He notices him first out of everyone. It is hard not to with his garishly pink hair, but Seongwoo can admit to himself it is that soft smile and the open look on his face that makes Daniel stand out. He seems so soft and he is cute and so obviously used to being the youngest, but his shoulders are broad and his thighs give Seongwoo a weird urge to sit on his lap just to test their thickness and strength. And somehow, just by looking at him, Daniel makes him feel more at ease. It is weird how it turned out like this as he is sitting in the soft, blue chair with the number 2 on the back, sharing only quick smiles with Daniel and secondhandedly learning his name as he is called Niel-ah and finally Daniel by his friends. Seongwoo has never been cautious or quiet, but something about Daniel has struck him silent. He can only surmise that is how attraction works sometimes.

He watches him dance, watches the back of his head when he probably should have been watching the other trainees perform and pinches his own thigh to shake the cobwebs from his mind.

There are more important things to focus on now, he tells himself and, you don’t even like younger boys. Seongwoo has always had a type (same-aged or older, funny, passably handsome and someone who doesn’t think too highly of themselves) though his track record shows he has been rather awful at finding the right one. Between the arrogant bastard his latest ex turned out to be and the self-obsessed, vain turd his first boyfriend was from beginning to end, Daniel being a year younger than him is completely beside the point when he hits every other mark on Seungwoo’s list.

The question of time and place and all the uncertainty that comes with his situation is the only thing that convinces Seongwoo he has more important things to focus on, and he tears his eyes away before anyone can catch him staring.

When they finally talk, congratulating each other on their evaluation results, Seongwoo curls his fingers together and smiles wider than normal to cover up how he kind of wants to lean in and smell the younger. In contrast, Daniel barely smiles, his face pinching a little as his eyes shifts from side to side when they aren’t locked on Seongwoo’s with a weird intensity that makes him feel warm under the harsh, fluorescent lights.

Seongwoo has become a master at hiding his attraction behind laughs and easy friendliness, but Daniel is like an open book and no matter how much he tries to act like it is nothing, the amount of times his eyes sweeps over Seongwoo’s body goes unnoticed by everyone except him. Attraction is easy only as long as it’s one-sided, but it takes Seongwoo all of five seconds to realise that as much as he is attracted to Daniel, the pink-haired smile machine is just as attracted to him.

The moment Daniel walks through the door after the level re-evaluation, report card in hand and a giddy smile on his face, Seongwoo realises how glad he is that the younger man hadn’t been there to see him struggle. He’d had enough difficulties learning the choreography as it was, with Daniel watching him he is sure he wouldn’t have moved past his awkward floundering about and been demoted for being a smitten idiot.

Daniel looks at him when he sits down, smile slipping from his face when he catches Seongwoo staring, but it is still there in the curve of his eyes when Seongwoo smiles widely in a toothy grin. He wonders if that is how it will be with them, with Seongwoo’s smile coming uninhibited to his lips and Daniel’s slipping from his face in a way that does the weirdest things to Seongwoo and makes him feel special. Who would feel good about being the only one not on the receiving end of that radiant smile? Well, Seongwoo has never claimed normalcy in any stage of his life.

Still, not getting to see Daniel’s face light up in a smile because of him nags at him more than he would think. Seongwoo thrives best when he can make people laugh, but no matter the lengths he goes to and how much he makes jokes at his own expense, Daniel keeps his smile locked up tight, out of his reach.

Through practicing together, being each other’s mental support and growing closer and closer with every day that goes by, Seongwoo concedes to his attraction, accepting that it is not something that will go away just like that. And despite Daniel’s obvious attempts to keep a modicum of distance between them, for every exchange between them he moves a bit closer and stares a bit longer and blushes the lightest of pinks whenever he catches Seongwoo staring back.

This back and forth game of testing each other and what limits they can stretch and which they can bend to their will until they break, lasts until the morning of their first practice day for the group evaluation. Seongwoo hadn’t been able to sleep and is out of bed long before the annoyingly loud alarm rings, taking the time to enjoy having the bathroom to himself for once, lazily washing his face while humming to himself. He is gurgling water when the door opens behind him and Daniel walks through, yawning and scrubbing a tired hand over his face. He looks a mess with his tussled hair and bleary eyes and Seungwoo is so incredibly attracted to him.

Daniel stops suddenly when Seongwoo chokes on the water in his mouth and starts coughing.

“Are you okay hyung?” he asks, placing his warm palm in the middle of Seungwoo’s back, patting him hard a couple times before letting his hand slip away.

Seongwoo nods through another cough, making an O with his thumb and pointer finger and throwing his hand up somewhere over his right shoulder, guessing that’s where Daniel is standing. The sink next to him turns on as he clears his throat and fans his burning cheeks, making sure he looks composed before turning back to the younger.

“Morning,” he greets with a large smile, quickly going back to what he was doing before and grabs for a towel to dry his face. His stomach is starting to feel weird the longer he stays in Daniel’s company, it feels so different now that there are no one else around.

He is about to turn around and leave when Daniel calls out for him.

“Hyung,” he says and Seongwoo visibly grimaces before he can stop himself, cutting Daniel short, but the younger man gathers himself quickly and turns to lean his hip against the bathroom counter.

“Hyung,” he says again, continuing immediately before he can be cut off again, “do I make you nervous?” he asks and Seungwoo forces a laugh.

“It’s just, your breathing got so shaky all of a sudden, like it was right before you performed at the first level evaluation.” Daniel isn’t looking at him so Seongwoo doesn’t look at him either, preferring to study his own fingers gripping the hem of his shirt tightly. Daniel’s voice is warm and deep, but there is a slight hesitance in the way he intonates his words, almost as if he is the one who is nervous.

Seongwoo doesn’t answer him, only laughing breathily as he tilts his head from side to side and raises his eyebrows.

“You make me nervous too,” Daniel says after a beat, apparently taking Seongwoo’s silence as a yes. They move in synch then, lifting their heads until their eyes meet and one breath, two, three breaths and they burst out laughing, holding onto the sink and each other as they double over and expels all the nervous feelings with their laughter.

“Okaaaay,” Seongwoo says as they quiet down, shaking his head in an odd jerky motion that makes Daniel laugh again. He thinks he might have knocked his head because seeing Daniel smiling so brightly at him should not make him as dizzy and warm as it does.

“You’ve never smiled at me like that before,” he says spontaneously and Daniel stops laughing, smile turning warmer and a bit softer.

“I didn’t really know how to act around you, I’m sorry if I made you feel weird,” he mumbles the last part and Seongwoo reaches out to poke him hard in the chest, doing it again when Daniel doesn’t even budge.

“You did make me feel weird, still do, but that’s because of, well,” he waves an unprecise hand in front of Daniel and smiles when Daniel drops his head minutely and his tongue appears for a split second to wet his lips.

“You just gestured to all of me,” he says and Seongwoo snorts a laugh.

“And all of you is plenty hot,” he quips, feeling a flutter in his stomach when Daniel breathes loudly through his nose and smiles pleased.

“Ah,” Daniel sighs loudly, “time and place.” He lifts a hand to scratch at the back of his neck as he smiles ruefully at the floor. Seongwoo understands exactly what he means and for a second dares to imagine how things would have played out if they had met under different circumstances. But these are the circumstances they have and Seongwoo wouldn’t change them for anything if it meant he wouldn’t have been allowed to get to know Daniel at all.

“We’re both here because we dare to take the risk,” he says and Daniel lifts his head and their eyes meet as the air turns hot between them and Seongwoo ends with a whisper, “aren’t we?”

The moment kind of feels appropriate, so Seongwoo does what he has wanted to do probably since he first saw Daniel. He steps carefully closer to the younger, hesitating as he leans in, waiting for Daniel to pull away, but he never does. Instead he leans closer and their lips press together in a kiss and it is the absolute best thing Seongwoo has ever experienced. At least it is in that long moment until it ends.

“I figured since we can’t actually date there wouldn’t be any first date rules or whatever,” he says as soon as they break apart, fingers fiddling with the hem of Daniel’s shirt this time. Daniel smiles softly, eyes curving only a little, and Seongwoo is sure he hears him whisper cute before he leans in and presses a dry kiss to Seongwoo’s mouth.

“Who needs rules?” he jokes, a little breathless, and Seongwoo laughs probably louder than necessary.

“What are rules?” he chuckles and they laugh quietly with their heads bent close together, fingers somehow finding each other and tangling together at their sides.

“You’re a good kisser,” Daniel whispers and Seongwoo lifts a dubious eyebrow at him.

“I doubt you could tell as much from only that one kiss,” he says and Daniel smiles happily as he tilts his head to close the gap between them again.

“No, I guess not,” he says and presses their lips together in a deeper kiss than their previous two, opening his mouth slightly when Seongwoo presses back. They kiss for long enough that their bodies have steadily pressed tight against each other and the pace of their lips moving together grows almost desperate, and Seongwoo is about to slip his tongue out to trace Daniel’s lips when the door opens behind them with a loud jiggle of the handle.

They boys coming in are distracted enough in their sleepy state that they don’t register anything odd about how Daniel and Seongwoo flies apart and, as if they planned it, leans over a sink each and splashes water in their face.

Seongwoo dries his face quickly, laying a hand over his mouth after just in case his lips are kiss-swollen, and rushes from the bathroom with a cheery good morning.

The memory of the early morning stays with him throughout the day as he and Daniel are placed together in a group. And when he looks across the small half circle at the younger, he can’t help his smile and the giddy way he grips his legs to his chest and rocks back and forth on the floor as he imagines he can still feel the ghost of Daniel’s lips against his.