~~~

9:01 AM

Jongin awakens to the sound of his alarm going off, feet hanging off the edge of the bed and arm tucked under the pillow at an awkward angle. Mind fuzzy, he instinctively slams a hand down on the ‘off’ button before sitting up and emitting a long, drawn out yawn. It’s not until he spots his homework lazily strewn across the table that he mumbles a low ‘’ before dragging a hand down his face. He hopes to God it isn’t due today. Not that he remembers, anyway.

One look at the alarm clock and Jongin realizes he is, in fact, very, very late. In his half panicked and asleep state, he throws the covers off of himself before scrambling towards his closet; throwing the doors open and pulling the first shirt in sight over his head, not even bothering to check if it’s inside out or not. After a brief struggle, he finally manages to successfully put on his jeans and he buckles his belt at inhuman speed. After carelessly slipping on his jacket, he rushes over to his desk and picks his bag up off the floor and proceeds to stuff the papers (and books) on his desk inside of it, not caring if some of them end up squashed and rumpled at the bottom.

While half-assedly slipping on a pair of (non identical) socks, Jongin quickly squeezes a fair amount of hair gel onto his palm before running his hand through his hair. Realizing he won’t have time to brush his teeth before his bus arrives, he opts to grab a few pieces of gum from his bookshelf, stuffing all of them in his mouth before slinging his backpack over his shoulder, nearly knocking his hockey stick over in the process. He definitely won't have time to eat breakfast but he figures he’ll have to deal with the consequences later.

It’s not until he’s halfway down the hallway that he stops dead in his tracks and turns on his heel. Running back to his room, he practically rips the charger out of his phone before running towards the door, all while attempting to check his missed notifications from the night before.

Unlocking and opening the door, Jongin leans against the wall while attempting to tie his shoe with one hand, and breathes out an audible sigh of relief when he looks up and doesn’t see the bus anywhere in sight. He grabs his jacket from its hanger and quickly slips it on.. Zipping it, he pulls out his phone and presses the Home button and groans when he feels his stomach rumble. Damn it.

Shoving all thoughts of food aside, Jongin furrows his eyebrows as he scrolls down his lock screen, chuckling a bit when he sees the 4 missed calls from Baekhyun and 6 from Jongdae - Jongin makes a mental note to ask them both about it later. He’s about to unlock his phone so he can bookmark the videos he watched yesterday when he suddenly feels his blood run ice cold when he scrolls to the bottom of his lock screen.

Messenger

From: Oh Sehun 

11:53 PM

hey! haha, sorry for late reply, practice you know. ;)

and do i know you??? hehe

/sh

Practically tripping over his own two feet (or more precisely, his shoe, given that he hasn’t even put it on properly) on his way out the door, Jongin is halfway through dialling Baekhyun’s number before he even gets a chance to close the door; but he stops himself before he can hit ‘Call’, albeit reluctantly. He figures Baekhyun (most certainly) needs his beauty rest.

Jongin nearly misses the bus that morning.

11:32 PM

“...And he has a dog!” Jongin exclaims, finally concluding his half hour-long story (or, as Baekhyun would call it, rant) before he picks up his glass of milk and takes a sip. Baekhyun is sitting across from him, a curious and interested, yet mildly exhausted glint in his eyes as he stares at Jongin in awe.

Baekhyun chuckles as he rubs the area under his eyes, which is caked with layers and layers of concealer. Jongin doesn’t even need to ask why it’s there. “You’ve been a hyperactive mess since midnight, what happened? Is this your year’s worth of repressed emotions rearing its head or what?”

Taking another sip of milk, Jongin nods eagerly. “I think so,” he says, shoving his (untouched) tray aside. He's much too worked up to even think about eating. “You look awful, by the way.”

Baekhyun only rolls his eyes. “Side effect of listening to you gush on and on about Sehun for three hours straight, ” he grumbles. “At least I got all the work done,” he adds before gesturing towards his bag. “Dae’ll be overjoyed.”

Jongin takes a bite out of his sandwich. “Shut it,” he mumbles between loud chews. “Speaking of which, where even is Dae?”

“Probably talking to that dude in his Physics class,” Baekhyun says flatly before reaching up and fixing his hair. He blinks when he sees Jongin’s rather confused glare. “You haven’t heard? You’re not the only one in the process of getting Mr. Right to notice you.”

Nearly dropping his sandwich in surprise, Jongin’s mouth falls open. “Dae’s got-”

“They’re not together,” Baekhyun says, “or so he says. But let’s be real here, judging by the way I’ve seen them behave together, I’d most definitely say they are.” He rolls his eyes before leaning in closer to Jongin. “Enough about him. Let’s talk about the man of your dreams, shall we?”

Jongin swallows. “I-”

“You mentioned he had a dog,” Baekhyun interrupts, leaning in even closer. “How do you know? Did you ask him?”

“God no,” Jongin exclaims, shuddering a little. And I thought what I wrote was too direct. "He posted a picture on Facebook and uh, it kinda just showed up. Wanna see?” he asks and chuckles when Baekhyun nods his head eagerly before he even has a chance to finish. The brunet rummages through his pocket before retrieving his phone and entering Sehun’s profile. Praying to God that Sehun doesn’t magically appear behind him like he did yesterday while he were viewing his profile, Jongin holds his phone in front of Baekhyun’s face; making sure to hold it within arm’s reach in case the latter were to get another one of his absurd ideas (again).

Baekhyun grins. “I don’t know who’s cuter,” he says and cackles when he sees Jongin’s face fall. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding; I’m not like Dae, I wouldn’t steal Prince Charming from you, don’t worry. Seriously though, that’s one helluva cute picture, I’ll admit.”

Taking his phone back, Jongin nods. “Not to sound stupid or anything, but,” he starts and immediately closes his mouth. “Nevermind.” He takes another sip of his milk and inwardly curses when Baekhyun’s features contort into an expression of pure suspicion.

“But?” Baekhyun pries, making sure to stare Jongin square in the eye. The latter shifts uncomfortably.

Jongin sighs before placing his glass on the table. Choosing to keep his gaze fixated on it instead of his best friend, whose gaze is burning holes in his body, he bites his lip. “It’s just uh, well, you know...I chose to read through the comments yesterday for whatever frigging reason and, well. I got kinda...how do you say it, pissed?”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “...Pissed?”

“Yeah, I mean, uh,” Jongin says, clearing his throat. “I mean, I know you’ve told me your theory on this and I think you’re mostly right but I couldn’t help but feel...ah it, all the comments were from, well… girls.” He swallows, still avoiding Baekhyun’s gaze. When the latter doesn’t say anything for a couple of seconds, Jongin flails his arms around, nearly knocking over his glass in the process. “, I didn’t mean to sound- Jesus, sorry, damn it-”

Putting a hand in the air, Baekhyun shrugs. “I get you, I mean I would’ve felt the same exact way. I mean I do think it’s a little silly but this everlasting crush of yours is so adorable I’ll let it slide. For now,” he says with a snicker. “What did the comments say?”

“See for yourself,” Jongin mumbles, ignoring the heavy feeling in his gut, while handing his phone to Baekhyun, who begins reading the words on the screen. “And none of your stupid shenanigans this time, or you’re a dead man.”

“You’re acting like me adding him for you was a bad thing,” Baekhyun snorts. “It wasn’t. Anyway, holy , are these women or five year old girls?” he adds, tutting and with a disappointed shake of his head. “Who writes six heart emojis all at once?” he mumbles, gingerly giving Jongin his phone back.

“Don’t ask me,” Jongin mumbles and is extremely relieved to see that Baekhyun hasn’t, apparently, altered something on neither his phone nor Facebook. He suddenly snaps his head up, eyes wide. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, he repl-” He doesn’t even get to finish his sentence when Baekhyun suddenly leans over and grabs the phone out of his hand. “Damn it, Baek, could you just-”

Baekhyun nearly flies out of his seat. “See? I frigging told you he’d reply,” he exclaims eagerly, reading Sehun’s message on the screen. “What did I say? I told you, didn’t I? Jongin, this is great, ,” he babbles. “Bet you feel like an idiot for worrying so much, huh?”

Jongin groans and drags a hand down his face. “I forgot all about his training sessions,” he moans in agony. God, this is embarrassing. “I didn’t know they were that freaking long, though, holy .”

“I know right?” Baekhyun says, a hint of excitement in his voice. “So his last lesson ends at what, four thirty ish, and he has practice until eleven? How does he even manage?” He shakes his head in disbelief and furrows his eyebrows when he sees Jongin proceeding to put his phone in his pocket. “What are you doing?”

Jongin blinks. “What-”

“Reply, lunkhead,” Baekhyun exclaims like it’s an order and the most obvious thing in the whole world. “You can’t just leave him on read like that, talk about buzzkill!” He reaches over and attempts to swipe Jongin’s phone again only for the latter to move it away at lightning speed.

“Are you goddamn insane?” Jongin half screeches and quickly scans their surroundings to ensure a certain someone isn’t anywhere nearby. He isn’t, thankfully.

Baekhyun crosses his arms over his chest. “So you’re just gonna leave him on read and proceed to destroy any remaining hope of a long lasting friendship and thus a potential relationship?” he asks, although it comes out sounding more or less like a statement, raising an eyebrow. “You worried your off last night, put those emotions to good use, for God's sake. Come on, you’re on the right track already, all you have to do now is keep the conversation going!”

Jongin sighs. “I have nothing to talk about, we don’t know a thing about each other, I don’t know what he likes, I just don’t know, it’s awkward,” he mumbles under his breath. He feels his gut churn when he looks up and sees someone who very, very closely resembles Sehun in the face, but the feeling quickly deflates and he breathes out a sigh of relief (and...disappointment?) when he realizes that is isn’t, in fact, him.

Baekhyun seems to notice the brunet’s fixated gaze and he turns around in his seat. “What are you gawking at?” he asks, eyebrows furrowing. His face quickly erupts into an ear to ear grin when he finally spots the person in question. Turning back around, he leans over and lightly whacks Jongin in the arm. “You goddamn smitten, lovesick puppy,” he coos. “You’re smitten, so ing smitten, it’s unbelievable. God, this is amazing, it’s like Christmas.” He rests his head on his hand and stares Jongin square in the eye. “Now, you’re gonna type out a long- reply to Prince Charming, and we won’t leave until you do.”

Jongin bites his lip. Realizing Baekhyun isn’t taking no for an answer, he sighs in defeat before pulling out his phone again. “Fine, what should I write?” he asks, opening up his and Sehun’s conversation. “I mean, nothing weird and nothing creepy, we’re still strangers. And I don’t wanna scare him away, either, so keep it simple and platonic,” he adds, thumbs hovering over the keyboard. He swallows the lump in his throat.

“Hey, how’s this,” Baekhyun says, leaning in. “Ask him what class he’s in.”

“I said nothing weird and nothing creepy,” Jongin squawks. “That’s...weird! Why on Earth would I wanna know that? I mean, I know you said some men like directness but that’s too direct!”

“It’s not creepy, especially if you wanna be his friend,” Baekhyun retorts. “Besides, I doubt he’ll think of you as creepy, especially given the fact that I’m at least 99% sure he gets tons of privacy infringing messages from thirsty- girls on the daily; I’m pretty sure asking him what class he’s in is fine. And how the is that too direct?”

, he’s right. “Fine,” Jongin huffs. “But like...how should I formulate it?” He bites his lip, bouncing his right leg up and down in anxiousness. In all honesty, he doesn’t even know why he’s feeling nervous. Or maybe it’s the blankness of his brain that’s preventing him from thinking coherently. He settles for the latter.

Brushing a strand of brown hair out of his face, Baekhyun shrugs. “Just say you attend the same school as him, so he’ll know where to find you, and then ask.” He opens his mouth to speak again when a loud, booming noise rings through the air, nearly scaring the living daylights out of him (and Jongin, for that matter). “Holy , what was that?” he pants, gripping his chest.

“Sounds like they’re renovating something downstairs,” Jongin mumbles, phone still in hand. “Now shut up and tell me what to wr-” His sentence is abruptly cut short when a group (or, as Jongdae would’ve described it, hoard) of students, mainly guys, storm through the doors to the cafeteria and proceed to sit down at the many tables. At first, Jongin is utterly confused as to what’s going on, but upon closer inspection he recognizes someone he used to be friends with a while back, and ultimately comes to the (shocking?) realization that these are, in fact, the twelfth graders. Specifically, the football team. A certain numbness courses through Jongin’s body when one of the guys standing in line moves to the right, and he lays his eyes on none other than-

“Sehun,” Baekhyun nearly screeches, and Jongin scrambles to cover his mouth. Grabbing the brunet’s arm, Baekhyun shoves his hand away. “, is that-”

Nodding almost ecstatically, Jongin lowers his gaze. The familiar feeling of warmth erupts in his chest (he figures he’ll have to get used to the feeling) as he keeps his eyes on Sehun; his broad shoulders, amazing build and perfectly styled hair. And of course, his contagious smile and laugh. It’s not until the latter moves a little bit that Jongin realizes that he has perfectly groomed eyebrows - they’re perfectly symmetrical and Jongin wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out Sehun takes frequent trips to the salon to get them done, and he subconsciously gulps. Jongin watches as Sehun chats with what he assumes is a friend as they stand in line to get food, and as said friend jokingly whacks Sehun on the arm.

However, his happiness is short lived and Jongin can’t help the feeling of envy that stabs at his heart when a girl he doesn’t recognize, clad in a short, light pink dress, walks up to Sehun and proceeds to ruffle his hair, the latter breaking out into a contagious smile; the most beautiful smile Jongin has ever seen in his life, before she walks away, sending Sehun a wink in the process. It makes Jongin’s blood boil and he hates himself for getting so worked up over it, but either way, the sight is so frustrating that the brunet forces himself to look away and he ultimately tears his eyes away and opts to keep his gaze even lower.

Baekhyun seems to notice the brunet’s distress, and he reaches out and places a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I saw.”

Fighting the urge to stand up and run away, Jongin clears his throat and runs a hand through his hair. In his peripheral, he can barely make out Sehun and his group of friends paying for their food before they turn around and begin making their way towards the sea of tables. Jongin grits his teeth when he hears a handful of girls audibly swoon as soon as Sehun steps into view, the latter responding with a low chuckle and a confident nod in their direction (he can’t see, but it wouldn’t surprise Jongin if half of them fainted). God damn.

It’s not until the group of students, or to be exact; Sehun, walks towards his and Baekhyun’s table that Jongin suddenly feels like the temperature in the (rather chilly) cafeteria has increased by at least a hundred degrees and he balls his hands into fists before scrambling to put his phone away. Feeling paralyzed, he can only watch as Sehun (there’s more people, but Jongin’s only got his eyes on Sehun for unknown reasons) walks with long strides towards his and Baekhyun’s table. Jongin can tell Baekhyun is as worked up as he is, and he doesn’t even need to turn around to know that there’s at least fifty girls beckoning and motioning for the guys (or to be precise, again, Sehun) to come sit with them at their table. Jongin has never, ever had a problem with hearing girl’s voices but today, on this day, listening to them makes the brunet want to punch the nearest wall out of frustration.

After a while of contemplating, Sehun and his friends stop at Baekhyun and Jongin’s table (Jongin isn’t sure why, but he figures it’s due to the fact that he and Baekhyun are the only ones currently sitting at that table. Well that, and due to the fact that they're not loud, hormonal teenage girls) and the brunet momentarily feels his world stop when one of the guys (seriously, Jongin thinks to himself in awe, are all football players that frigging tall?) mutter a ‘let’s sit here’, and Jongin has to give Baekhyun’s shin a harsh kick when the latter proceeds to jump up and down in excitement. Leave it to Baekhyun to be indiscreet at the worst of times.

Lowering his gaze even more (if that’s even possible), Jongin swallows, which is incredibly difficult since his entire mouth and tongue have gone bone dry, when all ten guys, including Sehun, proceed to wordlessly take their seats next to him and Baekhyun, not sparing either of them a glance, much to Jongin's relief and slight disappointment. The latter fights the urge to cough when the smell of ten different perfumes tingle his senses all at once. What on Earth is going on, he thinks as he watches the group sit down next to him and Baekhyun; their attention on each other, of course, and Jongin nearly gets the wind knocked out of him when, (un?)fortunately, Sehun takes the empty spot to his right, and he watches as the latter places his tray on the table before sitting down, crossing his legs in the process.

It almost feels surreal and a little bit strange (but so right at the same time, according to Jongin); sitting only a couple of inches away from Sehun; the Sehun, the Sehun whose crotch got bruised thanks to Jongin, and the Sehun who’s been on Jongin’s mind for the past three or so years. The latter can smell Sehun and he feels a spark of electricity surge through his body when Sehun’s scent hits him - it most definitely reeks of manliness, except mixed with a hint of baby powder instead of warm milk. They’re sitting so close yet so far, and the fact that Sehun is being totally oblivious despite Jongin being on the verge of a mental breakdown less than a foot away from him nearly makes the brunet want to rip his own hair out in irritation.

Jongin doesn’t have the courage to look up or even in Sehun’s (or his friend’s) direction for that matter in fear of being recognized as that-desperate-guy-on-Facebook-the-other-night, so he opts to keep his gaze fixated on Baekhyun’s fingers as they eagerly tap against the surface of the table. Fidgeting in his lap, Jongin does his best to keep his cool as he watches in his peripheral (and listens) as the team begins eating; they’ve all bought sandwiches with an unnatural amount of vegetables as well as a carton of milk each. Jongin nearly chuckles. The only thing missing is their big- football uniforms. The brunet watches them eat and desperately tries not to accidentally touch or rub against Sehun's arm when he reaches for his glass of milk.

“Hey, I got a random text yesterday.”

Jongin freezes, hand hovering an inch above his glass. He quickly recoils and regains his composure, however, he can feel his insides turning to mush and he’s nearly positive Baekhyun can tell from his position across the table. Jongin does his best to avoid his best friend’s gaze, however, and ever so discreetly leans in so he can hear the conversation better (which he doesn’t really understand himself, given that Sehun is sitting right next to him).

“That’s what you start off with?” Jongin hears one of Sehun’s friends groan. “No comment about how weird it is that they’re ing renovating our goddamn cafeteria in the middle of the goddamn week? On a Tuesday?” Jongin fights the urge to chuckle but he quickly feels his chest swell with something he can’t pinpoint. So he’ll be eating here for a while.

“Yeah, Hun,” Jongin hears another friend say. “So random. Anyway, what’s her name?” Jongin tries to keep his mouth shut in fear of letting out a loud, inhuman screech.

“It wasn’t, surprisingly, a girl,” Sehun says casually, picking up his carton of milk and downing it in one big swig, much to Jongin’s surprise and awe. Despite the fact that Jongin told himself not to stare at Sehun, since that would most definitely be classified as creepy, he can’t help but his head to the left so he’s staring in Sehun's direction, or at least somewhat. The room still feels extremely hot and stuffy and the brunet fights the urge to reach up and tug on his collar.

A sea of surprised noises ring through the ten or so people in the group. “Seriously?” one asks. “So who was it then?” another asks. Jongin bites his lip even harder.

Sehun shrugs before taking a big bite out of his sandwich, and Jongin is awfully surprised when only half of it remains after Sehun removes it from his mouth. In his peripheral, Jongin can see the way Sehun’s jaw and neck muscles move, almost rhythmically, as the latter chews; completely unaware. “It was a dude,” he says in between (surprisingly sloppy, at least in Jongin’s opinion) chews. “Not sure though, since their picture was blurry as hell. Kinda interesting, wouldn't you say?”

“Whoa, and he messaged you first?” Jongin hears someone else say, genuine shock in their voice. “The hell’d he want?”

“No idea, the text literally just said ‘hi there, how’re you doing?’,” Sehun chuckles, “accompanied with a ton of smileyface emojis. Kinda vague, if you ask me.”

“Must feel weird not having a chick message you for once, huh,” a brunet with his hair styled in a neat quiff interjects, whacking Sehun in the back in a friendly manner. “The hell are you gonna do? That sounds scary, if I do say so myself.”

“People don’t just send that type of stuff without reason, Junmyeon,” Sehun scoffs with a roll of his eyes. “I’ll admit, I was a little surprised when I first saw it. At first I thought he’d sent it to the wrong person but I replied anyway since-”

“-You hate leaving messages unread,” the same brunet, whose name Jongin assumes is Junmyeon, interrupts with a nod. “We know, we all know. But still, man, that’s weird. Jesus, if I were you I’d block him; you should do that.”

Jongin swallows. He’s worried the added heat in the room will cause him to break out in a sweat, that’s if there is any. He sneaks a glance at Baekhyun, who looks equally stiff as he does. There’s a feeling of constriction coiling in his chest, but Jongin does his best to shove it away as he continues to listen.

“I guess, but I see no reason to,” Sehun says calmly, downing the rest of his milk. Jongin nearly swoons and he feels a warm feeling bubble in his chest, effectively overtaking the feeling of nausea and anxiety he'd been feeling only seconds ago, as he listens to Sehun speak because Jesus, Jongin thinks, his voice is like honey. He honestly thinks he could listen to Sehun talk forever. “Anyway, since they’re busy drilling holes in the walls of our cafeteria, what’s the plan? We eat here for the rest of the year or what?”

Junmyeon shrugs. “Guess so. They could’ve given us a heads up, but I guess that’s too much to ask at a place like this,” he grumbles before standing up and stretching. Jongin nearly cackles when he notices Baekhyun doing his best not to ogle Junmyeon’s alarmingly defined (although he figures it’s inevitable for a football star) V line when the latter’s shirt rides up. “Everyone done? Let’s get outta here.”

With a low hum of approval, Sehun stuffs a tomato slice in his mouth before standing up, and Jongin follows Sehun with his gaze as the latter makes his way out of the cafeteria with his friends after placing his tray on the counter on his way out, and the brunet feels his gut churn when he hears high pitched swoons coming in all directions when Sehun turns around and shoots every single girl in the room a smug look, closely followed by a nod before Junmyeon has to practically drag him out the door.

Jongin keeps his gaze fixated on the empty doorframe for what feels like an eternity before he rests his head on the table and emits a low, inhuman groan of pure agony. “Oh my Goooooooood.”

~~~