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She had a glowing white dress, long pink hair, and a giant sword strapped to her back.
Needless to say, Choi Beomgyu was in love.
Granted, it was easy to say that when he was staring at a 2D character on his screen, but he was certain the person behind the screen must also be lovely. He's been playing the game for just a few months, but who would he be if he didn't already rank up faster than most? That only meant Beomgyu was at a level where he could be considered a Commander in the game. The pink-haired character—fittingly named Sooberry—was a rookie player who needed help. Naturally, that was where Beomgyu came into the picture.
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: You gained 4 new levels just today! Congrats~ ♡
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: All thanks to you, thank you.
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: It's my pleasure~~
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: (user sent a Wink! emote)
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: (user sent a Blushing emote)
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: I really couldn't have gotten this far without you, Commander.
In the real world, Beomgyu couldn't help but feel his own heart flutter at just how cute the other player was being. He could almost see Sooberry's character blushing and twisting around, causing the flowy skirt to move in the breeze. He already knew that Sooberry was someone who at least lived in the same country, given the game's automatic regions, but what were the chances that they lived in the same city? It was a revelation he only found out the other day, but it was about time he used that to his advantage.
Feeling nervous all of a sudden, Beomgyu began to compose a new message.
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: So, I was actually wondering...
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: What do you think about meeting up?
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: Ah...
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: Meeting up...
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: I think if it's with you, I'd be okay.
The rest of the conversation was easy. They had agreed to meet that weekend, in the middle of the city's largest shopping centre, which was populated enough that both of them could feel safe meeting someone who was technically a stranger. Of course, Beomgyu assured the other player that he was to be trusted, but he would like her to feel safe. He was surprised that Sooberry even agreed, but it seemed like she was just as excited to meet him. It was the perfect plan.
That was, until Beomgyu told his best friends about it, starting their lunch hangout with the words: "I have a date this Saturday!"
Kang Taehyun stared at him dryly, "Defeating Orcs together online doesn't count."
"If you must know," Beomgyu began pointedly, "I'm meeting up with Sooberry in person, which means I will be seeing her for real, thank you."
The redhead was honestly expecting a more positive response from his friends, but Taehyun's eyes widened in a bad way. In one of his are-you-kidding-me-right-now? kind of ways. Next to the dark-haired boy, Yeonjun was in the middle of drinking his soda when he all but spat the entire drink out. He was a coughing fit for a few seconds before he calmed down enough to likewise stare at Beomgyu like the younger had grown a second head, but he looked more amused than anything.
"What makes you so sure you're not meeting up with a big, muscular man who could lift you with one hand?"
"Her character design—"
As if expecting that argument, Taehyun cut him off, "Beomgyu, your character in the game is also a woman and yet here you are."
Okay, that was true. He did design his own character as a female, but that was because the game just offered much better customization for female players than otherwise. Also, there was a particular skin he enjoyed using and it simply wasn't the same if he had gone with any of the male characters for the game. So what if he was a guy who played a girl? Lots of people did that. He wasn't stupid, however. It was pretty obvious when another player was actually a gamer girl or something.
He voiced the same statement to his friends.
"Really?" Yeonjun cocked an eyebrow at him in question, "You're positive?"
Beomgyu nodded stubbornly, "Of course! Sooberry's such a cute username. Her name is probably something like Jisoo or Sooyeon. Maybe something even cuter, like Soomin or—"
"She could also be Choi Soob-in, for all you know."
At the mention of a very familiar name, Choi Beomgyu tried his best not to glance to the right and ultimately failed. Seated just a few tables away from his own was Choi Soobin — the resident campus crush and someone who could easily be described as Beomgyu's polar opposite. Soobin was someone people simply flocked toward with his good looks and mysterious persona. Rumour had it that he dated somebody new every month. Beomgyu wasn't one to believe in baseless rumours, but that one always sounded like it held a grain of truth.
Compared to his lonely single life, how could he really compare?
He quickly glanced away before Soobin could catch him staring, which wouldn't be the first time.
"There's no way a guy like him could be my cute little Sooberry!"
If there was a hill built with that sentence alone, Beomgyu would turn it into a mountain and die on it, promptly. Thankfully, Yeonjun dropped the topic before he could do anything drastic. In the end, even Taehyun sighed and relented that the real worse thing that could happen was that nobody would even show up to their supposed date. That wasn't something Beomgyu even considered, but he was beginning to wish that he paid more attention to Taehyun's advice.
Like, maybe he shouldn't have taken a whole hour to decide what to wear.
Maybe he also shouldn't have arrived too early at their designated meeting spot, right in front of the mall's only fountain.
Before he left his house, Beomgyu had taken note of the only hint he had regarding Sooberry's identity. He was told that the other would bring along a flower with them, but they never specified what type. He decided to stop referring to them as a female in his head, just in case. On the other hand, Beomgyu had worn a pink shirt that had a strawberry embroidered on the front pocket, almost like he had bought it for that very day. He did, but that was beside the point. There was nobody else around him wearing the same shirt, so he should be easy to spot.
Meanwhile, he had counted at least three people holding flowers passing him by.
It's also been an hour since the time they were supposed to meet.
With a frustrated sigh, Beomgyu sat down by the fountain's edge and brought out his phone, contemplating whether he could get Taehyun to hang out with him instead. Then again, the younger boy was likely going to figure out some way to get Beomgyu to treat him to a meal. He couldn't possibly ask Yeonjun either because the blond would laugh like there was no tomorrow if he found out Beomgyu got stood up by his online girlfriend. Then again, he had a bigger chance of getting a pity meal out of the latter compared to Kang Taehyun, that was sure.
As he was about to decide, a single sunflower blocked his field of vision.
"Beombear?"
Choi Beomgyu gulped, feeling his heart race. He didn't want to look up because first of all, the voice was a male's. That meant his friends were correct and he wished they would never find out. Second, it was a familiar voice, but not in a way that brought him relief. In fact, he was pretty sure Yeonjun was right somewhere else, too. Still, he couldn't exactly stare at the other's large hand and the even larger sunflower currently in front of his face forever. When he finally gathered the courage to glance up, he was met with Choi Soobin staring right at him.
The redhead chuckled nervously, "That's me."
"I'm Sooberry," Soobin said with a nod as if that wasn't yet obvious. Once again, he extended the flower towards the seated boy, "For you. I'm sorry I'm late."
Dazed, Beomgyu couldn't help but accept. Their fingers brushed lightly as he did so and a part of him wanted to run far away. Suddenly, he would have preferred being stood up. He'd even take the big, muscular man because that way if he ran away, it would be pretty odd to be chased by someone like that, right? However, he couldn't bring himself to actually run away from Soobin because the other boy had decided to take a seat to his right, looking at him expectantly. They had never even talked before.
Thankfully, Beomgyu was good at talking.
"I can't believe you also play games. You really don't look the type, you know?" he began to ramble as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, trying to come up with more things to say to diffuse the situation, although it didn't look like Soobin was as caught off-guard as he was feeling. He began to gesture wildly, "Especially choosing a female character? You sure had me fooled, you even got their premium skin! I really thought I was playing with a girl, even with the way you talk, the stickers—"
"You also use a female character and emotes often," Soobin pointed out.
Beomgyu stilled with his hands in the air, "Did you also think I was a girl, then?"
"Not exactly, but I didn't really think too hard about it," Soobin began slowly, glancing to the side in thought before continuing, "I'm actually pretty glad it's you, Choi Beomgyu."
Okay, that was unexpected. Beomgyu finally turned to face Soobin, surprised to find the latter already staring at him, expression completely serious. Up close, it was even harder to ignore Soobin's good looks; his skin was smooth and fair, and the curve of his lips made him look innocent in a way that the sharpness of his eyes did not. There was also a mole near the corner of his eye that caught Beomgyu's attention. It was truly unfair how someone like Choi Soobin could exist, even more so how Beomgyu couldn't bring himself to really hate the guy.
"What do you mean by that?" Beomgyu managed to ask, trying his best to look elsewhere. His eyes landed on the sunflower in his hand instead, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to stare at it for too long either.
Soobin shrugged, a small smile appearing, "I think it's nice to know Beombear is someone closer than I thought."
"You're not disappointed I'm not actually a female player?"
"No," came the dark-haired boy's quick answer. There was a flash of guilt in his eyes, "Sorry, are you disapp–"
"Not at all!" Beomgyu interrupted far too loudly, lying through his teeth because it felt easier to do than be faced with a sad Choi Soobin. There was just no way he could tell Taehyun and Yeonjun about what happened otherwise he'll never hear the end of it from them. He wasn't sure they would believe him, either. If anything, he needed the day to end as quickly as possible so he could hole up in his room, maybe drown himself in a few rounds of the game they play together, and go back to how he lived life before meeting Sooberry.
Unfortunately, Soobin didn't feel the same way. He stood up, looked around, and then back down at Beomgyu.
"It's later than I thought it would be," the taller boy began, "But let me make it up to you with a meal?"
Well. Choi Beomgyu never said no to free things, that wasn't how Taehyun taught him to live. Despite his earlier reservations about even being seen with Soobin in public, he followed into a nearby fast-food place pretty easily. The flower in his hand made him slightly self-conscious, but thankfully it was easy to hide it behind him while they walked and on the bench where they sat, tucked into a booth conveniently away from most of the other customers in the restaurant. The redhead allowed himself to relax.
While they were waiting for the food to arrive, it was surprisingly Soobin who spoke up first.
"I'm sorry again for being late today," he said with utmost sincerity that made Beomgyu wonder if he was always so uptight, "It wasn't my intention at all to keep you waiting for so long."
"No problem, man," Beomgyu waved the apology off as casually as possible. He was already being treated to a free meal, he could let bygones be bygones and all that very easily. He didn't feel the need to ask why or pry any further either, although it looked like Soobin wanted to keep explaining himself, thankfully the topic was dropped in favour of something Beomgyu could handle a lot better: Games. Not just the game they played together, too, but a wide variety that not everybody played.
While they were discussing a specific game's upcoming event, Soobin's eyes were shining so brightly when he talked about how much currency he had saved up for it that Beomgyu couldn't help but think to himself that maybe they could turn out to be friends after all of this was said and done. Granted, their social circles in school were still different, but at least they could continue to talk to each other online. If anything, Soobin seemed like a cool guy who geeked out about the same stuff that he did, so that was nice.
They exchanged contact numbers before parting ways, including game handles for the many games they apparently shared.
The weekend passed and back in school, Beomgyu was sharing a break with Yeonjun like usual, lounging in one of the study areas where a bunch of other groups were hanging out. The older boy didn't ask about what happened on the other's supposed date and there was no way Beomgyu was going to remind him about it either. He was just about to get away with never bringing it up again when the doors to the study hall opened, revealing a group of people with one particular person standing out in the center like a very sore, very handsome thumb.
Before Beomgyu could look away, he made eye contact with Soobin.
Immediately, Soobin raised his arm to wave at him.
"Is he waving at you?" Yeonjun asked incredulously, eyes widening further when Beomgyu eventually waved back, ignoring how the redhead was very pointedly kicking him under the table. The blond continued under his breath."Beom, what gives? Just last week I could have sworn you didn't even like the guy, let alone that he knows you exist," he paused and Beomgyu swore he could see the gears turning before he could put a stop to it. "Wait a damn minute, when you met up with your online girlfriend—"
"Listen, I was going to tell when you when Taehyun's here with us but—"
"—you mean to tell me—"
"This really isn't the right time to discuss this, can you at least keep your voice down—"
Beomgyu's own voice was growing steadily louder only to promptly shut his mouth when he felt, more so than saw, a looming shadow come from behind him. His eyes met Yeonjun's right before the latter looked away as the dread settled in further. It was one thing to talk to Soobin outside of campus when it was just the two of them and when it came to talking online, but in person with so many people who knew them made Beomgyu feel too self-conscious all of a sudden.
It didn't seem like Soobin shared the same sentiments as his figure finally appeared in full view, stopping right next to their table. Before he could even say anything, Yeonjun was already one step ahead of him.
"Soobin, did you happen to meet with Beomgyu this weekend?"
"Yeah, I did," Soobin replied without a second thought.
Yeonjun's bright and loud laughter filled the air for a few seconds before he remembered they were in a public area where other people were studying. Also, Beomgyu yelled at him to shut up before remembering the same. Still standing next to them, Soobin looked back and forth between the two with a confused look on his face, patiently waiting to be filled in on what was happening. His group of friends already went ahead to find a table of their own. It took a while before Yeonjun calmed down enough to speak again.
"Beomgyu was telling me and Tyun that he was going to be meeting someone he met online and that they were going to date and fall in love and he was going to finally get a girlfriend," the blond snickered as he spoke, ignoring the constant kicks to his ankle. At some point, Beomgyu gave up and buried his face in his hands instead, peeking just a little to glance up at Soobin's reaction to everything. He was glad Soobin's usual group was seated farther away from them and thus, couldn't possibly hear what was happening.
The small relief that settled within Beomgyu disappeared quickly when he felt warm fingers gently pry his hand away from his face — Soobin's face came into full view.
"Do I have to be a girl for you to date me?" He asked, his voice low.
The words rang in Beomgyu's ears like he got hit with tinnitus, unsure if his mind was just making things up or if he was even awake — granted, why would he be dreaming about Choi Soobin like that? Regardless, he was at a complete loss, unable to pry his hand away. Across him, he could vaguely make out the way Yeonjun was staring at them like his eyes were ready to pop out of his head and he didn't blame the older boy one bit. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, which must have looked stupid, but Beomgyu couldn't care less.
He cleared his throat, "What do you mean?"
"There's a Dating feature released in the latest game patch for Star Seekers, but I already went with a male character," Soobin said quickly, brows scrunching up in worry as he finally let go of Beomgyu to retrieve his phone from his back pocket. "I added you last night and saw you also went with one of the heroes, but I don't think the game restricts anything, so I was wondering if you'd be okay with it," he continued to explain as the game loaded, showing the screen, "It's this one right here. Our levels aren't too far off, either."
"Oh," Beomgyu let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding this whole time, "Sure thing, bro."
Soobin smiled warmly, "Great, thanks."
One of the boys from the group he entered with earlier appeared behind his shoulder, peering at the phone.
"Oh, that game of yours?" The brunette asked Soobin, before glancing at both Beomgyu and Yeonjun with a thoughtful look, "Is that how you know them?"
"Just Beomgyu," Soobin answered, meeting the redhead's eyes and smiling once more. It may or may not have made Beomgyu feel something — surprise, maybe, that they were actually friends. Soobin introduced his friend as Huening Kai before he was dragged off to rejoin his friends where they sat, with Kai explaining that they were all waiting for him. The group looked a lot larger than Beomgyu initially remembered when he saw them enter, too, but that wasn't new.
Wherever Soobin went, a crowd of people was sure to follow.
With Soobin gone, Beomgyu allowed himself another sigh of relief, "That sure was something, huh, Yeonjun?"
"You didn't say no."
"Why would I say no?" The younger asked, puzzled. "It's not like you or Taehyun play games with me the same way."
"Not that, you idiot," Yeonjun rolled his eyes and tried to get the other to recall what happened earlier. When Beomgyu remained at a loss, he brought up Soobin's question again, but posed it as his own, schooling his features to be stonefaced and his tone serious. With an outstretched arm, he took hold of Beomgyu's hand from where it had been resting on the table and asked, "Hey, Beom, if I were a girl would you date me?"
Immediately, the other boy made a face and pulled his hand away, "Gross, of course not, why would you even ask that?"
Choi Yeonjun gave him a look—one that Beomgyu still couldn’t decipher—before smiling in a way that suddenly made the younger nervous. A devilish smile that always meant trouble, if he knew the older boy well enough. His only source of comfort was that Taehyun wasn’t around to make fun of him for what happened, too, but that didn’t last very long since they were going to be meeting up together for lunch again that day.
At least, that had been the plan, so how did Beomgyu end up in the cafeteria seated across from Soobin?
One moment he had been walking next to Taehyun, then out of nowhere that Huening fellow popped up with questions about an assignment from a class he shared with Taehyun — something like that, Beomgyu was too distracted to follow the conversation, but he did make a mental note that Taehyun knew more people than he gave the other boy credit for. He had been staring at his phone before he felt the need to look up.
Just in time to see Soobin walking towards them, with the apparent intent to eat lunch with Kai, who just then was asking Taehyun to head to the library with him real quick.
“I’ll borrow him for a while, sorry,” Kai apologized with a charismatic smile that made Beomgyu feel like the brunette could get away with anything he wanted. “Here, you can have Soobin.”
With a nudge, the taller boy stepped forward with his hands inside the pockets of his jacket.
“Lunch?” Soobin asked simply.
There was no reason for Beomgyu to say no, although a part of him would argue that he also had no real reason to say yes. He could always eat alone or wait for Taehyun, but he was already walking next to Soobin before he could think about it further, sliding into a table like they did when they met up that weekend. It was a little weird going from strangers to friends who had lunch together, especially given the circumstances of how they even formally met.
As soon as they got their food, Soobin slid his phone over to Beomgyu.
“Look who I got.”
The redhead’s jaw dropped, “No way, they just released her this morning! At what pity?”
“Took me only 17 rolls,” Soobin said proudly, dragging his finger across the screen to show the character from all angles. He also excitedly showed Beomgyu the other characters he had from the game, explaining how he got some of the rare ones from grinding the game for days and nights. By then, even Beomgyu had his phone out as they compared their teams for that particular game.
With a proud grin, Beomgyu announced, “If we go against each other I think I can crush you.”
“I may have lower combined power, but half of my team are tanks,” Soobin countered with a scoff, “I’d like to see you try.”
“We can bet on it if you’re so confident.”
“I never lose a bet,” the other agreed quickly to the terms — the loser buys the winner a drink.
In exactly 3 minutes and 14 seconds, the victory animation flashed on Beomgyu’s phone screen, but that was expected. What Choi Beomgyu didn’t expect was the way Soobin reacted with a rather loud scream of defeat, dropping his phone onto the table so quickly that it slid off the table. His arms extended to try and catch it, but unfortunately, the phone still fell to the floor. With the tip of his ears flushed pink, Soobin bent down to retrieve his phone.
Only to promptly hit his head on the edge of the table on his way back up.
Unable to contain it much longer, Beomgyu burst into laughter.
“Wow, you really don’t look the type to fumble like this,” he couldn’t help but comment in between chuckles.
In a way, it was nice to see that someone as handsome as Choi Soobin could also make a fool out of himself, but Beomgyu didn’t know how to phrase it properly without making it apparent that he both stared at Soobin a bit too much whenever the other was around and that he thought he looked stupid at the moment. Stupid in a good way, Beomgyu noted in his head, maybe even in a cute way because of how shy Soobin looked chewing on his bottom lip.
Soobin looked like he was debating within himself whether he was going to speak or not before eventually blurting out, “You made a similar comment when we met.”
“I did?” Beomgyu asked.
“Yeah, you did,” he nodded firmly, maintaining eye contact and looking nothing like the shy guy from earlier and immediately, Beomgyu felt a shift in the mood. Not quite a negative shift, but something that made him sit up straight in his seat, ready to give his undivided attention. Soobin continued with his voice softer, “When you found out I played games, you said I don’t look the type. I was hoping you could tell me more about that.”
“It’s just—” Beomgyu began, before stopping short to really think about what he should say next.
Except his brain didn’t cooperate with him, so he just continued on a whim.
“I’m sure you know, but you’re kind of a really popular guy,” the words spilt out of his mouth without so much of a warning, “Tall and ha— Cool! Yeah, cool and all that.” Beomgyu could feel the hole he was digging go deeper and deeper, but it was too late to stop, especially when he noticed the curve of Soobin’s lips curve upward at the compliment. “I didn’t expect that you could be a—well, putting it nicely—a loser. But a loser like me!”
He must have said something right because the weird vibe from earlier vanished almost instantly as Soobin slumped into his chair. The older boy ran a hand through his hair, effectively messing it up, and Beomgyu held back on another comment that it was his first time seeing Soobin’s hair like that. He also did his best to ignore the little voice in his head that chastised him for even knowing it was the first time and the even louder voice that found Soobin good-looking regardless of messy hair.
If he had to be honest, it was rather unfair.
"Sorry if I don't live up to expectations," Soobin said after some pause. “But really, compared to what image other people seem to have about me, I think how you know me is much more accurate.”
"No need to apologize, I like this Choi Soobin a lot better!" Beomgyu said a bit too loudly, caught off-guard by such an honest statement that he couldn’t help but be honest himself. It was true; he learned a valuable, age-old lesson about not judging books by their cover and people by their looks and reputation. He was in the middle of mentally patting himself on the back for realizing that when his eyes caught sight of how Soobin looked in front of him.
Something in his eyes looked different, but Beomgyu couldn’t quite tell what had changed, but the stare made the redhead feel rather self-conscious of himself. Yet, he couldn’t seem to look away. Soobin’s mouth was also slightly open, like he was stunned and momentarily unable to speak. It was a moment that couldn’t have lasted very long, but it felt like time had stopped for the both of them despite the noisy chatter of the cafeteria around them.
Blinking slowly, a smile began to spread across Soobin’s face when he finally said, "I like you, too.“
No, Beomgyu’s heart did not stop for a second there.
After all, Soobin didn’t mean it in that way. Not at all. Beomgyu didn’t even know why he was thinking of it like that, but he willed the thought and all related thoughts away. Time resumed shortly after that, with Soobin taking a spoonful of his meal and chewing too loudly as any regular human being would do, even with Beomgyu still feeling a weird fuzzy feeling all over. He chalked it off as the happy feeling of making a new friend and left it at that.
“Also, for the record, I don’t think you’re a loser,“ Soobin spoke again, much more relaxed now than Beomgyu has previously seen him, “Actually, I’d love to be more like you.”
“More like me?” Beomgyu asked in shock, pointing at himself. What did Soobin even know about him?
“Yeah, you’re always laughing or talking with your friends whenever I see you, and you’re really good with your games even with so many, and you’re so open about sharing them even with people like me whom you’ve just met,” the other listed off with ease, still smiling. His observations brought up a lot of questions in Beomgyu’s head, none of which he could properly voice out. The latter opted to just nod along to what was being said.
Maybe it was due to their short heart-to-heart moment or whatever the hell happened between them, but being actual friends with Choi Soobin after all that happened way too quickly and surprisingly easy, despite their varying social circles. It was made easier by how Taehyun and Kai were already friends due to more than a few shared classes. Also, with how often Soobin was left alone with Beomgyu — shared breaks, ending up on the same library floor, and that one time Yeonjun suddenly had to go to the restroom and never returned.
Regardless of the reason, Beomgyu found himself in Soobin’s company more often than not, both online and offline.
Unfortunately, he was beginning to think being so close to the likes of Choi Soobin wasn’t doing him any favours.
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: Hey, do you want to go on a date with me?
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: . .?/ /.>/?
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: qqqqwhay
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: (user sent a Confused? emote)
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: Is your phone okay?
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: Yes.
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: You meant. The Valentine's event.
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: (user sent a Heart~ emote)
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: If we get enough points, we can unlock town decor! I know we can rank really high if I’m partnered with you.
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: You’re just using my character to carry you through the game!!!
[CADET CHAT] BEOMBEAR: (user sent a Pouting emote)
[CADET CHAT] SOOBERRY: C’mon, Commander~ ♡♡♡
Specifically, it wasn’t doing his heart any favours. Beomgyu stared at his screen in the darkness of his room, wondering whether it was normal for his heart to beat so quickly at the thought that Soobin actually asked him out. They’ve hung out before multiple times, both with other friends and just with each other, but it felt different to think about it as a date. Not that Soobin actually asked him out in real life or anything.
It was also ridiculous how much of Soobin he’s grown to know over the course of a few weeks, too. Like how Soobin could probably trip on air if he wasn’t careful, or that he spent most morning classes with the hair on the back of his hair sticking up, or the way his laughter turned into a snort whenever he found something to be really funny. It was also ridiculous how Beomgyu was thinking of him when he was supposed to be sleeping.
If—a very big if, Beomgyu would say—he actually did have non-platonic feelings for Soobin, what then?
He couldn’t help but feel like it would be better left unsaid. After all, Soobin treated him like a friend, minus whenever he would go into character and chat like they were actually dating or married like they were in-game. A friend he could be open with and be himself with, without worrying that he wasn’t cool enough. That was what Soobin himself admitted to him once, after all, and Beomgyu couldn’t stop thinking about it since.
With final exams coming along soon, Choi Beomgyu had an excuse to avoid Soobin for a while.
Cowardly of him, perhaps, to choose to avoid his feelings and hope they died down rather than figure them out, but Beomgyu would rather take his secret to the grave than admit it. He already had everything sorted out; he’d go home right away instead of lingering after class, avoid his usual hangout spots because that’s also where Soobin often stayed, and the hardest of all: pause his games so he could actually study.
At least, that had been his plan, but his first mistake was telling Soobin that last bit, just as the older boy was leaving his apartment after an afternoon of gaming together.
Beomgyu had made up his mind and his heart pretty quickly that day. Prolonged exposure to Soobin on campus and online? At least he had time to breathe and tell himself his crush was a wild hallucination. A whole day of sitting next to Soobin on his dingy college-boy-owned couch, talking about games, eating pizza, and listening to the other’s dorky laughter? Not good at all. It was time to put a stop to things before they got out of hand.
The older boy looked crushed, “Really?”
“I really need to focus my grades, you see—”
“I can tutor you!” Soobin suggested immediately, “Just maybe not with any math-related subject, but with Taehyun we could—”
“—I’m also running low on phone storage—”
“If you have a lot of photos and videos, you can store them on—”
“—my pet rock needs a lot of care, I won’t have time to do anything with you—”
“Okay,” Soobin held his hands up to stop the other from continuing and frowned, “That last one didn’t sound right. I thought this was just about games and grades. Are you saying we also can’t hang out?” When Beomgyu didn’t reply right away, something clicked in Soobin’s head that made him frown deeper, a look of hurt passing over his eyes when he asked, “Is it because of me? Did you—”
He stopped short to just stare at Beomgyu’s eyes, almost searchingly, but also like he was afraid of what he would see. Beomgyu wanted to take back what he said and just trash his silly plan, but before he could laugh it off and say it was a prank or something, Soobin stepped closer and made his breath hitch. With just his apartment door behind him, there was nowhere to run. He didn’t think he was fast enough to open the door and head back inside.
So he was stuck there, staring up at Soobin, waiting for what the dark-haired boy was going to say next.
Soobin swallowed nervously “Did you figure out how I feel? I knew I shouldn’t have joked about that indirect kiss when I took a sip of your drink.”
“Did I what—”
“Kai told me I was being really obvious about it, but he said that Yeonjun said it was fine and that you wouldn’t notice, but I should have been more careful,” Soobin continued as if the other didn’t speak, taking a step back. The fresh air was enough to snap Beomgyu out of his daze, but Soobin was still going on with his monologue about he wished they could still be friends despite how he liked Beomgyu and there was probably more but it was Beomgyu’s turn to hold a hand up.
“Pause. Rewind,” he said, “I’m making sure I’m not hallucinating from all the pizza and soda.”
“Which part?” Soobin asked.
Beomgyu blinked, “You like me?”
“Ah,” Soobin rolled his eyes with an amused smile on his lips, almost like a smirk, and it made Beomgyu feel crazier by the second. “Yeah, that’s all the parts, Beomgyu.” With a more timid tone, he continued, “You don’t look like you hate me right now, so I’m hoping that my dramatics were for nothing and that we’re actually fine. Are we okay?”
“I think we’re a little more than just okay,” Beomgyu breathed out before he took hold of Soobin’s face in between both of his hands, “I’m about to kiss you. If you don't want me to, tell me right now.”
“I literally just confessed to you.”
“You didn’t, not really, but we can talk about that later,” Beomgyu reasoned out before he reached up to meet Soobin’s lips halfway just as the other leaned down.