“Jongin!”

Jongin, who is speeding up a nearby ramp, looks up at the mention of his name. He pauses for a second at the top of the half pipe and squints down to see Sehun standing at the edge of the pool, bent over and panting. He drifts back down the ramp lazily, and glides around until he starts to lose momentum, eventually slowing to a stop in front of Sehun.

“What’s up?” Jongin mumbles distractedly, attempting to sweep his hands across his wind-strewn strands of blonde hair until he realizes he’s wearing his DC snapback. He continues to run his hands up and down his head though, and he plays with his board using his foot, tilting it up and down. He’s never been one to sit still.

“Yah, look at me, I just ran here to tell you something that is about ten times more important than your dumb hair! Which looks fine by the way.”

Jongin rolls his eyes, but shifts his gaze up anyways, only to see Sehun staring at him with wide, excited eyes.

“My dad got the tickets. It’s official, LA here we come!” Sehun breathlessly announces, hands animatedly waving at his sides and a blinding smile plastered across his normally calm face.

Sehun’s smile is contagious, and Jongin’s grinning too when suddenly he tackles his best friend, his board clattering to the ground noisily.

“ yes! Oh Sehun, today is a beautiful day.” Jongin can’t contain the excitement in his voice. His body can’t contain the excitement either, judging by the way he’s starting to shake like an excited puppy.

“Perfect way to end the school year right? And just think of all the places we can skate. I’m starting to tear up just thinking about it. Oh man, I’m going to need a new deck before then.” Sehun sighs dreamily, already making a mental list of things he needs to pack. Even though it’s only March and they aren’t leaving until June.

Jongin nods vigorously, still hanging off Sehun. “We have a whole bunch of to do before then.”
“I need to get new shoes.” Sehun complains, frowning at the rubber that was starting to peel off the side of his worn Vans.

“I need to get a new hat.” Jongin mutters in agreement, though Sehun snorts because Jongin already has an entire half of his closet dedicated to hats, how many more does he need?

“I need to get new clothes.”

“I need to get a job.” They both groan at this one.

“I need to get a tan.” (Jongin gives Sehun a strange look when he says that. “What, I’m too pale for the Californian babes!”)

“Anyways...I need to…”

--

“...to pass Home Ecc, I just have to pass mother effing Home Ecc.” Jongin angrily announces as he sits down at the lunch table, and in the process, slamming his lunch tray down hard enough so that some of his applesauce actually manages to splatter Lu Han, who is sitting at the end of the table.

Baekhyun’s the first to respond, and with obnoxious cackling no less. “You never cease to amaze me Kim Jongin; It takes talent to fail Home Ecc.”

Chanyeol looks amused, Suho is, as per usual, texting one of his boy toys, and Luhan is shaking his head, partly because he is judging the hell out of Jongin, but mostly because he is still trying to get the applesauce out of his shirt. Sehun is the only one who actually looks somewhat alarmed.

Sehun wheezes, leaning across the table so he can grab at Jongin’s shirt. “Trip- The trip, can you still go on the trip?!”

All eyes turn to Jongin, and Jongin bangs his head on the table (thank god Sehun had had the sense to move Jongin’s lunch, otherwise, Jongin would have a face full of mac and cheese right now)

“No, that’s why I need to pass Home Ecc you nitwits! Not only did my mom say I couldn’t go on the trip….but I would also have to go to ...” Jongin pauses before whispering the words, “Summer School.”

Everyone at the table should understand his pain, considering they had all met in summer school in the first place.

And Chanyeol actually does look a bit sorry for him. “Ouch, that blows.”

Baekhyun and the others nod in agreement. “While you're knitting sweaters and baking cupcakes we’ll be grinding on rails and hitting on hot girls.” (“Or guys,” Suho adds with a smirk.)

“Then again, you did voluntarily sign up for the class. For which reason, I will never understand, considering only girls take that class, and well, you don’t really like girls. At all.” Jongin glares at Chanyeol (he should have known better than to expect sympathy from Park Chanyeol, or any of his friends for that matter), and Chanyeol just grins.

“I thought it would be an easy A,” Jongin continues to whine,“I forgot that I have no attention span, I can barely use a microwave, and my mom still does everything for me. ”

“That’s embarrassing.” Sehun has stopped mopping by now and is concentrated more on the fact that his best friend still needs mommy to take care of his every need.

“Maybe this class will be good for you.” Baekhyun suggests, though Jongin’s not sure if he’s being sarcastic or not. Jongin gives him a pointed look; everyone else snickers because let’s face it, Jongin is a lost cause. Baekhyun eventually concedes cheekily, “Nah, probably not.”

Jongin just shoves his face into the table again.

--

Jongin unfortunately, has to stay after school the following day. At the end of class that day, his Home Ecc teacher had stopped him as he was halfway out the door and said,‘Mr. Kim I think we need to have a little chat after school today,’ which roughly translated to Jongin as ‘You’re failing my class, time for me to lecture your sorry , because I can’. So here he is, skipping time at the skate park with the guys to go talk with the last person on earth he wants to get trapped in a confined space with about how he has the domestic skills of a toddler.

But just cause he has to do it, doesn’t mean he won’t be a about it; He makes sure to show up ten minutes late and he walks as slowly as possible. Jongin sluggishly drags his feet along the tiled floors, eyes trained on his phone. He stops outside the door to Mr. Choi’s-- his Home Ecc teacher-- classroom, and though he’s pretty sure he should stay right where he is, because the door is only partially opened, he opens it anyways, impatient and unwilling to wait outside. He plops down onto one of the nearby desks and scrolls through his facebook feed, until eventually he hears the door squeak open and a warm chocolate scent tickles his nose. He looks up, and sure enough, there is a boy carefully shuffling in with the most beautiful, perfectly iced, circular cake Jongin has ever laid eyes on. It’s whipped topping is swirled in smooth white waves, lightly dusted with a chocolate powder that has Jongin practically drooling in his seat. Jongin thinks that it could pass for professionally made if the male holding it wanted to.

Upon this thought, Jongin eyes wander from the boy’s plaid sweater vest (Jongin’s not surprised to be honest. There’s got to be something quirky about someone who can bake that well), all the way up to where his neck ends and the curve of his jaw begins. Jongin freezes. Standing in front of him is a tiny brunette with an intriguing complexion; He has curved brown eyes that are relatively large for his face, but they suit him well. His lips are shapely, and a distracting shade of pink that has Jongin trying to flip his hair, something he had picked up back when he first started skateboarding at the end of elementary school. Now he only does it when he is nervous. Despite the boy’s questionable fashion choices (sweater vest and dress shoe kind of guys aren’t exactly Jongin’s type but this boy can be an exception), his small frame has Jongin wanting to pull him into a big hug but thankfully Jongin manages to restrain himself from doing so.

Jongin swallows, but looks back down at the cake, which the other boy is now attempting to place on a glass cake stand.

After staring longingly at the cake for a few more seconds, Jongin sighs, remorsefully pulling his phone back out and opening twitter.

If only someone could help Jongin make a couple of cakes like that for Home Ecc, then he would be set for the rest of the semester (no both semesters!) and L.A. would be but a simple plane ride away-

Thankfully, genius seems to hit Jongin in the most critical of times, such as now.

“Y-You! Will you,” Jongin shoots up abruptly from where he’s sitting and excitedly lunges over to where the other is standing, breathlessly asking, “Will you help me!?”

The other boy, who is so concentrated on not dropping the cake, obviously hadn’t noticed Jongin sitting there before, judging by the startled expression that overtakes his face (Jongin dies at the way his brows scrunch together in confusion. It’s too precious.)

“Help you with …?” the other replies cautiously, adjusting the cake so that he has somewhere to look as he talks.

“Tutor me in Home Ecc!” Jongin says, surprised at his own burst of confidence, especially since he had been so nervous before.

“Uhm…” Kyungsoo hesitates, still playing with the cake and avoiding Jongin’s burning stare.

“Please, I’ll owe you one later,” Jongin pleads, clasping his hands together in front of him in a silent sort of prayer that Kyungsoo will say yes.

Kyungsoo appears to be thinking it over, biting his lip and rhythmically tapping his fingers against the counter top, and at this point Jongin’s sure he’s going to say no when finally, Kyungsoo looks up at him, and with a small shrug, casually says, “Sure. I’ll do it.”

Jongin breaks into a radiant smile and, feeling relief wash over him, has to stop himself from impulsively hugging the boy. Again.

“Thank you so much…uh…what was your name again?” Jongin inquires sheepishly.

"Kyungsoo. We're in the same Home Ecc class."

"Oh, right. I know."

Jongin mentally facepalms at his awkwardness. Considering the fact that there are literally five guys out of their entire class of thirty-three, he probably should have known Kyungsoo was in his class. Hopefully, Kyungsoo isn't offended at the fact that Jongin would rather scroll this his twitter feed than pay attention to anything or anyone in his Home Ecc class: which could also, possibly, be another reason why he is failing.

After a moment of awkward silence lapses, Kyungsoo breaks it with an airy laugh and says, " It's ok, I know how you are in class. Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone knows with the way Mr. Choi glares at you all hour.

"It's that obvious?" Jongin mumbles, the tips of ears coloring red in embarrassment.

"Yea, pretty much." Kyungsoo offers him a small smile that has Jongin’s heart skipping a beat.

“Sorry.”

“S’ok. Anyways, just let me know tomorrow in class when you want to start.”

“Ok, thanks-”

Jongin stops and they both turn around when they hear someone clearing their voice from behind them. Of course, it’s none other than Mr. Choi standing there with his arms crossed and foot twitching impatiently.

“Are you boys quite finished here?”

“Oh, right. Good-bye Mr. Choi. Bye Jongin.” Kyungsoo moves away from the cake and starts retreating toward the door, leaving Jongin to be 100% alone with Mr. Choi, a cake he can’t eat, and 30 minutes of torture.

Once Mr. Choi sits downs on his wheely chair and props his feet up on his desk, he begins, “Now, what was I saying to you this afternoon? Oh right. The reason you are failing my class is quite simple…”

Jongin groans, settling into the chair, attempting to tune Mr. Choi’s droning out, all the while trying to subtly scroll through instagram under his desk.

--

Jongin’s not sure what he had expected to do the first time Kyungsoo came over to his house, but he certainly hadn’t expected the elder to show up with four yards of rubber duck printed fleece and a sewing kit. Jongin continues to gape at Kyungsoo, holding the door open so that the cold rainy air rushes in, but he doesn’t move to let his guest in. Instead he chooses to stare at Kyungsoo’s pretty eyes (yes, he liked to use that word to describe the wonders that were Do Kyungsoo’s eyes).

“Are you just going to gape at me or are you going to let me in? It’s kind of wet out here.” Kyungsoo complains, shifting from foot to foot as the rain starts to pick up again for what seems like the millionth time that rainy March day.

“Oh, sorry sorry,” Jongin mumbles, and he moves aside and motions for his guest to come in. Kyungsoo squeaks into the house, removing his loafers by the door and then turning to Jongin expectantly.

Jongin stares at Kyungsoo, admiring the way his bangs hang down in a way that frames his face in the most perfect way, before he realizes Kyungsoo is still waiting for him to do something. Jongin flips his hair and points towards in some direction down the hall.

“Sorry, uh here. Let’s go to the kitchen.”

“Ok.” Kyungsoo trails after Jongin, dropping the fleece and sewing kit on the dining table when they finally arrive in the kitchen.

Jongin should probably be a good host and offer Kyungsoo something to drink or eat, but he’s too busy staring at Kyungsoo’s lips, which really are such a pretty shade of pink-

Kyungsoo’s staring at Jongin again, before pacing around restlessly as he waits for Jongin to do something, anything.

Jongin breaks out of his haze and flips his hair again, apologizing once more, “Sorry, sorry. Uh. Sit down. I’ll get drinks.”

“Ok.”

Jongin comes back with water bottles and snacks a few minutes later, and Kyungsoo is already laying the fleece out on the dinner table.

”Uhm. What are we doing with that??” Jongin asks somewhat nervously, as he sets a box of animal crackers down on the other of the table, then taking a seat next to Kyungsoo.

“We are--you ready for this-- going to be sewing pillows with it!” Kyungsoo says enthusiastically, even adding little spirit fingers to and make it seem more exciting.

“Sewing. As in using sharp, pointed objects to get that,” Jongin clarifies dumbly, pointing accusingly at the innocent yellow and orange ducks splayed across the expanse of blue fleece, as if it’s their fault he’s stuck doing this in the first place, then continuing stupidly, “into a pillow shape?”

“Not just any pillow, but the really spiffy U shaped ones that support your neck!” Kyungsoo adds, with too much cheer for Jongin’s taste.

Jongin promptly bursts into laughter a second later. “You expect me to sew? And rubber duckies? Really?”

Kyungsoo pouts (the way his lips do that shouldn’t be legal, Jongin concludes), somewhat offended at the younger’s words. “I thought they were cute. And yes, we are making pillows, because Mr. Choi said that’s what our next project was going to be after this unit. We’re just getting practice ahead of time ‘cause you’ll need it.”

“Wait, we’re sewing in class!?” Jongin exclaims, ignoring Kyungsoo’s blatant insult. He really needs to start paying attention in class.

Kyungsoo seems amused at Jongin’s onset of fear. “Yes, now shut up and grab a thimble and some thread.”

Jongin begrudgingly does so. Kyungsoo lays out the fleece, and after Kyungsoo struggles to show Jongin how to pin the stupid thing, they struggle through cutting out the U shaped outline of the pillow. When they are done, they are left with two raggedly cut halves that look as if they had been cut out by kindergartners.

“Aren’t you supposed to be good at this stuff?” Jongin asks jokingly, tone light, but Kyungsoo seems to take it personally.

“I-i am! It’s not my fault your scissors are janky,” Kyungsoo snaps, harshly slamming the scissors on the table.

Jongin’s eyes round in surprise at Kyungsoo’s sudden mood swing. “Whoa, I was just joking. Don’t hurt yourself or anything. I’m sorry,” he finishes weakly, pushing the scissors in the opposite direction, away from Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo sighs, and starts rifling through the the round plastic containers that are inside his sewing kit. “You’ve said sorry about four times since I got here. It’s- don’t worry about it. I should be the one who should be sorry for overreacting.” Kyungsoo does look apologetic, and Jongin feels his heart speed up a little at Kyungsoo’s wide, sincere eyes boring right into his own brown ones, but with an intensity that has Jongin swallowing.

“It’s ok,” Jongin mutters, cheeks heating up and he flips his hair to the side as embarrassment suddenly washes over him. (Why does Kyungsoo make him feel so nervous?)

The faint smile Kyungsoo gives Jongin doesn't help his heart much either.

“Alright, enough dilly dally, let’s sew!”

Three messy knots, two bloody pinpricks and 12 stitches down the edge of his pillow, Jongin abruptly stands up.

Kyungsoo doesn’t break from his task, continuing to sew as he asks Jongin, “What’s up?”

Jongin taps his foot as he replies anxiously, “Music, I need music. I can’t work in this silence. I hate silence.”

Jongin disappears and reappears with an ipod dock a few moments later, and after plugging it in, upbeat music fills the room, eradicating the silence. Kyungsoo hums approvingly at the song choice, and diligently continues about his sewing.

Jongin continues to sew (well, push the needle in and out…and hoping something happens) but as a new song--one that has a better beat—comes on, he can feel the party thrumming in him; he starts to move his arms. He rolls his shoulders, and then he’s tapping his foot, and before long he’s dancing in his seat. A little hop, from leg to leg, a chest pop and he drops the fleece and needle to move his arms along too. He can feel the music bursting in his veins, a sudden amount of pent up energy coming from no where. Even Kyungsoo is starting to bob his head along to the song, dancing along to the song in his seat as well.

“Jongin, stop dancing around and go back to sewing,” Kyungsoo chastises, but it’s no use. Jongin is in his own little world. He’ll sew a stitch; drop the needle to dance, stitch and dance, stitch and dance (not entirely in that order, because he’s starting to forget the ‘stitch’ part).

“Jongin I told you stop dancing! Seriously, we’re never going to finish anything if you keep- ”

Jongin continues to ignore him, jumping out of his chair and busting a move right there.

Kyungsoo looks peeved, unhappy that he is being ignored. Jongin continues to dance, motioning with his hands for Kyungsoo to join him. Kyungsoo vigorously shakes his head back and forth. “No way. I don’t know how to dance.”

“That’s not true. Everybody can dance. It’s not hard. You just…” Jongin trails off, pirouetting on the spot and then looking up at Kyungsoo with a mischievous grin, “do that.”

Kyungsoo sniffs haughtily. “Not all of us are ballerinas.”

“Come on, hyung. Dance with me.” Jongin reaches forward and grabs Kyungsoo’s wrists. He starts moving them in time to the music and then steps backwards and forwards, forcing Kyungsoo to rock back and forth. Kyungsoo continues to stand there, unmoving, but as Jongin continues to dance, smiling at him encouragingly, Kyungsoo begins to break.

Kyungsoo’s mouth starts to lilt into a small smile, amusement glinting in his eyes. Jongin’s dancing is inexplicably magnetic, the beat magnified by the waves of rhythm rolling through Jongin’s body—he’s actually pretty good at it, Kyungsoo notes—and it draws Kyungsoo in too. Eventually Kyungsoo can’t help it—he’s moving along to the song, awkwardly shuffling his hands and feet. Jongin catches sight of Kyungsoo’s awkward little dancing and he lets out a bright, cheeky laugh, grinning evening wider when he and Kyungsoo lock eyes. Kyungsoo blushes but he laughs too. They dance until they are both breathless and sweaty and it’s surprising really, because Jongin would have never really pegged Kyungsoo to be a pop-it-lock-it-drop-it kind of guy (come on, sweater vests) but he sure proved Jongin wrong.

“Well, we didn’t really sew anything,” Kyungsoo says breathlessly, holding up his pillow, which is still just two pieces of fleece, pinned together. He had barely managed to stitch one side, and what little he did do was starting to come undone.

“It’s ok, we can do it some other time.” Jongin pulls the hem of his shirt to his face to wipe the sweat that’s starting to drip down his cheek and Kyungsoo looks at him distastefully.

“Ew. That’s disgusting.” Kyungsoo pointedly looks down at the sweat stain on Jongin’s shirt.

“Oh you mean this?” Jongin shoves the sweaty end in Kyungsoo’s face, and Kyungsoo, having no desire to be touched by Jongin’s bodily fluids, suddenly backs into the table, causing the glass of iced tea that was resting at the edge of the mat (the one Kyungsoo had told Jongin to move at least 3 times) to spill all over the back of Kyungsoo’s sweater, soaking all the way through to the dress shirt he’s wearing underneath the sweater too.

Jongin’s face drops almost as quickly as his stomach does. He feels terrible, never having intended any harm to Kyungsoo’s nicely pressed sweater vest, no matter how badly he had originally wanted to cut it off Kyungsoo’s body and put him in something less outlandish (cute actually. Something less cute that didn’t make Jongin want to kidnap Kyungsoo and keep him in his closet forever.) He rushes over to pick the glass up and slides over to the cabinet to get some napkins to rub the tea out of Kyungsoo’s clothes.

“I’m so sorry. I was just being annoying, I didn’t mean to do that- ”

Kyungsoo puts a hand on Jongin’s shoulder, causing the taller to still. Kyungsoo smiles slightly, taking the wipe from Jongin to continue wiping it himself. “It’s ok…”

Jongin seems to untense upon seeing that Kyungsoo isn’t totally pissed with him.

“I already knew you were annoying.”

“Hey!” Jongin gapes, and Kyungsoo laughs, patting Jongin on the head.

“Just kidding. Maybe.”

“Whatever. I was going to offer you something to wear but since I’m annoying apparently I don’t think I will.” Jongin huffs childishly and then trots off to sit on one of the bar stools by the other kitchen counter.

“Aww. I’m sorry. You’re not annoying. You’re actually a lot of fun to hang with. You have a lot of, uh, energy,” Kyungsoo says sincerely, cheeks heating up. He looks at his argyle socks to avoid Jongin’s gaze.

Jongin’s own cheeks flush a similar shade of pink and he flips his hair.

“That’s probably cause I didn’t take my Ritalin today. But thanks,” Jongin mumbles, running his hands through his sweaty hair. “but uh, do you want to borrow something of mine and we can put your stuff in the wash?”

“Ok. Sounds good.”

Jongin leads Kyungsoo upstairs to where his room is. It’s a pig stye, just as Kyungsoo predicted it would be. He is, however, surprised, at the number of trophies that line both walls of his room. Some of them are big and brass, others are small and shiny. Kyungsoo glances at the plaques at the bottom and sees that some are for dance, and some of the others are for skate boarding. That certainly explained Jongin’s dancing earlier.

“You skate board?” Kyungsoo motions at a nearby trophy, one that has a large golden skateboard on top.

“You couldn’t tell by my clothes? The snapbacks?.”

“Well I kind of guessed, but you should never assume anything based off of what someone wears. Are you any good?”

“Uh. I’m ok.” Jongin shrugs, splaying himself across his bed, further messing up the already wrinkled covers.

“ ‘Ok’ he says. Look how many trophies you have! ‘Ok’ my . ”

Jongin makes a noise of disagreement and gets off the bed, walking into his closet to grab something for Kyungsoo to wear, while Kyungsoo continues to read the plaques.

When Jongin comes out of the closet a few minutes later with a pair of shorts and a baggy tshirt in his hands, Kyungsoo is eagerly at his heels, waiting to ask Jongin something.

“Is something wrong…?” Jongin asks in surprise, curious as to why Kyungsoo was looking at him with big, hopeful eyes.

“I already saw you dance. Now I need to see you skateboard. Will you teach me how to skateboard?” Kyungsoo persuades, taking the clothes that Jongin has outstretched toward him. Jongin remains silent, but only because he can’t believe that someone like Kyungsoo actually wants to see him skateboard; and to actually try and teach Kyungsoo? It’s such a strange thought…

“Here, you can answer me when I get done changing. Be right back.” Kyungsoo scampers off to the bathroom before Jongin has the chance to say anything.

Jongin waits for Kyungsoo to come back, so that he can tell him, ‘Of course I’ll teach you!’ but the words die in his mouth when Kyungsoo walks into the room. Jongin’s shirt is about a size too big on him, so it hangs off his shoulders and down his torso in a way that makes him appear even smaller than he normally does, and the paint splattered cityscape graphic that adorns the front of it is looks so far removed from something Kyungsoo would wear that Jongin has to hold back a laugh. Jongin’s shorts, which are about knee length on himself, run past Kyungsoo’s, ending about halfway down his shin. Jongin thinks something is missing, before he realizes what it is and goes into the closet to get it. He comes back with a snapback a second later, and he places it on Kyungsoo’s head with the rim facing back. Then he promptly bursts into laughter at the sight before him.

“Hey, don’t laugh at me. Today, I’m going to be a skater boy too!” Kyungsoo tries to turn the snapback around so that it faces Jongin, but instead he pulls it off his head and sends his once neatly flattened hair messily flipping in all directions. Jongin’s dying of laughter now; Kyungsoo is too much for his heart to handle.

After Jongin finally calms down and wipes away some of the tears that were starting to build in his eyes, he says breathlessly, “Alright ‘skater boy’, follow me.”

--

“Nope. Nope. I can’t do this. Tap out.” Kyungsoo throws his arms out to maintain his balance, and just as he is about fall off the board, he hops off, barely managing to keep from tumbling to the ground.

“Aww. Don’t give up yet; you’re getting better! You can actually stand on the board with both feet now!” Jongin teases, stopping his own board right in front of Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo scoffs and stalks over to the edge of the driveway where he sits down. “Says you! I don’t know how you did that stupid flippy thing you showed me-”

“Excuse you, it’s called a heel flip, and it’s really not that hard-,” Jongin supplies, but Kyungsoo cuts him off, “Nope. I officially dub skateboarding a Kyungsoo-free sport. I never plan to touch another board for as long as I can live.”

Jongin snorts, playing with his hair and rolling his skateboard back and forth with his foot.

“But I will say, these are, by far, the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn in my life.” Kyungsoo motions down to Jongin’s old pair of DC shoes that he had lent to him (there was no way Jongin was going to let the elder try and skate board in loafers) and wriggles his toes inside of them. “I think I could start wearing these.”

Jongin’s lip curls in disapproval. “Sweater vests and skate shoes? How about no.”

Kyungsoo laughs. “Yea, I didn’t think that work out either. Anyways, thanks for trying to teach me. It was really cool getting to see you skateboard and dance. You’re really good at both of them. I think you’re probably the best skateboarder slash dancer I have ever met, actually.”

Jongin tries to refrain from looking too pleased with himself, but it’s really hard to hold back the shy smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “Thanks. It was fun having you as a pupil, even if you have completely given up on skateboarding.”

Silence falls on them for a moment, until Kyungsoo slowly inches his hand over to where Jongin’s hand is resting in the grass. He reaches for Jongin’s hand and pulls it into his own. (Even though Jongin sees it coming, his heart is still racing when Kyungsoo finally does it.)

“Maybe… you could teach me to dance next time?” Kyungsoo mumbles shyly, cheeks pink and eyes downcast to wear their hands are connected.

“Yea, I’d like that.”

“I promise not to wear loafers this time.”

“And I promise to take my ADHD meds so I’m not bouncing off the walls like I was today.”

Kyungsoo laughs melodiously, and Jongin almost can’t believe his luck that this boy is sitting next to him holding his hand. Moreover, for the first time that semester, he’s almost glad that he’s failing Home Ecc.

Almost.

--

“So you just crack it like this?” Jongin holds up the egg and bowl that are currently in his possession and demonstrates to Kyungsoo. It’s the third time that week Kyungsoo and Jongin had stayed after school to work on making an edible batch of cookies, but they really haven’t managed to do much but measure out the flour.

“Jongin, how many times do I need to show you?; you need to hold it like this,” Kyungsoo corrects with a deep sigh, coming up from behind Jongin and grabbing the egg from him. Jongin flinches a little when Kyungsoo’s hands touch his own. They are so cold against his own warm ones, and so much smaller and paler than his own tan, calloused ones. Jongin has to hold himself back from trying to hold Kyungsoo’s hands in an attempt to warm them. They just looked so smooth and pale and Jongin really, really wants to touch them-

“Earth to Jongin, is anyone there?” Annoyance ebbs in Kyungsoo’s voice as he tries to get the younger’s attention.

Jongin’s always too busy daydreaming about Kyungsoo to actually hear anything Kyungsoo says.

“Jongin it’s really not that hard ok? Watch and learn.” Kyungsoo sighs again, takes the egg, holds it from its top and swings down at the rim of the bowl once, twice, three times. The third time however, it’s obvious that Kyungsoo had been swinging a little too hard because half the egg is on the counter with yolk running down the side of the bowl and most of the eggshell is in the bowl.

Kyungsoo burns a bright red, and he ducks down, flustered as he scrambles to pick out the eggshells and wipe up the rest of it. Jongin watches from behind him, but he’s not too worried about their cookie mix. He’s more focused on the fact that Kyungsoo looks like a little Christmas tree, with his scratchy green sweater and his face all lit up in embarrassment. It’s adorable. It’s ridiculously adorable actually.

“Uh- It’s not usually like that- I’m not sure what happened-”

“Hey, I’m obviously not much better either.” Jongin motions at the pile of decimated eggs that are lying on the other side of the counter. Kyungsoo nervously laughs in agreement, and scoops the remaining shells out of the bowl and into the trash.

Kyungsoo reaches for another egg and hands it to Jongin. “Alright let’s try this again…”

Ultimately, they both decide that a little crunch to your cookies was never a bad thing, and they give up trying to get it perfect when they go through a carton of eggs.

Melting the butter doesn’t go much better either, especially when it pops in the microwave, and butter basically explodes on the inside, covering all sides of it in splatters of greasy yellow patches.

“I was probably supposed to cover that. Or put it in for less time.” Kyungsoo says sheepishly, rummaging around the drawers to look for something to clean the mess up with. Jongin sits down on a nearby stool, putting his elbow right into a puddle of oil Kyungsoo had spilt on the counter earlier.

“I put too much water in the first time. I put salt in instead of sugar the second time. I somehow managed to burn myself on a stove that was turned off and I still don’t know how to crack an egg. Why is cooking so damn hard,” Jongin pouts, lower lip jutting out childishly.

“Aw, don’t be sad. It just takes practice. I mean that’s how I, uh became so good at it, I guess.” Kyungsoo, who is suddenly behind him, says, setting down what’s left of the melted butter in front of him.

“Now go put that in the mixing bowl and,” Kyungsoo pushes Jongin’s lower lip back into place so that his lips are mashed to his face, “Stop pouting. It’s not cute.”

Jongin pouts again, the moment Kyungsoo removes his hand. “You don’t think I’m cute?”

“You’re cute. But not when you pout.” Kyungsoo responds snarkily, but he graces Jongin with a fond smile that lets him know he is joking and turns away to clean up the mess. It’s a good thing; otherwise Kyungsoo would have seen Jongin flush all different shades of pink at the indirect compliment.

“Hyung.”

Kyungsoo stills by the microwave and looks at Jongin curiously.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry I’m impossible to teach. I think my mother might have dropped me on my head when I was born. I can’t cook, I can’t sew. I can’t do anything right.”

“That’s…Jongin that’s not true,” Kyungsoo replies gently, setting down the greasy washcloth that he was using a few moments ago. He trots over to where Jongin is still moping and pulls him off the stool, lightly holding onto his wrist. “I know for fact there are things you are good at.”

“No, I’m really not good at anything.”

“What about skateboarding, and dancing? You’re amazing at both of those! I’ve never seen anyone dance like you before and that thing you did with your board- that flippy

“-heelflip, it’s called a heelflip-,” Jongin interjects.

“Yes the flippy thing! That was amazing. I could never in a million years do anything like that—if you couldn’t already tell when you were trying to teach me how to skateboard—and I could never dance the way you do,” Kyungsoo continues to ramble. Jongin, on the other hand, continues to mope, head resting against the dirty counter and arms hanging limply at his sides.

“But none of that helps me with this stupid class. Cooking isn’t even hard. I can’t do the simplest of things and now because of stupid Mr. Choi and stupid Home Ecc I’m going to be stuck all alone in summer school while stupid Sehun and the rest of my stupid friends are chasing after hot Californian babes,” Jongin sighs dejectedly.

“Uh. You won’t be in summer school alone.”

Jongin doesn’t lift his head from the table, but Kyungsoo has his attention now.

“And why is that,” he mumbles unenthusiastically, not really that interested to know why.

Kyungsoo visibly gulps. “Because I’m failing Home Ecc too.”

It takes Jongin a moment to process what Kyungsoo had just said, but when he does, his eyes become wide with surprise and he sits up suddenly, practically falling out of his chair.

“What?!” Jongin exclaims disbelieving.

“Yea…I have a D in the class…” Kyungsoo says quietly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand in shame. Jongin’s are comically wide when he hears the letter ‘D’.

“But-but- “ Jongin blubbers, dumbstruck and completely unable to process what is happening.

“It’s actually not that hard to believe. I couldn’t make a single stitch on the pillow, I spilled the oil, and I ruined half a carton of eggs and I can’t even melt butter in the microwave. That’s also probably why I snapped at you when I was at your house too, because you were joking about me being terrible at things that I, well, basically at. I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner,” Kyungsoo sighs, eyes closed so he doesn’t have to see what he assumes will be, Jongin’s angry face.

“But you- wear sweater vests - the cake you had- you- ”Jongin continues to babble.

“The cake was Mr. Choi’s. He had me stay after school so he could lecture me about why I was failing his class when he had a call to take, so he asked me to move the cake from the teacher’s lounge. What you thought I could cook because I wear sweater vests and loafers and ties?” Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at him, hand on his hip.

“Maybe…” Jongin says sheepishly, flipping his hair. This situation definitely calls for a hair flip.

Kyungsoo snorts. “I don’t get why everyone makes assumptions based off of the clothing that someone wears. My sweater vests don’t magically give me cooking skills.”

“I know. Sorry.” Jongin apologizes, somewhat ashamed of himself.

“S’ok. I sorta assumed you were kind of an airhead cause of the clothes you wore. Typical skater boy clothes.”

“And then you realized that there is so much more to that skater boy…?” Jongin offers, grinning dopily.

“No, I was right, you are an airhead.”

Jongin just sticks his tongue at Kyungsoo, but he stops after a second when something dawns on him.

“But …if you are failing Home Ecc, why did you agree to tutor me?” Jongin wonders aloud, head tilted slightly in confusion.

Kyungsoo flushes instantly. Shoot, he was hoping Jongin had forgotten about that detail.

“Well. Because. I... I... really, reallylikedyou.” The end of the sentence runs together when Kyungsoo blurts it out.

Jongin stares at him blankly. “Come again?”

“I. Really. Really. Liked. You.” Kyungsoo enunciates each word slowly.

Jongin nods and a second a later the dopey grin is back. Then it disappears. “Liked?”

“Like,” Kyungsoo corrects, cheeks still rosy.

“So you do like me?” Jongin repeats happily.

“Yes. How could I say no to tutoring the boy in my Home Ecc class I had been staring at for the past two months? But he was always too absorbed in his twitter feed to notice the creepy senior in the sweater vests staring at him longingly. Then he came directly to me one day, practically offering himself to me. How could I say no to that?” Kyungsoo shakes his head sadly.

Wow, Jongin thinks, he definitely should start paying attention in class. Maybe then, he would have noticed the adorable senior in his Home Ecc class that wears sweater vests and has the biggest, roundest eyes and the prettiest heartshaped smile he has ever seen and an amazing laugh that could make even babies smile, a lot sooner.

“Oh. I…never really noticed. I’m sorry. But if it helps, I like your sweater vests. I think they are really cute. You’re loafers are pretty cute too. A-actually, I think you’re cute too. Cause I like you.” Smooth, very smooth, thinks Jongin. He mentally facepalms at his usual awkwardness.

Kyungsoo’s beet red at this point. “You do?”

Jongin steps a little closer to Kyungsoo, closer than they normally stand, but not close enough to make him uncomfortable. “Yea.”

“Oh.” Kyungsoo touches his hands, which are as usual, abnormally cold, to his cheeks in an attempt to cool them down. They stand there for a few seconds in their normal, awkward silence. Except this time it’s not so awkward. It’s a peaceful kind of silence, one where the both of them are finally letting it sink in that yes, they do feel the same way about each other.

Jongin breaks the silence first. “Uh. You got a little frosting right here.” He points to a spot slightly above Kyungsoo’s upper lip with his index finger.

Kyungsoo reflexively wipes at his face with his sleeve. “Is it gone?”

“No, uh, here I’ll get it for you.”

Jongin leans in and presses his lips against Kyungsoo’s. Kyungsoo’s lips are soft and warm and Jongin’s really glad he kissed Kyungsoo so suddenly because the little gasp of surprise that Kyungsoo let’s out leaves his mouth open just enough for Jongin to into the kiss in a way that has Kyungsoo’s toes curling and heart pounding.

When they finally pull apart a few seconds later, Kyungsoo smirks.

“Jongin, we don’t have any frosting. We made cookies.”

“Right.” Jongin flips his hair and blushes for probably the twentieth time that day.

“Ahem.” The sound of someone clearing their throat has both Jongin and Kyungsoo jumping. They turn to the door to see Mr. Choi standing there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. It feels like deja vu.

“Are you two quite finished with your awkward little…courtship?”

Kyungsoo, who is mortified upon the realization that his teacher had watched him kiss Jongin, manages to stutter out an apology, “Uhm yea.”

Jongin, who is equally embarrassed, adds, “Sorry.”

The two of them both blush an obnoxious shade of red and resume cleaning up.

Mr. Choi looks between the two of them, who are, at the moment, stealing what they think to be secretive glances at the other, but in reality aren’t so secretive after all.

He shakes his head. “Kids these days.”

--

Jongin jerks out of his lumbering sleep when he feels his phone vibrating against his leg.

You think that after failing a semester of Home Ecc once, Jongin would pay attention this time, in summer school, but that’s obviously not the case as he unlocks his phone.

Sehun: bet you wish you were here huh. to .

Jongin opens a new text to reply, but stops when he feels something hit his back. He turns to look behind him and sees Kyungsoo motioning for him to put his phone away.

“Put it away before I make you,” he whispers, loud enough for Jongin to hear over the sound of the video on kitchen safety that’s running in the background.

Jongin holds up his index finger, asking for Kyungsoo to hold on for just one second, before resuming his text.

Jongin: least i got someone to do the now.

Sehun: ew. tmi.

Jongin: ;) have fun in cali. i think i got all i need right here.

Sehun: ewwww so cheesy. whateva have fun sewing pillows and face with your boyfrand.

Jongin: have fun frying in the sun you pasty bastard.

Sehun: eff you.

Jongin: kyungsoo will :D

Sehun: ok ew I’m leaving now bye.

Jongin: bai~

He feels something hit him again, and he turns around again to see Kyungsoo leaning over to grab his phone. Jongin leans away, leaving his phone—much to Kyungsoo’s chagrin— just out of reach.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m done.”

Kyungsoo eyes him suspiciously. “You better be. Now pay attention.”

The thing is though, Jongin isn’t all that interested in how to properly store food or knives, and would much rather play footsies with Kyungsoo, or stare at his boyfriend’s lovely profile, or poke Kyungsoo’s sides until the other giggles, then slaps him for being distracting the entire hour.

So much for paying attention during class.

A/N: Veni, Vidi Vici= i came, i saw, i conquered. i.e. Kyungsoo came, saw Jongin, and conquered Jongin's heart with his cute face and sweater vests. Orginally a post for sncj_santa ; the prompt was: Kyungsoo/Kai fic where the EXO members are skaters and an ADHD Kai is having trouble passing the Home Economics class he signed up for. Except I wasn't sure if the author meant like skateboarders or skaters like ice skaters so I just chose the (coughlessgaycough) safer option. Also i apologize in advance i literally know nothing about skate boarding and there wasn't a lot about skateboarding in this.