Yoon Jeonghan was in trouble.

Well, maybe he wasn’t in trouble yet, but he certainly felt like he was going to be in trouble sooner or later. There was already a light buzz in his system from all the shots he was made to drink and it wasn’t even close to midnight; surely there were rules about that sort of thing and why it wasn’t advised to be done, but he was Jeonghan, after all. Sometimes, he didn’t care about rules and the fine print involved.

Such as, he realized belatedly, the fine print involved when it came to his little lie with Jisoo.

Not so little now after he told everybody at the party that they were dating, though.

In his defense, it wasn’t his intention to let everybody know; he had told Dongho that they were dating because he knew the other had been trying to ask him out since forever and Jeonghan needed a decent excuse to get out of it. He knew it would reach Dongho’s circle of friends, but didn’t predict that it would be the talk of the night. It was a lost cause the moment the news reached Yoo Changhyun.

“When did it start?” Changhyun asked, clinging onto Jeonghan’s arm like they were old friends and the blonde figured that they were, in a way, but not in that way.

“The relationship or the feelings?”

Someone in the crowd of people let out a low whistle at his response, which made Jeonghan feel rather proud of himself. He was hardly shy about being the center of attention when the situation called for it and what better situation than a high school reunion? He was sure half of the people were going to forget it by the next morning and move on with their lives, especially those who would be nursing a hangover, so he could entertain for the night.

“Both!” Changhyun answered for everybody else.

“Ah, well,” the blonde started to say, before pausing just to maximize the suspense. “When have I ever been the type to kiss and tell, guys?”

He didn’t know why everybody was so interested. His ego aside, Jeonghan knew he was popular in their batch, but there were plenty of them dating each other. He was sure he just saw Minki making out in one of the closets a few moments ago, too, but nobody was hunting that particular blonde down. Maybe it was Jisoo’s effect on people, too? He always appeared to be the mysterious, quiet, shy type. Jeonghan wanted to laugh; yeah, they were definitely more interested in the brunette.

They only clung to him because they knew he would be the one talking more.

“We’re so happy for you,” one of the girls piped up with a giggle. “You two have always been so cute together!”

“Definitely,” the blonde girl next to her also said with a pointed nod.

“Have we now?” Jeonghan replied with a secretive smile; entirely deliberate, with the intention of making them think that there was more than met the eye when it came to how close he was with Jisoo even way back then. It must have worked because another girl squealed and he heard a few not-so-hushed whispers erupt once more. He grinned wider, “I’ll make sure to tell him that when I see him.”

“Joshua’s right there, tell him to come over!”

The blonde glanced over at where whoever spoke was pointing and sure enough, spotted a head of dark brown hair and pointed eyes. Jisoo was looking right at him, which means they had spotted each other at the same time, despite the distance in the crowd. Their eyes met and suddenly, Jeonghan felt the room go quiet. He could still feel the loud bass fill the room, but he couldn’t hear anything apart from his own heartbeat, pumping wildly.

There was a pause, and almost in slow motion, Jeonghan watched the way the edges of Jisoo’s lips curved up into an amused smile. The same one he had when Jeonghan suggested they start to fake date in the first place, the same one always present whenever he thought the blonde was doing something endearingly stupid, the same one Jeonghan must have seen hundreds and thousands of times since they’ve been friends.

And yet.

“,” the blonde muttered mostly to himself as he felt his chest tighten, his senses rushing back unwanted.

He was in trouble.

Thankfully, Changhyun’s grip on his arm loosened as his alcohol muddled brain tried to understand what was just said, which meant he could finally escape from the crowd.

Jeonghan slipped away and opened the first door he could find. He was pleasantly surprised to find an empty bathroom that didn’t smell like an entire night of mistakes. Any other day and he would have been pickier about the way his knees gave out on him, causing him to slide down to the hard, tiled floor that was way too cold underneath him. That was fine. Jeonghan needed some sort of anchor as he gathered his thoughts.

The acting and the alcohol was getting to his head. That was the only real, reasonable answer to why he suddenly felt like one look from Jisoo could make him forget his own name. That had only happened one time before, just once, and it was when they first met. Jeonghan chalked it down to the way Jisoo was a new face in their school. He soon forgot all about it, which made befriending the new student a lot easier. He hasn’t thought about it since.

That was a lie, his mind supplied, bringing back memories he thought he had managed to erase.

He thought about it sometimes, maybe, once in a blue moon.

Jeonghan thought about it one more time the first time he saw Jisoo all dresse