strange feelings 》 soonchan

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ sᴇᴠᴇɴ ⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀɪᴛʀᴇss

The team was split up for the day. They were doing photoshoots by sub-groups in different locations. The performance team was doing a photoshoot at the beach. 

Chan had managed to grab a seat between Minghao and the window so he could pretend to be asleep for the car ride and not interact with the other three boys, especially Soonyoung. He listened silently and they didn't talk about much on the way there. When they arrived at the beach, Chan heard the other boys get out of the car. 

Minghao yelled, "Dinooo! We're here, wake u-"

He was cut off by another voice. "Yah, he's tired, don't wake him up like that." Chan was sure the second voice was Soonyoung. Then someone climbed back into the car and gently placed their hand on Chan's arm. "Wake up, sleepy head, we're at the beach," Soonyoung said softly. Chan's eyes opened and lifted his head, not realizing how close Soonyoung was to him. His face brushed against Soonyoung's and he jerked his head backwards, bumping his head against the window.

"Oops, I guess I fell asleep," Chan forced a laugh to ease the awkwardness and Soonyoung smiled and chuckled as he climbed back out of the car. Chan exited the vehicle behind him and the four boys walked onto the beach with their camera crew.  

_____________________

The photoshoot had been going for about two hours, and it was getting tiring and hot. They were instructed not to take off their shirts, even though they were getting slightly wet from splashing each other in the pictures, and the sun beating down on them was making the photoshoot miserable. 

Suddenly, Junhui pointed off in the distance, looking excited. "Guys! I just noticed the ice cream shop over there!" Chan turned his head in the direction Junhui was pointing and, sure enough, there was a small ice cream shop on the edge of the beach. 

All four boys were excited at the idea of cooling off with ice cream. Junhui convinced the director of the photoshoot to let them get ice cream and they all happily ran towards the shop. The employee who was serving them was a girl, she looked to be around Chan's age, maybe a year older, he couldn't tell. She was very pretty, anyone could see that, and she smiled warmly at the four boys as they greeted her, out of breath from running.

She giggled seeing that they were too out of breath to order right away. "You four look exhausted," she said.

"We are exhausted. It's super hot and we've been in the sun for the past two hours." Soonyoung explained to her. 

"Yeah, and we aren't even allowed to take off our shirts," Minghao whined.  

She shook her head and giggled, "That doesn't seem fair, it's too hot here to wear shirts. Plus I'm sure no one would mind seeing you four shirtless..." she smirked and motioned to Chan, "Especially you." 

Chan could feel his cheeks go red and an awkward silence settled over the five of them before the pretty girl broke the silence again. 

"Well, ice cream always helps when I'm hot, what would you guys like?" They ordered their ice creams and she told them they would be right out. She disappeared into the shop and the boys turned to sit at one of the few tables outside the shop, but the waitress came back to the window a second later and tapped Chan's shoulder. 

"Hey, what's your name?" she asked him. He looked behind him to make sure she wasn't talking to someone else, before answering. 

"I'm Chan." She smiled and poked his cheek.

"That's a cute name...can I have your number?" Chan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

"You...want my number? W-Why?" She laughed and flipped her hair slightly over her shoulder. 

"Why do you think? Because you're cute." Chan blushed and tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. She was very cute, and she seemed friendly. Maybe if he hung out with her, he would forget about his feelings towards Soonyoung? But, was forgetting about Soonyoung really what he wanted? 

"I-uh...I'm not sure..." He mumbled. The girl frowned slightly. 

"Come on, what's the worst that could happen if you give me your number? You'll like me, I promise," the girl flashed a smile at Chan and for a brief moment he considered giving her his number. 

"I-I'm still not sure..."

The girl pouted. "Why not?" 

"Because," said a voice behind him, before he had time to answer. Their voice was deeper than Chan's and sounded slightly aggravated. Chan started to turn around but someone back-hugged him and rested their head on his shoulder. Chan instinctively wrapped his arms around their arms, and he could tell who is was right away, causing his cheeks to become even more flushed than they already were. 

"Because what?" The girl looked at them, confused. "Is he gay?"

"Yes. And he's taken." Soonyoung protectively hugged Chan's waist tighter, and kissed his cheek. Chan's eyes widened and he froze in his spot. The girl simply shrugged. 

"Fair enough. Just thought I'd try," She plastered on a smile again and retreated into the shop to retrieve their ice cream. Soonyoung let go of Chan and took his hand, leading him back to the table where Junhui and Minghao were already sitting. Soonyoung pulled Chan into the seat next to him and he looked slightly angry. 

Chan finally was able to force some words out of his mouth. "W-What were you doing?" 

"Saving your ass," Soonyoung replied, "you didn't like her." 

"Really? And how would you know?" Chan felt slightly annoyed. Soonyoung can't control him like this. For all he knew, Chan could've liked her. At least, Chan wanted to convince himself that was the reason he was annoyed. But, being completely honest with himself, he was annoyed because it felt like Soonyoung was leading him on. Giving him false hope. Soonyoung did things like this so easily because that was the type of person he was.  Friendly, cuddly and touchy. He took skin-ship very lightly. But it meant a lot more to Chan, at least when it was coming from Soonyoung.  

"Because I know you." Soonyoung huffed. "I know you didn't like her and you didn't want to give her your number." Before Chan could respond, the waitress came over with their ice creams. Soonyoung mumbled to Chan, "Plus, if you really did like her, you would have told her I was kidding and given her your number anyways." Chan, unfortunately, couldn't argue with that. It was true; if he seriously wanted to give this girl a chance and attempt to forget about Soonyoung, he could've given her his number, regardless of what Soonyoung said. But he didn't.

"Two scoops of cookie dough in a cone," the waitress handed it to Soonyoung, "two scoops of chocolate in a cup," she handed it to Chan,"And one strawberry milkshake," she put the milkshake in the middle of the table. Soonyoung looked at her, confused.

"Shouldn't there be another ice cream?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I only heard three in the order, but I can get another if you'd like?" 

Junhui pulled the milkshake towards him and Minghao, and Chan realized they were both blushing as Junhui told her she got the order right and that one milkshake was fine. It had two straws and Minghao and Junhui both started drinking from the milkshake. Soonyoung and Chan stared at the two boys sharing a milkshake and they looked up, aware of the funny looks they were receiving from the other boys. 

"What?" Minghao said with his mouth full. "We uhh...both wanted the same thing." Junhui quickly nodded in agreement and Chan and Soonyoung giggled and exchanged knowing looks with each other. It was clear the two boys had a more-than-just-friends relationship.

Although Chan was happy for them and planned to keep it a secret until they were ready to admit it, he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy towards both of them. He wanted that so badly with Soonyoung, but he didn't think Soonyoung would ever think of him as more than a friend and, for all he knew, Soonyoung could even see him as a baby brother, which is even worse.