part 1
ef="http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/593799/the-way-we-want-it-to-be-romance-exo-kai-kyungsoo-kaisoo-humour">the way we want it to be
(high school!au) when jongin was referred to kyungsoo to solve his ghost problem, he had never thought kyungsoo would give him so much trouble just to convince kyungsoo to help.
Foreword
warnings: homophobic elements, bullying, mentions of underage sex
~21.3k words
The cheers of the crowd were getting louder now as the seconds tick down on the clock, the game almost coming to an end with the scores being at a stalemate for the past forty minutes. It was an important match for both teams, both needing the points to confirm their place in the next round, and they were definitely fighting tooth and nail to come out on top.
If Jongin had been stress-free for the most part of the match, having scored the first goal before their opponents had netted two, only to have the scores levelled by Luhan who tipped another past the goalkeeper shortly after halftime, he was definitely feeling the pressure now. They were so close to getting into the quarter-finals, and their coach definitely wouldn’t be pleased if they fell at the final hurdle, having set a high bar for them this year with the injection of fresh blood into the team. One point and three points made a lot of difference, when they were drawn into such a tough group.
Jongin’s eyes flickered towards the time, gulping when he realised there was only one final minute of added time left. He yelled in triumph when Yixing managed to steal the ball from their opponent, and dashed across the field in the direction of the goalpost, eyes glued on the ball by Yixing’s feet. Yixing deftly passed the ball over to Minseok, who delivered it towards Luhan, and their fate was sealed. Everyone knew that the tag team formed between Luhan and Jongin was virtually unstoppable, which was why every single team that faced them tried to pull the pair apart.
Not today, and certainly not now. They were thirsty for the win, and Jongin gritted his teeth when Luhan passed the ball to him, dribbling past several defenders in the process. With one hook of his foot, Jongin sent the ball airborne for a brief moment, before executing a perfect bicycle kick.
The final whistle went off just as the soccer ball sailed neatly through the air, skimmed past the goalkeeper’s fingers, and fell safely into the goal.
Jongin knelt on the grass for a brief moment, unable to believe that he'd done it, and then he was tackled to the ground by his teammates. The crowd went wild. He did it. They won. They were through to the quarter-finals.
The celebration continued long after the match had ended. Jongin laughed boisterously as he was hoisted up into the air by his teammates and their supporters, giving high fives to many others who came to congratulate him, and the feeling was simply exhilarating.
“That was fucking cool! Way to end the match!” He heard a familiar voice - one belonging to his friend, Taemin - say, and he turned to grin at the boy just as the crowd finally had enough of parading him around.
“You’re forgetting who you’re talking to, Taemin. He's not the star striker of the team for nothing.” Yixing walked up and hooked a sweaty arm around Taemin’s shoulder, and Jongin laughed when Taemin scowled at Yixing and tried to get away from him. As if Taemin wasn’t already sweating buckets himself from the game.
“Still, it’s a good way to leave an impression.” Minseok walked up and joined them along with Luhan, each punching Jongin once on the arm. They were all grinning their faces off, evidently giddy from their win.
“Can you see now-” Luhan gestured dramatically at the bleachers, where people were still catcalling and cheering for Jongin’s team who was slowly making their way across the field, basking in the afterglow of their victory. “-how bright our futures will be if we manage to make it to the finals and win it with a bang?”
“The fame that is waiting for us.” Taemin chimed in, and Jongin could only laugh along, too tired to come up with a verbal response. They didn’t mind his silence after their matches; they were already used to it by now.
The moment Jongin walked into their locker room with his friends, though, he felt a cold shudder run down his spine, as though someone was watching him intently. He spun around, facing the direction where he thought the person was staring at him from, but a frown quickly found its way to his face.
There was no one there.
Jongin frowned deeper, but shrugged it off in the end. He was probably exhausted from the game, and besides, the celebration was more important right now.
--
A pair of terrified brown eyes peered over the edge of the comforter and into the darkness of the room, their owner disappearing right under the covers rapidly at the slightest of sounds. Jongin didn’t give a damn even if he were on the edge of ripping holes through his comforter, his knuckles white from the death grip he had upon it. He was too busy praying to all the gods and deities in the world, lips moving rapidly to all the mantras and spells he knew of which were said to be able to ward off evil spirits.
He had heard of the rumours, the ones that claimed his dorm room was haunted - it was apparently home to a student who had hung himself to death from the ceiling fan, unable to withstand the bullying he was going through years ago - ever since he had set foot in SM High and was assigned to this very room. There were also claims that the dormitory block was built on top of what used to be a mass grave during the nation’s war-torn days. After countless failed attempts at changing rooms and the lack of paranormal sightings several months down the line since the school year had begun, Jongin was finally resigned to his fate and was beginning to settle in.
That was, until, his things started flying across the damned room on their own. Jongin tried hard to ignore them, telling himself that it was only a trick of the eye, that he was just so exhausted to the point of hallucinating, and he eventually grew accustomed to that, too.
Jongin had no idea what he had done to incur the wrath of the spirits in this room, but they had decided to take things up a notch by actually disturbing him physically tonight. He could deal with the creepy wailings and tortured moans; he just had to plug his earphones in and turn up the volume of his iPod while still chanting spells to ward these probably bored spirits off. Then they decided to be funny and began pulling off his earphones, too. Jongin thought the occasional feeling of someone watching him was rather similar to the sensation he'd felt after his soccer match three days ago, but he couldn't really be sure.
Jongin’s trembling diminished when the moaning stopped completely, and he thanked the gods above for answering his prayers, thinking he could finally get some much needed sleep. Dawn was fast approaching, and he couldn’t really afford to miss first period again. The moment he lowered his comforter which was smothering his face, though, he found himself face to face with a white-faced, long-haired person.
He let out a strangled whimper when the person stuck her tongue out to lick at his face. It took Jongin five full seconds to remember he didn’t even have a roommate, let alone such a ghastly-looking one, and another extra second for him to let out an uncharacteristic shriek before he was bolting the hell out of his dorm room, in a speed that could probably put Usain Bolt to shame.
--
“Jongin,” Jongdae said exasperatedly as he typed away on his phone, sparing only a split second’s glance at the boy who had converted the end of Jongdae’s bed into his own territory. “Could you please get out of my room already?”
“No.” Jongin replied bluntly, absently picking at the loose threads on Jongdae’s blanket. “There is no way in hell I’m going back to that room. Ever.”
Jongdae rolled his eyes at the younger boy, muttering silent curses at Jongin for disturbing his peace. Jongdae was cranky enough as it was, considering how Jongin had practically barged in through his door at three in the fucking morning, rattling off about evil spirits committing a hostile takeover of his dorm room and trying to drag his innocent soul to join them down in the deepest pits of hell. Jongin had refused to leave since then, even keeping Jongdae up all night because Jongin was too afraid to fall asleep.
Jongdae still thought Jongin was being Overly Dramatic.
“Look,” Jongdae snapped impatiently. “Junmyeon is coming over in a short while, and unless you’re into voyeurism, you need to leave.”
“Can I watch you two have sex instead? I promise I won’t make a noise.” Jongin perked up hopefully. To him, anything was better than having to return to his own room and facing those ghosts and getting himself scared witless all over again. He had a reputation to protect, god damn it. Besides, Jongin had heard of how good Junmyeon was in bed, so perhaps-
“No. Don’t you even think about it, Kim Jongin.” Jongdae said flatly, giving Jongin the evil eye. Having been friends with Jongin for almost the entire year (through the oddest of circumstances, no less), Jongdae could hazard a guess about what Jongin had in mind. “Of all the other rooms you could go to, why mine? Go bother someone else.”
Jongin put on the best kicked puppy face he could manage and sidled up to Jongdae. Jongdae groaned, because that little bastard knew he couldn’t say no when Jongin was pouting, and he wondered why he hadn’t taken a photo of Jongin’s expressions as blackmail material yet. Jongdae was sure the rest of the student body would be delighted to see the real face of the usually cool ace soccer player of their school.
“But you’re the only one I know of that lives in a single room, Jongdae hyung.” Oh no, not the ‘hyung’ card. This little shit- “I can’t possibly impose on the others when they’re sharing with someone else, right? Please? Hyung?”
Jongdae slapped a hand against his own face when he felt his heart softening under the intonation Jongin was using with him. “Fine. I’ll help.” He mumbled miserably, adding sharply when he noticed Jongin was having some wrong ideas. “-but you’re still not staying for my tutoring session with Junmyeon hyung!”
Jongin muttered something suspiciously close to ‘cheapskate’ and ‘an orgy would’ve been fun’, before Jongdae lost it completely and kicked him out of the room, along with the instructions to find someone who was from Jongin’s year - the (apparently) all-knowing Oh Sehun.
Jongin refrained from commenting about how he had never heard of such a person, ever, in all the months he’d been in school - the enrollment this year wasn’t even massive to begin with. But Jongdae seemed close to wanting to castrate Jongin if he’d as much as said another word, and Jongin still wanted to keep his family jewels intact, thankyouverymuch.
--
When Jongin had first heard about Oh Sehun and the glittery title that came with his name, he’d imagined the boy to be all creepy and pale, hunched over a crystal ball and huddled up in a dark room which was heavily-scented with sandalwood - the way fortune tellers were portrayed in movies.
Standing in front of the boy right now, Jongin found himself pleasantly surprised.
Only the pale part of his imagination rang true; Sehun appeared almost unreal, with smooth, white skin stretching over long limbs and sharp angles, looking nothing like the pre-formed image Jongin had of him. No bandanas, no chandelier earrings, no crystal balls, no creepy greetings. There was only a perpetually bored, disinterested face, and an impatient “Yeah, what do you need? I ain’t got any of those weeds or pills on me right now, if that’s what you’re looking for” which greeted Jongin.
Jongin blinked twice and shook his head to get himself out of his daze, reaching forward just in time to stop the door from getting slammed in his face. “No, wait. I’m not here for drugs.” Jongin said, and though he was itching to know where Sehun managed to get his hands on those illicit substances, he held his tongue. There were more pressing matters at hand - like the ghost problem in his dorm room.
“Then what? Need the number of that hot freshman cheerleader?” Sehun regarded him with the same look of boredom, as though he was used to answering such questions. And then a look of recognition crossed Sehun’s face, though it was gone in a flash, the boredom taking its place once again. “Oh. You’re the Kim Jongin.”
Jongin smirked. So Sehun did know him after all. “Yeah.”
“What do you need from me?” Sehun asked, rolling his eyes.
“My friend told me you were the person to see if I wanted to find out about something in school.”
Sehun shifted his weight and leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. “Oh?” The boy said again, his tone finally showing some semblance of emotion rather than his usual flatness, if the past five minutes Jongin had spent talking to him was any indication of it. “I do indeed know a lot of things that go around on campus, like how Kris is still debating with himself whether Luhan’s a girl who’s been wrongly placed in the same dorm room, and how he’s trying so hard to stop himself from jumping on Luhan and fucking him senseless-”
Jongin choked back a laugh, mainly because Luhan was definitely a guy and Kris was probably still in denial with regards to his sexual orientation. Jongin should know. He had fucked Luhan up against the lockers in the changing room after one of their soccer practices months ago. Best sex so far, admittedly, but Sehun didn’t need to know about that.
At least, Jongin hoped he didn’t know.
“-and I have pretty much everyone’s numbers, including yours, Kim Jongin.”
Jongin’s eyes widened in surprise at the comment, because he’d never even talked to Sehun before this. “How did you-”
Just then, he was interrupted when his phone rang in his jeans pocket. Jongin fished the device out, and realised that he had received a text message from an unknown number.
I have my sources ;), it read, and Jongin looked up to the sight of Sehun smirking at him, phone in hand with an identical text message blazing across the screen.
Jongin was instantly sold.
--
Contrary to expectations (Jongin vaguely thought he should twist his expectations around, because he had been proved wrong way too many times in the last day alone), Sehun actually bothered listening to him. He’d invited Jongin into his (very messy) room, and sat there emotionlessly as Jongin recounted his ghoulish experiences to him, only to pull a photo of a wide-eyed senior of theirs out with a flourish at the end of the session.
(Jongin wondered if Sehun had indeed been listening. Sehun’s eyes had been glazed over for as long as Jongin had been talking, only coming back to reality when Jongin had poked him cautiously in the knee.)
It was quite an unflattering photo of a sophomore named Do Kyungsoo, that much Jongin could vouch for. It seemed as though it had been taken years ago, if the yellowing paper was anything to go by, much like something that had been stolen out of Kyungsoo’s private stash of Photos That Should Never See The Light Of Day, showing a pale-looking boy with a haircut which made him look as though he was doing a very bad cosplay of a Star Trek character.
Jongin frowned. What were the chances that this Kyungsoo person would stay relatively unchanged through puberty?
It didn’t take long for him to find out, though, when the school bell rang and the students filed out from the classroom Kyungsoo was supposedly studying in. Jongin recognised Kyungsoo on his first try - puberty had indeed been very kind to his senior. The boy with wide eyes and pale skin walked right past Jongin, sporting a much better haircut than the one he had in the photo, spiked up and held in place by hair products.
Jongin enjoyed the fact that he towered over Kyungsoo, and, if Jongin had to admit, Kyungsoo was cute.
He also had the overwhelming urge to keep Kyungsoo in his pocket, because fuck him, he was rather into guys who were adorable. Kyungsoo practically fit the bill, and now he couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Jongin casually jogged right up to Kyungsoo, the way he would for warm-ups before soccer practice, sending several girls squealing in the process with a wink, before he turned around and began walking backwards in a pretty convincing imitation of Michael Jackson’s moonwalk just so he could talk to Kyungsoo. His senior didn’t seem to have noticed Jongin at first, his gaze fixated on the ground as he ploughed his way through the after-school crowd. Jongin frowned, then waved a hand in front of Kyungsoo to get his attention.
Kyungsoo starts at the gesture and stopped abruptly in his steps, watching wide-eyed as Jongin crashed into a pillar because he was still preoccupied with walking backwards. There were muffled laughter around them, and Jongin’s cheeks turned pink from embarrassment. Smooth move. He cleared his throat awkwardly and quickly patted himself down, pretending nothing had happened just moments ago.
“Are you okay?” A voice interrupted Jongin while he was still brushing the imaginary dust off his uniform, and Jongin glanced up and was met with Kyungsoo’s concerned face.
He immediately straightened himself and laughed. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” Jongin asked, propping himself up against the wall with his elbow. Several cameras went off around them - the other students must be taking photos of him in his usual model-like poses - and he flashed his award-winning grin (in his dreams, anyway) at Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. “You just walked yourself into a pillar.” He deadpanned. “Did you knock yourself stupid or something?”
Jongin stared at him oddly. “No?” He shook his head to gather his thoughts when he suddenly remembered the reason behind his presence at the upperclassmen wing of the building. “I’m Jongin, by the way. Kim Jongin.”
“I know.” Kyungsoo said, appearing slightly affronted. “The whole school knows who you are.”
Jongin was about to say something along the lines of oh I thought you were a hermit who didn’t care about school events, before he realised that it probably wasn’t the appropriate thing to say when he needed help from Kyungsoo. “Oh.” He said intelligently instead. “I actually need to talk to you about something, Kyungsoo sunbae. I don’t know if you actually know of this person called Sehun, but he was the one who sent me here.”
Kyungsoo blinked in confusion, not quite getting the turn of events. “Why would you need to speak to me? And how did you know my name? I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“Like I said, Sehun sent me. I’m having some problems with... spirits-” the last word was nothing more than a bare whisper, lest people thought Jongin had some loose screws in his head. “-and he said you could help me with it, that you deal with spirits.”
Thankfully, there was a look of understanding flashing across Kyungsoo’s features. “Oh, that.” He said flatly. “I don’t know who this Sehun person is, but you’ve come to the right person, alright. Why should I help you, though?”
Jongin’s grin stretched across his face. “You get to date this fine specimen, of course!” He declared, then followed it up with a wink. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, you know. People are dying to even get close to me, and they’d probably kill to be in your place too. What do you say?”
There was a long gap of silence, along with Kyungsoo’s look that screamed are you serious, but Jongin kept his grin intact, hoping Kyungsoo would actually consider helping him out. He was surprised when Kyungsoo merely rolled his eyes moments later, and walked off without addressing Jongin further.
Jongin could only stare incredulously at Kyungsoo’s retreating back, stunned into silence. Did he just get rejected?
--
If there were two things in this world that Jongin hated the most, it would be getting rejected and giving up. With that, Jongin had developed an incredible sense of persistence - what Jongin wanted, Jongin will get.
Kyungsoo’s rejection on the day Jongin had met him only served to spur Jongin on further, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to step into his dorm room until the ghost problem had been solved. That, and he thought Kyungsoo was cute, and Jongin was eager to get into his pants, just to see him pliant and needy and filthy under him. After getting to know him better. Sort of. Kyungsoo had featured in one of Jongin’s wet dreams several nights ago, and he couldn’t really get the image of the boy going down on him out of his head. Jongin kind of really wanted to have a taste for himself how Kyungsoo would react to his touches.
But no matter how much Jongin pestered Kyungsoo, making it a point to wait for Kyungsoo outside his classroom the moment school was dismissed, showering him with gifts and offers to take him out on dates, even attempting to manhandle his petite senior, Kyungsoo wouldn’t even talk to him, ignoring him outright on most days, as though Jongin was invisible. Even if Jongin managed to grab onto him, Kyungsoo always found a way to escape from Jongin, and it made Jongin terribly frustrated.
Which was why Jongin found himself splayed out on the floor of Sehun’s room in defeat, some three weeks after he’d first went in search of Sehun. He was hoping Sehun could help him out somewhat, but Jongin was beginning to see that it was a waste of time.
Sehun couldn’t even be bothered to spare Jongin a glance after letting him into his room, as though he was used to accommodating people who needed floor space to mope. “For someone who’s supposedly cool, you’re actually pretty pathetic,” Sehun said with contempt some minutes later, eyes still glued on the comic in his hands.
“Go on, mock me all you want. It’s not as though I have any pride left in me.” Jongin said lifelessly, his gaze fixated on the ceiling as he wallowed in self-pity.
Sehun rolled his eyes. “Where’s the fun in that when you’re not even putting up a fight? So, what do you want this time?”
Jongin steadfastly ignored the way Sehun was now poking at his side with his toe, as if trying to determine whether Jongin was dead. “I don’t understand why Kyungsoo would reject my request.” He mumbled to himself. “I did offer him a chance to date me in return-”
“You, Kim Jongin, are unbelievable. If you’re flirting with him, it’ll get you nowhere.” Sehun scoffed, flopping down on his stomach to send Jongin the most judging stare he could muster. “It’s no wonder you were rejected.”
Jongin raised his head from the floor to look at Sehun. “It’s not?”
Again, Sehun rolled his eyes at Jongin, but he finally sat up on his bed, comic forgotten, looking every bit as though he meant business. Maybe Jongin’s trip to Sehun’s room wasn’t going to be a waste of time after all.
“What you need is a lesson in the art of persuasion.”
--
Jongin couldn't, for the life of him, figure out the correlation between learning how to persuade someone into doing things for him, and his meeting with another sophomore called Byun Baekhyun. For one, Baekhyun was a master in makeup-related matters (Jongin felt it rude to enquire about Baekhyun's abnormal interest in something that was decidedly very female, so he didn't), that much Jongin could give him credit for. He was also a much better listener than Sehun would ever be, if the enthusiastic nodding of his head while Jongin recounted his experiences with Kyungsoo to him was anything to go by.
Jongin frowned at his reflection in the mirror, fingers ghosting over the very realistic dark circles Baekhyun had painted on for him. He looked like someone who hadn’t slept in weeks, the darkness of his lower lids making his face look hollow, his eyes bloodshot from peeling onions (Baekhyun had insisted on it so that he could complete the look). Jongin had protested against it at first, when Baekhyun had started dabbing black eyeshadow beneath his eyes, but Baekhyun had shut him up with one fierce look, his dainty, perfectly manicured hands on his hips as he said, “Look, do you want to convince Kyungsoo to help you out with your ghost problem or not?”
Jongin had nodded very meekly, and Baekhyun immediately went back to business without another word said.
His eyes were itching so badly, and Jongin reached up and was about to rub at them, before freezing mid-action, remembering the very stern warning Baekhyun had thrown at him before he'd sent Jongin on his way.
If you smudge it before meeting Kyungsoo, I will personally rip your balls off and give you a new hole.
Bored, Jongin blew his fringe out of his face and leaned against the window with his arms crossed in front of his chest, putting all his weight on one foot. Wednesdays were the days when Kyungsoo had extra classes (no, Jongin hadn’t been creeping on his timetable), so he had ample time to wait for the older boy. His fingers reached up in a nervous gesture to tug at his necktie, suddenly feeling that everything was a tad too warm. It sucked even more that he was wearing a thicker blazer in anticipation for the change from autumn to winter, which obviously hadn’t come, and he irately shrugged off the clothing article, folding it over his arm instead.
“You know,” somebody spoke up right next to Jongin all of a sudden, making the boy gasp and jump in surprise, his heart practically in his throat. He hadn’t heard anyone approaching him at all. “You should really stop stripping to impress people. Are you allergic to clothes or something?”
Jongin glanced back at the student who had sneaked up at him, a string of curses readied at the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them up when he was greeted by the sight of Kyungsoo’s decidedly unimpressed face.
“Kyungsoo sunbae!” Jongin greeted in a pitch too high, backing up against the windows again from surprise. “I thought you were-” His eyes flicked confusedly at Kyungsoo’s classroom before falling upon Kyungsoo again. “-aren’t you supposed to be in class still?”
Kyungsoo’s frown grew deeper, and Jongin had to stop himself from physically reaching out to the shorter boy and smoothing those lines on his forehead out for him. It was not part of the Standard Protocol of human interactions, no matter that Jongin though frowning did not suit Kyungsoo’s face at all.
“A guy could use a toilet break, can't he?” Kyungsoo deadpanned.
Jongin suddenly felt incredibly stupid. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly, scratching the side of his face in embarrassment.
He felt himself holding his breath for the umpteenth time that afternoon when Kyungsoo suddenly leaned in, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinised something on Jongin’s face. Jongin’s eyes darted everywhere else, trying hard not to stare at Kyungsoo’s face, or his thick eyebrows, or the perfect slope of his nose, or his plump, inviting heart-shaped lips. He could even count his pores from the lack of distance-
“You look like shit.”
The brutally honest statement had Jongin choking on air as Kyungsoo pulled back, the lines of his face a little less uptight now. “What?” Jongin blurted, still coughing away. His hand shot up in reassurance when another student walked past and shot him an odd look, which sent Kyungsoo spinning around questioningly.
“I’m serious. You look horrid.” Kyungsoo said as-a-matter-of-factly when the student went on her way, but not after she'd blew a kiss at Jongin who grinned dumbly back. He didn't seem impressed. Jongin quickly tucked his arm back in his side. “Your eyebags can probably give Zitao a run for his money. Haven’t you been sleeping?”
Who’s Zitao? Jongin had wanted to ask, but there was something different about Kyungsoo’s voice that made him do a double take. Was that… concern?
“Uh.” Jongin blurted intelligently, before finally remembering what the plan was. He shuddered a little when Baekhyun’s threat echoed in his ears again. “No.” He lied, feeling himself flinch inwardly. He had indeed been sleeping, in Jongdae’s room, and had absolutely no idea if the spirits were still hanging around in his own dorm room.
Jongin definitely wasn’t kidding when he’d told Jongdae he wasn’t going to return to his room until the ghost problem had been solved. But Kyungsoo didn’t have to know that. Not really.
“The spirits in your room are that bad, huh.” Kyungsoo said after a pregnant pause, chewing on his lower lip as he mulled over something. Jongin decided that he liked how red Kyungsoo’s bottom lip was when he finally released it to speak.
“Look, you wanted my help, right? Fine, I’ll help you. Just this once.”
Jongin, who’d been a little preoccupied with staring at Kyungsoo’s lips, jolted back to reality at the sound of Kyungsoo’s voice. “What?” He blinked.
“I said I’ll help you chase away the spirits in your room.” Kyungsoo repeated, the corner of his mouth twitching a little, showing the smallest semblance of a smile when Jongin’s face brightened up.
“Really?” Jongin wondered in amazement, not having expected that Kyungsoo would finally agree with his request. “When will you be able to do it? I mean- I don’t want to sound pushy, but-”
“Today.” Kyungsoo cut off his rambling as he turned around and headed down the hallway, presumably to answer nature’s call which he had intended to do before he had been sidetracked by Jongin and his apparently horrid eyebags. “Meet me at the main entrance of the school in half an hour. I have something I need to get before I pay these spirits a visit.” He called out, waving over his shoulder without waiting for an answer.
Jongin could only grin widely at the thought that he was going to wrest his room back, and things were made even better when he realised that this was the longest conversation he’d ever sustained with Kyungsoo.
--
When Kyungsoo had asked Jongin to meet him at the main gates after classes were dismissed, Jongin had thought Kyungsoo wanted to make a quick trip to the grocery stores across the street for… well, stuff before adjourning to Jongin’s dorm room.
What he hadn’t expected was for Kyungsoo to drag him several blocks away from school, to an incense shop at the outskirts of town. It certainly did not help that Kyungsoo remained silent for the most part of their walk, only giving brief answers to Jongin’s attempts at striking up a proper conversation, or that the boy had actually stopped to talk to people Jongin couldn’t see. They’d attracted enough attention to themselves on the streets; Jongin could only smile sheepishly at the curious onlookers whenever Kyungsoo spoke to these ghosts, though the boy himself didn’t think it was weird. Jongin wondered if he was able to see all spirits roaming around them, and a cold chill ran down his spine.
Jongin thought he could finally relax when the incense shop finally came into view. It was tucked in a secluded corner off the main street, with numerous paper offerings shaped in various objects - houses, cars, maids, even flat screen TVs - hung up at the store’s front. The shop itself smelled heavily of sandalwood, courtesy of the incense burning on the altar, though when Jongin had sneezed for the tenth time in the span of 30 seconds, his nose thoroughly irritated by the scent, Kyungsoo heaved a sigh and asked Jongin to wait for him at the bus stand opposite the shop while he made some purchases.
But right now, Jongin would rather have his nose irritated through and through in the shop than to stand in the presence of fresh air. He had his eyes narrowed at the sight in front of him, of Kyungsoo laughing and smiling at something the tall boy who was manning the shop was saying. Jongin had seen the boy around in school. He was a sophomore just like Kyungsoo, and frequented their soccer practices and matches. Jongin narrowed his eyes further; didn't the boy always cheer for Minseok, their team's co-captain? What was he doing flirting with Kyungsoo right now? That creep-
Jongin huffed and spun around in his position, running a hand through his hair in an effort to dispel his irritation. It worked, if only for a brief moment, and when he saw Kyungsoo laugh at something the boy said again - he was jealous, yes, because Kyungsoo would never respond to him in the same way, and Jongin kind of wanted Kyungsoo to smile at him like that - Jongin pulled his phone out and fired off a quick text.
Do you know of any sophomore who works at an incense shop?
The reply was immediate. Park Chanyeol. Class 2-B. Why?
Tell me all you know about him. Jongin typed, then added another sentence after a moment's hesitation. And his relationship with Kyungsoo.
"Hey, sorry that took so long." Kyungsoo's voice joined him just as Jongin hit the send button, and Jongin quickly slid his phone back into the pocket of his slacks.
"It's okay! I have all the patience in the world!" He chirped. Jongin must be grinning a little too widely, bordering on being creepy, even, because Kyungsoo cocked an eyebrow at him, probably wondering what was up with Jongin.
"Let's... go, then." Kyungsoo said, eyeing Jongin suspiciously for another moment longer before turning on his heels and walking back in the direction they had come from earlier.
Jongin followed after him, but not after reading the last message from Sehun.
He’s Kyungsoo’s only friend in school, as far as I know. I’ll tell you the rest of the details when you come see me.
Somehow, that piece of information didn’t quite sit well with Jongin.
--
"This is it." Jongin gestured at the door to his dorm room as he shifted his weight onto his right leg, suddenly feeling extremely awkward. Kyungsoo was looking around the hallways with too-wide eyes, as though it was his first time being in the school dormitories, but of course Jongin knew that wasn't true. They were in a boarding school, after all.
"Well." Kyungsoo said, and Jongin wondered if the petite sophomore was cold; he was rubbing his arms in an apparent effort to generate more heat, though if Jongin had to be honest, the air in the hallway they were in was stifling. He fought the urge to tug at his collar and to remove his necktie, because he knew Kyungsoo wouldn't like that. "You definitely weren't lying when you said there were a couple of spirits bothering you. They're quite the vindictive ones."
"You can feel their presence through the door?" Jongin asked, careful to keep the joy out of his tone; at least the ghosts were still hanging around, or he might've gotten in trouble. And then Jongin made a double take at something else Kyungsoo had said. "Wait, you thought I was lying? Why?" He cried out indignantly.
Thankfully, Kyungsoo had the decency to look sheepish about it. "Sorry. You were flirting a whole lot when you first came to see me - all those gifts, the dating offers. I mean, seriously, who on earth asks for help like that? I thought you were one of those jocks who thinks that everyone would be willing to drop their pants and let you fuck their brains out without putting up any resistance, but since I did reject you multiple times, I thought this was one of your nefarious plans on getting me into bed."
Jongin positively choked on air at his words, because that had been his initial motive, apart from getting Kyungsoo to help him with his ghost problem, of course, though now he didn't quite feel strongly about that. Kyungsoo would probably hate his guts if he knew. Jongin could feel his cheeks warming up, and he quickly ducked his head and hid his face from sight before Kyungsoo got suspicious.
"Well," he cleared his throat as he dug out his keys from his pocket and stuck it into the keyhole. "I guess you'd like to get started soon?"
Jongin stepped aside and allowed Kyungsoo to walk into his room ahead of him. The shorter boy peered into the room with wide eyes, taking in the surroundings carefully, and Jongin poked his head in next to Kyungsoo's to take a look for himself what sort of catastrophe had befallen his dorm. He felt thankful that Kyungsoo didn't end up elbowing him in the stomach, merely tensing up next to Jongin from the lack of distance for a brief moment before inching away from him.
Jongin had never realised that he could actually see ghosts in broad daylight when a ghastly-looking thing rushed up to them the moment Kyungsoo pushed the door wide open. Jongin actually jumped away from the entrance to his room and plastered himself against the wall of the corridor, getting as far away from the ghost as he could, but he watched in awe as Kyungsoo shook his head and placed his hands on his hips in a reprimanding manner, not the least bit frightened by the sight in front of him. Jongin could still feel the chill right down to his bones.
"What do you think you're doing, going around scaring people like that?" Kyungsoo said at the long-haired ghost, whom cocked her - his? - head to the side questioningly. Jongin could hear the frown in his voice, and he saw how Kyungsoo's stance relaxed even though the other thing remained silent. Kyungsoo was nodding from time to time, as if he was engaging in a wordless conversation with the ghost.
"It's not nice to disturb people even if you're hungry, you know." Kyungsoo finally said with a sigh, shoulders sagging defeatedly. "Didn't your other friends let you know that you could always come to me to get fed?"
Jongin raised an eyebrow when the ghost responded with a semblance of a shake of its head.
Kyungsoo sighed again. "Well now you know." He said simply, stomping into the room past the ghost with the bag of incense in hand before pulling everything out of it. The words which left his lips next were gentle, and Jongin found himself taking a hesitant step closer to his room just to get a glimpse of Kyungsoo's expressions.
"I live in the next building," Kyungsoo patiently told the ghost, who had cocked its head to the side to listen to Kyungsoo. "You should be able to find me from my scent, can't you?" With this, he turned and cast an expectant look at Jongin. "Aren't you going to help me set up this stuff?"
It was all that was needed to send Jongin scampering to Kyungsoo's side. He helpfully placed the fruits Kyungsoo had bought on their way back on several paper plates, and fetched a container in which Kyungsoo poured some ash into it to hold the incense upright. When that was done, Kyungsoo said a little prayer for the spirit, while Jongin quickly vacated his place to allow the spirit to inhale the smoke rising from the incense, which Jongin assumed was its source of food. Several more spirits appeared out of nowhere and crowded around the joss stick, and Jongin backed away even more.
The entire ritual took no more than ten minutes, and Jongin felt mildly disappointed at how uneventful it was when the spirits merely dissipated into thin air, almost as though they were never there to begin with. Considering how vicious one of the spirits had been when it had first appeared before Jongin a couple of weeks ago, it sure was easily appeased.
"Most spirits aren't vicious by nature," Kyungsoo said in lieu with Jongin's train of thoughts, as if he could read Jongin's mind. "They just need something to sustain their survival as they find out what's shackling them down to the human world, otherwise they'd turn into hungry ghosts."
"You... seem to understand them a lot." Jongin pointed out thoughtfully.
There was a newfound sense of respect in Jongin for Kyungsoo, not only because he'd helped Jongin with his dorm room's ghost problem, but also how he seemed to be unaffected by the way the others talked about him whenever he'd converse with the spirits in broad daylight. Somehow, Jongin wished he could be the same, to be himself without being afraid of how the other students would see him or how the gossips would crop up with the slightest embarrassment he made of himself. Ever since middle school, Jongin had been thrust into the limelight with his soccer skills, earning hearts and praises and admiration, but no matter where he went, Jongin could feel everyone's expectant gazes on him, burning into him and waiting for him to make even the slightest mistake.
Jongin had to be perfect, and accepted nothing less of himself.
Kyungsoo chuckled. "I have to understand them, because they're the only friends I have." He said, and though his tone was cheerful, Jongin froze a little at the hint of sadness layered beneath it, but before he could delve deeper into it, Kyungsoo had already packed up in lightning speed and left his room without another word said.
Jongin sat on the floor and leaned against his bed frame that evening, suddenly feeling that his room was a little too quiet for his liking, even though a part of him knew that he should be celebrating the fact that his room was now ghost-free.
--
An insufferable sigh greeted Jongin the moment the door was thrown open instead of the conventional 'hello', but Jongin couldn't find it in himself to reprimand the person who had answered the door. Instead, Jongin trudged lifelessly into the room against the protests of its owner, and dropped himself onto the carpeted section of the room, laying spread-eagle on the floor. Another string of muffled curses followed, before Sehun slammed the door shut and threw himself onto his bed, glancing expectantly at Jongin.
"So? What's up with the great Kim Jongin today?" Sehun asked mockingly. "Don't tell me you got your panties in a bunch, because I sure as hell won't help you solve that problem."
"Stuff it." Jongin said, without heat. "I know you're the go-to person in school, but haven't you ever invited someone else into your room as a friend?"
Sehun appeared genuinely surprised by Jongin's statement this time; it shows in the way his eyebrows shoot up, shattering his usual mask of indifference. "Friends? You and me?"
Jongin craned his neck and looked at Sehun. "Yeah. Got a problem with that?"
"Wow." Sehun sounded impressed and a little dumbfounded at the same time, as though he couldn't wrap his mind around what Jongin had said. "I didn't think you, of all people, would want to be friends with someone else."
Jongin scowled at Sehun this time, actually feeling offended by his words. "What do you mean by that? I'm a normal person too, of course I'd want friends."
Sehun raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Really. Name a few." He said, then quickly added, when Jongin smirked. "Not, someone from the soccer team."
Now Jongin was a little troubled by the condition set by Sehun. "I have Jongdae, and-" he paused, trying to think of another person whom he could call a friend outside the soccer team. In the end, after wracking through his mind, Jongin threw his hand up in defeat because no, there wasn't anyone else. It was the team, and then everyone else in Jongin’s world. Now he was even more desperate to change that fact.
Sehun grinned triumphantly. "See. With your level of fame in school, can you really see yourself opening up to other people without feeling even the least bit guarded?"
"Am I really that unapproachable?"
"Not so much of being unapproachable. You wouldn't have a hoard of crazed admirers if you were." Sehun rolled his eyes, as though it was the most obvious fact in the world. Perhaps it was. "You have your head in the air most of the time. Too much praise can fuck with your brain."
"But I want to be friends. With Kyungsoo." Jongin said, almost petulantly. It wasn't a lie, though. This was probably the first time Jongin was genuinely interested in getting to know someone else from school. He might come across as someone who didn't really know what was going on around him half the time unless it was related to soccer, but Jongin could see the superficiality of the smiles surrounding him. Everyone wanted to be a part of Jongin's clique, but Jongin was sure that when he was in deep shit, they'd be the first ones to shun him. It was just how things were in school.
The fall from the top to the very bottom of the food chain wasn't at all that far.
Jongin shuddered at the thought just as Sehun sighed sympathetically. "Look, I may know a lot of things going around in school, but I can't exactly teach you how to make friends." He frowned a little.
"It's okay," Jongin said. "You just have to tell me about my undesirable qualities and I'll... probably learn how to fix them from there, I guess."
Sehun's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Are you sure about that?"
Jongin failed to notice the scheming smirk pulling at the corner of Sehun's mouth, and said, "Yeah, it can't be all that bad, can it?"
--
Yes, it could indeed be that bad. Jongin walked out of his little hangout session with Sehun feeling as though he'd been dumped right under a moving bus, multiple times, until he became one with the road. It was baffling, Jongin thought, how someone who didn't know him too well could dish out such a massive amount of negative comments on his character and how he acted in school - comments which Jongin actually agreed upon for the most part.
At least Jongin now knew what he should be fixing, and at least he came out of the meeting with a little more knowledge on Chanyeol's relationship with Kyungsoo. Chanyeol was the only permanent fixture in Kyungsoo's life, apparently. They had known each other since their middle school days, where Sehun had coincidentally attended with them and had seen them around before. Sehun told Jongin how Kyungsoo would gradually push everyone away from him, leaving only Chanyeol by his side. Sehun had no idea what had happened between Kyungsoo and another guy he had been very, very close to, but one thing was for sure: Kyungsoo was a loner, and it was probably going to be a gargantuan task for Jongin to even get into Kyungsoo’s very narrow social circle.
Then again, Jongin wasn't famed for his iron determination for nothing. If there was one thing he intended to do now, it was to be Kyungsoo's friend.
Puffing up his chest, he grinned to himself at his own prospects, ignoring the judging glances everyone else was throwing at him.
--
(high school!au) when jongin was referred to kyungsoo to solve his ghost problem, he had never thought kyungsoo would give him so much trouble just to convince kyungsoo to help.
Foreword
warnings: homophobic elements, bullying, mentions of underage sex
~21.3k words
The cheers of the crowd were getting louder now as the seconds tick down on the clock, the game almost coming to an end with the scores being at a stalemate for the past forty minutes. It was an important match for both teams, both needing the points to confirm their place in the next round, and they were definitely fighting tooth and nail to come out on top.
If Jongin had been stress-free for the most part of the match, having scored the first goal before their opponents had netted two, only to have the scores levelled by Luhan who tipped another past the goalkeeper shortly after halftime, he was definitely feeling the pressure now. They were so close to getting into the quarter-finals, and their coach definitely wouldn’t be pleased if they fell at the final hurdle, having set a high bar for them this year with the injection of fresh blood into the team. One point and three points made a lot of difference, when they were drawn into such a tough group.
Jongin’s eyes flickered towards the time, gulping when he realised there was only one final minute of added time left. He yelled in triumph when Yixing managed to steal the ball from their opponent, and dashed across the field in the direction of the goalpost, eyes glued on the ball by Yixing’s feet. Yixing deftly passed the ball over to Minseok, who delivered it towards Luhan, and their fate was sealed. Everyone knew that the tag team formed between Luhan and Jongin was virtually unstoppable, which was why every single team that faced them tried to pull the pair apart.
Not today, and certainly not now. They were thirsty for the win, and Jongin gritted his teeth when Luhan passed the ball to him, dribbling past several defenders in the process. With one hook of his foot, Jongin sent the ball airborne for a brief moment, before executing a perfect bicycle kick.
The final whistle went off just as the soccer ball sailed neatly through the air, skimmed past the goalkeeper’s fingers, and fell safely into the goal.
Jongin knelt on the grass for a brief moment, unable to believe that he'd done it, and then he was tackled to the ground by his teammates. The crowd went wild. He did it. They won. They were through to the quarter-finals.
The celebration continued long after the match had ended. Jongin laughed boisterously as he was hoisted up into the air by his teammates and their supporters, giving high fives to many others who came to congratulate him, and the feeling was simply exhilarating.
“That was fucking cool! Way to end the match!” He heard a familiar voice - one belonging to his friend, Taemin - say, and he turned to grin at the boy just as the crowd finally had enough of parading him around.
“You’re forgetting who you’re talking to, Taemin. He's not the star striker of the team for nothing.” Yixing walked up and hooked a sweaty arm around Taemin’s shoulder, and Jongin laughed when Taemin scowled at Yixing and tried to get away from him. As if Taemin wasn’t already sweating buckets himself from the game.
“Still, it’s a good way to leave an impression.” Minseok walked up and joined them along with Luhan, each punching Jongin once on the arm. They were all grinning their faces off, evidently giddy from their win.
“Can you see now-” Luhan gestured dramatically at the bleachers, where people were still catcalling and cheering for Jongin’s team who was slowly making their way across the field, basking in the afterglow of their victory. “-how bright our futures will be if we manage to make it to the finals and win it with a bang?”
“The fame that is waiting for us.” Taemin chimed in, and Jongin could only laugh along, too tired to come up with a verbal response. They didn’t mind his silence after their matches; they were already used to it by now.
The moment Jongin walked into their locker room with his friends, though, he felt a cold shudder run down his spine, as though someone was watching him intently. He spun around, facing the direction where he thought the person was staring at him from, but a frown quickly found its way to his face.
There was no one there.
Jongin frowned deeper, but shrugged it off in the end. He was probably exhausted from the game, and besides, the celebration was more important right now.
--
A pair of terrified brown eyes peered over the edge of the comforter and into the darkness of the room, their owner disappearing right under the covers rapidly at the slightest of sounds. Jongin didn’t give a damn even if he were on the edge of ripping holes through his comforter, his knuckles white from the death grip he had upon it. He was too busy praying to all the gods and deities in the world, lips moving rapidly to all the mantras and spells he knew of which were said to be able to ward off evil spirits.
He had heard of the rumours, the ones that claimed his dorm room was haunted - it was apparently home to a student who had hung himself to death from the ceiling fan, unable to withstand the bullying he was going through years ago - ever since he had set foot in SM High and was assigned to this very room. There were also claims that the dormitory block was built on top of what used to be a mass grave during the nation’s war-torn days. After countless failed attempts at changing rooms and the lack of paranormal sightings several months down the line since the school year had begun, Jongin was finally resigned to his fate and was beginning to settle in.
That was, until, his things started flying across the damned room on their own. Jongin tried hard to ignore them, telling himself that it was only a trick of the eye, that he was just so exhausted to the point of hallucinating, and he eventually grew accustomed to that, too.
Jongin had no idea what he had done to incur the wrath of the spirits in this room, but they had decided to take things up a notch by actually disturbing him physically tonight. He could deal with the creepy wailings and tortured moans; he just had to plug his earphones in and turn up the volume of his iPod while still chanting spells to ward these probably bored spirits off. Then they decided to be funny and began pulling off his earphones, too. Jongin thought the occasional feeling of someone watching him was rather similar to the sensation he'd felt after his soccer match three days ago, but he couldn't really be sure.
Jongin’s trembling diminished when the moaning stopped completely, and he thanked the gods above for answering his prayers, thinking he could finally get some much needed sleep. Dawn was fast approaching, and he couldn’t really afford to miss first period again. The moment he lowered his comforter which was smothering his face, though, he found himself face to face with a white-faced, long-haired person.
He let out a strangled whimper when the person stuck her tongue out to lick at his face. It took Jongin five full seconds to remember he didn’t even have a roommate, let alone such a ghastly-looking one, and another extra second for him to let out an uncharacteristic shriek before he was bolting the hell out of his dorm room, in a speed that could probably put Usain Bolt to shame.
--
“Jongin,” Jongdae said exasperatedly as he typed away on his phone, sparing only a split second’s glance at the boy who had converted the end of Jongdae’s bed into his own territory. “Could you please get out of my room already?”
“No.” Jongin replied bluntly, absently picking at the loose threads on Jongdae’s blanket. “There is no way in hell I’m going back to that room. Ever.”
Jongdae rolled his eyes at the younger boy, muttering silent curses at Jongin for disturbing his peace. Jongdae was cranky enough as it was, considering how Jongin had practically barged in through his door at three in the fucking morning, rattling off about evil spirits committing a hostile takeover of his dorm room and trying to drag his innocent soul to join them down in the deepest pits of hell. Jongin had refused to leave since then, even keeping Jongdae up all night because Jongin was too afraid to fall asleep.
Jongdae still thought Jongin was being Overly Dramatic.
“Look,” Jongdae snapped impatiently. “Junmyeon is coming over in a short while, and unless you’re into voyeurism, you need to leave.”
“Can I watch you two have sex instead? I promise I won’t make a noise.” Jongin perked up hopefully. To him, anything was better than having to return to his own room and facing those ghosts and getting himself scared witless all over again. He had a reputation to protect, god damn it. Besides, Jongin had heard of how good Junmyeon was in bed, so perhaps-
“No. Don’t you even think about it, Kim Jongin.” Jongdae said flatly, giving Jongin the evil eye. Having been friends with Jongin for almost the entire year (through the oddest of circumstances, no less), Jongdae could hazard a guess about what Jongin had in mind. “Of all the other rooms you could go to, why mine? Go bother someone else.”
Jongin put on the best kicked puppy face he could manage and sidled up to Jongdae. Jongdae groaned, because that little bastard knew he couldn’t say no when Jongin was pouting, and he wondered why he hadn’t taken a photo of Jongin’s expressions as blackmail material yet. Jongdae was sure the rest of the student body would be delighted to see the real face of the usually cool ace soccer player of their school.
“But you’re the only one I know of that lives in a single room, Jongdae hyung.” Oh no, not the ‘hyung’ card. This little shit- “I can’t possibly impose on the others when they’re sharing with someone else, right? Please? Hyung?”
Jongdae slapped a hand against his own face when he felt his heart softening under the intonation Jongin was using with him. “Fine. I’ll help.” He mumbled miserably, adding sharply when he noticed Jongin was having some wrong ideas. “-but you’re still not staying for my tutoring session with Junmyeon hyung!”
Jongin muttered something suspiciously close to ‘cheapskate’ and ‘an orgy would’ve been fun’, before Jongdae lost it completely and kicked him out of the room, along with the instructions to find someone who was from Jongin’s year - the (apparently) all-knowing Oh Sehun.
Jongin refrained from commenting about how he had never heard of such a person, ever, in all the months he’d been in school - the enrollment this year wasn’t even massive to begin with. But Jongdae seemed close to wanting to castrate Jongin if he’d as much as said another word, and Jongin still wanted to keep his family jewels intact, thankyouverymuch.
--
When Jongin had first heard about Oh Sehun and the glittery title that came with his name, he’d imagined the boy to be all creepy and pale, hunched over a crystal ball and huddled up in a dark room which was heavily-scented with sandalwood - the way fortune tellers were portrayed in movies.
Standing in front of the boy right now, Jongin found himself pleasantly surprised.
Only the pale part of his imagination rang true; Sehun appeared almost unreal, with smooth, white skin stretching over long limbs and sharp angles, looking nothing like the pre-formed image Jongin had of him. No bandanas, no chandelier earrings, no crystal balls, no creepy greetings. There was only a perpetually bored, disinterested face, and an impatient “Yeah, what do you need? I ain’t got any of those weeds or pills on me right now, if that’s what you’re looking for” which greeted Jongin.
Jongin blinked twice and shook his head to get himself out of his daze, reaching forward just in time to stop the door from getting slammed in his face. “No, wait. I’m not here for drugs.” Jongin said, and though he was itching to know where Sehun managed to get his hands on those illicit substances, he held his tongue. There were more pressing matters at hand - like the ghost problem in his dorm room.
“Then what? Need the number of that hot freshman cheerleader?” Sehun regarded him with the same look of boredom, as though he was used to answering such questions. And then a look of recognition crossed Sehun’s face, though it was gone in a flash, the boredom taking its place once again. “Oh. You’re the Kim Jongin.”
Jongin smirked. So Sehun did know him after all. “Yeah.”
“What do you need from me?” Sehun asked, rolling his eyes.
“My friend told me you were the person to see if I wanted to find out about something in school.”
Sehun shifted his weight and leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. “Oh?” The boy said again, his tone finally showing some semblance of emotion rather than his usual flatness, if the past five minutes Jongin had spent talking to him was any indication of it. “I do indeed know a lot of things that go around on campus, like how Kris is still debating with himself whether Luhan’s a girl who’s been wrongly placed in the same dorm room, and how he’s trying so hard to stop himself from jumping on Luhan and fucking him senseless-”
Jongin choked back a laugh, mainly because Luhan was definitely a guy and Kris was probably still in denial with regards to his sexual orientation. Jongin should know. He had fucked Luhan up against the lockers in the changing room after one of their soccer practices months ago. Best sex so far, admittedly, but Sehun didn’t need to know about that.
At least, Jongin hoped he didn’t know.
“-and I have pretty much everyone’s numbers, including yours, Kim Jongin.”
Jongin’s eyes widened in surprise at the comment, because he’d never even talked to Sehun before this. “How did you-”
Just then, he was interrupted when his phone rang in his jeans pocket. Jongin fished the device out, and realised that he had received a text message from an unknown number.
I have my sources ;), it read, and Jongin looked up to the sight of Sehun smirking at him, phone in hand with an identical text message blazing across the screen.
Jongin was instantly sold.
--
Contrary to expectations (Jongin vaguely thought he should twist his expectations around, because he had been proved wrong way too many times in the last day alone), Sehun actually bothered listening to him. He’d invited Jongin into his (very messy) room, and sat there emotionlessly as Jongin recounted his ghoulish experiences to him, only to pull a photo of a wide-eyed senior of theirs out with a flourish at the end of the session.
(Jongin wondered if Sehun had indeed been listening. Sehun’s eyes had been glazed over for as long as Jongin had been talking, only coming back to reality when Jongin had poked him cautiously in the knee.)
It was quite an unflattering photo of a sophomore named Do Kyungsoo, that much Jongin could vouch for. It seemed as though it had been taken years ago, if the yellowing paper was anything to go by, much like something that had been stolen out of Kyungsoo’s private stash of Photos That Should Never See The Light Of Day, showing a pale-looking boy with a haircut which made him look as though he was doing a very bad cosplay of a Star Trek character.
Jongin frowned. What were the chances that this Kyungsoo person would stay relatively unchanged through puberty?
It didn’t take long for him to find out, though, when the school bell rang and the students filed out from the classroom Kyungsoo was supposedly studying in. Jongin recognised Kyungsoo on his first try - puberty had indeed been very kind to his senior. The boy with wide eyes and pale skin walked right past Jongin, sporting a much better haircut than the one he had in the photo, spiked up and held in place by hair products.
Jongin enjoyed the fact that he towered over Kyungsoo, and, if Jongin had to admit, Kyungsoo was cute.
He also had the overwhelming urge to keep Kyungsoo in his pocket, because fuck him, he was rather into guys who were adorable. Kyungsoo practically fit the bill, and now he couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Jongin casually jogged right up to Kyungsoo, the way he would for warm-ups before soccer practice, sending several girls squealing in the process with a wink, before he turned around and began walking backwards in a pretty convincing imitation of Michael Jackson’s moonwalk just so he could talk to Kyungsoo. His senior didn’t seem to have noticed Jongin at first, his gaze fixated on the ground as he ploughed his way through the after-school crowd. Jongin frowned, then waved a hand in front of Kyungsoo to get his attention.
Kyungsoo starts at the gesture and stopped abruptly in his steps, watching wide-eyed as Jongin crashed into a pillar because he was still preoccupied with walking backwards. There were muffled laughter around them, and Jongin’s cheeks turned pink from embarrassment. Smooth move. He cleared his throat awkwardly and quickly patted himself down, pretending nothing had happened just moments ago.
“Are you okay?” A voice interrupted Jongin while he was still brushing the imaginary dust off his uniform, and Jongin glanced up and was met with Kyungsoo’s concerned face.
He immediately straightened himself and laughed. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” Jongin asked, propping himself up against the wall with his elbow. Several cameras went off around them - the other students must be taking photos of him in his usual model-like poses - and he flashed his award-winning grin (in his dreams, anyway) at Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. “You just walked yourself into a pillar.” He deadpanned. “Did you knock yourself stupid or something?”
Jongin stared at him oddly. “No?” He shook his head to gather his thoughts when he suddenly remembered the reason behind his presence at the upperclassmen wing of the building. “I’m Jongin, by the way. Kim Jongin.”
“I know.” Kyungsoo said, appearing slightly affronted. “The whole school knows who you are.”
Jongin was about to say something along the lines of oh I thought you were a hermit who didn’t care about school events, before he realised that it probably wasn’t the appropriate thing to say when he needed help from Kyungsoo. “Oh.” He said intelligently instead. “I actually need to talk to you about something, Kyungsoo sunbae. I don’t know if you actually know of this person called Sehun, but he was the one who sent me here.”
Kyungsoo blinked in confusion, not quite getting the turn of events. “Why would you need to speak to me? And how did you know my name? I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“Like I said, Sehun sent me. I’m having some problems with... spirits-” the last word was nothing more than a bare whisper, lest people thought Jongin had some loose screws in his head. “-and he said you could help me with it, that you deal with spirits.”
Thankfully, there was a look of understanding flashing across Kyungsoo’s features. “Oh, that.” He said flatly. “I don’t know who this Sehun person is, but you’ve come to the right person, alright. Why should I help you, though?”
Jongin’s grin stretched across his face. “You get to date this fine specimen, of course!” He declared, then followed it up with a wink. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, you know. People are dying to even get close to me, and they’d probably kill to be in your place too. What do you say?”
There was a long gap of silence, along with Kyungsoo’s look that screamed are you serious, but Jongin kept his grin intact, hoping Kyungsoo would actually consider helping him out. He was surprised when Kyungsoo merely rolled his eyes moments later, and walked off without addressing Jongin further.
Jongin could only stare incredulously at Kyungsoo’s retreating back, stunned into silence. Did he just get rejected?
--
If there were two things in this world that Jongin hated the most, it would be getting rejected and giving up. With that, Jongin had developed an incredible sense of persistence - what Jongin wanted, Jongin will get.
Kyungsoo’s rejection on the day Jongin had met him only served to spur Jongin on further, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to step into his dorm room until the ghost problem had been solved. That, and he thought Kyungsoo was cute, and Jongin was eager to get into his pants, just to see him pliant and needy and filthy under him. After getting to know him better. Sort of. Kyungsoo had featured in one of Jongin’s wet dreams several nights ago, and he couldn’t really get the image of the boy going down on him out of his head. Jongin kind of really wanted to have a taste for himself how Kyungsoo would react to his touches.
But no matter how much Jongin pestered Kyungsoo, making it a point to wait for Kyungsoo outside his classroom the moment school was dismissed, showering him with gifts and offers to take him out on dates, even attempting to manhandle his petite senior, Kyungsoo wouldn’t even talk to him, ignoring him outright on most days, as though Jongin was invisible. Even if Jongin managed to grab onto him, Kyungsoo always found a way to escape from Jongin, and it made Jongin terribly frustrated.
Which was why Jongin found himself splayed out on the floor of Sehun’s room in defeat, some three weeks after he’d first went in search of Sehun. He was hoping Sehun could help him out somewhat, but Jongin was beginning to see that it was a waste of time.
Sehun couldn’t even be bothered to spare Jongin a glance after letting him into his room, as though he was used to accommodating people who needed floor space to mope. “For someone who’s supposedly cool, you’re actually pretty pathetic,” Sehun said with contempt some minutes later, eyes still glued on the comic in his hands.
“Go on, mock me all you want. It’s not as though I have any pride left in me.” Jongin said lifelessly, his gaze fixated on the ceiling as he wallowed in self-pity.
Sehun rolled his eyes. “Where’s the fun in that when you’re not even putting up a fight? So, what do you want this time?”
Jongin steadfastly ignored the way Sehun was now poking at his side with his toe, as if trying to determine whether Jongin was dead. “I don’t understand why Kyungsoo would reject my request.” He mumbled to himself. “I did offer him a chance to date me in return-”
“You, Kim Jongin, are unbelievable. If you’re flirting with him, it’ll get you nowhere.” Sehun scoffed, flopping down on his stomach to send Jongin the most judging stare he could muster. “It’s no wonder you were rejected.”
Jongin raised his head from the floor to look at Sehun. “It’s not?”
Again, Sehun rolled his eyes at Jongin, but he finally sat up on his bed, comic forgotten, looking every bit as though he meant business. Maybe Jongin’s trip to Sehun’s room wasn’t going to be a waste of time after all.
“What you need is a lesson in the art of persuasion.”
--
Jongin couldn't, for the life of him, figure out the correlation between learning how to persuade someone into doing things for him, and his meeting with another sophomore called Byun Baekhyun. For one, Baekhyun was a master in makeup-related matters (Jongin felt it rude to enquire about Baekhyun's abnormal interest in something that was decidedly very female, so he didn't), that much Jongin could give him credit for. He was also a much better listener than Sehun would ever be, if the enthusiastic nodding of his head while Jongin recounted his experiences with Kyungsoo to him was anything to go by.
Jongin frowned at his reflection in the mirror, fingers ghosting over the very realistic dark circles Baekhyun had painted on for him. He looked like someone who hadn’t slept in weeks, the darkness of his lower lids making his face look hollow, his eyes bloodshot from peeling onions (Baekhyun had insisted on it so that he could complete the look). Jongin had protested against it at first, when Baekhyun had started dabbing black eyeshadow beneath his eyes, but Baekhyun had shut him up with one fierce look, his dainty, perfectly manicured hands on his hips as he said, “Look, do you want to convince Kyungsoo to help you out with your ghost problem or not?”
Jongin had nodded very meekly, and Baekhyun immediately went back to business without another word said.
His eyes were itching so badly, and Jongin reached up and was about to rub at them, before freezing mid-action, remembering the very stern warning Baekhyun had thrown at him before he'd sent Jongin on his way.
If you smudge it before meeting Kyungsoo, I will personally rip your balls off and give you a new hole.
Bored, Jongin blew his fringe out of his face and leaned against the window with his arms crossed in front of his chest, putting all his weight on one foot. Wednesdays were the days when Kyungsoo had extra classes (no, Jongin hadn’t been creeping on his timetable), so he had ample time to wait for the older boy. His fingers reached up in a nervous gesture to tug at his necktie, suddenly feeling that everything was a tad too warm. It sucked even more that he was wearing a thicker blazer in anticipation for the change from autumn to winter, which obviously hadn’t come, and he irately shrugged off the clothing article, folding it over his arm instead.
“You know,” somebody spoke up right next to Jongin all of a sudden, making the boy gasp and jump in surprise, his heart practically in his throat. He hadn’t heard anyone approaching him at all. “You should really stop stripping to impress people. Are you allergic to clothes or something?”
Jongin glanced back at the student who had sneaked up at him, a string of curses readied at the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them up when he was greeted by the sight of Kyungsoo’s decidedly unimpressed face.
“Kyungsoo sunbae!” Jongin greeted in a pitch too high, backing up against the windows again from surprise. “I thought you were-” His eyes flicked confusedly at Kyungsoo’s classroom before falling upon Kyungsoo again. “-aren’t you supposed to be in class still?”
Kyungsoo’s frown grew deeper, and Jongin had to stop himself from physically reaching out to the shorter boy and smoothing those lines on his forehead out for him. It was not part of the Standard Protocol of human interactions, no matter that Jongin though frowning did not suit Kyungsoo’s face at all.
“A guy could use a toilet break, can't he?” Kyungsoo deadpanned.
Jongin suddenly felt incredibly stupid. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly, scratching the side of his face in embarrassment.
He felt himself holding his breath for the umpteenth time that afternoon when Kyungsoo suddenly leaned in, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinised something on Jongin’s face. Jongin’s eyes darted everywhere else, trying hard not to stare at Kyungsoo’s face, or his thick eyebrows, or the perfect slope of his nose, or his plump, inviting heart-shaped lips. He could even count his pores from the lack of distance-
“You look like shit.”
The brutally honest statement had Jongin choking on air as Kyungsoo pulled back, the lines of his face a little less uptight now. “What?” Jongin blurted, still coughing away. His hand shot up in reassurance when another student walked past and shot him an odd look, which sent Kyungsoo spinning around questioningly.
“I’m serious. You look horrid.” Kyungsoo said as-a-matter-of-factly when the student went on her way, but not after she'd blew a kiss at Jongin who grinned dumbly back. He didn't seem impressed. Jongin quickly tucked his arm back in his side. “Your eyebags can probably give Zitao a run for his money. Haven’t you been sleeping?”
Who’s Zitao? Jongin had wanted to ask, but there was something different about Kyungsoo’s voice that made him do a double take. Was that… concern?
“Uh.” Jongin blurted intelligently, before finally remembering what the plan was. He shuddered a little when Baekhyun’s threat echoed in his ears again. “No.” He lied, feeling himself flinch inwardly. He had indeed been sleeping, in Jongdae’s room, and had absolutely no idea if the spirits were still hanging around in his own dorm room.
Jongin definitely wasn’t kidding when he’d told Jongdae he wasn’t going to return to his room until the ghost problem had been solved. But Kyungsoo didn’t have to know that. Not really.
“The spirits in your room are that bad, huh.” Kyungsoo said after a pregnant pause, chewing on his lower lip as he mulled over something. Jongin decided that he liked how red Kyungsoo’s bottom lip was when he finally released it to speak.
“Look, you wanted my help, right? Fine, I’ll help you. Just this once.”
Jongin, who’d been a little preoccupied with staring at Kyungsoo’s lips, jolted back to reality at the sound of Kyungsoo’s voice. “What?” He blinked.
“I said I’ll help you chase away the spirits in your room.” Kyungsoo repeated, the corner of his mouth twitching a little, showing the smallest semblance of a smile when Jongin’s face brightened up.
“Really?” Jongin wondered in amazement, not having expected that Kyungsoo would finally agree with his request. “When will you be able to do it? I mean- I don’t want to sound pushy, but-”
“Today.” Kyungsoo cut off his rambling as he turned around and headed down the hallway, presumably to answer nature’s call which he had intended to do before he had been sidetracked by Jongin and his apparently horrid eyebags. “Meet me at the main entrance of the school in half an hour. I have something I need to get before I pay these spirits a visit.” He called out, waving over his shoulder without waiting for an answer.
Jongin could only grin widely at the thought that he was going to wrest his room back, and things were made even better when he realised that this was the longest conversation he’d ever sustained with Kyungsoo.
--
When Kyungsoo had asked Jongin to meet him at the main gates after classes were dismissed, Jongin had thought Kyungsoo wanted to make a quick trip to the grocery stores across the street for… well, stuff before adjourning to Jongin’s dorm room.
What he hadn’t expected was for Kyungsoo to drag him several blocks away from school, to an incense shop at the outskirts of town. It certainly did not help that Kyungsoo remained silent for the most part of their walk, only giving brief answers to Jongin’s attempts at striking up a proper conversation, or that the boy had actually stopped to talk to people Jongin couldn’t see. They’d attracted enough attention to themselves on the streets; Jongin could only smile sheepishly at the curious onlookers whenever Kyungsoo spoke to these ghosts, though the boy himself didn’t think it was weird. Jongin wondered if he was able to see all spirits roaming around them, and a cold chill ran down his spine.
Jongin thought he could finally relax when the incense shop finally came into view. It was tucked in a secluded corner off the main street, with numerous paper offerings shaped in various objects - houses, cars, maids, even flat screen TVs - hung up at the store’s front. The shop itself smelled heavily of sandalwood, courtesy of the incense burning on the altar, though when Jongin had sneezed for the tenth time in the span of 30 seconds, his nose thoroughly irritated by the scent, Kyungsoo heaved a sigh and asked Jongin to wait for him at the bus stand opposite the shop while he made some purchases.
But right now, Jongin would rather have his nose irritated through and through in the shop than to stand in the presence of fresh air. He had his eyes narrowed at the sight in front of him, of Kyungsoo laughing and smiling at something the tall boy who was manning the shop was saying. Jongin had seen the boy around in school. He was a sophomore just like Kyungsoo, and frequented their soccer practices and matches. Jongin narrowed his eyes further; didn't the boy always cheer for Minseok, their team's co-captain? What was he doing flirting with Kyungsoo right now? That creep-
Jongin huffed and spun around in his position, running a hand through his hair in an effort to dispel his irritation. It worked, if only for a brief moment, and when he saw Kyungsoo laugh at something the boy said again - he was jealous, yes, because Kyungsoo would never respond to him in the same way, and Jongin kind of wanted Kyungsoo to smile at him like that - Jongin pulled his phone out and fired off a quick text.
Do you know of any sophomore who works at an incense shop?
The reply was immediate. Park Chanyeol. Class 2-B. Why?
Tell me all you know about him. Jongin typed, then added another sentence after a moment's hesitation. And his relationship with Kyungsoo.
"Hey, sorry that took so long." Kyungsoo's voice joined him just as Jongin hit the send button, and Jongin quickly slid his phone back into the pocket of his slacks.
"It's okay! I have all the patience in the world!" He chirped. Jongin must be grinning a little too widely, bordering on being creepy, even, because Kyungsoo cocked an eyebrow at him, probably wondering what was up with Jongin.
"Let's... go, then." Kyungsoo said, eyeing Jongin suspiciously for another moment longer before turning on his heels and walking back in the direction they had come from earlier.
Jongin followed after him, but not after reading the last message from Sehun.
He’s Kyungsoo’s only friend in school, as far as I know. I’ll tell you the rest of the details when you come see me.
Somehow, that piece of information didn’t quite sit well with Jongin.
--
"This is it." Jongin gestured at the door to his dorm room as he shifted his weight onto his right leg, suddenly feeling extremely awkward. Kyungsoo was looking around the hallways with too-wide eyes, as though it was his first time being in the school dormitories, but of course Jongin knew that wasn't true. They were in a boarding school, after all.
"Well." Kyungsoo said, and Jongin wondered if the petite sophomore was cold; he was rubbing his arms in an apparent effort to generate more heat, though if Jongin had to be honest, the air in the hallway they were in was stifling. He fought the urge to tug at his collar and to remove his necktie, because he knew Kyungsoo wouldn't like that. "You definitely weren't lying when you said there were a couple of spirits bothering you. They're quite the vindictive ones."
"You can feel their presence through the door?" Jongin asked, careful to keep the joy out of his tone; at least the ghosts were still hanging around, or he might've gotten in trouble. And then Jongin made a double take at something else Kyungsoo had said. "Wait, you thought I was lying? Why?" He cried out indignantly.
Thankfully, Kyungsoo had the decency to look sheepish about it. "Sorry. You were flirting a whole lot when you first came to see me - all those gifts, the dating offers. I mean, seriously, who on earth asks for help like that? I thought you were one of those jocks who thinks that everyone would be willing to drop their pants and let you fuck their brains out without putting up any resistance, but since I did reject you multiple times, I thought this was one of your nefarious plans on getting me into bed."
Jongin positively choked on air at his words, because that had been his initial motive, apart from getting Kyungsoo to help him with his ghost problem, of course, though now he didn't quite feel strongly about that. Kyungsoo would probably hate his guts if he knew. Jongin could feel his cheeks warming up, and he quickly ducked his head and hid his face from sight before Kyungsoo got suspicious.
"Well," he cleared his throat as he dug out his keys from his pocket and stuck it into the keyhole. "I guess you'd like to get started soon?"
Jongin stepped aside and allowed Kyungsoo to walk into his room ahead of him. The shorter boy peered into the room with wide eyes, taking in the surroundings carefully, and Jongin poked his head in next to Kyungsoo's to take a look for himself what sort of catastrophe had befallen his dorm. He felt thankful that Kyungsoo didn't end up elbowing him in the stomach, merely tensing up next to Jongin from the lack of distance for a brief moment before inching away from him.
Jongin had never realised that he could actually see ghosts in broad daylight when a ghastly-looking thing rushed up to them the moment Kyungsoo pushed the door wide open. Jongin actually jumped away from the entrance to his room and plastered himself against the wall of the corridor, getting as far away from the ghost as he could, but he watched in awe as Kyungsoo shook his head and placed his hands on his hips in a reprimanding manner, not the least bit frightened by the sight in front of him. Jongin could still feel the chill right down to his bones.
"What do you think you're doing, going around scaring people like that?" Kyungsoo said at the long-haired ghost, whom cocked her - his? - head to the side questioningly. Jongin could hear the frown in his voice, and he saw how Kyungsoo's stance relaxed even though the other thing remained silent. Kyungsoo was nodding from time to time, as if he was engaging in a wordless conversation with the ghost.
"It's not nice to disturb people even if you're hungry, you know." Kyungsoo finally said with a sigh, shoulders sagging defeatedly. "Didn't your other friends let you know that you could always come to me to get fed?"
Jongin raised an eyebrow when the ghost responded with a semblance of a shake of its head.
Kyungsoo sighed again. "Well now you know." He said simply, stomping into the room past the ghost with the bag of incense in hand before pulling everything out of it. The words which left his lips next were gentle, and Jongin found himself taking a hesitant step closer to his room just to get a glimpse of Kyungsoo's expressions.
"I live in the next building," Kyungsoo patiently told the ghost, who had cocked its head to the side to listen to Kyungsoo. "You should be able to find me from my scent, can't you?" With this, he turned and cast an expectant look at Jongin. "Aren't you going to help me set up this stuff?"
It was all that was needed to send Jongin scampering to Kyungsoo's side. He helpfully placed the fruits Kyungsoo had bought on their way back on several paper plates, and fetched a container in which Kyungsoo poured some ash into it to hold the incense upright. When that was done, Kyungsoo said a little prayer for the spirit, while Jongin quickly vacated his place to allow the spirit to inhale the smoke rising from the incense, which Jongin assumed was its source of food. Several more spirits appeared out of nowhere and crowded around the joss stick, and Jongin backed away even more.
The entire ritual took no more than ten minutes, and Jongin felt mildly disappointed at how uneventful it was when the spirits merely dissipated into thin air, almost as though they were never there to begin with. Considering how vicious one of the spirits had been when it had first appeared before Jongin a couple of weeks ago, it sure was easily appeased.
"Most spirits aren't vicious by nature," Kyungsoo said in lieu with Jongin's train of thoughts, as if he could read Jongin's mind. "They just need something to sustain their survival as they find out what's shackling them down to the human world, otherwise they'd turn into hungry ghosts."
"You... seem to understand them a lot." Jongin pointed out thoughtfully.
There was a newfound sense of respect in Jongin for Kyungsoo, not only because he'd helped Jongin with his dorm room's ghost problem, but also how he seemed to be unaffected by the way the others talked about him whenever he'd converse with the spirits in broad daylight. Somehow, Jongin wished he could be the same, to be himself without being afraid of how the other students would see him or how the gossips would crop up with the slightest embarrassment he made of himself. Ever since middle school, Jongin had been thrust into the limelight with his soccer skills, earning hearts and praises and admiration, but no matter where he went, Jongin could feel everyone's expectant gazes on him, burning into him and waiting for him to make even the slightest mistake.
Jongin had to be perfect, and accepted nothing less of himself.
Kyungsoo chuckled. "I have to understand them, because they're the only friends I have." He said, and though his tone was cheerful, Jongin froze a little at the hint of sadness layered beneath it, but before he could delve deeper into it, Kyungsoo had already packed up in lightning speed and left his room without another word said.
Jongin sat on the floor and leaned against his bed frame that evening, suddenly feeling that his room was a little too quiet for his liking, even though a part of him knew that he should be celebrating the fact that his room was now ghost-free.
--
An insufferable sigh greeted Jongin the moment the door was thrown open instead of the conventional 'hello', but Jongin couldn't find it in himself to reprimand the person who had answered the door. Instead, Jongin trudged lifelessly into the room against the protests of its owner, and dropped himself onto the carpeted section of the room, laying spread-eagle on the floor. Another string of muffled curses followed, before Sehun slammed the door shut and threw himself onto his bed, glancing expectantly at Jongin.
"So? What's up with the great Kim Jongin today?" Sehun asked mockingly. "Don't tell me you got your panties in a bunch, because I sure as hell won't help you solve that problem."
"Stuff it." Jongin said, without heat. "I know you're the go-to person in school, but haven't you ever invited someone else into your room as a friend?"
Sehun appeared genuinely surprised by Jongin's statement this time; it shows in the way his eyebrows shoot up, shattering his usual mask of indifference. "Friends? You and me?"
Jongin craned his neck and looked at Sehun. "Yeah. Got a problem with that?"
"Wow." Sehun sounded impressed and a little dumbfounded at the same time, as though he couldn't wrap his mind around what Jongin had said. "I didn't think you, of all people, would want to be friends with someone else."
Jongin scowled at Sehun this time, actually feeling offended by his words. "What do you mean by that? I'm a normal person too, of course I'd want friends."
Sehun raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Really. Name a few." He said, then quickly added, when Jongin smirked. "Not, someone from the soccer team."
Now Jongin was a little troubled by the condition set by Sehun. "I have Jongdae, and-" he paused, trying to think of another person whom he could call a friend outside the soccer team. In the end, after wracking through his mind, Jongin threw his hand up in defeat because no, there wasn't anyone else. It was the team, and then everyone else in Jongin’s world. Now he was even more desperate to change that fact.
Sehun grinned triumphantly. "See. With your level of fame in school, can you really see yourself opening up to other people without feeling even the least bit guarded?"
"Am I really that unapproachable?"
"Not so much of being unapproachable. You wouldn't have a hoard of crazed admirers if you were." Sehun rolled his eyes, as though it was the most obvious fact in the world. Perhaps it was. "You have your head in the air most of the time. Too much praise can fuck with your brain."
"But I want to be friends. With Kyungsoo." Jongin said, almost petulantly. It wasn't a lie, though. This was probably the first time Jongin was genuinely interested in getting to know someone else from school. He might come across as someone who didn't really know what was going on around him half the time unless it was related to soccer, but Jongin could see the superficiality of the smiles surrounding him. Everyone wanted to be a part of Jongin's clique, but Jongin was sure that when he was in deep shit, they'd be the first ones to shun him. It was just how things were in school.
The fall from the top to the very bottom of the food chain wasn't at all that far.
Jongin shuddered at the thought just as Sehun sighed sympathetically. "Look, I may know a lot of things going around in school, but I can't exactly teach you how to make friends." He frowned a little.
"It's okay," Jongin said. "You just have to tell me about my undesirable qualities and I'll... probably learn how to fix them from there, I guess."
Sehun's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Are you sure about that?"
Jongin failed to notice the scheming smirk pulling at the corner of Sehun's mouth, and said, "Yeah, it can't be all that bad, can it?"
--
Yes, it could indeed be that bad. Jongin walked out of his little hangout session with Sehun feeling as though he'd been dumped right under a moving bus, multiple times, until he became one with the road. It was baffling, Jongin thought, how someone who didn't know him too well could dish out such a massive amount of negative comments on his character and how he acted in school - comments which Jongin actually agreed upon for the most part.
At least Jongin now knew what he should be fixing, and at least he came out of the meeting with a little more knowledge on Chanyeol's relationship with Kyungsoo. Chanyeol was the only permanent fixture in Kyungsoo's life, apparently. They had known each other since their middle school days, where Sehun had coincidentally attended with them and had seen them around before. Sehun told Jongin how Kyungsoo would gradually push everyone away from him, leaving only Chanyeol by his side. Sehun had no idea what had happened between Kyungsoo and another guy he had been very, very close to, but one thing was for sure: Kyungsoo was a loner, and it was probably going to be a gargantuan task for Jongin to even get into Kyungsoo’s very narrow social circle.
Then again, Jongin wasn't famed for his iron determination for nothing. If there was one thing he intended to do now, it was to be Kyungsoo's friend.
Puffing up his chest, he grinned to himself at his own prospects, ignoring the judging glances everyone else was throwing at him.
--