Work Text:
It was just another usual day in KQ High, Wooyoung was teasing Mingi for being too naive. They asked Mingi about how deep they are already with Yunho after they just had their 3rd year anniversary but all got disappointed with his basic answer and teased him that he’s too naive and that he hasn't made a bolder move yet.
“Wooyoung, you’ll never stop teasing my boyfriend huh?” Yunho commented trying to hold back himself from laughing too much.
“Not a chance,” Wooyoung replied, high-fiving Jongho.
The class was in chaos with everyone seeming to be enjoying the fun but soon simmered down when the teacher entered the class and a boy following him close behind.
The said boy was wearing a black shirt with blue faded jeans. His black hair was messed up in a way it looked like it might be styled but also not. He was extremely handsome and possibly the most handsome man Wooyoung had ever laid eyes upon that he could only stare.
“Everyone, we have a new friend joining you guys. Let’s listen to him, shall we?”
“Hello Everyone!! I'm Kang Yeosang. I am looking forward to being friends with you guys. Please take good care of me” Yeosang ended his introduction with a bright smile as everyone clapped their hands for him.
“Yeosang you can sit in the empty seat beside Wooyoung,” Mr. Kim said, pointing at the seat beside Wooyoung, “And Wooyoung take care of him and don’t scare him away the first day itself” Mr. Kim playfully teased Wooyoung, making everyone laugh including Yeosang.
‘Damn, he even has a cute smile’ Wooyoung thought to himself and didn’t even bother reacting to what his teacher said.
Yeosang sat beside him offering him a shy smile which Wooyoung promptly returned. The whole time Yeosang sat there, Wooyoung kept stealing glances. He felt a warm fuzzy feeling watching Yeosang which he hadn’t felt before but it made him feel happy.
As soon as the teacher left the class, the students were more relaxed and back to their own chaos again. “It's so hot” Yeosang muttered to himself as he pushed his hair back and started rolling the sleeves of his black button up. Wooyoung didn’t know his heart could beat so much over a simple gesture until then.
Okay, maybe Wooyoung was wrong. Yeosang was not only cute but hot too.
Wooyoung hadn’t realised he was staring at him like an idiot until Yeosang looked back at him raising his eyebrows, a smirk playing at his lips. Wooyoung felt a shiver run down his spine at the action. He was utterly doomed.
Wooyoung spent the rest of the day not letting his emotions get ahead of him. He couldn’t make a fool out of himself like this. He wanted this day to end already before his heart burst out. Wooyoung was sweating with embarrassment but he brushed it off and whispered to himself repeatedly that he should just imagine he’s not there beside him.
When the classes for the day finally ended and Wooyoung was about to leave, a familiar deep voice called out his name.
“Hey Wooyoung?” Yeosang stood there while he rested his bag on one of his shoulders.
“Hi! What’s up?” Wooyoung said too enthusiastically. He cursed at himself and was just thankful that he didn’t stutter.
“Hey, can you lend me your notes? It’s because I joined in the middle of the semester and I don't know much about what’s taught already,” Yeosang asked gently with a soft smile.
“Of course. I’ll email you all of it?” Wooyoung smiled back at him.
“Yes please. That would be great!!” Wooyoung handed his phone to Yeosang for him to input his email.
“No problem” Wooyoung was in cloud 9 at the moment and was already internally screaming as Yeosang handed him his phone back and their fingers brushed against each other.
“Also, how about we walk home together? You could help me out with my stuff and I’ll also maybe treat you for being my literal saviour” Yeosang beamed at him.
“Sure. Let’s go?” Wooyoung couldn’t help but smile widely.
“Wait!! Your shoelaces are undone. Let me do it for you” Yeosang said, bending down and tying Wooyoung’s shoelaces.
“Yeosang, you really didn’t have to—“
“It’s okay Wooyoung. I don’t think this will be the only time I’ll be going down one knee for you” Wooyoung was grateful that Yeosang was looking down because he had the widest smile plastered on his face and felt that he was getting beet red from what Yeosang said.
“I mean my friends say I’m good at tying shoelaces, you know? So I’ll do it for you again?” Yeosang replied awkwardly, making Wooyoung burst out in laughter.
“Yeah yeah sure” Wooyoung says, trying to hold his smile in and act serious but completely failing to do so. He continuously thanked the heavens for listening to his heart's desire and letting him have this moment with Yeosang.
That day Yeosang and Wooyoung walked to their homes together after spending hours together eating tteokbokki and talking about everything but studies.
“We should do this all the time, and we live just a few blocks away” Yeosang grinned from ear to ear and looked at Wooyoung.
“Yes, let's do that” Wooyoung smiled softly back at him.
Wooyoung unexpectedly saw Yeosang walking in front of him as he walked to school. He walked faster until he was near him when Yeosang suddenly turned around and saw Wooyoung. Wooyoung stopped in his tracks and smiled awkwardly.
“Hey, why didn’t you call out to me?” Yeosang smiled at him, taking off his earphones that Wooyoung didn’t notice.
“Hey!!!” Wooyoung said enthusiastically but to his defense, it was because he was extremely nervous and he got caught off guard with Yeosang turning around and taking his breath away, “I um I was going to approach you”
“Silly,” Yeosang smiled even wider, “come on, let’s go”
Wooyoung felt his cheeks getting warm and walked beside Yeosang. They talked about how Yeosang was adjusting to school and his friends back at his old school. How his family is like and what are his interests. Talking with Yeosang felt fresh and Wooyoung possibly couldn’t ever get over it.
The next few days, the same thing happened and they ended up going to school together but one day, Wooyoung didn’t get to go to school with Yeosang because he woke up late.
“Good morning sir” Wooyoung bowed and apologized to his teacher for arriving late and sat at his seat.
“I thought you’d be absent today” Yeosang whispered.
“I woke up late” Wooyoung shyly smiled and blushed.
“I continuously emailed you too” Yeosang said and glanced at Wooyoung.
Wooyoung was too stunned to talk for a moment and blushed even harder. He covered his face with his bag as he rummaged through inside to look for his book and when he finally calmed down he set it down and replied, “I-I didn’t notice and I was running to arrive on time”
“You knew you were already late, you could have just taken your time” Yeosang chuckled and focused on the discussion while Wooyoung was still stuck in what Yeosang said and mentally reminded himself that he should definitely check his messages the next time.
With time Wooyoung and Yeosang got closer. They became best friends and would spend most of the time together in each other's company so much that their friends would tease them with each other. And with time, Wooyoung’s crush got deeper too and it was hard not being obvious about his feelings and on a particular Monday morning, Wooyoung had totally failed.
As usual Yeosang sat beside him. He was wearing a black polo t-shirt and Wooyoung couldn’t stop thinking how handsome he looked that day. Yeosang had a habit of messing with his hair and whenever he did, Wooyoung couldn’t take his eyes off him. What was worse is that Yeosang had noticed once again and raised up his eyebrows with his usual smirk. That goddamn smirk always made Wooyoung’s heart do somersaults.
“I can notice you, you know” Yeosang whispered to him, which made Wooyoung blush. Yeosang laughed silently by himself, occasionally glancing at Wooyoung just to tease him.
Wooyoung looked away and continued to stare at the book they were sharing that day. Yeosang didn’t say anything more about it and Wooyoung was thankful for it. The rest of the day went pretty much uneventful.
”You wanna say something to me?” Yeosang spoke up first. They were walking back home together as usual.
“I love you“ Wooyoung unknowingly blurted out without realising.
“What?” Yeosang stopped on his tracks. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“I mean I love what you’re wearing, I love your shoes a-as well and you too, I-In the sense you are really nice? Yeah nice,” Wooyoung awkwardly laughed, “I’m sorry, I have stuff to do I'll head home first” Wooyoung decided to walk faster already having embarrassed himself enough in front of Yeosang for that day.
“You are really cute,” Yeosang said with his cutest smile, making Wooyoung blush in the process.
“Thank you and you too,” Wooyoung wanted the ground to open up and eat him at this moment, “What I mean is that it's really very sweet and cute of you to say that to me”
“Seriously Woo, you’re too cute…Bye” Yeosang pinched Wooyoung’s cheeks and waved goodbye at him, leaving a shy Wooyoung holding his cheeks where Yeosang had just touched.
Wooyoung couldn’t believe his crush had just called him cute. He wanted to jump and squeal but before that he needed to process this whole thing.
Wooyoung.exe has stopped working. He was way deeper into Yeosang than he had thought himself to be.
With more time passing by Wooyoung realised how different they were from each other yet that never came in between their friendship. Yeosang was charming but he was usually quiet. He did occasionally joke around but that was mostly him naturally being savage and witty. He was extremely kind and everyone around him was fond of him. Yeosang was genuinely a very nice person and never failed to spread happiness to the people around him.
“Did you do the math homework due today?” Wooyoung asked. Yunho and Mingi sat at the vacant seats surrounding Wooyoung and Yeosang since it was lunchtime and almost everyone was at the cafeteria except them who always saved money and just bought lunch boxes with them when they could.
“Yup, I finished it yesterday” Yunho said, opening his lunch box.
Yeosang only nodded and continued eating, not wanting the attention to himself.
“We have homework???” Mingi said surprised. Yunho playfully slapped his arm and scolded him that he reminded him about it yesterday while Wooyoung laughed so hard, chiming in the couple’s fight. Yeosang laughed with them but didn’t say much. The situation was somehow like this most of the time but they would all feel empty without him.
“Yeo, do you want to join the class group study?” Yunho asked.
“There’s this group study the whole class agreed on and if you want to you can join but if not that’s fine too” Mingi added.
“Nah I’m good but thank you” Yeosang smiled and thanked them for the invitation. Wooyoung fondly looked at Yeosang and wondered how he could be all shy when he’s that amazing.
“I’ll study with Yeo!! Losers” Wooyoung playfully stuck his tongue out at them and turned to Yeosang.
“You sure?” Yeosang asked, giggling at him. Wooyoung nodded and grinned from cheek to cheek. He really liked Wooyoung a lot as a friend and more.
When things happen great for a long time, it’s safe to assume that something odd is gonna happen soon. Wooyoung and Yeosang were the closest duo of their group until Yeosang’s childhood best friend came into the picture. San was all sunshines and smiles. He had cat-like features and was really handsome as well. He too was extremely kind and friendly. There was nothing to hate about him yet his closeness with Yeosang made Wooyoung feel sad and annoyed. No, he wasn’t jealous. Just sad and annoyed. That's it.
“Woo!! Do you want to hang out with me and San?” Yeosang asked, all smiles with San beside him waiting for his answer.
“No no, you two should catch up and enjoy. I had plans anyways, my mom asked me to go grocery shopping with her” Wooyoung declined, forcing a smile on his face.
“Well okay. Maybe next time?” Yeosang said, his smile fading but Wooyoung was too annoyed to notice.
“Maybe” Wooyoung smiled at them as they walked away.
With San coming into their lives, Yeosang had naturally started spending more time with him and the time Wooyoung and Yeosang spent together became less in the process. Wooyoung still called him his best friend but it started feeling like that less and less.
“Yeo, do you want to go with me? My mom asked me to go grocery shopping and-”
“Yeo!!! Let’s go??” San shouted from outside the classroom, unintentionally interrupting them.
“I’m sorry Woo, I already agreed to San’s invitation. Let’s hang out tomorrow?” Yeosang said apologetically. Wooyoung gave him a weak smile and nodded.
“Okay, text me?” Yeosang said and left together with San while Wooyoung could only watch them leave like he always had the past few days. Yeosang did hang out with him every time he promised to but it was still different from how they used to.
Wooyoung had decided to stop attending classes for a day until he felt a little better about the situation. But to his dismay, the period unintentionally stretched when his mother fell sick and he had to leave to take care of her.
The entire duration Wooyoung tried to keep as less communication with Yeosang as possible. Earlier he would reply to his messages within seconds which were now left unread for hours. Wooyoung needed space and more than that he needed to get a hold of himself.
Yeosang:
Woo, will you be back to school soon?
I sent you notes so you can catch up when you’re back
Hello?
Do you get my messages?
It’s been 6 hours Woo
Wooyoung:
Sorry, I just used my phone now
Thank you
Yeosang:
I’m glad you’re okay
I’ll text you when I need to next time, I won’t bother
Wooyoung sighed to himself and left Yeosang on read. He wanted to tell him that he did his best to control himself from replying and that was his limit already. He was hurting but he thought it was best for him to stay away.
It was finally after a month when he finally resumed his classes again. He sat in his usual place, but this time Yeosang sat beside him again. He had stopped sitting beside him before and sat beside San most of the time.
Yeosang kept making efforts to make small talk with him but Wooyoung would either not reply or answer in words, just nod or shake his head. Yeosang was visibly sad and had eventually stopped initiating conversations with him.
Wooyoung felt bad for being so rude to Yeosang. It wasn’t Yeosang’s fault that he had feelings for him or that he was jealous of San. If anything he had always been kind to him. Wooyoung decided to apologise to Yeosang once all the classes ended for the day.
For the last period they had different classes. He was about to go to Yeosang’s class to finally talk to him but was approached by San on his way.
"Hi Wooyoung” San smiled at him.
"Hey" Wooyoung smiled faintly and moved to the side of the corridor to talk with San properly.
"Long time huh?!" San said, looking at the other students that passed by.
"Yeah"
"How are you doing?"
"Well I am doing well but San you can come to the point, no formalities needed” Wooyoung didn’t want to be rude but he wanted to talk to Yeosang as soon as possible
"Thank god you understood ...actually you know what, I like Yeosang..” San sighed.
"That's quite evident tho" Wooyoung could feel his heart sink but didn’t let it get to him.
“For real?” San was surprised and looked at him in disbelief.
"Yeah. Anyways sooo?"
"So I wanted a favour from you ..”
“And what is it?"
"Can you please bring him and I closer? I mean ...you know him now and he is your best friend..he will definitely listen to you. I’ve been gone for long and I don’t know much about him now"
"Oh ...ye...yeah ..sure ...I will”
“Thank you so much Wooyoung!! You are the best” San smiled happily.
“Don’t mention it..well um let me see what I can do but I can’t promise anything"
Wooyoung should be happy but he wasn’t. He wanted to distance himself from Yeosang and get over his feelings and it was the perfect opportunity for him but it just didn’t feel right. San had come to him knowing how he had always been someone who was great at making couples. Wooyoung was the reason Hongjoong and Seonghwa got together after years of pining and he was also the one who had encouraged Mingi to confess to Yunho about his feelings for him. It shouldn’t have been so hard for Wooyoung. He shouldn’t be feeling so nervous but he was. It almost felt like he was going to lose something precious to him forever.
He decided to ignore that feeling and do what he had promised San. He was going to bring the both of them together.
The next day Wooyoung was about to sit at his usual place beside Yeosang but when San requested he wanted to sit beside Yeosang, Wooyoung complied. Wooyoung encouraged San with a smile when he was still breaking inside. He went and sat beside Jongho instead.
Wooyoung was absolutely unaware of how San was only doing this to make them realise their feelings for each other. To get them to talk to each other. All their friends were together in this but they both seemed to have made up their minds for something else.
Yeosang was honestly done with it. He decided to confront Wooyoung. He was confused as to why Wooyoung had been acting that way around him.
‘Why is he ignoring me?’ ‘What have I done?’ ‘What's wrong?’ Thoughts like these kept running in his mind.
When he entered the class and headed to his seat, he noticed how San was sitting in Wooyoung’s place. Yeosang realised it was all intentional. He had even found both of them talking the other day. If Wooyoung really didn’t want to be near him then he was fine with it. He didn’t know what had disappointed Wooyoung so much that he was creating so much distance between them but if this is what Wooyoung wanted, he will give him that. He wasn’t going to approach him as well. He went and sat beside San.
Yeosang could notice that Wooyoung glanced at his direction but looked away when he looked back. He didn’t understand what was going on but it hurt him a lot.
“Did something happen between you and Woo?” San asked, looking back and forth at the two of them.
“I don’t know” Yeosang sighed.
“Maybe I had something to do with this” San forced a smile with a guilty look on his face.
“San, what did you do?!” Yeosang raised his voice a little just enough for San to know he was angry.
“Hm well…” San explained everything to him which made Yeosang angry at him but he thought he didn’t do anything wrong and Wooyoung should be the one to talk to him first.
It had been 3 weeks since Wooyoung and Yeosang were both ignoring each other like a plague. On one hand, Wooyoung was convinced that Yeosang too had feelings for San and it shouldn’t bother him since he was allowed to like whoever he wanted. He was trying to keep his promise to San but was also starting to hate how they were ignoring each other.
But it was getting hard for Yeosang to ignore Wooyoung as well. He felt guilty for ignoring Wooyoung and decided to fuck it and talk to him. He too was wrong for ignoring him and was going to make up for it.
Wooyoung was sitting by the window thinking about everything that had happened the past weeks. His feelings for Yeosang, San coming to their lives, him getting jealous, San asking him for help with his feelings for Yeosang and them ignoring each other for weeks. Wooyoung had made no efforts to reach out to him in the past few weeks. Not even through texts.
“I have a reason for doing what I am doing. But Yeosang? He could at least talk to me. I get it, he has feelings for San but weren’t we friends before anything else?” Wooyoung muttered to himself.
His chain of thoughts were broken by the notification sound. When he unlocked his phone to check who it was from he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was a message from Yeosang.
Yeosang:
See Wooyoung, I know things haven't been normal for a long time between us.
I know you must be surprised but it's just that I wanna talk to you and end all of this.
We need to meet. Just meet me in the park right now.
I'm waiting for you.
‘What did he mean?’ ‘What did he want to end?’ ’Does he want to officially end our friendship?’ was what conquered Wooyoung's mind.
He knew Yeosang was downright ignoring him but he was fine with that, he could handle that. He knew sooner or later things were going to get better between them. What they had ran much deeper than all this but if he broke their friendship itself, Wooyoung wouldn’t be able to take it. He was okay with his feelings not being returned but this way he would be left with nothing. Not even their friendship.
At least Yeosang had San for him and if he was happy, that was enough to make Wooyoung happy too. He hoped the best for them and decided to meet Yeosang for possibly the last time ever. He wiped his tears and headed to meet his best friend at the park.
When Wooyoung reached the park, Yeosang was standing with his back facing towards him.
“You wanted us to meet? Finally someone remembered I exist” Wooyoung said with a sad smile.
"At least I “remember” unlike someone else” Yeosang turned to speak to him face to face.
“Surprising considering how you’ve been lately” Wooyoung replied sarcastically.
"Look who's speaking?"
"Excuse me?" Wooyoung wasn’t angry when he came but now he was starting to.
“San told me about everything Wooyoung" Yeosang said, pain obvious in his tone.
“What do you mean? What did he say to you?"
“You seriously don’t know what I'm talking about?”
"Don't increase the suspense. Just tell me what you have to”
“That you have made a 'so called' promise to San that you will bring us closer..like seriously?” Yeosang looked at him with disappointment and annoyance.
“Yeah..yeah to me he is my best friend" Wooyoung lied. Yeosang was still the only one he considered as his best friend.
"Oh wow!! So now San is your best friend huh. I mean nothing to you right?” Yeosang scoffed, fuming with anger and sadness.
"See.."
"You see Wooyoung, You very well know about my feelings for you yet you keep making a joke of it. It's fine if you don't wanna accept my feelings then don't accept!! Anyway, I wouldn't have forced you but don't do this to me.."
"When did I make a joke of your feelings? And what feelings are you even talking about ..” Wooyoung looked at him with confusion.
“Wooyoung.. seriously? Are you saying this? Okay so tell me the so-called promise that you made to San which I still find lame. What was that? You don't like me? It's fine …did I ever say I want something in return? For me, our friendship meant everything to me. It gave me strength and happiness. I’ve lost a lot of this in my life and now you took away this friendship from me too. The only reason I wasn't talking to you was that I was simply respecting your decisions, what you wanted from me. I couldn't do anything if you wanted to stay away from me and break our friendship but dude all this is affecting me now. So I request you like, please. I don't want anything from you ... nothing ..just our friendship …just like old times" Yeosang frustratedly said with tears welling up in his eyes.
“Wait wait wait wait!! So you didn’t call me here to break our friendship?? And I kept crying to myself thinking all that”
“Are you mad or what? How can you even think of that ...and everything that I’ve been saying for so long, what did you even assume?" Yeosang wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at Wooyoung with confusion.
"Did you even think of me? You keep talking about your feelings from the moment I stepped here, justifying your actions and what not. You aren’t any less mad than me okay? Did you even think how I felt when I saw you and San together? How jealous and insecure I felt??” Wooyoung expressed himself.
“Uh huh so my tiny Woo here feels jealous too huh …” Yeosang’s anger subsided and smiled teasingly.
"Shut up ..you idiot” Wooyoung started hitting Yeosang playfully and pulled him into a hug.
“So we both are dumbasses huh?” Yeosang giggled.
“You’re more of it than me” Wooyoung teased.
“Says the one who thought San and I are a thing. He is like a brother to me please” Yeosang rolled his eyes as he buried his face on Wooyoung’s neck.
“Okay okay shut up now”
“Try me”
Wooyoung moved gently just enough to cup Yeosang’s face and moved closer, closing the gap between them. “Then I shall” Wooyoung softly took Yeosang’s lower lips in his and kissed him gently. Though it was their first kiss, they soon found a rhythm and their kiss didn’t feel like one.
Falling in love is amazing but being in love with your first crush and having them love you back? Nothing beats that.