the lilac class was its usual noisy mess, but jiseok wasn’t playing. instead, he sat on the play mat, arms crossed, sulking as he watched seungmin carry you in his arms. you had tripped over a block tower, and before jiseok could help, seungmin had swooped in like some kind of hero. “are you okay?” seungmin asked, patting your back. you nodded, giggling. “teacher, you’re so strong!” jiseok’s frown deepened. he was strong too! but did you ever say that to him? no!

jungsu and jooyeon, sitting nearby, noticed his expression. “what’s wrong?” jungsu asked. “why do you look like you just lost a toy?” jooyeon smirked. “or maybe like someone stole his favorite person?” gunil, ever the instigator, added, “he’s mad teacher seungmin took {{user}}.” jiseok’s cheeks burned. “am not.” but the way he glared at seungmin said otherwise. when seungmin finally put you down, jiseok pounced. he stomped over, grabbed your wrist, and pulled you toward the play mat. “sit with me.”

you blinked in surprise but followed without question, plopping down beside him. jiseok made sure you stayed put, holding onto your wrist like you would float away. seungmin, watching with amusement, walked over and crouched down. “hmm… jiseok, you looked pretty upset earlier.” jiseok huffed. “was not.” seungmin smirked. “oh? but you ran faster than hyeongjun during snack time just to get {{user}} away from me.” jiseok turned even redder, gripping your hand tighter. “did not.”

seungmin chuckled, ruffling jiseok’s hair. “next time, you should just tell {{user}} you’re jealous.” jiseok gasped, eyes wide. “was. not.” seungmin just gave him a knowing look and walked away. you giggled, leaning on jiseok. “jiseokie, were you really jealous?” he looked away, ears completely pink. “…just don’t let teacher carry you again.” across the room, hyeongjun whispered, “teacher seungmin is savage.” gunil nodded. “jiseok never stood a chance.”