Jongin leaned against a locker, casually looking at hands, practicing flexing in a way that made his tendons and veins pop. He had once heard a girl call it attractive, and he was keen to catch attention with this new kink trend.

He wasn't exactly sure who's locker it was that he was pressed against, but he wouldn't mind if they came along, so long as they didn't catch him checking himself out. After all, maybe they would be attractive enough that he could practice hitting on them.

To Jongin, high school was all about gaining practice for the rest of your lives, be it practice for working, or for recreational purposes, and so he was keen to get an early start.

After his hands started cramping, he decided he was bored with the finger exercises, and he moved on to the next tactic - crossing his leg in just the right way, so that he would look nonchalant while still seeming like someone that could be engaged in a conversation. It was an art form for Jongin, to look just cool enough while still seeming approachable.

Sighing as he once again grew bored of himself, he straightened up to pull out his phone to check for a text - maybe Sehun had gotten caught up in something and messaged an excuse to get out of the plan - but he heard the squeaking of shoes down the hall, and he quickly pretended to be playing a game on his phone, once again leaning against the locker. In a last minute decision, he decided to poke his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, as if he was concentrating hard. He thought it might be cute, to anyone passing by.

"Oh my god," Sehun followed the script he had practiced with Jongin last night, "look there." As they slowly made their way closer, he whispered, "that guy's so cool," Sehun blushed in embarrassment, as there was no way for him to hide his lisp now that he'd spoken those words, but Zitao didn't seem to notice, or care, and he continued. "He's the most popular freshman in the school. God, I wish I was friends with him..... Isn't he awesome?" Sehun tried to sound wistful, and Zitao got the wrong idea.

"Wait, are you in love with him or something? But he's so.... well, look at him. He's clearly posing, you know that any actual cool person wouldn't try so hard."

Jongin frowned, and his act was shattered. "What would you know, new kid?"

Zitao looked between the two and shook his head in amusement. Then, he took the chance to stare at Jongin, and he started laughing.

"What, what are you laughing at?"

"Come on! Are you serious right now?"

"What?"

"You two are friends."

"What? I... no, he's too cool for me."

Zitao chortled, "I already saw you two yesterday. Did you forget that you hi-fived in the middle of the hallway and walked to the buses together? Nice try though."

Jongin sputtered out incoherent words, and Sehun leaned closer to him, whispering, "you said he wouldn't notice."

"I really don't care. I mean, I am a freshman too you know. It's not that big of a deal to just be normal," he let out one last chuckle, "so you lovers have fun."

"We- we're not!" Sehun protested, but Zitao just shrugged and walked away, muttering something about finding his other friends.

Jongin was flabbergasted, and Sehun was embarrassed. They stood in silence for a few moments before Jongin shrugged. He tended to move on easily, even if anyone else would take a major hit to their ego. "Well, that was a major fail. Let's go smoke."

Sehun sighed, "you know I almost died last time I tried."

"So, you can just stand there like always."

"I don't know...."

Jongin shrugged again, unbothered as he headed for the exit at the end of the hall. Sehun hesitated, but followed.