In This Light; Soonhoon

act seven

➴ scene 1

SOONYOUNG IS LAYING on his back and staring up at the ceiling, ignoring the way Wonwoo tells him to sit up, this isn't a dorm. "The librarian will hate you if she sees you half-asleep like this," he says.

"The librarian already hates me. Remember when I spilled coffee on that copy of Shakespeare?"

"Her hate is valid." Soonyoung scoffs.

"No, not valid. It was an accident. I said sorry and even paid for the replacement. I'm a broke college student who spent money on Shakespeare."

"The sign on the front door does say to not bring in beverages, but alright, yeah. Not your fault."

Soonyoung throws a halfhearted glare in his friend's direction and sits up so that he's leaning against one of the cushions, instead. He kind of missed this, actually. It's been a while since he and Wonwoo hung out one-on-one.

"Are you going for lunch with us this weekend?"

"I didn't even know that was a thing," Soonyoung frowns. "What lunch?"

"Jeonghan invited us out, since it's been a while. It's one of the only times all our schedules line up."

"Oh. Well, uh. Not mine." Wonwoo pauses midway through flipping a page in his textbook, glancing over at him curiously. "I already have plans," Soonyoung explains. "There's this exhibition happening in the photography department. Me and Jihoon were gonna go."

"On Sunday?"

"Yeah. Sunday's the last day it's open. We didn't go earlier because there was, like, a different theme for each day? And Sunday's theme was the one we wanted to see most, and - why are you looking at me like that?" Wonwoo has his mouth twisted into a weird sort of frown, like a scowl, but more disappointed than angry. There's a knot between his eyebrows, and Soonyoung's almost tempted to reach out and rub it away.

"You can't just ... not go? You see Jihoon all the time, and when's the last time we hung out with Jeonghan? You ditched last time, too, when Seungcheol had that party."

"I didn't feel like going out that night! I would've rather stayed in, and I'd feel bad canceling on Jihoon when I've already agreed to go with him."

Wonwoo stares at him a moment longer, before sighing and rolling his head back down to his textbook. He mumbles something, but Soonyoung can't quite make it out.

"What?" he asks, and Wonwoo sighs again.

"You don't have to pretend that you're doing this out of politeness, Soonyoung, you can just say it."

"Say what?"

"You'd rather be with Jihoon than with us. I get it."

Soonyoung blinks, caught off guard because he was definitely not expecting their conversation to turn this way. Wonwoo continues, "You're kind of blowing all your friendships, Soonyoung, and for what?" Soonyoung watches him blankly, his mind going white and empty. The former purses his lips and runs a hand through his hair, looking just as frustrated as Soonyoung is starting to feel. "Look, I'm not saying this isn't a good thing - man, I'm glad you like Jihoon so much, I'm glad you two get along so well - but we're here, too. You're just gonna keep dropping us like this? For some boy?"

"I'm not dropping you," Soonyoung says, and it's automatic. "I wouldn't do that. I care about you."

"Not as much as you care about Jihoon."