even after his talk with san, jongho's mind continued to drive him crazy.

the thoughts i've been having of him... they're not thoughts a friend should have about another friend.

jongho stayed up all night thinking of yeosang; his gorgeous eyes, his precious smile, his beautiful giggle, his perfect complexion. how even though he was mute, yeosang tried his best to talk to jongho by writing down or typing out his thoughts. jongho loved how adorable he looked while playing with his friends, how they were the only people who could bring out yeosang's genuine personality.

his thoughts were completely clouded with yeosang.

yeosang.

yeosang.

yeosang... i like yeosang?

"ugh, i can't take it anymore!" jongho screamed out loud and ran out of his room, quickly making his way to hongjoong's bedroom.

hongjoong jumped at the sudden loud banging on his bedroom door, quickly standing up and walking over to ask who was there.

"jongie, is that you?" hongjoong hesitantly asked after hearing the loud sobs from the other side of the door.

"yes baby, it's me. please let me in." jongho sniffled out, wiping his tears as hongjoong opened the door for him. jongho walked in and laid on hongjoong's bed, his face buried in hongjoong's fluffy pillow.

"why are you crying?" hongjoong quietly asked, speaking low as to not upset his brother any further.

"because..." jongho began speaking, sitting his body up so he could properly talk to hongjoong, "because i like someone, joongie. i like someone a lot, and it's driving me crazy."

hongjoong took a seat next to his brother on his bed and gave him a big hug. he allowed jongho to cry on his shoulder, for once being the caretaker in their relationship. rather than speaking up, hongjoong rubbed his brother's back and let him cry until jongho broke away.

"i just... i just don't know what to do. if i'm being honest, i'm scared." jongho admitted, confusing hongjoong a bit.

"why are you scared? is it because of jinnie? you shouldn't worry about what she has to say, i'm sure this new girl is so much better." hongjoong smiled, trying his best to give jongho positive advice. jongho felt a ping in his heart when he heard hongjoong say 'girl'.

"that's the reason i'm scared, joongie. because she's not a she, she's a... she's a he." jongho cried out loud, unable to control his sobs.

"is that why you're scared? because you like a boy?" hongjoong asked sweetly as he continued to rub jongho's back.

"yes, w-well actually... it's part of the reason. i'm also s-scared because of who i like." jongho stuttered a bit, trying his best to calm his loud cries down.

"well, who is it? if you don't mind me asking." hongjoong hesitantly asked his brother, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

"i don't mind, the reason i came here was to tell you who it is. i felt like if i didn't tell someone soon i'd go crazy, and you're the best person to talk about this to." jongho took a deep breath, "it's... it's y-yeosang."

"sangie!?" hongjoong screamed out and shot up, jumping up and down in his room. jongho quickly shushed the boy, pulling him back down to the bed. hongjoong giggled and covered his mouth, "sorry, but why are you upset about this? sangie likes you back, i know of it!"

"you got to understand that i've never liked a guy before, so this is all new to me. it's just, it's scary. i know he likes me, i've known that for a while. it's just a new feeling, and it's making me really nervous." jongho admitted, leaning his head down onto hongjoong's shoulder. hongjoong patted his brother's head to comfort him and smiled widely.

"i know feelings are scary, but you have to embrace them! if you like sangie, you should tell him. and didn't you say you had two tickets for the formal that you weren't gonna use? now you have a use for them! take sangie, he told me the only way he'd go was if you took him, i'm not lying!" hongjoong exclaimed, moving his body to face jongho's face. jongho blushed at the thought of taking yeosang to the formal, his stomach filling with butterflies.

"honestly i would love taking him to the formal..." jongho trailed off with a smile, making hongjoong squeal from excitement.

"jongie, you have to take yeosang! please please please take him? you don't understand how long wooyoungie and i were begging him to go. he really wants to, i know he does, but he's afraid to go without a date. and when we talked about it, you were still with that meanie jinnie, he was afraid she would make fun of him... but now you're single and you hate jinnie! it's perfect!" jongho laughed at hongjoong's little rant, agreeing with him about hating ryujin.

"you know what, i honestly have nothing to lose. can you call him up and ask him to come over? i'm going to ask him to the formal. and i feel like if i don't tell him about my feelings soon, i'll actually end up driving myself insane." jongho sighed, throwing his body back onto hongjoong's bed. hongjoong immediately picked up his phone and dialed yeosang's number, praying that the boy would be able to come over as soon as possible.

——

ding dong!

"jongie, he's here!" hongjoong shook his brother awake from his nap, running down the stairs to open the door for one of his best friends. jongho quickly woke himself up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and rushing to freshen up in the bathroom before yeosang could see him.

"hi joongie!" yeosang greeted, waving and smiling widely to his friend.

"hi sangie, come on in!" hongjoong moved to the side, allowing his friend to enter his home. yeosang entered the house, waiting for hongjoong to explain to him why he was invited over so randomly.

hongjoong closed the front door and faced his friend, "so, i'm sure you're wondering why i invited you over."

"yeah, i am actually." yeosang giggled, covering his mouth with his sweater paws as he laughed.

"well, you're in for a treat!" hongjoong smiled, "jongie, yeosang is here!"

"wait, jongho wanted me?" yeosang asked, his mouth suddenly going dry and his nerves growing.

"hehe... you'll see!" hongjoong winked and ran off, not wanting to intrude on the boys private conversation.

"joongie, wait!" yeosang tried to scream out, but it sounded more like a whisper. he felt his throat begin to close off as he always felt around jongho, finding it already impossible to speak even though the boy hadn't even walked down the stairs yet.

jongho took one last deep breath before nervously walking down the stairs, smiling as soon as he saw yeosang by the front door. yeosang saw jongho and matched his smile, waving to the boy in front of him.

"hi yeosang." jongho awkwardly greeted the boy, "um, we can go into the living room. i-it's weird to just stand here." jongho stuttered, chuckling nervously as he guided yeosang into the living room.

the boys sat on the couch, both slightly shaking with sweaty palms. jongho scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat, finally building enough courage to speak again.

"uh... i broke up with ryujin." jongho spoke, nodding his head up and down as he spoke. yeosang nodded his head as well, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

jongho then realized how odd that comment was and said, "that was weird, i'm sorry. is this awkward? this is probably awkward. god, i'm sorry. fuck, uh-- here, uh... take my phone, so you can type out a reply." jongho rambled out, shuffling to grab his phone out of his pocket and handed it to yeosang.

yeosang began typing, 'yeah, i knew about you and ryujin. why do you want me to know so badly?' yeosang showed jongho the phone and jongho nodded his head, thinking of an appropriate reply.

"well, uh... now i'm single. you know, no girlfriend. o-or boyfriend, for that matter." jongho cleared his throat again, "what i'm trying to say is... i like you, yeosang. you know, i like you like you. like how a mom and dad like each other? how i used to like ryujin before she was an asshole? damn, she's a terrible person... like how san likes wooyoung? and hongjoong likes seo--"

yeosang laughed out loud, getting jongho's attention by hitting him in the arm so he'd stop talking, 'i like you too, jongho. you know, like a mom and dad like each other.'

jongho smiled widely after reading yeosang's reply. even though he already knew yeosang liked him, he couldn't help but feel releaved when yeosang told him himself.

"t-thank you." jongho replied and hit himself in the head, "god dammit, i'm so awkward. i'm sorry for anything i'm saying right now, when i get nervous i can't stop speaking for some reason." jongho awkwardly laughed and yeosang began typing out a response.

'don't worry about it, jongho. i'm really nervous too. but unlike you, i can't speak when i'm nervous.' yeosang showed jongho the phone, covering his rosy cheeks as he did so. jongho grabbed yeosang's hands and moved them away from his face.

"don't hide, your face is too beautiful to be hidden." jongho smiled sweetly, yeosang melting under his touch.

'thank you.' yeosang quickly typed, looking deeply into jongho's eyes after showing him the phone.

"you're welcome. and also, tomorrow is the formal. i still have two tickets, so would you like to go with me? it would be a shame for them to go to waste. but don't feel pressured! i know it's very last minute, trust me i know, but i finally convinced myself that my feelings for you were real today. if i wasn't a complete idiot maybe we could've been together already, if i didn't date that bitch, oh my god i hate her." jongho shook his head, sounding annoyed with himself. yeosang smiled widely and began typing on jongho's phone once again.

'i would love to go with you. don't worry about it being last minute, i have some nice dress clothes ready. and stop bringing her up! i don't wanna talk about her anymore.' yeosang showed jongho the phone, trying his best to put on a fake angry face. jongho cooed at how adorable the smaller boy looked, pinching his cheeks and bopping his nose.

"i'm sorry! from now on, no more ry-- you know what, i'm not even going to say her name." jongho said, "thank you so much, sangie. now i'm really excited for tomorrow!"

yeosang picked up jongho's phone to begin typing a reply. instinctively, jongho began leaning in, his mind not exactly processing what he was about to do. yeosang looked up to show jongho his response and noticed the boy moving closer with his eyes shut and lips puckered and panicked, pushing jongho away immediately. jongho's eyes shot open and he realized what he was doing, instantly panicking.

"yeosang! oh my god, i'm so sorry. i- wow, i don't know why i did that. fuck, i ruined everything, didn't i? i'm so sorry yeosang. you probably hate me now. do you hate me? please don't hate me. i didn't mean to do th--"

yeosang tapped jongho's shoulder, 'jongho, calm down! i promise i don't hate you. i've just never had my first kiss, and i'm nervous about it. also, you just broke up with ryujin. we should get to know each other better before you kiss me.'

"you're right. god, you're really smart. did you know that? i'm sure you knew. why would i ask that? was that disrespectful? i didn't mean it that way. god, i like you a lot. why did i ever deny my feelings? you know what, i'm going to stop talking now." jongho stopped himself before he could speak any further. yeosang laughed out loud, hugging the boy beside him.

yeosang took jongho's phone out again and wrote, 'i'm glad we're going to the formal together. i can't wait!'

"i cant wait either, sangie." jongho smiled while playing with yeosang's hair, completely forgetting about everyone and anything else in the world.

completely forgetting everything.

hmmm... y'all know what i mean by completely forgetting everything, don't you? here comes the tea.... bitch, i'm parched! ☕️

-vic