Wooshin cursed himself in his head. Sometimes he regretted his stubborn nature that told him to always wear his black leather jacket, no matter what harsh wind was blowing. It wasn't like he was someone who was freezing easily, but today was really one of the worst November days he had witnessed in some years and it didn't help that Xiao was taking three years to get out of the school's gymnasium. He had texted Minsoo some minutes ago, asking if he knew where Xiao was. The older told him that they had just finished basketball practice together and would come out soon. That was 15 minutes ago and Kuhn was probably raging in their hideout already. It was important. More important than some basketball match. Why was the younger doing this in the first place anyway? Last time he remember Xiao never wanted to join any of the extracurricular on Wednesday's and Wooshin could easily fetch him from home after finishing his photography club. He liked quiet things that could speak without actual words and photography was perfect for that. It was also a good way to calm down after a hard day of school and work.
Miyeon probably really made him do it., he thought to himself and shook his head in disbelief. This meant the two of them were able to spend more time now and her crush on him would only grow bigger as time would go by. It's not like he had any hope left for her to eventually fall in love with him after having gotten so used to their platonic regular scheduled meetings, but a small part in his heart still wanted to hope. Maybe that was part of this whole heartbreak thing Minsoo was always talking about. Being hopelessly in love and knowing that it makes no sense to chase something or someone that doesn't want you, yet you long to spend every free minute with this person.
"Oh wow. There you are.", Wooshin pulled the younger back by his arm in an unexpectedly harsh way. Xiao had just tried to walk past him through the school's gate without any word. He hadn't meant to be this harsh and let go of the other's leather jacket immediately as Minsoo and Miyeon shot him a confused look and quickly bid goodbye, walking off to Minsoo's car. He was just being stressed out by Kuhn via multiple text messages and unanswered calls that constantly made his phone light up for a few seconds.
Xiao brushed with his hand over his shoulder dramatically which Wooshin thought was unnecessary and uncalled for, but he had better things to do then to fight with him. They rarely fought, but when they did Xiao was always yelling the loudest and he seriously had no nerve for this today.
"What do you want now?", Xiao asked while pulling out his phone and checking some messages, not looking at the older while speaking to him. He had a few missed calls from both Wooshin and Kuhn, multiple text messages asking why he wasn't at home and what was taking him so long in the changing room.
Wooshin knew they were in a hurry and wanted to get straight away to the actual reason, but the attitude of Xiao made him raise his eyebrows in both disbelief and confusion. Why was he behaving like that? He had been weird all day. First he had barely talked to anyone during lunch, then had ignored him during classes and hadn't even told him their usual See you! or informed him about the fact that he was not heading home but to his newly found club.
"What's up with that attitude?", Wooshin questioned Xiao as he grabbed said one's chin to make him look up to him. It wasn't often that Wooshin got this serious, especially not with Xiao, but he wanted to clarify and talk about what was going on between them quickly before heading to their job. It was important that Xiao would have nothing else clouding his mind now. They needed him to take someone out, before that person would take them out.
Xiao shook his head to get out of Wooshin's grip, "I could ask you the same.", he mumbled in annoyance and went back to his phone. Despite Xiao acting cold hearted, annoyed and angry he was far from that. He was hurt deeply. First, Wooshin didn't care about the younger distancing himself and now after actually having had a lot of fun during basketball the older greeted him in such a mean way. Whenever Wooshin would fetch him from anywhere he would be greeted by his rare smile, but maybe right now it was good like that, to not see the older's smile. It would just mess with him even more.
"Ask me the same?", Wooshin replied, obviously offended and dropped his hand to his side again. Xiao put his phone back into his jean's pocket and looked at Wooshin with a sigh so strong he heaved his shoulders up and down once, "What's up with your attitude towards Miyeon?"
Wooshin furrowed his eyebrows as he was trying to figure out what the younger meant by that. He hadn't told Xiao about his meet-ups with her on purpose, so what was this question supposed to mean?
"You're both acting different, especially you towards her.", Xiao added as it was visible that Wooshin at least tried to stay calm, listen and understand what the younger was being about. As it dawned on him, Wooshin parted his lips for a second just to close them quickly, shaking his head.
"We don't have time for this right now.", he stated as he grabbed Xiao's arm again and led him across the parking lot to his car. Xiao wasn't having it and pulled back multiple times, but he had to think back to his and Minsoo's conversation. Wooshin was indeed stronger than him.
"Get in the car.", Wooshin commanded while turning the key to start the engine as Xiao kept on standing in front of an opened passenger's door. "I won't if you won't tell me what's going on between you too.", Xiao refused and squinted his eyes at him while crossing his arms in front of his chest like an angered child.
Wooshin heaved a sigh and turned off the car's engine again. "Why is that so important to you?", he questioned in true curiosity and still tried to keep calm yet Xiao answered him full of hurt and anger, "I'm your best friend and you won't tell me what's going on between the girl you like!"
The older looked away. He didn't want to tell him the truth on why he had kept it a secret all along while looking at his friend's face, "I didn't want anyone to know since Kuhn forbid us to develop romantic interests, you know..."
If Xiao wouldn't have been so worked up by now he probably would've just been fine with that honest answer and gotten into the car, but his anger was fueled with each and every word Wooshin was saying.
"Do you think I'd tell him? Do you not trust your ing best friend?!", Xiao now practically yelled at him. Wooshin's head snapped back at Xiao, eyes wide in both shock and hurt. "Why are you getting so worked up about it? I would've told you if something would've happened between us already. No need to be so angry! We don't have time for this, Xiao. Get in the freaking car!"
Wooshin was pretty much worked up by now, but it would be no use to show how angry and hurt he was while Xiao was being like this. If he would let his feelings burst they'd probably never arrive at the hideout anytime this week.
"Well you're sure spending a lot of time together and are never free for nothing to have happened between you two.", Xiao now scoffed and Wooshin saw the hurt in his eyes for a quick second. Was his friend jealous maybe? Did he also like Miyeon? He had never told him about anything like that.
"Listen", Wooshin breathed out as he threw his head back in desperation, "I wasn't sure if you liked her or not, but she likes you too. You just nev-"
Xiao couldn't help it but to interrupt his older friend. He had crossed the line minutes ago anyway. "I don't like her! Not like that!", he yelled back, completely irrelevant to him that Wooshin had just told him their shared friend had romantic feelings for him and not for the older.
As Wooshin kept on looking at Xiao in confusion, having been sure that Xiao also liked her, said one sighed in defeat and sat down into the car, exhausted from their small fight yet Wooshin didn't start the engine.
"You rarely spend time with me.", Xiao now went back to mumbling again as his voice was slightly cracked and hoarse from having yelled too much, "We never meet up and hang out anymore and in school you didn't even care that I was ignoring you..."
Wooshin couldn't help it but chuckle despite the serious situation. Xiao was able to go from furious to hurt deer in the headlights real quick.
"It's not that I didn't notice you distancing yourself and ignoring me, but I'm used to you having mood swings and letting it slide. You'll eventually get back to your usual demeanor I thought, but I didn't know that there were bigger reasons behind your attitude.", Wooshin explained as he carefully put a hand on his friend's shoulder. In that moment Xiao looked up quickly, but he couldn't return the gaze. Wooshin's eyes looked hurt, tired and defeated and Xiao was more than what a simple Sorry could cover. Yeah, he had been an as he had greeted the younger, but afterwards he had tried to keep calm while Xiao had been constantly yelling at him due to his hurt feelings.
"I promise I'm not forgetting you", Wooshin now cooed at him with a slight smile, "You're my best friend. I'll make sure to make time for you again from now on. You're more important than any girl I could ever be interested in."
A sad smile spread onto Xiao's lips. That's right., he thought, I'm just your best friend, a love on another kind of basis. He couldn't tell him what was hurting him the most; Wooshin was certainly not gay. He couldn't tell him he wasn't jealous of him spending time with Miyeon, but jealous of Miyeon for being able to spend so much time with him. He didn't want to be Wooshin, he wanted to be her. They had spoken about their uality from time to time and Wooshin knew that Xiao was bi, but at the question regarding if he had feelings for the older, he had shook his head. Since then he had regretted this lie, but he was too scared to tell let the truth out. He couldn't lose him. They've been through things not every friendship would be able to go through. Wooshin was his shoulder to lean on, like an older brother he had never had and his best friend.
"Are we okay now?", Wooshin asked, hand still softly laying on Xiao's shoulder who just nodded and went back to his phone for distraction.
"Why did Kuhn just call me for the 10th time now?"
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By now it's clear that my OTP is Xiaoshin even though I ship a lot of different people in U10. They're just so touchy altogether, how can you not let certain members cross ships?
Anyways, this is just how I imagine the dynamics between Xiao and Wooshin. It's still a long way to get into the actual depth of the story , but as I already said: I want to give as much backstory and depth to each character as much as possible. I want you guys to understand them, their motives and what they're gonna do in the future before jumping right into the drama. This is the first story that I am planning to stick with and actually finish, so I don't want it to be shallow and was realistic as possible.
Additionally I wanted to add: Don't be confused that Xiao had no reaction to Wooshin practically confessing to him in Miyeons words. We will come to this later - and it'll be hell. Now the author will run try to write another few chapters as it is currently 11PM where I live. I wanted to write some chapters since a few days now, but Up10tion are being so active lately. I can't keep up!
Also I'm already playing with the thought of writing backstories for Miyeon and Minsoo same as Xiao and Wooshin and Jinhoo and his ex-boyfriend. Way later in the story I will cut their backgrounds here and there as they are going to be important, but for this main story I can't go into depth that much. Tell me what you think!