First date. The nerve-wracking moment of truth.

That is, if this is a date.

It's been at least three years since he last went out with someone properly and Seungcheol has forgotten all the basic necessities that comes with it. Does he dress casually, very formally, or hobo-ish? Hats, yes or no? Sunglasses? Long coats? Shorts or ripped-knees denim? Does he bring his wallet or just stuff all of his money to his back pocket?

He's been turning the contents of his closet up and down on his bed and walking back and forth to his mirror and yet he hasn't find the right match of clothes for himself. And by right, he means a decent one, considering he owns nothing but denims and monochromatic print tees.

But Jeonghan actually never said it's a date, right? Did he? Maybe I'll be fine just wearing whatever...

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Enters Seungkwan; wide-eyed and clearly horrified at the sight of Seungcheol's bed (and some parts of the floor) covered in messy pile (and more pile, and more pile) of clothes.

"Uh." Seungcheol gulps. Seungkwan can be very scary sometimes. "I'm changing?"

"Your clothes or your former tidy life?!"

Seungcheol dejectedly shrugs, and Seungkwan groans at how helpless he looks.

"Maybe I should cancel." Seungcheol throws his navy tee back on the bed and plants himself face-down on it after, his groans and voice muffled against his clothes, "Jeonghan is nice. He will understand."

"Yeah, understand that you are a complete who stands him up." Seungkwan almost growls, snatching a few tees that he can reach in attempt to at least keep down the mess with a shake of his head. "You are going and I don't want to hear another whine."

"But I have no clothes!"

"Shut up! You're twenty one, you're not a little girl anymore!"

Seungcheol growls in disapproval of Seungkwan's choice of words, but he's quick to realize that he really does not have decent clothes.

"Can I at least borrow a shirt?"

Seungkwan sighs; it may be better if he does lend him a few shirts to choose from, Seungcheol's closet is very boring and dull. "Fine."

Seungcheol's eyes twinkle brighter at the answer, and Seungkwan, even though he originally doesn't feel like following his childish scheme, finds himself chuckling as well. This date better bring him back good stories.

"But don't take too long choosing or you're going to be late." 

Seungcheol ends up being late.

He curses under his breath as he runs, eyes glancing at his wristwatch every few seconds as if it stopped time if he does, but sadly, it didn't. Darn it. Being late is very not proper for a first date, what if his points decreases because of this? He can't have that. He has to keep his 100% boyfriend material title, especially for Jeonghan to notice.

He wants to blame Seungkwan for suddenly having a fashionista spur-of-the-moment when Seungcheol only asked for one attire advice ("Does black go with black?", to which Seungkwan answers, "Yes, but only if you're going to the funeral for your fashion sense.") and having him ended up staying still while Seungkwan dressed him up like Barbie's Ken, so he can't actually blame the younger for helping him even though it means he's late.

But still, he's six minutes late and even when he arrives at Caffe Bene, small beads of sweat running down his temples and breathing heavy, his eyes don't seem to catch any sight of Jeonghan.

Weird, he frowns, and checks his watch again before glancing around the shop. Did I remember the time wrong?

"Seungcheol-ah!"

The ever-so-familiar voice comes from inside the cafe, much to Seungcheol's surprise, but that doesn't cover the shock on his face when he sees Jeonghan. Well, his new look, to be exact.

His long, ash-brown hair is no more, and instead, it's replaced with a soft, raven bob. Seungcheol knows it's impossible for Jeonghan to have long hair his entire life, that at some point in the past, Jeonghan must have short or even bald hair (he doesn't want to imagine, though) and Seungcheol isn't sure how they'd look on him, but damn short, dark hair do him justice as good as his long one, if not better.

Jeonghan laughs when he sees Seungcheol gaping, to which the latter quickly tries to shake himself off his trance and quickly jogs over Jeonghan's seat. "Your hair--" was the first thing coming out of his mouth, as he sits down opposite of the bob-haired boy in slow-motion. Jeonghan chuckles again.

"Yes, it looks strange on me, I know." He sighs. "I just want a fresh look, and my roommate suggested I cut it short."

"It's not strange at all!" Seungcheol shouts almost immediately, surprising Jeonghan and turning heads of a few other customers in the cafe that he has to clear his throat, shifting in his seat as he lowers his volume. "It looks on good on you."

"Really?" Jeonghan stares at him unblinking, hands pressing his new hair against his ears in concern. "You don't think it looks weird?"

Seungcheol shakes his head, so hard he feels like it almost falls off his neck, and Jeonghan laughs again, that little laugh that makes Seungcheol feels butterflies in his stomach. Jeonghan looks good in any hairstyle, Seungcheol admits, even when he goes bald. Maybe.

A smile creeps up Jeonghan's lips followed by a sigh of relief, and another chuckle. "Thank you. I wanted to accuse you of lying but really, your face just says it all."

This time, Seungcheol can't help but feel his cheeks warming up, embarrassed that he's becoming such an open book in front of Jeonghan. Where did you hide your sophisticated, cool self, Choi Seungcheol?!

"So, what kind of coffee do you want?"

Seungcheol notices how Jeonghan is sitting on the edge of his seat, gaze flying towards the menu board behind the cashier before back to meet Seungcheol's, and he knows what he's up to. "Why don't you--" he stands up abruptly then, surprising Jeonghan again with the loud creak of his chair, and he sheepishly grins in apology, "Why don't you tell me what you want? I'll get them for you."

"What, no no!" Jeonghan quickly stands up as well--gracefully, unlike clumsy Seungcheol, "This was my idea in the first place, let me buy you--"

"Jeonghan, I insist." Seungcheol surprises himself with how firm he sounds, but it seems to be working since Jeonghan stares at him for a while (it's very hard to breathe when those big, beautiful dark brown eyes pierces right through your heart) and eventually sighs in defeat with a smile following suit.

"Fine. I'll take a mocha frappe, please. And next time, I pay."

Seungcheol grins, a mix of victory and agreement, before dashing towards the cashier, leaving a huffing Jeonghan behind.

Never in his previous days did he ever imagine a chill day out with his crush. For one, he has boring classes in the morning through till noon; two, when he has none, his night job always wears him off the day after; and three, even when he's neither exhausted nor swamped in boring classes, Jeonghan was just simply out of his league. Out of his league and out of this world.

It's been a few weeks since they first knew each other, they've seen each other more often that their earliest encounters; Seungkwan sometimes even invites him over for a random movie and pizza night with his friends, so yes, Seungcheol has quite a dose of Jeonghan almost seven days a week (and yet it's still not enough). Seungcheol no longer is the stupid, speech-impaired boy when it comes to Jeonghan. They have shared small stories, inside jokes, playfully dissed Seungkwan behind his back, and exchanged shoulder-pushes here and there, though all of their interactions are mostly thanks to Seungkwan for leading him on, but still. Sometimes Seungcheol wonders what it feels like to actually have a boyfriend as beautiful as Jeonghan. To be grazed by his presence every single moment of his life. How wonderful. Must have felt like flying even without wings; heavenly.

Heavenly and delusional.

Seungcheol shakes his head, just in time when his name is called by the barista to pick up his order, and tries to wave his fantasy off of his head. He needs to focus on real Jeonghan. If he doesn't have a chance in being his boyfriend, then a good friend will do. A very, very good friend. Better than Seungkwan. Better than his two best friends he told Seungcheol about, Jisoo and Hansol.

"Is that mine?"

The sound of Jeonghan's voice breaks Seungcheol's trailing mind, eyes staring straight at Jeonghan for a good second before it curls to a smile when his lips do so. "Of course this is yours," he chuckles, dropping himself back on his seat and handing Jeonghan's his mocha frappe (their hands touched and Seungcheol instantly gets a wave of goosies down his spine, but he's better at covering it with a plain smile now), "Why would I order two for myself?"

Jeonghan shrugs rather nonchalantly, sipping on his coffee with a hint of a hum. "The cashier might hit on you and served you another drink on the house?"

"Don't be silly," Seungcheol's hearty laugh breaks between the coffee-sipping moment, "This is a cafe, Jeonghan, not a bar. And besides, I don't look that good enough to be hit on."

Jeonghan snorts. "Nonsense! You're pretty damn hot to me. If I were her, I'd give you a '10/10 would bang' and my number without you asking."

Seungcheol knows Jeonghan is only joking, and that Jeonghan can be very outgoing sometimes, but this, this, is not far too high for Seungcheol's humour-level-for-Jeonghan yet. This 'is-he-flirting-with-me-or-is-he-just-blurting-it kind of stuff. So he just laughs it off with a very awkward wave of his hand to signal this topic to be skipped, but instead, he's earning a questioning look from Jeonghan and he dies inside.

"What? It's true," Jeonghan shrugs again, for some reason Seungcheol just finds it cute, and casually puts his paper cup down, "What about me?"

Seungcheol blinks. "What about you?"

"From one to ten, what number would you give for me?"

. No no no no no no no no--

Jeonghan props his chin on his palm and stares at Seungcheol's mouth opening and closing like a fish with a grin on his lips. "I'm waiting."

"Nine...?" Seungcheol gulps, swallowing the rest 'because I'm the one you need'  to the depth of his core and promises himself to stab Seungkwan in his sleep for showing him that list of ridiculous pick-up lines the other day.

"Nine?!" Jeonghan gasps; it looks so real that Seungcheol isn't sure if he actually means it or if he's just joking, but then he starts hitting Seungcheol with balled up little tissues that Seungcheol can't help but laugh as he shields himself, "How dare you give me a nine, I gave you a full ten even with that mushroom hair of yours, you ungrateful little brat!"

"Okay, fine, you're a ten, I'll give a ten!"

"Too late," Jeonghan huffs childishly, nose scrunching in the most adorable way that Seungcheol feels oxygen being out of his lungs, and leans back to his seat with his arms crossed over his chest, "You're already pissing me off. I hate you."

Seungcheol just laughs. "Oh, come on! I'm serious!"

"I don't believe you no more!"

"Jeonghan, you're a ten. I said nine because.. it was stupid, don't mind it. But definitely not because you're not attractive. Hell, I'd give you a hundred if I could." He questions where he gets all this newfound courage from, and he is about to take advantage of the spur of the moment further but he realizes he can't look at Jeonghan's eyes this way without trembling in nervousness, so he opts on cleaning the tiny balls of tissues thrown at him earlier. 

There is a short silence falling over the two of them, and Seungcheol still doesn't dare lifting up his face. That is, until he sees Jeonghan's palm up in his line of sight.

"Give me your phone."

Seungcheol is dumb-founded, but he does so anyway with half his soul leaving his body. Jeonghan taps away something in his phone before returning it, and Seungcheol can't help but re-check, eyebrows frowning in curiosity.

"Relax, I didn't steal your credit card credentials or anything, I just put my number in. I take your 100 as a form of a more sincere apology."

Eyes widening in surprise, he finds Jeonghan grinning at him, mouth busy nipping on his mocha frappe's straw.

"You can delete it if you want."

"What, no!" Seungcheol blurts, holding his phone to his chest like it's the most precious diamond in his life, his voice so loud that it turns a few heads again, and Jeonghan laughs at him. "I just want to know what you put yourself under."

Jeonghan shakes his head out of amusement and chuckles again. "You'll find that out later. Now," he drinks the rest of his coffee and reaches to wear his jacket again, ignoring the confused look on Seungcheol's face because really, he's immune to that by now and prefers to think it's Seungcheol's default face anyway, "Let's go watch a movie."

That's a bit sudden, Seungcheol blinks, but he sips his coffee empty and wears his jacket again to follow Jeonghan.

"Why are going to watch a movie?"

"Because," Jeonghan pulls to hold Seungcheol's hand, dragging him out the coffee shop and linking his arm to the older, laughing when Seungcheol makes that nervous expression again, "What is a date without a movie, really?"

Seungcheol comes home a little before midnight, not before making sure Jeonghan's safely arrived in front of his door like the gentleman he is, so Seungkwan is already off to dreamland with a light snore. Thank God, Seungcheol inwardly sighs in reliefs, he's exhausted and he just wants to sleep, but if Seungkwan's up, he would interrogate him until the sun rises again.

So he takes a quick shower to clean himself instead and prepare for bed; this probably will be the first in many nights to come where he's off with a beautiful dream.

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