Chapter Text
“Mom,” Jihoon stresses through clenched teeth and a forced smile. “I’m going to be fine. Woojin took half of my clothes with him to L.A anyway.”
That little thief, Jihoon mutters under his breath.
“Right,” she says. “Your point is absolutely valid. Are you sure you’re not going to need-“
“Honey,” Jihoon’s father cuts in, thankfully saving him from any more nagging he really doesn’t need right now. “They’re boys, they’ll figure stuff out.”
Other than the fact that Jihoon is absolutely sure that Woojin has half of his belongings over at the other side of the world, he’s sure that whatever he needs, L.A has.
“You have fun,” Jihoon’s father says, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Make sure to say hi to Woojin’s parents for us.”
“Relax, dad,” Jihoon smiles. “I’m sure I’m going to have more fun at Woojin’s than at aunt’s house.”
For once, Jihoon is thankful for his good for nothing friend. Their house was going to go under renovation (his mother’s idea) during his summer break and they had arranged to stay at his aunt’s house for the time being (his father’s idea).
Jihoon loves his aunt – she feeds him, maybe a little too much sometimes. But Jihoon isn’t in the mood to laze his summer away with people the average age of fifty. So, when Woojin offers him a room in L.A, Jihoon jumped at the chance and booked his plane ticket to L.A immediately.
“Same,” his dad sighs dejectedly, glancing at Jihoon’s mother to make sure she isn’t listening.
“Don’t give them too much trouble,” his mother warns, but gives him a hug anyway. “If you feel like coming back, just give me a call, okay?”
Before Jihoon has the chance to point out that Woojin has given his entire family more trouble than his mother can recount, his dad swoops in for another bear hug.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he says, “Now, go. See you later, alligator.”
Jihoon lets his mother give him one more smooch on his cheek before tearing himself away from his parents. With his luggage in his right hand and passport in his left, he excitedly walks to the entrance.
Once inside, he continues to wave to his parents, until they’re out of sight.
It’s his first summer in L.A – what could go wrong?
After numbing his butt on the airplane for almost 11 hours, Jihoon finally touches down. He’s had enough of babies screaming in the plane and his annoying seatmate that has to go to the toilet every hour, so he storms out of the airport, only to see Woojin’s stupid snaggle face waiting for him at the arrival hall.
Jihoon squints (he has shit eyesight) at the sign Woojin is holding in the air.
“Welcome back, idiot.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jihoon says, accepting Woojin’s handshake. It’s a complicated one they made when they were ten, but that’s a story for another day. He takes a closer look at the sign, “It’s like you didn’t even try.”
“Excuse you,” Woojin snaps, holding the sign close to his chest like it’s something important. “I actually got out of bed before noon, had the motivation to do something for you, and attempted to write something nice. So, yeah, I think I tried.”
Jihoon snatches the sign out of Woojin’s arms – the words are written in a dark blue permanent market in Woojin’s chicken stretch but knowing his friend, this is maximum effort, Jihoon has to admit.
“I’m starving,” he whines, following Woojin, who by the way, didn’t even offer to carry his luggage for him once.
“Good for you,” Woojin smiles. “Mom cooked. You’re in for a treat.”
And that’s one thing Jihoon will never deny – Woojin’s mom makes a mean meal.
“Hi, Jihoon!” Woojin’s mother greets him as soon as he steps into their house, along with Woojin’s step-father, who gives him a friendly wave from the kitchen. “How was your flight?”
Jihoon scrunches his face, “Absolutely terrible.”
Woojin’s mother smiles, ruffles Jihoon’s hair and tells him, “Daehwi’s upstairs. He misses you a lot, go and say hi.”
“I will,” Jihoon replies, following Woojin upstairs to where he can already hear Daehwi strumming on his guitar. Hesitantly, he knocks on Daehwi’s door, and pushes it open, where he can see the younger boy on his bed, music sheets spread out all over.
Daehwi’s face lights up like a bulb – which is what Jihoon loves about him.
“Jihoon hyung!” Daehwi yells, diving into his arms for a hug. “It’s been so long.”
“It has,” Jihoon replies, smiling at Woojin who’s watching them from the door. “I’ll be here for a whole 2 months, so don’t get tired of me just yet.”
“I composed a song, do you want to hear it?” Daehwi beams.
“Maybe later,” Woojin cuts in. “This pig is starving, let’s have lunch first, alright?”
Daehwi pouts, but being the sweet child that he is, agrees and even helps Jihoon carry some of his things to Woojin’s room. Daehwi tells Jihoon to rest, and he’ll call him down when lunch is ready.
As soon as Daehwi leaves, Jihoon plops onto his mattress, exhausted from the long flight.
“Didn’t sleep?” Woojin comments.
“Baby on plane,” Jihoon mumbles, and that’s really all it takes for Woojin and him to groan in unison.
“I hope you’re not planning on wasting summer away by sleeping,” Woojin says after a few seconds of silence. “We have many places to go.”
“Course not,” Jihoon springs up from his bed. “If I wanted to be a real couch potato I would have stayed in Korea. When are you going to introduce me to that cute boy in your class?”
Woojin draws in a sharp breath and for a short moment, Jihoon thinks he sees the lightest of blushes greet his friend’s cheeks.
“Maybe later,” Woojin mumbles, brushing Jihoon off.
Bingo, Jihoon thinks.
Woojin is only saved by his mother’s call for lunch. Just like old times, they wrestle each other down the stairs to be the first one; because only the first one gets to choose the best seat. In the end, Jihoon beats Woojin, and takes his rightful seat in front of the ribs.
“Inviting you was a mistake,” Woojin snaps, earning him disapproving looks from his parents.
Jihoon only bats his eyes innocently at Woojin, and gladly accepts the plate of pasta Woojin’s mother passes to him. It tastes like heaven; and Jihoon really shouldn’t have expected anything else from Woojin’s family. If he’s going to be eating this good every meal, he can tell it’s going to be a good summer.
“It’s so hot,” Jihoon whines as he’s halfway to the “beach” that Woojin recommends. He’s honestly rethinking his choices, wondering how nice it would be to be at his aunt’s house, lazing around on the couch and playing Xbox.
“It’s summer,” Woojin deadpans as Daehwi runs ahead to meet someone he recognises. “Besides, you look like you haven’t socialized in months. How are you still functioning as a living, breathing, human?”
“How did you know?” Jihoon gasps.
When he first entered college, Jihoon had this fantasy that half his time would be spent drinking, partying, and maybe even finding the love of his life. The reality was – lectures at 8am in the morning, and surviving on 5 cups of coffee writing a paper he really should have started on 3 weeks earlier. The only person he regularly interacted with was his roommate, Guanlin.
“You look like shit,” Woojin admits. He then whacks Jihoon lightly on the back, drawing a pained groan from the other boy, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you have fun this summer.”
“Fun,” Jihoon mutters under his breath.
Thankfully, Woojin doesn’t have time for another snarky comment because Daehwi comes running back, with another taller boy in his hand, and starts assaulting Woojin with hurried slaps on his arm.
“He’s here, he’s here,” Daehwi whispers in a rushed voice.
“Ow! Ow,” Woojin winces, “Who’s here?”
“Him,” Daehwi snaps, like Woojin’s magically supposed to know who Daehwi’s referring to.
Woojin frowns, searches his mind for a few moments, and then smirks, “Oh, him.”
Meanwhile, Jihoon exchanges awkward glances with Daehwi’s friend who he’s yet to know the name of because Daehwi is too busy fanboying about a boy that can’t be named.
Woojin glances at Jihoon, then remembers that Jihoon exists, and says, “This in Jinyoung, Daehwi’s friend from high school. Jinyoung, this is Jihoon.”
“Woojin’s only friend,” Jihoon adds, shaking hands with Jinyoung, who doesn’t look like he talks much. He only offers Jihoon a small smile at his joke, before he’s dragged away by Daehwi, who is still whispering about an unidentified boy.
“You didn’t have to out me like that,” Woojin sighs when Daehwi and Jinyoung leave.
“It’s true,” Jihoon shrugs. “Who is Daehwi talking about, by the way?”
“You’ll see,” Woojin says mysteriously.
Jihoon makes Woojin choose the shadiest area to put their things down at; which only encourages Woojin to make fun of him, and Jihoon retaliates, saying he doesn’t want to get sunburnt.
“That’s him,” Woojin says, nudging Jihoon, who has assumed the most comfortable position on their picnic mat.
Groaning, Jihoon rolls over and lifts his head.
“Who?”
“The guy Daehwi is crazy over,” Woojin shrugs, cocking his head toward a group of boys playing beach volleyball a distance away.
“Which one?” Jihoon squints, there has to be at least eight of them there.
“Blonde hair,” Woojin notes. “Tall, looks like a fuckboy.”
Jihoon follows Woojin’s instructions – and his gaze comes to rest on one boy indeed.
“Kang Daniel,” Woojin elaborates lazily. “We’re in the dance club, not that we’re close, though.”
“How do you know he’s a fuckboy?” Jihoon groans, “You can’t just label all your step-brother’s love interests ‘fuckboy’ when you aren’t satisfied with them.”
Jihoon prepares himself for Woojin to start yelling at him about how much he doesn’t know boys.
“Fuckboy removes shirt in,” Woojin begins counting down, and Jihoon keeps his eyes on the boy in question.
“3…”
He is pretty handsome, Jihoon thinks. Wouldn't peg him as Daehwi's type, but still.
“2…”
But if Woojin is right about Kang Daniel being a fuckboy, he’s definitely not approving him as Daehwi’s love interest, because Daehwi is a sweet pea who deserves better.
“1.”
As if on cue, Kang Daniel’s hands tug upwards on the hem of his shirt and throws it to the side, revealing his upper body and toned abs. (not that Jihoon is taking notes.)
“Fuck,” Jihoon marvels.
“Told you,” Woojin shrugs, bored.
“Definitely fuckboy,” Jihoon absentmindedly agrees, shifting his gaze from Kang Daniel’s abs to his face. He scores a nice spike against the opposing team and hi-fives his teammates, who lift him up in victory.
“I’m going to get an ice-cream,” Jihoon announces. “You want one?”
“Yeah,” Woojin agrees. “Get me a popsicle, please?”
“Since you’re being so disgustingly nice,” Jihoon says as he stands up and dusts his shirt down.
As with all of Jihoon’s bad decisions, it begins with a dilemma.
He’d come to the shop with a vanilla cone in mind, and a popsicle for Woojin.
But now that he’s here with Woojin’s lemon lime popsicle in one hand, he’s beginning to think that maybe he wants a popsicle too.
While he’s staring at his choices, someone jumps in and grabs a lemon lime popsicle for himself.
“Too many choices, huh?” a deep voice comes after and Jihoon looks up.
Fuckboy! Jihoon immediately thinks when he’s greeted by the same mop of blonde hair from earlier.
“Excuse me?” the boy, which he keeps forgetting he knows the name of, now Kang Daniel, frowns.
Did he just say that aloud?
“I mean,” Jihoon chuckles nervously. “Yeah?”
Kang Daniel stares at him for a moment, then breaks into a grin.
“Lemon lime is my favourite, but the orange one is good too. In fact, I think all the flavours are really good. I mean, all popsicles are great on a hot day like this, aren’t they?” Kang Daniel starts blabbering, without ever losing the smile on his face. “Wait, I don’t think I’ve seen you around. Are you new here?”
Jihoon barely has time to register the flood of words that have been thrown at him.
How does this boy talk so much to a complete stranger?
“I’m new,” Jihoon confirms. “Here for summer break, with my friend.”
“Oh!” Daniel says excitedly. “Who? Maybe I know him!”
Fuckboys know everyone, Jihoon notes. Maybe Woojin was right after all.
“Park Woojin.”
“Woojin from dance?” Daniel wonders aloud. “You guys are friends?”
“Unfortunately,” Jihoon deadpans, drawing a fit of giggles from Daniel.
“He’s always so quiet and shy,” Daniel says, following Jihoon to the counter. He’d finally decided on a vanilla cone; he could always come back for a popsicle cone later. Besides, this Kang Daniel was really starting to freak him out. They met barely 2 minutes ago, yet he was acting like they were best friends.
“Yeah, that’s the better side of him,” Jihoon replies, giving the cashier exact change.
“You’re funny,” Daniel chirps, following close behind him.
Jihoon quickens his steps with Woojin now in his sight. He’d planned to get ice-cream, not chat up the fuckboy from Woojin’s dance club.
“I try my best,” Jihoon replies.
Thankfully, Woojin is in reasonable distance so Jihoon just flings the popsicle at his friend, which lands nicely on his back. Woojin lifts his head, ready to kill Jihoon, then freezes when he sees who Jihoon is with.
Help me, Jihoon mouths, side-eyeing Daniel, who has been chattering about something he’s long lost interest in.
“Oh, hi Woojin!” Daniel smiles, waving at Woojin.
Woojin nods awkwardly, offering a wave back.
“I’ll see you around, I guess,” Daniel says when Jihoon gets back to Woojin’s side.
“Yup,” Jihoon offers weakly.
Daniel jogs off, joining his friend group again.
“My God,” Woojin marvels as Jihoon tears open his ice-cream packet, and realises he’s gotten chocolate, not vanilla. Damn it, was he so desperate to get away from Kang Daniel he messed up his ice-cream choices?
“Did fuckboy just chat you up?”
“Can we stop calling him that?” Jihoon hisses, remembering how he’d accidentally blurted it out in front of Daniel himself earlier.
“Hey!” another familiar voice interrupts Jihoon, and he freezes.
Lo and behold, it’s Kang Daniel, jogging back to Jihoon and Woojin.
“I never got your name,” Daniel smiles.
“Oh,” Jihoon replies dumbly. “I’m Jihoon.”
“Jihoon,” Daniel repeats. “I like that.”
Woojin coughs awkwardly while looking out into the distance, and Jihoon knows his friend is sending him a telepathic message, “fuckboy!”
“I’m Daniel,” Daniel continues. “Do you want to come play with my friends and I?”
“Actually, Woojin and I-“
“Jihoon would love to,” Woojin jumps in. “I have to look for Daehwi, so please entertain Jihoon for a moment, please?”
Jihoon immediately glares at his friend, mouthing, “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Sure,” Daniel grins at the good news. “Come on, Jihoon.”
Does he ever stop smiling?
“I can’t play,” Jihoon says, “I’m uh… allergic to sunlight.”
“He is not,” Woojin insists. “He’s just allergic to physical activities. Please, take him away.”
With that, Daniel bends down to grab Jihoon’s wrist.
“Don’t be shy,” Daniel pleads. “We need one more person in our team. I’ll protect you, please? You won’t even have to touch the ball.”
Jihoon knows puppy eyes when he sees one, and he’s very sure that Kang Daniel is using his puppy eyes on him right now.
His gaze shifts between Daniel’s pleading gaze and Woojin’s innocent smile.
“Fine,” Jihoon sighs. “If I get hit by the ball, I’m suing.”
“I’ll be your lawyer,” Daniel confirms, pulling Jihoon up by his wrist.
Damn, he’s strong.
“Enjoy,” Woojin waves Jihoon goodbye.
Jihoon hopes Woojin shoves his words up his ass one day.