Chapter Text
"No." Jeongin shakes his head, though he knows his lies are feeble. "I've never fallen in love before."
Hyunjin hums quietly from under Jeongin's covers, having burrowed himself under the soft blankets an hour ago, claiming that he felt lonely. (And of course Jeongin didn't refuse, because he could never say no to Hyunjin.)
"Have you, hyung?" Jeongin looks at Hyunjin curiously.
"Yeah." The older boy smiles up at him drowsily. "It was a long time ago, Innie. I've liked him since the start of college till when he graduated, then I gave up on him. A year later, I also graduated, but I never forgot about him."
Him. Jeongin's heart skips a beat. "Do you still like him?"
"No, not anymore." Hyunjin sits up, leaning on his elbow. "Why are you asking?"
Jeongin, always prone to blushing, flushes a light pink, "Nothing, hyung, just curious."
"Does our Innie have a little crush?" Hyunjin grins cheekily, eyes crinkling up at the corners.
"No!" Jeongin lies straight through his teeth again. "Just go to sleep, hyung."
He mumbles a soft goodnight and turns away from Hyunjin to hide his bright red face, even though he's sure the other boy is staring at his red ears anyway.
He hears shuffling behind him before he feels a warm, strong arm wrap around his torso.
"Good night, Innie." Hyunjin sighs into his back, breath warm, and he gulps. This will be a long night.
--
Jeongin thought falling in love would be like fireworks, like an explosion of feelings and love and desire.
Instead, it seemed to ignite in his heart like starting a campfire.
It was a normal day, just like any other.
He finds himself being dragged to the kitchen at 3am, Hyunjin grasping his wrist gently, insisting that he was hungry but didn't want to eat by himself.
Jeongin yawns sleepily, barely conscious from when Hyunjin barged into his room just when he was about to fall asleep 5 minutes ago. He heaves himself up to sit on the counter, hissing quietly from the cold feeling through his thin pyjama pants, and watches Hyunjin reach up to grab two cup noodles through bleary eyes.
Hyunjin hums a quiet tune as he waits for the cup noodles to be ready, and takes out two pairs of chopsticks. He holds the cup noodles up, and gestures towards the hallway, wanting to eat in Jeongin's room.
Jeongin frowns, immediately shaking his head, "No! You're going to spill it everywhere!"
"Oh, so now you're awake." Hyunjin rolls his eyes, but still sets the cup noodles back down on the table.
Jeongin sighs, sliding off the counter, "I still can't believe you woke me up just because you were hungry."
"Hey! At least you get to eat too." Hyunjin pouts, tearing the cover off the cup noodles, steam wafting into the air.
Jeongin picks up his chopsticks, and slurps up a big mouthful of steaming hot noodles. He then proceeds to choke, nearly spitting the noodles out.
Hyunjin laughs while shushing him, and slaps his back louder than the sound Jeongin made when he choked, and Jeongin turns around to glare at him.
"Idiot! The noodles are obviously hot, it's common sense." Hyunjin mocks, before blowing deliberately on his own noodles and taking a small bite. "So good!" He scrunches up his whole face to smile in satisfaction at Jeongin, and maybe it was worth it after all.
"What are you staring at?" Hyunjin raises an eyebrow. "Eat before it gets cold!"
A light pink flush creeps up Jeongin's cheeks and he glances away from Hyunjin, choosing to focus on his food instead of the gorgeous man next to him. They eat their noodles in silence for a moment, the delicious aroma still permeating through the kitchen.
Suddenly, Hyunjin starts coughing loudly next to him, and Jeongin glances over to find him choking on his noodles.
Jeongin laughs out loud for a second, and hurriedly covers his mouth when he remembers the other members are sleeping (or at least he hopes they are). He immediately pours out a cup of water for Hyunjin, and hands it to the boy next to him who is currently hacking his lungs out dramatically as if he's about to die.
Hyunjin accepts the cup of water and takes a sip. They make the deadly mistake of making eye contact, and both of them burst out in laughter at the same time. Hyunjin spits out his mouthful of water, and begins to choke again. Jeongin shakes with laughter while rubbing Hyunjin's back, and Hyunjin makes a squeaking sound.
They both just stand there howling with laughter, the amusement of the situation intensifying due to them trying to be quiet, and ultimately failing.
Jeongin takes a look at Hyunjin, whose eyes are squeezed shut from laughing too hard.
A wave of love rushes through his head to his toes, crashing into his heart, throwing his orbit off balance. He quiets down, standing there and staring at the older boy laugh with pure, unadulterated joy and realises that he is in love with Hyunjin.
He, Yang Jeongin, is in love with him, Hwang Hyunjin.
Somehow, he doesn't feel surprised, and he blinks slowly. He felt the weight settle in his gut, but a good weight. The weight not of realisation, but of admitting the truth. He exhales softly, and feels his heart beat a little louder, feels his core turn a little warmer, feels his eyes glow a little brighter.
He smiles, loudly.
Jeongin realises at 4am, still in the kitchen and unfortunately not in bed, that he is in love with Hyunjin.
--
"I... have a question." Jeongin pauses the movie currently playing on Hyunjin's laptop.
"Yeah, go for it." Hyunjin stares at Jeongin curiously.
"So... my friend has a crush on this other person. Like, they like this person a lot. But they're actually really good friends, and they're really close. What do you think my friend should do?"
"Do I know this friend of yours?" Jeongin thinks he hears a hint of amusement in Hyunjin's voice, but he ignores it.
Jeongin shakes his head, while Hyunjin hums thoughtfully, "Well, I think you-"
"My friend." Jeongin is quick to correct him.
"I was getting to that part, yes." Hyunjin smiles knowingly, and Jeongin's ears turn red. "I think that your friend should confess. There's a big chance the other person likes them too, but your friend just can't see it, because they're very oblivious."
"But, I'm- I mean my friend is just worried, what if the other person doesn't like them back, and they end up ruining the friendship and making things awkward between them and all their other friends?" Jeongin hurries to ask.
Hyunjin tilts his head, "You seem very passionate and empathetic to your friend's situation."
"Well, I care about my friends a lot." Jeongin looks down, fingers fiddling in his lap.
"That's cute!" Hyunjin chuckles, pinching his cheek, and Jeongin's blush spreads to his neck. "Hm, my answer is that I think your friend should still go for it. Like I said, I just have a gut feeling that the other person likes them back, a lot. And even if they don't, if they're really that close, then they shouldn't let that ruin the friendship. I hope that helps."
"Yeah, it does. Thanks." Jeongin distractedly mutters.
Hyunjin smiles secretively, "I'm looking forward to what your friend does."
"Me too."
Hm, confessing?