meaningless [i love yous] [COMPLETED]

e

"i'm going to practice a bit more, you can go ahead." chenle didn't look up from his phone, which he had used to monitor himself, and the rest of the group nodded.

the manager saw that they were tired but - "i'll stay with chenle, don't worry." jisung's tired voice said, and the manager sighed in relief.

"i'll be fine by myself," chenle protested.

"you know the policy chenle," the manager said sternly, and chenle whined a little.

"don't worry," jisung smiled. "i won't be a bother."

"you never are," chenle said. "but you can be loud if you play a game!"

"i'll just watch!"

"i think i'd rather you play a game then," chenle retorted as the others filed out and the manager told them to lock up when they left, seeing as they were the last ones in the dance area.

"what part are you struggling on?" jisung asked after chenle watched the video again, his brow furrowed.

"this one," chenle played back the video to a specific point, and jisung could see that chenle hadn't gotten ahold of the footwork yet. not surprising, it had taken him and jeno a whole day of just concentrating on that thirty second piece of footwork to get it correct.

"if you want help, i can help you."

"but you're tired," chenle said, looking at jisung with his face in a pout. "you need to rest."

"c'mon chenle, is there ever anything i wouldn't do for you?" jisung asked, smiling, and chenle felt butterflies flutter through him.

not that that was new, it was just a thing that happened around jisung.

"you wouldn't order me bubble tea two days ago."

"that's because mark got you bubble tea earlier that day!"

"why does that matter?" chenle whined, flopping backwards onto jisung and causing the taller boy to fall back into the couches, the breath leaving his lungs as chenle crushed him. "bubble tea is bubble tea!"

"too much is bad for you," jisung wheezed.

"hmph," chenle pouted, and jisung couldn't help but ruffle his hair, making chenle smile widely. "we should go out and get some soon though."

"of course," jisung hummed, getting chenle up. "alright, let's go over the footwork only."

chenle followed jisung's teachings carefully, groaning when the tempo sped up and he still couldn't get it.

he pinched his arm, willing for the memory to stick if it was accompanied by some sort of pain, and he squeezed so hard that he was leaving red welts all over his arm.

"hey," jisung said, looking back at him through the mirror, and chenle paused, his eyes wide. "stop that."

"it helps me remember," chenle muttered, and jisung's face turned into a frown.

"let me see." chenle held out his arm, now covered in red welts, and jisung felt his heart tug. he didn't want chenle to feel the need to do this whenever he messed up - this choreography was hard, and it wasn't like they could pick it up overnight. they were human after all.

chenle's breath caught when jisung's fingers grazed the welts, and it was only then chenle realised how close they were. not that they hadn't been close before, but this felt intimate.

the quiet hums of air conditioning, the artificial lighting, everything just seemed to illuminate jisung even more as he frowned over the welts. "don't do this again please chenle? i don't want you hurt."

chenle tried to speak, but all that came out was a gargled noise, because when jisung had been speaking, he had looked up.

chenle could have sworn he was staring into the night sky in jisung's eyes, with the way it seemed to pierce his soul. he could see his reflection, sweaty and lost, in his eyes, and chenle didn't want to let go of the image of jisung's eyes.

"please?" jisung asked softly, and chenle could only nod, jisung tearing his gaze away.

he'd wanted to lean into chenle and - well, he didn't know what he wanted to do, but he'd wanted to do something that made the eruptions of emotions stop.

or continue, because they weren't bad emotions. but they were unfamiliar.

and that scared both of them.

❦

i just finished my last thing for senior speech and i'm emo now :(