[iKON; Jinhwan/Junhwe] Maybe You're My Love (2/2)

[concordances]

<<<

Kim Junmyeon is, disappointingly, every bit the boring model student he is outside the confines of the student council room, within its walls as well.

“Okay,” he announces, tucking an invisible stray strand of hair behind his ear and straightening his already-straight tie. “Club activities start at three, so let’s keep this short.” He reaches for the stack of papers in front of him and starts leafing through the first few sheets as he talks. “Who wants to go first?”

Junhwe taps the rhythm of Arirang against the floor with his feet. Or Jinhwan’s feet, which don’t even come to rest fully against the floor when Junhwe sits up straight in his chair. Jinhwan really is tiny. It’s a whole new experience.

All around the table, there are murmurs. Yoo Youngjae stands abruptly, notes ready in his hand, and starts presenting a summary of his logistics report.

The council room doesn’t look anything like the cosy, welcoming room it had seemed before it was filled with council members. Talk about being a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Or quite possibly a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A wolf surrounded by a pack of rabid, wolf-eating sheep.

Despite Jinhwan’s worrying, Junhwe isn’t very nervous. All he has to do is lie low and blend in. Which is only now beginning to look like it could be a problem, since he appears to be in the midst of the nerdiest nerd congregation in school. Almost every member of the council is wearing a pair of black frames and doing that annoying glasses-adjusting thing periodically. Junhwe is pretty sure only half of them are actually short-sighted.

He exhales slowly and wonders how Jinhwan is doing in last period history. Then he wonders what Jinhwan would look like in glasses.

“Jinhwan?” comes Junmyeon’s voice, cutting into his thoughts. “Are you listening?” Junhwe snaps to attention as Junmyeon clicks his tongue. “I said, do you have anything to report from student affairs?”

“Uh,” Junhwe says, mind going blank. But he’d prepared well for this, and everything Jinhwan had said comes back to him after a moment. “Nope. I have nothing to report.”

The vice president- Junhwe can’t remember her name- cocks her head, but Junmyeon seems satisfied. He calls on Seungyoon to give the disciplinary committee report, and Donghyuk dutifully hands Seungyoon yet more papers.

The disciplinary report turns out to be no more exciting than the logistics one. Junhwe had hoped for a sort of a council hit list with the biggest rule-breakers in school, Nam Taehyun at the very forefront. Or maybe suggestions for novel ways of punishing students who refuse to abide by the dress code. But it’s all surprisingly dull. Lots of dates and statistics. Being a council member is a lot less thrilling than Junhwe had expected.

It’s partially boredom that possesses him to raise his hand in the middle of Seungyoon’s speech, drawing stares from the rest of the council. At the far end of the table, Minah perks up visibly at the interruption.

So much for lying low.

Seungyoon stops talking mid-sentence. Junmyeon raises an eyebrow. “Yes, Jinhwan?”

Junhwe almost regrets drawing attention to himself, but it’s too late to back out now. This is something he’d never be able to do under normal circumstances. For Jinhwan’s sake, he hopes he doesn’t mess up too badly.

“Concerning the school rules,” he says, trying his best to speak carefully. “They exist for a reason, sure, I get that. But there are just so many of them.”

Somewhere to his left, Donghyuk bristles. Junhwe tries not to flinch; there’s no way Donghyuk could possibly know it’s him speaking, right?

He powers on. “And we’re rid- I mean, we’re really strict about enforcing them. Even the less significant ones. Students get sent to detention all the time, half the time for breaking rules they didn’t even know they broke.”

Junhwe levels Junmyeon with a challenging look. “Don’t you think the whole thing gives the council a kind of, I don’t know, unfriendly image?”

Minah goes back to studying her nails. Junmyeon sighs.

“Jinhwan, let’s- look, we’ll leave that to the disciplinary committee to decide,” he says. Most of the tension in the room seems to dissipate. “Seungyoon, would you like to finish?”

It’s a surprisingly mild reaction, not to mention dismissive. Junhwe had expected the council to want to burn him at the stake for speaking out of turn. But the meeting resumes as if he hadn’t interrupted at all.

So the council isn’t filled with power-hungry tyrants like Junhwe had imagined, but they’re still pretty rigid. The rest of the meeting goes by uneventfully, and Junmyeon dismisses the meeting at exactly five minutes to three. Junhwe makes a break for the door, heart set on going to look for Jinhwan. He’s stopped by Donghyuk.

It’s the worst possible situation to be caught in. Donghyuk has known him since middle school, and if there’s anyone who would be able to tell something is wrong, it’s him. If Junhwe still had his own hands, they’d be doing that inconvenient sweating thing right about now. He probably shouldn’t have brought the school rules up, shouldn’t have said anything that might incite Donghyuk’s wrath and give him away-

There’s a ghost of a smile on Donghyuk’s face when he asks, “Did you talk to Junhwe?”

Junhwe blinks. Puts his mouth on autopilot so that he can devote the rest of his brain cells to making sense of things.

“Um, yes,” his mouth answers intelligently.

Right- of course. The talk. Jinhwan pulling him aside after lunch, under orders from the council, to urge Junhwe to get his shit together. That talk had been how this had all started.

“What did he say?” Donghyuk presses, a touch too eager for someone checking up on a fellow council member’s duties.

“He said-” Junhwe is suddenly aware of the way the corners of Donghyuk’s mouth are quirked ever so slightly, in the way that they do when he’s trying to hide his amusement. Junhwe doesn’t know how he knows it, but he knows it- Donghyuk had a part to play in setting that encounter up. The realisation is like a bucket of water to the face. “-That he’s going to kick your ass,” Junhwe finishes.

Once again, he knows immediately he shouldn’t have spoken on impulse. And once again, he’s fortunate enough that no one seems to notice anything amiss. Donghyuk simply looks entertained.

Junhwe watches him leave, feeling more indignant than relieved. Most of the other council members have shuffled out of the room and are taking their leave too, making Junhwe one of the last. He waits until everyone is gone before taking Jinhwan’s phone out of his pocket and pulling up KakaoTalk.

Where are you? he texts. He leaves out the We need to hurry and kiss again.

Jinhwan’s reply is almost instantaneous, and punctuated with sad-looking emoji. Apparently I have detention. Meet you after, ok?

Great. Another setback to add to the list. It had completely slipped Junhwe’s mind, between trying to wrap his head around everything and trying to pull off a successful Jinhwan. Donghyuk- impossible, meddlesome friend that he is- had given him detention just this morning.

The thought of delaying the swap-back two hours isn’t dreadful, but it is slightly unnerving. There are plenty of perks to being Jinhwan: his clumsiness is drastically decreased, and people are nicer to him. Everyone seems to like Jinhwan. Junhwe would probably never have to deal with things like detention again.

But there are also downsides, especially in the long-term. Someone’s bound to notice they’re behaving strangely. Junhwe might be able to pass off as Jinhwan in school, but he’d never cut it elsewhere. Plus, he has no desire to be a member of the student council.

Junhwe likes Jinhwan, which is probably all the more reason he doesn’t want to be him. Being in Jinhwan’s body is just awkward. Junhwe wants to go back to how things were before, when his greatest concern was how to get Jinhwan’s attention. Switching back as soon as possible would probably be their best option.

Junhwe has just resigned himself to the idea of hiding out until detention is over when something occurs to him. The council room is empty, everyone long gone by now. The door isn’t locked, and Junhwe slinks into the room, feeling like an intruder. Atop the cabinet from earlier is the small box he’d seen before. And just as Junhwe remembers, its label reads classified.

It’s a hunch, but there might be something in there that could help them. Swapping bodies as a result of a kiss isn’t normal, definitely something that could fall under classified material.

Junhwe reaches for the box, only to find that his fingers fall way short of it.

Junhwe feels torn. Jinhwan is tiny. It’s adorable, but highly inconvenient right now. He looks around the room for something that can help, settles for dragging one of the chairs over to stand on.

Coordinating Jinhwan’s body is nothing compared to trying to balance on top of a chair. It feels like he leaves his stomach behind when he hoists himself up, righting himself on shaky legs. He extends his arms towards the top of the cabinet slowly, so as not to unbalance himself-

The box is centimeters from his fingers when someone throws open the council room door.

The door hits the wall with a loud bang. Startled, Junhwe turns, and in the process loses his balance. He wobbles for a moment, arms pinwheeling. Then, in slow motion, he tips over.

It’s only a meter to the ground, he thinks as he falls. Jinhwan probably won’t be disfigured.

The floor never comes. Junhwe throws out an arm to break his fall, but feels only a strong pair of arms around his torso. He twists to get a look at his saviour, and finds himself staring up into the face of Kim Hanbin.

And he’d thought his day couldn’t get any worse.

The true culprit, the one who’d barged into the room in the first place, is right behind Hanbin.

“Jinhwan!” Bobby all but yells, throwing his arms up in a manner that’s overenthusiastic, unnecessary, and entirely Bobby. “Did you forget? You’re supposed to walk to the station with us!”

The short walk feels like forever. Hanbin wastes no time in putting his arm around Junhwe’s neck, and Bobby keeps touching him. It starts with harmless bumping arms with each other as they walk, thanks to the close proximity, then progresses to occasional nudges and slaps on the back. Eventually, Bobby puts an arm around Junhwe’s neck too, sandwiching Junhwe between the two of them. Jinhwan’s so tiny that they shouldn’t even be able to have both their arms around him at the same time. But they do.

Junhwe wonders how long Jinhwan must have known Hanbin and Bobby for them to be so chummy with him. They’d probably all been friends since middle school. And yet Junhwe would never dream of ruffling Donghyuk’s hair, or chucking him under the chin, or- fucking hell, Bobby really needs to calm down and keep his hands to himself. It’s as if all the luck Junhwe had avoiding detection earlier has been used up, leaving him here with this.

He realises that even after he gets his body back, he’s probably going to be seeing a lot more of Hanbin and Bobby, if he wants to see more of Jinhwan.

“You’re jumpy today,” Hanbin observes, making Junhwe jump. He seems to have been observing Junhwe out of the corner of his eye, and now turns to look at him, questioning.

“I, uh…” At this point, Junhwe doesn’t have any of the energy or brainpower necessary to come up with a decent excuse. “It’s nothing,” he mumbles, feeling slightly defeated. “I just. It’s been a long day.”

Hanbin takes his eyes off Junhwe, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. “How did your chat with Junhwe go?”

Junhwe stiffens. Not the best move, since both Hanbin and Bobby are in direct contact with the back of his neck.

“Oh,” Bobby crows, sounding positively delighted. “Is that what this is about? Did you make out in the council room?” A pause. “Was he any good?”

Junhwe bristles. He opens his mouth to make a retort, then realises he has none. His face feels like it’s on fire.

“Oh my god,” Bobby wheezes, removing his arm from Junhwe’s neck to clutch his stomach. He has a very unattractive laugh. “So you did make out.”

“We didn’t,” Junhwe bites. Too little, too late.

Compared to Bobby, Donghyuk is a gift. Sure, he may be an annoying know-it-all, but at least he never made it his life’s purpose to embarrass Junhwe. Bobby is unbearable and Junhwe doesn’t know how Jinhwan puts up with him. He makes a mental note to himself to start being nicer to Donghyuk.

As Bobby continues to make triumphant noises to his left, Hanbin looks sheepish. Good. Junhwe hopes he feels bad for bringing him up and setting Bobby off.

“How did your council meeting go?” Habin asks, an obvious attempt to change the subject.

“It sucked,” Junhwe mutters, and damn it- he really needs to think before he says things like that out loud. Today has been one surprise after another, few of them pleasant. It’s like all the stress is finally catching up to him.

Instead of looking surprised, though, Hanbin nods sympathetically. For once, Bobby pats him on the back in a way that’s more comforting than infuriating. He seems to have sobered a bit, and behaves until they arrive at the station. Once they’re at the station, Bobby pulls him in and practically nuzzles his cheek. Junhwe goes rigid.

As if remembering something, Bobby stops abruptly and pulls back.

“Sorry,” he says, arms up in a gesture of surrender. He breaks out into a wide grin. “I almost forgot- you have a boyfriend now.”

Hanbin laughs, and Junhwe is left to stew as Hanbin and Bobby both head for the platform. Presumably, Jinhwan takes a different line home. Which is just as well, because this is as far as Junhwe would have made it without having to ask either Hanbin or Bobby where he lives.

As soon as Hanbin and Bobby are safely out of sight, Junhwe turns around and begins the trek back to school.

For all that he’s small and agile, Jinhwan’s legs really aren’t long enough to give him much speed. It’s a full fifteen minutes before Junhwe crosses the school gate for the third time that day and proceeds to hole himself up in an unoccupied first year classroom. Council members, for some unknown reason, seem to like to walk around school even after dismissal. Junhwe decides the classified documents in the council room aren’t worth the risk of running into anyone.

At five, Junhwe goes to meet Jinhwan at the classroom where detention is held. He arrives just in time to see Nam Taehyun emerge, trademark sullen expression on his face, and disappear down the hall. Jinhwan sticks his head- Junhwe’s head, geez, Junhwe is never going to get used to this- around the back door and gestures for Junhwe to come inside.

The classroom is empty apart from them, and Junhwe locks the door behind him. Jinhwan locks the front door and turns the lights off. Outside, the sun is low in the sky, casting just enough light into the room for them to make out what they’re doing. To anyone passing by, the classroom will look empty.

“Right then,” Jinhwan says.

Junhwe nods, suddenly uncertain. For all that he’d been waiting for this moment, he hadn’t given much thought to the actual kiss. Jinhwan may have his face and body, but he’s still Jinhwan. Which makes Junhwe plenty nervous, for more than one reason.

“Well, this is awkward,” Jinhwan says, voicing what Junhwe had been thinking. “Now I have to kiss myself.”

Junhwe looks helplessly at the mirror image in front of him. Donghyuk had been right- he does need a haircut. And Jinhwan looks far too unassuming to ever be able to pass off as him. More than that, Junhwe is sure of one thing: there’s no way he’s kissing himself.

Jinhwan must read his expression, because he sounds alarmed when he says, “What, would you rather stay this way?”

Junhwe shakes his head, but takes a step back, feeling his shoulder blades come into contact with the wall. If only they hadn’t gotten themselves into this situation in the first place, they wouldn’t have to deal with this. If only he hadn’t propositioned Jinhwan, if only he didn’t like Jinhwan so damn much-

“Look,” Jinhwan says, a hint of concern in his voice. “You close your eyes, and I’ll kiss you.”

Junhwe wishes he were hearing that under normal circumstances. It does little to lesson his unease, but at least Jinhwan is willing to accommodate him. Would Jinhwan be as nice if they hadn’t landed themselves in this situation together?

Even in the midst of his wallowing, Junhwe thinks he knows the answer. He closes his eyes.

Jinhwan makes it quick. A light press of the lips, and then he pulls back.

Junhwe opens his eyes.

“Uh,” Jinhwan stammers. “Maybe I didn’t do it right…”

Junhwe hadn’t realised he’d been holding his breath. As he lets it out, he finds that he’s still looking at a mirror image of himself. His heart sinks.

Jinhwan has him backed up against the wall, their difference in height allowing Jinhwan to lean comfortably over him. It’s not something Junhwe is used to. And it’s not that he dislikes it, but it would have been nice if they were in their own bodies, their positions reversed. “One more try,” Jinhwan says. “Close your eyes for a sec.”

Jinhwan kisses him again, but nothing changes.

Junhwe tries not to freak out or imagine being trapped in a body that isn’t his forever. “We did exactly what we did before. It’s not working. Why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe it’s permanent,” Jinhwan suggests. He winces at the look on Junhwe’s face. “Sorry.”

Neither of them move. With nothing more to fuel it, the panic that had filled Junhwe minutes previous fades. Gradually, his worry tapers off into a dull, unsettled feeling. “What now?”

Jinhwan doesn’t respond, just walks over to one of the desks in the middle of the room and sits on it. He pats the table next to him, gesturing for Junhwe to do the same. Bit by bit, the room is growing dimmer.

They sit in silence for a while.

“Why did you kiss me?” Junhwe asks, when he can no longer stand it. “Earlier. In the council room.”

He feels, rather than sees, Jinhwan shift next to him. “Why do you think?” Jinhwan asks.

Junhwe knows what he wants to think, but something like that has no bearing on the truth, really.

When Jinhwan next speaks, Junhwe is surprised that he sounds embarrassed. “I wanted to. Have for a while.”

“Oh.” The knowledge unravels a knot in Junhwe’s stomach that he hadn’t even realised had been there. He feels very slightly light-headed. So Jinhwan does like him, actually likes him. Junhwe had known it was a possibility, especially after Jinhwan had kissed him, but receiving confirmation like this is completely different from going on a hunch. He’s glad the room isn’t bright enough for Jinhwan to see his face.

The newfound silence is inching dangerously towards awkward; Junhwe needs a change of subject. His thoughts go immediately to Hanbin’s attempt from earlier.

“How was detention?” he asks Jinhwan.

Jinhwan laughs, caught off guard. “I’ve never been in detention before,” he admits. Then, “Nam Taehyun’s not the delinquent people make him out to be.”

Junhwe groans. “I hope you didn’t talk to him.”

“No, just jerked him off,” Jinhwan says, and Junhwe is sure that if he could see his face, he’d be grinning. “It was an experience, detention. The kind every council member should have.”

For a council member, Jinhwan has a pretty intact sense of humour. And just like the rest of them, he can conduct himself in a way that makes him seem reassuring and dependable when he needs to. “We’ll solve this,” Jinhwan promises. “Tomorrow.”

The sky is growing dark rapidly, prompting them to leave the classroom, but not before making plans to meet the next morning. Jinhwan insists his parents will worry if he doesn’t come home, which means Junhwe has to cover for him again. Except this time, he’ll be trying to fool Jinhwan’s family.

“Don’t make that face,” Jinhwan says, but not without sympathy. “You just have to show up, you don’t have to talk to them. I’ll tell you how to get to my place, so take note.” The rest of the walk to the station is spent exchanging addresses, directions, and pointers on how to survive the night at home.

(“Just stay in my room, and if anyone tries to come in, say you need to study for a test,” Jinhwan instructs. “You’ll be fine. You can give generic answers to any questions asked, and if anyone thinks you’re behaving strangely, pretend you’re not feeling well. Help me feed my dogs before you go to bed, too.” He looks at Junhwe expectantly.

“Uh,” Junhwe tries. “Don’t be too friendly. And don’t talk to my sister.”)

Being Jinhwan for the night goes more smoothly than expected. Jinhwan’s parents don’t talk to him apart from greeting him when he enters the house; it’s Jinhwan’s dogs who seem to notice something is off. They make low, growling noises every time Junhwe gets too close, but avoiding them is easy enough.

Jinhwan’s room is suspiciously tidy, and there don’t seem to be any porn magazines hidden under his bed or at the back of his cupboard. But it’s comfortable, and Junhwe decides it suits Jinhwan. If his mind weren’t so preoccupied with thoughts of the swap, Junhwe would probably have enjoyed the chance to be in Jinhwan’s room. On the other hand, Jinhwan’s room might not be such a novelty in the near future. Possibly. If things go well. Junhwe probably shouldn’t get ahead of himself.

He takes the quickest shower he’s ever had, keeping his eyes shut the entire time. Because he respects Jinhwan’s privacy, he tells himself. Not because the alternative could pose a problem. He doesn’t fully realise how exhausted he is until he’s back in Jinhwan’s room, in Jinhwan’s pajamas, and Jinhwan’s bed looks like the most comfortable bed in the world. Right before he gets in, Junhwe makes sure to set his alarm for half an hour earlier than he usually wakes up.

He’s asleep before his head hits the pillow.

It’s only the next morning, as Junhwe arrives at the school gate, that he realises he’d completely forgotten to warn Jinhwan about Donghyuk’s daily wake up calls. But by then, it’s too late.

“I should’ve known,” Donghyuk laments. “Unfriendly image, my- That whole thing had Junhwe written all over it.”

Donghyuk is walking several steps ahead of them, probably leading them to the council room. Out of the corner of his eye, Junhwe sees Jinhwan turn to look at him, eyebrow raised. Junhwe avoids his gaze, eyes settling instead on-

“My hair,” Junhwe says, horrified. “What did you do to my hair?”

For a second, Jinhwan looks clueless. Then he reaches out and points to the brightly-coloured bobby pins keeping his hair out of eyes. “These?” he asks, sounding not at all apologetic. “Your sister lent them to me. I couldn’t see what I was eating this morning.”

Junhwe opens his mouth to complain, but shuts up at the glare Donghyuk sends his way. “How were you found out?” he asks Jinhwan instead, since their secret isn’t much of a secret anymore.

Donghyuk stops walking to whirl on him. “You think I can’t tell you from an impersonator, Koo Junhwe?”

Not what Junhwe had been implying, but okay. Sometimes it’s better to let Donghyuk work himself up than to try and argue. At present, Donghyuk seems to be in a very bad mood. He’s also eyeing the council badge pinned to the front of Junhwe’s uniform, and turns back around to continues walking with an exasperated sigh.

“All I did was say hi and ask him what he was doing,” Jinhwan explains. “He was… I think he was climbing the tree in your back yard.”

Junhwe has to refrain from covering his face with his hands. Come to think of it, his and Donghyuk’s morning routine is pretty embarrassing.

“What were you doing?” Jinhwan asks Donghyuk, tone light enough not to sound like he’s prying. Junhwe notes, with relief, that the bobby pins have been removed from his hair.

“Going up to break his- your- window open and wake you up,” Donghyuk mutters. They’ve finally reached the council room, and Donghyuk shoos them inside before stepping in and going over to retrieve the box, the one labelled confidential, from on top of the cabinet.

Junhwe watches, stomach churning. So that had been important. He points an accusatory finger at Donghyuk. “You’re pretty calm for someone who’s just found out about this whole swapping thing. Do you know how to fix it, or something?”

“What’s in there?” Jinhwan asks, trying to peer over Donghyuk’s shoulder to get a glimpse of the documents.

Donghyuk carries the box over to the meeting table and empties its contents onto the table. Ignoring Junhwe and Jinhwan’s stares, he starts looking through the files one by one.

“Not many people are supposed to know this,” he says, turning one of the folders around absently in his hands. “And usually no one would believe it anyway, so it’s not much of an issue. Traditionally, only the disciplinary committee is in on it, which is why-” He glances at Jinhwan. “-You’ve probably never heard of any of this before.”

“Yes, we get it,” Junhwe huffs, impatient. “What’s the big secret?”

Donghyuk studies him for a moment before answering. “There’s a spell on this school,” he says. “Anyone who commits a serious violation of the school rules will find themselves stunned, or get knocked out for a bit. Usually long enough for us to catch them.”

Junhwe stares. Next to him, Jinhwan teeters. “Excuse me?”

Donghyuk goes back to searching through the documents. “I’m only telling you this because you went and got yourselves in this situation, okay? No one knows when exactly it started, but it’s probably the reason our school has such a good rep.”

“So it’s a curse,” Junhwe says, incredulous. “Our school is cursed.”

Donghyuk shrugs. “It depends on how you look at it? It could also be a blessing.”

“You’ve been dabbling in magic and you never told me?”

“I haven’t been dabbling in magic,” Donghyuk scowls. “I don’t make the rules. I just give out demerits as a deterrent to breaking them.” He fixes Junhwe with a hard look. “You know, this is the first time I’ve heard of anything like this happening. None of these records have anything on… Body switching. What exactly did you two do?”

Donghyuk had been right; if Junhwe weren’t in Jinhwan’s body, there’s no way he would believe him. But it does begin to explain why the council is ridiculously strict.

So this mess hadn’t been caused by the kiss- or at least not the act itself, but the breaking of a school rule. Junhwe is no expert, but it would make sense for there to be a rule against kissing in school, probably filed under ‘indecency’ or ‘travesty’ or something. What’s more, kissing in the council room. Kissing a council member.

Next to him, Jinhwan is doing a poor job of keeping the mix of guilt and worry off his face.

Junhwe opens his mouth before he even knows what he’s going to say. “It was my fault,” he blurts, “I kissed Jinhwan.”

Jinhwan’s eyes grow large. On the other hand, Donghyuk looks unimpressed by the admission. “That’s sweet,” he says. “But you’re a horrible liar. Whatever, I won’t tell anyone. For the most part.”

“For the most part?” Jinhwan echoes.

Donghyuk starts gathering up the files he’d tipped from the box and putting them back into it. Jinhwan immediately goes over to lend a hand. Once Jinhwan has helped Donghyuk return the box to its place atop the cabinet, Donghyuk turns to them, pushing his glasses up with his index finger.

“I know someone who might be able to help,” he says, making for the door and gesturing for them to follow. “Come with me.”

The supernatural studies club is tucked away in an even more obscure corner of the school than the music rooms. It’s a wonder the club president is even there at this time of the morning; he’s sitting with his chair tipped back and legs propped up on the desk in front of him, and almost falls out of his seat at their sudden entry.

“Junhwe, Jinhwan, this is Yunhyeong,” Donghyuk introduces. “Yunhyeong, Junhwe and Jinhwan.” He gestures vaguely to the two behind him. Yunhyeong sits up straight. “I’ve got two cases of rule-breaking here, but something weird happened. They’ve… Swapped bodies. They’re stuck as each other now.”

Yunhyeong’s eyebrows shoot up, disappearing into his hairline.

“Wait, so the supernatural studies club is in on this too?” Junhwe asks.

“We provide support, mostly in the form of supernatural theory,” Yunhyeong explains. He glances between Junhwe and Jinhwan, no longer looking surprised. Instead, there’s a thinly veiled interest on his face.

“Supernatural theory?” Jinhwan wonders.

“The theory behind how magic things work around here,” Donghyuk sighs. “If there’s anyone who will be able to figure out what happened to you, it’s Yunhyeong.”

Junhwe is beyond caring about the inner workings of the school. He wants a solution to their situation. A way to reverse the spell, to get his body back and put this whole mess behind them. He wants to go back to liking Jinhwan without it being weird, without having to see his own face staring back at him whenever he talks to him.

“Figure out?” Yunhyeong laughs, breaking his gaze at last and tipping his chair back again. “I already know what happened. Man, this is interesting.”

“What is it?” Junhwe asks, patience wearing thin. “How do we reverse this?”

Without answering, Yunhyeong’s looks to Donghyuk. “What’s in it for me if I help you?”

If Junhwe didn’t have anything at stake, he would probably have approved of Yunhyeong. As it so happens, he does have something at stake. The unproductive back-and-forth is setting him on edge, frustration beginning to claw at his insides.

Thankfully, Donghyuk seems to share a similar sentiment. “I’ll make sure your club’s funding doesn’t mysteriously disappear next month,” he promises, voice flat.

“Is that a threat?” For someone being threatened, Yunhyeong looks unusually happy. But he relents, producing a blank sheet of paper and pen from a desk drawer and motioning for them to gather around.

“This is how it works, so listen closely.”

First, he draws a crude image of a stick person. “When a student breaks a certain rule, their soul- or whatever you want to think of it as- gets expelled momentarily from their body.” He draws an arrow protruding from the head of the stick figure. “I don’t know why exactly, but that’s how it works. Students report things like out-of-body experiences, right? This is why. They retain most of their awareness, but they’re not truly in control of their body. Eventually, when the effect wears off, they return and regain control of themselves.”

He’s met with stunned silence.

It’s by far one of the most ridiculous things Junhwe has heard regarding the school and its rules, and he’s friends with Donghyuk. “That’s by far one of the most ridiculous- ack.” He doubles over as Donghyuk elbows him. Being in Jinhwan’s body doesn’t seem to provide much defence against his heartless neighbour-friend. Junhwe wraps his arms around his stomach protectively.

“So, with me and Junhwe…” Jinhwan ventures.

“Two of you broke a particular rule at the same time, so the whole soul-sucking thing happened to both of you.” Yunhyeong duplicates his drawing, adds another stick figure next to it with another arrow protruding from its head. “Except that in your case, each soul found an available body nearly to inhabit.”

“Each other’s,” Jinhwan finishes.

Junhwe frowns down at the sheet of paper. Yunhyeong’s stick figures, ugly and misshapen as they are, are also completely unhelpful. “Fine,” Junhwe says, tearing his eyes away from them. “What do we do to reverse it? Break another rule?”

Yunhyeong spins the pen around in his hand absently. “Can’t say for sure, since this is the first time we’ve seen something like this happen… But yeah. Probably.”

Junhwe exchanges a look with Jinhwan. The expression on Jinhwan’s face tells him that he’s thinking the same thing as Junhwe: if they’d replicated the conditions of the kiss, location included, it would have worked yesterday.

“Well?” Donghyuk demands. “Are you going to try it?”

The first period bell will go in minutes, which means they have minutes before council members on duty will start filling the council room. Junhwe doesn’t have to be told twice; he’s out of the room and halfway down the hall, Jinhwan right behind him, when he hears Yunhyeong’s distant call of “You’re welcome!”

They race to the third floor, rounding the corner to the council room with two minutes to spare. Unfortunately, council president Kim Junmyeon beats them to it.

“Too late,” Junhwe says, trying to ignore the rush of disappointment as he watches Junmyeon disappear into the council room and close the door behind him. He turns to Jinhwan. “When is the room usually empty?”

Jinhwan bites his lip. “Lunch? Right after lunch. Oh, but it’s Wednesday, so there might be a meeting around then… After school?”

After school means another full day of pretending to be Jinhwan. And that means he’ll have to attend Jinhwan’s classes.

Junhwe walks up to the council room door, Jinhwan trailing behind him. But without a good reason for knocking on the door, there seems to be nothing else they can do. Unless they skip first period class and wait around for Junmyeon to take a toilet break, there’s no way they’ll get a minute in there alone.

“Oi,” a voice hisses, and it’s Donghyuk who rounds the corner, clearly out of breath from trying to keep up with them. He takes in the way they’re standing at the door, at a loss, and makes his way over. His glare isn’t nearly as effective when he’s winded.

He pushes Junhwe aside and knocks loudly on the door. “I’ve got this,” he grumbles, then opens the door just wide enough to stick his head in.

“Hey, president, do you have a minute?” Junhwe hears him say. “I need to show you something.” From inside the room, there’s a muffled acknowledgement and sound of a chair being pushed back.

A second later, Donghyuk withdraws his head and gives Junhwe an expectant look. Junhwe wants to ruffle his hair and chuck him under the chin, but he refrains.

“Thanks,” Junhwe he whispers instead, voice low so that no one else will hear. “I owe you one. I’ll never insult your stupid glasses again.”

“You owe me more than just one,” Donghyuk mutters, but Junhwe can tell he’s satisfied.

Junhwe and Jinhwan retreat around the corner long enough for Donghyuk to lead Junmyeon in the opposite direction. As soon as the two are out of sight, they make for the door.

Junhwe never thought he’d be so glad to be inside the council room again. They go over to where it had all started, near the cabinet with the box of classified documents on top of it. The kiss only takes a second.

And this time, it works.

“My history teacher started asking me questions in class,” Junhwe says, counting off his fingers. “Donghyuk won’t stop bugging me to behave more like you. Nam Taehyun tried to talk to me this morning. And my sister acts like I’ve given her permission to do whatever she wants to my hair.”

Jinhwan looks supremely guilty about the last one. It’s lunch period two days after they’d switched back, and they’re commiserating on the roof. Or maybe reflecting is a better word for it. Their location-of-choice isn’t the most comfortable, but it’s a nice day out, and more importantly, there’s little chance of being bothered by Bobby (“fancy meeting you two here”) or Donghyuk (“just making sure you aren’t breaking any rules”) up here.

Junhwe sighs. “What about you?”

Jinhwan ducks his head, probably to hide a laugh. “Hanbin thinks I’m having some sort of a crisis. Bobby won’t stop with the jokes- what did you say to him? Chanwoo won’t talk to me anymore. Oh, and-” he grins, producing his phone from his pocket and unlocking the screen to show Junhwe something. “Look at this.”

Junhwe feels the colour drain from his face. It’s one of the selcas he’d taken in the fifth floor washroom, back when he’d been in Jinhwan’s body. He must have missed it when he’d deleted the rest. Thankfully, it’s one of the more harmless-looking ones he’d taken.

Jinhwan laughs out loud this time, looking at the photo and making a face. “I’ll keep it,” he says, eyes bright. “For posterity.” He frowns at Junhwe’s expression, reaches up to pat his cheek. “Hey, don’t make that face. It’s not embarra- actually, it is embarrassing. But it’s also hilarious.”

Junhwe finds it in himself to smile. Jinhwan hasn’t changed at all. In contrast, Junhwe feels a little less nervous and awkward around him now, more at ease. Maybe the incident had brought them closer. Or maybe it’s the knowledge that nothing Junhwe could possibly do or say would be more embarrassing than Jinhwan having full access to his body for a day.

The sun is out and the light falls on Jinhwan just right, illuminates the gentle curve of his lips and makes his eyes sparkle.

“I want to kiss you,” Junhwe blurts. Another side effect of the swap; the sense of familiarity that’s made Junhwe a little bolder, less prone to regretting the stuff that comes out of his mouth.

“You can’t,” Jinhwan says, though he looks wistful. He fashions his expression into a frown, mock sternness. “There’s a strict rule against that here, didn’t you know?”

Junhwe scoffs. But he can’t even find it in himself to resent the student council as much as he used to, not when he’d seen the other side. “The council isn’t that bad,” he admits. “It’s still stuffy, and inflexible, and boring. And full of people who probably don’t know what fun is.” He takes a deep breath. “But there’s a reason for what they- you- do, I guess. It’s a lot of hard work.”

“It is,” Jinhwan agrees. He reaches over and takes Junhwe’s hand in his, traces a pattern into his palm with his thumb. Not quite hand-holding, but close enough. “How about we go somewhere after dismissal?” Jinhwan suggests, eyebrow arched suggestively. “You know, somewhere that isn’t school. Somewhere without rules.”

Junhwe feels anticipation curl in his gut. “Yeah,” he says. “Let’s do that.”

+ Loosely inspired by Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo (Yamada and the Seven Witches). Actually, all that's similar is the kiss-and-switch, and not the rationale behind it. It's a really fun series, I recommend it!
+ A huge thank you to idyleski for the constant sweet encouragement, reassurance, and hand-holding! What would I do without you, Alice ;__; Also to my dearest sister for the vote of confidence.
+ I feel so incapable without you, Awesome Beta Reet. But I couldn't ask you to beta your own birthday fic. I really hope you like this!! And may good things come your way now that you're old.
+ See you all again when ikon debuts in 2018 u__u