(no) Strings Attached

New Horizons, First Impressions

"Enough, Mr. Choi. Take a seat," the professor commanded with a tired sigh.

With his smirk stretching wider, San strutted toward the only open seat—right next to Wooyoung.

Wooyoung stiffened when he plopped down beside him, but he was too stunned to react.

The professor, knowing better than to waste his breath scolding the student further, sighed in surrender and returned to his lecture.

"Hi. I'm San," Choi—Choi San, apparently—winked.

Wooyoung blushed, more from irritation than fluster, before nodding curtly in acknowledgment.

"What's your name, professor?" San chuckled.

Wooyoung's eye twitched. He didn't need to ask why San was calling him that. His round glasses, the notes of the syllabus on his desk—he must have looked like the embodiment of a nerd in San's eyes.

Wooyoung's lips pressed into a tight line.

"Wooyoung," he mumbled before snapping his attention back to the professor.

San hummed, as if testing the name. "Cute."

Wooyoung clenched his jaw, forcing himself to ignore the smug presence beside him.

San.

Just the name itself was already starting to irritate him.

The boy sat with one leg propped lazily against the desk's leg, phone in hand, flicking through the screen like he wasn't sitting in a lecture hall. Occasionally, his fingers would tap rhythmically against the wooden surface—just loud enough to be distracting.

Wooyoung's eye twitched.

He tried to focus on the professor's words. He really did.

But every tap of San's fingers, every small amused chuckle as he scrolled through whatever nonsense was on his phone, grated against Wooyoung's patience like sandpaper.

Was this guy serious?

"You know," Wooyoung muttered under his breath, not taking his eyes off the front of the room. "If you don't want to be here, you could just drop the class instead of wasting everyone's time."

San turned to him lazily, a smirk curling at his lips.

"And miss the chance to sit next to you?" he mused, voice low, teasing. "Not a chance."

Wooyoung's breath caught. Not because he was flustered—no, he refused to be flustered—but because of how shamelessly bold this guy was.

San was watching him now, head tilted slightly, as if waiting to see what reaction he could pull out.

Wooyoung huffed, gripping his pen tighter.

"You're annoying."

San clicked his tongue, grinning. "And yet, you keep talking to me. Interesting."

Wooyoung let out a sharp breath through his nose. He needed to let this go. He wasn't going to stoop to this guy's level.

So he turned back towards the front, straightening in his seat, ignoring the way San chuckled to himself.

For a few minutes, things were quiet.

Then San's foot—his damn foot—nudged against Wooyoung's ankle.

Wooyoung stiffened.

The nudge was barely anything, just the slightest graze, but the intention behind it was clear.

Casual. Unbothered. As if to say, Hey, I'm still here. Pay attention to me.

Wooyoung refused to give him the satisfaction.

San nudged him again.

Wooyoung shot him a glare.

San arched an eyebrow, feigning innocence.

"Problem?" he whispered.

Wooyoung inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't know what game San was playing, but he wasn't going to play along.
He shifted slightly in his chair, moving his foot just out of reach—

But San's foot followed.

Wooyoung stiffened again, whipping his head toward the boy beside him.

San grinned, as if he had won something.
"You—" Wooyoung started, voice a furious whisper.

But before he could finish, San leaned in, just slightly, just enough that Wooyoung could catch the faintest scent of his cologne—warm, with something sharp beneath it.

His grin deepened.

"You're cute when you're mad," San murmured.

Wooyoung's entire brain short-circuited.
His face heated instantly, not from fluster, but from the sheer audacity.

San didn't even give him a chance to react before leaning back, casual as ever, returning to his phone as if he hadn't just completely thrown Wooyoung off balance.

Wooyoung snapped his mouth shut, his whole body buzzing with frustration.

Who was this guy?!

The rest of the lecture felt like an eternity, Wooyoung struggling to focus while San continued existing beside him, radiating trouble.

And by the time class ended, Wooyoung was seething.

When the professor finally dismissed them, students gathered their things lazily, shuffling out of the room.

Wooyoung shoved his notebook into his bag aggressively, standing so fast that his chair scraped against the floor.

San, still seated, merely looked up at him with that same lazy amusement.

"Running away already?" he teased.

Wooyoung shot him a glare. "I am removing myself from your presence."

San placed a hand over his heart. "Ouch."

Wooyoung huffed, turning on his heel.

But just as he was about to step away, San's voice reached him again.

"See you next class, professor."

Wooyoung swore under his breath and stormed out.

San chuckled, watching him go.

Yeah.

This semester was going to be fun.

A/N
Sooooo this is the first chapter~
I am not going to lie I'm very excited about this.
I hope, like San, their semester feels like it's going to be fun to you too.

Any thought expressed would be warmly welcomed 🤍

See you soon.