Work Text:
Sohee.(15)
“I love you.”
She wanted to joke it away—the sternness of Jiho’s voice, his eyes that were too full of too many things and the way they focused so intently on hers. It was too uncomfortable, too close to something and everything she wanted but would rather avoid.
Clearing her throat, she slapped him on the shoulder with forced laughter in attempt to dissipate the mood, give him a hint to just stop. Stop this before it starts. “Yeah, I know, idiot. Now help me with this—,”
“No, Sohee, look, I’m—I’m serious, look at me.”
His confidence was faltering; she could hear it. There was almost a moment of relief before he seemed to gather it up again, a sudden surge of guts. He took her face in his hands, gently, and forced her to look at him. He was nervous, but so, so sincere. She’d never seen him like this before.
“I love you.”
She paused, frowned. Her eyebrows knit and Jiho smoothed them away, seemingly able to read her body language as exactly what it was and not what it seemed—those years and years of friendship finally paying off.
“What are you doing?” She managed. “Why are you being like this?”
She wasn’t looking, but she could swear she saw a smile that lasted the span of a blink before he regained his previously humorless composure. Though, his grin threatened to tear his mouth open anyway. “Is… is this rejection?” Was his question, but Sohee was certain he knew the answer.
Frustrated, she pushed his hands away as if it were the weight on her shoulders and began laughing as she felt the impending, cathartic relief that followed. “No. No, you shit, it's not.”
She hadn’t said it in return, didn't for a little bit of time. But when she finally did, it had been just as heartfelt.