It was as if their entire high school was clouded beneath a fog of fear. The day after the whole soulmate story broke the entire school was in disarray: at least a quarter of the students had ditched school for the day, most were clinging to their friends, and almost everyone that was stuck at school avoided touching everyone that passed by them in the halls. 

Before class started for the day, the bitter old lady brigade were crammed into a corner of the hallway. Having already confirmed they were soulmates, they avoided the gazes, let alone touches of anyone else. 

"Everyone's so spooked..." Mark mumbled ominously

"I mean, it's not necessarily a bad thing," Yuta responded. 

"True," Kun responded. "I think people are just afraid that they're too young for a relationship, or their soulmate won't be someone they think is attractive or even like." 

"I don't even think this is even real. I think some idiots are just making it up for attention and the media caught on," Doyoung spoke. 

Kun shook his head. "Doyoung, it's totally real," he firmly responded. 

"How do you know?" Taeil asked. Kun looked at the floor for a moment, unable to hold back a smile as he pushed his hair out of his eyes. 

"I met mine." 

His best friends stared at him in shock. 

"Wh-who is she? How did you meet? Are you sure that you guys are...soulmates?" Mark asked frantically. 

"You guys don't know her, she goes to the school of the arts. She's an artist," Kun spoke proudly. "We met when I was walking home from school. I accidentally bumped into her and I knew immediately. And yes, I'm sure she's the one," he explained. 

"So the soulmate thing isn't bull?" Taeil asked Kun worriedly. Kun raised his eyebrows and shook his head. 

"No, it's definitely real....every time I touch her, I feel electric sparks between us. I feel like I always need to be around her; even just being at school without her for a couple hours is almost painful. She's always on my mind. I could never hurt her. It's just...the word soulmate makes complete sense. That's the only word that can explain how I feel," Kun responded. 

Doyoung grimaced. "That sounds horrifying." 

"Gosh, Doyoung, you're always so cynical. Trust me on this one; it's like magic," Kun responded. 

"How did you know?" Yuta asked. 

"The sparks," Kun responded. "It's like when you accidentally shock yourself but way more intense. And kind of good. Really overwhelming, but good," Kun explained, his eyes growing almost dreamy, an unusal thing for the level headed sixteen year old. 

Just then the bell rang through the halls, loud and clear. Kun and Doyoung raced off to their class, since both of them were juniors. Mark was the baby of their group, so when he asked Yuta to him to class, the senior couldn't refuse. 

Of course, that left Taeil on his own. He sighed, gripping his books tighter in his hands and speed walking to his class. It was like a feeling of dread was following him: his soulmate could be in this building, right now, and he didn't even know it. Plus, ing Johnny was in his next class. Taeil's favorite. 

Taeil sighed, keeping his eyes downturned and staring at the textbooks in his hands. He felt a very tall presence slightly in front of him but ignored it; it was a bad idea to talk to anyone at this time. 

A sense of unease washed over Taeil when he realized, despite his downcast eyes, that he and this other presence were the only people in the deserted hallway. , he was late too, on top of everything. 

All of Taeil's overwhelming feelings plus his fear of human contact culminated in horrifying, humiliating embarrassment for the senior. Since he was going so fast and had no real idea of what was in front of him, it was inevitable that he'd bump into the presence walking just ahead of him. 

Taeil's head bumped smack dab into the boy's back and Taeil dropped his textbooks in surprise, the presence turning around to face him, their hands brushing together by accident. However, Taeil dropped to his knees to pick up the books before he could see the boy's face. 

But before he could take any of the books, Taeil froze. Sparks, so intense they were almost painful, flowing from Taeil's fingertips through his entire body. It felt as though his veins had fireworks trapped inside of them, leaving the eighteen year old ready to burst. Immediately following the physical sensations were the rush of emotions; the overwhelming desire to see who the hell this guy was and make him Taeil's world. Taeil's heart seemed to swell with this brand new affection and the electricity of all the sparks and god was all of this too ing much. 

"ing hell," Johnny spoke, and Taeil looked up, his heart dropping out of his . 

Of course, it just had to be him," Taeil thought, immediately looking back down at the ground. His loving emotions were immediately cut short, replaced by overwhelming disgust and anger at himself. A part of Taeil wanted to just run into Johnny's arms and let himself fall in love, but Taeil knew that was all of the hormones caused by this whole soulmate thing. Mostly, he just wanted to get away. 

With trembling hands, Taeil gripped onto his books as fast as he could. He was still slow though, and much to his chagrin Johnny had time to formulate his thoughts. 

"What grade are you in?" Johnny asked, and Taeil refused to look at his face. 

"We have three ing classes together," Taeil growled back, still picking up his things. 

"Damn, you don't need to be so angry," Johnny responded, and Taeil felt Johnny's eyes on him. "How come I've never noticed you? You're adorable." 

Taeil couldn't stand that he felt his heart flutter in his chest and his cheeks burn at the compliment. It's the hormones, he repeated in his head. It's the hormones and the fact that no guy has ever paid attention to you before. That's it.

"I'm Johnny," Johnny introduced, but Taeil didn't even bother to answer. With his books finally in his hands, he stood up and stomped over to class without another word. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeno didn't think he'd ever been more nervous in his entire life. Here he was, standing out in the middle of the parking lot, waiting for Renjun. The two of them didn't have time to see each other before class started, so they decided to ditch their next classes to meet up. Normally both of them were very good students, but finding out about this took priority over everything else. 

For a moment, Jeno thought that maybe skipping class to do this was a bad idea. On top of all of the other nervewracking things about this, he'd never skipped a class in his life. What if they got caught? What if they called his parents? If he explained the situation all of the adults would probably understand, but Jeno didn't like being a bad student. It made him uneasy. 

There was already enough on his plate as it was. Jeno wasn't sure what would happen either way. 

Just then, Jeno's thoughts stopped because Renjun began to approach. He looked just as nervous as Jeno felt, his hands shaking and his eyes tired. 

"H-hey," Jeno stuttered, managing a smile. 

"Hi," Renjun responded, unable to return the expression. 

"How are you?" Jeno asked, more wanting to stall than anything else. Renjun just chuckled back uncomfortably. They stood in highly uncomfortable silence, staring down at the asphalt and shifting on their feet. 

"Ready?" Jeno asked after a few moments. He was ready for the tension to end, no matter the outcome. 

"Mmh," Renjun simply responded, and the two boys reached out their hands. 

Their fingers brushed and...nothing. No sparks, no fantastical feelings other than what was already going on. Nothing. 

Jeno figured maybe they just hadn't touched enough and he interlaced his and Renjun's fingers, squeezing his hand fairly tight. Still...nothing. 

They were frozen in silence for a few moments. 

"!" Jeno yelled out, and Renjun pulled his hand away and took a step back. Jeno never swore. 

"Sorry," Jeno mumbled under his breath, feeling guilty for scaring his boyfriend. 

"I-it's okay," Renjun stuttered back, then sighed. "I know how you feel." 

The two fourteen year olds stared at the ground, a sort of emptiness taking over. They couldn't even look each other in the eyes. What now, they both thought. 

"I don't want to break up," Renjun admitted, and Jeno breathed a huge sigh of relief. He'd been thinking the same thing, but didn't want to embarrass himself if Renjun hadn't felt the same way. 

"Me either," Jeno responded, suddenly tugging Renjun in for a tight hug. Renjun reciprocated immediately, the two boys holding onto each other for dear life. Jeno tilted Renjun's head up and they shared a passionate kiss, much deeper and more loving than what they were used to. 

"You're too special to me to give this all up. We'll make it work; I promise," Renjun mumbled into Jeno's chest. 

"I promise too. I promise with all of myself that we will make it work. I care about you so much," Jeno responded, his breath fluttering Renjun's dark hair. 

Suddenly, the bell for the next class rang, and the boys pulled apart. 

"Can't miss any more class, can we?" Renjun spoke with a chuckle. 

"Of course not," Jeno responded. Renjun gave him a smile, although Jeno couldn't tell how sincere it was, and he kissed Jeno on the cheek. 

"See you at lunch," he spoke. 

"See you then," Jeno responded, and Renjun skipped back off to class. 

Jeno couldn't decide how he felt. Was he happy he was still with Renjun, or sad that he wasn't technically his soulmate? But Jeno pushed his worries aside, thought about their promise, and walked off to his own class. 

~~~~~~~~~~

"You guys won't believe what ing happened to me today!" Taeil shouted, slamming his lunch tray so hard on the table that his food flew everywhere. His friends helped him put his things back with worry in their eyes; Taeil got angry at the popular kids but he was never this upset. They fell silent to let him share his story. 

"So when you guys abandoned me after the bell rang and I had to walk alone to class, I was trying to keep to myself because I really was not in the mood to meet my soulmate whatever bull person. I was keeping my head down and was just trying to get to class when, bomb, I headbutt Johnny right in the back," Taeil aggressively spoke. 

" man," Yuta responded. 

"That's not even the worst of it!" Taeil yelled. "I was just picking up my books when I started to feel the electric sparks. They spread all over and I hear Johnny curse and then I realize. Of course, just my luck, my least favorite human being in the world, Johnny Seo, is my god damn soulmate!" Taeil cried. 

Mark, Kun, Yuta, and Doyoung all stared back at him in shock. Not only were they all genuinely surprised, but most of them felt pretty bad for their friend as well. 

"I am so, so sorry," Doyoung spoke sincerely, rubbing Taeil's shoulder. 

"My life is literally over," Taeil groaned. 

"I know the situation is tough, but don't give up hope, however slim it might seem," Yuta responded. 

"You can always just pretend it didn't happen and avoid him," Mark suggested. 

"Impossible," Kun responded. Looking at him, the other boys could only say he looked exhausted: skin slightly palor, eye bags large, lids drooping. "Being away from your soulmate too long makes you sick. Me and my girl saw each other last night and I literally feel like now, from not seeing her," Kun explained. 

"Okay, now my life is really over," Taeil responded, and the others looked at him with pity. 

"Well...there's still hope....he's not super ugly..." Yuta spoke sympathetically. Taeil rolled his eyes, trying to pretend his heart didn't flutter (against his will) when he thought of Johnny's face. He'd spent all of class avoiding looking at it, even though Johnny had his eyes trained on him, and even tried to chase him down after class. Taeil had managed to avoid it up until now, he could push his thoughts away for a little longer. 

"I really feel bad for you though. He's so obnoxious and loud; he never shuts up. It's so frustrating," Mark said. 

"I wonder if you'll even be able to get a word in edgewise while dating him. Not to mention that he's probably slept with a million people. Don't have with him; he's probably got herpes or something." 

"Oh god, ew, that's disgusting, I'd never sleep with him," Taeil responded. Kun had suddenly fallen silent, a blush dusting his cheeks, but the boys just ignored it, assuming his soulmate texted him something sweet. 

"When do you think the last time that boy did his homework was?" Yuta asked, beginning to chuckle before looking up. He immediately turned bright red and put his face down on the table, falling completely silent. Yuta shared a look with Mark and Mark grew quiet too, scooting slightly away from Taeil. 

"He's so--" Doyoung began to speak before stopping short in the middle of his sentence, looking above Doyoung's head with wide eyes. 

"He's so ugh!" Taeil responded, finishing Doyoung's sentence for him, not even noticing the unusual behavoir of his friends. "Johnny is obnoxious, and stupid, and loud, and annoying, and whoreish, and..." Taeil trailed off when he noticed the extremely uncomfortable expressions of his friends, turning his head back to look above him. 

.    . 

There was Johnny, standing right over Taeil's frame. Each and every member of the bitter old lady brigade looked ashamed beyond belief, their faces red and either hidden in the arms or turned completely away. But Taeil could not tear his eyes away from Johnny. He was grateful Johnny wasn't lashing out angry at them, but there was clear hurt in his eyes. Deep inside of himself, Taeil could feel that hurt too, and guilt took over that piece of him. But he pretended it wasn't even there. 

"Hey," Johnny spoke softly, and Taeil grimaced to himself. 

"H-hey," Taeil managed to stutter back, looking around at his completely humiliated friends before looking back up at Johnny, who was still wearing that neutral expression. 

"Uh, we never really introduced ourselves, I guess this morning you really wanted to get to class on time. I never caught your name either. So, um, I'm Johnny, although I think you might know that already," he spoke, holding out his hand for Taeil to shake. 

"I'm Taeil," he responded, and he gripped Johnny's hand to shake. But both of them had forgotten about the sparks, and as sound as their hands touched they pulled them away in shock. 

Taeil shook out his hand and Johnny chuckled awkwardly, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "That'll take some getting used to," Johnny mumbled under his breath, and for the first time, Taeil agreed with something Johnny said. 

Johnny sighed softly, and another wave of guilt washed over Taeil. Johnny was probably extremely uncomfortable at that moment, surrounded by people he'd never even spoken to and suddenly finding out they all hated him. Plus, one was his soulmate, and that was scary enough as it was. 

"So, I kinda have to go sit with my friends now," Johnny spoke. Taeil could tell he was sort of itching to stay, but he felt way too uncomfortable with all of Taeil's friends. Taeil was grateful; he didn't really want to spend time with just Johnny yet. "But I think we should exchange numbers so we can get to know each other more and stuff." 

Taeil immediately blushed, and immediately after that hated himself for it. Yes, Johnny was still annoying and he was only getting Taeil's number because they were soulmates, not because he liked Taeil for any other reason. But nobody had ever asked for Taeil's number before, and that was enough flirting to get Taeil's throat closed up and his heart pounding in his chest. 

"Uh, are you sure?" Taeil asked with an uncomfortable chuckle. Even though he was excited at least someone was asking for his number, it was still Johnny doing the action, and Taeil wasn't sure if he wanted Johnny to have his number (even if they weren soulmates). Part of him was just itching to give it over and to maybe nestle himself in Johnny's arms and kiss his plump lips but most of Taeil was completely disgusted with himself for even thinking such thoughts, so he let it be. 

"Yes, I'm sure," Johnny responded with a firm chuckle. Taeil sighed; there was no logical reason he could get out of giving Johnny his number. So he sighed again and handed Johnny his phone. With a big smile, Johnny gave Taeil his own. In just a few seconds, Taeil punched in his first and last name and number and gave the phone back to Johnny. After a few more seconds, Johnny passed his own phone back. 

Johnny had adorned his contact info with emojis, listing his name as 'your johnny' surrounded by yellow hearts. Taeil rolled his eyes and entered his name in as plain old 'Johnny Seo'. 

"I promise I'll text you soon," Johnny spoke, smiling softly at Taeil before walking back to his usual lunch table. As soon as he was out of ear shot, Taeil released a loud groan, and his friends returned from the land of embarrassment. 

"Dude, you're lucky he even wants you after that," Yuta spoke. 

"It doesn't mean it's not Johnny who we're dealing with!" Taeil cried, and the others could only sigh. 

But that night went Taeil went home, maybe, just maybe, he changed Johnny's contact name back to what Johnny had originally put in.