heaven ✿ jihan

004

He didn't know that the walk home would be another questionnaire. The boys threw inquiries left and right, making him want to scream like a banshee. He was also starting to realize his little soft spot for Jeonghan was certainly strange because that boy was the furthest thing from bearable. He was as curious as a three-year-old, and it was annoying. Yet, it still didn't seem to make him as upset as it did when the others asked him things.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No," he answered dryly. He didn't know how they weren't getting the hints. He was clearly fed up with their interrogation, but it seemed each one of them was dense.

"Well, this is our street," Seungcheol announced right before Wonwoo could blurt out another pointless question.

Woozi and Chan had departed at their respective streets earlier, and now Wonwoo and Seungcheol were heading towards theirs. That means, it was just Jeonghan and Joshua left behind.

He was strangely comforted by this fact. Jeonghan probably wouldn't talk to him much, and even if he did, it wouldn't make him want to rip every strand of hair out of his head.

"Sorry, we probably annoy you to death," the blonde boy giggled after a minute or two of them walking in a semi-awkward, semi-not-awkward atmosphere.

"They're very...inquisitive," Joshua replied, not giving a definitive 'yes' or 'no' to Jeonghan's assumption.

The older emitted another gentle laugh that would make absolutely anyone melt. "It's just because they like you," he insisted.

"Why?" the brunette scoffed before he realized what he was doing. He should've just nodded and left it at that, but he was genuinely interested as to why they were so fascinated by him. They should've just left him be like everyone else did, but instead, they pulled him in as one of their own without an ounce of hesitation.

"I don't know, you just seem like the perfect addition," Jeonghan supplied, pausing a moment before adding, "You're quiet and mysterious, the exact opposite of us. It balances us out in a way. And you're a pretty boy, they like pretty boys."

That last statement both made him shy and made his stomach churn. First of all, Jeonghan called him a pretty boy, which left a fluttery feeling somewhere inside him. On the other hand, though, that final bit pretty much confirmed that most, if not all of them, were gay in some fashion or another.

Jeonghan must've noticed the weird look on his face because he frowned a bit and said, "But if you don't want to be friends with us, you don't have to. We just thought—"

"No!" Jisoo found himself interjecting. "I do want to be friends with you guys," he continued more calmly, even though it was kinda a lie. It wasn't that he didn't want to be friends, per se, he just didn't want to be friends. The type of friends that are always together—having sleepovers, talking about life, all that jazz.

"Good," the older grinned, "Because we really like you."

That left an odd fuzzy feeling in Josh's stomach. Even if those boys were bothersome, they undoubtedly had warm hearts. They were being so kind to him when he was giving them practically nothing to hold onto. Even if they weren't very interesting, they were certainly hospitable, and that was almost a sufficient substitute.

"You walk to school in the mornings, too, right?" the blonde boy questioned when he noticed he probably wasn't going to get anything more than a nod for his last statement.

"No, my dad drives me. Why?"

"Aww, I was hoping you'd walk with us in the mornings, too," Jeonghan pouted softly.

He started to apologize for not being able to join them—even though he really didn't want to if we're being honest—but that tiny pout on Jeonghan's pink lips made his heartstrings tug a bit. A little fifteen-minute walk wouldn't hurt, right? Plus, it would probably make his dad happy that he didn't have to worry about dropping his kid off at school. "I can...if you want," he said quietly.

"Really?" the blonde boy beamed, and Joshua didn't miss the way his eyes seemed to twinkle whenever he's happy.

Joshua cleared his throat to distract himself from the other male's gentle brown eyes. "Yeah, sure."

Without mulling it over first, Jeonghan hugged Joshua's arm loosely, as he hollered a bubbly, "Yay!"

The younger unintentionally flinched as the other boy touched him. He wasn't really one for skinship, especially from strangers. Not to mention, the tingly jolt that shot up his arm made him uncomfortable.

"Sorry," the blonde boy giggled shyly as he retracted himself. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay," Jisoo interrupted, almost feeling bad for having an extreme reaction to something so small.

The older cleared his throat as he walked the few more steps before they would have to part ways. "Meet me under this street light in the morning, okay?" he said gently, stopping and glancing overhead at the unlit lamp.

Joshua glimpsed upwards as well before nodding. At this, Jeonghan sent him one last blinding smile and said, "See you in the morning, Joshua!"

"Yeah, see you," the younger answered faintly, unable to prevent the edges of his mouth from twitching up in his feeble attempt to smile back.

Jeonghan walked backward from Jisoo for a few steps before he finally turned around and his figure inched into the distance.

The brunette watched him for a few moments before retreating down his own street. His head cleared as his feet padded down the concrete sidewalk towards his house. His first day was over, and now it was time to go home and be alone, just as he had been all summer.

Surprisingly, he liked being alone. He always reminded himself that there's a difference between being alone and being lonely. He had never considered himself lonely, and he actually despised the thought of other people most of the time. No one was ever intriguing enough for him to want to be around them any more than he could get by with. It sounded tragic, but he was pretty okay with it.

He opened the door to his empty house and went straight up to his room. He had a couple of hours to kill before his dad got home, but there was really nothing to do. With the softest of sighs, he put his earbuds in and shuffled his music to give a soundtrack to the time he was going to spend staring at the ceiling.