with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his baggy jeans, hansol walked over the schoolyard towards the big iron fence. unconsciously he bopped his head along on the melody of some indie rock song that blasted through his headphones.
he was so caught up in nothing but his music and the clear blue sky that he didn't even notice the boy walking behind him, calling his name out several times without getting any form of reply. it took a gentle tap on his shoulder to turn around and face the boy who had been trying to get his attention for the past minute.
"eh.. who are you?" hansol asked the boy in all confusion, taking off his headset and resting it on his neck so he was actually able to hear him.
he was amazed by how attractive the unfamiliar boy looked. hansol swore he had never saw anyone with a smoother skin, not to mention his hair. how could it still look like silk when it was dyed bright red?
would he freak out if i squished his cheeks? hansol shamelessly thought to himself, observing his facial features with care.
"we're paired up together for school camp tomorrow. you seemed so caught up in your music in class i didn't really want to interrupt you." the red haired boy cutely fidgeted with the straps of his backpack, looking down a little as he was intimidated by hansol's piercing gaze.
"you must be seungkwan then, am i right?" seungkwan nodded, still too shy to bring his eyes up.
sudden realization hit hansol. wasn't he the one from the familiar trio, well known thought their entire school? what did they call themselves again? wasn't it.. booseoksoon! that's why he looked so oddly familiar!
"hey you should give me your number. i really have to get going now, but maybe we can text later tonight? we should get to know each other a little better before camp, right?"
seungkwan wondered how the boy in front of him could stay so calm asking a question like that. however, he tried shaking it off when hansol pulled out his phone and handed it over to him. a large crack ran over his screen, making seungkwan chuckle underneath his breath. how could the smallest thing like that show off his personality so perfectly? or from whatever seungkwan had seen of it, yet.
with slightly trembling hands, seungkwan inserted in his number and handed the phone back to hansol. "here you go." he muttered, barely audible for the boy in front of him to hear.
"cool." hansol found himself fighting against the urge to ruffle through his fluffy looking hair. "talk to you later, i guess?"
"yes, s-sure." seungkwan mentally cursed himself for stuttering, making himself look like a total moron in front of the laid back boy, who didn't seem to have any troubles finding the right words.
"i'll get going then, bye seungkwan!" hansol waved and before seungkwan could say a goodbye as well, the boy wore his headphones again, walking in the opposite direction.
in all embarrassment, seungkwan strolled back to the over-towering school building, hoping to find seokmin or soonyoung inside. he hadn't seen any of the two coming out of the building in the time he had spoken to hansol.
and to his luck, the moment he turned around the first corner he was greeted by both seokmin's and soonyoung's face. even a third person accompanied them, a face seungkwan didn't recognize right away.
a face that held such a frightening expression, seungkwan wondered how soonyoung hadn't ran away in fear yet.
soonyoung, however, just stood their, sparkling eyes, taking every insult that got thrown to his head as if they were compliments. admiration was the only thing visible on his face, while it was only lee jihoon who stood in front of him in all his glory. he couldn't help but to adore the shorter male's outstanding facial features and the way he spoke to him in his feather-like voice.
even when the only thing that came out of his mouth was a slur of cusses and insults.
"i really don't understand why they teamed us up together? isn't it obvious that i don't want to work together with a guy who acts like a toddler who experienced coffee for the first time?" jihoon grumped, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"ah jihoon, don't be like that! we're going to have a great time!" soonyoung answered calmly, smiling as bright as ever despite the fact that jihoon was actually hurting his feelings with what he said.
"come on, don't be unrealistic. i bet mister lee could've paired me up with chan easily instead. it's not that i like his personality any better, but at least he would be able to shut up for at least two seconds." jihoon was so caught up in his heated arguments, he didn't even notice how calm the boy in front of him was.
soonyoung wasn't always as energetic as he seemed all day. especially whenever he was at home, or not surrounded by anyone, the boy was usually silent and more on the introvert side. especially now he stood in front of jihoon, the music producer who preferred to be in silent surroundings, he felt the need to adapt to him. which totally got unnoticed, since jihoon couldn't stop complaining about the loudness he had to endure for the next four days.
"shouldn't we give these two some space..?" seungkwan whispered, doubting whether he should just turn around like nothing happened or pull seokmin along with him.
"i was just about to ask-" without a warning seokmin yanked seungkwan along with him by his arm, followed by seungkwan cursing underneath his breath.
"it really can't be that worse to work with me, right?" soonyoung asked, having a hard time to keep his smile up, while jihoon just kept going on with complaining. totally unaware that his words were actually offending soonyoung.
"come on you can't be serious right now. you know what, if mister lee won't take my obligation serious i'll just stay at home. whatever."
"yeah. whatever." at this point, soonyoung's smile had vanished, his head hanging low as he focused his sight on the tops of his worn out nike sneakers. tears blurred his vision and he tried his best to remain calm, aggressively blinking to restrain them from running down his cheeks.
and to his luck, he managed to keep himself under control. he took a deep breath, filling his lungs with a good amount of oxygen, and met eyes with jihoon one more time before he hiked his backpack higher up his shoulder, ready to walk away before things could get worse. soonyoung didn't know if it was an illusion, or something his brain decided to come up with, but he swore he saw a glimpse of jihoon's eyes soften for the mere of a second.
but he shook the thought off before flashing a final smile and turning his back to jihoon, making his way to the school's exit, hoping for seokmin and seungkwan to still be there.
"hey soonyoung." soonyoung felt confused as to what he was called out for. was jihoon planning on making him feel even worse? hadn't he said enough to him already?
"hmm? what is it?" he turned around, facing the smaller boy who hadn't moved an inch from the position they were in a few seconds ago.
"see you tomorrow."
a smirk appeared on soonyoung's lips when both boys turned in opposite directions in unison, strolling to whatever they were heading to.
even jihoon couldn't restrain himself for letting a smile creep up his face unknowingly, his heart fluttering as he quickly shot one more glance over his shoulder, catching the last glimpse of soonyoung before the dancer took a turn.
