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Jisung has always had a rule to never listen to Chenle.
The rule had been put in place after Chenle had talked him into quitting his job with no back up plan, and Jisung had stuck to it strictly. Until now.
Honestly, it’s his fault. Jisung has long known that anytime someone’s answer to a concern is “It’ll be fine” should never be trusted, but after three days of pestering he had given in. And now he’s just confirmed that he’s the dumbest person in the world.
It had all started on Sunday, in the middle of Jisung’s skin care routine when he was most relaxed. In hindsight, he now knows this was intentional to throw him off his usual straight out denial of Chenle’s stupid ideas.
Chenle had burst into Jisung’s apartment, once again making Jisung regret giving him an extra set of keys, and immediately sat himself down right next to where Jisung was doing his face mask. Before Jisung could even acknowledge his presence he had blurted out, “I have an idea I need you for.”
Jisung was used to being Chenle’s living breathing mannequin at this point. Usually, it didn’t end so disastrously.
Being the good friend he is, Jisung heard him out before shutting him down. “What is it?”
“I saw it on Instagram,” Chenle prefaces, “but basically you use a fishbowl to look like an astronaut helmet.”
“A fishbowl in what way?” Jisung turns his face toward Chenle without opening his eyes.
“In, like, a putting it over your head way.”
“Hmm,” Jisung thinks briefly. “Nah.”
“What?” Chenle whines, pinching Jisung’s thigh, “Why not?”
“You know how I feel about putting my head in things after I got it stuck in that chair that one time.” Jisung bats him away.
“That was when you were three.” Chenle deadpans.
“And it was so traumatizing I still think about it to this day,” Jisung shrugs.
“Come on,” Chenle shoves at his leg. Jisung ignores him easily. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”
“Oh well,” Jisung says, “Guess we’re not friends anymore.”
He doesn’t even flinch when Chenle slams the door behind him while he leaves.
Two days later, Chenle has beaten him down until he finally just agrees.
At first it was just the constant whining through his phone, which Jisung could deal with no problem. Then it was their other friends bothering him, and showing up at his house to whine at him to his face, and blowing Jisung’s phone up with inspo pictures. After the fourth time he gets yelled at for the constant buzzing of his phone in his desk, Jisung knows something has to change.
He agrees to Chenle’s stupid photography idea. Chenle promises over and over that he’ll make sure everything works easily. Jisung foolishly believes him. Now they’re here.
The actual photoshoot goes fine. Jisung spends upwards of forty-five minutes having his hair tugged at and makeup applied by two of their friends, and then two and a half hours being bossed around by Chenle. Overall, pretty normal stuff.
After, Chenle tells him to get undressed as he starts flicking through the pictures on his camera. Jisung rolls his eyes, walking over to the rack of clothes and trying to do just that. Until he realizes he can’t.
Wrapping his hands around the sides of the fishbowl, he pulls. Then pulls again. Wipes off the sweat quickly pooling in the creases of his palms onto his pants and tries once more for good measure. Still nothing.
Jisung turns slowly, eyeing Chenle where he stands off to the side, fiddling with his camera. “Chenle,” He looks up. “What did you do to me.”
“What do you mean?” Chenle tilts his head. Jisung stares impatiently. “Oh my god,” Realization dawns on Chenle’s face. “You’re not stuck right now.”
“Saying it doesn’t make it true,” Jisung hisses.
“Well have you tried saying it?” Chenle snaps, haphazardly placing his camera on the side table and rushing over to Jisung’s side. “Come here, let me see.”
Jisung obediently tilts his head down, pulling back while Chenle tries to free him. After a few tries Chenle tsks, placing his hands on his hips. “No luck?” Jisung goads.
Chenle’s eyes narrow. “We need butter or something.”
“No,” Jisung moves away cautiously, “No butter on my face. You’re going to break me out.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Jisung throws his hands up, finding a chair and falling into it. He’s been trying not to freak out, to avoid the panic attack he can feel simmering in the back of his brain at the idea of how little fresh air he’s actually getting. “I don’t know, but I need you to get me out of this thing, Chenle. Immediately.”
Chenle’s shoulders sag. “Okay, just don’t freak out.” Jisung blows out a breath, then has to close his eyes to avoid looking at the fog on the glass in front of him. Grabbing the fishbowl once again, Chenle forces Jisung to tilt his head this way and that to try and get him out. When nothing works, and Jisung’s breaths are getting shorter and shorter, Chenle whips out the butter.
They get into a fight about it.
Jisung won’t let Chenle get within a foot of his face with a stick of butter and Chenle is trying to trap Jisung in some kind of hold so he can’t keep moving away. “If you put that on me I’m never talking to you again.”
“Well I’m not letting you live with a fishbowl on your head like an idiot,” Chenle huffs, wrapping his arm around Jisung’s shoulders in a way he can’t wriggle out of.
His strong grip does nothing to stop Jisung from trying, though. After a full minute Jisung accepts that he’s not getting free and goes limp to drag both of them to the ground. “Chenle,” He whines, trying to hide the fact that real tears are forming in his eyes by being overly dramatic, “Literally anything else would be preferred to this.”
“Hush,” Chenle sighs, wiggling Jisung’s arms between his legs and starting to slather the rim of the bowl with the stick of butter, “Let’s just try it.”
Jisung finally relents, wincing when he feels the press of butter into his skin and rolling his eyes up so the tears don’t fall. Knowing he’s being a tad overdramatic doesn’t stop him from feeling sorry for himself anyways. Once Chenle has thoroughly covered the glass in grease, they try again.
It doesn’t work.
The unfortunate thing about glass is that it doesn’t give. There is no kind of stretch to it, which makes sense on the regular but in this particular situation it makes Jisung irrationally angry. They try slipping the fishbowl off from the back first, tilting Jisung’s head to the left, then to the right, Jisung tries pushing his chin back as much as he can. Nothing works.
“Jisung,” Chenle grunts, struggling greatly, “Suck your chin in.”
“How am I supposed to suck in my chin?” Jisung asks loudly, “It’s a bone, how is that supposed to work you dumbass.”
“I am not the enemy,” Chenle shouts, “Stop working against me!”
“You literally are the enemy!” Jisung yells back, “You’re the one who got me stuck in here.”
“I’m not the one who told you to have a gargantuan head.” Chenle bites back.
Jisung wiggles his shoulders rough enough that he gets dislodged from Chenle’s hold, “Just get off, this isn’t working.” Chenle grunts, letting him go easily and rolling up to his feet.
“What’s our next plan of action?”
“Just leave me here to die,” Jisung sighs deeply, laying back onto the floor carefully.
“Drama queen,” Chenle rolls his eyes, “I’ll call Renjun and ask him what we should do.”
Jisung rises from the dead. “I will pay you money not to do that.”
“What?” Chenle ignores him, already scrolling through his contacts, “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Um, because we’ll never hear the end of it? Me specifically?”
“Then ignore him,” Chenle gives him a funny look, raising the phone to his ear.
Jisung groans, thoroughly annoyed with how his day’s going. “Can you hand me a napkin at least? I want to get the grease off my face before it really seeps into my skin.”
At first Jisung thinks he’s being ignored, but Chenle tosses the roll of paper towels at him before he goes onto the balcony to have his conversation. Jisung spends the time he’s gone moping and sticking as much of his fingers wrapped in paper towel up the little space between his neck and the rim of the bowl as he can. He can’t really get a good scrub to get the butter off his chin and the bottom of his cheeks, which makes his panic come back just a little bit, but he distracts himself by marveling at how much better his neck feels after being rubbed raw.
Chenle comes back in just as he’s finishing up, waiting until Jisung’s thrown away his trash before speaking up. “So.”
“So.” Jisung repeats, shoulders slumped low where he sits on his kitchen floor.
“Renjun said we should go to the emergency room,” Chenle leans against the door frame, crossing his arms and looking down at Jisung as he speaks. Jisung feels like a little kid whose dad is trying to fix the mess he made. It pisses him off for a little, since this is literally all Chenle’s fault, so he stands to meet him at eye level. “But he said it would probably take a few hours since this isn’t really an actual emergency.”
Jisung screws his eyes shut, repeating don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry in his head.
“Donghyuck said we should try the fire department first.”
Jisung’s eyes pop open. “You told Donghyuck?”
“He was with Renjun,” Chenle shrugs nonchalantly like he hasn’t just ruined Jisung’s entire life.
Walking over to the couch, Jisung lays on it gingerly, staying cautious of the glass bowl surrounding his head at the moment. “Just leave me here to die, actually. For real this time.”
“Part two, electric boogaloo?”
“Exactly,” Jisung agrees, sliding his eyes closed, “This is too humiliating, I’d rather just not exist anymore.”
“Enough,” Chenle chastises him, slapping his stomach hard enough Jisung flinches and hits his forehead against the bowl. “Come on, we’re going to the fire department.”
“I can’t be seen like this,” Jisung protests, “I’m either going to die in this bowl or die of humiliation. Either way I’m dead.”
Chenle rolls his eyes, getting behind the couch and rolling Jisung off of it. “If you’re not outside in the next five minutes I’m calling your mother. Get moving.” He grabs his jacket and keys, heading out the door without waiting for a response. Jisung spends four of the five minutes laying on the floor and feeling bad for himself, then pushes himself to his feet and follows Chenle’s direction and gets to the car.
The ride over has Jisung completely silent in his seat, trying valiantly to tune out Chenle singing obnoxiously to the radio. Jisung doesn’t understand how he can be so nonchalant after nearly killing his friend, but doesn’t say anything about it. With his luck, Chenle would just kick him out of his car and leave him stranded.
Pulling up to the fire department building feels like hitting rock bottom.
For the first twenty minutes Jisung refuses to actually get out of the car and face the music. Chenle spends those twenty minutes arguing with him, then getting out of the car and calling his mom while Jisung has a life crisis behind him. Finally, once Jisung decides the only thing more embarrassing than getting your head stuck in a fishbowl is dying inside said fishbowl, he exits the car and allows Chenle to push him into the semi-building they’ve got going on.
Where they enter is empty, save for two fire trucks gleaming red. Jisung nearly turns tail and leaves right then, but the white knuckled grip Chenle has on his shirt stops him from doing anything rash.
After a bit of wandering around, Chenle calls out for anyone there. There’s nothing for a second, and then they both hear the shuffling of feet and low murmurs. It only takes thirty seconds for someone to round the corner.
Jisung’s eyes are lowered in shame, so he doesn’t see who it is at first. It’s not until Chenle screws his elbow into the soft skin under Jisung’s ribs that he looks up and locks eyes on the most handsome man he’s ever seen in his life.
There’s a group of three men walking towards them, but Jisung can only see the one. Until Chenle snorts right next to his ear and almost deafens him with how the sound reverberates around the bowl.
“Hi,” The only guy who looks like he’s not going to burst out laughing steps forward. “How are you two today?”
“Hello,” Chenle gives him an appreciative look. Jisung can’t believe he’s actually trying to find love in the worst moment of Jisung’s entire life. “Um, we ran into a little trouble.”
“I can see that,” The man’s eyes flick briefly towards Jisung, lips quirking upwards in poorly concealed mirth. “What exactly happened?”
Chenle explains the story as Jisung prays that he’ll just drop dead where he is. He doesn’t, disappointingly, which means all of the attention gets shifted to him once the story is over. “Now we’re here, because I refuse to let my friend die in a fishtank.”
“I mean, technically it’s a fishbowl,” One of the guys in the back laughs out, ignoring the nice one’s sharp glare turned on him for a second.
“Either way,” Mark turns back to them, what Jisung can only describe as a customer service smile spread broadly across his cheeks, “We can fix it, I’m sure.”
“I don’t know,” The only guy who hasn’t added to Jisung’s humiliation speaks up, “I’ve only ever seen one case like this, and the kid had to live as a fish for the rest of his life.”
Jisung whimpers out an “Oh my god,” bringing his hands up to the glass to cover his face as much as he can at the moment and letting his eyes fill with the tears he’s been fighting with all day.
“Jeno.”
“Sorry,” The guy gasps out, trying not very hard to hide his giggles, “Sorry, it was just a joke.”
Chenle frowns at him, which Jisung can only see because he can’t really hide all that well in his fishbowl, turning back to the first guy and demanding to know the plan of action.
“Um, so off the top of my head I’m not sure,” He admits, rubbing at the back of his neck and sheepishly catching Jisung’s eye where he’s peeking out from between his fingers, “But give us a minute to do some research and work our problem solving skills and we’ll figure it out.”
Grabbing Jisung’s arm, Chenle huffs, begrudgingly agreeing. “Is there a place we should wait?”
“Jaemin can show you to our rec room,” He offers, one of the guys behind him stepping forward. Chenle’s eyebrows furrow.
“Is he just going to upset Jisung again?” Jaemin gapes a little, and Jisung refrains from sticking his tongue out at him.
“He’ll be on his best behavior. If he’s not, you can report it back to me.”
“And you are?”
“Mark,” Mark grins, “This is Jaemin, obviously, and this is Jeno. I’m not a captain or anything, but I’ll get him situated if need be.”
Jaemin looks disgruntled but doesn’t say anything. It’s enough reassurance for Jisung to trust that Mark really will “get him situated” if he says anything else disparaging. He lets Chenle tug him along, avoiding looking in the other two’s direction while he passes them. There’s a different kind of embarrassment now filling his gut, mixed with the jokes made at his expense, Chenle defending him like a mother would her young child, and still being stuck in this goddamn bowl. It’s heavy enough he kind of wants to throw up, but that would just add another layer of shame to his shit day and he’s not mentally strong enough to have to deal with that currently.
He tries to shake all conscious thought from his mind, thanking Jaemin for showing them a place to sit and falling heavily into the cushions right next to Chenle. Jaemin asks if they need anything one more time before going to help the other two. Jisung takes a moment to get himself together, then leans into Chenle to watch him go through his phone.
They look at Chenle’s twitter timeline for a minute, then Chenle pulls up his notes app.
Are you alright? He types into the title of a page. Jisung shrugs, nodding his head yes afterwards.
Chenle huffs softly, deleting what he had there previously and replacing it with: Do you want to leave and go somewhere else
The offer actually makes Jisung pause and think. Yes, the three firemen made fun of him and made him feel a little uncomfortable, but if he really considers everything that happened their reactions seem more justified and less like a personal attack. If this had happened to anyone but Jisung, he would have found it hilarious and joined in on the ribbing. There’s also the fact that he really doesn’t want to deal with having to explain the situation to anybody else, which is the major factor that makes him decide to softly shake his head, ignoring the way the bowl moves with him.
They switch to tiktok and spend the better part of the next fifteen minutes stifling their giggles as the scroll through the videos. It’s not until Jaemin rounds the corner once again that the hot heavy stone of embarrassment shows back up to take up the entire space of Jisung’s stomach. After getting told to follow Jaemin to the back room, Jisung begrudgingly allows Chenle to pull him up, following behind them and keeping silent while they idly chatter.
When they enter the room, Mark is sat on a chair in the middle of it with another chair placed in front of him. Jaemin clears his throat as they enter, causing Mark to startle into standing. He grins at them, walking over to them to talk.
“Sorry that took so long,” Mark chuckles politely, “We wanted to make sure we had the best solution.”
“It’s fine,” Chenle smiles tightly, “Did you figure it out?”
Mark brightens noticeably, “We did!” There’s silence for a long, uncomfortable minute before Chenle impatiently motions for him to go on. Mark stares at him for a second longer before seemingly figuring out what they’re waiting on and rushing to continue. “Okay, here’s the plan.”
He explains that they’re going to score the stupid fishbowl just below Jisungs chin, then hit it with a soft mallet to make a clean break. Assumingly, the hole will then be large enough to fit over Jisung’s apparently abnormally large head. It’ll also make it so the glass is breaking low enough there’s no worry about any micro pieces getting into Jisung’s eyes, considering they can’t fit a pair of safety goggles into the fishbowl. Then, they’ll do the same scoring technique to the small strip of glass around Jisung’s neck, snapping it in half on both sides to free Jisung from his confines.
Mark asks him if this sounds like an alright plan, and Jisung’s nodding his agreement before he can even finish his question. At this point, they could tell Jisung they needed to sock him right in between the eyes and he would agree as long as it meant he wouldn’t be walking around with a glass bowl on his head afterwards.
He gets led to a chair and sat down, Jaemin asking him questions as Mark gets everything ready. “Did the pictures at least turn out nice?”
“You’d have to ask Chenle,” Jisung tells him, lips still downturned in a slight frown, “I didn’t even get to see them before disaster fell upon me.”
Jaemin barks out a laugh, patting Jisung on the shoulder before turning to Chenle for the answer. “They looked nice,” Chenle nods, “All of Jisungie’s shots do.” He’s scowling when Jisung looks over at him, which just makes Jisung smile to himself and have to turn away before Chenle sees and gets mad. Jisung knows the only reason he’s being so nice, and why he’s fending off rude firemen, is because his guilt had transformed into begrudging affection and he has to put it somewhere.
If anyone knows Jisung best, it’s Chenle. Which means he knows Jisung’s social anxiety well. Usually this just causes him to order for him at new restaurants or pull him out of uncomfortable situations, but Chenle is a big softie and an even bigger idiot. When their stupidity gets them into trouble, which is often, Chenle has a tendency to take charge rooted in his guilt for all the uncomfortable interactions Jisung gets put in. It’s funny, because Chenle will never admit that he does it, but it’s also kind of sweet. In a weird, this wouldn’t be happening if Chenle wasn’t so good at talking Jisung into doing dumb things and knowing that he can fuels his god complex which makes him do it more, kind of way.
Jeno comes back into the room soon after, carrying a large plastic cup of ice water with a comically long straw. “Here,” He tries handing it off to Jisung.
Jisung stares at him, too confused as to why he’s being handed water he told them he didn’t want three times to realize when it’s been awkwardly quiet for too long. Jeno’s eyes slide over to Mark, tilting his head questioningly.
“I sent Jeno to get it for you,” Mark interrupts them, “I think it’ll help in the process a bit.”
“Water?” Chenle asks, eyeing the cup when Jisung finally grabs onto it.
“Have you ever worked in a daycare?” Jeno snorts, “Nine times out of ten when a kid is upset all they need is a sip of water.”
Jisung harrumphs, looking at the cup in his hands and considering throwing it across the room and hoping it lands into the trash can. If it spills all over, oops. Obviously these people deserve it.
“Not that you’re a kid!” Jeno assures him, also eyeing the cup in Jisung’s hands with slight worry. “It’s just that when kids are little like that they can’t really control their emotions, and when they’re upset it just gets to be too much. Getting some water helps them calm down a little bit by redirecting their attention to something else, which helps them regulate their emotions better. It’s kind of the same thing here. This is already uncomfortable and I’m sure a little scary for you. Getting glass broken around your neck isn’t going to help, but we thought this might give you that second of distraction.”
Jisung stares up at him from his seat consideringly. “Do you have kids or something?”
Jaemin snorts when Jeno’s cheeks flame up, answering for him. “He watches his nieces and nephews a lot, and he worked in a daycare through college, but he doesn’t have any of his own. Thank god.”
When Jisung doesn’t say anything else Mark speaks up again. “Your head is going to need to be slightly tilted backwards for this. To get your head in the right position you’ll need to focus on someone so they can monitor the angle. Either one of us can do it, or your friend can. Whatever you’re more comfortable with.”
“Chenle,” Jisung says quietly and Chenle nods resolutely. There’s a slight shuffle as everyone starts to get ready, Jisung trying to push the idea of something going horribly wrong from his mind.
Within just a few moments Chenle is standing on a chair, his face hovering over Jisung’s as Jaemin explains where Jisung’s head needs to be placed. The other two place the tools they’ll need behind them.
“Alright,” Mark says once everything is settled, “you ready?”
“More than,” Jisung sighs. It feels like the stupid bowl has been weighing down on him for a life time.
Jisung stares straight up at Chenle as Mark begins scoring the glass. The whole situation is a bit awkward, especially since he usually doesn’t make it a habit to make direct eye contact with Chenle, much less surrounded by a bunch of people he’s never met who are fixing the dumbest mistake he’s ever made. It only takes Chenle making a single dumb face for Jisung to break out into hysterical giggles. The cracking sound of the glass stops.
“Keep your head still for this,” Jaemin reminds gently.
Jisung sobers up immediately. “Of course.”
Chenle helps Jisung get his head in the right spot once again before the firemen start working again. Jisung sets his eyes onto Chenle’s right ear, determined to not mess up again. There was nothing he wanted more than to finish up and get the hell, allowing Chenle to distract him would only serve to elongate the process Chenle had gotten them into in the first place.
Even thinking about the day's events only served to piss Jisung off all over again. If Chenle could take no for an answer, or if Jisung could actually stick up for himself, none of this would have ever happened. And now Chenle gets to stand above Jisung and make faces while Jisung stresses about either living in a fishbowl forever or worrying about it cutting his face open while everyone tries to get it off.
Jisung turns his glare towards Chenle, then, freezing in place once again when Mark grabs his shoulder and tells him to stop moving again.
“What?” Chenle asks innocently.
“This is totally your fault,” Jisung glares. “Like, all of it.”
Chenle rolls his eyes. “Are you seriously still mad about this?”
“Dunno,” Jisung shrugs, “do I still have a friggin’ fishbowl on my head?”
Jaemin sighs and steps away. “Yes, and you will for the rest of your life if you don’t sit still.”
Jisung’s shoulders droop guiltily. “Sorry.”
“Why don’t you and Jeno switch spots,” Mark says to Chenle. “He’ll be able to keep a better eye out anyway.”
Jisung tenses very briefly before forcefully relaxing his body. Of course the annoying one gets assigned to babysitting him. Chenle hops off the chair and takes one look at Jisung’s face, then immediately turns towards the other two.
“Why aren’t you doing it?” Chenle juts his chin towards Jaemin.
“Bad knees,” Jaemin shrugs, “Can’t help it.”
“Alright,” Jeno mutters seemingly to himself, pulling the jacket he’s wearing off and laying it across the back of the chair. Jisung gets a look at his biceps in his short sleeved shirt and feels his eyes widening, flicking over to meet Chenle’s. Chenle is also staring at the way Jeno’s sleeves seem the slightest bit too tight, digging into his skin softly as he moves things around. He meets Jisung’s eye, tilting his head with a slight smile. Jisung’s face blooms red and he looks away, refocusing on what’s right in front of him. Which he realizes is a bad idea when he’s met with Jeno’s shirt stretched snuggly across his chest.
“Um,” He mutters to himself quietly, playing with his fingers in his lap nervously.
“Don’t worry,” Jeno grins at him softly, pulling himself up onto the chair, “This’ll be nice and easy.” Jisung feels himself flush more, glaring down at the floor and praying his body stops betraying him soon. “Hey,” Jeno nudges Jisung’s shoulder with his own hand, “Up here before they start back up.”
That doesn’t help with the embarrassment at all. Jisung forces himself to raise his head and meet Jeno’s gaze, only to have to immediately look away when the sight of Jeno’s face makes his stomach roll. Maybe it was due to the emotional duress the firemen were putting him under when they first arrived, but Jisung’s just now realizing how attractive they all are.
Some part of him always thought the cringey way women in movies would lust over firemen was a joke, but here and now he feels a deep connection with them. It’s just another thing adding to his embarrassment, and Jisung can’t even force himself to meet Jeno’s eyes. Instead, his gaze clicks onto the wall above his head.
“Tilt your head down just a little bit,” Jeno says gently, eyes tracking Jisung’s every move as he slowly moves his head down. “Okay, right there.”
Jeno has two flyaways that make a heart over his head, and Jisung stares resolutely at them while doing his best to ignore Mark and Jaemin making chinks in the glass around his neck.
“How old are you, Jisung?” Jeno asks.
“Twenty three,” Jisung says nervously.
Jaemin laughs from behind him. “You’re way too old to be stuck in a glass bowl right now.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Jisung repeats, “it’s his.”
Chenle swipes at the finger pointing at him. “I said sorry a million times, what else do you want me to do?”
“You should look at my face,” Jeno interrupts their argument, “Your head is tilting a little too far back.”
Silence for a moment before Jaemin mutters, “Dude, keep it in your pants,” entirely too loudly.
Jisung squeaks as his eyes lock onto Jeno’s entirely against his will, only to see Jeno’s shocked, red face staring right back.
“Jen,” Mark calls out, “can you hold the bowl so the glass is almost against his face?”
Jeno nods and does exactly that. The shift in his position blocks Jisung’s view of anything that’s not Jeno. Now, instead of having a carefully crafted distance between the two of them, Jeno’s looming over Jisung with the illusion of him cupping Jisung’s face. Jisung can feel his heart quickening in embarrassment and only has half the mind to hope and pray that his face doesn’t get red.
Not even staring at Jeno’s stocky chest and trying to will the time to move faster helps. It only serves to derail Jisung’s attention to Jeno’s very impressive build. Sure firefighters had to be physically fit, but the span of his chest has Jisung fighting to keep his eyes at an appropriate height.
“Your head is moving again,” Jeno reminds him, “should I put a dot on my face so you know where to look?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Jisung laughs nervously as he inches his head back where it’s supposed to be. Not even twenty minutes ago Jisung was convincing Chenle he didn’t need to do anything to the firemen. Now he’s losing the battle of holding back his own lust.
“You might hear a cracking noise,” Mark tells them both, “Jisung, if you feel any sharpness or pain let us know right away.”
“You got it,” Jisung says faintly, his palms already slicking up with stress sweat. At least the anxiety distracts him from Jeno’s boobs.
“Are you in school?” Jeno asks suddenly.
Jisung tries not to visibly startle. “Uh, no. I graduated last year with a BA in physical science.”
“Woah,” Jeno drawls. “I have, like, twenty jokes about that.”
“You and every other meat head I’ve ever told my major to,” Jisung mutters without thinking.
Chenle laughs. “One time this guy tried to hit on Jisung by offering to let him map out all of his bones and muscles.”
“Did it work?” Jeno asks.
Jisung grimaces. “Anatomy isn’t a physical science.”
Jeno’s chest shakes as he laughs out an, “Oh.”
“More common of a mistake than you would think,” Jisung tries to ease.
There’s no noise other than the chipping of the fish bowl after that. Jisung ignores the second hand embarrassment he feels. For Jeno or for the first guy to mention it, he doesn’t know. Jeno seems less than bothered, however, continuing the small talk about Jisung and Chenle’s lives. The move works as Jisung suspects it’s supposed to, pulling Jisung’s attention away from the noises of the glass and towards the back and forth they all fall into.
“You’re head’s dropping,” Jeno says, “right towards the big knife they have against your neck.”
Jisung straightens and stiffens. “There’s no knife,” he tells Jeno’s chest, pointedly not thinking about the fact that his gaze had started to drift down Jeno’s front.
“There could be,” Jaemin says lightly before a big crack startles Jisung enough that he jumps. “Sorry. Got the first piece off.”
“First piece?” Chenle asks incredulously, “Exactly how long is this going to take?”
“A lot longer than it took to shove your friend’s head into a fishbowl for an Instagram,” Jaemin answers snarkily.
“Hey,” Jisung protests, “it was an experiment for his job, not Instagram.”
“Stay still,” Jeno admonishes, “there is a giant cut of glass literal inches from your neck, please have some semblance of spatial awareness.”
“Which is exactly why this process is taking so long.” Mark adds. “You have a big ole artery down your neck that we need to be careful not to nick.”
The fishbowl gets turned and shifted while everyone takes a minute. There’s some kind of thick wrap around the part that’s already been removed that makes it more comfortable on Jisung’s shoulders.
“This is kind of awkward, huh?” Jeno asks.
Jisung sighs. “Just a bit. Imagine being the idiot who let someone shove his head into a fish bowl.”
Chenle groans. “You know, if your head wasn’t so big, this wouldn’t be happening right now.”
“It’s not all bad,” Jeno interjects jokingly, “at least you can say you got to meet the most attractive fireman in the city.”
Jisung’s eye flick up to meet his. “Mark?”
“Woo!” Mark crows, “Dude, I’m totally going to get you out of here now.”
“Were you not going to before?” Chenle exclaims.
“Ice cold,” Jeno grins down at Jisung.
“Well, you know,” Jisung trails off.
Once they’ve made eye contact, Jisung can’t muster up the courage to look down again. Maybe it’s because Jaemin tells him not to move a centimeter in any direction, or maybe it’s because Jeno’s kind of hot and it’s nice to have all of his attention on Jisung.
“Your head doesn’t look that big,” Jeno tells him.
“It’s not, Chenle’s just a dick.”
Jeno shrugs, “You’re handsome either way. I think the biggest detriment right now is the fish bowl.”
Jisung feels all the blood rush to his face before he can even try to do anything about it. Another crack and turning of the fish bowl leaves Jisung sweating.
“One last section,” Jeno encourages. “We’re in the home stretch now.”
“You kind of talk like a high school basketball coach,” Chenle says.
“Ouchie,” Jeno frowns back.
Jaemin giggles. “Actually, now that he’s mentioned it I can totally see you being a basketball coach.”
Jeno rolls his eyes. “Unfortunately for you, I already have a career.”
Jisung stares at the mole under his lip. It’s cute. He kind of wants to kiss it.
Realization washes over him like a bucket of cold water. How touch starved must he be if he’s thinking about kissing the man who told him he was going to have to live the rest of his days as a fish?
Jisung zones out in his brief stage of self loathing for a few minutes before he comes back to real life from the sound of Jeno and Jaemin arguing over his shoulder.
“What do you guys think?” Jeno asks, eyes darting back and forth between Chenle and Jisung.
“Huh?” Jisung blurts.
“I mean you guys just met us so you don’t have to factor in personality, but who do you think would be the hottest dad peewee basketball coach?”
Jisung stares back at him blankly while Chenle picks Mark with startling speed.
“He wasn’t even in the running!” Jaemin cries.
“And somehow I still won,” Mark says, “so what does that tell you.”
“Jisung never gave his answer,” Jeno shakes his head.
“Uh,” Jisung trails, “I guess I’d pick Jeno.”
“Score!”
“Not fair,” Jaemin gripes, “you’re making eyes at him!”
“You’ve made the smartest choice,” Jeno says seriously, “you’ll see one day.”
Before Jisung can figure out what the hell he’s supposed to say to that, there’s one last big crack, and the fish bowl is finally lifted off of his head.
It’s like a different world is being exposed as the glass is removed. The sun is shining, the air is purified, and Jisung swears he can hear the flowers singing. Mark walks around the chair Jisung is sitting on to smile directly in his face. “I told you I would get you out, didn’t I?”
Jisung laughs to himself, nodding his agreement. Chenle comes and fills up the side to his right. “If we give you more compliments what else can you do?”
“He can do a lot,” Jaemin chimes in, casually standing shoulder to shoulder with Jeno, “He has a praise kink, it’s a whole thing.”
The gasp Mark lets out is loud enough to make Jisung jump a foot off his chair. Jaemin and Jeno are immediately laughing, even as Mark starts going after them.
Jeno easily sidesteps, but Jaemin and Mark are in what seems like a semi-serious fight for a while until Jeno interrupts them. “We still have people here,” He tells them, winking over at Jisung and by extension Chenle, who has his phone out sending play by plays of their shitshow of a day to Renjun and Donghyuck, “At least pretend you weren’t raised in a barn.”
They eventually rip themselves away from each other with Jaemin still laughing and Mark still snarking at him. Jeno has to catch Jaemin as he stumbles towards him and Chenle expertly sidesteps Mark’s flailing body, leaving him to crash into the chairs.
“Sorry,” Chenle smiles sweetly.
“No, I’m sorry,” Mark sighs deeply, “Please ignore them.”
“Easy,” Chenle shrugs, “Thank y’all for your help.”
“Thanks for stopping by!” Jeno grins brightly.
Chenle hums, eyeing him up and down before grabbing onto Jisung. “We’ll get going.” Jisung nods, thanking them all and following Chenle towards the hall. They’re nearly there when Chenle freezes. Jisung knows what he’s going to do before he even moves.
“Actually,” Chenle spins around on his heels. Jisung pinches his wrist, desperately mouthing at him to stop, but gets ignored and batted away. “I think I left something in that room you locked us in earlier.”
“We never locked you in a room,” Jaemin tells him.
“Could you show me where that was?” Chenle ignores him completely, batting his eyelashes at Mark.
“Um,” Mark fumbles, shrugging and nodding his head at the same time, making himself look like some kind of weird bobble head. “Yeah, for sure. Y’all can follow me.”
“Oh, Jisungie can just go wait for me
in the car.” Chenle smiles.
“How am I supposed to find the car?” Jisung mumbles, knowing his lines without needing to be told.
“Jeno can show you,” Chenle responds brightly, “Right? I’m sure you know your way around this place.”
“For sure,” Jeno agrees, tugging his pants up by the belt loops, “We’ll wait for you by the front door?”
Chenle hums, tossing one last grin towards Jisung before wrapping a hand around Mark’s bicep and leading him down the hall.
“Well then,” Jaemin thumbs behind him, “I’m going to go do—something. Y’all have fun.”
There’s a moment of silence once he’s gone before Jeno steps forward, smiling gently at Jisung and motions him to follow. “So,” He starts when they’re finally through the door and heading down the hall. “Your friend seems like he has a strong personality.”
Jisung snorts. “You don’t know the half of it. I mean, he talked me into a fishbowl.”
Jeno barks out a laugh. “I guess that’s true.”
It’s kind of weird. The day has been long and dreadful, pulling almost everything out of Jisung to deal with it all, and he’s still not as annoyed at Chenle’s scheming as he thought he would be.
“How did you two become friends?” Jeno asks.
“He showed up in my room in the middle of the night like some kind of demon and I haven't been able to get rid of him since.” Jisung says blandly, smiling at Jeno’s laughter. It’s a very abridged, if not slightly over dramatized version of events.
The real story is that Jisung’s parents were friends with Chenle’s, and when the Zhong’s moved to the same town as the Park’s and came to check on the process of the house they were building, Jisung’s parents invited them to stay in their house without ever informing Jisung. Jisung had woken up to a barely awake Chenle crawling into his bed, sent up by Jisung’s own mother. At first he had really believed it was a ghost, but the next morning when Chenle was still there he figured it probably wasn’t. They spent the next week together, and when Chenle had to go back home Jisung cried for a full day. When the Zhong’s finally moved into their new house the two boys were nearly inseparable, and it stayed that way for years.
“What about you? Did you know Mark and Jaemin before you started working together?”
“Jaemin, yes. Mark, no.” They come up to a door, which Jeno holds open for him. “Jaemin and I met in middle school. He followed me here because he’s unoriginal.”
“Those pesky best friends.” Jisung teases.
“They’re the worst,” Jeno agrees, “but they can be helpful sometimes, I guess.”
“When fish bowls aren’t involved?”
Jeno shrugs, “Sort of. I mean, they worked this out amongst themselves, didn’t they?”
“Did they?” Jisung tilts his head. He’d been nervous before, but casual flirting was the life he lived with the friends he has. Now that he and Jeno are on more even footing he doesn’t feel so on guard with him.
“I thought so.”
Jisung hums. “Then I guess they really can be helpful sometimes.” Jeno smiles softly at him and Jisung blinks cutely.
“You know,” Jeno starts, “I feel like you should give me your social media handles or something.”
“And what exactly have you done to deserve the honor?”
“I mean I got you out of a glass bowl. I think that deserves me being able to see the final results of your pictures.”
“Technically Mark and Jaemin got me out,” Jisung corrects. “All you did was tease me and stare as they worked.”
“A noble job, in my opinion.”
“Well when you put it like that,” Jisung drawls. “I’ll think about it.”
Jisung thinks that if they weren’t where they are, he might have kissed Jeno. If he hadn’t walked into Jeno’s workplace with a fishbowl stuck on his head, they might have met at a bar, spent the night going back and forth, and then made out in a dark seedy alleyway. Or they’d have met in the grocery store checkout lane, finding camaraderie in complaining about inflation before they realized they were parked right next to each other and went out for coffee after seeing the coincidence as a sign from the universe.
But Jisung did walk into Jeno’s workplace with a fishbowl over his head, and he refuses to push anything further while Jeno is on the clock. For all he knows, the station's Yelp reviews could be down and Jeno could just be laying it on thick to try and draw out a fiver. Jisung thinks maybe he’s actually planning to pull out a calendar of the firefighters half naked and ask Jisung to buy one.
Before the calendar comes out and Jisung has to make a fifty dollar donation as a thank you to the men who saved him from having to live life as a fish, Chenle comes out empty handed and is guided by Mark.
“I couldn’t find my way out either,” Chenle shrugs easily, “who knew this place was so confusing to navigate!”
“That’s my cue,” Jisung grins, “thanks for all your help.”
Jeno lifts his hand for a high five. “Keep your head away from small enclosures.”
“You got it,” Jisung nods, ducking into the passenger seat. By the time he looks up from buckling his seat belt the other two are gone.
“So,” Chenle starts conversationally, turning the key in the ignition, “Jeno’s kind of hot.” Jisung groans lightly, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. “That bad, huh?”
“No,” Jisung lets his hands fall back down to his lap, “It was actually pretty good.”
“Then why were things distinctly un-steamy when I walked out,” Chenle complains.
Jisung rolls his eyes. “Did you want us to be screwing in the car when you walked out?”
“Kind of,” Chenle huffs exasperatedly.
“Then you should’ve given me the keys,” Jisung tells him.
“Break in next time,” Chenle gripes.
They make it all the way back to Jisung’s apartment before he realizes he never did give Jeno his handles.
–
The next few weeks are spent with Chenle berating him for not getting Jeno’s number, and then strategizing on how they’re going to get it.
“Maybe we should get you stuck in another fishbowl.”
Jisung glares as sharply as he can. “No.”
“Something else, then?”
“I’m not getting myself stuck so he can break me out. That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Clearly you’re not well versed in rom-coms.” Chenle scoffs, turning his back to Jisung and focusing on his cereal.
“Clearly you’re not well versed in reality,” Jisung bites back, going back to his work. They last about twenty minutes like that until Chenle is interrupting his concentration once again.
“What if we figure out what coffee shop he frequents and linger in there until we run into him.”
Jisung groans, giving up any hopes of finishing his work for the day and spinning his chair around to face his breakfast bar. “Chenle, we’re not stalking Jeno. First, it’s kind of weird, second, how would you even get that information?”
“Yeah,” Chenle puts his phone face down, smiling sheepishly at Jisung, “You’re right. How would I even figure that out?”
Three days later, Jisung realizes he should have probed into Chenle’s shady answer.
Admittedly, it is kind of his fault for not questioning the sudden change in their routine when Chenle offers to try out a new cafe, but Jisung is still firmly placing most of the blame on Chenle’s shoulders.
They’ve just ordered their drinks when the bell on the door rings, letting everyone know someone’s entered. Jisung ignores it like he always does until Chenle’s digging his elbow in his side and his attention is pulled from his phone. He looks up, then immediately ducks behind the half wall they’re standing next to.
“What are you doing?” Chenle whispers.
“What are you doing?” Jisung hisses, “You stalked Jeno? After we said we wouldn’t?”
“I never said I wouldn’t.” Chenle frowns down at him, “You said we weren’t going to and I never agreed or disagreed with it.”
“Oh my god,” Jisung bemoans, hanging his head, “You’re out to destroy me.”
“Stop being dramatic and stand up. He’s going to walk past us any minute.”
Jisung begrudgingly listens, if only because he doesn’t want to make the situation more awkward than it’s already going to be. It only takes a second, then Jeno is heading straight towards them with raised eyebrows.
“Fireman Jeno!” Chenle greets him once he’s close enough, “What are you doing here?”
“The fire station is, like, a block away. I come here a lot.”
“No way,” Chenle says in that incredibly obvious voice he uses when he’s not trying that hard not to get caught in a lie, “I didn’t even notice.” Chenle looks to his side at Jisung, leading Jeno to do the same. Jisung smiles the best he can at him, even though it kind of feels like it comes out as a grimace.
“Hi Jisung,” Jeno nods at him.
“Hey,” Jisung responds simply. Chenle steps on his foot, forcing Jisung to say more. “Um, how have you been?”
“I’ve been good. And yourself? No more fishbowl incidents I hope?”
“You would have been my first stop if there had been,” Jisung promises. “Your skills for breaking people out have been unrivaled so far.”
“I thought I didn’t do anything?” Jeno raises an eyebrow.
“Hopefully Mark would be there too,” Jisung allows.
“Well if that’s what it takes for you to come see us,” Jeno shrugs, “Hopefully you’ll get stuck again soon.”
Chenle whistles quietly, shooting Jeno a low thumbs up like Jisung can’t see him. “I didn’t know you were waiting for me.”
“What else could I do?” Jeno questions, “It’s not like you gave me any way to find you online.”
“His last name is Park,” Chenle pipes up, “If that’s helpful.”
“It would have been two weeks ago,” Jeno laughs, “Now I’m hoping I could just get a phone number.”
“Just any phone number?” Jisung offers.
“Your phone number,” Jeno clarifies, smile playing at his lips, “So I can text you and get you to agree to a date.”
Jisung hums, pretending to think about it. “I guess a date would be nice.”
Jeno’s smile grows as he pulls his phone out to hand over to Jisung, “I was thinking maybe we could hit up a pet store and buy you a fish.”
Jisung glowers a little. “Too soon.”
Jeno chuckles brightly, taking his phone back once Jisung’s finished and sending a text to Jisung immediately. “So you have my number.” He explains. “Hey, I gotta run, but I’ll text you tonight, okay? Are you free this weekend?” Jisung nods. “Okay, let’s try for this weekend.”
“It’s Friday,” Jisung sputters.
“It’s been weeks,” Jeno makes a face, “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?”
“I guess when you put it like that.”
Jeno’s name is called out, and he walks the few steps to grab his drink, then turns back to them. “I’ll text you, okay? Promise!”
“Pinky!” Jisung calls after him. Jeno raises a pinky in the air before running into someone and turning around to apologize profusely.
“Holy shit,” Chenle says, both of them watching Jeno walk down the sidewalk, “I did that.”
“You didn’t do shit.” Jisung grumbles, sipping at his drink.
“I totally did,” Chenle nudges him, “Now you owe me.”
“This was your retribution for entrapping me in a fishbowl.” Jisung shakes his head.
“Oh my god, Jisung, it was one time. Are you ever going to let that go?”
“Never.
Chenle huffs, swirling his iced coffee around absentmindedly, “Whatever. You’re welcome for landing you a hot firefighter.”
“I never said thank you.”
“Oh my god.”