Chapter Text
Couple of days have passed since Seungwoo and Sejun worked at Seungsik's house for their singing project. Since then, things between Seungwoo and Seungsik changed. It wasn't as if they were best friends or even friends at all, but the younger boy could feel a greater and a more awkward tension between them. Each time they would meet, Seungsik would try to talk to the older boy, but Seungwoo would avoid him by leaving quickly from what he observed. Seungsik didn't know what to do to fix this and it annoyed him. To make things worse, his friends noticed that he had trouble walking due to his previous injury on the ankle. He tried lying to them, but Sejun had to spill everything. Now, his friends were teasing for his "clumsiness" (at least Sejun spared the Chani part from them).
With all this in his thoughts, Seungsik went to his locker after finishing his class. As expected, his locker partner wasn't there. After putting his books in his bag, Sejun came by.
"So, things are still awkward with Seungwoo?" Sejun asked. Seungsik nodded with a sad expression. "Honestly, I don't understand why things are awkward between you two... Is it because of the picture or just the whole incident that happened next?"
Seungsik shrugged. "I do feel embarrassed by everything.. It's probably the same thing with Seungwoo... I mean why the picture would bother him?"
"Well... He could be jealous?" Sejun suggested with a smirk.
"WHAT!???" Seungsik replied. The idea of Seungwoo being jealous never went through his head. It was totally impossible anyway... Seungwoo wasn't interested by the younger boy. Why would he? Anyway, it wasn't as if Seungsik was interested, well that's what he thought. Meanwhile, Sejun laughed at his friend's reaction.
"Wow you never had this thought?... I mean he could be.." Sejun said, giving another smirk to Seungsik.
"Why would he?..." Seungsik replied, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, you're not saying that you're not interested anymore.." Sejun said with a victory expression. The older boy, embarrassed, hit Sejun. "I'm not interested, ok?"
"Yeah yeah whatever... Anyway, I think that him seeing the pic of Chani and you was a good thing. Now, I'm sure Seungwoo's jealous of your ex." the younger boy replied with another devilish smile. Seungsik was about to hit his friend again, but...
"What picture of Chan-ie and you?" a voice surprised the two boys. They turned their head to see who was there. It was Subin. "So, Chan hyung and you were together?" the youngest asked his oldest friend with a jealous face.
"WHAT!!?" the two older boys replied. "Subin-ie, it's not like that... I was dating another boy called Chani." Seungsik explained.
"And don't worry, it's not as if he could compete against your Chan." Sejun reassured his younger friend. "Also, he's younger than you though..." he whispered.
"Oh, so you like younger boys?" Subin questioned his oldest friend.
"Don't make it sound like that... He was just really sweet, but I didn't really think well about this relationship." Seungsik defended himself. Subin only let an "Oh.." come out of his mouth. Meanwhile, somewhere near Seungsik's locker, a tall silhouette left the room.
----
After the talk with Seungsik, Sejun was heading to his class. On his way, he saw two familiar boys approaching. When the boys made eye contact, they had a little surprised reaction.
"Oh, Sejun! Were you heading to your class?" the smaller boy of the two even if they didn't have a big difference asked.
"Yeah..." Sejun replied while looking again at the two tall figures in front of him. "I didn't know you two knew each other..." he continued, still surprised of seeing the two other guys together. They looked at each other and giggled, making Sejun a little bit uncomfortable.
"Actually, we have the same Math class and we had to work together for a project. When we knew we were both friends with you, we decided to hang out more." the tallest replied.
"Oh it's great then! I have to go to my class, so I guess I'll see you later." Sejun said with a bittersweet smile. he waved at his friends and left them. Meanwhile, the two tall boys continued their way talking.
----
Some moments later, Byungchan was alone at his locker. He seemed quite excited as he was texting to someone.
Byungchan: YOOO!! Your plan totally worked! :DDDDDD
Hanse: What plan?... o_O
Byungchan: Well the one to get closer to Seokwoo!
Hanse: OMG YOU REALLY DID THAT!!? I was joking bro...
Byungchan: Woah didn't expect u to react like that lol
Hanse: U know its kinda bad what ure doing, right?
Byungchan: Its just to make Sejunie a little bit jealous... I dont see anything wrong with that..
Hanse: welp.. dont tell me i didnt warn you but youll ruin their friendship
Byungchan thought about the message his friend just sent. He didn't really think about that beforehand. But, at the same time, Sejun wasn't interested by Byungchan and he certainly didn't think that Seokwoo could fall in love with him. So, for now, he decided to stick with the plan. He was about to reply back to Hanse, but Sejun arrived to the locker.
"Who are you texting to?" Sejun asked suddenly.
"Oh, just to Hanse. You know the usual weird talk.." Byungchan said smiling with a "you know" look. Sejun couldn't resist, but to smile back at his friend. "Anyway, Seokwoo and I planned to meet a café later. Do you want to join us?" the younger boy asked waiting for Sejun's reply.
Sejun's smile quickly fainted. "Umm... I don't know, I gotta practice for my singing class. But, thanks anyway.." he replied, feeling a lump in his throat.
"Oh, it's ok then. See ya another day I guess." Byungchan said. He smiled to Sejun one last time before going. Sejun stood there, thinking about his two friends meeting up at a café. He didn't feel good about it. But, why? His friends are getting along and that's good, no? But why did it make him uncomfortable inside? After some thoughts, Sejun closed his locker and took out his phone.
Sejun: Byungchan where's the cafe you told me about? I changed my mind I'll join u 2.
Sejun sighed.
----
Exhausted of his day, Seungsik was finishing packing his bag. His Math class really did worn him out somehow. But, it wasn't just the amount of work that bothered him. Usually, he would be sitting next to his locker partner in this class, but a girl just took his place before he could sit there. Seungsik didn't want to make a scene especially since there was a bigger awkward tension between the two boys, but he couldn't help feeling bad inside of him seeing someone else next to Seungwoo. But, it's not as if he owned Seungwoo so it was the older boy's right to have whoever to sit beside him. And Seungsik really didn't understand why this bothered him so much anyway. To forget about it, he just thought of his schedule for this night. What didn't help him was Seungwoo arriving to their locker. Seungsik greeted him, but his voice felt shaky. Seungwoo greeted the younger boy back, but the awkwardness was really obvious. A big silence floated in the air as the two boys were packing their bags. Seungsik closed his bag and was about to leave, but Seungwoo held his wrist. The younger boy was surprised by the sudden action and he could feel his heart skip a beat. He turned his head to the older boy.
"So, how's you ankle?" Seungwoo asked, shyly.
Honestly, this was the first sentence that Seungwoo ever pronounced that seemed to have a certain emotion since that incident. Seungsik felt relief and heat inside of him. "It's better now, it hurts less." Seungsik replied, with one of his sweet smile. Seungwoo felt his cheeks becoming hotter when he saw his locker partner's beautiful smile. He nodded to the younger boy. Then, both of them looked at each other. Seungwoo, realizing that he was still holding Seungsik's wrist, let it go slowly. The younger boy gulped before asking: "So... Are we fine now?"
He looked at his locker partner with anticipation. He was afraid that this question would ruin everything. Seungwoo looked down for some seconds before meeting the younger boy's eyes. "I think we're fine now." he replied. To that, Seungsik smiled widely. Seungwoo felt his lips wanting to curve up too.
"So.. Uh.. Do you want to hang out some day?" Seungsik asked with a shy tone. He didn't really realize what he just ask due to his excitement, but he felt regret some seconds later.
Seungwoo didn't expect the younger boy to ask him that suddenly. He took a brief moment thinking about it before replying: "Sure. Where do you want to meet?"