Chapter Text
Jeonghan sighs as he walks into the building of his new school. His dad had gotten a promotion in his new job recently, and that unfortunately resulted in them having to move all the way to Seoul.
"I'm sorry we have to move so soon, Hannie," his father said, his eyes sincere as he pulled his son into a hug. "But your mother and I decided that it would be best for the whole family to move with me to the city."
"It's fine, appa," Jeonghan mumbled, trying to not cry at the thought of having to leave his friends.
"You'll enjoy your new school, I promise," his father replied, "I heard it's got a great fashion design club."
Jeonghan hummed, still stuck on the fact he has to leave his friends in Hwaseong for Seoul.
And he won't be able to get the chance to say goodbye or explain himself before he leaves.
He navigates the hallways for the principal's office to get his schedule and find his classmate, who will help him adjust to the new school, ignoring the stares of the students who stare at him.
Of course they would stare. He's a new student that transferred into this school halfway through the school year and is surrounded by people who have went to school together for God knows how long. He keeps his eyes trained on the floor.
When he turns a corner, he accidentally collides with another student who seems like they had been speed walking away from someone, as if they were avoiding something. The two fall onto the floor facing each other, books and paper scattered all around them.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" they say, followed by the sound of shuffling papers and books being placed into a backpack.
Jeonghan opens his eyes and freezes.
In front of him was a boy with a peek-a-boo styled oreo hair decorated with bright red hair clips and wire rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He had beautiful brown eyes and round cheeks dusted a pretty cherry red. His eyes flicker to the bandaids that cover his face, but he doesn't let them linger too long.
He had a cream sweater vest over the white uniform shirt, navy pants and a pair of black sneakers. He's holding a navy blue notebook that he's placing in a cherry red backpack, which is decorated with a cute Miffy keychain, a small deer keychain, a bunny keychain and a cherry pin.
Holy shit, he's cute.
"N-No, it's fine," Jeonghan says, quickly getting up and holding his hand out for the other to take.
The cute boy smiles as he takes his hand to stand up, and Jeonghan can feel his heart fluttering. Which is strange, because he's always had crushes on girls, and this was the first time a boy had ever caught his eye that way.
"Here," Jeonghan says, picking up a stray piece of paper and handing it to him.
"Oh." The boy stared, his cheeks still the same pretty cherry red. "Thank you."
He takes the paper, and the two stand there awkwardly as students pass by, making their way to their classes.
"Are you the new student?" he asks after a few seconds.
"Yeah. Yoon Jeonghan."
"Ah, I'm one of the people who's supposed to be showing you around," the cute glasses boy chirps, a smile forming on his face. "I'm Seungcheol. Choi Seungcheol."
Oh my god he has dimples how can he get any cuter?
"I see. Do you mind showing me the principal's office? I have to get my schedule."
"Sure!" Seungcheol says, taking the blonde male's hand and dragging him down the hallway.
Jeonghan walks behind him with a smile on his face as the boy pulls him down the corridor. Seungcheol is yapping excitedly about the classes that the new student will enjoy and expresses his wish that Jeonghan would be in the same class as him. Jeonghan relays that same wish, feeling his heart melt at the sight of Seungcheol's bright, infectous smile.
The two eventually come to a halt in front of the principal's office. Seungcheol lets go of the boy's hand to knock on the door, and when a small "come in" is heard from the other side, Seungcheol opens the door and allows Jeonghan to step in before closing the door behind him.
Behind the large, wooden desk is a man in a blue dress shirt, navy dress pants and black dress shoes. He has a friendly smile on his face and smells of the pages of an old book.
"Hello, gojangnim," Seungcheol says, bowing to the male. Jeonghan follows suit.
"Hello, boys," the man says, turning to Jeonghan. "I assume you are the new student. Yoon Jeonghan, am I correct?"
"Ah, yes, gojangnim," Jeonghan says.
He smiles. "Welcome to Pledis Academy. I am Lee Changmin, the principal of this school. I take it you are here for your schedule?"
"Yes, sir."
Princpial Lee skims through the file cabinet to his right before pulling out a cream coloured folder and handing it to Jeonghan.
"This contains everything you need as you settle in," Principal Lee says with that gentle smile, "your schedule, a map of the school, your School Support Team and how to contact your teachers and SST."
"Thank you," Jeonghan said, bowing to the elder male.
The elder bids the two boys farewell as they leave his office. Jeonghan opens the folder and takes out the schedule. Seungcheol is peeking over his shoulder like a little kid.
Cute, Jeonghan's mind helpfully supplies.
"Oh my god, you have Kim-seonsaengnim!" Seungcheol exclaims. "You're in my class!"
Jeonghan smiles. Seungcheol reminds him a little bit of Hyungwon.
Then his smile falls. He wonders how Hyungwon and all have his friends are doing back home. Since the notice of them moving was so abrupt, he never got the chance to actually say goodbye to a lot of his friends back home. He feels bad for making them think he abandoned them and never getting the chance to properly explain why he had to leave.
"What's wrong? You look sad," Seungcheol asked, his face creased with concern.
"Ah," Jeonghan says, chuckling, "just a little homesick, that's all."
"Oh. I'm sorry I asked. It must be hard having to be so far away from home. Where you from?"
"Hwaseong."
"That's pretty far. Must be upsetting be so far away from your friends, especially when you guys are just starting high school."
"Yeah, it is."
Things get a little awkward after that, the two kind of just standing there. Jeonghan internally curses at himself for killing the mood.
The warning bell goes off, signaling to students they have five minutes to get to class before they're marked tardy. That kicks Seungcheol into high gear, where he enthusiastically grabs Jeonghan's sleeve and drags the two to their classroom.
When they walk in, most of the students are already in the classroom, either chatting away with their friends or just sitting silently in their seats. A beta woman with long black hair in a white dress shirt, black pencil skirt, black leggings and black heels looks up at them from her desk. The soft scent of jasmine fills the air. She smiles when she sees them, beckoning them over.
"Seungcheol-ah," she says as they come over, "welcome back. How are you? Any word from Seungmin?"
Jeonghan watched as the corners of Seungcheol's mouth fall just a tiny bit and the way his body tenses at the mention of "Seungmin". He doesn't comment on it.
"Hi, seonsaengnim! Hyung's doing good," Seungcheol replies, that smile plastered on his face, "he went through his presentation, he's an alpha."
That's when Jeonghan has a bunch of thoughts run through his head. Seungcheol was out of school for a while? Seungcheol has an older brother? It must be a sensitive topic for him, considering Seungcheol's reaction to being asked about him.
Mrs. Kim just stares at him before continuinng. "How exciting. Tell him I say hi and congratulations whenever you see him."
"Sure will." Seungcheol beams. Jeonghan thinks a smile always looks good on Seungcheol's face.
"Anyway, Seungcheol, I presume this is Jeonghan-ssi, yes?" She pauses before continuing once Jeonghan confirms he is indeed the new student. "I placed him as your seatmate so that you can better help him adjust. Since Jisoo is also assigned to help him around, I placed him in front of you guys."
"Aw, thank you, Kim-seonsaengnim," Seungcheol said, bowing towards the kind lady. Jeonghan also said a quick "thank you" before he was dragged off by Seungcheol to their seats.
He's pulled to the back of the classroom when all of a sudden, the cherry cheeked boy halts in his steps. Jeonghan turns to look at what Seungcheol is looking at and freezes.
While Jeonghan's desk was clean, scrawled over Seungcheol's desk are rude remarks about the boy—taunting his red cheeks and calling him a woman, as well as a bunch of other offensive comments—and judging by the snickers he can hear from the front of the classroom, he can only assume their classmates wrote them before they arrived. It's written in bright red, blue and black ink, a stand out against the light wood surface, as if it's purposefully trying to hurt Seungcheol.
Jeonghan looks up at the boy and feels his heart break. The cherry cheeked boy looked close to tears, embarrassment and shame written all over his face. His hands are shaking and he looks like he's struggling to breathe.
The moment the bell rings for class to start, Jeonghan helps Seungcheol sit down and proceeds to help wipe off the messages from his desk. Mrs. Kim notices, shoots them a sympathetic look, before turning to the rest of the class to begin the lesson. She briefly mentions Jeonghan as the new student, but tries not to draw too much attention to what was going on.
As Jeonghan grabs another wipe to get the remaining smudges off, he can hear faint whispers from the students seated near them.
"Aww, I feel bad for him, he's sitting next to the freak."
"He's kinda cute. It's a shame he has to sit next to that loser."
"Really? Next to Cherry Cheeks of all people? What is Kim-seonsaengnim trying to do, pity him?"
"I can't believe Kim-seonsaengnim would put Jeonghan-ssi next to him. Like, I'd be so embarrassed if I were him."
"Just wait until he settles in. Then he'll realise what a pathetic bitch he actually is and leave him for us."
"I can't believe he's sitting next that fa-"
Jeonghan tunes the rest of them out onwards as he sits back down once the desk is squeaky clean because he feels like he's going to punch someone. He's not sure exactly what happened for them to be treating the other this way, but from the moment he met him, he could tell Seungcheol was a sweet, kind boy. How could people be so rude to such a kind soul?
"You believe them, don't you?" Seungcheol whispers, his head hanging as he stares at his hands.
Jeonghan turns back to him. "What?"
"You heard and saw what they say about me. So it's only normal that you believe them. It's always been that way."
The sad smile on Seungcheol's face when he looks up at Jeonghan is heartbreaking to say the least.
"No." Seungcheol looks surprised when Jeonghan counters. "You're not what they say. You're not a freak, or a loser. You're just you. You're Choi Seungcheol. And you know what? I think I like being with you more than them."
The cherry cheeks return as Seungcheol looks away all shy, but Jeonghan can see the relief and happiness behind that and the way his eyes watered. "T-Thank you."
"Of course, anything for a friend."
For the rest of class the two pay attention to what the lecture was about. The class is then assigned their work, which Seungcheol and Jeonghan decide to work on together. The two get through the work pretty quickly, all the while bickering and laughing as they get to know it each other. It appeared as though the two had known each other for life and not a few hours.
Hours later, the bell rang for lunch. While most of the students filed out of the classroom to the cafeteria, Seungcheol drags Jeonghan to his usual spot.
It's outside, underneath a beautiful cherry blossom tree with a view of the city that has Jeonghan gawking at the sight. It was beautiful, calming, relaxing. The two sat down, took out their lunches and started eating while talking about themselves.
Seungcheol gasped. "You have spam kimbap?!"
The blonde boy laughed. "Yup. My eomma made it for me."
"I just have japchae and tteokbokki. Can we share?"
"Sure, why not." Jeonghan smiles at the way Seungcheol lights up. "Y'know, you're really cute for someone who is two months older than me."
Seungcheol sputters, his cheeks turning cherry red once more as he grabs one of the kimbaps from Jeonghan's lunch container and shoves it in his mouth to avoid saying something embarrassing.
There's still an awkward tension in the air, and Jeonghan decides it's best to address it know than later.
"So, uh, about what happened earlier..."
Seungcheol sighs. "It's normal. Jisoo and I are picked on a lot. For me, most people think I look too feminine and that my cheeks always being red is another sign that I'm feminine. It's not though, it's just that I get flustered easily. But it's funny, since they also promote 'freedom of expression'."
Jeonghan just nods. "That's stupid of them to pick on you for that. Like, they want you to be yourself and then immediately judge you once you do. That's so hypocritical."
The elder boy laughs. "I'm glad we can both agree on that."
Jeonghan hums. "Tell me about Jisoo. You seem close to him."
A smile appears on Seungcheol's face, the dimples once again appearing. "Jisoo is one of my best friends. He's really sweet, almost gentleman-like. We've known each other since we were little, maybe first or second year of middle school? Ever since Jisoo came here from America, it's been us two against the majority of the student body."
"He sounds like a nice person."
"He is. I already can't for you two to meet."