Archive of Our Own

You never really know what a crush will turn into. A lot of people tend to say a crush is just a lack of information. It’s a fleeting attraction that can dissipate as easily as it can appear.

For Jungwon, it truly was just a measly little crush on the hot retail worker behind the register at a Miniso. 

Sunoo had dragged him and Riki to the new store, as it had opened right next to one of their many regular coffee shops. Jungwon and Riki had just followed behind Sunoo like two lost puppies as he happily perused the shop, accompanied by the occasional hit K-pop tune in the background.

As they walk up to the counter with Sunoo’s unnecessarily huge pile of cute trinkets, Jungwon lets his eyes wander along the decorum of the shop, until landing onto the worker.

He blinks a couple of times to make sure he’s seeing correctly. If he truly was hallucinating the good looks of this guy, Jungwon hopes that he never sees right again. 

The guy had sleek, dark hair, swept so effortlessly elegant. He had perfectly trimmed thick eyebrows, with his eyes reflecting a kind gaze. Whoever this guy was, he seriously needs to quit to become a model and sign onto Vogue so Jungwon can buy every single cover he’s on.

Jungwon was probably staring so long he was beginning to drool when Riki elbows him in the gut. He winces in pain, trying to play it cool in front of the hot Miniso worker. 

“Quit staring, you bird!” Riki hisses under his breath.

“I’m not a bird!” he snaps back. “And I wasn’t…staring,” he weakly protests, shyly glancing back at the cashier once more.

The cashier is typing away on the computer, nodding along as Sunoo chatters to him cheerfully. Unexpectedly, the guy looks up, locking eyes with Jungwon. Briefly, he lets out a small smile, before turning back to the computer. Jungwon almost explodes on the spot.

He. Has. Fangs. 

They’re not comically large sharp fangs, but dainty, toothy fangs that give the illusion of actual fangs.

Call him Bella Swan the way he’ll “vampire” the way into this real life Edward Cullen’s life. 

The trio find themselves outside a few moments later. Jungwon walks in a daze, tattooing the image of the hot worker onto his brain. 

“What’s up with him?” Sunoo turns to Riki.

Riki rolls his eyes in response. “He thinks the Minoso worker is hot. Which, he’s not wrong. But Jungwon was practically making a fool of himself by literally drooling over the man right in front of him.”

Jungwon stops in his tracks, cracking his neck by how fast he turns to look at Riki. “I was not drooling!”

“Uh huh,” Riki nods slowly. “Go ahead and wipe that chin for me, then say that again.” He’s met with an icy cold glare.

“Oh yeah, he was totally hot,” Sunoo adds. “Hot in a chic, elegant way.”

“See! Sunoo agrees!”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t hot. I just commented on the fact that you’re so hopeless you were basically undressing him with your eyes!”

Jungwon’s jaw drops, his cheeks glowing red. “You— you’re such a freak! I’m not that easy!” He lunges towards Riki, who holds significant height over Jungwon, making it easy to shield himself from the other’s weak attacks.

Sunoo pays them no mind as he digs through his shopping bag, yanking out a foot-long receipt.

“Sunghoon.” The other two pause mid fight, whipping their heads towards Sunoo. “His name. The hot cashier’s name is Sunghoon. I remembered that sometimes the receipts have the cashier’s name, and fortunately for us…here it is!”

Jungwon and Riki slowly turn to look at each other.

“We have a name!” They cheer simultaneously.

***

That was when the hot Miniso cashier became Park Sunghoon, part-time retail worker, full-time university student, and daily attendee at BE:LIFT Gym; all public information found in his goldmine of an Instagram account.

With only his first name and his hot looks burned into his retinas, Jungwon, with the help of Sunoo’s social media detective expertise, and no help of Riki’s teasing, successfully finds his Instagram account with 1643 followers and a total of 7 posts. 

That account became Jungwon’s newest obsession. Jungwon wasn’t new at crushes and social media stalking. He didn’t follow the guy, didn’t like any of his old posts, nor did he like any of his occasional stories. 

Even though Riki tried to reason that he had over a thousand followers and there was no way he’d even realize he gained a new follower, let alone a random guy who happened to shop at his place of employment, Sunoo and Jungwon countered with, “You can’t take any chances!”

There was nothing to suggest anything about his relationship status, but everything to suggest he was even hotter than when Jungwon originally got his eyes on him. While the man—Sunghoon—didn’t post often, he frequently added occasional pictures and videos to his story. From there, Jungwon noticed he was a gym buff, emphasis on buff. He wasn’t the bodybuilder, probably uses steroids in his free time, type of buff. But he was the lean and toned type of buff that Jungwon could still ogle at and not be entirely intimidated by his size.

Thanks to networking (read: traumabonding over AP Chemistry in high school), Jungwon finds out they have mutual followers with his best friend, Jay, who works at the very gym Sunghoon attends. The good thing about them being best friends is that Jungwon is not afraid to be completely vulnerable and pathetic in front of him, much to Jay’s second-hand embarrassment.

“Please, Jay! Help a guy out and just tell me everything you know about him!” He pleads on Jay’s front door at 8 o’clock on a Wednesday night, waxing poetic about a stranger for the past 20 minutes, probably annoying all of Jay’s neighbors. 

Jay stares at him, unimpressed, a wooden spoon in hand and smelling of cooked chicken. “I would if I did know enough about him. I just know he works out there every day after 5, save for Sunday and Wednesday. The most we say to each other is “Hi” and “Bye” when he comes and goes. Our relationship is strictly mutual acknowledgement of existence.”

Jungwon groans obnoxiously, letting himself in through the door and promptly flops onto Jay’s couch like a ragdoll, ignoring the other’s dragged out sigh. He clutches a worn out throw-pillow to his chest, clearly a common occurrence as evidenced by the pillow morphing into Jungwon’s arms with ease. Jay struts back over to the kitchen to continue cooking, minding his own business.

Jungwon abruptly sits up straight as a lightbulb flashes above him. “Okay, Jay, don’t kill me. But can you do me a favor—” he sniffs the air, a surprisingly tasteful, savory aroma fills his senses. “Is that chicken?”

“Chicken piccata. On the killing thing, no promises.”

“...Is it a meal for two?”

“When I said no promises—”

“No, wait, hold on!”

***

Jungwon swears he only wants to go to a physical gym to get some dancing in, and not to physically stalk Sunghoon. 

Okay, maybe to increase his chances of casually running into the man. Because, obviously, that would be better than directly messaging him.

(“No, Riki. I can’t just DM him that I found his Instagram and thought he was cute. He has 1643 followers; he probably gets a bunch of thirsty DMs every day! What do you think I am? Desperate?” 

“Yes.”)

Jay pulls some strings and manages to get Jungwon a discounted membership to the gym. It took a load of begging and pleading from Jungwon, which didn’t work. But instead, it took mountainous faux praise towards his not-so-tasty chicken piccata (One day Jay’s cooking skills will live up to his passion for cooking! Just not any time soon) to convince him. On the bright side, he didn’t get salmonella!

Now that he thinks about it, letting Jay think he’s actually a genius chef may cause problems in the future. 

It’s no wonder Jungwon sucks at this whole dating thing, and has only relied on Sunoo doing all the work for him and setting him up. Because God forbid Jungwon just talks to this man! He went through all of this trouble to buy a gym membership and he can’t even utter a single greeting to him.

Three weeks into this endeavor, he’s having his bi-weekly dinner night with Jay, Riki, and Sunoo, hosted in his and Riki’s apartment this time around. With all of them playing critical roles in pursuing this recent scheme, the topic of discussion quickly switches to Jungwon’s worst nightmare.

“So,” Sunoo starts once there’s a lull in the conversation. “How’s Hot Park Sunghoon from Miniso?”

“Right! How is that going? Last you told us, you started going to the gym. Which is totally unrelated to Hot Park Sunghoon from Miniso, who just happens to go to the same gym.”

Jay gives Jungwon a pointed look, at which Jungwon huffs and hides his face. 

“He’s pathetic.”

“Um, yeah. I think that’s been pretty established,” Sunoo shrugs.

“Yeah, we just wanna know his progress—we don’t expect it to be much.”

“Oh my God, do you all hate me?”

“He’s made absolutely zero progress,” Jay deadpans. “As in, the only thing he does is breathe near the man. Jungwon is rarely in the same area as him, because he hides away in the dance room. He actually waits for Sunghoon to move at least 50 feet away before going to the area he was just at.”

Sunoo and Riki erupt in evil cackles. Jungwon feels like he’s trapped in a witches cavern, because only evil people mock someone else’s misery.

“Dude, there’s no way!” Riki laughs incredulously.

Jungwon pouts, crossing his arms like a toddler.

Sunoo wraps around Jungwon like a child hugging a teddy bear. “Aw, it’s okay, Wonie. You are kind of a loser,” he coos, rocking side-to-side. “But we still love you.”

Jungwon flings his barely eaten mashed potatoes in Sunoo’s face, receiving squeaks in retaliation from Sunoo. Riki practically howls in laughter as he pulls out his phone to video, while disapproving, anguished screams come from Jay who cooked the food. 

The food was better off on Sunoo’s face than digested anyway.

*** 

By the end of the month, Jungwon has still made absolutely no progress in talking to Hot Park Sunghoon from Miniso. 

Walking into BE:LIFT Gym, he vows to himself that it’ll be the last time he walks in there. There’s no point in paying for a gym membership just to continue his failed un-attempts. Might as well call it quits now.

He’s sulking as he drags his feet to the dance room, relieved to find it empty for once. Usually, he’s stuck awkwardly blocking moves instead of going full out, as he always manages to end up dancing when people are using the room for things like yoga, cardio, or basic weight training.

Jungwon slides his headphones over his ears, letting the music consume him. He’s been wanting to learn this choreography from his favorite group for awhile, but he’s been embarrassed to do it in full force in front of an uninterested audience.

He allows the music to settle and simmer, the same song playing on repeat as he stretches and warms himself up.

Once he begins, it’s like he can’t stop. It feels so freeing being able to dance like this, without caring about people who, frankly, don’t care about him. Doing what he loves makes him realize that maybe he shouldn’t make his gym membership completely reliant on whether he talks to a man or not. This is what it’s all about.

Satisfied, Jungwon commits to his last attempt of the full choreo for the day, and begins to walk out. As he strolls past all of the dedicated people working out, he feels a sense of belonging, and not once does he remotely consider cancelling his membership. Instead, he thinks about what he’s going to learn next when he comes to the gym the next day.

Suddenly, he feels a light tap on his shoulder, slipping his headphones around his neck as he turns around.

Caught off guard, Jungwon can’t help his jaw from going slack. He goes into complete shock as he registers the person in front of him as Hot Park Sunghoon from Miniso.

“Hi! Sorry to bother you,” he puffs, slightly out of breath, like he had been running. “I was trying to catch your attention but you had your headphones on, and I don’t know your name and—sorry, I’m rambling. Um,” he clears his throat, covering up the tint of blush on his cheeks. “You were dancing in the studio?”

Jungwon finally closes his mouth and nods, any single vernacular he’s ever learned flees his mind.

“I just wanted to say you’re an amazing dancer! You have insane body control, and your movements are so fluid—God, it was so cool watching you dance. In the least creepiest way possible, I couldn’t keep my eyes off you,” he confesses, his eyes practically sparkle.

Jungwon turns completely red, ducking his head down to hide the bright grin on his face. Also, if he kept looking at Sunghoon’s face, he was afraid he’d never be able to utter a single word.

“I—Thank you. I wish I had more to say, but I’m so stunned that someone even paid attention to my dancing. I’ve never really been complimented on it before, so this is really new.”

“Really? How could someone not pay attention to your dancing? I think you’d make for an amazing idol trainee. Hell, I could even see you as an idol.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jungwon scoffs. “Aside from, probably, aging out, I’d have to dance and sing. Doing both at the same time is crazy work. Also, I don’t know if I could dance like that in front of a huge audience of people. That takes a whole lot of confidence that I definitely don’t have.”

“Been there. I used to be a figure skater when I was younger. I trained for the Olympics, actually.” Now that was information Jungwon had actually not yet discovered.

“No way! Why’d you stop?”

He shrugs, digging his hands in his pockets. “I dunno. I guess I felt pretty lonely. Plus, that life wasn’t really meant for me anyway. I’m much more suited for the simpler life of teaching. And the gym.”

Something about the conversation suddenly makes Jungwon feel bold, “Y’know, I only really come in here to dance.” Baiting the hook, he carefully chooses his next words, “I’ve been wanting to try actual workouts, and use the machines and whatnot. But I’ve always felt so intimidated. I just stayed in my little dance comfort zone,” he casts the line, it’s all up to Sunghoon now.

There’s a gleam in Sunghoon’s eye. “I can help you, if you’d like. I could be like your personal trainer!” he suggests, catching the bait. “So you wouldn’t be alone.” 

Jungwon stares at him, starry-eyed, reeling back the line. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Yep. Free of charge,” he responds gleefully. “In return…I get a gym buddy?”

“That sounds perfect,” Jungwon grins, he got him hook, line, and sinker.

Sunghoon beams at him, his grin allowing his cute fangs to peek out at Jungwon, who absolutely melts.

“Sunghoon, by the way,” he pushes his hand forward.

Jungwon grips it, shaking firmly. “Jungwon,” he smiles, noting that even though Sunghoon is visibly and physically strong, the grip on his hand is gentle.

“Let me get your number then. And while we’re at it, do you have Instagram?”

Boy does he have Instagram.

***

Weeks pass, and his friends have less frequently used “pathetic” in replacement of Jungwon’s name, now that he’s actually hanging out with Sunghoon. 

AKA, making real progress.

The turnpoint in their relationship, going from strangers to friends, made no change to Jungwon’s initial hallway crush, except make it an actual, full-blown crush crush. 

The first time he saw him at Miniso was, truly, a lack of information. Now accessing more information about Sunghoon through their blossoming friendship has made Jungwon’s crush entirely worse. 

Initially, he was just Hot Park Sunghoon from Miniso. This was just because that was all he was. A hot guy that happened to work at Miniso. Now, Jungwon has come to learn that Sunghoon is way more than just a hot guy that works retail. 

He’s actually pretty shy, until he warms up to you. Now that he’s more comfortable around Jungwon, he’s actually one of the sweetest souls Jungwon’s ever met. Albeit that the bar is very low when his closest friends are the three heads of the devil themself, who go by the names Sunoo, Riki, and Jay. 

Then, a small change in their dynamic came from Sunghoon suddenly inviting Jungwon out for dinner. Something between them had shifted, something Jungwon couldn’t quite place his finger on. He blames it on his massive crush on Sunghoon, feeding his delusions upon getting a glimpse of what Sunghoon would act like if he were actually dating Jungwon.

Right then and there, Jungwon was ready to marry him on the spot. Sunghoon, with no hesitation, had placed his credit card down and paid for their entire dinner. He drove Jungwon home, and even walked him all the way into his apartment building, and right up to his front door. 

It felt like two friends roleplaying a date.

As soon as Jungwon closed the door behind him after bidding Sunghoon good night, he giddily jumped around, pumping his fist in the air cheerfully. While it wasn’t an actual date, he could at least pretend it was. 

After that night, the pair began to hang out outside of the gym way more frequently. Aside from dinner, they’d often go out for lunch, and occasionally meet up for breakfast before heading to the gym; shifting Sunghoon’s old workout schedule just for Jungwon.

1

***

Jungwon finds Sunghoon already in the locker room, basking in comfortable silence after a particularly taxing workout.

“Do you wanna grab some lunch?” asks Sunghoon, shutting his locker.

“Yeah, I’m starving!” Jungwon uses his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “Our usual?” His bangs fall in front of his eyes, he attempts to blow the strands of hair away from his face, failing as it falls right back in place.

Sunghoon looks back at Jungwon with a warm smile. “Of course,” he replies with an unusually soft voice. 

Suddenly, he reaches out, brushing Jungwon’s fringe away from eyes, tucking it behind his ear. This time, it stays. Jungwon freezes, holding his breath as Sunghoon’s hand lingers by his jaw, just for a moment. 

“There,” he withdraws his hand slowly. “Now I can see you,” he says casually.

“Oh, heh, yes. Right,” Jungwon responds dumbly.

“I’ll go wait for you outside,” says Sunghoon, punctuating it with an affectionate poke of Jungwon’s dimple, as if the action was completely natural to him. He strolls out of the locker room, leaving Jungwon in a puzzled and flustered state.

What is happening?

Jungwon shakes his head to scramble his mind back to normal. He reasons that now that the two have gotten closer, Sunghoon just got comfortable enough to show skinship. Something completely normal between friends. He hugs his friends all the time, Sunghoon is, probably, no different.

He finally goes to open his locker, watching as a piece of paper gracefully falls to the ground. Jungwon definitely doesn’t remember leaving that there.

Curiously, he picks up a folded up piece of paper the size of an index card. On the front is a drawing of a lopsided heart, in which the site of it makes his own skips a beat. 

He still doesn’t know who exactly wrote this, just delusionally assumes it’s the particularly cute guy who’s currently waiting to have lunch with him. Ultimately, Jungwon lets curiosity get the better of him. Unfolding it gently, his heartbeat picks up rapid speed as he sees the words.

Ur such a phenomenal and talented dancer, I could watch u perform for ages

Sunghoon <3

He bites back the broad smile making its way across his lips, remembering that he’s very much in a public place. He has half a mind to skip across the room and giggle to himself like a lovesick teenager, the sound of his racing heart acting as the soundtrack to his cheesy chick flick fantasy.

Turning the paper over to the back of the card, the fantasy goes bleak and his heart quickly returns to its normal speed as he reads the name: 

Jang Wonyoung

That solves it, not for him. Not that it was meant to be solved in the first place, when it wasn’t meant for Jungwon’s eyes to see. 

He deflates, the hold on the paper suddenly weaker. He doesn’t blame Sunghoon. It is Jang Wonyoung, 4th Gen It girl of successful girl group IVE.

Shit, with Sunghoon’s visuals added to the mix, they’d make one hell of a power couple.

Jungwon slips the paper to his finger tips, suddenly feeling gross and invasive for reading such a personal love note not meant for him. How it ended up in his locker? One could only dream of guessing. The only reasonable answer is that it was a complete accident, seeing as he is locker neighbors with Sunghoon.

For the record, the note itself is actually really sweet and cute. Jungwon’s not going to question why Sunghoon’s writing them in the first place, in fear of breaking his weak heart even further. 

He definitely shouldn’t be reading this, and definitely should give it back. Jungwon decides to pocket the note, noting to himself to hand it back to Sunghoon later.

Any prospect of returning that love note flees his mind when he finally steps outside, his eyes immediately landing on Sunghoon like a magnet. He finds him leaning against the wall, arms crossed, the fresh breeze blowing against his hair—looking like a prince.

Jungwon was just a weak man with a weak heart.

2

***

Their friendship had also suddenly transcended into weekly movie nights at Sunghoon’s apartment. It felt weirdly intimate when Sunghoon had initially proposed the idea of going to his apartment. But as they kept doing it, it felt completely natural. 

Not like it was abnormal to have consistent movie nights between friends. Jungwon and his friend group hold dinner nights every other week. It’s really no different, except for maybe the fact that Jungwon is hopelessly crushing on Sunghoon. 

So, not that different. 

The first time Jungwon came over, they both ended up huddled up on Sunghoon’s couch. Jungwon’s face scrunches in concentration as he fiddles with the remote, scrolling diligently for the perfect movie. Sunghoon watches him in amusement, who had passed the remote to Jungwon without a second thought. 

Part of Jungwon’s hardcore focus is to find the perfect movie to fit the ambience, the other part is focusing on not focusing on how dangerously close Sunghoon is to him. 

They have a soft blanket shared between the two of them, Sunghoon’s thigh is so close to his that he can already feel the heat radiating off of him. Sunghoon has his back against the couch with his arm stretched across the top behind him, and if Jungwon were not purposefully leaning extremely close to the TV, they’d damn well be cuddling.

Jungwon flips between movies at such rapid speed they start to blur together. He can not concentrate in these conditions.

“Slow down. I don’t think you’re going to find a movie like this,” Sunghoon lets out a laugh, stopping Jungwon by placing his own hand on top of the one holding the remote, lowering it. Jungwon swallows, trying not to look down at where their hands meet.

“S—sorry. I’m just picky,” he manages to stutter out.

The warmth of Sunghoon’s hand disappears, as Jungwon feels him get up from beside him. “I’ll go make us some popcorn,” he announces. 

The lack of heat finally allows Jungwon to exhale the breath he’d been holding, and return to full focus. With his brain cleared up, Jungwon ends up choosing a romcom, You’ve Got Mail—two business rivals that don’t realize they’re sending anonymous love emails to each other. 

Jungwon finally lets himself relax against the couch. Once he settles in, he reaches for his phone beside him, instead his fingers land on paper.

He holds it up to his face, a sense of familiarity washes over him as he studies a similar looking folded paper. He recognizes the asymmetrical heart, while drawn slightly differently, it was obvious it was made by the same hand. 

The recognition quickly turns to guilt, remembering his failure to return the original note. Selfishly, once Jungwon returned home after his lunch outing with Sunghoon, he had placed the note in a wrapped gift box hidden away at the very top shelf of his closet. Conflicted between burning it to get rid of the evidence, or just giving it back, Jungwon shoved his problem into a box.

Even though the memory still eats him alive, Jungwon still flips the card open.

U have the prettiest eyes that I could get lost in for hours

Sunghoon <3

Jungwon smiles to himself pathetically. He knows full well it isn’t about him, but imagining him liking a person so deeply to write something sappy like this is fulfilling. 

He flips the card over, just for good measure. He lets himself have hope for at least half a second, hope that comes crumbling down upon reading that same name.

Jang Wonyoung

Right. Not a fluke. But, hey, he’s not wrong. Factually speaking, Wonyoung does have pretty eyes.

“Popcorn’s ready!” exclaims Sunghoon, startling Jungwon. He makes brief eye contact with Sunghoon before scrambling to hide the note in the pocket of his hoodie. “I brought us an extra blanket, too.”

Flustered, Jungwon turns directly towards the TV, thankful that his hoodie is up to hide how embarrassingly red his face is. Sunghoon must have seen him read the note, the perfect gateway to confess his sin.

Jungwon gears up to defend himself with his life, but Sunghoon chuckles instead of mentioning the note, if he saw it at all. He lifts the blanket up to slip under the covers and positions himself next to Jungwon, placing the bowl of popcorn on his lap. 

Jungwon’s face burns, realizing that there is an extreme lack of distance between them that didn’t exist before. 

He has his legs comfortably folded under him, but he can still feel Sunghoon’s knee softly bump against his own, their thighs, too, pressed against one another. After adjusting himself, Sunghoon brings the second blanket behind them, wrapping it around both of them like a cocoon. The final nail on the coffin is when Sunghoon slumps over to the side, gently resting his head on top of Jungwon’s. 

The contact makes Jungwon dizzy, unsure of what to do except remain as still as he possibly can. At this point, they’re not on the verge of cuddling, they are cuddling.

“Ooh, a romantic-comedy!” Sunghoon cheers, snuggling even closer to Jungwon. “Seems fitting.” Whatever that means, Jungwon thinks.

Eventually, Jungwon gives in, embracing the unusual situation he was put in and leans back into Sunghoon’s side. Every now and then, Jungwon can feel their hands brush when they both grab for popcorn. After the first time, Jungwon attempted to wait until Sunghoon grabbed some before getting more for himself. 

Yet, every time, there was Sunghoon. 

3

***

Sunoo had idly recommended a cute new cafe to Jungwon, just something he randomly added into the conversation, like the talkative person he is. Of course that little gossiper somehow always finds out about these new places opening up near them. 

Jungwon as well had briefly mentioned it to Sunghoon during a workout. Quite literally just something he said in passing, then frankly forgot about himself. Sunghoon, on the other hand, did not forget.

“Where are we?” Jungwon asks in astonishment, bewildered by the beautifully decorated cafe. 

“That cafe you said Sunoo recommended,” he shrugs. “I figured it’d be a cute place to try together.” He could definitely see why it caught the attention of Sunoo, with its picture-worthy decorum. 

As per Sunghoon’s last comment, Jungwon has gotten better at not immediately turning into a blushing mess whenever Sunghoon says flirty things like that; it goes to show how often it happens. He just has to remind himself that he doesn’t mean anything by it, it’s just the way he talks.

Sunghoon orders an iced vanilla matcha, and Jungwon a strawberry matcha, along with a few food items they patiently wait for.

They both conversate, and at the back of his mind Jungwon can’t help but admire the man in front of him. Opening up to Jungwon, he’s come to find out how chatty and funny Sunghoon can actually be. He’s like a 22 year old stuck in an uncle’s body, which makes him even more endearing.

Obviously, the catch is that this perfect guy just happens to also secretly harbor a crush on 4th gen It Girl Jang Wonyoung. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s a fairly common celebrity crush. The bad part comes from Jungwon’s own growing feelings towards Sunghoon. 

It makes for a really unusual love triangle.

Jungwon had assumed that after they had their first real conversation together, the crush would immediately fade into nothing, like most crushes once you actually get to know a person. More often than not, you find out they’re just another jerk in a hot body. 

In his case, that very much did not happen. The feelings have significantly grown over the weeks, bad enough to delude himself into overthinking every single, miniscule interaction with Sunghoon, assuming everything was because he liked him back. 

So he lets himself be selfish. Pretends that when Sunghoon is attentively listening to Jungwon chatting his ear off, attractively raising his brows to signal he has all his attention, it’s because he likes Jungwon equally as much. 

It may not be the truth, but it’s something he can live off of.

They hear Sunghoon’s name being called, and Sunghoon stands up to retrieve their pastries.

Jungwon sits in the silence, sipping on his drink with purpose. While Jungwon’s matcha looks practically untouched due to his meek sips, Sunghoon’s is practically empty.

Before he can place his drink back down, he feels non-plastic material on the bottom of his cup. Jungwon lifts the cup until the bottom is level with his eyes, where he finds the same ill-fated paper. 

Sunghoon should be back any second now, he’d be mortified if he saw Jungwon reading his very private love letters. He looks back over his shoulder, noticing him back in line, probably ordering another drink.

With a relieved sigh, Jungwon plucks the damp note from his drink. He skips the heart scribble and heads straight for the words inside.

I love listening to u talk. U always have so much to say, and in such a captivating way

Sunghoon <3

There’s a pang in his heart when he reads the note. He was just gushing over the man’s attentiveness, and here he is writing a love letter about it. To ease his mind and clear the delusions, Jungwon flips over the card. Just like the nine previous notes, the name remains the same.

Jang Wonyoung

Man, Sunghoon should probably be more careful about where he puts these things. 

It’s probably about the tenth note of Sunghoon’s to Wonyoung’s he’s found. It clearly is only meant to be seen by Wonyoung, or no one at all and they’re just self-indulgent notes to his celebrity crush. In the end, he’s not doing a great job at hiding them if Jungwon manages to get his hands on them, and still hasn’t given them back.

“Sorry I took so long!” interrupts Sunghoon. Jungwon frantically shoves the note into his pocket. “I ordered another drink because I finished the first. But I got our food!”

He sets the tray down in front of them, the food looks painstakingly good that Jungwon doesn’t even realize he’s hungry until he’s drooling over it. He immediately digs in, shoving a fresh strawberry cream cheese danish into his mouth delightfully.

Suddenly, there’s a flash in front of him. He blinks in confusion, until he sees Sunghoon with a small camera in front of his face.

“Did you just take a picture of me?” his voice muffled from the mouthful of pastry. Sunghoon just nods, the camera still aimed towards Jungwon, who affectionately rolls his eyes. 

Swallowing down his treat, he continues. “At least let me pose better than having food shoved in my mouth.”

Sunghoon shrugs as his lips stretch into a broad smile. “I don’t know, you’re pretty photogenic to me.”

Jungwon blushes at the comment, closing his eyes from how hard he’s smiling. He opens them slowly when he feels a light pressure against his chin. Sunghoon is now mere centimeters away from his face, his free hand holding Jungwon’s chin as his thumb grazes the corner of Jungwon’s lips.

“Sorry, you have some cream cheese right here.” 

Embarrassingly, Jungwon manages to muster out a giggle at his clumsiness and the intimacy of the action. Before he can process anything, the camera flash goes off once more.

“This place is perfect for pictures,” Sunghoon admits, finally putting the camera down. He smiles fondly at the screen, before turning it to face Jungwon. “Plus, look how pretty you look, all candid and carefree. The lighting mixed with the backdrop is perfect.”

Jungwon doesn’t get a chance to psychoanalyze Sunghoon calling him pretty, instead he focuses on the picture on Sunghoon’s camera. He truly wasn’t lying when he said the lighting and the decorated walls made for an amazing photo. Even with Jungwon in mid laughter, he had to admit he did, in fact, look very pretty.

***

Once more, Jungwon and Riki’s feeble apartment is invaded by Sunoo’s very known presence. The apartment may be small, but it gets the job done. As flimsy as it is, Jungwon still never understands why Sunoo comes over all the time, especially since Sunoo’s own apartment is spacious and high quality.

As if it’s his own home, Sunoo is sprawled over the couch, Jungwon’s phone in his hand as he scrolls through his new Instagram post with the very pictures Sunghoon took at the cafe. In the very little space that’s not occupied by Sunoo, Riki’s tall, lanky body is squished to a single tiny spot, while Jungwon takes the floor, as per usual.

“He’s just— he’s so…sweet,” Jungwon gushes, staring up at the ceiling as he lies on their musty rug. “I mean, he always takes me out to eat at all these really nice food places after we hit the gym.”

Sunoo rolls his eyes. “No wonder he managed to get you to actually post on Instagram. He has you wrapped around his finger,” he jokes. Jungwon would argue against it, but he always struggles to argue against the truth. “He’s also painfully good at taking pictures. Can you get him to take mine? Or at least ask him what digicam he uses; the quality is phenomenal!” 

“Right? I don’t think I’ve seen Jungwon look better— hey!” Still laying down, Jungwon uses his heel to kick the back of Riki’s head.

“All jokes aside,” Sunoo begins sincerely, looking up from the phone at Jungwon, “I am actually happy for you two. He clearly treats you so well!”

“Huh?”

Unexpectedly, Riki earnestly nods. “I hate to admit it, but you guys genuinely are a really cute couple. I’m glad all the hoops we went through just to get you to talk to him actually worked!”

“Mhm. Plus, I know you’ve been pining over him for practically forever, and I honestly don’t think I’ve seen you this happy before. You deserve this win!”

Jungwon stares blankly at the ceiling for a solid minute. 

“Wait, wait, wait,” he finally manages. “Us— couple?”

“Um, yeah?” Sunoo and Riki affirm simultaneously.

Jungwon defeatedly throws an arm over his face. “No, I wish,” he groans loudly. “He just likes me as a friend.”

There’s a deafening silence that follows.

“Oh,” Sunoo blurts out first.

“Right…” answers Riki slowly.

Jungwon doesn’t know why his two friends are surprised. If he were dating Sunghoon, he’d probably have hard launched it to the entire world already! Well, no, that’s a lie. With a man as great as him, Jungwon was going to gatekeep the hell out of him. 

Regardless, his closest friends would’ve already been explicitly told by Jungwon if it were true. 

Even then, was it not blaringly obvious that Sunghoon didn’t reciprocate Jungwon’s feelings? Not that his friends have ever met the guy, but Jungwon has never told them anything to suggest Sunghoon might see him as something more.

Worse, Jungwon hasn’t even shown them his hidden box full of Sunghoon’s love notes to Jang Wonyoung—not his name.

“Are you actually serious?” Sunoo asks incredulously. “Like, you seriously believe you’re not dating?”

“Obviously, I don’t think we’re dating. I know we’re not dating,” Jungwon aggressively sits up, adjusting his posture to a defensive stance. “If we were dating, I would know. And we’re not, because that type of relationship has not been established between us,” he huffs, annoyed. “Plus, Sunghoon doesn’t even like me like that! So it wouldn’t even happen in the first place.”

For reasons unbeknownst to Jungwon, his two friends stare at him like they’re his parents about to ruin his innocence and tell him his dog is actually dead, and did not just run away and get lost in the woods. 

Sunoo shifts his body into a more upright position on the couch, while Riki angles himself directly towards Jungwon. Shifting his eyes between the two of them, their faces show genuine concern. Their pitied faces make Jungwon feel cornered, almost like he’s receiving an impromptu intervention.

“Okay, so, let me get this straight,” Sunoo starts slowly, “You guys go out to eat all the time? Like, all meals? Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?”

“Yes,” he confirms. “It switches off every day, but we go out to eat for at least one of the three meals.”

“And what else do you guys do when you hang out?”

Jungwon is still entirely confused by this whole ordeal. A perfectly sane person, like he normally is, would just remove himself from the situation. But he’s also curious about the point his friends want to make.

“Well he helps me train at the gym. He’s helped me be more comfortable doing more workouts, and use the machines—he even spots me. We also have weekly movie nights at his apartment. But we literally just chill in his living room,” his tongue briefly darts out to lick his lips, pondering deeply about what else to add that will satisfy Riki and Sunoo. “And I—I don’t know, guys. I guess, whenever we go out to eat, not once has he let me pay? He doesn’t even say anything, just automatically puts his card down like it’s nothing— I don’t know! I seriously don’t know what you guys want me to say. We’re just two friends who hang out normally!”

“Jungwon…” Sunoo responds disappointedly, while Riki tuts and shakes his head disapprovingly.

“Guys. I am so lost.”

“I can imagine,” Sunoo mutters.

“You know, maybe you should invite him over to our dinner night next week. Then, we can officially meet him,” Riki suggests.

“Wait, yes!”

“Whoa. I don’t know guys,” Jungwon cautiously remarks. “I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable having dinner with three total strangers.” 

What Jungwon doesn’t say is that the idea of introducing Sunghoon to his friends so formally and officially through their sacred dinner tradition felt way too serious for a simple friendship. While he liked the guy a lot and would love to eventually be in a relationship with him, Jungwon wasn’t about to drive him away with the equivalent of meeting the family when they weren’t even dating.

“Not a problem,” Sunoo waves him off. “Tell him to invite some of his friends. It can be a fun dinner party!”

“Hm, that seems like too well-thought of an idea,” Riki says skeptically. Sunoo stares back at him cluelessly. “Are you just saying that because you think one of his friends is cute?” he accuses.

Offended, Sunoo gasps, feigning ignorance. “No! How would I even know who Sunghoon’s friends are?”

“Quit the act, Sunoo,” Riki points an accusatory finger towards him. “I saw you stalking that page of some guy tagged in Sunghoon’s post. You’re not very subtle.”

“I was not— Why are you looking at my phone in the first place?” Sunoo sputters.

“Now I know for sure you’re web-stalking that guy if you’re so quick to change the subject—”

“Shut up!” Jungwon shouts, his two friends quickly shut their mouths. They forget how scary he can be. “Fine! I’ll— let’s just do it. I—I’ll talk to Sunghoon tomorrow and ask him about dinner and that he’s welcome to bring friends of his own.”

As if a fight didn’t just ensue between them, Riki and Sunoo immediately go to hug each other in celebration. 

Their excitement suddenly gets interrupted by a chime from Jungwon’s phone. With it still in Sunoo’s grasp, he goes to check the notification. 

His eyes immediately light up. “Oh my God,” Sunoo whispers in astonishment.

Jungwon raises an eyebrow his way. “What?” 

“He commented on your post! Sunghoon commented on your post!”

“Stop, did he really?! Give me my phone!” He leaps towards Sunoo’s spot on the couch, his eyes still glued to the screen as he fights off Jungwon’s attempts to wrestle the phone away from him.

A moment later, Sunoo lets out another excited squeal. “Oh my God!”

“What now?!” Jungwon grunts, fighting off Sunoo’s elbowing.

“He commented again!”

“Let me see!” He makes grabbing motions towards Sunoo. “Just— give me that!”

Jungwon manages to shove Sunoo away and steal his phone back. Sunoo quickly gets back up, as he and Riki lean in close to rest their chins on either one of Jungwon’s shoulders. He scrolls through his comments, and it doesn’t take long until he finds Sunghoon’s lame, recognizable username. 

hoonpark_02

I wonder who took this photo 🤔

hoonpark_02

How pretty 🤍🤍

Neither of the trio says a word for what feels like hours. They stare at the two comments in complete disbelief. All three have the same thought in mind.

There’s no way this is real.

Riki breaks the silence. “Did he pull the ‘pick me’ move by bringing out the 'I wonder who took this photo.’?”

Sunoo snorts. “God, I know right? Every time I see a girl post that under a guy’s post I know to stay very far away. But it’s hilarious coming out of a 23 year old man.”

“He called me pretty,” Jungwon croons. “He called me pretty. With two hearts. In my own comment section.”

Riki and Sunoo stare at Jungwon’s lovestruck expression, before erupting into roaring laughter.

“You’re completely hopeless!” Sunoo cries out, wiping a tear from his eye.

Karma catches up to Sunoo, who’s immediately met with a pillow shoved against his face as Jungwon smothers him. Riki tries to pull Jungwon off, but his wheezes of laughter deem him too weak.

Fortunately, murder does not ensue in the Jungwon and Riki household that day.

4

***

To Jungwon’s surprise, Sunghoon was very quick to accept the dinner party invitation. 

That’s why Jungwon and Riki now find themselves scurrying to make their frail little apartment presentable to three new guests, two of them being complete strangers. Jungwon still doesn’t know why they got stuck hosting when they have the smallest apartment among them, Sunoo, and Jay. 

Well, it did all come down to luck. After minutes of pointless arguing between the four of them on not wanting to host this special occasion dinner night, Jay ends it all by pitching the idea of letting a random wheel generator online decide their fate.

It was just Jungwon’s luck, and Riki’s by association, for the wheel to land on their names. He still finds it unfair that his and Riki’s apartment was up for grabs in the first place. Not only was it the smallest apartment in the worst condition, but their latest dinner night had already been hosted by them, making it unfair to host twice in a row.

So here they were, panicking to make their barely livable apartment seem even remotely habitable.

To put less stress on their plates, they decide to make the dinner party more of a potluck. With each guest being tasked to bring their own dish. It saves Riki and Jungwon the trouble as hosts to make an entire meal for seven people, on top of fixing up their home.

Before their new guests arrive, Sunoo and Jay come early to provide additional help, because they aren’t complete villains who will leave their youngest of the friend group to fend for themselves. Occasionally. 

Jungwon opens the door for them, and is relieved when he finds them each holding large dishes, thankful to have kept their word. Jungwon grabs the food dishes from their hands, gesturing them in to help Riki set up the outdated Easter decorations they bought on sale for the beautiful discounted price of 90% off. It was October.

When he’s reassured that they’re all occupied with a task, Jungwon carefully sets down Sunoo’s chicken parmesan on the set dining table, then sneakily runs outside to the garbage bins with Jay’s amalgamation and a replacement dish. 

Jungwon lifts up the foil cover and wrinkles his nose. It’s not the smell that’s putrid, Jay at least improved at making food smell how it should, it’s the presentation of the food. He sees, what he assumes, is an attempt at potatoes au gratin—it was generous to even call whatever it was potatoes. Half of the potatoes still appear uncooked, while the other half is completely burnt. The cheese itself doesn’t even look like cheese, nor does it look edible with its unusual gray-ish color. 

How does a person ruin a potato dish this badly? 

Usually, they at least try to eat Jay’s food to salvage his ego. However, this time, Jungwon, Sunoo, and Riki came to an agreement that they weren’t really feeling up to poisoning two strangers and a guy Jungwon had the hots for. Alas, Jay would have to live in ignorant bliss for the time being.

He hurriedly scrapes the monstrosity into the bin, the guilt grows with each “potato” until it weighs heavy in his chest, watching the slop slowly cascade down to join the rest of the garbage. 

“I’m sorry, Jay,” he mumbles to himself, having to look away from the absolute crime he’s committing—the crime of murdering what is essentially the child of his own best friend. 

Once the evidence is completely gone, Jungwon reaches for the storemade version of the potatoes au gratin. He proceeds to scoop the new food into the empty dish tin, swirling it around slightly to make the meal look just as fresh and homemade.

“Jungwon?”

He looks up at the origin of the voice like a deer caught in headlights, he knows he definitely looks suspicious crouched on the ground next to the garbage cans holding a large tin of potatoes au gratin. He realizes that who’s staring back at him is none other than Sunghoon, followed by two new faces. 

Perfect. Amazing first impression.

He quickly stands up straight, adjusting the potato dish in his arms. “Hey! What’s up?” he greets as casually he can, holding up a finger gun in his free hand.

Embarrassed, Jungwon retreats the finger gun to comb back his hair. 

Sunghoon looks like he’s holding back laughter. “Not much. Actually, I think I’m more curious as to what’s up with you.” 

Jungwon purses his lips before letting out a reluctant sigh. “Okay. You absolutely can not bring this up to Jay— or at all for that matter,” he insists firmly. “Jay is really passionate about cooking…but his skills don’t exactly live up to that passion. And we—as in all of us but Jay—would prefer if this dinner party didn’t include poisoning our guests. So we all kinda came up with this completely fool-proof plan—or so we thought, because, here we are—and drew straws to throw out Jay’s food and replace it with a pre-made, store bought version of what his dish was supposed to be. As you can tell, I lost that bet. All this to say, during dinner we have to make sure he doesn’t get passed this imposter dish, because he’ll know. And since you guys now know, you guys are also now accomplices to this crime and are now obligated to also help in preventing that. And if he somehow does see it: deny, deny, deny,” he confesses.

Fortunately, the three other men burst into laughter. It makes Jungwon feel slightly better about his act of sin.

“Sunghoon always talks so highly of his boyfriend,” one of the guys adds in between laughter. He’s fairly short in height, maybe only an inch shorter than Jungwon, with wavy brown hair. “But, man, all of you guys are funny! I’m kinda excited to participate in this chaotic scheme.”

‘Boyfriend’? Did Jungwon hear him right? No, he’s probably doing that thing again where he makes up stuff in his head. He guesses that now extended onto hearing things, too.

He still peeks over at Sunghoon. Maybe it’s the dark atmosphere of the night sky affecting his vision, but Jungwon swears he can see a hint of redness to his cheeks. 

“Definitely,” the other man pipes in. He has two large bags slung around each shoulder, presumably their food. He’s tall, he has a couple inches on Sunghoon, which says a lot about his height. His burgundy colored hair mixed with his ear piercings give him this cool-guy aura, so Jungwon knows he’ll definitely get along with Jay. “I’ll say, chaotic dinners make for fun dinners.”

“Hell yeah!” the short brunette cheers. “I’d rather have that than a quiet, boring one.”

Jungwon lets himself relax at the humorous reassurances, laughing along with the new strangers he just met. He allows himself to embrace the messy state Sunghoon and his friends have found him in. 

He scratches the back of his head with his free hand. “Well, this was definitely a…first impression,” he continues awkwardly. “Shit— I’m sorry, I realized I haven’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Jungwon! It’s really nice to meet you guys.”

Sunghoon’s two friends' eyes light up with a sort of realization. 

“Don’t—” Sunghoon warns, when one of his friends turns to him with a mischievous smile.

“Oh. So this is Jungwon,” the shorter one drawls. He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at Sunghoon, who retaliates by punching him in the shoulder. Still laughing, he pushes his hand towards Jungwon. “I’m Jake, his BFF. I’m glad to finally put a face to the name.” 

Jungwon shakes Jake’s hand politely. “He talks about me?” He asks innocently.

“Practically gushes about you. Maybe even too much—”

“Dude!” Sunghoon seethes, his ears burning red as he pushes Jake to the side and away from Jungwon. Jake shoves him back, prompting the two into physical banter.

Amidst the chaos, another hand gingerly squeezes Jungwon’s shoulder from behind. He turns to the side, finding the tall one.

“Sorry about them, they’re always like this,” he brings his free hand forward, “Heeseung.” Jungwon reciprocates the move. 

He retracts his hand, weighing the dish into both of his arms to cradle it, as they watch the spectacle in front of them. “I’ve never seen Sunghoon so riled up.”

Heeseung shakes his head. “Yep. That’s Jake’s charm. Only he can push Sunghoon’s buttons like that.”

Watching them bicker, Sunghoon eventually puts Jake into a headlock, and Jungwon gets a sense of déjà vu. He smiles fondly at the two friends, reminding him of his own dynamic with his three close friends. 

Thinking about his friends. “Right, we should probably head inside now!” Jungwon calls out loud enough to be heard over the pair’s squabbling. “I don’t want the food you guys brought getting cold.” 

Sunghoon immediately drops his hold of Jake, squeaking as he almost eats the concrete in return.

“Wow,” Heeseung whistles, impressed. “I don’t know what kind of spell you put him under, but whatever it was, please don’t undo it.” 

“Uh. Pardon?”

“He listens to you with, like, zero hesitation. He’s at your every beck and call, like a dog,” he says, like it’s obvious. Jungwon feels like he just so happens to be the only person on Earth who doesn’t get it. Heeseung adds as an afterthought, “Not that I’m implying anything particularly wrong about Sunghoon acting like a dog some time else—”

“Okay! Let’s stop there!” Jungwon interjects, his face is flaming. Was he cursed with only befriending the weirdest people known to mankind? “Does he not listen to anyone else?” he asks timidly.

Heeseung laughs, Jungwon doesn’t think he was joking, “You’re funny. No wonder he has a soft spot for you.” Before Jungwon can question him further, Heeseung leaves him to tell Jake something.

Sunghoon talks about Jungwon to his closest friends? He solely listens to Jungwon? He has a soft spot for Jungwon? 

Jungwon’s head hurts. 

This will surely be a fun night.

Jungwon had never seen his apartment so lively and bright. 

It wasn’t like Sunoo, Riki, and Jay weren’t enough, but the newcomers seemed to almost fill a missing part of his life that Jungwon didn’t realize he needed. 

Something about the seven of them together felt complete.

Jay and Heeseung bonded over guitars and music, leading to plans of a future karaoke session for the seven of them. Riki even bonded with Sunghoon over teasing Jake for his height. Sunoo was also hitting it off great with Jake, the two didn’t leave each other’s side the entire night.

Riki gently kicks Jungwon under the table, silently gesturing towards them. Confused, Jungwon turns to see Jake tell a not particularly funny joke to Sunoo, who squeezes his shoulder and giggles. 

That’s the guy, Riki mouths. 

Ah. Jake seems short for Sunoo’s usual taste, but his face and personality probably made up for it. Aside from the awful jokes.

Jungwon smiles coyly at Sunoo’s not-so-discreet flirting, already making plans to tease Sunoo about this later, while Jake feigns obliviousness. It’s kinda funny, but also painful to watch as Jake is very obviously fumbling. At least Sunoo has experience for both of them.

“Pass this down,” Heeseung says to Jake, who passes it over to Sunoo while telling him some story about a skateboarding fail when he was 13. Distracted, either by Jake’s story or his golden honey eyes, Sunoo absentmindedly slides the large dish to the person next to him.

“Wait.” Six heads spring up at Jay’s voice. At the same time, everyone spots the infamous potatoes au gratin imposter dish. No one even breathes, as tension replaces the joy and laughter that once filled the cramped room. “Is this my potatoes au gratin?”

The very disaster they all conspired to avoid is about to strike, all thanks to Sunoo, and incidentally Jake. Jungwon glares over at the terrible two, Jake gives him a half-assed shrug as the former shoots him an apologetic look.

“Well, yeah,” coughs Jungwon. “No one else brought that dish. So it must be yours. Right, guys?” 

“Mhm.”

“Yep!”

“Oh, for sure.”

“Totally.”

“I wouldn’t even know how to begin to make it— ouch!” Heeseung claps Jake on the back of his head.

Jay eyes them all suspiciously. “Are you sure? I don’t remember my potatoes looking like this,” he slowly turns to squint at Jungwon, who starts to sweat. “And you were the last one I gave this to.”

Jungwon pales, he looks over to the rest of the dinner guests for help.

Deny, deny, deny.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “All I did was mix it around a little bit since it was sitting still for a while, and I didn’t want it to get cold. Maybe that's why?”

The whole table holds their breath as Jay is silent. Jungwon starts to count his prayers.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” finally says Jay, scooping a decently sized potato serving onto his plate. The tension fades as the entire table sighs in relief, returning to their idle conversations among one another.

Crisis successfully averted.

A hand gently places itself on the wings of his back. He shudders at the touch, recognizing the hand as Sunghoon’s. He leans in close to Jungwon, until his lips are grazing the shell of his ear. 

“Nice save,” he whispers. “Sorry Jake almost ruined it.” 

Before Jungwon can reply, Sunghoon turns back to eating his food. Somehow, his hand had made its way to rest on the small of Jungwon’s back. That’s where it lay there for the rest of dinner, burning a hole through Jungwon’s cardigan with the warmth of his touch. 

Jungwon tried not to think about it too hard. Key word: tried.

Eventually, the once crowded apartment reverted back to its old, quiet ways. 

Each of the new friends had left happy and full—full of new friendships and food. They each disappeared into the night, one by one, with the exception of Sunoo and Jake. Before Riki and Jungwon could privately interrogate their friend on his desperate attempts to bag the clueless airhead of a man, Sunoo was seen dragging said airhead out the door. The younger two could only gawk at their friend, pressing his index finger against his lips, as a flustered, yet giddy, Jake clings onto his back, still talking to Heeseung.

They’ll probably tease him about it later.

Sunghoon, however, does end up extending his stay just a little longer. He swears it’s just so Riki and Jungwon don’t have to clean everything themselves. Riki thinks otherwise, Jungwon just appreciates that Sunghoon makes the time for him. 

On the other hand, Riki is not so appreciative of the gesture. Especially since they’re doing everything but cleaning.

They’re both elbows deep into the kitchen sink, hypothetically washing dishes, but it resembled something more of a competition on who can get the most drenched with tap water. 

“Seriously, you really didn’t have to stay this long,” says Jungwon. “Riki and I have got it covered. We do this every other month when we host,” he shrugs.

“You keep saying that, and I’ll keep saying that it’s literally not a big deal. Tonight was a seven person potluck, there’s a lot to do,” Sunghoon knocks his shoulder against his. “It sounds more like someone just really doesn’t want me here.”

Jungwon gasps, hitting Sunghoon with a sopping wet kitchen towel, leaving a water stain in the middle of his shirt. “I did not say that! You’re just putting words in my mouth.”

“I dunno, it seemed heavily implied,” he flicks water in Jungwon’s face.

“Implied, my ass!” Jungwon scoops water from the sink, splashing Sunghoon’s entire face. 

Sunghoon wipes his face, brushing the sopping wet bangs from his eyes. “Now that’s just cold,” he grins.

“Well, yeah. It’s water.”

Laughing, Sunghoon grabs the end of the detachable sink faucet, spraying the other completely. Jungwon puts his hands out, which does nothing to fight the incoming water.

“Hey, lovebirds, get it together!” Riki shouts from the dining room, peeling back the streamers from the walls. “We’re supposed to be cleaning,” he scolds.

 Jungwon stills, the ‘lovebirds’ comment making his heart pound like crazy and his cheeks glow red. He looks over to Sunghoon, who doesn’t even blink.

“Sorry, I was definitely distracting you from being productive,” Sunghoon gestures down to their completely drenched shirts. “I guess that’s my cue to leave now, for real.”

“Oh so you want to listen to Riki,” Jungwon places his hands on his hips. “I thought you only listened to me?”

Sunghoon blinks, his ears start to match Jungwon’s face. “Oh, um. What? Who told you that? Heeseung?” he asks nervously.

In Jungwon’s defense, it kinda just slipped out. Too late to take it back now.

“Don’t worry about it.” Smooth, Jungwon. Smooth. “I’m actually being serious this time, you should actually head home now. Riki and I have got it covered.”

Sunghoon sighs, smiling. “Alright.” He reaches out, affectionately ruffling Jungwon’s hair, “I’ll see you later.” 

To top it off, he pokes the indent of Jungwon’s dimple, as usual. Jungwon didn’t realize when that action became so normal between them. 

He leaves shortly after, with Riki fake gagging at the sight of Jungwon smiling dopily after Sunghoon. He joins Riki back in the kitchen, who’s picked up the unfinished dirty dishes. Jungwon hops on the counter next to the sink, kicking his feet rhythmically. 

“He’s so cute, Riki,” he muses. “I can’t believe he’s real.”

“As you’ve said every day for the past two months,” Riki remarks. “I’m sure that’s been something you’ve been dying to say all dinner. Especially since you, somehow, went hours without waxing poetry about the guy.”

Jungwon kicks at Riki’s side. “Ugh. Do you get off on my misery?” Riki snickers. 

The sound of gushing water comes to a halt. “Is this a love note?”

Jungwon peeks over his shoulder, his heart caught in his throat as he spots the familiar heart scribble in Riki’s hand. As soon as he unfolds the small card, he yanks it out of Riki’s hand. “It— it’s nothing. Don’t read it!”

Riki gives him a knowing smirk. “Is it from your boyfriend not-boyfriend?” he teases.

“No— I mean, yes. Well, first of all, Sunghoon is not my boyfriend,” Jungwon states, leaping off the counter. “But yes, it’s from him. Just— it’s not for me. So don’t read it.”

In a moment of weakness, Riki manages to steal back the note. Weaponizing his height against Jungwon, Riki holds the paper high above himself where Jungwon can’t reach.

“‘Ur truly in ur element when ur around the people u love. U are surrounded by love and u have so much love to give,’ signed by Sunghoon and a heart,” reads Riki monotonously. “Definitely not about you. Because you totally did not just host a dinner potluck with our friends.”

“You don’t get it!” Jungwon snatches it back. “It’s not for me! See?” He flips the card around, aggressively pointing at the same name that’s been haunting him for the last few months.

Jang Wonyoung

“4th Gen It Girl from IVE, Jang Wonyoung. Full government name!” Jungwon spits. “If she’s his type, I’m absolutely nothing. I can’t even compete against all of…that!”

Riki stares back at him with pity. He doesn’t even have to say anything for Jungwon to feel patronized. He feels like he’s missing something very crucial, and everyone else seems to know. 

5

***

Lately, Jungwon’s mind has gone haywire, the pitying looks and the patronizing words from his friends playing on loop. Maybe it’s just the negative thinking in him trying not to get his hopes up, but it’s almost like the teasing of his infatuation with Sunghoon and the sympathetic looks are trying to loosen him up for rejection. 

Jungwon was typically a straight forward person. But when it comes to love, he’ll pass on making the first move.

On the bright side, the separate friend groups had quickly merged into a complete group of seven. The chemistry between them all was so natural, it was crazy to think that there was a time they weren’t all friends.

Another new arrangement in their lives was Jay and Jake tagging along to Jungwon and Sunghoon’s work outs. There was a tiny part of Jungwon that felt just a twinge of jealousy at other people intruding on his alone time with Sunghoon. Just a twinge.

To be fair, Jay and Jake only agreed to join them once a week. Meaning they had four other days to themselves. Jungwon was just salty that Jay still agreed to the invitation, who was completely aware that Jungwon wanted his alone time. And giving your best friend their alone time with the guy they like is exactly what best friends are for.

Jungwon was a happy-go-lucky, silly guy, but he also could be very intimidating when he wanted to be. That’s why Jay was sweating bullets under Jungwon’s cold glare, trying to laser the word don’t into Jay’s skull, when Jake had asked Sunghoon to join them at the gym. Jay, unfortunately, cracks under pressure too easily, so he definitely slept with one eye open that night in fear of Jungwon murdering him in his sleep.

Jay did make up for it by finding ways to drag Jake away to conduct their own workouts away from the other two. Thank God for that, Jungwon wasn’t really inclined to replace Jay’s best friend spot with Riki or Sunoo, those devils. 

“Jungwon?”

He blinks a couple times. Remembering he is currently in the gym, more specifically, standing motionlessly smack dab in the middle of the busy machines. Jungwon looks up to meet Sunghoon’s eyes, genuine worry in his face.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, what’s up?”

“Well, you were standing awfully still for a crazy amount of time,” he says, voice dripping in concern. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

His thoughts have made him a lot more clumsy and distracted recently. Jungwon thinks Sunghoon has started to catch notice of his mental absence. 

It doesn’t help that his inner turmoil consists of questioning every little interaction with Sunghoon to overanalyze their relationship, and then worrying about if Sunghoon has figured out Jungwon harbors the fattest crush on him and is acting oblivious out of pity.

“Oh. Sorry. I guess I just spaced out,” Jungwon responds lamely. “Could you spot me on a squat?”

And so he does. 

For the most part, his set starts off strong. That is until he feels Sunghoon brush up against his arm. Jungwon gulps. 

Sunghoon’s hands slide forward to firmly hold his waist. Jungwon attempts to channel all his energy into not letting the barbell crush him and not focusing on Sunghoon’s hands around his waist. He leans closer into Jungwon, until he’s practically breathing down his neck. Jungwon holds his breath.

Jungwon is smart enough to know that this is just how spotting is, it feels more intimate than it actually is, especially when you’re heavily attracted to the person spotting you. Unfortunately, those signals of common sense don’t entirely reach Jungwon.

As soon as he finishes his set, Jungwon carefully sets the bar down, quickly jumping back from Sunghoon’s grip to where he can finally breathe.

He pants a little bit, his face hot and sweaty from not breathing for either a minute or five years. Jungwon was too preoccupied to keep track.

Jungwon angles his head to the side, averting his gaze away from Sunghoon out of embarrassment. Either way, Sunghoon ducks his head down to level with Jungwon, amusement plastered through his charming smile.

“You did good,” he laughs. “But you seem worn out. Are you okay?”

Jungwon nods in reply, his voice caught in his throat.

Sunghoon leans in close, pushing back Jungwon’s sweat-soaked hair. “Maybe you should take a break. I can just get in a few sets with Jay.”

Jungwon lets out a small hum in response, before making the walk over to the bench where he and the others placed their bags. Jungwon grabs his water bottle and a small face towel from his bag, loosely wringing it around his neck.

Soon enough, Jake goes and sits in the empty space next to him, just as Jay joins Sunghoon. Jake seems restless, as he fidgets with the loose threads on his clothes, picking at the peeling paint of the wooden bench, and rhythmically tapping against his knee. They sit in this weird, awkward silence for a few minutes. Jungwon attempts to fill it by clenching his thirst. 

Truthfully, Jungwon gets along with Jake just fine. They’ve had a few conversations together in the recent weeks of becoming friends. Albeit awkward conversations born out of forced proximity. Thanks to Jake’s weird situation with Sunoo, Jungwon was now accustomed to finding two pests in his kitchen.

Much to Riki and Jungwon’s surprise, nothing had actually happened between Sunoo and Jake that night. Sunoo, the hopeless romantic, was going for the traditional courting route. Which seems to work wonders on a guy like Jake.

(“I can be a gentleman! I was chivalrous and only drove Jake home and exchanged numbers. It’s called a slow burn.”

“I find it hard to believe that you’re gentle with a man. I had the impression you were quick to pounce.”

“Jesus Christ, Riki! Are you slut-shaming me?! I’ve only ever dated, like, 2 people. Ever.”

“Hah. Nerd.”

“Okay. As if you’re any better. You get absolutely zero play because you almost never leave this freaking apartment—”

“Oh my God, I’m trying to shower! How and why are you two even in here? Get out!”)

Jungwon gets the impression they are actually dating. Neither have actually confirmed it, but it is quite obvious. He thinks they’re trying to be secretive about it, but they aren’t really conspicuous. At least, Sunoo is laidback about it, but Jake is a terrible liar.

It also doesn’t help that Jungwon had caught them cuddling on he and Riki’s own couch. 

Jake had been quick to push Sunoo off and leap across to the opposite side of the couch, much to Sunoo’s amusement. It’s not even the PDA that was weird, it was the art of doing it on Jungwon’s own couch. 

He still doesn’t know how Sunoo manages to get into their apartment.

Whatever Sunoo’s relationship is to Jake, Jungwon senses it’s why Jake is intimidated by him. Not-so-covertly, secretly dating the friend of your best friend’s friend probably makes one a little nervous. The thing is, Jungwon does actually like Jake for Sunoo, but he doesn’t want to let it get to Jake’s head. He just knows that if Jake’s going to get the boy, he has to grow some balls. Sunoo enjoys the groveling.

He lets himself peak over at Jake, who’s moved on to gnawing on his already abysmally short nails. Jungwon shakes his head. Hopeless, the boy is hopeless. Exactly Sunoo’s type.

Almost as if his eyes are magnets, they immediately find Sunghoon like he has some sort of strong, electromagnetic pull. Sunghoon leans against one of the machines as he talks enthusiastically to Jay using the bench press. Jungwon raises his water up to his lips as he shamefully eyes the man’s biceps. 

Praise be to God for sleeveless shirts.

Sunghoon almost seems to sense his presence, as he turns his head to meet Jungwon’s gaze. Jungwon curses under his breath, too late to hide the staring thing. Instead, he tilts the water bottle back further to, hopefully, hide the painfully embarrassing redness of his face. 

Then, Sunghoon grins. All 32 of his pearly whites flash back at Jungwon, including his cute fangs, practically blinding him. He finishes with a playful wink. Jungwon tears his eyes away, aggressively chugging back his water.

Suddenly, the space beside him is eerily silent. He knows the space is occupied, as Jake’s intense stare was far from discreet.

“Okay. You’re way too quiet, I can tell you’re judging me,” says Jungwon, without even sparing a glimpse.

“I didn’t even say anything!” Jake scoffs, throwing up his arms.

“You didn’t have to,” Jungwon turns to face him. “I can tell,” he glares.

Jake rolls his eyes. “You and Sunghoon were making the craziest, lovesick, googoo eyes at each other.”

“What?”

“You guys were just all over each other not even 5 minutes ago when he was spotting you. It’s like you guys can’t go even 5 feet without being all over each other,” Jake explains.

“No, I— We weren’t!” comes Jungwon’s agitated response. “That’s incomparable to how you and Sunoo occupy my own apartment 24/7 with your disgusting yearning. None of you even live there!” 

“Oh, come on. Don’t do that,” he huffs, crossing his arms, but there was still a redness to his cheeks. “Jay and I were watching you two earlier. You’re like animals in heat. It was horrifying to watch. I’m pretty sure all of Sunghoon’s fangirls could even sense it, and were so uncomfortable they backed off.”

“He has fangirls?”

“Jealous much?” Jake retorts with a smirk.

“Oh hush, lover boy. Sunghoon and I aren’t even dating! Why does everyone think that? Or am I just that obvious you guys are messing with me?”

Jake scrunches up his face, then tilts his head in confusion. “You’re not?” Jungwon shakes his head. “Dude.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he shrugs. “I’d love to date him. I’d be over the moon. He’s just so…perfect. Not even in a romanticizing way. He can act like an uncle at times, and, of course, has his bad habits. He’s perfectly imperfect. In looks, in personality— you probably know that as his best friend. But he just doesn’t feel the same. We’re just friends.”

Jake lets out a resigned sigh. “I think you have to talk to Sunghoon.”

“Sorry?”

Before Jake can continue, Jay and Sunghoon are approaching their bench.

“We’re heading into the locker room to change,” says Sunghoon. He turns his hand over towards Jungwon, who drops a dry gym towel in his open palm. He pats his forehead dry before slinging it over his shoulder, placing his hand down to squeeze Jungwon’s shoulder. 

Jungwon smiles to himself, until a fake cough that only comes from bad actors is heard next to him. He’s already glaring at Jake when he gives Jungwon a knowing look, pointing his index finger to his mouth to fake a gag. 

“You two coming?” asks Jay. 

The idea of having to change next to Sunghoon after these developments makes Jungwon just a little nauseous. Even though he’s done it a thousand times before, something is different this time.

“You guys go ahead, that workout kind of took me out. I’m just going to sit for a bit. I’ll meet you guys later.”

Jay shrugs, already walking towards the lockers. Jake looks back and forth between Jungwon and Sunghoon. He quickly stands up to follow after Jay, not before hitting Jungwon on the back with a look on his face that says, Talk to him. 

Sunghoon crouches down in front of Jungwon, making it difficult to avoid his gaze as he places a gentle hand on his knee. “You sure you’re okay?” he asks worriedly.

“No, yeah. Totally.” Sunghoon shoots him an unconvinced look. “Seriously! I think I’m just dehydrated, or something.”

Without missing a beat, Sunghoon reaches over to his own bag, pulling out a red Gatorade bottle, holding it in front of Jungwon. 

“Take my Gatorade, then. Just chill here and drink up until you’re ready to go,” he instructs. “I’ll wait for you,” he says softly, squeezing Jungwon’s knee before standing back up to follow after Jay and Jake.

Jungwon watches him disappear into the room, bringing the cold drink up to press against his steaming hot face. He sighs to himself wistfully. With the look that Sunghoon gave him, he fears that he’s starting to catch onto Jungwon’s feelings. If he keeps up this pathetic act, their friendship is doomed. 

Shifting the bottle over once the previous side had warmed, he feels a damp piece of paper against his cheek instead of the cold bottle. He pulls away, his heart stopping when he sees a folded card with that stupid heart taped to the drink.

Jungwon swallows, carefully peeling the paper away from the plastic bottle, and flipping it open.

Ur the most hardworking person I know, it’s admirable. Remember to take breaks and don’t overwork urself!!

Sunghoon <3

This time, Jungwon lets himself ignore the true name written on the back of the card. He smiles to himself instead, letting himself believe that Sunghoon had indeed written this for him, Yang Jungwon, and not for 4th Gen It Girl K-pop Idol, Jang Wonyoung.

He thinks back to his conversation with Jake. What did he mean? He had been extremely persistent in talking to Sunghoon. But what exactly is he supposed to say to Sunghoon? It wasn’t like Jake was very clear in his advice.

Then again, should he really listen to the advice of a guy who can barely put a label on his own kindergarten-level relationship?

+1

***

Staring at the circular, blue box in front of him, Jungwon seriously contemplates actually listening to the advice of Jake. He doesn’t know if that means he’s reached a low point or not.

Typically, Jungwon didn’t shy away from immediately fixing his problems. If he had a problem with someone, he saw no issue in going up to them and confronting them, then and there.

But for the past 2 months, he dug himself in quite the hole. And now it seems like an actual conversation is the only way out. 

Inside the beautifully wrapped box was all of Sunghoon’s love notes to Jang Wonyoung over the past 2 months. All of which Jungwon took back home and conveniently kept forgetting to give back.

Jungwon should most definitely give these back to Sunghoon, seeing as they are very private and intimate love notes. It was just that a selfish part of him had purposely kept them just so Jungwon could believe that maybe, maybe, the cutest, and kindest, and way too perfect of a man liked him back.

Regardless of the outcome, it would be for the best if Jungwon had given these back, and even worse, having to explain why exactly he kept them. 

He jumps in place, startled by the sudden knock at the door. Jungwon’s stomach churns a little, knowing exactly who it is. 

When he opens the door, he’s met with Sunghoon and his radiant smile. There’s a pang in his heart, knowing that if Sunghoon is looking at Jungwon like that, he can’t imagine how he’s supposed to look at someone he actually likes. Someone like Jang Wonyoung.

“Hey! Thanks again for hosting tonight. Better this than an apartment with a broken AC.”

“It’s no problem,” he shrugs, already closing the door behind him. “I was actually just about to make popcorn if you want to head to my room,” he gestures. 

“Sounds good,” Sunghoon cheerily quips, his footsteps echoing throughout the empty apartment. Of course, it had to be the one night Sunoo and Jake didn’t intrude their apartment, but Riki invading Sunoo’s. 

Jungwon mindlessly grabs a bag of popcorn, lazily tossing it into the microwave. His phone that he’d left on the counter starts buzzing as if it has a mind of its own. Jungwon fights the temptation to throw it in the microwave alongside the popcorn, because he knows the messages are all from Jay, Sunoo and Riki. He knew it was a terrible idea to tell Riki his Friday night plans.

He paces back and forth around his kitchen to mull over his current situation. It had been a week straight of mental torture for Jungwon, a full week of knowing glaces and cryptic messages from Jake were enough to tip him over the edge. It was time to step up and talk to Sunghoon. He just didn’t know where to begin. 

Confess that Jungwon has the hugest crush on Sunghoon? Confess that he stole all of Sunghoon’s love letters for the past 2 months? This is why he always handled his problems early, before they can snowball into something worse. Currently, Jungwon is stuck having to deal with the huge avalanche about to come his way. 

Keep in mind, all completely avoidable.

The microwave beeps annoyingly loud before Jungwon can continue spiraling, a harsh reminder that his issue is, in fact, his reality. A reality that is waiting for him just around the corner in his bedroom.

Carefully wielding the bowl of popcorn in his arms, Jungwon pushes his bedroom door open with his heel. “You’re lucky, I had one last bag of the Xtreme Butter flavor you like! Riki had it hidden away—” Finally facing the room, he almost drops the entire popcorn bowl upon seeing Sunghoon comfortably sitting on his bed with the opened blue box, holding up one of the notes. 

“I— Oh, my God—” he begins, stuttering. He stops, quickly placing the unharmed bowl on his nightstand. “I—I can explain! You weren’t supposed to see those—”

“You kept all of these?” Sunghoon asks softly. Instead of disgust and anger, there’s a touched expression on Sunghoon’s face, a smile, even. 

Jungwon finally processes what’s going on, as the words and unexpected, gentle expression on Sunghoon’s face shock Jungwon’s brain into working again. “Um, yeah,” he exhales, shakily sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I was going to return them all, I swear. I—I can’t even find an excuse for keeping them. But I’m sorry, I know I’m weird for keeping them—”

“Weird? Why would you be weird when they’re for you?”

Jungwon blinks, he’s not quite sure he understands. “Huh?”

Sunghoon lets out a breathy laugh. “I know they’re kind of corny. But it was cute seeing you react to it, and try to pretend that you didn’t see it all. It was worth it to make you smile.”

“They’re actually for me?” Jungwon asks without thinking.

“Well, yeah? It says your name.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Jungwon reaches into the box. He pulls out one of the notes and unfolds it in front of Sunghoon. He points to the clearly written letters. “Look, ‘Jang Wonyoung’?  You know…the idol?”

Sunghoon’s jaw drops open. He digs through the rest of the box, opening practically every single folded card he can find. Each one reading Jang Wonyoung. 

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath. 

This was way too much information for Jungwon to process at once.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jungwon starts, stopping Sunghoon by grabbing his wrist. “You’re saying these love notes are for me…does that mean you like me?”

“Jungwon, of course I like you,” says Sunghoon, matter-of-factly. “We’re dating.”

It’s almost like Jungwon enjoys digging himself into bigger holes. “We are?” he asks dumbly, loosening his grip on Sunghoon’s wrist.

Sunghoon frees himself from Jungwon’s hold. “Oh,” he practically whispers. His shoulders sag down as he stares down at the box rejected, like a lost puppy.

“God, wait, Sunghoon— I’m so sorry, I’m so incredibly stupid.”

He gives Jungwon a sad smile. “No, it’s okay. It’s my fault for just assuming.”

Before he can further ruin whatever this is between them, Jungwon wraps both hands around Sunghoon’s biceps. “No, no, it’s not your fault. I really, really like you, Sunghoon. I just,” Jungwon licks his lips. “I was just too stupid to realize that you did too. Or that we were actually, um, you know.”

“So what did you think me bringing you to my apartment, taking you out to eat, paying for you, and introducing you to my friends meant?” The smile in his words put Jungwon more at ease.

“I thought you were being…friendly?” he cringes. “I mean, how was I supposed to know when you never said anything!”

Sunghoon chuckles. “Yeah, yeah. And it’s also entirely my fault for the name thing. I definitely  gave you the wrong idea for that mistake. Which, um, God, this is so embarrassing—”

“Can’t be more embarrassing than me not realizing we were dating for the last 2 months.”

“I’m dyslexic,” comes the unexpected reply. “Yang Jungwon and Jang Wonyoung are pretty close in pronunciation, and I guess I didn’t realize how long I kept mixing up the letters.” Jungwon laughs this time. He guesses they both had their fair share of mix-ups. They make for a perfect, odd couple. 

“So, wait,” Sunghoon starts again. “If you didn’t know they were meant for you, why did you keep them.”

Jungwon’s ears glow red, heat crawling up his neck. He was hoping Sunghoon was going to skip over that detail and just move on to the good stuff, as in making out to make up for the past 2 months. Or whatever.

“I, um, well. Just don’t hate me for this,” he pouts. “But they made me feel good. Even though it wasn’t my name, it at least gave me hope to think that you liked me back.”

Moving the box of letters to the side, Sunghoon anchors Jungwon closer towards him. “So you do like me?” He teases.

“I think we established that,” Jungwon replies drily.

“Come on,” Sunghoon whines, throwing his head back with a smile. “What if I just wanted to hear you say it?” He moves to interlock Jungwon’s fingers with his. Jungwon does not have the heart to handle all of this right now.

He huffs. “Well, yeah. I like you. How could I not?” At this point, all of Jungwon’s shame was thrown out the window. “Why do you think I got that gym membership?”

Sunghoon’s face lights up. “Seriously? That long ago?”

“Is that…weird?” Jungwon asks quietly, curling in on himself timidly.

Sunghoon doesn’t skip a beat. “No,” he says bluntly. “I was actually always hoping I’d see you again after we first met. You know, at Miniso.”

Jungwon doesn’t know how to reply next. Nor did he really know what kind of bullshit he was saying during the entire conversation preceding this. He didn’t exactly foresee this kind of outcome. Honestly, Jungwon didn’t foresee any positive outcome from listening to Jake’s advice. 

But here he was, the cutest guy he’s ever had the fortune of meeting is sitting across from him on his own bed. Surrounded by his embarrassing movie and band posters, his messy bed, and the filled box of love letters wrapped with a bow; he almost feels like a teenage girl in a romantic comedy. 

There’s only one thing that could truly make this a romantic comedy.

“So,” he finally says.

“So?”

“We’re dating.”

“That we are,” Sunghoon confirms, squeezing Jungwon’s hand. “At least, if that’s what you also want?”

“Yeah,” he breathes. “I really do.”

Jungwon gains a sudden boost of confidence, boldly drawing Sunghoon’s hands in, guiding them to his sides. He reaches out to wrap his arms around the base of Sunghoon’s neck, intertwining his own fingers together.

There’s a gleam in Sunghoon’s eyes, and it’s the last thing Jungwon sees before he dives in to close the gap between them. As their lips messily lock together, noses bump, and neither one can’t stop smiling, Jungwon can’t help but think it’s the most magical, toe-curling, foot-popping-worthy kiss he’s ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

Reeling Sunghoon in closer, Jungwon makes a mental note to write his own declaration of love for Wonyoung.