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Chapter Text

👥 Park Sunghoon has sent you a friend request. See now. 👥

Sunoo raised his eyebrow at the notification that popped on his screen. 

He quickly tapped on it and poked around the Facebook profile of this Park Sunghoon guy. The name didn't strike a chord, but Sunoo was a curious guy.

He was supposed to be “studying” for study period right now, so he had to smother the gasp that slipped out as he went through the guy's profile pictures. He was sporting the Decelis Academy soccer team uniform in one of them, and he spied the Decelis soccer field behind him.

Sunoo would recognize their uniform and soccer field anywhere since Decelis happened to be Sunshine Beach Academy's (Sunoo's alma mater) bitter rivals – their rivalry was legendary in their school district – and Sunoo always got roped into assisting his school's soccer team during the season. 

He was a glorified errand boy for Coach Seo and a glorified waterboy for the team. Putting away equipment, keeping tabs on drills and players' times, carrying bandages and cold packs with him, all that jazz. He figured it wasn't too bad of a deal since the time helping out the team went towards the mandatory community hours he had to complete in order to graduate, and he got to leave school with the team whenever they had away games. 

The sight of athletic, sweaty guys on the regular was not too bad, either.

Looking back at the profile on his screen, he was positive he had never seen the guy in the picture when visiting Decelis. The guy was sporting the varsity jersey, and Sunoo knew all the varsity Decelis guys by name since Coach Seo had asked him to gather intel on them last year.

He must be a transfer, Sunoo thought to himself, scrolling through the pictures mindlessly.

Something was nagging at him on the back of his head, though. Although he was positive that he didn't know a Park Sunghoon, his face appeared extremely familiar. No way Sunoo would forget such a handsome guy.

His thumb hovers indecisive over the Confirm button. The bad blood between schools really was no joke, and Sunoo could not think of a single reason as to why a Decelis guy would add him as a friend on SNS. Maybe to gather intel like Sunoo had?

If any of his classmates caught wind that he was "fraternizing" with the enemy like this, they would give him hell for it. Even Coach Seo would be pissed off. He'd be deemed a traitor and shunned socially. It sounded like a very bad decision to accept the friend request.

Sunoo clicked on Confirm anyways.

His mom had not raised a quitter. 

Frankly, he would not have been able to carry on with his life peacefully until he learned where exactly he knew this guy from, because Sunoo can swear on his sister’s life that he has seen him somewhere before.

He sort of expected the guy to maybe message him after he’d accepted the friend request to state his intentions, but nothing happened over the next following days. 

The guy didn't have a lot on his SNS page compared to Sunoo's. Sunoo had memorized all the content to be found about the guy already with how many times he had gone through the profile trying to collect clues as to his motives to befriend Sunoo on SNS. 

It was occupying so much of Sunoo's mind that even Jungwon, Sunoo's best friend, called him out on it.

"What's up with you?" Jungwon asked, intercepting him one day at the cafeteria's lunch line. "You've been all shifty this entire week."

"I have not!" Sunoo denied hotly, shoving his phone deeper into his pocket. "I've just been busy with schoolwork and projects, that’s all. "

Like HELL he'd tell him.

Jungwon begrudgingly accepted his explanation, but Sunoo got even more paranoid after that. He thought about unfriending the Decelis guy a number of times to save himself the trouble. He wasn't even closer to figuring out where he had seen him before, either!

Sunoo didn't have to wait too long for his answer, thankfully. The next morning, he was leaning back on the bus stop bench with his earphones' volume cranked up as he waited for the bus that would take him to school when he spotted him, that Park Sunghoon guy. 

There was no mistaking him.

Doning the preppy Decelis gray slacks and blazer, Park Sunghoon walked right in front of him and continued walking past until Sunoo lost sight of him when the guy took a turn on the corner. He had seen him clearly, though, like in slow-motion. The guy hadn't looked at Sunoo once, but that was alright. 

Sunoo now knew where he had seen him before. 

Not every morning, but some mornings when Sunoo headed out earlier to school, he would get to see the Decelis student walk by on his way to the next bus stop a couple of blocks away.

Sunoo knew it was taboo, but he had working eyes, dammit. The guy was way too handsome to fly under Sunoo's radar even if he was from Decelis Academy. 

The question now was: How in the world had the guy even noticed him in the first place, and then later found him on SNS when they’ve never exchanged words? Or even looks, now that Sunoo thought about it a little more. No matter how much he tried to remember he couldn't think of a single instance of shared eye contact.

He agonized about what to do.

Usually he would run to Jungwon and brainstorm together his way out of his problems, but he really feared he would deliver Sunoo to the hands of his classmates as a traitor so he kept mum about it for the time being.

He didn't know why he was making such a big deal out of this, to be honest. It wasn't even the first time Sunoo had accepted friend requests from strangers! So, why wouldn't this friend request in particular leave his mind? The question was, of course, simple. And embarrassing.

Park Sunghoon was hot. Very hot. And he had sent a friend request to Sunoo, no matter the reason as to why, and not the other way around. It kind of really made him feel good about himself to be noticed by such a guy. Sunoo couldn't help the fleeting romantic scenarios that formed in his head.

Their inevitable but totally accidental first meeting in real life.

Maybe they wouldn't bring up the fact that they're SNS friends.

Their awkward but heart-fluttering coincidental following meetings.

The Romeo-and-Juliet tumultuous relationship that would follow due to their schools' rivalry. 

Maybe Sunoo would discover that the guy had been using him in the beginning to get intel on the Sunshine Beach team, but then he'd fallen for Sunoo and didn't care about doing that anymore.

Sunoo had plenty of time to think about these things during Calculus. And English class. And Biology.

The start of soccer season was not too far off now, which meant Sunoo could potentially see the guy up close during games. The thought birthed butterflies in his stomach.

Sunoo was dying to confide in Jungwon about all this. The younger boy always indulged Sunoo's ramblings but would urge Sunoo to keep his feet on the ground, which he appreciated. Jungwon knew something was up anyways, since he had raised his eyebrow at Sunoo's recent romantic playlists.

When Sunoo changed his profile picture and got a like from the Decelis guy almost right after posting, he couldn't hold it in any longer. He asked Jungwon if he wanted to hang out at the mall after school; the younger boy agreed easily enough.

"So, what is it that you wanted to tell me, hyung?" Jungwon asked as they walked around the mall later that afternoon. 

Sunoo played dumb.

"How do you know I want to tell you something?" he asked, pretending to be absorbed in checking out the price of the shoes in front of him.

"Because you're checking out the price for a pair of LOAFERS," Jungwon rolled his eyes. "You hate loafers."

Sunoo sighed, dragging his eyes to Jungwon.

"Loafers are freaking ugly," he agreed. 

Jungwon beamed at him with that toothy smile of his. It helped settle Sunoo's nerves.

"Promise you won't get mad," he whined anyways, holding up his pinky. 

Jungwon solemnly promised. Sunoo began spilling everything, whipping out his phone to show him pictures of the guy. Sunoo saw Jungwon's eyebrow and mouth twitch here and there, but he didn't interrupt once.

"And that's all," Sunoo concluded lamely. 

There wasn't actually much to tell if one took out Sunoo's delusions from the equation.

“You accepted a friend request from a stranger?!” was the first thing that came out of Jungwon's mouth. 

Sunoo smiled nervously.

"Uh, technically not a stranger," he mumbled in his defense.

Jungwon ignored him.

"More importantly, you accepted a friend request from a Decelis guy? Do you have a death wish, hyung?" he asked incredulously. 

Sunoo winced.

"It sounds bad when you put it that way," he said.

Jungwon dropped the serious act and giggled, smacking Sunoo in the arm.

"I can condone talking to strangers on the internet but I draw the line at fraternizing with Decelis students on the internet OR in real life," he tutted jokingly.

Sunoo bursted out laughing, relieved.

"Well, it's certainly suspicious how he even found you on SNS," Jungwon hummed thoughtfully, "but he just probably thought you were hot and didn't think twice about adding you."

"Yang Jungwon, are you crazy?" Sunoo hissed, shy but secretly flattered.

Jungwon rolled his eyes.

"Please, hyung, I have working eyes. Anyway, you just had to go and get a crush on a Decelis guy and make it difficult on yourself, huh? You couldn't just return Heeseung hyung's feelings instead?"

Sunoo choked on nothing at that.

"H-Hee-Heeseung hyung's WHAT?" he strangled out.

"Heeseung hyung's feelings," Jungwon repeated slowly. "Which he has. For you."

"That is the most insane thing you have ever said to me," Sunoo shot back, head reeling. "Heeseung hyung is so above us simple mortals that the only reason he knows who I am is because of soccer."

"The amount of times he lifts his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face in your direction during practice would be pathetic if it was anyone but Heeseung hyung," Jungwon assured him. "As it is, the only pathetic thing is how oblivious you are."

Sunoo shoved at his best friend.

"Heeseung hyung, valedictorian of the Senior class and captain of the varsity soccer team, is not interested in silly little me. End of discussion." Sunoo scolded. 

Jungwon shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he said. "Do you want me to gather info on this Decelis guy for you?"

Sunoo looked at his friend strangely.

"How would you do that?"

"Do you remember Jay hyung?" Jungwon asked, getting in line at the ice cream parlor. 

Sunoo hurried to stand next to him.

"Your childhood friend?" Sunoo wondered. 

Jungwon nodded.

"Yep! He's a junior at Decelis, y'know."

"WHAT!" Sunoo exclaimed.

Jungwon shushed him, urging him to keep his volume down. He put a hand over his mouth and nodded at Jungwon to continue.

"Yeah, he's the yearbook editor this year," Jungwon added. "Which means he must know a lot of people. He can probably tell us more."

Sunoo bit his lip, considering.

Jungwon silently handed him a mintchoco cone. Sunoo thought about it seriously. He had already come this far to satisfy his curiosity about Decelis' Park Sunghoon. He couldn't just stop now.

"I'll leave it in your care, Jungwonnie," he answered timidly after a long pause. 

Jungwon laughed.

"I already texted Jay hyung. I've got you."

"Yang Jungwon!"

"I'm efficient like that, hyung!"

Sunoo felt warm all over. He was glad to have someone like his friend in his life.

New transfer student, Jungwon's friend reported. Doesn't talk much during class. Had shown up a month and a half into the school semester, tried out for the soccer team that very same day and gotten into the varsity's first string. He had been that good.

Sorry I don't have anything else to say at this point in time, he apologized. If I learn anything else, I'll let you know.

"Mysterious," Jungwon commented after sharing this information with Sunoo. "And hot."

Sunoo laughed, hitting his friend.

The days seemed to rush by, and then the beginning of soccer season came upon Sunshine Beach Academy and upon Sunoo. He forgot about his SNS friend as he ran from class to the field every day, early for morning practice and until late in the afternoon for after school practice.

This year Coach Seo seemed to heap more responsibilities upon him than ever.

"You're a sophomore now, Sunoo," he said, patting him in the head. "You've got this more than handled."

Sunoo sighed the next morning when he showed up bright and early and there was no Coach in sight.

"Sun," someone called out to him brightly.

Sunoo turned to see Lee Heeseung, team captain, run up to him to help carry the giant bag of soccer balls that Sunoo had been dragging behind him from the storage.

Sunoo smiled at him in gratefulness.

"Captain, good morning. Thank you."

"Where's Coach?" Heeseung asked, carrying the bag as if it weighed nothing.

"He's not here," Sunoo grumbled. "And I don't think he's showing up for morning practice."

Heeseung smothered a laugh.

"Coach does love his beauty sleep. Well, it seems like you and I are in charge today."

They arrived at the field, where most of the guys were already warming up. The returning players all greeted Sunoo enthusiastically, the new additions a little more shy. Seeing them this animated injected Sunoo with a burst of energy, like a shot of caffeine. He'd missed this.

"Ready to whip the kids into shape, Mom?" Heeseung teased, flashing him a toothy smile. 

Coach Seo had dubbed Heeseung "Dad" and Sunoo "Mom" of the "kids" since last year and the nickname had stuck. Sunoo took it with good humor.

"You bet, Dad." He blew the whistle sharply. "Everyone, let's start with some laps!" 

Heeseung took the lead and morning practice commenced. Sunoo snapped a picture with the sun climbing up the sky and posted it, heart full with crisp morning air. He then hurried to get everything ready for the drills.

It was once again during study period when Sunoo saw the notification on his phone. 

👥 Park Sunghoon has liked your picture. See now. 👥

Sunoo's heart got close to skipping a beat. He remembered now that the very real chance of meeting Park Sunghoon could happen any day now.

Since Sunoo had to be extra early at school these days, he got to see Park Sunghoon walk by every day right in front of his bus stop. Sunoo could probably draw the guy's profile from memory. He was always walking briskly, backpack and training bag slung on his wide shoulders.

Sunoo had yet to exchange even a small nod in lieu of a greeting with the guy, but, if he for some reason didn't get to see him breeze by in the morning, his day would feel off.

The other kept faithfully liking all of Sunoo's posts and pictures without exception. Sunoo checked.

"Our first scheduled game is next Thursday," Coach Seo greeted them with the news the following morning, showing up for morning practice for a change. 

Sunoo's tummy fell in a swoop with excitement and nerves. The guys cheered, pumping themselves up. Coach Seo quieted them down.

"It's going to be a friendly match," he announced, followed by a suspenseful silence where he looked at all of them from under his bushy eyebrows, "against Decelis Academy."

Chaos ensued after that bomb. The excited and fiery exclamations from the guys would not quiet down.

Coach Seo let them go at it for a bit, smirking. Sunoo smiled at the competitiveness in this current team.

"Alright! We know what to do! We're gonna do what we do and win games, friendly or not. If any of you fail a quiz or get suspended in the next two weeks, I'll end you."

"Coach, where are we playing?" shouted one of the guys. 

Coach Seo smirked again and affected a laugh.

Sunoo rolled his eyes at the theatrics.

"Gentlemen, we are hosting Decelis Academy here on our lovely campus!" 

Practice that day was INSANE. The guys wouldn't settle down.

The rest of the week and the next one were exhausting. Sunoo would go blue with how hard he had to blow the whistle during practice. Coach Seo did not miss a single practice. In fact, he upped the intensity of practice, the guys going home at the end of the day with Jell-O legs.

Sunoo did his best to keep up the guys' morale, running around making sure they had everything they needed while keeping Coach Seo in check with a can of diet coke and gum at the ready for him. Two days before the match, he and his mom baked them all chocolate chip cookies.

The Coach allowed the guys to break their strict dietary restrictions and eat them the next day.

"Great work, Mom," Heeseung told him, wiping his mouth. "The kids look happy."

Sunoo hummed, watching Coach Seo shove three cookies into his mouth.

"Maybe too happy," he joked.

Heeseung smiled then cleared his throat.

"Have I told you how I'm gonna miss your baking the most next year?" he poked Sunoo's cheek.

He remembered Jungwon's words from before but internally shook his head. No way.

"You're gonna be in college, hyung. There's better cookies there."

"But they're not Kim Sunoo cookies," he argued. "They're not the same." 

Sunoo blushed, pleased at the obvious praise.

"Listen up!" the Coach called for everybody's attention, interrupting them. "Go home early today. Tomorrow's game day. Sleep well. Don't overeat."

“There's no morning practice tomorrow, either! Please, before you leave, come pick up your jerseys with me!" Sunoo announced, cupping his hands around his mouth.

By the time he was done handing out uniforms and locking up for the day, it was already way later than usual.

He had to wait a long time for the right bus, and when it finally rolled up at the stop by the school, he rushed inside and collapsed on one of the window seats close to the front. He didn't mean to fall asleep, but his eyes closed on their own accord almost instantly.

The bus must've fallen on a pothole or something, because Sunoo's head hit the window so hard that he woke up with a wince.

He discreetly wiped his chin for spit and got his bearings back. He was still a good ten minutes away from his stop, but he fought his heavy eyelids.

When his stop finally came up, he stood up and made his way to the back of the bus carefully. He almost lost his footing anyways when he accidentally made eye contact with a guy sitting on the high seats at the very back of the bus.

A very familiar looking guy who happened to be wearing a Decelis Academy uniform.

He quickly darted his eyes away as chants of "WHAT THE HELL" filled his head. He pressed the button for his stop hastily and stared woodenly at the bus door, refusing to acknowledge the heavy gaze he could still feel fixed on him. He panicked when he spied the other student stand up as well out of the corner of his eye.

What was Decelis Academy's Park Sunghoon doing in his bus?!

Why did it look like he was getting off at his same stop?!

Why was the bus even taking this long to make a stop, damn it?!

Oh my god, was he really standing right behind him?!

Sunoo's brain was on emergency lockdown.

Sunoo was holding on to the side railings in front of the door with his two hands, when all of a sudden he felt rather than saw a presence right behind him. Two hands snaked in from behind him to hold on to the same railings scant centimeters above his. Large, pale hands with elegant, long nails.

Sunoo basically jumped out of the bus before the doors had even finished opening when it finally rolled to a stop. Though he kept repeating in his head to not be embarrassing, he was truthfully shitting his pants.

Sunoo mimicked the brisk walk the Decelis student did every morning and sped away as fast as he could, though he could sense the guy walking about two meters behind him. He tampered down the urge to look back and check to see where he was.

He was shamefully short of breath.

Sunoo didn't know at what point on his walk home the Decelis student took a turn and went on a different direction, but he didn't let his feet stop for one second until he was safely tucked away in his room and gasping for air. He felt ridiculous at having handled that so poorly.

Right before bed, he posted a selca to try and see something. Mere minutes later, he reached for his bedside lamp to turn it off when his phone pinged with a notification.

👥 Park Sunghoon has liked your picture. See now. 👥

Sunoo screamed into his pillow until his sister banged on the wall demanding he pipe down.

Chapter Text

Thursday morning dawned clear and colder than the past few days had been. Sunoo had an extra spring to his step because of game day jitters. He wore a hoodie with the school colors and brought his face paint with him.

None of his school assignments got done that day due to the excitement.

When Coach Seo came to get him out of fifth period, Sunoo was out of the door in seconds.

"You're coming with me to greet our esteemed visitors," the Coach explained as they walked through campus toward the front entrance. "You'll be in charge of whatever they need."

"Hospitality," Sunoo nodded. "Got it, Coach."

"You're the best, Kim Sunoo." 

It hadn't occurred to Sunoo, until he saw Decelis Academy's coach and players start streaming out of their school bus, that he would see Park Sunghoon after what happened yesterday. Here at his school.

"I'm here, Coach, Sunoo," Heeseung wheezed out, having ran up out of nowhere to stand on the Coach's other side, right before the Decelis party started making its way toward them.

"Just in time," Coach hissed, smiling widely at their visitors. "Now, posture straight and proud."

"Coach Seo!" boomed the Decelis coach, a wide smile full of teeth in display. "Long time no see!"

"Coach Kang!" he greeted him back just as loudly, the two men clapping each other in the back resoundingly.

Sunoo saw Heeseung and the Decelis team captain exchange polite nods.

"Thank you for the warm welcome. Always an honor to visit your cheerful campus," Coach Kang gushed.

Sunoo couldn't tell just how sincere the praise was. 

"And as part of the Welcoming Committee we have... Lee Heeseung! How are you, my boy? Congratulations on your scholarship!"

"Thank you, sir," Heeseung bowed respectfully. 

"And if it isn't Coach Seo’s pretty little assistant," Coach Kang cooed, turning his attention to Sunoo. "Good to see you again this year." 

Sunoo's eyebrow twitched at the man's choice of words. 

"Hello," he intoned politely and bowed.

"My right hand man," Coach Seo corrected, the hand on Sunoo's shoulder squeezing in reassurance. "Nothing would get done without him around."

"I need me one of those," Coach Kang joked, even grabbing his belly as he laughed heartily. 

Sunoo breathed out slowly.

"Where's your new guy, by the way?" Coach Seo changed subjects, craning his neck to look at the Decelis players. "You did bring him with you, right?"

"Of course I did. Park! Come up here!" Coach Kang barked enthusiastically.

Sunoo swallowed, mouth suddenly dry.

Park Sunghoon leisurely strolled up from the back of the group in full uniform, just like he'd looked on his profile picture. The only difference was a white Nike headband sitting on his forehead to keep his dark bangs at bay. He looked bored, mouth flat in an uninterested line.

Coach Kang excitedly wrapped his beefy arm around Sunghoon's shoulders, beaming as if he was introducing his own son, and opened his mouth to say something when Sunghoon cut him off.

"Oooh," he exclaimed, dragging the oh's exaggeratedly, "hey."

He was looking straight at Sunoo.

Sunoo would have found comical the way everybody's heads snapped his way in unison and then proceeded to turn back and forth between Sunghoon and him as if they were watching a ping pong match IF he wasn't currently dying inside.

But he was. Dying inside that is.

Sunghoon had not stopped boring his eyes into his face, clearly waiting for a response. Sunoo finally nodded his head robotically and bowed in acknowledgement, his brain not allowing for anything more complex than that. Everyone's gazes were heavy on him. His scalp prickled. 

"You two know each other?" Coach Kang asked bluntly. 

Everyone turned to Sunghoon and Sunoo with bated breaths. Sunoo stuttered out something unintelligible, still unsure if he was going to deny their (non) relationship when Sunghoon once again interrupted.

"Yeah," he agreed.

Coach Seo squeezed Sunoo's shoulder purposefully. 

"Wow, small world! You should've told me we were playing against one of your friends today, Sunoo-ya."

Sunoo didn't even answer. Whatever he said would sound even more condemning. He hung his head, hiding his deep blush.

"Well, you two can catch up later," Coach Kang interrupted. "We have a game to play now."

"I couldn't agree more," Coach Seo nodded. "There'll be plenty of time for that after the game, Sunoo, Park Sunghoon-ssi. Follow us, please. Let's get you guys settled."

Sunoo walked stiffly at the head of their party right behind the coaches. Heeseung was on his right.

Sunghoon, the Decelis captain, and the rest trailed behind them.

"You never mentioned you were friends with the Decelis transfer," Heeseung whispered softly. 

Sunoo despaired.

"It's not—," he started but cut himself off. 

It really was too complicated to explain to Heeseung of all people. Jungwon was going to have a field trip with this. 

They fortunately reached the field then so Sunoo could lose himself. He focused on getting the Decelis party settled, and took the time to tell them where the bathrooms, water fountains, and emergency assembly points were located at. He also went to receive the district referees and brought them to the field and got them settled as well.

"Hey," a voice behind him called. 

Sunoo turned and almost bumped directly into Park Sunghoon's chest. He dragged his eyes up to stare at the guy and took two steps backwards. 

"Yeah," he blabbered unintelligently. "How can I help you?"

"Can you walk me to the closest water fountain?"

Sunoo heard the bench full of Sunshine Beach players behind him go eerily quiet, eyes laser-focused on their exchange. 

Because Park Sunghoon, Decelis Academy student, had crossed the field and entered enemy grounds to walk up to Sunoo. Even the Decelis players were looking over.

"Uh, t-there's a water fountain right behind the north bleachers," Sunoo stuttered, pointing toward said bleachers. "Just go around and—"

"I'm gonna get lost since I don't go here," Sunghoon interrupted him, crossing his arms. "You take me." 

Sunoo wanted to gape at the tantrum. Heeseung seemingly materialized next to him in an instant.

"I got this, Sun," Heeseung smiled tensely, ruffling Sunoo's locks. Sunoo wrinkled his nose, surprised at the action. "Hey, don't worry. I'll take you, man."

Sunghoon looked at Heeseung and turned his lips up but didn't respond.

Sunoo felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck. 

"What do you mean you'll take him?" Sunoo protested, wanting to defuse the situation. "You need to finish warming up with the rest, hyung. It's alright. I'll be right back."

Heeseung's eyes took on a stubborn glint.

"The kids will be alright without their Dad for a couple of minutes."

"But, hyung—"

"Stay with the kids and watch over them for me," Heeseung interrupted gently but firmly. "I'll walk you, Sunghoon-ssi, right?"

"LEE HEESEUNG!" barked Coach Seo from the middle of the field. Everyone winced. "Get your butt back here and finish your stretches. NOW."

Sunghoon smothered a laugh, white fangs flashing in the afternoon sun. A vein throbbed in Heeseung's forehead but he bowed apologetically and went up to the Coach. Under everyone's watchful gaze, Sunoo sighed and started making his way toward the north bleachers with Sunghoon in tow.

After a couple of meters of silence where Sunghoon was trailing behind Sunoo, the Decelis student hastened his steps and reached his side.

Sunoo's hands were sweaty and his heart had climbed up his throat.

"So. 'Dad?' 'The kids?’" Sunghoon asked apropos of nothing.

Sunoo cringed.

"It's just a nickname," he murmured, embarrassed. 

He could feel his traitorous blush taking ahold of him.

"Does that make you the Mom?" Sunghoon asked. 

His tone wasn't derisive but curious. That soothed Sunoo a little.

"Y-yes," he cleared his throat. "Coach gave us the nickname."

Sunghoon hummed but didn't say anything else. Sunoo wondered if the water fountain had always been this far. When they're (finally) about ten meters away from the water fountain, he stopped and pointed toward it.

"Here it is!" he said. Sunghoon stopped as well, raising his brows.

"Okay," he answered slowly but didn't move.

Sunoo squirmed and pointed again.

"You can go ahead and get some water now," he explained. "You can find your way back on your own, right?"

Sunghoon pierced him with a look.

"I may get lost. Stay with me."

Sunoo wanted to protest, but he remembered Coach's words. Right, hospitality.

"Follow me, then," he gritted out.

Sunghoon grinned, following him with a self-satisfied smile on his lips. When they reached the water fountain, Sunghoon leaned down to drink, long, elegant neck in full display.

Sunoo felt himself color as he couldn't help but keep his eyes glued to the boy's bobbing Adam's apple.

He felt parched all of a sudden.

Sunghoon tilted his head to the side and looked at him, still leaning down.

Sunoo rushed to look up as if he'd been staring at the sky the entire time, which is why he didn't see the sudden water assault coming, Sunghoon flicking water right at his face with his fingers. 

Sunoo jumped back in shock, mouth wide open.

"Ya!" he yelled, hospitality be damned.

Sunghoon was cackling so hard that he had to hold on to the fountain.

"Aren't you acting too familiar right now?" Sunoo accused, wiping the moisture off.

Sunghoon stopped laughing, though the wide smile on his face didn't go away.

"And aren't you acting too informal with a sunbae?" he fired back, slinking up to Sunoo, who gave him the stink eye.

"Maybe if you acted like a sunbae," Sunoo grumbled, not waiting for Sunghoon to walk back. 

Sunoo was so annoyed and mortified at being taken for a fool, not just by anyone, but by his SNS-sort-of crush of all people, that he felt his head was going to explode.

Sunghoon rushed toward him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder, spinning him towards him. Sunoo huffed and he hid his quivering chin on his chest.

"Hey," Sunghoon called seriously, seeking Sunoo's eyes with his. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm sorry."

Sunoo shrugged.

"It's okay," he said, now even more embarrassed by the situation.

Sunghoon ruffled his own hair with his hand, exasperated.

"You know what the guys say about the Sunshine Beach team?" he asked, confusing Sunoo with the apparent non-sequitur.

"What?" he asked guardedly.

"That they're a solid team with an even stronger captain," he said lowly, "but that the real threat's their unofficial assistant coach, a Sophomore." 

Sunoo narrowed his eyes.

"It's true," he insisted. "They say you keep stats, valuable data on all of them. Strengths, weaknesses. They were glad I joined because I would be a wild card this year."

Sunoo nodded, still unsure where Sunghoon was going with this.

"Are you trying to show off right now?" Sunoo wondered incredulously.

Sunghoon shook his head more insistently.

"What I'm trying to say is that I came here today to figure you out," he said, serious as a heart attack. "And I want you to figure me out, too, if you can. Don't take your eyes off of me, not for even one second, okay, Kim Sunoo?"

"F-for intel purposes?" Sunoo asked, flustered beyond belief.

"For whatever purposes you want," he responded easily, a handsome smile spreading across his face. “Take all the notes you want on me. I won't mind if it's you.”

Sunoo's tummy flip-flopped inside of him. He resumed walking, wanting to run away from all this confusing feelings broiling inside of him. He had never been approached this directly.

Sunghoon once again caught up with him easily.

"Why are you blushing? Why are you blushing so hard?" he teased. 

Sunoo didn't deign that with an answer.

They made it back to everyone else.

Sunoo saw the guys perk up when they spotted him, waving wildly as if he'd been gone long.

"Looks like you were severely missed by the 'kids,’" Sunghoon commented sardonically. "But how come I don't feel even a bit sorry for stealing you away from them for a bit?"

Sunoo frowned at Sunghoon, tired of feeling shy and embarrassed at his lines.

"You'll feel sorry when we beat you."

Sunghoon flashed him an impish smile and ran back to the Decelis side of the field, where their Coach was busting a lung out with his shouts. Sunoo walked up to Coach Seo and took his position next to him. Coach cleared his throat, looking at his clipboard.

"So, Park Sunghoon?"

"Coach," Sunoo warned. 

Coach raised his hands in surrender.

"I'm not saying anything," he argued, "but you gave the guys quite the shock when you were talking to the Decelis boy."

Sunoo shifted nervously.

"Don't worry," he comforted him. "They'll come around. Because it's you."

"They'll come around to what," Sunoo muttered, blushing for the nth time today. 

A whistle alerted everyone that the game was about to start. It was show time. Sunoo, despite everything, WAS planning on taking notes on Park Sunghoon. He needed it for his database. No other reason.

Sunoo is not a pro scout or anything even remotely close to that, but he does his research. He knows what he has to look for. Players' shooting - goals, shots. Their passing rates and types of passes. Defense.

Possession. Their fouls. Stamina.

Speed. Team synergy.

It was a delight to see Park Sunghoon play. It was easy. As if he was gliding on the grass. Fast, but economical with his movements. Whereas Heeseung was an impenetrable fortress, Sunghoon was a flaming arrow that stroke true. 

Sunoo's pen couldn't keep up with what he was seeing.

Decelis Academy lost to Sunshine Beach Academy despite Park Sunghoon. It wasn't an easy game in the slightest, both teams playing as if they were playing a championship game instead of a friendly game, but it was obvious Decelis was still getting used to its new player.

The kids cheered and ran toward Coach Seo and Sunoo, jostling the both of them in their triumph. Sunoo couldn't help but join in joyfully.

Coach stopped them from lifting Sunoo over their heads and scolded them for displaying unsportsmanlike conduct. He got everyone to line up.

Decelis was already lined up, and both teams bowed to each other respectfully. Both coaches shook hands and exchanged parting words.

Sunoo sighed exhausted but happy. He was standing a few meters behind the team, going over the list in his head of all the things he had to do.

He looked up, distracted, and noticed Park Sunghoon staring fixedly at him, head swiveled completely in his direction. His first instinct was to look away, but he made himself hold his gaze. His blush was telling enough, though. Decelis finally left, Coach alone walking them out.

"Sun," Heeseung came up to him, "the kids want us to take them to get pizza to celebrate today's win."

Sunoo smiled, handing Heeseung a towel to wipe his face. He thanked him.

"Only if they eat their veggies first," he joked, letting Heeseung and the rest lead the way.

Sunoo was contentedly munching on his slice of pizza at the restaurant as Jung Youngseong retold how he had made in the penalty kick earlier when Heeseung dropped on the chair next to his. The older handed him a napkin.

"Sun, let's take a selca and upload it on SNS," he proposed.

Sunoo looked at him weirdly.

"You rarely post on SNS, hyung," he said, unsure he had heard Heeseung right. 

The other laughed, pushing his chair closer to Sunoo's.

"Doesn't our first win of the season deserve to be remembered? My last first win as a Sunshine Beach student?"

Sunoo hurried to agree, surprised at Heeseung's sentimental words.

They took a couple of selcas before everyone else caught wind and demanded to be included. Sunoo asked the restaurant staff to take a group picture of them. When home, he posted the pictures and smiled softly.

He turned on his side ready to sleep as phone sat on top of the nightstand flashing with a torrent of notifications.

Sunoo's eyes snapped open in what he felt were minutes later, sure that he had slept through all his alarms and was late to school.

It was actually earlier than his usual time to wake up. He huffed. He decided to head out earlier to catch up with his assignments before class.

It was still dark out as Sunoo made his way to his usual bus stop some time later. He couldn't stop the yawns that split his face in two.

Sunoo hoped to catch some sleep, resting his head on the partition wall behind him as he waited for the bus. He snoozed for a bit and managed to wake up just in time to not miss the bus.

Once he safely boarded, he dropped on the seat like a bag of potatoes.

This was becoming a worrying routine for him, he thought to himself drowsily before passing out.

Sunoo almost missed his stop.

He was groggily making his way into campus when he noticed a lot of the students looking over at him and then away, whispering amongst themselves. 

Sunoo blinked slowly, uncomprehending.

"Hyung!" Jungwon crowed, almost barreling into Sunoo. 

Sunoo caught him from falling.

"Wonnie, slow down," Sunoo warned, helping Jungwon right his uniform. "What's the big rush?"

"Care to explain what is going on on your Facebook page, hyung?" Jungwon demanded, crossing his arms for good measure. 

Sunoo frowned.

"N-nothing? I haven't even checked it this morning?"

"Maybe you should do that now," Jungwon sentenced. 

Sunoo dug into his pocket for his phone. His screen was chock full of notifications. He opened Facebook and quickly scrolled down to the earliest notifications.

👥 Lee Heeseung has tagged you in a picture. Click to see more. 👥

👥 Park Sunghoon has tagged you in a picture. Click to see more. 👥

"Oh no," Sunoo despaired. 

The first notification was of a selca Heeseung had snapped of the two at the pizza place last night. Sunoo had a dollop of marinara sauce on his nose somehow, like some doofus, while Heeseung looked unjustly gorgeous as he laughed at Sunoo's predicament. The two had been sitting closer together than Sunoo remembered. 

The picture was at 150 likes and counting already. 

Sunoo tapped on the second notification then and it took him to Park Sunghoon's profile—more specifically, his newest profile picture. It looked like a normal morning selca, his handsome face turned sideways with an easy smile on his lips, bangs falling on his eyes.

Sunghoon was also holding up his right index finger as if pointing at something behind him. It took Sunoo longer than it should to identify the location and that the figure sprawled neck bared on the background was himself, as if Sunghoon tagging it as @Kim Sunoo wasn't enough.

On the picture, Sunghoon's chest sported the Decelis Academy crest proudly while Sunoo's limp figure was easily recognizable as that of a Sunshine Beach Academy student.

The jerk had taken that picture as Sunoo slept waiting for the bus earlier that morning.

The picture had over 300 likes already and the number kept climbing. It'd been posted less than an hour ago.

Sunoo's fingers shook as he deleted the tag on the picture, but he knew it was too late. The damage had been done. The stares, the whispers— by second period, everyone and their mothers would've seen the picture.

He was probably going to get executed by the entire student body.

"What did you put in the water yesterday, hyung?" Jungwon wondered, checking him with his hip.

Sunoo felt limp like a noodle. His legs really were about to give out.

"First you get Captain Lee Heeseung, a Senior, to post a selca of you two looking like a hot item," he lists. Sunoo didn't even have the presence of mind to reprimand Jungwon for using the term hot item for him and Heeseung.

Jungwon continued, "Then you have Mr. Sexy Transfer Student from our bitter enemy institution post a profile picture of you two the first time you formally meet."

Sunoo turned to look at his friend wildly.

"Hook me up with the wise woman that gave you whatever love potion it is," Jungwon beseeched, lips pushed out. "I've been wanting Jake Sim's attention since the school year began."

"Wonnie, how can you joke during a time like this?" Sunoo croaks, holding back hot tears from spilling. "They're going to hang me for treason! What if they kick me out of the team because they think I'm a spy? What if my things get vandalized? What if I get expelled?!"

"Hyung," Jungwon looked at him in disbelief, rubbing his arms up and down to pacify him, "It's just a stupid school rivalry. It's not a big deal. No one has died because of it and no one will die because of it now." 

Sunoo sniffled. 

"Promise?"

Jungwon nodded, then hesitated. 

"Actually, it's a pretty serious school rivalry," Jungwon amended. "And there IS that one urban legend of the Decelis guy that died on a duel at sunrise against a Sunshine Beach student in the early 1900s but—"

"Wonnie!" Sunoo exclaimed, exasperated. 

Jungwon laughed, hugging him.

"Hyung," he promised, intertwining their pinky fingers together, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Your team is not going to let anything happen to you. Something tells me they're already shutting up mouths now."

Sunoo smiled weakly, letting his friend comfort him.

He was worried when the bell rang and he had to separate himself from Jungwon, but Sunoo took a deep breath and walked into his homeroom class prepared for anything that life may throw at him.

More than glances and whispers, no one confronted him or gutted him. He exhaled slowly.

There was no morning practice, but after school practice was still on the schedule, so Sunoo made his way to the field, dreadful. If any of the kids acted indifferent, or angry at him, Sunoo would not be able to take it.

By the time he made it to Coach Seo, he was already crying.

"Oh boy," Coach Seo mumbled upon seeing his tears, spitting out his wad of gum and producing a cigarette and lighter from his tracksuit pants. "Ya, Kim Sunoo, don't tell anyone Coach is smoking on campus, alright? I'm gonna need it."

Sunoo nooded, fat tears blurring his vision.

"Listen here," Coach said, dragging a rickety stool from under the desk and patting it so that Sunoo could take a seat on his dump of an office. There was no other inch of space available anyways.

"Seeing you really makes me glad I'm not a teen anymore," he pushed out after a beat.

Sunoo frowned at him. 

Coach sighed, taking a deep drag out of his cigarette before continuing. "The mood swings, the life-and-death stakes for any given situation, crushes, Calculus—you name it. I don't miss it. It wasn't easy then, and it isn't easy now. On top of that, you wrangle forty of these little beasts every day, little beasts that are also going through the same hardships as you, by the way, and are doing a fantastic job. You're doing well, Sunoo," Coach ruffled his hair with his free hand, cigarette still in the other.

"Thank you, Coach," Sunoo mumbled, wiping at his runny nose.

Coach cleared his throat, obviously finished with the impromptu heart-to-heart. 

"Your team has your back, Sunoo-ya. We didn't raise them that way. Eh, you and Heeseung didn't raise them that way." 

Oh no. Heeseung hyung.

"Can I please stay in your office just for today?" Sunoo asked, voice tiny. "I'll file all the pending paperwork where it belongs."

Coach Seo sighed. There was no such paperwork.

"Alright," he agreed. "But don't close the window to the field. I need this smoke smell to go away."

Sunoo agreed quietly, thinking of keeping his head down as the team does laps so that they won't spot him. Coach's office was actually next to the field; the boys running right outside would have a clear view of the office's interior and cowering occupant. 

Coach saluted and left.

Sunoo was contemplating how he would approach his mother that evening to let her know that he had to transfer out of Sunshine Beach in the middle of the school year when he heard the group grow closer judging by the increasing volume of their chants.

Heeseung always leads the group, shouting out encouragements or counting their steps out loud so that their moving feet pound on the ground in a rhythmic "one two, one two" fashion. Today, the chants sounded different, though they were still too far to tell what they're saying.

"KIM SUNOO!" Sunoo heard Heeseung yell out.

"FIGHTING!" he heard the team shout back in response.

Sunoo froze, heart galloping in his chest.

"KIM SUNOO!" Heeseung roared again.

"FIGHTING!" the team responded with a shout of their own.

"FIGHTING, KIM SUNOO!" Heeseung yelled.

Their shouts faded away as they ran past the office's window. Sunoo started crying again, moved beyond words. He couldn't help the tremulous giggles that wrecked him as he tried to wipe the tears and snot all over his face. He was relieved.

Relieved that they didn't hate him.

The office's door flew open to Coach Seo, who merely raised his eyebrows at Sunoo. 

"Are you coming out or what?"

Sunoo smiled.

"I've been out, Coach," he joked lightly, jumping to his feet and skipping to his side. 

Coach rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, to the delight of many, clearly."

By the time Sunoo headed home that evening, he was sure that his team had his back and that things would be okay for him. He was also sure that Park Sunghoon was a little shit who knew exactly what he was doing and that made him dangerous. He had to keep an eye out for him now.

The next morning, Sunoo made sure he wouldn't fall asleep waiting for the bus in order to catch Park Sunghoon and give him a piece of his mind before school. 

He kept his eyes peeled open and perked up as he spotted the familiar lean boy.

"Ya, Park Sunghoon!" he called when the other was close enough.

Sunghoon stopped and looked over at him, cocked eyebrow and expectant smile on his face. Sunoo fumed, remembering the emotional rollercoaster from yesterday.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked him bravely.

Sunghoon faked confusion, even tilting his head.

"I'm heading to school," he answered slowly, as if confused, "like the model student that I am."

"Model student my butt," Sunoo murmured under his breath.

"I meant the picture you posted yesterday," he insisted, plowing ahead.

"The pictured I pos—? Aah, you mean my profile picture? But wait... How did you know I changed my profile picture? Are you stalking me on SNS?" Sunghoon gasped, covering his mouth with both hands as if in shock. 

Sunoo was stumped.

"What do you mean?! You tagged me on the picture!"

"I did not," Sunghoon denied passionately, holding his chest as if offended by the accusation. "The algorithm must've recognized you in the background and tagged you automatically."

"The algorithm?" Sunoo echoed, still amazed by his audacity. "Besides, who's stalking who on SNS?"

Sungroon grew serious, drawing up to his full height. Sunoo refused to be intimidated. They were in a public area anyway. Whatever Sunghoon tried, there would be witnesses. It was a good time to ask the guy directly what he was thinking when he befriended Sunoo on SNS.

"You sent me a friend request on Facebook before we even met," Sunoo accused.

Sunghoon blinked slowly, as if taking in Sunoo's words.

"You accepted my friend request without knowing who I was," he calmly pointed out, shrugging. 

Sunoo spluttered, taken aback.

"You like all my pictures almost instantly," Sunoo continued, ignoring his rebuttal. "What's up with that?"

Sunghoon cleared his throat, breaking eye contact for a split second. He was about to chortle, victorious, when Sunghoon shook his head slowly, back and forth, as if Sunoo was mistaken.

"I don't like all your pictures," he argued, using a specific tone of voice that Sunoo was sure was designed exclusively to drive him up the wall.

"Yeah, you d— Ugh!" Sunoo cried out. "I'll show you."

He pulled out his phone intent on showing him every single picture he'd posted or had been tagged in over the last few weeks with the ever present like from Sunghoon but then abruptly stopped. 

There was one picture he'd been tagged in in particular, just last night, that Sunghoon hadn't liked.

"You didn't like my picture with Heeseung hyung," he wondered out loud, just now realizing that what he said was true. 

He had posted all the pictures from that night in one big post and Sunghoon had individually liked each picture except for the selca with Heeseung.

"Why?" he asked, searching into Sunghoon's eyes. 

The other didn't flinch from his gaze, even taking a step closer.

"I just didn't like that picture," he intoned, unapologetic. "Why should I give it a like? You didn't like my profile picture, either. Why didn't you?”

Sunoo floundered, not knowing what to say.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat more about SNS etiquette, l am late to practice," Sunghoon waved, turning to go. "See you on Thursday."

Sunoo frowned. 

"What's happening on Thursday?"

"Friendly game against Sunshine Beach," he singsonged, walking backwards. "Home game."

Chapter Text

"Word on the street is that you liked Park Sunghoon's profile picture," Jungwon shared during lunch time later that day. "That is not helping your case at all, hyung."

"Word on the—? Why are people looking into these kinds of things," Sunoo grumbles, stabbing his lunch forcefully.

"We are all awfully invested," Jungwon explained, sliding his lunch away from Sunoo's range. "Jake hyung even came up to me to ask directly what's the scoop since he knows we're besties."

"And what did you say?" Sunoo asks nervously.

"I told him everything I know, of course!"

"Jungwon!?"

"This is my chance, hyung!" Jungwon defended himself. "Since love potions are out of the question, I needed a new plan. Sorry, bro." Sunoo swiped at Jungwon.

"Don't call me bro. You sound just like your precious Jake," he muttered.

Jungwon stuck out his tongue at him.

"I liked the picture because Sunghoon seemed hurt I hadn't," he answered Jungwon's question after settling down. 

The younger hummed, considering. Sunoo proceeded to tell him what transpired that morning and their conversation.

"Ugh," he groaned. "I can't stand you two. I'm so jealous. Me and Jake when?”

The rest of the week went by in a blur of activity. Sunoo mysteriously did not run into Sunghoon again in the mornings. He almost missed him, though he still felt awkward about their last conversation. Sunghoon's picture had reached over 900 likes.

He still hadn't liked Sunoo's selca with Heeseung.

Thursday rolled around and Sunoo couldn't be more excited (and nervous). He was wearing the team jersey they had custom-made for him and found some face paint for later.

An away game meant the team had to leave campus right around lunch if they were to make it to Decelis in time.

He refused to think about bumping into a certain Decelis student, especially after the last conversation they'd had. Though his friends had stood up for him, Sunoo was going to Decelis Academy with one goal in mind: laying low and flying under Sunghoon's radar this time around.

He liked the guy, was kind of really hard not to like him if he was really being honest, but his peace and tranquility were not worth jeopardizing for a pretty face. And a nice body. And superb athletic skills.

Sunghoon should remain as eye candy for Sunoo's enjoyment on SNS.

Whatever caprice had gotten ahold of Park Sunghoon when he'd met Sunoo had to end, he decided. Not too sound horribly cliché, but they were from two very different worlds.

What if they were upsetting some universal forces by letting something, anything, happen between them?

"You are being awfully pensive and that never bodes well for anyone," Coach Seo told him, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

They were both sharing seats at the front of the bus.

Sunoo sighed, debating on how much to share.

"If this is about your Decelis friend—," Coach started.

"It's not!" Sunoo cried. Then he thought about it a bit better. "It kinda is."

"I wish I had a cigarette," he muttered. "Alright, kid, what's the deal?"

Sunoo mulled over what to say. What was he really worried about?

"Sunghoon is not my friend," he said. "Not yet."

Coach nodded.

"And I don't think," Sunoo stopped, unsure of the words to use. "I don't think I want to let it develop into anything more than it already is."

Coach nodded again.

"I just don't want all the judgment and bad blood to get in the way," he went on.

"In the way of what?" Coach asked.

Sunoo spluttered.

"In the way of a relationship?" Coach persisted. 

Sunoo's ears telt warm.

"A friendship," he denied. 

Coach boomed out a laugh, some students giving them curious glances. 

Sunoo wanted to sink into the seat.

"Not a friendship," Coach laughed. "That's not true."

"It is," Sunoo argued.

"If it was just a friendship this wouldn't be an issue," Coach shrugged. "Doesn't that friend of yours have a Decelis friend, too? I don't see him agonizing about any of this."

"That's different," Sunoo immediately responded. "They're childhood friends."

"I don't see how that's different. Sunoo, plenty of Sunshine Beach kids are friends with Decelis kids and vice versa because it isn't unusual for students to transfer back and forth between academies. Both schools are some of the best in the district." 

Sunoo frowned, disbelieving.

"But the rivalry—!" he protested.

Coach Seo raised his hand to stop him.

"The rivalry IS there. Academics, sports, arts. If you're part of these clubs that compete with Decelis you will experience this rivalry more, but the average student just finds it fun, nothing more."

Sunoo found it hard to believe that all the intense vibes and looks he was getting from everyone since Park Sunghoon uploaded the picture were just imagined. The rivalry between schools had always seemed such an elemental part of the Sunshine Beach student experience. Could it be that Coach Seo was right?

"And, for the record, I know plenty of couples where one goes to Decelis and the other one goes to Sunshine Beach," Coach added after a beat. "You just have to look beyond the limited perspective that you currently have." 

Sunoo was even more conflicted after that conversation than ever.

Once they reached Decelis, Sunoo did not let himself think anymore about this for the time being. He busied himself getting everything they needed from the bus and making sure to keep the guys in check. Coach Kang was there to receive them.

"Welcome to Decelis Academy!"

Decelis was a gorgeous campus. It's layout was loyal to the classical. They had kept all the old buildings and restored them, the imposing archways and tall, wooden doors accentuated by the cobblestone pathways. Thick ivy hung from faded brick walls. It looked like a fairytale.

Even the soccer field looked enchanted, Sunoo thought. He wouldn't mind attending this school if he had to. The Decelis team was already warming up on the field.

Sunoo saw Sunghoon perk up when he spotted him, though the other didn't come over to say hi. 

Sunoo pouted at that.

Sunoo could tell their first years on the team were intimidated by the campus and being the visiting team, so he paid them special attention and soothed them, assuring them that they were going to do well. He ran back and forth between everyone to ensure they were ready to go.

When the referee started the game, Sunoo let everything fade away and concentrated on collecting data. He had already paid special attention to only Sunghoon last game, but he could not forget the rest of the Decelis team this time around.

Decelis' team synergy was still off, Sunoo noticed. A lot of the guys must be having problems with Sunghoon off the field, which is normal since Sunghoon was new. The team was simply just not used to Sunghoon's style yet and Sunghoon didn't seem too used to theirs yet either.

Despite that, Decelis was too strong of a team to back down without a fight. They fought tooth and nail the entire 80 minutes, not letting Sunshine Beach score easily. It was finally an assist from Heeseung that led to one of the first years scoring thanks to sheer luck.

Sunoo knew it had been luck but that wasn't going to stop him from celebrating anyway. The referee blew the final whistle three minutes later and the boys all rushed towards Sunoo and the coach and surrounded them, cheering. They were just as excited as if they'd won a championship game.

A two-game streak was something to celebrate, especially at the start of the season. The goal by the first year would boost morale for the newer recruits as well. An away game win always tasted sweeter. 

The current group hug was cutting off his air circulation but he'd live.

Sunoo didn't have time to see what was happening with all the jostling going on around him, so when someone yelled out in warning, it had been too late for him to get out of the way. Someone had the great idea to dump the beverage cooler's content over their heads. In November.

Sunoo was soaked to the bone in an instant, hair falling limp on his face.

He yelled out in surprise, the cold water stinging his skin. One of the third years noticed and he stopped the celebrations.

"Coach, someone got Mom drenched with the stupid cooler!"

Everyone sobered up.

"Who was it?" Heeseung roared, running to Sunoo's side. 

Sunoo was too busy trying to keep the soaking fabric from clinging to him to try and soothe Heeseung. No one dared say anything.

"Who was it? You can be rough with each other all you want but you know the rules! No roughhousing with Sunoo! Is it that hard to understand?" he scolded.

Coach drew close then and winced when he saw Sunoo.

"We need to get you out of those clothes or you'll get pneumonia. Alright, Captain, leave the scolding for later," Coach said, putting a firm hand on Heeseung's shoulder. "Please, guys, look in all your bags so we can give Sunoo a spare set of dry clothes."

The boys turned to ruffle through their bags.

"He can have mine," a new voice offered.

"Sunghoon-ssi," Coach greeted him. "Didn't see you there."

"The coach sent me over to see if there was anything I could do to help, since it looked serious from our side," Sunghoon explained demurely, looking like the textbook definition of piety.

"How kind," Coach smiled wanly. "We would appreciate the spare clothes and you walking Sunoo to the nearest showers, please and thank you.”

Coach pushed Sunoo by the shoulders toward Sunghoon. Sunoo couldn't even resist or talk back, his teeth chattering furiously.

Sunghoon looked at him worriedly.

He ripped his varsity jacket off and hurried to wrap it around Sunoo, who couldn't even hold it firmly with how stiff his fingers had gotten.

"C'mon," Sunghoon encouraged him, “follow me.”

"Lee Heeseung! Go with them."

Both Sunoo and Sunghoon turned to look at the Coach, who had an inscrutable look on his face.

Heeseung hurried to Sunoo's other side and throwing his arm around Sunoo's shoulders, barely acknowledging Sunghoon. Sunghoon huffed but led the both of them off the field at a brisk pace.

"I'm going to make them run so many laps their legs fall off when we get back," Heeseung muttered. 

Sunoo tampered down the whine that threatened to escape from his lips over how cold he was. He always got cold easily, but this was another level entirely.

"D-don't," he begged. "It w-was an accident, hyung. P-please don't scold them."

"And have a repeat of what happened last year, Sun? No can do," Heeseung insisted.

Sunoo fell silent but resolved to insist once he was out of the wet clothes.

They finally reached the building across the field and running track, Sunghoon going ahead to open the large door by its brass door handle.

The warmer air from inside the building almost made Sunoo cry in relief. Sunghoon warned him gently about slipping on the smooth tile.

They traversed a pair of hallways until they reached the door leading to the lockers area. When Sunghoon pushed it open, Sunoo could see that even this part of the school was old and distinguished, dark pipes and yellow lighting running across the room creating certain ambiance.

"This place looks exactly like Harry Potter," Heeseung said, also admiring the place. 

Sunghoon scoffed but conceded that it did look like Hogwarts a bit. Sunoo spotted the showers and would’ve ran towards one if his legs weren't frozen.

Sunghoon handed him a towel and clothes.

"T-thank you," Sunoo said, grabbing the things offered. 

He set them on the bench and went to strip off his shirt when he realized Sunghoon and Heeseung remained standing there, just staring at him. He trembled but this time from embarrassment.

"Could you turn around, please?"

"Oh! Oh my gosh, Sun! I'm sorry!" Heeseung yelped, spinning on his heels quickly and covering his eyes with his hands for good measure.

Sunghoon didn't move and flashed him a salacious smile that showed his fangs.

"Aren't we all guys? What's there to be embarrassed about?"

"Ya," Heeseung warned, turning to give Sunghoon a piece of his mind.

Sunoo surprised everyone, including himself, by bursting out laughing at Sunghoon's words. Both guys turned to look at him in shock.

"You're being ridiculous," he told him. "You know why. Please turn around."

Sunoo held his gaze for a second and lifted his shirt up quickly, not waiting to see if Sunghoon was going to turn around or not. He noted with satisfaction that Sunghoon did face away from him without further complaint. He peeled everything off, including his underwear.

He all but ran into the shower and chose the hottest setting to thaw out his bones. The sound of the running water and the echo were enough to drown out any noise from the two boys, though Sunoo figured they were probably not gonna talk much to each other. He sneezed once, twice.

He hastily finished his shower and wrapped himself on the fluffy towel Sunghoon had given him. Heeseung and Sunghoon were woodenly standing right where he'd left them, their backs to Sunoo. They were silently looking ahead. He suppressed the urge to sigh and grabbed the clothes.

He slid the underwear and pants on first and came to realize a big problem. Sunghoon's clothes were HUGE on him. He had to really pull at the sweats' string and cuff them over and over so that he wouldn't trip on the long ends. The shirt looked just as hopeless. He heaved a sigh.

"What is it, Sun?" Heeseung hurried to ask, head twitching to the side as if he meant to turn around.

"Nothing," Sunoo answered, throwing the shirt on. It looked like a dress. "The clothes are a bit big on me, that's all."

"Should've just borrowed mine," he muttered petulantly.

Sunghoon scoffed and Sunoo saw him turn to say something decidedly not friendly to Heeseung. He hurried to interrupt them.

"You're taller, hyung," he soothed. "Your clothes would've been even bigger on me."

Heeseung didn't answer, crossing his arms in a rare display of pettiness.

"Alrignt," Sunoo clapped, hurrying to grab the hair tie around his wrist.

Both turned toward him. Heeseung's face was sour, arms still crossed.

Sunghoon's shit-eating grin spread across his face. He waggled his eyebrows at Sunoo's outfit.

Sunoo rolled his eyes. He gathered all the excess fabric at the back and twisted it, using the tie to fasten it so that it looked like a little tail. He then tucked the tail into the shirt, leaving a miniature sliver of his tailbone exposed. 

Sunghoon eyed the spot without a word. Sunoo cleared his throat.

Sunghoon blinked.

"Put the jacket on," he told Sunoo, tilting his chin toward the varsity jacket lying on the bench. 

He obeyed, shoving his arms inside. Heeseung frowned, placing his hand on Sunoo's wrist to stop him.

"What is it, hyung?" Sunoo asked, more than a bit exasperated.

"It's better if you just wear my jacket back," Heeseung explained, trying to slide off the jacket from Sunoo's frame, "since you won't see Sunghoon-ssi any time soon and won't be able to return it, don't you think?"

Before Sunoo could answer, Sunghoon stopped Heeseung's progress.

"What do you mean, Heeseung-ssi?" he asked, tight smile on his lips. "I'm seeing Sunoo-ssi tomorrow morning, just like I always do without fail every morning. He can give it back to me then."

"Not every single morning," Sunoo quipped before Heeseung's look made him grow silent.

"Okay, what in the world are you guys doing in there that it's taking so long?" Coach Seo strode into view, hands on his hips. "We're just waiting for you two to board the bus so we can leave."

"Sorry, Coach," both Heeseung and Sunoo chorused. 

Coach merely grunted and stalked off.

They followed the man meekly out of the building and made their way back to their bus. Sunoo was once again hit with the cold outside air and he shivered, uncomfortable despite the warm soak and drying up fully. He tried to sniffle quietly since he didn't want to get scolded.

Sunoo was so focused on protecting his exposed skin from the cold that he didn't notice Sunghoon was following them until a phone camera shutter went off loudly behind him.

Sunoo turned abruptly, surprised, and found Sunghoon's camera shoved up his face. Camera went off again.

"What are you doing?" Sunoo questioned him blankly. 

Sunghoon tittered, tongue poking out. He kept walking, making Sunoo trail after him.

"What did you take a picture of?" he insisted, annoyed, and tried to look over Sunghoon's shoulder.

"Wait," Sunghoon ordered, using his height to his advantage in order to keep his phone out of Sunoo's reach. "I'll show you in a second."

"Delete it," Sunoo demanded, fingers itching to pull roughly at Sunghoon's arm. "Whatever it is, delete it."

"Don't wanna," he singsonged.

Sunoo saw Heeseung sharply look their way so he kept his voice down.

"Let me see," he hissed, fingers wrapping somewhat hesitant over Sunghoon's hand. 

He pulled his hand away abruptly as if burned. 

Sunoo didn't have time to get offended before Sunghoon showed him his phone.

It was just his lockscreen, he realized in disappointment. A quick glance deemed it to be just a picture of Sunghoon from the back, Decelis jersey with the name "Park Sung Hoon" worn proudly. Until he recognized just who it was on the picture. Blood rushed to his face instantly.

"T-that! That's me from just now!" Sunoo stuttered. 

Sunghoon smirked, shaking his phone at Sunoo.

"You like my new lockscreen? I quite like it," he affected seriousness, looking at it as if he was appraising an art piece. "Might be my favorite as of yet."

Sunoo squeaked.

"Why are you doing this? Am I a joke to you?" Sunoo complained, exasperated and just a tiny little bit amused at his antics.

"Teasing you has become the joy of my life," Sunghoon declared, hugging his phone to his chest, over his heart. "I haven't had this much fun in a while."

Sunoo grimaced. 

"You should find a more productive source of joy," he grumbled. "Like grades. Rescuing kittens from alleyways. Something like that."

Sunghoon laughed. They had reached the parking lot where the rest of Sunshine Beach was gathered waiting to board the bus.

"Hey," Sunghoon stopped him. "Take care. Don't go and get yourself sick. See you tomorrow."

Sunoo scoffed and rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"It takes more than one measly soak to stop me," Sunoo boasted, punching the air as if he was a boxer. "But thanks for the concern."

Sunoo passed on the post-game celebration this time around, citing his borrowed clothes and general exhaustion as reasons. 

He went straight home and put on his favorite comfy pajamas and called it a day, not bothering with his homework. He didn't even eat dinner and opted to rest.

Sunoo had to eat his words to Sunghoon the next morning when he woke up feeling like death warmed over. He coughed wetly as he tried to get off the bed. 

His ears hurt immensely. He lost his balance, falling back on the bed. He tried to call for his mom but only a croak came out.

Somehow, his mom materialized on the door anyway. 

"Oh, honey," she cooed, running her cool hand over his clammy face. Sunoo smacked his lips, mouth dry as a desert. "You're running a fever." 

She called someone from her phone, though the actual words were unintelligible to him.

Sunoo's consciousness swam in and out of focus, instances of awareness shining through over murky spans of time. Sunoo heard voices around him, knew that his mom took him somewhere without knowing where.

He opened his eyes blearily to a familiar sight: the hospital ceiling.

"Mr. Kim,” Dr. Choi greeted him sunnily, trusty clipboard in hand. "I wish I could say I'm happy to see you again but these circumstances are a bit—"

Sunoo tried to respond but a coughing fit wracked through his chest. Dr. Choi scribbled something.

"Don't force yourself, Sunoo. We are gonna get you up and running in no time, okay? You just need to be patient. You might have to stay overnight to make sure we check you thoroughly so that we don't see you back here too soon." 

Sunoo pouted but nodded his assent. Dr. Choi patted him on the head lightly.

"I'm gonna send Nurse Jung over in a bit. She'll be happy to see her favorite patient."

Sunoo smiled, weakly thanking him.

Truthfully, Sunoo had always been a sickly child. He suffered a lot from respiratory issues since birth and was a recurring visitor of the hospital.

The reason why the team even had a "no roughhousing with Sunoo" rule was because last year Coach took the team to a two-day camp retreat as a treat after the season ended. The place had all sorts of outdoor activities - wall climbing, rappelling, zipline, paintball, you name it.

Sunoo had been most excited about the lake and all the activities one could sign up for there. The last evening there, a few players and Sunoo had gone back to the lake after hours and dared each other to take a quick dip from the boardwalk that sat over the green waters. 

To this day Sunoo doesn't know who started it, but someone had abruptly pushed sophomore Kangtaek into the water and all hell had broken loose. 

Everyone had teamed up (and betrayed each other) to push people into the water, the ones on the water climbing out to get revenge.

Sunoo had remained unscathed in the middle of it all, turning this way and that way trying to figure out whether to run away or jump into the fray, when someone had pushed him forcefully to tip him over the boardwalk's edge. The boardwalk had been slippery with all the splashing.

Instead of falling directly in the water, he'd landed on his arm first, a sickening crunch breaking through the shouts and laughs from everyone gathered, and then skidded off the wet boardwalk and into the lake. He had swallowed so much water since he hadn't had time to react.

The lake hadn't been too deep, but his arm had been burning with searing pain and he hadn't been able to think straight. He had kicked desperately, trying to keep his head above the water. Someone had noticed him struggling and reached down to haul him up. That'd been a bad idea.

The scream that had ripped out of Sunoo had been more of a howl and had frozen everyone on their tracks.

They had almost dropped him back on the water. Some rushed to get Coach while the others flitted around him, not knowing what to do. He had laid on the boardwalk shivering.

Coach Seo had arrived running, face pale upon seeing him. He carried Sunoo in his arms as gently as he could and took him to the Medical Attention center of the camp. They checked him over and told Sunoo that he had a broken arm and needed to head back to the city immediately.

Sunoo had been in a lot of pain and the cold from the swim refused to leave his bones. He had cried silently all the way back to the city, where he had immediately been taken to his hospital. Dr. Choi had clucked his tongue at his state, though he had smiled at him reassuringly.

"You took my advice to live life to the fullest a little bit too much to heart," he chuckled, wheeling him over to the X-Ray area. Sunoo blushed, shy.

He had confided in Dr. Choi once about how burdensome he felt as a child to his parents. Dr. Choi had listened to him seriously.

"You can't keep yourself as weak embers when you are meant to burn brightly," the Doctor had shared. "You need to live life to the fullest so that you don't have any regrets, and your parents can rest easy knowing that you're enjoying the life they've worked so hard to give you."

Sunoo always remembered those words after that, and they became a life motto of sorts. The x-rays confirmed that he had a broken arm, though he would fortunately not need any surgery, but he had to stay at the hospital longer because he also came down with an acute bronchitis.

By the time Sunoo was allowed to go back to school, the team had solemnly sworn to protect Sunoo from any harm and to never let anything like it happen again, even if it meant being a little more careful around him. He had been sad about this resolution but had come to accept it.

Sunoo ended up staying overnight at the hospital this time around and was ordered to rest a day more at home. He could only imagine the team's reaction when he returned, he thought, despondent. Though he could freely access SNS, Sunoo limited his use to almost none.

He only answered Jungwon's worried messages and ignored the rest.

Sunoo used this time to catch up on his favorite dramas and some of the homework he had been behind on.

He didn't want to think too hard about his current situation with the team, Heeseung and Sunghoon but alas...

Sunoo could no longer deny the attraction he felt toward the Decelis student, and this trip to the hospital had been an eye-opener for him. 

He didn't want to smother these growing feelings within him. He had reduced himself to embers when it came to love. He should burn brightly.

He wasn't sure how serious the Decelis student was about his intentions with Sunoo. He had openly admitted that he enjoyed teasing him, and it could be all there is about that. He could just be an incorrigible flirt that would drop Sunoo at any given moment. 

It was still incredibly flattering to catch Sunghoon's attention. Sunoo couldn't deny the shiver of delight at seeing Sunghoon look at him THAT way in his clothes. He liked that. And though Sunoo had refused to admit it at first, it seemed he held Heeseung's attention as well.

That last statement opened its own can of worms, making Sunoo double-guess all the interactions he's had with the Captain. He cautiously poked at his own heart, looking for any non-platonic feelings for the senior, but he couldn't find any. 

Chapter Text

The day Sunoo was allowed back to school, he took with him the change of clothes and Sunghoon's varsity jacket in case he caught him on the way. No luck. He pouted, shoving them into his backpack when he got on the bus. He considered sending Sunghoon a message on SNS but decided not to.

Sunoo got off at his usual stop right in front of school and walked towards the school entrance where the early bird students were milling around waiting for the school gates to be opened.

Suddenly, someone put a firm hand on his shoulder and spun him around. He gasped, taken aback.

It was Park Sunghoon, wearing his usual Decelis uniform, standing right outside of Sunshine Beach as if nothing was amiss. No one was even paying attention to him.

"What are you doing here?" Sunoo blurted out, thinking he was seeing things. "Shouldn't you be at morning practice?"

"I've been skipping morning practice all week," he dismissed. 

Sunoo frowned. Sunghoon looked somewhat tired, usual impeccable looks more ruffled than usual.

"Why?" he questioned, even more confused. "Where do you go instead?"

Sunghoon looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Here."

"Here?" Sunoo echoed.

Sunghoon took that as if Sunoo had laughed at his answer.

"Well, what else was I supposed to do? You went MIA on SNS and weren't coming to school. It's the only thing I could think of doing!" he exploded. 

Sunoo blinked.

"I was worried, and before you say anything," Sunghoon said, annoyed, "let's not pretend to not know each other's schedules to heart at this point."

"To heart?" Sunoo muttered in disbelief. "I wasn't planning on pretending anything!"

"Good," he fiercely said.

Sunoo was taken aback to say the least by Sunghoon's outburst. He was picking a fight as if he was a wronged boyfriend. He opted to remain silent and see if that would pacify him. It didn't seem to work.

"Don't give me that look," Sunghoon grumbled, pointing at him.

Sunoo gaped. "What look?" he cried, bewildered.

"The 'How-did-he-know-I-was-absent-from-school-and-gone-from-SNS' look. We are not pretending anymore. I like all your pictures and we coincide on our way to school every day, remember?"

Sunoo was stumped.

"I'm aware," Sunoo told him, not unkindly.

"Okay," Sunghoon said.

"I got sick because of the cold soak," he explained. "I tend to get sick easier than most but I was just ordered rest. No big deal."

"I told you not to get sick," Sunghoon grumbled. "And what's the first thing you do? Get sick."

"Sorry," Sunoo cheerily answered, reminding himself that this seemed to be Sunghoon's brand of worry. "I'll make sure to tell my immune system to step up its game next time."

Sunghoon laughed awkwardly, seemingly realizing how ridiculous he had sounded berating Sunoo. Sunoo bit his lip, unsure, but continued.

"I thought about messaging you on SNS," he hummed, looking at Sunghoon's reaction. He was still. "But I felt like I shouldn't for some reason."

Sunghoon pulled Sunoo closer by the straps of his backpack gently, looking seriously at him. 

"From now on, message me anytime you feel like on SNS. Let's exchange numbers. Call me. Give me your school email."

For a heart-stopping moment Sunoo thought he was going to kiss him.

"I'm not giving you my school email, Park Sunghoon," he scoffed, sliding the backpack off his shoulders.

Sunghoon released his hold on the straps. Sunoo took out the clothes and handed them over to him with a smile. He accepted everything except the jacket.

"Keep it. Wear it. Maybe that way you won't get sick," he pointed out.

Sunoo rolled his eyes but didn't fight him on the jacket. He liked the Decelis design. It was objectively cooler than the Sunshine Beach one. He liked the name emblazoned on the back.

The Sunshine Beach gates were opened then.

Sunoo convinced Sunghoon to make his way to his own school after a lot of cajoling and handing him his number and a promise to message him indiscriminately about anything and everything going forward. He huffed, exhausted already. He turned and spotted Jungwon. Recording him.

Jungwon stopped recording him when he noticed Sunoo looking.

"Before you get mad," Jungwon entreated, "you will thank me on your wedding day when I have all this material for those corny couple videos they always play during the party."

"What are you doing, Yang Jungwon."

"Jake hyung really wanted to see the moment you came back to school and saw Park Sunghoon waiting for you like a longing suitor outside your door but he can't wake up early for crap, so I volunteered to record it for him."

"I'm starting to seriously question your loyalties."

"Hyung, can you blame him? Us?" he whined, tugging at Sunoo's arm cutely. "The whole school watched Park Sunghoon wait faithfully day and night outside the school gates for your return until even the student body got bored of his presence, novelty wearing off. What a build-up."

"The student body apparently got tired but not you two," he sighed, giving up on understanding his friend.  "Maybe you should follow their example."

"Are you kidding me? With all the drama you provide to my lacking love life I'm not letting this go. Ever," Jungwon ascertained.

"What drama?" Sunoo asked, suddenly fearing for his life at Jungwon's knowing smile. "I made a decision already. I don't care if Sunghoon is from Decelis. I have people who have my back. I like Sunghoon. He's weird, he's annoying, he's sweet, he's caring. End of drama fest."

"You'll see," Jungwon told him cryptically, refusing to say anything else. "And me and Jake hyung have front row tickets to it all."

He walked away cheerily, a cute bounce on his step.

Sunoo shivered.

My friend's acting weird, Sunoo tentatively texted the new contact on his phone.

The short one? is the quick response he received. I saw him recording me every day I went over to SBA he might not be acting is all I'm saying😣.

Sunoo giggled and pocketed the phone.

For the rest of the day, his teachers caught him up with all the missing work he had piled up.

Toward the end of sixth period, Coach Seo came into his classroom suddenly. He spotted him and lit up.

"Teacher, I need to steal Sunoo for a bit."

Sunoo's History teacher looked at him unimpressed.

"Make it quick, Coach. Mr. Kim has a lot to catch up to."

Sunoo followed him out.

"What's wrong, Coach?" Sunoo asked worriedly. 

Coach Seo was practically running and it was hard to keep up.

"We need to hurry. That teacher of yours will have my head if we don't. We'll talk more at my office."

Sunoo hastened his steps in response. He was growing nervous.

Coach stopped abruptly right in front of his office door, Sunoo almost crashing into him. He turned toward him and squeezed Sunoo's shoulders firmly.

"We've missed you, kid," he earnestly said. "I'm glad you're back. We all are."

"Thanks, Coach," he beamed, pleased. Coach nodded.

"Come along. Heeseung should be here soon."

"Heeseung hyung?" Sunoo asked cautiously, following Coach inside his office. It was as messy as ever.

"Yes, I'll explain everyt- Ah, Lee Heeseung! You're here! Hurry, close the door!" Coach crowed, scaring Heeseung, who quickly entered.

Coach looked through his desk, frantic, muttering to himself. Heeseung smiled widely at Sunoo, perfect teeth on display.

"Sun, I'm so glad you're back! The kids and I really missed you around."

"And I missed all of you," Sunoo answered truthfully. Heeseung ruffled Sunoo's hair.

Before Sunoo could protest, Coach jumped up, waving a slightly wrinkled card on his hand.

"So, Lee Heeseung, Kim Sunoo. We've had an eventful start of the season."

Both students nodded cautiously. Coach nodded back.

"It's the Captain's last year."

Coach waited until he agreed.

"The kids were really sorry about what happened last game, Sunoo," the Coach continued, now turning toward Sunoo. 

He was silenced by a raised hand before he could even respond to that.

"So the kids and I got together and came up with this gift of appreciation for both of you."

Sunoo gingerly took the paper Coach all but shoved in his direction.

"World Of Fun Arcade Voucher - Two People," Heeseung read from over Sunoo's shoulder. His eyebrow twitched. "Our gift is an arcade voucher?"

"It's a World Of Fun voucher!" Sunoo corrected excitedly.

Heeseung questioned him with a look. Sunoo cheered, actually excited.

"World of Fun is an arcade place that I went to every day during middle school. It was on the way home. I haven't been there since I started high school."

Heeseung simply ahhed.

Coach threw his arm around him.

"When's the last time you've been to an arcade, Captain?" he jostled him good-naturedly.

"Probably elementary school," Heeseung answered after a beat. Coach clapped, delighted.

"See? You must enjoy your last lap as a child before getting shipped into adulthood! It'll be fun."

"When can we go?" Sunoo asked excitedly. Coach laughed heartily.

"Today! You both are excused from practice today."

"Oh, are you sure, Coach?" Heeseung interrupted. "If you want we can-"

"The voucher's only valid today so leave right after the bell rings," he ordered.

"It's okay, hyung," Sunoo consoled Heeseung, who still didn't look too keen into the idea. "World of Fun is, well, really fun. Besides, it's for free! I bet you'll do well at shooting games. You must be stressed because of the CSATs and a little of game therapy will surely help."

Heeseung smiled at him, eyes crinkling as if he was indulging him.

"Cute," he murmured loud enough for Sunoo to hear. 

Sunoo stilled, uncomfortable all of a sudden. Now that he suspected Heeseung saw him as more than a junior, interactions like this suddenly had another meaning.

He ignored Heeseung and tried to bring back the conversation to safer grounds as they made their way back to their classes.

"This was honestly such a good idea," he babbled, referring to the voucher. "Wonder whose idea it was. How did the kids and Coach know about World Of Fun?"

"Hyung!" Jungwon gasped, covering his mouth with two hands as if terribly shocked. "What a coincidence seeing you here!"

Sunoo's mouth hung open. Both he and Heeseung had left campus right after the bell rang and made their way to the arcade since the place was far from campus.

The first thing Sunoo had seen upon entering his favorite childhood arcade place was Yang Jungwon and Jake Sim pretending to be engrossed in a claw crane that wasn't even moving. Sunoo's eye twitched. Heeseung greeted Jake normally, so Sunoo dragged Jungwon aside.

"I guess this answers just how Coach and the kids knew about World Of Fun," Sunoo hissed, pinching Jungwon. "And all that talk about drama from earlier."

"Does this mean you don't believe that this was totally a coincidental meet-up and that I didn't cause problems in purpose?"

"I'm going to tell Jake Sim that your feet stink," Sunoo muttered, pretending to smile when the other two turned to join them. 

Jungwon stepped on his foot in retaliation.

"Heeseung hyung! I was just telling Sunoo hyung that since fate has decided for us to coincidentally meet..."

"You should join us!" Jake finished, flashing them with a wide, friendly smile. "It'll be like a double date!"

Sunoo turned to glare murderously at his friend, who pretended to find the ceiling super interesting just then. Heeseung merely laughed, bumping Sunoo's arm with his.

"What do you say, Sun? Wanna join your friends?"

Sunoo gave the fakest smile he had. He saw Jungwon squirm. Good.

"Since fate has brought us here—" he trailed off. "I'll go get the tokens. Jungwon, why don't you come and help your hyung out, huh?"

"Help me," Jungwon turned to Jake.

Sunoo dragged Jungwon away toward the tokens counter before anyone else could say anything. He pierced him with a look when they were far away enough.

"I know you're mad," his friend started, "but if you'd let me explain—"

"Alright. Sing then, little bird," Sunoo threatened.

"Coach Seo came to me last week and told me how the kids wanted to get a voucher for a restaurant for you two as a gift and asked me for suggestions. I thought a restaurant visit would seem too much like a date so I suggested this place, thought it'd be less awkward!" he argued.

Sunoo mulled it over and begrudgingly agreed with Jungwon's assessment of the situation. "Alright but an arcade date is still—"

"I know," Jungwon sighed. "Which is where Jake hyung and I come in. We show up ‘coincidentally’ and prevent you from being alone together."

Sunoo narrowed his eyes, still distrustful.

"So why did Jake Sim say it was a double date?"

Jungwon patted him on the shoulder, shaking his head.

"Because he's an idiot. A sexy, Australian idiot," he sighed out fondly. 

Both boys moved up the queue, getting closer to the counter.

"You know what I think?" Sunoo hummed. "I think you used this opportunity to spend more time with Jake, taking advantage of the fact that he seems just as exceedingly invested in my personal life as you are, and one of you probably suggested to pretend to date."

Jungwon whistled.

"It was him who suggested we pretend to date for this arcade venture," Jungwon shared gleefully. "I love when he uses that sexy mastermind of his for evil. Also, I think he most definitely is into me. And I love when you show just how much you know me like this, hyung."

Sunoo guffawed, letting his friend off the hook finally. They were all already there (thanks to Jungwon's Machiavellianism); might as well have fun while at it!

They finally reached the counter and the elderly man manning it adjusted his glasses on his face upon seeing Sunoo.

"I'll be damned! Is that you, Kim Sunoo?" he greeted jovially. Sunoo smiled widely at being remembered.

"Grandpa Kwon," he returned the greeting. "It's been a while."

"Where the hell have you been? You just stopped coming and left this old man alone," the man whined pitifully.

"I entered high school, Grandpa Kwon," he explained, handing over his voucher and some extra money for more tokens. "I got big boy's responsibilities now."

The man shook his head, pushing Sunoo's money back into his hands.

"It's on the house today," he told him. "Welcome back."

"You really came here a lot," Jungwon wondered. The old man laughed heartily.

"Every day after school without fail," he reminisced. "All those kids from that time are long gone now. Is my record still intact, Grandpa?" 

"No," the old man informed him. Sunoo froze in disbelief. "There's this kid, a foreigner, who also comes in every day. He beat your record about five months ago. You might see him today."

Sunoo pouted, secretly upset at losing his legendary first place, and thanked the man.

"Record in what?" Jungwon asked curiously as they made their way back to the other guys.

"DDR," Sunoo pouted. Jungwon gaped at his friend.

"That insane rhythm game? You're good at it?"

"I'm not good at it," he sniffed. "I'm the best. Was. Whatevs."

"Woah!"

Jungwon was starstruck.

"Can we see you play?" he begged, putting on his best puppy eyes. 

Sunoo laughed, squeezing his friend's cheek.

"I'll try," he promised. 

Jake waved them over from the air hockey tables, clearly itching to play. Sunoo split the tokens evenly into four and they split into pairs.

"Do you like air hockey, hyung?" Jungwon asked, lazily starting the game. Sunoo rolled his eyes and just as lazily hit the disk back toward Jungwon.

"Not particularly," he answered eventually. 

He could hear the disk on Jake and Heeseung's table cling loudly back and forth.

"Wanna try the claw crane machine? I saw a Riceball koongya keychain I wanted to get," Jungwon asked, moving his pusher as if to block the puck but missing entirely.

Sunoo hummed. 

"Sure, let's wrap this up then." 

They hurried to finish their game and headed to the machine.

In the end it was Sunoo who extracted the keychain Jungwon wanted, since Jungwon turned out to be terrible at the claw crane game. Jungwon insisted he keep it since he was the one who won it. Sunoo looked at it and thought its little face looked somewhat familiar. He pocketed it.

"Sun, wanna play a round of Zombie Area Terror?" Heeseung asked with a wink, holding up the blue gun already. 

Sunoo smiled, picking up the pink gun and testing its weight. The multi shooting game wasn't Sunoo's favorite, but he was pretty decent at it.

"Try to keep up, hyung."

"Why is Kim Sunoo so good at shooting games?" Jake wondered out loud as he and Jungwon spectated the carnage both Heeseung and Sunoo were creating on screen. 

"Even his pose is cool. Hyung's too."

Jungwon snapped a picture and quickly uploaded it now that Sunoo was distracted.

"Wanna play whack-a-mole in the meantime? It doesn't look like they're losing anytime soon," Jungwon asked, though he dragged Jake away anyway. 

Heeseung and Sunoo were so absorbed in their game that Sunoo failed to notice the notification that popped on his screen.

Sunoo was surprisingly having a lot of fun playing Zombie Area Terror. It was not usual to find skilled partners like Heeseung so he was used to much shorter rounds. He and Heeseung however kept clearing level after level. They got competitive. Sunoo cracked his fingers.

Sunoo was sadly at fault for their eventual loss. He and Heeseung only had one life left each, but a zombie type S (S for Speed. Yes, really.) had popped out of nowhere from Sunoo's left and unceremoniously offed him. 

Both he and Heeseung groaned in defeat, Sunoo dropping to the floor.

He heard enthusiastic clapping from behind him, cutting Sunoo's theatrics short. Jungwon and Jake were behind them, munching on popcorn and sharing a jumbo cup of soda between the two of them.

"Great show," Jungwon praised, mouth full. "A little too gorey for my taste, though."

"We were so close to clearing that level," Heeseung lamented, helping Sunoo stand. 

He thanked him, dusting his pants off. 

"Wanna try again?"

"I'll play," a new voice interjected, "but let's do a versus round instead."

Sunoo spun so quickly toward the voice he almost fell again.

"Sunghoon?!" Sunoo's eyes felt like they would bulge out. 

It was indeed Sunghoon, wearing what were clearly the clothes he uses for practice. His hair was everywhere, looking like a especially soft bird's nest. He was still dastardly dashing despite looking like he just ran laps.

"What are you doing here?" Sunoo hurried to his side, hands flitting uselessly around the other's face, itching to fix his hair. "Shouldn't you be at practice? What time is it even?"

"Great questions, Sun," Heeseung called, crossing his arms. "I, too, would like to know."

"Please," Sunghoon directed a bored glance at Heeseung. "I come to this arcade place every day after practice. Everyone knows this."

Sunoo whipped out his phone and looked at the time. He frowned; there was still at least 20 minutes left of practice. He then saw something weird.

👥 Yang Jungwon has tagged you in a photo. Click to see more. 👥

His head snapped in Jungwon's direction so fast that he felt his spine crack. The youngest recoiled at the sight of Sunoo's face, hiding behind Jake. 

He went to see the picture before tearing his friend a new one.

It was a picture of him and Heeseung playing Zombie Area Terror from earlier. Sunoo can admit that they looked cool, completely engrossed and in sync. Jungwon tagged both of them. Sunoo didn't spot anything that would prompt Sunghoon to literally leave practice and come running—

SBA's resident Mom and Dad are so~ cool~ Mr. & Mrs. Smith vibes #LameGunEmoji

Sunoo felt warm all over. Jungwon thought the Mom and Dad nicknames were stupid, and had told him so numerous times, yet here he was gushing on SNS for Sunghoon to see.

The tense exchange between Heeseung and Sunghoon continued in the background; Sunoo focused instead on keeping a lid on his emotions. Jungwon was still cowering behind Jake.

"Jake hyung," Sunoo called sweetly. 

Jake tensed, sensing something amiss. Even the other two quieted down.

"Did you know that at the beginning of the year our Jungwonnie memorized your schedule so that he could run into you on your way to your next class, no matter how far it was from his classroom?" he asked, adding an extra layer of incredulity to his voice.

"Hyung!" Jungwon strangled out, putting distance between him and Jake with a jump.

"And you two," Sunoo turned toward the elders, "should stop your posturing and just play if you're going to play or ignore each other if you're going to ignore each other, but make up your minds."

"Did you really do that, Jungwon?" Jake asked Jungwon, whose round cheeks tinged a baby pink. 

"Posturing?" Heeseung repeated, sounding offended. 

Sunoo rolled his eyes and stalked off without a word to his favorite corner in this whole place. Sunoo sensed someone behind him.

"You're mad at me, too," Sunghoon told him. 

Sunoo exhaled loudly.

"Not mad," he denied. "Annoyed that you left practice early for what's clearly a caption meant to sound provoking."

"I didn't leave practice because of the caption," Sunghoon argued. 

Sunoo gave him a look.

"I left practice because Lee Heeseung was out here making moves and I got jealous," he admitted with a pout. "And you already spend so much time together."

"Together as a team," Sunoo clarified. "Also, you can't come running every time I'm around him. And that wasn't a dare."

Sunghoon sulked.

"What's this?" Sunghoon pointed at the DDR machine with his chin. 

Sunoo inserted a token and hummed, the familiar jingle bringing memories back.

"Didn't you tell Heeseung hyung you came to this arcade every day after practice? Shouldn't you know?" Sunoo teased. 

Sunghoon laughed.

"You're not cutting me any slack today," Sunghoon griped. 

Sunoo browsed through the game's menu looking for the top scores. He found them, his score from almost two years ago sitting in second place. A new entry under 'Ni-ki' now reigned from the number one spot.

"That's because teasing you has become the joy of my life," Sunoo mimicked, giving his back to the screen to rest his arms on the back railing and stare at Sunghoon. 

Sunghoon gaped for a second and then laughed, shaking a finger at Sunoo.

"I've heard that before," he came closer.

He grabbed the railing as well and stepped on the game's platform, now towering over him. Sunoo straightened up at that, the railing the only thing separating their bodies. They shared a charged look, almost going cross-eyed at their closeness. Someone cleared their throat.

"Uh, excuse me, sir? Are you going to play or can we take a turn?" piped a youthful voice. 

Both Sunghoon and Sunoo turned to see two middle schoolers, barely twelve years olds, looking at them with blank faces. Sunoo's eyebrow twitched at the "sir" but moved off the platform.

"Wait, I wanna watch," Sunghoon begged Sunoo, pulling at his wrist so he wouldn't walk away. 

Sunoo huffed but acquiesced, watching the kids play. Honestly, Sunoo was itching to play himself but felt somewhat nervous at giving it a try. It'd been too long, after all.

The kids weren't bad at all. They were playing Basic level songs easily and doing not too bad on the Difficult level ones. Sunoo's feet were tapping along unconsciously. He knew all these songs. He could do this.

"You can do that?" Sunghoon asked suddenly, eyes glued to the kids.

"He said he could," Jungwon confirmed suddenly, appearing next to them with Jake and Heeseung in tow. 

Jake and Jungwon were holding hands. Sunoo raised his eyebrow at his friend, who only showed him his dimples. Sunghoon also eyed the pair, hand making a move to grab Sunoo's.

Sunoo tugged his hand away, keeping it out of Sunghoon's reach. His heart was beating so hard in his chest as if he had run a marathon at the mere idea of Sunghoon grabbing his hand. Holding his hand. He saw him pout from his peripheral vision.

"He promised me he'd show me."

"I'm thinking that you don't deserve anything from me in the next 10 to 15 business days," Sunoo grumbled, earning a laugh from his friend. 

The kids finished their three rounds and looked at him with round eyes when he went up to the platform.

"Sir, you know how to play DDR?"

"I'm only 16," Sunoo told them off, though he tried to tone down the bite. "There's no need to call me sir. And yes, I know how to play DDR."

"Ooh, I'm not missing this," one of the little boogers taunted. 

Unbelievably disrespectful! Sunoo inserted the token and browsed the menu.

He didn't want to embarrass himself going all out in the beginning, but he knew he was more likely to struggle with a Basic level song. He browsed the Difficult selection carefully. He eyed PARANOiA Revolution and went for it. He heard the kids behind him hoot and clap.

"He's playing double!" one of the kids gasped. 

The other kept making excited noises.

"What's double?" he heard Jake ask. 

Sunoo jumped up and down the balls of his feet in preparation.

"It means I'm using the eight arrows," he threw behind his shoulder as the screen flashed.

He threw his arms behind him and held on to the two railings for dear life. Arrows flew across the screen. Sunoo whooped as a shot of adrenaline coursed through his veins. He still had to look at the screen somewhat but as he kept going, the sequence came easily to him.

Sunoo realized something almost immediately. He didn't need to strain that much to reach the more far away arrows. He had grown in these two years, his longer legs easily finding their target. He could hear nothing but the pounding music and the blood rushing on his ears.

The song ended faster than Sunoo remembered, his abrupt stop almost making him lose his footing. The cheers and claps behind him brought him back to the present. "AAA" flashed on the screen.

"That's so cool! That's so cool, sir!" the little cheerleaders enthused. 

Sunoo curtsied.

His group of friends had identical open-mouthed expressions, eyes bulging out of their sockets. Sunoo could even see Sunghoon's fangs from where he was standing.

"So," Sunoo tucked a flyaway stand of hair behind his ear, "how did I do?"

"Marry me," Sunghoon proposed passionately.

Sunoo laughed incredulously.

"I'm serious. I could see you wipe the floor with middle schoolers for the rest of my days," Sunghoon assured fervently. 

The kids protested at that, arguing that they were playing just for fun and weren't pros like Sunoo. Sunoo blushed at that. A pro.

"I'm not a pro," he denied. "I haven't even played any Expert or Oni level song—" 

Sunoo saw the kids' faces fall. He hid his smirk.

"—Yet today."

The kids lost their minds at that just like Sunoo had anticipated. They hurriedly explained to the high schoolers what that entailed.

Sunoo turned back to the screen with a twirl and moved up to the Expert selection. He already knew what song he was gonna do. Over the "Period" flashed on the screen. Sunoo got ready. He knew he'd only have the 20s slower intro to prepare for hell breaking loose. And hell it was!

He cleared the level with only an AA score, making him pout. Sunoo scratched at his scalp, piqued at the disappointing performance.

"I'm doing that again!" he announced, quickly selecting the same song. 

His little crowd of fans, which had grown without him noticing, egged him on.

He was prepared this time around. The previous round had served as a refresher and now Sunoo could really let go and focus on not missing beats. When the screen flashed with a "IT'S A NEW RECORD!" Sunoo was almost taken by surprise despite knowing he had killed it.

The crowd behind him was really causing a ruckus, phones pointed in his direction. Over 10 people had gathered. He input "김선우" on the screen. It wasn't an Oni level song but he at least bagged an Expert level record! Sunoo got off the platform quickly to run to his friends.

Someone blocked his way abruptly just as he was about to reach Sunghoon and the rest. It was a lanky kid with eye-catching bleached blond hair and pouty lips, face devoid of any expression. Sunoo took a step back, a little cowered despite the boy having just an inch or two on him

"You're Kim Sunoo?" he demanded to know, pointing at him with his chin in a sharp gesture. 

Sunoo nodded cautiously. He sensed Sunghoon's presence next to him in an instant, his other friends right behind him. The air was charged with something, like a fight waiting to break out.

"I'm Riki," he said brusquely. "Riki Nishimura."

"N-nice to meet you, Riki?" he stammered, voicing that as a question. Was he supposed to know who this kid was?

"Sir! That's Ni-ki! Ni-ki as in the highest record on DDR!" whispered-shouted one of his middle-schooler friends.

Sunoo ahhed, smile breaking across his face. He hit his fist on his open palm, connecting the dots.

"So you're the kid that broke my record, huh? Congratulations!" he enthusiastically extended his hand for a friendly shake. "Grandpa Kwon did say I might run into you here."

The Riki kid just stared at Sunoo's outstretched hand, unmoving. A drop of sweat ran down his nape.

"I have to admit I was a bit sad about someone breaking my record but it's time for the newer generations to take over, right?" Sunoo babbled.

Riki stared at him intensely. Silent.

"Alrighty then," Sunoo trailed off awkwardly, dropping his hand. 

He jumped when Riki shot his hand to make a grab for his. He cradled Sunoo's smaller hand in his larger one between them.

"Can I add you on SNS?" he asked, though it sounded more like a statement. "I like you."

"Woah, no way," one of the middle schoolers exclaimed, looking between them. "You're just in middle school like us, yet you can say something so shameless like that? He's your senior, yanno?"

Riki rolled his eyes, not letting go of Sunoo's hand, which was growing clammy.

"I hate formalities. Let's talk comfortably with each other on SNS, okay?" he told Sunoo, pinning him with a serious gaze as he pulled out his phone. 

Sunoo was completely mute, mind still loading. Sunghoon sliced his hand between their joined ones, effectively breaking contact.

"Unfortunately, Sunoo doesn't have any SNS," Sunghoon told him, voice tinged with fake pity. 

Riki narrowed his eyes. Sunghoon took a step forward in front of Sunoo.

"Isn't that right, Lee Heeseung?" he asked behind him. Heeseung positioned himself on Sunoo's other side.

"Yep," Heeseung popped the 'p,' "No SNS for Sunoo."

Riki scoffed lightly, actually rolling his eyes at Heeseung. Sunoo saw Heeseung's hands form fists then release the tension.

"Then, can I have your number?" Riki switched it up, looking back at Sunoo. 

Sunoo opened his mouth.

"He doesn't have a phone," Sunghoon cut him off, throwing up another wall. "He's never had a phone."

Sunoo scoffed at that, finally breaking through his stupor. All three sets of eyes turned toward him.

"I do have SNS," he corrected, elbowing Sunghoon and Heeseung. "And a phone."

Riki's lip corners lifted up, a victorious glint growing in his eyes as he threw a challenging look at Sunghoon and Heeseung. Sunoo continued.

"But I don't give out my personal information to strangers or add them on SNS," he explained firmly. "So I will have to decline. The last time I accepted a request from a stranger on SNS, I met one of the weirdest guys ever, and it was a whole adventure. Still is. You just never know what kind of people you'll meet. I'm flattered, but no."

Sunoo never thought he'd be able to give such a firm response to anything in his life. Truthfully, having Sunghoon there, even Heeseung and Jungwon, filled him with confidence, like he could do anything.

"Then, I guess I'll have to stop being a stranger," Riki said after a pause.

Sunoo's polite smile slipped a bit in confusion. He thought he'd been clear enough.

"How will you do that?" he asked.

Riki shrugged carelessly, eyeing Sunoo.

"I'll figure it out," he simply said, confident. Until then." 

He jauntily saluted Sunoo and left, disappearing into the arcade.

"Hyung will have to buy me an SD card for my phone," Jungwon commented, drawing the group's attention to him, "since all these videos of him are filling up my memory card. I caught all that in 4k, if you're curious."

"We are not," both Sunoo and Sunghoon bit out at the same time.

"Sensitive," Jungwon muttered, backing off. "Jake hyung and I are leaving. We're going to the ice cream parlor and having a proper date as a reward for a job well-done today."

"And I'm heading home," Heeseung added, "to study for a bit."

Sunghoon put his hand on Sunoo's shoulder.

"We should head out too, Sunoo," he told him. "It was your first day back after getting sick. You must be tired."

Sunoo was surprised to realize then that he was indeed exhausted after all the excitement of the day. He nodded and they said their goodbyes, parting ways outside.

Sunghoon started walking and he just followed him without question, tired of using his brain for the day. The colder October air was nipping at him. He remembered Sunghoon's jacket on his bag so he quickly took it out and put it on. He had promised Dr. Choi he'd be careful.

Sunghoon looked pleased, stealing glances at Sunoo not very subtly on the way. Sunoo shoved his hands deeper into the jacket's pockets, face blooming a pretty pink. They talked on and off comfortably, the silences between them not burdensome. They reached a bus stop.

Sunghoon made Sunoo sit down and rest his feet on his lap so he'd be comfortable despite the looks they were getting from the other folks waiting for the bus. When the next bus arrived, Sunghoon herded Sunoo inside and sat them on a two-chair seat with Sunghoon by the window.

"Sleep, Sunoo," Sunghoon murmured, smoothing over Sunoo's closest hand shyly. "I'll wake you up when it's time to switch buses."

"I'm not sleepy," Sunoo argued, eyelids already drooping. Sunghoon pushed Sunoo's head slowly and carefully so that it rested on his shoulder.

Sunoo jerked awake after a bit, Sunghoon having to shush and reassure him softly that they hadn't missed their stop.

Sunoo was sleepy enough that he wasn't shy about leaning his head back on Sunghoon's shoulder. Sunghoon was quiet for a bit.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?"

"What thing?" Sunoo asked drowsily, part of himself thinking that he was dreaming.

"What you said about adding me on SNS at the arcade," Sunghoon prodded. 

Sunoo smacked his lips, trying to make sense of what Sunghoon was telling him.

"Mhm," he mumbled, "you ARE weird."

"And an adventure?" Sunghoon asked, going for a teasing tone but falling flat. 

Sunoo saw him from his perch on Sunghoon's shoulder wiping his hands on his pants, as if he was nervous.

"Yeah," he whispered. "An adventure I wanna be a part of. Even if it's a weird one."

"Okay, enough with the 'weirds,'" Sunghoon grumbled. 

Sunoo giggled, getting comfortable again. It wasn't even that late in the evening, but the world outside the bus's windows seemed so far away from their little world inside, like they were a rocketship floating in space.

Sunghoon signaled their stop and hurried Sunoo toward the exit. As the bus slowed down, Sunoo, who had grabbed the door railings so as to not fall on his butt, experienced a strong sense of déjà vu when Sunghoon wrapped his hands just above his, tall frame inches from his back.

"This seems familiar," he pointed out, feeling more than hearing Sunghoon's amused huff next to his ear. It rose goosebumps on his arms.

"I really wanted to talk to you that day," Sunghoon reminisced, knowing exactly what day Sunoo meant. "But you didn't seem to keen to do so."

"I was shitting my pants," Sunoo shared candidly, drawing a laugh from Sunghoon. "I was very nervous."

"Are you nervous now?" Sunghoon asked huskily. Sunoo twisted his head to the side, almost brushing Sunghoon's cheek with his lips due to their proximity. 

"No."

They jumped out of the bus, making the short walk to their next bus stop. Sunoo felt like traipsing around the city perpetually just like this, sharing warm looks and secret messages between them with their smiles, and found that he didn't mind it.

The second bus ride was much longer than the first so Sunoo didn't even pretend to maintain decorum and immediately leaned his head on Sunghoon's shoulder. Sunghoon didn't protest. They rode in companionable silence, Sunoo not managing to fall asleep again despite his exhaustion.

Sunghoon rummaged through his pockets carefully, not wanting to jostle Sunoo too much. He only whined, settling back once the other seemed to find what he was looking for. 

"Sunoo," he called hushedly. "Look over here."

Sunghoon was holding up his phone, front facing camera on.

Sunoo smiled at the Sunghoon reflected on the phone screen, who promptly smiled back with sweet crinkles adorning the corner of his eyes. The camera shutter went off.

When Sunoo's phone pinged later that night with an SNS notification, he didn't worry about what it could possibly be, for he already knew.

👥 Park Sunghoon has tagged you in a picture. Click here to see more. 👥

Sunoo didn't need to click to know it was their picture from earlier.

He clicked on it anyways, taking him to Park Sunghoon's page. Their picture, with their cheeks flushed and eyes half-moons in their faces, was posted with a simple caption that read "To adventures.”

Sunoo gave it a like and dropped a ❤️ in the comments for good measure.

The picture had raked over 70 likes in the first five minutes. Tomorrow would bring more opportunities to burn brightly instead of remaining choked embers, Sunoo thought to himself before drifting off once more.