prompt: "is that cashier staring at you?"

took some liberties. smol drabble.

“Jongup.”

            “Jongup.”

            Youngjae ruffles his hair and blows out a tired sigh. “We didn’t come here to buy out the entire cereal aisle,” he says, pulling at Jongup’s arm. Jongup doesn’t budge.

            “Do you think it’s socially acceptable to have off-brand Cheerios for dinner?”

            Youngjae raises and eyebrow. “Socially acceptable? No. Legal? Unfortunately, yes.”

            “Sound good to me,” Jongup says tiredly, shrugging. He reaches forward to grab a box of processed oats.

            “Oh, no you don’t,” Youngjae grabs his wrist and takes the second in which Jongup is caught off guard to haul him away from the shelf. “Unluckily for you, it hasn’t been dinner time for about five hours.”

            “But for tomorrow–”

            “No.” Youngjae ignores Jongup’s pout, and keeps his eyes steeled ahead, looking for the right aisle.

            Jongup sighs, too tired to argue further, and lets himself be towed through the store. Youngjae keeps talking, but Jongup isn’t listening. Youngjae looks over once inquisitively, but Jongup’s got no idea what the question was, so he just nods and pushes his glasses up with one finger, and Youngjae seems satisfied as he continues his rant.

            To be totally honest, Jongup’s got no idea what they came here for. He thinks he remembers Himchan saying something about not having enough food––or maybe it was beer, he doesn’t know. But whatever it is, he and Youngjae were sent to the grocery store to retrieve some. Who knows why Jongup was elected to go, as he considers himself most definitely not the most useful friend at the hour of 1 in the morning; he’d be snoozing deeply on Yongguk’s couch, suffocating a pillow––or maybe Daehyun––in his arms right now if not here.

            Youngjae has stopped walking, and Jongup moves away from him to lean back on a near-empty display of watermelons, folding his arms across his chest. He loses the will-power to keep his eyes open and lets them fall closed, only to jolt up, startled, and knock a large melon to the ground when Youngjae kicks him in the shin. They both jump, and watch as the fruit rolls lethargically down the aisle before coming to a painfully slow stop at the base of an abandoned shopping cart.

            “Whoops.”

            Youngjae’s face finds a home in the palm of his hand.

            Jongup retrieves the watermelon.

            “I guess we should take it,” he suggests.

            “Jongup, that’s illegal. It’s ‘you break you buy,’ not ‘you break you take’.”

            “That’s got a nice ring to it.” Jongup squats down and picks up the watermelon. “But it’s also not what I meant, literally speaking.”

            “…well, you’re paying for it.”

            “I was gonna pay anyway, dork.” Jongup rises from the floor, watermelon balanced on his head with the help of one hand keeping it steady. “You forgot your wallet.”

            Youngjae pats his pockets. Dammit.

            Jongup notices that Youngjae’s arms are empty, and raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t find whatever it is we came here for?”

            “Nah,” Youngjae shoves his hands into his pockets. “Let’s just give Himchan the watermelon. I’m sure it’ll make do.”

            “Sounds good to me.”

            “Jongup, please take the melon off your head. People are giving us looks.”

            “There’s no one here, Jae. It’s one in the morning.”

            Youngjae jerks his head, motioning to the right. “The cashier is hard-core judging you.”

            “So?”

            Youngjae sighs. “Just give it to me,” he mumbles, snatching the watermelon from Jongup’s head.

            “Wait, I know that kid,” Jongup says, stopping Youngjae as he shifts to cradle the watermelon in his arms.

            “Okay?”

            “He’s in one of my intermediate classes. A year younger, but he skipped the intro course.”

            Youngjae scanned the cashier. He wasn’t looking at them anymore; instead fiddling with a loose thread on his polo shirt, blinking tiredly, brows knotted in concentration as he twirled the string around his index finger.

            “Him?”

            “I know, right? He’s so tall. I wish––”

            “No, not––never mind. Let’s just go and bring this stupid melon back.” Youngjae makes his way to the counter, Jongup close on his heels, pulling a five-dollar bill from his pocket.

            “Do you want a bag for this?”

            Despite sharing a class with Junhong, Jongup doesn’t think he’s ever actually heard the boy speak until now. His voice is quiet and shy-sounding, just as Jongup would have assumed it to be. He seems tired, too.

            “No, that’s okay,” Jongup answers before Youngjae can reply.

            “Gonna carry it back on your head?”

            Jongup blinks, and hands Junhong the money. He’s staring. He knows he’s staring but he just really doesn’t care.

            “Probably,” Youngjae huffs. “And if he drops it then he’s the one facing our suite-mate’s wrath.”

            “I accept full responsibility,” Jongup mumbles without thinking, his eyes still on his classmate as the watermelon is handed back to him along with a few bills and a penny. When he doesn’t move right away, Youngjae jabs an elbow into his ribs, and Jongup grunts at the impact.

            “Sorry,” Youngjae says, pulling him towards the door. “He’s a bit out of it.”

            But Jongup isn’t out of it. Not at all. He’s very focused, actually; but only on the tiny smile that’s folding a dimple into Junhong’s right cheek.

send me requests on tumblr at: shut-the-jongup

xx