Summer Crushes | Jeongchan

five

It's early into the lunch hour when Jeongin feels a hand on his head, ruffling his hair a tad bit and he doesn't need to turn to know that it's Chan when he hears a gentle, "Baby, do you want my pudding cup? I don't want it."

"What?" Chan asks when Changbin snorts at the bewildered looks that everyone else on the table have on their faces.

"You called him baby." Jisung points out. Did he miss something? Did they all miss something?

"It's a nickname." Chan explains as he sits down next to Jeongin. "From camp."

Chan busies himself with re-arranging Jeongin's lunch tray to make room for the extra pudding cup that Chan was giving Jeongin. Jeongin, however, is too pre-occupied with staring at Chan's side-profile and wondering how none of the others have heard Chan call him that nickname before when the older threw it around as much as he could.

Seungmin raises a brow, stature polished and ready to tease. "You're not in camp anymore."

Chan shrugs as if it's not a big deal. He proves that it really isn't a big deal when he replies with a solid, "He's still my baby."

Jeongin sees Felix and Jisung snicker from next to each other and he bites down on his bottom lip in hopes that it would distract him from the blush he knows is creeping up his cheeks. He focuses on his food, smiling to himself when Chan wordlessly takes the sealed water bottle in front of his lunch tray and opens it for him. He can do it himself just fine but it warms his heart whenever Chan does menial tasks for him; it makes it uncomplicated for Jeongin to do the same for Chan.

Lunch ends with Jeongin finishing his second pudding cup and Chan nudging his half-finished water bottle in the younger's direction.

"To balance out the extra sugar." Chan explains and Jeongin finishes Chan's water obediently.

After they've cleaned up their table, they head on to their respective classes, Chan and Jeongin once again walking together, this time to Chan's class because his room is nearer to the cafeteria than Jeongin's. Neither of them think about how Jeongin had instinctively held onto Chan's hand instead of his sleeve and simply lace their fingers together as they walk.

"Why do you look like that?" Chan swipes the knuckle of his pointer finger against the tip of Jeongin's nose to get the younger's attention. He had started to frown whilst they were walking down the hallway but Chan can tell that whatever the younger is thinking of isn't something to worry about.

Jeongin blinks at the sudden touch but quickly remembers why he was frowning in the first place, his lips going back to their downturned state. "I don't wanna sit through an hour of science."

Chan hesitates for a second, unsure if Jeongin was the type of person to play hooky but he decides to throw caution to the wind and ask the younger. "Wanna skip?"

Jeongin stops walking and for a moment, Chan thinks that Jeongin was going to object and lecture him about not skipping class but when he looks back at the younger, he sees Jeongin looking at him with undertones of excitement in his eyes. "What? For real?"

Chan rubs his thumb over the back of Jeongin's hand. "Yeah, why not?"

Jeongin lets Chan tug his hand and him back into a walk. "Where are we going?"

Chan is quick to think of a place to go and something to do, something that he knows Jeongin would enjoy. "A picnic by the water? Like old times?"

"It's midday." there's a small spring in his step that Chan finds charming.

"Half like old times." Chan corrects himself.

"Sounds fun. Let's go." there's the excitement that comes from breaking rules; and Jeongin thinks that it doubles in amount because of the fact that he's skipping classes with Chan. Chan had always had an upright and responsible image and it had once shocked Jeongin to get to know that Chan had his own rebellious streak that he didn't hesitate to let show when he wanted to. It's nice to know that it's still there.