Chapter Text
“Ha! Look at this!” Minho laughed as he superliked the profile. “Someone was pretending to be J. One from 3racha! I love catfish accounts because when we match we end up following each other on twitter.”
“I can’t believe you’re still using that app.” Felix said with a giggle. Minho gave a forced ‘ha ha ha’ and swiped left again.
“Just because I’m single doesn’t mean I can’t have standards.”
“I never said you didn’t have standards. I’m saying you’ve gotten so many people - guys and girls both - asking you on dates that you should be set for the next few years.”
“Yeah but-”
“I know, ‘but they just don’t click right’. Trust me hyung, I’ve heard it before.” Felix grinned at his friend as the younger mimicked him.
“Seriously Lix- he’s out there somewhere! I just… have to find him…” Minho trailed off, looking down.
Lee Minho might have been the biggest flirt in the world, but he was also the biggest romantic as well, and no one knew that better than his best friend. Felix’s smile softened and he took Minho’s hand.
“You’ll find him,” He said, giving Minho’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I know you will.”
“You think so?” Minho looked up at at Felix and the younger boys heart ached to see tears in his hyung’s eyes
“I know so,” he said thickly, making Minho smile a little. “You’re too amazing to not.”
“I guess… Minho looked back down and locked his phone, no longer in the mood to sort through possible soulmates.
Minho was healing. Felix was the only reason Minho left his last relationship, which boiled down to a little under half a year of being violently manipulated. The Minho that came out of that relationship was nothing like the Minho that went into it. Felix tried to help his friend regain his past confidence, but in the year and a half since they broke up, Minho hadn’t actually gone on a single date. He got asked on them daily, but always made some excuse not to go, despite Felix’s attempts to get him out of the apartment.
“Let’s get some coffee,” Felix suggested as they passed one of the many chain cafes in the area. “I’m already feeling my last cup start to wear off.”
“You and caffeine have an unhealthy relationship,” Minho said, holding the door open for his friend. “You need water, not more coffee.”
“You can pry my order from my cold, dead hands.” Felix said playfully as he ordered his usual. He stepped aside so Minho could order and paid for both, as usual. Minho tried to argue it at first, but the younger was good at persuading others to let him pay for them.
They found an empty table and waited for their names to called. Thankfully it didn’t take too long, though Minho was almost tripped as he carried their drinks back because of some students who were a little to excited.
“You got a new match while you were up.” Felix said, taking his up and sipping it instantly, as if it wasn’t boiling hot coffee.
“Huh, I wonder who…” Minho stirred his iced tea as he waited for the app to load. He laughed out loud when he saw a familiar face pop up. “Oh my god.”
“Who is it?”
“That Jisung catfish account,” Minho started laughing harder. “Oh my god I can’t believe we matched.”
“You should message them,” Felix smiled, glad to see his friend happy. “Who knows, maybe it really is him.”
“Pshh yeah right,” Minho scoffed as he started typing. “3racha haven’t been in the area in months so there’s no way his profile - as if his company would even let him have one - would pop up for me.”
‘Wow, I never expected to meet someone famous here!’ he decided to play along. The catfish would call him out sooner rather than later.
“You never know!”
“Yeah, okay. This Jisung is really J. One from the famous group 3racha, and you’re going to remember about your exam on Monday without me telling you.”
“Monday? OH SHIT-” Felix stood and Minho just cackled as he followed his friend out of the café.
“Called it.” Minho grinned as he sipped his tea, quite self-righteously in Felix’s humble opinion, as they booked it back to the apartment for the elder to study last minute.
“What are you smiling at?” Felix asked, looking up from his textbook. It was Sunday, and Minho had been lounging around all day, as if he wasn’t also a student, and didn’t also have exams the next day.
“Just something not-Jisung said,” He giggled down at his phone. Two days later and the catfish was still playing along. In fact, they seemed thrilled that Minho was pretending they really were J. One.
‘Most people think I’m a catfish which is why I don’t normally go on this app anymore.’ they had said, making Minho laugh a little.
‘How could anyone think you’re a catfish?’ he teased.
‘Right? I used my own pictures and everything. It’s not like you can google these selfies~’
‘Must be hard, being a famous rapper.’
‘It is, but it’s a lot of fun! Hyungs and I get to tour a lot and see a lot of cool places.’
‘You’re adorable.’
‘Ya…’
“Earth to Hyung- can you even hear me?” Felix called over. He was about to throw something heavy at his friend if he didn’t stop smiling at his phone.
“I can hear you just fine! Jeez! What do you want?”
“Don’t you have an exam tomorrow?” Felix asked, almost angry that his friend was so calm about exams while he was freaking out.
“Yeah, but it’s just that writing class I took as an elective.”
“What kind of exam are they going to give you?”
“I already turned in the first part, but we have to analyze a poem or something and then we can go. It’s going to be easy.” Minho checked his phone, almost feeling upset when there wasn’t a new message. He was having a surprisingly nice conversation with the catfish, and almost felt bad for referring to him as not-Jisung.
“How are you so calm about exams?” Felix asked, closing his book and leaning back in his chair.
“Because I was smart and picked an arts degree,” Minho rolled onto his stomach and kicked his legs in the air. “You had to go and be all smart and good at things and picked an actual smart-people degree.”
“Engineering isn’t a smart-people degree…” Felix argued half heartedly.
“I looked at your textbook and honestly Russian makes more sense to me than that bullshit.”
“Excuse you…” The younger boy huffed, not knowing how else to defend his choice of major.
“You’re so cute Pixie,” Minho tease, moving to poke the elder’s cheek. “How are you still single?”
“Because I don’t have time to date.” Felix said easily. He was a senior, getting ready to graduate. Minho was only semester behind him, which was Minho’s own fault for not taking enough credits his freshman year and taking some time off to get his shit together before actually starting college, so Felix was scheduled to graduate that spring even though he was younger, and Minho in the summer, after taking a single three credit course.
“You do have time, you just don’t want to.”
“There’s more to life than just dating, you know.”
“Yeah, but dating is fun!”
“Hyung-”
“It’s just cuz you don’t like to have fun,” Minho continued to tease his friend, not realizing how tense the younger was. “Maybe if you got out and got laid once in a while you’d be more fun-”
“And what do you know about that, huh?” Felix snapped, spinning around in his chair. He was clenching his jaw, his eyes sparkling with tears, and if the anger wasn’t being directed at Minho himself, the younger would have commented on how attractive his friend was. “You talk big about dating and sex, but when was the last time you talked to someone other than me, huh? When was the last time you got laid? When was the last time you even got a kiss? You’re just as bad as me, and I swear to god if you make fun of me for being boring or stuck up one more time I’m going to scream.”
“At least I’ve had a relationship to base shit off of!” Minho snapped back. He knew he shouldn’t, but how dare Felix call him out for that?
“And look at how well that worked out!” Felix’s face was red and the tears that he had been trying to hold back finally spilled. “Look at how much you learned from that relationship! Too bad I never had some asshole abuse me to the point of being afraid of intimacy!”
Minho’s jaw clicked shut. He took a deep breath and nodded once. Felix instantly knew he had gone too far, but he was so stressed and so anxious about exams that even the slightest push sent him over the edge.
“Hyung-" Felix said, all rage draining from him in an instant.
“You should finish studying,” Minho hadn’t sounded that flat since… Felix had spent a month trying to get his friend to have some color in his voice again after his breakup, and now it was all gone. “I’m just… gonna go for a walk.”
“Hyung please-” he tried, but Minho just shot him a sad smile before slipping on his shoes and all but running from the apartment.
The silence made Felix’s ears ring. He really fucked up, and there was nothing he could do until Minho came home, because he knew the older boy would ignore any message he tried sending.
He sat back down heavily and looked at his book. With a final spark of angry guilt, Felix threw it across the room with a shout. The rage was gone as quickly as it came, leaving him feeling empty and cold.
“Stupid Felix…” Minho muttered, pushing his way into the coffee shop. There really wasn’t much to do in their area other than school. There were a few places to eat, but Minho knew if he tried to eat something he’d throw up. There was the commons, but it was starting to rain, though sitting in the rain would really match his emotions. That left the café, where he could sadly sip at some sugary drink until he felt better.
“Minho hyung?”
“Stupid hyung and his stupid knowing everything about me and his stupid exams…” He pouted and sipped his drink, feeling tears sting his eyes again.
“Minho hyung?”
“Stupid, stupid Felix…”
“You’re Minho, right? Ah this’ll be awkward if I’m wrong…” Finally Minho looked up and almost choked.
“Oh my god…”
“Ah it is you! I remember you said something about coming to this café a lot so I wanted to try it out,” Jisung smiled and slipped into the seat across from him. Even with a baseball cap on and the facemask over his mouth, Minho would recognize those eyes anywhere.
“Holy shit…” Minho whispered, all anger gone. “You’re Han Jisung.”
“Yeah! And you’re Minho, from tinder?” He unlooped his facemask from one ear, letting it dangle from the other.
“That’s me!” he squeaked, feeling light headed. He has to be hallucinating.
“It’s crazy that we ran into each other!” Jisung said happily, seemingly unaware that Minho had yet to take a breath. “I wanted to ask if you wanted to meet soon but I kept chickening out…”
“Wait- what?” Minho finally came back to his body and understood that THE Han Jisung was talking to him.
“Yeah, its kinda silly,” Jisung giggled and played with his bangs. “But like, you’re really cute and funny and when I found out you were older than me I panicked… I wanted to ask you to coffee or dinner or something Friday because I don’t normally have free time so I wanted to meet you when I had the chance but… yeah…” He ducked his head and sipped his drink, his round cheeks red.
“You.... you were really Jisung this whole time?” Minho’s voice was high pitched from shock. Jisung blinked at him, confused.
“Yeah?”
“Oh my god… I’ve been calling you not-Jisung to Lixie this entire time… now I’m the idiot…” He stared at his hands in horror, only looking up when he heard laughter, clear and pure.
“You thought I was a catfish, so you called me not-Jisung? Wait, you were talking about me?” Jisung smiled at Minho and Minho thought his head was going to explode.
“I- I mean, yeah? I was just going to play along because a few of the catfishes I’ve ran into ended up becoming good friends, but you were just a lot of fun to talk to and I guess I kinda forgot that you weren’t really supposed to be you? And my roommate kept teasing me for smiling at my phone so I told him what we were talking about so he didn’t think I was crazy...”
“I talked so much about 3racha and Chan hyung and Changbin hyung though. How could a catfish have known all that?” Jisung was still laughing.
“I… you know what? I didn’t question it.” Minho finally found his mind and was able to laugh at his own foolishness.
“No wonder you were so okay with teasing me,” Jisung pouted and Minho swore an arrow pierced his chest. “You didn’t think I was me at all…”
“Let me make it up to you?” Minho found himself asking, wanting to make Jisung smile again. “When are you free next? I’ll take you out for dinner.”
“This is actually my only break of the day, but if you wanted to come hang out at the studio… I know it’s not super exciting but it’ll be nice to work with someone to talk to. Normally hyungs are too focused to pay attention to me.” He pouted again and Minho was whipped. Right there and then, Minho fell hard.
“Y-yeah! I don’t have plans for the rest of the day,” He said, a goofy smile on his face. “We could get dinner and eat in the studio? I remember you saying you forget to eat when you’re working…”
“I don’t think I said that in our conversation?” Jisung tilted his head, knowing exactly how to fluster the elder already. Minho’s face flushed red and he gripped his cup hard enough to pop the lid off.
“I- um, you mentioned it in an interview.” he said, trying to keep his voice at a normal octave. Jisung giggled again, covering his mouth with his hand.
“So you really are a fan,” He teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Minho, who wished he could melt into the ground. “Perfect. You already know all about me, which means now I can focus on learning all about you.”
“Cute…” Minho whispered, in awe at how big and bright Jisung’s eyes were. He knew they were, from photos and music videos, but it was a whole separate thing in person. In person, Minho could see each individual sparkle.
“I think you’re cute too hyung.” Jisung giggled again, knowing fully well the elder hadn’t meant to say anything aloud.
“Ah- Um…”
“Come on, let’s go to the studio,” Jisung said, standing and holding out his free hand. “You can tell me why you looked so upset earlier.”
“What? Ah, I’m okay now. There’s nothing to worry about-”
“Humor me? I want to know all about you,” Jisung looked over his shoulder at Minho, who just barely managed a nod. “Perfect! Let’s wait till we get to the recording room, though. No one will bother us there.”