CHEERLEADER, woosan

nine

tw: homophobia

pulling the door of changmin's car open, san climbs into the backseat, instantly discarding his backpack onto the seat beside him. "hey, minnie hyung," he says over the sound of the radio, a smile on his face — it doesn't meet his eyes.

thankfully changmin doesn't pick up on it, and neither does chanhee, who has just seated himself in the passenger seat of the vehicle. "good morning, little choi!" changmin happily greets san, before starting the car.

clicking his seatbelt into place, san leans his head onto the window by his side as a shaky sigh leaves his lips. he's attempting to keep up a positive facade for the day ahead, though deep down he knows that today won't go perfectly like he wants it to. word travels around fast, and he's certain that yesterday's incident in science class has already reached every student's ears.

san has his bottom lip unconsciously caught in between his teeth as he visions every possible outcome of today, and let's be honest, none of them are anywhere near pretty.

"san-ah," chanhee's voice calls out for him, eyes fixated on the rear view mirror in front of him. when the pink-haired is gifted with san's attention, he continues, "everything's okay. and it'll stay like that, so stop stressing so much."

"mhm," is all san responds with, eyes lazily fluttering shut.

"tired, little choi?" changmin giggles, glancing at the boy through the rear view mirror for a short moment, before returning his gaze to the busy road ahead of him.

"a little.." truthfully san is tired, for he barely got any sleep last night due to his overbearing thoughts. plus, chanhee and him headed to bed rather late, after the older insisted that they rewatch 'lilo and stitch' for the hundredth time in order to brighten up san's mood. the blond can't exactly complain, though, since chanhee's plan worked, even if all of the progress he'd made has shattered.

"tough luck, then, because we're here now," changmin informs san, the vehicle slowing down as the orange-haired reverses into a parking slot.

whining in annoyance, san picks his head up from the window and slightly rubs at his eyes with a fist. he waits until changmin is done parking the car before opening the door, shouldering his backpack as he steps out into the blinding sunshine.

"bye bye, hyung." san sends a quick wave to chanhee, who smiles at him.

"have a good day, little choi!" chanhee says, hands clutching onto the straps of his bag as he begins to walk away.

san just nods his heads, spinning around on his heels, before starting to make his way into the school building. he shortly enters through the glass double doors, the hallway full of teens judgementally quietening down at his arrival. several of them fail to conceal their snickers, and a few even guiltlessly whisper who-knows-what kind of gossip to their friends.

internally reminding himself to take deep breaths, san drags his legs through the corridors of students, searching for someone, anyone, who he could hang with until class starts — preferably a friend, of course.

instant relief washes over him when a familiar strawberry-haired boy enters his peripheral vision. san rushes to hongjoong like his life depends on it, and is met with a soft smile from the elder right away. "hey, san! how are you doing?"

"hi, hongjoong hyung. i'm-i'm okay. could be better, though..."

hongjoong nods in acknowledgement, scanning their surroundings momentarily. "i'm going to be straight up with you, san-ah, the majority of us have been told about... um, what went on yesterday. but please don't panic, because, oddly enough, kang yeosang has gone around and told everyone not to mess with you unless they want to be dealt with."