~~~

Phone in hand, Jongin rushes down the aisle and thankfully finds Jongdae standing and inspecting a book next to a bookshelf marked ‘Space’, both emitting a low ‘oof’ as the brunet practically tackles Jongdae to the (thankfully carpeted) floor as he collides with him (Jongin blames it on the lack of friction, but Jongdae begs to differ), Jongdae’s book flying out of the latter's hands and landing somewhere to the left with a thud. Ignoring the many heads that turn to look in their direction, Jongin doesn’t even give Jongdae a chance to stand up as he practically crawls on top of the latter, waving his phone in his face. “Look, look!”

Jongdae practically scrambles out from underneath Jongin and stands up, dusting himself off. “What the hell-” he starts, rubbing his back head, “-are you doing, what’s wrong with you.” He shoots Jongin (who looks far from apologetic, at least according to Jongdae) a quizzical look before his eyes land on the phone, voice instantly fading. His frown instantly disappears and is quickly replaced with a smirk when he finishes reading the last word. “Kim Jongin, you’re ing welcome.”

Raiding his head for something to say, only to turn up with nothing, Jongin opts to mumble a barely audible ‘yeah’ before he clears his throat. There’s an unexplainable fuzzy sensation deep inside his chest and he hates how much he likes it. However, as soon as the adrenaline fades, he furrows his eyebrows. “Wait a second,” he mumbles, mainly to himself, “how’d he know?”

“Whaddya mean?” Jongdae grunts while bending down and picking up the book which, thankfully, isn’t all too damaged.

“Hockey,” Jongin murmurs, scratching his temple, “how’d he know?” He watches as Jongdae proceeds to wipe away the excess dust on the book. “How’d he know about that?”

“Hey, maybe he’s been doing his research, like some of us,” Jongdae says, a -eating grin on his face. Rummaging through his bag, he pulls out his bright green library card before nodding at the receptionist sitting a few feet away. “I say ask him,” he adds before jogging over to the reception.

Watching as Jongdae trots over to the front desk, Jongin bites his lip before staring at the chair he’d been sitting in (and, accidentally, toppled over) minutes prior. He seems to silently contemplate it for a moment before he slowly walks over and bends down, picking it up and wordlessly sitting down again, gaze never leaving his phone screen. He reads Sehun’s message over and over until he’s positive he knows the entire thing by heart, giggling slightly every time he recites the part about Sehun not liking coffee and apparently preferring tea, more specifically, bubble tea, instead. Who’d have known.

It’s not until Jongin hears the familiar beeping sound that is Jongdae’s book being scanned somewhere in the distance that something in his head seems to snap, and before he knows it, his fingers are moving of their own accord, scattering across the keyboard as he hurries to type out a message before Jongdae gets back.

nice to meet you too!! ~ i personally love dogs hehe :3 i’ve got three at my parent’s house, i’m sure they’d love vivi :3 one of them, monggu, looks exactly like vivi except he’s chocolate colored so i think they’d get along well!! hehe (⌒▽⌒)☆

aw, it must waiting that long, but you’ll see them soon! :( don’t you have anything to entertain yourself with? and quick question, how’d you know about the whole hockey thing, anyway? i’ve never told you about it if i’m not mistaken hehe x)

and that sounds great!! didn’t ever think i’d meet a football player who preferred bubble tea over coffee tbh but i’d like that!

Jongin bites his lip as he presses the ‘!’ button, reading his message over and over. He’s about to hit ‘Send’ when he hears Jongdae approaching behind him (honestly, Jongin doesn’t even have to turn around to know that it’s Jongdae - the loud, hasty footsteps say it all) and he quickly turns his attention back to the screen.

aw, it must waiting that long, but you’ll see them soon! :( don’t you have anything to keep yourself busy with? and quick question, how’d you know about the whole hockey thing, anyway? i’ve never told you about it if i’m not mistaken hehe x)

and that sounds great!! didn’t ever think i’d meet a football player who preferred bubble tea over coffee tbh but i’d like that!

good luck with practice btw!!! fighting!!~ ＼(≧▽≦)／

Jongin presses ‘Send’ only seconds before Jongdae comes up behind him and slings an arm around his shoulder, nearly making the brunet drop his phone in surprise, effectively dimming the fuzzy feeling he’d been feeling in his stomach only seconds earlier. Turning around, Jongin eyes the book in Jongdae’s hands and blinks in surprise when he sees the latter’s amused stare. “What?”

Jongdae simply stares Jongin square in the eye, all while not uttering a single word, before his entire face erupts in a gigantic ear to ear grin. The brunet visibly shudders and fights the urge to look away. “You’re doing it again.”

Jongin blinks. “I, uh, whatnow?”

“You’re doing it again,” Jongdae repeats, his smile growing even wider.

Jongin contemplates asking Jongdae if the latter has gone insane but quickly decides against it. “What on God’s green Earth are you ta-”

“Show me.”

“What-”

“Show me what you wrote.” Jongdae’s stare grows even more piercing and Jongin does, in fact, turn his face away ever so slightly. He’s once again reminded of the fact that his best friend can, (un)fortunately, read him like an open book. “Go on, show me.”

Jongin stills. “How’d you-”

“I’ve known you for 17 years,” Jongdae says simply, “I can always tell whenever you’re in the midst of immensely regretting an all too hasty decision.” He shoots Jongin an overdramatic grin. “Now lemme see.”

“What.” Jongin blinks. “I wasn’t re- hey, damn it Dae, I hate you.” He drags a hand down his face as he watches Jongdae unlock his phone (Jongin makes a mental note to change his passcode the second he gets home) and proceed to read the message that pops up on the screen, the grin never leaving his face as he holds the brunet’s phone out of reach for the latter.

“You were being slow, it ain’t my fault,” Jongdae says absentmindedly as he reads, and Jongin feels a certain level of agony pool in his gut when Jongdae’s eyes suddenly widen to the size of quarters as he goes silent. “What? What? What’s the matter? Dae? The -”

Jongdae seems to snap out his mini trance and he clears his throat, lowering his arm a little. “This is...this is, uh,” he mumbles sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, “really uh, straightforward.” He looks up when Jongin goes completely silent. “Hey, I didn’t say it was a bad thing, did I?” he adds and yelps when Jongin emits a low screeching sound. “Did I?!”

“I didn’t know what to write,” Jongin babbles, running a hand through his hair as he grabs his phone back and stuffs it in his pocket. “Damn it, oh my God,” he murmurs and clears his throat when at least six people shoot both him and Jongdae less friendly gazes. “No but seriously, it wasn’t too much, was it?”

“You’re courageous, my friend,” is all Jongdae says as he pats Jongin on the back, his words doing little to nothing to settle the brunet’s nerves. “That’s a good trait, by the way. And I really don’t know; but what I do know is that this place closes in ten minutes so we’d better get the hell outta he-” He stops mid-sentence and blinks when a low noise suddenly rings through the air. “What was that?”

The surge of electricity that travels down Jongin’s spine nearly makes him drop his phone as he scrambles to retrieve it at lightning speed. Pressing the Home button, he can’t stop the overly bright grin that spreads across his entire face when the screen lights up and he has to keep Jongdae at an arm’s distance to prevent the latter from swiping his phone, again.

i’m kinda happy you messaged me since i was practically dying of boredom hehe x)

i’ve seen you in the sports catalog!! my homeroom’s in the same hallway as that glass thingy with all the trophies and stuff so i walk past it everyday :) and now that i think about it i think i heard someone mention your name closely following your team’s win last year, not sure though x) good luck with your practice btw!

well, then i’ll consider myself special ;) seriously though, i do hate coffee..but hey, suggest a time and a place and we’ll see!!

okay my friend junmyeon just burst through the door yelling that practice started so talk to you later!~

/sh

Jongin nearly gets the wind knocked out of him when Jongdae suddenly whacks him on the back so hard he comes dangerously close to dropping (and thus cracking) his phone.

“, man,” Jongdae exclaims, not even bothering keeping his voice down, “he likes you! , he likes you, it’s so ing obvious, man, he said yes to the coffee and tea date, he even admitted to enjoying texting you,” he babbles, continuing to whack Jongin on the back and ignoring the sour looks all around them. "He even said he'll talk to you later, oh my frigging God.” He stares at Jongin (who is doing his best to hide the fact that he’s just as worked up as Jongdae is, and failing, at least so Jongdae thinks), a wide smile on his face, eyes twinkling. “I told you this’d all end on a positive note! And it’s all thanks to me!”

The brunet fights the urge to chuckle. He’s seconds away from shooting Jongdae a sarcastic remark but he doesn’t have it in him to do so given the fact that his stomach feels like it’s been overtaken by a swarm of butterflies (on crack, Jongin thinks). He swallows as he re-reads Sehun’s message, needing a full minute to process the fact that Sehun; the Sehun, is actually messaging him, and actually seems to be enjoying it. It sends another shock of electricity surging through Jongin’s body; one of hope - the mere thought of Sehun reading his messages and actually bringing himself to type out a full, lengthy reply. At first, Jongin worried that Sehun would solely reply with one word, or in worst case, not reply at all, but all of those thoughts are quickly dismissed as he clutches his phone tighter in his hand and inhales in excitement.

Jongin doesn’t even realize he’d been staring into the distance for a good whole five minutes until he suddenly hears an elderly woman’s, the librarian, as Jongin soon realizes when he finally snaps out of his mild trance, voice, as she quickly ushers both him and Jongdae out of the library before slamming the door behind them.

Once they’re outside, Jongdae shudders before he wraps his jacket tighter around himself. “Gee,” he mumbles, “what a .” He stuffs his book in his bag and slings it over his shoulder, but his frown melts off his face when he sees the dreamy expression on the brunet’s face. “Isn’t this great? Hey, for your date thing, suggest a time on Friday, alright? Preferably after school. And I recommend watching a movie or something after your little coffee and tea date, as long as it isn’t one of those gross, cheesy movies, ‘right? Jesus, this is gonna be awesome,” he babbles and Jongin seriously wonders if Jongdae is more worked up than he is at the moment.

“A movie?” Jongin snickers. “What is this - the 90’s?” He shakes his head in amusement before making his way down the stairs leading to the building. “I dunno, Dae, I dunno,” he adds as he zips his jacket.

“Now you don’t need to worry about him having a girlfriend or possibly not liking you,” Jongdae pries, practically dragging Jongin to the bus stop. He blinks when he sees the brunet’s questioning gaze. “Are you for real? Do you truly, honestly think he’d agree to a coffee date with someone he just met if he had a girlfriend? Or wasn’t at least a tad bit interested? Get real, Jongin,” he scoffs, smacking Jongin’s shoulder. “He likes you and that’s final. You going to that dance practice thingy of yours or nah, by the way?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Not really feeling it.” As much as he’d like to blame it on his screwed up sleeping schedule, he ultimately chooses not to for obvious reasons. “I think I’ll go straight home instead,” he adds with a yawn. Looking up, he curses under his breath when he realizes they just missed the bus. Damn .

“So you can fawn over your new boyfriend, I understand,” Jongdae coos. Jongin doesn’t even bother walking over and slapping him silly. He blames it on the butterflies. “I’d do the same thing if I were in your shoes,” he adds and sits down on the bench, muttering something about how ‘goddamn ing cold’ it is before looking up at Jongin. “You’re not seriously still worrying, are you?” he asks and grins when Jongin proceeds to stare at him like he’s grown a second head. “Good, ‘cause you shouldn’t be.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little too fast?” Jongin asks absentmindedly as he takes a seat next to Jongdae. “I mean, we hardly know each other, don’t you think it’s strange that he agreed to a meetup y’know, just like that? I dunno, it’s sketchy.” Despite the reluctance he’s feeling, he can’t help the warm feeling that grows in his chest at the thought of going on a date (if that’s what it is, Jongin still isn’t quite sure) with Sehun. It almost feels surreal and the brunet fights the urge to pinch himself to make sure it’s not all a dream. That’d be devastating.

Jongdae shrugs. “Okay, I may or may not have overreacted a bit there,” he chuckles. “Don’t view it as a date, since I doubt he does, either, regardless of how intrigued he is by you, or else you’ll definitely end up with problems. Instead, just view it as an opportunity for you and him to spend time together; build up a friendship, like I and Baek keep saying, remember? Oh, and whatever you do, don’t rush things; that’s a golden rule when it comes to getting to know your crush. If you’re gonna build something up, do so gradually.”

Jongin blinks. “Jesus, how do you know so much about relationships,” he murmurs. “I mean, besides the fact that-”

“-I’ve had a boyfriend before, moron, unlike some of us,” Jongdae huffs with a roll of his eyes, ignoring Jongins less than amused look. “It was goddamn ages ago but I still remember a thing or two,” he adds with a smirk. “No but seriously, take that into consideration if you’re serious about the whole relationship thing, okay?”

Jongin nods. As much as he agrees with the fact that Jongdae can be a real pain in the sometimes (or, to be exact, all the time), he won’t deny that sometimes, or, majority of the time, the latter can be awfully good at giving advice, although Jongin isn’t sure on what level Jongdae’s relationship advice is but he figures that as long as it’s on a higher level than Baekhyun’s, it’s qualified as useful. “Right uh,” he mumbles, changing the topic, “Baek told me you’re getting it on with some guy from your Physics class, any luck with that?” He fidgets in his lap. Damn butterflies, he mentally yells, go away already!

“Oh, uh, yeah, um,” Jongdae mutters, scratching the back of his head. “Good, I guess?”

“What’s his name?” Jongin asks - he figures he can give Jongdae a shot at discussing his own love life given that he’s forced the latter to listen to his for the past two days. Jongin figures it’s the least he can do.

Jongdae clears his throat. “Chanyeol.”

Something seems to ignite at the back of Jongin’s mind. “Wait,” he blurts out, “Park Chanyeol?”

“Uh,” Jongdae says, drawing out the single syllable. “Yesss…?”

“Isn’t he on the football team, too?” Jongin asks, eyebrows furrowed. He racks his brain for the image from when he laid his eyes on the football catalogue in 8th grade; he clearly remembers seeing a tall kid with elf-like ears and a pearly smile in the back row. He isn’t a hundred percent sure, but he’s at least ninety nine percent sure that he picked up the name 'Park Chanyeol' at some point.

Jongdae blinks, eyes flashing. “Are you kidding?” he squawks. “Wait, how do you even kn-”

“Let’s just say that Sehun isn’t the only one with a ton of fangirls,” is all Jongin says and Jongdae immediately shakes his head in understanding. “Surprisingly enough.”

“Well, that’s a useful piece of information,” Jongdae hums before poking Jongin’s waist, effectively making the latter squeal in surprise. “Anyway, enough about me, I wanna hear more about your Prince Charming instead. So, whaddya say? Dinner or a movie?”

Jongin drags a hand down his face. “You literally told me not to view it as a date.”

“Well, you need to at least do something interesting,” Jongdae squawks, gesturing with his hands, “you can’t just sit inside a café for four hours straight and call it a day!” His eyes suddenly light up and he stares at Jongin intently. “Listen, the key to getting your crush to like you back and or remember you is to make yourself memorable,” he says without the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice. “If you only to go some boring café and chat he’ll never remember you; and remember, he’s got at least ten billion girls following after him right this second, so be clever, alright? Take him to see a movie, do something you know he’ll enjoy; he’ll definitely appreciate that - you’ll most likely be stuck in his head for a long time coming. And hey, who knows, maybe he’ll grow more interested in getting to know you as a person? Which in turn’ll lead to him initiating dates and, well yeah, the rest is history.” He sits back and rests his head against the cool glass behind him, a satisfied smirk on his face.

Jongin blinks as he stares at Jongdae’s closed eyes. “....You literally sound like some sort of counselor,” he snorts, whacking Jongdae in the arm. “And I hate going to the movies,” he says with a pout. “Not to mention the only movies they’re showing at the moment are horror movies and I despise those.”

Jongdae hums something in reply before he shoots up like a rocket, eyes widening. “Hey, it’ll give you an excuse to cling onto him and grab his hand without making it seem like you’re coming on too strong, especially if you let him know how much you hate horror movies,” he says with a smug grin. “No seriously. Friday is perfect. And you know when his practice ends so wait a bit and then reply to his message; maintain a conversation, that’s the second key! Which shouldn’t be too difficult considering the fact that you’re pretty much married already.”

“You’re so cheesy, Dae, I swear to God,” Jongin chuckles and stands up when he sees the bus approaching around the corner. “Hey, you should try getting to know that Chanyeol dude, y’know, now that we’re on the topic of love and ,” he chuckles. “Are you two messaging?”

“Nope,” Jongdae says, a hint of sadness in his voice. He smirks when he sees the bus nearing the stop. “Kim Jongin, your homework for today is to maintain that conversation and get Sehun to remember you,” he says smugly.

“Well then, Kim Jongdae,” Jongin shoots back, retreiving his bus card from his pocket, “your homework for today is to get Chanyeol to notice and remember you.” With an overdramatic, yet honest, wink in Jongdae’s direction, he quickly steps onto the bus, chuckling when the latter yells something along the lines of ‘yeah, whatever, see ya tomorrow’ as the doors close shut behind him.

~~~