JISUNG SLAMMED his glass down on the counter with hooded eyes and empty expression. "gimme a refill and stat," he ordered the employee working behind the counter, who simply raised an eyebrow in response.

"jisung, why are you acting like you're at a bar? this is a family-friendly all-ages café, for god's sake," stey said, shaking his head and taking the glass.

"stey, i'm here to drink away my problems, so please humor me for one second," jisung groaned, unhappy that his "cool guy" demeanor was shattered by his friend.

"you're literally drinking apple juice."

"shut up!"

jisung was not having a very good day. when he woke up, he decided to take his secret box of photos out of his closet to admire the numerous pictures of minho he had taken in the past (although they were all too blurry to really see anything). however, he made the mistake of drinking soda while he was doing so and ended up spilling the drink over every single photo.

needless to say, he was devastated.

jisung decided to head over to jyp café where he could wash his despair down using the café's unlimited refill policy and rant about what had happened to his longtime friend, stey, who was working that day. as soon as he stepped inside wearing his "i-want-to-die" face, stey sat him down and listened to his story.

it took jisung six glasses of apple juice to finally feel better. when he finished his eleventh glass (at that point he was just doing it to annoy stey), he rose from his seat and bid his friend goodbye. but as he was making his way to the door, a familiar face caught his eye and he froze in his tracks.

"jeongin?" he exclaimed, and the dimpled biker looked up from his phone to see the surfer staring at him wide-eyed. the boy beamed, his braces shining.

"jisung!"

the two embraced each other, their smiles the brightest things in the room. "you look good, dude!" jisung complimented, patting the younger on the back. "who knew that you'd be able to rock red hair?" jeongin laughed shyly. "seriously, man, you look hella cool."

jeongin thanked him, pink dusting his cheeks. "what're you doing over here? i've never seen you in the café before."

"uh..." jisung really didn't want to tell him that he came here to sob over one of the biker's best friends— that would be weird. "just...hanging out. chilling. you know, what surfers do."

thankfully, it looked like jeongin believed him. "cool! i'm just here to grab some food to bring back home to my friends. you wanna wait with me? it shouldn't take too long." the biker's eyes shifted downwards. "i mean, only if you want to. it's fine if you don't. i'd understand."

jisung smiled at jeongin's shyness. it was a nice change of pace to see a biker that wasn't super threatening or unnecessarily rude towards others. well, besides minho, at least. "sure! i'd love to keep you company, anyway." he took a seat at the small table and leaned back comfortably.

"um...jisung? there's actually something i've been wondering for a while..." jisung's eyebrow arched when he took note of the way that jeongin's fingers twiddled nervously. "it might be kind of personal, though."

jisung shrugged nonchalantly. "ask away, man."

"do you...do you have a thing for minho?"

if the surfer were drinking something, he would've spat it out in shock. holy shit. how did he figure it out? his speechlessness seemed to prove a sufficient answer to jeongin because he broke out into a devilish grin and clapped. "i knew it! oh man, this is so good!"

when jisung finally regained his composure, he sputtered out, "how— what—"

jeongin giggled. "when i first met you, chan said something about burning your photos of minho. then, later that night, you were staring at him a lot and trying to get close to him. and at the beach, you guys were paired up together! i just sort of put two and two together, i guess." he paused. "also, chan told me."

what a rat! jisung mentally wrung chan's neck for exposing him. how could he tell jeongin my biggest secret? wait a second...

"hang on." jisung jabbed a finger into jeongin's chest. "when did you and chan get so chummy with each other? you guys met, like, five days ago."

jeongin fell silent. "um... well, we text a lot and stuff..."

there was clearly something that he wasn't telling jisung, and the surfer was determined to figure it out. chan is one of the driest texters i've ever met, he mused to himself, and yet somehow they've grown close by texting each other. so that means chan is actually putting in the effort. but why? he never puts in that kind of effort with me, seungmin, or felix. so jeongin must be special to him...

he gasped. "jeongin," he said, "are you and chan dating?"

jeongin choked on air and flushed bright red. "n-no!" he stammered. "we... we don't have that kind of relationship!"

jisung pouted. as much as he teased chan about his friendship with the younger boy, he really did want to see them together. they were adorable and— in his eyes— totally a perfect match. a biker and a surfer; two star-crossed lovers are drawn to each other even though their social norms attempt to pull them apart! it was brilliant! and awfully cliché! but jisung was a sucker for clichés, so he loved it.

"that's a shame," he sighed. "you guys would look super cute together."

jeongin looked confused. "i thought chan wasn't into guys?" at that, jisung burst out laughing, and his blush grew— this time, out of embarrassment. "what?"

"chan is bi, yet he's gayer than me," jisung wheezed. "trust me, he's about as straight as a bendy ruler. where did you get that idea from?"

jeongin shrugged, but jisung didn't miss the small smile that appeared on his face. "nowhere. i was just wondering."

curiosity bloomed in jisung. "wait, jeongin, do you like—"

of course, at that moment their waiter chose to appear. "your order, sir!" he chirped, holding out multiple paper bags that seemed to be stuffed to the brim. "have a wonderful day!"

"thank you." jeongin accepted the food with a gracious smile before turning to jisung. "what were you saying?"

"it's nothing." jisung felt foolish for attempting to ask such a personal question in the first place. jeongin's sexual preference was for him to know, and if he felt comfortable enough to share that with anyone, then it was his choice. jisung would wait until he was ready to reveal that; he wouldn't ask and potentially put him in an awkward situation.

"if you say so," jeongin said, and rose from his seat to leave. "thank you for waiting with me, jisung! it was really nice seeing you again. and don't worry—" he winked with a sly smile— "i won't tell minho about your little crush."

jisung's face felt hotter than the sahara desert. "you better not!" he whined, slapping the biker on the shoulder, receiving a laugh in return.

"okay, okay. i'd better go before my friends start blowing up my phone. bye-bye, jisung!" jeongin attempted to wave with his arms full of bags before turning away and making his way to the exit. however, right as he was leaving, jisung pulled out his phone and snapped a quick photo of the boy before he could disappear from his sight. he grinned, happy that for once a picture of his didn't come out blurry.

jisung: [photo sent]
look who i ran
into today 👀

channie is typing...