dragging his legs out of history class, yeosang begun making his way to the library for lunch. usually he wouldn't, usually he'd sit with jongho in the cafeteria, however he didn't think that was an option now as the boy had completely avoided him today.
at first, yeosang assumed that perhaps jongho was just late to school, explaining why he didn't meet up with him at their usual spot this morning. but that soon revealed to not be the case — as much as he wished for it to be, since getting stood up wasn't ever nice — after he had caught the younger leaving his class for break, calling out for him, just to be faced with a side eye and a back walking away from him.
it hurt. god, it really fucking hurt to know that the person yeosang relied on the most right now no longer cared for his company. and for what? he didn't even know.
therefore, when yeosang entered the doors of the library, eyes landing on two familiar heads of hair, he rashly decided on joining their table.
although a fraction of yeosang regretted his choices immediately at hongjoong and mingi's questionable stares, he still mustered up an ounce of confidence within him to slide himself into a spare chair opposite them. yeosang gulped anxiously, before starting, "uh, hey..."
"hi, yeosang," hongjoong greeted him first. "this is definitely a... surprise."
yeosang glanced in between the two, then looked away. "oh... it is okay if i sit with you guys, though... right?"
"yeah, of course, it is!" hongjoong assured, frantically nodding his head up and down. "we just... didn't expect to see you, is all."
yeosang briefly hummed in acknowledgment, failing in spewing out a response, which inevitably lead to silence dropping over them, the hushed voices surrounding them now seeming louder.
"so, yeosang... how have you been?" mingi eventually asked, after a good while of observing the latter male.
"i've been good- well, the best i can be since, you know..." a great way to make things more awkward than they already are, kang yeosang.
"that's real nice to hear." hongjoong smiled gently, a momentary wave of comfort surging through yeosang at that.
"what's the deal with those boys you're always hanging around with now, though?" mingi blurted out, taking yeosang aback. "i mean- i'm glad you've found yourself some friends, but—"
"but nothing." hongjoong sent his boyfriend a frustrated glare, almost as if he saw the remark coming.
feeling out of place in that moment, yeosang cleared his throat, the legs of his chair loudly scraping against the floor as he stood. "i'm gonna, um, go, i think—"
"yeosang—" hongjoong tried, yet it was up to no avail.
"it's okay. thank you guys for, y'know... checking up on me and stuff, but... i have somewhere to be now that i think of it," yeosang lied. and in reality, their short-lived words of comfort didn't mean anything to him anymore.
"ah... i see. well, uh, take care of yourself."
yeosang nodded his head curtly, before gladly turning his back on the two boys. even though him and san hadn't spoken much around in school, solely for jongho's sake, the pear-haired boy was the only person he could think of who wouldn't treat his presence like a burden. yet, once thinking logically, two things stood in yeosang's way of contacting san — the awful school wifi, and the lack of energy his legs had to look around the college building in hope of bumping into him.
sighing, yeosang started his way to his locker, pointlessly deciding to idle around the area until next class begun.
a number of students loitering around in the hallways around him, one pair of friends, upon seeing the boy, shuffled closer to one another, before whispering who-knows-what gossip into each other's ears.
noticing this, yeosang crossed his arms over his chest in attempt to make himself feel more secure, aiming to speed past them. however, instead of peacefully going on his way as he wished for, the volume of their words then became audible to his ears.
"...haven't seen him without that other dude before, d'you think something happened between 'em?"
"maybe they—"
"are your lives really that boring that you're theorising about someone else's?" yeosang snapped before he could hear an answer to the previous question he made out. standing up for himself hadn't ever been one of his traits, but hearing what strangers perceived of his and jongho's relationship was the last thing he could deal with. after all, no one but them knew of the unspoken feelings beneath it.
"he's changed quite a lot since that yuyoung boy disappeared, hasn't he?" a different voice joined in, belonging to a face yeosang hadn't even seen before.
i... have? maybe that's what mingi meant, then. yeosang looked down at his feet, confident demeanour faltering at the countless heads in his direction.
but, prompting him to lift his head back up in dignity, was a voice cutting into the conversation taking place, one yeosang knew all too well. "it's wooyoung, actually," san corrected saltily. "and by that stupid fucking mistake, it's clear you don't know a thing about yeosang. so instead of creating baseless assumptions about the type of person he is, i recommend you spend your free time doing something more productive."
despite the calm volume of san's voice, the harshness spiked within it spat his words out like venom. and before yeosang could let out the breath he'd anxiously been holding in, every student eavesdropping on them hurriedly turned the opposite way, thankfully leaving them be.
turning to san with the intention of thanking him a thousand fucking times, the pear-haired boy was suddenly dragging him down the hallway by his sleeve.
"what the fuck- san?"
"calm your tits, i'm not that desperate to kill you off," san muttered, without sparing a single glance at yeosang.
"that's validating, but what are you—"
"jongho wanted you."
yeosang blinked, involuntarily stuttering, "j-jongho?"
"yes, jongho," san confirmed, turning a corner. "and it seemed pretty important, since he asked me outta all people. 'was surprised, though, y'all are meant to be inseparable; what happened?"
"oh, well... i'm not sure, really..."
"'course you aren't." san sighed. "bets on it being something completely stupid, though."
"you think that low of us?" yeosang chuckled half-heartedly.
san came to a stop outside of a door, resulting in yeosang to, as well, who firstly withdrew his hand from the younger's grasp.
"to be honest, yeah." after yeosang's scoff at his brutal honesty, san elaborated, "what? you guys are so obsessed with each other, it's impossible you'd purposely upset each other. now, go, your not boyfriend will probably hunt me down if you keep him waiting."
yeosang bit his lip. "can't you come with... just in case something goes wrong?"
"you'll be fine, yeosang, trust me. jongho even seemed apologetic for the first time in his life when he asked me for you," san reassured, the softness of his voice coming as a shock to yeosang.
rather than teasing him over it like he would've done in any other situation, yeosang just smiled. "thanks. for this and for earlier... i appreciate it more than i let off."
"you're scary when you're nice." san squirmed, earning a pair of rolled eyes. "but it's no problem, i know how it feels to deal with intruding fuckers like them. hopefully everything goes well with you and..." san nodded his head towards the direction of the door.
letting out a short laugh, yeosang nodded, watching as san's figure walked away. he then faced the door before him, its grey paint hideously peeling off of it.
san wouldn't lie to you about jongho, so it has to be okay, yeosang told himself. exhaling deeply, he brought a hesitant hand up to clutch the doorknob, before pushing it open. the door creaked shut behind yeosang once he stepped in, loud and slow, his eyes travelling the room warily, which turned out to be empty. where the fuck is h—
"you came."
at the honey-filled voice from behind him, yeosang spun around as if his life was dependant on it, his head dizzy at the sudden, fast movement. even the dimly lit room wasn't enough to blur out jongho's features — perhaps because yeosang had practically memorised every angle and curve — and simply the fact that the brunette was stood in front of him right now crept a small smile up to his lips.
"uh, hey..." yeosang initiated, words slipping past his lips as a whisper.
"hi, sang. thank you for, uhm, actually coming."
yeosang couldn't stop the disbelieved laugh that left his throat even if he tried — which he certainly didn't. "right, because i'm the one avoiding you, aren't i?"
"i-i'm sorry. fuck, i really am, i—" jongho reached out to take yeosang's hand in his own. the elder didn't clasp onto or intertwine jongho's fingers with his own like he normally did, yet he would've been lying if he said he didn't appreciate the affectionate nonetheless. "i wasn't thinking straight, all i cared about in that moment was you and san, and—"
"what about me and san?" yeosang questioned angrily.
"i-i dont know, i just- you guys were together last night so i thought..."
"you thought what, choi jongho?" yeosang flailed his arms about in frustration. "what- did you think we kissed, or something?"
"well, i-i—" jongho shrugged his shoulders, embarrassedly breaking eye contact with the latter.
he didn't want to, hell, it pained him to, but yeosang pulled his hand out of jongho's one-sided hold. "you're kidding, right?" he asked, voice breaking in the process. "you- you should know how i feel a-about you. why would i ever- i don't understand... d-do you want to know what san and i did last night?" and when jongho met his teary-eyed gaze, yeosang told him just that, "we celebrated my best friend's birthday. you know, the one who's been kidnapped for a month if you've forgotten?"
jongho's eyes widened, causing yeosang to scoff. "sang, i- i had no clue, i'm so sorry."
"that's why i wanted us to hang out last night," yeosang admitted quietly, almost doubting if jongho could even hear him. "i-i needed a distraction, but of course something else was more important..."
cold fingertips meeting the side of his face, yeosang allowed a streak of tears to escape his eyes. "sang, my pretty, if i knew of that, i-i- i would've been there. believe me, your well-being is my first priority, the last thing i ever want t' do is hurt you."
sniffling, yeosang chuckled lightly. "that's what san said, too..." courageously, he took a step closer to jongho. "'guess he was right."
"thank you so much, i—" the brunette boy paused, cupping both of yeosang's cheeks with his palms. "thank you for trusting me."
"i... i really like you," yeosang blurted out, suppressing his laughter at jongho's frozen state. "really, really like you. just so you know, since now's probably the right time. and, please don't worry about san and i anymore — we're ju—"
"you're... just friends," jongho finished slowly, before nodding his head. "i believe you, sang... and uhm—" he looked to the side. "i-i like you, too."
yeosang giggled, arms hooking around jongho's shoulders which pulled him even closer. "good."
and although no more words were spoken, it felt as if millions of serenades from the both of them were uttered into the air when their heads tilted slightly, before leaning inwards, lips delicately capturing one another's into an impatiently clumsy kiss.
———
a/n: thank u for sticking by this long cus, just a heads up, shits gonna go down next chapter onwards xx