Archive of Our Own

It’s what Jisung considers a normal, peaceful day, when Chenle comes to him with a ridiculous idea.

“What if we started a youtube channel together?”

Boredom is probably the main contributor to Chenle’s brain working and coming up with that, Jisung thinks. The need for attention must be a secondary contender.

Jisung takes a deep breath, waiting until his character dies on the screen to reply, “Why does it have to be both of us? Can’t you make one just for yourself?”

Chenle tuts at him, like Jisung is stupid for not understanding Chenle’s exact thought process when coming to the conclusion he reached, “Of course not! I know I’m amazing and people would love watching me, but!” He pauses for dramatic effect here, “What if we profit off of people thinking we’re dating?”

“That sounds like a horrible idea that’s going to blow up on us.”

“You’re being dramatic, Jisungie. This is that thing Jaemin-hyung told us about. What was it? Catastrophic thinking?”

“I’m not overthinking this.” Jisung sighs, “I just think it’s a bad idea. What if we build our whole platform on the fact that we’re dating, or seem like we are, and they realise we’re not? Are you planning for us to fake date to fool our classmates when they inevitably find the channel?”

There’s a list of other things Jisung could name and he’s ready to continue spewing them out for Chenle.

Chenle shakes his head, “I’m not saying we should say we’re dating. People already think we are regardless of what we do or how much we say we aren’t, right? So, we just post whatever and people will think we’re together. We just don’t correct them until way later.”

“You’re saying we should lie?”

“It’s not lying!” Chenle throws his cat plush at Jisung, “We’re temporarily withholding the truth from them.”

“Still a bad idea.”

“We’re not doing anything, Jisungie.” Chenle insists, “I just want to start a channel with you. It would be fun, don’t you think? If people get the wrong idea about our relationship, we can correct them. If they don’t, then that saves us the trouble of doing so.”

It’s hard to say no to Chenle, especially for Jisung. Still, he continues to insist they shouldn’t go through with this plan and Chenle calls for backup.

“I think you should do it.” Donghyuck nods to himself, “It’s a great idea.” He probably just wants to use any suffering they may be subject to for his own entertainment.

On the other hand, Mark is taking it a bit more seriously. Jisung appreciates Mark, for the way he never does anything half-heartedly, even when Chenle drags Jisung to Mark and Donghyuck’s table to interrupt their study session with his idea - well, Mark’s study session that Donghyuck just happened to be at, probably doing nothing more than serving as a distraction.

“I don’t think the youtube channel would be a bad idea.” Mark starts, “I think it would depend on what you do for your videos. If the dating thing comes into play, you can always just deny rumours and say you want privacy regarding your personal lives. But if you purposefully bait people into getting the wrong idea, I’m not letting you guys do this.”

Chenle had told Jisung the ideas he had for their potential channel. He had said arts and crafts things, and maybe a few vlogs here and there, would be fun to film and not mentally and physically taxing for them on top of their university workload.

“That could work.” Mark says, “It’d be fun for you guys and fun for others to watch.”

Jisung finds it hard to argue against the whole idea when even Mark is considering it so sincerely. Chenle, of course, knows that Jisung’s resolve is breaking and turns to him with puppy eyes.

“See, it’s a good idea! If it doesn’t work out, we just scrap the channel and move on with our lives.”

Jisung wants to argue that they would not, in fact, be able to move on with their lives. Did Chenle forget the concept of a digital footprint?

“I’ll be your first subscriber!” Mark adds with a grin.

Chenle starts asking their close group of friends to vote on the youtube channel idea. Unfortunately for Jisung, not a single one of them votes against it - screw Jaemin, honestly, what kind of mother would betray their son like this?

The voting is extended to Jisung’s dance team, Chenle’s basketball and international student friends, and Jisung has a whopping one vote in his favour - courtesy of Sungchan who had felt bad enough when Jisung pouted at him.

Weeks later, Jisung runs out of excuses and the votes being very against him don’t help. When they finally have time, Chenle sits him down in their dorm room with Renjun and Yangyang who had apparently agreed to help. Yangyang, because he wants to practice editing videos; Renjun, because he thought it would be fun to give them ideas and be involved in the behind the scenes process.

“First thing’s first,” Renjun brought one of those big, whiteboards with wheels to the dorm room, with the help of Jeno who had wheeled the whole thing over, “we need to decide on the channel name.”

“Are we not going to acknowledge the fact that you managed to get a whiteboard from your room to ours?” Jisung asks, closing the door after waving goodbye to Jeno, “Are we even allowed these things in our dorms?

“No and I don’t care.”

“Team name!” Yangyang exclaims, clearly excited.

They go back and forth a few times. There’s multiple potential names written on the whiteboard, some good, some bad - which Renjun wrote just to cross out and tell the other three that they were horrible ideas. Eventually, they decide to include the ship name Donghyuck came up with and spread to their friend group, settling on ‘Chenji’s this and that’.

Next comes the brainstorming for video ideas. Jisung enjoys this part more, liking the freedom of blurting out whatever comes to mind. They don’t have a theme for their channel, wanting to use it as a space to quite literally do anything they can think of. It’s organised chaos, in a way that reminds Jisung of Chenle.

“The first video is very important.” Renjun says, “Whether you want it to or not, and regardless of how much attention it gets, it’ll be the start of your channel and the defining factor of what people think of you two.”

“You’re so smart.” Donghyuck had joined their meeting sometime after they’d decided the channel name and began with video ideas. He’d come to bring them food, cooked by himself and Jaemin in the dorm kitchens, and ended up staying.

“Shut up.” Renjun shuts down quickly, “Let’s start with the target audience. Whoever this first video is aimed at, the next few will have to follow the same theme, roughly at least. I know you don’t want anything super strict.”

“I want to vlog.” Chenle is the first to say, “The other ideas we have are good, but I think for the first one, it would be a nice introduction type thing, you know? Like, showing people a day in our lives so they can get to know us.”

Jisung both loves and hates the idea. On one hand, it’s low effort and he doesn’t need to worry about doing anything special in front of the camera. On the other hand, it means that he needs to carry a camera around all day and narrate for it.

As if sensing his internal battle, Chenle taps Jisung’s foot with his own, “Don’t think too hard. I’ll do most of the talking and you can just follow me around when we’re in public.”

It’s reassuring and Jisung appreciates Chenle. There’s still one problem, though.

“You’re so loud, it’s still gonna get everyone’s attention on us.”

Chenle rolls his eyes, “Maybe if you weren’t so tall, curling up into a little ball would actually let you hide behind me.”

“Anyway,” Renjun interrupts at the same time that Yangyang and Donghyuck start giggling, “I like the vlog idea. For Jisung’s sake, just film on one of your phones for the time being. If the channel starts taking off, we can ask Jaemin what camera we should get.”

“‘We’?” Jisung questions.

“Yes, ‘we’. No way you guys could do this on your own. Yangyang will help with editing too.”

“What about me?” Donghyuck pouts.

“You crashed our meeting, you’re not needed.”

Chenle cuts Donghyuck’s whining for Renjun’s attention short with an idea, “Can you, maybe, by any chance, promote us on your and Mark’s tiktok?” He bats his eyelashes for good measure. Donghyuck has a soft spot for him and Jisung, though, so he agrees easily.

The next few days consist of Jisung and Chenle discussing when to actually film the vlog. Jisung is strongly against filming on campus, not wanting to deal with the embarrassment of talking to a phone camera with people they know around them. Chenle thinks it would be boring to film themselves lounging around in their dorm and going on their weekly snack run to the convenience store. Not to mention, it wouldn’t be a very long video and make them look like losers, in Chenle’s words.

Their disagreement carries on for long enough that Jisung thinks they might just have to scrap the vlogging idea. Then again, Chenle is a lot of things but a quitter is not one of them; he’s competitive enough that it would take the world to burn down to give up at times.

“Let’s do it during your dance practice.” Chenle suggests with a tub of Dippin Dots as some sort of peace offering, “You’re the most confident while dancing and I can just film with my phone and talk nonsense. The hyungs will make you feel less nervous too.”

And, well, Jisung can’t really argue with that logic.

In order to showcase the both of them and their individual hobbies, Chenle follows Jisung to his dance practice that week, and Jisung agrees to watch Chenle play basketball with his friends. The second part takes more convincing from Chenle, but, in the end, Jisung is always weak to Chenle.

“You’ll be nothing but a distraction.” Mark sighs when the two of them go to him with their idea, “Taeyong-hyung is fine with it, though.”

With permission from the dance team captain, Chenle drags Renjun with him to watch practice and they take up a spot in the corner of the room. Jisung and Chenle filmed a short introduction type clip to add to the full video later on in their dorm, saved to a folder in Chenle’s phone.

Whenever Jisung glances Chenle’s way, he finds the other talking to Renjun or with his phone pointed towards himself or the dancers. Jisung has only talked in the introduction, so far, being occupied with the choreography changes he has to learn. It’s only when they get a break that Chenle takes the opportunity to start fireballing questions at him like some sort of interview - an attempt to get Jisung more screen time.

Other members of the dance team watch them in amusement. Donghyuck has the audacity to laugh at Jisung as if he wasn’t a main instigator in the creation of this channel. Jaemin being Jaemin, coos at Jisung when sighs in relief after Chenle finally decides to end his impromptu interview.

The rest of practice goes by quickly like usual, and then Jisung is dragged off by Chenle to watch the basketball game he has planned with Mark and a few of their other friends after lunch. Honestly, Jisung has never understood how Mark has the energy to play after their practice sessions; he never half-asses during dance or their casual basketball games.

Renjun follows them to the court after eating without Jisung having to ask for the company, likely expecting the other boy to be an anxious mess when he’s subjected to meeting at least three new people.

“You’re not going to get hit in the nose with the ball, Jisungie.” Renjun sighs, exasperated and fond, “Trust Chenle to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Jisung goes to watch Chenle play basketball often, so he does trust Chenle. But with so many other people on the court - a whopping four new faces that Jisung has never seen - it’s harder to expect Chenle to keep Jisung’s nose safe.

With Chenle’s phone, Jisung presses the record button and props it up against a water bottle. He chooses to pretend it isn’t there, conversing with Renjun and only acknowledging the phone camera when he stops recording to save space, and to film Chenle on the court.

Thankfully, Jisung’s nose makes it out safely. Instead, it’s his forehead that suffers the damage from the ball that flies straight into it, too quickly for him to react. Chenle’s phone is still propped up against the water bottle but the angle is slightly different, filming higher than before.

Chaos erupts and Jisung is surrounded by a worried Chenle and Renjun, “What the fuck? Do you not know how to aim?” Chenle is seething, Jisung can tell even with his sight obscured with the hands Chenle was using to hold his bangs up.

Mark lets out an awkward laugh, patting the guy on the back when he cowers, “Accidents happen, Chenle. Let’s focus on making sure Jisung is okay.” Mark manages to diffuse the situation, letting Chenle fuss over Jisung while he handles the group of people gathered.

Chenle is still mumbling in frustration as he examines the growing bump on Jisung’s forehead.

“I’m fine, Lele.” Jisung pushes Chenle’s hands away from his face to look at him properly, hoping his expression was convincing and didn’t give away the fact that he was in immense pain.

Anger shifted to worry, Chenle practically melting, “It’s gonna bruise, baby. Let’s get an ice pack for it, okay?”

Jisung doesn’t acknowledge the pet name, not the way it makes his insides feel warm nor the fact that he wants to hear it more.

Later that week, the bump on Jisung’s forehead has started subsiding and he’s in his dorm room with Yangyang, editing the clips of their vlog together.

“Is the target audience basketball fans? Chenle has taken up so much screentime yapping about Curry.” Jisung sighs, realising that most of the video so far, apart from when they had lunch, was Chenle talking while he practiced.

“What were you expecting?” Yangyang cackles, “Okay, you can totally say no for this, but I think we should keep you getting hit in the face in the video.”

Jisung scowls, “Are you praying for my downfall? Do you want me to be put into one of those compilations?”

“No!” Yangyang defends, “I’m sorry, but it’s funny. You can go viral.”

After Jisung’s head was treated and they were all sure he had no lasting effects from the injury, Jisung reluctantly allowed Chenle to take his phone out and recount the whole event. It was more Yangyang’s idea than Chenle’s, though, the former having heard of the incident from Renjun and insisting that they get content out of the situation. It ended up becoming a full rant about why people who can’t aim should stay off the court and Jisung can’t deny that it is funny.

Jaemin caught wind of the situation and he didn't find it too funny, still worried over Jisung's forehead despite the bump being barely visible. It took Jisung a full five minute video call for him to convince Jaemin that he was, in fact, perfectly healthy and not experiencing a brain injury leading to him going along with Yangyang's ridiculous idea.

So, for the sake of Chenle’s efforts of retelling the story and his loyalty to their vlog, Jisung sighs and they start adding in the clips of that horrid basketball game. Horrid in the sense that Jisung got injured, not that Chenle was bad on the court by any means. As much as Jisung has little to no interest in the game, and the fact that he knows equally as little about the sport, Jisung has never complained about watching Chenle be in his element on the court.

They post after the two of them, Renjun, and Yangyang view the final product and are happy with it. Unfortunately, but as expected, the video doesn’t blow up. They do get a few subscribers and some nice comments, though, and the views increase when Donghyuck and Mark promote them on their tiktok page.

It’s enough encouragement for them to start posting regularly and finally give into Donghyuck’s suggestion of getting a tiktok account of their own.

Jisung eventually starts posting dance challenges which gets them a lot of attention. With the attention come the shipping posts of them and Jisung groans when one comes up on his for you page. Chenle only laughs happily, much too pleased for Jisung’s liking.

In their third year of university, a year after they started their channel, Jisung and Chenle sit down in Jisung and Renjun’s apartment for a meeting.

“We can just vlog our day like always. People seem to like them.” Jisung suggests to Renjun.

Their recent videos consist of behind the scenes of Jisung’s dance challenges, Chenle’s reviews on basketball games and his take on the NBA ships, and recent trends they found interesting enough to take part in.

“That’s true.” Renjun agrees, “You haven’t done a regular vlog in a while. I was looking at the comments on the last one a month ago and people seem to find them therapeutic.”

“When Chenle isn’t yelling.”

“When Chenle isn’t yelling.” Renjun agrees with a nod.

“Hey!” Chenle perks up at that, “People love me being loud. Also, that’s boring.”

“We started our channel on vlogs like that, though?”

“Yeah, it gave us our following, but our audience has changed a bit since then. Our other videos are doing really well, like the arts and crafts thing we did last week,” Chenle clarifies, which is true, “Vlogs are fun but sometimes adding a bit of spice is good too.”

“Like what?” Renjun raises a brow, “Don’t tell me you’re gonna try eating only spicy food for a day or something.”

“That’s so stupid. Only Jisung would think of something like that.”

Jisung stays silent, because he was, in fact, thinking of something like that. Chenle doesn’t tease Jisung like usual, seemingly excited about whatever idea he has.

“Let’s do one where I speak only Chinese for a day.”

Renjun starts typing on his laptop, “You guys have a free day this Friday, right?” He smiles when they nod, “Let’s do it then. Chenle will speak Chinese the whole day and Jisung can interpret for him, but!” Renjun continues frantically typing his words into the google doc he has open, “Jisung can’t speak Chinese beyond a few general phrases so I’m sure Yangyang is gonna have a lot of fun editing this.”

Chenle cackles, “Jisung won’t know what I say until he’s editing the video with Yangyang, then.”

“That’s mean.” Jisung whines, “You can tell me while we film.”

“That’s no fun.” Renjun says this time. Jisung hates when Renjun and Chenle are on the same side. Thankfully Yangyang wasn’t able to attend their impromptu meeting today or he’d be suffering even more.

As planned, that Friday, Jisung and Chenle begin their day of vlogging with brunch - Chenle wanted to do breakfast but Jisung said it was way too early for a free day. Jisung is planning to fully take advantage of their semester break to sleep in as much as possible - most of his classes are early for the next semester, unfortunately. It didn’t help that he was no longer living in the dorms, making his commute to campus longer.

Renjun had wanted to move out of the dorms and needed a roommate for financial reasons, and Chenle wanted to adopt a dog, which was against dorm policies. So, that left Jisung with the option of rooming with a stranger for the remaining two years of his degree, or moving in with Renjun. Naturally, he chose the latter.

Friday comes around and they film their introduction for the video in Jisung’s apartment, claiming that the challenge begins once they step foot outside the building - because they don’t want to end up seeming rude to one of Jisung’s neighbours or have to explain the video concept to them. Renjun had already left an hour before Chenle had arrived, refusing to elaborate on why he was going out so early on a Friday.

“He’s being so shady.” Chenle says when Jisung tells him, “Make sure you pack the extra batteries.”

“Right? Maybe he’s dealing drugs behind our backs.” Jisung grabs the spare batteries from the counter where Renjun had left them and shoves them into a pocket of his bag.

Chenle snorts, “Let’s follow him and turn it into content.”

It’s a joke, Jisung knows, but he scowls anyway and says, “That sounds unethical. And mean.”

Rolling his eyes, Chenle starts pushing Jisung out of the door, “Hurry up! We’ve wasted too much of the day already.”

“You’re excited for this.” Jisung observes, slightly amused, “Why?”

“I can finally judge people as much as I want and say it to their face without them knowing what I’m saying. And! I have the video as an excuse so I can say I’m just playing it up for the camera.”

Jisung sighs, “You’re going to get beaten up and I’m going to watch and film you from behind a bush.”

Chenle shoves at Jisung’s shoulder playfully as they finally leave the apartment, Jisung locking the door behind him.

They never have a set plan for their casual vlogs. Through trial and error, they’ve found that going with the flow makes for the best content. The last time they had a whole elaborate plan to follow, Jisung got anxious that things weren’t going to plan when their bus was late and Chenle had to help him calm down. Safe to say, they got close to no footage that was usable and the stress was too much for them to try again.

Today, their plan for the day consists of going out for brunch, stocking up Jisung and Renjun’s fridge, and maybe getting a few new toys for Daegal.

“Does she really need more?” Jisung asks Chenle at the cafe.

The challenge has started so Jisung technically can’t understand what Chenle is saying, but he’s known the other man long enough to understand anyway.

Chenle huffs and says something that Jisung guesses is, ‘Yes, of course she does. Are you stupid?’

“Hey!” Jisung pouts, “You taught me insults in Chinese. I know what that means.”

In response, Chenle laughs bright and loud, never one to care for the eyes that turn their way at the sound. The stark difference between Chenle and Jisung in the way they carry themselves in public is one of the main reasons their channel blew up. People seemed to enjoy seeing Jisung be put in difficult situations every time Chenle was too loud in public or went up to random people with Jisung close behind.

Chenle proceeds to show Jisung a set of bows he wants to buy for Daegal, only stopping to get their order once Jisung’s name gets called.

The next few minutes of their footage consists of Chenle talking nonstop and Jisung following along surprisingly well with his limited Chinese knowledge and the gestures Chenle uses. Apparently, growing up with Chenle meant that Jisung could understand more Chinese than either of them had initially thought.

“Why are you so good?” Chenle asks, Jisung piecing the meaning behind his sentence together with the few words he understands.

“We were roommates. I listened to you on the phone with your mum every weekend.” Jisung slaps a hand over Chenle’s mouth when an evil grin spreads across his face, “I was not eavesdropping. You’re just very loud.”

Nothing interesting happens beyond their discovery of Jisung’s linguistic abilities and Jisung is thinking this whole challenge thing might be a failure when a random guy approaches him. Chenle is in the bathroom and Jisung hasn’t quite gotten over his self-consciousness with a camera filming him alone. It’s still on, but at an angle where Jisung isn’t fully visible on the screen - Renjun is going to scold him for that later - so it isn’t obvious to other people that Jisung is filming with it.

It takes Jisung thirty seconds to get over the shock of being approached and then another thirty to realise he’s being hit on.

The stranger is using a cheesy pickup line that Jisung thinks Mark used the first time he met Jaemin. He tries to remember how Jaemin handled that situation and realises he’s not shameless enough or attracted enough to this stranger to react the same way.

To Jisung’s relief, Chenle appears behind the man and taps his shoulder. He says something in Mandarin that Jisung has never heard before - or did he? In a drama, maybe. The stranger is left in confusion, eyes narrowed as if expecting some sort of fight.

In a panic, Jisung scrambles to come up with an excuse, “Sorry! We’re actually, uh, running late for a movie, yeah.”

The man turns back to Jisung and smiles, “Can I give you my number then?”

“No.” Chenle answers for him, still sticking to the video concept despite his obvious annoyance.

Jisung mumbles out a hesitant ‘yes’. Honestly, he just wants this whole interaction to end as quickly as possible, and if taking this guy’s number is faster than making up excuses for why he doesn’t want it, that’s what he’ll do.

Chenle must sense Jisung’s urgency to get this guy away and doesn’t say anything until they’ve grabbed their things and are out of the cafe.

He waits until they’re far from the establishment and resting on a bench to turn the camera on again.

Scrunching the paper, Chenle throws it out in the nearest bin and says in a cheerful voice to the camera something along the lines of, ‘Stranger danger. Stay safe, kids.’

Jisung sighs and rolls his eyes, “You’re turning this into a life lesson?”

Chenle only shrugs, “It’s important.”

“Whatever.” Jisung checks the time, “Grocery shopping?”

Getting their needed groceries and accessories for Daegal doesn’t take nearly as much time as they expected, still having at least half the day left to get footage. Jisung expected to spend much more time on Daegal, if he’s being honest. Chenle had seemed distracted, though. Maybe the available choices for bows and other accessories didn’t meet his standards?

“What now?”

The glint in Chenle’s eyes and grin on his face are enough for Jisung to know before he says the word, “Basketball.”

Chenle seems perfectly normal now, at the mention of the sport, and Jisung wonders if he was looking too deeply into his earlier actions.

Jisung finds himself having to call Mark and invite him out on behalf of Chenle. They make their way to the nearest basketball court that Mark agreed to meet them at. Mark had managed to get three others, Seungkwan, Sungchan, and Jungwoo, to join them, who Chenle greets excitedly.

“Oh, right. Forgot about that.” Mark goes on to explain the concept of Chenle and Jisung’s video, to which Seungkwan sighs at.

“So, he can just swear at us now and we won’t even know?”

Jungwoo, on the other hand, excitedly declares that his Mandarin is on a much better level than the last time Chenle saw him and that this is the perfect chance for him to showcase it. Jisung privately thinks that his Chinese is better than the older, but he doesn’t voice that aloud.

Chenle cackles and Jisung records them while they divide into teams and start playing - 3 versus 2, because Chenle said he can still win while being disadvantaged in numbers which led to a whole argument over who gets to be in the team of two. It ends up being Chenle and Seungkwan, the most competitive in the group, against the other three.

Jisung spends most of the game with the camera pointed at them, giving commentary with the limited basketball knowledge he’s retained from Chenle’s rants. When he gets bored of that, he starts talking about something completely unrelated, using the five players on the court as a background video.

When they decide to take a break, Seungkwan and Jungwoo go to the vending machine, getting drinks and snacks for the group. Which leaves Sungchan to sit and listen to Mark’s sudden mood for nostalgia.

“Dude, remember when that guy hit Jisung with a basketball and you were about to fight him?”

It takes Jisung a moment to remember the exact situation Mark is talking about; Chenle seems to remember instantly, though.

“No.” Chenle grits his teeth.

“When? When?” Sungchan asks, amused.

Jisung is half-expecting Chenle to be offended and start rapid-firing complaints about Sungchan not actually watching all their videos like he had claimed to. Jisung himself is a bit upset over that, if he’s being honest. He thought Sungchan was one of the good ones that would never lie to him. Oh, the betrayal.

Instead, Chenle’s cheeks flare in a mix of embarrassment and shame, Jisung assumes, as Mark continues to retell the story for the camera. Jisung can’t tell if Mark is truly that unaware or ignoring Chenle’s insistent slaps to his thighs on purpose. Sungchan isn’t helping either, with his neverending questions.

“Shut up!” Chenle finally yells in frustration, likely regretting his decision of hanging out with Mark when the two technically can’t communicate.

“Even you should know what that means, Mark-hyung.” Jisung says, shaking his head in faux disappointment, “Plus, that whole thing was out in our first video, like, a year ago.” He mumbles like an afterthought.

“Hey! I’m getting better.”

Chenle shakes his head vigorously, “Bad. Still very bad.”

Mark keeps whining and starts listing all the phrases he knows, persistent despite Chenle correcting him every second syllable that he pronounces wrong.

Eventually, Seungkwan and Jungwoo come back and the conversation shifts to Donghyuck, who apparently Mark has barely seen lately.

“It’s kind of insane.” Mark sighs, “We live together but he’s been going out so much recently. Do you think he’s secretly dating someone?”

“Donghyuck and secrets don’t really go together.” Jisung says, to which Chenle nods along to and adds his own input, “He’s an adult now, he has to start taking life seriously, including dating.” Jisung answers the other man.

Jisung and Chenle continue to discuss Donghyuck’s love life in a mix of Korean and Mandarin.

“Wow, Jisung.” Jungwoo says, “You’re basically fluent.”

When Chenle’s and Seungkwan’s competitiveness eventually becomes too much for their friends to keep up with, Mark decides to finish up for the day. Chenle, somehow, is still bustling with energy and Jisung decides a walk is much needed to help him cool down.

“It’s like taking Daegal on a walk.” Jisung muses, voice fond with the camera pointed at Chenle a few steps ahead of him.

“What Mark said earlier got me thinking of something.” Jisung starts.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Chenle replies without missing a beat.

“Shut up.” Jisung slaps his arm, scowling when Chenle giggles, “The basketball thing back then.”

Chenle tenses, “What about it?”

“You got really mad at that guy. It wasn’t even on purpose.” Jisung continues when Chenle stays silent, “You called me baby, do you remember? I still don’t know if you were being sweet or just calling me a baby.” Jisung tries to tease, tries to sound like he’s joking. Voicing the thought out loud makes him realise it’s a genuine question he’s had at the back of his mind since the moment Chenle had let the pet name slip.

“Maybe I did mean it.” Chenle finally says, voice firm and unwavering, eyes fixed onto Jisung’s.

The door to Jisung’s apartment bursts open, abruptly cutting the conversation short. Renjun enters and the tension in the room disappears as the two of them take in the scowl on Renjun’s face.

“What happened?” Jisung is the first to ask.

“Fucking elevator broke down again. Seriously, Jisung, we need to move buildings or at least to a lower floor.”

Chenle cackles and Jisung notices the slight sheen of sweat on Renjun’s forehead, matting down his bangs to his forehead.

“Where have you been all day, anyway?” Chenle asks with a mischievous smile, “Not sneaking around with anyone, I hope.”

Jisung laughs at the statement but hands Renjun a glass of water as he makes his way inside.

“Yangyang will be here tomorrow to edit with you, Jisung.” Renjun says, keeping his voice calm and his expression neutral.

Huh? That’s odd. Usually, Renjun would be quick to deny all accusations and shoot them both a dirty look or two each. Changing the subject is what Renjun does during an argument when he realises he wasn’t actually as correct as he thought he was.

Further supporting Chenle and Jisung’s suspicions, Renjun makes some excuse about being tired and heads to bed at 8:30pm.

“You don’t think…?” Jisung turns his head slowly towards Chenle, finding the other boy with a huge grin on his face.

“They are so seeing each other behind our backs.”

Just like that, Jisung and Chenle’s earlier conversation is forgotten and soon Chenle is out of the apartment. Jisung wishes he could forget the topic for good.

Once Chenle’s gone and Renjun has closed his door, Jisung is left alone in silence to ponder on his own emotions. It sends him down a spiral, not one nearly as self-destructive as usual when he lets himself get too into his own head, but one that keeps him up that night, nonetheless.

It’s not new for Chenle to be affectionate with his friends or even to use pet names; Jisung has heard Chenle jokingly call Mark his baby, Jeno and Jaemin ‘oppa’, and Renjun ‘baobei’ when the older is feeling particularly homesick. So, when he thinks about it, Chenle calling Jisung, his childhood best friend that he has been attached to at the hip since they were twelve, ‘baby’, after Jisung got injured, should feel like the most normal thing in the world.

Except it isn’t normal for the two of them.

Chenle is affectionate to Jisung through casual touches and constant verbal support, because he knows that words are what Jisung needs and that physical touch is the easiest way to get through to the other. Jisung is affectionate back by letting Chenle cling to him and playful punches here and there, a routine of comfort that they’ve both found works best between the two of them. It’s how they’ve always worked.

Pet names, even jokingly, are a territory they rarely ever touch. Of course, it isn’t a rare occurrence for Chenle to coo at Jisung when the younger sulks after losing a game. Now that Jisung thinks about it, Chenle has definitely called him ‘baby’, maybe even ‘sweetheart’?

All those times, though, Chenle had only been teasing.

Against his better judgement, Jisung opens youtube on his phone, finding the first video on their account and skipping to when the camera had been knocked over slightly. There’s chaos and Jisung forgot how loud it was, but then he hears it, anyway. Despite the noise, Jisung still hears Chenle’s voice, quiet as it is.

“It’s gonna bruise, baby. Let’s get an ice pack for it, okay?”

And oh. Oh.

Chenle sounds so sincere, almost vulnerable, when he says it. Jisung closes the app and shoves his phone back under his pillow.

He can barely hear Chenle’s voice with the background noise and the distance between Chenle and the phone. He must be imagining it to feed his own hopes.

His own hopes? Hopes of what?

“You look like you slept like shit.”

Those are the first words to come out of Yangyang’s mouth when Jisung opens the door for him. He’s grinning like that fact is the most amusing thing he’s seen all day and Jisung resists the urge to close the door on his face.

By now, Jisung and Yangyang have a routine of sorts, efficiency growing with the time they’ve spent doing this.

Like usual, everything goes smoothly and Yangyang unintentionally feeds Jisung’s ego with his praise for the younger’s Chinese comprehension.

Everything is normal, until Yangyang hears Chenle talking to the stranger that approached Jisung and starts laughing at the first thing he says. Yangyang laughing isn’t odd, per se, but Jisung starts getting a bad feeling when Yangyang rewinds the clip to make sure he heard the words correctly and laughs even harder.

“Did he swear at him or something?”

“Oh, no, Jisungie, this is even better.”

Instead of telling Jisung, Yangyang adds a text bubble and types in a caption.

He’s mine, the bolded, black letters read. Jisung hates the font Yangyang used and has told him multiple times to leave it alone. His focus isn’t on the font right now, though, eyes zeroing on the words typed out on the screen.

Then he feels it, Jisung’s orbit slowing down to a stop for just a moment. That moment alone is enough for Jisung to question so many things that he had never bothered acknowledging, though.

“It means ‘he’s mine’.” Yangyang says, as if he thinks Jisung’s eyes aren’t working right.

“I can read.”

“Nice to know.” Yangyang is holding back laughter, amused by the way Jisung is still frozen. Then, when Jisung’s neck starts flushing and he hides his face behind his hands, Yangyang starts cackling.

“What’s with the noise?” Renjun grumbles, scowling as he walks past them for his morning tea.

Yangyang beckons him over and Jisung wants to scream when he sees as the grin spreads across Renjun’s face through his fingers, “Aw, Jisungie, are you blushing?”

Jisung regains his composure enough to glare at Renjun, “If you leave me alone to process this, I won’t tell Mark about you and Donghyuck.”

“How do you know about- I mean, there’s nothing between me and Donghyuck.”

Yangyang is falling off his chair laughing now and Jisung feels a sudden urge to hit him. Renjun acts on that urge for him, thankfully.

When Yangyang and Renjun realise Jisung can’t concentrate enough to get more than half the video done, they decide to call it a day and finish the rest tomorrow. Technically, Jisung and Chenle don’t have a strict posting schedule, but they do try to put out weekly videos during semester break. Which gives them until the coming Tuesday.

Jisung considers calling Jaemin and spilling his feelings to the other man, then decides Jeno can probably sympathise with him better.

Why did Jisung reach that conclusion? He doesn’t know. Jeno and Jisung rarely talk about emotional, vulnerable things with each other, if ever. Usually, they only call each other at odd hours in the night to play games together.

It must come as a surprise for Jeno when Jisung calls, evident in his voice, “Jisungie? What’s up?”

“Um, are you alone?” Jisung hesitantly asks, cringing at how eerie the question sounds.

Jeno, for some reason, doesn’t seem thrown off and keeps his voice even when he responds, “Jaemin’s not with me right now, if that’s what you’re asking. He’s out with Mark.”

Jisung feels a little bad when he sighs in relief but continues, “So, um, weird question. How did you know that Mark and Jaemin calling you pet names was romantic and not platonic?”

Silence. Then, Jeno lets out a huff of laughter, “I think I know why you’re asking me, but I don’t think I’ll be much help.” He sounds apologetic as he continues, “Short answer: I didn’t. I think it had more to do with my own feelings? I started seeing them differently and started interpreting everything they did differently. But, turns out, realising I liked them only opened my eyes and I saw their actions for what they were.”

“That being…?”

“Romantic attraction, I guess?”

Jisung can imagine the blush on Jeno’s face, a smile spreading on his own face at the image.

“Sorry, am I any help? Honestly, I think Jaemin might be a better option. Or even Mark. You know how he gets about romance.”

Jisung shakes his head, even though Jeno can’t see it, “They’re going to baby me, especially Jaemin”

“They do that anyway. Jaemin only believes in the mpreg thing to convince himself he birthed you.” Jeno chuckles.

“Hyung!” Jisung, for some reason, feels violated at the reminder.

“But if you really don’t want to, I’ll be taking credit when you and Chenle start dating!” Jeno ends the call, leaving Jisung a spluttering mess.

Jisung has great friends and he appreciates them and everything they do for him, he reminds himself.

Jeno’s words send Jisung into a whole new spiral, though.

Middle school had been emotional for Jisung for a number of reasons. First, it was when he was assigned to the new Chinese transfer student, Chenle, who soon became his best friend. Second, it was when Jisung met Jaemin and the other had become his gay awakening - something that Jaemin still brings up and holds against him to this day.

With Jaemin, it was nothing but a fleeting crush and the realisation that Jisung was attracted to boys.

Chenle wasn’t very good at Korean back then, likely not fully understanding most of what Jisung would rant to him about when it came to video games or his own feelings. Still, Chenle never judged him or got annoyed at Jisung, would never complain at the speed that Jisung spoke at and only gently asked the other boy to slow down every now and then.

The other boy’s eyes had always been genuine and encouraging and getting over Jaemin gave Jisung a new problem to face; the possibility of having a crush on his best friend.

He had felt guilty about it endlessly, had shoved those feelings down, thinking he was taking advantage of Chenle’s kindness and misinterpreting his kindness for something that Jisung selfishly wanted.

All this time, Jisung thought he’d gotten over Chenle the same way he had Jaemin.

Now, he realises suppressing his feelings for Chenle is not the same as his romantic feelings for Jaemin shifting into platonic ones.

Chenle is cute when he’s half-asleep and in a grumpy mood, it makes Jisung want to squish his cheeks between his fingers until the other boy breaks out into giggles. Renjun is grumpy, too, while half-asleep. Except, Jisung never gets that urge with Renjun, fearing that one wrong move can set Renjun off and leave him in a bad mood for the whole day.

Unlike Jeno, Chenle isn’t nearly as muscular, abs less defined and biceps smaller. Yet, the last time Jisung got dragged into Jaemin and Jeno’s gym session by Chenle, it was Chenle that Jisung found his eyes drawn to.

The thing that really sends Jisung into panic, is the fact that he never gets that same warm feeling when Mark or Donghyuck, or any of his friends, call him baby.

Chenle is the only one that does that to him.

The video is fully edited by Sunday night and all that’s left is for Chenle to come over Monday morning so they can review it one last time before posting on Tuesday.

In terms of their channel, everything is going according to schedule. For Jisung’s internal battle between the insistent part of him telling him Chenle wants to date him and the other part reminding Jisung that they’re only best friends, nothing is okay.

“We can take that part out completely.” Renjun suggests, “I doubt Chenle would bring it up, either.”

Jisung doesn’t know what that means. Chenle wouldn’t bring it up? The last time they cut clips out of a video, it was of Chenle starting an impromptu interview with someone on the street that he thought had cool hair. Chenle was very upset and wouldn’t shut up about them cutting his screen time - until Jisung told him it was because he was in the background looking petrified and he didn’t want that to be put out for the world to see.

Chenle has strong opinions and wants things to go his way, but never at the expense of his friends - never at the expense of Jisung.

Is Jisung being too wishful thinking Chenle might be more observant towards him? Is he wrong in thinking Chenle would go to greater lengths for him than he would for some of their other friends? Over the simplest matters?

Jisung doesn’t look particularly uncomfortable in that scene, or at least, not to the point that he has a problem with it being included. Chenle would know that, too. Yet, Renjun thinks Chenle wouldn’t bring it up if they cut out that whole scene? He almost asks, opens his mouth with the question at the tip of his tongue, clamping his lips shut when he realises he’d rather not know.

In the end, they kept the full clip of Chenle talking to that stranger, with captions for what he said - the bolded letters reading ‘He’s mine’ had stared Jisung down since Saturday, mocking him, almost. This will probably get them more views, right? Giving the fans what they want.

Chenle unapologetically arrives ten minutes after their agreed meeting time, claiming that the elevator broke down again despite not showing a single sign of exertion from climbing six flights of stairs.

Renjun and Jisung had invested in a TV a month ago, allowing them to play the video on the big screen rather than having to huddle around the smaller laptop screen. As usual, Chenle makes himself comfortable in his corner of the couch, between the arm rest and Jisung.

Yangyang presses play and Jisung relaxes into the couch cushions for exactly two minutes before his heart rate picks up. That part is coming and he fights the urge to turn to Chenle for his reaction.

Not like usual, Chenle has been too quiet and has said nothing about the punctuation mistakes Yangyang purposefully made in his captions. That fact does nothing to calm Jisung’s racing heart down and he can’t help glancing at Chenle in what he hopes is a discreet fashion when the video reaches that point.

Chenle’s face is uncharacteristically blank, only smiling and speaking up again when they’re in the grocery store. Chenle is, again, quiet during the discussion between him and Mark of their old video and back to normal when the conversation shifts to Mark’s poor Chinese.

Jisung can normally read Chenle so well; he feels a bit restless now, realising none of Chenle’s actions make sense to him.

“Looks good to me.” Chenle shrugs the best he can from where he’s pressed up against the arm rest.

They both post to their instagram stories announcing the new video for tomorrow. Yangyang goes home after that and Renjun locks himself in his room to finish a painting he started a few weeks ago.

Chenle doesn’t bring up the two instances in the video that they should probably talk about and Jisung is soon distracted with playing video games.

Nothing is out of the ordinary after that until Renjun re-emerges from his room with paint on his cheek and fingers. He heads to the bathroom, probably to wash the paint off, but comes back with the yellow still on his cheek. Chenle chuckles when he sees it and licks his thumb to rub the colour off Renjun’s cheek when he’s close enough.

The action is so Chenle and so normal that Jisung shouldn’t find anything weird about it, should laugh along when Renjun smacks Chenle’s hand away and swears at him in Chinese.

Instead, he gets this weird feeling, one that makes his stomach churn uncomfortably.

He realises after Chenle has managed to bait Renjun into a game that the older will probably lose, controller out of Jisung’s hand and now in Renjun’s, what that feeling is. Jealousy, his mind helpfully supplies him with, as if having his feelings realisation arc the day prior wasn’t enough for his poor heart.

Chenle taps Jisung’s shoulder and the action makes him jump a bit, gaining him a weird look and a long, scrutinising stare from Renjun that leaves Jisung feeling exposed.

Jisung suspects that maybe Chenle is the only one he’s talked to in the past two days that doesn’t actually know what Jisung has come to learn about himself recently.

Coming to the conclusion that he’s been pining over his best friend, likely since middle school, without even realising isn’t exactly ideal. To make matters worse, in a few hours, a video of said best friend possessively calling Jisung his, like some sort of jealous boyfriend, will be put out for the world to see.

There’s no way Chenle knows how Jisung feels for him. Romantic feelings aside, Chenle is still his best friend and Jisung, theoretically, knows without doubt that he would never put the younger in a compromising or embarrassing position intentionally.

Jisung didn’t hear what Chenle had said after tapping his shoulder and he doesn’t hear anything now as the older cheers about his win over Renjun.

Chenle leaves a little after they have lunch together and that’s when Renjun corners him.

“So, what was that about?” Renjun, never one to beat around the bush, asks easily.

Before moving in together, Jisung hadn’t felt all that close to Renjun. Now, after building a routine of living with and around each other, Jisung feels as comfortable with Renjun as he does Jaemin.

With a sigh, Jisung collapses into a chair at their dining table, “Do you think he noticed anything off?” There’s no point clarifying, since Renjun seems to get the whole picture already.

“You’re always a weirdo and he’s been around you long enough to know that, so, probably not.”

Jisung ignores the blatant insult and sighs again, “Any advice?”

“Only the very obvious ‘talk to him about it’.” Renjun says with a soft smile, “It sucks but if I could do it with Donghyuck, of all people, you can talk to your best friend about liking him.”

“Don’t say it like that!” Jisung blushes, ignoring the Donghyuck part for now, “I only realised two days ago, it’s too soon to say that out loud.”

Renjun raises an eyebrow at him, “What are you? A middle schooler?”

Jisung pouts but doesn’t reply, earning him a sigh as Renjun ruffles his hair.

When he thinks about it, Jisung feels a little silly. It shouldn’t take talking to Jeno and Renjun about this for him to confess to his best friend. At the end of the day, it’s only Chenle and Jisung knows that a confession, regardless of the outcome, wouldn’t change much between them.

But there’s that smaller, ugly part of him that becomes bigger only in times like this. New scenarios of how everything could go wrong and repeating those same scenes over and over in his head until it drives him insane.

What makes this whole thing worse is that it’s always Chenle that pulls him out of his own head.

Jisung and Renjun end up on their living room floor together that night, coffee table pushed aside and newspaper laid out, discarding brushes and using their own fingers to paint. It helps, but it doesn’t get Jisung to stop wishing Chenle were with him, too.

Semester break ends all too soon and Jisung still hasn’t said a word to Chenle about anything. Renjun and Donghyuck announce that they’ve officially started dating the first week back and all it seems to do is make Jisung more eager to do something about him and Chenle.

Jeno definitely spilled their conversation to Mark and Jaemin - accidentally, because Jeno is nice when he needs to be and would never try to embarrass Jisung by exposing him like that.

Thankfully, Jaemin doesn’t outright say anything. Instead, he keeps saying cryptic things that make Jisung overthink and worry that Chenle will connect the dots and figure everything out before Jisung can tell him anything. Jisung realises too late that Jaemin had been intending to do exactly that.

“Wow, I wonder if we have any other lovebirds in our group.” Jaemin says one day, when he seems to have finally had enough and decides to be less subtle.

It’s what does it for Jisung, when he’s at Chenle’s apartment playing with Daegal, waiting for Chenle to finish his shower. He’s been hyping himself up since last night to finally tell Chenle now.

Unfortunately, nothing had gone to plan. Jisung contemplated getting flowers, and decided against it at the last minute, walking out of the flower shop with red cheeks. Then, he thought he could cook for Chenle once they got back to his apartment. But Chenle showers too quickly for Jisung to finish anything before the other man is out of the bathroom and he remembers why he’s been banned from using the stove by his entire friend group.

Daegal makes Jisung calm down, though. Seeing her run around the apartment and bark for his attention without a care in the world grounds him, somehow.

Minutes later, Jisung hears the bathroom door open and close. He doesn’t register that Chenle's back until the boy appears behind him with wet hair and towel around his shoulders.

It’s a sight Jisung has seen countless times and it shouldn’t fluster Jisung but it does and he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do about that. And then, oh no, Chenle’s eyes shift from Daegal to Jisung and now he’s panicking because his cheeks must be red and the look in his eyes must give everything away.

Chenle raises an eyebrow at him, “Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost? I mean, I know I’m pale as fuck, but really?”

Jisung blinks twice, letting a laugh huff past his lips and beckons Chenle to sit on the floor in front of him, “You never dry your hair properly.”

“Why would I when I have you to do it?”

Jisung gasps dramatically, “Are you implying that you need me to take care of you, Chenle-yah? I thought I was the one that couldn’t live on my own ‘cause I can’t take care of myself? But you want me to-”

“Shut up!” Chenle cuts Jisung off.

Chenle really is pale. Jisung can see what would probably be a light pink on others as a brighter shade of red spread on Chenle’s neck.

It makes him laugh fondly and the familiarity of the whole situation makes it easy as breathing to say the next words.

“Chenle.” Jisung starts, pulling the towel away from Chenle’s hair until the other turns to face him, “I like you.”

Chenle grins like he’s about to tease, eyes scanning Jisung’s face as the grin falls and Chenle must realise what Jisung actually means. The room is silent save for the sound of Daegal’s little paws in the kitchen, where she must have found something more interesting than the two men giving her no attention.

“You mean that?” Chenle asks, voice small like he’s scared, “If this is some prank, I will physically kick you out of here and never speak to you again.” His voice is shaky now, desperate, almost, as if begging Jisung to mean what he said.

Jisung smiles, “Of course I mean that.” He says easily, hand coming up to cup Chenle’s face, using his thumb to brush away the doubt.

“Okay. Good.” Chenle turns away and Jisung realises he’s trying to hide the way his face is a million different shades of pink and red.

Jisung laughs and pulls Chenle towards himself, back to chest, chin resting on the other’s shoulder, “That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Chenle.”

“What?”

“I like you.”

Jisung shocks himself a little, at how quickly and confidently the words tumble out of his lips. All signs Jisung can gather from Chenle’s behaviour point to the best case scenario of confessing, but Jisung has always been an overthinker.

“You’re supposed to say it back.” Jisung whispers, almost to himself. It’s supposed to come out light and teasing. Instead, it exposes all of Jisung’s worries.

That must do it for Chenle, pulling away to turn around and face Jisung again, closer than before, “I like you too, I guess.”

Jisung pouts, groaning when Chenle laughs and squishes his cheeks between his hands, “This is not how I imagined this to go. Stop being mean.”

“Can I kiss you?”

The Chenle’s best friend part of Jisung wants to tease him, push Chenle until he’s glaring at Jisung before giving in and letting him take what he wants. The part that wins, though, is the Jisung that would sell his organs to kiss Chenle.

In place of a verbal answer, Jisung leans in and lets Chenle close the short distance that Jisung couldn’t quite bring himself to overcome.

Kissing Chenle is easy, Jisung realises. He doesn’t overthink like he did during his first kiss with that guy back in high school, he doesn’t really have to think at all. Chenle likes being in control and it seems he’s no different with kissing. Jisung follows easily, comforted by the familiarity even in such a foreign action between them.

Jisung lets Chenle guide his hands around his waist, lets Chenle pull him in even closer with a hand on his nape. It’s all so much but Jisung doesn’t feel overwhelmed, doesn’t feel overstimulated in the slightest and definitely doesn’t want to stop.

Chenle and Jisung have been friends since middle school and Jisung has seen Chenle in every situation possible. This Chenle, though, is one he’s never got the privilege of witnessing.

They pull apart too soon and Jisung almost, almost, chases after Chenle. He realises must not do as good a job at holding back as he must have thought when Chenle grins at him triumphantly.

Even with the shit-eating grin on his face, Jisung thinks Chenle is cute with his pink cheeks and lips on the verge of swelling.

All too soon, Chenle ruins the moment by opening that stupid mouth of his.

“You like kissing me that much, Jisungie?”

“Shut up.” Jisung pushes at Chenle’s shoulder but lets the older grab his hand to pull him back in for a few more kisses.

Jisung likes this, whatever this is.

Jisung and Chenle don’t make an official announcement video until they announce the update on their relationship status to their friend group and families and Donghyuck whines for them to do it.

“Do you know how many ship edits I see of you two? I didn't even search for them!”

“Yeah, man. I think there’s fan fiction about you guys too.” Mark supplies.

Neither of them verbally ask Mark how or why he knows that, getting a shrug in response when they give him a questioning look.

Unfortunately for Jisung, the gears have started turning in Chenle’s head and he comes up with this whole elaborate plan on how they should announce that they’re dating to their fans.

“Do we really need to make this into a big thing?” Jisung asks for the nth time.

“We’re not making it a big thing!” Chenle argues, “We’re just going to react to our first few videos and then maybe kiss and tell them we’re dating!”

The idea of kissing on camera makes Jisung’s cheeks heat. It’s not that he wants to keep him and Chenle a secret, especially not from the people that have supported them since day one. There’s just something about announcing it for anyone and everyone with access to the internet to see that scares him.

Chenle notices because when does he ever not.

“Hey.” He starts softly, taking both of Jisung’s into his own. Chenle’s hands look so small like this, “We don’t have to start doing things differently on the channel just because we’re together now.”

The main difference between before and after confessing is that Jisung knows that the way Chenle touches him, lets his hand linger on the taller, isn’t just the friendly affection he shows to everyone else. Another is that Jisung gets to go on dates, call Chenle his boyfriend, and kiss him whenever he wants - he’s not a big fan of PDA, though, so it’s usually in the comfort of privacy away from too many eyes.

Jisung and Chenle don’t make an official announcement video until they announce the update on their relationship status to their friend group and families and Donghyuck whines for them to do it.

“Do you know how many ship edits I see of you two? I didn't even search for them!”

“Yeah, man. I think there’s fan fiction about you guys too.” Mark supplies.

Neither of them verbally ask Mark how or why he knows that, getting a shrug in response when they give him a questioning look.

Unfortunately for Jisung, the gears have started turning in Chenle’s head and he comes up with this whole elaborate plan on how they should announce that they’re dating to their fans.

“Do we really need to make this into a big thing?” Jisung asks for the nth time.

“We’re not making it a big thing!” Chenle argues, “We’re just going to react to our first few videos and then maybe kiss and tell them we’re dating!”

The idea of kissing on camera makes Jisung’s cheeks heat. It’s not that he wants to keep him and Chenle a secret, especially not from the people that have supported them since day one. There’s just something about announcing it for anyone and everyone with access to the internet to see that scares him.

Chenle notices because when does he ever not.

“Hey.” He starts softly, taking both of Jisung’s into his own. Chenle’s hands look so small like this, “We don’t have to start doing things differently on the channel just because we’re together now.”

The main difference between before and after confessing is that Jisung knows that the way Chenle touches him, lets his hand linger on the taller, isn’t just the friendly affection he shows to everyone else. Another is that Jisung gets to go on dates, call Chenle his boyfriend, and kiss him whenever he wants - he’s not a big fan of PDA, though, so it’s usually in the comfort of privacy away from too many eyes.

So, like Jisung does with most things where Chenle’s involved, he gives in and they film the video. They don’t kiss on camera because Jisung is still too nervous and Chenle would never force him into an uncomfortable position.

When the video goes up, the two of them are curled around each other on the couch, Renjun on the lone sofa chair and Yangyang next to them, a displeased scowl directed their way, monitoring the comments. They’re mostly filled with things like ‘finally!’ or ‘i knew its’. Jisung sighs in relief reading them.

“Told you it’d be fine.” Chenle mumbles.

Jisung hums in agreement and nuzzles his nose into Chenle’s hair.