It was already dark by the time Sicheng snapped out of his internal debate, only to meet the dark orbs he fell so deeply in love with. They were barely visible because of the cap he was wearing but they still shined so bright in Sicheng's eyes. Yuta flashed his usual mesmerizing and charming smile at Sicheng and greeted him with a casual 'Hi', but it was more than enough to drive the butterflies in his stomach crazy. Sicheng gulped down his non-existing saliva nervously because his mouth was all dry from opening but no words left it. His eyes, his smile, everything about him spelled beauty. Yuta let out a soft laugh and slid his hand under Sicheng's chin to close his mouth. Sicheng froze at the contact and awkwardly laughed it off, then removed his hand that was tightly clutched onto the sling of his bag to wave at Yuta with the cheekiest smile he could fake. The goalkeeper let his hand fit into the Chinese boy's and squeezed it lightly before letting go and used the same hand to pinch his nose like he was a baby. Sicheng only scrunched his nose in response to Yuta's wholehearted laugh, while trying to stay very calm. Although he was just hiding his explosive feelings behind that poker face, how does one actually resist Nakamoto Yuta's addictive laughter? Sicheng definitely couldn't relate.

"Okay, enough of you being weird. Let's go!" Yuta slung his arm around Sicheng's shoulders, turned their bodies towards the direction of the nearest shopping mall, but Sicheng stayed still. Yuta immediately sensed that something was off - he was almost certain. The normal Sicheng would happily agree and sprint off without Yuta (and then run back apologetically) like the happy-go-lucky person he is. Seeing Sicheng act like this immediately invited Yuta's protective side over and he started pressing the back of his hands on Sicheng's forehead and cheeks. Is Sicheng sick? Touch. No, he does feel warmer than usual, but not feverish. Did someone hit him? Yuta took a quick scan of Sicheng's arms and face. Nothing. Did someone break his heart? Yuta placed his hand over Sicheng's left chest only to feel something slamming against it. Sicheng quickly took a step back and almost stumbled, but still kept his balance, luckily.

"H-hyung. Yuta hyung." Sicheng's voice was shaking and he was praying Yuta would not notice how nervous he was feeling at that moment. He could not even look into Yuta's eyes, because he knew he would only drown in them over and over again. Yuta nodded, as an indication to ask Sicheng to continue. But Sicheng couldn't.

What if Yuta doesn't feel the same way? What if he says no? What if?

Sicheng felt so dumb. It was just asking him out! He could just play it off as a joke but he didn't think that far, he didn't have the time and space to do so. He was afraid of what Yuta would say, how Yuta would react and he would not be able to talk to him anymore if he gets rejected.

Three words, "I like you," determines their future. Sicheng will never be able to take them back. He was not ready to part with Yuta that soon.

Sicheng got all jittery and felt like everything around him was choking. It was suffocating.

Yuta watched the boy in front of him, with his head lowered, which left him with only the view of the crown of Sicheng's head. Something was definitely, definitely off about him, but Yuta could not quite comprehend what it was. Sicheng had been in this frozen state ever since he approached him, which Yuta thought was kind of cute although he was acting a little unusual and couldn't help but be worried anyway.

After all, with the love of his life acting like this, how was he supposed to pretend that everything was okay?

"H-hyung. Yuta hyung."

Yuta felt his heart skip a beat when Sicheng mumbled his name. He never thought that his name was anything special, but it was an entirely different thing when it came to it rolling off Sicheng's tongue. Who knew that his name could sound this wonderful? Yuta got a little taken aback when his name was called and could only nod as the fastest reaction. Then Sicheng stayed silent. He stood there without a word for a full minute. As much as Yuta wanted to just stare at him being weirdly adorable by standing there forever, he needed to find out what was troubling Sicheng so much.

So Yuta took a step forward, but Sicheng ran away.

a/n: hehe what happened to sicheng? :~)