~~~

11:59 AM

“And he hasn’t replied since then?”

“Baek, I already told you he hasn’t!”

“Why don’t you try again, then? Maybe he didn’t get a notificat-”

“Baek, you idiot, it literally says ‘Read at 11:50 PM’ right here!”

“Go up to him and explain that it was all just a misunderstanding, then! He must be around here somewhere!”

“Yeah, no, that.”

“Jongin, if your hamburger gets cold, can I have it?”

Sliding deeper into his seat, Jongin heaves a sigh before slamming his phone down onto the table (with perhaps a little too much force, but he’s beyond caring at this point). He stares sullenly at his hamburger, which is, as Jongdae kindly pointed out, starting to get cold. Not that he pays it any mind, of course, given he has absolutely no appetite whatsoever.

“You can’t beat yourself up over this,” Jongdae says, sounding more hungry than concerned, before reaching across the table and grabbing Jongin’s hamburger off the latter’s tray, to which the brunet doesn’t even object. “Not over something so small. Not to mention,” he says between chews, and curses when a piece of meat falls from his mouth and onto the table. Jongin and Baekhyun only stare with disgusted looks on their faces. “It wasn’t even your fault, so what’re you worrying about? He seems like the type to have his together, there’s no need to freak out.”

Jongin swallows the lump in his throat before shrugging and opening up his and Sehun’s conversation for the nth time that hour. At the back of his head, he’s somehow managed to convince himself that staring intensely at the conversation while praying to God that Jungah’s message will disappear will somehow make Sehun come online and reply to his recent message. It has yet to happen, but Jongin is convinced that it’ll come true, at least someday. But as of right now, his recent message of ‘oh my god i’m so sorry, my sister said that, she can be really annoying sometimes, please don’t misunderstand’ remains both read and unanswered and it makes his gut churn painfully. Sighing, he turns his phone off before resting his head on the table. Baekhyun pats his shoulder sympathetically.

“There, there, we’ll find him and you’ll be able to explain yourself before your date on Friday,” Baekhyun says confidently and Jongin almost asks him how he knows, but one look at Jongdae and he knows he doesn’t even have to ask. “Dae, help me look for him,” he adds, standing up.

“Stop it, you moron,” Jongin hisses, snapping his head up and grabbing Baekhyun’s arm, forcefully pulling the latter so he’s sitting down again. “Don’t. The last thing I want right now is for him to figure out who I am,” he huffs, resting his head back down on the table again when he’s certain Baekhyun won’t make a move to stand up again.

“Jongin, you’re being a fool,” Jongdae says, munching on his stolen burger, “he probably didn’t know what to say, who would?” He sighs and puts his burger down when Jongin only heaves a sigh. “Look, hey, look at me.”

It’s not until Jongdae (accidentally) flicks Jongin on the forehead that he slowly lifts his head and sits up, albeit hesitantly. Wincing when the pain spreads across his temples, he raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“Are you really gonna throw it all away and let it all go downhill because of a small misunderstanding?” Jongdae asks, voice serious, and growls in annoyance when Jongin moves to rest his head back down on the table. Slamming his hand down on the table, making both Jongin and Baekhyun flinch, he stares the brunet square in the eye. “You’ve hit it off so goddamn well, don’t just assume he’s less interested when you haven’t even put in any real effort to find out. You're literally one explanation away from your darling little date, come on, be rational!”

“Don’t make everything more complicated than it needs to be,” adds Baekhyun. "It's not the end of the world."

Sighing, Jongin slowly turns his head so he’s scanning their surroundings - only students he doesn’t recognize as far as the eye can see. No Sehun, or Junmyeon or Chanyeol for that matter, anywhere in sight. Jongin doesn’t know if that makes him feel disappointed or highly relieved. Even if Sehun and his team were here, Jongin most likely wouldn’t see them, given that Sehun’s team consists of at least fifteen people, who all wouldn’t fit around Jongin, Baekhyun and Jongdae’s table, anyway.

Turning back around, Jongin runs a hand through his hair. “What am I gonna do,” he mumbles, although it comes out sounding more like a statement than a question.

“Why don’t you ask him if he’s still up for that date,” Baekhyun says, stuffing the remaining piece of his burger in his mouth, “since he was the one who suggested you should, after all.”

“I can’t do that,” Jongin squawks and stares at Baekhyun like he’s out of his mind. “Not after this! Jesus, think of the mixed signals I’d send him,” he mumbles in agony. “Not after I sent him a ton of hearts, said sorry and denied it, I can’t do that, it’s too awkward,” he adds, sipping his milk angrily.

“I actually agree,” Jongdae says and for once Jongin appreciates his best friend’s existence a tad bit more. “Yeah, don’t do that, that’s just weird. I say you go up to him and sort it out face to face since, I mean, you’ll be seeing each other in the flesh in less than three days if he’s still up for it.”

“This whole Facebook thing is way too complicated for my liking,” Baekhyun says, wrinkling his nose in distaste before wiping the excess grease off his fingers. “You’re brave and...sorta direct, why don’t you ask him right now? I know he’s in here somewhere.”

Jongin visibly swallows. The thought of letting everything go and letting it go to waste and down the drain absolutely kills him on the inside. However, the thought of walking up to Sehun right here, right now, and talking everything out for the first time ever, considering the circumstances, absolutely kills him on the inside, too. Damn it. He turns to Baekhyun. “Look, I don’t-”

“Look, if you don’t do it, I swear to God I’ll stand right on top of this table and holler his name at the top of my lungs,” Baekhyun says in a serious tone. Jongin isn’t sure if he’s bluffing, though.

It’s not until Baekhyun actually does make a move to climb onto the table that Jongin flies up like a bullet. “Fine,” he mumbles, practically wrestling Baekhyun into the latter’s seat. “I still dunno, though; I mean, what if he thinks I’m weird?”

“Well, either risk him thinking you’re strange or throw away all your progress so far,” Jongdae says, clasping his hands together and staring at Jongin with an overdramatic grin. “Your choice.”

After successfully managing to get Baekhyun to sit down, Jongin bites his lip before running a hand through his hair. Even though he’s standing up straight, he still can’t see Sehun anywhere in the cafeteria. Did Dae get the timetables wrong? he thinks, eyebrows furrowing as he continues to inspect his surroundings. He continues to look for another two minutes and is both relieved and a tad bit saddened when he comes to the conclusion that Sehun isn’t, in fact, in the cafeteria today. Maybe he's sick? Blinking in confusion, he turns back to Jongdae and Baekhyun and is just about to open his mouth to inform the latter that Sehun isn’t here today when-

“Hey! You’re Jongin, right?”

Jongin doesn’t know if it’s his mind being cloudy hence slow in general or the overall surprise that makes him do it but, before he has time to react, much less process the words he’s hearing, he’s flinching like he’s been burned and the next thing he knows, the milk carton in his hand feels so incredibly light.

It takes him a few seconds to process what’s even going on, and he isn’t sure, but he thinks it’s Baekhyun and Jongdae’s surprised hums as well as stifled snickers that snap him out of it, because before Jongin knows it, he’s face to face with-

“That’s one way to say hello,” Sehun chuckles, bending down and grabbing the (unused) tissue on Baekhyun’s tray between his thumb and index finger before proceeding to wipe at his shirt, which is absolutely drenched in milk; Jongin’s milk, from the chest down, much to the brunet's horror. Dabbing at his shirt a few more times, he looks up and locks gazes with Jongin, and the latter momentarily worries his knees might give in. “So? Are you?”

Jongin stares, perplexed. If he thought Sehun couldn’t get any more gorgeous while sitting next to him, Jongin doesn’t want to know what he thinks of Sehun now, the latter standing in front of him on the other side of the table, tissue in hand as he dabs his chest. He’s even taller up close; Jongin never got a chance to properly deduce Sehun’s height from twenty feet away all those years ago, and despite standing at 6’2, Jongin can’t help but feel so incredibly small as Sehun continues to beat him with his piercing stare. Again, Sehun’s voice is like honey and Jongin fights the urge to remove his hoodie due to the sudden temperature change in the cafeteria (or so he thinks, although it could just be inside of him). The brunet watches as a drop of milk trails down Sehun’s chest and trickles downwards, leaving a white path in its wake. Jongin follows it with its eyes as it makes its way down Sehun’s stomach and even lower; down to his-

“Jongin, , he’s talking to you!” Jongdae not so quietly hisses.

“What,” Jongin blurts out before clearing his throat and averting his gaze so he’s looking past Sehun because honestly, as much as he’s been waiting for this moment, he can’t bear to look Sehun in the eye for reasons unknown. “Uh.” He swallows and looks down, mentally slapping himself when he sees he’s been standing with his arm extracted the entire time. Gently placing the (empty) milk carton on the table, he clears his throat again and feels a blush creep up his neck when Sehun continues to stare him down (Jongin isn’t looking directly at Sehun, but he doesn’t have to - the latter’s captivating stare is impossible to miss). “Uh, I, what?” he babbles and growls inwardly when he sees (and hears) Baekhyun drag a hand down his face in his peripheral.

Sehun only chuckles before checking his watch. Frowning slightly, he shoots Jongin a nod. “Wish I could sit down for a bit, but class starts in two. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I lost my phone somewhere in the changing room last night, in case you’re wondering why I haven’t texted you back,” he says with a smile. His voice is calm, cool and collected, as opposed to Jongin who honestly feels like he’s about to explode any second, but he manages to keep his cool on the outside. Seriously, he’s just standing there, yet he looks absolutely perfect? Jongin nearly screams in frustration. How? How?!

“Oh, he’s been wondering, alright,” Jongdae murmurs under his breath, loud enough for all of them to hear, and Jongin wishes the ground would swallow him up already. Or to be precise, he wishes the ground would swallow Jongdae up so he wouldn’t have to see or hear him again. Ever.

Jongdae’s unsubtle remark only makes Sehun chuckle slightly, and Jongin doesn’t know if he should feel happy or panic and run away (honestly, he doesn’t think he’s ever hated Jongdae more than he does at this very moment). Not that the second option would be of any use anyway, given that his legs feel like they’re permanently bolted to the floor.

“Shut up,” Jongin grits through his teeth, feeling his entire face heat up when Sehun only chuckles and shakes his head in disbelief. He doesn’t tear his gaze away from Sehun until movement to his right catches his attention, and he turns his head just in time to see two students walk up to their table and stand next to Sehun, whom Jongin assumes to be Sehun’s friends; one he recognizes as Junmyeon and the other he recognizes as...Chanyeol? Jongin isn’t quite sure if it’s the latter or not but one look at the way Jongdae squirms slightly in his seat leads him to believe that it is, in fact, Chanyeol. Man, he hasn’t changed a bit since 8th grade.

Junmyeon seems to shoot Jongdae, Baekhyun and Jongin an unreadable look (one that the brunet automatically interprets as arrogant for reasons he can’t explain, although he figures it’s because Junmyeon looks rather arrogant himself, but he doesn’t know for sure) before turning to Sehun. Jongin momentarily tears his eyes away from Sehun to sneak a peek at Baekhyun, who bites his lip before turning his face away.

“Class started two minutes ago, the hell’re you doing?” Junmyeon mumbles to Sehun and Jongin's jaw nearly hits the floor because boy, does he sound edgy. And arrogant. He figures it's a football player thing.

“Y’having a party over here or what?” Chanyeol chuckles humorlessly before proceeding to slide off jacket, and Jongin definitely doesn’t miss the way Jongdae visibly swallows when he does, nor when he clenches his jaw in anger when a sea of feminine swoons erupt all across the cafeteria.

“Yeah, just a minute,” Sehun says, his calm tone a giant contrast to Junmyeon and Chanyeol’s rather harsh ones. He makes sure to get Jongin’s attention before speaking. “Since Wi-Fi is scarce around here and in the sports hall, could you do me a favor and hand me your phone?”

Tearing his eyes off Sehun’s abs, which have gotten at least twice as defined thanks (or no thanks, depending on how you'd like to see it) to the milk, it takes Jongin a full minute to realize that Sehun asked him a question. He blinks in confusion before his brain manages to process Sehun’s words at lightning speed and before he knows it, he’s scrambling for his phone. He finally locates it in his back pocket and extends his hand, praying to God it doesn’t shake so much that he drops his phone. Jongin fights the urge to shiver when the tips of his shaky fingers barely graze against Sehun’s smooth ones. “H-here.”

“Thank you.” Quickly unlocking Jongin’s phone (the brunet fights the urge to break out into a smile when Sehun chuckles, most likely at the fact that he doesn’t have a passcode), Sehun presses a few buttons before his fingers elegantly scatter across the keyboard. It’s such a simple and quick movement, yet Jongin finds himself mesmerized for reasons he can't explain. Six seconds later (yes, Jongin counted), Sehun presses another button before turning the screen off and handing the phone back to Jongin, all while Chanyeol and Junmyeon stand a few feet away with impatient looks on their faces. “No code, I see?”

Jongin clears his throat, mind foggy. “Uh,” he croaks, gingerly accepting the phone with a barely coherent ‘thanks’, “no, uh, I think codes and passwords and stuff are a waste of time.” He mentally slaps himself in the face. Smooth as always, Kim Jongin. He fights the urge to turn his face away in embarrassment when Sehun laughs slightly.

“I see,” Sehun says slowly, nodding his head in understanding. Clapping and rubbing his hands together, he turns to face Chanyeol and Junmyeon, who both look more than eager to leave the cafeteria. “Shall we go?” He barely gets to utter the last word before Chanyeol and Junmyeon are out the door and scurrying down the hallway to their lesson (for a brief moment, Jongin catches what he assumes is the latter shooting Baekhyun an unreadable look, but he quickly dismisses it as his imagination). Shaking his head in disbelief and amusement, Sehun wipes at his chest one last time before gently placing the used, balled up tissue back on Baekhyun’s tray. “See you around,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets and shooting Jongin a small nod before slowly, but confidently, nevertheless, striding out the door. 

Jongin’s table remains dead silent for what feels like years; a silence that’s quickly broken when-

“Did you see the way he looked at me?” Jongin, Baekhyun and Jongdae all blurt out at once, before turning to stare at each other in awe.

Jongin only blinks. “What the h-”

“Junmyeon looked like he was this close to murdering you,” Jongdae cackles, facing Baekhyun, pressing his index finger and thumb together for emphasis. His cackles only grow louder when Baekhyun proceeds to shoot him a less than amused glare.

“Yeah, well,” Baekhyun scoffs, “Chanyeol looked like he couldn’t get out of here fast enough, so there.” He reaches over and smacks Jongdae in the arm, only making the latter laugh even harder.

“You guys,” Jongin wails, frantically waving his hands in front of Baekhyun and Jongdae’s faces. “Why-”

“Oh, right!” Baekhyun exclaims, eyes wide. “Sehun was here, as well!”

Jongdae drags a hand down his face. “Well observed, moron, well observed.” He turns to face Jongin, who’s got a petrified expression plastered all over his face. “Dude, Jongin, you have literally no reason to look constipated, he didn’t even mention the whole hearts thing, he obviously wasn’t bothered. Oh, and you can forget about the whole ‘he hates me’ thing you were yammering about in line earlier, by the way, since I doubt he’d walk right up to you if that was the case. Man, Friday’s gonna be a blast,” he says excitedly, shaking Jongin slightly and ignoring the latter’s protest of ‘we haven’t even planned anything yet!’. “Hey, not to start or anything, but I’m at least a hundred percent sure he thought you were cute.”

“Yeah, as his expression after you doused him in milk would lead you to believe,” Baekhyun mumbles.

“Shut the up,” Jongdae says, smacking Baekhyun in the arm a second time. “Oh and,” he adds, shooting Jongin a smug look, “I don’t know if anyone’s told you this before, I’ll do it in case they haven’t, but you’re awfully indiscreet.”

Jongin blinks. It’s not until he sees that at least six people are staring at him with confused glares in his peripheral that he realizes that he’s still standing up. Feeling a blush creep up his neck, he scrambles to sit down on his seat before clearing his throat. “Uh, what do you me-”

“Your staring, ,” Baekhyun says with a -eating grin. “You were like-” He proceeds to his head sideways and stare Jongin square in the eye, mouth slightly open. “-When the milk started seeping into his shirt and accenturating his abs and whatnot. God, why isn’t your nickname 'Kim Jongay'? Suits you so, so much better,” he huffs. Jongdae promptly spits out his mouthful of water. Jongin only rolls his eyes while cringing slightly.

“Jesus, you were in so deep,” Jongdae chokes out between coughs. “Seriously, I was this close to reaching over and whacking you upside the head. Don’t worry, though, I’m sure Sehun found it rather amusing, so don’t burst into tears quite yet.” He wipes his eyes before chuckling. “Since he didn’t even mention the awkwardness that went down last night, I’d say you’re back on track.” He shoots Jongin a thumbs up. “Besides, why’d he want your phone, anyway??”

“Uh.” Jongin blinks, pulling out his phone. “I’m not sure.” He checks his Messenger only to find nothing new. “I don’t...know?”

Baekhyun stretches. “Why’re you checking the goddamn Facebook chat,” he says, yawning. “He did say his Wi-Fi was sca-” He suddenly sits up like a bullet, eyes round as dinner plates. “My God.”

Jongdae leans away slightly. “Are you having a stro-”

“Check your contacts,” Baekhyun practically yells, causing a handful of students to shoot him dirty looks, which he promptly ignores. He points to Jongin, who remains glued to his seat. “Do it!”

“Why?” Jongin asks, equally as freaked out as Jongdae.

“Just do it, or I’ll do it for you,” Baekhyun says in a persistent tone.

Jongin puts his hands up in defense before leaving his and Sehun’s chat and opening up his Contacts app. He can feel Baekhyun’s intense gaze burning holes in his head and he swallows. Taking one look at his contacts list, which hasn’t changed at all since the last time he checked it, which was more than a year ago, he shrugs. “What do-”

“Type ‘Sehun’,” Baekhyun exclaims, practically jumping up and down in his chair. Jongdae has to place a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from accidentally falling off. “Come on, do it!”

Jongdae drags a hand down his face and shrugs when Jongin shoots him a confused look, followed by an eyeroll. “I dunno, just do as he says or we’ll never hear the end of it.”

Mumbling something along the lines of ‘fine, if it’ll make you shut up’, Jongin proceeds to type ‘Sehun’ into the search bar. What on Earth is Baek even on, he thinks while he waits for the results to show up. Looking up a bit, his eyes widen when he realizes that he’s at least twenty minutes late to his Literature lesson. Muttering a low ‘’, he quickly turns his phone off (before giving the results a chance to load) before scrambling out of his chair and picking up his empty tray. “I gotta go, she’ll kill me for certain this time.”

Baekhyun groans. “Hey come on, I wanna see if he-”

“I was this close to being given detention last time I came late, you know,” Jongin says, stepping over his chair and walking over to the garbage cans. He watches as Baekhyun and Jongdae walk over and stand next to him. “We’ll talk in an hour, ‘kay?” He doesn’t even give neither Baekhyun nor Jongdae a chance to reply before he turns on his heel and rushes out the cafeteria, mind clouded to the brim with potential punishments his teacher might throw at him the second he walks in the door. . There goes my honor roll.

Rushing down the hallway, Jongin turns the corner and stops to adjust the straps of his backpack while the excess (dried) milk off his lips, something that’s proven to be a big mistake when his the image of Sehun’s abs; at least twice as enhanced thanks to the milk Jongin had accidentally splashed all over him two seconds prior. He squeezes his eyes shut and desperately attempts to shove the thought aside. No inappropriate Sehun thoughts, not right now.

Looking up, Jongin resumes his short walk down the hallway as he approaches his classroom door. In his peripheral, he sees the glass case, and he momentarily stops walking to inspect it (despite having seen it so many times he’s lost count). The catalogue is lying open and the photo of his team stares at back at him; many faces stare back at him, and he swallows slightly. He sees himself in the back, awkward smile and all, and feels his lips curl upward slightly. His smile only grows wider when he averts his gaze and inspects the handful of gold trophies and medals on the upper shelf. Oh, memories.

For a brief moment, Jongin forgets why he’s even in the hallway to begin with and he kneels down beside the case and keeps his gaze fixated on a certain trophy; a gold one with ‘2015’ neatly carved in the metal - his most recent and last one. A certain feeling blooms in his chest when his brain decides to supply him with a series of different images; he clearly remembers how badly his back hurt when his teammates had tackled him and squashed him against the (cold, very cold - he can practically feel the wet, numbing sensation of the hard ice against his cheek) ice after he had, successfully, slapshot the puck into the goal during the last few seconds of their final match - a feeling he won’t be forgetting anytime soon. At least I hope not, Jongin thinks before closing his eyes and resting his head against the cool glass, feeling a tad bit confused when he realizes just how exhausted he is despite having slept 6 hours the night before (it would’ve been 7 it if wasn’t for the intense worrying which kept him up for an hour). He sits there for a while in the empty hallway and listens to the sound of hurried footsteps scurrying across the upper floor as well as the faint murmuring of teachers and students in all directions.

Out of nowhere, he suddenly thinks of Sehun; how close he had been only half an hour ago, how soothing his voice had sounded, the melodic sound of his laughter and, of course, his perfect face and build (he successfully manages to filter out the horror of it all, that being him literally hurling the contents of his milk carton at Sehun. There’s a nagging feeling at the back of his head that tells him he’ll never be able to live it down).

Jongin sighs to himself before smiling slightly.

~~~