A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Maybe You Should Be Alone

"Jisoo?"

She woke up to someone lightly shaking her shoulder. It was early, and the light filtering in through her window blinds was gray and colorless. Jisoo's eyes opened slowly and found Jinyoung's face in front of hers. He had somehow climbed over and was kneeling on the ground by her bed.

"I am literally the worst," he whispered, laughing gently.

The events of last night came flooding back to her as she came to. Jisoo pouted sleepily.

"You fell asleep," she said groggily, pulling the covers closer to her chest. Jinyoung's hand rested on her shoulder and he was rubbing soothing circles against her arm.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I underestimated how tired I was."

Jisoo stretched in bed and sighed. "It's okay, I guess," she said, still feeling a light haze of drowsiness. Jinyoung touched her face gently, tracing one of her eyebrows with his finger.

"I have to go now," he whispered. Jisoo opened her eyes.

"You have to?" Jisoo asked. "It's Sunday."

"I have the morning shift at the convalescent home," Jinyoung said. "It starts at dawn, and I need to get home and shower. Technically, I'm already late."

Better late than never, Jisoo thought, smiling gently at the memory. She rolled over in bed and buried her face in her pillow, groaning. Jinyoung laughed and leaned his forehead against her shoulder.

"I have to go," he said as Jisoo rolled back over to look at him, pouting.

"So what you're telling me is," Jisoo said. "Not only are you going to ruin my plans for last night, but you're going to ruin my morning cuddle plans, too?"

Jinyoung smirked. "We can do it again another time," he whispered, moving a lock of hair out of her face. "I won't fall asleep, but maybe you should try to be ready before I come over."

"It takes a lot of work to look this good," Jisoo said, closing her eyes against the light from the window.

"It's still early," Jinyoung whispered. "You should sleep in a little more. And try to actually leave your room today. Even if you are writing, you should stretch your legs and eat and... see sunlight."

Jisoo nuzzled her pillow as she nodded. "Mhmm, yup."

He wasn't convinced that she was actually going to take his advice, but he supposed that Jisoo, being Jisoo, was going to do things her own way no matter what. Stubborn girl. She laid there with her eyes closed, breathing deep and staying so still that Jinyoung though she really had drifted back to sleep. But when he moved to stand up, her voice broke the silence.

"Jinyoung, I like you."

He froze and then looked back at Jisoo, whose whispered declaration had caught him off guard. Her eyes were still closed and she hadn't moved and it was as if she'd never spoken. But then Jisoo opened her eyes slowly, wanting to see how he'd react, and she found him looking tenderly at her.

It was clear that he had feelings for her that went beyond the platonic. He respected her and admired her determination and he wanted to see her take the future by storm and grow as a person and achieve her dreams. And she had made it clear that she wanted those things for him, too. He thought she was funny and spirited and beautiful and he was intensely attracted to her.

In the months that followed their reunion after their teacher's death and after putting their old rivalry to rest, Jisoo had become one of Jinyoung's best friends. Which only confirmed what he had secretly believed for years: that they were meant to be friends even long before. Jinyoung wondered what their relationship might be like today if they hadn't misunderstood each other in middle school and if they hadn't fought each other so fiercely in high school. He wondered where they might be today if they'd had those ten years to fall in love.