title; firework

summary; ha joon is a bit like a foal, stumbling and unsure. but that's okay. yeon doo makes up for it. — yeon doo x ha joon

words; 1,005 or smth idk


seo ha joon feels bad.

for the most part, kang yeon doo is a reserved person. it isn't often that she seeks him out in public for any kind of attention — no, she's very hands - to - yourself. which he knows is out of a mix of shyness and propriety. to be fair, neither of them had explicitly sat down and discussed their boundaries or desires (they were sort of dancing around it); but ha joon is suffering.

he needs affection. he wants to hold her hand in public. he wants to drape his sweaters over her body. boyfriend things. he wants ... to hog yeon doo. he doesn't want to share.

"joon? what are you thinking about over there?" said girls asks, leaning into his plane of vision. he slides his gaze over to hers.

"ah, he's a teenage boy. are you really that interested in knowing, yeon doo?" asks kwon soo ah with a knowing smirk. a carpet of red unfurls across both her's and ha joon's face in equally shared embarrassment. ha dong jae laughs quietly.

"ya, yeon doo, focus, or you'll get this wrong again on your retake test," a voice warns from across them.

"eh? yes, o great teacher kim yeol," she says before turning back to her own work.

(ha joon spots the softening of yeol's gaze as he looks at her, and a weird jealousy bubbles in his stomach.)

he knows it's irrational — yeon doo chose to date him.

"seo ha joon, wait!"

"this isn't a funny prank. did you think this would be funny? it's not!" he yells angrily, his tone sharp. she flinches and he feels guilt flood his veins.

"it's not a prank," she mutters. "i really do feel the same way."

"liar," he grinds out. "i saw kim yeol and you kissing in the hospital."

"you saw kim yeol kissing me. it wasn't necessarily a planned thing. it wasn't .. in conjunction," she hedges. "i did like him for a while, but... you ..." her face reddens underneath her wispy bangs and she nibbles her lip in search of words. "you caught my attention more. i started thinking about you a lot. what you smelled like. silly, dumb things. i like it when you smile. i want." she's nearly in tears now.

"i want to kiss you, not kim yeol."

he stares at her, mouth open.

she steps toward him and grabs the arm of his jacket to reach up and cup the side of his face. "i want to date you. if that's okay?"

he continues gaping, too overwhelmed with an adrenaline - inducing wave of pleasure to form a response.

so she kisses him.

ha joon shakes his head furiously at the sudden memory, earning him unnoticed weird looks from both soo ah and kim yeol.

still, just because she chose to date him didn't mean her feelings couldn't change. kim yeol was handsome and rich and his dad wasn't an abusive asshole. that had to score him brownie points of some kind.

no, he finally reassures himself. "yeon doo loves me," he whispers to himself.

this time the weird look comes from his girlfriend herself, turning in her seat to tilt her head at him in confusion.

"is he having some sort of like... inner monologue?" soo ah asks concernedly.

"maybe," dong jae says from next to her, entwining their fingers.


"yeon doo," a voice says next to her ear. she jumps and finds herself face - to - face with kim yeol, who stumbles backwards a little at her surprised yelp.

"you scared the shit out of me, yeol," she blurts. a nearby teacher shoots her a dirty look and she smiles angelically. "what's up?"

"it's about ha joon."


the following morning is a saturday, and for some reason they don't have classes. ha joon wakes up slowly. he can tell by the silence of the room that there's no one but him. or so he thinks, until —

something - someone - stirs beside him. it's warm and smells nice, like ginger root and almond (?). a very yeon doo smell.

he freezes.

wait.

he lifts the covers to the right of his body to find none other than said girl curled into his side. her hair is pulled into a loose ponytail and there are mascara smudges on her cheekbones. her chest is emblazoned with the words i'm OK (one of his sweaters, he was certain) and her pajama shorts have little cartoon piggies on them.

he smiles softly down at her. what a lovely thing to wake up to.

she shifts, eyes squeezing. "'s cold, joo.' close the ... pull the covers around me again." he leans down hesitantly, hovering over her. one of her eyes pops open.

"what?"

his body is tingling with the excitement and thrill of having yeon doo in his room. alone. ha joon presses a kiss to her forehead. no sharing. no kwon soo ah hogging her, no kim yeol making eyes at her. mine.

"nothing. why are you in here?" he is overcome with glee.

"mm.. kim yeol mentioned how much you liked physical contact, and i figure i've been kinda neglecting those, uh, well. i don't know, we haven't really talked about it, but i've been so wrapped up in what i'm comfortable with, or rather, whatever, or, that i ..." she trails off, closing her eyes and sighing. "this isn't going well. i wanted to surprise you, is what i mean. geez, you make my heart so stuttery."

he blushes and traces her exposed hip with his index finger. "that's okay, i'm alright with that. i hope it never changes."

she giggles, beaming tiredly at him, and he gathers her back into her arms, thanking the stars for sending him someone like kang yeon doo — someone so bright and considerate and hopeful and so, so pure. so loving. so much love to give.

he decides he has a lot of love to give, too, and all of it will go to her. forever. every time, in any life. in any way possible.


additional notes; look don't get me wrong i love kim yeol & kang doo together as much as the next person but ... seo ha joon (and the ot3 thing is cute too) deserves all the love too! ha joon! my boi!

[originally published on ao3 180301]