attraction | meanie

ii. first steps

over the period of the next couple of weeks, rather than paying attention to his phone, wonwoo pays closer attention to kim dahyun. the thing is, wonwoo's never had someone crushing on him before. he's never really crushed on anyone either. he doesn't think so, but he makes it painfully obvious he has a crush.

"hey, beanie, snap out of it." jihoon waves a hand in front of wonwoo's face, tearing his gaze from dahyun reading and to the younger. jihoon gives a scoff before continuing. "you're so obvious. anyway, come help me pick out some books for mr. choi."

mr. choi seungcheol is the school librarian. he started his job at the beginning of wonwoo and jihoon's junior year. wonwoo remembered those days in the libraries when mr. choi became the librarian—both guys and gals were head over heels for that man. probably still are, let's be honest. mr. choi is, in fact, only twenty years old. to a straight guy like wonwoo, he's pretty handsome too. wonwoo wonders how good looking he looks to girls and gays if in a straight guy's eyes, he's just a simple "handsome".

maybe he could ask yoon jeonghan sometime.

"what does he need books for?" wonwoo asks, following jihoon into the shelves and shelves of books that make the library. from where they stand at the moment, wonwoo can't see dahyun. that makes him a bit sulky. "some sophomores asked for a selection of fantasy novels. they're late to a student council meeting so mr. choi asked for my assistance to find that selection." jihoon explains, picking out a couple books and handing them to wonwoo. "but you're helping me because you keep on staring at dahyun. you're a bit creepy, man."

wonwoo's cheeks flush a light pink at that, resisting the urge to hide his face in his sweater paws in embarrassment. "...really? am i that obvious?"

"hell yes bro. you really need to tone it down, do it the jihoon way. i can teach you, since you know, i'm the one and only jihoon." wonwoo thinks about this offer as more and more books pile in his arms; when jihoon's around his crush you can barely even tell he likes him. he acts so chill, even plays hard-to-get, with soonyoung around. jihoon once told wonwoo that, quote on quote, "i'm going to act like i don't like him at all. once he falls head over heels with me—which i will assure happens—i'll give into my feelings". wonwoo truly wishes he could act like that. alas, he's new to this crush thing, but his best friend may be able to help him ease into it.

"okay." wonwoo accepts. "great! first lesson will be today at lunch. now come on, i think i have a pretty good selection of fantasy novels." wonwoo only notices how many books he has in his hands when jihoon mentions them, and the sudden weight in his arms increases. he struggles as he walks to the front counter, jihoon walking with ease and not even caring to help his poor friend out.

"hey, mr. choi, we got the books." jihoon exclaims, leaning on the counter and waiting for wonwoo to finally catch up. when he reaches the desk, he empties the books from his arms with a relieved sigh. "thank you, jihoon. you too, jihoon's friend."

"oh, this is jeon wonwoo, mr. choi." jihoon introduces his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. "well then, thank you, jeon wonwoo." wonwoo gives a small bow to the librarian before they walk out of the library—wonwoo being disappointed because dahyun's still in there—and to their lockers. "the bell is about to ring anyway, chill." jihoon rolls his eyes. "you'll see her at lunch."

•••

wonwoo's practically being dragged to the cafeteria, jihoon's grip tight around his wrist as they speed-walk the halls. "i don't want to do this anymore-"

"you accepted my offer, so you aren't backing out now." jihoon cuts wonwoo off, entering through the agape doors of the cafeteria and looking around. "look, there she is!" he points out dahyun and her friend group, sitting and talking at one of the lunch tables to the far right. "you're going to thank me for this," jihoon whispers to wonwoo, "because all it takes is one push. and i'll be that push for you."

jihoon wasn't lying. he drags wonwoo a bit closer to dahyun's table before shoving him in front of the group, making the girls fall silent as he almost trips on his own shoes. he silently curses at his best friend in his mind, regaining his stance and fixing his sleeves before locking eyes with dahyun. dahyun, including her eight friends, stare at him with curiosity. some are even judging him, by the looks of it.

"hi." wonwoo gulps and intertwines his hands behind his back. dahyun gives him a little smile and wave. "hey!"

okay...this'll get awkward really fast. "i- um, sorry, i...tripped. my friend's waiting for me, so uh...i should probably go now." wonwoo gives the nine girls a swift ninety-degree bow before basically sprinting to the table jihoon sits at. there sitting next to jihoon is surprisingly the one and only kwon soonyoung.

wonwoo doesn't even acknowledge the fact that soonyoung's sitting with them; he's too embarrassed to do so. "jihoon..." he mumbles into his sweater sleeves, hiding his face completely and resting his head down on the table. he can feel the younger slap the top of his head, making him flinch slightly. "yah, the girls seem to be fangirling for you over there." wonwoo looks up a bit to see the sight of the nine girls pointing and glancing at him, talking about something. "and look-" jihoon places his arm around soonyoung's shoulders, "we're both one step closer~"

wonwoo tears his gaze from the girls to look over at a very confused soonyoung, who's staring at jihoon's hand with slightly flushed cheeks. jihoon may be, but i don't know about me. wonwoo thinks to himself. "what...exactly are you guys talking about?" soonyoung questions, looking over his shoulder to try and spot what the other two boys were looking at before.

"wonwoo likes dahyun." jihoon blurts, "and i suck at science. so if wonwoo gets the girl, i can get help from her easier since she'll be sitting with us by then. it's a win-win situation."

"oh." soonyoung exclaims, nodding his head to show he understands. "are you giving wonwoo advice, hoonie?"

wonwoo could almost hear jihoon burst inside. with uwus, excitement, butterflies—maybe all three. soonyoung called him by a nickname(a really cute one too), which meant a big step forwards. "yeah, i am. you wanna help raise beanie's confidence with me?"

"beanie, huh?" soonyoung looks at wonwoo, giving him a smile. "i'd love to help out little beanie here."

•••

"wonwoo!" he hears his name being called from behind him just as he walks out of the school gates, so he turns around. that person's lucky to have caught him, because if they were just a second late, he wouldn't hear them through his blasting music.

"d-dahyun!" wonwoo stutters, stopping in his tracks as his eyes meets his crush's. "what's up?"

"hey! well..." she starts, grinning at wonwoo. "i was wondering if you'd like to hang out more? you know, maybe at lunch! i don't want a little 'hi' to be the only thing we say to each other."

"yeah! yeah- that'd be great!" wonwoo nods, giving a little smile back to dahyun. inside, he's jumping with joy. he decides to lay it back on the outside just in case his sudden joy scares dahyun off. "great! see you at lunch tomorrow, then?"

"yeah. see you then!"

"see ya!"

walking home and pretending to be unfazed by the exciting events that happened today is hard for wonwoo. he embarrassed himself in front of dahyun and her friends, got advice from "love expert" woozi, and got asked to hang out with dahyun. he's step-by-step getting closer to his goal.