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nth-generation-kpop · 5 years

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Stupid Cupid

Chapter I

Summary: Han Jisung introduced Eurydice to Orpheus at a lavish summer festival. He struck fire in the hearts of Odysseus and Penelope. He schemed in the study group of Marie and Pierre Curie and kept Bonnie and Clyde’s drinks flowing. He passed beautiful love letters between Oscar Wilde and Alfred Douglas. He orchestrated passionate love that lasted late into life, aged like fine wine– that “grow together” type of love. And he’d seen men more hopeless than Bang Chan and Seo Changbin. Jisung has a job to do, but he can’t resist taking on some side projects in the meantime.

Happy Valentines day!! <3

“You’re not old enough to drink, are you?” Jisung gestured at the glass in Hyunjin’s hand as he unwrapped his scarf, sliding into the booth across from the other.

“You know very well that I am far older than that, Han Jisung.” His friend’s face was more youthful than he’d ever seen it before, with big, round eyes and a soft curve to his jaw, though the annoyed expression was the same. “But no, I’m not. I’ve gotten myself assigned to a pair of star-crossed lovers in a high school nearby. I thought the aesthetic of meeting up with an old friend after 2,000 years more important than the details. This is soda.”

“You always loved your aesthetics. Has it really been 2,000 years though?”

Hyunjin smiled. “Nearly, what was it? The 5th century? We crossed paths when you were on Guinevere and Lancelot, and I was finishing up Tristan and Isolde?”

“I did always love your work. It’s a shame humans turn love stories into tragedies.”

Hyunjin snorted, sipping from his glass. “Imagine my surprise 500 years later when I heard the story retold.” The story books never got it right.

“If I wasn’t there for it, I’d chastise you for sloppy work.”

“Trust me, you wouldn’t be the first. What are you working on at the moment?”

The waiter dropped off Jisung’s drink as well and he smiled, waiting for them to be out of earshot before he answered. “Multitasking. I’m cultivating a future Cupid, which was the main assignment, but I’m staying with two boys who are entirely helpless at love.”

“That sounds fun. Low stress, high reward.”

“It is, I’d definitely recommend it. If it wasn’t for the side project, it’d feel like a sabbatical.”

“A future cupid, so that means he’s been spurned by love then? Have you figured out why he’s jaded yet?”

Failed love was most common by far. Future Cupids were broken souls, broken hearts, who went on to be healed by truly remarkable love-- if they allowed themselves to be open to it. In Jisung’s experience they most often did not, which is where the current Cupids came in. He didn’t even remember his own colossal heartbreak, by the time he had his colossal love he probably couldn’t remember it, but he did remember his first love. He thought about it often, fondly. Bringing that to people is why he loved his job so much, and why he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Jisung shook his head. “He’s complicated, but I have an idea of what it was. Failed love, not his own, and… shattered faith.” He smiled. “I’ll just have to put it back together I suppose.”

“Playing matchmaker then?”

Jisung wrinkled his nose. It was straightforward. Find a nice person, not a soulmate but a good-for-you short-lived love, work their Cupid magic and restore faith in relationships. Sometimes the best thing for a person is to date someone they’re never meant to end up with. He had a feeling that wouldn’t work with Minho.

“Not exactly. I’m just planning to point out all the beauties of love, make him see that sometimes heartbreak is necessary, and that true love is worth the risk. If that fails, I suppose ‘matchmaking’ is my backup plan. Minho… he just seems too resistant to the idea for such a direct fix.”

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow. “Minho, huh? Your charge?” Jisung made a nose of agreement. “So you’re getting attached.”

Jisung waved his hand noncommittally. “You know how I am.”

“I do, and you’re getting attached. Have the “powers that be” caught on yet?”

Reluctantly, Jisung answered. “Of course not, I wouldn’t still be here if they had. I’m good at hiding it, I haven’t been sanctioned in centuries.” He didn’t want to admit it, but Hyunjin had always known him better than he knew himself. He could hide from his bosses, but never from his friend.

“You get overly attached to them all, I wonder if this will be the one that will bite you in the ass.” It wasn’t judgmental, more teasing. In all reality Hyunjin hoped that it worked out. He could barely even remember the spectacular love that made him a Cupid in the first place, but Jisung had always been irrevocably in love with the emotion itself. Hyunjin wasn’t sure if his friend could distinguish where the love of love ended and everything else began.

“I wouldn’t be the first.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Be careful they don’t pull you off the assignment.”

Jisung grinned at that. “When have they ever figured out what I’m up to before I’ve done it, my friend?”

“Fair point, but as I said: there’s a first time for everything.”

“I’ll be safe. And you as well.”

Hyunjin scoffed, downing his drink as if he were trying to pretend it was aged whiskey instead. “How much trouble can I get into? I’m 16.”

“Take a sabbatical when you’re done! You’re probably due for one, right? Just one lifetime, spend it resting and cultivating love in your spare time. It’s freeing.”

“You might be onto something there. Anyway, I’ve got to get back. I have foster parents.” The accompanying eye roll made Jisung laugh again, standing up to hug his friend.

“Don’t be a stranger. Once every 2,000 years isn’t nearly enough.”

“I was going to say the same thing. Good luck.”

“You too.”

~~~~~

Chan and Changbin didn't usually make a point to meet up for lunch, both too busy with their class schedules and part time jobs, knowing they'd most likely see each other in the evenings anyway. But today was a special day. Today marked the 1-weekiversary of their new roommate Han Jisung.

The two boys had been best friends nearly since birth, growing up as neighbors of similar age-- they knew from living with them could be hard. Their first roommate Brian fared pretty well, but when he moved out he told them that they'd developed habits they knew didn't bother each other, but that they never stopped to consider whether it bothered him. Changbin hated dishes, so he left them for Chan to do whenever the elder got around to them. In turn he did Chan's laundry, a fair trade for everybody but Brian, who was constantly washing dirty cereal bowls and praying he didn’t knock over the towers of laundry all over the living room. They apologized and he waved it away, saying he should have just said something but they seemed to have a good thing going. On his way out, Brian suggested a two bedroom.

The second roommate…. Well, Chan and Changbin had scrambled to replace the second roommate after only a couple months. Everything seemed fine, and then a few weeks in it absolutely imploded and the two were left staring at the rubble of their roommateship (and their sanity) wondering where it all went wrong. It started with Seowoo nagging Chan to go to sleep, saying that the noise and the lights were bothering him-- nevermind the fact that Chan tried his best to be quiet and his room was at the other end of the hall, door shut, with only his desk lamp on. Then it was Chan’s cat, which was actually also Changbin’s cat but Seowoo ignored that and complained constantly to Changbin about how dirty and smelly it was. Changbin promised to clean up after her more, but Seowoo was adamant that she was disgusting and there was nothing Changbin could do to help. Chan is so dirty, Chan is so loud, Chan is so boring-- they weren’t sure what exactly it was that set him off, whether Chan and Changbin’s friendship upset him too, but he latched on to Changbin and… didn’t with Chan. Suddenly he wouldn’t speak to Chan, he simply rolled his eyes and left whenever they were in the same room, and when they finally sat him down and brought it up to him it was the explosion of the century. He told Changbin he felt betrayed and insisted he had done absolutely nothing wrong. Why should he be expected to get along with them all the time? Why shouldn’t he be able to voice his opinions? Why was he being attacked for nothing?

And he was gone the next day. Chan came home from classes seemingly just after Changbin, who he found standing in the doorway of a completely empty bedroom. Seowoo wouldn’t answer their text messages or any of the phone calls. After a couple days, it looked like he wasn’t coming back, and they contacted their landlord-- unfortunately they were required to cover the rent if he didn’t show up, but they promised to take Seowoo off the lease if he didn’t put up the money.

Which he didn’t.

Enter Han Jisung, a friend of a friend who heard all about their roommate situation on several occasions. Jisung had called Chan directly, saying that he'd been having trouble finding a good place to live at such an odd time in the year, a couple months into when leases normally began. They agreed to meet up and maybe show him the place, and after a short introduction and confirmation from the friend that he was a good kid (read: not an ax murderer), Chan and Changbin brought him over for the very short tour and gave him a copy of the lease to look over. It was actually Jisung who brought up the trial period, though he suggested a full month and they agreed right away. After that he'd sign the lease, as long as they “worked well” as roommates. When he'd left, Chan and Changbin struck up their 1 week no discussion policy, to give him a fair chance without their reservations and past roommate failures clouding their judgment. It turned out to be a good idea, Jisung turned out to be a lot to get used to.

Changbin started it off. “...so the new guy.”

Chan nodded. "He's a bit odd"

“Yeah, just... as a person, a bit strange isn’t he?"

"But he's clean and he paid his rent and he's nice enough," Chan added quickly.

Changbin agreed immediately, and they lapsed into silence. "He bakes, did he tell you he bakes? That's definitely a plus, and he isn't disruptive or annoying."

“I say we have him sign the lease.” There was something off about the guy, Chan always felt like despite seeming completely transparent, he was hiding something. Still, he didn’t seem dangerous, and Chan had a feeling this was a good thing.

Changbin was even less confident, less willing to risk anything after the weeks of being pulled in different directions between his friends, standing on the edge and not knowing whether to take sides as he wanted to or try and keep the peace. Seowoo had left him paranoid and a bit guilty towards Chan. He felt like maybe he hadn’t done enough to mediate the situation, or he was too neutral. Jisung seemed different, though. He seemed more involved, he wanted to get to know Chan and Changbin, but he still understood boundaries and their need for space. He seemed kind-- he really, really seemed harmless. If he shook things up, and Changbin sensed that Jisung might, it may be for the better. In the end, he thought, the risk would be worth it.

“Me too.”

And so Han Jisung became the third resident of their little apartment, and thus began the most eventful year of their lives.

~~~~~

“Changbin.”

The older boy looked up from the pan, where he’d been half-heartedly nudging around bits of chicken in an attempt to ‘stir fry.’ “Yeah?”

“Are you a hopeless romantic?” Jisung’s tone was lilting, almost artificial as if straight off one of those made-for-TV movies.

“Uh, no.” Changbin squinted at his roommate as the latter huffed and pouted, wrapped around a throw pillow that Changbin hadn’t remembered seeing before. “Why, are you? Is anyone actually?”

“Of course I am! Everybody should be.”

“And why’s that?”

Jisung pouted again, gesturing to the laptop in front of him. “Because love is beautiful and wonderful. I love love.”

Changbin couldn’t help but laugh, turning back to his pan. “What are you watching?”

“A movie… you might think it’s dumb, but it’s about a couple who meet by chance in a shop in a big city, and it turns out that the shop is magic and by... the universe’s happy accident they keep meeting, over and over again, until they fall in love.”

To Jisung’s surprise, Changbin answered “That sounds nice.”

“Would you want to watch it with me? I’m only a few minutes in, but I don’t mind restarting it. I’ve seen it a million times.” Changbin wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Jisung sound… well he couldn’t tell if it was shy or nervous. Excited, curious, enthusiastic, sassy-- so much sass-- but genuine vulnerability was new. Changbin always felt like maybe Jisung knew more than anybody else in the room, somehow always a step ahead. Regardless, it sounded completely unlike the polite, bubbly boy he’d come to know over the last month. When he looked up from cooking, he met big hopeful eyes and knew he wouldn’t be able to say no.

“Sure, just let me finish cooking?” Changbin made a face at the pan-- it looked nothing like his mother's.

Amused, and maybe a touch sympathetic, Jisung said “...we could order takeout.”

“Yeah, we should do that.”

They started the movie just as Chan got home and roped him into it as well-- unlike Changbin, he admitted to being a hopeless romantic outright. They’d taken the liberty of ordering Chan’s usual as well, and their food came in the middle of the exposition.

It was a good movie, objectively. The plot was decent, the characters were really well developed, and some of the scenes were cheesy, but good cheesy. Chan loved it, and was very vocal about the fact which made Jisung incredibly happy. Changbin was a bit more non-committal, just shrugging and saying “it was fine” when Jisung asked what he thought. He said it was a feel good movie, and that he was happy to have an impromptu movie night with them. Chan threw a plastic spoon at him and said “humbug” at his answer, laughing when Changbin threw it back and smacked him directly in the forehead. Jisung just smiled at him knowingly-- he could feel how happy the movie had truly made Changbin, and how something suspiciously like hope tugged at the boy’s heart each time the couple met and fell deeper in love. And Jisung didn’t know it, but by the time they split off to get ready for bed that night, Changbin admitted to himself that yeah, he is a little bit of a hopeless romantic underneath it all.

Lying in bed that night, Jisung considered his two… projects, you could call them. His friends. He was pretty sure Chan was ready for a relationship, despite needing a little help with the logistics of getting a boy to fall in love with him. He’d be the perfect charge for a Cupid, ready to fall in love at the first sign of something. He just needed a nice boy, a slightly forward nice boy, to fall into his path. His shyness held him back more than anything.

Changbin would be a bit more difficult. Jisung would have to find someone he could spend a decently long amount of time with, and it would be a slow progression. He needed to warm up to someone before he could even start to fall in love, be friends first no doubt. He’d have to be coaxed into it, subtly because Seo Changbin was the reactionary sort-- if he realized he was falling in love, Jisung didn’t think he’d let it happen.

And he decided that they’d need a little preparation first, or at least a situation Jisung could evaluate them in. They’d been living together for nearly a month at this point, so he had a pretty good idea of how the boys functioned-- frankly, they didn’t go out much besides classes. Both were busy with school and work and the clubs they were involved in. (Jisung considered trying to set them up with people from those places, but after a bit of snooping on the potential candidates, he decided each one was for one reason or another a resounding no.)

Which made objective number one convince them to go to the bars with him.

~~~~~

A soft knock on his door pulled him away from his assigned reading. “Chan?”

“Yeah, come in!” Jisung opened the door, peaking at what Chan was up to.

“Sorry for interrupting,” he said, gesturing to the book, which Chan immediately closed and put aside.

“No, it’s a welcome interruption. What’s up?”

Jisung perched on the edge of Chan’s bed, twisting one of his rings around his finger and biting his lip. “I kind of have a favor to ask you? And Changbin when he’s home.”

Chan smiled. Jisung was incredibly cute when he was nervous. “Yeah, of course. What is it?”

"Well, I'm going out with a guy Friday, not really as a date but as a ‘my friends and I are going to the bars you should come with’ type thing? Or, well he said to bring some of my friends so I thought I'd invite you? We're friends right?"

“Yeah! Yeah, we’re friends. That sounds fun.”

“Really? I know the bars aren’t really your thing but I thought you might have fun… and if you don’t we can leave, I just… I mean it’s the first time he and I are kinda hanging out.”

“And you want some backup? I’m kinda flattered.”

Jisung smiled. “I really do consider you a friend, I’m not just coming to you because…”

“Because we live together and you know I don’t have plans this weekend?”

“Right, I think it’ll be fun.”

“Me too, don’t worry! And Changbin will say yes if you tell him I’m coming. He’s kind of a baby about social situations involving people he doesn’t know,” Chan teased.

“He’s cute when he’s shy! He should use it to his advantage.”

“If he could use it to his advantage, I have a feeling he wouldn’t be as shy or as cute.”

The knowing look popped up on Jisung’s face as he stood up. “He just need a little training.”

With a loud ‘thanks!’ Jisung slipped out of the room to do god knows what, and Chan had to laugh. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was so much more to Han Jisung than he could imagine.

Friday afternoon rolled around and found Chan laying across his bed, mindlessly scrolling on his phone when Changbin quietly opened his door without warning and slipped into his room. Before he even got a word out, Changbin blurted “he’s picking out my clothes” in a whisper.

Chan laughed, sitting up. “What are you talking about?”

“Shh, I don’t want to offend him! You’re coming right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Chan assured his friend, frowning. “Do you not want to go?”

Changbin hesitated. “I don’t know, it’s not really my... scene.”

“Me neither, but he needs friends right now. And maybe it’ll be fun!”

Yuna meowed as she walked into the room, passing through Changbin’s legs and rubbing against his ankle. Being okay with cats had been the first roommate test, and Jisung passed with flying colors. Yuna, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about Jisung yet.

Bending over, Changbin scooped her up cradled her in his arms as she meowed at him again. “You get to stay home, Yuna. Can’t I stay with you?”

“Nope. Come on, it’ll be fun,” Chan assured him again, standing up.

“He’s picking out my clothes, Chan,” Changbin reiterated, glaring.

“I bet he’s doing a better job than you would be.”

Dressed and ready to head out the door, Changbin had to agree that Chan had been right-- he looked really good. It was still cold outside, so Jisung chose a long sleeve black t shirt under a black button down with silver buttons that must have been his, tucked in with a simple black and silver belt. Paired with dark grey skinny jeans and Changbin’s own red-lined combat boots, his thin frame looked flattering instead of scrawny, and the copious amount of black wasn’t overwhelming. Yeah, he looked really good, so much so that he was kind of excited to go out-- a strange, entirely new feeling.

Chan obviously agreed, letting out a low “damn” upon entering Changbin’s room. “Jisung said to give you these, and to convince you to let him put eyeliner on you. I promised him a 50% success rate.” He handed Changbin a set of silver glasses with circle frames.

“Thanks, and honestly… I’m inclined to let him do whatever he wants after this.” Changbin looked at himself in the mirror again. “Are you sure his major is Literature and not… fashion design or something?”

“That makes me feel better, he’s in with Yuna picking out my clothes too.”

“Yeah, don’t be too worried,” Changbin said, shoving his phone and wallet in his pocket. “Yuna’s warmed up to him?”

Chan nodded. “She’s letting him hold her now, at least. He says she’s helping him, anytime she meows he says ‘no, you’re right he’d look better in something else.’ It’s kinda weird.”

“Yeah, well it’s Jisung. I’m just glad she doesn’t swat at him every time he tries to pet her anymore. I ran out of bandaids.”

“Yeah, I think we’re in the clear with him.”

The two smiled at each other after a second. “Yeah, I think we are.”

Chan ended up dressed… not dissimilarly to Changbin. Jisung apologized, cat in arms, saying he didn’t think they’d look too matchy-matchy, but he could pick something else if Chan didn’t like it. In a long white button down, untucked, with black skinny jeans and a pair of oxfords he rarely wore, Chan waved him off saying that he liked Jisung’s choice and he looked too good to change. Plus they were going to be late if they didn’t leave soon. Jisung hummed, narrowing his eyes at Chan before setting Yuna on Chan’s bed and relenting. As he left the room to change, Chan grabbed his things and gave the kitty curled up on his pillow a goodbye kiss. Somehow, Jisung was dressed and ready to go in less than five minutes, and the three were off.

The bar was loud and crowded, even this early in the night. As he bumped into the third person in less than a minute, Changbin had a feeling that it would only get worse, and that he needed a drink. A glance at Chan told him the other was feeling similarly, if a bit less anxious; and Jisung seemed to pick up on it quickly, making a beeline for the bar. He ordered them a round, opening a tab and telling them to charge it for the night-- they could settle up later. By some miracle they found 3 empty bar stools and sat waiting for Jisung’s boy and his friends to show up, chatting as they sipped their drinks.

Changbin glanced around apprehensively, the feeling in the pit of his stomach growing a bit. He felt out of place. Beside him, his friends sat so casually, not seeming to notice his small inner turmoil. You look hot, a voice whispered inside his head. It’s okay to have fun. You’re not out of place, you certainly don’t look out of place. You’re branching out. And you’re here to have fun, loosen up. You can do this.

Changbin downed the rest of his drink and looked up to find both Jisung and Chan staring at him. “Sorry, what?”

“There’s a guy at the bar and I think he’s checking Chan out but Chan thinks I’m ‘crazy,’” Jisung said, subtly gesturing with his finger quotes. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Changbin shrugged, casually looking over and catching a guy glancing towards Chan curiously. “Yeah, I mean I think he’s checking you out. He looks like the ‘come here often?’ type though…” Jisung snorted, agreeing. Perhaps Changbin wasn’t as clueless in the matters of love as he’d thought.

“I mean, I look hot. I wouldn’t blame him for checking me out,” Chan teased, winking at Changbin who rolled his eyes.

“It’s the eyeliner!” Jisung almost stood up with the force of that statement. “Changbin I’m telling you, if you would have let me--”

“Are you saying I don’t look hot?” Changbin cut him off, raising an eyebrow.

“Wh-- no! No, no of course not. I dressed you, didn’t I?” Changbin laughed and Jisung realized he was being teased. Fiddling with his straw in his drink and averting his eyes, Jisung mummbled, “Just saying you would have looked hotter if you’d cooperate.”

“Next time,” Chan suggested, and Jisung narrowed his eyes at Changbin.

“Next time, I promise.”

A grin spread slowly across Jisung’s face. “I’m holding you to that.”

Laughing, joking with his friends felt so comfortable that he forgot to be stressed about the bar and the noise and all the people-- yeah, Changbin could do this. Minho showed up not too long after, but he and Chan fell in with some of Minho’s friends, drinking and talking together both with and without the couple. A few drinks, and the group spilled out onto the dance floor-- the apprehension all but gone, feeling confident, Chan and Changbin went willingly and without hesitation.

Jisung, on the other hand, stayed at the bar with Minho, half-heartedly sipping their drinks as they’d both expressed the desire to keep an eye on their friends. Jisung had been put into many of the same classes as Minho on purpose, and had gotten close to him for obvious reasons. When the boy asked him out, he was surprised, but deemed it the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: learn more about Minho and give his roommates a little test run. They chatted, starting with talking about their friends and how they’d met. Chan had been doing surprisingly well, though Jisung would agree that he was the more social of the two. He wasn’t being flirted with by any of Minho’s friends, and Jisung had been preventing anybody from approaching him directly on purpose-- he wanted to ease them into the experience, so he’d pointed out people checking them out but… deterred them otherwise. It wasn’t control, just influence. Cupids worked with feelings, confidence and happiness and attraction, but the love that they sparked wasn’t the life-altering, earth-shattering variety-- unless it grew that way on it’s own. True love blossomed on it’s own.

Jisung felt Changbin’s panic from the moment they entered, but with a little help he relaxed as well. An artificial boost in confidence from Jisung’s direction even sent them both boldly out onto the dance floor, their newfound friendships with the others from the group helping a great deal.

As they spoke, Jisung gave Minho the rundown on how he’d become roommates with the two boys, and how it was currently his mission in life to get them to go out more, maybe meet some people.

“I don’t mean to make them sound like hermits, they’re just…”

“Shy?”

“Yeah.” Jisung smiled and glanced over his shoulder. “And not particularly confident, even though they’re both amazing! I have the bad habit of trying to play matchmaker with people I care about.”

“What about you? No confidence issues ever?” Minho teased.

“Nope, I’m too confident for my own good.”

Minho caught his eyes, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “I like that.”

Jisung felt the tips of his ears go red as he looked into his drink. “Good.”

“Good.”

When Minho excused himself to go to the bathroom, Jisung took the opportunity to skip onto the dance floor as well, surprising his two roommates but barging right in between them in the middle of a song. Scanning the dance floor, he decided it was maybe time to push the envelope, selecting a cute boy dancing near them who was clearly interested in Changbin-- one who he could sense had a good heart. He used a little bit of his mojo to encourage the boy to make a move, albeit a subtle move. He had a feeling Changbin would be a bit of a baby deer when it came to being hit on, making anything too forward out of the question.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as the boy inched his way closer and closer, eventually bumping straight into Changbin. His roommate looked up with big eyes at the stranger, who flashed him a sweet smile and began to introduce himself.

Changbin, however, cut him off with a quiet apology, moving away from him to a space on the other side of Chan. Oblivious.

Jisung’s sweet boy frowned, dejected, and moved off the dance floor back to who Jisung assumed was his group of friends, and before Chan and Changbin even came off the dance floor the boy was gone. Dejected himself, Jisung spotted Minho on his way back to the bar and wrapped his arms around both of his roommates, telling them he was having so much fun but he had to get back. They sent him off with winks and go get him’s, still under the impression that his date was the whole reason they were here.

Minho asked how his friends were doing and he let out a huff of air. “Not entirely hopeless, but they don’t inspire confidence. Yet.”

Eventually Jisung shooed Minho off to go dance with his friends for a while, saying that Chan and Changbin were probably dying for an opportunity to come over and interrogate him on how everything was going. He was right of course, and only spent a few moments alone at the bar before his roommates landed on either side of him.

“Is it going well? Do we need to bail you out of here?”

Jisung laughed and shook his head. “It’s going really well. Why, are you guys ready to leave?”

“Not really,” Changbin said as Chan ordered another round. “We’re having a good time. I’m glad we did this.”

“Hey, I saw that guy talking to you on the dance floor? Tall, light hair?”

Changbin laughed, shaking his head. “No, it was nothing. I just ran into him. He was cute though.”

“You should have made a move! I bet he would have danced with you.” Chan seconded him, but Changbin waved them both off.

“I just ran into him! Really, it was nothing.”

“I think he was checking you out earlier, but okay,” Chan added.

Jisung scanned the bar for a beat, then spotted the guy who has been checking Chan out earlier in the evening, still sipping a drink. He wasn’t drunk, and he wasn’t too sleazy-- just forward. He seemed like a good option for Chan, as good as the sweet boy he’d sent to Changbin. Just something to test the waters. A little nudge to catch his attention and a bit of encouragement, and both Jisung and Changbin caught him approaching. Jisung took the full drink in front of Chan saying “you’re not going to need this,” and smiled at a confused Chan as he sipped it, turning to talk to Changbin.

“Hey, uh… I’m Joonho.” It took Chan a second to realize that the man speaking was talking to him, actively trying to catch his attention by leaning on the bar to his left, and holding out his hand. Chan shook it and introduced himself, smiling politely.

“You look really familiar?” To his right, Jisung cringed and Changbin snorted, though Chan was too busy studying Joonho’s face to notice, trying to remember having met before.

“Oh, um… well maybe we had a class together? At the university, I’m a in the International Policy?”

“I’m going for business admin, so maybe that’s it! I just couldn’t place you, so I had to come talk to you.”

“Yeah, that must be it. Lots of business classes…” Chan looked at his friends awkwardly, not knowing how to continue the conversation. “Or… well our classes are probably in the same building.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ve just seen you around… but I feel like I would have remembered someone like you.”

He smiled shyly, wishing Jisung hadn’t stolen his drink so he’d at least have something to do with his hands. “I don’t know, there are a lot of students on campus, especially in the business program.”

“Not many as gorgeous as you.” It hit Chan like a slap in the face and he looked up at the guy wide-eyed, taking in the flirty smile.

“Oh, uh” was all he could muster, with a little laugh.

“So could I buy you a drink?”

Chan nodded, mouth opening and closing like a fish before he choked out a, “Yeah, I’m drinking-- well, I was drinking rum and coke.”

While he ordered, Chan shot a look of panic at his roommates, receiving two unhelpful sets of thumbs up in return. Chan turned back to watch the bartender make their drinks, then picked his up and awkwardly clincked his glass with Jooho’s.

And it all went downhill from their. By the time his drink was half gone, Joonho had made a lame excuse, thrown out a ‘it was nice meeting you’ and hightailed it out of there. Chan groaned as he left, leaning his head on Jisung’s shoulder.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“No, it was worse,” Chan insisted.

“It was pretty bad,” Changbin supplied, and Jisung glared at him. “What? The guy was cheesy anyway.”

“Binnie, you’re not helping,” Chan pouted, downing a good portion of his drink.

“At least you recognized that you were being flirted with.”

They both eyed Changbin, who shouted “I just bumped into him!”

Chan made a noise of discontent and Jisung could feel his discomfort growing. He and Changbin seemed to take a turn for the worse, neither of them enjoying this quite as much anymore, and Jisung looked at his watch. “We should go.”

“We can stay,” Chan offered weakly, clearly ready to leave but not wanting to drag Jisung down with him.

“No, it’s late! I’m tired, and I gotta play a little hard to get to keep Minho interested. Come on, onto the dance floor for one more song and then we’ll head out.”

Chan left his half-finished drink, and they ended the night on a high note. On the way out, Minho promised to text Jisung for another date the following week, and he planted a kiss on the boy’s cheek in return.

Chan teased him on the way out. “Teach me your ways.”

“Trust me boys,” Jisung said, slinging his arms around both of their shoulders with a grin. “If I can’t get you boyfriends, nobody can.”

#stray kids #skzwriters #stray kids fic #chan #changbin #jisung #minho #lee know #happy valentine's day

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