#13 Of Superheros and Sidekicks
Title: Of Superheros and Sidekicks
Prompt: #13
Rating: PG
Length: ~3700 words
Side pairings: Baekhyun/Chen, mentioned!Xiumin/Suho
Summary: In a school full of potential superheroes and sidekicks, Jongin has caught Sehun’s interest. Unfortunately, Jongin has a tendency to teleport suddenly when surprised or flustered and Sehun kinda sucks at being smooth.
Warnings(s): mention of old exo members; bad pickup lines; random cameos from across kpop
Notes: mama!au; so while plotting/writing this, I realized I was looking at a fic that potentially could be 50-70K words. And as much as I would love to have finished that entirely, I’m a student (and that comes first). So here’s a tiny piece of this AU I pieced together that includes the story of Jongin and Sehun (that is complete in itself, but is just a small piece of a bigger picture -- in my head, that is). Hopefully sometime next year I hope to have a nice long fic that is both mama/pathcode!au… I’m working on it. ANYWAY, thank you for reading!
The bell rings and marks the beginning of the first day of classes. All the freshman in the academy are currently in the auditorium, waiting for their assignment.
This is what they've all been looking forward to, this assignment.
Superhero or sidekick.
For some, this assignment is obvious: their powers weak or deemed insignificant since before enrollment.
For others, this assignment will be new news to them, their powers ambiguous or not fully developed yet.
But for all, this assignment is life changing, since it will determine their course of study during their time at the academy. Only on very few and rare occasions have students been able to change their assignment from one category to the other.
In the first row of the auditorium, there is a panel of judges made up of superheroes and sidekicks from the League of Supers. The League of Supers is the world's official organization of superheroes and sidekicks, and helps with law enforcement.
The president of LoS, T.O.P, sits in the middle, his blue hair a few shades lighter than his suit. His regeneration skills and super strength, in addition to his leadership skills have led to this being his 3rd term as president.
Sitting to his right is his current sidekick and vice president of LoS, BoA who has the powers of invisibility and force field projection. On his left is Yunho (synonymously known as U-know), current chairman of the academy and is able to run at the speed of sound.
Also part of the panel are Dara, who can enlarge her body to any size, and Rain who, after a simply touching a super, can replicate their powers.
Chairman Yunho rises from his seat and in the blink of an eye is on the stage.
"Welcome, incoming freshman class. I understand this is an important day for many of you, and I ask that if possible, we all remain seated and calm during the sorting process, so that we can get through this quickly and get you sent to your classes."
Sehun stiffens in his seat when he realizes it's almost his turn to go on stage. He is one of those that are not entirely sure what his assignment will be. His parents have assured him that he would be put in the Superhero class, but he's afraid that it will end up being otherwise. Yes, his control of wind could potentially be quite fearsome, but his powers were rather underdeveloped. He certainly couldn't produce a twister like his father could, or harness the wind and use it for flight like his mother. "That's what the academy is for, Sehun," his parents had told him as they helped him settle into his dorm the day before.
"Oh Sehun, please come to the stage."
Sehun inhales deeply and gets up from his seat, slowly making his way to the stage. He stands in the middle, hands behind his back and black fringe hanging over his eyes.
"What is your power, child?" BoA asks.
"I have control over the wind." Sehun responds softly.
"Show us what you can do."
Sehun widens his stance and puts his hands in front of him. He concentrates and sends a gust of air towards the panel, though all it does is lightly rustle the papers on the table in front of them.
"Is that the strongest wind you can make?" T.O.P questions, hands patting his hair making sure no stray pieces are sticking out.
"Ah, well no, but --"
"Come on then, we're not afraid."
Sehun puffs air upward making his bangs flutter, and widens his stance a bit more. Even though he could make larger gusts of air, well he didn't necessary have the best control of it.
Sehun squints and focuses on producing the force from his hands. A large gust of air blows across the room, rustling everyone's hair and making everyone in the first few rows have to shut their eyes or raise their hands to block the incoming stream of air.
Sehun pushes a bit more, and the judge's table gets sent flying backwards, only stopped when T.O.P slams in hand in front of it, preventing it from hitting students and his fellow Supers.
"Good." The rest of the Supers nod, and T.O.P gives a wide smile. "Superhero."
Sehun breathes a sigh of relief and goes back to his seat.
---
While the academy focuses on harnessing children's powers, it also focuses on personal growth as well. In fact, most students do not start taking classes specifically for their powers until their sophomore year. The first year is spent taking classes like Superhero Ethics and Witty Comebacks 101 in addition to classes geared toward their Superhero and Sidekick classification.
Sehun sits in the back row of his homeroom class, where the teacher seems to be droning on about how demerits work and the consequences of breaking curfew.
He is snapped of his daze, his knees slamming on the underside of his desk when a person suddenly appears in the seat beside him.
"Nice of you to join us, finally. Kim Jongin, I presume?" The homeroom teacher comments as he notices the student's arrival.
Jongin's cheeks go a bit red. "Ah, yes, well I accidentally transported to the school basement during my assignment and I couldn't figure out how to get out until now."
"Please try to be to class on time, Mr. Kim. I don't like tardy students."
Sehun, and pretty much the rest of the class, were now watching Jongin as he fidgeted in his seat, obviously embarrassed by the teacher singling him out like that. Jongin lowers his head, cheeks going even pinker before he suddenly disappears again, making Sehun jump and let out a small curse.
Jongin reappears a moment later, though now at the front of the classroom. He sheepishly makes his way back to his seat in the back of the room.
"This reminds me students, for those of you whose powers are linked to your emotions, you will need to attend an extra class on Saturday mornings."
Sehun sees Jongin shrink into his seat a bit at the passive aggressive comment from their teacher, the latter’s eyebrows knitting concentrating on not teleporting out of the room again.
And Sehun thinks it's... cute.
And now Sehun can't stop thinking about the boy from his homeroom class. The boy transported into the classroom, and into Sehun's mind (and heart).
Sehun cringes inwardly at the romantic thought he'd had towards his fellow classmate. Sehun barely even knows the guy, but for some reason it's just so easy to imagine maybe doing homework together, going to the movies, kissing…
Sehun shakes the thought from his head. Before thinking about getting a boyfriend, he needs to focus on getting some real friends. Classes were over, and there was a club fair going on. And what better way to get friends than in a club?
In order to help promote the policy that their students should be we rounded individuals, the academy requires students to join at least one extracurricular activity. There's a wide variety, with some involving sports, art, academics, and there's even clubs for those who aren't active in producing things, but rather in appreciating them. (Sehun eyed the chocolate lover's club when looking at the list of clubs the previous night.)
But in reality, Sehun already knows at least one club he would at least sign up for: the photography club.
Photography is something that he had gotten into having receiving a nice camera for a birthday present from his parents. Wanting to share his pictures, he started an instagram the previous summer, and has garnered a small following. Sehun wants to find other people that appreciate the art, and maybe learn how to do new things with his camera.
Later in the afternoon, Sehun sits at his desk in his dorm, organizing all the syllabi he’s gotten from his classes. He scrunches his nose when looking over the Punchline Mechanics course overview. A feeling that maybe he won’t be the greatest at it settles over him.
His dorm is simple, a small collage of some of his pictures posted over his bed. Otherwise, the only color in the room came from the orange stuffed carrot that stands out against his black bedspread.
With a small sigh of resignation, Sehun slides the papers into a folder and puts his phone and keys in his pocket. It’s almost time for the club fair to start, and he’s more than ready to go and get more information about the Photography club.
It’s when Sehun finishes signing up for the Photography club that something flashes in the corner of his eye. He turns toward the motion, but nothing’s there.
And then again, this time to his right, there’s another movement. He traces it with his eyes, and again, nothing.
He squints his eyes in concentration, a gut feeling telling him to find the source of motion. And then, three tables down, he sees Jongin signing up for a club.
Sehun waits a moment, and then walks up to the table when he sees Jongin flash away again.
“Are you interested in joining the Anime club?” A boy in metal-rimmed glasses sitting behind the table asks.
“Uh…” Sehun’s eyes glance downward where he sees a ‘Kim Jongin’ scribbled on the signup sheet, and a grin forms on his face. “Actually, yes, I am.”
---
Sehun roughly sets his tray on the table and sits down with a huff. Already seated at the table are his two friends, Baekhyun and Jongdae. Even though Baekhyun is a sophomore, he quickly became friends with Sehun after having to work on a project together in their Superhistory course. And since Jongdae was dating Baekhyun, Sehun got to know him as well.
“What’s wrong with you?” Baekhyun looks up at Sehun as he settles down in his seat.
“I’m just frustrated.” Sehun used his fork to poke at whatever “food” had been served today.
“At?” Jongdae cocked an eyebrow.
“Well I just got out of a meeting for Photography club, and I think I have to quit Anime club.”
“Wait, what? I don’t follow.”
Sehun rolls his eyes and elaborates. “During the meeting the student council president-- the dude with the flying or whatever--”
“Kris?” Baekhyun offers.
“Yeah, him. He comes in saying they need someone to be in charge of photography for student council, and so he came to recruit or something. And well basically, since all the other members are too busy and basically were able to come up with better excuses before I could, I somehow got nominated to help.”
“And what does this have to do with Anime club?”
“Well if I do student council, that means I won’t have time for Anime club.” Sehun pushes his tray away from himself and puts his head down on the table, weight resting on his chin.
“I didn’t even know you liked anime.”
The corners of Sehun’s mouth turn downwards. “I don’t, really.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Sehun puffs his cheeks out and pouts. “Well you see… maybe it was for a guy.” He shifts his gaze away from Baekhyun and Jongdae who are sharing a smarmy look.
"Spill." Baekhyun demands, poking Sehun's forehead through his bangs.
"Well there's this guy, but I’m having a hard time connecting... he just disappears whenever I try to talk to him."
Jongdae snaps his fingers in realization. "Oh! I think I know who you’re talking about -- that teleportation kid?"
Sehun scrunches his eyebrows. "Yeah... how do you know him?"
"We have a friend, Chanyeol, who's the school mascot. He said these other two students, Junmyeon and Minseok complaining about how he ruined their date or something? By accidentally teleporting on to their table and messing up all their food."
Sehun snickers at the thought of Jongin covered in food, and lifts his head off the table. He rubs the sore spot on bottom of his chin.
"Well if you like him," Baekhyun waves a hand at Sehun, "why don't you just ask him out or something?"
"It's not that easy, every time I try to approach him, he just teleports away suddenly."
"Well maybe," Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows and looks at Jongdae.
"It's because he likes you too." Jongdae finishes, the corners of his lips turned upwards in a cat-like grin. Sehun scoffs and picks up his tray, getting ready to leave the table. He is pretty sure that Jongin doesn't want anything to do with him, and that was why he kept disappearing. He remembers the last anime meeting, where Sehun had managed to somehow get Jongin's number under the guise of needing reminders for when the club would meet up. They traded numbers, though Jongin seemed somewhat reluctant, and Jongin had quickly transported away before Sehun could get another word in.
"If his powers are tied to his emotions… it could be because he gets flustered around you, but I’m not sure if I’ve seen him around at the classes on Saturdays." Baekhyun adds eyes going upwards as he tries to remember.
Sehun cards a hand through his hair. "Ugh it’s just frustrating, I wish I could just properly talk to the guy." With his other hand under the tray, he steps away from the table, turning to toss the leftovers, and his gaze shifts to beneath the table where he can see Baekhyun and Jongdae's fingers linked.
He slightly scowls at the two and turns his head in the direction that he's walking, but when he looks up it’s too late, and he’s run into someone who was standing behind him.
Sehun shakes his head to shift his bangs out of his eyes, looking down at his shirt and pants that now have his uneaten dinner all over them. He peeks upwards through his bangs, where he sees Jongin who has both hands over his mouth.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, let me help you up." Jongin extends a hand down to help, and Sehun reaches up. When their hands touch in the middle, their eyes meet. Sehun's eyes shift towards the tendon's flexing in Jongin's arms as he pulls and his eyes trace up across his chest then up to his face.
Sehun moves his head back, and his hair shifts to the side, revealing his eyes. Jongin's eyes go wide, and the next thing Sehun knows he's being sent flying back to the ground and Jongin is gone.
---
The next afternoon after classes are over, Sehun heads over to the Anime clubroom and talks to Kyungsoo, one of the members, and tells him that he doesn't think he can make it to the meetings anymore. Kyungsoo looks disappointed, but is understanding of Sehun's position, especially since Kyungsoo is also a member of student council and is aware of the potential time constraints.
Sehun leaves the clubroom, walking with a slight limp. Falling twice on his bum on the hard linoleum cafeteria floor unfortunately left a sore spot on his right cheek.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a figure appear. Sehun knows who it is, he knows it's Jongin. But part of him doesn't want to acknowledge him. Part of him wants to forget the day he noticed Jongin and just move on from his crush and forget everything.
But then part of him... doesn't.
Which is why he's stopped walking and is waiting for the approaching figure to reach him.
"Are you ok? I noticed you're kinda limping." Jongin asks. Sehun has yet to turn towards him.
"I'm fine." The wall in front has a flyer for an event that happened last month, Sehun notices as he tries to not look at Jongin.
"Is it because of me?" Jongin rests a hand on Sehun's shoulder.
Sehun shrugs the hand off and finally turns toward Jongin. "No." Sehun shakes his head, but it slowly turns into nodding. "I mean, well yes, kinda." Sehun shrugs, "I don't know."
Sehun doesn't even blink when Jongin suddenly teleports away.
He does stumble back a step, though, when Jongin is suddenly in front of him as he turned to walk back down the hallway.
"I'm sorry." Jongin bites on his thumb. I just, I kinda teleport if I get nervous or embarrassed. I'm working on it though. I'm supposed to go to those extra classes, but I always end up accidentally teleporting away each time I get near it."
"Oh… ok." Baekhyun was right, Sehun mentally notes.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
Sehun licks his bottom lip, and Jongin's gaze lingers there for a moment "Yeah."
"I heard you're stopping Anime club? That's also not because of me, is it?" Jongin adds with a chuckle, but there's a tone of seriousness to his question.
"Well like I was saying, it’s not really your fault. And with Anime club, I just don’t think I’ll have time for it."
"Busy?"
"Yeah I’m thinking of maybe doing student council? And I’ve already got photography club." Sehun makes box with his hands and clicks his forefinger like he's taking a picture.
"Oh… Well I hope you can stay. I manage to do Anime club, and I'm actually also in student council, for the service section. Though I suppose, we’re different people and can handle doing different amounts of things, oh um well I guess watching anime and taking pictures are different and um." Jongin purses his lips and looks a little flustered. Sehun figures the tenseness in Jongin's eyebrows must be him concentrating on not teleporting away again.
Sehun smiles at Jongin's rambling. He's so cute, Sehun thinks (again).
"Am I talking too much? I'm talking too much."
"No, you're fine." Sehun chuckles. "Besides, I'm not too much of an avid anime fan to begin with." Sehun breaks eye contact with Jongin and looks at the poster again.
Jongin tilts his head to the side, "But last week when we were talking about directors, you were going on about Satoshi Kon and Paprika."
"Wikipedia." Sehun responds tersely, his tone a little bitter.
"Oh."
Sehun inhales deeply. Since the cat's out of the bag, maybe he should just tell Jongin exactly why he was going to Anime club. "I only joined because I wanted a reason to talk to you."
After a moment of silence, Sehun squeezes his eyes shut. When he turns his head to where Jongin is supposed to be, he realizes he's alone in the hallway.
Sehun's laughter echoes through the hallway, and he limps back to his room.
---
Sehun makes it back to his dorm and sighs. He's thinking of maybe sulking silently in his bed before sleeping for the night. Well he could stand to finish some of his homework, but sulking felt more appealing. He fishes for the keys to his dorm and opens the door. Sehun has to do a double take when he sees Jongin standing in the middle of the room. He takes a step back to make sure that it's his name on the door. Yep, it's his room. He looks back at Jongin in confusion.
"Oh um... what are you doing here?" Sehun honestly wasn't expecting to see Jongin after he suddenly teleported away.
"Sorry I just think I accidentally teleported here and then I figured I’d wait because you were probably headed here?" Jongin's shoulders scrunch up and his voice falters as he realizes the slight obscenity of his suggestion.
"Why didn’t you wait outside then?" Sehun juts thumb toward his door. He is confused as to why Jongin wanted to wait inside (but internally he is more grateful that he'd at least picked up his dirty laundry from the floor that morning).
Jongin chuckles and then smiles sheepishly, "oh, right." Sehun blinks, and suddenly Jongin has disappeared from in front of him.
There's a light rapping at the door, and when Sehun opens it, none other than Jongin is standing there, his hands folded lightly in front of him.
"Yeah sorry… um, well for this, and for earlier," Jongin bites on the inside of his cheek and his gaze shifts from Sehun to the ground. His eyes flicker back up once before he says, and "I’ll see you around." He scratches at the nape of his neck and then waves before stepping away.
"Wait Jongin!" Sehun grabs Jongin's bicep. "I... I think I want to see you around more often." Sehun leans back against the doorframe and crosses his arms. He turns his head away from Jongin and then looks at him from the corner of his eyes. (This is how cool people pose, Sehun thinks.) "Yanno, I’m a photographer and so I can picture us together." He nods once at Jongin as if asking if he understands.
"You… want to take pictures of me?" Jongin nods his head in agreement, making his hair cover more of his forehead. "Yeah, I guess that’s okay." He moves a hand to brush through his bangs out of reflex.
"Wait no." Sehun waves his hand in protest. "I mean," he moves his hand to his nape, "forget about Spiderman, Superman, and Batman. I'll be your man. Or I-I can be your man, if you want." Sehun clears his throat and shifts his weight from one foot to the other.
Jongin squints and turns his head to the side, a small smirk on his lips. "Are... are you… asking me out?"
"Um, yes?" Sehun runs a tongue over his bottom lip before biting it softly. "Maybe just coffee? Or something else if you don’t like coffee." Sehun lowers his gaze and picks at his thumbnail.
When Sehun peeks up through his bangs, he lets out an exasperated sigh. Of course Jongin isn't there. He looks up and down the hallway and reaches to open the door, but stops when he feels a vibration in his pocket.
Sehun smiles to himself when he sees the sender.
Jongin:
I don’t like coffee... ~__~ it’s like liquid poison or something. How about boba tea?
Sehun shakes head and turns back into his room to text Jongin, smiling to himself. Boba tea and Jongin?
That sounds like a perfect plan to him.
Prompt: #13
Rating: PG
Length: ~3700 words
Side pairings: Baekhyun/Chen, mentioned!Xiumin/Suho
Summary: In a school full of potential superheroes and sidekicks, Jongin has caught Sehun’s interest. Unfortunately, Jongin has a tendency to teleport suddenly when surprised or flustered and Sehun kinda sucks at being smooth.
Warnings(s): mention of old exo members; bad pickup lines; random cameos from across kpop
Notes: mama!au; so while plotting/writing this, I realized I was looking at a fic that potentially could be 50-70K words. And as much as I would love to have finished that entirely, I’m a student (and that comes first). So here’s a tiny piece of this AU I pieced together that includes the story of Jongin and Sehun (that is complete in itself, but is just a small piece of a bigger picture -- in my head, that is). Hopefully sometime next year I hope to have a nice long fic that is both mama/pathcode!au… I’m working on it. ANYWAY, thank you for reading!
The bell rings and marks the beginning of the first day of classes. All the freshman in the academy are currently in the auditorium, waiting for their assignment.
This is what they've all been looking forward to, this assignment.
Superhero or sidekick.
For some, this assignment is obvious: their powers weak or deemed insignificant since before enrollment.
For others, this assignment will be new news to them, their powers ambiguous or not fully developed yet.
But for all, this assignment is life changing, since it will determine their course of study during their time at the academy. Only on very few and rare occasions have students been able to change their assignment from one category to the other.
In the first row of the auditorium, there is a panel of judges made up of superheroes and sidekicks from the League of Supers. The League of Supers is the world's official organization of superheroes and sidekicks, and helps with law enforcement.
The president of LoS, T.O.P, sits in the middle, his blue hair a few shades lighter than his suit. His regeneration skills and super strength, in addition to his leadership skills have led to this being his 3rd term as president.
Sitting to his right is his current sidekick and vice president of LoS, BoA who has the powers of invisibility and force field projection. On his left is Yunho (synonymously known as U-know), current chairman of the academy and is able to run at the speed of sound.
Also part of the panel are Dara, who can enlarge her body to any size, and Rain who, after a simply touching a super, can replicate their powers.
Chairman Yunho rises from his seat and in the blink of an eye is on the stage.
"Welcome, incoming freshman class. I understand this is an important day for many of you, and I ask that if possible, we all remain seated and calm during the sorting process, so that we can get through this quickly and get you sent to your classes."
Sehun stiffens in his seat when he realizes it's almost his turn to go on stage. He is one of those that are not entirely sure what his assignment will be. His parents have assured him that he would be put in the Superhero class, but he's afraid that it will end up being otherwise. Yes, his control of wind could potentially be quite fearsome, but his powers were rather underdeveloped. He certainly couldn't produce a twister like his father could, or harness the wind and use it for flight like his mother. "That's what the academy is for, Sehun," his parents had told him as they helped him settle into his dorm the day before.
"Oh Sehun, please come to the stage."
Sehun inhales deeply and gets up from his seat, slowly making his way to the stage. He stands in the middle, hands behind his back and black fringe hanging over his eyes.
"What is your power, child?" BoA asks.
"I have control over the wind." Sehun responds softly.
"Show us what you can do."
Sehun widens his stance and puts his hands in front of him. He concentrates and sends a gust of air towards the panel, though all it does is lightly rustle the papers on the table in front of them.
"Is that the strongest wind you can make?" T.O.P questions, hands patting his hair making sure no stray pieces are sticking out.
"Ah, well no, but --"
"Come on then, we're not afraid."
Sehun puffs air upward making his bangs flutter, and widens his stance a bit more. Even though he could make larger gusts of air, well he didn't necessary have the best control of it.
Sehun squints and focuses on producing the force from his hands. A large gust of air blows across the room, rustling everyone's hair and making everyone in the first few rows have to shut their eyes or raise their hands to block the incoming stream of air.
Sehun pushes a bit more, and the judge's table gets sent flying backwards, only stopped when T.O.P slams in hand in front of it, preventing it from hitting students and his fellow Supers.
"Good." The rest of the Supers nod, and T.O.P gives a wide smile. "Superhero."
Sehun breathes a sigh of relief and goes back to his seat.
---
While the academy focuses on harnessing children's powers, it also focuses on personal growth as well. In fact, most students do not start taking classes specifically for their powers until their sophomore year. The first year is spent taking classes like Superhero Ethics and Witty Comebacks 101 in addition to classes geared toward their Superhero and Sidekick classification.
Sehun sits in the back row of his homeroom class, where the teacher seems to be droning on about how demerits work and the consequences of breaking curfew.
He is snapped of his daze, his knees slamming on the underside of his desk when a person suddenly appears in the seat beside him.
"Nice of you to join us, finally. Kim Jongin, I presume?" The homeroom teacher comments as he notices the student's arrival.
Jongin's cheeks go a bit red. "Ah, yes, well I accidentally transported to the school basement during my assignment and I couldn't figure out how to get out until now."
"Please try to be to class on time, Mr. Kim. I don't like tardy students."
Sehun, and pretty much the rest of the class, were now watching Jongin as he fidgeted in his seat, obviously embarrassed by the teacher singling him out like that. Jongin lowers his head, cheeks going even pinker before he suddenly disappears again, making Sehun jump and let out a small curse.
Jongin reappears a moment later, though now at the front of the classroom. He sheepishly makes his way back to his seat in the back of the room.
"This reminds me students, for those of you whose powers are linked to your emotions, you will need to attend an extra class on Saturday mornings."
Sehun sees Jongin shrink into his seat a bit at the passive aggressive comment from their teacher, the latter’s eyebrows knitting concentrating on not teleporting out of the room again.
And Sehun thinks it's... cute.
And now Sehun can't stop thinking about the boy from his homeroom class. The boy transported into the classroom, and into Sehun's mind (and heart).
Sehun cringes inwardly at the romantic thought he'd had towards his fellow classmate. Sehun barely even knows the guy, but for some reason it's just so easy to imagine maybe doing homework together, going to the movies, kissing…
Sehun shakes the thought from his head. Before thinking about getting a boyfriend, he needs to focus on getting some real friends. Classes were over, and there was a club fair going on. And what better way to get friends than in a club?
In order to help promote the policy that their students should be we rounded individuals, the academy requires students to join at least one extracurricular activity. There's a wide variety, with some involving sports, art, academics, and there's even clubs for those who aren't active in producing things, but rather in appreciating them. (Sehun eyed the chocolate lover's club when looking at the list of clubs the previous night.)
But in reality, Sehun already knows at least one club he would at least sign up for: the photography club.
Photography is something that he had gotten into having receiving a nice camera for a birthday present from his parents. Wanting to share his pictures, he started an instagram the previous summer, and has garnered a small following. Sehun wants to find other people that appreciate the art, and maybe learn how to do new things with his camera.
Later in the afternoon, Sehun sits at his desk in his dorm, organizing all the syllabi he’s gotten from his classes. He scrunches his nose when looking over the Punchline Mechanics course overview. A feeling that maybe he won’t be the greatest at it settles over him.
His dorm is simple, a small collage of some of his pictures posted over his bed. Otherwise, the only color in the room came from the orange stuffed carrot that stands out against his black bedspread.
With a small sigh of resignation, Sehun slides the papers into a folder and puts his phone and keys in his pocket. It’s almost time for the club fair to start, and he’s more than ready to go and get more information about the Photography club.
It’s when Sehun finishes signing up for the Photography club that something flashes in the corner of his eye. He turns toward the motion, but nothing’s there.
And then again, this time to his right, there’s another movement. He traces it with his eyes, and again, nothing.
He squints his eyes in concentration, a gut feeling telling him to find the source of motion. And then, three tables down, he sees Jongin signing up for a club.
Sehun waits a moment, and then walks up to the table when he sees Jongin flash away again.
“Are you interested in joining the Anime club?” A boy in metal-rimmed glasses sitting behind the table asks.
“Uh…” Sehun’s eyes glance downward where he sees a ‘Kim Jongin’ scribbled on the signup sheet, and a grin forms on his face. “Actually, yes, I am.”
---
Sehun roughly sets his tray on the table and sits down with a huff. Already seated at the table are his two friends, Baekhyun and Jongdae. Even though Baekhyun is a sophomore, he quickly became friends with Sehun after having to work on a project together in their Superhistory course. And since Jongdae was dating Baekhyun, Sehun got to know him as well.
“What’s wrong with you?” Baekhyun looks up at Sehun as he settles down in his seat.
“I’m just frustrated.” Sehun used his fork to poke at whatever “food” had been served today.
“At?” Jongdae cocked an eyebrow.
“Well I just got out of a meeting for Photography club, and I think I have to quit Anime club.”
“Wait, what? I don’t follow.”
Sehun rolls his eyes and elaborates. “During the meeting the student council president-- the dude with the flying or whatever--”
“Kris?” Baekhyun offers.
“Yeah, him. He comes in saying they need someone to be in charge of photography for student council, and so he came to recruit or something. And well basically, since all the other members are too busy and basically were able to come up with better excuses before I could, I somehow got nominated to help.”
“And what does this have to do with Anime club?”
“Well if I do student council, that means I won’t have time for Anime club.” Sehun pushes his tray away from himself and puts his head down on the table, weight resting on his chin.
“I didn’t even know you liked anime.”
The corners of Sehun’s mouth turn downwards. “I don’t, really.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Sehun puffs his cheeks out and pouts. “Well you see… maybe it was for a guy.” He shifts his gaze away from Baekhyun and Jongdae who are sharing a smarmy look.
"Spill." Baekhyun demands, poking Sehun's forehead through his bangs.
"Well there's this guy, but I’m having a hard time connecting... he just disappears whenever I try to talk to him."
Jongdae snaps his fingers in realization. "Oh! I think I know who you’re talking about -- that teleportation kid?"
Sehun scrunches his eyebrows. "Yeah... how do you know him?"
"We have a friend, Chanyeol, who's the school mascot. He said these other two students, Junmyeon and Minseok complaining about how he ruined their date or something? By accidentally teleporting on to their table and messing up all their food."
Sehun snickers at the thought of Jongin covered in food, and lifts his head off the table. He rubs the sore spot on bottom of his chin.
"Well if you like him," Baekhyun waves a hand at Sehun, "why don't you just ask him out or something?"
"It's not that easy, every time I try to approach him, he just teleports away suddenly."
"Well maybe," Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows and looks at Jongdae.
"It's because he likes you too." Jongdae finishes, the corners of his lips turned upwards in a cat-like grin. Sehun scoffs and picks up his tray, getting ready to leave the table. He is pretty sure that Jongin doesn't want anything to do with him, and that was why he kept disappearing. He remembers the last anime meeting, where Sehun had managed to somehow get Jongin's number under the guise of needing reminders for when the club would meet up. They traded numbers, though Jongin seemed somewhat reluctant, and Jongin had quickly transported away before Sehun could get another word in.
"If his powers are tied to his emotions… it could be because he gets flustered around you, but I’m not sure if I’ve seen him around at the classes on Saturdays." Baekhyun adds eyes going upwards as he tries to remember.
Sehun cards a hand through his hair. "Ugh it’s just frustrating, I wish I could just properly talk to the guy." With his other hand under the tray, he steps away from the table, turning to toss the leftovers, and his gaze shifts to beneath the table where he can see Baekhyun and Jongdae's fingers linked.
He slightly scowls at the two and turns his head in the direction that he's walking, but when he looks up it’s too late, and he’s run into someone who was standing behind him.
Sehun shakes his head to shift his bangs out of his eyes, looking down at his shirt and pants that now have his uneaten dinner all over them. He peeks upwards through his bangs, where he sees Jongin who has both hands over his mouth.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, let me help you up." Jongin extends a hand down to help, and Sehun reaches up. When their hands touch in the middle, their eyes meet. Sehun's eyes shift towards the tendon's flexing in Jongin's arms as he pulls and his eyes trace up across his chest then up to his face.
Sehun moves his head back, and his hair shifts to the side, revealing his eyes. Jongin's eyes go wide, and the next thing Sehun knows he's being sent flying back to the ground and Jongin is gone.
---
The next afternoon after classes are over, Sehun heads over to the Anime clubroom and talks to Kyungsoo, one of the members, and tells him that he doesn't think he can make it to the meetings anymore. Kyungsoo looks disappointed, but is understanding of Sehun's position, especially since Kyungsoo is also a member of student council and is aware of the potential time constraints.
Sehun leaves the clubroom, walking with a slight limp. Falling twice on his bum on the hard linoleum cafeteria floor unfortunately left a sore spot on his right cheek.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a figure appear. Sehun knows who it is, he knows it's Jongin. But part of him doesn't want to acknowledge him. Part of him wants to forget the day he noticed Jongin and just move on from his crush and forget everything.
But then part of him... doesn't.
Which is why he's stopped walking and is waiting for the approaching figure to reach him.
"Are you ok? I noticed you're kinda limping." Jongin asks. Sehun has yet to turn towards him.
"I'm fine." The wall in front has a flyer for an event that happened last month, Sehun notices as he tries to not look at Jongin.
"Is it because of me?" Jongin rests a hand on Sehun's shoulder.
Sehun shrugs the hand off and finally turns toward Jongin. "No." Sehun shakes his head, but it slowly turns into nodding. "I mean, well yes, kinda." Sehun shrugs, "I don't know."
Sehun doesn't even blink when Jongin suddenly teleports away.
He does stumble back a step, though, when Jongin is suddenly in front of him as he turned to walk back down the hallway.
"I'm sorry." Jongin bites on his thumb. I just, I kinda teleport if I get nervous or embarrassed. I'm working on it though. I'm supposed to go to those extra classes, but I always end up accidentally teleporting away each time I get near it."
"Oh… ok." Baekhyun was right, Sehun mentally notes.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
Sehun licks his bottom lip, and Jongin's gaze lingers there for a moment "Yeah."
"I heard you're stopping Anime club? That's also not because of me, is it?" Jongin adds with a chuckle, but there's a tone of seriousness to his question.
"Well like I was saying, it’s not really your fault. And with Anime club, I just don’t think I’ll have time for it."
"Busy?"
"Yeah I’m thinking of maybe doing student council? And I’ve already got photography club." Sehun makes box with his hands and clicks his forefinger like he's taking a picture.
"Oh… Well I hope you can stay. I manage to do Anime club, and I'm actually also in student council, for the service section. Though I suppose, we’re different people and can handle doing different amounts of things, oh um well I guess watching anime and taking pictures are different and um." Jongin purses his lips and looks a little flustered. Sehun figures the tenseness in Jongin's eyebrows must be him concentrating on not teleporting away again.
Sehun smiles at Jongin's rambling. He's so cute, Sehun thinks (again).
"Am I talking too much? I'm talking too much."
"No, you're fine." Sehun chuckles. "Besides, I'm not too much of an avid anime fan to begin with." Sehun breaks eye contact with Jongin and looks at the poster again.
Jongin tilts his head to the side, "But last week when we were talking about directors, you were going on about Satoshi Kon and Paprika."
"Wikipedia." Sehun responds tersely, his tone a little bitter.
"Oh."
Sehun inhales deeply. Since the cat's out of the bag, maybe he should just tell Jongin exactly why he was going to Anime club. "I only joined because I wanted a reason to talk to you."
After a moment of silence, Sehun squeezes his eyes shut. When he turns his head to where Jongin is supposed to be, he realizes he's alone in the hallway.
Sehun's laughter echoes through the hallway, and he limps back to his room.
---
Sehun makes it back to his dorm and sighs. He's thinking of maybe sulking silently in his bed before sleeping for the night. Well he could stand to finish some of his homework, but sulking felt more appealing. He fishes for the keys to his dorm and opens the door. Sehun has to do a double take when he sees Jongin standing in the middle of the room. He takes a step back to make sure that it's his name on the door. Yep, it's his room. He looks back at Jongin in confusion.
"Oh um... what are you doing here?" Sehun honestly wasn't expecting to see Jongin after he suddenly teleported away.
"Sorry I just think I accidentally teleported here and then I figured I’d wait because you were probably headed here?" Jongin's shoulders scrunch up and his voice falters as he realizes the slight obscenity of his suggestion.
"Why didn’t you wait outside then?" Sehun juts thumb toward his door. He is confused as to why Jongin wanted to wait inside (but internally he is more grateful that he'd at least picked up his dirty laundry from the floor that morning).
Jongin chuckles and then smiles sheepishly, "oh, right." Sehun blinks, and suddenly Jongin has disappeared from in front of him.
There's a light rapping at the door, and when Sehun opens it, none other than Jongin is standing there, his hands folded lightly in front of him.
"Yeah sorry… um, well for this, and for earlier," Jongin bites on the inside of his cheek and his gaze shifts from Sehun to the ground. His eyes flicker back up once before he says, and "I’ll see you around." He scratches at the nape of his neck and then waves before stepping away.
"Wait Jongin!" Sehun grabs Jongin's bicep. "I... I think I want to see you around more often." Sehun leans back against the doorframe and crosses his arms. He turns his head away from Jongin and then looks at him from the corner of his eyes. (This is how cool people pose, Sehun thinks.) "Yanno, I’m a photographer and so I can picture us together." He nods once at Jongin as if asking if he understands.
"You… want to take pictures of me?" Jongin nods his head in agreement, making his hair cover more of his forehead. "Yeah, I guess that’s okay." He moves a hand to brush through his bangs out of reflex.
"Wait no." Sehun waves his hand in protest. "I mean," he moves his hand to his nape, "forget about Spiderman, Superman, and Batman. I'll be your man. Or I-I can be your man, if you want." Sehun clears his throat and shifts his weight from one foot to the other.
Jongin squints and turns his head to the side, a small smirk on his lips. "Are... are you… asking me out?"
"Um, yes?" Sehun runs a tongue over his bottom lip before biting it softly. "Maybe just coffee? Or something else if you don’t like coffee." Sehun lowers his gaze and picks at his thumbnail.
When Sehun peeks up through his bangs, he lets out an exasperated sigh. Of course Jongin isn't there. He looks up and down the hallway and reaches to open the door, but stops when he feels a vibration in his pocket.
Sehun smiles to himself when he sees the sender.
Jongin:
I don’t like coffee... ~__~ it’s like liquid poison or something. How about boba tea?
Sehun shakes head and turns back into his room to text Jongin, smiling to himself. Boba tea and Jongin?
That sounds like a perfect plan to him.