the heart of the matter | kim seungmin
▸ genre: college au, fluff!!
▸ description: you’re supposed to be registered into the physics class for humanity majors but somehow you’re in the advanced class, and Seungmin comes to your rescue.
▸ word count: 2.4k
▸ a/n: some cute seungmin for u (✿◠‿◠) also idk why I added those emojis in the text messages, i was just feeling like it ig lol
“I’m sorry, but it seems you’re registered in the advanced physics class,” the woman working at the front desk answered.
“This can’t be.” Exasperation dripped from your tone. “I’m sure I enrolled in the class for humanity majors. Can you please check again?”
You watched as the woman clicked on the screen a few times. “Your name is on the advanced list, so I’m afraid you’ll need to attend that class.” She directed a sad look at you.
“Isn’t there a way to change it? Transfer me to the easier course?” you pleaded.
“You can, but only after the first semester has passed,” she said after shrugging.
You sighed. “Okay, thank you.”
It seems you’ll have to survive until the end of the semester.
When you checked your schedule that morning, your heart stopped for a second when you noticed the small “advanced physics” printed, and immediately headed towards the university’s administration to figure out what was happening.
Turns out you probably messed up when you were selecting your classes.
Anyways, there was no use to cry because of it now. You resignedly headed to the physics room, mentally preparing yourself for what was about to come.
You were standing in front of the classroom doors, pondering whether to go in or not. To say you were confident would be a complete lie. However, you needed the attendance if you wanted to pass, so you took a deep breath and stepped into the room.
You sat down on the second row and took out your materials, and were completely prepared to pay attention to try and save yourself from failing.
Oh, but it was not going to be so easy.
Only half an hour had passed and you were suffering. Physics was never your forte, and now that you had to learn things way above your level, you’d have to work twice as hard. You were trying your best, taking notes of everything the professor was saying, your hand aching every once in a while.
Some time later the lesson ended, and you quickly packed your stuff and left the classroom, feeling exhausted from all the information you had to engrave into your brain.
This was definitely going to be a tough semester.
-
“Why is this so difficult?” you whined as you buried your head into your hands.
You were currently at the library, your physics notes and a book opened right in front of you, trying to absorb as much knowledge as you could.
It was not going very well.
You were a humanities major, for God’s sake! All these formulas and theorems weren’t going to be of any use to you, but if you wanted to do well on your upcoming test you’d have to learn all of them by that time.
Frustration was quickly building up on you, but you picked up your book and delved right into it again.
You were jotting down a few definitions when you suddenly felt a soft voice addressing you.
“Excuse me?”
You looked up towards the voice and were met with a boy sitting on the table next to you, looking at you curiously.
“Um, yes?” you asked, wondering what he would want.
“Are you studying for the advanced physics class?”
“I’m trying,” you sighed.
“Do you want some help? I think I don’t suck that much at physics,” he said, shrugging.
At this point, you’d take any help you can get, even if you didn’t know the boy.
“If you don’t mind, that would actually be good,” you said, a small smile forming on your lips.
He returned your smile and picked up his things and moved to go sit right next to you, setting his supplies down on the table.
“Oh! I just realized I haven’t told you my name. I’m Seungmin.” He extended his hand for you to shake, and you took it.
“I’m y/n. How did you know I needed help?” you inquired.
“Well, let’s say I could feel your frustration from where I was seated, and you look like you’re one second away from having a meltdown during class.”
You laughed a bit and looked at the floor. “Yeah, I’m hopeless.”
“Don’t say that! Look, I know it may be difficult but just take a deep breath and let’s start with the basics, okay?” Seungmin said softly.
You looked up at him, and you could swear you were staring at an angel. This boy, who was very cute you might add, offering his help to you? Maybe choosing the advanced class wasn’t a complete mistake.
-
“There, you got it right!” Seungmin exclaimed and high-fived you.
“Looks like I’m not that hopeless after all,” you said with a smile.
Seungmin had spent the past hour teaching you, and you could say that you had understood everything. It was like he had a special way with words, he made the complicated terms you learnt in class make sense and everything sound way more simple than it probably was.
Whatever it was, you were grateful.
It was when Seungmin yawned you noticed how late it had gotten. “You must be tired, sorry for keeping you here so long trying to teach my humanities major brain,” you said, closing your books.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. By the way, why are you taking the advanced class?” he tilted his head, like a cute puppy.
“I made a mistake when registering my classes, so now I’m stuck until the first semester ends,” you said sadly, both of you standing up and heading towards the library’s exit.
“Well, if you’d like I could continue tutoring you, I’m not that busy this semester.”
You stopped on your tracks to face him. “You’d really do that?”
“Yeah, why not? You shouldn’t have to suffer because of your mistake, and if I can help in any way, then I’d be happy to,” he finished with a smile.
Perhaps angels did exist in real life, you thought.
“If you’re sure… I would really appreciate the help.”
You both traded numbers and went your separate ways, the image of the nice boy stuck in your mind.
-
Some time had passed, and you had met up with Seungmin a few times to study. Well, at least most of the time, because you sometimes got off track and ended up talking about random topics and getting to know each other. You weren’t complaining, though.
You found out that the boy was actually a physics major, hence his deep understanding on the subject. He loved it, so he also loved teaching it to you (you found this piece of information especially endearing).
Every time you studied, you brought him food as to repay him, because he wouldn’t accept money and he was, as he himself put it, a “starving college student”. Turns out, you were meeting at least twice a week to eat and occasionally study, only when it was necessary as you thought it was way more fun to just talk for hours about anything and everything.
You wouldn’t deny that your heart would race a little every time you met.
However, you’d have to ignore such thoughts because you had a final exam coming up, and a large part of your grade for the course depended on the score you got. You wanted to do well so you would be able to transfer to the easier class without any regrets.
You texted Seungmin so you could meet up to (actually) study.
you (15:34 pm): hey I need help for the final exam, are u free today? (^▽^)
seungminnie ♡ (15:36 pm): do u have food
you (15:37 pm): who do u take me for, of course
seungminnie ♡ (15:38 pm): then I’m free ヽ(^◇^*)/
you (15:40 pm): see u at the library dork
You locked your phone and headed to the library.
When you got there, you immediately spotted Seungmin, who was sitting on the table you two used every time you studied there. You went over and said hello, sitting down next to him.
After talking about random topics for a few minutes, you took out your physics supplies and watched as Seungmin did the same thing.
You were looking at the amount of information you’d have to internalize, and your leg immediately started bouncing up and down, nerves flooding your entire system.
Seungmin seemed to notice your nervousness. “Y/n, you’ll do fine,” he said, resting his hand on top of your leg, stopping its bouncing. “Relax.”
How is he asking you to relax when his hand is right there, you didn’t know.
“It’s just… A lot of information,” you sighed.
“And we’ll go through it, don’t worry.” He directed a smile at you, instantly calming you down.
You trusted him, definitely. After all, he was one of the people you had grown closer to during your time in college, and you knew he did his best to teach you, taking time out of his day to help you out.
And you appreciated that.
You watched as he opened the physics book, getting everything set up for you to review. You got into your studying mindset, ignoring the way your heart jumped when of your hands brushed when reaching for your notes.
This would be a long evening.
-
“Come on y/n, I know you know this,” Seungmin said.
You sighed, burying your face in your hands. “I think I’m just a bit distracted.”
Oh, damn right you were. You didn’t know what was happening to you that specific day, but you weren’t paying enough attention to your textbook or Seungmin’s attempts at explaining. Instead you were paying attention to the way his hands moved enthusiastically when he was trying to express something, the way he slowly blinked when reading, or the way his mannerisms resembled a cute puppy (you couldn’t explain how, but he did).
And all this was affecting your concentration.
“Okay, you know what? Let’s take a break.” He closed the textbook. “We’ll take a nice walk around campus and come back to finish studying, how does that sound?” Seungmin said.
That definitely was better than staying in there dealing with whatever was happening to you. “Okay, let’s go.”
You both grabbed your things and went outside, and started strolling along the buildings on your campus.
The atmosphere was serene. Not many people were outside at that particular time so you both walked in a comfortable silence, Seungmin’s presence comforting beside you. You didn’t talk much except for some punctual comments here and there, preferring to just enjoy the moment and relax before going back inside.
Before you had a chance to do that, though, you both walked next to one of the green areas on campus, some trees, grass and benches adorning the area. That’s when Seungmin turned to face you.
“Hey, how about we continue studying outside? I read that a change in scenery can do the brain good when retaining information,” he said, nudging you with his elbow.
You raised your eyebrows at him. “Oh really? And where did you read that?” You asked, unconvinced.
“I don’t know, Pinterest?” he shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, it’s probably true.” He didn’t give you a chance to respond when he grabbed your hand and dragged you to sit on the grass, under the shade of a big tree.
You weren’t going to lie and say that studying there didn’t sound like a good idea.
You took out your supplies and got to work, a slight breeze surrounding you both and the feeling of soft grass under your fingertips accompanying you.
-
The moment you handed in your finished test, you could physically feel a weight being lifted off your shoulders. You wouldn’t have to worry about physics until after you got your results back, and you could confidently say you thought you did very well.
A week after that day, you were walking along campus next to Seungmin (“y/n you need to get out of your dorm and stop stressing over your test, you told me you did well!”), checking your phone every ten minutes to see if you got your grade back.
When you heard the typical notification sound, you froze. On the screen, an email from your physics professor was displayed for you to open.
A few seconds later, Seungmin spoke. “So? What are you waiting for, a damn invitation? Open it!”
You snapped out of it and tapped the notification, and you skimmed through the email to see how you did.
A big 87/100 was written, next to “grade”.
“I passed!” you exclaimed, jumping up and down. “Eighty-seven out of a hundred!”
In the thrill of the moment, you threw your arms around Seungmin, embracing him into a big hug. It was all thanks to him, after all.
“Thank you so so much Seungmin, I couldn’t have done it without you,” you said, retreating your arms from around his neck.
He smiled widely at you. “Please, you were the one that answered that test, I just helped,” he shrugged.
You rolled your eyes, smiling. “Don’t be modest. Hey, check your grade too!” you suddenly exclaimed.
You watched as Seungmin took out his phone from his pocket and unlocked it. He tapped the screen a few times before announcing his score, “I got a ninety-five,” he smiled at you.
“Wasn’t expecting anything less from you, to be honest.”
He playfully hit your arm because of your comment, before speaking. “This needs a celebration. Want to grab some food? It’s almost dinner time, I’ll treat.”
“Oh? What happened to ‘I’m a starving college student, please feed me?’” You raised your eyebrows at him teasingly.
“Maybe I want to treat my date to some food, I can’t do that?”
You stopped in your tracks when you heard him say that. A date? Did Seungmin like you back? Wait, you didn’t even conclude that you liked him, you just thought he was cute and had an amazing personality, you loved his laugh, the way he talked, how he was so patient with you whenever you studied, and all his little quirks and traits.
Oh.
Maybe you did like him.
“A date? As in… non-platonic?” you asked, just to clear things up.
“I mean…” He scratched his neck, not meeting your gaze. “If you don’t have a problem with it, I would like to.”
In a sudden urge of confidence, you grabbed his hand into yours, making him look up at you. “I would like to,” you said while smiling.
He gave you a bright smile in return. “Let’s get going, then.”
