CHOSEN - The System Never Lies (Minsung FF)

THIRTY-2

"I think I kinda like you more than… you know. More than best friends usually do."

Was this even real?
Did Minho just confess his feelings to him?
Technically it was already the second time, but this time both of them were sober.
Jisung couldn’t do anything but stare with wide eyes at his best friend.
At the man he slowly had let into his heart way deeper than he would’ve ever thought. 
Started as boys attending the same school, meeting every day on the bus to share stories about their favorite animes or weird dreams they've had, becoming best friends, studying at the same college, getting matched by the system and finally falling in love with each other.

What in the romance-novel-world was this??

In this moment the younger felt like the time stayed still, stopped existing. A tingly, golden feeling made it's way from his heart into each and every cell of his body. Warm.
The boy he liked also had fallen for him. This was too good to be true.

Jisung opened his mouth to say something, to tell Minho that he felt exactly the same, but unfortunately that was the moment his phone decided to disturb them.
A pretty hysteric Changbin almost broke the boy's eardrum. "Jisung!  Where are you??? The kitchen - our apartment-"
"Hyung, wh-"
"ITS FUCKIN BURNING, JI! I BURNED DOWN THE KICHEN!"
"You did WHAT?? I'll be there in a few! Use the fire extinguisher from the storage room!" 
Jisung ended the call and hurriedly jumped off the sofa. "I- sorry, I have to go, Changbin burned the kitchen down. I'll call you!" 

And with that he left Minho there, confused and alone, on the rooftop. Without an answer to the question that seemed to take in the whole sky atop the building.

Do you feel the same way?

“What the hell happened here??”
Jisung tried to recover his breath while squatting down next to the open oven. The whole apartment smelled like someone had lit up a bonfire right in the hallway, even though Changbin had opened the windows immediately after extinguishing the small flames that had burned wholes into the  parchment paper.

Yes.

It was just the parchment paper. Changbin didn't even need to use the fire extinguisher, a cup of water had been enough to end the drama.

Frustrated Jisung teared his hair. Did he really ran back from Minho because of this?
“I can't believe it.”
“What?” A pretty quiet Chanbin asked and dared to look at his flatmate. He felt embarrassed after his hysteric phone call half an hour ago.
“I left Minho because of THIS. Fuckin parchment paper! Dude, I thought you'd burned down the whole apartment!”
“I am sorry, I really am! But there was smoke everywhere, I couldn't see shit and it smelled so badly, I thought the oven caught fire.”
“I mean, at least it didn't happen. Nothing bad happened. Nobody got injured. It's all good.”
The younger boy tried to calm himself, still angry with his friend. Why today, why right at this moment?

Minho had said it. Finally.
I like you more than best friends usually do.
This was all Jisung had wanted to hear from the elder, everything he had needed. And now that he actually had heard those words, he wasn't quite sure if it really happened or was only a bad joke, made up by his imagination.
The boy poured some cold water into a cup and sat down on the kitchen floor. A long sight left his lips.
Changbin sat down next to him, holding two pretty dark cookies in his hands. "I am really sorry, Ji. Do you want one? They got slightly burned, but I think they'll still taste well."
Jisung took one of the cookies and took a small bite. His flatmate was right, it still tasted pretty good.
"It's a recipe from Felix. I wanted to surprise Chan Hyung and you with them since I'll move out in a few days, but... yeah."
"They are pretty good." Jisung smiled at the elder, but it surely didn't reach his eyes. "And you still can surprise Chan, when he comes home from work."
"True. But Jisung?"
"Hm?"
"What did you and Minho do before I called?  You said you left him, is he waiting somewhere for you now?"
Jisungs mind wandered to Minho, still sitting on the sofa in the cold, freezing and shivering. He shook his head to banish the picture out of his head. As if the elder would still wait outside, no, he surely went inside.
"We were eating on the rooftop of his apartment complex. But I think he went down into his apartment, so don't worry."
He wasn't sure if he wanted to calm himself or Changbin with those words.
"Is everything okay between you two?" The elder looked at Jisung with concerned eyes.
"Yes, it's just-"
"Because of the line ceremony?"
"Kind of, yeah."
"Are you really, you know, okay with this?"  If I am okay with living with a man.
Jisung chuckled. "Even if I wouldn't be, I'm not in the position to choose. But yes, I'm fine with it. At first I thought it would be weird to live my whole life with a man, but in the end I'm pretty content with it."
Again his thoughts drifted away, this time to Minhos laughter, the way his eyes sparkled when he smiled and the passion he radiates when talking about things he liked.
" Only content? I can sense a little more there." Changbin raised an eyebrow
"Hyung!"
In fact, the only people knowing about Jisungs feelings for his best friend were Chan and Felix. Yes, Hyunjin knew about the kiss and he surely also had told the others, but that was all. Changbin and Jisung never talked about it before.

"You're looking like a tomato, I knew it! Spill it, my dear friend." With a wide smile the elder took another bite of his cookie.
"It's not that much. Okay, well, so- DONT LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!"
Changbin laughed and stood up. "I know that you like him, Ji. Everyone of your friends knows. It's pretty obvious, you know?"
"Is it?"
"As soon as you open that door", he gestured in the direction of the front door, "you talk about him nonstop. And if you could see how you look at him... Damn!"
"Changbin, stop it! Yes, I like him. And he likes me too."
"He likes you too??" (Not as if Changbin wouldn't have also noticed the way Minho always glanced at his flatmate, hehe)
"That's what he told me, seconds before you disturbed us because of this", the younger pointed at the burned parchment paper.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! You can't imagine how bad I feel, I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine."
"No, it's not. I completely ruined the moment. Here, take some cookies and give them to Minho Hyung."
Changbin filled a box with cookies and urged his younger friend to go back to Minho's place. This was an important moment and he didn't want to be the reason for unwanted problems between his friends. Changbin was happy that the two boys finally talked to each other, in his opinion they took way too long to finally confess the obvious.

Jisung did went back, but neither him nor Minho had the heart to talk about what the elder had mentioned a few hours earlier. Something felt weird about it the thought of starting a conversation with "hey, I know you like me, let's continue that talk". 
So they ended up on Minho's sofa in the warm apartment, eating Changbin's cookies and the cake the older boy had bought for their rooftop picnic and watched a movie. The movie barely drowned the awkward silence between the two guys and both of them felt the urge to mentally facepalm themselves at least six times that evening.

Why the hell was this so hard??

Soon the story will come to an end, thank you for everyone who still reads it <3

My song rec for today:
🦋OH!!🦋
by JUNNY