“Where are those two? I’ve been waiting here for exactly twenty three seconds and they still aren’t here.” Seokmin glanced down at the imaginary watch on his left wrist while tapping his right foot on the smooth tiled floor beneath him.

It was long after the eighth period bell rang meaning that nearly all the students previously in the building were far from the school. Occasionally Seokmin did catch one or two lingering students passing by out of the corners of his eyes, but other than that he was pretty much alone in the hallway.

The frustrated brunet sighed to let out all the tension building up within him before taking a step back and peeking around. Neither Mingyu nor Chan were anywhere in the vicinity of the second floor and waiting for the pair was really starting to bore Seokmin. 

“You look like you’re up to nothing. You wouldn’t mind helping me right?” A gentle voice called for Seokmin’s attention. At first he hadn’t been sure if the student was even talking to him. When he looked up though, Seokmin made eye contact with a pair of dark brown eyes eagering waiting for his response.

“Depends on what you need help with.” The tall brunet straightened his posture and faced the stranger seeking his help. His hands automatically joined to fold in front of him as he stiffened in front of the new student. Seokmin recognized the student from earlier, since he was wearing the same clothes as the person who had so rudely bumped into Minhyun previously.

Seokmin had imagined someone a bit more tough looking than who was standing in front of him though. The dark haired transfer student standing before him looked almost too sweet.

He couldn’t imagine at all that this was the same person who pushed past Minhyun just about ten minutes prior to them meeting. “I usually draw the line at illegal activities, so if you're planning on using me as an accomplice-”

“I only ask for help with hiding bodies a week into the friendship, but for you I can make an exception.” Seokmin’s eyes widened at the revelation from the older male whose expression turned suggestive.

The high school senior smiled at Seokmin mischievously and then let out a small chuckle that snapped Seokmin out of his trance. “I’m only messing around, I just need help getting to the main office. This school is like a labyrinth; I swear I’ve passed that same ugly painting three times already”

The baseball pitcher internally sighed while releasing his stiff shoulders from their upright position. The dark haired senior smiled after noticing that Seokmin had relaxed his posture.

He spent the first ten minutes of his time at the school just being surrounded by people who looked as if they wanted to poke and examine him like a dead frog in Biology class. It was nice actually getting to speak to someone who didn’t express more interest in his looks, or the fact that he was new to their school, than they had in being a decent human being.

“That painting isn’t just ugly, it’s terrifying. It’s made from the same thing nightmares are made of.” Seokmin played along with the senior’s joke. The smallest grin spread across his lips when he heard the transfer student laugh in response. “I can bring you to the office though. Also, if you don’t mind me asking: you must be the new senior?”

“Is it that easily noticeable?” The latter student raised both of his eyebrows as he spoke, dropping just a small hint of sarcasm that Seokmin failed to pick up on.

He thought it was fairly obvious that he was new, speaking just from the way everyone gawked at him, but it was enlightening to have someone as oblivious as Seokmin still feel the need to ask him if he was new.

“Well you do look really confused, but it’s not because of that. Pretty much everyone’s staring at you like you’ve got two heads. Also you did kind of bump into my friend outside.” Seokmin recalled someone fitting the description of the student beside him being the one to abruptly bump into Minhyun outside.

Honestly he did doubt that that person and the senior next to him were the same person, but Seokmin couldn’t dispute the facts.

Maybe the dark haired was deceiving him with his apparent kindness and humor and he really was the rude person who pushed Minhyun outside?

Maybe Seokmin was being too quick to judge him and there was more to the dark haired student than it seemed. “Not that there's anything wrong with a nice bump. Although technically it was a bit rude of you to just hit and run Minhyun. He didn’t deserve that.” 

“I see… who’s Minhyun though?”

“Tall guy outside? Very nice hair? Looks like a cinnamon roll but can and will kill you, especially if you skip baseball practice? Not that I know anything about that haha...” Seokmin rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle as he recalled the first, and last, time he skipped practice.

The only reason he even thought skipping out on practice was a good idea was because of Chan, a close friend of his who convinced Seokmin that ditching practice to instead play video games with him wouldn't hurt at all.

It did hurt though; especially when Minhyun decided to scold him for being so careless towards their team.

“Oh him.” The transfer student mumbled while looking down at the ground, as if something Seokmin had said bothered him to some extent. The brunet assumed it was because the student beside him felt guilty for pushing past Minhyun, but Seokmin really couldn't tell what the transfer student was thinking. "I didn’t mean to bump into him. I’ll have to apologize to him sometime later.”

“Okay phew. A lot of people were talking about how you did that, but I figured it was a misunderstanding since you seem like a really nice person.” Seokmin offered a bright smile to the seemingly blue student as they slowly approached the entrance to the main office.

He didn't want their first conversation to be about only him basically forcing an apology out of the latter, so putting in a smile was Seokmin's way of trying to ease the mood.

The brunet had been raised with such a mindset that allowed him to embrace positivity and push to spread it as well. “I’m Seokmin by the way. Also I’m sorry, I didn’t really mean to just run my mouth the whole time. My friends say it’s pretty much my best talent besides pitching though so I guess it was a given that I would just keep talking on and on and on- oh wait, sorry again!”

“Don’t be sorry. It was nice having someone talk to me rather than have them talk about me.” Seokmin felt his face warm up when the senior lifted his head to grant Seokmin with a small crooked smile of his own. “Thanks for bringing me to the office Seokmin. I’ll see you around some time.”

“Of course! I hope everything goes well for you at the office!” Seokmin nodded proudly. He felt accomplished for both successfully leading the new student to the office and for making somewhat of a good first impression on him.

The tall junior didn't know what it was, but something about the new student left a good mark on him and made him want to get to know the latter more. “Oh wait, what’s your name- dang it.”

Seokmin sighed as he was met with the closing of the office door as soon as he turned to speak to the transfer student.

Going in to demand the latter's name was definitely an option, but the brunet didn't want to be intrusive at all considering how saddened the dark haired senior was by all the attention he was receiving. Instead Seokmin frowned and returned to glancing out into the hallway, only to meet with Chan's irritated stare.

“There you are!” The younger junior exclaimed as he pointed at Seokmin. Behind Chan trailed a stray Mingyu who pouted innocently at Seokmin. “We’ve been waiting this whole time for you and you’ve just been wandering around? You took so long, Gyu ate all our snacks!”

“Ah come on, not the snacks! I didn’t even take that long, you couldn’t wait?” Both juniors faced the third member of their trio with pursed lips. Mingyu, however, remained oddly calm despite being the cause of his best friends' bursts of despair. He was used to being the butt of the joke, since his friends teased him at any given opportunity, so this was nothing compared to that.

“I have very low self-control Seokmin, I was born this way.” The taller junior shrugged carelessly at the pair before leading them both towards the library where both him and Chan were prior to them finding Seokmin out and about. The tall junior grunted though when Chan elbowed him right in the gut with a sly grin planted on his face. “Hey what the hell?”

"Oh I'm sorry Gyu! I have very very low self-control," was what Chan said when Mingyu shot him a dirty glare from the corners of his eyes. While the two bickered in the front, Seokmin couldn't help but trail behind sadly while both mourning the now gone snacks and while thinking about how he never got the new student's name

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