Sunggyu was not looking forward to meeting Dongwoo. He'd heard a lot about the boy through his roommate, Woohyun, and when Woohyun announced that he'd set the two of them up for a date this Saturday, Sunggyu was less than thrilled.
Nothing his friend had told him made him eager to meet the boy.
"You can hear his laugh from across the room - it's fantastic." Loud and obnoxious. Wonderful.
"He's always smiling." If he's one of those freakishly optimistic people I swear...
"He's always got something to say." He never shuts up. Great. I'll never get a word in.
"Sometimes he loses his train of thought mid-sentence and just carries on something else. It's adorable." Oh joy he's an idiot.
"His hair has been like twenty different colours. It's pink right now." He's one of those gays. Fantastic.

Needless to say, he was far from excited when Saturday rolled around, but he showered and dressed carefully just the same. At least one of them had to leave a good impression. 
Sunggyu showed up to the café Woohyun had instructed him to go to at noon and he ordered a coffee while he waited. And waited. And waited.
Five minutes late was fine. Ten was pushing it, but fifteen was annoying and twenty was just plain inconsiderate. 
Sunggyu was justifiably irritated when he finally saw a head of pink hair walk through the door and make a beeline for him.
"I'm so sorry I'm late - Woohyun-ah told me 12:30. He just realized now," Dongwoo said quickly, holding up his phone, displaying the conversation which proved him to be truthful. Sunggyu begrudgingly excused his tardiness. 
"Yeah, Woohyun is an idiot," Sunggyu muttered and Dongwoo let out a laugh. 
Sunggyu was taken off guard for a moment because, yes, it was loud but there was a sort of warmth to it that he hadn't been expecting. It was genuine too, and Sunggyu was surprised. No one ever found him funny. 
"He's a forgetful one, that's for sure," Dongwoo grinned, and once again Sunggyu paused for a moment. There was that smile Woohyun had told him about, but there was something about it. It was just...warm. There was really no other way to describe it. Did he really smile all the time? Sunggyu hoped so - and that thought took him aback.
, I should say something... Sunggyu was socially inept, there was no question about that, and conversation didn't come easily for him but like Woohyun had warned him, Dongwoo left no time for awkward pauses.
"I'm gonna go grab something to drink. Do you want anything? Their muffins are fantastic. Actually, I accidentally overslept and couldn't have breakfast so I'll probably get two anyway. We can share if you want. What kind would you like?"
There was that topic mash-up Sunggyu was informed about, but it was actually kind of...endearing. Sunggyu found himself questioning his sanity. 
"The lemon cranberry one looks good," Sunggyu shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant.
"I love that one! Alright, I'll be right back," Dongwoo beamed, and Sunggyu's breath definitely didn't get caught in his throat for just half a second. 

With that, Dongwoo walked quite happily away to go get into the short line and Sunggyu was left to inspect him from afar.
The pink hair wasn't as flashy as he'd imagined. It actually looked really good on the boy. It suited him quite well and matched his personality. Both were bright. 
He was pretty short, but Sunggyu found himself actually liking that - because it'd make him look taller, of course. Not because it was undeniably cute. 
He had handsome features too, and that smile... That was something else. His eyes were nice too. Expressive. His voice was deep and soothing and his laughter was just so alive.

Sunggyu didn't realize he was lost in thought until Dongwoo sat back down with him, brushing a few strands of his hair back away from his face. 
"Here you go!" he chirped, offering one of the muffins towards Sunggyu. Sunggyu smiled and took it, offering a quiet thank you.

Far from anything Sunggyu would have guessed, the date was smooth sailing from there. Dongwoo really did talk quite a bit, but Sunggyu found that he liked it. There were no awkward pauses, but Dongwoo still stopped enough to let Sunggyu say what he wanted to. For the most part though, Sunggyu was content to listen to Dongwoo speak.
Passion. That was the first word that came to his mind. Dongwoo was passionate about many things and it showed in the way he talked. His eyes lit up and he gestured quite a bit with his hands, but Sunggyu didn't find it annoying like he did with most others. Also, Sunggyu wouldn't admit it out loud but he found the way that Dongwoo sometimes spoke too quickly and tripped over his words to be absolutely and entirely adorable. 

What Sunggyu noticed the most, however, was how comfortable he felt around the younger boy. Sunggyu used to have near crippling social anxiety, and though he was working on it and had made a lot of progress, he still found himself feeling awkward around people quite a bit. With Dongwoo, it wasn't like that. Almost right away, Dongwoo had made him feel at ease, like he had known him for years. 
Even Dongwoo's touchiness didn't bother him, as it was obvious Dongwoo didn't mean anything by it. It was just natural for him to touch Sunggyu's hand or reach over and place a hand on his arm. 
Even after they finished their food and drink - Dongwoo had hot chocolate as coffee tended to "send him off the walls" - and they went for a walk in a nearby park, Sunggyu found himself drawn to Dongwoo's warm touch. 
Sunggyu had spent a good five minutes debating whether or not it was too soon to hold Dongwoo's hand before Dongwoo had taken the initiative to lace their fingers together. 
Sunggyu simply smiled to himself and looked away initially, willing the flush in his cheeks to disappear. 

Now just past 4:00, Sunggyu walked Dongwoo back to his apartment and started out with an awkward goodbye, but Dongwoo leaned in and gave Sunggyu a tight hug which the older boy happily returned. Dongwoo's arms felt nice wrapped around him. 
They exchanged phone numbers and arranged to meet again same time next weekend and Sunggyu walked back home in much higher spirits than he'd anticipated.
Maybe Woohyun wasn't such an idiot after all.