Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Please welcome to the stage, Lee Daehwi!” An invisible announcer shouted his name. A blurry sea of people greeted him as he emerged behind the curtain. What was he supposed to do again? He couldn’t remember why he was on stage but they seemed to be waiting for something. A mic stand suddenly appeared in front of him. He automatically opened his mouth to sing.Time fast forwarded to the cheers and calls of the audience. “Daehwi! Daehwi! Daehwi…” The chants faded.

Buzz. Buzz. Daehwi groaned as he reached for his phone under his pillow. Wasn’t he performing on a show? Buzz. Buzz. The dream dissipated into the sunlight. Blinking open his eyes, he yawned as he tried to make sense of his screen.

Samuel:

7:28 I’m outside your door.

7:30 Are you ready to go?

Daehwi leapt out of bed fully awake. He was gonna be late to his first day of school! In a rush, Daehwi hurried to get ready almost tripping over his books. How could he be late to the most important day of his life? Everyone knew that if you screwed up the first day of high school you’d be ruined for the rest of your life. Brushing his teeth, he sent a quick text back to Samuel, his best friend.

Daehwi:

7:36 Wahh, I overslept! TT

7:36 I’ll hurry as fast as I can

Although he and Samuel were both straight A students, Samuel had always been the more organized one between them. He was the kind of person who’d set their clock ten minutes early so he’d be twenty minutes early to any appointment. Daehwi and Samuel had been childhood friends. Their moms had both moved into the neighborhood at the same time and their houses were conveniently right next to each other. Despite going to different schools, they still played together and their moms had become great friends as well. This would be the first time they would be attending the same school which excited them both. 

As he dressed, Daehwi couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the new uniform on him. It was so fashionable and cool with a blazer and tie. He posed in the mirror pouting his lips. Suddenly a knock came from the door.

“Daehwi, Samuel’s here. He says you’re going to be late.” His mom called. As Daehwi stumbled out the door with toast in his mouth, he saw Samuel waiting expectantly.

“Oh my God, Daehwi! We’re gonna be so late!” His eyes were wide with worry as his hands clutched his head. “Let’s go, let’s go!” Daehwi grabbed his hand and started running.

The boys ran down the streets before entering the subway station. Squeezing into the crowded car, they could finally take a moment to catch their breath. As they caught each other’s gaze, they laughed with giddy excitement. Their first day was already filled with such excitement.

Samuel complimented Daehwi’s uniform to which Daehwi reciprocated politely although he secretly thought it looked better on him than Samuel. They chattered endlessly about their fears and expectations for classes and students. Samuel whispered nervously that he was worried about making friends to which Daehwi gave him reassurance.

As they approached the school gates, the students were started to empty from the courtyard to the classrooms. They approached the announcements board on which the class lists were posted. Scanning for their names, their hearts sank when they saw their classes.

Class 1-2

Kim Samuel

Class 1-5

Lee Daehwi

“I guess we can’t be together anymore.” Daehwi looked at Samuel sadly. He noticed his eyes were watery and took a moment before responding. “Maybe we could get the teachers to switch.” His voice cracked but they both sadly knew it wasn’t likely. They trudged to the classrooms together, their previous excitement dampened.

“At least we’ll be in the same building when we wanna talk and see each other.” Daehwi tried to comfort Samuel when they saw their classrooms were even on different floors. They gave a last sad smile to each other before entering their respective classrooms.

Suddenly, Daehwi felt his stomach drop and his legs turned to jelly. He was really on his own now. Trying to ignore curious glances, he trudged to his assigned seat towards the window. He sat between two really smart looking kids and started to feel even more nervous. Just as he was about to say hello to one of them, the teacher walked in. She had a beautiful face and kind smile.

“Hello, class. My name is Shin Yumi. I’m looking forward to being your homeroom teacher this year. I’ve been teaching at this school for almost ten years now. I love teaching first years especially. It’s always wonderful to see such bright and eager faces. I hope that we can have a great school year together.”

Daehwi thought she was so pretty and it was apparent that some of the other boys did as well. He felt so lucky to have her as his teacher. He listened attentively as she went over announcements for the beginning of the year. Most of it seemed standard fare about rules and expected behavior. Even though the classrooms were separated gender, it was still a coed school and students were expected to be proper. In addition, every week there’d be class cleaning duty assigned on a rotating basis. Some kids groaned at that since it was after school. When Yumi started talking about clubs and extracurricular activities, Daehwi perked up. He totally wanted this year to be the year he reinvented himself.

The smart looking kid in front of him suddenly put up his hand.

“Yes, Lee Euiwoong?”

“When will elections be held for student council?” Daehwi had a sudden flashback to the opening ceremony just a week before. This was the kid who’d gotten the highest score on the entrance exam and spoke during the ceremony as the grade representative. Daehwi was seriously impressed but also anxious to be in the same class as him.

“You have the next two weeks to submit your name or nominate someone for a position. Voting will then commence for a week.” Yumi smiled at the boys. “But since you’re all first years, the only positions open to you are either secretary or class representative. Each class will have two representatives to speak for us on the council.”

There was a small buzz about this news before she hushed the class to begin lessons. But all morning Daehwi had trouble paying attention. He was just far too excited about exploring the school grounds and meeting people.

----

During the break, he wanted to talk with Euiwoong but surprisingly he already had female students waiting by the door, giggling at him. The kid behind him noticed his disappointment and gave him a poke.

“Hey, I’m Lee Woojin.” He introduced himself. They chatted for a bit and Daehwi found out he was a math prodigy but not so good at anything else. He mentioned he liked musicals and Daehwi excitedly asked if he was going to do musicals at the school. Woojin shyly answered that he wasn’t sure. His talent might not be good enough, he said with downcast eyes. Daehwi immediately protested and tried to give him a confidence boost.

“If you’re too nervous, I’ll do it with you.” He promised Woojin at which he looked relieved. As class resumed, he was giddy about already making a friend before lunch.

----

The bell rang for lunch and Daehwi gathered his lunch bag to meet Samuel. As he raced down the stairs his foot slipped as he fell headfirst into someone coming the opposite way. They crashed on the floor with an audible thud.

“Wahh” Daehwi moaned as he tried to untangle himself. Looking up, he was about to apologize when he saw the smallest face in his life. The boy had beautiful caramel hair and dark eyes but his proportions were what really shocked him. Such a small face had been squished onto a large head on an elongated thick neck.

“Um, can you get off me?” His deeper voice didn’t match his pretty face but it still had an air of delicacy about it.

Daehwi immediately blushed and stood up. “I’m so sorry for falling into you like that. I mean, I was just on my way to see someone, and my feet just were stupid, and I’m so sorry!”

As he rambled he offered a hand to help the boy up. They were almost the same height so Daehwi felt good he wasn’t too short.

“No, it’s ok. I’m not hurt, are you?” Daehwi immediately put his hand up and shook his head. There was something about this boy, the longer he looked at him, that attracted him.

“What about your lunch over there?” He nodded his head. Unfortunately, Daehwi’s lunch hadn’t survived the fall. Scatters of food like rice, vegetables, and chicken that his mom had so carefully packed this morning were all gone to waste.

“Oh no! My lunch!” Daehwi wailed forlornly. “Here, I’ll help you clean up.” He offered. “My name’s Bae Jinyoung by the way.”

“Wow, that’s so kind of you. It was really my fault too. I’m Lee Daehwi. This is my first day of school.” They started wiping up the food together.

“Oh, you’re a first year? I’m a second year.” They chatted about their classes while finishing up the cleaning. Daehwi found out that he was in class 2-2 with Lee Seokhoon as his teacher.

“That should do it. Do you wanna come with me to the bread shop? I’ll pay since I feel bad you don’t have any lunch.” Baejin offered kind of shyly.

For a second, Daehwi was torn between accepting the offer or meeting Samuel. But he was really hungry and knew that Samuel was probably gonna eat all the food that he had packed.

“Okay, sure. But I’ll definitely pay you back tomorrow. It was totally my fault.” He insisted. They walked together towards the shop laughing. On their way, Baejin gave him a mini tour of the campus and told him some school rumors. Apparently, there was a rumor that someone had bribed their way into the school by paying off the board. When Daehwi asked him how people found this information out, he lowered his voice and whispered, “The school's News Club. No one knows who’s in it but they know everything. If you wanna stay up to date with gossip you follow their SNS.” Daehwi was wide eyed and acted uninterested but he memorized their accounts to follow later. He’d have better chances of fitting in if he was in the loop. Plus there was no way he wanted to be the subject of their next post.

“You’re really lucky to get Shin Yumi as your teacher. She’s the nicest first year teacher. Kahi, on the other hand, is supposedly the worst. I heard she’s really scary and strict. She’s not afraid to yell at you or give demerits. But I only know this from other students. I didn’t have either of them last year.” Baejin informed Daehwi. He wondered who Samuel got. It would be so unfortunate if it was Kahi. He knew that Samuel was actually a crybaby.

At the bread shop, Daehwi got melon bread and Baejin got curry bread. He was really surprised how good it was for being school food. Baejin explained how they once had a cafeteria a few years back but the food was so awful that parents complained and shut it down. So they installed a bread shop instead and left a microwave in the cafeteria for students to heat up their own food.

Baejin led him to the cafeteria. “I was thinking we could eat outside but maybe it’s a little too cold out. It’s March after all.”

The cafeteria was busier than Daehwi expected. Groups of kids had already formed and were rambunctiously eating and laughing together.

One table in particular caught his eye. It was five older guys at a round table in the center. Baejin followed his gaze. “Oh that’s student council president, Kim Jonghyun. He always sits with his friends at that table.”

Suddenly the bulkiest guy swung his head around and his eyes met Daehwi’s. His jet black hair was slicked back and his eyebrows were thick. His hard gaze seemed to penetrate Daehwi’s soul which immediately shriveled up and died inside.

“Hyung, let’s go eat outside!” Daehwi turned to whine at Baejin as quickly as possible.

“Oh, you don’t wanna eat here?” He asked confused. Daehwi frantically shook his head and pulled Baejin out of the room.

“Wah, that was so scary. I made eye contact.” He shivered. “Oooh, you saw Kang Dongho.” Baejin slowly understood. “Yeah, he looks pretty scary right? Everyone thinks he’s really a thug, like he looks like he could be in a gang or something.”

“Nooo, I’m doomed.” Daehwi moaned. Baejin gave him small pats of encouragement. “Next time I’ll introduce you to my friends.” He promised. Daehwi had never been happier.

After they finished eating, Baejin walked him back to his classrooms. They stopped at the doorway when he turned to talk.

“Tomorrow, I’ll definitely buy you lunch.”

“Sure, it’s a date then.” Baejin waved before turning to leave. Daehwi could feel blush rise in his cheeks. Why did he have to put it like that?

----

The rest of the day continued uneventfully. When the bell rang he was eager to finally check in with Samuel. But when he reached his classroom there was no sight of him. After waiting a couple minutes he approached a pitiful looking kid. His name tag read Kim Dongbin.

“Hey, um, do you know where Samuel is?”

“Kim Samuel?” The kid sniffed. “He went home already.” He wiped some tears away.

“Um, are you okay?” Daehwi felt so awkward.

“Yeah, I just was really scared of the t-teacher. I cry whenever I’m scared. Or nervous. Or shy.” He blew his nose.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate. Thanks for the information though.” He awkwardly left the classroom with a sinking suspicion that Samuel’s teacher was the famed Kahi. Wandering down the emptying hallways, he browsed posters and flyers advertising club activities and events.

----

When he returned home, his mom was cooking dinner. He felt bad handing her the empty lunchbox. Going to his room, his phone suddenly buzzed with a call. The ID was Samuel.

“Hey! I didn’t get to see you all day. You left school so fast.” Daehwi exclaimed.

“D-Daehwi, I think I’m gonna transfer.” He heard Samuel sniffle.

“What?! Why?!”

“The teacher’s really mean. And I didn’t make any friends. I tried really hard too.” Now Daehwi felt really bad he didn’t see him during lunch.

“It’s only the first day.” He tried to comfort him. “I’m sure everyone else was nervous too. You’ll have all year to become friends.”

“Y-yeah, I guess so.”

They continued to talk about each other’s day. Samuel reported that Kahi was as mean as the rumors said. All the kids in the class were afraid of her. She even confiscated someone’s phone already. Besides that, Samuel was jealous that the highest ranked first year was in his class. He only had some weird middle schooler that supposedly skipped a grade, he complained. It was a international Chinese student who tried to wink at the class but used both eyes instead. Samuel was suspicious he didn’t actually skip a grade. There’s no way he’s smart enough, he insisted at which Daehwi just laughed.

“Daehwi, dinner!”

Hearing his mom, Daehwi said goodbye and hung up. He felt really sorry to Samuel and was determined to make it up to him tomorrow.

Later that night as Daehwi laid in bed he tossed and turned. His mind was abuzz with a whirlwind of the past day. As he drifted off to sleep, images of hallways, bread, and a caramel boy whisked him to dream land.