Chapter Text
Jay roughly bites into the sandwich he is holding, almost ripping it apart if it were not for his hands gripping the sandwich, holding all the ingredients together. Because Jay cannot afford to waste time reassembling the sandwich if it falls apart.
He grabs a couple of chips and also shoves that in his full mouth, munching on it obnoxiously. He is glad that the cafeteria is basically empty, most students on their way to classes with less than ten minutes of lunch left, so he doesn’t have to keep any etiquette when eating.
But unlike those students whose stomach are full and have been rejuvenated to sit through afternoon classes, Jay has just started eating his lunch.
Why?
Because his coach is an asshole. His basketball team has a game coming up soon. They had lost pretty bad last year with the school they are playing with, so his coach has been uptight the past few days, making them come early to practice and staying late after school as well.
But this time he has completely lost it and demanded all the players to come in for a quick practice session during lunch. How productive can a 30-minute session be with all the players starved and hungry?
So that’s why Jay looks like a cave man having a meal for the first time in dirty practice clothes, messy hair and sweat still drying on his skin.
Jay grabs his drink to try make the chewing process go faster so he can swallow the glob of food in his mouth and take another bite. The pit of hunger in his stomach rumbling and making him a little crazed.
He gulps harshly, forcing the food that still requires more chewing down his throat, taking another too big bite of his sandwich when he sees a pair of legs stop by his table. Jay ignores them, thinking that they will be on their way and leave him alone.
But as he chews and swallows, the pair of legs still remain there. Jay sighs with annoyance and grunts under his breath, hoping the person will make themselves known and what they need without Jay having to stop eating.
The person just stands there though. Jay mutters angrily under his breath before looking up to see who has decided to disturb the few minutes he has to eat. His eyes widen with surprise.
It’s Taehyun, a junior on their team that he had just been practicing with before coming to the cafeteria. He wonders why he isn’t shovelling food into his mouth and choosing the few minutes left of lunch to disturb him.
Jay grabs some chips to eat before he hums with his full mouth, telling Taehyun to talk. He gives Jay a hesitant smile, eyes quivering under Jay’s stare and filled with an emotion that Jay can’t decipher and doesn’t care to either.
“Sorry for elbowing you in the face at practice earlier,” Taehyun explains. Jay’s eyebrows raise with surprise. That was a complete accident and the boy had already apologized when it had happened.
Jay clears his throat, “It’s okay.” Jay chuckles awkwardly when he doesn’t walk away and still stands there, staring at him with wide, apologetic eyes with a hint of fear.
“Your boyfriend is kind of scary.” Jay chokes on the food left in his mouth and coughs, dislodging the piece and swallowing it. He looks up at Taehyun with wide eyes, face red from the exertion of saving himself from choking. He must have misheard.
“What?”
Taehyun steals a chip from the table and pops it into his mouth, munching on it. “Yeah man. His eyes could kill and he has got some broad shoulders. His arms also look really strong.”
Taehyun’s eyes narrow as he continues to talk, oblivious to the emotions flashing across Jay’s face, “I never knew you had a boyfriend. Congrats. But scary dude man.”
And he walks away, leaving Jay with his mouth hanging open and looking like he had heard the most ridiculous thing.
Because Jay doesn’t have a boyfriend, let alone a scary one. Who had Taehyun be talking about? Had someone made him apologize to him because of the accident during practice.
Jay thinks about running after Taehyun to ask, but the bell rings, the sound startling him from his thoughts. He looks down sadly at half the sandwich and chips that remain. He lets out a noise of frustration, pans of hunger still in his stomach that are not satiated yet.
Guess he’ll have to starve for the rest of the day. Great.
***
Jay circles the pads of his fingers against his scalp as he washes away the suds of shampoo, humming a song under his breath.
Their team had just won a game against a rival school. It had been a pretty close game, but Jay had shot the winning score. Now Jay is the last one in the shower room, washing away the sweat from the game.
Jay is usually the one that stays behind, taking his responsibility as a captain seriously. He helps the coach to clean up and allows the other players use the only two functioning showers at their school before having his turn.
He gets ready in the empty locker room and grabs his bag, ready to leave and have a celebratory meal with his friends. He smiles when he steps into the now empty gym, hearing the echoes of the loud cheers when they had won the game. He turns a corner to walk through a hallway to exit the building when he sees someone standing with their back facing him.
He wonders who it could be as Jay is always the last one besides the janitor. He stills when the person turns around.
It is Jaehyun. He is a player on the opposing team. Jay’s eyebrows furrow, wondering why he is still here while the rest of his team has probably already left. He really hopes he isn’t bitter about the loss and doesn’t want to pick a fight or something because Jay is not in the mood for that.
Jay would have ignored him and walked to the other exit, but that is on the other side of the building and his legs are cramping from the game. So he walks over and crosses his arms causally in front of his body, nodding a greeting, “Kim.”
Jaehyun looks up at him, “Park.” Jay raises his eyebrows in question, “Isn’t it a little late for you to be here?”
“Uhh,” Jaehyun gulps loudly as his eyes shift away from Jay to look behind him before moving back to make eye contact with Jay’s scrutinizing gaze. “About that,” Jaehyun licks his lips as he rubs the back of his head nervously.
Jay taps his foot impatiently. “I-I wanted to apologize for tripping you,” Jaehyun explains in a quiet voice. Jay’s foot stills. What?
Jay suddenly feels the sting on his hands and knees when Jaehyun had tripped him during the game earlier. It was a foul and he should have gotten a penalty, but the referee hadn’t done anything about it.
He had been pissed when it had happened but they ended up winning regardless, so it was long forgotten. But not for Jaehyun it seems. Jay doesn’t know if he is up to something because who stays after a game to apologize for that when they had won the game at the end.
Jay narrows his eyes, trying to see if he is playing with him or something, “Thanks I guess. I appreciate it man.” Jay nods a goodbye and begins to walk but Jaehyun speaks up in a hushed tone as he looks around with wide eyes.
“P-Park. C-could you tell your b-boyfriend that I apologized?” Jay looks at him with confusion and notes how nervous he looks. Before he can ask, Jaehyun quickly turns around and scurries away like an animal with his tail tucked in his behind. What the fuck?
Jay shakes his head and begins to walk to the parking lot to meet Jake and Sunghoon, who are waiting for him by his car. Clearly Jaehyun was scared. Of what or who, Jay doesn’t know. But he bet it has to do with the apology he had also received from Taehyun last week.
“Hurry up man!” Jake shouts loudly when he finally spots Jay leaving the building, playfully slapping the hood of his car. Jay glares at him, sucking air through his gritted teeth. There better not be any handprints on his car. His friends have no patience. They should be happy Jay is giving them a ride in the first place.
He continues to stroll his way there, taking his time to tease them more but when he sees Sunghoon lifting his leg to kick the car he begins to jog over, jaw clenched.
“I’m coming. You idiots,” Jay calls out and unlocks the car as soon as his keys are in proximity. As soon as he gets into the car, he dramatically slams his head against the back of his seat and groans loudly.
Jake and Sunghoon look at Jay with concern and turn to each other, question in their eyes. They had expected Jay to be a bit more joyous from their recent win.
“Umm,” Sunghoon turns to face Jay from the passenger seat. “You okay there?” Jake brings his head forward from the back seat. “No,” Jay grumbles like a petulant child.
He tells them both about the instances about people mentioning a boyfriend that is scary. And how he is pretty sure that the person is threatening people to apologize to him about things. Jay looks at both his friends, eyes wide and waiting for some advice.
But instead, they open their mouths and boisterous laughter fills the car. Jake puts his hands on his shoulders from behind the seat and shakes him playfully, “Oh man. Looks like you’ve got yourself a guardian angel.”
Jay sputters, “A-a what?” Sunghoon nods eagerly, eyes crinkling with amusement. Jay crosses his arms in front of him, lips pursing with annoyance as he waits for them to stop laughing at him. Of course those two would find his predicament amusing. Their entire existence on this planet revolves around teasing him.
“You two done yet?” he says in an exasperated tone. “You should be happy man,” Sunghoon teases, “You clearly need protecting from all the big bad people out there.” The car once again fills with laughter. Jay rolls his eyes at Sunghoon’s poor joke and slaps his arm, “Shut up.”
“I can protect myself,” Jay grumbles under his breath, bringing his arms out to flex his biceps to reassure himself that he still has his muscles. Seeing the sight causes Jake and Sunghoon to erupt in laughter again.
Jay just ignores them and starts the car, backing out from the parking spot, not seeing the tuft of dark brown hair from the school building where Jay had exited from.
***
Jay walks the hallway of the school with his shoulders slumped, eyes dull and lips in a scowl. Anyone who sees him can immediately tell that Jay is upset and stays clear of him.
Jay is a part of a band as the main guitarist and their school is having a festival in a few weeks. The sign-up to perform at the festival had occurred yesterday but because everyone in the band had a test or practice or another responsibility, no one had been able to sign up on time, making them get the worst possible time slot.
The opening act. The time when people are just started to trickle in and more interested in meeting up with friends and looking at the booths rather than focusing on the band that is playing.
They had wanted the closing act, which would get them more exposure. But it was the most sought out time slot and another band had gotten it.
And that is why Jay is walking around with a dark cloud hovering over him, dragging his feet to his locker. He turns a corner when Kai steps in front of him, who just so happens to be in the band that had gotten the primetime slot.
Jay narrows his eyes, not wanting to get more reminders about it. “Hey man,” Kai says, “Just wanted to let you know that you got the closing act.” Jay’s eyes fill with suspicion, not believing him. Because why would his band willingly give up the time slot.
“What do you mean?” Jay’s eyebrows furrow with confusion. Kai just shrugs his shoulders. “If I had known Yang was your boyfriend, I wouldn’t have tried to sign up for that time slot to begin with. I would have even signed it for you.”
Jay stares at him blankly. What is he talking about? “Yang?” he tries the new name. Kai nods, “Yeah. Yang Jungwon. The taekwondo player.”
Kai whistles lowly, “Scary dude man.”
“Make sure to let him know that I gave you the slot. I don’t want to get on his bad side.” Jay nods absently as he rewinds their conversation in his head, a name echoing in his mind.
Yang Jungwon.
So that is who has been going around telling people that they are dating and threatening people on his behalf.
Jay immediately tells Jake and Sunghoon that he finally figured out who his boyfriend is. But the name isn’t familiar to them either. It’s hard as seniors to keep track of everyone in their grade let alone someone younger than them. Their time is occupied by classes, exams, extracurriculars and college applications.
But now that they finally have a name, they ask around and get information about him.
Yang Jungwon. Sophomore. Class president. And a well-known taekwondo player with several trophies and medals. They also figure out that he usually practices in the abandoned gymnasium that is too small to be used for team sports.
Jay makes it a part of his routine to walk to the building every day after school, either right when the bell rings or after his practice ends, hoping he will see him. But each time he has been there, it has been empty.
Until one afternoon.
Jay peeks his head through the door, expecting to see it empty but it isn’t. There are worn out blue mats lined up in the middle of the room with a boy doing intricate looking kicks across it. He is wearing a white uniform with a black belt.
Jay smiles with triumph. He has finally found his boyfriend.
The boy steps off the mat to drink some water. He is facing away from Jay as he walks over to him. He takes that moment to take a closer look at him.
One thing he takes note of is that the boy is small. He is probably 5 cm shorter than him. He wonders how in the world does someone that is barely 5 foot 9 instill fear in someone else.
Jay clears his throat, revealing his presence. The boy freezes when he hears the sound and turns around slowly, his eyes widening with recognition.
Jay’s breath hitches when his gaze lands upon the boy and looks at the sight with disbelief. He blinks owlishly as he stares with a dazed expression. Because the boy isn’t scary.
He is cute.
Pale skin flushed with a pink undertone. Dark brown hair that falls messily over his eyes that are wide and sparkle under the fluorescent lights. They curve prettily in the corner and lashes flutter when he blinks. A button nose that ends above a pair of pink, plush lips. A long, elegant neck with delicate collarbones that peek through the collar of his uniform. And thin, dainty fingers that curl at the hem of his uniform.
And now up close, Jay’s eyes track how his broad shoulders taper down to a small waist that is cinched under the black belt.
“Yang Jungwon?” Jay asks, needing to make sure that he has got the right person. Jungwon nods, a tight-lipped smile forming. Jay blinks.
A dimple.
“You sure?” Because he can’t believe this is the same person that everyone has been describing as scary. Because the only words that form when he looks at him is cute and pretty and small.
Jungwon tilts his head, scarily resembling a cat and his eyebrows furrow with annoyance. “I’m pretty sure I would know who I am,” he snaps. Jay’s eyebrows move up with surprise.
“I’m Jay,” he introduces. Jungwon nods, pink blush intensifying as his eyes blink cutely, “I know.” Jay’s lips pull up in a smirk, “I guess you would know my name considering that you’ve been going around telling people that we are dating.”
Jungwon’s lips purse as he gets defensive, “No I haven’t.” Jay hums under his breath teasingly, “So why have people been coming up to me insinuating that I have a scary boyfriend whose name is Yang Jungwon?” Jay takes a step closer as he smiles softly down at him, eyes filled with mirth, “Kai wanted me to let you know that he ended up giving his time slot to our band.”
Jungwon’s eyes widen and look away. Cute.
Jungwon puffs his cheeks with air, “It’s not my fault that they assumed something.”
“And you didn’t bother to correct them?” Jay adds with an air of arrogance. Jungwon’s lips form a pout. He is finished with the conversation. He turns around and quickly packs his stuff, walking away from Jay.
“Hey,” Jay shouts after him, “I’m not done with you just yet boyfriend.”
***
Jay informs Jake and Sunghoon of the new development the next day at school.
“He isn’t scary,” Jay whispers shouts at them with wide eyes. They look at him with confusion. “He is cute!”
“What?” Jake asks. “Are you sure?” Sunghoon adds on. When they had asked around about Jungwon, almost everyone said he was intimidating. There was no synonym of cute used.
Jay nods his head dramatically, “He is the cutest person I’ve ever seen.” Jay grabs at his heart over his chest and longingly sighs.
“He is so cute. He has really pretty eyes and cute lips. And he looks like a cat. Like a small munchkin kitten.” Jay uses his hands to indicate a small cat. “And he has a dimple. A dimple! And his cheeks are so soft, like mochi. I want to take a bite of it.”
Jay closes his eyes as he says dreamily, “I think I’m in love.”
He looks back at Jake and Sunghoon with expectant eyes, waiting for their reaction. But they aren’t even looking at him. “Hey, did you even listen to what I said?” His eyebrows furrow as he follows their gaze to behind him and freezes, eyes widening. A panicked noise escapes his lips as his eyes fall on the topic of their discussion.
Jungwon.
Jay stares at him as he says, “Has he been there the entire time?” Jake winces, “Yeah man.” Jay whines under his breath, “Why didn’t you say anything?” Sunghoon rolls his eyes with annoyance, “It’s not our fault that you never shut the fuck up.”
Jungwon raises his eyebrows as he looks at Jay, eyes filled with amusement and lips quivering, holding back a laughter. Jay opens his mouth to try to explain himself but closes them, not knowing what excuse he can make. He had heard everything already.
Jay decides to play it cool and shrugs his shoulder. With as much nonchalance as he can muster, he says out loud, “Well I am allowed to talk about my boyfriend, aren’t I?”
A pink blush forms on Jungwon’s cheeks as his mouth hangs open with shock. Jay waits for a response but Jungwon just scoffs under his breath. Jay holds in a coo, the boy resembling an angry little kitten. So cute.
“Humph,” Jungwon shakes his head and walks away. Jay chases after him, “Hey wait up for your boyfriend!” Jungwon should have corrected people’s assumptions that Jay was in fact not his boyfriend so he isn't being chased around.
Jungwon holds in a smile when Jay finally reaches him and grabs his hand, fingers lacing together and playfully leans his head down to rub against his.
Maybe it isn’t so bad after all to have Jay as a boyfriend.
“Taehyun-ssi,” Jungwon calls out, stopping him from leaving the gym. He turns around and looks at him with confusion, not recognizing him, “Hi?”
Jungwon directs a tight lipped smile. “I saw what you did there,” he says, anger slipping into his words. Taehyun watches with wide eyes.
“W-what?” He looks at him, waiting for an explanation. “How you elbowed Jay in the face?” Jungwon explains. Understanding flashes across his face, “Okay and?”
Jungwon purses his lips with annoyance, “Well I think you should apologize for that.” Taehyun looks at him with astonishment. He has never seen this boy in his life and now he is telling him to apologize for something.
He laughs, “Okay first, I already apologized to Jay. Second, I don’t even know who you are so you have no right to demand me to go apologize for something.”
A glint flashes across Jungwon’s eyes that causes Taehyun to freeze and he gulps nervously. Jungwon looks at him with his eyes narrowed into slits, dark and thick eyebrows furrowed.
“I think you should apologize,” Jungwon says again, voice deepening as he continues to glare at Taehyun. The direct eye contact makes him nervous, so he swiftly looks away.
“O-okay.” He chuckles awkwardly, trying to dissipate the tense atmosphere, “Are you his boyfriend or something?”
Jungwon doesn’t answer. “See that you apologize. I’ll know if you don’t,” he says with an ominous tone and walks away.
Taehyun watches the boy walk away, heart beating in his chest. He needs to go find Jay, now.