No way.
Hongjoong looked back around the corner, only to confirm that what he'd seen the second time was correct as well.
He screwed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the thoughts of what the hell did I just see going through his head when he felt a light touch on his hand and flinched, eyes opening out of shock.
"Are you okay?" The older boy looked at him, concerned.
Hongjoong nodded, then made a jerking motion with his head that asked Seonghwa if he wanted to look, to which he did and came back with eyes the size of saucers.
"W-who's that boy with him?"
Wooyoung. He's one of my best friends and he's had the biggest crush on San for the longest time.
"You look like you want to add a 'but' to what you just wrote."
But ... Wooyoung deserves better than San. Also, he should've told me. Hongjoong pouted and was suddenly very aware of their position right now, taking a tiny step back as he felt a blush creep up his cheeks.
"Honestly?" Seonghwa sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I agree."
What?
Seonghwa laughed at Hongjoong's reaction as they started walking again, the younger boy hoping that San and Wooyoung wouldn't turn around and see them. "San's a party animal. He's going to cheat on your friend eventually, because I don't think he'll break his habit of sleeping around for one guy."
I know. I've warned Wooyoung, too, but he doesn't care. How long do you think it's been going on for?
"Hm ... I think they've been going out for four months."
WHAT? No way, I think this is pretty recent ... two weeks, give or take?
After he'd read his reply, Seonghwa looked at the brunette like he'd sprouted another head. "You're insane. This has definitely been going on for some time."
Hongjoong shook his head and Seonghwa's eyes lit up. "Okay, how about we make a bet? I'll ask San how long it's been going on for, and then whoever's closer wins?"
Are we betting money?
"No."
Then?
"Loser has to fulfill one of the winner's requests. Deal?"
The brunette frowned. If I lose, you won't make me do anything ... out there, right?
"No, of course not! Like I said, I'm a fuckboy, not a douchebag. Also, we're here."
I need to think about it.
Seonghwa jokingly rolled his eyes, getting another smack in the arm as he approached the counter.
"Christ, how do you hit so—"
"Can I help you?"
He looked up from Hongjoong, annoyed, until he saw the face of the receptionist and lifted the corner of his mouth in a small smirk. It was the exact same one that'd tried to give him her number, so he decided to mess with her a bit.
"Ah, yes, are there any open studios?" he asked, subtly snaking his arm around the younger boy's waist before pulling him close to his side, enjoying the way Hongjoong's face flushed a furious shade of red.
She glared at him as if she knew what he was doing before Seonghwa raised an eyebrow at her. "Well?"
"Studio three."
"Perfect." He checked his watch, unaware of how much Hongjoong was wishing that he could turn invisible at that very moment. "I'd like to rent it for two hours."
"Sure."
He handed his credit card to the receptionist while the brunette looked on in confusion.
Was the wallet not Seonghwa's? Or did he have two credit cards?
He shook himself out of his daze once he felt Seonghwa's arm around his waist pull him away from the counter, not letting go of Hongjoong until they were inside the studio. Once Seonghwa had removed his arm, Hongjoong whipped out his phone and started typing furiously, face still semi-red.
If you ever do that again, I'll kill you in your sleep.
The older boy let out a laugh and brushed his hair away from his eyes, something that made Hongjoong turn a few shades red. "You don't mean that."
How would you like to die? Poisoned? Drowned? Pushed off a cliff?
"Sheesh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just that she keeps hitting on me and it's really uncomfortable."
Wow, imagine being uncomfortable -_-
"Ah," Seonghwa suddenly found the floor very interesting, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry. I won't do it again."
'Now, limiting the potential sex pool wouldn't be very smart now, would it?' I don't know, Seonghwa. You could've had sex with her. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It was the older boy's turn to blush now, regretting the words he'd said earlier. "God, you are ruthless." A shocked laugh escaped his lips as he went over to the speakers, looking for the song until he realized that Hongjoong hadn't sent it to him yet.
He glanced up to find that the younger boy was looking at him with a single eyebrow raised.
"Don't," he muttered, making a grin appear on Hongjoong's face. His phone dinged as he received an email from the brunette containing the song and he opened it, a light blush on his cheeks while trying his best to act like nothing happened.
Seonghwa's image of chic fuckboy was slipping through his fingers like sand when he was with this boy, but he didn't mind.
Soon, the song was blasting through the speakers and Seonghwa started warming up while Hongjoong sat in the corner of the room, wondering why the older boy had asked him to come. It wasn't like he knew anything about dance. In fact, he had a few problems with the project, too. The two people that were put together didn't even have to interact for both parties to get a good grade, and he would've much rather preferred that. But no, here he was, watching San's best friend figure out the moves to his song while he was trying hard to not fall asleep.
Hongjoong yawned as the beat pounded through the floor, thinking that closing his eyes for a few seconds wouldn't hurt.
He woke up some time later with Seonghwa lightly shaking his shoulder.
"Hongjoong-ah, you have to get up now. There's a class coming in," he said softly, and Hongjoong was struck with possibly the weirdest thought in human existence: his voice sounds so soothing, which was immediately followed by: what the hell is wrong with me?
He didn't even have to look to know that he was pretty red right now, and apparently, Seonghwa noticed as well. "Are you okay?" The older boy's face came into view as Hongjoong opened his eyes, almost flinching from how close they were.
He stopped breathing when Seonghwa pressed a hand to his forehead, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "You don't have a fever, do you?"
It took a few seconds for the brunette to remember how to shake his head, and Seonghwa held a hand out to him. "Then ... are you up for lunch?"
He nodded and put his hand in Seonghwa's, the older boy helping him up.
"You must be really tired. You slept for the whole time with super loud music in the background."
I slept for the entire two hours? Oh god, I'm so sorry!
"It's okay. Your face is cute when you sleep."
If possible, Hongjoong's face got even more red and he gave a small cough, refusing to look at Seonghwa.
He felt a tug on his hand. "C'mon, let's go get lunch."
Oh my god he's holding my hand what do I do?
Seonghwa hummed a bright tune while he dragged the younger boy around the mall, oblivious to the fact that Hongjoong was having a midlife crisis. Once they reached the restaurant, he turned around and caught sight of the boy's flushed face.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Hongjoong nodded, then gave his hand a light tug to tell Seonghwa to let go. The older boy looked down and did a double-take, not having realized that he'd been holding on to Hongjoong's hand the entire time and dropped it like he'd just been burned.
"Oh, sorry. I'll pay for lunch."
Hongjoong gave him a forced smile in return, desperately wishing the ground would swallow him whole.
***
Hongjoong collapsed on his bed and groaned, burying his face in his hands.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered to himself, fighting the urge to scream into his pillow out of embarrassment as he replayed the day's events in his head. To top it all off, a migraine had started building up as soon as he'd stepped in the house, which was a sign that Jae was going to hold him to his promise.
Can I front now? Pleaseeeeeee?
"Fine," he sighed. "Just don't mess up my room too much."
Yay!
Jae blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, yawning, as he looked for Hongjoong's phone and found it in his right pocket, pulling it out and entering the password so he could call Yunho.
"Hello?"
"Yunho—" Jae's eyes widened as his voice came out deeper than expected and cleared his throat. "Yunho-hyung!" he exclaimed.
"Oh? Let me guess ... are you Jae?" Yunho's tinny voice came from the speaker and Jae nodded happily before remembering Yunho couldn't see him.
"Yeah! Hyung, do you mind coming over? I'm so bored!" he whined as the older boy chuckled.
"Yeah, okay. I'll be there in 15 minutes!"
"Bye hyung!"
True to his word, Yunho was knocking on the door to Jae's room (well, Hongjoong's room) 15 minutes later.
"Yunho!" Jae barreled towards him and basically flung himself at the older boy, who caught him and staggered back a few steps, laughing as he ruffled Jae's hair.
"It's been a long time, Jae!"
"Yeah, Pax and Aurora say it's not safe to let me front unless I'm home." He pouted for a second before he dragged Yunho into his room. "But I'm finally fronting!"
"I can see." Yunho smiled and sat on the bed while Jae sat next to him.
"Oh my gosh, hyung! I saw the craziest thing today!"
"Yeah?" Yunho turned towards the boy and tilted his head out of curiosity. "What'd you see?"
"So you know how Hongjoongie got Seonghwa-hyung as his partner for the project?"
"Mhmm, what about it?"
"So Seonghwa-hyung asked Hongjoongie to go to the school dance studio thing, but he couldn't because of his anxiety, right? So then Seonghwa-hyung asked Hongjoongie if they could go to the mall instead, and Hongjoongie said yes."
Yunho nodded, making a mental note to tease Hongjoong later.
"And then, when Hongjoongie and Seonghwa-hyung went into the mall, Hongjoongie saw the purple-haired hyung and Sannie!"
The older boy let out a light laugh, knowing that the 10-year-old was talking about Wooyoung. "Jae, just because two people are hanging out at the mall together doesn't mean—"
"They were holding hands! Hyung, can you believe it?"
The smile dropped from Yunho's face, but Jae didn't seem to notice. "And then," he leaned forward in a conspiratorial way. "Hongjoongie pulled Seonghwa-hyung around the corner so they wouldn't get caught, but then he peeked around the corner again and Jae's eyes hurt now! Because—"
"Because they were kissing." Yunho grimly finished Jae's sentence.
"Yeah, hyung! How'd you know?"
"Because," he said, making an effort to smile at the younger boy. "Jae's eyes always hurt when he sees people kiss, right?" Yunho puckered his lips as a joke and Jae immediately squealed, scrambling back from him.
"Not you too!"
Yunho's smile this time was genuine as he reached over and ruffled Hongjoong's—no, Jae's hair. To be honest, he liked all of Hongjoong's personalities, and he couldn't imagine his friend without them. Sure, DID was a little annoying at times, but for the most part, it was ultimately what made Hongjoong himself.
"Anyway," Jae started, oblivious to how Yunho was spacing out. "Can we watch a movie tonight? Please?"
"Wha—oh, of course, Jae! Which one do you wanna watch today?"
"Train to Busan!"
Yunho inwardly groaned; he'd forgotten about Jae's somewhat strange preference for horror movies. As for Yunho himself, he wasn't even able to sleep after watching a serial killer documentary.
This was gonna be fun.
Two hours later, Yunho was certain he was going to have nightmares for the rest of his life when Jae, who had somehow managed to fall asleep during the movie, woke up.
"Yunho?" The voice sounded like Hongjoong's.
"Joong?"
"Yeah, Jae's been near the front all day so he got tired and fell asleep. Anyway," Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh once he saw the look on his friend's face. "You look like you just saw a ghost."
"He made me watch Train to Busan with him. Also, he told me about WooSan."
Hongjoong groaned and proceeded to bury his face in his hands. "Let's not give them a ship name, please."
"What's wrong with WooSan? It's so much shorter than saying 'Wooyoung and San'."
Hongjoong glared at him through his fingers. "If you give them a ship name, it makes it seem more real!" he whined, lower lip sticking out. "I can't believe he's the first one in our group to get a boyfriend!"
Yunho let out a startled laugh and playfully hit his friend's shoulder. "Don't be mean!"
"But I'm not trying to! He's the one who gets to do all the K-drama stuff." Hongjoong said as he flopped backwards onto his bed.
"True," Yunho sighed and tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling. "Maybe one day."
"Anyway, what should we do about Wooyoung and my stepbrother?"
"I don't think we should ask Wooyoung about it."
"I agree. He'll deny it if we confront him directly."
The two were silent for a bit before Yunho frowned. "Then ... is there anyone we should tell? Maybe Yeosang?" he suggested tentatively. "He'd be mad if he found out we both knew and he didn't."
Hongjoong fell silent, playing out all possible scenarios he could think of in his head. After thinking about it for some time, he said, "But wouldn't Yeo want to confront Wooyoung about it?"
"Oh...." Yunho bit his lip as he tried to think about what they could do because when Wooyoung and Yeosang got into fights, it was pretty nasty. "Why don't we just pretend we don't know? It's the easy way out."
"That works." Hongjoong shrugged. "Then after today, we'll have no recollection whatsoever about Wooyoung's and San's relationship. Deal?"
Yunho smiled. "Deal."
hi guys, sorry i've been gone for a super duper long time; school's been piling work on top of work and it's very not pleasant T_T
anyway, i think this'll be the only update in a while because i still have to sit for finals and everything ;-;
i hoped you guys liked the chapter though :D