What is the most regretful thing that you have ever done in your life? To Choi Soobin, it's waking up late.
Shorten the story, Soobin was having another piano practice last night until he didn't realize it was already dawn. Shocked and tired, Soobin immediately went back into his room to prepare to start his day then he decided to take a quick nap. Apparently, the 'quick' nap turned into a whole long hour until he woke up by a loud slam of his door open by his mother at 8 am.
And now, Soobin is running to the school. He knows he'll regret it after losing half of his energy but that's something he should worry about after. The main problem here is he's later to the school than usual.
To his luck, Soobin finally reaches the school exactly at 8:15 am. But knowing how perfectionistic Soobin is, he decided to let the regret and disappointment wash over him.
'How can a perfect student be late? You're so embarrassing, Soobin-ah.' Soobin mentally sighs.
He is not late actually, he still has 45 minutes before the school officially starts but he can't just let himself feel relief for that. He thought he doesn't deserve to.
Soobin stopped running as he reaches the school gate and starts collecting his breath. It's been so long ever since he's sprinting, he feels like his lungs are about to give up.
When he finally feels like he has been resting enough, Soobin finally walks to the entrance of the school building. Only to stop when he notices something weird on a big tree next to the entrance.
It was Beomgyu. Beomgyu is climbing the tree.
"What is this dumbass doing..." Soobin mumbles, a frown forming on his face. It's eight in the morning, why the hell Beomgyu is climbing a tree?
Soobin steps closer to the tree. He then squints his eyes to take a better look at Beomgyu that is sitting on a tree branch from below. Beomgyu looks tired, his hair all messy and has a few leaves stuck on it.
"Oi! What are you doing?! Get down or you'll fall!" Soobin shouts, gaining the attention of the male on the branch.
"Go away!" Beomgyu grumpily yells back. Soobin can see how the latter puffs his cheeks annoyedly.
'My existence annoyed him? Haha.'
Soobin holds back a laugh. He ignores the thought because he should be focusing on Beomgyu's safety right now. If Beomgyu suddenly falls off the tree, he's going to take all the responsibility for being there and being the students' council president at the same time. Students' safety is his priority.
The tree was tall, very tall really. More like three meters taller than Soobin. How did even Beomgyu proceed to climb up to the tree? The thought of Beomgyu probably hurts himself makes Soobin more anxious.
"Get down! You'll hurt yourself!" Soobin tries his best not to curse on Beomgyu. He might be so worried right now but he still needs to keep his clean image. The perfect polite student suddenly cursing? That must be embarrassing.
Unfortunately, Beomgyu just ignores the warning. The only thing he does was move closer to the end of the tree branch, sending Soobin to the edge of his sanity.
"Stop moving or the tree branch will break! You fucking dumbass!"
Soobin widens his eyes and immediately slaps his mouth. Heck, he just cursed in the school area. Somebody could probably see or hear him.
Soobin's concern suddenly replaces with horror when he hears a cracking sound from above him. He immediately looks up, eyes wider than before, his face turns pale.
Beomgyu was exactly at the end of the tree branch. Struggling to get something out of the leaves, not noticing the branch is slowly cracking.
"Get down! Get down! CHOI BEOMGYU, GET DOWN NOW!" Soobin yells at the top of his lungs. God, if only he can express how scared he is right.
"Shut up, asshole! Can't you see this thing over here?!" Beomgyu shouts back. He picks up something from the leaves of the tree branch to give Soobin a better view of the thing. It was a kitten, a kitten was stuck on the tree and Beomgyu was saving it.
Instead of feeling proud that Beomgyu is saving a cat, Soobin gets more scared. What if Beomgyu and the cat fall off from the tree together and then we will have two corpses of a human and a kitten?
Another sound of cracking snapped Soobin out of his concern, only to get Beomgyu into a concerned state.
"Holy shit, HELP ME!" Beomgyu finally gets a grip on the situation he is in now. There's another cracking sound, making Beomgyu yelp and hug the kitten. It maybe looks cute but not when they're on the edge of falling from a huge ass high tree.
Soobin gulps. He needs to get calm or the situation will be harder to handle than before.
"B-beomgyu! Try to ju—"
"Soobin! Get this kitten!" Beomgyu shouts, eyes closed tightly. Without hesitating, Beomgyu throws the kitten down to Soobin.
Soobin gasps and widens his eyes. His body immediately reflexes, catching the kitten right into his arms.
"Oh my God." Soobin breath out. He was so shocked and scared. "God, kitty, you're safe now." Soobin carefully places the kitten on the ground and moves his attention back to the male that is still on the tree branch.
Beomgyu is closing his eyes tightly, his hands wrapped around the tree branch. Another cracking sound was heard and Beomgyu let out another yelp. He is so afraid of falling.
"S-soobin- Aahh!" Beomgyu yells, eyes closing more tightly. Another cracking sound and he felt the tree branch getting lower. He is trembling, Beomgyu could feel tears prickling on his closed eyelids. He is too afraid to open his eyes.
"Help me!"
Soobin is getting more panicked. He can't panic now, he must stay calm or he won't think of anything.
'Think, Soobin! Think!'
"Beomgyu! Jump!" Soobin shouts. A hint of nervousness in his voice.
"No! Are you crazy?!- Aaahhh!!" Beomgyu yells again as another cracking sound was heard and the branch gets lower.
"Jump! Just jump!" Soobin is panicking. The tree branch will break if Beomgyu doesn't jump in any second.
"No!" Beomgyu cried, eyes still closed tightly.
"Beomgyu, I will catch you! Jump now!" Soobin shouts again.
Beomgyu closed his eyes more tightly. He can't breathe, he feels like all his organs are too shocked and gave out. No more cracking sounds but the tree branch is slowly getting lower and lower. Beomgyu's hands' grip on the tree branch tightens.
"I will catch you! Just Jump! Jump!"
Beomgyu's breath hitches. His body turns numb.
"Trust me, Beomgyu! I will catch you when you fall!"
And Beomgyu jumped.
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Beomgyu opens his eyes. He blinks a few times to adjust his eyes to the lights. He doesn't feel like he is laying on the ground, but instead, he feels something wrapped around his shoulders and under his thighs. Like he's in a bridal position.
Soobin has successfully caught him.
"Oh, God.." Beomgyu breathes out a mumble. But then he was shocked again when he feels like falling and a thud was heard.
Soobin's legs gave out. The tall male is now bowing, with his forehead almost press on the ground and Beomgyu is under him still in his arms.
"You fucking daredevil." Soobin chuckles.
"Soobin-"
"You dumbass." Soobin groans and tries to stand up. With a few attempts, he is now standing on his two feet, with Beomgyu still in his arms.
Soobin lets out a sharp sigh and directly glares at the male that is quivering in his arms. He is lifting Beomgyu in bridal style. And somehow Beomgyu looks tinier in the squished position.
Soobin takes a few moments to drink in Beomgyu's visual. Beomgyu is biting his lower lips, his eyes are a bit watery and making them look glossy as if Beomgyu has dollie eyes. Beomgyu's hair is messy, but Soobin thought it looks adorable. Beomgyu is adorable.
'What is this? He is.. cute?'
But then his sweet thought was cut off by a complaint coming out of Beomgyu's lips.
"Are you done staring at me, asshole? Put me down!"
'Here we go again. The bratty mouth is back.' Soobin rolls his eyes.
But instead of putting Beomgyu down, Soobin tightens his grip on Beomgyu, making sure that the smaller male won't escape from him.
"Put me down! Put me down now!" Beomgyu whines, his legs kicking the air rapidly.
"Stop that or I will seriously put you down from the third floor." Soobin snapped, eyes not leaving Beomgyu's annoyed face as he starts walking into the school building.
Beomgyu was about to give another whine but then he realized they're finally in the locker hallway, the place where all students gather around before their classes start. And his guess is right, there are many students there. And all the students are staring at Beomgyu that is being carried by Soobin.
"Put me down!" Beomgyu whisper-yells, not wanting to draw attention. But unfortunately, he didn't get Soobin's attention either as the tallboy just keep walking and not caring to take a single glance at Beomgyu, eyes glued to the front.
Beomgyu squirms, the stares and murmurs are making him anxious. He tries his best to squeeze himself and get smaller in Soobin's arms. He then hides his face on Soobin's chest.
The movement caught Soobin off guard. Soobin can feel his heartbeats when Beomgyu presses his forehead on his chest. He wonders if Beomgyu can hear his heart beating.
Soobin unconsciously fastens his steps in the same rhythm as his heartbeat. He can feel his heart did a skip when Beomgyu buries his face deeply on Soobin's chest, his hands clutching on Soobin's uniform torso.
Soobin admits it, he is aware of the eyes on them and the murmurs of the students questioning what happened to Beomgyu and why Soobin is carrying Beomgyu. But Soobin tries to ignore them, he should focus on carrying Beomgyu to the nurse's office. In case if the smaller male has any injury from earlier or anything.
They enter another hallway, where there was no longer students in their sight. But suddenly, Soobin feels a tap on his shoulder. He stops walking and turns around.
"Hey, Soobin? Have you seen Beom- oh?"
It was Yeonjun. Yeonjun's concerned expression is immediately replaced with a joking smirk when Soobin fully turns around and revealed Beomgyu that is trying to hide in his arms.
"Ohohoh, look what do we have here. Jeongin is going to like this."
"Don't you dare tell this to Jeongin." Beomgyu removes his face from Soobin's chest and replies at Yeonjun angrily. If Soobin is being honest, he somehow feels disappointed but relieved at the same time when his heartbeat turns normal again.
'Weird. Do I have heart disease?'
"And what do I get in return for zipping my mouth?" Yeonjun wiggles his eyebrows, the teasing annoying smirk not leaving his face.
Beomgyu pauses for a moment. His lips pressed in a thin line and the space between his eyebrows decrease, cheeks puff as he clenches his teeth. There it goes again, Soobin's heart is doing the weird thing again.
Beomgyu suddenly gasps, eyes widen and a smirk formed on his lips, "I'll set you up on a date!" He removed his left hand from Soobin's chest and points it on Yeonjun.
"What?" Yeonjun burst out of laughter, "Why would-"
"With Taehyun. I'll set you up on a date with Taehyun." Beomgyu gives a smug smile.
Yeonjun's laughter immediately died down and his face turns into a confused frown, "How did you know-"
"Jeongin told me." Beomgyu blinks his eyes rapidly with a fake innocent smile, "Jeongin told me everything. Wah! I can't believe our Choi Yeonjun has a crush on Kang Tae—"
"OKAY!" Yeonjun cut Beomgyu off, "Okay! I won't tell Jeongin about Soobin carrying you around like a couple, but don't tell anyone about my crush." Yeonjun warns, voice stern.
"Your wish is my command." Beomgyu snickers maliciously.
"Are you guys done? Beomgyu, you're heavy." Soobin grumbles, grabbing the attention of the male in his arms and the male in front of them.
Soobin then lifts Beomgyu up with a slight toss to adjust their stability, which earns a yelp from Beomgyu and the smaller one immediately wraps his arms around Soobin's neck.
"Don't do that again!" Beomgyu shrieks.
"What? This?" Soobin smirks and does the toss again, but this time he earns a punch on the chest by Beomgyu.
"I told you not to do that again, dumbass! That scared me!" Beomgyu snarls.
Soobin just laughs it off, the punch wasn't even that hurt either. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all when Beomgyu landed his fist on his chest.
"Woah, Beomgyu." Yeonjun smiles, Beomgyu turns his head by the mention of his name.
"You really took Princess Beommie to a whole different level, huh? Got yourself a prince, I see." Yeonjun giggles. He teasingly waves his hand and bid goodbye to the two but Beomgyu wasn't having any of it.
"What the?- Choi Yeonjun, come back here! You fucker, I'm going to strangle you!" Beomgyu wriggles in Soobin's arms, eager to release himself and beat Yeonjun for the teasing comment.
Yeonjun's silhouette disappear as he left the hallway and went to another path. But Beomgyu was still hadn't calmed down.
"Yeonjun! I said come back! Choi fucking Yeonjun!"
Beomgyu squirms and wriggles, trying his best to escape from Soobin's hold. But to his dismay, the taller one's grips are so strong.
"Put me down! Soobin, put me down! Now! Now! Now! Put me down now! Soobin!" Beomgyu yells deafeningly. God, how bad Soobin wants to tape the annoying loud mouth.
Soobin just rolls his eyes and turns around. He then starts walking again, destination the nurse's office.
"Choi Soobin!" And the yells continue.
Meanwhile, Yeonjun is on his way to his classroom on the second floor.
He is a few steps closer to the staircase when suddenly a person rushingly comes down from it. The person was running and almost trip but luckily he grabbed the stair railing.
"Shit, that was close." The person breathes out a sigh.
Yeonjun takes a step to the front to take a closer look. The person was Taehyun. Taehyun ran downstairs and almost trip.
"Taehyun? Why were you running? That was dangerous, you could get hurt-"
"Beomgyu! Yeonjun hyung, have you seen Beomgyu hyu-"
"He's fine." Yeonjun immediately cut him off. A sweet smile on the older one's lips but it was forced. Yeonjun is quite disappointed but he does not even deserve to feel like it.
Taehyun frowns at the answer, "What do you mean? The class is about to start and Beomgyu hyung is still not in his classroom."
"Don't worry, he's fine. Beomgyu is in a good hand." Yeonjun smiles and mentally laughs at the intended pun.
Taehyun's frown increase, "A good hand? What do you mean by that?" He asks out of confusion.
Yeonjun just smiles sweetly and didn't respond. Instead, he climb the stairs and went past Taehyun. Taehyun that is still standing there, glares at Yeonjun. He was caught off guard when Yeonjun suddenly pats his head.
"What?" Taehyun was about to smack Yeonjun's hand away but suddenly the bell rings and Yeonjun quickly withdraws his hand, leaving Taehyun's head feeling unfamiliarly light.
"See you at lunch." Yeonjun waves at Taehyun and went upstairs. Leaving Taehyun that is dumbfounded standing on the staircase.
"Choi Yeonjun!" Taehyun yells irritatedly.
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"Why are we here?"
"To treat your wounds."
"But I didn't hurt myself!"
"Oh yeah? Then what is this?"
Beomgyu hisses when Soobin suddenly touches a bleeding wound on Beomgyu's cheek. He probably got it from climbing the tree and some branches scratched him.
Soobin is sitting on a stool in front of Beomgyu that is sitting on the bed that has been provided in the nurse's office. The school nurse seems nowhere to be found but the nurse's office was already unlocked when they came. Soobin assumes the nurse is probably at somewhere else she needs to be at.
"Sit still and don't move. I'm going to put some cream so the wound won't get infected." Soobin warns and rummages through the safety kit.
Beomgyu rolls his eyes, "Yeah I know that. I'm the one that treated your wound the other day."
Soobin just hums, not wanting to make an argument. He found an ointment in the safety kit and put it on a cotton bud to rub it on Beomgyu's wound. Soobin then places the safety kit on the side table and turns around to face Beomgyu again.
"Sit still."
Soobin moves forward. But Beomgyu moves backward. Soobin moves more forward and reaches out the cotton bud in his hand to Beomgyu's face. But Soobin missed the wound as Beomgyu proceeds to nudge it.
Soobin frowns, "I said sit still."
"And my natural habit is not complying with what people told me to."
"Beomgyu, I will report your stubborn behavior to the disciplinary teacher."
"Soobin, I don't care." Beomgyu chuckles and nonchalantly lays down on the bed. Arms crossed under his head and his eyes closed comfortably.
Soobin clicked his tongue, "Your wound will get infected-"
"Shut up and get out. I'll wait until the nurse comes and treats me herself." Beomgyu said and yawns, already relaxed on the bed.
Soobin glares at Beomgyu for a while, his patients getting thinner. He was about to snap on the smaller one but then his mind drifts off while staring at Beomgyu's half-asleep face. From Beomgyu's long pretty eyelashes to Beomgyu's cherry lips. Soobin wonders how a boy can have such naturally long eyelashes. Without him knowing, his little heart does the thing again.
'Maybe because he's pretty, my heart is like this whenever I see attractive people. This is something normal, isn't it?'
"I can feel your eyes shooting laser on my face." Beomgyu mumbles through his sleepy expression. His eyes aren't open but Soobin can see Beomgyu rolling his eyes under the eyelids.
Beomgyu then turns his back in Soobin's direction. Now that Beomgyu's face is no longer watchable, Soobin's heart still does the same thing.
"You're trying to skip morning classes, aren't you?" Soobin asks and sighs out of frustration. He stands up and walks around the bed, now facing Beomgyu.
Soobin is surprised to find Beomgyu's eyes are open and the smaller one's lips puckered in a pout, clearly trying to charm him into a pity. But Soobin put on an expressionless face, resisting Beomgyu's attempt of cuteness.
"But I don't want to attend math class." Beomgyu whines, his back is now lays on the mattress.
Soobin closes his eyes and softly sighs, "Stop being childish. Beomgyu, you're seventeen years old."
Beomgyu whines more, he rolls to his side and is now facing Soobin. Beomgyu put on the best sad look he can make, lips pouting and puppy eyes blinking rapidly. He then put his hands together in a begging way and stares at Soobin with pleading eyes.
"Please let me stay here until recess."
"No."
"Please?" Beomgyu fakes sniffling sounds.
"No means no. Get up, I still need to treat your wound, princess." Soobin playfully rolls his eyes.
Beomgyu groans and gives in. He then sits up and glares at the taller, "I'm not a princess."
"Aren't princesses are whiny and stubborn? Same as you, Princess Beommie." Soobin said teasingly, a hint of joke in his voice.
Beomgyu just huffs and rolls his eyes, not daring to fight back because he is sulking. Soobin just chuckles and softly pads the scratch on Beomgyu's cheek with a tissue. After he cleans the wound, Soobin then puts ointment on it.
"Are you done yet?" Beomgyu asks. Soobin was about to reply that he's done but then he remembers something.
"Not yet, I still need to put a bandage on your wound." Soobin mumbles and searches through the safety kit again. His eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the box. Soobin picks it up and looks at it for a while then looks at Beomgyu.
"Beomgyu..." Soobin murmurs, his hand softly holding out the thing he found earlier. He tries not to laugh when Beomgyu's expression changes upon seeing the thing.
Soobin can't hold it anymore and chuckles when Beomgyu's face turns pale in shock. He rips the small paper bag and shows Beomgyu the thing inside it.
Soobin wiggles his eyebrows, a playful evil smirk curved on his lips. Beomgyu gulps and shakes his head, which earns a laugh from Soobin. The smaller tries to snatch the thing but Soobin was quick and nudges it, still holding the thing in his hand and giggling uncontrollably.
"Soobin, I'm not going to-"
"Oh, come on! Look! It has glitters on it!" Soobin burst out laughing as Beomgyu's cheeks turn red out of embarrassment.
Soobin's laugh then died down, he took a few breaths and try to stay collected. He gets closer to Beomgyu and whispers, "So can I...?"
The blush on Beomgyu's cheeks spread to the whole face until the tips of his ears, he can feel the heat crept on his face. Soobin just keeps quiet, lips turning into a smirk when Beomgyu stammered out a sentence.
"Is- is there.. is there the n-normal one? O-other- other than... that?" Beomgyu stutters, hands shaking while pointing at the thing that Soobin is holding.
It's a bandage, a blue-colored bandage with glitters on it. But the most embarrassing thing to Beomgyu is that the Cinderella's face on the bandage. The bandage is clearly made for a 7 years old girl and not a 17 years old Choi Beomgyu.
Soobin snickers and shakes his head. He holds out the Cinderella bandage again, visibly shows it to Beomgyu. Soobin then said, "This is the only one. The normal ones are probably have been used until finished. Maybe that's why the nurse is gone, to get a new stock of the normal ones."
"Then- then we should wait until the nurse returns!" Beomgyu jolts out of the bed, now awkwardly standing in front of the taller male.
Soobin shakes his head again, "No, we've already wasted 15 minutes. I'm not going to let us waste 5 minutes more."
"And besides, the bandage really suits you." Soobin added. Innocent yet evil-looking smirk plastered on his face.
"No!" Beomgyu raises his voice and shakes his head, "I'm not going to let that bandage near my face! And it's fricking Cinderella!"
"Cinderella is a princess, like you!"
"I'm not a princess! Princess is only for a girl, I'm a boy!"
"That's very sexist, Beomgyu." Soobin jokingly commented and grimaces, earning a frown from the smaller one.
"How is that- wait- I- what?" Beomgyu's eyebrows furrow in confusion. His mind went blank, he is speechless and doesn't know how to come up with a relevant sentence.
Soobin chuckles as he watches Beomgyu doze off, probably in a deep thought comprehending the thing he said earlier. Without Beomgyu realizing it, Soobin moves closer to him and puts the bandage on his wound.
Soobin takes a look and laughs out loud, snapping Beomgyu out of his dozes. Just then Beomgyu realized Soobin has already plastered the Cinderella bandage on his cheeks.
"What the-"
"Don't you dare remove it." Soobin warns, a chuckle leaves his lips when he looks at Beomgyu again.
Beomgyu was about to explode and throws curses on Soobin but the taller immediately save himself and get out of the nurse's office.
"Fuck you, Choi Soobin!"
Soobin burst out of laughter when he heard Beomgyu shouting curses on him from inside the nurse's office. He smiles, feet bouncing joyfully from step to step as he walks through the corridor on his way to his class. Beomgyu's yells are fading, meaning he's already far from the nurse's office.
'Nurse's office.' Soobin sheepishly smiles. 'Will the same thing happen at the nurse's office again?'
With that, Soobin finally enters his classroom. Apologizing to the teacher for being late and takes a seat. The weird feeling still blooming in his chest.
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