“She was perfect, Jiho. I’m heartbroken, do you not understand?”

Jiho came out here to get work done. Honestly. He has books he needs to finish reading and homework that needs doing and an essay that needs writing. The weather is nice too, so he thought he’d go sit at the back of the sports field and get some reading done, away from any distractions. So he did. But of course, Kyung was having girl problems and of course, he searched the whole school grounds in order to find Jiho, who was reading quietly under the shade of a tree. And of course, Kyung – being Kyung – rushes over like a bull in a china shop and disturbs the peace.

“I understand, I’m just saying she’s the fourth girl in two months.”

“What’s your point?”

Kyung is lying in the grass next to him, arm thrown over his eyes. Jiho wants to call him melodramatic and tell him to get over himself. He also wants to tell him to go away because he has work to do and Kyung is extremely distracting, but Kyung is his friend and Jiho should at least make it seem like he cares about his girl problems.

“My point is that if you had actually been heartbroken the first time you said you were, you wouldn’t have been hitting on Taeyeon three days later.”

“Ok but Taeyeon is hot and I was heartbroken.”

“I don’t think you can be heartbroken from a relationship that didn’t happen, Kyung,” Jiho says as he sits up straighter, pulling his back away from the tree trunk he was leaned against. He’s finally given up trying to get his reading done (it’s not like he could concentrate anyway) and decides to indulge Kyung instead. “And anyway, I’m not disagreeing with you; I’m just starting to wonder if your definition of heartbroken is slightly… skewed or something.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kyung asks, pulling his hand away from his face so he can squint up at Jiho.

“Nothing. I’m just saying.”

“What are you saying?” Kyung asks, eyebrows raised slightly.

“That maybe your confusing heartbreak with crippling shame and embarrassment.” Kyung stares up at Jiho. “I mean… you have got rejected four times now.”

The two stare each other for a moment, Kyung frowning as Jiho returns the gaze tiredly. Kyung huffs and looks away, turning on his side so his back is to Jiho. Jiho laughs.

Jiho is picking up his book again when he notices Kyung’s back is covered in dry grass. He automatically leans over and starts wiping it before he realizes what he’s doing. Kyung’s muscles tense under his hand but Jiho chooses to ignore it because he’s already started and it’d look stupid if he stopped now. If Kyung wants to be defensive about his girl problems then he can be, just as long as he’s quiet about it so Jiho can get his reading done.

He gets through three quarters of a page before Kyung talks again.

“Jiho, why don’t girls like me?”

“Because you’re an eyesore and your personality is unattractive,” Jiho answers without hesitation, eyes not even leaving the page. He belatedly thinks maybe that was a little too harsh when he notices Kyung slowly sit up in his peripheral vision, but he’s said things much worse so he takes no notice. But when a few seconds pass with no snarky reply, he looks up to see Kyung looking… offended? No, it’s more sad than that… upset? Hurt? “What, what’s with your face?”

“Am I really that ugly?” Kyung asks quietly.

Jiho is taken aback. They’re always insulting each other; Kyung will make fun of Jiho’s nose and Jiho will laugh at Kyung’s weird shaped face but then they move on. It’s never serious, they never mean it and they certainly never ask questions about it.

“Uh, no? I mean I… I don’t think so. Like, your face is kinda long I guess but that’s just your face. It’s not ugly, really, it’s just how it is. And you have big eyes which I really like. On girls, that is.”

Jiho doesn’t know what he’s saying. Kyung is just staring at him with those big eyes and it’s making him flustered.

“So I’m not an eyesore?” Kyung asks, face emotionless.

“Only when you first wake up in the morning,” Jiho sniffs. Summer is coming and the pollen is making his nose itch. He’s also trying desperately to distract himself from this ridiculous conversation they’re having by reading, but the words seem to be swimming around the page.

“And my personality?”

Jiho scratches behind his ear – a nervous habit he knows Kyung is very aware of, if the relentless teasing about it is anything to go by – and frowns into his book.

“You’re annoying a lot of the time, like when people are trying to get their work done and you come over and start whining about stupid stuff like girls but… I guess you’re ok. I mean I’ve put up with you for this long, haven’t I?”

“So what you’re saying is I’m not an eyesore and my personality is perfectly fine. I mean, it’s made me worthy of years and years of friendship-” Jiho knows this tone, hates this tone.

“-which I’m beginning to regret.”

“Either way, you are a liar, Woo Jiho.”

Jiho looks up to see a huge, eating grin on Kyung’s face and feels his skin heat up – from embarrassment or anger, he’s not sure.

“I hate you. I hate you and I hope no woman ever comes near you,” Jiho deadpans, resisting the urge to beat Kyung to death with the book in his lap.

“You don’t mean that. You love me and you hope no woman ever comes near me just so you can keep me all to yourself,” Kyung’s smile probably seems innocent to the untrained eye, but Jiho knows better. Jiho knows that Kyung is a bastard.

“I bet your giant ego is to make up for the fact that your is the size of a prune.”

“I’m sure you’d love to know the size of my .”

Kyung is the definition of smug when Jiho looks up at him and he has to take a deep breath just to stop himself from strangling the life out of him. Jiho knows what Kyung is like, knows that he loves to tease Jiho just to get a reaction out of him. And usually Jiho can take it and shrug it off because Kyung’s never really serious anyway, but something about these types of jokes makes him uneasy.

Not that Kyung can stop thinking about himself long enough to notice.

“Y’know, I've been thinking” he begins, crawling closer to Jiho and flopping down next to him. He rests his head on Jiho’s upper thigh, who, in retaliation, elbows him in the head (though nowhere near as hard as he wanted to).

“Get off of me,” Jiho sighs, squirming while trying to find a position for his arm that doesn’t involve touching Kyung in any way.

“No, I’m comfortable. Anyway, listen,” Kyung begins again, wriggling slightly to get comfortable. In the process, Jiho’s shirt gets pushed up slightly and he can feel Kyung’s hair tickling at the sensitive skin of his hip. It makes his skin tingle and he freezes in place, “I have this theory that subconsciously, people end up being attracted to people who are just like their best friend.”

Jiho really doesn’t know what to do with that information. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to process it, just like he doesn’t know how to process the way the sensation of Kyung’s hair on his skin sends shockwaves through his body. Or the fact that it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“That’s probably where I’m going wrong; I’m going after girls with decent personalities whereas I should be going for boring girls.”

“I’m not boring,” is the only think Jiho can think to say.

Kyung laughs, “I found you out here on your own reading. You’re like an old man.”

“Wanting to pass my classes doesn’t make me boring, Kyung, it makes me responsible.”

“You know who else is responsible? Boring old men,” Kyung states. Jiho knows it’s pointless to argue with someone as blindingly stupid Kyung, so he doesn’t waste his breath. “I’m like ninety percent sure my theory’s right, but the more I think about it the worse it sounds. If I’m right, that means I’m probably gonna end up with a girl just like you. I don’t think I could handle two Woo Jihos.”

There’s a ‘you don’t need two of me’ on the tip of Jiho’s tongue but he swallows it back before he does something stupid like say it out loud.

“How do you think I feel then? By your theory, I’m going to end up with a greasy, egotistical girl with a huge mouth.”

“I said nothing about physical features, but believe me a girl with a big mouth isn’t a bad thing.”

“How would you know? You’re the king of s,” Jiho scoffs, not giving Kyung a chance to retaliate by talking more, “y’know, you’re probably right. It’d be my luck.”

Kyung sits up then, turning to face Jiho.

“You’d be lucky to have someone like me.”

“Why would I need someone like you when I already have you?”

Jiho didn’t mean for that statement to sound the way it does or have quite that much meaning behind it, but it did. And it seems like the gravity of it isn’t lost on Kyung, either, because they both fall into an uncomfortable silence after that.

Jiho turns back to his book even though he’s not actually reading it; he just doesn’t want Kyung to see the embarrassment on his face (because Kyung has a field day every time he sees Jiho blush).

“I think I’m gonna give up on girls for now,” Kyung says, lying back down on the grass. Jiho risks a glance and realizes that Kyung isn’t looking at him, instead staring up at the branches of the tree they’re sitting under.

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Jiho asks, pretending to be completely unaffected by the situation but silently thankful for the change in conversation topic.

“I’m getting sick of being rejected,” Kyung says, then gives Jiho one of his more reserved smiles, the ones Jiho likes infinitely better than those stupid giant grins he has most of the time. They don’t feel as sincere as these smiles.

“Besides,” Kyung continues, moving back over to rest his head on Jiho’s hip again, “having one Woo Jiho is more than enough.”