#281: If I Were An ER, How Would You Want Me? Smooth or Rough?
Prompt: #281
Title: If I Were An ER, How Would You Want Me? Smooth or Rough?
Pairing: Chen/Baekhyun
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some minor swear words, potential grammar errors, Byun Baekhyun, lame (and possibly inaccurate) Stat and Bio references
Word count: 9629
Summary: In which Jongdae and Baekhyun are “rivals”, Chanyeol thinks Statistics involves wolf dynamics, and Kyungsoo tries not to consume a whole bottle of paracetamol.
Author's note: To OP, I’m sorry there wasn’t enough humor, but thank you for this really lovely prompt! To the mods, thank you for being very nice and accommodating to this fic writer n00b. To my OT12 (yes 12), this is my way of thanking you for everything. This is also me letting you go. Lastly, to my friend who put up with reading my draft, I couldn’t have finished this without you! <3 (If anyone ever reads this fic, please do comment concrit; it would be greatly appreciated!)
If someone had told Kyungsoo that being in AP Stat would be this difficult, he never would have asked for a teacher’s recommendation.
It’s bad enough that he has to put up with their Stat teacher who keeps cracking stat jokes every five minutes. (If Kyungsoo heard that “Which central tendency test is the opposite of nice?” joke one more time, he is going to throw his calculator at someone, preferably that Kim Jongin who keeps staring at him like a creep.)
What really makes Kyungsoo’s AP Stat into a living hell is his best friend, Kim Jongdae and his stupid rival, Byun Baekhyun. Who the fuck gets worked up over which decimal place to round off to except those two?
As Kyungsoo contemplates whether ripping Jongdae’s Lit essay (which he was supposed to give to the other after AP Stat) would make him feel better, he’s brought out of his (murderous) thoughts by a familiar low voice.
Said person with low voice now stands in front of Kyungsoo, waving his hand in front of Kyungsoo’s face, with a crazy grin on his face.
Kyungsoo takes a hold of the hand with a tight grip, and asks through his teeth, “What do you want, Park Chanyeol?”
The person’s smile slowly disappears as he answers, “I was just going to tell you that your AP Stat class is done. Jongdae is outside arguing with Baekhyun about... alphas? Did you guys discuss wolf hierarchies in class?"
The shorter male breathes in for a moment before asking Chanyeol to "fucking let go of my hand", which Chanyeol does while flailing around.
Kyungsoo massages his temples before walking out the classroom, and is greeted by the sight of Jongdae and Baekhyun arguing about whether 0.05 should really be the standard alpha level.
He allows Chanyeol one chance to stop the fight via diplomatic means (aka Chanyeol trying to divert the topic to something else, like the new EXO album released) before he takes matters into his own hands.
Kyungsoo starts to tug Jongdae by the arm just as Chanyeol starts to flail his Kai photocard (who strangely looks like that Kim Jongin) in the two fighting males' faces.
"Save the fight over alpha levels for later, Jongdae. We still have Lit class."
As Jongdae meekly follows Kyungsoo to their Literature classroom, Kyungsoo can only sigh as he wonders what he did in his past life to deserve this daily torture. And it’s only Monday.
During their literature class, Kyungsoo asks Jongdae who started the fight again.
Jongdae just shrugs and says, "Well, Byun was asking for it when he said 0.05 was too low an alpha level."
He zones out as Jongdae swears he'll beat some sense into Baekhyun during their next class together.
As the teacher drones on about how MAMA by S.M. is one of the finest contemporary sci-fi books of this generation, Kyungsoo just thanks all the deities above that he doesn't have AP Bio.
Sometimes, Chanyeol regrets taking AP Biology despite actually liking the subject.
He has no problems with the teacher at all, who likes to crack random jokes during their lessons.
(Chanyeol can totally roll with his teacher’s “Which clothing store is a science? Bayo…logy! Ha ha ha” no matter how many times he says it.)
He also definitely isn't complaining over the sight of Kim Jongin, who he can stare at for the whole period.
His real problem with AP Bio is this weird rivalry between Byun Baekhyun, his almost-but-not-quite-there homo bro, and Kim Jongdae, this cute kid with the kitten-like smile. (But don’t tell Baek he said that. Chanyeol treasures his limited edition signed Dara photocard thankyouverymuch.)
Being too immersed in his musing, Chanyeol didn’t hear the bell ring which is why he was confused to see a Do Kyungsoo standing in front of him.
Chanyeol starts to speak in a hushed whisper, “Oh hello Kyungsoo, why are you standing there? Teacher Kim will kill us if-,” but Kyungsoo suddenly covers his mouth with a handkerchief.
“Shut up, I do not have the patience to hear more idiotic words. Your class just got dismissed. In other words, your best friend is, once again, bickering with my best friend outside. This time, I think it was something about Transformers? I don’t know, I’m not the one taking AP Bio here.”
Chanyeol just stares at Kyungsoo before sighing and asking the shorter male to follow him towards where Baekhyun and Jongdae are bickering.
Before the fight could blow out more than it has, Kyungsoo drags Jongdae by the arm towards their next class.
Chanyeol shares a moment of sympathy with Kyungsoo (in the form of the shorter male glaring at him, but Chanyeol thinks Kyungsoo just expresses things through murderous-like glares), and then he proceeds to slap a hand over his best friend's mouth.
"Yes, Baek, I know you feel strongly about DNA translation but we still have Calc."
As they head towards their Calculus class, Chanyeol wonders why being best friends with Byun Baekhyun is a daily pain in the ass. (Not in that sense, y'know? Because eew.)
These are just scenes from the daily life of Park Chanyeol and Do Kyungsoo, two senior high students who are bonded by a rivalry between their best friends, Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongdae.
It’s only been two weeks since the start of their last year in high school, yet the two have fought over a range of school related topics (from “Are you sure we’re supposed to use 2 significant figures?” to “HP calculators are waaaay better than Casio!”).
How exactly and why these two became “rivals” (as Chanyeol likes to call them; Kyungsoo just calls them the idiot duo) is a mystery that has yet to be resolved. And so another day ends with the Baekhyun and Jongdae debacle still unresolved.
Kyungsoo isn’t known for being the most optimistic person out there, but today, he’d like to believe he’ll have one of those relaxing school days (i.e. no Baekhyun and Jongdae arguing).
Then he remembers that the school secretary decided to be a bitch and gave him and Jongdae World History during first period every Tuesday and Thursday. He also still has three classes left.
At least he has music theory later, which is the only class he truly enjoys. If only he could strangle something (or someone, doesn’t really matter) to make him feel at ease.
Instead, he just sighs and goes back to taking down notes. For now, he'll just have to endure Mr. Sooman's lecture as he discusses for the nth time how YG and JYP's love story played out.
It's only halfway through the day yet Kyungsoo feels as if he performed at a 3 hour concert with like, 10 costume changes.
He's just thankful that Dumb and Dumber (because the title of Dumbest is reserved for a certain acquaintance of his) don't have any classes together for the day. It’s bad enough that Jongdae is talking his ear off about his fight with Baekhyun yesterday (“But, Soo, why does he think using point zero one as the standard is okay?”); he doesn’t need his best friend having more Baekhyun-hate fuel for the day.
Today, apparently, is a day where Jongdae feels more strongly towards the Biology argument he had with Baekhyun yesterday (he finished ranting about the alpha levels before they entered the cafeteria), which means Kyungsoo can review his homework for music theory.
Barely two minutes have passed since Jongdae started ranting again when he suddenly falls silent. Kyungsoo looks up from his homework to find none other than Baekhyun and Chanyeol standing at their table.
A few moments of silence pass before Chanyeol starts to speak. "Uh, all the other seats are full, and for some reason, Baek here insisted that we have to eat at the cafeteria-"
"Shut up, Yeol. Can we share the table with you guys?" Baek says, with his eyes flitting anywhere but in the direction of Kyungsoo and Jongdae.
"Wow, Byun, you can't even say ple- ow, I mean, ugh stop Soo, yes fine, you can sit with us. This doesn't mean-" Before Jongdae can even finish speaking, Chanyeol has dragged Baekhyun into the two free seats while giving his thanks.
The four students eat in a somewhat peaceful silence when suddenly, Baekhyun speaks up.
"You know, Kim, I'm still not convinced that 0.05 is valid enough as the standard alpha level."
Jongdae looks up from where he's eating his yogurt (with some of the yogurt still on his lips, why is Jongdae such a kid, thinks Kyungsoo) and proceeds to give Byun an angry glare.
"Oh, so alpha levels are decimals points? I wasn’t really listening to you guys yesterday, sorry. I thought it was this whole alpha-beta-omega thing." Chanyeol says.
Kyungsoo can only groan as he slams his head into the table, cursing his luck.
The only good thing about sharing a lunch table with Baekhyun and Chanyeol is that he gets to ask Chanyeol a bit about their music theory homework.
Chanyeol turns out to be knowledgeable enough to help him, and at least he offers to help Kyungsoo tune the grand piano in the choir room after their music theory class, which is their last class for the day.
While Chanyeol starts to open the grand piano's lid, he asks Kyungsoo, "Hey Kyungsoo, has Jongdae ever told you why he's so determined to be better than Baekhyun in AP Bio? I mean, he wasn't in AP Bio during our freshman year, right?"
Kyungsoo shakes his head. "Yeah he wasn't, and I don't know why he's continuing this rivalry with Baekhyun either."
Over the sounds of strings being tuned, Kyungsoo continues speaking. "What about Baekhyun, though? He wasn't in AP Stat before, either. I don't get why he keeps getting on Jongdae's nerves by taunting him during and outside class."
Chanyeol finishes tuning some strings before he closes the lid. "There, I think it's okay now. Try playing some keys first, though."
Kyungsoo plays a simple melody before he deems the piano as tuned enough. "Thanks, Chanyeol."
"Yeah, sure. To answer your question, I have no idea why, but I'm pretty sure you've noticed by know that Baekhyun is just annoying in general," Chanyeol says while snickering afterwards.
Kyungsoo isn't as amused as he says, "I've definitely noticed."
Chanyeol continues, "But even I have to admit it's a bit weird for Baek to be so interested in Statistics, though. As for this weird rivalry thing they have going on, well, Baek has always been the competitive type. Is Jongdae usually that competitive, though?"
The two students check if all the instruments in the room have been kept safely, and after a few moments Kyungsoo replies, "Honestly, no. He’s all for friendly competition, but this thing between him and Baekhyun? It’s way beyond that. But maybe Baekhyun just brings out that competitive streak in Jongdae? They're both getting on my nerves though, with all that stupid bickering."
Chanyeol hums in agreement, "Yeah. Hey Kyungsoo I'm just wondering. What if we actually tried to pay more attention to Baekhyun and Jongdae during class? I can admit I mostly ignore Baek when he goes into one of his Jongdae-rage modes, and I'm pretty sure you do, too? So anyway, maybe we should be more observant of them."
"What good would that do, though," Kyungsoo deadpans. The two stop in the hallway leading to their locker area, where their best friends are most likely waiting for them. Hopefully, without any bickering.
"You know, it might give us some insight into this competition thing. Like, how exactly do they fight? And who starts their fights? You know, details like that... uh yeah," Chanyeol trails off after seeing the blank look Kyungsoo is giving him.
(Chanyeol's seen that look before during their music theory class, when a classmate of theirs boldly declared that Kyungsoo looked like an owl. Said classmate couldn't go to school for three days afterwards.)
Chanyeol is starting to back away when Kyungsoo says, "That's actually a good idea. Let's try that tomorrow."
The taller male lets out a breath he'd been holding in and smiles at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo returns the smile with another blank look. "Okay, so... see you tomorrow, Kyungsoo! Please try not to kill Baekhyun; he's still my best friend."
The taller male then proceeds to pull Baekhyun, who just came from the comfort room, in a headlock as they head towards the school exit.
As Kyungsoo approaches Jongdae who is cleaning out his locker, he mutters, "I can’t make any promises.”
Chanyeol feels as if almost no time had passed; he wakes up, and it's already Day 1 of Mission ObserveBaekDae aka Mission O.B.D. (yeah, he made a pair name for the two) and he strangely feels excited.
As he was thinking whether it’d be more optimal to seat behind Baekhyun instead of beside him during AP Bio, he sees Kyungsoo walking with Jongdae towards school.
“Yo, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol shouts toward the pair.
Baekhyun looks at him weirdly, especially when Kyungsoo just gives the taller male what Baekhyun calls "the stare from hell".
(Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun’s life goal, next to beating Jongdae in their AP classes, is to get killed by Kyungsoo.)
Jongade then proceeds to whisper something to Kyungsoo, with which the latter responds by dragging his best friend faster towards school.
It’s only the first day of this so-called “mission”, and Kyungsoo already feels like giving up.
He never bothered to really pay any attention to the bickering duo during AP Stat. He’s prepared for this though; his bag has a whole bottle of paracetamol which he will try not to finish before the day ends.
Based on what Dumb and Dumb are arguing about while they’re answering today’s exercises though, it’d be a miracle if Kyungsoo doesn’t get halfway through the bottle.
As Jongdae furiously types out numbers into his beloved FX-50FPlus Casio scientific calculator (Kyungsoo has heard his best friend rave about a fucking calculator more than he should have), Kyungsoo hears him start to taunt Baekhyun.
“You know what, Byun? You’re like a Type One error.”
There’s a momentary silence before Baekhyun replies. “Oh please, Jongdae, my A in AP Stat has no time to talk to your pathetic B+.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t bother to look at the two, but from his peripheral vision, he sees Jongdae copying something he’s computed.
“Well, Byun, it seems like you really are an Alpha error, because you think something’s there when there isn’t. Like that A you think you have, when in reality, you don’t.”
It’s exactly at this moment that their teacher announces that time’s up and everyone has to hand in their worksheets.
Kyungsoo looks up from his worksheet (which he was able to finish despite some idiots having a verbal spat in the background) to see Baekhyun desperately keying in numbers into his calculator, while his best friend just cackles as he stands up to pass his worksheet.
Before walking to teacher’s desk, Kyungsoo watches as Jongdae whispers to Baekhyun, “Well then, I guess you can say goodbye to that A in AP Stat, Byun. Your F value is off by 3 decimals, but hey at least your grade is closer to that letter.”
As Baekhyun wails in despair while clutching his calculator, Kyungsoo proceeds to slam his head into his desk. He’s too exasperated at this point to tell Byun Baekhyun that this exercise isn’t even graded.
What am I even supposed to observe, all I learned from this is that Byun is an even bigger idiot than I thought, is what passes through Kyungsoo’s mind as he goes to the teacher's desk.
From his peripheral vision, he see Jongdae pick up Baekhyun’s crumpled exercise before passing his own exercise to the front. He and Jongdae leave the classroom with a sulking Baekhyun trailing behind, who goes straight to the gym where Chanyeol's class is before AP Bio.
Chanyeol’s starting to become unsure of his and Kyungsoo’s Mission O.B.D.; it’s only been 10 minutes into their AP Bio, yet he doesn’t learn anything new about Baekhyun and Jongdae’s rivalry except for the fact that they seem to recite every single time their teacher asks a question.
He’s starting to space out while staring at Kim Jongin’s hair (he swears it’s not creepy; he’s just appreciating Jongin’s newly dyed pink hair) when Baekhyun suddenly stands up from his seat.
“Kim Jongdae, there are five stages of mitosis, not six. Did you not read the book?”
Just as their teacher starts to speak up, Jongdae rises from his seat too. Oh god, not another impromptu debate, we haven’t even finished discussing prophase, Chanyeol thinks.
“Excuse me, Byun Baekhyun, in case you don’t know, cytokinesis can be considered the sixth phase of mitosis. Do you not read anything other than our book?”
Chanyeol watches as his teacher tries to calm the two, who are suddenly discussing which sources are the most reliable, when he hears someone say “Yo, teach, chill. They most probably won’t stop until we’re halfway through the lesson anyway, as usual.”
Their teacher looks like he wants to protest, but he was their AP Bio teacher last year, too, and at this point, everyone knows it’s better to let Baekhyun and Jongdae go on with whatever fight they’re in.
Chanyeol already knows that teacher has given up; the projector has been turned on again to the slide with a picture of the prophase stage.
“Baekhyun, Jongdae, would you two just kindly sit down? Oh okay, thank you. So class, as I was saying…”
A collective sigh is released by the whole class (sans Baekhyun and Jongdae who are now merely background noise to their teacher’s droning voice), and Chanyeol starts to attempt to take down notes.
I have a feeling Kyungsoo is going to kill me for getting him into this mission, is what Chanyeol thinks while his best friend and Jongdae continue to bicker in front of him.
Chanyeol has never dreaded lunch as much as he did today.
For once, he actually wished that their calculus teacher, Rap Monster (really, what kind of math teacher asks students to call him with some weird… stage name?), would dismiss them late enough so that the cafeteria would be full by the time he and Baekhyun went there. Yet alas, they were still out of the classroom just in time for the lunch hour rush.
"So Yeol, I'm pretty sure you agree with me on the stages of mitosis right? Yeah, cytokinesis is something that happens, but no, it is not considered part of mitosis, ugh..."
At this point, Chanyeol has already zoned out, instead trying to find where Kyungsoo and Jongdae are sitting. He's resigned to his fate; he's pretty sure that by this point, Baekhyun has made another excuse for them to sit with Kyungsoo and Jongdae.
He's proven right when minutes later, they're sitting with Kyungsoo and Jongdae in a table near the entrance.
There's an awkward silence surrounding everyone when Kyungsoo speaks up. "So, Baekhyun, what lame-ass reason did you give Chanyeol now to convince him to sit with me and Jongdae?"
Baekhyun almost spits out the water he was drinking at Kyungsoo's question. Chanyeol starts to laugh, and he was about to tell Kyungsoo how Baekhyun said "Jongdae needs to be educated more on mitosis" when Jongdae suddenly turns his gaze towards Baekhyun.
"So, you still think mitosis only has five stages, huh, Byun?"
Chanyeol and Kyungsoo share a look as Baekhyun and Jongdae start to bicker again.
This whole plan isn't going anywhere, Kyungsoo seems to say with his glare.
I know, Chanyeol's scared gaze says back as he watches Kyungsoo intake three paracetamols at a time.
(From the looks of Kyungsoo's medicine bottle, it seems like the bottle is almost empty.)
It's a blessing that Chanyeol only has study period left for the day, and it thankfully isn't with neither Baekhyun nor Jongdae.
He looks for Kyungsoo, who he finds sitting at the back row, closest to the window. He takes the seat behind Kyungsoo, with the latter slightly tilting his head to acknowledge him. (He knows Kyungsoo doesn't do greetings that much).
Chanyeol makes himself comfortable before speaking up. "So, did you observe anything weird during AP Stat between Jongdae and Baekhyun?"
Kyungsoo writes down something in his notebook for a while before replying. "Aside from the fact that they're both idiots? I don't think so. How about you?"
"I didn't observe anything new during AP Bio, but I only just realized that yeah, Baekhyun does make the dumbest excuses so we'd sit with you and Jongdae during lunch," Chanyeol says.
Kyungsoo snorts, "Glad you finally noticed. Seriously, "I have to make a man out of Jongdae" didn't sound dumb to you at all?"
"I'm sorry if I was too preoccupied with teasing Baek about having watched Mulan, okay," Chanyeol replies, which gets another snort from Kyungsoo.
The rest of their study period goes by, with Chanyeol occasionally pestering Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo repeatedly ignoring Chanyeol. Once the teacher goes back to their room and dismisses them, they go to their lockers to get their stuff.
"Hey, Kyungsoo, Jongdae's doing library work around this time right? The student council's room is near the lib, so why don't we wait there together," Chanyeol says while closing his locker.
"I still can't believe Byun actually won as the student council president, is this school fucking dumb or what?” Kyungsoo mutters.
Chanyeol suddenly stops walking and faces the shorter male. ““Were you saying something, Kyungsoo?”
Kyungsoo sighs and just motions for Chanyeol to keep walking.
They pass through the student council room first, but it's surprisingly empty.
"Maybe they had a meeting in the faculty lounge again. Teacher Yesung dotes on Baek for some weird reason," Chanyeol grumbles as they walk to the library.
After a few minutes, they enter the library. Chanyeol sees Jongdae by the magazines, and he waves at the shorter boy in greeting. Jongdae waves back with a smile, and is surprised to see Kyungsoo with him.
"Hey Soo, I just need to finish arranging a few more stacks, and we can go home, okay?" Kyungsoo gives him a small smile as he tell Jongdae to take his time.
Chanyeol and Kyungsoo proceed to sit at the tables near Jongdae, when Chanyeol lets out a gasp. He taps Kyungsoo, who looks up from where he's slightly napping, to glare at Chanyeol.
But before Kyungsoo can do anything more, Chanyeol points at a huge table a few shelves away from them.
"Look, the student council is here. I had no idea they could have meetings here," Chanyeol whispers.
Kyungsoo looks at where Chanyeol is pointing and makes a hum of affirmation. "Yeah, with how noisy Byun is, it's a miracle they allowed him to have a meeting in the library."
While the shorter boy goes back to napping, Chanyeol looks at the student council for a while. He notices Baekhyun's attention drifting off to the newspapers beside the magazine rack, which makes Chanyeol snicker.
Is he that bored that he thinks looking at newspapers is more interesting than their meeting? With that thought, Chanyeol proceeds to play 2048 on his phone instead.
Finally, the student council meeting ends, so Chanyeol goes to where Baekhyun's packing up his stuff.
While he's waiting, he sees Kyungsoo and Jongdae at the entrance.
He mouths to Kyungsoo, Is the plan still on?
Kyungsoo thinks for a moment before mouthing back, Why not?
Mission ObserveBaekDae goes on for the next month, yet Chanyeol still hasn’t observed anything that gives insight into the rivalry of the century (as he likes to call it). On the other hand, at least he’s slowly becoming friends with Kyungsoo. (At least he’d like to think so. Kyungsoo switching from giving him deathly glares to deathly headlocks is a sign of friendship, right…?)
Somewhere in the middle of the second month of school, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo (but mostly just Chanyeol; Kyungsoo couldn’t really care less) decided that Mission OBD was getting nowhere. And so the mystery that is the Baekhyun and Jongdae rivalry still remains unresolved… that is, until Kyungsoo starts noticing things he normally wouldn’t in his best friend.
It’s almost two months since their school year started, and Chanyeol still wants to personally thank whoever decided to schedule his PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Really, that person deserves a salary raise.)
First, he doesn't have to suffer being with their muscle-idiot teacher for three times a week.
Second, he's classmates with Kim Jongin, who likes to wear tank tops. (Not that Chanyeol stares; of course he does... not.)
But the most important reason of all is that he was scheduled to the basketball class. Which means Chanyeol can finally do something useful with his height. (Aside from putting Baekhyun's stuff out of reach.)
He just wishes he didn't have World History with Baekhyun after this. He's pretty sure their teacher is going to show them another documentary about YG and JYP.
I don't really need to see another video of YG and JYP serenading each other, Chanyeol thinks as he instead focuses his attention to Kim Jongin, who's wearing a nice muscle shirt instead for today.
If Kyungsoo finds out whoever arranged his class schedule, he's going to fucking strangle someone.
First, he hates how his PE is right after calculus. Fucking calculus, for gods' sake.
Second, how the fuck did he end up with basketball as his PE?
Despite his shitty luck, he's fucking thankful that he isn't in the same PE class as that Kim Jongin again.
Last year, Kyungsoo couldn't do any leg warm-ups properly because the kid kept staring at his ass. (He didn't stop even when Kyungsoo glared at him; Kyungsoo decided to put trash in Jongin's gym locker instead as payback.)
As Kyungsoo ties his shoelaces while waiting for their creepy muscle freak teacher, he thinks that he'll just have to endure for a while. Afterwards, he can sleep during his Chinese language elective with Jongdae. Their teacher doesn't really teach them anything; he mostly just randomly plays the violin while singing in mixed English, Korean, and Mandarin.
Jongdae loves him though, something about how their teacher is a genius to have produced such catchy choruses like "I'm trapped".
Yeah, I'm trapped with a useless language elective, Kyungsoo thinks as their stupid gym teacher starts shouting about youth and exercise.
At this point in the school year, Kyungsoo wonders why he's even mildly surprised that Dumber and Dumbest are going to sit with him and Jongdae again for lunch. Baekhyun isn't even trying to make excuses at this point anymore.
While Kyungsoo would like to think highly of Byun by saying the latter may have realized the stupidity of his arguments, he knows Baekhyun is most likely just too tired from his PE class.
"Ugh, I swear that Jungkook from gym is out to get me. He made me run around the court for no reason. Like, who the fuck does that,” Baekhyun whines as he’s putting down his bag beside Chanyeol’s. Baekhyun lays his arms on the table while resting his cheek to whine more to Chanyeol.
Kyungsoo swats away one of his arms because you just came from PE without bothering to change out of your tank top, and your sweat might contaminate my food, put your arms somewhere else.
Instead of eating, Baekhyun alternately whines about his PE and closes his eyes. Kyungsoo couldn’t be bothered by his antics, but he registers Jongdae has stopped eating his food. Is he going to start a fight with Dumber again?
Just as Kyungsoo’s about to get his earphones, he notices that Jongdae doesn’t even look mad. Instead, he seems to be.... staring at Baekhyun?
At first, Kyungsoo thinks Jongdae just might be waiting for Baekhyun to open his (now closed) eyes, but Jongdae is just looking at Baekhyun with this unfamiliar glint in his eyes.
After a while, Kyungsoo notices his best friend staring... at Baekhyun's arms?
Okay, this is a bit too much, Kyungsoo thinks. So he nudges Jongdae for a bit until the latter startles from his trance.
Jongdae shakes his head for a bit before asking, “Did you need something, Soo?”
Kyungsoo just points at Jongdae’s food, which makes the other male go Oh as he starts to eat again.
Throughout lunch, Kyungsoo still notices Jongdae subtly stealing glances at Baekhyun, who remains asleep until Chanyeol wakes him up.
It’s only when Kyungsoo is walking towards the music building with Chanyeol does he realize that Jongdae and Baekhyun didn’t argue at all during lunch.
At this point, it’s become routine for Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to tune the various instruments in the music room. They don’t even need to ask permission from their teacher anymore.
While Kyungsoo waits for Chanyeol to finish tuning one of the acoustic guitars in the room, he asks a question.
“Hey Chanyeol, did you notice anything weird during lunch?”
“No, I didn’t? Well, Baek didn’t get to eat since he fell asleep, but I don’t think that’s what you’re asking about, right,” Chanyeol replies.
The two move towards the grand piano, with Kyungsoo not even bothering to check if it’s tuned.
(He’s pretty sure that freshman Oh Sehun thought it was funny to mess with the piano again. Kyungsoo’s going to fucking murder him someday.)
As Chanyeol and Kyungsoo work together to tune the piano, Kyungsoo thinks it’s best if he doesn’t tell Chanyeol about Jongdae staring at Baekhyun during lunch. He doesn’t want to assume anything until he hears it directly from Jongdae.
After few minutes, and a couple of curses aimed towards Oh Sehun later, the two students walk out of the music room.
Chanyeol suddenly stops and starts to walk back to the music room. "Hey Kyungsoo, I forgot my tuner in the music room. You can go ahead to the lockers."
"Okay," Kyungsoo replies as Chanyeol turns back to the corridor where the music room is.
Kyungsoo was about to start walking to the lockers when he heard someone singing "I Really Didn't Know" which sounded like Jongdae's voice. Oh, the choir must be back to singing classic songs now.
It's been a long time since Kyungsoo visited Jongdae during choir practice, but he knows Jongdae wouldn't mind him watching. After all, noraebang is one of their shared hobbies, especially during vacation.
Kyungsoo knocks on the choir room door, and hears a muffled laugh before he's greeted by Jongdae.
"Oh hey Soo, wasn't expecting you to be here. We're almost finished here, can you wait for a while?"
Kyungsoo replies with a hum as he walks toward the piano in the corner. He stops in his steps though when the person sitting at the piano looks up.
"Byun? And why are you holding your hands up?"
Baekhyun lowers his raised hands and faces Kyungsoo. "...you're not gonna hit me?"
"Wow, Byun, never knew you were into that," a voice says behind Kyungsoo.
Suddenly, Jongdae is with them, snickering at his own line.
Kyungsoo was expecting another fight to ensue, but surprisingly, Baekhyun just remains silent. Just when Kyungsoo thought it couldn't get weirder, he notices Jongdae actually has a slight blush on his cheeks.
The moment is broken when someone from the choir tugs at Jongdae. "Hyung, come on, let's practice one more time."
Baekhyun suddenly brightens up. "Come on Jongdae, you're so close to perfecting that high note, go go go!"
Jongdae's lips actually curl up into his signature cat-like smile as he tells Baekhyun to do his best in playing for the choir.
The choir starts singing from the first verse, and Jongdae starts his solo part during the chorus. Kyungsoo swears he sees his best friend stealing glances at Baekhyun, who's looking really serious for once as he plays the piano.
Jongdae never told me Baekhyun was the choir's resident pianist, Kyungsoo thinks. Once everyone starts packing up, he thinks he knows why. Jongdae is keeping this part of his relationship with Baekhyun a secret to him, along with his own feelings. And Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun's hiding his own secrets from Chanyeol too. Will Chanyeol ever know, though?
Ever since that day, Kyungsoo slowly sees more things about Baekhyun and Jongdae's "rivalry" that he never cared to notice before. Or more like, he's only realizing these things now that he actually bothered to look past the stupid arguments.
Kyungsoo remembers that over a month ago, their AP Stat teacher returned their exercises on one-way ANOVA computation.
Baekhyun looked surprised that his exercise was checked, claiming that he doesn't remember having even passed it. Back then, Kyungsoo just thought that Baekhyun was just being forgetful.
Now, as they're doing exercises on non-parametric measures though, Kyungsoo suddenly remembers something.
Jongdae picked up Baekhyun's exercise before passing his own. He also gets a flashback of his best friend looking away when Baekhyun asks about who could have passed his exercise.
During the course of the next few weeks, Kyungsoo also notices that Jongdae steals more glances at Baekhyun than he actually thought.
How could Kyungsoo have missed his best friend being more quiet during the days Baekhyun forgets to change out of a tank top when he joins them for lunch?
And how could he have missed the numerous times Jongdae starts to work near the student council's table whenever the student council has meetings in the library?
The breaking point in Kyungsoo's suspicions ironically came from one of Jongdae and Baekhyun's arguments just a week ago.
The four of them were in the cafeteria again, and Chanyeol was dozing because he apparently crammed for his calculus test.
Kyungsoo was discretely listening in to the two rivals' fight when he noticed how Jongdae subtly steers their topic to a different ground once he sees Baekhyun losing counterarguments. (But really, who fights over brands of scientific calculators?)
What seals the whole thing for Kyungsoo though is when he sees that fleeting smile on his best friend's face throughout the argument.
Anyone who hasn't known Jongdae long enough may think that Jongdae is in a constant state of smiling (due to his lips' natural bow like features), but Kyungsoo can tell the difference between what looks like a smile and what is Jongdae's smile.
How Jongdae looks when he argues with Baekhyun is actually one of the most genuine smiles Kyungsoo has ever seen in his best friend.
Kyungsoo's not the only who starts to uncover the secrets in the mess that is Jongdae and Baekhyun's relationship. Compared to the shorter male, it takes Chanyeol sometime before midterms to see the clues hidden in his best friend's actions.
Chanyeol doesn't know if he's dreaming or if he's hallucinating. Because for some reason, it seems like Baekhyun isn't reciting much today in their AP Bio class.
The class is halfway through, yet his best friend has only answered one question. (And Chanyeol has no idea how Baekhyun pointed out the shoot apical meristem in Coleus.)
The rest of the time, Jongdae recites with Baekhyun randomly butting in at times.
"Refer to the picture on the screen. Can anyone tell me what kind of plant cell tissue that is?"
Chanyeol knows that Baekhyun has this memorized by heart, and judging from Jongdae's smile, the other student also knows the answer too. Chanyeol has already prepared for another argument at this point. (But seriously, plant cell tissues?)
What he wasn't expecting though was his best friend lowering his slightly raised hand just as Jongdae's hand shot up.
Why didn't he answer that question?, Chanyeol wonders.
He decides not to dwell on it further, but he can't help but observe his best friend for the rest of the period.
He realizes that Baekhyun never recites without looking at Jongdae first. And Baekhyun only seems to initiate recitation only when it looks like Jongdae doesn't know the answer at all.
Otherwise, Baekhyun either remains silent or picks a fight with Jongdae when the other male recites. But why?
By the time lunch time comes around, Chanyeol has put aside what he observed during AP Bio.
(He's still processing the fact that their calculus teacher single-handedly broke the whiteboard just by writing on it. Really, their teacher should just change his "stage name" from Rap Monster to Destruction God or something like that.)
As usual, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are sitting with Jongdae and Baekhyun. (His best friend had given up a long time ago on making excuses; Chanyeol just keeps dragging him towards the other two students' table instead.)
Today, it seems like Jongdae must be really tired from his PE because he barely acknowledged him and Baekhyun.
Instead, Jongdae is napping lightly with his cheek resting on the table while Kyungsoo wipes some sweat from his forehead. (Jongdae must be a really nice guy for Kyungsoo to keep being so nice to him.)
Chanyeol's halfway through his lunch when he sees Baekhyun dazedly staring somewhere near Jongdae and Kyungsoo.
At first, he thinks Baekhyun might be waiting for Jongdae to wake up so that they can continue their debate about whether glandular trichomes can be seen even with just LPO (How they got to this point is a mystery to Chanyeol), but his best friend seems to be focused on something.
Something like... Jongdae's arms? (Which are exposed since Jongdae is still wearing a muscle shirt from PE.)
What's even weirder is Baekhyun has this glint in his eyes that Chanyeol has only ever seen when his best friend stares at his Taeyeon posters in his room.
Woah there, what is happening? Chanyeol waits for a moment before he shakes Baekhyun a bit (too aggressively).
Baekhyun removes Chanyeol's hands from his shoulders before facing the taller male. "Huh, what? Yeol, did you need something?"
Chanyeol, still in a slight state of panic, can only point at Baekhyun's untouched lunch.
"Oh yeah, lunch," Baekhyun says before proceeding to eat his food.
The rest of their lunch period goes on like this, with Chanyeol watching Baekhyun steal glances at a sleeping Jongdae.
(Chanyeol swears he saw Baekhyun stifle a coo when Jongdae made slight whining noises in his sleep.)
As Kyungsoo wakes Jongdae up so that the latter can change into his uniform, Chanyeol realizes that for once, Baekhyun and Jongdae didn't argue at all during lunch.
For some reason, the teacher-in-charge has decided that everyone should stay in the classroom today for study period.
Usually, this would bum Chanyeol out, but for now, he needs all the space he can get from the library. More specifically, he needs to think about everything he's seen today regarding his best friend's relationship towards Jongdae.
Chanyeol knows he's a little dense ("Are you sure you're only a little dense", he hears Kyungsoo say in his head), but he can't believe how oblivious he was to have missed all the signs.
Baekhyun only picks fights with Jongdae during AP Bio when he knows Jongdae can hold his ground.
Baekhyun always checks Jongdae's reaction to their teacher's question before deciding whether he'll recite or not.
Baekhyun holds council meeting in the library during Jongdae's shift as a library assistant.
As Chanyeol ponders over all of these things, a memory from a few weeks back comes to him.
They were at Baekhyun's house for a supposed study session for Calculus, but Chanyeol ended up playing video games while Baekhyun studied for AP Stat.
As Chanyeol was pestering Baekhyun to play Call of Duty with him, he noticed that there were numerous drawings of ":3" followed by a heart in Baekhyun's notes. He teased Baekhyun about it, saying that he never knew the other male liked cute emoticons.
Only now does he understand what his best friend meant when he muttered, "It's not the emoticon I like."
There's only one person Chanyeol knows that has a smile like that.
It makes Chanyeol feel like he's stumbled upon something he wasn't meant to know at all. And this bothers Chanyeol for the rest of their study period.
About two hours later, their teacher announces that they can go home. Kyungsoo packs up his stuff and tells Chanyeol (who's strangely just staring at his Calculus notes) that he'll go on ahead. He has to get a head start in studying for that AP Stat midterms next week.
Before he turns the corner leading to the lockers though, he hears two all-too familiar voices coming from the hallway. What stupid thing could these two be bickering about again?
Just as Kyungsoo was about to step forward, Baekhyun says something that gets Kyungsoo's nerves on alert. (In a very bad way.)
“Why did you even take AP Bio, Kim Jongdae? You don’t know shit about Bio anyway,” Baekhyun says. Kyungsoo sees Baekhyun immediately cover his mouth, and looking regretful.
Kyungsoo couldn't give a fuck about Baekhyun and his dumb mouth though, because he can see how his best friend trembles slightly.
Kyungsoo feels like murdering someone. (With a slow, painful torture method first.) He holds himself in though, because it’s not his place yet to intervene.
A few beats of silence later, Jongdae speaks up.
“I wonder why, Byun Baekhyun. Have you ever thought that maybe it’s because I wanted to get closer to a certain idiot who likes Biology? But no, maybe it’s because I, Kim Jongdae, am stupid enough to take AP Bio when I don’t even like Bio in the first place," Jongdae says as he walks away, leaving behind a speechless Baekhyun.
Kyungsoo knows he can't let Jongdae know he saw what happened. He also knows Jongdae would tell him everything when he's ready.
As Kyungsoo turns back to walk toward the other exit (his AP Stat notes can wait until tomorrow), he can't help but whisper to himself.
“Byun Baekhyun, you fucking idiot.”
It took Chanyeol a few minutes to register that he was the only one left in their study period classroom. He hastily packs up his notes (which he wasn't able to review at all), before rushing to the lockers.
When he gets there, he's greeted with the sight of Jongdae walking away from a startled Baekhyun, before seeing Kyungsoo walking away from the scene.
"Kyungsoo! What happened," Chanyeol whispers when Kyungsoo has seen him. The shorter male gives him one of the deadliest glares he's ever seen before pointing at Baekhyun.
"Get him away from my sight for the rest of the week if you still want to have a best friend," is what Kyungsoo says before turning to the corner.
Chanyeol doesn't completely understand what happened, but from how his best friend looks so... defeated, he thinks he can take a guess.
Baekhyun must have said something out of bounds.
He watches as his best friend slumps against the lockers, before he sees Baekhyun pull at his hair in frustration.
“Fuck, that was low even for you, Byun. Why do you have to keep aggravating him like that,” Baekhyun says.
Chanyeol knows Baekhyun has really fucked up when he sees his best friend swiping at his eyes.
“Shit Byun Baekhyun how the fuck do you expect Jongdae to even like if all you ever do is piss him off? Ah fuck this, what do I do.”
The sight of his best friend almost crying over Kim Jongdae makes Chanyeol hurt, but this is a problem that he knows Baekhyun has to resolve himself.
He also knows that telling Baekhyun what he knows would cause more problems for everyone. While Chanyeol wishes Baek would have told him the truth about his relationship with Jongdae, he’ll respect that decision.
As Chanyeol waits for Baekhyun to get up and text him to go ahead, he hopes that everything turns out for the best. More importantly, he hopes Kyungsoo doesn’t murder Baekhyun just yet.
After the whole locker debacle, Kyungsoo knows that Jongdae's avoiding Baekhyun.
While his best friend still seats near Baekhyun during AP Stat, he doesn't initiate any arguments at all. Their teacher was surprised because when Baekhyun did some boardwork, Jongdae didn't speak at all about Baekhyun's use of two significant digits.
Even Baekhyun was sort of staring at Jongdae expectantly, but the latter just kept taking down notes.
During lunch time, Jongdae actually requests for once that they sit in a table for two only. As the two of them settle down, Kyungsoo sees Baekhyun looking around the cafeteria for them.
Seeing Byun actually looking sad about finding them in a table for two makes Kyungsoo feel a bit of pity for him. (Only a bit though, because he still hasn't forgiven the guy for his harsh words towards Jongdae.)
As Dumber and Dumbest sit somewhere on the other side of the cafeteria, Kyungsoo can only sigh. He knows his best friend well enough; Jongdae's not going to budge at all.
Chanyeol wasn't expecting Baekhyun to give up so easily; Baek wouldn't be the Baek he knows if he suddenly stopped pestering Jongdae.
Surprisingly though, Baekhyun stops trying to get a ruse out of Jongdae only a few days after Jongdae started ignoring him.
During their AP Bio, Chanyeol was waiting to see what kind of topic Baekhyun would initiate to get Jongdae to react (last time, it was about viewing stomatal parenchyma with or without IKI), but today Baekhyun keeps to himself.
Even their teacher notices Baekhyun's silence, since he asked Baekhyun out of the blue if he had anything to say. Chanyeol watches as Baekhyun just shakes his head and says that their teacher put 9muses instead of Stellar in the slide with the stellate trichomes.
While Baekhyun's statement may have earned a lot of laughs and amused looks, Chanyeol can't help but feel sad for his best friend.
Midterms come to their school like this, with Jongdae keeping his interactions with Baekhyun to a minimum, and Baekhyun keeping his distance from Jongdae.
Kyungsoo knows that Jongdae requested to their choir master to allow them to practice a cappella for a while.
Chanyeol knows Baekhyun has stopped holding student council meetings at the library.
Jongdae and Baekhyun now sit on opposite ends ot the cafeteria.
While they may still seat near each other in class, there might as well be a whole ocean separating them with how they pretend the other isn't there.
It would be a lie to say that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol don't feel a bit of relief; at least there's no constant bickering anymore.
Beyond that, either of them would take those arguments over this silence; anything would be better than seeing their best friends losing their source of happiness.
Neither of them can do anything though because it's not really their place to interfere with something that even Baekhyun and Jongdae still don't understand themselves.
When the results of their midterms are returned though, something happens that pushes Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to do something about Baekhyun and Jongdae’s stalemate.
Kyungsoo doesn't know what he was expecting the Monday they got back from AP Stat midterms, but Baekhyun getting the highest score in their class was far from it.
Their teacher makes Baekhyun stand in front of the class as he happily announces that Baekhyun got a perfect score.
Everyone claps for Baekhyun, whose face looks like the exact opposite of what someone who got a perfect score should look like.
Which is most probably because he's too busy (not-so) discreetly looking towards Jongdae's direction. It's almost as if Baekhyun is trying to say sorry to Jongdae for stealing his number one spot.
It's not helping that Jongdae has his head down while weakly clapping along with the rest of the class. From anyone else's point of view, especially from Baekhyun's it may look like Jongdae is mad.
From what Kyungsoo sees though, Jongdae is smiling so wide that he can't even clap properly.
Kyungsoo watches as Baekhyun walks back to his seat, attempting to make eye contact with a Jongdae who's too busy trying to cover his smile to notice the other.
It's a bit ridiculous as to how these two are so affected by the other that Kyungsoo's decided he's had enough.
Before the day ends, Kyungsoo is going to make sure that his best friend talks to Baekhyun about whatever is going on between them.
And he knows just who he'll threaten ask to help him.
Chanyeol shouldn't be surprised at this point by their AP Bio midterms results to be honest; Baekhyun may as well be a living, breathing high school Biology book at this point.
Their teacher was obviously expecting Baekhyun to top the midterms as usual, judging by his utterly bored expression as he gives Baekhyun his test paper.
What Chanyeol doesn't expect is the teacher sighing a bit regretfully as he hands Jongdae his exam, saying how he only missed Baekhyun's score by a half-point.
Despite this though, Jongdae doesn't look fazed at all; in fact, he looks... happy? And he’s sort of staring around the area where Baekhyun’s sitting too.
On the other hand, Chanyeol watches as Baekhyun has this perpetual frown on his face during the rest of their AP Bio.
Why does Baekhyun look like he failed the exam when he actually passed it with flying colors?
Chanyeol gets his answer when Baekhyun asks him to go ahead to Calculus.
"I just need to clarify something about the test. Save me a seat okay, Yeol?"
For some reason, Baekhyun's answer bothers Chanyeol. So he decides to lean against the wall beside their classroom's door. It's a bit hard for him though because he has to crouch down or else Baekhyun will see him.
"...so please do consider that there was an error in the lecture. From my extra reading, I think cytokinesis can be encompassed in the mitotic phase, which Jongdae has pointed out before."
At this point, Chanyeol leaves for Calculus because he can't believe this.
Byun Baekhyun is actually telling their teacher to consider rechecking Jongdae's exam so that he can get a perfect score too.
Chanyeol has decided that Baekhyun really needs to talk to Jongdae, and this has to happen today.
His only problem is how it'll happen.
The rest of the day flies by for Kyungsoo, and before he knows it, Chanyeol is sitting beside him in study period.
Kyungsoo wastes no time as he casually tells Chanyeol, "So Jongdae likes Baekhyun. Tell me if Byun likes Jongdae back."
Chanyeol almost drops his things when he hears Kyungsoo say those things. "Wha- Why- How did you know Baek likes Jongdae?"
Kyungsoo sighs as he faces the taller male. "I'm actually impressed that you actually had an answer for that. Since now you know Jongdae likes Baekhyun too, you have no choice but to help me force them into confessing to each other."
This time, Chanyeol does drop his things. "Confess? But they're not even talking to each other...."
Chanyeol shuts up when he sees Kyungsoo's exasperated glare.
"That's why I said force them to confess. Now here's what you have to do..."
After study period, Chanyeol waits for the student council to finish their meeting. Once everyone else but Baekhyun has left, he knocks lightly on the open door.
"Yo Baek, do you mind coming with me to the music room for a second? I just need to get my tuner."
Baekhyun slings his bag over his shoulder and walks out of the student council room. He locks the door before signaling Chanyeol to walk to the music room.
Once they get there, Chanyeol immediately pushes Baekhyun inside. Before Baekhyun could even react, someone inside the music room attempts to exit.
Before the person could get any closer to the door, Chanyeol slams the door on them.
He proceeds to latch the front lock of the music room's door before saying, "Sorry guys, I swear you'll thank us for this later on!"
When Kyungsoo said to wait for him in the music room while he looked for sheet music that they can practice together, Jongdae was not expecting to instead be locked in a room with Byun Baekhyun.
Jongdae cannot believe that Kyungsoo betrayed him like this. Okay so I never did tell Kyungsoo why I suddenly avoided Baekhyun, but I thought he'd be happy there wasn't any bickering anymore.
He contemplates on whether Baekhyun would be willing to team up with him on begging their best friends to let them out when he hears the other speak up.
"That thing I said the other day... uhm... I guess I offended you..," Baekhyun says while looking at the ground.
Baekhyun looks so cute as he scratches his cheek, which Jongdae would love to touch and pinch and ki- Stop, Kim Jongdae, focus on what he's saying.
After a few beats of silence, Jongdae smiles and asks, "Are you trying to say sorry, Byun?"
He can't help the teasing tone in his voice because arguing and teasing Baekhyun is the only way he can communicate with the other male.
He's prepared for Baekhyun's usual sassiness, or maybe even a burst of indignation (something like, "Yah, Kim, why would I say sorry to you!").
It catches him off guard when Baekhyun ruffles his hair in frustration as he lets out an exasperated grunt.
Baekhyun truly was planning to say sorry to Jongdae, but when the other male teased him with that tone (and that really nice smile wherein his lips curl up- Baekhyun, that's not important right now), he couldn't help but feel frustrated.
It's been two years since they've been classmates in both AP Stat and AP Bio, yet they only know how to tease and pull at each other's nerves.
And well, yes, they did have their fun moments together this year during joint choir and piano, but Baekhyun is selfish.
And because he's selfish, instead of saying sorry, everything he's ever bottled up inside of him comes out.
"I like you, Kim Jongdae," is the last thing Jongdae would have ever expected Baekhyun to say in this situation. He's still trying to grasp what Baekhyun said when the other male continues talking.
"Ugh shit I never wanted to tell this to you in this kind of scenario, and after what my stupid self said to you at the lockers, I was never going to tell you this, I mean, really, how could I even dare to confess to you when you deserve way better than me- not that you'd actually like me, but- mmphf!"
Baekhyun's rant is cut out by Jongdae forcefully covering the other's mouth with his hand.
"Byun Baekhyun, first of all, never think that you're not good enough. Second, you know, I knew you were a bit slow, but I never took you to be this dense. What part of maybe it’s because I wanted to get closer to a certain idiot who likes Biology wasn't clear enough for you? I honestly thought you knew I liked you when you told me I didn't know anything about Bio.."
Jongdae is startled midrant when Baekhyun suddenly lurches forward to close the gap between the two of them.
"No, seriously, that was just me being dumb.. Wait, did you, Kim Jongdae, say that you like me, Byun Baekhyun?!"
Baekhyun may not be aware of what he's doing, judging by the frantic look on his face, but he's holding one of Jongdae's hands in both of his and Jongdae cannot think properly with how close Baekhyun is.
Despite this, he can't help but smile because Baekhyun's trademark rectangular smile has always been his weakness.
"Yes I did, and yes, I did only join AP Bio because I wanted to get closer to the cute pianist who had a solo recital during our freshman year," Jongdae says teasingly as he watches Baekhyun's cheeks turn a light shade of pink.
Baekhyun must be dreaming because how can this be real?
Kim Jongdae is giving him that signature smile, wherein his lips curl up and his eyes crinkle in the most beautiful way. His cheeks also have this faint blush, which only makes him even more attractive to Baekhyun.
"I can't believe this. I only enrolled in AP Stat so that I could see that cute guy who played the lead role in a play during freshman year too," Baekhyun says and he can't help but feel so overwhelmed by everything that he starts to laugh. Jongdae joins him in the laughter a few moments later.
This is how Kyungsoo and Chanyeol find them a few minutes after they locked the two inside the music room: Baekhyun and Jongdae are looking at each other with that familiar glint in their eyes, and with their fingers entwined as they laugh over their stupidity.
Chanyeol gives Kyungsoo a thumbs up when he sees the scene in front of them, and Kyungsoo gives Chanyeol a small smile in return.
Bonus scenes:
"Why did I ever think that getting them to confess to each other was a good idea," Kyungsoo grumbles as he opens his bottle of paracetamol.
Before he can even get one tablet, it's snatched away by Chanyeol who immediately raises his arms to defend himself when he sees Kyungsoo's glare.
"Hey, look at the bright side, Soo, at least now they only ever fight about whether Liyin or Taeyeon is the real goddess," Chanyeol says as he keeps the bottle away from Kyungsoo.
"Aww look, Jongdae just kissed Baek on the forehead because Baek said he was tired. They're actually really cute together, aren't they, Soo?" Chanyeol says as he watches his best friend lean his head on Jongdae’s shoulder.
Kyungsoo just groans in frustration as he slams his head into the lunch table.
Title: If I Were An ER, How Would You Want Me? Smooth or Rough?
Pairing: Chen/Baekhyun
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some minor swear words, potential grammar errors, Byun Baekhyun, lame (and possibly inaccurate) Stat and Bio references
Word count: 9629
Summary: In which Jongdae and Baekhyun are “rivals”, Chanyeol thinks Statistics involves wolf dynamics, and Kyungsoo tries not to consume a whole bottle of paracetamol.
Author's note: To OP, I’m sorry there wasn’t enough humor, but thank you for this really lovely prompt! To the mods, thank you for being very nice and accommodating to this fic writer n00b. To my OT12 (yes 12), this is my way of thanking you for everything. This is also me letting you go. Lastly, to my friend who put up with reading my draft, I couldn’t have finished this without you! <3 (If anyone ever reads this fic, please do comment concrit; it would be greatly appreciated!)
If someone had told Kyungsoo that being in AP Stat would be this difficult, he never would have asked for a teacher’s recommendation.
It’s bad enough that he has to put up with their Stat teacher who keeps cracking stat jokes every five minutes. (If Kyungsoo heard that “Which central tendency test is the opposite of nice?” joke one more time, he is going to throw his calculator at someone, preferably that Kim Jongin who keeps staring at him like a creep.)
What really makes Kyungsoo’s AP Stat into a living hell is his best friend, Kim Jongdae and his stupid rival, Byun Baekhyun. Who the fuck gets worked up over which decimal place to round off to except those two?
As Kyungsoo contemplates whether ripping Jongdae’s Lit essay (which he was supposed to give to the other after AP Stat) would make him feel better, he’s brought out of his (murderous) thoughts by a familiar low voice.
Said person with low voice now stands in front of Kyungsoo, waving his hand in front of Kyungsoo’s face, with a crazy grin on his face.
Kyungsoo takes a hold of the hand with a tight grip, and asks through his teeth, “What do you want, Park Chanyeol?”
The person’s smile slowly disappears as he answers, “I was just going to tell you that your AP Stat class is done. Jongdae is outside arguing with Baekhyun about... alphas? Did you guys discuss wolf hierarchies in class?"
The shorter male breathes in for a moment before asking Chanyeol to "fucking let go of my hand", which Chanyeol does while flailing around.
Kyungsoo massages his temples before walking out the classroom, and is greeted by the sight of Jongdae and Baekhyun arguing about whether 0.05 should really be the standard alpha level.
He allows Chanyeol one chance to stop the fight via diplomatic means (aka Chanyeol trying to divert the topic to something else, like the new EXO album released) before he takes matters into his own hands.
Kyungsoo starts to tug Jongdae by the arm just as Chanyeol starts to flail his Kai photocard (who strangely looks like that Kim Jongin) in the two fighting males' faces.
"Save the fight over alpha levels for later, Jongdae. We still have Lit class."
As Jongdae meekly follows Kyungsoo to their Literature classroom, Kyungsoo can only sigh as he wonders what he did in his past life to deserve this daily torture. And it’s only Monday.
During their literature class, Kyungsoo asks Jongdae who started the fight again.
Jongdae just shrugs and says, "Well, Byun was asking for it when he said 0.05 was too low an alpha level."
He zones out as Jongdae swears he'll beat some sense into Baekhyun during their next class together.
As the teacher drones on about how MAMA by S.M. is one of the finest contemporary sci-fi books of this generation, Kyungsoo just thanks all the deities above that he doesn't have AP Bio.
Sometimes, Chanyeol regrets taking AP Biology despite actually liking the subject.
He has no problems with the teacher at all, who likes to crack random jokes during their lessons.
(Chanyeol can totally roll with his teacher’s “Which clothing store is a science? Bayo…logy! Ha ha ha” no matter how many times he says it.)
He also definitely isn't complaining over the sight of Kim Jongin, who he can stare at for the whole period.
His real problem with AP Bio is this weird rivalry between Byun Baekhyun, his almost-but-not-quite-there homo bro, and Kim Jongdae, this cute kid with the kitten-like smile. (But don’t tell Baek he said that. Chanyeol treasures his limited edition signed Dara photocard thankyouverymuch.)
Being too immersed in his musing, Chanyeol didn’t hear the bell ring which is why he was confused to see a Do Kyungsoo standing in front of him.
Chanyeol starts to speak in a hushed whisper, “Oh hello Kyungsoo, why are you standing there? Teacher Kim will kill us if-,” but Kyungsoo suddenly covers his mouth with a handkerchief.
“Shut up, I do not have the patience to hear more idiotic words. Your class just got dismissed. In other words, your best friend is, once again, bickering with my best friend outside. This time, I think it was something about Transformers? I don’t know, I’m not the one taking AP Bio here.”
Chanyeol just stares at Kyungsoo before sighing and asking the shorter male to follow him towards where Baekhyun and Jongdae are bickering.
Before the fight could blow out more than it has, Kyungsoo drags Jongdae by the arm towards their next class.
Chanyeol shares a moment of sympathy with Kyungsoo (in the form of the shorter male glaring at him, but Chanyeol thinks Kyungsoo just expresses things through murderous-like glares), and then he proceeds to slap a hand over his best friend's mouth.
"Yes, Baek, I know you feel strongly about DNA translation but we still have Calc."
As they head towards their Calculus class, Chanyeol wonders why being best friends with Byun Baekhyun is a daily pain in the ass. (Not in that sense, y'know? Because eew.)
These are just scenes from the daily life of Park Chanyeol and Do Kyungsoo, two senior high students who are bonded by a rivalry between their best friends, Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongdae.
It’s only been two weeks since the start of their last year in high school, yet the two have fought over a range of school related topics (from “Are you sure we’re supposed to use 2 significant figures?” to “HP calculators are waaaay better than Casio!”).
How exactly and why these two became “rivals” (as Chanyeol likes to call them; Kyungsoo just calls them the idiot duo) is a mystery that has yet to be resolved. And so another day ends with the Baekhyun and Jongdae debacle still unresolved.
Kyungsoo isn’t known for being the most optimistic person out there, but today, he’d like to believe he’ll have one of those relaxing school days (i.e. no Baekhyun and Jongdae arguing).
Then he remembers that the school secretary decided to be a bitch and gave him and Jongdae World History during first period every Tuesday and Thursday. He also still has three classes left.
At least he has music theory later, which is the only class he truly enjoys. If only he could strangle something (or someone, doesn’t really matter) to make him feel at ease.
Instead, he just sighs and goes back to taking down notes. For now, he'll just have to endure Mr. Sooman's lecture as he discusses for the nth time how YG and JYP's love story played out.
It's only halfway through the day yet Kyungsoo feels as if he performed at a 3 hour concert with like, 10 costume changes.
He's just thankful that Dumb and Dumber (because the title of Dumbest is reserved for a certain acquaintance of his) don't have any classes together for the day. It’s bad enough that Jongdae is talking his ear off about his fight with Baekhyun yesterday (“But, Soo, why does he think using point zero one as the standard is okay?”); he doesn’t need his best friend having more Baekhyun-hate fuel for the day.
Today, apparently, is a day where Jongdae feels more strongly towards the Biology argument he had with Baekhyun yesterday (he finished ranting about the alpha levels before they entered the cafeteria), which means Kyungsoo can review his homework for music theory.
Barely two minutes have passed since Jongdae started ranting again when he suddenly falls silent. Kyungsoo looks up from his homework to find none other than Baekhyun and Chanyeol standing at their table.
A few moments of silence pass before Chanyeol starts to speak. "Uh, all the other seats are full, and for some reason, Baek here insisted that we have to eat at the cafeteria-"
"Shut up, Yeol. Can we share the table with you guys?" Baek says, with his eyes flitting anywhere but in the direction of Kyungsoo and Jongdae.
"Wow, Byun, you can't even say ple- ow, I mean, ugh stop Soo, yes fine, you can sit with us. This doesn't mean-" Before Jongdae can even finish speaking, Chanyeol has dragged Baekhyun into the two free seats while giving his thanks.
The four students eat in a somewhat peaceful silence when suddenly, Baekhyun speaks up.
"You know, Kim, I'm still not convinced that 0.05 is valid enough as the standard alpha level."
Jongdae looks up from where he's eating his yogurt (with some of the yogurt still on his lips, why is Jongdae such a kid, thinks Kyungsoo) and proceeds to give Byun an angry glare.
"Oh, so alpha levels are decimals points? I wasn’t really listening to you guys yesterday, sorry. I thought it was this whole alpha-beta-omega thing." Chanyeol says.
Kyungsoo can only groan as he slams his head into the table, cursing his luck.
The only good thing about sharing a lunch table with Baekhyun and Chanyeol is that he gets to ask Chanyeol a bit about their music theory homework.
Chanyeol turns out to be knowledgeable enough to help him, and at least he offers to help Kyungsoo tune the grand piano in the choir room after their music theory class, which is their last class for the day.
While Chanyeol starts to open the grand piano's lid, he asks Kyungsoo, "Hey Kyungsoo, has Jongdae ever told you why he's so determined to be better than Baekhyun in AP Bio? I mean, he wasn't in AP Bio during our freshman year, right?"
Kyungsoo shakes his head. "Yeah he wasn't, and I don't know why he's continuing this rivalry with Baekhyun either."
Over the sounds of strings being tuned, Kyungsoo continues speaking. "What about Baekhyun, though? He wasn't in AP Stat before, either. I don't get why he keeps getting on Jongdae's nerves by taunting him during and outside class."
Chanyeol finishes tuning some strings before he closes the lid. "There, I think it's okay now. Try playing some keys first, though."
Kyungsoo plays a simple melody before he deems the piano as tuned enough. "Thanks, Chanyeol."
"Yeah, sure. To answer your question, I have no idea why, but I'm pretty sure you've noticed by know that Baekhyun is just annoying in general," Chanyeol says while snickering afterwards.
Kyungsoo isn't as amused as he says, "I've definitely noticed."
Chanyeol continues, "But even I have to admit it's a bit weird for Baek to be so interested in Statistics, though. As for this weird rivalry thing they have going on, well, Baek has always been the competitive type. Is Jongdae usually that competitive, though?"
The two students check if all the instruments in the room have been kept safely, and after a few moments Kyungsoo replies, "Honestly, no. He’s all for friendly competition, but this thing between him and Baekhyun? It’s way beyond that. But maybe Baekhyun just brings out that competitive streak in Jongdae? They're both getting on my nerves though, with all that stupid bickering."
Chanyeol hums in agreement, "Yeah. Hey Kyungsoo I'm just wondering. What if we actually tried to pay more attention to Baekhyun and Jongdae during class? I can admit I mostly ignore Baek when he goes into one of his Jongdae-rage modes, and I'm pretty sure you do, too? So anyway, maybe we should be more observant of them."
"What good would that do, though," Kyungsoo deadpans. The two stop in the hallway leading to their locker area, where their best friends are most likely waiting for them. Hopefully, without any bickering.
"You know, it might give us some insight into this competition thing. Like, how exactly do they fight? And who starts their fights? You know, details like that... uh yeah," Chanyeol trails off after seeing the blank look Kyungsoo is giving him.
(Chanyeol's seen that look before during their music theory class, when a classmate of theirs boldly declared that Kyungsoo looked like an owl. Said classmate couldn't go to school for three days afterwards.)
Chanyeol is starting to back away when Kyungsoo says, "That's actually a good idea. Let's try that tomorrow."
The taller male lets out a breath he'd been holding in and smiles at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo returns the smile with another blank look. "Okay, so... see you tomorrow, Kyungsoo! Please try not to kill Baekhyun; he's still my best friend."
The taller male then proceeds to pull Baekhyun, who just came from the comfort room, in a headlock as they head towards the school exit.
As Kyungsoo approaches Jongdae who is cleaning out his locker, he mutters, "I can’t make any promises.”
Chanyeol feels as if almost no time had passed; he wakes up, and it's already Day 1 of Mission ObserveBaekDae aka Mission O.B.D. (yeah, he made a pair name for the two) and he strangely feels excited.
As he was thinking whether it’d be more optimal to seat behind Baekhyun instead of beside him during AP Bio, he sees Kyungsoo walking with Jongdae towards school.
“Yo, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol shouts toward the pair.
Baekhyun looks at him weirdly, especially when Kyungsoo just gives the taller male what Baekhyun calls "the stare from hell".
(Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun’s life goal, next to beating Jongdae in their AP classes, is to get killed by Kyungsoo.)
Jongade then proceeds to whisper something to Kyungsoo, with which the latter responds by dragging his best friend faster towards school.
It’s only the first day of this so-called “mission”, and Kyungsoo already feels like giving up.
He never bothered to really pay any attention to the bickering duo during AP Stat. He’s prepared for this though; his bag has a whole bottle of paracetamol which he will try not to finish before the day ends.
Based on what Dumb and Dumb are arguing about while they’re answering today’s exercises though, it’d be a miracle if Kyungsoo doesn’t get halfway through the bottle.
As Jongdae furiously types out numbers into his beloved FX-50FPlus Casio scientific calculator (Kyungsoo has heard his best friend rave about a fucking calculator more than he should have), Kyungsoo hears him start to taunt Baekhyun.
“You know what, Byun? You’re like a Type One error.”
There’s a momentary silence before Baekhyun replies. “Oh please, Jongdae, my A in AP Stat has no time to talk to your pathetic B+.”
Kyungsoo doesn’t bother to look at the two, but from his peripheral vision, he sees Jongdae copying something he’s computed.
“Well, Byun, it seems like you really are an Alpha error, because you think something’s there when there isn’t. Like that A you think you have, when in reality, you don’t.”
It’s exactly at this moment that their teacher announces that time’s up and everyone has to hand in their worksheets.
Kyungsoo looks up from his worksheet (which he was able to finish despite some idiots having a verbal spat in the background) to see Baekhyun desperately keying in numbers into his calculator, while his best friend just cackles as he stands up to pass his worksheet.
Before walking to teacher’s desk, Kyungsoo watches as Jongdae whispers to Baekhyun, “Well then, I guess you can say goodbye to that A in AP Stat, Byun. Your F value is off by 3 decimals, but hey at least your grade is closer to that letter.”
As Baekhyun wails in despair while clutching his calculator, Kyungsoo proceeds to slam his head into his desk. He’s too exasperated at this point to tell Byun Baekhyun that this exercise isn’t even graded.
What am I even supposed to observe, all I learned from this is that Byun is an even bigger idiot than I thought, is what passes through Kyungsoo’s mind as he goes to the teacher's desk.
From his peripheral vision, he see Jongdae pick up Baekhyun’s crumpled exercise before passing his own exercise to the front. He and Jongdae leave the classroom with a sulking Baekhyun trailing behind, who goes straight to the gym where Chanyeol's class is before AP Bio.
Chanyeol’s starting to become unsure of his and Kyungsoo’s Mission O.B.D.; it’s only been 10 minutes into their AP Bio, yet he doesn’t learn anything new about Baekhyun and Jongdae’s rivalry except for the fact that they seem to recite every single time their teacher asks a question.
He’s starting to space out while staring at Kim Jongin’s hair (he swears it’s not creepy; he’s just appreciating Jongin’s newly dyed pink hair) when Baekhyun suddenly stands up from his seat.
“Kim Jongdae, there are five stages of mitosis, not six. Did you not read the book?”
Just as their teacher starts to speak up, Jongdae rises from his seat too. Oh god, not another impromptu debate, we haven’t even finished discussing prophase, Chanyeol thinks.
“Excuse me, Byun Baekhyun, in case you don’t know, cytokinesis can be considered the sixth phase of mitosis. Do you not read anything other than our book?”
Chanyeol watches as his teacher tries to calm the two, who are suddenly discussing which sources are the most reliable, when he hears someone say “Yo, teach, chill. They most probably won’t stop until we’re halfway through the lesson anyway, as usual.”
Their teacher looks like he wants to protest, but he was their AP Bio teacher last year, too, and at this point, everyone knows it’s better to let Baekhyun and Jongdae go on with whatever fight they’re in.
Chanyeol already knows that teacher has given up; the projector has been turned on again to the slide with a picture of the prophase stage.
“Baekhyun, Jongdae, would you two just kindly sit down? Oh okay, thank you. So class, as I was saying…”
A collective sigh is released by the whole class (sans Baekhyun and Jongdae who are now merely background noise to their teacher’s droning voice), and Chanyeol starts to attempt to take down notes.
I have a feeling Kyungsoo is going to kill me for getting him into this mission, is what Chanyeol thinks while his best friend and Jongdae continue to bicker in front of him.
Chanyeol has never dreaded lunch as much as he did today.
For once, he actually wished that their calculus teacher, Rap Monster (really, what kind of math teacher asks students to call him with some weird… stage name?), would dismiss them late enough so that the cafeteria would be full by the time he and Baekhyun went there. Yet alas, they were still out of the classroom just in time for the lunch hour rush.
"So Yeol, I'm pretty sure you agree with me on the stages of mitosis right? Yeah, cytokinesis is something that happens, but no, it is not considered part of mitosis, ugh..."
At this point, Chanyeol has already zoned out, instead trying to find where Kyungsoo and Jongdae are sitting. He's resigned to his fate; he's pretty sure that by this point, Baekhyun has made another excuse for them to sit with Kyungsoo and Jongdae.
He's proven right when minutes later, they're sitting with Kyungsoo and Jongdae in a table near the entrance.
There's an awkward silence surrounding everyone when Kyungsoo speaks up. "So, Baekhyun, what lame-ass reason did you give Chanyeol now to convince him to sit with me and Jongdae?"
Baekhyun almost spits out the water he was drinking at Kyungsoo's question. Chanyeol starts to laugh, and he was about to tell Kyungsoo how Baekhyun said "Jongdae needs to be educated more on mitosis" when Jongdae suddenly turns his gaze towards Baekhyun.
"So, you still think mitosis only has five stages, huh, Byun?"
Chanyeol and Kyungsoo share a look as Baekhyun and Jongdae start to bicker again.
This whole plan isn't going anywhere, Kyungsoo seems to say with his glare.
I know, Chanyeol's scared gaze says back as he watches Kyungsoo intake three paracetamols at a time.
(From the looks of Kyungsoo's medicine bottle, it seems like the bottle is almost empty.)
It's a blessing that Chanyeol only has study period left for the day, and it thankfully isn't with neither Baekhyun nor Jongdae.
He looks for Kyungsoo, who he finds sitting at the back row, closest to the window. He takes the seat behind Kyungsoo, with the latter slightly tilting his head to acknowledge him. (He knows Kyungsoo doesn't do greetings that much).
Chanyeol makes himself comfortable before speaking up. "So, did you observe anything weird during AP Stat between Jongdae and Baekhyun?"
Kyungsoo writes down something in his notebook for a while before replying. "Aside from the fact that they're both idiots? I don't think so. How about you?"
"I didn't observe anything new during AP Bio, but I only just realized that yeah, Baekhyun does make the dumbest excuses so we'd sit with you and Jongdae during lunch," Chanyeol says.
Kyungsoo snorts, "Glad you finally noticed. Seriously, "I have to make a man out of Jongdae" didn't sound dumb to you at all?"
"I'm sorry if I was too preoccupied with teasing Baek about having watched Mulan, okay," Chanyeol replies, which gets another snort from Kyungsoo.
The rest of their study period goes by, with Chanyeol occasionally pestering Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo repeatedly ignoring Chanyeol. Once the teacher goes back to their room and dismisses them, they go to their lockers to get their stuff.
"Hey, Kyungsoo, Jongdae's doing library work around this time right? The student council's room is near the lib, so why don't we wait there together," Chanyeol says while closing his locker.
"I still can't believe Byun actually won as the student council president, is this school fucking dumb or what?” Kyungsoo mutters.
Chanyeol suddenly stops walking and faces the shorter male. ““Were you saying something, Kyungsoo?”
Kyungsoo sighs and just motions for Chanyeol to keep walking.
They pass through the student council room first, but it's surprisingly empty.
"Maybe they had a meeting in the faculty lounge again. Teacher Yesung dotes on Baek for some weird reason," Chanyeol grumbles as they walk to the library.
After a few minutes, they enter the library. Chanyeol sees Jongdae by the magazines, and he waves at the shorter boy in greeting. Jongdae waves back with a smile, and is surprised to see Kyungsoo with him.
"Hey Soo, I just need to finish arranging a few more stacks, and we can go home, okay?" Kyungsoo gives him a small smile as he tell Jongdae to take his time.
Chanyeol and Kyungsoo proceed to sit at the tables near Jongdae, when Chanyeol lets out a gasp. He taps Kyungsoo, who looks up from where he's slightly napping, to glare at Chanyeol.
But before Kyungsoo can do anything more, Chanyeol points at a huge table a few shelves away from them.
"Look, the student council is here. I had no idea they could have meetings here," Chanyeol whispers.
Kyungsoo looks at where Chanyeol is pointing and makes a hum of affirmation. "Yeah, with how noisy Byun is, it's a miracle they allowed him to have a meeting in the library."
While the shorter boy goes back to napping, Chanyeol looks at the student council for a while. He notices Baekhyun's attention drifting off to the newspapers beside the magazine rack, which makes Chanyeol snicker.
Is he that bored that he thinks looking at newspapers is more interesting than their meeting? With that thought, Chanyeol proceeds to play 2048 on his phone instead.
Finally, the student council meeting ends, so Chanyeol goes to where Baekhyun's packing up his stuff.
While he's waiting, he sees Kyungsoo and Jongdae at the entrance.
He mouths to Kyungsoo, Is the plan still on?
Kyungsoo thinks for a moment before mouthing back, Why not?
Mission ObserveBaekDae goes on for the next month, yet Chanyeol still hasn’t observed anything that gives insight into the rivalry of the century (as he likes to call it). On the other hand, at least he’s slowly becoming friends with Kyungsoo. (At least he’d like to think so. Kyungsoo switching from giving him deathly glares to deathly headlocks is a sign of friendship, right…?)
Somewhere in the middle of the second month of school, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo (but mostly just Chanyeol; Kyungsoo couldn’t really care less) decided that Mission OBD was getting nowhere. And so the mystery that is the Baekhyun and Jongdae rivalry still remains unresolved… that is, until Kyungsoo starts noticing things he normally wouldn’t in his best friend.
It’s almost two months since their school year started, and Chanyeol still wants to personally thank whoever decided to schedule his PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Really, that person deserves a salary raise.)
First, he doesn't have to suffer being with their muscle-idiot teacher for three times a week.
Second, he's classmates with Kim Jongin, who likes to wear tank tops. (Not that Chanyeol stares; of course he does... not.)
But the most important reason of all is that he was scheduled to the basketball class. Which means Chanyeol can finally do something useful with his height. (Aside from putting Baekhyun's stuff out of reach.)
He just wishes he didn't have World History with Baekhyun after this. He's pretty sure their teacher is going to show them another documentary about YG and JYP.
I don't really need to see another video of YG and JYP serenading each other, Chanyeol thinks as he instead focuses his attention to Kim Jongin, who's wearing a nice muscle shirt instead for today.
If Kyungsoo finds out whoever arranged his class schedule, he's going to fucking strangle someone.
First, he hates how his PE is right after calculus. Fucking calculus, for gods' sake.
Second, how the fuck did he end up with basketball as his PE?
Despite his shitty luck, he's fucking thankful that he isn't in the same PE class as that Kim Jongin again.
Last year, Kyungsoo couldn't do any leg warm-ups properly because the kid kept staring at his ass. (He didn't stop even when Kyungsoo glared at him; Kyungsoo decided to put trash in Jongin's gym locker instead as payback.)
As Kyungsoo ties his shoelaces while waiting for their creepy muscle freak teacher, he thinks that he'll just have to endure for a while. Afterwards, he can sleep during his Chinese language elective with Jongdae. Their teacher doesn't really teach them anything; he mostly just randomly plays the violin while singing in mixed English, Korean, and Mandarin.
Jongdae loves him though, something about how their teacher is a genius to have produced such catchy choruses like "I'm trapped".
Yeah, I'm trapped with a useless language elective, Kyungsoo thinks as their stupid gym teacher starts shouting about youth and exercise.
At this point in the school year, Kyungsoo wonders why he's even mildly surprised that Dumber and Dumbest are going to sit with him and Jongdae again for lunch. Baekhyun isn't even trying to make excuses at this point anymore.
While Kyungsoo would like to think highly of Byun by saying the latter may have realized the stupidity of his arguments, he knows Baekhyun is most likely just too tired from his PE class.
"Ugh, I swear that Jungkook from gym is out to get me. He made me run around the court for no reason. Like, who the fuck does that,” Baekhyun whines as he’s putting down his bag beside Chanyeol’s. Baekhyun lays his arms on the table while resting his cheek to whine more to Chanyeol.
Kyungsoo swats away one of his arms because you just came from PE without bothering to change out of your tank top, and your sweat might contaminate my food, put your arms somewhere else.
Instead of eating, Baekhyun alternately whines about his PE and closes his eyes. Kyungsoo couldn’t be bothered by his antics, but he registers Jongdae has stopped eating his food. Is he going to start a fight with Dumber again?
Just as Kyungsoo’s about to get his earphones, he notices that Jongdae doesn’t even look mad. Instead, he seems to be.... staring at Baekhyun?
At first, Kyungsoo thinks Jongdae just might be waiting for Baekhyun to open his (now closed) eyes, but Jongdae is just looking at Baekhyun with this unfamiliar glint in his eyes.
After a while, Kyungsoo notices his best friend staring... at Baekhyun's arms?
Okay, this is a bit too much, Kyungsoo thinks. So he nudges Jongdae for a bit until the latter startles from his trance.
Jongdae shakes his head for a bit before asking, “Did you need something, Soo?”
Kyungsoo just points at Jongdae’s food, which makes the other male go Oh as he starts to eat again.
Throughout lunch, Kyungsoo still notices Jongdae subtly stealing glances at Baekhyun, who remains asleep until Chanyeol wakes him up.
It’s only when Kyungsoo is walking towards the music building with Chanyeol does he realize that Jongdae and Baekhyun didn’t argue at all during lunch.
At this point, it’s become routine for Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to tune the various instruments in the music room. They don’t even need to ask permission from their teacher anymore.
While Kyungsoo waits for Chanyeol to finish tuning one of the acoustic guitars in the room, he asks a question.
“Hey Chanyeol, did you notice anything weird during lunch?”
“No, I didn’t? Well, Baek didn’t get to eat since he fell asleep, but I don’t think that’s what you’re asking about, right,” Chanyeol replies.
The two move towards the grand piano, with Kyungsoo not even bothering to check if it’s tuned.
(He’s pretty sure that freshman Oh Sehun thought it was funny to mess with the piano again. Kyungsoo’s going to fucking murder him someday.)
As Chanyeol and Kyungsoo work together to tune the piano, Kyungsoo thinks it’s best if he doesn’t tell Chanyeol about Jongdae staring at Baekhyun during lunch. He doesn’t want to assume anything until he hears it directly from Jongdae.
After few minutes, and a couple of curses aimed towards Oh Sehun later, the two students walk out of the music room.
Chanyeol suddenly stops and starts to walk back to the music room. "Hey Kyungsoo, I forgot my tuner in the music room. You can go ahead to the lockers."
"Okay," Kyungsoo replies as Chanyeol turns back to the corridor where the music room is.
Kyungsoo was about to start walking to the lockers when he heard someone singing "I Really Didn't Know" which sounded like Jongdae's voice. Oh, the choir must be back to singing classic songs now.
It's been a long time since Kyungsoo visited Jongdae during choir practice, but he knows Jongdae wouldn't mind him watching. After all, noraebang is one of their shared hobbies, especially during vacation.
Kyungsoo knocks on the choir room door, and hears a muffled laugh before he's greeted by Jongdae.
"Oh hey Soo, wasn't expecting you to be here. We're almost finished here, can you wait for a while?"
Kyungsoo replies with a hum as he walks toward the piano in the corner. He stops in his steps though when the person sitting at the piano looks up.
"Byun? And why are you holding your hands up?"
Baekhyun lowers his raised hands and faces Kyungsoo. "...you're not gonna hit me?"
"Wow, Byun, never knew you were into that," a voice says behind Kyungsoo.
Suddenly, Jongdae is with them, snickering at his own line.
Kyungsoo was expecting another fight to ensue, but surprisingly, Baekhyun just remains silent. Just when Kyungsoo thought it couldn't get weirder, he notices Jongdae actually has a slight blush on his cheeks.
The moment is broken when someone from the choir tugs at Jongdae. "Hyung, come on, let's practice one more time."
Baekhyun suddenly brightens up. "Come on Jongdae, you're so close to perfecting that high note, go go go!"
Jongdae's lips actually curl up into his signature cat-like smile as he tells Baekhyun to do his best in playing for the choir.
The choir starts singing from the first verse, and Jongdae starts his solo part during the chorus. Kyungsoo swears he sees his best friend stealing glances at Baekhyun, who's looking really serious for once as he plays the piano.
Jongdae never told me Baekhyun was the choir's resident pianist, Kyungsoo thinks. Once everyone starts packing up, he thinks he knows why. Jongdae is keeping this part of his relationship with Baekhyun a secret to him, along with his own feelings. And Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun's hiding his own secrets from Chanyeol too. Will Chanyeol ever know, though?
Ever since that day, Kyungsoo slowly sees more things about Baekhyun and Jongdae's "rivalry" that he never cared to notice before. Or more like, he's only realizing these things now that he actually bothered to look past the stupid arguments.
Kyungsoo remembers that over a month ago, their AP Stat teacher returned their exercises on one-way ANOVA computation.
Baekhyun looked surprised that his exercise was checked, claiming that he doesn't remember having even passed it. Back then, Kyungsoo just thought that Baekhyun was just being forgetful.
Now, as they're doing exercises on non-parametric measures though, Kyungsoo suddenly remembers something.
Jongdae picked up Baekhyun's exercise before passing his own. He also gets a flashback of his best friend looking away when Baekhyun asks about who could have passed his exercise.
During the course of the next few weeks, Kyungsoo also notices that Jongdae steals more glances at Baekhyun than he actually thought.
How could Kyungsoo have missed his best friend being more quiet during the days Baekhyun forgets to change out of a tank top when he joins them for lunch?
And how could he have missed the numerous times Jongdae starts to work near the student council's table whenever the student council has meetings in the library?
The breaking point in Kyungsoo's suspicions ironically came from one of Jongdae and Baekhyun's arguments just a week ago.
The four of them were in the cafeteria again, and Chanyeol was dozing because he apparently crammed for his calculus test.
Kyungsoo was discretely listening in to the two rivals' fight when he noticed how Jongdae subtly steers their topic to a different ground once he sees Baekhyun losing counterarguments. (But really, who fights over brands of scientific calculators?)
What seals the whole thing for Kyungsoo though is when he sees that fleeting smile on his best friend's face throughout the argument.
Anyone who hasn't known Jongdae long enough may think that Jongdae is in a constant state of smiling (due to his lips' natural bow like features), but Kyungsoo can tell the difference between what looks like a smile and what is Jongdae's smile.
How Jongdae looks when he argues with Baekhyun is actually one of the most genuine smiles Kyungsoo has ever seen in his best friend.
Kyungsoo's not the only who starts to uncover the secrets in the mess that is Jongdae and Baekhyun's relationship. Compared to the shorter male, it takes Chanyeol sometime before midterms to see the clues hidden in his best friend's actions.
Chanyeol doesn't know if he's dreaming or if he's hallucinating. Because for some reason, it seems like Baekhyun isn't reciting much today in their AP Bio class.
The class is halfway through, yet his best friend has only answered one question. (And Chanyeol has no idea how Baekhyun pointed out the shoot apical meristem in Coleus.)
The rest of the time, Jongdae recites with Baekhyun randomly butting in at times.
"Refer to the picture on the screen. Can anyone tell me what kind of plant cell tissue that is?"
Chanyeol knows that Baekhyun has this memorized by heart, and judging from Jongdae's smile, the other student also knows the answer too. Chanyeol has already prepared for another argument at this point. (But seriously, plant cell tissues?)
What he wasn't expecting though was his best friend lowering his slightly raised hand just as Jongdae's hand shot up.
Why didn't he answer that question?, Chanyeol wonders.
He decides not to dwell on it further, but he can't help but observe his best friend for the rest of the period.
He realizes that Baekhyun never recites without looking at Jongdae first. And Baekhyun only seems to initiate recitation only when it looks like Jongdae doesn't know the answer at all.
Otherwise, Baekhyun either remains silent or picks a fight with Jongdae when the other male recites. But why?
By the time lunch time comes around, Chanyeol has put aside what he observed during AP Bio.
(He's still processing the fact that their calculus teacher single-handedly broke the whiteboard just by writing on it. Really, their teacher should just change his "stage name" from Rap Monster to Destruction God or something like that.)
As usual, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are sitting with Jongdae and Baekhyun. (His best friend had given up a long time ago on making excuses; Chanyeol just keeps dragging him towards the other two students' table instead.)
Today, it seems like Jongdae must be really tired from his PE because he barely acknowledged him and Baekhyun.
Instead, Jongdae is napping lightly with his cheek resting on the table while Kyungsoo wipes some sweat from his forehead. (Jongdae must be a really nice guy for Kyungsoo to keep being so nice to him.)
Chanyeol's halfway through his lunch when he sees Baekhyun dazedly staring somewhere near Jongdae and Kyungsoo.
At first, he thinks Baekhyun might be waiting for Jongdae to wake up so that they can continue their debate about whether glandular trichomes can be seen even with just LPO (How they got to this point is a mystery to Chanyeol), but his best friend seems to be focused on something.
Something like... Jongdae's arms? (Which are exposed since Jongdae is still wearing a muscle shirt from PE.)
What's even weirder is Baekhyun has this glint in his eyes that Chanyeol has only ever seen when his best friend stares at his Taeyeon posters in his room.
Woah there, what is happening? Chanyeol waits for a moment before he shakes Baekhyun a bit (too aggressively).
Baekhyun removes Chanyeol's hands from his shoulders before facing the taller male. "Huh, what? Yeol, did you need something?"
Chanyeol, still in a slight state of panic, can only point at Baekhyun's untouched lunch.
"Oh yeah, lunch," Baekhyun says before proceeding to eat his food.
The rest of their lunch period goes on like this, with Chanyeol watching Baekhyun steal glances at a sleeping Jongdae.
(Chanyeol swears he saw Baekhyun stifle a coo when Jongdae made slight whining noises in his sleep.)
As Kyungsoo wakes Jongdae up so that the latter can change into his uniform, Chanyeol realizes that for once, Baekhyun and Jongdae didn't argue at all during lunch.
For some reason, the teacher-in-charge has decided that everyone should stay in the classroom today for study period.
Usually, this would bum Chanyeol out, but for now, he needs all the space he can get from the library. More specifically, he needs to think about everything he's seen today regarding his best friend's relationship towards Jongdae.
Chanyeol knows he's a little dense ("Are you sure you're only a little dense", he hears Kyungsoo say in his head), but he can't believe how oblivious he was to have missed all the signs.
Baekhyun only picks fights with Jongdae during AP Bio when he knows Jongdae can hold his ground.
Baekhyun always checks Jongdae's reaction to their teacher's question before deciding whether he'll recite or not.
Baekhyun holds council meeting in the library during Jongdae's shift as a library assistant.
As Chanyeol ponders over all of these things, a memory from a few weeks back comes to him.
They were at Baekhyun's house for a supposed study session for Calculus, but Chanyeol ended up playing video games while Baekhyun studied for AP Stat.
As Chanyeol was pestering Baekhyun to play Call of Duty with him, he noticed that there were numerous drawings of ":3" followed by a heart in Baekhyun's notes. He teased Baekhyun about it, saying that he never knew the other male liked cute emoticons.
Only now does he understand what his best friend meant when he muttered, "It's not the emoticon I like."
There's only one person Chanyeol knows that has a smile like that.
It makes Chanyeol feel like he's stumbled upon something he wasn't meant to know at all. And this bothers Chanyeol for the rest of their study period.
About two hours later, their teacher announces that they can go home. Kyungsoo packs up his stuff and tells Chanyeol (who's strangely just staring at his Calculus notes) that he'll go on ahead. He has to get a head start in studying for that AP Stat midterms next week.
Before he turns the corner leading to the lockers though, he hears two all-too familiar voices coming from the hallway. What stupid thing could these two be bickering about again?
Just as Kyungsoo was about to step forward, Baekhyun says something that gets Kyungsoo's nerves on alert. (In a very bad way.)
“Why did you even take AP Bio, Kim Jongdae? You don’t know shit about Bio anyway,” Baekhyun says. Kyungsoo sees Baekhyun immediately cover his mouth, and looking regretful.
Kyungsoo couldn't give a fuck about Baekhyun and his dumb mouth though, because he can see how his best friend trembles slightly.
Kyungsoo feels like murdering someone. (With a slow, painful torture method first.) He holds himself in though, because it’s not his place yet to intervene.
A few beats of silence later, Jongdae speaks up.
“I wonder why, Byun Baekhyun. Have you ever thought that maybe it’s because I wanted to get closer to a certain idiot who likes Biology? But no, maybe it’s because I, Kim Jongdae, am stupid enough to take AP Bio when I don’t even like Bio in the first place," Jongdae says as he walks away, leaving behind a speechless Baekhyun.
Kyungsoo knows he can't let Jongdae know he saw what happened. He also knows Jongdae would tell him everything when he's ready.
As Kyungsoo turns back to walk toward the other exit (his AP Stat notes can wait until tomorrow), he can't help but whisper to himself.
“Byun Baekhyun, you fucking idiot.”
It took Chanyeol a few minutes to register that he was the only one left in their study period classroom. He hastily packs up his notes (which he wasn't able to review at all), before rushing to the lockers.
When he gets there, he's greeted with the sight of Jongdae walking away from a startled Baekhyun, before seeing Kyungsoo walking away from the scene.
"Kyungsoo! What happened," Chanyeol whispers when Kyungsoo has seen him. The shorter male gives him one of the deadliest glares he's ever seen before pointing at Baekhyun.
"Get him away from my sight for the rest of the week if you still want to have a best friend," is what Kyungsoo says before turning to the corner.
Chanyeol doesn't completely understand what happened, but from how his best friend looks so... defeated, he thinks he can take a guess.
Baekhyun must have said something out of bounds.
He watches as his best friend slumps against the lockers, before he sees Baekhyun pull at his hair in frustration.
“Fuck, that was low even for you, Byun. Why do you have to keep aggravating him like that,” Baekhyun says.
Chanyeol knows Baekhyun has really fucked up when he sees his best friend swiping at his eyes.
“Shit Byun Baekhyun how the fuck do you expect Jongdae to even like if all you ever do is piss him off? Ah fuck this, what do I do.”
The sight of his best friend almost crying over Kim Jongdae makes Chanyeol hurt, but this is a problem that he knows Baekhyun has to resolve himself.
He also knows that telling Baekhyun what he knows would cause more problems for everyone. While Chanyeol wishes Baek would have told him the truth about his relationship with Jongdae, he’ll respect that decision.
As Chanyeol waits for Baekhyun to get up and text him to go ahead, he hopes that everything turns out for the best. More importantly, he hopes Kyungsoo doesn’t murder Baekhyun just yet.
After the whole locker debacle, Kyungsoo knows that Jongdae's avoiding Baekhyun.
While his best friend still seats near Baekhyun during AP Stat, he doesn't initiate any arguments at all. Their teacher was surprised because when Baekhyun did some boardwork, Jongdae didn't speak at all about Baekhyun's use of two significant digits.
Even Baekhyun was sort of staring at Jongdae expectantly, but the latter just kept taking down notes.
During lunch time, Jongdae actually requests for once that they sit in a table for two only. As the two of them settle down, Kyungsoo sees Baekhyun looking around the cafeteria for them.
Seeing Byun actually looking sad about finding them in a table for two makes Kyungsoo feel a bit of pity for him. (Only a bit though, because he still hasn't forgiven the guy for his harsh words towards Jongdae.)
As Dumber and Dumbest sit somewhere on the other side of the cafeteria, Kyungsoo can only sigh. He knows his best friend well enough; Jongdae's not going to budge at all.
Chanyeol wasn't expecting Baekhyun to give up so easily; Baek wouldn't be the Baek he knows if he suddenly stopped pestering Jongdae.
Surprisingly though, Baekhyun stops trying to get a ruse out of Jongdae only a few days after Jongdae started ignoring him.
During their AP Bio, Chanyeol was waiting to see what kind of topic Baekhyun would initiate to get Jongdae to react (last time, it was about viewing stomatal parenchyma with or without IKI), but today Baekhyun keeps to himself.
Even their teacher notices Baekhyun's silence, since he asked Baekhyun out of the blue if he had anything to say. Chanyeol watches as Baekhyun just shakes his head and says that their teacher put 9muses instead of Stellar in the slide with the stellate trichomes.
While Baekhyun's statement may have earned a lot of laughs and amused looks, Chanyeol can't help but feel sad for his best friend.
Midterms come to their school like this, with Jongdae keeping his interactions with Baekhyun to a minimum, and Baekhyun keeping his distance from Jongdae.
Kyungsoo knows that Jongdae requested to their choir master to allow them to practice a cappella for a while.
Chanyeol knows Baekhyun has stopped holding student council meetings at the library.
Jongdae and Baekhyun now sit on opposite ends ot the cafeteria.
While they may still seat near each other in class, there might as well be a whole ocean separating them with how they pretend the other isn't there.
It would be a lie to say that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol don't feel a bit of relief; at least there's no constant bickering anymore.
Beyond that, either of them would take those arguments over this silence; anything would be better than seeing their best friends losing their source of happiness.
Neither of them can do anything though because it's not really their place to interfere with something that even Baekhyun and Jongdae still don't understand themselves.
When the results of their midterms are returned though, something happens that pushes Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to do something about Baekhyun and Jongdae’s stalemate.
Kyungsoo doesn't know what he was expecting the Monday they got back from AP Stat midterms, but Baekhyun getting the highest score in their class was far from it.
Their teacher makes Baekhyun stand in front of the class as he happily announces that Baekhyun got a perfect score.
Everyone claps for Baekhyun, whose face looks like the exact opposite of what someone who got a perfect score should look like.
Which is most probably because he's too busy (not-so) discreetly looking towards Jongdae's direction. It's almost as if Baekhyun is trying to say sorry to Jongdae for stealing his number one spot.
It's not helping that Jongdae has his head down while weakly clapping along with the rest of the class. From anyone else's point of view, especially from Baekhyun's it may look like Jongdae is mad.
From what Kyungsoo sees though, Jongdae is smiling so wide that he can't even clap properly.
Kyungsoo watches as Baekhyun walks back to his seat, attempting to make eye contact with a Jongdae who's too busy trying to cover his smile to notice the other.
It's a bit ridiculous as to how these two are so affected by the other that Kyungsoo's decided he's had enough.
Before the day ends, Kyungsoo is going to make sure that his best friend talks to Baekhyun about whatever is going on between them.
And he knows just who he'll threaten ask to help him.
Chanyeol shouldn't be surprised at this point by their AP Bio midterms results to be honest; Baekhyun may as well be a living, breathing high school Biology book at this point.
Their teacher was obviously expecting Baekhyun to top the midterms as usual, judging by his utterly bored expression as he gives Baekhyun his test paper.
What Chanyeol doesn't expect is the teacher sighing a bit regretfully as he hands Jongdae his exam, saying how he only missed Baekhyun's score by a half-point.
Despite this though, Jongdae doesn't look fazed at all; in fact, he looks... happy? And he’s sort of staring around the area where Baekhyun’s sitting too.
On the other hand, Chanyeol watches as Baekhyun has this perpetual frown on his face during the rest of their AP Bio.
Why does Baekhyun look like he failed the exam when he actually passed it with flying colors?
Chanyeol gets his answer when Baekhyun asks him to go ahead to Calculus.
"I just need to clarify something about the test. Save me a seat okay, Yeol?"
For some reason, Baekhyun's answer bothers Chanyeol. So he decides to lean against the wall beside their classroom's door. It's a bit hard for him though because he has to crouch down or else Baekhyun will see him.
"...so please do consider that there was an error in the lecture. From my extra reading, I think cytokinesis can be encompassed in the mitotic phase, which Jongdae has pointed out before."
At this point, Chanyeol leaves for Calculus because he can't believe this.
Byun Baekhyun is actually telling their teacher to consider rechecking Jongdae's exam so that he can get a perfect score too.
Chanyeol has decided that Baekhyun really needs to talk to Jongdae, and this has to happen today.
His only problem is how it'll happen.
The rest of the day flies by for Kyungsoo, and before he knows it, Chanyeol is sitting beside him in study period.
Kyungsoo wastes no time as he casually tells Chanyeol, "So Jongdae likes Baekhyun. Tell me if Byun likes Jongdae back."
Chanyeol almost drops his things when he hears Kyungsoo say those things. "Wha- Why- How did you know Baek likes Jongdae?"
Kyungsoo sighs as he faces the taller male. "I'm actually impressed that you actually had an answer for that. Since now you know Jongdae likes Baekhyun too, you have no choice but to help me force them into confessing to each other."
This time, Chanyeol does drop his things. "Confess? But they're not even talking to each other...."
Chanyeol shuts up when he sees Kyungsoo's exasperated glare.
"That's why I said force them to confess. Now here's what you have to do..."
After study period, Chanyeol waits for the student council to finish their meeting. Once everyone else but Baekhyun has left, he knocks lightly on the open door.
"Yo Baek, do you mind coming with me to the music room for a second? I just need to get my tuner."
Baekhyun slings his bag over his shoulder and walks out of the student council room. He locks the door before signaling Chanyeol to walk to the music room.
Once they get there, Chanyeol immediately pushes Baekhyun inside. Before Baekhyun could even react, someone inside the music room attempts to exit.
Before the person could get any closer to the door, Chanyeol slams the door on them.
He proceeds to latch the front lock of the music room's door before saying, "Sorry guys, I swear you'll thank us for this later on!"
When Kyungsoo said to wait for him in the music room while he looked for sheet music that they can practice together, Jongdae was not expecting to instead be locked in a room with Byun Baekhyun.
Jongdae cannot believe that Kyungsoo betrayed him like this. Okay so I never did tell Kyungsoo why I suddenly avoided Baekhyun, but I thought he'd be happy there wasn't any bickering anymore.
He contemplates on whether Baekhyun would be willing to team up with him on begging their best friends to let them out when he hears the other speak up.
"That thing I said the other day... uhm... I guess I offended you..," Baekhyun says while looking at the ground.
Baekhyun looks so cute as he scratches his cheek, which Jongdae would love to touch and pinch and ki- Stop, Kim Jongdae, focus on what he's saying.
After a few beats of silence, Jongdae smiles and asks, "Are you trying to say sorry, Byun?"
He can't help the teasing tone in his voice because arguing and teasing Baekhyun is the only way he can communicate with the other male.
He's prepared for Baekhyun's usual sassiness, or maybe even a burst of indignation (something like, "Yah, Kim, why would I say sorry to you!").
It catches him off guard when Baekhyun ruffles his hair in frustration as he lets out an exasperated grunt.
Baekhyun truly was planning to say sorry to Jongdae, but when the other male teased him with that tone (and that really nice smile wherein his lips curl up- Baekhyun, that's not important right now), he couldn't help but feel frustrated.
It's been two years since they've been classmates in both AP Stat and AP Bio, yet they only know how to tease and pull at each other's nerves.
And well, yes, they did have their fun moments together this year during joint choir and piano, but Baekhyun is selfish.
And because he's selfish, instead of saying sorry, everything he's ever bottled up inside of him comes out.
"I like you, Kim Jongdae," is the last thing Jongdae would have ever expected Baekhyun to say in this situation. He's still trying to grasp what Baekhyun said when the other male continues talking.
"Ugh shit I never wanted to tell this to you in this kind of scenario, and after what my stupid self said to you at the lockers, I was never going to tell you this, I mean, really, how could I even dare to confess to you when you deserve way better than me- not that you'd actually like me, but- mmphf!"
Baekhyun's rant is cut out by Jongdae forcefully covering the other's mouth with his hand.
"Byun Baekhyun, first of all, never think that you're not good enough. Second, you know, I knew you were a bit slow, but I never took you to be this dense. What part of maybe it’s because I wanted to get closer to a certain idiot who likes Biology wasn't clear enough for you? I honestly thought you knew I liked you when you told me I didn't know anything about Bio.."
Jongdae is startled midrant when Baekhyun suddenly lurches forward to close the gap between the two of them.
"No, seriously, that was just me being dumb.. Wait, did you, Kim Jongdae, say that you like me, Byun Baekhyun?!"
Baekhyun may not be aware of what he's doing, judging by the frantic look on his face, but he's holding one of Jongdae's hands in both of his and Jongdae cannot think properly with how close Baekhyun is.
Despite this, he can't help but smile because Baekhyun's trademark rectangular smile has always been his weakness.
"Yes I did, and yes, I did only join AP Bio because I wanted to get closer to the cute pianist who had a solo recital during our freshman year," Jongdae says teasingly as he watches Baekhyun's cheeks turn a light shade of pink.
Baekhyun must be dreaming because how can this be real?
Kim Jongdae is giving him that signature smile, wherein his lips curl up and his eyes crinkle in the most beautiful way. His cheeks also have this faint blush, which only makes him even more attractive to Baekhyun.
"I can't believe this. I only enrolled in AP Stat so that I could see that cute guy who played the lead role in a play during freshman year too," Baekhyun says and he can't help but feel so overwhelmed by everything that he starts to laugh. Jongdae joins him in the laughter a few moments later.
This is how Kyungsoo and Chanyeol find them a few minutes after they locked the two inside the music room: Baekhyun and Jongdae are looking at each other with that familiar glint in their eyes, and with their fingers entwined as they laugh over their stupidity.
Chanyeol gives Kyungsoo a thumbs up when he sees the scene in front of them, and Kyungsoo gives Chanyeol a small smile in return.
Bonus scenes:
"Why did I ever think that getting them to confess to each other was a good idea," Kyungsoo grumbles as he opens his bottle of paracetamol.
Before he can even get one tablet, it's snatched away by Chanyeol who immediately raises his arms to defend himself when he sees Kyungsoo's glare.
"Hey, look at the bright side, Soo, at least now they only ever fight about whether Liyin or Taeyeon is the real goddess," Chanyeol says as he keeps the bottle away from Kyungsoo.
"Aww look, Jongdae just kissed Baek on the forehead because Baek said he was tired. They're actually really cute together, aren't they, Soo?" Chanyeol says as he watches his best friend lean his head on Jongdae’s shoulder.
Kyungsoo just groans in frustration as he slams his head into the lunch table.