Word Count: ~1.5k

Jongin quirked an eyebrow at Sehun when the boy walked into chemistry class with a brace on his ankle. In response, Sehun pulled a pinched face that was sour even by his standards.

“I sprained it...” he grumbled before getting his books out. “I won’t be able to dance for a couple of weeks,” he added sourly. Jongin replied with a disappointed look. Sehun’s injury also meant that Jongin would see less of Sehun than he would like and he had absolutely no excuses to make up for lost time. The next test would not be for a week, but after that, finals were just around the corner. And from there would come winter break. Mayhaps then Jongin could get closer to Sehun.

“What’s wrong? You’re looking strange,” Sehun said, snapping Jongin out of his thoughts. “Is there something wrong?”

“It’s just that I’m, we’re going to miss you at dance practice,” Jongin said quickly. Sehun wasn’t sure whether he was flattered or creeped out. Jongin had really mellowed out since that first day when Sehun thought that he was a pompous .

Sehun knew that Yixing would want him to invite Jongin to hang out with them more often because it would be the nice thing to do so against Sehun’s better judgement, he said to the other boy, “You can always come and meet us by the fountain before dinner. That’s where we usually hang out before dinner.” He turned a little pink and looked away, not catching Jongin’s look of surprise.

“Oh, uhm. Sure, thanks.” He smiled an uncharacteristically sheepish and awkward smile that Sehun didn’t notice. He simply nodded absently as the class started. It was something about heat and calorimetry but Sehun didn’t get it. He’d have to ask Jongin about it later. Jongin was surprisingly nice about helping him study, even if he seemed like a jerk the rest of the time.

At the end of class, Sehun said, “You can just follow Yixing or something after dance class.”

--

After class, Sehun told Jongin about his missing classes. “So I sprained my ankle so I won’t be coming to dance classes for about a week. I’ll be attending the first block class but I guess we won’t see one another until dinner.”

Well at least I’ll see you at dinner, Jongin thought silently. “Yeah. I’ll see you at dinner then,” he replied. He smiled a genuine smile for once. In the time that Sehun had been attending Kairin Academy, he didn’t think that he had seen anything other than Jongin’s cocky smirk. Sehun felt the need to return the favour so he smiled in return. Jongin nearly fainted from the cuteness but he kept up his usual façade and no one was the wiser. He was good at separating his emotional self from the persona he presented to the general public, although it was just a little more difficult when he was around Sehun.

--

Chanyeol laughed when Sehun told him that he had invited Jongin to hang out with them before dinner. In the middle of his laughing fit, his voice cracked and his next words sounded really off because his voice had dropped two octaves. “I think it’s cute that you two are getting to like one another better,” he said in the lowest voice Sehun had ever heard. Chanyeol cleared his throat and it was back to that high, pre-pubescent tone. For some reason, Chanyeol had begun working to get Sehun and Jongin closer. He and Yixing were being rather troublesome in that regard.

“Jongin and I are not getting along,” Sehun grumbled. “He’s still irritating. I was just thinking of what Yixing would do. He seems to like that brat.”

“Sehun I know that you’re trying to be cool and everything, but at least admit that you’re warming up to the guy.”

“What does it even matter?”

“Well, you’d be admitting that you don’t totally hate this guy and that he’s actually an okay person and that you were wrong about your first impression of him,” Chanyeol replied simply. Chanyeol was always surprisingly accurate about these things and it almost bothered Sehun. Sehun would have hated the boy if he didn’t speak with such sincerity. Chanyeol spoke from his heart and Sehun couldn’t help but at least admire the honesty.

Now if it were Jongdae instead, he would get a nice slap or some other sort of abuse. Jongdae knew how much Jongin annoyed Sehun and yet he still talked about Sehun having feelings for the guy exactly because it annoyed him.

Sehun grumbled something inaudible in reply. “I’m just glad that you’re coming to terms with things and that you two are getting along.” Chanyeol smiled his wide grin and Sehun pursed his lips.

--

Jongdae practically laughed his off when he heard Sehun say that he had invited Jongin to hang out with them before dinner. “I ship it,” he said with his eyes shrunken into devious crescents. “You two will definitely end up together and I will take many pictures at your wedding.”

“Jongdae, you’re a real jerk. I don’t think that he feels that way about me and I certainly don’t feel that way about him.”

“Hehehe. He definitely feels something for you. Why else would he volunteer to help you with your chemistry? Because he wants you two to have chemistry.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Jongdae. Do you just have fluff upstairs? Puns are the lowest form of humour.”

“I think that my puns are quite humorous!” Jongdae said defensively. “And so does Joonmyun hyung.”

“Joonmyun hyung is just nice,” Sehun retorted. “I don’t think he’s capable of saying anything rude even to a little troll like you.”

“That or he’s realised what you think of him,” Baekhyun added. “He would want to let out down gently because he isn’t the type to just break hearts.”

“Are you finding these history classes to be especially boring that you won’t even pay attention when I ask a direct question? Is your topic of conversation really so important? Do you feel like sharing?” the annoyed history teacher asked.

“Uhm, no? It’s all quite interesting,” Baekhyun replied, turning red.

“Then what did I just say?”

“You said that the Mesopotamians built the first pyramids and they were the first capable civilisation,” Jongdae said boredly. “I would like to contend that.”

“Oh really now?” The history teacher was always annoyed with Jongdae. Baekhyun threw him a quick look of gratitude and he replied with a shrug. He enjoyed butting heads with the teacher whenever possible. Jongdae’s historical knowledge was good enough that the teacher could not fail him despite the fact that he always contradicted him. His essays were well admittedly well argued, as much as the teacher would hate to admit it.

--

When Baekhyun and Sehun told Kyungsoo about Jongin hanging out with them before dinner, he didn’t seem as surprised as any of the rest of them had been as of yet. “That sounds nice. He looks like a nice guy.”

“You’re not surprised that I invited the guy I hate the most at this school to hang out with us?”

“Not particularly, no. Should I?” he replied, more surprise in this question.

“Well yeah. I hate the guy,” Sehun replied.

“I don’t think you hate him as much as you think you do,” Kyungsoo said simply.

“I’m pretty sure I know how I feel about him.”

“Whatever you say,” Kyungsoo hummed.

“That’s supposed to be a square root,” Baekhyun said, looking over Kyungsoo’s shoulder. He was getting better at maths but there was still much improvement left to be had. Kyungsoo’s ears turned pink and Sehun was wondering whether they knew how they felt about one another yet.

--

Lunch came and went uneventfully. Jongin was eating with Taemin while Sehun ate with his friends.

“You should really stop staring at him. He might get the wrong idea,” Jongdae said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and annoyingly.

“I’m not staring!” Sehun replied defensively. It seemed that he was always on the defensive in conversations with Jongdae even when it wasn’t banter.

“That’s what you think, but you’ve been sneaking glances practically every five seconds all lunch long.”

“I have not!”

“You kind of have,” Chanyeol said unhelpfully.

“And here I thought that you were on my side,” Sehun replied, making a face like a grumpy cat.

“We are on your side,” Baekhyun said.

“More like you’re trying to marry me off.”

“We’re not trying to force you two together, we’re just pointing out little things that we’ve noticed between you two,” Kyungsoo said.

“Well you’re just assuming erroneously,” Sehun replied with a huff. He looked at the clock and felt relieved that it was time for them to go to afternoon classes. He would have to endure chorus for the first block, but he wouldn’t have to deal with dance for the second and he wouldn’t have to deal with Jongin and his friends until after that, giving him time to think.

A/N: My writing style has probably changed a lot since the prior chapter but I hope you still enjoy reading this! Thank you for reading, upvoting, subscribing, etc.