jun stopped in front of his high school, hesitant to walk in. a few students, his classmates, who had passed by already had asked him if he were okay after what happened last week what with him collapsing in class. they stared only at the scar of the healing wound on his head as he thanked them shallowly for their concern and sent them on their ways. that wasn't what he was worried about though, he was more worried about how his friends would receive him. the chinese male sighed, deciding to just walk into the building.

he walked directly to his locker, placing a few books into it after folding up his coat and laying it carefully inside. afterwards he shut the locker which was when he spotted wonwoo looking at him from a distance. jun took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally for what his best friend had to say. the brooding ravenette made his way to jun's locker, followed by the rest of their friend group who had been well-informed of the pair's small fight after jun's stay at the hospital. they all watched as wonwoo finally stopped in front of jun with a scowl written all over his face. jun opened his mouth to speak after a few seconds when he sensed wonwoo wasn't going to make the first move. "look wonwoo, I'm sorry. you were right and I should have listened to you-"

jun stopped himself short of speaking when he was overwhelmed by the smell of wonwoo's cologne. the ravenette gave jun a long, strong hug which earned them gasps from both their friend groups and lingering students in the hall. mingyu and chan smiled proudly at the senior for showing jun the affection they felt that the chinese male needed while seokmin sniffled, wiping fake tears from his eyes to emphasize the sentimental mood brought out by the scene in front of them all. "no I'm sorry, I should have heard you out instead of just yelling at you like that. I was an ass."

"we were both asses. let's just put this behind us and move on." the purple haired male smiled, wrapping his arms around wonwoo's back as he embraced the hug. he felt warm inside, like he was finally being seen by those around him. his best friend was here for him despite how he had pushed him away carelessly. it felt different from how he felt with joshua's hugs, wonwoo's felt more platonic and stronger as if he were hugging with all his might where as the brunette was careful and more intimate with his hugs.

"you know you're quite the hugger wonwoo. we should get into fights more often if it means that you'll hug me like this afterwards." jun patted the senior's head once they separated from each other, laughing lightly at the embarrassed expression on his best friend's face. it was clear that he was shy about hugging jun so wholeheartedly in front of so many people. it definitely took a stab at his whole "I'm a badass and you all know it so I don't have to show it" image although nobody really thought of him like that because he really was the biggest dork around. wonwoo pushed jun's hand away from him and crossed his arms at the senior who paid no attention at all to the angry pout on his face as he directed his attention to those behind wonwoo. "you guys definitely have a good one here."

"couldn't you just shut up and accept the hug instead of talking bullshit?" wonwoo grumbled at the purple haired senior who just wouldn't stop grinning at him like a madman. with a flushed face he turned around and stopped when he saw the rest of the group's eyes on him. seokmin and joshua had matching smiles on their face, but those were nothing compared to the cunning smirks he spotted on both mingyu's and chan's faces. "and you two, don't look at me like that! in fact, I hate you all you good for nothing excuses for friends."

"hey wait don't just go off like that! if you're just giving out hugs now chan and I would like to collect ours!" mingyu shouted while grabbing on to chan's hand. the junior blushed at the light skinship, shaking it off when the taller student glanced over to see if chan would play along with him. the two had gotten closer, bonding over the way they both found comfort and affection from the ravenette. it would also be a lie to say that all the time they spent together trying to compete for wonwoo didn't contribute to the growing feelings they both had for each other. "yeah, what he said!"

the trio laughed at their friends as they chased their love interest down the hall. wonwoo had stormed off slowly to walk off his embarrassment but when he heard mingyu and chan pursuing him from behind, he transitioned to a quick sprint. students around them smiled at the trio as they advanced from the halls out into the front yard of the school. when mingyu and chan caught up to the ravenette, he stopped and hugged both of them while laughing hysterically (he found the chase to be both thrilling and fun).

"we were all worried, but now we're glad you're okay! I know we aren't as close as you and wonwoo, but I'll be here whenever you need a helping hand jun!" seokmin smiled. the trio left behind, composed of himself and the remaining pair of seniors from their friend group, continued to converse. jun gave seokmin a small hug. the brunette was kindhearted and showed it in every way he could, including in how he presented himself to others and his friends. "thank you seokmin, it means a lot really."

the junior then walked away to follow mingyu and chan who had gone after wonwoo; he shared first period with them both and the trio usually sat next to each other in the class so seokmin felt it was only right to find them so they could all accompany each other on their way to class. that left jun alone with joshua who had been suspiciously silent the whole time the group was together. a nervous feeling clawed at the purple haired student, but it was a good nervous feeling. he could feel the brunette behind him, ready to make a move to talk to him. the small instance of silence between them felt not empty, but full of potential as to where it would lead. jun had wanted it to end up somewhere along the lines of joshua embracing him in a guarded hug, maybe even with the brunette's lips overlapping his own, but he knew that that wasn't coming.

"joshua." he turned and made eye contact with the brunette who looked happy to see him. it made him chuckle, he could have sworn just a few months ago joshua would have had fury in his eyes rather than the admiration he had now. joshua wasn't the type to really publicly showcase his affection for others, or at least jun liked to think he wasn't, so he didn't expect for the brunette to do so at all. the way joshua discreetly held his hand though as he leaned in to whisper into jun's ear contradicted that though.

"it's good to have you back jun." the purple haired senior shuddered at the feeling of joshua's hot breath pushing past his ear. he slightly backed up and nodded to agree with the brunette's statement. putting some distance in between them would be best considering all jun could concentrate on were joshua's plump lips. he smiled at the latter and nodded as to show his gratitude towards joshua. he hadn't seen the brunette since they had cuddled in the hospital, but jun was still fond of that memory. "how are you feeling?"

"I'm glad to be back." a monotonous response came out of the chinese student's lips. joshua noticed that jun had brought up artificial expressions whenever one of their friends mentioned anything about his absence. he was genuinely touched by wonwoo's hug but seemed uncomfortable with seokmin's declaration. the conclusion of this and his quick answer to joshua's question was that he didn't want to dive into the subject. he seemed sensitive about it and joshua didn't want to push past jun's limits, not again.

"you know if I remember correctly I do owe you a snack from the vending machine." jun looked up as joshua backed up and smiled at the latter. the brunette had skipped past the question despite the unclear answer he had gotten, which is something a lot of their friends wouldn't have done. most people would have forced jun to say something about how he felt but joshua didn't. instead he held out his hand and just grinned at jun. "mind accompanying me there?"

"well aren't you quite the gentleman? I would love to accompany you, after all you have to catch me up on what I've missed." jun smiled as he laced his hand with joshua's. he swung his hand back and forth as they both started their walk down the hallway towards the vending machine on the floor. "while we're at it we can take a trip to the cafeteria. I really am craving a nice cold lemonade from the vending machine there and you did say you owed me one so-"

"don't get carried away jun, I'm only getting you this one thing I'm not paying three bucks for a whole lemonade."

"will you do it if I ask nicely? please get me some refreshing lemonade from the cafeteria joshua?" jun batted his eyelashes, bringing about the saddest pout he could to his lips as he faced joshua. the brunette barely took a glance at his face, mainly because joshua was afraid to be caught staring at how cute jun looked, and managed to scoff at the purple haired teenager's words before walking up to the vending machine and getting jun his favorite snack. the chinese male protested and pursued joshua as the brunette walked away abruptly, endlessly complaining about how the bag of chips made him feel thirsty for a nice bottle of lemonade. needless to say, it didn't take too long before joshua cracked and bought jun the damn lemonade. after all, how could he say no to that adorable face of jun's?

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I think this story has about 13 chapters left (excluding this one) and it's very scary how fast this is all going 😭 I'm seriously going to miss this story when it ends, it was so fluffy to write :3