𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙦𝙪𝙮 | chensung

Ch.29

"You WHAT?!"

"I-"

"No," Jaemin silenced him by planting his index finger on Chenle's lips. "I heard you. I absolutely HEARD EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID!"

"Jaemin, calm do-" He was once again cut off when the boy launched himself at him and tackled him to his bed, where he took out his excitement on the Chinese boy in the form of slapping his tummy. "Jaemin! I told you because I thought you'd take it seriously!" He screeched when his friend's playful hits turned a tad more aggressive. "Calm down, my mum will think you're axe-murdering me!"

Jaemin finally squealed happily and flopped down on top of his friend, giving him an extremely tight hug. "You. Are a legend."

"Okay, thanks. Now," he groaned and rolled his overbearing best friend off with an 'oof', "let's talk this out."

"I've heard it all. I completely support you. Go. For. It!"

The orange hair over Chenle's eyes hid the look of uncertainty. His lip was held between his teeth in thought. "You think so? I mean, I definitely want to. It's just..."

"'It's just...'" Jaemin tilted his head and actually calmed down at the tone of the conversation. "What's the worst that could happen? Jisung doesn't like you back. But that is highly unlikely."

"Highly unlikely?"

"Yeah. It's like...I don't know. I can't think of any examples that you'd know..."

"You and Jeno."

"No. Stop making this about me when it's about you, sly chap."

Chenle shook his head and threw himself backwards onto the mattress, eyes dancing over the ceiling. His heart was palpitating even thinking about confessing to Jisung. He'd been considering how to broach the subject for some time now, and a bee in his bonnet encouraged him to take that leap soon. 'Soon' being the night of the performance...albeit at the performance or at the party. "Like, I really want to get this weight off my chest. Hiding it from him feels wrong for some reason, and while once upon a time I would've hated to even speak to him in case I was too obvious, these days I just can't seem to feel that way. In fact...quite the opposite."

Jaemin's hand found its way to his friend's face and pushed all that hair back so that his forehead was exposed. "Does Jisung have a good heart?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think he'd do something horrible if he didn't feel the same way?"

"...No."

"Then why shouldn't you tell a valued friend that you have feelings for him? I'm sure he would still stay with you even if he didn't like you in that way." Even though he totally does!

Chenle nodded. He already knew he'd do it, having been hyping himself up for a way to come clean about all this. At this point, the more he thought about actually confessing, the more he wanted reciprocation. It would be absolutely shattering if Jisung rejected him. Only a few weeks ago was he thinking that it was totally okay if the younger didn't like him back, but now...

"And Lele, keep in mind that during the actual play, Jisung will need to be focused in order to perform. I wouldn't recommend telling him all this before the performance. Maybe afterwards."

"Yeah. I was considering maybe the afterparty or something."

"Mmm, romantic," Jaemin sighed and gave him a supportive thumbs-up. His eyes trailed to the face that seemed deep in thought and couldn't help but smile to himself. Chenle and Jisung had been playing a game of push and pull for so long now, that he could only feel proud for his shy foreign friend's recent, gradual boost of confidence. They were just so complementary to each other's personalities. They were like Jichan and Chinhae, but in the present time where their love would be allowed to blossom from a small bud into a beautiful flower. It was only unfortunate that their character's never had that opportunity.

But at least these two did.

"So what are you wearing to that afterparty that Renjun and the principal organised?"

Chenle shrugged and stretched his arms above his head. "Probably whatever Chinhae's final outfit will be."

Jaemin gasped subtly and felt his eyes widen in worry. Chenle obviously had no idea that the party would also be a farewell to the director who had organised and set up the plays for the past few years. Hell, in English class he'd even heard Jeno talking about wearing presentable clothes. "So, that is not going to work. Okay okay okay...what can you wear?" He looked around the room with creased brows and alerted the other boy to the mistake he'd made.

"Why do I need to dress up?"

"Because it's actually going to be a celebration rather than just a few dances and bit of loud music."

"Wait, how do you know this and not me? You aren't even acting."

The pinkette raised his hands in equal confusion. "I don't know either. But you at least need to woo Jisung on the night and you could look good doing so. Something that's very 'you' but also adventurous would look good."

"There is no grey area."

"..." Jaemin hummed to himself and smiled at how clueless Chenle was and always had been. "We'll just have to find one."

A/N:  Another short chappy because the next one will be the ✨play✨
       or at least the beginnings of it :)