wooyoung didn't know how he was gonna wriggle his way out of this one.
he rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans, not even daring to make eye contact with yeosang who was just sitting across them wide-eyed, gaze never shifting from san. from his peripheral vision he could see choi san. he was more laid back than ever. his mask was down to his chin and his arms were crossed, fingers tapping impatiently. yunho, equally as stupefied, just sat there with his hands covering his mouth. wooyoung gulped. the arrangement was almost like introducing your partner to your conservative parents, and your partner just so happened to be an infamous, lawless drug-lord. okay, maybe it wasn't that bad. maybe it was worse.
wooyoung's racing heartbeat picked up with every second that passed, and the heavy silence in the room was almost unbearable. he really wished his sofa came with a built-in ejector button that he could press to escape awkward situations such as this one, like some weird rendition of a game of among us.
what baffled him most was, how was san so laid back?! this was worse for him, if anything. his location and identity, all of it had been exposed to the biggest chatterbox on planet earth. wouldn't this mean he'd have to move out, or something?
"woo... your boyfriend is... choi san?" yeosang uttered out each word carefully, finally putting an end to the deafening silence. wooyoung cut him off almost in the speed of light as if he didn't want to sell the silence another second.
"he's not my boyfriend," he shut down immediately, and san turned to him with an offended look on his face. wooyoung completely disregarded it and continued to speak, "we're just friends."
san lowered his eyebrows, like each of wooyoung's words were a heavy blow. yeosang scoffed. "friends don't kiss each other, you dipshit." he stated matter-of-factly, earning a snort from san.
"so this whole time," yunho began, his hands dropping down slowly. "this whole time, your neighbor was the choi san. and you didn't tell us?"
"is that even a question? why the fuck would i tell either of you?!" he exclaimed annoyedly, trying to turn the blame away from himself.
"i asked him not to," san chimed in, defending wooyoung. "it would be disadvantageous to me if people knew where i was."
wooyoung turned to look at san. he was relaxed and had a friendly smile on his face, and wooyoung couldn't help but envy him. he wasn't the one that was going to be beaten into a pulp for this shared secret.
"we won't tell," yunho responded and yeosang concurred, nodding his head vehemently.
"mm, well. i'll take your word for it. not like i have any other choice," san chuckled. "now if you don't mind, can i borrow our mutual friend?" he continued, indirectly attacking wooyoung's previous choice of words. "we have somewhere to be."
he couldn't have been serious. they'd literally been caught red-handed by the two biggest menaces wooyoung knew, and all he could think about was his plans for the day? did he really think yeosang would let them go that easily?
wooyoung shook his head frantically. "no, no we don't. we'll stay here."
san hesitantly settled down, obviously confused as to why this was such a big deal to wooyoung. were celebrities all so oblivious?
yeosang finally dropped his gaze and his face fell into his hands. "i should've known," he mumbled. his voice was muffled. "you said your neighbor's name was sand beetle. why didn't i question that? idiot." yeosang cursed at himself, hitting his fist to his head irritatedly.
"you really couldn't have come up with a better lie?" san whispered quiet enough for just wooyoung to hear, and wooyoung groaned.
"it's your fault. you shouldn't have moved here," he declared selfishly, deflecting every accusation that came in his way like a bulletproof shield. he turned to face yeosang who was still holding his face in shame. "is that all for your questions?"
"but weren't you dating yoon semi?" yunho asked curiously, shattering any hopes to put an end to the conversation.
"nope."
wooyoung sighed. they'd wasted a good amount of time sitting in silence, and now they were wasting even more time by asking the most irrelevant and stupid questions. it was obvious they were just buying time so they could stay in the presence of choi san for a little longer. it probably still felt like a dream to the two of them.
"am i dreaming?" yeosang looked up. "hey, pinch me."
yunho shrugged, taking a painful portion of yeosang's arm between his fingers and twisting it. "ouch!" yeosang screeched loudly, slapping yunho's hand away and rubbing his arm that was definitely going to be bruised the next morning. wooyoung facepalmed as san looked on confusedly. he should've come prepared for the day they'd end up being caught.
"i think you guys need some time to gather your thoughts," wooyoung gaslighted them, hoping this was enough to subdue the two. "we'll gladly leave you to it." he grabbed san by the cloth of his sweatshirt, dragging him all the way to his bedroom, praying there would be no calls from behind. he almost pushed san into his room before closing the door behind him and sighing.
"i'm fucked." he said, running his hand through his hair. san sat down on the edge of wooyoung's bed, still as calm as ever. wooyoung approached the ever so nonchalant celebrity, sitting down beside him.
san looked at him with raised eyebrows like he was expecting something. wooyoung blinked back at him, and the actor only crossed his arms and huffed in response. "don't you have something to apologize for?"
"what is it? don't tell me you want me to apologize for those two. you're the one that barged in here anyway. can't you be careful?" wooyoung deflected once more. he was really on a roll today.
san rolled his eyes. "how could you call me your friend?" he grumbled immaturely. right. wooyoung should've known. there were only two things wooyoung could do to inconvenience san—run away from him, or put him in the friend-zone.
"i mean, we're not exactly dating, are we? i don't know how else to label it. didn't we decide on no labels?" wooyoung reminded, being the bigger person out of the two of them.
"still," san said indignantly, "you said it so quick. like you're repulsed by the idea of even dating me. even if you are, can't you be discreet about it?"
"you know it's not like that. you know what? fine. i'm sorry," wooyoung gave in, patting his shoulder unsympathetically. "i'll try to say it a little slower next time."
san scoffed at the poor apology, turning to look at wooyoung. "sorry doesn't cut it," he shook his head and brought his face closer. "but this will." he said and tapped his cheek, nagging for a peck. how immature.
"don't be cringey," wooyoung grimaced, trying to pull his face away.
"i won't forgive you." san threatened in a teasing manner, holding wooyoung close to him by wrapping an arm around his waist. wooyoung almost shuddered in disgust. exactly what had he signed himself up for? had he known san would be asking for all sorts of favors that made his insides tingle at the newness, rather the grossness of it, wooyoung would've never agreed to any of this. he let out an exasperated breath before slinging an arm around san's shoulder to bring him in closer, pressing his lips against his cheek for no longer than a second.
a satisfied grin made it's way onto san's face as he gazed at wooyoung for a moment, before swiftly swooping in for a proper kiss. wooyoung compliantly shut his eyes, leaning in further. though it wasn't exactly a new feeling, the butterflies that erupted in his stomach just never seemed to go away. san's arms wrapped around him like a blanket as he further slimmed the gap between them. after almost half a minute, wooyoung pulled back to catch his breath.
he could feel the hot air hit his face as san exhaled. "i've been waiting to do that all day," san said under his breath, flashing a pearly smile at wooyoung.
"you're so icky." wooyoung remarked, scrunching up his nose. san laughed, falling back on the bed and crossing his arms behind his head.
"can't help it," he said, and wooyoung watched as he closed his eyes. "you just bring out that side of me. by the way," his eyes shot wide open not even a second later. "give me your number."
wooyoung creased his eyebrows. "for what? you literally live right next to me."
"i mean, if you'd given me your number before, i would've called you before deciding to come over and none of this would've happened, so..." he reasoned, raising his eyebrows expectingly.
he did have a point. not that wooyoung walked around just giving his number out to anyone, but it was best to be careful when you're dealing with someone as popular as san. "fine," he agreed, "give me your phone."
san tossed his phone at him without hesitation. "what kind of celebrity doesn't have a password on their phone?" wooyoung shook his head, typing in his number.
"i don't really have much to hide."
"well if it ends up in the wrong hands, you're gonna have a lot of your personal details leaked," wooyoung said reprovingly and tossed back his phone.
"thanks for being so caring all the time, babe," san teased.
before wooyoung could yell at him for the use of that word, a high-pitched squeal erupted from outside the door, sending san jolting upwards. wooyoung flinched, hurrying towards the door to see what the issue was this time.
"what's wrong?" wooyoung exclaimed concernedly, watching on as yeosang stood frozen by the front door. he shifted to the side to get a better look at what he was gaping at like a fool.
san knitted his eyebrows from behind wooyoung. "seonghwa?"
great.