130108 CHAPTERED FIC: COLLIDE: TWENTY-THREE
Collide
Twenty-three | Woohyun/Sunggyu, Hoya(Howon)/Dongwoo, L(Myungsoo)/Sungyeol | Fluff > Crack | PG13 (for cussing and sexual references)
Summary: Typical high school fic in which Woohyun is no longer top dog, Myungsoo’s life becomes interesting, Howon finally feels something and Sungjong discovers his future.
(poster by chocolate_ai)
-[an: I noticed I was a four chapters ahead and not three like usual, so here’s another update lol]
‘Hello, hello,’ Woohyun cooed, playful grin gracing at his lips. ‘What brings you to detention?’
Howon sauntered into the classroom and took a seat, answering simply, ‘I covered for Myungsoo.’
It had been a while since Woohyun had seen Lee Howon in detention. The school was too goody-two-shoes and so Woohyun was the only one in detention on most occasions. The only reason Paran had the concept of detention was because of Woohyun. A teacher wasn’t even required because, well, they had other things to do and if Woohyun somehow snuck out of the locked classroom then so be it - The room was locked and it was a room on the fourth floor so Woohyun couldn’t sneak out… most of the time. (Keeping in mind Woohyun always pestered Sungyeol to bail him out and Sungyeol destroyed the word impossible.) Having Howon as an addition didn’t change the teachers’ perspective on detention and so the two boys were left alone in the classroom.
‘Really? What did that punk ass do?’ Woohyun chuckled, hopping up on one of the desks so he could face the younger student.
‘Tied two freshmen together,’ Howon said.
Woohyun’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘He what?’
‘Tied two freshman together with rope in the cafeteria.’
‘What?’ Woohyun spat, his jaw slacking. He then ran his fingers through his dishevelled hair before exclaiming, ‘Damn… I would’ve loved to see that.’
Howon would’ve snorted if he… Well, if he wasn’t Howon.
‘Speaking of the dickhead, how’d you know he was at that club?’ Woohyun was still wondering how Howon had found Myungsoo’s whereabouts that night. He came up with two theoretical conclusions: Howon was there (which was highly unlikely if you knew Howon) and Myungsoo told him (which is also highly unlikely because Myungsoo knew Howon would stop him).
Howon gave a vague answer, ‘I have my resources.’
Woohyun shrugged and didn’t ask about it further. There was a lull in their odd conversation until Woohyun opened his mouth. ‘You know, it must be hard for you to pick between them - Myungsoo and Sunggyu, I mean. You’re like brothers to both of them…’ he mentioned, ‘It must really suck to hurt one of them so you wouldn’t hurt the other.’
‘But you’re in a similar situation, aren’t you?’ Howon asked, crooking an eyebrow. ‘You have to pick between Sungyeol and Myungsoo.’
Woohyun clasped his hands together as he nodded. ‘I was, but I already picked.’
Howon frowned in confusion.
‘I picked Sungyeol, seriously.’ Woohyun digressed, ‘That Monday morning, I was riling up to pound the shit out of Myungsoo. I was going to be beat that motherfucker so hard - no one messes with West campus and gets away with it.’
Howon thought to himself, ‘So Woohyun was willing to hurt Myungsoo for Sungyeol?’
‘But Sungyeol held me back. He told me that if he still wanted to be my friend, I wouldn’t touch him.’
‘Sungyeol did? Of course… We established that he is infatuated too.’
Woohyun sucked in air through his clenched teeth, making a strange noise. He flicked his head and muttered, ‘And it was really hard to control myself… But then I realised Myungsoo’s in agony.’
Howon’s ears perked. ‘Agony?’
‘Yeah, he didn’t tell you?’ With a smirk, Woohyun clarified, leaning down to whisper to the younger student, ‘You didn’t hear it from me, but Myungsoo’s still trying to work out if he likes Sungyeol or not.’
Nodding, Howon questioned in curiosity, ‘Any idea how long it will take?’ He had to admit, he had underestimated Woohyun. He originally thought Woohyun was selfish and was, quite frankly, a pompous moron. But hearing how passionately Woohyun talked about protecting and avenging Sungyeol made Howon realise there was more to him. No wonder why Sunggyu found an interest in him, not that he would admit it.
Woohyun countered, narrowing his eyes a little, ‘How long did it take you?’
Howon’s body jolted at the indirect accusation. ‘Me?’ he spat in surprise.
His smirk growing, Woohyun explained, ‘You and Dongwoo.’
Howon’s face contort in misunderstanding, feeling wronged at Woohyun’s interrogation.
Woohyun laughed at Howon’s face. ‘I’m kidding. You are Dongwoo are different. Everyone has a different pace,’ he stated, ‘Myungsoo’s a hard one to predict because he hasn’t seriously liked anyone before, but then again he moves faster than Usain Bolt. It’s like the bedroom is his second home.’
After taking Woohyun’s answer into consideration, Howon nodded in approval and complimented, ‘You’re a lot more open-minded than I first depicted you.’
‘So are you,’ Woohyun said fondly.
-
Dongwoo was sitting in the cafeteria with Sunggyu, eating lunch. ‘Where’s Howon?’ he whined, pouting because Howon wasn’t replying to his texts.
‘Detention,’ Sunggyu said.
‘What?’
‘Detention,’ Sunggyu repeated indifferently.
‘Why?’
‘Because my stupid brother…’ Sunggyu closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, suppressing himself from spitting out every swear in the book. He said instead, although it was rather sarcastic and forced through gritted teeth, ‘Because my lovely little brother got himself into some trouble and Howon, being the protective friend he’s always been, decided to take the blame for him.’
Dongwoo gazed up to the ceiling dreamily, awestruck. ‘Howon is so noble,’ he sighed.
‘Howon is an idiot at times,’ Sunggyu retorted bluntly.
The mention of Myungsoo made Dongwoo think deeply about something. He tapped his chin with the tip of his finger, sipping on some cream soda through a straw. ‘Sunggyu, I’m curious about something,’ he began.
Sunggyu smiled a little and asked, ‘How could I help?’
‘Why hasn’t anyone killed Myungsoo yet?’
Sunggyu’s smiled immediately disappeared, being replaced with an eye-roll. ‘Sungyeol would rather not see Myungsoo get hurt for some absurd reason,’ he barked, somewhat frustrated at Sungyeol’s twisted mind.
-
Myungsoo was taking a stroll around the massive school, hands loosely in his pockets as he passed through the students. He eventually stopped by his locker to fetch his wallet so he could buy lunch. When he closed the metal door, he saw Yongguk standing beside him with his arms crossed.
‘What?’ Myungsoo scoffed, turning on his heel and beginning to walk away.
‘You’re lucky,’ Yongguk said.
Myungsoo held his hands out and spun on the spot. ‘I feel like I’ve bathed in a billion four-leaved clovers, my good man,’ he sang sarcastically before returning to his earlier state of being a normal person.
Yongguk caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder tightly. ‘You’re lucky Sungyeol still gives a shit about you,’ he grunted threateningly, ‘If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be standing.’
However, Myungsoo didn’t feel threatened at all. ‘Well, thank you, Lee Sungyeol,’ he clucked, not caring what the older student was getting at.
Making a disgusted face at him, Yongguk snapped, finding Myungsoo unbelievable, ‘You’re not going to take this seriously? At all?’
By then, Myungsoo was plainly annoyed rather than amused like he was at the start of their conversation. ‘Listen here, Guk. I have my own problems.’
‘No, you are the problem,’ Yongguk corrected cunningly. While shaking his head, he rolled up the sleeves of his blazer and shirt, stalking closer and closer to Myungsoo. ‘I don’t care if Sungyeol finds out. I’ll just say you spewed out some nasty shit about Sungjong.’
Even when Yongguk’s hand latched onto his collar, Myungsoo wasn’t even a tad scared at the look on Yongguk’s face. ‘I could spew out some nasty shit about Sungjong if you’d like me too; to make your lie more realistic, you know,’ he said casually, obviously just trying to piss the other off.
A new voice came and interrupted what would have been a bloody punch-on. ‘What’s going on?’ Sungjong spat, shocked at the scene in front of him - Yongguk grabbing Myungsoo’s collar, Myungsoo shooting the spine-chilling death glare, Yongguk’s fist ready to plummet into Myungsoo’s stomach. Such an innocent and normal sight, really… Well, if you went to West campus.
Myungsoo grinned upon seeing the younger boy and cooed brightly, ‘Hey Jong, we were just talking about how fat your ass is.’
Yongguk widened his eyes at him.
‘You’re welcome,’ Myungsoo whispered not-so-quietly.
-
After being dragged away by the ear, Yongguk was thrown onto the concrete and forced to sit down.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?!’ Sungjong hissed, tugging at his boyfriend’s hair.
With a symphony of pained noises, Yongguk groaned, ‘That punk deserves it!’
Sungjong immediately felt guilty and let him go, sitting down beside him as he huffed in exasperation. ‘I know he does, but… Sungyeol doesn’t,’ he sighed.
‘What the hell is wrong with your friends?!’
‘I know. They’re complicated and it’s annoying,’ Sungjong ranted, ‘Let’s not be complicated. Ever.’
‘Oh God, yes. Let’s especially never be like Woohyun and SBP.’
-
‘What are your intentions with Sunggyu?’ Howon asked after a moment or two of silence.
‘My intentions?’ Woohyun repeated thoughtfully. He pondered as to what Sunggyu got out of their friendship. Sunggyu always acted like he didn’t care for Woohyun’s existence, like Woohyun was just there and being annoying. But when Woohyun thought deeper, he remembered the times Sunggyu cried and the times Sunggyu would talk non-stop about his troubles. Woohyun remembered Sunggyu needed him to tell him he’d be okay - But why come to Woohyun particularly? Woohyun didn’t know. Nonetheless, it made Woohyun happy, as well as a little relieved, to know that he was helpful and he wasn’t just a parasite. After a while, he finally answered, ‘Helping him to… not breakdown, I guess?’
Howon questioned as soon as Woohyun answered, ‘Do you like him in a romantic way?’
‘No,’ Woohyun said as soon as the question mark left Howon’s lips.
‘Answering as fast as possible, glancing towards the side,’ Howon stated, ‘You lied.’
Woohyun was about to deny everything Howon was implying, but something caught his eyes. He saw a red line peeking out of Howon’s sleeve. As soon as he saw it, he knew what it was. He knew all too well what it was and he was sure there was more than one.
‘Howon, what’s that?’ he mumbled, leaning down and tugging up Howon’s sleeve. ‘Are those…?’
Howon froze at the contact and watched Woohyun’s face scrunch at the sight of his abused wrist.
‘They look new,’ Woohyun commented, sitting back up and watching as Howon tugged the sleeve back down and hid the red scars.
‘They are new,’ he said.
Woohyun scratched the back of his head and muttered, ‘Man, this isn’t healthy.’
‘I know.’
‘I guess we all have a dark side,’ Woohyun remarked, leaning back onto his palms, ‘Secrets.’
Howon crooked an eyebrow. ‘You have secrets?’
‘I don’t know about secrets… Dongwoo and Sungyeol made my secrets public,’ Woohyun scoffed, reminding himself of all those blurted crushes and broken pinky promises those two dickheads were account for. ‘But I have a dark side.’
‘Is it extreme?’
Woohyun nodded. ‘It can be.’
Howon didn’t know what that meant but left it at that, knowing that Woohyun wasn’t willing to tell Howon of his past, especially since they barely knew each other.
‘I used to cut too, back in freshman year,’ Woohyun said, explaining why he knew where Howon was coming from.
‘Why did you cut?’
‘It was the only thing stopping me from killing myself,’ he snorted, finding why he did it back then ridiculous now. He grew up and learnt to suck it up and carry on. ‘You?’
‘I don’t feel anything sometimes,’ Howon replied, hoping Woohyun would understand what he meant and preparing for when he didn’t.
Surprisingly, Woohyun knew very well of what Howon was describing. He’d been numb before, after all. ‘Well, from my experience, there are lots of things you could do to help you drop the habit,’ he stated.
‘Such as?’
‘For me, it was not caring anymore and doing everything I could possibly do, without caring about the consequences. So basically, I went clubbing, parties, made new friends, all that stuff. I had fun, I lived,’ Woohyun said honestly, since he didn’t exactly have anything to hide when it came to cutting. And in a way, he was doing this for Dongwoo. He hoped that himself opening it encouraged Howon to open up too, giving Dongwoo less to worry about. He advised, ‘For your case, I suggest an experience that makes you feel something - Anger, shock, suspense…’
Howon was looking at the desk, nodding as he listened to the older boy speak.
Woohyun leaned down again and added with a mischievous grin, ‘Love.’
Expectedly, Howon had no idea what to say at that. He’d never known much about love.
-
‘You’re boring me,’ Sunggyu whined, staring at the ceiling. He was lying flat on his bed and twirling his finger around the tail of his toy giraffe.
Woohyun yawned, rubbing his eyes, ‘Don’t you have anything you want to talk about?’
‘Not really.’
‘Let’s play a game then.’
‘What game?’
‘The truth game?’ Woohyun suggested unsurely, not sure of what game would be appropriate to play over the phone. He assumed Sunggyu was too lazy to open up his laptop or anything like that, so a talking game was in order.
Sunggyu agreed to the idea, ‘Sure. You ask first.’
‘Who’s cuter, Dongwoo, Sungyeol or me?’ Woohyun asked almost immediately. He had been bottling that question in for a while. It was obvious that he was bothered by how often Sunggyu mentioned Dongwoo or Sungyeol’s adorableness. Woohyun thought he was meant to be the adorable one out of the three. Even Dongwoo’s mum said so.
‘You started with a hard question…’ Sunggyu grumbled, making Woohyun frown. It wasn’t meant to be a hard question. Sunggyu’s answer was somewhat expected, but clearly not wanted: ‘Sungyeol, I presume.’
Woohyun shot an angry face at his phone, loving the fact that Sunggyu couldn’t see him or he would’ve been hanging upside down from Sunggyu’s balcony.
Sunggyu questioned, since it was Woohyun’s turn to answer, ‘Three biggest fears?’
‘The sissy answer or the serious answer?’ Woohyun chuckled, having had already finished thinking about the question. It was easy to pick out fears, in his opinion. Things he liked, things he lived for, was the hard part to put into words.
Sunggyu laughed fondly, ‘What’s the sissy answer?’
‘Heights, ghosts and newborn babies,’ Woohyun revealed all of a sudden, making Sunggyu laugh more.
With a flick of his head, Sunggyu queried in fascination, ‘Why newborn babies?’
‘You never know if the mother popped out a little Satan,’ Woohyun replied seriously, making Sunggyu want to hang up on him.
‘You’re absolutely ridiculous,’ he barked. But what did he expect? It was the immature, ex student body president, after all. ‘What’s the serious answer?’
Woohyun pondered on whether he should tell the other boy or not. It was personal and they very rarely talked about Woohyun. They mainly only talked about Sunggyu and their friends. Woohyun didn’t really mention much about himself because he didn’t feel a need to. After several seconds of contemplating, Woohyun thought Sunggyu wouldn’t look at him differently if he gave a vague answer. ‘My past, losing everyone I love, and being forgotten,’ he said.
The answer almost made Sunggyu want to applaud. ‘I didn’t expect something nearly so deep from you,’ the older student commented in admiration.
Woohyun joked, ‘I’m a romantic. Everything about me is deep.’
Sunggyu couldn’t help but flip the bird at the phone screen, not caring that Woohyun couldn’t see it.
‘Your turn,’ Woohyun exclaimed. He then recalled earlier that day - talking to Howon, specifically. With a serious tone, Woohyun questioned, ‘Why do you come to me and not anyone else?’
Sunggyu was a little surprised, not expecting a question like that. Well, why did he come to Woohyun when he had troubles? Why did he come to Woohyun when he wanted to talk to someone? It was a bit of a mystery to Sunggyu too, why he chose Woohyun over Howon or Sungjong or Dongwoo or Sungyeol. Why it had to be Woohyun - Sunggyu could only come up with one answer: ‘You’re the only one who listens and makes an effort to understand.’
After hearing the answer, Woohyun silenced. The answer was rather unclear but in a way, Woohyun understood what he meant. When Sunggyu talked to him, Woohyun never questioned his troubles. He didn’t ask him why and how and what if. He just did his best to understand what Sunggyu was going through without asking questions and Woohyun figured that’s what Sunggyu was always looking for, since he kept coming back to him.
Feeling the awkward atmosphere, Sunggyu excused himself, ‘I have to go and make dinner.’
Hearing the word dinner made Woohyun groan in exasperation because it was quarter-past ten. ‘SBP, what have I told you about eating dinner so late? You could -‘
Sunggyu hung up because he put up with enough of Woohyun’s bullshit for one day.
-
It was Tuesday so Sungyeol dreadfully had psychology second period - Dreadfully because Kim Myungsoo just happened to be in his class and he thought Myungsoo would have gotten a new toy to play with by now. However, when he asked some of the guys sitting beside him (who were more or less the gossips of the school), they stated that Myungsoo had not capture anyone yet. Sungyeol had to admit he was a little relieved at that fact and he hated that he was relieved. He hated that he still liked the bastard.
In all honesty, class passed by without conflict and without awkwardness. Sungyeol sat in the second row and Myungsoo sat in the back. They didn’t bump into each other, they didn’t get grouped up together, they didn’t even look each other all class.
Sungyeol thought he was safe, until the bell sang and he stood in front of the door with the other students, waiting for Myungsoo and his friends to pass through the door first. Myungsoo was last of his group to leave, but he stopped after he spotted Sungyeol. Sungyeol flinched as their eyes met.
‘After you,’ Myungsoo insisted, gesturing to the doorway.
Sungyeol blinked a few times before he stepped through, muttering a quiet thanks as he brushed shoulders with the younger student.
It was the fifth time that this had happened and it made Sungyeol want to bang his head on the lockers in confusion.
-
Second period was chemistry for Dongwoo, Howon and Woohyun.
Dongwoo carefully picked up an unlabelled beaker of clear liquid and turned to Howon beside him, asking, ‘What’s this?’
‘Hydrochloric acid,’ Howon answered after inspecting the liquid. How he knew it was acid and not water confused everybody. Even their chemistry teacher.
Dongwoo clicked his fingers with his free hand and exclaimed in revelation, ‘Ah! It’s the one found in the stomach, right?’
‘Yes,’ Howon said, providing a small smile. He was glad Dongwoo was actually improving in chemistry.
Woohyun was on the other side of the bench, not really paying attention to anything except for the way Dongwoo and Howon smiled at each other as they carried on with the experiment. ‘Well, aren’t you two cute together?’ he cooed teasingly.
Dongwoo blushed and spat, ‘Shut up, Nam.’
They completed the experiment effortlessly, their hypotheses 100% correct. (Woohyun’s was only correct because he sneakily copied off Howon’s, word-for-word too. The teacher didn’t really care though. She had lost her willingness to care after Dongwoo toyed with her mental health.) Dongwoo and Woohyun sat at the desks and started talking about Howon. After overhearing them, Howon became a little anxious about what Woohyun was going to tell Dongwoo. Woohyun wouldn’t tell Dongwoo about Howon’s little secret, would he?
‘Howon’s smart!’
‘Howon should teach you then, like a private tutor,’ Woohyun taunted, suggestively smiling.
Dongwoo punched his arm and mumbled, ‘He already tells me everything. I can’t remember everything though.’
Woohyun then looked up at Howon who was standing behind Dongwoo, questioning, ‘Are you sure he tells you everything?’
Dongwoo tilted his head.
After Dongwoo nagged him about packing up, Woohyun got off his inexistent ass and took the used beakers to the sink to wash. Howon stealthily followed him and whispered, ‘You’re not going to tell him about my…?’
Woohyun raised his eyebrows, instantly knowing what the younger student was inferring. ‘Of course not! I have a heart too, you know,’ he laughed, bumping shoulders with him.
Howon nodded and quirked the corner of his lip in appreciation.
-
After class was recess. Dongwoo instantly latched onto Howon’s arm and ran down the hall, singing loudly, ‘Howonie!’
Howon didn’t struggle to keep up with him and weakly mentioned something about not running in the hallway because it caused accidents. Of course Dongwoo ignored him and continued running while dragging the other along.
Halfway through the main hall, while they slowed down their pace and settled for speedy walking, Dongwoo’s hand slipped down from Howon’s elbow to his wrist. The pain and irritation immediately made Howon retract his hand a little, making Dongwoo frowned. The older boy then stopped and looked at Howon with a hard stare. Because of the suspicion, Dongwoo pulled up the younger’s sleeve an inch and almost collapsed at what he saw. Howon pulled his hand away and held it behind his back, looking guiltily at the floor.
Dongwoo shouted, already feeling teary at the discovery, ‘Howon, you promised me!’
Howon was shaking his head, muttering, ‘I’m sorry.’ Before Dongwoo could say anything else, Howon hugged him without thinking.
He kissed him. He felt Dongwoo’s lips on his own and he felt the older boy relax in his arms as he hugged him tighter around the waist.
Howon pulled away after a few seconds, whispering against Dongwoo’s sticky lips, ‘It won’t happen again, I promise.’
Dongwoo jumped up a little to wrap his arms around Howon’s neck, smiling into his hair. ‘It’s okay,’ he murmured, ‘Just tell me if you want to do it again, okay?’
Howon nodded.
‘I’ll help you stop this.’
‘I know you will.’
It was only then that they noticed that everyone was staring. Everyone around them just witnessed Lee Howon hug and then kiss someone. It didn’t make sense to them, how Dongwoo got Howon to open up like that, when the only thing they received when they talked to him was a blunt reply and a blank expression. Jang Dongwoo must’ve really been something.
Neither of the boys cared about the staring or the attention they were getting or the rumours that were sure to spread. It didn’t matter to either of them. The only reason they separated was because Dongwoo let go with an awkward laugh. And the only reason Dongwoo let go was because he noticed that Sunggyu had witnessed the scene too and that was hella awkward.
-
‘And you’re not dating?’
Sunggyu came to Howon’s locker with a smirk at the start of lunch time.
‘No, we’re not,’ Howon said sternly, since Sunggyu asked him the question at least once every other day.
Sunggyu always found it fun to play with Howon a little, so he questioned mockingly ‘Oh, so you’re already past that stage?’
Howon crinkled his eyebrows together.
‘In love? Seeing a future together?’
‘Why are you pestering me about this?’ Howon asked, merely ignoring Sunggyu’s grilling.
‘Because you give me shit about Woohyun and we’re not even fond of each other,’ Sunggyu scoffed. ‘You and Dongwoo, however, seem very cosy.’
The two began walking to the cafeteria to buy lunch. Howon knew of Sunggyu’s horrible memory when it came to his mealtimes, so he constantly reminded Sunggyu to eat when he got the chance. According to a text from Dongwoo, him, Woohyun and Sungyeol were already at a table and waiting for them.
Howon smiled at the screen of his phone - Dongwoo had changed his contact name from Dongwoo to DongwooisbetterthanSungyeol.
‘So what if we are?’ Howon questioned suddenly.
Sunggyu had almost forgotten what they had talked about earlier and asked, ‘Are what?’
‘Are in love.’
Sunggyu stiffened. Did Lee Howon just say that he was in love? That’d never happened before… After a few moments of Sunggyu deciding if he was in a dream or not - he decided on the latter - Sunggyu queried rather carefully, as someone might’ve heard them talking about such abnormal things (Well, it was abnormal for Lee Howon and Kim Sunggyu), ‘Does Dongwoo know about this?’
‘No, but I can tell he has an inkling,’ Howon responded with a casually tone, making Sunggyu doubt his seriousness about this. He then realised it was Howon and there wasn’t a time when he wasn’t serious. So Howon really loved Dongwoo. Hah.
‘You two are moving pretty fast, knowing you,’ Sunggyu mentioned.
‘So are you and Woohyun, knowing you usually don’t move at all,’ Howon countered without fail.
‘Enough about me and Woohyun!’ Sunggyu snarled, beginning to walk towards the staircase. ‘You and Dongwoo need to sort out what your status is.’
‘Why?’
‘So he doesn’t get sick of you,’ Sunggyu snorted. ‘He’s been in relationships before. He might think you’re moving too slow for him.’
Howon grimaced a little to himself at Sunggyu’s advice.
‘Just my input - I would be bored of waiting if I were Dongwoo,’ Sunggyu emphasised, making sure Howon didn’t blame him if his upcoming relationship failed.
When they sat at the table, Dongwoo promptly grabbed onto Howon’s arm and lead him to sit beside him. Sungyeol made the barf motion until Dongwoo hit his head. Howon didn’t speak of anything Sunggyu and him had talked about just minutes ago. He didn’t dare. It was awkward and random. And plus, he would only talk about it when he and Dongwoo were alone.
-
The next day, right after fifth period, Dongwoo walked Sungyeol to his last class. His last class just happened to be literature with Myungsoo, which wasn’t as bad as you would think it would be, knowing that Myungsoo played him like a game of Uno.
While the two were talking, Sungyeol’s attention was suddenly in the distance. Myungsoo and his friend were walking down the hall, towards class and Sungyeol started staring at Myungsoo approaching. The staring was a little obvious, so when Myungsoo looked up from the floor and met eyes with Sungyeol, he smiled a gentle smile before directing his sight back to his friend.
Dongwoo saw the whole thing.
‘Do you like Myungsoo?’ he hissed under his breath.
Sungyeol spluttered at the sudden accusation, ‘Do I what?’
‘You like him, don’t you!’ Dongwoo whispered.
It was hard to hide anything in this goddamn school, Sungyeol presumed. He gave up and wailed, ‘Why does everyone have to know?’
‘You can’t like him!’
‘Do you think I can help it?!’ Sungyeol snapped, shoving Dongwoo in distaste.
Dongwoo started pointing at his fingers, ‘Delete his number off your contact list, move out of his classes!’
‘Are you insane?!’
‘You’re right…’ Dongwoo sighed, deeply contemplating.
Sungyeol widened his eyes in confusion. ‘So you are insane?’
‘No, I mean you’re right about taking it easy!’
‘When did I tell you to take it easy, you tuna tin can brain?’
‘But you implied it!’ Dongwoo groaned, hitting Sungyeol’s head again. ‘Anyway, shut up and let me talk.’
Dongwoo then pressed a sweaty palm over Sungyeol’s mouth to prevent him from talking.
‘He might like you back. It’s possible,’ he preached.
He forced Sungyeol to nod his head, making the other wriggle in his strong hold. Dongwoo could be a machine when he wanted to.
‘You have to be optimistic about this, Yeol! You guys could live happily ever after and forget that he messed with your feelings for weeks before having sex with you and disposing you like Woohyun’s old gym socks.’
But Sungyeol wasn’t saying anything.
‘It could happen, you can be happy!’ he cheered.
Sungyeol stopped struggling and just let Dongwoo have his moment.
Dongwoo then let him go, skipping away and shouting while leaving, ‘Now go to class, learn lots!’
‘YOU DONKEY’S BROKEN ELBOW! I HATE YOU, JANG DONGWOO!’
-
‘You know… It’s weird these days,’ Sungyeol sighed, snuggling closer into Woohyun’s embrace.
The school week had ended and Sungyeol ended up sleeping over at Woohyun’s house Saturday night. It was cold and they were stupid and didn’t bother to turn the heater on, so they hugged each other to keep warm instead.
‘What’s weird?’ Woohyun asked, still sleepy. It was noon but they had just woken up. Eating so much sugar late at night was a horrible, horrible idea.
‘With Myungsoo…’ Sungyeol trailed off dreamily. ‘He’s being very nice to me.’
With that, Woohyun was fully awake and sat right up. ‘What did he say?’ he barked, suddenly feeling the urge to punch Myungsoo - well, anyone - in the nose.
‘No, I mean,’ Sungyeol stammered. Woohyun calmed down and collapsed back into the mattress, wrapping an arm around Sungyeol’s waist. Sungyeol clarified so Woohyun wouldn’t flare up at a misunderstanding, ‘When I see him, he always opens the door for me. He lets me out or in of the room first. When we catch each other’s eyes, he smiles at me.’
Woohyun nodded in thought.
‘I’m so confused… Does he like me not?’
Frankly, no one knew and it was fucking annoying.
‘Kim, you confusing dickface.’ Woohyun huffed, ‘I don’t know either.’
-
That night, Woohyun was driving Sunggyu home from work through the drizzling rain. The conversation they had two nights ago was never talked about, but Woohyun still remembered every word. It was comforting to know Sunggyu kind of needed his existence.
‘I have a question,’ Woohyun said.
‘Proceed.’
‘Does your brother like Sungyeol?’
‘And how on Earth am I supposed to know?’
‘You’re his brother.’
Sunggyu undid the seatbelt and scoffed, ‘Don’t remind me.’ He then grabbed Woohyun’s jacket from the backseat and slipped it on. Neither of them nagged each other about it anymore. Woohyun didn’t have to say anything and Sunggyu would put on the jacket without complain.
‘Relationships are difficult,’ Woohyun commented, turning into Sunggyu’s court.
Sunggyu asked amusedly, ‘You see why I tend to stray away from them?’
When the car pulled up into the driveway, Woohyun licked his lips and stated, ‘Relationships are worth it though, if you give them a chance.’
Sunggyu’s eyelids fluttered a little, before he quietly thanked Woohyun for the ride home and got out of the car. Woohyun didn’t leave until Sunggyu closed the front door to make sure he made it safely inside.
-
AN\ I KNOW RIGHT? IT FINALLY HAPPENED! HOWON KNOWS HE’S IN LOVE :D (Plus a Woohyun/Howon heart-to-heart because I actually love those two’s interactions) And Myungsoo’s character is so laidback, it worries me a little LOL.
This chapter is all about ~emotions~ Gross, really…
Prologue One Two Three Four Five Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen (NSFW) Twenty Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-four
Twenty-three | Woohyun/Sunggyu, Hoya(Howon)/Dongwoo, L(Myungsoo)/Sungyeol | Fluff > Crack | PG13 (for cussing and sexual references)
Summary: Typical high school fic in which Woohyun is no longer top dog, Myungsoo’s life becomes interesting, Howon finally feels something and Sungjong discovers his future.
(poster by chocolate_ai)
-[an: I noticed I was a four chapters ahead and not three like usual, so here’s another update lol]
‘Hello, hello,’ Woohyun cooed, playful grin gracing at his lips. ‘What brings you to detention?’
Howon sauntered into the classroom and took a seat, answering simply, ‘I covered for Myungsoo.’
It had been a while since Woohyun had seen Lee Howon in detention. The school was too goody-two-shoes and so Woohyun was the only one in detention on most occasions. The only reason Paran had the concept of detention was because of Woohyun. A teacher wasn’t even required because, well, they had other things to do and if Woohyun somehow snuck out of the locked classroom then so be it - The room was locked and it was a room on the fourth floor so Woohyun couldn’t sneak out… most of the time. (Keeping in mind Woohyun always pestered Sungyeol to bail him out and Sungyeol destroyed the word impossible.) Having Howon as an addition didn’t change the teachers’ perspective on detention and so the two boys were left alone in the classroom.
‘Really? What did that punk ass do?’ Woohyun chuckled, hopping up on one of the desks so he could face the younger student.
‘Tied two freshmen together,’ Howon said.
Woohyun’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘He what?’
‘Tied two freshman together with rope in the cafeteria.’
‘What?’ Woohyun spat, his jaw slacking. He then ran his fingers through his dishevelled hair before exclaiming, ‘Damn… I would’ve loved to see that.’
Howon would’ve snorted if he… Well, if he wasn’t Howon.
‘Speaking of the dickhead, how’d you know he was at that club?’ Woohyun was still wondering how Howon had found Myungsoo’s whereabouts that night. He came up with two theoretical conclusions: Howon was there (which was highly unlikely if you knew Howon) and Myungsoo told him (which is also highly unlikely because Myungsoo knew Howon would stop him).
Howon gave a vague answer, ‘I have my resources.’
Woohyun shrugged and didn’t ask about it further. There was a lull in their odd conversation until Woohyun opened his mouth. ‘You know, it must be hard for you to pick between them - Myungsoo and Sunggyu, I mean. You’re like brothers to both of them…’ he mentioned, ‘It must really suck to hurt one of them so you wouldn’t hurt the other.’
‘But you’re in a similar situation, aren’t you?’ Howon asked, crooking an eyebrow. ‘You have to pick between Sungyeol and Myungsoo.’
Woohyun clasped his hands together as he nodded. ‘I was, but I already picked.’
Howon frowned in confusion.
‘I picked Sungyeol, seriously.’ Woohyun digressed, ‘That Monday morning, I was riling up to pound the shit out of Myungsoo. I was going to be beat that motherfucker so hard - no one messes with West campus and gets away with it.’
Howon thought to himself, ‘So Woohyun was willing to hurt Myungsoo for Sungyeol?’
‘But Sungyeol held me back. He told me that if he still wanted to be my friend, I wouldn’t touch him.’
‘Sungyeol did? Of course… We established that he is infatuated too.’
Woohyun sucked in air through his clenched teeth, making a strange noise. He flicked his head and muttered, ‘And it was really hard to control myself… But then I realised Myungsoo’s in agony.’
Howon’s ears perked. ‘Agony?’
‘Yeah, he didn’t tell you?’ With a smirk, Woohyun clarified, leaning down to whisper to the younger student, ‘You didn’t hear it from me, but Myungsoo’s still trying to work out if he likes Sungyeol or not.’
Nodding, Howon questioned in curiosity, ‘Any idea how long it will take?’ He had to admit, he had underestimated Woohyun. He originally thought Woohyun was selfish and was, quite frankly, a pompous moron. But hearing how passionately Woohyun talked about protecting and avenging Sungyeol made Howon realise there was more to him. No wonder why Sunggyu found an interest in him, not that he would admit it.
Woohyun countered, narrowing his eyes a little, ‘How long did it take you?’
Howon’s body jolted at the indirect accusation. ‘Me?’ he spat in surprise.
His smirk growing, Woohyun explained, ‘You and Dongwoo.’
Howon’s face contort in misunderstanding, feeling wronged at Woohyun’s interrogation.
Woohyun laughed at Howon’s face. ‘I’m kidding. You are Dongwoo are different. Everyone has a different pace,’ he stated, ‘Myungsoo’s a hard one to predict because he hasn’t seriously liked anyone before, but then again he moves faster than Usain Bolt. It’s like the bedroom is his second home.’
After taking Woohyun’s answer into consideration, Howon nodded in approval and complimented, ‘You’re a lot more open-minded than I first depicted you.’
‘So are you,’ Woohyun said fondly.
-
Dongwoo was sitting in the cafeteria with Sunggyu, eating lunch. ‘Where’s Howon?’ he whined, pouting because Howon wasn’t replying to his texts.
‘Detention,’ Sunggyu said.
‘What?’
‘Detention,’ Sunggyu repeated indifferently.
‘Why?’
‘Because my stupid brother…’ Sunggyu closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, suppressing himself from spitting out every swear in the book. He said instead, although it was rather sarcastic and forced through gritted teeth, ‘Because my lovely little brother got himself into some trouble and Howon, being the protective friend he’s always been, decided to take the blame for him.’
Dongwoo gazed up to the ceiling dreamily, awestruck. ‘Howon is so noble,’ he sighed.
‘Howon is an idiot at times,’ Sunggyu retorted bluntly.
The mention of Myungsoo made Dongwoo think deeply about something. He tapped his chin with the tip of his finger, sipping on some cream soda through a straw. ‘Sunggyu, I’m curious about something,’ he began.
Sunggyu smiled a little and asked, ‘How could I help?’
‘Why hasn’t anyone killed Myungsoo yet?’
Sunggyu’s smiled immediately disappeared, being replaced with an eye-roll. ‘Sungyeol would rather not see Myungsoo get hurt for some absurd reason,’ he barked, somewhat frustrated at Sungyeol’s twisted mind.
-
Myungsoo was taking a stroll around the massive school, hands loosely in his pockets as he passed through the students. He eventually stopped by his locker to fetch his wallet so he could buy lunch. When he closed the metal door, he saw Yongguk standing beside him with his arms crossed.
‘What?’ Myungsoo scoffed, turning on his heel and beginning to walk away.
‘You’re lucky,’ Yongguk said.
Myungsoo held his hands out and spun on the spot. ‘I feel like I’ve bathed in a billion four-leaved clovers, my good man,’ he sang sarcastically before returning to his earlier state of being a normal person.
Yongguk caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder tightly. ‘You’re lucky Sungyeol still gives a shit about you,’ he grunted threateningly, ‘If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be standing.’
However, Myungsoo didn’t feel threatened at all. ‘Well, thank you, Lee Sungyeol,’ he clucked, not caring what the older student was getting at.
Making a disgusted face at him, Yongguk snapped, finding Myungsoo unbelievable, ‘You’re not going to take this seriously? At all?’
By then, Myungsoo was plainly annoyed rather than amused like he was at the start of their conversation. ‘Listen here, Guk. I have my own problems.’
‘No, you are the problem,’ Yongguk corrected cunningly. While shaking his head, he rolled up the sleeves of his blazer and shirt, stalking closer and closer to Myungsoo. ‘I don’t care if Sungyeol finds out. I’ll just say you spewed out some nasty shit about Sungjong.’
Even when Yongguk’s hand latched onto his collar, Myungsoo wasn’t even a tad scared at the look on Yongguk’s face. ‘I could spew out some nasty shit about Sungjong if you’d like me too; to make your lie more realistic, you know,’ he said casually, obviously just trying to piss the other off.
A new voice came and interrupted what would have been a bloody punch-on. ‘What’s going on?’ Sungjong spat, shocked at the scene in front of him - Yongguk grabbing Myungsoo’s collar, Myungsoo shooting the spine-chilling death glare, Yongguk’s fist ready to plummet into Myungsoo’s stomach. Such an innocent and normal sight, really… Well, if you went to West campus.
Myungsoo grinned upon seeing the younger boy and cooed brightly, ‘Hey Jong, we were just talking about how fat your ass is.’
Yongguk widened his eyes at him.
‘You’re welcome,’ Myungsoo whispered not-so-quietly.
-
After being dragged away by the ear, Yongguk was thrown onto the concrete and forced to sit down.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?!’ Sungjong hissed, tugging at his boyfriend’s hair.
With a symphony of pained noises, Yongguk groaned, ‘That punk deserves it!’
Sungjong immediately felt guilty and let him go, sitting down beside him as he huffed in exasperation. ‘I know he does, but… Sungyeol doesn’t,’ he sighed.
‘What the hell is wrong with your friends?!’
‘I know. They’re complicated and it’s annoying,’ Sungjong ranted, ‘Let’s not be complicated. Ever.’
‘Oh God, yes. Let’s especially never be like Woohyun and SBP.’
-
‘What are your intentions with Sunggyu?’ Howon asked after a moment or two of silence.
‘My intentions?’ Woohyun repeated thoughtfully. He pondered as to what Sunggyu got out of their friendship. Sunggyu always acted like he didn’t care for Woohyun’s existence, like Woohyun was just there and being annoying. But when Woohyun thought deeper, he remembered the times Sunggyu cried and the times Sunggyu would talk non-stop about his troubles. Woohyun remembered Sunggyu needed him to tell him he’d be okay - But why come to Woohyun particularly? Woohyun didn’t know. Nonetheless, it made Woohyun happy, as well as a little relieved, to know that he was helpful and he wasn’t just a parasite. After a while, he finally answered, ‘Helping him to… not breakdown, I guess?’
Howon questioned as soon as Woohyun answered, ‘Do you like him in a romantic way?’
‘No,’ Woohyun said as soon as the question mark left Howon’s lips.
‘Answering as fast as possible, glancing towards the side,’ Howon stated, ‘You lied.’
Woohyun was about to deny everything Howon was implying, but something caught his eyes. He saw a red line peeking out of Howon’s sleeve. As soon as he saw it, he knew what it was. He knew all too well what it was and he was sure there was more than one.
‘Howon, what’s that?’ he mumbled, leaning down and tugging up Howon’s sleeve. ‘Are those…?’
Howon froze at the contact and watched Woohyun’s face scrunch at the sight of his abused wrist.
‘They look new,’ Woohyun commented, sitting back up and watching as Howon tugged the sleeve back down and hid the red scars.
‘They are new,’ he said.
Woohyun scratched the back of his head and muttered, ‘Man, this isn’t healthy.’
‘I know.’
‘I guess we all have a dark side,’ Woohyun remarked, leaning back onto his palms, ‘Secrets.’
Howon crooked an eyebrow. ‘You have secrets?’
‘I don’t know about secrets… Dongwoo and Sungyeol made my secrets public,’ Woohyun scoffed, reminding himself of all those blurted crushes and broken pinky promises those two dickheads were account for. ‘But I have a dark side.’
‘Is it extreme?’
Woohyun nodded. ‘It can be.’
Howon didn’t know what that meant but left it at that, knowing that Woohyun wasn’t willing to tell Howon of his past, especially since they barely knew each other.
‘I used to cut too, back in freshman year,’ Woohyun said, explaining why he knew where Howon was coming from.
‘Why did you cut?’
‘It was the only thing stopping me from killing myself,’ he snorted, finding why he did it back then ridiculous now. He grew up and learnt to suck it up and carry on. ‘You?’
‘I don’t feel anything sometimes,’ Howon replied, hoping Woohyun would understand what he meant and preparing for when he didn’t.
Surprisingly, Woohyun knew very well of what Howon was describing. He’d been numb before, after all. ‘Well, from my experience, there are lots of things you could do to help you drop the habit,’ he stated.
‘Such as?’
‘For me, it was not caring anymore and doing everything I could possibly do, without caring about the consequences. So basically, I went clubbing, parties, made new friends, all that stuff. I had fun, I lived,’ Woohyun said honestly, since he didn’t exactly have anything to hide when it came to cutting. And in a way, he was doing this for Dongwoo. He hoped that himself opening it encouraged Howon to open up too, giving Dongwoo less to worry about. He advised, ‘For your case, I suggest an experience that makes you feel something - Anger, shock, suspense…’
Howon was looking at the desk, nodding as he listened to the older boy speak.
Woohyun leaned down again and added with a mischievous grin, ‘Love.’
Expectedly, Howon had no idea what to say at that. He’d never known much about love.
-
‘You’re boring me,’ Sunggyu whined, staring at the ceiling. He was lying flat on his bed and twirling his finger around the tail of his toy giraffe.
Woohyun yawned, rubbing his eyes, ‘Don’t you have anything you want to talk about?’
‘Not really.’
‘Let’s play a game then.’
‘What game?’
‘The truth game?’ Woohyun suggested unsurely, not sure of what game would be appropriate to play over the phone. He assumed Sunggyu was too lazy to open up his laptop or anything like that, so a talking game was in order.
Sunggyu agreed to the idea, ‘Sure. You ask first.’
‘Who’s cuter, Dongwoo, Sungyeol or me?’ Woohyun asked almost immediately. He had been bottling that question in for a while. It was obvious that he was bothered by how often Sunggyu mentioned Dongwoo or Sungyeol’s adorableness. Woohyun thought he was meant to be the adorable one out of the three. Even Dongwoo’s mum said so.
‘You started with a hard question…’ Sunggyu grumbled, making Woohyun frown. It wasn’t meant to be a hard question. Sunggyu’s answer was somewhat expected, but clearly not wanted: ‘Sungyeol, I presume.’
Woohyun shot an angry face at his phone, loving the fact that Sunggyu couldn’t see him or he would’ve been hanging upside down from Sunggyu’s balcony.
Sunggyu questioned, since it was Woohyun’s turn to answer, ‘Three biggest fears?’
‘The sissy answer or the serious answer?’ Woohyun chuckled, having had already finished thinking about the question. It was easy to pick out fears, in his opinion. Things he liked, things he lived for, was the hard part to put into words.
Sunggyu laughed fondly, ‘What’s the sissy answer?’
‘Heights, ghosts and newborn babies,’ Woohyun revealed all of a sudden, making Sunggyu laugh more.
With a flick of his head, Sunggyu queried in fascination, ‘Why newborn babies?’
‘You never know if the mother popped out a little Satan,’ Woohyun replied seriously, making Sunggyu want to hang up on him.
‘You’re absolutely ridiculous,’ he barked. But what did he expect? It was the immature, ex student body president, after all. ‘What’s the serious answer?’
Woohyun pondered on whether he should tell the other boy or not. It was personal and they very rarely talked about Woohyun. They mainly only talked about Sunggyu and their friends. Woohyun didn’t really mention much about himself because he didn’t feel a need to. After several seconds of contemplating, Woohyun thought Sunggyu wouldn’t look at him differently if he gave a vague answer. ‘My past, losing everyone I love, and being forgotten,’ he said.
The answer almost made Sunggyu want to applaud. ‘I didn’t expect something nearly so deep from you,’ the older student commented in admiration.
Woohyun joked, ‘I’m a romantic. Everything about me is deep.’
Sunggyu couldn’t help but flip the bird at the phone screen, not caring that Woohyun couldn’t see it.
‘Your turn,’ Woohyun exclaimed. He then recalled earlier that day - talking to Howon, specifically. With a serious tone, Woohyun questioned, ‘Why do you come to me and not anyone else?’
Sunggyu was a little surprised, not expecting a question like that. Well, why did he come to Woohyun when he had troubles? Why did he come to Woohyun when he wanted to talk to someone? It was a bit of a mystery to Sunggyu too, why he chose Woohyun over Howon or Sungjong or Dongwoo or Sungyeol. Why it had to be Woohyun - Sunggyu could only come up with one answer: ‘You’re the only one who listens and makes an effort to understand.’
After hearing the answer, Woohyun silenced. The answer was rather unclear but in a way, Woohyun understood what he meant. When Sunggyu talked to him, Woohyun never questioned his troubles. He didn’t ask him why and how and what if. He just did his best to understand what Sunggyu was going through without asking questions and Woohyun figured that’s what Sunggyu was always looking for, since he kept coming back to him.
Feeling the awkward atmosphere, Sunggyu excused himself, ‘I have to go and make dinner.’
Hearing the word dinner made Woohyun groan in exasperation because it was quarter-past ten. ‘SBP, what have I told you about eating dinner so late? You could -‘
Sunggyu hung up because he put up with enough of Woohyun’s bullshit for one day.
-
It was Tuesday so Sungyeol dreadfully had psychology second period - Dreadfully because Kim Myungsoo just happened to be in his class and he thought Myungsoo would have gotten a new toy to play with by now. However, when he asked some of the guys sitting beside him (who were more or less the gossips of the school), they stated that Myungsoo had not capture anyone yet. Sungyeol had to admit he was a little relieved at that fact and he hated that he was relieved. He hated that he still liked the bastard.
In all honesty, class passed by without conflict and without awkwardness. Sungyeol sat in the second row and Myungsoo sat in the back. They didn’t bump into each other, they didn’t get grouped up together, they didn’t even look each other all class.
Sungyeol thought he was safe, until the bell sang and he stood in front of the door with the other students, waiting for Myungsoo and his friends to pass through the door first. Myungsoo was last of his group to leave, but he stopped after he spotted Sungyeol. Sungyeol flinched as their eyes met.
‘After you,’ Myungsoo insisted, gesturing to the doorway.
Sungyeol blinked a few times before he stepped through, muttering a quiet thanks as he brushed shoulders with the younger student.
It was the fifth time that this had happened and it made Sungyeol want to bang his head on the lockers in confusion.
-
Second period was chemistry for Dongwoo, Howon and Woohyun.
Dongwoo carefully picked up an unlabelled beaker of clear liquid and turned to Howon beside him, asking, ‘What’s this?’
‘Hydrochloric acid,’ Howon answered after inspecting the liquid. How he knew it was acid and not water confused everybody. Even their chemistry teacher.
Dongwoo clicked his fingers with his free hand and exclaimed in revelation, ‘Ah! It’s the one found in the stomach, right?’
‘Yes,’ Howon said, providing a small smile. He was glad Dongwoo was actually improving in chemistry.
Woohyun was on the other side of the bench, not really paying attention to anything except for the way Dongwoo and Howon smiled at each other as they carried on with the experiment. ‘Well, aren’t you two cute together?’ he cooed teasingly.
Dongwoo blushed and spat, ‘Shut up, Nam.’
They completed the experiment effortlessly, their hypotheses 100% correct. (Woohyun’s was only correct because he sneakily copied off Howon’s, word-for-word too. The teacher didn’t really care though. She had lost her willingness to care after Dongwoo toyed with her mental health.) Dongwoo and Woohyun sat at the desks and started talking about Howon. After overhearing them, Howon became a little anxious about what Woohyun was going to tell Dongwoo. Woohyun wouldn’t tell Dongwoo about Howon’s little secret, would he?
‘Howon’s smart!’
‘Howon should teach you then, like a private tutor,’ Woohyun taunted, suggestively smiling.
Dongwoo punched his arm and mumbled, ‘He already tells me everything. I can’t remember everything though.’
Woohyun then looked up at Howon who was standing behind Dongwoo, questioning, ‘Are you sure he tells you everything?’
Dongwoo tilted his head.
After Dongwoo nagged him about packing up, Woohyun got off his inexistent ass and took the used beakers to the sink to wash. Howon stealthily followed him and whispered, ‘You’re not going to tell him about my…?’
Woohyun raised his eyebrows, instantly knowing what the younger student was inferring. ‘Of course not! I have a heart too, you know,’ he laughed, bumping shoulders with him.
Howon nodded and quirked the corner of his lip in appreciation.
-
After class was recess. Dongwoo instantly latched onto Howon’s arm and ran down the hall, singing loudly, ‘Howonie!’
Howon didn’t struggle to keep up with him and weakly mentioned something about not running in the hallway because it caused accidents. Of course Dongwoo ignored him and continued running while dragging the other along.
Halfway through the main hall, while they slowed down their pace and settled for speedy walking, Dongwoo’s hand slipped down from Howon’s elbow to his wrist. The pain and irritation immediately made Howon retract his hand a little, making Dongwoo frowned. The older boy then stopped and looked at Howon with a hard stare. Because of the suspicion, Dongwoo pulled up the younger’s sleeve an inch and almost collapsed at what he saw. Howon pulled his hand away and held it behind his back, looking guiltily at the floor.
Dongwoo shouted, already feeling teary at the discovery, ‘Howon, you promised me!’
Howon was shaking his head, muttering, ‘I’m sorry.’ Before Dongwoo could say anything else, Howon hugged him without thinking.
He kissed him. He felt Dongwoo’s lips on his own and he felt the older boy relax in his arms as he hugged him tighter around the waist.
Howon pulled away after a few seconds, whispering against Dongwoo’s sticky lips, ‘It won’t happen again, I promise.’
Dongwoo jumped up a little to wrap his arms around Howon’s neck, smiling into his hair. ‘It’s okay,’ he murmured, ‘Just tell me if you want to do it again, okay?’
Howon nodded.
‘I’ll help you stop this.’
‘I know you will.’
It was only then that they noticed that everyone was staring. Everyone around them just witnessed Lee Howon hug and then kiss someone. It didn’t make sense to them, how Dongwoo got Howon to open up like that, when the only thing they received when they talked to him was a blunt reply and a blank expression. Jang Dongwoo must’ve really been something.
Neither of the boys cared about the staring or the attention they were getting or the rumours that were sure to spread. It didn’t matter to either of them. The only reason they separated was because Dongwoo let go with an awkward laugh. And the only reason Dongwoo let go was because he noticed that Sunggyu had witnessed the scene too and that was hella awkward.
-
‘And you’re not dating?’
Sunggyu came to Howon’s locker with a smirk at the start of lunch time.
‘No, we’re not,’ Howon said sternly, since Sunggyu asked him the question at least once every other day.
Sunggyu always found it fun to play with Howon a little, so he questioned mockingly ‘Oh, so you’re already past that stage?’
Howon crinkled his eyebrows together.
‘In love? Seeing a future together?’
‘Why are you pestering me about this?’ Howon asked, merely ignoring Sunggyu’s grilling.
‘Because you give me shit about Woohyun and we’re not even fond of each other,’ Sunggyu scoffed. ‘You and Dongwoo, however, seem very cosy.’
The two began walking to the cafeteria to buy lunch. Howon knew of Sunggyu’s horrible memory when it came to his mealtimes, so he constantly reminded Sunggyu to eat when he got the chance. According to a text from Dongwoo, him, Woohyun and Sungyeol were already at a table and waiting for them.
Howon smiled at the screen of his phone - Dongwoo had changed his contact name from Dongwoo to DongwooisbetterthanSungyeol.
‘So what if we are?’ Howon questioned suddenly.
Sunggyu had almost forgotten what they had talked about earlier and asked, ‘Are what?’
‘Are in love.’
Sunggyu stiffened. Did Lee Howon just say that he was in love? That’d never happened before… After a few moments of Sunggyu deciding if he was in a dream or not - he decided on the latter - Sunggyu queried rather carefully, as someone might’ve heard them talking about such abnormal things (Well, it was abnormal for Lee Howon and Kim Sunggyu), ‘Does Dongwoo know about this?’
‘No, but I can tell he has an inkling,’ Howon responded with a casually tone, making Sunggyu doubt his seriousness about this. He then realised it was Howon and there wasn’t a time when he wasn’t serious. So Howon really loved Dongwoo. Hah.
‘You two are moving pretty fast, knowing you,’ Sunggyu mentioned.
‘So are you and Woohyun, knowing you usually don’t move at all,’ Howon countered without fail.
‘Enough about me and Woohyun!’ Sunggyu snarled, beginning to walk towards the staircase. ‘You and Dongwoo need to sort out what your status is.’
‘Why?’
‘So he doesn’t get sick of you,’ Sunggyu snorted. ‘He’s been in relationships before. He might think you’re moving too slow for him.’
Howon grimaced a little to himself at Sunggyu’s advice.
‘Just my input - I would be bored of waiting if I were Dongwoo,’ Sunggyu emphasised, making sure Howon didn’t blame him if his upcoming relationship failed.
When they sat at the table, Dongwoo promptly grabbed onto Howon’s arm and lead him to sit beside him. Sungyeol made the barf motion until Dongwoo hit his head. Howon didn’t speak of anything Sunggyu and him had talked about just minutes ago. He didn’t dare. It was awkward and random. And plus, he would only talk about it when he and Dongwoo were alone.
-
The next day, right after fifth period, Dongwoo walked Sungyeol to his last class. His last class just happened to be literature with Myungsoo, which wasn’t as bad as you would think it would be, knowing that Myungsoo played him like a game of Uno.
While the two were talking, Sungyeol’s attention was suddenly in the distance. Myungsoo and his friend were walking down the hall, towards class and Sungyeol started staring at Myungsoo approaching. The staring was a little obvious, so when Myungsoo looked up from the floor and met eyes with Sungyeol, he smiled a gentle smile before directing his sight back to his friend.
Dongwoo saw the whole thing.
‘Do you like Myungsoo?’ he hissed under his breath.
Sungyeol spluttered at the sudden accusation, ‘Do I what?’
‘You like him, don’t you!’ Dongwoo whispered.
It was hard to hide anything in this goddamn school, Sungyeol presumed. He gave up and wailed, ‘Why does everyone have to know?’
‘You can’t like him!’
‘Do you think I can help it?!’ Sungyeol snapped, shoving Dongwoo in distaste.
Dongwoo started pointing at his fingers, ‘Delete his number off your contact list, move out of his classes!’
‘Are you insane?!’
‘You’re right…’ Dongwoo sighed, deeply contemplating.
Sungyeol widened his eyes in confusion. ‘So you are insane?’
‘No, I mean you’re right about taking it easy!’
‘When did I tell you to take it easy, you tuna tin can brain?’
‘But you implied it!’ Dongwoo groaned, hitting Sungyeol’s head again. ‘Anyway, shut up and let me talk.’
Dongwoo then pressed a sweaty palm over Sungyeol’s mouth to prevent him from talking.
‘He might like you back. It’s possible,’ he preached.
He forced Sungyeol to nod his head, making the other wriggle in his strong hold. Dongwoo could be a machine when he wanted to.
‘You have to be optimistic about this, Yeol! You guys could live happily ever after and forget that he messed with your feelings for weeks before having sex with you and disposing you like Woohyun’s old gym socks.’
But Sungyeol wasn’t saying anything.
‘It could happen, you can be happy!’ he cheered.
Sungyeol stopped struggling and just let Dongwoo have his moment.
Dongwoo then let him go, skipping away and shouting while leaving, ‘Now go to class, learn lots!’
‘YOU DONKEY’S BROKEN ELBOW! I HATE YOU, JANG DONGWOO!’
-
‘You know… It’s weird these days,’ Sungyeol sighed, snuggling closer into Woohyun’s embrace.
The school week had ended and Sungyeol ended up sleeping over at Woohyun’s house Saturday night. It was cold and they were stupid and didn’t bother to turn the heater on, so they hugged each other to keep warm instead.
‘What’s weird?’ Woohyun asked, still sleepy. It was noon but they had just woken up. Eating so much sugar late at night was a horrible, horrible idea.
‘With Myungsoo…’ Sungyeol trailed off dreamily. ‘He’s being very nice to me.’
With that, Woohyun was fully awake and sat right up. ‘What did he say?’ he barked, suddenly feeling the urge to punch Myungsoo - well, anyone - in the nose.
‘No, I mean,’ Sungyeol stammered. Woohyun calmed down and collapsed back into the mattress, wrapping an arm around Sungyeol’s waist. Sungyeol clarified so Woohyun wouldn’t flare up at a misunderstanding, ‘When I see him, he always opens the door for me. He lets me out or in of the room first. When we catch each other’s eyes, he smiles at me.’
Woohyun nodded in thought.
‘I’m so confused… Does he like me not?’
Frankly, no one knew and it was fucking annoying.
‘Kim, you confusing dickface.’ Woohyun huffed, ‘I don’t know either.’
-
That night, Woohyun was driving Sunggyu home from work through the drizzling rain. The conversation they had two nights ago was never talked about, but Woohyun still remembered every word. It was comforting to know Sunggyu kind of needed his existence.
‘I have a question,’ Woohyun said.
‘Proceed.’
‘Does your brother like Sungyeol?’
‘And how on Earth am I supposed to know?’
‘You’re his brother.’
Sunggyu undid the seatbelt and scoffed, ‘Don’t remind me.’ He then grabbed Woohyun’s jacket from the backseat and slipped it on. Neither of them nagged each other about it anymore. Woohyun didn’t have to say anything and Sunggyu would put on the jacket without complain.
‘Relationships are difficult,’ Woohyun commented, turning into Sunggyu’s court.
Sunggyu asked amusedly, ‘You see why I tend to stray away from them?’
When the car pulled up into the driveway, Woohyun licked his lips and stated, ‘Relationships are worth it though, if you give them a chance.’
Sunggyu’s eyelids fluttered a little, before he quietly thanked Woohyun for the ride home and got out of the car. Woohyun didn’t leave until Sunggyu closed the front door to make sure he made it safely inside.
-
AN\ I KNOW RIGHT? IT FINALLY HAPPENED! HOWON KNOWS HE’S IN LOVE :D (Plus a Woohyun/Howon heart-to-heart because I actually love those two’s interactions) And Myungsoo’s character is so laidback, it worries me a little LOL.
This chapter is all about ~emotions~ Gross, really…
Prologue One Two Three Four Five Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen (NSFW) Twenty Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-four