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Daniel is seriously having the biggest crisis he’s ever faced in his twenty years of living. “Jihoon is what?” he asks Seongwoo, mouth slack open in shock.
Seongwoo only sighs, “First of all, please close your mouth.” They both stop walking across the college campus, pausing beneath a tree to protect them from the burning sun. “I said that Jihoon is running a kiss booth right now.”
Daniel swears he’s never felt so weak in the knees before. Hell, he could barely feel any of his body parts. Maybe his brain was working too hard to process Seongwoo’s words that it couldn’t function his other senses.
“Earth to Daniel? I know you like him, but he’s doing this kiss booth thing for a good cause you know,” Seongwoo says, adjusting Daniel’s glasses that were sliding down his face. It’s almost amusing how every aspect of Daniel becomes a mess when it comes to Jihoon, but Seongwoo decides not to comment on it. He bets his best friend wouldn’t be able to register it right now anyway.
“He’s just...giving away kisses?” Daniel asks, mostly to himself than anything.
Seongwoo shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “No, he’s not just giving them away. That’s not how fundraising works.”
Daniel shifts in place uncomfortably, “How did you know I like Jihoon—I mean what makes you think I even like him in the first place?”
The disgruntled and appalled stare that Daniel receives in reply almost makes him feel embarrassed. “You did not just ask me such a stupid question,” Seongwoo mutters, placing both his hands on his head dramatically. “Do you get dumber everyday or—“
“Alright, I get it!” Daniel wails, wanting to end the conversation as quickly as possible. He takes a quick a glance at his phone which he just notices was blowing up with messages. Once he does, he swears he almost cries.
BIG BOYS
Jisung
ok jihoon really is adorable
he was so flustered
Minhyun
you must have scared him TT
i want to keep him in my pocket
Sungwoon
that boy is a gift from the gods
Jaehwan
guys daniel will get mad lolol
did seongwoo get a kiss from jihoon too?
Seongwoo
i did
it was great btw
also daniel is really stupid
he really believed no one knew he likes jihoonie
Daniel glares back up at Seongwoo, who is exaggeratedly whistling and ‘attempting’ to be inconspicuous. “I’m going to kill you, Seongwoo.”
“At least I got a kiss from Jihoon before my death!” Seongwoo grins evilly and prances away, leaving Daniel behind to cast black magic spells on him. After he finishes cursing Seongwoo in his head (it will totally work), Daniel hurriedly paces across the courtyard, passing several other students laying in hammocks dispersed around the area.
“Did you visit Park Jihoon’s booth yet?”
“Of course I did! God, how can someone look so good?”
“Yeah, I did too. I might go again later.”
Oh my god Daniel thinks. Everyone has already visited Jihoon’s stupid kiss booth, both girls and boys alike, and they’re even thinking about going a second time.
Another voice in Daniel’s head asks, "can you blame them?" but he ignores it and continues speeding towards the front of the campus, where he figures Jihoon would be set up.
Honestly, he really shouldn’t be surprised. Jihoon was the most popular freshman and was also a well known college student on campus. He was unearthly attractive and quickly became an ace of the dance team alongside Park Woojin, Jihoon’s best friend and roommate.
Daniel knows that he doesn’t have the right to be jealous because firstly, he and Jihoon have had a max of one interaction in their entire lives which involved getting a library book that was too far up for the latter to reach. It was almost a cliche romantic meeting, but Daniel may or may not have been so nervous that he dropped the book directly onto Jihoon’s face.
Daniel stayed up that night, drowning in embarrassment and self pity for a good six hours straight.
Second, Daniel is among the millions of people (an estimate made by Daniel himself) that are attracted to Jihoon. It's not like he's special or anything, but that doesn't stop him from feeling bitter.
When Daniel arrives, he sees Jihoon exactly where he expected him to be. A sudden wave of conflict crashes over Daniel when he glances over his crush.
Jesus.
Jihoon’s blond hair is slightly wavy atop his head. It’s fluffed up perfectly, almost reminiscent of a cloud. He’s wearing a pink turtleneck, and Daniel can’t explain how much it pairs with his cloud hair and sparkling eyes. He’s the embodiment of what Daniel finds adorable (aside from his cats of course).
But Jihoon’s endearingly cute features isn’t even the worst part. It’s his lips.
Daniel is trying so hard to wash away the unholy thoughts quickly forming, but Jihoon’s lips are slightly swollen, glistening and red and Daniel kind of wants to die on the spot.
A flame of jealousy and desire sparks in Daniel and he attempts to quell it before walking up to the kiss booth. Before he does, he reads over the banner Jihoon put up and Daniel swears his affection for the freshman multiplies. It’s a fundraiser to help prevent animal abuse.
As Daniel makes his way towards the booth, Jihoon smiles when they meet eye to eye, and Daniel’s heart skips a beat. “Daniel, right? I remember you,” the blond says, a slight laugh in his voice as he points to his own face.
Jihoon’s voice is a lot deeper in contrast to his airy looks. God, Daniel is a mess right now. He nervously laughs in response and runs his hands through his brown locks, “I’m really sorry about that. But yeah, I’m Daniel.”
“Are you here for the fundraiser? I’m about to close up, so you’re probably going to be my last costumer,” Jihoon says, looking at his watch to check the time.
The jar that’s placed on top of the booth is packed with dollars and coins, almost overflowing. The flame within Daniel burns bright, and he mentally sighs. How many people has Jihoon kissed already?
“It’s fifty cents for one,” Jihoon informs him, and Daniel feels ashamed at the fact that he was almost willing to spend his entire fortune on a single student.
Daniel is nervous, and it’s so unlike his usual self that he wonders how one person can flip his world upside down so easily.
“Alright, give me a second,” Daniel says, pulling his wallet out of his bag. He unzips the coin portion and pulls out two quarters, handing it to Jihoon. Their hands brush for a fraction of a second and Daniel shivers.
A small, alluring smile is on Jihoon’s face and he says, “Your glasses look good on you, Niel-hyung.”
Yeah, death could take Daniel right now. He’d prefer it over the borderline painful hammering in his heart. He stutters out a thank you, and follows with a question. “Where do you give the kiss anyway?”
Jihoon blinks. “What do you mean?”
It’s Daniel’s turn to look blank and confused, “The...the kiss? Where do you—“
Suddenly, Jihoon pulls out a bag and everything makes sense. Daniel was seriously going to kill Seongwoo now. Everyone else in the Big Boys group chat is going to get a beating too.
Those bastards.
“Usually I give people kisses directly to their hand,” Jihoon laughs at the bizarre question, placing a Hershey kiss onto Daniel’s hand.
There’s still one thing left that leaves a doubt in Daniel’s mind. He blurts it out without thinking and regrets it immediately, “Why are your lips so red?”
Now it’s Jihoon’s turn to be flustered. “R-Red? My lips?” He trips over his words, bringing his hands up to trace his mouth.
"Rude," Daniel thinks in his head, observing Jihoon feel his lips between his fingers. He looks so good.
“I tend to bite my lips when I’m nervous—I’m honestly not that great around people when I first talk to them,” Jihoon says, thinking about the loud college students that had visited him beforehand. One was called Ong Seongwoo, he thinks?
“Oh.” It’s the only thing Daniel says and then he’s left speechless. He clutches the Hershey kiss in his hand then opens and eats it. Jihoon’s cheeks and ears are still a little red from the previous question, but he watches Daniel as he eats the Hershey kiss. “Is it good?”
Daniel nods, “Yeah. Of course.”
“Did you expect something else?” Jihoon suddenly says in a soft voice, looking anywhere else but the other guy in front of him. Daniel chokes on the chocolate.
“Expect? I mean—I was just...” Daniel’s words trail off and his face is fire hot. “Maybe.”
Almost hopeful, Jihoon’s eyes glaze over Daniel. The smaller blond grins and he whispers, "This one is on the house" before leaning over the booth and softly placing a kiss on Daniel’s cheek.
With the speed of his heart right now, Daniel really wouldn’t be surprised if death really did take him after all that joking.
Jihoon is blushing just as hard as Daniel is, but he laughs anyway and says, “Sorry, I saw the opportunity and took it. I hope you don’t mind, but you look really good and I’ve been too nervous to talk to yo—”
Daniel tries to stop himself, he really does, but he can’t fight against his instinct when he moves around the booth and closer to Jihoon, stare clouded and captivating.
Jihoon’s mouth opens in shock just a bit, words cut off when Daniel is so close that a piece of paper could barely slip between them. He can’t stop looking up into Daniel’s gaze, almost enchanted.
Daniel kisses him first, soft and warm against the other’s lips. They move in sync, and Daniel presses his mouth deeper against Jihoon’s. The latter trembles and grasps onto Daniel’s jacket for leverage.
When they finally pull away, both Daniel and Jihoon are red and out of breath. After a while of silence, Daniel laughs while sticking out his tongue, nothing on it. “The chocolate is good, right?”
Jihoon blushes bright red and nods.
BIG BOYS
Daniel
i’m going to kill all of you
Seongwoo
it seems like it went well though?
Jaehwan
yeah kk
you should thank us
Minhyun
the point of spying is to not tell them
you idiots
Daniel
oh my god.
JIHOON
Jihoon
movie?
Daniel
sure, i’ll see u in a bit :)