Work Text:
“ Five.”
X. Wrong.
“ Three.”
Circle. Correct.
“ One. One.”
X. Another X. Another question wrong.
Red ink stains the paper in front of him. That’s all he sees as he stares down at his exam. Red ink marking every one of his mistakes staring right back at him. Of all the exams he has ever taken, Sieun has never seen so many red Xs on his own work.
Sieun clenches his jaw and tightens his grip around the pen in his hand.
Red. That’s all Sieun sees when he thinks about the events that caused him to fail his exam. The dizziness that had suddenly overcome him. Having to leave the classroom in the middle of the exam because of the overwhelming urge to puke. The patch he found on his neck and the sudden realization that someone had drugged him.
Sieun has always been very diligent with his studies. Never slacks off or misses school. Hell, he’s been so focused on his studies, Sieun has never even had time to do anything else. He has always kept to himself and basically became invisible in the eyes of his peers. And he liked it that way. It was comfortable. It was easy. Then Youngbin decided that Sieun was going to be his new plaything and made it his life’s mission to fuck with Sieun. Why him? Hasn’t he already been through enough?
Sieun pounds his fist on his desk and clenches his hand even more tightly around his pen. His vision goes blurry like a black curtain completely enveloping his vision . His blood boiling to the point where it feels like it might burst from his skin. He can barely feel the way his fingernails are digging into his palms, creating crescent-shaped cuts, the color of red now coating the palm of his hand.
The sudden loud noise causes his classmates to turn his way. Sieun can barely process their whispers. There's a voice in his head that’s screaming at him. It’s his fault. Make him pay.
Sieun slowly turns his head toward Beomseok, eyes blank with anger simmering underneath. They make eye contact. Beomseok audibly swallows and quickly glances toward the back of the room. Exactly where Youngbin is.
“Sieun. It’s not what you think.”
But Sieun already has his answer. He knows exactly who is behind all of this. The exact person who has been persistently tormenting him. In the back of his mind, Sieun probably knew Youngbin was messing with him the moment he started feeling nauseous. But none of that matters now. The red has completely overtaken his vision. He’s reached his breaking point.
Without hesitation, Sieun quickly stands up, slamming his chair into the desk behind him. Almost as if time has slowed down, Sieun strides toward his target intent on making him pay. All he can hear is his blood rushing through his head.
Sieun glances at a hardcover book on someone’s desk. He thinks it will be good enough.
Newton’s Second Law, he thinks. The force is proportional to the mass and acceleration.
He switches his pen to his left hand and quickly grabs the book with his right. He shifts his stance and swings the book toward Youngbin, intent on aiming for his face.
But the book never hits its intended target.
There’s a sturdy hand gripping his wrist tightly, preventing Sieun from giving Youngbin exactly what he deserves. Sieun turns to look at the person who stopped him, his eyes wide and crazed with the need for revenge.
“Hey now, you could really hurt someone with that ya know.” It’s the kid who fought with the baseball team the other day. The same kid who randomly showed up to his house. Suho, his mind supplies. He’s looking at Sieun with an amused expression and a small smirk on his face.
Sieun glares at him.
“You think this is funny?” Sieun says through clenched teeth. He tries to break his wrist free from Suho’s grip but to no avail. How is this guy so strong? It pisses Sieun off even more.
“A little”
Suho’s lips quirk up a bit into a small smile. It makes his face look a bit softer and more boyish. Sieun stares at him incredulously. This guy must be an idiot. But the longer Sieun stares into Suho’s eyes, the more he can start to see the bit of concern shining through. For some reason, Sieun can feel his blood start to simmer down.
Breaking out of his trance, Sieun hears Youngbin clear his throat from behind him and his attention immediately shifts back to him. A spike of anger rushes through him as he looks down at Youngbin. Youngbin flinches away at the sight. Reminded of what he was doing, Sieun moves his arm again, fully intending on putting Youngbin in a hospital, but Suho’s grip doesn’t let up.
“Let go.” Sieun seethes and gives Suho a death stare, but Suho is just looking around the classroom, paying him no mind.
“Hey Sieun, help me get some papers for the teacher before she gets back.” Sieun turns back to look at Suho, hoping his piercing glare will convey his answer. What the hell is this guy on about?
But, either Suho is clueless or he just was not going to take no for an answer, because Suho starts to drag Sieun out of the classroom despite his protests, grip on his wrist firm but not so tight that it feels as if it would leave a mark.
Sieun struggles in the other boy’s grip, but Suho is physically stronger than him, so the attempt is utterly useless. Sieun is so focused on breaking out of Suho's grip that he doesn’t even notice where Suho is taking him.
They stop in front of an empty classroom door. Suho drags Sieun inside and closes the door behind them, finally letting go of Sieun’s wrist in the process. Sieun stumbles inside. When he regains his footing, Sieun drops the book he’s been holding on one of the desks and rubs at his wrist annoyed.
“What exactly are you doing?” Sieun asks. He continues to glare at Suho while the other boy stands firmly in front of the door, probably to make sure Sieun doesn’t try to run away.
“I could ask you the same question. You looked like you were about to murder Youngbin back there, which he probably deserves but then you would have gotten yourself expelled, dumbass.” Suho stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks around the empty classroom, seemingly uninterested in their conversation.
He knows that Suho has a point, but right now Sieun is still fuming with unresolved rage. He could not give a shit about anything other than teaching Youngbin a lesson.
“And why would you care?” Sieun knows he sounds tired but he’s just fed up at this point.
With his grip still tight on his pen, he slowly walks toward Suho, planning on going back to class, but Suho still doesn’t budge. Suho takes his hands out of his pocket and crosses his arms over his chest, giving Sieun a challenging look.
The action makes Sieun scoff. This guy must really think highly of himself. Sieun feels his blood boiling at the thought.
Sieun is about to take all his pent up emotions out on Suho, when the other boy glances down at Sieun’s hand and reaches toward it. When Suho’s fingers brush against his hand still holding the pen, Sieun immediately jerks away, not used to people touching him so casually.
Suho also pulls away a little at Sieun’s reaction, looking back up into Sieun’s eyes. His piercing yet soft gaze making Sieun slightly uncomfortable.
No one has ever looked at him like that before. With so much patience and understanding. Sieun is not sure why but he is slightly entranced. Suddenly feeling too vulnerable for his liking, he turns away from Suho’s gaze.
Carefully, as if trying not to startle the other boy, Suho slowly reaches out again, fully enclosing his hand around Sieun’s fist. His thumb softly caressing the back of Sieun’s hand. Sieun’s breath hitches in his throat. Any protests he originally had dies on his tongue.
“Sieun, you need to calm down, okay?” Suho says, concern fully present in his eyes now. Sieun should find it demeaning as if Suho is just pitying him, but he just cannot find it in himself to be mad at him.
Suho breaks eye contact and looks down at where their hands are connected. He lifts Sieun’s hand between them and carefully pries the pen out of his tight grip. Suho puts the pen in his pocket and looks back up at Sieun’s face. Suho keeps a tender grip on his hand, his thumb slowly rubbing circles on his palm.
“Take deep breaths with me, yeah?” Suho gives Sieun a questioning look, waiting for him to respond.
Sieun doesn’t really understand what exactly is happening right now or how he ended up in this classroom with Suho, but his instincts are telling him that he can trust Suho. A feeling he hasn’t felt in a long time. It makes him question if this moment is real or not.
After a minute of silence, Sieun gives him a slight nod.
Suho lets out a breath and gives Sieun a soft smile. He looks down and takes Sieun’s other hand into his own, swinging their arms a little. Sieun’s skin tingles where their skin touches. With a start, Sieun realizes that he can’t remember the last time someone has touched him so tenderly like this. He wonders what this unknown feeling is.
“Alright, just copy me.”
Suho adjusts his stance a little and slightly puffs out his chest. He takes a deep breath and holds it in for a few seconds, then slowly releases it. At first, Sieun just watches him, finding this whole thing slightly ridiculous, but after a while, Sieun notices that he has begun to unconsciously mimic Suho’s actions. He can feel the tension in his shoulders start to deflate. The sudden ache in his jaw from him clenching it this entire time starts to let up too.
The red covering his vision and the dark curtain looming over him completely dissipates by the time Suho ends their little breathing session. Sieun has never felt so at peace, almost completely forgetting about being drugged by his classmate less than an hour ago. Sieun’s eye slightly twiches at the thought.
“Hey.” Sieun looks up just as Suho flicks him on his forehead. Sieun lets out a small yelp at the action and reaches his hand up to hold his head.
“What was that for?” Sieun says, rubbing at the red mark currently blooming on his forehead.
“You think too much.”
Sieun is about to yell at him and say that Suho does not think enough, when Suho guides his free hand away from his forehead, continuing to hold both of hands in a firm grasp. Sieun gives him a questioning look.
“Seriously, don’t let those assholes get to you. They just wanna get a reaction out of you. It’s not worth it.” Sieun scowls a little and tightens his grip.
“Easy for you to say. You weren’t the one who failed their test because your classmates drugged you.” Sieun lets out another tired sigh. He just wants to go home and drown himself in his studies.
“Ah, good point. Well, at least you didn’t fail your test because you fell asleep after 10 minutes.”
Sieun unconsciously lets out a small chuckle at that. This guy really is an idiot, Sieun thinks, shaking his head a little. Sieun glances up at Suho and sees him wearing a slightly surprised look.
“What?” Sieun gives him a confused look in return.
Suho shakes his head, breathing out a small chuckle. “Nothing, I just didn’t think you knew how to laugh. It’s cute.”
Sieun can feel his ears turn red at the statement and looks down. He removes his hands from Suho and punches the other boy in the shoulder. Suho grimaches, letting out a slightly pained sound at the action. “Shut up. Let’s go back to class.”
Sieun reaches past Suho to open the door when Suho stops his hand midway. Sieun is about to protest once again when Suho begins to speak.
“Seriously though, don’t worry about those guys. I’ll take care of it, okay?” Sieun is not sure what he means by that, but from the look Suho is giving him, he can tell the guy is being completely serious. Suho’s eyes are intense and piercing through him. Sieun shudders a little at the look. He breaks eye contact with Suho and lets out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding.
“I can handle it myself. I don’t need your help.” Sieun says, not even convinced with his own words, but for Sieun, it has always been that way. Just him alone, dealing with his own problems. Getting other people involved is too much trouble. Besides, everyone just ended up leaving him in the end anyway.
“I wasn’t asking.” Sieun's heart stutters at the statement. He looks up at Suho with a slightly surprised look. Suho’s hard expression turns into a slightly amused one as he takes in Sieun’s face.
“Come on, let's go.” Suho readjusts the grip on Sieun’s wrist and intertwines their fingers together. Before Sieun can say anything, Suho turns towards the door and gently pulls Sieun along, making him stumble after the other boy.
As they walk through the hallway hand-in-hand, with Suho talking about how hungry he is and how they should get lunch together after school, Sieun wonders why this boy would go through all this trouble in the first place. They never talked until now, so why would Suho try to help him? Does he want something from Sieun? Is this all an act? It just didn’t make sense in his mind. Sieun couldn’t fathom why Suho would look out for someone like him.
Sieun glances at where their hands are connected and then looks at Suho, who was still going on about what he was gonna eat later. Sieun shakes his head and secretly smiles to himself. He thinks he could get used to this.
“Woah, what’s got you smiling like that?” Sieun startles and looks back up, immediately schooling his features into a neutral expression. Suho had stopped and turned back to look at Sieun.
He gives Suho a blank look. “None of your business.”
As he looks around, he realizes they’ve stopped right before the door to their classroom. Sieun lets go of Suho’s hand and pushes his way past him to open the door, already thinking of an excuse to tell their teacher for their absence.
Before Sieun can do so, he once again is stopped by Suho grabbing his hand. Sieun turns around to yell at Suho about his constant touchiness when he feels himself being yanked toward the other boy. In a quick motion - so quick that Sieun could barely even process it - Suho wraps his arm firmly around Sieun’s waist, lightly takes his chin with his other hand, and presses his lips against Sieun’s in a short kiss. Suho pulls away, steps back a little, and proceeds to stuff his hands in his pockets. Sieun is too stunned to say anything.
“You know, you’re cute when you’re mad. Let’s grab some food together after school.” Suho reaches up to ruffle his hair, making Sieun let out a slightly annoyed sound. He then gives Sieun a small smirk and winks at him before opening the door to their classroom and walking towards his desk.
Sieun, too shocked to move, stays in the hallway for another minute, mind racing with a million thoughts, before reaching up to lightly touch his lips. Suddenly, Sieun is consumed with annoyance. He is definitely going to get Suho back for that later. He smiles a little to himself at the thought.
Maybe he really could get used to this.