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cryinginmyroomsposts · 9 days ago

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So High School | Dino one-shot

Pairing: Lee Chan x fem. Reader

tags: angst, fluff, fake relattionship, jenny han romcom coded, wooyoung in slightly negative shade (atinys don't come for me, it was just needed for the plot), bestie yeonjun, changbin special appearance, sports reference (not a lot but i tried)

a/n: It took me a whole semester to write this... (thank you adulting☹️) but this is basically a slightly changed, self-indulgent retelling of To All the Boys I Loved with dino being Peter Kavinsky...

masterlist

"You know, if you wanted to kiss me so badly, you could've just asked, right?" God! He was so insufferable and annoying. And mainly, he was completely irresistible.

Lee Chan, the school charmer. The boy who had every girl in high school wrapped around his finger. The gorgeous, talented football captain with the smile of a prince and lips that were meant to be kissed.

But right now, he was the bane of your existence, and he was getting on your last nerve.

“Just. Shut. Up. Chan.” You manage to whisper between catching your breath.

Chan’s smirk stays intact on his face, which is a mere two inches away from yours. The sun is blazing on the football field, making his fluffy brown hair glisten. His left hand is wrapped around your waist, sending cold shivers down your spine despite the heat. His other hand, the one that had scored a touchdown, is pushing stray hair from your face. His hand stays on your chin, tracing patterns. You’re a mess.

Your hands are clutching tightly around his neck, which is why his face is inches away from yours. The adrenaline of Chan scoring the winning point has brought you running down the stands and into this position. But now that he is here, your legs are giving out.

The initial gasps are turning into whispers and giggles.

“Princess, you can’t keep the audience waiting.” Chan’s voice flows like honey. His eyes are gleaming with surprise and mischief. His smile is bright and wide. He traces another pattern on your cheek, and you flinch involuntarily.

“Y/n, people are getting suspicious…” he sounds more serious as he looks around.

“Wooyoung is watching. You’re close to your goal.” The mischief in Chan’s face has been replaced with bitterness.

Oh, right! Wooyoung, the reason all of this began. The boy you’ve been in love with for the last two years. The boy you wanted to charm and make fall in love with you. The reason you’re currently in Chan’s arms.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea…

“Y/n… come on. It’s not like this is our first kiss.” You look at Chan with daggers in your eyes.

He wasn’t supposed to bring that up. But he has a point…

“Chan, I’m nervous. Can you kiss me…” you manage to say. Chan gulps but leans down.

Three. The smell of Chan’s cologne hits your nose.

Two. Chan leans in, blocking the light from your face completely.

One. His glistening eyes are all you see before his lips crash into yours.

Heaven…

Probably your biggest mistake, and your biggest blessing.

But if you could go back three weeks and redo all of this… you’d still choose this. This moment, this boy, his lips, his warmth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three weeks ago

It was a regular day, with spring around the corner and the sun starting to shine brighter. Longer days and the lack of needing jackets always put you in a good mood.

A good day overall. Until that afternoon in the changing room. You overheard three freshman girls gossiping, and that was the beginning of your misery. "Did you guys hear that Wooyoung is looking for a female lead for his directorial drama..." One of the girls' excited voices traveled through the lockers.

"Oh my! Wait, isn’t his drama a romantic thriller? And he's the male lead!" This statement was immediately followed by a pair of squeals that made you roll your eyes.

"Do you think he’ll conduct auditions?" "Oh, I heard he was going to choose Mina." "Why them when Y/N is there? She’s a senior and she’s acted with Woo before..." "Maybe he’s into Mina? Or doesn’t like Y/N?" "Anyways, let’s see what happens… I hope he opens the audition for all of us. Imagine kissing Wooyoung!!"

And with another set of squeals, the girls exited the locker room, and you came out of the locker you had hidden in. Their conversation left you confused and heartbroken.

You had met Wooyoung during your freshman year theatre club auditions and immediately fell head over heels for the charming and handsome guy. It was no surprise that over half the school was in love with him. He was a sight for sore eyes, and his acting held everyone captive.

Your crush on Wooyoung only worsened over the years. You had tried dating a couple of other guys to forget Wooyoung, but every time the rehearsal for the annual school play began, you would realize that no one else could ever make you feel the way Wooyoung did.

Now you feel stupid about your crush. You kept pining for a guy who didn’t even consider you for his drama. A part of you is hurt; it is like all the hope you had built up in your heart came crashing down. But you still wanted to prove to him that you were worthy of his romance. If not in real life, at least on stage.

Did it sound like an extremely stupid idea? Yes. 100 percent stupid, but you were running on emotions.

Unrequited crushes never made anyone more intelligent, anyway!

The run-through that evening had been suboptimal at best; you were not in your head, and it annoyed everyone else. But you couldn’t care less, as neither Wooyoung nor the drama teacher, Ms. Kim, was there. As soon as the session ended, you ran to your car and went straight to the one person you knew could help you—Yeonjun.

Yeonjun was one of the most popular people in your high school—specifically among the ladies. If not for the fact that you grew up as neighbors since the two of you were three years old and had seen each other go through puberty, you'd also be head over heels in love with Yeonjun.

"What do you want now?" were the first words to leave Yeonjun’s mouth when you showed up at his room door. He’s sprawled out on his bed, watching something on his laptop and munching on chips. He’s not in the least surprised to see you there at 9 p.m. on a school night; he’s made peace with your presence. His parents were so used to you being there and treating you like their own child. This annoyed Yeonjun to no bounds, as he usually lost all single-child privileges around you.

"What's got your panties in a knot, Jjunie?" you inquire as you plop yourself on his bed and munch on the snacks he has. This causes him to groan in protest, but he doesn't take the snacks away from you.

"My date this weekend canceled on me," he says with a pout that makes him look like a baby. You can’t help but reach out and ruffle his hair and smile.

"Why are you smiling at my misery, you psycho?" he complains, further deepening his pout. "Aw, sorry Jjunie, you still look like that little kid I met on the front porch when we were 3." The memory of your friendship immediately makes him smile.

"Okay, enough niceties. Now tell me what you want." His demand makes you roll your eyes, but you do realize you’re here on a mission and need his help, so you refrain from retorting back.

"I need your help," you begin. "With what?"

A few seconds of silence, of you biting your inner cheeks and him glaring at you with his most judgmental expression.

"Spit it out, Y/n."

Sigh. "I need your help getting Wooyoung's attention." Your words lead to Yeonjun choking on the last chip he is eating.

"Wooyoung? Jung Wooyoung? My friend Wooyoung? Your drama club partner Wooyoung?" His eyes are bulging like they’re going to drop out of their sockets, and you roll your eyes at his surprise.

"Since when do you like him?"

Ugh, this is feeling like a bad idea. "Since—since freshman year..."

"Holy shit! Y/N!" His mouth is agape right about now. The snacks and laptop are long forgotten.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Because I know you for so long and had no clue. God!" He runs a hand over his hair in surprise, and you just lower your head in shame. It does feel shameful that after all that bold personality you put up, you are ashamed to be yearning for someone for so long. It feels contradictory to the strong, independent woman persona you want to project.

"Okay, I've had my reaction... now let's get to work." Yeonjun sits up straight on the bed, the laptop long forgotten. You are glad he doesn’t make this feel weirder.

Here comes the harder part—the plan.

"I thought we could get his attention by pretending to be a..." you cannot muster the courage to finish the sentence without wanting to jump off a tall building.

"Be a what?" He is eyeing you suspiciously again.

You shrink into yourself more as the word leaves your mouth, "a couple."

The silence after you utter the words is heavy. At least he doesn’t laugh out loud at the idea—that should count as a win, but it doesn’t feel quite victorious as you had expected.

"Y/N... Is that really the only plan you have? Can't you just ask him out like a regular person... he already knows you..." He speaks softly, his words making sense to the logical side of your brain, yet it feels like a punch to the gut. It might’ve been an impulsive idea, but that is all you have for now.

So you gather yourself and heave a deep sigh as Yeonjun looks at you anxiously. "Jjunie... I know it's weird, but I wouldn't have suggested it if I knew a better idea. And it's not about Wooyoung knowing me, it's about him seeing me... you don't need to immediately decide, but please think it over."

Before Yeonjun can say a definite no, you leave his house in a hurry. Poor boy looks so confused as you watch him pout and stare at the wall at what just happened. He is too nice to say no but also a very good friend who would not want to do anything weird, neither do you want to, but something about wanting Wooyoung makes you act all pathetic.

The night is the most restless in a long time. After six hours of tossing and turning, you decide to go to school earlier and work on the new play. After a strenuous day, where you'd almost forgotten about Wooyoung, Yeonjun, and the plan, you run into Wooyoung on the way to your last class. He throws you his classic polite smile and runs down the hall, and it makes your heart drop. He doesn’t even stop to say hi; to him, you'd just be Yeonjun’s neighbor and best friend. The thought makes your stomach churn more, and you decide to catch Yeonjun after his football practice and make him agree to your plan.

And that's how you find yourself power-walking toward the bleachers at 5 p.m. past the hunky, sweaty boys sitting after a tiring practice session. Usually, you'd stay and chat with some of the boys on the team—especially Beomgyu, Heesung, and your favorite Changbin. But today you walk right up to Yeonjun, who looks at you with the utmost surprise.

"Need to talk to you. Now." You sound curt, and he just nods before getting up and leading you to the locker room. It isn’t your first time there, but the place always disgustes you. It smells of sweat, testosterone, and teenage boys. But the conversation is important, so you adjust.

"What's it, Y/n?" He says, stopping in front of his locker and starting to dry his hair with a towel. He looks exhausted, and a part of you feels bad, but you still carry on.

"Did you think about it?"

"About what?" He looks so nonchalant while answering you that for a second, you think you've dreamed your conversation from the previous night.

"Jjunie..." He sighs and faces you fully.

"Y/n, I thought you were joking. Please come up with another idea, please..."

"Yeonjun, it is not a joke. He thinks of me as your friend, and I need him to see me as someone he can date. For that, I need your help. If we pretend-date, he might notice that side of me." Your words leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.

"Y/n, did you maybe consider that you don’t need to do all that for a boy? If someone likes you, they’d see you no matter what..." You sigh.

"Yeonjun, I didn’t come here for your self-love propaganda. I came to hear your answer. If you don’t want to fake date me and help me get Wooyoung’s attention, I’ll find someone else who's willing to do it." He looks defeated. You already know his answer and the explanation, but you want to hear it anyway.

"I won’t do it, Y/n. And I really hope you don’t find someone else for the plan either."

There it is. The blow to your chest. You are disappointed, but do your best to put on a brave face and nod. But before you can say anything, someone calls for him, and you just force a thin smile on your face as he leaves.

When Yeonjun is out of sight, you cover your face with your hands and sigh heavily. Now what...

"I can do it."

The voice comes out of nowhere and startles you so much that you jump out of your skin.

When you look up, there he is at the far right end of the locker room.

Lee Chan.

You know him, but you aren't exactly friends. His reputation of being the school playboy makes you keep your distance from him.

There he is, leaning against the locker with only a towel tied around his waist—abs in full display—as he lazily wipes his dripping wet hair. When you look at him, it makes sense. But you are still unsure of what he said.

"Sorry, what?" You croak out at him.

He straightens up, a smirk plastered on his gorgeous face, and walks toward you. When he is a mere five inches away from you, he stops. You can see his clear-cut abs, water droplets making them glisten. After a good minute, you realize you should probably stop checking him out and force yourself to look at his face (another mistake, because man, is he gorgeous!).

"I said I’ll do it." His face, voice, and words all drip honey.

"Do what?"

"Date you." You are sure your eyes fall out of their sockets at his words. He still smirks, and his eyes gleam playfully.

"What… what do you mean?"

His smile widens as he speaks. "The proposition you offered to Yeonjun now... I can do it. If you're okay with it, that is."

"Oh."

Oh? That’s all you can say!

After making sure you aren't dreaming, you think for a second, and before you can change your mind or regret it, the words spill from your mouth.

"Okay!" His eyes grow big in surprise. He looks devastatingly good when he smiles fully.

"Cool."

The two of you stand there smiling at each other for a while before he clears his throat and breaks the silence. You straighten up and fix your hair in embarrassment.

"Yeah, okay. So I guess we should come up with some kind of agreement... rules, maybe?" Years of watching romcoms gave you the idea, and while you know it is counterproductive, you still want to do it. To have a sense of security.

He raises one of his eyebrows, "Yeah, I guess... whatever you say."

"Okay!"

Why is he agreeing to all of it? What does he get out of it? There are so many questions unanswered, but before you can do anything about it, his phone rings. He answers it with just hums and then turns to leave. You watch him walk toward his locker room and turn around to face you.

"Hey, gotta bounce now, but I’ll shoot you a text and we can discuss the rest of it." You just nod at his words, feet frozen in place. He stares at you for a second before breaking out into a small laugh.

"What?"

"Are you going to stand there and watch me change?" He looks amused. Your face heats up at the implication, and you walk out of there without another look at him.

Only after you go all the way out of the school campus do you question how he will text you and what rules you will lay down.

But there are bigger problems, like studying for the upcoming quiz and memorizing your lines for the play, so you let it slip out of your mind.

Until five hours later when your phone blinks with a text notification.

Unknown Number: Hey Y/n, Chan here!

Your heart leaps to your throat as you drop the play script and pick up your phone to save his number and reply. Just as you hit send, your phone pings with another text.

Yeonjun: Hey, sorry about today... but I hope you understand.

You sigh. In all these years of friendship, you've had several petty fights, but this one feels heavy. You do not like fighting with Yeonjun and hope it will all work out in the end.

Y/n: Hi Jjunie, I am sorry too.

He begins typing immediately.

Yeonjun: We’re okay?

Y/n: Yes!

Before you can switch off your phone for the day, Chan texts back.

Chan: Sooo... came up with the rules yet?

Oh God. Why did you have to commit to that?

Y/n: Not yet.

Chan: Alright. If you're free, we can meet tomorrow and discuss.

Oh! Why is he so interested in this? That’s the question you cannot figure out. But you do not want to throw away the opportunity either.

Y/n: Yeah, I’ll be out of rehearsals at 5.

Chan: Cool. We can meet near the bleachers after 5.

Oh, that was easy!

You know it feels weird to think this would be so easy. The minute you walk toward the bleachers, you can see all the cheerleaders and other girls ogling all the boys playing in the field. And in your years of cheering on Yeonjun, you know that most of the crowd is here for their star player—Chan. Getting to discuss this private matter with him while his fangirls are squealing around him is going to be no easy feat. Not to mention that you have completely forgotten about Yeonjun and the whole team being present. You don’t want him to know that you are going behind his back, especially with his teammate and close friend. He will get to know once the charade is up, but there is no need to rub it in his face this soon. Every minute waiting on the bleachers feels like a lifetime in hell. Your palms get sweaty as more girls gather after classes and their own extracurriculars. You hope Yeonjun hasn’t spotted you yet. Every time it feels like he turns toward the far left corner of the bleachers, you feel your palms getting sweatier.

After what seems like ages, the practice is finally over, and hordes of fangirls slowly trickle out of the bleachers. Now it is time to wait for the man of the hour to show up.

Lee Chan walks toward your seat a good half an hour later with such ease and charisma that it is hard to believe he has just gotten out of hours of rigorous practice.

"Wanted to see your future boyfriend play on the field that badly, huh?" he says with honey dripping from his words and the smug smirk on his face. For lack of a better response, you just roll your eyes.

"Chan, can we just get on with the rules now?"

"I'm pretty sure you already have a curated list you want me to follow, so go ahead, sweetheart." You try your best not to gape at him at the accuracy of his words. You have been so anxious about the rules the whole night that you have prepared a comprehensive list of five points. Without fighting him, you reluctantly give him the piece of paper you have scribbled the rules on.

Y/N + Chan Dating Rules

Do not tell anyone about this arrangement.

PDA: only when Wooyoung or the team are present. (2.a. No kissing. Just holding hands!)

Post each other on social media (posts that can be deleted when the time comes).

Attend each other’s games/shows.

No flirting with other girls (this is exclusively for Chan).

You watch with sweaty palms as Chan reads the five points. His eyebrows raise as if he is questioning them. Truth be told, you are questioning the points yourself.

“Really? You had to write the fifth point?”

He looks up, waving the paper accusingly, and his expression is somewhere between anger and amusement. You were hoping it would lean more toward the latter.

You try to smile and shrug it off, but he just stares at you in disbelief.

Before you can cave in and apologize, he angles himself in his seat facing you. Suddenly, your face is in his palm—a bruised and calloused palm—and his face is alarmingly close to yours. You can see every freckle on his face, the twinkle in his eyes, and the water droplets on his hair from the post-practice shower. Your heartbeat is pounding in your ears.

God, this is a gorgeous man.

“Sweetheart, do you really think I’d look at another girl, much less flirt with her, when you are sitting here looking so pretty…”

WHAT?!

Did he say… that! Why?! Am I having a stroke?!

It would’ve been easier to think you were having a stroke, but instead, the tickle on your skin where his palm met your face is telling you that this is real. Lee Chan is sitting here and telling you that you’re pretty. Lee Chan is flirting with you.

And you need to stop it. For your own sake.

And Wooyoung, of course.

So you straighten yourself up and, with every ounce of energy in your body, remove his hand from your face.

“Hey! Rule 1. No flirting unless Woo or anyone he knows is around! How are you already breaking the rules…”

What began as an amused expression on Chan’s face changes to outright laughter.

Chan is laughing at you. And all you can do is recognize how young and charming he looks while laughing.

“Oh—okay, wow. You were serious,” he says in between breaths, stopping his laughter.

“Yeah, I was, idiot!”

He raises his hands in surrender with a big smile plastered on his face. “Alright, ma’am. I’ll follow all the rules from now on.” He ends his sentence with a mock salute.

Eye roll.

“Sooo, you don’t have any suggestions or changes?”

“Nope.” He says as he reads through the rules once more.

Well, that was easier than I thought!

From then on, Chan just agrees to everything you say, and you go through the rest of the rules within the next thirty minutes.

By the time you are done with the list, you are exhausted from sitting and talking under the hot sun in the bleachers. You can’t wait to go home, make some nice lunch, and take a nap. So, you begin to pack your bags and leave when Chan stops you.

"What now?" you scowl, hoping he won't waste further time on your one free day of the week.

"Wow, so grumpy..." he snickers as he picks up your bag despite your very little protest.

"Let me buy you lunch, Grumpy." He says with an easygoing smile, and even though you want to fight back, you don't.

Lunch with Chan turns out to be a pleasant ordeal. He takes you to a small bistro near school, and the two of you chat about anything and everything in the world. You would’ve never guessed that a conversation with a professional pretty-boy jock like Chan would be so rich and funny, but he has a breezy manner of carrying the conversation and making you laugh often.

He drives you back home, and you realize this is the best meal you’ve had with another person, and it has nothing to do with the food.

Chan also officially takes your plan into action by posting a misleadingly cute photo of your lunch on his Instagram. You have no idea when he took the photo, but you look at yourself in the picture, smiling widely at something he had said minutes prior. For the first time, you might actually like a candid smiling picture of yourself. And for the first time since your dad, someone has paused to take a picture of you that you didn’t ask for.

You chuckle as you see his post again, and just as a text pops up on your phone.

Chan: Now that I’ve kept up my side of the deal, it’s your turn to post something.

Oh shit.

You curse yourself for forgetting one of the rules and not taking a picture of him.

Chan: Unless you didn’t think of taking a picture of me…

You facepalm at Chan’s cheeky message and start to whine loudly in your room at your stupidity as Chan blows up your phone with sad face emojis.

Uff... Such a drama queen!

You let your head fall back on your bed, cursing yourself until it hits you... you did in fact take a picture of him that day when he was playing.

Excited at this realization, you immediately begin posting the photo. You can’t help but admire yourself for capturing his sincerity and athleticism so perfectly in your shot.

As you post, you realize how hot Chan is.

Wait, what...

Your phone keeps buzzing with likes, replies from friends, and two texts that have all your attention.

Chan: Mhmmm, good to know my fake girlfriend likes to watch me play… 😉 Yeonjun: Y/n, you're being stupid.

The first text makes you light up, and the immediate next one makes you scowl. You decide to ignore Yeonjun for now and reply to Chan.

Y/n: Oh please, don’t flatter yourself too much. I did it for the plan, just like you.

Chan: Oh.

You see the typing bubble come on and off for a minute until the reply comes from Chan.

Chan: Mine wasn’t for the plan, you just look beautiful smiling.

It is now your turn to go speechless (or rather, textless), until Chan himself ends the conversation.

Chan: Goodnight, princess ❤

Sleep never finds its way back home to you that night, and the thought of Chan’s smile, Chan’s body, Chan’s texts, and Chan himself fills you up until the sun rises.

Two days later, Chan shows up to your drama rehearsal. The previous day, when you saw Wooyoung in your rehearsal, he was polite as always. There is no hint of him even acknowledging the post made by you or his friend. Meanwhile, some of the other girls and guys in the team start subtly teasing. You are crestfallen at Wooyoung's obliviousness and text Chan that you need to do something more to catch Wooyoung's attention.

Chan takes it upon himself to reply with nothing but a thumbs-up emoji to the dozen messages you have texted him, which has you worried that he forgot about the plan. But when you find him sitting in the second row of the auditorium as you get on the stage, an involuntary smile breaks out on your face.

This earns you a prompt scolding from your teacher, causing you to fix your emotions to reflect your character's despair. With only five days before the big show, you don’t want to mess up, so you reprimand yourself for trying to glance at Chan.

The next time your eyes meet him is when the cast is practicing the final bow. You glimpse at him from your position at the center with Wooyoung and Mina. Chan is smiling wide—nothing out of the ordinary for the cheerful and charming jock. Your smile grows as you watch him clap until he has the loudest clap of all.

"Omg, Lee Chan, what a sudden surprise to see you indoors!" Wooyoung’s voice booms across the auditorium, and the claps die down. This finally snaps you out of the trance you had supposedly been in.

Chan seems to cause that every time he is in the vicinity…

You watch as Chan walks toward the stage where Wooyoung, Mina, and you are standing. He is laughing at Wooyoung’s comment—his usual sparkle spilling pure laughter.

"Haha, when did you become funny, Woo? Can’t a friend come to see his friend rehearse his performance?" Chan quips as they shake hands.

"Friends do, yes, but not Lee Chan, the star football player, who practices seven days a week without fail. In fact, didn’t you miss the last Fall show because you had a match in two weeks that you couldn’t skip training for?" Both the boys laugh as Wooyoung finishes, but you are silent in shock. You don’t know Chan is that disciplined and dedicated.

Chan brushes off Wooyoung’s comment, and the guys laugh it out as you stand there smiling.

"Jokes apart, what brings you here, Chan?" Chan looks right at you as Wooyoung asks this question and holds your hand. Before you can process what is going on, he pulls you toward him. You are standing hand in hand with Chan, facing a very confused-looking Wooyoung. Chan looks at you with a beaming smile before he turns to the other boy and says, "I actually came for her."

Wow… he's good!

You gulp as Wooyoung just stares between the two of you, nodding slowly as he tries to make sense of this. You are glad the rest of the cast has almost entirely dispersed from the auditorium by now, as you can feel yourself heat up under Chan’s stronghold and Wooyoung’s sharp gaze.

Eventually, the latter boy starts smiling—slyly. He mimics a salute to Chan.

"Well done, Chan! Can’t believe you landed the hottest girl in our drama group." As soon as Wooyoung says this, you feel your jaw drop open. Did Wooyoung just call me the hottest girl here…? Did that mean he doesn’t like Mina? Did he already like you? Was this whole plan useless…? Maybe I should just tell Wooyoung the truth now...

Just then, as if on cue, Chan’s grip around your fingers tightens, and you turn to look at him smirking at Wooyoung.

"I can’t believe I landed the smartest and prettiest girl in the school either… I knew she was incredibly talented, but seeing her shine the brightest on stage today was amazing! You’re lucky to see it every day..." Chan says each word with deliberate elaboration, all while holding your hand a little too firmly.

The tension that was supposed to come from Wooyoung seems to be emanating from Chan instead... But Wooyoung seems slightly put off by Chan's reply as his smile turns into a grimace. He looks between the two of you and nods.

"Yeah, she’s amazing... Anyway, I need to go. See you guys..." Wooyoung leaves hastily as he is talking, leaving you to glare at Chan. When Chan finally turns to look at you, he is smiling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Was that comment necessary, Chan?"

"Yeah, it is the truth."

Dammit, he's good... Chan starts leading you out of the auditorium, your hand still in his. "But there was no need to be rude to Wooyoung. He’s definitely the best here..."

Chan stops in his tracks, hearing you. He drops your hand and turns around to face you.

You’ve never seen Chan lose his temper—he is known to be one of the calmest during games, too—but he looks very close to shouting at you. He opens his mouth as if to say something but grunts instead.

After a long sigh, he says, "Alright, it was rude, but he got jealous, didn’t he? Wasn’t that what you wanted?"

You are lost in the words Chan has said that you forget to note Wooyoung’s complete reaction. He does get jealous, hopefully of the right things...

Not wanting to piss off Chan anymore, you nod.

Both of you stay silent the rest of the night as he drives you home from the rehearsal after learning that the bus that should’ve taken you home left while you were picking up your things.

Right as you get down and head toward your house, you hear Chan call your name out and turn to look at him.

"I meant it, you know..." You scrunch your eyebrows, not sure what he is talking about, and he sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I really meant that you were shining the brightest on that stage. I couldn’t take my eyes off you..."

What the...

You gulp and look at him. His eyes are wide, lips pursed together, and tousled hair. He looks sincere and very hot.

You smile. "Thank you, Chan. Good night."

You thought you had experienced all sorts of butterflies there are to be known while acting with Wooyoung in the Fall play, but the tumbling and soaring your heart does at that moment don’t even come close. Maybe this is a bad idea after all...

The following week goes by much smoother than the start. Chan shows up everywhere at school—before classes, during breaks, after school, after rehearsal, and lunch. He chooses to eat with you instead of at the table with his guys. He drives you home the whole week as a show of romance and even brings you homemade meals and flowers. All of which he makes sure to show off in front of the cafeteria or the drama club members.

Honestly, you are loving all the attention. Chan makes your life easier by taking care of your lunches and driving you home, which makes you less anxious about prepping more for the show.

You do your best to watch Chan play and even manage to cheer for him from the bleachers during touchdowns. He is so focused and precise while playing that it gives you chills each time. But the minute the game is over, he comes over to you with a big smile and eyes shining like diamonds. And that is incentive enough to go sit through another game of football for him. Luckily, his big match is a week after your show, and you’d be able to go support him without the tension of the show.

Through all these antics, the two of you are the talk of the school. Most people are very happy for the two of you—except Chan’s fangirls, Yeonjun, and Wooyoung.

Yeonjun keeps throwing glares your way whenever you show up to a game and waits outside your house to talk to you, but you keep giving excuses.

Wooyoung, on the other hand, has taken a passive-aggressive approach by constantly commenting on how theatre kids are better than jocks. He keeps showing off and asking if the football players can sing and dance at the same time like him.

Usually, receiving specific shows of Wooyoung’s talents and him making so many continuous unprovoked conversations would’ve sent you flying to the next galaxy in joy. But now, everything Wooyoung does makes you think that Chan could definitely do it better. And if you are not aware of Chan’s ability at something Wooyoung is demonstrating, you immediately text Chan about it.

Texting—that’s another place where the romance meter has unintentionally gone way up. Chan is always flirtatious with you, calling you "princess" and saying things that he knows will fluster you. But you’ve turned it into a game of who can fluster the other more.

Essentially, the two of you are now competitive flirting, and it is going way better than you could’ve ever fathomed.

As the days to the show get closer, you see Chan less and less.

The text flirtation is going strong, and you often find yourself smiling widely at your phone until someone from the team asks you to join them for rehearsal. Every time you look up from the phone, smiling, Wooyoung turns away sharply—giving away that he was staring at you. The pressure of the show has gotten to him, and he stopped showing off; now he just looks pissed off and exhausted.

You feel bad for Wooyoung and try talking to him. Instead of you cheering him up, he ends up making snide remarks about Chan, and you give up thereon.

Things were going pretty smoothly in your life until the dress rehearsal for the show—one day before the big show.

There is half an hour before curtains up, and you are pacing back and forth in the far end of the green room assigned to you and a few others. Everyone else has gone to grab food or meet someone or the other, while some are rehearsing. You are holed up in the green room trying your best to calm your nerves.

This is not your first show, and definitely not your first as part of the main cast, but no amount of experience seems to reduce the pre-show jitters. The memory of you puking five minutes before going on stage last fall comes back to you, and you can almost feel the bitter taste of anxiety forming at the back of your throat.

But before you could let the anxiety win, you hear someone clearing their throat and turn around to see none other than Lee Chan standing, leaning against a wall, hands in his jean pockets, smiling with his beautiful, kind eyes at you.

The relief that floods through your mind and body at seeing him there is beyond logic, and you do the only thing your entire existence wants to do—run up to him and hug him.

Till that moment, the maximum you both have done is hold hands in public, and you can feel Chan freeze under your embrace for a second before his warm, strong hands wrap around you.

It feels nice... the thoughts, fears, and the anxiety melt away in a second.

You rest your head on Chan’s shoulder, and he rests his head on top of yours.

“You’re going to rock the stage, princess.” He says softly, near your ear, and you instinctively move your head back to look at his face. His eyes are shining, and a soft smile is playing on his face.

“Thanks, Chan.” Your words make him tighten his hug around you, and you just stay there, looking into his beautiful, kind face.

Someone shouts from outside, "Ten minutes, guys!" You gulp and try to look away from Chan, but he lifts your face back to his eye level with his index finger and smiles.

“Y/n, I know you’re nervous, but you’re going to rock it. And I’ll be there for you…” he says. And that’s all it takes for you to lean toward his face.

Three. The smell of Chan’s cologne hits your nose.

Two. Chan also leans in.

One. His eyes are all you see before his lips crash into yours.

Heaven…

His lips feel like the ascension to heaven. Chan is kissing you with such delicate tenderness that it makes you melt further.

The kiss might’ve factually lasted less than a minute, but you felt the pull of his lips, and body into yours for what felt like a millennium.

When you finally pull apart due to breathlessness, both of you are smiling wildly. You notice some of your lipstick is smeared on Chan’s face, and he reaches to fix your face and hair.

"Go kill it out there, princess," Chan says and leads you out of the green room with one little peck to the lips.

All the nerves and anxiety seem to have transformed into butterflies and giddiness as you take your position on the sidelines of the stage.

You are lost in the memory of the kiss when you do not notice Wooyoung come up next to you.

"You know, you should make out before getting your makeup done. It’s disrespectful to the makeup artists and your co-stars."

"Excuse me?" What’s wrong with him? You notice he looks red with... anger. You’ve never seen Wooyoung like this before—at least offstage.

"Are you alright, Wooyoung?" You try to touch his shoulder to calm him down, and he jerks you away.

"One minute to go..." Wooyoung turns to you, face looking bitter. "You know, Y/n, I always thought you liked me. Never thought you’d go for someone like him." His words catch you off guard, but the curtains are going up, and you force yourself to get into character.

The next two hours are a blur—of running around backstage, helping everyone get to their scenes, performing your scenes, costume changes, and all the drama of it!

You always lose yourself on stage, and the sound of the thunderous clapping from the audience is the only thing that wakes you up from that trance.

And this time, you wake up from the trance to see Lee Chan’s beaming, proud face. He’s clapping so hard you’re worried for his palms. It makes you even happier to see the entire team there with him—including Yeonjun, who looks significantly happier than your previous encounters.

After spending the next hour thanking people and changing out of your costume, you finally reach the common halls of the school.

You find Chan, leaning against a wall and waiting for you. He is smiling at something on his phone, and it instantly makes you smile. You walk slowly toward him, careful not to startle him, and try to grab his phone from him. But being the incredible athlete that he is, he manages to turn you around and cage you in his embrace. But before he can snatch his phone from you, you catch a glimpse of what he is smiling at—pictures of you from the stage.

You whip your head to look at him, still snug in his embrace, and find Lee Chan blushing.

“Awwwww, you’re blushing... so cute,” you coo at him. He softens his hold on you as he fights a grin, and you turn in his embrace to pinch his cheeks.

“Chan, thank you…” His eyebrow goes up, as if to say why.

"Thank you... for going out of your way to be... you." He smiles so brightly, and his eyes become shiny. He hugs you tight.

There is a lot to be said between the two of you, but it seems like neither of you want to say anything and just be in the little bubble you’re in.

There is a slight disturbance to this as the sound of boys talking causes both of you to remove yourselves from the embrace and look as Wooyoung and his two friends—Yeonjun and Changbin—walk across the hallway to the parking lot.

Yeonjun makes fleeting eye contact—he doesn’t look pleased to see you standing so closely with Chan, and a lump forms in your throat. Following his line of sight, Wooyoung turns to look at you. He stops whatever he is saying, and his smiling face turns sour. You feel a bit of the bitterness come to your throat, remembering his words before the performance.

“You know, Y/n, I always thought you liked me. Never thought you’d go for someone like him.”

Just when you were hoping the moment would pass and they would walk away, you see Wooyoung whisper something to a very concerned-looking Yeonjun and Changbin, and walk toward Chan and you. Your heart is now pounding against the walls of your throat, and you want to hold Chan's hands, but it feels like an absolutely wrong move.

You don’t need to see Chan’s face to know that he is stiff with tension as Wooyoung glares right at him.

He stops in front of the two of you, crosses his arms across his chest, and says, in the snarkiest tone possible: "Well well well, if it’s not the two dirty little lovebirds."

Wooyoung stares competitively at the two of you, hoping for a reply, but both of you choose to be silent. This encourages him to continue—this time only facing you.

“You know, Y/n, I thought you were serious about theatre. I thought you understood how scared backstage and in the green room it is for a theatre artist. I thought you would know better than to go around kissing playboys in a sacred space like that... I thought you were smart..."

You’ve never seen or heard Wooyoung be so bitter and rude to anyone, and this breaks the expectation and pedestal you had for him over the years to come crashing down on you all at once. From the corner of your eyes, you can see Chan clench his jaws, and on the far end of the hallway, both Changbin and Yeonjun look very tense.

This is all your doing, that’s what your mind is screaming at you. This is not what you intended to do. All you wanted was to grab the attention of the guy you have an impossibly huge crush on. You never thought that your one idiotic move would break up a group of very good friends.

Most of all, you never thought you’d be standing there worried about your “fake” boyfriend’s feelings getting hurt over that of your actual crush, because of whom you’re all in this conundrum.

“Wooyoung, you're not in your right mind now... let’s talk about this later.” Chan’s voice comes out slow, low, and deliberate. You can tell he is speaking through gritted teeth, but his face is the picture of calmness.

Wooyoung scoffs, "Ohh, I am in the perfect state of mind for this, Chan." He smiles mockingly.

"I just couldn’t understand how someone so smart and pretty like Y/n ended up with... you. Or maybe she isn’t as smart as I thought and is just as easy as every other girl you’ve dated." His words are getting sharper and he oozes poison. The arrows from his mouth pierce straight through your heart.

It takes all your energy to not burst into tears, and Chan seems to sense it as he closes the gap between the two of you before replying to Wooyoung.

Chan takes a deep breath as his palms subtly run circles on the back of your arms. You can feel the heat emanating from him.

“Wooyoung, don’t let your bitterness get the best of you. Look, I don’t know why you are acting like this... if you’re jealous, you should’ve expressed your emotions to her sooner. I know you’re saying things in anger, but please stop because neither of us want to pick a fight. We can talk about this when you’re not in a mood.”

Chan is choosing to be reasonable, and you’re praying Wooyoung will too. You wait a beat and another to see Wooyoung scoff. Before he can say another word, Chan grabs your wrist firmly and walks you away from that hallway.

As you walk under the firm guidance of Chan's grip, you heave a big sigh of relief.

There is pin-drop silence as the two of you get into his car and he drives toward your home. You look over at his face, and his usually smiling and bright face is sullen, with his lips pursed tightly. You don't like seeing Chan angry and sullen one bit.

"Hey, Chan..." your voice comes out slowly as he parks near your front door and turns to face you.

You shift in your seat to face him more and reach out to touch his forearm resting on the steering wheel.

"I'm sorry, Chan." He raises his eyebrows in confusion, and you proceed to explain. "I'm sorry that I ruined your friend group... you wouldn't have fought if not for me..."

"Y/n..." he sighs and locks his fingers with the hand you extend to him. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. We’ve been through a lot worse. In fact, it’s only considered a fight if at least one of us ends up bruised."

He says that so nonchalantly that it makes both of you chuckle.

"Are you sure, though?" Your worry brings a soft smile to his face as he caresses your face. You lean into his palm and smile.

"Yes, I’m sure. So don’t overload that pretty head of yours with unnecessary worries, princess. You rocked the stage tonight and deserve some good rest."

His words bring a big, unwarranted smile to your face. He always knew how to put your nervous heart to rest.

And in that moment, every single thought of logic goes out the window, and you act on pure instinct. You grab Chan’s face and kiss him. The moment your lips touch his, he takes over. He leads you both toward the romantic swan dance that is your kiss. Chan and you are intertwined at that moment of pure bliss, wanting nothing but to stay this way for eternity, but alas, humans breathe a little too much for your liking then.

So both of you move apart to catch up on your breaths, smiling ear to ear while doing so. Seeing Chan’s smile light up his whole face makes you want to pull him into a kiss again, but your phone begins ringing right then, and you groan as you pick up your phone.

“Oh shit, it’s Mom... she’s probably waiting for me. Shoot!”

You start panic-adjusting yourself when Chan places his hand on your wrist gently. “Hey, breathe. You’re right outside your house... it will take two seconds to go in. Okay?”

You smile and let out a big breath at his calming words. Once you pack your bags and reach to open the door of the car, you feel his hold on your wrist again. You turn around to see his face awfully close to you, his eyes big and glistening.

You raise your eyebrows at him in question, and he says, "Thank you for accepting me to be your boyfriend..." His voice is sincere, deep, and scared. Your own heart is beating at a thousand miles per minute. Before you could begin to think of anything to say, he interrupts. "You don’t have to say anything, princess... If you ever end up feeling the way I’ve felt for years, you know where to find me."

And with that, he himself reaches across you to open the door and gives you a soft smile. You’re too stunned by his confession to form words, so you just pick up your stuff and head home. You might have acted on stage, but having to pretend everything is dandy and normal to your parents is more artistically challenging.

The rest of the night is spent tossing and turning in your bed and replaying Chan’s words. Especially the part where he implied that he's liked you for years. You have already been a wreck with all the negativity with Wooyoung and your hopes getting shattered, but also the happiness with Chan and the multiple impeccable kisses. There are too many emotions swirling in your head, and Chan’s confession only makes the insanity meter go up.

The confusion in your brain is palpable. You type out multiple message drafts to send to Chan and give up eventually, thanking whoever invented the backspace feature.

At the odd hour of 2:45 a.m., you finally give up on sleep and switch on your room lights to try to get schoolwork done. In pure coward fashion, you spent the following two days bedrotting and avvoiding any and every message and call from Chan. Thankfully your excuse of "recovering from the show" seemed to work fine for your parents but Chan kept texting.

Chan: Hey princess, good morning. Hope you're feeling better ❤️ Chan: I want you to take proper rest, but I also want you to talk to me! Chan: Okay, I need to go practice for the big match... talk to you soon The same went on for every session of the day. You could clearly notice he kept texting you whenever he got a break from practice. You felt bad for ignoring him. In fact, you did not understand why you were ignoring. It was clear you liked him too, then what was stopping you from into his arms.

On the other hand, there was the whole mess with Wooyoung. You still had to go back and meet him, after all this. If your plan had gone the way you wanted it too, instead of kissing Chan twice on the day of the show you would've ended the night in Wooyoung's arms and the rest of the year would be paradise in practice.

Instead you're here, pacing in the middle of the ngiht, thinking of quitting your passion just to avoid the tension.

And right as you're about to draft an email to your professoe, a ping from your phone startles you—it's Yeonjun.

Jjunnie: "Why are you awake?"

You look out at his window, confused, only to find the lights in his room also switched on and Yeonjun staring at you. You give him a weak smile, which he returns and gestures for you to open your window. Your smile grows bigger as you pop open the window door, adjust the ladder the two of you had set up between your windows as kids, and watch Yeonjun crawl into your room.

"What brings you here?" you ask as he’s dusting himself off.

He stares at you for a long second and pulls you into his signature bear hug. You let go of all your worries and hug your best friend back—he’s the only one who can see that you need comforting.

After a couple of minutes, both of you settle down on the bed with some chips. He still hasn’t said anything, and you figure you owe him an apology anyway.

"I’m sorry, Jjunie... for everything." He smiles and apologizes back.

After a second, you realize something and whip your head to face your best friend, who had warned you against all this mess.

"You knew, didn’t you?" You couldn’t believe that your speculation could be right, but you had to know for yourself.

He looks confused for a second before he lets out a deep breath and nods. You can feel a big lump forming around your throat and you want Yeonjun to spell it out before your mind jumps into big conclusions, and as your longest and closest friend, he knows this too well.

"Y/n, I told you not to mess with Wooyoung because I knew he’d never treat you the way you thought he would. He is my best friend, but you’re family... I didn’t want you to get hurt. That’s why I told you to stay away."

The hot tears forming behind your eyes are threatening to spill, but you bite your lips and nod at Yeonjun’s words. You couldn’t believe that you lived with an illusion of the person you thought you knew for years. It feels like someone had taken away your pretty-pastel dream box and shattered it into pieces and said that you would never find it again. The lump in your throat is almost suffocating, yet you want to know more.

"And Chan..."

Yeonjun looks at you with a slight smirk, and it irks you.

"Chan was... a curveball I didn’t see coming. Of all the people you could’ve chosen to help you in this charade, I never thought you would choose Chan..."

A smile comes up on your face at the memory of what happened.

"Wait, what..." Yeonjun looks confused at your smile.

"So actually I didn’t ask Chan... after you said no in the locker room... he volunteered. He apparently overheard our conversation and offered to... well... you know..."

Yeonjun starts laughing at the revelation, and it leaves you more confused than you began with, so you start whining for Yeonjun to spill.

"Oh my God! Of course Chan was the one who volunteered! I should've known!"

When he finally calms down, he turns you to face him all serious.

"Y/n, I wish I could tell you everything, but you need to talk to Chan. The only thing I can tell you, though, is..." he boops your nose saying so, "he’s a good guy. Just be patient and talk to him. He should be the one to explain it to youo."

"Oh wow, Jjunie... that was so melodramatic. Just tell me what’s going on, please..." you whine.

"Nah nah nah... I wish... but it’s not my place to. Plus, Chan would kill me." He dramatically enacts being scared, and you playfully hit him in the arm and pout.

"But... I don't know if I want to talk to him. This all happened very bizzarely, one moment I liked Wooyoung and that turned out... not great... What if Chan turns out to be an illusion too?" You can feel your heartrate increase as the words leave your mouth. Yeonjun places his hands on your shoulder to ground you to reality.

"Hey, Y/n, don't be an idiot. Wooyoung was an illusion becuase you were in love with the idea of him. Chan is real! He knows you, and you know him. Just trust me, this is a good thing... I want you to be happy. Just please talk to him. Don't take any stupid decisions on your own"

You sigh. "Alright, I'll talk to him after the big game tomorrow!" "Now that's my girl!" Yeonjun beams at you as you grin brightly.

"Okay okay, you go sleep now. You've got a big game tomorrow Jjunie. And you need to bring your best!" "Aw, thank you!"

And with that, he bids you adieu. Although you are happy to finally make up with your best friend and have fun with him, his words leave boost your confidence.

You decide to finally text back Chan, now that you know what you want.

Y/N: Hey Channie, sorry I couldn't text... was caught up, thinking...

And before you could send all your texts he replies back.

Chan: Oh hi princess ❤️, good to hear from you!

Y/N: Why are you awake? You have a big game tomorrow!!

Chan: Couldn't sleep... a certain someone's silencce was keeping me awake

This drama queen!

Y/N: That's no excuse for an athlete! Y/N: Also I'm really sorry about that... we should talk, but now you need to sleep.

Chan: No sleep is for the weak. All I wanna do is talk! Chan: To you that is

Y/N: We will... after I watch you win the game tomorrow and treat you to victory lunch🥰

Chan: Oohh is that a heart and a smile I see! 🤯 I can't wait to see you tomorrow ♥ Chan: We really do need to talk. Chan: I've been going crazy since that night...

Aw poor Chan...

Y/N: We'll talk... but just know there's nothing to worry about 🥰

The next fifteen minutes is just Chan and you flirting on text until nyou both will yourself to fall asleep. And for the first time in three days, you sleep with a big smile on your face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today Chan's kiss was life-changing.

You did not remember how long it had been since you ran across the field to kiss him, but when you broke apart from the kiss- breathless, you felt like a different person.

Chan's full happy laugh fills you up as he holds your face in palms. He feels like a dream.

"Just so you know... I did not kiss you becuae people were watching... or because Wooyoung was watching..."

He raises his eyebrows at your words, a smirk dancing on his face. "Oh?" You can feel a blush creep up on your cheeks, spreading all over you.

"I kissed you because... I 'm just a stupid girl who thought fake relationships is the way to get someone's attention without realizing that there's already someone who gives me eveyrthing I could ask for and more. I am sorry to myself that I didn't understand that before, but I am happy I have you now... because I love you and I want you to be my boyfriend... for real, no rules or contracts." You manage to finally say, you're heart feeling 10x lighter.

Chan's smile feels like it could light up the whole world.

"I've always been ready to be your boyfriend, princess. I am glad you realized it now... I've been a big simp for too long now. " He jokes as your jaw drops to the floor at his revalation.

"Well, you don't have to stop simping now..." you say cheekily, and he laughs- the sound fillling every part of you.

"I don't plan to princess..." And before you could say anything he pulls you in for another soul-altering kiss.

This time you are force to stop due to someone coughing precociously and both of you turn to face Yeonjun. He's standing there with the rest of the team, all of them smiling at you. You feel so shy you shove your face in your hands and they all start laughing.

"Hey lovebirds, I am happy for you both but Chan needs to egt his ass in the locker room to talk with coach!" Yeonjun shouts as he walks away from the field.

"Yeah Yeah I'll be there!" Chan shouts back mid-giggles.

Hearing him you finally let go of Chan and push him towards the locker. He runs forward two steps then turns back, his big smile lighting up his eyes, walks toward you and gives one more tight kiss before running toward the locker rooms.

This man is straiight out of a romcom I swear!

Things weren't perfect now, you still had to figure out how to face Wooyoung in drama practice. But seeing Chan passionately play today, and realizing how much he risked to be with you even when he knew you liked his close friend, you decided to stick it out and try to fix things with Wooyoung.

There's always time to fix things later, for now you want to stay in the lavender haze you're in and enjoy the upcoming summer break with the most romcom-coded, kind-hearted, and hot boyfriend.

Everything else can come after, but now you're feeling high school at it's best and you're going to live it💖.

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