Already today, Taehyeon has been told that he is objectively attractive. He also has spent his entire life aware of the fact and his family should have plainly been able to see this about him. Despite the years of empirical evidence, his mother doesn't seem to agree on this occasion.
"I'm being serious," Taehyeon grumbles into his phone after school. "I have been invited to a party. I was wondering why you said yes to my text message so easily."
"I am sure you and Bada have lots of fun together but you can't call that a party," Taehyeon's mom laughs.
"Why are you laughing at me? I'm hot. People totally want to kiss me and everything. You're lucky I'm such an honest child that I am telling you instead of skipping the academy without telling you."
"I know you and Bada are very handsome but you're both a little bit… you know. There's no shame in keeping to yourselves and sometimes actually studying for exams."
Taehyeon narrows his eyes but his mom can't see. Instead he probably looks like he is struggling to read the words engraved onto the plaques and trophies displayed in the corridor. Taehyeon's eyesight is perfectly fine. If he squints really hard he can work out that he shouldn't bother trying to read any of the words through the glare on the glass case. Either way, he's busy.
"Are you saying that you don't think I'm cool?" Taehyeon asks.
"Well…"
"I'll have you know, the most popular boy in school begged me to come to the party," Taehyeon retorts. "He's on like every sports team. I said I would only go to the party if he scored like ten basketball goals."
Taehyeon doesn't appreciate his mom laughing so hard. After seventeen years of being told that he is the handsomest boy in the world, he considers that his mom might be a liar.
If only to prove his mom wrong, Taehyeon is going to have to go to that party. He isn't sure whether he will have anyone to go with. Heading down to the sports hall, Taehyeon is looking out for a person more than he is looking for a place to spectate. The sports hall isn't packed but there are more people that Taehyeon expects milling around the tiered benches against the far wall. He doesn't see Bada right away but he does spot Kyungran and Nayoon standing at the side of the painted lines, listlessly holding up signs with encouraging slogans. Taehyeon looks away from them quickly. Minjun probably isn't expecting him to come armed with a glittery A2-sized sign to cheer him on.
It is not until Taehyeon has squeezed to the front of a cluster of first years that he sees Bada. He looks like a real traitor fraternising with the green-clad enemy. The clover-green jerseys of the Eoleunjeol players (and the bottle-green blazers of the students who came to cheer on the team) clash with the brash orange jerseys of the Jeonwon team. There is no way to mistake the people Bada is speaking to.
Taehyeon needs to put a stop this.
The spectators waiting for the match to begin are more stubbornly rooted to the polished wooden floor as Taehyeon battles his way around the edge of the court. It isn't fair that everyone is making it harder for Taehyeon to save someone's life. Sweating enough for all the players on a basketball team (how many people is that? Seven? Taehyeon doesn't have a clue! But he is sweating buckets already!) Taehyeon finally manages to reach Bada. Immediately Bada stops talking and he pouts at Taehyeon. He shuffles to turn away. Bada's 'friend' laughs.
"You're so cute," the friend says as gently as one would cradle a newborn. Confused as to why someone is speaking to Bada like that, Taehyeon takes a good look at this friend who is wearing a white shirt underneath a clover green jersey and finds his tongue dryly adhered to the inside of his mouth.
This boy is not a speccy nerd.
"Hi," the friend says. He blinks slowly and his lips gently pull into the easiest part of a smile. "My name is Baek Woobin. I'm a second year student at Eoleunjeol Tech. You must be Taehyeon. It's great to finally meet you."
Woobin's voice gets inexplicably quieter as though they aren't standing in a sports hall containing the echoes of noisy students. Taehyeon doesn't understand any of this. As though further confusion is necessary, Woobin nudges a boy standing beside him. This boy is wearing his school uniform so can't be on the basketball team. He is noticeably thin but seems more sharp than delicate. His voice isn't quite what Taehyeon expects either. He starts off even more quietly than Woobin as he speaks and seems to be moving his lips without making a sound by the end of his sentence.
Taehyeon will have to hope somebody says the thin boy's name in conversation, though he hopes the person who says it will be audible. No other people materialise in this little cluster with Bada (who is still pouting and pretending he can't see Taehyeon) so it must be time for Taehyeon to introduce himself.
"It is nice to meet you both. Bada hasn't told me much about you because I wanted it to be a surprise. Look at me, I am very surprised right now. How did you even get talking to Bada in the first place?"
Neither Woobin nor the boy with the world's quietest voice are forthcoming and smile awkwardly at Taehyeon. Oh no. He has tripped into a conversation with three shy people. This is the worst thing Taehyeon could possibly think of.
"Taehyeon, you came!" The millisecond of relief is crushed as Minjun trips in his haste and knocks Taehyeon into Woobin.
Woobin holds Taehyeon steady and laughs quietly. "Are you okay?" he asks, barely loud enough for Taehyeon to hear. Maybe shyness is contagious. Taehyeon feels pretty shy and awkward right now and he can't even look at Woobin whilst thanking him. At every opportunity on this day, Taehyeon has been pushed over. By Minjun. This might all be an extended prank.
Taehyeon can't quite tell just by looking whether this is on purpose. Minjun smiles redundantly for a moment and glances at the two Eoleunjeol boys. Some realisation passes over his face and he bows, short and sharp, and holds out his hand to Woobin.
"You must be the opponents for today. My name is Lee Minjun, it's nice to meet you." After a pause he says, "Are you Taehyeon's friends?"
Nobody answers. Or maybe the really quiet boy answers somewhere beneath the squeak of rubber soles on the polished floor and the impatient chatter of students. Taehyeon doesn't have a clue. He doesn't care. He can't stop replaying the moment when Woobin caught him with his broad chest and warm hands. Woobin smells nice. It would be weird to pretend to trip again just to get a proper inhale of the scent. It would be more than just weird. He isn't going to do that. He's not a complete idiot.
"You don't mind do you?" Minjun asks whilst gently plucking the cuff of Taehyeon's blazer.
Taehyeon very much minds. Between Woobin and Minjun, Taehyeon's heart is about to give out. He should probably work out what he is disagreeing with.
"What?"
"The party," Minjun prompts. "These friends can come too. You would probably have more fun if you had some friends with you."
Minjun isn't exactly wrong but he's smiling up at Taehyeon so earnestly about people who aren't actually his friends at all. Setting aside how difficult it would be to hold a conversation with someone as distractingly (and objectively) hot as Woobin, Taehyeon knows that trying to talk to two shy strangers is going to be more painful than squeezing blood from a stone.
"Actually," Taehyeon says, "they're not—"
"A party on a school night?" Woobin asks.
Minjun laughs, apparently hard enough that he needs the support of Taehyeon's shoulder. "It's like a tradition," Minjun says, "to celebrate. Oh. Or to take our minds off being sad if we lose."
"Whose party is it?" Taehyeon asks. He probably should have done so earlier but he'd been too giddy with the fact he was invited to a party to consider that it might well be a team party. There wouldn't be too many people who would think of throwing a party during the week after all.
"Lee Dabin is hosting the party," Minjun says as easily as anything. "Nayoon thinks it is a ploy to collect incriminating evidence of people behaving badly, but it's always fun."
"I think we'll have to pass this time around," Woobin says with a careful smile. Taehyeon tries not to feel too disappointed about that but he thinks it must be showing on his face. Bada pinches him and speaks up as though he can make up for whatever Taehyeon's face is conveying.
"We'll do something to make up for it next time. Taehyeon was really excited about hanging out but he's not really a party person. Maybe you'll get to hang out some other time, Minjun."
"Wait," Taehyeon says as his mind catches up, "what?"
"Oh. Did you change your mind about the party?" Minjun asks.
"We'll come to the next one," Bada says quickly. "I think your coach is calling you over. Taehyeon needs to come with me to find somewhere good to stand."
Minjun squeezes Taehyeon's shoulder just slightly and offers some generic words to everyone before jogging away. Before Taehyeon can be confused, the dreamiest man on the planet begins talking again.
"I should get ready for the match too. It was nice to meet you all. See you later."
Woobin, with his small smile and his absurdly defined arms, leaves to join the rest of his team. As sad as he is to see Woobin go, Taehyeon is sound of mind enough that he did hear every word. The other shy boy is still standing beside Bada. Despite fearing the fact that the response won't be audible, Taehyeon asks the question at the front of his mind.
"He said he was glad to meet us all. Do you not know each other?"
"Woobin is an upperclassman. I've never spoken to him before."
That makes sense. Taehyeon doesn't see how shy people would easily befriend each other. More than anything, Taehyeon is surprised that he was able to hear the quiet boy.
"How did you manage to start talking to a third year?" Taehyeon scoffs.
"Woobin is the same age as us," Bada says. "Siwoo is younger."
"Oh."
Bada doesn't give him much time to mull that over. He grasps Taehyeon's wrist and leads him somewhere to stand. Apparently Bada's preferred place to stand is with the Eoleunjeol students. For someone who doesn't like to stand out too much, Bada really is making some strange decisions.
"Taehyeon, this is Park Pilgyu, my other friend at Eoleunjeol Technical College."
The boy Bada gestures to looks cartoonishly innocent. His nose and mouth are smallish. That's about all that Taehyeon can make out along with the kid's jawline seeing as his shaggy hair and thick glasses obscure the top half of his face.
"It's nice to meet you, Pilgyu. My name is Mo Taehyeon."
The boy nods and is attempting to either smile or hold back his reaction to someone standing on his foot.
Taehyeon doesn't like being right all the time. Although he'd never said it aloud, he had of course hoped that Bada would have been talking to dozens of handsome and beautiful boys who might even fight over him. They're just a bunch of shy nerds who probably haven't been alerted to the invention of mirrors. This is ridiculous.
Equally ridiculous, Taehyeon finds, is the performance on the basketball pitch. (Ground? Green? Taehyeon doesn't know what to call it but he isn't impressed.)