Work Text:
"oh, god."
junhui wen stared up at the building in front of him, wringing his hands nervously. "yeah, i don't think i can do this."
"junhui," wonwoo jeon started, patting his best friend on the back. "it's just high school, you act like it's entirely different place when, truth is, we just haven't been here in two months."
"you know what? i think i'll just run up on the roof, jump, and kill myself. seems like a great first day, right?" junhui said, fixing his bag on his shoulder and beginning to walk, prompting wonwoo to join alongside him.
"let's, um," wonwoo paused, "let’s not do that."
the younger followed junhui into the familiar building, glancing up at the silver words adorning the main entrance to the school: pledis academy for the gifted and talented . his eyes glanced over the new decorations strewn across the hallway, the main banner hung above the trophy case reading out ‘welcome back class of ‘18!’
“what a warm welcome,” junhui mumbled.
wonwoo jumped when he felt an arm sling across his shoulders, almost letting out a startled yelp, when he heard a familiar — albeit somewhat annoying — laugh in his ear.
“what’re you so scared for, hyung?” mingyu kim spoke between laughs.
“i could’ve punched you in the fucking face, you ass,” wonwoo murmured, the tips of his ears burning the smallest tinge of pink. mingyu cooed, poking his cheek as another figure strode up next to them.
“please do,” he deadpanned.
junhui tsked at the newcomer, grinning a bit. “minghao, we don’t condone violence at this school—”
minghao xu cut him off, mocking him. “‘ we don’t condone violence at this school —’ eat a dick.”
“ anyways ,” wonwoo drawled out, moving mingyu’s arm off of him. “it’s our last year here—” he ignored mingyu and minghao complaining that they were still juniors, “—so we need to do something special, like go out with a bang or something. make fucking memories.”
“that’s gay.”
“you’re gay.”
mingyu shrugged. “fair enough.”
“so, what type of plan?” junhui inquired, cocking a brow.
“uh,” wonwoo started, rubbing the back of his neck. “i don’t know.” junhui glared at him, about to open his mouth ro respond when wonwoo’s arms went up in mock surrender. “but! i’ll let you know when i do.”
they started a walk towards the office (wonwoo and junhui didn’t go to the july orientation, so they had to pick up their schedules from the office secretary), and afterwards began to head towards their respective homeroom classes. junhui just went down the hall to the tv and film class to help set up for the first morning show of the year, mingyu went up to his advanced placement psychology class, and minghao and wonwoo began their trek halfway across the school to get to their shared calculus class.
junhui walked into the large room, greeting the teacher and a few of the classmates he remembered from previous years. he went over to the bulletin board and looked over this year’s rotations and smiled, seeing that he didn’t move around much this year, only once for the month of october to be an announcer and then move right back to the cameras.
he sidled up to jihoon lee, his only friend in that class. “so,” he began. “how is my favorite stage and sound director?”
jihoon jumped a bit, holding his hand over his chest as he looked over at the older. “first off, fuck you. i’m fragile. second, i want to die.” the beginnings of a grin began to appear on his face.
“ same ,” junhui dragged out. “but seriously, how was new york? you’ve been gone all fucking summer.”
“not all summer,” jihoon began, sitting on a nearby desk as he went through a checklist of things to do a once-over on. “i saw a bunch of shit on broadway, and our group got to go backstage at the end of ‘ chicago ’, so that was cool.” his face lit up a bit as he spoke. “we went to a bunch of museums and studios too, i sent you pictures, right?” junhui nodded. “minghao made me promise him that we would go together on our own and we would go through every single museum that we could in a day.” his cheeks burned with the slightest tinge of pink as he spoke of the younger.
junhui gave him a mock deadpan look. “that’s gay.”
jihoon rolled his eyes and hit his arm with the clipboard. “go to your camera, dweeb.”
junhui mocked him, but took his place behind camera one, nonetheless. “go to your soundboard, dweeb .” jihoon flipped him off.
……
“my brain can’t take this.”
minghao borderline slammed his head on the desk in front of him and wonwoo. his hair fanned upwards and wonwoo smoothed it back down.
“that’s what you get for being a smartass,” wonwoo sing-songed. “skipping math classes and shit.”
“i’m in the fucking gifted program,” minghao groaned, lifting his head up. “not my fault you’re just a dumbass.”
wonwoo clutched his chest in mock hurt. “damn, i felt that.” minghao rolled his eyes.
“so what’s that ‘big plan’ you were talking about earlier?” minghao asked the older.
“i don’t kn—“ wonwoo started, but he was cut off by the teacher.
“wonwoo. minghao.” mr. hobbs started. “i don’t think finishing your start of the year packets requires talking. does it?” the class turned to face the two near the back of the classroom.
wonwoo had an embarrassed smile on his face, whereas minghao just gave the teacher a deadpan look. “no, sir,” they replied in unison, although wonwoo had a small stutter.
“get back to work.”
quiet took over the classroom once more and the two boys glanced at each other. wonwoo just gave a small shrug and returned to his work, in fear that hobbs would end up giving him a referral for not completing the few equations he had left.
this school year just has to go well.
……
a couple weeks passed, and there was still no real plan from wonwoo or junhui. well, there was , but junhui kept turning them down or wonwoo said that they were ‘fucking stupid’.
it was saturday night. wonwoo was at his house, stoned out of his fucking mind, and junhui was at his dad’s, laying down until he finally fell asleep.
junhui’s phone buzzed at his side. he groaned as he turned over to grab it and read whatever had popped up on it. he squinted his eyes and his face scrunched at the brightness of his phone.
wonwoah: junhui
wonwoah: i got the plan
wonwoah: i’m a fucking GENIUS
joon hway: ah
joon hway: and what might this marvelous plan be
wonwoah: okay so
wonwoah: i was watching this show on mtv right
wonwoah: it’s called ‘faking it’ or whatever
joon hway: didn’t that shit get cancelled
wonwoah: SHUT UP
wonwoah: n e ways
wonwoah: we can fake date
joon hway: do you realize
joon hway: how dumb that sounds
wonwoah: can you fucking let me live for once you pessimistic thot
wonwoah: N E WAYS
wonwoah: it could really fucking work okay
wonwoah: just fucking come over i can explain it better in person
joon hway: you’re too far away :((
wonwoah: you live like three houses down
joon hway: :(((((
wonwoah: bring that ass here boy
joon hway: fine ugly
wonwoah: bring food too
about ten minutes later, wonwoo jumped when he heard a knock at the door. he slid slowly off of his bed and clambered down the stairs, heading to open it up. he looked through the peephole and saw junhui standing at the door — sadly empty handed. he opened the door with a pout.
“you didn’t bring the food,” he whined a bit.
junhui rolled his eyes. “i ordered some uber eats to your house.” he smiled. “i got us some mcdonald’s. if that’s cool with you.”
“yeah,” wonwoo mumbled, pulling junhui in and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. he pulled him closer so that he could nestle his face in the crook of his neck. junhui looked down at him almost confusedly before hugging him around his torso and waddling with him to the living room. they fell onto the couch, still keeping their arms around each other. junhui cleared his throat softly.
“you smell like weed,” he stated.
“yeah,” wonwoo replied absentmindedly. he moved his head a little so he was no longer smothering himself between junhui’s neck and shoulder and opted to just rest his head on his shoulder after adjusting his arms to get more comfortable. he cast his eyes up at the older before looking back down. “there’s still some left. if you want.”
junhui hummed. “okay.” there was a small gap of silence. “where’s your family at?”
“mom’s working overtime, dad’s still halfway across the country — he got an extension for november,” wonwoo started, rolling his eyes at that as he counted off his family members on his slim fingers. “and yoojung is,” he waved his hand towards the door, “out with friends or something.”
“ah,” junhui said, shifting a bit so he wasn’t squishing wonwoo into the corner where the cushions of the seat and back of the couch met. half his ass was hanging off now, but at least he wouldn’t feel bad for almost smothering wonwoo now. “so—”
he was cut off by the doorbell ringing and sighed in response. wonwoo nudged him a little, hoping he would get up and get the door. junhui whined as he slumped to the floor before getting up and heading towards the door.
he swung the door open and let out a small “oh.” standing outside the door holding their greasy delivery fast food was soonyoung kwon, a fellow student at pledis academy. soonyoung is also the boy that wonwoo’s been crushing on since he transferred to school with them in sophomore year.
junhui tried not to make interacting with his best friend’s crush awkward. but being around the guy you constantly hear your friend bitch and moan about how much he wants his dick up his ass can only be that. painfully awkward .
“hey, jun,” soonyoung said, offering a soft grin to the older.
“h-hey, soonyoung,” junhui replied, mentally cursing himself for stuttering. he reached out to grab the bag from him, setting it on the small table near the front door. “i didn’t know you did… delivery… shit.”
soonyoung chuckled, bending down to pick up the drinks off the ground. junhui averted his eyes from his ass, flashbacks of wonwoo going into vivid detail describing it popping in his mind. “yeah, i mean, it’s not like i’ve complained about it during entrepreneurship or anything.”
junhui winced a bit. “shit, sorry.” he set them down next to the food.
“it’s okay,” soonyoung smiled. there was a bit of silence before a thud was heard in the living room. soonyoung craned his neck to try and see what was going on, a confused look on his face, and a small “ i’m good ” from wonwoo carried to the door. the corner of his mouth twitched into a small smile that junhui found almost adorable. “i’ll be on my way then,” he said, heading back towards his small volkswagen and giving a wave.
“bye, soon,” junhui called out. “thanks for delivering by the way.”
“no prob.”
junhui tried really hard not to look at his ass.
he backed back into the house and shut the door behind him, grabbing the food and struggling to balance the drinks as he made his way back into the living room.
wonwoo was now sitting up on the sofa, slouched and taking a couple puffs from a joint. junhui had no idea where the fuck it came from, but he didn’t really feel like questioning it. he placed the bag and beverages on the table before plopping down next to him and holding his hand out. wonwoo passed the spliff over to him and he held it between his index and middle fingers for a while before taking a hit.
“soonyoung delivered,” junhui said after a while, finally exhaling the smoke.
wonwoo hummed. “yeah, i heard him.” he rummaged through the large bag and pulled out his order — a quarter pounder with cheese and ten nuggets. “thanks for the food.”
junhui grinned softly, ashing the joint before taking another puff. “you don’t have to thank me. i used your uber eats account.”
“you know,” wonwoo started, “i would beat your ass, but this food is too good.” he shoved a whole nugget coated in sweet and sour sauce in his mouth as he glared junhui down.
“it’s fucking mcdonald’s, but okay,” junhui chuckled before taking a sip out of his coke, “i guess.”
they ate primarily in silence, sans the tv playing in the background (junhui had no idea when wonwoo had turned it on, or where the remote was, or why he had put on food network).
“so,” junhui said, talking around a mouthful of burger, “explain your brilliant plan.”
wonwoo took a gulp of his drink and sighed. “so. fake boyfriends.”
junhui gave him a blank stare. “care to elaborate,” he deadpanned as he picked up his coke.
“i told you about that faking it show or whatever, right?” wonwoo asked. junhui nodded in response. “and it seems like a cool idea. i mean, people already think we’re together.” he ignored the soft scoff from junhui. “we can climb up that bullshit social status food chain.”
“if it’s bullshit,” junhui started, “then why do you wanna get higher on it?”
wonwoo was silent for a few beats. “shut up,” he mumbled. his voice returned to its original tone. “we could be the power gay couple that gets crowned at prom. we’ll get the king and prince titles, tear away any hope those heteros have to win and have that cheesy ass first dance with someone they won’t even see a fucking year from now. we’ll show those fucks.”
those fucks mostly pertaining to jeonghan yoon, wonwoo’s next door neighbor and resident asshole. he’d been the one who made wonwoo’s life — and junhui’s as well, by association — a living hell. not to mention he’d been on homecoming all three years prior to senior year and snagged junhui’s junior prom date, momo hirai, from him.
fucking asshole .
“you seem to be forgetting one key detail,” junhui said, slouching back in the couch. “i’m straight.”
“like i said,” wonwoo stated. “people already think we’re dating. it won’t be hard.”
“so how do you propose this will work?”
“tomorrow’s the last day before fall break. after the break, we come back as a ‘couple,’” wonwoo explained, adding air quotes. “boom. we’re ‘dating.’” he added them again. “we just have to keep this up as long as we can.”
“and what does this ‘dating,’” junhui mocked wonwoo pretty exaggeratedly, “shit entail?”
“acting gay, of course,” wonwoo began, counting off what seemed like a checklist on his fingers. “hand holding, holding doors for me, skinship, real boyfriend type shit. the whole shabang.” he paused. “excluding the kissing.”
junhui took a beat to contemplate. it ultimately boiled down to having people find out and being ridiculed for it until graduation on one hand, or actually succeeding and then carrying on being close friends on the other. a little voice in the back of his mind tried letting him know it may be a bit awkward, but he chose to ignore it.
“alright. let’s do this.”
……
about halfway into their fall break, junhui made an instagram post, seemingly innocuous enough, of him holding wonwoo’s hand in his used cadillac. of course, his friends and various followers didn’t know it was wonwoo, which led to comments of confusion as to “whose bony ass hand,” in the wise words of junhui’s cousin, was in his.
nearing the end of the break, wonwoo posted a picture outside the entrance of a local tattoo parlor. it was one of those “swipe to see more” bullshit posts, and when you did, there was a picture of wonwoo’s hand with a long tattoo down the side of his middle finger. the caption read a simple “i lost,” and junhui’s instagram was tagged at the tip of his middle finger.
junhui made a post around that time as well, of the top half of his face beneath one of the pieces of art in the tattoo shop, brandishing a silver stud in his nose. wonwoo’s instagram was tagged as the piercing, and his caption read “i won.”
jihoon didn’t hesitate commenting “that’s fucking gay” under each of their posts.
(there was an actual bet in place, and it revolved around five go-kart matches at celebration station. junhui won three rounds, and wonwoo won the remaining two. they would’ve gone for more if the middle aged woman running the go-kart section wasn’t such a bitch and those five year olds weren’t so damn impatient.)
the day they returned to school, holding each other’s hands as they walked through that cursed entryway, mingyu walked in front of them and blocked their path.
“i fucking knew it!” mingyu said, almost yelling. minghao and jihoon stood behind him, minghao’s arm draped across jihoon’s shoulders, contemplating whether or not it was a good decision to befriend the exaggeratory junior. in hindsight, jihoon was leaning towards a hard “fuck no.”
wonwoo hummed, pretty much ignoring mingyu’s outburst for the most part. “yeah.”
jihoon cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at the two, eyes flitting between them. junhui pretended not to take notice of him. “so, what ever happened to soonyoung and wonwoo’s crush on him?”
wonwoo thanked god he opted to remain in theatre classes. “it wasn’t a real crush, honestly,” he lied. of course it was. soonyoung was the reason he cried while beating his fucking dick on the homecoming night that he stayed over at junhui’s during sophomore year. “plus, i—,” he squeezed junhui’s hand for good measure. “i really like junhui. that’s probably why i’ve been able to put up with him all these fucking years.”
minghao rolled his eyes. “can we like,” he started, “move over to the side or something? mingyu’s got us fucking standing in the middle of the main corridor.”
the bell rang almost right after the words left minghao’s mouth, and mingyu turned to face him, a pout already etched upon his face. he opened his mouth to speak, but minghao cut him off, moving his arm from around jihoon and turning to head to his class. “i don’t want to hear it, go to your dumb psychology class.” he left his usual walking buddy, and the rest of his group, behind.
wonwoo sighed, letting go of junhui’s hand and starting to follow minghao off to their class. “i’ll text you in class, okay? bye, babe. see you later.”
“bye, woo,” junhui called after him. wonwoo disappeared down a corridor and he turned back to face jihoon, who had his arms crossed over his chest and an eyebrow cocked up. mingyu had already left for his class.
they walked down towards their class in silence, minus the sounds of sneakers scuffing against the linoleum floor and random chatter that progressively got quieter as the halls began to clear, until jihoon spoke up.
“you know i can’t really bring myself to believe you, right?”
junhui turned his head to glance at jihoon for a second before shaking his head and rounding the corner into the classroom. jihoon was always the one in their circle of friends who was known to be a bit of a skeptic.
(it always led to junhui thinking if his love for the arts didn’t carry out, then he could go into forensics or investigative studies.)
he always had to question everything for some reason, and it bothered junhui sometimes, but he could never say anything to the younger about that. it was just in his nature.
“i don’t know why,” junhui said, shrugging. he walked over to his station, trying to rid his face of any emotion that may lead jihoon to question him more.
jihoon raised a brow as he followed him before branching off to his soundboard. “i mean, you both haven’t really expressed any type of closeted affection towards each other within the four years i’ve known you.” he had a point. a small one, but still a point that junhui had to refute.
“we’re basically around each other 24/7,” junhui said, glancing over at him before focusing his attention on trying to pry the lens cap off the camera. whoever used it last really put it on tight. “it doesn’t always have to be in front of anyone.”
jihoon hummed, adjusting some switches. “you have a point.”
score one for junhui.
“i also appreciate those heartfelt comments you left on our pictures. so kind of you to give us well wishes. who knew you were so well versed?”
jihoon scoffed with a small smile. “i only speak from the heart,” he replied, hand over his chest.
……
homecoming came and went (junhui won homecoming king and wonwoo and mingyu got spots on the homecoming court, thanks for asking), and it was currently winter break. early january, to be a bit more exact. which made it a bit over two and a half months since wonwoo and junhui started “dating.”
junhui was currently laying his head on wonwoo’s chest, palm splayed out in front of his face. they both laid out on the couch in junhui’s living room, mingyu was asleep on the floor, jihoon was dozing off in the recliner, and minghao had gone to the bathroom, but he would probably go to the guest room and watch netflix on his phone until he eventually passed out.
wonwoo was sound asleep and junhui was trying his best to follow suit. he tried shifting around as little as possible; wonwoo was a light sleeper, junhui had learned that. multiple times.
he gazed up a little bit, eyes flitting over the younger’s features. his nose flared a bit with each breath he took, and his eyes fluttered every so often, but never opened. he could feel his heartbeat against his face and hand and rose and fell along with his chest as he breathed deeply. he reached up to move some strands of hair from over his eyes.
a cracking thud sounded from the hallway and minghao stood at the opening, cradling his phone that junhui could only assume he dropped. their eyes met and junhui could only look at him with a dumbfounded stare, mouth agape and a blush starting to form. he felt wonwoo stir under him and turned his attention back to him, cheeks reddening even more. wonwoo scrunched his nose, in a way that junhui could almost find cute , and his eyes opened a bit before his expression just about mirrored junhui’s, only drowsier.
junhui’s eyes flitted down to wonwoo’s lips, then back up to his eyes. he cleared his throat and sat all the way up, hands scrambling to find his phone, which somehow found its way between the couch cushions.
“i gotta, uh,” he stumbled over his words, “go to the bathroom. i’ll be right back.”
he clambered over wonwoo’s legs and darted around minghao, rushing to the bathroom. he shut the door, opened up his phone, and went straight to his safari browser. he opened up a new tab and took a deep breath, typing in the search bar.
how do you know if you’re gay
……
gay boyfie: you good there, dude?
str8 boyfie: yeah
str8 boyfie: i think
gay boyfie: don’t lie to me jun
gay boyfie: nobody’s even seen you since tuesday before last except minghao
gay boyfie: and that’s only because he’s your fucking cousin
junhui turned over in his bed, adjusting his earbuds so that he could just hear lewis watson’s voice singing about jumping out of aeroplanes and how he’s been let down too many times over the sounds of his mom demolishing something in the blender in the kitchen downstairs. he grabbed the water bottle on his nightstand, hoping that would help ease his stomach (he’d been feeling queasy for a while). he ignored the knocking on his door and chose to pull his duvet over his entire body, face and head included.
the door opened after no response, and minghao walked over to stand at the foot of junhui’s bed.
“i know you’re fucking up,” minghao said, grabbing junhui by his ankle and shaking his leg. the older boy groaned in protest, swinging the leg he was holding limply at the other. instead of hitting him, however, his foot fell with a smack against the foot of his bed frame, making him let out a whimper. he slid his leg back under the duvet and cradled his ankle, and heard minghao laughing above him, but it wasn’t his usual laugh. he sounded more… worried, in a sense.
“junhui,” he said softer. he moved over to the other side of the bed and sat down, shaking him a little bit. “jun, what’s going on?”
junhui pulled down the cover a little to expose his hair and eyes and minghao let out a small sigh. “fucking life ,” junhui said, voice slightly muffled by the thick cotton still covering his mouth.
“you’ve been holed up in your room for just about most of winter break,” minghao remarked. “the only time you came down was for christmas, and you barely socialized at that.”
“sorry,” junhui mumbled, pulling his cover down a bit more to stop under his chin and hissing softly when it got caught on his nose piercing for a second. he moved up on his bed so his back could rest on the headboard as he looked over at minghao, but it wasn’t long before he cast his eyes down again.
“look,” minghao started. “tomorrow is new year’s eve. and you’re getting out of this house and spending time with us.”
“and who does this ‘us’ entail?”
“me, jihoon, won— why am i even listing them? you fucking know who.”
junhui hummed.
“junhui, they haven’t seen you in two weeks,” minghao said, eyes trained on his hands rather than at the boy he was talking to. “i miss having you around. your boyfriend misses you. we miss you.”
junhui scoffed. “yeah. boyfriend .”
minghao gave him a confused look. “what, did you guys break up or something?” he asked. “i mean, wonwoo’s been acting kinda weird sin—”
“we were never dating in the first place,” junhui confessed. the duvet slipped down on its own as he crossed his arms under it, falling to his lap.
minghao just stared blankly at him, dumbfounded. “what?”
junhui looked over at him, shrugging. “you remember on the first day when we were talking about how we needed to ‘go out with a bang’ this year?” minghao nodded, seemig to get the point. “this was that ‘bang.’”
“okay, but,” minghao began. “how did this even come up?”
“we were fucked up,” junhui said, giving another shrug. “we were just high and wonwoo started explaining his ‘brilliant plan,’ and i decided to run with it. with him. we started planning shit to try and make it seem believable — i know it sounds really fucking stupid, but we wanted the plan to work. it seemed good enough, and all we had to do was make it ‘till prom.” junhui chuckled, then paused. minghao couldn’t really decipher the look on his face.
“and now,” he continued a bit slower, clasping his hands together, “i think i’m in too deep.”
minghao let out a breath. “that’s fucking gay.”
junhui’s nostrils flared and he whipped his head to face his cousin. “you’re so fucking helpful, you know that?”
“well i don’t fucking know how to respond to that!” minghao exclaimed. “‘good for you’? you know i don’t give good advice!”
junhui huffed. “either way, he’d never feel the same way he feels for soonyoung towards me. might as well just give up.”
……
but that was quite the contrary.
wonwoo was sitting in his attic, stoned out of his fucking mind and contemplating calling junhui for the umpteenth time. he knew it would most likely go to voicemail again, but at least he would be able to hear his voice after going a couple weeks without it.
his phone buzzed in his hand and the vibrations startled him; he almost dropped it. he glanced down at the screen, having to squint a bit to see who it was. he read mingyu’s contact name and sighed, placing his blunt between his lips before typing out a response.
minguwu: where are you
wonuwu: attic
wonuwu: contemplating just crying my eyes out or jumping off the roof
minguwu: well don’t do that
wonuwu: why are you asking anyways
minguwu: jihoon wanted to know
minguwu: (ʰᵉ ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ᵐᵉ ᵃˢᵏ ᵇᵉᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ʰᵉ ᵈᶦᵈⁿ’ᵗ ᶠᵉᵉˡ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᶦᵗ)
jihuwun: it was because i was driving but go off i guess
he didn’t realize it was the groupchat.
wonuwu: if y’all are still out can you pass and get me some food
jihuwun: wonwoo you can’t just wallow in fast food, weed, and depression all day
wonuwu: watch me
wonwoo’s emotions were a mess. they seemed to be all tangled up and mangled in all sorts of ways, but they all shared pretty much the same root:
junhui.
wonwoo wasn’t completely sure why his feelings were so confused towards the older. they were best friends, there wasn’t reason for that. except for the fact that wonwoo wasn’t sure if his feelings were still towards the “best friends” side of things.
he decided to go against what his mind was telling him and call junhui again. his thumb hovered over his contact, and he let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding before tapping it and bringing his phone up to his ear.
“hello?”
“h-hey, jun.”
a sigh. “wonwoo.”
“yeah.” there were a few beats of silence.
“look, i’m sorry for not taking your calls or anything… i’ve just been in a funk lately.”
wonwoo heard a voice in the background mutter a “ well that’s one way to put it ,” followed by a thud and an “ ow ,” and chuckled. “’s okay.”
“i understand if you’re mad at me or anything.”
“i’m not,” wonwoo rushed, “trust me, i’m not. i’ve… kinda been going through the same.”
junhui chuckled. “oh, trust me, you don’t know the half of it. i just… i just wanted to kinda, talk to you about— minghao get the fuck out! —about something.”
“sure, uh, go ahead.”
“just… look. i don’t think i can go through with this anymore. the, uh, the fake dating shit. it’s just—”
“junhui, i like you.”
silence.
“listen, i know it’s kinda weird and all, and i know we’re best friends, and i’m the gay one and you’re the straight one, and i don’t want to ramble on for too long but i also want you to listen but i also don’t want to make you uncomfortable and—”
a giggle. “wonwoo. i like you, too.”
“i, uh…”
“i like you, like truly like you, and i don’t know when it started, or why, or how, but i know that i do , and i should’ve kissed you two tuesdays ago instead of whatever the fuck i did, and i’m sor— ”
“i’m coming over.” he got up from where he was sitting by the window and started climbing down the attic ladder, keeping his phone stable between his ear and shoulder. he collapsed the ladder and pushed the door back up.
“wait, what?” he heard shuffling on the other line. “woo, i’m not even dressed, i’m still in my fucking pajamas.”
“quite frankly,” he started, grabbing a jacket from his closet and his keys from his dresser, “i don’t care.” he started on his way out the house, almost slamming the door shut behind him and making sure he locked both locks. “i’m coming over, and you’re gonna rectify,” he motioned with his hands before realizing junhui couldn’t see him, “what you did on tuesday.”
“should i be expecting a kiss when you get here then?”
“you should.”
“good.” and the call ended. and wonwoo power-walked as fast as he could the rest of the way to junhui’s house.
two minutes later, there was a rapid knocking at the door to junhui’s house. junhui raced down the steps, yelling “i got it!” in the direction of his mom before she made her way to the door. he paused in front of the door, taking a deep breath before unlocking the dead bolt and pulling the door open.
wonwoo stood in front of him, panting softly with a small smile on his face and red-rimmed eyes.
junhui’s nose wrinkled. “you smell like weed,” he mumbled.
“yeah,” wonwoo whispered back before placing his hand at the back of junhui’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss.
……
the spring 2018 semester came and went. the pair didn’t end up taking prom as they expected (junhui did get prom king, however, and minghao got the prince title, which was nice), but they didn’t mind.
they did happen to get some gasps out of the crowd when junhui skipped over the queen and went straight to wonwoo for the “first dance,” and even more when he kissed him full on the lips — minus multiple gags from jihoon which led to minghao digging his elbow into his ribs.
it was now the day before graduation. they both laid on the bedroom floor of junhui’s new apartment, paid for by him and his parents. their hands were intertwined, wonwoo’s thumb running along the back of junhui’s hand.
“hey,” wonwoo whispered. he turned to face the older and grinned as he did the same.
“hey,” junhui responded at the same volume with a small giggle. he shifted a bit so that he could face wonwoo completely, brushing a chunk of hair from in front of his eyes. wonwoo leaned forward, giving him a peck on the corner of his mouth.
wonwoo sat up, letting go of junhui’s hand in order to support his weight on both of his arms. junhui followed suit for the most part before swinging one of his legs over wonwoo’s to straddle his lap. his arms looped around his neck and he beamed at the boy who gave a grin in return. he leaned down, resting his forehead against wonwoo’s before kissing him softly, one of his hands going towards the nape of the younger’s neck. wonwoo leaned into the kiss, one hand falling on junhui’s hip.
they pulled away, noses just barely brushing against each other’s.
“i… i think i love you.”
“i think i love you too.”