shotaro has kept a small box of mints in his backpack. one day, the box runs out of mints, and he thought this would be a great opportunity to express his love for his longtime crush, park wonbin.
"i mean it's not hurting anyone, and this is pretty boring anyway." the canadian hummed, calling theo over to watch him play.
"oh, so you think this whole museum is just built to have people play goddamn retro bowl the entire time?" sungchan asked, his tone getting higher, signaling that his anger was rising.
"guys can you two just not argue?" xiaojun offered an awkward smile, but it didn't help in the slightest.
"what's wrong with it? why the hell are you getting so angry?" theo questioned, glaring a hole through sungchan, who returned it.
"you're not apart of this conversation, theo." sungchan hissed, and shotaro could sense that he was getting a bit too heated up.
"hey, chan, calm down a little." he softly spoke, lowering his hands as a symbol of taking a breath out.
"i'm fine, shotaro." his best friend stared at him with that same glare which made him flinch. he opened his mouth.
"just please don't get into trou—"
"everyone get into their advisories!" the projecting voice of the dean cut through their tension. shotaro turned to the dean, then back at sungchan. he extended his arm out to shake his hand, something they had been doing forever.
sungchan shook his head, rejecting shotaro's handshake. the older boy felt his heart sink. "oh, okay. i'm..." he dragged on back to his advisory group, arms held close to his chest. "sorry."
ricky noticed the visibly disappointed look on his face. "hey shotaro, you okay?"
the said boy nodded appreciatively. "i'm fine. thanks though, ricky." the chinese boy smiled, skipping over to kevin.
—
shotaro didn't talk much on the bus ride. anton would initiate maybe a conversation or two, but he stopped trying once he processed how uninterested shotaro seemed.
"i'm sorry, man, everything's crazy right now and i just...i don't know." the japanese boy scratched his head, hoping that anton would understand. "again, i'm sorry."
"don't worry, i get it." anton gave a comforting smile. "take all the time you need."
shotaro propped his chin up on his fist, gazing out the window and admiring the cherry blossom trees of washington dc. he reached for his phone, but stopped himself, remembering that sungchan needed his space.
shotaro: remember when changbin liked you tho
wonbin: don't get me started on him I can't tell who's worse Seunghan or him and it's hard to tie with Seunghan
shotaro: and they had a fistfight too 😭
wonbin: LMAO WHAT over what?
shotaro: idk probably something like who was the strongest man
wonbin: oh welp that's- that definitely seems like something they'd fight over "Hi guys and grill"-beomhan
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shotaro:
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shotaro was surprised to see a text notification from sungchan.
sungchan: hey taro i'm so sorry for getting all annoyed at the museum i'm not feeling the best rn i apologized to keeho i think we're all cool now
shotaro: alright, good to hear and i'm sorry that you aren't feeling great
