The first thing Woojin sees when he enters the dance studio is the pretty brunette leaning against the mirror, throwing his head back in laughter at something the boy in front of him is saying. And maybe if his smile hadn’t been so radiant, Woojin wouldn’t have nearly tripped over a pair of shoes while heading towards the corner of the room, almost knocking over some other guy in the process. It’s a little ridiculous really, because he knows this pretty brunette, albeit not that well. He’s friends with Daehwi—who’s the only person he’d known here and made him lucky enough to be introduced to some friends on his first day—but that doesn’t make Jihoon any less unapproachable, especially when he looks like that.

 

“Oh, God. Sorry.” Woojin apologizes after back up and out of their personal space, but the guy just gives him a friendly smile.  

 

“Don’t worry about it. You new here?”

 

Woojin nods stiffly, in a breath, “Yep. Complete fresh meat, just started yesterday actually.”

 

The boy chuckles, “You’re lucky we started up late this year, you would have missed the auditions otherwise.” He holds a hand out, and Woojin takes it. “I’m Hwanwoong.”

 

Woojin smiles, “Woojin.”

 

“Good luck, today.” He says, patting Woojin on the shoulder and walking towards another group of people. Woojin flings his backpack off of his shoulder onto the floor before stepping onto the dance floor and keeping to the side, stretching amongst all of the excitement filling the rest of the room.

 

Maybe it’s the new kid jitters that’s restraining his confidence, but he’s not too sure if he’ll be able to do a good job today. He’s always thought that he was a pretty good dancer, but come auditions Woojin always starts to second guess his own abilities. He’s been to competitions with this school before and he knows that they’re a good crew, Woojin just hopes he’s good enough to be accepted.

 

He feels Jihoon’s eyes on him for almost the entirety of the audition—while they’re learning the audition piece, and when they’re seated against the mirror watching as everyone performs in small groups. Half of him wants to look him back in the eyes and question why he’s looking a him, but the other half is dead sure he’ll make a fool out of himself and stumble over his words, so he chooses to ignore it.

 

Even under the watchful eyes of Jihoon, he manages to do well during his turn in the performance of the audition piece, even getting a few of the original members cheering his name when his group finishes. He catches Jihoon’s eye briefly as he’s walking off, but the brunette is uncharacteristically stoic and his clapping looks rather forced.

 

The list goes up on the studio doors the next week, and Woojin is surprised to find he made it.

 

“Look you made it, good job!” Daehwi jumps excitedly when he takes a peak at the list from behind him. Woojin laughs softly, thanking the blonde.

 

“You’ve also been the talk of a few conversations in my math class the last few days.” Jinyoung points out from beside Daehwi, “They said they initially thought you were shy but you were unexpectedly confident at the auditions.”

 

“Aren’t you gonna congratulate him, Jihoon?” Daehwi nudges Jihoon, who’s arms are crossed over his chest, facing away from group.

 

“Congrats, I guess.” Jihoon says without even looking his way, “Hope you can keep up though, practices are a lot more hardcore than the audition.”

 

“Alright, you green monster, let’s go eat.” Jinyoung slings an arm across Jihoon’s shoulder, dragging him towards the cafeteria.

 

“Don’t worry about him,” Daehwi tells him as they trail behind the other two, “He feels threatened when talented people show up and grab everyone’s attention.”

 

Woojin frowns, “But I didn’t really try to grab people’s attention, I just performed the piece. If anything I was deathly afraid during that audition.”

 

Daehwi nods in understanding, “Exactly. You made people like you effortlessly. It’s especially hard for him to compete with that.”

 

“Why does it even need to be a competition?” Woojin asks him, lowering his voice and leaning in closer when they sit down at a table.

 

Daehwi presses his lips together, “Jihoon, he’s.. not very confident in himself. When people praise him he’s over the moon, but now there’s suddenly someone he has to compare himself to, and I guess he might be starting to doubt his talent.”

 

Woojin sighs, “I just don’t want us to get ourselves into some stupid rivalry thing, I don’t wanna ruin anything here the minute I show up.”

 

Daehwi pats him on the back comfortingly, “I wouldn’t worry about that too much. You two are pretty alike and honestly, I can’t see you two not becoming friends. He’ll come around, trust me.”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

The thing about Daehwi, at least from what Woojin remembers, is that he’s usually always right. Sometimes it hurts his pride and he’ll go to the end of the world to deny it in front of Daehwi’s face, but other times it’s a good thing.

 

It doesn’t take long for Woojin and Jihoon to find things they had in common, especially when they’re around each other so often. They had similar music taste, both loved to game, and their sense of humor combined was practically no match for anyone else. Jihoon is the only one who laughs at his jokes, while Daehwi and Jinyoung just deadpanned him most of the time.

 

Of course, that isn’t to say that things are always so smooth-sailing between them. Whenever they’re in the dance studio, Woojin finds that Jihoon is more serious and focused, often keeping their relationship as something similar to that of a business one. But as soon as they were out of the studio then Jihoon was back to cracking jokes and throwing insults at him in a playful way. Even if they are alike, Woojin has never met someone even more sassy than Daehwi until Jihoon. And more often than not, Woojin is on the receiving end of that sass.

 

“I should have known your Starbucks order would be as tasteless as you.” Jihoon comments sardonically, sipping on his white chocolate drink.

 

Woojin smiles caustically, “I wish you were as sweet as yours.” He stirs his drink, a vanilla bean frappe, “What’s wrong with mine?”

 

Jihoon shrugs, “It just tastes like straight up whipped cream, I don’t know why people like it.”

 

“Well I didn’t actually plan on buying this, but I panicked and it was the first thing I saw when I looked up at the menu.” Woojin admits and Jihoon breaks into laughter.

 

“Skittles stop being a , this is why no one likes you.” Jinyoung smacks Jihoon on the back as he’s still engrossed in his amusement for Woojin’s mishap.

 

Woojin exhales loudly, turning to Daehwi, “Please give me permission to kill him.”

 

Daehwi shakes his head, “Sorry, but violence is prohibited in this friend group.”
 

Woojin snorts, “Yeah and that’s why we’re always kicking each other in the shin and tackling each other to the ground, right?”

 

“Hey, it’s not like you don’t deserve it.” Jihoon cuts back in after he’s caught his breath, much to Woojin’s disappointment. He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the rapport they have going on—it keeps him on his toes, challenges him. He likes impressing Jihoon with his witty comebacks and his surprisingly lively nature. But sometimes he wishes he could be able to have a serious conversation with him once in a while, where they aren’t at each other’s throats or trying to outdo the other.

 

Jihoon, however, seemed to really enjoy their friendly rivalry. Not once has Woojin seen him let down his guard, be something other than the cheeky and clever. But then again, they’ve really only known each other for three weeks tops, maybe he just needed to give him some time to open up. Woojin doesn’t think he’s particularly good at the sentimental areas of friendship, but he’s able to be a good listener for Daehwi when he needs it, and sometimes even offers helpful advice. He wants to be that kind of friend for everyone, not just someone who’s only ever entertaining and playful. And that includes Jihoon, if only he could get him to stop being snarky with him for one second.

 

But maybe it’s a hopeless wish.

 

“Anyways,” Daehwi takes the attention off of their petty argument and onto him, “It’s been a while since we’ve had movie night so Jinyoung and I were thinking we could do it at Jinyoung’s house tonight. You guys up for it?”

 

Jihoon groans, “Ugh, we’re inviting the pterodactyl to our movie night?”

 

Woojin lifts a brow, “Pterodactyl?”

 

“Have you heard yourself? You scream like you’re being chased by dinosaurs.” Jihoon points out, and Daehwi and Jinyoung snicker. Woojin gives Daehwi a look of disbelief.

 

Daehwi shrugs innocently, “It’s true, you’re the loudest person I know.”

 

Woojin frowns, and then snaps his head towards Jihoon, belatedly offended, “What’s wrong with me coming to movie night anyways? Scared I’m gonna see you cry over a rom-com?”

 

Jihoon scoffs, taking a long sip of his drink and then scrunching up his shoulders and squeezing his eyes shut at what Woojin thinks is due to the coldness of the drink. It would be cute if Woojin wasn’t still bitter over the pterodactyl comment (it’s still cute, because everything Jihoon does is stupidly cute.) “You’re ridiculous, I don’t cry over movies.”

 

“Fine, prove it.” Woojin throws back, “We’re gonna pick the saddest movie to exist and we’ll see if that’s true or not.”

 

“What are you getting yourself into, dude?” Jinyoung mutters to the brunette, but if Woojin knows anything, it’s that Jihoon doesn’t back down from a challenge, especially a challenge from him. Jihoon smirks confidently, tilting his head in a way that makes Woojin’s heart skip in a beat. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to him, but he figures that a lot of things haven’t made sense to him after meeting Jihoon. He thinks that it’s better to just ignore whatever weird contractions his heart experiences around Jihoon before he starts to dwell on it so long that it becomes an actual existing problem.

 

“You’re on.”

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not that Woojin is having fun watching Jihoon trying to hold back his sobs while watching the movie Jinyoung had picked out for them, but he’s totally having fun watching Jihoon struggling to keep himself from breaking just to win their bet. It’s not like they’d even put anything on the line, other than pride, but that seems to be an important aspect of Jihoon’s entirety so lo-and-behold here the poor guy is, bottom lip trembling while he does his best to keep his eyes off of the screen in hopes that he can keep his composure until the end.

 

“It’s okay to cry.” Woojin says with pseudo-sympathy, wiping a fake tear away before placing a hand on his chest and another on top on Jihoon’s thigh, trying to be as annoying and frivolous as possible. Maybe he enjoys the whole riling Jihoon up thing more than he had thought.

 

“Shut the hell up.” Jihoon grits out through clenched teeth, but Woojin can hear the slight tremor in his voice. For a moment he feels bad that the brunette is using up all of his effort just to save himself from Woojin’s gloating, and gives Jihoon’s thigh a gentle squeeze as a means of subtle encouragement before pulling his hand away. When he looks at Daehwi, the blonde is unsurprisingly a fountain of waterworks, an entire tissue box in his hand as he leans towards Jinyoung as closely as he can without actually making contact with him.

 

The credits roll a few minutes later, and the room is filled with the sad music and Daehwi’s sobs. Jihoon, on the other hand, is still fighting for composure as he stares at the ceiling. Woojin can he hear him whispering ‘stop, stop, stop’ under his breath and assumes he’s talking to his tear ducts. Woojin chuckles in amusement, “Well, congrats dude, guess you win.”

 

Jihoon clears his throat loudly, looking anywhere but at Woojin, “Damn right I do. That’s what you get for not believing me.”

 

“You truly are the manliest man to ever man.”

 

Jihoon seems to forget all about just being near tears when he’s assaulting Woojin with a pillow.

 

“Hey! What did I say about no violence—” Daehwi is cut off when Jihoon swings the pillow at him, hitting him square in the face. Daehwi’s mouth hangs agape, eyes widening. “Okay that’s it no more playing nice.”

 

Somehow the night turns into a wrestling match, Jihoon being particularly set on ripping Woojin’s hair out by the way he clearly has an obsession with his hands being tangled in his locks. “I don’t remember asking for a haircut!” Woojin shrieks, grabbing a hold of Jihoon’s wrists and flipping them around so Woojin has the upper hand, pinning his arms to the ground.

 

“Well maybe you should so you’d look less awful.” Jihoon shoots back, attempting to free himself of Woojin’s hold, but Woojin takes pride in his strength and is able to keep Jihoon from budging. It takes a moment for him to realize how compromising their position is, and it’s not until they actually lock eyes that they grasp the situation. They don’t move for a few seconds, Woojin frozen in his spot and Jihoon looking equally as dazed. But then the sound of a phone goes off and pulls them both out of the trance. Jihoon blinks twice, turning his head towards his phone that’s on the floor beside him. “Um, that’s my boyfriend’s ringtone, I should answer that..”

 

Woojin’s face drops and his mouth hangs open slightly, awareness hitting him like a punch to the gut, “Oh.. boyfriend..” He lets go of Jihoon’s wrists, climbing off of the brunette and leaning back onto the couch as he watches Jihoon shuffle out of the room.

 

“I.. didn’t know he had a boyfriend.” Woojin attempts casually with Daehwi when the younger comes back from the kitchen and plops himself beside him on the floor.

 

“Oh yeah, Samuel. Sometimes I forget about him because he goes to a different school.” Daehwi explains, which only further works to increase the growing pang in his chest for a reason he’s not entirely sure why.

 

Woojin nods, mouth set in a grim line. “How long have they been together?”

 

Daehwi looks up trying to recall, “Uh, for almost a year, actually.”

 

A year, Woojin thinks, a year Is a long time. He tries to shake his head of the complicated thoughts and joins Daehwi and Jinyoung for a game of monopoly—at least this gave him ten years to distract himself.   

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Woojin isn’t sure if he should be congratulating his friends, because he’s not even sure they realize how compromising their actions were. And Woojin likes to think he’s smart enough to deduct a shift in dynamic, but none of that really matters when Daehwi and Jinyoung themselves don’t even seem to know.

 

His suspicions started on the first day of school when he saw Daehwi and Jinyoung interacting for the first time. Daehwi had always brought up Jinyoung briefly in their texts before Woojin transferred, but seeing it for himself made him sure that Daehwi harbored hidden feelings for the other. He hadn’t known whether or not he should bring it up to the younger, and he figured that if Daehwi wanted to talk about it then he would when he felt he was comfortable enough to. But the more Woojin observed the two the more painfully obvious it became that Jinyoung clearly didn’t see Daehwi as just a friend either.

 

It’s only been two months since Woojin transferred, and he doesn’t want to push his way into the situation but a part of him feels like it’s his duty as a friend to get the two love-sick idiots together. Woojin doesn’t believe in soulmates but if he did then he’s sure those two would be made for each other.

 

He’s not actually sure if he’s supposed to go through with his plan anymore, especially when it starts to look like they had already done it themselves. At first, he thinks that the two of them are waiting for him or Jihoon to speak up about it, but the days go on with them still acting like secret lovers and no one says a thing. And Woojin knows that Daehwi isn’t the type to keep something like this hidden for so long (well, it’s more so that he’s unable to), so surely, that can’t be the case. He’d hope he would be the first one Daehwi would tell if they actually were dating.

 

“Woojin!” He turns around at the sound of his name and finds a bundled up Jihoon bouncing towards him, “What are you doing outside?”

 

“Waiting for you?” Woojin reminds him.

 

“Yeah but why didn’t you just wait inside? It’s cold.”

 

“I’m immune to the cold.” Woojin says pointedly, walking towards the doors of the library as Jihoon nudges him from the back.

 

Jihoon snorts, “Tell that to your red nose, Rudolph.”

 

They find Daehwi and Jinyoung saving a table for them at the back of the library, already immersed in studying. Daehwi’s eyebrows are furrowed so hard that Woojin thinks they might get permanently locked into that position. “Geez, don’t think too hard you might explode.”

 

Daehwi pouts, letting out a quiet cry and letting his head fall onto his textbook. “I hate chemistry. I hate it. And I hate myself for taking it. I hate everything.”

 

Jinyoung rubs Daehwi’s back soothingly, comforting the upset blonde. “Hey, don’t give up on yourself yet. If it helps, there’s no way you’d do worse than me.”

 

Daehwi snaps his head up, stilling pouting, “That’s not consoling. You got a C on the last test.”

 

“Yeah but it was a pass!” Jinyoung defends himself, a little too loudly because they get shushed by the people at the neighboring table.

 

The rest of their evening is rather quiet, they all know how important finals are so they try their best to stay on track. A few hours into it though, Woojin notices a distant look in Jihoon’s eyes—he’s staring absent-mindedly at the bookcase behind him, twirling his pencil in his hands. At first Woojin doesn’t think he should bring it up, figuring he’d eventually turn his attention back to studying. But a few minutes later he looks up at the brunette again and he’s still distracted.

 

“Hey, you good?” He starts quietly. It takes a while for Jihoon to register his question, shifting uncomfortably in his seat when he realizes how inattentive he was being.

 

“Yeah.” Jihoon replies simply, going back to his notes and not speaking another word on the topic so Woojin decides to drop it for now. He doesn’t miss the way Jihoon glances at his phone the rest of the night.  

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

He finally brings up the topic of Daehwi and Jinyoung to Jihoon one day, and he’s relieved to hear that the other had noticed it too, “Is it just me or did you think that those two started dating recently?”

 

“Right?” Jihoon agrees immediately, “I thought it was some sort of friendship test and we were supposed to bring it up but I don’t think they even know?”

 

Woojin purses his lips together in thought, “How would you feel about playing cupid?”

 

Jihoon starts to grin, “I like the way you think.”

 

Their first plan was to set up a study session at Jinyoung’s house with all four of them, only for Woojin and Jihoon to both back out last minute due to their respective ‘emergencies’ and leave the two of them to study alone. Of course, this wasn’t exactly the best plan for spying because neither of them would even be there to see whether or not the idea even helped them.

 

“Your idiocy is astounding.” Jihoon chides him over the phone when they’re both at home instead of Jinyoung’s house.

 

“I don’t see you coming up with a better plan!” Woojin shoots back defensively, “Besides, there’s no saying it won’t help.”

 

“Well it’s not like we’ll be able to know now, will we?”

 

“You know I’d trade you in for a dog as a partner any day.” Woojin doesn’t actually mean it, but at some point it became an instinct to be overly crabby when it came to Jihoon because he doesn’t want to feel like he’s off his game, especially when Jihoon is weirdly fond of how Woojin never backed down from his mocking and threw it back in his face instead.

 

Recently though, the snarky comments have simmered down, more than usual at least. Woojin doesn’t know whether or not he should tone down his own comments, because he’s afraid that one day he’ll end up saying something he’ll regret. But still, he knows better than to underestimate Jihoon and his incredible ability to put on a somber front only to use Woojin's momentary tenderness to make fun of him. So while Jihoon doesn’t always seem to be in the mood to bicker lately, Woojin is still on his feet during their conversations.

 

“Nah, you wouldn’t throw away my great ideas.”

 

He his cheeks in, forehead creasing as he thinks, “So what do you suggest we do, genius?”

 

Jihoon hums thoughtfully, “Do you think locking them in the janitor’s closet during third period spare would do anything?”

 

Woojin chuckles at the suggestion, “Tempting, but honestly I think they’d just sleep until someone found them.”

 

Jihoon groans, “Why are they so hopeless? I mean, who is this dense when it comes to noticing someone’s feelings for you?”

 

“Happens pretty often, actually.” Woojin says absent-mindedly, relief washing over him when Jihoon overlooks the comment as merely a comment.

 

“Ugh, alright well I’ll text you later, I need to study. Google some stuff on your study breaks too, yeah?”

 

“Got it.” Woojin hesitates for a moment before speaking up, “Wait, Jihoon.”

 

“Mhm?”

 

“Are you okay?” He asks, voice now filled with concern, “It’s just that you look a little.. distraught recently? And I don’t know if you’re going through a tough time or something but I just wanted to say I’m here if you want to talk.”

 

Jihoon is silent on the end of the line for a while and Woojin fears he brought up something he shouldn’t have or switched the mood of the conversation too quickly. When Jihoon replies, it’s clear to Woojin that he’s being dishonest, “Oh, thanks but I’m fine, really. I guess exam stress is getting to me. I just wanna get things over with so I can have a relaxing Christmas break.” 

 

Woojin nods slowly, scared to press further in the event that Jihoon gets mad at him for prying, “Alright, the offer still stands if you ever need it. Good luck with your studying.”

 

“Yeah.. you too.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the last thing Woojin expects to happen that night.

 

When he opened Daehwi’s front door he didn’t expect to see Jihoon standing there, eyes bloodshot with tears streaming down his face. Maybe Jihoon’s obvious faltering on the phone earlier that afternoon should have been an indication, but Woojin has always been a little too respective of people’s space. “J-Jihoon? What happened, what’s wrong?”

 

They sit the crying brunette down on the couch, Daehwi running to grab him a glass of water. They let him take as long as he needs to speak, Jinyoung holding his hand encouragingly. “Um, I just came from meeting with Samuel and w-we.. we broke up.”

 

Woojin in a breath, feeling pieces of his heart falling to the floor at the pure agony in his voice. He wants nothing more than to take his pain away. Even if it hurt to know that Jihoon was with Samuel, it hurt less than knowing he was happy back then, more than he is now. Jihoon deserved to be happy, in whatever way that meant for him and regardless of if it cost Woojin his own happiness. “I’m sorry..”

 

“You don’t have to talk about it now if you don’t want to. We can just do something to get your mind off of it.” Daehwi suggests, trying to lighten up the mood.

 

“Yeah, we can take a study break for few hours and watch some TV or plan a heist or something.”

 

“Jinyoung!”

 

“Sorry, maybe it’s not a good idea to rob a bank right now.”

 

They fill in the next few hours with a bunch of comedy shows in their best attempt to get Jihoon to laugh.

 

Woojin has never felt more hopeless, failing to make Jihoon smile all night.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

After Christmas break, Woojin and Jihoon decide to get back into their little “Jinhwi project” as Jihoon liked to refer to it as.

 

“Meet me at Starbucks at 2.” Jihoon tells him simply over the phone, without so much as a hello.

 

Woojin is a little taken aback, “Uh, how are you even awake at this time?”

 

He can practically see Jihoon scrunching his nose in confusion, “It’s two in the afternoon.”

 

“Exactly, this is like six am for you.” Woojin explains with a laugh, “So why do you wanna meet up?”

 

“Nothing, really, just wanted to brighten up my day with your lovely personality.”

 

If Woojin actually believed that he might have blushed. Instead he just let’s out a loud ‘ha!’ and rolls his eyes, “Okay, what’s the real reason you wanna meet up?”

 

“Have you forgotten about Operation: Get Jinhwi Together or what?”

 

“You know, nice people opt for gentle reminders, not aggression.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Are you gonna be there or not?”

 

They’re at Starbucks an hour later, discussing their next move. Woojin ends up finding a new drink order with Jihoon’s help, but he still isn’t able to escape from the Jihoon-shaped landmines that the universe has placed everywhere. And man, did those landmines blow up in his face and like no other.

 

“You know, the fact that you like vanilla is telling in more ways than one.” Jihoon says cheekily, pointing at his vanilla iced coffee.

 

“You might wanna stop talking before I pour this all over your head.” Woojin returns, voice dripping with faux sweetness.

 

“Just be glad I saved you from your otherwise endless days of whipped cream and blandness.” Jihoon goes on even with the so called threat looming over his head (literally), “The only thing we need to do now is save your personality from the latter.”

 

“You’re insane and I hope the barista spiked your drink.” Woojin sneers, “Why do you even hate me?”

 

“I don’t hate you,” Jihoon clears up, “You just have a face that asks for taunting.”

 

Woojin scoffs, “What, an ugly one?”

 

Jihoon furrows his brows, “Hardly. I meant a dumb face. A cute dumb face, if that makes you feel better. But a dumb face nonetheless.”

 

He’s surprised he wasn’t stupid enough to take a drink the second Jihoon said that— he’s not sure he would have been able to keep a poised reaction at the comment. He clears his throat, scratching his nails on the table and keeping his gaze focused on napkin dispenser. “Anyways, this meeting isn’t even about me, it’s about those two idiots.”

 

Jihoon nods, “Right, back to business.”

 

Woojin looks the brunette over thoughtfully when he switches his focus onto his phone. It’s clear that his usually mirth has taken a back seat for the past month. And even if it meant that his pestering has toned down, Woojin decides that he’s not too fond of it. He can tell that Jihoon forces his smiles most of the time—the twinkle in his eyes is lost in the heartache and Woojin so desperately wishes that it would come back, that Jihoon could bounce back from this and be his lively, boisterous self again. “Hey, it’s okay if you want to take a break from the whole matchmaking thing...”

 

Jihoon shakes his head immediately, knowing exactly what Woojin is implying, “Don't worry about it, I’m cool. I think it’ll help distract me.. I think.” Jihoon exhales deeply, slouching back into his seat, “Plus, just because I’m not happy right now, doesn’t mean those two aren’t allowed to be.”

 

Woojin looks at him earnestly, lips curling into a small grin, “You know, nice Jihoon is a pretty incredible sight.” Jihoon punches his shoulder playfully, genuinely smiling for the first time in a while. Woojin wishes he could capture the moment and the feelings that come along with it. Everything around him is always just white noise when he’s with Jihoon, and his smiles are probably the loudest of them all. When he comes back to his senses and stops absentmindedly staring at Jihoon’s annoyingly beautiful face, he watches Jihoon lift a brow at his obvious staring. Out of fear of humiliating himself, he points right at Jihoon’s nose and says, “Now this on the other hand, not so pretty.”

 

Jihoon grinds his teeth together, slamming his fist down onto the top of Woojin’s hand. The fact of the matter is that Woojin is a terrible liar and Jihoon is pretty good at reading people (at least Woojin seems to think so), so the second he lets his guard slip, he has to bounce back with something that hopefully communicates I’m totally not entranced by your radiating smile and adorable face.

  

“The things I would do to have a large glass of ice water in my hands right now...” Jihoon looks towards the counter, and then back at him with a smrik, "Oh wait.." 

 

Woojin's eyes widen, "Don't do it." 

 

Thankfully for Woojin, Jihoon doesn't have much of a filter and more or less asks the barista to be an accomplice in his revenge and gets turned down immediately. 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

They spend the next few weeks pushing Daehwi and Jinyoung together in various ways, from subtly dropping the words ‘crush’ and ‘love’ here and there in their conversations just to see if it elicited a response from either of them, to Jihoon straight up telling Daehwi that he should try dating. That, of course, evokes a suppressed panic in Jinyoung that’s clear to both Jihoon and Woojin but not to Daehwi in the slightest.

 

They decide that instead, they should push them to do things with romantic undertones in hopes that it’ll help. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything though, because everything they do just looks so normal to them—nothing they do phases them in any way. Woojin mentions to Jinyoung how Daehwi had been talking about wanting to see the Great Ice Show downtown the other day, and he and Jihoon watch on as Jinyoung shows an excited Daehwi tickets to the show the next day.

 

“Did it work? Are they dating yet?” Jihoon inquires, watching their current plan unfold in front of them. Jinyoung had pulled out the tickets and Daehwi recognized them immediately from the blue color, squealing and drawing the attention of neighboring tables in the cafeteria.

 

Woojin sighs, “Nope.”

 

“Then why did Daehwi just kiss his cheek?”

 

“I think they think it’s a platonic thing to do?”

 

“I mean it can be.”

 

“But it’s clearly not between them.” They’re so close to giving up on being subtle and just outright confronting them about it. Clearly, nothing they’ve planned is working and maybe it’s their lack of dating skills than prevent them from coming up with solid strategies. Whatever it may be, it’s obvious that what they’re doing now isn’t good enough.

 

The following week, Woojin accepts Daehwi’s invitation to come over for dinner. For most of the night Woojin stays away from the topic of Jinyoung, focusing on whatever it was that Daehwi wanted to do. And that included making macarons that admittedly come out terrible in the end because Daehwi makes the mistake of not supervising Woojin and he ends up overmixing the batter.

 

After they eat dinner, Woojin notices that there’s something on Daehwi’s mind as he lies on his back, staring at the ceiling. “Do you have anything you wanna talk about?”

 

“Um..” Daehwi contemplates the question, “I don’t think so?”

 

Woojin shifts closer, looming over the lying down Daehwi. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell me about your feelings for a certain Bae Jinyoung?” Daehwi sits up abruptly at Woojin’s words, causing the two of them to bump foreheads. “If you didn’t want to talk about it you could have just said so instead of trying to knock me out with a head-.” Woojin mumbles, rubbing his forehead.

 

“What do you mean feelings?” Daehwi questions defensively, eyes darting around the room nervously.

 

Woojin gives him a knowing look. “Come on, Daehwi. Pretty much the whole school knows that you like him. Jihoon and I have been talking about it for the past two months.”

 

Daehwi’s mouth hangs agape, “I-I just admire him that’s all! He’s helped me a lot with my self-confidence and he always encourages me to be myself even if people don’t like the way I act or talk and he stays up late at night just to talk to me on the phone if I’m feeling down and he smells like strawberries and he’s just so cute and—” Woojin raises a brow, throwing Daehwi into an even bigger defensive mode, “Wait I didn’t mean cute I mean like.. cool and stuff? Well I mean yeah he’s cute objectively speaking, but like I didn’t mean it in that way and stop looking at me like that okay! I doubt he even has time for dating with how invested he is in studying and getting good grades for university and I don’t even know if he likes boys!”

 

Woojin puts his hands on Daehwi’s shoulders, sitting him down and keeping him from getting more worked up. “Hey, calm down. That’s the thing, you won’t know unless you take the chance.”

 

Daehwi searches his eyes apprehensively, “But.. I’m scared. What if I ruin our friendship? And then our group?”

 

“Daehwi, I guarantee you even if it doesn’t work out—and trust me I have zero doubt in my mind that it won’t—he won’t let you go. He’d be an idiot to do that.” Daehwi bites his lip, leaning into Woojin’s embrace. Woojin his hair, “I promise that It’ll be fine, whatever you decide to do.”

 

“Thanks.” Daehwi mumbles into his sweater. He pulls away shortly after, looking up at him, “So, what about you?”

 

Woojin raises a brow, “What about me?”

 

Daehwi smirks, “When are you gonna tell Jihoon about your feelings?”

 

Woojin shuts his eyes in easy defeat, jaw tightening. “Am I that obvious?”

 

The younger gives him an apologetic look, “It’s easy for us to see when other people like each other, but when it comes to people having feelings for us, we’re a little blinded by insecurity.” Daehwi explains, “Maybe it’s clear to you two that I like Jinyoung, but trying to get yourself to believe that someone feels the same way about you is a different story when you’re scared of finding out the truth, whatever it is. Especially when that person is your best friend.”

 

Woojin nods thoughtfully, “Yeah.. I get that.”

 

Daehwi smiles softly, “Just know that whenever you think it’s time you want to tell Jihoon about it, I’ll be here for you.”

 

“And if you decide to tell Jinyoung, just let me know and I’ll conjure up my amazing cupid skills.” Woojin says smugly, shooting an imaginary arrow at Daehwi. The younger laughs, hitting his chest.

 

“I think I might actually take you up on that offer soon.”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

After Woojin’s talk with Daehwi, he calls Jihoon up to tell him about his new suggestion. They sit their friends down at Daehwi’s house the next week, and Jinyoung looks confused as to why they’re suddenly being interrogated.

 

“We need to talk.” Jihoon states seriously—it’s uncharacteristic and Daehwi and Jinyoung share puzzled glances.

 

“You need to set something straight for us because for the past two weeks we’ve been confused as and it’s bothering me.” Woojin states bluntly, throwing subtlety out the window in favor of relieving his growing stress caused by his two idiot friends, “Do you two like each other?”

 

The surprised look on both of their faces would almost be humorous if Woojin wasn’t so tired of how ridiculously oblivious Jinyoung was. At least he knew that Daehwi was self-aware, but the other boy needed a lot of work. Maybe he should have waited a bit before springing it onto them though, because Daehwi looks like a deer caught in headlights even after knowing this was going to happen. “W-what?” Jinyoung stutters, eyes darting back and forth between them and Daehwi. “What makes you say that?”

 

‘Well for one, you’re literally dating.” Jihoon explains, gesturing to how close they’re sitting. They notice but don’t jump apart.

 

“How?”

 

“Oh my God.” Woojin throws his head back exasperatingly, “Just admit that you like each other so we can move on. It’s not like anything is gonna change.”

 

Daehwi bites his lip nervously, and then says quietly, “I like him.”

 

Jinyoung blinks rapidly, “Wait, really?”

 

Woojin and Jihoon exchange mutual eye rolls and wait for their two friends to sort out their feelings. He shares a short look with Daehwi and gives him an encouraging smile.

 

Daehwi nods, fiddling with his fingers, “For a long time now.”

 

“Well.. for the record, I like you more.” Daehwi’s ear turn pink at that and the two of them don’t even pay attention to the groans their friends give them. They’re looking at each other like they’re the only two in the room, except they’re not and Jihoon breaks the moment faster that it was created, despite being one of the reasons it was happening in the first place.

 

“Alright kids, just because we wanted to confirm it doesn’t mean you should put us through watching this.”

 

Jinyoung sticks a tongue out at Jihoon and brings Daehwi into a tight embrace, placing a kiss on his cheek.

 

Jihoon turns his head towards Woojin, “We should leave.”

 

Woojin nods in agreement, “Yeah.”

 

Daehwi grabs a hold of Woojin’s wrist to stop him from leaving, “Hey, thank you.”

 

Woojin smiles, ruffling the younger’s hair. “No problem kiddo.”

 

Jinyoung looks at the both of them and then at Jihoon, who’s giving him a smug look, “Wait.. did you guys plan this?”

 

“Oh twizzlers,” Jihoon steps closer to them, arms crossed, “You didn’t think we didn’t know that you’re in love with Daehwi, did you?”

 

Jinyoung blinks, baffled, “Wait so is that why we randomly got locked in the janitor’s closet a few weeks ago? Was that your doing?”

 

Woojin points at Jihoon, “That was his idea.”

 

“To be fair you guys were getting frustrating and we were running out of options.”

 

“Why don’t you guys sleepover tonight?” Daehwi suggests, “Have our movie night early this week?”

 

“Well we don’t want to intrude on this moment—”

 

Woojin raises a hand, “Uh, I do. His mom’s cooking smells amazing and I am not leaving.”

 

Jihoon glares at him, but caves in a few moments later. “Ugh, fine. Only for the food.”

 

The two of them leave the room for a while to let Jinyoung and Daehwi talk before dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a nice feeling for them to sit down and have a homemade dinner with each other, as opposed to the usual going out for burgers and fries. They never seem to run out of things to talk about, and Woojin feels like he’s known Jinyoung and Jihoon for as long as he’s known Daehwi.

 

Daehwi’s mom places a bowl of soup down, smiling as they compliment her cooking.

 

“What’s in the wonton? Pork?” Woojin asks Daehwi when the younger comes back from the bathroom, spooning himself some of the soup after filling a bowl for Jihoon.

 

Daehwi shakes his head, “Shrimp.”

 

Woojin pauses, putting down his own bowl and taking Jihoon’s spoon away from him just before he eats it, recalling Jihoon mentioning something about a shrimp allergy a while back. Jihoon follows the bowl, confused as to why Woojin is taking it away from him just after giving it to him, “Hey!” Woojin shrugs, shoving the wonton on the spoon into his own mouth and passing the bowl to Jinyoung instead. “You have your own bowl right there!”

 

Woojin pats his cheek, “It’s okay, you don't want it anyways.”

 

“Oh wait, Jihoon did you eat the wonton?” Daehwi realizes after he sits down, concern in his voice. “There’s shrimp in it.”

 

Jihoon’s mouth forms an ‘o’, then goes back to his spaghetti.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t know you’d be staying over tonight.” Daehwi apologizes, “I would have told my mom if I did.”

 

Jihoon waves his fork in the air, “It’s okay, I didn’t eat any so I won’t die in your house.”

 

“Okay good, and if you did we’d pin it on Woojin anyways.”

 

“What?!” Woojin exclaims, offended, “If I didn’t steal his spoon away from him he’d be going to the hospital right now.”

 

“Guess it’s sometimes a good thing when you’re annoying, hey?” Jihoon pats Woojin’s cheek this time, smiling wider when Woojin shoots him a dirty look.

 

“I should have gone home after all.”

 

 

The four of them are sprawled across the living room floor later that night, Woojin’s head racing with thoughts as he lies beside Jihoon. Proximity is one thing, but proximity at night under blankets is somehow a hundred times more stressful. He can hear all of Jihoon’s soft breaths, smell his scent, and it’s driving him crazy.

 

“Good work, Detective Park.” Jihoon whispers, and Woojin is thankful that he doesn’t have to look at him right now and that it’s dark because man, is he flushed from head to toe.

 

“You too, Detective Park number two.”

 

Jihoon sits up, looking down at him, “Okay, I am not number two. I basically led this case!”

 

“Yeah, but I made the decision to tell them straight up.”

 

“That’s not fair you conspired with Daehwi without me!”

 

“I was being a good friend.”

 

“Hey.” Jinyoung’s voice interrupts them, though it’s muffled due to the fact that he’s nuzzled into the top of Daehwi’s hair. The younger is surprisingly still asleep through all of the commotion, “Would you two shut up for once and sleep?”

 

Jihoon lies back down, pulling the covers up to his neck and grumbling, “I hate you.”

 

Woojin scoffs, “I hate you more.”

 

 

It’s the biggest lie he’s ever told.

 

 

 

---

  

 

 

It’s a time of relief and bliss when they finally make it to graduation, though it's rather bittersweet to be leaving behind all of the memories they’ve made so far. But it’s also the beginning of a new chapter in their lives that they’re excited to explore. Woojin and Jihoon make the decision to live together starting in the summer, owning a shared apartment between the two of them. He has to assure Daehwi more than once that he’ll be okay with living under the same roof with Jihoon, claiming that his feelings come second to their friendship, and he’s completely fine with being just that with Jihoon.

 

Maybe it’s a little selfish to be happy that Jihoon goes to their graduation dinner and dance without a date, but he really can’t be all that guilty for feeling that way when Jihoon looks absolutely amazing when he arrives at the venue, hair pushed up off of his forehead and a fitting suit.

 

But he forgets that Jihoon is friends with almost everyone in their graduating year, which leaves him practically no time for Woojin for most of the night, being pulled away by all sort of people to drink and dance with them. Woojin lingers around Daehwi and Jinyoung for some of the night, and for some of it he dances with his crew, but his eyes are always searching the room from the brunette. He decides to take a break alone when a slow song comes on, stepping off onto the side of the dance floor. He smiles when he sees Daehwi and Jinyoung, smiling and laughing like they're dancing on the night of their wedding. And then he thinks about how there's one person he'd love to be with right now.

 

“Wow, this is really it, isn’t it? The last time we’ll ever see all of these people in the same place.” On cue, Jihoon comes up from behind him and looks over the rest of the room, filled with dressed up teenagers enjoying their last night with each other.

 

“Yeah, it’s still pretty unreal that we’ve graduated.” Woojin replies, shoving his hands into his pockets. Jihoon is a little tipsy, judging from the way he’s swaying lightly with a lop-sided grin on his face and the faint slur of his words. His eyes don’t leave the brunette, following along the angles of his face under the blue lights and comes to a conclusion that there’s no time like the present. “Hey, I need to tell you something..”

 

Jihoon turns his head towards him curiously, “What is it?”

 

Woojin chews on his bottom lip, heart practically beating out of his chest. He looks into Jihoon’s eyes and he’s resolved, not wanting to let go of the momentary courage sparking in him. But just as he’s about to speak, Yoojung comes up to them and grabs Jihoon by the wrist. “Hey, you said you were gonna save me a dance. Let’s go!” He deflates immediately, all courage dissipating into the air. He swallows down the lump in his throat, kicking at the ground.

 

“Just a second, okay?” Jihoon looks back at him, “Sorry, what were you gonna say?”

 

He shuts his eyes, sighing heavily. Then puts on a forced smile and waves him off, “Nothing, go dance.”

 

Jihoon searches his eyes, perplexed. But he nods and then gives him a small smile before following Yoojung onto the dance floor.

 

 

 

Woojin leaves the dance early.

 

 

 

---

 

  

 

 

“Jinyoung stop crying.” Jihoon laughs at the emotional boy, who’s hugging Daehwi like it’s the end of the world.

 

Daehwi pats Jinyoung’s back, “Yeah, I’m only gonna be gone for two weeks.”

 

“But you’re most of my impulse control!” Jinyoung whines, hugging Daehwi tighter.

 

“You don’t have impulses Jinyoung, you’re about as rebellious as a rock.” Daehwi tells him, earning both Jihoon and Woojin glares from Jinyoung for snickering at the comment. Daehwi turns to the two of them, “And you two, take care of him for me, will you? Don’t leave him alone tomorrow.”

 

Jihoon lets out a disgruntled noise, “What? But we were supposed to have our Harry Potter marathon tomorrow!”

 

“Well reschedule it!” Daehwi snaps back, and then reaches for a hug from both of them. Jinyoung frowns as he hands Daehwi his bag. The younger waves them off, heading towards the doors, “See you in two weeks!”

 

Jihoon slings an arm around Jinyoung’s hunched over shoulders, pulling him away from his boyfriend. “Come on dude, let’s go get some food.”

 

Jinyoung sniffles, “Daehwi liked food..” Jihoon stops in his tracks and throws Jinyoung an incredulous look before pushing him out of his hold and walking away from him. “Nevermind we’re going home you’re hopeless.”

 

“Wait, I still want to eat!” Jinyoung calls out behind him, jogging to catch up. Woojin smiles at the sight of the two of them, following shortly behind.

 

He would never say out loud the slight wretchedness he felt every time he saw Daehwi and Jinyoung, because above all else he’s happy that the two of them were able to put their feelings on the table.

 

But Woojin can’t help but be caught up in his own, and he knows he’s falling way too fast for anyone to catch him. It wasn’t even supposed to get this far—he figured it would subside eventually If he didn’t do anything about it or let it occupy his mind too often. But the thing about crushes is that they quite literally crush you, no warning and no remorse. It begins as a simple stroll through the park, and then someone puts you off of the path and suddenly you’re lost even while knowing exactly where you are, not because you can’t remember where to go from here, but because this isn’t where you planned to go in the first place. Sometimes the roads are pretty, and sometimes they’re not. But you continue walking anyways, for those few moments you’re able to find that beauty. Woojin thinks that Jihoon is simultaneously the thorny roses and the blooming sweet peas he sees along the way, yet somehow he’s the one wilting in the winter.

 

 

 

But he thinks it’s okay, because he reminds himself that all he has is time, and spring will always come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: 

the art of denial has been a story dear to my heart and my most viewed story, so i wanted to show my appreciation to everyone who read it with a prequel! 

and fret not, there is a sequel on the way, so look forward to it ;) 

anyways, thank you for reading loves, comment, leave kudos and all that good stuff!

follow me on twitter @holywoojin for fic updates and progress threads and leave questions/requests in my cc!