Work Text:
“So, Jisung,” Hyunjin says, resting his chin in his palm. “It’s Valentine’s Day soon. Any chance you’ll be confessing to you-know-who?”
Their table quietens, everyone leaning in to hear Jisung’s answer. He buries his head in his hands, blushing at all of the sudden attention.
“You didn’t need to say it so loud, Jinnie,” he responds, chucking a fry at his best friend. “And… I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Come on, Jisung,” Felix groans, shaking Jisung’s shoulder, “You’ve been giving him heart-eyes for months.”
“Don’t forget the love notes at Christmas!” Seungmin adds and Jisung has half the mind to throw a wadded up serviette at him in retaliation.
Felix grins, throwing an arm around Jisung’s shoulder. “Plus, you guys are practically dating already,” he says in a singsong voice, “You’ve got nothing to lose!”
“I have my dignity,” Jisung says, picking at the hem of his shirt.
“One thing to lose,” Felix says. He’s managed to maintain the chipper tone. “But everything to gain!”
Hyunjin giggles at Felix’s attempt. “Listen, Sungie,” he says, suddenly genuine, “You could use the Cupid system! You know we’re fundraising for prom anyway, let me help you.”
Hyunjin started the school’s Cupid system last year. They’re the Valentine’s Season delivery service and Hyunjin’s pride and joy - he likes to think he’s some kind of genius for coming up with the idea.
The student body loves the Cupid system. It’s optionally anonymous and all profits go towards the end of year prom, so they feel like their money is going towards something they’ll benefit from. Still, Jisung knows Hyunjin is only half-joking when he brings it up.
“Why do I feel like you’re just trying to get me to use the Cupids?” he asks, and Hyunjin giggles again, a hand coming up to cover his mouth as he does.
“Well, I guess that’s half of it,” he says, “but I genuinely think you should just go for it, Jisungie, and if he says no then, well, he’s not worth it.”
Jisung sighs, taking a sip of his strawberry milk. “But I really, really want him to say yes.”
---
Jisung lays in bed, staring up at the glow in the dark stars tacked to his ceiling. His friends are right - he knows his friends are right - and frankly, he’s been crushing on Minho long enough to know that he actually, genuinely likes him. Unfortunately, that’s why the thought of rejection scares him so much.
Well, that and the thought of losing Minho as a friend.
Realistically, he knows Minho is sweet. Knows he’d let him down gently, carefully. This, of course, doesn’t help ease Jisung’s raging crush on him in the slightest, but it is reassuring in a sort of sad way.
He thinks of Hyunjin’s offer and for the first time, he actually considers it. His friends are understandably tired of his gushing about Minho’s eyes, or the way he slides the heart-shaped pins Jisung gave him for Christmas into his hair to hold it back while he works, or how his smile makes Jisung just melt - okay, he kept that one to himself, but they’re still bored of his whining.
He sits up in bed, grabbing his phone from the nightstand and hovering his finger over Hyunjin’s contact. A last, split-second decision has him tapping the call button and before he can chicken out, Hyunjin’s tired voice filters through his phone speaker.
“Jisung,” he says, voice a little bit raspy from sleep, “You better have a damn good reason for calling me at 2am.”
“Uhm, I have a reason,” he says sheepishly, “although, I’m not sure if I can call it a good one…”
“I’m hanging up in ten seconds if you don’t give me a reason not to.” Hyunjin grumbles, obviously irritated that Jisung interrupted his sleep.
"No no wait, okay, I need to tell you something," he scrambles, trying to keep Hyunjin on the line.
Hyunjin clicks his tongue and gives a heavy sigh. "Go on."
Jisung lets out a breath of relief. "Okay uhm so," he says, finding a way to word it without seeming like an idiot. "The Cupids. I wanna do it. You know, for Minho."
This gets Hyunjin's attention, Jisung can hear his sheets ruffling as he sits up in bed. "Wait, for real?" he asks.
"Yeah uhh, I think it's time, what do I have to lose?" he says, fiddling with the edge of his comforter.
"Okay perfect." Hyunjin's voice is a bit distorted through Jisung's shitty phone but he can hear the tinge of excitement in his voice. "Think about what you want us to do, okay? We'll talk tomorrow."
"Yeah okay," Jisung breathes, the reality of what he just signed up for hitting him like a sack of bricks. "Thanks, Jin."
"No problem, Sungie," his best friend says, "I'm proud of you. Get some rest."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll do my best." With that, Hyunjin hangs up, and Jisung is left to fall back on his bed.
Although he's scared out of his mind, he can't help but feel a little excited too. Maybe this won't be as bad as he thought it would.
---
“Jisung, hey!” a voice behind Jisung pulls him out of his thoughts and before he can register who it is, there’s an arm over his shoulder.
He pulls his earphones out and looks up, only a little shocked to find Minho walking next to him. His curls fall over round, wire-rimmed glasses today and Jisung thinks he might actually pass out from how cute he looks.
“Hey hyung, what’s up?” He tries to be nonchalant, but the space between them is tiny and he can’t help but love the weight of Minho’s arm around him.
“Can’t I just say hello to my favourite boy?” Minho huffs, tightening his arm around him.
Jisung blushes, hiding his face behind his sleeve. “You’re so full of shit, hyung,” he says. They’re approaching his locker and he can’t help but miss Minho’s arm before he even retracts it. “What do you really need?”
Minho - unfortunately - removes his arm from Jisung’s shoulder in favour of leaning against the lockers next to Jisung’s. “Okay, maybe I need two things,” he says, albeit a bit sheepishly.
“I knew it,” Jisung says, pulling his music textbooks from his locker.
“Okay listen,” Minho defends himself, shoving his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket. “You know my art project? The projection one?” Jisung nods, closing his locker. “So I need someone to project the images onto…” he trails off, eyes pleading.
“Are you asking me to model for your art project?” Jisung wants to be completely clear before he allows his thoughts to run wild.
Minho’s face lights up. “Yeah! That’s it!” he looks down at his shoes for a second and then back up at Jisung. “You totally don’t have to, I can find someone else if--”
Jisung cuts him off. “I’d love to.” His voice is significantly less shaky than he thought it would be and he feels a shred of pride at his own composure. “Just let me know when.”
Minho visibly relaxes. “You’re the best, Sung,” he says, taking his hand gently. “There was one other thing I wanted to ask…”
His heart is racing so fast he’s sure Minho can hear it, but if he can, he doesn’t mention it. It’s all a little overwhelming for Jisung, Minho’s hands are really, really soft, his thumb stained red by all the paint he’s been using. It’s endearing.
“Sit with me at lunch today?” Minho asks, playing with Jisung’s fingers. “I’m so lonely in the art studio, come keep me company?”
Jisung smiles at him. He’s a little sad that Minho has to spend his lunch breaks in the studio, but he knows how it is for art students. “Of course, hyung,” he says, squeezing his hand.
“Perfect,” Minho says, checking his phone. “I’ve gotta get to class, but I’ll see you at lunch?”
“Can’t wait,” Jisung responds. He’s holding himself together well considering every single thought in his head is screaming at him to straight-up lose it.
He gives a wave when Minho pulls away before clutching his books to his chest and smiling softly, his cheeks only a little dusted. He remembers the note and the lollipop in his pocket for Minho and blushes a little harder.
He slides Hyunjin the lollipop and the note in their first period, keeping his eyes on his textbook. Hyunjin’s wearing his Cupids ‘uniform’ - a pastel pink shirt and heart earrings. He’s the only one that actually wears it - and although Jisung isn’t looking at him, he knows he’s grinning.
“When do you want me to give it to him?” he asks, the smile evident in his voice.
“Before lunch, please.” Jisung turns to look at him. “Also I won’t be sitting with you guys today.”
The look Hyunjin gives him is enough to send him back to staring down at his textbook a blushing mess. His reaction serves as fuel to Hyunjin’s impending laughter, which bubbles out a little louder than necessary.
“Jisung! Hyunjin!” his teacher shouts, “no talking!”
“Sorry, ma’am,” Jisung mumbles, shooting an accusatory glare at Hyunjin.
Hyunjin glances back at him and mouths an apology. The last thing Jisung needs is detention, so he keeps his head down for the rest of the lesson.
“Lee Minho!” Hyunjin calls across the hallway. Leaving Jisung leaning against the wall outside their class, Hyunjin strides across the hallway to where Minho has stopped, obviously confused as to why he was called. “Sorry to do this to you, but you’re the Cupids’ first target of the year.”
Jisung watches as Minho blushes and accepts the gift and note. He thanks Hyunjin and moves on to his next class, staring down at the note in his hand.
Hyunjin comes back across the hallway to where Jisung is still standing very still, trying not to hyperventilate. “Come on, Sung,” he says, grabbing his arm to pull him to their next class. “Recollect your brain, we still have biology before you can go be gross at lunch.”
Minho is waiting for him when he gets out of class for his lunch break.
“Sungie!” he says, pulling him out of the doorway and towards the art studio. “How was your morning?”
Jisung looks down at their interlocked arms and back up at Minho’s eyes and just beams.
“It was alright, hyungie.” he adjusts his bag on his other shoulder. “Hyunjin got us shouted at in math, but apart from that, it was okay.”
“That’s good,” he says, “Speaking of Hyunjin, he’s still doing Cupids this year?”
Jisung suddenly recalls Hyunjin and Minho’s exchange in the hallway between periods and flushes. “Oh… yeah, he loves it too much to give it up.”
“It’s sweet,” Minho says. He pulls the heart lollipop out of his jacket pocket. “Someone sent me this through him, so that was really nice.”
Jisung looks down, smiling at the happiness his gift seemed to bring Minho. He puts a hand on their linked arms and leans into Minho as they walk through the halls.
“Here we are,” Minho says, reaching his spare hand out to open the studio door. It’s spacious, the ceilings are higher than they are in the rest of the school, spanning two floors. Light filters in through the big windows facing the football field and all of a sudden it clicks for Jisung why Minho doesn’t mind spending all his time in here.
“Where’s your art, hyung?” he asks as he reluctantly separates their arms.
“Through here,” Minho says, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a separate room.
Minho’s set up for his current artwork takes up the whole room. He has a projector and a screen for his individual pieces, his drawing tablet on the table on the far end of the room and a camera propped up behind the projector.
He’s got a fancy kneeling chair as well and while Jisung gets the appeal of high ceilings and big windows, he knows that this room is Minho’s comfort zone.
Minho pulls a chair up and gestures for him to sit, getting comfy in his kneeling chair. Jisung grabs his tote bag from where he let it rest against his ankles.
“I got us strawberry milk between periods,” he says, putting one on the table. “I know it’s your favourite - it’s my favourite too.”
Minho beams at him. “Oh my word, you remembered?” he asks, picking up the carton. “You’re so sweet Jisungie.”
It’s Jisung’s turn to smile. He watches just how careful Minho is as he opens it, how he’s almost nervous when he looks back at Jisung with the straw between his lips.
“I’m here to keep you company, hyungie,” Jisung says gently, “not to distract you.”
Minho is only a little shocked. He nods and puts the milk down next to his tablet. “I wanna show you my sketchbook,” he says, reaching for his backpack. “I don’t usually show people… I’m pretty confident in this one though.”
He places a small, leather-bound book on the table in front of Jisung. He’s stuck cherry blossom stickers all across the cover and Jisung traces them with a finger, looking up at Minho.
“You’re sure?” he asks, not wanting to cross any boundaries between them.
Minho smiles, nodding. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he says, fingers tapping on the wooden surface of the table.
Jisung takes one last deep breath and opens the sketchbook carefully. The first page has a doodle of two bunnies with “Lee Minho” written in his neat handwriting underneath.
He slowly turns the pages, careful to take in each and every drawing with completely genuine interest. He occasionally comes across little annotations - sometimes they’re about the actual drawings, but most of the time they’re just Minho’s pure thoughts.
Near the end of the sketchbook, he stops, staring down at the page. It’s him.
“You--” he says, looking up at Minho, eyes glimmering. “You drew me?”
It’s pretty, a sketch of him chewing on the end of a pencil. He’s looking up, as though the ceiling tiles held the answer he seemed so desperate to find. The most important thing, however, is the red sweater falling off his shoulder. Minho’s sweater.
“It’s from that day at the café,” Minho says, scratching the back of his neck. “The morning after you-”
“Slept over,” Jisung finishes, eyes still trained on the page. “It was colder than I thought it would be. I remember.”
Of course he remembers. They’d stayed up past midnight watching bad romantic comedies after Jisung’s last exam for the year and they’d gone for breakfast the next morning. He doesn’t like being cheesy but it’s quite possibly his favourite memory with Minho.
“You couldn’t come up with the lyrics…” Minho gives a shaky laugh, glancing down at his hands.
Jisung looks at him, his smile breaking his face in half. “I love it, hyung,” he takes Minho’s hand. “I really love it.”
Minho looks a little surprised when he raises his eyes to meet Jisung’s. They’re still holding hands and he’s about to break the silence when the bell rings, signalling the end of their lunch period.
“Oh…” Jisung is visibly disappointed as he pulls away. “I guess it’s time to go, hyung.”
Minho smiles at him, closing his sketchbook and tucking it back in his backpack. “I’ll have to show you the rest some other time, Sungie.”
Jisung tries not to let it show that he’s absolutely over the moon at the thought of spending more time with Minho, although he’s sure the grin on his face gives him away. “I can’t wait, hyung.”
“How was lunch?” Hyunjin asks, dumping his books on the desk next to Jisung. “Was it everything you could have ever hoped for?”
Jisung throws his eraser at him, trying to keep a straight face at his ridiculous display. “Can you quieten down?” he says under his breath, “We’re in a library, some of us are trying to work.”
“Oh,” Hyunjin says cheekily, “because you’re totally working, not thinking about Minho with heart pupils-- ouch!”
He’s cut off by Jisung hitting his shoulder with his big, clunky AP biology textbook. He’s about to cuss Hyunjin out, too, when one of the librarians shushes them from the front desk and sends them a withering glare.
“Look what you’ve done, Jinnie,” Jisung whispers, going back to his homework. “You got us in trouble with your bullshit.”
“Please,” Hyunjin retorts, pulling out his own textbooks. “We all know that was your fault.”
“I’m innocent.” Jisung gives him a grin. “Completely innocent. Now let me get this work out of the way so we can leave.”
---
“So what else are you gonna do for him?” Seungmin asks.
Jisung is leaning over his vanilla shake thinking of cute things to send Minho leading up to “Day Zero” as Felix calls it. He’s three days away and has already exhausted his options - taping daisies to his locker, getting Hyunjin to give him a heart-shaped balloon after school, leaving sugar cookies for him with the lunch lady - he’s slowly but surely running out of ideas.
“I can’t think,” he says, letting his head drop to the countertop. “I’ve run out of cute things to do.”
Seungmin hums, stirring his milkshake with his straw. “You could send him roses,” he says, “or are you saving those for the actual day?”
“Yeah,” he sighs, looking up. “I wanna put my name on one for him for the rose exchange.”
“Oh, that makes sense…” Seungmin ponders for a second. He wants to say something and Jisung can tell.
“What are you thinking?” he asks, tapping his fingers on the counter. He’s a bit desperate, so he’s down for just about anything Seungmin can suggest.
“Well…” he starts, making up his mind, “you’re still helping him with his art project, right?”
Jisung nods. He is very aware that he’s still helping Minho with his art project. In fact, he’s helping him with it tomorrow and that’s something he’s definitely not ready for in any capacity.
“He’s gonna do makeup on me and everything,” he says, putting his head in his hands. “Said he wants the best shots he can get.”
“Have you thought of leaving him candy hearts?” Seungmin asks, “You could leave them in his studio?”
“That’s…” Jisung isn’t opposed to the idea. “That could be nice, and I’ll be in his studio for his project as well…”
Seungmin claps excitedly. “Exactly! It’s cute, plus, you won’t need Hyunjin’s help for this one.”
That is a plus. Jisung’s been feeling bad about using Hyunjin for almost all of his surprises for Minho, especially since his best friend isn’t letting him pay for his help. (“You’re my best friend, Jisungie,” he says, “I’m not letting you pay me.”)
Jisung’s thankful. But he definitely feels like he’s taking advantage of him.
“Okay,” he says, pushing his now empty milkshake glass away. “Candy hearts it is.”
---
Minho is really, really good at makeup.
He takes his time, but he’s focused the entire time. He’s gentle, too, holding Jisung’s chin in place with a featherlight touch while he brushes glitter onto his eyelids.
“I think pink?” Minho muses, “It’ll go nicely with your hair.” He’s talking about the lipgloss he’s carefully dabbing onto Jisung’s lips. “Okay, Sungie, all done.” he hands him a mirror. “Now just to decide what clothes…”
Minho goes to dig through his duffel bag, leaving Jisung with the mirror. The glitter makes his eyes look bigger and the frankly ridiculous amount of blush has him giggling - but what really grabs him are the little heart stickers Minho pressed on his cheeks, they leave him a little speechless.
“What do you think of this?” Minho holds up a jacket - his favourite jacket, Jisung realises - with a pair of hoop earrings. “I had other outfits planned, but I think this is the one.”
“Yeah, okay hyungie!” he says, taking the jacket from Minho. “It’s your project, so just tell me what you want me to do.”
“Thanks, Sungie.” Minho gestures for him to stand in front of the screen and switches on the projector.
He’s immediately lit up by different pinks and reds and light blues and he realises why Minho was so insistent upon the glitter.
“Alright, Jisung.” Minho is behind the camera, features completely focused. “I need you to move around.”
He takes a tentative step and looks up at the camera, posing as best he can for Minho. “Like this?” he asks, a little self-conscious.
“Yeah, hold on, let me get you something.” Minho goes to rummage in his duffel bag again. He pulls out a lollipop - not unlike the one Jisung gave him, but pink - and hands it to him. “Here, this’ll give you something to do with your hands.”
“Oh, thanks hyung.” Jisung takes the lollipop and lifts it to his lips. It’s as sweet as he expected, the candied strawberry flavour making his taste buds sing while he looks at Minho from under his eyelashes.
“You’re doing amazing, Sung,” Minho says, “Keep moving, I’m gonna change the projection, okay?”
Jisung nods and a different range of warm reds and oranges are cast over him. He tilts his head experimentally, holding the lollipop next to his face. Minho giggles and takes the camera from the stand, coming closer to Jisung.
“There, just like that, alright?” Minho says. Jisung can hear the shutter when he’s this close. “You wanna take a break?”
“I’m all good, hyung,” Jisung says quickly. Minho nods and moves back behind his camera stand. He changes the projection to something blue and red. “Can I…” Jisung lets the jacket slip off his shoulder, exposing the skin his tank top doesn’t cover.
“Oh yeah, that’s a good one,” Minho mumbles, “Can you do one looking over your shoulder?”
Jisung turns, putting the lollipop to his lips and glancing back at Minho. He blushes just a bit at the slightly ridiculous and cliché pose, but he’d do it again and again if Minho asked him to.
Well. He’d do just about anything Minho asked him to - but that’s not the point.
Minho changes the projection a few more times. He mumbles out the occasional instruction to Jisung, but for the most part, he lets him do what he wants.
“You’re sure you’ve got enough, hyung?” It’s almost dark, Jisung can see the sun setting over the football field when Minho opens the black-out blinds.
Minho nods, not looking up from his camera screen. He’s pretty like this, the evening sun makes his brown hair look golden and Jisung is so weak for him.
“All good, Jisungie.” Minho crosses the room to where Jisung has settled himself into the kneeling chair. “You did incredibly, thank you.”
He’s so genuine it makes Jisung want to cry. “You’re…” he starts, “You’re welcome hyungie.”
Jisung remembers that he needs to find a way to give Minho the candy hearts, so he reaches for his tote bag while Minho’s back is turned and slips the package into the pocket of the jacket. He’ll be sad to part with it, it’s way too big on him and smells like Minho - vanilla and lavender - something he enjoys just a little too much.
“We should go before it gets dark.” Minho has taken up residence on the floor, sprawled out on his back like a sunbathing cat. “I’ll give you a lift home.”
“Oh no, hyung,” he says quickly, “I can walk, it’s really fine.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Minho smiles up at him and sits up, crossing his legs. “I’m not letting you walk home in the dark.” He reaches up to poke Jisung’s cheek. “It’s not even that far, come on.”
“Okay…” Jisung relents, “If you’re sure-- stop doing that!” he bats Minho’s finger away from his face, unsurprised to find it coming right back.
“You can’t make me, Jisungie,” Minho giggles. He pulls his hand away after a few more meaningful pokes and pushes himself up onto his feet. “Let’s go, it’s getting dark for real now.”
Jisung has been in Minho’s car before. It’s an old blue station wagon with suede seats and he can’t say he’s ever been in a comfier car.
“You can play music if you want,” Minho says, handing him the aux cord.
Jisung takes it gladly, plugging it into his phone. He puts his favourite playlist on - the one with too many Taylor Swift songs and not enough anything else - and bops his head to the tinny music filtering through the shitty car speakers.
Luckily for him, Minho is just as much of a Taylor Swift nerd as him and has absolutely no issues with singing along. It’s unfortunate for Jisung, though, because there’s nothing that could pull his eyes away from Minho as he belts out the lyrics to Gorgeous.
Earlier, Jisung didn’t think he had ever seen Minho more beautiful than with the sunset coating him in rich gold, but now he’s watching the street lights flicker over his face and he’s so different to his usual self, the Minho Jisung knows, yet he’s familiar. Everything about him is so unbelievably, overwhelmingly familiar.
“You wanna make a quick stop?” Minho asks, dragging Jisung away from his thoughts.
“Sure, what do you need?” Jisung turns down the music and looks at Minho. He’s already pulling over - into Jisung’s favourite milkshake place. “Oh, I love this place hyungie!”
“I know you do,” Minho responds, parking just outside the store. “And you’re in luck, because I’m really craving a milkshake - plus, I’ve never been here before.
Jisung laughs, shaking his head. “Hyung, surely it’s too late for milkshakes--”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Jisungie!” Minho says, already half out the car, “It’s never too late for milkshakes!”
And so, Jisung ends up across from Minho in one of the booths by the window. He’s got the menu in front of him, though he already knows he’s gonna get a vanilla milkshake with strawberry drizzle - he always does.
Minho, however, takes his time choosing something, making little noises of delight when he finds something new on the menu. It’s ridiculously endearing and Jisung finds himself fighting a smile at the way Minho’s mouth rounds into a little “o” shape when he points out that he can get real strawberries in the shake.
“Okay, okay,” Minho says, shaking his head wildly, his curls falling over his eyes. “I think… I think I’m gonna get a strawberry one.”
Jisung smiles. “You sure?” He knows Minho is sure - he also knows that Minho will enjoy strawberry - the opportunity to tease him, however, is too tempting to pass up. “Not gonna change your mind again.”
Minho giggles, closing the menu. “No,” he says, resting his chin in his hand. “I’m sure. Absolutely, totally sure.”
Jisung looks pointedly at the way his finger twitches, picking at the corner of the menu card. “Okay, hyung,” he laughs, “So I can go order for us, then?”
“Fine, fine, let me just check it one more time.” He picks the card up, giving Jisung a dirty look for the chuckle that tumbles out of his mouth. “Okay, yeah, strawberry please.”
Jisung laughs again, taking the menu from Minho’s hands. “Be right back.”
He comes back to the table with two milkshakes in hand. Minho is on his phone and he looks stupidly good in a simple red t-shirt, especially under the artificial glow of the milk bar lights. It’s actually ridiculous and totally unfair that Minho looks that good in just about any lighting.
“One strawberry milkshake, extra cream and fresh strawberries for you, good sir,” Jisung says, placing Minho’s glass in front of him. Minho’s eyes widen comically at the drink and Jisung finds himself biting back a laugh for the second time that night.
“Thanks, Jisungie,” he says, eyes still wide, “You need to bring me here more often, this looks fantastic.”
“Try it before you make me promise anything, hyung.” Jisung takes a sip of his own milkshake, keeping his eyes locked on Minho. “Come on, it’ll be good, I promise.”
Minho pulls the straw between his lips and takes a tentative sip, eyes fluttering closed and a hum drawn from deep in his chest.
“That…” he starts, looking between Jisung and the milkshake, “That’s incredible.”
Jisung beams at him. “I knew you’d like it hyungie.”
They settle into a comfortable silence, both focused on their milkshakes. Jisung finds his eyes drawn to Minho’s fingers tapping on the plastic of the table. He’s tapping out a tune, possibly a subconscious thing, but he feels distracted by it, drawn to it.
“What’s on your mind?” he asks, placing both of his hands on the table.
“It’s nothing, Sung,” Minho shakes his head, seemingly still making a decision. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Hyungie~” Jisung drags out, “Tell Jisungie what you’re thinking>”
Minho obviously - very obviously - makes up his mind. He shakes his head again, reaching over to flick Jisung’s forehead. “You’re such a brat, Sung,” he says, “you’ll find out soon enough.”
Jisung tilts his head to one side. “What on earth is that supposed to mean?” he asks, righting his head and pouting over the straw as he pulls it into his mouth. “You’re so cryptic, hyung.”
“I’m not cryptic!” Minho exclaims. The way his features draw for a second makes Jisung wonder if maybe, this time, he’s pushed a little too far. “I’m being serious, you’ll know soon.” and just like that, the Minho Jisung recognises is back.
“Alright, hyung.” Jisung taps the table. “You can tell me whenever you feel ready.”
Minho visibly relaxes. He takes a sip of his milkshake to try and hide the relief, but Jisung knows the look in his eyes - it makes him a little uneasy - but Minho’s already moved onto telling him about all the books he’s been reading lately.
The look behind Minho’s eyes stays ingrained in Jisung’s mind.
---
“Today’s the day, Sungie,” Hyunjin says, settling into his seat next to him. “Happy Valentine’s!”
Jisung knows it’s the day. The bags under his eyes speak to the hours he spent tossing and turning, considering all the ways their plan could go horribly wrong.
“Yeah, Jinnie,” he sighs, scrawling down the notes from the board, “I wish I could forget.”
Hyunjin shoves his shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous, Sungie,” he says, “everything’s gonna be fine.”
Realistically, Jisung knows it’s all going to be alright. Even if he has to deal with the mortifying embarrassment of rejection, he’ll get over it. Well, he'll get over it eventually.
He’s actually not sure how easy it’ll be to get over. He’ll have to cross that bridge when he gets to it.
“Relax, Jisung.” Hyunjin elbows his side. “Listen, if - and that’s an if - it doesn’t go well, he’s an idiot. You’re like, literally perfect, who wouldn’t want you?”
Jisung is absolutely not going to cry in first-period music theory, but he does reach for Hyunjin’s hand to intertwine their fingers under their desk.
“Thanks, Jinnie,” he says, going back to his notes with his free hand. “You know it means a lot.”
Jisung finds himself leaning over the bathroom sink during his lunch period. He’s a little dishevelled, blonde hair falling over his eyes messily, his red shirt half untucked. The day seems to drag its heels and if he’s honest, he just wants to get it over with.
“Get it together, Sung,” he says to his reflection. There’s no one else in the bathroom so he’s all alone in his personal intervention.
They’ll be handing out the roses during student assembly at the end of the day. He can’t help but wonder if Minho’s face will light up when his name is called, only to drop when he reads the note attached.
“It’s just Minho,” he mumbles, running his hands through his hair. “You know Minho.”
He pushes away from the sink and tucks his shirt back in properly. Giving himself one more disdainful look in the mirror, he swings his bag over his shoulder and pulls the door open, only to get the fright of his life and crash straight into someone’s chest before he can even make it into the hallway.
Vanilla and lavender. Oh.
“Oh, Jisung,” Minho says, hands going to Jisung’s waist to steady him. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there, you okay?”
Jisung looks up at him, ever aware of Minho’s thumbs rubbing circles into his waist. “Hi hyung, sorry, I didn’t--”
Minho interrupts him. “No, it’s okay, totally my fault,” he says, letting his hands - unfortunately - fall away from Jisung’s sides. “I’ll be more careful.”
Jisung gives him a small smile. They stand in the doorway for a second and Jisung can’t help but wonder if this’ll be the last time they’ll be this comfortable around each other.
“You wanna get out of here?” Minho says to him, cutting off his thoughts. “We’ll be back in time for assembly, I just want to spend some time with you.”
Jisung takes a moment to think about it. He doesn’t usually skip class. Minho doesn’t usually skip class, but right now he’s all wrapped up in the fear of him slipping through his fingers that there’s not a single universe where he could really say no.
“Sure, hyung,” he says, taking his hand, “I’d love to.”
“When you said we should get out of school, I didn’t really think you meant the roof.” Jisung leans over the edge to down at the ground, just a little too far away for his liking.
Minho’s arms wrap around his waist and pull him back from the edge. “The school will literally kill us if they see us here, Sung,” he says, picking him up and depositing him on top of one of the crates near the middle of the roof.
Jisung pouts at him. “You brought me all the way here, hyungie,” he says, swinging his legs just off of the ground. “What did you really want to tell me?”
Minho sits opposite him on another crate, legs folded neatly underneath him. “I…” he trails off, suddenly shy and playing with the ring on his thumb. “I never got to show you the rest of my sketchbook.”
Jisung’s eyes light up instantly, beaming at Minho. “Oh, I’d love to see, hyung,” he says, making grabbing hands at the book Minho pulls out of his backpack.
The book is exactly as he remembers it with stickers across the front and a red band holding it closed. Minho puts it where their two crates meet, sliding it just a little closer to Jisung. He turns the pages to where they left off, the drawing of Jisung in the red sweater still staring up at them.
He turns the page, marvelling at the intricacy of every mark Minho has made. He notices as he goes that there are more annotations than earlier in the book, sometimes written on little pink sticky notes, but more often straight onto the paper next to his art.
“I really like this one,” Jisung says, staring down at the page. It’s a watercolour painting, pinks and orange clouds scattered across a pale blue sky. It reminds him of something, but he can’t quite put his finger on what it is.
“Oh!” Minho’s face lights up. “Do you recognise it?”
“I can’t quite figure out where from,” he says, tapping the corner of the page, “I definitely do, though,” he says.
Minho smiles happily. “It’s one of the projections!” He turns the page and finds two more designs, almost identical to the ones Minho photographed him in.
That’s it, that’s where they’re from. They’re so unbelievably pretty, Jisung isn’t quite sure what to do with himself. “I still can’t believe you painted these, hyung,” he says, turning the page again.
Three pictures fall out. They’re printed on nice paper, proper photo paper and oh they’re of him.
“Are these…” Jisung trails off, picking up the photos. “Are these from your project?”
“Yeah.” Minho rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “They were test prints and well, I quite liked these ones.”
Jisung examines them. They’re of him with different projections from the shoot, including the cloudy sky one. They turned out prettier than he thought they would, especially considering how embarrassed he’d been while Minho was taking them.
“I like how you made me look, hyung,” he says, sliding the photos back and closing the sketchbook, “You made me really pretty.”
Minho mumbles something under his breath while he wraps the red band back around the book.
“Sorry, hyung?” Jisung asks, leaning in closer, “I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Oh, nothing,” Minho says quickly.
Jisung pouts. “Hyungie,” he whines, taking Minho’s hand, “Hyungie tell me.”
“I…” Minho’s hands are warm in Jisung’s. “You’re pretty without the art.”
He’s taken aback. “Oh,” he says, trying to compose himself and slow his ever-pounding heart. “Thank you hyung, but your art makes it a lot easier.”
Minho makes a little noise of disapproval, but before he can say anything, Jisung hears footsteps.
“Oh my god,” he says, grabbing Minho and pulling him off the crate and behind a half-wall near where they were sitting.
Still clinging to Minho’s hand, Jisung peers over the wall and lets out a sigh of relief.
“It’s just two first years,” he whispers, “We probably shouldn’t let them see us, though.”
Minho nods, giving his hand a squeeze. “When I say go, we’re gonna make a run for the stairwell, okay?”
Jisung gives him a determined look. “Got it.”
Minho leans up to look over the wall again, and then back down at Jisung. “You ready?” he asks. Jisung gives him a little nod. “Alright, let’s go.”
And then they’re running. The stairwell is far behind them in seconds, but they don’t stop running until they make it to the bathroom.
Jisung pants, leaning against the wall next to Minho. He looks up at him with stars in his eyes, giving his hand a squeeze.
“We made it, hyung,” he says, heart still pounding from the run - and maybe their interlocked fingers too.
Minho looks back at him, grin wide. “And right on time, too,” he says, “Assembly starts in three minutes.”
Jisung didn’t realise they had spent so much time on the roof, too caught up in the way Minho’s voice lilted every time Jisung asked about one of his drawings, how they talked for over two hours and it had felt like fifteen minutes, the way Minho’s hand feels in his.
He knows one thing, though. There’s nowhere he’d rather be.
They have to separate for assembly to sit with their forms and Jisung picks Seungmin and Felix out of the crowd.
“Where the fuck have you been, man?” Seungmin asks when he collapses into the seat next to him. “Hyunjin was stressed at lunch when you didn’t show.”
“Sorry, guys,” Jisung says sheepishly, “I actually, uhm, I actually skipped class with Minho.”
His friends’ eyes are all on him, but before they can all start screaming at him, someone taps on the mic.
Hyunjin’s voice filters through the auditorium. “Afternoon everyone,” he says, trying to garner the attention of the school. “I’m not gonna take up much of your time but like, listen to me for two seconds while I tell you how this is gonna work.”
The auditorium falls silent as Hyunjin explains the handing out of the roses. “My Cupids are gonna come to you individually. You can talk but please stay in your seats until we dismiss you for the afternoon.” as he says this, a few Cupids come forward with big boxes full of plastic roses. “You can resume your conversations now.”
Felix and Seungmin round on him again, hoping to get some kind of explanation out of him - he’s not listening, though. Every single thought in his head is aimed at Minho - the Minho that he’s either about to love or lose - and there’s cotton in his ears and his friends are asking him questions but he can’t hear anything.
He finds Minho in the crowd of juniors right as he’s handed a rose. He watches his eyes light up momentarily, but then there’s confusion and oh god he’s looking around frantically and Jisung can’t take the suspense anymore.
So he runs.
He runs out of the auditorium as Minho’s eyes find him.
The hallways are empty. He shouldn’t be outside the auditorium until Hyunjin dismisses them, but he finds himself needing to be anywhere but there so he can gather his thoughts.
His thoughts. Minho. God, all he had wanted in the morning was to get the whole ordeal over and done with, but now he wishes he could avoid confronting Minho just a little longer.
Fate has never really played in his favour.
“Jisung wait!” a voice calls and he’s stopped in his tracks.
He turns, shoulders tense, knuckles white. “Hi, Minho hyung,” he says, voice shaky.
“You--” Minho breaks off, looking down at the rose in his hand. “You forgot something.”
Jisung looks up, confused. He left his bag in his locker and he has his jacket, so he really has no clue what Minho’s talking about. “What? I have all my stuff, I didn’t leave anything in the auditorium--”
“No, Jisung listen,” Minho says, taking a tentative step forward. “You forgot something.”
“What did I forget, hyung?” Jisung asks. His hands are shaking, knuckles still pale as ever as Minho gets closer to him.
“You forgot me!” Minho giggles, taking his shaking hands and easing them out of the tight fists they had curled into.
Jisung chokes. “What--” he splutters, “What do you mean, hyung?”
“Were you serious?” Minho asks, ignoring his question. “In the note, were you being for real?”
Despite his little joke, Jisung realises that he’s completely serious.
“Of course I meant it, hyung,” he says earnestly, “I meant every single word.”
Tension bleeds out of Minho’s shoulders. “Then you… you also left me all the gifts, the Cupid deliveries?”
Jisung blushes and ducks his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, that was all me,” he answers, “Sorry about that, I wanted to do something nice but I should’ve known it would make you uncomfortable--”
“Jisung, you aren’t understanding me,” Minho breathes, cutting him off. “I like you, too. Like, a lot.”
Jisung’s head snaps up. “You,” he says, voice weak, “You what?”
“I thought it was obvious,” Minho laughs, rubbing circles into the skin of Jisung’s wrists. “If I’m honest, I thought you knew.”
“I’m such an idiot,” Jisung groans, resting his forehead on Minho’s shoulder, “I’ve been trying to prepare myself all day for what I was gonna do without you and you--”
He’s cut off by Minho giggling. “Sungie, you could never get rid of me, you know that, right?”
“I mean, realistically I knew,” he says, “But my brain was so stupid and I was so scared of losing so…”
They’re close, painfully close. Jisung’s hands are enveloped in Minho’s and they’re completely in each other’s space - close enough for Jisung to smell Minho’s vanilla and lavender shampoo.
“Jisung,” Minho breathes, letting go of his hands to rest his own on Jisung’s waist. “Can I kiss you?”
Jisung looks up at him, stars in his eyes. “Of course you can, hyung,” he says, “I want you to kiss me.”
That’s all Minho needs to lean down and capture Jisung’s lips in a sweet kiss.
Minho tastes like strawberries and Jisung can’t help but wonder how he’s gone so long without doing this because he’s not sure there’s anything else in the world that he loves more than kissing him.
They pull apart, eyes sparkling. Jisung loops his arms around Minho’s neck and pulls him back down into his space to deliver a peck to his lips.
“We really are a little dumb,” Minho giggles, “But it’s okay now. I’ve got you now.”
“Oh?” Jisung teases, “You’ve got me, have you?”
“Of course I do.” Minho gives his sides a slight squeeze. “You’re still here, aren’t you?”
“Hyung, that tickles,” Jisung whines, “And yeah, you’ve got me. You’ve absolutely got me.”
---
“Where did you go?” Hyunjin asks, pouting. “I didn’t dismiss you and I was like, really worried.”
“Sorry, Jinnie,” Jisung responds, “If it makes you feel any better, your Cupid service worked.”
“Well, of course, it worked,” Hyunjin says, examining his nails, “But what do you mean by that?”
“I mean.” Jisung grins cheekily. “I kinda sorta have a boyfriend now.”
Hyunjin’s head snaps up. “You what?”