"hi boys!" hongjoong screamed out after opening the door for his two best friends.

"joongie! i have so much to tell you!!" wooyoung jumped up and down in excitement after hongjoong greeted him and yeosang. he ran straight into the house without bothering to wait for hongjoong to move out of the way, hitting his friend in the shoulder and almost knocking him over.

"wooyoungie! that hurt." hongjoong laughed out loud and dramatically held onto his shoulder, pretending to be in pain.

"i'm so sorry! oh my god, are you ok? i didn't mean to hurt you! do you want me to get your mommy?" wooyoung cried out, believing the smaller boy in front of him was actually in pain. he grew more and more anxious after each word came out of his mouth.

"wooyoung, he was joking! see, he's laughing. there's no need to worry." yeosang pointed to hongjoong who was doubled over from how hard he was laughing. wooyoung let out a loud sigh in frustration.

"joongie, don't do that to me! i was scared!" wooyoung stomped his foot and hongjoong put his hands up in defense.

"i'm sorry wooyoung, but that was very funny." hongjoong tried to hold back his laugher, but failed miserably.

"you guys are meanies! i'm gonna find ms. kim, she's nicer than you two." wooyoung stormed off to the kitchen with his arms crossed and his head held high.

"let's follow him before he eats everything in your cabinets." yeosang said and hongjoong nodded his head in agreement, following close behind yeosang who led the way.

when the two entered, wooyoung was already sat at the kitchen table eating some cookies that he found laying out in the open. hongjoong started laughing and took a seat next to his friend, but yeosang stopped in his tracks.

jongho.

jongho noticed hongjoong's friends had arrived because he heard the doorbell ring earlier, but he didn't notice they had entered the kitchen. upon his mother's request, he was boiling some pasta for the family and hongjoong's friends to eat together. jongho had his airpods in, so he couldn't hear anyone around him.

"sang, are you ok? you look like you've seen a ghost." wooyoung asked with a mouth filled with chocolate chip cookies.

when both wooyoung and hongjoong looked over to where yeosang was staring, they knew exactly why he was frozen in his place.

"yeosang, don't be nervous. he has his airpods in, he can't even hear us." hongjoong reassured his older friend who nodded his head weakly and walked to sit across from the two of his friends at the kitchen table.

"wait wooyoung, you said you had a lot to tell me. what happened?" hongjoong asked and wooyoung's eyes lit up.

"oh yeah! i didn't tell sangie either because i wanted to tell you guys at the same time." wooyoung smiled widely and looked off into space.

yeosang and hongjoong laughed at the boy's usual actions. yeosang lightly tapped his arm, catching wooyoung's attention from the ceiling to them once again.

"and?" yeosang waved his hand for wooyoung to continue.

"oh yeah!" wooyoung laughed, "so you know how i said i was busy last night, right?"

"yeah." the boys said in unison.

"well, i went on a date with sannie. and guess what happened!" wooyoung screamed almost too loud, hongjoong looking over to his brother to make sure he didn't turn around.

"what happened?" yeosang asked, seeming extremely interested.

"he asked me out! so now we're dating!" wooyoung giggled as he clapped his hands together repeatedly.

both hongjoong and yeosang couldn't believe what wooyoung had told them. yeosang smiled widely and hongjoong turned to his side to give wooyoung a big hug.

"oh my god, that's amazing! so you guys are like official official?" hongjoong asked and wooyoung nodded his head repeatedly.

"yes! completely official, isn't that amazing? i'm so happy about it i can't even put it into words!" wooyoung cried out, wiping the happy tears that were falling from his eyes.

at that moment, jongho had finished boiling the pasta for the group of people he needed to feed. he turned the stove off and moved the pot to a burner that wasn't hot to make sure it didn't overcook. he grabbed a drainer and placed it in the sink, pouring the pasta in and letting the water drip out into the sink.

after draining their dinner, jongho turned to grab a bowl to put the pasta in. when he turned, his heart rate increased drastically.

yeosang... why didn't hongjoong tell me they were coming in the kitchen?, jongho thought in his head, turning back around to compose himself.

the boy took a few deep breaths and rubbed his head that was suddenly pounding, turning around once again to greet the boys in the room with him.

"um, hi guys. hongjoong, why didn't you tell me you guys came in here? i would've said hi, now i feel rude." jongho chuckled uncomfortably as he took out his airpods from his ears.

yeosang gulped loudly as jongho began speaking. he shut his mouth tightly, too afraid to even attempt to speak to the older.

"i'm sorry jongie, i didn't want to interrupt you." hongjoong apologized and jongho shook his head.

"it's ok, joong. no need to be sorry. i'll finish up the pasta and then we can eat together if it's ok with you. mom will be home in a bit, she said there were more people in the store than she expected." jongho asked without thinking of who he exactly had to eat with.

"yeah! i think we'd all love it if you sat with us, especially yeos--" wooyoung immediately stopped speaking when yeosang kicked him hard in the shin under the table. he grabbed his leg and held it in pain as yeosang gave him a death glare.

"i think what wooyoung meant was that it's very ok with us, you can sit with us if you'd like." hongjoong spoke for wooyoung, turning to face to the boy and giving him a knowing look. wooyoung shrugged, honestly not regretting anything he said.

"ok..." jongho trailed off, "let me put in the sauce and then we can eat. hongjoong, do you mind getting bowls for everyone?"

"of course! come on guys, let's set the table." hongjoong jumped up and ran over to the cabinet to grab some bowls for everyone. wooyoung screeched and immediately followed, grabbing the glass bowls from hongjoong's hands to place around the table.

"yeosang, are you gonna help?" wooyoung asked when he walked back to the table, seeing yeosang still sitting in the exact same spot as he was when wooyoung left the table to help hongjoong.

"oh... i'm sorry. yeah, let me help." yeosang stood up and nervously walked over to hongjoong, shaking slightly with each step.

"sangie, are you ok?" hongjoong whispered out, speaking quietly so no one else could hear.

"y-yeah," he stuttered, "it's just, you kno--"

"i know, but don't be nervous. for your information, him and ryujin broke up last night... go get your man!" hongjoong cut yeosang off mid sentence and placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking it roughly to hype him up.

after hearing what hongjoong had said, yeosang smiled extremely widely. his heart fluttered and his body filled up with excitement.

"wait, really?" yeosang asked in disbelief.

"yes! and to be more specific, part of the reason he broke up with her... actually the main reason... was that she was disrespectful. she would bad mouth everyone, especially me, you and wooyoung. jongie said he had enough of her rude behavior and ended it! he specifically mentioned you, too! i think that's a good sign." hongjoong spoke into yeosang's ear.

"wow." was all yeosang could say in response as he backed away from hongjoong.

"i know! so let's go sit down, maybe something interesting will happen tonight." hongjoong winked and walked away, leaving yeosang to stand alone with his thoughts.

"you guys are no help!" wooyoung screamed out, placing his hands on his hips, "me and jongho did everything!"

"i'm sorry!" hongjoong laughed and took his seat, noticing yeosang still hadn't moved from his spot.

"sangie, dinner is ready!" hongjoong called his friend who turned around and sprinted to his seat.

when yeosang sat down, he noticed jongho had taken the seat next to him.

of course... that would be my luck.

"dig in!" hongjoong spoke and went to grab the spoon to scoop the food out, but wooyoung beat him to it and took enough pasta to feed a horse.

"wooyoung, leave some for the rest of us!" hongjoong laughed as wooyoung stuffed his face with a smile. the two of them started a conversation amongst themselves about what they wanted to do during their hangout, leaving yeosang and jongho all alone.

as the boys spoke, jongho turned to his right and noticed how uncomfortable yeosang looked in his seat. in order to calm the boy's nerves, jongho decided to start up a conversation.

"so, um... yeosang." he lightly tapped the boy's arm and yeosang immediately turned his head around. jongho let out a slightly shaky breath before continuing, "how was your day?"

yeosang's eyes widened as jongho spoke. he tried his best to respond, to say something back... but when his mouth opened, only sounds came out. jongho hit himself in the head, feeling like a complete idiot when he remembered yeosang's condition.

"sorry, uh..." jongho quickly took his phone out of his pocket and opened the notes app, handing the device to the boy next to him, "here, you can type out your response."

jongho showed his gummy smile and yeosang automatically returned the smile to him. he began typing rapidly, his heart beating out of his chest as he thumbs moved on jongho's keyboard.

'it was ok. nothing too interesting happened.' yeosang showed the boy, shrugging his shoulders and giggling as he did so. jongho cooed at how adorable yeosang's giggle was, pinching his cheek without giving it a second thought.

"oh, i'm s-sorry yeosang," he stuttered out, "i don't know why i pinched your cheek."

yeosang lifted the phone again and began typing out a response.

'it's ok... i actually liked it." yeosang hid his red face with his sweater paws as he showed jongho the phone.

"you're so cute, sangie." jongho blurted out and he immediately covered his mouth with his hands, eyes widening in embarrassment, "i-i, i-i don't kn--"

'you're cute too, jongie.' yeosang tapped jongho as he spoke, growing confidence he didn't know he had in him.

"thank you." jongho responded, blushing a dark shade of pink as he spoke. before they two could continue any sort of conversation, wooyoung began speaking to yeosang, taking the boy's attention away from jongho.

when jongho was left alone, his thoughts began running wild.

what am i doing? i know the boy likes me... i can't lead him on. but i don't think i'm leading him on? i just broke up with ryujin... maybe i'm doing this because i'm lonely? like a rebound of some sort? no, it doesn't feel like that... but i can't tell what it feels like? what is going on with my mind...

can y'all tell i'm italian? first pizza, then chicken cutlets, now pasta... italian food is the best periodt💅🏼i don't make the rules!!

ALSO JONGSANG... MY HEART CANNOT TAKE IT🥺

-vic