strawberry sunday ❧ k.jw | ✔

fourteen

SATURDAY

"So you're not dating?"

"God, Hyuck, how many times do I have to tell you this? No," you groaned, pulling your blanket up over your head. It was your last full day in Cape Solaria and the bastard wasn't even letting you sleep in.

"You two are like all over each other," Donghyuck pointed out, smugly scrolling away on his phone. "Even Mark asked me yesterday if he missed some memo about you and Jungwoo dating."

You yanked the covers back down, "And what did you tell him?"

"That I didn't know."

"You little—"

"Hey, I didn't!" He went to defend himself. "And now I do. Now I know that you're being a wimp."

"I'm going to kill you."

"If I had a nickel for every time you said that in our lives, I'd have no student debt, Y/N."

You rolled over away from him, fully intending on attempting to snooze for a little longer, when your phone buzzed. With a groan, you grabbed it to see who had dared to text you this early in the morning.

[woos: you awake yet?]

Turning to face Donghyuck again so that he couldn't see your screen, you were about to text the fairy back, but another text came through.

[woos: if you are, i'm going down to watch the rest of the sunrise with a cup of tea in a few minutes]

You quickly typed out your text and sent it.

[you: make that two cups]

Just a couple minutes later, you left your bedroom with the sounds of Donghyuck making teasing kissy noises after you. Jungwoo was in the kitchen, illuminated only by the light over the stove. Johnny, Mark, and Jaehyun were all still asleep, and you quietly stepped around them to wait by the back door. The fairy joined you just a moment later, two mismatched mugs in his hands. His hair was ruffled, a few pieces in the back sticking up, but nevertheless, a sleepy and fond smile came across his lips as he looked down at you. You smiled back up at him.

Neither of you said anything until you had stealthily slipped out the door and closed it behind you as silently as possible. On the back porch, you could give him a "Good morning, Woos."

"Morning, Y/N," he handed you your cup.

You eagerly wrapped your hands around it, feeling the warmth seep into your fingers. "Thank you."

He hummed his acknowledgement, looping a casual arm around your shoulders to start walking down towards the beach. The Sun was just starting to peek up over the water in the distance, giving you enough light to find a towel under the umbrellas to sit down on.

"So why are you up so early?" You asked, taking a sip of your tea.

"Honestly?"

"No, Woos, I want you to lie to me," you replied sarcastically, earning a laugh from him.

"Had to pee and couldn't go back to sleep," he answered. "Ended up just getting stuck thinking and then definitely couldn't go back to sleep. What about you? I didn't actually expect you to be up when I texted, I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, I was already awake. Donghyuck woke up early and decided to make that my problem this time."

Jungwoo chuckled, taking another drink from his mug.

You looked out into the ocean, watching a familiar fin meander around. Taking a deep breath, you steeled your nerves, and stated, "Hey, Woos, I have another question."

"I have another answer." Pause. "Maybe."

"Why do you think Yuta's siren call didn't work on me at Friendsmasgiving?"

He looked at you curiously, "I'm guessing you asked Yuta this yesterday and—"

"It turned into that whole thing with Taeyong and Johnny and Doyoung, yeah. It didn't seem like a good idea to bring it up again after that."

"Why do you think it didn't work on you?"

"I don't know," you confessed, pointer finger tracing the rim of your mug. "I'm human, I was sitting closer to him than Johnny was, I didn't have any warding charms on me or anything like that. It should have done the same thing to me that it did to Johnny, but it didn't."

"Y/N..." Jungwoo said quietly, laying a hand on your arm. "Do you feel guilty that it only affected Johnny and not you? That he went through that, and you didn't? Like you should have suffered with him?"

You couldn't look up at Jungwoo, so you just kept your eyes on his thumb that was rubbing soothing circles into your forearm. "I- I don't... yes. He was so scared of the water after that that he couldn't turn on the tap by himself, Woos. I had to go over and help him wash his face every day for like a month. And I just got to... sit there? And I know it probably sounds weird, like I want to have gone through something so traumatic but—and I know Johnny wouldn't have wanted me to have either—but I can't shake this feeling that I avoided something I shouldn't have. Like, cosmic balance or something. Does that make sense?"

Despite the disjointed nature of your rant, Jungwoo was able to respond without missing a beat. "Y/N, Y/N, hey. You're afraid that it messed with some cosmic balance, right?"

You nodded.

"If you had gone through what Johnny did, and were as scared of the water as he was, do you think that you would've been able to help him for that month when he needed it?"

Taking your gaze off his hand, you looked up into his eyes, where the golden flecks glimmered in the waking morning rays. And you slowly shook your head.

He nodded encouragingly. "Right. That sounds pretty balanced to me."

"Okay, yeah," you mirrored his nods, a shaky sense of relief growing in you.

"And I don't think you wondering about why something that logically should have happened didn't happen is weird, either."

"So... what do you think happened?" You wanted to see if he would bring it up first, or if he had any clue about the name magic at all, about the nickname thing, about Taeil and Doyoung's theory, about any of it.

Jungwoo's eyes traced over your face, and for a moment you were taken away, entirely breathless as the dawn light hit him just right and he was glowing, looking so gorgeous there with his bedhead, pajamas, pouty lips, and big brown eyes. Time restarted when he finally answered your question, "I don't know. But whatever it was, I'm glad that it happened. I'm glad that you didn't have to get hurt, and I'm glad that Johnny could have you there to support him after."

You opened your mouth, tempted to retell the witches' theory to him, but he was looking down at you so fondly, so beautifully, that in that moment, it didn't even matter. So instead, you scooted even closer to him to rest your head against his shoulder, a giddy smile overtaking your face when he wrapped an arm around you to hold you to him even tighter.

"I want to show you something tonight, by the way," he murmured, voice right by your ear.

"Something?" You echoed inquisitively.

"Something," he confirmed.