abberation | jicheol

four pt 1

four pt 1 [a/n i never normally do authors notes yikes but this is short n crappy n not particularly jicheol focussed buT i wanted to get smth up because its been a long time and i have been writing but idk I'm struggling in general at the moment so yes okay I'm sorry ok enjoy]

  "If you call it a date one more time, I'm gonna have to punch you."
  "But it IS!" Insisted Soonyoung, turning to face Jihoon. The smaller boy rubbed his temples, muttering profanities under his breath. The day was mild (seeing as it wasn't raining for once) and so Mingyu, Soonyoung and Jihoon had claimed a spot on the green of the courtyard during their lunch break. At times like this Jihoon normally had some pretty serious regrets over being so open with Soonyoung and Mingyu. It's not that he didn't want to tell them, of course. If he didn't he'd probably end up bottling it all up and then he really would combust. No, he liked telling them. What he didn't like, however, was how quickly both of his friends liked to jump to conclusions.

  "Look," Soonyoung started again and Jihoon groaned, "you can deny it as much as you want, but Seungcheol asked you on a date and that's that."
  "But he didn't! We aren't dating; this isn't a date!" Soonyoung rolled his eyes as he laughed at his naïve friend. He turned his head to the taller boy, who was gazing absentmindedly into the distance. "Mingyu, will you please tell him." Mingyu snapped his head round to look at Soonyoung, "What?" He said with a look that was laced with guilt. Jihoon and Seungcheol shared a look, before turning back to Mingyu, who still looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. "What have you been looking at?"
  "No one-uh, I mean, nothing." Mingyu replied, far too quickly to be anything but suspicious. Jihoon and Soonyoung looked at eachother quickly before moving up next to Mingyu so that they were sharing his line of sight. "No, no, no, no, NO." Mingyu said trying to push the boys away, but they wouldn't budge. Mingyu groaned, rubbing his face, "Guys, please."

  "Kim Mingyu," Soonyoung began again, "we are your best friends and are, therefore, entitled to know precisely who you are looking at with such heart-eyes."
  "Exactly," Jihoon continued for him, laughing slightly, "if you guys get to know all about Seungcheol, we get to know all about whoever this is."
  "So you DO have heart-eyes over Seungcheol?!"
  "I mean, if you wanted to get punched all you had to do was ask."
  "Hey, I'm just repeating what you said."
  "Kwon Soonyoung, if you don't shut your ass up I'm gonna beat you so har-"
  "IS THAT HIM?!" Exclaimed the Hufflepuff excitedly out of nowhere. "N-no, shut up!" Mingyu replied, which, obviously, meant Soonyoung had hit the nail on the head. The boy was tall-but not as tall as Mingyu-with dishevelled black hair. He had kind eyes that turned into half crescents when he began laughing with his friends. The Hufflepuff uniform he wore was about as dishevelled as his hair, his tie lose and the cardigan he wore falling off his shoulder slightly, covering his hands.

  "Wait a second, you fancy Wonwoo?" Jihoon asked as he began to recognise who the person was. "No! We're just friends, alright?"
  "Mingyu, please, I have to deal with Jihoon lying about Seungcheol enough, don't let it be you too." Spoke Soonyoung and Jihoon didn't hesitate to hit him round the head with his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.

  Mingyu didn't laugh.

  He just stared and furrowed his brow. "It's..complicated. I don't know what we are." Soonyoung and Jihoon turned to look at their friend, wide eyed. They'd been half kidding before, not really expecting Mingyu to be so honest so quickly. It left them a little in shock, truth be told, and spiked some worry in Jihoon. If Mingyu sounded this worried, how long had he been keeping this to himself? "Wait, how long have you been doing..whatever you're doing?" Soonyoung asked, obviously having the same train of thought as Jihoon. "Uh..we've been friends for 8 months and we've been..doing stuff for like...4 months?"
  "4 months?!" Jihoon blurted out, "this has been happening for 4 months and you didn't tell us?!"
  "What was I supposed to say?! Trust me when I say I wanted to but..I mean, I don't even know where I stand with him, how was I supposed to explain it?" With each word, Mingyu's face dropped more and more as he thoughts became concentrated on Wonwoo. Jihoon couldn't help but sympathise with his friend. It was apparent that whatever this was had been worrying Mingyu for some time and was difficult for him to talk about, otherwise Soonyoung and himself would've known about it far sooner. Soonyoung began speaking to Mingyu again, who was now fully engrossed in what his friend was saying, and Jihoon turned to look at Wonwoo again. He watched as Wonwoo turned his head from his friends to look over to them, eyes locked completely on Mingyu. Although Mingyu didn't notice him, a small smile appeared on the Hufflepuff's face, and he dropped his head to smile wider into his chest before looking back to his friends.

  Jihoon took careful note of this smile. It had depth. It managed to reach his eyes, even though it was only small, and made his entire aura brighter-happier-where before it had been neutral. It was small. But it had more meaning to it than the biggest, fakest smiles Jihoon had ever seen. There was nothing false or secretive about this smile, nothing at all. It was a smile of adoration. Of respect. Of love. And sadly enough, Mingyu had missed it. Jihoon wondered if Mingyu always missed moments like those; when Wonwoo looked at him as if nothing really mattered as much, as if Mingyu was a brilliant display of light and colour. Maybe that was why he never knew what to say about Wonwoo. Maybe all he did was miss these moments, when Wonwoo would look at him like he was all he needed to be okay. Maybe how Wonwoo felt was obvious; Mingyu just wasn't observant enough to see it.

  Jihoon turned back to Mingyu, shooting him a small smile. "Mingyu, everything will be fine. Just talk to him." He spoke softly. Soonyoung and Mingyu shared a look of confusion before both looking back to Jihoon. "Firstly, that's a pretty abrupt change of tone and, secondly, but what if I do and it isn't fine?! What if he thinks I'm delusional or if he doesn't like me as much or if he doesn't like me at all?!" Replied Mingyu, growing more and more flustered as he listed the possibilities. Jihoon laughed lightly at his taller friend, "Just..trust me alright. Also, I can be nice; I'll have you know I'm incredibly loving and caring when I need to be."

  "JIHOONIE!" Shouted Seungcheol as he basically fell down next to Jihoon, giving Jihoon yet another heart attack. "Bloody hell, Seungcheol, do you have to do that every time you see me? And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that before I have to start punching you?"
  "Why don't you like it?! It's cute, it suits you, Jihoonie." Jihoon turned to hit Seungcheol who groaned  "OW!"
  "Look, don't say you weren't warned."
  "Why are you always so mean to me?"
  "Oh don't worry," Soonyoung piped up, and Jihoon jumped slightly, having forgotten he was sitting with Soonyoung and Mingyu, "it isn't just you." The other three boys laughed lightly and Jihoon threw his hands in the air defensively. "Hey, I can be as LOVELY as I want to be; you assholes just aren't worth the extra effort." Jihoon said looking between his friends, attempting to look disdainful, but in reality a small smile was plastered on his face. "Aw, I feel so special, see this is why we're friends." Mingyu commented sarcastically with a sickly sweet smile, and Jihoon ripped up some grass to throw at him.

❾¾