Chapter Text
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
Jisung shouldn’t have gone to the fields outside of the gym. He really, really shouldn’t have, but curiosity got the best of him, and now he’s in big trouble.
Watching the cheerleaders practice has made him crave to be part of that again—to experience the joy of cheering again. He hasn’t touched his outfit nor his pompoms in what feels like ages, but he misses it.
The only reason he quit was because his parents forced him—and considering the situation he was in, perhaps that was the best call—but he’s different now, he has grown, and the people who tried to make his life miserable in high school didn’t even go to college. He’ll be fine, even if he’s the only guy in the team, right?
He knows Chaeryeong, Yeji, Jisu, Ryujin, and Yuna from high school cheerleading, and they were excited to see him stop by. He knows that they’d be welcoming, and Jisung knows that they work well together.
The problem is that he needs to convince his parents to let him join again, because he knows that his parents will find out eventually, and he doesn’t want to cause a scene. He also doesn’t want Chan to worry about him, because he knows that he will do so.
He genuinely thinks that he’ll be happier if he starts cheerleading again, so he has to take the chance.
He knows that there will be resistance, but he’ll push through. Surely his parents will be understanding—which is why he will text them and not call, because it’s not that big of a deal, right?
[You]
Hey
I’m going to join the cheerleading team again
[Mom]
Absolutely not
Oh. Cool. This will go well for sure.
Jisung kind of might have underestimated how difficult it would be to convince his parents, but he keeps texting them, bringing up the fact that he’s in the same department as Chan now, that the people who were trouble aren’t even in college, and that he can take care of himself way better now.
Cheerleading has been his escape for a long time, because while writing lyrics is a great way to channel his feelings as well, he feels better when he doesn’t have to be alone with his thoughts all the time, shaking any leftover nerves, anxiety, or whatever by jumping around, dancing and cheering on others.
And even if others might think he’s weird for liking to hype up others, so be it. He’s learned that he’ll never please everyone, no matter how much he wants to, so he’ll do whatever he wants, thank you very much.
The feeling of being on the sidelines and cheering on others, having fun without worrying about anything is amazing, but Jisung would be lying if he wasn’t also attracted to the girlyness of it.
There’s something about embracing his feminine side that makes Jisung feel free, even if cheerleading is definitely not easy on your body. He also likes how cheerleading makes his body look, he looks a little less fragile, and it makes him feel more confident.
He knows the same is true for his cheerleading teammates. Chaeryeong is always showing off her abs, and Jisung can tell that she’s become a lot more self assured since she joined.
If Jisung could only enjoy cheerleading without others judging him once again, he’d be sure that it would do wonders for his self esteem, which has crashed hard ever since last year. He wants to be confident again, and he thinks he should take that chance.
It takes a while to explain himself and show that he’s genuinely passionate about this, but eventually, his parents give in, and Jisung smiles to himself, clutching his phone against his chest. Time to cheer again.
٠ ✤ ٠
Chan is tired. He’s been tired for a while, but this phonecall with his parents has made his life a lot more exhausting all of a sudden. He loves his little brother a lot, but he’s tired of being held responsible for him, when Jisung can take care of himself just fine.
It’s not Jisung’s fault that their parents don’t trust him to join the cheerleading team again, and even though Chan does trust him, he can’t say that he doesn’t understand their worries. He wishes he could keep an eye on Jisung without it actually taking up time from his already overfull days.
He should probably call Jisung about this. He might not even know—
Knock knock. Chan perks up when someone knocks on his dorm door. It might be Jisung. He hopes it’s Jisung, but it might also be his roommate, Younghyun.
“Come in,” Chan calls out, and he can’t help but smile when Changbin peeks around the corner. “What do you want, buddy?”
Changbin slips inside with a laugh. “Okay, spill it, Bang Chan,” he tells him with a pointed look. Chan lets out a half laugh half sigh as Changbin comes to sit next to him with a pat on his leg. “You never call me buddy unless you’re stressed. And I know you’re always busy and working on everything and anything, but I’m here to listen. Spill.”
“Are you here to psycho-analyze me, Bin-ah?” Chan asks him, but his voice sounds tired even to himself. The last thing he wants is to worry Changbin, but he isn’t sure if talking to Changbin about this before he talks to Jisung is such a great idea.
“No, I didn’t. I came here to ask you to have dinner with me and Minho, because that man made enough food for a whole army—so just about the right amount for the three of us,” Changbin answers with a laugh, loud and bright and just what Chan needed right now.
“So you came all the way over here to ask me instead of texting or calling?” Chan playfully pokes Changbin’s cheek, but he’s grateful that Changbin came over. Changbin somehow seems to sense it whenever Chan needs a boost.
“Yes, because I know you can’t resist my cute face,” Changbin says as he blinks innocently at Chan, a coy smile on his face. Changbin puts his finger against his lower lip and sets up his best puppy dog face.
Chan laughs and wraps his arms around Changbin to squeeze him tightly. He’s completely right, Chan is quite weak when it comes to Changbin’s face, even when he uses it for over-the-top aegyo. He’s just so cute, can you blame him?
“Okay—to get back to the important stuff—now that I’m here, are you okay?” Changbin asks him in a soft voice, mindlessly caressing the arm that’s still wrapped around him. Chan sighs.
“Yeah. Sort of. I just had a tiring call with my parents, and… I need to talk to Jisung,” he admits. Changbin’s eyebrows draw together in slight concern.
“Is he okay?” he asks and Chan hums and nods.
“Yeah, he is. He wants to go cheerleading again, but my parents aren’t happy about it.” He fidgets with Changbin’s fingers to ground himself a little, still trying to come to terms with what he’ll do.
“Okay. And they’re making him your responsibility again? Or are you doing that yourself?” Changbin asks him, straightforward as ever, but Chan appreciates it a lot.
“Both. They want me to keep an eye on him, and I’m thinking of doing so.”
Keeping an eye on Jisung means that he has to stay with him and make sure that he’s okay. He doesn’t think that he’ll be able to combine tutoring, preparing working classes as a teaching assistant, and leading the archery team if he now also has to be present at Jisung’s cheerleading practices.
He doesn’t want to be blamed for what happened to his brother in high school anymore, he already feels way too guilty, despite knowing that he couldn’t help him, because he wasn’t there. He doesn’t want to admit that it’s because he wasn’t there that he feels guilty.
It’s because of him that Jisung wasn’t even given the option to take care of himself, and now their parents don’t even trust him to be on his own anymore.
He can’t help but have the voice in the back of his mind tell him that he should still be there for him now, no matter what, so there’s only one solution. He has to quit the archery team. Probably only temporarily, but he needs something off his plate. He trusts Minho to take over and understand his situation.
“Hyung,” Changbin begins, “Go pay him a visit and talk to him. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for him, but I know you better than that and I know you care a lot about him. I also know that your parents aren’t going to be satisfied easily, but talk to Jisung about it, okay? And come over for dinner after if you still feel like it.”
“I will. I’ll call him,” he assures Changbin. He exhales through his nose and smiles. “And I’ll come over if you want me so badly!”
“You know I want you all the time, baby—” Changbin smirks, but he’s cut off by a knock on the door. Chan’s ears grow hot, but he barely has time to process Changbin’s words before the door slowly opens and reveals a curious Jisung.
“Uhm. Am I interrupting?” he asks softly. Changbin stands up and shakes his head before inviting him inside.
“You’re not. I was about to leave, and this man was about to visit you, so you’re right on time,” he tells Jisung. He pats Jisung on the shoulder and sends Chan a peace. “Hyung, I hope to see you later! Bye bye.”
“Bye Binnie-yah.” Chan sends his friend a little wave and motions for Jisung to come sit next to him. He’s relieved to see that his little brother came to him himself, because ever since Chan got into college and saw Jisung a lot less all of a sudden, Jisung has grown more closed off.
It’s understandable, given what happened to him in his last two years of high school, but Chan hopes that he’ll open up again. They haven’t spoken to each other in a while, even though summer just passed, because Jisung was busy getting settled into his dorm and preparing for college.
“Did I really not interrupt you and Changbinnie hyung, hyung-ah?” Jisung asks him as he sits down next to Chan on the bed, giving him a curious look. “Why was he here?”
“Oh, he just wanted to invite me over for dinner,” he tells him with a shrug, but Jisung’s eyes grow wide. He grabs Chan’s hand and offers him a wide smile.
“Then why aren’t you with him? That’s so good right?” His eyes are almost sparkling with hope, but Chan shakes his head.
“It’s nice of him, but he just invited me to eat with him and Minho at their dorm, not somewhere out or anything,” he corrects him, smiling at Jisung’s giddy expression.
“Oh. Right, with Minho hyung. Too bad it’s not a private dinner.” Jisung shrugs and bumps their shoulders together. Chan sighs and slings an arm around Jisung’s shoulders, a silent way of assuring him that he’s got this under control.
(He doesn’t. He and Changbin have been dancing on the line between friends and dating for a while now, but Chan can’t seem to gather the courage to ask him out properly. He has too much on his mind constantly, so he’s worried about not having enough time to treat Changbin right.)
“Have you eaten, ‘Sungie-yah?” Chan asks him before they get talking. Jisung nods.
“I have. The few cooking lessons I did with you last summer and two years ago paid off, Lixie and I managed to cook up a decent meal tonight. He’s pretty good at cooking, too,” he says with a smile. A bit of the weight falls of Chan’s shoulders, he’s happy that Jisung is taking good care of himself. “I’m guessing that you haven’t eaten yet? Please go eat with your besties afterwards.”
“I will. I will. I actually wanted to talk to you, but I feel like you’re here for the same reason,” Chan answers, gently caressing his hand along Jisung’s shoulder. Jisung presses his lips into a thin line and nods.
“I’m going to join the cheerleading team again,” he begins, his expression shy yet bright. He’s excited, and it makes Chan feel a little better.
“I know,” he says with a hum. Jisung tilts his head and looks at him, wonder written all over his face. “Mom and dad called me,” Chan adds, and Jisung’s face falls.
“Oh. Oh, I didn’t know,” his little brother mumbles. Chan squeezes his arm and shakes his head.
“It’s not your fault, but… they want me to keep an eye on you, and you know what their definition is of keeping an eye on you,” he replies with a soft sigh. Jisung’s grimace only worsens.
“Hyung. You don’t have to,” he protests, leaning his head against Chan’s shoulder. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know. I trust you, but… Mom and dad want someone to be there to make sure you’re okay. It’s been a while since you did cheerleading or any kind of heavy exercise—almost a whole year. It’ll be good to have someone there for the first couple of practices,” Chan explains softly.
Jisung doesn’t look happy, but he’s starting to look more okay with this. “I don’t want you to have even more on your plate, hyung,” he responds after a moment. “You’re already so busy.”
“I know. It’ll only be for a little while,” Chan assures him. “I’ll come by and take a look, reassure our parents that you’re doing fine, then we’ll all be fine.”
“Okay. Fine, but you won’t have to worry, okay? I wanted to let you know because you’re my brother and I want to share these things with you, not because I need help or I want you to worry,” Jisung says as he fixes Chan with a stern stare.
“I’ll try. You know I love you too much to not worry about you,” Chan says with a chuckle, poking his finger into Jisung’s cheek. Jisung bites at his hand and pouts.
“Sappy.” He sighs, but he slumps into Chan’s hold. Chan relaxes and enjoys snuggling with his little brother for a while, until Jisung shoots up with a gasp.
“You still have to eat! Go, go, go, I’m holding you back! You have a dinner to go to!” he exclaims, pulling Chan up to stand. Chan laughs and grabs his phone to text Changbin and Minho, but Jisung already drags him with him out of the dorm.
“Okay, okay, I’ll go. You have a good night, too, ‘Sungie-yah. Come to me if you need anything.” He grabs Jisung’s wrists to make him let go of him. Jisung looks left and right to see if anyone’s in the hallway with them before pressing a quick kiss to Chan’s nose.
“Thank you. You too, hyung-ah,” he says with a little smile. “Go have fun with your bestie and crush.”
Chan groans, but he can’t help but grin at his younger brother as the latter walks away.
He’ll let everything sink in and he won’t talk to his friends about Jisung tonight. He’s looking forward to winding down and having dinner with Changbin and Minho. They probably know that he’s been stressed lately, but he won’t bother them with his family problems.
Soon, he arrives at Changbin and Minho’s dorm, knocking before slowly pushing the door open and peeking his head through. The two men sit at their small dinner table next to the mini kitchen, and Changbin’s face lights up like a bright summer’s day when he makes eye contact with Chan.
“You came,” he says with smile that makes Chan’s stomach fill with butterflies. Minho turns around and softens when he sees Chan as well.
“Is the offer for dinner still up?” Chan asks the two, just to be sure, but both of his friends are already standing up, Minho making his way to the kitchen to grab more food, while Changbin gets a stool for him and motions him to come and sit.
“You’re just in time, we were counting on you.”
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
Minho would think it is cute for Jisung to want to join the cheerleading team again, if it wasn’t for the fact the he’s incredibly annoyed with his best friend’s younger brother right now. He can’t express that right now, because Chan came to him, trusting him to offer a listening ear, so that's what he's doing.
They’re hanging out after archery practice, cleaning up arrows and making sure the bows are stored in their rightful place, and Chan just told him some worrying news.
“I’m going to quit the archery team, and I want you to lead it in my place,” Chan tells him, and Minho might as well be fuming. “I have no other choice. I’m not going to tell him to not join the cheerleading team, but I gotta keep an eye on him.”
Minho holds back a scoff. He wants to tell Chan that he doesn’t have to quit, that his younger brother surely must be able to take care of himself by now, but that’s probably the last thing Chan wants to hear right now.
“I just… I have too much on my plate, Minho,” he says with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “I can’t combine archery practice with studying, tutoring, teaching, figuring out my feelings for Changbin, and also looking after him. It’s just too much.”
“I know you're incredibly busy, but you won’t have to look after him. I’ll do it,” Minho blurts.
Okay. Cool. Great idea.
He understands that Chan is a busy, busy man with a lot of responsibilities as well as a knack for putting others’ needs above his own, but he has got to learn to let go and be selfish every once in a while. If he’d do that, he’d also see that Changbin has been dropping so many hints that he’s interested in Chan, and that he only needs to say the word and Changbin would drop everything to take him out on the date of a lifetime.
“Really? You’d really do that?” Chan asks him with a frown, eyes screaming I don’t believe you. Minho doesn’t blame him.
“Yes, I can do it,” he assures him with a casual shrug.
“You—You would? Why?” Chan inquires, probably because he knows that Minho isn’t particularly close with Jisung. Definitely not close compared to how close Chan is with him. “You’ll be fine leading the archery team, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, that’s not it. I mean, well, I’m not as busy as you are, so…” he trails off, letting Chan fill in the rest himself.
“It’s okay, Minho. I mean, I feel more comfortable if I really know that someone who knows him well is looking after him, so I’ll do it. My parents won’t accept just anyone to look after him, either,” Chan insists, and Minho holds back the urge to tell him that he’s sure that Jisung can take care of himself well enough, and that there’s no need to worry so much.
“I know him, too,” Minho blurts and Chan gives him a pointed look, obviously not impressed. Minho blurts, “I do! I’d be a horrible boyfriend otherwise.”
“Boyfriend?!” Chan exclaims. Minho swallows thickly, his eyebrows shooting up at Chan’s sudden shouting. Chan clears his throat and apologizes. “Sorry, uhm, I mean—Boyfriend? You’re his boyfriend? My little brother and my best friend are together and I didn’t know?”
“Well, you know how he is.” Minho isn’t sure why he’s lying, but he just wants Chan to stay in the archery team. Archery makes him happy, and if Chan has to worry about Jisung and can’t play archery, he probably also won’t be able to focus on figuring out what he’ll do about his and Changbin’s will-they-won’t-they either, and Minho thinks Chan deserves a break from everything.
He hasn't talked about Jisung since they started college, and now that Jisung is starting college as well, Chan is suddenly pretending like he needs to be his babysitter.
“It’s a pretty new thing, so… I didn’t want to drop the bomb on you so quickly since Jisung only just started college,” Minho explains, feeling a bit guilty for lying, but it’s a necessary lie. He knows Chan would never let him take this burden off his shoulders otherwise. He’ll think about the consequences another time. “I’m sure he’ll tell you soon enough, don’t go push him about it, alright? We’re still fresh like a baby, after all.”
“Oh. Oh, okay. That… That makes sense, I guess. I'm… I'm sorry for not noticing. So, uhm, you think you’ll be able to keep an eye on him? Despite things being so new?” Chan asks him again, obviously still processing this new info. “You know about his, uhm, well… his health, right?”
“Yeah, I know. It’ll be fine. I wouldn’t let anything happen to your little brother, lest I face your unbearable rage and wrath,” he jokes, and it manages to finally get a smile on Chan’s face. He’ll be fine. He’ll play baby sitter and make sure Jisung eats his snacks so that he doesn’t pass out after exercising.
“Shut up! I’m not that bad,” Chan protests, but Minho just laughs. The former huffs and crosses his arms before bumping their shoulders together. “You don’t understand because you’re an only child. Come on, let’s go home.”
“Hey! I have three younger brothers thank you very much.” Minho clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “Soonie, Doongie, and—”
“—Dori are very important to you, yes, I get it. Cats don’t do cheerleading, though,” Chan retorts as they make their way to the changing rooms. “But they do need you to feed them and I know you’d kill a man for them, so you should understand how I feel.”
“Hmmm. I do, but I know it’s different,” he admits. Cats are better than humans, after all. Cats don’t need a babysitter when they’re adults, and cats don’t overwork themselves. But Minho also knows that humans—and especially Chan— mean well.
“I know you really care about him, though. I didn’t mean it as an insult, because yes, I’d be the same way about my cats,” Minho softly assures him. “And I care about you, so I’ll happily take some of the burden off your shoulders.”
“Jisung’s not a burden,” Chan immediately replies and Minho almost rolls his eyes.
“I meant the burden of responsibility,” he corrects him, although he doesn’t completely agree that Jisung isn’t a burden. Chan has to sacrifice a lot for him, so objectively speaking, he adds to the weight on Chan’s shoulders.
“Okay, good. Thank you for helping me out, by the way.” Chan offers him a genuine smile, and Minho is glad to help him. He wouldn’t let anyone take Chan away from the archery team, not even Chan’s golden little brother.
They need him, and Minho needs him, too, otherwise he’ll lose his mind. Don’t get him wrong, his fellow archers are great people, they’re just not great at focussing when Chan’s not there, and Minho doesn’t think he’ll be a great replacement leader. More importantly, practice is way more fun with your best friend present.
He might have gotten himself in trouble by lying to his best friend about dating Jisung, but he’ll deal with that later. Surely Jisung will understand why he’s doing this. If he cares about Chan at least half as much as Chan cares about him, then he’ll thank Minho for doing this.
First, Minho needs to find out what the cheerleading schedule is, because Chan will probably assume that Jisung has told him his schedule. It won’t be too difficult to look up the schedule, and it won’t be difficult to pretend to date Jisung, either. The hardest thing will be to convince Chan that they’re together.
He hopes that Jisung is a bit of a good actor, because he’ll especially have to play an important role in convincing Chan that they’re together. Minho is lucky that he quickly finds out that there’s cheerleading practice tomorrow, so he hopes that Chan won’t ask Jisung about him until then.
٠ ✤ ٠
Jisung is nervous for his first cheerleading practice, even though he knows that the team will be welcoming. It’s been a while, though, so he’ll have to get used to training again. The fact that his brother will come watch him only makes him more nervous, and he kind of hopes that no one will ask any questions about why he’s there.
He’d rather have that no one worries about him, but he’d be lying if he’d say that he doesn’t feel safer if Chan is there with him. He loves his brother a lot, and they haven’t been able to talk or really get closer for a while. In fact, they’ve been growing apart ever since Chan started college two years ago, and Jisung has been keeping his worries secret from him for too long. Hopefully doing this together will help them restore the gap between them.
Jisung also knows that he’s not the best at taking care of himself. He doesn’t know if it would be more embarrassing to pass out during practice or to have others find out that his brother has to keep an eye on him during those practices.
His team happily greets him after he’s finished dressing himself in his old cheerleading uniform, which he hoped would still fit him well, but he’s embarrassed to admit that has become looser in the past year. He’s out of shape.
He has requested an official uniform from the college, but they haven’t had a male cheerleader ever, so it will take a while until he gets it. He hopes that by then he’ll fill the uniform better.
“It’s been a while, Jisung-ah!” Ryujin greets him with a big smile, coming to wrap an arm around him. “You’re finally back!”
“I am. I’m excited, but please don’t tease me too much. I’m out of shape,” he answers with a chuckle.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jisu tells him as she waves him off. “We’re just happy that you’re back. The more the merrier.”
Jisung can’t help but smile. He was afraid that he would lag behind and that his team would think he’s holding them back, but he hopes he’ll be able to catch up soon.
“Before we start, though, Jisung-ah,” Chaeryeong begins, softly touching his shoulder as Jisung wants to get ready to warm up. She nods her head to the rest of the girls. “We all wanted to say sorry for how we handled what happened in high school, you know? We… We should have been a better team for you.”
Jisung’s eyes widen and his heart clenches at the memory of how his cheerleading days ended in high school. He pulls a sour face, but he doesn’t blame the girls. “You tried to stand up for me, it’s okay. They waited for me in the locker room for a reason. They didn’t take you seriously either, you suffered just as much from their actions as I did.”
“That’s sort of true, yes, but they were specifically targeting you. The least we could do is break in and kick a guy in the crotch again, you know?” Yuna adds with the raise of an eyebrow. The comment manages to make Jisung laugh. He remembers Ryujin kicking his bullies to make them leave the gymnasium two years ago. “We won’t let this happen again. You’re welcome in the team just like any other guy.”
“Thank you. Genuinely,” Jisung tells them with a grateful smile.
“Don’t worry about it! Now let’s go do some laps!” Yeji claps her hands and starts running to set the example, as expected from their lead cheerleader. Apparently they don’t have a coach this year—not that their PE teacher taught them much when they cheered in high school, but Yeji is a great leader, and she dances quite professionally too, with Chaeryeong and Ryujin outside of school, so they can use what they’ve learned to come up with cheering routines, too.
He runs after her and the others, doing some laps to warm up. He’s already tired after only doing three laps on the small court, but afterwards are stretches, so he can catch his breath.
During the warm-up, he sees his brother arrive. He sends Chan a little wave, but he freezes when he sees Minho walking after him. Jisung’s heart skips a beat. Why would Minho be here?
He’s probably staring, but he doesn’t know how to feel about his brother’s best friend being here. He has had an embarrassing crush on Minho since he was an embarrassing teenager, and he’s not sure if he has completely grown out of that phase yet.
He has always been too much of a coward to talk to Minho when his brother isn’t there, though, even though he knows that Chan doesn’t have an issue with his crush. Or at least, he doesn’t have an issue with Jisung not acting on that crush.
It’s not like he had a chance with Minho in high school, but now… No, let’s not think about that right now.
He doesn’t want to think about potentially getting close with Minho now, because he has to worry about proving that he can take care of himself just fine first. When Chan leaves and Minho stays, sitting on the benches at the side of the court, Jisung might as well combust.
There’s no way that Chan suggested that he watches Jisung instead of him, so why is he here? And why did Chan leave?
He’s staring for sure, but Minho simply raises his eyebrows at him and waves before grabbing a book and seemingly doing some studying. Jisung blushes, but he’s kind of relieved that Minho isn’t actively watching him, lest he make an absolute fool of himself in front of him during this first practice.
The rest of the team slowly notice that he’s sitting there but not really watching them, too, and they all know him, of course, so it’s only a matter of time until someone speaks up. “Okay, before we start… Minho oppa! Are you here to join the team? Aren’t you an archer?” Yeji calls over.
Minho looks up and raises an eyebrow at her. “Can’t a man do his homework outside, accompanied by the wonderful cheering of the cheerleading team?” he inquires, and Jisung snickers as Yeji snorts.
“Okay then. Keep your secrets,” Yuna calls out. “You won’t get our number if that’s what your after.”
“Oh how stupid of me, I thought doing homework would get you all on my knees for me,” Minho deadpans, eliciting laughter from the cheerleaders. He doesn’t explain himself any further and simply goes back to writing in a notebook with a tiny smile on his face, but that doesn’t surprise Jisung. He’s his own person and isn’t bothered by what others think of him, which is something that Jisung really admires.
Maybe Minho just likes fresh air while studying and his usual spot is occupied, so he suggested watching him instead of Chan doing so. There’s no way Minho would be here for him, after all, no matter how much the thought makes Jisung’s heart pound in longing.
Minho’s eyes meet his ones throughout practice, but only because Jisung keeps looking at him whenever he can. Can you blame him, when Minho’s long lashes cast a shadow onto his cheekbones as he’s scribbling in his notebook, his right hand resting on the pages?
Jisung still believes that his face was sculpted by the gods, and puberty, combined with doing archery and dancing for a while, has especially brought his features out in the most beautiful way.
Jisung sometimes wishes he could admire him for hours, but he has to stay focused on himself right now, otherwise he’ll get hurt and Yeji will certainly scold him. He’s been banned to do strength exercises as well as running ones to improve his condition bit by bit, but he should still pay attention.
Once they all decide to take a break, Jisung gathers up the courage to join Minho on the benches while he grabs his bottle of water and snack. He sits down next to him and waits for him to finish writing.
“Hi hyung. Did you, uhm… Did you agree with Channie hyung that you would sit here?” he asks him softly, hoping that the rest of the team won’t hear him. Minho looks up from his homework at him and raises an eyebrow. Jisung swallows thickly—Minho is just so handsome up close.
“I did. I would be a bad boyfriend otherwise, wouldn’t I?” he answers, and Jisung’s eyes grow wide as saucers, his heart cranking up the pace to at least triple the speed. Minho must be joking, right?
“Y-Y-You and Channie hyung are—?” he begins, stammering as he tries to wrap his head around Minho’s words, but Minho cuts him off with the click of his tongue and a shake of his head.
“No, of course not! That man has been head over heels for Changbinnie for ages,” he retorts, and Jisung lets out a sigh in relief.
“Yeah, okay, I thought so. He’s—I was talking with him about going on a date with Changbin hyung just a couple of days ago, so…” Jisung chuckles and shrugs, his cheeks feeling warm because of the exertion, but being next to Minho isn’t helping his condition. Minho is looking at him with an unreadable expression, and Jisung can’t really hold his gaze.
“Wait! Wait—What do you mean, then? With being a bad b-boyfriend?” Jisung whips his head towards the older man, still trying to figure out what he meant. Minho snickers, but his ears are a little red.
“What do you think?” he asks Jisung instead, a smirk on his face.
“I—I don’t know. You’re not my boyfriend,” he blurts. He chuckles and takes a big gulp of water to hopefully distract himself from what he just said.
“I am, though,” Minho tells him with a shrug, just as Jisung swallows. He almost spits out his water, but instead he chokes. He coughs into his elbow, and hears Minho let out a snort.
“Woah, be careful,” he tells him, and Jisung nods, his neck heating up as Minho pats his back. Jisung wipes his mouth and swallows.
“Sorry. Uhm. What do you mean? Since when are you my boyfriend?” he asks him softly, afraid that he has somehow missed something. He isn’t suffering from amnesia, is he?
“That's what I told Chan, yes. I hope you don't mind. There was no other way he'd let me do this and not quit the archery team,” Minho explains, pulling a sheepish face. Jisung’s heart drops into his stomach. He didn’t know that Chan was about to quit to take care of him.
“Oh,” he dumbly replies, at loss for words as his chest fills with a confusing mix of butterflies and acid of guilt.
“Oh? That's all I get?” Minho asks with a laugh. “Look, we don't have to tell anyone, I just need Chan to trust that you're in good hands with me.”
“Oh. Okay,” Jisung can't say that he isn’t a little disappointed that it sounds Minho only did this so that Chan wouldn't quit the archery team, but he can't blame him. He would totally show off having Minho as his boyfriend if he could—if he had the confidence for it.
“What do I do if the girls ask me about you?” he inquires, a bit of hope in him that he'll be able to pretend that they're together, even if it's brief.
“I mean, I guess you can tell them. I just wouldn't tell everyone. And, uhm, maybe tell Chan hyung, first, because he almost had a heart attack when I told him.” Minho makes a good point, and Jisung can certainly imagine that his brother would be at least just as shocked as he was just now when Minho told him.
“Okay. Makes sense,” he says with a hum. He lets it sink in: Minho is his (fake, unofficial, pretend) boyfriend. How is he supposed to tell his brother that he finally gathered the courage to talk to his best friend, let alone convinced him to go on a date with him?
He perks up and faces Minho again. “Should we think of a getting together story—?”
“Jisung-ah! Break is over, get back here!” Yeji announces. Minho waves him off.
“We'll talk later. I think Chan will appreciate it if I walk you to the dorms, too,” he says, and Jisung blushes at the thought of Minho bringing him home. He's cursed with the dreadful combination of both wanting to be taken care of and hating to be treated like a kid.
“Okay. I'll go back to practice again, then,” he announces before shoving the rest of his food into his mouth and joining the girls again. Minho lets out a noise akin to a chuckle and Jisung hopes that his blush isn't too obvious.
He can't stop thinking about Minho telling Chan that he’s dating him. Surely Chan would allow Minho to watch him without the excuse of them being together, right? Although, Chan has been very busy lately, and when he gets busy he gets in his head and he gets very stingy about putting responsibilities on others. It's kind of Minho to take some of the burden off Chan's shoulders and sacrifice some of his free time to sit here. Jisung doesn’t need someone to watch him, but he does feel more secure if there is.
As Jisung continues his strength and agility exercises, one of his teammates joining him and switching every ten minutes or so, he thinks about what their story could be. He gets lost in fantasies instead of thinking clearly, but he hopes that Minho will have some sort of a plan.
He's completely beat after practice, sweating buckets and panting like a dog. It's embarrassing, but Minho simply looks up from his phone and reminds him to eat something. Jisung almost forgot about that, the butterflies in his stomach do not exactly make room for hunger.
Still, he grabs the leftover kimchi fried rice to eat after changing, shoveling about a quarter of the food into his mouth before storing it away again, leaving it for when he's back in his dorm. “Okay, all good, let's go.”
Minho pauses as he watches Jisung chew on the food that is stored in his cheeks. “Are you sure you don't want to finish the food first?”
“I'm okay. I'll eat the rest when we're back,” he assures Minho with a smile. (Or as much as he can manage without showing him his mouthful of rice.)
“So, did you have any idea what I could tell my brother about how we got together? I think it'll be most believable for him if it's relatively new and, uhm, maybe you asked me out? Or maybe it was spontaneous? Because otherwise I'd have told him about it. I think,” Jisung begins as the two of them walk towards the dorms after bidding goodbye to the girls. Maybe he wouldn’t have told Chan about it. He probably would have waited and made sure Chan wouldn’t be too busy.
“Yeah, sure. We could do something simple. Do you like coffee or are you insane like your brother?” Minho gives him a pointed look and Jisung giggles nervously—Minho is just so handsome, he can’t help it, not even when he's pulling a weird face.
“I like coffee. And cheesecake,” he answers, silently hoping that Minho will think of something romantic, but he shouldn't get his hopes up.
“We might have bumped into each other at the cafe, and we got talking or something,” Minho suggests, keeping things even simpler than Jisung expected.
“Okay. Yeah. And maybe we stayed in touch via text and we met up at the cafe again? And we recently decided to call it a date?” Jisung isn't sure how mild he should go, but Minho accepts it with a hum.
“How about you asked if this was a date, maybe like a joke, and I said it could be if you wanted to,” he adds and Jisung lights up. He can already imagine how it would have gone, they'd be bantering, Jisung would make a hopeful joke about a date, and Minho would pretend to be all casual about it before, but he'd actually been pining for Jisung silently, too.
How beautifully simple, but that's what makes it believable.
“Thanks for doing this, hyung,” Jisung says as they reach his dorm room, turning around to face Minho. “I hope it didn’t get in the way of any plans.”
“You say that like this will be a one time thing,” Minho replies with a chuckle. “I won’t let Chan quit the team and I'll gladly spend my afternoons studying outside on a bench if it means that he'll stay.”
“You’re right.” Jisung presses his lips into a thin lipped smile, his heart clenching as he's reminded of how much of a burden he must be to his brother. He promised himself that he wouldn't bother him after high school, because he's an adult now, but apparently not everyone thinks so yet.
He would have never accepted Chan quitting the archery team for him, but he's thankful that Minho stepped in. “This won't be forever, obviously. But, yeah, thank you.”
“I assumed it would be temporary, yes. I'll see you next time, I guess.” Minho offers him a little wave and leaves him a little unsatisfied. He wishes he could talk to Minho for longer, maybe they could catch up and flesh out their story a little bit more, so that Jisung actually has something to tell his brother about in excruciating detail.
Jisung plops on the floor next to his bed and dials his hyung's number with a sigh, putting it on speaker as he grabs his food. He could try and visit Chan's dorm, but he's afraid that he's not going to be there. He might not even pick up.
Although, he should have known that Chan would stop anything he's doing to answer him, especially if he knows that Jisung just finished his first cheerleading practice in two years.
“Yes? Jisung-ah? Everything alright? You just finished practice, right?” Chan asks instead of a greeting. Jisung snickers.
“Yes, I'm okay, you worry pants. Are you busy right now? Otherwise I'll call later,” he assures his brother. It's almost dinner time, but who knows what Chan is up to.
“Sorry. You just—It's been a while since you've called me just to talk,” Chan replies, and Jisung’s heart clenches. He's right, but they've both busy the past months, Jisung with high school exams and college applications and Chan with college, friends, teaching assistance, you name it.
“I'm just finishing up at the studio, so I'm free to talk. How did practice go?”
“I'm totally spent! I had to do nonstop exercises because I'm totally out of shape, but the girls were happy to see me, I think,” he answers with a smile, poking at his food with his chopsticks. “I’m like a wet rag now, though.”
“And everything went okay? Did you eat enough?” Chan asks through the sound of him cleaning up his stuff. Jisung lets out a sigh and chuckles.
“Yes, hyung-ah. I'm eating now, too, before I take a shower,” he says, softly shaking his head. It's sweet of him to care so much, but Chan needs to learn to worry less. “And you know that Minho hyung was there to keep an eye on me. You can trust him to do so.”
Chan is silent for a while, only rustling sounds through the speaker of the phone, so Jisung eats a little bit more. Then, Chan sighs.
“Okay, good. But I'm just not sure if… Do you think Minho will be okay to look after you?” He sounds hesitant, but maybe he's just trying to create a segue for Jisung to bring up his 'relationship' with Minho.
“I don't need someone to look after me, hyung—” Jisung begins, but Chan intervenes.
“I know. Just for the first couple of practices. To ease mom and dad's minds,” he explains, leaving the part out where this is also to ease his mind.
“Yes, but it's not your responsibility. It's also not Minho’s, but… he told me that you wouldn't let him help until he told you that he's my boyfriend?” Jisung picks up his phone and turns off the speaker so that he can hold it against his ear and speak a little more softly.
“In my defense, I wasn't that stubborn about it,” Chan mumbles, and Jisung giggles. “But I have to admit that I didn’t want him to do that for me.”
“Is it true? Are my best friend and precious little brother boyfriends?” Chan's voice is low and a bit bummed out for some reason.
“I was going to tell you about it, hyung-ah,” Jisung lies, his stomach churning in guilt. He's glad that Chan can’t see his face right now, because surely he'd read his thoughts from the look in his eyes. “To be completely honest, I… We hadn't really put a label on things? We've been talking because we ran into each other at the cafe a couple of weeks ago, and, well, the other day I was kinda joking about how it could be a date, and hyung said it could be if I wanted it to be—it still feels a little surreal.”
Jisung tries to lie as little as possible, because Chan might be a busy man, but he cares a lot about his friends and family, so he'll definitely notice that something is off if he suddenly starts claiming that he's having a fairy tale romance with Chan's best friend. The reality is that he's maybe second hand friends with Minho, because although Chan is great at sharing, Jisung hasn't spoken to Minho in over two years, which makes quite the difference if you've gone from a 16 year old mess to freshly 19 and even more of an insecure mess—but then a bit more mature. “I was hesitant because he's your best friend, you know? I didn't want to jump to conclusions. Minho hyung can be hard to read.”
“Oh, I understand. Just—I'm happy for you, Jisungie. I can't help but worry, but only because I care, okay?” Chan assures him. Jisung’s smile is bittersweet. He feels for his brother, because he can tell that he's trying to be a good hyung to him, and that what happened in high school is still nagging at both of them, but it's difficult to open up when he's so busy all the time.
“I know, hyung-ah. I care about you too, which is why I don't want you to worry.” Jisung huffs and wishes he could just give his brother a big hug and pull his worries out of his mind. “I'm older and wiser and better at taking care of myself and I don't want to live my life worrying or making you worry.”
“You won't. I just need to get used to you cheerleading again, but I'll always support you, Jisung-ah. I can't help but want to spoil my little bro!” Chan answers with a laugh and Jisung laughs with him.
They end up talking some more, Jisung keeping Chan company as he walks back to the dorms and Chan keeping Jisung company as he eats. He's feeling a little bit weak and tired after exercising, but he promises himself to ask Felix to make pasta with him today so that he eats enough.
Talking to his brother like this after a while is already a mood booster, and fantasizing in the shower about Minho and cheerleading makes him excited for what's to come. Maybe college will really turn his life around for the better.
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