i thought about a love triangle between haru (the clown of the class) and yu (the popular guy of the school) and yn (a normal girl) in the end the are two scenarios where in one she choose haru and in the other she choose yu🩵
🍂 the autumn that changed everything.
ESSENCE ➜ What starts as an ordinary school day leads to two unexpected friendships one with the class clown who fills your days with laughter, and another with the quiet boy you meet in the library who brings you a sense of peace. As autumn fades into winter, both friendships grow into something more, and beneath the glow of the winter festival, your story branches into two different endings… one with Haru, and one with Yu.
THEMES ➜ high school au, love triangle, friends to lovers, fluff, angst, alternate endings.
✧ includes ➜ haru × reader & yu × reader.
@hyunjinights @gongyuz @anyapsesh @helawho@fleurenjun @flustaered17 @faayzeswords @pachu-verse-09
Autumn had a way of making Seiwa High feel quieter.
The summer heat had finally faded, leaving behind cool mornings and afternoons filled with golden leaves that collected along the walkways between buildings. Teachers began leaving classroom windows open again, letting in crisp air that carried the sounds of the soccer team practicing after school. It was your favorite time of year, mostly because everything seemed to slow down. Even the busiest students looked a little less rushed once October arrived.
Most mornings followed the same routine. You met Lily and Bae outside the front gates before first period, the three of you lingering a little longer than you probably should have while talking about assignments, weekend plans, or whatever drama had found its way around school that week. By the time the warning bell rang, all three of you would inevitably realize you were going to be late and end up jogging toward the classroom together.
That Monday was no different.
You slid into your seat just before your homeroom teacher walked through the door, still catching your breath as Lily dropped into the desk behind you. Bae offered you a sympathetic smile from the row beside the windows before pulling out her notebook.
“Made it,” Lily whispered.
Your teacher clapped once to quiet the room before making a brief announcement about an upcoming cultural festival. As she spoke, the classroom door opened again.
A boy hurried inside with his tie hanging crookedly around his neck and his backpack slung over one shoulder. He paused just long enough to bow apologetically toward the teacher before accepting the inevitable lecture about punctuality.
A few students laughed under their breath.
“So much for perfect attendance,” Yuki muttered.
The teacher sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in a way that suggested this wasn’t the first time.
He nodded quickly before weaving through the rows of desks. As he squeezed past yours, his backpack began sliding on your desk. Neither of you noticed until he took another step and your pencil case came crashing to the floor, sending pens rolling in every direction.
For half a second, the room was silent.
Then Haru dropped to his knees.
The apology came out so fast that the words almost blended together. Without waiting for you to answer, he began scrambling after runaway pens that seemed determined to roll beneath every nearby desk.
“I’m usually not this clumsy,” he said, reaching under a chair for a highlighter. “Actually… no, that’s a lie. I’m clumsy a lot.”
You couldn’t help smiling as he handed everything back.
“No, it isn’t. I hope I didn’t ruin your entire morning.”
“You just knocked over a pencil case don’t worry.”
By the time he returned to his seat, Lily was already looking at you with an amused expression.
She absolutely meant something.
By the time the final bell rang, the events of the morning had already slipped to the back of your mind.
The hallway buzzed with the usual after-school chaos as students hurried toward club activities or the front gates. Haru passed you once on the stairs, offering an awkward wave before one of his friends called his name from down the hall. He disappeared almost as quickly as he’d appeared, leaving you to wonder if your first conversation had been just another forgettable interaction in an otherwise ordinary day.
You weren’t sure why that thought disappointed you.
Shaking it off, you adjusted the strap of your bag and headed toward the library. Midterms were only two weeks away, and after promising Bae that you would actually start studying instead of cramming the night before, you figured there was no better place to begin.
The library was exactly as crowded as you expected.
Every table seemed occupied, notebooks and textbooks spread across every available surface. The quiet hum of turning pages filled the room, occasionally interrupted by the librarian reminding someone to lower their voice.
You wandered between the rows, searching for an empty chair, but every seat was taken.
Near the windows, where the afternoon sun spilled across the wooden tables, sat a boy you recognized immediately.
Even if you’d never spoken to him before, everyone at Seiwa knew who he was. He wasn’t loud or attention-seeking, yet people naturally gravitated toward him. Teachers trusted him, first-years admired him, and every basketball game seemed to end with someone chanting his name from the bleachers.
He looked up from his notes just as you were about to give up and leave.
You glanced around before nodding sheepishly.
“I didn’t realize it’d be this busy.”
He looked at the empty chair across from him.
“You can sit here, if you’d like.”
His voice was quiet enough that it didn’t disturb anyone nearby, yet warm enough that the invitation didn’t feel awkward.
“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”
There was something strangely reassuring about the way he said it.
You thanked him before settling into the chair, placing your books on the table as carefully as possible. For the first few minutes, neither of you spoke. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable; it was simply the kind of silence that naturally existed in places like libraries.
Every now and then, you’d hear Yu turn a page or jot something down in the margin of his notebook. Once, he paused to adjust his glasses before returning to the same page, completely absorbed in whatever he was reading.
It wasn’t until nearly half an hour had passed that either of you broke the silence.
Yu gestured toward your chemistry notes with his pencil.
“Page forty-two. The teacher added another equation this morning.”
You blinked before flipping through your notebook.
There was an empty space where everyone else in class had scribbled something down.
“…I must’ve still been trying to wake up.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“I almost missed it too.”
You copied the formula into your notes before letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
“Thanks. That definitely would’ve shown up on the test.”
“You just saved my grade.”
“I think that’s giving me a little too much credit.”
For the first time that afternoon…
Just enough for the corners of your eyes to crinkle.
It wasn’t the kind of conversation that instantly turned two strangers into friends.
There were no dramatic introductions or unforgettable moments.
Just two students sharing a table on a quiet autumn afternoon.
When you finally packed your bag nearly two hours later, the library had emptied considerably. The sun had begun to set, painting long stretches of orange light across the floor as the librarian announced that the building would be closing soon.
You slipped your notebook into your bag and stood, offering Yu a grateful smile.
“Thanks again… for the seat. And the chemistry save.”
He closed his notebook, tucking a bookmark between the pages before standing as well.
You hesitated for a second before asking, “Do you usually study here?”
“I might start coming more often.”
“I’ll probably see you then.”
They stayed with you all the way home.
The next few weeks passed with surprising normalcy.
Midterm season had a way of consuming everyone’s attention, and soon enough every conversation in the hallways revolved around study guides, forgotten homework, and teachers who seemed determined to assign twice as much work as usual. Even Lily, who normally insisted that “everything works itself out,” had started carrying flashcards in her blazer pocket.
Despite the stress, you found yourself looking forward to school more than you had in a long time.
Not because of the classes.
Because somewhere between October and November, your days had quietly begun to change.
After the incident with your pencil case, he seemed to take every opportunity to stop and talk whenever your paths crossed. Sometimes it was nothing more than a quick “Morning!” shouted across the hallway before he disappeared into another classroom. Other times he’d catch up with you on the way to lunch, walking backwards through the corridor despite your repeated warnings that he was going to run into someone.
“You worry too much,” he said one afternoon, balancing his tray with one hand as he somehow managed to keep pace beside you.
“I worry because you’re walking backwards.”
“I have excellent spatial awareness.”
Before you could respond, he bumped directly into a trash can.
The loud clang echoed through the cafeteria.
Then Haru looked down at the overturned bin before glancing back at you with the most sheepish expression you’d ever seen.
“It came out of nowhere.”
A laugh escaped before you could stop it.
“I’ve heard that before.”
Lily shook her head as she watched the exchange.
“I don’t know how you keep a straight face around him.”
“No,” Bae agreed, smiling into her drink. “You really don’t.”
Yu, on the other hand, became part of your afternoons.
Neither of you ever planned to meet in the library.
The first day was a coincidence.
The second day was convenient.
By the third, you found yourself instinctively looking toward the table by the windows before choosing where to sit.
More often than not, Yu was already there.
Sometimes he was reading. Sometimes he was solving practice problems with headphones resting around his neck.
Every time you walked over, he’d look up, offer a small smile, and slide the empty chair out with his foot before returning to whatever he was working on.
There wasn’t much conversation. Not because either of you disliked talking. It just never felt necessary. The quiet between you was comfortable in a way you hadn’t experienced before.
One afternoon, as rain tapped softly against the library windows, you found yourself struggling through a page of calculus problems. After erasing the same answer for what felt like the tenth time, you let out an exhausted sigh and dropped your pencil onto the table.
“I think numbers hate me.”
Yu glanced up from his notebook.
He studied the page for a moment before turning your notebook toward himself.
He nodded before pointing to the line above your answer.
“Everything after this is right.”
“So I’ve been frustrated over one line.”
You leaned back in your chair with an exaggerated groan.
“I owe you another thank you.”
“I think we’re even now.”
“You lent me your eraser yesterday.”
“That’s hardly the same thing.”
Without realizing it, your world had slowly divided itself into two parts.
Haru filled every silence before it had the chance to exist. Yu never seemed bothered by silence in the first place.
For completely different reasons.
You still didn’t think anything of it. To you, Haru was simply becoming a friend. Yu was someone you happened to enjoy studying with. There was nothing unusual about either relationship.
That’s what you believed. Lily and Bae, however, had started exchanging far too many knowing glances for your liking. One Friday afternoon, as the three of you walked toward the station, Lily finally broke the silence.
“Can I ask you something?”
You adjusted the strap of your school bag.
“…Does it feel different depending on who’s with you?”
“I don’t think I know yet.”
“…I didn’t think you would.”
By the time November arrived, the trees lining Seiwa High’s courtyard had turned brilliant shades of amber and crimson. Every afternoon, fallen leaves drifted across the walkways, collecting in little piles that the groundskeeper would patiently sweep away each morning. The air had grown colder too, and students had begun arriving with scarves wrapped loosely around their necks and warm drinks clasped between their hands.
You had always loved this time of year. It made everything feel softer. One Wednesday afternoon, your history teacher announced a research project that immediately filled the classroom with groans.
“Before anyone asks,” she said, already anticipating the complaints, “yes, this is a partner assignment.”
Around the room, chairs scraped against the floor as everyone turned to friends they’d already planned on working with.
Lily looked over her shoulder at you.
Before you could answer, your teacher shook her head.
“I’ll be assigning them.”
The room collectively sighed.
Your teacher began reading names from a clipboard, pairing students together one by one.
Lily shot you an apologetic look while Bae mouthed, Sorry.
A few more names were called before your teacher looked back down at the list.
Your eyes instinctively drifted toward the other side of the classroom.
Yu looked just as surprised as you did before offering a polite nod.
“Looks like we’re partners.”
The teacher continued calling names.
From somewhere behind you came a dramatic groan.
“This is academic sabotage.”
Tomoya didn’t even look up from his notebook.
“We haven’t started yet.”
“I already know you’re going to make me do actual work.”
The following afternoon, you met Yu in the library to begin planning your presentation.
Neither of you had expected to make much progress on the first day. Usually, group projects began with deciding who was going to procrastinate less.
Instead, within twenty minutes, you’d already outlined nearly half of the presentation.
“You’ve done this before,” you said, watching Yu neatly organize a stack of reference books.
“What makes you think that?”
“You color-code everything.”
He glanced down at his notes before letting out a quiet laugh.
“…I didn’t realize I was doing it.”
He smiled, shaking his head.
“My sister says the same thing.”
The conversation drifted naturally from there. For the first time, you weren’t talking about homework. You talked about favorite movies. Childhood pets. The tiny ramen shop near the station that both of you somehow loved without ever realizing the other went there too.
By the time the librarian announced closing time, neither of you had noticed how late it had gotten.
As you stepped outside, the evening air wrapped around you with a sharp chill.
You instinctively pulled your blazer tighter around yourself.
“I left it at home.” You sighed.
Without saying anything else, he slipped the scarf from around his own neck.
Before you could protest again, he gently draped it around your shoulders. It still carried the warmth from where he’d been wearing it.
“You can give it back tomorrow.”
The walk to the station was quiet.
The next morning, you arrived at school with Yu’s scarf folded neatly in your bag. You hadn’t even reached your locker before someone leaned against the row beside you.
His eyes immediately dropped to the scarf peeking out of your bag.
Something flickered across Haru’s face.
“He lent it to me yesterday.”
“He didn’t want me walking home cold.”
“He’d do something like that.”
There was a brief silence before he smiled again, though this one felt a little smaller than usual.
He reached into his own backpack and pulled out a can of your favorite hot chocolate.
“I bought this on the way here.”
“You always complain about how cold first period is.”
“I didn’t know anyone noticed.”
“I notice a lot of things.”
The words came out so casually that Haru didn’t seem to realize what he’d admitted. You accepted the drink with a grateful smile.
As he walked away toward his classroom, Lily quietly appeared beside you. She looked from the scarf in your hands to the warm drink Haru had just given you.
“I think we’re officially in trouble.”
Haru lingered by his locker for a few moments after leaving yours, absently adjusting the strap of his backpack as students rushed past him toward their classrooms. He’d expected the uneasy feeling in his chest to disappear once he walked away.
Instead, it followed him through first period, through math, and all the way to lunch. He couldn’t explain why seeing Yu’s scarf tucked inside your bag had bothered him. It wasn’t as though Yu had done anything wrong. If anything, lending you his scarf had been exactly the sort of thing anyone would’ve expected from him.
The problem wasn’t the scarf. The problem was realizing that someone else had started noticing the little things about you too. The same little things Haru had quietly been paying attention to for weeks. Practice ended later than usual that afternoon.
As the gym slowly emptied, Haru stayed behind to help stack soccer balls into the storage rack while the rest of the team headed toward the locker rooms. It wasn’t until he reached for the last ball that he realized someone else was still there.
He had apparently stayed after his own practice to return equipment.
For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. The only sounds were basketballs thumping softly against the wooden floor and the distant voices echoing through the hallway outside.
“…She gave your scarf back?”
Haru’s voice broke the silence before he could stop himself.
A small smile crossed Yu’s face.
Another quiet settled between them.
Haru rested his forearms on a cart of basketballs and let out a quiet laugh.
“I think I’m about to ask you something really stupid.”
Yu leaned against the storage room door.
Haru looked down at the floor for a moment before rubbing the back of his neck.
“…You like her, don’t you?”
Once the question had been asked, there was no pretending it hadn’t.
Yu didn’t answer immediately. He considered denying Pretending he didn’t understand. Saying they you just friends.
Haru deserved more honesty than that. After a long moment, he gave a small nod.
His answer was barely louder than a whisper.
Haru closed his eyes for a second before letting out a slow breath through his nose.
Yu studied him carefully.
“And the way you look at her.”
Yu’s shoulders relaxed just a little.
“I guess I wasn’t hiding it very well.”
Another silence stretched between them.
“Can I ask you something too?”
Haru didn’t even hesitate.
The word came out so naturally that it surprised even him.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
He looked toward the gym windows where the last light of the afternoon filtered through the glass.
“One day she was just… Y/N.”
“And then one day I realized she was the first person I wanted to tell everything to.”
Yu looked down with a quiet laugh.
“I started looking forward to studying.”
For the first time since the conversation began…
Haru laughed too. The tension eased, if only for a moment.
Then reality returned.
Neither of them were angry.
Neither blamed the other.
Neither had done anything wrong.
Fallen for the same girl.
Haru adjusted his backpack before heading toward the door.
“I don’t want this to make things weird.”
Yu bumped it without hesitation.
“One of us is going home heartbroken.”
They walked out of the gym together.
Neither realizing that the hardest part wasn’t going to be confessing.
It was accepting that, no matter what happened…
One of them would have to let her go.
Because somewhere along the way, ordinary stopped feeling ordinary.
You would find yourself smiling whenever Haru sent a ridiculous photo to the group chat.
You started looking toward the library windows before you even reached the building, wondering if Yu was already there.
They had both become people you searched for.
It wasn’t until the week before winter break that everything changed.
The annual Christmas festival was approaching, and with it came the school’s yearly tradition.
Every year, students covered the courtyard with lights, decorated the old cedar tree near the entrance, and ended the evening with fireworks just before everyone went home for the holidays.
There was another tradition too.
One that everyone knew about.
For years, students had joked that anyone who confessed beneath the illuminated cedar tree would either begin dating…
Or spend the rest of winter break eating ice cream while crying to their friends.
You never paid much attention to the rumors.
Until Lily casually mentioned them over lunch.
She stirred her soup thoughtfully.
“This year’s festival is next Friday.”
She looked at Bae before looking back at you.
“I think someone might confess.”
The smile slowly faded from your face.
“You’ve been the topic of conversation for weeks.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lily reached across the table and gently took your hand.
“You really don’t see it, do you?”
Not even while sitting across from Yu in the library.
Your mind replayed Lily’s words over and over.
Why would either of them…
Yu had been calling your name.
“You’ve read the same sentence four times.”
“…Can I ask you something?”
“Do you believe people can mistake kindness for something else?”
Yu was quiet for a long moment.
“I think people can mistake feelings for friendship.”
Before you could ask what he meant…
The library announced it was closing.
Haru found you by your locker.
“You’ve barely laughed at my jokes.”
He studied your face for a second before sighing.
It didn’t reach his eyes.
Friday arrived faster than you wanted it to.
The courtyard glowed beneath thousands of tiny lights. Music drifted through the crisp evening air. Students laughed as they wandered between food stalls, bundled in scarves and winter coats. You spotted Lily and Bae in the distance. Both of them smiled sympathetically.
The way your heart had never quite known where to settle.
Standing beneath the glow of the festival lights…
You realized something that terrified you.
But no matter how badly you wished otherwise…
Only one of them would be standing beside you when the lights went out.
Every corner of Seiwa High glowed beneath thousands of tiny lights, the cold December air carrying the smell of hot chocolate and roasted sweet potatoes from the student-run stalls. Laughter echoed across the courtyard as classmates took pictures beneath the cedar tree, trying to capture one last memory before winter break.
You barely noticed any of it.
Your phone buzzed softly in your coat pocket.
Meet me by the soccer field?
A second message followed almost immediately.
The soccer field was quiet, the only light coming from the decorations wrapped around the fence. Haru stood near the goalpost with his hands buried deep inside his coat pockets, absentmindedly kicking at the frozen grass while he waited.
When he noticed you, he smiled.
“You made it sound like an emergency.”
His laugh came out nervous this time, lacking its usual confidence.
For the first time since you’d met him…
Haru didn’t seem to know what to say.
The silence stretched between you until he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his shoes.
“I’ve been trying to figure out when this happened.”
“I don’t think there was one big moment.”
“I think it was a bunch of little ones.”
“The way you laughed at my amazing jokes.”
“The way you always listened, even when I was talking about complete nonsense.”
“The way school stopped feeling like school because I knew I’d get to see you.”
He laughed under his breath.
“I guess I just started looking forward to you.”
He shook his head gently.
“I know Yu likes you too.”
“I couldn’t be mad at him as I have also fallen for you.”
You laughed through the tears threatening to spill over.
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
He took one slow step closer.
“I don’t want to lose our friendship. But… if I never told you how I felt I think I’d regret it forever.”
The courtyard seemed impossibly quiet. Snowflakes had begun drifting lazily from the sky, catching in Haru’s dark hair before melting almost instantly.
You looked at him. Really looked at him.
The boy who had turned ordinary mornings into something worth waking up for. The one who could make you laugh even on the days you wanted to cry. The one who had become your favorite habit without either of you realizing it.
You reached for his hand.
“I didn’t want to hurt either of you.”
“You were always going to.”
His honesty made you smile.
You intertwined your fingers with his.
“I think my heart has already made its choice.”
Before you could say anything else, Haru wrapped you in the warmest hug you’d ever felt. When he finally pulled away, his eyes were suspiciously red.
“Okay maybe I’m crying a little.”
You laughed so hard you had to hide your face in his shoulder. Above you, fireworks exploded across the winter sky.
You found Yu waiting by the front gates.
He smiled the moment he saw you.
“I guess he made you laugh one more time.”
Tears stung your eyes but didn’t dare fall.
Yu shook his head before gently placing a small gift bag into your hands.
“I bought this before I knew.”
Inside was the bookmark you’d been admiring in the bookstore weeks earlier.
“I still wanted you to have it.”
Not because it didn’t hurt.
“Just promise me something.”
“Keep smiling like that.”
You nodded through your tears.
Yu gave Haru one final nod across the courtyard before quietly walking away.
And every time Haru made you laugh until your stomach hurt…
You knew you’d made the right choice.
Everything happens the same…
Until the moment you look up at Yu.
Standing beneath the glowing cedar tree.
His hands tremble ever so slightly despite the calm expression on his face.
“I’ve never been very good with words.”
“I usually think too much before I speak.”
“I wrote everything down.”
He hands you a folded letter.
“I don’t expect you to read it now.”
Every page is filled with memories.
The afternoons spent studying in comfortable silence.
The final sentence reads:
Somewhere between helping you study and walking you to the station, you became my favorite part of every day.
By the time you finish reading…
Yu watches you carefully.
“I don’t want to make this harder than it already is.”
“You always make me feel…”
You search for the right words.
“…like I can finally breathe.”
“Everything with you just…feels like home.”
“I think my heart chose you a long time ago.”
Yu closes his eyes briefly.
Almost like he can’t believe what he just heard.
When he opens them again…
The softest smile you’ve ever seen.
He gently squeezes your hand.
Instead of a dramatic hug…
He simply rests his forehead against yours.
The fireworks begin overhead.
Neither of you looks away.
Haru was waiting by the soccer field.
He smiled the second he saw you.
He looked toward the sky for a long moment before laughing quietly.
“The way you looked at him…”
“I’ve never been able to compete with that.”
“I’m sorry.” Your voice cracked.
He pulled you into a hug.
“If anyone deserves to be happy…”
He stepped back before smiling at Yu across the courtyard.
Haru shoved his hands into his pockets before turning to leave. Halfway across the courtyard, he looked back with his usual grin.
“…You still owe me lunch.”
You laughed through the tears that filled your eyes.
“Now we’re talking.” He waved one last time before disappearing through the school gates.
As Yu quietly slipped his hand into yours…
Even though one chapter had ended…
Another was just beginning.
