11. he smiles at you

"You'll be there, right?"

Soomin lifts her head from her textbook to a wide eyed Mingyu, who had his hand on top of her book, refusing to let her read any further. "Be where? Do you mind? I have to study for finals, Gyu." Soomin frowns, prying Mingyus fingers off of Queen Elizabeth's face. History was never one of her strong subjects.

"It's lunch time. Shouldn't you be eating instead of studying?" Mingyu makes a face, scoffing. He shakes his head, furrowing his eyebrows before he places down a paper bag along with an iced tea. Soomin reaches for it and opens it to see a patty inside and smiles greatfully at Mingyu but he stared at Soomin while she continues to move his hand. "You'll be there, right?" Mingyu repeats, a more determined expression on his face.

"Be where, Mingyu?"

"My soccer match," he replies, giving her a grin as he lifts his hand from her book and slides into the seat in front of her. Soomin knew that smile. It was one often of pride; one that often showed up when he talked of soccer. Soomin was never one to love soccer but since the world cup was currently happening, she saw his smile more often which she was more than happy with. Soomin squints, grimacing as she drew circles on her textbook. She had a low mark in history and needed to ace the final to get a decent mark - or to even pass the course. "Soomin-ah."

"But my history final," Soomin finally pouts, but Mingyu doesn't waver. Instead he pouts himself and closes the textbook, sliding it out of her reach. "Mingyu, I really have to study for that stupid final - "

"I'm sure you'll ace your final. You've studied enough for the past week. You know yesterday I asked what flavor ice cream you wanted and you said Goguryeo? You didn't even notice." Soomin laughed awkwardly, reaching outwards for her textbook again. Had she said that? She didn't remember. The only thing she remembered was Admiral Yi Sunshin was a leader in the Battle of Myeongnyang. "Here, let's make a deal." He blares a bright smile which Soomin knew too well - Mingyu only showed this smile when he wanted something to go his way. "You come to my soccer game, give me some good luck and I'll help you study for history till we cover the entire textbook."

"You hate history," Soomin pointed out, raising her eyebrow. She reaches into the paper bag and pulls out the beef patty which was getting a little flimsy because of the heat.

"Exactly!" He throws his hands in the air, the same smile not growing weak at all. So you get how valuable this deal is right now. I'm selling my soul over to history, my most hated subject just for you to come to my soccer game."

Soomin laughed, nodding slowly as she extended her hand for the textbook. "Arraso, I'll come to your game. But till then, I still want to study."

"Aish, what kind of girlfriend studies when her boyfriend is sitting right in front of her?" Mingyu grumbled, reluctantly giving her back her textbook.

Soomin smiles gratefully at him as he took the iced tea he had given her and takes a long sip. "Yah, what's the point of getting me a drink if you're going to drink it?" She raises an eyebrow, snatching it from him as he laughs, leaning back in his chair. "Why are you so carefree, anyways? Don't you have any finals?"

"Finished them yesterday. That's why today's game is especially important because it kicks off my summer." He rests his hands behind his head, giving her a cheesy grin. Soomin rolled her eyes but Mingyu's smiles were one of her very favourite. It was one of the things she appreciated about his presence. Whenever she was down, he still managed to make her laugh and made her smile just by smiling himself. But he also had many different kinds of smiles and she was discovering new ones every day. In fact, she was discovering something new about Mingyu every day. "Are you excited for summer, Soomin-ah?"

Mingyu's voice breaks her train of thought. "Yes, I'm very much anticipating it."

"Me too, want to know why?" Mingyu asks, taking the iced tea in his hands again. This time, Soomin lets him.

She's hesitant, but she asks anyways. "Why?"

"Because I get to spend it with you," he replies, batting his eyelashes way too often and offers another smile (this one was a flirty one; one of Soomin's favourites).

"Aish, you're too much," Soomin scoffs, pretending she's about to hit him but that just makes Mingyu laugh and Soomin thinks she could listen to that sound forever.

Soomin is a bit late to Mingyu's soccer game.

She had gotten caught up at her locker when her friend had stopped by to talk to her about a party next week and they were so deep into conversation, Soomin had lost track of time. Now, she hurriedly shoved her textbook into her back while running to the back field, hoping the game hadn't started yet. She knew that if she wasn't there, Mingyu would freak.

She runs out on the field, noticing that the different teams were still practicing and when she sat down on the first seat in the bleachers, she huffs, tired from all the running. That's the most I've ran all school year, she thinks to herself before placing her bag at the bottom of her feet.

"You made it! I thought you were going to bail," Mingyu calls as he runs up towards her. He gives her a cheeky grin and Soomin gives him a face.

"You'd kill me if we did. But hey, I was thinking earlier and what use is it for you to help me study when you're practically failing the class?" Soomin points out. And it was true - what use would it be? If she was going to get someone to help her, she might as well get someone who was passing the course, right? But it didn't matter to Soomin because she had agreed to the deal just to hang out with Mingyu.

Mingyu blinks. He opens his mouth to say something but the whistle is blown and he's called onto the field. Another smile. "Oops, I have to go now. I'll talk to you later, my good luck charm!" He calls, his voice practically like honey which made Soomin stick out her tongue in response.

She watches him jog onto the field, swinging his arms around another player (Seungcheol was his name, Soomin vaguely remembers) and Mingyu laughs at something he says before they approach their coach. Boys, Soomin thinks to herself, shaking her head. She'd never understand them.

Soon enough, the game comes to an end and Soomin is grinning so wide hurts but that's only because Mingyu scored two of the five goals they got. They had won five to two and Mingyu jogged over right when the whistle sounded, signaling the end of the game.

"Did you see me? I scored two! Two!" Mingyu exclaims as Soomin collects her bag and hands him a water bottle she had brought for him. "Told you you were my good luck charm," he assures, bumping shoulders as the two of them walked off the school property. Mingyu waves goodbye to his teammates as they leave, telling them he'd have to take a rain check on the celebratory ice cream.

"You should have gone," Soomin frowns. She hated that he had to cancel his own plans because of her.

"Nah, not really feeling ice cream right now. Besides, I have to help you with history, remember?" He gives her another smile but something about this smile was different from the others that Soomin had grown to understand.

The smile reached his eyes, bighting them, causing them to crinkle at the corners. His eyes twinkled and as his smile grew, his cheeks were pressed up to reveal his teeth, all perfect, white and straight. Was it possible for someone to be so perfect? Outside and inside? For a moment, Soomin is surprised but she clears instead.

"Aish, what's with that look?" Soomin asks, her cheeks flushing red.

Mingyu just laughs and shakes his head, grabbing her text book from her bag. "Don't change the subject. What year did South Korea and the USSR establish diplomatic relations?"

"Yah, Mingyu!" Soomin begins to chase him across the parking lot and her chest feels light even though she had an exam the next day. "I bet you don't even know the answer!"

"Wrong. It's 1990. Wow, you studied this hard to get a simple question wrong?" He teases, running backwards.

"Yah, Mingyu!"

a/n: WOW AN UPDATE!!!!! im so frickin sorry that its been half a decade since the last update but with school, work and my social life going on, i had way too much on my plate! but now that it's summer, im hoping to make a comeback so please anticipate! i've also started a livejournal where i'll be writing more exo biased fics so you can also check that out! here is my tumblr and twitter! see you soon :---)