“Aww, look at them!!”

Seungkwan couldn’t hold his excitement at the sight in front of him and shook Vernon’s body. They were at Mingyu’s backyard (more like a park because what kind of backyard has a fountain and gazebo??). Across them were Jun and Seungcheol sitting on a bench. Seungcheol had been alone until a few moments earlier Jun came to sit next to him, placing himself noticeably close to Seungcheol even though the bench had plenty of space. They smiled at each other briefly before turning their attention to whatever antics Mingyu and Chan were doing at the other side of the backyard. At some point Seungcheol tilted his head and settled it on the crook of Jun’s neck.

Seungkwan and Vernon exchanged a glance and a smile.

“I was starting to worry,” Seungkwan said in relief. He could hear Vernon hummed in agreement.

“They’re just not the type who shows their affection openly. I’ve only seen them holding hands under the cafeteria table. And that’s just like, twice or so.”

“Right. And the heart-filled gazes they throw at each other often but always last less than one second. I know that physical contact isn’t everything, but it does matters and if they’re not comfortable with that, it would be bad.”

“Maybe they’re doing okay but think it’s not appropriate to flaunt it at school.”

Seungkwan, still not taking his eyes from the couple, nodded his head. “They are respectable and mature. Unlike that other couple we know...”

“Seungkwan, you’ll jinx it—darn it. Too late.”

Vernon groaned and Seungkwan was quick to find out why. A slightly accented “Mingyu!” was heard from the direction of the house. To that Mingyu immediately dropped the water gun from his hands and walked away from Chan. He hadn’t walked that far when the glass door that separated the yard and the house slid open to make way for Xu Minghao.

Minghao, dressed in fashionable and definitely expensive-looking attire as per usual (Seungkwan loved his parents but sometimes he wished he could have Minghao’s because he really wanted Minghao’s entire wardrobe), strutted across the yard and met Mingyu halfway. Mingyu had that stupid grin of his and lifted Minghao up by the waist, spinning him around like some kind of cheesy romance movie. When they were done, Mingyu lowered Minghao to his chest and they held each other long enough to make Seungkwan’s stomach grumbling in disgust.

“See. They always happen when you badmouth them,” said Vernon with slight rebuke in his voice.

While Seungkwan thought he didn’t exactly deserve the reprimand, Vernon was right. The school’s latest couple had been annoying almost everyone with their excessive PDA and, unfortunately for Seungkwan, they always magically appeared when Seungkwan was complaining about them (or kicked it up a notch when they’re already in front of Seungkwan at the time of complaining). Seungkwan had better learn new ways to vent his irritation or find out a way to break this curse.

**

Seungcheol was walking to the back of the club room. The team was taking a 10-minute break from practice and Seungcheol went there to see if they still had the arm pitching machine. He smiled when he found one.

“Seungcheol?”

Seungcheol was surprised to hear Jun’s voice. The latter walked towards him and said, “Jeonghan said you’re here getting a machine. I thought I can help.”

Seungcheol smiled as he accepted Jun’s offer. They were about to put their hands on the machine when as series of giggles and sound of steps brushing the grass came closer. Mingyu and Minghao appeared not long after, stopping at the opposite side of where Seungcheol and Jun were standing. Between them and Mingyu-Minghao was the pitching machine, but it didn’t really hide them. Seungcheol could still see the other couple, but they didn’t seem to notice Seungcheol and Jun’s presence.

“You always look hot when you’re practicing,” said Minghao. The tone of his voice made Seungcheol’s ear felt hot.

“Don’t you mean I look hot all the time?” Mingyu said with a smirk.

“But you look the tastiest right now,” Minghao replied with his mouth dangerously close to Mingyu’s.

Not even a beat later, the gap between them was closed and their lips met. It was embarrassing but also fascinating to see; the way their lips melt into each other just amazed Seungcheol. He felt the heat spreading from his ears to his whole face, and when he glanced at Jun, he saw that his boyfriend was getting flushed too.

When the moans started to get too loud and he could see their tongues, Seungcheol stepped out from behind the machine and lectured them to tone it down at school. He wasn’t sure that Minghao and Mingyu were really listening, but at least he tried.

**

It was a bright Sunday afternoon and they were having barbeque at Mingyu’s backyard. This time Jisoo and Jeonghan were there (no way they would miss free meat).

Seungcheol tried to enjoy his meat, but he found himself kept getting distracted and stared at Jun instead. Specifically, Jun’s lips. Those plump and soft-looking lips, slightly pouted when a piece of meat went between them, how it would feel to have them on his, pushing and nibbling and—

Seungcheol shook his head. He had been having this kind of thoughts since he saw Mingyu and Minghao making out at the back of the club room. It's not like he hadn’t thought about kissing Jun before. It’s just that he was mostly content with holding hands and hugging occasionally. The thought of kissing only occurred once in a while when they were walking side by side after Jun’s part time job and seeing him laughing together with Seungcheol, or when Jun was looking seriously at the book on the table during one of their study dates. But the want had never been this intense and Seungcheol didn’t know what to do. They had only kissed once (more like a peck though) and it was Jun who initiated. Seungcheol always had his brain ruining it for him every time he had the chance to be the initiator.

Bringing a piece of meat to his mouth, Seungcheol thought about how he should deal with this situation, but couldn’t come up with anything and found his mind wandering to Jun’s lips again. Before he could even stop himself and get his mind back on track, Jeonghan spoke out.

“You really want to kiss him, huh?”

Now everyone was looking at Jeonghan, then at Seungcheol, then at Jun, and ultimately the attention was focused at Seungcheol. Seungcheol didn’t even had the time to be frustrated at Jeonghan.

“W-what?”

“You’ve been staring.” Jisoo chimed in before putting a piece of meat into his own mouth. “Since lunch two days ago,” he said with voice slightly muffled.

“I uh... I don’t...”

“You don’t want to kiss Jun??” Seungkwan’s angry voice filled the air and Seungcheol flinched.

“I thought that you were respecting Jun by not pushing yourself on him, and respect our rights to live in PDA-free environment, or maybe just embarrassed, you’re weird like that after all. But...” Seungkwan said with growing menace in his voice and a glare at Seungcheol. “If you really don’t want to do anything with him, that’s a problem.”

“Seungkwan...” Jun tugged his friend’s arm, trying to calm him down. It didn’t work because Mingyu and Minghao took the chance to on each other’s faces and Seungkwan finally flipped. The rest had to take refuge in the house as Seungkwan and the couple engaged in an all-out battle of water gun.

**

Seungcheol and Jun were quiet most of the time as they walked home from Mingyu’s place. Seungcheol didn’t know how to act after getting caught lusting for Jun’s lips. He also worried about what Jun thought of him. Jun hadn’t been speaking much either.

It was when they arrived in front of Jun’s apartment building that Jun opened his mouth. He invited Seungcheol inside. Seungcheol said yes.

Now settled on the floor between Jun’s and Yangyang’s bed, Seungcheol flipped through the pages of Yangyang’s comic book. Yangyang wasn’t home yet but had said before that Seungcheol could read his comics all he wanted.

After a few pages, he heard footsteps coming through the front door. Must be Jun coming back from the building’s rooftop to get the laundry. Seungcheol turned his head and saw Jun with a laundry basket coming to the kitchen through the bedroom’s open door. After putting down the basket on the dinner table, Jun returned to the bedroom and closed the door behind him; Seungcheol thought it was unusual.

Jun sat down next to Seungcheol and smiled at him before looking at the comic on his hands. Seungcheol started to point out the funny parts to Jun and they both laughed together. But after a few funny scenes, Seungcheol realized that Jun had stopped laughing. He turned his head away from the comic book and saw Jun looking straight at him. There was something in Jun’s eyes, Seungcheol didn’t know what, but it sure made Seungcheol’s heart beat a thousand times faster.

“Did you really want to kiss me?” asked Jun quietly. There was slight blush on his cheeks, but he didn’t remove his eyes from Seungcheol’s, capturing Seungcheol in some kind of trance. As if hypnotized, Seungcheol nodded.

“Do you still want to?”

Seungcheol could only nod again and he thought that he must had looked dumb. He felt like he needed to do something, but Jun’s face was closing on his and he could see each strands of Jun’s beautiful lashes.

Then something soft landed on his lips.

Unlike their first kiss, Jun didn’t pull away immediately. He let his lips lingered until Seungcheol became less tensed, and then moved them over Seungcheol’s, as if trying to get them familiar with each other’s shapes.

Most of Seungcheol’s tension had disappeared by now. He was starting to feel comfortable when he felt Jun nibbled his bottom lip. He yelped.

Jun pulled away and apologized to him with worried eyes.

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again if you don’t like it.”

“No! I was just surprised. It’s not that I don’t...” Seungcheol couldn’t continue and just looked at Jun shyly.

“I, uh...” Jun bent his head slightly. “I asked Minghao for advice yesterday and he told me to try it...”

Seungcheol was surprised. It didn’t even occur to him that Jun might had wanted this as much as he did. It was obvious now that he thought about it, but Seungcheol was often told that he wasn’t the brightest when it came to romance and relationships, so maybe he could give himself a break.

He was also impressed that Jun actually asked someone for kissing tips. He thought he should give the same amount of effort too, so he braced himself and asked, “Do you want to do it again?”

Head still slightly bent, Jun nodded and cast an upward glance. The sight did Seungcheol’s heart bad.

Seungcheol leaned slowly, but when they were only hair’s-breadth apart, Seungcheol pushed forward too fast that their lips clashed along with their teeth. Pulling away, Seungcheol repeated his apology over and over, asking if Jun was okay.

“I . I’m sorry...”

“Captain,” Jun said with an amused smile. “It’s okay. We just need to practice.”

That somehow managed to make Seungcheol felt relieved and blow his heart out at the same time.

“O-okay... So, uh... Practice again?”

Jun nodded before leaning towards him, but stopped midway when the front door clicked and footsteps were heard from behind the closed door.

“Gege!”

Jun smiled at Seungcheol and squeezed his hand before getting up and going through the door to meet his little brother. Seungcheol stayed still for a moment, relishing the relief of knowing that they could resume their practice anytime later.