RED | nyukyu ✓

fifteen

then, his phone began ringing.

"hello...?"

"sorry i'm taking so long! but are you alright?" younghoon asked and in the background, chanhee could hear people screaming about how they were being drenched by the rain.

"i'm fine," chanhee replied, letting go of the phone and just letting it rest on the side of his face. "i'm sure it'll subside eventually."

"okay well- oh hi changmin! i'm just getting medicine for chanhee..." chanhee felt his eyes getting heavy once more, younghoon's voice slowly fading into the background.

"chanhee? hi this is changmin! are you okay?" chanhee hummed in response, trying his best to stay awake. "do you need someone there with you while youghoon gets the medicine-"

"i'm almost done anyways so just wait a bit chanhee!" normally, chanhee's mind would have been able to follow their conversation but considering the fact that his temperature was steadily increasing, his thoughts suffered from a fifteen second lag. "chanhee...?"

chanhee hated getting sick. he hated how weak it made him become and how it could occur at any moment, the unpredictability of it being something he wanted gone. he hated not having control over his own body and sickness was one of the things that made him lose that sense of control.

for instance, he wanted so badly to stay awake but yet again, his body was shutting down and forcing him back to sleep.

ᵕ̈♡˳೫˚∗

"i didn't know you and chanhee were so close," younghoon said, changmin simply smiling at him and rubbing the back of his neck.

when changmin heard that chanhee was sick, he immediately wanted to visit the boy but he realised that he didn't even know his dorm number so his best bet was going with younghoon himself. so as they walked back, changmin racked his brain for different conversation starters with the older boy but eventually, he came to a blank.

the more he thought about it, the less similarities he found between him and younghoon although they were both under the performing arts branch in their university with him being a dancer and younghoon being an actor in the making. so, to find something similar between him and younghoon was almost impossible-

"chanhee never really falls ill so easily," younghoon stated and that was when it finally clicked.

chanhee was what they had in common. changmin wasn't entirely sure about how younghoon felt towards chanhee but he knew that they both viewed him in a favourable light seeing as how they both seemed to care so much for the boy. but, despite having that in common, he stil wasn't so sure how to engage in a conversation with the boy, silently praying that he initiate something to fill the silence.

changmin didn't like silences - something about them always seemed to insinuate that there was something wrong be it between the people involved or in the situation they were in.

so, he opened his mouth and prayed that some words would fall out but instead, he heard younghoon's voice again. "hey, can i ask you a question?" changmin nodded eagerly, thankful for the sudden instigation. "do you like chanhee?" changmin stopped dead in his tracks, staring at younghoon who followed suit and was standing completely still.

his mind was racing with possible responses and outcomes. he could be honest with how he felt and expose himseld (and his eventual rejection) or he could feign ignorance and play the innocent card (and risk possibly getting exposed later on anyways). as he weighed his options, younghoon tried to maintain the calm expression on his face, eventually interjecting his thoughts when a full minute had passed. "sorry for the abrupt question. it's just that i've never really seen someone care for chanhee in a similar way that i do so-"

"d-do you like chanhee?" changmin asked, tossing the question back to younghoon.

"yea, i do and i can tell when someone likes him as well," younghoon admitted. the cogs in changmin's brain were working on overtime, spinning so quickly that he thought he would be the next to get a fever after chanhee. "so, i asked the question but it was really more rhetoric since i kind of already knew the answer." younghoon smiled, a soft laugh escaping his lips.

changmin didn't know what to do.

all his life, he had never really needed to compete with others, almost always getting what he wanted or set his mind on. and yet now, there was someone standing right before him that posed as a rival and what made it worse was the fact that it was none other than kim younghoon, the man that changmin already knew chanhee felt comfortable with.

"i didn't admit me liking chanhee to threaten you or anything but i just felt that it's good to know who's in the race before it even begins you know?" younghoon said, slowly walking again with the bag of medicine swinging in his hand. "so, i hope you don't dislike me after i said that because that wasn't my intention."

changmin sped up, matching younghoon's pace and nodding next to him. he had no idea what to say - how could he when he himself knew that compared to younghoon's relationship with chanhee, his accounted to almost nothing?

"but, although i didn't mean to threaten you, i just want you to know that i won't be backing down," younghoon added in, looking straight ahead and refusing to meet changmin's eyes (which changmin was thankful for because he probably looked like a deer in headlights). "so i guess, we're sort of like rivals ji changmin."

finally, younghoon turned around, extending his hand out for changmin to shake. "i hope by the end of it, we can still be this civil with one another."

if this was a call into a battle, changmin sure as hell wasn't going to back away from it.

he took younghoon's hand, trying to shake it as firmly as he could with a bright smile on his face. "well, i'm not backing down either."

ᵕ̈♡˳೫˚∗

[a/n: chanhee sleeping beauty <3
btw hello , shameless promo but i have a sunnew social media book called prism so if you want to check it out 🥺🥺]