chapter 3

Doyoung felt nice and comfortable in Jeongwoo’s embrace. But it was getting too long. Even if he liked that hug, he wondered to himself, “Why isn’t he letting go?”

And Jeongwoo felt so calm and amused after hugging his friend. Doyoung’s small frame and the baby powder scent coming from him was just so cute for the younger boy. Doyoung’s shirt’s fabric was soft and so was his milky white skin underneath the fabric. And as a whole, Jeongwoo just didn’t feel like letting him go.

Not that Doyoung was complaining though. His heart was beating faster and he felt happy. He knew he felt something for his closest friend who was hugging him. But Doyoung kept thinking it was just a friendly kinda love caused by how Jeongwoo stayed by his side always.

But as they were having the best times of their lives, Doyoung felt someone’s presence. And when he opened his eyes staying in the hug, he saw some boys’ figure at the entrance of the boys’ restroom.

In an instance, he pushed Jeongwoo out of the hug. The boys looked at them at the sudden action. Doyoung looked at Jeongwoo’s eyes with a fearful expression. He knew something was gonna happen.

But Jeongwoo didn’t look like he was afraid or tensed. He simple intertwined his hand with Doyoung’s. The shorter one tried to let go but Jeongwoo put some force on Doyoung’s hand with his own. Giving a nudge as a symbol of reassurance, Jeongwoo swiftly left the restroom, hand in hand with Doyoung.

-

After what happened with Jeongwoo the other day in the washroom, Doyoung felt happy. He understood how much Jeongwoo cared for him and the hug gave him butterflies.

But the fear of rumours spreading around made him insecure, mostly about his friendship with the younger one. Will Jeongwoo still be as close friends with him if a rumour takes place? Will they be as comfortable as they were before? These thoughts made him overthink about everything. Whenever someone stared at him or even glanced at him, Doyoung felt like they were thinking about the possible rumour that could take place. Every time someone simply laughed around him, he felt like he was being teased and mocked.

But after all, he tried to convince himself that nothing would be happening because of a single hug. Friends can hug too right? That slight hope made Doyoung relieved.

But his worst nightmare came true after two days when he heard a group of friends talking about him and Jeongwoo being a couple. Maybe they were supporting it? Doyoung tried to convince himself until he finally realized how most of the people were mocking.

“Oh my- that boy seduced Park Jeongwoo?”

“Seriously gay?? But didn’t Jeongwoo like girls?”

“Ew please they would make the worst couple ever! Like a boy with a boy oh please, I wanna vomit.”

“But they do look cute together.”

“I can’t believe Jeongwoo can be manipulated so easily. Like geez!”

“But the new boy does have charms! Like I find him pretty cute.”

“Oh please, this is shit ! I bet they won’t last a month!”

Doyoung walked through the corridor and he couldn't help but hear all these things being talked about him and Jeongwoo. He did feel nice hearing those one or two supportive comments. But his biggest fear was about his dear friend Jeongwoo's reaction after getting to know about the rumour going on about them.

Doyoung took the opportunity and sneaked out of the classroom to avoid any interactions with Jeongwoo. He stayed in a washroom stall the whole time, using his phone to pass the time.

But his disappearance was noticed by Jeongwoo pretty soon. He tried looking for the elder for a few minutes before Haruto convinced him that maybe Doyoung wanted some alone time. Cause the said boy wasn't interacting with Jeongwoo since the morning.

Lunch time was pretty horrible for Jeongwoo. The whole friend group did worry for a certain Kim Doyoung. But Jeongwoo was just so used to the said boy's company, that he felt disturbed without him.

Jeongwoo was confused the whole time when Doyoung kept on ignoring him for the whole day. He assumed that maybe Doyoung would talk to him after sometime. But no, the elder didn't.

But luck wasn’t there for Doyoung that day because he had cleaning duty. Doyoung sighed in annoyance. But then he saw Jeongwoo leaving the classroom. He felt relieved that Jeongwoo finally gave up on talking to him. But Doyoung felt hurt too. So he wasn't that important to Jeongwoo after all.

After some good 30 minutes, Doyoung was finally finished with cleaning. He finally left the classroom for home when a hand dragged him to a corner with force.

“We need to talk.” Spoke the owner of the voice who dragged him.

“We don't have anything to talk about, Jeongwoo-yah.” Doyoung stated sternly. “Yes we do! Why are you suddenly ignoring me like this??” Jeongwoo asked, with tint of sadness evident in his voice. “As far as I recall, we were on good terms yesterday too, what did I even do, Doyoungie?” He asked in a helpless tone.

A soft sigh escaped from Doyoung's plump lips. He held Jeongwoo's hand gently and led him to an empty classroom.

“Now tell me.” Jeongwoo demanded after closing the door from inside. “People are talking.” Doyoung shortly replied. The younger only raised an eyebrow.

“They think...they think that we're a couple.” Doyoung mumbled, breaking his eye-contact with the latter.

“So?” Jeongwoo casually asked. “Most of them don't take this positively Jeongwoo-yah. There are a lot of homophobic people here, they are making fun of you!” Doyoung spoke.

“I don't give a fuck about them, Doyoungie. We know that we're friends so why would we care about them?” Jeongwoo said, holding Doyoung-s shoulders with his both hands. The elder felt a pang in his chest at the word ‘friends'. He genuinely liked Jeongwoo for a long time now and he also realized he saw Jeongwoo as something more than friends.

If it wasn't for Jeongwoo's reputation, Doyoung wouldn't mind people thinking of them as boyfriends.

“You don't understand.” Doyoung sighed, “They all think I'm gay and I'm a bad influence on a straight person like you. They are having the wrong idea about you liking me.”

“So what if you're gay. There's nothing wrong in it and nor there is at me liking you."

“That's lame.” Doyoung mumbled. Jeongwoo's eyes softened at the elder's words. He put his palm on Doyoung's right cheek and admired his beauty for sometime. Foundation, eyeshadow, lip-gloss, blush- Doyoung had all in his face. But Jeongwoo focused on his features. His pretty eyes, long eyelashes, button nose, fluffy cheeks and plump lips. He was undoubtedly the prettiest person in Jeongwoo's eyes.

Jeongwoo smiled.

And then Doyoung felt a pair of lips touching the bangs of his forehead. His eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly at his friend's action.

“It's not lame. You're the prettiest person with the purest heart. Liking you would be a blessing to me, Doyoungie. The one who will claim you as theirs will surely be the luckiest.” He spoke looking directly into the latter's eyes.

Doyoung's eyes glistened a bit at that. As someone who constantly got bullied for his insecurities and appearance, he hardly heard any compliments. Jeongwoo was the first one who showered him with compliments like this.

Doyoung gave a slight nod and mumbled a ‘thank you'.

Jeongwoo smiled. But then he got a question in his mind. Without hesitating he asked, “Doyoungie are you actually gay?”

Doyoung felt like a knife piercing through his heart. He remembered how his close friend exposed his sexuality to the whole school and the bullying started. He didn't wanna experience the shitty situation ever again. So he shook his head slightly, “No I just said that as an ‘imagine' thingy.” The taller boy frowned. “I know you're lying.”

“I'm not.” Doyoung simply replied.

“You can be read so easily, Doyoung-ah. It's obvious in your eyes that you're scared about me knowing that you like boys.” Doyoung gulped, knowing that his secret is no longer a secret even if he say that he's straight a hundred times.

“You don't have to be scared.” The latter spoke in a calming a reassuring voice.

“You don't know how they were. My closest friend back then exposed me and I had the worst time of my life. Mocking, bulling, violence- everything took my will to live. And then I decided to change school and not to interact with anyone in here. But look at you, always trying to talk to me. Now that you know too, I'm scared.” Doyoung honestly spoke his heart out.

The younger listened to every word carefully and then he cupped the shorter one's cheeks with his hands. “I'm not like them you know that, right?” Doyoung pressed his lips in a thin line and nodded.

“Just trust me, Doyoungie. I'm not gonna let anyone insult you ever.” And at that, Doyoung gave another nod, “I do trust you but the feeling still haunts me.”

Jeongwoo nodded, understanding his friend. “I promise, these won't happen to you ever again as long as I'm with you.” Doyoung smiled.

“Let's go home now.” Saying so Jeongwoo intertwined his hand with Doyoung's and they left the classroom together. For the first time, Doyoung wanted to trust someone else with his secret and somehow Jeongwoo made him feel extra protected and valuable after this.

《《《☆》》》

Sorry for the delay in updating yall :( I had hectic days recently so I was too tired and unmotivated to write.

But now I guess I'll start writing again regularly ! Hope you liked this chapter ^^ only a few more chapters are left as this fic will short hehe >3< do comment and vote kay? Teu-ba !