Unlike the Others

Chapter 7

After the day Wooseok took Jinhyuk alone to visit the coffee shop Dongyeol had recommended, Jinhyuk started inviting him to hang out without bringing along other friends and in the times he did he would occasionally an alpha friend too -that is after Seungwoo invited himself to grab some ice cream with them and taking along his mate, Seungsik.- but still making sure to not push Wooseok too much out of his comfort zone and Jinhyuk's friends seemed to get the memo as they always kept their distance.

So why is it then that his plan to get over this anxiousness failed? Even now as he sits next to the older in their English class, Wooseok finds himself too aware of the distance between them and even worse he catches himself glancing in his direction more than once before quickly locking his eyes on the blackboard where Professor Haeyoon points to the most common grammatical errors the class had with their last assignment.

He spends the duration of the class barely paying any attention to Professor Haeyoon's perfect English pronunciation or the occasional attempt from a classmate, instead, he keeps on wondering how else can he try to get rid of this annoying self-awareness.

Class is over before Wooseok realizes it, the different noises that signal to its end, like Professor Haeyoon's heels clicking away and the chairs being pushed back as students stand up are what brings Wooseok back into reality.

"Hey, Wooseok," Jinhyuk starts, his eyes staring at him without moving to put his stuff away unlike Wooseok who robotically does. "Are you busy tomorrow?" He asks nonchalantly, warm eyes glancing down at Wooseok's hands just as they stop moving halfway through zipping his backpack.

Wooseok quickly recovers himself and stands up to slide his arms through the straps of his backpack. That is if you don't count how his heartbeat picks up and his eyes look everywhere but at the alpha who still stares at him without moving, his blue notebook still open in front of him.

Tomorrow is a Saturday and while they've already meet up on weekends he still feels weird about it for a reason he can't understand. "No, I have nothing planned other than spending the day in."

At that Jinhyuk grins, "Great! Could you help me buy a present for my sister?" Wooseok waits for Jinhyuk to put his things away, the older hurrying to do it and within seconds he is standing, his eyes looking hopefully at Wooseok who had not answered and just hummed. "She did really well in her classes so I want to get her a little something, a new planner and extra stationery maybe? You know more about that stuff."

Well, he did have a point. Jinhyuk had expressed his awe more than once at Wooseok's organized notes and the use of extra stationery he didn't possess nor know about and commented on his younger sister also liking to make fancy study notes.

"It's not fancy, just more organized"
"Wooseok you're using a bunny-shaped paperclip."

"Ok then, set a time and where and I'll be there." Jinhyuk's smile becomes brighter and definitely doesn't make Wooseok look away, his chest didn't suddenly feel tighter at all. You don't react like that to a friend.

🐾

"Where are you going?" Wooseok turns towards Yein who is laying on the couch, his round eyes locked on Wooseok instead of the chemistry book in his lap.

Yein is not even majoring in anything chemistry related.

"Out."

Quircking an eyebrow at him he slowly nods in clear sarcasm. "I can see that Wooshin," Yein's eyes pointedly move down Wooseok's body and back up. "But you're obviously not going to the convenience store so I'm asking where you're off to."