Work Text:
There was something so excruciatingly painful about sitting in a classroom while everyone else has been dismissed. Soonyoung thinks it's equivalent to being stranded on a deserted island. Wonwoo says he's being dramatic.
In retrospect, he did this to himself. He doesn't have to suffer waiting for Wonwoo, he chooses to.
But on a sunny Friday at 3PM with a long weekend ahead of him, you can't blame him for wanting to go home early.
And yet, here Soonyoung was, sprawled out on a random desk, watching Wonwoo as he organized attendances and forms for next week's class. Screw Wonwoo and his diligence to be a good class president, and screw the students who wrote his name on the ballot sheet. Soonyoung would be home by now if not for them.
"Soonyoung, you also voted me to become pres." Wonwoo reminded, placing a binder back onto the shelf.
"I had to! Literally everybody wanted you to become pres," he defended. That was true, and for a good reason too. Soonyoung couldn't think of anyone more fit to lead in the academic setting, other than Wonwoo. Heck, he was even appointed the head executive position for their student council by administration's choice.
"Plus, you'd talk my ear off and force me to buy you ramen for an entire month if I didn't."
Wonwoo rolled his eyes and shook his head. Soonyoung knew that Wonwoo would never force him to do any of that, he's much too kind. In fact, he'd probably praise Soonyoung for not following the masses and standing with what he believed in, which is crazy since firstly, he'd always vote for Wonwoo because it's ridiculous to think he wouldn't, and secondly, it's just a stupid class poll.
Times like this, however, is where Soonyoung wished Wonwoo was a little bit less perfect. If he wasn't so inclined to be a model student, they'd be on their way home, and not drifting off to sleep in a musty classroom.
After what seemed to be hours of mulling around, Seokmin appeared through the doors like a knight in shining armour. Soonyoung desperately hoped that he could save him from his problem called extreme boredom.
"There you guys are! I was looking for you in the council office but nobody was there, so I figured both of you would still be in here." Seokmin greeted them with his iconic eye smile and a wave.
"Seokmin-ah!" Soonyoung called out. "The one and only, my friend, my sweet summer child. Can you please save me from this terrible thing called having nothing to do?"
Seokmin raised an eyebrow at Wonwoo, who was still finishing up his last few tasks for the week. "Don't you wait here every day though?"
Soonyoung groaned. "That's not the point. I swear, Wonwoo is being extra slow today to spite me because I ate some of his snack earlier."
"Not some. You ate all of it." Wonwoo corrected from behind the shelf. "And I'm almost done, but I doubt you have the patience to wait for two more minutes."
"If you'd stop yapping you'd be done faster." Soonyoung retorted, hearing Wonwoo mutter an incomprehensible phrase. Noticing Seokmin awkwardly dart his eyes back and forth between their bickering, Soonyoung turned to face the younger, attempting to redirect their conversation back to its original topic.
Seokmin pondered for a moment before a visible lightbulb flashed above his head.
"Oh I know! Let's go on an ice cream date at that new dessert place across the street." And with those words, Soonyoung shot up in delight, back straight and hands already clutching his bag.
"You're a genius, that is such a good idea." Soonyoung grabbed onto Seokmin's shoulders and shook them in excitement.
Wonwoo, who had just completed his work in the classroom, looked ever so unimpressed.
"It's winter."
"And? Ice cream is for any season. Right hyung?" Seokmin turned to look at Soonyoung, who obviously nodded in agreement and responded with, "especially if it's cookies and cream. I could eat that anytime, anywhere."
"Honestly, I could go for any flavour." Seokmin thought aloud, tapped his chin, then paused. "Except for mint chocolate. That should be a crime against humanity." He concluded, and Soonyoung dramatically gave the younger a hug, deeply relating to his sentiment on a personal level.
Yes, Soonyoung is a certified mint chocolate chip hater. And yes, he will take this to his grave. Something about mint chocolate ice cream is off-putting to say the least. The fact that there's hundreds of thousands of flavours in the world, and someone chooses to buy a scoop of chocolatey toothpaste? Outrageous. Not to mention there's the extremely hard chunks of chocolate that break your teeth when you try to bite it.
"Wonwoo hyung, what do you normally get?"
"Vanilla." He responded.
"Bo-ring~" Soonyoung teased, wrapping his arm around Seokmin's shoulder. "Seokminnie has better taste than you, which is embarrassing."
Wonwoo narrowed his eyes, glaring at him up and down, while Seokmin took more than a few seconds to process that he was also being attacked, and proceeded to give a "friendly" headlock in retaliation. Thanks to his ungodly flexibility, Soonyoung managed to twist his way out of the tangled arms, not forgetting to lightly slap the younger on his head.
"Okay, but important question." Soonyoung continued the ice cream debate. There was, objectively, still the most crucial aspect of ice cream that was left to discuss. One that could make or break friendships.
"It's literally just ice cream, who cares about that?" Wonwoo scoffed, bewildered from the absurd sincerity of this conversation.
"That sounds like what someone who eats ice cream in a cup would say." Soonyoung eyed the other, making a backhanded claim. "Real ones know that cones are superior."
"Oh, and they have to be waffle too. I'm not eating any of those stale wafer cones." Seokmin cringed, rightfully so.
"Yes! At least someone gets me." Soonyoung threw himself and latched tightly onto Seokmin. "See, this is why you're my favourite child."
Wonwoo raised an eyebrow. "I still don't understand what's so important about how you eat ice cream."
"Our brainwaves are on a different level, you just can't relate to us." Seokmin giggled, gesturing between him and Soonyoung, while the eldest smirked and nodded.
Wonwoo rolled his eyes, picked up his belongings, and headed towards the door.
"I'm going to the office." He announced. "Have fun on your little ice cream date."
"Oh, okay. Bye Wonwoo!" Seokmin tried calling out, but the older was already out the door and halfway down the hall by the time they realized he had left.
A moment of silence was met between the two remaining, both staring at each other with confusion plastered on their faces.
Seokmin looked to the door where Wonwoo exited. "I thought he was going to join us?"
Soonyoung shrugged. He thought so too. As far as he knew, the boy with glasses had no other tasks to be completed by today. Although, as the head executive of the council, there was a great chance that something sprung onto his workload in the last minute. That situation wasn't impossible as it has happened many times before.
"Does Wonwoo not like you?" Seokmin questioned.
At first, Soonyoung thought it was a joke. He then realized the younger was being completely serious. Why would he think that?
"He was glaring at you the entire time." Seokmin clarified.
"Oh, I never noticed." He hoped that wasn't the case. Otherwise, that'd be an extremely awkward conversation for later.
"Do you think it's because he secretly likes mint chocolate ice cream?"
Soonyoung bursted out laughing from hearing the unrealistic claims. If anything, Wonwoo holds the title for being the biggest mint chocolate chip hater in the whole universe.
"No, I don't think so," Soonyoung responded after catching his breath. "He hates it."
The younger looked back in surprise. "How do you know that?"
Soonyoung simply shrugged, and made his way out the door, beckoning for Seokmin to follow.
The pair managed to go to and fro the dessert shop, walking back with $10 less cash in his wallet than before. He'd define the adventure as successful, even though the ice cream was overpriced, he had a stomach full of ice cream, a bag of chips in hand, and was free of any scratches. It was a win if you ask Soonyoung, considering the many times the two have gotten into some sort of trouble when left alone together.
They parted ways as Seokmin had to hurry for a family event, and Soonyoung, back to the school. On a normal day, he'd be on his merry way heading home, greeting his mother at the door.
But it wasn't a normal day. He wasn't walking side by side with Wonwoo, waiting until he unlocked the front door, and making sure he was safely inside before continuing his trek back home.
No, he was walking back to school, because some odd feeling in his gut told him the class president would still be there, even after a whole hour had passed.
Walking down the halls, he saw the student council office door slightly ajar, a tell-tailing sign that someone was inside. Sure enough, as Soonyoung creaked open the door, a figure of a person's back appeared. There Wonwoo was, standing in front of a filing cabinet, rummaging through the school's documents.
Soonyoung smiled at the ever so familiar sight, his feet naturally gravitating towards a chair to sit down.
"Wonwoo."
The other ignored his calling, continuing to organize whatever folders may be hidden within this room.
That was odd.
"I brought you something." Placing the bag of chips he bought at the dessert shop, he slid the snack across the table, closer to Wonwoo. He watched as the class president turned around, looked at the bag, glanced up, and raised an eyebrow, but never once uttered a word. Instead, he quietly picked it up by the corners and put it down near his belongings.
That was really odd. Usually, he'd be jumping up and down at the sight of his favourite snack, especially since Soonyoung had eaten the majority of his other pack at lunch.
"Aren't you going to say thank you?" If Wonwoo didn't want to talk, he was going to force him to.
He grumbled a quiet "thanks" and returned to play with the folders, grabbing a bunch of red coloured files to move onto the table.
Soonyoung was flabbergasted to say the least. Of course they've had arguments, fights, or even long running banter, but it was never like this. Usually it was Soonyoung that started the conflict, with Wonwoo having to resolve it with his caring and levelheaded demeanour. Even when Wonwoo was the main subject in their battles, he's been the type to actively talk his problems out, rather than waiting for it to settle overnight.
"Did I do something wrong?" He figured that maybe he accidentally struck a nerve in the other while joking about nonsense. Maybe he secretly did like mint chocolate ice cream.
"No."
"Then why are you giving me the silent treatment?"Soonyoung asked out of genuine curiosity. "Usually you'd be ranting on about how useless the admin are at running the council."
"It's... stupid. Don't worry about it." Wonwoo replied nonchalantly, as if he wished to breeze past this conversation, as if Soonyoung wasn't going to worry about it. Unluckily for him, Soonyoung wasn't letting any of this slide.
"Bad day?" He asked.
"No."
Then, perhaps Wonwoo's mad at him for some reason unbeknownst to him?
"I could never be mad at you." He quickly disagreed.
"Then what?" Soonyoung questioned. He'd checked off all the possibilities that were running through his head.
"I told you, it's stupid."
Soonyoung tried to recall any abnormal events took place that day, with his mind landing on Seokmin's inquiry about Wonwoo disliking him. He vaguely remembered the younger describing how Wonwoo would glare whenever he spoke, but why? All he was talking about was ice cream, and how Seokmin had great taste and the other didn't. And... then it clicked.
"Are you jealous?" Soonyoung asked.
Surely not, but the way Wonwoo instantly halted his movements proved otherwise.
"No..." He replied hesitantly.
Soonyoung smirked at his answer, finally understanding the situation.
"Oh you totally are." He provoked, leaning back against the chair.
"I am not." Wonwoo articulated every syllable, picking up the red folders and shoving them back into the drawer.
"You're jealous that I went on a 'little ice cream date' with my favourite child, right?" His grin grew wider, watching the colour red flush at the tip of Wonwoo's ears.
"Shut up."
That warning didn't stop Soonyoung, no. That increased his interest to tease the boy a little more.
"Aww~ Jeon Wonwoo, class president, executive of the student council, and overall top student, jealous over a junior who hates mint chocolate ice cream? That would make headlines."
Wonwoo turned around with a pout.
"I am not jealous."
Unfortunately for him, instead of appearing fierce and serious, Soonyoung found him extremely adorable and bursted into a fit of giggles. If he could, he'd take the opportunity to squish Wonwoo's cheeks, but the possible consequence of getting his ass kicked was enough to restrain his impulsive thoughts.
"Oh no, of course not. I apologize for saying such nonsense, I was truly mistaken." Soonyoung teased with a smile.
Wonwoo narrowed his eyes, sporting a deeper frown that somehow made him appear even cuter than before.
He really shouldn't find this endearing, and yet, Soonyoung couldn't resist to strut up to Wonwoo and give him a quick kiss on the lips. Could you blame him? Through his eyes, Wonwoo was the single most lovable human in the world, even if he was a tiny bit jealous.
"It's okay. Also, I know you're just pretending to do work." Soonyoung added smugly. "Stop acting like you weren't waiting for me to come back."
Wonwoo widened his eyes like a deer in the headlights, stalling before his brain finally caught up.
"H-hey! I was not acting! I have very important stuff to do here." He stuttered, clearly flustered by the other's actions with a fiery blush creeping up his face.
"Sure thing pres." Soonyoung let out a laugh and headed out the room.
A second later, he heard the scrambling sound of papers and equipment being locked into the cabinets, the loud shut of the door, and footsteps quickly approaching until a comforting warmth reached his side.
That's when Soonyoung first realized that Wonwoo gets jealous.
Easily.
Busy, was an understatement. To describe Wonwoo, you'd need at least a 1500 word essay with a PowerPoint presentation to go alongside it. As the renowned top student of the school, teachers appointed him to any task they were too lazy to complete themselves, taking advantage over his status and image. Being the kind person he is, he often found himself getting pulled out of classes earlier than dismissal, just to shred some papers and sort textbooks next door.
For Soonyoung, this meant he was left wondering where the hell Wonwoo was half of the time, searching for the other's whereabouts. And this time was no different as he walked down the halls in solitude.
He had already checked Mr. Park's room, where Wonwoo was dragged to finish "administrative work", but neither the teacher nor his student were present. Giving up, Soonyoung trudged his way to the council office, figuring that Wonwoo would either already be inside, or he'd show up sometime later.
Entering the room, he was not met with Wonwoo, but a rather distressed looking boy stacking papers, Kim Mingyu. Now, it wasn't all that strange to find Mingyu at the office, he was the vice president of the council after all. What was strange was the way he was frantically tapping the photocopier and muttering swears, until he noticed Soonyoung's presence.
"Soonyoung!" Mingyu's eyes lit up as if he were a child who had found a stash of pocket money in the back of his closet.
Soonyoung greeted back, curious as to what the younger was doing.
"Can you please please please help me with this? I have to photocopy these sheets for Mr. Kim but I need to go to my club meeting like right now and the kids will eat me alive if I don't show up on time since I was late last week!" The boy spewed out all in one breath.
Blinking, he replied, "Yeah sure-"
"Thanks so much, you're a life saver. Not the candy. Just leave them in his office once you're finished. I promise to treat you to lunch sometime! Bye!"
And he ran off.
Staring at the papers, the machine continued to churn out assignments by the second.
After a good minute, the realization settled that Mingyu had left him alone and he was now stuck here until the papers finished printing.
He might as well carry it through, it's not like Soonyoung had anything better to do with his time. Plus, Mingyu promised him free food. That in itself was enough to bribe him to do anything.
So, he began picking up the sheets after every five prints, sorting them into manageable piles. Surprisingly, he was quite pleased with the assigned task, falling into a comfortable rhythm without much to think about. Who knew he'd be well-suited for admin work? If you told him he would enjoy this a few days ago, he'd simply laugh in your face.
He focused on the whirring of the copier, able to tune out the shouts from the school fields, and virtually everything else. It was only until a shadow loomed over his shoulder, that he snapped out of his daydreams and looked up.
"Look at what we have here." A voice that was undoubtedly Wonwoo's spoke to the right of his ear. "Trying to steal my job?"
"Maybe I am. Are you feeling threatened?" He teased, feeling the warmth of Wonwoo's arms snake around his waist.
"Hm. President Kwon does have a nice ring to it." Wonwoo joked back, gaining a small laugh from the other.
Soonyoung shook his head, gathering the last of the remaining papers that were set to copy.
"I'm here 'cause Mingyu asked me to print these out for Mr. Kim." He explained while grabbing some paperclips.
"Mingyu?" Wonwoo scoffed. "Of course he did. That kid is always running around."
"He said something about the members eating him alive if he was late to his club." Soonyoung shrugged.
"Excuses." The boy rolled his eyes revealing that this was most likely a common occurrence. "He just needs better time management."
Soonyoung hummed. "I don't mind though, it's just a few sheets of paper." The hard work of organizing was already done, all he had to do was to collect them in order.
"He said he'd treat me too, so I'm excited for that." He added.
The grip on his waist loosened ever so slightly, with Wonwoo pulling the tiniest bit back.
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, he said he'll buy me lunch if I do this. Ooh, maybe he'll get fried chicken." An immense amount of joy spread over his face, just from thinking about the delicious crispy perfectly seasoned chicken.
"Like a date?" The other asked incredulously, fully taking his arms away to cross them in the front.
Soonyoung couldn't help but laugh at his ridiculous thought process.
"No Wonu, like a marriage proposal." He sarcastically replied, swivelling around to see a familiar frown.
"Not funny."
"Oh come on, he's not hitting on me."
"You never know!" Wonwoo retorted, ears turning the lightest shade of pink.
It was now Soonyoung's turn to roll his eyes. Everyone and their mother knew that Mingyu had a big fat crush on Minghao, except Minghao himself because he was a stubborn prick. There was absolutely no chance in the entire universe for the giant puppy to flip his heart 180 in a minute, let alone choose Soonyoung as his next infatuation.
"He's been pining over Minghao for two years now." Soonyoung raised an eyebrow. This was common knowledge.
"...you never know!" Wonwoo sputtered once again, albeit less confident than before.
Soonyoung sighed.
"Yes. You. Do." He enunciated each syllable with a light flick to the other's forehead. A few complaints were heard, but nothing was worth commenting on when all that was said was, 'stupid mingyu, dumbass, too tall.'
Every few seconds he'd take a glance at Wonwoo, but the boy looked deep in thought, staring outside the window with his face scrunched. After seeing that Wonwoo had seemingly moved on, he resumed stacking papers, carefully sorting every twenty sheets with a paper clip before placing them all into a folder. The only thing that was left to do was deliver the package to Mr. Kim, and he'd be done for the day.
"Come on, Mr. Kim is-"
"Tell me when you guys do go out. I'll treat you to something better the next day. And you're not allowed to say no." Wonwoo interrupted his words, eyes exploding with determination.
A smile crept up onto Soonyoung's lips, watching as the other quickly flushed red, but still maintained eye contact with him, never faltering. The offer was extremely tempting, but trumping it all was the fact that he was adorable, how could Soonyoung say no?
"I like the sound of that."
The crowd's cheers were still heard roaring from behind the stage, chanting for encores, even if Soonyoung knew half of the audience had no idea who they were. They had just finished their set for the annual Holiday Season Festival, acting as the ending performance for the concert portion of the event.
The team—although unnamed, Soonyoung likes to unofficially refer to themselves as the tigers, because tigers are cool—wasn't exactly the biggest dance group, only consisting of four members, one of which was recruited in the last few weeks. Although many would argue that to be a disadvantage due to less formation opportunities, Soonyoung couldn't be more grateful for the group he has.
"We're done!" The youngest, Chan, shouted in glee with a smile of relief. Soonyoung wondered if it was because that meant practices would be slower. He wouldn't blame him if that were the case, Soonyoung himself was also relieved.
Just over a month ago, Chan had expressed interest in joining the club, forcing the group to change every bit of their choreography. This meant heavy practice schedules and vigorous training to catch him up to speed. It was hard of them all, but their passion prevailed and all of their efforts paid off as they pulled off a flawless routine.
"We absolutely crushed that! I'm glad the extra practice really payed off. Good job guys!" Soonyoung applauded, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"We?" Junhui looked in astonishment. "Soonie, YOU crushed it. Your solo was the highlight of the entire show."
Just as Soonyoung was about to open his mouth to disagree, Chan had butted in, stealing his chance to speak.
"Don't even deny it. The cheers for you were the loudest."
"No way. We did great all together." Soonyoung affirmed, wholeheartedly believing that their performance was a team effort. All of them played a crucial part, it would be unfair to say one did more than the other, they all did great.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure out of all of us, you're the one who gained a hundred more fans while you were busting it down on stage." Minghao rebutted, gulping down the last of his water.
"Whatever, it's your turn next! Xu Minghao solo let's go!" He patted the younger on his back, which promptly resulted in an elbow to his chest.
Although they had wrapped up the concert portion, the festivities were anything but over. Arcade and carnival games were scattered around the fields with food trucks and stalls in every corner, resembling a mini night market. Soonyoung was really looking forward to the street snacks, making sure to save enough spendings just for tonight. If he's lucky, maybe he can snatch a few bites out of Seungkwan's food since their whole group will be venturing together anyways.
Speaking of which, Junhui quickly tapped his shoulder and pointed to their friends who were standing around with a group of guys, all of which looked oddly familiar.
"Oh my god, is that Shua over there? With Jeonghan?" He waved and shouted, trying to get their attention from a few meters away.
Soonyoung immediately lit up, not expecting their graduate friends to return and attend their festival, let alone watch their performance. Without a second thought, he dashed into Joshua's arms, Minghao and Junhui following closely behind.
"Shua! I haven't seen you in so long!" Soonyoung whined in the older boy's grasp, recounting the last time they've seen each other which was over 8 months ago.
"I know! Sorry that we haven't been able to hang out as often. At least you can see Hannie at the café." Joshua smiles apologetically, then brightens at his next words. "But we came just in time for your set! You guys were awesome up there!"
A chorus of praises and compliments rushed towards the team, each varying from how in sync they were, to how attractive—hot and sexy, as Seungkwan insisted—they looked on stage, ultimately hyping up the dance team.
In a large group however, the main subject gets easily lost, especially when it's between a bunch of best friends. Quickly, they dispersed into smaller groups and fell into side conversations, but Soonyoung didn't mind. In fact, this gave him the ability to comfortably receive a well deserved hug from everyone individually, without being the center of attention. Wonwoo gave him a small pat on the shoulder, while Jihoon, who Soonyoung has to beg to let him latch onto his arm, embraced the other in a light side hug, proud of his friend for absolutely owning the spotlight.
Perhaps it was the residual energy from his adrenaline rush, or the overwhelming support they received from his closest friends, but Soonyoung felt as though his heart was filled to the brim, drowning in happiness. Simply watching his friends finally banter around is enough to create a small, but certain happiness.
"Mingyu, you should join the dance club and shadow Minghao for a day at practice." Seokmin teased, eliciting an immediate response from the boy.
"I don't think I can even do it if I tried." Mingyu smiled through his glaring eyes, observing how each one of his friends sported a pair of wiggly eyebrows against his own will.
"I think you could do it. You're more talented than you think." Minghao shared surprisingly. Normally, he'd be the first one in line to poke fun at the giant, so the shocked expression plastered on Mingyu's face was very justified.
"Obviously it'll take years to reach our level. Just imagining you taking Soonyoung's place on stage is hilarious." The Chinese boy snickered, reverting back to his usual personality, all while the taller sulked, moving towards Jeonghan for comfort.
"I don't think anyone could replicate Soonie's stage presence though." Jeonghan spoke up. "His solo was amazing! Right Wonungie?"
Wonwoo looked taken aback by the sudden calling, his expression evident that he wanted to continue staring at the stray cat crossing the street.
"Yeah, it was good." He answered plainly. Not excited, nor bored, but a weird third thing. He should check up on that later.
"Oh come on," Seungkwan groaned. "Can't you at least try to be a little more enthusiastic? Our friends just danced their hearts out, say something!"
Like clockwork, the boy scrunched his nose, forming the cheesiest grin known to mankind.
"Something."
With a trademarked eye roll, Seungkwan announced his immense dissatisfaction for the joke, as well as his decision to hunt for the takoyaki stand, inviting anyone who wanted to tag along. Naturally, like a bunch of ducklings, the majority of them followed closely behind, chirping at how Jeonghan should pay for the whole group since he's the oldest.
Soonyoung, however, stayed back.
Not alone, of course. He had Wonwoo linked to his arm, and was dragging him in the opposite direction. Needless to say, Soonyoung knew virtually everything about Wonwoo, meaning he knew how the boy becomes nauseous at the taste of seafood, and preferred bungeoppang infinitely times more, which is why they marched in that exact direction to locate the stall and buy the 2-for-1 deal.
The pair found a nice secluded area on a bench to devour their treats, away from the hustle and bustle of teenagers.
Before completely murdering his treat, Soonyoung faced Wonwoo to see him quietly nibbling on his dessert, viewing the crowd from afar. His face looked a bit grim, even though he was eating his favourite street snack in the world. That was unusual.
Right. He was supposed to ask Wonwoo about that.
"Why are you so frowny? Was the performance not good?" Soonyoung asked, preparing his heart for the worst. "Oh my god, did I mess up? I did, didn't I?"
"No you didn't, I loved it! You looked amazing." Wonwoo rushed to console him, speaking nothing but the truth.
"So then, why the sulk?" He was genuinely baffled, unable to comprehend why the other carried a rain cloud above his head.
"You'll laugh at me if I tell you." Wonwoo frowned, putting down his bungeoppang.
"And?"
"It's embarrassing."
"Wonu, you've seen me when I was nine. I think we're past the point of embarrassment now."
"You ran to hug Shua first."
Wonwoo was right, Soonyoung did laugh at him. But in his defence, it was because he was cute and silly, with nothing to worry about.
"See? I told you." Wonwoo sulked ever further, lowering his head to avoid any possible eye contact.
"So you were sad because you wanted to hug me first?" Soonyoung giggled, watching the tip of his ears turn the familiar shade of pink.
By now, he could read Wonwoo like an open book. They didn't need words to convey what the other meant, they just knew. In this case, Soonyoung knew that wasn't the full reason of his disappointment, there were many more layers behind the simple statement.
The boy was a big romantic at heart, always having his nose buried into some romance novels and indulging in the latest rom-coms. In those pieces of fiction, love is frequently depicted as fantastical and otherworldly, filled with dreamy quotes and extravagant acts, painting a dazzling picture.
If he could, Soonyoung bet that Wonwoo wanted to bring a bouquet of flowers to congratulate his performance, just like the movies. It was understandable how it left him disheartened when he saw Soonyoung's face light up at the sight of someone else.
Even though his heart was filled with his loving friendships, Wonwoo was the only one that could make it swell.
Pulling him into a hug, Soonyoung wrapped his arms around his shoulders, leaving a soft kiss on his temple.
"You might not have been the first, but you'll always be my favourite."
The corner Wonwoo's lips slightly turned upwards.
"I guess that's okay then."
They rested there for a while, lying in each other's arms, taking advantage of the short time they had. With how busy their schedules are, there weren't many opportunities to sit and relax by themselves. Who knows when they'll be able to be like this again, basking in the sweet taste of custard.
"We should head back, they're probably looking for us by now." Wonwoo suggested, perfectly in time for his phone to start ringing with a call from Jihoon.
"We don't have to." Soonyoung replied as Wonwoo grabbed his phone out of his pocket, pressing the accept button.
An unquestionably angry voice spoke through the speaker.
"I don't know where you are but you better get your ass over here now so this ugly giant can stop ranting to me about his failed flirting . There's only so much I can handle without wanting to punt him in the face, I don't know how the fuck you do it."
Wonwoo and Soonyoung shared a look of surprise, but remained silent on the phone.
"Hello? Ugh. Jeon, you're useless." Jihoon threw an insult, which they both knew had no substance, and hung up shortly after.
The moment the call ended, they instantly bursted out laughing, finding Jihoon's unfortunate circumstances quite amusing. The two got up and brushed off their pants, concluding that they should realistically rejoin their friends, instead of ditching them by taking a brisk walk at the park like Soonyoung would've wanted.
Maybe next time.
On a rare Sunday morning, Soonyoung and Wonwoo found themselves sitting across from each other in their local neighbourhood café. Last night over the phone, Soonyoung had begged the other to join him since there's a special discount on drinks but Jeonghannie says it's only from 7-10AM. Of course Wonwoo agreed, but only with much grumbling and whining about waking up early on a weekend.
Soonyoung couldn't remember the last time he and Wonwoo went out for the sake of going out. Their weekends were constantly stacked with homework or dance sessions that would eat up the majority of their time. And on the off chance they're both free, it's almost always because of a preplanned event with some of their friends.
So it was a nice change of scenery, just the two of them on a calm morning, while Jeonghan cursed out the coffee machine for the nth time.
"I wonder why he still works here after he complained so much about his boss." Wonwoo stared at the university student as he gave the counter a small punch.
"Rumour has it there's a cute coworker of his that started not too long ago. Apparently he's pretty built too." Soonyoung retold what Joshua had mentioned a couple weeks earlier.
"Makes sense." Wonwoo hummed. Their older friend always had some sort of fling going on, intentional or not.
Soonyoung remembers the first time ever meeting Jeonghan. Actually, most people remember their first time talking to Jeonghan, that's how impactful his impressions were.
It was around two years ago, if he recalled correctly. While he was helping out the librarian put books away, Jeonghan had approached him, asking for help to retrieve a novel on the top shelf. Soonyoung thought it was odd as they were very similar in height, meaning that they both had the same ability to reach for the book. But Soonyoung grabbed it for him anyways, because who could say no when the son of Aphrodite was in front of you?
Jeonghan being Jeonghan, complimented his strength, gave him an angelic smile, and a wink before heading off, leading Soonyoung to believe the older was interested in him. Only a week later, he found out that everybody else had similar experiences with the boy, and that's how he acted normally, causing many one-sided interests unintentionally.
Not to say that Jeonghan didn't find anyone attractive, no, he did try to pursue those he fancied. They all just happened to not work out in the way he'd hoped.
Take Wonwoo for example, one of Jeonghan's very few interests.
Spotting him from across the cafeteria, Jeonghan had confidently approached Wonwoo, calling him cute and asking for his number in the process. Wide-eyed with a gaping mouth, Wonwoo quietly nodded and immediately turned into a tomato, which in Soonyoung's opinion was the funniest thing in the world. His whole persona of being a stoic ice prince had shattered, all because a pretty boy was flirting with him. Now that was a sight to see.
From then on, Jeonghan joined their little friend group for lunch, trying to become closer to the younger.
Due to Jeonghan's efforts, the two did end up forming an extremely close relationship. However, instead of pursuing Wonwoo romantically, their friendship thankfully morphed into a different kind of bond, with Jeonghan taking him under his wing as his quasi-little brother.
Soonyoung has never lived it down, in fact he was about to bring it up, just to see Wonwoo's embarrassed reaction once again.
Before he could mention it though, a boy who couldn't be much younger than them, had walked up to Soonyoung with a big grin, interrupting their conversation.
"Hey, sorry to bother you but I was sitting by the other side and had to come over and talk to you. I think you're really cute, and I'd love to grab your number if you don't mind?" The boy bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, holding out his phone for Soonyoung to type in his contact.
"Oh!" Soonyoung exclaimed. It's not every day you get unexpectedly hit on. "Thanks for the compliment, but I'm actually not interested."
"Are you sure? I think I'd really regret it if I didn't take you out on at least one date." The boy seemed genuinely disappointed, almost like a kicked puppy who lost their bone. It made him feel bad, but the best that Soonyoung could do was to lay him down gently.
"Yeah I'm sure, I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I appreciate it though!" He replied truthfully, hoping that the other would take it nicely.
"It's okay, I understand." The boy replied with his lips pressed together. "Would you still be up for in being friends though? I think I've seen you perform with the dance club, and it got me thinking of joining. We can chat about future meetings or possible routines or moves if you're down."
Soonyoung processed his words and took a good look at the guy's build. It wasn't bad at all. He had nice posture, and a nice body line that would work well in certain formations. He was slim, and his height seemed to be around Minghao's range, which would definitely set a good balance within the whole group.
"Why don't I give you my socials instead?" The boy proposed and smiled handsomely, ready to pull out his phone again. "Then you can add me, and we can talk whenever you're free."
"Umm, I-"
"He said he wasn't interested. Were you not listening?" Wonwoo spat, taking Soonyoung off guard. If he hadn't known better, the fire in Wonwoo's eyes would've scared the shit out of him, causing him to bolt down the street. Good thing Soonyoung knew the guy had a heart of gold and wouldn't hurt a fly.
The boy looked just as taken aback as Soonyoung felt, scanning between the two, but quickly regained composure and lowered his eyes.
"Right, how unfortunate. I'll be on my way then." He responded, walking away and out of the shop entirely.
Soonyoung followed Wonwoo's line of vision, noticing that he only tore his gaze once the boy was completely out of sight and had turned the corner. Once gone, Wonwoo refocused onto the napkins laying on the table, a scowl still present.
More than angry, he was confused. There hasn't been many times where Wonwoo spoke harshly, or raised his voice like that. The last time Soonyoung could remember was when some kids were messing around with a stray cat, and even then, he used polite and formal language.
Why would Wonwoo scare the poor boy off like that? They seemed to be having a generally okay conversation. Sure, the guy was being a bit pushy, but everybody's a bit different and that was normal, wasn't it?
"Why did you do that?" Soonyoung questioned, feeling a little irritated if he's being honest.
"What?" Wonwoo had become defensive, as if he had done nothing wrong. "He wouldn't have gone away unless I said something."
"He seemed nice though! All he wanted to talk about was dance, and you know I want to recruit more people to the club."
"Nice my ass. I bet he only wanted to join to see yours."
Soonyoung's jaw dropped.
"You're being ridiculous. He was being polite." He waved off, recalling how the boy was understanding of Soonyoung's boundaries regarding being pursued.
"You know, Wonungie's right though. I know how boys flirt like the back of my hand, and I can assure you, this one only wants to get into your pants." Jeonghan placed their drinks onto their table, shamelessly revealing that he's been listening into their conversation the entire time.
"Wait really?" Soonyoung backed off, stunned.
"Yes really. Why else would he be so adamant on getting your number?" The older rolled his eyes, slowly retreating back to the kitchen. "Anyways, I'll be taking my well deserved break, so don't call me."
As Jeonghan left the table, they both sat there with an awkward silence looming over their heads, unsure of what to say. Did Soonyoung need to apologize? He didn't think he did anything wrong besides unintentionally getting swayed in the wrong direction. But Wonwoo's reaction said otherwise. Even though the debate was over, his expression remained grim, simply staring at his drink and biting the insides of his cheek.
Soonyoung took a sip of his drink, wondering when the other would speak up. He was starting to get antsy, unused to the quiet ambiance. So in hopes of insinuating a reaction, he opened a straw and placed it into Wonwoo's glass for him, motioning for him to try the coffee. But alas, the boy simply stared without a word.
Sighing, Soonyoung took another sip. At least his iced tea was made well.
"Would you have accepted his number if I didn't stop you?" Wonwoo finally broke the silence, looking up into Soonyoung's eyes.
"No, of course not." The words tumbled out of his mouth instinctually.
"But you said he was nice and you wanted to recruit him to your dance club." Wonwoo stated in all seriousness, not a hint of a waver or tremble.
Soonyoung cracked a smile of relief, shaming himself for momentarily forgetting Wonwoo's recent affinity with jealousy.
"If he was really interested in dancing, he'd contact our club email. He doesn't need my number for that." He laughed lightly, reaching over to ruffle Wonwoo's hair. He'd kiss him right there if it weren't for PDA and the very high chance a particular barista was spying on them from the back.
"Now stop pouting like a baby and drink your iced latte. Jeonghan would not be very happy to see his masterpieces go to waste."
Wonwoo did drink his iced latte, and it tasted good. Soonyoung would know.
His legs were dangling from the arm of the couch, head resting comfortably in Wonwoo's lap. This was a normal scene for them to be playing out, occurring every day after school with the exception of Wednesdays, as Soonyoung had dance club to attend. Chilling in the student council office was a must, before the two walked their way home.
Technically, Soonyoung wasn't even allowed to be in there since it was reserved strictly for members and staff on board. But through his association with Wonwoo, he's able to get off scot-free. It was a big win if you asked him, being able to form a convenient routine with the guaranteed benefit of privacy.
And of course, the mini fridge that Soonyoung definitely did not take advantage of. To be fair, it wasn't his fault that the storage was the perfect size to house his jelly snacks. Plus, those pretentious little suckers had an entire sofa in their office.
Not that he ever complained though. Soonyoung was probably the only one who used it on the regular, often transforming the piece furniture into a makeshift bed.
He should really thank Wonwoo for letting him get away with all of this. In reality, Wonwoo has gotten him off the hook for many things, some even a bit too embarrassing to even admit.
Was there anything he couldn't do?
Yes, and Soonyoung had the answer for that.
"You're pres. Can't you do something about it?" Soonyoung whined, swaying his feet back and forth against the couch.
"Nope." He responded, clicking the next cat video to watch on his phone.
Soonyoung groaned in misery.
"Did you at least try to change the seating plan?"
He didn't fancy being stuck in the dead center of the room, it was much too nerve wracking knowing that people could glance at him from all sides. Also, the sun would shine directly at him through the windows every day, blinding his eyes at the worst times.
Seating plans were never his thing. They sucked, and they will always continue to suck as he was would be deprived of his happiness from being forced to socialize with strangers rather than his friends. The agony.
Except for that one time back in grade 3, since that was how he met Wonwoo. Other than that, all seating plans were horrendous.
"Nothing I can do, sorry." Wonwoo replied. "It's Mrs. Lee that decides everything."
Soonyoung sighed. At least he didn't get paired up with the worst possible classmates. She was relatively easygoing, friendly, and quite fun to talk to at times. He simply didn't know her very well.
He supposed she was a fairly decent desk-mate, only because there was one person he'd absolutely hate (affectionately) to be partnered with. Heavens knew what would happen if Jihoon was sat next to him for the rest of the year. Soonyoung believed without a doubt, he would've gotten his mouth taped shut with whatever resources Jihoon kept in his backpack. At least his partner let him talk her ear off every day without complaints.
"I don't like her."
Soonyoung whipped up his head to stare into Wonwoo's eyes, noticing his phone was put away with full attention on him.
"What's wrong with her?" Soonyoung wondered. She wasn't by all means a bad person at all, maybe a little clueless at times, but nothing worth getting upset over. From his recollection, Wonwoo hasn't even had a proper full-on conversation with her, ever. So there must've been some grand event that happened for him to have a premature opinion about her character.
"Lots of things are wrong with her." Wonwoo muttered. "She never pays attention when I do the attendance because she's way too busy talking to you, she disrupted the whole class this morning so you could kill a tiny spider on her desk that was basically harmless, and she gets to sit next to you. Everyday. That's so unfair."
Soonyoung bursted out laughing, not expecting the pure seriousness coming out of Wonwoo's mouth. At first he thought the other was joking, but the very prominent frown proved otherwise.
"She's not that bad. And I wish I was sat next to you too, okay? At least you get Junnie, you lucky bastard." He gently cupped the boy's chin, slighty squishing his cheeks together to lighten his mood. However, Wonwoo simply avoided his gaze, silently turning towards the window.
Contrary to what most people believe, Wonwoo did not always live in silence. Rather, he was quite chatty when given the space and freedom to speak, given that he's in a comfortable environment. As he leaned back on the couch and remained silent, it appeared as though something else was running through his mind.
"She likes you." Wonwoo whispered, returning to look at the dancer resting on top of his legs.
"What?" Soonyoung exclaimed. "No way, she's just friendly."
Apparently that response was incorrect, as Wonwoo rolled his eyes with a light scoff.
"That's what they all say becore they pull a Yandere and force you to fall in love with them."
Soonyoung sat up straight, leaving the warmth of Wonwoo's body with a disgusted look. Remembering the old indie video game brought back terrible memories of when Wonwoo first introducted it to him. Back then, he wondered why anyone would create such a game. Also, he'd hate for that to happen in real life, especially when he's already perfectly happy.
"She doesn't, trust me." Soonyoung stated confidently. Not once has he gotten the impression that his seat partner saw him in that sort of way, and there was absolultely no chance she liked him.
"Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and she's definitely going to give you chocolates. I just know it." Wonwoo shifted in his seat, words laced with a hint of venom.
"Come on, be real. She won't."
Wonwoo raised his eyebrows as if Soonyoung's nose had grown a whole foot longer.
In all honesty, Soonyoung had no idea if his desk-mate fancied him or not. He was never good at these things, point blank being that he failed to recognize a classmate's crush on him in his first year of highschool. Even though his classmate gifted him a handwritten love letter along with some paper flowers, he brushed it off as a thank you note and compensation for helping her with the world history exam.
It was only until the girl had invited him to the movies and attempted to kiss him, that he finally realized that their friendship was not as platonic as he thought. Luckily for him, Wonwoo was prepared on speed dial, ready to plan his escape for that exact situation.
"Okay you got me, I don't know." He sighed truthfully. "If she does, can you promise not to get jealous? It's not like I can help that I'm so incredibly charming."
Soonyoung wasn't worried that Wonwoo's potential jealously would strain their bond, he knew that they'd end up joking and sharing the chocolates together anyways. But for his peace of mind, Soonyoung cheesily swept his hair back and gave him a playful wink, reassuring that he wasn't being completely serious.
"Fine, I promise." Wonwoo agreed as he purposefully watched and left Soonyoung's hand hanging in the air.
"Hey! You have to pinky promise me, otherwise it won't be real." He whined, waving his lonely fifth finger in front of Wonwoo's face.
The boy glared at his antics, but soon let his strong facade slip into a soft smile.
"You wish."
With his box of chocolates nicely wrapped and safe in his backpack, Soonyoung climbed the stairwell up to the entrance, seeing many students paired up shyly on this romance-filled day.
Valentine's Day was always an interesting thing to experience. Admittedly, he understood the appeal and indulged himself in the traditions every year, though he found the whole concept quite funny to be honest. It was the only day where you'd see hearts being broken, while a new relationship forms only a metre away.
Love, without a doubt, upholds its reputation for being unpredictable.
Making his way across the halls, he spotted Hansol awkwardly backed up against some lockers by a fellow classmate holding out some chocolates and flowers. The poor boy seemed to struggle with refusing the bundle of flora despite his severe pollen allergy. It was such an unfortunate sight to see, but Soonyoung couldn't help but find the situation a little hilarious. He was defintely going to share this later with the rest at their lunch break, along with some seasonal medication.
Even if Soonyoung knew his younger friend was only accepting the gift out of respect, he was happy that someone else recognized the boy's natural kindness despite being a wallflower.
People always were attracted to the quieter ones, weren't they?
Junhui, for example, wasn't the loudest or most talkative due to his fluency in the Korean language, and he certainly wasn't on any sports teams. Yet, he was crowned the boy with the most confessions last year with no room for debate, shaking the infamous gentleman Joshua Hong to second place.
Perhaps it was his manga-like looks, or insane dancing skills, or his clumsy but quirky personality that spews out lame jokes every second that their classmates took a liking to. And this year appeared to be no different for his same-aged friend.
As he continued to walk down the corridor, a huge swarm of students had already started to congregate around the door to his classroom, all with chocolates in hand. Frankly speaking, he wasn't all too interested in Junhui's confessions. What really mattered to him was if Soonyoung received chocolates from his desk partner or not.
A little part inside of him hoped that she would be sitting there, waiting with the sweets in hand, just so he could await for Wonwoo's candid reaction to it all. Soonyoung was just excited to see the boy try to contain his jealousy to the best of his abilities. Definitely not because he wanted the chocolates.
The gathering was huge, much more than what Junhui had to deal with the previous year. He noticed a fresh mix of students compared to last time, with a lot of younger grades added to the list of admirers. From a glance, one could easily mistake the crowd as fans lined up to bombard an idol group at the airport, in hopes that their bias would notice them.
"It's crazy, right?" Jihoon found his way beside Soonyoung, actively watching the commotion in front of them.
"One hundred percent beats the crowd from last year." Soonyoung commented, noticing a few students joining in every passing minute.
"No kidding," Junhui joined in. "And I thought it was bad last year. Boy, was I wrong."
Soonyoung laughed, recalling a few moments where he had to bail Junhui out of the grasp of his classmate's hands. Last year was bad, but this year trumps over the chaos by a million light years. There was absolutely no space to escape even if they wanted to. He stared at the growing number of classmates pitifully, slightly concerned for the wellbeing of the lover boy.
A good ten seconds had passed until Soonyoung realized that Junhui wasn't the current center of attention.
He physically couldn't be, because he was standing here.
Right next to him.
Whipping his head around, Soonyoung nervously scanned the hoard of students to see who possibly could be the new hotshot of their school. And to his demise, there he was.
Since when did he get so popular?
In the dead center was Jeon Wonwoo, desperately trying to politely reject all of the confessions and chocolate boxes with a kind smile.
"Do you think he'll accept any of them?"
Soonyoung briefly heard Jihoon's words cut through his daze, but all he could really focus on were the pleads and requests to take Wonwoo out on a date.
"Wonwoo!"
"Go out with me?"
"Wonwoo, take this!"
"I like you."
"What about me?"
"You're so handsome."
"Be mine?"
His eye twitched as he watched Wonwoo's lips curve into an uncomfortable frown, pushing back the boxes shoved at his face while attempting to avoid being trampled over. When he had successfully denied the crowd to his right, someone would pop out from behind to, yet again, offer multiple bags of candy and sweets.
Every single one of the confessions were shut down, but in a kind and polite way that would only make them fall harder. Instead of a blatant rejection, Soonyoung's ears caught him spewing phrases such as "I'm sorry, I can't accept this," and "Please, share them with your friends, not me."
That was Wonwoo's one downfall. He was much too kind for his own good, one might say a people pleaser, which resulted in many people taking advantage to walk all over him. In this case, it only pushed the admirers to try harder, believing that they could be the one who steals the class president's heart.
But Wonwoo was clearly overwhelmed and stressed by the crowding, were people too blind see that? Why weren't they backing off, or giving him adequate space?
Hands were actively trying to grab at him, yet he saw how sweet, sweet Wonwoo still plastered a smile on his face. Soonyoung couldn't understand why he was being so nice with them.
A wave of unfamiliar emotions coursed through his veins, his body immediately becoming tense. His eye twitched without warning, unable to hide the scowl presenting itself. Palms began to sweat, and every one of his senses heightened without warning. His feet were tapping restlessly on the floor beneath, and was he always biting his inner lip?
Soonyoung shifted his weight back and forth, an uneasy feeling creeping up on his shoulders from just watching what was happening. The scene uncannily resembled a small kitten being hounded by stray dogs in an alleyway, and all Soonyoung wanted to do was to scoop him up and tell everybody to fuck off.
It became harder and harder to stand still. The students continued to close in like a herd, with all of their attention focused solely on Wonwoo.
His Wonwoo.
Whatever this was, it needed to end. And it needed to end, quickly.
Before he fully processed his thoughts, Soonyoung had already opened his mouth with his chest heaving.
"All of you need to get the fuck away from my boyfriend, now."
The commotion instantly stopped on command, the only thing heard was the ringing in his ears as everyone halted, slowly turning around. Upon catching a glimpse of Soonyoung's presence, the students began to scatter away from Wonwoo, like they should have in the very beginning.
Finally, he could see the boy from head to toe, in his full beauty, no longer covered by the hoard of uniforms.
He watched as Wonwoo anxiously looked around the room, trying to find the owner of that sentence. It was a habit that Soonyoung saw him form when he was younger due to his poor eyesight, as he was regularly used to being unable to decipher where to look when caught off guard. Although his boyfriend usually found it annoying and often frustrating, Soonyoung always thought of him fondly for that, insisting it built character.
Eventually, he laid his eyes onto Soonyoung, making his expression morph from confusion, into one of surprise, which soon turned into one with a small grin.
Things like this made Soonyoung remember just how infatuated he was with this boy.
"Soonyoung?"
He heard murmurs and felt the criticizing stares lock onto him as he walked towards Wonwoo, but he didn't care.
With only a foot of distance between them, Soonyoung stopped his tracks, never once breaking their gaze. And Wonwoo, cute as ever, had his eyebrows furrowed while sporting a pout, confusion written all over his face.
Oh, how he desperately wanted to take his lover into his hands to cuddle and make out with him right then and there. For obvious reasons, he couldn't.
So he went for the next best option his brain could come up with.
"Soonie, what are you-"
He tilted his head up and lightly pressed his lips against the corner of Wonwoo's mouth, pulling back with a huge smile.
"Let's go." Soonyoung whispered with a twinkle in his eyes.
And that was all the warning Wonwoo got before Soonyoung grabbed his hand and took off, completely missing the way Junhui's jaw dropped after they speeded past him towards the exit.
Running through the hallways was exhilarating, weaving in and out of the incoming traffic while ignoring the administrators' yells to halt. He maintained a firm grip in Wonwoo's hold, the other doing the same as if the walls would start to crumble if they let go.
It shouldn't have felt so freeing, given they've only "escaped" such a trivial situation. But at that moment, it was Soonyoung and Wonwoo, hand in hand, against the world.
No words were exchanged, but both knew exactly where they were headed. Dodging students and jumping down a flight of stairs, the two hurriedly entered the student council office, closing and locking the door behind them.
As Soonyoung turned around, he saw how Wonwoo was absolutely dying, struggling the get enough oxygen. Actually, both of them were, given that they had the same idea to make a beeline to the sofa to rest.
Wonwoo graciously plopped down and took up the entire space, his limbs sprawled on every surface possible. So Soonyoung, being the proud unofficial owner of the couch, shoved his boyfriend over to squeeze in the nonexistent space beside the backrest.
He could feel the fast pace of Wonwoo's heartbeat pulse against his chest as they try to catch their breaths. Shifting around, the two accidentally made eye contact and instantly bursted out laughing, feeling Wonwoo tighten his grasp against Soonyoung's waist.
Although they weren't even remotely close to it, something about this made Soonyoung feel at home, like this was how the world intended them to be.
That's how Soonyoung always described it whenever he was with Wonwoo, content in their own little bubble. They didn't need to go out and do extravagant activities to boost their adrenaline levels, or spend a load of money on expensive restaurants. Simply being together was enough.
In fact, his most cherished memories were ones like this, where they lay shoulder to shoulder, quietly basking in each other's presence.
"Kwon Soonyoung, what the fuck was that?" Wonwoo finally spoke up after regaining his composure.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "My brain told me that I needed to get you out of there, so I did."
Wonwoo hummed, taking his hand to run through Soonyoung's damaged blond hair that Minghao helped him dye.
"As horrible as that run was, I'm glad you did. I can't believe Jihoon and Junnie just watched while I got bombarded in front of them. They could've helped, you know?" Wonwoo made a futile complain, followed by a disapproving noise.
"I should've expected that you would be popular. For goodness sake, you're Mr. Class President, student council executive, and top excelling student. No wonder you had a whole class confessing their love to you."
"Oh shut up."
He saw how Wonwoo's lips formed a shy grin as he brought his hands to cover his face. Despite his humongous ego and self confidence that comes from who-knows-where, Wonwoo was quite bashful when it came to compliments. He could see why others found the boy to be charming. Jokes on them though, Soonyoung found him first.
"Anyways, I brought you chocolates." Soonyoung remembered the box in his bag, almost forgetting the whole overarching theme of the day.
"Really? What a coincidence, so did I." Wonwoo sported a face of surprise, seemingly shocked.
Soonyoung rolled his eyes before forming a fond smile, laughing at Wonwoo's broken humour. Why was he even pretending to be surprised? Soonyoung literally called him last night to make sure he bought Wonwoo's favourite chocolates, to which he replied with, "the ones from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory".
He was so close to arriving with the tiniest bag of M&M's today due to the sheer stupidity of that joke, but of course he couldn't do that. So Soonyoung set off to grab the finest Belgian chocolates he could find with his limited pocket money.
"You know, we never found out if my desk-mate brought chocolates today or not." Soonyoung recalled as Wonwoo hummed in agreement.
"And we should've made a promise that you wouldn't get jealous instead." Wonwoo playfully nudged his sides.
"Me? Jealous? Never heard of her." He tried to joke off his embarrassment, but it was no use as his reddening cheeks had already outed him as guilty.
"Oh yeah?" Wonwoo smirked with a knowing look. "If my memory serves me correctly, you said, all of you need to get the fuck away from my boyfriend."
Soonyoung groaned into his palms, regret seeping into his bones.
"Ugh, that was so cringe. I don't even know why I said that. You need to stop me from doing that next time before I embarrass myself for real."
At that time, it seemed like a great idea. He'd be the strong, charismatic boyfriend that protects his love and makes sure that everyone knows he's off limits. It was his K-Drama moment that so desperately dreamed about, coming to fruition. Looking back at it now, the only thing he felt like doing was to crawl under his covers and never see the light of day.
"I thought it was cute."
Soonyoung looked up to find the boy slightly blushing with a sheepish smile. He quirked an eyebrow.
"It was like you were professing your love to me again, but this time it was for the whole world to see."
Sometimes he forgets how much of a romantic Wonwoo can be, not that he was complaining though. Somehow, his boyfriend had a pocket full of words on hand that could make butterflies swirl in his stomach in any situation, or maybe Soonyoung had fallen just a little too deep into this Wonwoo thing.
"You're such a sap, I hate you." That was a lie, he could never hate Wonwoo, ever.
"You love me." Wonwoo jokingly poked his sides, already knowing his answer.
The weight of the word "love" is something so sacred, so precious to the ears that Soonyoung could only recall saying the phrase with its full meaning twice. And both of those times were for no one else, but Wonwoo.
It was an unspoken truth between them. Neither said the three words often, yet both understood each other's emotions perfectly. A simple smile or glance was usually good enough, knowing that the level of affection they had for the other was light years beyond the surface. But with the way Wonwoo looked at him with sparkling eyes, it would be wrong not to say anything.
"Yeah, I love you." Soonyoung replied softly.
Wonwoo scrunched his nose and let out the cutest giggle. It was almost cute enough to completely brainwash Soonyoung to forget that the boy never bothered to respond to his heartfelt confession. Almost.
"Say it back, you nerd." He pinched Wonwoo's arm, in hopes that he'd cave.
"No."
"Jeon Wonwoo."
"Okay okay, I'm kidding." He laughed again before turning to fully face Soonyoung.
It was only then that Soonyoung realized how close they were to each other, faces barely apart, noses almost touching.
After years of spending their adolescence together, he saw how Wonwoo's features sculpted him into the person he is today. Despite the embarrassing amount of hours of video calls even though they had spent the entire class together, and daydreaming about their future together before falling asleep, not once had he ever gotten tired of looking at Wonwoo.
In front of him held the gaze that he so easily fell in love with, one that made his heart burst into millions of confetti, one that screamed "I'll be right there to hold your hand whenever you need me". And Soonyoung knows he will, because he'd do the exact same thing.
Wonwoo smiled.
"I love you more."