• • •

Wooyoung

Seven pm arrives, and suddenly there's this indigo blue portal in the livingroom, swooshing and swirling all about, and it would've been totally nervewrecking if I hadn't already gone through it a couple times before.

I peer over the couch at San, who's already dressed up in a comfy looking tie-dyed hoodie and dark jeans, and shoot him a calm smile.

He looks nervous about the portal's sudden appearance, which means he's probably never done this before.

"You have your ticket, right?" I ask, standing up. Since I'm such a gentleman, I help San to his feet as well, trying really hard to ignore the heat that swells under my chest at his very touch.

"Can't get in without it," I continue.

San nods, and it's then I notice our hands are still entwined. Clearing my throat, I pull away and shove my hands into my jean pockets, hoping I seem chill enough.

"You can go first, and don't worry, it's like entering through a door. A very cool, and slightly frightening gusty door," I add in my usual rambling fashion. My smiles grows even wider when San laughs.

"God, Wooyoung," he starts, pulling out his ticket that Hongjoong had paid for. He glances at me, then looks down, "You're so..."

San doesn't reply, and you can imagine the panic that flows through my mind right then.

I'm so what? I hurriedly think. Funny? Nice? Annoying? Weird?

I want to ask San what he was going to say, even though I know it's highly childish of me to want to know. But I can't help the curiosity. San, though, has already started heading through the portal, so I have no choice but to follow, the possibilities of what he'd wanted to say about me seeming endless.

And gosh, I don't even have the time to ponder over it because in the next second I'm surrounded by noise, the familiar chitchat of students edging its way into my ears. I immediately look around, exhaling a huge sigh of relief when I soon spot San with the minimal lighting.

As always, we're in some kind of tunnel that is lit up by these giant pale blue gems that substitute as lamps, and I rub my arms, trying to look for my other friends.

All of a sudden, something -- or rather, someone -- collides against my back and slings a heavy arm around my shoulder, and I totally don't let out an embarrassing squeak at the encounter.

"Wooyoung! San! Good god, what were you guys doing that it took us so long to find you two?" Mingi's asking us, ruffling through my locks like I'm some kind of pet. I try to glare at him, but hearing San laugh at this whole interaction lessens my anger. It also makes me all the more embarrassed about how I reacted, but I don't dwell too much on it.

"Looking for you?" I reply, to which Mingi softly pinches my cheek. I swat his hand away, spotting Yunho, Hongjoong and Yeosang shifting past other students to get to us. "Mingi, get your damn hands off me."

"Ouch, when, dear Youngie, did you get so vulgar?" Mingi answers, poking my cheek. I swear he has some sort of ulterior motive (as well as a death wish, to be honest) in doing this. As he continues to tease me, San continues to stare until the rest of our friends show up.

"Yeosang," I call out as soon as I see him, "please get this thing off of me."

We all erupt into laughter as Mingi dramatically gasps, voicing his complaints as Yeosang pulls him away.

"You guys are mean," he pouts.

Yeosang punches his arm, chuckling. "You heard the birthday boy, you're known as Thing now."

I laugh when Mingi then proceeds to latch himself onto Yeosang as a form of retaliation, and while Yunho and Hongjoong try and find a way to solve that, I instinctively step closer to San, not wanting him to feel left out.

"You okay?" I ask as we walk closer and closer towards the arena that's holding the Magik Flight game.

Our arms lightly swing and brush against one another, but I let it be. San doesn't move his hand away either.

"Yeah," he nods, "I'm okay. Just not that used to -- well -- all this."

"Really?" I say. "Didn't you like, have games at your old campus?"

San bites his lip. He does this a lot, I realize, especially when he's thinking hard about something.

I quickly add, "It's okay though! If you don't wanna talk about it. I don't wanna force you into anything."

San shakes his head, his nose crinkling as this cute tiny smile erupts over his features. He glances at me and gently shoves my side. "You're so nice, it's weird."

My chest twists, and I feel like I've committed some huge crime. "W-Weird?" I want to slap myself for stuttering.

San's eyes widen, red irises flashing with barely hidden panic. "No, it's not -- not what I meant. I mean, it's weird. But like, a good kind of weird. Shit, I'm so bad at giving compliments. Sorry if I offended you."

I want to reach out, hold him, and tell him that there's no freaking way he'd ever offend me, but I don't want him to see me as some creep who invades others' personal space, so I keep my distance.

"No, I'm not offended," I decide on answering instead. "And thanks for the compliment."

San pauses, but before I start to worry if I'd somehow done or said something wrong again, he reaches out and, hooks his arm with mine, totally avoiding my eyes.

"Hope you don't mind," he begins, "just felt like doing it."

Hope you don't mind, just felt like doing it, is what echoes inside my head before a billion thoughts swarm my mind like a hurricane.

I try to talk, trust me, I try to, but all that leaves my mouth is some hurried and whispered abomination of words that San (luckily) doesn't seem to hear.

"...I stayed with my grandma...for most of my life," San starts after a minute, causing me to look at him. "And she lives in the mountains, so I usually did most of my studies at home. Never really went out, so..."

Realizing he's telling me something about him that he considers personal, a stupid, giddy feeling ignites inside me.

"Well, at least you're making new memories here," I reply. "And hopefully, today's a good one."

San laughs, pretty-sounding and light. "Trust me, it is."

God, he's so cute, the annoying part of my mind gushes. I want to slap myself yet again.

"And, you said you lived with your grandma in the mountains, right?" I watch him, meeting his eyes. "Is that why your name's San?"

San laughs once more. He's so smiley today, I think, but I don't mind it in the slightest.

"'Cause my name means 'mountain'?" He questions. When I nod, he giggles. So cute. "Maybe."

"Alright, lovebirds," Hongjoong's voice is suddenly heard behind us. "What's up?"

Before the two of us can come up with an answer, a bell sounds, slicing past the atmosphere. The term 'Saved by the Bell' can totally be applied to this situation right now.

The tunnel completely disappears, showcasing luminous skies, this dreamy violet and blue theme going on with it. It looks absolutely gorgeous, but before I can say anything, an announcement blares past the arena's speakers.

"Take the seats alloted to you by your tickets. The game will begin shortly. Snacks and drinks will be served while the game is going on."

"Quick, let's sit down before everything starts to rise," Yeosang says next to me. "I can't fly for the life of me."

I can feel San's eyes on me, so I face him to explain what Yeosang means by that. "It's a flight game, hence the term 'Magik Flight', meaning the game's gonna take place in the sky."

San nods, and we walk side by side until we reach the row where our college's seats are.

"I got us one of the best seats, so we'll get to see everything, especially the players, in high definition," Hongjoong says with a smug grin. "Had to pay extra for it, but it'll be worth it, trust me."

"Imagine being this rich," Yunho says once we take our seats, which are luckily next to each other, "can't relate."

"I mean," Mingi coughs, "I'm rich too. We can get married and share the wealth."

Silence ensues, one which is filled with Yunho staring at Mingi, wide-eyed.

Mingi coughs again, rubbing the back of his dark blue hair. "I'm kidding."

"Right." Yeosang says, and Mingi glares at him.

"Goddammit, our friends are super weird," I mutter to San, and he chuckles, looking all cuddle-material in the hoodie he's wearing.

"I don't mind at all." He smiles, staring up at the sky. The seats slowly start to ascend to meet up with the floating playing field. "Hey."

Loving how talkative San's being tonight, I peer at him and raise my eyebrows. "What?"

"The sky looks really pretty right now."

I stare at the sky, realizing that he's right. It really does look pretty. If the soft colours aren't already enough to wow you, then the bright moon in the distance that illuminates the entirety of the field surely will.

San continues to speak, eyes alight with admiration at this picturesque scene we're in. "My favourite colour's purple, so this just makes this experience all the more amazing. I really like how the sky looks from up here."

Wizardhow: How to NOT make Jung Wooyoung jealous of the freaking sky???

"So you like my hair as well?" I ask. The speaker announces that the game's just about to start.

"I mean, yeah. Didn't I tell you before?"

I don't get to reply, which is a blessing in disguise because I had no idea how I was going to go about answering that question.

Cheers erupt from all corners of the arena, and it spreads to me as well, the excitement in the air contagious.

Hongjoong is right; where we're seated is perfect enough to see the players, who are now entering the field. Just like Mingi promised, he cheers extra loud once he catches sight of a smiling Seonghwa on the projected screen. Our school's team colour -- blue and black -- is different from the other school's, which is a standard red.

I discreetly watch San to try and gauge his reaction to seeing Seonghwa -- who still manages to look unethically dashing even in our school's humdrum Magik Flight uniform. I don't know why I feel so relieved when San doesn't pay more attention to him than the other players. Maybe he's still mystified with his surroundings, but I still consider that a good thing.

Wizardhow: How to NOT make Jung Wooyoung jealous of every freaking thing???

• • •

After two and a half hours of shouting, cheering, scoring, flying, and Mingi throwing popcorn in a fit of sport inflicted rage, the game finally ends with our school winning by a close shot, and we leave our seats, heading to the hall connected to the arena to get some more food since we're all still hungry.

"How was the game?" Hongjoong asks San, his arm around his shoulders. He's probably already aware that this is San's first time attending an event like this.

"Cool," is San's short reply, and Yeosang snorts, almost choking on his drink. Yunho and Mingi exchange concerned glances.

"Dude, there are times where you're just, hilariously funny," Yeosang wheezes. "And this is like, one of those times."

"Okay," Hongjoong decides to intervene, patting Yeosang's back to try and calm him down. The whole thing's frighteningly funny. "Since I decided I'm paying for everything today, what do you guys want?"

Immediately Yunho's alert. "There's this dance-off-game-thing I really wanna try out -- "

"Only food," Hongjoong cuts in.

Yunho looks to me for help. I chuckle a bit.

"Food and games. Please, hyung?" I beg Hongjoong, batting my eyes extravagantly at him. "That dance-off-game-thing sounds really fun."

Hongjoong sighs, eventually giving in. "You're lucky you're cute, as well as the fact that today's your birthday."

"Yay!" Yunho cheers, giving me a high five.

"I want a sandwich," Yeosang adds.

Hongjoong nods. "Got it."

Mingi points at himself. "I'm playing that dance-off-game-thing with Yunho."

"Got it," Hongjoong answers yet again.

"San, what do you want?" I ask.

"Anything's fine." He looks away and shrugs, seeming like a deer caught in headlights.

It doesn't help that at that moment, Yeosang pats my back and whispers in my ear: "San was totally staring at you the whole time you and Hongjoong were talking."

"Shut up," I whisper back, although my body's now electrified at Yeosang's comment.

"I swear, if his eyes were lazers, they would've punctured gaping holes in your skull by now."

I decide to step away from Yeosang before he says anything worse.

With Hongjoong taking the lead, we get Yeosang his sandwich, and buy whatever snacks that catch our eyes. Yunho soon gets to play that dance-off-game-thing, which is just an area where you copy the dance moves on the screen to win some cute plushies.

As Yunho and Mingi battle it out, I spot Jongho at one of the stands, a sandwich identical to Yeosang's in his hand.

"Jongho!" I greet, waving at him. He walks over to us, Hongjoong and San greeting him as well, while Yeosang's engrossed with the quite hilarious competition going on between our two tallest friends.

"He's the person who dyed my hair," I tell San, "he's really good at it."

"Thanks for the compliment," Jongho tells me. He looks at San, since Hongjoong is now busy texting someone. "And... Choi San, is it? You're a... vampire, correct?"

San looks surprised since I never mentioned his name to Jongho, so I quickly add: "He's the psychic kind of witch."

"Ah, I'm not so good at it," Jongho answers. "But then again, you probably already knew that since you can read minds."

San smiles, while mine completely vanishes.

Wait, San can read minds?

Hongjoong's a vampire, but he never once mentioned having the ability to read someone's mind. Vampires used to be able to, but that was long ago. So how can San be able to read minds?

I feel like I've frozen over.

Shit. Did San ever read my mind? I recall every single moment I've thought about him in embarrassing ways, and the more I think about it, the more anxious I feel.

Crap, what if San heard all the times I called him cute --

"God, oh my god! Guys, oh my god, you have to see this," Yeosang's voice is clearly audible despite the fact that he's laughing his entire body off.

I land back into reality, and reality is seeing Mingi and Yunho stuck in this compromising position as a result of conflicting dance moves. And the sight is both laughable and horrifying at the same time.

But I can't laugh, because if San can truly read my mind, then he probably thinks of me as a major creep by now. What if he's reading my mind at this moment?

"Fuck," I mutter. To make matters worse, San stares at me right then.

"Are you okay?" He asks. An amused glint is present in his vibrant copper eyes, mostly because he'd also seen Yunho and Mingi hilariously tangled moments prior.

"Sure." I cough. "I mean, yeah."

San smiles broadly, patting my chest. My heartbeat ripples underneath his touch. "You're so awkward, it's..."

I raise a brow at him, unable to hide my curiosity. "It's what?"

"Adorable. It's adorable."

I fake a disappointed expression. "Wow. I'm just adorable to you?"

I pretend I don't notice San leaning closer to me with a chuckle.

"You're nice too."

"And?"

San rolls his eyes, and I fake gasp.

"You're also a total dork," he adds.

"Wow, okay. Uhm." I clear my throat, staring right at him. Under the gleaming violet skies, I feel like we're the only two people here. "I'm officially now known as the Adorable Nice Total Dork. Nice to meet you, Choi San."

"God, you're crazy," San comments, but he says this affectionately, reaching to clasp my outstretched hand to shake. "Nice to meet you too, even though we're college roommates and I see you like, every day."

"You guys make me wanna vomit," Hongjoong tells us, looking up from his phone. He scoffs when I flip him off, but I can't even be mad. Not when everyone's having fun, not when the night sky looks so pretty, and especially not when Choi San's standing next to me, happy and looking nothing less than perfect.

I think I like him.

It's a thought, one that's soft and barely heard, but that's not what shocks me. It's the fact that the voice isn't my own.

• • •

a/n: thoughts?

(qotd) whats the best thing about reading this fic? for me, the best thing is being able to describe things i wouldn't be able to if this fic was just a normal college au fic.