Wednesday - Junbob

bothered about acting unbothered

The first thing Junhoe did when he woke up was scream.

"HOLY CRACKERS, DONGHYUK-"

"Heyyy," Donghyuk said sleepily, smiling up at Junhoe without opening his eyes and the elder huffed, flicking the side of the younger's head gently.

"When on earth did you come here? You scared me silly."

"In the middle of the night. I had a nightmare...about lipstick," Donghyuk said with a pale face, shivering a little and Junhoe shook his head, cloaking Donghyuk in an embrace.

"Is there a girl plaguing you at school, Dong?"

"Oh no, no. The girls are really nice! I don't think the ones in my year wear lipstick yet."

"That's good. I think."

When Junhoe went to the bathroom, leaving Donghyuk to rest a little longer, he clasped his hands on the side of the basin and stared at himself in the mirror, eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure what he was trying to do, but his brain deemed him ready a few moments later and he opened the tap, bending down to wash his face which had him sighing quietly in relief. The calm wouldn't last, though.

"No, there's no time. It's tomorrow or rejection, tell him farewell if he doesn't cooperate," Junhoe said starkly as he got out the cereal, Bluetooth in his ear. He ruffled Donghyuk's hair as the boy ran out to get the milk and Junhoe mouthed 'thank you' at him before grimacing. "What? I'm the one who has the power. Tell him his mind games aren't working, he needs to see me, not the other way around seeing as I couldn't care less if it doesn't happen. No, Ji- no. Ah, what did I say? No. Hey. Don't get that tone with me. I'm trying to appreciate you here."

"You sound annoyed," Donghyuk said very observantly once the call had finished and Junhoe took a seat at the table, smiling tiredly.

"I'm always annoyed."

"Mr Jinhwan's a good guy."

"I know he's a good guy but he pushes in the wrong direction sometimes. He needs to remember that he doesn't know better than me."

"Damn, Dad, you sound like such a tyrant," Donghyuk laughed and Junhoe gave him a mock-warning look, saying a low, "Careful," before he reached over to ruffle the kid's hair.

"Hey, so, school. That's a thing. How's it going?"

"It's good. Lessons are fine, nothing's too hard," Donghyuk said brightly, leaning the side of his head against the table and Junhoe tilted his head in unison. They probably looked like absolute idiots. "And the people are cool too. I think I'm friends with everyone now, I just go to any group and I feel accepted! But I know I'm not really accepted, because, they've known each other so long beforehand. I'd still be the odd one out no matter what."

"Oh, Dong," Junhoe said quietly, his eyes sad as Donghyuk looked at him with eyes that were even sadder, but his smile was cheery.

"It's okay, Dad. Things are great! This kind of thing is just inev...inevidable."

"Inevitable."

"That too."

Then Donghyuk was lifting his head, straightening up and staring at Junhoe with wide eyes and now Junhoe felt all buzzed up with energy too. The infection of short-term excitement. "What?"