In A Jam, Literally
Smultronstället
"I can't believe we got tricked... again." Junhong complained, kicking his foot out, connecting it to the flimsy metal door of the locker he was currently trapped in.
He was cramped, his knees were beginning to get sore from bending for so long and he was having a little trouble breathing. He wasn't sure how his friend beside him was fairing, but he'd been complaining for the past 20 minutes and no one had been by to help them out. "I'm getting sick of those stupid goons. Why doesn't the school do more about them? God, this is worse than middle school..."
'At least lockers there weren't the full length like these are... there was no chance of someone getting stuffed into one...' He sighed inwardly, banging on the door once more before grumbling.
"Jongup? Are you okay over there?" He called to his spaced out friend, wondering if he'd panicked and passed out while he was on his fussing podium.
"Spider webs are really pretty, did you know that Junhong-ah?" Jongup questioned his younger friend, eyes fixated on the spider web decorating the top right-hand corner of the locker he was stuffed in. The little bit of light that was allowed to filter in through the slotted vents in his current prison shone on the delicate threads, causing them to shine and almost sparkle. It was quite mesmerizing.
"When I was little, me and my brother found a huge spider web in a tree in the park. He said it was icky and destroyed it though...” He murmured, voice pensive and a tinge sad.
Shaking his head, he glanced around at his surroundings, or tried to because it was really too dark to see anything, and sighed. As it stood, he couldn't very well remember how they'd gotten into their current predicament - only that they'd been here a while now and it was starting to get incredibly claustrophobic inside the lockers. So far there'd been no luck of anyone finding them and he was beginning to wonder if anyone ever would.
"Junhonggie? Do you think our parents will come to find us when we don't show up at home?" Jongup finally queried, thinking about his promise to Keke night before last that he'd spend a couple of hours questing with him tonight - apparently, the ninja was quite a treasure hunter.
As his friend rambled on about a spider's web, Junhong rolled his eyes upwards. Not long after being friends was when he discovered just how... special Jongup was. Though special wasn't quite the word - more like "head case". Even so, Junhong liked the nice change, most others he'd befriended before had been bratty or annoying. At least Jongup was fun to be around, though not at the current moment.
"Uh, yours might..." He mumbled softly, hoping Jongup couldn't actually hear it. He lifted his head and peeked out of the slots in the locker, looking this way and that to see if he could spot someone. He pulled away with an agitated growl.
"Ugh, I don't know, Jonguppie hyung. I hope you ate a good lunch though..." He sighed morosely.
'Oh just you wait, stupid goons... I'm going to find a way to get you back...' He thought inwardly. "Oh!" He gasped as a shadow passed by, leaning closer to the door and hitting it.
"Hey! Hey, we're in here! Will you please let us out!?" He called, praying this would be the person to save them.
Jongup, who'd been in the middle of contemplating how much he'd eaten at lunch earlier to gauge how long it might take for him to starve, promptly jumped as Junhong began shouting again and pleading to someone to let them out. He blinked slowly and looked at the side where his friend would be located, staring in the direction.
"Junhong... I don't think there's anyone out there..." He said slowly fearing his friend might have finally lost it after being cooped up in the incredibly limited space of the locker for so long. 'I guess that's the one advantage of being short when you're stuffed into a locker like these...' He thought wryly and then froze as his stomach growled from the hunger he hadn't realized he'd been feeling.
Apparently he hadn't eaten enough at lunch.
"Junhong ah... do you think we're going to die in here?" Jongup whimpered worriedly.
Junhong grunted and kneed the locker door only to whine out in pain. "Ouch!" He rubbed his knee while Jongup piped up. He frowned and it was his turn to look in the direction of his friend, raising an eyebrow.
"What? No! We're not going to die - don't be so dramatic... You remind me of a certain someone..." He mumbled the last bit, thinking back to a few days ago when they'd had a run in with the school's social butterfly Himchan and Youngjae, the school council president.
"Hahaha, you two always wind up in a jam, don't you? Literally this time," An amused voice spoke just outside Jongup's locker.
—
Daehyun had finished cleaning up the blackboard for his teacher, the only one he actually liked in the whole school, and was putting his things away when he heard someone talking. He frowned and looked around; there was no one around.
Thinking he'd just heard things, he went back to what he was doing only to hear banging just a few lockers down from his. He narrowed his eyes and walked closer, listening in on the conversation of two students; one talked about spider webs and their beauty while the other was worried about how much lunch they'd eaten.
He held in his snickering as they talked back and forth, his gaze turning when someone walked past, giving them a slight wave. He jumped when one of the lockers was hit again, followed by yelling. At this he almost lost it, but decided better than to laugh at the two.
He did, however, let out a laugh as one tried to assure the other that they weren't going to die in the lockers, deciding now would be a good time to let them know that there was someone outside the lockers.
"You two always wind up in a jam, don't you? Literally this time..." He chuckled as he looked at the lockers, knowing full well the taller of the two was jammed in the locker uncomfortably.
—
Jongup, who had just opened his mouth to argue that he was not being dramatic when it came to the possibility of starving to death, promptly paused when he heard the amused voice filter into the locker. The sound was rich and drenched with humor at their predicament but it caused his heart to immediately leapt to his throat, the thought of someone having finally found them such a relief.
The feeling only multiplied when it hit him just who was on the other side of those locker doors.
"Daehyun hyung?" Jongup called out, straining to lean up so he could look through the vents. Upon seeing the blonde haired teenager, a bright smile worked its way onto his lips.
"Hyung, it is you! Will you please help us? We've been in here for the last... the last... Junhong-ah? How long have we been in here again?" He asked, wishing he'd worn his watch today.
Junhong stared in the direction of Jongup, narrowing his eyes suspiciously before reply. "We've been in here for at least an hour or more. Probably more..." He mumbled the last part, glaring out of the slots when Daehyun laughed again.
"Hey! It's not polite to laugh - are you one of Yongguk stupid goons too, huh!?"
Daehyun snorted at Junhong's shouting. "Nope - and I'm only laughing because, like I said, you two always get yourself into a jam. You're actually pretty infamous around campus..." He stepped closer and carefully unlocked the locker with Jongup in it first, smiling at him. He turned to the one with Junhong in it.
"Can you say the magic word?"
Junhong kicked the bottom of the locker, "Get me out of here now - please."
Daehyun hummed, grinning playfully, "Alright, alright - that'll have to do, I guess..." He picked open the lock and released the tall boy, watching as he hopped out and began stretching his aching legs, a resounding pop heard before he stopped moving around.
"You okay, Junhonggie?" Jongup questioned in concerned as the younger teen continued to stretch and grunt from working out the strain his legs and back had been under during their locker confinement. When said boy merely waved a hand and began to walk back and forth to further loosen back up, he took that as an 'I'll be fine' in Junhong language and turned his attention back on their savior.
"Thank you for saving us hyung - we might've died in there if it weren't for you." Jongup said, a grateful smile on his lips even as his face flushed in embarrassment. He paused then, thought occurring to him, and stared at the blonde curiously. "Um... how did you save us anyway, hyung?"
Daehyun shook his head at the moody teen before turning his eyes back to Jongup, grin lighting up his face. "You're welcome, Jonguppie!" He chirped happily.
"As for how I helped you out, let's just say I've had my fair share of getting into lockers," He gave a smug smile at his own words. His cell phone suddenly beeped; he took it out of his pocket and looked at the alert from Jaebum telling him to get his behind to practice.
"Ah, I'm late for soccer practice - do you two want to come and watch?" He tilted his head at Jongup and then to Junhong who was leaning against some lockers and sighing in relief.
"Well... it's not like I have anything better to do...” Junhong mused aloud, looking at Jongup, "Wanna go for a few minutes, hyung?"
Jongup's bright smile dimmed a little at the question, not because of the prospect of watching the soccer practice, but because his brother was going to be there. 'Star player Captain Moon Jaebum...' He thought a little bitterly, just barely managing to catch himself before the disdainful frown made its way onto his lips.
Reminding himself that he didn't have to watch his brother play, that he could watch Daehyun (who he'd never watched before) play instead, made him brighten up a bit more. His smile quickly returned to its previous wattage and he gave the two a short nod.
"Sure, let's go. This is a good chance to see you play, Daehyun hyung." Jongup replied, giving the older teen a sweet smile.
Daehyun grinned at Jongup's answer, not at all missing the slight dimming of his bright smile for a brief time before. He chose to ignore it and led the two out to the soccer field, stopping by to quickly change into his gym clothes.
"Hey, it's about time you showed up! We thought our goalie was chickening out on us!" One of the players called out, laughing as Daehyun came across the field quickly, bowing his head in apology.
"Sorry, I ran into a little predicament!" He shouted back, turning to look back at Junhong and Jongup, smiling brightly and motioning for them to take a seat.
"Hey, Dae! How'd you manage to get my little brother out here to watch us practice?" Jaebum questioned his fellow teammate as he walked up to Daehyun, gesturing briefly to the bleachers where said brother sat. He chuckled softly then, "You must be a magician or something - Jongup never watches us practice."
Daehyun looked up and stared at Jongup for a few seconds before turning to look at Jaebum, shrugging his shoulder some. "His friend Junhong suggested they come and watch a little while when I asked. I'm hardly magical, Jae," He laughed, his attention turning to their teammates as they all slowly converged together to go over their practice plan for the day.
—
Jongup waved to the blonde teen and tugged Junhong over to the bleachers, guiding them up a couple of rows before finally picking out a seat. "This is a good spot." He murmured to his friend. And it was, not too close to the field that they couldn't see everything but not so far away that the players looked like ants.
"You've never seen the school soccer team in action, have you Junhong ah?" Jongup questioned his younger friend, watching curiously as his brother approached Daehyun.
Junhong glanced briefly at the field and then back to Jongup, shaking his head some. He'd never seen them have a soccer match, not even practicing. Jongup gave him a beaming smile and told him he was in for a treat. Junhong nodded gently and turned back to the soccer field only to get sidetracked by something out of the corner of his eyes.
Some students were graffiting the side of the school facing the soccer field - how in the world could someone be so brave, Junhong didn't know... until he saw a familiar person amongst them.
'That's... Yongguk...' His eyes stayed on him, not willing to admit that he was enthralled with watching the miscreant. He'd taken a liking to watching him whenever he was in sight - but he'd never tell anyone that.
He was shocked when someone was suddenly in his line of vision, the brown skirt of the female's uniform blocked his view before the girl sat down, plopping down and sighing heavily. Junhong nudged Jongup and pointed to her, wondering if his friend knew the girl (since he seemed to know a lot of people).
"That's Hana, my brother's girlfriend." He replied and then returned his gaze back to the field, studying something intensely. Junhong frowned and went back to watching Yongguk, managing to catch some of what the girl was saying as well.
"I wonder where Youngjae was today... it's not like him to miss a meeting..." She mumbled to herself, applying some more lip gloss, her eyes on the field afterwards.
Jongup pulled his eyes away from the blonde teen he'd staring at so blatantly when said boy looked up at him, looking somewhere else as casually as possible.
'What is wrong with you Moon Jongup?' He questioned himself, 'Your brother and everyone else on the soccer team could've seen you! Not to mention Daehyun hyung himself!' He scolded inwardly.
Despite his mental berating, Jongup found his eyes slowly trailing back towards the goal Daehyun and his brother had been at only meet eyes with his brother. He quickly looked away once more and turned his head to the side where Hana was; completely unaware of the slightly hurt look his brother had given him before being called over to the rest of the group.
"What did you say again, noona?" Jongup asked, apologetic smile in place for having missed what the girl had said.
Hana gave him a teasing smile, "Oh what are we going to do with you Jonguppie~?" She sighed dramatically as she pinched his cheek. She shook her head then.
"I was just wondering where Youngjae was today. He's usually very strict about not missing a student council meeting but today he was absent." She explained, eyes becoming thoughtful. "Though now that I think about it... he didn't seem to be feeling very well yesterday... hmm..."
Jongup shook his head as he watched the older girl become enveloped in her thoughts and turned his attention instead to Junhong, intending to ask him what he thought of the practice so far (even though nothing had really happened yet). He promptly paused when he saw his dongsaeng's eyes focused not on the match but on the group of vandals near the wall - one vandal specifically.
'You can tell me you don't like him all you want Junhonggie... but actions speak louder than words...' He chuckled inwardly, focusing on the practice once more as the team broke off to take their positions so the 'game' could officially commence, trying his best not to let his eyes linger on one particular player.
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Ahem, if you'll take notice
we've updated the banner!
What do you guys think?
I really like the change personally :3
Also I do apologize if this chapter is a bit shorter than usual,
I'll post another OMAKE soon to make up for it!
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