“I want to go shopping, hyung.”

It was the first time Junhong had ever outright asked Yongguk to do something with him, so it caught him off guard.

It was a Wednesday afternoon and the two had met up at their usual ice cream parlor after school. Spring was in full bloom now and the weather was getting warmer, so the ice cream joint was packed and they were waiting in line to order their sweet treats.

“Shopping?” Yongguk repeated. “Shopping for what?”

“I don’t know,” Junhong answered, but he was smiling. “Anything, really. I just want to go out with hyung.”

Yongguk inwardly cursed. A smiling Junhong was definitely his kryptonite, especially because the middle schooler smiled so infrequently. “Fine,” he gave in, making a show of being reluctant when in reality he would give Junhong anything he asked for.

“Yay!” Junhong cheered, and Yongguk had to look away to keep from kissing the boy right there in the middle of the ice cream parlor.

Yes, he was definitely going soft. But he wasn’t really so sure it was a bad thing anymore.

Since the parlor was so crowded, they took their ice cream with them. It was the first really warm day of the season and Yongguk had long since discarded his jacket, but Junhong was still hiding in his. It was one of those sensitive subjects for the younger, but Yongguk couldn’t say that he blamed him. The coat hid the majority of Junhong’s scars and bruises, and marks like that were not things Junhong liked to talk about.

“Where should we go?” Yongguk asked as they strolled along the busy streets, lapping at their quickly-melting ice cream. He wanted very much to reach down and lace their fingers together, but he didn’t think that would be quite appropriate considering they were in a very public place.

Junhong pursed his lips adorably, and again Yongguk had to fight the urge to claim a kiss. “Let’s go look at sweatshirts, hyung,” he suggested. “It’s getting too hot for me to wear this coat much longer.”

So the two of them headed in the direction of the nearby shopping mall, where they could find any number of stores selling fashionable clothes and accessories. The mall was crowded, of course, but it didn’t seem to bother Junhong as he eagerly led the way around the mall, stopping at stores that caught his fancy and browsing through their selections of sweatshirts. He didn’t seem to find any he liked, however, and they kept flitting from store to store.

Normally, Yongguk hated shopping. He wasn’t a fashionista like Himchan, and to be perfectly honest he didn’t really care about what he wore. He looked good no matter what he put on, and he was too impatient to spend much time browsing through stores. Plus he got tired of having the salesgirls fawning all over him.

But it was different with Junhong. With Junhong, he had fun. He had a good time poking fun at the latest fashions that made absolutely no sense to him. He had a blast commenting on the wide array of people that were visiting the mall. And his heart melted every time Junhong made a face as he held up yet another sweatshirt that didn’t quite meet his expectations.

“Excuse me, sir, can I help you find something?” the pretty sales girl at this particular store interrupted them while Yongguk was laughing at a Pokémon sweatshirt Junhong had picked up and promptly put back. 

Junhong rolled his eyes with a smile as he went back to perusing the racks of clothes. Yongguk sort of wanted to do the same, but Junhong was making him a nicer person and he didn’t exactly want to come across as rude in front of the person he wanted to impress. “We’re doing fine,” Yongguk said simply. Junhong snorted at his attempt to be polite.

The girl wasn’t one to be put off easily, however. “These might be a little childish for someone of your age,” the salesgirl said, pointedly giving Yongguk a once-over. He had shed his blazer and had rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up, revealing his forearms. “We have some more grown-up clothes over towards the back. I’ll be more than happy to show you. I’m sure your little brother will be fine on his own for a little bit.”

Yongguk bit back the retort that hovered on his tongue. How he’d like to tell this girl that Junhong was his boyfriend, not his little brother, but this was not the time nor the place to cause a scene. So he just grit his teeth and said, “He’s not my brother. And I’m fine. Thanks.” And he turned his back on her to indicate that he was done with her. politeness.

Junhong snickered as the girl left, affronted. “You didn’t have to do that, hyung,” he said, hiding his blush as he continue to rifle through racks of clothes.

“She was annoying,” Yongguk grumbled. “I don’t like pushy girls.”

“Hmm, I wonder who you do like then?” Junhong teased.

Yongguk huffed. “You know I like you,” he grumbled.

Junhong leaned into him briefly, an almost-but-not-quite hug. “Aww, I like you too, hyung.”

“Yongguk-ah?” a familiar voice called out over the racks of clothing. Junhong leaped away at once, face burning.

Yongguk turned to face the woman who had called to him. “Hi, Ms. Lee,” he grumbled, making a face. Trust his luck to run into his homeroom teacher while out and about in town.

She came around the racks, coming close enough to see that Yongguk was accompanied by a giant middle schooler with a mask and a mop of curly blonde hair. “Who’s your friend?” she asked politely.

Yongguk sighed. “This is Junhong-ah,” he introduced. “He’s my middle schooler for the cooperation project. Junhong, this is my homeroom teacher, Ms. Lee.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ms. Lee said politely, inclining her head. She turned back to Yongguk. “I must say, I’m rather surprised to see that you’re taking this assignment seriously.”

Yongguk shrugged. “Yeah, well I figured I should probably work hard if I actually want to graduate.” He purposefully didn’t mention the part that he was sort-of-maybe dating his middle schooler.

Ms. Lee smiled again. “I’m glad you’re finally taking your academics seriously, Yongguk. I’m impressed. Alright, I won’t intrude any longer. You two have fun!” She waggled her fingers and headed off, leaving the store entirely.

“Well,” Junhong drawled with a little laugh. “That was sufficiently awkward.”

“Tell me about it,” Yongguk agreed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Let’s find another store. This one is giving me the creeps now. I hate thinking that my teacher is a normal person.”

Junhong laughed but he agreed, and they left the store together.

Eventually, the two stumbled into a store that had hoodies that weren’t completely ridiculous. Junhong seemed to find several that he liked, but every time he looked at a price tag, he would grimace and put it back on the rack. Yongguk wondered if the kid had any spending money. He knew there were several students Junhong’s age who worked part-time jobs, but, as far as he knew, Junhong didn’t have a job. Yongguk didn’t know much about Junhong’s family – he’d only seen the kid’s mother twice and he’d never seen Mr. Choi – but he doubted that they gave him an allowance of any kind. Junhong probably didn’t have much money to buy a sweatshirt.

He seemed completely surprised when, after leaving the mall, Yongguk a plastic shopping bag into his arms. “Here,” he muttered, feeling stupid. It was the first time had had given a genuine gift, after all.

Junhong frowned, opening the bag and peeking inside at one of the sweatshirts he had liked so much. “What is this, hyung? You didn’t have to buy it for me.”

“It looked really good on you, so I wanted to see you wear it often,” Yongguk muttered, and he was blushing again. Junhong seemed to have that effect on him quite often.

Junhong stared at Yongguk for a long moment, then he blushed and looked down. “Thanks, hyung. I’ll wear it all the time, okay? And I’ll always think of you when I wear it.”

Now Yongguk was roughly the shade of a ripe tomato. He cleared his throat in embarrassment, looking anywhere but at Junhong. “Good,” he muttered.

“You’re in an awfully good mood,” Yongnam commented one evening a few days later. He’d come home early from studying at the library to find Yongguk holed up in his room, texting Junhong eagerly even though they’d only just seen one another a an hour earlier.

Yongguk didn’t even bother to look up. “What’s it to you?” he muttered in annoyance. Yongnam never had anything nice to say to his younger twin, after all.

“Who are you texting?” Yongnam asked instead, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded over his chest.

Yongguk glared at him. Even though they hadn’t had to share a room since Yongjoo had moved out to go to college and Yongnam had moved into her old room, they still couldn’t stand each other. “It’s none of your business. Now off.”

Of course Yongnam didn’t do as he was told; he never did when it came to his brother. “Are you texting that Choi kid from a few doors down?” he asked instead.

Yongguk felt his heart catch in his throat, and his fingers stopped flying over the keyboard. “No,” he lied. “I’m texting Himchan. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Himchan, hm?” Yongnam said, quirking an eyebrow in disbelief.

Yongguk felt himself getting irrationally angry. “Yes, Himchan. Why do you even care who I’m texting?”

“You’ve just been spending an awful lot of time with that kid from down the hall lately,” Yongnam commented mildly.

“Yeah, well, I have to,” Yongguk muttered. “It’s part of our assignment. Remember?”

Yongnam still didn’t seem convinced. “I’m doing the same project, and I don’t spend nearly as much time with my assigned middle schooler as you do with that kid. I also don’t hang out with him when I’m not required to.”

“I don’t hang out with him when I’m not required to,” Yongguk snapped, but of course that wasn’t true. He was starting to hang out with Junhong more than he even hung out with his usual friends.

Yongnam only smiled knowingly and left.

Yongguk dropped his phone to the bed, groaning. He didn’t know what was going on in his crazy twin’s head, but he did know one thing: Yongnam was going to make things difficult for him from here on out. 

I should probably put a disclaimer in here and say that I don't know what the real Bang Yongnam is like in real life, but I'm sure he's not a douche.