Kyungsoo’s eighteenth birthday began with a bang. And, after a momentary pause, a shower of tiny shreds of glitter and colored paper spiraled through the air to settle between the strands of his fluffy brown hair.

Looking up, the boy leaning against Kyungsoo’s locker with a used party popper in hand was none other than Byun Baekhyun. One of the greatest sources of joy and entertainment in his life, or perhaps the greatest irritant, depending on when you asked. (But Kyungsoo loved him anyways. Just maybe not in this moment.)

“Happy birthday!” Baekhyun practically shrieked, producing a poorly-wrapped box from behind his back and shoving it into Kyungsoo’s hands. Beside him, Sehun clutched the strings of an assortment of penguin-shaped helium balloons and leaned over to tie them to Kyungsoo’s backpack.

Kyungsoo tried, and failed, to suppress a smile. “Thanks, guys,” he said appreciatively, accepting the box that Baekhyun proffered to him, fingers the satin of the blue ribbon and the jagged misaligned edges of the glittery gift wrap. “I told you that I didn’t want you to do anything for my birthday, though.”

Baekhyun huffed. “And you really thought that we’d listen to you?”

“We did what you wanted for the past three years, and we don’t know if we’ll be together for your birthday next year,” Sehun agreed, reaching out to nudge Kyungsoo’s side. “Assuming that we all make it to graduation. Now open your present! But not too fast, I spent an hour wrapping that thing.”

Inside the box was a pouch of dog treats, a polaroid of the three of them from a movie night a few weeks back, and two slips of paper. The first one was— “a ticket to this year’s winter formal,” Sehun grinned. “You’re not getting out of it this time.”

Accompanying it was a hand-drawn coupon, offering “one free makeover, by yours truly, Baekhyun xoxo”. 

“And you said this was supposed to be a present ,” Kyungsoo grumbled, smiling despite himself, depositing the box into his locker and attempting a dramatic exit. Rather unfortunately, his sudden pivot on his heel combined with the ever-treacherous force of inertia caused him to become tangled himself in the strings of his penguin balloons, tripping over himself in an effort not to fall flat on his face. As he struggled to right himself, he could barely resist the urge to glare at his friends, both of whom had long since collapsed into a pile of stupid amongst peals of laughter. 

Happy birthday, indeed.

❅❆❅

Kyungsoo dreaded calculus class. It wasn’t so much because of the subject itself, because shockingly, he actually enjoyed integrating functions and finding the area between two curves. His best friends made sure to take advantage of this fact, and it was likely this friendship that would see Sehun through to graduation— sometimes Kyungsoo thought that the boy would fit in better at the local kindergarten than at high school, based on his love for sugar (and consequential hyperactivity) and inability to do basic algebra. Luckily, Kyungsoo had been blessed with a “math brain,”; instead, what he struggled with was finding the area between himself and his seatmate, who was often pressed so closely to his side that the solution to the question “What is the area between poor Kyungsoo and creepy, sweaty, Park Chanyeol?” was zero.

That morning, he settled into his assigned seat with a sigh, grateful that his sticky elf boy neighbour had yet to show up. As he laid out the numerous highlighters in his Pororo pencil case on his desk, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone slide into the seat that usually remained empty to his left. More than just a someone , Kyungsoo mused, as he willed himself to clear his face of all traces of expression, his large brown eyes flitting between the other boy’s sharp jawline and the perfectly white leather of his Gucci sneakers. Definitely a dress code violation, but the boy himself looked nothing short of a walking felony.

“Hi, I’m Kim Jongin,” his new seatmate(?) introduced himself, offering a smile. Kyungsoo was glad that Sehun had convinced him to wear his contacts today, or he might have inadvertently given Jongin The Death Glare™ in an attempt to get a closer look at him. And as much as he hated to say it, he could see why the annoying girls in the cafeteria were always tittering away about him. From what he gathered, the other boy usually sat near the back of the classroom while Kyungsoo was allocated to the first row, and he was glad for the fact that he had never had to witness constant flirtation first hand. Even though Jongin famously never gave in to anyone’s advances, he was still extremely popular, and Kyungsoo didn’t want to be reduced to just another member of his fan club. 

“I’m Kyungsoo,” he replied quietly, fighting to keep his expression neutral.

The taller boy looked away, fingers fidgeting with a tiny bear keychain hanging off of his backpack. Jongin was dressed in the classic school-issued white button up, but the skinny tie pressed down the middle of his chest was undoubtedly Gucci, not that Kyungsoo was very well versed in the fashion world, evidenced by the fact that Jongin somehow managed to make everything look designer while he simply shrugged on whatever articles of clothing happened to be on sale at the department store. (Needless to say, not designer.)

“I hope it’s okay if I sit here today? I forgot to put my contacts on, and I need to see the board so I don’t fail tomorrow’s test, I won’t bother you, I promise!” Jongin rushed out.

“Go ahead,” came Kyungsoo’s clipped response. Perhaps Ms. Park would have something to say about the sudden disruption of her seating chart, but teachers all loved Jongin anyways. And though he could already feel the glares of Jongin’s hordes of fangirls who would probably jump at the opportunity to castrate him for daring to breathe in Jongin’s direction, Kyungsoo tried not to mind. Just as he was engaging in an internal debate on whether or not to continue the painful small talk, he was saved from having to make further conversation by Jongdae’s appearance through the classroom doors.

Jongdae made his way over to Kyungsoo, face pulled into his signature perpetual grin. “Hey Kyungsoo, happy birthday!” The younger boy reached out to bop one of his penguin balloons, before reaching into his pocket and dumping a handful of half-melted chocolate truffles onto Kyungsoo’s desk.

“Thanks Jongdae!” Kyungsoo unwrapped one of the chocolates and offered it to the other boy, who happily swallowed it dry.

“Ready for the test tomorrow?” Jongdae questioned, but before Kyungsoo could reply, Ms. Park the projector at the front of the room, and he focused his attention back towards his notebook.

As expected, as Ms. Park’s gaze swept over the class, her eyes lingered for a brief second on Jongin, before moving on as if she hadn’t seen anything at all. Ah, how great it must feel to be a pretty boy. And to be the son of the CEO of a multi-million dollar company, at that. According to Sehun, who somehow knew the dirt on everyone in the entire school, Jongin could just not go to college and not work a day in his entire life and get on more than just fine. 

But one thing that Kim Jongin was not good at, it seemed, was math, if the constant frustrated huffs were any indication, and Kyungsoo quickly forced himself to concentrate on his own work when he caught sight of Jongin’s pout. Kyungsoo had always been soft for cute things: puppies, sweet pastries, and pastel sweaters amongst others, but as soon as his subconscious ventured to add “Kim Jongin” to that list, he frantically tried to shut the thought out of his head.

But maybe Kyungsoo was possessed or something, because he found himself clearing his throat and tentatively asking, “need help?” Jongin looked up from his worksheet, gently nibbling the end of his pencil, and Kyungsoo found himself adding Kim Jongin to his list of adorable things after all.

“Sure, thanks. I’m sorry, I just can’t seem to remember how to integrate variables to the power of one,” he sheepishly replied.

“You don’t need to apologize. Here, this page of formulas should help,” Kyungsoo said, flipping through his notebook to a bookmarked section and handing it to Jongin. “It should be the natural log of x, but don’t quote me on that.”

“Thanks,” Jongin smiled, and then, “your handwriting is amazing, by the way. Are you a Chen fan, too?”

Oh. Kyungsoo had gone through a bullet journaling phase back in the fall as a way to manage the stress of his college applications, and the particular spread that Kyungsoo had accidentally flipped to happened to be dedicated to Chen, a popular ballad singer whom he had developed a fixation on back in middle school and whose discography still took up a majority of the space in his music library.

“Uh, yeah, Jongdae’s a huge fan, so,” Kyungsoo deflected. “He basically ran our middle school choir and forced everyone to memorize all of his songs.”

“That’s a shame,” Jongin murmured, a smirk dancing on the edges of his lips. “Chen’s a great singer, and he’s pretty handsome, too.” 

“His voice is amazing,” Kyungsoo acquiesced, busy running Jongin’s last words through his mind. While Sehun had always been adamant about insisting that Jongin most definitely swung his way, Kyungsoo had never been the type of person to believe in rumors. But this was as clear of a sign as ever, especially when Jongin tacked on a saucy wink, causing Kyungsoo to quickly look away in embarrassment.

“But still not as good looking as me, right?”

Really, what was Kyungsoo meant to say in response? His only experiences with flirting regarded pretending not to hear Chanyeol’s creepily deep voice, which required little more than acting as if the other boy didn’t exist. Clearly, this approach wouldn’t work with Jongin— and was it bad if Kyungsoo wanted to talk to him?

In the end, his natural aversion towards attention won out, because attempting to flirt (back?), albeit awkwardly, would surely cause him to either become the object of jealousy or humiliation of the members of Jongin’s fanclub. And it wasn’t as if Jongin’s ego needed any more .

But despite it all, “yes,” Kyungsoo replied flatly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He turned his attention back to his desk, the numbers on his paper seeming to blur together as he saw a smile blossom on Jongin’s face from the corner of his vision.

Best calculus class ever.

❅❆❅

Calculus class the following day featured a bloated and sleep-deprived Kyungsoo, who had spent the previous night out at the local karaoke place belting out girl group songs with Baekhyun and Sehun whilst simultaneously consuming an inhuman amount of fried chicken and spicy rice cakes. The night of fun led him to slipping into a food coma, and in the present, caused him to collapse into his seat with the hopes of sneaking in a short nap before class started. A few seats to his right, he heard Jongdae squabbling with Minseok about how the former had been copying his English assignment off of a bootleg Sparknotes article, but he tuned it all out in favor of slipping into his personal dreamland, made up of fluffy sheep and bunnies and... Jongin?

The taller boy casually slipped into the seat next to him, his hair gently tousled and looking so soft to the touch, immersed in flipping through the pages of his notebook decorated with haphazardly scribbled formulas. In all honesty, Kyungsoo had thought that yesterday was something of a wistful fever dream, and had tried to convince himself that Kim Jongin would probably never speak to him again, which he would be 100% fine with. (Sure, he was cute, but how could you miss someone that you barely had one (1) conversation with?) With the end of the day, the spell was meant to have broken, today being just another day in his monotonous life. Yet as he glanced over at Jongin, who was worrying his bottom lip between his teeth, Kyungsoo thought that his life just might be becoming more interesting.

Kyungsoo found himself barely flinching when Chanyeol’s loud greeting interrupted his train of thought, only to recoil when “Hey Soobabe” was followed with a bout of coughing. Kyungsoo, as well as the health of the general public, would have been largely benefitted if Chanyeol had just stayed at home . But alas, there he was, in all his sleazy and snotty glory. Beside Kyungsoo, Jongin also looked up from his papers, his gaze lingering on the older boy’s wrinkled, affronted face for a brief moment before landing on the tall elf boy.

“Please stop calling me Soobabe,” Kyungsoo gritted out, tired of repeating the same sentence like a broken record every morning (to no avail).

Chanyeol whimpered. “But Soobabe—”

Jongin suddenly turned in his seat to face Kyungsoo. “Do you mind?” He asked. Mind what , Kyungsoo didn’t know, but he found himself nodding anyway.

Jongin leaned over Kyungsoo’s desk, one eyebrow arched. “Hi, Chanyeol, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Kyungsoo doesn’t seem to be very comfortable with you calling him that. As far I know, you two aren’t in any type of special relationship, so I think that he would appreciate it if you would give him his space.”

Chanyeol looked startled at the unexpected interruption, and tripped over his stuttered response. “Well, uh, how do you know what Kyungsoo thinks anyways? How do you know—”

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “Uh, I’m right here, and as I’ve been trying to tell you for a while now, I’m not interested.”

“Well,” Chanyeol said, puffing his chest out, “I will have you know that I’m not the sort of guy to give up easily. Back in elementary school, when I tried to join the track team, it took me so many tries to make the team that I cursed my abnormally amazing height for the first time for knocking over those hurdles—”

Jongin suddenly stood up in his seat. “Kyungsoo is not a position on the track team—”

“Boys!”

At Ms. Park’s voice, Jongin sent Chanyeol one last hard look before folding himself back into his chair. And much later, when Kyungsoo had finished checking over his responses on his answer sheet for the third time, he caught Jongdae’s eye, who winked and mouthed something along the lines of “ who’s your boyfriend now ?”

Beside Jongdae, Kim Minseok’s hand immediately shot into the air. “Ms. Park!” He said. “Kim Jongdae is talking during the test!”

“  you, Minseok ,” Jongdae mouthed.

“Ms. Park! Kim Jongdae is making unsolicited ual advances!”

Kyungsoo smothered his laugh in the back of his hand.

❅❆❅

The final school bell usually meant meeting Sehun by the school gates, then listening to the other boy whinge about school assignments or his perpetual “#singlelyfe” for the entire walk home (though Kyungsoo and Baekhyun shared a conspiracy theory that his obsessive love for his Bichon Frise, Vivi, would always mean that his love for another human being would sadly pale in comparison). Sometimes, they would stop for some street food along the way, usually crunchy bbopki or a roll of kimbap . The trek wasn’t far, a fifteen minute walk through downtown, and the convenience was a large reason that Kyungsoo was still procrastinating getting his driver’s license. (That, and the fact that there was a reason that he always came in last place when playing Mario Kart— he wasn’t too keen on spiralling downwards into an endless abyss after falling off of Rainbow Road in real life.)

That particular afternoon, Sehun was staying after school to “study” (probably to stalk the new Chinese exchange student who he vehemently denied having a crush on, but Kyungsoo had seen him drooling over the boy during the last winter assembly). Baekhyun lived a few minute’s bike ride in the other direction, so after waving goodbye to his friend, Kyungsoo began to retrace his steps towards his house. He popped one earbud in and was deciding which playlist to listen to, when—

“Hey, Kyungsoo?”

Said boy startled, quickly righting himself and tightening his grip on his phone before looking up and seeing Jongin sitting in a sleek, midnight-blue sports car. (A Tesla? A Maserati? A Honda? Kyungsoo didn’t know much about cars.) The younger boy was leaning out of the rolled down window of the driver’s seat, his tie loosened around his neck.

Kyungsoo simply smiled and waved in return, fully expecting Jongin to drive off, and growing confused when the other boy stepped out of his car and walked up to stand in front of him.

For all of his bravado, Jongin suddenly turned shy, averting his eyes from Kyungsoo’s and choosing to fidget with the sleeves of his school-issued blazer. “I just wanted to apologize,” he started. “I know that you didn’t need me to jump in between you and Chanyeol, and I didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t stand up for yourself, because I know that you can, and you did! I just… didn’t think before I acted, and I’m sorry.”

Kyungsoo blinked. “You don’t have to apologize, if Chanyeol listens this time and quits sticking to me like a barnacle, I’ll have you to thank.”

Jongin looked at him, pouting. “Still, I feel bad. Will you let me make it up to you?”

“You don’t have to… but what do you have in mind?”

“Please tell me that you like chicken.”

Kyungsoo blamed Jongin’s expert puppy dog eyes for the reason that ten minutes later, he was strapped into the passenger seat of Jongin’s undoubtedly expensive luxury vehicle on the way to the younger boy’s favorite chicken restaurant. When Jongin parked and hurried to open Kyungsoo’s door for him, he wondered what he was doing, eating dinner with the schools’ resident destined multimillionaire when he could be at home getting a head start on his biology research project. But then Jongin smiled and extended his hand, and Kyungsoo found himself taking it as the pair headed into the restaurant.

The fried chicken restaurant, “my favorite,” as the younger boy had vehemently emphasized, was tucked in the heart of downtown, coincidentally not far from where Kyungsoo’s mother’s café was located a few blocks away. The restaurant featured a very homey interior, bursting with soft yellow lights and the warm hubbub of conversation that warmed the chilly January air. As Kyungsoo’s focus drifted to the posters of food and idols that Jongdae and Baekhyun liked so much decorating the walls, he couldn’t help but be mildly surprised, and thankful, that Jongin hadn’t decided to bring them to a ritzy 5 star restaurant— he wasn’t about to drop a month’s worth of college tuition on a “fancily cooked” sprig of asparagus, thank you very much.

Of course Jongin could tell that Kyungsoo didn’t belong in that world, of CEOs and socialites who visited a new city every night. And it seemed that the other boy, too, was perfectly happy to be tucked into a corner in the back of the restaurant, seemingly already knowing his order and not bothering to peruse the slightly sticky laminated menu in front of him.

But wouldn’t it be okay to pretend for just one evening that he and Jongin were friends, that laughing and bantering with him was as natural to Kyungsoo as inhaling bubble tea was to Sehun or crying over Korean dramas was to Baekhyun? (“But Kyungsoo! You don’t underSTAND! They were meant to be—” “Good night, Baekhyun, call me later when you’ve regained your sanity and aren’t sobbing to me about your newest ship. It’s 4am, I can’t deal with this right now, preferably never.” Baekhyun scoffed. “And precisely this, my dearest friend, is why you will never find love.”)

“I recommend the marinated chicken,” Jongin suddenly said, snapping Kyungsoo out of his reverie. “It goes really well with the house fried rice, so we can share that, if that’s okay with you?”

“Sounds great,” Kyungsoo replied. “Do you come here often?”

Jongin grinned sheepishly, admitting, “a little too much. Neither of my two best friends happen to like fried chicken and my parents are abroad a lot, so I come here alone on most Friday nights.”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Alone? I’m pretty sure that almost anyone at school would be tripping over themselves to spend time with you.”

All of the mirth suddenly faded from Jongin’s warm eyes, and he leaned down to take a sip of water. "They probably just want to get a free meal at an expensive restaurant,” he mumbled around his straw. “And I’d rather eat alone then be with people who see me as some sort of status symbol.”

“Hey,” Kyungsoo said, hesitantly placing a hand on Jongin’s shoulder from across the table. He wasn’t sure if he was crossing some sort of invisible line and moved to draw his arm back, before the other boy whimpered slightly and leaned in to his touch like a puppy left out in the cold. Curse his weakness to adorable things. “It’s okay, I’m always happy to keep you company— if you want, that is.”

It seemed that Kyungsoo’s lame attempt to cheer the other up had worked when Jongin looked up with a tiny smile on his face. “I’d really like that,” he said, before teasing, “You’re not like the other boys.”

“But I’m like all of the other girls?” Kyungsoo queried, quirking an eyebrow. 

”Girls were never in the equation to begin with.”

Kyungsoo tried to stop the fluttering of his heart by reminding himself that with Jongin’s admission that he did swing his way, he owed Sehun free lunches for an entire week. But as he looked at Jongin sitting across the table, the angles of his face illuminated by the restaurant’s poor lighting, he would have given anything to immortalize that moment.

When the two boys devoured the last of their meal, Jongin immediately flagged a waiter over and handed him a black card procured from his Louis Vuitton wallet. “I’m the one who asked you out,” Jongin said before Kyungsoo could formulate his protest, tucking his wallet back into the pocket of his coat slung over the back of his chair. The waiter bowed, accepting the credit card from Jongin before hurriedly turning away with a slight smirk on his face.

Oh, so was this a date now? Not that Kyungsoo was complaining, but color him confused .

He looked up, meeting Jongin’s challenging eyes with a resolve of his own. “Thank you, Jongin, but I can’t let you pay for everything. How do you feel about getting dessert?”

Kyungsoo helped Jongin put on his thick down jacket, laughing when the younger boy struggled with turning his sleeve inside out. The outside air was chilly, and Kyungsoo found Jongin huddling into his side as the two made their way to Kyungsoo’s family’s café a few blocks away. A bell jingled overhead when he pushed the heavy door open, pausing in the doorway to brush snowflakes off of Jongin’s head, which earned him a warm smile in return.

“Hi Seulgi,” he greeted the barista behind the counter, who waved in welcome. Kyungsoo guided Jongin to the pastry cabinet, which displayed a delectable array of cakes and cookies. “Do you see anything that you like?”

Jongin leaned in to analyze his options, and Kyungsoo stopped himself from staring at him like a creep. Instead, he turned to face Seulgi. “Do you know if my mom’s still here?”

“Yeah, she’s in the back,” the girl replied, cheerful as always. “I’ll go get her. Happy belated birthday, by the way!”

“Thanks, and that would be great,” Kyungsoo replied, returning her smile. 

He felt a tug on the sleeve of his jacket, and Jongin asked, “what do you mean, your mom’s in the back?”

“Hi Kyungsoo, and oh— who’s this?”

Perfect timing, mom.

“Mom, this is Jongin, one of my— friends from school.” Jongin straightened up next to him, falling into a deep bow.

“Nice to meet you, Jongin. It’s great to see that you have such a polite and handsome friend, a much better first impression than Baekhyun and Sehun, at least,” she smiled. “Did you two want to get something to eat?”

Kyungsoo looked towards Jongin inquiringly, and the younger boy pointed towards the matcha crêpe cake. “If that’s okay with you, Kyungsoo,” he added, and Kyungsoo nodded, also suggesting the addition of two hot chocolates.

The pair settled into a seat by the window, Jongin immediately beginning to whine that Kyungsoo hadn’t warned him about meeting his parents so soon. “You should have told me,” Jongin pouted. “I could have tried to prepare myself better.”

Kyungsoo laughed. “You didn’t need to be nervous, what’s the worst that could have happened? And she liked you, anyways.”

“I wanted to make a good impression,” Jongin insisted, squirming in his seat. 

“You did,” Kyungsoo’s mother reassured, walking up to their table, drinks and cake in hand, causing Jongin to bolt upright. “Though I suppose nothing could have been worse than meeting Baekhyun and Sehun when they were burning my entire kitchen down.”

“It was an impromptu Masterchef competition,” Kyungsoo supplied. “But Baekhyun burned water and Sehun flipped pancakes all over the ceiling.”

“Not the best idea when my kitchen is my pride and joy,” Kyungsoo’s mother added, “and the two did a terrible job cleaning up afterwards. Pancake batter everywhere. Don’t get me started on the state of the poor pots, burned even darker than that time Kyungsoo was reenacting some scene from Hell’s Kitchen—”

“I’ll see you at home?” Kyungsoo interjected.

“Okay, okay, I’ll leave you two alone now. Let me know if you want a ride home,” she winked, disappearing behind the counter.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo said, turning his focus back towards Jongin, who was looking more than a little overwhelmed. “You were right, I should have warned you about that.”

“She’s nice, I just… didn’t think we’d be meeting the parents so soon.”

Kyungsoo choked on his hot chocolate, and Jongin rushed to worriedly pat his back. At Kyungsoo’s insistence, the younger boy settled back into his seat, worrying his lower lip between his teeth.

“Kyungsoo, can I ask you something?”

Kyungsoo hummed around a forkful of crêpe cake.

“It’s my birthday tomorrow, and I know that this might seem selfish, but I wanted to know if I could ask you for a present.”

“What kind of present?” There was most definitely nothing that Kyungsoo could buy that Jongin didn’t already own or couldn’t acquire with a snap of his fingers, or anything he could put together that could top what Jongin’s fanclub was undoubtedly planning. A twenty tier birthday cake? A choir that followed Jongin around all day singing nothing but Chen’s latest hits?

Jongin’s hand crept across the table, tentatively settling on top of Kyungsoo’s. “Can we… do this again? Another date, I mean, if you want that.”

Kyungsoo carefully turned his hand beneath Jongin’s until their palms met, clasping Jongin’s hand firmly in his. “I’d like that, too,” he said quietly, looking up to see Jongin’s lips parted in the beginnings of a smile.

That night, Jongin dropped Kyungsoo off at his house with a new phone contact and a promise.

❅❆❅

“So let me get this straight… you went on a dinner and dessert date with Kim Jongin ?” Baekhyun gaped, popping his strawberry lollipop back into his mouth.

“I know,” Kyungsoo sighed, unlocking his locker and swinging its door open. “I spent the whole weekend trying to understand what happened, and I still can’t believe it either.”

“I don’t mean it in a bad way, you’re hot and smart, and don’t get me started on your perky —” Kyungsoo scowled, dodging Baekhyun’s playful slap— “but Kim Jongin, future CEO, Playboy model extraordinaire, is pretty much known for not going out with anyone. I’ve never seen you two talk before, so it’s kinda weird that he suddenly thinks that you’re special or some . You’re not like all of the other boys ,” Baekhyun mocked, and Kyungsoo’s eyes widened slightly. “Please don’t tell me he said that to you. Oh my god, he totally did.”

“I wouldn’t believe it either, but Jongin’s fan accounts have been going crazy since last night,” Sehun supplied, brandishing his phone. “It seemed like you two had a bit of a stalker following? I thought you had a better eye for that, Kyungsoo,” he pouted, disappointed.

“He was too busy losing himself in Jongin’s eyes,” Baekhyun laughed, high-fiving Sehun as Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

“But really, Kyungsoo,” Sehun said, uncharacteristically serious. “Just don’t check out Jongin’s fanpage, okay? They’ve been saying some… not so nice things about you, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“It’s a good thing that Kyungsoo doesn’t have any social media accounts, then,” Baekhyun offered, slinging an arm over Kyungsoo’s shoulders as the three headed to their first period class. “I heard from Jongdae that Jongin sat next to you in calculus, and honestly, I’m surprised that his fans haven’t tried to hunt you down by now.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll protect you,” Sehun said with bravado, flexing his noodly arms. “I haven’t been building my arm muscles for nothing.”

“Come off of it, we all know that your idea of exercise is playing Wii Sports,” Baekhyun laughed, Kyungsoo joining along.

“Thanks, guys, but you don’t have to worry. I doubt that he’ll sit with me again anyways.”

Baekhyun cocked his head, sharing a mischievous smile with Sehun. “Are you willing to bet a free meal on that?”

Kyungsoo nodded, wondering what it was with his friends and betting on food as his two friends snickered while they waved goodbye, the three heading their separate ways to class. 

Jongin doesn’t actually care about you, Kyungsoo said to himself. Out of the hundreds of people throwing themselves at him, there’s no reason for him to have suddenly chosen you . Maybe he had read too much into the situation and Jongin just wanted to be friends, which was almost just as inconceivable, and wasn’t Jongin the one that had asked Kyungsoo out for another date? (Not to brag, but Kyungsoo had earned a perfect score in the reading comprehension section of the SAT— and his deduction skills had led him to believe that Jongin had been implying that he was interested. Still, it wasn’t like Kyungsoo had ever been on a sort-of-maybe-date before, so he probably lacked the context to come to an accurate conclusion.)

No matter, Kyungsoo thought, smoothing down his blazer. When he entered the calculus classroom, Jongin would be sitting in the back of the classroom where he had always been, and Kyungsoo would return to being the filling of the idiot sandwich between Chanyeol and the vacant seat to his left. 

He stepped into the classroom, waving hello to Jongdae who was currently engaged in yet another heated argument with Minseok— no surprise there— before allowing his focus to drift over towards his desk, and—

Oh. Much surprise there.

“Hey Kyungsoo!” Jongin called, waving enthusiastically from the seat next to Kyungsoo’s, striking the perfect balance between looking oh so cute and hot in his school uniform despite wearing the same uniform as everyone else. (Maybe Kyungsoo was a touch biased.) He blinked hard, once, and then again, and nope, Jongin was still there, waving him over. Kyungsoo tried to ignore the searing glares practically burning holes into his head, and the barely-concealed hisses of “Jongin is MINE, .”

He returned Jongin’s bright smile, albeit a little more muted, and settled down into the chair next to him. Surprisingly, he noted that Chanyeol hadn’t made a move to speak to him, the gangly boy completely absorbed in the bright screen of his smartphone— and Kyungsoo had no complaints whatsoever. Had he entered some sort of alternate reality? He couldn’t be certain.

“Are you free after school tomorrow? I have dance practice after school today, and I don’t want to make you wait,” Jongin said.

Kyungsoo cocked his head. “What for?”

Jongin let out a long-suffering sigh, his breath ruffling his fluffy bangs. “For our date, remember? I thought we agreed on this,” Jongin pouted. “Do you not want to go out with me anymore?”

“No, no, I do,” Kyungsoo rushed out, instinctively leaning over to clasp Jongin’s hands with his, before remembering his audience and flinching away. Jongin quickly linked their fingers together before he could do so, and Kyungsoo desperately tried to fight back his blush. “I thought that you might have changed your mind.” He wiggled his fingers in Jongin’s grasp, adding, “and I don’t think that the classroom is the best place for this.”

Jongin leaned closer, whispering, “is this because of my stalkers? I’m sorry… I heard that they wrote some pretty mean things about you.”

“I think that the more immediate issue is that literally half of the entire class is currently wishing that I would just drop dead right now. Including Ms. Park,” Kyungsoo deadpanned, and Jongin’s face wrinkled in disgust.

“We should probably find a better place to meet in the future,” Jongin begrudgingly agreed. “I don’t know how they found my favorite chicken restaurant...” Kyungsoo made a mental note to cook a chicken dish for Jongin sometime soon— before immediately dismissing that thought because there was simply no way that he would be able to live up to the gourmet dishes that Jongin had been raised on. But the other boy had proven that he wasn’t all just ridiculously expensive restaurants and imported caviar, if his love for (relatively) cheap fried chicken and his worn out backpack was any indication.

Throughout the class period, for once, Kyungsoo’s focus wasn’t completely on his classwork, and he was instead completely immersed in the easy conversation between himself and Jongin. It turned out that the two shared a distaste for coffee (or The Devil’s Juice, as Jongin claimed), a love for puppies (apparently Jongin owned three— his adoration for them was made clear by their photo on his lockscreen), and, surprisingly, a distaste for school dances. 

“But Baekhyun and Sehun are already trying to convince me to go,” Kyungsoo sighed, lowering his head to furiously fill in his worksheet before the lunch bell rang. Maybe Jongin could get away with slacking off, but he most definitely was not going to test his luck. “I would have thought that you liked school dances, though. Aren’t you on the dance team?”

Jongin looked up from his desk, propping his chin in his hands as he smirked. “How do you know that? Are you one of my stalkers too? Ow,” he whined when Kyungsoo’s penguin-shaped eraser hit the side of his head.

“My friend Yixing is the dance team co-captain, so I’ve been to your performances before,” Kyungsoo explained. “You clearly like dancing, so is it the headache-inducing terrible excuse for music that puts you off?”

“Oh, so you were watching me?” Okay, so maybe Kyungsoo had observed him, but it wasn’t like Jongin had to know that. “And… I’ve always felt like there was some insane kind of pressure to go with someone, and I’ve never really wanted to do that before. What am I supposed to do when a slow song comes on? Go drown myself in the bowl of fruit punch?”

“If you do that, you’d probably pass out from the alcohol concentration,” Kyungsoo offered. “Honestly, I was planning on dancing with my friends, but knowing them, they’ll have their own dates.”

Jongin’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “So you’re going, then?”

“Yeah, probably,” Kyungsoo murmured, scanning over his worksheet in hopes of catching any careless errors. “I have a ticket and an offer for a free makeover, and I don’t want to regret not going.”

“Trying to live the magical prom night experience that they write about in those cheesy romance novels?”

Kyungsoo chuckled. “I guess so.”

Jongin was silent for a brief moment before replying, “maybe I am, too.”

When the school bell rang, Kyungsoo immediately stood up to turn his worksheet in at the teacher’s desk, and he was definitely not imagining the pointed looks that seemed to pierce his soul at every turn. Quickly collecting the items on his desk, he turned to say goodbye to Jongin, only to see that the other boy had already put his backpack on and was lingering beside him… waiting for him?

“Come on, Kyungsoo, I can’t stand here forever,” Jongin teased, reaching out to help him put his pencil case into his backpack.

“You don’t have to stay here,” Kyungsoo said, zipping his backpack up and slinging it over his shoulder. “I’m sure that your friends are waiting for you.”

Jongin opted to ignore him completely, instead grasping Kyungsoo’s arm and guiding him outside of the classroom and down the hallway. “Jongin,” Kyungsoo gritted out, trying (in vain) to loosen the other’s boy grip, “do you want to keep fueling our relationship rumors?”

“If things go as I hope,” Jongin replied, “then the rumors will be true, anyways.” 

He gave Kyungsoo’s arm a tug as the two turned the corner into the cafeteria. Amongst the cacophony of noise, Kyungsoo spotted Sehun sitting at their usual lunch table, along with Baekhyun, and… two of Jongin’s friends, a Chinese transfer student known for his flower boy looks whose name Kyungsoo couldn’t quite remember, and Kim Junmyeon, the student council c0-president. (He shared the title with a Chinese-Canadian boy who was voted in solely for his height and good looks— Junmyeon was awarded the privilege of doing all of the work in his stead. Poor Junmyeon, indeed.)

Jongin began making his way over towards the strange collection of people, and Kyungsoo met Sehun’s gaze, the younger boy silently communicating “What the is going on, who are these people, I just want to eat my soggy microwaved lunch in peace.” Kyungsoo tried his best to send back a “I have no ing clue,” likely ending up looking freaked out and mildly distressed, in which case, mission: success.

Of course Kyungsoo’s captor(?) was unperturbed, pulling Kyungsoo to sit down next to him and greeting everyone at the table as if nothing was out of the norm. Other than Sehun, who was steadily fighting off the transfer student’s persistent questioning, his face suspiciously red, everyone seemed to be perfectly fine with the new arrangement, and Kyungsoo never was one to be exclusionary and pull the “you can’t sit with us” card.

“Are you at the wrong table?” Kyungsoo couldn’t help but question Jongin as he carefully unwrapped his bento box.

“Do you want us to move?” Jongin asked, looking all sorts of sad and pitiful. “I just thought that it would be fun to sit together during lunch. My friends kinda wanted to meet you.”

Suddenly, Junmyeon turned his attention towards the pair from where he was sitting across the table. “Hi Kyungsoo! I’m Junmyeon,” the boy introduced himself, extending his hand which Kyungsoo hesitantly shook. The Chinese transfer paused amidst his pestering-Sehun session to laugh, pointedly reminding Junmyeon that “you’re not at a business meeting, so no need for such a formal handshake.”

“I’m idiot Jongin’s friend, Luhan,” he said, his accent barely coloring the lilts of his voice, and just like Sehun, he looked as if he had just lept off of the pages of some Japanese high school manga.

“I think you mean Jongin’s idiot friend, Luhan,” Jongin “corrected” him, earning himself a glower.

“Keep that up,” Luhan threatened, his saccharine smile quickly turning devilish, “and I’ll tell Kyungsoo about allll of your deepest, darkest, secrets. Like the time that you saw that SHINee member and waved your flat — ouch!” He yelped, smarting from Junmyeon’s pinch to his side.

“Don’t go scaring Kyungsoo off already,” Junmyeon reprimanded. “I’m sorry that we more or less intruded on your lunch table, but Jongin was very insistent.”

“Don’t worry,” Baekhyun interjected, leaning his head on a very disgruntled Sehun’s shoulder, sporting a familiar obnoxious grin. “We don’t mind, right guys? Right,” he answered himself, much to his two friends’ annoyance. Baekhyun reached over to dig into Kyungsoo’s lunch box, who reflexively slapped at his hand in retaliation. Kyungsoo was known for having the most delicious lunches— today’s was kimchi spaghetti— and Baekhyun and Sehun had developed a habit of mooching off of him whenever and however they could. He had taken to bringing larger portions of food to account for the loss, because when Baekhyun wanted something, he got it, through whatever means necessary.

Sehun suddenly sat up from where he had been hunching over the lunch table, drawing himself to his full height with enviably perfect posture. “Even if I’m fine with it, you’re just putting an even larger target on Kyungsoo’s back, Kim Jongin,” he accused, facial features schooling themselves into his trademark Face. “If you’ve read the comments on last week’s stalker posts on your fan accounts then you know exactly what I’m talking about.”   

“Go report those kids to the school administration, teacher’s pet,” Luhan drawled at Junmyeon. Then, facing Kyungsoo, he smirked. “Popularity comes with a price, as does being Kim Jongin’s one and only love interest.”

Kyungsoo flustered while Jongin let out a pained groan, burying his face in his hands. “What,” the transfer student feigned innocence, batting his eyelashes, “did I say too much? All I did was state the obvious.”

Baekhyun cackled. “You know what? I think that we’ll all get along just fine.”

“As long as I get the first bite of kimchi spaghetti,” Sehun acquiesced, grumbling. “And Kim Jongin, I have my eyes on you.”

“Can’t you keep your eyes on me instead?” Luhan teased, winking greasily.

Sehun flushed, and oh, was this Luhan the same Chinese transfer student that he had been ogling for the past month? Kyungsoo watched Jongin half-laugh and half-choke on a bite of his egg salad sandwich, and without a second thought, he smacked the other boy’s back, inadvertently feeling the rippling of the muscles beneath his skin. Jongin inhaled a huge gulp of water before turning to Kyungsoo with an adorable smile on his face, and Kyungsoo thought that he didn’t mind this new lunch arrangement so much after all.

❅❆❅

From: Jongin

kyungsooooo I failed the calculus test

:’(

Why are you texting like that

like wat

Like that

idk kyungsoooo halp

i bet you got a good score but not all of us have good math brains like u…

:’(

:’(

:’(

i dont want my mom to find out

i should have studied instead of playing slither.io for five hours straight

I’m sorry Jongin I hope your mom’s not too mad...

Are you pouting?

Attached: IMG_012.png

yes :’(

this is all your fault u no

?

you distracted me on our last in class review day >:(

Well who was the one who sat next to me that day?

it was because of my traitorous contact lenses oKAY

but i’m glad that i got to sit next to you

on second thought that was totally worth failing the calculus exam

you’re forgiven soo

<3

Study date tomorrow? :)

Can’t have you failing calculus

What would my parents think?

yes!! after school?

i’ll wait for you outside your classroom

tell ur mom that her future son in law says hi

Okay what did you actually get on the calculus test

…

86

… you “failed” the test?

Tell your mom that her future son in law says that her son is a liar

meanie :’(

I’ll bring food, how’s kimchi fried rice

YES

with cheese!

you’re the best :D

- sent wednesday, 6:49PM-

Chat Room “bad bois 😤”: HIS HIGHNESS ✨👑🙇, 💕vivi’s dad💕, Kyungsoo

HIS HIGHNESS ✨👑🙇

guYS THE NEW EPISODE OF MY NEW FAVORITE KOREAN DRAMA CAME OUT

Kyungsoo

Please just don’t call me at four am to rant about it tonight

Sleep > Korean dramas

HIS HIGHNESS ✨👑🙇

Shut it kyungie you’re the one who cried over that tennis anime

And I’m already too invested there’s no backing out now

💕vivi’s dad💕

What drama?

Anything’s better than doing homework so I’m up for a cheesy rom com

Kyungsoo

We have the 3 mile run in PE tomorrow so I wouldn’t recommend binging too hard

I don’t want you guys to pass out or something

HIS HIGHNESS ✨👑🙇

hehe maybe a cute boy will bring me to the nurse and we’ll be together forever~

And @sehun I stream it on some pretty sketchy websites

Like I’m pretty sure that I have 10000000000 viruses on my laptop by now

💕vivi’s dad💕

lol if life actually was like a drama that would happen

I’m not willing to sacrifice my laptop to the gods o_o

gtg gonna go walk vivi

Kyungsoo

Vivi needs all of the walks that he can get

HIS HIGHNESS ✨👑🙇

^^^

💕vivi’s dad💕

HEY HES NOT FAT HES JUST FLUFFY

APOLOGIZE RN KSOO

Kyungsoo

Let me think about it

Nah

-sent 9:03PM-

From: Jongin

completely hypothetically, if someone were to ask you to formal… what would you say?

Depends on who it is

And if it’s through text… probably no

oh

so kyungsoo do you wanna drive to school with me tomorrow?

Sehun’s out sick cause he and Baekhyun had a eating competition and I think that the 12th cup of bubble tea was too much

Taro milk tea and tapioca pearls are everywhere in my living room

I didn’t think it was possible but my mom hates him more now

But yeah I’m free to go with you tomorrow

I see how it is i’m just your second choice >:(

Okay I’d love to go with you tomorrow

Just don’t go slamming on the brakes again and maybe we’ll make it in one piece

much better :D

and that was oNE tiME okay

i thought that i saw chicken on the road and I couldn’t hit him

his life > ours sorry

Whatever you say…

See you at 7:30

Good night, Jongin

- sent 10:02PM-