Attention || VerKwan

~16~

After their encounter with Dongwook earlier today, the boys were happy that they didn't have to see him for the rest of the day. Their whole friend group had decided to go out for lunch together so that they didn't have to sit in the lunchroom with the other students today. Seungkwan felt at ease when his friends were around him and slowly but surely he could let go of Hansol for a little longer at a time because he knew that the others would protect him as well. Even if being at school scared him, Seungkwan was happy that he was back and he felt really lucky to have such amazing people around him. He knew that they would do anything to protect him from this point forward and he felt extremely grateful and somehow undeserving of such great friends.

As confident as Seungkwan used to seem, he had always found himself lacking and undeserving of the praise he got. Hansol on the other hand had always made sure that Seungkwan never forgot how special he was. Even when everyone else would say that Seungkwan was failing, Hansol would always compliment him and encourage him. Hansol truly admired Seungkwan in every way possible and he always made sure to tell him that. Wherever Seungkwan was and whatever he was doing, Hansol could always be found next to him, smiling in adoration and cheering his best friend on with everything he's got. Seungkwan would often get flustered because of it but it also made him love Hansol more and more every day. With every game they played, if Seungkwan lost and all of his friends would joke about how bad he was, Hansol would always be the one to say that he did well and Seungkwan really needed that. And Seungkwan still couldn't wrap his head around how he got so lucky to have Hansol in his life, let alone be his boyfriend.

As they were joking around at lunch, Seungkwan had forgotten about his worries for a while and could finally laugh again. Soonyoung and Seokmin were acting like complete idiots and Hansol was happy to see that even Seungkwan couldn't help but laugh at his two best friends.

Hansol was honestly holding his breath that entire morning every time someone looked at Seungkwan and Seungkwan would flinch. His heart broke a little more every time he could see the terrified expression on Seungkwan's face and even though he knew it had nothing to do with him, he felt really sad when Seungkwan didn't kiss him. He was heartbroken that Seungkwan couldn't act like himself that morning and that he was so afraid of what people would think. It hurt Hansol because he knew that Seungkwan never acted like he had to be someone else, especially around Hansol. He had always felt so comfortable around him and would be completely and utterly himself, no matter who else was in the room. But now it wasn't like that anymore. Seungkwan was extremely anxious in school and even Hansol couldn't take that anxiety away from him. In a way, Hansol felt like maybe he was part of the cause that Seungkwan felt so anxious. He felt like if it wasn't for him, Seungkwan would've been fine. If it wasn't for him, nothing would've ever happened to Seungkwan in the first place. Hansol's thoughts were spiralling out of control and he suddenly felt a wave of intense guilt hit him. That was until he got snapped out of it by the sound of Seungkwan's infectious laughter. His eyes shot up towards his boyfriend and were met by Seungkwan's. Hansol immediately noticed a difference in Seungkwan's eyes compared to how they had looked over the weekend. Despite the light bruise that was still visible under his left eye, there was now also a little twinkle in both of them. And Hansol loved to see it.

Without realising it, Hansol was staring at Seungkwan with a loving smile on his face and Seungkwan had clearly seen it. Soon enough, Seungkwan leaned a little closer to Hansol until their foreheads touched briefly, before patting his hair softly and placing a quick kiss on his lips. Seungkwan had kisses him. And even though it wasn't the first time, Hansol felt intense butterflies in his stomach. That was because they were out in a public place and yet Seungkwan had seemed to have forgotten about his anxiety for a little while. Hansol looked around the table to each and every one of their friends and thanked them all a million times in his head. Seungkwan was smiling again. Seungkwan had kissed him again. Seungkwan was a little happy again. And there was no way Hansol could've achieved that without his friends. He knew that and it made him both happy and a little sad. Sad because he always hoped that he could do that for Seungkwan. But happy because he felt lucky to have these wonderful people here to help him do it.

As lunch came to an end. The 13 boys started to pack up their stuff and put their jackets on again. Seungkwan was very busy talking to Mingyu and Wonwoo and Hansol decided to go talk to Seungcheol instead of sticking right by Seungkwan. He knew it was okay to give him some space because his friends were there and Hansol didn't want to make him anxious by sticking too close to him. Hansol walked up to Seungcheol and soon enough, the older put an arm around Hansol's shoulder and looked at him with a sympathetic smile on his face.
"You okay there, Hansol?" The older asked and shook Hansol out of his thoughts lightly.
"Yeah hyung, I'm alright." Hansol sighed.
"I just keep playing everything over again in my head and I can't help but feel so guilty for what happened to him, you know? I feel like it's all my fault."
To that, Cheol immediately turned to face Hansol and put a firm hand on Hansol's shoulder.
"Hansol. What happened to Seungkwan was in no way, shape or form your fault. Don't ever think it was. We all know that you would do anything to protect Seungkwan and Seungkwan knows this too. I know it's hard seeing him so anxious, trust me, it's really hard for me too but you can't let these ideas corrupt your mind. You've done absolutely nothing wrong, Dongwook has." Seungcheol said firmly but calmly. Hansol believed him but at the same time it made him feel so much angrier at Dongwook again. That asshole had broken his beautiful boy. And he couldn't stand it. It was consuming him, even if Seungkwan was smiling now. He knew he couldn't just leave it at that. He would do anything to get back at him. But those were thoughts for later. He knew he wouldn't get the chance today and for now he wanted to focus on seeing Seungkwan smile.

The boys were on their way back to campus for their afternoon classes. Their pace was slow and relaxed and they were laughing about something funny Soonyoung said. As Seungkwan laughed, he turned around to look at Hansol but as their eyes met and Seungkwan saw the sad smile on Hansol's face, he immediately stopped in his tracks and waited for Hansol to catch up to him. When Hansol got close enough, Seungkwan immediately slid his hand into Hansol's and interlaced their fingers.
"Hey you." Seungkwan said softly with a concerned smile on his face to which Hansol just replied with a kiss on his cheek.
"Are you okay?" Seungkwan questioned and tightened his grip on Hansol's hand a little.
"I'm alright... There's just a lot on my mind, don't worry about it Kwannie."  Hansol replied hesitantly. He tried his best to give Seungkwan a genuine smile but seeing the boy in question just made Hansol's heart hurt a little. He tried to replay Seungcheol's words in his head and remind himself that he shouldn't feel guilty but he couldn't help it even if Seungkwan seemed to be feeling fine. He tried to shake the thoughts in his head as he looked over at Seungkwan who was contented smiling at their friends in front of them and Hansol held onto his hand tightly. He once again mentally swore to protect the boy he loved so much at all cost from now on and that he would make sure Seungkwan wouldn't feel unsafe at school ever again.

The rest of their day at school was fine for the both of them. They had their last couple of classes together and didn't see Dongwook or his friends around school anywhere, they were probably skipping the afternoon, Hansol figured. He still wanted to confront Dongwook about what happened but he was glad their day could end positively. Besides, at the end of the day Hansol got to spend quality time alone with his favourite person and somehow that always made his worries disappear.

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Hi everyone I'm sorry this took longer than planned, I'm still trying to figure out where I want this story to go
Please leave as many comments as you want, I love reading what you guys think ❤️