Chapter Text
Minho was never late. He absolutely hated not being on time for anything, no matter how important the event was. Because, honestly, how hard could it be to get ready and arrive on time for stuff?
But what made Minho even angrier was to be late... because of someone else. That’s why, when he got ready to go to Bangchan’s party (his best friend), he texted Jisung exactly 30 minutes before the time he should arrive. He was supposed to help Chan prepare everything, so the older boy told him to arrive around 18:30h since the “party” would start close to 19h.
And who was Jisung, by the way? Minho didn’t really know. Chan just called Minho and said that he’d send one of his friends to give him a ride. To be honest, Chan did mention Jisung to Minho many times, so he couldn’t exactly say he had no idea who the younger boy was. They just never officially met.
Chan was always working on music with Jisung since they were studying together at college, so Jisung’s name always popped up in their conversations. Also, Bangchan liked to think of himself as a cupid, so Minho was used to his comments like “you’d be such a great couple” and whatever. That’s why he wasn’t surprised to hear that Jisung was the one who would give him a ride to the party.
“Hey, Lee Know, I asked Jisungie to give you a ride, ok?” Chan told Minho through a phone call
“I’m not surprised, you do think we’re gonna get married even when I don’t even know, like, his favorite animation” Minho answers while finishing to get ready, because he’s obviously not getting late.
“It’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’ve told you this already, that’s one of the reasons you guys would be perfect for each other” Chan says back “Anyways, he’s gonna pick you up. So, call him when you’re ready.”
“At least the kid’s got good taste for animations. Thanks for getting him to give me a ride, although I know your intentions with this. See ya later” Minho answers and hangs up before Chan spends more and more time trying to get him to flirt with Jisung.
After about 20 minutes, Minho’s ready. He’s got his best pair of jeans on and just a white t-shirt, because he doesn’t feel like going for a fancy look just to get drunk as fuck on Chan’s house. He looks at his clock and sees that it’s 18h, so he decides to text Jisung to tell he’s ready.
from: minho
to: jisung
“hey it’s chan’s friend, minho. he said you’re giving me a ride, yeah? just wanted to let you know that i'm ready”
from: jisung
to: minho
“oh hii, i'm jisung. uhm ok i 'm not ready yet? but like, i'm getting ready right now, so i shouldn’t take too long. i'll text you when i leave home ok?”
from: minho
to: jisung
“sure, no problem. chan told me to arrive earlier, though, in like half an hour? just fyi”
from: jisung
to: minho
“great, i had no idea. guess i'll have to shower, get dressed and pick you up in less than 30 minutes, yay”
Minho couldn’t lie and say that the boy wasn’t at least funny. But he was really running against time and Minho was almost sure they were gonna get late.
It’s ok, right? I mean... it was just a party. And not even a big one, just a few of their closest friends. Minho laid down on his bed and started watching animal compilations on youtube to try and not get stressed out over being late. He decided that it wasn’t worth it getting annoyed because of a small thing like this.
It was when Minho started watching the 10th puppy/kitten compilation on youtube, that he couldn’t help it anymore. He looked at the time again and it was 18:50h. Not only was he late to help Chan with the party (obviously he’d be useless), but now he was also at risk to even get late to the party itself. He breathed in 5 times, like his old yoga instructor had taught him to (before he gave up on yoga because he had zero patience for that). But calming himself, apparently wasn’t an option anymore.
That’s why he aggressively closed the youtube app and went to text Jisung again.
from: minho
to: jisung
“did you forget to pick me up and you're enjoying the party already? or are you just really chill about being late to things?"
He sends the text and reads it one more time. It does look like he’s annoyed, but Jisung doesn’t really know him, so he might take it as just light teasing... Which Minho doesn’t know if it’s good or bad.
from: jisung
to: minho
“HOLY SHIT i lost track of time omg. i'll be at your house in 5 minutes”
Jisung texts him back and Minho thinks about drinking some tea to try and calm down, because he’s definitely gonna smack this bitch Jisung when they meet.
from: minho
to: jisung
“5 minutes? how do u plan on doing that?"
“What the fuck? How can you lose track of time when you have a place to go to?” Minho talks to himself angrily.
from: jisung
to: minho
“im on lightning mcqueen mode ”
It’s 19h when Jisung takes his phone out of his pocket to text Minho and let him know that he’s waiting in front of the house to pick him up. He doesn’t really have to text, since Minho was already waiting outside with the hugest bitch face humanly possible. So, the younger boy just honks and Minho looks at the car, seeing it’s the car that Chan told him that belonged to Jisung.
“This boy is gonna get a piece of my mind. Who does he think he is? Offering me a ride and then making me wait for an hour while he gets ready, like he’s the fucking Queen of England?" Minho thinks to himself while locking his door and walking towards Jisung’s car.
Jisung is really really nervous, to say the least. He’s kind of had a crush on Minho for a while. Yeah the two boys never really talked personally? But whenever Jisung saw Minho around college, he’d have his heart racing. The older boy was just so handsome. And Jisung really admired his talent as well, he even skipped some of his own classes to watch Minho dancing at college recitals and stuff. Jisung wasn’t a creep or a stalker, but he liked watching Minho dance, which is very reasonable.
And Chan talked about Minho a lot. Which made Jisung even more curious and excited to meet him. The boy talked about Minho as if he was the coolest and funniest person in the world. He was also handsome, Jisung had said that already, so he was basically Jisung’s ideal tinder match. Well, if he had tinder of course... Anyways. Yep he had a crush on the famous “Lino/Lee Know”.
Jisung got out of the car when he saw Minho getting closer, so he could greet the boy. Minho was already planning, in his mind, the speech. Yeah poor Jisung was gonna have to deal with him complaining the whole ride to Chan’s house.
Until.
Well...
Until Minho looked up and finally saw Jisung standing in front of the car, his cheeks red (it could be because it was cold, but honestly, it was probably from being embarrassed). He was biting his lower lip, bouncing back and forth on his shoes like a little child and holding his hands tightly.
He was the prettiest boy Minho had ever laid his eyes on. Starting from his beauty, Minho couldn’t believe there was a boy as beautiful as Jisung and they hadn’t met before. And also, his clothes? He was wearing sweatpants and a big hoodie, which made him look so so so soft that Minho wanted to cuddle him so hard. That also made sense to why he got dressed in, like, 3 minutes.
His cheeks were so puffy that Minho had to physically contain himself to not poke them. Seriously, what was this boy? Why was Chan such a shitty cupid that he hadn't introduced them earlier?
Well, all Minho’s bitchy comments about being late just vanished from his mind and he found himself dumbly staring at Jisung for long seconds before the younger boy cleared his throat.
“Hi? Uhm I’m Jisung, I guess that’s pretty obvious by now. I’m sorry for making you wait so long, I really didn’t mean to get late” Jisung looks at Minho, but seeing the older’s eyes fixed on him, he chickens out and speaks while looking at his own shoes, because apparently they’re SO fucking interesting, damn look at those shoelaces...
“Can we get in the car?” Minho says suddenly and Jisung gets even more nervous. Yeah Minho’s angry now, congratulations Jisung. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that it’s really cold now and I'd rather talk inside your car where it’s probably warmer” Minho continues, giggling, when he sees how sad Jisung looked.
“Oh yeah yeah of course, c’mon let’s get in”
Minho gets in the passenger’s seat while Jisung enters the car as well. It’s definitely a lot warmer.
“It’s ok, by the way.” Minho says “Everyone gets late once in a while”
“Not you” Jisung answers promptly
“What?” Minho laughs, startled.
“I mean- Chan hyung told me that you’re very punctual and hate being late. He also told me that he was sure I was gonna get late and that you’d be mad at me. Which is why I'm so nervous right now”. Jisung speaks so fast that Minho actually takes a few seconds to understand everything.
“I can’t say I wasn’t mad when I realized how late we were gonna be. But it’s ok, I'm not angry now. If anything, I should be thankful, since you’re giving me a ride and all that”
“It’s seriously no big deal, when Chan hyung asked for someone to give you a ride, I agreed to it right on time” Jisung says and Minho can see in his face the exact moment that he realizes he shouldn’t have said it.
Apparently Jisung is cute, shy and quite easily embarrassed. Which makes Minho even more excited and willing to tease him.
“Oh, really now? And why did you agree so fast to give me a ride?” he asks with a smug smile on his face
Jisung is obviously so nervous that he grabs the steering wheel to avoid his hands from shaking.
“Uhm well... I just... It’s just that. I live really close, so it was easy to pick you up?” Jisung answers like he has no idea what he’s talking about
"Are you telling me or asking me?” Minho teases back once more
“I'm telling your, yeah. It was an affirmation" he gulps "We live close, that’s it”
Minho laughs out loud, which makes Jisung lightly smile back
“Why aren’t you mad?” he gets curious “You said that you were angry at first, but now you’re ok. You do realize we’re still late, right? So why are you suddenly ok about it?”
“Because you’re cute”. Minho simply says.
Jisung is honestly about to pass out, he’s gonna faint and they won’t ever get to that party. He swallows hard and his face is becoming a tomato from how red it is.
“I guess we should get going. ” Jisung says, finally, he realizes they still haven’t left Minho’s house
“Oh someone’s in a rush. We can’t get late now, can we?” Minho is a bitch, he knows it. “If you’re gonna get all red and cute every time I tease you, then I really don’t give a shit about getting late, Jisungie".
Finally, Minho decided he should quit teasing Jisung for a while, since the younger boy was the one driving and if he passed out, that’d be kinda bad.
When they get to Chan’s house, Jisung says a quick “see you later” and just flies straight inside, not looking back at Minho even once.
The older boy gets a bit startled. Did he tease Jisung more than he should? Did Jisung not like him? All he knew was that he’d have to find Jisung in the party later, to try and see for himself why the boy just ran away and left him alone.
“LEE KNOW, YOU’RE FINALLY HERE” Chan screams the moment he sees Minho get inside.
As Minho said before, it wasn’t a big party. But there were colorful lights all around the house, music playing the loudest possible and empty beer bottles everywhere.
Chan had spent his whole vacations in Australia, visiting his family and everything else. So, this “party” was just an excuse to invite his closest friends that he missed so much while he was away. Which means that the house had 9 people and Minho knew exactly 4 of them (now 5, including Jisung). Minho was friends with Chan since he could remember. Felix was also from Australia, that’s how he bonded with Chan and then became Minho’s friend as well. And Changbin was dating Felix, so as time passed by, the 4 boys became closer and closer.
“You took so long to arrive! You’re so so late, Minho. I bet you’re reeeally annoyed now” Chan says to Minho when they approach each other. He says it with a teasing tone and winks at Minho, as if he knew the boy would be mad about it.
“Nah I'm actually quite ok, hyung. Everybody gets late sometimes, it happens”. Minho says smiling and Chan’s face just goes full on "ERROR 404 NOT FOUND!"
“What? You’re not annoyed?”
“Nope, I'm super ok. And I feel like drinking right now, so excuse me for a second”.
Minho passes right through Chan’s confused face to go to the kitchen and grab a few drinks. He sees that everyone’s on Chan’s huge living room drinking, dancing and laughing, some of them already drunk. And Minho finds Jisung sitting on the couch next to 2 boys Minho hasn’t met yet. He’s talking to them so excitedly that it makes Minho want to join the conversation.
Suddenly Jisung’s eyes look up and he meets Minho’s gaze. The younger boy goes red instantly and looks away, back to his friends, but doesn’t join the conversation again. He keeps looking at them like he’s doing it just to avoid Minho.
Minho thinks that’s cute. Like, really cute. He just hopes that Jisung is shy because of his flirty comments and not because he disliked Minho.
After a few hours of drinking together, meeting each other and just bonding over stupid stuff, the boys realized how fun the night’s been so far.
It was a typical stupid drunks’ night:
- A drunk Changbin approaching Minho to ask for some help so he could get Felix to kiss him, followed by:
- Minho telling him that they were already boyfriends so he could just ask for a kiss.
- Jeongin recording everyone that embarrassed themselves, so he could use the videos as blackmail when he wanted something to eat for free.
Just honestly, Minho felt like they all had been friends for years.
“LET’S PLAY SOME GAMES” Hyunjin screams all of a sudden.
Everyone was on Chan’s living room just lying down on the floor, sitting on each other’s laps and acting like crackheads. Jeongin was half asleep in Hyunjin’s shoulder (since he wasn’t drinking so he said he’d get sleepy) when the older screamed, which made him jump and everyone laugh.
Chan laid on the floor resting his head against a pillow he randomly got from his bedroom in the middle of the party. Changbin and Felix were cuddling on the couch (as usual, they were always glued to each other).
Jisung was still sitting in the middle of Seungmin and Hyunjin on the couch, while Minho sat in front of him on the floor, his eyes never leaving the younger boy.
"I think we’re too wasted to play anything, hyung" Seungmin answers and makes a move to get up and leave the couch.
When Seungmin gets up, Jisung sees Minho smile and act like he was gonna get up as well. That’s when Jisung panicks, because he knows the moment Seungmin left, Minho would steal his spot and sit next to him. And the thing is that Jisung wanted to keep distance from the older boy. He was too embarrassed and too shy to handle Minho’s forwardness and flirty comments.
Yeah he had a crush on the boy, it was stupid to avoid him, but Jisung didn’t want to make a complete fool out of himself, ok? Thank you very much.
Jisung pulls Seungmin back in the couch and when he sees a few boys look at him with confusion in their faces, he quickly says
“Seungminie don’t go. I’m cold, let me hug you so I’ll get warmer”. Seungmin looks at Jisung like he doesn’t even know the boy, but sits and just answers
“I was gonna get something to drink, but it might be a good idea not to”
"You guys are really cool to hang out with, I wish Chan hyung had introduced us all before” Minho says, looking at Jisung. When he sees the boy look back at him, he winks.
“Yeah you’re pretty nice too, Minho hyung. It was very nice meeting you” Jeongin says with his head still on Hyunjin’s shoulder and eyes kinda closed.
“Cute” Minho says with a giggle, because Jeongin’s sleepiness makes him even more adorable.
Jisung doesn’t realize his annoyed face until Chan laughs loudly and decides that everyone should see it
“Aw Jisungie is getting jealous, look at his pouty lips” and that’s what it takes for Jisung’s face to heat up so much that you could burn yourself by touching him.
Seungmin pinches his cheek while cooing. Ok maybe he wasn't hot enought to burn burn, but he was still very sheepish.
“He has no reason to. I already told him that the reason I didn’t get mad for being late is because he’s really cute” Minho says simply, like it was the easiest thing in the fucking world.
"Hmmm I see you both” Hyunjin says “Are we finally having a new couple in this friend group? Because honestly, Changbin hyung and Felix are too disgusting and I can’t stand Chan and Brian anymore with all their married couple behavior”
“Hey!” Felix protests suddenly “We’re not disgusting, stop hating love”
“We don’t hate love, we hate you” Seungmin joins Hyunjin
“The reason we don’t have a new couple in the group is because both you and Hyunjin are too cowards to kiss, for fuck’s sake. You chickens” Changbin defends Felix with his best strategy: attacking Seungmin.
The boys get silent for a while and Jisung couldn’t be more thankful that the topic moved on from him and Minho. Chan laughs out loud at Changbin’s statement, agreeing. And his laugh is so contagious that the boys start laughing as well.
“Ok but let’s get back to Jisungie” Chan brings the topic back and Jisung wants to fucking murder him.
But can we blame Chan, though? Everyone was curious to know Jisung’s opinion on Minho, since the older boy already made his interest very visible.
“Yes please, let’s get back to Jisungie. I’m curious to know why he gets so red when I talk to him, but also doesn’t let me get closer” Minho says with a fake pout on his lips and a sad voice.
Jisung wants to fucking grab his neck and kiss him, but also like. Grab his neck and suffocate him. Why was this boy so forward? Jisung absolutely couldn’t handle this. No way.
When everyone turns their faces to look at Jisung, waiting for his explanation, he decides that he’s gonna go insane if he doesn’t get out of there. There’s no way he’s able to explain to everyone, including Minho himself, that he gets too nervous with all the attention Minho’s giving him. And that he’d just like the older boy to go easy on him, not overwhelm him like he’s doing. It sounds childish and like he’d be faking an excuse (which he wasn’t, by the way, it was 100% the truth), so he has no idea what to do.
“Uhm. I have to-. I gotta-... I need to go charge my phone, be right back” that’s Jisung’s weak reply and then he’s bailing out of the couch and to one of Chan’s bedrooms as fast as he can, locking the door behind him because he knows someone was gonna go after him.
“Jisungie?”
Bangchan knocks on the bedroom’s door and Jisung opens for him to get inside.
“Hi hyung, sorry for running away like that”
“It’s ok” Chan closes the door behind him and walks towards the bed to sit down with Jisung so they can talk better. “Care to tell me why you did it, though?”
“I was too overwhelmed, I guess. I mean, Minho hyung has been flirting with me all night and he’s really not subtle about it. He just goes for it, says stuff out loud for everyone to hear and I just get nervous”
“But... Didn’t you tell me that you had a crush on him?” Chan is kinda confused “Why don’t you just flirt back? He’s made it pretty clear that he’s interested, that should be a good thing, right?”
“Yeah it’s definitely good. It’s just that he’s too forward? We don’t know each other that well, so it’s not that he makes me uncomfortable, because he doesn’t, but I don’t feel like we’re close enough for me to be so loose around him”
“Oh ok, I think I get what you mean. It’s hard for you to answer and flirt back because he makes you nervous” Chan guesses
“Kind of, yep. I’m too embarrassed to just flirt back in front of everyone and stuff like that, you know?”
“No problem, Jisungie, it’s ok. Want me to talk to him about it?”
“I don’t see how you could do this without making me sound rude or something, so that’s ok. Just let it be”
“Ok then, it’s up to you. But now let’s go back there, I guess half of the boys might be asleep right now and it kinda scares me to leave the other half by themselves” Chan jokes
Jisung laughs, thankful that Chan is such a great friend for him.
“Thanks, hyung. You’re the best”
Both boys leave the bedroom and, when they get to the living room, everyone greets them again. It’s too late, though, so they decide that it’s about time they leave. Felix and Changbin drank too much and Chan orders them to stay as well, because he definitely wouldn’t let them drive like that. Hyunjin lives just a few blocks away from Chan’s house, so he didn’t drive to the party. He gets up from the couch and nudges Seungmin and Jeongin as well, for them to get up and go back to his house with him. The 3 boys were always together, so it made sense that they’d sleep together at Hyunjin’s house.
When Chan realizes that Jisung would have to give Minho a ride again, he silently asks Jisung if everything’s ok. If Jisung acted like he didn’t really want to be close to the boy, Chan would give Minho a ride himself.
But Jisung smiles at Chan and lightly nods, signaling that it’s ok. Minho, on the other hand, looks very very worried, looking like he felt bad about Jisung leaving the room earlier.
They all give each other hugs and goodbyes, with promises to hang out more, and then go their own ways.
Jisung approaches Minho and quietly calls him
“Hey, let’s go?”
“Oh Jisungie, you really don’t have to give me a ride again, I don’t wanna bother” Minho was red for the first time in the night, because of Jisung, and that made the younger boy kinda proud of himself
“It’s no big deal, I told you that we live close, yeah?”
Minho nods and agrees a bit shy. His mind full of regretful thoughts for making Jisung uncomfortable.
They get in the car and the first couple of minutes on the ride are quiet. Jisung decides to turn on the radio to fill the silence, which turns out to be a great idea because one of his favorite songs start playing. It's “Stressed Out” by the band twenty-one pilots. Without realizing, Jisung starts singing lowly and Minho looks at him
The younger’s voice was so beautiful. Soft, yet with a hint of power, like he could do whatever he wanted with it. Minho really gets lost listening to Jisung’s singing for some time, until the younger boy looks at him, probably feeling that he’s being stared. Minho quickly looks away, back to his window, feeling like shit that he got caught staring.
“What?” Jisung asks him
“Nothing” Minho answers quickly “It’s just that, uhm, I love this song”. It wasn’t a lie, Minho in fact loved that song, so there’s that.
“Really?” Jisung seems excited “I’m a big fan of the band and I really love this song, but it makes me kinda sad that it’s kind of the only song people think about when they’re mentioned”
“Yeah same here. I love the band and this song might be on my list of favorites. But I do think people should listen to more of their music, they have really incredible lyrics and all”.
Jisung looks at Minho and can’t help a smile. They boy was really nice when he wasn’t making Jisung completely embarrassed. And he couldn’t believe that they were both fans of “twenty one pilots”.
“Which one is your favorite?” he asks
“Oh that’s a tough question, Jisungie” Minho thinks about it “But I'd say maybe Car Radio. And yours?”
“Shut up, seriously?” Jisung’s smile is just huge and Minho can’t contain his own smile “Mine too, holy shit.”
“We do have some stuff in common, right?” Minho laughs “We should get to know each other better. I can’t believe I found someone who’s a fan of them as well”
“Same here, I’m so excited now. We’re definitely gonna talk about their theories and songs one day”
“Agreed”
Jisung then turns the volume up so the song is blasting on the car.
When they’re reaching Minho’s house, his phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out to see a new text from Changbin
from: changbin
to: minho
“hey, you little shit. chan didn’t want to tell you. i guess jisung asked him not to, but he didn’t ask ME anything so here it goes: be fucking nice to the boy. jisung won’t like you if you’re this forward and stuff. he's not uncomfortable, but he’s too shy and he won’t flirt back”
While Minho’s still reading, he receives a new text. This time it’s from Chan.
from: chan
to: minho
“look, i told changbin not to text you but he’s a dick. anyways, yeah be nice to jisungie, he likes cute and soft things, not you being cocky. peace out, bro”
Minho breathes out in relief. Of course he’s still not happy about making Jisung awkard, BUT at least now he knows a few things...
First: he knows that Jisung isn’t uncomfortable, (which would be terrible) he’s just shy.
Second: he also knows that the boy won’t flirt back because he’s nervous, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an interest in Minho...
Third: they’re both fans of the same band and Jisung seems happy about it, he even suggested they should talk about their songs together and everything, so it looks like he’d be ok to have Minho as a company.
And all these things just mean that Minho will have to be less cocky and loud about his flirting.
He could totally do this.
When Jisung parks in front of Minho’s house, both boys don’t really know how to say goodbye. Should Minho just say “thanks” and leave? Should Jisung shake his hand or would it be awkward? After a really weird silence in the car, Minho’s conscience gets the best of him and he decides he should apologize.
“I’m really sorry about today” he says simply, not really knowing what else to say
“For what exactly, hyung?” Jisung answers, his voice as soft as possible and the older boy looks up at him
“I think I made you uncomfortable when you should only have enjoyed the party with your friends. It’s just that Chan hyung has told me so much about you, he really wouldn’t shut up about how cool you are and how we should meet each other”
“He did the same with me, talked about you always. But I’ve seen you around college a lot before”
“Well he does think he’s an amazing cupid, for some reason” Minho thinks out loud and Jisung giggles “But I didn’t expect you to be like this”
“Like what?” Jisung’s startled
“So nice and cute? And adorable, really. And also we have some stuff in common, so I'd really like to get to know you better. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so forward all night, I should have spent more time talking to you because you’re obviously very cool”
“Oh. I don’t really know what to say, but you have nothing to be sorry for. You didn’t make me uncomfortable, Lino” Minho smiles at Jisung’s teasing tone while calling him by his nickname “I’m just very shy. And I felt kinda overwhelmed, especially because I've kind of had, uhm-” Jisung stops talking suddenly
What the hell? He was about to tell Minho about his crush, shut up Jisung oh my god. He coughed while silently scolding himself.
“Anyways” he continued “What I mean is that you’re really nice too and I’d like to know you better, maybe even become friends. Don’t worry, I wasn’t uncomfortable, I'm just timid”
Minho smiles at him and decides not to ask what Jisung was gonna say before he stopped, he wanted to give the boy some peace.
“You promise?”
“Yeah hyung, I promise”
“Ok then let’s talk more? And find out more things we have in common”
“I would love that” Jisung smiles back
“Well I'm glad we’re good. I’m gonna get inside now because it’s too late already and you still have to get to your house” Minho says
“It’s okay, whenever you need a ride again just call me. If you don’t get mad about being late, of course” Jisung teases him
Minho debates on how to answer. He really doesn’t want to make Jisung embarrassed again now that they cleared things up. But he also wants Jisung to know that even though they want to become friends, Minho really thinks he’s cute and he’d love to kiss the younger boy.
So before he can contain himself, he says
“I told you already that you’re too cute to make me mad, Jisungie”
Then Minho leans forward in Jisung’s direction to give him a light kiss on the cheek. Jisung seems, honestly, about to explode. That’s why Minho quickly says
“Thanks again, good night Jisungie, text me when you get home so I won’t be worried” and leaves the car as fast as he can, not looking back.
Jisung waits for Minho to get inside his house with a soft embarrassed smile on his face. His cheeks are burning up and he can’t help but love and hate Minho’s way of dealing with him.
If they become friends, Jisung thinks that his cheeks are gonna melt at some point, because he gets red and hot every fucking time Minho looks at him.
Good luck with the friendship, I guess.
Jisung texts Minho when he gets home after the party and Minho texts back thanking for the ride again and wishing him a good night. But the next time Jisung really sees Minho is 2 days later, at college, as always. He’s walking around the cafeteria with Chan and when he looks at Jisung, he smiles big and waves. Jisung waves back and decides he shouldn’t join the boys because it’d be too awkward since Chan knew about his crush on Minho and then he’d probably keep making stupid comments.
After waving back, Jisung turns around to go to his class and pretends not to listen Chan calling his name. He doesn’t have a class now, so it’d suck to stay in the empty room with nothing to do, but maybe it was better that way since he definitely wasn’t prepared to deal with Minho and Chan at the same time. It was too much for his brain.
But as the universe keeps on conspiring against Jisung, he suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder and turns around to see Minho smiling at him.
“Hey Jisungie, where are you going?”
“Hi, uhm. I’m going to class?”
“Chan hyung told me that you don’t have classes right now and that you should join us. He’ll pay you something to eat” Minho wiggles his eyebrows to show Jisung what an amazing proposition was in front of him.
Jisung figures he doesn’t have another option now, since both boys are waiting for him. So, he smiles back and agrees, walking towards Chan hyung with Minho by his side.
“Why were you running away?” Chan asks when Jisung reaches their table. Jisung sits next to Chan so he won’t be too uncomfortable next to Minho. And the older boy sits in front of him.
“I wasn’t running away. I was just... Going to class so I could finish composing something. It’s quiet there, good to focus” Jisung answers. It’s obviously not the reason he ran away from them, but it’s still not a lie since he does have some stuff to finish.
“Wow you’re a songwriter? That’s so awesome” Minho talks to him, his eyes big as if Jisung writing songs is the coolest thing in the world.
“Yeah it’s for one of my classes. But I'm not that good, it’s nothing awesome”
“Excuse me?!” Chan looks at him as if he just kicked his dog “Jisungie cut the bullshit. I’ve told you so many times how talented you are. Don’t listen to him, Minho, he’s the best writer I know”
“Please” Jisung scoffs “I wish I had your talent, hyung. Honestly” Jisung says back and looks down at his lap. He’s obviously zero confident about himself.
Minho realizes that Jisung really goes too hard on himself and decides that, from that moment on, he’d try to help him enjoy his own self a little bit more.
“Well I guess you’ll have to show me then?” he asks
Jisung’s eyes go huge and he starts stuttering
“W-why? You really d-don't want to s-see it, hyung”
“I assure you I do. Let’s make a deal. I really think I’m kind of a shitty dancer, but Chan hyung disagrees thoroughly and he’d probably tell me the same thing he just told you. So, what about one day we meet up, then you’ll show me your talent and I’ll show you mine? Then we can see with our own eyes who sucks and who’s really fucking great.”
When Minho proposes that, Jisung raises his eyes from his lap to look at the older boy.
He was very very dumb deciding it’d be better if Minho sat in front of him instead of by his side. This way, he couldn’t look up without seeing the older boy’s gaze on him everytime.
“Maybe one day, yeah. It’d be nice to see you dance, Chan hyung has complimented you a lot to me”
“Aren’t you both cuties?” Chan says in a joking way, which makes both boys giggle “I like that idea too, maybe you’ll both finally accept that you got a lot of talent and I'll have some peace.”
Minho and Jisung look at each other and roll their eyes at Chan’s complaint, which makes the older one laugh.
“Ok Jisungie, Lino and I already ordered sandwiches so I ordered one for you as well, ok?” Chan looks at Jisung while speaking
“No thanks, hyung. I’m not hungry”
“Did you eat anything already?” Chan asks worried, already imagining the answer
“Uhm, no. I just didn’t feel like eating so far, really not hungry today” Jisung answers and looks away from Chan
“But Jisungie, it’s 16h already. You didn’t even have lunch?” Minho interferes, surprised that the younger boy spent nearly a whole day without food
“I didn’t. It’s ok, I'm kind of on a diet right now?” Jisung says, a bit ashamed “To, like, get in shape. So yeah, not hungry.”
“Jisung if you want to start a diet, you should see a doctor or something. I told you this already, it’s not healthy for you to just spend days without eating. I won’t let you do this again, it worries me” Chan says seriously, and Jisung looks up at his face
“I don’t wanna have this conversation right now, hyung”
“You really should eat something, Jisungie. There’s light food you can have to help your diet, but simply stop eating shouldn’t be an option, it’s too extreme” Minho interferes one more time
Jisung looks at Minho thinking about what to say. He’s told Chan multiple times that he doesn’t feel good in his own body, that he’s trying to feel better some way. And the older boy always tells him that he shouldn’t feel bad, which, Jisung appreciates the effort to help, but... Telling him that he shouldn’t feel bad doesn’t really help him feel better. But Chan’s a great friend, he's obviously not to be blamed about it and Jisung’s not complaining.
But Minho doesn’t know about all the days he’s spent without food and passing out from how weak he was. Chan had the right to be worried, Jisung went through some heavy times.
“Ok, I’ll try to eat something.” he answers to Minho and then turns to Chan “And I promise I’m not starting to act as extreme as I did in the past. I’m healthy, ok? I won’t do that again”
Chan seems a bit more relieved to hear the sincerity in Jisung’s words.
A waiter arrives with their sandwiches and Minho is quick to take Jisung’s plate and exchange with his.
“Here, take my sandwich. I personally think you look absolutely beautiful like this, Jisungie. But if you’re not feeling good, then I'll help you. My sandwich is with sprouted bread. It’s full of grains and stuff. I don’t know much, but the waiter told me it had lower carb content? So it’s lighter and healthier. That’s why I asked this one”
Jisung doesn’t really know how to answer. Obviously because:
1) Minho just said he is (and I quote) “absolutely beautiful”. So yeah, Jisung doesn’t even know if he heard that right or his brain is playing tricks on him. And
2) Minho didn’t really know Jisung for more than a week and he was already worrying about him, trying to help, offering his sandwich because he wanted Jisung to be healthy, but also wanted to support him.
It might not be that deep for anyone else, but Jisung felt touched.
“Thank you, Minho hyung. That’s really nice of you” he answers and gives Minho the biggest smile he could.
Chan smiles too watching the boys. Minho could be good for Jisung and Chan’s happy about it.
They all eat while joking lightly to brighten up the mood a little bit and then Chan gets his backpack and speaks as he gets up to leave:
“Well guys, I have a class in 10 minutes, so I guess I’ll get going now.”
“I’ll go too then, so I can write a bit before my next class” Jisung says
“Great, I'll go with Chan hyung" Minho says “My class is close to his. Bye, Jisungie” he winks and waves at the younger boy and then leaves with Chan too their classes.
Jisung thinks to himself that it wasn’t that terrible. He talked to Minho as if he didn’t have a huge crush on the boy, which was a victory for Jisung already. Maybe they could both become friends.
On the way to class, Minho couldn’t stop talking to Chan about Jisung
“I never heard his raps or read his compositions, but I can’t believe he thinks he’s bad, hyung” Minho talks to Chan in a revolting way “Honestly, he’s got no defects.”
“Oh God. You are so whipped, Lino” Chan sighs
“Of course I am. Did you look at him? He’s the cutest boy, so tiny. I can’t believe he doesn’t see it. And he’s also really cool, I found out we have some stuff in common”
“Have you been talking since the party?”
“Not really. I have his number and I meant to text him, but since I kinda made him a bit uncomfortable that day, I was too chicken to text for real. Like, I thought maybe it’d be better if I let him breathe a bit”
“Aw that’s very considerate. You’re growing up, Lino. I’m proud” Chan mocks him
“Fuck off, hyung” Minho laughs
“But I guess you should talk to him. After all, he does have a crush on someone here at college, so if you take too long, it might be too late”
“What?! He has a crush on someone? Who?” Minho doesn’t know if his heart just stopped or if it’s beating so fast that he can’t feel it anymore.
“I can’t tell you, sorry. But if you have a crush on him or want to become friends, I don’t know, then you shouldn’t waste time” Chan advises as if he didn’t just make Minho believe Jisung likes someone else
“Oh Chan hyung, it’s on. I’ll make this crush of his look like shit, I'll show you the real way to treat someone you like” Minho answers
“Just don’t, like, do the same things you did at the party, yeah?” Chan asks, as a warning
“No, never. I learned with it, now I know what he doesn’t like, so it won’t happen again. I’m not gonna flirt with him, I'm gonna show him how he should be treated”.
Chan can’t help but feel proud at himself. Sorry Jisung, your shyness will have to wait, because Minho is going in for the kill.
On this same day Jisung left his classes really late. It was a shitty monday and he decided to stay at college for a little longer so he could work on a few projects and not be overwhelmed by everything afterwards.
Minho was intending on leaving with Jisung. Some days of the week their classes ended at the same time (and no, Minho did not ask Chan everything about Jisung and got the boy’s schedule on his phone, ok? He totally didn’t...). Anyways, he was going to just leave college with Jisung so they could talk a little or something and maybe Minho could show him that he’s a really nice guy. Annoying, but still nice.
He waited at the front gates for about 30 minutes when he realized Jisung wasn’t coming. Maybe he left early?
Jisung arrived home around 20h and he was feeling so exhausted that even taking a shower just used up his last 1% of battery. His day was so full of stuff that all he wanted was to get out of the shower, eat something and fall on the couch to watch stupid tv.
After all this, when he finally laid down on the couch and turned on the tv, Jisung took his phone to see if there was anything new. One new message.
from: minho
to: jisung
“hi jisungie, it’s Lino. did you leave college early today? i couldn’t find you after classes ended”
Oh my God. Minho was looking for him? Why? Jisung was excited to see the older boy texted, but seeing that Minho searched for him got Jisung worried. Did he do something wrong?
from: jisung
to: minho
“hey hyung, i actually left very late. i kind of just got home tbh"
Jisung puts his phone to the side, trying not to think negative stuff while Minho didn’t reply. Thank God he only had to wait a few seconds, it’s like Minho was waiting for Jisung’s text and replied as fast as he could.
from: minho
to: jisung
“wait, what? jisungie, it’s past 20h now. why did you stay there for so long?”
from: jisung
to: minho
“i was working on some projects for all these classes i have. there's so many stuff that i decided to start early so i won’t forget anything”
from: minho
to: jisung
“oh i see. but you shouldn’t stay there until it’s late like that. did you have something to eat? aren't you tired? go get some sleep, kid ;)"
The winky face after teasing Jisung with calling him a “kid” made they boy smile unconsciously. Minho had this way of being cute while teasing Jisung and the younger boy was still learning to deal with it.
from: jisung
to: minho
“thanks for ur concern hyung, but i'm ok. just took a shower and had dinner, i'm heading to bed in a couple minutes. i wish i didn’t have to stay at stupid college for so long :( "
from: minho
to: jisung
“and you don’t have to. just text me when you’re too busy or overwhelmed with it. i know i'm not attending the same classes and we have different degrees, obviously, but i can try to help if you need”
Was the older boy really offering Jisung to spend his free time helping with irritating projects and presentations? Jisung’s cheeks got red thinking about how careful Minho was acting. Telling him to go rest, asking if he was eating like he should, offering to help...
Jisung actually has to drop his phone on his lap for a few minutes to calm his breathing. He wondered if Minho knew how cute he was... Jisung doubted, Minho didn’t look like the type to enjoy being called that.
When Jisung got his phone back again, he saw that Minho had texted him 3 more times
from: minho
to: jisung
“did you fall asleep?”
And then another text
from: minho
to: jisung
“that was a dumb question. it's not like you’ll answer with a ‘yeah im sleeping now’ ugh im an idiot”
Jisung genuinely laughed at this second text. Minho’s sense of humor was always on point
from: minho
to: jisung
“well if you’re asleep then i hope you’re sleeping softly. sweet dreams, jisungie. and don’t overwork yourself :( ”
from: jisung
to: minho
“i’m not asleep yet, hyung, thanks for making me laugh, you’re funny. and also thanks for offering to help and for caring about me. i don’t wanna bother, but i’ll talk to you if i need something, ok? i'm gonna sleep now, go sleep you too. sweet dreams, hyungie"
Jisung sends the text, still thinking if he should’ve included more happy faces or stuff. Gosh, he really felt awkward like this. But happy as well. Mostly happy. So it was ok.