For fairytaleending

From Secret Santa

Prompt: Hoya is the new student that is a little awkward and he falls for the social butterfly Dongwoo

Pairing: Yadong

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Indian Summer

 

An Indian Summer was typically unusual. An Indian Summer by definition was “a period of warm weather during late autumn and fall that appeared after a week or two of chilly air.” An Indian Summer came around the the time a winter was supposed to begin, marking the official end of summer and the beginning of autumn. But instead of ending the brisk September air with the beginning of winter, an Indian Summer ended the brisk September air with summer’s last farewell like a final love letter that arrived a tad too late.

It was weird, an Indian Summer, because that was usually when the air starting crisping and the breeze started biting and the skies started darkening. But an Indian Summer decided to throw all precedented routine out the window and replace the cold, frost-bringing spells of the early October air with warmth, sunshine and bright skies.

It didn’t make any sense, an Indian Summer, because winter was supposed to start and so were the exams. Going through the first semester of school was always accompanied best by winter because it seemed to match the cold, soulless first semester that students normally trudged through blindly. But replace the beginnings of winter with an Indian Summer and suddenly the time and place didn’t seem to match. It felt a little awkward and out of place.

But it was still wonderful, an Indian Summer, because the sunshine and heat had come back temporarily to leave it’s last kisses on the earth’s lush surface before it was laden with the cold of winter. Winter was late, so summer could stay a little longer.

And it was amazing, an Indian Summer, because that was the time that Hoya had fallen in love. It had all started with a move.

Not a romantic move, but a physical move. His dad had gotten a work transfer, so he and his family packed up everything from his home in Busan and brought it to a new one.  If Hoya had to be painfully honest, he would say that he was against the move.

The move had occurred at the end of summer and right before the beginning of a new school year. It seemed to be so inconvenient for Hoya, especially since that he would need to transfer to a new school now. He had already finished the summer assignments and projects for his previous school and all that work had gone to waste because of this new transfer.

Not to mention that making new friends would be beyond difficult. At his age, everyone in school already had a group of close friends so as a new student, it would be hard to break into a new system and find out where he belonged. He had a group of close-knit friends in Busan and now he had to leave them behind.

Needless to say, Hoya was very against the sudden move. So when his family had arranged the last old picture frames on their brand new walls he couldn’t help but feel salty over it. He would trade these bright, new, white walls for the old, faded, paint-chipped one back in his old household. It smelled unfamiliarly of cleaning supplies and and tickled at Hoya’s nostrils in a way that he didn’t appreciate.

He sat on his old bed in his new room, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how long it would take for the pristine coat of white paint to become the faded dull cream that his eyes were familiar with. He had made his room a little more welcoming with posters on the walls and decorations but it still didn’t feel the same as it did back in Busan.

He sighed as somebody knocked on his door and he rolled over and called out for them to come in.

The door opened with a smooth swing and no creak. “Hoya.” It was his mom.

“Yeah?”

She smiled at him. “Why don’t you go outside and get some fresh air? You’ve done nothing but lie in bed ever since we’ve finished moving.”

Hoya groaned. “I’m trying to familiarize myself with my brand new room, mom.”

“You should go outside!” she encouraged. “The sky is clear and there’s nothing but sunshine! Enjoy it while it lasts, Hoya, because fall is coming up around the corner and then winter will follow that.”

Hoya sat up slowly, looking between his curtains to get a glimpse of a bright sky. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Good boy,” she said cheerily. “I’ll start making dinner while you go out, okay? And if you get a chance, go say hi to your new neighbors! I heard they have a son around your age.”

Hoya shrugged. “I can do that,” he said. He threw his legs off the bed, standing up to go outside.

 

His front yard was bigger than his old one, he noticed. It made the corners of his mouth twitch up into an involuntary smile - it was definitely one of the good things to come out of the move.

He had been playing around with a baseball, tossing it around by himself when he accidentally threw it a little too high and miscalculated the catch. The ball ended up bouncing off his fingertips and rolling into the small hedge of bushes that separated his lawn from his neighbor’s. With a sigh he bent down onto his knees and reached into the shrubbery, trying to feel his baseball amidst the twigs and dirt.

“Hi!”

Hoya looked up, startled to see a boy waving at him from the other side of the bushes with a little twiddle of his fingers. “Um… hello,” he replied.

“Are you guys the new neighbors?” the boy asked with a friendly smile.

Hoya nodded. “Yeah. We just finished moving in.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” The boy grinned and then looked down at his hand before bringing it up. “Is this yours?” he asked. He held out Hoya’s baseball.

Hoya’s eyes lit up as he broke into a small smile of his own. “Yeah, it is.” He took the baseball, glad to feel the weight back in his palm. “It must have rolled to your lawn when I dropped it through the bushes. Thanks for picking it up.”

The other boy shook his head, his dirty blonde hair flying. “Don’t worry about it - it’s no big deal.” He glanced down at the baseball inquisitively. “So do you play baseball?”

Hoya nodded. “Yeah, I played on an unofficial team back in my old neighborhood. I was the pitcher.”

“Wow, that’s so cool! We have a baseball team at my school, but our pitcher ! People are saying that he might be on drugs.”

Hoya raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? That’s a shame.”

“It really is!” the boy agreed with a nod. “One day he’s striking out the batters and the next day he can barely stand straight.”

“There weren’t really that many people on drugs at my old school. We were too focused on academics to try anything else. Well… actually, I guess you could consider the stuff we took to pull all-nighters to be drugs.”

“My school’s focus tries to distribute itself evenly among academics and athletics. It doesn’t do a very good job, to be honest.”

“Oh, I see.”

“By the way! Where did you move from, anyways?”

“Busan,” Hoya replied.

“Oh!” the boy laughed. “No wonder I thought you had an accent! You have an accent, you know - did you know that?”

Hoya coughed, flushing an awkward shade of red. “Uh, I never really thought about it. But since I’m in a new area, yeah, I guess I have an accent.”

“I like it! It’s cool. You’re very cool.” He tilted his head. “What’s your name again?”

Hoya scratched the back of his head. “My name’s Lee Howon. But call me Hoya, if you want. Everybody does.”

“Hoya,” the boy repeated, thinking. He grinned brightly then nodded. “I like it! My name is Jang Dongwoo! But you can just call me Dongwoo.” He held out his hand.

Hoya grasped it firmly, giving it a small shake. “Nice to meet you, Dongwoo.”

Dongwoo let out a bright and cheery laugh. “Nice to meet you too, Hoya! We’ll be neighbors from now on,” he said happily. “But that’s only if you stay here. You’ll stay here, right?”

Hoya’s lips twitched. “We’ll see. I don’t know if the move is permanent or temporary.”

“You seem really cool, so I hope it’s permanent,” Dongwoo replied.  

Hoya stayed silent, trying to soak in the fact that the boy he had just met thought he was cool and wanted him to stay permanently. They had barely spoken for five minutes and Hoya felt closer to his neighbor already.

He smiled at him, gripping the baseball in his palm. “I should probably go back inside and help my mom make lunch,” he said. “So, I’ll see you later?”

Dongwoo nodded. “Most definitely! I’ll definitely see you later!” They both turned to leave before Dongwoo stopped him with a quick hand on his shoulder. “Also!” he said. “Do you like apples or peaches?”

“W-What?”

“Apples or peaches? Just answer the question, okay?” Dongwoo smiled at him brightly.

“Um… peaches, I guess,” he stammered, surprised with the random question.

Dongwoo grinned. “Okay!”

 

“Oh! What a lovely surprise!”

“Well, we heard you had just moved in and I couldn’t resist baking a welcome gift! I really hope you enjoy it!”

“It smells absolutely wonderful - please, come inside and share it with us!”

It was surprising to say the least when Hoya and his family had received a knock on their door after they had finished dinner. Dongwoo had been standing there, waving excitedly, and his parents stood behind him. His mother held a platter with some sort of dessert on top that she had identified as a cobbler.

The family stepped inside, the guests making the house seem much more inviting and warm. The parents went to the kitchen immediately, off to get plates and forks to share the dessert, while Dongwoo bounced over to Hoya’s side.

“Hi!” he said. “I’m back!”

Hoya smiled at him. “It’s a nice surprise. Your parents seem nice.” They began slowly sauntering into the kitchen.

“Yeah, they love new people in the neighborhood,” Dongwoo responded. “They like making people feel welcome.”

Hoya snickered to himself. “Well, I can see where you get it from.”

“Right?!” Dongwoo exclaimed in agreement. “I’m just like my parents!”

Hoya smiled at him, finding his excited antics kind of endearing. They walked into the kitchen together, stepping into the middle of their parents’ conversation.

“-and he just insisted that I use peaches.”

“Really? That’s such a coincidence because our Hoya likes peaches.”

“Huh?” Hoya asked as he heard his name.

His mother and Dongwoo’s mother turned to look at him with a smile. “Oh, Hoya!” his mother said happily. “Mrs. Jang was just telling us about the cobbler she made! It’s peach - just the way you like it!”

Mrs. Jang nodded. “I was going to make an apple cobbler since the apples are so gorgeous this time of year, but Dongwoo told me that I had to use peaches.” She gave a friendly smile to Hoya. “And it’s a good thing I did, because it seems like Hoya, here, has a liking for peaches.”

Hoya quirked his mouth up in an awkward smile and bowed slightly as a sign of thanks. “Yeah,” he said, “I like peaches…” He threw a glance over at Dongwoo who grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. “Peaches are really good.”

Hoya’s mother waved him over as Mrs. Jang began placing slices of the cobbler onto plates. “Come and get a piece, Hoya - Dongwoo, too. Then Hoya can show you this room, or something. I’m sure he’d love to show you his bug collection.”

Dongwoo snicked and Hoya said, “Mom, I don’t collect bugs, okay. I haven’t taken a cricket home since third grade.” Hoya flashed his mom an impatient look that tried to tell her to not embarrass him. She only smiled back at him, putting two plates of peach cobbler into his hands.

He walked back to Dongwoo and handed it to him, Dongwoo smiling with enthusiasm. “I’d still like to see your room, if you’d like to show it to me!”

Hoya raised his eyebrows. “Really? You would?”

Dongwoo nodded. “Yeah, let’s go! Your room is upstairs, right?”

Hoya nodded, following Dongwoo as he bounded out of the kitchen and towards the staircase. Hoya thought it was kind of funny, since he was probably the one who should have been racing up the stairs to show Dongwoo his room. He was the new neighbor, after all.

But instead he only smiled as he followed Dongwoo up his stairs and met him at the entrance of the hall. Dongwoo was staring at the multiple doors along the walls.

“So,” he said, “which one is yours?”

Hoya smiled, walking to the closest door on the right side. “This one,” he said, opening the door. “This is my room.”

Dongwoo bounced next to him happily, poking his head into the room. He grinned at Hoya’s bedspread. “Purple!” he exclaimed.

Hoya flushed slightly, scratching the back of his head. His favorite color was purple, after all, but sometimes he wondered if he went a bit overboard with purple curtains and lamps and nightstands and blankets. It looked like it belonged to a girl at it’s worst, but Hoya made sure that it had some special touches that made it clear that it was his room - like his Epik High posters.

“Can I go in?” Dongwoo asked, looking at Hoya.

Hoya nodded at him. “Yeah, go ahead. I cleaned it this morning so it should be safe.”

“Wow,” the other said in amazement. “Your room is really clean and organized.”

“Well, we did just move here. I haven’t had the time to make a mess yet,” he joked. “But come back in a month - I promise that it will be messy.”

Dongwoo smiled at him brightly. “So I can come back in a month? Awesome!”

“Uh, yeah. I guess you can,” Hoya said with an awkward smile. He was normally a bit more aloof, so standing next to Dongwoo and his bright personality made him feel a tad awkward. But he kind of liked it.

“Cool,” Dongwoo said, grinning from ear to ear.

It was amusing - his neverending smile just seemed to be ever present on his face. They had only met for a day - not even twenty four hours! - but there was a definite gravitational pull that Hoya felt. Maybe it was some sort of happy virus, but Hoya liked it. He liked Dongwoo.

“Hey!” Dongwoo exclaimed, pointing to Hoya’s bed. “I know that uniform!”

Hoya glanced down at his newly pressed uniform for his new school. He had only gotten it the evening before, so it was still fresh. It lay on his bed neatly.

“You do?” Hoya asked, touching the blue uniform.

“Yeah! It’s my school!” Dongwoo said cheerily. “You’re transferring to my school! That’s so awesome!” he cried.

“Wow, really?”

“For reals!”

 

Dongwoo came over a lot for the rest of the summer. But that would technically be a week, since there was only a week left until school started up again. Dongwoo came over almost everyday to give Hoya advice and to help him out with settling in. It was the last day of summer before school began, and Dongwoo had come over once again.

“Did you do the summer reading project?” Dongwoo asked, lying on Hoya’s bed and tossing his baseball up into the air.

Dongwoo had been coming over so often, him laying on Hoya’s bed was such a normal sight now. The two had gotten ridiculously close during the past week as it turned out that they had so many things in common with one another. It was amazing.

“No - I moved really late so I didn’t receive any summer assignments. Do you think it’ll affect me?”

Dongwoo shrugged. “Sometimes we talk  about our summer reading book for a good two weeks and other times we just take a test the first day of school and that’s it. I’m sure you’ll get excused though. Lucky,” he whined. “I barely remember what happened in the story.”

“What story was it?” Hoya asked, organizing his binders.

“I don’t remember. It was some feminist book. I mean, I’m all for feminism cause girls are way tougher than us. I wouldn’t last a day being a girl and I have three sisters to prove it.”

Hoya let out a chuckle, organizing his colorful mechanical pencils in rainbow order. “So what was the book about?”

“Oh, right - the book! Well, see, it was about some lady that felt empowered because she was cheating on her husband. I didn’t get it - how is that empowering?”

“Maybe because she felt like she had power over two men or something?”

“I guess… but the whole novel she was just groveling about how pathetic and miserable she was because she didn’t like the guy she married.”

“Was it an arranged marriage or something?”

“Nah - she hated her parents and married some rebel just to piss them off.”

Hoya made a face. “Wow - sounds like a dumb choice.”

“Extremely. And then in the end, she commits suicide. I just didn’t get it!”

“Well, sometimes books have deeper meanings. You have to read under the surface.”

“That’s so stressful,” Dongwoo groaned, tossing the baseball up again. “The book is just dumb in the first place. I wish we read a satire or something - those or fun.”

“Really?”

“For reals.” Dongwoo grinned. “Sometimes they can be a bit cynical, and I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of those, but Sungyeol likes them just fine.”

“Sung-who?” Hoya asked, pausing his organization to look at Dongwoo.

Dongwoo glanced up at him, the dark purple pillow messing his dirty blonde hair. “Sungyeol,” he repeated. “He’s one of my friends. I met him freshman year. He’s cool, I think you’d like him!”

“Is he anything like you?” Hoya asked.

“Kind of… he’s just louder. And taller. And skinnier. And also maybe louder. Did I mention louder?”

“Sounds fun,” Hoya responded, going back to sorting his notebooks alphabetically. “Are all your friends loud?”

“Hm… not really. Myungsoo is really quiet. Sunggyu isn’t loud, but he talks a lot. Sungjong doesn’t talk too much, but when he does he makes a statement. And Woohyun… well, he’s Woohyun.”

“You sound like you have a lot of friends.” Hoya’s hands paused in his backpack, playing with the zipper. He was worried, suddenly, that he would be a nuisance to suddenly barge into Dongwoo’s circle of friends.

“Yeah, well those guys are the only ones I’m really close to. Everyone else is kind of just there.”

“Everyone else?” Hoya repeated.

Dongwoo nodded. “Yeah! I’m president of student activities or something. I don’t know the official name - they never really told me. But anyways, I have to communicate with everyone to plan events and stuff. So I kind of know everyone,” he laughed, grinning cheekily.

“And I know no one.”

“Not true,” Dongwoo sang. He leaned over towards Hoya, tapping his nose gently. “You know me!”

Hoya rolled his eyes good-naturedly, swatting Dongwoo’s hand away. “You don’t count,” he teased.

Dongwoo pouted. “Why not?!”

“Because we were friends before I knew I was going to the same school as you.”

Dongwoo gave him a raised eyebrow. “So now I don’t count as someone you know in your school?” He smacked Hoya’s arm gently. “I thought I was your friend!”

Hoya laughed and shrugged, much to Dongwoo’s annoyance. He grabbed the purple pillow, fluffed it up and started beating Hoya with it.

“Are we not friends?!” he cried, laughing hysterically.

Hoya could only laugh as he was smacked repeatedly over and over with his own pillow, but he still didn’t give Dongwoo a straight answer.

Maybe it was because he thought Dongwoo was something more than a friend.

 

The first day of school had been pretty rough. But that was probably because he wasn’t in the same class as Dongwoo.

Hoya didn’t like how the kids stared at him when he first walked in. It was clear that he was the new kid. Even when he went up to introduce himself, he was still under scrutiny of so many judgemental eyes. He kind of wished Dongwoo was there in the seats as he recited some made up junk about his summer vacation and smiled at him with that addictive smile that he had. But no - it was just Hoya by himself in a room of strangers and an awkward silence so thick that he could cut it with a knife.

He rubbed the back of his nape as his teacher sent him back to his seat. He could feel all of the students’ eyes on his back as he retreated to the fifth seat, third row from the back and he really didn’t like it. It was kind of awkward for him. He really wished that he had been put into Dongwoo’s class instead. At least then there would be someone to calm his nerves and ease the tension.

He sat at his desk quietly as class began. True to Dongwoo’s word, he was excused from any quizzes or tests regarding the book the class was supposed to read over the summer, but that only made class boring for him. He had no clue what anyone was talking about and it made him feel a little more isolated than he already was.

“Hey!” came a sharp whisper from his right.

Hoya turned his head, his eyes wide and quizzical as he stared at the boy smacking on his gum. “Me?” he clarified, looking around.

The guy nodded. “Yeah, you - new kid.” Hoya bit his cheek when he was called that. “How are you liking your first day?” he asked as he blew a bubble. It popped a second later.

“Uh… it’s nice. Kind of hard, to be honest.”

The boy smiled at him sympathetically. “Well - it’s not going to get any easier. Sad truth, isn’t it?”

Hoya shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I mean - it would be easier if I had friends or something…”

“Consider it done,” the boy said with a grin. He stuck out his hand as he chewed loudly on his gum. “I’m Nam Woohyun.”

Hoya shook his hand firmly. “Nice to meet you… I’m Hoya.”

“Yeah I know - you told the class like fifteen minutes ago.”

Hoya flushed awkwardly. “Oh, yeah. That’s right.” He wanted to smack himself for sounding and looking so dumb.

Nam Woohyun blew a bubble with his gum again, popping it loudly. “You’re kind of awkward. Where are you from, new guy?”

“Busan,” he answered simply.

“Oh, cool, cool. We have a few Busan kids here. I don’t really talk to them, though.” Woohyun shrugged, bringing his legs up to rest his feet on his desk. “But you should hang out with my group instead of the Busan kids - we can always use a Busan kid ourselves.”

“I see.” Hoya nodded, barely keeping up with his quick rambling.

At that moment the classroom door opened and Hoya’s eyes suddenly lit up to see that it was Dongwoo. The class seemed to have the same notion also, as they all called out to say hi to him. Dongwoo responded with laughter and a few greetings here and there.

“Mr. Jang, might I ask why you are gracing my class?” the teacher asked.

Dongwoo nodded. “I’m going around to talk to the classrooms for a little bit.” With a sign of approval from the teacher, he turned towards the students and began speaking.

“Awesome! Welcome back to school, guys! Hope you had a great summer!” There were a few mutters of disappointment and a few happy cheers. “Anyways, as always every year, we’re going to have our Back to School Bash in about a month. Normally we’d have it earlier, but we heard it was gonna be kind of rainy this month.”

“The weather is always wrong though,” a student piped up.

Dongwoo laughed. “Either way - we’re not taking any chances! So this year we’re debating on having a dance or having a carnival. Money needs to be raised for both since we need a lot of money to hire a good DJ, and money to book a decent carnival.”

A student in the back laughed. “Yeah! Remember freshman year when they booked a really crappy carnival and no one went? It was just a waste of money. Better go with a dance instead.”

“But we have dances all the time,” another student piped up. “I say we should put the effort in to book a good carnival so we can remember this year.”

Dongwoo nodded, giving the student an air high-five. “I think so too! So, basically we’re just going to have a vote, okay? I’ll relay the results to the rest of the student council and we’ll tally up all the classes and we’ll work from there. We’ll still need to start fundraising though.”

“Cool!” a student said from the first row. “What’s our first fundraising event?”

“A few club events and the first three baseball games.”

The students groaned, shaking their heads. “We’re not going to make money through the baseball games! And we can only make so much money from club events!” another pupil cried.

Hoya turned to Nam Woohyun who was chewing gum and popping bubbles as he listened to the discussion in amusement. “What’s wrong with the baseball games?”

Woohyun chuckled, a few smile lines coming out. “Well, you see. We do this ‘fundraising’ thing where we bet with other schools.”

“What?”

“Basically, we bet on our school to win a baseball game and the other schools bet on their school to win. Winning team takes all the cash.”

“Wait - you guys actually bet? Like gambling?”

“Of course - we have a whole betting booth and everything. That’s why our first three games are so important. All of our other games are after the Back to School Bash, so any money we make then won’t go towards the Bash funds. The first three is where we make our money.”

“But… isn’t that illegal or something?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t even matter though. How else are we supposed to make money?”

“Um… a bake sale?”

Woohyun laughed, punching Hoya’s shoulders slightly. “You’re funny, new kid. I like that.” Hoya was silent, trying to come to the terms with the fact that the school openly gambled on sports like it was some kind of fight club. The schools were different here.

“But see the thing is,” Woohyun continued, “our baseball team . Our hitters are fine, and so are our field catchers - but our pitcher is just screwing the team over. Shame, really. There are tryouts for a new pitcher but everyone knows that we’ll still . Basically - we’re probably going to end up with a crappy Back to School Bash. I mean, it’s nothing new and we still make the most of it, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“...Oh,” Hoya responded. He turned his attention back to the front of the class where Dongwoo was speaking.

“Well, we can only hope for the best and make do with what we have!” Dongwoo exclaimed brightly. “Plus, we still have some leftover funds from last year’s charity ball, so those should come in handy also.”

The teacher smiled at Dongwoo, giving him a small pat on the back. “I’m sure everything will turn out well as long as you’re in charge.”

Dongwoo grinned. “I hope so. Thanks for your time everybody! Hopefully, our baseball team can earn us a lot of money.”

“Ha!” Woohyun shouted from his seat. “The only way our baseball team will make us money is if their pitcher decides to sober up or if we can find a better one at tryouts!”

Dongwoo gave Woohyun a look, playfully chastising him. “Aw, come on, Woohyun. Have a little faith.”

Woohyun rolled his eyes. “Well, we need something to have faith in first, right?”

“Wow, Woohyun - pessimistic much?” Dongwoo only shook his head at him, but still had that playful smile stretched across his face. Though they seemed to be arguing, Hoya couldn’t help but notice the natural banter and ease between them - it was clear that they were close friends. It made Hoya feel a little inferior. Compared to Woohyun, Hoya probably barely knew Dongwoo.

“Oh hey, it’s Hoya!” Hoya looked up in surprise as Dongwoo pointed at him and waved enthusiastically. “Hi! I didn’t know you were in Woohyun’s class!”

The whole class seemed to turn their heads towards Hoya all at once, staring at him with a newly found curiosity.

“Uh, hey,” Hoya responded, waving back meekly. “Yeah. I’m in Woohyun’s class. Uh, sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

“Oh, it’s no problem!” Dongwoo exclaimed. “I didn’t catch you when you left this morning, so I never got the chance to ask you anyways!” He finished off with a grin as he headed out the door. “Treat Hoya nicely, okay guys? He’s my new neighbor and I can ask him about all of you!” he threatened playfully.

“...Neighbor?” Woohyun murmured in between smacks of his gum. “Dongwoo, he’s your neighbor?” he called out louder.

Dongwoo nodded happily. “Yup! We’ve been hanging out since he moved next to me. He’s super cool!”

“Really?”

“For reals.” Dongwoo left the class with a wave towards Hoya and the class murmured amongst themselves quietly. They could have been talking about Hoya, for all he knew, but that wouldn’t even stay a hot topic for long.

“Oh, and also.” Dongwoo popped his head back in the room, shooting Hoya a mischievous smile. “He’s also got an amazing throwing arm.” More than once Dongwoo had walked in on Hoya practicing his pitching in his backyard. Hoya thought he was decent, but Dongwoo always had more than enough praises to give him. With that statement finished, Dongwoo disappeared back into the hallway.

Woohyun slammed his hands onto his desk with a gasp, his gum nearly falling out of his mouth. He turned sharply towards Hoya. “Do you pitch?!” he asked.

Hoya nodded barely. “Yeah. I used to pitch back in Busan.”

“Are you good?!”

“Uh, I’m alright, I guess.”

“You have to try out for the team!” Woohyun exclaimed. “You must!”

“Uh-”

“Call me crazy, but if Dongwoo says you’re good then you’re the better chance we have to winning this season! Come on, at least come to the try outs! And you’re new, right? What better way to get involved with the school than trying out for a sport’s team!”

“I-I’ll think about it,” Hoya stammered. “I think I should probably settle in first.”

The teacher began teaching again, silencing the class and Woohyun dropped his voice down to the whisper. “Well, if you ever feel like trying out, then I seriously encourage you. And hey - if you’re really good, I can get you on the team without you even needing to try out.”

Hoya’s eyebrows shot up in amazement. “You can do that?”

Woohyun smiled smugly, a chuckle sneaking it’s way around the mangled wad of pink gum wedged between his teeth. “Well, I am the catcher, after all.”

Hoya blinked at him, soaking in the information. Things sure were different here.

Woohyun leaned towards him once more, looking as if he wanted to say something. “Also, I’m sure that if you played pitcher for us, Dongwoo would be-”

“Nam Woohyun!” the teacher shouted from the board. “Stop talking or I will have to send you out of class!”

“Sure thing, teach’,” Woohyun said loudly, straightening back up in his seat.

“And spit out your gum!”

 

“I’m not sure,” Hoya muttered. “Is it that good of an idea?”

“Of course it is,” Dongwoo said. “It’s an awesome idea. I’ve seen you pitch, Hoya, and I think you’d be a great asset to the team.”

“I guess. It’s just… isn’t it a bit soon for me to be trying out for a team when I’ve barely gotten to know the school?”

“Nah - try outs are in a week. You should be settled in by then!” Dongwoo said cheekily. “Come on- it’ll be fun,” he insisted.

Hoya tossed his baseball in his hand, his eyes never leaving it as it flew up and down. “What if I don’t make the cut, though?” he asked apprehensively as he spun slowly in his revolving chair.

Dongwoo scoffed, his feet kicking up the blankets on Hoya’s bed. “Oh, please. You’re probably going to be the best pitcher our team has had in decades.”

“I wouldn’t say that-”

“Hoya, you’re being too modest.” Dongwoo sat up abruptly, interrupting whatever Hoya was going to argue with. “I’ve seen you pitch and let me tell you, you are way too humble for the kind of skills you have.”

Hoya felt heat start rising up in his cheeks and he smiled in an effort to cover his blush. “I can’t be that good,” he said sheepishly.

“Even if you aren’t, you’re still probably better than our current pitcher. I think the team is staging an intervention on him anyways.”

“How bad is he anyways?” Hoya asked. “Just out of curiosity.”

Dongwoo made himself comfortable in Hoya’s bed, pulling up the purple comforter to his chin as he stared at the ceiling in thought. “Hmm… think of the worst pitcher you’ve ever seen…”

“Okay.”

“And multiply it by seven. That’s how bad our pitcher is.”

Hoya made a face. “Wow. Not that great of a pitcher, huh?”
“No,” Dongwoo sighed sadly. “And there’s no possible way that our team will win us any money with that sad soul of a pitcher.”

Hoya bit his bottom lip in thought. Maybe he should try out. Perhaps.

He was shaking out of his semi-trance when Dongwoo poked his face with his fingers. “Wha-...?”

Dongwoo laughed, his upper body flopping out of Hoya’s blanket as he was attempting to reach the other male. “Darn it!” he said loudly. “I missed!”

“Missed what?” Hoya asked, feeling his face for anything out of the ordinary.

“Your teeth!” Dongwoo exclaimed excitedly, pointing. “You bit your lip and I noticed your canines were really sharp and I wanted to touch them,” he said. “You have really big canines, you know that? Like a vampire.”

Hoya poked his canines involuntarily, accustomed the the unusually sharp prick it delivered. “I don’t really think they’re like vampire fangs,” he said.

“You’re right… you’re more like a werewolf! You know what that means?” Dongwoo asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hoya hesitantly asked, “...What?”

“It means you should really try out for our baseball team because our team name is the Wolves.”

Hoya let out a loud laugh, his canines glinting in the afternoon sunlight streaming through his window. “You really want me to try out, don’t you?”

“Yes!” Dongwoo nearly wailed, sprawling his limbs out on Hoya’s bed. “It would mean the world to me, Hoya, you don’t even know!” He stared him in the eyes. “You would help our school earn so much money and we could have a great Back to School Bash for once! It would mean so much to me, Hoya!”

He quirked an eyebrow playfully. “Really?”

“For reals,” Dongwoo wheezed out. “I swear I’ll come to every game you have and cheer you on! I’ll even come to watch tryouts!”

Hoya smiled at him, his large canines easily seen. “Then I’ll try out.”

 

“Damn. I have never seen that kind of pitching arm on anyone before.”

“Same here. I would whistle if I knew how.”

“Just look at that ball fly. I’m amazed.”

“Astounded is more like it.”

“This is still way beyond my expectations. Who would have suspected- whoa, did you see that one?!”

“Oh my gosh, I swear he’s like some sort of divine pitching being come to free us of our losing streak.”

Woohyun shook his head, his catcher helmet lifted as he squinted at Hoya. “I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. How the hell is someone who’s never played on an official team that good? I feel like I’m witnessing something extraordinary.”

His teammate nudged his ribs. “No need to over dramatize it, Woohyun. He’s still just a pitcher for now.”

Woohyun only shrugged. “Be that as it may, what the hell is he doing trying out for a ty high school team when he could be doing bigger things?”

“Who knows…?”

The two watched as Hoya showed off his pitcher’s swing, the balls he threw flying at a speed they had never seen before (but then again, they had never seen fast speeds to begin with). Hoya definitely had a gift and Woohyun was glad that he had tried out for the team. He seemed so skeptical at first, Woohyun wasn’t sure if he would try out at all.

He watched as Hoya took a short break, stretching his shoulder as he spotted someone in the stands and waved to them with a short smile. Woohyun glanced towards the stands, a lopsided smile emerging.

“Hey.” His voice was low as he smacked on his gum and elbowed his teammate. He pointed up at the stands to the unmistakable bouncing head of dirty blonde hair. “Look who it is.”

His teammate squinted at the stands, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Dongwoo? Is that him? I thought he was busy with the student council around this time.”

Woohyun snorted. “So did I. Looks like he made some time to come to the tryouts though. Wonder why…” He glanced at Hoya once again, debating on whether the red tint on his cheeks was from the sun or from something else. “I might have a pretty good idea, though,” he mused.

The other player scoffed. “Who?”

Woohyun broke into a fit of chuckles. “Looks like the new kid has a little crush.”

His teammate stared at Hoya in near disbelief. “Hoya? Him? Really?”

Woohyun shot the other a coy stare. “For reals.”

 

“Are you excited?!” Dongwoo squealed excitedly, grabbing Hoya’s hands and bouncing up and down.

Hoya stood still in the student flooded halls, looking barely shaken as Dongwoo jumped. “Am I what?” he asked.

“Are you excited?!” he said again. “Tomorrow is the baseball team’s first game! And since you’re pitching, there’s no way we can lose! The team told me you were great and that we would get lots of money from tomorrow’s game!”

“What makes you say that?” Hoya asked.

“Tomorrow we’re playing our rival school,” Dongwoo explained. “Since they know our team is kind of bad they usually bet a lot of money at the games. But since the team is pretty stellar now, we’ll win easy money, no problem!” Dongwoo jumped up and wrapped his arms around Hoya. “We can actually have a really awesome Back to School Bash!”

“I’m surprised,” Hoya chuckled. “You care more about this Back to School Bash than prom.”

Dongwoo scoffed. “Please - prom is literally months away. We have plenty of time to raise funds for that.”

Hoya shrugged in acknowledgement. “Okay, I get it. Just come to every game, okay? It’ll be less nerveracking knowing that you’re there.”

The other giggled, poking Hoya’s cheek. “I promised I’d come to all of them, so I will! My schedule might end up a little tight, but I’ll manage in the end.”

The two began walking together down the hall, sauntering about as they waited for the next bell to ring. “So,” Hoya began, “when is this Bash thing going to take place?”

“See, there’s our other problem. We’re going to have it in about a month, but we’re just afraid that it’ll rain or be too cold. Summer’s already ended, and soon so will the warmth.” Dongwoo let out a keening sigh. “I wish it would stay summer for longer!”

“I kind of like the fall,” Hoya remarked, staring out the window at the trees that were slowly turning orange. “It’s nice.”

Dongwoo shrugged. “I’m more of a summer person. To me, summer is synonymous with friends, fun and love.”

Hoya laughed. “You’re into the summer love stuff?”

Dongwoo nodded brightly. “Yeah! I like summer love better than winter, spring or autumn love. I don’t know, I guess it just kind of appeals to me more. I assume you’re into autumn love?”

Hoya flushed warmly. “Yeah. I’m into autumn love. Besides, isn’t Homecoming in autumn?”

“Yeah, but prom is at the beginning of summer!” Dongwoo grinned. “So that’s why summer is better!”

“Who knows? I heard that summer is stretching for a little longer this year.”

“Wow, really?!” Dongwoo seemed immediately excited, bouncing on the heels of his feet.

“Yeah.” Hoya nodded. “They call it an Indian Summer, or something.”

“That’s perfect! This means that our Back to School Bash will be at the perfect time of year! It’ll be at the end of summer and the beginning of fall!”

“That should be pretty nice,” Hoya agreed.

“And then afterwards, we can start planning Homecoming!” Dongwoo said excitedly.

Hoya looked down at his feet shyly and began, “Speaking, of Homecoming… is there any chance-”

“Dongwoo-hyung!” a person shouted down the hallway. Dongwoo’s head whipped around, waving to the person who had called his name. The boy ran towards Dongwoo, grabbing his arm and nearly racing down the hall with him in tow. “Hyung, hyung, you have to come see this!”

“O-Oh, what? Right now?” Dongwoo stammered. The boy nodded and Dongwoo looked back towards Hoya. “Uh, I’ll talk to you later for sure!” he called out. “I’ll come to your house later!”

Dongwoo disappeared down the hall, leaving Hoya in the milling sea of students. He sighed to himself, wishing he could have finished asking Dongwoo to Homecoming.

 

    I’m sorry about earlier; Dongwoo.

Hoya looked down at his phone, smiling at the text he had received from his neighbor. He had a feeling that Dongwoo wouldn’t have been able to come over later that day, but the text made up for it. Placing his pencil down, he picked up his vibrating phone and proceeded to send a text back.

    Sorry for what?; Hoya

    For randomly ditching you! :( Sorry!; Dongwoo

    It’s fine. You’re probably really busy; Hoya

    Nah, they just wanted me to see some squirrels fighting over acorns in the quad. It wasn’t really worth leaving you alone; Dongwoo

    Maybe next time you should just take me with you; Hoya

    Hey! That’s a good idea!; Dongwoo

Hoya laughed to himself. Dongwoo seemed kind of silly, but it was an endearing kind of silly. He really like it and it made him want to spend more time with Dongwoo than he already did. Although he was well into the first few weeks of school, Dongwoo still remained his closest friend. Sure, he had made a few friendly acquaintances, but at the end of the day, it was Dongwoo that he wanted to spend his day with.

And maybe, at the end of the day, it was Dongwoo that he had a crush on.

It wasn’t a big crush, really! It was just a little one - about the size of Hoya’s thumb. It was the smallest of crushes, and Hoya swore that he wasn’t even that interested. He just saw Dongwoo as someone he would like to potentially get much closer with.

His phone vibrated again, and he checked the text. A blush was sent to his face in seconds and he collapsed onto his bed in a lovestruck agony. He covered his face with his pillow, feeling more embarrassed than he had in years because, damn it, it was a huge crush.

    <3 <3 <3 Anyways, good luck at the game tomorrow! I’ll be in the stands cheering you on! Go go go Hoya!!! <3 <3 <3; Dongwoo

 

“You ready, newbie?”

Hoya looked at Woohyun and continued adjusting his cap in the locker room mirrors. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” He flexed his hand inside the pitcher’s glove. It was kind of cool, actually. The glove was brand new and had the school’s logo on it and it fit his hand really nicely. “I’m excited,” he stated.

Woohyun smiled at him through the mirror, adjusting his own catcher’s helmet. “Me too. It’s the first game of the season, after all.” He turned to Hoya, flashing his smile lines. “If we do really well this game, we’ll have over half of the money for the fundraising just about covered.”

Hoya’s eyes widened. “Really? That should be really good for us then.”

Woohyun nodded and then punched Hoya’s shoulder lightly. “But that’s only if we win. You think we got this game in the bag?”

Hoya shrugged, punching his mitt. “I don’t know. I’m hoping we do. We spent a lot of time training, so...”

Woohyun let out a laugh. “You’re awkward, you know that, new guy?” The coach blew his whistle, signalling that all of the players needed to be out on the field immediately.

He broke into a smile immediately, high-fiving Woohyun as they ran out into the sand. Hoya took his spot on the pitcher’s mound, scanning the stands before the game started. He couldn’t spot Dongwoo. It was kind of weird, since most of the people he didn’t recognize. They didn’t seem to recognize him either. The sun glared down on him, and he was glad for his cap. It didn’t help that his uniform was heating up, though. He shook his head, clearing his mind before the game started. The first batter lined up, holding his bat readily and behind him, Woohyun held up three fingers to Hoya before squatting into his position. Hoya nodded, ready to begin the game.

Okay, so maybe the game didn’t go that great in the beginning. Hoya pitched as fast and hard as he could, but the school just kept on smacking it. Luckily, Hoya’s pitches were fast enough to stall the batters just enough so that they ended up hitting a bunch of foul balls, but it was still too risky. They needed to win this game.

The coach quickly called a timeout (which was surprising so early in the game) and he went over to talk to Hoya.

“Hey, you got this, alright?” he encouraged. Hoya nodded obediently. “You can do this. Now go show them what you’re made of!”

The coach disappeared but before the game restarted, Woohyun ran to Hoya’s side. “Hey, newbie. I know you got a bunch of pressure on your shoulders, especially for your sweetheart in the stands.”

“My what-”

“But just play the way you practice and I promise you that you will destroy the other team. Focus, play a clean game, and let’s win, okay?” Woohyun grinned as he pat his side. “You can do this, Hoya.”

Hoya grinned at him and nodded. “I can!”

“That’s the spirit! Oh and one more thing before you start stressing out over it again.” Woohyun pointed up towards the upper left corner of the stands and Hoya found Dongwoo waving at him happily, nearly jumping up and down. “Your sweetheart is over there.”

Hoya blushed profusely. “We’re not sweethearts-”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll believe it once it’s been written in blood on my grandmother’s grave. I’m not stupid.” He laughed at Hoya’s flustered face and gave him a rough pat on the back. “Man, you really are awkward. But go out there and win for Dongwoo, okay?”

Hoya gave a lopsided smile, but nodded. “Okay.”

The game soon resumed with the resounds words of ‘play ball!’ resonating in the air. Hoya adjusted his cap and dusted his legs. Looking straight to where Dongwoo was watching, he sent a large grin and calmed his mind. He could win this. He would win this. He would win it for Dongwoo.

 

“Hoya!” Dongwoo screeched. “You were amazing! You totally destroyed them! Oh my gosh we won and it was all thanks to you!” Dongwoo’s mouth ran like a lawnmower as he ran down from the stands at towards Hoya. He bounced off the last bleacher and jumped straight into Hoya’s arms. Hoya was caught a little off guard, but the surprise sent his heart racing. He caught him with a little difficulty, but was able to hold Dongwoo upright.

“You’re amazing!” Dongwoo shouted. He might as well have burst Hoya’s eardrums. “We won, Hoya, we actually won our first game in decades!” His cheeks were rosy and pink with excitement. “I’m so happy! I could almost kiss you!”

“R-Really?” Hoya said, startled and surprised.

Dongwoo nodded, hugging him tighter and tickling Hoya’s face with his hair. “For reals!”

Hoya blinked once - twice - before breaking into a toothy grin. Breathy chuckles left his mouth as he stared at Dongwoo’s ecstatic face. If he wasn’t busy staring at Dongwoo he might have been able to hear the obnoxious thuds his heart was making against his chest.

Dongwoo hopped down from his arms gracefully and held his hands. “This is so exciting, Hoya! You’ve already gained us over half of our budget for the bash! If you win the next two games we’ll have so much cushion to fall back on! We might even have enough left over to fund Homecoming alone!”

“Yeah… that sounds so awesome,” Hoya replied, still somewhat happily stunned by the fact that Dongwoo had said he wanted to kiss him. “Homecoming sounds great.”

“Win the next two games for me!” Dongwoo said happily. “Okay?”

Hoya’s grin widened, almost hurting his face. “Okay.”

 

“What do you mean our team lost the second game?!”

“I don’t know! They just didn’t do as well.”

“But they slayed that other team in the first game! How did they lose this time?!”

“I heard that their pitcher was nervous or something. The other team kept being able to figure out his plays and just smack the ball across the field.”

“Wait, isn’t our pitcher on drugs or something?”

“Nah, that was our old one. They held tryouts for a new one so we have a better pitcher who, by the way, has a clean record.”

“Who is he?”

“...I’m not sure, actually. Some new kid that transferred this year.”

“The awkward one?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“I heard he was a really good pitcher from Dongwoo.”

“He wasn’t good enough for this game, clearly.”

“He has to win this third game though. This is the last game before we have to finalize everything for the Back to School Bash. We have to win this last game.”

“Yes! Our pitcher will bring us the best Back to School Bash ever! Er… what was his name again?”

The student council turned towards Dongwoo, who had been keeping quiet the entire time this ordeal took place.

“His name is Hoya,” Dongwoo said.

 

“Dongwoo, I’m so sorry,” Hoya murmured under his breath, kicking his mitt on the ground defeatedly. “No matter what I did the other team just seemed to already know what I was going to do.”

Dongwoo smiled, spinning around slowly in Hoya’s desk chair and reassured him. “It’s alright. You did your best, right?”

“Obviously, my best wasn’t enough.” Hoya flopped down onto his bed, burying his face into his pillow. After a few moments, he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

“Hey,” Dongwoo began, “don’t beat yourself up over this. You still have a whole other game to play! And if you win, it’s no big deal. We’ll just use the money we already have.”

“But you were looking forward to a great carnival though, right?” he asked. “You were all excited and everything.”

Dongwoo smiled softly. “Yeah, that may be so, but I’m not going to pressure you into doing well so that I get what I want. You’re much more than that to me, Hoya.”

Hoya smiled up at him. “Thanks, Dongwoo. It means a lot.”

“It’s never a problem. Just make sure that for the next game, you go out there and have fun! It’s no where close to the last game of the season, but it’s still important you do your best every game you play. Promise me that, okay?”

“Promise,” Hoya said genuinely. He was determined now. He was going to win that game for Dongwoo no matter what.

 

“This is so nerveracking,” Dongwoo muttered under his breath. “I’m so nervous right now.”

His friend, Sungyeol (who was vice president of Dongwoo’s activities committee) nodded and clasped his hands together in anxiety. “We’re so close to winning!”

“I can’t take this!” Dongwoo exclaimed softly. “There’s just no way I’ll be able to stay sane!” He held Sungyeol’s hands firmly, his nerves making both of their hands shake together.

It was near the end of the third game, in the last inning and their school was playing outfield. Hoya had been able to strike out two batters, but not all of them. There were batters lined up on all the bases, so if the next batter hit a homerun, the opposing team would win four points. Their school was winning by one run, so if this batter was successful, they would lose. The team was on time-out right now, and the tension in the air was thick.

“Maybe they’ll only get a single and we can tie,” Sungyeol said hopefully. “If we tie then we get at least half of the betted money. It still won’t be enough to cover the traveling carnival festival we’ve been eyeing though…”

“No, I have faith in Hoya,” Dongwoo responded defiantly. “I have complete faith. Hoya can win this for us.”

“I sure hope so,” Sunggyu said. Sunggyu was yet another one of Dongwoo’s friends, who had come out to support Hoya due to Dongwoo’s request. “If he can’t then we’ll have to go with that rickety carnival we booked our freshman year.” He gripped onto the poster (embossed with Hoya) they had made together haphazardly.

Another friend named Myungsoo nodded quietly as he held the other end of the poster. “Yeah. That was not a good experience. The only interesting thing was the deep-fry booth.”

“Wasn’t that a booth where you could hand them anything and they would deep fry it?” Sungyeol asked.

Myungsoo turned to him and nodded. “I asked them to deep-fry my textbook and they did. They battered it and then fried it. I got in a lot of trouble with my teacher.” Sungyeol laughed and Myungsoo nudged him. “You hold the other end of the poster, my arms are getting tired.”

“Guys, Hoya can do it,” Dongwoo reassured. “He can definitely do it. They beat the other team in the first game by a landslide, remember?”

“But then our team lost the second game,” Sunggyu reminded. “It’s a fifty-fifty chance this time around.”

“Well, I think Hoya can most definitely do it. I’ve seen the way he plays and he’ll strike out this next batter for sure.”

A whistle was blown and both teams went to their respective positions in the field. The team they were playing was notorious for winning the high school baseball leagues and were trained to perfection. However, the seniors had left the team and were replaced by the freshman and this was their first time playing together collectively. Dongwoo could only hope that their lack of practice as a team would play to his team’s advantage.

“Oh, no,” Sunggyu murmured as he saw who was coming up to bat. “That guy was on the team last year and was known for having super fast reflexes and hitting home runs on even the fastest of pitches.” He turned to Dongwoo in worry. “You think your boyfriend can strike him out?”

Dongwoo blushed. “He’s not my boyfriend, okay? And yes - I think he can still pull this off. Hoya throws at amazing speeds.”

“I heard that someone’s wrist broke from trying to catch one of his hits,” Sungyeol added. “I mean, the batter ended up being out since his ball was caught, but the guy still had a broken wrist, so personally I don’t think it was worth it.”

Dongwoo bit his thumbnail nervously. Hoya could do this… right?

The stands started cheering as Hoya stepped onto the pitcher’s mound and the batter stepped up to the plate. Hoya looked slightly frazzled from the newly added pressure to his shoulders, but Dongwoo kept his eyes trained on him and crossed his fingers as he wished Hoya the best of luck under his breath.

Woohyun sent Hoya a finger signal from behind the batter and Hoya nodded as he prepared his pitch. He was given the okay to begin and he immediately started winding up his arm. He threw his first pitch with lightning speed and the batter didn’t have enough time to react as he swung his bat too late.

“Yes!” Dongwoo exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement with the rest of the stands. “That’s the first strike!”

The buzz and excitement in the air was too much to contain all at once. The kids out here supporting their school were so happy and anxious that it was hard to miss.

Dongwoo watched as Hoya winded up for the next pitch, but this time the batter looked ready. Dongwoo bit his finger, watching with wide and anxious eyes as Hoya curled up readily.

He snapped his arm and hurled another wildly fast curveball towards the batter. Only this time, the batter was able to strike it. Dongwoo sighed in relief when it turned out to be a foul ball. The batter hit two more foul balls and Dongwoo was beginning to get anxious. He bit his nails and bounced in his spot eagerly.

“Come on, Hoya,” he murmured under his breath. “Come on, you can do this.”

Hoya seemed slightly distraught that this batter was so persistent and that this was his chance to end the game. He seemed to mull over something in his head, his shaking hands and tapping foot showing his stress.

Without thinking, Dongwoo cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “GO HOYA! YOU CAN DO IT!”

He screamed it at the top of his lungs at all his might, and even though it kind of hurt his throat, it was worth it when Hoya’s attention immediately zeroed in on him. He flashed him a large grin where his canines glinted in the sunlight and Dongwoo’s heart was sent hammering in his chest. Dongwoo waved at him and Hoya waved back and there was suddenly a lighter feeling in the air. And in that moment, Dongwoo knew that he could do it.

The stands quieted down as Hoya winded up for the next, and hopefully last, pitch. He tensed all his muscles and the whole stadium held its breath as Hoya threw the ball.

It even surprised Dongwoo.

Because instead of hurling a fastball at the speed of light he threw the ball slowly. The batter reacted too quickly and hit the ball with the tip of his bat. The hit was like a light bunt that the bat barely hit and went too high before falling safely into Hoya’s hands.

“Oh, my gosh,” Sungyeol muttered.

“Oh, my gosh,” Sunggyu whispered.

“Oh… my gosh,” Myungsoo breathed.

“Oh, my gosh!” Dongwoo screamed. “We just won!”

The stands erupted into a flurry of cheers and whoops and waving banners and throwing streamers because they had just won the game and had won all the money and now they were able to book an amazing traveling carnival to celebrate their Back to School Bash.

 

“We’ve outdone ourselves this time, you guys!” Dongwoo exclaimed ecstatically.

It was the evening of their Back to School Bash and the carnival they had booked came right on schedule. They used a week to set up all the rides and booths and the celebration was ready for the weekend.

Dongwoo hopped around in a uncontrollable excitement, the multicolored lights dancing off his face as the bulbs themselves burned fluorescently against the navy night sky.

“This is going to be the best Back to School Bash ever!” he shouted. He whipped around to face his friends as he walked backwards. “And the only person we have to thank is Hoya!”

Hoya rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, smiling largely. “It wasn’t just me,” he said. “The whole team played a huge part.”

“But you were the pitcher!” Dongwoo said, pushing his shoulders playfully. “You were the one who struck that batter out! Gosh, it was just amazing!”

Hoya flushed as Dongwoo bounced along his side, walking towards one of the food booths where Myungsoo and Sungyeol waited for them.

“Hi, guys!” Dongwoo said.

Sungyeol spotted them and smiled. “There’s our baseball MVP!” he said excitedly, waving at Hoya.

The pitcher could only smile at the tall boy as he gave a short wave. Sure, he had hung around this group before since Dongwoo was close to them, but he didn’t really feel close to anyone except for Dongwoo. But maybe that was just because he kind of had a crush on him.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol gave him awkward pats on the back, congratulating him on the win that took place nearly over a month ago. Hoya thought he was sort of getting closer to Myungsoo, but that was clearly wrong when he overheard Myungsoo whisper to Sungyeol to ask what ‘the awkward guy’s name again?’

“Let’s eat!” Sungyeol said. “I’m starving. I was practically salivating over the skewer booth just waiting for you two to get here!”

“Let’s go to the skewer booth then,” Dongwoo replied, linking arms with the tall male. “What do they serve?”

“Anything you want. But on a skewer.”

“Ah… sounds appetizing.”

“It does - that’s why I want to try it.”

“You eat so much junk,” Myungsoo chided, poking Sungyeol’s side.

Sungyeol swatted his finger away. “I work out! I deserve the junk!”

“Since when does rewarding yourself with unhealthy foods fit in the requirement of a diet?”

“It’s not a diet! It’s a lifestyle!”

Hoya walked with them, listening on his own and laughing with them when the time was right. It was kind of awkward since he wasn’t as close, but it still felt nice. They walked all around the carnival, dodging running students with hands filled with cotton candy and other kids getting lines for the biggest and scariest rides.

Before he knew it, the group had stopped at the skewered food booth, and a skewer with chunks of grilled mystery meat was shoved in his face.

“Try it!” Dongwoo encouraged, his own mouth already chomping on some. “It’s really good!”

Hoya stared at it (going slightly cross-eyed from doing so) before taking it apprehensively in his hands. “I don’t know…” he mused. “My stomach doesn’t usually agree with carnival food.”

“Oh come on - this won’t be that bad! It’ll be great!”

“...Really?”

“Absolutely for reals!” Dongwoo hopped in his spot eagerly, watching Hoya’s face. “Try it, try it, try it!”

Hoya brought it to his mouth hesitantly, biting down on the chewy meat and worked on swallowing it. It wasn’t as bad as he thought.

“It’s not disgusting,” he said.

Dongwoo’s face lit up with a bright grin. “See! I told you it’d be great!”

It wasn’t so great, though, because afterwards Hoya was dragged onto the worst headache inducing ride in the carnival and it spun faster than his fastballs. Even after he was off and his vision was only fuzzing at the edges instead of being completely blurry, he had trouble walking straight.

“That skewer thing might be coming back up,” he heaved quietly, holding a hand on his stomach as if it would keep the food down.

“Aw man, are you okay?” Dongwoo asked, touching his arm gingerly. “I forgot that you probably don’t have as much tolerance for spinning rides like we do.”

“I’m fine,” Hoya spoke queasily. “I just… need a little time.”

“How long?” Sungyeol asked.

“Uh, until the ground stops moving would be really nice.”

“That could take a while,” Dongwoo said, resting the back of his hand on Hoya’s forehead. “You don’t look good at all. You even look a little green. Green may be my favorite color, but a green face is never a good sign.”

Hoya nodded weakly as Dongwoo lead him to a nearby bench. He sat down with a great sigh and opened his eyes to squint at Myungsoo and Sungyeol. “You two go ahead - Dongwoo and I will just be a short while.”

Sungyeol’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? We’d feel bad to leave you alone all sick.”

“He’s not alone - he has me!” Dongwoo retorted.

“Still - I’d have a lot of guilt on my conscience.”

“It’s totally fine,” Hoya repeated, waving them off. “Go ride on the other spinning rides before I have to join you and get sick all over again.”

“...Okay,” Sungyeol said haphazardly and tugged Myungsoo in a different direction.

With the other two gone, Dongwoo turned his full attention to Hoya. “Are you feeling alright?” he asked, placing his hand on Hoya’s. “If not, I can tell Myungsoo and Sungyeol and the two of us will just walk home.”

“That actually sounds really nice,” Hoya admitted, gripping onto Dongwoo’s hand. “But we can’t go just yet.”

Dongwoo tilted his head and widened his eyes in surprise. “Why not? You’re not well - we should go as soon as possible! I’ll just text Sungyeol real quick and tell him-”

“Wait,” Hoya hushed, sitting up straighter. He took in a deep breath of fresh air and relaxed himself. It made the dizziness subside, at least. “I’m not going to leave this carnival until I’ve accomplished something.”

“Accomplished what? The cake walk?”

“No, no,” Hoya chuckled. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Dongwoo was silent for a moment before straightening up himself. “Ask away.”

“So… we’ve been friend since the end of the summer, right?”

“Right.”

“And we’ve become really good friends.”

“Also right.”

“And… we might have become a little more than really good friends.”

Dongwoo paused before smiling to himself. “Yeah, I guess I can vouch for that fact.”

“I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a really, really long time - which makes me too eager, I guess, since it’s still so far away - but you just always seemed so busy. You’re part of the student council, and you’ve always get friends flocking your sides - I’m just that awkward new kid who pitches really well.”

Dongwoo chuckled at his small joke and Hoya continued.

“I guess what I wanted to say tonight was that - hey! I might kind of like you more than I should and… No wait, let me start over.”

Dongwoo burst into a large laugh as he ruffled Hoya’s hair. “I’ve never seen you talk this fast before,” he chuckled. “It’s kind of nice.”

Hoya blushed. “So… I should talk more?”

“Mm-hm! Especially right now, since it seems like you still haven’t gotten to your point…?”

“Oh, right… I guess, um… Would you want to go to Homecoming with me?”

Dongwoo’s eyes widened and sparkled with a certain glint of happiness and eagerness. Almost immediately he wrapped his arms around Hoya’s neck and was instantaneously squeezing the breath out of him.

“Yes!” he shouted. “Yes, yes, yes - a million times  yes! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to ask!”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah! I’m not stupid, Hoya - I knew you liked me. It just kind of radiated from your eyes and smile,” he giggled. “And I’ve always wanted a real date to Homecoming, so I was just squirming every time we had alone time! Oh, my gosh - you’re amazing, you know that?”

Hoya grinned crookedly, one canine exposed. “Yeah, you’ve mentioned that a few times,” he chuckled.

“Well, it’s completely true!”

“Oh,” Hoya began again. “And one more thing before we head on our walk home.”

“Yeah?”

Hoya leaned in and placed a quick, soft kiss on Dongwoo’s lips. It didn’t last more than a second, but it felt like an eternal sort of heaven for Hoya. So when he pulled away and Dongwoo stared at him in surprise, he couldn’t help but smile even wider.

“Since we’re going to Homecoming together,” he continued, “would you want to be my boyfriend, too?”

Dongwoo covered his mouth in surprise but his giant grin was not easily missed. “Really?” he asked with happiness.

“For reals.”

---

( A/N ): haha, i hope you liked it! i’m not sure if it’s what you expected, but i tried to go about it in a way that was somewhat relevant to the prompt >< but either way, i hope you like it and thanks a bunch for giving me this prompt :)