⥽ 　house 1002.

@⁰² jiwoo k. unlike what the countless romance movies might have led him to believe, there's no firework going off the moment her lips brush against his. it's neither explosive nor fierce. on the contrary, kissing jiwoo is sweet and familiar and changmin thinks it feels a lot like coming home. and just like flowers in may, delicate and tender-petaled, warmth springs forth from every single spot she touches. they converge, then soon morph into liquid inferno coursing through his veins. it burns. and even without looking into a mirror, changmin knows he looks positively flushed — hues of scarlet already crawling up his neck with a startling speed, akin to a wildfire in its rampaging path. "i—" he tries, but his vocal cords fails him as the syllable floats then disperses helplessly in the air between them. to his credit, it's not everyday that your (unrequited?) crush of ten years suddenly decides that kissing you might be a good thing to check off of their today's to-do list. changmin feels.. confused, of course. startled, obviously. but most of all, there's hope, budding beneath his dark brown hues, that maybe.. just maybe.. his affection might not be as one sided as he has believed, after all.

clearing his throat, his tongue darts out to wet his dry lower brim, determined to try again. but it's hard to think when his treacherous heart is thundering so loudly in his ears and before he knows it, jiwoo has already parted her lips and pulled away from him, muttering something about bubble teas which successfully dims the tentative glimmer of his hope. but then, a thought occurs to him. do best friends kiss each other just for some freaking bubble teas...? while changmin might not be the brightest bulb when it comes to feelings department, he's not /that/ dense to not realize that something just.. doesn't add up. this train of thought soon becomes the fuel that feeds his flickering hope and changmin grasps onto the fading strand like a lifeline as his fingers find their way around jiwoo's wrist, preventing her from getting away. "if you don't like this—" here he pauses to gently tug her closer towards his frame, his free hand lifts to tuck a lock of stray hair behind her ear before alighting on the side of her face. his thumb then ventures out to gingerly brush against her lower lip, only briefly, before he continues in a voice barely above a whisper, "— please push me away." once the last syllable fades against the setting sun backdrop, his eyes flutter close and he slowly leans down to capture her lips.

@⁰² changmin j. “h-“ before jiwoo can even complete her sentence, she finds her back colliding against a familiar chest, in the embrace of someone she has loved for the longest time, a place she could call home. “ji…changmin?” she calls out softly after a moment a shot pause, except it comes out more like a whisper. A part of her hopes changmin doesn’t hear the way her voice trembles or the way her heart is thumping so loud and painfully against her ribcage because the feelings for him that she has kept so near and dear would have been a total give away if he did. She’s about to open once again but changmin beats her to it and as soon as she hears the words leaving his lips, she wishes she had done it first.

“o..oh. bubble tea. right. ” jiwoo wants to laugh it off as she should but disappointment is what she actually feels. god, this is so silly, it’s so silly because she knows she shouldn’t expect anything from Changmin, knowing him, he would have acted on his feelings he /did/ actually feel something for her, but it’s been years, years and years of nothing. she doesn’t know why but she can feel her eyes brimming with tears, just as fast as it threatens to fall, jiwoo blinks it back before Changmin can sense anything unusual.

Her hand lingers above his as she mutters a soft, “You’re so silly.” beneath her breath. Jiwoo hesitates for a little bit before reaching down to take his hands into hers, pulling them away so she could turn around to face him. It was perhaps the impulsiveness ingrained in her personality since young — regret later is what her life goes by, but jiwoo gathers whatever courage left of hers as their gazes meet, and in a spur of the moment, she tiptoes and presses her lips against his. The kiss is brief and short but it’s exactly what she imagines kissing changmin to be, soft and delicate. Jiwoo doesn’t regret it one bit but thought of what now lingers at the back of her mind as she pulls away, eyes failing to miss his. “ahem.” She clears , fingers slipping from his hold. “for the bubble tea.”

@⁰² jiwoo k. the moment her lithe fingers find purchase on the fabric of his shirt and consequently tugs him forward, changmin swears the world has stopped turning for awhile. his surroundings melt into puddles of watercolor, pooling at the sole of his feet, and the only thing he can see with a stunning clarity is her. her— with her pair of moonlit eyes which seem to hold numerous galaxies within, the ones he'd like to submerge himself in and never come back up. so close they are, that their breaths start to entwine in an intimate dance and changmin wonders, gaze flicking towards her pomegranate lips, what would it be like to bridge the remaining gap and finally claim his long awaited prize. would it taste as divine as he's imagined? would it take forms of fireworks, exploding in myriads of colors behind their closed lids just like the movies lead him to believe? or would it taste bitter, like broken trust and shattered friendship, disbelief rising like a cresting wave ready to sweep away all that they are? beneath his ribcage, his heart pounds— louder and faster by the second and he could only pray with all his might that jiwoo wouldn't be able to hear it.

the answer to his prayer soon comes in the form of hasty apology and fingers that slip from his shirt, as easily as grains of sand falling through the gap between his fingers, and somehow it feels like he's witnessing a part of her slipping away, as well. his voice gets stuck in his throat, a heaviness that feels too much like disappointment pressing down on his windpipe, and he struggles to breathe even as he allows jiwoo to drag him out of his room. perhaps it's pure impulse, or perhaps it's desperation fueling him. changmin doesn't know and has no time to figure out the true reason— because the next thing he knows, he's already surged forward to usher jiwoo's daintier frame into his embrace, her back gently colliding against the built of his chest while his arms coil themselves around her so naturally. as natural as the shifting between night and day, as natural as the way things fall at the mercy of gravity. and god, does it feel so right. her frame fits perfectly into his, her gentle curves against his jagged edges, as if they were custom made puzzle pieces someone has finally put together.

and there are so many things he would like to say (why does it feel like you're continuously slipping away from me? i love you. please don't go too far from me. do i have absolutely no chance with you?). words, so many of them, crowd within the confine of his chest, their sheer weight causing his ribcage to sink. and some of them attempt to climb their way out, like a bunch of sunflowers seeking scraps of sunlight, but alas— bravery has never been his middle name and the unsaid words quickly turn into ashes in his mouth, leaving nothing but a bitter tang behind. and he knows, even without seeing her expressions, that she must be surprised right now. perhaps her eyes are positively brimming with confusion and hundreds of questions, the very thought of it brings a small smile to changmin's face as he murmurs into her shoulder, "payment for the bubbe tea," as a way of explanation, and hope to god that she won't be able to detect the obvious lie lurking behind the words.

@⁰² changmin j. being a rather light sleeper, jiwoo stirs a little, turning away to the other side as she mumbles something incoherent. She brushes her hand across her lips in attempt to wipe the drool, if any, off the corner her of her lips sleepily, it doesn’t even faze her the slightest that she’s drooling on changmin’s pillow ( or if she even remembers she’s sleeping on his bed ). “ a minute.” jiwoo groans again, this time, she waves her hand in slight annoyance, unaware of floof and changmin’s presence.

It’s only a couple of moments later when she senses a lingering presence beside her despite trying to shoo the said person away. Perhaps it really wasn’t a dream. The moment the gears in her brain starts shifting, she realises that it’s all but a dream and that familiar voice could only belong to one person, ji changmin.

her half asleep self takes a quick moment to appreciate the presence of the boy in front of her, it’s not even subtle the way she squints (read: stares) at him and she wonders to herself when the slow build up of feelings for the male had started, was the way his eyes twinkled the moment he meet hers or the way the dimples appeared at the corner of his brightest smile that would outshine any stars in the sky.

Changmin, she wonders if she’ll ever be able to put a label on him, on them and what they have. Jiwoo had lost count of the years she harboured a crush for him, the way he’s been there for her all these while, through good and bad, through happy and sad. She wonders if she’ll ever have the courage to act on her feelings before he slips through her fingers.

hastily, she has her fingers around his shirt as she pulls him gently towards her, leaving barely a distance between them, she has seen him up close, once, twice, too many times, yet it never failed to make her heart thump loudly in her ribcage so effortlessly.

but at last, she was nothing but a coward, one that was too afraid to step out of her comfort zone, to lose someone she loved so much. “ oh sorry. “ she breathes out, turning away as her fingers slips from his shirt. “ i don’t — yeah.” she really doesn’t know what got over her. “ you’re back, welcome home, min!” she beams, almost like nothing in the past five minutes had happened. “time for bubble tea!” Jiwoo chirps, as she brushes past the other to climb out of bed, fingers not forgetting to grasp onto the other’s wrist as she pulls him out with her. “don’t forget grumpy floof!”

@⁰² jiwoo k. the silence is the first thing he notes upon stepping into their home. it settles comfortably over the furnitures, and the room is aglow with the orange hues of the setting sun. there's no sign of his housemate anywhere in the vicinity, which only strengthens his growing suspicion that she must have fallen asleep again. the thought has him rolling his eyes, but there is an obvious fondness sewn along the edge of his smile as he flicks the light switches on whilst making his way to his room.

the door swings open with a soft click and immediately, his eyes are drawn towards the curled up form atop his bed. his gaze softens and already, he can feel the fluttering of butterfly wings within the confine of his stomach. you'd think that after ten years, the feelings would have toned down some. but his only seems to intensify with each passing day, leaving his heart overflowing and him struggling to keep everything contained.

a soft mewl brings him out of his brief stupor and he looks down to find floof pawing at his jeans. chuckling, he quickly picks him up and settles him in the crook of his arm. "shh, your ma is still sleeping. do you want to wake her?" the answer comes in a tiny meow, tugging another chuckle out of changmin's brims. in no time, his feet have already crossed the room, only to come to a halt beside the bed. she looks so peaceful like this, he muses. the late afternoon sunlight streams from the gap between his curtains, and he allows himself a moment to admire the way it caresses her soft features. an angel, that's what she is. his heart, it swells with adoration.

again, it's floof who grounds him into reality with an admonishing swipe of his paw. 'focus at the task, human!' he seems to be saying and changmin can only reply with an apologetic chuckle, quickly crouching down before his cat could scold him further. placing floof onto the soft mattress, changmin lifts one of his little paws to gingerly touch jiwoo's cheek. "umma wake uuuup. the sun is already setting, please wake up. appa is getting hungryyyy."