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Jongin taps at the screen of his phone as he waits in the hall by the doors to the boys locker room. He could just go inside and find Chanyeol himself, but he can hear how rowdy the team is being from out here and doesn’t particularly feel up to walking into the line of fire.
He doesn’t have to wait much longer though, as the door opens and out walks Chanyeol, dressed partly in his football uniform. Jongin smiles at him, tucks his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, and pushes himself off the wall where he’d been leaning.
“You’re missing your jersey,” Jongin points out, reaching over to poke Chanyeol in the chest. Chanyeol probably can’t feel it with the plastic padding that’s covering his shoulders and upper body.
“I think Baekhyun stole it from my locker and hid it somewhere. I haven’t found it yet,” Chanyeol sighs.
Jongin furrows his brows. “What’s Baekhyun doing in there? He doesn’t play football.”
“He’s just being a nuisance as usual,” Chanyeol laughs and pushes his hair out of his face. “Coach will probably kick him out soon enough.”
“So,” Jongin asks. “Ready for the big game?” He slowly grins, drops his hand to Chanyeol’s hip, presses his fingers against his skin. “Gonna bring fame and glory to our school?”
Chanyeol groans, shoves Jongin in the shoulder half-heartedly. Jongin’s laugh fills up the empty hallway. “Not you, too,” he says. “I have enough pressure from everyone else.”
“I’m only teasing, you know,” Jongin says. “I don’t care if we win or not. I’m only here to watch you. ”
“How charming,” Chanyeol coos and Jongin snickers. “You should have more school pride.”
“I do!” Jongin protests. “I’m on the school council.”
“Yeah, and you sleep through all the meetings according to Junmyeon.”
Jongin pouts at him, which Chanyeol seems to take as the perfect opportunity to lean down and kiss him. It works, it always works, and soon enough Jongin is smiling, laughing against Chanyeol’s mouth, wrapping his arms around his waist as Chanyeol pulls him closer, a warm hand against the small of his back.
A sharp whistling noise breaks them apart, and Jongin flushes when he notices Baekhyun at the entrance to the locker room, smirking and twirling what must be Chanyeol’s jersey on his fingers. “Time to suit up, loverboy,” Baekhyun says, throwing the jersey into Chanyeol’s face, and Chanyeol splutters as he catches it. “Jongin and I will go find seats so we can watch you fall on your face on the field.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Jongin says, but he’s struggling not to laugh and Chanyeol knows it. This time, when Chanyeol gives him a little frown, Jongin kisses it off his face, then pushes him gently toward the door. “Go on. Good luck.”
“Kick butt,” Baekhyun adds as he joins Jongin, loops their arms together, and Chanyeol shakes his head in amusement.
He meets Jongin’s eyes just before he leaves and says, “See you at the dance after?”
When Jongin nods in confirmation, Chanyeol beams, waves, and disappears back into the loud locker room. Baekhyun, at Jongin’s side, sighs and says, “Let’s hope your kisses will help him win.”
Jongin reaches around with his free hand to pinch one of Baekhyun’s nipples until he’s yelping.
-
By some miracle, they win the game. Despite having known Chanyeol and even other players on the team for a few years, Jongin has never understood how football works. He just keeps his eyes on Chanyeol for the most part, watching as he swerves and runs and tackles others into the ground. Baekhyun is loud on his right, while Sehun cheers along when the rest of the crowd does. Mostly he’s there because Jongin dragged him along, but Jongin also knows about his crush on one of the cheerleaders, and that was why Sehun didn’t put up too much of a fight.
The energy is electric as the crowd files from the bleachers and into the school’s gymnasium. Their homecoming dances are always after the game and nothing formal like they are in the movies, although some people do come dressed up.
Jongin gets dragged around by Sehun, stopping for drinks at the refreshments table along a side wall and then to dance, even though there’s barely anyone on the floor actually dancing. Sehun doesn’t care, laughing at Jongin and poking and prodding until he’s moving, too, and soon enough, more students start to join them as well.
Jongin’s keeping an eye on the doors for Chanyeol; the football and cheerleading teams having retreated to the locker rooms to change. He’s a little nervous, too. Chanyeol and Jongin started dating over the summer. It was a gradual thing. They’ve been friends for years, but Chanyeol got a part-time job at the local bookstore and, two weeks later, he’d helped Jongin get a gig there, too. At first their schedules didn’t really match up, but eventually they were getting lunch before shifts, or enjoying their breaks together in the backroom, watching the latest episode their favorite anime on the iPad Chanyeol always carried around with him.
It wasn’t long before Jongin realized the teeny little crush he’d had on Chanyeol was now a full-blown desire to touch him, to hold his hand, to kiss him against the shelves of books in the back of the store where no one would see. In the end, Jongin had plucked up the courage to ask Chanyeol out, just as July had meandered into August, stopping by to see him at the store one afternoon when Chanyeol was stuck behind the counter, ringing people up, and Jongin was free.
“Want to get dinner with me after you’re done?” Jongin had asked, and Chanyeol, beaming, had nodded.
“Sure,” he said, cheerfully. “Pick me up in two hours?”
“It’s a date,” Jongin said, and then, when Chanyeol’s eyes had widened, added quickly, “I mean it as a real date. If you want. I just.” He floundered for the words, growing a little hot in the face as Chanyeol’s surprise faded into something more familiar, more fond. “I like you.”
“I like you, too,” Chanyeol said in a soft voice that made Jongin’s heart pound. “And a real date sounds good.”
“Good,” Jongin had said, with a decisive nod and a grin that wouldn’t quit. “Good.”
It’s been nearly two months since then. The thing about beginning a relationship over the summer is that not everyone realizes it’s happened unless you tell them. They told their friends, of course, but Chanyeol is pretty popular. He’s on the football team. He’s tall and smart and so hot and has plenty of admirers. The second someone caught wind of Chanyeol and Jongin holding hands one morning, greeting each other near Jongin’s locker, it was the talk of the entire school.
And it’s not that Jongin’s not well-known, either, but people tend to think of him as Junmyeon’s baby brother. Jongin is notorious for sleeping in class, not winning football games. It doesn’t bother him that people don’t know who he is, but it was a pretty big shock to hear so many people talk about him once everyone learned about the relationship. Especially since Jongin hadn’t exactly told Junmyeon about Chanyeol. At least he’s warmed up to him by now. More or less.
“Oh, finally, he’s here,” Sehun says suddenly, cutting through all of Jongin’s thoughts. “Now you can stop looking like you’d rather be anywhere else than dancing with me.”
“Hey,” Jongin says, even though he feels sufficiently chastised. He didn’t mean to ignore Sehun, he just has a lot on his mind. “I’m sorry. I’m just distracted.”
“I can tell,” Sehun says with a little laugh. “It’s cool. This is your guys’ first dance.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Got any special plans for after?”
Jongin shoves him hard enough that Sehun stumbles, but he’s cackling instead of being offended. “Shut up,” he says, putting his hands to his face to hide his flush. “We’re not doing anything like that.”
“Like what?” says Chanyeol’s deep voice, startling Jongin as he slides a warm hand around his waist. Jongin drops his hands from his face and looks up at him, takes in his fresh face and damp hair, how he’s traded in his uniform for a deep blue button-up and fitted jeans.
He looks so good Jongin wants to kiss him right there, in the middle of the dance floor. Instead, he manages to squeak out a, “Nothing!” before Sehun can open his big mouth, and then grabs Chanyeol’s wrist. “Let’s get something to drink.”
He all but drags Chanyeol out of the crowd, but Chanyeol doesn’t seem to mind, laughing behind him as he follows. They stop by the drinks again, but before Jongin can reach for a cup, Chanyeol pulls him close by the hips and kisses him on the mouth.
“I missed you,” he says, and Jongin, not expecting that, bursts out a laugh.
“You saw me like three hours ago!”
“Yeah, and that was too long,” Chanyeol says, pouting. “How was the game? Did you have fun?”
“You were good,” Jongin says, because he knows what Chanyeol’s really asking, and sure enough, he puffs up proudly, his bright. “I still don’t understand anything about the game.”
Chanyeol shakes his head. “I really have got to teach you,” he says. “You’ve gotta learn the basics, at least. What’re you doing tomorrow? We can go through the rules!”
“Chanyeol, I would rather do anything else,” Jongin laughs, but feels a little guilty when Chanyeol’s face starts to fall. Clearly he’s very much into this idea. “Well…” Jongin says with a sigh. “I guess I could be persuaded to learn.”
Chanyeol’s gaze sharpens as he looks at him. “Really?” he says, eyes darting down to Jongin’s mouth, but then grins. “How about I buy you lunch for a week?”
Jongin grins back, pleased to know that despite the tone of Jongin’s suggestion, Chanyeol knows he’s not really thinking about exchanging sexual favors. If Sehun were around, that’s exactly what he’d be doing, just like earlier, but Jongin and Chanyeol haven’t done much except hold hands and make out. They’ve talked about it, and they’re both okay with that, for now.
“I guess that’s a good start,” Jongin says finally, and lets Chanyeol pull him into another kiss, as if to seal the deal.
The sudden crackle of the speakers breaks them apart, and they glance over toward the stage at the other end of the gymnasium, where Junmyeon is tapping at the microphone. “It’s time to announce our Homecoming King and Queen!” he says into the mic and to raucous applause.
“I always forget about this part,” Chanyeol groans from beside him, but Jongin is cackling a little, dragging him yet again to join the fray as everyone moves up closer to the stage.
“I know a bunch of people voted for you,” Jongin says, amused. “Think you’ll win?”
Chanyeol shrugs half-heartedly. “I don’t really care either way,” he says, then he eyes Jongin slowly, from head to toe, then back. “You should be up there.”
“Please,” Jongin snorts, but Chanyeol wraps his arms around him from behind, sways them a little from side to side.
“Why not? You’re beautiful and cute and super nice. Plus you’re on the council, so clearly you have experience in leading. You’d be a great king.”
“Cut it out,” Jongin hisses. “You’re so disgusting.”
“Just telling it how it is,” Chanyeol insists, but before Jongin gets the chance to reprimand him yet again, Junmyeon is announcing their new queen, a pretty girl named Seohyun who’s on the council with Jongin and plays violin in the school’s orchestra. Chanyeol chuckles into his ear, “She was a lock.”
“And so are you,” Jongin returns, and sure enough, once Seohyun is crowned on the stage, Junmyeon yells out Chanyeol’s name as the homecoming king.
Chanyeol seems kind of stunned, but Jongin, beaming at him, slips out of his arms and pushes him toward the stage. “Told you so,” he says, and that seems to do the trick. Chanyeol laughs, sweeps in for one last kiss, that has the entire crowd hooting and whistling at them, and then runs off onto the stage to let Junmyeon crown him, too.
Jongin winds around the crowd until he finds Sehun and Baekhyun again, the two of them not wasting any time to tease him about King Chanyeol. He sticks with them and watches as Chanyeol and Seohyun have the traditional dance, pulling out his phone to film it halfway through. Chanyeol, Jongin had learned early on in their friendship, is a terrible dancer, and it’s even more clear now in the way he stumbles over his feet and Seohyun’s feet and doesn’t seem to know how to lead. To her credit, Seohyun just laughs it off and seems to keep Chanyeol from collapsing in embarrassment.
Jongin stops filming when Chanyeol manages to catch his gaze through the crowd and waves a harried hand at him to cut it out. He tucks his phone back into his pocket and leaves Chanyeol to finish up, turning to his friends to listen to them discuss who should win king and queen next year. Next year it’ll just be him and Sehun here, though, since Baekhyun and Chanyeol graduate in May. Jongin doesn’t think about that much, though, because it seems like a eon away. This school year’s only just started, after all.
There’s a ripple of applause when the dance ends and Chanyeol and Seohyun take a moment to say their goodbyes before Chanyeol is stomping right over to Jongin, slumping down into the chair next to him against the wall with a deep sigh. Then, he straightens up, and holds his hand out to Jongin.
“What?” Jongin says, confused.
“Your phone. Give it to me. I have to delete that video.”
“No way,” Jongin laughs. “I’m saving it forever.”
“Jongin,” Chanyeol whines.
Jongin just shrugs, like there’s nothing he can do about it, and Chanyeol drops his hand with a little glare. “Don’t worry, I won’t spread it around,” he says, and that, at least, seems to mollify Chanyeol enough to stop looking so surly. He reaches up to adjust his crown, and Jongin blinks at it for a moment, then says, “Looks good on you.”
Chanyeol blushes a bit at that, touching the tips of the crown carefully, fiddling with his bangs. Then, suddenly, he pops it off his head and places it atop of Jongin’s instead. He beams. “Looks much better on you,” he says brightly.
Jongin reaches up to yank it off, but Chanyeol grabs his hand to stop him. “I’m not the king,” he protests.
“You’re the king of my heart,” Chanyeol says seriously, and Jongin feels himself falling all over again.
“Gross,” says Sehun from beside them, while Baekhyun makes what sounds like retching noises, but Jongin can’t be sure, since he’s too busy kissing Chanyeol to listen.