Chapter Text
“Will you go out with me?” Soonyoung nervously muttered. It was another cold day in November. The leafless trees swaying along with the cold, winter breeze. They were on their way back to their college dorms after eating dinner at Jihoon’s favorite place.
“Soonyoung, we’re already outside and I’m cold and tired. Walk faster.” Jihoon continued to trudge towards his dorm building with Soonyoung huffing in exasperation behind him. Why doesn’t he get it?
“No! Not OUT out. What I meant was out like us together? Out?” Soonyoung doesn’t understand himself either and Jihoon didn’t even halt his steps before looking at him with scrunched eyebrows. God, help him.
“Will you be my boyfriend?” Soonyoung says it in one go, trying so hard not to run away since his building was right around the corner. Jihoon stopped walking and Soonyoung wished for the earth to swallow him whole.
Initially, Soonyoung hadn't planned to confess at all. Not like this, anyway. It was supposed to be a romantic and tooth-rottingly-cheesy confession. A day in May, under the starry skies, with the warm summer air hitting their flushed faces at an expensive restaurant’s balcony but no— Jihoon had decided to look so ethereal right now. It wasn’t his fault when Jihoon decided to hum a song Soonyoung wasn’t even familiar with but it sent his stomach plummeting towards the ground. It wasn’t his fault that Jihoon looked majestic under the lamp post, the cold air making his puffy cheeks red with his watery eyes, making his overall demeanor look so effortlessly beautiful. Jihoon looked breathtaking and Soonyoung couldn't blame his mouth for running off on him like that.
“You’re joking, right?” Jihoon was stuttering, his cheeks forming a pinker shade and spreading sporadically all over his face, a reddish tinge due to the fact that it was freezing and due to Soonyoung’s confessio -...idiocy. If Soonyoung was rational, he’d say the blushing was because of the weather but Soonyoung wasn’t (well, he is called Jihoon’s idiot for a reason ) and he really wanted to believe it was because of him.
“JUST! I want to be your boyfriend, Lee Jihoon!” He desperately shouts, his chest heaving from the sudden exertion. Jihoon’s pupils are dilated, widely opened for Soonyoung to see before turning his peachy face away from him. Soonyoung smiled adoringly at how Jihoon’s face flushed even more, as the blood rushed towards the younger’s ears. It absolutely looked cute. He’s never wanted anything nor anyone as much as how he wanted Jihoon.
“Y-yeah.” Jihoon stuttered out, Soonyoung was smiling at how cute the stuttering was, how everything about him was cute. Wait. Did he say something?
“I’m sorry. What?” Soonyoung asked in alarm. Was he just hearing things?
“I mean, sure. I can be your boyfriend. Whatever.” Jihoon walked away hurriedly as Soonyoung stared at the back of his crush- new boyfriend . That's his boyfriend, his tsundere of a boyfriend, and he doesn't want anything else.
“Hey! Jihoon, wait up!” He ran towards his boyfriend's side and slipped his hand into Jihoon’s, earning a smack on the head.
“Idiot! We're in public! What if our friends see us?” Jihoon shout-whispers towards Soonyoung. It’s quite true though. They were already at the gates of Jihoon’s apartment building and if his instincts were right, Jeonghan was secretly watching them while sipping his midnight tea.
And that was the start of their so called secret relationship.
#1
“Jihoon, give me just one kiss, please.” Soonyoung's lips are formed into a pout when Jihoon turns his chair to face his boyfriend. Soonyoung’s eyes turned into crescents when the music major, still sitting, placed his cold hands on his ears.
“Why don't you just go away and leave me alone to compose?” Jihoon nags but his arms are encircled around Soonyoung’s neck, pulling the dance major towards him. Soonyoung’s knees hit the edge of Jihoon’s chair as the younger pull him closer. His back crouching with his knees buckled to align their faces.
“You love me, anyway. Just one kiss, please... then I’ll go.” Soonyoung whines once more for good measure. He’s always had to use his cute side because Jihoon doesn't easily give in. Bingo. There’s that smile forming on the younger’s lips and Soonyoung felt giddy.
“Fine, just one kiss.” Jihoon gives in and pulls Soonyoung by the collar. Soonyoung bends down and places his arms on Jihoon's swivel chair for support. He can smell his boyfriend’s coffee breath and he likes it so much.
“Heeeeyyy-...” Jihoon and Soonyoung turn to face the door and saw Junhui staring at them, dumfoundedly. Jihoon immediately pushed Soonyoung away and turned back to his computer to hide the blush creeping up his neck.
“What are you two doing?” Junhui asks in curiosity.
“Oh, uh, Jihoon was just blowing the dust out of my eye.” Soonyoung warily answers and Junhui although quite doubtful, acknowledges the excuse, thankfully. The air around them goes silent for a second before Jihoon loudly sighs and tries to focus on his work. So much for getting a kiss . Soonyoung mentally grumbled before not-so-accidentally glaring at Junhui.
“Oh, Wonwoo said that we should start working on our group assignments.” Junhui says, now it was Soonyoung’s turn to sigh.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” Soonyoung answers while looking at his boyfriend who's blushing a deep shade of red after almost getting caught. Soonyoung almost laughs at the situation but he hears someone clear their throat. He looks back to where Junhui was standing and Soonyoung’s surprised to see that he was still there.
“Jun, I’ll be there in a minute.” He repeats in a much louder- annoyed voice. Why can’t Jun just understand?
“Oh, I thought that we could go together?” Junhui suggests and Soonyoung can't help but smile fakely. He loves Junhui but sometimes he’s too much.
“I still have something to talk about with Jihoon.” Soonyoung says and he sneaks a look towards the producer and just as he predicted, Jihoon's glaring at him.
“Okay, I’ll wait outside.” Junhui says before closing the door and leaving the two of them alone. Finally.
“Can I still have my kiss?” Soonyoung forcibly turns the chair towards him.
“Hoonieeee~” He tries to act cute but Jihoon has his arms folded, grumbling to himself.
“What if we get caught again?” Jihoon doesn’t look him in the eye, afraid to go weak just because of his boyfriend’s annoyingly cute face.
“I don't think our friends would mind.” Soonyoung nonchalantly says as he trespasses Jihoon’s personal space.
“Yeah, of course they wouldn't mind and they wouldn't absolutely tease us because they’ve always known we’d end up together. I don't wanna live through the teasing.” Jihoon huffs out and Soonyoung's angry at himself because Jihoon looks even cuter when he's rambling.
“We can tell them soon. Just not now. Okay, Soonie?” Jihoon pats Soonyoung's cheeks and the older leans in to the touch.
“God, you're just too cute for my heart.” Soonyoung scrunches his nose at his boyfriend and Jihoon lets out a hearty laugh.
“I’ll see you later, jagi .” Soonyoung teases and exits the door, his head peeking through it, his eyes winking excessively. Jihoon looks at him weirdly before replying with a fond smile. Soonyoung almost melts.
“Take care, Soonyoung.” Three words. Three words were all it took for Soonyoung's legs to wobble and his stomach to combust in butterflies.
“Dude! Are you okay?” Junhui offers a hand but Soonyoung stays on the floor— for dramatic effect.
“Jun, I think I'm in love.”
#2
“Why don't we go into teams? Those who wanna ride the same rides go to the same team.” Seungcheol suggests as they arrive at the carnival. Their school had given the students a discount for their upcoming school festival— some sort of teaser for the said event.
“I’ll go on every ride!” Seokmin gladly says as they walk towards the entrance. Soonyoung could smell the burnt popcorn, the fried hotdogs, and Jihoon's sweet cologne- his boyfriend wears cologne?
“Well, I won’t.” Seungkwan’s voice wakes Soonyoung up from his trance and he finds Jihoon staring at him with questioning eyes. Soonyoung smiles as a reply and Jihoon scoffs but the small quirk of lips that Soonyoung catches makes the nervousness go away.
“Okay, so let's split up and meet here after two hours.” Joshua suggests and everyone goes to their preferred team. Soonyoung was about to go to Seungkwan’s team when he suddenly remembered his boyfriend and when he turned to look for him, Jihoon was glaring and pouting at him.
“I’m sorry.” Soonyoung fondly says at his lover after forgetting he had one.
“Follow me.” Jihoon sternly says and Soonyoung doesn't have a choice but go to Seokmin’s team aka the Hell Team. Soonyoung sighs, the things he does for love, before running towards his cute and grumpy boyfriend.
“Let's ride that!” Seokmin points somewhere and when Soonyoung whips his head towards the direction he almost faints.
“Are you sure about that?” Seungcheol asks because that ride’s too extreme for them.
“Yes, I want to ride that.” Seokmin eagerly nods while pointing towards the roller coaster and Soonyoung can't even shut the idea down because Seokmin looks so happy.
“Hey, Jihoon?” He whispers and Jihoon raises an eyebrow at him. Soonyoung leans in to his ears and covers his mouth. He looks around their friends and sees that they're busy convincing Seokmin and so Soonyoung grabs the opportunity.
“If I die, just know that I love you.” Soonyoung says and Jihoon jumps away from him, blush creeping up his neck and tainting his ears red. Their friends look at them for a second before continuing to argue with each other. They've seen Jihoon scurry away from Soonyoung a thousand times, so nothing's new. Or so they think.
They do end up in a line for the roller coaster ride and Seokmin's so excited his whole body is literally shaking.
“Soonyoung, are you alright?” Junhui asks when he sees the latter leaning towards the railing, his face as white as a ghost’s.
“Ye-...” His response gets cut off from the loud screaming of the passengers and when he looks up his knees go weak.
“You don't have to ride this.” Jihoon suggests and Soonyoung can hear the softness and it almost makes him forget about the fear for his life but when he hears the screams again, he grips for the railing.
“Yeah, I’m sure Jihoon can sit by himself, isn't that right, Jihoonie?” Wonwoo locks Jihoon's neck and Soonyoung knows Wonwoo’s teasing him.
“Okay, come up.” They all look at the operator as he opens the gate for the ride.
“No, I’ll sit beside Jihoon.” Soonyoung hurriedly says before sticking close to his boyfriend.
“I can sit by myself Soonyoung. What if you faint?” Jihoon says in a hushed tone as they board the ride. They're sitting at the end part of the coaster because Wonwoo suggested that they should have the best seats in the house. Wonwoo is such a shitty best friend.
“ It's okay but can I hold your hand?” Soonyoung faintly whispers and Jihoon takes his hand. Soonyoung's stomach is churning with butterflies because this is the first time they’ve held hands in public.
“Jesus, your hand is so cold.” Jihoon encloses Soonyoung's hand with his own to provide warmth but Soonyoung's too distraught to properly fangirl about this.
The ride starts moving very, very slowly and Soonyoung immediately shuts his eyes. He hears Jihoon's laugh in the background and he lets out a squeak before he feels the ride stop and when he opens his eyes, they're at the top.
“JIHOON! OH MY GOD! I'M GONNA DIE.” Soonyoung shouts and he immediately hugs for the nearest thing beside him—which was Jihoon— and pulls the other closer, their seatbelts making it hard for him to hug Jihoon properly.
“Just calm down and enjoy it.” Jihoon says while he pats Soonyoung’s thigh to calm the other down.
And then the ride goes down and Soonyoung feels the air leave his lungs, his innards jumbling inside him and his throat go out of his mouth from screaming to much.
“JIHOOOOOON!!!”
“Soonyoung.” Jihoon's voice is calm and hushed but Soonyoung catches it and he listens for more. He expects for Jihoon to scold him for being too loud and to shut the fuck up but what he doesn't expect is to hear the next few words.
“I love you.” Jihoon says and Soonyoung can feel Jihoon's hold tighten around his and Soonyoung forgets about the ride—about everything. He looks at Jihoon and the latter is closing his eyes with his mouth wide from laughing too much as the ride went even faster. As the wind swept his hair in and out of its place, Soonyoung continued to look at his boyfriend's side profile.
Soonyoung thinks Jihoon's beautiful.
“I love you too.” Soonyoung calmly says, his voice quivering in happiness before he remembers about the situation they're currently in. His reflexes starts to kick in and his own body decides to betray him when he suddenly hits Jihoon— in the face.
“BABY! I'M SO SORRY!” Soonyoung shouts and Jihoon's covering his nose from the pain. He tries to push Soonyoung away.
“Baby?” Wonwoo's voice shatters their little bubble.
Shit. The ride was over and they didn't even feel it.
Jihoon stands up from his seat and heads out.
“You call each other baby? Are you two dating?” Jeonghan butts in and Soonyoung's gaze trails after Jihoon’s silhouette before the latter disappears into the bathroom. Boy, you don't know how much I want to say that we're dating.
“No, I was just teasing him.” Soonyoung sighs before standing up and walking out of the ride.
“I thought so, Jihoon would never let anyone call him pet names.” Seungcheol laughs and Soonyoung almost talks back when he sees Jihoon go out of the bathroom with a red nose.
“I’m so sorry.” Soonyoung rushes to his side and cups his face to look at the injury he's caused. Jihoon doesn't look at him in the eyes and mumbling things that Soonyoung didn't even understand.
Their friends look at their position with questioning eyes before Jihoon punches him in the gut. Soonyoung grunts and crouches over as the pain engulfs his torso.
“That's payback.” Jihoon spats and their friends laugh like the previous scenario never happened.
#3
He’s at Choi’s. For some reason, Jihoon doesn’t remember why he’s here. All he recalls is getting woken up by Jeonghan’s squealing voice saying GODDAMNIT LEE JIHOON WAKE THE FUCK UP OR I’M BURNING YOUR GODDAMN CDs, which always worked, how dare he touch my babies . Jeonghan said something about going on a movie date with Seungcheol, so why was Jihoon here at 9 in the morning watching these two idiots goofing around with each other like horny rabbits?
Jihoon tries to ignore the sexual tension surrounding Seungcheol’s house and actually begins to enjoy his free breakfast. He feels his phone vibrate on the table and he looks on the screen before picking it up to reply.
Prince Hoshi: GOOD MORNING MY BEAUTIFUL RAY OF SUNSHINE
Lee Jihoon: shut up, its too early for your capslock
Prince Hoshi: eeeek, ure so aggressive ♡_♡
Lee Jihoon: ….
Prince Hoshi: What is my baby doing today?
Lee Jihoon: stop calling me that. im at cheol’s. what about you?
Prince Hoshi: is something happening at cheol’s?? im eating breakfast with our son :))))
Lee Jihoon: free breakfast here. why are u still callin it our son??
Prince Hoshi: SHSHSHSHSHS! he might hear you! its the first plushie you won for me, OFCOURSE ITS OUR SON
Lee Jihoon: fine fine. whatever
Prince Hoshi: hihi. can i go there? i want to see you :))
Lee Jihoon: dude, thatd be weird
Lee Jihoon: its like we’re on a double date or somethin
Prince Hoshi: pleaseeeeeee
Lee Jihoon: no
Prince Hoshi: pleaseeeee jihooonie my baby boo whom i love very very much more than how i love strawberries BECAUSE HAVE YOU SEE-
“who’s prince hoshi?” Jihoon’s body immediately shuts down as he watched his phone fall into his cup of coffee. shit.
“JIHOON!” Seungcheol scrambles to pick his phone out of the liquid and onto a new set of table napkins. Jihoon just watches everything unfold.
“Why did you scare him?!” Seungcheol’s directing the question towards Jeonghan.
“I didn’t. I just asked him something.” Jeonghan is calm. Jihoon’s sweating so much. Fuck.
“It’s okay, Ji! I’ll get your phone fixed. My neighbor’s a technician.” Seungcheol’s panicking as if it was his phone but Jihoon’s still staring at Jeonghan. What are you going to do next, Han? Jihoon’s eyebrows scrunch in worry.
“Cheol, why don’t you go to your neighbor and get the phone fixed.” Jeonghan’s extremely calm. Jihoon doesn’t know what to feel.
“Uh… okay! I’ll be back.” Seungcheol picks the coffee-soaked-phone before scrambling towards the front door.
“Do I know him?” Jeonghan’s staring at him. Jihoon can feel his friend's eagerness.
Silence.
“How long have you been dating each other?”
“Why didn't you tell us?” Jeonghan’s questions just keep on coming but Jihoon’s mind is still in jumbles.
“What about Soonyoung?” Jihoon’s eyes snap up the moment he hears the name. Holy shit. Does Jeonghan actually know?
“What do you mean Soonyoung?!”
“You and Soonyoung. We all thought you’d end up together but turns out, you're already taken.” Jeonghan’s shoulders are slumped, looking like a kicked puppy. Jihoon almost thinks that Jeonghan’s going to cry.
Oh. Oh.
“I promise that I’ll tell you when I’m ready.” Jihoon says before they hear Seungcheol slamming the front door saying he got chased by the neighbor’s dog so he didn't get the chance to fix the phone.
What nice friends he has.