“Hey!” Seungcheol instantly greeted him. He didn’t need to get down from his seat because Jihoon quickly hopped into the one next to him.

“Hey!” Jihoon was beaming with excitement and he could hardly contain it now that he was with Seungcheol again. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Jeonghan told me you left a little while ago.”

“Oh, no problem,” Seungcheol said, still staring at Jihoon as he got comfortable and settled in. He put his phone aside and just smiled at him while he wasn’t looking. This flood of good energy just filled his body as he watched him. “I’m sorry about that. I know we didn’t have an exact time so you could’ve been here or I could’ve been here for a while…”

Looking out the window, Jihoon chuckled. “Or you could’ve just walked the five feet from your place to mine and asked what time you wanted to meet.”

Seungcheol laughed and swiveled his stool so his knees were facing Jihoon. “You could’ve done that too, ya know.”

“I tried!” Jihoon insisted.

“When?!” Seungcheol challenged, staring and grinning intensely.

But, like yesterday, he refused to look directly at him so early in the encounter. “This morning…”

“Well, then I think it’s safe to say that neither of us did what we could’ve,” Seungcheol teased.

Jihoon smiled into his chest as he leaned on his forearms on the counter. “Fine, fair enough.”

Seungcheol took a moment to just admire Jihoon again. He looked extra cute right there, even cuter than yesterday if that was possible. His button down shirt and his dark jeans made him look clean and put together, like someone going on a date. For a second it made Seungcheol second guess his choice of black t-shirt, grey coat, and blue jeans.

But Jihoon loved it. He thought it made him look casual and easy. Not easy in a bad way, but easy as in someone you could easily be around. He wasn’t looking at him now, but when he saw him from outside, that outfit looked perfect.

Seungcheol could feel his insides turn from excitement as he sat next to Jihoon. He could just sense that it was going to be a good day.

Jihoon patted the table and finally turned to face Seungcheol. He smiled and tilted his head in the most adorable way. “Should I order?”

“No, no, you don’t have to,” Seungcheol said, waving his hand in the air.

Jihoon looked out the window for a second before back at Seungcheol, “What? I can’t buy you something? It’s totally fine! What do you want? I’ll get it.”

But Seungcheol just kept smiling. “No, seriously you don’t have to.”

Jihoon twisted himself so his knees were in front of Seungcheol’s. They were nearly touching. Nearly, to Seungcheol’s dismay. “Come on, let me buy you something! What’s your order?”

“You seriously don’t have to order,” Seungcheol laughed, now forcing him to look out the window and not at the adorable boy sitting in front of him.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows and leaned forward a bit, trying to regain Seungcheol’s attention. “Why not?!”

“Order for Seungcheol and Jihoon.”

Jihoon turned to his left to find Seungkwan, his usual waiter and (he learned yesterday) Seungcheol’s friend, standing next to them holding a tray with two coffees resting on it. And, of course, one of the drinks was his usual order. Jihoon couldn’t help but flash a huge grin before scoffing and shaking his head into his chest.

Pleased with his reaction, Seungcheol just kept smiling. He leaned forward a bit and whispered, “That’s why.”

Jihoon tilted his head up to look Seungcheol right in the eyes. As much as his reflexes told him to look away, he kept his gaze and chuckled. “I get it now.”

Laughing, Seungcheol turned to Seungkwan and nodded. “Thanks, Seungkwan.”

“Anything for you and my favorite customer,” Seungkwan chimed, reaching between the two of them to put their drinks on the counter. “Jihoon, when Seungcheol told me he was meeting YOU here, I nearly flipped this whole place!”

Jihoon giggled and nodded back at Seungkwan. “Thanks, Seungkwan. He asked you about my order?”

“Oh yeah,” Seungkwan said, now holding the tray under his arm. “He was so hyped, even more than I was!”

Seungcheol’s mouth hung open a bit as he looked to his friend. “Seungkwannie, he really doesn’t need to know…”

“No, no!” Seungkwan interrupted, ignoring Seungcheol and keeping his attention on Jihoon’s smiling face. “He was SOOO excited! He ran in here and nearly hopped over the counter to get your order!” Clearly enjoying this, Jihoon started to laugh pretty hard, while Seungcheol sunk into himself, trying to keep the blush down. “Yeah, I was at the front register and he rushes in, GRABS me by the collar, and shakes me yelling, ‘WHAT’S JIHOON’S ORDER?!’”

“HE DID THAT?!” Jihoon asked through his laughter. His eyes were sealed shut as his body shook. Seungcheol, more than embarrassed, was still able to enjoy seeing Jihoon like this. There was something enchanting about his laugh.

“YEAH!” Seungkwan kept going. “And I was like, ‘JIHOON?! YOU KNOW JIHOON?!’ And then he explained the whole thing and told me to have the drinks ready and bring them over when you got here.”

Still laughing like crazy, Jihoon turned back to Seungcheol. “You definitely are straightforward.”

Now glowing a deep shade of pink, Seungcheol scratched the side of his forehead and looked to Seungkwan. “Thank you, Seungkwan...for that.”

Seungkwan curled his lips into a satisfied grin. “Any time.” Before walking away, he patted Jihoon on the back with his tray and leaned in to whisper, “You two would be good together.”

This made Jihoon blush a bit. He nodded and said, “Thanks again, Seungkwan.”

“Call me if you guys need me.”

“Trust me,” Seungcheol called after him. “We won’t be needing anymore of you.”

Smiling, Jihoon refocused his attention to Seungcheol, the boy who so enthusiastically anticipated this date. “You and Seungkwan, huh?”

Seungcheol scoffed and leaned his head on his fist. Jihoon couldn’t help but admire how good he looked in that position. “Yeah, Seungkwan’s been around for a while.”

“Really?” Jihoon asked, taking a sip from his hot cup.

Seungcheol smiled and looked over at Seungkwan at the front register. “Yep, probably for as long as I can remember. We’re childhood friends and I could never seem to shake him off.”

Jihoon giggled. “From what I know about him, he’s pretty great.”

“Yeah he is. He’s that type of friend you want to have around, you know? Always looking out for you, always there. It’s nice to have that. I couldn’t imagine getting by without him.” Jihoon just listened, enjoying how fondly Seungcheol thought of his friend. It was how he thought of Soonyoung and the others. “He definitely has a way with embellishing stories, though.”

“What? You mean all of that didn’t happen exactly like he said?” Jihoon teased.

Smiling, Seungcheol looked back to him. “More or less.”

For the next however-long-it-was, Jihoon and Seungcheol basically picked up where they left off from yesterday. Every so often Seungcheol would knowingly throw Jihoon off his game, getting him an appropriate slap on the shoulder. Eventually, Jihoon got comfortable enough to twist towards him, letting their knees just tap each other. It made Seungcheol shiver and feel all giddy.

Jihoon wasn’t certain if all of it was okay, but he definitely felt good. His insides were doing somersaults while his face could not stop laughing. Seungcheol was just...great. His jokes were so corny and so stupid that they were hilarious, and Jihoon loved it. He loved how easy it was to talk to him and how fun it was to be with him. “Be with him,” Jihoon thought to himself. How great would it be to officially be with him? Just thinking about this made Jihoon get the chills. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Jihoon. Don’t blow this. Just enjoy what’s happening right now.” But he couldn’t help it. All Jihoon could think about was how amazing it would be to have Seungcheol as his boyfriend. How nice it would be to spend late nights together on the couch watching movies. Or how great it would be to hold his hand while walking down the street. Or how sweet it would be to call him and say “good night.”

At the same time, Seungcheol was just soaking in as much Jihoon as possible. He memorized every detail on his face and every curve that appeared when he smiled. Where Jihoon was imagining what the future could hold, Seungcheol was planning what they would do next time. “Next time,” he thought to himself. “There will definitely be a next time.” Seungcheol was not letting this boy go, and he knew it. And this feeling was...overwhelming. He had only felt this way about one other person and during that time he never thought it could happen again. But here he was. And it was happening all over again, but this time it was even more intense. Jihoon made his heart pound in his ears and his legs wobble when he stood. Just something about him was incredible.

“Yeah, I play the guitar in my free time,” Jihoon said, finishing up his third cup of coffee. He had switched to decaf after the first one, but felt the need to order more if he wanted the date to continue. Thankfully he loved coffee and had a strong bladder.

“Mm!” Seungcheol muttered as he bit his muffin. Finishing chewing, he said, “That’s so cool! For how long?”

“Eh, for a while I guess. I used to practice all the time and even write…”

“You write?!”

Jihoon waved his hand up. “No, no! I mean, yeah, I’ve tried in the past. I don’t know, back in middle school I used to have this dream of…” He stopped and looked at Seungcheol from the corner of his eye before shaking his head. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”

“No it’s not!” Seungcheol insisted, throwing his hand on Jihoon’s thigh. His touch made Jihoon quiver and nearly fall out of his chair. “It’s not stupid, whatever it is!”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow at him. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

Seungcheol sat back up and nodded. “Promise.”

He sighed and said, “I used to want to be...an idol.”

“How is that embarrassing?!” Seungcheol immediately exclaimed, giggling.

“You said you wouldn’t laugh!”

“No! I’m not laughing at you! It’s just, well, EVERYONE wants to be an idol at one point or another,” Seungcheol explained. “Even I did.”

Jihoon chuckled, “Well I REALLY wanted to, okay! Me and my friend Soonyoung had it all planned out. We were gonna audition together and form a group called FIVE.”

“FIVE?” Seungcheol asked. “Why FIVE? There’s only two of you.”

“Two members. Two units. One team,” Jihoon sighed, trying to hide his shame. “Adds up to five.”

Seungcheol, against his promise, started to laugh, “That’s pretty good! But how would there be units if there were only two members?”

“I don’t know, it was Soonyoung’s plan,” Jihoon grumbled.

But Seungcheol found it adorable. “Well, if you guys ever decide to pursue it, I’ll come to all of your events.”

For another hour, they kept talking and laughing and smiling and drinking and eating and blushing. Neither of them wanted to leave, but then Seungcheol got a phone call. “Sorry, give me one second.”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Jihoon said, slightly saddened by the interruption.

And so was Seungcheol. He gave a weak smile before picking up the phone. “Hello? Jisoo?”

“Seungcheol, are you still on your date?” Jisoo asked from the other end.

Seungcheol smiled and looked to Jihoon, who was circling his finger around the lip of his fifth cup. “Yeah, I am.”

“Oh, sorry to bother you, but we have a problem. The store won’t help us bring in the couch so we’re gonna need you to help with that.”

“What? You guys still haven’t gotten the couch?”

“Well, Jeonghan here took forever to pick one,” Jisoo giggled. “And when we finally did, the guys said that we would need to call another person to help with it.”

“You mean when you get home?”

Jisoo sighed, “Actually, right now. I’m really sorry, hyung. I knew you were really excited for this date…”

“Yeah,” Seungcheol sighed, now wearing the appropriate look of disappointment. Jihoon noticed the shift in his tone and looked to see that sad expression. “Right now?”

“Sorry, Seungcheol.”

With one last sigh, he pulled his hair back off his forehead and nodded. “Okay, yeah, I’ll be right there.”

Hearing those words hit Jihoon right in the chest. Like the wind was knocked out of him.

“Thanks. See you in a bit.”

“Bye.” Seungcheol let a deep breath and hung up the phone before slowly looking up at Jihoon. “I’m really sorry, Jihoon.”

But Jihoon tried to keep a smile. “You have to go?”

“Yeah, they need me with this whole couch situation. Our furniture from the old place is getting delivered later today but this new couch is different.”

Jihoon nodded before looking into Seungcheol’s now sad eyes. “That’s okay.”

Seungcheol gave a weak grin before reluctantly standing up out of his seat. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the apartment.”

Nodding, Jihoon stepped down and they both walked out of the coffee shop. It was no longer morning, so the air was now warm and alive. It was a bright day in Seoul and Jihoon felt like falling into the clouds. The date had gone so well and he was just sad that it was drawing to a close.

They walked and talked for the few yards until they were right in front of the apartment building. “Well,” Seungcheol smiled. “Here we are.”

Jihoon chuckled and stepped forward to stand and face in front of him. “Here we are.”

For a moment, they both just stood there, beaming at each other. Seungcheol shoved his hands into his pockets and couldn’t look away from Jihoon’s eyes. And Jihoon just returned the gaze until he broke into a chuckle. He smiled down at the ground before back up at Seungcheol. “I had a lot of fun.”

“Good. I did too,” Seungcheol gushed. “But next time, I’ll make sure we’re not interrupted.”

“Next time?” Jihoon asked slyly, but on the inside he was dying. He said next time!

Seungcheol chuckled and nodded. “Definitely next time. I’ll just knock on your door later today and we’ll see when we can meet up again. Sound good?”

Jihoon grinned. “Sounds great.”

“Great.” Seungcheol knew that he should probably get going, but he just didn’t want to leave. Jihoon was not someone you could walk away from easily. But the longer he stayed, the harder it would be. “I guess I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon said, trying to contain himself and remain calm.

“Okay then,” Seungcheol said as he started to backpedal away. With a wave of his hand, he began to turn around. “Bye, Jihoon.”

But before he could leave, Jihoon exclaimed, “Wait!”

Seungcheol stopped and turned fully back around. “Yeah?”

Jihoon paused, starting to blush as he thought of what he was going to say. He had been thinking about it since yesterday and wasn’t planning on saying anything, but now he had to. “Uh…”

Seungcheol chuckled, “You just don’t want me to leave, do you?”

Jihoon laughed and shook his head. “No, not that. It’s just…”

“Yeah?” Seungcheol questioned, slowly stepping back towards him.

Jihoon’s face turned red as he looked away and said, “Yesterday...you kissed me before you left.”

A huge smile jumped on Seungcheol’s face as he stopped in front of him. “Oh yeah, that. I’m sorry if that was too much after just—”

“No! No!” Jihoon interjected, not knowing what was coming over himself. “It’s just—I mean, I didn’t—I was just, you know I—you—” he stammered.

And Seungcheol just kept smiling. “Jihoon-ah,” he said, gently interrupting him.

Jihoon finally looked to him, totally concerned and worried about how stupid he must be coming off. “Yeah?”

And then, just like the day before, Seungcheol quickly grabbed Jihoon by the shoulders, leaned in, and kissed him right on the cheek. This time for a few seconds longer. And just as he let go, he looked right into Jihoon’s shocked eyes and smiled, “You’re adorable.”

And with that, he released his grip, turned around, and ran down the sidewalk. Laughing, he looked over his shoulder and waved, “I’ll see you soon!”

Dumbfounded, Jihoon held his cheek as he blushed even harder. It was the most wonderful moment of deja vu he had ever had. But somehow, Seungcheol’s kiss this time was even warmer, something Jihoon didn’t even know was possible. And as he stood there, melting and screaming on the inside, he watched as Seungcheol got smaller and smaller in the distance. And luckily he finally shook himself back into reality before he was too far away. “YAH! SEUNGCHEOL!” he screamed. Seungcheol quickly snapped around and smiled at him. Jihoon chuckled, still clutching his face, and yelled, “IS THIS GONNA BE A REGULAR THING? YOU KISSING ME THEN RUNNING AWAY?”

Seungcheol laughed and cupped his hands around his mouth. “IF YOU WANT IT TO BE!” And with that, he turned and ran around the corner at the end of the street. Slowing his pace, he needed to control himself. He took a second to just stop and bend over to catch his breath. Not from the running, but from the emotions running through him. Jihoon made him feel so happy, so full of energy. And he had never experienced anything else like it.

As Jihoon watched Seungcheol disappear, he just couldn’t stop smiling. He took a second to just stop and bend over to catch his breath. He hadn’t even moved but his body was exhausted. It was insane how much he felt when being with Seungcheol. Seungcheol made him feel so great, so excited. And now he just smiled to the ground and thought to himself, “Yes, I want it to be.”