It was less awkward after sitting with Mingyu and his friends for a while, Wonwoo found, but every time it was just the two boys on their own he still felt completely and utterly unable to function. After sitting with them for at least two weeks and officially being Mingyu's friend, Wonwoo found himself, to his dismay, falling for the tall boy even further. Sitting on a table with Mingyu, Seungkwan, Hansol and himself, Wonwoo wasn't put in a notably awkward situation.
Actually sitting and interacting with Mingyu was a completely different experience from simply observing, as Wonwoo learnt, and Mingyu had the cutest mannerisms that Wonwoo picked up on before too long. Mingyu liked to touch the arm of whoever he was laughing with, his fingers ghosting along their forearm and sometimes, sometimes, linking his fingers with theirs. As Wonwoo thought to himself about all things Kim Mingyu, the boy occupying his thoughts was doing exactly that at the same moment. Mingyu had begun listing random fruits in frankly appaling English with Seungkwan and interlocking their fingers together while Seungkwan sang ad-libs on how much he loved Mingyu. Wonwoo was practically drowning in waves of jealousy that very soon became a complete sea, having to pull his eyes away and focus on tapping random numbers into his calculator. He knew Seungkwan didn't really love Mingyu, it was all a joke (Seungkwan was far too occupied being head over heels with a certain half-American boy to have those feelings for Mingyu) but nonetheless, Wonwoo aggressively tapped repeated number sixes into his calculator.
"I know how to spell 'boobs' on a calculator," came the voice of Chan from behind Wonwoo as he eagerly peered over Wonwoo's shoulder, fixated on the calculator screen. Wonwoo handed the calculator over to Chan and let him amuse himself with it.
"Hello," a voice said, and by the cutesy pronounciation, Wonwoo determined that it was Minghao speaking. Sure enough, the Chinese boy pulled out a chair and sat next to Wonwoo and Chan, joined by Junhui. The two smiled at the others. "How are you all?" Minghao continued.
"Good, man," Hansol replied in English, earning a look of confusion from Minghao, who tilted his head like an unsure puppy. "I said good," Hansol repeated, in Korean.
"That's good," Junhui said, before turning to Chan who was still laughing to himself about the word 'boobs', "What is so funny?" he asked Chan, who held out the calculator for Junhui to see.
"No, Chan! Don't taint China line's innocence!" Mingyu exclaimed, prying his fingers away from the Jeju boy's and hurriedly grabbing the calculator from Chan's grasp, "he was doing algebra homework, that's right isn't it, Chan?"
"Oh!" Chan gasped, realising his error, "yes, homework."
Mingyu smiled at Wonwoo and pressed the calculator back into his hands. "You don't know where Chan's hands have been, he's gross, don't let him use your stuff," he chuckled. Where his fingers met Wonwoo's, Wonwoo could swear he felt sparks between their skin.
"Says you," Chan protested, "always sneezing into your hands, you're nasty."
"Maybe," Seungkwan interjected, "you gave him some disease so he's always ill."
Chan's lips formed into a cute pout. "You guys are no fun," he complained, standing up and joining a nearby table with Seungcheol, Jeonghan and Jisoo.
"Hey, Minghao," Seungkwan continued to talk, "why are you here?"
Hansol raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Seungkwan-"
"Yah, I wasn't being rude! I mean, why did you move to Korea?"
"It's not important," Junhui interrupted, before placing a hand on Minghao's shoulder and mumbling words of reassurance in what Wonwoo assumed was Mandarin.
Minghao smiled fondly at the older boy, before looking down at the table. "It's okay, Jun," Minghao said, Junhui's new nickname raising a few smirks from around the table, "my parents split up and my mum got a job over here,"
"Why not live with your dad?" Seungkwan asked, almost interrogating the poor boy, who Wonwoo noticed looking quite uncomfortable.
"I can get a new start over here," Minghao replied, looking up at the others before putting his head down again, Junhui rubbing soothing circles onto his back.
"Why do you need a new start? You're not a drug dealer, are you?" Mingyu joked, a faint smile playing over Minghao's face at the comment.
"No, that's a bad thing to do, I would never do that," Minghao replied..
"Then why?" Hansol asked, before adding warily, "if you're uncomfortable you don't have to say."
"Yeah, why?" Seungkwan added, getting almost impatient at the information being withheld from him.
"Sorry," Minghao mumbled, looking up at the taller boy next to him for reassurance, who continued smoothing Minghao's back, "uh, I guess the other people at my school did not like me."
"Why?" Wonwoo felt comfortable enough to finally contribute to the conversation, slipping the calculator back into his bag.
"I'm..um, I do not really know how to say this, but..." Minghao fumbled over his words.
Junhui gave Minghao a small smile. "You don't have to say it," he assured the pastel-haired boy, who nodded, almost to say 'I can do it'.
Mingyu murmured a comment of 'relationship goals' into Wonwoo's ear so only he could hear it, which made Wonwoo's ear tickle and butterflies to flock into his gut.
"I asked somebody to go out with me and they told everybody what I said," Minghao finally admitted, cheeks flushing a bright pink to match his hair.
"It could be worse," Hansol said, trying to make Minghao feel somewhat better, "that happened to me before."
"I-, um, I asked a boy," Minghao mumbled, causing the table to fall quiet and for Junhui to pull Minghao into his arms to comfort him, the poor boy was almost crying.
"You're gay?!" Seungkwan exclaimed, Hansol hitting him on the arm to tell him to be quiet. "Gay?!" he repeated, quieter than before.
Minghao nodded. "Yeah," he said, in one of the smallest voices Wonwoo had heard.
"Seungkwan, you say that as if you're not," Mingyu quipped, shooting a disapproving glance at the younger boy.
Hansol burst out laughing. "Get rekt," he grinned, earning a glare from Seungkwan.
"You were really brave, Minghao," Junhui consoled, smiling at his friend.
"Thank you," Minghao smiled.
Wonwoo smiled a little at Minghao, muttering a good-natured 'that's nice'.
"No, I mean, it's not bad," Seungkwan blurted, waving his hands around to dismiss the point, "I didn't mean that!"
"It's fine," Minghao chuckled slightly, shaking his head at Seungkwan to tell him no offence was taken.
Mingyu gave a soft smile to the Chinese boy. "That's really shitty they bullied you like that, and that the guy you like told everyone. That's a dick move. So guys, don't tell anyone about what Minghao said, okay?" A series of nods went around the table. "Even you, Seungkwan," Mingyu added, raising an eyebrow at the boy next to him.
"No, never, I mean, why would I?" Seungkwan replied, shaking his head.
"Make sure you don't," Junhui continued, "I know wushu. I won't hesitate to fight you."
Minghao stood up. "Junhui, let's go get some cookies from the cafeteria," he smiled, tugging the older's sleeve and pointing at the food station.
"I'll pay," Junhui smiled, leading Minghao by the arm away from the table, turning round to give a small wink and thumbs up to the table.
"I ship them," Seungkwan whispered (though, being Seungkwan, it was a lot louder than a whisper) to Hansol, who grinned in response.
"He's so brave," Mingyu said, "I mean, that would be so scary for him."
Wonwoo nodded, a feeling of inspiration from Minghao's confession spreading over him.
If only Wonwoo was brave enough to do something like that.