A Sweeter Sweater | Stray Kids ~ JeongChan ~

A Sweeter Sweater

By the time Chan has finally made it to school, it's fourth period, almost lunchtime. He'd woken up late and dreaded leaving the bed. He could already feel the chill in the air despite being under his blankets. He had dressed as warmly as he could, hoodie shoved over a long-sleeved shirt before running out of his house. He had only been about twenty feet from his house before he'd ran back to grab the knitted sweater sitting on his kitchen counter. He never wore it, but he always brought it to school on cold days.

So that's how he found himself twenty minutes late to fourth period, sweating and out of breath with a sweater clutched in his hand. He collapsed into his seat next to his best friend Woojin, shooting his teacher an apologetic smile.

"Dude, where have you been? You weren't in first or third period at all," Woojin whispered to him, trying not to gain the attention of their teacher.

"I know, I'm sorry. I stayed up really late studying for the chemistry test in seventh period and I woke up super late."

Woojin smacked him upside the head, smiling at Mr. Yoon like an angel when Chan yelped and grabbed the teacher's attention from the board.

Chan groaned, rubbing his head and trying to ignore the snickering of other students, "What the hell was that for?"

"The chemistry test is next Friday, not today, you absolute dumbass."

Chan slammed his head onto his desk, "Oh my god I'm so dumb."

"Yeah, and Jeongin was pretty upset this morning too. I think he's mad at you."

Chan's head whipped to Woojin, praying that he was joking. Instead, the look he got could only be described as 'you upset my little brother explain yourself'.

"Oh shit, I promised I would walk him to his class this morning. Oh, he must have been waiting for me."

Jeongin was Woojin's little brother and Chan's boyfriend. He'd promised the younger he'd walk him to class and by staying up so late he'd slept in and broken his promise. After accidentally standing him up on a date once, Chan had sworn to himself and to Jeongin that he would never break another promise to Jeongin, no matter how small. Now though, he'd broken another promise.

Woojin's hushed but angry voice broke him out of his thoughts, "He even wore the shirt you got him for his birthday. Said he wanted to look cute this morning. You better have a hell of an apology ready for lunch today, make it up to him."

"I will, I promise."

Woojin nodded before turning back to look at Mr. Yoon, ignoring Chan as he took notes on whichever war they were learning about that month. Chan tried to take notes too, but all he could think of was how he'd upset the best thing that had ever happened to him, and how he could possibly try to fix it.

Before he knew it, the bell for the end of class was ringing. He jumped up, rushing out the door without a word to Woojin. He weaved through the hallways, racing to be one of the first in the cafeteria. Jisung and Hyunjin were already there when he arrived, as their previous class was only a short walk from lunch. He collapsed into his seat, legs shaking as he scanned the cafeteria.

"Looking for Jeongin?"

Chan jerked his head to the boys at the table and figured it was Jisung who had asked him the question.

"Yeah, you guys see him this morning?"

Hyunjin glowered at him, "Yeah, and he wasn't very happy. You have some explaining to do."

Chan groaned as Woojin, Changbin and Minho took their seats at the table. Hyunjin was particularly protective over Jeongin, having a soft spot the size of China for their youngest. The others also had a disappointed look on their faces, and Chan could feel his guilt somehow manage to grow.