requested by anon

"Hyung, I don't want to!"

Daehyun pouts as he follows Himchan across the school grounds, kicking at the floor as he goes.

"You lost the coin toss," Himchan huffs, adjusting his backpack over his shoulder. "Plus, I really am busy today, and my mom demands video of all my sister's cross-country meets. Do you want me to die?"

"Maybe."

"Well, who the else is tolerant enough to put up with you and buy you all the food you eat?"

"...Jongup."

Himchan scowls, giving Daehyun a dirty look. "You are not allowed to speak to Jongup. Ever." He opens his backpack, rummages around a bit, and pulls out a slightly battered silver video camera.

Daehyun accepts the camera with a sigh, tucking it inside his own bag. There were so many other things he'd rather do that afternoon (like eat, or play video games with Youngjae... or eat), but if nothing else, he was a loyal friend, and he wouldn't let Himchan down.

(There wasn't anything in the friend clause about not complaining about it later, though.)

~*~*~*~*~

After school, Daehyun makes his way to the park, cursing as he stumbles over leaves and twigs. He'll never understand why people like to run for fun. It was bad enough that he had to do it in P.E. class.

It's only when he sets up by the start line, though, that he has no idea how the hell he's supposed to film the whole thing if they're going to be running the whole time.

With a heavy swallow, Daehyun realizes that he's going to have to run with them if he's going to film the whole thing (and he finally realizes the reason why Himchan's always pissed off and dripping with sweat after his sister's meets.)

"Daehyunnie!" a familiar voice calls, and he turns his head to see Himchan's sister waving at him.

"Hey Hana-noona," he calls, walking over to her. "Sorry Himchan-hyung couldn't be here."

"It's fine," she says, rolling her eyes. "Himchan's busy with his drumming or something."

Daehyun's only half-paying attention to her, though—his eyes locked on a girl standing just behind Himchan's sister, stretching her legs.

"Yah! Daehyun, what are you—ooooh," she giggles, patting him on the cheek. "Are you staring at her?"

"I—no! Of course not!" Daehyun's cheeks fire up and he swats her hand away. "I'm not."

But Hana's already beckoned the girl over, a devious grin on her lips. "Daehyun-ah, this is my friend."

She introduces him to you, and he mumbles something unintelligible and walks away.

Hana shrugs. "He's weird."

"...okay," you reply, clearing your throat and stretching your arms out. Weird boys (well, weird handsome boys) aside, you still have to run.

~*~*~*~*~

Daehyun doesn't think he's ever felt so ty in his entire life.

He's wheezing, doubled over, as he stumbles over to Hana, shoving the video camera ungainly into her hands before he collapses into the dirt, chest heaving.

"Are you okay?" you ask, peering at his prone form, but he only coughs in response.

"You're really pretty," he chokes out, then passes out.

Hana sighs, beckoning Himchan (who'd managed to make it to watch the end of the meet) and pointing to Daehyun on the floor.

"Bring him to the car."

"Noona," Himchan whines, but since the whole ordeal was partially his fault to start with, he lifts Daehyun onto his back, grumbling the whole time.

Daehyun comes to when Himchan plops him in the backseat, swearing hoarsely.

"What happened?" he asks, gratefully accepting the bottle of water Hana hands him and gulping down half the bottle in one go.

"You're out of shape and you passed out," Himchan chirps gleefully, already in the driver's seat of the car. "And now I'm going to take you home."

Daehyun sighs, but slumps against the cool glass of the window, his mind already far away.

A movement in his peripheral vision draws his gaze, and he shifts his head slightly, only to be met with an eyeful of your legs.

You throw a blanket at him.

And Daehyun decides to join cross-country.

~*~*~*~*~

It's common knowledge that the school's cross-country team is no-cut, but you're still surprised when the unathletic boy shows up to the next practice, his thin legs extremely out of place among the runners.

He jogs up to you and Hana immediately, smiling widely.

"Hi! I've got no idea what I'm doing here!" he says, waving.

Hana laughs. "Then why are you here?"

"That's a good question," he says, exchanging a long glance with Hana. She seems to understand what he's trying to say, but you can't interpret what their eyebrow-raising is supposed to mean.

"Hey," Hana says, turning to you, "do you mind taking Daehyun on a separate run? Since it's his first practice, he probably won't be able to keep up with the rest, and he shouldn't run through the park alone."

Daehyun looks positively mortified, and you give Hana a strange look, because it's never been team policy to do that, but you figure she has her reasons.

"Sure..."

"Perfect!" She beams, patting you on the back. "You can go get started, probably just once around the school first, and then if he's up to it, you can try some more around the neighborhood. See you later!"

Hana walks off to talk to the rest of the team, and Daehyun sighs, kicking at the floor morosely.

"Don't look so depressed," you joke, clapping your hand on his shoulder. "You'll have fun. That's why you joined, isn't it?"

"What?" he asks, startled. "Um, yeah. I love running. It's awesome!"

You give him a quizzical look, bending over to tighten your shoelaces. "Come on, let's start."

You start jogging at an easy pace, and Daehyun follows. Immediately, you can tell that he isn't used to the physical activity, his body heavy.

Not even three minutes into it, he asks for a break.

"Are you serious?" you ask, jogging backwards so you can give him a judgemental stare. "We just started."

"Well, I'm hungry," he groans, "and my sides burn!"

"Stop breathing through your mouth," you tell him, turning back around.

Somewhere around the five-minute mark, he starts talking to himself. You don't normally eavesdrop, but it's hard not to overhear him, especially since, well, he's just so loud.

Although you could do without the musings about your .

You stop running and turn around, your hands on your hips. Daehyun doesn't notice, and crashes right into you.

"Ma!" he hisses, "what was that for?"

"Why are you here, Daehyun?" you ask, raising an eyebrow. "Clearly, you hate running. And why are you talking about my ?"

"You heard that?!" he squaks, flailing his arms in the air.

"You're really loud."

"...yeah, I've been told that."

"Seriously, though, why are you here?"

"Because," he says, his cheeks turning red, "I wanted to get closer to you. Because I thought you were cute, and—AH! This sounded so much better in my head."

He starts laughing, and you do too, although you're not really sure why.

"I'm sorry," he chuckles. "I'll stop bothering you now."

"No, it's alright," you reply, breathing deeply to try to stop laughing. "We can be friends."

Daehyun lets out a loud whoop, and starts running and screaming "YES! SHE SAID YES," attracting attention from dozens of people driving by.

"HEY! I said we could be FRIENDS!" you shout, running after him. "THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING YET!"

er... this one is more daehyun-focused... but i hope it was okay lol