Word Count: ~1.5k

For the next week, Sehun tried his best to act as if Jongin just did not exists, only opening his mouth to exchange words when he absolutely had to and saying as little as possible. Being lab partners meant that he had to work with Jongin on chemistry, the subject he hated with the worst burning passion he could muster. Every answer he got wrong just made him angrier with Jongin for no reason. His responses to anything Jongin said were usually either grunts or one-word answers.

Dance class was absolutely horrid when Sehun found out what the next lesson was. The next lesson was pair dancing, which Hyukjae found very necessary. He also found it very necessary to pair the two best first year dancers together to demonstrate things in front of the class and be partners. The thing that irked Sehun the most, however, was that he was assigned the female’s part for every dance, so he was forced to follow Jongin’s lead. Jongin’s gloating really didn’t help either. Quite a few times, Sehun considered just not attending classes until the unit was over but each time, Yixing reminded him softly that this class was the reason why he was at the school and that he should go to classes regardless of other students. This guilt-tripped Sehun into going to class every day although half the time, he walked into the classroom with the worst grimace anyone had ever seen.

 Two weeks after the test and two weeks of avoiding Jongin interactions later, the class got their chemistry tests back. Jongin quickly turned his over, knowing that it was either a 100 or a 95. He didn’t really feel like sharing his grades with his neighbour, who was staring at his test with disgust. He had gotten an 82 on the test. Not a word came out of his mouth but his expression really said all that was on his mind. 1. He hated chemistry with a burning passion. 2. He hated the maths that went along with aforementioned chemistry. 3. He knew he didn’t know anything about chemistry and needed help in the course. 4. The teacher never taught so he would have to find someone to help him. 5. Yixing at chemistry almost as much as Sehun did and no one he knew was as good at chemistry as Jongin.

Sehun looked like he was about to cry, although from anger or shame, Jongin couldn’t quite tell. Jongin didn’t lean over to see what the grade was even though he was dying to know. Sehun’s hands were stiff as he held the test and debated whether he should just rip it in half.

“You realise that if you rip it in half, you won’t be able to do test corrections, right?” Jongin asked as politely as he could, although even in his own ears it still sounded like his arrogant self.

“Yes. I know that,” Sehun snapped before suddenly feeling guilty for some reason. Maybe it was Yixing’s voice echoing in his head saying that he should give Jongin a chance.

“L-listen,” he swallowed, setting down his test, score up. “So. Um. I need help with chemistry. Can you help me with my test corrections?”

Jongin just stared at him, stunned. “Sure. I’d be happy to.” Sehun looked down, not noticing the “I’d be happy to.”

“Wh-when are you free?”

“Basically any time after dinner I suppose.”

“I’ll meet you in your room at 19:00 then.”

--

Sehun showed up at Jongin’s room at 19:00, chemistry book, with loose pieces of notebook paper protruding from it, tucked under his arm. Jongin answered the door but did not drop his stony and slightly arrogant façade.

“So… Um… Hi. I’ve got my test and book,” he said timidly after Jongin invited him into his room.

“I’ll help you with whatever you need help with,” Jongin replied coolly. Had it been anyone else, one might jump to the conclusion that he was talking about more than just chemistry. Taemin, sitting on his bed reading a book, stifled a snicker that Sehun didn’t notice.

“Here, you can put your stuff on the desk,” Jongin said, seating Sehun politely before taking a seat on the other side of the desk. Sehun set the book down lightly before opening it to page 53, bookmarked by his less than stellar test.

“I don’t understand how I missed this question.” Sehun indicated question 3 of the short answers. “I’ve checked the maths and it should be correct,” he all but whined to Jongin, who quickly looked over the work and question upside down.

“Well, here, the question asks for grams per litre, but your units are still in pounds per cubic foot, all you have to do is finish the problem. The maths that you have here are still correct, you just forgot to convert the units,” he said as nicely as he could.

Sehun’s cheeks turned pink because he had made such a stupid mistake. As he worked, his tongue came out of his mouth at the corner as he concentrated. After about a minute of pencil skritching across paper, he came up with an answer.

“Is this the correct answer?” Sehun asked timidly.

“Yeah. Looks like it.”

“Thanks for helping me on this, all of it.” He looked away awkwardly and missed seeing colour come to Jongin’s face.

“No problem,” he replied with as much composure as he could muster. Taemin snickered again but Sehun just attributed it to a funny passage in his book as opposed to what he was really snickering about. Jongin knew that he was laughing at him for being so awkward.

“Can you help me with this one next? I just don’t understand the concept,” he said, blushing lightly. Jongin pushed the colour that came to his face back. Why did Sehun have to look so cute when he was embarrassed?

“S-sure.” Taemin laughed internally this time so as not to distract the studying couple. No one would believe that this book was that funny.

The two studied until about midnight, after Jongin had answered all of Sehun’s questions.

“You should become a teacher,” Shun mused out loud.

“Oh god no. I would have to teach snotty little brats all the time and grade papers and stuff.” Jongin grimaced but Sehun just giggled lightly.

“Well it is kind of late, so I should probably go back to my room. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” He let himself out and closed the door softly before returning to his own room.

Jongin kept his composure until he was absolutely sure that Sehun was gone before he started babbling to Taemin like a lovesick schoolgirl, who simply agreed by nodding and adding one-word comments every now and again.

“He actually thinks I’m smart. He’s so cute when he’s embarrassed or confused.” Jongin went on like this for longer than Taemin really cared or wanted to hear but he did so anyways. “He looks especially cute when he’s thinking an sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth.” Jongin was on his bed in pyjamas by this point and hugging his pillow, wishing that it were Sehun.

Taemin yawned. “Jongin, you should go to sleep. Stop talking about Sehun for a couple hours and give your mouth a rest. You don’t want to show up to Chemistry so sleep-deprived tomorrow that you screw up in class in front of your boyfriend now do you? That and interesting as this is, I need to sleep too you know.” He turned off the lamp before burrowing down into his covers and falling asleep. Jongin laid in his bed, thinking about Sehun until he eventually fell asleep.

Across the hallway, Sehun sneezed several times once he had returned to the room.

“Someone must be talking about you,” Yixing joked, knowing that Jongin probably was talking about his cute dongsaeng to Taemin.

“I doubt that, hyung,” Sehun replied, setting his book on the desk. Yixing only chuckled in reply.

“How was your study session, then?”

“Jongin is really smart and a good teacher,” Sehun admitted begrudgingly, face turning pink. Yixing chuckled to himself. He would be lying if he said he didn’t find Sehun at least a little cute. “It’s good that you found someone to help you with your Chemistry. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be that person though.” Sehun really wished that Yixing could be that person about something. Sehun just needed an excuse to study with him. If he were lucky enough, Yixing might even fall for him, if he swung that way, anyways.

“It’s fine. I’m sure that there is something that we can study together. Wait. I mean…” He internally face palmed himself for saying something so stupid. Yixing merely smiled, dimples showing, and Sehun gave up on trying to save the failure he had just committed. Yixing was already in his pyjamas, so Sehun changed quickly before clambering into his bed.

“Goodnight,” Yixing said before turning off the lamp. Sehun decided he definitely needed a way to get closer to Yixing and he would employ the same tactic that Jongin did. Sehun was, however, completely oblivious to Jongin’s advances. He sneezed again before he fell asleep as Jongin continued to babble just across the hallway.

A/N: So  the chapters are rather slow at the moment, but just wait and it will get better and faster and well I don't know, just know there are good things to come and I hope you can wait!