Third Wheeling For Dummies | on hold

one

"Well, tell him that the last one to bed is an elephant's diarrhoeal poop."

Jungwoo stares at the back of Lucas's head as he talks to someone on the phone—probably one of his younger brothers by the sound of it. He's probably not aware that Jungwoo is in the room, too.

"Yeah, it does smell. Bad." Lucas confirms, his index and middle finger rubbing at his temple like an overworked parent who just came home to caffeinated teenagers. "Okay, tell Jun that I'll kick his butt if he calls you earwax again."

Jungwoo leans back against the doorframe, and stares at his friend leaning against the other doorframe. He flicks a strand of blond hair away from his forehead, waiting patiently.

Lucas groans. "Fine. Don't call me if he starts yelling bloody murder again." A weary groan. "Yes, you can. Bye."

The blond sighs.

Lucas flinches, and as he turns around, his eyes land on the boy who stands leaning against his bedroom door.

"Oh, god." He scrunches up his nose, and ends the call he was previously attending to, face still a little red. "Jungwoo, you really need to stop sneaking up on people."

"But I wasn't sneaking up." The blond pouts, sighing again. His hand reaches up around the back of his neck to run it. It's awkward again. "I just wanted to ask—well, uhm—you want to go bowling this evening?"

Lucas blinks, looking for a moment like he has forgotten how to speak or process the language. "Uh, this evening?"

"That's what I said...?"

"I, uh," His tone is awkward, and Jungwoo's shoulders droop. He already knows where this is going. "I kind of have plans with Dawon for today..."

"Oh, sure." The shorter male shrugs helplessly, trying to look nonchalant as the boy in front of him gives him an apologetic look. "That's okay. I could always go with someone else or...something."

The two stare at each other, but not quite. Their gazes hang off the loose ends, Jungwoo looking uncomfortably at Lucas's shoes and the taller staring at the blond's hands pulling at the hem of his t-shirt.

"So..." The discomfort in the atmosphere is palpable, and Jungwoo's head snaps up as Lucas trails off, trying to smile. God, is it awkward. "Something?"

"I mean, I could always study." The shorter looks like he wants to get out of there—and he does, as both of them already know. "Or, like, call up my sister or—"

"You don't have a sister."

The silence is deafening, again. Both of them stare at each other, and Lucas wants desperately to go back in time and unsay what he just said.

"Uh, I mean, my cousin?" Jungwoo looks at the male for confirmation, and Lucas shrugs. He sighs in relief. "Yeah, my cousin."

"Yeah." Lucas purses his lips. "Sure, yeah. Yeah."

The blond nods slowly and awkwardly, feeling like he was in that one awkward moment when you're trying to end a chat but don't know how to. "Yeah."

"Yeah."

"...yeah." Jungwoo laughs feebly, but it fails. "Um."

Lucas tries to smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Another long pause, and the pair stare at each other's feet, not sure where else to look.

"So..." The taller male takes a deep breath, and clutches the handle of the door next to him for reassurance. "I'll be in the other room."

"Uh-huh," Jungwoo nods distractedly, but he's still looking at Lucas's shoes. He needs to polish his shoes.

Then he looks down at his shirt and it's wrinkled, and he winces because he doesn't like his things being so...not neat like that. He knows it's weird, and maybe that's why he doesn't have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or even a dog.

He wants a dog.

"Jungwoo?" Lucas questions, realising that his friend's attention isn't really on him anymore. It's something to be thankful about, in a way, because it's not awkward at least from one side. "If you need something, I'll be in the other room."

"Yeah, okay," The blond mumbles, still playing with the hem of his—wrinkled—t-shirt. "I'll just iron my shoes or something."

Lucas freezes, staring wide-eyed at his friend, who doesn't seem to have realised what he just said. He wants to laugh, but the previous conversation was so painfully awkward that he's not sure if he can.

Jungwoo apparently still hasn't realised.

"Okay." The taller smiles, straightening and stepping back out of the room with his dirty shoes. "Okay, so I'll be in the other room, and you can...iron your shoes or something."

"Yeah." Jungwoo is currently observing a glistening spider web in the corner.

"Okay, then." Lucas allows himself a chuckle. "Yeah."

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so i'm publishing this on a whim and i have no idea how it's going to turn out.

it's a weird plot. i know it sounds boring, but all first chapters are. not really.

warning: it'll be a clusterfuck.

i don't even know where this is going but, yeah. it's going to be awkward (obviously) and updates will be sporadic (?) i thought of this plot like today and i don't really do this a lot but here you go. a temporary replacement for htbah.

short chapters or long?

hope you like this! :'')

love,
Manx.

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