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The first time they met, they had an argument. Love is real. Love doesn’t exist. Love is fated. Love is a social construct. Their mutual friend, Na Jaemin, immediately regretted putting the two of them together. Why, oh why, did he have to introduce them? Not only was he subjecting himself to twice the amount of annoying brats he could deal with at any one time, he was almost guaranteeing himself a constant headache.
The second time, they made a bet. Chenle vowed to make Jisung see that love was real. Jisung promised he would never stray over to Chenle’s twisted view of the world. Why did Jisung have to be so cold hearted?
He wasn’t cold hearted. He just didn’t see the point in useless feelings. Feelings were overrated. In Jisung’s opinion, anyway, but Chenle didn’t care about Jisung’s opinion. He only cared about his own, and that was that love was real. He would make Jisung see if it was the last thing he did.
The third time they met, Jaemin almost screamed. Jaemin really regretted introducing them. He started to ditch them, going to spend more time with his boyfriend Jeno, leaving the two youngest together. Jeno gave really good head massages, anyway, and with the amount of time Jaemin was spending with Chenle and Jisung, he needed it.
The fourth time they met, Jeno understood his boyfriend’s sentiments. He was ready to strangle the two of them. Instead, he went to cuddle Jaemin, trying to ignore the two idiots they were forced to babysit. “Jisung, look how cute they are!”
“I’m about to vomit, Chenle, excuse me. I don’t need to see my best friend getting his face sucked off by his boyfriend.”
“Jeno is not ‘sucking’ on Jaemin’s face, you idiot!” There was a pause as Chenle smacked Jisung. “And Jaemin is not your best friend. He’s mine.”
“I met him first.”
“No you didn’t, I did!”
“I met Jaemin first!”
“Can you two kindly shut the fuck up? Jaemin is actually my boyfriend, and I met him before either of you two little shits,” Jeno growled at them.
“Hey! We’re not little shits!” Chenle and Jisung exclaimed in unison. They glanced at each other in shock.
“That’s a lie, you’re a little shit, you don’t believe in love,” Chenle quickly added in, recovering first and glaring at Jisung. Jaemin just groaned and buried his head in his arms.
The fifth time they met, Jisung started to panic. Something was growing inside of him, almost like a soft spot for Chenle. But he could not – would not – allow himself to succumb to the pressure. It was just his mind and Chenle playing games on him. Chenle just wanted him to believe in ‘love’. Ew. Love didn’t exist; it was like he said in their first meeting: love was a social construct, nothing more.
Chenle wasn’t dumb. He could suddenly see the way Jisung had changed. While over text, they were both as irritable as the other, their teasing arguments ending in laughs, Jisung had changed in real life. He was suddenly shyer, which struck Chenle as suspicious. Right from the get-go, Jisung hadn’t struck him as a particularly shy type. And anyway, you were supposed to be shy when you first met a person, not after you’d know them for weeks and weeks and had spoken to them for hours on end. Was his plan finally working? Did Jisung really believe in love?
The sixth time they met, Chenle cried. Jaemin and Jeno were completely at a loss for what to do. But Jisung; he acted. Despite huffing and puffing at Chenle when he explained the little things in a relationship, he did take them in. He was like a sponge for knowledge. He gathered Chenle in his arms and held him tightly, letting the older cry, ignoring Jaemin’s open-mouthed look of astonishment. He was just helping his friend, he explained to the pair afterwards, when Chenle had fallen asleep on his chest. So why was his heart beating so fast?
The seventh time they met, they argued. It wasn’t a joke, like before. Really, it was Jeno’s fault. He tried to lock them together in a cupboard. Jisung launched himself at the door, injuring his shoulder in the process. Jeno didn’t let them out either; Jisung swore he could hear him and Jaemin giggling. Giggling, really! Jeno was not a giggly person.
Chenle’s attempts to check Jisung’s shoulder were brushed aside angrily by the younger. The next thing Chenle knew, they were in a full-blown screaming match, which ended with Jisung inches away from his face. And then the door opened. Chenle was almost…disappointed. Almost. He didn’t care. He didn’t like Jisung, anyway.
The eighth time they met was even more awkward than the first. After their almost-kiss, which it seemed Jisung refused to acknowledge, they were back to treading around each other like pre-teens. They were sixteen years old, for God’s sake, why couldn’t they act like it? They should certainly be able to be more mature. The truth was, Jisung was scared. He was scared that maybe Chenle was right. Love was worth fighting for. Love wasn’t really a social construct. Love was real. Love was…scary. Right. It was terrifying. What if he really was in love with his friend? That would ruin everything. That near-kiss, especially. Jisung couldn’t dream of what would have happened if Jaemin hadn’t unlocked the door at that moment.
He was scared, more than anything, of losing Chenle. He hated to admit it, but the funny dolphin-like Chinese boy had fast worked his way into Jisung’s heart. And Jisung was terrified of what that meant. No one had ever broken through his defences that quickly, not even Jaemin. The devil worked hard, but Chenle worked harder.
The ninth time, Chenle was sad. It had been weeks since Jisung had texted or called. They hadn’t hung out much either. Chenle’s heart ached. He finally admitted it to himself: he’d fallen for Jisung. He hadn’t meant to. It wasn’t on purpose. It just…happened. All he wanted to do was prove to Jisung that love existed. Hell, they hung out with Jaemin and Jeno, they were the perfect example! But Chenle approached it from a different angle: fake hand-holding when Jisung least expected it, jumping on him to annoy him…almost as if they were dating. But Jeno had ruined everything for them, and Chenle wasn’t happy.
Jisung missed Chenle. He didn’t care anymore. He wanted everything to go back to how it used to be. He wanted to carry Chenle around all day, even if it meant his back ached by the end of it. He wanted to hold Chenle’s hand, for real this time. He wanted to feed him ice cream and be proud of it, not annoyed like before. He wanted to date Chenle. And so, as they walked away from that awkward meeting, Jisung was determined that that was not the last time.
The tenth time they met, Chenle was sure this was their last meeting. He didn’t want to go. But Jeno had gotten hold of him and near-threatened him to come. Chenle didn’t want to feel the awkwardness once again. But sometimes, one must do what one fears the most. So he went.
Jisung went all out. Chocolates, candles, the lot. He waited nervously in the park behind a tree, with Jeno and Jaemin giggling nearby – seriously?! Giggling? Again? He shook his head slightly, laughing at them, before turning back to see if Chenle was there. As soon as he spotted Chenle, he ran out from his hiding place, meeting Chenle in the middle. It was now or never.
Jaemin and Jeno couldn’t hear much of the conversation from their secluded spot – though partly it was because they were preoccupied – but the happy squeal from Chenle gave them their answer. Jisung and Chenle sat on the blanket, Chenle wrapped around Jisung’s skinny frame. And if Jaemin didn’t know any better, he would think that Jisung’s eyes were glistening with tears. Happy tears, of course. Because finally, those two idiots had realised that the other was for them. And it wasn’t fake love. It was real love this time.
Chenle had won the bet. Jisung’s punishment was to carry him around for a week. Not even the threat of breaking up – “You’re mine now and forever! This is your duty!” – could deter Chenle from his request.