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The sound of feet slapping against the mats was the main sound in the gym, alongside the occasional grunt as a body thudded against the mat. Team 2 and Team 3 were training today, working on hand to hand combat, especially on take downs. Ijin and Seokju were paired up, Ijin clearly having that upper hand throughout all of their matches but Seokju none the less determined to pin Ijin at least once.
The most difficult thing that Seokju was now battling against was that Ijin was touching him more than normal. It wasn’t just the usual punches, jabs and kicks that were thrown his way, no. Ijin was sliding his hands along Seokju's body, effortlessly manoeuvring him before slamming him down. It wasn’t fair, Ijin just looked so good when he was concentrating so hard.
Seokju cringed internally, gearing up for another round and determined to pin Ijin down for the first time. He backed away, shaking out his tired muscles before going back into a ready stance, fists held in front of him. Seokju stepped forwards, jabbing with his left hand, aiming for Ijin's stomach. He knew better than to fake jab at Ijin anymore, the other boy could tell if the blow was going to be real or not so Seokju had learned that instead of fake jab, he needed to instead carry it out as a distraction, using those precious seconds to get the upper hand on Ijin.
Ijin blocked and Seokju lunged, arms wrapping around Ijin's neck and upper bicep on the right side in an Osoto Gari takedown. Seokju felt the moment that Ijin's balance waned and he drove forwards with his hip, trying to tip that balance. But then Ijin's hand griped Seokju's neck for the tiniest sliver of second, he hesitated slightly, Ijin's fingers brushing the bottom of his hair and that was enough time for Ijin to grab onto him tightly before using the momentum from losing his balance to twist them and slam Seokju on the ground once again.
The air left his lungs as his back hit the floor and he laid there, winded for a moment before Ijin held out his hand to help Seokju back up. He got lifted back to his feet in an impressive display of strength, as if Seokju weighed nothing to Ijin and he couldn’t deny that it was very attractive.
Team leader 2 announced that they were having a break and Ijin left to go to the toilet, Seokju taking a sip of water. He saw from the corner of his eyes a group of men snickering to each other, subtly looking in his direction. He raised an eyebrow at them, and they came over quite quickly.
“So,” Ji-Ho started, a smirk dancing on his lips. “How long has your little crush been going on?” The group waggled their eyebrows at him and Seokju felt both embarrassed and disturbed when looking at five faces of waggling eyebrows.
Seokju coughed a bit, feeling the blush creep up his neck that had nothing to do with the previous physical exercises.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replied, calmly taking another sip of his water. He wouldn’t be able to live it down if they knew. But it looked like that ship had sailed, even though he wasn’t sure how they could have known.
“Oho oho, you don’t know?” Gyeong asked, “What about how you blush slightly when you two spar? Or just now when you were about to take him down but had the slightest hesitation when he put his hand on your neck?” there was a wicked smile plastered on his face, like the cheshire cat.
The blush spread over Seokju's face and he determinedly drank his water.
“I would have lost anyway and you all know that. I'm not on his level yet.” He defended himself. His hesitation didn’t cost him his victory against Ijin because it was never going to be a victory. Ijin was leagues ahead of him and it was no use in thinking that his split second hesitation was what stood between his victory.
“Well of course, that kid is on another level, none of us would be able to take him down. But his fingers touched your hair didn’t they?” Jeong said, waggling his eyebrows again.
Seokju covered his face in his hands, the blush creeping up to his ears. As much as he was friends with these people, he was still the youngest and they took full advantage of that and his teenage pining.
“When are you planning to confess? You’re not going to last long like this.” Kwang inquired, looking eager for information.
“What! I'm not going to!” Seokju protested.
“Come on, we can see your pining. And Ijin does care for you. Let us be your wingmen, whatever you need. I was quite a romantic back in my days so I have more than a few tricks up my sleeves on how to impress a potential lover.” Ji-Ho said.
“Sure, if Seokju follows your advice, he will never get Ijin to be his boyfriend!” Gyeong remarked, swatting Ji-Ho on the back. Seokju just groaned harder. The thought of Ijin being his boyfriend hadn’t even crossed his mind yet.
“Tell that to my wife! She is a very satisfied woman.”
“Ugh, gross.” Seokju exclaimed, not wanting to imagine that.
“Get your head out of the gutter kid! I meant that I am very good at being romantic and loving. Flowers and dinners and gifts.” Ji-Ho scolded Seokju. “Although I do have a certain prowess in the bedroom department.” He said proudly.
At that moment, Seokju saw Ijin return and he took that as his chance to escape before any more of them would start talking about their own prowess in bed.
Ever since that conversation, Seokju realised that he was paired with Ijin a lot more whenever they trained as a group at SW, even the team leaders being keen to put them together. It sort of felt like the other men were playing with them like dolls, smushing them together in the hopes that they would eventually kiss.
He couldn’t be too mad, not when Ijin told Seokju that the boy enjoyed sparring with him. Guess he would just have to deal with the men being too interested in meddling with his love life. Just the normal complaints of a teenager.
After group training, when Ijin had already left to go home, the men sat him down in the changing room for what was possibly the most awkward conversation in his whole life. Seokju could tell that this was planned from the start, from the way that the men waited until Ijin left and purposefully keeping Seokju occupied so that he would lag behind in changing.
They sat him down on the changing room benches, thankfully waiting until he was fully changed to start their little huddle. It wasn’t all of the men, but it was the majority of them. Clearly more people were looking to get involved in his love life than he thought. Or lack of a love life seeing as his crush on Ijin hasn’t progressed into anything yet.
They stared at him and Seokju didn’t give them the easy way out of him starting the conversation.
“Seokju…” Gyeong started, “we wanted to talk to you because we think that this has gone on far enough.” Seokju raised his eyebrow, motioning for him to continue.
“You have been pining for Ijin for months now. You constantly have that love sick look in your eyes.” Ji-Ho said exasperatedly.
“And so what if I do?” Seokju felt a blush forming on the back of his neck. “Last I checked, I am teenager and teenagers have crushes don’t they?” he retorted.
“Yes,” Kwang sighed, “But don’t you think that its time that you do something about it? Make a move on him?”
Seokju thought about what he had learnt about Ijin the day that they sparred together, about what he had gone through when he has younger and how that still affected him.
“No, I don’t think I will.” Seokju crossed his arms, challenging them with a look. Ijin said he wasn’t ready for a relationship with anyone, and crossing that boundary by forcing his feelings to be known to the other boy would be breaking Ijin's trust.
“But why? Ijin clearly likes you back!” Ji-Ho cried. Seokju flinched slightly, surprised at what was just said.
“And how have you muscleheads come to that fantastic conclusion?”
“Well its obvious,” the men started to speak over each other.
“Have you seen the way he looks at you!”
“Ijin's started to touch you more often, little brushes of the hand and I even saw him hug you the other day!”
“Dude, he totally stares at you across the gym.”
“He talks about you sometimes.”
“He brought you food many times.”
Seokju was overwhelmed by all these things that his teammates were yelling at him, trying to himself remember these things happening. It was true that Ijin had become more…friendly? After that night when they sparred after school, Ijin had changed slightly, as if he had realised something. It was true that Ijin had brought him food on some occasions, as well as initiating more physical contact despite that still being few and far between. He took a deep breath.
“Look, even if, and I say if, Ijin has a crush on me as well, I don’t want to force Ijin into something that he isn’t ready yet. He hasn’t had the easiest life and I don’t want to throw another thing onto his plate.”
“Seokju, you’re not a burden.”
“Did I say that I was? What I meant, was that Ijin needs to more time to get used to his life, to having friends. Romantic relationships are complicated enough as it is for most people and they don’t have all the baggage that Ijin has. We all know and suspect that Ijin hasn’t had the best life and what he needs is a friend, not a boyfriend.” Seokju looked at them, the understanding dawning in their eyes. One day it might be possible for them to be together, but until that day, Seokju would continue being the best friend that Ijin could have.
“Alright, we understand. Don’t we?” Gyeong said, emphasising it to the rest of the group.
After that, they let him go home. Seokju thought about the things that his teammates said, about how Ijin also likes him. It’s nice to think about that as a possibility, that one day he could walk hand in hand with Ijin down the street as boyfriends, go on dates together, hug each other under the pink and orange sky. Ijin's sappiness was rubbing off on him. Ijin is the one who constantly looks at the sky, at all times of day and night and sees something beautiful in it.
It happened at training, like a lot of things did. Seokju, Ijin and all their teammates were in the changing rooms after a hard training session, the humidity from the hot showers permeating the air alongside the smell of sweat. Ijin approached Seokju, his shirt buttoned to the last button and tie done up in a simple knot like always, but he seemed nervous about something.
“Do you want to hang out?” Ijin asked.
“Sure. At the usual convenience store?” Seokju was still changing as they were talking.
“Actually, lets try a new café. Dayeon recommended it to me, it stays open until late so we could get some food.”
“Sure, lets go there.”
“I’ll meet you outside.” With that, Ijin turned and walked out of the changing room.
“OoOoOoh, looks like someone got asked on a date!” Ji-Ho said.
“Shut up! It’s not like that.” Seokju shouted, red in the face.
“Sure it isn’t.”
“Whatever.” Seokju walked out, ignoring the comments about him being a moody love sick teenager.
When he got to the front of the building, he stopped in his tracks. There was Ijin, standing by his motorcycle with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hands and a soft smile on his face, illuminated by the early stars in the darkening sky. He looked beautiful. Seokju breathed deeply before walking up to Ijin, facing the boy in front of him.
“These are for you. I hope you like them.” Ijin held out the bouquet, passing it into Seokju's hands.
“Of course I like it.” Seokju's heart began to race uncontrollably and he felt a small sweat gather on his back.
“Here, put the helmet on.” Ijin handed him a sleek black helmet, alongside a padded leather jacket which Seokju slipped onto his head just like Ijin did with his own.
In the distance, Seokju saw some the men quickly rush past, trying not to be seen as they made their way home but their giggles gave them away immediately.
Ijin straddled the motorcycle, gesturing to Seokju to get on behind him. He clung to Ijin's back, keeping the flowers safe in between his chest and Ijin's back. Seokju could feel the muscles on Ijin's back, even underneath the motorcycle jacket and his blush got even deeper. It was a good thing that he was wearing a helmet because he did not want Ijin to see how red he looked.
Slowly, the engine of the bike rumbled to life, thrumming between his legs and he clung tighter to Ijin before they sped off into the slowly darkening night. The streetlamps lit up the road as they passed commuters and various other strangers doing whatever they did in their lives. They slowed to a stop eventually after about 15 minutes of riding and Ijin parked outside of a cute café which Seokju hadn’t seen before.
On the outside, it was built with red bricks with ornamented white sash windows which reminded Seokju of the buildings in England, which had similar outside facades. There was a brown metal sign hung up on the front of the building, the metal gleaming from the various sources of light and big cursive writing spelling out “Home” in white.
Seokju slipped off the bike, trying to straighten some of the flowers which got slightly crushed during their ride. They were still beautiful. A mix of pink, orange and yellow flowers; a mixture of daisies, peonies, roses, carnations and narcissus. Some of the petals came away in his palms but he didn’t mind.
“Lets go inside.” Ijin said, having gotten off and safely parked the motorcycle. Ijin reached for Seokju's hand and he grasped it, leading Seokju into the café with the bell dinging as they came in.
Seokju couldn’t believe this was happening. There was no reason apart from Ijin going insane, or him wanting to confess his feelings for Ijin to be doing this. And Ijin didn’t seem insane. He squeezed Ijin's hand as they sat down at a small table in the corner, perfect for two people and Seokju laid the bouquet on the table, placing their helmets to it.
“Lets order something. My treat.” Ijin smiled. They got up to the counter and had a look at the cakes that were on display, Ijin choosing a strawberry tart and Seokju getting a lemon meringue.
After they had sat back down in their seats, Ijin took both of Seokju's hands into his and he looked hard into Seokju's eyes, intent hiding behind them.
“Seokju.” The way that Ijin said his name brought chills to Seokju's spine. He gulped.
“Yeah?”
“After that night when we sparred, I realised something. I realised that maybe I do want a relationship after all. But only if that other person was you.” He looked up at Seokju bashfully. “You have been an amazing friend to me for these months, I have been able to trust you completely and that’s something that I haven’t been able to do for a long time. So, what I wanted to ask you, will you be my boyfriend?” Ijin asked, smiling softly.
“Of course,” Seokju said, feeling choked up with emotion at Ijin's words, “I’d love to be your boyfriend. I really like you as well.”
At that moment, the waitress came by with their cakes and hot drinks and the boys separated their hands to allow her space to actually put them on the table. They smiled shyly at each other, especially when the waitress placed a small lit candle in between them. They blushed as they thanked her, bursting out into small giggles after she left.
“So,” Ijin said, “Can I introduce you to people as my boyfriend now?” he took a sip of his hot chocolate.
“Of course.”
They spent the next hour in the café enjoying themselves, hanging out like they always did but with a new found sense of belonging with each other. Seokju could hold Ijin's hand without pretending that it was for any other purpose apart from him just wanting to hold it. At the end of their date, Ijin drove Seokju back to his house under the star-lit sky, both of them content to hold onto each other. When they arrived, Seokju stood in front of Ijin, not wanting to leave him, the engine of the motorcycle still running.
“Can I kiss you?” Ijin asked.
“Of course.” With that, Ijin took off his helmet, his hair shining in the moonlight. He took Seokju's hand and placed a chaste kiss on the back of it, looking up Seokju from underneath his eyelashes.
Seokju felt like he was about to explode. That kiss was so much more romantic than he imagined in all his fantasies. He took Ijin's hand and kissed him back, smiling back at him.
“Goodnight Seokju.”
“Goodnight Ijin.”
With that, Ijin put his helmet back on and he sped away into the night, disappearing around a corner.
The next time that they had training, Seokju could tell that the men were looking at him and Ijin, giggling into their hands and whispering to each other. He knew that they saw Ijin give him those flowers and he was preparing himself for the inevitable.
Throughout the day, whenever he and Ijin crossed paths, he could feel the smiles that were directed at them. His love life was once again the main entertainment for his teammates.
During a break, when Ijin had gone to the toilet, the men rushed to him, giving Seokju a feeling a déjà vu.
“So…anything you want to tell us?” Kwang wiggled his eyebrows at Seokju. He sighed, seeing no use in denying anything. What other explanation could there be for Ijin to be giving him a bouquet of flowers?
“Number 1, it’s none of your business. Number 2, Ijin took me on a date and asked me to be boyfriend.” Suddenly, he was engulfed in cheering and whooping, the men giving him pats on the back in congratulations.
“How was it! Do you kiss?” Seokju blushed at that, not even sure who asked that question.
“You did! Give us the details?” Gyeong cried.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves, you’re grown men harassing a teenager.” Seokju exclaimed.
“Yeah yeah, come on, spill.” Ji-Ho continued. Seokju sighed, blushing even harder, a small smile on his lips at the memory.
“Guys he’s smiling!”
“Shut up!” Seokju retorted. “It was very romantic if you need to know. He dropped me off at my house and kissed the back of my hand.” He could hear oohs and aahs but he had buried his head in his hands at that point. “Now stop being invested in my love life.” With that, Seokju darted away, grateful to see that Ijin had returned and that the break was almost over.
Without saying anything, Ijin took Seokju's hand and kissed it, giving him a small smile.
One of these days, Seokju was going to die, his heart giving up, and it will be Ijin's fault for being too sappy and romantic and cute for his own good.