attraction | meanie

v. hot cocoa

this morning, wonwoo and minghao met up earlier at school to grab some things for mr. choi. minghao was the only one asked to do so, but he decided to invite wonwoo along. wonwoo doesn't mind much, because it's minghao.

it's partially foggy as they walk around the outside halls, both of their arms full of books needing to be taken to the library. wonwoo can feel his hair starting to slightly damp over because of the morning dew the fog brings. "it's getting colder." minghao sighs, his breath coming out as a white cloud.

"my favorite type of weather!" wonwoo celebrates, grinning widely. "i've waited all year for this."

"same. i can't wait for the snowy days ahead of us as winter rolls in~" minghao laughs. that both gets them daydreaming about winter and all of the snow it will bring; hopefully lots this year, so they can do snowball fights and build snowmen named iconic american names.

distant shouts bring them out of their heads however, the sounds making them look up to see if anything is in the distance. around one of the far corners minghao and wonwoo spot a group of people, probably the cause of all the shouting. the two friends share a glance before the group comes any closer.

like expected, the group and the shouting comes closer as they continue to walk, the group of boys—them getting close enough to make out their gender—not paying attention to what's in front of them. wonwoo's afraid they'll run into minghao and him and that thought only grows more nerve-wracking as the boys get closer.

wonwoo and minghao both watch as the boys, eight chasing one, catch up to the one being chased and pin him to the ground right in front of them. minghao pulls wonwoo to a stop to avoid stepping on the boys or tripping on them. "where's the tteokbokki you promised us, huh, wen junhui?" one of the boys laughs, sitting on a collapsed 'wen junhui'. "argh, i told you i forgot about them! i'll get them today, maybe tag along with me to be my annoying reminder!" the boy named junhui spits with a smile on his face.

wonwoo is taken by surprise when junhui flips his friend off of him, pinning him to the ground in place of him. "yah, get off of me," his friend frowns, "i'm your hyung. you shouldn't be using your wushu on me."

"wushu?" minghao whispers to wonwoo, looking at junhui with a curious gaze. "i do wushu. wonder what studio he trains at, i've never seen him around mine." wonwoo just shrugs. he's too focused on junhui to find the words to piece together a sentence.

junhui rolls his eyes and helps his hyung get up from the ground, dusting themselves off afterward. "sorry," the older says, "my friend's just being a brat. we'll get out of your way." the boys give the two fellow seniors a bow, the eldest leading the group around and away from minghao and wonwoo. junhui is at the back of the group, and when he passes by wonwoo, he gives him a flirtatious smirk.

wonwoo doesn't know if that was just a hallucination or if it actually happened. he watches, stunned, as junhui walks away with the rest of the group. had he just been...subtly flirted with? by a boy?

"did he just...smirk at you?" minghao gasps after the group of seniors are out of earshot. "uh, i think so?"

"man~! wonu's got a girl and a guy on his tail! that junhui dude was pretty handsome too." minghao grins, wonwoo rolling his eyes at how gay minghao sounds. "save your gay thoughts for junhui then, please. i don't want to hear them."

"of course you don't, wooden ruler." the younger groans.

they continue on their way to the library, now going to arrive there later than what was originally planned. to make things run later, they run into dahyun. wonwoo insists to stop and talk to her for a bit.

"hey dahyun!" wonwoo grins, waving at the girl. "oh hey! fancy seeing you this early!" (no pun intended)

"yeah, totally. what brings you on campus so early?"

"eh, got some things to do that teachers asked of me. how about you guys?"

"library duties," minghao says, "mr. choi loves putting wonwoo and his friends to work." dahyun and wonwoo laugh at this. it's quite true, actually. everytime his friends are asked to do something for mr. choi, wonwoo ends up being pulled along.

"i keep that in mind when mr. choi asks for my assistance then. don't know when that'll be, but wonwoo will definitely be there!" dahyun giggles. "anyway, i need to go now. have fun helping mr. choi!"

"bye!" the two boys say at the same time.

a couple minutes after dahyun and the pair stopped talking, minghao and wonwoo run into someone else. someone wonwoo unpleasantly doesn't want to see. "heads up, kim mingyu at three o'clock." minghao whispers to wonwoo, looking to their left. wonwoo looks there too, and indeed spots mingyu walking.

"oh my goodness." wonwoo mumbles. he tries to speed up, but ends up getting caught anyway. "hey wonwoo, minghao!"

"what's up, mingyu." minghao waves lazily at the younger, not making eye contact. "whatcha doing this fine morning?" mingyu asks curiously, spotting all the books in the seniors' hands. "library stuff i guess." minghao shrugs, obviously not wanting to talk to mingyu. wonwoo doesn't want to either.

"cool! i-"

"we have to go now." wonwoo gives mingyu the same death glare he did at dahyun's house that day, making him shut up again. they leave without another peep out of him.

"sorry we took longer than expected, mr. choi." minghao apologizes as he sets the books in his arms down on mr. choi's desk. "oh, it's fine boys. just set the books down on my desk and go sit down on one of the sofas. i have some hot cocoa packets, so i'll treat you two to some hot cocoa for being wonderful helpers."

the boys obey this, wonwoo putting the books he holds down and then both heading to the sofas to sit and relax. once seated, wonwoo presses his hands to his cheeks, attempting to heat them up a bit. mr. choi comes by a couple minutes later with two cups of hot chocolate like promised.

"oh, wonwoo, are you cold?" mr. choi asks wonwoo, handing him and minghao their cups of hot chocolate. "i have some heat pads if you need any."

"i'm okay, mr. choi. thank you though." wonwoo smiles, taking a sip of his drink.

"alright. just tell me if you need anything." mr. choi says before heading back to his desk to work on some before-hour things. minghao and wonwoo sip on their chocolaty drinks together in comfortable silence.

soon enough, the first period bell rings throughout the school campus, signifying wonwoo and minghao out of the library. "bye mr. choi! thank you for the hot cocoa!" minghao waves goodbye to the librarian, wonwoo doing the same before closing the library door behind him.

"what an eventful morning." wonwoo nods in agreement with minghao. "hangin in there, wooden ruler?"

"oh, stop calling me that hao."