Third Wheeling For Dummies | on hold

twenty one

"Hey."

Jungwoo looks up, half in surprise and half in confusion regarding why a random stranger would sneak up on him in the supermarket.

But it's Jae, and she has a weird, insider kind of smile on her face. "Don't look at me like that," she says, and there's no shopping cart in front of her, but there's a whopping six bottles of Gatorade bundled up in her arms. "It's not all for me."

He frowns once more at the blue bottles she's carrying and arches his eyebrows. "Okay, I'll bite."

"No, you won't." There's wry humour in her voice, but despite his slow pace she walks beside him right up to the line at the counter. "It's for Dejun."

Ah. He nods, understandingly. There have been more than just a few times that he's caught himself being fascinating by the speed with which the younger boy chugs down his sports drinks. "He's an addict."

"He is," Jae agrees. "But Mrs. Wong doesn't know that, and I'm kind of his babysitter too, even if it doesn't seem like that most of the time."

He laughs, and when his turn comes up, the worker just gives him the dead look that he always has on his face. He's older than him, Jungwoo thinks, he can tell by the air of being done with everything.

Like a gentleman, the blond tries to wait for Jaesun but gives up a few moments later after the dirty looks all the grandpas give him. Not the grandmas, though. Grandmas love him.

She notices, and gives him a grateful smile that makes his heart go ba-bump, ba-bump.

The cashier looks over the abundance of Gatorade bottles like it's a usual occurrence. He's probably seen weirder things, though. Like two teenage boys knocking over the cola section.

The Permanently Tired cashier hands her the bag, and she gives him an awkward smile. "Thanks, uh—" her eyes skim his name tag—"Johnny."

He doesn't react, which isn't strange, and with another painfully tight smile, she moves ahead and joins him as they walk out of the store into the sunny street. Jungwoo debates with himself about whether or not he should help her out with the bag, but gives up not too later.

They're heavy, which is warning enough.

The pair walks in silence for a bit, which is uncomfortable because that's completely beside the point of them walking together. Even Jae doesn't speak up, and Jungwoo nervously eyes her empty hand.

Flirting is hard.

He sighs to himself, giving Lucas kudos for actually being able to land a girlfriend before eighteen. But then, he's taller, which may or may not have something to do with it.

"You look like you can't poop," Jaesun says, suddenly, and then stops mid-stride, closing her eyes. "Sorry, that wasn't the best starter."

He smiles a little to himself, stopping just behind her so she can't see him smile. Well, at least he knows that she's just as bad as him.

"I actually did," he starts, then furrows his brow. "Poop, I mean."

She gives him another smile, the wry one. "I was thinking," she says, continuing walking, "about what you said yesterday."

He blinks. "What did I say yesterday?"

Her grin widens, and she bumps her shoulder against his—repeatedly—in what he assumes is her usual outlet for excitement. "You said you guys eat out on Christmas, right?"

Jungwoo looks at her. There's a slightly earnest expression on her face, her face kind of pinched like she's trying to hide it without much success. Smiling internally at how adorable she looks, he raises his shoulders slightly before letting them fall. "Yeah?"

"What kind of eating do you mean?"

The questions is strange, and not exactly what he expected, but he tilts his head slightly to the side, actually thinking about it. "Well...Lucas makes really amazing chocolate chip cookies, and his mom does the cake, so I guess we eat mostly homemade, chocolate-y goodness."

He can actually watch her face set like wet cement, thoughtful. She's got that look on her face, the one where she purses her lips and squints a little and scrunches up her nose like she's disapproving something in a really nice way.

Also, he notices how his thoughts sound sort of stalkerish.

"Homemade, huh?" She says, finally, her arms slack at her sides like she's still in thought. "What if I said I knew a pretty good cook?"

"Depends on what you're trying to say."

She snaps into the present again, and gives him a bright smile that he thinks is more to sway him than for anything else. "You don't have any plans for Christmas, do you?"

Aha. He sees where this is going. "Not yet, no."

"And you'd put them on hold if I gave you a much better offer?"

Jungwoo laughs softly. It's amazing, really, how easily she can make him smile like that. Jae watches him with eyes that seem to read his thoughts as easily as his face, and yet so energetic at the same time that he forgets how mature she can be sometimes. "Again, that depends on what the offer is."

The faint bounce in her step is back again, and her arms swing a little at her sides as if she's slowly getting warmed up to get herself excited again.

"Hey, Jungwoo?" She calls.

"Hm, Jae?"

"If I said I wanted you to have dinner with my parents on Christmas Eve, would you come?"

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we're almost to the final arc of the story just hold on a lil bit longer if you're already bored of this book lmao

OKAY even if i said this already and didn't actually do it, i wanted to tell you guys that i'll be on another break for almost two months, starting next week. the reason is that my exams are gonna start soon and i have to work much harder this time, cause these are helluva important.

so twfd will probably have a couple or so more updates this week, and after that, directly in the last quarter of march, and Cat Boy is probably gonna begin by mid-april.

i hope you'll wait for me <3

two of my favorite baby boys sjskd ❤

love,
Manx.