Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

bursts of laughter, clamorous chit-chats, and clangor of heavy footsteps resonate from the hallway. and jihoon… he’s the least happy about it; he could hardly suppress the urge of rolling his eyes. firstly, he’s stuck in a physics class in place of jeonghan to take notes for the sick guy. secondly, the professor is already ten minutes beyond the supposed end of period and still currently rambling about atoms and static whatnot. 

“now, let me ask you. earlier, we said that lightning forms due to the imbalance of charges between the rain clouds and the ground. if that’s the case, do you think sparks form in the same manner?”

the whole class went dead silent; no one dared to answer the professor’s question. either they were afraid of being asked follow-up questions or they were just so done with the discussion. 

“no one’s willing to answer?” the professor asked. “if so, answering my question would be your assignment for today. class dismissed.”

nearly everyone in the room groaned at the very moment the professor stepped out of the door. jihoon scoffs; he can’t fathom how some people willingly (and dedicatedly) attend physics classes. he hates every bit of it. good thing he made the right decision of pursuing a music-oriented program. 

jihoon stands up from his seat to gather his stuff. he doesn’t have much on his plate today, so he plans to spend the next few hours in a vacant studio. jihoon let the other students vacate the room first before he made his way out. it’s his habit to leave last. and, maybe, he should start to consider changing it. 

“asshole,” hissed jihoon at the guy who indiscreetly bumped him intentionally. 

the guy turns to his direction, a mocking smirk plastered on his face. “calling yourself?”

jihoon rolls his eyes. “only narcissistic idiots like you would dare call themselves an asshole and still be proud of it.”

“oh, yeah?” the guy steps forward, towering over jihoon.

“sorry, but i’ve got no time for senseless things.” jihoon glares. “move, mr. shithead,” he says before walking past the guy, though not without bumping his shoulder hard enough to elicit a hiss from the latter.

“soonyoung’s the name, jackass!”

jihoon snorts. “like i care enough to want to know.”

-

in the afternoon, jihoon went directly to jeonghan’s place after his day on campus. it only took him two knocks before the said guy’s apartment door opened.

“what’s with the scowl?” jeonghan immediately asked as he saw jihoon.

“expect me to scowl everyday for as long as a certain shithead is still existing.”

“he has a name, you know.”

jihoon snorts. “and it’s not worth mentioning.” he steps inside the room, rummaging through his things stuffed in his bag. “here,” jihoon hands jeonghan the notes he jotted down earlier. “i hope you’ll get well soon because i swear i wouldn’t last another hour sitting in that class.”

jeonghan snickers at that. “thanks. don’t worry, i’m fine now.”

“good to know.”

“how was your day, by the way?” asks jeonghan. jihoon doesn’t remember when exactly the older started this manner, but asking him about his day has become a daily thing the older does. 

“honestly, not half bad. i had enough time to finish the song i was making. i’m actually looking into releasing it soon. hopefully, everything goes well.”

“i’m glad to hear that. guess i have another woozi song to look forward to.”

a smile blooms across jihoon’s face for a moment before it was replaced with irritation. “would have had a perfect day if it weren’t for your physics class and that shithead.”

“what happened between you two again?” jeonghan asks, not without a sigh.

before jihoon could reply, a knock was heard. “i’ll go get it,” says jihoon, gesturing to the older to stay put.

and maybe he shouldn’t have. as the door creaked open, jihoon was greeted by a pair of slanted eyes he loathes the most. 

“what the fuck are you doing here?”

the newcomer replies, “apparently not to see you.” 

jeonghan seemed to have heard the voice of the newcomer as he approached the door to peek. “soonyoung?”

“hyung.” soonyoung tips his head in greeting. “seungkwan wanted me to hand you these tangerines to help you recover faster,” he says, lifting the paper bag filled with fruits. “he couldn’t personally do so ‘cause he has practice.”

jeonghan smiles, “please tell him my thanks. i really appreciate it.”

soonyoung smiles back, his eyes forming into thin crescents (to jihoon’s disgust). “hmm, get well soon, hyung.”

“do you want to get in?” jeonghan asks, making jihoon’s face scrunch in disapproval. the former seemed to notice it, as he gives a slight nudge on the younger’s side.

“nah, i think i have to pass today. i still have some things to do,” soonyoung politely declines. 

“okay, then, maybe next ti—”

“good,” jihoon curtly interjects as he slams the door shut. if it made contact with soonyoung’s face, then jihoon doesn’t care. or maybe he does, because at least he knows that the latter got what he deserved.

“that’s rude,” jeonghan reprimands. 

jihoon only shrugs. “he deserves all the rudeness i could offer.”

jeonghan could only shake his head in response. “i still don’t get why you’re so worked up whenever soonyoung’s around. he’s a good kid, you know.”

jihoon snorts. “yeah? maybe try harder to convince me.”

jeonghan audibly sighs. jihoon is stubborn, and he is well-aware of that. “why do you hate him so much, anyway? i don’t remember you having a bad encounter with him.”

“yeah, it wasn’t a bad encounter. it was the worst!” jihoon stirs from where he was standing. he started pacing in front of the older, making the latter quite worried. 

“remember that one time when we needed to perform a dance routine and you suggested for me to go ask his help?”

jeonghan raises his eyebrow, prodding the younger to continue. 

“i did ask him for help.”

“oh? wasn’t junhui the one who assisted you, though?”

“that’s the thing, hyung! i literally ran out of my room after class despite hating to go out first. i fucking bumped quite a number of people on the way, even almost ran out of breath too just to catch him. but then i got there only to be treated rudely? fuck him!”

jeonghan’s face quirks in confusion. “what exactly did he do?”

“i was explaining nicely, even complimenting his skills from how i saw them on his dance cover video you showed me. you know what his response was?”

“what?”

“‘oh, and so?’ like, fuck him and his haughtiness? i could live without his help! honestly, even though he’s respectfully a great dancer, i’d rather just fail a course than work with him.” jihoon huffs after his rambling. jeonghan, on the other hand, just chuckled at the side.

“what are you laughing for?” the younger asks, obviously annoyed by his friend’s reaction. 

“maybe you took it the wrong way?” jeonghan chuckles, “or maybe he was just messing with you. besides, it has been a month. haven’t you guys tried to talk it out?” 

jihoon rolls his eyes, apparently displeased at jeonghan’s unexpectedly calm reaction. “even if he was looking all serious at the time? and, no, i’ve got no time for assholes like him.” 

“now, now,” jeonghan pats the younger’s back to placate him. “i do understand that it was rude of him to say that on your first meeting. but i can say that soonyoung’s a great guy if you’ll get to know him. i’m not forcing you, though. just maybe tone your bickering down a bit? it won’t hurt trying to be a little nicer, will it?”

“perhaps not in this lifetime, hyung.” jihoon turns on his heels to get his stuff. “i need to go now, hyung. i still need to work on a few assignments.”

“get going now.”

jihoon hums, striding to the door. “rest well, hyung. you need to get better ‘cause i won’t be attending another physics class of yours.”

jihoon’s reply elicits a snicker from the older one. “yeah, yeah. i’ll make sure i’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“see you on campus, then.” jihoon bids his goodbye before walking out of the room to go home. 

while walking, his mind shifts to what his hyung had told him earlier. is there really any chance that he had just mistaken soonyoung for a rude guy? but there isn’t any other explanation to his response during their first meeting than simply being a prideful jerk, is there?

jihoon shakes his thoughts off, willing himself to focus on more important things.

soonyoung is nothing but a narcissistic bastard who happened to be good at dancing.

he has to be. 

Chapter Text

“hyung,” the younger calls. he points his finger on his nose bridge, shooting soonyoung a questioning look.

“oh, this?” soonyoung asks, touching the part where the band aid is stuck on. “chanced upon an absolute jackass of a person.” he shrugs. 

chan sighs. “is it jihoon-hyung, again?”

soonyoung only rolls his eyes, making chan chuckle. only jihoon can piss soonyoung off that bad. 

“by the way, hyung, i’ve heard from seungkwan that there will be a showcase next month.”

“what about it, chan?” asks soonyoung.

“are you going to watch? seungkwan said only a limited number of people will be allowed to watch since there will be judges from entertainment companies. you know, the school administration wants to avoid any possible ruckus from arising.”

soonyoung unconsciously pouts in thought. “i’ll think about it.”

“if you will, let seungkwan know so he can save you a seat. i heard it’s going to be a showcase open for all students of the music department.” 

“that sounds great,” comments soonyoung. “though, i doubt there will be someone as good as my favorite artist.”

this time, it’s chan who rolls his eyes. “yeah, yeah. stop right there before you go on another lengthy speech about your soundcloud crush.”

soonyoung snorts. “because they deserve it? i would literally walk a mile just to let them know how amazing they are.”

chan only scoffs before reminding soonyoung again about the showcase. “please be there. for seungkwan.”

soonyoung only shrugs. don’t get him wrong, he wants to support his friend. but just the mere idea of sitting in an auditorium for two hours listening to music of different genres (including genres he doesn’t like) is kind of a stretch. besides, he could use the extra time to practice new choregraphies.

“we’ll see.”

-

you see, today would have been a fair day for soonyoung. despite having felt an inkling of pain on his nose from time to time, everything seemed to go his way. he’s able to ace his written tests and garner praise from his professors with the initial choreography he has put together in the past week. 

but, as they say, one can never have it all. soonyoung’s peace, unbeknownst to him, was a sign of an upcoming storm. and by a storm, he meant a certain music production major.

it was like a repetition of yesterday’s scenario. this time, however, it’s the younger one who intentionally bumped him.

“you’re still discontent with what you did yesterday?” hisses soonyoung, pointing at the bright yellow plaster on his nose bridge.

“maybe if you’ve finally come to your senses and stop being an asshole, i would be content.”

soonyoung scowls. “i literally did nothing?”

jihoon sighs, mocking. “sorry to break it to you, shithead, but your mere existence is already an asshole move.” 

soonyoung opens his mouth to retaliate, but the younger is already stepping away. “by the way,” jihoon stops, a mischievous glint in his eyes displayed. “nice pick. pororo-ssi,” the younger says before walking away.

and, okay, soonyoung doesn’t have any issue with using a pororo-printed band aid (not that he had other options, anyway), but the way jihoon pointed it out irked him. the snickering of some students who happened to witness the encounter did not help as well. 

soonyoung glares. “what?” he asked, effectively shutting up the audible chuckles earlier. 

he only rolls his eyes at the apologetic smiles sent to him. like those would ever wipe the embarrassment away. and with that, soonyoung stomps his way to the practice room. 

-

“junhui!” soonyoung calls, pout on show as he barges in the spacious practice room. junhui immediately halts what he’s doing at soonyoung’s display of childishness, laughing by the second.

soonyoung huffs, “nothing’s funny.” junhui doesn’t stop laughing though. “do you have plasters?”

“uh,” junhui pauses, pointing at the pororo band aid already stuck on soonyoung’s nose bridge. “what for? you already have one?”

“i do but it’s designed with pororo!”

junhui raised an eyebrow, “and?” 

“i don’t like it,” soonyoung mopes, his pout getting even more evident.

junhui squinted his eyes. “you literally bought it. what do you mean you don’t like it?”

“i didn’t!” soonyoung defends. “it’s hansol’s. i didn’t have plasters so i asked him to give me some of his. i didn’t have an option.”

“why are you so worked up with the design now? pororo is cute! plus, didn’t you like pororo before?” 

“not anymore.”

“you’re such a handful,” junhui comments, trying his best to suppress his upcoming laugh. “i’m guessing it’s jihoon.”

“ugh, exactly! he’s the only intolerably annoying person, i swear. he notices every small detail about me and calls me out on it! like, doesn’t he have a life or something?!”

jun chuckles, shaking his head sideways simultaneously. “maybe he always teases you because he secretly has a crush on you.” 

soonyoung’s face morphs in disgust. “as if!”

“see,” junhui puffs out a breath, “i don’t care about whatever kind of band aid you put on. like you mentioned, it’s such a small detail, yet he notices. maybe you two are just emotionally constipated.”

“oh, cut the crap.” scoffs soonyoung, rolling his eyes at his friend.

junhui smirks, eyeing soonyoung teasingly. “besides—”

“shut it.” soonyoung walks behind junhui to take the small medicine kit he saw sitting at the corner of the practice room. he opens it in a second and replaces the plaster on his nose. soonyoung pats junhui’s shoulder with a small thanks before exiting the room, completely ridding of the yellow pororo plaster he totally despises now.

-

and if soonyoung thought that disposing of the pororo band aid ends his misery, then he’s completely wrong. as soon as he got out of his last class, he was greeted by jeonghan… and his hyung’s friend whose presence he didn’t want to acknowledge.

“hyung,” soonyoung croaks out in surprise. he didn’t miss the stifled laugh of the older’s companion on the side. jeonghan must have taken notice of this as he sees the older nudging the younger one the next moment.

“i just want to thank you again for coming by yesterday to hand me the tangerines.” jeonghan smiles. “i went to see seungkwan to thank him personally this morning and he said you were the one who insisted on handing them to me at the earliest.”

“ah,” soonyoung scratches his head, “it’s nothing compared to what you do when we’re feeling under the weather. nothing to thank me for.”

jeonghan hums. “i’ve heard the theater kids are looking for a dance major to help them with some stuff next week.”

“must be for the musical they’re planning to produce.”

jeonghan nods. “could be. are you considering it?”

“nah,” soonyoung abruptly replies. “got so much on my plate right now ‘cause there’s this upcoming competition we’re aiming to get into.”

“yeah? tmi,” jihoon interjects, earning a nudge from jeonghan.

“why are you here, anyway?” soonyoung irritatedly questioned.

“obviously to accompany jeonghan-hyung, hoping not to see you. turns out, it’s you he’s looking for.”

“hey, stop it,” jeonghan reprimands. “we got to keep going, soonyoung. see you around,” jeonghan bids, taking jihoon by his shoulders to make him start walking. 

“sure, see you around, hyung.” 

it was funny seeing jihoon protest against jeonghan’s actions. he obviously wanted to piss soonyoung off more, if only the older would permit. well, perhaps he badly wanted to upset soonyoung, as he turned his head back slightly in the latter’s direction to shout, “bye, pororo-ssi!” 

“jackass!”

Chapter Text

jihoon wakes up from his sleep not because of the protruding sun rays through the window curtains. neither from a bad dream nor the ring of his alarm. instead, he’s shaken awake by his hyung, the annoying one.

“who the hell let you in here?!”

seungcheol smiles cheekily. “good morning to you, too.”

jihoon groans, pulling on his duvet to cover the entirety of his body. he is not cold, he just hates seeing his hyung, especially given the situation.

“come on,” seungcheol mopes, “i brought you breakfast.”

“my roommate can cook me breakfast, thank you.”

“oh, really?” questions seungcheol. “well, apparently, mingyu was the one who suggested i bring over some breakfast.”

“ugh, can you cut to the chase?” jihoon groans. “you obviously have some underlying agenda. do me a favor and save time.”

seungcheol rolls his eyes at this. jihoon has always been hard to trick. “fine,” seungcheol breathes, “we need a music major’s input in choosing the actors for the musical we’re producing. jeonghan recommended you.”

“and? what about it?”

seungcheol sighs. “please, jihoon, can you help the team?”

“i don’t want to.”

seungcheol stands up; his face, unreadable. “okay,” he curtly replies. “you’re helping us with the audition.”

“no—”

“it’s an order,” seungcheol deadpans, pulling his phone out of his pocket. jihoon feels a sudden surge of dread in his system as he hears the older talking to his professor like everything is definite. jihoon could only roll his eyes at his apparent upcoming misery. seungcheol does not really back down. 

“… yes, sir. he will be there after his classes. thank you.” seungcheol turns to jihoon’s direction, a triumphant grin on display. “well, no turning back now.”

“fuck you.”

seungcheol only shrugs. 

-

when jihoon saw mingyu at the school cafeteria later that day, he spent a minute or two doing nothing but glare at the younger. the latter only flashed him a sheepish smile. well, maybe giving him an earful of cusses can wait. because, unfortunately, jihoon is already being called to go to the theater room.

“shouldn’t you be more annoyed at me than your roommate? after all, i was the one who recommended you to cheol.” jeonghan speaks, walking side by side with jihoon as they head to the theater room.

“i would have agreed to help them, anyway. they just really wanted to piss me off early in the morning. it’s common knowledge that i don’t like being woken up, yet those two really had to continue with their scheme.”

jeonghan chuckles. “maybe their love language is annoying you.”

jihoon’s face scrunches in disgust. “please, i’d rather have them hate me, then.”

“by the way,” jeonghan faces the younger. “are you joining the showcase happening in three weeks?”

jihoon sighs. “i would like to. i mean, there will be representatives from various companies out to scout talents. i’ve also heard there will be one coming from the universe factory.”

“but?”

“but… i don’t know. do you think i’ll be able to come up with something good within the given time? i don’t want to use the songs i’ve already released online…” jihoon mumbles. jeonghan wraps his arm around jihoon’s shoulders, squeezing them slightly.

“you’ll do great, jihoonie. you will.”

jihoon flashes a small smile. “hopefully.”

jeonghan side-eyes. “oh, you definitely will. when did you ever make a bad song?”

at this, jihoon chuckles. he may be inexpressive but he is genuinely grateful for jeonghan. “perhaps i’ll try something new this time.”

jeonghan flashes him one last smile before he announces, “we’re here.”

“thanks for walking me here, hyung.”

the older’s brow quirks up, “who said i only walked you here?”

“uh,” jihoon pauses, “you’re going to come with me?”

jeonghan smirks. “of course. i need to annoy someone after all.”

“hey, don’t think i didn’t hear you,” seungcheol pouts as he opens the theater room’s door wider, letting the newcomers in. 

“you’re supposed to hear it.”

jihoon rolls his eyes at both of his equally annoying hyungs. 

“just a heads up, jihoon,” seungcheol says. “you’re going to have some company today.”

and if earlier, jihoon thought that jeonghan and seungcheol are equally annoying, then he’s definitely wrong. choi seungcheol is a hundred miles more annoying than jeonghan. and inviting soonyoung in the theater room that afternoon proves it.

“choi seungcheol.” jihoon glares, making the older hide behind jeonghan.

“what? seokmin suggested i invite him.”

“you had the option not to.”

“but we need his help.” seungcheol smiles sheepishly. jeonghan only shakes his head at the absurdity of the scene.

“now, now,” jeonghan pats jihoon’s shoulder to placate him. “you don’t have to talk to him. just focus on your task and you’re good.”

jihoon could only roll his eyes at the lilt of amusement in the older’s tone. obviously, jeonghan is enjoying it. 

jihoon stomps his way to take his place a seat away from soonyoung. the professor overseeing the musical sits between them, good thing. though, the moment of tranquility was cut short when the professor had to excuse himself out to take a call. this made way for soonyoung to see that jihoon was there as well.

jihoon must have felt the glances soonyoung has thrown at his way because he turns his head to the other’s direction in a second. “thought you weren’t considering helping out. why are you here, huh?”

“what?” soonyoung raises a brow, “can’t i change my mind now?” 

“not when we’ve no choice but to work with each other, that is.” 

soonyoung shrugs. “well, feel free to get out.” 

before jihoon could retaliate, the professor overseeing the production came back. he takes his seat in between jihoon and soonyoung. so, jihoon opted to reach soonyoung’s foot under his chair and step on it hard enough to make soonyoung suppress a hiss. jihoon stifles a laugh, completely satisfied by the older’s mischief. though, it was replaced with annoyance (and a spike of pain) when soonyoung takes revenge. they go on and on about it, clearly showing no signs of backing down. both of them were willing to bear the throbbing on their feet just so they wouldn’t lose to the other.

but, like all cycles, theirs comes to an end as well. unfortunately for them, though, theirs was through a fuming professor who was clearly upset at having his foot simultaneously stomped on by students he did not even personally know.

“this is not a playground!” the old man reprimands. all heads in the theater room turn to their direction. jihoon sees seungcheol quickly make his way to them, obviously controlling the panic he has at bay. 

“we apologize, sir.”

“you better! clean this theater room after the audition or else i’ll tell the dean about your misbehavior.” the professor orders with finality in his voice. he glares at seungcheol, “no one’s allowed to help these two.” and with that, he left.

jihoon grumbles. he doesn’t want to be stuck with soonyoung for pete’s sake!

-

the audition ended after two hours. and as ordered, the two were left alone inside the theater room to clean up.

“are you seriously leaving me with that shithead?” jihoon whisper-yelled when seungcheol and jeonghan told him they would wait outside.

“we just follow,” seungcheol shrugged.

“don’t give me that bullshit. you can obviously stay. your professor won’t see anyway.”

“yeah, right, but he can track what time we’ll leave the vicinity.” seungcheol waved his id card. it’s the type that needs to be swiped to track who uses which room. clearly, they had no escape. “he knows the audition would last for two hours max. he’s the one who set that limit after all.”

jihoon could only groan. “fuck this,” he mutters.

and that leaves him to now. 

“what am i doing cleaning theater shit when i’m literally a dance major?” he hears the older curse. if there’s one good point about this, it’s that he can see soonyoung suffer. 

jihoon only focused on the task at hand. he wanted to get out of the room as soon as he can. and maybe, soonyoung had the same goal because he was mostly quiet and just sweeping around. of course, save for his occasional complaints.

“ugh, fuck!” soonyoung curses at the broom that slipped from his grasp. “why am i even following that professor’s order? it’s not like he will really report me to the dean. heck, he doesn’t even know my name!”

at that, jihoon tried his best to suppress the laughter bubbling inside his stomach. because true enough, the professor did not even bother to get their names.

jihoon panics, though, when a chuckle (or two) slips. he swiftly turns his head in soonyoung’s direction to check whether the older has heard. and, unfortunately for him, he did. 

jihoon felt his blood rush to his cheeks out of embarrassment. however, it ceased when he saw soonyoung laugh. and maybe it was contagious enough because the next thing he knew, they were both laughing. 

it was cut short, though, when it dawned on jihoon that soonyoung is still an asshole regardless of his funny complaints. he cleared his throat, glared, and continued cleaning in a rush, acting like that moment earlier didn’t happen. good thing, soonyoung did the same.

and when jeonghan interrogated him about the laughter they heard, he chose to ignore it all together. the older didn’t need to know that jihoon found his enemy’s laughs and smiles warm contagious even for only a brief moment. 

Chapter Text

as soon as soonyoung enters the cafeteria to grab some breakfast, he is greeted with weird looks from his friends.

“what?”

chan stares at him, squints his eyes even. “it’s that time of the year again, isn’t it?”

soonyoung only grins wider. confirmed. they’re about to hear soonyoung’s rambling again. you see, whenever this soundcloud artist soonyoung likes (whose name soonyoung’s friends don’t know of) uploads a new song, he turns into this ebullient, fondest fanboy you could find. he truly looks up to the artist. in fact, as his friends claim, soonyoung has started harboring a crush on the person knowing only their mere voice. 

“what is it this time?” seokmin asked curiously.

“oh,” soonyoung replies, too excited, “it’s such a fitting song for this season! i can’t even explain it in words? like, there’s really something about their voice. but the lyrics, seokmin, the lyrics! i think i’m falling in love.”

“uhuh,” chan replies, weirded out.

“you like that artist a lot, hyung, don’t you?” seokmin asks, knowing fully well what the answer is.

“i would literally drop to one knee and ask their hand for marriage if i see them.”

chan snorts. “you’re nuts.”

“i’m not!” soonyoung defends.

“yeah, you’re nut.”

“guess we’re not going to hear the end of soonyoung-hyung’s rambling about his crush today.” chan sighs. “i’m starting to hate being a part of our dance group now.”

“i don’t care about what you say, but we’re definitely dancing to this.” soonyoung remarks. chan could only sigh as he knows he can never convince the dance group’s leader to do otherwise, not especially when it’s about this certain soundcloud artist.

“i just hope it’s that good, soonyoung-hyung.” 

“oh, it is! when did i ever let you guys down?”

“touché,” chan replies in resignation. “should we go ask jun-hyung and hao-hyung, then?”

soonyoung shrugs. “they already agreed.”

and with that, soonyoung exits the cafeteria; sandwich in one hand and earphones plugged in his ears. for some, seeing kwon soonyoung suddenly bobbing his head while walking on the hallway is unusual. but for his friends, it just means that his favorite artist has already released a new track.

-

well, sometimes, soonyoung’s fondness over the songs of his anonymous favorite artist can go out of hand. and by out of hand, his friends mean soonyoung listening to it all day. every second of the twenty-four hours in a day, on repeat. 

in fact, if seungkwan will describe it in words, he will say, “soonyoung-hyung has more or less memorized even the breathing cues of that person.” 

frankly, the younger isn’t wrong. soonyoung probably has the artist’s voice well-memorized that he’ll definitely identify him with just two seconds into singing. he likes the artist that much. and that’s why seungkwan is annoyed right now because, holy shit, he can’t talk to his hyung properly! 

“hyung!” seungkwan raises his voice, unplugging soonyoung’s earphones just so he can get the older’s attention.

irritation boils in soonyoung’s stomach. “you didn’t have to interrupt my listening.”

“but you can’t even hear me,” seungkwan reasons. “i just want to confirm if you’re going to the showcase or not. it’s going to happen two weeks from now, and they need to finalize the headcount.” 

“do whatever you want,” soonyoung replies, snatching the earphones from seungkwan’s grasp with a huff.

“so much for being a jerk,” seungkwan mumbles, moping. whether soonyoung heard it or not, the younger one doesn't care.

-

you see, soonyoung listening to his favorite artist’s new track for the whole day isn’t all bad. it actually has benefits, as per wonwoo, his best friend. for an instance, soonyoung isn’t chatty inside the library. and wonwoo thanks the heavens for the tranquility because he badly needs to intensively study for a test in biology.

the only sound being heard from soonyoung is his occasional humming. and, goodness, wonwoo wishes for his favorite artist to release a song everyday! (he’s kidding, he actually misses soonyoung’s noisy ass sometimes).

another benefit, and probably the biggest one, is soonyoung can’t be disturbed. and by that, wonwoo means literally. soonyoung. can’t. be. bothered. not even by his sworn (wonwoo snorts) enemy, lee jihoon.

so when jihoon stretches his foot a little over to soonyoung’s way to make him trip, the latter doesn’t say anything. soonyoung did trip a little and heard jihoon laugh at it, but he doesn’t bat an eye. he only straightened himself and continued walking as if nothing happened. 

to say the least, jihoon was surprised. he was expecting to get an entertaining reaction, yet he was paid with no attention at all.

jihoon grumbles as he sees soonyoung and wonwoo getting farther. grimaces even when he sees wonwoo shaking his head, trying to stifle a chuckle. 

“shouldn’t you be glad he’s not mad at you?” joshua, jeonghan’s friend and jihoon’s senior, asks. “i mean, you didn’t trip him intentionally, so why would he be mad? although, i guess laughing at him was not nice.”

jeonghan cackles. “jihoon so intentionally tripped him. and he’s probably mad that his crush didn’t notice him.”

“he’s not my crush!” jihoon counters.

joshua throws jeonghan a questioning look, apparently unaware of what has been going on between the younger ones. “our jihoonie here claims to hate soonyoung, and they’ve been bickering here and there since last month.” jeonghan supplies.

“and why is that?”

“oh, he’s definitely—”

“an asshole,” jihoon interjects. 

jeonghan rolls his eyes. “as i was saying, he was so bummed out because soonyoung refused to help him. he was hurt that his potential crush turned out to be rude. well, at least, to him only.”

“oh,” joshua smirks. “interesting.”

“to make things straight, i don’t have a crush on that shithead nor consider that shithead a potential crush.”

“oho,” jeonghan teases, “you can never be sure, jihoonie. like in static electricity, opposite charges attract. in fact, they cause sparks.” 

this time, it’s joshua who rolls his eyes. “here we go again with jeonghan the physicist.”

“sparks of what? of hate? yeah, certainly.” jihoon says.

“or…” jeonghan smirks, “sparks of love.”

Chapter Text

with the showcase of the music department drawing near, jihoon has been very busy. aside from attending classes from nine to five, he has been squeezing his time to work on the composition he will use for the said event. 

for the first time, jihoon decided not only to produce a song but perform it as well. it took him a whole week to come to this decision, and albeit he’s still a bit hesitant, he will definitely push through with it. of course, he has to. not just because jeonghan will force him to continue to do so but also because he wants to.

jihoon believes it is about time he uses his voice with pride.

and that brings him to now; he is currently attending a music history class. though, rather than listen to his professor’s discussion, jihoon does nothing but scribble random words he can possibly use later for lyric-writing. 

this time, jihoon is aiming to write a song slightly diverting from his usual upbeat compositions. he doesn’t dance (or at least he believes he doesn’t), yet for some reason, he always ends up producing songs that are suitable to dance to. and he wants to challenge himself this time. maybe try writing a rhythm and blues sort of ballad? 

jihoon groans internally. he thinks he won’t be able to give justice to a ballad. here’s the thing, although he listens to r&b ballads a lot, like a lot, he can’t write one at the moment. why? perhaps because he lacks experience in the… romance scene. yeah, that. jihoon might have already written lyrics about love, but he does not know enough about it to be able to get across the emotions he wants his song to convey. so maybe the ballad is for another time.

later that day, when he talked to his jeonghan-hyung about it, the only reply he got was, “i don’t do music.”

and, wow, jihoon thought. that was helpful.

-

it’s unusual for jihoon to ask for help, let alone from a junior. but because he is in a clutch (and boy, he hates it!), he finds himself knocking on hansol’s, who’s two years junior from him, dorm room.

“hi,” jihoon greets when the door opens.

“jihoon-hyung? is there anything i can help you with?”

jihoon gives a small smile. “can i come in?”

“sure,” hansol answers, stepping aside to make way for the older to get in. “uh, you can take a seat here,” hansol says as he points to the tidier one of the two beds fixed inside the room. 

“is this yours?” jihoon asks before taking a seat. 

“nope,” hansol answers. “my roommate’s.”

jihoon jolts from where he’s sitting on the bed and quickly smoothes out the creases his weight caused. “i’d just sit on the floor.”

“no, hyung, it’s fine. my roommate is nice. i’m sure he’ll be cool with it.”

jihoon quirks his eyebrow, “and how are you so sure about that?”

hansol sheepishly smiles. “maybe because i’ve done it several times now?”

“goodness,” jihoon chuckles, “your roommate must be a saint to let you pass each time. i would definitely kick you out if you do that to me.”

“and that’s exactly why i’m grateful you’re not my roommate, hyung.” 

jihoon chuckles, “i could say the same to you.”

“anyway, hyung,” hansol says, taking a seat on the bed across from where jihoon is sitting; probably his own bed. “i’m assuming you need my help. do you need me to rap lines again on a song you’re producing?”

“ah,” jihoon shakes his head. “i actually came here to ask for your opinion.”

hansol hums. “is this perhaps about the upcoming showcase?”

“yeah,” jihoon sighs. “as much as i don’t want to bother you, knowing fully well that you’re also preparing for your performance, i just really need your insight. of course, only if you don’t mind.”

“it’s okay, hyung. i don’t mind at all.”

“thanks,” jihoon smiles. “so… i kind of want to perform an original composition.”

hansol nods, intently listening to what his hyung is saying.

“and i want to challenge myself this time, you know, divert from the usual bright, funky songs i make. that brings me here; i want to hear your thoughts about ballads,” jihoon explains.

“aren’t you the one who’s more familiar with ballads between you and me?” hansol replies. “i mean, you listen to them twenty-four-seven, hyung.”

jihoon pouts. “but i can’t seem to make one. i listen to them a lot, yet i feel like i won’t be able to convey the right feeling it’ll need.”

hansol nods. “you know, hyung?” the younger leans forward. “you can always try an unconventional approach like pop or something. ballads don’t have to sound melancholic every time.”

at this, jihoon’s face brightens up. “right! i knew i could count on you.”

hansol smiles, “i’m glad to be of help.”

from there, hansol and jihoon’s conversation went on. they talked about various things, mainly related to music. jihoon really finds hansol amusing. he’s one of the juniors whom he sees to have a lot of potential. and jihoon would gladly help him with that when asked.

hansol is busy pouring soda on a glass for jihoon to drink when someone knocks on the door’s room.

“i’ll go get it,” jihoon said to which hansol nodded.

and maybe jihoon instantly regrets volunteering, as he is greeted by none other than the shithead himself, kwon soonyoung.

“what are you doing here?” shock is obviously painting jihoon’s face, clearly unexpecting the newcomer’s presence.

“shouldn’t i be the one asking you what the hell you are doing in here?” soonyoung retorts.

“uh, hyungs?” hansol interrupts. “soonyoung-hyung, this is jihoon-hyung, my senior. jihoon-hyung, this is soonyoung-hyung, my roommate.”

“he’s your roommate?!” jihoon exclaims, eliciting a confused look from the younger. jihoon felt himself panic because he was literally sitting on the bed of the person he despised all this time. what a coincidence!

“yeah, what about it?” soonyoung answers, challenging.

jihoon rolls his eyes. “i wasn’t talking to you.”

soonyoung scoffs. “why would you even ask the obvious?”

“because i wanted to, obviously.”

“uh,” hansol utters, “are you… not on good terms?”

“who would be on good terms with an asshole like him?” jihoon snorts. “anyway, thanks for your help again, hansol. i got to keep going.” jihoon says as he makes his way to the door. of course, not without glaring at the younger’s roommate.

before jihoon can wave goodbye, however, soonyoung closes the door.

hansol let out a breath, “oh gosh, hyung, i thought you would slam the door on jihoon-hyung’s face.”

“i’m not rude, unlike him.”

-

to say jihoon is annoyed is an understatement. he is upset for obvious reasons. one being he’s having trouble writing lyrics, and two being he didn’t get to drink the soda hansol was preparing for him earlier, all because of one person. 

jihoon groans into the cold air of his room. he definitely needs a breather. and perhaps the heavens are testing him because he received a message from seungcheol in the next second.

“celebratory dinner with the guys on saturday. my place,” the message reads. jihoon lets another groan out. he definitely doesn’t have time for a break.

seungcheol might have an inkling that jihoon would refuse the invitation because, for some reason, his hyung sends a follow up message. “you’ll go or i’ll have jeonghan and joshua drag you here. your choice. see you.”

jihoon rolls his eyes in annoyance, but lets out a sigh not long after. great, now he has to ransack his brain two times more to clear his schedule on saturday night. 

jihoon was about to throw his phone out of his periphery when it vibrated. it isn’t a message from his friends, nor an email from one of his professors. instead, it was a notification about a comment left on the song he released days ago. 

“another great song from my fave artist ^^ i really love the beat of the song! though, what i love the most about this song are the lyrics!! you must be a genius for easily pulling off those lines. thank you for your hard work!” the comment goes. when jihoon checked the user that left it, he smiled as he saw it was from the same user who has commented on every song he has released.

“so it’s user ‘h’ again, huh?” jihoon smiles to himself. he guesses, reading feedback really gives a heap of motivation. that night, jihoon finds himself having no trouble writing lyrics continuously.

Chapter Text

seokmin barges into the room like sun rays seeping through the curtains in the morning. right, both of which are annoying, in soonyoung’s opinion. and it isn’t even the end of it all as he finds himself being dragged out of his bed’s comfort by the minute. 

“seokmin, no.” soonyoung warns, adamant on not getting up from where he’s comfortably lying.

“hyung, just this one time, please? for your favorite theater kid?” seokmin pleads, pulling off his puppy eyes to convince the older.

soonyoung sighs, “i’m tired from practice.”

“hansol will drive for us!” 

“i will?” hansol asks, confused.

seokmin turns to the younger while widening his eyes, hinting poor hansol to just get along. “you said you will.”

“yeah, sure,” hansol shrugs.

soonyoung grumbles. “look, i don’t care about who will drive or wherever you’re taking me. i’m just tired and hungry and—”

“we’re literally going to grab dinner for free,” seokmin cuts him off. 

“free dinner, you say?”

seokmin nods, “yeah, i sent you a message about it, didn’t i?”

soonyoung sits up. “okay, we’re going.”

seokmin and hansol could only shake their heads at their hyung. indeed, a fool-proof plan to make a broke college student get up from bed.

-

after several minutes of driving, hansol pulls up at an apartment complex unfamiliar to soonyoung. he hasn’t been here, let alone known who lives here. “are you sure i’m invited?” soonyoung asks skeptically.

seokmin rolls his eyes as he says, “i wouldn’t bring you with me if you weren’t, hyung.”

the three of them silently made their way to the elevator, lifting them to one of the higher floors. when the elevator doors slid open, they were greeted with a hallway that was fairly quiet. a stark contrast to what welcomed them when they entered the room of whoever is hosting the dinner.

to be fair, it wasn’t the kind of loud that’s deafening. it’s more of a festive get-together kind of loud. 

“whose place is this?” soonyoung inquired while letting his eyes roam around the vicinity. there aren’t many people around. he could say there are only about ten people or so, including them.

“it’s cheol-hyung’s,” hansol answers, shrugging. at the mention of his name, seungcheol turns in their direction, gesturing the newcomers to join in on the fun.

“it’s a celebratory dinner,” seungcheol explains when he noticed the confusion on soonyoung’s face. “or more like a farewell supper for my freedom. we’re starting the musical rehearsals on wednesday, so no parties for me in the meantime.” 

soonyoung smiles. “ah, good luck on that, mr. director.” 

seungcheol reciprocates the smile before saying, “that said, let’s all have fun tonight! if you guys want to drink, just slide into the kitchen.”

“oh, i’d love to,” hansol replies. “do you have wine?”

“i sure do,” seungcheol answered. “anyway, i have to attend to something quickly. enjoy yourselves, alright?”

the three responded with nods as seungcheol excused himself. he looked like he needed to make a phone call, soonyoung observed. 

at the kitchen, soonyoung didn’t expect to see minghao, his co-member in the dance team. “i didn’t know you knew seungcheol,” he says as soon as their presence was already known by the dancer.

“well, i’ll be a part of the team responsible for the costumes,” minghao answers. soonyoung nods, remembering that the younger is well-acquainted with styling. “want some wine?”

“sure,” the three newcomers responded in chorus. this caused minghao to lightly chuckle.

“okay, then.”

-

by the time dinner is served, soonyoung already feels a little lightheaded. well, it’s surely not good to drink liquor with an empty stomach. but because it was only wine, soonyoung had underestimated its probable impact. 

“are you alright?” a familiar voice asked. soonyoung turns to see who spoke, only to be greeted by the worried look of his best friend.

“you’re here?” 

wonwoo snorts. “i got invited. i just don’t know whether it was for dinner or to babysit you.”

“i’m not a baby,” soonyoung pouts. wonwoo lets out a chuckle, making soonyoung mope even more. the older averts his attention to his food with a huff. “it’s just wine.”

“sure,” wonwoo sarcastically replies.

soonyoung settles on ignoring wonwoo all together. he decides that the food is more worthwhile than listening to his best friend’s sarcastic remarks. he can handle alcohol; it’s not like he’s lightweight. perhaps, his exhaustion from practice contributed to why he’s feeling slightly sleepy already.

just when his eyes were about to close, he felt a sharp pain shooting from his toes. he stirs awake (to be fair, he didn’t entirely fall asleep. he was just about to… in front of dinner.) in his seat; senses becoming alive. soonyoung briskly snaps his head to his left, glaring at wonwoo who seemed shocked as well.

“stop acting, won,” soonyoung warns. it’s like he’ll throw a fist any minute from then.

“it wasn’t me,” wonwoo argues. soonyoung squinted his eyes at him, challenging. the younger, however, seemed honest. 

“who was it then?” soonyoung asks. 

wonwoo averts his gaze from his friend to the person sitting across soonyoung. “him?”

soonyoung follows wonwoo’s line of sight. lo and behold, he was met by jihoon who’s trying his hardest to stifle a laugh. instead of demanding an apology, soonyoung resorts to the most logical (in his opinion) course of action. that being stepping on jihoon’s foot as hard as possible. 

“what the fuck?” jihoon whisper-yells. his face morphed into a scowl, which caused soonyoung to smirk.

“you started it.” shrugs soonyoung.

“soon, stop it.” wonwoo reprimands. and maybe, soonyoung would have obliged if not for jihoon stepping on his foot yet again. though, when the former was about to retaliate, he heard a firm “kwon soonyoung,” from wonwoo.

“what?” 

“don’t,” warns wonwoo.

“but—” soonyoung doesn’t get to finish his sentence as he sees wonwoo glare at him. yeah, perhaps, he’ll stay put in the meantime. 

-

the night goes on with boisterous conversations and multitude shots of alcoholic drinks. it is amazing how there are already several empty bottles of liquor even if there are only a total of thirteen people in the room. soonyoung, despite being tipsy, enjoys the night talking with his friends. apparently, junhui and chan were also invited over. seeing seungkwan was not much of a surprise as he is close with seungcheol’s friends. 

it didn’t take much time before soonyoung started to feel dizzy. so, to avoid causing a mess, he opted to just sit on the couch. not long after, he hears a chuckle from the other end of the couch. soonyoung snaps his head in the direction of the noise. 

“what are you laughing at?”

jihoon looks at him, entertained. “you.”

“please, not now.” soonyoung rolls his eyes. 

“why bother drinking a lot when you obviously can’t handle too much alcohol?” jihoon teases, earning a scowl from the older.

“shut up. you didn’t even drink.” 

jihoon shrugs. “yeah, whatever.”

soonyoung doesn’t know why, but he keeps his gaze on the younger. surprisingly, jihoon doesn’t look as annoying as usual. and maybe, it was the younger’s laid-back demeanor that urged soonyoung to babble. “woozy… i’m starting to feel…”

it is hazy. but if soonyoung’s eyes aren’t deceiving him, jihoon looks shocked, almost like a deer caught in the headlights. he was about to ask the latter why when wonwoo holds him by the arm.

“let’s get you home,” says wonwoo before excusing both of them. jihoon only nods in response.

everything that followed was in a blur. soonyoung is starting to regret drinking too much, dreading the aftermath. though, before he knew it, he had already fallen asleep.

Chapter Text

a week passes by in a blink of an eye. and, surprisingly, not once did soonyoung bicker with jihoon in the past few days. not that he was looking forward to it; he was just expecting jihoon would be the usual— an asshole. having a peaceful week is a rarity. and soonyoung braces himself for what’s to come. perhaps, his intuition is good all along, as the tranquility is cut short. though, this time not by jihoon, but by chan, who’s currently dragging him out of the practice room.

“i don’t remember agreeing to this,” soonyoung complains.

chan rolls his eyes. “you can’t do anything anymore, hyung. seungkwan is expecting you there. you know damn well that you need to be there.” 

soonyoung didn’t bother to argue even further. after all, there’s nothing so bad about going to support his friend. it’s just that he’s tired, and, well, uninterested. 

soonyoung barely notices how, instead of going in the direction of the auditorium, he’s being dragged out of the campus. before he gets to ask, chan says, “we’re going to buy flowers first.” and maybe the younger caught the teasing glint in soonyoung’s gaze as he adds, “for common courtesy, hyung. seungkwan and hansol deserve that, at least. where are your manners?”

soonyoung cackles, hands thrown up in the air. “i didn’t say anything.”

“you were implying it,” chan snarls, causing the older one to laugh even more. teasing kids sure is a heck of an entertainment.

after a few minutes of walking (or in soonyoung’s case, dragging), they arrived at a quaint flower shop located not far from the campus. inside of the shop was an array of bouquets consisting of assorted blooms. 

“now what?” chan mumbles beside soonyoung.

soonyoung peeks at him, “what?”

“what are we going to choose?” chan questions, forehead creasing as he looks around the various flowers in display.

“i don’t know. you dragged me here.”

“do you think anything will work?” chan asks, his voice laced with worry.

“any flower is fine,” soonyoung starts, “of course, as long as it’s not a funeral wreath.”

at this, chan hits soonyoung on his arm, causing the other to laugh. “obviously!” the younger grunts, “i knew i should have just asked wonwoo-hyung to come with me instead.”

soonyoung only shrugs. “he couldn’t come, though, so, you’re stuck with me.”

“unfortunately,” chan mutters before deciding to roam around the shop to look for a cute bouquet. 

to soonyoung’s dislike, the younger is taking longer than necessary. he keeps glancing at his wristwatch, impatiently tapping his foot on the floor, as he waits for chan to come up with a decision. it’s been about five minutes, yet the latter is still empty-handed.

“you may want to hurry the hell up,” soonyoung comments. but chan only turns to him to stick his tongue out.

“i can use some help, you know.”

soonyoung didn’t need to be told twice. he swiftly went to the nearest stand and grabbed a random bouquet with what seemed like purple shrubs and another type of flower in yellow and white variants. he didn’t wait for chan’s affirmation any longer before he paid for the item. “you’re taking too long. the program’s going to start in under ten minutes.”

and perhaps that snaps chan out of his languidness, as he grabs hold of the older’s arm and leads him out of the store with him. “you should’ve told me sooner!”

-

numerous students from different departments are present to witness the music department’s showcase. even though soonyoung isn’t a participant, he can feel how big of a deal the showcase would be. he spots several personnels clad in formal attires, sharp gazes ready to criticize the performance of the students. if he remembers correctly, they are representatives from various entertainment companies vying to scout the best candidates of the institution’s music department. soonyoung shudders; the pressure is indeed on. 

shortly, the seats in the auditorium get filled in one by one. they are lucky that seungkwan reserved seats for them ahead of time. perks of having a friend with connections, soonyoung thinks. 

he sits only a few rows from the stage. beside him is chan who’s busy assembling a mini tripod for filming their friends’ performances later. on his other side were still vacant seats. soonyoung doesn’t know who else seungkwan invited, but he guesses they’re friends with the younger.

“hello,” a voice greets. soonyoung looks up and sees seungcheol with jeonghan and mingyu in tow. “didn’t know you’ll be here.”

soonyoung chuckles lightly. “i just got dragged here.”

“oh, good,” seungcheol replies. “shua’s going to perform.”

soonyoung nods. “figured. seungkwan and hansol are, too, by the way.”

mingyu grins. “well, i suggest you look forward to the last performer.”

soonyoung’s brow shoots up. “is it going to be a celebrity?”

“nope. but so much more interesting, nonetheless.” jeonghan smirks.

“ah, it’s starting!” chan squeaks from the side. the three take it as a cue to settle in their seats beside soonyoung. 

the brightly lit auditorium dulls into a dim one. only the lights on the stage were left open to emphasize the people on the platform. opening remarks were said and introductions were made. and soon, students from the music department started performing one by one. every performer is truly gifted, to say the least. their passion for music transcends, proving their years of practice and expertise in the said field. soonyoung occasionally lets out small ‘wow’s, his amusement difficult to contain. good thing, he wasn’t one of the judges because he’s sure as heck he’d have a hard time choosing if he were. 

soonyoung didn't notice the time pass by, as he was surprised when there were only ten performers left before the program officially came to an end. he hears jeonghan mumble on his side a small, “here comes shua.” before he sees the said guy on the stage, a ukulele in hand. 

joshua performs with ease. his voice becoming the highlight of his performance more than his skills in playing the instrument. if soonyoung were to describe the performance, it was short but sweet. frankly, he wouldn’t mind listening to the older’s voice for the whole day.

“try to be his friend and you’ll surely get tired of hearing him sing,” jeonghan comments, as if reading what’s on soonyoung’s mind. the latter chuckles. his hyung’s words surely contrast the proud look on his face.

after four more performances, seungkwan appears on the stage. seungkwan’s get up was simpler with only a microphone in hand. but, damn, his performance? one of a kind. soonyoung, albeit being friends with seungkwan for a long time now, still gets goosebumps every time the younger sings. with the piano accompaniment, seungkwan sweeps the whole auditorium in awe. 

“it’s weird coming from me, but i’m proud of him.” he hears chan mumble. 

soonyoung gives him a smile, patting his head slightly. “you should tell him that.”

“no,” chan instantly objects, bashful.

soonyoung nudges him, “you came here to support him. might as well make the most out of it.” chan doesn’t respond, perhaps he’s contemplating about it. soonyoung only giggles at how cute the younger one is. 

after seungkwan’s performance came hansol’s. soonyoung’s roommate appears on the stage clad in casual clothes, his vibes relatively chill as compared to the performers preceding him. as soon as he started rapping, the whole audience fell smitten with his flowy verses and witty wordplays. although aware of his roommate’s talent, soonyoung was still so impressed with hansol’s performance. he thinks it surely deserved the round of applause that followed shortly after he finished performing.

it is after the second to the last performance when soonyoung feels a light tap on his shoulder. “jihoon’s going to sing next,” jeonghan informs.

“he sings?”

jeonghan nods. “and he’s good at it. really good.”

soonyoung scoffs. “guess he’s lucky for being a talented jackass.”

“i suggest you focus on his performance,” jeonghan says, to which soonyoung snorts.

shortly, they hear rustles coming from the stage. jihoon is clad in a white dress shirt and pants of the same color. he could pass as an angel if it weren’t for his attitude, soonyoung thinks. the younger sits on a stool at the center of the stage, microphone on one hand and an acoustic guitar on the other. he lightly taps on the mic before he speaks.

“i’m lee jihoon, a music production student from the music department. it’s my first time performing in front of a crowd, and with an original to top it off.” jihoon smiles, eyes sparkling in excitement. “i hope you’ll enjoy listening.”

soonyoung was indifferent. it’s not like there will be something special about jihoon’s performance that can make his hate towards the younger dissipate, right? 

jihoon starts playing the first few chords, bobbing his head slightly to the tune. and, perhaps, soonyoung could have used a little warning. because as soon as jihoon starts singing the first line, soonyoung feels his heart erratically beating in his chest.

and if there’s one word to describe what he’s feeling, it would be a resounding— 

“shit.”

Chapter Text

brilliant white lights illuminate jihoon’s face as soon as he emerges from the backstage. jihoon takes his time striding to the stool set in the middle of the stage. he lets deep breaths out as he sits, scanning through the hundred faces in the crowd.

it is his first time performing in a showcase. he often opted to just submit his compositions and have them performed by vocal majors. this time, though, he mustered every ounce of courage he had to perform his original song himself. for a change. 

he’s not going to lie. a big part of why he joined was his jeonghan-hyung’s doing. the older one talked him into it. jeonghan would always bring the showcase up every chance he got to talk to the younger. and jihoon must admit, it motivated him big time. 

the remaining part of the reason why he joined is his desire to sing. his passion is too much to contain sometimes, jihoon guesses. but, maybe, it’s also because he wants to do something he can be proud of. 

jihoon is well-aware of the reality that songs are often recognized through the singer and not the producer. he doesn’t have an issue with that, really. he entered the field of music knowing that aspect enough. though, call him selfish or what, he still wants people to recognize his songs because of him as well. he doesn’t need to be the person at the top of the listeners’ minds when they hear the song he produced. he just wants to be acknowledged. as an artist. as lee jihoon . 

that brings him to the present— seated on the stage, anticipating eyes all focused on him. he huffs a breath. this time, he’ll sing; not to have a new song to upload online, but to let the world hear his voice live.

jihoon rests his acoustic guitar on his lap and in between his arms. he lightly taps on the mic before bringing it near his lips. and, excitedly, he speaks, “i’m lee jihoon, a music production student from the music department. it’s my first time performing in front of a crowd, and with an original to top it off. i hope you’ll enjoy listening.”

he taps on the guitar to count to three before strumming. diverging from his usual sound, the song he’s performing is not something one can dance to; neither a lively and frolic track like ‘shining diamond’ (his first release online), nor a pop, rhythm and blue-ish piece like ‘adore u.’ this time, jihoon opted to sing something that could remind his listeners of a listless morning walk by the beach filled with hushed hearty laughter shared with a significant other. something reminiscent of a young summer love.  

jihoon couldn’t help the smile tugging on his lips as he sang the line, “you’re my twenties.”

frankly, he hasn’t experienced something close to what the persona in his song has had. it’s funny, really; writing songs about love without having experienced one yet. in jihoon’s mind, he thinks that maybe someday he’ll get to encounter this phenomenon himself. for now, he’ll stay as a hopeless romantic composer. 

as jihoon sings the final lines, he can’t contain the happiness bubbling inside of him. he basks in the positive energy he receives from the audience. he sees how the crowd is enjoying his performance, even swaying to the tune of his song. and he couldn’t feel more accomplished. 

jihoon leaves the stage with a wide grin on his face. for a moment, he forgets about wanting to impress company representatives to score a spot for their scouting program. all jihoon could think about is how delighted he is that people heard a part of his heart— a part of what makes him who he is. 

and, perhaps, the world doesn’t really allow one to be completely happy. jihoon learns this as he proceeds backstage and hears comments he wished he hadn't heard. it definitely is true how a slight negativity can trample the hefty positivity one has gained. and it sucks . it sucks how one “that lee really thinks he’ll be scouted with that one lame song?” ruined the fun for jihoon. it stings how another “lee jihoon sure acts like he’s some big shot when he’s far from being one” crumbles the little confidence he has.

jihoon feels tears well in his eyes. he wants to leave, to pretend he didn’t hear anything. he wants to believe that they were just saying those things out of spite and not because it’s the truth. jihoon wants to retreat and step out of the room. but his legs, his damn legs , won’t move. jihoon feels his body stiffen, frozen in place, not knowing what to do. 

just when he’s about to hear another unsolicited comment, he feels warmth touching the sides of his head. suddenly, there is a pair of hands covering his ears, shielding him from the harsh words directed at him. 

jihoon pries away from the contact, but the person whose hands were covering his ears doesn’t budge. and, maybe, the person also reprimanded the people throwing hate comments at him because, all of a sudden, they were scrambling to leave. 

shortly, jihoon feels the warm hands on his ears starting to get loose. although reluctant to let go of the warmth, he takes this opening to force the person’s hands off his head and look them in the eye. to say jihoon is surprised is an understatement. who would’ve thought he’d see kwon soonyoung standing behind him, protecting him from the hateful people? when soonyoung himself hates him?

“what was that?” 

soonyoung frowns. “what was what?”

“why did you do that?” jihoon questions with urgency.

“because i wanted to?”

“damn it,” jihoon grunts. “i’m not in the mood to argue with you.”

“what? should there be another reason?”

“kwon, please,” jihoon begs. “not now.”

soonyoung sighs. for some reason, he looked annoyed. but the way he speaks to jihoon— it is soft and warm, somewhat careful. jihoon was almost sure soonyoung would continue beating around the bush. but what the older said next was something he never expected to hear; not from him, not from anyone who barely knows him in person. 

“you’re woozi, right?” 

Chapter Text

“w-what?” jihoon stutters out.

“you’re woozi,” soonyoung states. 

jihoon’s eyes widened, his guard suddenly heightening. “what?” he scoffs. “there’s no way i’m that woozi from soundcloud.”

soonyoung’s eyebrow shoots up. “yes, you are. you do realize that i didn’t mention anything about soundcloud, yet you know about it.”

jihoon freezes because, shit , soonyoung’s right. it was him who brought up about soundcloud and not the older. jihoon stares at the floor, dumbfounded. soonyoung, on the other hand, was kind enough not to press on, allowing enough time for the younger to redeem himself.

“h-how did you know i am…” jihoon mumbles, “woozi?”

“i recognized your voice.”

jihoon felt his lungs constrict. “how?”

soonyoung shakes his head. “it doesn’t matter.” soonyoung stares at the younger pointedly before continuing, “what matters is that you should never let anyone pass after saying awful things to you. don’t just stand and allow them to trample over your craft or your passion. you do not ever deserve to be looked down on like that, lee. not with your talent. they’re just insecure. they only want to drag you down, so never ever give them the chance to do so.”

“do you think i’m fainthearted?” jihoon snorts. “i can take care of myself well, kwon. you don’t have to tell me what to do.”

soonyoung only rolls his eyes. “tell me that when your tears don’t pool in your eyes anymore after hearing senseless shits from other people.”

before jihoon could retaliate, he heard his name being called by his professor. “someone wants to see you, mr. lee,” his professor explained, as she got near him.

but when he was about to walk to his professor, he felt something thrusted on his chest. he looked down at it and saw flowers held in soonyoung’s hand. jihoon meets soonyoung’s eyes in question.

“for courtesy,” soonyoung says. jihoon takes the flowers from the older’s hand. there are two flowers that look the same but in different colors— one is in yellow and the other is in white. there is also a small shrub of purple flowers that jihoon doesn’t recognize.

“you should head over there,” soonyoung reminds, gesturing to the area behind him. jihoon looks over and sees his professor waiting.

“congratulations,” soonyoung greets before he excuses himself. he strided quickly, making jihoon unable to say his thank you.

with a sigh, jihoon walks to where his professor is, the flowers in one of his hands. his professor greets him with a wide smile, seemingly excited with how she was looking all giddy. 

“can i help you with anything, ma’am?” jihoon asks politely. 

“i have good news for you, mr. lee,” his professor starts. “but i think it would be best if someone else breaks the news for you.” she ushers jihoon to the quieter part of the backstage. jihoon suddenly feels nervous, despite his professor’s assurance that the news is going to be good. 

jihoon becomes more nervous when he sees two men waiting for their presence. he gulps as they near them. when he is already facing the two, his professor excuses herself to give them privacy, making his nervousness escalate. but all of his anxiousness and negative thoughts from earlier dissipated when the two men introduced themselves.

“i’m bumzu,” the shorter of the two says, “and this is—”

“baekho,” the taller one says, offering his hand to jihoon. jihoon takes his hand to shake while gracing a small smile on his face.

“right. we’re representatives and producers from the universe factory…” at the mention of the company name, jihoon’s mind blanked out. he can’t believe someone from the universe factory is currently speaking with him! for jihoon, performing in front of a crowd where representatives from the said company already feels like a fever dream. and, yet, he’s here in front of the representatives— no, the producers— he aspires to work with in the future! at the moment, he can’t help his heart that’s in overdrive. jihoon… he’s blissful.

“we hope you will consider our offer,” bumzu finishes. jihoon blinks, once, twice. fuck, he wasn’t able to focus on what bumzu was saying!

“p-pardon?”

baekho lets out a light chuckle. grinning, he jokes, “don’t mind bumzu-hyung. he’s too formal, isn’t he?” though, he continues to explain. “what he was trying to say is that the universe factory is looking for a potential junior producer. and after seeing your performance earlier, we would like to give you an offer for the said position because, wow, you’re so impressive! though, of course, you have to finish your degree first because we don’t encourage dropping out from school.”

jihoon snickers with a nod. “don’t worry, i won’t.”

“good to know,” baekho says in relief. “that being said, we hope to collaborate with you in the future. preferably, when you’re already a part of the team.”

“consider it a deal, then.” jihoon smiles.

baekho’s eyes slightly widen. “well, i did not expect your response to be this quick.”

“but we’re pleased with your acceptance, don’t get it wrong.” bumzu quickly interjects, making jihoon laugh.

“it’s settled, then.” baekho smiles. “we will forward the other details through your email, mr. lee.”

the talk went on for another minute before the two older producers had to leave, though, not without getting jihoon’s contact information. likewise, jihoon leaves backstage, a blinding smile plastered on his face.

-

jeonghan, along with seungcheol, mingyu, and joshua, greets jihoon as soon as he gets out of the auditorium. the older’s arms are wide-open, ready to engulf jihoon in a tight hug. and the younger wanted to evade it but didn’t have much energy to do so, as he found himself already being trapped in the middle of an unsought group hug. 

“y-you can let me b-breathe now.” jihoon pants as he squirms away from the bunch. 

“congratulations, hyung! we’re so proud of you!” mingyu greets. the other three also give their congratulatory greetings for the younger. jihoon takes the opportunity to congratulate joshua as well, to which the older replies with a short “thanks.”

the five of them walk together to go to mingyu and jihoon’s dorm. they will eat home-cooked dinner in care of mingyu for post-event celebrations. and while the three, mingyu, seungcheol, and joshua, are chatting raucously, jihoon and jeonghan are three steps behind. the younger one takes the opportunity to tell jeonghan about his thoughts.

“hyung,” he starts, “did you happen to, uh, unintentionally tell someone else about my secret?”

jeonghan turns to him. “secret? you mean you being woozi?” he asks in a hushed voice. jihoon nods.

“no.”

“no? are you sure?” jihoon inquired.

jeonghan shrugs. “it’s not like i’ll benefit from telling people about it.”

“… then how?” jihoon asks, eyes trained on the ground. “how did kwon know i am woozi?”

jeonghan chuckles. “well, if there’s one thing i know, it’s that soonyoung has known woozi even before you let me in on your secret. he likes— no, loves listening to woozi’s songs. his friends would definitely agree.”

“what are those, by the way?” jeonghan points at the flowers on jihoon’s hand.

jihoon glanced at them, “kwon handed these to me earlier. for courtesy, he said.”

“you call him by his surname now?” jeonghan teases, causing jihoon to glare at him. 

“so,” the older diverts the topic before jihoon gets annoyed. “that’s why he picked out flowers from chan’s bouquet earlier, huh? interesting.”

“now i feel worse,” jihoon admits. jeonghan’s brow quirks up in question. “i kind of said rude things to him… despite him being nice to me for once.”

“and now you feel bad for being rude, too,” jeonghan points out. 

the younger hits him on the arm. “you’re not helping at all, hyung.”

jeonghan giggles. “it’s simple! just go to the practice room he frequents and apologize to him tomorrow.”

“what if he doesn’t accept it?”

“i don’t know, maybe offer him something like lunch or anything he wants.” jeonghan shrugs, “though, i’m pretty sure he’ll forgive you. what do we know, perhaps he’s forgiven you already as we speak.”

“and how could you be so sure he will?”

“i just know.” jeonghan winks.

jihoon sighs. well, it’s not so bad to give it a shot.

“alstroemerias and lilacs,” jeonghan blurts out of nowhere.

“hm?”

“the flowers, i mean,” jeonghan expounds.

jihoon smiles. “where did you learn that from?”

“wonwoo.”

“oh,” jihoon whistles. “the botany kid.”

“yep,” jeonghan affirms, popping the ‘p.’ jihoon treads his fingers over the petals of the flowers, a small smile forming on his lips.

jeonghan looks over with a knowing grin. “white and yellow alstroemerias and purple lilacs, huh.”

Chapter Text

jihoon couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night. he has been pondering about what happened backstage during the showcase. who wouldn’t? it was such an eventful day! he literally got offered a job for after he graduates, had a filling dinner with his friends, and… there’s soonyoung’s unusual behavior towards him. not that he thinks it was bad; he is just not used to all of it. jeonghan telling him about the possible meaning of the flowers didn’t help at all.

“if i remember correctly, yellow alstroemerias symbolize happiness and optimism. the white ones can mean pure friendship or, uh, love.” jeonghan eyed jihoon teasingly.

“there’s no way they mean those,” jihoon argued.

jeonghan only laughed. “purple lilac shrubs, on the other hand, symbolize spring or, simply, fresh starts.” the older shrugged. “they could also mean love; the romantic type of love.”

jihoon shakes his head at the memory. hearing those from jeonghan was already bad in itself. imagine how much worse he felt when he confirmed last night that his hyung was indeed telling the truth. “stupid flowers,” jihoon mutters. and maybe, he feels stupid too for entertaining his unuseful thoughts.

he gets up from his bed to prepare for the day. there’s nothing much on his schedule. he just has to attend classes in minor subjects and submit a few requirements due for the day. after that, he’s free to lounge in one of the studios on campus… and perhaps talk to someone.

jihoon shakes his head as he opens the door to head to school. today, too, will surely be nothing less than a momentous one.

-

when his classes were done, jihoon went straight ahead to the practice room where soonyoung frequents. honestly, he wanted to go to the studio to work on some songs first. but his jeonghan-hyung had advised him to go talk to soonyoung first as, per jeonghan’s words, “there’s nothing in the world that can bother you when you’re in a studio.” and jihoon would have argued if only the older didn’t pull that “you weren’t even fazed when an earthquake struck. you were still busied by your guitar,” line. 

so, okay, maybe apologizing first is the most logical plan. 

as he nears the practice room, jihoon starts to hear the loud music blaring inside. he couldn’t help but get curious by it. so, shortly, jihoon finds himself peeking through the small glass pane on the room’s door. and perhaps jihoon could’ve used a little bit of warning, for what he sees is something he definitely did not expect.

at the center is soonyoung, dancing. jihoon admits, he knows damn well how good of a dancer soonyoung is. heck, he secretly replayed that dance cover video jeonghan showed him multiple times! it was literally the reason why he approached soonyoung to ask for help on that one project where he needed a choreographer. and, also, the reason why he got disappointed when his request got turned down (in the rudest way possible, his brain supplies). 

what takes him by surprise, however, is how otherworldly soonyoung dances in person. maybe it’s the way he moves in a sharp but graceful manner or the way his body sways along to the music. it could also be the controlled expression on his face or the sharp gaze he directs at the mirror. jihoon doesn’t know. and the somewhat sultry song doesn’t help at all. 

jihoon felt his heart pick up a pace when he heard the music stop. he backs away from the small window on the door, ready to leave. apology be damned. 

well, until he hears someone clear their throat. “are you waiting for soonyoung?” 

“uh,” jihoon scratches his head, hesitating. “kind of.”

“what for?” junhui asks.

“i don’t need to tell you, do i?”

junhui smugly grins. “just curious. i mean, it’s not every day that i see a certain lee jihoon watching the guy he hates the most dance.”

jihoon whips his head in the taller’s direction. junhui is snickering, and jihoon gets annoyed by this. “i just happened to see it.”

“sure, it’s not like soonyoung will know you tiptoed just to peek at him, anyway.”

jihoon gasps, appalled. “i didn’t!”

“well,” junhui shrugs, “you don’t have to worry. i think you’re his type, too.”

the younger’s response comes a bit too quickly, “i don’t like him!”

“sure,” junhui teases.

jihoon grimaces. “stop it, jun.”

before junhui could reply, the door opened. and it may sound weird coming from jihoon, but he is thankful soonyoung decided to open the door. junhui is one of his good acquaintances, sure, but he definitely doesn’t need all the teasing. especially not when it’s as unrealistic as him and soonyoung being interested in each other.

“uh, what’s this?” soonyoung asks, gesturing at the two persons in front of him.

“jihoon needs to tell you something,” jun answers.

“i do?” jihoon blurts out.

soonyoung looks confusedly, “he does?”

junhui rolls his eyes and doesn’t speak. instead, he shoves jihoon into the practice room with soonyoung and closes the door. “just fucking make out or whatever! you’re frustrating me.”

after recovering from junhui’s stunt, soonyoung straightens up. he glances at the younger who’s fumbling with the hem of his shirt. “um,” soonyoung stutters out, “h-hi?”

“i’m sorry about last night,” jihoon mutters almost inaudibly, but soonyoung hears everything.

“for what? for being rude?” soonyoung questions. “wow, that’s new. didn’t know you feel bad for being an asshole.”

jihoon badly wants to retaliate, but he resists the urge. he reminds himself of his objective, and that is to apologize sincerely. because he knows how mean he was the other night, which is something that soonyoung didn’t deserve after helping him.

“i did, that’s why i want to apologize.” jihoon says, lowering his head to avoid the other’s gaze.

“okay.”

jihoon looks up and blinks. “okay?”

soonyoung hums. “i wasn’t really mad. i totally get why you were upset last night. and though i wish you didn’t direct your frustration at me, it was understandable. i would feel the same if i were in your shoes. it’s no biggie. i appreciate your apology, though.”

“but you just said i was an ass—”

“i only said that to mess with you.” soonyoung chuckles. “learn to loosen up sometimes. don’t take everything seriously.”

“okay?” jihoon responds in disbelief.

“is that all?”

“no. well,” jihoon scratches his nape, “thank you for that— i mean, for not letting me further hear those unsolicited comments and for the kind words. and for the f-flowers, too. yeah.”

“i didn’t know you could be this sincere,” soonyoung teases, causing jihoon to huff.

“just so you know, even though you’re an asshole in every way possible, i’m willing to repay the favor. just ask.”

“so, you don’t like the feeling of being indebted, huh?”

“shut up.”

“well, if you insist…” soonyoung taps his pointer finger on his chin in feign thinking. “maybe first dibs on your future releases would suffice.” 

to say that jihoon is surprised is an understatement. soonyoung’s request… it never crossed jihoon’s mind. “what?!”

“i want to be the first ever person to hear the songs you’ll release in the future.”

“no way!” jihoon protests.

“oh, so you’re not true to your words,” soonyoung nods. “that’s just bad.”

“why would you even want to hear them first? is that how much you like my compositions?”

soonyoung rolls his eyes. “your being an asshole doesn’t make your songs any less good,” he says before he starts pushing jihoon towards the door. jihoon wriggles away from the contact. just what the hell is wrong with people and their desire to shove him? 

“what the fuck?!” jihoon curses aloud.

“i still have to practice,” soonyoung responds, opening the door and continuing to push him out of the room.

“you can just literally ask me and i’d willingly walk out, you know!” 

“yeah, whatever.” soonyoung stops pushing jihoon, who’s already outside. “i’ll see you at the studio. bye.” soonyoung says in one breath before closing the door.

jihoon stomps his feet as he walks away from the practice room. though, shortly, he halts. he freezes in his tracks as he belatedly comprehends what soonyoung just said. 

“my studio?!” 

Chapter Text

jihoon likes to follow routines. he has one for morning, for work, for exercise, and even for going to bed. he makes sure that he performs every step correctly; he doesn’t like alterations nor disruptions. so when a certain dance major showed up in front of his studio the day after his visit to the practice room, jihoon felt slightly put out.

“what are you doing here?” he asks, face morphed into a frown.

“to visit, obviously.”

jihoon squinted his eyes. “i don’t remember ever inviting you over.”

soonyoung feigned hurt. “what happened to the ‘i’m willing to repay the favor. just ask.’ now?”

“i vividly recall not agreeing to your request,” jihoon counters.

“but that’s what i want you to repay me with,” soonyoung argues. “didn’t know you’re the type of person who doesn’t keep their word.”

and because jihoon has this tall pride, he might have dug his own grave by saying, “okay, geez! there’s no harm in letting you hear them first, anyway. just fucking shut up and we’re good.”

at that, he sees soonyoung genuinely smile at him for the first time before he goes off to practice.  

-

jihoon thought that agreeing to soonyoung’s request would give him peace of mind. unfortunately for him, he finds out otherwise when he spots soonyoung standing in front of the studio he frequents the next day, patiently waiting for him to arrive.

“don’t you have after-class activities to attend to?” jihoon asks irritably.

“they can wait,” comes soonyoung’s short reply.

you see, if there’s one thing jihoon has learned about the other after months of bickering with him, it’s that he’s stubborn. awfully so.

“kwon, allowing you to have first dibs on my songs does not mean you get to go in this studio whenever you want to.”

soonyoung pouts like a kid, and jihoon badly wants to punch his face because what the hell is he acting this way for?! “i’m already here, though.”

“and? you can still leave.”

“but i don’t want to,” soonyoung shrugs.

jihoon messes his hair in frustration. “honestly, what’s with you?” he points his finger at the older, accusing. “you’re acting strange.”

“no, i’m not,” answers soonyoung. “this is how i usually am, especially with my friends.”

jihoon grimaces. “we’re friends now?!”

“no!” comes soonyoung’s quick reply. “stop assuming. it’s just a ceasefire.”

“who informed you about this place, anyway? i don’t remember seeing you go around this area.”

“cheol-hyung,” soonyoung answers nonchalantly.

jihoon’s eyes grew wide, “seriously, that gu—”

soonyoung, though, cuts him off. “don’t you have any plan on, i don’t know, opening the door and letting us in the studio?”

and although jihoon wanted to retaliate, he couldn’t. because just when he was about to, he felt stares pointed at them, all weirded out. embarrassment shoots up as soon as jihoon realizes how long he and soonyoung have been bickering in the hallway. damn soonyoung for not pointing it out sooner. 

out of panic, jihoon grabs the older’s wrist and pulls him along into the studio. “nice place,” jihoon heard soonyoung comment, to which he rolled his eyes.

“if you plan to stay, then shut up. i need to work on something,” jihoon orders. soonyoung nods in response and takes a seat on the couch just behind the desk where the younger will work. 

here’s the thing, jihoon allows his friends to come over to the studio even when he’s busy working on a new composition. in fact, he asks them to sing for the demos he makes. thus, having a person or two in the studio is pretty much a usual matter. however, soonyoung and him are not friends; they’re not even civil with each other. and that fact is what he thinks accounts for the odd rhythm his heart is producing. jihoon doesn’t know why he’s nervous. perhaps it’s because soonyoung is someone unfamiliar enough for him to feel cautious around? or maybe because he knows that jihoon is woozi? 

jihoon’s thought prompted a question, so he spun around to look at the other. “how did you discover woozi, by the way?” 

“hmm,” soonyoung thinks loudly, “if i remember correctly, it was when i was looking for songs to dance to on soundcloud? i happened to come across ‘shining diamond’ in the tags and i thought it was really cool.”

jihoon nods. “are you..?”

“yeah?”

jihoon gulps, a bit hesitant, but continues nonetheless. “do you happen to be user ‘h?’ they always comment on my songs so i’m quite curious.”

soonyoung tries his best to fight off the smirk forming on his lips. “are you endeared by the comments?”

“i asked you first. don’t answer me with another question,” jihoon snarks. 

“well,” soonyoung starts with a teasing lilt. “i’m not.”

“oh.”

“you seem very disappointed, mr. lee,” soonyoung teases. “do you like that fan of yours?”

jihoon looks at him in disgust, obviously taken aback by the older’s statement. “no! i just want to thank them.”

“hmm, so does that mean i still have a chance?”

jihoon grimaces. “what in the hell are you even talking about?”

soonyoung chortles, entertained by jihoon’s reactions. “just kidding.” he shifts in his position before saying, “user ‘h’ is jeonghan-hyung. ‘h’ for ‘han,’ get it? i don’t know what got him to start that account. i was just telling him about your songs one day, and then the next day, he informed me of his newly opened account he used to leave comments. just ask him if you want to know why. he didn’t tell me his reasons.” 

jihoon nods in understanding. “but, between the two of us, i’m definitely the bigger fan,” soonyoung adds with a wink. 

and, perhaps, for the second time that day, jihoon regrets ever offering to repay soonyoung for his kindness.

-

one visit became two… three… seven… until jihoon lost count all together. he doesn’t even know how it happened. all he remembers is that soonyoung just showed up at the studio one day, and from then on, it became a daily thing. 

somehow, along the way, soonyoung waiting for him in the hallway to greet him with a small ‘hello’ before he opens the door to the studio has already become a part of his every day. little by little, their awkward and tension-filled exchanges eased into casual, relatively amicable conversations. 

and unbeknownst to jihoon, soonyoung is becoming a part of his daily routine, gradually and steadily.

Chapter Text

the studio is cramped today. jihoon, along with his hyungs, is spending their vacant hours in the room. while jihoon is busy with his usual stuff, seungcheol is slumped on the couch, reviewing his elementary stagecraft lesson; at the center table is jeonghan solving his physics problem set; on the desk is joshua rewriting his vocal arranging notes. 

this is the usual scene in the studio whenever they’re together. it’s so ordinary that jihoon undeniably forgot about his daily visitor. he’s only reminded of this when he hears the door creak open, revealing soonyoung who just got out of his team’s dance practice.

“hi?” soonyoung greets hesitantly. it wasn’t his usual loud greeting, but it was enough to make three heads turn in his direction.

“oh,” jihoon lets out as he faces soonyoung. “i forgot to tell you they’d be spending their free hours here. sorry.”

soonyoung nods in understanding. “it’s okay, i don’t really mind. though—” soonyoung pauses, walking to where jihoon is to hand the chilled cola and packets of snacks he bought. “i didn’t buy enough snacks for all.”

before jihoon could say anything, jeonghan interrupted. “it’s fine, soonyoungie, we’re not hungry at all. besides, it’s only jihoon whom you went here for, am i right?” the older says, teasing.

“it’s actually the song i’m working on that he went here for, hyung,” jihoon answers.

though, it seems that his reply is not convincing enough. behind jeonghan, seungcheol comments, “yeah, and soonyoung brought the snacks for the song as well.”

joshua wheezes at this, making jihoon glare at the two of them. “it’s for courtesy,” jihoon defends.

“is it for courtesy?” joshua asks soonyoung.

“it’s not for courtesy.”

joshua props up from his seat, squinting ever slightly as he asks soonyoung again. “what is it for, then?”

“uh,” the dancer scratches his head. “well, um, lee tends to skip meals often, so it’s for him not to get hungry, i guess?”

jeonghan hums. “you’re such a sweet and caring friend, soonyoungie.”

“we’re not friends,” jihoon clarifies, making three heads turn in his direction.

“you’re not friends?” joshua asks, which annoys jihoon because he’s been second-guessing the younger’s answers twice now.

“we’re not. he only goes here to listen to whatever i’m composing. that’s it,” jihoon says with more conviction now. soonyoung, on the other hand, doesn’t utter anything. 

jeonghan throws jihoon a look of suspicion, to which jihoon only rolls his eyes. “they’re definitely friends,” he hears seungcheol say from behind him.

jeonghan turns to him, winking. “or even more.”

shortly, silence befalls them. they are all busy tending to their respective tasks, only occasionally talking to one another when they need a breather. soonyoung is seated in one corner, just observing the other four people he is with. he’s already done for the day, so he’s got time in his hands to lounge around. 

when seungcheol’s done reviewing, he averted his attention to soonyoung. “you do this every day?”

soonyoung, albeit confused, still answered, “do what, hyung?”

“this,” seungcheol says, moving his finger in a circular motion. “visiting jihoonie, bringing him food…”

“ah,” the younger chuckles before nodding bashfully.

“and you’re not friends?”

soonyoung hums. “lee just said we’re not, so, yeah. well, to be fair, i kind of forced him into this whole hang out thing, anyway.”

“just so you know, he’s stubborn,” seungcheol says.

“i can see that.”

“no, you don’t get it.” seungcheol moves closer to the younger. “he doesn’t do what he doesn’t want. so, even if you force him to agree to something, he won’t.”

soonyoung nods his head in understanding. “unless he has his pride on the line, i guess.” seungcheol only squints his eyes at him, unconvinced, but he lets it go. 

not long after, a soft sound echoed from the speakers in the room, taking everyone by surprise, including jihoon. he didn’t notice that it was the speakers he connected to the computer and not his headphones. upon realizing, he feels heat rush onto his face, coloring his cheeks and ears light pink out of embarrassment. jihoon can’t face the four pairs of eyes looking in his direction. the attention is too much for him, especially because he accidentally played the demo he just finished arranging. 

“wow,” soonyoung blurts out. “it’s only two seconds into the song, yet i can already tell that it will be a hit.”

“shut up,” jihoon snarls. but the deepening shade of pink on his ears gives away his peevish pretense. “no one even listens to what i put out.”

soonyoung pretends not to hear jihoon’s remark. instead, he continues, “though, it’s a given that whatever you compose is a masterpiece. and you never fail to amaze me everytime.” 

hushed snickers follow afterwards. the three hyungs are entertained by the younger ones’ interaction, especially with how red jihoon has become. if there’s one thing they learned today, it’s that soonyoung can make jihoon flustered (in a good way).

when the skies started changing hues from blues to oranges, seungcheol, jeonghan, and joshua excused themselves to go home. 

“aren’t you coming with us, soonyoung? jihoon will probably stay until eight,” joshua asks, concerned.

soonyoung shakes his head. “it’s okay, hyung. besides, it’s much better if he has someone to accompany him to go home.”

joshua was about to speak again when he felt a light jab on his side. it was jeonghan, signalling him to just let the younger ones be. so instead, he settles for an “alright.”

“thanks for having us, hoon. we’ll be taking our leave now,” seungcheol bids for the three of them. and just like that, the group of five earlier diminished to two. 

and maybe, having more than two people in the studio earlier was draining for jihoon, as he wrapped up earlier than expected today. by seven, the two of them are already outside the room, on the way home. 

a comfortable silence engulfs them as they walk side by side. sometimes, their arms brush, but none of them flinches at the contact. it’s been a while since they started going home together after spending time in the studio. at first, jihoon would complain when soonyoung would accompany him. he wouldn’t let the older get at least one foot near him. whether he got tired of reprimanding the other or he grew comfortable around him now, jihoon doesn’t know. all he’s aware of is that soonyoung may be an asshole (jihoon likes to believe this because soonyoung won’t stop giving him compliments even if he knows how much they fluster jihoon), but not as much as he painted him to be. and it would be unfair of him if he doesn’t treat the other better. 

jihoon was pulled out of his trance when he felt a nudge on his arm. it’s soonyoung, sporting a small smile. “hey.”

“hmm?” 

soonyoung hesitates for a second, but asks nonetheless. “are we really not friends?” 

“do we need to be?” jihoon shoots.

soonyoung looks him in the eyes, shrugging. “it’s not that we need to, but i want to.” 

jihoon feels his cheeks heat up. who wouldn’t? it’s not every day that you get someone to want to be your friend. so, with a hand on his neck (his habit when he gets bashful) and his heart hammering in his chest, he stutters out, “w-why, though? it’s not like i-i’m the best person to befriend.” 

“yeah, maybe you’re not…” soonyoung smiles at him, eyes crinkling into thin, happy lines. “but you’re good enough.”

and, perhaps, jihoon thinks it’s not a bad thing to befriend him after all. 

Chapter Text

soonyoung has a long list of favorites; favorite color, favorite food, favorite movie, favorite artist (ehem), and a heck lot more. recently, he found another thing to add to that— a favorite pastime. and that is to go to jihoon’s studio. 

that brings him to now. a smile graces his lips as soon as he opens the door and sees his friend seated in front of the desk. jihoon is typing away, soonyoung assumes, lyrics to a new song he needs to submit for one of his majors. he remembers the younger mentioning it the other day. soonyoung observes him for another minute, and some time in that minute, jihoon stops typing. the younger stretches his arms, cracks his fingers, and rotates his head, all with a groan. it’s apparent that the younger has already been working for quite a while, and it seems that he’s starting to get stressed.

so, instead of making his presence known by his usual loud greeting, soonyoung decides to just say a small “hey,” to which jihoon responds with a soft hum. 

soonyoung pouts at the lack of enthusiasm from the other. he takes light steps towards jihoon, being careful as to not agitate the younger. and when he’s finally behind the work chair, he gently spins it around, making jihoon face him. “hi,” he greets once again.

jihoon creases his forehead. “hi?”

“you need a break,” soonyoung pointedly says.

“i’m taking a break,” jihoon replies matter-of-factly, “i stopped typing, didn’t i? it’s a break.”

“but you’re still stressed. it’s not a legitimate break.”

jihoon rolls his eyes. “doesn’t matter.”

soonyoung sighs. “loosen up a bit, yeah?”

“kwon, just tell me.”

“tell you what?” soonyoung feigns ignorance.

“you just want to drag me out of here, don’t you?”

“no—“

jihoon cuts soonyoung off. “good, because i’ve got something to finish.”

“no excuses. we’re going,” soonyoung says before taking the younger’s wrist in his hand and dragging him out of the studio, running. soonyoung’s pretty sure he’s going to hear an earful from jihoon later on, but at the moment, all he can feel are his exhilaration and his heart happily skipping inside his chest.

shortly, they arrive at the practice room. though before soonyoung could open the door, he felt a sharp pain on his foot, as jihoon stepped hard on it, panting. “that’s for making me run.”

instead of retaliating, soonyoung settles for ruffling the younger’s hair. guess, it’s the friendship that made him mellow down.  

in the practice room are jun, minghao, and chan waiting. soonyoung sees jihoon glare at him from his side; probably because he didn’t tell him that the others would be there as well. 

before soonyoung started leading the practice, he made jihoon seat on one of the chairs in the corner of the room. “sit there, eat—” soonyoung takes a can of cola, a bottle of water, and a roll of kimbap situated near his duffel bag and gives  them to jihoon. “and watch.”

jihoon quirks up a brow. “watch what?”

“watch me.”

jihoon was about to reply when soonyoung abruptly turned to the other direction to announce, “okay, let’s start everyone!”

for some reason, soonyoung is feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness for today’s practice. he won’t deny, it’s because of jihoon. to have someone as talented as the younger for a friend is one thing. and to have him watch soonyoung do what he believes he’s best at is another. he knows jihoon is the type of person who has so much respect for artists and their crafts. but soonyoung still can’t help but feel conscious of showing the younger one this side of him— his most carefree; his rawest. 

all his thoughts, however, dissipated when the song started to play. it’s like the music commands his body to move, to unleash his artistry. and just like that, he’s back to being confident and ebullient (so much so that he didn’t realize how beat up his teammates already are).

after a gruesome half hour of nonstop practice, soonyoung finally calls for a break, much to his teammates’ relief. 

“didn’t know i signed up for an hour in hell,” minghao mumbles as he stretches his limbs. “i’m beat,” he says, plopping near where jihoon’s seated.

“is he always like that?” jihoon asks, eyes still fixated on soonyoung who hasn’t stopped dancing.

“yeah,” minghao shrugs, “when he calls for breaks, he usually just sips water for a few seconds and starts working on the choreography immediately.”

“and here i thought i’m the more workaholic one between us. i can’t believe he nags at me for overworking when he does it himself!”

“he just cares a lot about you, hyung, that’s why.” minghao smiles, noticing the growing hue on jihoon’s cheeks, before standing up to go back to practicing.

as soon as minghao was back in his position, he caught sight of soonyoung shooting him a questioning look as reflected on the huge mirror in front of them. he probably wants to know what his teammate and jihoon talked about. however, minghao didn’t indulge him, instead, he just gave soonyoung a shrug of nonchalance. 

-

when the dance practice finally came to an end, the first thing soonyoung did was stride to where jihoon was seated, a wide grin not leaving his lips. “how was it? or did you not watch?”

jihoon throws him a towel he found beside soonyoung’s duffel bag. “i watched you—” a smirk forms on soonyoung’s lips, making jihoon clear his throat to clarify, “you, as in the whole team kind of you.”

it’s as if soonyoung didn’t hear it though, as his smirk stayed. “so, how did i do, jihoonie?”

soonyoung noticed jihoon gulping, piquing his interest more. “what are you nervous fo—”

“jihoonie?!”

soonyoung, this time, grins wide. “jihoonie.”

“where the fuck did you get that?” jihoon asks, face flushed, clearly caught off guard.

“the hyungs call you that,” soonyoung calmly answers.

“doesn’t mean you’re allowed to.” a pout forms on jihoon’s lips habitually. 

“you don’t make the rules. i’ll call you ‘jihoonie’ whenever i want.” soonyoung smirks. “well, unless you want me to call you ‘baby’ instead.” 

jihoon shrugs. “okay…” smirking, he teases, “baby.” 

“w-what?” 

“dream on, kwon.” jihoon giggles before sticking his tongue out.

from afar, junhui shouts, “that’s not how flirting works!” causing everyone in the room to burst into fits of laughter. 

and maybe, at that moment, soonyoung found a new favorite in the form of a giggling playful lee jihoon.

Chapter Text

“… five, four, three, two, one, then up—” soonyoung pauses his counting and, instead, squints at the reflection displayed on the wall mirror. he directs his attention to chan, gaze becoming sharper.

“chan,” he calls the younger’s attention. “raise your arm three degrees higher.”

although confusion is etched on chan’s face, he does what he can to follow his hyung. he adjusts his arm higher only to be met by a frown on soonyoung’s face. “i said three degrees higher,

not seven,” the older says as he makes his way to where the younger is to help him level his arm at the right angle.

“didn’t know you’re a math major now,” comments a familiar voice. soonyoung whips his head in the direction of the person and sees jihoon, clad in a hoodie and smiling. 

“jihoonie? when did you get here? i thought you’re busy,” soonyoung says, surprised by the sudden visit.

“i thought i’ve told you enough times not to call me that.” jihoon rolled his eyes. “i finished early. kind of wanted to check your progress, and, uh, i brought snacks for you guys.”

soonyoung warmly smiled. “you didn’t have to, you know.”

“well, i have to make sure a certain someone will use his breaks to rest and fill up.”

“uh,” junhui clears his throat, catching soonyoung and jihoon’s attention. “sorry to interrupt, but we would really appreciate it if our leader wouldn’t leave us hanging,” junhui says, eyeing soonyoung. “like literally hanging our arms up in the air.”

at the realization, soonyoung quickly calls for a break, not without apologizing to his teammates. “we’re not your priority, we get it,” chan feigns hurt. minghao, on the other hand, just laughs as he throws teasing glances at their leader.

“such a merciless person,” jihoon teases along, even shaking his head to exaggerate. 

“like you’re one to talk.”

“excuse me?” jihoon quirks his brow up. “i’m considerate enough not to make anyone wait with their arm raised.”

soonyoung pouts. “but you’re not so considerate as to not distract me.”

from a distance, they hear soonyoung’s friends whistling, not wanting to miss a second to tease the two. “what kind of young adult fiction scene is this?” junhui snorts.

“shut up,” jihoon scolds, his cheeks turning pink by the second.

soonyoung swears he meant to restrain himself, but he guesses it’s just impossible (it’s not) to fight the urge to pinch jihoon’s cheek. thus, he does so. 

“hands off!” jihoon swats the older’s hand away, the tint on his cheeks growing. 

soonyoung chuckles. “cute.”

-

after a tiring afternoon of practice, soonyoung decided to ask jihoon out for dinner. jihoon visiting him during practice hours instead of composing is one thing; jihoon staying to watch and waiting for him to finish is another. can you blame soonyoung for being giddy? 

so, with a blinding smile, he asked, “want to grab dinner? it’s on me.”

and maybe jihoon’s eyes glimmered at the mention of dinner, making soonyoung laugh because, damn, it’s enamoring. “i’ll never say no to free food.”

soonyoung jokingly rolls his eyes. “you’re such a broke kid.”

“doesn’t matter,” jihoon replies, gaze focused on anything but his friend. “i have you with me, anyway.”

soonyoung gasps loudly. “so, you only befriended me for free food?”

“that was meant to flatter you,” jihoon angrily pouts. “you’re fucking annoying.”

“i was just kidding,” soonyoung says, patting the younger’s head to placate him. “and to let you know, i’ll be here with you, broke or not.”

jihoon lightly elbows soonyoung’s side. “not funny.”

“i’m serious, though,” soonyoung defends. “we’re friends after all.”

“friends, huh?” jihoon mumbles. “still sounds foreign to me.”

“then maybe we can change it,” soonyoung suggests.

jihoon squinted his eyes at the other. “i don’t get you, not even one bit.”

“you eventually will,” soonyoung smiles before grabbing jihoon’s wrist. “let’s quicken up. i’m starving.”

shortly, the pair arrived at a quaint dimsum place. soonyoung couldn’t help but laugh at how excited jihoon got as soon as they entered the premises. so he reminds the younger, “please don’t order expensive dishes, i’m not wealthy.”

“so much for calling me broke earlier,” jihoon hisses, rolling his eyes. 

they spent the next few minutes telling their orders, waiting for the food to arrive, and stuffing their mouths with bites of deliciousness. none of them bothered to start a conversation; both are utterly focused on their respective meals. it’s not awkward, though. in fact, it’s exactly what the two needed. just comfortable silence over shared meals. tranquility. 

“you should definitely eat more,” jihoon says, placing two dumplings on soonyoung’s empty plate. 

“sure, dad.” soonyoung smiles, already about to add a few more words to tease the younger when he noticed jihoon’s gaze on his rice bowl. “ah, you’re not doing it out of kindness,” soonyoung scoffs with a roll of his eyes. he lightly pushes the bowl towards jihoon, gesturing to the younger to take some.

jihoon’s eyes widened at the suggestion. he fervently shook his head, cheeks flushed. “no, it’s not— you need to eat more.” but soonyoung is unconvinced, so rather than wait for the younger to take some, soonyoung himself scoops spoonfuls of rice to refill jihoon’s empty bowl. 

“i didn’t want more,” jihoon sulks as he spoons rice into his mouth. soonyoung could only laugh at the contrast between jihoon’s words and actions.

two steamed custard buns later, the pair decided that it’s time to go home. soonyoung paid for their meals as promised. though, he might have regretted it a little bit with how much they’ve eaten. nonetheless, he thought it was worth it, considering how smiley jihoon became. 

soonyoung and jihoon walked under the night sky in silence, arms gingerly brushing every now and then. however, inside soonyoung’s chest, there’s an ongoing turmoil. he tries to still his nerves, but he guesses, he can never, especially when it’s with jihoon.

so, with a shaky breath, he calls the younger. “jihoon.”

the said man looks in his direction, eyes questioning. soonyoung feels heat crawling on his cheeks. attempting to hide his shyness, he lets out a chuckle. “there’s— i want to ask you something.”

jihoon hums, “go on.”

scratching his head, soonyoung speaks, “the competition our team is practicing for… it’s this friday.” he briefly pauses, making eye contact with the younger. “and i’m wondering if you’d like to see me— i mean, us perform?”

“sure.”

“you promise?” comes soonyoung’s giddy response. 

jihoon doesn’t verbally answer. instead, he just gave soonyoung a small smile, to which the latter returned. 

“okay, then,” soonyoung chuckles, excited. “i’ll hold you to that.”

the night went on with the pair walking side by side, the bright crescent moon watching over them. though, it didn’t take them long before they arrived in front of jihoon’s dormitory. “we’re here,” soonyoung announces as if it wasn’t obvious. jihoon hums in agreement, turning his heel towards the direction of the front door.

jihoon smiled. “i’m home.”

soonyoung mirrored the smile, saying, “me, too.”

jihoon scoffs, rolling his eyes. “oh please, shut up, soonyoung. get going now.”

“i’m home with you, though!” soonyoung teases, raising his arms as jihoon pushes him away.

“do i look like a concrete structure to you?” jihoon huffs, his face tinted with a pink hue. “go home!”

“okay, okay,” soonyoung giggles, his arms still thrown up in the cold night air. “i’ll be busy the whole week, so no studio visits from me for now–”

jihoon sighs in relief, “thank goodness.”

“hey!” soonyoung protests. he clears his throat before continuing, “anyway, don’t miss me too much.” soonyoung reached out to cover jihoon’s mouth before the music production student could butt in. jihoon tried to pry away the hand, but soonyoung wouldn’t give in.

“we’ll win the competition, so better be there to see me,” soonyoung winks. 

jihoon rolls his eyes to which soonyoung laughs. “i’ll see you on friday, jihoonie!” the latter bids before finally making his way home. jihoon does the same; he walks in the dormitory and into his room. and at soonyoung’s absence, jihoon lets out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. he cups his cheeks, feeling their lingering warmth at the touch. jihoon shakes his head; he’s definitely feeling weird.

jihoon’s only shaken out from his stupor when he receives a call from jeonghan. “what do you need, hyung?”

“hello to you, too.” jeonghan chuckles. “i was going to invite you for coffee after class tomorrow, but then you might already have plans with soonyoung–”

“ah, no,” jihoon interrupts. “he’s busy.”

“ahuh, and why do i hear disappointment?” jeonghan teases.

jihoon scoffs, “you’re just imagining things, hyung.”

“okay,” jeonghan concedes. “but would you be happy if he wasn’t busy?”

“no?” jihoon replies, defensive. jeonghan remains quiet on the other line, ticking jihoon off. “okay, maybe it would be fun if he wasn’t, that’s about it.”

jeonghan holds his silence for a few seconds longer. “say, jihoonie, what are you guys, really?”

“friends,” jihoon curtly answers.

“with feelings?” jeonghan inquired.

“without.” jihoon groans, “honestly, hyung. i mean, how do you even tell if someone has feelings for another?”

“i don’t know, hoonie. maybe try looking at the way soonyoung looks at you and you’ll know.”

jihoon rolls his eyes. “it’s just how he looks at any other person, hyung. there’s nothing weird about it.”

“oh, but he’s so much happier when he sees your smile.” jeonghan retaliates. “like everything in this world suddenly becomes better and brighter when you’re happy.”

“and if you’re going to ask me, you do the same with soonyoung. i don’t even get why you’re still not dating at this point.”

for some reason, jihoon’s thoughts go back to the way he felt happy seeing soonyoung elated earlier. so much so that his heart starts beating in a rhythm unfamiliar to him. and the warm feeling in his chest makes his blood run cold at the implication. 

Chapter Text

the hall is filled with spectators. some are present to cheer on the performers; others are just watching to simply enjoy the event. a dance competition is meaningful in itself. but, for soonyoung, it is an even bigger deal because jihoon will be watching. 

for some reason, soonyoung felt a little more nervous at the thought of jihoon. suddenly, his heart is pacing faster than usual. soonyoung balls his fists and takes deep breaths to calm himself, afraid he’ll go overdrive. 

here’s the thing: soonyoung is accustomed to perform on the stage. he was born for it, made to own it. he’s the most confident when dancing, especially with his teammates. but tonight is different; not only because he invited jihoon, but also because their team will be dancing to one of jihoon’s songs for the latter half of their number— something he tried his best to keep from jihoon. it’s funny, actually. the way he persuaded his teammates to do it, asked his roommate, hansol, if he can do a remix including the song, and even stayed in the practice room until midnight to choreograph just so he’s sure jihoon wouldn’t see. he doesn’t know— scratch that, he definitely is aware of why he went to that length. he did it intending to prove jihoon that his songs are something more than he gives them credit for. he went with it for the world to hear woozi’s music he takes pride in. 

“it’ll be fine,” wonwoo assures, his tall glory hovering above soonyoung, as he stands in front of him. soonyoung’s legs, which he didn’t notice were in motion, stopped bouncing. 

“shouldn’t you be out there sitting with the others?” 

wonwoo snorts. “as if i could sit there comfortably while my best friend is a nervous mess back here.”

“i’m not,” soonyoung defends himself. 

“sure.” wonwoo smirks before adding, “don’t try to impress jihoon too much.”

“s-shut up,” soonyoung scorns, blushing by the second.

“best of luck,” replies wonwoo, turning his back to go join their other friends in the audience.

the program began shortly. one by one, the groups started going up the stage to perform, eliciting excited shrills from the viewers. and if soonyoung was nervous earlier, this time, his adrenaline takes over. immediately, he feels ready. 

when their team was called to the stage, the first thing soonyoung did was scan the crowd. along with the hundred people seated are his friends, seungkwan, seokmin, hansol, and wonwoo who just got back from checking on him. somewhere in the middle, he spots jeonghan and seungcheol, too. all those faces but no jihoon.

he snaps out of his reverie when he hears the beat drop, instantly switching gears. and although his mind momentarily forgets about jihoon’s absence while he’s dancing, his heart doesn’t. somewhere along the sharp breaths and graceful flicks of his hand, soonyoung feels disappointment bloom in his chest. 

as the song switches from a mainstream dance-pop song to woozi’s ‘adore u,’ the audible gasp of the crowd fills the hall. it’s not every day you see performing arts students dance to an unpopular song, let alone one that is only uploaded on soundcloud. but with soonyoung’s persistence and his team’s support, of course, they managed to surprise the spectators. hyping up the entire hall even. with that, soonyoung lets himself smile as he sees the audience enjoy not just their performance but the song itself as well. and as their team exits the stage, soonyoung feels content.

everything that came next passed by in a blur. the results of the competition won’t be announced till the day after; thus, the competition wraps up early in the night. soon enough, soonyoung sees his friends coming their team’s way, all wearing proud grins. 

“you guys owned the stage right there!” seungkwan happily praises. 

hansol nods his head in agreement. “all i can say is just wow.”

“i mean, we always deliver,” chan says, sounding so confident. junhui only ruffles his hair, snickering at the youngest’s statement. minghao, on the other hand, tries his best to stifle a laugh.

“congrats, kids,” jeonghan, who just arrived backstage with seungcheol, greets. all of them nodded in the two eldests’ direction. 

wonwoo furtively looks at soonyoung to check his reaction. then he says, “didn’t know you’d be here, hyung.”

seokmin nods in support. “it’s unusual seeing you two without shua-hyung and mingyu. and also—”

“ah, about that…” seungcheol cuts in. “joshua needs to finish some papers. you know, got to meet deadlines. mingyu… he’s probably preparing for tomorrow’s shoot—”

“and jihoon?” asks soonyoung. it’s the first time he spoke after getting off the stage. there’s some kind of rush in his tone that made wonwoo’s forehead crease. 

seungcheol opens his mouth to speak, hesitating. “he’s…”

“in his safe space,” jeonghan interrupts. “you should go— i mean, only if you want to, that is.”

soonyoung doesn’t wait to hear from his friends before he makes a step to leave. he, himself, is surprised by how quick he walks. he doesn't even notice how far he’s gone until he hears a faint call from junhui. “go get that l-word, soons!”

whatever that means, soonyoung doesn’t bother to think about it. all that’s running in his mind is jihoon. 

as seconds go by, soonyoung’s patience is also running thin. “why the fuck are the music studios located at the end of the hall?” he curses. so, without thinking twice, soonyoung runs. he’s surprised he still has the energy to do so even after such an exhausting activity as performing in a dance competition. 

but what can he do? it’s the only way to see jihoon immediately.

so when he arrived in front of the familiar door, he didn’t bother to knock, twisting the knob as soon as he got a hold of it.

“you’re here…” soonyoung mumbles breathlessly as he opens the door. running to the studio after performing definitely wasn’t a good idea. 

the darkness of the room greets him. only the faint light from the hallway makes it possible to see inside. jihoon looks up, curled on the couch. he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t make a sound. and although soonyoung is used to his quietness, he knows there surely is something up. jihoon seems different— troubled, if soonyoung were to put a name on it. 

“can i come in?” soonyoung gently asks, reaching out to the switch and turning the dim studio light on. soonyoung’s line of sight catches a small bouquet of flowers on the coffee table. the arrangement of red tulips and white gardenias earning his interest. his attention, however, quickly averts to jihoon when the younger audibly cleared his throat.

“s-sure,” comes jihoon’s short reply, still curled up. soonyoung flashes him a tentative smile, taking a seat beside him.

“thought you’d be here.”

jihoon hums. “you know where to find me.”

soonyoung gazes at the younger who’s shying away from his presence. it’s unusual for him to see the latter this way; a far stretch from his usual frisky attitude. so, rather than pushing jihoon to talk to him, soonyoung settles to tell him anything… everything just to ease whatever is weighing jihoon down. 

soonyoung looks around the room in thought, eyes eventually falling on the flowers. “you know, wonwoo has taught me a lot about flowers.”

“i was initially uninterested. but after hearing him explain what the flowers chan gave to seungkwan and hansol that showcase day meant… i started wanting to learn more.”

soonyoung’s lips slightly curl up at the memory. “actually, the flowers i gave you that day were a part of that bouquet. chan couldn’t protest. i paid for them, after all.” he chuckles before continuing, “it was just an honest mistake. the choice of flowers, i mean. though, now that i’m looking back, i think it’s not much of a lie.”

soonyoung looks at jihoon, still wearing a smile. “the flowers weren’t a lie.”

“… i,” jihoon starts, avoiding the older’s gaze. “sorry. sorry i didn’t come,” he says quietly.

soonyoung’s eyes soften, the disappointment from earlier completely dissipating. “it’s okay.”

silence stretches after. gradually, the atmosphere eases into a comfortable one, something familiar to them. and it is then that jihoon chooses to use his words. 

“the f-flowers,” he stuttered, his eyes focused on the bunch atop the coffee table. “they’re for you.”

“i was— i wanted to keep my word, to watch you perform. i wanted to support you, but i felt overwhelmed? i don’t know. it all feels new to me.” jihoon sighs. “when you’re there, i feel like my heart will jump out of my chest any second, like i’ll run out of breath. just what’s with you?”

“i try not to think much of it, believe me. i mean, ‘cause it doesn’t make sense, right? it’s like we were after each other’s throats just two months ago, and all of a sudden, we’re this.” jihoon vaguely gestures at the space between them. “we’re familiar.”

jihoon chuckles. “and jeonghan-hyung’s words didn’t help at all. he wouldn’t stop inquiring about us the entire week you weren’t around.”

“soonyoung,” jihoon calls, finally meeting the older’s eyes. with crimson coloring his cheeks, he says “i’m not sure about this thing. but i think i do understand what my fast-beating heart is telling me right now.”

jihoon smiles. “it’s a weird rhythm, but i like it.” jihoon looks up, “i think i like you.”

“also, i’ve been meaning to thank you,” jihoon adds, smiling bashfully. “your words; they didn’t fail to make my day every time.”

soonyoung frowns in confusion. “words?”

jihoon hums. “the comments on soundcloud. jeonghan-hyung told me they weren’t his. he started an account because he thought all of your compliments would go to waste if they didn’t reach me. he ‘only transcribed what soonyoung was babbling.’ his words.”

soonyoung allows himself to chuckle. “that hyung, really. and here i thought i made it clear with him not to tell you how much of a sucker i am for your music. but all this while, he was already doing so.” he shakes his head, jeonghan surely is unpredictable. 

then, he clears his throat to ask, “so, you like me?”

“that’s what i think,” answers jihoon.

“you’re not certain?”

“i don’t know, i’ve never liked someone in my entire years of existence. it’s just what everything i am feeling is pointing to. jeonghan-hyung thinks so, too.”

“okay, then.” soonyoung shrugs. “i’ll just make you like me so sure that you’ll have no other option but to fall in love.” he says, noting it with a wink.

“i’d like to see you try.”

“oh, believe me, i’ll sweep you off your feet.”

jihoon rolls his eyes. “i take it back. i’d rather just go back to hating you.”

“you can’t, though.” soonyoung smirks, waving a finger. “i’m irresistible.”

soonyoung laughs at the disgusted look on jihoon’s face. he finds it funny how the younger’s pinkish cheeks give off the indifferent front he’s trying so hard to keep.

“on a serious note, i’m willing to work for it; i’m willing to wait.” soonyoung assures. “you can take all the time you need in figuring out your feelings and i’ll still be here.”

soonyoung meets jihoon’s gaze, sincerity reflected on his orbs. “a little more waiting wouldn’t hurt, right? i mean, i’ve liked you long before i learned you are woozi. that long. so, honestly, it’s nothing.”

jihoon’s face contorts in disbelief, definitely not buying it. “saying ‘oh, and so?’ is definitely something you’d do the first time you meet someone you like. yeah, sure.”

“i swear!” soonyoung raises his hand like he’s promising. “i only started being hostile to you when you acted rudely to me.”

“well, you responded rudely to me first. i was only giving you what you deserved!”

“actually, about that…”

-

a series of panting followed suit as the music came to an end. soonyoung stands in the middle of the room, his whole form reflected on the huge wall mirror in front of him. shortly, he felt his knees wobble a little, a telltale sign of his tiredness that accumulated from a whole day filled with various strenuous activities. so, in fear of overworking his body and getting an injury, soonyoung decided to take a break. a real one. he walks to the other side of the room, one that is near the door, and slumped his body against the cold, hard wall to rest. he took big gulps of water from his jug before closing his eyes in an attempt to take a nap, only to get disturbed a second after by the door’s loud creaking. someone just came in. it was jihoon— music department’s pride. the stunning lee jihoon that caught soonyoung’s attention that one time he visited his jeonghan-hyung’s dorm. 

“you’re kwon soonyoung, right?” jihoon asks. soonyoung lifts his eyes to meet the younger’s. he notices the beads of sweat trickling down the other’s forehead, his cheeks slightly dusted in pink that’s probably caused by the humid weather. 

“i have a project for a class, and i need some help with the choreography. jeonghan-hyung suggested that i ask you. i would really appreciate it if you could lend me a hand. i really like your dance style and you’re a great dancer, if i must say. it would be such an honor to work with you—” soonyoung knows that it’s rude not to pay attention when someone is talking. especially so when they’re sincere with their intentions. but there’s really something with jihoon that’s distracting him. his dulcet voice? his sparkly eyes? his whole presence? soonyoung can’t pinpoint.

soonyoung snaps out of his reverie when he hears the younger chuckle. “so, what do you say?” he scratches his nape, perhaps bashful. “it’d be a great help.”

soonyoung, for some silly reason, wanted to keep the conversation going. and he’s afraid that jihoon would have to end it if he agreed then. jihoon will surely persuade him if he says no, won’t he? soonyoung is sure he will. so, to prolong it, he instead teases, 

“oh, and so?”

soonyoung belatedly realized that he might have fucked up because: one, his tone came out different from what he was intending; two, that was definitely not good for a first impression; three, jihoon frowned.

“i politely talked for two minutes, allowing you to keep quiet as you please while i did so, and that’s what i’d get?” jihoon snaps, offended. “you could’ve just straight up told me you’re not interested.”

and before soonyoung could explain his stupid stunt, jihoon was already slamming the door. of course, not without a “fuck you, you shithead!”

soonyoung cursed himself for his poor character judgment. so, that day, before sleeping, he decided that he’d say sorry to jihoon the next day, and possibly take him out to lunch in compensation. news flash, soonyoung’s attempts were completely shut down by jihoon. again, not without a train of curses following after. from then on, the rest is history.

-

a spark often hints at a clash between two opposites. but maybe, just maybe, for soonyoung and jihoon, it signifies the start of a love that’s beautiful and timeless. 

Chapter Text

“soonyoung!” 

the said man turns his head to where the voice comes from. soonyoung immediately displays an endeared grin as he sees jihoon coming closer. the younger’s steps are big, his effort to catch up a bit too apparent.

“i said wait a damn minute, for fuck’s sake,” jihoon cursed at him as soon as he was beside the older. they are on the way home after their usual studio hangout. nothing much has changed in their dynamic since the ‘confession’ (jihoon refused to call it that because he’s still embarrassed over it). bickering remains as the foundation of their relationship.

soonyoung chuckles, “aw, c’mon, jihoonie, i know you love the chase.”

“and this is exactly why i often question myself why the hell i liked you,” jihoon mumbles, but soonyoung hears anyway. 

“so,” soonyoung bumps jihoon’s shoulders, “you like like me now, huh?”

jihoon glares at him. “as a special friend, soonyoung. as a special friend.”

soonyoung quirks his eyebrow. “what even is a special friend? a friend you have potential feelings for?”

jihoon grins, teasing. “exactly.”

soonyoung clutches his chest. “you didn’t have to be too harsh, you know!” the older whines, making jihoon scrunch his face in disgust, only to laugh soon after. 

“that’s what special friends are for,” jihoon shrugs.

soonyoung pouts, “you’re heartless.”

“i know.”

“i am too,” soonyoung adds, suddenly bubbly. “heartless, i mean.”

jihoon looks at him quizically, “how so?”

“because my heart is already yours.”

the death daggers jihoon’s eyes throw are enough to make soonyoung run for his life. though perhaps, the older’s words were also enough to make the younger’s heart beat like he’s run a thousand miles. 

-

“soonyoung? are you busy?” jihoon asks, peeking through the slight opening of the door. soonyoung seemed to not have noticed, as he continued to practice the dance routine alone. it’s not an unusual scenario; jihoon has seen him stay back time and time again. he would always be the last person to go home after practice, as he liked to dance alone to perfect whatever he felt he was lacking. 

today, though, is his third consecutive day of overworking himself, as jihoon recalls. this has been the longest he’s seen soonyoung practice one routine, as he usually only takes a little over one day to perfect a routine. so without waiting for a reply, jihoon enters the practice room. soonyoung might’ve noticed his reflection on the mirror, as he suddenly stopped and stared.

“hi?” jihoon utters, pausing the music once he reaches the other’s phone. soonyoung stands still, heavily breathing and not blinking. jihoon raises the bag in his hand, wiggling it a little. “snacks?”

soonyoung shook his head no, walking to where his phone is.

“hug?” jihoon offers when the older gets close, despite knowing too well how sweaty the older is. soonyoung shakes his head again and plays the music. 

jihoon could only sigh. there must be something bothering the older. under normal circumstances, soonyoung wouldn’t miss a beat in grabbing the snacks jihoon brought for him. he would also initiate the hug, which the younger always evaded. now that he’s refusing everything, jihoon doesn’t know what to do.

though, little by little, he steps closer to his friend. “young,” jihoon calls, his voice soft in comparison to the loudness of the pop music playing. nonetheless, soonyoung heard. 

without warning, jihoon wraps his arms around the older’s waist, hugging him tightly. instantly, soonyoung stops moving to reciprocate the gesture. 

“you feeling tired?” soonyoung asks in a small voice, caressing jihoon’s back. 

jihoon shakes his head no. “i could ask you the same, you know.”

soonyoung sheepily chuckles. “i’m okay, hoonie. i’m okay.”

“why are you hugging me tightly as if you need support, then?”

“you hugged me first,” soonyoung states, matter-of-factly. “i should be the one asking you that.”

“can’t i just want to hug the person i like?”

“you can— wait, what?!” soonyoung’s eyes widen. “what did you say?”

“i don’t know, young.” jihoon looks up, smirking. “tell me, what did you hear?”

“i heard you say you’re treating me to lunch for the entire year,” soonyoung grins.

jihoon rolls his eyes. “funny.”

soonyoung chuckles, pinching jihoon’s cheek. “i like you, too, hoonie. you’ve always known that.”

“too? i didn’t say i like you, though?”

soonyoung snickers, “c’mon, it wouldn’t hurt to say it again.”

“say what?” jihoon challenges.

soonyoung leans closer. “that you like me.”

jihoon smirks, “make me then.”

“i’ll kiss you if you won’t.” soonyoung threatens, wiggling his eyebrows, which sent jihoon shivers.

“ew,” jihoon responds, untangling his arms from the hug. he quickly makes his way to the door, making soonyoung pout.

jihoon giggles. “practice well, young,” he says before leaving soonyoung alone and blushing.

well, at least soonyoung’s back to his usual self.

-

“youngie, would you like to hear this?” jihoon asks, already removing the headphones he’s wearing.

soonyoung perks up from his seat and makes grabby hands towards the headphones. “is this the song i commissioned?” 

jihoon rolled his eyes at the mention of ‘commission.’ he wanted to give the song as a gift for his now boyfriend, but the older refused. he deserved to be paid for his talent, soonyoung reasoned. and the guy kept on transferring his payment back to the younger’s bank account no matter how many times jihoon had refunded it. 

soonyoung seemed to notice jihoon doing so, immediately replying, “baby! you deserve—“

“to be paid, i know. shut it.”

soonyoung could only chuckle and pinch the younger’s blushing cheek. “you’re cute.”

jihoon swats the older’s hand away. “just listen to the song, will you?” he said with a pout, feeling his cheeks heat up even more.

“okay, okay.” soonyoung motions his hand as if he’s zipping his mouth and darted his gaze on the screen. jihoon takes it as his cue to play the song he just recently finished.

jihoon quietly watched the dancer as his face changes from one expression to another. he couldn’t help but to admire soonyoung for the burning passion he has in his craft. jihoon didn’t realize he was staring the whole time until soonyoung turns in his direction, snapping him out of his stupor.

“oh my, hoonie, i love it!” soonyoung gushes, a huge grin following. the older launched himself to jihoon, engulfing the latter in a bone-crushing hug. “i love it, i love it, i love it!”

jihoon could only chuckle, patting his boyfriend’s back. “glad you do.”

“of course,” soonyoung replies one last time before untangling himself from the younger. this time, he is already facing jihoon, cupping the younger’s cheeks.

“thank you, baby,” soonyoung says with sincerity. he caresses jihoon’s cheeks with his thumbs, to which jihoon smiles. 

“i love you.”

jihoon stiffened at the confession. yes, they’ve verbally expressed how much they adored each other before, but it was only limited to ‘i like you’s.’ it was the first time one of them uttered the word ‘love’ to express their feeling. and it overwhelmed jihoon to hear it so casually coming out of soonyoung’s lips.

soonyoung might have taken the reaction negatively as he immediately pulled back from his hold on the other. “i-i’m…”

before soonyoung could continue, jihoon shook his head to tell him not to continue. he didn’t want soonyoung to apologize for being completely honest with himself. after all, he knew how his boyfriend has been wanting to say that since the first time he accidentally sent an ‘ily’ to jihoon through a message.

it’s just jihoon’s still not accustomed to this whole thing. and he wants to be sure by the time he says it because that’s what soonyoung deserves. 

-

people say love comes out naturally. and for jihoon, it does.

being inexperienced, he thought everything in a relationship should be planned. from the dates to the hugs to the words they utter, jihoon thought everything should follow a timeline. he didn’t expect it to come out of him naturally, so soon at that. 

it was also weird because there was no special occasion of some sort that day. soonyoung and jihoon were just reviewing together for their upcoming examinations at the latter’s dorm. now that he thinks about it, maybe his sleep deprivation or his exhaustion were a factor. nonetheless, it still felt nice, like it was meant to happen anyway. 

“soonyoung,” jihoon called out, closing his book to get up and make coffee for two. he turned to look at soonyoung when he didn’t receive a response. he saw his boyfriend already sleeping, cheek resting on a random page of his book. as much as jihoon didn’t want to disturb soonyoung’s peace, he decided to wake the older up so that he could sleep on the bed. 

with a shake on soonyoung’s shoulder, jihoon attempted to wake him up. “young, please wake up for a bit.”

soonyoung held the hand on his shoulder, rubbing soft circles on the skin. he hummed but remained asleep.

“youngie, you need to transfer to the bed so your back won’t hurt tomorrow. please, stand up for a bit.” jihoon pleads.

soonyoung, albeit in a daze, did as jihoon said, walking to the bed and plopping as soon as he gets there.

jihoon sat beside him, carding his fingers through the older’s hair. “baby, aren’t you going to sleep yet?” he heard soonyoung ask.

“i still have to finish some things.” jihoon answered, still going on with his gestures. “i’ll be sure to sleep as soon as i’m done, don’t worry.”

“i don’t trust that.”

jihoon chuckled. “i promise, youngie. i promise.”

“okay. good night,” said soonyoung, his eyes falling shut.

jihoon stared at him, appreciating his existence, a smile forming on his lips.

“sleep well, my young. i love you.” jihoon mumbled before pressing a soft kiss on soonyoung’s forehead. 

maybe it was neither his sleep deprivation nor his exhaustion. maybe, he’s just really in love with the man in front of him. 

and jihoon thinks he is, without a doubt. 

Chapter Text

jihoon is a subtle romantic. he enjoys doing little things to make soonyoung’s heart flutter; he loves making his boyfriend smile. out of everything, his being romantic is best reflected in his songs. though sometimes, he can’t help but feel lacking in the romance department. sometimes, he can’t help but think he’s undeserving of soonyoung’s love. 

“there’s no other person more deserving of my love than you, jihoonie.” soonyoung assured him that one time he brought the topic up. and he knows, heck, he genuinely knows how true that is. but sometimes, he just really wishes he can express his love in more apparent ways.

it doesn’t help that the only ‘grand’ romantic move he has ever done in their almost two years of relationship was to ask soonyoung to be his boyfriend. and it wasn’t even that memorable save for the fact that it was the day they became an official thing.

it happened that time when soonyoung was so stressed out about a group paper for his minor subject. jihoon went with him to the library to lend a helping hand. until now, jihoon still can’t discern what urged him to be so straightforward at the time. though, he doesn’t regret it one bit.

“young,” jihoon called, placing the reference book in his hand down on the table.

soonyoung hummed in response, not looking up from the book he was reading. there were obvious lines of stress creasing his forehead, a pout subconsciously forming on his lips as he read every line of the paragraph. it was an ordinary sight, really. but somehow, jihoon found it beautiful.

“what is it, jihoonie?” soonyoung asked when the younger didn’t respond to his hum. he was still occupied with the book. though, this time, he spared jihoon a quick glance just to check.

“have i told you that i like you?”

hearing that, soonyoung looked up from his book, eyes amused with jihoon’s unexpected question.

soonyoung smiled. “you have, but you refused to let me hear it clearly that one time in the practice room.”

“okay.” jihoon replied, voice small.

“what brought this on?” soonyoung asked, book now set aside, group paper forgotten.

jihoon shook his head, a fond smile gracing his lips. “nothing. i just like you and i want to be your boyfriend.”

“sur— wait, what?!” soonyoung jolted up from his seat, whisper shouting, eyes wide in surprise. “did you just ask me out?”

jihoon chuckled at soonyoung’s reaction. “yeah. so, what do you say?”

soonyoung reached from across the table to cup jihoon’s face in his hands, eyes sparkling in joy. “of course.” he said, caressing the younger’s cheeks, “of course.”

and now that he recalls… yeah, maybe that wasn’t romantic at all. 

he vividly remembers how soonyoung’s eyes shone a different kind of glimmer when they witness public romantic acts. that one time they saw a man surprise his lover in the park, soonyoung clearly had an unusual sparkle in his eyes. and that moment a girl serenaded her partner during an open mic in the university. and that instance when a marriage proposal literally happened before their eyes. 

although soonyoung’s orbs always shine over the littlest romantic gestures jihoon does, he can’t forget that specific glimmer the former’s eyes had on those specific encounters he recalls. it was as if soonyoung’s eyes held the universe in them, pulling jihoon in so strong, making him fall head first.

and jihoon badly hopes to see that once again. but this time, he wants to be the reason for it. 

so, with his newly found determination, jihoon spent sleepless nights devising a grand surprise for his boyfriend. 

he pictured it to go this way: 

soonyoung runs to him, hugging him tightly, whispering ‘congratulations’ incessantly when they meet after the graduation ceremony. jihoon will break the hug, and on his tiptoes, he’ll give soonyoung a sweet kiss, congratulating him with the biggest smile. he then tells soonyoung how he has this little graduation gift for him. soonyoung smiles, and they start to walk down the block, hands intertwined while making their way to the small private event place jihoon rented. 

when they get there, soonyoung gets surprised seeing all their friends gathered up, party hats atop their heads. there will be party decorations embellishing the entire place; the place will be livened up by soonyoung’s favorite music; they will have a sumptuous meal around one huge table, just how soonyoung always likes it to be. 

and then sometime in the middle of the party, jihoon will discreetly pull soonyoung out to the rooftop. he’ll tease soonyoung about their first encounter, how they’ve become enemies because of his stupid advance, and how everything between them started there. soonyoung will laugh, embarrassed. jihoon chuckles, too. and then suddenly, there’s this comfortable silence that envelops them when their laughter settles. it is jihoon’s queue to bring out his small gift to soonyoung. 

he presents his gift with an accompanying speech, making soonyoung’s eyes well with happy tears, but not so much to drown the universe existing in his orbs. 

except, none of that ever happened. it was fucked up, really. jihoon prepared everything ahead of time, even asked his friends for help. and he thought, it was a smooth plan. after all, it was simple, nothing too complicated, easy to pull off, right? 

nope, says fate. try again.

jihoon didn’t know what to do when the owner of the event place called early in the morning just before the ceremony. the owner informed him that there was a mistake with his reservation, as apparently, it overlapped with an earlier booking of the place. really, out of all days! it was supposed to be this day’s cherry on top, the ending scene. and now, jihoon felt discouraged.

soonyoung still ran to him, though, hugging him tightly, whispering incessant ‘congratulations’ as he noted each with a peck on jihoon’s hair. but instead of breaking the hug to tell the older that he has a little graduation gift for him, jihoon just tightens the hug, burying his face on the older’s shoulder.

“is there anything wrong, baby?” soonyoung asks, voice laced with concern.

jihoon shook his head. though, soonyoung is not convinced.

soonyoung distanced himself a little, enough to see jihoon’s face. “tell me about it, please?”

and at that, jihoon’s pout is on full display, ranting. “i kind of planned this s-surprise for you…” jihoon mumbles the last part, “but i can’t do it anymore because of an unforeseen event.”

soonyoung’s gaze softens at that. “you don’t have to. i’m fine just by being close to you.”

“but i want to do something grand for you for once,” jihoon sulks. “you just can’t always settle for the barest minimum of romance i offer. you deserve something greater.”

soonyoung chuckles. “come here then. you know your kisses are the greatest.”

jihoon rolls his eyes at his boyfriend, annoyed. soonyoung just laughs at him, endeared. 

“seriously, baby, come here.” soonyoung takes the younger’s hand, pulling him back into an embrace. “regardless of how romantic your gestures are or not, i love you.”

jihoon hums. “i still have a gift for you, though.”

“what is it?” soonyoung asks, arms still wrapped around jihoon securely.

jihoon breaks from the hug, a little nervous. “m-my youngie. frankly, i’m terrified of what’s about to come in the future. there’s a big world out there.”

jihoon takes in a deep breath, trying to stabilize the heavy pounding of his heart. “i know, along the way, we’ll get lost, we’ll get tired. b-but please know that even if my grip loosens from time to time, i’ll never let you go; even if i get lost, i-i will always come back to you; even if i am not the best, i’ll try to be good enough for you.”

jihoon smiles, his dimples in display. “i-i love you. i hope you know that even if i’m pretty sure i was bad at conveying it. but you know that, right? even if i don’t verbali—” 

soonyoung puts his hands on both sides of jihoon’s face, squishing his cheeks firmly. “you’re rambling.” he chuckles, leaving a peck on jihoon’s forehead.

jihoon hits soonyoung’s arms, glaring. “it’s ‘cause i’m nervous!”

“about?” soonyoung asks, a little worried.

jihoon sighs. “this,” he says as he pulls out a small box from his blazer’s pocket, revealing two promise rings inside. “do you promise to hold my hand along the way as i hold yours?” he asks, holding soonyoung’s gaze.

right then and there, jihoon sees a spark in the older’s orb, sees that certain glimmer he was hoping to see for a long time now. suddenly, his anxiety gets drowned by the million stars in soonyoung’s eyes. jihoon thinks it is beautiful. 

soonyoung smiles, eyes crinkling into the familiar thin happy lines jihoon so dearly loves. “you really didn’t have to ask, babe.”

soonyoung takes his hand, picking one ring out from the small box. “i’m always yours to keep,” soonyoung said as he slid the promise ring on jihoon’s finger.

jihoon took the other ring from the box, holding soonyoung’s hand in his free one. he slid the ring on the older’s finger, smiling warmly.

“and i’m always yours to cherish.”