chapter 11 | mall date and the growth of kim sunggyu

 

Sunggyu groans when his mother shakes him awake. “Sunggyu, honey, you need to get up.”

 

            “It’s Saturday, mum. I can sleep in.”

 

            “No, you can’t.”

 

            “And why is that?”

 

            “Because there is a boy waiting for you!” she whispers close to his ear. Sunggyu’s head shoots up, his bed hair all over the place. He doesn’t know exactly who could be at his door. Hoya wouldn’t wake up so early just to come over and even if he did, he’d really only come to wake up Dongwoo because Hoya knows that Sunggyu should not be awakened before at least noon. And the only other boys he kind of knows are Yongguk and Woohyun but they don’t know his address so who could it be?

 

            Sunggyu jumps out of bed and sprints down the stairs. When he gets to the landing, he slides, his socks having no traction whatsoever. Sunggyu squeaks in surprise and flails his arms, trying desperately to balance himself. He continues to slide until he can grab onto the nearest solid object which just so happens to be Dongwoo.

 

            Dongwoo, surprised, is knocked over with the force of Sunggyu colliding into him and they both end up in a tangled heap on the floor. The family gathers around the mess. Their mother and sister are killing themselves laughing and their dad is just looking at them with an amused expression as he shakes his head.

 

            Sunggyu untangles himself from Dongwoo, who is groaning in pain. Sunggyu looks up and almost screams when he sees who’s visited him.

 

            “W-Woohyun?”

 

            “That was the definition of dramatic entrance,” Woohyun grins as Sunggyu scrambles to his feet.

 

            “What are you doing here?”

 

            “I’ve come to take you out on a date, of course,” he replies nonchalantly.

 

            “D-date?”

 

            Woohyun nods and looks Sunggyu up and down, taking in the hamster pajamas and the bed hair. Sunggyu suddenly feels very self-conscious and finally remembers that he’s in the most embarrassing pajamas he owns and this just so happens to be the day Woohyun comes to get him. He’s pretty sure God hates him by now.

 

            “Oh, lovely! Sunggyu, go get changed!” Dongwoo says, pushing Sunggyu back up the stairs and towards his bedroom.

 

            “B-but—”

 

            Dongwoo ignores Sunggyu’s protests and effectively shuts him up by tickling his sides a little.

 

            --

 

            “How did you get my address?” Sunggyu asks when they are in Woohyun’s expensive car.

 

            “I asked Hoya for it.”

 

            “You talked to Hoya?”

 

            Woohyun nods. “I passed by him in the hall the other day so I asked.”

 

            “Oh,” he replies. “And, um, where are we going?”

 

            “On a date.”

 

            “To where?”

 

            “The mall,” grinning, Woohyun pulls into the parking lot of the local shopping centre. Sunggyu furrows his eyebrows; he’s kind of broke and he still doesn’t know why Woohyun is taking him on a date.

 

            Woohyun pulls into a parking lot and turns off the car, getting out and hurrying to the other side to open Sunggyu’s door before he can do it himself. “Thanks,” Sunggyu mutters shyly as he gets out of the car.

 

            They walk together into the mall which is filled with teenagers and young adults and Sunggyu is glad he doesn’t recognize anyone yet.

 

            Woohyun takes Sunggyu around the mall, dragging him into various stores. Woohyun insists on throwing clothes at him for Sunggyu to try on. All the clothes don’t really fit Sunggyu right and they hang off of Sunggyu’s slim shoulders in all the wrong ways.

 

            Sunggyu tells Woohyun that he likes his oversized t-shirts and loose jeans but Woohyun doesn’t seem to be having any of Sunggyu’s protests and continues to throw clothes at him.

 

            They’re in a somewhat edgy store now and Sunggyu is in the change room with a pile of clothes that he suspects will be much too showy and much too tight. He tries them on anyways, though.

 

            This particular pair of jeans is extremely tight and Sunggyu can feel the circulation being cut off in his thighs. Woohyun knocks on the door and asks if Sunggyu’s tried on the jeans yet, to which he replies that yes he has and they are way too small.

 

            “Oh, they can’t be that small!”

 

            “I can’t feel my legs!”

 

            The door opens and Woohyun steps in, closing the door behind him. Sunggyu makes a small eep noise. “W-Woohyun!”

 

            Woohyun zips down the jeans he’s made Sunggyu try on and he spins the elder around. He takes the back of the jeans and checks the size. “Oops, I got the wrong size.”

 

            Sunggyu can’t fight his raging blush anymore so he tries to hide his face. “By the way, you look really good in skinny jeans.” When Sunggyu doesn’t answer, Woohyun chuckles, slaps his , and exits the change room, leaving Sunggyu a flustered mess.

 

--

 

            Woohyun ends up deciding that Sunggyu looks really good in edgier clothes so he buys a few outfits for Sunggyu (despite Sunggyu telling him he didn’t need to) and they leave the mall to go to the nearby park.

 

            In the car, Sunggyu thinks about everything that’s happened the past week. He’d gotten close to sleeping with Nam Woohyun, a thing most people would kill to do. He’d been kissed a few times (which still brought about a blush every time he remembered the feeling of Woohyun’s lips on his own), made a new friend via poetry, and had learned a few secrets about Woohyun whilst they baked together. And now he was on a date with the very man he had been pining for a while. Sunggyu never thought his life could change so quickly in such a short period of time.

 

            “What are you so deep in thought about?” Woohyun asks as they begin walking.

 

            “Huh? O-oh, nothing.”

 

            “Oh, really? Because you were staring at me,” Woohyun has a very smug grin on his face and it makes Sunggyu blush.

 

            “I-I was just—”

 

            Woohyun laughs and ruffles Sunggyu’s hair. “You’re so cute, you know that?”

 

            “I-I’m not c-cute…” Sunggyu pouts, making Woohyun pinch his cheeks and go aw~

 

            Sunggyu and Woohyun find a more secluded part of the park where there are very few passersby. They take a seat in the shade of a cherry blossom tree, leaning up against the trunk of the tree. Sunggyu wonders if all dates feel this nice. Do people regularly do this when they’re dating? Sunggyu’s never dated so he wouldn’t really know.

 

            “You know, Hye Mi is always asking me when you’ll be visiting again,” Woohyun says, breaking the comfortable silence they’d fallen into. Sunggyu raises his eyebrows and the corners of his lips tug into a small smile.

 

            “Really?”

 

            “All the time. She really seems to like you.”

 

            Sunggyu smiles to himself. “I like her, too. She’s a good kid. Smart, as well.”

 

            “Maybe even too smart.”

 

            “Maybe.”

 

            There is a pause before Woohyun speaks again. “That was me indirectly asking you to come over again.”

 

            Sunggyu blushes. “O-oh… I’d love to.”

 

            “Hye Mi will be so happy to hear that,” Woohyun says and Sunggyu can’t help but be a little disappointed that it isn’t Woohyun who wants him over. He chooses to forget the tug at his heart because he’s already convinced himself that Woohyun doesn’t like him, and he tells himself that he’s content with that but he’s really not sure anymore.

 

--

 

Sunggyu didn’t know how quickly time could pass. Before his life was just kind of like a boring schedule that consisted of him sleeping, eating, and studying. He rarely went out and most of the time Hoya came over to them. He essentially did absolutely nothing and he was just kind of wasting away his teenage years.

 

But now he was actually leaving the house and actually making an effort to talk to his friends. Because of band practice, he had really started to get to know Yongguk, who was helping him with his stage fright. And he’d also been visiting Woohyun a lot; going over to his house, going to the mall or the movies or other places with him.

 

Dongwoo and Hoya had noticed a definite change in Sunggyu. He wore more fashionable clothes and actually tried at least a little in the morning. He’d even sometimes hold his chin just a tad higher when he walked, but those moments were still a little rare.

 

Sunggyu counts off the weeks he’s known Woohyun and Yongguk for. Four; an entire month. Exams are approaching now and he knows that he can’t go out as much as he has been but he’s so used to going out that he can barely remember what it was like to just stay at home and study. It’s kind of weird how much things can change so quickly.

           

            Sunggyu sits with Woohyun after school, chatting about the upcoming exams. They don’t notice someone watching them. 

 

Our baby hamster is growing up. Aw, bless. 

Oh my? New character? Maybe a few? 

I guess you'll have to wait until the next chapter! 

(The reason I kind of summarized a month's worth of time in a few paragraphs is because I didn't want to drag out the story too much. The month that Sunggyu spent kind of growing didn't need 239586359128 chapters. I believe it was a better choice to have a brief synopsis of the boring month. Anyway, the next few chapters will make up for it. So stay tuned!)

Not proofread. Sue me.