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It’s always exciting when they have a filming schedule for EN-O’Clock. They get to do fun activities, try something new for the first time. The atmosphere at the dorms is different in the mornings when they get ready to leave, the members giddy and high with energy.
But today, it’s a little different. Because for this episode, they’re going ice skating.
Everyone is well aware that the fans are waiting for this, even before they debuted. Sunghoon’s figure skating career is almost constantly brought up during interviews and variety shows when they first debuted. Even now, it’s still mentioned from time to time. It’s something unique that is only Sunghoon’s, and Heeseung knows the rest of the members are proud of Sunghoon for it. However due to circumstances and their busy schedule, they never had the chance to properly visit the ice rink together, much less see Sunghoon skate in real life.
The only time any of them has ever witnessed it outside from videos was only Heeseung and Jungwon, during I-Land filming. It’s different then, though, with their future still uncertain, pushing themselves, and working hard towards their debut. As Enhypen, the closest they’ve ever got to watching Sunghoon show his skating skills was during MAMA last year, using roller blades on the ground, instead of blades on ice.
It’s different, because they’re Enhypen now, a year into their debut. With everything they’ve went through this year, Heeseung knows everyone is thrilled to visit the ice rink and have Sunghoon introduce them to his first love.
Which leads Heeseung to a situation, of sorts.
When the schedule was finalized, there’s a mixed reaction between them. While they’re all excited to see Sunghoon skate, there was also an issue that not all of them can skate.
Heeseung can skate. Despite that the last time he skated was essentially a year ago during I-Land filming, he’s confident he can still do it. Heeseung might even say he’s gotten better at it. He’s not like Jake, Ni-ki and Jay who have never skated before. Granted, Jake and Ni-ki are very excited, while Jay is jittery, a couple of days before the filming. Sunoo and Jungwon, having the experience of skating, are just as loud, boasting on how they’ll probably beat their maknae in the games they’ll play later.
Heeseung can skate. And as he evaluates his member’s skating abilities, he comes to a decision of wanting to impress Sunghoon.
The thought came to him a few days before filming. Sure, his boyfriend is obviously the best of the best, and Heeseung can’t exactly pull out tricks out of nowhere to dazzle him. But being able to skate, just good enough without stumbling, should at least wow Sunghoon. Heeseung is selfish when it comes to his boyfriend, always wanting to give the best of himself and have Sunghoon’s full attention on him. Heeseung thinks the bar is pretty low, with most of the members having never skated before. If he could just speed through the ice rink, armed with his charming smile, Heeseung might even be able to sweep Sunghoon off his feet.
In the morning of their filming, Heeseung makes up his mind to do his best, be a pro, and impress Sunghoon. As they all walk to their car, he reaches out to grab a hold of his boyfriend’s hand, Heeseung sighs in delight when Sunghoon intertwines their fingers. Heeseung quietly apologizes to his members because he’s about to crush them with his ice skating skills. But his competitiveness aside, of course he wants to make this a memorable day for everyone. Heeseung just wants to make sure Sunghoon has his eyes on him, at least until he’s satisfied.
Today is gonna be fun.
—
Their ice skates are tacky.
Heeseung stares at Jay who’s squinting at them in slight disgust. It’s bright orange, which really takes out any cool points that he was counting on. Jake taps on them and the younger wrinkles his nose when he realizes it’s plastic.
Sunghoon brought his own skates, black colored, the blade having intricate lines that connect it to the shoes. Heeseung doesn’t really understand the technicalities of it, and while he’s aware that Sunghoon is a professional figure skater, his equipment makes it seem more real .
As Sunghoon ties up his skates, Heeseung looks down at his own. He cringes even more when the staff tells them they’ll be wearing helmets for the sake of getting more footage.
So much for looking cool.
—
Sunghoon does an impromptu routine before they all get onto the ice rink.
This is what they’ve all been waiting for. While everyone has at least watched Sunghoon skate from videos, most of them still have never gotten the chance to do so in real life. And even though Heeseung has done so last year, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of watching Sunghoon skate. Skating is Sunghoon’s whole life. Something that Sunghoon holds dear, something that makes him happy. And if Sunghoon is happy, so is Heeseung.
When the first notes to Given-Taken begin to play, Heeseung’s heart warms. Skating to their debut song, Sunghoon’s skating and idol career colliding, is a touching moment for everyone. As Sunghoon twirls gracefully, Heeseung thinks at this moment this isn’t Sunghoon of Enhypen. This is Park Sunghoon, the figure skater. And right now, Sunghoon skates better than he walks.
Before Sunghoon’s performance, the staff gave them all plushies, a gift for Sunghoon after he’s done. It’s tradition, he heard, to slide gifts after a performance. Heeseung had half the mind to bring his own, but the thought of blatantly showing his affection to the younger in front of the staff scares him, and would probably freak out Sunghoon too. They’re supposed to keep their relationship on the low, so he settles on taking the ones already prepared by the staff.
The performance comes to an end with Sunghoon himself applauding. He’s just a tiny bit upset when Sunghoon skates past his doll and takes another one instead. Heeseung feels a bit childish, because the other probably didn’t even know which doll he chose, and he most likely didn’t throw it far enough to be near the younger for him to notice.
“Why is he taking only one doll?” Jungwon questions loudly.
Never missing the opportunity to tease his boyfriend, Heeseung joins. “He didn’t take mine!”
The others laugh. Sunghoon, ever so professional, continues his fake bows.
It’s a free session afterwards, the staff giving them time to familiarize being on ice. Despite their lack of experience, Jake and Ni-ki are currently having a blast, skating around as they cling onto each other. Sunghoon immediately goes to Jay the moment the other steps foot on the ice rink, holding his hands steady. Sunoo and Jungwon are waddling, rather than skating, staying close to their resident ice prince.
This leaves Heeseung to his own devices. He carefully tests out his skates, slowly gliding near the edges. Gaining confidence, Heeseung starts to zoom past through the others, feeling the cold air hit his face. He understands why Sunghoon seems to have so much fun ice skating, his whole body feeling light with the speed he’s at. Slowing down, Heeseung sees Ni-ki look at him in jealousy, which he shoots a smirk in return.
“Heeseung-hyung is so good!” Jungwon yells, causing his grin to grow wider.
He was right. He is still good at ice skating, maybe even better. And compared to the others right now, Heeseung can say confidently that he’s the best after Sunghoon. He’s still stumbling a little bit though, trying to slow down near the maknaes and keeping an eye on them. Not that Heeseung thought he’ll be amazing immediately, but he decides to play it safe for a while, also constantly checking what Sunghoon is doing.
Heeseung wills himself to relax. They’re just getting started. There will be plenty of time to impress Sunghoon later.
—
It would’ve been a lot easier if Sunghoon had paid attention to him.
The younger is too busy guiding the others, making sure they’re okay, teaching them how to skate properly. Sunghoon will usually hover around them, checking in to see how they’re doing. But most of the time, Sunghoon will skate one-on-one, holding onto another person as they slowly move around the ice rink.
It’s endearing to Heeseung, at first, watching this side of Sunghoon. He’s fully in his element, teaching his closest friends, his family, how to skate. Sharing his love for skating to the other members. Sunghoon is careful, and very attentive with who he’s with. Chuckling, Heeseung watches as Jungwon stumbles onto Sunghoon, the older of the two carefully laying their leader down on the ice, giggling a goodbye.
Sunghoon is a great teacher, Heeseung decides. The others are great students too, Sunoo quickly taking in Sunghoon’s advice and working on his stops.
But when Sunghoon gets to his third student of the day, Heeseung can’t help but feel a little jealous. He’s been going through a lot of ridiculous feelings throughout the day, and Heeseung thinks this tops the cake. It’s not like they’re deliberately teasing him, a thing the members often do. Sighing as he stares at Sunghoon guiding Ni-ki, he skates away once more to Jake and Jungwon, deciding to play with them.
He wonders if it was obvious that he planned on impressing Sunghoon and the others decide to mess up his plans. But based on Jay’s scrunched up expression he doubts it’s the case. Heeseung rarely ever finds Jay so out of his element, the younger is always so sure of himself and what he does. He would’ve laughed at the funny expression he’s wearing if it weren’t for the fact Jay looked genuinely nervous. Therefore, obviously , this isn’t a joke everyone is playing on him right now.
And it’s not like he got completely ignored. Earlier Sunghoon has already told him he’s very good, his boyfriend flashed him a proud smile. He basked in it, although the attention was short as Sunghoon turned to Jay once more to guide him.
Staying close to Sunghoon and Jay, Heeseung thinks maybe he should put a hold on his plan. His plan that’s currently starting to sound ridiculous to him, as he tries to tap down his jealousy. He can impress Sunghoon during the games. Heeseung hopes he’s good enough to do so.
—
Heeseung doesn’t think he’s that good with games on ice.
There wasn’t much skating during the ring throwing game. He shrugs off his loss, because it was hard for everyone except Jay and Ni-ki, it seems.
The limbo game, however.
Sunghoon tries it first, and he easily passes the obstacle. Hands still in his pockets, he gracefully goes through the bar. It’s fascinating, the rest of the group wow-ing as Sunghoon demonstrates.
They line up to take turns conquering the limbo. Sunghoon also attempts first. The bar is lowered now, from what he attempted before. But as expected Sunghoon easily passes through, in a kneeling position with his head thrown back to make himself lower.
A chorus of ‘wow’s erupt. Heeseung short circuits.
As he gets ready for his turn, Heeseung attempts to imitate what Sunghoon did. This will surely get his attention.
Miraculously, Heeseung succeeds. He’s not sure how, but it worked, and the kids are looking at him like he’s some sort of legend. Even Sunghoon is staring at him with his jaw dropped.
He circles the chairs, skating towards Sunghoon. The younger shoots him a dazed expression.
“That was awesome!” Sunghoon beams.
Happiness looks amazing on Sunghoon, Heeseung thinks. He watches his boyfriend pay attention to the game, instinctively smiling when the other laughs.
Both of them, along with Sunoo, win points for the limbo game. But more importantly, Heeseung also won himself some points for impressing Sunghoon.
—
They play a relay game for their final round. Before the game, they split off to do some of their own short warm-up.
Heeseun vaguely hears Jake calling Jungwon and Ni-ki to slow down and be careful. From the corner of his eye, he can see Sunoo skating closely to a struggling Jay.
And then he sees Sunghoon skating alone.
He speeds up towards his boyfriend. Seeming to see this as a challenge, Sunghoon speeds up too, and suddenly Heeseung is racing against his boyfriend. They’re both equally fast, but Sunghoon has years of skating experience, and he’s able to make use of the corner turn, easily overtaking him.
For a short moment, Heeseung is delighted. Still skating, he thinks that he wants to do this again with Sunghoon. Racing around the rink, just the two of them. Maybe Sunghoon can teach him a couple of simple techniques, and maybe Heeseung can pull off his own moves which will lead them to reenact a cliche couple moment. The thought pleases him.
Sunghoon of course wins the race easily, despite starting 10 seconds later and doing it on his own. True to the ice prince nickname, Sunghoon also wins the whole game for the episode. Today’s prize comes in a form of two large penguin plushies and a blue plastic sled. Heeseung takes one of the penguins just because.
With the filming ending, the kids begin to play around one last time before the staff tells them to go. They all urge Sunghoon to try on the sled, which he happily complies. Still hugging the too large penguin plushie, Sunghoon plops down. The image makes Heeseung’s heart swell.
Quickly, he grabs the string attached to the sled and pulls Sunghoon. He’s well aware that he’s the only one capable of easily doing so, but he would’ve attempted to do it anyway, regardless of his skating abilities.
Heeseung smiles as pulls Sunghoon through the ice, hearing his boyfriend giggle. He’s about to offer Sunghoon another go when Sunghoon gets up and offers the others a chance to ride the sled, the younger members eagerly taking the chance.
Staring at Sunghoon pulling Jake, Heeseung decides he’s just a little jealous that he didn’t have his boyfriend all for himself today.
Afterall, Heeseung is always greedy for Sunghoon’s attention.
—
Heeseung is busy sulking when Sunghoon comes knocking on his door.
The younger is just fresh out of the shower, now donning comfortable clothes and ready for bed. Heeseung, despite still feeling childishly upset, scoots over to give space for his boyfriend on his bed. Something must’ve shown on his face because Sunghoon gives him an amused look.
“Did you have fun today?” Sunghoon asks as he settles next to Heeseung. Instinctively, he puts his arms around Sunghoon and pulls him closer.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? How does it feel after a year, going back on ice again?”
Sunghoon stretches a little, letting out a pleased sound while he snuggles closer to the elder. Heeseung takes his time to admire the little details on his lover’s face as he waits for an answer.
“It was great.” Sunghoon breathes, smiling prettily. “I just wish I was a little bit better so I can show you guys other techniques. I’m more than that, you know.”
“I know.” And like this, Heeseung forgets why he was upset in the first place. Sunghoon is happy, and that should be the only thing that matters.
But Sunghoon is also very observant when it comes to his boyfriend. So when Heeseung is about to suggest they go to sleep, Sunghoon repeats his question.
“And did you have fun today?” The look Sunghoon gives him lets Heeseung know he’s not getting out of this one.
“I did.” Heeseung answers honestly, because despite feeling a little jealous, he did have fun. It’s always nice to see the kids play around and they all had an amazing time trying to skate. “I mean, I got a hang of it faster than the others, so. I get to say that it was really fun.”
Sunghoon chuckles, but his boyfriend still doesn’t look too convinced. “But you were so quiet earlier.”
Hearing that makes Heeseung a little guilty. Did he look that upset? Sure he was a little bit jealous and he admits that he felt sulky, but that was all. Heeseung hopes that the camera only caught his usual poker face that he has on.
“But I’m always quiet.” Heeseung tries to reason, but even he can tell it doesn’t sound convincing.
They stare at each other for a while. Sunghoon is currently using his puppy face to coax Heeseung into answering with The Truth.
And, well. Heeseung is so, so weak for his boyfriend.
“You didn’t really pay attention to me back then.” He answers begrudgingly. “I knew I was at least a bit better than the others since I skated before. So I thought I could.. I don’t know. Try to impress you. But you were busy with the rest trying to teach them.. So.”
Looking anywhere else but Sunghoon, Heeseung can’t help but to sulk again. He can even feel himself starting to pout, and while he knows it’s stupid, it’s just his friends for fucksakes, he can’t help but feel a little jealous.
And he still impressed Sunghoon. He knows that, remembers the ‘ you’re amazing! ’ Sunghoon told him. But he still wishes he can spend more time with his boyfriend, alone , longer.
It’s quiet for a beat too long, so Heeseung dares himself to sneak a look at his boyfriend. He’s not entirely surprised to see Sunghoon looking at him with his pleasantly surprised face. It’s a look Sunghoon makes when Heeseung does something ridiculously adorable, like when he gets jealous of another member because of Sunghoon. Which happens too often than he likes it to be.
“You know I was teaching the others right? I had to take care of them because it’s basically their first time on ice.” Sunghoon says, voice exasperatedly fond.
Heeseung huffs. “I know that. And it’s not like I can do anything that would impress you.”
“But I was impressed. You were amazing for a beginner.” Sunghoon giggles, hands reaching out to cup Heeseung’s face. “You even copied my move when we played limbo. Not everyone can do that.”
Heeseung, not one to miss out on being babied by Sunghoon, pouts exaggeratedly. He knows he looks silly, but Sunghoon is full out laughing now, so he lets his embarrassment slide.
“You’re such a baby.” Sunghoon says as he squishes Heeseung’s cheeks. He snorts, unable to keep up his act anymore.
“I didn’t mean to look like I wasn’t enjoying it. I had a lot of fun, I guess I was just too focused on trying to wow you.” He admits guiltily. “I know that there’s nothing to prove, I just thought if I do well, you’ll pay attention to me. Especially since we’re skating, so I’d love to spend more time with you.”
Sunghoon’s smile turns a little softer. “It was fun skating with everyone, but you’re right. It’ll be nice if we can go, just the two of us. I’m glad you had fun.”
It’s quiet again afterwards, Sunghoon’s hand is now tracing Heeseung’s jaw. He feels content like this, comfortable in bed, the love of his life in his arms.
“It’s cute seeing you teach them.” Heeseung mumbles, sleepiness seeping in. “You’re always so playful with the kids. It was different when you guided them today.”
Sunghoon hums. “I had to turn into a responsible adult. Glad you enjoyed seeing it though.”
Heeseung is just about to drift off to sleep, today’s exhaustion starting to catch up to him, when Sunghoon suddenly chimes in.
“You were really cool today.” He whispers, snuggling once more into the elder. “Let’s go skating just the two of us sometime, yeah? I’ll teach you more and maybe you’ll be better than me.”
Heeseung knows that’s impossible, being better than Sunghoon at skating, despite his natural ability of being good at things. However, he indulges the younger, sneaking a kiss on his neck.
“I love you.” Heeseung mumbles.
The last thing he sees is Sunghoon’s soft smile and an ‘ I love you too ’ before he finally falls asleep.
—
Heeseung almost forgets about his entire ‘impressing Sunghoon’ fiasco until the day the EN-O’Clock episode is released. Sure, he saw how crazy their fans went once the preview dropped, but he kept his jealousy to himself and Sunghoon, and it wasn’t a major thing.
Unless Sunghoon told someone, which led to the entire group finding out.
Heeseung assumes it was Jake and Jay, not just one of the other. Because 40 minutes after the episode was released, a series of screenshots was sent to their group chat.
All consisting of him staring at Sunghoon with a member from a distance.
“ Hyung, are you okay? ㅋㅋ ” reads the message from Jungwon, followed by more laughter from the group chat. Heeseung scowls, in disbelief that the camera and angles managed to caught this much of him sulking.
But when he’s met with Sunghoon’s wide grin, his boyfriend scrolling through the pictures with a pleased expression in front of him, Heeseung supposes, this is alright.