forever going with the flow (but you're friction)

ᝯׁhׁׅ֮ɑׁׅ֮℘tׁׅꫀׁׅܻꭈׁׅ:8

🎀𓂃࣪˖

Full transparency, Jungwon kind of just forgets about his conversation with Sunoo because he refuses to retain unsavory memories. It’s for the sake of his mental health, really—he doesn’t need those bad vibes clogging up his brain.

Recently, though, he’s been finding it hard to hate Jay because of how damn nice he is. It’s a total one-eighty from how he used to act about two months ago and Jungwon really can’t wrap his head around it.

It’s been two weeks since his first day, and they’re fallen into a routine: in the mornings, Jay always holds the door for Jungwon when they enter the bakery. He makes mundane small talk and compliments Jungwon’s desserts whenever he’s gracious enough to let Jay try them. And it’s not like Jungwon can really be mad at him for anything substantial because he’s actually a good manager. He takes inventory frighteningly fast, maintains financial records meticulously, ensures that everyone’s meeting their order deadlines, and resolves customer issues with a smile on his face. He’s even managed to sweet talk the miserable old lady who’s always complaining about the worsening quality of the desserts when she comes in. (If Jungwon was in his position, he would tell the hag to worry about the worsening quality of her eyes instead. In retrospect, maybe it was for the better that he didn’t become manager.)

But that doesn’t mean that Jungwon likes him or anything. They’re certainly not friends. He still hates Jay, seriously. “Penis sniffer” is truly unforgivable and Jungwon stands by that.

Except, here’s the thing: Jay’s, like, really easy to talk to and Jungwon always has a lot of things to complain about because he’s perpetually miserable. So, who can blame him when he starts to become the one initiating conversations? It’s not out of genuine enjoyment of Jay’s presence or anything. It’s a circumstance of convenience, is all. Case in point:

“Ugh,” Jungwon says with an eye roll as he slams his phone down on the table. His hands are caked in flour and other general batter goo that’s wormed itself between the crevices in his palms and under his fingernails but he’s long stopped caring about what comes into contact with his phone screen. Jay looks up from where he’s arranging cupcakes in the display case. “You won’t believe what just happened.”

“What?” Jay asks, frowning at the lopsided frosting sitting atop the cupcake in his hand.

“Sunoo just told me that he’s making me meet his boyfriend,” Jungwon moans.

Jay squints as if he’s trying to remember who the said boyfriend is. “Riki, right? The freshman?” he finally comes up with. Jungwon nods. “Don’t you already know him, though? I thought you two were friends.”

Jungwon rubs his temples. “I fucking know! That’s what I’m saying, but Sunoo wants to, like, formally introduce me to him as his boyfriend or whatever.” He sighs and buries his face in his hands. “I hate third wheeling. And those two are so obnoxious, seriously. Like, I had to third wheel them before they were a couple, and I have to third wheel them now, after they’ve gotten together, which just means that they’ll be ten times as disgusting. Ugh, I can’t even begin to imagine the PDA.”

Jay frowns. “It’s that bad?”

Jungwon nods solemnly. “This one time we were at a restaurant, a few months back, Sunoo and Riki were sitting in the booth opposite me and Sunoo was sitting halfway in Riki’s lap the whole fucking time. Keep in mind, this was before they were even dating. He kept on, like, nuzzling into Riki’s shoulder and they were feeding each other, too. It was a family restaurant! Parents kept on giving us dirty looks and we almost got kicked out for public indecency!” Jungwon feels his blood rise to the surface recalling the memory. “ I’ve never felt more homophobic in my life. Seriously, fuck me.”

Jay gives him a sympathetic grimace. “That sucks. I can’t believe they actually did that.”

“Believe it. It’s a hundred percent true. Imagine how bad they’re gonna be now that they’re actually together…” Jungwon buries his head in his forearms and slumps forward onto the counter.

“Oh, I can imagine. Yikes.” He pauses, and then asks, “Where are you guys planning on going?”

“The mall.”

Jay hesitates for a moment. “Um. I could… come with you, if you want? So you don’t have to third wheel, y’know?”

Jungwon just stares at him for a second. “Seriously? You’d do that?”

Jay shrugs, the epitome of practiced nonchalance and his signature brand of self assuredness. “Yeah, why not? I need to get some shopping done anyways.”

Jungwon doesn’t know how he’s going to break the news to Sunoo, that he invited Park fucking Jay to the mall, and he’s probably never going to live it down. But he’s desperate, and Jay is like his knight in armor, saving him from the indescribable pain of thirdwheeling Sunoo and Riki that evokes nothing short of suicidal feelings in him, so he’ll take it. “Great. I’ll text you the details, then.”

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