GLOW-UP

42 | slippery slope

there weren't too many things that really scared johnny seo. heights? nope. darkness? not at all. spiders? he'll destroy the creepy motherfuckers. but admitting his gay crush on moon taeil?

yeah, that one was pretty terrifying.

for most of his life, johnny had considered himself to be your average straight guy. a big flirt, yes, but straight nonetheless. but now things were changing, and johnny was being forced to accept the fact that he had flirted with a lot of guys in the past couple of years, and though he'd played it off as a joke, it had been intentional. he hadn't realised how much he liked to tease taeil until he realised how much he liked kissing him too. in a way, johnny found himself jealous of how comfortable taeil was in his sexuality, compared to how awkward he now felt in his own.

"alright, boys! everyone on the bus!"

taking a breath, johnny pushed his inner turmoil to the back of his mind, shouldered his hockey bag, and made his way onto the coach with the rest of the team. today they were headed out of town to play against a different college, and he couldn't afford to lose another game because of his feelings.

"you alright?" jaehyun smiled and clapped him on the shoulder as he slid into the seat beside him, right behind yuta and sicheng in the row in front.

"huh?" johnny looked at him and shrugged, "yeah, i'm fine. why?"

jaehyun chuckled and pulled his seatbelt into place. "you just look kinda out of it," he told him. "you're not nervous, are you?"

"nervous?" johnny spluttered, shaking his head, "as if i'd be nervous when i'm this good. why are you here anyway? i hope you're not planning on playing with that arm."

"i'm excused from lectures all day because i'm still part of the team," jaehyun explained, "and i wanted to see you actually score for once."

"hey! i scored half the goals myself last game," johnny objected, turning his nose up at jaehyun in mock disgust, "you're an awful cheerleader. you should've just stayed in college with doyoung... not that you two ever turn up for college these days..."

jaehyun smiled in embarrassment, the tips of his ears turning a little redder under his hair. "shut up," he muttered, "but to be honest, if i wasn't here, doyoung and i wouldn't bother going into college at all. we've got better things to be doing... you know, like each other."

"jung jaehyun, you are dirty!"

jaehyun grinned wickedly at that. johnny might be able to make him blush at the very mention of doyoung, but jaehyun knew all the right things to say to make johnny squirm. he wondered when the american would get it together and admit that he was at least a teeny tiny little bit gay.

by the time the coach pulled up near the neighbouring school, the pair of them had almost run out of conversation topics - from action movies to the number of people they'd ever hooked up with (for jaehyun it was a grand total of three, but for johnny... he'd lost count). there was still something weighing on johnny's mind though, and his frown made it rather obvious.

"so... how's your love life going?" jaehyun probed, sensing that his best friend probably had a lot on his mind, and was also probably overthinking it all.

"my love life?" johnny blurted, eyes darting between jaehyun's face and everywhere but, "um, fine. it's fine."

"really? you seeing anyone?"

johnny gulped.

patting his arm in reassurance, jaehyun led the way off the bus and into the college building. "look, i'm not going to ask any questions or anything," he said, "all i'm going to say is that whoever you're seeing... it's not a big deal. just look at yuta and sicheng - no one even cares that they're clearly a thing."