Chapter 7 

First Date 

Pacing back and forth in his room Seungyoon struggled with a really big dilemma. 

He was going on his first date and he needed advice, but there wasn’t really anyone to ask. He knew his roommates would be happy to support him, but seeing as his date was with Mino that felt out of the question. 

Now he was left to try and decide what exactly to tell them. Should he say that he was going out to dinner with Mino? They were friends and so surely they wouldn’t think much of it, but then he couldn’t ask for advice because.. 

His line of thought was broken by a light knock on the door. 

    "I’m going out with some of my classmates tonight, we are going to practice our lines for the new play so I won’t be home too late" It was Jinwoo, who left out through the front door before he could respond. 

Seunghoon probably didn’t care what he was up to he thought. Deciding it was best to just keep quiet until he got things figured out he put on his fresh t-shirt and headed out of his room. Walking in to the living room he found Seunghoon on the sofa watching tv.

    “Where are you going?” Seunghoon asked as soon as he saw him.

    “What makes you think I’m going anywhere?” He replied surprised.

    “You changed your clothes from earlier” Seunghoon said giving him a quick questioning glance.

    "Ah, coffee stain" he lied, not sure why he even bothered with lying. 

    "So where are you going?" Seunghoon asked again. In response he shrugged and poured himself a glass of water instead of giving Seunghoon an answer. 

    "Just out to eat" he finally responded between gulps of water a good long minute later. 

    "Enjoy" Seunghoon replied and he was surprised Seunghoon didn’t ask any further. 

He was happy the questions had ended because he was a terrible liar and he feared his nervousness would shine through very easily if he was to start discussing things. Deciding to finish freshening up he left the living room for the bathroom. It was only about ten minutes left until he should be out in the hallway.

His hair was a mess despite having showered once he got home. Attacking it with a brush he sighed, why did it have to be like that today. Unsure if he should bother to fix it he heard the howling wind beat against the small bathroom window. 

    "I think not" he mumbled to himself and started looking around for his deodorant. 

When he got out from the bathroom was he surprised to see Mino there on the couch in stead of Seunghoon. 

    "Oh, hi" he said unable to hide his honest reaction. "What happened to Seunghoon?" 

    "Met him in the hall, he was going out to meet some classmates" Mino replied playing with the remote control in his hand. 

Unable to take his eyes of Mino he swallowed hard. It was obvious that Mino had made an effort to dress well for their date and it made him feel all kinds of feelings. The fact that Mino looked that good in a plain shirt, buttoned down so much that some of his tattoos was showing and a grey blazer jacket.. Well it should be illegal. 

    "Nice hair" Mino said having obviously fixed his own as he usually went with a fluffy ruffled look, today it was sleek and styled. 

    "Figured the weather would ruin it anyway" he admitted while doing another ridiculousl attempt at flattening it. 

    "You are probably right" Mino replied throwing one quick glance at the window. It was growing dark outside already, but there was no ignoring the howling wind and the constant patter of rain drops hitting the glass. 

    "Hope you brought something warm to wear to go with that" he noted, trying to keep calm and act cool, but the amount of skin Mino was showing had him thrown for a loop. It should be illegal to look that good, how was he supposed to act normal when faced with that all evening. 

Mino just nodded and got to his feet. 

    "You ready to go?" Seungyoon asked picking up his phone and keys from the kitchen table. 

    "Yeah, I just need to do one thing before we go" Mino replied making him stop in his tracks wondering what that could be. Maybe he needed to use the bathroom? Leaning against the kitchen counter to wait for whatever it was Mino needed to do he unlocked his phone and took a quick look at his messages. 

Before he could read more than a couple of words was his phone snatched out of his hand and placed on the counter beside him. 

    "Wha.." his words were muffled by Mino leaning in for a kiss. It was sweet, but still somewhat forceful as Mino pressed his entire body against his. He couldn’t help but to let out a small sigh of joy between puffs of breath as he felt Mino’s hand slowly move from his now phone less hand, up his arm until it wrapped itself around his neck. 

They broke apart staring into each others eyes, the way Mino smiled at him made his heart skip more than a couple of beats and he felt a bit dizzy.  

    "That’s what you needed to do before we leave?" he finally managed to ask after a good half a minute of just trying to calm himself from the intensity of the kiss they had just shared. 

    "Mhm" Mino said, his smile turning slightly lopsided in amusement. He stepped away then and asked if they should get going. Hoping his legs that still felt like jelly wouldn’t fail him he took a couple of unstable steps towards the hall. 

Watching Mino wrap his scarf around himself several times he still couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. 

    "I don’t think thats how first dates usually begin" he noted more to himself than to Mino, but he let out a small laugh making it obvious that he had heard him. 

    "It’s the best beginning to any first date I’ve ever been on" Mino said turning towards him to wait for him to finish getting dressed as well. 

At first this had made him really happy, but then his mind had begun wondering exactly how many first dates Mino had been to. He himself had never been on one and his lack of experience made him so very nervous. 

Hurrying down the street on foot, getting hit fully in the face by the strong wind neither of them spoke a word until they reached the restaurant. His eyes kept mostly looking down at the wet asphalt, but occasionally he threw a quick glance at Mino’s hand beside him, secretly wishing he could hold it.

It was a pretty big Italian restaurant with lots of people of all ages dining casually. Originally they had wanted to go to a new restaurant down in the city center, but with the weather being so bad neither felt like making the effort to go down there.  

This was the place they usually ordered takeaway pizza’s from and so they had both agreed it was time to try something else from the menu. 

They had just made their orders to a friendly waiter and were chatting casually about the past week when a group of four girls came into the restaurant. They all seemed to know Mino and he greeted them in such a cheerful and happy way he couldn’t help but to feel a bit jealous. 

    "They are from my class" he explained as the girls sat down on the table right next to them. 

He got a sinking feeling in his chest as soon as he heard Mino say the words my class. 

    "That girl over there was the one who was supposed to sing the part you sang on the song we are collaborating on" Mino continued, nodding towards a very beautiful girl with her back turned towards them. 

Just as he said it had she turned around in her chair, whipping her long black hair around her as if she was in some shampoo commercial before starting to ask Mino questions about the menu. Apparently had she and her friends never been there before and she got. so. many. questions! 

When she finally finished asking and Mino finished replying did he noticed that he'd been stress drinking his soda so aggressively that it was almost empty. 

Their food arrived in that moment, cutting them off from the conversation with the girls. 

Or at least thats what he thought. Another one of them started talking to them now, saying how they should join them by their table. He was very happy when Mino politely turned them down, but since he gave them no good reason for why he had turned them down didn’t they give up. 

They kept turning in their seats attempting to start conversation even though they didn’t pay them much attention. In the end had he and Mino finished their meal, but while waiting for the waiter to get there with their bill had the one with the long black hair gotten up from her seat and started walking over. 

Taking a seat next to Mino she introduced herself to him in such a cheerful way it came across as a bit fake. 

    "I’m Leyla" she said holding out a hand towards him while smiling brightly. He took it and introduced himself as well. 

That was as much attention she was willing to offer him because before he even managed to finish speaking had she quickly turned in her chair leaning heavily onto Mino’s shoulder before asking: 

    "So what happened to that song we talked about at school?" she asked batting her eyelashes at him. 

    "Scrapped it, sorry!" he said jokingly while leaning slightly away from her as she was getting ever closer. The whole situation was terribly awkward, but Seungyoon couldn’t really blame Mino for not telling her to back off either, seeing as they saw each other at school every day. 

    "It’s too bad, I think we would look great together" she said as she put her chin on Mino’s shoulder on top of her already well placed hands. Seungyoon struggled to keep a snort back as he tried not to imagine what she was proposing. 

    "On stage I mean" she added, peering into Mino’s face to study his expression as she said it. 

    "Don’t you agree?" she asked, suddenly turning her attention back to him. Unsure of what to reply he kept quiet, but she wouldn’t drop the matter. 

    "We are actually working on something for the school festival these days, so if you would excuse us" Mino suddenly said, having finally caught on to how awkward he felt about the situation. Mino got to his feet then, causing her to almost fall over in her seat before giving him a small nod indicating for him to follow along. 

They had yet to pay for their food, but they met the waiter on their way out and paid by the counter. 

Once outside Mino sighed. He sighed too. That had been pretty miserable.

    "You hang out with them on daily