Teenager in Love

Juyeon in love

Juyeon sighed as he slammed his back against his locker. He watched as the love of his life, talked and flirted with the surrounding people. How he wished he was in that crowd of admiring students, but instead he had to watch from a distance as a boy who barely knew he existed became more and more popular.

Today he was wearing a pair of dark grey slacks and a light blue short-sleeved shirt, tucked into his trousers, a white-tshirt poking through the top two undone buttons. Like usual his hair was ever so slightly slicked back, so that it's natural wave stayed in place on his head, a few hairs escaping the hold of the gel and rested on his forehead in a way that only Juyeon could find so endearing. 

The boy in question was Lee Hyunjae, the most popular boy in the entire school and the only person in this shitty town who was going to do something with his life. Lee Hyunjae also didn't know that amongst his large following of adoring fan girls was a boy he had never thought to think about outside the two periods of Biology they shared every week.

"Hey lover boy." Kevin, Juyeon's best friend, slammed his own locker shut and gave Juyeon a disapproving look.

"Stop being pathetic and pull yourself together, unless you're going to actually do something about your little crush I will not let you mope around love sick." Changmin, his other friend, said standing beside Kevin and clutching his books to his chest.

Juyeon rolled his eyes and pushed himself off his locker.

"Good morning to you too Changmin, Kevin." He said sarcastically, following his two friends as they walked to first period maths. The whole wall there the topic seems to stay on Juyeon's mediocre (enormous) crush on Lee Hyunjae.

"What exactly am I supposed to do, I'll get beaten up if anyone besides you two or Eric find out I'm gay and most certainly killed if I even try to make a move on Lee Hyunjae of all people. Plus what would I do, ask him to prom or something."

"Exactly!" Changmin's eyes lit up. "You should ask Hyunjae to prom, it's perfect. Proms next month, you don't have a date and the theme is 'Only You'."

"Did you not listen to a word I just said-"

"Oh that would be so cute, but who would wear the corsage? And when you dance who'd lead, you or Hyunjae?" Changmin continued ignoring Juyeon completely.

"No offence Juyeon, I think Hyunjae would lead," Kevin said directly to Juyeon, "you could really pull of the whole feminine vibe though-"

"Would you give him flowers, or would he give you flowers?" Changmin questioned, hand on his chin in deep thought.

"Obviously Juyeon would give him flowers, he's the one confessing."

Juyeon rolled his eyes again and zoned out of their conversation. There was absolutely no way he- Lee Juyeon, a boy- would confess to smart, beautiful, funny Lee Hyunjae, another boy.

Three weeks later and Juyeon was silently praying that Kevin and Changmin would both suddenly die in a freak accident. Prom was in a week, and according to his meddling friends, Lee Hyunjae did not have a date. So here he was standing outside Lee Hyunjae's house with a small bouquet of flowers, sweating profusely.

Over the last few weeks, Juyeon had summoned the courage to talk to Lee Hyunjae, asking him if they could be partners for the biology project they had been given. Luckily for him, Hyunjae said yes, and since then the two had been closer than butter and bread. This new found friendship had given Changmin and Kevin the nerve to pressure Juyeon into asking Lee Hyunjae to prom, which was what he was about to do and as much as he wanted to finally admit his long term crush on Lee Hyunjae and show the people at school the being gay was totally fine, there where too many horrible scenarios that could come out of this confession.

Hyunjae could hate him, out him and ruin his life completely. He could politely reject him, but end their friendship then and there. Or he might say yes, but be playing a joke on him, only to embarrass Juyeon in front of the entire school.

Hundreds of terrible outcomes were running through his head and just as he decided to give up and walk home, "Juyeon? What are you doing here?", Lee Hyunjae had opened the door.

He whipped around and smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Noticing he wasn't going to say anything, Hyunjae smiled slightly.

"Are those for me?" He asked, gesturing to the flowers in Juyeon's hand. Juyeon nodded shyly and handed the flowers over.

"Do you want to come in?" Hyunjae stepped aside, opening the door wider so that Juyeon could see into his hallway. Despite the inviting offer he shook his head. He wanted to be able to run away as quickly as possible if it all went pear shaped.

"I, uh, I" he sighed. "Sorry I didn't really think through what I wanted to say."

The other boy just watched amused as Juyeon stammered over his words. After two minutes of Juyeon muttering to himself and starting but not continuing sentences, he rolled his eyes and barked out a short laugh.

"Look Juyeon, this is cute and all, but can you please just get to the part where you ask me to prom." Hyunjae burst out laughing at the expression of shock on Juyeon's face, he looked like he'd been slapped by a cold fish.

"Oh, sorry, Changmin told me not to say anything otherwise you'd stop functioning."

"You knew?" Juyeon managed, jaw still slack in shock.

"Of course, I sit next to Kevin in World History, and he's not exactly the best at keeping secrets. He's been dropping hints that you like me since Junior year, plus your friend Eric? Yeah we play baseball together on the weekends and he also mentioned something about a certain friend of him liking a guy. So a combination of your friends being terrible at keeping your secrets and your not so subtle staring, I figured that's why you're here."

"Oh, well. If you already know I won't waste your time and go, I know you're going to say no anyway and I don't want to annoy you further so I'll just go."

As Juyeon turned to leave, he was spun around once again and pulled close by his collar. Now his nose was touching Lee Hyunjae's, their breath mixing together.

"Who said I would say no?" Hyunjae whispered, looking straight into Juyeon's wide eyes. "But I want you to ask properly."

The grip on his collar loosened and Juyeon took a small step backwards. He straightened his clothes and got on one knee, just like Changmin told him to. With a new level of confidence he didn't know he had, Juyeon began to speak.

"Lee Hyunjae, I have liked you since the first day of Junior year, when I saw you playing baseball on the field. I had seen you playing baseball before but something that day was different, you seemed different to me, and my feelings only grew since then. So, Lee Hyunjae, will you do me the favour of being my date to prom next week?"

There was a pause and Juyeon deflated, having used up all his confidence. Hyunjae's face was blank, had he been playing him this whole time? Was this all just an elaborate prank to make him feel awful? All his doubts were pushed away when Hyunjae broke into a smile and pulled Juyeon off the floor.

"I thought you'd never ask." And then they were kissing on Lee Hyunjae's porch and Juyeon had never felt happier.