the area of our hearts (oneshot)
the area of our hearts
kaisoo (jongin/kyungsoo).
pg-13.
au. romance. humor/crack.
oneshot/~3450w.
Truth is, Jongin understands math completely. It's just that the teacher's son is always there in the morning, too.
•
Jongin likes to think of himself as a relatively attractive guy. He has girls asking him out, and his mom doesn't think he's half bad. But none of that matters because they have boobs.
Kyungsoo does not.
Yes, Do Kyungsoo, son of Mr. Do, Jongin's math teacher.
Now, he didn't plan for this to happen - it just did. It just so happens that Jongin has Mr. Do's first period, and that Kyungsoo is always in his father's classroom before school starts, and Jongin gets to school thirty minutes early just to "ask for help" which really means see Kyungsoo. But hey, he's not complaining.
"Good morning, Mister Kim," Mr. Do greets him with a nod. "Had any trouble with homework last night?"
"Yep," Jongin lies, taking out his binder. He steals a glance at Kyungsoo, who is seated at the desk in front of his father and playing on his phone. As he walks over to Mr. Do, homework in hand, he says, "Hey, Kyungsoo."
Kyungsoo looks up and smiles softly. "Hi, Jongin. How are you?" he asks politely, as always.
Jongin smiles in response. "Good. How are singing lessons coming along?"
"Good. How's dancing?"
"Good," Jongin beams.
Kyungsoo nods once more before turning back to his game. It may not seem a lot to anyone else watching, but to Jongin, this was an accomplishment for the books. He knows I dance! Jongin's mind twirls with glee.
"So what did you have problems with exactly, Jongin?" Mr. Do asks, breaking Jongin out of his reverie.
"Oh, right. Umm, number sixteen," he says, pointing to the problem. Of course, Jongin knows exactly how to solve it; that's how he finished the rest of the homework. But he always leaves a problem or two blank so that he has something to ask, or else he'd just look weird showing up to class early.
Yes, because showing up to class early is the only thing weird about Jongin.
As Mr. Do explains, Jongin's eyes keep wandering back to Kyungsoo. His cute hair, his cute cheeks, his cute eyes, his cute lips, his cute nose, his cute back, his cute arms, his cute -
"Did you understand that, Jongin?"
Jongin blinks, turning back to his homework. "Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah, I think I do."
"Good. Go finish that up and I'll check it for you, if you like," Mr. Do says.
"'Kay, thanks," Jongin says with a polite smile, walking back over to his desk towards the back where he put his bag. He finishes the problem quickly, but takes his time returning to Mr. Do because, from his seat, he has the perfect view of Kyungsoo's profile
I wonder if I could take a picture without him noticing, Jongin ponders mentally. He decides against it, because the lighting of the room wouldn't do Kyungsoo's photograph justice.
He finally gets up after a good five minutes of pretending to make confused facial expressions while not-so-secretly trying to imprint the picture of Kyungsoo sticking his tongue out while playing a phone game in his mind. It kind works, except Jongin is so busy thinking about math, he also starts doodling weird notes in the margin.
J + K = ♥
He frowns when he looks at them, erasing them before he presents the paper to Mr. Do. It bothers him that their names spell JK because his feelings for Kyungsoo are no joke.
Seriously, they aren't. In fact, he's had this crush on Do Kyungsoo since freshman year, when Kyungsoo was kind enough to show him to the cafeteria when he was lost. And you know what they say - food is the fastest way to a man's heart. And this was close enough in Jongin's book.
Plus, Kyungsoo is just so damn cute when he breathes. Jongin is thankful everyday for the fact that he does.
"I thought you said you had this," Mr. Do says, shaking his head at the scribbles and question marks now on the page. "Remember to use the formula for area. What is that formula again?"
Jongin sighs and repeats the formula. Mr. Do nods in satisfaction, then tells him to try again using it. Jongin pretends to do so, hurrying to finish the problem correctly, then going to doodle on a separate piece of paper, because now he has something to ponder on.
The Area of Kyungsoo's Heart
-
Now would be a good time to clarify that Jongin is not a dumb kid, especially when it comes to math. He actually dare says he likes math - and no, surprisingly not only because of Mr. Do's son. He gets it, and enjoys the fact that there is only one set answer each time. All you have to do is learn how to get there, and you're good to go.
If only feelings were that way, too.
Any sane person would ask, "Then why does he go to class so early?"
But Jongin is not sane, and neither are his friends.
"So how was time with Kyungsoo, man?" Chanyeol asks with a creepy smile - which is his default face - as Jongin walks into English class. Jongin is slightly suspicious that Chanyeol is on drugs half the time, but he's known the boy since they were in elementary school, and he's always been this way. Or maybe he's always been on drugs. Either way, Jongin's used to it by now.
"He knows I dance," Jongin says with a stupid grin - which some consider his default face - as he slides into his seat beside Chanyeol.
"Dude, that's a major accomplishment," Chanyeol says, sobering up slightly to give Jongin 'the bro nod'. "Congrats."
"I know. I haven't been this excited since I found out he knew my name."
"Didn't you pass out when he said it?"
"No," Jongin scoffs. "I tripped, that's all."
"And dropped Mr. Do's paper."
"And Kyungsoo helped me pick them up."
Chanyeol and Jongin exchange looks before high-fiving (or what they call, 'bro-fiving'). Baekhyun walks in after the warning bell rings, and Chanyeol is immediately distracted. Jongin rolls his eyes as the two flirt while the instructor talks.
When they're given time to work in class, Jongin pulls out his formula sheet and starts calculating.
He's halfway figuring out the height of it - he spends a lot of time looking at Kyungsoo's chest - when Chanyeol finally breaks away from Baekhyun to ask what he's doing.
"Ew, math," Baekhyun says from the side.
"Ew, Baekhyun," Jongin replies with snark, and Baekhyun sticks his tongue out at him. They've never been the closest of friends.
"You're calculating the area of Kyu-"
Jongin wraps his hand around Chanyeol's (huge) mouth before he can say any more. Baekhyun also happens to be one of Kyungsoo's few friends - he's on the shyer side, which Jongin finds adorable, like everything else about him - and Baekhyun has a big mouth. Jongin can't have him hearing that he's calculating the area of Kyungsoo's heart, or else it'll be all over the school by lunch time.
Or next period, depending on how fast Baekhyun can text and forward this message to everyone.
Jongin reminds himself to have Kyungsoo make new friends when they're together.
"The area of what?" Baekhyun asks curiously, leaning over now. Jongin immediately grabs the paper before Baekhyun can see anything.
"I thought you didn't like math," he snaps.
"I'm just curious," Baekhyun bites back. "Besides, I heard a 'Kyu'. We're not talking about Kyungsoo, are we?" he asks with a wicked smile.
Chanyeol opens his mouth and Jongin sends him a warning glare, causing him to shut it immediately.
"No, we're talking about..." Jongin hesitates for a moment before replying, "Cubes. We're talking about cubes. Sounds alike, I know, but yeah. Not Kyungsoo. No, why would I be calculating the area of Kyungsoo?" Jongin chuckles nervously, and Chanyeol face-palms from the side. And they call him the embarrassing one.
"Right," Baekhyun says, rolling his eyes. "Well, that's boring then." He goes back to ignoring his classwork and checking Facebook on his phone, Chanyeol glancing over his shoulder and Baekhyun allowing him.
Jongin returns to his work, satisfied with his progress so far.
-
"This is just creepy," his 'dear' (or 'deer', when Jongin is being funny, or trying to be) friend Luhan deadpans when Jongin shows him his almost complete formula.
"I agree," Sehun says from the side.
"You don't even know what it is," Jongin scoffs. Sehun's never been the brightest of bulbs.
"Yeah, well, if Luhan thinks it's creepy, it's gotta be," Sehun replies, sticking out his tongue at him. "Luhan is always right." He cuddles up to Luhan now, who lovingly pats his back.
"Well Luhan thinks your lisp is cute, which is wrong, so there," Jongin snaps. Sehun frowns, and Luhan glares daggers at him that actually pinch his skin.
"Stop being so mean to him," Luhan defends, giving Jongin back his paper so he can wrap both arms around Sehun to comfort him. "He's just a kid."
"Who you sleep with, for reasons I cannot fathom."
Luhan stares. "He gets more than you do with Kyungsoo."
Chanyeol later helps Jongin apply ice to the burn in the bathroom.
-
When fifth period rolls around, Jongin is stuck. He almost tears his hair out when he realizes he's missing an important part of the formula. So busy crying over his failure, he doesn't notice Baekhyun - it's pure misfortune they share so many classes together this year, honestly - glancing over his shoulder and reading the page.
He does notice when Baekhyun bursts out laughing, because Baekhyun's laughter is loud - though not as loud as Chanyeol's, or as obnoxious as Luhan's - and he's sitting right behind Jongin.
"Hey!" Jongin exclaims, causing everyone in the classroom to turn and stare at the two of them.
"Do you have something you'd like to share with the classroom, Mister Kim?" the teacher asks, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, do you?" Baekhyun snickers from behind.
"N-No, sir. I was just admiring this carpet," he says smoothly - well, in his mind it's smooth.
"Thanks. It was vaccuumed yesterday. A student barfed on it," the teacher says. Everyone blanches, including Jongin, and the teacher continues with the lesson. When he assigns a partner class project, Baekhyun claims Jongin as his partner before anyone can even blink.
"I don't want to be your partner," Jongin moans when they move their desks together.
"Yeah, well too bad," Baekhyun says, rolling his eyes. "Besides, we're not really going to work."
"I don't want to fail this class," Jongin moans again.
"Shut up. I'm sure you'd rather get in Kyungsoo's pants more anyway, right?" he asks, and Jongin immediately sobers up at that.
"Shh, don't say that so loudly!" he snaps, glaring at the older.
"Pfft, as if everybody doesn't already know," Baekhyun snorts. "HEY! EVERYBODY! KIM JONGIN LIKES DO KYUNGSOO!"
"We know," the class replies in unison, including the teacher. They continue doing their work, and Jongin feels like burying himself outside.
"How?" he groans, covering his face with his hands.
"You're so obvious," Baekhyun says, rolling his eyes. "I mean, you buy him a rose everyday for Valentine's Day, and sign it as 'your number one fan'."
"That's not that weird -"
"And then you show up to his choir shows, shouting you're his number one fan among a crowd of parents."
"I'm just being enthusiastic -"
"You help up a flashing sign with his name on it."
"I bought it on sale, it was a good deal -"
"Jongin, you even run a blog called 'KyungsooKyutie'."
"How did you know that?" Jongin asks, horrified. That was his own secret! He only ever told -
"Chanyeol lets me use his laptop," Baekhyun says with a smirk.
"Well I'm never going to share porn with him again," Jongin mumbles.
"Don't worry, he doesn't need it," Baekhyun replies cheekily. "He's got something better now."
Jongin flinches. "Ew."
"He gets more than you do with Kyungsoo."
This time, Jongin ices the burn by himself in the bathroom during passing period.
-
Jongin has a free sixth period, which he spends in the library waiting until dance practice after school. He usually spends it doing homework, but now he's too invested in his formula to focus on anything else. He still can't figure out this one part, and it's so aggravating he feels like -
"Hi."
Jongin freezes. He knows that voice. It's the one he imagines in his dreams, waking him up, calling him for breakfast, singing to him.
"Kyungsoo! Hey," Jongin says, slowly flipping the paper as to not draw any attention to it.
"Oh, are you still having trouble with math?" Kyungsoo asks, smiling brightly as he puts his stuff down. "I could help," he offers.
Jongin has a mini heart attack on the inside. Kyungsoo - his Kyungsoo - is offering to help him. Another achievement for the books. He has to blog about this later.
"S-Sure," he replies without thinking.
Kyungsoo leans over to grab the paper, but Jongin finally regains some clarity - Kyungsoo is just so damn distracting - and immediately pulls it away. It rips, tearing a piece of it out, but Jongin doesn't notice, too busy freaking out over the possibility of Kyungsoo seeing his work.
"O-Oh, this isn't my math homework. This is... my friend's! He, uh, asked me to check it for him, but it's so atrocious, I'm sparing your eyes from it," Jongin says quickly, stuffing it into his binder and taking out his actual homework - which has barely been started.
Kyungsoo laughs, and Jongin has to refrain from whipping out his phone to record it. "I see. Okay, well, let's do the homework together, since you don't seem to have much done."
Jongin falls out of his chair from excitement. It would have been embarrassing, but Kyungsoo's smile erased any pain whatsoever.
-
Much to Jongin's delight, as proven by his constant state of happiness and his many blog posts, Kyungsoo speaks to him more frequently now. He greets him in the morning, and even offers to help in place of his father, which garners a questioning look from Mr. Do, but Jongin doesn't mind.
They also work together during sixth period in the library. Sometimes on math, sometimes on English or other subjects. Jongin doesn't really matter what subject, though, because he's only ever focusing on Kyungsoo.
So busy enjoying his time with Kyungsoo, he forgets to work on his formula.
-
"So did your stupid formula work or something, because Kyungsoo doesn't shut up about you at lunch," Baekhyun says, leaning back in his seat as they 'work' on their project in class. And by work, they mean Baekhyun fixing his hair and eyeliner in his compact mirror, and Jongin daydreaming about Kyungsoo.
"Really?" Jongin asks, eyes lighting up.
"Gross. I can see the love on your face," Baekhyun says, scrunching his nose.
"Oh, the formula?" Jongin remembers. "I haven't worked on that in a while actually. Why? Does he know about it? Did you tell him about it, you big-mouthed brat?"
Baekhyun glares at him. "Excuse you. And no, I didn't. Maybe. Well, I might have mentioned -"
"Ughhh, why would you do that?" Jongin groans. "Now he probably thinks I'm a freak."
Baekhyun snorts. "Who doesn't? And besides, he's talking to you, isn't he? He obviously doesn't think that about you."
Huh. Baekhyun actually has a point for once his life, Jongin thinks. "So does he like me then?"
"It's not my place to say."
Jongin glares. "Are you kidding me? You outed Kris before he even figured out he was gay, then told the entire class he slept with Tao the day after. You always tell people everything."
"Yeah, but I actually like Kyungsoo, so I'm going to let him do this himself. Now please. Stop talking to me so I can finish perfecting myself for sixth period."
Jongin snorts. "You're going to need more than twenty minutes to do that."
Jongin limps to the library, because Baekhyun kicks hard.
-
When he gets to the library, he suddenly feels very anxious. What if Kyungsoo does know about Jongin's creepy formula, and he wants to tell Jongin he disapproves of it and that the math is also completely wrong? That would be a nightmare!
Still, Jongin isn't one to beat around the bush.
"Hey-"
"Did Baekhyun tell you about my formula for the area of your heart?" Jongin blurts before Kyungsoo can finish greeting him.
Kyungsoo blinks. "What."
Abort mission, abort mission! "Oh shit. Was that the bell? I have to go to class -"
"You don't have a sixth period."
"I have to call my sister -"
"She's at school right now."
"I have to use the restroom -"
"Jongin, sit down," Kyungsoo sighs.
Jongin slowly takes the seat across from Kyungsoo, avoiding eye contact. He places his bag on his lap, just in case he needs to make a dash for the door.
"Well, to answer your question, yes and no," Kyungsoo finally admits.
Jongin frowns. "What does that mean?"
"Yes, Baekhyun told me you were working on the area of a heart, but no, he didn't tell me it was mine."
Maybe Baekhyun's mouth is not as big as I thought it was, Jongin thinks to himself. Then he remembers all of the times Chanyeol tells him a bit too much about Baekhyun's, ahem, talents, and he takes that back.
"I was really intrigued when Baekhyun told me, though," Kyungsoo admits with a fond smile that makes Jongin's heart race. It's his second favorite smile, the smile he makes when he laughs at Jongin's jokes his first. "Because that's a pretty hard thing to do, you know. At least, for real hearts, that is."
"So is that why you started talking to me?"
Kyungsoo shrugs. "I guess. I mean, you're obviously smarter than you pretend to be, so I was confused as to why you always ask for help in math. If you can figure out the area of a heart, then you don't need help figuring out the area of an ellipse or whatever."
Jongin would have scoffed at the idea if it wasn't Kyungsoo.
"And Baekhyun kept making comments on how you look everyday during lunch, and I even thought he had a crush on you," Kyungsoo laughs, missing the gagging expressions Jongin makes. "But he's dating that friend of yours - Chanyeol, I think - and he insults you too often to like you, either."
"It's a blessing in disguise, trust me," Jongin mumbles.
"And after thinking about it... I put one and one together and figured it out." Their eyes meet and Jongin swears the Earth stops revolving around the sun for a moment.
"You like me."
"Technically the answer is actually two if you put one and one togeth- this isn't funny, is it?" he asks upon being met with Kyungsoo's amused look.
"No, it is," Kyungsoo says with a smile. "Kind of. I think you're funny, though, so it is to me."
Jongin heart stops beating for a second.
"So," Kyungsoo starts, suddenly shy now. "Can I see the formula?"
Jongin blanks out. "Um, well, I never finished it. I couldn't figure out this one part, and I was so distracted by you, so... yeah," he finishes lamely. He takes it out nonetheless, showing it to Kyungsoo.
"Well, maybe I could help," Kyungsoo offers with a bright smile as he reaches over to look at it. He stares at it for a long moment, and Jongin is freaking out on the inside because what if his math is so bad that Kyungsoo no longer wants to hang out with him?
Nightmarish thoughts plague him until Kyungsoo finally looks up and says, still smiling, "Your math is good, but you went about this all wrong."
Jongin pales. Oh no. Brace yourself for rejection, for pain, for late-night blogging, for -
"You see, this is all you really needed." Kyungsoo jots down his neat formula on a sheet of new paper, then hands it to Jongin.
the area of our hearts = us
Jongin stares. "I don't understand," he admits.
Kyungsoo laughs. "And you consider yourself good in math," he teases. "It's simple, really. You couldn't figure out the area of my heart alone because it can't stand alone; it needs yours to be found."
It's cheesy and nerdy but it's almost straight out of Jongin's dreams (in fact, he might've written a blog post like this before) and he can't help it - he takes out his phone and snaps a picture of Kyungsoo's goofy smile before leaning over and pressing their lips together.
Kyungsoo tastes like cherry lipbalm, Jongin laters notes on his blog.
-
And so, in the end, Jongin got a D in science, an A in math, and a place in Kyungsoo's heart.
("And pants," his friends - and Baekhyun, who is still getting there - would so kindly remind him.)
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