Gift for emma661
Gift from ???
Title: This Ain't A Date
Pairing: yugyeom x you
words: 2945
rating: general audiences
warnings: none
note to my giftee: happy holidays!!

 

    Meeting Yugyeom again after almost a year felt like meeting a K-pop idol for the first time—he was someone you’d been thinking of for a long time, and finally seeing him in person felt like a dream. Not that he necessarily had the same appeal of an idol to you anymore. His somewhat lengthy line of admirers in high school perhaps said otherwise, but even if he had followed his far-fetched dream of being an idol under JYP, you’ve known him for so long that no amount of sparkles and dance moves could erase the embarrassing things you’ve seen him do in the past.

    The last time you’d seen him had been his birthday last year. After that day, the both of you had been so overwhelmed with work at your perspective jobs that meeting had become nearly impossible. Between his numerous business trips that were for some reason always scheduled on holidays and your constant need to supervise your subordinates at the office because holy moly, were they incapable of using common sense, their spirits were willing but their flesh was physically incapable.

    That was all changing now, for at last, you were finally spending some time with your dear friend. Scheduling the date and time had been a hassle, though it would all be worth it if it meant being able to talk to Yugyeom face-to-face. Did you miss him? Of course, but there was a more pressing matter to attend to. You were much more concerned about the fact that despite every embarrassing or cringe-worthy thing you’ve seen him do without any sparkles or dance moves to cover them up, you’ve still managed to develop a tiny crush on your friend.

    ‘Crush? What crush?’ were your thoughts twelve minutes later. Ah, what tardiness can do to budding emotions. Yugyeom was nowhere to be seen and you were getting impatient; after all, you were a busy woman who had many things to do. Plus, it was freezing cold and you’d forgotten to bring gloves. You questioned why you two had even agreed to meet by a fountain, of all things. Leave it to Yugyeom to choose such an impractical spot; next time, you two were gonna meet inside where it was nice and warm.

    Fourteen minutes past eleven in the morning, you sent Yugyeom a text that consisted of several question marks and exclamation points. He responded likewise, wondering why you weren’t at the meeting spot. Immediately, you stood up and looked past the fountain to the benches across. Lo and behold, there he stood. The two of you had wasted almost a quarter of an hour waiting for each other because you had been sitting on different benches.

    “Man, you’ve gotten dumber,” Yugyeom quipped as soon as you were in earshot of him. Promptly, you turned around and walked away in an attempt to find a better man to spend the day with. Yugyeom chased after you, laughing in between calls of “Wait up” and “I’m sorry”.

    “Can’t believe you’re blaming me when you’re the one who picked the crappy meeting spot,” you muttered, hiding a smile. “Anyway, we’re both at fault. Truce?”

    You held out your hand in an offering of peace. Yugyeom took it, then pulled you into a tight hug.

    “It’s been so long! I missed you,” he said. You mumbled a muffled reply, turning red from both the close contact and the increasing lack of oxygen.

    Yugyeom didn’t seem to notice as he continued, “Since I’m in charge of the itinerary for today, we’re bound to have a great time. Actually, more like I’m bound to have a great time kicking your at everything!”

    You pulled away, gasping for air. “Wait, are you still salty because I beat you in those arcade games? That was last year, for goodness’ sake!”

    “Today. Horror movie. Bowling. Dinner. Got it?”

    “Now you’re just straight up threatening me with activities that you like and I’m impartial towards.”

    “Yes, I am. Did you expect to have a good time doing things your way? This ain’t a date. Now, onwards!”

    As Yugyeom led the way and you trailed behind, you couldn’t help but grin. He was the same as always, and you had to admit that getting to be in his annoying presence was like seeing the sun after two weeks of rain. You felt a fluttering in your chest as you sighed and jogged to catch up.

    ‘Crush? Yup, definitely.’

You wanted face-to-face conversation, not staring at a screen for two hours. Furthermore, it was a horror movie, and you weren’t particularly fond of choosing to be scared.

The thing on the screen appeared out of nowhere and you nearly leapt out of your seat, grabbing Yugyeom’s arm to ground yourself. Jumpscares were the absolute worst and you hated them with a burning passion. Yugyeom, on the other hand, was totally unfazed and simply smiled at the screen whilst patting your hand in a reassuring manner.

“Fear not, I’ll save you from the monster,” he whispered after you nearly shrieked in fear for the fourth time.

“Shut up,” you hissed with as much menace as you could muster. It affected him as much as the movie did—not at all.

Yugyeom had the nerve to say things like “The movie wasn’t scary at all” when it was all over. You wanted nothing more than to make him feel some of the fear you had endured in the theatre, but your legs were shaking too much to even be considered a minor threat.

    “So tell me, what was the point of seeing that movie?” you asked the empty space next to you. “Oh. Yugyeom?”

    A pair of hands grabbed your shoulders and you yelped in surprise, legs nearly buckling beneath you. Yugyeom cackled as you turned to glare at him.

    “Very funny. Using cheap tactics to get ahead,” you said with clenched teeth.

    “I told you, I’m gonna kick your at everything today.”

    Exasperated, you weakly smiled. “Oh, you’ll be surprised at how good I’ve gotten at bowling.”

    Truth be told, the last time you’d touched a bowling ball had been a few months ago, but at the time you’d gotten enough strikes and spares to make yourself proud. You knew winning was out of the question if bowling was concerned, but you felt confident that you wouldn’t lose miserably to Yugyeom.

    “Really? Loser pays for dinner, how about it?”

    “No.” You scoffed at him. To think that he’d stoop this low so as to guarantee himself a win and save a few bucks!

    He grinned widely. “Why, because you know you’re gonna lose?” Yugyeom paused to gloat at your vexation. “Then it’s settled!”

    “It is not settled,” you exclaimed as he skipped away in all his smugness.

    “Don’t worry,” Yugyeom said, bowling ball in hand, “I’ll play fairly. No tricks or anything, just pure skill.” He released the ball and both of you watched it glide smoothly down the centre of the lane, knocking over all the pins.

    ‘A strike already? What kind of sorcery—’ Your thoughts were interrupted by Yugyeom clearing his throat, waiting for you to take the ball he was offering you. You took it and gaped at how light it was.

    “Are you making fun of me? This isn’t my first time, you know,” you snapped. He ignored you and hummed just loud enough for you to hear, “Perhaps I should ask them to put up the guardrails.”

    “I don’t need guardrails, thank you very much,” you muttered, releasing the ball with more force than you intended. Yugyeom’s jaw dropped as all the pins came tumbling down. It felt amazing to prove him wrong, but there were still nine frames to go and even more chances to prove him right.

    Turns out that Yugyeom ‘wasn’t feeling his best’ today and that you were on a lucky streak because the game ended with you two around 60 points apart. Considering that Yugyeom was someone who prided themselves on being above average at the game, while you were a very, very casual player, you thought you did pretty darn well.

    Yugyeom refused to admit that you hadn’t cheated your way to getting more than a 120. “You used both hands and rolled the ball between your legs and still got a strike. That’s too suspicious to ignore. Who’re you conspiring with?” he demanded to know.

    Nevertheless, he had won, and so you were to pay for dinner according to the terms of the agreement that you did not agree to.

As the two of you walked out of the bowling alley and into the frigid conditions outside, Yugyeom began speaking. “You know what? I feel a bit bad for you.”

“Bad for me?” you repeated, and he nodded.

“Yes. Perhaps we might change the terms of the agreement a bit? How about I pay

this time around?”

“That sounds like a splendid idea,” you replied, brightening up immediately. “Not that I was planning to pay anyway.”

“You expected me to pay all along? This ain’t a date, you know.”

Startled at the word ‘date’ being brought up again, you looked up at Yugyeom. Wow, had he always been that tall and handsome? Or was that just your frugal brain doing the thinking?

“What? Did you want this to be a date or something?” Yugyeom asked. You laughed nervously, trying not to give yourself away.

“Oh my gosh, my hands are so cold,” you mumbled in an attempt to change the subject. Yugyeom shot you a glance but seemed to think nothing else of your lack of a clear answer.

“Well I’m sorry, I can’t control the weather,” he retorted. His words were like a magic charm—they erased all thoughts of his tallness and handsomeness in your head and replaced them with gigantic letters that spelled ‘ANNOYING’.

“McDonald’s, here we come!” Yugyeom said cheerfully. “Just kidding. Let’s actually go somewhere nice. Huh… where are we?”

He and you had walked for so long without really paying attention to where you were going that you two had somehow ended up in the middle of a park. You looked around in confusion, then tilted your head back and gasped at the night sky.

Away from all the light pollution of the city, the stars were free to scatter themselves across the heavens. A dusting of twinkling lights decorated the deep navy of the night sky. How could you have missed seeing such a thing before?

Only halfway snapping back to reality, you said, “Don’t you know where the restaurant is? How did your sense of direction mess up so badly that it brought us here?”

When you got no reply, you were forced to look down. Yugyeom had taken a seat on a bench nearby and was staring upwards, mesmerized as you had been moments earlier.

“Relax. You’re not that hungry anyway, right?”

He was right—your coping mechanism at the movies had been to stuff your face with popcorn so that you wouldn’t scream. Reluctantly, you sat down next to him and turned your gaze back to the constellations above.

“You’re pretty busy nowadays,” you mentioned, fishing for conversation starters.

“Same could be said for you.” Yugyeom stopped there, much to your surprise. He seemed too preoccupied with staring at the stars to talk.

Your neck started to hurt after looking upwards for too long, so you looked down at your clenched hands instead.

“By the way, I got us lost on purpose. Don’t worry, I know the way back.”

He what? “Wow. I can’t—” Yugyeom put a finger to your lips; thankfully, it was dark enough that he couldn’t see you redden.

“Shhh. Enjoy this time, okay? Not everything has to be done right away. Dinner can wait if it means being able to see something as beautiful as this. Some distractions are fine every once in a while.”

“Sure,” you said. Complying was easier than fighting him anyway.

“The stars are beautiful tonight,” Yugyeom sighed.

“I refuse to go along with this meme,” you said and were ignored.

“You know what else is beautiful?” he asked, turning to face you. Despite your intention to go against what was expected, you blushed anyway and said “What?”

“You.”

“Do you think I’d actually fall for that—oh, you actually said something unexpected?” you said, phrasing it like a question.

Yugyeom laughed. “Gotcha.”

You were too chicken to ask if he really meant it, but just hearing that “You” made you feel warm inside.

Just then, Yugyeom’s stomach growled loudly. “Enough of looking at the stars. Let’s go to McDonald’s.”

“What happened to going somewhere nice?!”

Fortunately, Yugyeom made the smart decision to take you to an actual restaurant rather than a certain fast-food joint.

“Table for two?” the server asked, to which you nodded. “You two are such a cute couple. Enjoy your Christmas date,” she said, shooting a conspicuous wink in your direction. No sooner were you and Yugyeom seated and she was out of range of hearing did you say, “She just assumed several things, none of which were correct assumptions.”

“What’re you talking about? She was pretty spot-on,” Yugyeom joked.

“Come on! Cute couple? Why would you base cuteness on physical appearance? A true cute couple gets along well and doesn’t try to outcompete the other. In any case, she probably didn’t get a good look at your face and came to the wrong conclusion.”

“Excuse me. She probably only saw my face and not yours, and came to the right conclusion that—ooh, they have steak.” Yugyeom was distracted by a large picture of said food printed on the menu.

“The right conclusion that what?”

“That I’m super cute.”

You nearly choked on your water. “Hearing you say it does not convince me at all. Anyway, she told us to enjoy our Christmas date. Discuss everything wrong with that statement.”

“Firstly,” Yugyeom said, looking over the menu and right at you, “As I’ve said several times before, this ain’t a date. Secondly, how would one classify this date as a ‘Christmas date’ without knowing the intentions behind the two people meeting up? What if they’re celebrating a birthday instead?”

“Very true. Good points.”

Throughout the duration of dinner, you talked almost exclusively about everything wrong with the server’s statement. Unbeknownst to the two of you, said server overheard a few words of the conversation and decided to stick to saying “Happy holidays” to the rest of the customers.

“Man, that was some good steak,” Yugyeom proclaimed, beaming in satisfaction.

“Thanks for paying,” you brought up, genuinely grateful for his generosity. You pushed open the doors to leave the restaurant and were hit with a blast of cold air.

“Did it get colder?” Yugyeom asked, shivering. “Hey, it’s snowing.”

The two of you walked into the busy street. On the ground, a layer of fine powder had begun to accumulate, while all around you, snowflakes were gently spiralling down. Complete with the faint sounds of Christmas carols and the blinking lights on every storefront, it really looked like the holidays were in full force.

“This is the first snow of the year, isn’t it?” you thought aloud. Even though it was already late December, Korea had been strangely snow-free.

“Yeah, and you know what that means, right?” he responded.

“Uh, that global warming is a real concern and we’re experiencing the results of our carelessness and ignorance for the environment firsthand?”

Yugyeom chuckled. “That too, but also that if you’re with the person you like during the first snow of the year, you’ll stay together for a long time.”

You immediately felt yourself blush. “But does that apply to us?” you murmured.

All of a sudden, Yugyeom stopped walking and turned to you, holding your gaze intensely enough to make your heart race.

“Do you want it to apply to us?”

It was now or never; if you didn’t take this chance, who knew when the next good opportunity would be. If you failed, so be it, but you prayed to the heavens that everything would work out for you.

Breathless, you replied, “Yes.”

Yugyeom looked stunned for a second and your heart dropped. Panicking, you were about to backpedal furiously when he said, “Oh, me too.”

You gaped at his nonchalant response. “There was absolutely no feeling put into your answer.”

“I was just surprised that you actually said yes.”

“Why would you be surprised? Am I not obvious?”

“I’m super bad at picking up hints,” Yugyeom said. “But anyway. Would you give me the honour of being your boyfriend?”

You smiled from ear to ear. “Not sure if it’s much of an honour, but sure.”

“Of course it’s an honour. Next time we meet as boyfriend and girlfriend, I’ll take you on a proper date where we can actually do things you like.”

“Today hasn’t been that bad. It was fun.”

Yugyeom sighed, pretending to be peeved. “Have you not been listening to me at all? This. Ain’t. A. Date. You deserve better than getting your kicked at everything.”

“I didn’t get my kicked at everything per se. You still paid for dinner,” you pointed out. “Anyway, where are we going next?”

“Let’s go get ice cream!”

“My hands are already super cold,” you said, shivering at the thought of eating ice cream on a day like this.

“Well I’m sorry, I’ll hold your hand. Being super demanding already, I see.”

It was no use hiding your huge grin. Yugyeom was the only one who could make you smile with an attitude like that, and he knew it.

“You’re paying, right?” he joked.

“Haha, very funny. Let’s break up.”