rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 11

Even with Sunghoon's No Jay Talk rule, lunchtime was testy. The only ones who remained unaffected by the ongoing fight were Jake and Heeseung. While Sunoo and Ni-ki glared daggers at each other over their lunch trays, Jake and Heeseung conversed breezily, stuck in their own world. They were in the midst of a battlezone, but they didn't even notice the missiles flying past their heads.

Jungwon tuned into their conversations sometimes, when he wanted a break from listening to the passive aggressive barbs Sunoo and Ni-ki were trading. But Jake and Heeseung's conversation only made his headache.

Jungwon had lost count somewhere in the tens at how many times Jake had assured Heeseung, in a shy voice, that he was pretty. That he was funny.

Jungwon had also lost count of how many times Heeseung had returned the reassurances, unprompted.

On one side of the lunch table, Ni-ki and Sunoo sat in heated conversation as Sunghoon intervened to keep it from blowing up. On the other side, Jake and Heeseung continued to compliment each other and, yet, still somehow hadn't worked out that their crush was mutual.

And Jungwon was stuck in between it all, with his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his pretzels, and his apple slices.

⭐

As conversations with his friends became minefields, Jungwon found himself looking forward to the day's end even more than he used to. In the last couple periods of the day, he watched the clock in anticipation of the sounding of the final bell. The signal that he could drive home, where Jay would be waiting with a snack in hand, smiling (because Jay always seemed to do that now. Smile.).

Jay would invariably ask him about his day. When Jungwon told him the truth about how fragile the bonds seemed between him and his friends lately, Jay paused for a moment before weighing in.

"From what I know about people, for being made of such easily breakable bodies, you're surprisingly resilient," Jay said, with a smile. The watering can he'd filled with the intention of taking care of the houseplants lay abandoned by his elbow as he leaned over to listen to Jungwon's concerns.

Jungwon tried to act offended, with a "Hey!". But Jay didn't backtrack. He shook his head.

"Your relationships with each other seem to be equally resilient."

Jungwon refused to be cheered that easily. As much as he wanted to believe Jay's words, he had to remember that Jay was a robot. He wasn't at all an expert in humanity's intricacies.

"I think you don't know as much about people as you think you do."

Jay's smile grew wider, into a grin. Jungwon wondered if it'd ever stop being a breathtaking sight, if looking at Jay's smile would ever fail to send his heartbeat racing.

"That may be true, but I'm learning."

Jungwon set down his glass of orange juice, and straightened, curious.

"Oh yeah, hotshot? What have you learned so far?"

Jay lay his head in his hand, which had the unfortunate effect of bringing his face even closer to Jungwon's. His eyes, his lashes, all of his distracting details were easy to make out at this distance.

Jungwon held his breath as his gaze fell down, down to Jay's lips, pink against his pale skin.

Jungwon hoped Jay couldn't detect the speed of his heartbeat, as close as they were then. And, if he could, that he'd take pity on Jungwon and pretend he didn't know why it was beating so fast.

"I've learned that, despite what it says on the encyclopedia websites about your history, people can be smart." Jay carried on past Jungwon's offended hiss, "I had wondered how the same species that had gone to the moon and had created new synthetic life could be the same one that created the atomic bomb, but I'm beginning to understand it now."

Jungwon shifted under Jay's unselfconscious, unerring gaze. He noticed, distantly, that Jay's eyes weren't as completely dark as he'd thought. They were lightened with specks of lighter brown throughout, warming his gaze, making him even harder to differentiate from a human.

"Wait. What're you understanding?" Jungwon asked. He was mentally kicking himself for being too caught up on looking at Jay to listen to what he was saying.

"Everything humans have done, all of the atrocities and all of the advancements... it's all been because of your emotionality. The two poles of your emotions-- love and hate-- they've been behind everything."

"Love?" Jungwon repeated, in wonderment that he'd heard that word fall from Jay's lips.

"And hate," Jay nodded, "They both drive you humans. But they also blind you, it seems. If your friends are any indication."

Jungwon frowned, surprised that Jay had gleaned that much from the little Jungwon had been able to tell him, "I don't think Ni-ki even knows why he's mad that Sunoo keeps talking about his crush on you..."

Jay straightened, drawing away from Jungwon, "See what I mean about being blinded by emotions?"

Jungwon sucked his lower lip in between his teeth.

"How did you learn about us so much so quickly?"

"I'm equipped with formidable observational skills."

With that, Jay pushed himself from the counter, deftly angling away so his elbow wouldn't dislodge the watering can as he moved back. He picked up the can, and Jungwon noticed that the plastic armature under his synthetic skin moved in much the same way as muscle would have, shifting and rippling.

"Wait," Jungwon realized what Jay had said, "Observational skills? You mean you've been, like, watching us?"

Jay nodded, and Jungwon sucked in a breath. He laughed, nervous and high.

"Don't tell me I taught you about human hatred. You'll make me cry," Jungwon tried in a scolding tone, but wasn't quite sure if he'd managed it. He really didn't want to be the reason that Jay learned about nasty, ugly sides of people like hatred and destruction.

"It wasn't hate that I learned from observing you," Jay shook his head, his eyes glinting in that oddly reflective way of theirs, "I'm going to take care of the chores now. If you need help with your homework later, please let me know."

And, with that, Jay swept from the room, watering can in tow. Jungwon watched him go, in wonder. Then, he looked from Jay's receding form to the plate of snacks Jay had prepared for him. He frowned down at the sliced fruits, at the small bowl of nutella for dipping Jay had put to the side.

But Jay, Jungwon thought, had only mentioned two sides to emotionality. If it wasn't hate he'd learned from Jungwon, then that left only one other thing...

Jungwon's heartbeat stuttered.

— the end of chapter 11 ♡

jay doesn't seem to understand how romantic he is please 😭✋🏻