~~~

When Sehun and his group of friends step out the door, Baekhyun turns around. “Jesus Christ, do they ever shut up?” he grumbles with a grimace, a pointed look at the handful of girls sitting to their left, whom are all fanning their faces and reapplying their eye makeup as a result of crying (Jongin fights the urge to shoot them all a dramatic eyeroll). “It’s not like Justin Bieber stepped foot in the cafeteria.”

“What the hell just happened,” Jongin says bluntly as he drags his hands down his face. “He was like-” He gestures to the empty seat beside him, and ignores the feeling of emptiness that settles in his chest, “-right here, only like, an inch away, oh my God -”

“Again, what are the odds,” Baekhyun snickers before regaining his composure. “Not only does Prince Charming happen to eat in the same cafeteria as you, but he sits right en next to you as well,” he squees, a pointed look at Jongin. “This is starting off great! Hey, did you see-”

“-I saw that dude, Junmyeon’s, body, yes,” Jongin interrupts, putting his hands in the air. “And whaddya mean? What’s starting off great?”

“Your everlasting relationship, obviously,” Baekhyun scoffs. “What else?”

Jongin rolls his eyes. “First of all-”

“Hey, what’d I miss?” Jongdae asks as he walks up behind Jongin and Baekhyun, seemingly out of nowhere, and sits down next to the latter. His gaze seems to stop and linger on the brunet for quite some time. “Oh, I see.”

Jongin blinks. “See what? And where the hell’d you come fr-”

“You’ve got that look on your face again,” Jongdae says casually as he points a finger at Jongin, nearly touching the latter’s forehead. “The ‘Smitten-as-hell-for-Sehun’ look; I like it. Tell me, what’s going on?”

“Where were you, even?” Baekhyun asks, momentarily changing the subject. “Talking to your crush, I suppose?”

“It’s the glossy eyed stare that gives it away,” Jongdae says, totally ignoring Baekhyun, much to the latter’s distaste. “I can tell you’re head over heels for this dude, but that’s nothing new. Now, seriously, hit me up!”

“The twelfth graders are gonna eat in our cafeteria for the rest of the goddamn year since they’re renovating the one two floors down,” Baekhyun says when Jongin sits glued to his chair, seemingly mute. His voice turns smug and he shoots Jongin a smirk. “And guess who just so happened to take a seat next to Mr. Smitten?”

Jongdae gasps dramatically and places a hand on his chest for dramatic effect. “No way! Damn it,” he growls, “I can’t believe I ing missed that.” He quickly turns to look at Jongin. “What did you guys talk about? Did you confess? Are you getting married? When’s the honeymoon?”

“He didn’t even look at me,” Jongin groans, resting his head on the table. “Now that I think about it, he probably didn’t even know I was there,” he adds and curses for not choosing to sit in Baekhyun’s seat instead.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Jongdae blinks. “He was literally an inch away from you, talk about another missed golden opportunity!” He emits an inhuman screech of agony as he shakes his head in disbelief, nearly falling off his chair when Jongin attempts to smack him in the arm.

“What on God’s green Earth was I supposed to say? How would you react if some random stranger started talking to you out of the blue? Not to mention his creepy hoard of friends were there as well, I couldn’t just in!” Jongin croak-garbles. “Besides, it’d be weird of me to introduce myself as ‘the-dude-who-never-replied-to-your-message’, that’d be ing awkward!”

Jongdae opens his mouth to speak but quickly closes it. “What did you just say?”

Jongin blinks and shifts slightly under Jongdae’s piercing gaze. “Huh?”

“'The dude who never replied to your message'?” Jongdae asks, leaning in and resting his arms on the table. “So you’re saying-”

“-Yeah, ,” Baekhyun says with an eyeroll, “Sehun messaged him ba-” He doesn’t even get to finish his sentence before Jongdae practically jumps in his seat.

“What did he say? What did he say? Jesus, I was stuck in the library all yesterday evening, but show me!” Jongdae exclaims and Jongin worries his best friend might die from hyperventilating too much. “Did he add any emoticons? What did he write? Show me!” He shoots Baekhyun a look. “Start planning the wedding, will ya?”

Jongin rolls his eyes. “All he said was that he was sorry for replying late due to football practice and then asked me if we knew each other,” he says and blinks when Jongdae continues to stare expectantly. “Uh, that’s it.”

Jongdae erupts into his signature feline smirk. “Baek, you order the cake and I’ll write out the invitations.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Moron.”

“We’re not married, you fu-”

“You will be,” Jongdae says confidently before looking at his watch. “You will be. Just wait and see; honestly, why the hell’d he ask you if you knew each other if he was the one who accepted your request?” He scratches the back of his head. “Weird.”

“You will be,” Jongdae says confidently before looking at his watch. “You will be. Just wait and see. Hold on, why the hell’d he ask you if you knew each other if he was the one who accepted your request?” He scratches the back of his head. “Weird.”

Something in Jongin’s gut churns uncomfortably. “I guess because he’s him,” he mumbles, fidgeting with the edge of his tray. He can still smell Sehun’s scent lingering in the air and his gut churns even more.

Jongdae shoots Jongin a funny look. “Whaddya mean?”

“Duh, he’s Sehun, he’s got over a thousand friends on Facebook - of course he’d accept me despite not knowing who the hell I am. I mean, I’m sure he only asked since he wasn’t expecting a guy to message him anyway, he even said so.” Jongin visibly gulps. “And some girl came up to him earlier, right after they came in,” he adds and he’s momentarily worried that the churning in his gut will cause him permanent abdominal issues. He nods at Baekhyun. “You saw her, right? I’m not saying she’s his...you know, but it’s not like he was in a hurry to get her to go away, was he?”

“Are you saying he only accepted you ‘cause you just so happened to send him a request?” Baekhyun asks, raising an eyebrow. “I doubt it. It must’ve meant something, I refuse to believe otherwi-”

“-Did you hear what that other dude said? Junmyeon?” Jongin asks, biting his lip. “He even said Sehun replied solely because he ‘hates leaving messages unread’.” He sighs again, not even bothering to hide the anguish he’s feeling. “Doesn’t that speak volumes about-”

“Dude, just relax, you don’t know everything yet,” Jongdae says. “Besides, he didn’t even know you were sitting right next to him; I’m sure he would’ve reacted differently had he known he was sitting right next to the guy who messaged him earlier,” he adds and checks his watch. “We’d better get a move on, class starts in five.”

“I know, it’s just,” Jongin starts and closes his mouth. He lets out a sigh of exasperation. “He just seemed so...not grossed out, but, how do I put it...hesitant? Like he wasn’t comfortable with the fact that a guy messaged him and not a girl?” He stands up and quickly scans the area to make sure no one’s looking before grabbing his untouched (and still wrapped) sandwich and placing it in his backpack for later. He figures he’ll need it.

Baekhyun also stands up and walks around the table, putting a reassuring hand on Jongin’s shoulder. “Give this whole thing a shot, alright? You can’t give up now, especially now that you’ve seen him up close and are this close to maintaining a stable conversation with him,” he says with a bright smile. “Speaking of which, you’d better reply if you want him to notice you, since that’s what you want, right?” he adds, making sure to stare Jongin square in the eye. He only chuckles and nods when the brunet squirms uncomfortably under his gaze. “Don’t worry, I know it is.”

“You haven’t replied?” Jongdae asks from across the cafeteria, his voice echoing and bouncing off the walls. Jongin nearly facepalms. “Jesus, you can’t friendzone him after catching him on the hook!” he exclaims before jogging over to the doors where Baekhyun and Jongin are waiting.

Jongin whacks Jongdae in the arm as they make their way out of the cafeteria. He still thinks he can sense a whiff of Sehun’s perfume as he walks out the door out but he dismisses it as his imagination and his (messed up) head playing tricks on him. “If anything, I’m the one who’s about to get friendzoned,” he mumbles, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I mean, I’d say I already am but sti-” His sentence ends in a fit of sputters and coughs when Baekhyun suddenly whacks him on the back. “What the he-”

“Enough of this,” Baekhyun huffs, a hint of irritation in his voice. “Stop overthinking, stop speculating and jumping to conclusions when you don’t know anything yet. This is a golden opportunity for you to get to know him; it’s the start of something new, and it’ll be how you want it to be so you better make sure it’s the way you want it to be; perfect, right? Who knows, maybe he’s lowkey interested in you and wants to know more about you; hell, maybe he’s even waiting for you to message him back, ever thought about that? No, of course not since you keep spending every waking minute of your life freaking out over things you have no clue about and asking questions that are impossible to answer,” he says all in one breath, and he has to stop and catch his breath for a minute, leaning against the wall for support. Jongdae only shoots him a look.

“Bad day?” is all Jongdae asks, a mildly annoyed yet amused expression on his face.

Baekhyun huffs before shrugging. Turning around, he points at Jongin, who backs away slightly. “You, sir, are replying to Sehun tonight if it’s the last thing you do,” he says, voice unusually deep as he stares Jongin in the eyes.

Jongdae rolls his eyes and mouths an apology to a handful of students who shoot all three of them quizzical looks. “You’re so melodramatic, Baek,” he groans as he runs a hand through his hair.

“Don’t say his name so loud!” Jongin squawks, running over and giving Baekhyun a slight shove, the latter briefly losing his balance. The brunet scans their surroundings and breathes out an audible sigh of relief when he doesn’t see anyone, let alone Sehun, nearby. He fights the urge to scream when he hears Jongdae snicker behind him. “What now?”

“Wouldn’t you want him to find out, though?” Jongdae asks absentmindedly as they walk down the main hallway leading to their lockers. “I mean, you like him and obviously want him to notice you, why’re you so against the idea of him finding out about your sappy- crush?”

Jongin watches as Jongdae rummages through his (messy) locker, leaning against it and crossing his arms over his chest. “Man, you two’re annoying,” he mumbles and suddenly snaps his head up, an evil grin on his face. “Wait.”

Baekhyun blinks from his spot next to Jongdae’s locker. “Huh?”

“You gonna confess?” Jongdae asks absentmindedly and yelps when Jongin kicks him in the shin. “For ’s sake!”

“You’re serving three hours in detention after school, aren’t you,” Jongin says and cackles when Baekhyun visibly stills.

“No wonder you went berserk and all fake deep and ,” Jongdae wheezes, doubled over in laughter and grabbing onto his locker for support.

“Hopefully that’ll teach you not to put tacks on the teacher’s chair while she’s in the goddamn room,” adds Jongin.

Baekhyun growls in irritation before quickly regaining his composure. “Anyway,” he says dramatically, a pointed look at Jongdae, whom Jongin worries might die from laughing any second. “What was it like sitting next to the one and only?” he asks, gesturing towards the brunet. “My attention was on that hot guy Junmyeon, so you fill in the details.”

“Yeah, was he handsome?” Jongdae asks (Jongin), tossing his calculator into his open bag.

Jongin clears his throat, the same feeling of fuzziness settling in his chest. “Uh, yeah,” he mumbles, clearing his throat again. “He was.” Definitely.

Baekhyun and Jongdae stare at Jongin for what feels like an eternity until they both, simultaneously, come to the realization that Jongin is finished. They both exchange quizzical looks.

“...Elaborate,” Jongdae says in a drawn out tone.

Damn it. “Uh, he smelled really nice and...uh. He uh, his eyebrows looked neat and his voice was pretty enchanting,” Jongin says and mentally slaps himself in the face when Jongdae and Baekhyun proceed to groan loudly. “Shut up, for God’s sake, I-”

“For someone who’s been crushing on the guy for three years straight,” Jongdae says, slamming his locker shut (Jongin winces when the sound of something falling over inside of it rings through the air), “you sure are unwilling to talk about him.” He slings his backpack over his shoulder. “Why is that?”

Jongin shrugs. “Don’t wanna rush things, I guess,” he mumbles and gives Baekhyun a friendly thump on the back for good luck when the latter sighs. “Don’t worry, I bet there’ll be a ton of attractive dudes in detention,” he cackles.

“See ya,” Jongdae adds with a salute in Baekhyun’s direction when the latter mumbles a ‘shut the up’.

“If you’re lucky Junmyeon might be there, too,” Jongin adds with a snicker, “although I highly doubt it.”

“Message him, Kim Jongin, or that ’ll go to someone else, just saying,” Baekhyun calls over his shoulder as he turns the corner, completely (and deliberately) ignoring Jongdae’s voice.

Jongin watches Baekhyun disappear from view before he breathes out an audible sigh of relief. “Jesus,” he mumbles as he makes his way towards the entrance. As much as he loves Baekhyun, Jongin wouldn’t hesitate a second to admit that his best friend never quite fails to get on his nerves, today being one of those days.

“He’s just trying to help,” Jongdae says sheepishly as he follows Jongin. Checking his watch, he hums something under his breath. “Practice?”

Throwing the doors open, Jongin takes a (much needed) deep breath of fresh air. “I know, but still,” he mumbles as he cracks his knuckles and makes his way down the stairs, two at a time. “And yep, though I’m not really feeling it, to be honest.”

Jongdae shoots Jongin a look. “Why? You sick?” he asks and cackles when Jongin shakes his head. “Yeah, you are - lovesick,” he says between snickers and emits a high pitched shriek when Jongin whacks him upside the head. “You really can’t handle the truth, y’know!” he huffs, fixing his shirt. “By the way, out of curiosity, why’d you say that?”

Jongin blinks. “What?”

“That,” Jongdae says. “About some dude named Junmyeon; who’s he? Hey, speaking of which, I gotta go to the library and order a specific book for English, wanna tag along? If you have time, that is.” He jogs to the bus stop and sits down on the bench, beckoning for Jongin to join him.

Jongin reaches into his pocket and retrieves his bus card; he’s surprised it didn’t fall out this morning while he scrambled into his jeans. “Sure, why not. I gotta be at the studio at five, if I choose to go, that is,” he says before gingerly taking a seat next to Jongdae and shuddering when the coolness of the bench penetrates the fabric of his pants. “And Junmyeon’s Sehun’s friend, they seem pretty close; I saw him at lunch earlier. Baek obviously fancies him, that’s why I said it,” he snickers before clearing his throat. He tries not to think of today’s lunch encounter; all it does is make him think of Sehun and right now he’d rather not have any of that.

They sit in silence for a while. Jongdae seemingly notices the way Jongin’s eyebrows are knitted together because five minutes later, he’s emitting a sigh. “You don’t need to make this harder than it needs to be.”

Snapping out of his semi trance, Jongin blinks before turning to look at Jongdae. “Huh?”

“I know Baek might make this whole thing out to be dramatic as hell and whatnot, being the melodramatic er, but loveable er, he is, but in reality, it doesn’t have to be this complicated, you know. And since he most likely hasn’t done much to settle your nerves, no offense to him, I’ll try my best to say it; you’re on the right track, now all you need to do is get him to notice you,” Jongdae says, playing with his fingers and shuddering a little when a gust of wind passes. “And I know that’s easier said than done, but if you don’t give it a chance you’ll never know for sure. And come on, you’ve been crushing on the guy for years; I’ve seen and heard you pine over him God knows how many times, you obviously like the dude; don’t give it all up now and throw it all away because of a few vague, unconfirmed rumors,” he adds in one breath before looking Jongin square in the eye. “What I’m trying to say is, it’s worth trying for.”

Jongin blinks as he sits nailed to the bench for what feels like an hour. It’s not until he successfully manages to process Jongdae’s words (which is a tad bit difficult given that his head is filled to the brim with...other things) that he realizes just how grateful he is to have the latter as a best friend. Clearing his throat, he regains his composure and opens his mouth to speak, but he quickly closes it again when he realizes he really has nothing to say. “I...uh.”

“What are you so afraid of, even?” Jongdae asks, without any hint of rudeness in his voice. If anything, Jongin would say he sounds concerned. Not that that does anything to soothe his nerves. “I mean, you’ve successfully managed to contact him, now all you gotta do is get to know each other platonically and build up a friendship, and who knows, maybe it’ll spiral down to something else. And Baek just so happened to tell me his team’ll be eating in Cafeteria A for the rest of the year, so that’s like, a perfect opportunity to initiate something if I do say so myself. Like I said, it’s easier said than done, and I don’t expect for you to get together by tomorrow morning or next week, but still, it’s not worth the trouble of unnecessary overthinking, but I think you know that.”

“I’m not afraid,” Jongin says, resting his head against the glass behind him. Closing his eyes, he inhales. “Just...I don’t know.”

“We’re all afraid of rejection,” Jongdae says quietly, apparently having read Jongin’s mind, “I get that. But you shouldn’t let that get in the way, since you literally have no idea how this is gonna end. And don’t you dare say badly,” he adds, shooting Jongin a genuine, stern look. “At least try, and if it ends up going South, that , really, but at least you can say you’ve tried, and you won’t need to live with the anxiety of never having made a move. Right?”

The distant sound of an engine brings Jongin back to his senses. “I guess, yeah.” He scratches the back of his head, using his other hand to trace invisible patterns onto his bus card. “It’s just...nevermind. I mean, not to sound like a douche, but you know what they say about football players,” he mumbles and blinks when Jongdae lets out a small laugh. “It’s true, th-”

“That they’re stuck up, selfish jocks?” Jongdae asks, snickering into his fist. “Yeah, right. Then again, like I said, you don’t know that. I personally think he seems pretty chill, judging by his smile, anyway. His friends like, never smile, like, ever, but he tends to laugh quite a lot, which makes me think he’s pretty laid back. I dunno, though,” he adds, putting his hands up in defense. His eyes suddenly widen. “Dude, do you seriously think he’d-”

“No, I don’t think he’ll beat me up for making a move on him, shut up.” Jongin swallows, the image of Sehun’s laugh popping into his head. “Um, Baek told me I should ask him which class he’s in, d’you think that’s a good idea?”

Jongdae nods slowly, crossing his legs. “Didn’t think I’d ever say this about Baek, but that’s a damn good idea. I mean, that way you’ll let him know you’re within close range and not some random stranger in Mexico who happens to find him good looking,” he hums before furrowing his eyebrows. “Hold on a second, if you know for a fact that he’ll be eating in the same room as you every day for the rest of the year starting today, why don’t you just, you know,” he adds, raising an eyebrow in Jongin’s direction, “talk to him instead?” He squawks when Jongin looks like he’s about to faint. “I mean, honestly! Doesn’t it seem more rational? And, uh, I mean, it’s easier and more efficient! That way you won’t need to wait for hours for a reply, right?” He blinks when Jongin continues to remain silent. “Jongin. Hey, did you die?”

Jongin remains glued to the bench, a blank look on his face. He’s never, ever contemplated walking up to Sehun and striking up a conversation, and he figures it’d end two ways; either they hit it off flawlessly, only for Jongin to mess something up and Sehun (and his friends) to laugh at him, or he’s met with the harsh reality that is Sehun having a girlfriend, which in turn would be followed by constant anxiety and humiliation for the rest of the year until he graduates. And in all honesty, he’d rather live with the guilt and regret of never having made a move on Sehun than live with the humiliation and regret of being rejected. Either way, it sends a chill down Jongin’s spine. “Yeah, I’d...rather not.”

“Why not?” Jongdae exclaims and lowly apologizes to an elderly woman who shoots him a puzzled look. “I mean,” he babbles, standing up as the bus pulls up, “it’s not like you’ve got anything to lose; oh, and you want him to notice you as soon as possible, right? C’mon, Jongin, give it a try; you’ve always been so incredibly straightforward and bold, what difference does this make?”

Jongin stands behind Jongdae as the latter steps onto the bus and swipes his card and does the same once he steps onto the small platform of the vehicle. Putting his card away, he gingerly follows Jongdae as they both make their way towards the back of the bus, the latter taking a seat next to the window while the brunet plops down next to him, placing his backpack on the empty seat to his right. The bus is nearly empty save for a few mothers with their children a few seats away, for which Jongin is extremely thankful because honestly, he really, really needs some time to clear his head, which is a tad bit difficult given that the entire bus smells like wet dog, at least in the back.

“So?” Jongdae pries, seemingly unaware of Jongin’s ‘please-give-me-some-peace-and-quiet’ - face. When the latter doesn’t reply, he pokes the brunet’s waist. “Hey!”

“What?” Jongin jumps slightly before rolling his eyes. “No, I’m not talking to him, what’s wrong with you,” he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest with a small pout. He’s highly aware of how childish he looks but he’s honestly beyond caring at this point.

“More like what’s wrong with you,” Jongdae groans and grimaces when the smell of wet dog becomes stronger. There isn’t even a dog on the bus, for God’s sake! “It’s your big chance! You have nothing to lose! If anything, you’re wasting your time by not talking to him!” He suddenly stops talking and eyes Jongin with an unreadable expression. “Do it now.”

Jongin blinks and stares at Jongdae like he’s grown a second head. “Are you cr-”

“Do it now,” Jongdae repeats, not breaking eye contact. “Do it. Message him and ask him what class he’s in, and make sure I can see, as well.”

Jongin squawks. “Why the he-”

“-Because I know you, Kim Jongin, and I know for a fact that you’ll end up shoving all this aside the moment you get home and dwell on you barely know anything about, so consider this a favor,” Jongdae says with a wide grin, gesturing towards the brunet’s pocket, and Jongin suddenly hates him a little bit more. “Go on. We’ve got plenty of time.”

Realizing Jongdae isn’t taking no for an answer, Jongin sighs in defeat before pulling his phone out of his pocket. Pressing the Home button, he enters his passcode (making sure to angle his phone away from Jongdae; the latter has a long, painful history of posting random, (un)funny statuses on other people’s Facebooks, just like Baekhyun) before opening up his Messenger app. His and Sehun’s conversation stares back at him as well as the latter’s (unanswered) message, and Jongin’s brain momentarily shuts off as his fingers hover above the keyboard. Jongdae’s piercing stare is burning holes in his soul and Jongin visibly swallows, not knowing what to do.

“Go on,” Jongdae says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Since you refuse to take it face to face, this is the only way to go.”

Jongin sighs. “But-”

“If you don’t have something written out in two minutes, I’m gonna be doing it for you, just so you know,” Jongdae says confidently before breaking out into a grin. Jongin wants nothing more than to slap it off his face. “Remember what Baek said, for all you know he could be waiting for you to message him back at this very moment.”

“Fine, Jesus,” Jongin huffs, ignoring the feeling bubbling in his gut. Inwardly screaming, he attempts to pull himself together remain that way as his fingers scatter across the keyboard. Biting his lip, his eyes skim through the few words on the screen.

which class are you in?? ~

“This good?” Jongin asks, handing the phone to Jongdae, who only blinks. “What? Is it-” His sentence ends in a loud squawk when Jongdae, out of nowhere, grabs the phone out of his hand and makes sure to keep Jongin within an arm’s distance as he hurriedly types something out before calmly handing the it back to the brunet, who briefly sees his life flashing before his eyes as he stares, horrified, at the (newly added) words on the screen.

heyy, sorry for the late reply (my awesome best friends kept me busy the entire day)! xC i’m kim jongin and i’m in 11a, which class are you in??~  you’re probably at practice rn and i should be too but i’m not sure tbh x'C

by the way, that pic on fb you posted yesterday of your dog is super adorable!! (─‿‿─) i suggest we get to know each other better - how about a coffee sometime? ~ 😄😄☕️ ＼(＾▽＾)／

Jongdae sits back, a satisfied smirk on his face when the words ‘Sent at 3:43 PM’ show up under the (or to be exact, his) message. “So? Whaddya think?” he asks smugly and blinks when Jongin suddenly emits a high-pitched, inhuman screech, nearly smacking Jongdae in the face as he flails his arms around in a panicked frenzy.

“Whythegoddamndidyoudothat,” Jongin croak-garbles and he fights the urge to grip his chest when he feels his breathing quicken, successfully (and somehow) managing to block out the bus driver’s harsh scolding of ‘be quiet, kid’. He fights the urge to rip his own hair out. ing Dae, I swear to God. A feeling of utter agony washes over him when he sees his chances with Sehun plummet and hit rock bottom. Great, he thinks. Might as well start looking for someone el-

“I’m increasing your chances of getting closer to the man of your dreams, you adorable lil’ coward,” Jongdae says simply (with no bite in his voice whatsoever) before clapping and rubbing his hands together. “You’re welcome, by the way,” he says after a while when Jongin doesn’t say anything, and blinks in confusion when he sees (and hears) the brunet mumbling a string of barely coherent ‘Oh my God’s to himself. “Let me know the second he replies, alright?”

Jongin takes a few deep breaths in his seat, attempting to cool down his brain before he can suffer a nervous meltdown; he figures that’d send the two middle aged women six feet away running in all directions. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” he mumbles before regaining his composure and scrambling to shove his phone back in his pocket. “He- he’s in class right now until maybe four and I think he’s got practice straight after, so I think I’ll need to wait a long while for him to reply,” he says, voice shaking a little. He still hasn’t successfully managed to process what just happened. “That is, if he even replies at all.”

Jongdae places a hand on Jongin’s shoulder. “There, there, remember what I said, stop freaking out so much and just go with the flow, alright? Now there’s no way for him to ignore your message since you asked a ton of questions and also complimented him; he’d have to be a special type of dickhead to ignore something like that.” Looking out the window, he stretches in his seat. “Jesus, talk about zero legroom whatsoever,” he groans painfully when his knees collide with the seat in front of him. “We’re almost there, by the way, could you press the but-”

“Are there any attractive guys in our grade?” Jongin mumbles, mainly to himself but loud enough for Jongdae to hear, fidgeting in his lap. “If Baek ends up ditching Junmyeon then maybe I could have a go instead.” He blinks and turns to look at Jongdae when he feels the latter’s piercing gaze on him. “What?”

“Okay, first of all, yes, definitely,” Jongdae snorts before clearing his throat. “Many. And second of all, shut up, you’ll be fine, God, if anything I just did you a favor. Besides, he’ll love your personality!” he adds before leaning over and practically punching the ‘STOP’ button when he sees the library building approaching outside the window.

Jongin buries his entire face in his hands. “Oh God, why couldn’t you at least have formed coherent sentences and written formally,” he groans in agony, “like he does; now he probably thinks I’m a loser.” He looks up and runs a hand through his dyed brown hair. “God, Dae, I ing hate you even more than Baek.” Just when I thought talking to Dae was better than having Baek around. "And the goddamn emojis," he wails in agony, tugging on a lock of his hair. "You made me seem like a 12 year old girl, for God's sake!"

“Hey now,” Jongdae says sternly, all traces of sarcasm and smugness gone without a trace in a matter of milliseconds, “wait and see what happens, alright? His reply’ll determine his stance on you, so just sit back and relax, will y-”

“-How on Earth do you expect me to sit back and relax when you literally asked him the out on a date when we’ve been messaging for less than 24 hours,” Jongin whisper-yells, doing his best not to piss off the women up front. “God damn you,” he moans, reaching over and grabbing onto Jongdae’s jacket, shaking him slightly, “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you-”

“We’ll see what he says, you baby,” Jongdae exclaims in exasperation as he desperately tries to pry Jongin off of him with no success. “Get off me, I’m not your pretend-Sehun, y’know!” he squawks and lets out a chuckle when Jongin reluctantly loosens his grip before sitting back down with a pout.

Jongin grabs his backpack as they stand up and quickly exit the bus, the fresh air doing wonders to clear his messy head. His phone feels like it weighs a ton in his pocket and his fingers itch to pick it up despite being highly aware of the fact that Sehun hasn’t, in fact, messaged him back. He slowly turns to look at Jongdae. “Which book’re you getting?”

Skipping up the steps to the large building, Jongdae pushes the doors open, letting Jongin bounce inside before stepping in, too. “Just one about astronomy, nothing special,” he hums before brushing his shoes against the carpet and entering the large room. “I should probably get one for Baek, too, since he inevitably didn’t do any research yesterday. Oh, I didn’t tell you, but the teach postponed our project so it’s due next week. Baek better do a good frigging job, or else,” he says through gritted teeth, making Jongin chuckle.

Jongin looks up and his jaw nearly hits the floor when he sees the large selection of books - there are bookshelves lining every single wall of the gigantic library and the crisp smell of paper lingers in the air. It’s so overwhelming he has no idea where to look first, so he opts to remove his jacket and hang it on the nearest chair (honestly, he had no idea libraries could be so hot). Thankfully, said chair happens to be sitting right behind a desk and Jongin eagerly sits down. His gaze roams around the room for a moment before it lands on a book; a forgotten book, he assumes, which is sitting in the upper right hand corner. He looks around and watches for a moment as Jongdae inspects a few bookshelves a few feet away before grabbing the book on the desk and reading the title.

Romeo and Juliet.

Fighting the urge to giggle, Jongin gingerly lifts the cover and flips to the thirtieth page. He almost knows the entire story by heart, being the Literature nerd he is and all, and he manages to read through ten whole pages in under a minute while successfully reciting every little detail. Well, nearly every detail. Not that he’s interested; he just finds the story incredibly enchanting and mildly cheesy. Or so he tells himself.

Jongin’s right hand comes up to the smooth, yellow pages of the large book, and he nearly sighs under its cool touch. His eyes continue to skim through the tiny, black letters scattered in neat lines across each page, and before he knows it, he’s zoned out completely, which is why the utter shock and not so manly shriek that slips out of his mouth when he suddenly feels (and hears) his phone buzz in his pocket comes as no surprise.

Mind still slightly clouded by Shakespeare’s story, Jongin reaches down and grabs his phone and places it in the middle of the book. He’s still in the midst of reciting Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting on either side of the aquarium when he presses the Home button on his phone.

And instantly forgets who Romeo and Juliet even are.

Messenger

From: Oh Sehun, at 4:02 PM

hey again! it’s okay, i at replying on time anyway so ;)

nice to meet you! i’m oh sehun, but you probably already knew that, and i’m in 12c!! practice actually begins in 10 min but i arrived before the rest of my team so i’m just hanging out in the changing rooms until they get here T T and that’s cool, lemme guess, you’re off to hockey practice? hehe 

thank you :) his name’s vivi!!

and that sounds nice~ i’m afraid i won’t be able to do it over a cup of coffee since i despise coffee, but i’d love to do it over a cup of bubble tea instead ;)

/sh

Jongin nearly trips over his own two feet (and bangs his knees on the table legs) at least twelve times as he scrambles to get out of his chair, and proceeds to run over to the ‘Science’ aisle, where Jongdae is.

~~~