"joshua!!" a loud voice yelled out from behind the brunette as he walked towards his house. he already knew who it was, he hated that he was able to recognize jun's voice at this point, so out of habit joshua increased his walking speed. the purple haired student behind him furrowed his eyebrows in frustration before sighing and beginning to run after joshua. "I know you're ignoring me on purpose! just wait up one second so we can talk!"

the purple haired male pouted when he saw that joshua made no effort at all to listen to him and stop to wait for him. he didn't really want to go through with the exercise, but jun knew he had to quicken his running speed if he wanted to catch up with joshua. luckily for the chinese student, the brunette was stuck waiting for a red light on the corner of a street so he had the chance to make an epic comeback to finally get joshua to hear him out.

"I said, wait up didn't I?" jun asked as he finally caught up to joshua, standing beside the brunette while panting to now catch his breath. he regretted running so quickly, especially because of the pain in his chest he was now feeling. joshua rolled his eyes and looked to the purple haired individual. he was ready to yell at jun, first the hyper senior got them both detention again and now here he was on a friday afternoon completely wasting joshua's time. "what the hell do you- are you okay?"

the brunette paused his train of thought as he watched jun continue to take deep breaths to try to control his abnormal heart rate. it was then that joshua realized that this wasn't the first time he had seen jun struggling to breathe like this. it was also one of the first times jun looked pretty serious because there was no sense of a smile on the chinese male's face. jun looked like he was frustrated and tired; he was actually both tired and frustrated of himself but joshua wouldn't know that until much later.

"you look like you just ran a whole marathon, and not in a good way." joshua bluntly spoke again, hoping that jun was actually okay. he ignored how the streetlight shifted to red and just watched uncomfortably as jun's breathing slowed down until he was breathing at a somewhat normalized pace. that was when the purple haired student smiled jovially at joshua as to hide that he was in pain. "it got you to stop walking away from me right? you gotta do what you gotta do."

joshua felt extremely angered by jun's words. the purple haired senior was trying to make it seem like he pretended to be struggling to get joshua to stop for him, which was untrue because he truly was having trouble catching his breath, and it seemed to be working because joshua furrowed his eyebrows immediately at the chinese male. it wasn't joshua's fault for believing him though, jun was an incredibly gifted actor who always found some way to mask his pain with jokes and his silly antics.

"unbelievable really junhui, goodbye I hope you have a shitty day." joshua turned away from jun and proceeded to try to cross the street before the streetlight changed right back to green, but a tug at his hand stopped him. the cars on the street started to drive by, meaning joshua had to wait for the light to change once again. of course joshua was just as frustrated by this as he was by jun, but he was more weirded out by how jun was still holding his hand while still managing to keep a serious expression on his face.

"wait seriously though I need to ask you something." jun's voice didn't reek of the trickery it usually embodied. instead, it seemed like jun was actually being serious. joshua maintained eye contact with jun as they both stepped away from the street curb, nodding to let jun know that he was listening while still subconsciously holding onto jun's hand. joshua figured that the purple haired male was actually being serious for once and that he might as well hear him out. if jun was joking around though, joshua was sure he would probably never let the chinese male speak to him again. "a bunch of us are meeting up at the mall in an hour after dropping off our stuff at home. since it is friday I figured you wouldn't be too busy to join this time?"

"yeah I don't know about that. I have a lot of reading to catch up on and I don't want to go knowing you'll be there." joshua frowned at jun as he gestured to him. that was when he realized that they were still holding hands so joshua pulled his hand away from jun's, ignoring the emptiness his hand now felt. jun didn't seem to be too offended by this, he was more upset that joshua was on the verge of rejecting his offer rather than pursuing the feeling of disappointment that joshua had let go of his hand.

"I just feel bad you didn't join us last time, come this time it'll be really fun I promise!" jun smiled warmly, holding up his pinkie to invite the latter into a pinkie promise. it always worked with his younger siblings, why not try it out on joshua? however, it didn't really work on the brunette because joshua seemed more weirded out by the pinkie than amused. joshua was swayed though by the sad gleam to jun's eyes and his words. he did feel left out last time his friends went to the mall without him and it was friday. maybe going with them this time will make him feel better about missing out last time. "alright but if it's not fun I'm holding it against you junhui."

"I have nothing against that at all josh." jun perked up instantly, smiling widely from ear to ear at the sound of joshua actually accepting his invitation. he didn't even care that joshua used his full name this time, that's how happy he was about the brunette saying yes to him. jun was sure this day would go down in the history books as iconic because of how graciously he got joshua's yes. it was like auditioning for american idol and getting a yes from the meanest judge on there! "I'll see you in an hour!!"

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not me planning a soonwoo fic when this one is just starting 😔 (p.s. I can't wait for the upcoming chapters :3)