Archive of Our Own

Shit. I fucked up, Jisung thought when he looked at the texts on his phone. He had definitely not thought about the possibility of him telling his homophobic uncle that he had a boyfriend in a surge of annoyance backfiring on him. You see, one of his annual family parties was in two days and his uncle had asked him a month or two ago, at the previous family party, whether his boyfriend, who definitely didn’t exist, would come to one of the parties. Jisung had dumbly answered ‘of course!’, because he didn’t want his uncle to win and he thought maybe there was a slim chance that he could score a boyfriend in the meantime. Well, he was wrong.

In fact, Jisung had totally forgotten that he had told his uncle that, and today his uncle had texted him that he was ‘very excited to meet the boyfriend soon!’. What an asshole. And a liar.

And yes, Jisung could’ve just said they had broken up recently, or that his boyfriend would be busy at the day of the party, but then his uncle would win, Jisung already imagined how his uncle would give a speech about how ‘those kinds of relationships’ would never last long, or they wouldn’t be prepared to be there for each other or some other bullshit. The fact that Jisung’s uncle had also told the whole family and everyone was telling him they were looking forward to meeting the boyfriend and asking questions about what he was like and telling him that he ‘finally’ found someone didn’t help Jisung’s case either. 

So there Jisung was, trying to think of ways to fix the difficult situation he had gotten himself into. As he walked back to his dorm room which he shared with Chan— Chan. 

Suddenly an idea popped up into Jisung’s head. It was a bold one, but Jisung was desperate, and Chan was the easiest and most accessible person to talk to at the moment. He also trusted Chan to not laugh at him for any ridiculous ideas and maybe even come up with something better, but right now this was the only thing that Jisung could think of. 

Adrenaline filled his body as he thought about it, so he ran the last part to his room and almost slammed open the door to greet his startled roommate.

“Chan! I need your help!” 

Chan’s eyes widened as he jumped up from where he sat at his desk, ready to do anything Jisung asked him for. “What is it? What do you need?”

“I need you to be my fake boyfriend for a day!” Jisung just blurted out before he could chicken out.

“What? Oh—” Chan straightened his posture again as his cheeks and ears flushed red. “Uhm… Why?”

Right, an explanation would be nice. 

“Uhm— yeah— I kind of told my uncle that I would bring a boyfriend to the party on Saturday and forgot about it until today…” Jisung trailed off, looking at his shoes as he felt his embarrassment catch up on him. When Chan stayed silent in the next second, Jisung looked up to quickly clarify some more. “It’s just for a day!— I think, we never know with my family, but I think my uncle wouldn’t want to see us again if we act even the slightest bit of lovey dovey— not that you have to say yes— but I just need to shove this one in my uncle’s face.”

Chan let out a snort and a laugh, at which Jisung let out a breath of relief. Okay, good that I haven’t fucked up again. 

“I— I don’t know, Sungie…” Chan gave an apologetic smile after which his gaze flicked away. “I do want to help you, but I don’t know if I can …”

“Please, Channie?” Jisung pleaded, stepping closer to his friend and pulling out his best puppy eyes. “We already cuddle and hold each other’s hands.” He demonstrated what he said by grabbing Chan’s hands, at which the other jumped slightly, before he continued. “And you already sometimes let me give you kisses on your cheek, and I don’t think we’ll have to do much more than that besides think of a good origin story.”

Chan slowly looked up at him with a slightly hesitant frown, he seemed to be trying his best to resist Jisung’s pleading look. At least, that was how Jisung interpreted it. 

“And you’re sure you want me ?” He asked. “You’ve thought about it well and you’re okay with me being your fake boyfriend? Not someone else? Because you know how awkward I can sometimes get.”

Jisung sighed, but Chan had been right that he hadn’t thought about it that well and for that long yet. Nevertheless did the image of him and Chan being a little more intimate with each other not bring up any negative emotions. In fact, he liked hugging and giving the other kisses, so having an excuse to do that even more wasn’t bad at all. It was true that Chan wasn't the only one he wouldn't mind doing it with, for example, Minho— but Jisung stored that thought in the back of his mind. He didn’t want to go through the hassle of contacting someone else of his friends now. 

“Well, it is true that a part of the reason I’m asking you is that you’re my roommate so it’s easy…” He was honest, but quickly continued and squeezed Chan’s hands so the older couldn't get too insecure. “But! Before you protest, I also know how awkward you can get, and it’s cute! It makes me want to give you kisses and stuff, and I trust you, you’re one of my best friends! So, yes, I’m definitely okay with you being my fake boyfriend. In fact, I kind of like the idea.”

Chan looked everywhere but Jisung as his head burned probably from Jisung calling him cute. “Okay, that’s good, but…” He trailed off and bit his lip, so Jisung continued.

“Please, I’ll make sure you won’t be bothered by my uncle, he’s all bark and no bite and the rest of my family is really accepting, and I’ll do all the talking if you want that and I’ll make it up to you however you want.” He rambled, almost pressing himself against his friend as he held his hands.

Chan let out a breathy laugh and looked sideways again, cheeks still red. Right, Chan gets embarrassed if you look at him for too long. “Okay… You’ve convinced me…”

“Yes! You’re the best Channie!” Jisung excitedly let go of the other’s hands to hug him tightly. “You’re my saviour, my hero!” In a rush of excitement he kissed Chan on his cheek, leaving an audible smooch . 

Chan yelped in surprise and laughed awkwardly as he pulled back, rubbing his wet cheek. “Gosh, Sung… You’re going to be the death of me.” He said with a fond look. 

Jisung just flashed a big grin. “My pleasure!”

The rest of that day, the two of them thought about a story for how they met, how they got into their relationship, what their first date was like, etc. They decided to keep it quite close to their real relationship, so that they were roommates (oh my god they were roommates), and that they liked to make music together and they would often have late night snacks and that Chan would often stay in to keep Jisung company because Jisung didn’t like going out, even though Chan did. 

Thinking about all those things made Jisung’s heart flutter for some reason as he sat close to Chan on the bed, knees touching. It made him realize how sweet Chan always was to him and how he would always make sure that Jisung was comfortable and happy before tending to his own needs. 

He sent some of it to his family, and he especially enjoyed how his uncle did not react while the rest commented about how cute their story was and how Jisung should’ve introduced him sooner. Chan was hiding his head in his hands in embarrassment of it all. Jisung could kind of relate.

“Aww, come on, Channie, we’re just texting!” He said despite his own warm cheeks and shook the other’s arm. 

“I know…” Chan whined a little as Jisung removed his hands from his face. “But I already told you that I’m awkward! I’ll try to get myself together for Saturday, but I can’t promise anything.”

“You better, you can’t back out now that I’ve told them about you.” Jisung teased. He couldn’t get enough of seeing Chan be all flustered, it was cute, it was fun to tease the older. “Maybe we should practice a little to get used to it?” He got closer and intensely stared at Chan with a grin. He saw that Chan did his best to remain calm and not look away.

Jisung pulled away when he felt himself get a little too warm, but shot a big smile to hide it. “You held eye contact! Good job, babe!” 

Chan choked on air at the petname and coughed as Jisung laughed and clapped the other on the back. 

“Sorry, but I thought you were used to me calling people baby.” 

“Yeah, but not seriously!” Chan protested, but also laughed at Jisung’s overly dramatic confused face. “And usually not with me…” He added in a softer voice. 

Jisung sighed and enveloped the older in a hug and let them fall down on the bed. “We’ll have to practice some more I see, but it’ll be fine. I have faith in you, Channie.”

Chan let out another breathy laugh and slung his arms around Jisung too. “Uhm, thanks. I hope I’ll do well.”

Jisung nodded and it was silent for a moment after that while Jisung tried to catch his friend’s gaze, but Chan seemed to be deep in thought. 

“Are you having second thoughts?” He asked softly, coming a little closer. “I know I said that you can’t back out now, but you still can if you’re actually uncomfortable with this.”

“What?—” Chan seemed to be pulled out of his thoughts and stared at Jisung for a moment, processing what he said. Jisung noticed that Chan was really pretty from up this close. 

“No! No, I’m not uncomfortable. I want to help you.” Chan stated and turned his body a little more face to Jisung, now they were even closer.

"Okay, good." Jisung smiled. 

They stared at each other like that for a while in a pleasant silence, and Jisung felt comfortable. He knew he could share anything with Chan and that Chan would be there for him no matter what. 

Unfortunately Chan couldn’t hold their eye contact for too long before he got embarrassed and turned away a little, but didn’t let go. He then unfortunately remembered that he had been doing some homework before Jisung came with his request and wanted to finish that, so he had to let go, but otherwise Jisung guessed they would have even fallen asleep together, cuddling like that. Either way, Jisung was looking forward to Saturday. 

It was the last day of class before they had a small break, and Jisung felt kind of excited for tomorrow for some reason. He guessed it was because he would be able to bring a friend to his family party and embarrass his uncle. Usually Jisung found family parties a little boring because he didn’t have a lot of cousins and, of course, his uncle was an asshole, so it was nice to bring someone. 

“Yo! Sungie!” Minho’s voice pulled Jisung out of his thoughts and he turned around to excitedly greet his friend.

“Hey, Minho!” He waved and stopped walking for a moment to let the older catch up. “Are you walking me home? How romantic~” 

“Pfft, I was just in the neighborhood and I have to go the same way.” Minho dismissed, but Jisung knew better. Minho always walked home with Jisung when he had the time, and especially right before breaks, just so they could spend a little more time together. Minho was sweet like that, although he always tried to deny it. 

They caught up and chatted a bit about random stuff (Minho always disliked small talk, he rather joked around) before Minho suggested they would go hang out in his room and watch something and eat some snacks.

“I didn’t account for the fact that Changbin would already go home today instead of tomorrow, so that’s why we have too many snacks.” He explained, although Jisung felt like there was more to the story.

“You thought Changbin would eat all the snacks today?” Jisung laughed, giving Minho the opportunity to tell the truth, but if he didn’t want to, Jisung wouldn’t pry further. 

Minho snickered too. “It’s not that far fetched.” He shrugged. “But okay, maybe it’s a combination of that and that I already assumed you would agree to hang out.” 

Jisung laughed again and lightly pushed the other before flashing a smile. “You know me too well.” Unless Jisung was already busy, but even sometimes if he was, he wouldn’t pass up on an opportunity to hang out with his best friend. 

When they arrived at Minho’s room, they immediately got cozy on the older’s bed, snacks and laptop ready to watch some weird show or movie. They took way too long picking something because they were distracted by eating snacks and talking about Minho’s cats and other animals that Jisung had seen documentaries about. 

“You know what? Why don’t we watch your favorite documentary? Or one that you want to watch.” Minho suggested and pulled a disgusted face when he repositioned himself and heard a few crumbs on his bed crunch. “Okay, maybe I should consider leaving today too.”

Jisung snorted, surprised that Minho wasn’t forcing him to clean it all up because he supposedly was the messiest one of the two. He was also flattered that Minho let him choose something to watch. Usually, they jokingly bickered about what they wanted to watch and both suggested ridiculous things until the other would give in. Not that Jisung minded Minho being a little more sweet, not at all, it made him feel a little special and warm. He had forgotten if this was something Minho did every time before a break or not, but he didn’t really care, he was just happy to choose a documentary he liked. 

When Jisung had chosen one, they scooted as close to each other as they could and wrapped each other in a hug. Minho pulled Jisung extra close and Jisung almost fell over, but he settled with lying half on Minho’s shoulder and half on his chest. He decided he didn’t want to question Minho’s behavior and just enjoy the warmth it brought as they watched the documentary. Jisung gave some comments on things he found cool or interesting and Minho nodded along as he compared the animals’ behavior to things his cats would do. It was fun and relaxing at the same time, and Jisung was happy to spend the day before the break with Minho, otherwise he would miss him way too much even though they wouldn’t be apart for that long. He had all but forgotten about his family party as he was immersed in both Minho’s arms and watching the documentary.

After the documentary ended, they joked around a bit more, and got side-tracked throwing snacks at each other because Jisung accidentally let one slip out of his hand and Minho took that as an attack. When Minho caught a chip Jisung threw with his mouth, it turned into a competition of who could catch the most chips or popcorn with their mouth. 

“Can you catch one like this?” Minho asked and put a piece of popcorn between his lips. Jisung’s cheeks immediately heated up a lot , although he knew Minho meant that he would, like, spit it at him.

“Minho!— That’s gross!” Jisung slapped the other while Minho just grinned.

“Mouths have less germs than hands, though.” He shrugged, but Jisung noticed his fiery red ears, which reminded him of Chan, which in return stressed him out for some reason, so he put those thoughts in the back of his head. He already forgot about it when Minho grabbed another piece of popcorn and threw it at Jisung again, and Jisung launched at it in reflex and landed right on top of Minho along with the piece of popcorn.

He looked up right into Minho’s big and pretty eyes, and suddenly catching a piece of popcorn mouth-to-mouth didn’t sound so gross anymore. Jisung’s heart was pounding rapidly as he— or was it Minho?— slowly moved closer, and his hands that were placed on the other’s chest felt Minho’s heart pound in sync with his. 

Was Jisung hallucinating or were Minho’s eyes sparkling? What Jisung did know was that the closer he came, the warmer he felt, and that Minho’s hands were coming up to gently cup his cheeks, and that Minho’s eyes were slowly fluttering shut and that it all kind of reminded him of his moment with Chan yesterday, but that it was also different, and Minho’s lips were now very lightly touching his and— Shit —

Jisung was suddenly overcome with panic again and shot back, startling Minho.

“Oh— sorry— I thought— sorry—” Minho stuttered a bit and his eyes shot all over Jisung’s face, probably to gauge what he was thinking. 

“No, it’s okay!” Jisung assured without thinking. Jeez, what is happening with you, Jisung? What do you want? “Uhm, I— I don’t know what came over me. I just began panicking.”

Minho nodded, but his blank face was hard to read for Jisung right now. “Did I go too far just now..?” He hesitantly asked.

“No— I think. I don’t know.” Jisung’s mind just wouldn’t settle down. “I’m not mad.”

Minho seemed relieved and confused at the same time, but also still a little tense. A short silence fell as they both were at a loss for words or unsure of what to say. Jisung didn’t dare to look at the other for too long.

“You’re really not mad? Or uncomfortable?” Minho asked eventually.

Jisung let out a breath, shook his head and tried to give his friend an assuring smile.

“Okay, that’s good, because…” The older trailed off and bit his lip, eyes flicking around before settling on Jisung again. “Because I actually wanted to tell you, uhm— I actually planned this not only because I wanted to hang out with you…” He paused again and even though Jisung could guess what he was going to say, he still felt nervous. “I also wanted to tell you about my feelings…” 

Minho looked down and began picking at crumbs that laid on his bed nervously, it was a rare sight to see Minho this nervous, and Jisung didn’t like it. 

“Oh… Uhm, about that…” Jisung began, not sure where to begin.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. We can just forget it if you want.” Minho offered, giving a tiny smile. 

Gosh, Minho is too sweet… Jisung thought, but now was not the time to swoon over Minho’s sweetness. He had some explaining to do.

“No, I— uhm— that’s not it—” He wasn’t really finding the words, was he? “Chan is my fake boyfriend.” Oh, okay. I guess we’re doing it that way. 

Minho’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened. “What?— Fake boyfriend?”

“Yes— Uhm— I’ve kind of gotten myself in a difficult position again…” Jisung began, rubbing his neck a little. “You see, tomorrow I have a family party and you know my uncle…”

“The asshole one.”

“Yeah, that one.” Jisung snorted at the other’s deadpan face, but quickly continued his explanation. He told Minho all about what happened, every little detail of how he had gotten himself to where he was now.

“So then I was kind of desperate and asked Chan to be my fake boyfriend for tomorrow…”

Minho huffed out a laugh, but didn’t look at Jisung. “That’s kind of funny. Typically you, to get yourself in this kind of situation.”

“Yeah…” Jisung just nodded, but still felt the tension in the atmosphere. He felt really bad for Minho. “I’m so sorry, Minho.”

Minho sighed and shook his head. “No, don’t be.” He now looked at Jisung and crawled a little closer. “I just want to know one thing. Does this mean you don’t like me? Or that you like Chan?”

There was the inevitable question. One that Jisung didn’t have an answer to, yet. 

“That’s the thing… I don’t know.” He said honestly, he knew Minho would be understanding. “I kind of got myself into this without really thinking and… and I really like both of you, but I don’t know in what way and it kind of stresses me out to think about it right now.”

Minho nodded and patted a comforting hand on Jisung’s leg before settling it on there. “Understandable. I won’t rush you.” 

Minho smiled and Jisung let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Minho never held grudges or was difficult about things, he just went with the flow and let people do their thing at their own pace as long as they let him do the same, it was one of the many things Jisung liked about him. 

“Thank you, Minho, really.” Jisung grabbed the hand on his leg and intertwined their fingers. “And again, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the fake boyfriend thing earlier.”

“And again, don’t be. I get it.” Minho repeated and let his thumb brush over the back of Jisung’s hand. “And don’t let this get in the way of getting back at your uncle or finding out what you feel for Chan, okay?”

Jisung pressed his lips together and nodded, feeling a little afraid to go back to his room now. “I’ll try. Thank you.”

“Just think about that it would make me happy to piss off your uncle too.” Minho finally managed a smirk and Jisung snorted. They couldn’t stay too serious for too long. “Do you want me to go with you to tell Chan about… this?” He asked as if he knew Jisung's worries. He probably did, even though Jisung himself wasn't even sure what his worries were. 

"I'd like that, yeah." Jisung nodded thankfully and let himself be pulled up and dragged along to his own room. 

The closer they got to his room, the more nervous Jisung got. He didn't know why, but everything was just stressing him out, even though Minho was doing his best to assure him that there was no reason to stress. He knew Chan wouldn't be difficult either, hell, why would he be? But he just didn't want to burden Chan any more than he already had. He knew Chan would be stressed about the fact that Minho confessed to him and that Chan would feel bad for Minho. And then there was the fact that Jisung had no idea if Chan had any romantic interest in anyone. He would have declined if he did, right? Or was Chan that eager to help Jisung? Jisung had told him it would hopefully only be for a day and they wouldn't have to do anything too bold, so that option wasn't ruled out. Gosh, he really had fucked shit up, hadn't he? 

"Don't be nervous, Sung." Minho pulled him out of his thoughts and squeezed his hand as they arrived at the door. "None of this is your fault." 

Jisung sighed and nodded. "I'm trying to convince myself of that." 

He used his free hand to open the door and Chan turned around on his desk chair at the sound. 

"Hey Jisung!— oh and Minho!" He greeted happily, but his smile faltered when he saw Jisung's expression and he frowned when his eyes flicked to their linked hands for a second. "Is everything okay..?" 

Jisung and Minho shared a look before Minho spoke up. 

"Uhm— I kinda confessed to Jisung before he could tell me about, uhm, the thing tomorrow." Minho said with his signature blank face. 

Chan's face fell. Oh no. "Oh. Okay." He swallowed and looked away for a moment before looking back again. "So we just need to think of a way to tell your family that Minho is actually your boyfriend and I was just fake?"

Jisung looked down and bit his lip. He couldn't get any sound out, not when Chan seemed confused and kind of bummed out (?) about it. Not when Chan could've asked why Jisung didn't ask Minho to be the fake or even real boyfriend, or could've said 'I told you to think about it more so you wouldn't get in this situation', but instead he was trying to be helpful. 

"Uhm, no." Minho answered for Jisung. "Jisung doesn't know what he feels for me, and right now, thinking about it stresses him out, so, yeah. Just pretend I didn't say anything." 

Jisung looked at Chan to see him still frown in confusion. 

"Oh, but— so— so Jisung wants that? I mean, we can at least try to think of something? Even if it's just for Minho to be a fake boyfriend, or— or to cancel me for tomorrow." Chan looked at the other two in question. 

Minho looked at Jisung too, and his face said 'you'll have to take this one'. Jisung was already thankful that Minho was doing his best to help, and he guessed Minho couldn't explain to Chan what Jisung wanted when Jisung didn't even know himself. That, and Minho probably didn't want to carelessly tell Chan about Jisung's confusion about his feelings for the both of them. 

"Uhm— no, that's not necessary— that's too much." Jisung managed to bring out. "I— I, uhm, still want to annoy my uncle and I don't want to be alone tomorrow…" 

Chan pressed his lips together and nodded. "Okay, but I don't want to be in the way of you two." He eyed Jisung and Minho's hands that were still linked again. 

"You won't be!" Jisung quickly assured. The last thing he wanted was for Chan to feel like a burden. "I mean, I feel bad for letting Minho wait, but that's not your fault." 

"And not Jisung's either." Minho chimed in. "And Jisung wouldn't ask you to be his fake boyfriend for no reason. And he said he didn't want to think about it right now. Jisung can do whatever he wants. I think I should sooner be worried that I'm in the way." He sounded like he did his best to hide his uneasiness. 

“No no no.” Jisung stopped him there. “Enough of this invalidating behavior, okay? I got us in this weird position so I’ll have to deal with that. And the fact that you’re both being so open and helpful is amazing, okay?” 

He turned to Minho briefly and grabbed his other hand as well. “Minho. Thank you for being so patient and for supporting me while it’s not really fun for you.”

Minho’s expression softened as he nodded, and Jisung finally let go of Minho’s hands and walked over to Chan to hug him. “And Channie, thank you for always thinking about me and being willing to let me drag you into whatever mess I’m dragging myself into.” He then looked into Chan’s eyes before he continued. “But you can also say no, you know that right?”

Chan nodded slowly, but he didn’t seem that enthusiastic. “If you and Minho are okay with me being your— with me going with you tomorrow, I am too.” 

Jisung heard Minho scoff behind him, and he looked to see Minho roll his eyes with a smile tugging on his lips.

“Of course you would say that.” He huffed, but Jisung saw the fondness in his expression. When Jisung looked back again, he saw Chan rubbing his neck with a little embarrassed smile and Jisung couldn’t help but smile too.

They were all best friends after all, they couldn’t be too mad at each other because they all really cared about each other. They would figure things out with the three of them eventually, Jisung was sure of it. 

As soon as they stepped out of the dorms, after having hugged Minho goodbye for about half an hour, Chan felt the nerves resurface. Jisung and Minho had managed to get him to calm down a bit yesterday and assure him that they were fine with him doing this, and that Jisung even wanted him to, but they didn't know about Chan's feelings. They didn't know that Chan had been suspecting and trying to ignore the fact that he had feelings for both Jisung and Minho. 

Maybe he shouldn't have agreed to be Jisung's fake boyfriend for today, but Jisung had looked at him with his big and round eyes and how could he say no to that cute face? He thought he could survive, that maybe it would even give him more insight into what Jisung thought of him, give him more courage to talk to Jisung about his feelings for him and their friend. You'd think that Minho confessing to Jisung would be good, but Chan just felt like he was intruding or something. He wouldn't confess without mentioning that he liked someone else as well, so that kind of crushed his hopes for Minho liking him and now he was very conflicted about if he even wanted to try with Jisung. What made it even worse was that yesterday, seeing his two friends be so sweet and considerate, had made him fall even harder for the two of them. 

"Channie, I can feel, hear, and smell that you're overthinking." Jisung pulled him out of his thoughts and grabbed his hand. "Also, the bus is here." 

"Ah." Chan took a moment to come back to reality while Jisung pulled them into the bus and picked out a seat. 

They sat down somewhere, but Jisung didn’t let go of his hand. “Just think about pissing off my uncle and just being affectionate with me.” He said and moved his head a little closer to Chan’s, and whispered, “And we’ll have to do the getting used to it now since we didn’t have time yesterday.”

Chan flushed red and Jisung grinned at it as always, and somehow it both eased Chan’s nerves and made him more aware of them. But Jisung was right, it would be fine if he thought of it as just letting his fondness for his friend out at the party and pissing off Jisung’s uncle, which he knew would both make Jisung happy, and at least the latter made Minho happy too. 

“Is that okay, Channie?” Jisung pulled him out of his thoughts, and Chan noticed he had increased the distance between them again.

“Oh— yes— yes that’s fine.” Chan let out a breathy chuckle. He guessed for it to be believable that they were already dating for a month or two, he had to be at least a little less embarrassed with affection. Although, maybe Jisung’s family knew how embarrassing Jisung could be sometimes and he could get away with saying it’s embarrassing to be in front of his boyfriend’s family— and gosh it was weird to refer to Jisung in his head as ‘boyfriend’.

“Okay.” Jisung smiled and scooted as close as he could to Chan, making the older feel warm. Then he began telling stories and anecdotes about his family.

Chan already knew quite a few things about them, having been friends with Jisung for a long time already, but it was always funny and nice to hear Jisung tell stories about anything. Jisung always knew how to bring things in an interesting way and he always put on funny voices, so of course Chan was already wheezing his lungs out after one story. He laughed so much that he had to hold onto Jisung tightly to steady himself. 

That was what usually calmed Chan the most, laughing together with his friend, and he guessed Jisung knew that all too well. And because they laughed so much, they didn't really get to acting like a couple, but maybe them laughing, hugging each other and holding hands already made them look like one. 

They left the bus giggling and stumbling from laughing. When their laughter died down a little, Jisung gasped in realization. 

"Wait! We didn't really prepare!" He stopped walking, making Chan stop too. 

"Ah, it's okay. You've already gotten me in an affectionate mood." Chan chuckled. He thought his need to hug Jisung would win over his embarrassment today, especially after Jisung had been making him laugh the whole time already. "I kinda wanna hug you to death." 

Jisung's mouth formed a small 'o' as he gaped at Chan for a second before pulling a face Chan didn't quite understand. 

"Ack— Channie I really wanna give you smooch right now." Jisung exclaimed and Chan let out an embarrassed laugh. 

"Well, as my— my boyfriend, I guess that's allowed." Chan said in a rush of confidence. If Jisung wanted this and it would help them, it was fine. 

"Yes!— I mean, uhm, whatever." 

Chan snickered at Jisung's excitement, but that amusement soon turned into heat as Jisung planted a big smooch on his cheek. His wide heart-shaped smile after might have made Chan melt a little. 

"Let's go! I can't wait to finally introduce you to my parents as my boyfriend!" Jisung smiled, puffing his slightly rosy cheeks, and dragged him along. And if Chan had thought his head couldn't get any hotter, it just did, but it was okay, because Jisung was happy. 

As soon as they stepped through the front door, Jisung's parents excitedly greeted them with a big hug. 

"There you guys are! And as boyfriends now!" Jisung's mother cooed and Jisung huffed in embarrassment. "Your dad and I were making kind of a bet on who your boyfriend would be. I have to say I'm not surprised that it's Chan." 

Chan's eyes widened and he looked at Jisung who had an equally surprised look on his face and equally as red cheeks. 

"Mom! I can't believe you bet on who my boyfriend would be!" 

Jisung's parents laughed and his dad clapped on his back. "Well, it was about time you got one. And it wasn’t that hard to guess that it would be one of your friends, we thought it might have been Minho too—"

"Honey! Don't make it awkward for them!" 

"Says you." 

Jisung nudged Chan softly and got closer to whisper in his ear. "Let's quickly go while they're bickering." 

Chan snorted and let himself be dragged past the younger's parents towards the living room. He knew Jisung’s parents could be as embarrassing as their son, so it was fine, but the mention of Minho did something to his heart.

They helped Jisung’s parents prepare the last few things for the party before the guests slowly arrived. Chan politely greeted everyone, holding Jisung’s hand, and introducing himself as Jisung's boyfriend, however weird, but also good, it felt. When one man came, Jisung tensed and squeezed Chan's hand hard. 

“Hi, uncle!” Jisung greeted, and Chan heard how forced polite it sounded. “As I said, I brought my boyfriend, Chan.”

“Hi.” Chan waved with a little smile, which quickly faltered as the man scowled at him before putting on a fake smile himself.

“How lovely to meet you.” He said. “It’s nice to see Jisung has found someone… like him.” He smiled fakely again and it made Chan kind of angry.

“We’re not that similar, but we sure do get along well.” Chan answered and gave Jisung an anger-fueled side hug to emphasize his words. 

“That’s one way to put it.” Jisung giggled overly sweetly and leaned over to kiss Chan on his cheek nice and slowly. Chan had to do his best to suppress his embarrassment, but the shocked and appalled look on Jisung’s uncle’s face was totally worth it. 

“Well— nice to meet you, uhm, Chan.” The man scowled and walked past them to sit somewhere, as far away as possible from where the two of them stood. 

They noticed that there was only one chair left to sit on, though, not counting the chairs where Jisung's parents would sit. 

"You go sit down, Sungie." Chan offered, but Jisung shook his head. 

"No, you're the guest, you can sit down." He countered. 

"No, I'll feel bad for you—" 

"You can also just both stand if you don't want to sit down!" Jisung's uncle sighed half-jokingly, but Chan didn't find it funny. 

"You know what? We can also both sit." He said and let his annoyance give him the courage to grab Jisung by the waist and pull him on his lap as he sat down. 

Jisung yelped a little and tried to make himself small as he hid his face in his hands from embarrassment to sit like this in front of his family. Chan hoped he didn't go too far, but the face Jisung's uncle pulled was absolute gold, so he hoped that made up for it. 

"Oh my, did we forget to bring an extra chair? Although it looks like you two are doing fine—" 

"I'll help bring the extra chair, we can't let our new guest sit like this the whole time." Jisung's uncle cut off Jisung’s dad and quickly stood up. 

"Nah, Jisung is not heavy at all, I'll manage—" 

"No, I'll get it. It's no problem." 

As the man walked out of the room, Jisung turned around with a happily surprised face. 

"Wow! Nice one Channie!" He whispered excitedly and grinned smugly. "You showed him." 

Chan couldn't help but chuckle at Jisung's enthusiasm, it was cute. "I hope I didn't go too far with pulling you on my lap, though." 

"Uhm, it was kinda embarrassing, but also nice. You know that I like cuddling." Jisung admitted, rubbing his neck a bit shyly. 

"Now you know how I feel all the time." Chan grinned and melted a little when Jisung smiled back. 

It looked like Jisung wanted to say something, but he was beaten to it by his uncle loudly announcing that the chair had arrived and Jisung could get off Chan. 

"Alright! Now that everyone has a chair… Welcome everyone, I'm so happy everyone could come!" Jisung's mother began, clapping her hands together. "And, Chan, it's lovely to see you again too and that Jisung felt like he could introduce you to the family. Oh, and of course, we all know these parties can get a bit boring for our younger ones, so don't be afraid to just, like, do your own thing." She winked at them, and Chan thought his ears wouldn't cool down anytime soon if things went on like this. "We don't mind." 

At that, Jisung's uncle groaned softly and Jisung grinned. "I know that, thank you mom." He said, hugging Chan's arm, and placing another kiss on his cheek. Chan looked down to conceal the goofy smile tugging at his lips, even though he didn't have to. 

He then looked at Jisung, who smiled back at him with a just as goofy smile. It made butterflies flutter in his stomach, especially when Jisung scooted a little closer. 

"Is it fine like this? That I give you kisses like that?" The younger asked softly, and maybe Chan swooned a little bit, or a lot. 

"Yes. Everything you do is fine." He answered and stared at Jisung for a moment before continuing. "Is it fine for you too?" Chan wasn't sure himself what he was referring to, if it was the fake dating in general or the fact that he was slowly inching closer, but still he asked. 

"Hmmm." Jisung hummed and nodded lightly, seemingly forgetting about his surroundings as well as Chan. "You can do whatever you want too." 

Chan barely nodded as well, too distracted by Jisung's pretty face, but he still had enough mind to answer. 

"Good." He smiled a little, cupped the younger's cheeks and gently caressed them. Jisung sighed and leaned into the touch, closing his eyes a little as he mirrored Chan's smile. 

Chan loved giving affection to Jisung because Jisung loved it. He loved making Jisung feel loved, even though sometimes Jisung would take it as an opportunity to embarrass Chan or ask Chan to actually tell him how much he liked him, which was also embarrassing. But Jisung’s smile was always worth it, even when Chan couldn’t overcome his embarrassment. 

As he was lost in his thoughts, he had apparently come closer because now he couldn’t fully capture Jisung’s face in his vision anymore, but he still could see Jisung slightly opening his eyes and looking up at him with sparkling eyes that contained an emotion Chan didn’t dare to name. 

“Can I..?” Chan just barely managed to whisper, already hovering over Jisung’s lips.

Jisung answered by moving closer and softly connecting their lips, letting Chan pull him closer as he gently caressed Jisung’s cheeks. 

They were interrupted when Jisung's uncle loudly cleared his throat, startling the two. Chan pulled back and felt his face flush as he saw that the whole family was watching. 

"Please keep yourselves in check, some of us don't like seeing this." Jisung's uncle grumbled, followed by fierce protests from the rest of the family. 

"What I think he's trying to say is that if you don't want us to disturb you with our obnoxious chatting you can go somewhere else, that's fine." His mother corrected with a smile. 

"It's fine." Chan chuckled and looked at Jisung to confirm that, and saw him smile shyly at him. He felt fondness overflow, which somehow reminded him of Minho too, which turned his feelings into bittersweetness. Right, this is fake, and Minho… 

Jisung's smile faltered when he saw Chan frown. "Are you okay?" He asked. "Shall we go somewhere else for a moment?" 

"Uhm— yes." Chan nodded and excused them to Jisung's family. "I promise I'll come to chat later." 

"You don't have to! But we would like it!" An aunt laughed as Chan and Jisung went to Jisung's room for a moment. 

Jisung closed the door behind him and gave him a questioning look as they sat down on the bed and he grabbed Chan's hand. "You okay? Did we— did I— uhm…" He trailed off, not knowing what to ask. 

"I'm okay, don't worry." Chan assured and patted him briefly. "You said that I could do what I want and, uhm, yeah I did so that was fine." He sped through his words at the end of his sentence and quickly continued. "But I just suddenly felt bad for Minho, which isn't his or your fault— I just, like, wish he was here too or something. I don't know." 

Jisung let out a breathy laugh and nodded. "Me too. I mean, I'm having a fun time with you too! I really am, but it could have been in better circumstances, especially for Minho." 

"Yeah, and of course I'm having fun too." Chan agreed and got the courage to briefly and lightly let his hand fall along Jisung's cheek, making the younger blush a little. 

Jisung then turned to face Chan more and nodded again. "We'll make it up to Minho somehow, but right now let's enjoy ourselves. That's what Minho wants too, I think." 

Chan let out a breath and smiled, feeling himself getting lost again already. "Right. That's what I needed to hear, thank you." 

Jisung smiled his sweet smile and they kept staring for a moment before Chan got embarrassed and remembered that, still, this was fake, although it surely felt real. Chan didn't want to assume things. "Uhm— about that, do you already know your answer for Minho? Or have you not thought about it yet?" 

Jisung’s smile faltered a little and he shook his head, lips pressed together. "No, not yet. But whatever it'll be, we'll make it up to him as I said." He said and Chan nodded, squeezing his hand in support. 

"Okay, take your time of course." Chan smiled and pulled the younger up with him. "Now let's go so I can chat with your family." 

"So they can interrogate you, you mean." Jisung corrected with a chuckle. 

Chan happily chatted with Jisung's family for hours to the surprise of some family members, because Jisung couldn't often hold very long conversations with them. Jisung said that it just was that Chan was way better with people than him, to which they jokingly responded that they could tell. 

"Wow, this is the latest that everyone has ever stayed!" Jisung's father exclaimed as slowly the last family members left. "Well, except for that time when my sister was so drunk she dropped the wine bottle because we tried to stop her from drinking more and your brother got cut with the glass and we had to clean up and Jisung woke up and started crying because we were yelling." 

Jisung's mother laughed as Jisung's eyes widened and his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. 

"I was like seven back then and I heard glass shattering and screams. It was scary." He whispered in defense and Chan chuckled. 

"How cute." He breathed. 

"Well, Chan, it seems like you are comparable to a wine bottle being broken and Jisung crying." Jisung's mother kept laughing even after she got a light push from her husband. "No, what he means to say is that this is the first time that everyone voluntarily stayed for this long." 

Chan laughed too and nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed at all the attention. "Well, I had a lot of fun too." 

"Great! We'd love to have you join us next time too. It'll be at my sister's, but I'm sure she'd love that too." Jisung's mother happily announced. "We're still figuring out the details, but we'll let you know when it is, okay? It'll be more fun for Jisung too." 

Chan smiled and nodded as he quickly shared a look with his friend. This was supposed to be a one time thing, and this way Jisung wouldn't get to think about what he wants with Minho. Hell, what would they do if Jisung would choose Minho in the end? 

"Mom! Don't rush him so much! Let him think, and maybe he is busy on the day, so we'll see." Jisung kind of saved them, but not fully yet. That would probably take some more thinkwork. 

"I really had a lot of fun, though! So I'll see if I can come or not." Chan chimed in and Jisung's parents looked so happy it almost made him feel bad. 

"Great! You guys are so cute together too! I'm glad Jisung finally found someone who makes him happy, although— you already did that as his friend too." 

Those words made Chan blush and look down. It really felt like they were a thing already and he didn't know if he could handle it if Jisung wouldn't want to go through with it. He knew he would have to, for Jisung, but it would be damn hard. 

A short silence fell after that as Chan had no idea what to do now. Should he leave too? Could he just assume that he could stay the night? What if Jisung didn't want that?— Okay, knowing Jisung he probably wanted that, but still. 

"Well, you two can do whatever you want now, we'll clean up." Jisung's father smiled and winked at his son. "I'm assuming Chan stays over, we can't send him home now and he'll be fine in your room, right Sung? Your bed is big enough." 

"Yes." Jisung almost squeaked out and quickly grabbed Chan's hand to drag him upstairs. “Okay, I see that I really didn’t think this through.” He said as he closed the door behind him. “Sorry, Channie, I should’ve expected my parents to want to invite you again. Of course they would, they love you and of course my family loves you too because you’re just that lovable.” 

Chan snorted at Jisung throwing up his hands in exasperation, and felt a little embarrassed at the compliments. “It’s okay. I’m okay with it, I really like your family too— well, most of them— but you still have some things to figure out. We can always say that I’m busy, or that we had a friendly split or something. Hell, I think we can even tell your parents that I was your fake boyfriend just to piss off your uncle. I think it’ll be fine.”

Jisung chuckled at the mention of his parents and let out a breath as he nodded at Chan’s words. “You’re right.” He smiled and gave the older a hug. “You’re so wise and sweet, Channie.”

Chan spluttered out something unintelligible as he returned the hug, and as a silence fell after, he couldn’t help but have his thoughts drift to his feelings. He felt his heartbeat speed up at it and let go of the younger with the excuse of wanting to wash up before bed, but in reality he didn’t want Jisung to notice him. 

Maybe that had already failed because he had basically said that he had wanted to kiss Jisung, but it had been Jisung who had closed the gap, which confused Chan. Maybe he just wanted to annoy his uncle , he thought. Yeah, that must be it, because why else would Jisung still not know what he wanted to answer to Minho? Chan didn’t want to get his hopes up too much by thinking about the possibility of Jisung liking both of them.

“What are you thinking about?” Jisung pulled him out of his thoughts as they were brushing their teeth. 

“Oh— Uhm, about you and Minho…” Chan answered, keeping it as vague as possible.

“Oh.” Jisung nodded and smiled a little. “What a coincidence, me too.” 

They finished washing up in comfortable silence and Jisung handed Chan some clothes to lend as a pajama. He was lucky Jisung always wore oversized clothes, because otherwise they would probably be too tight for him. Wearing them didn’t help him get his mind off Jisung and how domestic they’ve been acting the whole day, though, especially not when Jisung opened his arms as he laid down on his bed, waiting for Chan to come hug him.

Jisung hummed in content as Chan joined him and slung his arms around his tiny waist. Chan was already warm, but felt even warmer when Jisung snuggled close and tucked his head in the crook of Chan’s neck. 

“I was thinking about maybe inviting Minho over to hang out tomorrow.” He mumbled sleepily after a while.

Chan nodded and felt a bit bummed at the realization that his excuse to be extra close with Jisung would no longer be valid soon. “That’s a good idea, I think.” He said because he did really want the two of his friends to figure things out with each other, however it would end up. His friends’ happiness was most important to Chan. “I’ll make sure I’m gone by then, then.”

Jisung shook his head on Chan’s shoulder and looked up. He was very close and Chan had the urge to close the gap. “You don’t have to. In fact, I’d like it if you’d at least stay for a while when Minho’s here. I think he’d like that too.”

“Okay.” Chan just answered, feeling warm at the thought.

Jisung smiled and quickly grabbed his phone to text their friend to come over tomorrow, after which he snuggled back close. “Good night, Channie. Really thank you for today.” 

Chan smiled, softly carding a hand through the younger’s hair. “No problem, Sungie, good night.” 

Jisung woke up feeling warm and content, and his heart skipped a beat when he opened his eyes and saw the beautiful sight of a sleeping Chan in front of him. He smiled to himself as he brushed some hair out of the other’s face and let his fingers linger. He quickly pulled them away as he realized how domestic he was acting.

Yesterday they had basically been acting as a couple, they had even kissed (thinking about that made Jisung’s heart go into overdrive), and Jisung had liked it a lot, but he still felt off. Something was still missing or something, it wasn’t time yet, Jisung felt, and it wasn’t as simple as feeling guilty for Minho. 

As if he summoned his friend, the doorbell rang and Jisung perked up. Minho is already here? 

“Channie, wake up! Minho’s here!” Jisung tried to shake the boy awake when the doorbell rang again. Oh, my parents are probably still sleeping too.

Chan groaned and slowly blinked as Jisung climbed over the older to get out of bed and quickly open the curtains before he ran out of his room, yelling a quick explanation for Chan.

He opened the door and immediately greeted Minho with a tight hug, not caring about the cold or that he was still wearing pajamas or that he definitely looked like he just woke up, because he did. 

“Well, good morning to you too.” Minho chuckled and returned the hug. “Did I wake you guys up?”

Jisung let go and shook his head, and pouted when Minho laughed at his bedhead. “No, I had just woken up when you rang the doorbell. Why are you here so early anyway?”

Minho shrugged as he stepped in and took off his shoes. “You asked me to come today and didn’t specify at what time, so I just came when I had the time.” He explained and grinned as he raised an eyebrow. “Don’t act like you’re not happy I came first thing in the morning.” 

Jisung huffed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hold back his smile, glad that Minho was teasing and sounding confident. “I never said I wasn’t happy with it.” He said and eyed Minho who showed a surprised but happy grin. 

“Anyway, I’m not that early, so I’m guessing you had a late night yesterday?” The older continued as they walked further into the house. “Did you properly piss off your uncle? Chan didn’t get too embarrassed? You said he’s still here, right?”

Jisung opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Chan poking his sleepy head around the corner. “Did someone say my name? Oh, hey Minho, good to see you.” He sleepily waved.

Minho jumped a bit and turned towards Chan, and Jisung saw his expression subtly go through a variety of emotions, after which it settled on amused as he began laughing at his messy hair. 

Chan frowned and entered the living room, trying to fix his curly hair a bit to make their friend stop laughing. Jisung felt warm at the sight.

“I asked if you were too embarrassed to piss off Jisung’s uncle yesterday.” Minho explained as his laughter died down. 

Chan’s ears got red and Jisung and Minho snorted at it, which didn’t make it better.

“Yeah, we- we did.” Chan confirmed and rubbed his neck a little.

“Yeah my family loved Chan a lot too, so we all ganged up against my uncle.” Jisung chuckled and Minho smirked.

“Good.” He said and crossed his arms with a satisfied smile. “I had faith in the two of you that you would nail it. I’m not surprised that your family is totally smitten with Chan too.”

Jisung snickered at Chan who got even more embarrassed, and he was relieved that Minho didn’t seem all too sad or jealous or something, but he should’ve expected it. Minho didn’t hold grudges and he was overall a really chill person, not that that meant he wasn’t allowed to feel down, but if he felt that way, he would probably do his best to hide it, knowing Minho. It both made Jisung feel warm and it made his heart ache because he wanted to make it better. 

“I bet my family would totally love you too.” Jisung grinned and patted Minho a little. “If they love weird ol’ me, they will definitely love you too. I mean, my parents also totally love you.”

“Yeah, I think so too.” Chan chimed in.

“Pfft— Of course.” Minho huffed, but Jisung spotted his red ears and hint of embarrassment in his smile. “His family loves everyone if Jisung likes them and they are nice to Jisung.”

Okay, that was kinda true. Jisung’s family was kind of the Jisung fanclub because he was one of the only young people in his family so his family acted like they were his parents too. But this wasn’t an excuse for Minho to downplay how great he was.

“Yeah, and I like you a damn lot, although the being nice to me part…” Jisung giggled and dodged Minho’s hand that flew at him. “Kidding! They already know how nice you are to me because of all the stories that I tell to my parents, they tell to my family, and sometimes I participate.” 

Minho just huffed again, his ears bright red as he avoided eye contact. Jisung was curious as to what went on in Minho’s head. Usually he could guess, but not right now. Before he could ask anything, Minho began.

“Anyway, is there any particular reason you invited me over or did you just feel like complimenting me?” He asked, briefly giving him a look. He seemed slightly nervous, did he think Jisung was going to reject him and was warming him up with compliments? Jisung sure hoped not.

“Well, to be honest, we both felt a bit bad for you yesterday even though you said we shouldn’t, but— yeah, you know us…” He began and Minho snorted a bit, which eased him. “So we wanted to invite you over to maybe cheer you up a bit if needed, and of course because we like your company.”

Minho nodded a bit and slowly looked at him. “So… does that mean that you already have an answer?” He hesitantly asked, flicking his gaze between Jisung and Chan. 

“Oh, right, about that…” The topic had finally been brought up, and he didn’t blame Minho, but it still made him nervous. “Uhm—”

“You can just say it.” Minho said, squinting his eyes a little in anticipation of a blow. “Just get it over with, I get it, you don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

Jisung was silent for a moment, processing what Minho was implying. Oh. 

“No, that’s not what I was going to say!” He quickly clarified. “I was going to say that I still don’t know and that it maybe is one of the reasons I invited you over, you know, to help me get you an answer. Because you deserve one.”

Minho’s face and shoulders seemed to relax as he gave Jisung a surprised and slightly confused look. “Oh.” He looked at Chan for a second again and then back at Jisung. “You don’t— you two didn’t?—” He cut off and pulled Jisung a little closer. “What about Chan? What happened yesterday?” He whispered and the proximity made Jisung’s heartbeat speed up. “Don’t you like him?”

Jisung took a second as he was lost in Minho’s eyes, but he eventually managed to bring out an answer. “I— I do, I think, but that doesn’t mean that I instantly know my answer for you…” He whispered back, and okay, he just kind of admitted that he liked Chan, but he guessed he expected that he did after yesterday. Minho’s eyes flicked all over Jisung’s face, but his expression was unreadable.

“Do you two want some privacy?” Chan asked hesitantly, and Jisung remembered that he was here too. Right. “I get it if you do.”

“Uhm— Jisung, do we?” Minho asked as he shot back, his ears were still colored a deep red.

“Uhm— uhm…” Jisung’s brain was kind of short-circuiting now, so he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have his answer regarding Minho yet and he didn’t know how he should get it. 

Chan chuckled a little and headed over to pat Jisung on the shoulder. “I’ll give you two some time alone, so you can talk about things if you want, or just hang out otherwise.” He smiled gently and turned to Minho. “But before I do, Minho, I haven’t given you a hug yet, so.” He tightly wrapped his long arms around Minho, who seemed a bit surprised. 

Just at that moment, Jisung's parents entered the living room and happily greeted them. 

"Hi, guys— oh Minho! What a nice surprise! As expected, Jisung dislikes being away from his friends even for a day." Jisung's father laughed as his son pouted. "Or did you suggest coming over as usually, Minho?" 

Minho chuckled and shook his head. "No, surprisingly it was Jisung this time." 

Jisung's parents laughed as Jisung huffed something that sounded like 'the disrespect…'. 

"Anyway, we will be doing some work in the garden, some cleaning up and stuff so we'll leave you to yourselves." 

"Ah! I'll help!" Chan offered and gave some assuring comments as he saw the confused looks of Jisung's parents and ushered them out. He briefly looked back and waved with a smile, mouthing 'good luck' to them before he left as well.

Jisung looked at Minho to see Minho’s gaze linger on Chan walking out, and Jisung couldn’t help but smile at the slightly stunned look.

“Channie’s amazing isn’t he?” Jisung grinned and Minho jumped a bit in surprise.

“What?— Uhm— I guess?” Minho seemed a bit out of it, and Jisung understood the feeling of Chan being kind of disorienting. “He’s Chan, so.”

“Exactly.” Jisung giggled and motioned his friend to sit down somewhere. "Do you want something to drink or maybe eat? I haven’t eaten yet so I’ll quickly get something.”

Minho shrugged and sat back on the couch. “Just give me anything.”

They comfortably talked while they ate and drank something, Minho asking about yesterday and Jisung telling all about what happened. Jisung was happy to see Minho snicker and laugh at the stories about Chan being embarrassed or his uncle being annoyed. Minho had such a pretty laugh and smile, the sound and sight made Jisung feel butterflies cause a ruckus all throughout his stomach. 

“So Chan pulled you on his lap and threatened to keep you there? That’s kinda legend.” Minho laughed, cheeks scrunching up. “ And you kept giving him kisses on his cheek? Wow, I wish I could’ve seen that, I bet your uncle was pissed indeed.”

“He was, and I don’t know where Chan had gotten the confidence from. I think he was annoyed at my uncle.” Jisung snickered and nodded.

“Chan annoyed ? Damn.” Minho pulled an impressed face and leaned forward to place his chin on his hand. “Did anything else happen?”

Jisung was silent for a moment, partly because he was just enjoying looking at Minho and partly because now he had gotten to the part where he and Chan had kissed. He didn’t want to tell Minho because it would probably make him sad, but he wanted to tell him because Minho deserved to know.

“Uhm, yeah, actually…” He began, and saw that Minho had noticed his shift in mood as he began sitting straight up again. “Uhm, we kinda, uhm, we kissed.” He whispered, looking down, but he knew Minho had heard it.

As he looked down at his hands in the silence, he saw Minho’s hand slide over his to hold it. Jisung looked up to see Minho give a gentle smile.

“That’s good, right? You like Chan, and I bet that pissed off your uncle even more.” He said and the strain that sat in the smile previously disappeared as he ended his sentence smugly.

“It— It did, yeah.” Jisung chuckled a bit half-heartedly. “And that kind of made me realize I like Chan, yeah— but as I said, it doesn’t mean that I know my answer for you.”

Minho let out a breathy laugh and looked sideways for a moment. “Okay, whatever you say, Sungie.” He squeezed his hand and chuckled suddenly. “So you’re leaving both of us hanging? Damn Sungie, you’re popular!” He laughed and slapped his free hand on Jisung’s thigh.

“Huh?— What?” Jisung was taken aback a bit by Minho’s comment.

“Isn’t Chan waiting for an answer too? Or have you already discussed your feelings with him?” The older asked, tilting his head sideways a little.

"Uhm— no I haven't discussed it with him yet because I only really realized when you asked." Jisung speeded through his words in nervousness. "But why are you saying Chan is waiting for me too?" 

"Jisung, relax." Minho chuckled and grabbed his other hand too. "First of all, I was joking around a bit, no pressure." He massaged his hands and Jisung immediately relaxed. "Second of all, I'm assuming Chan has feelings for you since, well, I don't know who initiated it, but if Chan was willing to kiss you in front of your family, I think he at least likes you a bit. And you're pretty likable, I guess." He shrugged and Jisung noticed his red ears, matching his own red cheeks. 

"Maybe." Jisung shrugged too. "Uhm, I closed the gap, but he asked if he could— I think— I haven't really thought about it, about what he thinks, yet." 

"That's okay, I get that you have a lot on your mind right now." Minho was being so sweet, holding Jisung's hands, and reassuring him while he probably wanted an answer soon too. 

Jisung sighed and leaned his head on Minho's shoulder, basking the warm feelings he felt for the other when Minho began patting his head— oh. 

Okay. 

"Sung?" Minho asked and stopped his motion, making Jisung notice that he had unconsciously tensed up at his realization. “You okay?”

Jisung lifted his head and stared at Minho with wide eyes. Okay, I like them both. What now? 

Minho kept silent, his hand falling to Jisung’s shoulder, and waiting for an answer as his eyes searched Jisung’s face for a nonverbal one, but Jisung was frozen.

“Jisung?” Minho repeated when the younger didn’t start talking, and he intertwined his fingers with Jisung’s hand, which he was still holding. “You know you can tell me anything, right? I’m no-judge Minho.”

That made Jisung snort out of his weird passive state. “Right— sorry, I just— uhm, I just realized—”

Just then, they heard the front door open and Jisung’s parents come back together with Chan, startling them out of their moment.

"Jisung! I can't believe you let your guest— and more importantly, your boyfriend — starve!" Jisung's father's voice was loud compared to the volume Minho and Jisung had been talking at. "But still he kept insisting to help us finish up before he ate something."

"It's okay!" Chan assured and gave a quick apologetic look to the two sitting on the couch. "I'll get something myself if you're okay with that, Jisung doesn't need to help."

"What a gentleman." Jisung's mother sighed as Chan left to the kitchen. "You really got yourself a good man, Sung."

With that, his parents left again and Jisung quickly looked at Minho to see if he needed to assure something, but he saw that his expression was relatively content. Minho is a good man too, he thought and wanted to open his mouth to say something, but words still wouldn't come, and before he knew it, Chan came back.

"I hope we didn't disturb, do I need to leave again?" He asked, munching on some bread and slowing down when his eyes fell on their linked hands. "Or did you already figure things out?"

Minho looked at Jisung with an expression that asked if he wanted to explain or not. When he saw Jisung's slightly panicked expression, he started.

"Jisung hasn't given me an answer yet, but he did tell me about your adventures yesterday." He said and a grin started to form on his face. "It's nice to hear that Chan's sassy and confident side came out."

Chan's eyes widened and his ears turned red, which made the other two laugh and Chan gave them a fake offended look, but Jisung guessed he was happy that Minho wasn't really jealous and instead found it funny.

"But seriously, do I need to leave?"

Minho and Jisung shared a look again, but this time Jisung felt confident enough to speak up.

"Actually, I do have an answer for Minho." He said and heard Chan and Minho almost choke on their bread/spit.

"Huh? What? Since when?" Minho asked and gasped. "Wait— was that why you tensed up?"

Jisung pressed his lips together and nodded, rubbing his neck a little.

"Okay, then I'll leave—"

"No wait!" Minho stopped Chan and grabbed his hand to Jisung's surprise. "Shouldn't you hear it too? Or— Unless Jisung doesn't want that, of course, but I thought maybe then you wouldn't have to tell everyone twice?" He looked at Jisung now.

"You'll only have to tell me the short version, though." Chan waved off with his free hand. "I can imagine Jisung might want to say more than 'I like you' or 'Sorry, I don't' to you."

The two friends looked at Jisung now and after a second of silence, Jisung grabbed Chan's hand too, so that they we're all holding hands in a circle, Chan standing while Minho and Jisung sat.

"Actually, I also want you to stay." He said and Chan frowned a little in confusion. "Uhm, I want to say some things to you too."

"Okay." Chan nodded and unfortunately let go of their hands to grab a chair to sit across from them, and Jisung and Minho released their hands too, but only because they were starting to get sweaty (and a little bit for Chan too).

"Uhm, okay, where to start..." Jisung began when Chan sat down, and looked at his hands on his lap.

"You can start with Minho maybe?" Chan suggested. "He has been waiting for quite a while."

"I don't mind if you start with Chan, though." Minho countered. "If it makes sense to start with Chan, you can do that. I can wait for another few minutes."

Well, that didn't help, his friends both being sweethearts. "Uhm, I agree that Minho deserves to know quickly, but I want to bring it in a way that there's no misunderstandings, if that makes any sense." Jisung's brain was a bit scrambled at the moment. He could just say 'I like you both', but his lyrical and sentimental side wanted to at least bring it a little better, and he couldn't get himself to immediately begin with the confession.

"Misunderstandings..?" Chan repeated and looked a little confused. "Uhm, we'll let you talk as long as you want to explain everything if you want? So you can start with Minho—"

"You know what? Just start with the bad news, then there'll be the least misunderstandings, I think. Get that over with." Minho cut off Chan, and he had a point, but Jisung wasn't sure if he even had any bad news. Well, he didn't know for sure if Chan liked him back so maybe that was bad news, but then Minho had to wait again, but then he also knew that Jisung had good news for him?

"Okay..." Jisung said slowly, looking at his two friends. "I'm not sure if I have any bad news, but then I'll just start at the beginning or something. I'll see how it goes, I'll improvise as always."

Chan and Minho snorted and shared a confused look, and Jisung saw a hint of recognition and hope shine in Minho's eyes too, so he hoped Minho had understood what his words meant.

"Uhm, yeah, the last few days have been quite an emotional rollercoaster for me, and a bit stressful too, and while you two were technically the reason for my stress, you two definitely made it a lot better." Jisung began and smiled at the memories. "Really, I couldn't have wished for better friends than you two. So open, considerate, kind, and not only to me, but also to each other."

Chan and Minho smiled softly and shared another look with each other filled with so much warmth that Jisung felt more hope bloom in his chest. Minho then grabbed Chan's hand and intertwined their fingers before he focused on Jisung again. Chan's surprised look lingered at Minho for a second longer before he, too, turned to Jisung again, and Jisung couldn't contain his smile.

"Exactly." He grinned happily. "So that made my path to realizations a lot more bearable. In fact, it made it kind of fun. I kinda liked being spoiled this much by the two of you, and while you did that, I realized that I like you. The both of you."

Minho's expression changed into a blinding smile as he happily squeezed and shook Chan's hand, before he pulled the stunned and confused boy into a hug.

"Yay!" Minho jumped a bit and Chan chuckled a little confusedly.

"I'm happy for you Minho!" He said, still a little perplexed, and squeezed the other. "But wait— both?" He gaped at Jisung and shot a quick look at Minho before he pointed at himself. "Me too?"

"Yes you slowpoke!" Minho laughed before Jisung could answer. He was so happy, it made Jisung want to explode or something.

"Yes I do!" Jisung confirmed too, in case Chan still didn't get it. "You were an amazing, sweet, cute, handsome, cool fake boyfriend, but I bet you would be an even better real one— That is, if you want that." He had almost forgotten about the fact that he wasn't sure what Chan wanted. "And— and of course if Minho wants that too— I realize I'm getting a little ahead of myself."

Minho chuckled fondly and pulled Jisung into a hug too. "Of course. I kinda had my realizations today too." He said and they both looked at Chan.

"Huh? Minho, you too? Me?" The older asked.

“Yes!” Minho didn’t stop laughing, it made Jisung feel so warm. “But— I realize I’m getting ahead of myself too, because you might not even like me—”

“No I do!” Chan quickly assured, not wanting to let Minho’s smile falter. “I really do, Minho, you’re amazing.” He blurted out. “I like both of you, a lot. I have for a while.”

Now all of them burst into laughter and they pulled Chan into the hug, squeezing all the love they felt into it. Jisung rubbed his head lovingly against the two others’ and left a kiss on each, and Chan squeaked a little.  

"So— Chan, you have liked me for a while too?" Minho asked when they pulled back a bit, but still keeping close. 

"Yes." Chan answered simply and caressed Minho's cheek. Jisung felt the fondness and sincerity overflow, and judging from Minho’s burning red ears, he did too. 

"Ugh, just kiss me, Chan." Minho sighed, pouting a little, and Chan chuckled before bringing his other hand to Minho's face and pulling him into a soft kiss.

Jisung smiled at the warm feeling the sight brought, happy that everything turned out perfect.

“Hi guys, sorry for interrupting— oh my—” Jisung’s mother stood frozen in the doorway and looked between the three boys as Chan and Minho quickly pulled apart, their ears bright red. “Uhm— Jisung? Is that… okay?”

Jisung couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “Yes! It’s quite the story actually, but in short, I have two boyfriends now.”

Jisung’s parents’ eyes widened and they shared a surprised look with each other. “Oh, I definitely want to hear this one— if that’s okay.” Jisung’s father said.

Jisung’s parents, of course, laughed at the story and were all too excited to have Minho at their next family party as well. They decided to keep it a little secret from Jisung’s uncle until the party because they wanted to see his reaction live. The rest of that day they had showered Minho in love to make up for the fake boyfriend situation even though Minho claimed they didn’t have to. 

After that, Jisung had hung out with his two boyfriends as much as he could (not that he usually did any different, but now he could call them his boyfriends), but a date was still pending as Minho and Chan had slightly busier lives than Jisung and Chan had wanted to visit his family briefly too while they still had a break. 

Now Jisung was looking out of the window every twenty seconds, waiting for Chan and Minho to arrive so they could leave for their family party together. When he didn’t see them again, he checked himself in the mirror for the tenth time to check if he still looked good and slightly provoking to his uncle. Hair nicely styled? Check. Excessive amount of accessoires? Check. Platform shoes and cutouts in his dress shirt? Check. 

When that was still the same as well, he finally heard Minho’s voice calling his name from outside. Jisung almost tripped running down the stairs, but he safely made it to the front door to open it and jump into the arms of his friends. 

“Hey!” He greeted them with a short kiss, Minho grabbing his cheeks to prolong it a little, making Jisung smile. “You look great!” He said when he pulled back and checked them out.

“Thanks. Sorry that we’re not earlier, this one was still in bed when I came to pick him up.” Minho chuckled and pointed his thumb towards Chan.

“It’s not my fault that you came an hour early.” Chan defended himself, pouting a little.

“I came early because I knew you would still be sleeping.”

Jisung laughed at his friends and grabbed their hands to drag them out of the house while notifying his parents that his friends had arrived. 

“So, how shall we surprise my uncle?” He began, putting on a salesman’s voice, making his friends laugh. “Shall we do a repeat of last time that I sit on both of your laps— or, even better, you both sit on my lap!”

“I think we’ll crush your legs then.” Minho countered as they got into the car to leave to Jisung’s aunt. “Although I like the idea.”

“And your uncle won’t even be able to see you.” Chan laughed. “The first idea is better, I think.”

They nodded a bit and stood still, thinking about other options, well, at least Jisung was. He was also ignoring his parents’ snickers coming from the front of the car.

“Or!” Minho began, startling the other two a little. “We could wait for Jisung’s uncle to be there, and then walk in, me and Chan carrying Jisung as if he’s on a throne and then he announces ‘guess what? I've got two boyfriends now’!”

Chan and Jisung bursted into laughter at that, Jisung feeling his cheeks heat up at the thought and his parents’ excited affirmations. “You’re not my servants or something, though.” 

Minho shrugged and inspected his hand casually. “I think it’s funny.”

“And it is about you…” Chan sided with Minho, which was kind of unexpected, but on the other hand not, as long as the attention was off Chan, Jisung guessed Chan would agree. 

When Jisung hummed in thought instead of agreeing because he thought he would just be too embarrassed to say something that confidently, Chan continued.

“We can also just walk in holding your hand, or something more mild.” He suggested, a hand coming to caress along Jisung’s back soothingly. “Or do the lap idea.” 

“You guys are boring.” Minho sighed exaggeratedly and frowned when Jisung suddenly began grinning.

“If you think that…” Jisung ominously began. “Then you probably wouldn’t mind if we carry you in on the throne of our arms and announce we scored another boyfriend.”

Chan gasped and covered his mouth to probably bite back snickers as they saw Minho’s ears and cheeks turn red. Minho’s face went through a plethora of emotions, but he kept quiet. 

“I see I have to do all the work for my two too easily flustered boyfriends.” He huffed eventually, looking away to try and hide his own embarrassment.

“Thank you Minho~” Jisung said and pulled his friend into a hug before kissing him. 

“In my opinion Jisung can be quite the shameless person too, though.” The oldest mumbled as he joined the hug and leaned over Jisung to place a kiss on Minho’s cheek. 

“We take turns, I guess.” Jisung grinned. 

A little while later, they arrived at Jisung’s aunt’s house, and the three of them rushed upstairs to wait after greeting the host and explaining themselves. Jisung’s parents told the other guests that Jisung had a surprise for everyone and that he was preparing for that and that he would wait until everyone had arrived to show it.

Minho was rubbing his red ears to cool them, and Chan and Jisung shared a knowing look.

“You’re still up for it, Minho?” Chan asked. Of course he always wanted to make sure that everyone was comfortable, Jisung was glad for that. 

“Of course, I have the best view on Jisung’s uncle’s face and I’ll be treated as royalty.” Minho gave a lopsided smile, still rubbing his ears. It seemed he wasn’t going to admit his obvious embarrassment. “I should sooner ask if you guys are up to it, you know, carrying me and all.”

Chan and Jisung grinned and nodded as Chan grabbed Minho’s hand to place a kiss there, and Jisung leaned up to kiss Minho’s red ear. 

“We have to show off our new catch, right?” Jisung giggled and Minho snorted, while Chan gave him a look that said ‘we don’t have to make him even more embarrassed’. 

“Jisung, sweetie! Everyone is here!” Was called from downstairs, and Minho let out some weird sound of what Jisung interpreted as nervousness.

They wanted to walk downstairs, but Minho grabbed their hands. “Wait.”

Jisung turned around to ask what was wrong, but the words caught in his throat when he saw Minho take Chan’s face in his hands and kiss him briefly but passionately. Before Jisung had any time to react, Minho moved on to him to do the same, cup his cheeks and bring him closer for an intense kiss. 

“There, that was needed.” He breathed, leaving his two boyfriends frozen. "Well, are we going to go or not?" 

"Right—" Jisung and Chan hurried to lift up Minho, almost dropping him two times, but eventually managing to get Minho on their arms in a stable position. 

Minho was sitting surprisingly confident considering his state a few minutes ago, and Jisung had to hold in his laughter as he realized Minho's sudden smooches probably were his means of getting some confidence before facing Jisung's family. 

Once they reached the door to the living room, they stopped and Jisung loudly cleared his throat before nudging the door open with his foot. 

"Presenting to you…" He began ominously and briefly made eye contact with Chan. "Minho!" They simultaneously announced and walked into the room a little further before putting Minho down. 

Jisung's family looked at Minho curiously and Jisung saw that Minho was doing his damned best to hide his flusteredness as he greeted his family. He heard some whispers of recognition about the name, but no one spoke up. Then, Chan and Jisung grabbed Minho's hand, and Jisung made eye contact with his uncle. 

"He's our boyfriend." He said and made a peace sign. 

His uncle’s pale face was something Jisung would remember, more than all the excited congratulations he got from the rest of his family. 

"Two?! As expected of our Sungie!" 

"How lovely to meet you, Minho!" 

"Tell us all about yourself!" 

"Guys! Let them sit together on the couch!" 

Everyone immediately was all over Minho already, and Jisung guessed this time they would be busy all day telling stories too, but at least his family let them cuddle and they wouldn't let his uncle utter a single word without giving him a warning look, so Jisung was happy. 

He was happy that everything worked out, and that his friends and boyfriends got along with his family well, almost better than Jisung himself, and he looked forward to bringing them to the family parties many more times.