Chapter Text
Daniel looked up at the clock, watching as the minute hand move as the seconds past. The lifeless application just sat there, and yet an energy is moving beneath the surface. Daniel could almost hear the tick and see the gentle trembling as the hand moved back to inactivity, signalling that another minute has past. And one minute closer to the inevitable meeting with Seongwoo.
1:30
‘One more hour’ Daniel mumbled to himself, classmates around him hearing his soft whisper but ignoring it as they were all already used to his quirks. It didn’t help that this lesson was one of Daniel’s most hated subject. Maths. Daniel didn’t understand how maths would help him in the future. He honestly didn’t care about how fast a stone is thrown from the ground if it managed to hit a bird that was standing at the top of the tree. He also didn’t care about how many chocolates John wanted to eat in a week.
He let up a groan as he looked up at the clock again.
1:31
Daniel let out an even louder groan as he leaned his head on his palm, trying to concentrate on his lecture. After deciding that he was not in a state to adsorb new material, he picked up a pencil and started doodling. After doodling mindlessly, Daniel looked down at his drawing and frowned at the picture of the two stick figures standing next to each other. One of the stick figure was himself, while the other one had dark hair. Daniel frowned to himself. Jihoon didn’t have dark hair. His hair was dyed a dusty blonde. Daniel was ready to take his eraser to erase the dark haired stickman when he stared at it again. Suddenly, he felt uncomfortable as he was ready to erase away that particular stickman. Letting out a small hum, he placed the eraser back into his pencil case as he continued doodling cats at the side.
Doodling on his papers was one of Daniel’s favourite time wasters during lessons. He found out that doodling made the time in his lessons past by faster and before he knew it, the bell rung, signalling the end of his class. After the lecturer dismissed them, Daniel grabbed his phone and saw the number of messages from his friends. Most of them were from Jisung and Sungwoon, telling him to update them about the date and that they were always there in case he needed a fake call to let him escape from any potential weird situation.
Daniel was about to text Seongwoo that he was dismissed when his phone notification lighted up, showing that his phone had a new message.
‘Hey, I’ll wait for you at the entrance of the school. I’m walking there now.’
Daniel replied a short okay as he quickly packed his bag. Giving a short wave to his classmates and started heading to the entrance of the school. He wished that either Jisung or Sungwoon was with him but they were currently having different classes.
Daniel was nearing the entrance when his eyes scouted for Seongwoo. However, Seongwoo was not alone. He seemed to be talking rather animatedly to another handsome dark-haired student who was a little taller than Seongwoo. Daniel quickened his pace as Seongwoo turned and looked at him, giving him a small grin as a means of greeting. The other student noticed the exchange as he quickly excused himself as he walked out of the school, leaving Seongwoo and Daniel alone.
‘Who was that?’ Daniel asked, eyes briefly following the path of that student as he walked away, before turning towards Seongwoo.
‘That’s Guanlin, he is a little shy but he is a nice kid’ Seongwoo said rather fondly of him. Daniel felt his stomach twisting a little but he ignored it as hunger.
‘Anyway, let’s go!’ Seongwoo half dragged Daniel towards the café that they agreed to eat at.
After reaching the café, Seongwoo and Daniel chose a rather secluded seat at the edge of the café. A waiter started to walk towards them, holding two menus.
‘Hello, welcome to ‘Pro-duce’! Today’s special menu is chicken aglio’ the waiter said to them as he started talking about their best sellers in a very robotic tone, probably due to the fact that he had recited the same sentences for quite a few times already. Daniel and Seongwoo decided to order two different dishes and then share.
‘I would like the chicken aglio pasta… and he would like the salmon baked rice’ Seongwoo said to the waiter. The waiter nodded and stretched out his hands to collect the menus and Daniel couldn’t help but notice how the waiter’s hand intentionally brushed against Seongwoo’s. Daniel frowned and looked down at the table.
When the waiter left, Daniel looked up to see Seongwoo smiling amusingly towards him.
‘What?’ Daniel stated.
‘Nothing, for someone with such a big build, you’re really adorable’ Seongwoo replied. Daniel couldn’t help but to turn a little red at the compliment(?). At Daniel’s silence, Seongwoo continued talking.
‘By the way, I’m really happy that you gave me a chance to prove myself.’ Seongwoo said, and Daniel’s heart dropped a tad bit. He almost forgot that Seongwoo was under the influence of the love potion. Daniel pinched his own thigh.
‘No problem, you seem like a decent guy’ Daniel replied, making Seongwoo’s grin a little wider. They began talking about themselves. Seongwoo was also a second year student, but only transferred into the school at the first semester of the second year. Daniel nodded a bit at that, finally understanding why he never noticed him initially. While talking, Daniel’s eyes were drawn to the piercings in Seongwoo’s right ear, getting dazzled by the way the earrings reflected the sun’s rays. He found his hand reaching out towards the earrings.
‘Hello! I am back with the orders’
Daniel turned to see the waiter looking expectantly at him as he realised that he was about to touch Seongwoo’s ears. He dropped his hand and turned towards Seongwoo. Judging by the redness of Seongwoo’s ears, he must have also felt embarrassed by the sudden action. The waiter placed the plates on the table and left them.
An awkward silence fell among them as they picked up their utensils to start eating. After a few bites, Daniel coughed slightly.
‘Your chicken aglio looks nice.’ He started saying, trying to break the silence.
Seongwoo blinked and started to twirl up some noodles and chicken. He stretched out his hands towards Daniel’s bewildered face.
‘The aeroplane’s coming!’ Seongwoo said with a cheeky voice. Daniel couldn’t help but to scoff at his antics and slightly opened his mouth. His mouth was then blessed by the flavours of the chicken and noodles. He almost swore at how good the sauce tasted, and for some reason, it tasted even better when he looked up and saw the person feeding him. Seongwoo retracted his hand to Daniel’s dismay. Daniel then scooped up some salmon and rice and fed it to Seongwoo.
Their date continued like that, with them sharing their food and bits and pieces of their lives. Daniel found out that Seongwoo could also dance, mostly popping. He eagerly asked Seongwoo to show him a small routine when they have the time. Seongwoo replied by asking him to show off some of his bboy moves too. Daniel was entertained throughout the whole date, and the nervousness that filled him that morning when he woke up completed disappeared. Even though Seongwoo gave off a scary vibe at first, he was actually really friendly when he really got to know him. To be honest, Daniel thought that he would have to ask Jisung to give him a fake call halfway through the date.
After the meal, they went to a nearby shopping mall that their schoolmates always frequent because it was nearby and it had a big arcade. Seongwoo challenged Daniel to a game of basketball and Daniel agreed. Daniel was proud of his upper body. He knew that he had the muscles due to many trips to the gym. It helped that he was in a bboy team and every dance routine was like a full body workout for him.
Due to the number of people at the basketball station, they decided to go one at a time. Daniel went first, and he found himself throwing almost every basketball into the hoop with precise and practiced moments. Daniel didn’t tell Seongwoo, but Jisung and him used to frequent the arcade a lot in his first year. After the beep signalled that it was timeout, Daniel used the back of his hand to swipe the sweat forming on his forehead. He looked up at the final score.
355
Daniel grinned to himself and turned to Seongwoo who was looking at the score with a disbelieving expression plastered on his face.
‘I don’t think I ever got that high’ Seongwoo stated, but he moved forward towards the machine with a determined expression. Daniel laughed a little and stood back, watching as Seongwoo pushed the token into the slot, starting a new game. He grinned a little at Seongwoo’s pose as Seongwoo started throwing the balls at the sound of a beep. Daniel’s first intention was to look at the scoreboard while Seongwoo was playing. However, he found his eyes straying to Seongwoo instead. His lithe frame stood out and his toned muscles flexed everytime he moved to throw the ball. Daniel unintentionally licked his dry lips as he stared at Seongwoo, who had already began sweating.
Daniel ended up winning the game. Seongwoo did put up a good fight, just that his last few throws were a little sloppy due to his protesting muscles. After playing the basketball game, they moved on to the other games like the car racing. Seongwoo was really good and Daniel kept finding himself staring at the back of Seongwoo’s car in almost every round. Daniel felt that Seongwoo would intentionally let him win, even though Seongwoo profusely denied it.
Daniel felt himself dreading the end of his date. He really enjoyed the company of Seongwoo as he was really comfortable with him and felt like they really clicked. Seongwoo was adamant on walking Daniel back to his hostel. On the way back, Daniel found himself sneaking glances of Seongwoo. His eyes traced his side profile and his earrings, feeling as if earrings were specially made for Seongwoo, with how well the other seemed to pull it off.
‘Take a picture, it lasts longer’ Seongwoo said, with a hint of amusement tracing his words.
Daniel quickly turned his head back, feeling like he was acting like he was back in middle school again. He laughed lightly.
‘Look how haughty you are’ he replied, and the walk towards the dorm was filled with mirth. Soon, they found themselves standing at the entrance towards Daniel’s dorm. Seongwoo took out his bag and took something out. He signalled for Daniel to raise up his hand and he placed a small keychain in Daniel’s palm. Daniel looked down at the adorable baby bunny that was wearing a cat onesie.
‘I saw it and it reminded me of you’ Seongwoo said. Daniel realised that this was why Seongwoo disappeared for a while in one of the thrift shops that they went into that day. Daniel looked up to see Seongwoo nervously biting his lips, as if he was having second thought about the small gift.
‘I…I love it! Thank you!’ Daniel replied. He quickly placed the keychain into his pocket and gave Seongwoo a tight hug, which Seongwoo returned.
‘Well, I’ll get going now’ Seongwoo said after the hug, as he turned his heels away.
‘Wait…’Daniel started, and Seongwoo turned back with a questioning look. Daniel didn’t know what took over him as he pulled Seongwoo towards him and placed a kiss on his cheek. Seongwoo visibly blushed as he coughed into his hand after the kiss. His eyes seemed to be avoiding Daniel’s. Daniel internally cooed at his reaction.
‘Payback for yesterday’ he said. Seongwoo raised his eyebrow as his puzzlement was shown on his face.
‘The kiss’ Daniel said, although it seemed like he was convincing himself instead of helping to solve Seongwoo’s confusion. Seongwoo lighted up with a smile and started laughing lightly.
‘Right’ He winked as he turned again and started walking away. Daniel watched Seongwoo turned the last corner as he gave a last wave. He then turned around to enter his dorm.
‘HOW WAS IT?’ Jisung practically screamed as he appeared out of the kitchen. Suddenly Daniel remembered how he even got into the situation and that Seongwoo’s actions were all due to the love potion. He suddenly got a headache.
‘It went well, he’s a pretty cool dude’ Daniel replied as Sungwoon also walked into the living room. The whole room was filled with Daniel talking about his date with Seongwoo with the occasional comment from Jisung. Sungwoon just sat and stared at Daniel with an expression that made Daniel a little uneasy.
‘Beep’ Daniel looked at his phone and smiled to himself when he was the name of the sender. He could vaguely hear Sungwoon whispering something to Jisung but happily ignored them as he opened the message.
‘I had fun today, I hope I didn’t tire you out though.’ Daniel smiled to himself as he quickly replied.
‘I’m not tired at all! Thanks for the day! Are you reaching home soon?’ Daniel quickly excused himself from Jisung and Sungwoon as he made his way back to the room, still texting Seongwoo.
After Daniel left, Jisung looked at Sungwoon.
‘Yeah it does seem a little like it huh’ Jisung said as Sungwoon agreed with a contemplative nod.
‘Well, I really hope Daniel knows what he is getting into’ Sungwoon replied as Daniel’s laugh echoed across the dorm, probably in response to the message from Seongwoo. Jisung sat up and stretched his arms as he pulled Sungwoon up.
‘It’s late, let’s go to sleep’
‘We still have that maths assignment’
‘Oh yeah…dammit I hate maths’
‘Who doesn’t’
They laughed as they walked back to their room, ready for another all nighter.