**Playlink = highly recommended

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Playlink 

“Well guys, good- good luck with practice!” Eva bobbed her head, and bolted out of the room. Her thumbs running a hundred and one circles around the other, she entered one of the dressing rooms to have a moment with herself.

 

Slamming both hands on the dresser, she locked her gaze through the mirror, “Eva, get a hold of yourself.” Disbelief washing over her face, the eyebrows that once framed her eyes pinched in. “Well it’s his fault anyways for acting so- so-” Taking a seat, her eyes fell down to her hands fighting the honest smile that wanted to stretch across her face.

 

“His fault for what?”

 

Eva snapped her head up to find a curious Mina with a bulk of clothes in her arms. Jumping back into reality, Eva stood up and took a part of the clothes from her team member. A halfhearted smile stretching her lips, Eva in some air- “My dog- he really scared me this morning, he was acting so unlike himself so my mind automatically thought the worst you know?”

 

Mina innocently nodded her head, the worrisome expression matching Eva’s just a moment ago. Continuing with her poorly thought out lie, Eva drew out her excuse on a supposed doggy treat that hadn’t sit well her furry friend in the morning.

 

Cursing in the name of Jung Taekwoon, Eva eye smiled her way into concluding her excuse, “So yea, it my dog’s fault for giving such a mini heart attack this morning.”

 

“Ah- ah.”

 

. . . . .

 

“Alright so, Eva, you go and take Taekwoon out while we fix up the apartment really nice.” His wide grin filled his face, “I’ll send you a text once everything is set- arasso?” The sparkle in the leader’s eyes reactively made Eva smile back. This goes without saying; she could have only imagined how exactly they were going to decorate the whole place. Most likely in a really obnoxious way that would make Leo annoyed and the rest of them laugh at his misery. Because as it went in VIXX’s life, Leo was the of the joke, always getting picked on by his fellow members, and today would be no different.

 

So much for that quite dinner we talked about yesterday…

 

“Mm!” Eva brought up her fists up, bobbing her head.

 

Enthusiastically putting his hand in the center of their huddle circle, N shouted, “Okay~ break~!” Following the leader’s instructions, Eva briskly walked out of the room to get everything ready for the birthday boy’s fan meet.

 

Walking through the corridor- there was a pile of clothes with two legs sticking out underneath. The pile of clothes blossomed a head on the side- it was Mina with cute eye smile.

 

The amount of chipper that filled Mina was something that came out of fairy tale stories, “Oh Unni- your face is glowing!”

 

The rehearsed laughter gave Eva more time to think of an excuse, “Thank you! I have to show you the new Banila Co. highlighter I bought!”

 

Grabbing a chunk of clothes from her team member, the younger one nodded in delight and followed her to the elevator.

 

~

 

The shuffling of boots and chatter of the excited Starlights gradually increased as the seats in the venue filled up. Looking for her current member for make-up, she jolted at the sound of excited screams that roared and echoed through the auditorium. Fixing her attention to the stage through the opened makeup door, there was N ever so not discreetly popping his head through the curtains.

 

“Stop giving your fans heart attacks, and get your back into my seat Cha Hakyeon!”

 

Not being used to hearing his full name from Eva, N snapped his head back and ran back to her side.

 

Immediately closing his eyes as he sat down, Eva’s small hands manually opened his eye back up- “Don’t leave my chair when I’m mid blending out your eyeshadow, you hear?”

 

His eyes formed two crescent moons, and she copied his expression with a small chuckle pushing out of her lips. Getting back to the finishing up on the leader’s eyes, light steps entered the room making her softly tilt her face up. Met with the dark eyes that slowly took her in, the side of her lip pushed up.

 

“I smudged a bit of the makeup. Mianhe.”

 

vibrated from the low hum of her response.

 

“Yah! You know Eva works hard on our makeup, be more careful!” Cracking one of his eyes opened, one of his alter egos; Njumma had struck.

 

“Sassypants just wants to look perfect for his fans~” Eva playfully cooed out. “Give me a second, I’m almost done with Njumma.”

 

“Tch!” Leo shook his head.

 

Eva covered with a blush cushion to stop herself from laughing. Continuing to do the leader’s makeup, she felt the attack of the swarm of butterflies ravish her stomach. Just like she assumed, when she glanced up, there were his eyes gently and intently watching her. The foreign feeling had her rushing through N’s clear lip tint application.

 

“Alright, you’re perfect!” Her voice cracked as she sped through her words. With a quick high five, the leader bounced off through the door.

 

“Oh!” With his shirt caught on the door, he untangled himself and consequently had left the door nearly closed.

 

Eva folded her arms at Leo, “Did you smudge it on purpose?”

 

Like a baby duck he moved his head from side to side. “Promise.”

 

Playlink

His large stature took a step towards her and sat down in the swiveled chair. Immediately she took out the color palette she used for his face, and began to repair her work. With the swarm coming back again to torture her, she could feel her cheeks heating up again. By having the rest of the group members being in the room whilst she worked on Leo made the first time a breeze, but now, there she was alone with him. She counted her blessings as he at least had his eyes closed-

 

“Now, just gotta seal it all in…” Her voice trailed off while she spun around back to her assortment of tools.

 

She picked up a bit of the product with her brush and pivoted towards Leo.

 

In one swift feline movement he leaned up from his chair, supplying her with a chaste kiss and just as swiftly sat back down.

 

Frozen. She was frozen for a moment before smacking his shoulder.

 

“You!” Her voice flew to down a minimum, “are you crazy?”

 

“What if someone saw!”

 

“But it’s my birthday.”

 

His five-year-old rationalizing had her spat out in a laugh. It was amusing for her to see the different sides of Jung Taekwoon. Yesterday, he was chic and cool, but today he was acting like a little kid.

 

Regardless- she placed her hands on her temples, “My goodness, you make me so nervous, I don’t know what to do.”

 

“Good.”

 

Eva jokingly scoffed and leaned back in to put on the translucent powder- “Okay. You’re done Taekwoon.”

 

Long legs stood up from her seat, and he softly looked back at her- “Are you mad?”

 

Her face softened, “No, of course not you silly goose.”

 

“I’m not a goose.”

 

“Fine, you silly puppy.”

 

His lip twitched up, and she smiled back.

 

With Leo going to turn back around, Eva clasped her hand onto his, giving it a tight squeeze. He looked back at her copying her movements and with a small smile he was out the door closing it shut.

 

“Oh god.”

 

With the wind knocked out of her, Eva threw herself onto the seat, hands smacking her forehead.

 

This is too much.

 

Her eyes shut; she rubbed her temples- “Is that a new look?”

 

The perky but confused voice cut through her thoughts. When she looked up it was Mina with a titled head and a laugh almost creeping through her lips.

 

“Hm?”

 

Eva looked back at the mirror and saw a giant white circle on her forehead- the translucent powder. She threw her head back in laughter- “Yeah, it’s all the rage these days, you didn’t know?”

 

. . . . .

 

Overlooking the fan meet from the side of the stage behind the large black curtains, Eva crossed her arms over enjoying the flustered Leo, “I’d like to thank everyone for being here-” He paused to get his words together, “-on my birthday.”

 

His actions garnered a loud shrill of screams from the Starlights and she chuckled as he ducked his head down most likely feeling the heat of embarrassment rushing to his cheeks.

 

Composing himself for a moment, Leo brushed his tongue past his lips, “-This birthday has been very special to me, I’m very happy, thankful, for everything, and everyone here today. Please continue to support VIXX, and we will continue to practice hard to be a group you can be proud of. Thank you.” He managed to compose himself, relaxing his face and bowed to Starlights.

 

With a second of silence, the crowd screamed at the top of their lungs, yelling out supportive words to VIXX. As he stayed in a 90-degree position, Eva saw the ’92-line grab a chunk of Leo’s birthday cake and smeared it on his face. Consequently, making the fans scream out with laughter.

 

Looking from the sidelines, Eva could look see Leo’s second of angered kitten face swell into a large grin. Wow- one of those rare bare teeth smiles.

 

Using that moment, the boys bowed their heads, waving their hands trying to squeeze out all the fan service before being escorted by staff into backstage.

 

Walking through the curtains, one by one she met with their happy faces- only to still her breath when she laid her eyes on Leo. Partly because he looked so disheveled with pieces of cake sticking to his crimson hair, but all the while still looked breathtakingly handsome with his stretched out lips in a full blown smile.

 

His crescent eyes falling on her- Eva tensed up and pushed out a large chortle to snap her back into reality. But to quite honest her reality was the reason why she was so out of it.

 

“C’mon here Sassypants- you’ve ruined more than just your makeup this time.”

 

~

 

“Mhm, you go on ahead Mina- I have to stay back for something,” Eva reassured her coworker with a small hug while she waited for the boys to arrive in the parking lot.

 

The bubbly girl bowed to her senior and bounced all the way to her car- giving Eva a last wave before pulling out of the space.

 

Looking towards the entrance gate, she saw the boys van coming through security; giving her mere seconds to herself to think about everything going on.

 

The van door slid open, and the boys poured out- with N being first; he ran over to Eva. He swung an arm around her giving her the signal to start with Taekwoon’s Birthday Mission.

 

**Playlink

On cue, Eva turned over to Leo- “Sassypants, let me treat you to some coffee today!” She glanced over to their manager and raised her eyebrows waiting for him to give the green light to go.

 

Slow to understand the situation, he bobbed his head- “Yup, enjoy.”

 

With permission from manager-nim, Eva grabbed Leo’s arm and shifted him towards the exit, “Do you guys want anything?” Glancing over her shoulder, she could see HongBin about to raise his hand to ask for something but then N nudged his stomach.

 

Eva let out a small chortle, and gave the rest of the members a wink as they walked away. Once she realized that they were out of sight, she let go of Leo’s arm.

 

He gently placed her hand back on his arm, “You can still hold on to me,” the chic and cool version of Leo came back out.

 

She quickly retracted her hand- “you know we can’t really do that.”

 

“I guess, not in public at least.” With his voice still low and silvery, Eva’s stomach butterflies returned. She hummed in agreement with a tiny smile tugging at her lips and fell quiet- she didn’t know what else to say. An awkward silence fell upon them, with the only sounds being the splashes their feet made in the puddles on the street and the cars zooming passed them. Eva went to take in an inhale of breath when it got stuck in and she had to cough it out.

 

Leo softly chuckled- garnering a look from Eva, “I’ve never seen you quite like this Eva.” Puzzled, she continued looking at him to elaborate, “You’re always really free, and just go with the flow type of person-” His laughter came out louder than he expected, “But now-”

 

Giving him a light punch to the arm, she huffed out a small smile- “Shut up Sassypants!”

 

He rolled his eyes- “Here we go again with Sassypants.”

 

Bringing the atmosphere back to their comfortable bubble, they laughed together, and for that moment Eva was able to calm down the butterfly attack that was overwhelming her stomach.

 

They approached the coffee shop, centimeters away from the door when Eva swiftly opened it up and went through first.

 

“Two café lattes please!” Grabbing her card out of her wallet she handed it over to their favorite barista.

 

He laughed at their antics, because by this time he was already well aware of their who-is-going-to-pay dilemma.

 

Eva turned around triumphantly, “ha!-huh?”

 

Except there was no one behind her, she scanned the shop and didn’t find Leo until she walked towards their usual spot. And there he was sitting there quietly, idly looking at the Christmas lights that surrounded him.

 

Eva let out a breathy smile at the scene- “Here you go~” The barista smiled brightly as Eva took their drinks, and she responded with a mouthed thank you.

 

Walking over towards him, Leo looked over her way and for a second she was stunned by his piercing gaze, but her cockiness at the fact she paid pushed passed that, bringing a smirk to her lips.

 

Sitting down the two café lattes, she raised an eyebrow, “Ha! I can see now you’re starting to learn, mhm.”

 

Bluntly, he stated, “-Well, it’s my birthday so I’ll take this as part of my present.” His lips twitched up before letting the sweet aroma of his drink wrap around his nostrils.

 

Across the table was Eva-dumbfounded, she shook her head calling him unbelievable under her breath.

 

“Wait, part of your present?” She sipped her drink slowly awaiting his response.

 

He picked his latte and leaned in; getting closer to her, “That’s right, I’ll take this latte, and a kiss as my present.”

 

“-Ack!” Burning her tongue in the process of widening her eyes, she put the drink down, and used her hand to smack Leo’s shoulder. With her voice low, she scrunched her eyebrows together “You can’t say those things in public- what are you doing?”

 

His eyes formed two crescents moons as he chuckled at her response, “This is very amusing.”

 

She couldn’t help but crack in laughter whilst being slightly annoyed and worried- “Stooop!”

 

Testing the waters even though he already knew the outcome- Leo reached over the table and took her hand into his. Regretfully, he only felt her touch for mere seconds before she s it away. He could see her cheeks staining into a soft pink contrasting with her knitted eyebrows-

 

“Really Taekwoon-”

 

“I really like seeing you like this”

 

“Are you serious?” Her voice was stern, but her flushed face stated otherwise.

 

“Yes.”

 

If on cue, he started entangling his long legs with hers under the table- showcasing a cheeky smile on his face. Although Eva’s annoyance did exist, she instead just smiled back at him while mouthing ‘stop’.

 

Having had enough pleasure in torturing her, he stopped and sat up straight. Eva on the other hand, shook her fingers through her hair- “Is this the honeymoon stage? I forget, but I hope it’ll be over soon. I need to act like a normal person again.”

 

“I don’t think you’ll ever get out of that phase.” He said under his breath before he took a sip of his coffee.

 

Eva peered her eyes at him, “What makes you say that?”

 

Nonchalantly he responded, “Because, I’ll make you happy.”

 

She threw herself back towards the seat with her cheeks flaming up, “My goodness, you’re making me feel like an i d i o t . I don’t know what to say-” She looked down at her drink and then at Leo who was fighting a laugh, “-but I want to make you happy too.”

 

His face softened- “You just being you is enough.”

 

A wide smile stretched across her face, eyes tenderly looking at Leo’s anthracite orbs, “You’re being so cheesy-”

 

“-But also let’s not put each other on pedestals.” Her tone lowering. “You’ll probably find things that you won’t like about me, and I wouldn’t want you to- I don’t know, be surprised?” She dropped her head into her small palms, eyebrows gently raising up, letting out a soft chuckle.

 

Shaking his head like baby duck he disagreed, “I’m not putting you on a pedestal, and I’m sure we’ll both come across things like that, it’s only natural. But, what I want to say is that I like you just the way you are-” Taking another sip from his latte, his eyes met hers for a second before falling to her hands “-and I’ve always liked you like that."

 

Eva mischievously raised her eyebrows, coming closer towards him, “Hm- since when have you liked me?”

 

Immediately Leo ducked his head down between his shoulders, letting out breathy laughs. Eva poked the top of his black cap, “See look who’s flustered now.”

 

Leo cleared his throat and swiftly his lips, “Well since when have you liked me?”

 

She pushed him lightly. “Aaaye~ You can’t do that Sassypants~” Basking in his embarrassment she hoped that he would answer the question, and she wouldn’t have to answer his, because the truth was too awkward. She asked him again, “C’mon spill it.”

 

He adjusted his cap and tucked some loose strands of hair behind his ears. His eyes softly drinking her in, letting out long drawn out breaths through his sharp nose. With parted lips he confessed, “I can’t tell you when, because I don’t know when it happened. It just happened.”

 

She responded by gently intertwining her tiny fingers between his hands, “I see.” Giving his hands a small squeeze the sound of the tiny bell at the door rang and Eva jumped, retracting her hands back. It had broken their bliss into just seconds.

 

He bit his lip trying to stop a wide grin from claiming his face. Eva rolled her eyes at him, “I have no idea how you’re not like this,” motioning to herself, “- remember the first time you came in here?”

 

Leo sipped on his coffee and nodded his head, “But ever since you talked to Eunji and Sora there hasn’t been other occurrences.”

 

“Do you think they ever told any other Starlights?”

 

He shook his head, “If they did, we probably would have seen someone by now.”

 

“Hm, right.”

 

They sipped their drinks in comfortable silence, eyes connected, tiny smiles pushing their lips. She could see him steading his eyes, lowering them to a strong gaze straight across the table. His feline eyes following hers making her feel more and more vulnerable to letting her succumb to her feelings and rushing over to his side, to be in his embrace.

 

As she contemplated the consequences, Leo inched his body closer and her phone vibrated through her purse. She could guess who the messenger was, but to not seem too suspicious, Eva shifted her body out their booth, “Gonna, use the restroom.”

 

He dipped his head down, and Eva grabbed her satchel, lazily throwing it across her body. Walking only a couple steps away, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up- she could feel his eyes were on her. Turning around Eva shot him a wrinkled looked that quickly turned into a soft grin- her dimple lightly being shown.

 

A light hearted smile captured his face, and she turned back around.

 

Taking hurried steps to the bathroom, once entered she quickly checked her phone. Her inclining had been correct, it was N telling her to bring the birthday boy back around. Also, to first drop him off and then come to the building through the back entrance so he wouldn’t find anything out.

 

“Alright, party time!”

 

Before heading out the bathroom, she took a quick glance at her appearance, fixing her hair and quickly applying lip balm. “As good as it’s gonna get.” She laughed at her herself and stepped out.

 

Walking back, she could see Leo laying his head on his hands like a tired puppy, “Ready to go?”

 

Leo nodded his head and grabbed their drinks.

 

**Playlink

 

Entering the main part of the café, they bowed and waved to their barista and out the door they went.

 

Outside, Eva tugged on his sweater, “Hey, why don’t I walk you home tonight?” Her voice was hopeful and tender as she looked up at him. “You always walk me home, so maybe today I can finally return all the favors.”

 

Looking down at her, he nodded his head, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

 

Eva mirrored his expression, and moved towards the dorms direction but a large hand grasped her arm, “But, let’s take a taxi instead.”

 

Though it defeated the purpose of actually walking him home Eva agreed, “Oh okay, sure.”

 

It didn’t take them long to catch a taxi, it was now nightfall after all and the streets calmed down during this time in the night.

 

Entering an orange taxi, Leo gave the driver the general vicinity to head towards.

 

Sitting down on opposite sides of the taxi, Eva realized they were safe, safe from onlookers, so she did the only thing she could think of. She reached over and tangled her fingers with his, immediately Leo looked back at her and she moved next to him.

 

“We’re safe here.” She lifted her lips up to meet his in a chaste kiss.

 

He chuckled at her justifying, but agreed none the less. Eva came up for another kiss and Leo swiftly used his free hand to cusp her face. It was innocent, and she moved into his palm enjoying the tenderness of his skin.

 

The kiss had lasted longer than she would have liked, after all there was still one person- the taxi driver and she felt somewhat embarrassed.

 

He let her go, and she laughed, infecting him as well. Eva rested her head on his shoulder, and let out a drawn out exhale- the butterflies were back, but at this moment it made her feel like on cloud nine. With intertwined fingers, he squeezed her hand lightly and Eva reactively looked up at him, smiled and kissed his clothed shoulder, squeezing his hand in response. For the length of the drive, they playfully squeezed each other hands, letting out small fits of happiness from their lips.

 

The ride wasn’t long, and they arrived in front a store, confused she looked at Leo but he was already done with paying and opened the door.

 

“Here?”

 

“I’d thought we could still walk a bit.”

 

His large palm extended from outside, and she happily took it into her own to step out of the taxi. She hadn’t been to this part of the city yet, and her eyes studied the buildings on the street.

 

“Our dorm isn’t too far from here.” He assured her, and they started their walk.

 

“You know Taekwoon,” He looked down at her, “You’re really interesting.”

 

“Oh really?” His voice was small and modulated.

 

Eva bobbed her head, meeting his eyes, “You really have many sides to you, I think just today I’ve seen like five.” Leo’s eyes dropped, and she continued on her thesis of Jung Taekwoon. She explained to him, how she did know that there was more to him that he led on, especially in the idol persona he carried. But, just today had really opened her eyes up to what she believed was only a slice of who Jung Taekwoon is. Comparing him to a child at times, but then acknowledging how mature he was too. She told him that when he said he acts different depending on the person, that he really meant it- and that, had Leo with his head dropped fighting an embarrassed laugh.

 

Crossing the street together, she confessed that she was sorry that she’s so cautious about the whole situation. That she wanted nothing more than to spend time with him, but her reservations held her back from fully letting herself go. She explained that despite his assuring words that they’d work everything out, and her feeling so confident that it would be, today was a pre-test, and she failed miserably. Letting a large exhale from her chest, she admitted that it was harder than she thought.

 

Her vision blurred as she was swiftly pulled aside and when it returned to normal she was now immediately facing Leo. With the only source of light was the moon that shone through just enough to see his face, he embraced her, and she instinctively wrapped her arms across his body.

 

“I’m sorry if I made it difficult-” His soft spoken voice breathed against her ear.

 

Before she could open to retort, he pulled away from her, “You’re right, we should be more cautious.”

 

He cupped her face into his heated palms, looking at her shining eyes that were laid onto his own empathetically. Leo drew a slow inhale, “But you make me feel,” searching for his words, soft lips pressed onto his, and small hands touched his chilled pastel skin.

 

The moment was meant for their kiss- he dropped his hands from her face to her waist and pulled her in closer. Drinking her in, Eva titled her head to deepen their kiss. She swiped her tongue up the base of his mouth, making his jaw slack as he drew out long exhales. In control this time, unlike their first kiss, Eva used all of her power.

 

Noses brushing against one another, Eva felt the smile at his glossed lips with her small fingers, and went back in for small chaste kisses. The feeling of strong emotions overpowering her, she latched her arms around his neck, coming in for another.

 

She could taste the coffee on his tongue, and loved it, wrapping her tongue around his to taste everything that she could. His lips full against hers, cushioning hers while she came in stronger to kiss him dry. Pressing her lips against his for a last peck, her shoulders softly rumbled with a chuckle that turned into a full blown laugh as they broke apart.

 

“So much for being cautious.” He planted a kiss on her temple.

 

“Well I thought you were having a hard time forming your words, so I spared you the trouble.” She poked fun at him, and he dropped his head shaking it. "And, Happy Birthday."

 

He picked his head back up and took his hands to frame her face, “But Eva, I will be more mindful.”

 

She drowned in his eyes as he continued, “I want this to last, and will give it my all to make sure it does.”

 

His eyes danced down to her full cushions, “Even if that means only being able to hold you when we are completely alone.”

 

She followed his orbs as they came back up, “I’ll try harder-” he pressed his lips on her, eyes opened and awake, “-let’s really make this work.”

 

Eva nodded, and he embraced her once more in his arms. They pulled apart after sometime, and resumed their walk like nothing had happened.

 

“So when do you think we’ll be able to tell your group members?” She inquired.

 

He shook his head, “I’m not quite sure, on one end I feel like I could tell them now and they’d be happy and understand, but at the same time I like having this between just us.”

 

Eva pushed his shoulder, “Aye, would you be jealous?”

 

Leo told her that it wasn’t that way, but he enjoyed them two being in their own world. It was secret, private just for their eyes to see. But he also explained further that, that way he would be the only one held responsible for his own actions if the company ever said anything. However, in his contract there hadn’t been a dating clause, so there was practically a green light from the company to date. But none of the members ever had brought it up to their manager and CEO.

 

“Right, the company, I remember the first day I was hired Nara told me something along the lines of the higher ups didn’t want any trouble between employees.”  

 

Putting on her best impression of her boss, “Keep it strictly professional or just strictly friends.”

 

Leo chuckled- but then Eva stopped in her tracks, “Wait- I. Am. So. Screwed.” Her eyes horrified looking at him, “I completely forgot that! What do we- what do I do!”