extraordinary things ; chenji

big deal, nothing matters

chenle

Chenle has had dreams since Jisung first bit him. He's dreamt of Jisung's bedroom after nightfall, his plaid duvet and creaky bed frame. Blood dripping down his neck, smeared over Jisung's mouth, their hands painted red with it. Everything hazy and faraway, like watching through a window or listening through a wall, trying to feel through a stupor.

He's dreamt of kissing Jisung, and every time it feels real, as if it really happened. And then this morning, Chenle woke up with two scratches on the inside of his bottom lip. Two lines of blood, needle-thin, like someone — like something — like fangs — had taken his lip and...

The memory is so close, so close.

They might have kissed last night.

Chenle took a risk. He doesn't usually suggest feeding. That goes against the unspoken rule that these things should go unspoken. But he was — he doesn't know — he'd just wanted Jisung closer. He had been so Jisung-ish all night, walking around with one sock on, laughing at the wrong parts of the movie. Leaning on Chenle's arm. He'd been so warm, so sure for once, claiming this small part of Chenle under his touch.

If they really did kiss, and Chenle can't remember it...

His life really is one big joke, isn't it?

Jisung hadn't seemed any different this morning. (Until Chenle started acting weird, then he acted appropriately weird in return.) The worst part is, Jisung isn't even good at hiding how he's feeling. Maybe he just feels nothing. So what if we kissed? Friends do dumb stuff sometimes.

Maybe it's good that Jisung hasn't brought it up. Then they can avoid the conversation that might make the weirdness an immortal thing.

The bell rings and Chenle is off, marching through the hallways. He's just turning the corner when someone bumps into him and textbooks go crashing around their feet.

Seo Hana looks back at him. Yeah, that's about right.

"Sorry," he says, crouching to pick up her books. "Didn't see you."

"Kind of cliche, right?" She takes the precarious stack of books back into her arms. "I was actually waiting just around the corner so we would bump into each other."

"I wouldn't call that cliche, really..."

"Creepy?"

"Yeah, but you said it." He smiles and bows, instinctively holding his scarf in place. "See you later."

"Wait, Chenle." She seems to hesitate for a moment, then says, "Prom."

"Uh. Yes?"

"I know we don't know each other very well — like, at all — and maybe prom is a weird place for a first date..." She puffs out a breath, and flicks her head back spastically to fix her glasses. "This is getting awkward."

"Yeah — I mean, no, not awkward, I just wasn't expecting it."

"No? I thought everybody knew I had a super embarrassing crush on you."

Crush. That's... something. Flattering doesn't seem like the right word. "Not everybody. I didn't."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better, thanks." She scrunches her face. She is cute — eyes too big, glasses too thick, ponytail too high, hanging on for dear life. All too eager and innocent to be real. "So... prom. What do you say?"

Without thinking, his tongue finds the scratches in his mouth, the taste of blood. God, what's wrong with him. "Look... can I think about it? Not that I have a list of people to go with — I don't — I'm just... fuzzy on the whole institution. Is that okay?"

And her face just, lights up. "Of course. No rush to answer, seriously. I mean, before prom would be convenient."

"All right, that's my deadline."

Behind her, Jisung is walking up the hallway. He stops abruptly when he sees Hana, spins in a weird circle and bumps into someone.

"Right, okay," Chenle says. "Bye."

She bows and walks past him, down the hallway with her swishing ponytail.

"Hey," says Jisung, coming up behind him. "Was that Hana?"

"Yeah. It was nothing."

Jisung bobs his head. He's wearing his backpack on the front, arms looped around it. "Okay. Do you want to go somewhere? There's a thing I want to talk about."

Chenle's heart jumps a little. "Let's go."

They grab their bikes and ride down the road to the corner store. It's the size of a shoebox and deals strictly in expired goods, but they buy a bag of chips each, head to the park across the street and drop their bikes at the picnic table near the blackberry bushes, the one everybody else avoids.

"Stale," Jisung mutters, shoving another handful into his mouth.

"So, you wanted to talk about something," says Chenle.

"Oh right." Jisung takes off his backpack, sets it on the table between them. A black cat pokes its head out. "Chenle, Nibbles, Nibbles, Chenle. She's the one who saved my life — she's like my Gandalf."

"Greetings," says the cat.

For a moment, Chenle wants to be shocked. Wants to gasp and demand answers. Then the futility sinks in. Jisung is a vampire. The cat can speak. Big deal, nothing matters.

"Hi," he says. "I think we've met."

"I believe we have. You're Jisung's bloodmate."

"Uh," Jisung stammers, "maybe not that — blood-friend?"

"Yeah, blood-friend," Chenle says quickly.

Nibbles looks back and forth between them. "I'm confused by this exchange."

"Have you been in his backpack all day?" Chenle moves right along.

"Indeed I was the pack on his back, as the name suggests. It was actually quite comfortable."

"For you, yeah, probably. You're heavy now, Nibbles." Jisung is rolling his shoulder. "And you kept purring. People were looking for a bomb in my desk."

"And you came to school with him because...?" Chenle asks.

"Young Jisung has taken me on as a dependant," she says with some humour. She's batting at a Tic Tac that fell out of his backpack. "Since I have fallen pregnant."

"It's a long story," Jisung says. "But we're kind of roommates until the kittens are born. I was going to ask if you've still got all of Yoon's stuff. Kitty condo, cat bed, litter box, that kind of thing."

Chenle had a cat named Yoon when he was little. Then his street became a cut-thru and suddenly he didn't. "Yeah, it's all in the basement. Why do you need it though? If Nibbles can think and talk, why not just... go outside?"

She hisses, hackles rolling. "Why don't you relieve yourself in a hole out back at the devil's hour?"

He seems to have touched a nerve. "Loud and clear. Sorry."

"You're excused."

"Maybe you can help us research cat birth too," Jisung says. "It's kind of scary. I'm basically going to be Nibbles' doctor."

"You're scared — imagine how I feel." She stretches out her round self and steps into Jisung's lap, swatting the chips away. "Be grateful you're not the one gestating several helpless lifeforms in your uterus."

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy about that."

Chenle looks down, swinging his feet. He kind of feels like a third wheel. "So... that's all you wanted to talk about?"

Jisung shrugs. "Yeah, just that."

Chenle's mind flickers back to Hana. And prom. In a perfect world, he would be going with Jisung. (Or they would be skipping, but together.)

But the world isn't perfect.

Maybe it's time he stopped trying to make it that way.