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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

(ing long chapter sorry... Lobeu yu~)

Wonwoo taps his foot quickly during class — A habit that he does when he’s nervous (As pointed out by Jihoon, who noticed throughout their friendship) — While he calmly writes. Despite the fact he looks decent and like a normal human being, his best friend knew there was something wrong. Definitely wrong.

Meanwhile, at the front of the class, Mingyu was drumming his fingers a lot on the table and quietly mumbling to himself, or mimicking a drum sound to match his finger drumming as he sounds like he’s rushing some parts. Soonyoung, who was sat in front of him, heard everything — From the quiet tapping to the harsh scoldings whispered to himself. And Soonyoung could definitely tell that Mingyu was nervous, more nervous than Wonwoo at least.

And if Wonwoo was nervous, it made Jihoon nervous. If Mingyu was anxious, it made Soonyoung anxious. Ergo, one thing to another, all four of them were feeling uneasy. They couldn’t even focus on the homeroom teacher, they had to concentrate on putting their focus on something else.

After all, today was the Summer fair.

“Wonwoo and Mingyu, can you stay behind class for a few minutes?”

Both Wonwoo and Mingyu look up at the mention of their names — But not only their names, but also the other’s name too — And they give a look at each other before they realise they’re the only one’s still sat down while the class was getting up from their seats and grabbing their bags, making their way out for their next class.

Taking their time, Mingyu waits for Wonwoo to get up from his chair so that they could walk together to the teacher, wondering what he has to say. In unison, they both gulp.

“I just want to say…” He then puts each hand on one of their shoulders, “Do your best today.” He then smiles.

Wonwoo’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. Mingyu blinks. “Oh thank you Sir-“

The teacher then cuts Wonwoo off. “And not to put any pressure, the whole school knows about your duet and are hoping for you to do you best too! So make sure it’s all ready for this evening!”

An invisible slap smacks Mingyu and Wonwoo’s face, shocked at how the teacher’s effort of ’support’ just made them anxious more.

“Oh w...wow.”

“HOLY THAT MANY PEOPLE FU-“

Wonwoo whacks Mingyu’s arm, giving an annoyed look at the taller before he looks back at the teacher with a nervous smile. “We’ll do our best Sir…”

“Good, I’m so excited to see what you’re going to perform! Now get to class quickly, tell your teacher to speak to me if they wonder why you’re late! See you boys!” And happily, the teacher walks out of the room, leaving Wonwoo and Mingyu to look at each other in silence for a moment.

Suddenly, they break into laughter. “Did you just swear in front of our home teacher?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m anxious! Plus, he’ll let me off since we’re performing today.”

“‘Anxious’? What’s there anxious to be about?”

“Everything! It’s just a feeling I get before performing, okay?” Mingyu’s eyes glance to the side, away from Wonwoo. “And also I saw you look anxious when you were writing earlier… You did that thing with your foot when you get anxious.”

“Geez, did I? I didn’t even notice- Wait, you looked at me during class?” Wonwoo smirks.

Mingyu feels his heart skip, “Uh, well-“

Playfully, Wonwoo sticks his tongue out at Mingyu. “Ah, admit it, you obviously adore me, don’t you?” He teases, laughing after his comment.

‘You don’t even know…’ Mingyu thinks, with a slight smile creeping up on his face. Instead, he scoffs and ruffles Wonwoo’s hair, while the latter pats his head like he always does.

“I should be getting to class,” Mingyu says, “I have a test to do-“

“Have you studied?” Instantly, Wonwoo asks the most important question to Mingyu. However since it’s Kim Mingyu, he knows what answer he’s going to get — But you never know, he might’ve changed for this one rare occasion.

“Ha, no-“ Mingyu laughs, but his attention is caught by Wonwoo’s jaw dropping and fingers curling as if he wanted to choke the younger.

“YOU SHOULD’VE TOLD ME! WE COULD’VE STUDIED TOGETHER-“

“Just kidding princess.”

“Argh, you idiot!” Again, Wonwoo pats Mingyu’s head, smiling at how comfortable he feels doing that again.

Once Wonwoo puts his hand down from Mingyu’s head, a silence approaches. Lately, they’ve been nice silences, silences where they can take in the moment and enjoy it. but this time the silence that approached them felt bitter and uncomfortable.

It was weird knowing that this was the last day they would talk to each other, but that was just how life was. They made a deal, and that deal was soon to come than they expected. Mingyu will go back to Soonyoung and Al1, while Wonwoo will go back to his weekly routine of shopping, studying, hanging out with Jihoon and getting back into the habit of competitions. It was ending sooner than they both thought, and everything was going back to normal.

Alas, they said their goodbyes and went off to class with the wrenching thought stuck in their minds.

—♩—♪—♫—♬ —

“Question seven was such a , I hated it — Like, how can they tell me to ‘guess’ in the question when it’s a test on what we remember?! I can just ing ‘guess’, and also the multiple-choice question — God, I answered C for the first two but the third one had to be C, but you can’t just have three C’s in a row-“

“Hey, do you think Jun is better looking than me?” Mingyu, who was laid on the floor on the rooftop, staring at the sky, asked. Minghao chokes on his drink and bursts out laughing.

“Is that even a question?! OBVIOUSLY-“

“OH SHUT YOUR MOUTH-“

“Just kidding man.” The younger then gently hits Mingyu on his arm, trying to wipe the smirk off his face. “Uh, I dunno,” He then shrugs, “Why?”

“Well… Just, what do you think in general? What’s your opinion?”

“I mean, you’re both okay-looking, but you’ll just say otherwise-“

“Sheesh, well thanks-“

“Then don’t ask me in the first place you punk!” Minghao yells, raising his hand to whack the taller on the forehead, but covers his mouth instantly in case they’ll get caught for skipping class.

“Oops, sorry.”

“Why do you ask anyway? Normally you aren’t so desperate for an answer. You sounded a bit bothered when you asked.” Minghao shrugs, taking another sip from his drink.

“Huh, I dunno…” Mingyu simply tells Minghao a lie as he turns to his side, back facing Minghao, and closing his eyes, hoping he could get a couple of minutes to rest. His mind starts to drift to Junhui and Wonwoo laughing together and Mingyu’s eyes suddenly open as his fist clenches in jealousy.

Minghao crawls on all fours toward the laid-down male, looking over to see his face. In a sing-song voice he says, “Something is on your mind~” And he lays next to Mingyu as the latter turns around again and they both face at the sky. The younger raises up a finger at one of the clouds, “That one looks like a dinosaur. Cool.”

“I’ve just been thinking a lot…” Mingyu changes topic, answering Minghao’s question. “But I can’t complain now, there’s so much on my mind. I just need to focus on the fair this evening and everything will be alright.”

“Good luck man, I’ll root for you.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s no big deal man.” Again, Minghao raises his finger and points at another cloud, “That looks like a ‘My Little Pony’ character-“

“YAH!” Suddenly, a voice yells, and Mingyu and Minghao run to where the voice was from. They see Soonyoung in his tracksuit on the track field, who apparently has amazing eyesight since he could see and identify his two friends laid down on the high rooftop. “YOU TWO SHOULD BE IN CLASS YOU PUNKS-“

“SOONYOUNG STOP HOLY DON’T BUST US-“ Mingyu yells back, quickly ducking himself and Minghao down as they see the gym coach run to Soonyoung. Luckily, it was Soonyoung who got told off and the duo hiding on the roof top watched in amusement, trying their best not to laugh at Soonyoung’s scolding of running the track another three times. Too bad Soonyoung was good at running.

—♩—♪—♫—♬ —

The two friends, Wonwoo and Jihoon, walk out of class together, heading towards the garden. They walked in silence, making some small talk, but Jihoon noticed Wonwoo still remained calm judging by the look on the older’s face. He just shrugged and smiled, desperately waiting on what’s going to happen next.

When they arrive at the garden, they set down their things and Jihoon picks up a box of mochis and sets it beside him and placing a book on his lap not long after. He sees Wonwoo put down his books but still stays stood up. Odd. Jihoon asked him what’s going on.

“You know you can sit down Wonwoo-“ The shorter stops mid-sentence as Wonwoo’s pale and fragile-looking finger was in front of his face, making him shut up.

When Wonwoo takes away his finger from Jihoon’s face, he continues to stand with a hand on his face, sighing deeply. There’s a moment of silence before everything turns into hell — Out of nowhere, Wonwoo starts to yell and run around the garden like a maniac.

For a few minutes, Jihoon was really enjoying the older’s panicking and laughed for a straight two minutes, but when time came he had to be the one to calm Wonwoo. He got up and put a mochi in his mouth as he was holding another mochi. He took hold of Wonwoo’s wrist.

“Calm down, calm down.” Hushes Jihoon, opening Wonwoo’s mouth and placing a mochi in there, which he starts to happily chew on.

“How can I?” He says after taking about three chews on before he gulps it down. “You know how intimidated I get when I play for others!” Wonwoo raises his voice, his breaths getting quicker.

“Wonwoo, what do you mean-“

“I… I’m scared to mess up.” The older tries to hold back his tears and Jihoon can’t decide whether he’s confused or getting curious — Maybe even both.

“But…” Jihoon furrows his eyebrows, “You’re so professional when you play in front of others, why are you so pressured now?”

Although Wonwoo wanted to answer, he perfectly had no idea either, but it’s not like always he can feel prepared and professional — Everyone has a weakness, right? 

“What if I mess up in front of the whole school? They’ll just call me a ‘Good-for-nothing’ and… And… And I’ll just be another burden, another horrible excuse for a child prodigy…” This time, the tears didn’t stop falling down his face and he fell to the floor, looking down in shame. “I’ll mess up in front of Mingyu…!” The words slipped off his lips.

Jihoon kneels in front of the older and tries his best to give him a hug, attempting to let his short arms link so that they can keep a longer hug. Jihoon knew Wonwoo was just like anyone else, being scared of anything and everything — But this was a new side of Wonwoo revealed to him, as if Wonwoo is suddenly giving his trust to Jihoon.

“It’s alright, okay…? Please don’t think like that, you’re not a burden, but just let it out while you can.”

So they sat there for a while as Wonwoo sobbed and Jihoon was quietly shushing him while rubbing his back. but the more the sat in the silence in the garden, Jihoon recalls what Wonwoo said and his facial expression turns confused.

“Wait, Wonwoo?”

“Yeah…?” Wonwoo looks up, sniffing slightly — At least the tears were going.

“Did… You just say you’re scared to mess up in front of Mingyu?”

Wonwoo’s cheeks feel like their piping hot once Jihoon asks the question, worsening the heat from his cheeks when he was crying. He hesitates, shaking his head and Jihoon tilts his head back a bit, suspiciously looking at the older male.

“Uh, I better go to class now, bye.” The older quickly says before he stands up and grabs all of his things and runs off, his heart rate getting quicker as his hands shake a bit.

Back in the garden, Jihoon laughs contently with himself as he gets all of his things back in his tiny arms.

“It’s funny when you’re in love…”

—♩—♪—♫—♬ —

From there, Mingyu met up with Wonwoo and they both run to the practice room to practice their asses off for the fair — At first, Mingyu and Wonwoo didn’t even want to take part, but now they’re freaking over it so much.

Their lunch, their lessons and their after-school time was wasted thanks to practicing back and forth, again and again. They got tired, they acted as if they were drunk, they yelle