end of the day | seongjoong

chapter fourteen

hongjoong ran into his first period class with a beaming smile. his friends looked up, curious as to why the boy was so excited.

"what are you smiling about, joongie?" wooyoung asked, curious.

"my mommy is coming home today! i missed her so very much. i'm hoping she takes me to get ice cream today! when i go home, i'm gonna ask her." hongjoong giggled in his seat.

"yay! i'm so happy for you joongie!" wooyoung hugged his friend, "how was seonghwa this weekend? i'm sorry i didn't answer you until the next day, i was being bad so my mommy made me go to sleep earlier than usual." wooyoung pouted at the bad memory from the weekend, quickly turning his frown upside down and smiling at his friends.

"yeah, i'm sorry i didn't answer you until later that night. i was watching a movie with my mommy and daddy, so i didn't see my phone rang." yeosang apologized and hongjoong waved them off.

"don't worry about it! i was just bored. seonghwa doesn't like talking to me, and i'm not really sure why." hongjoong slouched down, "but i got him to cut me a piece of cake! and we ate together at the table. he even talked to me!"

"wow, that sounds like fun!" wooyoung said as he bounced up and down.

"yeah, it's good he was nicer to you this time." yeosang mentioned.

this wasn't completely true. seonghwa was definitely still very mean to hongjoong, but he did feel like the older was a bit kinder this time around. he even sat with the boy to eat cake, which hongjoong was surprised he agreed to.

"you're right, he was nicer to me!" hongjoong smiled widely.

the bell rang and hongjoong sat criss cross in his seat, excited to learn and see his mother when he got home.

-—

as the boys sat at their usual lunch table, seonghwa stared down at his phone in awe.

"bro, i honestly don't understand. do these companies think we have money flowing out of our asses?" seonghwa shook his head in disbelief.

"what do you mean?" mingi asked, confused.

"supreme is dropping their new winter line on friday and i really want to get this hoodie, but it's five hundred dollars! i only have three hundred dollars to my name, it's so frustrating." seonghwa sighed.

"wow, first world problems much?" yunho laughed at the boy who simply flipped him off.

"yeah, it is. i'm sorry. but honestly, i really want the hoodie. i mean, there's a possibility my mom will give me some cash, but definitely not two hundred dollars. but it's not a big deal, i'll survive without it." seonghwa shrugged his shoulders, still slightly annoyed at the unnecessary pricing.

"well, we should definitely do something this weekend. i miss hanging out with you guys, it's pretty much just been party after party after party recently." mingi asked, hopeful his friends would agree.

"what, do you not like partying all of a sudden?" san scoffed and yunho was quick to defend his best friend.

"he never said he doesn't like partying, but he did say he misses hanging out with us. and i agree with that. we haven't had a chill hangout in months." yunho answered, putting a hand on mingi's shoulder. mingi smiled at the older, taking a mental note to remember to thank him later for defending his statement.

"whatever, y'all are pussies sometimes," san laughed at the two, "but i'm not going to lie, i kind of miss small group hangouts as well."

"ok, so it's settled. let's hang at mine. how's friday night?" jongho suggests.

"seems good with me, i never have anything going on anyways." san shrugs.

"yeah, me either." yunho laughs and mingi agrees.

as the boys were discussing weekend plans, a lightbulb went off in seonghwa's head. he knew a way he could get the money for his hoodie, and fast.

"hwa, you've been awfully quiet," san pokes the older boy who gets taken out of his trance.

"oh, yeah. friday sounds fine. but, uh... jongho? i have a question." seonghwa asks, turning towards the boy.

"yeah, what's up?"

"do you need anyone to watch hongjoong this week? like, is your mom going to be working?" seonghwa pleads.

"so all of a sudden you want to watch my brother? right after you were talk about wanting an expensive hoodie that you couldn't afford? i don't know man, seems kinda sus." jongho shrugs his shoulders.

"ugh, you know i'm only suggesting this for the money! but seriously, i'll get him out of your hair, and then you can fuck ryujin or whatever you want. i don't care what you do honestly, but it can benefit both of us." seonghwa exclaims, leaving jongho to fake contemplate seonghwa's suggestion.

"ummm..." the boy drags out, "fine. she's coming home today, but she's leaving again wednesday afternoon and she won't be back until midday thursday. so you can watch him wednesday night." jongho says and seonghwa's eyes light up.

"thanks ho, you're the best." seonghwa gives his friend a hug and quickly shoos him off.

"it probably won't be more than three of four hours though, so you'll still need to get money another way to be able to pay for that hoodie." jongho looks at the boy and seonghwa nods his head.

"yeah, it'll be fine. my mom will probably give me the money to pay the rest. anyway, she said she wanted to get me a gift for starting the school year but she never got around to it, so i'll tell her paying for part of the hoodie is my gift." seonghwa smiled, excited for his future purchase.

his smile quickly faded to a look of disgust when he remembered what he had to do in order to get the money. he rolled his eyes at the thought, annoyed to have to take away time from himself to watch hongjoong once again... but he knew it was the only way he could afford the hoodie.

i wanna rant a bit once again... surprising, right? lol! one of my best friends is moving to a different state tomorrow. i'm really not gonna go into much detail, but let's just say i'm gonna cry!!! he's someone who's always been there for me and now he's leaving🥺it's so sad, but i hope i can see him soon.

btw... thank you for getting this story to #3 in seongjoong! i'm honestly shocked👁👄👁how!!??? y'all are too good to me!!!

- vic