Chapter Text
Jeon Wonwoo scowls as he studies his lesson schedule for the day. He has biology twice today, an hour first thing in the morning, and then again at the end of the day, oh how fun. As he is about to shove the piece of paper back into his pocket, an arm drapes over his shoulder.
"Hey, what do you have?" Seungcheol asks, as two others pop up behind him. He peers at the sheet. "Oh, biology. Sucks for you, I have chemistry."
Wonwoo pulls a face, "that's just as bad."
"Do you know what my favourite thing about starting a new school year is?" Seungkwan announces sarcastically, propping an elbow on Jisoo's shoulder and sighing dramatically, his hand resting on his forehead.
"What?" Jisoo says, pushing Seungkwan's arm off.
"The seating arrangements." Everyone groans. "So perfectly constructed to breed doom and misery into what is supposed to be our refreshing youth."
Seungcheol laughs, "refreshing youth, my ass. Being eighteen is boring."
The bell rings, and they all groan before heading their separate ways.
Wonder what kind of dickhead I'm gonna have to sit next to this year... Wonwoo shakes his head, feeling the tips of his black hair tickle his skin. Let's not think about impending doom, Jeon Wonwoo. Let's think about it when it actually arrives.
But doom doesn't arrive. Or at least, doom is late. The classroom is almost full, but the seat next to Wonwoo remains empty. He feels tempted to ask his teacher who exactly is assigned next to him, but something inside of him doesn't want to know. Not just yet.
As he waits, he finds himself recalling previous years' horrors.
There was this girl, in his history class. And thanks to the awful seating arrangement, he had ended up being pestered and poked at every single lesson. Supposedly, she liked him. But annoying the hell out of your crush makes no sense, does it? He winces as he remembers her high pitched voice and endless giggles. He still walks past her in the corridors occasionally. He'd never known how awesome his 'turn back and run away' reflexes were until now.
Wonwoo prays that his seatmate is not a girl.
Then again, there was that guy in his maths class. He was always scratching at his greasy hair, and he never, ever shut up. He rambled nonsense at the speed of light, and Wonwoo almost transferred classes. Thankfully, he's never seen that guy again.
When a figure finally approaches the desk next to his, Wonwoo is surprised to see that: one, it's not a girl; two, he doesn't have greasy hair (in fact, he has really awesome soft brown hair); and three, he is so damn tall.
Wait, four: he's also really good looking.
"Hi," the guy says, as he flops down next to Wonwoo, offering a friendly grin which reveals his sharp canines. "I'm Kim Mingyu."
Wonwoo almost smiles, and he's not sure why, but he figures that it must be because of the relief washing over him. "Hey, I'm Jeon Wonwoo." Thank god, it's someone normal. At least, I think he is...
Mingyu looks like he's about to say something, but the teacher starts the lesson and so he clamps his mouth shut.
They're doing some textbook work, when Wonwoo suddenly feels Mingyu's left elbow hitting against his own as he writes across his page; Mingyu doesn't seem to notice. This carries on, their elbows touching everytime Mingyu's writing started at a new line. Wonwoo didn't mind the contact, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to write. Why does this guy have to be left handed? He moves his right arm away, closer to his side, but Mingyu's elbow still manages to jog his writing.
"Hey," he snaps, and Mingyu jumps just slightly, staring with wide eyes, causing the corners of Wonwoo's lips to curve up. He hurriedly pulls on a scowl. "Your elbow keeps jogging my writing."
Mingyu blinks twice, confused, "oh. Sorry," he grins apologetically, and this time it's Wonwoo who stares. Something about the kid's smile makes him strangely happy, but he shakes off the funny feeling.
The younger manages to keep his elbow away from Wonwoo, but when he accidentally makes the the slightest contact, Wonwoo nudges him back, hard. Mingyu's mouth drops at the black line scrawled across his page from the sudden movement. "Hey!"
He retaliates, and smirks in satisfaction when he hears the harsh sound of a pen being scratched down a page.
Wonwoo turns to glare at him, and the two are suddenly shoving against eachother, shoulder to shoulder. "Kim Mingyu! Stop being so annoying, I'm trying to work," he growls.
"Aww, too worried about your grades to fight me, huh." Mingyu teases, flashing yet another grin. Wonwoo turns away, still pushing.
"Stop!"
"Okay."
Mingyu stops completely, causing Wonwoo to suddenly fall towards him. His whole body topples over, and the next thing he knows, he's looking up at a shocked Kim Mingyu. And it's at this moment, he realises that his entire upper body is laying on Mingyu's lap. Fuck.
Their teacher, Miss Kim, clears her throat. "Guys, don't get me wrong, I'm not homophobic, but please save that for outside the classroom." The entire class bursts into laughter.
Wonwoo sits up, his entire face flushing red. "W-We're not-"
"It's okay, I don't mind. In fact you guys really suit eachother," she says before he can object.
"We're not gay!"
"Wow, you guys are reading a gossip magazine?" Hansol sneers, judging Seungkwan and Seungcheol, who are both reading intensely.
Seungcheol swats Hansol on the arm, "shh." His eyes don't leave the page.
Jisoo stops whispering to Jeonghan and looks up, "what's so interesting anyway?"
"It says," Hansol moves his head in all angles to try and read properly, "how to... tell if someone likes you. Ew." This catches everyone's attention; Jihoon shuffles over to Seungkwan's side.
Wonwoo gives them the side-eye, and then turns back to his phone, leaning back on the trunk of a tree. It's lunchtime, and they're sitting under the trees, chilling and eating. Wonwoo, however, is more preoccupied with replaying the extremely awkward incident that happened in biology.
Damn it, Wonwoo, chill. It's not like you laid down on him on purpose! He bites down on his lip as he thinks, clearly frustrated. Anyway, that damn Mingyu is the one who made it happen! He suddenly stopped pushing! Ugh, how am I going to look him in the eye later?
"...will try and make natural skinship happen." Wonwoo instantly tunes back into the conversation happening next to him. Wait, what?
"Ooooh! So if they touch you, then they like you?" Seungkwan gasps in amazement.
Wonwoo gulps. He flashes back to the subtle elbow nudging, the full blown shoving war, and, obviously, the, uh, falling incident and cringes. He doesn't like me right? He shakes his head vigorously. Jeon Wonwoo! What are you thinking? That skinship or whatever wasn't even intentional, jeez...
"Hey, what are you thinking about?"
He snaps his head up to see the group all staring at him, amused. "Um, uh, hey, uh... do you guys know who Kim Mingyu is?" He internally slaps himself. Why did he say that?
"Kim Mingyu? Oh, yeah. I think he was in my music class last year. He's really popular with the girls," Jeonghan casually answers. "Why?"
"Huh? Oh, um, well he's my new biology partner and I just thought it was weird that I don't have to sit with a creep this year so I just wanted to double check that he's not going to murder me in my sleep." His speech comes out quickly, too quickly, and he doesn't know why.
"Isn't that him there?" Jihoon points at a group of guys playing with a basketball, and Wonwoo recognises the tall figure and brown hair.
He watches as Mingyu wraps his arms around a blonde guy, who cracks up and starts jumping up and down. His other friends laugh along, before one of them tries to push Mingyu off the blonde.
Wonwoo glances away for a second, before looking back and seeing that Mingyu is still hugging his friend, and he's not sure what it means. Does Kim Mingyu like guys?
"Nah, I think it's just bromance," Seungcheol answers, and Wonwoo jumps in surprise, before realising he must have said his question out loud.
"Oh, right."
When Wonwoo arrives at biology class, he sees that Mingyu is already sitting there, playing with a pencil out of boredom. He tries his best to walk over naturally, "hey dude." He mutters, trying to hide the awkwardness.
"Oh, hey." Mingyu flashes his canines, and Wonwoo inwardly sighs in relief. Everything is okay.
Miss Kim explains to them the experiment they need to carry out, and everyone hurriedly gets started.
Wonwoo peers through the microscope and blinks. He's not sure what he's supposed to be looking at. In fact, he never really knows what's happening in biology. "Um, so what am I supposed to be seeing?" He lifts his head, sending a confused expression towards Mingyu.
A look of amusement spreads across Mingyu's face. And suddenly, he reaches his hand out and brushes his fingertips across Wonwoo's fringe. "You can't see through this, can you?"
"Um, actually, I meant that I don't know what-" Wonwoo freezes, suddenly realising what Mingyu is doing.
If someone likes you, they will try and make natural skinship happen.
He feels the tips of Mingyu's fingers searing through his forehead, and he is completely and utterly taken aback. Because, what the actual fuck, Kim Mingyu? It is so damn obvious that he can see, because his hair doesn't even reach below his eyebrows!
Wonwoo pulls his head away, "um, I just meant-"
"I know what you meant." This time, Mingyu makes him look through the microscope again, and describes what he's supposed to be seeing.
"Oh, right, I see what you're talking about." Wonwoo mumbles, and all of a sudden, he realises how close Mingyu is. He's so close that his steady breathing can be heard, and Wonwoo feels shivers run all over his skin. He pulls back.
"Thanks."
It's eleven pm at night, and Wonwoo lies on his bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling.
He had wished for a seatmate who didn't giggle, or ramble, or have greasy hair, and he got one. But somehow, he thinks Kim Mingyu might be just as bad. Or even, worse. Because after all, what kind of guy is touchy and smiley and, well, so good looking? And those aren't bad qualities, not at all, really. But for some reason, it frustrates him.
What the hell, Kim Mingyu.