Alternate title: the one where Nichkhun accidentally starts dating Wooyoung without realizing it

The first time Nichkhun meets Wooyoung he’s standing outside the door to the JYP trainee dorms, cold and a little jetlagged from his flight to Korea. He hastily knocks on the door and listens as a loud noise and stream of Korean words escape from the other side; when the door is opened a boy with tired eyes and chubby cheeks answers, one hand rubbing his knee the other gripping the doorknob.

His first impression is a little…well, strange but the Thai boy is cold and tired so he offers the stranger a bow and introduces himself just as he had been practicing for the past week. He’s entirely caught off guard however when the boy starts streaming out words too fast for Nichkhun's poor foreign ears. The only thing he managed to catch was the boy’s name but everything else is lost to him and the Thai can only desperately shake his hands in an effort to communicate his lack of understanding. The Korean boy seems to understand him though and lets out an almost inaudible sigh before stepping aside to let him in.

The second time Nichkhun meets Wooyoung he calls out to him from across the room and he can only watch with confusion as Wooyoung breaks down on the floor laughing.

X

Life in Korea was difficult for Nichkhun, he had very limited communication with the other members but fortunately they seemed to accept him all the same.  Taecyeon was his lighthouse on a stormy night as he spoke in fluent English and Khun was thankful he at least had someone to talk too. He made an effort to talk to Wooyoung as well but the language barrier was a bit too much at times but they somehow made due.

After his first week in Korea something unexpected happened.

After a long night of grueling dance practice they finally managed to get all of the moves right. A member to Nichkhun left let out a happy shout and immediately enveloped Nichkhun in a bone crushing hug. Another member laughed and slapped him on his rear telling him he did well. The Thai boy was shocked to say the least; he definitely wasn’t use to this much close contact with other men. It was uncomfortable to him so he made a bathroom excuse and left the practice room as quick as he could hoping the others wouldn’t notice his desperation.

As he was washing his hands Taecyeon came in and started to wash his hands next to him.

“Are you alright?” Taecyeon asked in English, eyes peering at Nichkhun through their lenses, a glint in his eyes told Nichkhun he understood what was going on. Khun shrugged. “Yeah, I’m fine. Was just caught a bit off guard is all.”

Taecyeon continued to eye him and after a while he let out a laugh. “Don’t worry it’s a Korean thing, they tend to be a bit more touchy-feely with each other than others.  You’ll get used to it soon enough, so don’t be scared thinking someone’s coming on to you.”

Nichkhun joined in the laughter and left the washroom feeling a bit relieved. He was glad he cleared up that misunderstanding before things got worse.

X

They successfully debuted as 2PM one day and things finally felt like they were starting to fall into place for Nichkhun. They all went out for drinks to celebrate and the Thai boy had a bit more than he should have but he didn’t care, they were all happy so Nichkhun let himself enjoy the fun.

At the dorm the boys stumbled in and hastily made their ways into the bedrooms, dead tired from the partying but before Khun could follow he felt arms wrap around his neck and a warm body pressed against him. The Thai boy hugged Wooyoung back and let out a chuckle. His mind is a bit hazy with alcohol but he can still appreciate the sentiment. He knows how hard Wooyoung worked for this, how hard they all worked and let’s himself share a moment with the shorter boy.

Wooyoung exits the embrace and Nichkhun finds himself staring into familiar brown eyes. He maps the other boy’s features, his slanted eyes, messy makeup, chubby cheeks that are too incredibly cute for a man but then the shorter boy is opening his mouth and words are streaming out like the world is ending and Nichkhun tries and tries but he can’t keep up. He catches words like Hyung, Months, Like, Heart and as hard as he tries to form the sentences in his head his poor understanding of Korean and slight tipsiness only worsen the situation. So he stares and tilts his head but doesn’t drop the smile from his face and  chooses to assume that maybe Wooyoung is talking about their debut and how long they waiting and how happy he is.

By the end of the rant Wooyoung looks exhausted and leans into his chest once more. Nichkhun is too tired to carry him back to his room so the Thai boy leads him towards his own room. He stumbles in and dumps Wooyoung on his bed; while Chansung isn’t sleeping on the top bunk as usual Khun’s too uncoordinated to climb up and settles down to sleep next to Wooyoung. It’s a tight squeeze but Nichkhun doesn’t care and the minute he feels the mattress squeak under him from his weight he passes out.

When he wakes up the next morning he’s greeted with the same pair of eyes as yesterday. Nichkhun laughs as Wooyoung buries his head into his neck and wraps his arms absentmindedly around the younger boy’s body. The warmth is too tempting on the cold morning and Khun goes back to sleep.

X

The next few weeks are jammed packed with schedules, show recordings that last till sunrise and concerts that seem to never end. They are all exhausted but they knew being idols was tough and the fact that they were finally getting a chance to preform made it all worthwhile. Nichkhun especially can’t seem to find alone time, his schedule is the worst out of s with constant trips to variety shows or CF shootings. His popularity increased greatly after debut and although most would blame it on his good lucks Nichkhun prefers to think it’s because he’s worked hard. Although thinking that stings because they’ve all worked hard and it isn’t fair the spotlight only shines on him.

When he finally gets a break, meaning he has a couple hours to himself where he isn’t sleeping or recording. He chooses to spend it sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on the TV. It isn’t ideal but it’s a great stress relief and the Thai missed doing simple things like this. Wooyoung coincidentally had the day off as well so when he exits his room and spots Nichkhun on the couch he doesn’t bother to hide the grin on his face and moves to sit next to the older man.

There is something a bit…off about Wooyoung, something Khun can’t seem to place. The younger boy is sitting straight, hands wriggling together on his knees, his eyes occasional dart towards Nichkhun's before looking away. He’s displaying typical behavior of nervousness but Khun can’t figure out why. So he opts for comforting him and places his hand on top of Wooyoung's and squeezed gently, giving the boy a smile. Wooyoung snapped his head in Khuns direction eyes wide and shining with an emotion Khun can’t seem to place but just as quick he breaks out into a shy grin and interlocks their fingers.

The atmosphere is back to normal so Khun relaxes and seeps into the couch once more, Wooyoung slowly leans against him and Khun lets him, enjoying the comfort of the warm body pressed into his side. They talk about their days and their schedules; Nichkhun shares his worries and Wooyoung makes them go away, all the while the Thai boy doesn’t miss the way Wooyoung’s thumb rubs against the backside of his hand or the way something warm pools at his stomach from it. It’s confusing and something he should think about but the Thai boy pushes it into the back of his head and settles for rubbing Wooyoung’s hand back.

X

After that incident Wooyoung seems to stick to his side like glue although it isn’t that one-sided because Nichkhun finds himself looking for Wooyoung all the same. They’re just close friends Nichkhun justifies, best friends even. Their skinship is high on and off camera, Nichkhun finds that their hugs last a bit longer than most and they hold hands more often that need be and Khun catches Wooyoung staring at him more than once and it all belongs into the one area in his head where Khun knows he needs to think about but he pushes it all back and ignores the feelings he gets that he can’t explain like the way his stomach clenches when their eyes meet or the way he seems to lose his breath when he spots Wooyoung coming out of the shower, shirtless and water dripping down from the ends of his hair.

X

It’s the two of them in the waiting room alone, the rest of the members stepped out to buy drinks and when Nichkhun opted to stay Wooyoung followed. They’re sitting a bit too close (and the fact that it doesn’t bother him bothers him) and Nichkhun is telling the shorter boy some random fact about Thailand when halfway through his sentence he catches Wooyoung staring at his lips. Nichkhun stops speaking and studies Wooyoung. The boy looks like he’s in a trance, eyes darting back up to Nichkhun’s face and before Khun could even think(or try not to think in his case) Wooyoung is leaning in.

The Thai’s breath hitches as he watches Wooyoung's eyes flutter close, the distance between them is slowly decreasing and as much as Khun wants to deny what’s going on the situation is much too obvious and Khun knows exactly what Wooyoung is planning to do.

But then his one and only lighthouse on a stormy night barges through the door, Taecyeon is huffing and out of breath when he asks what they want to drink and misses the embarrassed flush on Wooyoungs face who’s thrown himself practically across the couch away from Nichkhun or the wild look on the said Thai boy’s face and bright red ears peeking through his hair.  

X

He isn’t avoiding Wooyoung per say, just going out of his way a bit so they don’t meet. His packed schedule also helps because he doesn’t have to make up some random excuse to leave. It’s childish and petty but Nichkhun can’t help it. It’s not every day that your best friend tries to kiss you. He’s thoroughly confused about the whole thing, about Wooyoung wanting to kiss him but even more so the fact that Khun didn’t even consider pushing him away.

So when a girl from some rookie girl group approaches him after rehearsal for a stage her intentions clear by the way she rubs his chest with her hand Khun forces himself to flirt back. He smiles and leans into her space, saying those cheesy lines he learned from Taec, her laugh is high pitched and annoying and her hands are getting inappropriate as they’ve circled his neck. The familiarity of the gesture brings him memories of Wooyoung and suddenly Khun doesn’t want anything to do with this girl. When he moves to push her away there is a loud gasp behind them and Khun turns his head to look.

Wooyoung is standing outside the door to their dressing room a few steps away from where Khun is his hand is griping the door knob tight and eyes wider than Khun has ever seen before but what breaks Nichkhun entirely is the sheen of unshed tears b at his eyes, the crushed look on his face as he turns away and all but sprints down the hall.

All the repressed thoughts rush into Nichkhun's head like an avalanche all the shy glances and private touches they shared. Suddenly everything has fit into place starting from the day Wooyoung confessed to him to the day he tried to kiss him. Everything is painfully obvious now and it breaks his heart because he’s lead on Wooyoung all this time but it also breaks because he never meant to hurt his best friend let alone feel anything for him other than friendly but somehow he’s managed to do all of those things and he lets out a laugh because of course he’s fallen for Wooyoung and of course he’s realized it at the worst time.

He untangles himself from the girl who’s looking positivity confused and offers her a quick apology (and rejection) before he sprints after Wooyoung down the hall.