ⓖⓞⓛⓓⓔⓝ | woosan

8. No Matter Who You Like

4:30 pm

"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WADDUP?!", a loud voice attacked San's eardrums making him almost go deaf.

"You really want me to lose my ability to hear, right?", he asked the tall boy sarcastically.

Mingi pouted backing away from him. "And not be able to hear this beautiful deep voice right here, uh-uh, no no, not today."

He then creeped back up behind the smaller and whispered in his ear "Tomorrow maybe."

San squeaked at the sudden closeness shuddering in disgust. He shook every part of his body, from his toes to his arms and finally his neck and head before giving Mingi a look of utter disgust and shock. "Please. Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again.", he stated sternly, standing straight as a tree and nodding his head at every word.

Finishing off with another quick shudder, he grabbed the strings of his backpack and started walking again hopping every few steps.

Going along with the hopping, Mingi soon caught up with him again.

Every Monday afternoon they would meet up at Hongjoong's apartment, right above his mother's restaurant. They would eat until they felt like their stomachs are about to burst as well as their hearts. Hongjoong's mother was treating every single one of the other three boys as if they were her own sons. She was usually kind of stingy when it came to giving out bigger portion sizes but for the boys, there could never be enough food around the table. And nobody was allowed to go study before every dish on the table has been cleared.

Sometimes San wished he was Hongjoong's actual brother. Of course he knew his opportunities on the job market wouldn't be as promising, given the fact that he would've been raised by a single mom running an a little rusty and old Korean restaurant, but he wasn't after the money anyways.

Besides, Ms. Kim always hung up his paintings in her restaurant. She was always so proud of her son's best friend's work.

"Hey, you have any homework to do today?", the boy with the red hair asked as the four of them were on their way to his place.

San tilted his head slightly, contemplating on whether he should just ditch writing some non important essay in a class he didn't even major in or not.

"You know what, let's not do schoolwork today!", he said loudly, making everyone stop in their tracks.

Hongjoong smiled fondly at his hardworking friend. "Finally! You know how long I have been waiting for a Monday afternoon we can spend hanging out instead of studying???", he said excitedly jumping a little.

"Don't be too excited, Joong, maybe he's being sarcastic again, you never know", Yunho said squinting his eyes at San.

San scoffed, "Oh come on! I'm being serious! And besides, it's not that hard to differentiate between my tones of speaking!"

Mingi just laughed at his last sentence while Yunho raised his eyebrows giving the boy a questioning look.

"Yeah, whatever...", he said coldly walking past the smaller.

"Hey did you just imitate Jung Wooyoung? Haha, oh my god, I can't believe you. You're never gonna let me get away with that, aren't you?", San ran up to him swinging an arm up around his shoulder, forcing him to bend over.

Still in San's kind of weak grasp he stretched his answer, "Uhmmmmm.....no.", and earned a slap in the back of his neck.

Scrunching his nose at the sharp pain Yunho hissed. He held his neck in an overdramatic manner.

"Aww, look what you did to our dear Yunho!", Mingi said softly patting the boy's blue hair, "Do you want me to kiss it better?", he turned to him.

"Joong, do something before we have to witness our two best friends making out!", San panicked, not quite sure if they were being serious or not.

Hongjoong just laughed at San's request to save him from what he thought he was about to witness.

"Yo, Choi San, calm your homophobic backside, as if I'd ever kiss that slug.", Mingi looked back at the boy who was now standing on the sidewalk eyes covered with his own hands.

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you ever kissed Yunho. 'Cause no matter who you like,", he uncovered his eyes and smiled sheepishly at the taller boy, "they always look like slugs."

Hongjoong gasped loudly while the tallest of the bunch playfully screamed and started running after his offender. "TAKE THAT BACK SANNIE BUNNY! TAKE THAT BACK!", he screamed still chasing him along the sidewalk.

"Hey you idiots, you ran past my house!", Hongjoong shouted after a while of trying to catch up with them.

He stood in front of the old little building with brittle walls that seemed like they haven't seen a fresh coat of paint for at least five decades.

Nonetheless, the tiny restaurant still had its charms with the small lamps hanging outside, the cliché golden dragon above the door and a big sign that said "할머니의 식당".

Hongjoong's grandmother was the one who opened it, but died soon after it opened. It was Hongjoong's idea to keep the name, to honour his grandma.

"Do you wanna come in or not?", he asked the two boys, who were now running out of breath, as he held the wooden door wide open.

San held his hand up like a stop sign, not able to form a sentence just yet.

Hongjoong laughed, "You guys are seriously insane, come on in!"

They all gathered around a big table in the back, mouth watering at the sight of the already laid out food.
Not even waiting a second, they quickly started stuffing their mouths with the food Ms. Kim had provided for the hungry boys.

After what seemed like an eternity of pigging out on the mountain of food, San sat back and patted his stomach.

"Oh man, this is gonna take two weeks to train off.", he whined looking at the little bulge his full tummy had created.

"Don't start this again Choi San, you are beautiful just as you are, squishy tummy or not", Hongjoong said also laying back from the food coma they all were experiencing.

San whimpered dramatically, "I will never find a partner looking like this!"

"Oh sh*t, here we go again...", a deep voice murmured from the corner.

"My tummy is the size of a pig, I'm faaat.", he continued.

Yunho sat up straight and looked at Sans pitiful figure. "THAT is what you call a fat stomach?! Then", he snaps in front of San's face to get his attention, "look at this!" He demonstratively sticks out his stomach and smacks it.

San looked at him with a questioning look but soon broke into his oppressed laughter.

"You sure are not any fatter than I am right now, always remember that, Sannie.", Yunho grinned.

The boy with the dark brown hair smiled. "Anyway, thanks for cheering me up once again, I guess.", he said nonchalantly, still smiling though.

"That's what friends are for."

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1175 words

Extra long chapter, extra for the long pause I had lol.
I decided I should make a little update marathon of about four days.
Yay!
Also, cause this chapter focuses more on Hongjoong:

yes.