“Lee Seokmin! Where are you?” Soonyoung’s voice rang out, almost loud enough to cause an echo. If it were any other day, Seokmin would have responded within seconds. But not today.

Seokmin had been hiding behind the door, the one spot that was almost a perfect hiding place because the members seldom closed the door. With it completely ajar, and a dresser blocking the view of what might be behind that door, Seokmin was well hidden from the members. Or, more importantly, from Soonyoung.

“Seokmin, I know you’re still in here~”

It was such a teasing call, sweet with an underside of danger. Seokmin knew what it meant. Soonyoung had been tailing him the last few days with the request that they play the Peppero kiss game on Peppero day, and Seokmin had constantly been refusing.

But D-Day had come, and Soonyoung still hadn’t given up. It was November eleventh, the adored Peppero Day for couples everywhere to play the kissing game with their friends and lovers…  But for Seokmin, it was a day that meant avoiding his best friend as long as possible. Hopefully long enough for Soonyoung to be convinced that Seokmin was out for the day. It would have been a good idea, to leave the dorms, but Soonyoung was already awake when Seokmin crawled out of bed. There was no escaping now.

Was it that he didn’t want to play the game with Soonyoung? No, it wasn’t that in the slightest. It was that he was all too eager to bring his lips so close to Soonyoung’s, and that he couldn’t be sure that he could hide it. He was sure to blush like crazy, an obvious hint of his feelings for Soonyoung when he did the Peppero kiss game just fine a week ago with Jeonghan for fun.

But what kind of game was fun when there were feelings involved?

“Seokmin~”

Seokmin covered his ears, not wanting to give in to his desires. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of the stupid feelings he had, or at least not realize they existed. If it weren’t for Jihoon a few weeks ago confronting Seokmin about his feelings for Soonyoung, he might have never found out he even had these feelings. If it weren’t for Jihoon, Seokmin wouldn’t have tried to analyze his emotions or what they meant, even though there was no logic in emotions. There was no right answer or reason.

Only, there was a right answer, and it was that he was in love with Soonyoung.

He held back a frustrated groan, not wanting for Soonyoung to hear him. Instead, he roughly ruffled his hair. But that was mistake #1. He hadn’t accounted for how little elbow room he had in the small corner between the wall and the door, and his rash decision to let out his frustrations on his hair led to his arm bumping the door loudly. Mistake #2 was that he assumed that Soonyoung had heard the thud and knew it was Seokmin who made the noise, and so Seokmin decided to leave his hiding place and run to the front door. That was mistake #3, trying to escape the dorm. If he had stayed in his hiding place, he wouldn’t be face to face with Soonyoung at that moment, regretting all of his decisions. Seeing a plastic black bag hanging from Soonyoung’s arm, Seokmin realized that the boy had left to make a quick trip to the convenience store.

Soonyoung smiled upon finally seeing Seokmin. He raised the plastic bag.

“Guess what I have?”

Seokmin knew, but he wouldn’t admit it. “Uh… soda? Did you get me any?”

Soonyoung laughed and Seokmin gave up. Why should he let his best friend down all because of his dumb feelings? It wasn’t like Soonyoung was at fault. Not really, anyways.

Soonyoung pulled out a slim, white box from the plastic bag. “Let’s play the Peppero game!”

It was a bad idea, Seokmin knew, but there was no escaping. Soonyoung inserted the biscuit end into Seokmin’s mouth, and Seokmin closed his eyes. He could feel his rapid heartbeat and was thankful that Soonyoung couldn’t hear it. It didn’t mean that he couldn’t see his reddening complexion, but hopefully, it was dark enough for him not to notice.

Seokmin waited for Soonyoung to bite the cookie, but it felt like he had been waiting for a long time. When he decided that too long of time had passed, he opened his eyes, and in front of him was a confusing sight.

Soonyoung was blushing bashfully. Beautifully, admittedly, but it was still extremely puzzling.

Seokmin unconsciously bit the cookie too hard, and the chocolate-covered remains of it fell to the floor.

“You’re blushing,” said Soonyoung in a hushed tone.

“You, too,” Seokmin managed to utter.

“Can I kiss you?”

It took a moment to process what Soonyoung just asked, and even longer to convince himself that he didn’t just hear things. With a careful nod, Seokmin closed his eyes again. Instead of cookie, he felt Soonyoung’s lips pressing against his, warm and soft. His heart was exploding, and Soonyoung’s lips had been the trigger to set it off. Seokmin wondered if it was fatal, his heart beating as hard as it was, but everything seemed right, so he was okay with that.

His fingers were shaking, and as uncool as that might have been, he reached for Soonyoung’s hand to find it shaking as well. He smiled when he realized they were the same. How long had the two of them been waiting for this moment?

Seokmin leaned in, and Soonyoung tilted his head upwards, and the two found themselves in a world of their own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wonwoo handed Soonyoung another tissue after hearing him sniffle again. “Okay, but why are you and Seokmin both sick? Seokmin told me earlier that he might have been coming down with a cold, but you seemed fine just yesterday.”

Soonyoung and Seokmin looked at each other sheepishly.

“Well,” Seokmin started. “Soonyoung kept asking me to do the Peppero game with him, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I warned him, but now look, he caught my cold!”

Wonwoo shook his head as he sighed.

“How close did you two even get that he caught your cold? Man, you guys take games way too seriously…”

A small giggle was exchanged between Soonyoung and Seokmin, as they squeezed each other’s hands under their shared blanket.

Sharing colds and blankets and feelings, it was just a thing between Soonyoung and Seokmin.

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Inspired by the account from this picture