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“You wanna try?” Seoho twirled his swivel chair around to face his roommate, who was idly sifting through his social medias on the older’s bed.
“Try what?” Hwanwoong didn’t even look away from his phone.
“Dating,” Seoho nonchalantly said. It was only an idea after all.
Hwanwoong dropped his phone onto his chest, sitting up to give his full attention to Seoho. His eyes traveled around Seoho’s face as if analyzing any strange facial expression that would give away something he missed. Not like he would find anything, Seoho had nothing to hide.
“Are you saying you wanna date?” Hwanwoong incredulously asked, pure confusion painting his face.
Seoho shrugged. “If you want, I’m down.”
Seoho didn’t mind the idea—Seoho had known Hwanwoong the longest, maybe had grown a special fondness for the boy only within those couple years too—which was why he decided to bring it up in the first place.
“We’re just gonna...date?” Hwanwoong quietly said, seemingly still processing the situation. Seoho noticed how red the boy’s ears were. ”That’s it? Just like that?”
“You sound like you want something more?” Seoho teased with a raised eyebrow and amused grin. Admittedly, Seoho was curious too. The red in Hwanwoong’s ears quickly spread to his cheeks.
“What? No. Never mind,” he refuted, shaking his head. “Why are you asking?”
“We’re the last two among our friends who aren’t dating each other,” Seoho answered, straightforward with an unchanging expression.
With all their friends dating each other, it seemed only natural for he and Hwanwoong to get together as well.
“Are you serious?” Hwanwoong groaned, eyebrows furrowed and the corners of his lips dipping in a frustrated frown, either irritated or offended or both, Seoho couldn’t tell. “That’s why you’re asking?”
“I’m asking because I wouldn’t mind dating you,” Seoho clarified, Hwanwoong quickly going quiet. “We don’t have to be serious about it. We can just try it and see how it goes.”
“Then what if it becomes serious?” Hwanwoong asked.
“Then it becomes serious,” Seoho simply replied.
“Then what if it’s one-sided?”
The boy was much quieter when the words left his lips, but it wasn’t hard for Seoho to catch the nervous quiver in the younger’s voice and self-conscious bitterness in his tone. Seoho frowned, taking a moment to arrange his thoughts.
“Then we’ll figure it out,” he said slowly and leaving it at that, afraid to say words that could mean nothing in the future.
Hwanwoong stayed quiet for a little longer. Seoho had to be patient.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Hwanwoong inquired, hesitant. Seoho idly spun himself in his chair, thinking.
“If you want,” Seoho shrugged again, halting his movement so his body faced Hwanwoong.
“Why are you so okay with this?” Hwanwoong continued to interrogate.
“Why are you so scared?”
Hwanwoong went quiet again, thinking with a furrow in his brows. Seoho reached out to smoothen the creases with his thumb.
“You’ll get wrinkles if you keep doing that,” Seoho mindlessly said. Hwanwoong pushed his hand away, cheeks dusted pink. He shook his head.
“I’m scared of that,” the younger said quietly.
“What?”
Hwanwoong looked Seoho in the eyes, that serious glare that only ever came out when he was dancing. Seoho felt a twinge in his chest, trapped in that piercing gaze.
His expression softened, shaking his head once more.
“I like you, hyung,” Hwanwoong confessed, even quieter than before. “And I’m scared that if I say yes, I’m only going to be hurting myself in the end.”
Seoho blinked. His face grew warm at the information and there was another twinge in his chest. It made sense, if Seoho wanted to knit pick every time Hwanwoong would put him above their other friends, would exasperatedly prevent Seoho from doing dumb things, would be caught staring at Seoho for a second or two too long.
If it were anyone else, maybe Seoho would’ve reacted differently. But these words were coming from Hwanwoong. If it were anyone else, Seoho probably would’ve turned them down and pretend the conversation didn’t exist. If it were anyone else, this conversation wouldn’t have existed in the first place. But this was Hwanwoong, and this conversation existed because he’s Hwanwoong, because Seoho asked Hwanwoong only.
Seoho stood up from his chair, and there was a split-second flash of terror in Hwanwoong’s eyes at that moment.
“I like you too, Hwanwoong,” Seoho said, sitting down on his bed, a comfortable distance separating him and his friend. “Maybe not as much as you like me, but you’re probably the only person in the world who can change that.”
Hwanwoong stared at him in silence. He was conflicted, that much seemed obvious, a worried curve in his eyebrows. He looked reluctant, cautious. And maybe Seoho was afraid the younger would say no.
The other shifted his gaze, looking down at his hands. Seoho followed his eyes, looking down at Hwanwoong’s small hands, soft from his little collection of hand creams. They probably smelled like pomegranate too, if Seoho was correct.
“Then,” Hwanwoong paused, thinking again before finally placing his hand on top of Seoho’s. He curled his fingers around the older’s palm. “Is it okay if I can do this?”
A warm smile made its way into Seoho’s lips.
“This relationship is all you, Hwanwoong,” Seoho squeezed Hwanwoong’s hand. “I expect you to sweep me off my feet.”
Hwanwoong giggled, rolling his eyes as he playfully shoved Seoho’s shoulder.
“Shut up,” Hwanwoong huffed stubbornly.
But it wasn’t hard to notice how tightly Hwanwoong held Seoho’s hand, or how red his ears were.
Or how it felt like there were firecrackers in Seoho’s chest, bursting with a newfound excitement that fizzled on every inch of Seoho’s skin.
Hwanwoong was his boyfriend, and maybe Seoho liked that very much.
“So, what do you think the others will think?” Hwanwoong asked. A soft smile curled on Seoho’s lips. He shook his head, naturally lacing his fingers with Hwanwoong’s.
“I don’t think they’ll mind.”