Le Temps de L'Amour
LE TEMPS DE l'AMOUR
Sehun/Kai
G | 3,800 words
Six years and thirty badges later, Kim Jongin and Oh Sehun have finally made it to the top...as camp leaders.
Jongin places his fingers on the neckerchief around his shoulders and flashes his best smile to the mirror in front of him. He admires the button he has pinned on his chest and can't believe how stupidly proud he is. Even though it's been two months since he first received it, he can't help but just smile every single time he puts it on in the morning. (He still can't believe how stupidly proud he is for standing here.)
"It'll be good for you, Jongin." His mom had said when she initially told him about the camp program, sounding like a recruiter for a local college. "You'll meet lots of people around your age and will be doing a good deed for society."
But for him, it started off as a time killer during the summer, when his parents would complain about him playing too many games and reading too many books. The next thing he knew, there was only one week left for his second-to-last year at the camp.
"Stop admiring yourself, and let's go," A teasing voice pipes up, and Jongin rolls his eyes.
"Sehun, don't pretend you don't admire your pin and neckerchief either."
The morning bell rings for the day to start and Sehun curses as he haphazardly throws his jacket on.
They both run out laughing at how Junmyeon is most likely going to kill them.
--
Junmyeon side eyes them when they walk in late, but it doesn't deter him from walking up to the podium and clearing his throat.
"Alright, camp leaders." Junmyeon begins. "We're down to our last two weeks, and I gotta say, I'm really proud of you guys for getting here. I know you were all scouts yourself at one point. And now we're here to see some fellows graduating."
Jongin looks around the room and sees Luhan whispering fervently into Minseok's ear. The elder of the two has his eyes glued onto Junmyeon but is nodding to the pace of Luhan's words.
"Can you believe it, Jongin?" Sehun whispers into his ear, wrapping his fingers around Jongin's arm. The latter simply looks back with a raised eyebrow as they continue to listen to Junmyeon ramble on about the closing ceremony and events for the last week. "We've actually been coming here since middle school and here we are at the last summer before the end of high school."
Jongin counts the years in his head and finds that yes, Sehun is actually correct about this and gosh, where did the time go?
"And, of course, to celebrate, we're going to hold our very first camp-wide dance along with our sister camp, Camp Twinkle!"
Polite clapping is heard, as there were only 8 camp leaders at the meeting. He and Sehun are in charge of dancing classes and the Omega camp; Luhan and Minseok are in charge of sports and Alpha camp; Jongdae and Baekhyun watched over the Beta camp and vocal training, and finally, Tao and Yifan managed technology and digital media in the Gamma camp.
Jongin has never been one to care for school dances, mostly because they were usually full of people bopping around to bad music and he knew most people found him intimidating anyway. As much as he would have loved to showcase his talents, Jongin felt more comfortable when he danced with Sehun for the kids in classes, or when he had to.
As they shuffle out of the auditorium to begin their day, Jongin wonders how Junmyeon expected any of the camp leaders to find dancing partners. Sure, there were the girls in Twinkle, but he's not sure if the kids in their program would actually want to attend a dance. The age range for their program is 12-17, and Jongin almost shudders at the idea of seeing middles choolers at the same dance as a high schooler.
Jongin shakes the thought from his head when Sehun elbows him.
"It'll be no problem, man." Sehun says, sauntering down the steps. "We're masters of dance. Our boys will go to the dance floor looking like beasts." Sehun throws an arm into the air for dramatic effect and Jongin shoves him forward.
--
All everyone is talking about now is who's going to take who to the dance and Jongin wishes this was already over because he can't stand people gossiping about these things. It's times like these when he's grateful that Sehun doesn't care about these events either.
"Hey, Jongin." Jongdae suddenly pipes up from his side of the table in a singsong voice and Jongin looks up mid-bite.
“Hey, Jongdae.”
"Did you hear? Someone's asking Sehun to go to the dance!"
Jongin looks at him with disbelief because he didn't. "Who?"
"I don't know, but I know Baekhyun was thinking about it a while ago."
"But Baekhyun only likes Sehun for his butt." Jongin rolls his eyes and pokes at his toast halfheartedly.
"...Don't you like it too?" Jongdae says, cocking an eyebrow up and Jongin stabs his plate too hard this time.
"Excuse me?"
"Hey, he's got a nice butt," Jongdae raises his arms in defense. "All I'm saying is that I don't blame you. But you should act fast before something happens."
"Jongdae!" Baekhyun's voice calls out into the dining hall and for a moment everyone looks over to Baekhyun.
"That's my cue." Jongdae says waggling his eyebrows as he gets out of his chair.
Jongin continues to stare at his toast, because if Jongdae knew about his liking toward Sehun's butt, then who else knew?
He has a confession to make to the world. He's had a thing for Sehun's butt for a while now, but he never actually really acknowledged it or accepted or anything, but this past week has been so agonizing because he honestly just can't look away.
But he doesn't have to actually do anything about it.
--
"Are you going to go to the dance?" Jongin asks and Sehun looks up with him with slightly widened and confused eyes. Jongin isn't the type to prod, and he honestly doesn't mind if Sehun was going to answer or not, but he was curious. Because they never really talked about things like this. They only talk about summer movies and video games and tv shows and oh god, Jongin continues because he can't stand that look. "I mean, do you have anyone to ask anyway? We never really talk to a lot of girls."
Sehun doen't move at first before going back to collecting balls and Jongin reprimands himself for even bringing it up. "Yeah, I dunno."
Jongin wants to ask if he's right, if there really isn't anyone else (Because seriously, they hang out like all the time. How could there be someone else without him knowing?) Instead, he shrugs.
"Yeah." A silence lingers in the air and Jongin wets his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
"But we could ask guys, too." Sehun says in such a soft and quiet voice that Jongin almost thinks that he imagined it.
"What?" Jongin asks, but Sehun doesn't repeat himself.
"Luhan hyung told me he was going to ask Minseok hyung." Sehun offers instead, and Jongin's initial reaction is to feel sorry for the latter. After all, Luhan is relentless with his feelings toward Minseok and Jongin doesn't know how Luhan could not care about what other people think. He's not as brave as his hyung, and Jongin isn't sure he can stomach Sehun's more-than-likely rejection.
"But who doesn't know about Luhan and Minseok?" Jongin says, pushing his weight onto the broom he's holding. Sehun bends down to pick up a ball that was in a pool of mud and it's the ideal time to comment about how disgusting it is, but he's too preoccupied with staring at Sehun's butt. He tries to look away, but can't find himself to do so and Jongin wishes he can rewind time to a point where Sehun didn't have a soft yet firm-looking behind. Or at least, he wishes that he could turn back to the time when he first made that realization and...unrealized it. Somehow. Because while Sehun has a mighty fine butt, Jongin feels extremely guilty for even thinking so. At the same time, though, he doesn't feel ashamed and this is where Jongin stands in his dilemma.
He shakes his head as if the troubling thoughts would disappear.
"Minseok, of course." Sehun says and now it's Jongin's turn to look surprised.
"Really?" Jongin gapes because Luhan is one of the most obvious dudes in the world and literally everyone in the camp is already placing bets for when it happens.
"Yeah, I tried asking him about it once." Sehun nonchalantly shrugs.
"Wait, are you betting on them too?" Jongin says, shouldering him playfully.
"No!" Sehun flushes. "Everyone's dying to know, but no one's ever bothered to ask, so I figured...what's there to lose?"
Luhan's happiness. Luhan and Minseok's friendship. The years they had together. The years they might not have together.
"I guess." Jongin says.
"But yeah, he didn't really seem to think anything's out of the ordinary. It's kind of sad yet beautiful at the same time, don't you think?" Sehun says with such depressing eyes that Jongin can't breathe, can't move, and just stares.
Sehun bends down to pick up the last ball on the field. "They're two people who have such great chemistry together and they can never be beyond just friends because no one's made that step. It just takes one person to try and test the waters and wait for their significant other to join them, but they can't force it to happen. So all he can do is wait, and hope that one day, he'll open his eyes and see what's in front of him."
Jongin doesn't know what to say, really, because he and Sehun never have talks like this before. He slightly gapes at Sehun's retreating figure.
So Oh Sehun can be deep and philosophical.
But in that moment, Jongin decided that he was going to ask Sehun to the dance. It'll be beautiful, and perfect, and he can see how he'll do it. It'll be during their morning run, when Sehun least expects it. Instead of going through their regular routine, Jongin will take him to a different route where he can see the sunrise in the morning and the sparkles in his eyes, and yes. He's going to do it. Jongin was going to ask Sehun to the dance.
-
It happens a couple days later, and he swears he didn't mean for it to happen this way. He swears that he wanted to save this for the right time and and not when he just stepped out of their cabin for the day, but he just saw Sehun talking to some girls and what if someone asked him out? Or he asked someone else? So Jongin couldn't help it so he went up to him and blurted, "Okay, so this is completely out of the blue, but I've really been thinking about this for a long time and I like you. A lot. And I think you're really cool and awesome, and you're super hot. And I don't think I can actually do this properly because I'm not even sure I can wrap my head around it? I can't pinpoint when I started thinking about you this way, but--”
"Jongin, stop." Sehun says and Jongin feels his cheeks warm up in embarrassment because this has got to be the lamest way to confess and he's not ready for Sehun's answer, so Jongin just keeps talking in hopes that he'll never finish his confession and he'll never have to hear what Sehun has to say.
"I mean, I honestly don't know when it started. I'm sorry though. Oh and your butt is amazing, like, how do you have such a nice butt? And oh god, you weren't supposed to, damn it Jongin. I'll just, um--"
Sehun breaks out in a fit of laughter. He's surely laughing at him because of the lame failure and Jongin wants to curl up in a ball and hide forever and not come out of it until the world is dead because, he mentioned the butt admiration and--
"Jongin, look at me." Sehun pokes Jongin's cheek and Jongin slightly jumps back in surprise.
There's a silence and all Jongin can hear is his heart beating and Sehun's slow breathing. His cheeks bright red and his eyes are slightly teary from and Jongin finds himself staring at Sehun, who is now staring right back at him.
"Go to the dance with me."
Sehun's eyes seem to be searching through his own, and Jongin wants to say yes, wants to jump up in joy, but instead he dumbly blurts out, "....What? But why would you want to go with me? Didn't you just hear anything I just said?"
Because Jongin feels awkward and confused and unsure of what's even happening anymore. Sehun isn't supposed to react this way, because Jongin's not entirely smart and he just talked about how he wanted to touch his butt, and shouldn't that be creepy instead?
And now Sehun looks slightly confused too and kind of hurt, and Jongin didn't mean it that way, but it just happened and for a split second, Jongin swears he sees tears slightly well up in his eyes and he wants to take everything back, go back to the first day, go back to being okay.
For what seems like the millionth time, Jongin watches Sehun's retreating figure and wonders if this is a curse he cast upon himself because even in what is supposed to be a serious moment, Jongin can't help but stare at Sehun's butt.
Damn it all.
"You're dumb, Kim Jongin." Jongdae pops out of nowhere and Jongin resists the urge to slap him in the face.
"What? It's not like anything happened." Jongin shrugs, throwing a bag of balls over his shoulder and saunters his way to the equipment room.
It'll be fine.
Okay, he lied.
Because for the final week of the camp, Sehun avoids him like the plague beyond their necessary interactions and Jongin realizes that he needs to do something, especially when one of the young scouts asked if he and "Sehunnie" were okay. For now, Jongin keeps ignoring the problem and sleeps in. Except it's really hard to avoid someone when they're your roommate.
-
"Are you guys still fighting?" Minseok sits next to him at breakfast the day before the dance and Jongin crinkles his eyebrows. "Who?"
"You and Sehun, of course." Minseok said as if he said the sky was blue. He places his plate down on the table and starts slicing the piece of toast in front of him with a fork and a knife and Jongin can't look away at how perfectly square each slice is.
"Who said we were fighting?" Jongin finally asks before gulping down his orange juice.
Minseok gives him a knowing look and shakes his head. "Everyone and their scouts are talking about your high school romcom. They're even starting bets as to who's going to ask who to the dance."
"What?" Jongin almost spits out his drink.
"Just talk to him already. It's not anything serious, right? Jongdae told me you confessed."
Jongin swears he's going to kill Jongdae; he doesn't even care if he's younger.
"He hasn't told everyone, don't worry." Minseok says with a reassuring smile and comforting hand on his shoulder. Jongin lets out a breath of relief because he really doesn't need anyone to start rumors in the camp, especially about him and Sehun.
"Oh, but he did tell Luhan, and you know how he is."
“Just kill me now.” Jongin mutters as Minseok rubs his hand in circles over his back.
--
Jongin swears he doesn't mean for it to happen, but for the past day, whenever Jongin sees Sehun or anything related to or resembling Sehun, he turns around and scurries away as fast as he can. Half of it is because he doesn't want to see Sehun, the other half is probably because he's afraid of prying eyes and hushed whispers and laughs.
The dance is only an hour away and Jongin doesn't plan on being anywhere near the hall for the rest of the evening. Then, he can finally just spend some quality time alone with nature and leave Camp Star for good and never look back.
"You're so dumb, Kim Jongin." Jongdae says to him again when the older camp leader catches him fleeing from the track fields.
"Jongdae, please, not now.” Jongin groans and turns to walk away, but Jongdae's right there in front of him again, arms crossed.
“Don't you think that Sehun's been going through the same thing too?”
“What do you mean?" Jongin looks at him confused. Because yeah, Sehun was avoiding him, but he's not the one who confessed to his friend of many years saying that he had a thing for his butt. Sehun's not the one who blurted out randomly that he wanted to go to the dance--
"Oh no."
"Oh yes."
"But that doesn't..."
"It counted."
Jongin stares at Jongdae for a moment and thinks back to Minseok and Luhan and what Sehun said about them. He thinks to what Sehun said about relationships and waiting and...well, damn.
Jongin throws an arm around Jongdae, who sputters in response.
"Thank you." Jongin says before pushing himself off and running to find Sehun.
Except Sehun's either super fucking good at hide and seek or they've mastered avoiding each other in the past few weeks because Jongin can't find Sehun anywhere and he's about to give up when he finally starts heading back to his shared cabin with Sehun.
Pop radio music is blaring through speakers in the hall in the middle of the camp, and he wishes he can be there right now, dancing to horrible music with Oh Sehun. Because dancing with him was fun, exciting, and Jongin can stare the heck out of Sehun's butt that way.
Wait, sorry, scratch that. He honestly just wants his friend back and he wishes that he didn't ruin things between them by talking about his dumb feelings and butt obsession and, god, Sehun's probably inside with some girl or guy or anyone really and dancing the night away and this is how he's going to remember his last dance, and it--
"Hey," Jongin says, surprised to see Sehun sitting at the door of their cabin.
"Hey." Sehun mutters back without looking up from his book.
Jongin sits down next to him and wonders where to begin. He wonders, momentarily, if he should start over with his confession, give a proper one, but instead he says, "I'm sorry for being an idiot." Sehun looks up at him, but doesn't say a word so he continues.
"I just kept having this notion that there was no way you'd actually like me, and that you just wanted to ask for the sake of asking and I don't know.”
A silence lingers in the air and Jongin looks away from Sehun to his shoes.
"You know, I think it's cute that you like my butt." Sehun says into his arm and Jongin's not sure how to respond because he wishes he didn't have to have this conversation. "Can I kiss you?"
"What?" Jongin sputters, not sure if he could handle Sehun's bluntness before the younger boy loops an arm around his neck and moves his face closer. But then the confidence withers away and Sehun plants a shy kiss on the corners of Jongin's lips and the latter almost wants to laugh.
"If that's your idea of--" Jongin suddenly feels something warm and wet over his lips and Sehun's face is extremely close up and his eyes are squeezed tight. Sehun's tongue is hesitantly prodding at his lips and Jongin freezes before opening his mouth and wow, this is way more amazing than he expected.
They finally part and Jongin's heart is beating fast, his palms are sweaty, and all that he can hear is soft breathing. It's a peaceful silence, the calm before a storm, the silence before an epic speech, but Sehun whispers something under his breath and Jongin just smiles smugly.
"Don't even, Jongin." Sehun's beet red and Jongin just wants to hug Sehun and squeeze his cheeks.
"You never told me you had a thing for my lips." Jongin says in a sing-song voice, sidling up to Sehun.
"And you never told me you had a thing for my butt."
Jongin pauses and stretches his arms back. "...For the record, I had a cooler confession."
Sehun starts to chuckle before it breaks out into full laughter and Jongin joins in. After a moment, they sit with quiet smiles and stare the stars as Wonder Girls starts to play in the background. He could be having the time of his life in there right now with Sehun if he wasn't dumb and just went in for the kill.
"Take me to your prom." Jongin elbows Sehun suddenly, who shakes his head.
“We don't even go to the same school, Jongin.”
“Then everyone will be impressed by me when they see me with you.”
Sehun raises an eyebrow at him before snorting. “As if you can outdance me.”
Jongin waggles his eyebrows back and laughs when Sehun rolls his eyes and looks away.
His senior year's going to be great; he can see it now. It'll be full of MMOs, dancing, movie-going, eating and sitting around doing nothing with Oh Sehun.
And oh, right, studying.
--
"This is all very anti-climatic." Luhan huffs as he watches Jongin and Sehun smiling and giggling and pushing each other from a distance away. He pouts and throws his arms over Minseok's shoulders dramatically. "They're so boring."
"High school." Minseok casually replies, toying with the lapels of his dress shirt. "We were like that too before, right?"
Luhan scrunches his nose to the side and looked to the sky as if he was pondering the answer to everything.
"I guess." Luhan says, leaning back to blow the back of Minseok's head. “But I was way better, and you're much cuter.”
Minseok curves his lips up coyly and shrugs. “If you say so.”
fin.