Act. 8 | Stray Kids Imagines

[one]

If only you could hear the chorus inside Jeongin's head, it sang whenever your pretty mouth said his name. I love you. I love you. I love you.

And he would want to shout, "I said I love you!" as every part of him echoed. A celestial song. A fervent instinct. It was a truth that mangled itself into a desperate prayer, for as easily as those three words came to him, he could never utter them aloud.

Outside the dreamy realm of his thoughts, those words carried a weight that could upturn the delicate thing the two of you shared. The silent intimacy of your touches and the profound tenderness of your smiles that made up his little world.

It would tip the fragile surface that the two of you balanced atop, lost between simple friendship and something more. For better or for worse, he didn't know. He didn't want to.

He was a coward in that sense. Too afraid to let go of what you were to him to even try at what you could be. What he could be.

In many ways, you were too special. Too perfect. Too good for him and the meager things he could offer you. He was only a shadow to your infinite light, a singular whisper to your wild storm.

In many ways, you joined him in cowardice. When you let your hands stay on his for too long, turning them over to trace mindless shapes with your thumbs. When you asked him about his day and your tone betrayed a thousand other questions. When you held him too close for what was appropriate between mere friends. When you looked at him like he was an incarnation of the moon and every twinkling star in its sky. Your eyes spoke too much, and it scared him as it evidently scared you.

For that reason, he allowed himself to be selfish. He allowed himself to relish the mundane reality he lived, for at least he had you in it. That was enough for him.

With a small smile, Jeongin turned to where you stood, awaiting his response after you called his name. "Yeah?"

And the chorus inside his head continued, unbothered.