“Oh come on Wonwoo! You have to join! You haven’t even given any good reason not to!” Seokmin glanced upwards from where he was sitting with a yawn. From his seat in the back of the Mathematics classroom Seokmin could spot two of his close friends arguing with one another outside of the entrance of the classroom.

It wasn't difficult at all to hear the two of them, since they weren't so discreet with expressing their disagreements with one another's opinions and also because the entrance of the classroom was closer to the back of it than the front of the room, but it was a bit much to be hearing all that chaos so early on in the morning.

Seokmin had barely woken up, and he was one of the most energetic students in their entire school. How Wonwoo and Mingyu even had the energy to start their days off arguing was beyond Seokmin. The brunet was still baffled that he himself had managed to even get out of bed that morning let alone have the energy to argue so fiercely in the morning like the pair had been.

“That’s where you’re absolutely wrong. I don't have to do anything I don’t want to and I especially don’t want to join a team full of sweaty baseball players.” Wonwoo retorted with a hint of bitterness in his voice that made it obvious that this wasn’t the first time both him and Mingyu were arguing about this subject. Seokmin had been there to experience the first time Mingyu asked for Wonwoo to join the baseball team, and he was there when Wonwoo had flat-out rejected his taller best friend right in front of their peers.

It seemed like the only difference between that encounter and now was that this argument was more intense. Seokmin could feel the tension between the pair all the way from where he was sitting in the Mathematics classroom. “And just because Joshua is planning on joining doesn’t mean I will. I am not just some mindless animal that will do as you say Mingyu, and for you to expect that is disappointing.”

"Out of everyone in the school I just had to start dating the most stubborn of them all didn't I?" The taller junior voiced out his thoughts with a sigh. To him, having Wonwoo join the team wasn’t as a big deal as the older high school senior had been making it all week long. Mingyu really wanted the black-haired senior to join not alone to help with the team’s ongoing recruitment problem, but for the sake of just having Wonwoo on the team to spend time with him more. Both him and Chan were on the team which left the two juniors concerned about Wonwoo feeling left out. "I know you don't care about the team, but you care about me right? Can't you just do it for me? I just really want the team to continue playing and you joining could help that. Please Wonwoo, at least consider it-"

"No's my final answer Mingyu, so can you just drop this already?" Wonwoo spoke sternly. He only meant to speak in such a harsh way to get his point across, but the damage was done.

The black-haired senior could tell by the hardened expression on Mingyu’s face that the tall brunet was hurt. He knew the tall brunet so well that he couldn’t ignore the way Mingyu bit the inside of his lips and the way the Mingyu cast his gaze downwards to avoid eye contact. Wonwoo opened his mouth to speak, to try to take back what he said and fix what he caused, but he just had no idea on where to begin. "I have to get to class now."

Seokmin frowned sympathetically as Mingyu turned and left Wonwoo standing outside in the hallway. He patted Mingyu’s head gently to provide some support for his best friend as the taller brunet slumped over and sat right at the desk next to Seokmin. Seeing Mingyu look so unhappy made Seokmin upset. It pained the junior to see his friends suffering; Seokmin hoped that Wonwoo and Mingyu were going to reconcile some time soon because Mingyu seemed so miserable.

A few minutes passed, and with that more and more students began to arrive to the classroom. A majority of the students taking the advanced math course did show up late on a daily basis so the room wasn’t too crowded, but the noise of the incoming students made it harder to think out loud.

Seokmin felt relief when Mingyu began to sort through his class notes instead of just staring blankly at the surface of his desk with a dejected expression written all over his face. Such organization from his best friend made Seokmin want to be as neat as Mingyu with his notes, but at the same time the junior felt too lazy to do so.

Watching Mingyu organize and highlight his math notes only made Seokmin drowsier than he already was. This was why the brunet felt his gaze trail off and travel towards the entrance of the classroom where he smiled and nodded to greet the influx of classmates trying to get to their seats before the first bell. He paused though when he recognized one of the arriving students as the dark-haired transfer student he had met just last week.

"Hey! it's… you!" Seokmin brightened up as the senior met his gaze and responded with a smile of acknowledgement.

Mingyu turned to see who his friend was addressing and seemed puzzled by how Seokmin even knew who that new face in their classroom was. Meanwhile, their other classmates froze at the realization that Seokmin was apparently close to the new senior that had everyone in the school on their toes. "I'm sorry! I just never got your name the last time we spoke!"

"Who says I'll be giving you my name this time?" The senior teased with a cocky smirk before moving to sit right on the opposite side of Seokmin. He figured that he would have rather sat next to someone he kind of knew than to have to sit next to someone very unfamiliar. It wasn't that the transfer student couldn’t speak to strangers, it was just that he didn’t possess the willpower to have to endure more half-assed introductions with anyone else. "You're way too easy to tease Seokmin. I’m Jeonghan, Yoon Jeonghan.”

“I’m glad I finally have a name to put to your face. It’s been weird just thinking about you as the nameless senior I randomly met last week.” Jeonghan nodded at the brunet as he let out a small chuckle. “Did you see anymore creepy paintings on your way to class?”

“As a matter of fact, I thought I did. Well that was until I realized that it wasn’t as much as a painting as it was the Economics teacher just standing blankly in the hallway.” Jeonghan shuddered as he recalled the memory of seeing the very deadlike teacher staring him down in the hallway. He would have taken offense from that, but then the dark-haired senior realized that that was just the poor Economics teacher’s resting face. 

The two continued on to just carelessly chat about who knows what with both parties of the conversation equally enjoying their talk together. It had been a while since Jeonghan had had such a nice talk with someone new, and the brunet was enlightened to have had such a great start on their future friendship (which was what Seokmin really hoped for). Seokmin noticed the delight drain from Jeonghan’s face though as the classroom filled to the point where there were barely any empty desks left in sight. “They just don’t stop staring huh?”

“Seok, here’s your textbook I borrowed-” A voice spoke up amongst the influx of students rushing into the classroom before the late bell could ring. Seokmin turned to face Jihoon who was holding a purple colored textbook in his hands.

He gently handed it over to the tall brunet who accepted it graciously before peeking a look at Jeonghan like all the other students in the classroom. Unlike them though, Jihoon didn’t dawk at Jeonghan like some piece of meat. He raised both of his eyebrows at the dark-haired senior and pursed his lips. “Oh Jeonghan? I didn’t know you went to this school. I should have known you were that stunning transfer student everyone is raving about.”

“I didn’t know you knew each other?” Seokmin’s mouth opened widely as he glanced back and forth between Jihoon and Jeonghan, who seemed like he was distraught by Jihoon’s presence. Seokmin didn’t catch the small raise in tension between them though, or how Jeonghan’s jaw tightened as he continued to speak to the short baseball captain.

“It’s a small world.” Jeonghan muttered to Seokmin before facing Jihoon. “What do you want Jihoon?”

“I was only here to return a textbook to Seokmin, but now that you’re asking a lot comes to mind,” Jihoon looked right through Jeonghan with a knowing expression. Jeonghan could tell immediately what the baseball captain wanted from him. While he tried to distract himself by twiddling his thumbs together and by picking at the wooden desk in front of him, tracing over the indents left by the scratches on the desk, Jeonghan knew that Jihoon wouldn’t drop what he was about to say. The pale senior was very adamant with what he was passionate about, and Jihoon sure was passionate about not giving up,“Like joining our baseball team for example.”

“Always straight to the point, just like how I remember you.” Sensing Jeonghan’s discomfort, Jihoon decided to back off for now. However, the pale baseball captain wouldn’t be giving up on the idea anytime soon especially since he knew things about Jeonghan that the others couldn’t even come close to guessing about. With the absence of Jihoon in the room the dark-haired senior tried to do his best to get rid of the weird atmosphere that the short senior brought along with him. “Jihoon is really something.”

“He wouldn’t ask if he knew you weren’t interested.” Seokmin interjected with his own thoughts. Maybe it was because Jihoon knew Jeonghan that he offered a spot in their team to him. Seokmin trusted Jihoon’s judgement and so he felt it was necessary to try to get Jeonghan more interested than he seemed to be into joining their team.

It would be a win-win situation; The team would gain a new member and Jeonghan would be able to play and have fun playing for this team. That ideal situation was all it was though: Ideal. It wasn’t at all realistic. “If you are you really should join! We could use any additional member we get and I can guarantee it’ll be really fun trust me-”

“No offense Seokmin, but I don’t want to hear it. This isn’t your place to just butt in, especially since I barely know you, so just stop.” Jeonghan’s tone morphed. Where he sounded friendly previously, now he sounded more irritated and bothered. Seokmin stayed silent as the dark-haired senior glanced coldly at him before standing up to change his seat. The tall brunet was more confused than offended, because he hadn’t known what exactly he had said to get the senior so worked up.

All he did know was that it felt horrible to have probably taken some part in ruining someone’s day. Seokmin tried his hardest to think positive thoughts, but it was much easier said than done. How could your thoughts not take a turn for the worst when you were sitting in the same room as someone you upset deeply?

It took a lot for the downhearted junior not to react at all in a sorrowful manner as he observed the way Jeonghan despairingly laid his head on his new desk while other students tried to pick at him to get any type of information they could about him out of him.