Taekwoon felt his heart ache with every little sigh that escaped Jaehwan's lips. Jaehwan had seemed so out of it lately, and Taekwoon wasn't given any explanation as to why. He couldn't help but glance at him every once in a while during their walk home from Hongbin's house, and he noticed how sad and conflicted Jaehwan looked. It really hurt him to see his best friend so unhappy, and he couldn't help but think that it was partially his fault.

Jaehwan had been avoiding him. Not severely, but enough for Taekwoon to wonder if he had done something wrong. They had resolved everything from Jinsu's party and everything after that. Taekwoon couldn't think of anything that he could've done to upset his friend. They were ok. They were back to normal. They were talking like normal and hanging out like normal and holding hands like nor- oh. They weren't back to normal after all.

He wasn't really sure when it started happening, but somehow they started holding hands. Maybe that's why Jaehwan had been distancing himself. Maybe Jaehwan was actually disgusted by holding hands with Taekwoon, but he kept letting it happen so he wouldn't hurt Taekwoon's feelings. But that didn't make much sense. Taekwoon hadn't even noticed that they were holding hands regularly. Jaehwan wouldn't have noticed either, right? It just kind of happened. Taekwoon didn't understand his own thought process and instead looked at Jaehwan again.

"Stop doing that." Jaehwan stopped walking and looked at Taekwoon. His face was slightly red and Taekwoon wondered why.

"Stop doing what?" Taekwoon wondered if Jaehwan had read his mind or something and was telling him to stop confusing himself.

"Stop looking at me. You keep looking over at me and it's freaking me out."

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out."

They continued their walk back home in silence and arrived after a few minutes. Taekwoon released Jaehwan's hand to take out his keys and open the door. Wait. They were holding hands. Once again, Taekwoon had failed to notice. He was pretty sure that was a bad thing.

"Taekwoon?" Jaehwan nudged him in the side and snapped him out of his thoughts. "The door won't unlock itself."

"Right, sorry." Taekwoon resumed his task of unlocking the door to his house, and he dropped his keys. "Sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Taekwoon." Jaehwan waited until Taekwoon looked him in the eyes. "What's bothering you? You're not usually this clumsy."

"What?" Taekwoon let out a nervous laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing's bothering me. I'm fine. I'm not bothered by anything. It's not like I'm wondering why you've been avoiding me or anything. Wait. Shoot. I didn't mean to say that. Crap." Taekwoon shut himself up and picked up his keys to successfully open the door.

"I haven't been avoiding you." Jaehwan stared a little guiltily after entering the house. "At least, I haven't been meaning to. Have I really been avoiding you?"

"No, haha, not at all. I don't know why I even said that. Everything's fine."

"Taekwoon, I'm really sorry about avoiding you. I really didn't mean to. I've just...needed time to sort things out for myself." Jaehwan noticed that Taekwoon looked a little hurt.

"Do you feel like you can't talk to me anymore?"

"What? No. Why are you saying that?"

"It's just-" Taekwoon took a deep breath. He didn't know why he was so upset all of a sudden. "We haven't really talked ever since...yeah. I mean, we're talking, but we haven't really talked, you know? Normally, if something was bothering you, you'd tell me. But right now, lately I mean, you've been avoiding me. Well, not like avoiding me. Just, well, I feel like you've been distancing yourself from me or something. I dont know. Sorry. Forget about it."

"No, wait, we're not going to forget about this. If you want to talk, let's talk. I'll tell you what's been bothering me. Just...just don't hate me for it." Jaehwan looked really nervous, and Taekwoon felt bad. "Yeah, I'll tell you about it. I might as well. It'll be good, maybe. Or you'll end up hating me. Something will happen."

They both went quiet, and they were just standing awkwardly in the doorway. Jaehwan coughed a little and walked toward the living room. Taekwoon trailed after him, feeling confused about what was even happening between them at the moment. He was supposed to be the one about to confess something. At least, that's what he thought was going to happen when he started rambling. He wasn't sure about anything anymore. All he knew was that he was telling Jaehwan about how he was upset about the distance that was growing between them again, and now Jaehwan was about to tell him something that was probably important. Of course it was important. Everything Jaehwan said was important.

"Ok." Jaehwan seated himself and faced Taekwoon without looking directly at him. "Ok. Yeah. Ok. So. Ok." Jaehwan took a deep breath. "Yeah. Ok. I'm about to tell you what's been bothering me lately. Yeah. This is what's happening. I'm going to tell you everything. Yeah. Ok."

"Jaehwan?" Taekwoon reached for his hand before realizing what he was doing. He let it drop on the couch space that was between them. "Please don't be nervous. You can tell me anything." Taekwoon realized that he wasn't as nervous anymore. Jaehwan seemed to be more nervous than he was, and that worried him more than anything.

"Right. Yeah. I can tell you anything. Yeah." Jaehwan paused to take a few more deep breaths. "So basically, I've been having...thoughts. Thoughts I shouldn't be having because they're obviously ruining our friendship. Anyway. I haven't been feeling right ever since we...yeah. But the thing is, it felt right when we did that, and that's wrong. At least, I'm pretty sure that's wrong. It shouldn't have felt right, right? Obviously not, because if it was right, all of this stuff wouldn't be happening to us and me and to my head and my feelings. I don't know. I'm not making sense. None of this makes sense. All I know is that I've been feeling...feelings. I've been feeling feelings for you and that's weird. Right? All that's been going through my head lately is that I want to...I want to...dammit. This is hard to admit. I've been thinking about...about kissing you and being with you and us being together and more than friends but I shouldn't be thinking that. . Wow. I actually just said that out loud. I actually just told you that. I actually realized that I actually like you. A while ago. After Valentine's Day. Because you had...you kissed my neck which for some reason was this like eye-opener for me or something because I realized that wow, I like my best friend. That's weird, isn't it? Hakyeon thinks I've liked you for a while. Since even before we kissed, he says. I told him everything. Isn't that weird? I've been so confused and messed up that I actually went to Hakyeon and told him this stuff. But yeah. I've just...yeah." Jaehwan finally looked at Taekwoon, looking like he was on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry. This is stupid. I'm stupid. I've messed up. I couldn't help it. I don't know why this is happening. I just know that this is crazy. I'm crazy. And I like you. I like you, Taekwoon."

Taekwoon's heart had started beating quickly in his chest in the middle of Jaehwan's speech. Jaehwan liked him. His hands were shaking slightly, and he formed them into fists to get them to stop. His best friend liked him, and for some reason, everything made sense. Taekwoon wasn't sure why or how, but it felt almost as if the world had righted itself without him even realizing that it had tilted off of its axis. His best friend liked him, and Taekwoon felt like he was soaring through the clouds.

"I-" Taekwoon's voice cracked on that single syllable, and he couldn't help but laugh a little. It was so simple, but they had somehow managed to complicate everything. "Wow. You just told me you like me. You just told me you like me and my heart feels like it's going a mile a minute and it feels great. This is so...wow we made a mess out of everything. It took all of the things that happened between us from Jinsu's party to now to have this conversation with each other. I just...wow. I like you too. I don't know how I didn't realize this until now. I've been so confused and conflicted and focused on trying to get things right between us again that I didn't realize I was doing everything wrong. This is amazing. This feels great. You like me, and I like you. I like you. I'm stupid for taking this long to realize it."

Jaehwan was staring at him with wide eyes, but there was an unmistakable glimmer happiness that was waiting to reveal itself fully. Taekwoon's lips formed into a smile, and he couldn't help but tackle Jaehwan. It wasn't a very good idea, considering they fell off the couch, but their limbs becamed tangled together and Jaehwan was laughing and everything felt perfect. Taekwoon felt his body vibrating from Jaehwan's laughter and he was just so warm and being so close made his heart beat in a way that made him feel tingly and pleasant.

"We're stupid." Jaehwan's laughter had calmed into little giggles, and he was holding tightly to Taekwoon's waist. "We're so stupid, Taekwoon. Here we are, after everything we've been through, telling each other that we like each other as if we've known it all along."

"We are stupid." Taekwoon agreed with a large smile on his face. "But now the world feels right, and I didn't even notice that it felt wrong before."

"Yeah, I feel like that too." Jaehwan went quiet, and they stared at each other with all the emotion that they hadn't realized was there all along. "I'm sorry, for avoiding you and making things difficult. I really didn't mean to."

"You don't have to keep apologizing. We both did some things wrong, and that's ok. The way we are right now, that's what makes it ok."

They were still lying on the floor, facing each other and impossibly close. Jaehwan sighed contentedly when Taekwoon pulled him somehow closer, and he watched as Taekwoon's gaze shifted to his lips. His breath caught, and he closed his eyes as Taekwoon slowly leaned in.

They kissed slowly but with all the passion they could convey, and nothing could have felt more perfect than that.

A/N: yo

I am here. Alive. With this chapter. Finally. Yes.

I AM SO SORRY FOR KEEPING YOU GUYS WAITING FOR LIKE FOREVER IT'S BEEN LIKE TWO YEARS NO JOKE I AM SO SO SO SORRY

but here is this chapter that I hope turned out well I figured it was appropriate considering how long I've made you guys wait and how long it was taking keo in general

so yeah

I love you guys sorry again