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"It's finally time," a young man sings as he ruffles another's hair. The other person's hand slaps the blue-haired boy. "Chenle finally going to confess!"
"Jaemin hyung," Chenle groans, trying to fix his black hair. He observes himself in the mirror, turns his body this way and that. "Don't remind me please."
"My boy's all grown up! Renjun," Jaemin turns around to see the other Chinese boy sprawled on the floor. "Our son!"
"Yeah, yeah," the blonde says, and sweeps the younger’s outfit from top to bottom. He looks at the jet black-haired boy and gives a lazy thumbs up. “Go get him, tiger.”
“Thanks ge,” Chenle turns to Jaemin, who’s busy taking pictures of him. “Hyung, can we go now? And stop taking photos!”
When the car stops in front of Mark’s house, where the party is in full swing, Jaemin immediately whips his head to the backseat. “Lele, you ready?”
“Hyung, I’m just going to tell him I like him and that’s it. It’s not a big deal!” Chenle huffs.
“But you and him might end up… You know,” the Korean wiggles his eyebrows. “Dating.”
Chenle turns red, “Hyung!”
“I’m just saying!” Jaemin throws his hands up, narrowly missing Renjun. “How do you think Injunnie and I got together? He confessed to me, obviously!”
“Liar. It was the other way around.” The blonde says, flicking his boyfriend’s forehead. Jaemin whines.
“Ugh, whatever. I’m getting out of the car,” Chenle grumbles and throws open the car door. “See ya, lovebirds.”
“Good luck, Lele!” Jaemin’s voice is loud as the car door shuts with a finalizing thud. Every step to the house filled his heart with anxiety. Before he entered the house, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he was lost in the sea of people.
The dance music pierces Chenle’s ears, and the bass punches through his chest; it does nothing to ease his pounding heart. He adjusts his jacket out of nervousness as he weaves his way around the dancing bodies. The young man makes his way to the kitchen, hoping to get a drink before he finds his crush and drops the bomb.
Scratch that. Chenle thinks to himself, because the first thing he sees is a tall boy with light brown hair talking to a couple of other partygoers. Lowering his gaze, he finds a pair of small eyes that were made even narrower due to the owner laughing; the black-haired boy can see a pair of lips that are pulled back into a smile that vaguely resembles a heart.
Fuck. It’s getting a bit hard to breathe.
“Chenchen!” Tall Boy says, and the two other people revealed themselves to be their other friends, Jeno and Donghyuck. “Glad to see you make it.”
“Jisung,” The name rolls off the older boy’s tongue smoothly. “Nice to see you.”
“Um, hello? We’re here too, y’know!” Donghyuck says over the music, to which Jeno rolls his eyes at. Chenle scoffs.
“Hi hyungs,” The Chinese boy says, then gestures to the plastic cups of alcohol in their hands. “Where do I get one of those?”
“Ah, about that,” Jeno says, taking a sip of his drink. “We’re out of beer, so Mark ran out to buy more.”
Great, Chenle inwardly groans. Just great.
As much as the black-haired male wants to wait until his hyung comes back with more beer so he can gain some liquid courage, he can’t. He knows the more he prolongs this, the more the nervousness will eat him up inside.
It’s now or never.
“Jisungie,” The Chinese boy turns to find the said boy frozen mid-sip. The cup is raised to his lips, and his eyes shift to meet Chenle’s, eyebrow raised. The older man can only hope that his voice isn’t wobbly as he speaks. “We need to talk.”
It’s eerie how in sync Donghyuck and Jeno are, swiveling their heads from left to right and left again. They look at the both of younger ones with excitement and anticipation, like they’re sure something is going to happen. Is it just him, or is there tension in the air? Chenle doesn’t know, and he’s unsure whether he wants to.
The taller boy stares a few more minutes, mostly out of concern and confusion. He places his cup down. “Sure? I mean, yeah. Sure.”
“Okay um,” Chenle turns, and with his back turned, he can’t help but feel the blood rush to his cheeks and an anxious smile melting into his face. Fuck, he’s so nervous. “Let’s go to a quieter place?”
“So, what did you wanna talk about?” Jisung says as the both of them make it to Mark’s bedroom. No one else is there, thank god, but they could still feel the booming music through their feet. They decide to head out onto the balcony, for fresh air and as much privacy as they can get at a college party. “It’s… nothing bad, right? Did something happen?”
“Huh? O-oh no! Not at all!” Chenle laughs nervously. The younger breathes a sigh of relief and leans against the railing.
“Well, what is it?” Jisung asks, chewing his bottom lip. He looks out onto the party below, and the otherwise empty streets ahead. The Korean is kind of beautiful, Chenle thinks.
“So like,” He effectively starts, but is stopped by his own nervous laughter. Jisung snaps his head to look at him. He looks very concerned, but Chenle is no quitter. “Um, I uh—”
“Dolphin,” The Korean uses one of his nicknames to calm the older down, but it just makes the ravenet blush. “Are you okay?”
Fuck, that’s so cute. Chenle’s brain helpfully supplies.
“Y-yeah I just,” The Chinese boy says and tries to get a breath in. His heart threatens to beat out of his chest, and he uses a hand to steady himself. “I just—”
“Lele.” Jisung grabs his free hand and holds it. Chenle screams internally.
AhhhHAHAHA—
“Deep breaths, Chenchen,” The Korean boy says as he draws circles in the older man’s skin in an attempt to soothe. “Take your time.”
“I-I’m fine, really! A little nervous but it’s okay!” The ravenet says, retracting his hands and clasping them together. He can feel the sweat building up in them. Ah, shit.
Well, now or never.
“Jisung,” Chenle says, and he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He opens them and stares into the younger’s confused but expecting eyes. “I like you.”
“Oh,” the Korean says, with wide eyes. A few seconds pass in silence. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
More silence.
Shit, Chenle thought to himself. This is not how I wanted things to go.
He feels awful when Jisung’s eyes become wider than ever, and his mouth gapes open like a fish. Even if the sky is black, it’s not that difficult to see the pinkish tint on the taller boy’s cheeks. Is that a good sign or…?
“So uh—” Chenle’s voice breaks and he feels like crying. Jisung just opted to stare at the other, still so silent.
Chenle feels like shit.
“S-so I’m just gonna go,” He whispers out so that his wobbly voice isn’t evident, but it still sounds so loud. “I-I’ll see you around? I g-guess?”
“Chenchen—” The other’s voice makes him turn around and speed walk to the bedroom door. Fuck, he can’t handle being so near him right now. It hurts his heart.
“B-bye! See you on c-campus!” Chenle shouts behind him as he opens the door and slams it shut. He lets out a shaky breath as he leans against it.
Why didn’t Jisung say something? Or anything, really? It didn’t even matter if it was to reject him— even that would have been way better than just… nothing. Chenle feels like utter crap and wishes he never confessed in the first place as he takes his phone out of his pocket and calls Jaemin.
“H-hyung, can you c-come pick m-me up?”
Chenle never thought he’d be hiding in the bushes, but here he is. He feels kind of stupid in this position, but his friends are looking everywhere for him, probably to force him and Jisung to talk. No thanks.
“—Can’t find him here.” He perks up when he hears Donghyuck’s voice beside him. He hears someone sigh.
“It’s no use, Jisungie. There’s way too many people here. You have a better chance talking to him during lunch tomorrow.” It’s Jeno speaking now. The Chinese boy balls his hands into fists and digs into the skin. He has to stay as still as possible or else they’ll find him.
“You think so? I—”Their conversation is cut off by a car honking. Judging by the volume of the horn, it’s near. There’s the sound of a car door opening, and someone familiar yells.
“Lele? We’re here! Where are you?” Jaemin shouts. Chenle closes his eyes.
Three…
He breathes in.
Two…
He breaths out.
One.
Chenle opens his eyes and hurriedly crawls out of the bushes. Donghyuck screeches.
“What the fuck?!” The tan boy screams as the Chinese boy brings himself to his feet. He awkwardly waves at the gawking trio, then hotfoots it out of there.
“Catch him!” He hears Jeno shout behind him as he runs to the car. The black-haired boy runs as fast as he can, panting.
“Get in the car, hyung!” Chenle shouts to Jaemin. The older looks bewildered watching the whole scene, but complies. The younger runs up to the car, cheering in triumph. His heart is pumping from the adrenaline.
“Huh?” The Chinese boy tries to open the door, but to no avail. He yanks at it, but it doesn’t budge. He knocks on the window, and when he peers through he sees Renjun using his fingers to dance with the driver’s door lock, teasing him. “Wha—! Ge, open the door!”
Jaemin just shrugs, while the brunet beside him shakes his head while wagging his finger. He then points to someone behind Chenle. Through the reflection, it’s someone very tall.
“Ge! Help!” The ravenet shouts as he feels himself being picked up. He’s slung over someone’s shoulder like a bag, and he thrashes. The person is walking away farther from the car, and Chenle raises a hand to try and reach for the car door even if he’s now far away from it.
“Jaemin hyung…” The boy whispers out, but becomes limp and hangs his head when he hears Donghyuck laughing his ass off. Jeno, on the other hand, is whooping.
“Wait, then this is—” Chenle turns his head to see brown hair. The head turns and he finds himself face to face with someone he’s very familiar with. The other person’s expression is unreadable, and honestly the Chinese boy is terrified. “P-Park Jisung!”
“Yup.” The taller boy says only that, nothing more. The Chinese boy doesn’t speak either, too shocked and stunned to really do anything but just resign himself to his fate as he’s carried back into the party, and into Mark’s bedroom once more. The older is thrown onto the bed, and when he scrambles to sit up, Jisung is seated on the end.
They just stare at each other in silence, and it just reminds the ravenet of what went down just a while ago. He feels awful all over again.
“Jisung—” Chenle speaks at the same time the younger boy says, “I like you too.”
Pause.
The shorter blinks, wide eyed. Um, did he hear that right?
“Oh,” Is the only intelligent thing Chenle can say, and he can’t even stop himself from continuing, “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Silence again. They stare at each other, and the Chinese boy can see the brunet turning pink. He has a slight feeling déjà vu, like the roles have been switched this time.
“Wow, that’s cool.” Chenle says, because he literally cannot think of anything else to say. The younger bursts into loud giggles. The ravenet stands up, turning red himself. “I— Why are you laughing?!”
“It’s just—” Jisung tries to say, but is stopped by his own boisterous laughter. He’s clutching his sides and there are tears spilling out of his eyes. The shorter stomps his feet like a child.
“A-are you messing with me?! Really, you—!”
“Hey,” Jisung stands up and leans forward. He literally towers over Chenle, and the older boy curses. It’s really unfair that they have such a large height difference. “Lele.”
“W-what?” Fuck, his voice cracked.
“Lele,” Jisung says, eyes intense. “I like you.”
“I know, I h-heard you the first time.”
“And you like me too.”
“Y-yes?” Chenle has absolutely no idea where the brunet is going with this.
“So… do you… um,” Jisung is full on red now, but his face is still schooled in a serious expression. The Chinese boy has to give him credit for maintaining his composure. “Wanna… go out with me?”
“Y-yeah,” A smile graces Chenle’s face. It’s a bit wobbly and stifled, but he can’t help it. “Yeah, I’ll go out with you.”
It’s Jisung’s turn to smile, and it folds into the heart shape that the other boy adores so much. “Great.”
They just stare into each other’s eyes, and after a second, they snicker. The Korean takes one of Chenle’s hand, drawing circles on the skin again. It tingles.
“So… tomorrow, after classes?” Jisung asks, hopeful. And who was Chenle to turn it down?
“Sure,” A giggle leaves the older’s mouth. The brunet laughs too, enamoured. “I’ll pick you up after your last class? I’ll wait outside.”
“Sounds good,” Jisung hums, bringing the hand he was holding to his lips. He leaves a light kiss, much to the surprise of the shorter. When the taller looks up to see his perhaps-boyfriend slack jawed, he grins. “Was it too much?”
“N-no,” Chenle says, using his hand to caress the Korean’s warm cheek. The brunet’s eyes widen in surprise, and it makes the older giggle again. “Not at all.”
“So are you two…” Jaemin drawls when Chenle gets in the car. Renjun starts it up, and their friends are outside saying goodbye. The blue-haired boy whirls around in his seat. “Dating?”
“Hyung,” The ravenet says as he waves at Jisung. The taller boy waves back and forms a heart with his hands. Chenle smiles. Is it too early to say that he’s in love? “I’m not telling you.”
“Hey!”