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It's not really his fault why he's stuck in his phone most of the time now that they have their own free time. It was Wonwoo. He got so annoyed by Soonyoung's whipped ass telling him things he doesn't really want to hear anymore because he already heard it most of the time. It's all about Jihoon and his fantasies about him.
Yes, Soonyoung has a crush on Jihoon and it's way before their debut when Wonwoo noticed how the smaller one seemed to swoon their tiger with his effortless beauty. But he's had enough. He kept telling Soonyoung he already knows about his fantasies and tells him every single time it won't happen like how he imagined it and the other one would succumb to his imagination silently but only for a few hours. If he can't contain himself anymore and burst, he'll need Wonwoo to listen to his shits because he himself doesn't know what to do with his brain.
"Soonyoung," he breathes in. He needs to stay patient or else his best friend will have a big bump on his forehead for smacking him hard to wake him up from his reveries. "I'm aware. Well aware of how whipped you are for Jihoon. If you want to get your fantasies to come true then speak up! Go to him and tell him how you feel." Soonyoung just grunts, rather loud that Wonwoo sighs again for the nth time today. Coward. He wants to tell him and drill inside his head and remind him how much of a coward is he. But Soonyoung has self-awareness you see.
"I know, okay! I just can't. How could I even?" He buries his face on Wonwoo's pillow he's been hugging since he entered his room. "Does he even realize how beautiful he is?" Wonwoo rolls his eyes when his friend is starting again.
"Here." Wonwoo hands him his phone to show him a certain website. "What's that?" Wonwoo sits closer to him so he can see what he's showing him. He left his glasses on top of his desk and he's too lazy to get it.
"It's a website where you can read fan-made fiction." Soonyoung eyes him weirdly as if he's crazy suggesting that to him when his attention span can't even let him read straight for five minutes. "I know what you're thinking but it's not that kind of book." he searches some tag 'Soonhoon' and his best friend widens his eyes when he recognizes his pair name with Jihoon.
"There," he scrolls down. "You can pick any fanfiction you want to read where you and Jihoon are both main characters." Soonyoung's heartbeat fastens as he excitedly grabs his phone to choose which one to open. "AU? What's that?" he asks as he scrolls down. "It's an alternative universe where writers do what they want for their favorite pair." Soonyoung bites his lower lip as he tries not to smile when he continues choosing which one to read first.
"Okay that's enough," he grabs his phone back and Soonyoung immediately pouts when he still hasn't chosen a story. "Please read on your own, I'll send you the link." Soonyoung nods eagerly as he waits for Wonwoo to send the link.
"You might read a story where it matches your imagination somehow. Hope it helps how you figure out yourself."
But Wonwoo immediately regrets it.
He just added more oil to the fire. He realizes late that he only fed more fantasies into Soonyoung's mind that his ears are going to bleed from Soonyoung's share stories.
"Oh my gosh, Wonwoo! Jihoonie is so cuuuuteee ughh I love how the author writes in the detailed description of how he blushes!! This is so cute. I love this website." he rolls on his bed while squealing like a teenage girl thinking about his crush. Wonwoo gave up. He'll just let his imagination run free and hopefully, it won't cross into dangerous ones.
He was just scrolling peacefully on his phone when he hears soft sobs beside him where Soonyoung is lying, reading. He scrunches his eyebrows as he sits up. "Are you crying?" he asks in disbelief. The other just looks at him with his red and puffy eyes as he shows him the website Wonwoo he introduced him to.
"We broke up!" he cried harder than earlier and Wonwoo resisted rolling his eyes. He feels so stupid worrying for his best friend when he heard him cry and it was just because of a non-existent fan fiction he's reading. He instead shakes his head and continues scrolling on his phone, ignoring the sobbing mess the one beside him makes.
Eventually, their other members notices Soonyoung being on his phone more often than usual. They sometimes look at him when he suddenly bursts out laughing or talking to himself or even containing his squeals as he continues reading. The others don't mind tho. It was too interesting seeing Soonyoung with different emotions all at once in one sitting only so they let him be. The others are curious tho, especially Seokmin.
"What do you get there, hyung?" he sits beside Soonyoung trying to peek at what he's on about. The other was startled enough to hug his device to his chest to hide the screen. He sighs in relief when it was just Seokmin. "Nothing. I was just reading something," he said, continuing with his scrolling down through the story he picked up. A fluff one.
"You read?" Soonyoung simply nods, trying to ignore the younger to avoid reading the same line over and over again.
"Well, it does make you happy so keep it up. I guess," he nods again as Seokmin chuckles at his concentration on his phone and went back to his room.
Soonyoung continues to drown himself in fanfictions of him and Jihoon. He even giggles by himself as he tries to find a more comfortable position on the cramped couch in their living room. "Ugh, he's so cute!" he frustratingly whispered.
"Who is?" he almost fell on the couch when a voice from behind startles him. He looks up from his phone and sees Jihoon holding a glass of water. "Jihoonie?" Soonyoung rubs his eyes in front of him just to make sure he's seeing the right person and that person actually raises his eyebrows at him when he scans him from head to foot.
Soonyoung feels his neck getting hot up to his face so he clears his throat and arranges himself to lie down properly on the couch. It's the real Jihoon. "Nothing," he almost mistakenly took the original Jihoon as his imaginary one. Jihoon hums. "It's almost three, Soons." Soonyoung looks up on his phone to check the time.
"I'll sleep once I'm done," he said as he keeps reading the same line. He can't focus when the subject of his daydreaming, fantasies, and the main character of the story he's reading is near him and just the mere existence of a Lee Jihoon in their living room is enough to make him conscious.
"We have practice later," the other leader reprimands him with his eyes but Soonyoung is not looking at him so it's a bit useless. Soonyoung nods instead in acknowledgment. "I'm almost done. You go sleep first," he whispered, trying to keep himself from squealing. He really needs to differentiate reality and his imagination. This is getting dangerous.
"What are you even doing with your phone? You've been at it since you got out from Wonwoo's room." Jihoon walks near him and he tried so hard not to be obvious how his heart quickens its pace.
'He noticed!? Gosh, I'm so gonna tell Wonwoo he was watching me!' he internally screams but his mind completely stopped working when Jihoon stops just beside his head and dips down to check Soonyoung's screen which he automatically flipped over. Now his heart is doing somersaults and getting wild with how Jihoon's so close to him.
"Are you hiding something?" he suspects and Soonyoung gulps when he can see how Jihoon's thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, and pink lips— "My eyes are up here," Jihoon says that made him sit up, avoiding hitting Jihoon's face.
He slaps his face. Hard.
"What the—" Jihoon's eyes widen with what he witnessed. He's about to check the choreographer's face when Soonyoung immediately stands up and runs to his room with a whisper of 'good night' to Jihoon who was left clueless and shocked.
When he came to, a small smile is visible on his face. "Cute," he snorts and finishes the glass of water before going back to his room.
In the end, Soonyoung wasn't able to finish the story he was reading when Jihoon disturbed him (he was totally okay with it). They were done practicing for today and Wonwoo walks over to the silent Soonyoung who got still got a red mark on his face.
"Practice is over. Aren't you going to read?" Soonyoung looks at him before slowly shaking his head. "Maybe later," he answered and washes his palm to his sweaty face before sweeping his hair back. He kept quiet for too long to the point it's making Wonwoo uncomfortable.
"You're too quiet for once. Is the world going to end?" Soonyoung ignores him but he nudges him with his elbow, getting worried. "What's wrong?" he finally asked.
"Jihoon probably knows by now I have a crush on him," he whispered so low that Wonwoo almost didn't catch what he said.
"Isn't that a good thing? What made you think that?"
"He saw me looking at his lips."
Wonwoo paused, "And? What's wrong with that?"
"He probably thinks I'm weird. Maybe he's even disgusted by it." He sighed, can't make himself look at their smallest member who was now drinking from his water bottle.
"Do you really think Jihoon is that kind of a person?" Wonwoo almost smacks him again on the head when he heard the reason why he's so down. He's for sure aware his best friend is taking his sanity away day by day.
"No but," he grunted as he throws his head back hitting the wall in the process. Wonwoo heard a small laugh not too far from them and they saw Jihoon looking at his water bottle and twisting the cap back. "That's what I read previously in the fanfics." It seems that Soonyoung didn't hear his favorite, Jihoon's laugh with his head full of worry.
Wonwoo smiles when he noticed something. "Soonyoung, reality and a made-up scenario are two different things. You should try harder. You don't know, maybe he's just waiting or something." He encourages with a knowing look.
He nodded and they were interrupted when their main choreographer announces they were done for the day and they can go back now. Wonwoo hopes Soonyoung will go back to how he is when he notices the latter browsing for another story to read.
It was completely different from how he expected.
It's a disaster. Soonyoung's behavior is.
Whenever Jihoon tries getting near him, he subtly makes excuses and avoids him. It kept happening many times that Wonwoo is getting exhausted with the way they were acting. He can tell Jihoon too, is annoyed by Soonyoung's actions towards him. He frustratedly sighed and shoots daggers in the choreographer's direction who's drowning in whatever he's doing with his device.
"Corner him and confiscate his phone," Wonwoo murmurs when he sees their producer looking at Soonyoung across the practice room lying on his side, reading.
"What?" Jihoon asks pretending not to know what he was talking about.
"Don't you think you've tested him enough?" Wonwoo slumps on the mirror behind him and the younger follows. "Until when are you going to do this?"
"I liked seeing his reactions," he admitted with a small smile, still looking at Soonyoung who was busy scrolling through the fan fiction, choosing angst as his genre to match his recent mood.
"And look what happened?" Jihoon rolls his eyes but sighed.
"Fine,"
In their dorms, when Soonyoung got out of the toilet he immediately went to Wonwoo's room when he said he needs to talk to him.
Except, it wasn't Wonwoo who was waiting inside. His heart instantly ran twice the speed. He was about to turn around when the smaller hand was faster than him, pushing the door closed when he opened it a little. Trapping him. In one arm.
While he was distracted, Jihoon confiscates the phone from his hand. Crap. His phone was left open.
"Jihoon," he tried getting his phone back but Jihoon steps away from him, trying to read the contents on the phone but only got a few words when Soonyoung seriously tried to retrieve his phone back. He steps back again. "Why is my name here?" he asked, eyes on the phone trying to swat Soonyoung's hand away.
"Give it back, Jihoon." He tries again but both of them didn't notice they were already near Wonwoo's bed when Jihoon steps back and felt the hard furniture at the back of his knees making him fall on it, reflexively grabbing Soonyoung's sweater in the process, ending up in Soonyoung towering over him.
Both of their eyes widen at the sudden twist of events but Jihoon got over it first, reading a few sentences from the phone he's still holding. "Soonyoung kept moping inside his room when Jihoon rejected him a few days—" Jihoon read the line verbatim bringing Soonyoung back to reality and pinned his wrist beside his head. "That's enough, Jihoon. This isn't funny anymore."
Jihoon looks at his eyes intently, staring back at the black orbs as if swallowing him. "And you avoiding me isn't?" Soonyoung's eyes soften and put strength on his arms to avoid hurting Jihoon's wrist in the middle of standing up but Jihoon's other hand grabbing his nape made him stop.
"What? Gonna run away again?" in his peripheral, he saw Soonyoung's throat bob up and down.
"Is what you're reading worth your attention more than me?"
Soonyoung's sharp inhale covered the room for a moment before Jihoon smiles sweetly at him, causing Soonyoung's brain to stop working altogether, nerves inside wondering if they were dreaming or if this was another version of his delusion.
"Do you really think I'll reject you or something?" Jihoon pulls down Soonyoung closer and the other's arms almost gave out in surprise. "Why were you reading those when you've got the real one?"
He waited patiently for Soonyoung to answer. "Are you real?" were the words that came out of his mouth. Jihoon looks at him seriously before he bursts out, cackling at his adorable reactions. He lets go of Soonyoung's phone to pinch his cheeks hard enough for him to utter "Ow!"
"Was that enough proof I'm real?"
Soonyoung observes him puzzlingly. The pain in his cheeks long gone.
"The Jihoon I know won't do any of these." He made up his mind to stand up but Jihoon is not yet done when he encircles his arms around Soonyoung's neck bringing him down again, slumping his body on top of his when his arms finally gave out.
"Why are you even—"
"Is the Jihoon you know does this?" Soonyoung's eyes widen for the nth time when Jihoon brought his face closer to his and pecks on his lips. His mouth hanging slightly open. His mind ended up going haywire. His mouth speaks before his mind can process it.
"I don't know. I need to check longer," he whispers and musters up his courage bringing his face closer this time and feeling Jihoon's soft and a little bit chapped into his. Jihoon smiles through their kiss when Soonyoung tries to go deeper. "I think that was enough checking." he separates from Soonyoung and the latter's eyes won't leave Jihoon's shiny and quite red lips.
"Do you like me?"
"Yes," he answered absentmindedly and immediately, his attention never leaving the younger's lips.
"Good," he laughs a little and Soonyoung believed he heard the heaven's chimes.
"Because I like you too." He actually noticed Soonyoung's obvious affection toward him and he wants to confirm and make sure they're real before taking action but it somehow backfired and he decided to do this with Wonwoo's help. He didn't regret anything tho.
What Jihoon said made Soonyoung's eyes meet his. Now he's blushing hard, his head is now working and still processing the kiss they did earlier that he was dreading to do and imagined all the time way before.
Soonyoung's body and mind gave up, putting his weight entirely on Jihoon's body as he hides his face in the crook of the younger's neck. "If this is a dream, please don't ever wake me up," he whispers but Jihoon heard him loud and clear.
"Do you really prefer what you read over the original?" Jihoon asks, lightly carding Soonyoung's hair with his fingers.
"Believe me, this is too good to be true to be real." Soonyoung rolls beside him and wraps his arms around Jihoon's middle, bringing him closer.
"I've liked you longer than you ever did, Soon." He confesses, slightly feeling so small how the older looks intently into his eyes waiting for him to continue. "It was crush at first sight if I may say," now, it was Jihoon's cheeks that turned pink up to his ears. Soonyoung looks at him fondly, his heart fluttering with light feelings as if he's floating. He's so happy he doesn't want to wake up. But this is not a dream, not an imagination, not a delusion.
It's real.
"I saw you auditioning—"
"Jihoon-ah." he interrupts. "Marry me," Jihoon's eyebrows shot up with his declaration but smiles anyway.
No matter how many times Soonyoung sees that smile, he can feel himself liking him deeper and deeper, ready to explore and dive into the word that has four letters.
Jihoon.
His inspiration.
His crush.
And he might be as well his first love.
Soonyoung hopes his last too. He'll keep this moment treasured forever inside his brain even though he was mostly taken aback by the other's actions. He mirrors the younger's smile into a wide one when he heard his answer.
"We'll see."
He'll take his word and wait patiently as he was doing (less the cowardice part), and look forward to what kind of future they both have.