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May
Seongwoo is the kind of person who, even in the pouring rain, drenched and looking like a drowned ferret, will keep his nose high and his chin up. Image, after all is very important and he’s always believed that as much as possible, one should never let anyone show any form of vulnerability.
This is the exact scenario when he first meets Daniel.
It’s pouring pretty hard, because the rainy season has arrived a few weeks early. Seongwoo’s folding umbrella is broken and in a fit of frustration he throws it away in the first public trash can he sees. He’s waiting at a crosswalk two blocks away from his apartment, for the pedestrian light to turn green.
He is thinking about how it’s going to be a bitch to dry his sneakers out when the rain suddenly stops hitting him directly on the face. He turns sideways and realises that the man now standing next to him has decided to share his umbrella.
“Um.” He stares up at him, as tall as he is with funny looking face.
“Do I know you?”
He knows he probably shouldn’t be snippy especially since the guy is just being generous with his umbrella, but he is in a terrible mood and just needs to lash out. He groans inwardly as he realises at the back of his head that his notes from one of his class that day are probably ruined now. Although he figures, at least he decided against bringing his laptop to school that morning. The guy grins at him, a little goofy, and Seomgwoo notices how his ears kind of stick out; his hair, shaved at the sides, isn’t really helping with that.
“3-B, right?” He asks his. “I live across the hall from you.”
Seongwoo continues staring at him, trying to place his face. He only really moved in two and a half weeks ago, but he’s been so busy with university and his part time job that he hasn’t really had time to mingle with the building’s other tenants. Apparently he has seen Seongwoo around though, at least if he’s telling the truth.
The light turns green, the cars stop, and they’re suddenly both hurrying across the street. His hand is on Seongwoo's back, and Seongwoo wants to make a comment about that, especially since he doesn’t even know that guy name yet. But even Seongwoo knows that that could probably wait until they get to the side of the road.
He leads his way towards a building, and they stands under the side roof of a convenience store, watching as the rain goes down even harder.
“Hi, I’m Kang Daniel,” he says, smiling widely at Seongwoo and holding his hand out.
Seongwoo’s eyes narrow, as he regards him suspiciously. His smile never wavers and Seongwoo is forced to tentatively shake his hand.
“Ong Seongwoo,” he answers, nodding at him.
He retracts his hand immediately runs it through his hair as he stares at the pouring rain.
“It’s just getting stronger,” he observes.
“Do you want to make a run for it,” he cocks his head towards the direction of their (at least Seongwoo assumes it’s theirs, unless he’s totally pulling his leg and they’re not really neighbours) apartment building,
“or should we just wait it out?”
“Uh.” Seongwoo glances at the rain. He really just wants to go home, but with the way the water is pouring it’s starting to look like he doesn’t really have any choice. Seongwoo shrugs.
Daniel nods and smiles at him. “Come on, let’s wait it out inside the convenience store. I’ll do a little light snack shopping while we’re at it.”
Daniel holds the door open for him, but Seongwoo has no idea why he actually follows this guy inside.
June
“It’s weird how often I am suddenly running across you now,” Seongwoo comments when Daniel exits his apartment the exact same moment that Seongwoo locks his.
It’s a little over two weeks after that one rainy afternoon, and Seongwoo has seen Daniel at least once a day almost every day since; which is only really weird since he had no idea he was the guy living across him until that very day.
Daniel laughs. “I’m in your life now.” He wiggles his eyebrows at Seongwoo. “In your head.”
Seongwoo makes a face at him, and he just laughs even more.
“Off to school?” Daniel asks.
He nods, shoving his house keys into his bag. He looks up at Daniel, hesitating. He has no idea what he does—if he’s still in school, or if he has a job, and he really doesn’t want to ask and act like he’s actually interested in his life, but the truth is he’s been wondering for a while now.
“You?” Curiosity wins. Seongwoo at least tries to sound nonchalant about it.
“Oh, I’ve been done with school since last year.” Daniel grins at him, and they both start walking towards the stairs.
“I work from home, mostly. I’m a writer.”
Seongwoo’s head snaps towards him, surprised. He didn’t really look like anyone who knew his way around computers. “You don’t look like a writer.”
Daniel laughs. “I’m full of surprises.”
Seongwoo snorts. “Yeah, okay.”
Daniel ducks his head, and suddenly flashes him an embarrassed smile.
“To be honest, I write mostly web content articles. It’s the most dragging job in the world, but it pays the bills for now.”
This’s something about the way he says for now that speaks to Seongwoo. He can tell he means it, that one day he’s going to do something that he loves, and he’s going to earn money doing it.
“I teach dance to kids part time,” Daniel continues, and the smile on his face is more genuine at that.
“Weekends, and Thursday afternoons.”
Seongwoo can tell that’s what he really wants to do; he wishes him luck with that.
“So, how about you? What are you majoring in?” He asks.
“Theatre,” Seongwoo answers.
“Cool!” Daniel seems genuinely impressed, which, for some reason, pleases Seongwoo a lot.
“When you have a stage performance, save me a ticket or something.”
After several casual run-ins with each others, even in the streets, he finally asks—
“Are you stalking me?”
Daniel blinks at him, obviously surprised at the question, and Seongwoo feels a little rash and guilty. He attempts an apologetic smile, and he scratches the back of his head, embarrassed.
“Sorry,” he says, and he means it. He laughs awkwardly. “These was kind of someone at my last apartment. He was a bit of a stalker. Kind of leery.”
It’s not a lie at all—he really did have a borderline creepy neighbour who was into him at the last place he stayed at. It was part of the reason why he’d wanted to get out of there fast; that plus the fact that the place, while super cheap, was an hour away from his university.
“Okay, maybe once or twice, when I’m out, and I realise it’s almost time for you to go home, I wait a little by the convenience store down the street so we can walk home together,” Daniel admits. He looks really embarrassed.
“I thought it would be nice, you know? To be friends with the boy from across the hall. It really wasn’t hard to figure out that you get home around 4PM on Tuesdays.”
Seongwoo peers at him suspiciously. He looks so awkward and embarrassed, but he also seems to be trying so hard to look at Seongwoo straight in the eye so he’d believe.
“I’m not a stalker, I promise!” He exclaims, and his face is so red.
“I’m not leery either! I think?”
Seongwoo bursts out laughing. He doesn’t know why, he just does. Maybe it’s because of the frantic look on Daniel's face.
“So, that time, when it was raining?” Seongwoo asks. “You were waiting for me?”
“Oh, no! I was out with a friend that day,” Daniel explains. “I promise! I’ve seen you around here, once or twice, and you were soaking wet, I just wanted to help you out.”
Daniel has a way of speaking that’s easy to believe, Seongwoo realises, because he doesn’t think he’s telling lies. In fact, he thinks he seems somewhat incapable of telling actual lies.
“Okay,” Seongwoo says finally, smiling.
“Okay, we’ll be friends?” Daniel says. His tone is confident and teasing, but Seongwoo can see that the tips of his ears are still red.
“Okay, let’s do the good neighbour thing,” Seongwoo clarifies, his smile spreading even more on his face despite himself.
He calls him ’Daniel-ssi,’ because it’s the correct and formal way.
“Let’s drop the formalities,” Daniel says.
“Jaehwan on the floor above us just calls me Daniel. Let’s be neighbours like that.”
“Daniel” Seongwoo raises an eyebrow
“you could also called me Daniel-ah, Niel-ah” Daniel volunteers with a sly grin.
“you are older than me, aren’t you”
Seongwoo snorts. “Daniel-ssi, then.”
Daniel laughs, shaking his head. “You’re a difficult man.”
“Well, you’re getting to know me pretty well.” Seongwoo smiles, and then he adds, “Daniel-ssi.”
Daniel groans. “Right. Okay. Seongwoo-ssi.”
Daniel smiles at him, and Seongwoo thinks it’s a little bit contagious.
Daniel is even more ridiculous the first time he asks for his phone number.
“So, we’re doing the good neighbour thing, right?” Daniel reiterates one morning when they’re both going through their mail. “That kind of means being sort of... like family.”
Seongwoo stares at him strangely. He sounds like he’s just rambling, spouting off words that should make sense together, but is just sounding like gibberish coming from his mouth.
Seongwoo snorts. “Not really,” he almost says, but Daniel beats him to speaking first.
Daniel whips out his hand phone from his pocket and shoves it into Seongwoo's hands. “here,” he says.
“Save your number in my phonebook.”
Seongwoo gives it to him, out of amusement if not anything else.
July
Daniel seeks his help in looking for a present when two of his former seniors at school throw a joint birthday party.
“Seriously, you’re asking me?” He blinks at him.
It’s 10 in the morning, and Daniel was standing in front of his doorway, looking at him with pleading eyes.
“Jisung-hyung I can do on my own, but Sungwoon-hyung is kind of really picky, and he will cut my eyes out if I disappoint with my gift,” he explains. "Probably. Please? I'll owe you big.”
Seongwoo laughs. “You’re just trying to spend more time with me, aren’t you?” He asks.
“Why are you always trying to get me to flirt with you?!” Daniel tries to say it in a teasing way, almost like he’s brushing him off, but the tips of his ears are visibly red—Seongwoo realises that’s his tell.
For someone he’s only vaguely known for a little over a month though, Daniel is kind of really hard to say no to.
“Alright,” he gives in. “Give me twenty minutes to get ready.”
“So, when’s your birthday?” Daniel asks, while they’re at the mall, window shopping for things that Daniel can get his friends as presents.
“Hm.” He’s looking at the label of a wine bottle—Daniel thinks he should just get Sungwoon a bottle, but apparently he knows absolutely nothing about alcohol because he doesn’t really drink. Seongwoo finds this absurd, but he isn’t really going to pry.
“Come on, I’ll pick out something nice for you when the day comes.” He’s grinning at Seongwoo enthusiastically.
Seongwoo chuckles. “Are you going to ask for my help in picking one out too?”
“No!” Daniel exclaims, scratching his head.
Seongwoo laughs. “You’re flirting with me again.”
“You wish.” Daniel frowns.
Seongwoo pats his shoulder, suppressing an amused smile. “I just celebrated. Remember that day in the rain?”
Daniel nods.
“That was my birthday.”
Daniel makes a face. “That was a sucky day.”
Seongwoo snorts. “Yeah, well, it was just another day.”
“Do you want to go with me to this birthday party?” Daniel suddenly asks, like he’s trying to make up for something.
He looks so eager and anxious, that it makes Seongwoo laugh; he looks at him expectantly.
“No,” Seongwoo says. Daniel's face falls a little, and he realises Daniel was totally serious with the invite.
Seongwoo smiles, he’s actually feeling a little apologetic.
“Sorry, I can’t. I’m busy on that day. The 10th right?”
Daniel shrugs. “Oh, well, next time.”
Seongwoo thinks he might just oblige him next time.
A week or so after Seongwoo goes with him to buy gifts, he caches in on the favour owed by showing up on his doorstep, and asking him to go grocery shopping with.
It’s weekend and he’s spent the last three days getting coffee from Starbucks, because he’s all out of ground beans, and it’s not like his fridge is well-stocked either.
Seongwoo knocks on Daniel's door at 10 in the morning, and he answers, eyes heavy, and hair dishevelled. He’s obviously just woken, and Seongwoo briefly considers backing out—he doesn’t know what possessed him in the first place and put in his head the idea of asking Daniel to go to the grocery with him, of all things.
And then Daniel smiles, more gums than teeth. “Good morning!” He greets Seongwoo, and he remembers that he’s going to have to restock probably an entire month’s worth of supplies because he probably won’t have time to go shopping again for the rest of the month. It means he's going to need someone's help carrying all those shopping bags going back home.
“Want to go to the supermart with me?” He asks.
“Come on, you owe me for that time I went to the mall with you.”
Daniel blinks at him. “I haven’t even had my morning coffee yet.”
Seongwoo laughs. “Late night?”
Daniel nods. “Last night was the birthday party, remember?” He pauses, rubbing his eyes. “Do you have coffee at your place?”
Seongwoo laughs and shakes his head. “No, which is why I need to go shopping.”
“Oh, right.” Daniel nods.
He opens the door a little wider, and steps aside so Seongwoo can come in. “I’ll get ready and then I guess I’ll go with you. I need to buy some food anyway.”
“We can stop by Starbucks on the way,” Seongwoo offers.
“Are you treating?” Daniel asks cheekily.
Seongwoo raises an eyebrow at him—he thinks that was a pretty bold comment.
Seongwoo shakes his head. “I don’t think we’re at that level of friendship yet, where you get to ask me to treat,” he points out.
“But we’re at the level where we ask each other to go shopping at the last minute?” Daniel counters.
Seongwoo laughs. “Precisely.”
August
By the time summer is almost around, Seongwoo and Daniel have somehow developed a casual routine to go with their casual friendship. It mostly involves Daniel dropping by unexpectedly on weekend afternoons, with cheap snacks and a DVD.
“Do you play video games?” Daniel had asked the first time he did this.
“No, not really,” Seongwoo had answered.
“Oh, well,” Daniel sighed, a little dejected. “Jaehwan is busy with his new girlfriend, so he’s pretty much skipping our weekend video game dates. I have DVDs we can watch instead, are you busy?”
Seongwoo had been in the middle of memorizing lines for a stage production at school, but he’d been doing that for the last four hours, and he’d felt that he deserved a break so he ended up agreeing.
It somehow keeps happening, which Seongwoo finds weird because Daniel never really runs out of stories about various friends, so it makes him wonder why he doesn’t spend time with them instead. And then he realises that he isn’t really lacking in other friendships either, but here he is, willingly spending time with his funny-looking neighbour.
Sometimes Daniel will fall asleep halfway through the movie, after they’re done eating whatever snack he’s brought along and Seongwoo will just leave him alone on his sofa while he works on whatever school work he has to finish.
Seongwoo is mildly aware that it feels kind of domestic, which is weird considering they aren’t really a couple, nor does he want to be one with him, but if it’s not an issue with Daniel, then neither is it an issue with him.
He pushes the feeling far back into his mind and ignores it.
Jihoon finds out about Daniel when he meets him one Saturday when he comes over to return some text books he’d borrowed for the semester that just ended. They’re making small talk when Daniel barges in with a DVD and a packet of microwaveable popcorn on hand.
“We’re watching The Emperor’s New Groove,” he tells Jihoon after Seongwoo introduces them.
“You should join us!”
Jihoon looks at Seongwoo for some sort of approval, and he just nods—why not?
Daniel skips off merrily to his kitchen to get the popcorn ready, and it’s the first time Seongwoo realises how familiar Daniel already is with his apartment.
“Didn’t know you had a someone in your life right now,” Jihoon tells him, his tone part teasing, and part accusing.
Seongwoo laughs. “He’s my neighbour, is all.”
“He’s cute,” Jihoon says, flopping down on the couch. “And it’s cute that he comes over to watch Disney movies with you. Didn’t know you were into Disney movies.”
“He’s funny looking,” Seongwoo remarks.
“And movies are movies.”
Seongwoo sits next to Jihoon during the movie, and Daniel makes himself comfortable at their feet, with a big bowl of popcorn cradled in his arms. He blatantly flirts with Jihoon during random intervals of the film, and Jihoon does the same.
Seongwoo ignores them for the most part, but it kind of amuses him how unbelievably shameless he is being—with him he’s bashful one second, cocky the next. It’s something he doesn’t really understand about Daniel, and it surprises him, seeing the contrast, seeing how he can apparently be with other boys.
Jihoon is talk to him informally by the end of the movie, and he scores his phone number before he’s out Seongwoo’s door.
“You like him?” Seongwoo asks when it’s just him and Daniel.
He shrugs. “He’s okay.”
Seongwoo laughs. “You think you’re such a Casanova, don’t you?”
“Is that bad?” He’s blushing now; he’s always like that with him and Seongwoo can’t figure out how he feels about it.
“Yes,” he deadpans. “Yes it is.”
“Yah!” He cries out.
Seongwoo bursts out laughing.
September
Daniel asks Seongwoo if he wants to go to the beach with him and a bunch of his friends. It's not really that out of the blue of an invitation considering he's already had the opportunity to meet some his friends, like Jaehwan who lives in the apartment above him, and Woojin, who frequently comes over to play video games.
“That’s the weekend right before school starts though,” he tells him.
Daniel’s face falls a little. “That’s even more reason to go!” He insists.
“Sorry,” Seongwoo says.
“Let’s do something else then,” Daniel says. “Before summer ends.”
They end up taking a walk to the nearest park where they eat store bought kimbap while people-watching and just talking for an entire afternoon.
“You know,” Daniel tells him, “when I first saw you I thought you were not Korean.”
Seongwoo laughs. “What?!”
Daniel grins at him, gobbling down a whole slice of kimbap. There’s a grain of sticky rice stuck to his cheek, but Seongwoo doesn’t say anything about it, because he likes that he looks silly.
“You had that light brown hair remember? I thought it was natural.”
Seongwoo thinks back—he had light color hair almost blonde during the first week after he moved; it had been for a presentation for one of his classes. He’d gone back to dark brown the same time he got a trim, around a week before his birthday.
“Well, kudos to my hair stylist then, if he made it look natural,” Seongwoo retorts.
Daniel grins. “I wanted to welcome you, and say hello, but my English kind of sucks.”
Seongwoo laughs—he’s heard him speak English by now, and he wasn’t lying. “I’m not really much better,” he says.
“No shit.” Daniel grins, nodding.
Seongwoo instinctively slaps his arm, and he laughs. “So, how did you figure out I spoke Korean?”
“I heard you talking to the ahjumma who lives on the second floor once,” Daniel says.
Seongwoo stares at him, narrowing his eyes. “I can’t believe I never saw you until that day, when it was raining.”
“Clearly you’re blind to the good things in life,” Daniel comments, his smile teasing.
Seongwoo wrinkles his nose at him, and Daniel leans back, laughing.
“You look different from this angle,” Daniel suddenly says.
He’s still leaning back, cocking his head to the side; Seongwoo’s brow creases. “I’m even prettier, huh?” He comments.
“Eh,” Daniel shrugs. “So-so.”
Seongwoo kicks his shins, and Daniel flashes his winning smile at him.
“So, what is he?” Minhyun asks, when Seongwoo makes the mistake of talking about Daniel to his friend. “Is he your boyfriend? Are you dating? Do you like him?”
Minhyun is all ears, giggly and excited.
“No and no,” Seongwoo answers. “And he’s my neighbour.”
“That last one didn’t exactly answer my question,” Minhyun points out, his smile mischievous. He pinches Seongwoo’s side. “Hey, Ong Seongwoo, I thought you were mine, what is this about a boy?!”
Seongwoo laughs, slapping his friend’s hand away. “Yeah I’m all yours, don’t worry,” he deadpans. It's a running joke between the two of them, and has been since Seongwoo dumped his last boyfriend in the middle of their second year at university. “Darling, baby, my love.”
Minhyun grins. “Seriously though, do you like him?” He prods.
Seongwoo shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe. I don’t chase after guys Minhyun-ah, you know that.”
“Eeh.” Minhyun giggles. “I didn’t say anything about you chasing after him! I’m just saying—he sounds like he likes you.”
“You haven’t even met him.”
“Exactly,” Minhyun points. “If you talking about him makes me think that, then obviously at least your subconscious thinks the same.”
Seongwoo just shrugs again.
October
Seongwoo earns the spare key to Daniel's apartment when he locks himself out one afternoon, and he and Jaehwan have to work on jimmying the lock open.
“One day I’ll be able to afford living in an apartment that has electronic security,” Daniel mumbles under his breath.
And then he hands the spare to Seongwoo as soon as they get in and he gets his hands on it.
“Why are you giving it to me?” Seongwoo asks.
“You do live right across me,” Daniel points out, and Jaehwan nods accordingly.
“Jaehwan lives right above us!” Seongwoo points out, but he’s already pocketing the key.
“Hey, wait—” Daniel makes a face. “Why does he get to be Jaehwan only, and I’m still Daniel-ssi?!”
Jaehwan bursts into laughter, and Seongwoo follows suit.
“Fine, I’ll keep the keys for you,” he tells him, wilfully ignoring his question.
Seongwoo is at the point where he is trying to figure out exactly how he feels about Daniel.
He figures he likes him, obviously, because he wouldn’t really spend the amount of time he spends with him, with a person he didn’t like. He’s pretty sure Daniel likes him too, but what he doesn’t know, on both counts, is how.
When he starts thinking it might be romantic, he also starts thinking that maybe he’s been listening too much to Minhyun, who, for all his tough exterior, is really just a giggly little girl inside.
He’s seen Daniel flirt—that one time with Jihoon, lots of times with the cashier at the grocery, or the barista at Starbucks, sometimes even with the girl from the first floor who goes to an all-women’s university. He can be really smooth and confident if he wants, but, as he’s observed so many times, it is never like that with him. He’s not sure if it’s because he likes him more than everyone else, or if it’s because he sees him as just a friend and he doesn’t want him thinking otherwise.
He hates how he should be so obvious and transparent, but he isn’t. He hates complicated things, because as much as Seongwoo wants to believe he’s complex, he really likes when things are simple.
Either you like someone or you don’t, and either someone likes you or they don’t. He doesn’t give a fuck about the people who don’t like him, but he’s starting to think that he does care about the way Daniel likes him.
Seongwoo wants to clear things up with him, but he’s never made the first move with a guy—he never makes the first move. He’s always believed that if someone likes him, then it’s up to them to prove themselves.
“The fact that you’re thinking about him this much is pretty telling if you ask me,” Jonghyun tells him.
Seongwoo decides to turn to his best friends from high school, just so he can hear from a point of view that isn’t Minhyun.
Minki just nods in agreement with Jonghyun.
“I’m not really asking.” Seongwoo rolls his eyes.
“Right.”
Seongwoo finally tunes his pride down a little and decides to confront Daniel—he’s always been a pretty straightforward person after all.
He's silently debating with himself whether he's going to knock, or just use his to key to get into his apartment, when the door suddenly swings open.
Daniel is all dressed up, his face lighting up when he realises Seongwoo is standing there.
“Big date?” Seongwoo finds himself asking.
Daniel beams, ducking his head a little—something he does, Seongwoo knows by now, when he's feeling a little embarrassed. "Guess so."
“Have fun,” Seongwoo says, a little awkwardly, which is very unlike him.
“Of course, I always have fun.” Daniel grins. And then he realises that Seongwoo was about to knock on his door.
“What did you need, by the way?”
Seongwoo shrugs. “Was going to, uh—” He isn’t really at a loss for words often, and he hates it.
“You just wanted to hang out didn't you?” Daniel cuts his off, teasing.
Seongwoo rolls his eyes. “Sure. I needed someone to read lines with for an upcoming production at school.”
“Oh, hey! I'd do that with you, definitely,” Daniel assures his.
“I'll drop by tomorrow.”
Seongwoo nods at him.
There’s that then. If he's off going on dates with other girls or boys, that should pretty much answer the question he was going to ask.
Seongwoo really hates that he’s bothered—this is not him.
November
Seongwoo finds himself face to face with a huge flower bouquet, and Daniel's happy face. He takes a quick glance at his ears, now covered with his longish, floppy hair, but he still notices that the tips are a light shade of red.
He's very amused.
“Happy Pepero Day!” Daniel says, practically shoving the flowers into Seongwoo's arms.
Seongwoo is confused. “These aren't... Pepero though?”
Daniel laughs and holds out a box of chocolate almond Pepero sticks towards him. “Yeah, but these are.”
Seongwoo laughs, even though he has no idea what's going on. “Thank you?”
“Are we friends again now?” Daniel asks.
Seongwoo looks at him quizzically.
“Did we stop?”
“Well.” Daniel's laugh is kind of forced, a little stilted. “You've kind of been cold since Jaehwan’s Halloween party.”
Seongwoo blinks, trying to remember what happened that night, and then he laughs. Mostly he'd just been avoiding Daniel at large, irrationally annoyed because he was confused.
“Is it because I said you should be Sailor Moon for Halloween?” Daniel asks, looking absolutely serious and earnest. “I thought everyone loved Sailor Moon. You were a handsome Tuxedo Mask though.”
Seongwoo snorts. “Are you serious? Why would I be upset about that? How old are we, ten?”
Daniel chortles, still a little forced. He shrugs.
Seongwoo smiles. “I was just in a crappy mood that night.”
Daniel smiles, a little tentative, but more genuine.
“So I warrant flowers now?” Seongwoo asks, sniffing the bouquet. They're carnations.
“I. Uh. Uhm. Well.”
There’s a brief moment of pregnant silence, Seongwoo raises an eyebrow. Daniel breaks out into a modest smile.
“You always warrant flowers,” Daniel says. His cheeks are the deepest shade of red Seongwoo has ever seen on him.
Seongwoo attempts a cocky smirk, but he honestly feels a little flushed as well. “Thanks.”
“So now what is he to you?” Minhyun asks when he learns about the flowers.
“I’m not really in the market for a boyfriend right now,” he says. “ Relationships are too much work.”
“And yet you’re the one using words like ‘boyfriend’ and ‘relationship’ here,” Minhyun says, grinning.
Seongwoo just stares at him blankly.
Daniel makes the most pathetic attempt to put his arm around Seongwoo the next time they hang out together.
They’re at the cinema, and Daniel tries to do it so nonchalantly that it doesn’t work at all, precisely because he tries a little too hard.
Seongwoo almost wants to hide his face out of embarrassment for him. Daniel hands are sweaty when he reaches for his hand on the walk home, and Seongwoo almost laughs, because seriously, is he back in high school?! It's even more ridiculous when they are only one year apart.
“Are you like this around all your dates?” Seongwoo asks finally, before they part ways at his doorstep.
“Like what?”
Seongwoo shrugs. “I hear you’re supposed to be all cool and smooth around the boys or girls.”
“W-what?!” Daniel exclaims.
Seongwoo laughs. “Jisung-hyung talks you up sometimes.”
Daniel stares at his. “When did you even have time to talk with Jisung Hyung? And about me?!”
Seongwoo is just laughing.
Daniel sighs. “Look, I... I like you, okay?”
“That’s nice.” Seongwoo smiles.
“I like you too.”
December
Daniel goes out drinking with all of his single friends on Christmas Eve, while Seongwoo, due to Jihoon’s insistence, attends a party thrown by one of their theatre classmates. He has always been aware how much of a couple holiday Christmas is, but it’s the first time that fact has actually made him feel a little lonely.
He’s pretty annoyed when Jihoon leaves his side in favour of some guy he has been flirting with all semester long, and he practically smashes the number keys on his phone when he calls Daniel.
Daniel kisses better than he looks he would, Seongwoo realises. He has to tiptoe a little so he can wrap his arms around his neck, but then he bends over a little, and they’re the perfect complementary height.
“W-what?” Daniel asks, a little out of breath, pulling away a little.
“Niel-ah,” Seongwoo murmurs. Daniel flinches a little at that, obviously not used to hearing it from him. “Daniel,” he says again, a little more firmly. “Shut up.”
He sees Daniel swallow silently, but then his face moves back down towards him and they’re kissing again. Seongwoo is a little breathless when he pulls away again, but he doesn’t really want to stop kissing him, so he tries to pull him back.
But then he realises that he’s taking off his t-shirt, and it’s his turn to swallow silently. He always know Daniel’s whole build is bigger than him, but now it’s even bigger than Seongwoo thought he’d be, but he doesn’t seem that fazed by it, at least until he realises that Seongwoo is staring.
“Um.” He consciously covers his front with his t-shirt, which Seongwoo finds, for some reason, ridiculously adorable. He leans in and gives him a quick peck on the cheek, and then he takes a step back and starts unbuttoning his blouse.
By the time they fall into bed together, Seongwoo is completely down to his underwear. Daniel’s pants are unbuttoned, and he’s trying to clumsily get them off completely, which is proving to be a chore, considering he can’t stop kissing Seongwoo.
“Do you have...?” Seongwoo trails off. Protection, is the missing word.
He nods, pulling away and reaching for his pants, discarded on the floor after finally getting them off. He magically procures one from, Seongwoo assumes, his wallet.
He raises an eyebrow. “Always ready, huh?”
“Always.” He kind of smirks, which almost makes Seongwoo laugh.
It amuses his to no end, that even in the middle of sex, one minute Daniel can be so adorably self-conscious, and the next so confidently smug.
“Shut up,” Seongwoo groans instead, and helps him put on a condom.
Daniel is already awake when Seongwoo opens his eyes. He’s sitting on the bed next to him, hugging his legs close, his chin resting on one of his knees.
He’s not looking at him, but Seongwoo has to briefly wonder if he was before, until he started stirring in his sleep. He smacks his leg lightly.
Daniel looks down and grins at him. “Your room is really neat, it kinda blinds me,” he remarks.
Seongwoo reaction is somewhere between a groan and a laugh, muffled by his pillow as he buries his head in it. He sighs and turns his head towards him and sticks his tongue out. It’s childish and unlike him to do that, but it’s somehow appropriate with Daniel
“Not everyone is a pig type of living like you,” he comments.
Daniel just laughs. “Merry Christmas,” he greets him.
Seongwoo covers his face with his hands to hide the smile that’s tugging at his lips. He feels really happy, but he’s not sure why, so he doesn’t really want to have to explain why. He takes another deep breath.
“I’m hungry, let’s have breakfast.”
January
“Do you know? I’ve liked you since Day One.”
Daniel is smiling when he says it, but his eyes couldn’t meet him directly.
“What, you can’t say that to my face?” Seongwoo calls him out on it, laughing.
Daniel just keeps smiling sheepishly.
Seongwoo looks at him curiously. “So... since you thought I was some non Korean slumming it down in this less than stellar apartment complex?”
Daniel laughs. “You were pretty, and I wanted to get to know you.”
Seongwoo raises an eyebrow at that; he’s not impressed—he’s heard that he’s pretty and handsome a thousand times. “You’re shallow,” he berates him.
Daniel snorts. “I’m not trying to deny that.”
Seongwoo bites the insides of his cheek, his eyes narrowing at him. He’s admittedly a little disappointed.
“I had no idea how to talk to you,” Daniel continues, “and then that rainy afternoon happened, and somehow we became just friends, and by the time I got around to liking you again, I was kind of scared.”
Seongwoo holds back laughter.
“Scared?”
“Yeah,” Daniel admits, his smile wide, but bashful. “I knew you too well to know how to flirt with you. Whenever I attempted to flirt with you, half of me felt like I was making a huge idiot of myself.”
Seongwoo is laughing hard now.
“You kind of were, for the most part,” he retorts, and Daniel’s blush gets redder.
“Hey it worked out, Daniel-ssi. Smile, it’s a new year.”
“Yah!” Daniel exclaims, making a face at him
And then the two of them are laughing, sinking down into the couch together.
Daniel is with him when he gets the invitation to Daehwi wedding in the mail.
“Who’s he?” Daniel asks, looking over his shoulder as he opens the pretty looking invite.
“A junior from school,” Seongwoo explains. “A really good friend, actually.”
“And he’s getting married already?” Daniel asks. “Must be true love.”
Seongwoo laughs until he realises that Daniel is absolutely seriously.
“You believe in true love?” He asks.
“Sure, don’t you?” Daniel’s smile is so earnest that it almost hurts. “I think it’s nice that he’s found someone that he thinks he could spend forever with this early on during his life.”
He stares at him, unsure if he finds it naively cute or naively stupid.
“When I was younger I thought I would’ve found the woman I would settle down with forever by this age.” Daniel grins at his. “Don’t you ever think about that?”
Seongwoo just laughs and shrugs it off.
“It’s because you’re old,” Seongwoo comments, like he thinks that Daniel is talking crazy talk. “I’m too young for that. Forever young.”
“What are you, a vampire?” Daniel jokes.
Seongwoo laughs and tells him he has Twilight in his head, but the truth is, Daniel talking about true love and settling down freaks Seongwoo out for reasons he doesn’t really want to delve into and understand at the moment.
Also the truth: everything about Daniel confuses Seongwoo, even now that they’re together.
Well, at least as far as he can tell they’re together, there never was a formal sit-down talk between them, rehashing and explaining exactly what they are to each other. Maybe that’s part of why things are confusing to him.
Daniel isn’t even his usual type to begin, but his he is, with him, and the last month has been happier than he ever imagined it could be with him—implying that he’s been imagining them together, which is something else he doesn’t really want to think about.
Seongwoo misses when dating was simpler. When the boys chased after him, and that was that.
Daniel gets to meet Guanlin, who Seongwoo used to tutor, when the boy drops by to visit. He's like a little brother to Seongwoo, which is what he tells Daniel.
He's warm and open towards Guanlin, cracking silly jokes and saying stupid things like he usually does, and they talk and talk about comics, which Seongwoo isn't really that familiar with. He gets a little annoyed, and even after Guanlin leaves ("Nice meeting you, Daniel-hyung! Thanks for lending me this volume of One Piece!”), he remains very short with Daniel.
He, on the other hand, is just really visibly confused.
He has never been a hysterical or irrational boyfriend; he’s always done the dumping before because some of his boyfriends were too clingy, as a matter of fact.
It takes both Jonghyun and Minki to make him realise that he’s freaking out.
Over a guy.
“Well this is new,” Minki comments, obviously holding back laughter. “And highly amusing.”
Jonghyun doesn’t even try to hide that he finds it funny.
February
Daniel shows up at Seongwoo's university one afternoon, timed right after his last class for the day, bundled in layers of winter clothes, and cup of coffee in hand for him.
“I think it might be a little cold now though,” he says. “Or room temperature. And considering the current room temperature is freezing... I'm really sorry.”
Daniel is smiling apologetically, earnest and eager, and Seongwoo feels a little guilty that all he wants to do is question him.
“Why are you here?”
“Um, I missed you?” He tries to say it lightly, like he doesn't really mean it, but his ears are the usual tell-tale red, and Seongwoo is torn between feeling pleased and frustrated.
He still has no idea what is going on with himself.
Seongwoo starts acting mildly distant, making excuses so he doesn’t have to see him, or deal with him for long periods of time.
Daniel is obviously hurt.
“You are being ridiculous,” Minhyun informs him, and Seongwoo wants to snap back that he knows that perfectly well, thank you.
Minhyun just smiles at him as if to say that it’s all going to be okay. “It’s good to be out of control every once in a while,” he says. “It's not like it's your first relationship anyway.”
Seongwoo's forehead crinkles. He's not sure about what Minhyun is saying—that's how he's lived all of his life. Always in control, and mostly about the image he projects. He's not beyond letting his guard down around certain people, but that list isn't exactly that long. Daniel is not his first boyfriend, but the thing is he's still not sure if he's ready to add Daniel to that list.
He isn't sure what's stopping him.
“Don't over think,” Minhyun tells him. “Your face looks ugly when you over think.”
Seongwoo glares at him.
“For me?” Daniel asks when he hands over chocolates on Valentines’ Day.
“Are you sure you’re not lost?” He’s trying to sound sulky, like he’s still annoyed about Seongwoo recent cold treatment, and Seongwoo wouldn’t really blame him if he really was, but he was also failing to hide the obviously pleased smile quickly spreading on his face.
“Well if you don’t want them...” Seongwoo moves to take them back.
“No!” Daniel says immediately, holding onto them. “Well,” he smiles mischievously,
“I’ll take it if you give me the cutest, most cloying apology you can muster.”
Seongwoo glares at him. “Who is apologising for what?”
“Well, okay then.” Daniel frowns, holding the chocolate out back towards him.
Seongwoo sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose with frustration.
Daniel grins. “Have you ever even acted cute for any of your boyfriends before?”
Seongwoo looks up, and raises an eyebrow. “So that’s what you are? My boyfriend?”
Daniel blinks at him. “A-aren’t I?” Seongwoo finds it highly amusing that now he’s stuttering.
“I kind of tell people you’re my boyfriend.” He pauses uncertainly; he looks like he genuinely thinks he might have been wrong. “...Should I not?”
The expression on his face kind of melts Seongwoo’s walls, and he laughs affectionately. “I guess that’s what I am.”
Daniel pulls the door open wider. “Want to come in?”
Seongwoo takes one step past him. “I’m sorry,” he says.
Daniel smiles at him. “I’m making lunch, want some?”
It’s like he hasn’t just spent the last two weeks practically ignoring Daniel.
The talk of marriage and settling down somehow comes up again, and Seongwoo finds himself actually listening to Daniel without conjuring some sort of irrational feeling in his gut.
“I want to be able to provide for my family perfectly,” Daniel muses. “If I could have my way, I’d spoil him and our children, and he would never have to lift a finger ever.”
Seongwoo shakes his head at him.
“I could never stop working. I need to know that I’m earning my keep. That I’m doing my fair share.”
“Oh god I didn’t mean you should!” Daniel says, making a cross with his arms. “I-I mean—” and suddenly he’s stammering again.
“Um shit I didn’t mean to imply that you and I are going to end up together and get married or—”
He’s so flustered and Seongwoo laughs and laughs and laughs at his funny, confused expression. Daniel finally just holds his head in his hands out of utter embarrassment.
Seongwoo snorts. “Hey we’re just talking about what we want in life right?”
Daniel sighs, nodding, still a little red in the face.
Seongwoo smiles at him, flicking a finger at his ears.
“You know,” he murmurs, “you don’t have to always be so concerned about saying the wrong things.”
Daniel nods again, attempting a smile. He still looks adorably embarrassed to Seongwoo though.
“But you know,” Daniel starts to say, taking a deep breath. “We accommodate life. Opinions and ideas change. Like I used to think transgender were the devil, but I also used to think that giants spilled bucket loads of salt into the ocean. Not to mention I used to believe Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was absolute reality. Also that Y2K was going to happen.”
Seongwoo raises an eyebrow, daring him to make his point clear.
“A-and, well I’m just saying none of those ended up being true,” Daniel says. “As for dreams, I used to dream I’d be a professional football player, but that’s not really going to happen, you know? We accommodate life as we grow older, I’ll probably end up letting my spouse and children do and believe whatever they want.”
Seongwoo laughs.
“Okay,” he says. “Let’s pretend that you surprisingly make incredible sense sometimes.”
“Well I am wiser enough.” Daniel wiggles his eyebrows at Seongwoo.
“Yeah most days it's hard to believe that,” Seongwoo deadpans.
“Hey!”
March
“Happy White Day!”
Seongwoo gets an assortment of sweet pastries and candies from Daniel, and honestly he’s pretty surprised.
“Are we really celebrating that?” He asks, amused.
“Okay, Happy Pi Day!” Daniel grins.
“That sounds incredibly nerdy and incredibly unlike you,” Seongwoo teases.
“I’m brains and beauty, how dare you imply otherwise?” Daniel sticks his tongue out at him.
“Do you even remember what ‘pi’ is?” Seongwoo questions with a smirk.
“Yeah, it’s good when it’s apple,” Daniel says.
Seongwoo laughs. “Thank you. Even though you’re obviously trying to make me fat with all these cupcakes.”
Daniel snorts. “As if you know what the word ‘diet’ means.”
“Are you implying I should?”
“If I wanted you to diet, I won’t give you fattening cupcakes would I?” Daniel asks.
“Okay, see, there’s that brief moment again when practical logic comes out of your mouth,” Seongwoo teases.
“You’re beautiful, okay,” Daniel tells him.
“Even more beautiful if you share those with me though.”
Seongwoo laughs again. “You’re so cheap, asking to eat your own gift!”
They're eating pizza when Seongwoo finally sorts it all out.
It's a Thursday night and Seongwoo is going through his lines for another school production with Daniel, and he's making funny faces and funny voices while he reads through the dialogue with him. And then he takes a bite out of his pizza slice (from pizza Daniel bought, with all Seongwoo favourite toppings, because he said he knew Seongwoo was going to have a late night and he wanted to do something nice for him, and it's exactly his feelings when he does things like that, that Seongwoo is trying to sort out), and the mozarella cheese stretches, and stretches even more when he pulls the food away from his face. And then his eyes cross when he looks at the string of cheese which suddenly breaks and sticks to his chin.
Seongwoo just watching him, amused, and he probably looks like he is spacing out, because Daniel suddenly stretches his legs and pokes his side with his bare foot.
“Ew, your feet smell,” he retorts, wrinkling his nose and playfully pushing Daniel’s legs away. He pulls his own legs up the couch and pokes him back with his own feet.
“And you have funny looking feet,” Daniel comments, grabbing Seongwoo ankles. He makes a face. “What kind of person has a second toe that's bigger than his big toe?! You're an alien.”
Seongwoo glares at him, but then Daniel crosses his eyes again, and he bursts out laughing, and he follows suit, and then he's tickling his sides with his funny-smelling feet and—
He feels really happy, and he's starting to accept why.
April
“What do you want to do today?” Seongwoo asks him.
“You,” Daniel answers without missing a beat.
Seongwoo makes a face at him. “That is so crass. What happened to the man who always turned crimson every time he tried to say something with a hint of even the vaguest innuendo to me?”
Daniel laughs. “You told him to stop worrying too much about saying the wrong things.”
Seongwoo glares at him, and Daniel slowly starts turning red.
“Okay, sorry!” he says, laughing sheepishly.
Seongwoo snorts and wrinkles his nose at him. “You’re too easy sometimes. Seriously though, you’re one year older today, what do you want to do?”
“Spend time with you.” Daniel grins.
Seongwoo rolls his eyes. “That line is incredibly cliché, what movie were you watching last night?”
Daniel laughs, putting an arm around Seongwoo’s shoulders. “Porn.”
Seongwoo jabs his elbow to his side, and Daniel’s face contorts in pain. “Serves you right,” he tells him.
His mouth is a straight line, and he’s trying to look annoyed, but Seongwoo is absolutely glowing with happiness.
Minhyun almost squeals with glee when Seongwoo comes clean to him.
“Love is a strong word though,” Seongwoo tells him, trying to calm his friend down. “I just said I might.”
Minhyun just smiles shakes his head at him, smiling affectionately. “It's a start.”
“You're so giggly and giddy about this,” Seongwoo says, laughing. “Everybody thinks you're so cool and passive and no one has any idea you're really just an excitable thirteen year old girl deep inside.”
“You know half the school thinks we’re a couple,” Minhyun says. “And that I definitely top you.”
Seongwoo cracks up. “Yeah, and now you’re just giving me away to some random dude.”
Minhyun laughs, nudging Seongwoo playfully. “I’m really happy for you, though.”
Seongwoo shrugs, trying to be all smooth and nonchalant. “Thanks.”
The smile on his face is unmistakable anyway.
May
It’s raining on Seongwoo’s birthday again, but it’s the weekend, and he’s free to sleep throughout the entire day if he wants to.
He wakes up to Daniel next to him on his bed.
“Damn global warming, huh?” Daniel retorts. “The rainy season started up earlier than usual again.”
Seongwoo just laughs, still a little sleepy.
“Happy birthday,” Daniel greets his, smiling warmly.
“Thank you.” Seongwoo smiles back.
“Do you realise it's been a year since we first actually exchanged words?”
Seongwoo laughs. “Has it really been just a year?” He asks. “Feels like you’ve been a pain for so much longer.”
Daniel snorts, and Seongwoo wrinkles his nose at him to indicate that he just kidding around.
And then Daniel suddenly takes a deep breath. “I love you.”
Seongwoo blinks at him. “Uh.” He stares at him awkwardly.
Daniel smiles, embarrassed, but trying his best not to turn away.
Seongwoo suddenly laughs.
“You know what? I love you too.”
-