Chapter Text
It was his smile.
It always had been, and it always would be.
Honestly, how can someone's smile light up a room so easily? Melt everything away, making it impossible to look away.
And oh God, his laugh?
It didn’t make sense how something so common could make San stop in his tracks.
Being constantly frozen by the sound of Wooyoung’s laughter was something he’d never change. Instead, he searched for it accompanying the younger's smiles, like a double blow to his already troubled heart.
San didn’t know how he could keep his feelings secret much longer. It had already been years, falling for him almost immediately after he introduced himself. Recently however, it seems as if all his emotions are dialed to eleven.
Now, every time Wooyoung touches his hand, it sends shivers up his spine. Stopping his breath, and making his head spin.
Don’t even get him started on when he catches the younger humming under his breath. An endearing melody constantly following him around. San’s always listening for it, eager to hear the tune that’s always stuck in his head anyways.
He can’t escape him, not that he wants to.
Every time he was around Wooyoung, it felt like he was going to break. The mask he wore threatened to crack, ready to expose all his true feelings.
Even sitting here, listening to the younger talk on and on about the ‘hilarious thing’ that happened to him on his way home from the convenience store, San couldn’t help but smile.
San’s eyes were filled with fondness, watching the younger talk animatedly with flying hands and passionate eyes. The older could feel a blush creeping up his neck, seconds away from revealing his feelings. San pulled at his hoodie to hide the heat, then returned his hands to fiddling with a water bottle; not trusting them to stop from reaching out for his best friend.
He took in a shaky breath, knowing Wooyoung was too immersed in his story to tune into anything San did.
“God, I could kiss you right now.”
It was barely a whisper, San could barely hear it with his own two ears, but Wooyoung stopped talking. His eyebrows did the stupidly enduring thing where they raised in question, accompanied by his even wider eyes that held galaxies. San sat there frozen, watching the younger with his mouth slightly open, afraid of what he was about to say, of what he heard.
“Sorry, what was that? I didn’t hear you.”
A wave of relief washed over San. That was too close.
“Oh, I didn’t say anything.”
“Huh, I could have sworn I heard- Uh, anyways...”
Wooyoung stopped himself, then continued with his story. San was once again immersed in his words. This time however, he made sure to control his feelings a little more, not wanting to slip up.
~~~~~
“Are you in here? Okay, good.”
Wooyoung entered his shared room hastily, shutting the door behind him almost immediately. He threw his dance bag to the floor, not really caring where it landed.
Jongho and Yeosang were both in their respective beds, scrolling through their phones.
When Wooyoung entered, they turned towards the noise.
“One of you needs to smack me across the face, like right now. I’m not joking.”
Wooyoung walked closer to the two, who looked at him in exasperation.
“No, Wooyoung. We’re not hitting you.”
“Come on, please Yeosang?”
“No.”
“Just a light slap? Just to like, smack some sense into me. I swear I’m hallucinating or something. Just like when people pinch each other to make sure they’re not dreaming, but more intense. You know, like now?”
“No, Oh my God, just tell us what happened?”
Wooyoung fell onto Yeosang’s bed, grabbing a pillow and covering his face, no doubt screaming in frustration. Jongho walked over as well, sitting beside Yeosang against the headboard.
Wooyoung started talking, but his words were muffled. Jongho moved to grab the pillow that covered his hyung's face, pulling it to the side instead.
“We can’t hear you.” The youngest looked at his hyung with empathetic eyes. Wooyoung stared at him for a few seconds before rushed words spilled from his mouth.
“Ugh, I hate this. Why did I have to fall in love with my best friend, and why do I have to keep imagining him freaking confessing to me and shit. Like, ugghhhh.”
“What happened this time.” Yeosang looked at him with calm eyes, knowing his friend was truly frustrated.
“I was just telling him about something that happened to me today, and I swore I heard him whisper something. He denied it, though.”
“What’d he say?”
Jongho and Yeosang shared a smile when they saw Wooyoung's ears turning a bright shade of red. The boy's hands had gone to cover the rest of his face, proving he was flustered.
“I’m not saying.” His words were said through a smile, easily known from the cheer in his voice. Even thinking about what he thought San said made Wooyoung blush. ‘God, I could kiss you right now.’ Was that real? Could San really feel the same way? Could he really spend as much time thinking about kissing his best friend as Wooyoung did? Oh God, he hoped so.
“You know, you probably didn’t imagine it.”
Yeosang had said this hundreds of times already, but Wooyoung still didn’t believe him.
“There’s no way he likes me back, and if he doesn’t I-... I can’t lose him as a friend.”
Wooyoung’s words were still muffled by his hands, but his roommates heard every word crystal clear.
It had been like this for a while. Wooyoung had told everyone he was bisexual early on in their trainee days, but Yeosang always thought he was hiding something else. He asked him about it one night when the rest of the dorm was sleeping, and Wooyoung shared his feelings for San. Wooyoung had made Yeosang promise over and over to keep it a secret, and he did. A couple months after telling Yeosang, Jongho overheard their whispers, and he’s been a part of their talks ever since,
“He’d never stop being your friend, you have to know that.”
Jongho’s words made Wooyoung lower his hands, his cheeks no longer red.
“I know, but we don’t know that. Not for sure, anyways.”
“Just trust us on this Wooyoung, we see the way he looks at you. If he doesn’t like you back, which we think is highly unlikely, he’d never drop you as a friend. He cares about you too much.”
Wooyoung turns to look at his friend’s in the eyes, Yeosang’s words still hanging in the air.
“You really think so?”
His roommates both nodded, eyes full of sincerity.
“Thank you for-, I’m uh, I’m sorry you always have to deal with this.”
Jongho reached out to squeeze Wooyoung’s shoulder, comforting him more than he’d be willing to admit.
“Don’t worry about that, we like helping you.”
“Yeah, if it wasn’t for us, you wouldn’t talk to anyone about this. We’d much rather you talk to us.”
Wooyoung smiled at his friend's words, thanking the universe for such caring members. He sat up on his hyung’s bed, feet dangling over the edge as a yawn was pulled from his lungs. Yeosang was the next to talk.
“Okay, we should get ready for bed.”
“Yeah,” Jongho said mischievously. “Maybe getting some sleep will stop you from ‘hallucinating.’”
He accompanied the last word with air quotes, making Wooyoung's mouth open in disbelief. The older grabbed the closest pillow he could find, and threw it at the youngest. Speaking his next words with no heat.
“Shut up!”
Yeosang and Jongho laughed at their pining friend’s expression. Making Wooyoung’s nose scrunch up in an attempt to scowl. He stood and walked towards the door, no doubt leaving for a shower. Wooyoung pulled the door shut behind him, leaving his two roommates alone.
When the bathroom door shut down the hall, Yeosang and Jongho shared another glance. Jongho was the first to break the silence.
“Do you think they’re ever going to confess to each other?”
“God, I hope so. They’ve been falling for each other since they met.”