(FINISHED) Skater Boys- JakeHoon (ENHYPEN)

-8-

JAY'S POV (damn, he pretty 😔)

Jay would be lying if he said he didn't notice a change in Sunghoon's personality. The tall, black-haired boy was always more of the shy, introverted type, and it was usually Jay who would be the one to introduce Sunghoon to other people. Jay had had a part in nearly every aspect of Sunghoon's social life, minus... when Jake came around.

Suddenly the realization hit him, hard like a rock. Sunghoon totally liked Jake. And not in a friendly way, it was definitely more than that. Jay had known the younger ravenette since early middle school, and he had never, never, looked at anyone the way he looked at Jake. Jay could practically feel the emotion that radiated from Sunghoon whenever Jake was around... and it honestly made Jay feel happy.

Sunghoon, who was like a brother to Jay, would always have times where he wouldn't want to have anything to do with anyone, and Jay knew that Sunghoon often struggled with his self esteem. One time during middle school, it had gotten so bad that Sunghoon hadn't gone to school for a whole month, and when he finally did come back, he was skinnier than ever and he looked like he had become a living zombie with the bags that had formed under his eyes.

Jay remembered a time when he would legitimately be scared for Sunghoon's health because the boy would often not take care of himself, and he would end up collapsing multiple times in a day. Jay had accompanied Sunghoon to many trips to the hospital during those times, and it had honestly scared the living shit out of him. At that time, he thought he was going to lose his best friend.

Jay knew that a major cause of Sunghoon's stress and depression was the boy's parents. Sunghoon's parents were unlike any Jay had met in his life. They seemed to only care about their son's achievements, and whenever Sunghoon would win trophies from his figure skating competitions, they would reward him with praised and attention, which Jay knew Sunghoon got very little of at home. That was probably the cause of many of Sunghoon's issues, and honestly, Jay was quite glad that Sunghoon didn't have to live with those idiots for now.

Sunghoon was much happier now, Jay could see it so evidently. The boy no longer had the weight of his parents' expectations hanging over him, and he now had Jake, who had such a bright and positive attitude and personality. Jay sincerely hoped that this would go on forever, so that his best friend could finally have some happiness in his life. And maybe even love, which surprisingly, despite the boy's good looks, he had never gotten. It was probably because of his shyness and busy schedule, Jay thought.

. . .

Jay walked into the cafeteria to see Sunghoon sitting at their usual table with his head laying on his arms, no tray of food in sight. He made his way over to his friend and gently shook his shoulder, causing the boy to stir and slowly lift his face up from his arms.

Jay's eyes widened in surprise once he got a look at Sunghoon's appearance. The boy's face was deathly pale, and his lips were chapped to the point where they looked like they were raisins. Sunghoon's eyes were dull and the boy looked exhausted. Scratch that, he looked like he was devoid of life all together.

Jay gasped and pressed his palm to Sunghoon's forehead, immediately wincing as he pulled his hand away.

"Sunghoon-ah, you're sick! Why would you come to school today?!" Jay nearly shouted at the boy in front of him, earning himself a few stares from the neighboring table.

"Mmh, I don't wanna be alone..." Sunghoon responded quietly, his eyes drooping slightly, as if he had gotten no sleep the night before. The boy's shoulders shook slightly as his body racked with coughs before the boy recovered and groaned, smacking his head against the table.

Jay immediately recognized what was happening to his friend. It was only natural, since he'd known him for so long.

Sunghoon was having another one of his depressive episodes. From the sight of him alone, Jay could determine that the boy hadn't gotten good sleep for a matter of days, and he had definitely skipped more than a few meals during the course of the previous week. He could only ponder at what exactly had caused this sudden mood change as there wasn't anything really evident that could cause this.

"Where's Jake?" Jay questioned, as he had yet to see the puppy-faced male enter the cafeteria.

"..in the library. Studying." Sunghoon muttered, and Jay could tell from his voice that he wanted Jake to be here with him. Jay knew from experience, when Sunghoon was experiencing depression like this, he shouldn't be left alone for too long, or things could go downhill fast.

Jay then decided that he needed to go retrieve Jake, for the sake of Sunghoon's health, of course.

"Alright. Stay here Sunghoon-ah, okay?"

"Mm-hm..."

Jay smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder before immediately switching his demeanor and sprinting out of the cafeteria, leaving quite a few confused glances sticking to the doorway.

Soon enough, Jay had made it to the library, which for some reason, was on the second floor. He gave credit to his track coach for making him such a fast runner.

"JAKE!" Jay's loud voice echoed throughout the large room, and he winced internally as the librarian sent him a sharp glare with a finger stuck up in front of her mouth.

He ignored the woman and ran to the back of the library, where he knew Jake would be, since that was where the tables and computers were.

"Jay-hung?" Jay looked up to meet the confused look on his dongsaengs face as he rounded the corner of the bookshelves, clearly out of breath.

"It's Sunghoon...he...ah, hold on a minute." Jay said while he held a finger up as he bent over, signifying that he needed a moment to catch his breath.

After a moment or two, Jake spoke up, concern lacing his tone.

"What's wrong with Sunghoonie?" Jake shut the book be was presumably using to study and got up from the table, walking over to stand in front of Jay as the latter finally stood up, having taken in a suitable amount  of oxygen for his body to finally let him speak again.

"He's not doing so good, Jake. You'll see, just follow me."

And so, the two quickly made their way back down to the cafeteria on the first floor, Jake not having asked any questions as he was looking far too worried to talk.

After a minute, the two boys quickly walked through the doors of the cafeteria, Jake letting out an audible gasp as he laid his eyes on Sunghoon.

The brunette immediately left Jay's side as he quickly ran over to sit beside Sunghoon, immediately capturing the younger boy in a long hug, which left a small smile on Sunghoon's face as they pulled apart.

끝

What's got Sunghoon so down in the dumps? Well, I guess we'll just have to find out in the next chapter, won't we?
God, I love cliffhangers, don't you?
🤭🤭🤭👀👀
P

.S, I wrote this while camping out in the back of a car... don't ask lmao