Chapter Text
“Yoosung, why are you calling me at three in the morning? Don’t you have school?”
“Seveeennnn~!” I need to tell you a seeeeecret~”
Seven chuckled at how almost unintelligible Yoosung’s slurs were.
“Yoosung, are you drunk?” like he needed to ask…
“Seveeenn~! Don’t laugh at meee~! This is a very… important… secret…” his voice slowed down with each word like he was falling asleep.
“Er, Yoosung?” Seven asked, wondering if he was still there.
“SEVEN! Seven!” Yoosung’s startled voice rang through Seven’s phone as if he woke up from an alarm clock. “I need to tell you a seeeecret~”
Seven almost burst out laughing, it was getting harder not to the longer he talked with him. “Yeah, I got that. What is it?” (If he says “secret” one more time…)
“Okay, I’ll tell you.” The blond paused and took a deep breath. “But you have to remember it’s a seeeecret…”
Seven facepalmed.
*
Zen tossed his duffle bag over his shoulder casually and sauntered over to the door of the bunker.
‘Man, this place was hard to find.’ He thought whilst knocking on the door. He hoped this would be worth it; there was no other place for him to stay.
No one answered the door. “Come on.” He mumbled, slightly agitated. He hugged his sides and jogged on the balls of his feet to keep warm in the winter air.
He knocked again.
“Please say: “My dear, sweet, Elly, is the love of my life” in Arabic.” A robotic voice coming from a speaker above the door said.
“What?” Zen looked around, baffled. Did he come to the wrong place? No, that was definitely something Seven would say.
He banged on the door harder.
“Please say: “My dear, sweet, Elly, is the love of my life” in Arabic.”
Zen started kicking and hitting the cold, hard metal of the door. “SEVEN! OPEN THE DOOR!”
His fingers were a dark purple colour as they were transitioning from red to blue. His breath floated in front of him in short bursts. His jaw tight like a vice and threatening to chatter his teeth together. If he stayed out here any longer, he may get his first cold.
Luckily a saving grace (?) opened the door with a crescent moon grin. “Sorry it took me so long to get to the door, I had my headphones on so I couldn’t hear you. You weren’t out here for long were you?” he asked in a laid-back fashion, trying not to laugh at Zen’s angered face.
Zen was far too fuming to say anything to his “host” and gave him a stare of silent rage.
Seven ignored the look and carried on with his charade. “Oh, how rude of me, leaving you out there on the doorstep!” he gestured into the bunker. “Come in.”
“I’m not sure I want to now.” Replied Zen through gritted teeth.
“Oh, Zenny, please~!” Seven squealed in mock desperation. “I made the place all nice for youuuu~” He blinked in a pleading way and Zen rolled his eyes.
He lightly shook his head and chuckled. “Well, if you worked that hard…” he sighed and followed Seven into the bunker, thankful to be out of the cold. “So, um, what’s with the door? I don’t think I know anyone who speaks Arabic.” Zen asked, chilblains stinging his fingers as he trailed behind Seven.
The hacker stopped and turned around. “Do they not teach it in school these days?” he tilted his head, mimicking confusion.
“I’m older than you!” Zen spluttered. Seven’s face didn’t change. Zen sighed. “Whatever, you probably just put it there to annoy me.”
Seven just laughed softly, leading his guest into the kitchen, letting him believe what he wanted to believe.
Once in the kitchen, Seven went over to the fridge. “Can I get you drink? I’ve got PhD Pepper.” He opened fridge to reveal several cans lining at least half the shelves.
Zen grimaced at the sight. He completely forgot about Seven’s unhealthy lifestyle; he made a mental note to go food shopping tomorrow if he was going to stay here for a while.
Seven noticed Zen’s look. “Or I could get you a glass of water?”
“Er, yeah, I’ll have a glass.” Zen said, trying not to be too disappointed that he didn’t bring any bottled water with him.
A mischievous glint sparkled in Seven’s eyes and smirked. “Sure, I’ll get you a glass.”
“Thanks. Oh, and thanks again for letting me stay here.” Zen said as he rummaged through his duffle bag that he put on the counter, facing away from Seven.
“No problem-o! 707, Defender of Justice, saves the handsome Prince Zen from a broken heater in his underground castle during the harsh winter nights!” the red-head yelled as if he were reading a young child a bedtime story.
Zen finally dug out a pocket-sized note pad and turned around to a grinning Seven. “Here you go!” he said naturally, handing Zen an empty glass. “One glass!” he announced cheerfully.
Zen looked confused.
“You said you wanted a glass.” Seven explained thrusting the glass into Zen’s hand.
“A glass of water!” he cried out frustrated. How on earth was he supposed to stay under the same roof as this madman?
“Ugh, some people are so hard to please!” Seven dramatically swooned and turned away, making no move to actually fill the glass up.
‘Man! This guy!’
Zen sighed, put his notepad on the counter and went over to the sink. Seven eyed it curiously and picked it up whilst Zen finished filling his up and turned around with a sip of the water. He spotted Seven across the room staring at the front cover.
“That’s my bucket list.” Zen said simply, gesturing to it with his drink.
“Oooooo~! May I take a look?!” Seven exclaimed way too excitedly.
“Go ahead, I have nothing to hide.” The white-haired mad responded coolly, flipping his hair out his eyes.
Flickering through the pages, Seven saw that some of these things had already been ticked off. He noticed that some of them were about Zen’s acting career like: “Star in a leading role in a musical” or “Be in a movie”, etc. But he also noticed some were a more romantic like: “Be in a serious relationship for over a year” or “Give someone a promise ring”. There was one that stood out to Seven that made him giggle… and gave him an idea.
Zen’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“’Be someone’s first kiss’?” He read out with a cheeky grin.
“Oh, yeah, forgot about that one.” He laughed nervously and lowered his head. “I know it might sound a bit weird, but I think it’s quite romantic. Most people don’t remember their—say—tenth kiss, but they always remember their first one.” Zen explained.
Seven was still grinning at the idea growing in his head. “I’m surprised you haven’t ticked this one off yet.”
Zen shrugged. “Well, I only thought of it recently and there aren’t many people around my age that haven’t been kissed already.”
Seven smirked. “I know someone.”
*
Yoosung sighed. “It’s about Zen.” He slurred.
Seven was intrigued. “What about Zen?”
“He’s pretty~” Yoosung sighed dreamily before giggling like a love-sick school girl.
Seven knew had a feeling he knew what the blond was talking about, but he needed to make sure. He needed to hear him say it.
He scoffed amusedly. “Everyone thinks that, Yoosung.”
“Nooooo! Seveeennnn! I think he’s hot!” Yoosung whined frustratedly.
Wanting to drag this out longer, Seven pressed on. “Yeah, a lot of people think he’s hot too.”
“Seveeeennnn! You’re not listening to meeeee!” Seven had to muffle his laughter with his hand, listening to the voice of an agitated and drunk Yoosung.
“Okay, sorry, just elaborate a bit more.” Seven said.
Yoosung sighed again. “I like him a lot.” He admitted, emphasizing “like” and “lot” to make a point.
He actually said it! Seven’s mind whirled back to their interactions in the chatroom, all the times he’s seen that blushy face emoji whenever Zen called Yoosung “cute”. How could he have been so blind?!
After that revelation, he decided to carry on teasing Yoosung. “Really? Well a-”
“I like how he cheers me up on a bad day; I like how he listens to my problems-”
“Er, Yoosung?” asked Seven, taken aback by Yoosung’s unexpected monologue.
Yoosung didn’t appear to have heard him. “-and I like his eyes; and he’s so taaalllll, he could protect me from anything~” voice light and whimsical.
“Oh, god! I’m cringing!” Seven buried his face in his hands whilst the blond continued his sappy spiel.
“-and when he calls me “cute” or compares me to a puppy, I feel…” Yoosung paused and his voice got lower “tingly…” he let out a long laugh at that and Seven squirmed in his seat.
“Whoa! I didn’t want to know that much!” the cringe was getting too much for the hacker to handle. “Er, Yoosung, I think you should go to bed.” He tried to say casually.
“Nooo! I have more to saaaay~! Like how I-”
“Nope!” Seven yelled, hanging up before he could hear any more of this nonsense.
He sat there for a moment. What was he supposed to do with this information?
*
“Yoosung?” Zen chuckled. “Very funny, Seven.” He said in a monotone voice.
“What? He really hasn’t been kissed!” Seven exclaimed.
“Yeah, I know that! He won’t shut up about it in the chatroom.”
“Exactly! So, just kiss him and tick it off!” Seven was getting excited, making Zen’s notepad dance with his hands to let out his energy.
“Man. This guy…” Zen muttered to himself and put the glass next to the sink. Yoousung? As if! Sure, he thinks there’s something cute about him, but not in that way; more in a sort of golden retriever sort of way (if that makes any sense). Seven’s suggestion put an image in his head: Yoosung’s lidded eyes as Zen would put his hand under his chin to lift his head up; lowering his face onto those soft, pretty, untouched lips…
Zen scoffed at the thought and pushed it to the back of his mind. He shook his head lightly. “Need I remind you that Yoosung is a guy?”
Seven sighed. Why did he have to bring that up? ‘I have to make this happen’ he thought ‘this is too good’. But how? He looked back at the list again. ‘That’s it! Matchmaker 707, at your service!’
“You never specified a gender.” He pointed out, grin making a reappearance.
“Yeah I did.” Zen argued. He was sure he specified it to be a girl. He stepped closer to examine the notepad Seven was holding out to him.
“Be someone’s first kiss”
“What?” Zen breathed. He couldn’t remember writing that. If it weren’t for the fact that it was in his handwriting, he would have assumed Seven was playing another one of his jokes on him.
“Freudian slip much?” Seven said slyly.
Zen blushed in embarrassment and took the bucket list from the hacker’s hands.
“What’s the big deal? It’s just a mouth?” Seven’s tone grew lower and teasing. “A mouth connected to our sweet, innocent, little Yoosung~”
The vision of Yoosung Zen had earlier came back to the front of his head again, stronger. The feel of the skin on Yoosung’s jaw; the moan he would make in his mouth; the nervous but gentle movement of his lips.
The air around Zen was getting heavier. He looked down and took deep breaths. He shouldn’t be thinking about this.
“Hmm… well if you’re not going to kiss him, then maybe I could. Yes, I’m liking that idea the more I think about it…” a teasing voice snarked, dragging Zen out of his thoughts.
The actor snapped his head up. “No!” he blurted before he could stop himself
Knowing he had planted the seed, Seven smirked at the sight of the unusually flustered Zen.
“Er—well—why are we even talking about this?!” Zen spluttered. “Just show me where I can put my stuff!” he moved to get his bag whilst Seven made his way to the door that lead out of the kitchen.
“Right this way!” Seven said as if he were addressing a royal. Zen followed his gesture out of the room, scratching the back of his neck to hide the heat rising to his face.