sober | j.jk

14 ‣ somewhere

"Wasn't it my turn to get drinks?" You turn around to accept the water bottle Yugyeom hands you as he sits on the narrow ledge of the jumbotron base. "Thank you." You smile as he shrugs and mumbles something about already being by the coolers anyway. "Tired?" You take a short sip and screw the plastic cap back on and observing the devastatingly endearing shift in his handsome expression. Suddenly, everything about him brightens, like a wilting plant given water.

"What—? No." Yugyeom shakes his head, looking over at all the little elementary kids running around in their multicolored school shirts and the occasional sight of an adult figure scattered here and there. You hold your clipboard down by your hip, an inevitable chuckle leaving your lips through a playful grin. He glances up at you and immediately diverts his gaze when his eyes met your own. He does that often, you note. You never have the heart to tease him about it, though.

"You don't have to stay the entire time." You walk over and sit next to him on the uncomfortable concrete cylinder. "You've helped plenty." You add, recalling how he's helped you out from set-up all the way to now, and a huge help he was at that. "I can handle the last few groups and clean-up on my own. You probably have much better things to do on a Friday night than help pack up a field day." You smile at a little girl running past your section. She waves shyly.

"Wh—? Oh." Yugyeom realizes what you're hinting at. "Jaehyun invited you, too, huh?" He asks, watching off in the distance how that same little girl jogs up to a brown haired boy and takes his hand, dragging him off to the long-jump section where Taehyung finds his hands full with a swarm of other children. He puffs a quiet laugh under his breath, eyes smiling at his friend's overwhelmed expression. You watch with him, except you don't only smile at the kids, but at him, too.

"He did." You nod. "I can't go tonight, though, obviously. Not that I was dying to go in the first place." You shrug. "But you—"

"I'm fine here." Yugyeom shakes his head, gently cutting you off. "I wanna stay the whole time if that's okay."

"Of course it's okay," you tell him, pausing to collect your words, "I was just saying. In case, I don't know, you'd rather be out with your friends instead of volunteering here with me racing little kids down a football field." You glance up at the big clock on the other end of the stadium. Two more minutes left for your last break of the evening to end. Yugyeom shakes his head again and looks down at his shoes with a closed smile lingering on his lips.

"Racing kids down a football field sounds more fun to me right now than sitting in a lawn chair drinking and having my clothes and hair smell like burnt wood after." Yugyeom's voice is soft, lips curling up into a pretty smile as his sentence comes to a close. You can't help but match it. He doesn't see, trying to avoid any direct eye contact since he can sense you already looking at him. "Besides, the more hours I put in here, the better. Right?"

"Of course." You grin. He puffs out a quiet laugh. For a short while, you both sit in a comfortable silence.

"Is.. Jungkook going?"

"Jungkook?" Yugyeom repeats, strangely feeling his chest tighten. You two had been hanging out like this for a while now, once or twice a week, always coordinating your community service hours since you found out through texting that you were members of a lot of the same organizations on campus. That name hadn't been brought up at all, however. You inevitably hang out with Jaehyun, too, but Jungkook had been quiet for a few weeks already. He stopped calling.

"Um," you chuckle awkwardly, "never-mind." You wave the stupid question off, taking a stand as the last few seconds of your break pass you by. "Weird of me to ask." You want to glance over and see what expression might be showing on his face, but you can't. "It's just.." you stop before you make the atmosphere anymore awkward, "never-mind." You repeat the phrase quicker than the first time, casually slipping back into a half-sincere peppy facade. "I'll go—"