after having his talk with yunho earlier that morning, seonghwa was very excited to go lunch that day. he knew hongjoong had the same lunch period as him as his friends, and seonghwa wanted to try to talk to him.

now that it was almost november, it was getting too cold to eat outside, so the boys sat inside the lunch room.

seonghwa walked in the lunch room and looked at their usual table, noticing none of his friends had shown up yet. he figured some might've been buying lunch, others possibly getting food from their lockers or speaking to a teacher. he took this as an opportunity to talk to hongjoong.

seonghwa turned his head to the right and saw that hongjoong and his friends were already sitting down, eating their lunch together. seonghwa smiled to himself, making his way to the trio.

at first, hongjoong didn't notice seonghwa's presence. hongjoong was way too caught up in his chicken nuggets to realize another person had sat down on his bench. when wooyoung looked up from his plate, he saw the dark haired boy sitting and staring at his friend.

"um, joongie? i think there's someone who wants to talk to you." hongjoong looked up at the sound of his name, turning his head to where wooyoung's finger was pointing.

when hongjoong realized that wooyoung's finger was pointing to seonghwa, he choked on his food a bit. he quickly swallowed it and wiped his face, mustering up a smile to match the older's.

"hey seongie! what are you doing here?" hongjoong asked the boy, genuinely curious.

"oh, nothing really. i was the first of my friend's to show up to lunch and i noticed you were sitting here, so i came to sit with you while i waited." seonghwa answered nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal.

yeosang and wooyoung turned their heads and looked at each other, smirking maliciously. hongjoong's cheeks turned a light shade of pink and he covered his face, internally cursing his fair skin for embarrassing him.

"why are you covering your face?" seonghwa asked the boy, moving hongjoong's hands from covering his rosy cheeks.

"can't you tell? he's obviously blushing!" wooyoung answered honestly for the boy, earning a death glare from hongjoong and a light slap from yeosang. "sorry." he muttered, cowering into himself and taking another bite of his grilled cheese sandwich.

"well if that's true, let me see it. you look cute when you blush." seonghwa chuckled and smiled widely while staring into hongjoong's eyes. the comment took all three boys off guard, yeosang's eyes widening and wooyoung immediately spitting his water back into the water bottle that he was sipping from. hongjoong froze in his spot, eventually building enough courage to answer seonghwa.

"i-i'll, i'll um... make sure not to c-cover up next time." hongjoong stuttered out, looking down into his lap as he spoke.

seonghwa lifted the boy's head from his chin, turning hongjoong to look him straight in the eyes. hongjoong gulped loudly, heart racing a million miles per hour.

"i'll be waiting for that. i'll catch you later, joongie." seonghwa smiled one last time before standing up and walking away from the table, waving goodbye to hongjoong and his friends as if nothing happened.

"woah, what was that?" wooyoung spoke up first, sounding extremely shocked as he spoke.

"i-i, i..." hongjoong tried to answer, but he couldn't get the words out.

"he looked like he was in love with you!" wooyoung screamed out, speaking a little too loud for hongjoong's liking.

"shh! don't scream that in the middle of the cafeteria!" hongjoong lifted his finger and placed it on wooyoung's lips, "but i, i really don't... i don't know what that was."

"well, i don't know if love is the correct word... but that looked like he came for a little more than what he told us." yeosang said with wide eyes.

"but, what do you think it could be?" hongjoong questioned, not understanding what yeosang meant.

"well, you told us about what happened last time seonghwa watched you. he was really mean to you out of nowhere, right?" yeosang asked and hongjoong nodded his head, both him and wooyoung listening intently to what yeosang had to say. wooyoung furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, interrupting yeosang before he could speak more.

"but what does that have to do with anything? i don't understand!" wooyoung cried out.

"wooyoung, let me finish!" yeosang laughed at his friends impatience, "maybe, just maybe, seonghwa likes you back?"

"no way! if he liked me, why would he have rejected me that one time?" hongjoong answered, not believing what yeosang was saying.

"well, that could be it. maybe when you admitted your feelings for him, he started thinking of you differently. and maybe when he started thinking of you differently, he didn't like the thoughts. that could be the reason he lashed out on you. maybe he was trying to cope with it by being mean to you so he could get over his feelings. then when you broke down, maybe he felt horrible about it because he knew deep down that he truly liked you. then he apologized and now maybe he's finally accepted the fact that he likes you." yeosang stated, shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal.

hongjoong took a minute to process all the information yeosang had told him. it finally all made sense to him.

seonghwa kept saying that he was sorry for lashing out on hongjoong, but he couldn't tell the younger why he had lashed out for no apparent reason.

maybe, just maybe, seonghwa lashed out on me because feels the same way about me that i feel about him...

"sangie, you might be right! oh wow, i never thought of it like that!" hongjoong exclaimed, jumping up and down in his seat.

wooyoung furrowed his eyebrows, still not processing what the boy meant. "i still don't get it!" wooyoung screamed in frustration.

"seonghwa liked hongjoong, seonghwa didn't want to like hongjoong, seonghwa was mean to hongjoong, hongjoong cried, seonghwa apologized, now seonghwa realizes he can like hongjoong." yeosang explained in more simple terms for the boy.

wooyoung sat with his finger on his chin, thinking hard. eventually, a lightbulb went off. he jumped up with wide eyes, smiling widely after finally figuring everything out.

"oh, i get it now! yeah, maybe that's what happened!" wooyoung screamed out, his friends laughing at him.

"took you long enough!" yeosang giggled, earning a slap from wooyoung.

hongjoong placed his head in his hands and looked up into the sky.

maybe he does like me, maybe we can be together one day... yeah, maybe one day, he thought to himself.

ask me why i hate this chapter... the list will go on forever and ever🤢🤨i felt unbelievably sick yesterday so idk, maybe it was just my head messing with me but if y'all hate it too i'd understand.

-vic