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“i can't believe chan hyung ditched us to go study.”
sitting on the edge of a little pier, feet dipped in the river’s refreshing water, each with a bubble tea in hand, jisung talks and changbin listens.
from time to time, their shoulders brush lightly, barely touching, but it’s still enough for changbin to feel the warmth radiating from jisung.
changbin likes moments like these.
in reply to jisung’s complaint, the older boy hums, nibbling on the straw of his drink. “as if school was more important than quality time with your best friends.”
his sarcastic statement earns him a soft shove from the other.
“yah, don’t push! i could’ve dropped my bubble tea,” changbin whines.
jisung, being the little brat he is, replies by sticking his tongue out to him. but changbin can’t find it in himself to stay mad at him for long; not when jisung’s blue hair is falling prettily in front of his big brown eyes and his round cheeks are all cutely puffed out.
just like he couldn’t be mad at the younger boy for dragging him outside when they should be studying too. jisung had tried telling him that since they were younger than chan, school could wait. it didn’t convince changbin at first but having jisung knock at his door, two cups of his favourite drink in hand and a warm smile asking him if he wanted to join him to the river side, was quite frankly enough for him to completely forget about his upcoming exams.
in all honesty, changbin would probably drop everything and follow jisung to the end of the world if he asked him to. however, he counts on keeping that piece of information to himself for now.
having drank most of his drink already, jisung puts his cup down between them. changbin feels a shiver travel up his spine when the cold from the ice left in the cup touches his thigh and he resists the urge to lean his shoulder closer to jisung. he looks down at the small waves hitting his legs to distract himself.
“you know, hyung,” jisung speaks up again. he doesn’t immediately finishes his train of thought and, instead, lays down on the pier and folds his arms behind his head.
changbin turns his head sideways to observe him. “what is it?”
jisung doesn’t reply and, instead, gently pats the spot beside him, a silent invitation to lie down too. and so, changbin does. he copies him, putting his drink aside, and lays down. above them, the sun is setting, beautiful warm colours painting the cloudless sky. changbin‘s eyes lazily follow the white trail left by an airplane far away in the horizon.
“i think chan hyung is mad at us for getting rejected by bambam hyung.”
“damn,” changbin exclaims softly. “again?”
“yes,” jisung chuckles, adjusting his position so that his body is facing changbin. his eyes are twinkling the way they always do when he has juicy gossip to share. “the other day, chanie walked up to bam and randomly blurted out ‘kissing burns 6.4 calories per minute, you want to try it out? ’, and you know what bambam replied?”
changbin shakes his head, intrigued and amused.
“‘are you calling me fat? ’”
changbin snorts unattractively, not wanting to laugh out loud for the sake of chan’s — nonexistent — love life. he’s trying to be a good friend, even though said friend did ditch them for the evening. “alright, so he chose a poor pick-up line. how is that our fault?”
“we showed him that pick-up line, remember?”
“oh.” voices changbin quietly in realization. he guesses he did show that one to chan.
after that, no other words are exchanged between the two of them. the light evening breeze blows through their hair and the calm water feels cool at their feet. changbin’s eyes were about to close in order to relax completely when jisung speaks up again.
“i heard bambam might have a thing for jimin noona.”
the older boy‘s eyes widen slightly. “park jimin? who told you that?”
“yugyeom hyung. he complained that bambam and jimin have been spending a lot of time together. he said that bambam was forgetting his own best friend.”
changbin hums absentmindedly, never one to really gossip about other people’s business, left alone love life.
“we would never let a girl get between us, right?” jisung’s voice is all of a sudden uncharacteristically quieter and changbin can sense something he rarely associates jisung to; insecurity.
changbin turns his head slightly so that he can see the younger boy from the corner of his eyes. from his peripheral vision, he sees jisung biting his lips nervously, eyes staring into the sky. his blue hair is blowing gently across his forehead and changbin wants nothing more than to reach across to ruffle it, out of habit.
he, of course, doesn’t do so. instead, he sighs, eyes analyzing his friend’s glum expression. “jisung,” changbin says. “i won’t let anyone come between us.”
at his few words, the younger boy’s face lights up. and, then, their eyes meet; jisung’s warm brown ones so soft and so loving. changbin’s heart skips a beat.
“thanks, hyung,” jisung says in a whisper. they are turned towards each other now and their faces are somewhat close. close enough for changbin to feel the other’s breath caressing his face and for their noses to touch.
changbin replies with a fond smile which jisung returns. they don’t speak for a few moments, enjoying the nice water hitting their legs and the wind picking up a bit as the sun starts disappearing. but most importantly, enjoying each other’s company, continuing to look into each other’s eyes without a word.
changbin likes moments like these.
the moment, however, doesn’t last very long and jisung is the first to break their little staring contest. clearing his throat, he says something along the lines of “oh, it’s getting dark, huh” and sits up. he grabs his forgotten bubble tea cup and sips the melted ice. he makes a face of disgust at the taste but continues to drink it.
changbin sits up in turn, making sure to not sit too close nor too far from jisung. he runs a hand through his hair nervously and picks back up his own drink and brings the straw to his lips. he lazily dips his free hand in the river’s water, making circular motions absently.
they both stay quiet for a few more minutes but changbin can tell that jisung has something on his mind. he knows it from the way he sees him from the corner of his eye, the way he keeps turning towards the older boy, eyeing him and opening and closing his mouth a couple of times without a word. he looks like a fish. a cute one, of course.
“do you have something to say, jisung?”
the younger boy hesitates. “no, it’s just…” he waits a beat before suddenly scooting closer. changbin almost flinches at the brusque movement. a hand then softly pats the top of his head, seemingly trying to tame a strand of wild hair. changbin feels heat bloom across his face, suddenly shy because of the gentle gesture.
“sorry, it was just bothering me.”
“it’s okay,” changbin mumbles, ruffling his hair again — a gesture that makes jisung sigh for a reason unclear to the older boy. “thanks.”
it’s only when does changbin look down does he realize how close jisung really is. his breath is ghosting over his face and changbin doesn’t remember when was the last time he saw the younger boy’s eyes this up close. they're big and so pretty; changbin could stare into them all day long. and then, he notices how jisung is… staring at his lips? changbin swallows nervously. if he were to lean a tiny bit forward, they would be...
and, suddenly, they’re kissing.
it’s not exactly a kiss. it’s more like two pairs of lips touching with some pressure applied from changbin’s side. jisung’s lips are as soft as changbin had expected them to be — not that he had thought of them often or something…
but, one thing’s sure, changbin doesn’t consider it a real kiss, or at least, hopefully not their first real kiss. it’s too spontaneous and not special enough in his opinion. regardless, he does hope that it conveys the message he has been wanting to tell jisung for quite some time now.
except, it somewhat doesn’t.
changbin doesn’t see it coming. one second, he’s reveling in the softness of jisung’s lips and, a second later, he’s pushed off and a hand makes contact with the side of his face.
it doesn’t hurt that bad but it does sting a little, so changbin quickly cups his reddening cheek, eyes wide opened, staring at the person responsible for the soreness.
said person is staring back at him with a similar expression; usual big eyes comically wider and with his own hands covering his mouth, instead of his cheek.
“you kissed me!”
changbin blinks a few times, trying to process what just happened. his cheek has stopped stinging but he still keeps his hand wrapped around it — in case if something else decides to hit it.
“and you punched me,” manages to say changbin, still in disbelief by the turn of events.
jisung takes a few seconds to compose himself before saying, “slapped, actually. it was opened hand and not closed fist.”
changbin’s jaw drops further down to the ground. “same difference!”
“oh my god, you’re right,” jisung admits before making an inhuman sound at the back of his throat. if the situation was any different, changbin could have laughed at how bizarre it sounded. “but what was that for?”
“what do you mean what was that for? i– i thought i was reading your signal! you were looking at me with those eyes and you were so close and you didn’t move away when i came closer–“ changbin rambles on as jisung flushes red and hides his face in his hands. “why did you hit me?”
“reflex?” suggests the younger boy, not looking up from his hands.
“your first instinct to someone smooching you is to punch them?”
“slap.”
changbin feels like crying, screaming and laughing all at the same time. “han jisung!”
“sorry!” jisung says, finally lifting up his face and making eye contact with changbin. his cheeks are still incredibly red. “i don’t know, i just panicked.”
“no! don’t apologize. it’s not your fault.” changbin runs a hand through his hair, feeling extremely confused by the whole situation. where did he go wrong for their first kiss to turn this horribly? “it’s my fault. i shouldn’t have done that. i know about consent and all that. so, i’m sorry. i’m never gonna kiss you again.”
jisung gasps out loud. “no need for harsh decisions like that,” he huffs out, looking offended and almost disappointed as he crosses his arms over his chest. he's pouting a bit. “i– i just wasn’t expecting it.”
“right,” changbin coughs awkwardly. “then next time, i’ll– i’ll ask before kissing you?”
much to his surprise, jisung giggles. “next time…” the younger boy echoes. his cheeks colour a pretty shade of pink that changbin finds absolutely irresistible.
and, as if on autopilot, changbin leans in again.
for a second time that evening, jisung’s hand makes contact with his face. but this time, it’s more gentle and placed in front of his mouth, stopping changbin’s pouty lips from getting any closer to him.
“didn’t you just say that you’d get my permission?” jisung questions. the small smile and nervous quiver in his voice indicates that he’s not mad.
grinning, changbin removes the hand blocking his face by grabbing it and interlocking his fingers with jisung’s. “well, can i do it?”
jisung uses his free hand to push back changbin’s face. his other one is still comfortably left in the warmth of the other boy’s palm. “no, you can’t.”
changbin retreats, leaning back again to observe the younger boy. they’re still holding hands. changbin doesn’t have the strength to pull his away yet. if jisung realizes that their hands are still interlocked, changbin can’t tell but he does see the way the blue hair boy starts fidgeting under his stare.
jisung looks down at his feet and starts kicking the water nervously. “hyung, don’t make this awkward. say something.”
as if a magnet, changbin scoots closer again, dumb smile probably on his face as he whispers, “you’re cute.”
once the words leave changbin’s lips, jisung’s head snaps in his direction, putting their faces inches apart. again. much to his dismay, jisung pulls their hands apart in the process and waves an accusing finger in front of him. “you said you wouldn’t and you were going to do it, weren’t you?”
“i wasn’t, i swear! but i did wanted to do this.”
and then, changbin plants a quick kiss on his cheeks.
surprise takes over jisung’s features. he stares at the older boy, cheeks red as they can go and a big goofy smile on his lips.
“changbin hyung,” he whines adorably before playfully shoving changbin away.
but this time, jisung pushes more forcefully and changbin loses his balance and topples over into the water with a big loud plop!
“hyung!”