5. He's trying to impress you. He won't push it into your face, but in a more cool and subtle way.

"Whoo! You're here!" you are greeted by a flurry of people when you arrive at the bowling alley. The rest of your friends are already there, chatting and whatnot. The bowling alley is not really packed excluding your friends and they don't really seem to be annoyed by the noise you guys are making.

"Am I late?" you ask them worriedly. Your eyes unconsciously scan the crowd for Junmyeon and Jongin seems to notice.

"Looking for Junmyeon hyung?" he raises an eyebrow suggestively. "He's in the washroom. Don't worry, he asked where you were too."

You can feel the blush starting to creep up on your cheeks so you try to fight it down before fishing something out of your bag. You present your nicely-wrapped gift to Jongin with a bright smile. "Happy birthday!" you cheer.

He accepts it gratefully and you make your way over to Yoora who is speaking to her boyfriend. She lights up when she spots you and the look on her face spells out something like mischief.

"So..." she drawls. "Are you together yet or not?"

You frown at her. "How are you even so sure of yourself?"

"Um," Sehun interjects. Oh, you almost let it slip in his presence. "Even I'm sure that Junmyeon hyung likes you."

Eyes widening rapidly, you manage to stutter out, "W-what are you talking about, Sehun?"

"Oh shush," Yoora shoves your shoulder good-naturedly. "It's so obvious. Everyone knows except you and Junmyeon, which is kind of frustrating actually."

"Knows what?" a voice carries over from behind you. You turn around to see Junmyeon inching closer to the three of you with a curious expression on his face. He looks positively handsome dressed in a casual jumper and jeans. It's everyday wear, but somehow the way it looks on him is different from the others.

Realising that you are taking too long to react, you greet him with a wide beam. He chuckles and steps into place beside you, smoothly joining the conversation. You are thankful he drops what you guys were talking about before.

You chat a bit about this and that before Jongin calls everyone over to the centre of the alley.

"Okay, everyone! Let's split into two teams! The loser treats the winners to soju and chicken!"

There is a flurry of movements and before you know it, Junmyeon has grabbed your hand to guide you to his team. His hand is warm and so are your cheeks. You have to bite your lips to prevent yourself from smiling too widely.

Suddenly, you run into Junmyeon's back when he comes to an unexpected halt. Hurriedly muttering your apologies, you are cut off as he waves it off with a chuckle.

After doing a quick survey on your team, you see that Mikyung, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Junmyeon and yourself make the team up while Yoora, Sehun, Chanyeol, Jongin and Hyoji are on the other. You feel a bit worried of your team's stake when Chanyeol boasts about his bowling endeavours.

Listening to Chanyeol's rambles about how he's won countless games, Junmyeon bends down slightly to whisper into your ear. "You know," he breathes out. "I'm not bad either."

"Oh really?" you reply, and deciding to , you add, "I don't know. Chanyeol seems really good."

He raises his eyebrows defiantly. "Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe," you reply and face the front again.

Someone cuts Chanyeol off and reminds him that they're actually here to celebrate Jongin's birthday and not his. Somehow Junmyeon laughs a teeny bit louder than the rest of you.

After some intense discussion, you all agree to send out a player from each team simultaneously and the team with the highest points wins. Junmyeon volunteers to go first while Chanyeol represents the other.

As you watch the ball roll down the alley, your eyes dart to Junmyeon's slightly nervous face. His eyes find yours and the both of you share a short gaze before the screen indicates that both of them scored strikes.

The guys from your team clap Junmyeon on the back, showering him with praises. "Aish, that wasn't really anything," he states somewhat bashfully. "It was probably luck."

You giggle at him and wordlessly step in place next to him as you watch the next set of players step up.

"You played well," you compliment him nonchalantly.

He lets out a small laugh and plays with a strand of your hair, making you feel shy. You spend the next few rounds like this; muted by Junmyeon's soft skinship. It feels so comfortable that you don't want to leave your spot for your turn, but you do anyway.

"You play well too." he says to you in the same nonchalant manner. "In fact, we should play together one day."

"Is that a date?" you ask out loud before you can stop yourself. You quickly avert your gaze away and mentally chide yourself for looking like a fool.

"Yeah," he says, as if he is letting out a huge breath. "Yes. If you want it to be. But I'd like it to be, just so you know."

Is that a confession? Your cheeks are burning up again as you answer, "Yeah, sure. Okay."

You can never really look at him in the eye for the rest of the competition, preferring to keep your embarassed face to yourself. Now you are more aware of him, like if the sleeve of his jumper brushes against you arm, or if he steps just a little closer to you. You don't know what to do, and you are beginning to doubt yourself. Maybe he meant it as a joke or something.

Yeah, that must be it, you tell yourself. It does seem quite ridiculous when you think about how Junmyeon might even like you. Requited love is as rare as Kyungsoo dancing to a girl group song. And that has never happened before, hence the simile.

"WHOOO! WE WIN! IT!" Baekhyun hoots loudly, pointing at the scoreboard. "COME ON GUYS! YAH! HYUNGS AND CHINGUS JOIN ME!"

You find yourself being pulled once again by Junmyeon to the rest of your teammates who seem unfazed by the stares of the other customers. However, you are pulled into the atmosphere and soon enough, you are contributing to the noise in the alley.

Suddenly, Kyungsoo starts blasting MAMAMOO's 'Um Ah Oh Yeah' fr