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Liyu hated how Woojin always looked at that one girl in that lovey-dovey, romantic way.
It pained him to see another girl being admired the way he wanted Woojin to admire him.
Especially the popular girl of the grade - Sarah Yu.
When Woojin told Liyu he liked Sarah, he wanted to run off to the bathroom stalls and cry his ass off knowing that there was a chance the girl liked Woojin back. After all, Kang Woojin was a name that could always be heard from the other side of the hallway - girls always chased him, even boys who were gay and bisexual went after him. They were endeared by his talents in basketball.
But Liyu was just plain old Chuei Liyu.
‘The boy who went to the art classrooms sometimes to paint those pretty paintings that no-one had the time to look at during school.’
‘The boy who was Kang Woojin’s best friend.’
‘The boy who looks like a rabbit, but he could never compare to Woojin.’
Those were all titles that other girls had given to him. They never even really called him by his name.
Sure, he’d made out with a few girls before, but they didn’t go to his school and he didn’t really return their feelings - it was mostly just to burn off steam.
Liyu hadn’t even stepped one foot into the school when Woojin ran up to him.
“Liyu, today’s the day I’ll confess to the Sarah Yu! I really hope she likes me back…” Woojin whispered with the hope that the girl would like him back.
“Oh… good luck,” Liyu responded. He sounded lethargic, as if the words that had just been said to him had triggered a flood of cortisol.
“Hm, Liyu, are you okay? You sound kinda tired… don’t tell me you were up gaming yesterday again…” Woojin asked the black-haired boy.
“I’m fine, Woojin, it’s okay.” Liyu replied.
“Oh okay. So I’m going to give her a latte from the local coffee shop and a keychain along with this note I put a lot of thought into last night. How does that sound?” The brunette hoped Liyu would give him helpful advice.
“Yes, I think she’d love it!” Liyu exclaimed, as if it were for him and not Sarah.
~~~
Class started and people were chatting about what the homework was, their crushes and whatever they weren’t able to talk about before the bell rang.
“Okay, class 2, please be quiet…” Mr. Sung called out. “I’ll start roll call now…”
He droned on until the end of roll call and started teaching their English class.
“So, can anyone translate this for me?” Mr Sung asked the class, half who looked like they wanted to end themselves right there, half who wanted to write the translation for personal intent.
Liyu and Woojin were part of the latter.
“Okay, Chuei Liyu, you can write the translation here,” Mr. Sung chuckled.
He knew Liyu didn’t want to be in class, so he thought he’d finally broken Liyu’s last straw. But little did Mr. Sung know.
“Yes, Sir.”
Liyu stood up and walked over to the board with a calm demeanor and picked up the piece of chalk. He wrote the characters for ‘saranghaeyo’ on the chalkboard and sat back down.
The class went crazy at seeing him actually do something in class for once.
“I know why you wanted to write that on the chalkboard, Liyu-hyung! For your wonderful crush!” Anxin giggled his ass off.
“Liyu-ge, you’re so down bad for your crush!” Kaiwen couldn’t help but laugh too as his best friend, Anxin, was laughing too. “At this point, you could fuck them and it still wouldn’t be obvious to Woojin!”
“Kaiwen, can you shut the fuck up?” Liyu tried to be mad at the younger boy, but it was definitely impossible, because it was true.
“Liyu-ah, do you actually like someone? Who is she?” Woojin asked him.
Shit. He couldn’t tell Woojin that he liked him. Should he just lie?
“I- I like a boy, actually…” Liyu confessed.
“So you’re gay? That’s lowkey cool,” Woojin smiled.
“Well, yeah, I am, and I have been since, like, middle school…” Liyu mumbled. “Maybe it wasn’t that obvious…”
Woojin really wanted to tell his best friend he was bi, but he didn’t know how Liyu would react seeing as he just came out.
Maybe he would wait until after he confessed to Sarah.
~~~
The bell rang as students rushed to the snack bar. Outside the class 2 room, Woojin tapped Sarah on the shoulder.
“Yes Woojin? Did you need anything?” Sarah asked him with some worry in her voice.
“Umm… Y- Yeah, I did,” Woojin replied.
“What is it?” Sarah asked Woojin with curiosity.
“I like you. I hope our friendship or whatever this is doesn’t, like, become awkward or anything. I just wanted to tell you, you know?” Woojin confessed.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t return those feelings, and I can’t, because if you didn’t know, I’m lesbian…” Sarah replied sadly.
“Oh. That’s okay, then.”
They walked away from each other, and it was most likely going to be their last conversation together.
Woojin continued walking down the empty hallway, head hanging low, when a firm hand grabbed his own.
“Woojin, are you okay? You look really down…” Liyu muttered. It wasn’t that he was pissed, he just didn’t want others to notice.
“I’m fine, you don’t need to worry so much…” Woojin reassured the older boy. It was obvious that Woojin wasn’t fine at all.
“Sarah rejected you, didn’t she?” Liyu could see right through Woojin’s facade.
“Y- Yeah, she did.” Woojin started sobbing. His tears wet Liyu’s uniform shirt, but none of them really cared about that.“It would be best if you could move on from her, you know…” Liyu trailed off at the end.
This was it. His chance to confess to his best friend and the most popular boy in school - Kang Woojin. Liyu couldn’t fuck it up. Even one mistake would change the overall delivery.
“Ah Woojin! You know how you asked me who I liked in class earlier?” Liyu reminded the brunette.
“Yes, I remember that very well.” Woojin said.
“Well… that boy is you. I couldn’t help but feel down whenever you talked about the perfect, top grades, Sarah Yu and how you were going to confess to her today. I hoped, just a little bit, that she’d reject you, but wished all the best to you, because I truly love you.”
Liyu had finally confessed to Woojin.
He couldn’t have fucked it up. He shouldn’t have fucked it up.
“Oh, poor you. I’m so sorry…” Woojin paused. Liyu’s breath hitched, suspense building up in him.
“I’m so sorry that I made you wait this long.” Woojin paused again, but this time, Liyu had more hope inside him.
“But I’ll give you a chance and you better not fuck it up.” Woojin finally finished his sentence.
Liyu hugged him tightly, as if someone could take him away from him at any second.
Then the black-haired boy dragged Woojin to the basketball courts to spend time together.
They played a few games together, before they lay down in the middle of the court, faces close together.
Liyu moved himself so that his face was right in front of Woojin’s.
“Can I kiss you, Woojin-ah?” Liyu asked the younger boy.
“You don’t even have to ask, baby.” Woojin replied.
The way Woojin called him ‘baby’ without any hesitation made his heart thump even more.
Liyu gently touched the back of Woojin’s head and slowly pushed it towards his face before enveloping his lips in a soft kiss.
Woojin pulled away first, face dusted with pink. The same shade of pink that crept up his cheeks when Sarah did something nice for him.
“That chance was definitely worth it,” Woojin laughed softly.
“So, Kang Woojin, will you be my boyfriend?” Liyu asked him.
“Yes, Chuei Liyu, I will.” Woojin replied, voice firm. “I love you, you big baby.”
Liyu pouted before giving Woojin a kiss on the cheek.
~~~
It was the next day of school. It felt normal, except Woojin and Liyu actually arrived at school together at the same time for once.
“Hm, Liyu-ge looks much happier…” Kaiwen noticed out of the blue.
“Yeah… WAIT WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DATING???” Anxin whisper-shouted to Kaiwen as he saw the two kiss.
“Anxin, can you shut up? And yes, we are.” Liyu actually shut the young boy up for once.
“Awh, you guys look so cute together,” Kaiwen started cooing at the couple as if he was older than them (which he was older than Woojin, but definitely younger than Liyu).
“You’re gonna make this shit spread like wildfire, guys.” Woojin scolded them as he blushed.
~~~
By lunch, Liyu’s instagram had gained many followers and he got lots of DM’s from girls who were deeply invested in school drama to ask him questions about their relationship.
Woojin’s had also received many DM’s about if he truly loved Liyu, or if it was just to move on from Sarah.
Everyone definitely knew - and it was all because of Anxin and Kaiwen.
But the couple didn’t really care.
As long as they were happy.