C L O S E R || hwang hyunjin

𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤

"Take your seats!" Chan shuffled the things at his desk. We all ran back to our seats. I noticed Felix and Minho whispering to each other. I scrunched my nose.
"Okay, so today are the sign up for the school clubs. Be sure to check them out and be more social." Chan laughed at us.
"Mate, who tells us to be more social?" Felix shrugged.
"We all need to build our social interactions, to improve, don't we?" Chan smirked back.
"Yeah, right." Felix chuckled sarcastically and with that, we moved onto the lesson. 
This class was really the only class I remember or care about. 
"Is it because Chan is such a good teacher or...is it my classmates?" I looked around the class and as my eyes followed to the back of the class my eyes fixated on Hyunjin, looking down at his notes. 
"Or...?" I shook my head to keep attention to the class. 
"I would like to get to know him better..but why do I want to be his friend so bad?" I shrugged to myself. After class, we all gathered around Chan's desk. 
He handed each of us a paper. "Here are your club approval papers by everyone's favorite teacher, yours truly," Chan smirk up as he handed me the paper. I made a quick smile.
Someone came up beside me. It was Changbin. I quickly turned toward him.
"Are you planning on joining a club?" 
I scratched my head. "I am not sure.. I would just like to be in a club with you all." I shrugged to the boys talking. I looked around and noticed all the girls had already left.
"With the boys?" Minho looked up as he realized what I said.
"Yeah... I mean you guys are cool." I felt slightly embarrassed. I looked down and scratched my head. I glanced up and noticed Hyunjin hiding behind Changbin. He had a slight smile on his face as he was looking at his paper.
"Uh..Is there a problem?" I raised my eyebrow.
"No no." Felix laughed. "Don't get so snappy." 
They started to walk out and I followed them.
"Am I being a bother to them?" I thought as I looked down at my trailing feet.
I noticed someone walking beside me.
"Well, if you join I can join too, I guess." I looked up to see Hyunjin, scratching his head with a slight smile. We trailed behind the group.
"Uh...well, I hope it's okay for me to join the group with you guys. I don't want to be a bother..haha." I chuckled to myself.
"You're not!-" Hyunjin suddenly said but stopped himself saying anymore. We both looked up to see that Minho had led us to a room. 
"Since there's so many of us, how about we start a club?" Minho made a small shrug.
"True...but, what will our club be about exactly?" Changbin laughed and looked back at Hyunjin and me. 
"Has to be about something we ALL like." Felix scuffed and I felt him give me a slight glare. 
"How about we head to the cafeteria while thinking about it? I'm hungry." Minho said as he wrapped his arm around Felix's shoulder.
"You're always hungry, man." Changbin laughed. As we started following them again. I looked over at Hyunjin and laughed. 
"I mean, If it was a game or anime club I'm all in." I laughed.
Hyunjin's eyes widened. "Y-yeah, but sadly we are the only ones that like that." Hyunjin laughed.
"Right." I quickly made a laugh as we made our way to the cafeteria. 

We all gathered around an empty table with food. "Ah, this is good." Minho started eating.
I looked around and the rest of the cafeteria was empty. 
"Are we really allowed to just come here and eat food like this?" I made a small laugh. Minho looked up at me. "Yeah. My mom is one of the cooks here, so her food is basically mine." Minho looked so happy as he ate.
"So, free food for all of us?" Felix playfully nudged his arm. 
"Yeah, basically." Minho raised his eyebrows. 
"niceeeee." Changbin started eating too. As they talked, I looked over at Hyunjin who was next to me. He was looking down at his plate and picking at his food.
"Are you not hungry?" I muttered to him. 
His head quickly turned to mine then back at his plate. 
He didn't say anything. 
"You didn't have to get anything if you weren't hungry." I scratched my head. 
"It's not that.." Hyunjin looked a bit shy. I looked up and saw the boys talking to each other. I was confused but I didn't want to force anything upon Hyunjin. 
I ate a bit of my food but my eyes kept wanting to go back to Hyunjin.
"I wonder why he isn't...? he seems a bit more down than usual." I thought to myself.
"So, About the club." Changbin got my attention. "What can we create the club to be? I mean, I am sure it'll be easier just to join an existing club." 
"Yeahhhhh, but, that would have other members in it. I feel like it would be more comfortable for it to be just us." Minho looked around the table.
"That is true." Felix agreed.
Minho looked up at me. "what? got any ideas?"
"Well..." I scratched my head. "We can make it a gaming club...do you all like gaming?"
"You like gaming?" Felix's eyes widened. 
"Yeah." I laughed. "Why do they seem so surprised?" I laughed to myself.
"I would like to join a club and find an excuse to play games at school." Changbin had a smile on his face. They all nodded.
"Good suggestion. Guess we can go with that." Minho laughed. 
"Can't believe you suggested that." Felix laughed. 
"What? so what? I like games.." I crossed my arms. I heard a slight chuckle come from Hyunjin. I looked over at him. He had a grin on his face.
"Is it because I am a girl? I don't see how that makes a difference."
"No, it's not because of that. It's because you are usually anti-social and quiet, we are just surprised you're so open so suddenly." Felix laughed as he took a bite of his food.
"Oh.." I realized what he said. He was right. "Why am I suddenly so open? I am never this open.." I thought.
"We should all head to the registration room so we can start and create our club." Minho stood up while clearing his tray. "Right." We all agreed.
We all stood up. Changbin ran beside me. "Good suggestion." He smiled quickly at me. "Thanks. I didn't know you guys liked games like me, though." I scratched my nose.
"Could say the same to you." Changbin laughed. "It's just so crazy how we were all in the same class and still don't know a lot about each other." he stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, that's true..this is a great chance to get to know each other more, then!" I made a quick smile, as I said that my thoughts ran back to Hyunjin. I looked back in the corner of my eye to see him walking beside me. What I really wanted was to get to know him better.
We all gathered in the registration room with a bunch of teachers.
We handed our papers to the teacher. 
"So, you all want to start a club?" They looked up at us. 
"Yeah." We all nodded.
"You do have enough members to join...and approval from a teacher, so, I say it will be good. But, there are no free club rooms at the moment." She gave us a disappointed face.
"None at all?!" Minho's eyes widened. 
The teacher nodded.
"Geez," Felix muttered in disappointment. We all looked away. I felt disappointed because I was actually looking forward to hanging out with them. I shrugged and looked up at Hyunjin.
"That's disappointing, ah." I made a small laugh. He made a quick smile. "Yeah.." He scratched his head. "I was looking forward to it, too." Hyunjin shrugged.
"There's none? none whatsoever?" Minho looked down at the teacher.
She typed on her computer. 
"Not unless you want to clean out an old sports closet." She laughed.
"Wait..really? we'll do it!" Minho sounded really determined. 
"Hold on.." Felix made a big sigh.
"Will you?" The teacher looked up at us.
I looked around at them. We all nodded, though, Felix looked a little hesitant. 
"Alright. I will give you the key, but, you must have it cleaned out by next Monday, then I will provide some funds for tables and things like that." They nodded to us. Minho quickly grabbed the key and turned back towards us.
"We just have to go through the fields and we will get there."
We all followed Minho.
"Not sure this is a good idea, but, I will go along with it," I whispered to Hyunjin, who was still beside me.
"He always walks beside me...why is that?" I thought.
"I am excited, though." He said with a quick smile.
"Yeah." I nodded back. 
We went outside and crossed the school fields.
"It's getting a bit late, how about we start cleaning tomorrow?" Changbin shrugged.
"Alright. Let's take a look, though." Minho led us to the small, tiny building. He shuffled with the keys and opened us the creaking stone-gray door. They all walked in one by one, but the line stopped. I tried to peek in the door. 
"It's so full and so musty." Felix started to cough. They turned on a small light. 
"If they don't use these anymore, why didn't they throw out all this stuff a long time ago?" Minho complained.
"Well, you are the one who agreed to it," Felix muttered.
"We all agreed and we are still going to do it." They all came back out. 
"We will just start first thing after class tomorrow, alright?" Minho looked at all of us. 
"Sure."
"We all better do equal work. I don't want to do all the work for you." Felix nudged Minho's shoulder as we started to walk back.
Changbin ran up beside me. "Want to walk home together?" He suddenly said.
"Uh..sure. Just us?" I shrugged. I was surprised by that because no one really asked me that.
I looked back at Hyunjin quickly.
"I have to go..my mom is here." Hyunjin made a quick wave and quickly left us towards the parking lot.
I was disappointed for some reason. But, I shrugged it off.
"Sure, let's go." I nudged forward. Minho and Felix ended up leaving on their own. 
It was just Me and Changbin walking down the sidewalk.
"Sorry for being awkward like this, no one really has asked to walk me home before." I scratched my head with a slight laughed. 
He looked at me with a slight chuckle.
"Nah, it's no problem. I just thought I could, I think you're pretty interesting." Changbin scratched his nose.
"I am interesting? I just thought I was awkward." I looked down at my feet.
"Haha. Yeah. I feel like there is a lot to know about you. If that makes...sense?" Changbin kicked his feet. I made a slight smile.
"He's making an effort to get to know me...? this is a first.." I made a quick smile.
But, my thought went back to Hyunjin and seeing him leave. I shook my head. I had a deep feeling in my chest. "Why did I want him to come along? I want to know what he was trying to say earlier.." I started to get deep in thought.
"What's up?" Changbin broke my trance.
I looked up at him quickly. "It's nothing." I laughed nervously.
I had a strange fascination with people. I wanted to interact and get to know their feelings better even when I don't even understand my own.
"So, what is your favorite game?" Changbin asked quickly.
"Oh, my favorite is Overwatch." I laughed.
"Really? I play that. We should play together sometime." He stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Sure." I made a quick nod.
"Thank you for walking me home. It was nice."
"Sure. Just lemme know and I am always up for it." Changbin seemed very laid back, but I looked up to him.
"There's more to him, too."  Both him and Hyunjin had feelings deep inside them, I had a strange feeling. "I want to grow closer to them..for the first time.." I thought as I walked inside my house. 

The next day came. I thought about what was going to happen throughout the whole day. 
"Why am I so excited to hang out with them...?"I thought to myself.
It was weird to me because I had always kept to myself, I never made an effort before.
After all the classes we all met up in the courtyard. I shuffled with my backpack as I looked around the field. 
I quickly noticed Minho and Changbin sitting on a concrete wall. I paced up to them. Minho looked up from his phone. "You're here~ great." 
Minho looked around. "Did Hyunjin not come with you?" 
"No?" I shrugged. 
"He usually follows behind you so I figured he would."
"Well...I guess. I haven't actually talked to him yet today." As I said that I looked down in realization.."Why haven't I seen him much today?.." I had an odd feeling.
Feeling of wanting to talk to him. "I don't usually want to talk to people but him...I am so curious.." I thought that someone appeared right behind me.
"Wassup, mate?" 
I looked back quickly to see Felix peeping right behind me.
I jumped back. "Geez man, you scared me." 
"Ahha, you're talking like us now, I see." Felix took a step back.
"I always talk this way." I glared at him. He just continued to laugh. He looked around at all of us.
"Where is Hyunjin?" 
"Not sure." Changbin shrugged. Felix looked at me. 
"Am I supposed to know?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Well, you seem to know him the best, so..." Felix looked away while scratching his head.
"Yeah, I do..but." I looked down at my feet.
"There he is!" Minho pointed behind me. I quickly looked back to see Hyunjin talking to another girl from our class; Rylee.
"Oh, he's actually talking to a girl." Minho laughed.
"Yeah." Felix scoffed. 
For some reason, I felt uncomfortable but I shrugged it off and looked away. "Why do I feel this odd feeling in my chest when I see him talking with her?..." I shook my head.
"I don't even know him, so I shouldn't pay much attention to it." I decided not to dwell on it any longer. I turned back around: "Hyunjin! over here!" I shouted as I waved my hand. Hyunjin's eyes started going around the whole field. He noticed me and nodded his head. 
He quickly said bye to Rylee and ran up to all of us.
"We have been waiting for you." Changbin lightly nudged his shoulder.
"Sorry..I thought you were going to do it without me." Hyunjin said with a shy smile on his face.
I glared at him. "Why would you think that? You're a part of the club too." I clenched my fist and made a quick smile at him.
He looked at me and made a quick, soft smile.
"Thanks..I guess I didn't think you thought much of me." He said quietly so I was the only one that heard him. 
"Of course. You are my friend, so of course, I would think of you." As I said that I noticed that it sounded a bit weird. I quickly looked at him to see him looking at the boys with a smile.
"Did he hear me?" I gulped.
"Now, let's head off! it's gonna take a long time so let's get to work." Minho raised his fist.
We started following him to the shed.
He swung the door open and a pile of smoke blew out. We all started to cough. I rubbed my eyes. "Geez, this place sure is full." 
"Yeah, that's why we must start now." Minho took a big sigh.
He started passing us boxes and things to put outside. We quickly started to transfer the things in the shed into the other side of the field. I took a hold of a box and started carrying it across the field. I struggled to keep it in my arms.
"Geez, what's in this box?" I complained to myself. I felt slight muscle pain in my neck. I saw someone quickly run beside me with a box in their arms. "Hey! is that too heavy?" It was Changbin.
"No." I laughed. "I got this." I made a confident nod. 
"You are sure independent." Changbin laughed as we reached the end of the field and placed the boxes down up against a brick wall.
I looked back, across the wide field to see Minho and Felix still piling things out of the shed.
"Geez, how much is in this shed?" I laughed and took a big breath.
"I know right? My body can't handle this." Changbin joked around.
"Shouldn't there be an easier way to do this?" I shrugged as I noticed Hyunjin walking towards us from another direction.
He handed us water bottles.
"I was wondering where you went." Changbin laughed. Hyunjin seemed happy by that comment. Hyunjin stood in between Changbin and me. 
"Yeah, thought we could use a break or two." Hyunjin ruffled his hair.
It seemed we were all pretty exhausted after bringing so much over.
"Minho and Felix are still at work though." I laughed.
"Yeah, they'll get a break soon, probably." Hyunjin made a quick laugh.
I noticed he was being more open.
After we finished drinking water we went back to finish moving all the boxes, totes, and old supplies.
It took forever, but we finally finished. I took a big sigh and we all dusted off our hands.
We all looked at each other.
The sky was dark, and we were all exhausted.
"How about we worry about the rest tomorrow and go get some meat?" Felix took a deep breath.
"I agree." Minho made a laugh in exhaustion. We were all tired, hungry, so we all agreed.
We went to a restaurant close by and gathered around a table.
"Your parents won't mind you being out this late, right?" Changbin looked up at me.
"Nah, I was at school all day so I am sure they won't care.." I made a nervous smile. As we started to eat grilled meat. Hyunjin and I sat by each other, just listening to the other stories and jokes. I made a small laugh. 
"I am always entertained with them." I made a quick smile at Hyunjin. He made a quick nod at me. I looked down and noticed he was barely eating anything.
"Are you gonna eat that?" I stuck a piece of veggie in my mouth.
"Yeah." He made a quick nod.
"You must be hungry, don't be afraid to eat." I nudged his shoulder.
"It's the same as last time..I hope he's eating enough.." I thought to myself as I finished my food. 
He made a small nod. "Okay." He said softly as he looked down at his food.
"He is so shy..but, something about him really interests me.." I thought as I watched him eat a tiny bit.
After that time we spent together I felt we all got closer as friends.
The next day came. It seemed like the days were passing faster each day. But, they no longer felt the same every single day.
I shuffled with my things as I walked down the hallway. I peeped up to see the girls gathered together, laughing. 
I saw Grace take a glimpse at me. "I haven't talked to her in a few days...I haven't talked to any girls in a few days.." I laughed to myself as I walked by.
But, I enjoyed it. Not feeling burdened to be me around the boys.
I looked around to see Changbin packing things in his locker. I quickly ran up to him. 
"Wassup?" I shrugged.
He quickly looked at me. "Oh, hey." He fixed himself. 
"Do you know where the others are? Just after the latest class, I was hoping to meet up with you guys to talk about further details.." I scratched my head.
"Well, Minho told me they will be putting the furniture in the room today."
"Wait.. really?" My eyes widened. "This quickly...? Didn't we need to sweep and stuff still?"
"Apparently someone did it and it's like all free of cobwebs and everything now." Changbin closed his locker. I looked down. "Who could've done it.."
"It wasn't you?" 
"No." I made a small laugh. We were both confused. 
"I think we are all going to meet after school if that's cool?" Changbin and I started walking to the next class. "Sounds good." I agreed.
After classes were over I couldn't wait any longer to head to the club room. I paced there by myself. I gulped and knocked on the door, softly. 
"Who is it?!" I thought I heard Minho shout. I quickly opened the door to see the room was really neat. There was a large couch, seats, a table, and some other small knick-knacks.
"Woah...this place got an upgrade real fast.." I was still amazed I barely noticed Minho and Felix playing games on their phones while sitting on the couch. I looked over to see Hyunjin on his phone as well. 
"Yeah, I was surprised too. But, we are here now and it's great." Minho shrugged. I laughed. Someone walked in behind me. It was Changbin. He looked around. "Wow, this place is not too shabby.." 
I walked over to the seats and decided to sit next to Hyunjin and get my phone out of my bag. "So, we can bring some games and decorations now?" Changbin started to think as he browsed. 
"Yeah, just be willing to get it lost just in case." Felix looked up with a slight smile.
"Ah, right right." Changbin laughed.
"We should totally get some snacks and drinks in here too!" I got the idea.
Minho looked at me. "That's a good idea...but, how can we get a fridge?" He laughed.
"True..do we know anyone with a mini-fridge? anything?" I looked around.
"My dad might have one, not sure though," Felix muttered as he played his game. 
"Right..I will ask around." I nodded to myself.
"Of course they are all on their phones..." I muttered to myself.
My eyes went over to Hyunjin. He glanced up at me. I made a small wave.
"Want to watch anime?" Hyunjin whispered to me. 
"For real?" I was shocked he invited me to do something. I made a quick smile. "Yeah." He brought up a video on his phone. I was sitting close to him. I watched it with him and it made me feel happy for some reason.
"also.." I wanted to ask him so many questions. 
"Hm?" I took a glance over at me. 
"Would you want to step outside for a second?"
"Why?" He seemed confused. I scratched my head. "I just wanted to talk to you openly without anyone else.. if that makes sense?" I laughed awkwardly.
"Uh..Sure." Hyunjin shuffled around. We both stood up and walked towards the door. "Where are you guys going?" Felix stopped us.
"Oh, just getting some drinks from the vending machine.." I tried to find an excuse. 
"Okay, be back soon." Felix waved his hands. We walked out. "Well, that was quick." I laughed. He moved his hair out of his face. "Yeah." He made a shy smile. We walked to the vending machine. "Mine as well get a coffee since I told him we were getting drinks." I laughed as I push cash into the machine and a coffee popped out. "Want one?" 
"sure." He made a small nod. I handed him one. As we walked through the field i opened my coffee and took a huge gulp. "Sometimes it's nice to get out." I took a big sigh. 
"Yeah, I like to sometimes." He looked down.
"I was wondering..you didn't have to answer but.." I stopped in my tracks. He stopped and looked at me.
"Why weren't you eating before?.." It was bothering me.
He looked a bit nervous but shuffled himself. "Well, I don't really like eating in front of others." He chuckled nervously.
"Ohh." I realized. "Well, you don't have to be nervous to eat around me. Eat all you want. I will never judge you." I nudged his shoulder. He made a big smile that I never have seen him make before. 
"Thanks." He got shy.
"Well, you know me, I eat a lot...so, You can eat as much as you want! I embrace it." I clenched my fist, confidently. He started laughing.
"Will do for sure." 
"so...do you think we could know each other better?" I looked over at him. He had a soft smile.
"Sure," Hyunjin said softly. His face looked so calm, but I couldn't help but smile. I wanted to get to know him better, I wasn't sure why but he made me feel comfortable. I wanted to get to know more about him, I want to draw closer to him because I feel like there is more to him than he seems.