Wonwoo only noticed he had fallen asleep on the couch in one of the vocal practice rooms, when his mind started to drift back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, just to immediately close them again at the bright light of the lamps on the ceiling right above his head. He groaned turning to lie on his side. A light giggle was audible right in front of him. Carefully he opened one of his eyes again, just a little, so he wouldn’t be dazzled by the light. Instead he was dazzled by the image in front of him.

Mingyu was kneeling beside the couch, smiling at Wonwoo with his face just centimeters away. The elder could feel the small puffs of breath he released with each chuckle.

“Good morning, Cinderella,” the younger said softly.

“Morning,” Wonwoo rasped.

“Did you sleep well?” Mingyu asked, bringing his hand up to smooth down some streaks of Wonwoo’s hair.

“It surely was a nice nap,” the elder replied. His heart beating against his ribcage at the way Mingyu looked down on him had him go lightheaded. He didn’t know yet, how to act, knowing that the younger liked him back. Most things had stayed the same since the foregone night. It was just the shy glances and smiles the two boys would exchange at one moment or another and the newly found comfort of Wonwoo’s with the other’s everyday skinship. It was wonderful and comfortable.

“Do you wanna cuddle?” Wonwoo suggested after having stared at the younger’s beautiful face for far too long and spread his arms, scooting a little closer to the backrest of the sofa.

Mingyu’s smile widened and with a nod, he laid down next to Wonwoo. He nearly fell off, so that they had to cling onto each other to stay together. Wonwoo was sure he was cross-eyed when returning the other’s gaze now. It felt perfect in the oddest way imaginable.

“So,” Mingyu said after a while, “Where do we go from here?”

“To dance practice at 8?” Wonwoo smiled.

The younger sighed, “You don’t understand what I said.”

“No, no, no. You’re wrong. I get it.”

“What shall we do then?”

Wonwoo had to think about his answer. He surely liked Mingyu a lot. Actually, he doubted whether he could ever like anyone as much as he liked the lanky dork lying in his arms. But did he really love the younger? And if he did, how could he know how this would end? He was scared of things breaking apart, of being hurt, of burdening the other members.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly.

“Me neither,” Mingyu admitted.

“I just…it’s not that I don’t want…” Wonwoo had trouble finding the right words, “But I’m scared of trying.”

Mingyu nodded and scooted a little closer to Wonwoo, “I want to be with you forever, hyung.”

“Me too, Mingyu.”

He closed his eyes. His mind drifted off to the days when life seemed easier, when he was not more than a simple high school student. He used to not have a worry about the people around him and the affects his actions had. He used to think, he would never be this comfortable with someone. He used to think, no one would ever make his heart flutter. He used to think, he would never feel such a thing as love. Because maybe this was. Maybe this was love.

Maybe love didn’t hit you like a train. Maybe it just tugs on your heartstrings at first sight. Maybe it grows like a flower blossoming in spring. Maybe it’s not all fire and drama and clinginess. Maybe the ease, the laughter, the memories was all it was. And maybe loving meant being brave.

“But Mingyu,” Wonwoo whispered, “Wouldn’t it be worth it?”

Mingyu looked at him, “Trying?”

“What else should we do?”

The younger lowered his gaze. He chewed on his lip and furrowed his brows. Wonwoo ran his hand across the other’s back in a soothing manner. There was nothing he could do but wait for a reply.

Mingyu chuckled.

“Actually, everything else would be weird,” he said.

Wonwoo smiled, “Right?”

“But…” the younger looked back at him.

“Yeah?”

“Where do we go from here?”

Wonwoo laughed.

“Will you ask me this after each solution we found?”

Mingyu shook his head, “But what do we do?”

“Mingyu,” the elder said teasingly.

“Sorry.”

Wonwoo patted the younger’s head lightly.

“Let’s not tell the others. It will only cause trouble,” he suggested.

“No one?”

“No one.”

“And us?”

The elder simpered, “What about us?”

“Exactly,” Mingyu’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

“We’ll see where it goes?”

The younger nodded and scooted a little closer to the other, “This is good enough.”

Wonwoo was just about to drift back into sleep when the door of the practice room opened. Mingyu fell backwards from the sofa onto the floor and Wonwoo sat up to look at a very perplexed Seungcheol.

“Uh…what were you doing here?”

Wonwoo took a glance at Mingyu, “We, uh were talking - about the love we all could share…”

Mingyu blinked, “Yes. With our love, we could save the world, you know?”

Seungcheol furrowed his brows, “Did you drink?”

“No, no, come here,” the younger got up from the floor and hugged Seungcheol, “Do you feel the love?”

The eldest returned the hug, but across Mingyu’s shoulder he mouthed, “What the is he talking about?”

Wonwoo shrugged and Seungcheol carefully pushed Mingyu away from him. He smiled.

“I do feel the love, thank you Mingyu,” he turned to leave, slightly perplexed, then stopped like he forgot something, “We have dance practice in fifteen minutes. I just thought I’d tell you.”

“Got it,” Wonwoo nodded and the eldest left the room, closing the door behind him.

“If he only knew…” Mingyu released his breath audibly.

“Do you really think he didn’t catch up on it?” Wonwoo asked, patting the space next to him on the sofa for Mingyu to sit down.

“What’s so wrong about cuddling? He can’t know we…” the younger tilted his head, “What are we?”

“Why should we put labels on things?” Wonwoo asked in return.

Mingyu folded his hands in his lap, “So you’re not like…my boyfriend or something?”

“If you want me to be, I’d love to,” the elder smiled.

“Good,” Mingyu smiled back and took Wonwoo’s hand, walking with him to the dance practice room.

Time passed without the two boys realizing. They were too caught up in practicing all day, holding hands on the way back home and sneaking into the other’s bed late at night to fall asleep in each other’s arms, to see their teachers and the company staff whispering to each other and giggling, watching the trainees with expectant eyes.

One evening in early February, when Wonwoo’s mind was occupied with his graduation in the following week, all the members were sat in a circle in their practice room, like any other day. Unexpectedly, one staff member after the other entered the room, holding little boxes in their hands and the last one, Doogi, holding a cake and a hand camera, after him, the boys’ CEO. They got up to greet him and sat down in a line, facing the man and watching with big eyes, as he took a deep breath and his serious face vanished for the sake of a big smile.

“You boys have been with us for a long time and I have watched you grow into young men, greedy to show the world what they are capable of,” he said, “Your patience and endurance concerning the countless dates of rumored debuts is remarkable and I want to thank all of you for sticking with us for so long.”

Mingyu reached for Wonwoo’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Will we get kicked out now?” he whispered in a shaky voice when their CEO took a miniscule break in talking.

Wonwoo shook his head and ran his thumb across the back of the other’s hand, hoping to comfort him like this.

“You know that the company’s hope is on you, so we ask you to always work hard on yourselves, for our sake and mostly for your sake. All of you want to achieve something big and if you are ready to learn more and to continuously improve, chances are good, you will reach these goals. For us, there is only one thing we can do to pave that way for you.”

The CEO nodded at his employees, who took a short look at the bottom of the boxes and positioned themselves in a certain order next to him. He raised his hands to the level of his waist, palms turning upwards, smiling in a celebratory manner.

“Today is the day, Seventeen will become official. You thirteen members, split into three units, but united as one, will debut in April.”

He might have expected the boys to cheer or cry at his words and hence left a moment of silence, but the young men facing him just looked at him in disbelief.

“I would like to ask Seungcheol, Jihoon and Soonyoung forward,” their CEO said and they got up to stand in front of him, “The three of you have been with us the longest and you should take pride in and recognition for that. You will be the leaders of the three units for performance, vocals and rap.”

With each unit named, he looked at Soonyoung first, then Jihoon and lastly Seungcheol. He ordered the staff members to open the boxes, which each held a ring. “It’s your symbol of connection and is supposed to remind you to work hard to be the best you can be.”

The hugged each of the three boys, handing them a box respectively and continued calling the other members forth by their units. When there were only Hansol, Mingyu and Wonwoo left before the announcement of the rap unit, the eldest of them smiled at Mingyu excitedly. Seungcheol was appointed leader on the entire band and Soonyoung decided that the boys should all wear the rings on their right pinky finger and created some sort of team cheer in which they would a hold each other by their thumbs to create one large ring out of their connected hands.

When the CEO left the room not too soon after, Mingyu hugged Wonwoo tightly, spinning him around and releasing a scream of relief. When he pulled back, tears were streaming down his face, which was light up with the widest smile Wonwoo had ever seen on him.

“We made it,” Mingyu whispered, since his voice wouldn’t allow him to raise his volume any further, “We will really debut together.”

Wonwoo bit his lip to prevent himself from crying as well and nodded before hugging the younger again and soon being squished by the entirety of the band turning their moment of togetherness into a huge group hug filled with tears and laughter.

When Mingyu and Wonwoo decided to say goodbye to the few remaining members at the company later that night to leave for their dorm, the younger was still smiling.

“I’m so happy!” he screamed into the freezing night air when they left the main door behind them.

Wonwoo shushed him, “There are people who sleep at this hour.”

“I honestly couldn’t care less right now,” Mingyu smiled and hugged Wonwoo again, jumping up and down.

The elder laughed, “I thought we’re going home because you’re tired.”

Mingyu reached for Wonwoo’s hand and stated walking in the direction of their dorm, his wide grin reducing to a gentle smile.

“Actually,” he said, “I wanted to have some time alone with you.”

Wonwoo giggled, “So you can do what? Hug me for the nth time today?”

“So I can tell you my thoughts.”

“Go on. Say what’s on your mind,” Wonwoo didn’t know whether it was the cold making the other’s cheeks gradually turn redder or a blush.

“These rings…they’re kind of like couple rings, don’t you think?” Mingyu said.

“So we’re in an open relationship with the eleven other members?”

“Hyung,” the younger whined, drawing out the syllable.

 Wonwoo laughed, “I wouldn’t want to be.”

His hand was getting cold, being exposed to the frosty air, so he pulled Mingyu a little closer to put their joined hands into the pocket of his warm jacket. They just walked slowly, a comfortable silence hanging between them. No one was out on the side streets anymore at the time. The bright moon was almost full and single stars were visible even when the city light up the clear night sky. Clouds were only coming from the boys’ mouths with each breath they took.

Wonwoo remembered how his parents took him out to the countryside one winter long ago. The air had seemed so clear and fresh when it streamed through his lungs. The city smog he was used to, was nothing compared to that. It seemed so surreal he had even breathed air that clean once. But this, walking hand in hand with someone he loved, the recent memory  of being given the chance to finally fulfill his dreams after all these years of a tiring routine, was just as unbelievable to him.

AN: Finally, they're going to debut! We've now passed the date on which I started writing this story, I just realized and thought I would mention it. It took me a while again because I was busy with school, but the semester ends on the 11th and I almost have all my exams written now and if I can get myself to write a little more whenever I'm home (which i won't be at all next weekend o.o) this story will possibly find an end by the time Seventeen turns 1. AAAAAAAAAAAND then i will have all the time in the world to write and post that story I keep on teasing you with without giving any proper information. But believe me, it will be so worth it.

I wanted to extend the really really innocent fluffiness for a little longer with this chapter and who knows, maybe they're going to kiss next time (tbh I don't know yet, but I guess they will. Or won't they?) Stay tuned for the next update! and thank you for reading ♥