secondACT: of second buttons & cheese
Title: Of Second Buttons & Cheese
Pairing(s): fem!Sehun/Zitao
Word Count: 4.1k
Summary: Sehun suddenly shows up at Zitao's locker - after she's been avoiding him for the past week. She just needs to clear her head. And Jongin just needs to shut up.
❃
One thirty-nine. Last period is starting in about twenty minutes and Jongin sees someone sitting in the skatepark, five blocks away from school. She had ditched the last half of Visual Art class because she had gotten tired of sketching her seat mate’s side profile. Luckily the two of them had gotten to sit out in the hallway today. That and the other girl had already left her sketchpad in favour of strolling the third floor with a friend who was out of class with a hall pass. Jongin steps off the sidewalk and turns left, walking along the asphalt path toward the skatepark. She can hear faint hissing sounds as she nears.
Jongin recognizes the back of her friend’s blonde head. Sehun has her legs dangling into the bowl, her uniform kilt dusty from the concrete she’s sitting on. She straightens her arms, tilting forward slightly as she leans her head onto her right shoulder. The hissing sounds continue in spurts. Jongin squints as she makes her way toward Sehun, trying to see whoever the girl is watching in the bowl. The person stands up and into view. It’s Zitao, with his uniform jacket discarded, sleeves of his white button-up rolled to his elbows as usual. The boy has a bandana tied over the bottom half of his face. Jongin realizes he’s spray painting something below and just adjacent to where Sehun is sitting. He lifts an eyebrow at his piece and tilts his head before crouching down out of sight again.
“Hola,” Jongin greets Sehun with a lowered voice. Zitao’s jacket is draped over Sehun’s legs. Jongin sits down next to her and leans her back against Sehun’s left side. She follows the blonde’s unwavering gaze down into the bowl. “What’s he writing?” Zitao’s handstyle looks completely foreign to her. But even right-side up, Jongin is terrible at deciphering any graffiti. Plus from the looks of it, what he’s outlined are three heavily stylized Chinese characters.
Sehun finally blinks and lifts her head from her shoulder. “Wu. Shi. Xun,” Her face is still void of expression as she annunciates each syllable slowly.
“Who’s that?” Jongin asks.
“Me,” Sehun replies softly, her voice drifting off. She leans her head back onto her right shoulder and continues watching Zitao. Quite fondly, Jongin thinks.
When Sehun had told Jongin that she was going to skip Math (“We’re only doing homework review this period anyway.”) to hang out at the park before coming back for last period, she hadn’t mentioned Zitao being the reason why. But she should have known. The boy has been a near permanent fixture in their days, always sitting with the girls at lunch time (“Jongin, this is Zitao. He sits beside me in homeroom. We have next period together too so he’s going to eat with us today.”) and arriving at school with Sehun every morning (“He lives a couple blocks further than me. We always see each other on our way here.”)
Jongin turns her attention to Zitao, half a dozen spray paint cans around his feet. His backpack is laying next to his skateboard a few meters away. He begins filling in a part of his design with cobalt blue. Flicking his gaze up toward Sehun, he takes notice of Jongin’s presence and stops. Still crouching, he puts the can in his hand down. Readjusting his hat, he stands up and starts back-pedalling further into the bowl. He takes a running start toward the edge where the girls are sitting and grabs the lip of the bowl to heave himself out.
“Hey,” He nods his head at Jongin before plopping down on Sehun’s other side. She still has her head on her right shoulder, staring blankly down into the bowl. Zitao playfully tugs on the ends of her hair, like a kitten vying for attention.
Jongin feels kind of awkward being there now. Watching their interaction, it feels like she’s intruding on the couple. If that’s what you’d call them. Because they’re not actually dating. Yet, Jongin thinks to herself. Sehun has been vehemently denying that she might actually have a thing for Zitao (“It’s been like two months since we’ve met. We’ve barely even been friends.”) and that he’s just a neutral person in her life.
Slowly Sehun lifts her head, only turning her gaze toward him. She lifts her eyebrows and blinks at him. “What?”
Zitao pulls the bandana down from his face revealing his quirked lips. It’s that damned smirk again. But Sehun keeps the aloof expression on her face. She even keeps her face straight when he takes her chin with his thumb and forefinger, turning her face more. His smirk breaks into a soft grin. She feels her gut squeeze. And he’s just staring at her now, his eyes roaming her face from her eyes, nose, lips. Sehun’s lips part, her bottom lip then jutting out into a pout. She squints at him.
“I’m hungry,” she says abruptly. “I thought you were gonna buy poutine.”
“Ah,” Zitao nods once, taking his hand away from her face and clasping them in his lap. He stretches his legs out in front of him. Gripping the edge of the bowl, he wiggles his feet over the view of the spray paint cans below. “Right, uh… I can finish later when we get back.”
Jongin rolls her eyes at her friend’s usual, knee-jerk reaction. She’s been acting like that for the past week anytime he gets too close to her, and Jongin bets that Zitao’s noticed as well. Whenever he’s been around, Sehun hasn’t been chattering the boy’s ear off like she usually does. Standing up, she puts her hand on Sehun’s shoulder.
“I’m heading back. I guess… I’ll see you tomorrow for morning practice then?”
“Yeah,”
Jongin waves before taking her leave out of the skatepark and up the path.
Sehun scoots back to bring her legs up, wrapping her forearms in front. She rests her chin on her knees, still covered in Zitao’s jacket.
Said boy slides back into the bowl to collect his things, carefully placing his cans of spray paint into a plastic shopping bag, slip-knotting it before putting the bag into his backpack. He picks up his board and puts it up next to Sehun before slinging his backpack on. After hauling himself out of the bowl, he offers his hand to help the girl up. She puts his jacket into his hand instead and proceeds to push herself to her feet. He throws the jacket over his shoulder and observes the profile of her face as she starts to dust the back of her kilt off. Stepping onto the tail of his deck, he grasps the nose and lifts it, putting it under his arm.
Zitao nervously ruffles the hair at the nape of his neck with his free hand as he waits. He doesn't know why she's being so quiet and distant with him. It's been strange like this for a little while now. He turns to Sehun and softly asks, “You good?”
She stops dusting herself off and smiles lightly. “Mm, let’s go.” They start leisurely walking toward the exit of the skatepark.
“You know, I don’t think you should skip class again.” Zitao begins abruptly, glancing out of the corner of his eye to gauge Sehun’s reaction. He scrunches his eyebrows and continues, “I know your coach monitors the junior team’s attendance records. And today will count as two missed periods… We can just hang out after school and on days you don’t have practice and stuff.”
Sehun holds back the tiny smile threatening to blossom across her lips, hiding her face behind her curtain of hair.
Because he seems to remember these random things she tells him. All the time. Like how her volleyball coach will pull starters from the line up and bench them during the next game if they have more than three unexplained absences at the end of each week’s check in. Like when she wrote out her Chinese name in methodically practised script on the back of his French worksheet for him to see during their third week of homeroom. Like her comment this morning on their way to school that her legs were cold, him answering with a shrug and a curt reply of “it’s the beginning of November already”. She angles her head to look at him and grins sweetly until her eyes crescent.
His brows are still slightly furrowed - in concern, he thinks to himself, for her attendance record. Right. Not because he was wondering how she could go from pushing him out of her space one moment, then be so hella freaking cute and pulling him in again. Unknowingly? As though she too might, maybe, sort of, possibly…
“You’re coming to my first game, right?” Her now wide-eyed expression guarded, her voice hopeful.
He puts his thoughts on pause and raises his eyebrows. His lips slowly quirk into that smirk again.
“I dunno…” he teases, a thoughtful expression on his face as he redirects his eyes slightly to the left, above her head. Away from her hella freaking cuteness.
“Zitao!” she whines. “You said you would!”
Just yesterday during lunch she had found out that the senior boys’ basketball team had a tournament at a school across the city, the same day the junior girls’ team had their opening season game. That meant her cousin, Kris, wouldn’t be there to watch her game and then drive her home afterward like originally planned. Her mom closes the hair salon at eight o’clock and wouldn’t be back on the east end of town until maybe an hour later, plus her father was out of town that week for some neurosurgeon conference.
The sun had begun setting earlier these days because of the Daylight Savings time and Sehun hated walking home in the dark by herself (because she’s a wimpy baby). Jongin had joked saying not to worry because Zitao can just come watch their game and then walk home with Sehun since he lives just a few blocks further. Zitao had simply said “sure” with a shy smile and continued to chuckle along with Jongin as she went on about how Sehun was also scared of Jongin’s dog (“It’s huge and always jumps on me when I walk into your house!”).
Her lower lip juts out.
And those prior thoughts come back to the forefront of Zitao’s mind again. Does she really not know what she does to him? Does she not see how soft hearted he’s become about anything in regards to her? He’s sure everything shows on his face - his heartstrings tugging every time she pouts at him when he teases her about something or another. Completely and utterly, hella freaking cute.
He wants to kiss that doubtful expression from her lips. Whoa. Wait. Slow down, brain.
Sehun stops and turns to fully face him. They’re standing in the middle of the sidewalk now, beneath an oak tree that’s barely providing any shade from the afternoon sun. Half its leaves have fallen to the ground, rays of sunlight filtering over them. Her fingers curl around the sides of the skateboard under his forearm to stop him as well. She looks indignantly at him, waiting for him to say yes he’s going to - to come watch her game, to walk the long way home with her afterwards (because he says he like coasting down that winding street that’s just been repaved). But he’s just staring at her again, unanswering. His eyes have lost that playfulness from a minute ago. She feels her gut squeeze again.
“Zitao?” Sehun yanks on the side of his backpack. It feels like her eyes are silently asking him something else now.
He drops his gaze from her and sighs, scuffing his foot over a few of the fallen leaves beneath his feet. Dropping one end of his board to the sidewalk, he lowers it with his foot until all four wheels touch the ground.
Sehun thinks he’s going to try and leave her standing under this oak tree without answering her. What’s this kid playing at? I thought we were really good friends now… Is he changing his mind? And she really doesn’t want to walk by herself. To have to trek in the dark, alone. Without the comforting sound of the wheels of Zitao’s skateboard hitting the ground as he practises a kick flip a few meters ahead of her. The security of his warmth by her side as they slowly walk together, Sehun loosely grasping onto his forearm so she can just stare up at the sky and watch the first stars peek out and not walk into a pole or something.
She’s dropped her eyes to the second button of his shirt now. It’s threads have all frayed and it’ll probably be gone after the next wash. This is stupid. He wasn’t even serious yesterday at lunch, that’s all. Stop overreacting. It’s fine. She’ll just see if Kris can come get her, even if she has to wait for a bit. She can just practice her setting and overhand serves some more after the game. Yes. Good plan. She glares weakly at that offending button.
Zitao watches as her expression drops more. She’s upset. Because of him. Her eyes flicker up to his face before she looks back down. But, of course he was going to the game - her first game, that she had been so excited about when she told him yesterday in homeroom that she was a starter. It was also a given that he’d walk her home. And they’d take the long way. Because it gave him more time with her. He thought it was entirely obvious; that he was entirely obvious. I guess she’s seriously doubting it all…
Slowly, he lifts his hand and takes her chin between his thumb and forefinger again. His eyes roam her face, from her eyes, nose, lips. Trying to meet her gaze, he tilts his head to the side and leans closer. Sehun’s eyes finally lift and widen in realization at how close he is and - have his eyes always been so pretty? She feels her gut squeeze again. No, wait. She feels her heart squeeze in her chest. It feels lovely, and warm. And oh - crap, Jongin was right.
She’s still pouting. His lips quirk up into that smirk again and he leans in to finally kiss that doubtful expression from her lips. He feels her smile slowly against his lips before kissing him back. Warm hands reach the front of his shirt tugging him closer. He moves his hand from her chin to card through her hair, the other resting at the small of her back. And just like that, they share their first kiss under this old oak tree. Zitao slowly pulls back, pecking her lips once before resting his forehead on hers. Sehun's eyes flutter open to look at him. His eyes are closed and he has a sappy smile on his face.
“So you’re coming to my game then?” she asks cheekily.
His eyes snap open. “Mm, I dunno…” That smirk again. She squints at him. He sees her bottom lip starting to jut out. Straightening up, he takes a deep breath and sighs before continuing, “but if my lady wishes, I shall comply.” Zitao pulls her closer, hands on the sides of her waist. She bows her head into his chest because his jokes are always so lame, but at the same time the relief washes over her, warming her from the tips of her ears down to her toes. She loosens her grip on the front of his shirt and that button falls into her palm.
“Oh. I could tell it was going to come off soon… Don’t worry, I can sew it back for you,” she rambles.
Zitao closes her hand around the button. He kisses the corner of her mouth and again on her cheek, his lips brushing her skin softly as he mumbles against it. “Keep it. It’s yours now.” His heartstrings tug at his cheesy hidden confession, unbeknownst to her.
“What?” she furrows her brows in confusion. He doesn’t answer, just hugging her and resting his jawline onto her shoulder. It’s comfortable. Now he knows why she’s always leaning her head on it.
“Zitao?”
“Mm?”
“Why would I want to keep your button for?”
Pulling away and taking her other hand in his, he says, “Ask Jongin tomorrow.” He knows Jongin is a literary, but no doubt she probably has read some Japanese mangas in between her classics that mention the sappy tradition about second buttons…
Sehun raises an eyebrow at his vagueness. Narrowing her eyes at him as he bends to pick up his skateboard, she huffs, “Why don’t you just tell me now?”
If he had a free hand, he’s be ruffling the hair at his nape again out of nervousness. With a pained look on his face, he just tugs her into step with him. “Because,” he breathes out as they walk in the direction of the school’s favourite lunch joint. “It’s already embarrassing that I… all that cheesy stuff before we even got your poutine,” he mutters jokingly, side eyeing her as they walk through the doorway of the restaurant.
Arriving at a table, she sits on the seat by the window. Zitao rolls his skateboard under the table before turning to walk up to the counter and ordering. Sehun rests her feet up on the deck, scooting it back and forth as she leans her elbows on the table. Looking out the window, she thinks of the events that had unfolded just minutes ago and she covers her face with her hands. Jongin’s going to totally gloat about how she was right (“Sehun stop acting like a dweeb and being so twitchy around him. Just accept the fact that you guys are sweet together. You’re already with him practically all the time, it’s undeniable.”)
It had only been a week but she missed the comfortable air of Zitao’s presence - before she kept purposefully avoiding him whenever she can in order to prove a point to Jongin (“Shut up! Stop exaggerating.” Sehun had smacked Jongin’s arm until the girl had given in and ceased her teasing). And so Sehun began trailing after her cousin during lunch and getting driven to and from school by him. Kris hadn’t said anything about her sudden constant (and voluntary) appearances, but she knows that was probably because Sehun has always followed after him ever since they were kids.
Zitao pulls her attention back when he sits down and steps on the end of his skateboard, slowly rolling it in his direction, her legs moving toward him. Her knee bumps against the outside of his thigh and she looks to his face. He has a plastic fork between his lips and another in his hand, gesturing for her to the large poutine on the table. He put the ketchup in the corner. She had told him the first time they ate here that she liked to eat her poutine like that.
She smiles shyly at him and starts eating, Zitao only forking one fry and dipping it into the ketchup, not yet bringing it to his mouth. The boy peers at her and asks, “You good?”
“Mm,” she nods and forks some more cheese before resuming her eating.
“So,” he hesitates. How do these confirmation conversations usually begin? He kissed her, and she kissed him back. So we’ve kind of established that we have mutual feelings for each other. You’ll be my girlfriend and I’ll be your boyfriend. Or does does she not like titles like that? Does she want to go on a few dates first? This is a crappy first date though isn’t it?
“Uh, don’t worry this won’t count as our first date. I’ll take you somewhere really nice…” He waits for her reaction. Because Sehun has selective hearing when she’s eating - especially if the food is french fry related. He’s also testing his boundaries - to see how far he can step since she’s been kind of on edge lately. He doesn't want her to push him away again.
Jongin had told him Sehun was probably just feeling drained from all the hardcore practices they've begun in order to ready the team for the home opener. They had been training everyday before or after school for the upcoming game. (“But really, Zitao. I think she needs to stop overthinking about stuff. Her body’s already working overtime cause of volleyball and it’s taking a toll on her emotions too. What I’m getting at is, just ask her out already. It’s seriously killing me, dude.”) Zitao decided he'd give her some space instead. Let Sehun do her own thing, and not distract her in preparing for her first game.
So it was kind of surprising when she’d shown up in front of his locker today at the beginning of lunch (“Take me somewhere. Let’s go to the skatepark. I just need a place to think. To clear my head and stuff.”) Besides the fact that she’d definitely been avoiding him for the past week, her accompanying him to the skatepark was their usual hang out spot. But today felt different. And then that kiss happened. Their first kiss. So, it’s official now. Right? He just stares at the side of her head.
Ask her. Properly. Now. Do it.
“I won’t be that kind of girlfriend, Zitao.” Sehun stops eating. Turning to meet his eyes, she sends him that soft smile again. Hella freaking cute. He's melting again. “You don’t have to take me places every weekend or spend tonnes of money. We’re only fourteen,” she reasons. Poking at a cheese curd, she continues, “I just want you to be there for me when I’m feeling low or when I want to talk to someone about stuff that’s been bothering me. And I’ll do to the same for you. I like that you remember all the random things I tell you.” She tucks her hair behind her ear before turning to face him. “The little things you already do count way more to me than some expensive date.” And I think that’s why I like you - so much.
She doesn’t say that last part aloud. Not yet. It’s too early. She’s not ready. She’s only just realized it herself a mere twenty minutes ago. How comfortable they are around each other - they can talk for hours about anything, topics changing and stitching together effortlessly. Silences aren’t ever awkward, but peaceful and comfortable. How Zitao’s mere presence would change how she was feeling if something had been dragging her emotions down the entire day. She could feel the difference in herself this week. How her stresses have been swallowing her up without Zitao being there to talk to. You could say this boy might be her soulmate - or something like that…
Zitao lets out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding in. Ruffling the hair at the back of his head again, he says, “I’ll still do those little things for you. And all the other stuff - talk and listen. I’ll be there to keep you from feeling low.” He feels lighter now. “I’ll be that kind of boyfriend, Sehun.” He locks eyes with her and his lips quirk up into an impish smile. He slides his arm across the back of her chair. “I give good hugs too. And, I like your comfy shoulder.” His hand moves from the chair back to her upper arm, pulling her closer. I like everything about you, he thinks as he lowers his cheek onto her shoulder.
He doesn’t say the last part though. To not freak her out. He still doesn’t really know why exactly she was dodging him this past week. Zitao just really yearns and relishes in their time spent together. He loves watching her talk about anything - the way her eyes expressed every emotion and her whole face lit up during her tales. Their comfortable banter comes so easily, he was more than happy to indulge Sehun on her random theories and requests for his opinion on things. This girl who happily and diligently watches the History channel, Discovery channel, and every other educational television channel, where she soaks in interesting factoids and tidbits to share with him the next day. She’s endearingly blunt and straight-forward - and he loves that about her too. Or maybe… he just loves her?
Sehun dips a cheese and gravy covered fry into the ketchup he’d put in the corner and feeds it to him. “Why aren’t you eating any? Don’t act coy around the poutine, Zitao. I watched you eat an entire large pizza by yourself before. I know you love the cheese. Like your cheesy-ass jokes and stuff. That I endured countless of just today.”
After sitting up, he smiles dopily and helps her finish off the food. Yep - things are back to normal, he thinks to himself.
A/N: This is the second act of my EXO in HS AU.
Does any of this even make sense??
I hope you enjoyed it, dear reader.
Thank you for sticking til the end.
Feel free to leave a comment!
& If you missed it; firstACT
Until next time ^-^
--sunflowerHEADS
Pairing(s): fem!Sehun/Zitao
Word Count: 4.1k
Summary: Sehun suddenly shows up at Zitao's locker - after she's been avoiding him for the past week. She just needs to clear her head. And Jongin just needs to shut up.
❃
One thirty-nine. Last period is starting in about twenty minutes and Jongin sees someone sitting in the skatepark, five blocks away from school. She had ditched the last half of Visual Art class because she had gotten tired of sketching her seat mate’s side profile. Luckily the two of them had gotten to sit out in the hallway today. That and the other girl had already left her sketchpad in favour of strolling the third floor with a friend who was out of class with a hall pass. Jongin steps off the sidewalk and turns left, walking along the asphalt path toward the skatepark. She can hear faint hissing sounds as she nears.
Jongin recognizes the back of her friend’s blonde head. Sehun has her legs dangling into the bowl, her uniform kilt dusty from the concrete she’s sitting on. She straightens her arms, tilting forward slightly as she leans her head onto her right shoulder. The hissing sounds continue in spurts. Jongin squints as she makes her way toward Sehun, trying to see whoever the girl is watching in the bowl. The person stands up and into view. It’s Zitao, with his uniform jacket discarded, sleeves of his white button-up rolled to his elbows as usual. The boy has a bandana tied over the bottom half of his face. Jongin realizes he’s spray painting something below and just adjacent to where Sehun is sitting. He lifts an eyebrow at his piece and tilts his head before crouching down out of sight again.
“Hola,” Jongin greets Sehun with a lowered voice. Zitao’s jacket is draped over Sehun’s legs. Jongin sits down next to her and leans her back against Sehun’s left side. She follows the blonde’s unwavering gaze down into the bowl. “What’s he writing?” Zitao’s handstyle looks completely foreign to her. But even right-side up, Jongin is terrible at deciphering any graffiti. Plus from the looks of it, what he’s outlined are three heavily stylized Chinese characters.
Sehun finally blinks and lifts her head from her shoulder. “Wu. Shi. Xun,” Her face is still void of expression as she annunciates each syllable slowly.
“Who’s that?” Jongin asks.
“Me,” Sehun replies softly, her voice drifting off. She leans her head back onto her right shoulder and continues watching Zitao. Quite fondly, Jongin thinks.
When Sehun had told Jongin that she was going to skip Math (“We’re only doing homework review this period anyway.”) to hang out at the park before coming back for last period, she hadn’t mentioned Zitao being the reason why. But she should have known. The boy has been a near permanent fixture in their days, always sitting with the girls at lunch time (“Jongin, this is Zitao. He sits beside me in homeroom. We have next period together too so he’s going to eat with us today.”) and arriving at school with Sehun every morning (“He lives a couple blocks further than me. We always see each other on our way here.”)
Jongin turns her attention to Zitao, half a dozen spray paint cans around his feet. His backpack is laying next to his skateboard a few meters away. He begins filling in a part of his design with cobalt blue. Flicking his gaze up toward Sehun, he takes notice of Jongin’s presence and stops. Still crouching, he puts the can in his hand down. Readjusting his hat, he stands up and starts back-pedalling further into the bowl. He takes a running start toward the edge where the girls are sitting and grabs the lip of the bowl to heave himself out.
“Hey,” He nods his head at Jongin before plopping down on Sehun’s other side. She still has her head on her right shoulder, staring blankly down into the bowl. Zitao playfully tugs on the ends of her hair, like a kitten vying for attention.
Jongin feels kind of awkward being there now. Watching their interaction, it feels like she’s intruding on the couple. If that’s what you’d call them. Because they’re not actually dating. Yet, Jongin thinks to herself. Sehun has been vehemently denying that she might actually have a thing for Zitao (“It’s been like two months since we’ve met. We’ve barely even been friends.”) and that he’s just a neutral person in her life.
Slowly Sehun lifts her head, only turning her gaze toward him. She lifts her eyebrows and blinks at him. “What?”
Zitao pulls the bandana down from his face revealing his quirked lips. It’s that damned smirk again. But Sehun keeps the aloof expression on her face. She even keeps her face straight when he takes her chin with his thumb and forefinger, turning her face more. His smirk breaks into a soft grin. She feels her gut squeeze. And he’s just staring at her now, his eyes roaming her face from her eyes, nose, lips. Sehun’s lips part, her bottom lip then jutting out into a pout. She squints at him.
“I’m hungry,” she says abruptly. “I thought you were gonna buy poutine.”
“Ah,” Zitao nods once, taking his hand away from her face and clasping them in his lap. He stretches his legs out in front of him. Gripping the edge of the bowl, he wiggles his feet over the view of the spray paint cans below. “Right, uh… I can finish later when we get back.”
Jongin rolls her eyes at her friend’s usual, knee-jerk reaction. She’s been acting like that for the past week anytime he gets too close to her, and Jongin bets that Zitao’s noticed as well. Whenever he’s been around, Sehun hasn’t been chattering the boy’s ear off like she usually does. Standing up, she puts her hand on Sehun’s shoulder.
“I’m heading back. I guess… I’ll see you tomorrow for morning practice then?”
“Yeah,”
Jongin waves before taking her leave out of the skatepark and up the path.
Sehun scoots back to bring her legs up, wrapping her forearms in front. She rests her chin on her knees, still covered in Zitao’s jacket.
Said boy slides back into the bowl to collect his things, carefully placing his cans of spray paint into a plastic shopping bag, slip-knotting it before putting the bag into his backpack. He picks up his board and puts it up next to Sehun before slinging his backpack on. After hauling himself out of the bowl, he offers his hand to help the girl up. She puts his jacket into his hand instead and proceeds to push herself to her feet. He throws the jacket over his shoulder and observes the profile of her face as she starts to dust the back of her kilt off. Stepping onto the tail of his deck, he grasps the nose and lifts it, putting it under his arm.
Zitao nervously ruffles the hair at the nape of his neck with his free hand as he waits. He doesn't know why she's being so quiet and distant with him. It's been strange like this for a little while now. He turns to Sehun and softly asks, “You good?”
She stops dusting herself off and smiles lightly. “Mm, let’s go.” They start leisurely walking toward the exit of the skatepark.
“You know, I don’t think you should skip class again.” Zitao begins abruptly, glancing out of the corner of his eye to gauge Sehun’s reaction. He scrunches his eyebrows and continues, “I know your coach monitors the junior team’s attendance records. And today will count as two missed periods… We can just hang out after school and on days you don’t have practice and stuff.”
Sehun holds back the tiny smile threatening to blossom across her lips, hiding her face behind her curtain of hair.
Because he seems to remember these random things she tells him. All the time. Like how her volleyball coach will pull starters from the line up and bench them during the next game if they have more than three unexplained absences at the end of each week’s check in. Like when she wrote out her Chinese name in methodically practised script on the back of his French worksheet for him to see during their third week of homeroom. Like her comment this morning on their way to school that her legs were cold, him answering with a shrug and a curt reply of “it’s the beginning of November already”. She angles her head to look at him and grins sweetly until her eyes crescent.
His brows are still slightly furrowed - in concern, he thinks to himself, for her attendance record. Right. Not because he was wondering how she could go from pushing him out of her space one moment, then be so hella freaking cute and pulling him in again. Unknowingly? As though she too might, maybe, sort of, possibly…
“You’re coming to my first game, right?” Her now wide-eyed expression guarded, her voice hopeful.
He puts his thoughts on pause and raises his eyebrows. His lips slowly quirk into that smirk again.
“I dunno…” he teases, a thoughtful expression on his face as he redirects his eyes slightly to the left, above her head. Away from her hella freaking cuteness.
“Zitao!” she whines. “You said you would!”
Just yesterday during lunch she had found out that the senior boys’ basketball team had a tournament at a school across the city, the same day the junior girls’ team had their opening season game. That meant her cousin, Kris, wouldn’t be there to watch her game and then drive her home afterward like originally planned. Her mom closes the hair salon at eight o’clock and wouldn’t be back on the east end of town until maybe an hour later, plus her father was out of town that week for some neurosurgeon conference.
The sun had begun setting earlier these days because of the Daylight Savings time and Sehun hated walking home in the dark by herself (because she’s a wimpy baby). Jongin had joked saying not to worry because Zitao can just come watch their game and then walk home with Sehun since he lives just a few blocks further. Zitao had simply said “sure” with a shy smile and continued to chuckle along with Jongin as she went on about how Sehun was also scared of Jongin’s dog (“It’s huge and always jumps on me when I walk into your house!”).
Her lower lip juts out.
And those prior thoughts come back to the forefront of Zitao’s mind again. Does she really not know what she does to him? Does she not see how soft hearted he’s become about anything in regards to her? He’s sure everything shows on his face - his heartstrings tugging every time she pouts at him when he teases her about something or another. Completely and utterly, hella freaking cute.
He wants to kiss that doubtful expression from her lips. Whoa. Wait. Slow down, brain.
Sehun stops and turns to fully face him. They’re standing in the middle of the sidewalk now, beneath an oak tree that’s barely providing any shade from the afternoon sun. Half its leaves have fallen to the ground, rays of sunlight filtering over them. Her fingers curl around the sides of the skateboard under his forearm to stop him as well. She looks indignantly at him, waiting for him to say yes he’s going to - to come watch her game, to walk the long way home with her afterwards (because he says he like coasting down that winding street that’s just been repaved). But he’s just staring at her again, unanswering. His eyes have lost that playfulness from a minute ago. She feels her gut squeeze again.
“Zitao?” Sehun yanks on the side of his backpack. It feels like her eyes are silently asking him something else now.
He drops his gaze from her and sighs, scuffing his foot over a few of the fallen leaves beneath his feet. Dropping one end of his board to the sidewalk, he lowers it with his foot until all four wheels touch the ground.
Sehun thinks he’s going to try and leave her standing under this oak tree without answering her. What’s this kid playing at? I thought we were really good friends now… Is he changing his mind? And she really doesn’t want to walk by herself. To have to trek in the dark, alone. Without the comforting sound of the wheels of Zitao’s skateboard hitting the ground as he practises a kick flip a few meters ahead of her. The security of his warmth by her side as they slowly walk together, Sehun loosely grasping onto his forearm so she can just stare up at the sky and watch the first stars peek out and not walk into a pole or something.
She’s dropped her eyes to the second button of his shirt now. It’s threads have all frayed and it’ll probably be gone after the next wash. This is stupid. He wasn’t even serious yesterday at lunch, that’s all. Stop overreacting. It’s fine. She’ll just see if Kris can come get her, even if she has to wait for a bit. She can just practice her setting and overhand serves some more after the game. Yes. Good plan. She glares weakly at that offending button.
Zitao watches as her expression drops more. She’s upset. Because of him. Her eyes flicker up to his face before she looks back down. But, of course he was going to the game - her first game, that she had been so excited about when she told him yesterday in homeroom that she was a starter. It was also a given that he’d walk her home. And they’d take the long way. Because it gave him more time with her. He thought it was entirely obvious; that he was entirely obvious. I guess she’s seriously doubting it all…
Slowly, he lifts his hand and takes her chin between his thumb and forefinger again. His eyes roam her face, from her eyes, nose, lips. Trying to meet her gaze, he tilts his head to the side and leans closer. Sehun’s eyes finally lift and widen in realization at how close he is and - have his eyes always been so pretty? She feels her gut squeeze again. No, wait. She feels her heart squeeze in her chest. It feels lovely, and warm. And oh - crap, Jongin was right.
She’s still pouting. His lips quirk up into that smirk again and he leans in to finally kiss that doubtful expression from her lips. He feels her smile slowly against his lips before kissing him back. Warm hands reach the front of his shirt tugging him closer. He moves his hand from her chin to card through her hair, the other resting at the small of her back. And just like that, they share their first kiss under this old oak tree. Zitao slowly pulls back, pecking her lips once before resting his forehead on hers. Sehun's eyes flutter open to look at him. His eyes are closed and he has a sappy smile on his face.
“So you’re coming to my game then?” she asks cheekily.
His eyes snap open. “Mm, I dunno…” That smirk again. She squints at him. He sees her bottom lip starting to jut out. Straightening up, he takes a deep breath and sighs before continuing, “but if my lady wishes, I shall comply.” Zitao pulls her closer, hands on the sides of her waist. She bows her head into his chest because his jokes are always so lame, but at the same time the relief washes over her, warming her from the tips of her ears down to her toes. She loosens her grip on the front of his shirt and that button falls into her palm.
“Oh. I could tell it was going to come off soon… Don’t worry, I can sew it back for you,” she rambles.
Zitao closes her hand around the button. He kisses the corner of her mouth and again on her cheek, his lips brushing her skin softly as he mumbles against it. “Keep it. It’s yours now.” His heartstrings tug at his cheesy hidden confession, unbeknownst to her.
“What?” she furrows her brows in confusion. He doesn’t answer, just hugging her and resting his jawline onto her shoulder. It’s comfortable. Now he knows why she’s always leaning her head on it.
“Zitao?”
“Mm?”
“Why would I want to keep your button for?”
Pulling away and taking her other hand in his, he says, “Ask Jongin tomorrow.” He knows Jongin is a literary, but no doubt she probably has read some Japanese mangas in between her classics that mention the sappy tradition about second buttons…
Sehun raises an eyebrow at his vagueness. Narrowing her eyes at him as he bends to pick up his skateboard, she huffs, “Why don’t you just tell me now?”
If he had a free hand, he’s be ruffling the hair at his nape again out of nervousness. With a pained look on his face, he just tugs her into step with him. “Because,” he breathes out as they walk in the direction of the school’s favourite lunch joint. “It’s already embarrassing that I… all that cheesy stuff before we even got your poutine,” he mutters jokingly, side eyeing her as they walk through the doorway of the restaurant.
Arriving at a table, she sits on the seat by the window. Zitao rolls his skateboard under the table before turning to walk up to the counter and ordering. Sehun rests her feet up on the deck, scooting it back and forth as she leans her elbows on the table. Looking out the window, she thinks of the events that had unfolded just minutes ago and she covers her face with her hands. Jongin’s going to totally gloat about how she was right (“Sehun stop acting like a dweeb and being so twitchy around him. Just accept the fact that you guys are sweet together. You’re already with him practically all the time, it’s undeniable.”)
It had only been a week but she missed the comfortable air of Zitao’s presence - before she kept purposefully avoiding him whenever she can in order to prove a point to Jongin (“Shut up! Stop exaggerating.” Sehun had smacked Jongin’s arm until the girl had given in and ceased her teasing). And so Sehun began trailing after her cousin during lunch and getting driven to and from school by him. Kris hadn’t said anything about her sudden constant (and voluntary) appearances, but she knows that was probably because Sehun has always followed after him ever since they were kids.
Zitao pulls her attention back when he sits down and steps on the end of his skateboard, slowly rolling it in his direction, her legs moving toward him. Her knee bumps against the outside of his thigh and she looks to his face. He has a plastic fork between his lips and another in his hand, gesturing for her to the large poutine on the table. He put the ketchup in the corner. She had told him the first time they ate here that she liked to eat her poutine like that.
She smiles shyly at him and starts eating, Zitao only forking one fry and dipping it into the ketchup, not yet bringing it to his mouth. The boy peers at her and asks, “You good?”
“Mm,” she nods and forks some more cheese before resuming her eating.
“So,” he hesitates. How do these confirmation conversations usually begin? He kissed her, and she kissed him back. So we’ve kind of established that we have mutual feelings for each other. You’ll be my girlfriend and I’ll be your boyfriend. Or does does she not like titles like that? Does she want to go on a few dates first? This is a crappy first date though isn’t it?
“Uh, don’t worry this won’t count as our first date. I’ll take you somewhere really nice…” He waits for her reaction. Because Sehun has selective hearing when she’s eating - especially if the food is french fry related. He’s also testing his boundaries - to see how far he can step since she’s been kind of on edge lately. He doesn't want her to push him away again.
Jongin had told him Sehun was probably just feeling drained from all the hardcore practices they've begun in order to ready the team for the home opener. They had been training everyday before or after school for the upcoming game. (“But really, Zitao. I think she needs to stop overthinking about stuff. Her body’s already working overtime cause of volleyball and it’s taking a toll on her emotions too. What I’m getting at is, just ask her out already. It’s seriously killing me, dude.”) Zitao decided he'd give her some space instead. Let Sehun do her own thing, and not distract her in preparing for her first game.
So it was kind of surprising when she’d shown up in front of his locker today at the beginning of lunch (“Take me somewhere. Let’s go to the skatepark. I just need a place to think. To clear my head and stuff.”) Besides the fact that she’d definitely been avoiding him for the past week, her accompanying him to the skatepark was their usual hang out spot. But today felt different. And then that kiss happened. Their first kiss. So, it’s official now. Right? He just stares at the side of her head.
Ask her. Properly. Now. Do it.
“I won’t be that kind of girlfriend, Zitao.” Sehun stops eating. Turning to meet his eyes, she sends him that soft smile again. Hella freaking cute. He's melting again. “You don’t have to take me places every weekend or spend tonnes of money. We’re only fourteen,” she reasons. Poking at a cheese curd, she continues, “I just want you to be there for me when I’m feeling low or when I want to talk to someone about stuff that’s been bothering me. And I’ll do to the same for you. I like that you remember all the random things I tell you.” She tucks her hair behind her ear before turning to face him. “The little things you already do count way more to me than some expensive date.” And I think that’s why I like you - so much.
She doesn’t say that last part aloud. Not yet. It’s too early. She’s not ready. She’s only just realized it herself a mere twenty minutes ago. How comfortable they are around each other - they can talk for hours about anything, topics changing and stitching together effortlessly. Silences aren’t ever awkward, but peaceful and comfortable. How Zitao’s mere presence would change how she was feeling if something had been dragging her emotions down the entire day. She could feel the difference in herself this week. How her stresses have been swallowing her up without Zitao being there to talk to. You could say this boy might be her soulmate - or something like that…
Zitao lets out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding in. Ruffling the hair at the back of his head again, he says, “I’ll still do those little things for you. And all the other stuff - talk and listen. I’ll be there to keep you from feeling low.” He feels lighter now. “I’ll be that kind of boyfriend, Sehun.” He locks eyes with her and his lips quirk up into an impish smile. He slides his arm across the back of her chair. “I give good hugs too. And, I like your comfy shoulder.” His hand moves from the chair back to her upper arm, pulling her closer. I like everything about you, he thinks as he lowers his cheek onto her shoulder.
He doesn’t say the last part though. To not freak her out. He still doesn’t really know why exactly she was dodging him this past week. Zitao just really yearns and relishes in their time spent together. He loves watching her talk about anything - the way her eyes expressed every emotion and her whole face lit up during her tales. Their comfortable banter comes so easily, he was more than happy to indulge Sehun on her random theories and requests for his opinion on things. This girl who happily and diligently watches the History channel, Discovery channel, and every other educational television channel, where she soaks in interesting factoids and tidbits to share with him the next day. She’s endearingly blunt and straight-forward - and he loves that about her too. Or maybe… he just loves her?
Sehun dips a cheese and gravy covered fry into the ketchup he’d put in the corner and feeds it to him. “Why aren’t you eating any? Don’t act coy around the poutine, Zitao. I watched you eat an entire large pizza by yourself before. I know you love the cheese. Like your cheesy-ass jokes and stuff. That I endured countless of just today.”
After sitting up, he smiles dopily and helps her finish off the food. Yep - things are back to normal, he thinks to himself.
A/N: This is the second act of my EXO in HS AU.
Does any of this even make sense??
I hope you enjoyed it, dear reader.
Thank you for sticking til the end.
Feel free to leave a comment!
& If you missed it; firstACT
Until next time ^-^
--sunflowerHEADS