idk maybe hybe should lowkey accept the situation and allow heeseung to naturally grow out of saying engene as the man has been saying engine for six years and maybe not censor and treat it like a crime when heeseung says engene
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if i ever tell you that i wanna eat or that you are gonna be eaten or any variation of that please know that it comes from a place of love and that i am not a cannibal i just get cuteness aggression
in which choi yeonjun keeps trying new hair colour and you simply love him through all of them
alternatively; yeonjun realizes that there is more to life than girls and is now focused on the important things in life - his future - while your preparing yourself to live without yeonjun down the road
pairing: yeonjun x fem!reader + childhood friends to lovers
wordcount : 12.9 k (i tried so hard to keep it under 8k)
previous . masterlist . next
black symbolizes loss and the unknown
Hwang Yeji taught Yeonjun that just because someone was sweet didn’t mean they were kind.
He found himself sitting in Wooyoung’s room, a place he had been forced to become accustomed to.
Wooyoung was beside Yeonjun in his bed, San on the way from his taekwondo class.
“I’m confused,” Wooyoung said, “you want to do what with Yeji?”
Yeonjun moved to face Wooyoung, who was sprawled across the bed that Yeonjun was debating his life on.
Yeonjun gulped, “I want to break up with Yeji,”
The two boys sat there, unsure about what to do, because at eighteen years old, Yeonjun wanted to break up with his girlfriend of one and a half years.
Wooyoung nodded, “And why did you ask me about this?”
Yeonjun was growing frustrated, his hands starting to grow tired of playing with his hair that was now littered with blue highlights rather than a full head.
“Who else would I ask?” Yeonjun asked, growing frustrated.
Wooyoung hummed, now laying his head on a Kirby plushie that just appeared in his room one day.
“I don’t know,” Wooyoung said, “maybe your best friend Y/N?”
Yeonjun slumped and fell on top of Wooyoung, “I can’t”
Wooyoung hummed, “Do you care to explain why you stopped talking to your best friend of five years all of a sudden?”
Yeonjun huffed, “Not all of a sudden,” he corrected, “only two weeks,”
Wooyoung stayed silent for a minute, “Are you going to say why?”
Yeonjun made a noise, a noise of annoyance, “That’s why I need to break up with Yeji,”
Wooyoung sat up, curiously waiting for the explanation.
Yeonjun sighed, “She told me to stop talking to her,”
Wooyoung’s eyes widened, looking at Yeonjun with his mouth open, “Yeji did what?”
Yeonjun put his hand in his palms, “I don’t fucking know Wooyoung,” he groaned.
“I can’t, “ Wooyoung started, in disbelief, “I can’t believe she would say that,”
“I mean,” Yeonjun gulped, not believing the words that were going to come out of his mouth, “Yeji said that she liked Y/N and all, but found it weird how I would go to hers after school and spend dinners there and everything, and I understand Yeji was probably scared or something but,” he paused, trying to come to terms with his feelings, “I don’t know how else to tell her that my relationship with Y/N is strictly platonic”
Wooyoung sighed, “Have you talked to Y/N about this?”
Yeonjun shook his head, “How can I?” he turned to look at Wooyoung, “Yeji always wants to know where I am and what I’m doing and sometimes, just to double check she scrolls through my messages.”
Wooyoung furrowed his eyebrows, “Bro,” he said to his best friend of thirteen years, “that’s not a relationship anymore, that’s just controlling,”
Yeonjun slumped more into himself, “Is it though?” he closed his eyes, imagining Yeji’s face, “I understand that me having Y/N as my friend might be problematic, but-”
“But-” Wooyoung cut him off, “nothing, Y/N is your best friend and if Yeji can’t see that and can’t understand that, then maybe you should break up with her”
Yeonjun nodded, “I know, but,” he struggled to find the right words, “how to fuck do you break up with someone and not be a dick about it?”
Wooyoung hummed, “That is a good question isn’t it?”
The two boys were silent for a moment, both pondering about how Yeonjun would break up with Yeji.
They were so caught up in their thoughts that they didn’t hear Wooyoung’s mom opening the door and a pair of hurried footsteps came up the stairs.
It wasn’t until San burst open the door, hair still wet from his taekwondo class, “What’s the matter?”
Wooyoung jumped up, “How do you break up with a girl Sannie?”
San blinked, putting his duffel bag down as he went to sit at Wooyoung’s desk, “Why would we need to know how to break up with someone, it’s not like Yeonjun is going to-”
A pointed look from Wooyoung made San realize the situation, “Oh,” was all he said looking at Yeonjun, “you're finally doing it?”
Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows, “Finally?”
San nodded, getting comfortable, “My sister said Yeji is weird, something about it running in the family,”
Wooyoung threw a pillow at him, “And you're telling us now?”
San made a noise as the pillow hit his sore body, “Did you want me to tell you rumours of your new girlfriend?”
Yeonjun shook his head, but he wouldn’t lie if he said he wasn’t the least bit hurt of San withholding information about Yeji from him.
San sighed, “Besides, I just thought she was being petty cause Yeji's older brother cheated on her with some other girl,”
Yeonjun winced, knowing from family dinners at Yeji’s house that her brother was a sore subject.
Wooyoung cleared his throat, “Getting off topic,” he pointed to Yeonjun who had moved to be sitting on floor leaning across Yeonjun’s bed, “how do we break up with a girl who is becoming a possessive girlfriend without hurting her feelings?”
San tilted his head, “Did you ask Y/N this question yet?”
“Can’t” Yeonjun and Wooyoung both responded.
San nodded, taking in the situation he found himself in on a Wednesday night, “Let me tell my sister to come over,”
Yeonjun gulped, reality hitting him.
He was going to break up with Yeji.
With the help of his amazing friends (and their sister), he was going to reclaim himself back.
He could do this.
You missed Yeonjun.
It wasn’t like you never saw him anymore, you still talked to him in the halls, still saw him at Soobin’s, and messaged him the most.
But, it felt like he wasn’t him anymore.
You knew that it wasn’t your place to say anything, after all, most movies teach you that being in a relationship changes people.
So you let him change as he went on dates with Yeji.
You let her take him out to play bowling, knowing he would much rather play at the arcade.
You let her take him out to the smoothie shop, knowing that you’ve practically conditioned him to like bubble tea.
You let her feed him white chocolate, knowing that he would always beg your grandma to put milk chocolate in all of her desserts if she could.
You were stuck watching your best friend change into something else, and the worst part about it was that you didn’t know if he wanted it or not.
You were at Arin’s house, a place you’ve gotten more accustomed to recently as you watch her and her friend Sakura argue over how to help you with your homework. Arin wanted to take the more asian mom approach of making you do it yourself and berating you when you got it wrong, while Sakura wanted to help you step by step like a tutor.
You gazed at the two of them, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming.
You wanted to interrupt them, to tell them that you wanted a painkiller, or you're going to get hot water, but they kept talking.
Meaning that you pursed your lips, and wordlessly left the duo and went to the kitchen, where Arin’s family always kept their communal medicine.
As you navigated the familiar house and the familiar kitchen you couldn’t help the small ache in your heart.
It’s been over a year since Yeji and Yeonjun have gotten together, and yet you still think about the fact that the two of you should be at one of your houses complaining about school, watching dumb movies, and going on walks that “accidentally” led you to the mall.
As you turn on the kettle, you let the soft argument go on in the background. You took your matching mug with Arin, a Stitch one to match her Lilo, and set it down - moving around the kitchen to add a proper amount of lemon and honey in the cup.
You busied yourself in the kitchen, keeping an ear out for Arin and Sakura just in case they called for you.
You were expecting to hear more arguing, maybe a new conversation starting. What you didn’t expect to hear was a third voice in the mix.
You didn’t think you would hear Yeji in the living room talking to Arin.
You couldn’t help but peek into the living room, wanting to ask her why she was spending a Wednesday evening at her boyfriend’s cousin’s house and not with her actual boyfriend.
It looked like Arin was arguing with her, which you wanted to say confused you, except you knew very well that Arin thought Yeji was a little too sweet.
You disagreed, after all she was dating Yeonjun, how bad could she be.
Abandoning your remedy on the counter you walked into the living room.
“What exactly are you insinuating about my family?” Arin exclaimed.
Yeji shook her head, “You're not understanding what I am saying!”
You looked at Sakura, who just pursed her lips and shook her head.
You watched the tension rise between the two girls, not wanting anything to happen, you clear your throat, catching their attention.
Arin looked at you, clearly having had her patience filled to the max.
Yeji spun, her twin ponytails moving with her.
Her eyes widened, “You're here?”
When asked about Yeji by Yeonjun’s parents, his grandma, your mom and your grandma, classmates, and Yeonjun’s extended family, you would always say that she is nice.
That she always listens to Yeonjun but isn’t too much of a pushover.
That she always smiled and talked to anyone and everyone.
That she was simply a good fit for Yeonjun.
Everyone would smile, satisfied with the answer until they saw the couple, and you were then stuck answering all the previously asked questions again.
You weren’t sure what the adults saw, maybe it was because her brother was known to cheat on every girl in town, or the fact that her parents seemed too uptight about how much skin should be shown. But in your eyes, Yeonjun was happy and that was all that matters.
If he wasn’t happy, he would tell you. Wouldn’t he?
However as Yeji looked at you, the rage in her eyes turned into confusion. You were starting to rethink your best friend’s entire relationship.
A girlfriend shouldn’t ever look at her boyfriend’s loved one’s like that.
That much you knew, after all, it was how your dad would look at your grandma when he dropped you off.
You swallowed that thought down, not wanting to bring up mean memories.
“Hi,” you breathed out, still finding your tone, “is everything okay Yeji?”
Yeji swallowed, “You're here?”
You furrowed your eyebrows, and nodded, “Where else would I be?”
She looked lost, as if all the passion she had with Arin was melting away, “You’re not with Yeonjun?”
Now you were really confused, “I haven’t seen Yeonjun outside of school for like two weeks,”
Yeji took a breath in, “Are you sure?”
“Yeji,” you sighed, “what is this about?”
She pouted, “I haven’t seen him since school ended, and I thought he was with you.”
You pursed your lips, not liking her tone of accusation, “Why would him being with me be such an issue?”
She shook her head, “You don’t understand,” she took a step closer, “we have just never spent so long without seeing each other, and I was just worried he was seeing someone on the side,”
“Excuse me?” you asked, not quite believing what she was saying.
She nodded, “I mean,” she looked around, as if Sakura wasn’t actively holding Arin back from mauling at Yeji for insinuating such things about Yeonjun, “I know what cheating looks like,”
You breathed in, trying to keep your growing headache at bay, “Is that why you're here? To insinuate some bullshit because your brother did something and now you’re paranoid”
Yeji let out a noise of denial, “How could you say something like that?”
You were going to continue, to keep going, to ask how dare she question Yeonjun’s faithfulness, to ask where the fuck she came up with the idea that you would be the one to make Yeonjun cheat.
As if she is the only one who has been impacted by a family member’s unfaithfulness.
At least she still got both of her parents.
You wanted to tell her all these points, to yell at her, maybe throw a pillow.
But Sakura was tired of holding Arin back, and let her go.
“How dare you,” Arin started walking towards Yeji, “accuse my cousin, my family, of such bullshit.”
Yeji widened her eyes, trying to smile it off, “You misunderstand me, I was just asking-”
Arin put a hand out, “Don’t finish that sentence,” she continued, “I have been nice enough to tolerate you being in Yeonjun’s life despite not giving more than three fucks about you,”
Arin pointed to the door, “So you can get out, and only come back when your ready to apologize not only for insulting my family, but for insulting Y/N for saying she would ever do that to her best friend,”
The room was silent after those words.
Yeji looked around, clearly looking for the sympathy she was used to getting when her cheating brother was brought up, but you couldn’t find yourself to give it to her.
Instead you just shook your head and turned around, walking back to where the kettle had finished boiling the water.
You felt as if your head was about to explode.
Looking back, Yeonjun wasn’t sure how he got into a relationship with Yeji.
He remembers laughing with Wooyoung over Hongjoong’s thumbs up after performing as Dial Tragedy and as he was leaving to ask you how you liked the performance there was a girl in front of him.
When she shyly introduced herself as Yeji, Yeonjun simply said his name back, and invited her backstage - thinking she was lost or looking for someone else.
One small question, “How did you like the show?” turned into an awkward conversation where Yeji was clearly more nervous than Yeonjun.
So he offered her a water bottle and kept making small talk, trying to calm down her visible nervousness.
He had made sure to send Arin a message, something along the lines of joining them later for Choi Cousins Movie Night ™ with Wooyoung as originally planned.
Yeji was nice, she was sweet and funny when she wasn’t nervous. She nervously invited Yeonjun for smoothies at Blue Orangeade and Yeonjun agreed.
He originally thought it would be a harmless hang out, something nice and friendly.
However, that thought changed when he dropped Yeji home out of courtesy and felt her lips on his cheek.
He watched, stunned, as she giggled and skipped back to her front door.
It wasn’t like he didn’t like Yeji.
Over time, the more they talked in their shared classes and over the phone, Yeonjun found himself wanting to make her laugh and wanting to spend time with her.
In fact, he was the one who asked her to be his girlfriend a month after starting to talk to her.
He remembers panicking over how to go about it, asking you if Yeji really liked flowers or if he was reinforcing a stereotype about girls.
You consoled him, ruffling his blue hair as you pushed him to the cherry blossom tree in the park, where he had asked Yeji to meet him.
The rest was history.
He had made sure to integrate Yeji into every part of his life.
He took her to his basketball games, asking her to wear his jersey like he saw in shows. He took her to his favourite restaurants and made sure to learn hers as well.
Then, he did the most important thing: introduce his girlfriend to his friends.
Wooyoung and San were nice to Yeji, and she was sweet to them. They made jokes and sure it wasn’t the stomach clutching humour that happened with just the three of them, it was enough that everyone walked out saying that they had a good time.
The next round of people he introduced to Yeji too was his parents, who seemed to warm up to Yeji within two dinners. Yeonjun’s dad was elated that his son was finally meeting new people while his mom seemed to be wary of this whole relationship, but simply didn’t say anything in front of the couple. Meaning that, his parents had approved this relationship.
The next group he took Yeji to were his cousins. It was a movie night, and you weren’t there because you were helping your grandma bake for the elementary school’s bake sale. Meaning that Yeji was sitting between Yeonjun and Arin, while Beomgyu and Soobin argued over who would survive in the Hunger Games the longest. It looked like everyone was getting along, but when he asked Arin, she would change the topic.
The last person that he introduced to Yeji was with you. Your grandma had caught him leaving the movie night with Yeji and had insisted that the two of them come over for dinner the next week. Which is when you formally met Yeji as his girlfriend.
Yeonjun was the most nervous about this meeting. He didn’t quite know how to act with Yeji around you. He knew that he was affectionate, affectionate enough to simply initiate hugs with you when he felt like it, have his head be patted by any and all grandparents, and accept forehead kisses from Wooyoung in times of crisis.
But he didn’t know how to accept affection for Yeji in front of you.
He told Yeji to wear casual clothing, knowing that you would rather do math homework than dress formally for him.
He showed up in a white sweatshirt with a Snoopy picture on it, accidentally matching Yeji who came in a white top and a pleated black skirt and the dinner started.
The first mistake that happened that night was that he didn’t ask you what you were wearing. Meaning that you opened the door in your matching yellow Woodstock sweatshirt.
Both of your eyes had widened and you both telepathically agreed to not mention the sweaters.
When Yeji walked into the house, Yeonjun had to remember that there was someone with him.
That he couldn't just run into the kitchen and surprise your grandma like he usually does.
Other than that, it was pretty normal.
You asked Yeji how her classes were, immediately joining her in complaining about how Mr. Baek was the meanest science teacher in existence.
Yeonjun smiled at the two of you talking to each other.
As you brought Yeji to the dining table where dinner was getting set up, he went to greet your grandma in the kitchen, asking if she needed help knowing she would just shoo him away.
As he went to the dining table that was only used for special occasions, which Yeonjun smiled at knowing that your family treated him with so much love, he sat down beside Yeji while you sat beside your mom.
Your mom was a complicated thing to Yeonjun.
He knows that he should never judge someone with anything but their personal experiences and your mom has been nothing but sweet to him. But it was obvious that the divorce had taken an impact on her, and no matter how hard she had been trying it wasn’t enough for you to consider her as your main guardian - leaving that role for your grandma to fulfill. At least that was how you explained it when he had asked you a couple of years ago.
Regardless, his heart warmed at the idea that all the members of the L/N family were together under one roof to meet his girlfriend.
The food was absolutely mouth-watering, with your grandma making her signature hamburger steak for everyone to indulge in.
The conversation was nice.
Your grandma cooed over the couple, “You two look so sweet together.” she would let out.
Your mom would engage the two of them in conversation, asking questions such as, “How’s basketball?” to Yeonjun and “Where did you get your cute clothes from?” to Yeji.
You listened, making small comments there and simply allowed the conversation to continue.
Yeonjun had noticed, and he had wanted to ask. However, as your mom and grandma kept joking about “young love” and with Yeji’s hand resting on his leg, Yeonjun couldn’t bring himself to ask.
Dinner slowly transformed into dessert, with your grandma cooking Yeonjun’s favourite, her chocolate chip cookies.
He groaned in delight as he took the first bite of the cookie, hands already moving to greedily take more.
You giggled at his response while Yeji smiled at him, and moved to wipe the chocolate off his lips.
He had paused at that movement.
He looked at Yeji from the corner of his eye and she moved as if it was the most casual thing in the world.
Yeonjun turned to you, as if to see if you had seen that.
However, you were busy pouring Yeonjun and Yeji a glass of milk.
The pattern continued for the rest of the night.
The adults had left, leaving you to put on Big Hero 6 and sit on the couch beside Yeonjun who had Yeji draped on him on the other side.
Yeonjun had stilled at the contact with his girlfriend, not really allowing himself to relax until you sat down.
You were still quiet, you made your usual comments and conversation - but Yeonjun would be a bad friend if he didn’t notice the small silences that you usually hated falling into place.
Regardless, he couldn’t bring himself to ask as Yeji curled more into his side and wrapped the two of them in a blanket.
The “Are you okay?” question that stayed on the tip of his tongue the entire night even as he awkwardly manoeuvred Yeji’s goodbye kiss to not be in front of any of you.
As he waved goodnight to her, he found himself closing the door before she made it to her brother’s car.
He turned around and ran to where you sat on the couch, immediately sitting on top of you and melting into your familiar warmth.
“Are you okay?” he had asked.
You nodded, he felt it in his back where your face was smushed.
He felt the tension in his shoulders release as you nod, and rolled to sit beside you on the couch.
“So,” he said, “What do you think of her?”
You smiled at him, “You’re cute together,”
Yeonjun nodded, “I mean I know I’m the cuter one,”
You let out a laugh and kicked him, making him let out a fake cry of pain.
He didn’t care about noise anymore, knowing that your mom and grandma were used to the random screams they heard when the two of you were together.
“That’s not a nice thing to say about your girlfriend,” you said.
He smiled at you, “Well if you had to choose between me and her, who is cuter?”
You looked at him, “Romantically?” you asked.
He nodded, not even sure where the conversation was going.
“Yeonjun,” you said, “I don’t think I like girls, so the answer would have to be you.”
“So you think I’m cute?” he asked cheekily.
You just swatted him with the pillow beside you.
As Yeonjun laughed he couldn’t help but hope, to whoever was out there, that the two of you would never change.
After your mom left your dad, it was obvious that she hated the idea of love.
She would never sit down to watch The Parent Trap despite it being both of your favourite movies when you were younger.
She would sit and drink while cursing at Disney Princess movies that she claimed “fed her lies about true love and happily ever afters”.
And she would always turn grim the moment a boy’s name would come out of your mouth.
The last one was the most bearable, because the main boy you would talk about was Yeonjun.
Which is why the last thing you wanted to see was your mom after dealing with whatever the fuck Yeji was up to at Arin’s house.
You wanted to go home, have your grandma play with your hair as you dozed off to a random episode of My Little Pony.
But that didn’t happen, because you forgot that your grandma was staying over at her sister’s house which left you — whose heart was hanging by a thread — in the hands of your boy-hating mom.
You sighed as you walked through the front door, silently hoping that your mom was talking to one of her friends so you could just silently exist in your room and try not to think about your best friend and his shitty relationship that you made happen.
Unfortunately, your headache was about to become worse because today your mom was in a happy mood. Meaning she was in a chatty mood, and that everything that you felt and that happened would come out of your mouth within a few seconds.
The closer you got to the stairs, the more clearly you could hear your mom speaking on the phone, so you took it as a sign to bolt upstairs.
The minute you reached your room, you felt tears well up in your eyes.
It had just been a lot recently.
You swallowed down the tears, rubbing at your eyes to hide any trace of them.
You moved to change into comfier clothes, not wanting to change into your pyjamas at 6pm.
You silently moved your way into the familiar motions. You let yourself pick one of the hoodies you had gotten in a couple years ago, but were too worn down to wear outside. You let yourself change into your old gym shorts that the school insisted on you getting for no apparent reason.
You let yourself finally relax into yourself as you shed any physical reminders of the day.
It was only after you deemed yourself warm and comfortable and convinced yourself that you were not going to cry in front of your mom, did you let yourself outside of your room.
You let out a breath and began walking down the steps, following the smell of mac’n’cheese that was being made in the kitchen. The sound of your mom talking had stopped, meaning that there was no escaping any potential questions.
You resigned yourself to your fate as your fuzzy-sock clad feet reached the bottom of the staircase.
As you turned the corner and saw your mom, sitting there and just scrolling on her phone - clearly waiting for you to start serving dinner you felt the tears well up in your eyes again.
Your mom looked at you and smiled at you, “Hey there, sweetie,” she said - in a tone that just made you want to melt.
“Hi mom,” you said, desperately trying to make sure your voice didn’t shake.
As she grinned at you and started heading towards the kitchen you remembered a comment she once made one night after the divorce had been signed, that “Thank god you look just like me,” stuck with you as she cried against her own mother through her heartbreak.
You wondered if she could identify her expression of heartbreak in you.
You swallowed that thought down, wanting to focus on things other than Yeonjun’s failing relationship that you helped enable, and began gathering the bowls and plates needed.
The two of you moved in rhythm, a pattern that was familiar as she set the food out and you set the plates.
On nights like this, when your grandma wasn’t around, your mom would always insist on eating on the couch. Smiling with a childish twinkle in her eyes as she said “The dining room is too fancy for the two of us, isn’t it?”.
Over the years of living at your grandma’s house, you had gotten used to eating on her old comfy couch. You could even eat soup on the couch without it dripping - something Yeonjun still struggled with doing to this day.
You shook the thought away, not wanting to think about him at the moment.
You both settled on the loveseat, moving in similar patterns as you began eating the cheesy goodness in front of you.
You should be relaxed, you were wearing the right clothes, eating the right food, and even sitting in the right place.
But you couldn’t help your voice from shaking as you looked at your mom who was adjusting to the couch as you asked, “Mom, how do you tell someone that they need to break up with someone?”
Your mom looked at you, her smile slightly straining at the question, “What happened?” is all she said.
That was all it took for the tears to fall.
“I” you started, trying to make sure your tears didn’t fall into your food, “I think Yeonjun is in a bad relationship and I need to tell him to get away from it even though,” you took a breath, “I’m the one who started it,” you let out.
You couldn’t look at your mom as she reached out to you, putting her bowl on the coffee table and she moved closer to comfort you.
You didn’t feel it as she gently moved the bowl of mac’n’cheese out of your hands, only recognizing that your hands were free to wipe at the tears staining your face.
The moment you felt her move closer to you was the moment you started sobbing.
She rubbed your back, “Oh, dear” is all she said as she started to rock you back and forth as if you were a baby.
“I,” you hiccuped, “I just don’t know what to do,”
Your mom continued to rub your back, “Y/N” she started in a soft tone, “why are you blaming yourself?”
You shook your head, unable to explain to her that you were the one that told Yeji to start talking to Yeonjun, that you were the one to convince Yeonjun to ask her out, that in certain ways you were the foundation of their relationship.
Your mom didn’t say anything further due to your lack of response, and just moved your head closer to console you.
“Honey,” she said, voice warm and low, “if you sense that someone you love and care for is in a bad relationship,” she paused, swallowing the emotions forming in her throat, “even if it’s a just that they’re in a bad friendship and especially in a bad relationship, they should know that it is bad for them, that it’s going to end horribly,”
You nodded, taking in everything your mom was saying.
You swallowed, “Did you wish someone warned you about dad?”
You felt the sharp inhale that came from your mom, the two of you never talked about him - choosing to silently erase his existence in your lives.
As the shaky exhale was released on to your shoulder, you heard her reply, “I really do wish someone told me, and they did, multiple times when we were dating in fact,” she let out a wet laugh, “all you could do is be the messenger, it’s up to them if they listen,” she said, following it up with a “do you understand sweetheart?”
You nodded.
You made up your mind as you let the last of your tears fall.
You would tell Yeonjun, tell him that he needs to break up with Yeji.
That was the least you could do.
Yeonjun was in the middle of doing his chemistry homework when you called.
Part of him was going to ignore it because he finally understood how to do Hess’s Law, but the other part thought his brain was too fried and deserved a call from you.
Meaning, after three seconds of deliberation - he picked up.
“Hey,” he said casually into his phone.
He heard shuffling on the phone for a moment before your voice came in, “Hey,” you replied, “are you busy?”
Yeonjun looked down at the unfinished worksheet that was due tomorrow, “Nope,” he said, getting up from his desk to sit on his bed.
You laughed, “Did you just give up your homework to talk to me?”
He shushed you through the phone, “Listen” he said grinning into his phone, “out of sight out of mind,”
You hummed in the phone, “Yeah, until I tell your mom your true midterm mark,”
Yeonjun glared at the phone, “Don’t you dare,”
He heard the smile as you said, “I wouldn’t dare,”
He heard you shuffle around some more, “Is everything okay?” he asked.
You hummed, letting a moment of silence fall in between the two of you.
“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned over your lack of talking his ear off as you usually would in calls.
“Um,” you started, “can I tell you something?”
Yeonjun straightened, “Of course,” he replied, “you can tell me anything,”
He heard you nod, and your shaky breath.
“You need to break up with Yeji,” is all you said.
The pause that followed was loud.
He blinked, before sighing, “You’ve noticed too?”
He heard the noise of confusion, “You know?”
Yeonjun hummed as he rolled in his bed, “Wooyoung, San, San’s sister, and I were planning it out a couple hours ago,”
“Oh,” is what you said.
“Why do you think that we should break up though?” he asked, wanting to know what prompted this.
You sighed, “It’s a long story,” you said.
“It’s only 10:30 Y/N,” Yeonjun said, “we have all the time in the world,”
You let out an amused huff, “It’s 10:30, on a school night,”
“Details, details,” he mumbled.
You laughed into the phone.
“Tell me,” he asked again, voice softening as he turned to hug the snoopy pillow your grandma knit for him.
You sighed, “Yeji came to Arin’s today,”
Yeonjun’s eyes widened, “What?”
You continued, “She came to Arin’s because she was looking for me, convinced that you were cheating on her with me,”
Yeonjun blinked, trying to come to terms with what was just said.
“She accused you of what?” he asked again.
“I told her off,” you said, “told her not to project what her brother did onto her own relationship and that she isn’t the only one who’s a victim of cheating, but,” he heard you let out a sigh, “I don’t think it did much to change her possessiveness,"
Yeonjun swallowed, feeling as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.
Part of him felt proud, proud that you handled the situation and defended yourself against what Yeji was saying, and the other part felt cold because how could Yeji say those things to you.
“Did,” his voice shook, “she actually say those things?”
You hummed, “Yep,” you replied.
He looked at his wall that held memorabilia from his life, recently having multiple additions of Yeji.
He swallowed, “I think I’ll break up with her tomorrow,”
Yeonjun couldn’t believe that she would say that to you, to accuse you of doing something so harmful.
You sighed, “I don’t want to pressure you-”
Yeonjun shook his head, “Not pressuring me,” he said, “she can’t say that to you and expect that we’re going to stay together,”
You let out a snort, “You know she’s insulting you too, dumbass,”
Yeonjun let out an insulted noise, “Yeah, but it’s not like she confronted me, you were the one who had to sit through all of that,”
You let out a sigh, “My hero,” you said teasingly, “what would I ever do without you?”
Yeonjun let out a snort, “Great that you find humour in my girlfriend turning against me,”
You laughed, “It’s not funny,” you replied, “just kind of pathetic,”
Yeonjun agreed.
He was about to ask more, to move on to lighter topics before he heard shuffling on your side of the line.
“Listen,” you said after the noise had stopped, “my mom is telling me to go to bed, so that’s what I’m going to do,”
He snorted, “Since when did you start going to bed on time?”
“Since Mr. Song caught me sleeping in the middle of math,” you replied.
He laughed along, yet it felt hollow as he couldn’t remember you telling him about this.
He couldn’t dwell on the thought much longer as you said your goodbye.
Yeonjun wished you a goodnight, and then moved to shove his homework into his bag.
Tomorrow, he was going to break up with Yeji.
Unfortunately for Yeonjun, tomorrow became today and he was currently sitting across from Yeji at Blue Orangeade after school.
He slurped at his blueberry milkshake, as she talked animatedly about this new drama she picked up last night.
‘Last night after accusing me and my best friend of cheating on you,’ is all Yeonjun could think.
After hitting the bottom of his milkshake, he couldn’t handle it anymore.
“Yeji,” he said, placing both his hands on the table.
She giggled sweetly at him, “Yeji?” she asked, “Aren’t I normally babe?”
Yeonjun let out a sigh, trying to think about what San’s sister told him about break ups.
“Don’t be harsh, but don’t soften it up,” is what she had said, “you don’t want them to cry, but you also don’t want them to think there is still a chance,”
He looked at Yeji, “We need to break up,”
Yeji looked at him - her eyes softening and making her look delicate.
“What?” she asked softly.
Yeonjun swallowed any doubt and regret he had and continued, “We need to break up Yeji, it’s not working anymore,”
“What’s not working?” she snapped.
Yeonjun sighed, “Us,” he said, pointing to the two of them.
“We aren’t working?” she repeated.
Yeonjun nodded.
Yeji didn’t back down, “What about us isn’t working? Is it because of how I dress or something?”
Yeonjun shook his head, trying to remember anything from San’s sister’s two hour talk in Wooyoung’s room, but his mind came up blank.
“I just think,” he said, “that we think of this relationship differently,”
“What do you mean,” she exclaimed, “did someone say something? I bet it was Y/N,”
Something inside Yeonjun snapped, “No,” he said, much firmer than before.
“That’s the thing Yeji,” he said, “you always think there’s someone else, that I am being stolen away or that someone is saying something,”
Yeonjun saw Yeji’s lips wobble, so he softened his tone.
“But it’s not like that,” he said, “Y/N’s my best friend, and I have other people I talk to, I’m not only yours.”
Yeji sniffled and Yeonjun squeezed his eyes shut, crying was the last thing he wanted her to do.
“Did you ever like me?” Yeji asked, her voice shaking.
Yeonjun didn’t look up, knowing that he would take it all back at the sight of her tears, “I did, I really did like you Yeji,”
She nodded, “Okay,”
He also nodded, “Okay,”
It was silent for a moment, not a word coming out of Yeji.
Yeonjun took this as his sign to leave, “I’ll pay for your smoothie, okay?” he said.
Yeji nodded, still looking down at her lap.
Yeonjun let out a soft sigh, “Goodbye Yeji,”
And then he left.
It was funny watching Yeonjun panic.
You watched as he begged the teacher to round his mark, to turn his 84% to an 85% because it was the final push he needed to have a competitive edge to get into his dream university.
It wasn’t that Mr. Baek hated Yeonjun specifically. He simply disliked all his students equally.
Which is why it is equally amusing and embarrassing watching Yeonjun get down to his knees and plead for the one percent increase.
Mr. Baek seemed equally as lost as you, as he turned to you who was standing at the door for help.
Yeonjun didn’t relent, closing his eyes and preparing himself to do a full bow to his teacher to raise his grade by one percent.
The old man’s eyes widened as Yeonjun took the motion to bow down, shaking his head as he exclaimed “Okay!” and moved to the computer to change Yeonjun’s grade.
Yeonjun got up slowly, ready to go back down and stain his jorts in case Mr. Baek decided to switch up on him. However as he watched Mr. Baek shakily changed his chemistry grade, he got up beaming, and shaking his teacher’s hand.
He smiled in your direction, putting his arm around your shoulder as he steered you away from his chemistry classroom and towards the exit of the school building.
When he was far enough that there was no possible way for Mr. Baek to hear him, he looked at you and grinned, “And that is how to raise your grade, despite everyone saying you can’t”
You raised your eyebrow at him.
“Have you done this often?” you asked, not really expecting an answer.
However, the silence that followed told you everything you needed to know.
You pinched your nose and sighed, “I won’t tell you mom about this” you said, “only if you get me bubble tea like right now,”
Yeonjun turned to you, still smiling at you, “Whatever you want madam,” and jokingly bowed as he skipped ahead to jump Wooyoung from behind.
You laughed as you watched the other boy shriek, and hit Yeonjun in response.
It was nice seeing the Yeonjun you grew up with back.
Of course he was different, he had more sentimental moments around you, and hugged you a little more often than usual.
But it didn’t matter as he sat beside you in the booth at Deja Brew, sliding your favourite drink while he got his brown sugar milk tea with pearls.
“I’m so fucking tired,” he exclaimed the moment he sat down.
You hummed as you punched the straw in the cup, “About anything in particular or?”
Yeonjun just sighed and laid on the table, letting his blue streaked hair fall on his face.
You pouted at him in sympathy, and moved your hand to pat his long hair.
“It’s just,” he moved to sit up, “my mom and dad keep asking me everyday if I heard back from a university yet, and” he looks down at his lap, “I don’t really know how to tell them that I haven’t heard a single word from any university yet,”
You hummed, “Has anyone else?” you asked gently.
He let out a dry laugh, as if the thought had been plaguing him, “It feels like everyone else has,”
You nodded, making the move to punch the straw in his drink and move it to him, “Well, I know Arin got hers last week,”
Yeonjun perked up, “Really?”
You gave him his drink and continued, “Yep,” you said, popping the ‘p’. “She was so fucking scared that she hadn’t heard back that she actually cried in my arms when she got her acceptance,”
Yeonjun snorted, a small look of disbelief, “Arin cried?”
You let out a noise of confirmation while sipping your drink.
“There’s no way,” Yeonjun said, and he took a sip of his drink, “Do you know where?”
“I think it was Yonsei?” you said, scratching your head. It wasn’t that you weren’t paying attention when she hugged you and cried into your arms about her acceptance, but it was safe to say you were much more in shock at the tears forming in the eyes of the girl who has never cried in front of you before.
Yeonjun nodded, absorbing the information, before taking his drink and just chugging it.
You snorted, assuming that chugging his drink was just a new habit that Wooyoung had coerced into him, but it wasn’t until Yeonjun’s shoulders began to shake that you worried.
Since you were sitting beside him, you weren’t able to see his face clearly, which is why your heart fell to your stomach as you saw a small tear fall down the curve of his cheek.
“Yeonjun,” you said quietly, hoping that it was just one tear, but when his shoulders began to shake more violently and his head curled further into himself, it was apparent that this was happening.
Yeonjun was crying.
In your four years of knowing each other, Yeonjun had genuinely cried in front of you only three times.
The first time was when he failed his first math test in ninth grade, knowing he was average but his first true taste of anything below seventy hit him harder than he thought it ever would. You watched him as your grandma politely shoved cookies in his mouth and rubbed his back before he told his parents.
The second time he cried was when he had been sick for three weeks and he was just tired. He wanted to go outside, he wanted to go to school, he wanted to do anything besides laying down on his bed. When you came over with your grandma’s famous tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches he started crying on the dining table wrapped in the Hello Kitty Blanket you and Arin had gotten him as a joke.
The third time he let tears fall down his eyes was when Soobin almost got arrested. Yeonjun had the most faith in Soobin to make good choices, but one mean comment from a senior caused the younger Choi to spiral and aspire to make other friends. Friends that ended up being dangerous. Yeonjun was in the middle of watching the Twilight movies for the nth time with you when he got the call from Soobin, that he was at a party and that there were people doing “white powder" as he politely called it. You have never watched Yeonjun get up so quickly and ran to catch up to him as you both grabbed your bikes to get to Soobin. Soobin was fine, but Yeonjun was not as he yelled at Soobin for the first time ever. After tucking Soobin into your bed, you went to check on Yeonjun, who laid his head on your shoulder and cried. You didn’t know what to do, so instead you just hugged him and reminded him that Soobin was safe in your bed.
The fourth time he cried was right now.
You didn’t know what to do.
You were the one who usually cried, and he usually comforted you.
Your hand hesitated, as you weren’t sure whether you should stroke his hair or pat his back.
You gulped as you moved closer, letting your arms wrap around him.
Making sure not to move him from his position, you laid yourself on his and started humming the first song that came into your head, which unfortunately for you was the My Little Pony theme song.
You continued humming, not telling him to stop crying, nor telling him to let it out.
You simply wanted him to be.
A few more silent sobs came out from your friend, but you didn’t flinch when you felt his body shake, instead you just kept humming as if that was the only thing you knew how to do.
It wasn’t until four My Little Pony theme songs later did you hear a few sniffles and a small wet laugh, followed by a “Is that the My Little Pony Theme Song?”
You nodded against his back and just kept humming.
He swallowed, moving to take a sip of your drink.
“I think I just burned fifty calories from that cry,” he joked.
You lifted yourself from him, keeping your arms wrapped around him, “I don’t think crying burns that many calories,” you whispered to him.
It might be odd to say, but Yeonjun was a pretty crier.
His sparkly eyes somehow looked even brighter through the tears. His cheeks became pink which gave him a soft glow.
He looked beautiful.
You gulped, swallowing the thought down.
“You're going to get into a university, Yeonjun,” you said.
He nodded, closing his eyes and letting out a shaky breath.
You fully untangled yourself from him and knocked your knee against his.
He hummed, “I know,” he said coarsely.
“Do you want to check right now?” you asked softly.
He turned to you, “Why would I do that?” he asked, voice a little sharper than earlier.
You shrugged, “The tears are already there,” you said, “might as well let them out in one go,”
Yeonjun looked at you, before shrugging and taking his phone out.
He put the phone in between the two of you and handed his phone over to you as he opened his email.
“You look,” he said, “I don’t want to be the one who finds out first,”
You gulped nervously, as if him getting into university were now completely up to you.
You took the phone, and scrolled through the list of emails, looking from the bottom up and letting yourself fully look at each notification.
The list of shopping deals, and sketchy job applications meant nothing to you as you saw the Yonsei notification sitting at top.
You nervously pressed it, letting one hand hold Yeonjun’s.
You skimmed through the text that introduced the university, scrolling until you got to the part where it said
Dear Mr Yeonjun Choi,
We are pleased to announce your acceptance into our Business and Marketing Program at Yonsei University. We are pleased to have you in our campus -
That was all you read before you jumped into Yeonjun’s arms.
Yeonjun just sat still, “Good or bad?” is all he weakly muttered.
You smiled, trying to keep your own emotions in check, “I don’t know, Choi Yeonjun of Yeonsei, “ you smiled at him, “did you?”
Yeonjun gulped, his eyes watery as you looked at him.
“Really?” he asked.
You nodded, losing your hold on him so he could read the email himself.
You watched as his eyes widened and as he slammed his phone down.
He looked at you, his eyes watering once again.
You just smiled at him, making sure that despite how wet you could feel your eyes getting he could see that you were so fucking proud of him.
“I got in?” he asked, in disbelief.
You laughed at him, feeling the pride in your best friend take over the embarrassment of being this emotional in a Deja Brew booth.
You nodded as you moved to hug him.
He wrapped his arms around you, reminding you of when the two of you would hug each other after being scared shitless from watching any of the Scream movies.
You didn’t even mind the wet drops of what were croaked out to be “Happy tears,” by him.
You were just so proud of your best friend.
Yeonjun established that high school was the best when there was nothing to worry about.
By May, the panic that had haunted the senior class all year had finally settled. Acceptance letters had been opened. Decisions had been made. Futures had stopped being question marks.Of course there were the people who were going to Harvard, and to other countries. There were also people who decided they were taking a year off. But, Yeonjun found it hard to care, especially after it was confirmed that he, Wooyoung, and San were all going to Yonsei together.
Everyday after finding out was viewed with a lens of rainbows and sparkles, because there was no other way to describe how light he felt.
He didn’t make an effort to talk to or even see Yeji, he knew that seeing her and her apparent break up mood would make him go back to her, and the last thing he wanted was to end his high school life on a bitter note.
Another thing that made the end of high school so much more sweeter was the fact that the teachers had stopped giving a fuck after the last round of acceptances were passed.
That is what led Yeonjun and Wooyoung, who were supposed to be in economics, to be sitting in San’s biology class and whispering obnoxiously loud so the teacher, Mrs. Song could at least say an effort was made.
It was a work period, which meant that San shouldn’t be doing any work, which was why Yeonjun and Wooyoung were slowly coaxing the boy to let go of his pencil and notebook and instead join them in watching When I Fly Towards You like real men.
San relented, choosing to instead study the molecular basis of inheritance.
Whatever that meant.
“Come on, San,” Yeonjun nudged him, poking at his friend’s notebook with a pencil he found.
“Yeah,” Wooyoung joined him after propping his phone against San’s purple water bottle, “your already into a university, the teacher doesn’t even care, so why the fuck are you working?”
San just glanced at the two of them and looked back down, “My acceptances are conditional you know,”
Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrow, “You have a 98, I think you’re fine”
San put his pencil down, “I already watched that show,” he said.
“Great,” Wooyoung said, “you already know what to expect, so we can all watch it,”
San pursed his lips, oddly stiff as he shook his head.
Yeonjun deflated, realizing they were losing time to watch the sickeningly sweet couple.
San shook his head, gripping his notebook tighter, “I can’t,” he whispered.
Yeonjun shared a look with Wooyoung, “What do you mean you can’t?”
San swallowed, “I can’t, because,” he looked around to check if anyone was listening, “I cried when they finally got together,”
Yeonjun blinked.
It was no secret that San was a softie, that he cared too much and that his heart was falling off his sleeve, but this was a new level of softness.
Yeonjun just turned to look at Wooyoung, who was stifling a laugh.
Which caused the two of them to let out a laugh together, much to the embarrassment of San’s pink ears.
“You cried?” Wooyoung asked teasingly.
“Shut up,” San muttered.
Yeonjun was just giggling at his friends.
God, he thought, I really hope this stays forever.
Another thing that Yeonjun had established was his seniority.
And the fact that he was graduating meant that he could officially boss Soobin and Beomgyu around and they couldn’t say anything to their parents. After all, seeing how Doyoung was treated after getting accepted to Seoul National University, Yeonjun knew that whatever he said - the parents would be on his side.
That is what he was out to do now.
There was no point anymore in going to Mr. Baek’s class as he had insisted his class doesn’t show up for his sanity.
Who was Yeonjun to deny his teacher’s wishes?
He walked in the school halls, deciding that he would drop by and bother Soobin in his gym class, knowing that the teacher would never say no to one of his star basketball players.
As he walked into the gym hallway, the sight he was met with made him laugh.
Soobin was clutching his forehead, his face completely red. Beomgyu was recording and laughing. And, somehow, it seemed as though even you were struggling not to laugh as you gently pressed an ice pack to whatever part of Soobin's face you could reach.
He walked up to you, not even bothering to mask his footsteps as even he struggled to hold in the laughs that were bubbling out of his chest.
“What the fuck happened to you?” he asked Soobin.
All he got in response was a groan from his lanky cousin.
You and Beomgyu let out a giggle at Soobin’s response.
Yeonjun nudged Beomgyu with his foot, asking for a response.
Beomgyu snapped one more picture and turned to him, teeth fully on display with his wide smile, “Soobin got hit with like three balls in the face at once,”
That was all it took.
The three of you doubled over laughing while Soobin groaned louder.
“How does that even happen,” Yeonjun asked, settling on the other side of Soobin.
It was you who responded, “The teacher decided to let us do boys vs. girls dodgeball”
He snorted, “I guess Soobin is popular with the ladies,”
Beomgyu giggled at the comment, taking his phone and taking a selfie with Soobin’s red face with Yeonjun throwing a peace sign in the background.
Beomgyu giggled at the comment, taking his phone and taking a selfie with Soobin’s red face with Yeonjun throwing a peace sign in the background.
Soobin looked at the three of you in disbelief.
"Can one of you at least pretend to care?"
"I gave you an ice pack," you said.
"You were laughing while giving me the ice pack."
You paused, "Okay, but I still gave it to you."
Soobin looked as if he wanted to argue with that logic, but ultimately decided against it as you were still gently patting the ice pack against his red cheek.
Yeonjun was having far too much fun, as seeing Soobin get hit by three dodgeballs at once was objectively funny.
"I'm just trying to figure out the physics of it," Yeonjun said.
Soobin groaned.
"No, seriously," Yeonjun continued. "One ball? Sure. Two balls? Unfortunate. But three?"
"Leave me alone."
"That's statistically impressive."
"Yeonjun."
"Did they coordinate?"
"Yeonjun."
"Was there a group chat?"
Beomgyu nearly dropped his phone laughing.
"Maybe they sensed weakness."
"Maybe," Soobin replied, "I'm about to throw this ice pack at your face."
Yeonjun immediately leaned back, “Like you can even aim properly,”
"I got hit in the head."
"And now you're threatening a senior citizen."
Soobin stared at him.
"You're eighteen."
"Exactly," Yeonjun said. "Practically ancient."
You watched as Beomgyu took yet another picture.
"What are you even doing with those?" you asked.
"Memories."
"Blackmail," Soobin corrected.
Beomgyu thought about it.
"Two things can be true at once."
The three of you broke out in laughter once more.
Yeonjun would rather die than admit he missed going to school with his cousins, but he would be lying if it wasn’t true.
The last thing Yeonjun established in the final months of high school was that he would miss you.
He laid there in your lap, reading a Spiderman comic that he found in the school library while you did your Business homework on your bed.
It wasn't until your phone vibrated with a notification and you paused your writing to check it that you finally spoke.
“Do you know what you're doing for prom?”
Yeonjun hummed, looking up at you, “I mean,” he smacked his lips, “I’m going to go,”
He flinched as you lightly smacked his forehead, “No shit,”
Yeonjun laughed at your tired tone, “Well what do you want me to say?”
You sighed, “I meant who are you going with?”
Yeonjun stilled, to be honest he hadn’t actually thought about it.
You nodded, putting your homework away and leaned against the bed frame.
“I guess you were planning to go with Yeji,” you said, moving to play with his hair.
Yeonjun moved his head, letting you play with his hair, “I guess?”
“I guess?” He shifted. “I don't know. When we were dating, I wasn't really thinking that far ahead.”
He heard you hum as if you did know.
“I think,” he continued, “that I’m done with romance for the next bit,”
“Really?” you asked.
He nodded against your lap, “I think I’m going to go with Arin,”
You choked on your spit, “Isn’t that weird,”
Yeonjun laughed at your reaction, “Actually, when we were younger Arin made me promise to take her to prom, saying I was the only boy in our grade that didn’t have cooties,”
You giggled, “That’s cute,”
He hummed, “I think we were like six years old,”
Yeonjun remembers the moment clearly. Soobin and Beomgyu were considered too young for Yeonjun and Arin to talk to, meaning that at family events the two would stick together. This family event in particular happened the night of Doyoung’s prom, and Arin watched with starry eyes as he put a corsage on his girlfriend at the time.
He remembers nudging Arin, telling her that one day a boy would kiss her on the lips during prom. She cried so hard, she lost her voice. Which meant the next time they met, he promised that he would take her to prom, so she wouldn’t have to kiss any boy at her prom.
He turned to you, feeling your hands still in his hair.
“Y/N,” he said, “are you okay?”
You smiled down at him, “Your hair is black now?”
He blinked, sitting up from his position, trying to move past your quick change in topic.
He nodded, “Yeah, my mom refused to let me touch my hair since the blue started growing out, so I just let it grow out to be black,”
You hummed, “Maybe you should cut it to be like one of those heartthrob boys we see in 2000s movies,”
He smiled gently at you, moving his hands to gently take yours out of his hair, “Is everything okay?”
He watched as you slumped your shoulders, giving him a small smile, “I’m going to be honest,” you started, “part of me thought we would go together.”
Yeonjun blinked, he hadn’t really considered you as an option.
“Are you not going?” he asked.
You furrowed your eyebrows, “Prom is only for twelfth graders, I’m only in eleventh grade Yeonjun,”
“Oh,” was all he could let out.
To be honest, Yeonjun always thought of you to be there, no matter what.
He gulped, “I can ask Wooyoung to take,” and you cut him off, “I don’t need to be part of every milestone in your life Jjun.”
He pouted, “But I want you to be,”
You smiled at him, “It’s okay, I promise not to take you to my prom,”
Yeonjun looked at you, he agreed with you, you didn’t have to be with him all the time but that didn’t erase that fact that he wanted you to be.
“Fine,” he shook his hand with yours, “you won’t be my date to prom and I won’t be yours,”
You nodded, smiling at him and putting your fingers through his hair, “Get a haircut,” is all you said.
He did the mature thing and simply blew a raspberry to your face.
Yeonjun would never confess, but a part of him wanted to be your prom date.
As friends of course.
When Wooyoung asked you to prom, you laughed in his face.
In your defense it was 11 AM, the week before prom and you were in the middle of completing your final project for art class when the knock came on the door.
When you swung open the door, frustrated that your painting didn’t match the stupid expectations that the art teacher had forced onto you. It felt like she was grading you like you were the next Monet.
Which means that when you swing open your grandma’s front door aggressively, the last thing you expected to see was Wooyoung there with a bouquet of forget-me-not’s dressed in a slightly more formal hoodie than his usual zip-up.
Wooyoung stared at you as you laughed at his bouquet.
He rolled his eyes, “Can you at least hear me out before you kill my dignity?”
You stifled your giggles, “What the hell are you doing here Wooyoung?”
He cleared his throat, and brought the flowers to you, “I, Jung Wooyoung, am asking you, Y/N L/N to be my prom that is next weekend.”
You stared at him, stifling another snort that was threatening to escape you.
He stared at you, “Can you answer?” he swayed the bouquet in front of your face, “This cost me like thirty bucks,”
Your eyes widened, “Thirty bucks?”
He nodded solemnly, “Thirty bucks just to have you reject me,”
You liked Wooyoung, maybe not as much as Soobin, and definitely not as much as Yeonjun. Simply put, Wooyoung was always there for you. When the two of you first started crashing Choi Cousins Movie Night ™ when you were thirteen, he was the first one to share his blanket with you, the first one to admit he was scared with you, and the first one who hugged you goodbye.
Which is why, you didn’t find yourself hesitating when you answered “Yes Wooyoung, I’ll go to prom with you,”
His smile was enough to make her forget about her art project for a moment, as you accepted the flowers with him.
Taking in a small whiff of the flowers made you look at the happy boy, your prom date, and ask, “Why are you asking me anyways?”
He leaned against the brick wall and shrugged, “I mean your cool and pretty,” he said, “besides, it would be pretty weird to go to something like prom without you, considering you’ve always been with us since forever ago,”
You gave Wooyoung a smile, “Well, thank you Woo,” you said.
He gave a little salute, “Anything for one of my favourite girls,”
“Favourtie girl?” you asked, raising an eyebrow, finding it hard to explain why your heart beat a little faster at the term.
“Between you and Arin, your the nicer one,” he said, grinning, “that means your my favourite,”
You nodded, “Well, your my favourite non-Choi then,”
He laughed, before doing a fake bow, “What a great honour,”
You laughed as he began walking away. “You’re not going to stay?”
Wooyoung shook his head, “San promised me that he would let me try my cooking skills at his house since my mom banned me,” he said.
“Banned you since you put ketchup in ramen?” you asked teasingly.
Wooyoung playfully glared at you, “I was simply being curious,”
You nodded, playing along with his cheeky tone, “Right, and that committing crimes against food means being curious,”
“Don’t hate it until you try it,” he replied.
You simply laughed, “I’ll see you later?”
He nodded, “I’ll message you tonight so we can coordinate colours, that way you and Arin can go tomorrow,”
You brought the bouquet close to you, “Bye Woo,”
He waved, “Bye Y/N,”
You watched him as he took his bike and rode off to San’s house.
You closed the door and let out a small squeal of joy.
It wasn’t everyday a girl gets asked to prom.
Yeonjun didn’t understand why prom was a big deal.
In his experience, high school dances were the epitome of mid.
Nothing really happened because the teachers were watching like they were paid to prevent kids from being close together, and the kids were too self-conscious to fully let loose.
But he didn’t dare say anything when he wore his black suit with a black tie and a corsage made with purple flowers pinned to his chest pocket, matching Arin’s desire to wear a purple dress to match her favourite lily flower.
As he walked down the stairs to see Arin’s mom “fix” Arin’s hair, much to his cousin’s disappointment.
He found himself pausing when he saw you laughing at Arin’s puffed out cheeks in response to her mother’s actions.
You looked beautiful.
He almost forgot to blink, but caught himself as he gracefully tripped down the last three steps in his house.
Yeonjun has never actually seen you in formal wear ever.
You tried to dress nicely around him for the first year, but the more he would come over unannounced the less you would put in the effort.
Meaning that he normally saw you in sweatpants and a tshirt, and occasionally a skirt if Arin forced you.
However seeing you in a baby blue dress with your hair beautifully styled.
Yeonjun didn’t really know what to do with the sight.
He simply watched from the edge of the staircase, as you twirled in your dress for Arin as both of your mom’s took pictures.
Long enough for one picture.
Then another.
He wanted to ask why you were here, why you were wearing that dress, but nothing came out of his mouth.
Instead, Arin called him over, affectionately telling him to “Hurry the fuck up dumbass,”
Clearly knowing there would be no consequences with her swearing at Yeonjun on one of her self-acclaimed most special days of her life.
He let out a light laugh as he let her drag him to take pictures, making you move to the side as you laughed at how Arin made Yeonjun pose.
It was easy to ignore how pretty you looked, when he was letting Arin move his arms around her waist like they did in all the movies.
But, you became harder to ignore when Arin dragged you in and attached to your hand was Wooyoung.
He blinked, staring at your intertwined hands.
He furrowed his eyebrows, “When did-” he was cut off by Arin who told everyone to smile for the photos.
Which means he was forced to ignore the fact that your dress matched his tie, and that the flowers around your corsage matched his boutonniere. And that he was forced to smile as he watched his two closest friends giggle as they struggled to hold hands at a comfortable angle.
A few more pictures were snapped, and all Yeonjun could focus on was how good you looked smiling with Wooyoung beside you.
It warmed his heart slightly, to see his closest friends so happy together.
When Arin was finally satisfied with the amount of pictures taken, she turned to you, “Are you going to take a couple pictures?”
Yeonjun watched as you and Wooyoung made eye contact and burst into giggles, “We already took way too many at Woo’s house,” you giggled out.
Arin gasped, “And you haven’t shown me?”
You laughed as you moved to get your phone, “Warning, we’re laughing in most of them,”
Yeonjun watched as you dragged Arin, laughing as your complimentary nail polish contrasted against Arin’s skin.
“Hey,” Wooyoung casually said.
Yeonjun smiled at Wooyoung, “Hey,”
There was a moment of silence, before Wooyoun nudged Yeonjun.
“Excited?” he asked.
Yeonjun nodded, before turning to his friend, “When did you invite Y/N?”
Wooyoung shrugged, “Last weekend,” he replied casually, “felt wrong not to have her there,”
Yeonjun nodded along, “That’s nice,”
Wooyoung turned to look at Yeonjun, “There’s nothing wrong with that?” he asked, “Like it’s okay that I asked her?”
"Yeah," Yeonjun said, a little too quickly for his liking, "Why wouldn't it be?"
Wooyoung smacked his lips, “Good,” he said, “she’s really nice,”
Yeonjun swallowed, unsure why he was feeling uncomfortable with this conversation, “You two look cute together,”
Wooyoung laughed, “It’s not like that,” he told Yeonjun, “she’s just a really good friend who has always been there,”
Yeonjun smiled at Wooyoung, trying to avoid explaining why the thought of you just being friends with Wooyoung made him feel lighter.
The two stayed silent, taking in the fact that they were going to prom.
It wasn’t until you called them, “Come on,” you said grinning, “it’s going to start soon,”
You laughed along with Arin when she whispered a joke in your ear and let her drag you to Arin’s car, as she was the only one who had a license.
Wooyoung put his hand out to Yeonjun, “Let’s go jagiya,” he asked dramatically.
Yeonjun playfully rolled his eyes, “Let’s go, jagiya,” he repeated back.
The two boys giggled before seating themselves in the car beside their date.
Yeonjun didn’t look at you with Wooyoung, not because he didn’t want to, but because it wasn’t any of his concern.
It didn’t even matter to him that you and Wooyoung were claiming to be best friends, you two looked happy together.
And Yeonjun always wished that you would look that happy.
You had the hardest task of all today, getting Yeonjun to his graduation on time.
You sighed as you were dressed in some of your nicer clothes at 7:30 in the morning, waiting outside the bedroom door of the graduate.
“Choi Yeonjun,” you said.
There was not a sound coming through the door.
You sighed, and knocked on the door a little bit more aggressively than needed.
“Yeonjun, I swear to god if you are not awake and ready right now, I will make Mr. Baek takes his grade back just to make you stay another year.”
No response.
It was currently 7:31.
You felt frustration rise again and you raised your foot to kick the door.
By your third kick, the door swung open, almost causing you to fall.
You let out a hiss as you struggled to get back on to balance.
You turned to glare at the culprit, only to fumble as you were met with Yeonjun whose hair was stuck up in different directions, and with his tie rumpled up as though it was trying to run away from him.
You furrowed your eyebrows to him, “What the fuck happened to you?”
Yeonjun looked at you, the pout already formed on his lips, “I’m graduating,”
You crossed your arms, “We’ve established that Yeonjun,”
He swallowed, “No,” he said, “I’m graduating today,”
You sighed, “In thirty minutes actually,”
His eyes widened, "Thirty minutes?” he asked in a small voice.
You nodded, “We don’t have time to have you spiral and then get ready,” you said. You moved into his bedroom, grabbing his comb from his desk, ‘good thing your already dressed,”
You made quick work to move Yeonjun on to his desk chair, making him sit there as you combed his black hair.
“You got a haircut?” you asked.
He nodded absentmindedly, “My mom said she would kill me if I didn't have nice, decent hair when I graduate,”
You snorted.
“Smart woman.”
Yeonjun glared at you through the mirror, but it lacked any real heat.
“You were literally the one complaining about my hair.”
“Because it looked horrible.”
“Wow.”
“I'm serious.”
He rolled his eyes as you continued combing through the stubborn strands that had somehow managed to stick up despite him clearly attempting to tame them before opening the door.
“You’ll be fine, Yeonjun,” you said as you combed on the last strand, moving so you could be in front of him.
He swallowed and nodded, “I know,” he whispered.
You smiled at him, making him stand up so you could properly tie his tie, a skill you developed when Yeonjun insisted on being Men in Black three years ago.
“I’ll be one phone call away,” you said, moving your fingers from muscle memory.
Yeonjun whispered again, “I know,”
You straightened his tie, “We still have the summer together,”
Yeonjun let out a breath, “I know,”
You dusted his jacket and moved to check the time, 7:45.
For someone who kept insisting he was fine, Yeonjun looked awfully relieved to have you bossing him around.
You smiled at him, dragging him out by his arm to take him downstairs where his parents and your grandma were waiting.
“Let’s go, graduate,” you said gently.
The actual ceremony itself was kind of boring, especially because most of the people you cared about were done by the letter ‘C’, with the exception of Wooyoung.
You didn’t cry when Arin got her diploma, knowing that the girl had been aching to get out of high school the minute her senior year started. But, you did feel your chest become heavy when you watched Yeonjun get his diploma handed to him.
You smiled and cheered for all of them, reminding yourself that they weren’t dying and knowing it would just be another year until you’ll be with them again.
The emotions that you felt didn’t come until you found yourself arguing with Beomgyu over what was the most appropriate movie to put on tonight at Choi Cousins Movie Night ™. You were arguing High School Musical Three, and he was arguing Superbad, a movie you thought he was too young to see.
“You know I’m only one year younger than you,” he argued.
You hushed him and shoved popcorn in his mouth to shut him up.
This argument would have probably continued until Soobin just let out a dry, loud, cough. “Excuse me,” he said, “as the person who set up most of the pillows, snacks, and drinks,” he gestured to the living room, “and the person whose house is being used, I think I get the right to choose,”
Meaning that you and Beomgyu pouted as Soobin announced that they would be watching The Dead Poets Society.
“I don’t even know why Soobin picked this movie,” you whispered to Yeonjun, who you were sharing a blanket with, “he knows that we’re all going to cry.”
Yeonjun laughed, “I think San already shed a tear,” he said, pointing to Wooyoung and San who were huddled together across from the two of you.
You shook your head, “If they cry, then Arin’s going to get upset,” you said, gesturing to the girl who was laying on Sakura as they were giggling about their nails.
Yeonjun shrugged, “Whatever happens we blame Soobin?”
“Deal,” you whispered back.
The movie started, letting the opening credits play.
A moment later you felt a weight on your shoulder.
You smiled as you felt Yeonjun’s hair tickle your neck.
You really would miss him, even if he was one phone call away.
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GIRLLLLLL if you don't go to that cortis tour i'm gonna beat you
i was just looking at it and apparently they're banning all recording materials except for cell phones, and if they catch you recording/taking pictures they're gonna force you to delete it.
and idk about international dates but in korea both standing and sitting prices are at just under 100 usd
GRAHHH I WAS LITERALLY THINKING ABT THIS
like idk i lowky wanna go to bnd more because im more attached to them but the next time cortis comes the prices are gonna be high af
AND ALSO LIKE hybe genuinely chose the smallest venues possible for these groups in canada like what the freak
IDK like cortis seems fun but bnd :((((
ticketing is next wednesday so like i guess we'll see ???
i understand why south korea is using txts parenting diary as child propaganda as i too would want to get a man pregnant after watching tubatu take care of yoojun
it starts in like the medieval era and like a story of how a concubine or one of kings wives thought that the king loved her and only her and was banished as she was caught proclaiming her love for him and in return she cursed his daughter to die evertime she finds love for the daughter's next seven lives...
then the story continues as like the reader (which is the cursed daughter) falls in love with male! idol but they keep dying everytime they feel at peace with their love
like a princess x knight story, arranged marriage for political families, competing bakeries in like 1900s, and then like maybe a nerd x popular trope for the 80s, a 1920s mafia au,
and then it comes to present day, where the reader and male idol are like researching these deaths of these couples and this supposed curse and its their eighth life together and as they research them they like unknowingly recreate moments from their past lives together and the moment tehy kiss all their lives come back to them amd the live happily ever after
potential idols for this : beomgyu, taehyun, seonghwa, sunghoon
sorry to be a broken record every month but christ menstruation is a stupid concept. oooooh excuse me for not getting pregnant, why the fuck is there goo falling out of me about it? grow the fuck up and reabsorb that shit for nutrients.