paranoia / gyuricky

01: stale chips

"...the witch's curse is said to have been linked to quite a few cases after her hanging in 1666. It's unclear whether the curse is genuine or not, but some people are dedicated to discovering the truth about her. The witch's bones are supposedly buried in a forest that's actually quite close to this school, and..."

Gyuvin's ears perked up, attentively listening to his teacher's words. Ever since he could remember, Gyuvin had been fascinated by ghosts and other supernatural phenomena. Although unsuccessful with his usual ghost hunts, Gyuvin never seemed to give up anytime soon, always dragging his friends around to rural locations where not a single soul would visit just to see if he could get a glimpse of some type of undead being. Gunwook, who would typically be dragged along on Gyuvin's endeavours had a knowing look of dread on his face, as he had assumed that his rather adventurous friend already had planned on looking for the witch's bones as soon as the lesson began.

"I'm not coming with you," Gunwook whispered just as Gyuvin turned to him. Any other day would've been fine, as even though he was getting sick of these adventures, Gunwook still enjoyed hanging out with his friend. However, on this day specifically, he would be taking care of his younger brother, Yujin, who would get Gunwook's ass beat if anything bad happened to him, so ghost hunting was a no-go.

Gyuvin frowned, grabbing onto his friend's arm. "Why not?" he whined, shaking Gunwook around. "You always come with me!"

"I know," Gunwook huffed out, "but I have to take care of Yujin today. I'm booked and busy!"

"Huh?" By the look on Gyuvin's face, he was fairly confused. "Isn't he like, sixteen? And on the first day of summer too?"

Gunwook nodded, copying down what the teacher was writing down on the board into his notebook. "Yeah, but my mom is a very paranoid woman!"

Pouting, Gyuvin twirled his pencil in his hand. He and Gunwook had other friends, however, they never wanted to be part of Gyuvin's ghost hunting, and he supposed it was fair; it's not an activity made for everyone. "There goes my plans for the night."

"You can take Ricky with you," suggested Gunwook, not necessarily paying attention to their conversation anymore, as he was now scrolling through his phone while the teacher took a bathroom break. "He isn't doing anything today."

Gyuvin was appalled by the suggestion, making an indescribable face. "Ricky? Out of all people? He would curse me out if I asked."

"How do you know?" Gunwook glanced up at his friend for a few moments before unhurriedly shifting his attention to his phone once again. "He likes ghost stories."

It wasn't that Gunwook was wrong, but Ricky always liked to be clean; the last place he wanted to be was digging through the dirt in a forest. "He's gonna complain about being dirty."

"Oh my god!" complained Gunwook, gently slapping Gyuvin on the back of the head. "Do you wanna go or not? You won't know his answer if you don't ask."

And again, Gunwook was right. When was he ever wrong? (There was a certain time when he was terribly wrong during a game of trivia, and Gyuvin would think of it often, but if he dared to bring it up, he would find himself six feet under. Instead, he would laugh about it on his own time.) Gyuvin found himself standing by Ricky's locker once the bell rang for lunch, awkwardly looking at random people with blonde hair that looked a little too similar to his friend.

"What's up?" asked Ricky as he approached his locker, face lighting up once he noticed Gyuvin.

"Let's go ghost hunting," Gyuvin said, not even suggesting it by then; he just desperately wanted someone to tag along with him.

Ricky fake laughed before staring at Gyuvin with a deadpan face. "No," he rejected simply. "I don't wanna go somewhere that'll give me spiders in my hair." He opened his locker, dropped a few books off, and closed it, starting to walk away.

"It's not like that!" Gyuvin whined, quickening his pace to keep up with Ricky. "We're going to the forest, you'll be fine."

"Okay, but what's in it for me?" asked Ricky, a rather sly smirk on his face.

Gyuvin rolled his eyes at the sudden cockiness of his friend, linking arms with Ricky as they walked through the halls. "I don't know, you can stay over and I'll get you snacks?" he suggested with a nervous smile. "It's also been a while since we've hung out, so it would be nice."

Ricky, although unimpressed, eventually gave in. He had a soft spot for Gyuvin, especially since they'd been friends since the beginning of high school. "Okay," he said. "Count me in, but not because we're spending time, you just always have the best snacks."

"Very funny," Gyuvin exclaimed, unamused by Ricky's poor sense of humour. "Have you heard of Jo Hayoon's curse?"

Ricky snorted. "Who hasn't?" He grabbed Gyuvin's arm, redirecting him into the stairwell.

"I just heard of her!" exclaimed Gyuvin, who tripped over his feet due to how Ricky had grabbed him. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know," Ricky said, shrugging. "I don't have anywhere to be."

Gyuvin just nodded. Although Ricky was fairly popular amongst the other students, he never strayed far from the friends he had already established, especially Jeonghyeon, who he was seen with most of the time, but even then, Ricky liked his alone time as well. He was the exact opposite of Gyuvin in that way, considering how he clung to Ricky every time they hung out together.

They spent time on the roof, where students weren't allowed, but who was listening to rules anyways? Ricky never had lunch, (he always made excuses about it, but it was clear he would simply just forget; he never had a good memory) so Gyuvin found himself feeding stale potato chips from the vending machine to his friend.

"Those taste like ass," Ricky said, pointing to the bag in Gyuvin's hands as he continued taking them from the younger anyways.

Gyuvin made a taunting face at Ricky. "And yet you're still eating them."

"Because you're offering!" argued Ricky, pushing Gyuvin's hand away. "Now I don't want them."

Scoffing, Gyuvin placed the bag of chips onto the ground, far enough so that Ricky couldn't reach it. "Okay fine! Be that way."

"Fine!" Ricky repeated back to Gyuvin, crossing his arms as if he was a child throwing a tantrum.

The two angrily sat in silence, staring at each other before Gyuvin burst into laughter first, with Ricky following soon after. It was nice to see the older's genuine smile, as he often favoured a fake one, just because it was "prettier" (though Gyuvin felt Ricky's smile was far prettier when genuine).

Gyuvin gave in, as always, grabbing the bag of chips and pulling one out. "Here comes the airplane!" he exclaimed, bringing the chip up to Ricky's lips.

Ricky, smacking Gyuvin's shoulder, ate the chip out of the younger's hand, a grin on his face. "You're so annoying."

"Me?" Gyuvin asked, clearly offended by the comment. "You're the one who was acting like a child just now." He stuck his tongue out at Ricky, who gave him a chip in response.

"Again," Ricky said. "You're so annoying."

Gyuvin enjoyed the dynamic he had with Ricky; they bantered often yet it was never serious, and that's why he always found himself bothering him. Their friendship just felt right.