Chapter Text
Nothing really stood out to Youngjun during his time at the company. If anything, he thought that he was keeping to himself and simply doing what needed to be done. Turns out, he did enough to be recognized by his supervisor to be promoted to a manager position. This was when the first oddity appeared in his life.
“Youngjun-hyung, I like you. Would you want to go out with me?”
Youngjun paused in his drink and slowly set the can of coffee down, looking across the breakroom couch over to Kihoon. Charming smile, popular with the women around the office, friendly, and overall a hidden gem when it comes to a talent to be reckoned with in their workforce. Yes, all the makings for a popular employee, and they worked with each other really well and have made small talk here and there, but someone that Youngjun felt an ounce of romantic bone for?
“What? No.”
Maybe that was a bit too harsh, but when Kihoon was saying all of that with such a nonchalant tone equal to that of when someone is talking about the weather, how else was he supposed to respond? He was bad at speaking regardless, but at least he barely managed to reign himself in from simply answering with “why.”
Luckily, Kihoon took no offense to that and heartily laughed instead. “Pfft, why are you rejecting me like I’m trying to give you food?”
“S-Sorry, that was too brazen, huh? But…” Youngjun hesitated, but Kihoon only looked at him with a carefree smile, making Youngjun feel even more confused because this clearly had to be a joke. Normally most people choose a better place to confess than during a coffee break at work, not to mention there’s normally supposed to be more nerves involved (at least that’s what the dramas show). “Are you… serious? About liking me?”
“Yup.”
“And liking as in the romantic kind?”
“Yup.”
“As in you want to be my boyfriend?”
“Yup.”
“... Huh.” Youngjun looked down to his can of coffee, blinking a few times as he tried to process the newly obtained information. He glanced back up and over to Kihoon, who continued to patiently wait with a relaxed posture. “I don’t get it.”
“Pfft,” Kihoon stifled his laughter before waving his hand nonchalantly. “It’s okay, hyung. I wasn’t expecting an immediate answer.”
“I’ve been told that I’m a little dense.”
“Well, I won’t deny that’s part of why I wasn’t expecting much, but don’t worry, I find that part of you charming too!” Kihoon grinned.
“That…” Youngjun very desperately wanted to ask if that was a compliment but he bit his tongue. He was already rude one too many times for someone who just confessed their heart out(?) “I’m really… not that charming though?”
There was something about that comment that made Kihoon’s expression soften. No longer did he have that confidently boyish grin that Youngjun was so used to seeing around the office. Instead, Youngjun really didn’t have a proper way to explain the unfamiliar expression Kihoon showed at that moment other than soft and full of love. (Which was an embarrassing thought. He could feel his ears warm up from realizing that Kihoon genuinely meant that confession for someone as plain and unassuming as him.)
“You’re plenty charming though. I mean, I guess you’re not loud like me,” Kihoon laughed to himself, “but that subtle nature of yours— how you’re always gently looking after everyone else, how you work hard on everything you do even if no one is paying attention, how you always notice what everyone else is best at and work hard to prop others up— really, everything about you is so effortlessly lovely?” He cringed a bit, as though rather than feeling shy for spilling his guts like that, he found his own confession corny and cliche. “Sorry, that was too much, huh? I just wanted to say I started to notice the little things about you the more I worked with you and… well, I see you in a different light now, y’know? That’s why I’d like it if we could start dating.”
Youngjun blinked once, before turning his gaze back to his coffee can. (It was a little heavy. A bit too much for him, who couldn’t really agree with Kihoon’s viewpoint.) “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in that sort of light before.”
“It’s okay.” A familiar carefree laugh followed, “again, I kinda figured, but that just means that now that I’ve confessed, I can make sure that you become more aware of me as a potential boyfriend.”
And then nothing really notable happened afterwards. Youngjun thought that maybe this was just one of those pranks that pretty and handsome popular people do, especially when Kihoon continued to treat him like normal: a compliment here, a coffee can gifted there, the usual breakroom small talk and whatnot… Honestly, it was all fairly mundane, not really anything that he could define as flirtatious or romantic.
(Maybe there was that one moment when it was absolutely pouring outside and Youngjun forgot his umbrella. With only his backpack as a makeshift umbrella, he ran from the subway station all the way to the company building and blindly bumped into Kihoon at the entrance, clumsily dropping his backpack to the ground and almost falling backwards from the impact. Kihoon had caught him and managed to keep both of them steady despite the collision.
The first thing Youngjun noticed was that Kihoon was warm and dry, meaning that Youngjun definitely ruined his day by basically tackling him in all of his cold, wet mess of a person. Immediately, he went to apologize, but instead of Kihoon simply laughing or teasing him, he stood there with an expression mixed between dumbfounded and mesmerized.
“Kihoon?”
As if a spell was broken, Kihoon snapped out of his reverie and blushed— which Youngjun didn’t think was possible considering how confident he always seemed. What was also strange was how Kihoon no longer seemed to know where to look or place his hands.
“Sorry! I– Uh– Shit.” Kihoon turned a new shade of red with each small action he became aware of and it was… endearing.
Admittedly, the reaction was a little strange when Kihoon would unabashedly compliment him with a “Youngjunnie is the cutest!” but the contrast with how clumsy and panicked Kihoon looked now was cute. A chuckle slipped out as a result, which Kihoon then reacted with offense.
“Hyung!”
“S-Sorry, it’s just that you’re being cute,” Youngjun admitted, but that seemed to make Kihoon feel more indignant about the situation.
“What do you mean ‘cute?!’ I’m supposed to be your local, hot office worker!”
He couldn’t help but laugh harder at that. Kihoon fumed a bit as a result, but what Youngjun wasn’t expecting at all was for Kihoon to hold the back of his head as he leaned in close to his ear.
“Why do you think I reacted like that? Really, instead of your dongsaeng being ‘cute,’ you should pay more attention to how enticing you look to a man who harbors feelings for you.”
In a drama, this would be followed up with a passionate gaze full of desire, but when Kihoon backed up, he was still borderline pouting and looked more embarrassed than before. Still, that made Youngjun conscious enough to look down to where Kihoon was still holding him in place, his arm wrapped around the small of his back. Kihoon’s hold was tight, the only thing separating their touch being his dress shirt, now sheer due to being soaked from the rain.
Immediately, Youngjun felt his face basically explode from how flustered he became once he realized what sort of situation he was in. Before he could properly react, Kihoon already took off his blazer to place over Youngjun’s shoulders.
After picking up his umbrella that he dropped from their earlier collision, Kihoon ran back into the rain and turned back to shout, “I don’t care if you’re ‘only a man,’ Youngjunnie! Keep that on while I go grab a spare suit I just picked up from dry-cleaning!”
Which left Youngjun at the entrance of their company, lightly clinging onto the blazer as the downpour continued, matching with the pace of his heartbeat.)