euphonious ~ Chenji

one

Crisp autumn air hit Jisung's cheek as he walked. He passed the golden trees, watching the leaves pass by. His hair was touched by the air passing by, catching him off guard. He kicked some of the leaves gently.
He was waiting for his friend Lee Jeno, his upperclassman. They had been friends for a while, both being on student council and their mothers being close in general. They just seemed to match although being opposites. Jisung placed his bag on the floor, squatting gently to relax his legs.
He was always late, which made ji anxious, jittering as he waited. He hated being late, and he hated Jeno for it. Especially on the first day back from summer.

Jisung checked his watch, sighing softly as there was no sign of him. He was tempted to walk on, picking up his bag and swinging it over his shoulder, when the man of the hour finally exited his house. "Jisung-ah!! My alarm didn't go off!!" Jeno pouted, hugging the taller boy. He stepped back, not appreciating the touch. "hyung. You're thirty minutes late and i got here early!" He scolded.

Soon after, the two boys started walking, watching the trees sway in the light wind. The streets always looked more peaceful in the autumn, or so jisung thought. He observed his surroundings, watching Jenos movements too. He was really energetic considering it was so early in the morning. He felt so youthful and bright, although the man was older than him. Jisung chuckled at him. "hyung did you even have breakfast." To which Jeno didn't reply.

The school gates looked as shiny as ever, the metal staring back at them. The trees in the ground had also turned the orange colour that Jisung adored. The 'perfect study weather' he would say. They stared at the large building for a while debating if it's too early to enter, before Jeno spotted someone.
"back in prison." He spoke.
"c'mon! it's not that bad.." Jeno replied.
"If you say so." The figure spoke, staring directly at Jisung. "who's this?" The boy's eyebrow raised, pressing a disgusted look into his soul.
The figure looked shorter than Jisung, his guitar bag behind his back and black hair covering his eyes. It was messily parted in the middle, looking as if he hadn't even styled it. He could never understand people that didn't prepare themselves properly and this boy seemed like one of them, bandages around his fingers.

Jeno sprung up instantly, practically wagging his tail. He clearly loved attention, running back to jisung and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "this is my friend jisung!" He didn't speak, giving the man a shaky wave before escaping Jeno's grasp. He gripped both hands on the straps of his bag, lowering his head. Jisung fixed his uniform, straightening his tie as he waited and prayed for the conversation to be over. "He's in our classes this year." Jeno smiled, glancing over at the boy.
Jisung had been moved up a grade for his good performance, he was happy to know he would be with jeno but it frightened him to be with so many new faces. He wasn't really big on.. people.

"ah anyways! Have you seen Nari anywhere? She hasn't texted me this morning." Choi Nari was Jeno's girlfriend. Jeno's very pretty girlfriend that had always taken care of him and jisung, even if he denied the help and struggled with the problems himself. Jisung was a bit stubborn like that.
"Nah." The black-haired boy replied bluntly.

Jeno nodded, saying his goodbyes to the boy and strolling away with Jisung. They were headed to the library, their favourite place to hang out. No one really visited the library apart from exam season so the two boys had claimed an area in the far right corner behind a couple of bookshelves as their own. It wasn't spoken to anyone that it was their space, people just somehow knew it was theirs.

"Jeno-hyung," He spoke, watching jeno munch down on his late breakfast. "who was that guy? At the front gates." He didn't speak, eating away at his food. Jisung nodded, not focussing on the subject. He fiddled with his fingers, feeling as if he had done something wrong for asking.
Jeno changed the subject, handing some food to the boy. "What class do you have first?"
"ah-" Jisung pulled out his paper timetable, nervously unfolding it. "math."
"Fuck it." Math was the only subject the two boys didn't have with each other. "it's evil we aren't together. Why have you got to be so smart jisungie?" He chuckled.

~

As well as the boys not having the same math class, their lockers were far apart too. Jisung was alone in the long corridor, grabbing his notebooks from his locker. He locked it up and walked towards his class, he was looking down at his phone, texting jeno of course.

MON 7:45

jeno: jisungie i'm so borreeeed i can't even see nari anywhereeee!!!

Jisung: jeno...
i'm walking to class

jeno: 😒🥺

Jisung is typing..

_

"DUDE?! watch it?!" Jisung heard as he bumped into the person in front of him. He looked up, bowing gently.

"i'm so sorry." He bowed more, before the figure pushed past him, wobbling his balance. It shook him up a little, wanting to get to class as quickly as he could.

He sat down at an empty desk, which happened to be the one right at the front. All of the students stared at him, judging his every move.

He took a deep breath, replying to jeno with a quick 'in class'. His hands shook as he typed, hearing footsteps approaching him from behind. "it's jisung right?" The voice spoke, to which he nodded. "im- im donghyuck! i know jeno a bit, we used to be in clases together last year." The boy smiled widely, handing out his hand for jisung to shake to which he did.

Hyuck leaned over, speaking quieter this time. "you're gay right?"

Jisungs heart sunk. He was out, fully out, as gay to most of his friends. It didn't really bother him that people knew it was just.. sorta dangerous for some people to know. "uh.." Before he could form a sentence donghyuck cut him off. "no- i- i didn't mean it in like a homophobic way- im bisexual myself." He chuckled at which jisung smiled, he had never met another lgbt person other than Jeno. "It's one of the reasons why me and Jeno-hyung got close, us both being bi and all!"

The two talked for a couple of minutes before donghyuck returned to his desk at the back of the room. Jisung unpacked his pencil case, keeping everything tidy as his teacher arrived on time, followed by the last student that was late.

The student slammed his bag on the desk next to jisung, knocking some of his pencils to the floor. "sorry i'm late." He spoke in the most unapologetic voice. Jisung instantly recognised the voice from the front gates. It was the guitar boy with dark hair. Which became obvious when he finally had the courage to look up at the boy. "Look, i don't want to sit next to you either." He spoke bluntly, looking jisung in the eye. All the boy could think to do was nod and stare back at his book.

"what a good way to start off the year hm mr zhong?" The teacher spoke.

Zhong.. Jisung couldn't even recognise the last name.