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Daniel was looking at Sungwoon as if the popcorn they had just ate had not been covered in strong jalapeño powder and would not cause them mean halitosis. He had a determined look on his face like a man on a mission. A mission to lick the remaining powder off Sungwoon’s lips before he got the chance to do it himself.
“Um. You want a drink or something?” Sungwoon asked him, leaning his face away from any offending moves Daniel was about to make. The right side of Daniel’s mouth quirked up.
“Sure.” His eyes dropped to Sungwoon’s lips before bouncing back up to his eyes. Sungwoon opened his mouth and in the end, he wasn’t sure if he opened it out of nervousness or if he really had something to say, but after a few seconds he closed it, nodded his head and fled to the kitchen for that drink.
Sungwoon had been kind of cornered into entertaining Daniel for the afternoon. What with Seongwoo and Taehyun having a private dance lesson and Jisung and Jaehwan tutoring the freshmen. When they asked what he had planned to do that evening he was caught off guard and had no excuse prepared before Jaehwan ratted him out.
“He’s gonna watch his afternoon drama,” His idiot roommate snickered causing the other guys to snort behind covered mouths. And of course, what’s a damsel in distress without his hero.
“Fight for My Way?” Daniel looked at him with wide, questioning eyes and when he didn’t get a response he excitedly added, “Will Dongman and Aera realize their feelings for each other?!?!”
Cue more snickers. Sungwoon wanted to fly away. How could this guy be so open with his drama watching habits? He had no shame, standing there with his big toothy grin as everyone laughed.
“Dude, you gotta do better.” Seongwoo said as he clapped Daniel on the shoulder and turned to walk away with Taehyun in tow.
“It’s a good show,” Daniel shrugged it off and faced Sungwoon. “So, you want to watch together, hyung?”
Sungwoon wanted nothing more than to shake the big fella off him so he could watch in the privacy of his own four walls but when he made pleading eyes to Jisung and Jaehwan to help him Jaehwan pointed at him and walked away and Jisung made pushing gestures as if to say Give the kid a break and hang out with him. And because Sungwoon didn’t have a good enough excuse he ended up with Kang Daniel making googly eyes at him on his couch.
When he stepped foot inside the kitchen he pulled out his phone and shot a quick SOS text to Minhyun. Daniel was really starting to test Sungwoon’s limits and if someone else wasn’t there to stop them Sungwoon wouldn’t be able to silence the little voice in his head that told him to “Just go for it!”
After some back and forth messages from Sungwoon to his roommate, he went around the kitchen banging cabinets and making noise to make believe he was actually doing something in there besides sending “Please come home and save my ass” messages.
He mentally thanked Jisung for his decision to place the refrigerator on the wall closest to the living room entrance. From his position, Sungwoon could peek around the fridge without being seen so as he filled Daniel’s cup at the water filter he spied on Daniel who was now texting on the couch. Who are you texting? He thought. Not that it mattered or that Sungwoon deemed it important, but he was still curious. Maybe he was calling in for an SOS to rescue him from this sorry excuse of a hangout session. Or maybe he’s texting that guy from art history…
“Ah fuck!” There was water all over the floor and down his left leg. He put the glass in the sink and ran to get the mop from the corner of the room.
“Are you alright? Whoa, what happened?” Daniel came in and looked at the floor in surprise then watched Sungwoon almost slip right on his back with the mop in hand. “Slow down. Your socks are wet.” He said as he placed his hand on Sungwoon’s back to balance him. Sungwoon practically launched himself into the refrigerator to get away from him and Daniel smiled that annoying smile of his with the crinkled eyes, holding back a chuckle. Sungwoon mopped up the floor quickly and made to put it back in its corner but Daniel took it out of his hands explaining that he’d put it away and that Sungwoon should change. Sungwoon nodded dumbly and waddled to his room in his soaked socks.
Once he entered the room he closed the door and took a deep breath. He could feel his face heating up. Just change your clothes. Everything is fine and Minhyun will be there soon. Digging through his drawers he realized what he was supposed to do today and because luck was not on his side, all he had to wear were those embarrassing floral shorts Jaehwan had gotten him as a gag gift for his birthday that year. In this situation having Minhyun as a roommate was of no use to him because none of his pants would fit Sungwoon properly and would slide off the moment he sat down on the couch (and he was not trying to give Daniel any ideas.) He had no choice but to put those ugly shorts on and try to act nonchalant as he stepped out of his room. Daniel put down his phone and looked up as Sungwoon sat down facing forward.
Daniel giggled. “Those are cute.”
“It’s laundry day.” Sungwoon sighed.
“Oh, do you need help with-”
“I have chicken!”
Before Daniel could finish offering what would have been a very awkward proposal for him, Sungwoon jumped up from the couch and met Minhyun by the entryway.
“Oh, hey Daniel!” Minhyun waved the chicken in his hand as he slipped off his shoes by the door.
“Hey hyung,” He answered softly, eyes wandering towards Sungwoon who eagerly waited to take the chicken.
“Here.” Minhyun handed the chicken to Sungwoon and Sungwoon skipped to the table. As he was taking the boxes out of the bag his gaze met with Daniel’s who was watching him from the couch. With a tilt of his head he summoned Daniel to the table. Daniel sat in the seat across from Sungwoon while Minhyun sat in the seat next to him.
“What flavor did you get?” Sungwoon asked, poking at a drumstick with his chopsticks.
“This one is traditional and this one is gangjeong flavored.” Sungwoon’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, that’s why I got it,” Minhyun smiled at him.
Daniel looked between the two and then down at the chicken. “Hyung, you should take the first one.” He said to Minhyun.
“Sungwoon hyung can pick first.” Again, Daniel looked at Minhyun then switched his gaze to Sungwoon.
They spent the next half hour pigging out on the chicken and Sungwoon was more than grateful to Minhyun for dropping by. He had nothing serious against Daniel; he seemed like a hot good guy, but having only met a handful of times before, through their respective groups of friends, Sungwoon was not eager to befriend him. And it seemed like the big guy was ready for something a bit more than friendship with Sungwoon. Because Sungwoon couldn’t read what Daniel's intentions were, he tried his hardest to dodge Daniel’s efforts. Whatever he was trying to give, Sungwoon knew he wasn’t going to take. (Or at least that’s what he tried to tell himself.)
Two days later, Sungwoon ran into Daniel in line for coffee (Daniel was getting a peach tea.) Daniel timidly asked if he was going to drink it inside the café and if he was, did he mind having a companion. Sungwoon paused and looked at the boy who stood before him; he was not the confident guy who tried to kiss him on the couch in his dorm room. This boy before him was the cautious version. Sungwoon felt a little guilty. After they had finished eating that day, Sungwoon and Minhyun had started working on their acapella ensemble songs leaving Daniel, a dance major, to sit awkwardly next to them, out of place. He had no choice but to excuse himself from the dorm; which was what Sungwoon had hoped he would do. But now, he just felt like a huge jerk for ignoring him like that. To try to make up for his actions, he told Daniel that he would not mind his companionship and they sat in a booth near the windows with the sunlight streaming in.
This time around the conversation surprisingly flowed more naturally. It could have been that Sungwoon let his guard down a bit or that Daniel didn’t try to come off as strong; perhaps it was a little of both.
Sungwoon asked Daniel about his choice of drink and Daniel replied that his friends had nicknamed him Peach because of his pink hair so he decided to continue with the peach theme and ordered the tea as a joke but ended up really liking it. In return, Daniel jokingly asked why Sungwoon was drinking coffee in the morning when he didn’t need any more bitterness in his body. Instead of taking offense like he usually would have, Sungwoon graced Daniel with his first genuine, all teeth smile and agreed with him, but explained that the coffee helped warm up his voice for his private singing lessons in the mornings. They talked about the time Jisung got caught with the school musical’s male lead’s hands down his pants in the wings of the theatre stage during the final dress rehearsal. (They laughed about that for a while.) Daniel confessed that his pants once ripped while he was b-boying at a freestyle competition and Sungwoon told him how he and Jaehwan smuggled his cousin’s French bulldog into their dorm for the weekend on one occasion.
Before they knew it, an hour had passed and they both had to head off to their respective classes. They conversed a bit more as they walked together to the Arts building. Sensing a lull in the conversation, Daniel took his chance to ask Sungwoon the question that had been on his mind since that day in his dorm.
“Hyung, can I ask you a question?” Sungwoon hummed in response. “Are you and Minhyun hyung a thing?”
“A thing?”
“Dating. Seeing each other.”
Sungwoon eyed him. “No. We’re not. He’s my roommate. A good friend too but that’s it.” Daniel nodded his head. “Why?”
“No reason. Just wondering.” Daniel said casually.
They arrived at the building moments later and had said their farewells, when at the last-minute Daniel called Sungwoon back.
“Sungwoon hyung!”
Sungwoon turned around and Daniel tilted his chin up to place a kiss on his lips.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since that day. See you later, hyung.”
Daniel entered the building satisfied and Sungwoon stood outside dumbfounded.
What?