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1. sunghoon
if there was the biggest jungwon and riki couple enthusiast, it would definitely be park sunghoon. ever since their debut, he noticed how their friendship blossomed until the both of them developed feelings for each other. but there was just one problem.
none of the two wanted to confess first.
he’s so close to locking them in their room that four of them shared — with riki and jungwon having their own bunk bed, as he and sunoo had their own. he wanted nothing more but for them to actually confess, rather than to act oblivious about each other’s feelings.
it was a saturday morning, and they didn’t have any schedule, so all seven of them were in the dorm. as usual, jay and sunoo were in the kitchen cooking their breakfast. heeseung was still sleeping, jake was taking a shower, and jungwon and riki were playing video games together.
“hyung! that’s cheating! you distracted me!” riki said while giggling.
sunghoon went to the kitchen to help, and also to gossip.
“so… when do you think they’re going to confess?” sunghoon whispered.
“my god, hyung! it’s been a year since we noticed their feelings, but nothing is happening.” sunoo ranted in a whisper.
jay proceeded to ready the plates and spoons they were going to use eating the bibimbap breakfast they prepared.
“i think… we should do something drastic.” sunghoon suggested.
“like what? leaving them alone in the dorm? we tried multiple times, and they just danced, or played video games with each other.” jay replied.
“ugh, so tiring. what’s holding them back?” sunghoon said, exasperated.
“jungwon! riki! food is ready!” sunghoon called them.
“woah! looks delicious!” jungwon immediately said as soon as he sat down.
the five waited a bit before eating, as it was their habit to eat together as a whole if they could. suddenly, sunghoon had an idea about what they should talk about.
“you know, taehyun called me yesterday.” sunghoon started. the group was attentively listening to him.
“it’s his and kai’s third anniversary together.” sunghoon said carefully, looking at jungwon and riki. the others immediately picked up what sunghoon was trying to do.
“good for them, they are cute.” riki said.
“yeah, they are the epitome of best friends to lovers. they’re such a perfect fit that i don’t even mind their PDA when i see them.” sunghoon continues.
“exactly exactly. i heard taehyun was the one who really took the risk.” heeseung added, hoping the maknaes were taking the hint.
“and it’s not a problem for their members too, the three were actually happy they finally got together.” jay chimed in.
sunoo looked at jungwon and riki who were eating and listening at the same time.
“pretty sure if it happened in our group, we would be happy too. love is love!” jake said, not even being subtle.
“of course, we would all be supportive if any of our members were dating another member.” jungwon said.
“i’m sure one of the maknaes would be the first one to date.” sunoo said.
sunghoon couldn’t help but to giggle, they really are trying their best to make the two maknaes stop beating around the bush about their feelings, without even being subtle. he just really hoped that jungwon and riki were able to get the hint.
2. sunoo
being thankful for a free day, sunoo dedicated his free time to catching up reading his favorite novels. he was a hopeless romantic himself, and he really liked love stories with happy endings. the world was already sad on it’s own, so this was definitely an escape.
suddenly, jungwon entered their room and immediately laid down on his bed. during their free days, it was a hidden agreement between their members to use the time to rest to recharge their energy, so they can be their best selves whenever they had a schedule.
an idea popped into sunoo’s head, thanks to the stunt that sunghoon pulled this breakfast.
“jungwon, can i sit beside you?”
“sure hyung. what are you reading?”
despite sunoo’s mischievous intentions, he appreciated the fact that jungwon immediately knew he was catching up on reading novels.
“hmmm… one of the characters is mischievous, but jolly and the life of the party.”
“sounds like riki.”
sunoo’s plan was working.
“in this novel, the two characters are in love with each other, but they refuse to acknowledge it. they love avoiding the topic about their feelings. the other one is a realist, and is really scared of taking risks.”
“hmmm? is that so? they seem like polar opposites.”
“exactly, but they work because of their passion for fighting.”
“huh?”
“they’re both knights of a medieval kingdom.”
“such an interesting story. how far along are you in the story?”
“almost by the end, i hope they have a happy ending.”
“they seem like they deserve a happy ending.”
“they do. everyone deserves to be happy.”
sunoo just hopes jungwon picked up on what he was trying to do.
3. jay
jay was peacefully playing a new RPG application that he recently downloaded on his phone, as he was in the mood to immerse himself in another world. he was laying down on his side of the bed in his and jake’s room, when riki entered the room.
“jay hyung, can i have a face mask? i’m going out with jake and jungwon hyung for a bit, and i ran out of face masks already.”
“hmm? where are you guys going?”
“just the mall, jake hyung wanted to go out.”
“i’ll give you a face mask, in exchange for one thing.”
“what is it?”
“pick a story for me, i recently just downloaded it, i can’t seem to pick one to play.”
“piece of cake.”
jay proceeded to hand riki his phone, and the younger then scrolled through the app, reading the story descriptions and choosing carefully. jay really hopes riki is going to choose a story that’s going to coincide with his plan.
“this looks good.” riki says as he tries to hand jay his phone back.
“read it for me, you already have my phone.”
“it’s about two vampire princes being soulmates. the visual looks good, and i quite like the soulmate plot.”
yes, everything is going according to plan!
“soulmates, huh? why? have you met your soulmate?”
“maybe…”
“really? who? you’re dating?!”
“what? no! but i’m sure i found mine already. jungwon hyung… i mean! my soulmate makes me feel safe and happy all the time, they don’t make me feel bad for being childish, and they always want me to be happy in whatever i do. it’s such a nice feeling really.”
“i’m glad you found your person, riki. i’m happy for you whatever you do.”
“yeah yeah whatever! i’ll get a face mask now.”
jay just hopes the two of them could finally gather the courage to confess to each other rather than dancing around the line of platonic and romantic.
4. jake
jake was the one who invited jungwon and riki to go out, as he had a hidden agenda. like most of his members, he also wanted nothing but the two maknaes to actually get together. literally everybody and their mothers could see that they liked each other.
“hyung, let’s check out the accessories. i’ve been dying to get new shades.” riki said.
“okay then, let’s go.” jake said, and the three of them went to the shades section of the department store.
jungwon was quick to try out a blue cap that was beside the stall of shades.
“oh hyung! you look great!” riki immediately said.
“really? should i buy it?” jungwon said while taking pictures with the blue hat.
“yeah, you should definitely buy it. it looks good on you.”
“you should try it too.”
ah, these kids are making my job easier, jake thought while watching them, taking candid pictures.
riki proceeded to get a cap in the same design, but yellow in color, and tried it on.
“looking good, riki!”
“i’ll buy the caps for you two.” jake said happily, as his agenda was completed. he wanted to buy jungwon and riki matching items.
“yey! thanks hyung!” riki said without hesitation. jungwon smiled too.
who were the maknaes to decline their hyung paying for their stuff?
5. heeseung
it was already a week after the saturday that the members tried their best to hint to jungwon and riki that they should probably confess to each other. they were quite busy the past few days, with photoshoots and filming content for their fans.
despite their busy schedule, riki and jungwon found the time to spend time with each other in an amusement park.
they honestly thought it was finally going to be the day where they were finally going to confess instead of just acting like a couple, but they were wrong.
jungwon went home that day a bit gloomy, but he was trying to hide it from everyone. heeseung was never the one to beat around the bush. as the eldest in the group, him and jungwon formed a special bond as an older brother and younger brother. so jungwon wasn’t suspicious when heeseung asked him to hang out with him alone the next day.
“are you okay, won?” heeseung asked as soon as their food was served. he picked a quiet and homey restaurant as he knew these things made jungwon comfortable.
“why wouldn’t i be okay, hyung? i’m fine.”
“you’re good at a lot of things, but you’re a terrible liar. did something happen between you and riki when you went out?”
no answer, jungwon proceeded to eat.
“do you like riki?” heeseung wasted absolutely no time.
jungwon coughed, and looked directly at heeseung, who was waiting for an answer.
“is it that obvious?”
“oh boy, you don’t even know . so what happened?”
“riki did nothing wrong, but… while we were in the roller coaster, we held hands. and we held hands the entire time in the amusement park.”
“and that’s a bad thing?”
“nope. but i’m just scared.”
“scared of what?”
“ruining our friendship. our group dynamic. a lot of things are at stake.”
“trust me, the group knows. if anything, you’ll do us a favor by finally confessing.”
“so i wasn’t hallucinating that everybody was trying to get us together?”
“nope. we’ve repeated multiple times that we would accept and love you guys. so what’s holding you back?”
“what if riki doesn’t like me that way?”
“are you kidding me? he definitely does.”
“what about our friendship?”
“it’s best to actually say your feelings instead of trying to convince yourselves that your friendship is platonic.”
“you’re not letting this go, won’t you, hyung?”
“nope. i’m sick of all the subtle hints. it’s obvious that you guys like each other. do you guys like dancing so much that you prefer to dance around your feelings?”
“we didn’t do mix and max for nothing. thanks for this, hyung. can you tell other hyungs to leave the dorm later? i’ll do it. i’ll confess.”
“finally! oh don’t worry, you can even have the dorm for a whole week!” heeseung joked before texting the members one by one.
+ 1 jungwon and riki
before going home, jungwon bought a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. a corny thing to do, but he knew riki always wanted to be pampered with love and gifts.
“hyung! they all left without me!” riki immediately whined as soon as he saw jungwon.
“oh, did you receive flowers?”
“no, silly. this is for you.” jungwon said and gave him the gifts.
“what for? it’s not my birthday… is it our friendship anniversary? am i forgetting something?”
“nope. but it’s me telling you that i like you.”
“of course you like me, i’m your favorite.”
“no, riki. i like you .”
“i must be dreaming…”
“nope. it’s about time, don’t you think? we both can’t deny that we’ve already done a lot of things that couples do.”
“i was scared you didn’t like me that way.”
“and i was scared too. but… i want you. i want to make it official. i want to take you out on dates.”
“and that you can, because i like you too.”
“i guess there’s one thing that we haven’t done.”
“hmm?”
“kiss. can i kiss you, my love?”
riki wasted no time closing the gap between their faces, cupping jungwon’s face, their lips seemingly made for each other.
“ah! you have no idea how much i wanted to kiss you!” riki said and pulled jungwon into a hug.
suddenly, they heard a loud noise, they turned around to see sunoo holding a party popper.
“finally!!!” sunoo said with joy.
“since when you guys were there?” jungwon asked.
“the very beginning. you think we would miss out on you guys finally confessing?” jake said.
“pay up, pay up! sunghoon, sunoo and i won!” heeseung said and laid out his palm.
“ugh, i can’t believe i placed my bet on you, riki!” jay said and handed heeseung the money.
“you guys made a bet on us…?” riki said with confusion.
“we made a bet on who would confess first. heeseung hyung, sunoo and i placed our bets on jungwon, and the roommates placed their bets on you. but we won! i told you guys, jungwon would have more courage!” sunghoon said, beaming with happiness.
“i can not believe you guys!” jungwon said and laughed.
it was a happy day for the seven of them indeed. especially since sunghoon ordered food for all of them to celebrate, and all of it we’re going to be charged on his debit card.