Minho sighed, as he placed a blanket over Hyunjin, who was fast asleep on his couch. He turned off the lights and went to his room, where Jisung was already in bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Do you think Chan and Jeongin are actually dating?" Jisung asked, suddenly, as Minho laid down.
"I wouldn't know." Minho replied. "You should know. You're his friend."
"I know, but," Jisung took a deep breath, "he's been keeping to himself a lot lately and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, so I decided to just give him some space."
Jisung rolled over and buried his face in his pillow.
"I feel like a bad friend." He said, muffled against the pillow.
"Don't." Minho said, simply. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's a problem between Hyunjin and Jeongin." Jisung lifted his head and looked up at Minho, who couldn't help but smile at him. "It'll be fine." Minho said, ruffling Jisung's hair. "I'll go talk to Chan tomorrow, ok? Go to sleep now."
Jisung nodded and closed his eyes to sleep, but Minho couldn't sleep. Although, he always acted cold and indifferent, he was worried about his friend. Of course, Hyunjin AND Jeongin were both being immature about this. Minho wanted to help, but he didn't how.
The next day, Minho waited until after school to go to Chan's café and just ask him if he knew what was going on because Minho sure didn't. Jisung told him that he would hang out with Seungmin after school, so Minho was going to go to Chan and pick Jisung up later.
When he got there, Chan seemed really pleased to see him. He smiled and waved.
"Minho! What brings you here?"
"Hi, Chan." Minho said, as he sat down. "Nothing, it's just been a while."
"It has." Chan acknowledged. "Wait here, let me get you something." He quickly ran around to the back before Minho could stop him and came back a while later with a cup of coffee.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Chan replied. "How have you been?"
"I've been... fine." Minho suddenly didn't know how to bring up the topic of Hyunjin and Jeongin.
"What about Jisung?" Chan smirked and raised an eyebrow, knowingly.
"You little sh- Yeah, he's fine." Minho blushed.
"I'm kidding." Chan chuckled.
"Chan," Minho took a deep breath. Why was he so hesitant? Come on, Minho, just say it. "Are you and Jeongin dating?"
Chan's smile faded and he looked down at the table.
"Yeah."
"What?" Minho asked, shocked. For some reason, he thought it wasn't true, that it was a lie. "Since when?"
"Since... um, for a while now." Chan said, still avoiding Minho's glaring eyes. Minho scoffed.
"I can't believe this." Minho leaned back and folded his arms. "Why didn't you guys say anything to me or Jisung?"
Chan couldn't answer and just kept his head hung.
"Chan?" Minho called when he didn't get an answer.
"Minho, promise me you won't say anything." Chan muttered, looking up.
"What do you mean?" Minho asked, confused at Chan's sudden question.
"Just promise me." Chan repeated, firmly.
"Ok, I won't say anything." Minho agreed. "What's wrong?"
"Jeongin and I... we aren't actually dating." Chan admitted.
"Wha..." Minho was speechless. However shocked he was, he somehow knew that this was the case. He couldn't truly believe that Chan and Jeongin were dating.
"Jeongin asked me to pretend to be his boyfriend to get Hyunjin off his back and I... I.."
"You just went along with it?" Minho asked, incredulously. "Chan, how could you? You know that Hyunjin likes Jeongin."
"I know!" Chan yelled, frustrated. "I know, but... I do too."
Now Minho had nothing to say. What was he supposed to say to that? How had everything spiralled out of control so fast?
When Minho looked up, Chan's eyes were teary.
"I know, it's never going to happen." Chan said, quietly. "But, if I can help Jeongin, then I'll do it." He smiled, weakly.
"Chan..." Minho felt somewhat ignorant, for not noticing any of this. He didn't want to let Chan continue trying for something that wasn't possible. "Look, you know, Jeongin clearly likes Hyunjin and vice versa."
Chan nodded.
"I don't mean it in a bad way but... You've basically become an obstacle in their paths." Minho wanted it to come off more like advice or something, but as always, he sounded cold.
"What do you want me to do?" Chan asked, sighing. Minho was deep in though, when he suddenly had an idea.
"Maybe we could... give them a push in the right direction?" He smirked, a plan forming in his head.
Jeongin didn't know what he was thinking when he told Chan to kiss him. He felt bad about making Chan act like his boyfriend when they were just friends, but Chan would understand... right?
Well, one thing Jeongin could confirm was that it worked. Hyunjin had been out of his sight since then. Jeongin somehow got out of giving Hyunjin an answer and he was proud.
But, he couldn't help but wonder how Hyunjin was doing; he looked really upset. 'Why am I worrying?' Jeongin though, shaking his head, 'he'll get over it... I think'.
When Jeongin went to school, Jisung immediately pulled him away, somewhere out of earshot.
"Jisung? What are you-"
"Are you and Chan dating?" Jisung asked, cutting Jeongin off. Jeongin honestly should've seen this coming. Hyunjin was bound to tell Minho, who could barely keep himself away from Jisung, let alone tell him all their business.
"Yes, we are." Jeongin said, sticking to their act.
"What? I thought..." Jisung looked at him in disbelief.
"You thought what?" Jeongin asked, curious.
"I thought it was just an act to get Hyunjin to leave you alone." Jisung admitted, quietly. Of course, Jisung would get what Jeongin was up to immediately. But, Jeongin couldn't tell him the truth; it would somehow reach Hyunjin, Jeongin knew it.
"You... You thought wrong." Jeongin stated, simply, almost cringing at how bad he was at lying.
"Ok." Jisung nodded. "You could've just said. It would've been better to hear it from you than a sobbing Hyunjin."
"A sobbing who?" Jeongin asked, wondering if he heard that right.
"Oh... I..umm" Jisung looked around, nervously. "Oh, would you look at the time? I'd better get going." He quickly turned around and began walking.
"Jisung!" Jeongin called, grabbing Jisung's arm and turning him back around.
"Fine." He sighed. "Hyunjin went to Minho's house after finding out about you and Chan."
"And?"
"And he was a mess, ok? He wouldn't stop crying."
Jeongin frowned. He didn't think Hyunjin would be THAT upset. The Hyunjin he knew wouldn't be... but this wasn't the Hyunjin he knew. This Hyunjin was practically a stranger. Why did Jeongin feel bad?
"Come, lets go to class." Jisung said, as the bell rang. He could probably read all of Jeongin thoughts and knew exactly what Jeongin was thinking. He probably thought Jeongin was pathetic.
Jisung didn't know what else to think after talking with Jeongin. He was Jeongin's best friend; he should be glad that Jeongin got himself a boyfriend as ideal as Chan. But why was Jisung worrying about Hyunjin more? Maybe, it was because he'd spent so much time with Minho.
Jisung was distracted form his thoughts when he bumped into Minho after class.
"Jisung!"
"Minho?"
"Thank god, I bumped into you here." Minho said to himself.
"Why?" Jisung asked, clearly not understanding a word Minho was saying.
"Look, this sounds weird, but I need a favour." He said, keeping his voice low.
"Ok..."
"I need you to get your friends to the park on Saturday. All of them."
"What? Why? How?"
"It's for Jeongin, ok? That's all you need to know. Just do it, please." Minho begged. "Tell them it's a picnic or something. That's something you lot would do, isn't it?"
Jisung rolled his eyes, but still agreed, hoping that this wasn't a sick joke.
"And make sure to ask him to bring Chan!" Minho added, walking off to his next class.
Jeongin was glad to be able to spend some time with his friends and take his mind off of Hyunjin. For once, it felt like he was going to enjoy himself, rather than become more stressed than he already was.
However, at the same time, he was quite nervous because it was the first time Chan would see his friends, other than Jisung. He just hoped he wasn't going to be embarrassed. Although Chan was just a friend, Jeongin didn't want him to have to experience how much of a mess his friends could be.
Eventually, all of them were together as a group, laughing and talking. They all stopped to look up at Chan, who was standing awkwardly, smiling in a friendly way.
"This is Chan." Jeongin said, gesturing to Chan, who waved. "My... my b-boyfriend."
Damn it, he still couldn't say that in a convincing way.
Although they were a bit taken aback at the sudden announcement, his friends started cheering and happily welcomed Chan.
They all began talking and playing around like they usually did. Jeongin almost face palmed as Seungmin tripped on his own two feet, landing on his backside. Chan seemed to be having fun, which made Jeongin feel more relaxed. Changbin joined them and was sat with Felix, talking very quietly and smiling lovingly at each other.
Jisung looked pretty tense the whole time and, no matter how many times Jeongin asked if he was ok, Jisung brushed him off, saying that he was fine.
Soon, while Seungmin and Jeongin were in a heated conversation about their teachers at school with Chan reminiscing about his school days on the side, they were joined by the last people Jeongin wanted to see at that time.
Minho, ChaeRin and Hyunjin.
Jeongin immediately froze as he accidentally made eye contact with Hyunjin. He hadn't seen him for ages and he looked... broken. Jeongin never saw Hyunjin so upset; he was always the type of person to smile through the pain and bear it silently, but this time it was clear how hurt he was... and it was all Jeongin's fault.
"Oh my gosh! What a coincidence!" Minho exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you guys here."
Minho looked at Jisung who was sitting there, wide eyed. Minho raised his eyebrows at Jisung, who took the hint and spoke up.
"W-why don't you join us?" He asked, suddenly, causing them to look at him weirdly.
"Great idea!" Minho said, holding his arms out to stop Hyunjin, who was trying to leave. "Come on." He pushed Hyunjin forwards while ChaeRin went to say hi to Seungmin. They had always gotten along well, somehow, and it was always something beyond Jeongin's understanding.
"Chan!" Minho smiled, as he caught Chan's eye. "How's it going?"
"Good." Chan said, smiling back. Jeongin couldn't help but feel like they knew something that he didn't.
"Hyunjin! Stop being stupid and come here!" Minho yelled to Hyunjin who was still stood afar. He sighed and got up dragging Hyunjin by the arm to where Chan and Jeongin were sat on the grass.
Minho pulled Hyunjin with so much force that he tripped and landed with half of his body on Jeongin's lap. Jeongin flinched, trying to ignore it as if there wasn't a whole Hyunjin on his lap.
Hyunjin quickly scrambled off and sat up, his cheeks tinted pink.
Minho glanced between Hyunjin and Jeongin.
"Chan," He said, softly. "Come with me."
Jeongin barely noticed when Chan and Minho went off to talk with Changbin and Felix, leaving Hyunjin and Jeongin there together in silence.
"So," Hyunjin said, awkwardly. "How are you?"
This felt like a boring chapter to me, but let me know what you think! Thank you for reading so far and I hope you guys enjoyed! 💚