Amidst the stars | Heehoon

Chapter 5

Sunghoon stared at the board with a blank mind. His head was clouded with the swarming thoughts of his one and only love, and expectantly, the class was drifting off lazily and Sunghoon just wanted to meet his friends and spill all the tea today.

Finally, the bell awakened the boy, who squealed in excitement, springing off the seat. He gathered his belongings, swiftly swinging his bag over his shoulder, and walking out of the classroom. He felt elated just thinking about spending time alone with Lia; he played different scenarios inside his head as he was tracing light footsteps to the cafeteria. He fished his phone out of his pocket, and the feeling of anticipation faded away, his face morphing into a small frown. Both Sunoo and Jungwon were busy, meaning they wouldn't have lunch with him today. Jungwon would be spending his leisure time helping the teacher with something, and Sunoo on the other hand was meeting a 'friend.'

Sunghoon could only sigh in disappointment. He was really excited to tell his friends about his courageous move in the morning, but it didn't go as planned.

When he reached the cafeteria, he breathed out a heavy sigh and plopped himself on the seat, staring at the groups of students conversing with each other. He felt lonely all of a sudden, it felt as if everything around him seemed surreal. Memories and flashbacks of distant hollers encaptured his brain, tying him into a loop of anxiety. Everything seemed peculiar, seemingly out of place.

'Sunghoon, you're being dramatic, calm down.' He shook his head to avoid the wounding thoughts and sighed to calm his heart down– to stop overthinking.

The fear of being alone was painful; it always hurt no matter how much he tried to subdue it. Having a mindset full of hopes— shattering in pieces as he watched them die down and fall into the pit of a void. His memories were enclosed inside his weak heart, that he dared not to open. But then he found himself, slowly letting go of everything— opening up to his first friend: Jungwon.

It was weird how everything around him was loud, but he couldn't hear a single utter word. The silence was loud inside his ears, but he knew. His eyes felt heavy all of a sudden, pulling him into a daze of slumber. The memories of Jungwon replayed inside his head as he felt tired.

He fell asleep inside the cafeteria despite the loud chattering of the students.

Sunghoon woke up to the noise of a person mumbling incomprehensible words. He blinked a few times, realizing he fell asleep. His eyes adjusted to the faint light, and a silhouette of a guy, inching close to his face.

He jolted up, and the boy flinched— but didn't back away. "Penguin? Why're you always sleeping in the most random places?" It was Heeseung.

"I don't know... I was tired today." Sunghoon answered, rubbing his eyes. He glanced around the cafeteria and saw a few students chattering with each other. "You didn't eat? Why?" Heeseung asked, taking a seat beside the other.

"I wasn't hungry. Don't worry."

"I'm not worrying– why would I worry for you? You looked like a fool, sitting alone here and gazing at nothingness— then hitting your head on the table. You know how embarrassing that was." Heeseung rolled his eyes at the last sentence with a slight grin. Sunghoon's eyes widened as he covered his face in embarrassment. He could imagine himself hitting his head on the table, and the students inside the cafeteria staring at him in confusion, some even mocking him. 'They are gonna make fun of me now..'

"Gosh... why did I do that?" He mumbled into his hands. Heeseung stared at the other, and couldn't take his eyes off of him. It felt as if every time he would be an inch near the younger, his heart would do somersaults— but of course, he ignored it and thought it was just pure hatred for the other.

Yeah, he was stupid.

Heeseung's hand slowly traveled to Sunghoon's hands, and he slowly peeled it away from his face, intertwining them together, and catching Sunghoon off guard. "Penguin, don't do that your pretty face."

Heeseung slapped his mouth and immediately pulled his hand away from the hold, feeling his cheeks heat up. 'Shit, why'd I say that all of a sudden?' He turned his head away and looked everywhere, daring not to meet eyes with the other after that embarrassing statement he just blurted out.

Sunghoon was surprised when he heard those words escape from the other's mouth. He wasn't expecting him to throw a compliment— when he 'hated' him, but maybe he thought otherwise.

"Thanks... you're— you're pretty too..." Sunghoon mumbled, shyly looking down at his hands. Heeseung felt his heartbeat pacing around his chest. He finally turned and faced the other, who was visibly blushing. He felt his own cheeks burning, but he couldn't hide his smile anymore and finally chuckled.

Sunghoon met eyes with the other, who was laughing quietly. "Penguin. You're so cute. How can Lia not like you?" he shook his head while moving closer to the other.

"I know I'm cute. No need to tell me so much," Sunghoon smirked and leaned on his arm, which was resting on the table, "If you keep saying that, I'll assume you like me or something." He sassed, displaying that sly smirk on his lips. Heeseung stopped laughing, and stared at Sunghoon's lips, eyes flickering between his eyes and lips. He smirked.

'That's how you're gonna play? Okay then. Let's see who wins.'

He leaned even closer— if that was possible, and rested his chin on his arm— copying Sunghoon, and stared right into his eyes. Sunghoon's breath hitched inside his throat; he couldn't move all of a sudden, and his palms felt sweaty.

Heeseung gulped, eyes glued to Sunghoon's lips. "What if I did like you?" Heeseung stared into his eyes in time, not wanting to tear his gaze away. His other hand which was resting on the seat, slowly grazed Sunghoon's jeans and gently captured Sunghoon's hand, interwining them again. "Would you kiss me? Would you be my boyfriend?" He spoke, his breath fanning over Sunghoon's lips because of the distance.

Sunghoon heartbeat fastened as his eyes rested on Heeseung's eyes, pulling him into a trance. He didn't want to move away for some reason, and he really wanted to kiss Heeseung— it's as if his brain was only pacing around one conclusion: Kiss. His lips were right in front of him right now. He could do it, what's stopping him?

The bell.

The bell suddenly rang, alarming both boys, who immediately jerked up and backed away. Both were flustered, having no idea of what just occurred. It happened in such a spur of the moment; started out with Heeseung simply approaching them, then suddenly, he's asking him to kiss? Yeah, he needs sleep.

"T-that was just... it was a test. I was gonna see what you'd do if Lia did that to you." Heeseung spoke up, after standing up from the seat. Sunghoon was speechless, but he didn't want to seem stupid so he nodded, and plastered his fake smirk to seem confident.

"I know that. I-I was just pretending to be shocked. I totally know how to flirt." Sunghoon said. He stood up and was about to run away when he was stopped by the other. "You. Don't forget after school; we have the test remember." The grip on his wrist loosened as Heeseung walked up, leaving the boy behind.

Sunghoon smacked his head for thinking about those unnecessary thoughts for no reason. 'Why did I actually think about kissing that asshole? Is there something wrong with me?' He shook his head and walked to his class, pondering over the event. 'Maybe... maybe, I'm just sexually deprived right now. I haven't even masturbated in months because of school.'

As Heeseung reached his class, his cheeks were red and it was quite obvious because people were staring at him. He slapped his cheeks and hated himself for imagining the other's lips colliding with his. It was entrancing, pulling him in. He was gonna do it if the bell didn't stop him. He knew that too.

I haven't masturbated in a while... that's why I'm going insane. Yeah, that's definitely the reason.'