Jongin woke up to his phone buzzing loudly next to his head. Annoyed, he picked it up, squinting at the screen. It was eleven in the morning, he must have slept through the night. Sehun was calling him, and although Jongin wasn't really in the mood to talk, he answered anyway. 

"Hey," he said groggily, still in the process of waking up. 

"Jongin, can I come over today? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages." 

"Sorry, not today. Taemin's still sick." Jongin yawned, sitting up. 

"Are you coming to classes today?" 

"I don't know for sure yet, but probably not." 

"Oh, okay..." 

Sensing that Sehun didn't have much more to say, Jongin decided it was time to end the call. 

"Well, I've got to go. Bye, Sehun."

"Yeah, bye." 

Jongin hung up. He looked up from his phone, hearing a noise. Taemin was standing at the entrance to the living room, rubbing his eyes. Anxiety pierced through Jongin's chest. 

"Did I wake you up?" 

Taemin shook his head, leaning against the wall. 

"What are you doing up, then? Go back to bed, you're still sick." Jongin stood up, crossing the living room. 

"But-"

"-No buts. You strained yourself yesterday, you need to rest," he reached up, feeling Taemin's forehead. "You still have a fever. If you want I'll come in there and keep you company. Are you hungry? I can make you something, just tell me, I don't mind. Just please get back in bed, you shouldn't be up." Jongin couldn't help but to fuss over Taemin at least a little bit. 

"I'm fine," Taemin stood up straight, turning and shuffling back to Jongin's room. "Can you come keep me company though? I have nothing to do in there..." 

"Sure." Jongin followed him in, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He climbed under the sheets, settling in. Catching sight of Jongin all the way at the edge, he said,

"You can come closer, you know. I don't bite." 

Jongin scooted towards him, pulling his feet up onto the bed. He wasn't sure exactly what he was even doing in there, yes, he was acting on Taemin's request, but he suddenly felt awkward. He didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. Luckily for him, Taemin spoke again, before Jongin could open his mouth and say something incredibly stupid in an attempt to make conversation. 

"I know you wanted to wait until I got better, but I can't. We need to talk about this-" he gestured with his hands. "us."

Jongin swallowed nervously, nodding. His heart began to pound in his chest and he suddenly felt extremely jittery. Thoughts raced through his mind. He knew it was stupid to wonder, but he couldn't help but to feel nervous that he'd be rejected. Honestly, though, the thing that caused him to feel the most nervous was the fact that whatever happened, whatever either one of them decided, there was no going back. Nothing could be the same after this. Jongin tried not to think about Kyungsoo, but the thought of his previous lover stubbornly remained in the back of his mind, telling him that his feelings for Taemin were wrong, that if he decided to date Taemin, he'd be betraying his first love. Desperately, he attempted to shake it off, focusing instead on answering Taemin. 

"Okay," Even that simple word was diffcult to get out. Taemin looked at him expectantly. "What?"

"Do you have anything you wanna say?" Taemin asked. Jongin shook his head.

"I don't think so..."

Taemin sighed.

"Okay, so I guess I'll start then. I think it's been pretty obvious how I feel about you, but I still want to say it anyway," the boy's pale face was turning pink, and he looked down at his hands. "I, uh, I feel the same way. I like you a lot too, Jongin. I just didn't know if or when I should say it." 

Jongin felt his face heat up, but he did nothing to hide the blush that he knew was quickly spreading. He was unable to do anything but stare at the boy in front of him, mind going completely blank. Taemin looked up at Jongin shyly, face still flushed. Jongin finally came to his senses, a jumble of conflicting emotions flooding through him all at once. 

"It won't be easy, you know. I'm- I'm still..." Jongin trailed off, unsure if he should continue with his sentence. 

"I know," Taemin answered. "But I'm willing to try. I think we can make it work, somehow. It's never easy, but I want to see you happy. I know I'm not the same as him, I'm not going to ever try to replace him. But I think maybe you can still be happy with me," Taemin reached out, taking Jongin's hands. "But if you don't want to do anything, I'm not going to make you. We can forget this ever happened." 

Jongin met Taemin's eyes. They were warm and understanding, and Jongin knew he could trust Taemin. He definitely didn't want things to go back to how they were. Who knew, maybe Taemin was right, maybe he could be happy again, and without Kyungsoo. It was a strange and almost frightening thought, but would it really be such a horrible thing? Deep inside him, a little voice whispered that yes, it would be, but he pushed it down. Jongin knew what he was going to do, and there was no going back. 

"I- I want to try. I don't want to go back to how we used to be. I just... I'm scared, Taemin." 

"It's okay to be. It makes sense that you are. But you don't have to worry, we'll take it slow, okay? And you can tell me anything, so if there's something you're not comfortable with yet, just say so. We won't do anything you don't want to." 

Jongin nodded, looking down at his hands, which were encompassed between Taemin's smaller ones. 

"Thank you." Relief overtook most of Jongin's fear, letting him relax, though only slightly. 

"Come here," Taemin said softly, squeezing Jongin's hands. Jongin removed his hands from Taemin's, pushing himself so that he was sitting next to the sickly boy. He leaned over, resting his head on Taemin's shoulder. 

"So, question," Jongin started before pausing for a moment. Taemin nodded. "What does that make us, then?" 

Taemin was silent for a few seconds. 

"Boyfriends? If that's not too forward for you, I mean." 

"No, it's fine, I think I like it," Jongin smiled, a warm feeling growing inside of him. "Boyfriends." 

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I GOT THIS CHAPTER OUT ON TIME (sorta) !!!! I'm so happy I was so worried I'd end up doing another double post :,) 

Anyways, look what happened! I hope you like it, haha. :D 

Sorry that it's kinda short, but it's really late at night and I wanted to get it published... 

I need to go to sleep now though, I'm seeing EXO later today! I'm so excited I'm so glad they're coming to my city :D

Also thanks to all my lovely subscribers, you guys are the best! <3

Thanks for reading! <3

-H