The Project 'Buddy'

~10~

Jungwon's POV
Jungwon had never seen Jay smile like that. It was so rare of him to do so, that Jungwon never even bothered to imagine him smiling.

But when Jay did, something caused Jungwon's stomach to flip.

He kept saying to himself it was only some stomach ache he got from the food in the canteen. But for some reason, another side of him had appeared and was arguing back.

Are you sure it's canteen food, won? Sure, it's bad, but it's not like you got a stomach ache from it in the last three years of university....

Now, Jungwon shook his head as he sat across Jay in the library at their usual spot. He glanced over at Jay who had his ear-piece in and focusing on the task. His lips pouted a little while concentrating and Jungwon didn't know why his hand had the urge to boop his nose.

He didn't know how long he had been staring until Jay looked up, and their eyes met. Jay smirked, and Jungwon's eyes widened in shock before quickly looking away.

Jay took out his earpiece. "Why are you staring?" he asked teasingly and Jungwon just kept looking down at the table, his cheeks tinted pink.

"Is it cuz I'm attractive?" Jungwon coughed loudly and Jay laughed.

"Yeah, as if," Jungwon scoffed, his cold glare coming back, the moment before forgotten.
He expected Jay to snap back a snarky remark or something, but he was taken aback when Jay didn't say anything, and just stared at Jungwon with a look that Jungwon couldn't recognise.

His eyes were somewhat softened and curious, and it was almost scaring Jungwon.

"Why are you always so cold to me?" Jay finally asked, surprising Jungwon.
Him? Cold to Jay? And here he thought Jay was being cold to him!

"Me? Aren't you the one always glaring at me like I've just ruined your entire life?" Jungwon asked back, frowning.

Jay's eyes widened slightly. "Oh? But you're always so angsty in your responses and like, I don't know, I just assumed you didn't want to be friends with me," Jay explained, shrugging, "that's why I asked that day if we were actually in your social circle."

Oh. That was it? He didn't...dislike me? Jungwon blinked multiple times before looking away, realising the whole misunderstanding.

"Oh...well, in that case....I guess we're both wrong here," he said slowly, and Jay chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe," Jay replied softly, and for a moment, the two got of them smiled at each other.
They immediately stopped when they saw Heeseung approaching them, a sulky look on his face.

"Yes?" Jay asked, looking up expectantly.

"Jake won't look at me," Heeseung pouted and Jay rolled his eyes, but chuckled at his hyung's complaining.

"Jake Hyung? He-oh? You like him?" Jungwon asked from where he was seated, and Heeseung looked over at him, nodding.
Jungwon's lips tugged up into a smirk, his dimples showing and he nodded back, a mischievous look on his face.

Jay gave him an amused look. "Why are you smirking like that?"

"It's just that Jake Hyung is always burying his face in one of his fantasy novels and like, never had a love life. Can you believe he was crushing over this fictional dude that looked like absolute crap-okay no hate to the readers here-but really I don't know what was so attractive of the character when all he did was be petty and didn't do anything. At all," Jungwon snorted, and Jay shuddered, like he was imagining it.

"Yeah well, I'll be the hero in that book and capture his heart," Heeseung commented, and Jungwon looked over at him like he had just heard the craziest thing in the universe. Jay laughed and looked the other way, not wanting to stick up for his embarrassing Hyung.

"I sound like shit, I know," Heeseung admitted, and both Jay and Jungwon scoffed in unison.

Heeseung smirked at the duo, and leaned down, resting his arms on the table. "You know...you two actually suite each other quite well. You even scoffed at the same time! Come on, who wants to confess?" He smirked even wider when he saw both of them turn red.

Jungwon looked away and Jay smacked Heeseung's arm. "Hyung! We're nothing okay? Just friends. Stop bothering us and go get your man first before playing Cupid," Jay hissed.

"I-I can help you if you want, Hyung," Jungwon blurted out, wanting to distract all of them from whatever Heeseung had just said. At the mention of help, Heeseung's eyes perked up brightly and he nodded eagerly.

He thanked Jungwon before heading back to his table. As soon as he left, both Jay and Jungwon sighed.
"I'm so sorry," Jay mumbled, covering his face with his hands.

Jungwon laughed. "Hah, it's fine. My friends are worst," he replied, raking a hand through his hair.

Both of them glanced at each other, and that was all it took for them to burst into fits of laughter, their giggles filling up the atmosphere and the tension between them had officially disappeared.
———
"Eyy, look who's grinning," Sunoo teased Jungwon, nudging his shoulder.

"Ugh stop!" Jungwon groaned, but a small smile still played on his lips as he recalled the time he spent with Jay just now.

He didn't know Jay could be so funny. Jungwon was at the verge of tears as Jay made jokes and as they both started realating about their friends having crushes on each other.
Jungwon even shared about his mum and the CEO.
He had honestly never been this open to anyone besides his close friends. There was something about Jay that made him....comfortable to converse with.

"How can I when my 'never interested in a relationship' bestie is finally communicating with someone other than us!" Sunoo exclaimed, shaking Jungwon's shoulders.

"I've talked to Heeseung, Sunghoon and Nicholas," Jungwon pointed out.

"That's different," Sunoo argued, rolling his eyes, "you somewhat hated Jay when you first met him. Remember? You had that stare down back at the library!"

"Yeah, that was because he thought I was being cold towards him and he was just doing it back. We settled that already anyway," Jungwon explained.

"Ooohhh," Sunoo teased and Jungwon just started walking away from him. Sunoo started chasing after him, clinging onto his arm. "Okay! I'm sorry!"
Jungwon just gave him a side eye and Sunoo smiled innocently.

"But c'mon, just admit that-OKAY FINE I'LL STOP!" Sunoo yelled, covering his face as Jungwon's textbook rose in the air.

———
Jay's POV

                              @justjay posted
Maybe my project-partner isn't so bad after all.....

❤️56 likes
Replies:

@kdad ooooh, is it him?

@yixiangnicho you know this whipped man has been grinning so much ever since he and Jungwon settled things between them?

@kdad @yixiangnicho there was beef between them?!

@justjay @yixiangnicho nic, I'm right here beside you. Do you need neck-choking service? 🥰

@heedeung Jay that's commiting murder

yixiangnicho @heedeung I rather he kill me than I die from this revision paper for our exam 🙄

@justjay @yixiangnicho if you insist...😉

@kdad @justjay: kids, if you fight, no ice cream.

@heedeung stop fighting @justjay and @yixiangnicho! 😫

@justjay fine, but only because I want my ice cream

@yixiangnicho it's only because you don't want me teasing you about Jungwon again 😜

@justjay you better run far far away before my metallic bottle hits your head

@heedeung HEY STOP I WAN MY ICE CREAM