attraction | meanie

vii. transfer

"jihoon, please. you're embarrassing me, get off!" wonwoo quietly hisses, attempting to push jihoon off of him. jihoon refuses to let go, arms wrapped around the older's waist and cheek cuddled into his arm. wonwoo hurriedly stops trying to push jihoon off of him when dahyun walks into the room with some of the movie snacks her mom prepared.

"you guys are cute." she giggles, setting down a big bowl of popcorn and another smaller bowl filled with gummy bears. wonwoo rubs the nape of his neck while jihoon happily cuddles with him.

wonwoo was invited—by jihoon—to have a movie night at dahyun's house, which wonwoo now realized he was just invited because one, jihoon's the "love expert", and two, jihoon needs someone to cuddle with. wonwoo doesn't know why jihoon picked him to be his cuddle buddy since he kind of hates skinship, but too bad. here he is.

earlier, when wonwoo and jihoon had just arrived at the kim house, it took them forty-five minutes to pick a movie they all agreed on. in the end, they ended up picking the studio ghibli film "spirited away". one wonwoo and dahyun's familiar with, but not as familiar with it as jihoon. jihoon absolutely loves that movie. wonwoo's pretty sure he watches it whenever he's not doing something other than watching it.

after dahyun brings all of their movie snacks over to the living room table(the snacks being bought and readied generously by mrs. kim herself, thank you mrs. kim), they get comfortable on the couch and start the movie. it's just them three watching, since mrs. kim is going to do her own thing, mr. kim is still at work, and mingyu isn't home. yet. although it's eight PM and he could be home at any time, wonwoo crosses his fingers that mingyu won't arrive until he's gone.

during the movie, wonwoo is literally being suffocated by jihoon. they slowly but surely move positions, jihoon's still attached to wonwoo's torso like a suction. the thing is, jihoon holds wonwoo so tightly he can't breathe that well. "jihoon," wonwoo whispers with an annoyed tone, "can you lessen your grip a bit?? i'm literally suffocating over here!"

"shhh, this is a good part!"

"you've said that every time i've tried to talk during this movie, hoon, and that's been like 24 times."

"that's because this movie's amazing. shush."

around halfway through the movie, wonwoo's breath hitches as he hears the front door open. mingyu makes no announcement to tell everyone he's home, but instead creeps into the living room where wonwoo, jihoon, and his sister sit. wonwoo can feel mingyu's gaze on him but doesn't dare look away from the TV screen, afraid he'll accidentally make something more awkward than it has to be.

despite the constant calls and shouts saying 'please go to your room!' and 'don't sit down and watch the movie!' going on inside wonwoo's head, mingyu places his bag down by the couch and sits at the other end of the sofa wonwoo and jihoon sit on. wonwoo keeps his eyes glued to the screen. although he looks like he's paying attention to the movie, he's secretly dying inside.

jihoon suddenly stretches, legs extending across the sofa and coincidentally poking mingyu's thighs. "oh, sorry. didn't see you there." jihoon mumbles before quieting down and focusing on the movie again. wonwoo mentally curses jihoon for doing that.

for the rest of the movie, all wonwoo can focus on is the deep burning sensation being holed into his face. he can feel kim mingyu looking at him. he doesn't know why mingyu's look at him, but he sure does know how awkward it feels to be stared down by someone you hate.

wonwoo found himself silently wanting to go home. he knows he can't just get up and walk out. he'll have to wait.

the rest of the time at the kim house is uncomfortable, but goes by surprisingly fast. jihoon and wonwoo wave goodbye to dahyun and mingyu(wonwoo only really waving goodbye to dahyun) and head back home.

all wonwoo can think about as he walks home with jihoon is "why was mingyu staring at me the whole time i was there?" and to be honest, he doesn't think he'll ever find out.


•••


"i heard there's new transfer students." jihoon says as he fixes his backpack strap over his shoulder. wonwoo laughs, "really? from who?" wonwoo knows jihoon's not the type to tune into the daily school gossip, and the way he worded his sentence tells the older he hasn't actually seen the transfers.

"seungkwan." he almost says that too cheerfully, wonwoo's expression changing into disbelief. "boo seungkwan? are you kidding me?"

"i'm actually not. i hung out with booseoksoon this morning."

"so that's why i couldn't find you, man..."

"hey, you gotta learn to make more friends than just me. what if i decide to drop you and get it on with booseoksoon one day?"

"i have minghao. and dahyun. they can comfort me if you ever act horribly like that."

"okay, okay. now get in your class, we've literally been standing in front of it for five minutes straight." jihoon urges, turning wonwoo around and pushing him into the classroom. wonwoo watches as jihoon walks away.

ugh, english. wonwoo's first period and one of his least favorite classes. to be fair, he hates every subject, but english as his very first period is worse than it being any later.

"today, class, we have two new students that transferred here from america." their english teacher announces, gesturing for two boys to come in through the door. wonwoo watches closely as the two transfers walk to stand awkwardly in front of the class. one of them stands with more confidence, an angelic type of smile plastered sweetly onto his face. the other one looks really awkward. he purses his lips into a thin line, an attempt to smile.

"boys, please introduce yourselves. this will be your english and first period class from now on." the teacher allows the transfers to finally break the classroom silence.

"hello! my name is joshua hong, i'm a transfer from america. i like to play guitar, and i'm a full korean of american nationality. i hope to make some great friends here!" the one with the sweet smile introduces in perfect korean, bowing deeply to the classroom.

wait...like...joshua as in the jisoos one junhui talked about one time?

wonwoo tries to hold back a smile when he sees joshua's silky black hair bounce over his eyes. jisoos is cute, really.

joshua looks over at the other transfer student, giving him an encouraging grin before he starts to speak. "hi, i um...i'm hansol. just call me vernon though." the other transfer's korean isn't as good as joshua's, but then again, they're both from america. plus, vernon looks very american compared to wonwoo and all the other korean people he knows, like soonyoung and jihoon. "my mom's american and my dad's korean. i have a younger sister that i love a lot, and...yeah. i hope to make friends as well."

"great! now take a seat in any of the empty seats available. there's one over there by wonwoo, and there's also one over there by seungcheol...you get the gist." at this, the two boys shuffle to sit in some of the empty seats around class. vernon takes the seat in front of seungcheol, joshua deciding the seat next to wonwoo is a great choice so he sits down there. wonwoo looks the other way when he pieces together what the heck is actually happening. joshua hong is sitting next to him. by the looks of it—in his perspective and the looks of other classmates—wonwoo and joshua do not look like a good pair.

joshua ignores the other student's stares though, and introduces himself personally to wonwoo. "hello! i'm joshua. what's your name?" wonwoo slowly turns to look at the angelic boy, taking a lot of courage to strike up his voice. "h-hey, i'm jeon wonwoo."

"well, wonwoo, i hope we can be friends." joshua extends his hand out for a shake, wonwoo taking it after a quick mental fight with himself. he really hopes joshua can't feel how sweaty his palms are. "y...yeah."

once the teacher starts talking, everyone in the class turns their attention to the front of the class. so does wonwoo, and he doesn't lay eyes on joshua again until lunch that day.

wonwoo's not that surprised when he walks into the cafeteria to see jihoon talking with vernon and joshua. with slow steps, he walks to the table with the two transfers and his best friend so he can sit. of course jihoon would befriend the new kids, nonetheless angel-on-earth joshua that wonwoo's extremely nervous around and awkward hansol. jihoon's great at making wonwoo quite miserable but quite lucky.

"oh, wonwoo! you're jihoon's friend? what a coincidence!" joshua lets out a beautiful laugh, wonwoo nodding. "agh, you guys have met already?! i just met vernon and joshua. when did you, wonwoo?"

"english. that's the class they have with me."

"i don't have any with them yet. lucky."

"excuse me?" a new female voice says, everyone turning around to see who spoke. "hi, i'm tsuyu. are you two joshua hong and hansol chwe?" joshua and vernon nod.

"the main office wants to see you. come with me."

wonwoo and jihoon watch as the two transfers slowly get up, giving small waves and smiles to the others before heading off with tsuyu to the office. "well, that didn't last long." jihoon sighs, taking a bite of his lunch. "maybe we can hang out after school. are you able to?"

"uh...yeah, i should be able to. who're you planning on inviting?"

"joshua, vernon, soonyoung, and then us two. at the park. got it?" wonwoo mumbles a little yes.

"good. i'm gonna go find soonie, so seen you then."


•••


"are you kidding me?!" wonwoo fumes at jihoon, who he had just angrily pulled away from the rest of the group. joshua, vernon, soonyoung, and an uninvited lee seokmin. "i was expecting no seokmin. this is why you never invite soonyoung to things! he just pulls along his stupid friends!"

"hey now, seokmin's a really nice guy! even though he's a bit...loud, he has a whole heart." jihoon argues, "plus: my soonie does nothing stupid. enjoy the present." before wonwoo has the chance to distribute his next argument, a tall figure in the corner of his eye catches his attention. "i would contribute to this fight, jihoon, but you're off the hook since i spotted a little someone." wonwoo takes jihoon's hand, pulling him away from the other side of the school to head back to the rest of the boys.

"woah, woah, wait! who was it?!"

"do i really have to explain who it is?" wonwoo spits. jihoon gets the idea from this; wonwoo only acts like this when he sees someone he really hates, and that someone is usually kim mingyu. he can only keep his mouth shut, not wanting to provoke wonwoo any farther.

as they turn the corner, they spot the other four boys laughing with each other. wonwoo's feelings soften a bit seeing joshua(and vernon, who he hadn't seen smiling until now) so happy. "what'd we miss?" jihoon finds his way into the conversation, pulling wonwoo down to sit with them. "shua's stealing my best friend hoonie~!" soonyoung wails, allowing himself to tightly hug jihoon. almost like a human suction.

"is shua stealing kyeom?" jihoon laughs. joshua, vernon, and seokmin are laughing as well, supposedly finding it funny that soonyoung's such a dramatic cry baby. "yah, it's booseoksoon for a reason, not boosoon or booshuaseoksoon!" soonyoung pouts.

as jihoon pats soonyoung's hair, he speaks. "don't worry soonie. if either seokmin or seungkwan betray you, come to the universe factory. you can make shining stars with me." wonwoo sees soonyoung's eyes gleam after jihoon says what he says, an over-joyous look on his face. "for real, hoonie?!"

"i mean it with all my heart. with your dance skills and my songs, we can make galaxies."

wonwoo and vernon almost gag at how romantic that sounds, seokmin is heard squealing like a girl, and joshua gives out a little "aww". after letting out all of his excited squeals, seokmin catches a glimpse of wonwoo's utterly disgusted expression and bursts out into laughter.

"you guys are relationship goals! i don't know if wonwoo and nonie thinks the same, but-" joshua says in between heavenly little giggles that bring literal satisfaction through wonwoo's ears. oh, so that's why joshua's nickname is jisoos.

"yeah, i don't do lovey-dovey." vernon says, looking at wonwoo for agreement. wonwoo thumbs up to that news. after being called relationship goals and lovey-dovey, there's two types of people:

jihoon, extremely calm with only a small smile on his face.

soonyoung, extremely red-faced and flustered, looks like a literal tomato.

"w-we're not relationship goals or lovey-dovey! w-we're j...just friends!"

"sure." wonwoo says under his breath, knowing the exact truth behind what jihoon wants. looks like it's going his way too. the way soonyoung acts around him screams "i have a crush on you but let's act like it's best friend things".

"guys, let's just eat the rest of the food before the sun starts setting. we don't want the bugs getting to the rest of it before we do!" jihoon thankfully saves his "damsel in distress" from any further confrontation, grabbing a grape from some of the vines vernon had in his lunch leftovers and popping it into his mouth.

things went okay-ish to wonwoo for the rest of the park hangout, joshua and seokmin doing their thing while soonhoon did theirs. vernon and wonwoo held small talk, one that was an awkward-to-awkward conversation and it didn't go exactly well. both of them being socially weak, no conversation was expected to go well.

around 5PM, the boys start heading home. jihoon walked home with soonyoung, joshua walked home with seokmin...meaning vernon and wonwoo either had to walk home by themselves or together. with a bit of contemplation between each other, they chose to walk together since they live in the same general direction.

vernon tells wonwoo when they arrive at his house and take an awkward second to say goodbye. "you're cool, man. see ya!" vernon waves as he walks to the front porch, wonwoo peeping a small "bye!" before walking to his home. on the way there however, wonwoo catches light footsteps behind him.

he turns around to see who's following him, it being the one and only yoon jeonghan. oh! this is the perfect time to ask jeonghan's opinion on how attractive mr. choi is!

"wonwoo..." jeonghan pouts, dark brown hair falling over his sad eyes. "uh...hey, jeonghan."

"i need to talk to you about something." jeonghan says, walking closer to wonwoo. 

this was about 1000 words longer than the rest of the chapters so feel free to take a break lol also don't forget to vote :)