Namjoon tapped his foot on the ground nervously. Perhaps asking Seokjin to meet him here had been to presumptuous – what if he'd already figured Namjoon out and was just trying to let him down gently?

He checked his watch for the second time that minute, and yep, Seokjin was still five minutes late. Namjoon began to wrack his memory, trying to reassure himself that yes, he didn't accidentally tell Seokjin to meet him at 12 and not 11, or forget to tell him exactly where they were supposed to be meeting.

In a way Namjoon thought he would prefer to have Seokjin have been told the wrong information than not turn up on purpose. At least that way he wouldn't have to worry so much about whether this was all going to go wrong, whether he'd been reading the signs wrong and actually Seokjin had no interest in him.

He knew full well that even if he had read the signs right, he might still get turned down. Being in a group that was in the public eye would always mean that dating would be difficult, no matter how much they liked the other person. Seokjin may well decide that the risks weren't worth it, or even he himself might change his mind about that later on.

The other people walking about in the park could surely tell that he was waiting for someone, and nervously too. He kept looking around, peering between the trees as though Seokjin might be hiding behind one as a joke.

If he had thought he was nervous before, that was nothing compared to the beating in his chest that began as he spotted Seokjin wandering through the trees. Even through his nerves, his breath caught as the sunlight shone down on Seokjin's ethereal form.

Seokjin had always had that effect on Namjoon. Even when they were trainees, young and not yet fully grown, Seokjin had always seemed the most handsome to him.

After waving like a lunatic to get Seokjin's attention, Namjoon felt even more ridiculous in comparison to Seokjin's beauty, but he'd started this whole thing and damnit he was going to see it through.

“Hey hyung,” Namjoon smiled awkwardly at Seokjin, and motioned for him to sit next to him on the bench.

Seokjin gave a small smile in return, and gingerly sat on the edge of the seat. The obvious distance he put between them made Namjoon's heart sink, and he took a shaky breath.

In his thinking about that, he missed Seokjin looking at him with concern. “Namjoon, are you alright?” He asked gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. Tingles spread from the area that Seokjin touched, and Namjoon did his best to not let it show.

He coughed. “Yeah, I'm fine,” he croaked.

Seokjin didn't seem convinced, but he took his hand off Namjoon's shoulder anyway. “So why are we here?” He asked, looking around the park a little. “Is it just to admire all this? Because honestly I would not mind that at all, it's pretty nice here.”

For a split second Namjoon was sorely tempted to say yes. To lie, and rid himself of the matter pressing on his mind, to postpone this to another day.

All the other times he'd attempted this flashed through his mind. Red roses in the bin, uncountable boxes of chocolates shared round the dorm instead of being gifts, love notes so worn from being folded and unfolded they had disintegrated by themselves. Would this just be another failed attempt to add to the list?

He took a shaky breath, and tried to think about what to say. The cheesy lines he had written in the love notes wouldn't work if he tried to say them out loud, and besides, that wasn't the angle he wanted to go for this time.

“Jin hyung, I've been doing some thinking,” he began, internally cringing at how bad it sounded.

Seokjin frowned. “Is this about me messing up in practice last week? I've already said that I'm sorry about that, my foot slipped on Jungkook's hoodie and I really didn't mean to push you over.”

Was it a good or a bad thing that Seokjin didn't automatically think that Namjoon was trying to romance him? Namjoon didn't know.

He shook his head. “No, that's not what I meant, I'd totally forgotten about that.” Seokjin's face brightened at that, which in turn made Namjoon happy too.

In his happiness, something went incredibly wrong somehow, and any finesse he might have had in confessing went out of the window. The one thought that had been floating around his head for an hour now came tumbling out of his mouth all at once: “Hyungwillyougooutwithme?”

Namjoon froze as soon as he realised what he had done. He watched Seokjin's expression carefully, waiting to see what reaction he would have. He couldn't bring himself to say any more, he would simply wait to see what Seokjin said.

Seokjin simply sat, staring and blinking for a good minute. Namjoon was convinced that he was going to say something profound, or poetic, something that required a lot of thought – so when the first thing that came out of Seokjin's mouth was “what?”, his heart sank.

In an attempt to cover up what had happened, he replied, “I said that I... I'm glad you came out with me today.” That sounded similar enough to be believable, right? His foot began to tap against the floor again, and he bit his lip nervously.

“No.” Seokjin said firmly. “That isn't what you said. Did you really...” His expression changed from determined to something that Namjoon hoped was hopeful, and he sighed.

“I...” Namjoon knew he had to tell the truth now. This was it, the big moment, the one that would decide whether all of this was worth it. “I really like you hyung.” Namjoon said quietly.

This time he couldn't stand to watch. The nerves had built up too much, he was convinced that Seokjin was going to reject him. Surely getting him to repeat what he had said was just trying to let him down easily? The thought brought genuine tears to his eyes, and he did his best to not let them fall.

“You do?” He heard Seokjin ask, also talking quietly.

Namjoon nodded without looking at Seokjin, tensing in anticipation of the rejection that was surely about to come out of Seokjin's mouth.

“I like you too.”

Wait, what?

It took Namjoon a second to register what Seokjin had actually said. Ignoring the tear that had made its way down his cheek in anticipation of rejection, his head snapped up to look at Seokjin.

“You what?” He asked stupidly.

Seokjin grinned shyly at him. “Joon... Namjoon... I've liked you for a while now.” He glanced downwards, and moved his hand slowly over to hold onto Namjoon's.

Namjoon, on the other hand, could barely breathe. What had even happened? This was going well???

“I... You do?” Namjoon stammered, squeezing Seokjin's hand by accident in the process. He knew that his eyes were blown wide, and that his staring was probably making Seokjin uncomfortable, but it wasn't something he could help.

Seokjin nodded, and Namjoon wasn't entirely sure that he wasn't dreaming.

Before Namjoon could properly register this, Seokjin leant up and swiftly kissed his cheek. It tingled where his lips had touched Namjoon, and he could feel himself reddening slightly.

Never in his wildest dreams could Namjoon have imagined this actually succeeding. He had a feeling that this would turn out well.