Work Text:
Yeonjun took the pen from where it had been balanced between his nose and upper lip, blowing out the breath he had been holding. He picked his head up from where it had been lolling over the back of his chair, unhooking his ankles from where they’d been around the legs of Soobin’s chair — which was directly across from his own — and sat straight up before immediately hunching over the table.
Soobin lifted his gaze from his laptop screen, glancing warily over the top of it to see Yeonjun writing(? Scribbling? Doing something ) in his notebook. The hand that wasn’t writing was propped up in front of the other, shielding whatever he was doing from prying eyes (Soobin). Soobin wanted to ask him what he was doing, but decided against it. As if Yeonjun could feel Soobin’s eyes on him, he glanced up, staring at the younger for a moment before shooting a wink his way and returning to his mystery activity. Involuntarily, Soobin felt heat spread across his cheeks, a blush dusting a faint pink over his face.
He directed his attention back to his computer with the nagging suspicion that Yeonjun was definitely up to something. He closed out the tab of animal TikToks he’d been silently watching and reopened the Google Doc he’d been working on earlier, which was the whole reason he and Yeonjun were even in the campus library in the first place. In the only class that the two of them shared they’d been partnered up for a group project, and as a result had been meeting bi-weekly in the campus library after the class for the past month. Within that time frame, they’d managed to become almost-friends. Buddies. Pals, maybe. Whatever their relation was to each other, it was definitely at least acquaintances, in that we happened to sit next to each other on the first day of class so that means we’re friends now, even if I don’t know what your last name is and I kinda forget you exist outside of the confines of this classroom sometimes but if I see you on campus I’ll say hi college kind of way.
Well, except Yeonjun consistently did exist outside of their one shared class — if you were to compare their own individual friend groups, you’d get a Venn diagram, with Beomgyu dead in the center. Despite having a mutual friend, they seemed to keep missing each other, only seeing the other in passing, usually with Beomgyu somewhere in the vicinity. Soobin knew of Yeonjun, but didn’t actually know him. He was still in that gray, “not really knowing” area of friendship, even though he knew marginally more about Yeonjun now than he did before, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have a crush on the older; it had started as a mild infatuation, just finding Yeonjun cute but not having the nerves to say anything, just content with admiring from afar. As what usually happens with crushes, it had only gotten worse once he had actually talked to Yeonjun.
Before Soobin could even start typing again, completely distracted by the thought of Yeonjun with one of the cute cats that had been in the TikTok compilation he’d watched, a yellow piece of paper slid over the top of his screen and fluttered down to the keyboard, landing on top of his fingers. He slipped his hand out from under it and picked it up — it was a post-it note, folded in such a way that the sticky edge was keeping it closed. Written on the side that had landed facedown was written To: Soobinnie with a heart drawn next to it, in Yeonjun’s handwriting. Soobin fought the urge to roll his eyes (and lost), carefully unfolding the note to reveal wanna make out? check yes or no written on the inside, with two little boxes drawn just below it labeled yes and no.
He chanced a glance back up at Yeonjun, who had his chin resting on his hand and a dangerous smirk on his lips, before he started to wiggle his eyebrows. Soobin immediately looked back down, folding the note up and stuffing it into the pocket of his hoodie, trying to will away the thought of kissing the smirk off of Yeonjun’s face that had entered his mind. He could feel the blush creep back into his cheeks, more at the thought of kissing Yeonjun than anything. He cleared his throat and tried to go back to his work, pointedly ignoring Yeonjun.
It was an hour before Soobin decided to call it quits, actually getting some work done by trying to completely forget Yeonjun existed on the other end of the table. He made sure everything was saved before he closed shut his laptop and stretched his arms above his head, rocking from side to side as a particularly big yawn escaped his body. When he opened his eyes he saw Yeonjun with his head pillowed in his arms on top of his textbook, asleep. Ah, so that was why he’d been suspiciously quiet for the past fifty minutes.
Soobin took a few seconds to admire the sight of Yeonjun’s check squished against his forearm, mouth slightly agape. After his allotted Admire Yeonjun time was up he packed up his things, standing up and pushing in his chair. Yeonjun was still fast asleep.
“Hyung,” Soobin said gently, abiding by the library’s quiet zone rules, but Yeonjun didn’t budge. “Hyung,” he tried again, a little louder this time, but to no avail. He sighed and rounded the table, reaching out to touch Yeonjun’s shoulder, but stopped just short of it. He knew that Yeonjun could sleep through almost anything, and vigorous shoulder shaking was one of those things.
He reached his hand out again, hesitating, before he quickly patted Yeonjun on the head. Still nothing. Soobin returned his hand to Yeonjun’s head, starting to card his hand through the older’s hair, fingertips dragging lightly against his scalp. “Yeonjun-hyung, wake up.”
The older sucked in a deep breath through his nose, lifting his head up a little, blinking his eyes open with a frown etched onto his lips. The action shouldn’t have been as cute as it was, but Soobin was a fool in love. He pulled his hand back as Yeonjun sat up slightly, bringing one of his hands up to rub at his eyes and blinking a bit more, tilting his head to look at Soobin, coming to the realization that it was the younger who had woken him up. He looked back down at his textbook, eyebrows pulling together and his hand unconsciously running through his hair, like he wasn’t completely sure where he was. It took him a moment before he fully became aware of his surroundings, looking back to where Soobin was standing over him.
“I think we should stop here for today,” Soobin told him. Yeonjun sat up fully and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands before nodding in agreement as he dropped his hands from his face.
Soobin watched Yeonjun gather his belongings together, watching him haphazardly shove everything into his backpack and zip it up before he stood up. He waited until the older had pushed his chair in before he started for the exit. Yeonjun trailed behind him, stifling a yawn with his hand as he pulled his backpack onto one shoulder.
Except, before they could even make it halfway to the exit Soobin stopped, waiting for Yeonjun to catch up with him before he grabbed the sleeve of the older’s jacket and dragged him between a pair of bookshelves. He stopped once he was sure they were out of sight from the main aisle of the library, glancing back down the way they had just come from to be sure. Then he was pressing Yeonjun back into the bookshelf, his hand coming to rest on the edge of the shelf just to the right of Yeonjun’s head.
Yeonjun’s mouth dropped open slightly at the action, his backpack sliding off his shoulder and hitting the ground with a thud. He looked down at where Soobin was still holding onto the sleeve of his jacket before turning his head to look at the hand on the bookshelf beside it, and then back to Soobin in front of him.
“What?” Soobin asked nonchalantly, like his heart wasn’t trying to frantically beat its way out of his chest that very moment, despite all the signs pointing to the fact that Yeonjun had some kind of interest in him. He could do this, he had nothing to worry about. Oh, but the way Yeonjun’s eyebrows started to pull together, his lips pressing together. That didn’t look good. Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should’ve done this somewhere else, some other time. Screw it, he was already in this deep, so he might as well commit to it. Keeping his cool, he continued, “you said you wanted to make out.”
That caused Yeonjun’s eyebrows to pull together even more, a bewildered look overtaking his features. Then without warning, he pinched himself, wincing at the feeling. The bewildered look morphed into more of a confused one, the older blinking a few times as if he was trying to clear his vision.
“Hyung?” Soobin asked, a tad bit concerned, tugging lightly at Yeonjun’s sleeve.
“Ah, sorry, I just--” Yeonjun made an aborted gesture with his free hand, “had to check.”
It was Soobin’s turn to furrow his eyebrows. “Check?”
“Just to be sure,” Yeonjun clarified, which did not clarify anything whatsoever.
Then there was a lapse of silence, to two of them just staring at each other, before Soobin shifted his weight on his feet, letting go of Yeonjun’s sleeve as he started to take a step back, “we don’t have to if you don’t want to—”
Almost panicked, Yeonjun grabbed the straps of Soobin's backpack as if to stop him from escaping, accidentally pulling the younger into him, their chests bumping against each other. Soobin’s hands flew to Yeonjun’s shoulders, trying to stop himself from completely crushing the other against the bookshelf, which was semi-unsuccessful — the shelving behind Yeonjun dug uncomfortably into his back, but that was the least of his worries right now.
"No, no, I do! I just— It's—" He sighed, exasperated, like any and all words were escaping him. "I just— I thought I was still dreaming there for a second," he admitted, an embarrassed, mumbled confession, before doing a complete 180 and taking on an incredulous tone, "and you crumpled up my note!"
Soobin took a moment to process Yeonjun’s words.
“You were dreaming about me?” he asked, genuinely surprised by the accidental confession. The note was still in Soobin's pocket, definitely not crumpled in the slightest. "And I did not."
Yeonjun immediately deflated, avoiding Soobin’s eyes by pointedly staring at the younger’s chest. "Okay, yeah, you didn't crumple it up, but you didn't answer it, either! I just assumed that was you rejecting me, since you ignored me after."
Wait. Rewind. “Rejecting you? Are you trying to confess to me or something, Hyung?”
Yeonjun’s eyes flitted upwards. “I mean, not really, but if I was, would you say no? If I said, Choi Soobin, do you want to go out with me?, what would you say?”
Soobin hummed, pretending to think about it for a second. “I don’t know. Depends.”
Yeonjun made an indignant noise, finally looking up at Soobin as he tugged childishly on the straps of Soobin’s backpack. “What do you mean you don’t know? Depends on what?”
Soobin shrugged. “Well, I don’t really know anything about you, besides what I’ve learned about you since we became partners for this project and anything that Beomgyu has said about you in my presence, which to be fair, isn’t a lot. Mostly useless stuff. You could be like, a murder or something, for all I know.” He paused, pursing his lips. “Plus, Beomgyu told me you were a bad kisser. That’s kind of a dealbreaker for me, Hyung.”
Yeonjun’s mouth dropped open. He immediately shut it, looking away and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like I’m going to murder Choi Beomgyu. He turned his attention back to Soobin, a questioning look on his face. "Wait, you asked Beomgyu about kissing me?"
Soobin shook his head. "No, I couldn’t tell if you were trying to flirt with me or if you were like that with everyone all the time, so I asked Beomgyu. He told me yeah, you kind of were like that with everybody, but it was worse when I was around, and that you had a crush on me. Which then somehow ended up with him telling me about the time you kissed him. He said it was, and I quote, like, so bad, Soobin. Absolutely the worst, one out of ten, do not recommend. If Yeonjun wants to kiss you, tell him no."
“I can’t believe he told you that! We kissed in middle school! Middle school, ” Yeonjun protested, “I’ve gotten way better at kissing since then!”
Amused at the way Yeonjun was so offended that Soobin thought he was a bad kisser, Soobin said, “prove it.”
"If you insist!"
And then Yeonjun was pulling Soobin in by the straps of his backpack, tilting his head back to accommodate for their slight difference in height. At first it was just a firm press of lips against each other, before Yeonjun started to move his lips against Soobin’s. Soobin followed his lead, letting the older show him just how much better he’d gotten at kissing since middle school.
Yeonjun let go of Soobin’s backpack straps, hands trailing upwards to cradle the younger’s face. He pressed in, tilting Soobin’s head a little as he gently coaxed his lips open with his own, taking the opportunity to lick tentatively into his mouth. In return Soobin sighed into Yeonjun’s mouth, pressing him back into the bookshelf as his tongue tangled with Yeonjun’s.
The library, of all places, was probably arguably the worst place to try and make out with someone. Before they could do anything else, someone shoved a book back into place on the other side of the bookshelf, the sound startling them apart. They shared a look, before dissolving into quiet laughter, holding onto each other.
“So?” Yeonjun asked once he’d managed to stop giggling. His lips were puffy, spit-slick.
Soobin was distracted by them. He blinked, a little dazed, his hand reaching up to touch his own lips. He wondered if they looked like Yeonjun’s did. It took Yeonjun looking at him expectantly to realize he hadn’t responded. “ So what?”
“The dealbreaker. Am I a good kisser?”
“I guess.”
“You guess?”
"I don't know,” he hummed, “I think you'll have to kiss me a little more, so I can draw a solid conclusion."
Yeonjun narrowed his eyes. "Who are you and what have you done with Choi Soobin?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re usually so shy. I guess I’m just not used to seeing this side of you."
Soobin shrugged. "Maybe it's because I know that I can make you flustered," he said as he reached his hands up to hold Yeonjun’s face, one of his thumbs brushing against Yeonjun’s lower lip. He leaned his head in, tilting it like he was going to kiss Yeonjun again, before he whispered, “maybe it makes me a little more confident. Do I make you nervous, Choi Yeonjun?"
The tips of Yeonjun's ears were red.
"Maybe so," he admitted quietly.
Soobin grinned. "How about we continue this elsewhere? Somewhere a little more...private, maybe?"
Yeonjun nodded in agreement.
Soobin took Yeonjun’s hand this time, instead of his sleeve. Yeonjun picked his backpack up from the floow, slinging it over his shoulder again and squeezed his hand, smiling up at him before Soobin led them out from their hiding place between the bookshelves and back into the main area of the library. Soobin was making a beeline straight for the study rooms at the back of the library, not wanting to wait any longer than necessary to be kissing Yeonjun again.
“Soobin?” Yeonjun asked as they walked, sidling up next to Soobin instead of trailing behind him.
“Yeah?”
“You really asked Beomgyu about me?” he asked, gentle and sincere.
“Yeah. I genuinely couldn’t tell if you were flirting with me or not, so I asked him. He told me you had a crush on me, which wasn’t really the answer I was looking for, but I guess it answered my question. Nice to learn that my crush was reciprocated.”
“What!” Yeonjun squawked, earning a few shhh!’s aimed at him. “What!” he repeated, quieter, “when was this! You had a crush on me!”
"Have,” he corrected. “And I don’t know. Like, two weeks ago, I think?"
"So you knew I liked you for a whole two weeks and you just decided to not do anything, and just torture me like that? Ignore all my advances? Crush all my hopes and dreams? Literally what was stopping you!"
“I was waiting for an opportunity to present itself, now that I knew you liked me. Something I could do on my own terms, you know? Your trying to woo me in the middle of class was the opposite of that.”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
“It’s okay,” he assured the older.
Soobin pushed open the door to the first study room he saw without a RESERVED placard on it, thankfully finding it to be empty. He flicked on the lights and turned around to pressed Yeonjun back against the door, shutting it with a harsh click. He slid his backpack off, gently placing on the ground next to the table. Yeonjun just tossed his in the general direction of Soobin’s before he leaned into Soobin, hands reaching around to grab the younger by the thighs and hoist him up.
A surprised noise escaped Soobin, his arms shooting out to wrap around Yeonjun’s shoulders out of instinct. Yeonjun grinned up at him, walking them over to the table in the middle of the room and depositing him on top of it.
“Why,” was all Soobin said as Yeonjun took his face in his hands.
“Because,” Yeonjun answered, leaning in to kiss Soobin again.
He wasted no time, immediately shoving his tongue back into Soobin’s mouth. The action caused a gasp to escape the younger, which Yeonjun immediately swallowed. Soobin leaned back, making Yeonjun have to chase him by leaning farther forward to reach him, whining in complaint. He hooked a leg around the older’s waist, one of his hands moving to card through his hair as he smiled into the kiss, reveling in the feeling of Yeonjun’s hands moving from his face down to his hips, pressing them together without a centimeter of space between them.
When they finally separated to catch their breath, foreheads pressed together and lips just barely touching, Yeonjun mumbled, “let me take you on a date.”
“Yeah?” Soobin asked.
“Yeah, like for ice cream or coffee or something.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah,” Soobin said, smiling. “Take me out for ice cream or coffee or something.”
“It’s a date,” Yeonjun said, leaning in to kiss Soobin yet again. God, he was never going to get sick of doing that.