Work Text:
It’s not often Seungyoun finds someone he’s interested in at parties. Hooking up is never on his mind these days, contrary to most of his friends. His plan always strictly consists of:
- Find as many of his friends as he can.
- Drink too much.
- Make some more friends with the extra confidence and enthusiasm the alcohol has given him.
- Embarrass himself enough to end up on someone’s instagram story which he’ll only find out about 2 days later when his hangover has finally eased enough to look at his phone screen without feeling like his head is going to explode.
But on this particular Friday night, only on step 1 of his plan (so he can’t blame his feelings on the alcohol), a boy sitting on a stool on the opposite side of the room catches his attention—and really catches his attention, so much that Seungyoun does a double take to check that he didn’t just imagine probably the prettiest person he’s ever seen in his life.
The boy has both of his legs pulled up onto the stool, one arm around them to hold them up while the other holds the red cup. He’s watching his friends—Seungyoun assumes—play a game of beer pong in front of him, and as Seungyoun watches him (not in a creepy way, he swears), he notices that every time the boy laughs at one of them fucking up, he covers his mouth with his arm, as if out of habit. If Seungyoun pouts a little because he wants to see how the boy looks when he smiles, that’s nobody's business.
Still not lacking confidence even when sober, Seungyoun strolls over, dodging swaying bodies without letting his gaze fall away from the boy. The boy is in the middle of saying something to someone when he reaches him, but his sentence trails off when he notices Seungyoun take a seat in the empty stool next to him. The stranger turns to look at him, pretty lips slightly parted in question. Seungyoun audibly sucks in a breath sharply.
It’s not often he finds himself speechless—honestly, Seungyoun is never speechless. He holds conversations even in his sleep.
But what is he supposed to say when presented with the opportunity to talk to a literal god? Okay, maybe he’s being a little dramatic, but if this guy turned out to not be of this species, Seungyoun wouldn’t be shocked at all.
The boy’s lips purse in what seems like a small smile, doe eyes narrowing in amusement, and he lets his legs fall to the ground so he can swivel his entire body around to get a better view. Seungyoun coughs. He definitely noticed that breath intake.
“Hi?” The boy’s voice has a teasing edge to it, and Seungyoun can already feel himself slowly gain his confidence back—there’s no way he’s letting someone out-tease him.
(Though he’d gladly let this guy walk all over him, but whatever.)
Seungyoun releases the breath he’s been holding. “Hey,” He says, and it comes out way more confidently than he’d expected—he takes a moment to praise himself internally before continuing, “I’m Seungyoun. Cho Seungyoun.”
“Wooseok. Kim Wooseok,” There’s still an amused bite in his voice as he mirrors the way Seungyoun introduced himself, and it makes Seungyoun laugh, though he isn’t really sure why—it wasn’t that funny. But he’s so cute. Wooseok is so cute. Even his voice is cute, for some reason. “What brings you here, Seungyoun?”
Seungyoun eyes Wooseok’s face intently, searching for some sort of sign in his expression to help him decide which way he should go about this. He must’ve leaned in a little subconsciously, because Wooseok leans forward too, the corners of his lips raising higher as he tilts his head a little simultaneously. Seungyoun finds himself grinning at the gesture and pulls back.
Wooseok cuts him off before he’s thought of a suitable answer to his question. “You liked what you saw, right?”
Seungyoun’s eyebrows raise in surprise, but the grin on his face only gets bigger. Wooseok’s personality...it’s not what he expected just by looking at him, but right now, it feels like everything he could want. Though they’d only exchanged a few words, it feels like Wooseok is challenging him, even with his gaze alone.
God, those pretty eyes.
“Maybe,” Seungyoun challenges back. “Maybe not. Maybe I came here to tell you how terrible your outfit is.”
Wooseok stands up then, and though it isn’t the point he’s trying to make, Seungyoun can’t help but notice how much smaller the other is—even with Seungyoun sitting down, Wooseok only reaches the top of Seungyoun’s head. His frame is noticeably smaller too, delicate looking—so different to how his personality seems so far. Shit, that’s cute.
“Hey, my outfit is fine. You don’t like it?”
It takes everything in Seungyoun not to let his breath hitch again as he takes in the sight in front of him. He hadn’t noticed when he was sitting down, but Wooseok is wearing a black croptop—of all things, a croptop. It’s just slightly above his belly button, hanging loosely, but that’s all Seungyoun needs to feel his heart stop. To top it off, it looks like Wooseok had cut it himself out of a black button up, not messily, but like it was a last minute decision to go all out tonight but he didn’t own any croptops. Like he knew he was gonna meet Seungyoun tonight.
God, this guy is doing things to Seungyoun’s head. And he’s completely sober.
“I don’t like it,” Seungyoun spits out (and it takes him all of his strength to lie like that), not wanting to give in to Wooseok’s tempting. Wooseok’s expression drops. Seungyoun panics. “Ah—I was just kidding. I actually. I really love it. You look—”
“I know,” Wooseok says cheekily, but it’s so cute, Seungyoun can’t even be mad. “I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“Whatever,” Seungyoun says sulkily as Wooseok sits down again, taking a sip of his drink. “You do look good. Holy shit, is that glitter?”
“Yeah.” Wooseok deadpans.
The lighting is better now that Wooseok has sat down again, shining purples and oranges down onto his cheekbones that are lightly decorated with glitter. There’s a few bigger specks of glitter placed directly at the corners of his eyes, and it does more to Seungyoun than he’d like to admit.
“How old are you?”
“22.”
Seungyoun makes an enthusiastic “wahhhh”, famous amongst his friends for having a variety of (usually very loud) noises tucked away in his voice box for any occasion. “Me too! Almost. I’m 23. Where have you been all my life, pretty Wooseok?”
Wooseok rolls his eyes, and something about the action strangely makes Seungyoun decide he needs to kiss this boy. Now.
But Seungyoun can’t be sure the attraction is returned—sure, he thinks he’s pretty okay looking, and Wooseok doesn’t seem to hate talking to him, but there’s no guarantee he wants to kiss him too. And so, he settles for taking a sip of his drink instead.
“Seungyoun hyuuuung.”
Now, that was definitely not Wooseok’s voice. Compared to Wooseok’s voice, this voice is a nightmare.
“Oh no.” Seungyoun says, refusing to turn around and acknowledge the presence. Wooseok glances behind Seungyoun’s shoulder in confusion and then back at Seungyoun, tightens his lips like he’s trying not to laugh.
“Hyung,” And there (a very drunk) Hangyul stands, with a forceful hand on Seungyoun’s shoulder ripping him away from the sight of the man of his dreams. “Pleaaase come outside with me. I don’t feel great. I don’t feel good at all."
Seungyoun narrows his eyes at him. Any other time, he’d be more than willing to accompany one of his beloved friends to...wherever Hangyul wants to go. But right now, Seungyoun has more important things to do—like taking Wooseok home.
“Hangyul-ah,” Seungyoun says warningly. “Where’s Yohan?”
Hangyul pouts. “I don’t know. He went off with some girl. Why would he do that, Seungyoun? It hurt…” He raises his hand to his chest. “Here.”
“Your heart is on the other side.” Wooseok helpfully supplies.
Hangyul glances down, drags his hand to the other side, not even questioning who Wooseok is. “Oh. Haha.”
Wooseok smirks in amusement. “You should take him outside for a moment. I’ll come with you.”
Seungyoun sighs, eyeing his friend in a much less friendly way than he was eyeing Wooseok earlier.
When they get outside, Hangyul drops to the floor, banging his head on the brick wall as he rests his head a little too aggressively. “I feel sick.”
“I’m gonna kill him when he sobers up.” Seungyoun says to Wooseok, completely ignoring his friend.
“Why? He seems like he’s having fun.” Wooseok says sarcastically, resting sideways on the wall so he can see Seungyoun clearly.
He’s way too close and way too attractive now that they’re under streetlights and not a darkened room; Seungyoun can see each of his features much clearer, and somehow, he finds him even more entrancing than before. He grips onto the remaining pieces of his sanity in order not to kiss him right there, with his friend moaning and groaning below them.
“Just—timing, I don’t know, I kinda wanted to—”
And Hangyul throws up. Right on Seungyoun’s shoe. It’s possibly the worst thing that could’ve happened, Seungyoun thinks, aside from maybe an earthquake or something, but even then he could’ve probably finished his sentence to Wooseok, only with a very shaky voice. Maybe even kissed him. Shakily.
At this point, Seungyoun has no choice but to take his best friend home, but right before he leads him back inside with a hand rubbing his shoulder to find Yohan and let him know what’s happening, he asks Wooseok for his number, refusing to let him escape without being able to contact him again.
Wooseok happily obliges, adding his number into Seungyoun’s phone under the words “Pretty Boy”. Seungyoun scoffs when he reads it, already in the back of a cab with Hangyul drooling on his shoulder.
2.
It makes no sense to Seungyoun how Wooseok ends up at the coffee shop he works at the very next day when he’s never been there before (at least when it was Seungyoun’s shift) and has absolutely no way of knowing Seungyoun works there.
His eyes widen in complete panic and shock when Wooseok walks in, looking way cuter than he should at 8:06am with glasses resting on his small nose. It’s embarrassing to admit, but Seungyoun ducks under the counter for just a split second out of instinct. He pulls himself together (and up, with an apology to the customer he was in the middle of serving) a few seconds later when Hangyul gives him a weird look from where he’s making someone’s coffee.
“Who’s that?”
Ah, right. Hangyul wouldn’t remember Wooseok from last night. He was absolutely shit-faced.
“I don’t know. Who’s that? I’ve never seen him. Why do you ask?” Seungyoun rambles, busying himself with counting the change the customer had given him.
Hangyul narrows his eyes even more in suspicion, clearly not believing a word the other is saying. They’ve known each other for years, and have been inseparable ever since the first day they’d met, even going so far as to applying for the same barista job as each other—Seungyoun is a fool if he thinks Hangyul won’t pick up on his bluffing.
Hangyul leaves him alone, though, focusing on perfecting his orders, and it’s perfect timing with how Wooseok strolls up to the counter where Seungyoun stands stiffly.
“Hi!” Seungyoun says, a complete different greeting to the one he usually gives his customers. Not only is his tone more panic-stricken, but he forgets to ask what Wooseok wants. The most basic part of being a barista.
Wooseok averts his gaze from where he’s looking up at the menu to Seungyoun, face immediately lighting up in recognition. “Oh? Hey, stranger.”
“I refuse to believe you didn’t know I work here. You’re coming here to torture me for harassing you last night.”
Usually, Seungyoun wouldn’t strike up a conversation with a customer in order to not hold up the line, but he can’t seem to stop the words that tumble out around Wooseok. It also helps that there’s only one customer behind him right now, and it’s a child that looks around 10, marvelling at the coins in his hand like it’s his first time holding money in his own hands (maybe Seungyoun is a terrible person for not feeling bad about making the poor kid wait, but for Wooseok? Fuck them kids).
Wooseok snorts. “You didn’t harass me. This was pure coincidence, but if anything I’d be coming to torture you for leaving me so soon.”
Seungyoun’s eye twitches. So, Wooseok didn’t want him to leave. He can fuck with that.
“If I could go back in time and do it all again without this idiot—” Seungyoun gestures to Hangyul with a subtle flick of his head. “I would.”
“It’s okay, you can make it up to me one day,” Wooseok says, and Seungyoun tries to shoo the butterflies that appear in his stomach away, he really does. He’s unsuccessful. “I’ll have a vanilla latte. Thanks, Seungyoun.”
The playful smile on Wooseok’s lips as he swiftfully changes the topic doesn’t go unnoticed by Seungyoun.
Even with Wooseok turning up at his work during his shift being a pure coincidence, the gay gods working against him or something, Seungyoun feels purposely tortured—in the best possible way.
He doesn’t enjoy how he seems to be the only one to get flustered when they talk, so he whips up a plan in his mind while he’s making Wooseok his latte, a smug smile on his lips as he praises himself for being a genius internally.
Once the milk is steamed, he begins his plan of action and tries harder than he’s ever tried before to create the perfect heart on the surface of the latte. It turns out to be the most unsymmetrical heart he’s ever made, though, and it sends him spiraling trying to decide whether he should make Wooseok wait a little longer to create a better one or just go with it (he decides not to, half for Wooseok’s sake and half for the kid who will probably stomp on the ground if he has to wait any longer because Seungyoun’s too busy trying to make the perfect latte art for a stranger he’s ridiculously attracted to).
Seungyoun repeatedly reminds himself mentally not to spill the coffee as he places it in front of Wooseok (it works, thank god). Wooseok looks up at him softly as he thanks him, bangs slightly messed up from where he was leaning his head on his hand.
Seungyoun stands stiffly with his hands behind his back while he waits for Wooseok to react to the heart, resisting the urge to hop from foot to foot like a schoolgirl waiting nervously for her crush’s reaction to her love letter.
He knows he isn’t imagining the slight blush that appears on Wooseok’s face when he catches sight of it, because his hand comes up to cover the bottom of his face in a similar way to how he’d covered his smile last night. Seungyoun doesn’t fight the toothy smile that appears on his own face. Wooseok is so cute.
“Is that supposed to be a heart?” Wooseok says, but there’s no malice in his voice.
Seungyoun’s smile drops. He peers over the table a little closer to see that half of the heart had completely fallen out of shape, looking more like a white canvas with brown specks of paint than a heart crafted with Seungyoun’s attraction-fueled hard work. Thankfully, it’s the side that turned out wiggly and uneven, hardly resembling a heart in the first place, and the other side is still faultless enough for Wooseok to know there was an attempt.
“Yeah…” Seungyoun says sadly, cursing himself for caring about the kid that was waiting to be served and not spending a little extra time making something that wouldn’t turn out like this. “Supposed to.”
Wooseok laughs, and it’s ridiculous how much Seungyoun’s heart lifts from its previous state of disappointment from the sound alone. “It’s so cute. You’re cute.”
“I’m cute?” Seungyoun blurts out, ignoring the way his heart speeds up. “I don’t think that’s a word that can describe me. I’ll take sexy, though.”
“Cute but annoying,” Wooseok says with a scoff, and it makes Seungyoun smile smugly. “I’ll decide that for myself when you make up for last night.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Why?”
“Just stop.”
“Then make it up to me.” Wooseok says.
“Let me take you on a date,” Seungyoun says, taking a seat opposite of him. Technically he’s not allowed to sit while he’s working, but he’s afraid he’ll never get the courage to ask Wooseok on a date again if he doesn’t take this opportunity. “I mean, if you want to. Not that that’s what I would’ve done last night. But I don’t think it’d be polite to offer that right now, so let this make up for it.”
In all honesty, Seungyoun isn’t sure if he’s hallucinating when he sees Wooseok’s eyes light up, but imaginary or not, it’s a sight that makes his heart warm. A pretty expression for a pretty face.
“Finally.” Wooseok just says.
“Hey, you could’ve asked me out, you know.” Seungyoun retaliates, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.
“I was about to if you didn’t hurry up. I’d love to go on a date with you, Seungyoun-ssi.”
“Seungyoun-ssi," Seungyoun mocks. “Okay. Okay. Cool. Um. Friday night?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. Uh. I’ll pick you up at—”
“Hyung,” Hangyul cuts him off from behind them, voice laced with panic. “Stop talking to a random person and help me. I think I broke the coffee machine and 8 customers just lined up all at the same time.”
Seungyoun smacks his head on the table. Purposefully.
3.
Seungyoun has never been on a date—well, before actually being in a relationship with the person. Not because he doesn’t have people he’s wanted to ask on dates, not because no one has ever been interested in him (Seungyoun thinks he’s quite the catch), but because he simply doesn’t have time.
Or really, he doesn’t make time. When he’s not at uni or studying, he’s working at the coffee shop, and when he’s not doing either, he’s working on music that no one really bothers to listen to apart from his friends, but he doesn’t mind. It’s the way he enjoys his life; constant busyness and entertainment, even if it does get tiring sometimes to never sit back and fully relax. Just the time he gets to spend with friends, discussing his music while they feast on whatever one of them had picked up on the way, is healing enough to him.
His past relationships (or relationship) have just sort of happened. His longest one of 2 years was with a close friend, after they’d both realised feelings had grown at some point, so there was never the whole we’re dating but are we dating phase. Eventually his partner realised they wanted more of Seungyoun’s time than he could make, and Seungyoun wanted to feel less smothered. Looking back, they weren’t right for each other in the first place.
The mix of adrenaline and nerves that toss and turn in his stomach as he texts Wooseok for his address as soon as he gets home from his shift (because there’s no point hiding how much he wants to talk to Wooseok—he thinks he’s made it pretty much obvious already, unintentionally) is a foreign feeling to him.
He’ll never, ever admit it to anyone, but he finds himself flipping onto his stomach on his bed with a disgustingly giddy smile on his face when Wooseok sends him his location with a kissy cat emoji. He panics and sends a smirking cat emoji back. Wooseok does not approve.
As Seungyoun brainstorms where he should take Wooseok like it’s the hardest decision in the world, they don’t stop texting, the conversation naturally flowing (mostly due to the fact Seungyoun won’t stop asking random quick questions in order to keep talking to Wooseok, but he really can’t help it).
He learns that Wooseok only moved here recently and is sharing an apartment with a friend Seungyoun has met before (his heart says fate; his brain says but I literally know everyone), he recently adopted a kitten, could live on a diet of only chicken feet and sleeps at 11pm at the latest if he’s not doing anything. Seungyoun teases him by calling him old before remembering he’s actually slightly older, in which Wooseok has the cheek to reply with a 5 second voice message of him laughing mockingly.
Seungyoun also finds out, as part of his plan, that Wooseok likes horror and romance movies. He immediately searches what movies are showing on Friday night and quickly scrolls past all the romance movies until the first horror movie shows up. It’s not that he wants to see Wooseok scared, though that’d probably be not only cute but entertaining, it’s that Seungyoun cries at basically every romance movie. He doesn’t want Wooseok to witness him break down over some hetero couple until at least the 3rd date.
Seungyoun doesn’t sleep until around 4am on average, but as the clock nears 11pm, he forces himself to say goodnight to Wooseok. Wooseok sends a simple :) back, and for some reason, it makes Seungyoun want to sleep early too. So for once, he does, and he sleeps like a baby.
When Friday comes around, Hangyul is out somewhere (Seungyoun has no idea where), and Seungyoun couldn’t be happier to not have to explain to his roommate that he’s going on a date. He’s not embarrassed, but he knows he wouldn’t be able to tell Hangyul without a stupid smile making its way onto his face, so he’s extremely grateful the younger isn’t home.
When Seungyoun arrives at the address Wooseok had given him, he makes a point to be the first one to say something.
“Hey, pretty boy.”
He’s not being greasy, he swears. Wooseok is the one who saved himself as pretty boy in Seungyoun’s phone, after all.
Wooseok immediately replies with a small “shut up”, suddenly easily flustered unlike the Wooseok Seungyoun had first met (he’ll remember the youngers face as he said “You liked what you saw, right?” for the rest of his life. Might even see it in the corner of his room during sleep paralysis).
“What’s up with you?” Seungyoun asks playfully, resisting the urge to reach out and hold the others hand. He wants to go at Wooseok’s pace. “That’s what you saved yourself as.”
“Yeah, but, it’s different now that we’re actually on a date.” Wooseok says, voice still small and looking anywhere but at Seungyoun. It’s so cute Seungyoun could explode.
“You’re still pretty, though?”
Wooseok sends him daggers, but Seungyoun just smiles amusedly. “You look so cute, really. I think you should wear this sweater for the rest of your life. Keep the glasses too.”
“It’s not fair that I look cute but you look like that.” Wooseok whines.
“Like what?”
“Don’t make me say it.”
“I’m making you say it.”
“I won’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. You look sexy. Even if you’re making me feel like you own nothing but button ups.”
Seungyoun laughs and notes that: 1. Wooseok clearly likes it when he unbuttons the top buttons of his shirt, and 2. Wooseok gets whiny when he’s flustered.
Seungyoun’s leg shakes the whole way there, but not so much out of anxiety like usual—more like excitement. There’s a comfortable silence until only a minute or so after they leave, and Wooseok begins to sing along to a ballad that comes on shuffle in Seungyoun’s car playlist.
It doesn’t shock Seungyoun, but Wooseok has a pretty singing voice. He’s singing so quietly and softly, tapping his fingers against his knee to the rhythm now and again, but that’s all Seungyoun needs to know he can sing, because of course he can sing. There’s a moment, as he’s listening subtly but intently, that Seungyoun considers angels living amongst us being a very real thing.
The bliss doesn’t last long, though, because as they go into the movie theatre, Wooseok walking almost plastered to Seungyoun’s side, Seungyoun spots the last thing he wants to see at this moment in time.
Lee Hangyul.
He thinks he’s hallucinating. He hopes he’s hallucinating. This cannot be real. Sure, Hangyul goes to the movie theatre a lot so it’s not shocking to find him there, but at this exact same time?
“No way. There’s no way.”
“What?” Wooseok asks, turning around from where he’s buying them both popcorn.
“Hangyul. Literally. Right in front of my eyes. Lee hangyul.”
There’s a moment of silence between them as Wooseok follows where Seungyoun’s gaze leads to Hangyul’s figure. The latter is looking at his phone with his eyes squinted, like the font is too small for him to understand.
Wooseok bursts out laughing. “Oh my fucking god. Every time. Did he plant a microchip in you or something?”
“It’s okay,” Seungyoun says, but it’s more of an attempt to reassure himself than anything. “It’s fine. He’s probably leaving now.”
“I don’t think he’s leaving.” Wooseok says.
“Why—”
“Seungyoun? What the hell? This is so crazy. I can’t ever get away from you,” Hangyul stands behind them, coincidentally lining up to get popcorn too. “You never go to the movie theatre, though?”
Wooseok turns around, hands Seungyoun his popcorn so he can bow to Hangyul. “Hi. I’m Wooseok.”
Hangyul’s face contorts into an expression of realisation, but the words he says next contradicts it. “Ohhh, you’re the guy from the other day! I didn’t know you guys were friends. This is cool, though, we can watch together now.”
Wooseok smiles politely. Seungyoun refuses to say anything—he’s a firm believer that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all.
The one thing Seungyoun is thankful for when they get inside and settle down, is that Hangyul doesn’t attempt to sit in between him and Wooseok.
One thing he’s not thankful for (to add to the list), is that Hangyul doesn’t stop talking the entire movie. Literally the entire movie.
Out of all of them, Seungyoun is the one who gets the most scared (though he’d hoped it would be Wooseok). In an ideal world, every time he almost had a heart attack because of a jumpscare, Wooseok would hug him, comfort him, something —but instead, Seungyoun’s met with Hangyul’s mocking laugh every time.
At some point, Hangyul’s presence is so obvious that Seungyoun almost forgets he’s even on a date with Wooseok. He would completely, if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t stop sneaking glances at his left side, where Wooseok sits with his head resting comfortably against the back of the chair. Sometimes Seungyoun will catch Wooseok looking too, and they’ll share a secret, amused smile, Hangyul completely oblivious.
Towards the end of the movie, Seungyoun feels a fuzzy texture against his left hand. He’s still on edge from a particularly intense part of the movie, so at first it catches him off guard and he pulls his hand away. It’s only when he looks down to see Wooseok’s hand edging towards his lap, his eyes glued to the screen like he’s trying to pretend he doesn’t realise he’s doing it, that he realises it was the younger’s sweater brushing against him.
His heart speeds up embarrassingly fast when he brings his hand back towards Wooseok’s. Wooseok immediately latches on, slots their fingers together with ease and security, rubbing his thumb against the back of Seungyoun’s hand.
Seungyoun realises, by feel alone, that Wooseok’s hands are bigger than his, despite their size difference. He thinks it's the perfect representation of how he becomes putty in Wooseok’s hands.
“God, I’m so sorry, that wasn’t what I had in mind at all.” Seungyoun says when he drops Wooseok off, both of them refusing to get out even though they’re parked right outside his apartment. This was their first date, yet Seungyoun feels like he didn’t get to spend any alone time with Wooseok at all.
“It’s okay,” Wooseok reassures him. “It was funny. At least it was memorable. You might wanna tell Hangyul what’s up, though, before he interrupts us again next time.”
Next time, Seungyoun repeats his mind. Okay, so there’s a next time. Even with how unpredictable this date went.
“Believe me, I will. After I beat his ass.”
Wooseok gives him a look. “Be nice. He’s a nice guy.”
“And a cockblock.” Seungyoun says, and it makes Wooseok laugh again, with a shake of his head. It’s a sound Seungyoun thinks he could never get tired of—he’d insult Hangyul again and again and again if it means he gets to hear Wooseok laugh.
“I had fun, though,” Wooseok says. “I like being with you. Even if it’s like that.”
Seungyoun swallows nervously, eyes plastered on the road ahead like he’s still driving. It’s ridiculous how giddy Wooseok makes him feel. “Me too,” he says genuinely, his smile evident in his tone. “But next time, I’m definitely tying Hangyul up before I leave so we can be alone.”
“Okay, you do that,” Wooseok says, his smile just as evident. “As long as you promise there’ll be a next time.”
“Of course! You don’t need to doubt that.”
“Okay. Good,” Wooseok says. “I’ll hold you against that.”
He leans over from the passenger seat to place a tiny kiss on Seungyoun’s cheek, and gets out of the car just like that, leaving Seungyoun a blushing mess.
4.
“Name him after me.”
“Seungyoun.”
“I’m serious,” Seungyoun says. “If you name your kitten after me, he’ll be talented, kind, funny and handsome.”
Wooseok had texted Seungyoun about an emergency, insisting that he couldn’t afford to wait any longer for Seungyoun to pick up his facetime call, so naturally, Seungyoun had panicked and scrambled for his charger for his phone that was on the brink of survival at 1%—only to find out Wooseok’s emergency was that he needed a name for his new kitten.
Seungyoun couldn’t be mad about the panic he went through, thinking Wooseok was in terrible danger, when Wooseok had answered lying on the bed with a tiny kitten crawling all over his chest and his face. His hair was messed up from the kittens hyperactive wriggling, and it made Seungyoun’s heart swell.
The first thing Seungyoun had said was “It looks like you.” to which Wooseok had hung up (just to make a statement, because he called Seungyoun back just 2 seconds later, with a hint of blush still remaining on his face).
“I’m not naming the kitten after you. What if you turn out to be a serial killer and I have to go around saying ‘Seungyoun, here’s your food.’ ‘Seungyoun, don’t poop in the corner.’”
“I’m not a serial killer,” Seungyoun says, scoffing. “Do I look like I could be a serial killer?”
“Sometimes serial killers are the people you like most.” Wooseok says, rubbing his kittens ears with his thumb.
“So you like me the most?”
“No comment. Hey, don’t bite my nose.”
“I’ll take that.” Seungyoun says, pretending the thought of Wooseok liking him in the slightest doesn’t affect him as much as it does. “Name him Youn.”
“Not cute enough,” Wooseok says. “Younie?”
Seungyoun nods enthusiastically. “Younie." he sing songs, in the highest and most animal-entrancing voice he can do. Wooseok’s kitten turns to the phone, though it looks more traumatised by Seungyoun’s loud voice than anything.
“See. He likes it. He’s Younie.”
“Fine. If that’s what he wants.” Wooseok says with an exaggerated sigh.
“Thank you, Wooseokie,” Seungyoun says in a sickeningly sweet voice. “I’ve never had a kitten named after me.”
“If you really turn out to be a serial killer, I’m changing it to something else. I’ll name him after Hangyul instead, so don’t kill anyone.”
Seungyoun snorts, but it fades into an expression of confusion as the room plummets into complete darkness. Not only do the lights turn off (and Seungyoun’s terrified of the dark), but his phone turns off, and it hits Seungyoun that the lights didn’t break, the power cut off completely, which made his phone die with it still being on 1%. Made the image of Wooseok and his kitten named after Seungyoun die.
“What the fuck? Hangyul, are you home?” he yells, too scared to attempt to make his way to the living room through the darkness in fear of what he’ll trip over.
The door flies open, revealing what Seungyoun can only guess is his best friend (he hopes so, anyway).
“Sorry. I think I knocked a switch or something when I was trying to get an old box of polaroids out of the cupboard. Please help me.”
It’s not Seungyoun’s proudest moment, but he swears out of frustration at least 16 times.
+1
Wooseok and Seungyoun are clingy, though not in a way that makes either of them feel smothered. It’s something Seungyoun soon figures out as they talk more, texting and calling all the time, meeting up somewhere whenever either of them have time, even if it’s only for 5 minutes, because that’s all they need. They become each others vitamin, though it’s unspoken, both of them getting a rush of motivation and happiness throughout their whole body when the other breaks their playful teasing streak with a fond laugh, or when the other complains about being full after they haven’t eaten for a while.
Seungyoun decides to never let Wooseok come over to his and Hangyul’s dorm room when Hangyul is home, at least until Seungyoun gets the courage to tell Hangyul that Wooseok isn’t merely a friend, and that’s how he ends up at Wooseok’s apartment on a random Wednesday night.
Jinhyuk, his roommate and coincidentally a mutual friend of them both, isn’t home, and it allows them both to snuggle up to each other with no worries. It’s cold outside, and Seungyoun uses that as an excuse to practically bury his face in Wooseok’s hair, tightening his arms around his smaller frame.
Seungyoun coughs. “You have the strongest smelling shampoo I’ve ever smelt.”
Wooseok looks up from where he’s tucked into Seungyoun’s chest, big eyes and naturally pouty lips. He really resembles his kitten, Seungyoun thinks to himself. “You don’t like the smell of strawberry?”
“I do, but not that strong.”
“Get your nose out of my hair, then.”
Seungyoun does the complete opposite and gently brings Wooseok back into his chest so he can embrace him fully once again, this time placing a kiss on the top of Wooseok’s head. “No. Don’t want to.”
He hears Wooseok's muffled scoff, and a wave of contentment rushes over him as they both allow their eyes to naturally shut. He hopes Wooseok feels it too.
“Seok,”
“Hm?”
“Did you sleep enough last night?”
“Mhm. And I napped for 3 hours this afternoon.”
Seungyoun takes that as permission to manoeuvre himself so that Wooseok is lying on his back with Seungyoun towering over him, noses just touching at the tip.
“What are you doing?” Wooseok asks in an accusing tone like Seungyoun is always doing something suspicious.
“How do you feel about me?” Seungyoun asks, hoping Wooseok can’t feel how fast his heart is beating. “Be completely honest.”
Wooseok’s breathing speeds up just slightly, eyes flickering from Seungyoun’s eyes down to his lips. Seungyoun doesn’t know whether it’s because of the lack of space between them or the fact that they haven’t talked directly about their feelings yet, but either way, Wooseok breathing a little faster is contagious. He feels his own breathing speed up a little, too.
“I like you,” Wooseok wastes no time. “I’ve always liked you from the moment I saw you. Well, not as much then but now I really like you. Like really, really like you. I think you’re amazing.”
Seungyoun swallows. He isn’t sure what he expected Wooseok to say, but he definitely didn’t expect the burst of emotions he feels throughout him, fondness, relief, and excitement from just those 3 words alone leaving Wooseok’s mouth. He doesn’t think he’s ever been this infatuated with someone before—doesn’t think he ever will.
After a moment of debating whether to say something or give in, Seungyoun places his lips on Wooseok’s, tempted by the way Wooseok wets his lips that have gone dry with nerves. Wooseok sucks in a breath through his nose.
None of Seungyoun’s past kisses have been amazing, and he’s been with some technically skilled kissers. But nothing anyone can do with their lips or tongue compares to the way Wooseok’s kiss is fueled with the desire and tenderness that’s built up between them over the past weeks, only being released in short moments of hand holding and cuddles.
Wooseok makes a noise of desperation, but pushes Seungyoun away as he attempts to bite down on his lip. “Wait. Say it too.”
“Huh?”
“Say it. You like me too, right?” Wooseok asks, and there’s a glint of insecurity in his eyes that looks so out of place, Seungyoun can’t stand it.
“I think I like you even more than you like me.”
Wooseok shakes his head with a content smile on his face before he pulls Seungyoun down to meet his lips again, opening his mouth for their tongues to meet for the first time. “Stupid. I’ll show you how much I like you.”
Wooseok does exactly that. Not only in a way that has Seungyoun begging and clinging onto his hips, Wooseok’s lips attached to his neck from below him, writhing and moaning like the pleasure Seungyoun gives him is his only form of survival, but in a way that has Seungyoun falling asleep afterwards feeling nothing but bliss and comfort, his last memory before he slips into dreamland being Wooseok leaving a kiss on his temple.
(At 4am, he wakes up to a call from Hangyul asking if he could borrow Seungyoun’s airpods for the night because he dropped one of his down the sink. Seungyoun quite literally throws his phone across the room.)