Wednesday Evening, Week 12

Performing Arts Center.

Changsub kicked the concrete impatiently as he waited outside the auditorium for Chorong and Eunji's rehearsal to finish.

He checked his phone. They should be almost done by now.

"Chorongie…"

Changsub smiled to himself.

The aftermath of Eunkwang's birthday party had been quite messy but it had ended up being somewhat of a blessing in disguise. Thanks to Bomi's racket they'd been able to skip the awkward phase of debating when to tell the friend group and go straight to being official.

And yet even after a few days it still felt a bit unreal to call Chorong his girlfriend.

"My girlfriend…"

The words brought a fluttering warmth to his heart even in the cold November air.

Changsub heard voices and looked up from the ground. A couple of students had started trickling out of the auditorium. He spotted Chorong and ran over to her.

"Chorongie!"

"Changsub-ah, you waited for me?" Chorong said smiling.

Changsub grinned and pinched her cheek.

"Yah…I was about to die of old age over here."

"Oh shut up." Chorong said.

"Where's Eunji?" Changsub asked.

"Eunji? She said she wanted to stay and help with the props but I have some stuff due tonight so I came out as soon as I could."

"Are you sure you didn't come out faster because you missed me?" Changsub asked smirking.

Chorong clicked her tongue indignantly.

"I said I have stuff due."

Changsub laughed.

"If you say so Rong. I know you love me."

Chorong punched him but couldn't hide the smile on her face as Changsub took her by the hand and started walking in the direction of the dorms.

"How was rehearsal today?" Changsub asked.

Chorong smiled.

"Sungjae's been really well behaved during the run throughs. I'm letting him call me noona now."

"Noona???" Changsub asked incredulously.

"Yeah…"

Chorong paused and gave him a quizzical look.

"Hey wait a minute did you ever get around to apologizing to him?" She asked.

Changsub stopped in his tracks.

"Oh …"

He'd forgotten he was supposed to do that.

"You didn't do it yet did you." Chorong said.

Changsub shook his head and Chorong sighed.

She her heel and started marching him back towards the auditorium.

"Wait what are you-" Changsub began but Chorong quickly grabbed his shoulders and forced him to keep walking.

"We're going to find Sungjae so you can apologize properly." She said firmly.

They made it back to the building just as Sungjae was coming out the door.

"Sungjae-ya!" Chorong called.

"Oh noona."

Sungjae waved to Chorong but he stiffened slightly when he noticed Changsub.

"Sungjae-ya, you remember this idiot right?" Chorong said.

Sungjae nodded nervously as Changsub scowled and rolled his eyes.

"Well he's got something to say so I'll leave you to it okay?" Chorong left a quick kiss on Changsub's cheek then patted his shoulder as she turned to leave.

"Chorongie wait." Changsub tried to grab Chorong's arm but she slipped out of his grasp.

She turned around giving him two thumbs up and mouthed 'fighting' then started running off towards the dorms.

Changsub sighed as he watched her go and reluctantly turned back to Sungjae.

"You busy?" He asked flatly.

Sungjae shook his head.

Changsub looked Sungjae up and down then shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Let's go somewhere else." 

Several minutes later the two boys found themselves sitting outside the school convenience store. 

Sungjae swung his feet awkwardly as he sipped his banana milk. He looked slightly nervous.

"How's your lip." Changsub asked.

Sungjae lowered his drink.

"It's better." He said hesitantly. 

Changsub nodded.

"Sorry about last time."

"Ah…it's fine."

Sungjae looked back at his feet.

"I used to get beat up a lot before."

"Oh."

Changsub wasn't sure how to respond to that.

There was a thick silence broken only by the sound of Sungjae slurping the rest of his drink. Eventually he ran out of milk and sighed.

"Chorong noona is really nice to me." He said, fiddling with his straw.

Changsub said nothing. He wasn't sure where the conversation was going but this wasn't what he'd expected from Sungjae.

"You like her a lot don't you?" Sungjae suddenly asked.

Changsub gave him a calculating look.

"We're dating…actually.."

Sungjae sighed. He suddenly looked depressed.

"Must be nice…" He said wistfully.

"What the hell…"

Changsub was now thoroughly confused. Wasn't this kid supposed to be a trolling lunatic?

Sungjae gripped the banana milk container a little tighter.

"There's a friend I like." He said.

Changsub tried to read Sungjae's expression but it was undecipherable.

"A friend?" He asked questioningly.

Sungjae nodded slowly.

"Well…I call him my friend but I don’t know if he thinks of me as a real friend."

"Him???"

Changsub's mind raced to process what Sungjae was saying.

"Wait are you…are you gay??" He asked.

Sungjae didn't respond.

Changsub panicked slightly. Had he offended him?

"Sorry I shouldn't have-" Changsub began but Sungjae interrupted him.

"I don't know what I am." He said in a conflicted voice.

Changsub simply stared. Why was Sungjae even telling him all this?

Sungjae closed his eyes.

"Everyone just sees me as a crazy outcast and I couldn't get close to anyone until I met him. He was the first person to smile at me even though he didn't know who I was."

Sungjae's shoulders sagged slightly as he continued to talk.

"He's always friendly with everyone and I didn't know how to approach him so I kept showing up to all the school events and making a fool of myself so he'd notice me."

Changsub sat in shock as he tried to comprehend everything Sungjae had just said.

"So you're…wait…hold on…"

Something clicked in Changsub's brain as he put two and two together and suddenly everything seemed to make perfect sense.

He gawked at Sungjae with wide eyes.

"You…you like Peniel???"

-----

A/N  HAHAHA Who clocked that tell me honestly lol IT'S YOOK O'CLOCK haha...Penjae is the OG ship man