PREVIEW

Their first date was at a coffee shop. Except it wasn’t really an official date. Kyungsoo invited Jongin out for coffee just to talk, but Jongin, being Jongin, decided to turn their friendly outing into something else entirely when he scribbled you’re cute onto Kyungsoo’s napkin when he left to get sugar.

“What is this?” Kyungsoo asked, bewildered. Jongin smiled, but there was a nervous look in his eyes that was uncharacteristic of him at the time. Kyungsoo was used to a confident, borderline arrogant Jongin who never faltered.

“You’re cute,” Jongin repeated aloud, and Kyungsoo surprised himself when he flushed at his words, blunt yet unsure. There’s a difference between reading something messily scrawled onto a napkin in permanent marker and actually hearing it said aloud by someone who’s been slowly creeping his way into your dreams and heart.

“W-What’s that supposed to mean?” Kyungsoo asked, cursing himself for stammering in front of Jongin. Jongin noticed, his smile widening and eyes brightening. Both of them know that Kyungsoo only stammered when he was nervous or excited, or both.

Jongin leaned in, their faces leveled and gazes met. Kyungsoo wanted to fall back, tells himself that it’s too hot and he should probably wait until the coffee has cooled down. But he couldn’t. He was stuck.

“I like you,” Jongin murmured. The sound of Jongin’s low voice, ringing with those words in his mind, mixed with the scent of coffee and the sight of Jongin’s lips, close and taunting, was too much for Kyungsoo’s mind to handle. He blanked, mouth dry and words stuck in his throat.

“From that shocked expression, I can’t tell if you’re happy or horrified. Or if you realized you left the stove on at home,” Jongin added in that last part to tease Kyungsoo, but the nervousness has ebbed its way back into his voice again. Jongin played with the fork, twirling it in his hand, waiting for Kyungsoo to reply.

“I don’t know what to say,” Kyungsoo finally whispered.

“At this point, anything works for me,” Jongin said, smiling weakly. “Anything’s better than you gaping at me like that. I was starting to feel uncomfortable.”

Kyungsoo didn’t laugh. There wasn’t anything funny about this situation. It never crossed Kyungsoo’s mind that Jongin could ever like him in that way, as more than a friend, because Jongin’s only ever been friendly. Kyungsoo couldn’t lie and say he didn’t feel something for Jongin – he found himself staring at the boy too often for things to be strictly platonic – but to actually act on this urge was something new for Kyungsoo.

But with Jongin staring at him up from his eyelashes, shy and nervous like a school boy, Kyungsoo decided Jongin was a risk he could take. He took in a deep breath and reached for Jongin’s hand across the table. Jongin almost jumped when their fingers touched, but as Kyungsoo let their fingers intertwine, Jongin smiled.

“I like you, too,” Kyungsoo finally said, squeezing Jongin’s hand. Jongin let out a laugh, a breath of relief and something more. Kyungsoo thought he could get used to the sound of Jongin.

TO BE POSTED TOMORROW