(Pied Piper)

Namjoon arrived at school sleep-deprived, exhausted and with far too much inactive coffee and aspirin running through his veins. Most students were like that. Except most of them were like that because they'd been to Jeon Jungkook's party last night. Namjoon's reason was far more innocent: he had a cold and stayed up until 1 am studying verb tables. That's all.

He slumped down at his desk and tried not to let the insistent chatter of who slept with who – whom,Namjoon corrected himself – and who passed out where distract him from reading. He didn't really care about Jungkook's party but every single other person he saw was talking about it and it made him feel a little bit left out.

He felt the same about Jeon Jungkook. He didn't really care about him but everyone else seemed to admire him a great deal. An incredible sportsman, Namjoon would give him that. He wasn't too bad at other subjects either. And he looked absolutely celestial, as if he was handmade from stardust. Other than that, though, Namjoon didn't see anything outstandingly exceptional about him. God knows that Jungkook ignored Namjoon's existence equally as much.

So when Jungkook walked through the door, Namjoon didn't bother looking up at the cheers of congratulations for his party. He just got on with his work and let the rest of the world revolve around Jungkook without him.

The more Namjoon thought about it (and he didn't know why he was thinking about it), Jungkook was incredibly annoying. The only connection he ever had with him was that he sat in front of Namjoon in class. That would be fine if Jungkook didn't have an obsession with cracking his spine and stretching his arms behind him. he far too often distracted Namjoon by drumming on a desk that didn't even belong to him. He'd sometimes even take Namjoon's things out of his pencil case just to fiddle with. Namjoon never said anything; he was too awkward for that.

The teacher walked in the room, scattering students to their desks; scattering Jungkook to his seat right in front of Namjoon as usual.

"I hope everyone remembered the test today," the teacher warned casually, causing silent panic as everyone except Namjoon, including Jungkook, frantically flicked through their books, trying to speedily absorb everything they were ever taught about forces. Namjoon just quadruple-checked that he had in fact revised every topic and sat back.

The teacher told everyone to put their materials away and started handing out the papers. She handed one to Namjoon and he wrote his name on the top. As he did, a hand snuck onto his desk and felt around for something. Namjoon just rolled his eyes and watched Jungkook take a pen back to his own desk. Probably forgot his own pencil case.

The test started and Namjoon worked quickly. The best part of any test was the twenty minutes or so he had remaining at the end after finishing everything first. After half an hour, Namjoon was close to finishing. One more question to go and he could relax for the rest of class. He wrote the answer, checked through his paper and sat back with almost half the time remaining. His pride a little greedy, he looked around to see everyone, including Jungkook, still working with their heads down.

Namjoon stared at the back of Jungkook's head. Not an unusual occurrence; he was right in front of him. He was startled when Jungkook moved. Like normal, he slid his hand onto Namjoon's desk without looking round and tapped it a few times. His arm retreated but he left something behind. Namjoon stared curiously at the folded scrap of paper before opening it, making sure no one else was watching.

He found that it was a note. Why the hell was Jeon Jungkook passing him notes? During a test, as well. He could be asking for an answer, but even that seemed unlikely. It said, in scrawled writing,

I'm bored. You finished yet?

Namjoon was confused. He didn't know if he should pass it on to anyone or if it was really meant for him. He looked at Jungkook again to see that he was still holding his hands behind his back, presumably waiting for a response. Namjoon had no idea why Jungkook was talking to him, if he even was at all, but it seemed rude to just ignore him. So he scribbled back a simple,

Yeah.

He hoped that was enough. For what, he didn't know. He just pressed the paper back into Jungkook's hand. His fingers curled around it and brought it back in front of him to read it. Namjoon could tell that he was writing a response and he was still so confused. Jungkook passed it back.

Cool. Question 18 is definitely 2600, right?

Namjoon rolled his eyes and flicked through his paper again, trying to find question 18. That was strange. There was no question 18. He was about to write back to Jungkook and tell him to stop playing games, there's no need to panic people, etc. Then he flipped the paper over. There was a question on the back. Namjoon hadn't seen it. It was worth five marks. God, it was lucky he had time left. And that Jungkook told him.

He quickly calculated the question and frowned. He got 15.3something. Skimming back through his answer, he noticed a fault in his equation and altered it. This time, he did get 2600. He passed the note to Jungkook, having written a simple,

Yes.

He heard Jungkook laugh quietly. Dick. He wrote something and subtly slid it back again.

You're welcome. Always check for secret questions.

Namjoon rolled his eyes at the back of Jungkook's head. He didn't really want to admit that Jungkook had actually helped him on a test. Brains should always beat brawn. Nerds should always beat the jocks – well, in academia at least.

Thanks.

He meant it sarcastically, but he didn't think it quite came across in his writing. That only occurred to him after he gave Jungkook the note.

You weren't at my party, were you?

Jungkook asked, the piece of paper significantly cramped. Quietly, Namjoon fished for paper in his pocket and wrote,

I hate parties. Not my place.

He gave it to Jungkook. More students had finished the test by now and it was becoming riskier to continue the exchange. Regardless, Jungkook scrawled,

I can show you your place if you want me to

Namjoon was confused. Again. It sounded minorly flirty, but Namjoon could easily be reading Jungkook's tone wrong. Curious and slightly apprehensive, he asked,

And where's that?

The answer was fast as if Jungkook had been waiting for it.

Wherever you choose it to be

Namjoon was surprised. Not the answer he thought typical playboy jock Jeon Jungkook would go for.

Not what I was expecting from you but I guess that was nice

He didn't want to sound too rude but, from the way Jungkook chuckled, he guessed that his note was interpreted correctly.

What were you expecting me to say? "Under me"?

Namjoon was embarrassed by how easily Jungkook figured him out but it was true.

Yeah kinda

He replied. Jungkook took a minute after writing as if he was deliberating whether to pass it or not. His answer came eventually.

If that's where you want to be, you know I can make that happen

Namjoon knew that could happen. He had no doubt in his mind that Jungkook could get him exactly there. However, maybe not now. Jungkook could have his pick of any human in this school; there was no reason for Namjoon to give in. Instead of replying, he raised his hand until the teacher noticed him.

"Miss, can I go to the bathroom please?" he asked. She nodded and Namjoon made his way out of the bathroom, not looking at Jungkook at all. He didn't want to lead him on.

He got to the bathroom and paced. Because he didn't really want to interact with Jungkook at all. No, he did not. Did he? No. Or did he? He said he didn't. And he thought he didn't. But he had been thinking about Jungkook non-stop for basically the whole day. As soon as he walked in the door up until now, Jungkook had been on his mind. Namjoon was beginning to think that he wasn't leaving.

Trying to figure out a way to breathe and not think about Jungkook, Namjoon just washed his hands until he felt cleaner. He looked into the mirror and very nearly had a heart attack.

Jungkook was leaning against the back wall and smirking at him in the mirror. Namjoon tried not to let his agitation show, he rolled his eyes and didn't say a word, walking towards the door. Before he could get there, Jungkook called,

"Whoa, what was that for?" Namjoon turned around to see a confused and maybe even concerned looking Jungkook staring back at him. Namjoon sighed.

"Look, if you're here to get me 'under you,' I'm not interested," he retorted. Jungkook held up his hands in surrender.

"Hey, you said it, not me," he defended. "That's not what I was here for, anyway." Namjoon was confused. He had assumed that someone like Jungkook had 'getting off with someone in a school bathroom' on their agenda all the time. Apparently not.

"What are you here for then?" Namjoon asked, realising how stupid the question sounded as soon as it left his mouth. Jungkook smirked.

"It's a school bathroom. Am I not allowed to be here?" he teased and Namjoon was stuck between retaliating and blushing. Unable to actually think of a response (at least, not one that wouldn't make Jungkook laugh at him), he asked,

"Well, why were you looking at me then?" Jungkook shrugged.

"You looked stressed," he answered succinctly. There was a pause while Namjoon processed the fact that maybe Jungkook didn't have an ulterior motive. "I'm sorry if I made you cheat, by the way. I just didn't want you to hate yourself over missing a question," he continued and Namjoon blinked.

"No, it's okay." He couldn't think of a single thing to say. Jungkook was actually being nice. Namjoon hadn't considered him to be like that before. He didn't even think that Jungkook knew his name, let alone cared about him. That was odd. "You're… not what I expected," he stated. Jungkook shrugged.

"I'm not what a lot of people expect." Very true, Namjoon thought. He expected Jungkook to be a slightly dumb, entitled, cool, confident jock. But he wasn't. He was clever and bright, kind and warm. He was definitely still confident. His demeanour was very impressively held, even in a situation like this when Namjoon was hopelessly anxious for no reason at all. "If you don't mind me asking," Jungkook began, "where do you think your place is?" he asked and Namjoon barely had to think.

"Textbooks. Knowledge, words. I'm a nerd. If this were a trashy romance story, I'd be the lanky kid with glasses who's only there to balance out the jocks," he answers. He'd accepted that a while ago and was now surprisingly okay with it, despite how desperately sad it sounded when he said it aloud. Jungkook frowned.

"Depends if you're the main character or not," he said and Namjoon hadn't considered that. He'd always assumed he was the side plot in some bad manga.

"I'm not," he answered and Jungkook raised an eyebrow. "Stuff happens to main characters."

"I know. If the main character is a nerd, they get with one of the jocks or something." Namjoon didn't know what Jungkook was implying by that but he had a feeling it was about more than predictable plots.

"And the secondary characters get bullied for being smart," he pointed out. Namjoon wasn't bullied exactly; just the odd spiteful comment and he was shoved into lockers occasionally. Nothing too bad compared to a lot of book characters. Jungkook stood up and walked towards the door.

"Until they're heroically saved by the main character and falls for them anyway," he finished and walked out. Namjoon was flustered on so many levels but followed Jungkook out. He went back into class and sat down for about five minutes until the bell rang for lunch.

Namjoon walked down the hall and was suddenly pushed into a locker, shocking him and making him drop his books. He looked to see who pushed him and saw about 5 people in his class surrounding him.

"Now," growled one of them. "Listen up, you little fucker. I wrote your name on my paper. You're gonna go back in there, ask for your paper back and change your name into mine. Got it?" Namjoon most certainly did not get it.

"W-what?" he stuttered. The crowd moved in closer.

"You heard. Switch the names. No one cares if you fail. I want to get good marks, you're already a nerd. No one gets hurt as long as you do what I say." This was very threatening and Namjoon didn't know if he could move. This was cheating. This was bad.

"Jaeseok, fuck off. You wanted good on this test, you should have studied. Leave him alone," came Jungkook's voice. Everyone looked at him.

"Why the fuck do you care?" Jaeseok bit and Jungkook shrugged.

"I won't repeat myself again. Let him go," he ordered harshly and Namjoon was holding his breath. No one moved and Jungkook rolled his eyes. He pushed through the crowd, grabbed Namjoon's wrist and pulled him away. Namjoon was too shocked to protest. Jungkook just took him outside to the side of the school. Finally, Namjoon gathered the ability to speak.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked and Jungkook frowned.

"Really? No 'thank you'? No 'I appreciate it'? Wow, okay then," he shrugged and Namjoon sighed.

"Thank you, I appreciate it. But what the hell are you doing? They're going to find us and beat both of us up," he pointed out. Jungkook just laughed.

"You think they can take me on? You underestimate me," he said and Namjoon figured that Jungkook's attitude was enough to keep bullies away anyway.

"Why…why did you do that?" he asked, Jaeseok's point of 'why do you care?' ringing in his ears. Jungkook shrugged.

"I told you. The nerd either gets with the jock or gets bullied and then saved by the jock. Either way, you get with the jock. It was fate," he reasoned and Namjoon froze.

"Well… who said I wanted to date the jock?" he asked and Jungkook smiled.

"Are you saying you wouldn't date me?" he asked.

"N-no, of course not," Namjoon started but Jungkook interrupted him by saying,

"There, you said you wanted to date me."

"Saying that I don't not want to date you isn't saying I want to date you." It was silent while both of them tried to process that double negative.

"Yes, it is," Jungkook decided and Namjoon sighed.

"Okay, fine. Say the nerd did want to date the jock. What would happen then?" he asked and Jungkook hummed.

"The jock would try and get the nerd's attention in little ways at first, eventually making sure they paid attention to him. Then, after heroically saving them from the bullies, he'd take them around the side of the school and get them to confess in a really long winded way that he gets sick of after a while so he decides to stop talking and just kiss them instead."

Namjoon barely had time to stutter a "wha-" before Jungkook's lips were on his. It was an effective way of rendering someone utterly speechless. Even when Jungkook pulled back, Namjoon couldn't say a single word. His lips tingled strangely and he blinked. He just about registered Jungkook's smirk.

"Are you good?" Jungkook asked after a while of silence. Namjoon forced himself to concentrate and nodded.

"Yeah, I… yeah," was his slightly incoherent answer. Jungkook laughed. He had a pretty laugh.

"First?" he asked. Namjoon nodded. Jungkook leaned in closer and whispered. "Don't worry. Me too." Namjoon frowned.

"For real?" he questioned, disbelieving. Jungkook shrugged.

"Yeah. I'll admit, the 'nerd/jock' dynamics aren't perfect. But, hey, since we're both bad at this, wanna practise?" he suggested and Namjoon couldn't think of anything he wanted more in the world.