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They meet at a party, some post-football game house rager. Hyungwon is there only to act as wingman for Kihyun with—Hyunmoo? Hwangho? Hyunjoon? Whichever; Hyungwon only knows that he’s the running back of their school team. He’d started tuning out Kihyun’s gushy rants after the fifth time, because no matter how much he’d like to use them against Kihyun, it was just getting too sickening. Why Kihyun would pull all lanky, awkward 6’0 of him along to this party beats him. But after helping the school council set up for the game and cleaning up—what seemed like hundreds of, god can high schoolers throw out trash?—garbage wrappers, he was too tired to disagree, especially with hopped-up-on-Skittles-Kihyun.
So after Kihyun leaves him for his buff boy-toy (Hyungwoo?), he submits to his fate of sitting in the corner of a crowded living room, where the lights make his head hurt and the drinks only make his mouth drier. It’s after he goes to throw out his can of ginger ale-flavoured beer—the only thing he could stomach drinking—in the recycling bin around the side of the house, when He stumbles into Hyungwon.
Hoseok is as he always is, albeit eyes more glossy and face more flushed than he’d ever seen him. But the ever-present smirk from their team quarterback seems untouched, despite him being so wobbly he’d almost fallen directly into the recycling bin.
“Hey, are you okay?” Hyungwon holds out a hand to steady him while Hoseok regains just enough motor skills and depth perception to drop his finished can in the bin.
“Great, just peachy.” He turns toward him and Hyungwon doesn’t even realise he’s been pinned against the brick wall behind him and the buffest man he’d ever seen by a hand above his shoulder (even though the other is shorter than him by two inches).
“Better now that you’re here.” His breath fans over Hyungwon’s face, the smell of alcohol on his breath further warning Hyungwon that he’s in a Bad Spot and he should not be tempted (no matter how sure he is the gay gods above are yelling at him to just take his chance).
Hoseok’s still leaned up against him, Hyungwon with nowhere to look at except his face. His lips are pouty and red, his eyes shiny and so so so reflective. Hyungwon gets caught up in them and before he knows it their lips have pressed together and Hyungwon’s eyes have slipped shut.
He doesn’t remember much else of that night—only that Hoseok’s shoulders were broader and firmer than they looked and he felt smaller than ever. (A feeling he surprisingly enjoyed.)
Hyungwon sighs, packs his things into his bag after the first period bell rings. He’d woken up this morning from a dream he’d forgotten, only knew it had left a bad taste in his mouth and was enough to ruin his day. He has just enough time to run to the bathroom before his next class, wake himself up a bit more before second period chemistry.
His long legs grant him a faster walking speed, and he gets to the bathroom just in time to snag the last sink with a working soap dispenser. He washes his hands quickly. The water he splashes himself with is colder than expected, but maybe that’s a good thing. He can see his prominent eye bags sticking out, even more amplified under the fluorescent—and horribly unflattering—bathroom lighting.
His eye bags are dark again after he’d just rescued them a bit. He’ll blame Kihyun for forcing him, and hopefully things have finally settled with that running back he’s been getting with for the past couple games—Hyungwon would (unfortunately) know. He’s trying to fix his hair, trying to make it look presentable before the next class when He comes out of a stall.
Their surprised eyes meet in the mirror, but Hoseok approaches him first with a, “Are you done with this sink?”
“Oh, sure sure!” He tries not to sound too eager, no expectations from him. Plus, he was drunk, he probably doesn’t remember anything anyways, right? “I only need the mirror.”
But the way he’s pressed in the last corner stall of the bathroom two minutes later says otherwise.
“I’m Hyungwon.” He says between breaths.
Hoseok grins, smug smirk back on his face. “Hoseok, but I bet you knew that already.”
And that’s what Hyungwon saves his number under, ten minutes later, after making sure his hair wasn’t too mussed—he’d needed the mirror again—and knowing he was extremely late for chemistry.
He arrives right before the bell rings. After That had happened, he’s now perfected getting to class right on time. Hyungwon preferably wants to be in the same vicinity of His friends for as little time as possible. He would get to class early, but then he’d need to cower and hide himself when he hasn’t even done anything wrong. Instead, he’d rather their eyes be on him. He’s not sure if his friends know about his little fling with him, but it’s nice to at least remind His friends of his existence and show that Hyungwon still existed and could still function normally without Him .
Hyungwon remembers lying on his couch together watching some bad TLC show.
He remembers how Hoseok had always marveled how they hadn’t met before, how that day of the party was such perfect timing, how the fates must love them both.
Hyungwon remembers drinking up the adoration, so ready to listen to anything he said as long as Hoseok would stay with him.
(Even not talking to him in their shared class or at school because, “Babe, I just want to spend time with my friends! This is the only time I have with them, I swear we can hangout after. You don’t want me to lose all my friends, right?”)
He remembers how sometimes, he would take hours to respond to a text. Even when Hyungwon knew he’d seen the texts, just hadn’t responded. And he wasn’t sure if it was him being overbearing since it was his first relationship, or insecurity or what. But he knew he’d rather have Hoseok than be without him, so he let it go, let him have the reins.
Hyungwon leaves class, thankful it’s finally lunchtime so he can see his friends. Luck was not on his side at the beginning of his semester, though it could also be that his friends picked different classes so their chances of being in the same classes were already pretty low.
He’s the first to arrive at their normal table with his lunch, though he’s sure Changkyun with Minhyuk in tow will be there soon. Kihyun is never on-time, always staying behind to ask questions like the teacher’s pet Hyungwon always makes fun of him for being.
Hyungwon loves their company, glad that most of them are planning to stay or be within close distance after graduating in June. But still, something makes the hairs on his arm rise, unsettles him to the point of only being able to finish half his lunch before wanting to throw up. He supposes it’s just that dream, though he still can’t recall specifically what it was.
He clutches his empty granola wrapper and stands, heading towards the garbage. As Hyungwon turns to walk back, he admires his friends. He’s grateful for Minhyuk keeping the energy of their table up, quiet Changkyun only contributing once every couple bites of his sandwich. Kihyun interjects often, him and Minhyuk—like now—squabbling over small details. Hyungwon watches with fond eyes, but a whisper shakes him out of the bubble of softness for his friends he’d sunken into.
“—Hoseok with her now.”
He’d tried to forget that name, but overhearing his name made him involuntarily look over at the (lovingly ) coined Jock Table in their school cafeteria. Where He sits with Her #2.
“—hear? Wendy and him are together now.”
Hyungwon ignores the whispers—that seem louder today?—except their eyes seem to be looking towards the Jock Table? He wonders who could be with Wendy, as she’s known as the top of the class with a stellar voice, but with an ego as high as the highest note she could go.
And as he glances in that direction, he can feel the trepidation in his chest. But it’s already too late to take back what he’s seen.
Because there is Hoseok, his boyfriend (????) and Wendy, Hoseok’s girlfriend (????), and they’re kissing for the entire school to see.
Hyungwon remembers being glad that he isn’t holding anything in his hands as he sprints to the closest bathroom. His need for privacy overpowers him and he ends up in the first floor gender neutral bathroom, numbed by shock and not sure if he’s hallucinating or something but his body can’t stop trembling and he’s wishing it was summer so the pent up energy would just leave.
That’s where Kihyun finds him, carrying Hyungwon’s forgotten backpack and half-eaten lunch (bless his heart). And that’s also where they skip the third period together, where Hyungwon spills his entire story of their affair? But Hyungwon isn’t the other person, if anyone that should be Wendy and not him.
Kihyun manages to calm him down, sends him home and tells him that someone can always cover for him for the fourth period.
He doesn’t really remember the rest of that week.
Hyungwon gets back to the table, and the lunch period finishes with a heated debate of whether or not Benedict Cumberbatch is actually attractive or not. Kihyun is for, while Minhyuk is against.
(“You only like weird-looking guys, Ki.”
“Hey! Don’t talk about Hyunwoo”—that’s the running back’s name, Hyungwon finally remembers—“like that! He’s very handsome, you know.”
“Sure, sure.” Minhyuk puts his hands up in a show of surrender despite his rolling eyes saying differently.)
He waits for Kihyun as they walk to the third floor together. “Are you still into modelling?”
“Sure, I guess so. I’ve been wanting to get back into the game actually. Why, you got a gig for me?” Hyungwon bumps shoulders with him playfully.
(He’s been wanting to get back into modelling after quitting a little earlier in the year. He liked it, and as much as anyone else—well, one person really, but he wasn't going to think about that— said it was too attention-seeking and (for lack of a better word) slutty for their liking, he’d always found modelling fun and interesting. That’s what counts, right?)
“Just remembered that my producer friend—Jooheon—you remember him?” Hyungwon nods along; the name feels somewhat familiar. “He’s been working on his mixtape and wants some cool nighttime vibey shots, very Pinterest boyfriend type, you know? He'll be taking them himself too even though I offered, he’s very perfectionist with his own projects. He’s looking for people to model for him and I offered you, hope that’s okay?”
“Sure,” Hyungwon shrugs. “Just give him my number and get him to text me, I’ve been wanting to get back into modelling anyways.” Kihyun smiles, picks up his phone, and waves as Hyungwon continues down the third floor hall to his English Lit class.
He’s not paying that much attention to where he’s going anymore, so when he almost walks into the doorway at the same time as someone else it takes him a second for him to react. It’s Wendy.
“Oh sorry, you can go first.” He says, and she harrumphs while walking to her seat and brushing the side where they’d touched like he had cooties. He rolls her eyes, but his previous annoyance of her has only morphed into pity.
Based on what Hyungwon had heard, she’d been dumped and found out at the same time the rest of the school did too: when Hoseok had publicly asked Irene to Homecoming rather than her.
A small part of him hates her for being the other person, but he also can’t blame her. She didn’t know. Who knows if he was also the other person to someone else?
He does remember how annoyed he was the first time he’d actually seen the two up-close though.
Hoseok had dropped her off in front of the class, but of course they had to make a big show of it. PDA was frowned upon in school, but they were both such favourites of most of the teachers that no one really bothered to stop them.
He isn’t sure if Hoseok knew he was in that class, maybe even picked Wendy on purpose? But a couple weeks had passed by then and he was over him, more just burned by the fact he was just a thing used by another closeted guy. Cliches, huh?
(He’d even tried to call and text him that night, poor, dumb, naive Hyungwon of months ago. He even attempted a confrontation at school, but all His friends had backed him up and asked why a little bitch boy like him was talking to Hoseok. Hoseok didn’t say much of anything—though his eyes did seem pretty regretful—but that was the problem, wasn’t it? Hyungwon got the message and backed up pretty quick after that.)
The only thing that gave him satisfaction was that perhaps Hoseok had picked Wendy because he knew they shared a class and he wanted to make Hyungwon see.
Hyungwon gets out of English Lit, glad his teacher was in a good mood so he didn’t have that much homework. He takes a new route, taking the long way from the third floor to the first floor exit.
He’s on the second floor landing when he hears a panicked, “Hyungwon!” and turns in the sea of people to see who called him. Some short guy(—similar height to Him—)in a cap joins him at his side and grins up at him, revealing two perfect cheek dimples.
“Jooheon. Kihyun’s friend, remember? He texted me and said you were down to model for my mixtape? I hope you don’t mind, he showed me some of your shots from his photography class before so that’s how I recognised you.”
Hyungwon tilts his head, finds he doesn’t really mind. “Oh cool, yeah. You’re pretty good too.”
Jooheon smiles, but then tilts his head. “I walk down these stairs at the end of school every day, how come I’ve never seen you?”
“Oh, just trying out a new path.” Hyungwon shrugs noncommittally. He jokes, “Looking for some new scenery. Oh right, when did you want to take those album cover pictures by the way?” Hyungwon asks him, not wanting to elaborate.
“Whenever in the next two weeks, I don’t particularly mind. When are you free?”
And as they discuss the clothes and lighting for their future photoshoot, Hyungwon doesn’t even notice Hoseok and Irene crossing their paths.