Chapter Text
“Morning, Gyu.”
Jeonghan gave a little wave to the younger, who stood behind the cafe counter with his apron and on. Jeonghan guessed Mingyu had been waiting for him to come, but they had just gotten off of fall break - his brain was still in vacation mode, it wasn’t his fault that he was late. Mingyu was a freshman, he was still a goody-two-shoes fresh out of high school, he took his cafe job a little too seriously sometimes.
Jeonghan tested him a little further by climbing over the counter after throwing his backpack over it first. He considered throwing it at Mingyu for him to catch, but the last time he did that, he nearly knocked the kid over.
Mingyu pouted as he watched Jeonghan climb over the counter without a problem, and Jeonghan giggled. He didn’t like it when he did that, because Seungcheol - their ‘boss’ - had repeatedly told them that it was unprofessional and whatnot. Jeonghan didn’t care much. He was almost positive Seungcheol was in love with him anyway, so he wouldn’t actually punish him for something like that. For sure.
“Good morning, hyung,” Mingyu said with a sigh, bending over to pick up Jeonghan’s backpack before handing it back too him. “I guess your break was good since you’re late?”
“I would’ve been late if it was bad, too,” Jeonghan replied, taking the backpack from Mingyu’s hand and tossing it under the counter - where he usually put it, even though Mingyu wasn't very fond of that either. Mingyu pouted. “How was yours?” Jeonghan asked him, and the latter’s pout disappeared, his eyes sort of surprised.
Mingyu parted his lips to say something, but he only brushed it off as he shrugged, his eyes dropping down to the floor.
Seungcheol wandered in just as Jeonghan wanted to question him further, and if Seungcheol didn’t look angry, he would have continued with his question.
“Where the hell is Joshua? We open in ten minutes.” Seungcheol asked, specifically glaring at Jeonghan.
At first, Jeonghan was taken aback. He hadn’t even noticed that Joshua wasn’t there. In fact, this was most likely the first time all semester that Jeonghan had arrived to work in the school cafe without Joshua being there before him, or arriving at the same time that he did. His eyes scanned the area, double checking.
“I don’t know. He didn’t text me.” Jeonghan said with a little shrug. Strange, he thought. Joshua was never late to anything, and if he was, he would have texted Jeonghan, at least. That only happened once, when Joshua was sick and couldn’t come in. “I’ll call him.”
“Tell him to hurry up,” Seungcheol grumbled before disappearing into the back again. He sounded stressed, frustrated. He guessed that Seungcheol probably didn’t have a very good break, and it must not be very nice to come back to his work with one of his three staff members late. He didn’t blame him for sounding mad.
Jeonghan sent off the message before tucking his phone back in his pocket and getting to work - helping Mingyu to display the pastries he’d baked for that morning, trying not to worry too much about Joshua. He was an adult too. He was probably fine, maybe just stuck in traffic - he lived off campus, after all. That’s probably all it was.
“Are you gonna tell me how your break was?” Jeonghan asked the taller boy, following him back into the kitchen to help him grab the last few sheets of cupcakes.
Jeonghan saw the look of discomfort on Mingyu’s features when he heard his question, and Jeonghan pouted, a little worried. Mingyu was a cheerful and level-headed kid, not much ever seemed to bother him - so seeing him avoid such a simple question was a little unnerving.
“It was just - standard, I guess. I studied, mostly.” Mingyu pushed out a very obvious lie, to which Jeonghan only hummed in response. He understood if Mingyu didn’t want to talk about what was bothering him so much, but that didn’t make Jeonghan worry any less. But for now, he would leave it be.
Jeonghan felt his phone buzz in his back pocket, and he fished it out pretty quickly to get a glance at the message he’d just received. He felt a little relieved when he saw that Joshua had finally responded to him.
That was good. That meant that Joshua was parked outside of the Literature building, where their cafe sat on the first floor, so it wouldn’t take him too long to get inside. Joshua usually came in through the back, though, the opposite from what Jeonghan would normally do.
Seungcheol wandered past the two of them, probably not thrilled to see Jeonghan on his phone while Mingyu was diligently setting up the cupcakes alongside the rest of the pastries. “Joshua’s on his way in the building, he was stuck in traffic. Lots of accidents this morning.” Jeonghan lied, to which Seungcheol grumbled “sure there were” under his breath. Kind of rude, Jeonghan thought, Joshua was never late so it was highly unlikely he was doing this on purpose.
Jeonghan heard the back door open just as Seungcheol unlocked the door and turned on the front lights to indicate they were open. They already had a few students lined up outside, either to use the cafe room to study before class, talk, or get some breakfast.
Jeonghan smiled when he turned around to face the back door, but Joshua didn’t even have time to look at him, it seemed. He looked like he was struggling with the things he was holding - his messenger bag almost slipping on his shoulder, his store keys in his mouth and a binder, notebook and a textbook in his arms, all nearly slipping out of his arms when he closed the back door behind him.
Jeonghan got to him just before the school materials slipped out of his arms - he took them from him and grabbed hold on the strap from his bag before it could escape Joshua’s shoulder. Joshua stared at him with widest eyes for a moment, looking a little stupid with a lanyard (holding his keys, and a taser) in his mouth, but it was a cute kind of stupid, so Jeonghan didn’t mind.
“You know this stuff is supposed to go in your bag, right?” Jeonghan asked with a little chuckle, motioning for him to open the messenger bag so he could stick his things inside. “And your bag is a crossbody for a reason. So it doesn’t fall off your shoulder.”
“I was in a rush.” Joshua puffed, sounded a little stressed, frazzled when he opened his bag. He attempted to take the materials from Jeonghan to put them in himself. Jeonghan shook his head, simply sliding them into Joshua’s bag before he could even argue.
“I’ll put your stuff away, go put on your apron before Seungcheol can complain,” Jeonghan advised, taking his bag and pointing Joshua in the direction of the counter - of course, pulling on his lanyard to take the keys out of his mouth before he wandered off. Joshua opened his jaw and scurried off.
Jeonghan brought Joshua’s bag to the back, stuffing his keys inside before safely tucking it in a locker. The lockers didn’t have locks, but Joshua always insisted on having his bags in there anyway. Jeonghan supposed it was to insinuate that he didn’t want people touching his things.
They didn’t have much time to chatter after the cafe opened. There was a long time of students waiting for their morning coffee, some for breakfast, and some just for a cupcake, which needed to be moved along quickly so everyone could get to class on time.
Jeonghan took note of Joshua’s weird behavior, working on the counter beside him. He was a little spacey - asking customers to repeat themselves, giving the wrong amount of change and even giving the wrong items a few times, something that Seungcheol was not very happy about. He clearly had something else on his mind - most likely the same thing that made him late that morning.
Thankfully, though, he seemed to pull himself together a bit more as the day went on.
They were given a short break at nine thirty, just like every day - no classes on campus started at nine thirty, so it was a good chance for them to get everything situated again before the next rush of morning-class students arrived.
“Is everything okay, hyung? You never really mess up orders.” Mingyu beat Jeonghan to it, something he was secretly glad about - if Jeonghan has asked him himself, Joshua might have brushed him off.
“Me? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Joshua said passively, helping Mingyu prepare another batch of cupcakes. Jeonghan watched their exchange, sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Hyung,” Mingyu said again, sighing, taking Joshua’s wrist before he would have placed his bare hand on the very hot oven. Joshua looked a little embarrassed, wandering away for a moment to grab oven mitts.
“I’m fine, really. Just a little preoccupied with school stuff. I didn’t get a lot done on the weekend, and apparently, there’s a presentation at the end of the week that I didn’t know about.” Joshua sighed a little shakily, Jeonghan could hear the stress building in his voice. He knew what presentation he was talking about, too. That was the one class they had together. Jeonghan didn’t care about school as much, so he wasn’t too worried about it, but he knew Joshua thought differently. “And then finals coming up. It’s just a lot.”
“Oh, yeah. I get that.” Mingyu looked a little sad, and Jeonghan felt the same way. Neither of them liked seeing him so stressed. “I’m sorry, hyung. If you need any help with stuff, I can try my best to help you.”
“I appreciate that Mingyu, thank you.” Joshua passed him a little smile just after he closed the oven, pulling the mitts off and placing them on the countertop. “How was your first fall break as a college student? Go to any parties?” Joshua asked, more joking than serious. Mingyu wasn’t really a party person. “Lose your virginity?”
Jeonghan snorted when Joshua suddenly asked that, and Mingyu turned about as red as the red velvet cupcake batter currently baking in the oven, and Joshua laughed so hard that it sounded like it hurt. It was good to see him smile like that, even if it was from a stupid joke on an unsuspecting freshman.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” Joshua claimed after he was done laughing, and Mingyu looked about ready to crawl into a hole. “Seriously, though. How was your break?”
Mingyu took a few seconds to recover from Joshua’s cruel attack on his little freshman brain, but he answered. “It was...okay. I don’t know.”
Jeonghan’s smile faded, remembering how dodgy Mingyu had been about the questions earlier. “You can tell us if something’s up, Mingyu. You’re not really good at hiding it.” Jeonghan told him with a frown, and Joshua’s expression was the same. He even looked a little guilty for making the virgin joke.
“I, uh...I did go to a party.” Mingyu said almost automatically, but he looked a little nervous about it.
“And?” Joshua asked, a brow raised.
“This, um...this girl, that I like. She...she’s in my painting intro class. She was there, and, I got to talk to her. We were outside and we talked for, like, hours.” Mingyu sounded uncomfortable talking about it, but there was a sort of faraway look in his eyes that Jeonghan had never seen before. Like he was reliving the moment he was sharing with them. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“That’s a good thing, though, isn’t it?” Joshua asked, passing him a little half smile. Joshua looked happy to hear that - it sounded cute. Jeonghan didn’t quite get what made Mingyu so uncomfortable about it.
“I think so. But, I just...I don’t know if she’d ever like me back.” Mingyu murmured, his voice getting softer as his sentence went on. That far-away look Jeonghan had noticed before had suddenly disappeared.
“Why not? You’re a great guy, Mingyu.” Joshua tried to reassure him, but Mingyu shook his head. Joshua looked offended, almost ready for a compliment attack, but Mingyu seemed to be shaking his head for a different reason.
“It’s just complicated, hyung.” He said, his voice so small it was almost hard to believe the guy was six two.
Jeonghan’s frown deepened. “How complicated can it be?”
“Well...she’s an exchange student, kind of. From China. So she’s leaving after this semester.” Mingyu said, and Jeonghan could feel the sadness in his voice. He remembered that feeling - in their freshman year, Joshua was an exchange student from America, originally. But he ended up transferring and staying at the school - something Jeonghan couldn’t possibly be more glad about. “Like...I don’t even know her name, hyung. There’s just a lot of things.”
Joshua looked like he wasn’t sure what to say, and neither was Jeonghan. That was a tough situation, for sure, and he wasn’t sure how he could help Mingyu with it. He wanted to.
“But, um, yeah. It’s okay. It just...I was just thinking about it a lot, so my break wasn’t really great. Cause of it.” Mingyu murmured, his speech a little quicker as if he wanted to get it over with and finish talking about it. Move on to something else.
“That sucks, Mingyu. I’m sorry.” Joshua told him, and Jeonghan nodded. Mingyu shrugged, mumbling a little “it’s okay” almost under his breath before he silently continued on with his work.
Their break went by quickly as always, and they were busy again for the next hour or so, taking customer orders and cleaning off tables in the cafe lounge in between. Jeonghan took notice of how Mingyu’s mood seemed to drop a bit, clearly overthinking things. Jeonghan and Joshua tried to pass him little smiles, but Mingyu remained in the same state.
The customers died down eventually leaving just a few students hanging out in the lounge to eat, or study. Joshua was in the back with Mingyu, helping with cleaning up the kitchen, and Jeonghan was doodling on receipt paper at the register.
Jeonghan took notice of someone that walked in but didn’t come to the counter right away. He was looking around the area - the lounge, the people sitting, and the menu that hung above Jeonghan’s head. He looked like he wasn’t sure if he was in the right place.
He was a fairly attractive guy, Jeonghan would say, but definitely a freshman. The kid kind of looked like a kpop idol, wearing an oversized, expensive looking sweater and jeans over his far too skinny legs - glasses resting on the tip of his nose with a little bit of makeup on his eyes, too. He guessed the kpop thing wasn’t impossible, Jeonghan knew a few trainees that went to the school, too. But that wasn’t the point.
He was at the counter before Jeonghan knew it, and Jeonghan stopped his staring and offered his usual greeting to customers.
“Hey, sorry, I’m not ordering anything.” The latter said apologetically, briefly pushing his hair back as if it were something out of a habit. Mingyu did that too when he wasn’t wearing a hairnet for work. “Mingyu works here, doesn’t he? Kim is this last name, I think.”
The kid had an accent, but not the American kind of accent that Joshua had. If Jeonghan had to guess, he would say Chinese, but he wasn’t sure.
“He does.” Jeonghan raised a brow, straightening his back out a bit. Why did this feel a little suspicious? “Do you know him?”
“I was at a party with him, the other day. I don’t think I gave him my number, or even my name, so I just wanted to give that to him. Is he here?” The younger asked.
He was Chinese. He was at a party with Mingyu the other day. And Mingyu didn’t know his name or number. This was the person Mingyu was talking about, it had to be - but Jeonghan was pretty positive that this person was a boy.
“He’s...uh, I think he’s in the back. Can you hold on just a second?” Jeonghan tried to ask politely, but his brain was flooded with confusion, unsure what he should do or say. There was no way that this was a coincidence, and he was positive Mingyu had said she every single time - but maybe it was, just a really weird coincidence.
“Yeah, of course. Tell him I’m in his art intro class, in case he forgot about the party.” The latter said.
Okay, no. That was definitely not a coincidence.
Jeonghan politely excused himself from the counter after making sure no one else was in line or waiting for their orders, before disappearing into the back, finding Joshua and Mingyu busy cleaning the kitchen.
“Mingyu, there’s, a, uh. A person, here. The one from your party. In the art class.” Jeonghan told him, and before he even finished his sentence, all the color drained from Mingyu’s face. It looked like he had just seen a ghost or something, and Jeonghan was starting to realize why he was lying. But he pushed the thought back.
Joshua looked happy for a moment, not really taking a hint with Jeonghan’s tone of voice. His smile faded when he finally looked over at Mingyu and his reaction. Now he just looked incredibly confused, like he had missed something.
“I…” Mingyu croaked out, but Jeonghan dismissed him, heading back up to the front, to make sure he wasn’t keeping the guy waiting. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Was this Jeonghan’s fault? Had he forcibly outed Mingyu, just now?
“Is he here?” The guy asked, sounding a little hopeful.
“You can write it down, I’ll give it to him,” Jeonghan said, taking a piece of the receipt paper he had been doodling on, and turning it over with a pen to hand to the Chinese boy. “He’s not here, right now. Not sure where he went.”
“Oh,” he said, disappointment clear in his tone, but he did what Jeonghan suggested anyway.
And just like that, he said thank you and left, and Jeonghan was standing there, holding a piece of paper with the name and number of Mingyu’s boy crush on it.
Xu Minghao
(xxx)-xxx-xxxx
from the party
Jeonghan was a little too scared to walk back into the kitchen with the note, worried he’d have to face what he had just unpacked himself. He waited a few moments, until the boy - Minghao - was completely out of sight, and then, Jeonghan started his walk of shame back to the kitchen door.
His eyes met with the eyes of Mingyu’s in the window of the kitchen door, but when Mingyu noticed, he disappeared out of the window frame- and Jeonghan took that opportunity to walk inside.
Jeonghan always thought that Mingyu resembled a puppy, but right now, he did more than ever. He looked like a hurt puppy, a puppy left on the streets, kicked multiple times for absolutely no reason. He looked like he had been beaten to tears. Jeonghan’s heart felt heavy.
“That was the person you were talking about? From the party?” Joshua stared at Mingyu, then Jeonghan, wandering over to the kitchen window to see if he would see Minghao again. “But-”
“That is a boy, right?” Jeonghan clarified, just to be sure. Just to be clear, make sure there was no miscommunication in this situation.
Mingyu looked about ready to cry. He nodded. “Y...yeah,” he mumbled quietly, starting to rub at his eyes, looking like he had so many emotions and feelings about the situation behind a dam that was almost ready to burst. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I know it’s - I thought you guys would hate me, and I just, I don’t - ”
“No, no, Mingyu. We don’t hate you. I promise we could never hate you.” Jeonghan told him, taking a few steps closer, a little tempted to hug him, but Mingyu took a step back, hiding his face in his hands.
Joshua’s eyes were on the floor for a moment, before they looked up at Mingyu, then Jeonghan. And then Mingyu again. “So, you...you’re, uh. Gay?”
Something about that word made Mingyu flinch so visibly that it almost looked like he had hurt himself. Jeonghan’s heart had already shattered into a hundred pieces knowing he had just outed Mingyu for no reason, knowing Mingyu lied to them because he thought they would hate him - but it was all so much worse, seeing that he couldn’t even hear the word himself.
“You don’t have to answer, Gyu.” Jeonghan offered, a little off-put that Joshua would flat out ask him that, even when it was clear that Mingyu wasn’t at all comfortable with this situation. Mingyu, however, nodded in Joshua’s direction after Jeonghan had said his statement - like he was trying to prove something. Or stop hiding.
The three of them stood in silence for a few moments, which Jeonghan hated - but he genuinely didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to approach it - should he be caring, or nonchalant? Should he offer help? He never expected this from Mingyu, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t accepting of it. Of course he was. It just had all kind of sprung up out of nowhere - Jeonghan hadn’t thought of how he would respond to something like this.
He wondered what Joshua was thinking. He was staring at the ground as if he would rather be thinking about that.
The kitchen door swung open, this time, revealing a very angry looking Seungcheol.
“You guys are kidding, right? We have customers waiting. You’re not on break. Do your damn job.” Seungcheol snarled at all three of them, very clearly not taking any hints of the room’s current atmosphere.
Mingyu was the first one to duck his head and run past him to get to the counter, even though Mingyu’s job was primarily in the kitchen - Jeonghan guessed he would just much rather be doing anything other than talking about the current situation.
“And I need to talk to you about this morning,” Seungcheol said, pointing at Joshua, who finally lifted his head. Seungcheol wasn’t usually mean about that kind of thing, especially in cases where they were only a few minutes late, but it was clear that he wasn’t having a good day to begin with, and he was ready to take some of it out on Joshua.
Jeonghan wanted to stay, just in case he needed to argue - but Seungcheol waved him off, and after a few moments, Jeonghan found himself standing at the register, on the opposite side of where Mingyu was.
When they were both at the coffee machine, Jeonghan murmured a little “you okay?” to the younger, and Mingyu gave a small nod, but that was all. It was better than nothing, Jeonghan supposed.
At twelve thirty, their shift ended, and the cafe was closed for the day.
Jeonghan managed to throw in some small talk with Mingyu in between, to help him get his mind off of the situation a little more. He noticed how the younger would pull the note out of his pocket every once in a while, and the corner of his mouth would twitch up. It was slight, but it was something. This guy seemed to make Mingyu happy.
Jeonghan didn’t see much of Joshua after Seungcheol intervened. He was busy cleaning up the kitchen, doing things in the back, but never really coming out to the front to do anything, which was a little worrying. He hoped that Seungcheol hadn’t been too rough. He doubted Seungcheol did anything more than give him a verbal warning.
Jeonghan really hoped it wasn’t because of what they had found out about Mingyu. He refused to believe that, so he pushed the thought into the back of his mind.
“Okay, we’re closed for today. Good work, the first-day-back rush usually sucks.” Seungcheol told them, his tone a little nicer, now.
He disappeared into the tiny office next to the kitchen, leaving the rest of them to do the rest of the cleaning, so they could eventually leave.
He split up the work with Mingyu, letting the latter clean up the tables and chairs in the lounge while Jeonghan cleaned up the counter and threw out the few remaining pastries left over. It didn’t take very long, and afterward, Jeonghan wandered into the kitchen, looking for Joshua.
But he wasn’t there.
Jeonghan went into the very back to check his locker, only to find that Joshua’s bag was gone, too, meaning that Joshua had already left. That was a bit strange, considering Joshua would never leave without saying anything - and he would usually leave with Jeonghan, anyway. It was worrying, for sure.
“Do you know where Shua went? Or when he left?” Jeonghan asked Mingyu from over the counter, and Mingyu shrugged, continuing on with his work.
Seungcheol was emerging out of the office with his bag when Jeonghan walked back there, and he asked Seungcheol the same thing. “Oh, he left about an hour early today. Said he wasn’t feeling well.” Seungcheol explained.
Jeonghan’s stomach dropped a bit when he heard that, because Joshua had never mentioned that to either of them - he didn’t say bye, or even text Jeonghan afterward - which was just weird. That was never how he went about doing things. “Oh, okay...thanks for telling me. Have a good night.” Jeonghan told him as Seungcheol left, leaving the two of them to close officially by themselves.
He supposed it make sense. Joshua had never actually given Jeonghan his real reason for being late that morning, and maybe he really just wasn’t feeling great. Maybe that was why he was being dodgy after what had happened with Mingyu. Regardless, it was bad timing.
The last message was more of a joke, but he really was worried.
He waited a few more minutes for a reply, but when he didn’t get one, he figured he should head back to his dorm, and start doing his homework for his two classes that evening, last minute. Joshua would respond eventually, and even if he didn’t, Jeonghan could talk to him at their six o’clock class, if Joshua was gonna show up.
Jeonghan gave Mingyu a ride back to his next class, even though the latter could have taken the campus bus back like he usually did. He figured it was the least he could do for all of the earlier commotions - but Mingyu seemed a little less bothered by it by now.
“Are you gonna text him?” Jeonghan asked, passing him a little smile when he noticed Mingyu fiddling with the little piece of paper in the passenger seat. He saw Mingyu’s face redden a little.
“Maybe. I don’t really know what to say.” Mingyu murmured, folding it up for the hundredth time, and stuffing it back in his pocket.
“You’ll figure it out. Just be casual, don’t make it weird.” Jeonghan joked, and got a little chuckle out of Mingyu. “And I'd you need any help, or advice, let me or Joshua know. Okay? Both of us are here for you.” Maybe it was wrong of him to speak in Joshua's place, but saying it wouldn't hurt.
“Thank you, hyung.” Mingyu murmured quietly. “Really.”
Mingyu said his “goodbye” and “see you tomorrow” when he stepped out of Jeonghan's car, thanking him for the ride as well before he started to head off to the building his class was in. Jeonghan waited until Mingyu got inside of the building before driving away - which he realized was a little motherly, yes, but he just wanted to make sure he got inside safely. That was all.
Jeonghan headed back to his dorm. He was still worrying about Joshua, as the latter hadn't texted him back, or even opened the message. Jeonghan considered calling him but decided not to, in case he was resting or studying. But it didn't make him worry any less.
The hours went by, and still nothing from Joshua. Jeonghan was having a hard time doing his last minute homework because of how worried he was. Joshua never did this, it was all weird. It didn't make sense, Jeonghan couldn't put the pieces together. He was even thinking about heading over to his dorm, but there was no guarantee that Joshua was there. He could have been meeting up with someone, or studying in one of the several buildings in the school.
Jeonghan had two classes that evening, his second one being the one he shared with Joshua, an environmental class. Jeonghan decided he was going to wait at the door for him, that way he could ask him what was going on before they got into the classroom - but as the minutes went by, and it got closer to six, he realized that Joshua probably wasn't going to show up.
Jeonghan followed the last student inside to get into class, without Joshua being there.
Jeonghan pulled out his notebook just as the professor - Mr. Kim Namjoon - walked inside, keeping his phone face up on his desk in case Joshua would text him back - but if he hadn’t, he probably wasn’t going to any time soon.
He wondered if driving to Joshua’s apartment afterward may be a good idea - at this point, that was really the only place he could be if he wasn’t in class. It made the most sense, but at the same time, he wondered if Joshua was with someone else.
The back door on the left opened just before their professor planned to open his mouth and start speaking, and Jeonghan’s head zipped around to look - and it was Joshua. He was here.
“You know I don’t allow anyone in class after the door is closed, Joshua.” Mr. Kim said. His tone wasn’t condescending, more of a simple reminder, rather.
Joshua looked ready to bolt to a seat before the professor noticed, but he stayed at the door, head ducked when he was called out. He had his bag halfway on his shoulder again, and a pile of school work in his arms, just like that morning. He was disheveled, rushed. Just like that morning. Jeonghan frowned. “I - I know. I can leave - ”
“That’s alright. I’ll give you a pass, first day back.” The professor said casually, and Joshua made his best attempt to dodge the various stares before making it to a seat in the back, nearly dropping his things on the way.
Jeonghan managed to make eye contact with him as Mr. Kim was getting situated - thankfully, Joshua wasn’t too far back, but Jeonghan was still a few rows ahead of him. He picked up his phone, pointed at it and made a pouty face, and at first, Joshua didn’t seem to get it. After Jeonghan made a little texting motion, Joshua’s eyes widened, ducking down to dig around in his bag.
Jeonghan turned around, his eyes on the professor as he started speaking behind his podium. His eyes floated over to his phone as it lit up, showing a new text from Joshua.
A little sigh of relief escaped him.
“Joshua Hong, have you forgotten all of the rules over break?” Mr. Kim asked with a disappointed sigh, and at first, Jeonghan wondered what the man was talking about. Joshua was texting Jeonghan, which meant his phone was out, which wasn’t allowed in this class.
“Sorry, sir. I was asking him when the presentations were.” Jeonghan called out, tucking his phone back into his pocket as the professor looked over. He didn’t want Joshua getting in any real trouble for something that was technically Jeonghan’s fault, especially after he had already broken a rule.
Mr. Kim sighed once again. “Stop bothering him so he can focus, please. All of the information about the presentations is in the email I sent.” Jeonghan gave him a nod, and a sarcastic smile with his hands up to show that he was phone-less, and the professor went on with teaching his class.
Jeonghan wanted to text Joshua back, but unfortunately, he couldn’t really risk getting caught. He gave looks back to Joshua every now and then, noticing little things that made him worry. Joshua was usually very focused in class, to the point where he wouldn’t sit near Jeonghan when things were serious, but he wasn’t today. He had his head leaned against his hand, and at one point, he even saw his head on his desk. His eyes were always at his papers, drifting off. Not engaged in what Mr. Kim was saying, but thankfully, he wasn’t called out for it. Hopefully Mr. Kim realized that something was off.
The hour passed by rather quickly, which Jeonghan was very thankful for. He was already packed up, his bag around his shoulder just before Mr. Kim dismissed them, that way he could get to Joshua without wasting any time.
Joshua, however, had done the same and was already out the door when Jeonghan stood up.
He was a little angry at first, ready to chase after him if it was true that Joshua was trying to get away from him - but Joshua was just waiting outside, probably not wanting to be confronted in the classroom.
“I know you’re mad-”
“Are you okay?”
They both said simultaneously when they were facing each other outside of the classroom. Joshua looked a little confused to hear that, so Jeonghan asked him again. “Are you okay? You’re acting weird today. Don’t think I won’t notice.”
“Ahh,” Joshua said with a little sigh, trying for an awkward smile. “I’m fine, I promise. Just tired, that’s all. Stressed with all of this school stuff.”
“I’ve known you since we were a freshman, Shua, three years. And the only two times you’ve ever put your head on your desk was when you had the flu, and when you found out that that girl you liked gave you a fake number.” Jeonghan nearly spat at him, a little tired of the very obvious question-dodging. Joshua stared back at him for a second but brought the awkward smile back. Jeonghan wanted to punch him.
“I swear I’m good, Jeonghan. You’re right, you’ve known me for three years, so you know that I would tell you if something’s wrong.” Joshua told him, dropping the smile and giving him a serious but warm-hearted expression. Jeonghan let go of the breath he was holding. That didn’t change the fact that all of this was weird - but he figured he should stop bothering Joshua about it so much.
“Okay, fine.” Jeonghan puffed. Joshua gave him a little smile before motioning for him to follow him out of the building.
Jeonghan wished there was something he could do to help Joshua a little bit, but he never took up his offers to smoke to relax - Joshua liked wine, but Jeonghan hated it, so that wasn’t really something they could do together. Maybe he should get Joshua some face masks.
They walked out into the parking lot in silence, and Jeonghan tilted his head forward to get Joshua’s attention. “If you don’t want to go all the way to your apartment, you can come to my dorm. Since you’re tired.” Jeonghan offered.
Joshua opened his mouth to say something as if he was ready to say yes, but he didn’t. “Ahh, it’s...it’s probably better if I go home and do my work. And no offense, but you’re sort of distracting.” he joked, smiling.
“Fair enough.” Jeonghan pouted. “Text me if you need anything. Okay?”
“I will. I promise.” Joshua nodded, keeping his smile. He waved, and then, headed for his car.
Jeonghan hoped he could believe Joshua.