synopsis : seonghyeon and y/n had been best friends since childhood. unfortunately for him, he notices himself catching feelings. the mere thought of rejection made him sick, so he decided pulling away would be better.
warnings : angst , fear of unrequited love
.ᐟ ᢉ𐭩 lowercase intended, not proof read.
seonghyeon and y/n walked aimlessly, hands stuffed in their pockets as they talked about life.
after a long school day, it only felt right.
time slowed down when the two were together, a reminder that everything would be okay.
they were each other’s peace, and it had been that way since sixth grade.
fate brought the two together, and they’d been best friends ever since. close enough that he could steal some of her fries off her plate, knowing they were her favorite food in the world, and she’d still offer him more.
or the way they ranted to each other about every single minor inconvenience, no matter how insignificant it was.
they’d grown used to each other.
used to the way they filled the silence. used to having someone to complain to, someone to laugh with, someone who made even the most ordinary days feel a little easier.
y/n suddenly burst into laughter, bending forward as she tried to catch her breath.
“wait!” she breathed out before she broke out into laughter again.
seonghyeon snickered, a small smirk appearing as he watched her entire face redden. the joke really wasn’t that funny, but he let her have it.
suddenly, her hand latched onto his arm.
he blinked, caught completely off guard.
y/n used his arm in attempt to steady herself, completely lost in her laughter.
“you’re going to fall.” he chuckled.
“i know!” she managed between laughs.
she then stood up straight, taking a deep breath in attempt to calm herself down.
then she shoved her hands back in her pockets, continuing on as if nothing had happened.
seonghyeon, however, didn’t.
he stood there, suddenly far too aware of the loss of warmth that had been left on his arm. it made his heart skip.
he shrugged, walking quickly to catch up with her.
the two were sat at their desks in class, y/n was drawing on the table with her pencil.
seonghyeon somehow managed to get distracted, staring at her side profile as she drew.
“when did she have such a nice side profile?” he thought to himself. staring at the way she had her hair tucked behind her ear neatly, and how perfect her eyelashes looked.
her face looked soft, softer than he’d ever noticed before.
and that worried him, he’d never seen her like this, ever. and he felt like he was in danger, because something about her face felt so inviting, as if he was being lured in.
“eom seonghyeon.” a voice snapped him out of his trance, it was her.
“hm?” he tilted his head, trying to look as casual as possible.
“nothing.” he immediately looked away.
she squinted at him. she knew him well enough to know when he was being weird.
and right now was one of those moments.
“you were staring at me.”
she smiled teasingly, “you were.”
“i wasn’t, go back to drawing or whatever you were doing.” he crossed his arms across his chest, turning his head away from her.
but he could feel how she stared at him for a few moments with that smile on her face before finally returning to what she was doing.
something about that whole situation made him nervous, too nervous.
he didn’t like it, but he didn’t question it.
the group had met at martin’s house for a movie night, the school week was finally over and they finally had the time.
seonghyeon and y/n were sitting next to eachother on the couch, listening to the group.
y/n seemed to be very engaged in the conversation,
so engaged that she didn’t notice she was twirling seonghyeon’s hoodie string.
he was frozen, not sure if he should stop her and be weird, or just let her do it.
they were so casual about everything they did in their friendship that he couldn’t even remember if this was something she’d done before or not.
but what he did know is that he didn’t like the butterflies in his stomach. the way he felt extremely aware of everything.
seonghyeon was always known to be very protective of his feelings, refusing to let himself to get hurt.
because everyone in the group knew, when seonghyeon shut down, he checked out of reality.
he’d shut out the entire world around him if it meant he wouldn’t get hurt.
and the group would tell him, he was too cautious for his own good. and that one day it would all catch up to him in the worst way possible.
but he’d ignore them because he knew himself better than anyone else knew him.
or, that’s what he told himself.
the lights were off completely and everyone was silent as the movie played.
seonghyeon was submerged in the movie. they were watching the hunger games and it was safe to say he couldn’t handle movies with this much suspense.
the moment katniss volunteered he nearly leaped off the couch.
so when a head landed on his shoulder, he was completely caught off guard.
he definitely didn’t expect it, but the fact that it was y/n somehow made it worse.
because that feeling returned to his stomach again.
that feeling of shyness, and attraction.
his attention was no longer on the movie as he stared off at the wall.
he sighed because he knew exactly what this was,
he caught feelings for his best friend.
seonghyeon had walked into the school with his head down, granola bar in hand, dragging his feet.
it was actually a good morning, until he decided to look up.
he locked eyes on y/n, who immediately started making her way toward him.
it felt like time had slowed down, the way her eyes twinkled at the sight of him, the small smile that’d naturally appeared on her face, her hair flowing as she walked.
she looked beautiful, and it made his breath hitch.
she stopped in front of him, leaning against a locker.
“what’s up!” she lightly punched his shoulder, flashing him a smile without realizing.
that was enough to make every moment they’d shared within the last 4 days flood his mind.
the way she grabbed him when she was laughing hard. how pretty her side profile looked without her even trying. how she absentmindedly played with his hoodie strings. her body seeking his shoulder when she was tired during the movie.
his breath was shaky and his cheeks were slightly rosy. he forced every thought out, taking another bite of his granola bar.
“quiet day i see. well not for me, my morning already started off crazy. you know-“
he didn’t hear her at all. he was just trying to distract his mind, even if it meant tuning her out.
when he did zone back in, it was her soft gaze.
she was staring at his mouth.
his heart began hammering against his chest.
he could’ve sworn he was going to pass out in that moment.
she reached up, swiping a granola crumb off the side of his mouth.
“there,” she smiled. “it was distracting me.”
in that moment, he realized it.
“i can’t keep doing this.” he thought to himself.
he knew it the moment his heart first skipped near her, but he denied it.
now he accepted that there was no more denying he could do.
he was falling in love with his best friend.
and every day they spent together, his feelings only grow stronger and stronger.
“anyways, i’ve got to get to class. catch you later!” she patted his shoulder before walking away.
seonghyeon stayed against the locker, practically in a trance.
she was so unaware of his thoughts.
everything came in at once.
“she could never like me back.”
“she would never like me back.”
“she would probably laugh in my face if i ever told her i had feelings for her.”
the thoughts were making him sick to his stomach, the possibilities of him ruining their friendship were high.
and they were too much for him to bear.
he shook his head before deciding,
he couldn’t let this continue. he had to create distance before things got worse.
it’d only be for a short amount of time, just enough to make her slightly pull back until he could lose his feelings for her.
then they could return to how they used to be.
how could that ever go wrong?
y/n caught up with seonghyeon just as he was about to walk out of the school gates at the end of the day.
she wore a big smile, excited to unwind with him after such a long day filled with many tests.
“hey! you doing anything after school?” she wraps an arm around his shoulder
he doesn’t turn his head, doesn’t slow down for her, doesn’t even crouch despite their height difference.
she waited for him to follow up like usual. he knew this was an invitation to hang out, she never worded it any differently.
she slowly took her arm off him, dropping it back to her side. “…okay.”
she looked away, gaze falling to the floor as she slightly pouted.
he finally looked over at her, seeing her look almost disappointed.
although he didn’t like to see it, it was good.
it’s already starting to work. they’ll be back to normal in no time.
the following few days were even weirder for her.
he completely stopped walking her to class. she knew he didn’t do it on some days and that was fine, but it’d been a total of 6 school days that he’d left her alone.
she didn’t think it’d affect her as much as it did. she just felt a bit… lonely.
then he stopped texting her first, and that stood out to her because he always texted her.
if keonho was being annoying, he’d send her a text. if he was tired in class, he’d send her a text.
if something reminded him of her, he’d send her a text.
to go from that to nothing, it was hard to ignore.
but was stood out the most was that day at lunch.
the one thing that brought her a sense of clarity was the fact that he was still sitting next to her as always.
he walked into lunch with his hood on his head, hands shoved in his pockets, earbuds playing music so he could drown out the sound around him.
and he took the empty seat next to juhoon.
her heart dropped, it was a terrible feeling.
she couldn’t help but wonder, “what did i do?”
because one thing she knew about seonghyeon is that he would never miss the opportunity to sit next to her.
at any football game, any party, any pep rally, he was right by her side.
seeing her best friend shut her out hurt her, but she refused to believe he had something against her.
he must be going through something that he isn’t ready to tell her about yet, and she was okay with waiting.
though she couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t taken a single fry from her tray.
the lunch lady knew y/n, she knew her well.
that being said, she always packed y/n’s tray with extra fries and then put her finger to her mouth, signaling for y/n to keep quiet about it, which she always did because she loved it.
but some days she couldn’t finish all of those fries by herself, she always knew seonghyeon would be right there to take some.
today, he didn’t even glance at her tray. she huffed, tapping his shoulder.
and for the first time in days, he actually looked at her.
“you don’t want any?” she nudged the tray toward him.
he looked at her, and then the fries, and then back at his phone.
she stared at him for a moment, “since when?”
he shrugged, “not hungry.”
keonho chuckled, “you’re always hungry.”
seonghyeon looked up at him, giving him a look. it was a weird look, a look that was enough to wipe the smile off of keonho’s face.
y/n watched it all before sinking into her seat a little.
she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t starting to get into her head about this.
a few days had passed and y/n walked out of class.
she saw seonghyeon at his locker and took a deep breath, now was her chance.
she made her way over to him, fidgeting with her fingers to distract herself from the unfamiliar feeling of slight dread she got at the idea of initiating conversation with him.
“hey.. seonghyeon.” she stopped in front of him.
he didn’t even look over at her, just continued to rummage through his locker. “yeah?”
she took a deep breath before asking, “are you mad at me?”
she blinked before some of her shyness disappeared and her regular personality slipped back in, the irritation she’d been feeling coming up unfiltered.
“then why are you acting like you hate me?” she crossed her arms, staring him up and down.
he doesn’t hate her, not at all.
he likes her. in fact, he likes her too much that he’s terrified.
but he can’t say that, so he gives her the safest answer that he can.
“i’m not acting like anything.”
she just stares at him, holding back a scoff. because he is acting like something, he’s acting like she’s his sworn enemy. and she can’t seem to figure out why.
she doesn’t say any more. she just turns and walks away from him.
he lets out a sigh of relief, thinking to himself,
“just a little bit longer.”
“and then i’ll be able to get over her.”
unfortunately for seonghyeon, he hasn’t noticed how far he’s gone with it.
seonghyeon was taking a walk in the park, listening to music as his thoughts consumed him.
it’d been almost a week since his last encounter with y/n, and it’d been weeks since the last time they properly spoke.
part of him felt bad, he missed his best friend a lot.
but the other part of him refused to let him change their friendship, and of course, risk rejection.
he’d talked to james, who was older and had more life experience.
james was the only one in the friend group who he’d told about this whole situation because he expected to get a better answer.
however, james said exactly what he predicted the others would say.
“that’s not right man. you’re shutting her out. you can’t go cold on her. you might think you’re protecting yourself but it can go wrong in so many ways. i don’t think it’s worth it hyeon.”
seonghyeon didn’t like that feedback, so he ignored it.
he believed he knew what was best for him, and that was final.
after all, the feelings were beginning to fade, so clearly it was working.
whilst in the middle of validating his own thoughts, he felt three harsh taps on his shoulder.
he turned around and nearly choked when he saw who was there.
it was y/n. and she looked upset.
not just an ordinary minor inconvenience, she looked upset at him.
“eom seonghyeon, i’ve had enough. throughout the past three weeks you’ve treated me like garbage. completely shutting me out. it’s like you’ve gone stone cold! i don’t know what could’ve possibly happened to the old seonghyeon but i miss him so much.”
she paused, putting a hand on her chest as a small frown appeared.
“i’ve spent my last few days reflecting on what i could’ve possibly done to you and i haven’t been able to come up with anything. you randomly started acting unreachable and i don’t know if you realize it or not but it hurts!”
her eyebrows furrowed as she only got angrier.
“you’re shutting out the person you’ve been best friends with since sixth grade without even giving an explanation. i don’t understand how you can treat this so casually, but you’ve made it very clear you’re over me. i’ve seen you talk to james with no problem, even keonho. hell, the whole group gets the real you, while i can’t even earn eye contact!”
she looked away for a moment, her tongue forming a ball in her cheek as she scoffed, and then continued.
“it’s alright though. i’ve accepted it. i’ve accepted the fact that you clearly want nothing to do with me. the way you act so uninterested every time i try to talk to you is very telling. and i’m not going to continue to embarrass myself making attempts to talk to you and feeling like a burden just to see you interact with everyone else perfectly fine. i don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you can keep it. if you’re willing to throw actual years of friendship down the drain, then i have no choice but to accept it. so, goodbye seonghyeon.”
she gave him no room to respond, her mind was made up.
she turned around and began stomping away.
seonghyeon was frozen in place, words caught in his throat.
she never gave him one chance to defend himself, to tell her that he would never not want to be her best friend. that was all he ever wanted.
he couldn’t believe he failed to see how harsh he’d treated her due to his own stubbornness.
he felt like an actual idiot. and it was even worse because james warned him that this could be an outcome and he refused to listen.
now he was stuck watching the girl he was in love with walk away from him with nothing but resentment towards him and there was nothing he could do about it.
his eyes began to sting at the very realization that in the end, he still lost her.
and somehow this outcome was way worse than rejection.
this was the first time i’ve written a story without including a happy ending because typically i hate sad endings, but that is exactly what drove me to wanting to try it out.
i genuinely hate angst with a burning passion so writing it was definitely not easy 😭 but let me know what you guys think about this kind of story since it’s so new to me.
ALSO ,,,, i saw cortis in concert last saturday and it was genuinely such a life changing experience 🥹 i did in fact put my phone down so i only have like 2 videos but i can say it definitely elevated the concert experience in the best way possible !!!
if anyone could snag last minute tickets, i highly recommend it. this was a once in a lifetime experience that i will forever cherish <3
published august. 13, 2026.
origamiaround
ellievsbear
tangentwithtanner
vaporwave
