attraction | meanie

i. fast falling

jeon wonwoo's in his last year of high school.

after three years of never ending homework, bullying, spending his money on hoodies, and spilling black nail polish on his favorite black backpack, he's finally reached his senior year of high school. he's finally wrapping up his teenage years. well...

...not like he wants to become an adult any more than he wants to get out of school. hell, he's still not very sure what he wants to become.

"stop complaining, wonwoo! just go sit on your emo swings or something then. we won't take too long." jihoon huffs, shooing wonwoo off with a shake of the hand. without any further conversation, jihoon and dahyun walk to the park's big, grassy field to work on their music. wonwoo sulkily walks to his swings when his best friend and the sophomore sit down on the grass.

sulkily for only one reason in particular. lee jihoon, his best friend who he met only two years ago, pulled him along to the stupid park just for him to get left out. you see, jihoon's a choir student, and that's how he met choir sophomore kim dahyun. ever since the two choir students became friends, wonwoo's been pulled along with them just to be left on his "emo swings" as they talk and work on their music together. not like wonwoo really cares really...

wonwoo grabs his phone from his hoodie pocket, untangling the mess of earbud string before placing the earbuds in his ears. he scrolls through his spotify, trying to decide what particular songs he wants to blast into his ears right now. he settles on his favorite alec benjamin album called 'narrated for you'. he spares jihoon one dirty glance before he starts swinging his legs softly, slowly but surely creating momentum. as he speeds up, he relaxes himself as cold air sweeping past him messes with his jet black hair.

jihoon almost never keeps his promises. "we won't take too long!" and then he continues to write music with dahyun after two hours has passed. wonwoo's legs are aching from all the swinging he's done in that time period. he can literally feel himself on the verge of ripping his earbuds out, storming over to the two, and dragging them home with him. wonwoo might not pay attention to jihoon and dahyun, but he sure does keep an eye on the time.

wonwoo knows a lot about his best friend. he wants to become a producer when he graduates high school, and he has a big fat crush on this fellow senior named kwon soonyoung. he observes the way jihoon looks so fondly around soonyoung, how he acts so chill despite his feelings. it's pretty amazing.

what wonwoo doesn't notice, observe, know, however, is the way dahyun looks just as fondly at him as jihoon does soonyoung. dahyun's liked wonwoo ever since jihoon introduced him to her in her freshman year. wonwoo was the exact opposite from her, but that made him unique and exquisite in her eyes. it made her want to learn more about his lifestyle. wonwoo's quiet, intelligent, laid-back. dahyun is astounded the way wonwoo acts everyday. it makes her wonder if she could pull it off, too.

wonwoo doesn't know any of that information. he doesn't know that dahyun glances at him every five seconds when he's pulled along to the park, like today. he doesn't know she has a crush on him, quiet boy wonwoo.

"wonwoo!" he hears jihoon's booming voice, and notices he and dahyun had already made their way over to him and packed up their stuff. who knows how many times jihoon called out his name by now?

wonwoo sighs, pausing his music and putting his phone and earbuds back into his pocket. he slows himself down, while doing so almost kicking jihoon in the face. "woah, emo boy, watch the face! i need it to woo soonyoung!" the younger complains, finding a grip on the swing's chains and pulling wonwoo to a complete stop. "you said you wouldn't take to long?"

"it was sarcastic." jihoon shrugs, wrapping his arms around both wonwoo and dahyun's shoulders. "i'm tired and hungry, so let's walk home quickly."

the trio makes no conversation as they walk to their houses. wonwoo's completely fine with that though. the three high schoolers were far too tired to say a word, and plus, jihoon mentioned he's hungry. no one wants to deal with a hungry jihoon; wonwoo learned that the hard way. the seniors drop off dahyun first, since her house is the closest walk compared to theirs.

"good work today, jihoon! see you tomorrow!" dahyun grins, waving at the pair before disappearing into her house. a couple minutes after they start walking away from dahyun's house, jihoon lets out the loudest sigh wonwoo's ever heard.

"what?" wonwoo questions, furrowing his eyebrows at his friend as he wonders what's troubling him. "sometimes you really annoy me with how ignorant you are."

"what...?"

"you ever took a look around and wondered, 'does anybody have a crush on me'?" jihoon stops walking, turning to face wonwoo with his arms crossed at his chest. "i mean, not really. who likes people like me, anyway?" wonwoo shrugs, laughing at himself in his mind for the low self-esteemed answer.

jihoon mumbles something under his breath, wonwoo asking him to speak up because he couldn't hear what he was saying. apparently, jihoon's still really hungry.

"dahyun likes you, dumbass!"

everything falls quiet in wonwoo's ears. the only thing he hears is the replaying of that sentence in his mind, striking him into a deeper confusion as he processes this information. "but...why?"

"look, i don't know. the way she looks at you though, man...she likes you a lot." jihoon explains. wonwoo looks down at himself, taking sight of his black ripped jeans and black oversized hoodie. "dahyun likes...me?" he grimaces, wrinkling up his nose in utter disbelief. "why not one of the hotshots, like what do they call themselves... booshoot-young? or that one junior that i hate, kim mingyu?"

"it's booseoksoon, but hey, consider yourself one lucky duck. after eighteen long years of living, you finally have a girl on your tail!" jihoon gives wonwoo a playful smirk as they start to walk again. wonwoo mocks jihoon's words, rolling his eyes. lucky duck?

"once you go home, think about it a bit more. you're acting as if you're disgusted a girl likes you, and if you keep that behavior up, you're going to come off as gay." the younger states. "but i'm straight as hell, people can't just-"

"they sure can, so better fix up that behavior jeon wonwoo!" jihoon shoves wonwoo to the side as they come of a stop in front of the older's house. "think about it, okay?"

wonwoo doesn't respond as he walks up to the front porch, steps inside his house, and closes the door behind him. so, kim dahyun likes him.

"hey honey! how was the park?" wonwoo's mom calls from the kitchen. wonwoo takes off his converse before answering. "boring, they pulled me along just for me to sit with nothing to do for two hours again." he complains, shuffling to his room.

he closes his room door and jumps onto his bed. he closes his eyes for a moment, letting his body relax against his soft sheets. afterwards his brain starts ticking.

kim dahyun. if wonwoo pictures her features in his mind, he remembers dark brown hair, an innocent expression almost always plastered on her face, and when she smiles...oh, when she smiles. it's the first time wonwoo noticed how much he liked seeing her smile. just thinking of it got him smiling—that's not common.

"gosh, am i really this helpless?" he exhales, putting his face in his hands. "i can't fall for someone this fast..."

"...right?"