extracurriculars [1/4]
Title: extracurriculars
Author: salted_taiyaki
Pairing(s): Jonghyun x Key [Onew x Taemin, Jonghyun x Onew, Minho x Taemin]
Genre: Romance, Fluff, AU
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2986
Summary: in which all five boys are in different clubs and meet in one way or another ; in this, kibum sews and jonghyun breathes soccer.
a/n: wanted to write...cute stuff. haven't been feeling good lately haha. these were going to be short but once i started the first jongkey i just kept going and going and now they're going to be too long for one post haha.
extracurriculars;
o1. the prince and the pauper
kibum likes the thrum of the sewing machines that are lined up in the small cramped home ec. room. he likes it because the thrum tells him that he's making a beautiful design right underneath his fingertips, that he's drawing pink on white or green on brown or just black on white as the needle and thread move in sync. it's always nice in there because the lights are just slightly dimmed by the hand-made curtains and the light dusty smell of oak and other woods in the corner where they make various trinkets for fun is always soothing.
kibum spends most of the time in the home ec. room after school with his close friends who either loiter around or paint a few things (kibum tries to keep the exacto knives out of jinki's hands and he always makes sure that taemin's wearing a smock no matter what he does-even if it doesn't involve liquids) because it's calming and fun.
at least, he tells himself, it's better than the harsher world out there.
maybe kim kibum stereotypes people and judges them too easily and harshly on their appearance. for example, krystal is a grade a bitch who may pummel him into the ground for glancing at her shoes (in a disapproving manner, of course, but details!). jokwon has a bone-chilling glare that slices him up whenever he saunters by and it's all for a stupid role in the school play that no one watches (actors are so pretentious sometimes). sooyoung and her friends of the science club (who would've thunk) watch him with eyes that seem to say that they disapprove of his genetic make up. and jonghyun-
well, jonghyun. kibum fidgets and evidently it screws up the pattern on the cloth because sunny's screaming in his ear, "kibum-ah, the lace!" and he nearly goes flying off his seat.
yes. kim jonghyun is a different story. kim jonghyun, co-captain of the soccer team with choi minho, the most handsome boy of their school with the most dazzling voice, yes, kim jonghyun.
needless to say, it's a bit one-sided right now.
sunny sighs aloud and seohyun pulls up her stool next to her, trapping kibum against the table he's working at.
"what's on your mind?" sunny asks slowly but kibum only shakes his head. after all, a stupid crush like this isn't really worth talking about.
seohyun reads his face completely though, the very thought running through his eyes. "this has been going on since the last year of middle school." kibum moans.
"again?" taemin calls out from the painting he's working on and jinki is leaning over his shoulder silently, praising taemin's face and not his painting and capturing every movement with his new expensive camera. "hyung, you-ah, ow, jinki! turn off the flash!"
"s-sorry."
"it's not a big deal," kibum grumbles, slamming his hands down harder against the table than he'd wanted. sunny simply tuts in disapproval and yuri gives one of her big eye rolls from the back of the room. "i have to go now. mom asked me to prepare dinner for today." he grabs his finished towel-a bit messy near the end but it all falls in place anyway-and gets off his chair, sooyoung and seohyun following suit with a small frown on both of their faces. "i'm fine. honestly."
he starts walking to taemin and claps the younger boy's shoulder. "don't be too late for dinner, all right?" taemin only nods his head of auburn hair up and down. jinki looks up and kibum and gives him an endearing smile. kibum only sighs.
alone in the hallway kibum starts whistling some tunes, inspecting his towel inside out. the hallways are empty like they always are on the second floor of the activities building, because everyone else is usually down in the gym or at cram school. kibum appreciates the silence, however. it's always uplifting.
when he rounds the third staircase he hears some laughing and cheering down the hall. it breaks his concentration but kibum shrugs it off and continues to try to adjust the little threads with his nails.
"see you soon!" someone calls out suddenly and before kibum can register just whom that familiar voice belongs to, kibum feels a freight train crash into his side and he cries out before falling flat on his ass. he groans and curses loudly as the other person doesn't fare too well either. "oh, shit," the person groans, "when the hell were you there?"
kibum huffs, swipes angrily at the tears in the corners of his eyes, but he keeps his head down so the other person can't see. "sorry," kibum mumbles and then gets up to his feet and runs down the hallway to the school entrance.
"but it's not your fault!" he hears the person call out and he kind of appreciates that inside, but he's too embarrassed to really care. kibum just runs as far as his un-athletic legs can take him until he starts panting and heaving alongside the curb of his street.
the next day kibum walks into his homeroom to see people crowded around his desk. panic strikes his heart as he stutters, "w-what're you doing-" he manages to shove a person aside and he hovers close. he spots a head of brown and kibum inwardly groans. he curses fate, he calls out to every being he knows as the crowd begins to pull away slowly and then-
"you dropped this the other day," jonghyun says to him with a rather cute apologetic smile on his face. "when we crashed in the hallway. i figured it was you." the boy holds up the neatly folded towel, suddenly a disgusting and hideous shade of orange.
"thanks," kibum manages to grit out between his teeth and he snatches the towel. "c-could you get out of my desk now?"
jonghyun sort of jumps. "oh, gee, sorry. here." he gets up, bending over to wipe off the seat with his hand. he smiles. "there."
his friends erupt into laughter at the act, donghae howling as he doubles over in pain, minho snorting behind a hand. girls sneer and boys throw comments here and there. kibum tries not to let it get to him but there must have been a blip of hurt in his eyes because jonghyun suddenly looks morose as he leans forward and whispers, "are you all right?"
nothing seems right to kibum anymore. everything jonghyun does-a blink, a pout, a few more inquiring words-looks like it's done in mockery and the nonexistent snide in his actions is stronger than the pain that rims his wide eyes. kibum pulls away violently from the crowd and turns on his heels, into the class jinki's in.
the day isn't too bad after that. people forgot about the whole ordeal in the morning while it nags at him, eats at him from the inside out. kibum's been good at avoiding jonghyun, throwing two words of greeting whenever he's forced to, but encounters like that-kibum shakes his arms to throw off the chill gnawing at his bones.
with shoulders braced and hands tucked into his pockets, kibum climbs the stairs up to the second floor and beelines his way through the people to the home ec. room.
much to his chagrin another group is in front of the door (and he wonders, what did he do to deserve this?) and as he begrudgingly makes his way to the crowd he thinks of ways to simply brush by them and not come in contact to anyone. he just wants his sewing machine again.
"kibum!" the familiar voice rings out and in any other situation the voice would sound beautiful, angelic, but those mocking eyes are on him so kibum only shies away. "hey, kim kibum, here!"
wearily the boy looks up and sees jonghyun waving at him. kibum tries to think back through the day to check if he had forgotten anything else and had left it in the brunette's hands but his hands are empty.
"yeah?" he weakly tries. jonghyun simply beams at him.
"i was just wondering-hey, go away." with a huff jonghyun shoos his friends away and they finally agree after much pestering.
at this point kibum is just shaking in his boots (not alligator skin because his mom refuses to let him wear those in school) and his knees are quaking and his teeth are chattering but jonghyun doesn't really see the nitty gritty details. he only sees kibum's fear and so he sucks in a breath and takes a step closer to the raven.
"hey man," he starts, "are you all right?"
"s-sure." kibum kicks himself. jonghyun's soft smile then sets his stomach on fire; he wants so badly to crawl into the home ec. room and cry his eyes out into his friends' arms but jonghyun is in his way. this may be the only time kibum wishes jonghyun would just disappear poof zap whoosh from his life.
jonghyun leans forward a bit, nervousness in the way he bites his lips. kibum is a bit taken aback when the brunette mumbles "um" under his breath, eyes shyly glancing from the floor to kibum.
"hey, kibum-" kibum's always found his habit of starting nearly everything with "hey" to be kind of annoying "-i was just wondering if you could-i mean you really don't have to, it's a small thing, but you seem like the only one who could-and it'd be really nice, y'know? if you could? so could you?"
kibum blinks once, twice. "could i what?"
jonghyun flushes and he laughs a bit obnoxiously (a habit kibum's found to be quite cute). "oh i forgot to-i forgot to say..." his voice trails off as his shoulders slump and his eyes drop back down to the tiled floor of their hallway. "i wanted to know if you could maybe sew me something."
bristling kibum straightens his back and narrows his eyes. thoughts run through his mind. for a girl? an anniversary gift? for their next date?
"why?" kibum finds himself asking, the hint of desperation dripping off the tail of the word, and jonghyun looks up petrified.
"w-why?" he nervously laughs. "well, my old towel's a bit old and i don't like using it anymore, and i really can't afford a new one at the sports store right now."
immediately kibum's stomach drops, and he curses himself for thinking those thoughts. he softens at the dejected look on jonghyun's face as his lips twist to say the words "never mind." with a gasp for breath kibum stutters, "sure, i'll sew you one."
when jonghyun brightens up at his words kibum can't help but feel his own heart blossom under the sunlight and as jonghyun nearly bounces up and down, kibum has to tell his feet to stay planted on the ground lest he slip up and fall head over heels for jonghyun again.
"thanks so much, kibum," jonghyun says a tad bit late, a tad bit out of breath, but kibum doesn't mind. he only nods his head up and down rapidly. "take as long as you want and-and when you're done could you give it to me down by the field?"
kibum smiles as widely as his lips let him and he replies, "yeah. yeah, so you should go to practice now."
"thanks, kibum, seriously." jonghyun's hand hovers a bit in the air, as if contemplating if he should punch kibum or pat his shoulder (or take his hand, kibum hopes dreamily). it drops after a few seconds and jonghyun only shakes his head. "see ya later." he runs off to let kibum finally breathe.
he slides the door open with a finger and prances through the entrance, catching the attention of all his friends. taemin immediately asks "what happened?" but the words don't even reach kibum's ears as he sings above him, "new project." he rushes to his stool and sunny watches in amazement, the flying fingers and spinning thread. yuri rolls her eyes again but this time she has a smile gracing the corners of her lips, and seohyun pokes her through her apron with the blunt end of her knitting needle.
kibum chooses to avoid jonghyun for the next few days as he spills his attention into making the best towel he can. it takes him four days and when he's finally done he throws it into the air and pumps his arms, letting it fall on his shoulder as he twists and turns. taemin hugs him from behind and chatters into his ear, something about how he's so proud of him and so excited to see him give the towel to jonghyun. shyly kibum squirms out of the hug and jumps off his seat, declaring, "gotta go. i'll be back."
he sprints down the hallways, something he doesn't really do because he absolutely loathes running, and he hops down the stairs nearly four at a time. excitement pumps through his veins and he thinks "where is he, will he like it, will he use it?"
he spots jonghyun sitting on one of those benches near the sinks where the teams wash up and he sits there, head tipped back, staring at the clouds. kibum squirms in his spot a few feet away, wondering if he should break the peace. he finally walks up close and, with a soft sigh, drops the towel on jonghyun's lap. the brunette reacts violently, nearly screaming on the top of his lungs as his arms flail to a defensive position and kibum laughs at his startled face. it quickly falls once jonghyun sees the raven tittering behind his hand, and then he looks down at his lap.
"wow," jonghyun starts, flabbergasted. "this is-this is really nice." he picks up the fluffy towel, looks at the beautiful shades of blue and green on white and he smiles widely. "thanks so much, kibum."
kibum wills his fluttering heart to come back down and grins. "you're welcome."
"and look, you even got my initials!" jonghyun laughs haughtily with his head thrown back and his eyes nearly twinkle. he waves the towel at kibum's face. "now the guys can't steal it."
"i don't think they would if they knew i made it," kibum grumbles without even knowing it and then he snaps his head up, a gasp tumbling from his lips. jonghyun stares at him incredulously, as if the bullying wasn't the most obvious thing in the world. his mouth finally closes with a sigh though and jonghyun throws the towel over his shoulder.
"kibum," the brunette murmurs, "i'm really sorry. my friends are jerks. i don't know why they're so mean-well, no. i do." he stares down at his feet, missing kibum's inquiring stare. "but you know it doesn't make a difference. they're just jerks. i'll tell them to stop."
"that would be nice." jonghyun smirks and looks up at the sky again. he pats the seat next to him on the bench and kibum silently agrees, heart racing at an inhuman rate.
"so." quietly jonghyun takes the towel off his shoulder and drapes it over his thigh. "when did you start all this sewing stuff?"
kibum takes some time to think. "i don't remember. it's been so long."
"it's the same for me with soccer," jonghyun mumbles, and kibum nods in understanding. "just an undying passion, y'know?" he picks up the soft towel again and holds it in his hands before bringing it to his face and smelling it. "it smells kinda dusty."
flustered kibum stutters, "yeah, we have sawdust flying around the room sometimes so it would-yeah." he picks at a loose strand in his pants and pulls even though he knows he shouldn't, but it's all to distract him from the fact that jonghyun's still smelling the towel held up to his nose, lips grazing oh so lightly and oh so slightly that kibum can't even see it. "i hope you don't mind."
"nah, i love the smell." he wraps it around his hand and beams down at kibum. "thanks a lot. i can't wait to use it."
and kibum smiles back because he's happy that jonghyun's happy, and he fidgets silently as the both of them search for words to say.
"so i was just wondering," jonghyun starts, jostling kibum from his thoughts. "i was wondering if you'd like to , um, hang out after i finish up with practice or something. you know, talk about life. i mean i've known you for so long but i've never got the chance, y'know?"
"sure! i mean, yeah." kibum scuffs his heels against the cement. "sure."
jonghyun laughs loudly again, eyes crinkling and adam's apple bobbing, drawing kibum's eyes to his glistening face. "that's great. i'll see you soon then." and then the hand hovers a bit longer but this time jonghyun slaps it down on kibum's thigh before standing up and waving, stupid smile still hanging on.
kibum doesn't move or say another word to himself after that. he tries to get up because the blazing sun is so hot against his skin (but the heat just doesn't compare to the burning sensation shooting up and down his left leg). he blinks rapidly and waits for his heart to calm down, waits for his mind to starting working again because something's stuck in the processor and everything is beyond his comprehension.
then suddenly, "yeah, kibum!"
the raven whips his head around and from the window on the second floor of the activities building he sees sunny waving her arms around, seohyun laughing with yuri, taemin giving him two big thumbs ups and jinki adoring taemin but also throwing him a bright smile of congratulations.
he doesn't really think that what he's done is a big accomplishment, no. it was just a towel.
but kibum bites his lip, a smile threatening to blossom. a towel.
it's a start.
.end
a/n: and to think that this was supposed to be a small drabble. pfft. i have the other three lined up but not really ready to go. i'll try to finish the ontae one by tomorrow or smth haha. yeah this. i don't. ugh.
Author: salted_taiyaki
Pairing(s): Jonghyun x Key [Onew x Taemin, Jonghyun x Onew, Minho x Taemin]
Genre: Romance, Fluff, AU
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2986
Summary: in which all five boys are in different clubs and meet in one way or another ; in this, kibum sews and jonghyun breathes soccer.
a/n: wanted to write...cute stuff. haven't been feeling good lately haha. these were going to be short but once i started the first jongkey i just kept going and going and now they're going to be too long for one post haha.
extracurriculars;
o1. the prince and the pauper
kibum likes the thrum of the sewing machines that are lined up in the small cramped home ec. room. he likes it because the thrum tells him that he's making a beautiful design right underneath his fingertips, that he's drawing pink on white or green on brown or just black on white as the needle and thread move in sync. it's always nice in there because the lights are just slightly dimmed by the hand-made curtains and the light dusty smell of oak and other woods in the corner where they make various trinkets for fun is always soothing.
kibum spends most of the time in the home ec. room after school with his close friends who either loiter around or paint a few things (kibum tries to keep the exacto knives out of jinki's hands and he always makes sure that taemin's wearing a smock no matter what he does-even if it doesn't involve liquids) because it's calming and fun.
at least, he tells himself, it's better than the harsher world out there.
maybe kim kibum stereotypes people and judges them too easily and harshly on their appearance. for example, krystal is a grade a bitch who may pummel him into the ground for glancing at her shoes (in a disapproving manner, of course, but details!). jokwon has a bone-chilling glare that slices him up whenever he saunters by and it's all for a stupid role in the school play that no one watches (actors are so pretentious sometimes). sooyoung and her friends of the science club (who would've thunk) watch him with eyes that seem to say that they disapprove of his genetic make up. and jonghyun-
well, jonghyun. kibum fidgets and evidently it screws up the pattern on the cloth because sunny's screaming in his ear, "kibum-ah, the lace!" and he nearly goes flying off his seat.
yes. kim jonghyun is a different story. kim jonghyun, co-captain of the soccer team with choi minho, the most handsome boy of their school with the most dazzling voice, yes, kim jonghyun.
needless to say, it's a bit one-sided right now.
sunny sighs aloud and seohyun pulls up her stool next to her, trapping kibum against the table he's working at.
"what's on your mind?" sunny asks slowly but kibum only shakes his head. after all, a stupid crush like this isn't really worth talking about.
seohyun reads his face completely though, the very thought running through his eyes. "this has been going on since the last year of middle school." kibum moans.
"again?" taemin calls out from the painting he's working on and jinki is leaning over his shoulder silently, praising taemin's face and not his painting and capturing every movement with his new expensive camera. "hyung, you-ah, ow, jinki! turn off the flash!"
"s-sorry."
"it's not a big deal," kibum grumbles, slamming his hands down harder against the table than he'd wanted. sunny simply tuts in disapproval and yuri gives one of her big eye rolls from the back of the room. "i have to go now. mom asked me to prepare dinner for today." he grabs his finished towel-a bit messy near the end but it all falls in place anyway-and gets off his chair, sooyoung and seohyun following suit with a small frown on both of their faces. "i'm fine. honestly."
he starts walking to taemin and claps the younger boy's shoulder. "don't be too late for dinner, all right?" taemin only nods his head of auburn hair up and down. jinki looks up and kibum and gives him an endearing smile. kibum only sighs.
alone in the hallway kibum starts whistling some tunes, inspecting his towel inside out. the hallways are empty like they always are on the second floor of the activities building, because everyone else is usually down in the gym or at cram school. kibum appreciates the silence, however. it's always uplifting.
when he rounds the third staircase he hears some laughing and cheering down the hall. it breaks his concentration but kibum shrugs it off and continues to try to adjust the little threads with his nails.
"see you soon!" someone calls out suddenly and before kibum can register just whom that familiar voice belongs to, kibum feels a freight train crash into his side and he cries out before falling flat on his ass. he groans and curses loudly as the other person doesn't fare too well either. "oh, shit," the person groans, "when the hell were you there?"
kibum huffs, swipes angrily at the tears in the corners of his eyes, but he keeps his head down so the other person can't see. "sorry," kibum mumbles and then gets up to his feet and runs down the hallway to the school entrance.
"but it's not your fault!" he hears the person call out and he kind of appreciates that inside, but he's too embarrassed to really care. kibum just runs as far as his un-athletic legs can take him until he starts panting and heaving alongside the curb of his street.
the next day kibum walks into his homeroom to see people crowded around his desk. panic strikes his heart as he stutters, "w-what're you doing-" he manages to shove a person aside and he hovers close. he spots a head of brown and kibum inwardly groans. he curses fate, he calls out to every being he knows as the crowd begins to pull away slowly and then-
"you dropped this the other day," jonghyun says to him with a rather cute apologetic smile on his face. "when we crashed in the hallway. i figured it was you." the boy holds up the neatly folded towel, suddenly a disgusting and hideous shade of orange.
"thanks," kibum manages to grit out between his teeth and he snatches the towel. "c-could you get out of my desk now?"
jonghyun sort of jumps. "oh, gee, sorry. here." he gets up, bending over to wipe off the seat with his hand. he smiles. "there."
his friends erupt into laughter at the act, donghae howling as he doubles over in pain, minho snorting behind a hand. girls sneer and boys throw comments here and there. kibum tries not to let it get to him but there must have been a blip of hurt in his eyes because jonghyun suddenly looks morose as he leans forward and whispers, "are you all right?"
nothing seems right to kibum anymore. everything jonghyun does-a blink, a pout, a few more inquiring words-looks like it's done in mockery and the nonexistent snide in his actions is stronger than the pain that rims his wide eyes. kibum pulls away violently from the crowd and turns on his heels, into the class jinki's in.
the day isn't too bad after that. people forgot about the whole ordeal in the morning while it nags at him, eats at him from the inside out. kibum's been good at avoiding jonghyun, throwing two words of greeting whenever he's forced to, but encounters like that-kibum shakes his arms to throw off the chill gnawing at his bones.
with shoulders braced and hands tucked into his pockets, kibum climbs the stairs up to the second floor and beelines his way through the people to the home ec. room.
much to his chagrin another group is in front of the door (and he wonders, what did he do to deserve this?) and as he begrudgingly makes his way to the crowd he thinks of ways to simply brush by them and not come in contact to anyone. he just wants his sewing machine again.
"kibum!" the familiar voice rings out and in any other situation the voice would sound beautiful, angelic, but those mocking eyes are on him so kibum only shies away. "hey, kim kibum, here!"
wearily the boy looks up and sees jonghyun waving at him. kibum tries to think back through the day to check if he had forgotten anything else and had left it in the brunette's hands but his hands are empty.
"yeah?" he weakly tries. jonghyun simply beams at him.
"i was just wondering-hey, go away." with a huff jonghyun shoos his friends away and they finally agree after much pestering.
at this point kibum is just shaking in his boots (not alligator skin because his mom refuses to let him wear those in school) and his knees are quaking and his teeth are chattering but jonghyun doesn't really see the nitty gritty details. he only sees kibum's fear and so he sucks in a breath and takes a step closer to the raven.
"hey man," he starts, "are you all right?"
"s-sure." kibum kicks himself. jonghyun's soft smile then sets his stomach on fire; he wants so badly to crawl into the home ec. room and cry his eyes out into his friends' arms but jonghyun is in his way. this may be the only time kibum wishes jonghyun would just disappear poof zap whoosh from his life.
jonghyun leans forward a bit, nervousness in the way he bites his lips. kibum is a bit taken aback when the brunette mumbles "um" under his breath, eyes shyly glancing from the floor to kibum.
"hey, kibum-" kibum's always found his habit of starting nearly everything with "hey" to be kind of annoying "-i was just wondering if you could-i mean you really don't have to, it's a small thing, but you seem like the only one who could-and it'd be really nice, y'know? if you could? so could you?"
kibum blinks once, twice. "could i what?"
jonghyun flushes and he laughs a bit obnoxiously (a habit kibum's found to be quite cute). "oh i forgot to-i forgot to say..." his voice trails off as his shoulders slump and his eyes drop back down to the tiled floor of their hallway. "i wanted to know if you could maybe sew me something."
bristling kibum straightens his back and narrows his eyes. thoughts run through his mind. for a girl? an anniversary gift? for their next date?
"why?" kibum finds himself asking, the hint of desperation dripping off the tail of the word, and jonghyun looks up petrified.
"w-why?" he nervously laughs. "well, my old towel's a bit old and i don't like using it anymore, and i really can't afford a new one at the sports store right now."
immediately kibum's stomach drops, and he curses himself for thinking those thoughts. he softens at the dejected look on jonghyun's face as his lips twist to say the words "never mind." with a gasp for breath kibum stutters, "sure, i'll sew you one."
when jonghyun brightens up at his words kibum can't help but feel his own heart blossom under the sunlight and as jonghyun nearly bounces up and down, kibum has to tell his feet to stay planted on the ground lest he slip up and fall head over heels for jonghyun again.
"thanks so much, kibum," jonghyun says a tad bit late, a tad bit out of breath, but kibum doesn't mind. he only nods his head up and down rapidly. "take as long as you want and-and when you're done could you give it to me down by the field?"
kibum smiles as widely as his lips let him and he replies, "yeah. yeah, so you should go to practice now."
"thanks, kibum, seriously." jonghyun's hand hovers a bit in the air, as if contemplating if he should punch kibum or pat his shoulder (or take his hand, kibum hopes dreamily). it drops after a few seconds and jonghyun only shakes his head. "see ya later." he runs off to let kibum finally breathe.
he slides the door open with a finger and prances through the entrance, catching the attention of all his friends. taemin immediately asks "what happened?" but the words don't even reach kibum's ears as he sings above him, "new project." he rushes to his stool and sunny watches in amazement, the flying fingers and spinning thread. yuri rolls her eyes again but this time she has a smile gracing the corners of her lips, and seohyun pokes her through her apron with the blunt end of her knitting needle.
kibum chooses to avoid jonghyun for the next few days as he spills his attention into making the best towel he can. it takes him four days and when he's finally done he throws it into the air and pumps his arms, letting it fall on his shoulder as he twists and turns. taemin hugs him from behind and chatters into his ear, something about how he's so proud of him and so excited to see him give the towel to jonghyun. shyly kibum squirms out of the hug and jumps off his seat, declaring, "gotta go. i'll be back."
he sprints down the hallways, something he doesn't really do because he absolutely loathes running, and he hops down the stairs nearly four at a time. excitement pumps through his veins and he thinks "where is he, will he like it, will he use it?"
he spots jonghyun sitting on one of those benches near the sinks where the teams wash up and he sits there, head tipped back, staring at the clouds. kibum squirms in his spot a few feet away, wondering if he should break the peace. he finally walks up close and, with a soft sigh, drops the towel on jonghyun's lap. the brunette reacts violently, nearly screaming on the top of his lungs as his arms flail to a defensive position and kibum laughs at his startled face. it quickly falls once jonghyun sees the raven tittering behind his hand, and then he looks down at his lap.
"wow," jonghyun starts, flabbergasted. "this is-this is really nice." he picks up the fluffy towel, looks at the beautiful shades of blue and green on white and he smiles widely. "thanks so much, kibum."
kibum wills his fluttering heart to come back down and grins. "you're welcome."
"and look, you even got my initials!" jonghyun laughs haughtily with his head thrown back and his eyes nearly twinkle. he waves the towel at kibum's face. "now the guys can't steal it."
"i don't think they would if they knew i made it," kibum grumbles without even knowing it and then he snaps his head up, a gasp tumbling from his lips. jonghyun stares at him incredulously, as if the bullying wasn't the most obvious thing in the world. his mouth finally closes with a sigh though and jonghyun throws the towel over his shoulder.
"kibum," the brunette murmurs, "i'm really sorry. my friends are jerks. i don't know why they're so mean-well, no. i do." he stares down at his feet, missing kibum's inquiring stare. "but you know it doesn't make a difference. they're just jerks. i'll tell them to stop."
"that would be nice." jonghyun smirks and looks up at the sky again. he pats the seat next to him on the bench and kibum silently agrees, heart racing at an inhuman rate.
"so." quietly jonghyun takes the towel off his shoulder and drapes it over his thigh. "when did you start all this sewing stuff?"
kibum takes some time to think. "i don't remember. it's been so long."
"it's the same for me with soccer," jonghyun mumbles, and kibum nods in understanding. "just an undying passion, y'know?" he picks up the soft towel again and holds it in his hands before bringing it to his face and smelling it. "it smells kinda dusty."
flustered kibum stutters, "yeah, we have sawdust flying around the room sometimes so it would-yeah." he picks at a loose strand in his pants and pulls even though he knows he shouldn't, but it's all to distract him from the fact that jonghyun's still smelling the towel held up to his nose, lips grazing oh so lightly and oh so slightly that kibum can't even see it. "i hope you don't mind."
"nah, i love the smell." he wraps it around his hand and beams down at kibum. "thanks a lot. i can't wait to use it."
and kibum smiles back because he's happy that jonghyun's happy, and he fidgets silently as the both of them search for words to say.
"so i was just wondering," jonghyun starts, jostling kibum from his thoughts. "i was wondering if you'd like to , um, hang out after i finish up with practice or something. you know, talk about life. i mean i've known you for so long but i've never got the chance, y'know?"
"sure! i mean, yeah." kibum scuffs his heels against the cement. "sure."
jonghyun laughs loudly again, eyes crinkling and adam's apple bobbing, drawing kibum's eyes to his glistening face. "that's great. i'll see you soon then." and then the hand hovers a bit longer but this time jonghyun slaps it down on kibum's thigh before standing up and waving, stupid smile still hanging on.
kibum doesn't move or say another word to himself after that. he tries to get up because the blazing sun is so hot against his skin (but the heat just doesn't compare to the burning sensation shooting up and down his left leg). he blinks rapidly and waits for his heart to calm down, waits for his mind to starting working again because something's stuck in the processor and everything is beyond his comprehension.
then suddenly, "yeah, kibum!"
the raven whips his head around and from the window on the second floor of the activities building he sees sunny waving her arms around, seohyun laughing with yuri, taemin giving him two big thumbs ups and jinki adoring taemin but also throwing him a bright smile of congratulations.
he doesn't really think that what he's done is a big accomplishment, no. it was just a towel.
but kibum bites his lip, a smile threatening to blossom. a towel.
it's a start.
.end
a/n: and to think that this was supposed to be a small drabble. pfft. i have the other three lined up but not really ready to go. i'll try to finish the ontae one by tomorrow or smth haha. yeah this. i don't. ugh.