Paper cuts & Paper rings | JayWon

12. crush

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"Who knew Jay would still be this popular?" Sunoo exasperates, the four of them gathered around the table at lunch, "I mean, no offence, but I thought the popularity would've died down by now but apparently not."

It was true. Jungwon had suspected his growing polarity was because of how different he was compared to all the bland people here – he was special, but he didn't think everyone would have caught onto his charms the way he did. Jungwon had expected everyone to have moved on by now, but it seemed Jay had a way with the people.

Jay seemed to handle the small high school fame quite well. The blonde-haired male was flawless in a way no one else could describe or mimic and that's what made him so... perfect. Thinking of Jay in such a way made him lucky that well-

"Right, Jungwon?" Riki set his cup down and turned his attention to the older who nods nonchalantly despite having no idea what he just agreed to, "See I told you,"

"Sunoo doesn't seem bothered by Riki's pestering today," Jay points out as he stabs his spoon in his ice cream, sparing a glance at Jungwon, heart missing a beat when their eyes meet, "I wonder why..." he mummers with that same grin.

Riki's eyes widen, "Does Sunoo have a secret crush, Jay?" He chuckles and the older male shrugs his shoulders as he continues to eat his lunch. Sunoo purses his lips tightly to contain his anger at Jay's set-up and is left to suffer through Riki's teasing.

"Help me, Jungwon." Sunoo covers his ears with his hands as he sets his head on the table.

"Do you really have a crush, Sunoo?" Jungwon seems to ignore his cry for help and instead indulges in whatever drama Riki and Jay were stirring up. He simply groaned and shook his head, slamming his forehead further into the table, "Sorry, sorry," he chuckles and pats Sunoo gently on the head.

"Can we stop this now?" Sunoo pouts, "I don't have a crush!" he exclaims much louder than he expected. Riki finally simmers down after the joke became stale and the four of them carry on their random lunch conversations.

Jay slowly shuffles his chair closer to Jungwon, just subtly enough that his friends couldn't catch onto it. He tried to refrain from any silly smile or laughter by stuffing his face with food, face heating up when Jay squeezed his hand from under the table, "Stop that," he whispers but doesn't try to pull his hand away from Jay.

"Why?" He chuckles and runs his thumb over his knuckles, "They can't see our hands when they're under the table, " His reassurances don't seem to fully convince Jungwon, but he allows Jay to hold his hand so long as they don't look suspicious.

"Are we doing this again?" Sunoo's smile slowly deflates into a pout. He slouches against the table when Riki opens his mouth to speak.

"Jungwon, do you have a crush?"

He froze. Quickly tugging his hand away from Jay, he clears his throat and shakes his head without saying another word. "No, why would you think I had a crush?" he stammers out, hoping his face wouldn't burn up. Riki shrugs as he giggles to himself at Jungwon's reaction.

"I mean we do go to an all-boys school," Riki points out which further adds to his discomfort, "but don't you do taekwondo with other girls?" he wiggles his eyebrows before laughing again.

But somehow, Riki's teasing and his childish questions actually made him think – was he really attracted to Jay? Was Jay his 'crush'? Jungwon never dwelled on the idea of labelling their weird relationship and Jay had never bought the topic up before. He began wondering admits his friends' conversations what he really wanted between him and Jay.