taking a shaky breath, choi san anxiously plays with his striped tie as the loud, excited chatter around him rings through his ears. the blond boy is sat at a table in the school's hall, four of his closest friends sitting with him. jeong yunho is by san's right, song mingi to his left, which leaves park seonghwa and kim hongjoong who are sitting opposite them.
san's knee unconsciously bounces up and down, nervousness running deeper through him when the two soccer team captains make their way into the packed room. the day san — along with all of his fellow peers — have been waiting for has finally arrived.
today is the day that his school announce which five, lucky students make it into the cheer team.
being the only male who had even thought about pathetic, girly cheerleading lead to san becoming the school's laughing stock. if he wasn't already one for his sexuality, that is. people only see him as a joke and sometimes the judgemental stares and whispers are too much for him, but choi jongho's threats always seem to save the day.
after months of exhausting effort, all san wants to do is get today over and done with. of course it would mean the absolute world to the boy if he did make the cut, there's no doubt about it; yet, his anxiety is eating up at him and if it doesn't settle down soon... well, san is done for.
almost as if he can sense the blond's inner panic, seonghwa reaches out to ruffle his hair. "san-ah, what did we say earlier? don't worry, you're going to be fine. the school would be drunk fools for not giving you a chance!"
"exactly, hyung's right! you did great at the audition so unless they're blind, i'm sure you'll make it," mingi chimes in with a grin.
"thanks, guys." san smiles at his friends.
he mentally lets out a sigh of relief when the boys leave it at that. their constant reassuring words mean a lot to san, but never do they make a positive impact on him. his insecurities and lack of self esteem always manage to win him over, clouding his mind with countless of negative thoughts about himself.
thankfully, jeon soyeon's — one of the soccer captains — voice booms through the hall, causing all eyes to glue themselves onto her.
"good afternoon, students! i bet you could all guess correctly as to what this announcement will be about, therefore we will be getting right into it. several of you have auditioned for the cheer team, and after much thought, the sport staff have picked the five of you who they think have the most potential for what a cheerleader truly is!"
this creates a roar of anticipated cheers to fly around the room, until soyeon speaks again, "now, i will pass things over to everyone's least favourite soccer captain!"
ji changmin rolls his eyes, scoffing, as he takes the microphone from soyeon's hold. "we all know that's not true," he remarks playfully, before clearing his throat.
san squeezes his eyes shut, not at all prepared for what's about to come. he's at least grateful that changmin, a boy who's practically family to him, is the one in charge of breaking the news. that thought alone calms san down.
exhaling deeply, the blond feels his hands being pulled out of his lap and being intertwined with two others. one of them is soft and warm, whereas the other is big and strong. san recognises who they belong to in an instant. "i love you guys so much," he whispers.
"we love you, too, san." "shut your flat ass up, i'm trying to hear changmin hyung."
mingi and yunho's hushed voices overlap each other, the contrast between the two forcing san to suppress his laughter.
"so, the first student who will be joining our cheer team is," changmin pauses for suspense as everyone awaits his next words. "momo hirai!"
the dancer stands up, squealing as she makes her way to the front of the hall where the captains are stood. momo is hands down one of the most popular girls in the school, her talent envied and admired by all the students, even if they refuse to admit it — san included.
soyeon gives momo one of the five cheerleading badges that are laid in her palm, congratulating her quickly before ushering her back to her chair. the applause dies down after a few seconds, the audience on the edge of their seats for the next name.
"the second student is, none other than, lalisa manoban!"
san is more than sure that this is the first time he's ever seen lisa smile. in his eyes, the girl is the baddest bitch he's ever come across, and san has always been rather jealous of this trait she pulls off so perfectly.
pigtails bouncing in the air, lisa takes her seat by her three friends, as changmin wastes no more time to move on. "the third student, who is now apart of the cheer team, is seo soojin!"
the raven-haired takes a second to walk up to the front of the hall, face purposely covered with her long, curly locks. the musical girl: san knows soojin as, for her mesmerising performances in every musical that takes place in the school. san truly believes that she's born to be a star on stage.
hurriedly, soojin rushes back to her girlfriend at the other side of the room, immediately being engulfed into a hug from her — shuhua, san thinks her name is.
changmin waits patiently for the roaring applause to die down yet again, before revealing, "the fourth, and youngest, student who has the utmost luck of joining us is lee chaeryeong!"
gaze searching the hall for the girl he's never even heard of before until today, san eventually reaches a light brunette, who is rubbing tears out of her eyes. chaeryeong walks to the front, eyes wide in shock as she delicately takes a badge from soyeon's hold.
san unintentionally grins at her shaken reaction, finding it cute. though, humiliation sets over like a train wreck when chaeryeong looks at him. yet san's embarrassment quickly disappears, because the girl returns the smile.
"now that i have your attention again, we will be moving on to who has obtained the last spot of the cheer team!"
changmin's words cause san to freeze, his stomach starting to feel funny due to his anxiousness. it's like butterflies, but much worse; a stampede of elephants could be an accurate way to express it. reminding san to breathe is hongjoong's comforting gaze, a reassuring nod being followed with it as the entire room of students focus on changmin's next sentence.
"making history, our fifth cheerleader is actually a boy," changmin first states, a smile tugging at his lips.
another boy auditioned? are san's initial thoughts, but he brushes them away to give the captain of the soccer team all of his attention.
changmin clears his throat for the second time, before announcing, loud and clear, "choi san, please could you come forward to collect your badge from soyeon as our new cheerleader?"
for a moment, san thinks time has stopped. he doesn't move a single inch, expecting himself to wake up from an incredulous dream. san blinks once, then twice, now realising that the proud smiles on his friends' faces are real. this is real, him achieving his dream is all real.
san's eyes scan the school hall: jongho, eric, sunwoo and hyunjun are at one table cheering loudly for him; chanhee, kevin and juyeon are giving him an entire standing ovation, clapping madly, and seonghwa, yunho, mingi and hongjoong are besides him, beckoning for the blond to retrieve his badge.
snapping out of his trance, san begins to go up to the front of the room, avoiding the disgusted looks from all of the other students. although everyone besides his friends aren't exactly pleased to hear the news, san can't care less — his hard work has paid off and that is all that matters.
"so incredibly proud of you, little choi," changmin says quietly once san reaches him.
the blond smiles, face scrunching up a tad. "thanks, minnie hyung! and, how many times do i need to tell you? i'm not that little!"
changmin shakes his head, nevertheless a grin's still baring his features. "i can say the same for chanhee, too, when i say this, but you'll always be our little choi. whether you like it or not."
"i hate you two," san whines, a pout setting on his lips.
"liar. you love nyukyu~" changmin sings teasingly. this earns a light slap on his shoulder from san, who just sticks his tongue out before turning to soyeon.
"congratulations on making the team, san! it'll be a pleasure to work with you," soyeon exclaims happily, handing the boy his badge.
smiling for the nth time that day, san takes the metal from her and takes a second to mentally squeal. "thank you, soyeon-ssi. i'm sure working with you will be great, too!"
after the polite interaction, san spins around, looking around for a certain pink-haired male. "san-ah!"
san's eyes dart in the direction that the sweet voice came from, immediately running across the hall to his adoptive brother: choi chanhee. they, by pure coincidence, share the same surname, which often confuses people to whether or not they're brothers by blood or not. and even though the pair aren't at all related, they see each other as nothing less than family.
being engulfed into a tight, suffocating hug by the older, san giggles into his chest. "you don't understand how fucking happy i am for you, sannie," chanhee whispers.
"none of this would be possible without you, you know? thank you so much for everything, hyung."
breaking the embrace, chanhee pulls away and beams. "it has been my pleasure helping you get here, our little choi."
"not you as well! are you two ever gonna stop?" san huffs, folding his arms over his chest dramatically.
"nope," chanhee smirks smugly. he then places his hands onto san's shoulders and turns him around. "go get your stuff and say bye to everyone, yeah? mom and dad want us home early for dinner tonight," chanhee informs softly.
san rolls his eyes, but nods with a hum straight away. "give me second, though." with that, the blond jogs away from chanhee's hold, and returns to his previous table with his four friends.
"sannie! do you think you could come over to mine? to celebrate? i could ask my mom to plan a movie night for us?" yunho asks expectedly, perching up on his toes as if he isn't tall enough already.
frowning, san sighs. "i'm sorry, yun. i have to be home for dinner tonight, chanhee says."
"that's a shame... but i understand! see you tomorrow?"
"of course! get home safely, okay?" san insists, receiving a short hug from yunho before he runs off.
picking up his school backpack from the table he was sat at, san throws it over his shoulder. contemplating for a second, the boy looks around the room, hoping to find a particular dark-haired that he totally hasn't had a crush on over the past three years of attending this school.
san finds him, and just as he expected, the popular male is surrounded by a large huddle of his friends. the blond is rather ashamed of himself for even supposing that maybe his crush would notice him after today's events, but who was he fooling? why on earth would the most well known boy in the entire school have any sort of interest in him?
before stepping out of the hall to make his way home, san fails in forcing himself to not take one last glance at the very attractive younger.
yet, what san wasn't expecting was for the jung wooyoung to already have his eyes on him, a heart melting smile on his lips.
———
a/n: first chapter finally out and i'm so nervous help-
thoughts so far?