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“Haidilao?”
“No. We're in suits.”
“What, so you wanna go somewhere fancy?”
“You think Haidilao’s not fancy?”
“No?”
“I forgot I'm talking to Mr. Han Wangho and I'm just a mere commoner.”
Wangho groans, rolling his eyes dramatically. Dohyeon should've suggested that they go back to the dorm first to change, but someone (Wangho) was also whining about how he was going to pass out if he doesn't eat anything in the next hour. So there they are, walking along Seoul in the middle of the night after the LCK Awards to find somewhere to eat, wearing suits they're probably never going to wear again. Well, at least not to his jungler who buys clothes more than he buys groceries.
“Haidilao is not fancy, it's literally just hotpot. Don't get smart with me.”
“It’s expensive.”
“It's still hotpot.”
“Hm.. sushi?”
Wangho starts laughing, and it triggers Dohyeon to smile even if he doesn't really know what's funny.
“Again? You always want sushi when you're with me.”
“Because it's expensive and you'll pay, hyung~” The younger singsongs, and he immediately feels satisfied with the way Wangho looks at him with an eyebrow raised.
“Come on, jungler of the year.”
“I didn't even win that.”
“You won in my head.”
Wangho snorts, his mouth puffing air because of the cold weather as he does. “There's something in your head?”
Yeah, you. Most often. Dohyeon's train of thought stops for a while that he couldn't reply back, long enough for Wangho to stop walking to look up at him curiously.
“Oh wow. There's really nothing there, huh?”
“I'm thinking of sushi.”
“And they say I'm the brat.” Wangho complains, but he still takes a turn to the street where the sushi place they frequent to's located, as always. And Dohyeon follows behind.
As always.
“Table for two, please. Thank you.”
“We look out of place.” Dohyeon murmurs, looking at the customers inside with appropriate winter clothes and definitely not suits. Wangho pinches his arm, a habit that he doesn't realize, and a habit Dohyeon doesn't dare point out because he doesn't want him to stop doing it.
“They're not going to stare. They're too busy living their lives.”
“People always stare at you, hyung.”
“Enough flattery, it won't make me pay tonight.”
Dohyeon doesn't have the time to say a rebuttal when the waitress comes out to guide them to their table. If any of the other customers recognized them, they're gracious enough to not hound them and let them have their dinner, but they did stare, just like Dohyeon said.
“Jongin hyung's going to kill me.” Wangho sighs after ordering from the menu, playing with the napkin provided from the table. “He's gonna whine to me about how we ate outside without him again.”
“Tell him I have one condition for dinner. He needs to shoulder the bill.” Dohyeon jokes, and he feels accomplished hearing the huff from Wangho's mouth.
“It's going to be hard since he's stingy.”
“Why though?”
“Hm?”
“Why does he want to meet me so badly?”
For some reason, that question triggered Wangho's cheeks to blush subtly. It's not as obvious to other people.
But Dohyeon has stared at his hyung enough times to see the difference.
“Uh.. I don't know. He's just like that.” The jungler murmurs, fiddling with the white napkin he's holding with one hand. “Too friendly.”
“Why are you blushing?” Dohyeon bluntly asks, and the reaction was immediate. The pink hue on Wangho's cheeks turns red, and he immediately opens his mouth to rebut.
“Why are you staring?”
“Who wouldn't?”
Dohyeon expects the napkin that gets yanked to his face and lets it hit it, immediately bursting into a laughing fit. The smile on Wangho's face betrays the supposed furrowed eyebrows, failing to look angry. He still looks red and beautiful.
“Woah, that's not proper Japanese etiquette, is it?” The younger takes the napkin from his face and gives it back to his supposedly fuming captain, who just yanks it away from him again.
“You know my first impression of you?”
“Uh.. yeah? You already told me. You thought I was reserved and quie—”
“No, I lied.” Wangho folds the napkin neatly, not looking up at him as he speaks. “I thought you were really funny even before we even knew each other.”
Dohyeon rests himself on the backrest, crossing his arms in amusement. “Funny?”
“Yeah. And it's true. You've got jokes.”
“Well, you know my first impression of you?”
“That I'm handsome?” Wangho rolls his eyes, as if preparing himself for the other to take it back.
Dohyeon smiles fondly. “Yeah. I didn't lie.”
The waitress suddenly arrives with their food, Dohyeon immediately shifting his focus on the sushi in front of him, muttering a wow, that's a lot while Wangho stares at him dumbfounded with his rosy cheeks that never faded.
The past year has been like this. Viper's attraction to his captain is, much to his teammates' dismay, not really a secret. Anyone with eyes can see it. He's not subtle about it at all, and the fact that Peanut has not said anything about it only can be concluded as him trying to run from it, because Peanut is anything but stupid. At least, that's what everybody thinks.
“You know he's not a relationship type of guy.” Geonwoo said to him one day, when he caught Dohyeon staring at Wangho who's trying to shield himself from Hwanjoong who's trying to carry him.
Dohyeon only shrugged. “Not like I'm asking for it.”
“So what's all this?”
“What's what?”
“You're content with just .. uh.. staring?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, you're a lost cause. I thought martyrs no longer exist. Turns out he's beside me during scrims.”
Dohyeon thinks it's not all that bad. There's no need to mourn a relationship that doesn't exist. It's just how it is going to be—Wangho’s always going to leave before Dohyeon even arrives. Dohyeon thinks that's okay. He'll stay and stare and like Wangho just because he likes liking him, even if he starts liking someone else, even if he wouldn't like anyone at all.
“I'll pay.” Dohyeon murmurs after they're done, and it rings the alarm bells in Wangho's head.
“I don't like that.”
Dohyeon grins. “Hey, you were just begging me to pay?”
“That's no fun if you actually want to do it.”
“You're craz—”
“Rock paper scissors.” Wangho demands, and Dohyeon's nothing but a follower.
Rock.
Wangho throws out scissors, and Dohyeon immediately switches to paper.
“Hey—”
“Aw, I lost. Guess it's on me tonight.” Dohyeon looks for the waitress and gestures for the bill, and Wangho's jaw remains hanging.
“Why did you lose on purpose?”
“Because I want to treat you. Player of the year.”
“I didn't win that—”
“You won in my head.”
Wangho looks at him intently, before finally admitting defeat and letting his back hit the backrest with a sigh. “You're a weirdo.”
“You like hanging out with a weirdo.”
Peanut smiles a little. “Guess we're both weirdos.”
When they both leave the building, Wangho immediately starts shivering, and Dohyeon takes off his blazer in instinct to put it on the other's shoulder.
“Don't. You get cold easier than me.”
“I'm not the one with a cough.”
“Hard-headed Viper.” Wangho murmurs, but still, he clenches around the blazer to get warmth as they walk.
They really should've changed before eating. Or at least bought hot packs. Now they look stupid and shivering out in the streets in suits. But oddly enough, Dohyeon's little smile never once faded, shivering and all.
“Hey. Why do you keep saying I won in your head?”
Dohyeon looks at the other and shrugs. “Do I have to spell it out? Let's just say in the Viper Awards, you won.”
Wangho slowly lets out a grin. “Viper Awards?”
“Yeah. Viper Awards. Let's see, what else.. Hyung of the Year, definitely my older brother and not you.”
“Oh you br—”
“Cutie of the Year. That's gotta be Geonwoo.”
“Okay, I can't deny that.” Wangho looks at his feet while walking as he smiles, Dohyeon mirroring his expression. “Hm.. what else?”
“Spender of the Year. Yeah there's no competition there. There's a clear winner.”
“I'm starting to think this Viper Awards is shit.”
The both of them loudly giggle, not caring if the people they walk past would stare. Dohyeon looks up at the bright moon solemnly after a while, enjoying the nice unusual silence between them.
“But I get what you were trying to say.” Wangho suddenly says in a small voice.
“I know.”
“You’re very biased though.”
“I have a bias towards you, yeah.”
“Dohyeon.”
The younger suddenly stops walking, the same time his breath gets knocked out from his chest. He slowly looks back at Wangho, who's looking at him with a blank face. Dohyeon's hands suddenly feel clammy despite the cold weather.
“Wangho hyung.” He says, much more desperate than the other has said his name.
It's like forever until Wangho decides to open his mouth, and closes it again. He looks at the ground, his hands rubbing his arms slowly as an effort to keep them warm. The red on his cheeks is still there, but Dohyeon doesn't know if it's because of the cold or something else.
“Remember my birthday? You said your gift to me would be a win next year.”
Dohyeon blinks, feeling confused as to how random the sudden memory is, but still he nods.
“I… well, I..”
Dohyeon waits. And waits. And wa—
Wangho suddenly reaches for his hand, but he's still looking at the ground with his cheeks flaming. It's just his pinky, intertwining with Dohyeon's, but it's enough to make the taller stop breathing.
“I really appreciated that. I.. so— so uh, let's win Worlds. Next year. Together.”
Dohyeon's suddenly incapable of speaking as he tries to process it, and then it clicks. The smile that blooms on his face is enough to make Wangho forget about his nerves that's been sitting with him for the past year.
“Okay. Yeah. Okay— I would love to win Worlds with you.”
Wangho groans, hiding his own face with Dohyeon's own blazer, pinky still interlocked with the other. “Why did you have to say it better?”
“I'm the romantic.” Dohyeon commits to the hand-holding, fully intertwining his hand with the other, and Wangho lets him. They walk along back to their dorm without ever dropping it.
When Geonwoo and Hwanjoong saw their hands back home, they only silently did an approving high-five.