Our World | SeongJoong

9

All Yunho could do was stand and stare at Jongho while Hongjoong started laughing out of pure shock.

"I thought I hid it well," he said after his laughter died down.

"You did. You do! It's just that I knew you weren't autistic—call it a gut feeling, I guess—so I just kinda...connected the dots."

"Even Wooyoung and Yeosang didn't know until I told them, and Yeosang's a hardcore fan." Hongjoong muttered, his lips quirking up in a small smile. "Well congratulations, I guess! You are officially the fourth person to know about DIDyouknow and the fifth person to know about my DID. Yay!"

Yunho let out a cheer that sounded like a balloon that was quickly deflating, still amazed at Jongho's detective skills.

"I honestly can't believe you watch his channel," he weakly managed.

Jongho laughed. "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret. I swear on everything I love!"

"Does that include Yeosang?" Hongjoong quipped, letting out a light chuckle at the sight of Jongho's face flushing red.

"It's nothing like that," the younger boy muttered.

"Listen, Yeosang can be really stubborn, especially once he's developed an opinion about someone. But because he likes you, all you need to do is spend some time with him one-on-one and get him to see that you're not who he thinks he is," The brunette gave him a warm smile, patting him on the back.

"Also, take him to the arcade and win him a stuffed animal, then treat him to a meal. It's the quickest way to his heart." Yunho added, walking over to ruffle Jongho's hair.

"I don't know, guys. I feel like he really doesn't like me." Jongho sighed, burying his face in his hands. He really did like Yeosang. The way his eyes would turn into little crescent moons when he smiled had him falling head over heels, and the sound of his laugh was enough to give him a mini heart-attack. When Yeosang so much as even looked in his direction, Jongho's stomach erupted with butterflies. "I'm so down bad," he whined.

A brief moment of silence fell over the room as Yunho and Hongjoong exchanged a knowing look that said, time to play Cupid.

"Where did all this come from, huh?" Hongjoong asked softly, a little taken aback because he'd never seen Jongho—strong, silent, stoic Jongho—be in such a state over anything, much less anyone, before. It was refreshing and a little cute in the way one would find a clumsy puppy cute.

Good for him. Yeosang likes puppies, doesn't he?

"Pax?" Hongjoong mumbled. "I didn't know you were here."

Someone said my name so I was summoned.

"Oh, that's Pax?" Jongho perked up when he heard the name. "Tell him I said 'hi'!"

Hi, Jongho. Joong, tell him what I said about Yeosang.

"He says 'hi' back, and he told me to tell you that Yeosang likes puppies."

The younger boy was confused. "What do puppies have to do with anything?"

Hongjoong looked up and noticed Yunho, who seemed to be deep in thought before his eyes lit up, a smooth smile gracing his features. I have a plan, he mouthed, and Hongjoong gave him an imperceptible nod back before replying to Jongho. "I'm not entirely sure. I guess he just thought you should know."

***

Can you please introduce the project? Hongjoong typed for what felt like the nth time in the last week, frustration slowly building. They were sitting together in the library, working on their paper explaining the different elements in the song and choreography. Once their papers were done and turned in, the music department would advertise a concert where the completed projects would be performed for most of the university to see. However, the students were expected to introduce their project before the performance, which was where they were running into trouble. Hongjoong had been trying to get Seonghwa to introduce the project for him because of his selective mutism, but the older boy kept turning him down for what felt like no reason other than to simply see him suffer.