before this.

19. ( jc )

title : to. x
duo/pairing : jeongcheol
genre/inspired by : it's inspired again and it's by taeyeon
word count : 1268 words

extra notes:
BRO I KEEP CHANGING THJS DRAFT FROM WONCHAN TO CHANMUEL AND YHEN NOW TO JEONGCHEOL???? im an indecisive writer guys

—— 🗝️

it was of no surprise that jeonghan likes seungcheol despite being enemies for whatever reason they had in high school (in academics or in just toying around for fun between the two), jeonghan was simply the troublemaker while seungcheol was the babysitter — his baby sitter.

he was the babysitter of jeonghan until the blond slipped through his fingertips when he wasn't looking.

"jeonghan! you're gonna fucking get sick — " the rain poured heavily, patting their already soaked shoulders as jeonghan angrily walked into the pouring rain. he was frustrated — frustrated in the older boy for not knowing the reason why he made trouble so often in school.

all their friends knew the reason of why jeonghan was always wrapped around him but seungcheol? oh, he was just blind — too blind and too, too dense.

"why would you care?!" jeonghan shouted back, his nose blushed in red as tears well in his pretty eyes — only to be covered by the rain that fell in between shelter and reality.

"what do you mean why would i care — of course i would care! you're my fucking friend for crying out loud!" his tongue went sour. the mere sound of that word made the gears in his head rust and make a horrible sound as it tried to turn — he felt his entire body heat up, and the cool rain wasn't helping it either.

friend?
he laughed — chuckled maybe.
his heart on the other hand, rained and pattered against the concrete.

"friend? i'm your friend? have you not been noticing any of the fucking hints i've been giving you nowadays?! how i look at you, how i act around you — how i.. ugh! forget it you don't — you won't even fucking understand anyway!" jeonghan yelled out, the rain pouring harshly on him as he sulked away with tears brimming in his eyes.

"jeonghan — ! you — !" seungcheol knows he's crying just by the way he was acting — he blinked too much, and even with the dark sky glooming on them that didn't show any light, he still saw how red and puffy his eyes were from the school's lighting behind him.

that was the last time he saw jeonghan after.

the following week, he spotted a familiar ball of blonde hair in the hallway sneezing.

they haven't talked in a while, haven't bickered in a while to the point that soonyoung and mingyu have been questioning him why they haven't been screeching over the latest jeonghan mistake to be made in class with curious meerkat faces — seungkwan has also been ignoring him and minghao is just going back and forth but hasn't said anything (as expected from him).

he knows why, but he keeps saying he doesn't — he decides it's been too long since they last talked and his heart needed to hear his voice just once again.

he wanted to talk it out — tonight — like real friends would (why does his heart thump at the sight of the blonde boy? why does he image every cute couple scene he watches on the screen with anticipation that he would experience the same with jeonghan? why is it always jeonghan?)

when it rains, he contemplates if he should take an umbrella to walk to the boy's house — he decides against it for a fair cause (jeonghan walked home all wet that night and got sick the next day, he might as well walk to his house all wet as well to make this apology work in his favor because the blonde's heart couldn't leave anyone behind even if it meant sending himself off to be the bait of the monster).

the moment he reaches the blonde male's house, he tells himself to pick up a blunt rock (he usually wouldn't do this), and aims it at the boy's window — the rock makes a sharp sound and the lights turn on; the rain is getting in his eyes and eyelashes, wetting them as his mouth opens — droplets of rain dropping into his mouth to which he spits out onto the grassy floor even if it was fresh rain water that safe to drink (he didn't believe it).

"who the fuck —" the window is opened and the rain seeps into the opened window, "okay, there better be a good fucking reason why i had to open my window in the rain —"

"yeah — there is." and the younger's movement halt at the sound of his voice from below — the shadow a still and seungcheol hesitates.

was.. this too much?
am i.. too much?
shit.
this was all for nothing i knew it!
i blew it.
i fucking blew it —

"che — seungcheol.. you're gonna get sick, just open the door and come inside, i'll get you dry clothes to make yourself warm with.." jeonghan's voice is loud and clear, and the door he hated usually opening by himself unless it was opened by the blonde or the blonde's parents was finally being opened by himself.

he enters the house, all the lights downstairs turned off with only jeonghan's pair of shoes sitting by the lowered ground. jeonghan's footsteps can be heard scurrying down the stairs, in his grasp were dry warm clothes and a towel just for seungcheol.

"are.. are you home alone?"
"yeah, mom and dad are busy and my sister is out with a sleepover at her friend's house or whatever."

the clothes and towel in jeonghan's hands are shoved into his hold, and jeonghan is urging the boy into the guest's bathroom before leaving him alone.
seungcheol sneezes and shivers.

he quickly gets himself dressed after practically just standing in a shower of hot water running down his body, he sighs in relaxation when his body isn't constantly shivering in whatever.

he exits the bathroom with his wet clothing in hand, staring at the blonde boy who takes it and runs off again — seungcheol is left sitting in his own thoughts again as he watched.

did i go too far?

"so tell me, why you're here." the blond bluntly asked, the kitchen counter of the open kitchen now more interesting than the nervous seungcheol who pressed his lips together and felt his throat close up at the mere sound of his best friend — his heart sped up, maybe a bit too much that he imagined himself falling to the ground with a heart attack.

"i uh.. i wanted to ask.. what you meant the other day in the rain." jeonghan's face brightens in swirls of pink dancing across his cheeks.

"what?" his voice is barely a whisper, maybe it was closer to a squeak than anything else.

"what do you mean by friend?"
was this a confession? was jeonghan finally gonna be able to get his feelings off his chest and see if he had to move on or continue? what were the chances of this ever happening?

was he dreaming?
"look hannie — i know that it's hard to get your emotions across especially with me but i just wanted to ask,"

how do you even put this into words?
"seungcheol — as much as you are my best friend currently, i don't considered you remotely close to a friend. i admit my actions were childish when i just shouted all my frustration onto you but it is what you might exactly think if you had the braincells to comprehend implicit sentences — i do.. like you."