RENDEZVOUS

14 | call of duty

"jisungie!" donghyuck called, kicking his shoes off in the hallway, "are you home-? oh, there you are."

jisung was buried in sofa pillows, ps4 controller gripped tightly in both hands, eyes glued to the screen. donghyuck sidled over and flopped down next to him, trying to think of a good way to segway into a serious conversation.

"what, hyung?" jisung muttered, deeply focused on blowing off the faces of everyone else in the game.

"does mom even let you play cod?" donghyuck asked, wrinkling his nose in scrutiny. 

"why do you care?"

donghyuck took a deep breath. xiyeon was right - he really did need to talk to jisung. "look, can we at least talk about it?"

"i'm trying to concentrate-"

"jisungie!" in exasperation, donghyuck snatched the controller out of jisung's hands and hit the button to pause the game. "i wanna talk about it, okay? so spill."

"i was playing that!" jisung objected, pouting his lips in annoyance. "talk about what, hyung?"

donghyuck let out a loud scoff and held the controller out of jisung's reach. "mom and dad aren't here, it's just me. so... do you like chenle?"

jisung gulped and kept his lips sealed shut, but the pink flush that rushed to his cheeks was enough of an answer. 

"ji-"

"of course i don't," jisung interrupted gruffly, "why would i like another boy? that's weird..." he scoffed at his words, but they weren't convincing, and he grew more and more upset the longer he talked. "we just got really drunk and- and it shouldn't have happened. i don't know why anyone would-"

"it's not weird."

jisung fell silent. "w-what?" he uttered.

donghyuck offered him a comforting smile. "it's not weird, jisung," he repeated. "whether it's a girl or a boy you have feelings for... it doesn't matter to me."

jisung rubbed at his watery eyes and sniffed into the sleeves of his school shirt. "you really mean it?" he mumbled, his voice coming out muffled and a little squeaky.

"duh," donghyuck chuckled, shoving jisung's arm lightly. "so, you like him then?"

jisung sniffed again and slowly nodded. "i wish i didn't," he added quietly.

donghyuck stretched out a foot to kick jisung's leg in protest. "why not?" he demanded, "chenle is a cute as fuck!"

jisung let out a shaky giggle but shook his head. "it's all pointless," he murmured, "he doesn't like me anyway. he... he pulled the no homo card on me and everything."

donghyuck's jaw dropped. "oh. my. god," he said in disbelief. "he's gay for sure though, just saying."

jisung frowned. "you think?"

"it's obvious, jisungie," donghyuck said, rolling his eyes. "have you seen the way he goes on about- fuck, it's all that guanlin kid's fault."

jisung's face fell and he scuffed his toe miserably on the floorboards. "i hate lai guanlin."

"honestly, fuck him," donghyuck said with vigor, "i mean like, not fuck him, just like, he needs to die or something. ew."

jisung stared at the paused call of duty screen and sighed. "hyung," he said.

"yeah?"

"how would i know for sure if i was... gay?"

donghyuck shrugged. "dunno, you'd have to ask renjun about that one..." he trailed off, eyes widening as he realised what he said. "shit, i wasn't supposed to tell anyone!" he yelped, clamping both hands over jisung's mouth, "pretend i never said that!"