aversion | bbangnyu

35

"Chanhee—you're lying to me!" Yeri yelled before shoving as much of her salad into her mouth as she could.

The boy in question glanced around the cafeteria to make sure Yeri's booming voice didn't attract the attention of too many people. "I'm not lying to you," Chanhee continued, "Me and Younghoon haven't done anything like that you creep."

"No," she mumbled through the mouthful of lettuce, "I'm genuinely curious because I don't know what kind of guy Younghoon is. He doesn't pressure you to do anything, right?"

"We haven't even talked about anything close to that—I don't think he's in too much of a hurry."

She only hummed before reaching out for her water bottle, chugging as much as she could. "Y'know I fell asleep before dinner last night and I've ever been so hungry in my life," the girl explained.

"Oh really? I couldn't tell."

"Rude."

"Why didn't your parents wake you up?" Chanhee asked at last, not quite understanding why a parent would let their child go to sleep without eating something first.

A dramatic groan came from the girl as she rolled her eyes. She finished chewing before mocking, "I complained to my mom about that this morning and she said it'll only make you skinnier, Yerim-ah. I don't know what her problem is—does she want me to be nothing but bones?"

Frowning at her words, Chanhee nodded, "you don't need to be skinnier. You're perfectly fine the way you are."

A laugh slipped past her lips, "I shouldn't be laughing at this—but do you remember when you came to my house for the first time sophomore year and the first thing she said to you was oh you're so chubby no wonder you don't have a boyfriend."

"Yeah and then I cried in your room for the rest of the day."

Yeri's bottom lip jutted out as she grabbed Chanhee's cheeks, holding his face only a few inches from her own. "You still have chubby cheeks but got a boyfriend anyway."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Chanhee hissed as he tried to pull away from the giggling girl but ended up in his own fit of laughter on her shoulder.

The sound of somebody calling Yeri's name brought the two out of their own little world, Younghoon and one of his friends standing directly in front of them. Yeri gasped at the sight before raising her phone screen up and fixing her hair.

"Hey, Younghoon," she smiled, trying not to stare at Sangyeon standing next to him.

The two boys finally sat down across from Yeri and Chanhee, Sangyeon not quite sure what to say. He sent each of them a small smile, "I'm Sangyeon," he introduced softly.

"Chanhee," the boy responded reluctantly, not used to any of Younghoon's friends acknowledging that he existed.

"I'm Yeri," Yeri spoke almost in a daze as she rested her chin on her palm.

"I know—I mean I know who you are...because we had classes together last year."

A nervous giggle slipped past Yeri's lips as she tried her hardest not to smile. "We did, didn't we," she nodded.

"We'll I hope I'm not coming on too strong, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner on Saturday?"

"With you? Like a date?"

Sangyeon's eyes widened, thinking the meant that as a no. "I'm sorry," he stammered, "I just think you're really pretty so I though—"

"I want to go on a date with you, Sangyeon." Yeri blurted out.

Chanhee had to stifle a laugh as he listened to the painfully awkward conversation, glad Yeri finally figured out how to say yes. Turning to look towards Younghoon, he was surprised to see the elder already looking back at him, a soft smile resting on his lips.

Younghoon glanced over at his friend still engrossed in talking to Yeri before whispering, "we should go on a date soon too."

Placing his shoes on top on Younghoon's underneath the table, Chanhee nodded, "You have to pick where this time."

The elder rolled his eyes, "you always make me pick, Chanhee—I'm running out of idea."

"Let's have a picnic at the park by my house," Chanhee suggested excitedly as he tapped his feet.

✨✨✨

Chanhee was focused on solving the quadratic formula on the worksheet in front of him when he felt Younghoon's hand interlock with his unoccupied one. "I'm busy," he hissed as he swatted the boy away, only a few steps away from finishing the hardest problem assigned for that nights homework.

Not wanting to listen to the younger, Younghoon continued his mission to hold Chanhee's hand. Chanhee kept yanking his hand every which way, trying to elude the elder just to prove a point.

"Younghoon I swear to god I'm going to beat you up if you don't stop."

A small laugh slipped out of him before he said, "Chanhee, I mean this is in the nicest way possible...you would not be able to beat me up."

Looking up from his paper with a sigh, Chanhee flashed a quick smile and groaned, "What do you need?"

"Your attention," Younghoon spoke simply.

Chanhee's attitude softened upon hearing the elder's words, never being able to be annoyed with him for long. "We're in class," he pointed out, "I can't give you much."

"What if you did anyway?"

"I don't necessarily think it would end up being worth it," Chanhee explained softly.

"Let's go to the movies again after class," Younghoon stated happily, "We can put that arm rest thing up between us again and you can put your head on my shoulder," continued the boy, his shoulder shaking back and forth excitedly as he talked.

Chanhee smiled at his excitement before muttering, "are there even any other good movies right now? We were just there last week."

"Couldn't we just watch a movie at your house? I'm sure we could find something on Netflix or something."

"I mean we could...but it's my dads day off so he'll probably want to sit in the living room with us..."

A sigh fell from Younghoon's lips, "Does he not like me? I've only ever seen your dad like twice but I swear he gives me a dirty look every time."

"He doesn't...dislike you...it's just that you're the first boy I've actually brought home to meet them—it's weird for him," Chanhee explained softly, finally letting Younghoon hold his hand as the elder reached for it once again.

———
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