“Ya!”

Paralleled, fast-paced pattering of sneakers, then a slam against the door. Two boys rush into the green practise room, one laughing maniacally, the other shrieking.

“Seungcheol what the-“

“I’ve got you now!”

They weave between the other members, most of whom barely pause in whatever they were doing. Jihoon stops his dougie practice to watch them with an amused grin on his face.

“DIVE DIVA BOO DIVE,” hollers Soonyoung, and Jihoon slaps his own thigh with silent laughter as Seungkwan dives dramatically to the ground as if he’s sliding to catch a baseball before it hits the floor, narrowly missing Seungcheol’s underhanded swipe. Both boys tumble to the floor. Soonyoung cheers and his friend sends him a quick thumbsup from his low vantage point, which nearly costs him his life as Seungcheol heaves himself up and grabs for his leg. Seungkwan does a barrel roll and leaps to his feet at the same time as Seungcheol does.

“BOO!” shouts Seokmin with a giant silly grin on his face, blocking Seungcheol as the brunette makes his lightning escape. Seungcheol just ducks under his arm and zooms after his target, the sounds of SoonSeok boisterously congratulating themselves on their quick thinking fading into the distance as he spots Seungkwan disappear into another darkened dance room. The taller boy laughs as he lunges for him, nearly latching onto Seungkwan’s elbow. With ninja reflexes from years of Seungcheol avoidance experience behind him, Seungkwan side-steps and dances out of his reach, earning a chuckle from his hunter, who stumbles into a misplaced mic stand. The quarry takes this chance and darts towards the farther door, hoping to close it between them.  His hand just barely touches the doorknob before Seungcheol runs into him and sends the breath wooshing out of his lungs, leaving him lightheaded as Seungcheol spins him around. They stare, panting, at each other as they catch their breath. Seungkwan’s bangs are haphazardly sticking to his face in that annoying way that he knows he’ll have to fix up later, which makes him huff irritably. He tries to reach up to tame them, but Seungcheol takes the chance to pin his hands to the door. It catches Seungkwan off guard in the middle of his giggling, and he startles at the motion, then looks up at Seungcheol.

Seungkwan’s heart is beating fast. His sides ache, his whole body aches, and yet here was this silly leader of his, keeping him from resting after a long day. Somehow, he’d always find himself in this kind of situation, Seungcheol laughing above him as his tormentor inflicted tactical tickle tackle after tackle upon him. Seungcheol’s face was unreadable, masked of features in the darkness of the practise room.

 “Hey, why do you always tease me like this? Why me?”

He could feel their chests heaving, and the way Seungcheol’s breath catches at the question.

Seungkwan’s wrists felt small, within his grasp. Fragile. Like he could fold inwards and disappear if anyone so much touched him. And yet, the small town boy from Jeju was surprisingly resilient. He could often be heard complaining loudly, but he worked just as hard as the rest of them, if not harder. Not only that, but the young man before him was not afraid to contribute a little silliness against his own self-image, using his weaknesses as a source of strength when the nights of practising grew long and strenuous for Seventeen.

Seungcheol stares into those suddenly stern eyes, and mentally runs over all the reasons he’d thought of. In the shower room, listening to Seungkwan performing solos passionately into the showerhead as he brushes his teeth. On the tour bus, watching a beaming Seungkwan work his magic as he gets the members to indulge in a short, stress-relieving game to take their mind off the upcoming challenge. In the dorm room late at night as he stared out over the deserted streets, worried about what might come for his little group of thirteen, only to look back when he hears a little snore: Seungkwan’s sleeping face lit softly by the streetlights outside as cars rush by in the rain, wrinkling his nose with that little sleepy noise in the tangled cot next to him. The soft smile over his features even in his sleep, his mouth moving to his own dreamtime mc schedule.

Because you fight back

and I like to see you fight back

Because seeing your struggle makes me feel alive inside.

Because when I see you, fighting, struggling, crying, challenging every day

It makes me want to push harder, stronger, faster

Because at the end of the struggle, you are laughing, smiling

And your smile means the world to me.

Because any future where I can see you smile is a future that I want to be in.

Seungcheol leans in closer.

“Because your smile is what makes my days worthwhile.”   

Their lips are a fraction apart. The boy is still, a little quirked grin slowly forming on his features. Their hands are resting against the frame of the door, together. Seungcheol leans in to close the distance between them.

The sudden banging on the other door startles them apart.

 “GUYS THE ALARM IS SOUNDING YO IT’S MINI GAME TIME hurry up before Jihoon beats us again!,” rambles Hansol, sticking his head in through the door they’d used to enter. The young man didn’t even throw the suspiciously close pair another glance as he departed just as swiftly.

Seungkwan bursts into laughter, shifting to lean against Seungcheol’s body. He places one finger on Seungcheol’s lips, making him pause mid-pucker.

“Hyung, if this how you think you’ll win me, you’re going to be chasing me long after nobody in Seventeen is 17 anymore,” he says, his bemused expression smoothing into a smirk. 

“I won’t settle for anything but the best. Come and get me with your best, hyung.”

There is a soft click, and suddenly Seungcheol’s arms are empty, his confused eyes belatedly registering the pair of blue sneakers disappearing around the hallway corner. 

Seungcheol rubs the back of his head sheepishly. Well, that wasn’t what he’d imagine would have happened. Oh… but Seungkwan was literally asking to be chased now! A huge grin spreads across his face as he walks back, mind already having forgotten about that pesky alarm as his thoughts fill with how best to seduce the demanding, teasing, snarky and ever so loveable crush of his that is Boo Seungkwan.