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A Christmas party in LA. Sounds like fun right? Only everyone is in the middle of a pandemic and the only people attending this party are the current four members of &Audition Boys and some of the staff members, all celebrating in a small house they were renting for a seemingly outrageous price (it is, LA is expensive as fuck here in the US and for no reason other than the number of people that live there. If you ever plan on living in the states, try to avoid LA…or California as a whole. Please, it’s a shithole here, don’t let the movies fool you).
It's fun! They get to open presents, take pictures (and only uploaded one on Twitter, which their fans went crazy over), and listen to Christmas music. They spend most of their time sitting on their phones and throwing food at each other, but it's a nice break from everything.
It's almost midnight now, but the boys are all on a sugar high and probably won’t be sleeping for another few hours. Well, minus K who was dozing off in one of the recliners next to the fireplace like someone's grandpa. Taki is sitting on the floor by K’s feet, playing with something in his hands, bullshitting with Euijoo sitting on the couch, and Nicholas sitting next to Euijoo on the arm of the couch. The staff members are off somewhere else, chatting about work things amongst themselves.
Taki. Oh sweet, innocent Taki, who wasn’t all that sweet and innocent at all, but a little shit underneath his adorable, childlike smile, had tossed the thing in his hand to Euijoo, shouting a “catch!” to him. He had been meaning to do it all night, but finding the right time is difficult when the staff members are all watching them 24/7, and K…well, honestly K would probably have been in on his little scheme had he been awake.
Anyhow, Euijoo catches what Taki threw at him, and when he opens up his hands, he sees that it's a small mistletoe plant, the white berries proving so. The plant was slightly wilted and crumpled, probably from having been balled up in Taki's sweaty hands all day. He looks up to see that Nicholas is now looking at his hands. Then he looks back up at Euijoo, and back down at his hands. It takes Nicholas a good minute to realize the situation, and his face immediately bursts into a million hues of red.
“WHOA WHOA WAIT HOLD ON!” He protests, fixing to get up from his seat on the arm of the couch until Euijoo slips his hand around Nicholas’ necktie, keeping him from leaving and pulling him closer too until their noses brush. Nicholas feels his heart jump up to his throat from how close they are, and it thuds harder there when Euijoo giggles.
Oh God have mercy…
“What are you so scared of, hm? It’s just a stupid holiday tradition.” He teases. “No biggie right?” Euijoo reasons and he isn’t sure why, whether it be the sugar rush, the fact that Nicholas was incredibly receptive to touch (he likes hugs, okay??), or for the simple fact that yes, it was just a stupid holiday tradition, he just went for it. He kisses Euijoo as the insignificant tradition willed him to. He could hear Taki gag from the other side of the room, but the two boys ignored him (wasn’t he the one that planned for this to happen?).
It was nicer than he thought it would be. Euijoo was soft and warm. Not that he thought that kissing Euijoo would be a bad experience, but rather it would be awkward since they were friends (not that Nicholas thought about kissing his friend before…yeah no he definitely didn’t do that). 1…2…3 seconds pass, and when they pull away, Nicholas is sure he's going to pass out. Euijoo pats his cheek and says something with a bit of a giggle, but Nicholas’ ears feel like they are stuffed with cotton.
Strange, he likes it...and maybe a bit more than he should have.
K snorts himself awake, jolting in his chair and rapidly looking around.
“Someone call my name?” He slurs deliriously, eyes only half-open. Taki bursts out into laughter while Euijoo giggles and shakes his head.
“Nope. No one called for you, K-Kun. Go back to sleep.” And the night goes on as if nothing happened, but now Nicholas is currently going through an existential crisis having just kissed his best friend and liking it.
The night rolls on, everyone eventually goes to bed, and Nicholas finds himself rolling under the covers, staring into the dark and thinking and the kiss. It's stupid feeling this way, he knows that, but he can't shake the buzzing under his skin away.
He wanted to do it again, but this time, on their terms and not because of some stupid berries.
After another hour of not being able to sleep, Nicholas throws his covers off and heads to the kitchen for some water. He steps lightly so as to not make too much noise, and when he gets to the kitchen he sees that the stove light is on, and Euijoo is already in there, munching quietly on some leftover cake.
The both of them freeze when they see each other, and Nicholas contemplates going back to bed to avoid confrontation, but then Euijoo smiles and Nicholas is won over. He steps into the kitchen for his water.
“Uh, hi.” He mutters awkwardly, making his way to the fridge.
“Hi.” Euijoo mutters back, taking another bite from his cake. Nicholas grabs a bottle from the fridge and takes a swig from it.
“Couldn’t sleep or just hungry?” Nicholas asks lightheartedly.
“Both. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the cake.” He says before finishing the last bit off his plate.
“What about you?” Nicholas shrugs.
“I just…couldn’t stop thinking.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing you.
Euijoo sets his dirty plate in the sink and steps over to stand next to Nicholas. Nicholas feels his throat tighten up from how close he is. Euijoo knocks their elbows together.
“What’s up? What’s on your mind?” He asks, and Nicholas suddenly feels like he’s sweating under his pajamas. He debates on whether or not he should tell the truth. There are pros and cons to both telling the truth and lying, but he can’t decide which is more dangerous for the both of them.
“I uh, I couldn’t stop thinking about…” He looks up, and he regrets it because even in the faint, dim, orangey glow of the stove light, he could see Euijoo’s eyes hold a sort of tenderness to them and it makes Nicholas choke on his words. Even in the semi-darkness, he could see how pretty Euijoo is, and it makes his stomach flutter with butterflies.
“The kiss…okay goodnight.” Nicholas rushes and hurries to leave to save himself from any more embarrassment, but Euijoo is quick to stop him when he grabs his hand.
“Whoa whoa, hold on a sec.” He says, and Nicholas shamefully stops in his tracks. Euijoo gently pulls him back, and even in the horridly dimmed light, Nicholas could see a glint in his eyes. The same one he had right before kissing him.
Nicholas steps back into the same spot he was before trying to make his escape.
“You were saying?” Euijoo urges him to continue. Nicholas feels his heart throbbing in his chest, pounding wildly like a cornered animal as he tries to string together his thoughts.
“I just…” He starts. “I just couldn’t get it out of my head.” He says with a dismissive shrug.
“And that’s it?” Euijoo asks rhetorically. Nicholas shrugs again, keeping his eyes glued to the floor because he’s too embarrassed to look up at Euijoo.
“Yeah-well,” he cuts himself off, his mouth moving before he could think about what his next words might imply. “It was kind of nice.” Nicholas feels the heat all spread all along his ears and neck catch like a wildfire, and he almost feels like he’s melting under his clothes.
Euijoo grabs his hand, and the small, butterflies-in-your-stomach-inducing touch makes Nicholas finally look up at him.
“Do you…maybe wanna kiss again?” And the question makes Nicholas’ heart leap into his throat. It’s dizzying, almost, Euijoo asking if he wanted to kiss him again, and he has to somehow find a way to play it off cool.
“Well, I-I mean…if you want to, then I’m cool with it.” Okay, he stutters, but it was better than just flat out saying ‘Yes!’ and sounding desperate, which was what his mind first initially wanted him to do.
Euijoo smiles. It’s kind of cheeky, and Nicholas first thinks that somehow the younger of the two has caught him in some trap, and he wants to take it back like it was a joke or something, but Euijoo leans over and kisses him.
Nicholas has promptly stopped breathing altogether and is now having an internal meltdown. After a moment of just standing there like an idiot and not doing anything, Nicholas finally kisses back, letting out a long stream of a deep breath he’s been holding through his nose. This kiss was different than before. Before, it was just a means to an end, but this time, they actually want this.
Like it was instinct, Nicholas places his hands on Euijoo’s face and lures him in closer, tilting his head to kiss just a bit deeper. Euijoo leans more into him so that their bodies are pressed close together with him pining Nicholas to the fridge. It was intense too, the way Euijoo kisses firmly and the way Nicholas held onto him like he never wanted to let go. It was at that moment that Nicholas began thinking about their friendship. The way they unknowingly clung to each other whenever they were in a new space, the way Nicholas would sometimes lose himself in Euijoo's eyes when they would have deep conversations late at night, and how they would joke about being soulmates. The way Euijoo would giggle at all of Nicholas' lame jokes, or the way Nicholas would feel at peace whenever they were near each other, how sometimes he would get nervous if they got a little too close, and their stares would hold for a little too long like he was expecting something to happen between them. Now that he was kissing him, he understood why.
Euijoo wraps his arms around his middle like he's trying to pull him in impossibly closer. Euijoo prods his tongue at the seam of Nicholas' lips, making the older gasp slightly, and Euijoo kisses him deeper. Nicholas feels himself go weak in the knees, but he kisses back just as deeply. And just like that, in a dimly lit kitchen sometime around or after midnight in a foreign country is where their friendship completely shifts to something new and kind of scary. Nicholas isn't too sure what to think or feel when Euijoo finally pulls away, and they stand there holding each other and breathing one another in. They both knew they were at a point where they could no longer call each other friends.
"So," Nicholas starts, still somewhat out of breath. "What now?" Euijoo bites his lip in hesitation. There's still a sort of static in the air, and Nicholas wants to forget the question and kiss him again. Euijoo beats him to it though, answering his question.
"I don't really know..." He draws out, fidgeting with the fabric of Nicholas' bed shirt. "Maybe we should just take it slow? Figure this all out along the way?" He suggests, but he still sounds hesitant. Nicholas gives a comforting stroke of his cheek with his thumb.
"Yeah, okay. We'll take it slow." He says.
They'll figure it all out later. Right now, in this moment is all that matters.