Chapter Text
Seungcheol logged in quickly into his portal opening his test from his Industrial Organization (I/O) psychology class and checking his score. This was the only class he shared with Jeonghan since they were in their third year and he was a business major while Jeonghan was a psychology major. His features morphed into one of disappointment when he saw the score of ninety one out of a hundred staring at him.
While a part of him knew he had been seriously sick at the time of the test and as such was not able to give it his best, his head was louder, yelling how those were all just excuses and how it was proof that no matter how hard he tried he would always be useless and second best to Jeonghan.
Like Satan, the man appeared immediately Seungcheol thought about him, smiling so angelically in a way that was sweet only if you didn't know what he was capable of. His best friend, Joshua was beside him, however he wasn't paying any one any glance.
"What's up Cheol ah, did you see your test? I got a ninety eight, by any chance did you do better?" Jeonghan's gaze was mocking as usual but Seungcheol rolled his eyes and grabbed his laptop and his books, storming out of the café he had entered to check his test.
His phone rang and he smiled seeing it was Mingyu, one of his close friends in the university who was a famous youtuber. "Gyu. what's up? Do you need anything?" I asked as I found myself instinctively heading to the coffee shop I frequented the most regularly. "Yes please. I went to the library because I had an assignment due and the library was supposed to be my one safe space in the school but now I'm craving coffee but I think Gyuldaengie are waiting for me to finish and greet them and I don't want to cause a commotion since I'm planning to come back_"
"Cut to the chase Mingyu and tell me what you want." Seungcheol's annoyance could be heard clearly and not wanting to risk it Mingyu sheepishly gave his order. "May I please have an americano? Please."
"Why didn't you ask Jihoon?" Seungcheol teased and he could see the pout on his friend's face as he whined "he would say my caffeine obsession is unhealthy and make me drink cold water." Seungcheol laughed. "I'll come with your coffee text me what row you're on, I need to get my assignments done so I can lock in later in the night."
Seungcheol ended the call and payed for the drinks before heading out the cafe.
The cold crispy autumn air and crunchy leaves did absolutely nothing to calm the growing irritation he had whenever he remembered that Jeonghan had added another score to the long list of defeat he's been giving Seungcheol from the first day they met.
They met in the last year of highschool but before then Seungcheol had seen him around. They had some classes together and he was really smart but he seemed rather uninterested in anything school related so imagine his shock when they had a test in class that Jeonghan seemed surprised by and yet he got a perfect score meanwhile Seungcheol who had spent all night studying missed two questions and was second best.
He was shocked.
The rest of the class was shocked.
Hell, even the teacher was shocked.
Seungcheol had always been competitive, even as a child. His father always said the fun of playing a game was winning so he always did everything to ensure he was winning. Yet for once he had been bested, by a boy who had stopped in the middle of the test to take a nap and woke up twenty minutes to the end.
Not wanting to throw a tantrum he turned to look at the pretty boy who had obviously been sent to make his life absolutely miserable.
'Oh it is on'
Four years and the same university later Jeonghan was still winning.
"Hey Scoups, thank you so much for the americano." Mingyu said, taking it from his hand. Their third friend, Jihoon was sitting down with a book and some earphones in, obviously listening to his latest masterpiece and reducing it to rubbish in his head.
Kim Mingyu and Lee Jihoon were the two friends he had managed to make in university which was strange as their majors were not similar. Jihoon was a music composition and production major, while Mingyu was studying architecture. Yet they met in a funny twist of events in their first year when they were made roommates and had chosen to remain roommates ever since then.
Seungcheol took out his books, quietly whining to his friends about what Jeonghan had done, passing him again and making his life miserable. He knew his friends were definitely tired of Jeonghan's name by now but they did not know the sorrows of being him and having to work for everything to see someone else not even care but get it all.
"You know what I think this is? When smart people have sexual tension. You need to get laid. Best option with him." Jihoon said curtly and Seungcheol knew his face was red by how hot it felt and how much Mingyu was snickering.
"Shut the hell up. He doesn't like me that way. He makes my life completely miserable. Plus if he liked me he wouldn't have taken away my valedictorian spot. Shut the hell up Hoon."
"You know I can't help but notice you're not denying the attraction from your side." Mingyu teased but the glare he got shut him up quickly
"He might be pretty, slim, smart, long haired, witty, funny and charming but_" "Oh exactly your type then." Mingyu teased and dodged the giant book bag that was flung towards his face. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'll like every guy that is exactly my type."
Mingyu scoffed at him. "That's actually exactly what it means though."
Jihoon sighed and paused the work he was doing on his laptop. "Look Seungcheol. You don't like him. We agree. Just give up on the competition. You're wearing yourself out trying to keep up. You're the best in your department be proud of that."
"To be fair, he's only the best because Jeonghan's not there. He has a higher CGPA." Mingyu said and the dirty look Jihoon gave him made him shut his mouth and focus on the work he was doing. Honestly Seungcheol couldn't even get mad because he was right. However that didn't stop him from being petty. "Pay me back for all the coffee's I've gotten you this week Gyu." he demanded, ignoring the boy's whining.
"Just stop the competition Cheol, you're not winning and you're burning yourself out. It's okay if it's a healthy and playful rivalry but you're already garnering resentment and resurfacing your old insecurities. It's never worth it." Jihoon said, still not raising his head from his laptop.
"Who knew you could talk this much." Seungcheol teased the music major and was ignored but he squeezed his hand in appreciation. His friend was right when he thought about it deeply. Maybe he should take a breather from this rivalry. Besides it didn't seem like Jeonghan cared much.
Not that he cared if Jeonghan cared.
Maybe if he kept telling himself that more often he would eventually believe it and get over the small crush he had on him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"You guys Seungcheol is losing interest in me." Jeonghan whined to his friends and the responding groans and audible annoyance was proof that he had talked about the boy one time too many.
"Come on Hannie I have a test, we cannot continue doing this." Seungkwan, a Sport Science major who was Jeonghan's old friend said and Joshua his best friend agreed.
Jeonghan sighed at his friends and Soonyoung, his other friend whom was studying for his M.A in Dance patted his back. "Come on guys, leave the moony eyed boy alone. He's been crushing on this boy since his last year of high school." Jeonghan pouted and Chan, the last of his friends nodded.
"Hannie, you're really not giving up on this boy are you?" Joshua sighed and Jeonghan slipped down lower into his chair mooning in his despair.
He had always noticed Seungcheol.
The man had a powerful aura , leader like with am extremely kind heart.
On the very first day of his last year of highschool, he was completely stranded and he was looking for his homeroom. Unfortunately luck was not on his side and he bumped into someone who was muttering things to himself, memorizing some things and his pencil case clattered, spilling all the contents.
That was his very first encounter with Seungcheol.
"Oh I'm sorry." The then boy said, smiling prettily and helping him pick up his pens, pencils and rulers. "I wasn't paying attention. Have a great day."
He left before Jeonghan could introduce himself and that was only the first encounter with how unfocused Seungcheol could be with the people around him. He had no friends around him so he sat by himself studying.
Jeonghan spent most of his time admiring Seungcheol from afar and when he met Joshua and they became close enough to talk about crushes, Jeonghan spent the conversations waxing poetry about the boy's face.
"To me he looks like a camel but I guess if that's the type you like." Joshua teased, even going as far as to buy Jeonghan a camel plushie for his birthday. Jeonghan refused to tell him he had named it Cheollie. He would be taking that secret to the grave.
High school ended and the only time he got Seungcheol's eyes on his again were when he congratulated him for winning Valedictorian. He was trying to be a good sport but it was obvious he was absolutely devastated about it.
"Yoon Jeonghan right? Congratulations. You did a great job." Seungcheol had commended and Jeonghan froze. Unfortunately before he could speak again, Seungcheol had already left.
Jeonghan likes to think that he acted very mature about the high probability of never seeing his high school crush again but Joshua would tell you how he was devastated and high key depressed about how everything ended and how it was truly for the sake of his mental health that he was given a second chance when he met Seungcheol in his own university.
However when they met again things were different. Seungcheol had a vendetta with him and he realized that he could keep his attention for longer if he bested him academically. His parents were completely overjoyed by the development and Jeonghan did not have the heart to tell them that his current CGPA was sponsored by one sided love and directed by delusions he could create in his mind every time their eyes met.
"What makes you think he's losing interest in you?" Chan asked and Jeonghan sighed deeply.
"Well he didn't look at me. We had a test and he did really well and he beat me and usually he would look. He would smile. He would smile at me. But this time he didn't. He just ignored me. He took his test, crumpled it into his bag and he left the class. It was so weird and it made me sad. I'm losing my touch."
"Orr, here me out, maybe this is a good opportunity for you to talk to him like a normal human being and stop this weird mating ritual you've both got going on. How about that?" Joshua suggested.
"Do you think he'll even let us be friends?" Jeonghan sank deeper into the couch and Soonyoung snorted out a laugh. "Think about it this way, no matter how badly you think it's going for you, the worse he can do is hate you and doesn't he already lowkey do that."
"That was oddly comforting." Jeonghan stated, raising an eyebrow. "Is this what you tell yourself for your situation?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He pouted and everyone laughed at him.
"Okay I know what we can do. I always see him at the library whenever I go to that building and_" Seungkwan was rudely cut off by Chan "What do you go there for? You have no classes even near that side of the campus."
"Shut up they have good pizza. As I was saying, I noticed he's always there at a particular time and I'm friends with Mingyu, one of his close friends, we can work something out. What do you think?" Seungkwan suggested, shooting Chan a dirty look.
Jeonghan thought a bit before nodding. "At least we can be friends and I'll get over him. I'm sure the reason it's lasted this long is because I haven't gotten to know him well enough."
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This assignment is killing me guys. I cannot do it on my own." Seungcheol whined and Mingyu rolled his eyes. "The professor literally gave you an option of choosing a partner or working alone. You chose to work alone. Deal with the consequences."
"It's not like he chose to work alone. It's more like he's lonely and friendless in his classes so if it's not a compulsory group work he's not chosen" Jihoon corrected and Mingyu chuckled quietly.
"You both must be having fun teasing me. I mean you're not wrong but still leave me alone. Let's go the gym after this. I haven't gone today. I overslept and did not have the time to be able to have my normal 3 hours before class."
"Really"? What happened to the early bird catches the worm?" Jihoon teased. "Please, he's a fraud. We all know the reason he was such a gym buddy was because his crush loved pressing against his friends muscles. That Hyungwon guy that was always hanging around Jeonghan was the only reason his lazy ass started gyming. His freshman muscles are from something primal." Mingyu teased. "Shut UP!" Seungcheol throw his pen as the two of them laughed at his expense.
"Wait, Cheollie don't freak out, but your crush is heading this way. 4'0 clock." Jihoon said quietly and Seungcheol froze while Mingyu started snickering in amusement.
"Hey Mingyu, how are you doing?" Seungkwan waved with Jeonghan following beside him. Mingyu grinned at him. "I'm all good, what do you need?" "Well you know how you need some content for your YouTube channel?" "Yeesss?" "I got some good ideas I want to show you. Plus Hannie and I are also planning to study so we want to sit with you guys."
Mingyu saw the loud 'no' on Seungcheol's features but their friendship had always been based on pissing the other off the absolute most.
"Sure, you both can sit here." They both sat down and Mingyu saw the threat of death on his friend's face.
"Hello everyone. I'm Boo Seungkwan, this one of my friends Yoon Jeonghan." "Oh Seungcheol here knows him, apparently they went to the same high school." Jihoon said and Seungcheol's looked at him, the betrayal clear on his features.
"Oh really? That's crazy because I also know him because of Jeonghan." Jeonghan hit his side but was completely ignored.
Seungcheol zoned out to continue his work and groaned again at the assignment. "This is absolutely stupid." He complained and looked up to see Jeonghan looking at him.
"Are you also having issues with the assignment the professor gave us? I've been stuck at the second and last paragraph. I don't understand anything there." Jeonghan complained and he was given and incredulous stare.
"Those two are pretty easy. The first and third paragraph is the one that is absolutely stupid. I don't even know who thought it was a good idea to give students shitty work like these."
While the two of them argued it out, their friends looked at each other in annoyance. "They're both insufferable. An absolutely perfect match aren't they." Mingyu teased and Jihoon rolled his eyes at their shenanigans. "They're obviously going to be those obnoxious couples who cannot keep their hands off each other." He snorted and Seungkwan could barely hold in his squeal. "They're so cute already." The other two obviously disagreed but they focused on their work, ignoring the two bickering like a couple.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -