pretty u !

Eunbi took her space at the table you’d set up, complete with a patterned table cloth ( that you had borrowed from your parents 30 minutes prior ) and miniature vase filled with flowers ( also borrowed from your parents – you didn’t exactly have the ‘first date’ inventory of items to hand ). She was almost as nervous as you were; except she wasn’t so obvious whereas you were shaking as you were trying to plate the food.

She’d liked you for a while, you’d met fairly recently but you just sort of… clicked. You made her smile, even when she felt like crap, or when she was overtired. Your voice was the one thing she could bare to listen to in the mornings before 8am and the last thing she’d love to hear before she fell asleep. Your late night phone calls consisted primarily of a half asleep eunbi giggling non-stop before she passed out, but there was nothing better. You didn’t want to do anything too flashy, you knew she preferred something simple – so you offered to cook and she agreed almost immediately.

Carrying the plate over, you placed one in front of her and one in front of your own seat; Eunbi froze. She didn’t like anything on the plate, but that was her own fault for not telling you what she didn’t eat when you asked. You sat down opposite, tilting your head. “Is everything okay?” You picked up your cutlery, worried you’d made a mistake. Eunbi shook her head, grinning at you. “Yeah! This looks delicious!” A painted sentence. She liked you, she liked you a crazy amount, enough to try and block out her taste buds to attempt to eat the meal.

Bite after bite, her tongue was screaming no but her heart was begging her to pretend for the sake of not making a bad impression. You’d clocked on about halfway through the meal when you could see her visibly shudder as she took another mouthful past her lips. As she raised the final bite of food to her lips, you reached over, taking the fork from her grip. “You didn’t have to pretend.” Although you appreciated it, it was sweet – she was prepared to eat food she couldn’t stand simply so you’d be happy; a cute gesture but unnecessary, you would’ve cooked her anything if she had asked. 

It seemed trivial, really. All this secret keeping, but they’d both convinced themselves it was absolutely necessary – it’s one thing to do fanservice focused on it but for it to actually be real? A completely different story. Jeonghan and Josh clicked from day one and as cliché as it sounds, feelings became more than friendly pretty quickly. It had to remain a secret, not just from the company and from the fans, but for now, until it felt like the right time, the members too.

Josh was poised quietly on his bed, fingertips tapping away at his phone screen as he tried desperately to beat the high score Jihoon had got the previous night; he’d been going at it for 35 minutes – to no avail. He was so caught up in said game that he hadn’t realised Jeonghan had been standing at the door calling his name out for some time. “Joshua..” He whined for the 50th time in a row, still, Josh’s head didn’t lift from the screen, he hadn’t registered the interruption. Crossing his arms, Jeonghan wondered over, plonking himself directly opposite the other, he plucked the phone from his grip with ease, placing it on the other mattress. “Hey, pay attention to me.” He waved his hand in his line of sight, Josh blinked several times before it clocked who was sitting in front of him, lips forming into a smile. “When did you get there?” Jeonghan rolled his eyes, leaning forward to pinch the other, Josh frowned, rubbing the spot. “I’ve been calling your name for ages, is the game really more interesting than this?” The elder of the two joked, leaning back, flicking his hair playfully with a couple of fingers, a greasy smirk heading Josh’s way.

Joshua’s eyes darted playfully at his phone, reaching out for it to tease Jeonghan, but his arm was met with a soft tap and within seconds Jeonghan’s lips were on his; soft, josh could almost taste what jeonghan had been eating – which he had worked out to be the packet of strawberry laces he’d left out for himself for later, but it was hard to get annoyed when jeonghan’s fingers were cupping his cheeks; they fit so perfectly, the warmth radiating throughout his skin, the second their skin touched he’d get a sense of belonging, like this is where he should be. He leaned into the kiss, arms finding their way to Jeonghan’s waist, hands interlocking around it. Jeonghans weight began to push onto Josh, both about to fall one on top of the other until they heard a small knock at the door; “.. Josh, can I come in? I need some help.”

Josh pushed Jeonghan back with such force at the sound of another person’s voice,  Jeonghan almost toppled off the side of the bed. He didn’t even give him time to stand up properly before Joshua had thrown himself onto the otherside of the room, grabbing the door handles to the closet. “Get in the closet-“ He urged. Jeonghan’s head pulled backa little, how very dare he. “I already am” Jeonghan grinned, proud of himself. Josh pulled a face, grabbing him by his wrist and practically shoving him into the closet, pushing the door shut. Jeonghan crouched down, there was not enough room to stand properly but he could just about see through the holes between the panels. He watched as Josh opened the door, apologising for taking a while whilst giving a very crappy excuse. “I can’t work out what this is asking me to do.” Seungcheol sighed, sitting down in the exact spot Jeonghan had been placed on no less than 30 seconds before, papers in his lap.

3 hours.

You’d been contemplating on whether to walk to the store or get on the subway and go to exactly the same store that’s just further away because it would mean less walking. In the end you chose to take the long route because you simply couldn’t walk in this head ( at least, that’s what you’d been telling yourself ).

 The first few stops hadn’t been terribly busy but the nearer it got to the city center, the more crowded it got. A rush of people got on at the stop; followed by a very ‘done with the world’ looking man getting on last. An oversized, bagging white t-shirt fitting his frame, dangling over his ripped jeans; a pink jacket slid over his shoulders with- are those fake glasses? Without the lenses? You couldn’t really decide if he was either trendy, Harry Potter chic, or if his mom had bought the clothes hoping he’d grow into them. As his eyes scrolled along the seats of the subway looking for a free one, you ducked your head as his line of sight passed you. Shifting to the side slightly as you saw him coming towards the only remaining free seat, he plonked down with a sigh, pushing his glasses up, fingers gripped tightly around the sleeves of his jacket. He smelt kind of like when you take fresh laundry out of the drier and it’s a mix of warm cotton and laundry detergent, a homely smell – which you thought didn’t fit very well with the icy cold look he seemed to have plastered on his face.

It was roughly 3 minutes into the journey that you’d started to become aware of the fact that although his earphones were in, the music was still very audible for everyone in the surrounding area, yourself included. This would’ve been a slight annoyance if he was listening to something offensive to your ears but oh no. You turned your head slightly so you could witness this in your peripheral vision. He was bobbing his head, humming along and all you could hear was; “…With oxygen so you can breathe and fluorine for your pretty teeth, neon to light up the signs, sodium for salty times…” He was really getting into it. You were trying to stifle any laughter that was building but as soon as it got to what you assumed was the chorus, judging by his enthusiasm, you could barely hold in. “… This is the periodic table, noble gases stable, halogens and alkalies react aggressively, each period will see new outer shells whilst electrons are added moving to the…”

Wonwoo was brought back down to earth by the gentle pat of the stranger beside him. Quickly pulling out the earphone closer to them, he turned his head to face them. “I prefer the Tom Leher version myself.” You beamed, trying not to make it obvious that half the carriage was aware of what he was listening to. At that moment Wonwoo swore that if the world could swallow him up whole right at that moment, he would have no qualms about it. Quite literally the most embarrassing thing he could think of at that point in time had just happened. His cheeks began to heat up; a flush of red covering the majority of his face. Mentally wincing, he turned to face you completely, an apologetic smile spread across his lips.

He almost glowed. He’d transformed from some sort of ice king to a ball of fluff in approximately 5 seconds, his smile made you smile, it was infectious.

“Was it that loud?” He asked in a hushed voice, trying not to drag any more attention to himself than he already had done. You nodded, a soft spot already growing for this dorky excuse for a guy beaming in front of you.

“If it helps, children’s education songs are also my guilty pleasure.” You tried to comfort him. Wonwoo let out a sigh, wrapping his earphones around his phone, thumb rubbing mindlessly against the case.

“But it’s not guilty anymore, now half the subway knows I jam to science songs.” He responded, a dramatic frown flashing in your direction. You laughed, leaning back into your seat as you became more comfortable. The voice-over ‘binged’ to grab everyone’s attention, a soft female voice alerting people of the destination of the next stop. Wonwoo gathered his bag off the floor and stood up, hands twisting around the overhead pole as he stood in front of you.

“I’m Wonwoo, and the next stop is mine.” He bowed his head, another, friendly smile given before he moved closer to the double doors, glancing over his shoulder slightly. Once he looked back, you picked up your bag and jacket, wondering over and holding onto the pole closest to the door. He furrowed his brows at you.

“____, and the next stop is also mine.” Wonwoo sucked his lips in, trying to hide how glad he was that you weren’t about to be another missed connection. As the doors opened, you walked out together, heading towards the escalators.