CHAN KNEW full well the sort of face jisung would make when he arrived at tmt with the bikers in tow— more specifically, with minho in tow. needless to say, he wasn't disappointed. jisung stalked up to him and opened his mouth (probably to make a dig at him for being late), but as soon as the brunette saw minho standing behind him, his eyes widened and a strangled sound escaped his throat.

chan couldn't keep a smug grin from sliding itself onto his face.

"so, what are we gonna watch?" seungmin asked, not looking up from where he was scrolling on his phone. he hadn't taken any notice of the bikers yet— or his future boyfriend, chan added in his head with a chuckle.

"well, i left that up to minho to decide." as soon as those words left his mouth, seungmin's head snapped up and a look of dread crossed his face.

"you've got to be kidding me," he muttered as hyunjin appeared with a smirk. "no, no, no. stay back! back!" hyunjin ignored his words and continued his advances until he was leaning over the surfer, resting one of his arms above seungmin's head and successfully caging him against the cream-coloured wall. chan watched as he leaned down to whisper something in seungmin's ear; it must have been good because the next thing he knew, red was creeping up seungmin's neck. he whacked hyunjin in the chest. "idiot!" he exclaimed.

they would make such a cute couple, chan thought. he tugged his gaze away from the pair and to felix, who looked...disappointed? a frown made its way onto chan's face. it's faint, but it's definitely there. i've known felix for a long time, and that's the face he makes when he's trying to hide his disappointment. what's wrong with him? he was about to make his way over to the boy but paused when he saw that his freckled friend had approached changbin. chan subtly tried to scoot closer to them so he could eavesdrop, hoping to figure out the reason why one of his best friends was feeling down. he was able to tune into their conversation midway.

"—i gave you?" felix asked, leaving chan confused. what did he give him? wait— felix gave changbin something?

changbin shrugged. "i told you before: i hated it. so, i burned it."

despair took over felix's features. "what? i told you that you'd look cute in it, though!"

"and i told you that i don't do cute!"

"well..." felix pouted and crossed his arms, a sign that he was at a loss for words. "that... that's not cool, mate!" and with that, he stormed off in the direction of jisung, not waiting for a response. changbin's eyes followed him the whole way and chan swore that there was sadness swimming beneath the biker's stony gaze. the shorter male let out a sigh and rubbed his temples before turning around to stand by minho, who was mulling over the various movie posters hung up on the wall and ran his fingers through his black hair repeatedly.

well, this is a dilemma, chan thought, rubbing his chin in thought. from what i can deduce— ha, i'm like a detective— felix must have given changbin a gift and he decided to burn it in return. is that why felix is upset? why did changbin hate it so much that he had to burn it? what did felix give him? why do i feel like changbin is hiding something? god, i'm the worst detective ever.

unfortunately, chan had no more time to ponder over the situation at hand, as minho suddenly pointed and said:

"i want to watch it."

chan's eyebrow rose. "watch what?"

"it."

"what?"

"it."

"minho, just say the name of the movie. it's not that hard."

beside him, changbin scowled, clearly irritated. "dipshit, that is the movie title. it's that horror movie about the killer clown thing or whatever."

chan's mouth formed a small o when he realized his mistake. "whoops. my bad. it's settled, then." he turned to the rest of the group and cupped his hands around his lips. "guys, we're gonna watch it today and nobody can complain, okay?"

"but i hate scary movies!" felix complained. to his disdain, nobody paid him any mind as they all bought their tickets (chan paying for all of the bikers) and entered the theater, leaving him standing outside by himself. the freckled boy tugged his brown locks in a mixture of frustration and fear but ended up begrudgingly following them into tmt.

tmt was an acronym that literally stood for "the movie theaters", and its purpose was pretty self-explanatory: people came in, gorged themselves on snacks while watching a movie, and then left. but chan always loved tmt because it showed both new and old films— a luxury that, as he found out from tourists, not every theater had. every week the theater would show a different classic, and chan always tried to make time to see them. they made him nostalgic for a time he had never known and a world he had never lived in. a world where nobody was labeled as a biker or surfer; rather, they were labeled by their traits and actions. what a great world that would be, he thought with a twinge of longing.

chan's attention focused on the group of boys in front of him, who were deciding what they should do first: get settled in their seats or go to the concession stand. eventually, it was decided that they would force two people to grab snacks while everyone else went to find their reserved seats. this could be my only chance! chan thought. he was dead-set on creating peace between the two groups so that they could all become good friends with each other, ending the longtime hatred between bikers and surfers. so, he quickly gathered up all the seating tickets before passing them out, making sure that everyone was sitting where he wanted them to. if everything goes to plan, it should be me, jeongin, felix, changbin, jisung, minho, seungmin, and then hyunjin! this way, felix and changbin will be able to resolve their issues, jisung might finally score the man of his dreams, seungmin and hyunjin will get closer and eventually start dating, and i can spend some quality time with jeongin since i haven't seen him in a while! it's perfect!

"i.n, you have to get us snacks since you're the youngest," changbin said, slapping a stack of bills into a frowning jeongin's palm.

a sly smile made its way onto jisung's face. "chan, how about you go with him? you're the oldest one here, after all."

felix scratched his head. "wait, aren't we going by whoever is the youn—" jisung slapped a hand over his mouth, successfully stopping whatever nonsense he was about to spew.

chan shrugged. in all honesty, he didn't really mind grabbing food for everyone— plus, he didn't trust his friends to not drop their popcorn or not eat everything right after they got it. the thing that really sealed the deal for him, though, was the fact that jeongin would be coming with him. after not seeing him for two weeks, all chan wanted was to soak up his presence as much as possible before they were forced to part once more. and judging by the fact that jeongin's frown had turned into a gigantic smile, he wanted the same exact thing.

"so, how've you been?" chan asked once the others had left.

jeongin laughed, and chan doubted his smile had ever been larger. "you know how i've been, chan!" he giggled. "i just texted you, like, last night."

"i know. it's just..." chan trailed off and his expression became softer. "talking to you in person is way different than texting. it's so much better." their eyes met, and the surfer found that he couldn't look away, no matter how hard he tried. "i missed you. a lot."

earnest emotion swam in jeongin's dark eyes. "oh, channie. i—"

"i'm sorry, but are you two lovebirds done? there's a line forming." the pair's gazed snapped forward to meet a female worker who was drumming her fingers on the counter, clearly impatient. chan could feel his face heating up rapidly and out of the corner of his eye, he could see that jeongin was in a similar state. "oh! i'm so sorry." he quickly placed their order and paid before stepping to the side to wait for their food.

silence enveloped the both of them, neither one knowing what to say after that awkward encounter. lovebirds? that was probably the worst thing she could've said, chan thought. now everything is super awkward. we're not even in love! what could've given her that impression? well, i mean, we could make a pretty cute couple— no! bad chan! stop letting your gayer side take over! jeongin is probably straight, so it's best to hold him at a distance. i can't risk making him uncomfortable.

chan sighed. he was tired of getting wrapped up in his thoughts, so he decided to speak. however, at that moment, jeongin decided to as well.

"so—"

"i—"

both of them stared at each other with wide eyes before bursting into laughter. the awkwardness over them dissipated like smoke. "you go first," chan said with a smile once they had calmed down.

jeongin looked down shyly. "earlier i was gonna say that i missed you a lot, too." if he had less self-control, chan would have wrapped the younger in a hug right then and there. "it's been a while since we last saw each other— too long, i think. a lot has changed."

a lot has changed. suddenly, the surfer remembered something important that he had forgotten to mention earlier: jeongin's new hair. is it weird if i tell him how much i like it? how do i make it sound casual? maybe i can flirt a bit and he won't notice? no, i can't risk it. i'll just act on instinct and go with the flow.

"by the way—" chan looked jeongin up and down before leaning in until he was next to his ear— "you look really good with red hair."

alarms instantly went off in his mind. that was way too flirty. what the fuck was i thinking? holy shit. what was that? i can't believe i just did that. what the hell—

chan quickly pulled away out of embarrassment, too scared to see jeongin's reaction, and it was at the perfect time: their food had just finished. the two of them quickly grabbed everything and made their way back to their screening room, slowly dying under the mountain of snacks in their arms. they were silent the entire trip which was absolute torture for chan because that meant that he was stuck in his head the whole time.

nice one, chan, he scolded himself. you were practically checking him out back there! and what was that whole "leaning in to whisper in his ear" bullshit? that was so unnecessary! oh, god, i'm so embarrassed. he peeked out of the corner of his eye to try and gauge jeongin's expression, but it was unreadable (except for when he would furrow his brows whenever he had to adjust the load in his arms). suddenly, jeongin's gaze flitted up to meet his, and chan quickly looked away, cheeks burning. great. now he caught you staring. he probably thinks you're a creep now. good going, chan.

if only he knew that wasn't the case at all.