Hansol was just a little irked.  He and the rest of the members had been practicing new choreo for the last three hours without stop, and now that Soonyoung had finally called a break, Chan hadn’t come over to talk to him.  Normally Hansol wouldn’t be too bothered by that- after all, there he didn’t expect Chan to want to talk to him every in waking moment of free time.  But the fact that nearly every other member was surrounding the maknae in a bubble of excited chatter made this time a bit different.  What could they possibly be talking about?  Hansol could see Jeonghan saying something to Chan.  Several other members nodded in agreement while Chan blanched and shook his head.  Seungcheol and Jihoon, who had been in another corner of the practice room discussing something else up until this point, took interest and headed over to the maknae as well.  Mingyu looked up as they approached and seemed to be filling them in on what was going on.  Seungcheol’s expression turned into a wicked smile, and Jihoon burst into laughter.  Chan’s face looked like a balloon about to burst.  

Meanwhile, Hansol was completely lost.  By now, the only other members who weren’t currently glued to the maknae’s side were Soonyoung (still dancing, working on another piece of choreography no doubt), and Seokmin, who had booked it to the bathroom as soon as break was called.

“I ing knew it!” Seungkwan suddenly exclaimed, after Chan had mumbled something indecipherable.  Seungkwan’s eyes widened immediately and he clapped his hand over his mouth as if he wasn’t supposed to say anything.

Jeonghan hissed “Language!” with narrowed eyes.  What did Seungkwan know?  Why was Chan suddenly so interesting to the rest of the members?  Hansol didn’t have many flaws, but if he was honest with himself, he hated sharing, especially not when it came to Chan.  Alright, irked was too gentle to describe how he was feeling.  He was just about to get up and storm over to the group when Soonyoung called to start practice again.  Jesus.  Oops, Hansol meant geez (one could never be too careful with Jisoo in the room).  Well, he would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing he did.

---

Right after practice, Hansol went to Jeonghan.  He didn’t talk to Seventeen’s resident angel that often, but he was incredibly curious about the interrogation that Jeonghan seemed to have led on Chan.

“Hyung, what were you guys talking to Chan about during break?” Hansol asked, trying for casual.

Jeonghan’s eyes lit knowingly and Hansol knew immediately that he had failed.  “Hmmm, what does it matter to you?”

“Uhm...” Hansol faltered.  Why did it matter to him again?  He was honestly just curious, and a little annoyed that Chan was suddenly getting so much attention from the members when he was used to having the maknae to himself.  Ignoring the voice in his head that said he was more than a little annoyed, he replied “I’m just curious hyung.”

Jeonghan fixed him with a look that just screamed Really?

Hansol felt his collar growing a little hot.  “Seriously. I was just wondering.”

“Alright, I’ll take pity on you, poor thing.”  Jeonghan said after a couple seconds of judgemental silence that lasted far too long.  “We were talking to our maknae about his little crush.”  As soon as the word “crush” left Jeonghan’s mouth, Hansol felt his heart jump.  “But look at the time, I gotta get back to the dorms.” Hansol could have sworn Jeonghan was laughing has he turned around to run off and join the other two 95 liners leading Seventeen out the practice rooms.

Hansol was pretty damn sure the only thing Jeonghan would be doing when he got back to the dorms was sleeping, which was not a time sensitive activity at all.  But he put that fact aside to focus on the more pressing issue here.  Chan had a crush?  How could Hansol have not known?  The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.  The maknae was definitely happier whenever Hansol saw him, peppy with an extra spring in his step and an infectious smile.  Sometimes when they were practicing a dance, or writing raps together, or even just talking, Chan would zone out, to the point where Hansol had to wave a hand in front of his face to snap him out of it.  And afterwards he would always blush cutely, refuse to give the any reason for it, and deny that he had been zoning out in the first place.  That always got to Hansol.  Chan was just so damn cute all the time.  Hansol couldn’t help but feel jealous towards this unknown person that Chan was crushing on.  And why hadn’t Chan at least told him?  They were best friends that shared everything from dreams to clothes to ear buds to hotel rooms.  It was unfair that Chan had spilled to all of the other members first.

As Chan’s best friend, Hansol deserved to know who this special someone was, and there was no way he wasn’t going to find out.

---

He sought out Jisoo first, back at the dorms reading an old edition of One Piece.  Hansol had no idea why he reread issues, it was all about moving forward to new things for him.  He figured that Jisoo had to have some clue about who Chan liked, considering he spent nearly every waking moment with Jeonghan, who seemed to know everything there was to know about it.

“Jisoo hyung, can I ask you something?”

Jisoo looked up from the manga.  “What is it?” He seemed genuinely curious and willing to answer, such a contrast from the eating, all-knowing grin Hansol had received early from Jeonghan.  It would forever be a mystery how those two got along so well.

“Um... you know how you guys were... earlier today... at the practice room, you know, with Chan, uhm, talking to him?  Everyone was talking to him?” Hansol had no idea why he was so tongue-tied.  It wasn’t like he was embarrassed right?  He just wanted to know, as Chan’s best friend, who Chan liked.

“Do you want to try again with that?” Jisoo asked with a twinkling smile as he set the book down, closed, settling in for what he now knew would be an interesting talk.

Vernon swallowed, “What were you guys talking to Chan about during our break in the practice room?”

“Oh that, Jeonghan told me that you had asked him too.  Our baby Dino has a crush on someone.” Jisoo replied.

“Okay, it’s so weird when you and Jeonghan call Chan your baby, like he’s the Mom and you’re the Dad.”  Vernon made a face.  “And he’s almost 18 now, he’s definitely not a baby.” Yep, even though Chan was definitely the cutest member (Minghao would have to settle for second) he was definitely a man.  Hansol had seen him dance more than enough times to acknowledge that.

“Hey, it’s just the way we express our pride for how well he’s growing up.  Let’s be real, us hyungs practically raised him anyways.” Jisoo defended.  Hansol could see the logic in that argument, he was always filled with an inexplicably bubbly, warm feeling whenever he saw Chan showing his growth, whether onstage under the spotlight or in the sweaty practice rooms and recording studios.  Something made him want to protect the maknae and help him improve.  Maybe Jeonghan and Jisoo weren’t so weird for calling Chan their son.

“Although I mostly go along with the Mom and Dad thing because Jeonghan likes it.” Jisoo added as an afterthought.  Okay, nevermind, it was weird.

“Okay, let’s move on please.”  Hansol said.  After a pause to gather his courage, he asked “Who is it?”

“Who’s who?” Joshua said innocently.  Oh hell no.  Jeonghan was a terrible influence on the LA boy.  He would never have pulled this kind of evasive before.

“You know who I’m talking about.” Hansol huffed.  His face was getting hot.

“No, I really don’t.  Who?”

“The person that Chan has a crush on.” Hansol blurted forcefully.  God, why did it have to be like this?  He thought Jisoo of all people wouldn’t give him a hard time like this.

“Oooooooh.” Jisoo drew it out as if he had just realized.  Bull.  “Oh yeah, the person Chan has a crush on.  Well, you know them.  But why are you asking me?  You should be able to figure it out yourself.”

“Wait, what do you mean figure it out myself?” Hansol asked, but Jisoo had already resumed reading his manga, somehow conveniently on the very page that he had left off on.  Shaking his head, Hansol left the room.  It was someone he knew... well that meant it definitely wasn’t one of the Chan’s school classmates.  Part of Hansol was very relieved, he wouldn’t have known what to do if Chan started dating a girl from his class that he had never even heard of before.  It would mean that there was a big part of Chan’s life that Hansol knew nothing about, which sat fundamentally unwell with him.

---

He decided to go to Mingyu next.  It looked like the taller boy had a good idea of what was going on back during the interrogation in the practice room, and maybe he would be a bit more sympathetic to Hansol’s cause.

“Mingyu hyung, what are you doing?”  Hansol found Mingyu rooting around in one of the top cabinets of their kitchen.

“Whoa!” Mingyu jumped and whipped his head towards Hansol, banging it on the open door.  “Ow, !”  He rubbed his head sheepishly.  “Oh, it’s just you.  You surprised me there.”

“Dude... what were you doing?  You act like I was gonna kill you or something.”

“Shh!”  Mingyu put his index finger to his mouth.  “I found Jihoon hyung’s secret stash of chocolates and I’m hiding them up here where he can’t reach.  So yeah, if he were to find me, I would probably be killed.”

Vernon shook his head.  Mingyu had a death wish.  “Okay I’ll keep my voice down,” he whispered, “I gotta ask you something.”

“Sure.”  Mingyu resumed hiding the chocolates.

“Um... it’s about Chan.”

“Go ahead, I’m listening.” Mingyu’s voice was now muffled because he had his head all the way into the cabinet.

“I heard from Jeonghan hyung that he likes someone.”

“Oh, you just found out?  I thought you of all people would have known.”

Vernon sighed.  Well apparently you thought wrong, he thought ruefully.  “What makes you say that?”

“Oh come on, everyone knows you and Chan are the closest with each other out of all the members.”  Mingyu retracted his head from the cabinet to look at Vernon.  “You have to had noticed some change, right.”

“I mean, Chan has been brighter than usual, but I didn’t chalk it up to anything.  He’s kinda always like that anyways.”  Vernon frowned.

“Around you, maybe.”  Mingyu muttered into the cabinet, rolling his eyes unseen to Vernon.

“Huh?”

“Oh nothing.  You know, if you’re this curious about who Chan likes, why don’t you just ask him yourself?”

“I can’t do that!” Hansol interjected.

“SHH!” Mingyu whispered fiercely. “No one says you can’t, what’s stopping you?”

Hansol opened his mouth to respond but realized he had nothing to say.  What was holding him back?

Footsteps around the corner interrupted his thoughts.  “, that might be Jihoon, I gotta go.” Mingyu shut the cabinet and bolted through the doorway out of the kitchen.  Hansol was left dumbfounded, still perplexed by the question of why he hadn’t just gone to Chan in the first place.  The footsteps grew closer and Minghao wandered into the kitchen to grab a snack.  While he was doing so, he noticed Hansol standing there aimlessly.  He put his finger to his lips and reached up into the cabinet Mingyu had just been standing by.

“Don’t tell Mingyu, but it’s so obvious where he hides Jihoon’s snacks.”  Minghao unwrapped a bar and began to munch.  The pair stood there in silence while Hansol wondered if he should ask Minghao as well.  “I heard what you guys were talking about by the way.”  Minghao’s voice snapped Hansol from his thoughts.

“Oh... what about it?”  Hansol started.  He swore if Minghao started lecturing him about being clueless like the rest of the members had done so far he would lose it.  If even the Chinese boy (who had just recently gotten the hang of speaking Korean) had noticed Chan’s crush, Hansol would be fuming.

“I’m just saying, if you really want to know, ask Chan yourself.  In the meantime, it’s your own fault for being so blind to what’s right in front of your face.”  Minghao said innocently, with a shrug.  He tossed the wrapper and walked out of the kitchen leaving Hansol gaping.  The audacity!  Hansol was done with detective work for now, Minghao’s words were a blow to his ego.  Maybe he would try again tomorrow.

---

Hansol’s day passed uneventfully until he wandered into the recording studio to lay down some lines he had been working on.  He found Seungcheol and Jihoon already working in there.  (But were they really working? That was always the question.)

“Oh hey, is this a bad time?”  Hansol asked just in case.

“Nah, we were actually working on a recording this time.”  Jihoon said casually.  It always amazed Hansol how candid Jihoon and Seungcheol could be about the open secret that was their relationship.

“Yeah, as if he would let us do anything else in here for fear of his precious equipment.” Seungcheol crossed his arms grumbling.  Okay, that was a little too candid for Hansol.

“Did not need to hear that.” Hansol groaned.  He let Jihoon know which tracks he wanted to record on and stepped into the booth.  Usually recording came easily to him, and he was able to lay down his verses, perhaps inserting some adlibs, and get out of the studio.  Today though, something about his rap felt off-balance and tilted.  Everything that came out of his mouth felt flat, and his tongue stumbled along the beat clumsily.  

He hadn’t even done one recording he was satisfied with before Seungcheol asked, “Hansol, is there something bothering you today?”

“Yeah, maybe something to do with Chan?” Jihoon interjected with a snicker.

Hansol visibly wilted.  “Does the entire group know??” He whined into the recording mic.

“Oh please.  With all the gossiping Jeonghan and Seungkwan do, how could we not?”

“Ya, Jihoon, go easy on the guy, it’s clear today is not his finest day.”

“Not his One Fine Day, you mean.”

“Jihoon...”

“I just can’t believe how clueless one guy can be!”

“Oh babe, as if you weren’t like that as well.”

“Hey, I wasn’t clueless, just playing hard to get, and you know you loved that.” Grumbled Jihoon.

“Well you’re not wrong.” Seungcheol’s face turned disgustingly saccharine.

Hansol screwed his face up and plugged his ears at the couple’s antics.  “When you guys are ready to return to the issue at hand, I’m right here.”

“Oh right, your Chan issue.”  Jihoon said.  “You know, it’s cute how confused and worried you are about who he’s crushing on, but the solution really is simple.”  Hansol waited, though he had a sinking suspicion that Jihoon’s “solution” really wouldn’t be a solution at all.

“Just tell him how you feel!”  Seungcheol burst out.  Jihoon grumbled something about that not being the solution he had in mind.

“Huh?”  Hansol said.  What did Seungcheol mean by “tell him how you feel”?  Hansol didn’t feel anything, did he?  Other than best friend-ly love, of course.  He just desperately needed to know who Chan liked because it was something a best friend had to know.  It wasn’t like he had feelings.  Well of course he had feelings, but not feelings feelings you know?  Even though out of all of the members, Hansol could see himself most likely having feelings feelings for Chan.  He was so cute, the maknae Hansol had to protect...

“Okay just shut up now Hansol, we get it, you’re an idiot in denial.”  Jihoon’s irate voice broke through Hansol’s inner monologue.  Wait, had he said all of that out loud?  He snapped his head around to look at his two hyungs through the glass of the booth with wide eyes.

“It’s all recorded too, the mic was still on.”  Seungcheol was trying valiantly to keep a straight face, but a snort escaped and at that, both he and Jihoon burst into laughter.

“Guys, stop it! This is no laughing matter, this is Chan we’re talking about!”  The laughter continued, perhaps even harder than before.  “I don’t know why I trusted you wacks for help anyways.”  Hansol complained.

“What,” Jihoon cried through laughter, “are you gonna,” more laughter, “pull up on us with your,” tremorous guffaws threatened to consume Jihoon before he finished, “Mac fully loaded?”

“I hate you guys.”  Hansol sulked out of the studio.  Why did s have to ridicule him at every turn?  They probably gave Hansol more than they gave Chan, and Chan was the one with the crush... right?

“Should I even try to record with those two in the studio right now?”  Wonwoo’s deep voice interrupted.

“Oh, Wonwoo hyung, hey.” Hansol acknowledged the older boy, who had been heading towards the recording studio.  “Yeah, don’t go in there right now.  Those two are something else...”

“Were they giving you a hard time?”  Wonwoo asked with a sympathetic smile.

“That’s an understatement.” Hansol rolled his eyes.  Some silence passed as he wondered if he should ask Wonwoo about it as well.  “Um... hyung, if I ask you this, promise you won’t make fun of me.”

“Sure.”  Wonwoo replied warmly.

How do you know when you like someone? Hansol could feel his face getting hot just thinking about it.  He chickened out.  “What’s for dinner?”

Wonwoo looked as if he was going to burst out laughing but covered it with a cough.  “Not sure, probably instant ramyun again, knowing us.  But really, what were you gonna ask?”

Hansol averted his eyes.  “It was about Chan, but nevermind...”

Wonwoo chuckled and gave Hansol a friendly clap on the back.  “You’ll get it eventually, don’t worry.  I think I’ll give recording a try today after all.  Why don’t you go back to the dorm?”

Hansol watched Wonwoo enter the recording studio where Seungcheol and Jihoon were still trying to compose themselves, confused about what Wonwoo had told him.  There wasn’t anything for him to get, he just needed to know who Chan liked.  And slap that lucky bastard, he added venomously.

---

“I’m hoooooooooooooooo-holy !”  Hansol squeaked as he opened the door of the dorm.  In front of him were Soonyoung and Seokmin, scrambling to get off each other on the couch, where they had previously been face until Hansol’s entrance.

“Oh my god, we’re so sorry,”  Seokmin said in a high pitched voice, “we thought everyone would be in the practice rooms until dinner.”  His face was blotched with red, especially his lips, which, ugh, Hansol did not want to think about how they got that way.

“We’ll just, uh, go to our room now.”  Soonyoung said, picking himself off from the floor he had been kicked onto in the couple’s rush to separate.  He not-so-subtly wiped his lips causing Hansol to blanch.

“Ugh, do not want to know what you guys will be doing in there.”  Hansol said in disgust.

“Hey, just because you’re not getting up to anything with the maknae doesn’t mean you have to be mad at us.”  Soonyoung said wriggling his eyebrows.  Seokmin offered him a high-five, which Soonyoung ignored in favor of slapping the other’s .

Hansol turned beet red.  “I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

“You think we haven’t noticed?” Seokmin asked incredulously.  “Just confess to him, it worked for us.”  Soonyoung nodded and the pair grinned cheekily.

“There’s nothing to confess, you guys have got it all wrong.  It’s not like I care about who Chan likes- okay I didn’t mean it like that, I mean I’m not jealous of them, what’s there to be jealous about, it’s not like Chan belongs to me or anything-”

“No one said anything about being jealous of who Chan likes, Hansol.” Soonyoung cut in.

“I- I wasn’t saying- I’m not- I don’t mean-”  Hansol sputtered.

“Yah, just admit you’re jealous.”

“I’m-”  Hansol shut his mouth enough to think over the sound of his pounding heart.  Why was it beating so fast anyways?  Stupid, you know why.  Hansol squeezed his eyes shut.  Yep, he knew why.  Everyone knew it already, he just had to admit it to himself.  He liked Chan.  He liked everything from his pinky toes to the puffiest strands of hair on his head.  He liked how his eyes crinkled when he smiled, how he rocked back onto his heels when he was bored, how his ears turned red when he got excited and his voice got higher.  He liked how simultaneously smooth and sharp he was when he danced, he even liked when Chan fanboyed over Michael Jackson (and could admit that he sometimes brought the star up just to see the far off look of dreaminess in the maknae’s eyes as he talked about him).  He liked how Chan was shorter than him (so cute) and he liked how their interests aligned so perfectly.  He liked Chan so much he almost wanted to melt onto the dorm floor under the overwhelming power of his realization.  Eyes wandering back to the two boys in front of him, he could see them grinning.

“Congrats, you finally-” Whatever Soonyoung had to say was cut off by Hansol bolting out of the dorm.

“-well, you’re welcome, I guess.”  Soonyoung finished to the slammed door.

“Just leave it, he’s finally taking some action.”  Seokmin said, looping his arm around Soonyoung’s waist.

“Mhmmm, speaking of, I can think of some other types of action we could get up to in our room.”

“Well you’re not wrong about that.”

---

Hansol was running towards to vocal practice studio as fast as he could.  With this new epiphany, there was only one person he could count on to talk it out with.  And that was-

“Oomph!”  Not Junhui.  The older boy dusted himself off after the collision that had sent both of them reeling.  “Why are you in such a hurry?”  He asked.

“Do you know where Seungkwan is??  It’s urgent.”  Hansol stressed.

“In the practice studio as usual, what is it?”  Junhui did seem a bit irked that he had just nearly been run over, so Hansol felt obliged to give some kind of explanation.

“I just realized I like Chan.” He blurted.  Oops, he didn’t mean to be that candid.

Junhui broke out into his famously charming smile.  “My god, we’re so proud!  We all thought the day would never come.  Go get him tiger!  Wait, then why are you looking for Seungkwan?”

“I need to know what to do, Chan already likes someone so what if I have to wait until he doesn’t like them anymore... hold up, you guys have been talking about me?”  Hansol backtracked.

“Of course, we have eyes, you think we wouldn’t notice?”  Junhui replied.

“I’ve been that obvious?”  A nod.  “, do you think Chan has noticed?  This is why I need to talk to Seungkwan right now!! This could be a disaster!”

While Hansol was expounding on every way his crush could result in catastrophe, Junhui rolled his eyes.  The guy really didn’t get it, did he?  Giving Hansol a push, Junhui said, “Just go talk to Seungkwan if you have to, if you mess this up we would be astounded.”

That was all the prompting Hansol needed to book it to the practice studios, where he (thank god) found Seungkwan belting away.

“Boo!” He said as he flung the door open in dramatic fashion.

Seungkwan shrieked, hands flying to his ears as he jerked around.  His eyes narrowed when he saw who had caused the disturbance.  “Hansol, I don’t know if you were trying to scare me or if you were just yelling my name!”

“Calling your name obviously, and who above the age of 7 gets scared when someone says ‘boo’ anyways?”  Hansol responded with a judgemental stare as moved to sit in a chair opposite Seungkwan.

“Shut up, it was the sound of your ugly voice that scared me, not what you were saying.” Seungkwan said bluntly.  “Now what brings you to the Great Boo’s humble abode?”  He put the tips of his fingers together and splayed them out, like he was a mafia boss or something.

“You make it sound like you live in here.”

“I might as well, considering how much I practice.  But let’s get to the point.”  Seungkwan said.

Hansol took a deep breath.  “I realized I like Chan.” He confessed.  “But he already likes someone else, doesn't he?”

Seungkwan found himself taking a breath as well.  The pure obliviousness of this boy was more than enough to test his patience, but like the saint he was, he would remain calm and help the poor wretch along.  “Hansol... I'm sure you've heard the saying ‘you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take’.”

Hansol nodded slowly.  Seungkwan took that as a sign to continue.  “And I know you know that Chan has a crush because I know that Chan has a crush, so everyone knows that Chan has a crush, thanks to my gossiping prowess.”

“Hold up, you lost me there.” Hansol said.

“You know that Chan has a crush.  That's simple enough for you to understand, isn't it?” Seungkwan laid out.

“Sadly.”  Hansol frowned.  “And I realized I liked him too late.  He's probably already head over heels for this other person.” And knowing how irresistible Chan is, the feeling's probably mutual.  Vernon added dejectedly in his head.

Seungkwan made a pained face.  “Have you considered that if you actually confess, Chan might decide to give you a chance?  If he never knows how you feel, then it's certain that nothing will happen between the two of you.”

Hansol’s face was twisted with conflicting emotions.  On the one hand, Seungkwan was indisputably right.  On the other hand, he was a who wanted to avoid rejection at all costs, and this seemed like a recipe for just that.  “But...” he began.

“No if no buts no coconuts!” Seungkwan all but shouted.  “Hansol, I'm telling you, there's no better time than now!  Just go!” The vocal even leapt up to hold the door open.

Hansol relented and passed through the doorway, a smile creeping onto his face.  “Alright, he deserves to know how I feel, if anything.  Thanks for the pep talk Boo, I really needed that.”

Seungkwan gave a warm smile and patted Hansol on the back.  “You don't have to tell me I'm the best, I already know. Now go get your boy!”

---

Chan was in a practice room dancing.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  But today, everything in Hansol’s world had been out of the ordinary, and Chan’s normally mundane act of dancing was instead an extraordinary revelation before Hansol’s eyes.  He felt his stomach drop as he watched the maknae slide, shuffle, and flit across the floor from the window in the door, realizing he was truly and completely gone for the boy.  This gave him the final resolve needed to push the the door open and confess.  Here goes.

“Chan, there’s something I want to tell you.”  Chan didn’t notice him at first, but when Hansol called his name he whipped his head up and lit the room with a smile.  Hansol felt his chest clench as if he was only seeing this smile for the first time.

“Sure, what’s up?”  Chan was casual as he sat down and patted the ground next to him for Hansol.

Taking his place next to Chan in the middle of the hardwood practice room floor, Hansol took a stabilizing breath, one of countless he would need for what he was about to do.  “I was talking to the hyungs, and I guess word has gotten out that you like someone.”

Chan’s posture was immediately alert, though his expression was sheepish and little bit of something that Hansol couldn’t place.  “That’s right...”  He glanced at Hansol to continue before averting his eyes, suddenly determined not to make eye contact with the other boy.

“Well,” Hansol was suddenly not sure how to continue.  He had rushed in without a plan and the smooth and honest confession he had envisioned was quickly crumbling from foreseeable reality.  “What are they like?” He settled on, immediately wanting to punch himself.  He was trying to confess his own feelings goddammit, not learn more about his love rival he had already lost to.

“Really nice, they’re really nice.”  Chan said, playing with a loose thread at the hem of his sweatpants.  Hansol was deliberating over his response when Chan added “They’re always helpful and encouraging, they’re hard working, but sometimes I worry they’re working too hard...” Chan cracked a fond little smile and shook his head.

Hansol’s insides were hot and cold with equal parts jealousy and despair.  He needed Chan to stop talking before his heart cracked completely in half.  “Actually,” he interjected with a hint of desperation.

Chan stopped and looked a bit embarrassed at being caught mooning over this mystery person.  “What is it?”

“Forget that question, pretend I didn’t just ask you it.”  Hansol gulped.  “Before I break something.”  Chan was looking at him weird now.  Hansol gritted his teeth and pressed on.  “I’m really sorry that you like this person, sorry for myself that is, actually I’m angry with myself for not realizing earlier, I know you like someone else and there’s nothing I can do to change that, but the thing is, I like you.”  Hansol felt like the world’s biggest idiot the moment his confession left his mouth.

Chan was looking at him wordlessly, and Hansol rushed to fill the silence.  “I just wanted you to know, it’s something pretty important so you know...  But I totally get it! This person you like seems like they’re really something and I’m sure they’ll treat you right, I wish the best for you guys...”  Hansol trailed off, having exhausted the endless stream of stupid things he had to say today.

Chan blinked.  Was that a look of disbelief... and a blush?  “Hansol, the person I like...” the maknae’s eyes flickered to the side before returning to Hansol’s with a look of determination, “is you.”

Hansol’s mouth fell open.  “Um,” he said eloquently.

“So, now that we’ve got everything out in the open...”  Chan scooted impossibly closer until Hansol could count his individual eyelashes.  The younger boy was looking up at him with a sweet, bashful, almost unsure expression, cheeks dusted pink.  A couple beats passed and Chan tucked the tiniest sliver of his lip into his mouth while his eyes slid to the side.  Hansol realized with dizzying clarity that Chan wanted to kiss him, and was waiting for his approval.  Barely aware of himself over the roar of blood in his head, Hansol drew his hand up to Chan’s jaw, gently tilting his head just so, and closed the distance between their lips.  Chan’s lips were chapped but surprisingly soft in the chaste kiss they shared for just a couple fluttering seconds.  

They separated and locked eyes before diving in again, Hansol’s hand finding its way into Chan’s hair.  The uncertainty from the first kiss was gone, replaced by curiosity.  Hansol slotted their lips together with purpose before experimentally across Chan’s bottom lip, right at the seam where his top lip met the bottom lip.  The effect was almost immediate, as Chan gasped and opened his mouth enough for their tongues to meet.  The younger boy was clutching at the front of Hansol’s shirt leaving creases that would have to be ironed out.  Their kiss deepened further, and Hansol tugged at Chan’s bottom lip, eliciting a whine that made him pull away before he went too far in the heat of the moment.

They broke apart, Hansol still speechless.  Chan looked equally dazed, huffing through red lips slick with spit.  Hansol’s head went spinning at the thought of having been the one to do that to him.

“Everyone knew but you, idiot.” Chan eventually said, but he was smiling so bright under the fluorescent practice room lights that Hansol would surely go blind.

“I was worried it was someone else, alright?  Think about a guy’s heart for once.”

“I’ve already been thinking about yours for a really long time...” Chan mumbled.

“It’s too bad I’m not a psychic then.” Hansol pouted, trying to play off the way Chan’s words made his face feel like hot lava.  Looking at the maknae though, he realized he wasn’t the only one feeling that way.  He caught the younger’s eyes and they shared a genuine smile of pure happiness.  Hansol leaned in and whispered in Chan’s ear “I have a bad feeling the hyungs will show up with party poppers at any point.  Let’s go back to the dorms before they barge in here screaming, okay?”

Chan nodded and stood, offering his hand to Hansol to help him get up.  Hansol took it and held on, not planning on letting go for a long, long time.