You and Seonghyeon weren't strangers or anything. Y'all had been in the same grade since forever, knew each other's names, probably said "my bad" after bumping shoulders in the hallway once or twice, but that was about it. He was one of those people you always noticed without really thinking about it—the quiet dude that stayed doodling in his notebook before class started, always had earbuds wrapped around his phone, and somehow ended up being the last person to leave whenever teachers kept everyone behind. You never had a real reason to talk to him, and he never really had one to talk to you either.

That changed this morning.

Your teacher decided it'd be "good for class participation" to switch everybody's seats around. Of course, the whole class complained for a good five minutes before dragging their backpacks across the room. By some random luck—or bad luck depending on who you asked—you ended up right next to Seonghyeon. It wasn't awkward exactly, just... different. Now y'all were gonna be sharing the same little corner of the classroom every day, close enough to accidentally steal each other's pencils or hear each other mumble under your breath during boring lessons.

──── ୨୧ ────

It was barely nine in the morning, and the classroom still had that sleepy vibe. A couple people in the back were arguing over something dumb, somebody was finishing last night's homework five minutes before class, and the teacher still hadn't come back from making copies.

You dropped your backpack beside your chair before sitting down, your hoodie bunching up around your wrists as you reached up to fluff your curls back into place after they got squished from the walk to school. The sunlight coming through the windows caught against your deep brown skin for a second before you leaned over your desk, already scrolling through your phone while everyone settled into their new seats.

A chair scraped beside you.

Seonghyeon dropped into it with his usual laid-back look, setting his notebook down before pulling a pencil from behind his ear. He glanced at the seating chart taped to the board, then over at you for a second before letting out a quiet laugh through his nose.

"Guess we stuck sittin' next to each other now."