“Just go talk to him.” Linong said. Xukun shook his head. Linong sighed.

“What happened?” Asked Zhangjing walking over with a mountain of food piled up on a single tray.

“Oh nothing, just Kun denying his love for Zhengti-” Xukun slapped his hand over Bu Fan’s mouth, frantically looking around to see if anyone heard.

“Ohh… that thing.” Zhangjing sat down and started eating. “How long are you going to keep it a secret? Just tell him how you feel.” Xukun groaned and shook his head again.

“He’s way out of my league. I could never date him. Besides, isn’t he dating Justin?” Xukun’s shoulders sagged as he looked towards the group sitting at the table near the windows.

“I'm going to stop you right there. Don't ever say that someone is out of your league, you are an amazing person. If someone can't see that then they can take their stuff and leave.” Xukun had a smile growing on his face. Ziyi sat down, facing Xukun. Xukun hugged Ziyi.

“Thank you so much best friend.” Ziyi grimaced. Bu Fan laughed.

“Fine if you’re not going to talk to him, at least eat, you’re too skinny.” Zhangjing shoved a piece of Hawaiian pizza in Xukun’s face. Xukun had a look of disgust on his face.

“Hawaiian pizza? I'll pass. I’ll just eat something later. I don't feel like eating right now.” Xukun put his head on his hand, staring into space. Zhangjing was about to force some kind of food down his throat when the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the beginning of 6th period. Xukun walked with Bu Fan and Ziyi to their next class.

“...And I was telling Xiao Gui to shut up about whatever he was talking about but he just spit in my face! It was disgusting and disrespectful, so I chased him down and pinned him to the ground, demanding him to show some respect. He put up a fight but nothing that I couldn't handle. He finally gave in.”

Xukun rolled his eyes playfully. “You need to give Xiao Gui a break. You ‘torture’ him literally 24/7.”

“I think Xiao Gui enjoys getting torchered because he likes Bu Fan.” said Ziyi, smirking.

“KBTHSS… really?” Ziyi shrugged.

“Most likely yes but talk to him before you start doing odd things to ‘woo’ him.”

“I wouldn't do odd stuff to impress him.”

“You totally would.” Ziyi and Bu Fan started to debate on what Bu Fan would do to get some someone to like him.

Xukun shook his head laughing, wondering why he has friends that are idiots. Xukun was coming up with reasons why he should get new friends and wasn't paying attention to where he was going when he got hit in the face with a locker door.

\\~~~~(= > =)~~~~//

“Zhenghao let me fix your outfit.” Zhenghao obediently walked over to Zhengting. Zhengting fiddled with Zhenghao’s tie, making it look straight. “There.” Zhengting looked around the lunch table. His eyes narrowed on Xinchun’s hair. “Xinchun your hair is all messed up. Here let me help.” Zhengting stood up, walked over to Xinchun and started smoothing out his hair. “Honestly you've got to take more care of your hair.”

“Um… you were the one who messed up my hair.” Xinchun said quietly, not wanting to enrage the older male.

“Oh.” Zhengting said. “I’ve never noticed. Sorry Xinchun.”

“Zhengting, you need to realize your actions more. You sometimes show your affection too much like when you pinch our cheeks.” Quanzhe said, rubbing his irritated cheeks.

“Guess who I am.” said Ling Chao. He turned to face Wenjun. “JunJun!” Chao exclaimed, throwing his arms around Wenjun’s neck and air kissed his cheek. The table erupted with laughter. (a/n-I replaced Minjung with Wenjun)

“Ooh let me try.” Chaoze said. He stood up, made a sassy pose, and proceeded to do part of Zhang Yixing’s ‘Sheep’. “Look, I’m the lead sheep in China.” The table roared with laughter, clapping, giving Chao and Chaoze applause for their dead on imitations.

“That was one time.” Zhengting hissed. “Why do you have to tease me. I try my best to help you guys.” He laid his head down on the table while the rest of the table was still calming down from the the funny scene moments before. A hand rested in Zhengting’s arm. Zhengting raised his head to find Justin smiling down at him.

“It’s okay Zhengting. We were just having some harmless fun. We would never try to offend you in any way...well in some ways. We really enjoy you helping us but maybe you could back off as a parent figure and be more of a friend.” Zhengting nodded.

“Got it.” At that time the bell rang. “Well let’s go. We don't want to be late to class.” Everyone got up from the table except ChengCheng. He was sleeping with his hood of his hoodie covering his face. Zhengting noticed this and tried to get ChengCheng out of his seat. “Ungh… I was able to lift you but now I can’t, you're too fat.” After multiple attempts to try to get ChengCheng up, Zhengting resorted to hitting ChengCheng multiple times until he woke up.

“Ow - Zhengting why are you hitting me?” Zhengting huffed.

“You wouldn't wake up and it’s the end of lunch.” Zhengting dragged ChengCheng out of the cafeteria and towards Zhengting’s locker where the rest of the group was.

“Zhengting I know what you can do to get your mind off of trying to care for us more than you should. Get a boyfriend.” Xikan said excitedly.

“I agree with Xikan on this. It'll occupy time that you're wasting on worrying about us.” said Quanzhe.

“It’ll also make you not butcher ‘Sheep’. You need to work on your pronunciation.” Chaoze said, red filling his face from laughter. Zhengting was itching with annoyance and fury.

“I said it was ONE TIME.” Zhengting proceeded to open his locker with a strong force, not caring what the door hit.

WHAM

Zhengting peered around the locker door to see a guy on the floor clutching his face. Zhengting’s parent mode was switched on. He closed his locker and got down on the floor.

“Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Let me see the damage.” The guy uncovered his face, his forehead and left cheek red. His nose was bleeding but not too heavily. “I hope I didn't ruin your face.” Someone laughed. Zhengting looked up, his eyes landing on a tall, black-haired male.

“You didn’t ruin Xukun’s face, it was already messed up from the beginning.” Xukun shot the guy a dirty look.

“Shut up Bu Fan.”

“Here let me take you to the nurse.” Zhengting said. He extended a hand to Xukun which he gladly accepted. “I’ll see you guys later. Could you please tell teacher Ronghao why I’m not going to be in class?” Everyone nodded.

“Yeah sure we’ll tell him. That you almost murdured your long time crush.” ChengCheng whispered so that only the group (excluding Bu Fan, Ziyi and Xukun) and Zhengting could hear. Zhengting’s face flushed.

“Don't you dare, Fan ChengCheng!” ChengCheng laughed and walked away, the group following him into a classroom. “What am I going to do with them?” Zhengting sighed, shaking his head. “Okay enough delaying let’s get you checked out.”

\\~~~~(= > =)~~~~//

“I’m so sorry.”’ Zhengting said.

“Stop saying you're sorry. It’s not your fault.” Xukun had his nose wrapped in gauze and medical tape, his cheek and forehead inflamed and bruised. The nurse couldn't do anything except provide ice packs for the bruises. Xukun was currently sitting on a cot, facing his crush that he’s had a crush on since 8th grade when he came back from America.

Zhengting helped him get used to a totally different school system than what he had been used to. Xukun was grateful for Zhengting. He developed a crush because Zhengting would always help people with their needs and problems. Xukun, at an early age, didn’t really have anyone that he could spill his problems to (friend-wise) so he kept all his feelings to himself. Zhengting was the first person Xukun encountered that actually cared to hear how his day went.

Zhengting insisted on staying with Xukun for the remainder of the day, saying he could catch up with the lessons later.

“It feels like it’s my fault. I need to make it up to you…” Zhengting was silent for a moment. “I know. I’ll take you to a movie. Hm, which one? Ooh, have you seen the ‘Isle of Dogs’ yet?” Xukun shook his head. He’s heard of the movie, supposedly it’s gotten great reviews.

“I’ve been meaning to see it but I've been too occupied with school and my friend’s dog, sitting her when he’s gone. I want to see it because it’s a stop motion film and because I like dogs.” Xukun smiled.

“Me too. I tried to get one of my friends to go but he’s afraid of dogs. I keep saying that they’re in the screen and won’t attack him, but he’s in denial. (a/n-it’s Xikan if anyone was wondering)” Zhengting rolled his eyes but he didn’t seem annoyed.

“When do you want to see it?” Xukun asked.

“How about today? I’ve looked at the show times and there’s one at 7. We could meet up at the theater, watch the movie, and maybe get ice cream afterwards and go to the park or something like that.” Xukun nodded and smiled, getting excited for the evening. He’ll have to tell Zhangjing and Linong about the ‘date’ and ask for help to find something to wear.

Soon enough the final bang rang. Xukun stood up and walked out with Zhengting.

“Okay see you at 6:30 then!” Zhengting waved good bye and rushed off. Xukun walked the other direction to find Zhangjing and Linong. He found them under a tree listening to music and people watching.

“Guys I need to tell you something.” Zhangjing arched his eyebrow.

“What is it?”

Xukun explained what happened. Linong kept on gasping, his eyes wide, like he was a fish out of water. Zhangjing was frozen for a while until Xukun finished explaining. Zhangjing looked at his phone, sprang up and pulled Linong off the ground.

“It’s already 4:30! We need to go to your house as fast as we can.” Zhangjing pushed Xukun in the direction of Xukun’s house, dragging Linong behind him. “Yay! KunKun is finally going on a date!” Xukun blushed.

\\~~~~(= > =)~~~~//

Zhenghao, Justin and ChengCheng were watching Zhengting pace in front of his closet rapidly, muttering to himself. It was 6:00 and Zhengting only had 15 minutes to find something to wear for the ‘date’.

“Just throw something on. You'll look fine in it.” Justin said, flipping through tabloids. Zhengting turned around.

“Thanks but I need to look my best.” He sighed.

“When did you start liking Xukun?” Zhenghao asked.

“When he first came from our school. He attended a school in America so he was all mixed up. It was really funny and cute. He would speak to us in English and no one would understand. I helped him around the school. He slowly got used to it and started communicating in our language.” Zhengting explained, recalling the memory with a smile on his face.

“Why do you like Xukun?”

Zhengting shrugged. “I guess it’s because he’s good spirited. Like he doesn’t have a big ego, he just wants to help people. I don’t know for some reason I’m just drawn to him.”

“Stop being basic and cliché.” ChengCheng scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“What do you want me to say? I like him because he’s innocent and I want to ruin him?” Justin rolled off the bed laughing, Zhenghao was blushing and hiding his face, and ChengCheng was shrugging.

“Hey you said it, not me.”

“Ugh I'm wasting time.” Zhengting finally decided to wear a blue shirt, white undershirt, skinny jeans and Nike shoes.

“How do I look?” Justin gave a thumbs up without looking up, Zhenghao was still recovering from what Zhengting said and ChengCheng just ignored him. “Thanks for the great feedback!” Zhengting said, voice filled with sarcasm. “I'm leaving. You guys can stay but don’t burn the house down.”

“I make no promises.” Justin said, a evil grin plastered on his face. Zhengting glared at Justin.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Zhengting left the house, heading towards the movie theater. Zhengting arrived to see Xukun looking at his phone, occasionally looking around. “Hey Xukun!” Xukun smiled.

“Hey Zhengting. You look nice.”

“So do you.” Xukun was wearing a supreme shirt, slightly covered by a thick, blue, fluffy jacket (the thing Xukun was wearing during his first evaluation), black jeans, and Nike shoes.

“Shall we get our tickets?” Zhengting asked. Xukun giggled.

“Don’t be so formal. Yeah, I’ll buy them.” Before Zhengting could protest, Xukun led him to the ticket booth. “Two for the ‘Isle of Dogs’ at 7.” After they got the tickets they went inside to get some food.

“I should've bought them.” Zhengting pouted. Xukun pinched his cheek.

“It’s okay. To make it up you can buy us the popcorn, drinks, and cookie dough.” Zhengting raised his eyebrow.

“Where did cookie dough come from?” Xukun shrugged and smiled.

“I’ve always had a craving for cookie dough. Once when I was younger, I ate raw cookie dough and I got sick. My mom didn’t want me to get sick again so she banned the making of cookies. Since then, every once in a while, I crave cookie dough. And now is the perfect time to get my fix.”

“Dang, no cookies? That’s harsh.”

“I mean we did have cookies but they were the store bought kind so… blegh. Disgusting.” Zhengting laughed.

“I agree with you. Homage cookies are the best.” Zhengting and Xukun kept talking casually and comfortably as they got their food, found their theater, and found their seats. Soon the lights dimmed and the previews started. They whispered back and forth, judging the movies that were going to be released soon. The previews ended in a flash and the opening scene began (a/n-I haven’t seen the movie yet so I have no idea how the movie goes). Throughout the movie, Zhengting and Xukun kept looking and smiling at each other.

At one point, Zhengting’s neck started hurting, so without giving it a second thought, he placed his head on Xukun’s shoulder. Moments after doing that, Zhengting realized his action, blushed and tried to lift his head off of Xukun’s shoulder. But gave up when Xukun’s hand gently pushed Zhengting’s head back down on his shoulder. It would remain there for the remainder of the movie

\\~~~~(= > =)~~~~//

After the movie was finished, Zhengting and Xukun went to the park, skipping the ice cream because they were too full. They sat on the swings, looking up at the stars. Zhengting wanted to sit on the monkey bars but Xukun was afraid of heights so they made a compromise. They were sitting in comfortable silence, thinking about what they talked about and the movie. Xukun saw Zhengting shiver slightly, so he did what every gentleman should do and take off his jacket and give it to Zhengting. Zhengting gave a grateful smile and wrapped himself in Xukun’s jacket. There was another silence until Zhengting cleared his throat.

“Yeah?” Xukun looked away from the sky and focused his attention on Zhengting.

“Well, this has been a fun night…” Xukun’s stomach dropped.

"Shoot. This was going so well. Now he's going to let me down easy, saying he's not ready for a relationship or...Gasp! I've been flirting with someone who's taken. Oh no oh no Justin is going to be mad and break up with Zhengting then it'll be my fault." Xukun thought, a frown appearing on his face. He braced himself.

“I’ve got to tell you something.” Zhengting paused, gathering his thoughts. “I’ve had a crush on you for a while.” Xukun froze for a moment then started laughing. Zhengting’s face flushed, confused and filled with embarrassment. “I-I don’t understand. I’m sorry that I like you? I guess I shouldn't have told-”

“No no no. It’s nothing like that.” Xukun said, gasping for air. “No it’s funny because I've had a crush on you since the day we met. I thought you were trying to let me down easy. That’s all.”

“Oh I see.” Then Zhengting started laughing as well. It took them a while to settle down because if one calmed down the other would laugh again which triggered the other one to laugh as well.

“This is very odd, how we both had crushes on each other without the other knowing about it.”

“Life is strange.”

“I thought you were too good for me. I also thought you were dating Justin.” Zhengting laughed.

“That’s hilarious. Justin is a close friend but I see him as a younger brother. I thought you were dating Ziyi.”

Xukun shook his head. “We’ve been by each other's side our whole lives. I cannot see him as anything besides a great friend who cheers me up when I'm down.”

“Well I'm glad we’ve come to a conclusion. We have liked each other for a while and we’re both single.”

“So does that mean…”

“Cai Xukun will you do me the honors and be my boyfriend?” When Xukun didn’t answer, Zhengting got impatient. “I swear to God Xukun, if you don’t say anything I’ll slap you until I get an answer from you or…” Zhengting smirked evilly. “I’ll make ChengCheng sit on you. He’s really fat, he’ll crush you like a bug.” Xukun’s eyes widened.

“No - I mean yes I’ll be your boyfriend.” Zhengting’s evil smirk disappeared in a matter of seconds. He stood up and motioned for Xukun to do the same. Xukun obeyed and walked over to Zhengting. Zhengting wrapped his arms around Xukun’s waist and rested his head on Xukun’s chest. Xukun immediately reacted and wrapped his arms around Zhengting, placing his hands on his back. They stood there for a few minutes, listening to each other’s breathing and heart beats. They let go, finally realizing what time it was (11:30). Xukun sighed.

“This has been the best day of my life.”

“Well it’s going to get even better.” Zhengting pressed his lips onto Xukun’s. It was a quick kiss but to Xukun it felt like time had stopped, he didn't want it to end. When Zhengting pulled away, Xukun pouted.

“I wanted that to last longer.”

“You'll have many chances that will last as long as you want.” Zhengting smiled, patting Xukun’s right cheek. “Can I keep this jacket for a little while? It’s really comfy. Xukun shrugged.

“Only if you keep your promise that you’ll take me out for ice cream that we missed today.” Zhengting laughed but nodded. “See you tomorrow boyfriend!” Xukun waved goodbye. They went their separate ways, tired but happy knowing that their long time crush was finally dating them.

 

a/n-I wanted to do 'Love, Simon' for the movie that they were going to see but it didn't fit as well as 'Isle of Dogs' did ;-; oh well.
Thank you for reading~ I really appreciate it. This is my first story (technically my second)  that I spent time thinking about it :)