---

Sometime in the afternoon, Sehun sits across from Jongin while sipping on some chocolate boba tea at their local bubble tea café. (He suggested that they meet up here after waking up and remembering that Jongin called him earlier.) He currently frowns as he notices the prominent eyebags and worry lines on Jongin's face. Then, there's the fact that Jongin's nodding his head and mumbling softly to himself.

"Jongin," Sehun says.

Jongin doesn't respond and only brings an index finger to his own lips and pushes upwards--now looking right through Sehun.

Sehun sighs. He doesn't know how Jongin manages to do this (i.e. stay awake even when he looks dead- tired).

One time during high school, their study hall teacher was giving them and their fellow classmates a lecture about something--Sehun forgot what. But, he distinctly remembers how Jongin had closed his eyes and fallen asleep in a way that made it look like he was deep in thought about whatever their teacher was speaking about. Jongin would tilt his head and body every now and again while sleeping, and it wasn't until after the lecture ended and everyone started getting up that he opened his eyes and got up too like he wasn't just sleep-waking or whatever.

In fact, he kept on doing that so much that their classmates started calling him Jong-inception. Of course, their teacher noticed he was actually sleeping every time he did it, but since he was their favorite (and it was a study hall class), they took pity on him and let him sleep.

It was funny to see at first, but the more times he did it, the more sad it looked. People would come up to him and ask why he always looked so tired and he'd just shrug and yawn. But with them graduating, and Jongin getting a job, his sleep habits seem to have changed for the better. It's not like they have to wake up at six in the morning anymore, so Sehun hasn't seen him look this exhausted in a long while.

"Jongin," Sehun says again, his eyebrows tilted up in concern. Jongin slightly twitches and blinks a few times before some light returns to his eyes. "Go home."

Jongin slowly furrows his eyebrows and yawns. "...What? But we just practically--"

"No. Get some sleep."

"But--but...you said I should just ask him out and I dunno if--"

"Wait, I did?" Sehun asks, genuinely surprised.

Jongin nods.

"Tch, well forget I said that." Sehun fixes his own bangs before continuing, "What ya gotta do is take it slow. Don't rush it."

Jongin lowers his eyes to the table and murmurs, "But I like talking to him..."

"And? You can keep talking to him...but asking him to be your boyfriend so soon seems like a bit much."

"I know, that's why I feel confused!" Jongin whines, looking up at him. A few patrons look over at them and Jongin slinks a bit into his own seat.

"'Kay, I'm gonna give you some advice. From a pro." Jongin scoffs. "Just keep hanging out with him. You don't wanna rush things and then make it seem like all you want is his , right?" Sehun pauses. "Even though you probably do haha."

Jongin opens his mouth to retort that, his cheeks raising as he blushes, and Sehun beats him to it. "Don't even try."

Jongin leans back into his seat and crosses his arms over his chest. "Ugh...it's just...what if he's dating someone else? Like...what if he kissed someone--ed someone--"

"So what? You've done all that too."

"Yeah but...what if he finds someone else that's...better than me?" Jongin murmurs, his expression getting sadder.

"Ugh...if he goes on dates with someone else--so what? Show him why you'd be the person to stick with then."

Jongin looks up at him at that and they continue talking about the topic for a few more minutes before Jongin yawns and says that he'll wait then. Sehun nods in approval and continues drinking his boba tea as Jongin brings up another topic to talk about.

-----

"...I told him that guy was a , but did he listen? No," Sehun says, as they both leave the café and walk towards a convenience store. "Now he's all heartbroken...and I mean I feel bad but...I also ing knew this would happen so..."

"Uh-huh," Jongin says, smiling as he reads a text from Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo~: Fml. It's three and we're still cooking food for dinner

Jongin chuckles to himself and texts back What kinda food? as he and Sehun head inside the convenience store. (Earlier, he had said that he wanted to buy an energy drink for himself to wake up a bit.)

"...Then, we went over, right? And when we got there..." Sehun continues.

Jongin nods, barely listening to him as he reads what Kyungsoo just texted back.

Kyungsoo~: Eh, the typical...Chicken, beef, some fruit pies...cake...

Damn, you're making me hungry TT.TT, Jongin texts back as he and Sehun pass by a few aisles.

"...I don't think I've ever seen someone puke so much."

Jongin lifts his head to look at Sehun and furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, what?"

Sehun turns to look at him with a frown. "You didn't listen to a word I was saying, did you?" He dramatically whips his head in the other direction. "The disrespect."

Jongin laughs and places a hand on his shoulder, and Sehun dramatically shrugs away from him before crossing his arms over his chest. Then, he swats at Jongin's arm and Jongin asks how he can make it up to him while still laughing.

"Hmm, well..." Sehun starts to say, b