RENDEZVOUS

12 | no homo though

chenle slumped into his seat in physics on monday morning, wishing that summer would come already.

and if that thought wasn't deflating enough, he'd received a hundred weird looks on his way into school, and then on his way to class. it was like everyone knew something he didn't, except he couldn't figure out what.

chenle glanced up as jisung entered the classroom, a tall figure in the crowd. but when they made eye contact, jisung just turned a deep shade of red and sat down without a word.

"fuck," chenle whispered.

he must've been completely wasted on saturday night, because the memories of the party were only just flooding back. it was like seeing jisung was some kind of trigger, and chenle now felt his own cheeks flushing too. he was so deep in thought he didn't even notice the girl who usually sat next to him turn up her nose in digust and move seats.

"uh... chenle?" kangmin anxiously approached the desk and took the now empty seat beside him.

"kangmin, why does everyone keep looking at me funny?" chenle asked under his breath.

kangmin hesitated and pushed his rounded glasses nervously up his nose. "well, uh... um..."

jeongin appeared behind kangmin and clapped his hands onto kangmin's shoulders, making him jump. "haven't you been online, chenle?" he demanded.

"can you not do that, it's fucking annoying," kangmin muttered to jeongin in annoyance.

jeongin smirked and stuck his tongue out at him.

"nah, my phone died and i couldn't find the charger," chenle shrugged. "what... what happened?"

kangmin and jeongin exchanged a glance. "show him the screenshots," jeongin whispered.

"why me? you do it, braceface, i don't have any data," kangmin hissed back, giving jeongin's shoulder a light shove.

jeongin got out his phone and clicked onto a bunch of pictures that he leaned over to show chenle. "people took screenshots of this livestream on saturday," he said quietly, whilst chenle just stared.

"it's probably why everyone's talking about you," kangmin said carefully, "...and about jisung."

chenle gulped, eyes fixated on the screenshots. him and jisung. he must have been pretty fucking drunk, because none of this made any sense. jisung was his best friend. and the last time he checked, best friends didn't make out in guest rooms at house parties.

"a-are you okay?" kangmin asked worriedly, placing a hand on chenle's shoulder.

"of course he's not fucking okay, this is internet murder," jeongin remarked.

kangmin gave him a backhanded slap and glared up at him. "you're so fucking insensitive," he mumbled.

chenle buried his face in his hands as the other two bickered. this was a much bigger deal than just a bunch of embarrassing screenshots. he was out. the whole school had suddenly been made very aware of his sexuality, and now he would never get the chance to actually come out himself.

but the worst part? jisung would probably hate him now.

"okay, settle down!" mr do said, arriving to class a little late with a coffee in his hands. "jeongin, hand over the phone."

jeongin's eyes shot up and he opened his mouth in protest. "sir!" he objected loudly.

"you can have it back at the end of the day," mr do told him sternly.

"ha," kangmin said smugly in his ear.

"shut up, two eyes."

"you have two eyes too, stupid."

"...four eyes?"

"have fun failing math, dumbass," kangmin teased.

jeongin sulked and dragged his feet to the front of class where he handed over his phone to mr do. "sorry, sir," he grumbled.

"oh, chenle and jisung?" mr do called out as he sat down at his desk, "mr byun wants to see you in his office."

chenle peeked out from where he'd been lying face down into the desk. he cast a glance across the room at jisung and he felt his cheeks heat up again. not knowing what the hell to say to his best friend, he got to his feet and headed towards the door.

jisung bit his lip and followed, holding the door open for chenle. "after you," he murmured.

they could feel everyone's eyes on them the moment their names were called. people just wouldn't stop staring, and it gave a sense of uncomfortable unease.

neither chenle or jisung said another word on the way to the headteacher's office. when they arrived, he was already seeing someone and so they had to wait, sitting on the awkwardly bright chairs outside the office door.

"do you... wanna talk about it or...?" jisung spoke up.

chenle sighed. "i'm really sorry," he rambled, "this must be really embarrassing for you too, especially since like the entire school knows and-"

"lele, chill," jisung said reassuringly, resting his palm on the chinese boy's thigh. "it's not a big deal."

"it's not?" chenle blinked at him. "really? you're not mad and never wanna see me again?"

jisung laughed at him and shook his head, taking in chenle's blissful expression. he looked so cute when he was happy. "nah, you left your charger cable at mine so i guess i'll have to see you if you ever want it back..."

chenle punched his arm playfully. "i've been looking for that all weekend!" he exclaimed. then his eyes became worried again. "but really, you're seriously not mad about the kiss?"

jisung swallowed. then he nodded. "i'm serious, it's fine," he answered. a slow smirk spread across his lips and he added, "you totally enjoyed it, right?"

chenle giggled, his blush-pink cheekbones lifting happily. "you're not a bad kisser, jisungie," he teased. "but no homo, though."

a flicker of disappointment crossed jisung's eyes but he laughed it off. "yeah, no homo, bro," he agreed.

the door to the mr byun's office opened and another boy emerged, eyes puffy and red, and cheeks tearstained. his gaze trailed to jisung and chenle and he gaped at them, looking almost about to break into sobs again.

"oh, hi, daehwi!" chenle greeted him cheerfully. "can we go in now?"

daehwi nodded and rubbed his eyes with his blazer sleeve. he scurried off down the corridor before he could start crying again.

"is he okay?" chenle whispered.

jisung shrugged, staring after the fleeing boy. "let's just go in," he said.

"ah, good morning, boys," said mr byun, looking positively tiny behind his huge headteacher desk, "take a seat. we have a lot to discuss."

chenle and jisung did as they were told and sat nervously in front of the headteacher. jisung felt his heart pound and he realised that chenle was shaking slightly. he reached over, out of mr byun's sight, and enveloped chenle's hand in his own, intertwining his fingers with chenle's trembling ones.

chenle squeezed his hand tightly and jisung found himself smiling again.

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a | n
ugh why did i take so long to update
ps. i kinda lowkey *highkey* ship kangmin and jeongin's characters in this whoops what cuties uwu

song of the day: one and only you by got7/hyolyn iTS A BOP I MISS GOT7

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