Hypothetically Awkward
ft: jiyong/chaerin, pg-15 because vulgarity and implication lelz, 1845w. slight humor/fluff
~in which jiyong demands to know why chaerin thinks they can't date each other.
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The next time they went out together, Chaerin made sure she told Jiyong about the joke she has encountered a few days back. It was a random question thrown towards her (that was for sure like wha-) but she did, on her side, responded well and showed no particular action which would attract excessive attention. So when she got into his car that night, without wanting to forget what she wanted to tell him, excitedly jumped into her story which was completed with hand gestures and random light punches Jiyong blindly received in silence.
When she finished her story, Jiyong reacted in a way she had not see coming. “Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that people want us to date?” Chaerin laughed, hoping to see a better reaction from her best friend, but he was definitely not giving her any.
“Why not?”
She stopped laughing and scratched her chin in confusion. “What?”
“I mean, why can’t we date?”
That question definitely threw her off guarded. “Sorry, what?” It was as though she could not comprehend the reality she was hearing at the moment; was Jiyong actually suggesting them to date?
If Jiyong could look at her, he would, but because he has to keep his eyes on the road to avoid any unwanted accidents (or yelling from his family, her family, his members, her members, and most importantly, Yang Hyun Suk), he couldn’t exactly hold her shoulders and spun her so that she was facing him and then firmly repeat his question. So instead, he glanced at her every now and then and tried to string a proper sentence together. He wasn’t exactly interested in a romantic relationship, more so one with his best friend Chaerin; he was merely curious as to why she was already rejecting him even before he could try. That wasn’t fair, at least not to his part.
“Hypothetically, even if I was the last man on Earth, you still wouldn’t date me?”
“Well why would you be the last man on Earth, that’s bullshit.”
“I meant hypothetically,”
Chaerin crossed her arms together. “Okay. Hypothetically, why would you be the last man on Earth?”
There was silence before Jiyong gave in. “You’re lame, Chaerin.”
“If I’m lame, that makes you lame too, because birds of the same feather flock together.” She stuck out a tongue and Jiyong scoffed. “Not as lame as you though.”
“Yeah okay, fine. Where are you taking me for dinner?”
“No where. I’m dumping you on the roadside after this highway.”
“Look who’s the lame one now,” Chaerin rolled her eyes, but noted the firmness in Jiyong’s voice and quickly turned to look at him. “Hey, you aren’t serious about that right?”
“Hypothetically, what would you do if I really do that?”
Chaerin raised a brow, her eyes never leaving his face. “I will make sure you wouldn’t be able to celebrate Father’s Day.” There is a pause, before Jiyong glanced at her in mock horror when realization hit him on what she meant. “Hypothetically, of course.” She added after that, smirking at his expression.
“You’re crazy, woman.”
She laughed, and he laughed along too. “Now you see why we can’t date? We wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation like the other couples. We’ll end up dissing each other and then laughing about it seconds after.”
Jiyong sighed heavily, but the grin on his face never left. “I can see where you’re going with this.”
Just a little past the highway, Jiyong pulled over to the side abruptly, shocking Chaerin in process. “What are you doing?”
He turned to face her, and she could see the sly glint on his eyes as he leaned closer towards her. “Um hello?” Without realizing, Chaerin backed away until her back was against the soft leather of her side door. Jiyong was moving closer to her, and she could smell the strong waft of his cologne. “Whoa, what do you think you are doing young man?” She stopped him from edging any closer by placing one hand firmly on his chest, with the other covering her nose. “Gosh you should seriously stop with the cologne. It smells horrible!” She remarked, but then realized that Jiyong's cologne should be her last concern at the moment.
“Hypothetically,” Jiyong began, and Chaerin groaned. Not this hypothetically shit again? “If we were dating, and our whole dating process is just us making out, would that make us as normal as the other couple?”
“What-” Chaerin deadpanned. “-the fuck?”
Chaerin could literally feel her chest pounding irregularly beneath her chest, and Jiyong being alarmingly close clearly did not make her feel any better. He smirked again, knowing that Chaerin would probably punch him anytime soon, but he could live with another risk. That thought clearly did not stop him from placing both his hands on the door and on both sides of her head, stopping any possible movement for Chaerin to escape from him.
Oh shit, Chaerin mused, am I trapped? What on earth is he trying to do?
“Tell me, Lee Chaerin, what do you think of me?”
“Jiyong, quit playing around,” She laughed awkwardly, now realizing that she was sweating profusely but not quite sure why.
“Why is it that we cannot date? Am I not man enough for you?”
Chaerin was positive he was joking around with her, but because his expression was straight and showed no emotions of wanting to laugh, Chaerin grew even more nervous. “I-I don’t mean that, I told you why, it’ll be hilarious for us to date.”
“Oh really?” He looked at her without blinking his eyes, and Chaerin looked away quickly.
“Yes, no, I mean-“ Her sentence hang in midair, her mind completely blank to respond coherently to him, especially not when Jiyong was-oh god, what the fuck was he doing to her hair?
“Jiyong stop,” Chaerin said helplessly. When had she ever felt so vulnerable in front of her best friend?
“What? I was just removing some weird thing off your hair. See?” He dangled what seem like a ball of loose thread in front of her face, and she flushed in embarrassment. “Sorry. I thought you were…umm…” She coughed to hide her chagrin.
Jiyong found himself smirking again. “You thought I was what?”
“Can we…can we not talk about that please?” Chaerin gave him a push, but she couldn’t budge him even from his awfully uncomfortable position. “What’s wrong with you tonight, Jiyong?” She was getting a little annoyed now, but more towards feeling ridiculously flustered for no apparent reason.
“I am a little hurt that you think so little of me as a boyfriend.”
“When the fuck have I-“ She was stopped by a swift movement of Jiyong placing a finger on her lips as he tsked. “Language, young lady. Language.”
Okay now you’re seriously freaking me out, Chaerin wanted to say, but couldn’t. A lump lodged itself onto her throat, refusing to let go until Jiyong moves away from her.
“I mean, aren’t I boyfriend-material enough for you? I do pay for our meals, and I do pick you up and drop you back.” Jiyong said, and Chaerin couldn’t even identify anymore if he was still playing around or being legit serious about this.
“I…I don’t…” She managed to only squeak out two words before he frowned. “You know, I’m a man, if you haven’t already realized.”
“Wh-“
“And a man,” He paused for effect, “Has his needs too.”
Chaerin swore she had a mini heart attack at that moment. Had Jiyong just implied something she thought he had just implied? She was blushing furiously now, her eyes still not meeting his intense gaze and oh dear lord, someone, please slap Jiyong back to his senses, Chaerin mentally pleaded.
And then Jiyong broke the tension between them by laughing loudly.
Chaerin was still trying to fathom the situation she has gotten herself into when Jiyong retracted his hands and leaned back against his seat. He was by then, clutching his stomach and laughing hysterically. It took her a few seconds to finally understand what has happened. “You sonofabitch.” She punched his arm as hard as she could, somewhat furious and relief that it was over.
“Got you there didn’t I?” Jiyong was still laughing even though he had one hand over the arm Chaerin had just abused. “Tricked you from head to toe. Oh goodness, you should have seen your face, Chaerin.”
Chaerin wasn’t sure if the heat on her face was a result of her blushing madly or was it because she wanted to punch Jiyong in the face. She figured it was a little bit of both, and for a split second, almost hitting her best friend with all her might. If it wasn’t because he had an interview the next day, and he couldn’t afford to attend with a bruised face, Chaerin would have seriously proceeded on with her plan.
“You sneaky bastard!” She snapped and crossed her arms together tightly to avoid them from reaching his face. “That wasn’t funny at all. I thought you went crazy or something. I was this close to slapping you!”
Jiyong eventually calmed himself down as he wiped the tears from his eyes away. “But you didn’t, so it was a risk worth taking. Your face was priceless.”
Chaerin rolled her eyes. “You’re a horrible, horrible man.”
“Yet you’re best friends with said horrible man.” Jiyong grinned, fueling Chaerin’s anger. “Shut up, I am not talking to you.”
“I just wanted to show you what it’ll be like if we really did date.” Jiyong’s grin did not falter. “And boy, you were right about us being awkward together. But technically, and hypothetically,”
“God I hate that word so fucking much-“
“If we were in a relationship, you would be the one being awkward, not me.”
“Self-conceited fool.” Chaerin muttered under her breath, clearly still ignoring him.
“Think about it, Chaerin. I handled the situation pretty well.”
“Excuse me?” That was enough to reach her boiling point as Chaerin faced him. “Excuse me?”
“Well yeah, I mean-“
“You mean when you were literally trying to seduce me and I couldn’t take it because you were so damn awkward?” Chaerin laughed sarcastically. “Stop with your jokes, Jiyong. You are an idol, a singer, a dancer, but a joker you definitely aren’t.”
“At least I wasn’t the one freaking out and thinking I was going to make a move on her.” Jiyong retorted. “At least I wasn’t the one not looking at me because she thought she was going to die from all the tension in the air. At least I wasn’t the one-“
Jiyong never finished what he wanted to say, for Chaerin leaned in and silence him with a kiss he would never have expected to come from such a petite body. When she pulled away, he was literally wide-eyed and shocked, stammering as he tried to come up with a proper sentence to say.
He couldn’t.
Chaerin smirked.
“Well, look who’s the one freaking out now.”
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