all names in this scenario are made up at random and do not refer to other idols or anything.

requested by anon

“Hey!” your friend Seoyun calls out to you as you’re closing the door to your locker, “ready to go?”

“Yeah, just gimme a sec,” you reply, making sure you have all the books you need before shutting the lock and swinging your bag over your shoulders. You check the time on your phone - it’s almost the time the bus comes, meaning you need to hurry if you want to catch Minjae before he leaves.

Minjae - the subject of your one-sided crush for the better part of a year. While you’re pretty sure he doesn’t actually like you back, you can’t help but enjoy the way your heart flutters when he says hello to you when you run into him (okay, you always say hi first, and he’s nothing if not polite), or catch a glimpse of him on the bus ride home (okay, you take the same bus he does on purpose, because while it still does get to your house, it takes an extra fifteen minutes).

He’s just... nice. Nice to look at, nice as a person. He’s kind of untouchable, but who doesn’t like to fantasize about a guy like that sometimes?

Seoyun sighs, hooking her arm through yours as she pulls you to the bus stop. Minjae isn’t there, though, which is odd - usually he’s there pretty early, since his last class is closer to the bus stop than yours is.

“Your little crush isn’t here?” Seoyun teases, but she seems curious as well.

You don’t say anything in response, but you keep an eye out, peeking around the other people every so often to try and see if you spot Minjae.

Eventually, he arrives just as the bus does - but he’s got his arm linked together with another girl. You recognize her from one of your classes, but you don’t know her too well.

“Are they...?” Seoyun asks, as your heart sinks.

“Looks like it,” you reply, your voice dull as she leans up to whisper something in his ear.

“I wonder when that happened,” your friend muses, but you’re not listening anymore as the two of you board the bus and sit down near the back.

Your eyes drift between the window outside and the back of Minjae’s head, wondering just what he and that girl are talking about and why they’re sitting so close together.

You’re not upset.

Nope.

Definitely not.

Minjae gets off the bus first, waving to the girl he was with and standing at the stop as the bus pulls away.

“You’re glaring,” Seoyun says.

“No I’m not.”

She doesn’t say anything else, but pats your shoulder in a gesture of comfort anyways.

Your stop comes up ten minutes later, and you get off, sighing as you walk home. All you can think about is Minjae and that girl, how they looked so close and looked like they fit well together, how she’s not even a mean girl so you can’t hate her.

Mostly, that she’s not you.

“Yah!” you hear as you approach your front door - it’s Daehyun, who’s been your next door neighbor for as long as you can remember, although he goes to a different school now.

You give him a weak wave as you unlock your door, but he’s having none of it, bounding up right behind you, a puzzled look on his face.

“Hey, are you okay? Usually you’re a little more... expressive.”

“I’m fine,” you reply, trying to inject a little bit of pep into your voice. “Just tired.”

“If you’re sure.” Daehyun doesn’t sound entirely convinced, but moves away so you can go inside in peace.

Once you’re alone, you drop all pretense, immediately heading for your room and collapsing onto your bed. You’re definitely not feeling heartbreak, because there was nothing there to start with, but there’s a feeling in your chest that feels alternately painful and numb.

You reach for your iPod, putting an album of sad songs that you have on and shove your earbuds in your ears, staring up at the ceiling as the song washes over you. Tears start to prick at the corners of your eyes, and you wipe them away with the back of your hand.

You lie there until the entire album plays through, but don’t feel much better as the final notes fade away. As they do, though, you’re aware of someone knocking at the door. You wait a minute, hoping that whoever it is will take a hint and leave, but the sound keeps coming and you’re left with no choice but to see who it is.

It’s Daehyun, holding out a covered plate, with what is presumably some type of food.

“Hey, my mom made some extra kimbap so she asked me to bring some over - have you been crying?”

“No,” you reply on reflex, but your voice sounds off, and Daehyun’s looking curiously at your eyes, which you suppose are probably edged red.

“Something’s wrong, definitely,” he says, deftly walking in before you can shut the door on him. “Wanna talk about it?”

You give him a disparaging look, but he remains undeterred, kicking off his shoes and parking himself on your sofa, uncovering the plate of kimbap and popping a piece in his mouth.

“It’s not gonna eat itself,” he says, looking at you pointedly.

Okay, you haven’t eaten since you got home, and it does sound pretty tempting.

You sit down next to him on the couch, taking a piece of kimbap.

“Tell oppa everything,” Daehyun says, mouth full.

“We’re the same age.”

“Well, whatever.” He rolls his eyes. “Spill.”

You hesitate, eating the kimbap in your hands just to stall. “Promise not to laugh?”

“When have I ever?”

“All the time.”

“...fair point. But I won’t this time. If it’s got you like this, it has to be serious, right?”

You sigh, taking a deep breath. “This guy... I liked him, but it looks like he has a girlfriend now.”

To your surprise, Daehyun doesn’t crack any jokes, his face gone serious. “Oh.”

“And she’s... she’s perfect, probably,” you groan, leaning heavily onto the back cushion of the sofa. “I can’t even talk about her. So I just feel worse.”

Daehyun frowns. “You never know. She could secretly torture kittens or something. Everyone’s got something they wanna hide.”

“Jung Daehyun.”

“What?” he says. “It’s true. Besides, that guy doesn’t know what he’s missed out on. You’re a great girl. I’m surprised you don’t have a boyfriend already, really. You’re pretty, you’re really passionate about things--”

“Daehyun,” you tease, “if I didn’t know better, I would say that you liked me.”

Daehyun suddenly falls silent, shoving three pieces of kimbap into his mouth.

Tension starts to grow in the air as Daehyun’s cheeks start to turn red and all you can do is stare at him.

“Do you like me?” you ask, leaning forward. He can’t possibly...

Daehyun chews, swallows. “Um.”

“Daehyun.”

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Yes.”

Your eyes widen. “Since when?”

“I dunno,” Daehyun says, turning away from you. “Since a while.”

You look down at the fabric of the sofa cushions, letting this sink in. You really had no idea - you and Daehyun had always been close, sure, but he’d never even hinted that he might have feelings for you.

Or maybe you’d been missing out on them the entire time, you think, as you remember all the times you’d spent with him. When had things changed?

“You... you don’t have to do anything about it now. But think about it, maybe?” Daehyun puts the plate down on the sofa and stands up. “I’ll just... go. Sorry about that other guy. He’s an idiot, so don’t feel too beat up about it.”

“Daehyun, wait,” you say, before he tries to leave. “I’m sorry I can’t give you an answer right now. But I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask.” He shoots you a grin, and you show him to the door.

As the door closes behind him, your mind whirls. Daehyun? And you?

If anyone else ever suggested that, you’d probably think they were crazy.

But as you start to think about it more and more... maybe it’s really not.

lol ok endings im sorry idk how to do anything like ever