mute ; woosan

/4/

"i swear to GOD, the teacher is trying to kill me!" mingi's groans, dramatically flopping his head onto the lunch table. wooyoung scrambles for his apple that nearly leapt to the floor from the force. he gives his friend an astounded scoff before taking a bite of the fruit.

"i can't believe you're complaining about this," he muses, rubbing the fruit against his sleeve and taking another bite. "i thought you would be over the moon."

minigi's passionate rant-like response is gradually tuned out as wooyoung spots san in the lunch line. it isn't difficult; he seems to have caused a bottleneck. wooyoung's brows furrow as he tries to understand what is going on. as he stands, he sees a lunch lady holding two ladles. she impatiently gestures to san with each one and the student shrinks away from her. wooyoung makes his way to the line to discover the root of the problem.

san brings his tray closer to his body and attempts to move on to the next food item but his path is blocked by wooyoung. his face blooms pink, not meeting the younger's eyes.

"it's beef or chicken, kid. you can't hold up the whole nacho line." the lunch lady sighs in annoyance. wooyoung's gaze hardens as he meets the lunch lady's eyes; his first instinct was to fire off a snarky remark. this instinct is quite out of character and wooyoung doesn't know where it came from. instead, he clenches his jaw.

"which one do you like, san?" wooyoung's words are directed to san and only san, but his eyes focus on the two options. he gives san a second to either decide or calm himself enough to give wooyoung a sign. the older nods to one option, using his hand (as best as he can, since he is holding a full tray of food) to point out which he wants. "beef, please."

the lunch lady rolls her eyes, slops the beef into the paper nacho bowl, and passes it to san. wooyoung moves along with him, not speaking for him, but helping him communicate what he wants in a way he's comfortable with.

through the interaction, wooyoung tries to understand his pull to fight the lunch lady. was it empathy? a student was disrespected by a staff member. he would feel the same anger if it happened to any other student... right?

wooyoung casually leads his friend to his table with mingi and sits down with him. "you don't get the lunch here, do you?"

san shakes his head and mingi whines through a mouthful of PB and J.

"you left in the middle of my predicament."

"ah, sorry, princess mingi." san cracks a smile when he hears that, making wooyoung feel proud and the trio settles to eat. in actuality, san and wooyoung eat while mingi complains about being yunho's partner for their next dance project. wooyoung's smile comes easy during this lunch period. something about helping san without feeling like he was overbearing gave him a sense of pride. san can feel wooyoung's pride seeping into his own mood and opens himself up to the conversation. he keeps his hands resting on the table after he's finished eating, his attention happily taken by mingi's backstory explanation of him and yunho. san doesn't miss the way wooyoung shares his reactions with him. every once in a while, his silver hair shifts as he gives san a glance: a smile, an eyeroll, or a laugh. it makes san feel... included. yet he hasn't said a word.

"do you sign?" mingi derails his story to ask his classmate a question. it takes san a moment to register that mingi was talking to him; he blinks at mingi before responding with a nod of his head. wooyoung gives a surprised look to san, shares it with mingi, and looks back and forth between the two again.

"how did you know?"

"well, for one, normally people who don't talk sign instead. two, my mom is a teacher at a deaf school. she says it's important for her students to keep their hands free or visible. they can't communicate if their hands aren't free."

san gives a nod and signs to mingi, a quick, simple gesture. mingi's ears turn a slight shade of pink. "oh, i... i don't know very many signs... i'm sorry," he scratches the back of his neck as san shakes his head and waves his hands in a 'forget it' motion, then gives him a thumbs up. mingi grins and sits back in his seat. "ah! i'm correct. i understand now." the oldest returns the wide smile and nods once more. he fans his hand at wooyoung to get his attention and does the same for mingi, showing them a sign alongside his nodding head.

'Yes'.

"is that the sign for yes?" wooyoung asks. san uses the same sign again as he continues to nod his head. his eyes are shut, crinkling with the force of his wide smile, unable to see wooyoung's proud grin. "what's the sign for no?" again, the two watch intently as san teaches them a second sign. wooyoung mirrors his classmate, repeating both signs to each of the two. wooyoung and mingi celebrate with each other and are joined by san clapping, eyes once again shut from the force of his smile. when the clapping reaches mingi's ears, he raises his hands to his ear level and twists them at his wrists. wooyoung simply stares at him.

"mingi that's the clap for people who are deaf. san isn't deaf, dumbo."

wooyoung erupts into laughter at mingi's horrifically embarrassed expression. he looks at san with wide eyes, embarrassment coursing hot through his veins. eventually he joins in the laughter, realizing san wasn't offended. their lunches are slowly eaten due to the majority of their time being taken up by laughter. wooyoung knows san has a voice, but it never fails to catch him by surprise when he hears san use it, especially when he's laughing. the sound is enough to make anyone smile. so beautifully genuine, it is only heard when something is undoubtedly funny to san.

wooyoung notices his personal increased effort at cracking jokes at lunch over the next few days. something about hearing san laugh and seeing him smile makes wooyoung feel rewarded. it trickles from the lunch period into passing periods between classes when they briefly cross each other's path; he tries everything from stories from class, showing him funny videos, to plain knock-knock jokes or two line puns. wooyoung makes mental notes for the ones san seem to laugh at the most, though it's hard to tell when the older always smiles when he sees wooyoung.