Stray Kids Oneshots

💙Learning to Flirt Part 2 (Jeongchan)

"It was for you," Chan spoke once more, much louder and more confident this time. He wanted to make it clear what he said this time without any confusion. He was staring directly into Jeongin's eyes, waiting for some reaction, but the younger didn't give one. He just... sat there. "Aren't you going to say anything? Your lack of response is kinda making this awkward for me here."

Chan chuckled nervously and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, not looking back down at his plate of food. He couldn't look at Jeongin any longer until he said something. Even if it were pure denial, anything would've been better than the silence that Chan was left to sit in.

Jeongin, on the other hand, was dumbfounded at the confession. That was not the response he was expecting in the slightest. He thought it was for another one of their friends or some guy Chan happened to meet at a bar. Not in any world would he ever imagine that Chan would like him as more than a friend. He wasn't sure how to respond appropriately. Did he share the same feelings? Did he like Chan in that way, or was their relationship strictly platonic?

"Innie?" Chan asked, now concerned from the silence on the younger's end.

"O-oh... sorry. I was just... thinking," Jeongin stuttered, still not entirely out of his thoughts. He kept his head low, not sparing the elder a glance. He was only half present in the current situation, only barely able to hear anything Chan said.

He wasn't sure why he was reacting this way. Why was he so shocked and nervous out of nowhere to say anything to Chan? If Chan was able to confess like that, then why couldn't he just speak his mind?

"What are you thinking about?" Chan asked, already knowing, but he wanted Jeongin to say it. He wanted to hear the words come from him directly. Not his mind's interpretation of them.

Jeongin only slightly heard Chan speak. He couldn't make out what he said or asked, but he heard his voice. He was talking, but Jeongin didn't know what about.

He shook his head, trying to bring himself back to reality, hoping to get out of his mind and thoughts. "I'm sorry. What did you ask?"

"I asked, 'what are you thinking about?'" Chan repeated.

Jeongin hummed softly, now hearing the question. "Um... I don't know, really-kind of everything yet nothing all at once. I don't know. I just wasn't expecting that confession." He explained, looking up at Chan, hoping that his words didn't come off as denial.

"That's fine. Uh... so..."

"I have to think about it. I don't know how I feel about you. I need to figure that out first before I can give you a response," Jeongin replied quickly, cutting Chan off before he could say anything else.

"That's okay. I understand that. Also, please don't say that you like me just because I confessed. Don't feel pressured like that. It wouldn't be good for either of us if you did that."

Jeongin nodded in understanding. He couldn't help but feel bad for Chan at this moment. He wished that he could say that the feelings were immediately reciprocated, but he couldn't. He wasn't sure if they were, and if he said they were, and it turned out that he didn't actually feel the same, that would hurt Chan more than anything, and Jeongin didn't want to do that to his best friend.

Now the trouble was moving past the topic onto something else. The atmosphere was now extremely awkward and tense. Chan sat on his end of the table and played with the food left on his plate, his appetite long gone.

He cleared his throat once he thought of something. "What if, um, maybe I took you on a few dates... so that you can see what it might be like. Just to test the waters... Would you do that? Would that be okay?"

Jeongin thought about the idea. It wasn't bad, and he didn't hate it. It would help him in understanding his feelings more. "Sure. We can do that. Just tell me when, and I'll be ready."

"Okay, great..."

They were speaking softly and slowly; the energy in the room now dampened. It was heavy. The two of them sat across from each other, their plates of food in front of them, not looking at each other nor touching the meal. It was now silent. Not even the sound of silverware or glass hitting the plates could be heard since neither of them was moving.

Jeongin looked around the table quickly before starting to stand up. "Maybe I should go," he announced. He picked his plate and glass up from the table and carried it to the sink, quickly rinsing it off.

"Are you sure?" Chan asked, turning in his seat to look at the younger. "You can stay if you want."

"It's probably best that I go. It'll give both of us time to think things over. I'm also not gonna lie; it's pretty awkward staying here right now."

Jeongin walked into the living room to grab his things. Chan stood up, not wanting Jeongin to leave without a proper goodbye. "I'll walk you out."

"Thanks," Jeongin muttered as he put his coat on and slipped his shoes on.

Chan opened the door for the younger and let him go through first, following behind him, closing the door. He caught up to Jeongin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry if I made things awkward between us. I didn't mean for that to happen."

"No, you're good. I'm glad you told me. At least I know now. I just need to figure my own feelings out before we start anything, that's all. But, I liked the suggestion you made earlier about going on a few dates to test things out. We can do that for sure. But it's not going to be anything official," Jeongin explained. He hated everything that had to do with disagreements or confrontation, this included. It was hard for him to say no to the elder.

"Okay... well, I hope you had a good time here, at least."

"Of course! It was a lot of fun. Thank you for letting me cook for you," Jeongin smiled. He leaned in to hug Chan, placing his arms over his shoulders. Chan instinctively wrapped his arms around the younger's waist, pulling him in close. He enjoyed the contact with Jeongin, and he was going to miss it after he left.

They pulled away, both smiling. There was still some awkwardness between the two, but it was much less than before. Being outside of the house in the fresh air with light wind wafting through the leaves of the trees helped to blow away some of the heaviness.

Jeongin got in his car, and after waving to Chan, he pulled out of the driveway and drove away, leaving Chan by himself, now to think about what happened and what was to come from his actions.

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Hey, so I know that this was fast, but I did get some comments asking for a part 2, so here it is. Um, this one is also kinda a cliffhanger, I apologize. I think I wanna leave it here and you can imagine what happens next, whether that be a good and happy ending or a sad ending to their relationship.

That is unless you really want me to write part 3, then I will. I'll just have to figure out myself what happens, since I don't plan ahead of time.