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“Kiki!” Kihyun clutches Minhyuk’s arm in fright before he gets a hold of himself and lets go with a cough. He looks to his left, and sure enough, Hyunwoo’s pulling up to the sidewalk.
“I won’t answer to that,” Kihyun huffs.
“Pretty sure you just did,” Hyunwoo smirks.
“Ok,” Minhyuk says as gets in between the car and Kihyun. “Can we do this once we’re in the car?” Minhyuk opens the car door to the passenger seat and gets in. Kihyun, unfortunately, follows.
“I told you I’m fine with walking,” Kihyun complains to Minhyuk.
Minhyuk rolls his eyes. “What’s the point of Hyung having a car now if I don’t get to exploit it.”
“You have to put up with him because he’s your brother, I have no reason to,” Kihyun replies.
“I can drop you off right here and you can walk the rest of the way. Of course, with your short legs, it might take three hours.”
Minhyuk turns the radio on to drown out Kihyun’s answering curse, but the rest of the ride goes relatively smoothly.
“Do you know what you’re gonna wear to Homecoming?” Minhyuk’s question gives Kihyun’s eyes a much needed break. They’ve been working on the homework for about two hours now and they’re almost finished. Kihyun rubs his eyes and turns from where he’s sitting at Minhyuk’s desk to Minhyuk lying belly-down on his bed.
“No idea,” Kihyun shrugs. “Isn’t it too early? We have a month left.”
Minhyuk gasps, “it’s never too early to think about these things, Kihyun! I’ve already asked Dad and Soon In and they said they’ll pay for my outfit.”
“Aw, Minhyuk, I didn’t know you wanted to impress me that much, I’m touched.” Kihyun pats a hand to his chest and narrowly avoids the flying pillow that comes from the bed.
“Just because we’re going with each other that is no excuse to look like a bum. Don’t embarrass me, Yoo Kihyun.”
“I’m starting to regret going to this thing,” Kihyun sighs.
“Absolutely not! If I want to end up as the social chair next year, I need to be at all these events, and you should be supporting your best friend’s dreams and aspirations!”
“The only dream and aspiration I want to support right now is my quest to find dinner. I’m going to go downstairs and find Auntie.”
Kihyun makes his way downstairs and closes the door to Minhyuk’s rant. He enters the kitchen to find Hyunwoo already at the counter, doing his homework.
“Auntie’s not back yet?” He asks Hyunwoo.
Hyunwoo shakes his head. “They went to a daycare open house for Hyemi.”
Kihyun makes a noise in acknowledgement and opens the fridge to find snacks. When he can’t find anything he wants, he turns back to Hyunwoo.
“Is there anything for us to eat?”
“Mom told me to put stuff out for dinner,” Hyunwoo gestures to the other side of the counter where there are, indeed, ingredients for dinner. “But, I guess we can eat the corn cheese now.”
Kihyun claps his hands in glee at the mention of corn cheese. Hyunwoo gets down from the stool he was sitting on to find the aforementioned food among the of items laid out for dinner. He hands the saran-wrapped plate to Kihyun and goes off to get plates and utensils. Kihyun finds a knife to cut just the right amount needed for them to eat and also grabs the pepper shaker from the spice rack because Hyunwoo likes it that way.
“Here,” Hyunwoo holds out, a spoon? For him.
“Are you giving me Hyemi’s spoon?” It’s blue with holes and a slim line for a handle. It looks more like a miniature racket.
“You guys are about the same size anyway,” Hyunwoo smirks and Kihyun mocks back his words but takes the spoon.
The corn cheese is as good as ever, Kihyun digs into it with gusto. He’s learned that eating with Hyunwoo requires some strategic movement or else he ends up with hardly anything in his stomach because Hyunwoo’s stomach is a black hole-fast and endless.
He asks Hyunwoo about the upper level classes he’s taking now and how the teachers are. Hyunwoo asks him about the extracurriculars Kihyun’s thinking about including in his schedule since he’s no longer a freshman. Just as they’re finishing up the food, the door opens and in comes the voices of Auntie Son and Uncle Lee. Minhyuk comes downstairs and into the kitchen as Kihyun greets them. Kihyun coos over the cuteness that is the baby Hyemi in Auntie Son’s arms.
After the adults get settled and start preparing dinner-with Uncle Lee confirming that Kihyun is eating with them-Kihyun finally finishes the last of the food Hyunwoo had uncharacteristically left for him.
“Kihyun,” Minhyuk calls out to him slowly.
“Hmm?”
“What the hell are you using to eat with?”
Kihyun finally finishes the plate and looks at Minhyuk in confusion. “A spoon?”
“That’s a ballpoint pen,” the you-idiot is strongly implied.
Kihyun inspects the spoon in further confusion. “But, Hyunwoo hyung said-“ Kihyun realizes st the same time Hyunwoo bursts out in laughter. “You’re dead!” Kihyun growls and flies across the kitchen to rain down his revenge upon Hyunwoo, who just continues laughing while half-heartedly dodging Kihyun’s assaults. He doesn’t hear Minhyuk’s exaggerated sigh but he does hear the adults scolding Hyunwoo and baby Hyemi’s bubbling laughter.
It happens during lunch. Even though he isn’t as surprised as Minhyuk is, he’s still pretty stunned too but at least his brain comes back online enough to say yes for Minhyuk who looks like he’s constipated, which is Minhyuk for internally screaming but other people don’t know that and Kihyun is the bestest friend there ever was for successfully getting Minhyuk to a place conducive for imminent freak-out.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”
Kihyun would think about filming Minhyuk for future blackmail if he didn’t know that this would just go back and forth because Minhyuk can, unfortunately, get something on him easily.
“Did he-did, oh my fucking god-did Jooheon just ask me to Homecoming?”
“Yes, yes he did,” Kihyun says slowly to make sure Minhyuk’s brain is processing his answer.
“And I said yes?”
“Yes, well, I said yes for you, but yes.”
“Oh.my.goddddd”
Kihyun doesn’t have that many classes with Minhyuk so he hopes Minhyuk pulls it together to last the rest of the day, at least.
Minhyuk seems a lot calmer when they meet up to go home. He’s not, unfortunately, calm enough because he starts laughing to himself maniacally in between bouts of singing praises to everything that has to do with Jooheon. Kihyun learns that Minhyuk can concentrate when he wants to because Jooheon apparently tapped his pen forty three times before the teacher stopped him. They’re walking to Minhyuk’s because Hyunwoo has practice after school and Minhyuk can probably use the exercise.
“It is known, he’s my one true love and now that he’s asked me out, it’s going to cut down at least a few years before we’re married. Kihyun, my genius plan is working better than I thought,” Minhyuk mutters around a mouthful of chips.
Kihyun doesn’t know whether he should be disgusted by that or the words coming out of Minhyuk’s mouth along with the chips.
“Slow down there, he only asked you to the dance, there’s plenty of times between now and then for him to get to know your disgusting self and see the error of his ways.”
Minhyuk gives him the finger and goes back to eating his chips. Kihyun turns on the tv and tries to find something good, which is an impossible feat because nothing’s good usually on at this time.
“Wait!” Kihyun fumbles with the remote and almost drops it before catching it safely. “We’re supposed to go together, what are you gonna do if I go with Jooheon?”
Kihyun blinks. That is a good point. “I just won’t go, I was only going because of you, anyway,” Kihyun shrugs.
“Noooooo,” Minhyuk whines as he put his greasy fingers around Kihyun’s. “You have to go too! Maybe you can come with me and Jooheon.”
Kihyun laughs, “I’m not gonna third-wheel you guys.”
“Maybe, I’ll just tell Jooheon no, then. I didn’t actually answer him anyway.”
“Woah woah woah, I’m touched, truly,” Kihyun pats his chest, “but there’s no way I’m letting you do that, you’ve been mooning after Jooheon since last year.” Minhyuk truly looks torn and Kihyun’s heart warms at the gesture but he can’t let the idiocy happen. “Ok, fine, I’ll go. Maybe I’ll just ask somebody else,” Kihyun winces before he even finishes that sentence.
“Who? I’m like the only friend you have.”
“I’ll take you.”
Kihyun and Minhyuk both scream at the voice. Hyunwoo has a shit-eating grin when they turn around from the couch to where Hyunwoo is at the foyer.
“Did you finally learn not to stomp around?” Kihyun asks the same time as Minhyuk asks, “did you just say you’ll take Kihyun to homecoming?”
The room goes silent for about five seconds. Hyunwoo nods, at Minhyuk. Kihyun and Minhyuk look at each other and promptly bursts out laughing.
“That was a good one but if you have no useful input,” Minhyuk says and Kihyun waves Hyunwoo bye.
Hyunwoo scoffs, “I’m serious.” Kihyun blinks at him. “I wasn’t planning to go either but since Mom’s probably going to make me drive Minhyuk there and also pick him up, I might as well.”
“That...is actually a good idea,” Minhyuk says with a considering look.
“No. No way, I’d rather just go by myself then go with Hyunwoo.” Kihyun shakes his head vehemently.
“Thanks, it’s nice to know you appreciate the offer that much.”
Kihyun responds by making faces at him.
“Kihyunnnnnn, please, this is a good idea,” Minhyuk starts swinging Kihyun’s arm as he begs.
Kihyun narrows his eyes at him, and then, at Hyunwoo. “What’s this going to cost me?”
Hyunwoo rolls his eyes. “Nothing. I’m just trying to be a nice person and help out the poor and needy.”
“And you expect me to go with this?” Kihyun turns to Minhyuk, expecting a sound answer.
“It’s only for one night, pleaseeeeee, Kihyunnnnn,” Minhyuk moves to grab Kihyun’s hands and Kihyun knows this won’t end if he stands his ground. He heaves a huge sigh.
“Ok, fine!” He throws up his hands in surrender.
“Thank you thank you thank you,” Minhyuk, unfortunately, tries to squeeze the breath out of Kihyun in gratitude.
“You should be thanking me,” Hyunwoo mutters as he grabs Minhyuk bodily off Kihyun, who is now horizontal on the couch. Minhyuk runs out of the room with the intention to text Jooheon, whose phone number he’s not supposed to have yet. Hyunwoo holds out a hand and after looking at the hand for a couple of beats, Kihyun takes it and lets himself be pulled upright. Maybe, just maybe, he won’t have to make good on the multiple threats he’s promised upon Hyunwoo, for the upcoming month at least.
“Where’s Minhyuk?”
Kihyun yelps and drops one of the books he’s carrying at the unexpected voice. Hyunwoo catches it before it hits the ground and Kihyun tries not to be jealous at his reflex, it’s probably an athletes thing.
“He’s studying with Jooheon.”
“Oh, I’ll just text him then. Mom wanted him to fold his clothes.” Hyunwoo hands the book back to him and Kihyun tries to accept it without dropping the other books, a water bottle, and a pencil case he’s also carrying. “Just, give me that.” Hyunwoo says as he takes all the books out of Kihyun’s hands with one hand and grabs the pencil case with the other.
“Thanks.”
“You know that people already know you’re a nerd, right? No need to worry that they don’t.”
“Haha, you’re so funny,” Kihyun deadpans.
Hyunwoo grins. “Where are you going anyway?”
“Science section, I was going to ask Mrs. Lee some questions about the test that’s coming up,” Kihyun says as he follows Hyunwoo to the way of the science department.
“You know she’s the head of trivia club, right?”
Kihyun shakes his head as they make the final turn before they get to their destination. He peeks through the glass window of the door to see that Mrs. Lee is currently teaching.
“Maybe you should join that, you’d do well.”
Kihyun smirks, “didn’t you just say I don’t need to be more of a nerd than I am?”
Hyunwoo rolls his eyes, “I’m just saying, if you haven’t committed to any other stuff yet. You can also join the international club, they just make food. You can learn more recipes so I can eat more than the three things you always make.”
Kihyun hits him on the other hand and winces at how hard Hyunwoo’s arm is. “Be grateful that I even make those three things.” Kihyun finally takes the books from Hyunwoo and puts them in his backpack.
“Do you even need all of these?”
Kihyun pauses to think about Hyunwoo’s question. “Hmm, probably not, but I don’t want to go back all the way to my locker.” Kihyun frowns as he says, seriously, why did he even get all his books out.
“Give me the ones you don’t need, you can take them back after school,” Hyunwoo holds a hand out. Kihyun smiles and thanks him. Hyunwoo waves him off and makes his way to his own class as the bell rings.
Minhyuk has been hanging out a lot with Jooheon and Kihyun’s pretty sure they’re going to be official by the time Homecoming comes around. And Kihyun is really about that because Minhyuk deserves it, but, it also means there’s less time for them to hang out. Kihyun’s currently sitting in the lounge, the one section in the library where students can talk as it's meant for them to have a place to do group projects. Minhyuk has texted him last minute to say he wouldn’t be coming because he's going to go watch Jooheon practice piano. Kihyun has decided to play a game or two on his phone to kill the time when Hyunwoo sits down next to him.
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” He asks Hyunwoo.
“Had a sub and he let us go early. Why aren’t you in class?” Hyunwoo asks.
“Had a test and I finished early,” Kihyun answers and Hyunwoo mutters an ‘of course you did’ under his breath.
“Next period is your free?” Hyunwoo asks and Kihyun nods.
“I’ll just stay with you then.”
“Who says I’ll let you,” Kihyun raises an eyebrow in challenge.
“Stop being cute, I need your iPad.”
“You won’t be getting it if that’s how you ask. Why can’t you use your phone?”
“Because I want to see it on a bigger screen. I’m checking out some of the schools that the scouts are coming from for our meets this year,” Hyunwoo answers and Kihyun figures that’s a worthy cause to lend his iPad.
He inches closer to Hyunwoo as he reads the blurbs for each of the schools that come up on Hyunwoo’s search. Hyunwoo has, annoyingly, always smelled good. Kihyun thought he’d be one of the many athletes who don’t know self control when met with a bottle of Axe. But Hyunwoo’s only smelled of soap and shampoo and, sometimes, of freshly washed clothes and it’s one of Kihyun’s favorite smells.
“What are you sniffing?”
Kihyun jerks back as though he’s been burned. “N-nothing!”
“Oh..Kay,” Hyunwoo utters slowly but thankfully, turns back to the iPad. Kihyun can feels his face burning up and he mentally smacks a palm to his head.
“So, you already have a pretty good list of prospective schools?” Kihyun asks because he’s curious and also to wipe the awkwardness that’s still lingering.
“It’s still too early but I thought it’d be good to start thinking about them now. I’m also going to check out the schools that do have a division I swim team, regardless of where they are.”
Kihyun pouts as he processes Hyunwoo’s words. “You might go all the way to the east coast for school?”
“Potentially. Especially if they give me a full-ride,” Hyunwoo pauses to look at him. “But, like I said, it’s still too early, I’m only a junior and the school year has barely started. I just wanna have options. So,” Hyunwoo raises a hand to Kihyun’s chin and tilts it up, “no need to start being sad now.”
Kihyun bats his hand away but Hyunwoo grins and put it back, and Kihyun bats it away, and Hyunwoo puts it back. Kihyun decides to give up after that. “Why do you think I’d miss you, I’m going to be over the moon that you’re so far away to bother me anymore.”
Hyunwoo seems to sober up at that. Kihyun, would be glad to not have Hyunwoo constantly teasing him anymore but he doesn’t think he’d be glad to have Hyunwoo that far away either.
“Really?” Hyunwoo moves his hand from holding Kihyun’s chin to sliding it along the length of his jaw until his knuckles are brushing Kihyun’s cheek. He doesn’t break the eye contact as he does so and Kihyun swallows because the atmosphere has suddenly turned quiet and still. He thinks it might be because he’s never held eye contact with Hyunwoo that long but the only thing he knows for sure is that he’s not sure whether he wants it to stop. He belatedly remembers that Hyunwoo’s asked him a question, although, he doesn’t remember what it was.
The shrilling sound of the bell brings an end to whatever that was between him and Hyunwoo. They both jump back and avert their eyes. Hyunwoo clears his throat and Kihyun grabs his phone to see missed text messages from Minhyuk. He frowns as he reads the messages.
“What’s wrong?” Hyunwoo asks.
“Oh, Minhyuk wants to go shopping for Homecoming.”
“I can take you guys,” Hyunwoo replies.
“I think he wants to get a suit. Isn’t that a little too much for a high school dance? It’s not prom.”
Hyunwoo seems to ponder his question. “Maybe, but it won’t be too much for Minhyuk. You can probably just wear a formal cardigan with black jeans and you’d look fine.”
“Is that what you’re going to wear?” Kihyun hasn’t thought about it, but, now he’s thinking that Hyunwoo might look really nice in a suit. And then, shakes himself out of the thought.
“I have a blazer and a pair of slacks, and just drag whatever shirt is nice enough out of my closet,” Hyunwoo shrugs.
“I guess I should at least get something nice enough to match,” Kihyun agrees.
“It’s up to you, even if Minhyuk pressures you,” Hyunwoo offers in sincerity and Kihyun has to smile at the gesture.
“Thanks, let’s continue looking,” he points to the iPad and drags his chair closer to see the screen.
Kihyun tries his best to ignore whatever it was that happened in the lounge that day, but, he’s not a person who can leave things well enough alone so he ends up going over it again and again. He doesn’t know why the whole exchange was weird and why he felt like his heart was beating double time. The more he thinks about it, the more he starts to realize how touchy he is with Hyunwoo. Granted, it’s mostly a result of Hyunwoo teasing him. He’s never had any type of reaction to it, though, until that day anyway. He thinks about avoiding Hyunwoo until things go back to normal but he hasn’t realized how much of Hyunwoo is in his day-to-day life. It might be too suspicious and would lead to questions he’s not sure he’s ready to answer.
“Hey, Kihyun!”
Kihyun turns back from hearing his name to see one of his classmates from Chemistry calling his name and making his way towards him.
“You guys go ahead, I’ll find you later,” he says to Minhyuk and Jooheon, who have been walking with him to go to the cafeteria. They both wave him bye and tell him that they’ll save a seat.
“Hi.”
“Hi Yun, did you need something?’ Kihyun asks. Yun has asked him for notes before and Kihyun figures that’s what he needs him for.
“Uh, no, no I’m good! Actually,” Yun scratches the back of his head and laughs suddenly. “I, uh, I was wondering if you would go to Homecoming. With me.”
This was the last thing Kihyun expected so he can’t come up with a response right away. Yun’s looking at him hopefully and it delays Kihyun’s answer even longer.
“Aren’t you going to lunch yet?”
Kihyun startles at Hyunwoo’s voice from behind him. He pats his chest a few times and smacks Hyunwoo’s arm for good measure. “I told you to stop sneaking up on me.”
“Weren’t you the one saying I stomp around like a bear.” Hyunwoo pastes on a mocking smile and Kihyun answers back in kind.
“Urm, Kihyun?”
“Oh, right!” Kihyun turns back to Yun again. He’s almost forgot about the whole situation. “I’m sorry. I’m going with Hyunwoo.” Yun looks over Kihyun’s shoulder, presumably to look at Hyunwoo and his mouth forms an o. He doesn’t want to reject anyone, let alone someone like Yun who’s always been really friendly and sweet to Kihyun.
“Ah, that’s alright. I guess I was just too late. Well, I’ll see you then,” Yun musters up a smile and Kihyun says sorry to him again. And he really means it. Yun wishes them a good time at the dance and heads off to the other direction of the hallway.
“Did you want to go with him?”
“Huh?” Hyunwoo nods his head towards the direction that Yun’s gone off.
“If you want to go with him, you don’t have to worry about me. I wasn’t planning to go in the first place,” Hyunwoo shrugs.
“No!” Kihyun answers, a little too loudly, drawing the attention of the few passerbys still in the hallway. “No, I don’t.”
“Ok.”
“Yeah..”
They stay like that for a good while, until everyone’s disappeared from the hallway, not saying anything else and finding it hard to look at each other’s eyes. At least for Kihyun, that’s what it feels like.
“No loitering in the halls,” comes a teacher’s voice from one of the classrooms and prompts them to start making their way towards the cafeteria.
“I joined the International club.” Kihyun says, mostly to break the ice. But, he thinks Hyunwoo might like to know too.
“Oh. Cool. Now you can make new types of food.”
Kihyun huffs out a laugh. “I should start charging you for that food.”
Hyunwoo smiles and shrugs. “Well, that’s not the only thing the club does,” Kihyun tells him. “Even though it is a big part of it. I’ve learned a lot already about really cool things. The club works with global charities to do fundraising and organizing rallies and even does museum field trips.”
Hyunwoo nods along. “I’m glad. It seems like a lot of fun. I was worried you’d be more concerned with what looks good on a college app.”
Kihyun stops and Hyunwoo stops as well. He tilts his head in confusion as a cue that Hyunwoo should elaborate.
“I thought you’d be joining Debate, or Student Government, or the Mathletes, just because they’d look good on your resume. Not because you’d really want to join. I guess you could still join those if you want to.”
Kihyun understands because those clubs were on his list but talking to Minhyuk and Jooheon, who are doing extracurriculars they love, has steered Kihyun towards another path. And it’s good to hear his own thoughts reflected back to him.
“I mean, I might run for president or VP next year, but yea, I picked this because I really wanted to actually enjoy time away from studies.”
“Good, I wouldn’t want you to have more stress than you already have. I like that you stress-bake, but you’re not as cute when you’re yelling at me about grabbing the wrong measuring cup,” Hyunwoo says as he walks ahead to open the doors to the cafeteria for them, leaving Kihyun flabbergasted. Kihyun runs after him and almost gets the doors in his face when Hyunwoo lets go, only to grab them at the last minute before they hit Kihyun. Kihyun forgets what they were talking about as his fists strike their target that is Hyunwoo’s back.
It’s a few days later when he has to find Hyunwoo. Minhyuk has asked him to pass Hyunwoo a book that Minhyuk had somehow forgotten to put back in its place after using it. Knowing Minhyuk, he probably used it as a coaster and didn’t put it back in its place.
Kihyun has only ever been to the pool for meets when Hyunwoo competes. It’s interesting to see the area with fewer people but the sounds only decreases a little from competition days.
“You look lost,” a cheerful voice greets Kihyun. He turns towards the source to see a guy slightly taller than him with a blinding smile. The guy has a towel around his neck and nothing else but his speedo. He’s soaking wet and his muscles are glistening on his body and Kihyun stutters as he tries to answer him.
“Urm, I-I’m looking for Hyunwoo.”
“You’re Kihyun, right?” The guy asks and Kihyun blinks confusedly because he’s never met him.
“Hyunwoo’s told me a lot about you. I’m Hoseok,” the guy extends a hand for Kihyun to shake. Before Kihyun can even ask why Hyunwoo’s told him anything at all about Kihyun, a loud thwap resounds as the guy crumples in pain and Hyunwoo materializes between them.
“Coach’s asking for you,” Hyunwoo informs Hoseok. He and Hoseok, then, proceeds to have an entire conversation with their facial expressions alone and a lot of clenched teeth from Hyunwoo’s part and a lot of waggling eyebrows from Hoseok’s part. But eventually, Hoseok throws up his hands.
“Aye-Aye, Cap’n. Bye Kihyun, come to our practice more often!” Hoseok runs off and almost brains himself as he skids to a stop. He turns back towards them to give a thumbs-up before continuing towards the coach.
Kihyun’s not sure what exactly happened and he’s not sure if he wants to know either.
“You’re ok?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. I just wanted to drop off your textbook Minhyuk misplaced.” Kihyun hands over the book to Hyunwoo and realizes, that Hyunwoo can’t exactly accept it here and now because he doesn’t have his bag with him. But more importantly, just like Hoseok, he’s only wearing his swim trunks-which, at least, covers a lot more-but he doesn’t have a towel around his neck and Kihyun’s seen Hyunwoo like this plenty of times but were his shoulders always this developed? He’s pretty sure his pecs and abs weren’t this defined when Kihyun’s last seen him.
“-for a bit longer? I can take it after practice, I won’t need it for the rest of the day anyway.”
“Huh?” Kihyun only catches the last of Hyunwoo’s sentence as his brain is still stuck on Hyunwoo’s body.
Hyunwoo frowns, “I was asking if you can keep the book with you for now?”
“Oh! Yes, sure! Wait, actually, I’m not gonna be at yours today,” Minhyuk’s on a date with Jooheon, even though he denies it’s a date, it’s totally a date.
“Oh-,” whatever Hyunwoo’s about to say is cut off the bellowing call of his name by his coach. “I have to go back,” Hyunwoo says sheepishly.
“You can come over and get it!” Kihyun offers hurriedly.
Hyunwoo gives him a small smile. “Thanks, then, I’ll come by soon,” he waves to Kihyun and walks away. Hoseok waves him goodbye as well from the pool and gets splashed by Hyunwoo immediately afterward.
Kihyun wonders if the awkwardness that’s been persisting between him and Hyunwoo is a result of them being increasingly nicer to each other. But that doesn’t explain the frantic beating of his heart when he looks at Hyunwoo lately, or the expectant feeling he’s starting to associate with their encounters.
Whatever it is, he’s reluctant to let Hyunwoo know and he’s sure he doesn’t want to let Minhyuk know at all.
Kihyun’s arms deep in the Oreo and cream cheese dough when the doorbell rings about an hour after he’s left the pool. He shouts a “coming!” And hurriedly wipes his hands as best he can before running to the door. He opens it to find Hyunwoo, looking freshly showered and smelling really good.
“Hey,” Hyunwoo greets him.
“Hi,” Kihyun replies in turn and for the next few seconds, they both look at each other with no other words being spoken and Kihyun thinks that probably should be weird as hell, normally.
“My book?” Hyunwoo asks and Kihyun finally remembers that there actually was a reason for Hyunwoo showing up.
“Right! Come in!” He grimaces at his enthusiasm behind Hyunwoo as Hyunwoo makes his way into the house.
“It’s in the kitchen,” Kihyun points and walks towards the kitchen. Hyunwoo’s footsteps follow him. He picks up the book from the table by the breakfast nook with careful hands so he doesn’t leave any smudges.
“Thanks for holding onto it.” Hyunwoo says as he puts the book into his bag.
“No problem.”
And, they’re back to staring at each other and not saying anything. Kihyun shuffles his feet as he looks down and wishes he had put on anything other than a raggedy sweatshirt.
“Are you making something?” Hyunwoo’s question breaks his inner monologue about his wardrobe choices.
“Yes! Urm, i wanted to try making truffles. It’s supposed to be super easy but mom misplaced the food processsor so I’ve been trying to crush the Oreos by hand and it’s not going that great.”
“I can help,” Hyunwoo offers tentatively and Kihyun would be a fool not to take him up on that offer.
Within minutes, Hyunwoo has changed his shoes and put on slippers. He’s washed his hands thoroughly and is prepared to pound cookie crumbs into fine dust before Kihyun remembers to get him an apron. Hyunwoo asks him to tie it for him and Kihyun spends a few minutes after that trying to get his breathing back to normal levels.
Then, it goes haywire again when Hyunwoo starts demonstrating that he’s definitely earned those muscles on his biceps as he finishes what would have taken Kihyun another thirty minutes at least. He offers to knead the cookie and cream cheese mixture as well and it would be rude for Kihyun to refuse.
Hyunwoo uses those arms of his well and pretty soon, the mixture is at a consistency Kihyun’s satisfied with. Hyunwoo dabs a huge dollop of it with his index finger and almost takes a taste of it before Kihyun catches his hand.
“That’s unsanitary!” Kihyun hisses, both of his hands holding Hyunwoo’s right hand.
Hyunwoo rolls his eyes. “I’m not gonna put my finger back in the bowl. But, if you’re that worried, here.”
Kihyun is too slow to catch Hyunwoo’s hand this time, which swipes his nose, and leaves the dough on the tip of it. Kihyun goes a little cross-eyed trying to look at it as Hyunwoo breaks out into laughter. And, well, if a mini food fight ensues afterwards with Kihyun and Hyunwoo both trying to leave smudges on each other’s faces with the truffle mixture, Kihyun is not to blame.
He gets Hyunwoo on his chin and on Hyunwoo’s shirts more than his face because, height. But from the stickiness he’s feeling, he’s pretty sure his face took the brunt of it. For once, Kihyun isn’t retaliating in anger. In fact, he and Hyunwoo have been laughing and gasping in mock anger when one lands a hit on the other. Hyunwoo would have the upper hand but Kihyun fights dirty by tickling Hyunwoo when Hyunwoo tries to block him. Kihyun has to stop them when he looks at the bowl and sees that only half of it remains.
“Wait, Wait,” Kihyun wheezes. “We need to leave at least some of it to actually make the truffles.”
Hyunwoo has one arm wrapped tightly around Kihyun and the other is attempting to put at least three truffles amount of dough onto Kihyun’s face. Kihyun can’t exactly move, nestled into Hyunwoo’s hold with what he feels like Hyunwoo’s whole body wrapping around his.
“Give up?” Hyunwoo asks, as he’s behind Kihyun, however, and with how close they are, it feels as though he’s whispering directly into Kihyun’s ear.
Kihyun fights a shiver. “Never.”
Hyunwoo’s hold tighten around him. “I’ve got you, literally.” Even without seeing his face, Kihyun can hear Hyunwoo’s laughter in his words.
“I was making them for you, but I can just eat them all.”
“You were making them for me?” Hyunwoo asks and Kihyun’s too busy freaking out at the accidental admission that he doesn’t register Hyunwoo rubbing his thumb across the hand Kihyun has extended to stop Hyunwoo.
“For Minhyuk and Jooheon too!” Kihyun sputters. “I was going to bring it to school tomorrow.”
“Hmm, in that case, I’ll admit defeat,” Hyunwoo lets him go, but spins him around with one arm so they’re facing each other.
Kihyun grins, “ha! I knew withholding food from you would do it.”
Hyunwoo licks his finger clean and Kihyun blinks rapidly at that. “Or, maybe, I’m just letting you win for once,” Hyunwoo smirks.
Kihyun scoffs, “yea, yea, whatever.” Kihyun starts to walk towards where the paper towels are to wipe his face but Hyunwoo catches his wrist. “Wha-“
“Just, here,” Hyunwoo pulls Kihyun closer and one of his hands slowly reaches out towards Kihyun’s face. Kihyun’s heart rate goes to 100, again, as Hyunwoo closes the distance between them, not breaking his gaze from Kihyun’s own. Hyunwoo gently touches the spot right above Kihyun’s lips. “There.”
“Thanks,” Kihyun says, definitely not breathily.
Hyunwoo only hums in response and Kihyun’s latent survival instincts come back online. He fishes out his phone from his pocket and opens the camera app to find that instead of wiping off the dough like Kihyun thought he was doing, Hyunwoo had drawn a mustache on him instead.
“Son Hyunwoo!!!!” Hyunwoo runs away in laughter as Kihyun’s shorter legs take off after him.
Because Kihyun is a nice person, he brings the truffles to school the next day and texts Hyunwoo to come get them. He’s expecting the immediate confirmation reply from Hyunwoo but what he doesn’t expect is the follow up text that asks him to meet Hyunwoo at the parking lot during lunch. He replies back with a question mark and gets a “just come” and he can imagine Hyunwoo rolling his eyes. Kihyun smiles to himself at the thought.
By the time he finds Hyunwoo’s Toyota hybrid in the parking lot, Hyunwoo’s already there, leaning against the car door with his arms folded. He’s only wearing a light jacket and a pair of dark denims but he looks like he’s posing for a magazine cover.
Apparently, Kihyun isn’t the only one who thinks so. Kihyun overhears a pair of students passing by and making comments about how good looking Hyunwoo is, urging each other to go talk to him. Kihyun quickens his strides in case they do end up reaching Hyunwoo and cutting into Kihyun’s lunch break.
“Hi,” he greets Hyunwoo and since Hyunwoo has a couple of inches on him, he has to look up and immediately regrets that decision when the midday sun blares into his eyes. He squints his eyes, pouting at his growth spurt that hasn’t hit yet-he’s positive it’s coming, there’s no way he’s staying this height forever, for one thing, Hyunwoo will literally be towering over him forever if he is.
He brings a hand at his eyebrows level to shade his eyes from the sun. Hyunwoo’s smiling at him when Kihyun can see again.
“What?” Kihyun asks suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Hyunwoo shakes his head. He turns and opens the door to the driver’s seat. “Get in,” he nods towards the car.
“You do know we only have fifty minutes for lunch, right?”
Hyunwoo heaves a heavy sigh like Kihyun’s the one being unreasonable. “We’re not going far. And I’m treating you. Or would you rather go back to the cafeteria and eat chili joes.”
Kihyun walks around to the passenger side at that, shuddering a little at today’s menu the school kindly offers.
True to his word, Hyunwoo stops the car after five minutes. Hyunwoo leads the way after parking, and Kihyun lights up when he sees its a shop specializing in fries.
Hyunwoo opens the door for him and Kihyun actually utters a wahh at the menu. They got all kinds of fries and sauces to pair with the fries. He’s still taking in everything when Hyunwoo goes up to the counter. Kihyun steps up next to him and greets the cashier.
“One large waffle fries with gravy and one medium hand cut fries with vanilla shake.” Hyunwoo orders and Kihyun’s a little surprised that Hyunwoo remembers that he loves dipping his fries in milkshakes. But, he’s been out with Hyunwoo and Minhyuk a lot that he shouldn’t be surprised.
“Can you go find seats for us?” Hyunwoo asks. Kihyun nods and bounces away to find two seats that are facing the windows by a corner.
Hyunwoo comes back with their orders on a tray. He sets their food down and Kihyun notices there’s two straws in his milkshake.
“Bold of you to assume I’ll share with you.”
Hyunwoo scoffs with a smile, “like you ever finish the whole thing. Besides, it was the cashier that put two straws in.”
Kihyun furrows his eyebrows. Hyunwoo, to his amazement, seems to blush. “She probably thought we’re a couple. This place is new but it’s been really popular for dates, a lot of my teammates come here with their girlfriends, or boyfriend.”
Now, it’s Kihyun’s turn to blush. He and Hyunwoo avoid meeting gazes and Kihyun picks up a couple of fries, just to occupy himself. He’s not going to go down this route of why Hyunwoo’s taken him to, what is apparently, a date spot.
But, this does bring up a question that has been in the back of his head for so long and has only made Kihyun more interested since Hyunwoo had offered to take him to the dance. He debates whether he should even bring it up because it’s none of his business. But, he’s also been dying to know.
“Why did you break up with Rachel?” Hyunwoo pauses from putting another piece of waffle fries to his mouth. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Actually, just forget I said anything.” Kihyun takes a sip of his milkshake and hopes Hyunwoo wouldn’t be upset.
“No, it’s ok.” Hyunwoo gives him a soft smile and Kihyun turns fully towards him to hear what is to follow.
“We ended on good terms, we still text each other on updates once in a while. There was no bad drama or anything.”
“That’s not surprising. You two always seemed to match well,” Kihyun says and it is true, but admitting that was like swallowing grape-flavored cough syrup, unpleasant from start to finish.
“Yea, and that’s part of why. I asked her out because everyone was telling me we would look good together and I guess we did match well to some extent. I liked her enough to ask her out and she liked me enough to say yes and we didn’t really have any problems at all when we were together. But, I realized, at some point, that I just didn’t feel strongly about her and we were still together only because we were used to being together.”
“That’s kind of a dick move,” Kihyun says automatically. Hyunwoo actually laughs out loud.
“Yea, probably,” Hyunwoo nods. “But, she felt the same too. She told me she was relieved, because she didn’t know how to bring it up.”
Kihyun’s eyes widen in surprise. “Yea, she told me she actually met someone. And they’re together now. I’ve actually met her new girlfriend already.”
Kihyun huffs out a laugh in surprise. “That was fast, and I thought you guys didn’t have any drama.”
Hyunwoo shakes his head. “It’s good, they’re great together, not the way Rachel and I were,” Hyunwoo adds. “There’s a change in her that I never got to see when were together. She’s just, a lot, brighter? Now. And I get it. I think she’s just found someone who’s actually right for her, rather than just looking the part.”
Hyunwoo goes back to his food. Kihyun thinks about what Hyunwoo has said, not even batting an eyelash at Hyunwoo taking a sip of his shake. He’s always thought that Hyunwoo and Rachel complemented each other- physically. He doesn’t know if he’s ever thought that they were perfect for each other, even though everyone around them certainly thought so, as Hyunwoo had stated. Minhyuk and Hyunwoo’s parents loved Rachel. And from what he’s heard, Rachel’s parents loved Hyunwoo too. But, for whatever reason-perhaps due to the fact that he’s not actually part of their family-he never was like that toward her. He certainly liked her, as a person, but he’s never looked at her with stars in his eyes like everyone else. Well, everyone else, except Hyunwoo, apparently.
“What kind of person did she find, then?” Kihyun asks. “What kind of person fits her?” Kihyun elaborates at Hyunwoo’s prompting gesture.
Hyunwoo takes a moment before he speaks. “I think it’s different for everyone. I wouldn’t really know for sure.”
Kihyun nods, because that’s reasonable. “Then, what about you?”
That question, however, he’s pretty sure it’s not that reasonable to ask.
Hyunwoo doesn’t seem to think so because he answers, first, with a smile that Kihyun has gotten increasingly used to seeing these days. It’s the opposite of his mocking one and it’s not his shy one either, or the exasperated he usually has around Minhyuk. Whichever category it falls into, Kihyun thinks it’s his best one.
“For me, it’s the type of person my mind drifts to when it’s not occupied with anything else. It’s the type of person that makes me feel lighter just by seeing them. It’s the type of person who can make me smile doing the simplest thing. It’s the type of person who makes me selfish because I want to always have their attention even if that means I might be annoying them. The type of person that makes me selfless too, because I want to see them be happy even if it means I won’t be.”
Hyunwoo pauses to take a breath and Kihyun feels like he’s the one who’s been holding his in.
“They’re the type of person whose everything I find cute and who is as kind as he’s beautiful.”
It’s happening again. His heart’s thumping against his chest he listens to Hyunwoo’s words and feels Hyunwoo’s piercing eyes boring into Kihyun’s own.
“Have-have you found that person yet?”
Hyunwoo starts to speak and that’s when Kihyun’s phone goes off. Kihyun jumps and almost falls off the stool but Hyunwoo catches him in time. He looks at his phone and remembers that he set the timer so they have enough time to go back; he’s never been so annoyed with himself.
“I guess we should go back.” Hyunwoo says as he starts gathering their things. For once, Kihyun wouldn’t mind being late but he decides to keep that thought to himself.
The car ride back and the walk to his next class is silent with anticipation. Whereas, the anticipation on the way to lunch was because Kihyun wanted to know where they were going to get food, this feeling is more akin to reaching the top of the rollercoaster right before the first drop. Hyunwoo walks him to class and only says goodbye before leaving Kihyun. He finds that concentrating on lessons is an almost impossible task the rest of that day.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around that much lately,” Minhyuk holds out his Neapolitan ice cream cone out for Kihyun to taste. Kihyun pauses to properly eat the ice cream so that he gets all three flavors.
“It’s ok, you’ve been busy with your boyfriend.”
When Minhyuk makes no moves to protest and just smiles at the ground, Kihyun gasps.
“Really? Oh my god, why didn’t you tell me, asshole,” he pushes Minhyuk’s shoulder and they both have a mini heart attack when Minhyuk almost loses the grip he has on the ice cream.
“I’m telling you now,” Minhyuk tsks.
“When did it happen? Where?? How???”
“You know how the other day, I said I was going to the park with Jooheon?”
Kihyun nods and Minhyuk continues.
“Well, he was waiting for me with an Oreo milkshake when I got there and then he asked,” Minhyuk stops by the side of the road and looks down to his shoes, cheeks pinking as he speaks.
Kihyun makes sure both of their ice creams are out of the way before he brings Minhyuk into a one-arm hug.
“I’m so happy for you.”
Minhyuk giggles. “Thanks. And I promise, I will make more time for us to hang out. Maybe, you can also come out with me and Jooheon.”
Kihyun scrunches his nose at the suggestion. “Don’t worry about that, I believe you. I wouldn’t want to third wheel you guys, trust me.”
Minhyuk resumes walking and Kihyun follows. “Hmm, maybe you can bring Hyunwoo along, then, there’ll be an even number.”
Kihyun stops in his tracks and laughs nervously before replying, “why-why would I want to-to bring Hyunwoo.”
“I don’t know, you guys have been hanging out a lot lately. I see you guys together all the time,” Minhyuk shrugs.
“He’s just annoying me like usual.” That’s not true, not at all, and Kihyun isn’t entirely sure why he feels the need to lie to Minhyuk about why his best friend has been hanging out with his step-brother. This is pretty much what everyone, including Minhyuk, have been wanting since that first time Kihyun met Hyunwoo back in fourth grade and Hyunwoo got an armful of Kihyun’s teeth when he knowingly ate Kihyun’s cookies and rumpled his hair.
“That’s too bad,” Minhyuk says and if Kihyun wasn’t too busy freaking out internally, he would’ve been suspicious that Minhyuk dropped it so easily.
They walk for a couple more steps and soon, Kihyun can see his street coming into view. He’s only meant to say bye to Minhyuk and thank him for the treat but what comes out of his mouth surprises both of them.
“How did you know you like Jooheon that much?”
Minhyuk blinks but breaks out into a shy smile afterwards. “It’s a little hard to put into words. At first, I was just attracted to him because he’s so outgoing and friendly, you know?” Kihyun nods, Jooheon is a ray of sunshine from what he’s seen. “But then, we started talking and it was just so easy to talk to him and, anyways,” Minhyuk blows a breath to get his bangs out of his eyes. “He makes me look forward to the next time I’ll talk to him? And whenever his attention is solely on me, well,” Minhyuk shuffles his feet, that shy smile is back now, “it makes my heart goes,” he gently bumps his heart twice with his fist.
Kihyun thinks about Minhyuk’s words. Some of these feelings, hasn’t he been going through the same things lately? But that makes no sense, because they’re caused by Hyunwoo, the person he’s declared his arch-nemesis when he’s learned that word in sixth grade. Maybe he’s just mixing things up because Hyunwoo and he has never been this civil for this long.
“Why, Kihyun, is there someone making you feel that way too?”
“Huh? What, no!” Kihyun scoffs and tries to laugh but it comes out shaky and Kihyun swallows nervously.
Minhyuk hums, “I’m just saying, and not because I want us to go on double dates, but if there is, you shouldn’t be so stubborn about it and maybe let it happen.”
Kihyun scoffs for real. “I’m not being stubborn about it.”
“So, there is someone!” Minhyuk gasps.
Kihyun shakes his head vehemently. “No, that is not what I meant!”
Minhyuk’s about to say something in response when his phone goes off. He answers it right away, and only then, Kihyun realizes they’re almost at his doorstep. Good, he can get out of this easily now.
“Sup? I’m with Kihyun,” Kihyun narrows his eyes at who Minhyuk’s talking to. “Yes, I did it before I left,” Minhyuk rolls his eyes. “Honestly, you could’ve texted me that.” Minhyuk pauses to let the other person speak. “No, he’s not. Well, because we’re literally standing in front of his house that he’s about to go into.” Kihyun wides his eyes in surprise because Minhyuk and whoever he’s on the phone is talking about him. Which means, it’s most likely Hyunwoo that Minhyuk’s talking to. Kihyun straightens and tries to dust off his shirt before realizing that Hyunwoo can’t see him. “Why don’t you just text him, or call him, if that’s the case.” Kihyun’s eyes open wider and he almost takes out his phone to check before realizing that Hyunwoo’s still on the call with Minhyuk. “Ok, I’ll be home soon, you weirdo. Love you.” Minhyuk hangs up. Kihyun’s torn between wanting to run into the house to wait for Hyunwoo to text him, or call him, and also, just staying right here with his best friend because that seems like the safer route right now.
“That was Hyunwoo?” Kihyun asks
“Yea, he asked if you were coming over for dinner because he had something to say. And then tells me he forgot what it was,” Minhyuk shakes his head. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know what Hyunwoo wants to tell you.”
“He’s probably going to bug me for food again.”
“Mmhmm, maybe. Ok, good night,” Minhyuk hugs him goodbye and leaves. But he keeps turning around every three seconds to wave at Kihyun and Kihyun has to fight the urge to just slam the door and race up the stairs immediately. It’s only when Minhyuk’s far enough away that Kihyun does exactly just that. He almost trips on the staircase and waves his mom’s worried questions away.
Hyunwoo ends up calling right as Kihyun sits down on the bed. And Kihyun’s right, Hyunwoo starts by asking him what recipes he’s learned from the club and Kihyun tells him that he’s not his personal chef and one topic leads to another and before he knows it, he’s been on the phone with Hyunwoo for almost an hour and it’s only when his mom knocks on the door to tell him that dinner’s ready, he reluctantly ends the conversation with Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo keeps texting him, to send outdated memes, and Kihyun gets called out twice by his parents for being glued to his phone until he reluctantly has to put it down.
When the day of the dance comes, Kihyun has had some time for introspection. He knows that his and Hyunwoo’s relationship has changed somewhere along the way in the past couple of weeks. And he’s all for that change, but admitting that means he has to recognize how he feels for Hyunwoo. He thinks there’s a chance Hyunwoo might, maybe, perhaps, feel the same way about him.
It doesn’t mean he’s ready to say any of this out loud. It’s daunting, and Kihyun has never thought of himself as lacking in courage-hard to be when you’re Lee Minhyuk’s best friend-but he doesn’t know if he will ever be able to say anything to Hyunwoo anytime soon. He’s half-hoping that Hyunwoo will bring it up and also half-dreading that Hyunwoo will bring it up. Because if it is brought up, it’s going to change them. And it might change for the better, but, they’re still in high school and Kihyun knows the statistics for high school sweethearts and those statistics do not look good. What if they break up and it makes everything awkward for everyone. His friendship with Minhyuk will survive, of that, Kihyun’s 98% sure. But what if he never has Hyunwoo in his life anymore.
It is with these thoughts plaguing him that he arrives at the Lee-Son household. His parents have dropped him off, as have Jooheon’s parents. They greet each other on the front lawn. Jooheon compliments Kihyun, making Kihyun blush. He can see how Minhyuk would have fallen for him. Kihyun compliments Jooheon’s double breasted button-up shirt as Jooheon rings the doorbell.
Auntie opens the door and kisses them both on the cheeks with loud exclamations of how handsome they are as she shuffles them inside. Minhyuk comes downstairs to the foyer as Kihyun and Jooheon are taking off their shoes. Auntie and Kihyun shares a knowing smile behind Jooheon’s back, who has frozen up at the sight of Minhyuk all dolled up. They make their way to the living room, leaving the couple by themselves. Auntie flutters away to grab her phone from the kitchen to take pictures and Kihyun plays on his as he waits for everyone.
“You look nice.”
Kihyun has heard footsteps but he’s still startled at the sight of Hyunwoo. He’s wearing a fitted black suit with a skinny tie, showing off all his best features. His hair seems extra fluffy and as he runs a hand through it, Kihyun wonders if Minhyuk’s gotten his hands on it. He finally notices, after staring longer than completely necessary, that Hyunwoo’s button-up shirt is the exact color of Kihyun’s pullover. Kihyun knows that he’s never told Hyunwoo what he’s going to wear.
Everyone comes into the living room before Kihyun can ask. He and Hyunwoo immediately gets pulled into taking pictures. The four of them take some pictures before he and Hyunwoo step off to the side for Jooheon and Minhyuk to take pictures. He thought they’d be making their way to the car but Minhyuk pulls him back so that he can take pictures of Kihyun and Hyunwoo. They stand with some space between them at first, but Minhyuk sighs exasperatedly and tells them they’re supposed to be each other’s dates so can they look like that. Kihyun’s about to retort but Hyunwoo pulls him closer by the waist and his heart’s beating too fast to say anything else after that.
Kihyun ends up sitting in the passenger seat since Minhyuk and Jooheon are sitting together in the back. He perks up when Hyunwoo puts an arm around his headrest as he’s pulling out of the driveway and rolls his eyes at himself, internally, of course. Jooheon and Minhyuk keep the conversation going in the car and Kihyun smiles to himself at Jooheon’s awe over Hyunwoo as Minhyuk and Kihyun recounts his competitions.
When they arrive, Kihyun pulls Minhyuk aside quickly.
“Your boyfriend might dump you for your brother,” Kihyun teases.
Minhyuk smacks him, lightly, on his stomach.
“You know, Hyunwoo actually bribed me with chores to know what you were going to be wearing. I would’ve just told him since I didn’t think it was that big of a deal to either of you, but apparently, I was wrong.”
Minhyuk leaves him with that Kihyun finds that he has nothing to reply with. Hyunwoo appears next to him and gives Kihyun his arm and Kihyun decides that at least for tonight, he won’t worry about anything and just enjoy the dance. He hooks his hand around Hyunwoo’s arm as they make their way to the gym.
The four of them have been pretty good with staying together. Even though Hyunwoo’s teammates keep coming up to him to drag him with them-Hoseok greets them with a smirk and Kihyun might finally be cluing in as to what exactly he’s smirking about-but Hyunwoo either doesn’t go with them, or comes back pretty quickly. He and Minhyuk dance together for two songs-while Hyunwoo’s with his friends-but Kihyun takes a break so that Jooheon can cut in. Hyunwoo keeps him company while they get food and drinks.
Hyunwoo’s still chewing on the crackers when Jooheon and Minhyuk both drag them to the dance floor, yelling at them to dance.
Hyunwoo looks like a deer caught in the headlights and Kihyun’s pretty sure he’s sporting an identical look. But then, Hyunwoo takes his hand and Kihyun giddily follows him as they start dancing. Kihyun’s not the greatest dancer ever, but he thinks he can hold his own. Hyunwoo, on the other hand, might take the title of the greatest dancer ever, at least on this dance floor. He doesn’t have time to get intimidated because Hyunwoo starts pulling out moves like the light bulb switch and the sprinkler and Kihyun’s laughing too hard to care about dancing. Which was probably Hyunwoo’s intentions. The current song ends and Kihyun signals for them to break because he’s pretty sure Hyunwoo’s stomach is growling in protest by now. But the next song that comes on is for a slow dance and Hyunwoo surprises him by holding out a hand.
“May I?”
Kihyun’s too surprised to actually reply so, Hyunwoo continues. “You can lead, if you’re more used to it.”
“I’m not really used to either, at all,” Kihyun admits.
“You can just follow my lead,” Hyunwoo offers. Kihyun takes too long to decide because Hyunwoo grimaces. “We don’t have to.”
“Wait,” Kihyun puts a hand on the outstretched one Hyunwoo has. “I’m really sorry for how many times I’m going to step on you.”
Hyunwoo laughs, loud and bright. Kihyun doesn’t know if it’s possible anymore to just forget about his feelings for Hyunwoo.
He does step on Hyunwoo, in the beginning. But by the song’s end, Kihyun has the hang of it, which is a testament to Hyunwoo’s skill in teaching than it is to Kihyun’s own ability. The next song is also another RnB song and neither of them make any move to pull away. In fact, Hyunwoo pulls Kihyun closer with the hand that’s on Kihyun’s waist. Kihyun curls his hands into Hyunwoo’s suit jacket. Hyunwoo doesn’t take his eyes off Kihyun and Kihyun doesn’t want him to either. He knows the dangers of completely letting go. But as Hyunwoo slowly leans down, Kihyun closes his eyes and nothing else registers except Hyunwoo, in this moment, holding him close.
The music chooses then, to change to a fast-paced dance song again. Kihyun pushes Hyunwoo away in shock. Hyunwoo’s face falls and before Kihyun can say anything, Minhyuk comes in between them.
“Hey, Jooheon’s mom is going to pick us up because his friends want to go to the diner around here. Can you take Kihyun back?” Minhyuk asks Hyunwoo, who just nods at him dumbfoundedly. “Great! See you guys!”
Hyunwoo leads Kihyun wordlessly to the parking lot. It’s a tense five minutes to the car and another ten minutes drive. Kihyun doesn’t know how to fix it. He doesn’t even know where to start. In all the scenarios he had thought of, he hasn’t factored into Hyunwoo’s reaction being like this. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but Hyunwoo beats him to it.
“I’m sorry. If I made you uncomfortable back there.”
And, well, suffice to say, Kihyun doesn’t expect those to be Hyunwoo’s first words.
“No! No, you didn’t. It was me-I..I just got surprised by the sudden change in music.”
“Oh. Ok,” Hyunwoo says and Kihyun’s not sure it really is ok. And, because his mouth wants to keep up the pattern of being ahead of his brain, he blurts out the truth.
“I like you.”
Hyunwoo’s right hand slips on the wheel and the car swerves wildy onto the next lane. Thankfully, there isn’t a car next to them but the car behind them, rightfully, honks at them as it passes.
“Sorry?” Hyunwoo looks at him for just the hundredth of a second before he averts his eyes to focus on the road again.
Kihyun closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he’s exhaled, it’s with a new found determination.
“I like you. I don’t know when it happened but I’ve only noticed it recently. And the truth is, I’ve been in denial because it’s scary. You’re you, and I’m me, and we’ve known each other more than half of my life. At first, it was just because I couldn’t believe it’d be you. You who used to tease me every single time you saw me- which was a lot-and who I thought I had nothing in common with. But that’s not true, I’ve only realized that recently. But then, I was scared, because I haven’t felt this way about anybody before and what if it ends so badly that we can’t talk to each other anymore and I don’t know if I want to think of a future where we can’t talk to each other anymore.”
Kihyun takes another breath. Hyunwoo slows the car down until he’s come to a stop, killing the engine. Kihyun looks around and they’re almost at his house, the house they’re currently parked in front of is only a handful of streets down from his.
“Kihyun,” Hyunwoo starts. Then stops as if he’s gathering his thoughts. Kihyun wishes his mouth would get that memo. “I understand. I do. When I first realized my feelings about you, I was worried, too. About some of the same things, but also others, like how Minhyuk would take it.”
Ahh, that. Yes, Kihyun might have thought about that part too, but he didn’t fixate on it only because he thought they would never get to the point where they would have to tell Minhyuk.
“But, couldn’t this also end for the better? If I hadn’t talked to Rachel, we might still be continuing to be with each other out of a sense of comfort, rather than actually wanting to be with each other. And if you didn’t take a chance to actually try something not strictly academically related, you might not have found something you really like with the International club. Neither of us knows how these decisions would have come out when we made them. Why can’t we take a chance on us too?”
When he puts it that way, it does sound quite logical, but, Hyunwoo must read the uncertainty still lingering on his face because he takes Kihyun’s hands in his and turns completely towards Kihyun.
“I’m not just saying this for myself. But, Kihyun, do you really believe that even if it did end up not working out between us, we wouldn’t be in each other’s lives anymore? You’ve been trying to get rid of me since you were nine,” Hyunwoo laughs and Kihyun can’t help his laughter either.
“Would you give me a chance?”
It’s a good thing Kihyun’s seated because the sincerity in Hyunwoo’s entire being and his vulnerable question takes Kihyun’s breath away-and he should be getting used to it by now with how many times it has happened in this past month but he hopes that he doesn’t, at least not for a long while because as scary as it is to be taking that plunge, just like going on a rollercoaster, Kihyun would do it all over again.
He nods, with a watery smile, and Hyunwoo’s face breaks out into the biggest smile Kihyun has ever seen. And he’s definitely not letting Minhyuk know this because Minhyuk will only tease him back in kind for all the times Kihyun has teased him when Minhyuk was like this about Jooheon.
Hyunwoo chases away all of those thoughts as he leans in closer until Kihyun closes his eyes. He feels the light brush on his lips and finally lets go of all the stress and the worries he’s been carrying with him these past few days. Hyunwoo smiles against the kiss and presses in deeper. He angles his head and traces the seams of Kihyun’s lips. He doesn’t know if it’s the high of the situation but if Hyunwoo’s kisses can make him feel this light, he thinks he might get addicted to them.
They probably would’ve graduated to full-on making out-even with the shift digging into both of their thighs between them-but the porch light comes on and Kihyun realizes that they’re parked in front of a stranger’s house, kissing.
He pulls back and opens his eyes to see Hyunwoo’s smile still hasn’t gotten any less brighter. Hyunwoo reaches out a hand to caress Kihyun’s face and Kihyun leans into the touch before he pulls back to sit properly in his seat.
“We should go,” he says, even though what he’d really like to do is keep kissing Hyunwoo.
“Right. I should bring you back home.” Hyunwoo nods and also sits back properly. He attaches his seatbelt-Kihyun does the same as well-before he starts the car and makes his way to Kihyun’s.
“Wait,” Kihyun says as they reach his house. He’s pretty sure he’s been smiling like a loon the whole way.
Hyunwoo offers a questioning hum.
“You never said you like me back.” It’s pretty obvious that Hyunwoo does, in fact, like him that way. But he would like to hear it all the same.
“Hmm, I guess I like you enough, Kiki.”
Hyunwoo gets a smack on the arm for that.
“If you think you get to still tease me just because you’re my boyfriend, this is going to be the shortest relationship you’ve ever had,” Kihyun huffs.
“Boyfriend?”
Kihyun freezes. “Urm,” he says intelligently.
“If that is the trade off, then I guess I have no choice,” Hyunwoo sighs and Kihyun narrows his eyes at him.
Hyunwoo undoes his seatbelt and inches closer to undoes Kihyun’s as well. Hyunwoo kisses Kihyun’s cheek, making Kihyun unable to keep glaring at him and also has him almost giggling out loud. “I like you, so much that I don’t know where to even start to tell you.” With that, he tilts his head and takes Kihyun’s face in his hands before kissing Kihyun again. And again, and again, and probably another time but a knock on the door makes them both jump away. Kihyun peeks through the glass door to see his mom, standing with arms crossed and a knowing smirk on her face. Right, his parents have probably been waiting for them. He turns to look at Hyunwoo, who only shrugs and squeezes his hands before he opens the door and well, this is a night of being brave, anyway.