"soobinsoobinsoobin, wake up," yeonjun shook the shoulder of the boy beside him. "we're here!!"
soobin groggily lifted his head. "already? ah, i'm so tired; why did we have to wake up at 4am for this anyway?"
yeonjun shrugged. "the park's far away, i guess. oh, you drooled on me!!" he showed the sleeve of his shirt to soobin, who was now fully awake and looking guilty.
he frowned with remorse, "i'm sorry junie, what can i do?"
yeonjun grinned evilly, for he'd been waiting for soobin to say that. he got interrupted by the teacher before he could say anything, though.
she started passing out worksheets, informing the class that the field trip was meant to be fun, but there was work to do beforehand.
yeonjun poked soobin's arm, commenting, "you know, that hoodie of yours looks real nice-"
soobin sighed, fighting a smile as he tugged the orange pullover hoodie over his head.
as he handed it to yeonjun, he begged, "junie please.... it's the last one i have-"
"i'm taking this one too, and you already know that's going to happen," yeonjun pointed out.
soobin leaned over to yeonjun's ear and whispered, "you'd better come with me to buy more, then."
yeonjun was thrilled with the idea of another shopping date, but his happiness was quickly halted when the teacher called out, "yeonjun, can you repeat what i just told the class?"
panicking, yeonjun looked around the bus to his classmates' faces, calling for help.
he caught changbin's eyes, who motioned with his hands, pointing to him and felix.
"th-the buddy system," yeonjun guessed based on the signal that he interpreted from changbin, "we're using the buddy system?"
the teacher sighed, shaking her head."we'll be putting everyone in small groups, so stick with the people you want to be with."
when she finally finished explaining, everyone started started filing out of the bus. outside, yeonjun caught up to changbin.
"yo, cb, what was that," he cried, "i depended on you!"
changbin exclaimed, "what! i was trying to ask if you and sb wanted to be in a group with lix and me; excuse me for trying to be nice!"
"hey now, there's no need to fight," felix was quick to intercept.
"who said anything about fighting," changbin shook his head. "i'd never fight yj."
felix laughed, "i'm just being cautious; you don't want to get expelled now, do you?"
yeonjun was staring at soobin with his arms crossed, pouting excessively. he then touched his head to soobin's for a bit before moving away and insisting, "if we're trying to ditch the crowd we should get going already."
"we're not allowed to leave the class though," changbin complained.
yeonjun sent soobin a look. "just because rules are there doesn't make them right."
with that, he sped off. the other two followed without much care if anyone had noticed their blatant rule-breaking.
still hesitant, soobin glanced around, taking note of the teacher and chaperones' distractedness. after making sure no one was looking, soobin ducked his head down and raced after the trio that had almost left him behind.
||
"why are the lines for the rides so long," changbin whined, "i'm not having it, standing in the sun like this."
yeonjun was hunched over in soobin's shadow. "at least we have shade here behind soobin."
soobin wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed, "no wonder you made me get in line first."
yeonjun stood up and stared into soobin's eyes then, seriously. he leaned in close, and the taller flinched at his sudden movement.
"you have something on your face," yeonjun explained to his skittish boyfriend, and scooted even closer, using his hand to brush at soobin's cheek.
discreetly, he raised his eyebrows at another boy that had been staring. he flushed and averted his eyes, so yeonjun turned back and continued brushing at the invisible "something" on soobin's face.
soobin wondered slyly if this was yeonjun trying to mess with him or actually attempting to kiss him but changed his mind so suddenly.
after they had gone on the ride, felix and changbin were conversing in low voices, both wearing big smiles.
"is this the part where we get ditched," soobin asked aloud.
yeonjun insisted, "nah, they would never do that.."
but it did prove kind of awkward for yeonjun and soobin as the pair were suddenly giggling messes and always had their arms around each other.
but what yeonjun and soobin did not realize was that they were always touching - while walking, they would hold hands or intertwine their arms together, or soobin would have an arm around yeonjun or vice versa, and they, in fact, were the ones that made others uncomfortable with how nonchalant and comfortable they looked together.
the group stopped to play a game that soobin insisted he was good at - after he always ended up losing at everything he bragged about, yeonjun didn't really believe him but decided to go ahead and humor him anyway.
but this time, soobin did end up winning, and yeonjun cheered. soobin looked shocked that he had won, which made yeonjun dance and cheer louder.
changbin asked, "woah, yj, someone beat you and you're not mad about it? he won first place..."
"that's right," yeonjun grinned, nodding. "that's my boyfriend right there."
soobin looked embarrassed by all the sudden attention, and covered his face while yeonjun asked the attendant what he had won.
"here, let me help you," yeonjun insisted, unfolding the black batman cape soobin had won. he successfully draped it on soobin's shoulders but seemed to struggle with tying the ends together around soobin's neck.
he suddenly loomed closer, and soobin mentally sighed, "not again", making up his mind that he'd put a stop to whatever mixed signals or hints yeonjun was trying to tease him with.
"thanks," soobin said shortly, then placed a hand tenderly under yeonjun's chin, pulling him closer. when their lips touched, a few enthusiastic cheers sounded nearby.
"y'all cute," one of them said.
"that's a pretty nice thanks for him just tying a cape on you," felix smirked at his own joke.
when soobin finally let yeonjun go, the poor elder was blushing furiously and shyly avoided eye contact with everyone.
soobin posed with a fist in the air, causing yeonjun to giggle and snap a few photos. he then held his arms in the air behind him and shot off, running naruto-style throughthe crowd.
"he just did a superman pose in a batman cape," changbin gasped in horror.
felix shook his head sadly, "forget that; he's naruto-running in a batman cape."
"do we know them? i think we don't know them," changbin joked, covering his face as people continued turning their heads to watch soobin naruto-running through everyone.
finally, he made it back, and yeonjun laughed heartily, tapping soobin's cheek as he informed him, "you're so cute!"
they ended up going on a few more rides and played every single game the park had to offer. by the end of the day, yeonjun and soobin could barely carry their prizes.
changbin said to felix, "you know, i'm happy with this little pig plushie i got, even if it's a consolation prize-"
"yeah, it's adorable; you did your best and that's what matters," felix tried to cheer him up.
that was when they started to wonder where the rest of the class was.
"okay, we can go look for them after we eat." yeonjun suddenly challenged, "i bet you can't finish faster than me!"
but, alas, soobin finished first, again. he laughed, "what is it with me? i'm winning all the games today."
changbin suddenly gasped. "yj! the worksheets! we're supposed to do them!"
yeonjun took his crumpled worksheet out of his bag and confidently dropped onto soobin's lap to lean on the table and began quickly scribble away on it.
changbin and yeonjun spoke about math concepts soobin wasn't really trying to understand, but was still somehow confused anyway.
felix grumbled, "i hate math."
yeonjun agreed, "me too. actually, i hate all subjects, really."
"uh, you're literally like at the top of every class you have," soobin frowned. "that's not fair."
yeonjun held up a peace sign, "well i've gotta top in something."
felix's ears turned a bright shade of red at yeonjun's comment, and changbin began to cackle loudly.
when they had finished their worksheets haphazardly, they managed to luckily catch a glimpse of one of the class' groups walking past. the four discreetly joined it and learned that they were going to stay at a hotel for the night because the school's curfew meant the campus was closed already for the night.
by the time everyone got their worksheets turned in and received their room assignments, changbin, felix, yeonjun, and soobin were all so tired they could barely walk.
there were others in their group to share the room, and they had a chaperone.
somehow though, when soobin was the first to get into bed as everyone else was getting ready, yeonjun managed to climb into bed with him, and curled up right next to soobin, covering himself with a blanket.
"aw, no, yeonjunie," soobin whispered, "we're gonna get in trouble."
"shh, nobody noticed," yeonjun whispered back. while everyone was still getting ready for bed, he questioned, "how is the case going?"
soobin nodded, "i think we have a good chance of actually sending him to jail."
yeonjun was quiet, mulling things over.
and soobin knew exactly what he was feeling. "no, junie. he doesn't deserve pity. look at all the things he did."
"but, he was just confused," yeonjun insisted, "remember what they were saying about the way his dad treated him? he used to be nice; the abuse turned his mind all weird."
soobin argued as quietly as possible, "no. nothing should excuse the fact that he was hurting people; that he almost hurt you. he doesn't deserve your pity."
and, just like that, it seemed, their nice day had been ruined.
but it was different now. they both had grown in their relationship, and they knew what to say.
"that's just what i feel," yeonjun explained. "i don't want to fight about it."
"i don't want that kid to hurt us anymore than he already has," soobin agreed.
"binnie, i love you," yeonjun laced his arms around soobin.
"i love you too, junie," soobin smiled and discreetly kissed yeonjun's forehead.
published ▎13 april
word count ▎1748 words
* if i missed spelling errors please comment and let me know.
chapters left until the last: 1
+an extra chapter
highly cringe, but i just want to finish this book already lol.