Jeonghan’s heart was racing and his stomach was filled with butterflies. Did he just hear that right? Surely he must have imagined it. Jisoo couldn’t like him, Jisoo liked Jihoon. 

“What did you-?”

“No. Just listen,” Jisoo says with a small smile, using the same words as Jeonghan had a moment ago.

Jisoo takes a deep breath and calmly explains the misunderstanding and Jeonghan is left not really sure what to think.

“Okay, so you don’t like Jihoon but…” Jeonghan asks slowly, still believing that he couldn’t have heard Jisoo right.

“How could I make it any clearer?” Jisoo sighs and takes a deep breath before continuing.

“Yoon Jeonghan, I like you. I have ever since I saw you. And it shouldn’t have taken me so long to say this, but I was scared. But how could I like Jihoon when I have you? As soon as we say goodbye I’m already counting down the hours until I get to see you again. And I don’t know how many times I find myself staring at the wall that separates our apartments, wondering what you’re doing and whether you miss me.” As Jisoo talks Jeonghan watches as the boy’s cheeks get increasingly more pink and his eyes begin trailing the floor.

 “Jisoo…” Jeonghan whispers, his expression softening as he listens to the boy speak; the boy who likes him, thinks about him and misses him.   

Jisoo then laughs, “I can’t believe how sappy that was. Plus, how did I even fall for someone who doesn’t like chocolate?”

Jeonghan joins in the laughter, still too in shock to react any other way, but he can imagine that his face is a dark shade of pink.

“Well, I can’t believe I fell for someone who loves Soul Eater as much as you do.”

Jisoo gasps, “I confess and that’s all you have to say to me?”

Jeonghan’s face flushes and he mumbles to the floor, “There’s so much I want to stay, I don’t know where to start…”

“It’s fine, we’ll have plenty of time. I’m not going anywhere,” Jisoo says softly.

Jeonghan isn’t sure how Jisoo seems so calm and in control. Jeonghan feels as if he may burst; his stomach was doing acrobatics and he felt as if he couldn’t possibly contain his excitement. But he was also nervous, because what could he even say to Jisoo? There was so much that made Jeonghan like the boy, and he didn’t want to say the wrong things; not when what Jisoo had said had been so perfect. Jeonghan smiles as he recalls the boy’s words and hopes he remembers them for a long time.

“But, I need to say something,” Jeonghan protests, “I also liked you ever since I saw you…well, even before I saw you. I heard your voice and…”

“You listened at my door and then stalked me?” Jisoo asks, his smile mischievous.

Jeonghan’s eyes widen. He couldn’t believe Jisoo knew about that, and Jeonghan knew exactly who to blame…

 “I’m going to kill Seungkwan,” he says, mentally cursing his best friend for his inability to keep his mouth shut.

Jeonghan hides his head in his hands, his face burning with embarrassment. He knew he would have eventually had to tell Jisoo, but he didn’t imagine that this would be the situation.

“Don’t worry. I’m here aren’t I? It didn’t scare me off. It’s cute actually,” Jisoo says, his cheeks also turning pink to match Jeonghan’s own.

“So…have you forgiven me?” Jisoo asks, his voice quieter and more unsure than it had been a moment ago.

Jeonghan just nods, not really sure what else to say.

“Well then…Jeonghan will you go out on an actual date with me?” Jisoo asks, his mouth turned up in a shy smile and his expression expectant.

“As long as it’s not at 10:04,” Jeonghan replies and breaks into a goofy grin to match the one that spread across Jisoo’s face.

Suddenly Jeonghan hears a loud knock on the door, followed by shouting. Jeonghan slowly walks towards the door, not sure what to expect. He opens it to seven faces staring at him.

“About damn time, Yoon,” Seungkwan says before absolute chaos breaks out.

Jeonghan is caught between Soonyoung and Mingyu who are giving him a bear hug as they spin around and squeal, Seungkwan is repeatedly yelling “Boo Cupid strikes again!” and strutting across the apartment, Chan is also yelling as he tries to start his own group hug with Jisoo and Hansol while Jihoon and Wonwoo are standing to the side quietly taking in the whole scene, their faces spread in small smiles. 

Jeonghan finally breaks free and faces the other boys.

“What are you doing here?” He asks.

Jeonghan doesn’t see how they could possibly know that he’d just said yes to a date with Jisoo. He knew his friends were nosy but this was simply out of their ability.

“Guys…?” Jeonghan asks again as the boys look around guiltily.

Mingyu nudges Seungkwan forward, inviting him to speak. Seungkwan just shoots the boy a pointed glare before sighing and turning to Jeonghan.

“You know when I borrowed your phone before?”

Jeonghan nods, not sure how this was important to the explanation.

“I used it to call myself so we could listen on loud speaker to the whole conversation from Hansol and Chan’s apartment,” Seungkwan shrugs as he gives Jeonghan an apologetic look, even though Jeonghan is well aware that the boy isn’t sorry in the slightest.

Jeonghan takes out his phone and looks at the screen to see that he was in fact still on call to Seungkwan’s phone.

“Seungkwan!”

Seungkwan takes one look at Jeonghan’s glare and scurries to go hide behind Hansol so he’s safe from any possible violence.

“Your boyfriend agreed to this plan!” Seungkwan calls from behind Hansol, who just rolls his eyes and moves so that he is no longer blocking the boy.

Jeonghan knows he’s meant to be annoyed but he can’t help but smile at the word. He supposed that Jisoo was his boyfriend now and he couldn’t be happier.

He composes himself before turning towards Jisoo with a questioning expression.

“What was I meant to do?” Jisoo asks innocently.

“Say no?!”

Jisoo just laughs apologetically.

Jeonghan decides that there’s no point arguing and he lets out a defeated sigh. It was clear that it was all of them against him.

Jeonghan supposed that it didn’t really matter, he would have had to tell them all eventually anyway; but he still couldn’t believe that his friends were such an embarrassment.

“Seungkwan, I swear…When you finally get into a relationship…” Jeonghan smirks, leaving his threat open to interpretation.

 However, Jeonghan gets no reaction out of the boy who just returns the smirk and raises an eyebrow.

“Are we going soon? Seokmin’s already bitter enough about having to work, and he wants to hear the news,” Soonyoung says.

“What?” Jeonghan asks, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“We’re going to 10:04 to celebrate!” Chan says, bouncing up and down out in excitement.

“Okay…” Jeonghan reluctantly agrees.

He would have preferred to simply stay at home with Jisoo, but he supposed this would have to do. It’s not like his friends were going to accept no as an answer.  

Jeonghan and Jisoo linger behind as the other boys file out Jeonghan’s apartment. When they were finally alone they share a small smile and Jeonghan can see the silent apology in Jisoo’s eyes - for not telling him about Seungkwan’s plan, for the misunderstanding with Jihoon and not telling him his feelings earlier.

Jeonghan doesn’t know what to say and so he simply links his hand with Jisoo’s own as they follow the others, hoping that this was reassurance enough that everything was fine.

Jeonghan’s heart was beating in his chest, and he couldn’t believe that he was so worked up over holding hands. But he was. And when he looked over at to be met with Jisoo’s bright eye smile, it didn’t help in slowing down his heart and instead just caused it to beat faster.

“I’m sorry, we couldn’t go on our date today,” Jisoo whispers, leaning close enough to Jeonghan that surely the boy could hear his hyperactive heart.

There was no one else around and there was no need to whisper which meant that this was simply to try and get a rise out of Jeonghan.

“As long as I’m with you, I don’t mind,” Jeonghan whispers back, leaning even closer than Jisoo had, his lips almost brushing the boy’s skin.

Jeonghan was proud to see that Jisoo’s face immediately flushed bright red, and he had to turn away flustered.

Just at that point the elevator dings and the boys hear an annoyed, “Could you walk any slower?”

Jisoo and Jeonghan share an amused glance and they hop into the elevator to be met with Seungkwan, who was standing there with his arms crossed.

“I lost the game of paper, scissors, rock to come get you. This wasn’t my choice, so please do not start making out in the elevator,” Seungkwan huffs.

“You’re safe,” Jeonghan replies as Jisoo just lets out a nervous laugh.

Jeonghan rolls his eyes at his best friend, but discreetly pinches him when Jisoo isn’t looking as punishment for his comment.  

“Also, it’s not weird that Jihoon’s with us, right? I had to intercept him trying to find Jeonghan for Jisoo and I didn’t know what else to do with him,” Seungkwan says, but not before pinching Jeonghan back equally hard as revenge.

“It’s fine,” Jeonghan replies, and Jisoo squeezes his hand in comfort. Jeonghan is glad to find that he’s telling the truth; he doesn’t mind the idea of hanging out with Jihoon and he feels bad for the harsh feelings he held towards the pink haired boy.

The three boys walk out of the Pledis building to applause and Jeonghan prays that the entertainment his friends seem to be getting from Jisoo and Jeonghan ends really soon.

They enter 10:04 noisily and get a few strange looks from the customers as all nine of them attempt to fit around one booth.

It isn’t long until Seokmin comes rushing out of the kitchen.

“I need to check on the pancakes that are cooking in 1 minute so this is going to have to be quick!” He says in a rush of breath.

Soonyoung quickly sums up the main parts and Seokmin gives Jisoo and Jeonghan a wide smile and a thumbs up before running back towards the kitchen - he races back immediately however, as he had forgot to give a hello kiss to Soonyoung. 

“Congrats! It took you long enough!”

Jeonghan looks up to see Junhui standing at the head of their table, in the 10:04 uniform.

“Um, hi?” Jeonghan says slowly; very confused as he had no idea that Junhui worked at 10:04.

“I had to ask some favours,” Seungkwan explained, “Who did you think would be working? We were literally all with you.”

Minghao comes over just then with a notepad and a friendly smile.

“Are you ready to order?”

“You should take over our jobs to be honest, you seem much better at it,” Jeonghan says, smiling encouragingly at the boy who still looks nervous even behind his smile.

“Speak for yourself,” Seungkwan says, “if we had employee of the month awards I would win it every month.”

The whole table let out a snort at that which made Seungkwan pout.

The boys then began rattling off their various orders and Jeonghan wasn’t surprised when Jisoo ordered something chocolate.

Soonyoung leaves with Minghao and Junhui to help Seokmin in the kitchen, opening up a spot around the table which was immediately filled by Seungcheol.

Seungcheol nods towards Jisoo and Jeonghan before turning to Jihoon, who looks like he regrets picking his seat, and directs a wink in the pink haired boy’s direction.

Jeonghan watches Jihoon as he sighs and turns away from Seungcheol, but Jeonghan was sure he could see a blush rising across Jihoon’s cheeks.

Mingyu and Wonwoo hide their laughter as Seungcheol simply shakes his head and slides closer to Jihoon.

“How about you let me take you out for dinner? Somewhere other than 10:04, I promise.”

Jeonghan feels sorry for Jihoon. He can’t believe Seungcheol is asking in front of all of them and in such an up front way.

The whole table is watching the pair with bated breaths, waiting in anticipation for what Jihoon would do.

Jihoon’s eyes were wide and his mouth was open in shock as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t form words. Eventually, he manages to compose himself to just let out a scoff.

“Great, I’ll pick you up at 6,” Seungcheol says cheerily.

“But I-” Jihoon starts to protest but Seungcheol cuts him off.

“Jihoon, I know you only pretend to be immune to my charms,” Seungcheol says with a smirk, glancing ever so slightly at Jisoo.

Jihoon looks confused but slowly realization dawns on his face.

“Jisoo!” Jihoon scolds the boy who looks around guiltily.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll thank me for this later,” Jisoo says.

The table then breaks into chaos at what had just happened and Jeonghan uses the noise as cover to turn to Jisoo and ask for an explanation.

Jeonghan is shocked that Jihoon secretly liked Seungcheol, and even more shocked that Jisoo somehow managed to work it out - especially as he had been so oblivious to Jeonghan’s own feelings.

The arrival of the food manages to distract the boys long enough to give Jihoon a break from the teasing. Jihoon was instead now talking quietly to Seungcheol, shooting daggers at anyone who looked at them for too long, and the table conversation strayed to other random topics.

The table was loud and overflowing; with Soonyoung and Seokmin being able to join them again and chairs being pulled up for Minghao and Jun after Seungcheol decided to close up the café early.

Jeonghan looked around the table with a smile on his face. Who knew that being caught listening at his neighbor’s door would lead to all these new friendships? And who knew that he would fall for the boy with the lovely voice and the boy would fall back?

Jeonghan looks over at Jisoo before moving closer and leaning his head on the boy’s shoulder. Jisoo jolts slightly, surprised at the sudden affection but quickly relaxes, grabbing Jeonghan’s hand and once again intertwining it with his own.

Jisoo’s shoulder is warm and Jeonghan feels so relaxed - he finds that after the draining day he can’t stop his eyes from slowly closing.

He opens them again to find a flash blinding him and behind the flash was Soonyoung, grinning as he snaps a picture of the couple.

Still groggy from sleep, Jeonghan half heartedly waves his hand at the boy and mumbles in protest. He goes to sit up but realizes the weight holding him down is Jisoo, who also must have feel asleep.

“You guys are so cute!” Chan squeals, his whole face animated with excitement.

“I hope you didn’t drool while you were asleep. It’s not too late for Jisoo to change his mind,” Seungkwan smirks as Jeonghan subconsciously raises his hand to his mouth to check.

“Leave them alone, it’s adorable. Not as adorable as Jihoon howe-OW!” Seungcheol’s comment was cut off by a sharp hit from Jihoon, who did not look happy about being called adorable.

Jeonghan feels Jisoo’s weight shift as the boy straightens up, rubbing his eyes.

“What?” He asks, his voice groggy from sleep.

Jeonghan couldn’t help but notice how much deeper his voice was which contrasted how cute he looked still half asleep.

Jeonghan didn’t realize that he had been staring at Jisoo until the boy met his eyes. Jisoo lets out a nervous laugh, his cheeks quickly turning a dark shade of pink and Jeonghan rubs the back of his neck, his face also flushing as he looks away embarrassed.

Jeonghan regains his composure enough to look back at Jisoo, who was still staring at him; his lips turned up into that little smile of his.

Jeonghan isn’t sure where the burst of courage comes from but he suddenly leans in and gives Jisoo a peck on the cheek. When Jeonghan pulls away he’s glad to see that Jisoo looks flustered.

Jisoo opens his mouth as if he was going to say something but he was cut off by a wall of sound. The entire table broke into chaos and Jeonghan looked around guiltily, remembering that they weren’t alone. Mingyu and Wonwoo were clapping as Mingyu leans in to give his own boyfriend a kiss, Soonyoung and Seokmin were clinging to each other as they let out a chorus of “awwws,” Chan was jumping up and down in his seat and Seungkwan was pretending to throw up.

“Why are we friends with you?” Jeonghan wonders out loud as Jisoo laughs and nods his head in agreement.

“Because you love us!” Their friends chorus back with smug smirks on their faces.

This ended up being such a long chapter omg I got just a little carried away - plusu I had to make sure to add in the Jicheol (which was never actually going to be included until some of you lovely people asked for it earlier!)
I'm hoping this chapter managed to put a smile on your face and that all the waiting has finally been worth it (because man did it take them a long long time to confess.)
In other news, I only have one more chapter to upload after this one!! This is so sad!!! But don't fear...because it's going to be of their first official date!!!!! And it went through a ridiculous amount of drafts before I wrote something I thought was worthy and hopefully very very cute :)