Prompt: https://twitter.com/kaiwaiixdesoo/status/952450480164098048

The classroom has never been so crowded. Baekhyun leans back comfortably, feeling smug about having came early and snagging the best seat in the front row. It’s a big day—the student council president election day—and his two best friends are running for the same position.

Baekhyun has his bet on Jongin (even though he told Kyungsoo otherwise last night while going through his script with him). Jongin is tall and handsome and charismatic, all smiles and promises of fun whereas Kyungsoo is more serious, very handsome too but not as much of a social butterfly as his rival. Honestly, though, he doesn’t really care who wins. He just can’t wait for the election to end, having grown tired of helping his best friends go through their scripts and listening to them talk about how nervous they are.

Once today is over, he knows they’ll go right back to how they were before—they’ll head to the night market in their school uniforms and buy more sausages than they can finish, spend way too much money on claw machines and eat enough cotton candy to make their teeth rot. The results won’t matter. Baekhyun is certain that this isn’t something capable of turning his best friends against each other.

Kyungsoo is standing at the corner of the classroom, diligently going through his script for the millionth time perhaps. He is always prim and proper, but it’s evident that he paid extra attention to his personal grooming tonight, having ironed out all the wrinkles in his uniform, and does not have a single strand of hair out of place.

Jongin, who is standing at the other end, looks almost unaffected. His script is nowhere to be seen and he has one hand tucked into his pocket, evidently unnerved by the sheer amount of people in the audience. His dark hair is reasonably messy, the short sleeves of his top rolled up to reveal muscular biceps, and he grins when he catches Baekhyun’s eye.

This is Baekhyun’s first time attending such an election even though he’s already in his third year. He couldn’t care less about who becomes president because it has never had a direct impact, and even now, he’s only here to support his friends—and for one more reason.

He does a fist-bump through the air with Jongin and redirects his attention back to Kyungsoo who is still absorbed in his script. He looks so small and cute that Baekhyun’s heart clenches for a moment and makes him wonder if what he’s intending to do is the right thing.

But then he remembers how long he has been kept in the dark and his determination comes right back.

Kyungsoo and Jongin have nobody to blame but themselves. They must think he’s an idiot, really. Baekhyun admits he didn’t immediately pick up on the signs, but once he started noticing that the dynamics in their friendship had undergone change, he realized immediately.

Their friendship started in the first year. They clicked instantly, and over the years had a few disagreements, but Baekhyun thinks he’ll never find better friends than the both of them. It must have been in the start of the second year when things started changing. He would stumble upon Kyungsoo and Jongin eating together without him, having their own private time in empty classrooms. He would go over to Kyungsoo’s house and discover Jongin’s personal items lying around. He would catch them staring at each other, sharing private jokes he had no part in.

Initially, Baekhyun thought he was slowly being excluded from the friendship. But in terms of the way his friends treated him, nothing had changed. He was still very much adored. So he started thinking—what else could all that he had discovered possibly entail? He had a suspicion, and it grew stronger and stronger, but what really confirmed it was when he caught the two of them in the act with his very own eyes.

It was on a summer night, the night of the festival. They had decided to watch the fireworks from the top of the hill, away from the crowd. Baekhyun was consumed by a sudden craving for red bean soup and promised he would be back before the fireworks started. His friends set off for the hill first, and Baekhyun went to get what he wanted.

But the journey took longer than expected and the fireworks had already begun when Baekhyun finally arrived at the foot of the hill with two extra servings of red bean soup for his best friends. It was dark—he squinted to see two figures on top that he recognized to be Kyungsoo and Jongin and was just starting to happily make his way towards them when—bursts of fire lit up the sky. Flares sizzled and exploded into bouquets of red, yellow, green.

And in those brief bursts of light, Baekhyun saw the unmistakable image of Kyungsoo leaning over to kiss Jongin.

He joined them only after the fireworks had ended and they were just sitting side by side, having the most platonic interaction. They took their red bean soup from Baekhyun gratefully and didn’t say a word as he wedged himself between them, carefully watching their faces. They had flushed cheeks and happy smiles, and Baekhyun didn’t know why, but he didn’t say a word about it.

It became a secret he held for the next few days, then weeks, then months—until now.

He’s not angry at them, but he knows just how to get back at them for leaving him out of this.

Kyungsoo delivers his speech first. He is confident and clearly well-rehearsed. His voice remains strong and steady throughout and people in the audience applause and cheer when he ends it with his catchphrase. Even Baekhyun, who is leaning more towards Jongin, finds himself inclined to vote for Kyungsoo after such an amazing speech. He gives his friend a thumbs-up and Kyungsoo is so smiling so widely it looks like his cheeks might burst.

He backs off from the wooden podium for Jongin to step up, and if Baekhyun had not been paying extra attention, he would have missed the look they exchanged, more loving than friendly.

Jongin gives his speech and Baekhyun is vaguely impressed by how well Jongin presents himself, and how he smiles at the right times. He starts strong and ends strong, and similarly, is greeted with thunderous applause as he steps away from the podium.

The ex-president of the student council gives his speech, and then invites both candidates to step forward. It’s the very last segment where Kyungsoo and Jongin are expected to answer questions the audience has for them, and their answers will then be compared.

This is it. Now is the time. Baekhyun raises his hand the moment the session begins and Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at him, knowing his best friend is up to no good.

He’s not wrong.

“Aren’t you two boyfriends?”

Their jaws drop. It’s a funny sight but Baekhyun tries to hold back his laughter, putting on the most serious expression he can manage. People behind him start whispering, doubtful, surprised, disgusted, different reactions.

Baekhyun almost starts to feel bad, especially upon seeing the deadpan look on Kyungsoo’s face, but then he looks at Jongin and realizes that his best friend’s lips are curled and he looks very much like he’s trying to suppress his laughter.

For what feels like an eternity, no one speaks.

Then Jongin flashes a dazzling smile and Baekhyun knows it’s genuine because it reaches his eyes.

“We are.”

Baekhyun sees his arm move and doesn’t have to be a genius to figure out that he reached out for Kyungsoo’s hand, and now they’re holding hands behind the podium as if they’re in a cheesy love film. He wants to throw up, but he also wants to hug them both tightly and tell them how happy he is for them.

It seems all is well—probably, even though Kyungsoo glares at him and makes a slitting gesture against his throat. Whatever. Baekhyun thinks it’s only fair to take revenge on his friends for hiding such a beautiful secret from him (and Jongin looks far too happy about this).

(In the end, Jongin wins by four votes, but Baekhyun is the only one who knows who's really in charge of the student council when his stupid friend is so unbelievably smitten with his other idiot friend.)

-

"Oh my god."

"Stop it, please."

"I did not expose you two to see that."

"Are you kissing him in front of me? Really? In front of me?"

"Okay, stop."

"I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have done that. Please forgive me and spare me from this sight."

"..."

"I'm going to kill myself."