jongdae, even snapping at him on one occasion before eventually apologising a little sheepishly.

“How about this, next session you come over to my place and we’ll do it there” Jongdae had offered after the third incident of Sehun snapping at him

“W-wait, really?” Sehun had replied in shock

“Of course. You obviously hate being here and we’re getting nowhere in your university application or the actual sessions so a change of scenery would probably do you good”

That was two weeks ago and as Jongdae opens the door to his apartment, Sehun both laughs and stares in disbelief at the state the elder has himself in, especially the scratches that line in his arms.

“Kittens” is Jongdae’s explanation as he lets Sehun in and sets up his laptop. Sniffles had finally given birth to her kittens’ three boys and a girl. Jongdae wouldn’t admit it to anybody, but seeing the kittens in front of him, he did cry a little bit. Whilst the kittens were adorable, they were certainly a handful to take care of.

Waiting for Jongdae to get set up, Sehun sits by Sniffles and her kittens, gently scratching the cat underneath her chin and smiling when her eyes scrunch up and she begins to purr

“I’m starting to think she likes you more than me” Jongdae comments

“It’s because I don’t look nearly as flustered or as scratched up as you do” Sehun replies and is actually happy when he hears Jongdae laugh at his lame reply. Patting Sniffles on the head, Sehun then picks up one of her kittens and holds it in his arms, gently its head. This particular kitten was one that Sehun had taken a particular liking to. Unlike the other three kittens, this one was black whilst its siblings were ginger and white like their mum. It was the only kitten that Sehun has held which didn’t try to use him as a scratching post as well.

“When she’s ready to go, you can have her” Jongdae offers, pointing to the kitten in Sehun’s arms

“Really? You… you’ll let me have her?”

“You’ve practically adored her from the moment you held her, it’ll probably break your poor heart if I let anybody else have her” Jongdae jokes, “In fact, because you’re a student, I’ll let you have her for free. I’m charging Joonmyun full price for the one he has his eyes on”

Laughing together, Sehun puts the kitten back with her mum and joins Jongdae on the sofa. For the past couple of sessions, they haven’t really focused on any lessons Sehun’s been slacking in, instead devoting it to helping Sehun with his university application. Jongdae almost had a heart attack when Sehun had told him he was leaving it this late to start applying.

“So far, we have two universities you can go to, your number one choice being the Korea National University of Education. If you don’t manage to get into either though, it’s not the end of the world” Jongdae says, scrolling through a document he had made for Sehun on his laptop

“All of this is so stressful” Sehun sighs, slumping in the seat dejectedly

“That’s what you get for leaving this so late” Jongdae lightly scolds, “But don’t worry, I’ll help you throughout the whole process. Don’t want you dying from stress or anything”.

Sehun’s not sure when it happens, but there comes a point where whenever Jongdae is in his presence, his heart flutters or begins to beat rapidly. There’s even a point where he starts to become shy whenever Jongdae laughs at one his jokes or even smiles at him! He was originally going to ask his friends for advice, but figured that they would just more so than help him. He was going to just somehow get through it and suffer until he was finished with his final exams, but then Yixing had to come and ask him what was wrong and tried to give him his own advice.

Just be yourself. As long as you’re not a and you’re actually nice to them, they might fall for you too.

Easier said than done, especially because Sehun was a towards Jongdae when they first met. He was getting better though, now that he was away from his parents more, Sehun wouldn’t snap as much towards people as he used to. He was cheering up significantly and even laughed and joked with Jongdae a lot more than he did previously. The only annoying thing though was that if the elder did know just how much effort he was putting in, he wasn’t making it known to Sehun at all!  

“Do you really think I can get in?” Sehun asks quietly, Jongdae pausing and turning towards him with a frown

“Sure I do. You’re a very smart kid and as long as we knuckle down and you do well in your exams, you’ll get in with no trouble at all” he replies, sighing when Sehun still doesn’t look so sure. He places his hand on Sehun’s knee in an attempt to reassure him, but all it does is makes Sehun’s heart race again and he has to fight to not let a blush appear across his face. “You need to start believing in yourself, okay? I’ll be there to help you and I’m sure your friends will as well”.

Sehun quickly nods his head and puts his attention onto the document that Jongdae has made for him. It’s pretty impressive; not only does it have all the information on his first-choice university but also on his second choice, and the other options that Sehun could turn to if his attempt at university failed. It was detailed, organised, and well laid out. Where was Jongdae before Sehun catastrophically failed most of his exams?

“I’m getting a coffee, you want one?” Jongdae asks, getting up from his sofa and walking towards his kitchen

“I-I’ll have a water” Sehun replies, waiting until Jongdae was out of sight before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a ticket. Only one of Sehun’s friends knew about the deal with Jongdae, and whilst they did laugh at him at first, they became more sympathetic when they saw that Sehun was actually serious. It was their idea to give Jongdae the ticket. They even threatened Sehun with telling the rest of their friends if he didn’t do it.

Sehun nervously bites his lip, holding the ticket in his hands and wondering if this was really as good of an idea as his friend was leading him to believe. He can hear Jongdae humming to himself in the kitchen, and he thinks to hell with it, taking one final deep breath in.

“Are you doing anything Friday evening?”

“Well I did have a tutoring session, but that’s been cancelled. Why? Do you want that slot instead?” Jongdae calls back from the kitchen

“N-no… I was wondering… well… do you want to come to my dance recital?”

There’s a moment of silence and Sehun begins to wonder if he’s just made the biggest mistake of his life. Before he can apologise and run away though, Jongdae pokes his head into the living room, eyeing Sehun cautiously.

“Are you being serious?” he asks as Sehun nods and holds up the ticket in his hand

“It was for my mum, but you know how that went” he replies with a nervous laugh, “I couldn’t return it and I didn’t know who else I could ask to come… so I thought I’d ask you. You don’t have to come though! I just thought it would be a nice gesture… or something”

Jongdae watches him ramble on and laughs at how flustered Sehun is getting himself. He stands there and thinks it over for a moment; would it actually be okay if he did go to the dance recital? The two of them were only tutor and tutee and Jongdae hadn’t actually known Sehun for that long. What would people think if an older guy who wasn't a member of Sehun’s family came to watch him?

“You can say no. I’m not gonna be offended or anything”

For a moment, Sehun does really does think that Jongdae isn’t going to go and he sets himself up for the rejection. When Jongdae shakes his head and smiles though, Sehun’s heart flutters again.

“Stop worrying, I’ll go to your recital” he says, “Just remind me to write down a reminder somewhere before I forget it”

Sehun’s happiness diminishes almost instantly when a thought springs to mind; there was no way he was getting through this dance recital with no mistakes if Jongdae was coming to watch him.

For the person who asked for more Chenhun in the comments section, ask and ye shall receive... 

Until the next chapter!