Jeonghan realized, slowly yet surely, that he was a bit of an idiot. He knew that waiting for someone else to make him happy wasn't good, that it wasn't healthy; not only just for him but for anyone else that did the same, also. His life had become a drama as of late, and Jeonghan couldn't even imagine what would've happened if him and Jisoo wouldn't have talked things out, didn't actually try to make things turn out okay between the two of them.

     The attempts started cautiously, Jeonghan and Jisoo starting to talk more here and there. Not nearly as much as before, no - but now there was a mutual understanding between the two, something that they could cling onto, something that would convince them that slowly building things up again would be the best way to go about it. 

     Before everything crumbled to the ground again, crashing and burning, this time broken beyond repair. 

     Jeonghan shook his thoughts away, pulling his long, newly ash blonde colored hair into a loose pony tail on the top of his head. He refused to think much of it, no matter how far his thoughts would pull him into that direction. 

     For now, Jeonghan would get ready to go and hang out with his friends, and enjoy the night like the teen should've been doing in the first place. This time he actually wanted to go out, to get his mind away for a bit - or well, however much possible. 

     He had talked to the guys previous that Friday night and they had shared with him that Jisoo would be going, also; not that this surprised Jeonghan or anything, he expected the ginger haired boy to be there - it's just that Jeonghan wasn't sure that he was ready to be with Jisoo for that long after all that had happened. 

     Which sounded ridiculous, Jeonghan knew that. He should just continue on like nothing was out of the ordinary, and if Jisoo decided to make it awkward or went to say something about the night that the two had shared, then so be it. Jeonghan could deal with that when (and if) the situation came; not now, not when he was finally feeling okay about everything. 

      Sending one more glance at the mirror, Jeonghan fidgeted with his long sleeved grey cardigan for a moment, glancing down at his tight black jeans and white shoes to match. Deeming that he looked okay enough to go out, Jeonghan nodded, turning off his bathroom's light and stepping into his room for a moment. Grabbing his wallet and his phone, Jeonghan wondered his way down the stairs, calling to his parents that he was going out to the movies with some friends. 

      After hearing their goodbyes, Jeonghan tugged on the wooden handle of the front door, then walked out of the house, bounding down the steps until he came to be a few feet away from Seungcheol's car that was waiting in the drive way. Jeonghan could clearly see the outlinings and movements of seven other boys in the car, and he rolled his eyes fondly, opening the car door and getting into the passenger side beside Seungcheol. 

      One of the perks of being one of the oldest in the group of friends, Jeonghan thought willfully, buckling himself into the seat. He sent a flashing smile to Seungcheol, who greeted him loudly, straight pearly white teeth on display for everyone to see. 

       Jeonghan glanced behind his seat to see who was in the back of the car, which resulted in Jihoon's nearly knocking into Jeonghan's face. Looking dumbfounded, Jeonghan laughed after a moment, and Jihoon's face flushing slightly with a slight hiss of 'shut up' thrown in Jeonghan's direction. Shaking his head, Jeonghan looked around again, this time (thankfully) not getting nearly hit in the face with another body part.

       He noticed Seungkwan next, the Juju boy's loud voice taking over and colliding with the others that he was talking to. 'The others' included Chan, Junhui, Hansol, Soonyoung and Minghao - everyone else would be meeting them at the theater pretty quickly into the night. 

      Jeonghan is greeted loudly, and with a bashful smile and a slight nod of the head, he greeted everyone else back. 

       The car pulled out of the drive way, and then they were on their way to the theater. 

       ~

       Bright lights. That is literally the only thing that Jeonghan registered when he got out of the car, stepping onto the pavement with a little 'hop' in his step. It was nearing 9 o'clock at night, which didn't make it surprising that the sky was then a pitch black color, but Jeonghan could've swore that he would lose his eye sight from how bright the lights that were illuminating the theater were. 

       Anyway. Moving on. 

       Thankfully Seungcheol decided to walk faster than usual (he usually plodded along like a little duckling, and even with how adorable that was, Jeonghan could not stand being behind slow walkers), and quickly the nine boys flooded into the theater, waiting around for a few minutes until the other four friends showed up. 

        Jeonghan sheilds himself away when he saw Jisoo, almost on instinct rather than on actual want. He knew that the other boy had seen him, there was no way to pretend like he hadn't seen Jisoo's expression, even when they had barely glanced in each other's way.

        Stop being such a baby, Jeonghan thought to himself, blowing some of the hair out of his eyes. Just talk to him. What could go wrong? Oh, don't open that door. So many things could go wrong; I mean, I could say the wrong thing and then have us sent back to square one, I could accidently make him feel guilty and then he'll never want to talk to me again, I - 

        Jeonghan's thoughts are cut off when a gentle hand landed on his shoulder, nearly causing the long haired boy to scream in surprise. Looking forward, Jeonghan noticed that the hand belonged to Jisoo, who was looking at him with a tentative smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. 

        Jeonghan let out a shaky breath, one he hadn't realized he'd been holding in, relaxing slightly under Jisoo's touch. Jisoo was familiar, Jisoo was comfortable, Jisoo was like a home away from home that Jeonghan could not afford to lose. 

        Breath in, breath out. 

        Jisoo asked if he and Jeonghan could talk for a moment, and despite really wanting to see the movie that they were originally there to see, Jeonghan nodded, wanting to know what Jisoo could possibly want to say to him.

        "How long is this going to go on? I don't think I can bear being this quiet and awkward around you anymore, Jeonghan." Jisoo came out immediately with what he wanted to say, making Jeonghan falter for a moment. 

         "I... Thought that that's what you wanted? Was some space?" Jeonghan said softly, looking up at Jisoo through his bangs. And Jeonghan was being serious, he really did think that the younger wanted space. It wasn't like he was trying to make the situation more awkward on purpose, or anything. He'd had his fair share of awkward moments in his life already, he didn't need to add to them. 

         "It is, to some degree. That I want space, that is," Jisoo bit his lip, looking up from the sullen ground to place his gaze on Jeonghan, and then continued to speak. 

          "Just not this much. I'm sorry if I'm being confusing, I don't mean to be," you can say that much again, "but you're still my best friend, and no matter how this ends up, I want to still talk to you, at least. And more than just random comments towards each other here and there, but ya know, like, actual conversation." 

           Jeonghan blinked once, twice. Third time's a charm. 

           "Okay." This is all that Jeonghan could think to say at that moment in time, and he had never despised his lack of knowing what to say this much until now - just say something, anything. You don't want him to get the wrong impression. 

            Thankfully Jisoo knew how Jeonghan was, knew that Jeonghan sometimes couldn't come up with things to say right at the moment that the words should've been said. Nodding and grinning at the older of the two, Jisoo clasped their hands together, looking over at Jeonghan to see if he was okay with what Jisoo had just done. 

             Jeonghan doesn't respond, just lets his hand be held, feeling the heat from Jisoo's body radiating off of him and onto Jeonghan's. The two looked up, smiling at the other for a moment, simply enjoying the happiness of being together once again. 

             And that time, Jeonghan promised (not only to just himself, but to anyone else who was listening) that he wouldn't let go of Jisoo again - not then, not ever.