gossip ;; 2jae [Editing]

Chapter 13

||| - Maybe - |||
• Monday •

Morning

Youngjae had left MMG early. He'd done his part; participated, reacted, silently plotted like everyone else that attended. Yet after he'd taken his turn, Youngjae became incredibly bored. So, today, like most Mondays nowadays, he'd settled for wandering around the compound until the first bell rang.

"Hey, Youngjae!" Jaebum greeted loudly after said bell, speed walking past him on the way to their first class. Youngjae stared at the latter's back, extremely confused by the cheery greeting.

The actual fuck?

Lunch

"Aye, do you wanna go get Burger King?" A voice asked from behind. Youngjae closed his locker and turned around to find a smiling Jaebum. Weird. He looked in every direction, trying to find who the boy was talking to. The corridor was empty. Maybe Jaebum was going mad?

"Me?" Youngjae asked, pointing to himself.

"Who else?"

Definitely a few screws loose today, Youngjae thought.

"I dunno - um - one of your friends?" He said.

"Who said you can't be one of my friends?" Jaebum countered, weirdly playful. You, literally every day, Youngjae wanted to shoot back but instead let his eyes widen comically. It all seemed a bit rushed and sudden. It had only been thirteen chapters, and who knew how long Jaebum had actually been entertaining the thought of willingly putting up with Youngjae.

"For reals?" The younger boy almost screamed, choice of words disregarded.

"Yeah," Jaebum replied just as cheerfully with - what Youngjae hoped to be - a genuine smile. He had never seen Jaebum this happy.

He hugged the other boy tightly, wanting to always feel this jovial and accomplished. "Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Finally!" Youngjae chanted, jumping up and down slightly while still clinging to Jaebum.

Regretting his decision, the burgundy-haired boy lightly pushed Youngjae off before dusting off air. "Don't flatter yourself," he deadpanned, scoffing. "You still have to remain on my good side for a while before you get the right to call yourself my friend."

Youngjae immediately sobered up, having expected such fuckery. This morning, in their first class, Jaebum had voluntarily asked to switch seats with Youngjae's usual seatmate. Then the older boy had started a conversation with with Youngjae when he found the chance, letting him bitch about Donghyuck and the most recent 'news'. Youngjae had been increasely skeptical after that, waiting for Jaebum's friendly façade to finally fall as it normally did shortly after it was raised.

Youngjae couldn't, for the life of him, process why he still wanted to be Jaebum's friend so badly. He liked what they had. Annoying Jaebum had become his favourite pastime in place of MMG. Just the way the burgundy-haired boy narrowed his eyes now, irked for some reason, brought as much joy to Youngjae as the spiciest of gossip.

Nevertheless, he pulled on his brightest smile yet, so Jaebum could still take him as the desperate, dumb damsel Youngjae clearly seemed to be to him. Youngjae didn't quite care anymore about how Jaebum perceived him, he always ended up ruining whatever character he built around the older boy anyway. But if acting overly-cheery prevented that then Youngjae could work with it.

"Oh well," he chirped.

Jaebum rolled his eyes playfully, walking in the direction of the front of the school, "Let's just go."

"Okay!" Youngjae skipped past him, letting the happiness from before overpower his skepticism for the time being.

After School

"Youngjae!" Someone called. Said boy turned around, pasting a smile onto his face when he saw Jaebum making his way towards him. Youngjae would be lying if he said he didn't instantly prepare for the worst when the older boy started running. "Can I walk with you for a bit?" Jaebum asked once he was beside him.

Youngjae was tired. He had spent the last part of the day stuck between Mark and Jackson, mediating one of their stupidest arguments to date. He head was killing him because of it and he just wanted to get home quickly and silently.

He still nodded in affirmation. He wasn't heartless. Jaebum was making an effort, had even agreed to be his friend, so he could at least give him this.

"So how is your knee doing?" The older boy asked, trying to fill the silence that had enveloped them as they walked.

"It's healing nicely, though it'll probably leave a scar," Youngjae answered curtly, head throbbing in response.

Jaebum nodded, a bit surprised by his tone. The younger boy was usually a lot more excitable when it came to getting attention. But now he was silent, reserved. Jaebum didn't understand how such a sudden switch could occur within a mere two hours. Maybe Youngjae had been put off by his sudden harshness at lunch? But it couldn't be because, even though he'd looked crestfallen for a moment, Youngjae had quickly become happy again.

Still Jaebum found himself wondering if Youngjae was actually just trying to keep an enemy close. It was a big assumption but he'd heard how fake the other boy could be and Jaebum was clearly not on his good side. It didn't help that he'd also heard about how Youngjae had took Donghyuck to the brunette's favourite coffee shop to hang out. The same Donghyuck Jaebum had to force himself to listen to Youngjae rant about.

Jaebum smiled in relief when he halted by the street that led to his house, beginning to get fed up with how awkward they both were. Youngjae walked a few steps more before realizing and stopped as well. He turned around to face Jaebum, embarrassed.

"This is my street," Jaebum says. Youngjae nodded silently, forcing himself to then say 'bye'.

After, he stayed standing in the same spot for a few minutes, watching as Jaebum's figure progressively shrunk in the distance until he could no longer see him.

Maybe Youngjae was overreacting. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if he was himself around Jaebum. He was pretty sure it wasn't his 'happy virus' persona that got the burgundy-haired boy to cave anyways.

Youngjae started walking, observing all the houses he had passed everyday for years. Every lawn was cut to perfection, flower gardens worthy of awards. It was only just past three in the afternoon, so there wasn't many cars parked in driveways or neighbourhood kids running around.

Nothing had really changed after all this time, yet today felt different. Though Youngjae was still waiting for Jaebum to return to his old ways, he couldn't help but feel undeniably happy. Genuinely, almost wholeheartedly for the first time in years.

Maybe having Jaebum as an actual friend wouldn't be so bad.