Step Eight: Leave all your bad qualities at home, and don't let them peek out! Now, we said "be yourself," but show more good than bad! Everyone is more good than they are bad, but in some people it takes more to bring it out! Show him your best version of yourself!
"This step is so contradicting the other ones. Also, they're basically saying that you're a terrible person, but you should shove that part of yourself in a box and hide it," Jisung comments the next morning. "Anyway, we're late. Put on your pink turtleneck and let's hit the road, Mister Toad."
I gape up at him from my warm cocoon on the bed. "Why the pink one?"
"Minho told me that Changbin says you look amazing and cuddle-able in it," he smirks at me. Instead of sighing (like one would expect me to) I groan.
"You and Minho have grown pretty close," I point out.
Jisung's eyes flash with some indecipherable emotion. I know he has a thing for Minho... but that look is different. Somehow sad, as if there's something he wants to tell me but can't. I want to reach out and hug him, but the look fades away quickly. Jisung pastes on a smile.
"Yeah, I know. He just can't resist the Jibooty, what can I say?"
"Jisung, you are aware that people use 'Jibooty' to refer to Park Jimin, right?" He stares at me blankly, and I am reminded that I am the only BTS fan in my whole school. Oh, well. "Let's just go. Give me a minute alone to get ready, will ya?"
Jisung obliges and leaves, standing right outside my bedroom door. "One, two, three, four, five..." I can't actually believe that he's going to count for a whole minute.
Actually, scratch that. I can believe it.
I find my pink turtleneck and slip it on, then put black ripped jeans on, even though it's January, and my legs will freeze. I shove on my white sneakers and get out of my room just as Jisung reaches "... fifty six." He's surprised by me slamming the door open, mostly because it hits his nose. He touches the area gently and whines, "Lix, I think my nose is broken."
I have no sympathy for him, so I pinch it and move it side to side. "Nah, it's still intact. You should feel lucky; it's even connected." He scowls at me and picks up the box of cookies I bought yesterday, but not before I notice something funny.
Not funny.
Not funny at all, actually.
Quite scandalous.
"Jisung, there's a cookie missing."
He grins at me sheepishly. "I, uh, um, I just... yeah."
I shake my head disapprovingly at him, not saying a word.
"Sorry," he says after a while, "but we really should get going. We can put the cookies in a box and say you made them yourself if you want." It's actually a good idea, which is weird, because Jisung never has good ideas. I grab a plastic box and dump the cookies in it, then we're off for real.
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"Welcome," Minho greets us. "Come inside; it's fun inside." I almost snort at the Mickey Mouse theme song, but I catch myself. Can't be snorting around Changbin, who has the cutest snort ever. I'd immediately be out-snorted.
I've seen the inside of Changbin's house before, but I still pretend like it's my first time. After all, nobody—except for Jisung—knows that I've stood in the bushes, watching Changbin watch TV for hours at a time.
If anyone other than Jisung knew, my already nonexistent social reputation would be screwed.
"Bin, they're here!" Minho calls out. He smiles at me then eyes my turtleneck. His grin changes into a smirk. Changbin comes out of the kitchen and does a double take when he sees me. He quickly looks at Minho and blushes. Minho takes Jisung by the shoulder and leads him in the direction of the living room.
There we are.
No, we don't have barbeque sauce on our tiddies.
But I am holding cookies out to my crush, so that counts for something.
Changbin takes the box silently. Once his back is to me, he coughs slightly. "I, uh, I like your shirt, Felix."
I fidget with the hem of said shirt. "Th-thanks." Damn it, my stuttering decided to come home from college for a visit. Despite the cold outside, Changbin's home is quite warm. I lament my poor judgement in not wearing something underneath the turtleneck, and I accept the fact that I will have to suffer being hot. Temperature-wise, I mean. Apparently, I'm only 'cute' in this turtleneck.
Changbin takes the cookies and arranges them on a plate. By now, my betraying feet have carried me over to his side, and I open my mouth to say something. "Actually, did you know that I made—"
"—Are these Emily's Cookies? I love her bakery!"
My face flushes, because I'm about to take credit for the cookies, but Changbin easily identifies them. I cough. "Uh, yeah. I love it too," I say nervously.
"So, what were you saying?"
"Ah, nothing."
Silence.
felix.exe has stopped working.
changbin.exe has stopped working.
This is so embarrassing, oh my goodness. Jisung runs in and yells, "Hey, Changbin! Try one of the cookies that Felix made!"
I cringe and turn around as Changbin gives me a quizzical look. "I didn't make the cookies, Jisung. We bought them from Emily's Bakery, remember?"
Thankfully, he gets the hint. "Oh yeah, well come on. Minho's getting impatient, so when you two lovebirds are done over here—"
"We're not lovebirds," Changbin interjects. My heart sends a wave of pain through my body.
"Let's just go," I say. We awkwardly walk to the living room, and, lo and behold, the couch only seats three people. I'm stuck on the floor while Minho gets to sit in between Changbin and Jisung. Ah, what I wouldn't give to be Minho at the moment. Changbin flips through a few channels before settling on SNL, even though its Sunday, and we're in Korea. We're watching reruns from back in 2016 when they did parodies of the American Election Debates. We watch it with Korean subtitles, though, since only I understand English. Jisung and Minho are taking an English class, but they aren't as fluent as I am. So it'll be good for them to watch this.
After fifteen minutes of munching on cookies that I did not bake, Jisung leans down to whisper in my ear. "Lix, you gotta use the tip of the day. You left all your bad qualities at home, now it's time to shine!" He pauses. "Wow, I sound like a life coach."
"You are my life coach, Ji," I say to him. He really is, though. Jisung pats my shoulder reassuringly and gets up.
"Hey Minho, can you show me where the bathroom is?" Jisung asks. Minho stands up and pulls him down the hall, and there's a solid minute of silence as we hear their footsteps fading away.
Changbin gets down from the couch and sits across from me. "You know, Felix, I can bring a chair from the kitchen if you don't want to sit on the floor."
I give him a "whatever do you mean?" look and grin at him in the silliest, goofiest, and probably gayest way I can. I lie down on my side like Cleopatra. "The floor is where I live, Changbin."
He laughs and lies down next to me. I shift so that our backs are both to the ground, shoulders touching. We don't even notice as time passes, or, at least, I don't.
Ten minutes later, according to my wristwatch, Jisung and Minho return. Jisung's lips are swollen while his hair is tousled, and Minho is panting slightly. I raise an eyebrow at Jisung, wondering how he managed to get Minho to make out with him. He purses his lips and shakes his head.
This means: wait until I tell you later over an ocean's worth of coffee at midnight, frantically applying neon makeup to a skunk statue because I'm high on gossip and drunk on gayness.
There's a backstory.
I know this from experience, but also from a book I found in Jisung's drawers. It's called How To Read Facial Expressions 101. No, I did not just make that up. I actually found that book in his underwear drawer.
Anyway, Changbin and I are lying side by side, and now Jisung and Minho are taking up the whole couch. We start watching a movie, but I don't know what it's called. It's about this random girl who fell in love with Zac Efron on her sixteenth birthday and wished to meet him, and—BAM—they were married. If only my life with Changbin were that easy.
The movie finishes after the longest, yet also shortest, two hours of my life. Main Girl and Zac Efron kiss, and the screen fades to black. I rest my chin on Changbin's shoulder, since he turned to face the screen. "What're we gonna do now?"
Minho looks at his watch and nearly falls on top of me. "It's literally seven at night. I have to write an essay!" Jisung nods, because they have Language Arts together. Ha, losers. I only have to do a 30-page math packet... holy guacamole.
"I have to do a 30-page math packet!"
Changbin sighs and gets up. "Well, you guys should probably get going." I frown, not wanting to leave, but understanding that I have to.
"See you tomorrow, Changbin! See ya later, Minho." I wave good-bye and leave with Jisung. In the car, he's excitedly rambling on and on about his makeout "sesh" with Minho.
I can't understand what he's saying, because I'm not fluent in Happy Squirrel In Love.
Also, my mind keeps going back to Changbin saying we're not lovebirds, but then to us lying down together, then back to Changbin saying we're not lovebirds, then to us lying down together, and so on and so forth.
Needless to say, I don't finish my math packet tonight.