_HONEYCOMB LOVE. [jakehoon]

chapter twenty-three.

"That doesn't even go together, Jaehyuk."

"Yes, it does?! Now stop butting in and let me do it."

"You don't even know how to tie a tie, stop making the outfit worse by the second!"

Jaeyun exhaled tiredly, watching his two friends go back and forth about Jaehyuk's supposed Ball outfit. Jiwon had insisted that he take off the atrocious pale blue dress shirt, complaining how much it made him look like an office worker.

"What if I want to look like that?"

"Just shut up and change, I am not being seen with you in that outfit," the girl growled, handing the oldest a nice silk-black shirt she had found in Jaehyuk's mess of a closet.

The half-blood chuckled to himself, putting on his favourite necklace around his neck, and struggling a bit with the clasp. He had worn a regular black suit and styled his hair all nice with the help of Jiwon and her amazing curler skills. Jaeyun thought he looked good. He had never been too focused on his outer appearance, but ever since he and Sunghoon had gotten much closer, the half-blood found himself worrying if he looked good enough for the male.

And he wanted to feel pretty for himself as well, hence why he loved the way Yujin had even offered to paint his nails to help him get some of his confidence up. He couldn't wait to show his soulmate the outfit.

"Why can't you be like Jakey, he's at least matching, YOU just look like Adam Sandler with a tie on!"

All of them were slowly but surely finishing off their looks in Jaeyun's dorm room - Jiwon was pestering Jaehyuk about his outfits, Yujin was doing her makeup on the floor in front of the built-in mirror and Heeseung was trying his hardest to make his bowtie not crooked.

Jaeyun felt the same giddiness he did during the day as he observed his friends, feeling so incredibly content with his life. If he was being honest, the half-blood never expected to be so happy with his life. Of course, there is the constant baggage of his family troubles and self-esteem issues, but tonight, he feels like he can finally forget all of those problems and then some. He was a werewolf tonight, he was going to finally participate in the run and enjoy life for a little bit.

"Okay, stop shouting," Yujin shushed everyone, getting up from the floor and fixing her wrinkled suit, "Jaehyuk please put on some pants so we can finally get going, I want to get there before the soccer team devours the goddamn finger foods."

"Fine," the werewolf grabbed the pants out of Jiwon's hold and started shuffling them on, giving Jaeyun a bit of time to open his text messages, surprised to see one unread one already waiting for him.

From: vampie 🖤🦇

The Ball is so boring already, I don't know if I'm going to last three more hours.

I hope you're having a better time than me, I will see you in a bit! 🖤

The half-blood smiled down, typing a reply back as the group of friends slowly started to shuffle out of the room.

To: vampie 🖤🦇

we are finally heading to the ball~ i am sorry to hear you're having a bad time :,( but maybe it will get better!! :D

i can't wait to see you 🥺! i am going to text you after the run is over 🖤!!!

He locked his phone and walked towards Jaehyuk who had called his name, offering him a sheepish smile as the male locked up their dorm room, blushing when the older started teasing him about his boyfriend. Jaeyun wished they were boyfriends.

It was safe to say that Jaeyun's expectations of the ball were met. Everything looked so magical and more beautiful at night than it did in the day when the sun was still shining brightly. There was music blasting and a bunch of students had made a makeshift dance floor in the middle of the stadium, a bunch of tables with all sorts of food lining up the sides as well as a bunch of different little booths with activities to do over the night. It kind of reminded Jaeyun of one of those American Proms he has seen in movies, but this was much prettier and way more interesting.

He spent a good portion of the night with his friends just dancing and singing along to the music that was playing, laughing at Jaehyuk's failed attempts at winning against a bunch of other students at beer pong and enjoying the drama clubs' hosted game show. It was so fun that felt his gums start to hurt from how much he had been smiling.

It was nearing midnight, which means the run will begin anytime soon - there had already been students lining up by the edge of the woods to get the best spots for a head start. Jaeyun used this opportunity to check his phone to see if Sunghoon had sent anything important. He didn't see any messages so the brunette just assumed that his soulmate had found something to do, leaving him to pocket his phone once again and go to his friends who were worrying about which spot they should choose.