Chapter Text
“You did not go on a date with Riki,” was the first thing Heeseung said that night, in their dreams.
“Well…” Sunghoon felt like playing around.
“No.” Heeseung was firm. “No, you were just… chaperoning, you two weren’t on a date.” He insisted while pouting and Sunghoon couldn’t keep up the act.
“It wasn’t a date,” Sunghoon smiled, he really liked when their dream placed them somewhere outside, like the park they were at.
“I can’t believe he got a picture of you before I did…” Heeseung continued complaining. “I can’t believe he met you before I did,” he huffed, “this wasn’t how the double date was supposed to go.”
“But isn’t this good? Our friend groups are merging, so we’ll definitely meet now,” Sunghoon commented.
“We were already going to meet, for our date!” Heeseung claimed, making Sunghoon’s heart skip a beat or two. “U-unless you don’t want to? I mean, we had agreed, but maybe you didn’t— I wouldn’t—”
“I want to go on a date with you so much it hurts,” Sunghoon admitted. He didn’t feel scared being direct because he knew Heeseung wanted that. They walked hand in hand, not paying attention to their destination, knowing fully well that the part would continue infinitely. He wondered how different it’d feel to hold Heeseung’s hand in the waking world. “How far away do we live from each other?” Sunghoon asked, suddenly. “We’ve never seen each other before, right? But we can’t live that far away if Jongseong and Jungwon matched on that dating app…”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Heeseung said absently. “Should we get each other’s numbers? Will we remember them when we wake up? Maybe I should tell Jongseong to give it to Jungwon…” Heeseung pondered, maybe getting a little ahead of himself.
“No,” Sunghoon refused instantly. “Jungwon will hold it against me and will demand things from me in exchange for the number,” he sighed. “Oh, wait, Riki has my number,” he commented, remembering how the date had ended.
“What?” Heeseung groaned. “He got a date, several pictures and your number before me? This is so unfair…”
“Stop complaining and ask him for my number,” Sunghoon lightly pushed Heeseung to the side. “I really want to meet you out of here…” Sunghoon said timidly.
When he woke up, thanks to his alarm, Sunghoon felt anxious and excited. He couldn’t wait for Heeseung’s text. At the very least, even if they don’t end up going on a date right away, he’d get to speak to Heeseung while awake. This would solidify the fact that Heeseung was real. Sure, Riki had confirmed it, and Jongseong had too, but with this he’d have evidence of his own. With this, Sunghoon realised, he’d get everything he wanted. It didn’t come without doubt and fear, since it was possible that Heeseung wasn’t the same in their dreams and in real life.
It took several hours after he had woken up for Sunghoon to get a text from Heeseung. It was awkward and jittery, with a lot of extra words and explanations as well as an apology for taking so long to message. Sunghoon was terribly endeared. He was also terribly scared, because now he had to answer something back. Despite his trepidations, their conversation soon settled into what it was like in their dreams, easy and comfortable. Soon, Sunghoon was giggling and blushing at his phone like a fool, much to Jungwon and Sunoo’s irritation. That, however, didn’t compare to how he’d gotten once they set a date to meet.
“I was not this bad before meeting Jay-hyung,” Jungwon complained, watching as Sunghoon compared shirts and paired them up with different pants.
“He’s a guy from a dating app; this is literally my boyfriend,” Sunghoon argued, though he had a feeling Jungwon thought that should calm him down. “I need to cause a good impression.”
“You’ve been dating for like, what, the better part of a year? You’ve already made your good impression,” Sunoo argued, though he was helping Sunghoon pick his outfit. “I still can’t believe all of that was real, are we certain you aren’t imagining all of this?”
“Yeah, Jay-hyung’s told me stuff from Heeseung-hyung’s side, this is 100% real,” Jungwon sounded defeated. “You can’t blame us for not believing you at first, it did sound like you’d lost your mind.”
“I don’t blame you, but it hurt a little,” Sunghoon explained. “Especially because Heeseung-hyung’s friends did believe him, you could have tried…”
“I’d rather be honest,” Sunoo said offhandedly. “But we could have tried to be more open, I guess, look at how it turned out.”
“Right, even if just to make me happy,” Sunghoon picked up two pairs of shoes and showed them to Sunoo and Jungwon.
“Left ones,” Jungwon answered instantly. “Next time you have some delirious experience, we’ll try to believe you,” he said, which didn’t make Sunghoon feel better at all.
Either way, Sunghoon finished getting ready with their help and quickly made his way to a restaurant not too far away from his place. This meeting with Heeseung would be nerve-wracking for him, but also possibly the best experience of his life. He tried not to let his hopes and expectations run too wild, wanting for the experience to be as pleasing as possible. At the same time, thought, he was going to meet Heeseung. His boyfriend. The man he’d spent so many nights talking with and sharing everything with. The man he hoped to continue spending nights with and now days too. Mornings and evenings, he wanted everything with Heeseung. It felt unreal to meet someone for the first time, while also already knowing them so well.
He had to stop before entering the restaurant to calm down his nerves, he was not going to have another breakdown at a restaurant in the same week.
The restaurant wasn’t as fancy as the one Jongseong had picked, and much more affordable. It had been Sunghoon’s idea. They had the time to discuss, and Sunghoon didn’t want that kind of pressure for their first, in real life, date.
While asleep, the previous night, their shared dream had been a little awkward. Not uncomfortable, but their looming encounter weighed heavy on them and made their interactions a little shier than usual.
He held his breath as soon as he saw Heeseung already waiting for him, fidgeting slightly on his seat and resisting the urge to use his phone. For some reason, knowing Heeseung was as nervous as him made him feel slightly more relaxed. He should have known, after all, he seemed panicky the previous night.
Then their eyes met, Sunghoon felt his heart stop at the same time it accelerated.
“Hi,” Sunghoon felt stupid, yet nothing else could leave his mouth. His mind was blank.
“Hi,” Heeseung said back, smiling sweetly and shyly.
Sunghoon sat down in front of Heeseung, and after a couple of seconds of weird silence and timid, stolen stares, they both broke into laughter. Heeseung was real, and he was in front of him. Breathing, smiling and tangible.
“Hi…” he repeated, because he still couldn’t get his brain to work and cooperate.
“You are so beautiful,” Heeseung seemed unable to control his thoughts and ended up with red ears. To his credit, Sunghoon’s turned just as red. “I— I mean, I already knew that— I mean— you know what I mean…”
Sunghoon wasn’t sure if his brain was cooperating or not, but he decided to say: “you are beautiful too,” which seemed to make Heeseung relax. “With that out of the way,” Sunghoon quietly clapped his hands together, “we should order something.”
Once they had their food, and as some time had passed, they fell back into their usual conversation. Sunghoon thought it was nice, even if there were other people around them; even if things could go wrong, feeling the warmth from their surroundings and each other’s presence was an amazing experience. Something they couldn’t have in their dreams.
Later down the night, Sunghoon noticed Heeseung’s hand on the table and he remembered what he’d thought several times in their dreams. Even if they had held hands and more before, he was hesitant to do it now. Now, Sunghoon argued with himself, it would be real. Or, well, even more real, since not a moment with Heeseung had ever felt fake. Maybe he was staring a bit too much, because Heeseung made the first move of slowly sliding his hand closer to Sunghoon’s. With that open invitation, Sunghoon took the last step to hold Heeseung’s hand.
He never imagined he could feel so much just from hand holding. Their dreams were nice and had some filtered-out sensation to them at all times, but this was something else. He could feel the warmth from Heeseung’s hand, the slight sweaty sensation they had, the faint feeling of Heeseung’s pulse, and every bit of his skin’s texture. He was sure that if he hadn’t been comparing it to their dreams, he couldn’t have noticed half the details. It made his mind wonder how everything else would compare to their dreams. How different would kisses be? Their touches and all they had shared; it would be like experiencing all of it for the first time again. Sunghoon couldn’t wait.
“Are we together?” It occurred to Sunghoon, as Heeseung was walking him back, hands still clasped together, that they never really talked about it. At least, not while awake and he would rather ask than assume and be wrong.
“I- well, I always referred to you as my boyfriend, so…” Heeseung seemed hesitant, like he was scared Sunghoon wouldn’t like that answer.
“I know in… in the dreams we are together, I call you my boyfriend all the time as well, but now that we actually met… are we together?” Sunghoon clarified, sensing that Heeseung had misunderstood him.
“Do you want us to be?” It was a simple question, but Sunghoon felt its pressure. He decided to ignore all caution for the moment.
“I love you,” Sunghoon stated, which almost made Heeseung trip. “So, I’d really like it if we were boyfriends, but it’s not entirely up to me.”
“Shit,” Heeseung cursed as he regained balance, not letting go of Sunghoon’s hand. Sunghoon counted that in his favour. “I’d love that, I- I love you, too.” And it was that simple.
Sunghoon didn’t hesitate this time as he pulled Heeseung closer to himself and kissed him chastely. He couldn’t afford to get lost in a kiss, nor could he spend that much time comparing the feelings to the dream kisses. It was short and sweet and it sealed their words. He’d love to kiss Heeseung more, but he wasn’t done talking.
“Then we are, officially, together; in our dreams and awake,” he concluded. “When’s our anniversary?” He questioned. “Like, are we using today or when you asked me in our dream?”
“Uh… we could have two anniversaries, right?” Heeseung offered, and it honestly didn’t sound like a bad idea.
“We definitely could, but that means our first one-year anniversary is in two months,” Sunghoon pointed out.
“Yeah… I… I already have… plans,” Heeseung confessed, ears red and cheeks flushed. “I made them when we decided to meet.”
“You did?” Sunghoon was taken aback, but also feeling extremely warm. They’d been walking for a while, stalling Sunghoon’s return home. “Do I get to know what you planned?”
“Mmm, no, it’s a surprise,” Heeseung smiled. “At least for now.” He pressed a quick kiss to Sunghoon’s cheek and Sunghoon really couldn’t allow himself to dwell on the sensation.
Eventually, they reached Sunghoon’s place and had to part ways. Of course, this meant one —or five, last kisses before Heeseung actually left. Sunghoon felt silly entering his home and recounting in his mind how the date had gone. He felt even sillier later as he lay in bed, knowing fully well that he’d meet Heeseung again. He didn’t, however, feel so silly the next morning when he had to actually retell his date to Sunoo and Jungwon, who were borderline begging for details.
Still, that would sour his mood and he was already looking forward to their next time out together. Maybe this time they could actually go on a double date with Jungwon and Jay.