Work Text:
As soon as the bell rang, Jinri jumped out of her seat and walked quickly out of class. She hurried downstairs to find Minho at his locker. “Ming!” she yelled, running down the hall and throwing her arms around the boy. “I missed youuuu,” she whined once he had gotten over his initial shock from being tackled in the hallway and hugged her back.
“I saw you an hour ago in astronomy, Sulli. You okay bby?” Minho always used his childhood nickname for her when he could tell something was off, she found it comforting. Jinri pulled back with a pout as she felt people starting to rush by her, eager to avoid cafeteria lines.
“People were just being awful in psychology today. So much ableist language it’s bullshit. Today, someone asked when we were gonna learn about how people go crazy. Like, what the fuck? These people have no idea what it’s like to be neurodivergent,” Jinri’s words ran together due to her anger. In the time she was ranting, Minho had opened his locker and pulled out their lunchboxes. Jinri’s locker was broken so she decided to claim Minho’s as her own as well. He would expect nothing less from his best friend and wasn’t surprised when one day he opened up his locker to find twice as many books inside.
He pulled a strand of her short black hair affectionately. “I’m sorry,” he frowned. “Here,” he handed her lunchbox to her, “Getting some food in your stomach will help.”
“You’re right, I’m starving. I forgot my snack again today,” Jinri admitted. She linked his arm and they began walking out together when they heard someone calling their names.
They turned around to find one of the writers for the school paper. “Hey! Sorry to bother you but I was wondering if I could take a picture of you two?” he asked.
Jinri raised an eyebrow, “Why?”
“Oh, we’re starting a weekly article on the campus’s cutest couples and everyone thought you guys would be the perfect pair to start with,” he explained excitedly.
“Are you kidding me?” she replied as Minho tightened his arm around hers. He never was good at this kind of stuff so he always left the confronting to Jinri. “What makes you think we’re dating?”
“Well you guys are always together so we just assumed,” he started before being interrupted.
“You assumed wrong,” she turned away and dragged Minho outside to the courtyard.
“Thanks for that Sulli,” Minho finally said once they’d reached their usual bench and sat down, “You know how nervous I get when confronted with things like that. I’m always scared I’ll accidentally let it slip.”
“It’s okay Ming, you can come out when you’re ready and I will fight people for you any time. I’m adorable and I pack a mean punch, what else could you want in a best friend,” Jinri stated as she started her lunch.
“You know, I bet they aren’t gonna have any same-sex couples in that column. This school is so heteronormative,” Minho grumbled into his sandwich.
“You’re right,” Jinri said, “It’s a bad idea anyways. High school relationships rarely last, by the time the article would be published the couple will already be brokenhearted.”
Just then Minho gasped, “Look Jinri, it’s Kibum and Jinki. Ugh, Kibum looks so hot today and Jinki looks so attractive in that sweater! How is that even possible?” Minho might be a sports potato but he got so squealy whenever he saw cute boys. He had a list of boys that he looked out for while they ate lunch. “And look, Joonmyun is sitting over there. Doesn’t he have the sweetest smile,” Minho gushed.
“One of these days I’m gonna make you go over and actually talk to one of your many crushes,” Sulli insisted.
“You know how scared I am of rejection though,” Minho pouted.
“I know,” Jinri said, “But sometimes you just gotta get over it. How else will you get to makeout with them?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Minho started hitting her leg. “Here she comes,” he giggled. Jinri looked over and saw Amber exiting the choir building. Jinri smiled shyly as Amber started walking towards her waving. “Hey Jinri!” Amber exclaimed, stopping in front of her. She beamed up, “Hey Amber! How’s your day been?”
“Stressful, we have a choir performance coming up that we are not prepared for and I still haven’t done my Economics homework.”
“He doesn’t check it,” Minho spoke up.
“Really?” she glanced at Minho.
Minho nodded. Amber’s gaze shifted back to Jinri and she let out a sigh of relief and clutched at her heart, “Thank goodness.” Jinri giggled at her cute response.
“By the way Jinri, you look really pretty! I like your top,” she said, reaching out and rubbing the sleeve of the other girl’s velvet crop top, “It feels nice.”
“Thanks Amber,” Jinri said as a faint pink brushed her cheeks.
“Anyways, I gotta run so I can have time to eat. I’ll see you 7th period!” Amber said backing up, eyes never leaving Jinri.
“Okay, I’ll see you then,” Jinri smiled and waved.
“I swear it’s like I’m not even here when y’all talk,” Minho mumbled.
“But isn’t she dreamy?” Jinri insisted as she watched the girl walk into the cafeteria.
“She is very cute Sulli,” Minho agreed, “And I am 110% sure she’s also in love with you please ask her out.”
“I don’t know, I kinda don’t see the point,” she shrugged.
“Why not?”
“I mean we’re seniors. We’ll be graduating soon and going to different schools. Why start a relationship when there’s so much unknown ahead?” she tried to act nonchalant about it but Minho knew this was something she thought about a lot.
He reached up to pet her short hair comfortingly, “But in every relationship there’s always unknown factors. Plus it’s still early in the year so you shouldn’t worry about that yet.”
“I know I know, we’ll see what happens,” she said.
“She’s obviously into you babe, you just need to take that chance and see where it goes. Amber’s an awesome girl, you’ll regret it if you don’t go for it,” Minho insisted.
She sighed, “You’re right as always.”
“I won’t deny it,” Minho giggled bumping her shoulder.
She bumped back, “Look over there Minho, your favorite couple.”
Minho glanced across the courtyard to see Jonghyun and Taemin, the one of the only same sex couples at their school, walking together holding hands. “They are literally goals Jinri,” he exclaimed excitingly, “They’re both so cute it’s no wonder they’re dating.”
She put her arm around him, “I’m telling you Ming, that’ll be you with a cute boy one day.”
He sighed dramatically, “I hope so.”
“I promise you, we’ll make it happen,” she said, ruffling his hair.
They finished eating while talking about the new gay sports anime they’re obsessed with and soon enough the bell rang. They walk back to their locker together to put away their lunches and grab their books for their afternoon classes.
“Do you think we could pick up milkshakes after school today?” Minho asked as Jinri closed their locker door.
“Please, I’m sure I’ll need a little pick me up at the end of the day,” she smiled. She tugged him into a hug, “See you after school Ming!”
He hugged her back, “Sounds good Sulli.”
They heard someone walking by say, “Awww, they really are the cutest couple.”
Jinri whips around searching for the source but Minho puts a hand on her shoulder, “It’s not worth it, get to class you dork you’re going to be late.”
She wrinkled her nose, “They’re lucky I have a quiz right now.” She stomped down the hall in a hurry.
“Good luck,” he called after her. She looked over her shoulder to stick her tongue out at him before turning around a corner. He chuckled to himself and went up the stairs. In his rush to get to class he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings so it was no surprise when he ran right into someone who dropped all the papers he was holding.
“Oh my god I’m so sorry,” Minho apologized while picking up the sheets of paper that surrounded them.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” he heard a kind voice say next to him. He looked over and found himself face to face with Kim Joonmyun. “I forgot to print out an assignment so I was in a hurry and wasn’t watching where I was going,” he smiled sweetly.
Minho felt his cheeks turn red, “Here you go.” He held the papers out to Joonmyun who took them gratefully.
“Thank you so much,” Joonmyun said.
Minho smiled softly, “Yeah, no problem.”
Joonmyun tilted his head, “You’re Choi Minho, right? You’re on the soccer team.”
“You know who I am?” Minho asked with wide eyes. He never thought the beautiful Kim Joonmyun knew he existed.
Joonmyun nodded, “Of course I do! I come to every game.” Just then the bell rang, surprising both boys.
“Guess I should rush off but I’ll see you at the next game! I’ll come say hi afterwards,” Joonmyun shot one last smile before rushing off.
Minho just stood there in a daze, not knowing what exactly just happened, until he heard his teacher yelling at him to get inside the classroom. He scurried into the classroom but was out of it the entire time, stunned at the small interaction with his longtime crush. He couldn’t wait to tell Jinri about this.