Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Sunoo hyung, please come out,” Jungwon begged from outside the bathroom stall, banging impatiently on the wooden door. 

Sunoo swallowed, looking down at his bared legs. 

“Jungwonnie, I can’t go around like this,” he whined, feeling his cheeks ablaze, “these clothes are too tight.”

“Let me see,” the younger man demanded. 

Sunoo sighed and pushed his bangs backwards with one hand, hair flopping back down a second later. He took a deep breath and opened the door enough for Jungwon to see him. Jungwon’s wide eyes scanned him over for the longest five seconds of Sunoo’s life before he sighed in defeat. 

“Would you feel more comfortable with a looser t-shirt? I can see that it’s very form-fitting. I don’t think we can do anything about the swimming trunks because everybody else’s sizes are a bit too big for you. They would slide down to your ankles. You’re going to have to stick with mine.”

Sunoo considered it. 

“A looser t-shirt would work.”

“Great! Wait here!” and with that, Jungwon took off to God-knows-where to get Sunoo a shirt. 

Sunoo peeled off the t-shirt that was also Jungwon’s and sat on the toilet’s lid. When Heeseung had called him bright and early that morning, asking him to come down because he was outside and “had a surprise for him,” it never occurred to Sunoo that he would be kidnapped on an impromptu trip to the beach with the rest of his friends. 

Finals’ week had just ended the day before and honestly Sunoo was exhausted beyond belief. It had been a miracle that he’d even woken up to take Heeseung’s call at all. Sunoo can see now that they had taken advantage of how dazed he was having just woken up and convinced him to climb in the car without letting him run back to his apartment and pack a bag.

“You’re gonna take too long!” Sunghoon had complained, “We are never gonna get to the beach at this pace. We all have some extra stuff in our bags, you can just borrow something.”

Sunoo had opened his mouth to protest when Jake had shoved a melon pan into one of his hands and his usual latte order on the other. In the blink of an eye, Sunoo found himself strapped in the backseat of Heeseung’s car together with Jake while Sunghoon was riding shotgun. Jay, Jungwon and Ni-ki were following them from behind in Jay’s car.

Sunoo sighed lowly, one part exasperated, three parts excited. He would’ve appreciated being told about the trip so he could’ve packed all the Sunoo essentials, but he absolutely loved spontaneous plans just like this. Surprise trips to the beach with friends was a coming-of-age film plot point done in trendy montages and it was not something that actually happened in real life often, if at all. Sunoo was just a sucker for stuff like that.

It was also hard to get all the group together to hang out since everybody was busy running in all different directions due to their respective schedules nowadays. It had probably been more than a month since he’d last seen Jake and Heeseung, for example. Sunoo somehow saw a lot more of Sunghoon around than any of his other friends despite the two not even being in the same department for some reason. 

A big yawn almost splitting his jaw in half reminded Sunoo that he still owed his poor body some extra snooze time, so he got comfortable on the seat and closed his eyes. The nearest beach was about a two-hour car ride away, ample time to get in a cat nap. 

Sunghoon and Jake’s low conversation, the stereo‘s soft crooning, and the smooth ride promptly lulled him to sleep. A soft shake woke him some time later. Heeseung was looking at him with a gentle look on his face; he had opened the car door on Sunoo’s side and was now slightly ducking down to see him.

“We stopped at a gas station to fill the tank and buy some stuff at the store. Do you want anything?”

Heeseung’s voice had the faraway quality of dreams. Sunoo tried to say something but didn’t know if he was successful. He felt a firm hand patting his bangs down and then nothing. Some indefinite time later, Sunoo sensed them get back in the car, heard the doors banging closed and the engine starting. Sunoo was easily pulled under once again.

“Sunoo,” someone called his name, “Sunoo. Kim Sunoo.”

“Mmm, what is it?” Sunoo said, smacking his lips unconsciously. 

A huff coming from next to him made Sunoo finally open his eyes, suddenly blinded by the blazing sun outside. His vision clearing, he realized it was Sunghoon now who was sitting next to him in the backseat.

“We are here,” Sunghoon announced, getting out of the car, “help me get the bags from the trunk.”

“So demanding, hyung,” Sunoo sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt and also exiting the car. 

He felt a little sluggish still, limbs refusing to cooperate, and he stumbled to the trunk where Jay and Jake were already unloading their cargo. 

“Here,” Jay handed him a backpack, which Sunoo promptly shouldered, “you take this bag and you’re in charge of the soccer ball.”

He almost didn’t catch the ball Jay had thrown in his direction. He came up to Sunoo and plopped a bucket hat on his head. The sudden shadow casted over his eyes was nice, actually. 

Sunoo finally turned to look at the glittering sea behind him. A playful gale swept through just then, pulling cheekily at his clothes. His lungs received a loadful of crisp, salty air that finished shaking off the remnants of sleep from Sunoo. The sun’s heat was just on the side of overbearing, Sunoo already sweating under his hoodie and pajama pants combo. There was not a single cloud in the blue, blue skies above them. Sunoo couldn’t wait to take some pictures of the scenery. 

Sunoo spotted Jungwon, Ni-ki and Heeseung already down at the beach, setting up camp. Or who he thought were Jungwon, Ni-ki and Heeseung. The beach was very crowded today, they were lucky to have found an empty spot at all. He made sure to trail after Jay and Sunghoon. Just before hitting the sand, Sunoo took off his tennis shoes and socks and threaded barefoot. A delighted sigh escaped him the moment his soles touched the warmed sand. 

Their group buzzed around with energy, setting down towels and busting out the pop-up canopy tent that Jake borrowed from his dad. 

“Hyung, do you wanna get changed now?” Jungwon asked, eyeing Sunoo. 

Truthfully, the heat was bothering Sunoo surprisingly fast, sweat already streaming down his back and face warm. He looked at everybody else, clearly wearing beach appropriate attire and swimming trunks, and he let himself feel miffed for a second at not being told about their beach trip beforehand. 

“Yeah, that’d be great,” he responded. Jungwon grabbed a bag and signalled for Sunoo to follow him. The public restrooms were somewhat far from their chosen spot, and the trek there was seriously pushing Sunoo quickly to his limit. He fanned himself with his hands.

Once they reached the restrooms, Jungwon had shoved a change of clothes into Sunoo’s hands to put on, which led to his current predicament. Their other friends were too tall and their clothes would hang too loose on Sunoo’s frame, but Jungwon was slightly more petite than him and the difference in their sizes was more of a problem than they’d anticipated.

“Hyung, here you go,” Jungwon suddenly returned, passing Sunoo a bunched up t-shirt over the top of the stall door. 

Sunoo didn’t hesitate to throw it on, wanting to get out of the stifling, humid restroom. The t-shirt was ridiculously long on him, coming down to the middle of his thighs with just the bottom of the swimming trunks poking out underneath. He placed Jay’s bucket hat back on his head and opened the door. Jungwon smiled at him, dimples out in full glory.

“Hyung, it looks like a dress on you,” he said, pulling at the large sleeve that hung at Sunoo’s elbow. 

Sunoo giggled, agreeing with him. They walked back to their spot, Jungwon animatedly telling Sunoo how he and Ni-ki had bugged Jay the entire ride there and had convinced him to play a Spotify playlist of exclusively TikTok viral songs, which Ni-ki had proceeded to dance to in its entirety. Jungwon said he saw a thick vein in Jay’s forehead throbbing but he hadn’t said anything. 

The others had finished setting everything up by the time they made it back. They all looked up when Sunoo and Jungwon arrived. Jake wolf-whistled from his spot on the towel, where he had been ruffling for something inside his bag.

“Sunoo, my shirt is huge on you,” he laughed good-naturedly, “you’re rocking the boyfriend look!”

Sunoo was about to twirl and curtsy jokingly when he saw everybody’s head snap to Jake and then back to Sunoo, eyes wide. Sunoo suddenly felt awkward, as if he had missed something important.

“I mean!” Jake explained, “I mean because the shirt is long on him, not like- ah you know, like MY boyfriend, not like a boyfriend boyfriend, I meant, like, the concept, the- haha, the look!”

Jake was looking at everyone’s faces, eyebrows drawn down earnestly, hand reaching for Sunghoon’s leg closest to him and patting it. 

Sunoo’s stomach dropped, tasting something sour. 

“Hyung, we get it,” he said, trying really hard not to cry all of a sudden, “don’t sweat it.”

Was the mere idea of dating Sunoo so disgusting that his friend had to go out of his way to clarify that he did not mean that at all? No wonder Sunoo was single as hell. Not even the people that knew him well would wanna hypothetically be linked to him. He really was thankful for the hat that hopefully was covering his stinging eyes well enough. Sunoo knew he was being dramatic but he couldn't help it. He plopped down on the towel and pretended to be busy folding his clothes into neat little piles. A sudden heavy silence enveloped the people under the canopy.

“Hey, so, who wants to get in the water? This heat is no joke,” Jungwon jumped up, nudging Heeseung next to him. Heeseung looked over at Sunoo, which he pretended not to see, and followed Jungwon’s lead.

“Good idea! The sea is not too rough right now, it seems like a good time to go for a swim,” he said, grabbing his bodyboard. 

Everyone else agreed, probably to get away from Sunoo as fast as they could. 

“Hyung, are you coming?” Ni-ki asked, shirt already off. 

Sunoo shook his head, still smoothing his clothes as if he was employee of the month at a department store. 

“It’s too hot out right now,” he forced himself to keep his tone light, “I’m just going to watch the drama I downloaded on my phone and chill under the shade.”

Sunoo could see the youngest wanted to protest but Sunghoon threw him a bottle of sunscreen and told him to lather up, interrupting him. The rest of them finished getting ready to go, grabbing boards, floats and swimming goggles. 

“Here’s some SPF 80 sunscreen for later, Sunoo,” Jake offered, extending a familiar tube to Sunoo, “I know it’s the same brand you usually use.”

Sunoo took it, a knot lodged in his throat.

“Thanks, hyung,” he said, knowing well there was no way he was joining them out in the sun later.

He waited until they all left to sigh and rub sunscreen all over his face and exposed parts of his body anyways. The sun was always quick to redden his fair skin, and he wanted to take no chances. He moved to lay down on his tummy, feet kicking idly behind him as he browsed his phone looking for the drama he had mentioned. He pulled out his earphones and promptly put them on, not giving himself to overthink any further about what just happened. 

There was nothing quite like ignoring his problems by focusing on fictional characters and their fictional problems that had nothing to do with Sunoo, but nothing beat precariously living the romance and thrill of a heart-fluttering relationship from the comfort of his own home. It made Sunoo somewhat wistful to see the main couple finally getting closer and closer to realizing the other’s requited feelings, a hand brushing moment here, a back hug moment there. There were some things, Sunoo thought, that were destined to happen only on-screen.

Sunoo got sucked into the drama’s story, blind and deaf to the world around him. He sensed his friends’ comings and goings, but since he had his volume all the way up to drown out the noise of the beachgoers around him, he didn’t know if they had attempted to talk to him or not. The answer was probably not. He loved his friends dearly, but they collectively had the emotional intelligence of a peanut. They surely would wait out for Sunoo’s mulishness to fix itself and then act as if nothing had happened. Which was fine , really. Nothing had actually happened. Sunoo was just being a bit too sensitive as usual.  

Sunoo’s screen went dark all of a sudden, startling him. Sunoo tapped at the screen, pressed at the buttons on the side, with no luck. He realized he had probably run out of battery and hadn’t noticed. He dropped his phone on the towel and tugged his earphones off. His power bank was, of course, at home. He rolled over unto his back, realizing how stiff he’d been from holding the same position for so long. He debated over what to do. 

He could no longer take pictures since his phone had run out of battery. He was not going to swim in the sea, hating the way algae gets tangled on your ankles if you so much as take 15 steps into the water.  He could no longer continue watching his drama, which he was about an episode and a half from finishing. 

He remembered past beach trips with his family, his sister and him always teaming up to build the most impressive sand castles and moats they could since they were little. He contemplated it for a second but discarded the idea just as quickly. He didn’t feel like building a sand castle by himself. He forlornly wished his sister was here. He then remembered another favorite activity of theirs - hunting for pretty seashells! 

Even though he didn’t have his trusty plastic bucket with him, the shirt he was wearing was big enough so that he could lift the hem up and place the seashells there as a makeshift pouch. Resolution made, he made to stand up when, out of nowhere, a volleyball softly bumped his knee and rolled to a stop right next to him on the towel. Bewildered, Sunoo looked around trying to find the owner, but the people around him all seemed to carry on with their activities as if nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Sunoo grabbed the volleyball and walked out of the shade of the canopy, the glare of the sun that had climbed higher up in the sky coming down on him. He raised a hand above his head to protect his eyes, the bucket hat forgotten behind him.

“Hey,” a guy’s voice to his right called, “Excuse me! That's our ball.”

Sunoo blinked rapidly and turned his body in the direction of the voice. He almost choked on his spit, stunned. Walking up to him was a bona fide Men’s Health Magazine centerfold, all glowing gold skin and gleaming white teeth on display. Sunoo felt faint. 

“Oh, hi,” Mr. Gorgeous said, reaching Sunoo and smiling broader, “thanks for getting that.”

Sunoo didn’t know how he mustered enough courage (and brain cells) to answer back.

“You’re welcome,” he stammered, heart rabbiting on his chest, “here you go.”

He lobbed the ball the short distance to the guy, who he realized upon closer inspection couldn’t be that much older than him.

“Hey, thanks,” he thanked him again, voice warm and eyes crinkling charmingly. “And what is my benefactor’s name so that I can properly thank him? This humble one is Kang Seojun.”

The guy took a sweeping bow, and made it as if he was tipping his imaginary hat to Sunoo. That got a laugh from Sunoo.

“I’m Kim Sunoo,” he responded, still a little shy, “I’m an ‘03 liner.”

“Ah,” the other smirked, “then I’m your hyung-nim. I’m an ‘02 liner.”

Sunoo scoffed, amused.

“My apologies, hyung-nim,” he switched to formal language, “I meant no disrespect.”

“None taken,” Seojun answered primly. “Listen, I have to get back and finish kicking my friends’ asses on beach volleyball.”

“Oh,” Sunoo blinked, a little disappointed, “of course. Good luck!”

“Yes, thank you, thank you,” Seojun said, scratching his head and clearing his throat without making to leave. Sunoo was starting to feel awkward.  

“Uh, are you busy right now?” the other bursted out, surprising Sunoo. He wasn’t sure he heard the other right.

“Am I busy? Right now?”

Seojun nodded energetically. 

“Yeah, are you busy? It’s just, well, it’s kinda hard to keep score while we are playing a set, you know, and since it’s only four of us we are all playing, you know?”

Sunoo was sure his face was showing how confused he was. 

“Uhm, you want me to keep score for you guys?”

“Uh, yeah, only if you want to, of course! No pressure! If you don’t know how to play volleyball, that’s ok too! We can just tell you when we score and you just gotta keep track of that. It’s not gonna be for free, either! We have snacks and drinks, and all that! And we are a cool bunch, I swear.”

Sunoo listened to the verbal diarrhea somewhat amazed. Was Mr. Gorgeous nervous for some reason?

“I know how to play volleyball,” Sunoo interrupted his tirade before he could continue, “and I know how to keep score. I’m not doing anything at the moment. I’ll do it.”

“Oh, that’s a- Wait, really? You’ll do it?” Seojun looked at him so hopefully it made Sunoo feel somewhat flustered. He was as excited as if Sunoo had agreed to donate one of his kidneys to him for a life-saving transplant op.

“Yes,” he nodded, trying to hide how jittery he felt. 

Seojun pumped his fist in the air in celebration, and pointed to the general direction of where his friends had set up camp on the beach. The volleyball had actually rolled pretty far from where Sunoo finally spotted the net and the faraway figures of who he assumed were Seojun’s friends. They started walking that way, Seojun explaining that they had accidentally sent the ball flying too far on a serve and some asshole had kicked it away from them, which eventually landed it next to Sunoo. Since it had been Seojun who’d served, he was tasked with retrieving the ball.

“And I’m glad it was me,” he admitted, looking at Sunoo and then turning his face quickly away. Sunoo’s face was on fire. What in the world was going on here?

When they drew close enough to Seojun’s friends, they walked up to meet them, greeting Seojun and not hiding their curiosity at all at Sunoo’s presence.

“Seojun-ah, who’s your friend?” one of them asked, blonde mop of hair bouncing up and down seemingly on its own. He seemed energetic.

“Yeah, Kang Seojun,” another teased, a really tall, lanky guy, “we just sent you to get the ball and you came back with the ball and with delightful company. Multi-tasking king!” 

“You guys think you are so funny,” Seojun muttered and then cleared his throat, addressing everyone, “this is Kim Sunoo, who I just met and graciously gave us our ball back. I invited him to hang out with us, so you guys better not be weird.”

“Nice to meet you, Kim Sunoo,” said the third friend, who seemed much more serious than the rest, “I’m Lee Siwoo, that’s Park Hyunwoo,” he said pointing to the blonde guy, “and that’s Kim Junyoung,” the tall guy waved enthusiastically at the mention of his name. “I’ll be making sure none of them act weird, including our Kang Seojun.” 

“Nice to meet you all,” Sunoo said, shy but feeling oddly at ease. They all seemed awfully friendly, and the atmosphere was not awkward at all. It felt as if they’d all known each other from before. 

“Seojun hyung said you guys needed somebody to keep score?” Sunoo asked. 

“Oh thank goodness!” Junyoung exclaimed, effusively shaking Sunoo’s hands in gratitude. Sunoo was a bit taken by surprise by the strength in Junyoung’s shake, his bones rattling. “These guys are cheaters through and through, finally someone here will set the record straight.”

“Kim Junyoung, you’re the biggest cheat around,” Siwoo rolled his eyes. 

The two started bickering while Seojun and Hyunwoo laughed at the both of them. Sunoo was reminded of his friends, which in turn reminded him about earlier, unconsciously making his smile drop a smidge. 

“Sunoo,” Seojun called, capturing his attention, “let me take you to the throne where you’ll be judging who lives or dies from.”

He extended his hand and held it out, as if he expected Sunoo to place his hand on top of it. Sunoo stared at it in panic for a second before a resounding smack to the back of Seojun’s head snapped him out of it. Siwoo was looking seriously at Seojun, who was pitifully rubbing his head and demanding to know what Siwoo’s deal was.

“Don’t be weird,” he sentenced, “stop making Sunoo uncomfortable. Come, Sunoo.”

Sunoo hurried to follow Siwoo, looking back at Seojun who walked after them a second later with his head hanging low. Siwoo brought the cooler box right next to the beach chair where Sunoo was going to sit in, gave him a rechargeable hand fan, and flashed him a thumbs up before running out from under the canopy and went over to the net where the other two friends were chatting.

“Siwoo hyung is dependable like that,” Seojun commented, reminding Sunoo that he was still standing next to him, “everybody’s favorite older brother type.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Sunoo nodded. He was trying really hard to not peep at Seojun next to him, who was still very much shirtless.

“Listen, Sunoo,” the other started after a couple of seconds of silence, “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m sorry if I’m being very awkward. I just saw you and I wanted to get to know you. I don’t usually do this kind of thing.”

“And what kind of thing would that be?” Sunoo heard himself asking. 

“Talking to guys I find attractive,” he answered, not taking his eyes off from Sunoo. Sunoo felt that even the tips of his pink hair were blushing under the attention.

“Ya, Kang Seojun! We wanna play some time today! Get your romancing ass over here!” yelled Junyoung, making the others guffaw. 

Seojun smiled at Sunoo, that very wide and very white smile of his, arching his eyebrows and waving before running to his friends. Sunoo all but collapsed in the chair, knees weak. Seojun had Hyunwoo in a headlock and was giving him a noogie, probably for teasing him. 

Sunoo thought that this whole scenario was something straight out of a romcom, something that happened to perky-nosed petite main lead girls, not to average Joes like Sunoo. The terrible thought that this could be a practical joke crossed Sunoo’s mind but he refused to go down that rabbit hole. He couldn’t think of a single reason why this group of guys would wanna pull something like that, and besides, Sunoo really liked their vibes. They felt genuine and had been nothing but polite. Sunoo had learned to trust his instinct when it came to people, and his instinct was telling him that these guys were safe. 

“Alright, let’s get this game started!” he yelled, calling for their attention. Seojun flashed him a smile. 

It took all but ten seconds for Sunoo to realize that these guys were competitive as heck. They were playing the match as if they were in the beach volleyball finals in the Olympics and not as young friends fooling around and having a good time on the beach. No wonder they needed someone to keep score! The match’s pace was way too fast for that of a friendly game. In less time than he thought possible, the first set had come to an end with only a point difference between both teams. They insisted on playing full sets, as if they were actually playing an official match.

Sunoo was having fun, the game had him quite literally on the edge of his seat. He could not afford to take his eyes off them even for a second. They did play dirty, so Sunoo had to constantly intervene. They would groan at getting caught, but always deferred to Sunoo’s authority on his calls. Sunoo didn’t even notice when he’d stood up and abandoned the canopy’s shade to stand closer to the net to better monitor the game. He would slip and cheer here and there when good plays were executed, which would raise complaints of favoritism from the guys. Sunoo’s cheeks were hurting from how much he was smiling. 

The match ended with a victory for Siwoo and Hyunwoo’s team. The two cheered loudly and hugged each other, as if they were taking the gold home. Junyoung had collapsed on the sand and was dramatically gasping for air. Seojun came up to Sunoo and looked at him bashfully, crossing his hands over his chest. Sunoo valiantly kept his eyes on Seojun’s face. 

“That’s not all I’ve got,” he defended himself, “I can definitely play better than that.”

Sunoo laughed.

“I don’t doubt that,” Sunoo agreed, “just win the next match.”

Seojun looked at him intensely.

“I’m winning that next match for you,” he declared cockily.

“Water break!” Sunoo called, flustered for the nth time that day. Seojun smiled devilishly at him before grabbing one of the water bottles in Sunoo’s hand and taking a huge swig from it to then dump the rest over his head. Sunoo felt like doing the same only to lower his body temperature. The others joined them, chatting and guzzling down bottle after bottle of water. Junyoung happily munched on some dehydrated fruit snacks, which he had politely offered to everyone before digging in. 

After resting for a little while, the guys switched the teams so that now Seojun and Siwoo were on one team and Hyunwoo and Junyoung in another. The game once again started way too intensely, Sunoo discovering the deadly combo that both Seojun and Siwoo made. He was unabashedly cheering now. Junyoung, halfway through the first set, sent the ball flying too far on a botched spike attempt with his seemingly superhuman strength.

“I’ll get it!” Sunoo shouted before the rest of them could say anything, running after the ball that seemed to grow little feet and was quickly getting away. The ball came to rest next to the base of the lifeguard tower. Sunoo quickly scooped it up and was about to run back when someone yanked him by the elbow, spinning him around.

“Ya, Kim Sunoo, what do you think you’re doing?” a furious Sunghoon asked.

Sunoo was so startled he couldn’t speak for a second. He’d almost forgotten about his friends completely. 

“Hyung!” he cried, “what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Sunghoon repeated, straight eyebrows meeting in the middle with how much the older was frowning, “What’s wrong is that we couldn’t find you anywhere! We thought something happened to you! Everybody is looking for you right now. You even left your phone back there. How did you think we felt?”

Sunoo felt as if he’d been slapped. For some reason, he was resenting Sunghoon’s scolding tone a lot.

“I left my phone back there because it ran out of battery anyways,” he sharply answered back, pulling his arm free from Sunghoon’s hold, “and there was no need to call for a search party. I’m not a little kid. I can take care of myself. How was I supposed to know you’d notice I was gone? You guys were sure busy enjoying yourselves without me.”

Sunghoon looked surprised at Sunoo’s words, even taking a step back.

“We what? Sunoo, that is not-”

“Sunoo! ”

“Sunoo!”

Two different voices called at the same time from opposite directions. Sunoo saw Heeseung make his way over to them, while he felt a towering presence behind him.

“Who are you?” Sunghoon demanded, hostility returning to his handsome features. 

“Who are you?” Seojun sneered, standing next to Sunoo, arm touching his. Sunoo saw Sunghoon’s eye take that point of contact in. 

“Sunoo, you know this guy?” Sunghoon asked, ignoring Seojun.

“Sunoo, you know these guys?” Seojun asked, pointing with his chin in his friends’ direction.

Sunoo’s head was suddenly throbbing. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” he put his foot down, “Heeseung hyung, Sunghoon hyung, this is Seojun hyung, a friend I made here at the beach. Seojun hyung, these are Heeseung hyung and Sunghoon hyung, good friends from university.”

Everybody proceeded to seize each other up for a few tense seconds. Sunoo was seriously gonna need an ibuprofen for his headache.

“Good friends?” Seojun echoed. “So none of them are your boyfriend.”

“What? What?” Sunoo stuttered. “No, what? No? I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Nice.”

Sunghoon opened his mouth to say something before the arrival of the rest of Sunoo’s friends, as well as Seojun’s friends, interrupted him. The two groups looked at each other cautiously and Sunoo was, quite literally, standing between them.

“Okay, I don’t wanna repeat myself, so listen up,” Sunoo said, swallowing his nerves, “Everyone, this is Kang Seojun hyung, Lee Siwoo hyung, Park Hyunwoo hyung, and Kim Junyoung hyung respectively. They invited me over to play volleyball with them, which is where I’ve been this whole time. No, I wasn’t missing, no, there was no need to make such a huge deal out of this. You guys, these are all my good friends from university, Lee Heeseung hyung, Park Sunghoon hyung, Jay Park hyung, Jake hyung, Yang Jungwon, and Ni-ki,” he gestured to them all as he listed their names off, “we all came together to the beach and they’re usually much more laid back than this.”

“Sorry, hyung,” Jungwon apologized cautiously, still staring at the guys behind Sunoo, “we just had no idea where you went. We all panicked a bit. I’m glad you were having fun playing volleyball and not, you know,” he trailed off, making some abstract motions with his hands. Sunoo raised his eyebrow questioningly.

“Dead at the bottom of a ditch,” Ni-ki supplied, “or sold off to a human trafficking ring.”

“Wow,” said Hyunwoo behind him. That made everybody titter a bit, breaking the tension a little.

“Well, it’s nice to meet Sunoo’s good friends,” Siwoo greeted diplomatically, bowing to the group. Sunoo’s friends bowed back, returning the greeting. Sunghoon had yet to take his eyes off Sunoo. Sunoo felt Seojun shift beside him.

“You guys should join us,” Junyoung exclaimed, “we can play volleyball together and split into teams of five. It’ll be fun.”

“We were actually about to play soccer together so,” Sunghoon tsked, “we’ll have to decline.”

“Actually, volleyball sounds super fun,” Jake mentioned timidly, hand half-raised. Sunghoon shot him such a betrayed look that almost made Sunoo crack up.

“There we go!” Junyoung cheered, clearly trying to air out the awkwardness in the air, “Nothing like a friendly match to get to know each other.”

“You scared to lose or something?” Seojun challenged Sunghoon directly, engaging him in a staring match. 

Sunoo felt his mouth open in shock at Seojun’s belligerent tone. He turned to look at the boy beside him, but his gaze was still focused on Sunghoon. The latter scoffed, adopting a haughty expression. 

“Scared? Nah,” he denied, “Crushing people on volleyball is sounding really good right about now.”

“O-kay,” Heeseung interrupted, physically getting in front of Sunghoon and shooting one of his most charming smiles at Seojun and his friends, “How about we go get our stuff and meet over at you guys’ spot? There’s enough room for all of us over there, right?”

Siwoo nodded. “Yeah, for sure.”

“It’s decided then! See you guys in a bit,” he waved, turning Sunghoon forcefully with his arm firmly around his shoulders. Everybody turned and started walking away. Sunoo made as if to follow them when a hold on his forearm stopped him.

“You’re coming back, right?” Seojun asked.

“Yes, of course,” he confirmed, “You guys need me. You would cheat way too much if you didn’t have someone keeping score after all.”

Seojun bit his lip, tampering down his megawatt smile. 

“Alright. See you in a bit, Kim Sunoo!” he yelled as he ran back in the direction of his friends. 

Sunoo sighed. The urge to just stay standing there and pretending whatever happened had not happened was too strong. Sunoo hated conflicts and loved being the center of attention, but he hated being the center of attention of conflicts. 

He walked over to his friends like a man on death row. His friends were chatting animatedly as they packed their things, seemingly nothing amiss. Sunghoon was the only one glowering, shoving things somewhat harshly into his bag. He looked up sharply when Sunoo got close enough and stopped what he was doing, looking at his face fixedly.

“What is it?” Sunoo muttered, not wanting to have another row with Sunghoon in front of everybody. 

“Your face is very red,” he told him, pointing at Sunoo, making him cross-eyed, “It is very sun-burnt.”

Sunoo gasped and smacked his hands to his cheeks, effectively feeling the sting of the burn.

“Oww,” he groaned. 

Sunghoon gave a long suffering sigh and took out a tube from his bag.

“Come here,” the elder commanded, crooking his finger towards himself. Sunoo narrowed his eyes at him. 

“What? Come here,” Sunghoon repeated. Sunoo walked into Sunghoon’s space and hated a little how he had to tilt his head back to keep eye contact with him. Sunoo almost jumped out of his skin when Sunghoon’s large hand gently rubbed something on his cheekbones.

“More sunblock,” Sunghoon explained, dark eyes fixed on Sunoo’s face as he carefully covered every bit of exposed skin with the lotion.

“Okay,” Sunoo whispered, maintaining eye contact, “thanks, hyung.”

“There you go,” Sunghoon said, capping the bottle and taking a step back. Sunoo suddenly felt bereft. Sunghoon took off his bucket hat and placed it on Sunoo’s head firmly, even fixing his fringe for him. Sunoo’s face felt warm under the sunblock. 

“Jay hyung gave me his hat,” he mentioned, already knowing what the other was going to say.

“That’s alright,” Sunghoon said, turning to shoulder his bag, “Use mine.”

The group started making its way over to the other guys’ spot. Sunoo was relieved that whatever had made Sunghoon and the rest upset had seemed to pass. 

“So, Sunoo hyung,” Jungwon asked, “are those guys any good at volleyball?”

Sunoo nodded, launching on a detailed explanation of the matches he had refereed for earlier. Jake started explaining the strategy they were going to follow in order to beat them, until Jay reminded them that the teams were going to be mixed. Reaching the guys’ canopy, both parties greeted each other and started unfolding chairs, popping out the drinks and snacks, and gathering around to get to know each other. Sunoo found himself sitting cross-legged on the towels on the floor, sandwiched in between Sunghoon and Seojun. 

“Sunoo, would you like some water?” Seojun offered gallantly. He had thrown in a muscle shirt that left his sides bare to the world.

“Sunoo prefers green tea,” Sunghoon interrupted, all but shoving a cold bottle of said beverage on Sunoo’s hand. Sunoo opened his mouth to say something but simply decided to let it go, choosing to ignore the scathing look both guys had shared over his head. He thanked the both of them and took small sips of his green tea, mind racing about what to do. 

“Hey, we’ve got some tubs of ice cream on our cooler box if you guys want some,” Jay offered. Some of the guys cheered and reached for some, elated.

“Sunoo, wanna share a tub with me?” Seojun asked, holding two spoons up. Before Sunoo could say anything again, Sunghoon had wrapped Sunoo’s hand around a spoon and placed a tub of mint choco ice cream between them.

“Sunoo only likes mint choco,” Sunghoon said self-importantly, “he’s gonna share it with me.”

Now, Sunoo could not let that one slide.

“Hyung, you hate mint choco,” he reprimanded. 

Sunghoon blushed but insisted on scooping some ice cream and shoveling it into his mouth, barely containing his grimace. Sunoo was partly amused, but mostly annoyed.

“Who said I hate mint choco?” he said after barely swallowing without gagging. Sunoo rolled his eyes and stood up without a word, going to sit next to Siwoo and Heeseung, who appeared to be getting along swimmingly.

“Sunoo, what’s wrong?” Siwoo asked, turning to give Seojun a quick dirty look, “is he bothering you, king?”

Sunoo guffawed, amused at Siwoo’s antics.

“No, no, nothing like that,” he denied, trying to stifle his giggles, “I just needed a break from that pair over there.”

Heeseung grimaced but didn't comment. Siwoo sighed.

“I know Seojun is being a little pest right now,” he began, smiling at Sunoo’s burst of laughter, “What’s so funny? I know it may sound like an understatement to you right now, haha, but, if it’s worth anything, I’ve never seen him acting this way with anyone. Our little Seojunnie is a shy one.”

“Oh,” Sunoo peeped, growing silent. 

He observed Seojun sitting across from him, who was very clearly turning his body away from Sunghoon and chatting with Jay and Hyunwoo on his other side. Meanwhile, Sunghoon was mindlessly eating and gesturing slightly at the mint choco-flavored ice cream as he listened to Jake next to him. Sunghoon was also acting strange today, unusually voluble. He wasn’t sure why he was acting this way, but he had the nagging feeling that he should know why.

“Are we playing some volleyball or nah?” Ni-ki whined after a while. 

That got everybody moving, stretching out and heading to the net in a flurry of excitement. The group naturally split into two teams - Heeseung, Siwoo, Hyunwoo, Jake, Sunghoon on one and Jay, Junyoung, Seojun, Ni-ki, and Jungwon on the other. Sunoo was actually surprised at how easy that was; he’d thought, for some reason, that they would have difficulty choosing who’d go in which team. 

They agreed to keep the sets to 15 points only and had Sunoo flip a coin to decide which team would go first. Seojun and Sunghoon, team captains, walked up to him as serious as a heart attack, making Sunoo nervous for some reason. Seojun went with heads, Sunghoon went with tails, and the coin, when Sunoo uncovered it, was heads. Seojun smirked at Sunghoon, who only huffed and stalked back to his side of the net, mouth set in a firm line.

Seojun’s team got first serve and the set started with a spectacular serve from Junyoung. It became quickly apparent that most of the guys were having fun, giggling, diving dramatically and spraying sand all over the sand, even the guys that had earlier given off Olympic players vibes. Except, of course, for Sunghoon and Seojun who were being so intense for literally no reason at all, giving Sunoo a severe case of second-hand embarrassment. 

The rest of the guys were doing a stellar job at ignoring them for the most part, but Seojun kept taunting Sunghoon, making the other snarl at him. Sunoo didn’t like that much. Sunghoon was usually a pretty laid-back guy. It was a bit hard to get a reaction from him, especially such a plain-for-all-to-see one. It wasn’t fun to see him get antagonized to this extent. Even when the two of them would often bicker, it would never escalate to this point. 

The first set ended with a victory for Seojun’s team. He walked up to the net and beckoned Sunghoon closer. The latter reluctantly went up and listened to whatever Seojun had to say. All of a sudden, Sunghoon reeled back abruptly as if slapped, then launched himself forward as if to grab Seojun. Sunoo saw it all happen in slow-motion. Luckily Jake and Hyunwoo were faster and held back Sunghoon while Seojun smiled down at him.

Everyone broke into an uproar, crowding the two captains. Sunoo quickly ran up to the net and bodily got in between the teams, extending his arms as if that would be enough to stop the imminent fight.

“What is wrong with you?!” Sunoo screamed, voice sounding unexpectedly desperate. That got everybody’s attention, turning to look at Sunoo quietly chastised. Sunoo didn’t think it was going to be that easy, and he struggled on what to say next.

“It’s just a game, you guys,” he nervously laughed, trying to hide his shaking hands by clasping the hem of Jake’s shirt, “there is no need whatsoever to get mad over something that is fun like volleyball, right? We were all having a good time together before, so can we please just, simmer down, or something?”

They all truly looked like a group of scolded toddlers, which tugged at Sunoo’s heartstrings a bit, but he refused to back down. 

“I’m going for a swim,” Sunghoon announced abruptly, heading towards the water.

“Hyung, you don’t even know how to-!” Sunoo yelled after him.

“Don’t worry, I got him,” Jake said, going after Sunghoon, “you guys can keep playing, we’ll be back later!”

The remaining guys looked somewhat uncomfortable, and they resumed the game somewhat stiltedly, now in teams of four. Sunoo was not even paying attention, stomach churning. He kept thinking about Sunghoon and how upset he’d seemed when he stalked off. He had the strange urge to apologize despite not really having done anything wrong. Sunoo knows he missed a bunch of calls during the game but his heart just wasn’t on it anymore. Finally, they finished the second set with Sunghoon’s former team winning this one. They all agreed to not play a third set. 

“I’m going to find some pretty seashells to take with me before we leave,” Sunoo said, hoping to catch a few minutes alone, “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll go with you!” Seojun cried, running to catch up with Sunoo. 

Sunoo tried really hard to hide the exasperated sigh that wanted to burst forth. He nodded, not knowing how to say no. The two walked silently for a bit, Sunoo focused on the sand. He wanted to find a couple of seashells to take with him quickly and go back to the others.

“I feel like I should apologize,” Seojun said after he realized Sunoo was not going to say anything, “Though your friend seriously overreacted.” 

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” Sunoo said, still pretending to be engrossed in his search for seashells, “and he would never react in such a way unprovoked.”

“Do you think I provoked your friend, Sunoo?” Seojun asked, stopping where he was. 

Sunoo looked up and finally made eye contact with Seojun, not resisting the urge to roll his eyes. 

“I don’t think it’s a matter of whether I think you provoked him or not,” Sunoo bit out, “clearly Sunghoon hyung thinks you were provoking him. I’m not even going to ask you what you said to him, because it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day.”

“Sunoo, you have to believe me, I didn’t think he would get upset that easily! The last thing I want to do is to make you sad.”

Seojun’s ad-worthy smile really was not cutting it anymore. Sunoo smiled back tiredly, not wanting to drag this on. He leaned down and gathered five random seashells on his hand, not stopping to look whether they were pretty or not. 

“Okay, I’m done,” he simply said, walking back to the canopy, “I’m heading back.”

The two reached the others in complete silence. Siwoo looked at the two of them and frowned, but didn’t say anything. He nudged Junyoung.

“Ah,” the other jumped, quickly taking in the situation, “I hate to say this but it’s time for us to head back. We are about a four-hour drive from here, and it’s already 4 o’clock. We don’t wanna get back too late.”

Sunoo’s friends oohed and aahed, nodding and helping the other guys pack their stuff as well as their own.

“I’ll get Sunghoon hyung and Jake hyung,” Jungwon announced, taking off.

Sunoo was in the middle of shaking the sand off of a pair of towels when Seojun saddled up next to him. “Can I have your KaTalk?” 

Sunoo couldn’t believe the audacity.

“I actually ran out of battery earlier today so...” Sunoo trailed off, not offering anything else.

“Right, a shame,” Seojun muttered, gathering some trash from where it had landed on the sand and walking away, clearing his throat awkwardly. 

By the time Jungwon came back with Sunghoon and Jake, the other four guys had already left with simple waves, silhouettes dark against the setting sun. Sunghoon looked much more calm, handsome features as unperturbed as a pond. Everyone agreed to start heading back then, Ni-ki half-heartedly trying to convince everyone to crash Heeseung’s place afterwards and order pizza. 

Sunoo suddenly felt the weight of the whole day press down on him. He was an emotional guy, but he really had gone through the entire spectrum of emotions in a span of a few hours. He could barely drag himself to Heeseung’s car. He mournfully threw the seashells he had grabbed on a whim on the sand. Sunoo made a mental note to silence his friends’ messages for the next three to five business days to recuperate from the emotional rollercoaster they had subjected him to.

Sunghoon rode shotgun again, leaving Jake and Sunoo on the back. It seemed he wasn’t the only one drained, Jake even flopping his head back heavily onto the seat’s backrest. It wasn’t long until he’d fallen asleep. Sunoo could not sleep no matter how much he wanted to, probably because of all the sleeping he’d done that morning. He could spy Sunghoon’s reflection in the car’s side mirror and he had his eyes serenely closed as well. Heeseung was not much of a talker when he drove, so he let the elder play his R&B playlist as ambient noise.

He couldn’t help but pout a little at how disappointing Seojun had turned out to be. Meeting him had felt like the start of a possible romance for the ages, a karaoke scene in a New Year’s Eve party moment - only for it all to be a bust. No matter how much Sunoo could sometimes disagree with his friends, he would not allow for anyone to treat them the way Seojun had treated Sunghoon. 

Sunoo still felt like moping. So sue him if he got his hopes up with a handsome, sexy guy that seemed to be into him, even if he turned out to be a bit of an asswipe. Sunoo didn’t wanna spiral, but this was once again forcing him to face the fact that the problem all along may be Sunoo himself. He got his fair share of passing interest from people, but the moment someone got a little closer to Sunoo, hung out with him and his friends once, they’d scram as if repelled by something. Someone, Sunoo thought bitterly. Just like Jake, they probably did not want to be associated romantically to someone like Sunoo.

“Why do you keep sighing, Kim Sunoo?” a voice interrupted his thoughts all of a sudden. Sunoo startled, looking at the culprit through the reflection. Sunghoon hadn’t opened his eyes.

“I didn’t realize I was sighing,” Sunoo sighed, “Sorry, hyung.”

Sunghoon hummed. “Don’t apologize. Did you really like that guy that much?”

Sunoo leaned his head on the glass, warmed by the sun. It felt nice since the A/C was raising goosebumps on his arms. 

“No way,” he denied, “he was being mean to you, hyung, and don’t try to deny it. I don’t care how chiseled his chest was or how white his smile was, I will not stand for that.”

“He was not being mean to me,” Sunghoon said after a moment, eyes still closed. Sunoo could see his dark eyelashes from where he was sitting. “Do you wanna know what he said to me?”

“Nope,” Sunoo said, popping the “p” in nope, “I don’t wanna be even more disappointed. Let’s leave it at that.”

“He said that if I wasn’t your boyfriend I had no business being all overprotective of you, blocking his chances from scoring with you.”

Sunoo huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You were being overprotective,” he pouted but no longer felt annoyed, “you even yelled at me and everything.”

“I’m sorry,” Sunghoon earnestly said, opening his eyes and somehow quickly finding him through the mirror, “for yelling at you. I was worried when you were gone, your phone abandoned there. I know you were upset about what Jake said.”

Sunoo shifted in his seat, suddenly hyper aware of the other two occupants in the car. Jake was allegedly still asleep while Heeseung seemed awfully concentrated in driving and in perfecting his impersonation of a boulder. 

“Please let’s not bring that up,” Sunoo begged quietly, lowering his voice to Sunghoon’s ears only. “Top Ten Most Awkward Sunoo moments ever. I got the message.”

“And what message is that?” Sunghoon challenged, decidedly not lowering his voice. Sunoo cringed. “Because I don’t think you do get the message.”

“That for some reason it’s embarrassing to be associated with me,” Sunoo said, throat tight, “as a romantic partner. Hell, probably even as a friend! You guys planned this whole beach trip without me and last minute decided I could tag along or something? Pity invite for the win.” 

Sunoo barked a laugh, decidedly not finding this funny and feeling the first tears spill down his cheeks. 

Sunghoon abruptly unbuckled himself and turned on his seat quickly, looking at Sunoo directly over the seat’s shoulders. Sunoo saw Heeseung looking at the two of them panicked, tried to say something, but he bit his lip and kept worriedly glancing at them from time to time while keeping his eyes on the road still. 

“It was my idea,” Sunghoon said hotly, seemingly wanting to pin Sunoo to the seat with his stare alone, “I’ve been planning this whole trip with everyone because I wanted it to be a surprise. A surprise for you. You like that kind of stuff!” 

“Well, yeah,” Sunoo defended himself, “but what was I supposed to think when you guys didn’t even let me run quickly to my apartment and get my stuff? I had to borrow clothes from Jake hyung and Jungwonnie, and we know how that turned out.”

“I might’ve gotten too into my head,” Sunghoon argued, “I realize now I could’ve been more flexible, yes, but I was nervous. I got all your favorites written down, had to make sure we would get them all. I didn’t want any deviation from my plan.”

“My favorites?” Sunoo questioned, mystified. Things were starting to click inside his head.

“The drinks, the snacks, the sunscreen, all the fun beach paraphernalia,” Sunghoon listed off, eyebrows raised. 

“Why would you do that?” Sunoo shook his head, a headache building behind his eyeballs.

Sunghoon gave a deep sigh, reaching behind him for a second before extending his hand as if to give Sunoo something. Sunoo cupped his hands automatically and Sunghoon dropped what he realized were smooth, unblemished seashells of different sizes into Sunoo’s palms.

Sunoo couldn’t intake enough air.

“For the same reason Jake rushed to reassure everyone he didn’t mean anything by what he said,” he said slowly, arm wrapped around the seat as if it was the only thing holding him upright.

“For the same reason I was livid when this model-looking guy came to sweep you off your feet in the midst of the trip I had planned for us to enjoy together. For the same reason I almost punched said model-looking guy for saying that whoever won the game would get to have you, as if you were a thing to be owned and not the beautiful, kind, funny, and amazing person I know you are,” Sunghoon paused for air, “and that I fell in love with. Have been in love with for quite a while.” 

Heeseung let out a small squeak. Sunoo could feel his mouth hanging wide open. 

“I was insanely jealous-,” Sunghoon kept going, despite Sunoo’s wish that he kinda wouldn’t because oh my God is this for real , “-insanely jealous of Jay for giving you his bucket hat, insanely jealous of Jake for giving you his shirt, insanely jealous of that asshole and his chiseled body and tawny skin and cool friends that you immediately clicked with when sometimes I feel like you don’t know what to say to me still after all this time.”

“I don’t-! That’s-!“ Sunoo babbled, stumped.

Sunghoon looked at him forlornly and sighed, turning back around and buckling up once again. Sunoo noticed that they were in the city’s outskirts already. 

“I don’t expect you to reciprocate my feelings,” Sunghoon said, face facing forward, “but I just couldn’t stand hearing you make up all this stuff about yourself and about me, about us, about my intentions, like that. I wanna make it as clear as day for you. I wasn’t planning on making a move. I just wanted to spend time with you, be close to you today. That’s all.” 

Silence descended in the car after that. Sunoo had never struggled with words, with giving appropriate reactions to situations when they called for it, pulling through uncomfortable moments, but this was beyond Sunoo’s realm of experience. His mind had been completely wiped clean by Sunghoon’s words. He wasn’t embarrassed, elated, worried - he couldn’t compute a single emotion. His head felt separated from the rest of his body.

“Sunoo,” Heeseung called timidly, breaking him away from his stupor, “we are here.”

Sunoo looked, really looked, out the window and realized they were already parked outside of his apartment complex. He'd zoned out for that long. Sunoo opened the car door mechanically and exited the vehicle, closing the door behind him.

When Heeseung’s car drove off, he felt an inexplicable sense of loss. He almost wanted to run after the car, but he had no idea what he would even do if he caught up to it. He climbed up the stairs with a heart growing heavier by the second. He unlocked the door and all of a sudden his small student apartment appeared cavernous in its emptiness. 

Sunoo plugged his phone in to charge and dropped like dead weight on his individual bed, staring at the ceiling. He had glued a couple of glow-in-the-dark stars with Sunghoon despite being against the rules after winning a packet as a prize at the university fair in Sunoo's first year. Sensation was creeping back into his extremities. 

What. the. hell.

The phone played a cheery little tune as it turned back on again and all sorts of notifications started flooding in after hours of being off. Sunoo didn’t hesitate to call the one person he needed right at this moment. 

“Yo,” an upbeat voice answered at the second ring, “I was about to call the police after seeing you’ve been offline for 7 hours, you had us all worried.”

“Sis,” Sunoo got out after much struggle. 

“Kim Sunoo, what’s wrong?” his sister demanded, immediately sounding serious.

Sunoo felt like crying.

“Sis, I’m seriously in trouble right now,” he hiccuped, the stress and emotions of the day once again threatening to overtake him. Sunoo heard shuffling noises from his sister’s end and muffled cursing.

“Okay, I’m on my way, hang tight, whatever you did it’s gonna be okay, send me your location, alright?”

“Sunghoon hyung just confessed to me,” he whimpered. The line went silent for a few seconds.

“Ya, brat. You have ten seconds to explain why Sunghoon confessing to you falls in the category of ‘Trouble’ and not in the category of ‘Things I Should Be Effusively Thanking the Gods and my Ancestors For’ category. Ten, nine, eight-!” 

“You don’t understand!” he cried, interrupting his sister. “I had no idea he liked me! At all!”

His sister sighed exasperatedly.

“Okay so he’s better at being discreet about his crush on you than you were about your crush on him, big deal!” she taunted.

Sunoo’s mouth dropped open. “My crush on-?! Sis, what?!” 

"We Kims pride ourselves in being pretty and smart,” his sister recited, “so acting stupid is not very becoming of you.” 

Sunoo unglued the phone from his ear to look at it in disbelief. 

“I didn’t call you for you to insult me,” he hissed. 

“Then what did you call me for? Hopefully not thinking I was going to coddle you? Look, big baby, do you like Sunghoon, yes or no?”

“I- Why- I mean! Of course I like him! Who doesn’t!” 

“A lot of people, Sunoo. Of course, your friend is very handsome, eye-catching even, but the man behind all that is a person just like you and me, with flaws and idiosyncrasies that can be off-putting, too. And you’ve been into the dude since Day 1, let’s not lie to ourselves here. But what’s different is that you’ve chosen to like him every day since then and continue to do so. Why are you so afraid to learn that he’s into you as well?” 

“It doesn’t feel real,” Sunoo mumbled, once more focusing on the stars above him, “it feels like a wish made on a shooting star come true.” 

“And here you are being a dum-dum for looking at a veritable miracle on the face and saying ‘thanks, no thanks.’”

“I didn’t say ‘no thanks,’” Sunoo grumbled. 

“Saying nothing is saying ‘no thanks’,” she sassed. 

Sunoo sighed. 

“So?” his sister asked. Sunoo frowned.

“So what?” 

“Are you putting on your tennis shoes and going after your man as we speak?” 

He got off the bed and started taking off the borrowed clothes, rummaging through his drawers for an outfit. 

“I sure am now,” he said, sliding on a pair of ripped jeans.

“Alright, well, let me know when you’ve made out with your boy like eager teenagers on prom night for at least 45 minutes, okay? Bye-bye, kisses! Don’t forget to call Mom tomorrow!”

And she hanged up. 

Sunoo hurried to grab his keys, his phone and his power bank once he was ready and left the apartment. Last moment, he went back to quickly grab something before heading out for real. Thankfully it wasn’t that late in the evening, so he was able to hail a cab easily enough. Sunoo didn’t allow himself to feel nervous as he engaged in small talk with the driver, obsessively rubbing and smoothing over the object in his pocket’s smooth surface. 

Sunghoon liked him. Liked him liked him. And Sunoo maybe hadn’t allowed himself to think about the fact that he liked Sunghoon, because there was no way Sunghoon would be into Sunoo. They had been awkward, volatile, contrary, and defensive with each other since the day they met, and yet Sunoo had wanted Sunghoon in his life in any way he could anyways because they were also good for each other. Sunghoon took care of Sunoo, and Sunoo pushed Sunghoon to be better. He didn’t want to let that go. He didn’t want to let Sunghoon go. And he didn’t want his surprise at Sunghoon’s confession today to be misinterpreted as rejection. 

He almost stumbled out of the taxi because of his nerves when they arrived outside of Sunghoon and Jake’s apartment complex. He breezed through the lobby and made a beeline for the elevator, pressing on the button with a little too much force. Sunoo stood there, tapping his foot impatiently as he saw the numbers on the elevator slowly change. He looked at the stairs landing next to him. It was only seven floors to Sunghoon’s apartment. 

He didn’t think twice. He flung himself up the stairs in a flurry. By the third floor he realized this had been the stupidest idea he’d had in a while, but it was kind of too late to back off now. On the fifth floor, Sunoo had to pull back his soul by its tail so that it wouldn’t leave his body. When he pushed open the seventh floor door, he felt his lungs collapse within his chest cavity as he huffed and puffed. Sounding like a dog with a phlegm stuck in its throat was not part of his plan but he figured that Sunghoon wouldn’t take back what he said. Maybe.

He knocked on the correct door harshly, the urge to collapse and slide down to the floor overwhelming. After a couple of seconds, the door swung open on Sunoo, who still had his fist half-raised to continue knocking, and revealed a freshly showered Sunghoon with a towel around his neck and comfy sweatpants. 

Both boys stared at each other a few seconds in silence before Sunghoon’s eyes comically widened.

“Sunoo, what are you doing? Are you okay? You are all red!”

“Stairs,” Sunoo grunted intelligently. Sunghoon frowned.

“Sunoo, we have an elevator,” he said amused, leaning on the doorway and looking down at Sunoo through his damp fringe. Sunoo kind of hated (liked) the couple of centimeters Sunghoon had on him. 

“Hyung, I really wanted to make things clear as day for you, too,” Sunoo began. Sunghoon sobered up, dark eyes searching Sunoo’s face.

“I want to be close to you, too,” Sunoo swallowed, urging himself to continue, “Actually, I’ve wanted to be close to you since the day I met you, remember? I told you so.”

“You did literally say that,” Sunghoon acknowledged. 

“So what part of I want to be close to you made you think that I don’t return your feelings?” Sunoo asked. Sunghoon rolled his eyes and reached out to pinch one of Sunoo’s cheeks. Hard.

“Oww! Hyung! What was that for?” Sunoo cried, rubbing his stinging cheek. It was still sensitive from the sun burn earlier and the pinch didn’t help.

“Don’t pretend that you’ve been crazy in love with me this whole time, Kim Sunoo,” he sulked, “especially after seeing you stare at some random guy with googly eyes the whole day.”

“I was not staring at him with googly eyes!” Sunoo argued, face growing hot. 

“You probably didn’t even think of me as an option until I confessed earlier,” Sunghoon accused, still sounding petulant. Sunoo paused at the word “confession.” That! Had! Happened!

“I didn’t know I was an option that could think about you as an option,” Sunoo shot back, flustered. 

“Oh for the love of God! Can you two please just make out outside or something and come back in when you’re ready to join us for pizza?”

“Ni-ki?” Sunoo blanched. Sunghoon looked a little guilty. 

“Uh, yeah, about that. The guys are here,” he explained, smiling disarmingly at Sunoo. Sunoo shot him a dirty look.

“I’m tired of pretending we are not listening in to all this drama,” Ni-ki yelled from somewhere inside the apartment, “I’m not like Heeseung hyung and Jake hyung in the car this afternoon.”

“I knew Jake hyung couldn’t have slept through all that,” Sunoo said, gritting his teeth. 

“Okay, that’s it,” Sunghoon said, stepping out of his apartment’s threshold and closing the door behind him, putting him all of a sudden into Sunoo’s space. Sunoo craned his neck more to maintain eye contact. 

“Just to make sure, did you come all the way here to tell me that you are also into me?” Sunghoon asked, “You have to tell me now because I’m about to kiss you and it’s going to be really bad and awkward and douchey if you’re not into me.”

Sunoo shoved his hand into his pants’ pocket and produced one of the seashells Sunghoon had collected for him earlier. He boldly grabbed Sunghoon’s hand and put it there. Sunghoon’s large hand automatically closed around it, delicately cradling it. Sunoo then side-stepped Sunghoon’s extended arm and chastely kissed his friend on the lips, as the other’s free hand wrapped around his waist to draw him closer.

--

Sunoo was used to precariously living the romance and thrill of a heart-fluttering relationship through his favorite dramas. He had sort of resigned himself that such things were destined to happen only on-screen, on made-for-TV teen movies, storylines of music videos for idol groups, and the like. But, after all, truth is stranger than fiction, and Sunoo was living the strangest reality where he and Sunghoon were kissing outside of Sunghoon’s apartment as their five friends took turns spying on them through the peephole and cheering, to then crowd them and force the couple inside the apartment to all hang out together and tease them relentlessly. 

Sunoo was ready to live things himself this time around.