[Friday - 09.30]

"Hey. I'm Minho." Minho sat next to Ji in the back, making the latter sit up with a sigh.

"Ji." The latter simply answered.

"Cool. What's it short for?" Minho asked, getting his stuff out.

Ji turned to look at Minho, looking at the new guy like he was crazy.

"The fuck." Ji muttered, looking back to the front.

"So just Ji? It's not short for like Jihyun or Jisok or anything?" Minho continued to question the latter.

Ji looked back at Minho, annoyed and shocked.

"I guess not. It's cool though." Minho stated, grabbing his pencil.

Ji did as well, stating to work on the first question. They worked in silence for about a minute before Minho broke it again, curious about the other.

"Your voice is so great. Have you been singing for long?"

Ji sighed and slumped back, looking at Minho in annoyance.

"Dude, what the fuck do you want? Are you just tryna get close to me to find dirt you can spread? Are you tryna fake friendship so you can drop me in the end and hurt me? Just fucking cut it out!" Ji exclaimed, looking mad.

"No, neither of those." Minho calmly said, shrugging.

"What then!"

'You're cute and I'm bi'

"I just wanna be friends." Minho smiled.

Ji huffed, turning back to his sheet.

"How old are you?" Minho asked, poking Ji's arm.

Ji slumped back again, looking at Minho angrily.

"If I answer your questions, will you let me work in peace?" The latter huffed.

Minho nodded happily, turning to face Ji.

"I'm 17, I've been singing since I was 10 - used to take lessons at a nearby community center." Ji stated.

"Where are you from?" Minho asked.

"Gimpo, but I lived in Malaysia from I was 5 months till I was 15."

Minho nodded, thinking about what he could ask next.

"Got siblings?"

Ji shook his head.

"Where do you live?"

Ji took a second before he answered, looking down uncomfortably.

"Near the food court on the westside."

"With your family?" Minho leaned on his hand.

Ji shook his head.

"Moved out a couple years ago."

Minho furrowed his eyebrows.

"You moved out when you were 15? The fuck."

Ji only shrugged, looking away.

Minho dropped the subject because obviously Ji didn't wanna talk about it.

"Do you really sell drugs?" Minho asked next.

Ji let out a breathy scoff.

"Doesn't concern you."

"Do you take drugs?"

"No."

"What-"

"That's enough questions. Work." Ji ordered, grabbing his pen.

"One more. Please. Last one." Minho pleaded, pouting.

Ji sighed.

"Last one. Then you work."

Minho nodded with a smile, looking across Ji's features and body.

"Uh... What pronounce do you prefer?" Minho asked.

"I don't care, call me whatever you want like everyone else do." Ji rolled his eyes, turning to his work sheet.

"I didn't ask what everyone else calls you. I asked what you prefer?" Minho piped up.

Ji froze, looking up at Minho with wide eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The latter opened and closed his mouth a couple more times, not speaking a word.

Minho listened intently, waiting for an answer. Ji looked back down, gulping. He continued his work, acting unaffected, but Minho could see how startled and tense he was.

"T-They, them." Ji barely whispered, but Minho caught it.

Smiling to himself, Minho grabbed his own sheet, reading the first question.

"Cool."

---

"Got Insta?" Minho asked, finishing his last question.

Ji had finished a while ago, and had been on their phone for about 10 minutes now.

Ji nodded. Minho grabbed his own phone, readying it so Ji could type in their username. He passed his phone to the other, watching as Ji typed in their username and clicked a profile.

Minho grabbed his phone, scanning the page. He smiled, seeing the gorgeous face on his screen.

Minho especially liked the black and white one. He imagined that as Ji's bedroom hair, immediately blushing softly.

Ji snickered, catching Minho's attention.

"What!" Minho whined, pressing follow on Ji's account.

"You're blushing." Ji teased.

Minho blushed even more, pouting. He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at the younger whom was scrolling on their phone, still with a faint smile on their lips.

"You had blonde hair?" Minho asked.

Ji nodded.

"I've had blonde, brown, black and silver." Ji answered.

"Do you have pictures? Can I see?" Minho eagerly asked, leaning over to watch Ji's phone screen.

Ji went to their Instagram profile's archive, turning the screen to Minho so he could see. The elder looked at the pictures in awe, speechless by Ji's beauty.

"I probably look bad, sorry." Ji apologized, turning off their phone and putting it away.

"Nonononononono. Not at all! You look great. Light hair really suits you." Minho complimented.

Ji was about to say something back when the door opened, and a group of around 10 students entered the room, handing their finished sheets to the teacher.

Minho looked at the clock, seeing it was 5 minutes away from lunch time. Slowly the rest of the class piled into the room, Minho's friends included.

They waved softly at Minho, some showing him sympathetic pouts when they noticed him beside the one student everyone hated for no reason.

"I'll give her our sheets." Minho silently said to Ji, collecting his stuff and plopping them down in his seat beside his friends before going down the steps to hand over the sheets to the teacher.

As he was about to turn away and find his seat, the teacher tapped his arm, making Minho turn back.

"Thank you for pairing with Ji. He-sorry, They don't have many friends. I rarely see them smile like that."

Minho nodded his head, going back to his seat. He felt happy and sort of proud for having done the good deed no one else wanted to do. And the fact that Ji turned out to be awesome was only a bonus. Despite, Minho had to admit that he was extremely attracted to the younger, in every way possible.

"How was working with the freak? Did he do anything gross, like touch you?" Hyunjin asked out loud as Minho sat down.

Minho flinched, knowing Ji had heard them, only sitting two rows behind them.

"Actually it went well. Ji's pretty chill." Minho shrugged, turning to the front.

He could only hope Ji had heard his response, because he absolutely didn't want Ji to think he was faking their whole interaction.

"The fuck? How man? He's disgusting, how could it have gone 'well'?" Hyunjin mocked.

"They." Minho simply said, not paying much attention to Hyunjin.

"What?"

Minho turned to look at Hyunjin, ignoring the 20 other pairs of eyes on him.

"Ji goes by they, them pronounce. It's they, not he." Minho corrected Hyunjin.

Hyunjin looked back up at Ji, whom was pretending like they weren't listening to Minho and Hyunjin's conversation.

Hyunjin scoffed, turning to the front.

"Whatever."