THESE DAYS | jeongchan

six

Jeongin wasn't sure how it happened, but almost without him noticing—him and Chan had started running with each other every morning.

They were often quiet, as Jeongin was still not a morning person, but they had still managed to build some sort of routine. Waking up in the early hours of the day and moving around each other gingerly before making their way to the track and just running.

And to Jeongin's surprise Chan was really good company, and it was nice to have someone athletic enough to keep a proper conversation with while he ran as well (don't tell Felix that). They were never the most philosophical in the mornings, in fact the conversations seemed to never cross a certain line of casualness, but it became kinda normal for them to talk like actual friends instead of the enemies they had convinced themselves to be their very first few days of school.

(Chan later admitted he was a little angry the day they met—starting them out on the wrong foot from the get-go.)

But despite all their childish fighting and baseless assumptions, after a couple weeks, Jeongin felt he could actually consider Chan a friend.

They hadn't talked about the events of that night, and it had become more distant in his mind as the days passed—only reminded when he caught himself staring—watching a drop of sweat drip down his neck while they ran or admiring his lips as he spoke (some things he was not proud of).

In fact for the past couple of weeks nothing regarding Chan's grand self discovery plan was even so much as mentioned and it made Jeongin think that maybe that night was supposed to be the extent of it—Chan setting him off onto his own ship of personal growth (one that Jeongin knew would never leave the harbor if he was left to his own devices).

It made Jeongin feel weird that Chan would rather discuss the weather and soccer games than the outing he was so excited about—it almost made him feel like Chan regretted it.

That's was just one of the reasons he kept his escapades with Chan a secret from his friends.

Well, just one.

It wasn't that he didn't want to tell them, if fact in moments like these where Felix had an arm wrapped around his shoulders, leading him down the hallway while he and Seungmin talked easily around him, he really did want to add the things that were eating him up into the conversation. He wanted to vent.

Jeongin wasn't particularly talkative in their dynamic in the first place, preferring to listen to the pair argue and every once in a while throw in a witty remark—that was just how they were. And really Jeongin was fine with that, they always made him feel included—evident in the way Felix hangs off of him while they talk and Seungmin always checking in for his opinion.

And you know, maybe he wanted to talk more, but with secrets that could break Seungmin's heart completely in half and sever any semblance of friendship he had with the pair—right on the tip of his tongue, spilling was just not an option. (He also wasn't really sure if they were more Jeongin or Chan leaning when it came to defying authority).

Jeongin wouldn't even get into how guilty he felt for making out with his friend's crush.

Jeongin tries to center himself, to dig himself out of the pit of guilt pooling in his brain, taking in the crowds of students rolling down the hallway like water down a stream.

It did not help that he was very aware of the events that would take place in the coming hour.

They were walking to the cafeteria, along with all the other students seeking an easy way to skip out on their 4th period—not in order to eat, but rather to donate blood.