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Junhui hated his friends, specifically his best friends, Xu Minghao and Jeon Wonwoo. Friends were supposed to comfort you and keep you sane, not giggle for five minutes straight when you tell them the worst news you've received all week.
"You're failing English because of some dumb crush and now that dumb crush is your tutor? This is gold!" Minghao said through gasps, trying to quiet his laughter.
"Honestly, Jun - this really sums up your luck." Wonwoo chuckled.
Wonwoo wasn't wrong; this entire situation summed up why Jun had the worst luck of any human in the entire world. It all started in his English class when he was forced to sit next to the cutest student he had seen at his high school since he had moved from China. Jun prides himself on his self-control, but the minute this boy opened his mouth and spoke in fluent English with an incredibly hot accent, all self-control he had flew out the window. None of that class was spent focusing on the words the teacher was saying or the lessons he was supposed to be learning. All his attention was on Joshua Hong and his beautiful voice and his pouty lips that Jun was way too fixated on for his own good. He managed to fail every single test and quiz that semester which was how he ended up with his teacher insisting he look for help outside of the classroom. When she suggested Joshua for tutoring, he had practically begged for her to find literally anyone else for the job. She, however, explained that Joshua needed tutoring points for the National Honors Society and he was the only one available for English tutoring, so Junhui would have to deal with it.
Which is exactly how he ended up on the verge of ripping his own hair out in the ugly, green lunchroom of Pledis High School, sitting across from his two closest friends who he was ready to punch.
"I'm a good person. I don't start rumors, I don't skip classes, I only drink alcohol sometimes and not enough to get wasted! Why the fuck does my life have to be like this?" He groaned. Wonwoo reached across the table and gave him a half-hearted pat on the shoulder before returning back to his lunch in front of him. Jun really did have shitty friends.
"Think about it this way: you get Joshua alone for a few hours a few times a week. Use those few hours to flirt and then once you finally ask him out, use those few hours to make out and fuck. You're welcome, I just solved all your problems." Minghao smiled. Jun brought his head up to glare at the younger boy. He had hoped for some sort of sympathy from them, but he should've known he would only receive the usual snarky responses. He opened his mouth to curse out Minghao in mandarin but was stopped when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, Junhui. Sorry to bother you." A soft voice spoke. Jun knew by the idiotic smirk on Minghao's face and the gentle voice of the person who now stood next to him that it was Joshua. He also knew that he was one hundred percent fucked when he turned to look at the other boy, his mouth opening and closing in an attempt to respond. His brain was on the fritz at this point and Jun knew that he must look like an imbecile (not like that was unusual for when he was around Joshua).
"Hey. Hey, hi, uhm, hey." He stuttered out, running a hand through his hair and most likely making it even messier than it was before.
"I just wanted to ask where and when you wanted to meet up for tutoring sessions. My house is fine, but if you want to meet up at yours or the library or Starbucks, that would work too." Joshua said. The thought of being alone with Joshua inside his house (most likely his room) made Jun want to pass out onto the lunchroom floor. Before he could respond, Wonwoo was answering for him.
"His house probably works, right Jun? You two could always exchange numbers to talk about it. Probably easier than trying to coordinate it all before the end of lunch." Wonwoo suggested. His nonchalant demeanor was complete bullshit and Jun knew exactly what his friend had in mind.
"Yeah. Yeah, that works. Did you - do you want my number? To, you know, work out the details and stuff?" Jun asked. Joshua nodded, a warm smile appearing on his face as he watched Jun fumble to get his phone out of his pocket. Jun cursed at himself in his head; why couldn't he just function like a normal human being around Joshua instead of a complete fool?
After the two exchanged numbers, Joshua said his goodbyes to the boys and walked back to his own lunch table. Jun turned to face forward in his seat and immediately dropped his head onto the lunch table. He could feel that he was sweating which had to be the least embarrassing thing about that entire situation. He stuttered nine different times and couldn't even work the phone that he's had for over a year now all because of Joshua. Jun hated feeling like this; like he couldn't even control himself around someone just because they were handsome and intelligent and also incredibly caring and kind and- Jun sat up suddenly running a hand through his hair. He had to pull himself out of this... whatever this is (stupidity? infatuation? a really, really big crush?). Joshua Hong was just a high school kid, just like him. Granted, he looked more like a model and had the disposition of a prince, but that wasn't the point.
"Jun has it bad." Minghao laughed, looking at the older boy. It wasn't like Jun could argue that he didn't, so he just glared at the boy across from him wordlessly.
"In defense of Jun, at least he's conversed with his crush. You just stare at him when you lurk on the bleachers during football practice." Wonwoo smirked, popping a grape in his mouth. Jun actually smiled at the way Minghao's smirk had dropped off his face, the tips of his ears turning red. Wonwoo wasn't lying; Minghao practically lived on the bleachers during football season all because he had the hots for this tall, handsome looking quarterback named Kim Mingyu.
"I do my homework up there, it's peaceful, Wonwoo, you dick. At least I didn't make the person I like cry!" He responded with his usual defensive tone. Oh, that had to sting. Wonwoo had a habit of being unintentionally harsh to people and, in hindsight, telling anyone who was clearly already on the verge of tears that his voice cracked during rehearsal wasn't exactly the smartest move. Jun clearly remembers Wonwoo calling him a panic later, informing him that he had just made Lee Seokmin, the most popular kid in the choir department, burst into tears in the middle of the hallway. He would be lying if he said he didn't find it at least a little funny knowing that he wasn't the only one who couldn't control his behavior
"That was one time Seo Myungho, you complete ass-" Wonwoo was cut off by the ringing of the lunch bell. Jun thanked whatever otherworldly being was watching over him for not forcing him to endure whatever mess was going to break out at their lunch table. The two left the argument there as the three made their way out of the lunchroom and into the crowded halls. They all separated to go to their individual classes and Jun was left to go to his study hall alone. He sat down in his seat, pulling out the shitty, school-assigned laptop to look over the English homework he was assigned.
They were learning about things related to college life now and the vocabulary made Jun want to punch himself in the face. He loved languages, which helped a lot when he had to learn Korean at the age of 11 when they moved to a different country, and he had even considering majoring in languages in college, but they were difficult at times. It didn't help that English had one of the most confusing languages in terms of pronunciation. Like the word semester - it was pronounced like 'suh-mehstur,' but Jun had pronounced it like 'see-meesteer' for a week because that was supposed to be the sound the letter 'e' made. Languages were fun and cool except, overall, they gave Jun a headache.
With English, it felt like he was teaching it all to himself because of how bad his attention focusing skills were in the class. When his mother had asked why he was doing so poorly, he tried to explain that it really wasn't his fault without mentioning Joshua which turned out to be impossible. Even if he did say it was Joshua's fault, it would make no sense; it wasn't like the other boy was purposefully distracting him. He was just sitting there, being a good student with his incredible English and insanely attractive face. Jun always wondered why he would take an English class if he was already fluent, but then he remembered that he met Minghao in Chinese class the year before, so he really shouldn't be talking.
Jun meant to finish his English homework in study hall, he really did; instead, he ended up staring at his computer screen with his earbuds in, thinking about Joshua. It wasn't fair that the boy affected him even when he wasn't around him. He gave him this weird feeling all over, something he hadn't felt since his first girlfriend his freshman year (and even then, it wasn't as present as it was now). He brought it up to his friend Jihoon later that day who only responded with two sentences: "That's butterflies in your stomach and it just means you have a really big crush on him. Your solution to get rid of them is to ask him, so do that."
Jun hated that he knew Jihoon was right.
That night, after dinner with his family, Jun made his way up to his room and flopped into his bed. He opened up his phone and saw a few texts from Wonwoo and Minghao in their group chat and a few notifications from twitter. He decided to go for the group chat rather than twitter and immediately regretted it when he read the texts they were sending.
minghao: where's jun
wonwoo: probably off with his new boyfriend
minghao: oof i cant believe we've been abandoned already
wonwoo: the three musketeers,,, become two
jun: can you both shut the fuck up thanks
minghao: he's back!!
minghao: so, how big is joshua's dick
wonwoo: oh my god minghao you can't just ask shit like that
jun: thank you wonwoo!!!
wonwoo: you have to ask who gave who the blowjob
jun: im going to block both of your numbers
minghao: bet
wonwoo: have you even texted him
jun: no why would i
wonwoo: to fucking?? coordinate when your tutoring session is??
wonwoo: dumbass
jun: fuck
jun: i should do that
minghao: go get some dick i believe in u
jun: die
minghao: love u too uwu
Jun sighed, resting his phone on his chest. He really should text Joshua because he needed that tutoring session sooner than later. Failing an entire class was not doing wonders to his GPA. Texting him couldn't be that hard, right? Less room for error and it gave him the ability to plan out what he wanted to say in advance. It also meant no stuttering which was always a plus. He pressed the button to start a new message and typed in Joshua's name, taking a deep breath before typing out his text and (surprisingly) pressing send.
jun: hey joshua its jun
jun: just wanted to text you so you had my number and stuff haha
'Haha'? Who says 'haha'? Jun cringed at his own text and was instantly regretting texting Joshua in the first place, but before he could throw his phone into a river and retreat into a cave in the hills of Korea for the rest of his days, Joshua had texted back.
joshua: Hey! Thanks ^-^
joshua: When did you want to meet up? And can we do the tutoring session at my house? It just makes it a lot easier haha
Okay, so apparently Joshua uses 'haha.' That made it infinitely cuter. He also typed using proper grammar and capital letters which was incredibly endearing.
jun: would wednesday work? and yeah your house works
joshua: Awesome! And, yes, Wednesday works! I'll text you my address tomorrow.
joshua: I have to go, but it's nice to actually talk to you haha I'll see you in English tomorrow!
jun: yeah ! nice to talk to you too
Jun shut off his phone and set it on his nightstand, trying to ignore just how fast his heart was beating in chest and how the wide the smile was on his face. All Joshua had said was 'it's nice to actually talk to you' and somehow Jun felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. He hated feeling like this more than anything, but he also would endure it forever if he actually got a chance to befriend (or even date, although that wasn't likely) Joshua.
Jun fell asleep without updating Wonwoo and Minghao on the situation and, for once, he didn't even feel slightly bad about it.
Jun was going into shock. He was going to fall on the ground and not be able to function and then he'd go to the hospital where they'd ask what happened and he'd have to admit that he went into shock on the way to the lunch room because Joshua Hong was talking to him and walking with him.
"Your English is good Jun! You just need to get more confident in it. From what I heard in class today, you're not as bad as I know you probably think you are." Joshua said, smiling the same smile that made Jun's heart jump to his throat. He smiled back and nodded, happy to hear the other boy give him a compliment.
"T-Thanks. It's a, uhm, it's a hard language." He stuttered out, nervously toying with the straps of his backpack.
"It is! I still learn new words and I've spoken it since I was born. Like 'defervescence' which means the lessening of a fever; I think I learned that a week ago. Weird, right? You'll get it though; I believe in you." Joshua spoke. Jun nodded, a shy smile spreading across his face as he brought his eyes to the floor. Part of him wondered if Joshua ever felt this shy around him, or anyone for that matter. Despite the fact that Joshua was soft spoken, he came off as confident, but not in a cocky way. Jun added that to the (extremely long) list of things he found attractive about him. Before he could speak and thank Joshua again, one of Joshua's friends (Seungcheol, some guy Jihoon had mentioned a few times) was smiling and waving for him to come over to their lunch table. Joshua smiled and waved back before giving Jun a polite goodbye and telling him he'd see him tomorrow.
Jun made his way over to his lunch table, the smile Joshua had put on his face still prominent as he took his seat across from Wonwoo and Minghao. Minghao hadn't taken notice of the situation that had occurred while Wonwoo had begun to actually applaud.
"Why the fuck are you clapping?" Minghao asked.
"Our own Moon Junhui just walked into this lunch room side by side with Joshua Hong. I'm in shock, really, but I've also never been more proud." Wonwoo spoke with a dramatic tone. Jun rolled his eyes, hoping the blush he could feel burning on his cheeks wasn't obvious because he knew if either of his friends spotted it, he would never hear the end of it.
"Are you kidding me?! I missed you two talking?! What happened, what did he say?" Minghao said, leaning forward as if that would encourage Jun to talk more.
"We had to do an exercise in English with the person sitting next to us and Joshua and I had to talk. We just kind of... hit it off from there I guess. The conversation just continued." He explained.
"That's going to be the story you tell at your wedding. You're going to stand up, clink the glass of champagne to get everyone's attention and then say 'It all began when Joshua and I did a worksheet in English, the rest is history.'" Minghao said with a dreamy look in his eyes.
"Shut up." Jun grumbled. The blush on his face was definitely noticeable now and he thanked god that Joshua sat on the opposite side of the lunch room so he didn't overhear the bullshit his friends said to him about his crush.
The topic eventually shifted away from Joshua and Jun and the boys fell into their usual antics. Wonwoo was pissed because he hadn't been able to play Battlegrounds in over a week due to the fact that his brother had downloaded something onto his computer that gave it a huge virus ("I'm telling you, it's probably some nasty porn, but he won't tell me what it was! It's not like I'd judge him! Everyone jacks off sometimes!") while Minghao was happy to report that he had actually asked Mingyu out on a date ("I caught him staring at me once instead of the other way around. I'm fairly forward and I'm not a little bitch like Junhui so I just asked if he wanted to hang out sometime and that was that."). Lunch eventually ended and they walked together until their usual spot where they separated and Jun made his way alone to his study hall.
He was planning to spend the majority of his period mentally preparing himself to be alone in a room with Joshua for two hours straight the next day. Jun wanted to not come off like an idiot, so he planned on looking over the few English notes he actually did have. Jun wanted Joshua to at least think he was somewhat intelligent (which he already kind of did based on his earlier comments) so Jun was going to force himself to study.
As usual, it didn't work. As he read the English words, his brain would make them sound like Joshua's voice which was just plain weird and Jun would get off track, losing what little focus he had.
He was so screwed for tomorrow.
Jun didn't think it was possible for him to be this anxious about having Joshua tutor him, but here he was, sitting in his car trying to regulate his breathing instead of going up to the door and knocking like any other normal person would do.
He had to do this. He had no choice but to get out of his car, walk up to the door, and be alone in Joshua's house with him. If Jun ditched, he would look an absolute dickhead and he did not, in any circumstance, want Joshua to think badly about him. So, he needed to get his courage up and get the whole thing over with. It couldn't be that bad, right? It was just two hours. Two hours of innocent, pure studying with Joshua. Jun could do it; he could avoid staring at Joshua's lips for two hours. He could avoid thinking about what it would be like to kiss him and hold his hand and take him on dates and- okay, no, no, Jun really could not avoid those thoughts. But he had to at least push them aside.
Jun grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat, pushed open his door and made his way to Joshua's front door. His heart was hammering in his chest as he brought his hand up to ring the doorbell. He took a deep breath as he waited for the door to open. Just as Jun was going to ring the doorbell again, the door swung open, revealing Joshua. He had his signature smile on his face as motioned for Jun to come inside.
"Hey- hey, uhm, I'm sorry. I was upstairs. On the phone. Took me a minute to get Vernon to shut up." Joshua chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as Jun took off his shoes. Jun just smiled and nodded, taken aback a bit by how flustered Joshua seemed to be.
"It's fine. So, did you want to work in, like, your living room?" Jun suggested, pointing towards the room on his left (it had to be the neatest living room Jun had seen ever, even neater than Minghao's and Minghao was the definition of a neat freak). Joshua's house was nice - really, really nice. His parents obviously had money because everything about the house, from it's furniture to it's floors, looked expensive.
"Well, I- I have my stuff in my room. I figured we could work there. But if you're more comfortable in the living room, we can work down here." Joshua said. Jun was surprised to see Joshua legitimately nervous. He was also practically on the verge of passing out at the prospect of studying with Joshua in his room. Nevertheless, he agreed, not wanting to seem like some weirdo who had something against working in Joshua's room and the two made their way up the stairs.
It was awkward for the first thirty minutes. Jun had spilled his entire binder on the floor and Joshua managed to miss the chair completely when he went to sit down. Then, they discovered that Joshua was not the best at actually explaining any of the parts of English Jun was struggling with and Jun couldn't grasp anything he said whatsoever. It seemed like the entire thing was going to be a failure until Joshua spoke up.
"Look, I'm... I'm sorry, Jun. I'm normally a lot better at tutoring people, I swear." Joshua said, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath. Jun prepared himself for Joshua to tell him something horrible, something that would make him need to speed home and beg his mother to let him move back to China where he could avoid Joshua for the rest of his life and not die of embarrassment. Jun was expecting him to say something like "I find you annoying" or "You're an idiot and therefore, I can't tutor you" or even something like "You stare at me too much and it's weird, please get out of my home." He was not expecting Joshua to say what he actually did.
"You're really attractive. Like, insanely attractive and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't really distracting and - oh my god, I just made this so weird. I'm sorry, I just really can't focus when you look at me because it's like... you make my heart beat all fast or something. Your eyes are really freaking pretty and- okay, I'm shutting up now, I'm only making this worse." Joshua blurted out before running a hand down his face, almost like he was trying to snap himself out of some trance.
Jun swore, Joshua really had the ability to make him go into complete and utter shock. Joshua thought Jun was attractive? The irony of the entire situation was absolutely ridiculous. It was so ridiculous that Jun burst out laughing. He closed his eyes as he sat there, giggling in the chair at Joshua's desk, clutching his stomach. When he opened his eyes and looked at Joshua, the other boy looked like he was about to cry from how embarrassed he was. Jun's smile dropped and he rushed to explain before Joshua actually did start crying because then he would never hear the end of it from Wonwoo (he could already imagine his friend saying, "See?! I'm not the only one who has made their crush cry!").
"Wait, wait, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed, it's just - I'm failing English because I'm distracted by you." He admitted. Joshua's expression went from mortification to confusion in a split second, like he was surprised by Jun's words.
"You're failing English because you think I'm attractive?" He asked hesitantly. Jun nodded, running his hand through his hair, something he noticed had become a nervous habit when he was around him. It fell silent in the room as Joshua sat there, almost like he was trying to process Jun's words in disbelief that he had actually said them.
"This is crazy." Joshua suddenly said, letting out a breathy chuckle as he looked at Jun. Jun nodded again, laughing alongside him.
"So, what do we now? Go on a date or something?" Joshua smiled, visibly less nervous compared to his behavior before. Jun smirked, getting a sudden boost of confidence, deciding to be a bit forward for once.
"Or I could just kiss you right now. If you're okay with that." He rested his his chin on his hand, leaning forward towards Joshua whose smile had dropped with the words he spoke. Jun saw the other boy's eyes flicker towards his lips before he nodded, almost shyly (another thing Jun added to his mental list of things he found attractive about Joshua - the way he got when he was shy), leaning in to press his lips to Jun's.
The kiss was short, but Jun felt his heartbeat increase the second their lips touched. When Joshua pulled back with a soft, warm smile and Jun smiled back, he felt the familiar rush of those butterflies in his stomach, only this time, it was a good kind of butterflies.
"So... back to English?" Joshua smiled, raising an eyebrow. Jun laughed, turning to face towards the work in front of them on Joshua's desk.
"Back to English indeed."
The next day they walked into the lunch room holding hands. This time, Minghao was paying attention.
"What the fuck, Wen Junhui?! You didn't even fucking text us you asshole!" Joshua laughed at Jun's friend, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Minghao didn't let the topic go for the entire lunch period.