Chapter Text
WEEK 4
Eventually Jihoon figured out a way to include Daniel with the rest of his friends. Luckily for him after making them all meet, they got along just fine.
Next thing you know slowly but surely Daniel was added into the picture.
It was a Tuesday morning, Daniel had given Jihoon a ride to school. Something that was now becoming a habit.
Being picked up meant more time to sleep, something Jihoon would never deny. He didn't want Daniel to feel like he was his personal taxi driver, but Daniel insisted he didn't mind.
Depending on when Daniel wakes up, is that factor that decides when they arrive at school. This morning he took his time to get ready and even stopped by a convenience store before meeting Jihoon. There was still 15 minutes until school started so there wasn’t a need to rush. The boys walked together towards an empty table in the school's patio.
Jihoon’s eyes followed the black grocery bag Daniel was holding.
They sat at the table opposite from each other. Daniel took out 2 cartons of milk.
“Here in case you didn't get to eat breakfast.” He picked up both cartons, letting Jihoon choose his own flavor.
The thought was nice of him considering Jihoon explained taking the bus required him waking up early, which gave him no time to eat in the morning.
Jihoon picked the chocolate milk, which he would later regret.
“Thanks, Niel.” he opened the side of the carton and brought it to his mouth.
Through his peripheral vision he noticed Daniel’s head turn to look behind him. But maybe it was too early in the morning to understand what was going on and connect the dots. Because next thing you know, someone was shaking his shoulders and yelling right beside his ear.
“JI-HOON-AH.” Someone carefully (and loudly) pronounced each syllable.
The scream startled Jihoon and made him drop the carton, most of the milk spilling on his clothes on the way down.
Jihoon immediately got up and was ready to find who was responsible.
He wasn’t at all surprised it was his close enemy (friend) Woojin.
Jihoon looked down at his favorite yellow shirt that now had a huge brown spot in the middle. Luckily none of it spilled on his jeans but who would expect him to walk around with a stain on his shirt.
“Yah! What's your problem? Look what you did!” Jihoon began walking towards Woojin who was now taking a few steps back.
“If I knew you were gonna get so scared I wouldn't have done it.” He stuck his tongue out to try and provoke him. Woojin ran to the other side of the table behind Daniel in hopes to be protected for a bit.
“Oh, hey Daniel.” he hid behind Daniels shoulders.
“Hey Woojin.” Daniel was smiling enjoying this way too much.
“You guys are the worst. Look at me!” Jihoon was moving his arms to emphasize how upset he was.
Daniel’s smile disappeared. “What did I do?”
“You're the one who gave me the milk!” Jihoon exclaimed.
“How is it my fault that you accepted it!”
“Also, you look the same as always Jihoon.” Woojin cheekily said.
Jihoon looked at him as if it he was ready to fight his friend. Daniel knew that was their dynamic of their friendship, but he also didn't know them well enough yet to know how serious they could get.
Daniel stood up in hopes to calm the situation down. He took off his hoodie in one swift motion and offered it to Jihoon.
“Here, take it.”
Jihoon stared at his friend’s clothing, questioning if he should or not.
“C'mon, wear it. It's not like you have anything else to change into.”
He was right….
Jihoon took it, squeezing his shirt dry before putting on the grey sweater.
It fit Daniel a bit big so it wasn't a surprised it was oversized on Jihoon’s smaller body. Daniel was taller and had longer arms than the younger.
So, it looked cute on Jihoon. The sleeves covered his hands and gave him sweater paws.
“You look really cute Jihoon!” Daniel said in awe.
“Oh! You do.” Woojin added as if he had just realized this.
Jihoon made sure to turn around before they saw his reaction. Who knew he would blush over such dumb comment.
“I'm leaving.” He stomped towards his class.
Daniel picked up the half empty milk carton and threw it in the trash. He still had his own which he would make sure to offer to Jihoon. But he wasn't sure if that was a good idea.
“Wait up!” Daniel ran ahead to catch up to Jihoon.
————
Besides math, Daniel and Jihoon had physics together. Both weren’t sure how they made it so far in the science department. Jihoon even assumed the school made a mistake. But he soon found out Daniel was smarter than he looked. Even though Daniel always seemed lost, he was smart. As for Jihoon… he was the opposite.
Daniel had managed to convince the teacher to change his seating chart to be next to Jihoon, which explained why the table on the far. right back became the loud table.
It was Daniel, Jihoon, Jinyoung and his friend Guanlin.
“Should we ask the teacher if we can make volcanoes?” Jinyoung was ready to raise his hand.
“Dude, this is physics. Not chemistry.” Guanlin explained.
Daniel was giggling, excited about the volcano idea.
“There’s a difference?” Jinyoung genuinely asked.
Jihoon muttered under his breath.
“How are we in an advanced physics class…”
To make it worse, despite the class being difficult, the teacher never taught anything. He just handed packets of homework and expected everyone to understand them. Of course, this was great news for their table since they could slack off but Jihoon hated extra homework.
He took his pencil out and skimmed through the papers. 10 pages in 45 minutes. This wasn’t so bad, but his group made it difficult to focus.
Jihoon felt eyes on him and turned to the right where Daniel was patiently staring at him.
Jihoon raised his eyebrow and finally spoke when he didn’t get a response. “What is it?”
“You look so cute.”
Jihoon eyes widened.
Abd Daniel leaned back in his chair. “Seriously the hoodie makes you look even more adorable, I want to cuddle with you.” He smiled.
Jihoon wasn’t used to Daniel’s blunt words, so whenever he said anything embarrassing Jihoon would get red.
“D-Don’t look at me anymore. Do your work.” Jihoon turned to face his papers, but his hand wouldn’t move.
A few moments later, he noticed Daniel’s hand waving to steal his attention.
This time he turned and was shocked by Daniel’s phone.
“3, 2, 1.” Click
Daniel took picture of Jihoon before he even realized it. His attention went back to his phone and Jihoon stiffened.
“Did you ju-“
“I’m showing my friends how cute you look. This needed to be documented.”
WHAT.
Jihoon immediately reacted, reaching over to stop Daniel. “Don’t send them anything!!” But it was too late. Daniel had successfully sent the off-guard picture to the group chat.
“Don’t worry my friends are nice. They’re just curious and want to know what you look like.”
Jihoon was embarrassed. He didn’t know Daniel’s friends, so he was nervous random people now knew what he looked like.
“Oh! You see, they agree.” Daniel was reading the new messages and proudly lifted his phone to show Jihoon.
“Yea, yea.”
Daniel finally settled down, as well as the other boys sitting in front of them.
But Jihoon got stuck on one of the problems and had no choice but to ask Daniel for help.
He tapped his arm. “Daniel?”
Daniel hummed as he finished writing something down. “What’s up?”
“Have you done problem 22 yet?”
Daniel moved his chair closer to Jihoon to help him.
“Yea, here.”
Daniel began to explain the problem and told him where to look in the textbook for the answer. But it was really hard for Jihoon to focus since they were so close to each other. Daniel must be used to skinship since he’ll randomly initiate it. Or maybe Jihoon lacks intimacy that he enjoys Daniel’s bouncy leg touch his own. Either way it was distracting. Daehwi likes skinship too but he was different, Jihoon was used to Daehwi.
Maybe he would need to get used to Daniel.
“Okay?” Daniel looked at him.
He’s done? I guess I’ll have to google it later.
“Thanks.” Jihoon lied.
But Daniel kept waiting.
“What is it now?”
“I just remembered my ex-girlfriend really liked that sweater.”
Ex-girlfriend?
It made sense Daniel would have girlfriends before but it still surprised Jihoon.
“She always wore it, so I gave it to her, but guess what she didn’t want it!” Daniel continued. “She said she only liked it when I wore it, something about smelling me.”
“One time I was in her room and I looked through her closet, half of it was my clothes! Girls are so weird.”
Well Jihoon could not relate, but he nodded, pretending to agree.
“Did someone say girls?” Guanlin interrupted. One of his hand slowly rubbing his chin, waiting for a response.
“Oh, yea my ex, but anyway.” Daniel seemed over talking about her, so he changed the subject. “Do you guys wanna hang out after school? Get some burgers or something.”
This caught Jinyoung’s attention.
“I’m down, as long as I get home safe my mom will let me.” Guanlin added.
“Same.” Jinyoung agreed.
“Good thing I can drive you all home.” Daniel grinned.
Guanlin and Jinyoung lit up. “You have your own car!?”
Daniel nodded enthusiastically.
“Wait what about Daehwi? Is he going?” Jinyoung remembered.
“I haven’t asked… but yea Daehwi and Woojin can come. Oh, isn’t that 6 of us? Someone is going to have to hide.” Daniel laughed.
“Daehwi is the smallest. Wait, Daehwi has a club meeting after school. It should be short; you guys don’t mind waiting a bit?” Jihoon remembered his friend reminding him before school.
Everyone agreed to wait after school near the parking lots. There was a grassy area with a huge tree to hide from the sun. But for now, they had to survive the rest of Physics class.
Jihoon turned his head back to the worksheets, and then slowly to the left. He could smell Daniel’s cologne, Jihoon could recognize it. It smelled nice, like when you smell something familiar it’s comforting. Maybe he could understand Daniel’s exes.
————
They all met up after school and sat down in a circle. They played games for a while but Daehwi was taking longer than expected. Jinyoung and Woojin went to look for a soccer ball in the fitness room, which left Jihoon and Daniel alone with Guanlin.
But in a few seconds, he excused himself to the restroom.
Daniel was laying on the grass while Jihoon sat, afraid to dirty his friend’s sweater.
“Daniel don’t lay on the grass you’ll stain your shirt.” Jihoon said out in the open. He knew telling him this wouldn’t stop him, but at least he tried. But instead of ignoring him, Daniel got up and laid his head on Jihoon’s lap.
“Better?” He looked up to stare at Jihoon.
With his hand he covered Daniel’s eyes. Shy by someone staring at him that intensively.
“I’m going to fall asleep.” Daniel was laughing.
“Go ahead.” Jihoon whispered.
“Touch my hair, it makes me sleepy.” He confessed.
Jihoon felt weird. This he definitely never did with Daehwi. But Jihoon guessed he would if his best friend asked him. He brought his hand to Daniel’s head. Running his fingers through his black hair. Jihoon was glad his friend didn’t wear hairspray since it made his hair softer.
Jihoon thought this was cute of Daniel. He liked getting pet like a puppy?
He effortlessly played with strands of hair and noticed Daniel yawning.
“I should stop before you actually fall asleep. You’re the driver remember.” Jihoon stopped moving his hand but kept his hand on his hair.
“No, don’t stop.”
Okay.
Guanlin came back before the others. And sat down in front of the sleepy boys.
Jihoon was closer to Jinyoung and never had the chance to be close with Guanlin so he knew he probably felt awkward around him.
Jihoon stared at his shoes, examining the mud streaks from last week. “How’s Jinyoung doing?”
Guanlin smiled, relieved Jihoon said something.
“He’s...crazy.” Guanlin decided.
Jihoon finished the sentence. “In love?”
“Something like that.” He was happy Jihoon understood him. “And Daehwi?”
“He’s the same.”
They both stayed quiet. Daniel a bit lost but eventually understanding what was happening.
“What about you Jihoon?” Guanlin wondered.
Daniel knew what he meant and was just as curious. But was surprised Jihoon was dense.
“What about me?”
Guanlin looked at Jihoon who was still absentmindedly playing with Daniel’s hair. And then at his phone.
“I’ll be back, Jinyoung needs me and my height.” He got up and walked away.
Jihoon looked down at Daniel who had his eyes closed.
He cupped his face and lightly pat it.
“Daniel-ssi wake up, this is no time to sleep.”
Slowly a smile appeared on Daniel’s face, who was jokingly asleep.
“Am I that boring? Are we that boring?”
Daniel ignored the question and asked his own.
“You aren’t that close to him, right?”
“Guanlin? I guess we never got the chance to talk alone.” He confessed.
“You were acting the same way when we first met. Shy, quiet, with a lot of … empty spaces.”
“Sorry some of us weren’t born with perfect social skills.”
Daniel chuckled. “I’ll change that.”
Jihoon hummed not sure how to respond. He saw Woojin from the distance, he and Daniel would have to get up in a bit. He closed his eyes enjoying the few seconds before he lost Daniel’s presence.
He was happy Daniel was his friend.