14; exo; learning to count (the instances of you)
learning to count (the instances of you) | PG-13 for mature themes (death, spoiler: war, child soldiers)
suho/sehun, onesided kai/sehun and chen/suho
2.8k words
request: seho high school AU.
there is a bit of cerebus syndrome in here. written largely to this.
Joonmyun relative to everyone else is something that always changes, but Sehun makes sure to keep track.
learning to count (the instances of you)
one, intruder
The push Sehun has to put into the pedals to keep himself upright is what keeps him grounded and flying, moving through this path, biking so fast that the wind fingers through his hair like it’s not even there. Each turn and acceleration is seamless and unhindered, and Sehun loses himself in the speed and the corners, alleyways and streets that are usually sparsely populated in the morning but completely deserted at this hour of winter.
He steps off his bike to walk it down a steep, cold-buffed road, but pauses to stare at something on the floor.
There is a straight line of bike tracks already on the snow ahead him.
Sehun moves his bike a bit to the left, and he glances back over his shoulder to look at the two trails parallel on the ground. One has fresh, sharp notches left by the grooves on his own bike’s wheels, and the other is a smooth concave starting to get buried in the snow. Probably someone who had biked just a bit before him, here.
The moment Sehun reaches flat ground, he mounts his bike again, and then he’s off, still following his usual route.
But as Sehun takes winding paths and turns, the bike tracks are still in his vision, marking a path that used to be marked only by him. He clicks his tongue and speeds up, heart rate going faster. Someone has been going directly on his route. Is this a challenge?
He passes by the sidewalks and buildings faster, faster, faster, breaths starting to fog heavier and heavier, legs starting to burn harder than ever and-
His bike’s wheels slide to a stop when he makes it to the doors of the library, where he sees Zitao leaning on the adjacent wall. Sehun blinks at him and asks, walking closer, “Where’d you pass today?”
Zitao blinks back, voice equally as confused. “My usual route?” He glances towards his own bike chained at the rack just next to the door, then after a pause, grins and adds, “Saw someone just bike past the library earlier, I thought you forgot about our study session already.”
“Can’t,” Sehun answers, fastening his bike to the rack as well. He straightens and takes his bag from the basket, palming it to feel for his notes and pens, but his nerves don’t settle even at the reassurance that they’re there. He exhales a sigh through his nose. “Do you know where that person was headed?”
“The playground just a bit past, across the street.” Zitao jerks his head towards the vague shape of a slide in the morning mist. “Why?”
Sehun finds himself pausing before he answers. “Just… curious.” He starts making his way to the sidewalk, raising his voice, “Go ahead! I’ll meet you at the usual table.”
He waves and turns away before Zitao can manage to reply, and then he’s jogging, past bookstores, cafes, art stores. Past a museum is a small expanse of suburban dirt and grass, and when he sees a bike leaned against one of the lampposts, his steps come to a stop.
There’s a man taking pictures of the swing set, one of the seats moving back and forth and piled with snow.
Sehun can’t backtrack fast enough before this man hears his footsteps and looks at him with a smile. “Hello! Could I ask for a bit of help?”
two, stranger
“What happened?”
Sehun seats himself next to Zitao with a heavy sigh. “Had to push a swing while no one was on it.”
Zitao can’t help a small laugh, uncapping one of his highlighters and running and bright line through his textbook's page. “Did you meet someone in the photography club or something?”
As Sehun pulls out notebooks from his bag, he replies, “So you know Kim Joonmyun?”
“Just guessing... I was right?” With a backdrop of the winter cityscape out the window, Sehun’s face has an obvious flush to it that makes Zitao suppress a giggle. “And you're blushing.”
Sehun makes a face at him before flipping through his notes. “Don’t think anything weird. I ran there and back, you know.”
“Sure,” Zitao says, shrugging. “Was she cute?”
“Joonmyun’s a guy name.”
Zitao caps his highlighter and tries to pretend it never happened. “Should’ve just used your bike.”
“Whatever.” Sehun rolls his eyes.
three, acquaintance
Just as Yixing slings his bag onto his shoulders, there are a few taps on his shoulder, and he pauses to turn. He finds a face and struggles to reach for a name. Lee… Joon? Joon… hyun? Hyunbin?
“Ah-” Yixing rounds his mouth in an ‘oh’ of remembrance, then smiles. “Joonmyun,” he greets with a small nod.
Joonmyun greets back cheerily. “You’re in the dance crew, right?”
Yixing responds with another inquisitive nod, and Joonmyun hands him a folded sheet of one-fourth pad. “Could you give this to Oh Sehun?” He bites his cheek, sheepish. “His picture kind of… got published in the school paper. Figured I should tell him before he sees it.”
Yixing slides the paper into his pocket-he thinks he sees a row of numbers but he pays it no mind. “Sure, sure.” Never anything wrong with taking a small favor for a new classmate.
four, neighbor
There’s the familiar, soft squeaking of wheels from behind, and Minseok turns around to see Sehun past the window. Minseok makes pointing gestures at the ‘closed’ sign on his door but Sehun enters the bakery anyway, and Minseok sighs. “I should kick you out for that someday.”
“But I’m your favorite neighborhood brat,” Sehun answers, taking out his wallet. Minseok flips over the sign, and Sehun looks around at the trays. “Are there chocolate croissants today?”
“Just butter croissants. Two?” Minseok grabs a pair of tongs from the rack and pulls the bread out from inside the glass displays. “Freshly baked, good with coffee, et cetera.” He smiles as he places them into a paper bag. “Sorry, no buy one, take two deal today.”
Sehun shrugs it off, paying and waiting for his change. Then with a surreptitious glance above his shoulder, he lowers his voice and adds, “Has someone other than me been biking past the bakery?”
Minseok raises an amused brow. “Well, there’s our new neighbor, Kim Joonmyun-”
“What?!”
The chime above the doorbell rings, and Minseok turns away to greet. “Good morning!” He momentarily looks back to Sehun’s face and flicks his eyes a few times to the side: look there, look there-he turns to Joonmyun with a smile. “So how’s the neighborhood been for you?”
“Eventful,” Joonmyun answers with a small exhale. “Melon bun please.”
He looks even paler than usual. Minseok tries to put a bit more cheer into his voice, slipping two buns into a new paper bag. “We’ve got a buy one, take two deal today.”
Sehun whines.
Joonmyun blinks and turns his gaze to Sehun’s face, giving a soft ‘hello’ that has Sehun replying with a stiff, surprised smile.
Minseok hides a laugh.
“Oh, right!” Joonmyun’s expression lights up as he hands Minseok a few bills, and he looks at Sehun with a smile. “I saw a really nice spot near the playground a few days ago, and I’d,” he makes an embarrassed laugh. “Really appreciate it if you could be my subject again. Photos.”
Sehun finally remembers to take the paper bag that’s been lying on the counter for the past minute. “Okay. Just, uh, text me the time and place.” His footsteps quicken like he’s escaping into shelter. “Have to go to school now, so.” He bows a few times, leaving the bakery, then hollers a goodbye as he speeds away on his bike.
Joonmyun puts on a confused smile, taking his own bread. “We go to the same high school, though?”
A few ideas form in Minseok’s head.
five, friend
“So I heard from a certain baking friend that you’re awkward with the upperclassman transfer guy everyone’s been talking about.”
Sehun deadpans. “Everyone’s been talking about Joonmyun?”
“Well, no.” Baekhyun walks up to the pail settled on the grass and grabs a water-filled balloon. “But I’m friends with him, and I feel like they’ll be talking about his good looks more than they’re talking about the recent tensions with Japan.”
Baekhyun doesn’t need to look to know that Sehun’s probably rolling his eyes as he replies. “You’re friends with everyone.”
“I’m not, but Chanyeol is.” Satisfied with the number of water balloons in his hands, Baekhyun straightens, then yells to Chanyeol just a bit farther into the turf, “Think fast!”
Before Chanyeol can even turn his head, Baekhyun throws, and two of them splash onto Chanyeol’s curly hair. Baekhyun gives Joonmyun a thumbs up.
Joonmyun laughs as he gives one back, but when Chanyeol makes a deep yell of revenge, Joonmyun starts to run.
“Don’t you think,” Sehun tentatively begins from his seat on the bench, “that there’s something weird about Joonmyun?”
“If you’re just having dugeun-dugeuns and doki-dokis every time you see him, then I don’t really-” Quick footsteps approach, and suddenly there’s a water balloon hitting the back of Baekhyun’s hair. He sighs at Chanyeol’s victorious laughter and continues. “Basically, no. Is that why you’re so awkward around him?”
“Yeah, I mean…” Sehun sighs and walks up to the pail, grabbing a few balloons of his own. “Never mind. God. Why do you all think I have a crush on him?”
“Because you’re not normally like this?” Baekhyun pitches a balloon in Joonmyun’s direction, but then it seems to swerve and misses by what looks like a milimeter. Joonmyun grins as he runs off unscathed, and Baekhyun can’t help a surprised sound. “Didn’t think he’d be such a pro.”
Then from behind him, Sehun throws a balloon as well, but it hits Joonmyun square on the face and Baekhyun can’t help but burst into laughter.
Sehun only hums in thought.
six, rival
Without any preamble, “You like him.”
Sehun pauses in raising his water bottle to his lips, and Jongin only looks up from his spot seated against the wall, dabbing a towel to his face. Dance is body language when it’s used with song, and Sehun’s own language is easy to figure out, so he repeats himself. “You like him.”
In response, Sehun only shrugs and gulps down his water. Very obvious. In all these years Jongin’s known him, Sehun’s never been good at acting.
So Jongin continues. “He’s hiding something, you know.”
And Sehun stops at that, eyes finally turning to meet Jongin’s. “I know.”
“Then why?”
“The kind of stuff he’s hiding...”
Jongin only leans his head back against the wall, waiting for Sehun and letting his breaths even out.
Sehun continues in the quiet. “Why would he look sad at a playground?”
You’re concerned, Jongin thinks to say. But Sehun’s always been obvious in the smallest of ways, and the open concern in his voice and expression is just, somehow…
“Maybe it’s not our business to meddle,” Jongin answers, turning away.
“It is.” Sehun exhales. “It’s my business because we’re friends, and he looks miserable when he thinks no one notices.”
We’re friends too, but you never noticed how I've always cared for-
Jongin only hums in reply, keeping his thoughts behind his grit teeth.
seven, crush
Jongdae spies Joonmyun sitting alone on the bench by the turf, so from the bleachers, he hollers, “I’m gonna zap you for skipping out on practice all the time!”
Joonmyun’s gaze shoots up from his watch in alarm, and Jongdae allows himself to laugh, walking down to the field. He plops his bucket down next to the bench and stuffs his palms with water balloons. “Let’s practice while the others aren’t here yet, hmm?”
A water balloon floats into Joonmyun’s open, waiting hand. He makes an exasperated noise and stands, small, tired smile on his face. “Alright.”
Then the balloon’s flying forward, and Jongdae’s unthinkingly bursts it with a stream of electrons that just makes water splash over him like rain. Joonmyun chuckles as he runs away, water balloons following in the air, and Jongdae yells as he throws and bursts a few more in Joonmyun’s face.
“You’re just fighting yourself into a corner,” Joonmyun says, hands cupped around his mouth and ring of water growing larger and larger above his head like a mutated halo.
“I think you’re talking about yourself,” Jongdae replies, quietly sharp beneath his grin. He throws another balloon forward, but Joonmyun catches it with a spear of water that makes it fall harmlessly onto the soil. Jongdae runs a curious current through the ground and to Joonmyun’s ankles. “Didn’t we tell you to avoid making close friends?”
And Joonmyun’s expression sobers, but he still keeps on his smile. “It would be easier if I just thought of Sehun as a friend, really.”
Jongdae feels the jealousy in him a bit harder, but he pushes it down. “Make sure to tell him. Before you say goodbye.”
eight, company
Luhan flips through the magazine in his hand. “Does watching people date make you feel better about yourself?”
“No,” Yifan replies, pinching the bridge of his nose. Luhan laughs as he looks through the shelves, and Yifan sighs, keeping his gaze on the café on the other side of the street. Joonmyun is seated on the table next to the window. “Do you know the kid sitting across him?”
“Oh Sehun, from the same high school.” Luhan finds a book about woodland animals and skims over the pictures of moose. “I think he’s harmless. Can’t sense anything on him.”
Yifan makes a low hum in reply, watching Joonmyun hide a relieved laugh in his hands. He reads their lips as Joonmyun replies-
What do you mean you ‘always knew’?
You’re not good at hiding. Sehun takes a sip from his mug and smiles. And you’re too good at water balloon fights.
“Aw,” Luhan says, looking at the front page of a newspaper. “Media found out about the war with Japan.” He folds the newspaper back onto the rack and straightens, rolling his neck. “Think they’ll find out about the kids with abilities soon?”
Joonmyun and Sehun are making to stand, and Joonmyun blends in with all the others his age, young, enjoying. Yifan prepares to leave the bookstore. “I hope not,” he answers, and he’s completely honest.
“I guess the two of us aren’t enough for the government.” Luhan’s hat straightens itself on his head, and he walks out of the bookstore, steps light. “Should we pack Joonmyun’s stuff up for him?”
Yifan pats Luhan on the shoulder and whispers a warning about using their abilities in public, and Luhan puts on a sad smile, silently acquiescing.
nine, dear
Sehun catches sight of the armored van as it parks in front of Joonmyun’s house, so early into the morning that the sky’s still tinged with purple. He leaves his bike against Joonmyun’s fence and pushes past the people poised at Joonmyun’s front door like walls, looking at them and daring them to keep him out. They don’t.
Jongdae passes by as Sehun’s halfway up the stairs, lifting a bag of luggage with him and leaving the house. Sehun’s breaths catch in his throat when he makes it to the second floor.
“Hey,” Joonmyun chirps, hands tightening around the straps of his bags.
“You said,” Sehun swallows, reaching forward to hold onto Joonmyun’s sleeve, “you said, that time in the café, that they’d-” He can feel his voice start to fray, “-that they’d get you once the war broke out.”
Joonmyun shakes his head and somehow Sehun feels betrayed. “They wanted to make a pre-emptive strike,” he answers, placing a hand over Sehun’s own. The warmth soothes for just a second before it’s gone, Joonmyun walking down the stairs, and everything feels colder than ever.
“Are you…” Sehun has to take a breath to steady himself, but his exhale is nearly a sob, and he tangles his fingers in his hair. “You’re coming back, right?”
Just as Joonmyun steps out the doorway, he turns back around, and his smile and silhouette against the light are dim. He mouths one last I love you and then never looks back.
ten, joonmyun
The country and its funerals are dusted in warm snow. This nuclear winter is one that won’t last, but ash fall still takes a while to stop.
Joonmyun texts Sehun and bikes to a playground, wheels making notches in the dust.
- masterlist + requests - watch - join -
- seho ‘high school au’, as requested by joongshimlover… lol i’m sorry ;;
- also the section titles are the relationships joonmyun has with the person whose pov it is (e.g. jongin sees joonmyun as a rival)
- experiment in the sense that it’s only from seho’s point of view thirty percent of the time. tell me how it worked out? c:
thanks for reading! <3
suho/sehun, onesided kai/sehun and chen/suho
2.8k words
request: seho high school AU.
there is a bit of cerebus syndrome in here. written largely to this.
Joonmyun relative to everyone else is something that always changes, but Sehun makes sure to keep track.
learning to count (the instances of you)
one, intruder
The push Sehun has to put into the pedals to keep himself upright is what keeps him grounded and flying, moving through this path, biking so fast that the wind fingers through his hair like it’s not even there. Each turn and acceleration is seamless and unhindered, and Sehun loses himself in the speed and the corners, alleyways and streets that are usually sparsely populated in the morning but completely deserted at this hour of winter.
He steps off his bike to walk it down a steep, cold-buffed road, but pauses to stare at something on the floor.
There is a straight line of bike tracks already on the snow ahead him.
Sehun moves his bike a bit to the left, and he glances back over his shoulder to look at the two trails parallel on the ground. One has fresh, sharp notches left by the grooves on his own bike’s wheels, and the other is a smooth concave starting to get buried in the snow. Probably someone who had biked just a bit before him, here.
The moment Sehun reaches flat ground, he mounts his bike again, and then he’s off, still following his usual route.
But as Sehun takes winding paths and turns, the bike tracks are still in his vision, marking a path that used to be marked only by him. He clicks his tongue and speeds up, heart rate going faster. Someone has been going directly on his route. Is this a challenge?
He passes by the sidewalks and buildings faster, faster, faster, breaths starting to fog heavier and heavier, legs starting to burn harder than ever and-
His bike’s wheels slide to a stop when he makes it to the doors of the library, where he sees Zitao leaning on the adjacent wall. Sehun blinks at him and asks, walking closer, “Where’d you pass today?”
Zitao blinks back, voice equally as confused. “My usual route?” He glances towards his own bike chained at the rack just next to the door, then after a pause, grins and adds, “Saw someone just bike past the library earlier, I thought you forgot about our study session already.”
“Can’t,” Sehun answers, fastening his bike to the rack as well. He straightens and takes his bag from the basket, palming it to feel for his notes and pens, but his nerves don’t settle even at the reassurance that they’re there. He exhales a sigh through his nose. “Do you know where that person was headed?”
“The playground just a bit past, across the street.” Zitao jerks his head towards the vague shape of a slide in the morning mist. “Why?”
Sehun finds himself pausing before he answers. “Just… curious.” He starts making his way to the sidewalk, raising his voice, “Go ahead! I’ll meet you at the usual table.”
He waves and turns away before Zitao can manage to reply, and then he’s jogging, past bookstores, cafes, art stores. Past a museum is a small expanse of suburban dirt and grass, and when he sees a bike leaned against one of the lampposts, his steps come to a stop.
There’s a man taking pictures of the swing set, one of the seats moving back and forth and piled with snow.
Sehun can’t backtrack fast enough before this man hears his footsteps and looks at him with a smile. “Hello! Could I ask for a bit of help?”
two, stranger
“What happened?”
Sehun seats himself next to Zitao with a heavy sigh. “Had to push a swing while no one was on it.”
Zitao can’t help a small laugh, uncapping one of his highlighters and running and bright line through his textbook's page. “Did you meet someone in the photography club or something?”
As Sehun pulls out notebooks from his bag, he replies, “So you know Kim Joonmyun?”
“Just guessing... I was right?” With a backdrop of the winter cityscape out the window, Sehun’s face has an obvious flush to it that makes Zitao suppress a giggle. “And you're blushing.”
Sehun makes a face at him before flipping through his notes. “Don’t think anything weird. I ran there and back, you know.”
“Sure,” Zitao says, shrugging. “Was she cute?”
“Joonmyun’s a guy name.”
Zitao caps his highlighter and tries to pretend it never happened. “Should’ve just used your bike.”
“Whatever.” Sehun rolls his eyes.
three, acquaintance
Just as Yixing slings his bag onto his shoulders, there are a few taps on his shoulder, and he pauses to turn. He finds a face and struggles to reach for a name. Lee… Joon? Joon… hyun? Hyunbin?
“Ah-” Yixing rounds his mouth in an ‘oh’ of remembrance, then smiles. “Joonmyun,” he greets with a small nod.
Joonmyun greets back cheerily. “You’re in the dance crew, right?”
Yixing responds with another inquisitive nod, and Joonmyun hands him a folded sheet of one-fourth pad. “Could you give this to Oh Sehun?” He bites his cheek, sheepish. “His picture kind of… got published in the school paper. Figured I should tell him before he sees it.”
Yixing slides the paper into his pocket-he thinks he sees a row of numbers but he pays it no mind. “Sure, sure.” Never anything wrong with taking a small favor for a new classmate.
four, neighbor
There’s the familiar, soft squeaking of wheels from behind, and Minseok turns around to see Sehun past the window. Minseok makes pointing gestures at the ‘closed’ sign on his door but Sehun enters the bakery anyway, and Minseok sighs. “I should kick you out for that someday.”
“But I’m your favorite neighborhood brat,” Sehun answers, taking out his wallet. Minseok flips over the sign, and Sehun looks around at the trays. “Are there chocolate croissants today?”
“Just butter croissants. Two?” Minseok grabs a pair of tongs from the rack and pulls the bread out from inside the glass displays. “Freshly baked, good with coffee, et cetera.” He smiles as he places them into a paper bag. “Sorry, no buy one, take two deal today.”
Sehun shrugs it off, paying and waiting for his change. Then with a surreptitious glance above his shoulder, he lowers his voice and adds, “Has someone other than me been biking past the bakery?”
Minseok raises an amused brow. “Well, there’s our new neighbor, Kim Joonmyun-”
“What?!”
The chime above the doorbell rings, and Minseok turns away to greet. “Good morning!” He momentarily looks back to Sehun’s face and flicks his eyes a few times to the side: look there, look there-he turns to Joonmyun with a smile. “So how’s the neighborhood been for you?”
“Eventful,” Joonmyun answers with a small exhale. “Melon bun please.”
He looks even paler than usual. Minseok tries to put a bit more cheer into his voice, slipping two buns into a new paper bag. “We’ve got a buy one, take two deal today.”
Sehun whines.
Joonmyun blinks and turns his gaze to Sehun’s face, giving a soft ‘hello’ that has Sehun replying with a stiff, surprised smile.
Minseok hides a laugh.
“Oh, right!” Joonmyun’s expression lights up as he hands Minseok a few bills, and he looks at Sehun with a smile. “I saw a really nice spot near the playground a few days ago, and I’d,” he makes an embarrassed laugh. “Really appreciate it if you could be my subject again. Photos.”
Sehun finally remembers to take the paper bag that’s been lying on the counter for the past minute. “Okay. Just, uh, text me the time and place.” His footsteps quicken like he’s escaping into shelter. “Have to go to school now, so.” He bows a few times, leaving the bakery, then hollers a goodbye as he speeds away on his bike.
Joonmyun puts on a confused smile, taking his own bread. “We go to the same high school, though?”
A few ideas form in Minseok’s head.
five, friend
“So I heard from a certain baking friend that you’re awkward with the upperclassman transfer guy everyone’s been talking about.”
Sehun deadpans. “Everyone’s been talking about Joonmyun?”
“Well, no.” Baekhyun walks up to the pail settled on the grass and grabs a water-filled balloon. “But I’m friends with him, and I feel like they’ll be talking about his good looks more than they’re talking about the recent tensions with Japan.”
Baekhyun doesn’t need to look to know that Sehun’s probably rolling his eyes as he replies. “You’re friends with everyone.”
“I’m not, but Chanyeol is.” Satisfied with the number of water balloons in his hands, Baekhyun straightens, then yells to Chanyeol just a bit farther into the turf, “Think fast!”
Before Chanyeol can even turn his head, Baekhyun throws, and two of them splash onto Chanyeol’s curly hair. Baekhyun gives Joonmyun a thumbs up.
Joonmyun laughs as he gives one back, but when Chanyeol makes a deep yell of revenge, Joonmyun starts to run.
“Don’t you think,” Sehun tentatively begins from his seat on the bench, “that there’s something weird about Joonmyun?”
“If you’re just having dugeun-dugeuns and doki-dokis every time you see him, then I don’t really-” Quick footsteps approach, and suddenly there’s a water balloon hitting the back of Baekhyun’s hair. He sighs at Chanyeol’s victorious laughter and continues. “Basically, no. Is that why you’re so awkward around him?”
“Yeah, I mean…” Sehun sighs and walks up to the pail, grabbing a few balloons of his own. “Never mind. God. Why do you all think I have a crush on him?”
“Because you’re not normally like this?” Baekhyun pitches a balloon in Joonmyun’s direction, but then it seems to swerve and misses by what looks like a milimeter. Joonmyun grins as he runs off unscathed, and Baekhyun can’t help a surprised sound. “Didn’t think he’d be such a pro.”
Then from behind him, Sehun throws a balloon as well, but it hits Joonmyun square on the face and Baekhyun can’t help but burst into laughter.
Sehun only hums in thought.
six, rival
Without any preamble, “You like him.”
Sehun pauses in raising his water bottle to his lips, and Jongin only looks up from his spot seated against the wall, dabbing a towel to his face. Dance is body language when it’s used with song, and Sehun’s own language is easy to figure out, so he repeats himself. “You like him.”
In response, Sehun only shrugs and gulps down his water. Very obvious. In all these years Jongin’s known him, Sehun’s never been good at acting.
So Jongin continues. “He’s hiding something, you know.”
And Sehun stops at that, eyes finally turning to meet Jongin’s. “I know.”
“Then why?”
“The kind of stuff he’s hiding...”
Jongin only leans his head back against the wall, waiting for Sehun and letting his breaths even out.
Sehun continues in the quiet. “Why would he look sad at a playground?”
You’re concerned, Jongin thinks to say. But Sehun’s always been obvious in the smallest of ways, and the open concern in his voice and expression is just, somehow…
“Maybe it’s not our business to meddle,” Jongin answers, turning away.
“It is.” Sehun exhales. “It’s my business because we’re friends, and he looks miserable when he thinks no one notices.”
We’re friends too, but you never noticed how I've always cared for-
Jongin only hums in reply, keeping his thoughts behind his grit teeth.
seven, crush
Jongdae spies Joonmyun sitting alone on the bench by the turf, so from the bleachers, he hollers, “I’m gonna zap you for skipping out on practice all the time!”
Joonmyun’s gaze shoots up from his watch in alarm, and Jongdae allows himself to laugh, walking down to the field. He plops his bucket down next to the bench and stuffs his palms with water balloons. “Let’s practice while the others aren’t here yet, hmm?”
A water balloon floats into Joonmyun’s open, waiting hand. He makes an exasperated noise and stands, small, tired smile on his face. “Alright.”
Then the balloon’s flying forward, and Jongdae’s unthinkingly bursts it with a stream of electrons that just makes water splash over him like rain. Joonmyun chuckles as he runs away, water balloons following in the air, and Jongdae yells as he throws and bursts a few more in Joonmyun’s face.
“You’re just fighting yourself into a corner,” Joonmyun says, hands cupped around his mouth and ring of water growing larger and larger above his head like a mutated halo.
“I think you’re talking about yourself,” Jongdae replies, quietly sharp beneath his grin. He throws another balloon forward, but Joonmyun catches it with a spear of water that makes it fall harmlessly onto the soil. Jongdae runs a curious current through the ground and to Joonmyun’s ankles. “Didn’t we tell you to avoid making close friends?”
And Joonmyun’s expression sobers, but he still keeps on his smile. “It would be easier if I just thought of Sehun as a friend, really.”
Jongdae feels the jealousy in him a bit harder, but he pushes it down. “Make sure to tell him. Before you say goodbye.”
eight, company
Luhan flips through the magazine in his hand. “Does watching people date make you feel better about yourself?”
“No,” Yifan replies, pinching the bridge of his nose. Luhan laughs as he looks through the shelves, and Yifan sighs, keeping his gaze on the café on the other side of the street. Joonmyun is seated on the table next to the window. “Do you know the kid sitting across him?”
“Oh Sehun, from the same high school.” Luhan finds a book about woodland animals and skims over the pictures of moose. “I think he’s harmless. Can’t sense anything on him.”
Yifan makes a low hum in reply, watching Joonmyun hide a relieved laugh in his hands. He reads their lips as Joonmyun replies-
What do you mean you ‘always knew’?
You’re not good at hiding. Sehun takes a sip from his mug and smiles. And you’re too good at water balloon fights.
“Aw,” Luhan says, looking at the front page of a newspaper. “Media found out about the war with Japan.” He folds the newspaper back onto the rack and straightens, rolling his neck. “Think they’ll find out about the kids with abilities soon?”
Joonmyun and Sehun are making to stand, and Joonmyun blends in with all the others his age, young, enjoying. Yifan prepares to leave the bookstore. “I hope not,” he answers, and he’s completely honest.
“I guess the two of us aren’t enough for the government.” Luhan’s hat straightens itself on his head, and he walks out of the bookstore, steps light. “Should we pack Joonmyun’s stuff up for him?”
Yifan pats Luhan on the shoulder and whispers a warning about using their abilities in public, and Luhan puts on a sad smile, silently acquiescing.
nine, dear
Sehun catches sight of the armored van as it parks in front of Joonmyun’s house, so early into the morning that the sky’s still tinged with purple. He leaves his bike against Joonmyun’s fence and pushes past the people poised at Joonmyun’s front door like walls, looking at them and daring them to keep him out. They don’t.
Jongdae passes by as Sehun’s halfway up the stairs, lifting a bag of luggage with him and leaving the house. Sehun’s breaths catch in his throat when he makes it to the second floor.
“Hey,” Joonmyun chirps, hands tightening around the straps of his bags.
“You said,” Sehun swallows, reaching forward to hold onto Joonmyun’s sleeve, “you said, that time in the café, that they’d-” He can feel his voice start to fray, “-that they’d get you once the war broke out.”
Joonmyun shakes his head and somehow Sehun feels betrayed. “They wanted to make a pre-emptive strike,” he answers, placing a hand over Sehun’s own. The warmth soothes for just a second before it’s gone, Joonmyun walking down the stairs, and everything feels colder than ever.
“Are you…” Sehun has to take a breath to steady himself, but his exhale is nearly a sob, and he tangles his fingers in his hair. “You’re coming back, right?”
Just as Joonmyun steps out the doorway, he turns back around, and his smile and silhouette against the light are dim. He mouths one last I love you and then never looks back.
ten, joonmyun
The country and its funerals are dusted in warm snow. This nuclear winter is one that won’t last, but ash fall still takes a while to stop.
Joonmyun texts Sehun and bikes to a playground, wheels making notches in the dust.
- masterlist + requests - watch - join -
- seho ‘high school au’, as requested by joongshimlover… lol i’m sorry ;;
- also the section titles are the relationships joonmyun has with the person whose pov it is (e.g. jongin sees joonmyun as a rival)
- experiment in the sense that it’s only from seho’s point of view thirty percent of the time. tell me how it worked out? c:
thanks for reading! <3