warnings: seungjin

words: 3019

written: january 2019

published: march 14th 2023

notes:
not valentine's day but white day (:

»»————-　★　-————««

Packed with his backpack and several books in hand, Chan was walking down the long hallway of his high school. Today was a busy day. His day started with a math exam and continued with a small quiz in physics, but now he was free to put his heavy work utensils away and leave them in his locker.

Done with life and exhausted, he got the key out of his backpack, unlocked the metal door and slid his books and sports gear inside, after which he immediately ran up to his classroom, putting his backpack underneath the table. He looked around and was a little confused to not see his friends goofing around anywhere like they usually would. The Australien furrowed his brows before jogging back to the hallway, where he was hit by a big crowd of students surrounding a table.

He frowned in confusion after he saw one of his friends handing out something to a girl that was approximately 13 years old, and walked up to them. "What are you doing?" the brown-haired asked and eyed the dark red roses that where being prepared by Hyunjin. "Taking orders from students and delivering roses for Valentine's Day," Seungmin explained and smiled as he put the girl's name on an already filled and, to Chan, somewhat confusing list.

The Australian nodded and watched Seungmin's boyfriend leave a small kiss on his temple, the younger elbowing him with reddened cheeks. „Hyunjin, stop!" How great it would be to have someone to take care of like that. Someone he could hug and protect. Someone he could kiss whenever he wanted to. Someone who loves him just like he loves them.

And that someone might be Yang Jeongin.

Jeongin is a sweet, loving boy that Chan met through Seungmin who, one day, randomly dragged an even younger Korean to their table for lunch. The second he laid eyes upon the boy, Chan had fallen in love. Big time. His heart started beating faster and his legs became soft as jelly just by looking at the adorable human being called Jeongin. And well, this was almost three years ago.

"Why don't you send someone a rose? Your money is safe with us" Seungmin asked with a mischievous grin, clinging to his boyfriend's right arm and resting his head on his shoulder to make a point Chan doesn't really get.

"Why would I-? And thank you very much, my money is very happy being with me," he rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sure your little fortune wouldn't mind a change of scenery," Seungmin tried to convince Chan once again, trying to give him a hint. But like the one before, Chan couldn't wrap his mind around what the younger was trying to tell him.

"Oh c'mon, we all know you've been crushing on Jeongin." The younger raised an eyebrows, turning the eldest his back and looking over his shoulder while sorting the coins in front of him. Immediately, Chan's eyes widened, his cheeks flushed, whereupon he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I-I'm not in love with Jeongin," he nervously laughed, letting his gaze wander to the floor.

"Yeah, for sure," replied the youngest of the group, rolling his eyes. "He's over there, by the way," Hyunjin added and pointed his finger behind Chan, who immediately began ruffling his hair and straightened his shirt. "Do I look okay?"

They both chuckled and nodded their heads. "I'm not in love with Jeongin," Seungmin mocked Chan, making faces at the Australian who just raised his eyebrows and didn't pay them another glance before Jeongin joined the three of them and brightly smiled at his friends. "Hi Hyungs!"

Chan's heart beat picked up its pace and his knees nearly buckled as his eyes studied the boy in front of him. He was wearing a beige hoodie that was way too big on him, yet very cute in Chan's opinion, and a pair of destroyed dark blue jeans. "Hi, Jeonginnie" they all greeted back. While the youngest now started telling Seungmin how his annoying maths lesson went shortly afterwards, the brown-haired one lost himself in the movements of his lips and his beautiful brown eyes that sparkled in the sunlight shining through the big windows in the hallway and just stared at him with literal heart eyes.

Smirking softly, Seungmin and Hyunjin watched Chan blankly staring at Jeongin, the Australian was starstruck like the first time he saw him.

"Well, I just gotta survive this god-awful teacher somehow and- Oh, I have to go! Piano class is starting early today. See you Hyungs, bye Channie!" Jeongin took a look at his watch, then quickly hugged Chan, who would prefer to keep his warm, soft body in his arms for the rest of his life - for ever and ever. Unfortunately though, he had to let go.

He mumbled a quick "Bye, Innie" against Jeongin's ear and waved after him, leaned against the wall behind him, letting out a sigh and admiring Jeongin's, in his eyes, wonderful back.

The smile never left Seungmin's lips, him shaking his head at Chan's behaviour and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hyunjin, get Chan a rose for Jeongin," he instructed his boyfriend, the older nodding with a grin and immediately pulling out the pen. The Australian tried to intervene, yet was immediately stopped by Seungmin's hands. "Ah ah ah! Don't even try to stop us. It won't work."

Chan sighed before letting go and massaging the bridge of his nose, stressed. "And if you break our son's heart, I'm gonna break every single bone in your body," the redhead threatened the eldest, who immediately raised his hands in defense.

"Well then," Chan glared at the boyfriends and pushed himself off the white wall. "I'll go now, see you." He waved goodbye to the two boys, whereupon they briefly raised their hands and got back to work. "He's so in love." They both giggled.

"Tell me something I don't know."

•

Exhausted from everything and especially from full on simping for Jeongin, Chan threw himself face first onto his bed, the pillow swallowing his head. But not just that, later that evening, his art teacher shooed everyone around, making them rearrange everything they had already prepared around the school for the upcoming Vernissage because she didn't like the set-up and ended up yelling at a girl because she had the hiccups. A great day if you asked Chan.

The Australian sighed in annoyance and ran his hands over his face just about to reach the gates of dreamland, barely grabbing onto the door handle, before today's lunch break started replaying in his head until it got to the point where Seungmin said he was going to give Jeongin a rose in Chan's name.

Panic arose inside of him as he tugged at his fluffy hair, now back to fully being awake from the sudden adrenaline running through his veins. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked himself, falling back onto the mattress in frustration, letting the crook of his arm fall over his face, wishing he could forget everything that had happened today.

However, it was about time he confessed to Jeongin. These feeling for the Korean have been eating him alive ever since they first met. And even if the younger was to reject him, he would feel the relief of all this heavy weight falling off his shoulders.

"Maybe I should just do it. What could possibly go wrong," Chan mumbled ironically, pulling the blanket over his head before immediately shoving it back down and jumping up to sprint to his desk. Knee-deep trapped in all his imaginary stories about him and Jeongin getting married and having thousands of cats, he almost forgot to do his Korean homework that was due tomorrow.

What felt like hours went by and little by little, Chan's wrist was starting to get stiffer and stiffer as he tried really hard to not write sloppily (maybe also from scribbling 'C + J' onto his desk) and continue his best handwriting. Otherwise, like the perfectionist he is, he would have to copy everything over and over again until it was 100% perfect.

Luckily, he was only missing a few words by now and when they were finally written down, he quickly put his things away and decided to go into the living room, where he turned on the television to watch his daily dose of Medical Detectives because he honestly couldn't think about sleeping anymore right now. However, he didn't really pay attention to the true crime stories, his thoughts were completely focused on Jeongin, causing a smile to spread across his lips.

Oh how he would love to cuddle him right now, to have his, compared to Chan, small frame between his arms, wrapping them around the younger's tiny waist and kissing his temple, feeling his soft warm skin rubbing against his own and Jeongin's shiny hair tickling his face while Chan spooned him.

•

The next morning, Jeongin walked through the corridors with a big grin on his face and greeted his classmates, that waved back at him and wished him a good morning. He was now making his way to his locker, where he put his duffle bag inside and ran to his classroom on the other side of the hall. After all, he only had two minutes left until class started.

Just a second before the second bell rang, he crossed the doorframe and swiftly went to his seat. While walking through the crowd of students sitting on their own chairs, he wondered why everyone was whispering among themselves. "What's going on here?" he asked his desk neighbour, YangYang, in confusion. The Chinese gave him an unidentifiable facial expression and held his cell phone with today's date displayed on the screen in front of his face. "It's Valentine's Day and almost everyone here is speculating who's getting a rose from whom, if they even get one, and all that stuff," he explained, pointing to a couple of giggling girls two rows in front of them. "Ah."

The older male nodded with a smile and slid his smartphone back into the right front pocket of his pants. He then looked for the red folder in his backpack, Jeongin doing the same shortly after.

English has never been his favorite subject. However, he was lucky that Chan was fluent in English. So he always went to Chan with all his troubles with the English language and the Australian, of course, patiently explained everything to him and even got him several As in his class.

Sighing, Jeongin supported his head on his right hand and disappeared into his silly little daydreams about kittens. Completely lost in thought, he didn't notice the next forty minutes of class going by and only woke up from his trance when the classroom door opened. Immediately all attention was drawn to the boys named Seungmin and Hyunjin standing in the doorway, each standing in front of the class with several roses in their hands.

"Hi, I'm Seungmin and this is Hyunjin. We are here to give out the roses for Valentine's Day." The Koreans politely bowed to the nineteen students in front of them. Then, student by student, they started giving roses to individual students, utter chaos erupting among the small group of friends scattered across the room, screams and laughter coming from everywhere around Jeongin.

While some of the girls blushed right away when they received the rose and looked at the note, Jeongin was more than just confused when one rose got pushed into his own hand as well. Who would voluntarily give him a rose for Valentine's Day? Surprised by the sudden action, he began to open the small, pink card on which was written in cursive letters: "Meet me behind the school at 13:15 later today".

Curious as to what his desk mate had received, YangYang leaned forward and read the words out loud. "Looks like someone has got a crush on our Jeonginnie," he sing-songed, wiggling his eyebrows and then starting to giggle, making Jeongin slaps his arm in embarrassment. "Maybe," Jeongin mumbled.

"I honestly don't know about this... But I'm sure I'll go anyway. I don't think this person is trying to kill me or something," he snorted, cheeks red, putting the beautiful dark red rose onto the tabletop. "Well, I'd sure hope so." The boy next to him started laughing. "Well then, good luck. Let me know if you got killed."

"Thank you very much for your attention and Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!" Hyunjin and Seungmin waved goodbye and then disappeared down the corridor.

•

Excited and a little bit scared and embarrassed to finally meet the person who sent him this rose, Jeongin quickly packed up his things at the end of the school day and practically ran out of the room. While doing so, he almost bumped into at least five students, who, however, did not pay any attention to him.

About three minutes later he finally saw the back of the schoolyard, where no one was to be seen, no trace of anyone. Jeongin turned around a few times, scanning his surroundings and furrowing his brows.

He sighed and sat down on one of the stone benches the school built two years ago. While the young Korean sat there with hesitation, slowly but surely getting even more nervous than he already was, and the cool wind steadily blowing through his slightly longer curly hair, Chan stood behind a corner of the school building.

He's been thinking about this all day. Maybe Jeongin was expecting someone else and would be disappointed it's him? Had he hoped for a pretty girl maybe? He quickly shook his head to clear his mind and tried to encourage himself. "You can do it, Christopher."

More or less confident, he straightened his black shirt before taking a step forward. However, when he was within Jeongin's possible sight, the anxiety got him and he stopped in his tracks before looking at himself in the window of the library. "Get your shit together!" he angrily whispered to his own reflection.

Chan then took a deep breath in and out. After that, he nodded to himself and his feet carried him directly to Jeongin. The closer he got to the younger Korean, the faster his heart started beating, feeling like his ribcage was about to burst.

"Oh, hi Jeongin," Chan tried to sound surprised as his feet stopped right in front of the brown-haired boy. The Korean's head shot up, clearly taken aback. "What are you doing here, Channie Hyung?" Jeongin asked,  confused, and pat the space next to him with his hand. "I just walked by on... accident, how about you? Why are you sitting here lonely on a freezing cold bench?"

Jeongin chuckled softly. "Seungmin and Hyunjin gave out roses today and I got one too," he began to explain, a sigh leaving his mouth. Chan nodded, fiddling with his kind of sweaty hands in his lap. "This someone was supposed to meet me here at 13:15, but they didn't show up. Maybe they were just joking." Saddened, Jeongin looked down at the ground and Chan's heart started aching, literally ripping apart.

"Maybe they were just scared? Maybe they were just afraid that you wouldn't like them the way they like you. But maybe they just aren't confident enough and finally got brave and took this day as a chance to get it off their chest. It's Valentine's Day after all." While the older didn't dare to glance at the younger sitting next to him, Jeongin's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Cha-chan-"

"Yes, it's from me. Well, not by me, but by me, y'know?" Followed by a heavy, shivery sigh. "No, not really," the brown-haired boy replied, more than just confused. Another sigh escaped Chan and with a look full of love, he finally locked eyes with Jeongin.

He carefully reached out his hand and carefully placed it, still trembling, on Jeongin's soft cheek. "Seungmin and Hyunjin just sent one to you so that I could finally have the courage to confess to you. Because you, Yang Jeongin, you are the cutest, most beautiful, most incredible, most talented, most lovable and most beautiful person that I have ever seen in my whole life," he finally voiced his thoughts, which he had been carrying with him for several years.

"It really was love at first sight when you were introduced to me. Your way of doing literally everything makes my heart melt. Sometimes I wish I could just hug you and never let go. I just have the urge to protect you all the time.And that's exactly why I took this day as a chance to finally confess my love to you. After all, I was always too scared, as you, by now, probably may have noticed." Shy and with slightly reddened cheeks, Chan moved closer to the younger.

Chan then closed his eyes to collect himself before locking eyes with Jeongin again. "Yang Jeongin, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?" Chan's voice trembled and his eyes wandered around Jeongin's face, tears slowly starting to form in the Korean's fox-like eyes.

"I'd love to," he replied in a whisper as his voice cracked, throwing himself around Chan's neck, face a deep red color. Happy and incredibly relieved, the Australian returned the little hug. "I'll get you at eight later, okay?"

Jeongin beamed his beautiful smile at him and stood up, Chan following his action and immediately being pulled closer to Jeongin by the collar of the shirt. "See you later, Hyungie." With that, he kissed the older before disappearing and skipping home. Chan, on the other hand, was frozen in place and was not able to process what just happened.

After finally regaining his consciousness, his cheeks flushed hundreds of shades darker.

Jeongin looked back at him and giggled.

Jeongin will be the death of him