~~~

Closing the door behind him as silently as he can, Jongin gently places the bag down onto the floor. Figuring the whole house is fast asleep, he removes his shoes, not even bothering trying to locate the light switch in case his Father notices, wakes up and scolds him for coming home so late at night.

His heart is still racing and it's beating so fast and so loud Jongin briefly wonders if it'll wake somebody up. That doesn't happen, however, and Jongin pulls his phone out of his back pocket and curses under his breath when he repeatedly presses the power button, only for the screen to remain pitch black.

"How'd it go?"

Barely able to stifle a shriek, Jongin whirls around, hands scrambling to cover his mouth to keep himself from waking the entire house. "What in God's na-"

"Hey, how'd it go? Did he kiss you?" Jungah asks, appearing out of nowhere. She's wearing her pink night gown, a pigtail on either side of her head. Despite the time, Jongin doesn't think she looks tired in the least.

"Where on Earth'd you come from," Jongin mutters, struggling to untie and take off his shoes in the dark, nearly stumbling over his own foot at one point and barely avoiding colliding with the wall, as well as stepping on his bag. "Don't scare me like that," he adds, placing his sneakers a few feet away.

"Did he kiss you?" Jungah asks again and Jongin can practically see her curious gaze as it blazes through the dark. "Come on, did he?" she pries when the blond remains silent.

"Why are you still up?" Jongin asks, ignoring the lump in his throat. "Dad's gonna go into conniptions when he hears you yammering- I mean, talking, at this hour, you know that." He picks up and bag and walks past her, careful not to bump into her.

"Is that a yes?" Jungah pries, following after Jongin. "Oh my God, he did! Did it go well? What'd you guys even do?"

Stifling a yawn, Jongin walks over to the staircase before gently placing his candy bag on the first step. "I'm exhausted," he tries, even though he knows darn good and well Jungah won't be having any of it. "We'll talk in the morning, alright? You have school tomorrow, don't you-"

"What movie did you watch? Lemme guess, a creepy one, right?" Jungah asks, ignoring Jongin to the very fullest. "Since you're as white as a sheet," she adds with a snicker.

Jongin stills. "What-"

"Did he like, do what couples usually do during a movie?" Jungah asks, wrapping both her arms around her torso. "Hug you and kiss you and console you? Don't just stand there like a dead flower, say something!"

It takes Jongin three seconds to process her words and when he does, his mouth opens of its own accord. "Thank you."

Jungah blinks. "What?"

Clearing his throat, Jongin rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, thank you," he repeats dumbly. "The uh, movie tickets you gave me." He gestures to his pockets. "Found 'em before we headed to the cinema. It was kind of you. Thanks."

Shrugging, Jungah shoots him an uberly bright smile (that definitely doesn't make Jongin's chest swell with guilt) before lightly patting him on the shoulder. "It's kinda corny, I know, but still, since you’re such an awkward love loser majority of the time I figured I’d give you an extra push,” she says in a serious tone, much to the blond’s irritation.

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Jongin swallows. One half of him wants to walk up to Jungah and tell her he’s sorry but the other half of him wants to bolt straight up the stairs to his room. He finally settles for a combination of the two, though, and he ends up murmuring a rushed ‘Thank you, you’re the best’ before high-tailing it out of the hallway and upstairs, remembering to grab his bag in the process.

12:59 PM

Jongin doesn’t even bother brushing his teeth or removing his makeup (worst case scenario, he figures he’ll have to deal with the ghastly consequences that is a face full of pimples tomorrow morning) after closing the door behind him, locking it and practically diving into bed, somehow managing to do so without stubbing his toe or missing the bed given that he didn’t bother turning on the light, either.

Pulling his shirt over his head, Jongin carelessly tosses it on the floor before lying back down, letting the coolness of the mattress mix with his body heat. A wave of fatigue suddenly washes over him and he lets out a much needed yawn while simultaneously struggling to remove his jeans with his feet. It works, after a brief hassle, and he lets them fall to the floor, too, along with his shirt, making sure to grab his phone before his jeans get a chance to hit the floor.

Stupid thing, Jongin thinks as he stares daggers at his phone, somehow hoping staring at it intently for a certain amount of time will eventually lead to it mending itself and starting up again. Why’d you have to break. Why, why, why.

Jongin bites his lip. He stares his reflection in the eye and thinks for a second. If I hadn’t been so careless earlier, I’d be talking with him right now, he grumbles to himself before repeatedly pressing the power button, only for the screen to remain as black as it’s been for the past three hours. Stupid frickin’ thing.

Figuring he can, hopefully, manage to fall asleep without hearing the melodic sound of Sehun’s voice (again, Jongin reminds himself that Sehun’s the cheesy one out of them), Jongin mumbles a ‘screw it’ while tossing his phone to the foot of the bed. His hair is a matted mess on top of his head and he’s certain his makeup, which has partially washed off of his face at this point, is a downright mess. He doesn’t know what Sehun thinks of him but Jongin hopes Sehun isn’t basing his opinion(s) on how he looks at the moment.

As much as he wants to lie down and reflect on everything, his head is much too full, not to mention exhausted, to think properly. His hand, cheek(s) and lips all tingle from Sehun’s touches and he hopes the feeling never goes away.

Jongin regrets asking his parents for such a large bed because the large, empty space next to him makes him anxious, to say the least. He opts to roll over and lie in the middle for good measure.

He falls asleep that night to the thought of perfectly styled black hair, twinkling brown eyes and lingering touches, but not before opening and checking the top of his closet for any signs of Bathsheba and Annabelle.

12:21 AM

Cursing under his breath when he accidentally walks into a trash can, Jongin shoves his phone, which still doesn’t work, in his pocket. He’s been trying to get it to start up with no luck for the past twenty minutes and he makes a mental note to take it to the repair shop to get it fixed first thing when the last bell rings. He doesn’t think he’ll forget because in all honesty, not being able to text or call Sehun is seriously beginning to rile him up.

His head hurts a little from having to wake up extra early to properly remove his makeup and fix and style his hair and, speaking of which, Jongin makes another mental note to pick up some concealer for his under eyes since he practically used up the whole bottle a couple of hours ago.

A couple of girls shoot him a smirk when he walks past them to get to his locker and Jongin mentally sighs. He suddenly feels extremely sympathetic to Sehun. Extremely.

One thought automatically leads to another and before Jongin knows it, a sense of dread washes over him and he has to stop for a second to gather his thoughts. As much as he’d enjoyed Sehun’s company yesterday, and as much as he’d appreciated the latter spending time with him and treating him like the only person in the world, that was then; outside of school, away from the attention and people. Jongin hadn’t actually thought about how different things would be now that they’re back in school, just like any other day, with Sehun bathed in (unwanted) attention from God knows how many girls, like always, and he doesn’t know how it makes him feel. Even though he’s highly aware that Sehun isn’t and will never be having any of it, it still makes the blond feel a tad bit queasy.

Jongin bites his lip and runs a hand through his hair before resuming his short walk down the neverending hallway. He sees his locker come into view and breathes out a sigh of relief when he doesn’t see anybody in sight because all he wants right now is some peace and quiet.

Stopping by his locker, Jongin places his bag on the floor before shoving his hands in his pockets in search of his keys. He finally retrieves them after a short while and swings his locker open, careful to avoid getting hit square in the eyes with his Literature textbook when it falls off the top shelf and comes flying towards his face. He suddenly thinks he can smell Sehun’s perfume but he dismisses it as his brain going haywire (in his defense, his brain seems to have completely rewired itself since last night. Not that he minds.).

He rummages through his (quite messy, at least for a straight-A student) locker and quickly tidies it up a little to make finding his textbook for his next lesson in an hour a little easier, cursing when his Biology textbook somehow falls off the shelf, too, and lands right on his foot. He’s glad the hallway is empty because the sound he emits when his big toe gets crushed to smithereens is far, far from manly, to say the least. ing .

Bending down, Jongin grabs the 590-page book and makes a third mental note to stop by the hospital on his way home, on top of dropping his phone off at the repair shop as well as buying a new tube of concealer.

Standing up again, he briefly wonders what his fourth mental note will be when-

“Jongin!”

The first thing that hits him is an overwhelming rush of adrenaline. The second thing that hits him is the immense pain that courses through his entire head after having smashed it right into the door to his locker when he jolted upright at lightning speed. In fact, he doesn’t even notice he’s being talked to until he hears his name again.

“Jongin, oh my God, are you okay? Why haven’t you been answering your phone lately? You’re not depressed, right? , Dae, he does look a little blue, maybe we should-” Baekhyun’s hysterical voice is promptly cut off with an ‘oomf!’ when Jongdae quickly places a hand over his mouth.

“Shut the hell up, you moron,” Jongdae mumbles under his breath, not making a move to remove his hand from the redhead’s mouth. He shoots Jongin, who looks like he’s questioning his entire existence, a sympathetic glance. “I tried calling and texting you all night, but it kept going to voicemail,” he says, voice surprisingly low given that the entire hallway is empty. He bites his lip before continuing. “I understand, though. Nice to see you're in good shape, at least.”

Finally breaking free from Jongdae’s iron grip, Baekhyun rushes forward and shakes Jongin’s shoulders lightly. “Dae told me everything,” he says, speaking so fast neither Jongdae nor Jongin can understand him. “There are plenty of cute guys out there, trust me,” he babbles, eyes practically buzzing with concern. Jongin nearly finds it comical.

Jongin blinks and hisses when the rustling of his shoulders makes his head pound even more. “Stop it,” he mumbles, shoving Baekhyun away. He turns back to his locker and rubs the sore spot on his head. He doesn’t know if it’s because of his splitting headache or the fact that he’s barely slept a wink, but he honestly has no idea what neither Jongdae nor Baekhyun are talking about. “What are you-”

“I even made you a pie,” Baekhyun interrupts before lifting up his backpack and ping it, and the blond can only blink in surprise when he literally pulls out something large and lumpy on a plate, neatly covered in tinfoil. “Spinach, your favorite!” he adds, not giving Jongin a chance to reply before dumping it in the latter’s arms.

Staring at the rather warm, tinfoil wrapped plate in his hands, Jongin only shoots Jongdae a confused look and the latter replies with an equally puzzled expression.

“I dunno,” Jongdae huffs, putting his hands in the air. “He called me at three in the morning and told me he was on his way downstairs to make you a pie in case you were ‘busy being depressed’,” he adds, running a hand through his hair and shooting the redhead an exasperated look to which the latter only replies with a shrug.

“Tell me if it’s too spinach-y,” Baekhyun says, ignoring Jongdae’s remark of ‘that’s not even a word!’. “My cooking skills aren’t exactly at their peak at 3 AM,” he adds, shooting Jongin a bright smile. “Hopefully that’ll help you move on!”

Jongin blinks, unmoving. The hot plate in his hands is threatening to burn through his flesh and he hurries to put it in his locker before slamming it shut, head still pounding. The smell of cheese and spinach quickly fills the entire hallway and he feels his mouth water. Lunch couldn’t come fast enough, he thinks to himself before shoving his keys in his bag and turning to face Jongdae and Baekhyun.

“Move on?” Jongin asks, raising an eyebrow in confusion, wincing when a sense of pain surges through his cranium. “What do you mean?” He adjusts the straps to his backpack and looks at Jongdae. “And my phone’s as good as dead, broken, that is. I couldn’t reach you guys, sorry.”

Jongdae furrows his eyebrows. “You broke it?” he asks, scratching the back of his head. “How on Earth-”

“From Prince Charming,” Baekhyun interrupts, ignoring Jongdae. He suddenly wrinkles his nose in disgust. “Or should I say, Cruella de Vil,” he adds and rolls his eyes when Jongdae stares at him like he’s grown a third leg. “Get it? Cause her name literally means ‘devil’, and Prince Charming’s an evil son of a , even though he’s not a woman.” He throws his hands in the air when Jongdae continues to stare. “She’s the villain in-”

“I know who the Cruella de Vil is, ,” Jongdae exclaims, grabbing Baekhyun’s wrists. “And how on Earth’d you get her name from 'Prince Charming'? Nevermind, I don’t wanna know.” He sends Jongin an apologetic look. “He’s right, though. I mean, at least you’ll only have to deal with it for three or so more months, and then he’ll be gone and you’ll never have to see him again.”

Jongin blinks. He’s never been so confused in his life. “What on Earth are you guys ta-”

Breaking free from Jongdae’s hold, Baekhyun raises an eyebrow and proceeds to shoot Jongin a look of ‘dude, are you for real?’ before blinking in surprise. His eyes suddenly widen to the size of quarters and he grabs Jongdae’s shoulders. “Oh my God, don’t tell me-”

“He doesn’t have amnesia, you idiot,” Jongdae says in exasperation, shoving Baekhyun aside. He rolls his eyes in Jongin’s direction. “He read on some site that extreme emotional trauma can, in some cases, lead to permanent or temporary memory loss,” he says. “Even though we all know it’s complete bull. Sorry.”

Ignoring the rumbling in his stomach, Jongin leans against his locker. “What the-”

“We’re here for you, though, if you need anything, you know that,” Jongdae says in a sympathetic tone, rubbing Jongin’s shoulder. “Hey, wanna go grab some lunch?”

Jongin massages his temples, partially to block out Baekhyun’s series of ‘Dae, I think he’s got amnesia, call 911’ and partially to soothe the pounding in his head. “I wanna know what the hell you’re yammering about,” he murmurs but he says it so quietly he doubts neither Jongdae nor Baekhyun heard.

“In my opinion, I think we might’ve pushed it onto you a little too quickly,” Jongdae says, pressing his lips together. “Probably should’ve waited a little or at least waited until you’d built up a stable friendship with him, first.” He shakes his head. “I mean, some guys like directness, but I guess he wasn’t one of them.”

“I got dumped by a guy once,” Baekhyun interjects. “But since I got plenty of love and support from my friends I managed to get over it in a couple of days,” he adds, whacking Jongin on the back in a friendly manner, making the latter cough and sputter.

“That was in second grade,” Jongin mumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You were barely even a back then,” he adds, ignoring Jongdae’s loud cackle. His stomach is grumbling uncontrollably and he wants nothing more than to grab a bite to eat.

“You gonna be alright, though?” Jongdae asks, eyeing Jongin in concern. “I mean, if you’d like to talk about it in depth we cou-”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jongin exclaims way too loudly, throwing his hands in the air in confusion and exasperation. He immediately regrets it when a teacher throws the door open a few feet away and promptly hushes him before slamming it shut again.

“Duh,” Baekhyun blurts out, looking equally as frustrated and confused as Jongin, “Sehun dumped your and we wanna know if you're gonna be okay!”

Jongin blinks and instinctively blushes at the mention of Sehun’s name. Nevertheless, his confusion remains the same. He doesn’t even get a chance to reply when he hears the soft sound of footsteps a couple of feet away and he feels his entire chest fill with happiness, his headache instantly disappearing when a certain somebody comes into view.

“What’s with all the yelling?” Sehun asks in amusement, stopping just when he turns the corner. “Jeez, are they serving spinach pie in the cafeteria today? It reeks in here,” he adds, wrinkling his nose a little at the overwhelming smell that’s probably filled the entire building by now.

Jongin doesn’t hear a word of what Sehun is saying. In fact, he doesn’t hear a thing; he’s too busy ogling the taller’s attire; a black, buttoned shirt hugs his defined torso and a pair of skinny black jeans cling to his legs. Upon slightly closer inspection, Jongin notices a silver necklace draped around the taller's neck. It’s so simple yet Jongin can’t help but stare.

As usual, Sehun’s hair is styled flawlessly; every single black strand styled to perfection and beyond, and Jongin fights the urge to walk over and reach out and run a hand through it, just to see if it’s as fluffy as it was yesterday. Sehun looks as handsome and bright-eyed as always and Jongin wonders how that is given that Sehun most likely slept less than he did last night. It's a Sehun thing. It must be a Sehun thing.

Jongin watches as Sehun proceeds to lean against the wall and shove his hands in his pockets, and he turns his face away when the taller nods in his direction with a small smirk, a blush blooming across his cheeks. 

Sehun’s teammates, specifically Junmyeon and Chanyeol, are nowhere in sight and now that Jongin thinks about it, neither are his fangirls and he visibly exhales in relief because honestly, getting trampled by a thousand hormonal females is the last thing he wants right now. On the other hand, it feels as strange as it did yesterday when they were sitting in the café - Jongin doesn’t think he’ll ever not get used to seeing Sehun without some random girl coming up to him every five seconds. Not that he minds, of course.

Even though he doesn’t hear what Sehun is saying, Jongin barely manages to pick up the sound of Baekhyun’s voice as the latter exclaims something along the lines of ‘you conceited son of a ’ and he snaps his head up just in time to see the redhead attempt to grab Sehun’s arms.

“How could you!” Baekhyun practically yells, grabbing Sehun’s arms and attempting to shove him backwards. “Get the hell outta here, I can’t even look at you, you self-centered son of a ,” he growls, ignoring Jongdae’s grip on his shoulder. Jongin only watches, bewildered.

“Yeah, the ’s wrong with you,” Jongdae says and even though he’s not as physically aggressive as Baekhyun is, Jongin can tell he’s doing everything in his power to contain his anger. “Who the hell do you think you are, tucking your goddamn tail between your legs and running like an idiot? You should be ashamed.”

“How could you say yes only to run away without a word?” Baekhyun exclaims, attempting to smack Sehun in the face, only for the latter to grab his hand in the nick of time. “The hell are you even doing here? Go back to your ten billion girlfriends and betray them instead,” he growls, making a second attempt to slap Sehun and failing again. “Stop looking so confused, you know damn good and well what you did!”

Jongdae places a protective arm in front of Jongin, who looks as confused as ever. “It’s true what they say about people like you,” he grumbles under his breath. “We were right, though,” he chuckles humorlessly before sending Baekhyun, who looks like he’s seconds away from strangling Sehun on the spot, a look.

“You think you’re all that just 'cause you happen to play football? Well guess what, you’re ing wrong,” Baekhyun barks. “If anything, it makes you a loser! Go hang out with your equally conceited friends and hit on women together for all we care,” he growls in anger, seemingly unfazed that Sehun is whole two inches taller than him. “It’s hopeless, you’re hopeless,” he tuts, shaking his head in disbelief. “You reptile.”

Grabbing Jongdae’s arm, Jongin opens his mouth to protest only for Jongdae to shove him back even more.

“Wanna go somewhere else?” Jongdae mouths and Jongin’s confusion only skyrockets.

“No,” Jongin exclaims, trying to shove Jongdae aside. “Cut it out, what the are you-”

It’s not until Baekhyun makes a move to knee Sehun in the groin that Sehun, with an utterly confused expression, grabs the redhead’s shoulders with a sturdy grip before proceeding to gently shove him aside. Muttering something incoherent under his breath, he walks towards Jongin and shakes Baekhyun off when the latter attempts to pull him back.

“Don’t come near him, I’m warning you,” Jongdae grits through his teeth and his menacing glare is enough to make the hairs on both Jongin and Baekhyun’s necks to stand up. “Seriously dude, don’t,” he adds when Sehun ignores him.

“Get away from here, don’t you dare lay a finger on him,” Baekhyun growls even though Jongin can tell he’s refraining from getting all too close, for obvious reasons. “You’ve done enough damage, you prick.”

Jongin grits his teeth, realization finally dawning on him. “Baek, shut u-”

“Jeez, are your friends always this feisty?” Sehun chuckles before gently removing Jongdae’s arm and enveloping Jongin in a bone crushing hug, which the latter gleefully reciprocates. “Make sure you fix your phone fast, okay? I hated not being able to call and talk to you last night, you have no idea,” he mumbles into the blond’s hair while running a hand through it. “Again, you need to do something about your hair, I’m telling you,” he says half jokingly after pulling away, earning him a slap on the arm from Jongin.

“I’m going to,” Jongin whines, blushing a little. Sehun smells as good as ever, if not even better, and he has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from yelling out. “And I’m gonna get it fixed today,” he adds, reaching out and running his hand through Sehun’s black locks which, inevitably, are as soft as silk. How on Earth does he do it.

“You better,” Sehun snickers. “It’s as white as your face yesterday during the mo-”

“I wasn’t even that scared!” Jongin exclaims, trying to conceal his reddening face. Once again, he’s thankful the hallway is deserted, for whatever reason. In the corner of his eye, he can see Baekhyun and Jongdae exchanging puzzled looks. "How'd you even find me?"

“You so were,” Sehun chuckles, giving Jongin a light shove. “Bet you checked the top of your closet before you went to bed last night,” he adds and lets out a loud laugh when Jongin visibly stills and blushes, giving him away. “Precisely. Oh, and I went down to the reception and asked for your locker number!"

“Uh,” Jongdae utters, scratching his back head. “What’s going on.”

“I second that,” adds Baekhyun, still eyeing Sehun suspiciously.

Jongin clears his throat. “I uh,” he starts, avoiding looking at anybody. “Like I said, my phone’s been broken since yesterday, I couldn’t call or text you and uh.” He bites his lip. “Let you know.”

“You told us,” Baekhyun says.

“Let us know what?” Jongdae asks, cocking his head to the side in mild confusion. His lips form an ‘o’ shape when Jongin proceeds to awkwardly move to stand next to Sehun. “Wait...what?”

Watching Sehun grab Jongin’s hand, Baekhyun blinks. “O...kay,” he mumbles, although it comes out sounding more like a question than anything.

“Hold on, what,” Jongdae says, rubbing his eyes. “Wait, so. You-”

“Do we need to make out in front of you both in order to get you to understand?” Jongin asks half jokingly before looking at Sehun, who’s doing his best to stifle a laugh. “Baek, close your mouth, you’re getting drool all over the floor.”

"I can't help it," Baekhyun babbles, wiping the corner of his mouth. He's staring at Sehun with a gobsmacked expression and the latter nearly squirms under his intense stare. "It's just that, holy , wow, Oh Sehun is freaking standing less than six feet away from me, and talking to me, that's frigging insane, holy hell, this is surreal, it's like I'm dreaming," he says between excited breaths before nudging Jongdae. "Dae, pinch me 'cause I think I'm dreaming!"

"Cut it out, lunkhead," Jongdae hisses, harshly shoving the redhead away from him. "Jesus, you're acting like Jongin whenever he's within sixty feet from Sehun," he adds, shaking his head in both amusement and disbelief. “Okay, so,” he says after a while, apparently in the midst of a minor meltdown, pointing to Jongin, “you called me while crying your eyes out and broke your phone afterwards?” He only raises an eyebrow when the blond nods, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “And then you...uh, got together, I guess?”

“That’s one way to put it,” Sehun chuckles.

“How’d you even break it, anyway?” Baekhyun asks, seemingly in the middle of a mental breakdown, too.

Jongin blushes. “It’s a...long story,” he mumbles, scratching his neck. “Look, can we go eat now? Modern Lit starts in less than half an hour,” he adds, in desperate need of changing the subject. His stomach is rumbling and the smell of fresh spinach pie isn’t doing anything to help.

Eyeing Sehun and Jongin, as if he doesn’t believe a word he’s hearing or what he’s seeing, Jongdae nods slowly before moving aside and giving them both some room. “So uh...you’re together?” he asks dumbly, gesturing at Jongin and then at Sehun, the blond visibly blushing at the question. “Jongin, dude, stop blushing at every little thing I say, alright?”

“Not so loud,” Jongin hisses. “What if-”

“Nobody knows I’m here,” Sehun laughs, patting Jongin on top of the head reassuringly. “Your locker’s like, on the other side of the school, so you’re safe,” he adds. “Seriously, I’m starving, are they serving pie today or what?”

“I need a minute to process this,” Jongdae murmurs when Sehun leans in and presses a kiss on Jongin’s forehead. “I need a minute,” he says again, walking over to and standing by the wall behind them.

Baekhyun crosses his arms over his chest. “Well, since you’re no longer all heartbroken and crying over Sehun leaving you, I want my pie back,” he huffs and yelps when Jongin rushes over and slugs him in the arm.

“So that’s what’s causing this smell?” Sehun interjects, raising an eyebrow in surprise. 

“You were like-” Jongdae says, mainly to himself, as he gestures wildly with his hands in all directions, “-crying and yelling about how he’d left you and how he’d run off to join some woman, and now-” He stops to take a breath. “And now you’re like-” He points to Jongin and Sehun.

“ing,” Baekhyun says casually and barely manages to avoid getting hit in the face with Jongin’s backpack.

“Yeah, what the hell,” Jongdae groans, running a hand through his hair. “My God. This is weird.”

Jongin groans. “You’re acting like it’s a bad thing!” he exclaims. “I thought you were rooting for me,” he adds and instantly regrets it when Sehun chuckles low in his throat.

“We were!” Baekhyun exclaims, rubbing the tip of his nose. “Or, I mean, we are,” he adds, smirking slightly. He wastes no time in walking right up to Sehun and grabbing the latter’s right hand. “Welcome to the club,” he squeals ecstatically, any sign of anger or irritation gone without a trace, while shaking the taller’s hand so vigorously both Jongin and Jongdae worries his arm will snap right off.

It doesn’t, though, and Sehun gently retracts with a small nod. “Thank you. Honored.” He smiles at the redhead. "I'm assuming you're Baek?"

Eyes twinkling, Baekhyun nods ecstatically. "Baekhyun, yeah!" he says with a bright smile and his captivated stare is enough to make Jongin pull Sehun closer in a possessive manner.

"Nice to meet you, thanks for not kneeing me in the groin, I appreciate it," Sehun says without a hint of sarcasm and laughs a little when Baekhyun shrugs sheepishly. "And you are?" he asks, turning to face Jongdae.

"Jongdae," Jongdae says, blinking in confusion. It's almost as if he, just like Baekhyun, is finding it difficult to believe that Sehun is, in fact, standing right in front of him. The thought nearly makes Jongin laugh out loud because dear God, it's like they're meeting the President.

"It's nice to meet you both," Sehun says in an honest tone. "Jongin's told me quite a lot about you," he adds and chuckles when both Jongdae and Baekhyun proceed to send the blond suspicious looks. "Glowing reports, don't worry."

"That's...good to know," Jongdae says slowly, still eyeing Jongin. "Like what, may I ask?"

Sehun rubs the back of his neck, stifling a laugh. "Like the time when-"

“'Welcome to the club'?” Jongin repeats and sighs in humiliation, quickly changing the subject as he buries his face in his hands. A sense of agony quickly creeps up on him because now that Jongdae and Baekhyun have managed to process the situation, they’ll no doubt be going out of their way to embarrass him every chance they get. “Look, can we eat alr-”

“You have no idea how much he’s been going on and on about you,” Baekhyun blurts out, gesturing at Jongin, who grabs his hand in an attempt at getting him to stop, which he doesn’t. “Like, the amount of times he’s called me at the crack of dawn to pine over how attractive you are is beyond me,” he continues, staring Sehun square in the eye. "I've lost count."

“Don’t get me started on how many times we’ve had to snap him out of it while he was in the middle of one of his Sehun themed daydreams,” Jongdae snickers, eyes suddenly widening. “Hey, by the way, if you open his locker and get out any of his notebooks, you’ll probably see your name with a heart scribbled around it, just letting you know,” he adds and only shrugs when Jongin shoots him the coldest glare he’s ever seen in his life.

Slightly tugging on Sehun’s arm, Jongin curses under his breath. He makes a fourth mental note to launch his best friends into the deepest parts of space the first chance he gets (he’ll spare Sehun, for now). “My next lesson starts in twenty minutes,” he mumbles, trying to drag Sehun away from Baekhyun and Jongdae and in the direction of the cafeteria. He blinks when Baekhyun suddenly walks up to them.

“Hey, I wanna see if your hair’s as soft and fluffy as Jongin constantly describes it,” Baekhyun says gleefully, pointing to Sehun’s hair. “Can I?”

Jongin wholeheartedly expects Sehun to say no (not that he thinks Sehun is shallow, it’s just that Jongin figures anybody would say no to their hair being touched if they’d spent as much time on styling it as Sehun probably does) and tell Baekhyun to get lost (again, he doesn’t think Sehun is shallow, but on the other hand, Baekhyun did try to slap and shove him more than once), which is why his jaw nearly hits the floor when Sehun nods while mumbling a low ‘sure’.

Jongin watches as Baekhyun reaches out and proceeds to run a hand through Sehun’s hair and Jongin nearly wrinkles his nose when the smell of a ton of different hair products tingle his senses all at once, his hand subconsciously grabbing Sehun’s hand tighter when Sehun chuckles after Baekhyun tickles his scalp.

“Jeez,” Baekhyun says, stepping back after a few seconds and rubbing his hands together. “He was right, that’s for sure.” He shoots Jongin a grin to which the latter replies with a dull shrug. "It feels like a newly showered chihuahua!"

“No offense or anything,” Jongdae says, fighting the urge to sneeze, “but how much product do you put in your hair on a daily basis?” He turns his face away and lets out a cough. Jongin hopes he chokes.

“Yeah, it smells like a hair salon on a hectic day,” Baekhyun adds, wrinkling his nose a little when he catches a whiff of his hands.

Sehun shrugs. “Not a lot, I guess,” he says. “I mean, on any normal day I use spray and a small amount of gel, but that’s it. I mean, there are people who need to style their hair 24/7 since it looks like a crow’s nest otherwise, but I don’t think I’m the type whose hair needs constant styling and stuff. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why I even style it in the first place since it looks the same no matter what,” he adds with a chuckle before running a hand through Jongin’s white locks. “You, on the other hand.”

“What are you implying?” Jongin squawks, smacking Sehun’s hands away. He bites his lip in both embarrassment and irritation when Baekhyun snorts.

“Duh, he’s saying you need a bunch of in your hair to make it look good,” Jongdae says. “Which I agree with, since you looked like a mad scientist throughout all of last week.”

“I like the messy look,” Jongin exclaims and blushes at just how whiny he sounds (all he needs is to stomp his foot on the ground, he figures). He pulls on Sehun’s hand when the latter laughs a little. “Can we go? I-”

“Did we forget to mention he dyed it because of you?” Baekhyun interrupts, shooting both Sehun and Jongin a -eating grin. “With my help, obviously,” he adds, placing a hand on his chest in triumph. Jongin thinks he looks like an idiot. “I mean, I’d overheard that you’re into blondes and all, so I did what any best, best friend would’ve done and showed up at his house at the asscrack of dawn to help impress you. And it worked! You’re welcome!”

Sehun blinks. “Really? And where'd you hear that, by th-”

“It’s not even blonde, though,” Jongdae mumbles, scratching the back of his head. “I mean, from what I heard it was, for like three hours, and then it instantly faded to that grotesque old man color.” He points to Jongin, who squawks in surprise. “It looks good, though! Hey, maybe Prince Charming’s into white hair, who knows?” he adds with a less than subtle wink, apparently ignoring the fact that Sehun is standing less than three feet away.

Sehun blinks again. “‘Prince Charming’?” he asks in amusement, raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow. Jongin wants to die.

“It’s your nickname; it’s been your nickname for four years in a row almost, actually,” Jongdae says before Jongin gets a chance to stop him. “I think it’s fitting, don’t you?”

Leaning against one of the lockers, Sehun shrugs before laughing a little. “It’s got a ring to it, I guess,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets. His eyes suddenly flash and he ruffles Jongin’s hair. “Wait, that means you’re Cinderella!” he says way, way too excitedly and Jongin fights the urge to lock him inside one of the lockers and leave him there forever when Baekhyun and Jongdae emit a simultaneous string of unattractive guffaws.

“Does that make us the three fairies?” Baekhyun asks in excitement and yelps when Jongdae smacks him. “What?”

“That’s Sleeping Beauty, you ,” Jongdae says with a roll of his eyes. “Get your facts straight. And there's only two of us!”

“You like Disney then, I presume?” Sehun interjects with a low chuckle.

Jongdae’s eyes immediately light up. “Yeah! My favorite is-”

“Can we please eat already?” Jongin asks, in desperate need of an excuse to not hear Jongdae’s endless fanboy-like Disney rants. Seriously, he’s heard it once and that’s all he needs. Worst forty minutes of my damn life. “I’m starving, come on-”

“Yeah, I’d rather not listen to another one of your eternal Disney sermons,” Baekhyun says, tugging Jongdae along and, for once, Jongin is grateful to have Baekhyun in his life. “I’d rather listen to Sleeping Beauty pine over how good Prince Charming’s abs look when they’re drenched in milk,” he adds with a loud laugh and Jongin instantly takes it back.

“Baek, shut the up,” Jongin growls in irritation, fighting the urge to cover his face with his hands. Sehun only pulls him closer, which does absolutely nothing to soothe the butterflies in his stomach and the blush in his cheeks.

Turning the corner and walking towards the cafeteria, Sehun shrugs. “I mean, to answer your question, I guess I am,” he hums absentmindedly, gaze fixated on a couple of (ty, at least in Jongin’s opinion) portraits drawn by the third grade art team. When Jongdae doesn’t look up, he gently nudges him. “Hey.”

Snapping his head up, Jongdae stares at Sehun with wide eyes. “Huh?”

“I said, to answer your question, I guess I am,” Sehun repeats, running a hand through his hair and giving Jongin’s hand a light squeeze. He walks with an air of confidence surrounding him and the blond serious wonders how on Earth he manages to turn something as simple as a short walk down the hallway to the lunchroom into a straight up fashion show.

“You guess you’re what?” Jongdae asks, nearly walking into a chair.

“Y’know, the thing you said about me having a thing for white hair, remember?” Sehun reminds him, nudging him again.

Jongdae blinks. “Oh, that.” He blinks again. “How come?”

“Because,” Sehun chuckles, turning so he’s facing Jongin, “I’d love it if we’d grow old together, so I guess I sorta need to have a thing for it, wouldn’t you say?” he snickers, moving aside at lightning speed when Jongin nearly smacks his mouth off of his face.

Jongin seriously wishes the floor would swallow him up any minute. The sounds of Baekhyun and Jongdae laughing their chins off to his right is, thankfully, minimized due to the intense blush creeping up his neck and he’s torn between burying his face in Sehun’s shoulder in embarrassment or shoving the latter out the nearest window. Baekhyun promptly collides with a wall due to laughing so hard and Jongin instantly feels a little better on the inside.

“Loser,” Jongdae mutters under his breath, chuckling when he sees Sehun trying to remove Jongin’s hands from the latter’s face. “Jongin, dude, it wasn’t that embarrassing, cut it out for God’s sake!” he huffs with an eyeroll. "I mean, it was corny as a motherer, yeah, but still."

So ing cheesy, Jongin thinks, slowly removing his hands from his reddening face. Even in school, he's still as corny as ever. The door to the cafeteria comes into view and his stomach rumbles for the nth time that day when the smell of what he thinks (and hopes) is grilled meat hits his nose, momentarily making him forget about his best friend’s shenanigans and Sehun’s over the top corniness.

“I still want my pie back,” Baekhyun mutters under his breath, rubbing his forehead and whacking Jongdae in the arm. “Shut it, pea brain, if anyone's a loser it's you.”

Jongin gently rests his head against Sehun’s arm as he walks down the hallway, doing his best to keep up with the latter’s long strides. He seriously wonders how Sehun can walk so much faster than him despite the fact that their legs seem to be the same length. Again, he figures it’s one of Sehun’s many traits; traits that Jongin find awfully charming (and loveable) for reasons he can’t explain.

It almost feels surreal; Jongin had never, ever thought he'd actually be walking hand in hand with Sehun; the Sehun, down the hallway at school, ever. A week ago, the thought of even getting Sehun to notice him seemed like a distant dream and Jongin nearly asks Jongdae to pinch him to make sure he isn't, in fact, dreaming. He doesn't, though, because he figures the wakeup would be far too difficult for him to handle. He figures he'd rather continue living the dream instead.

A few feet away, the door to the cafeteria swings open and a couple of girls, presumably in the 10th grade, walk out, and Jongin feels Sehun let go of his hand.

~~~