Work Text:
Soonyoung is fucked.
He doesn’t know whose idea it was for that DJ to bring up the topic of first kisses, but Soonyoung only narrowly avoids admitting the closest thing he’s gotten to an actual kiss is when they force his unit to play the paper kiss game. And after that, he doesn’t want any more close calls.
Still, talking to the others about kissing goes… well, not like he expected (and he was already expecting the unexpected).
First, unfortunately, Soonyoung has to talk to Seungcheol.
“Ask them not to talk about first kisses anymore?” Seungcheol repeats Soonyoung’s question skeptically, his eyebrows furrowing. “Soonyoung-ah, you should know by now we can’t control what they ask us, just how we deal with it.”
“I know, hyung, but the PDs usually go over the content beforehand. We have enough people that we could just kinda… subtly avoid having me have to answer the question.” Soonyoung remains stubborn, and Seungcheol’s expression turns from vaguely annoyed to mildly concerned.
“Soonyoung-ah? Was your first kiss really that… traumatic?” he asks, his tone softening as he places a hand on Soonyoung’s shoulder.
“Ah, well, yeah kinda,” Soonyoung says quickly, trying not to smile in relief. “I-I mean, I’m definitely over it now hyung, it’s fine, but you know. Don’t wanna talk about it much. Traumatic.”
“I’ll do what I can, but no promises,” Seungcheol shakes his head, though he seems apologetic. “In the meantime… if you need to talk about anything, you know I’m always here, right?”
“Cheesy, hyung.” Soonyoung wrinkles his nose in feigned disgust, but he can’t help the affection that swells in his chest anyway. He almost feels a little bad for lying, but not bad enough to tell the truth. Still…
“But yeah,” he mentions as he leaves. “I do know.”
“What do you mean you’ve already kissed someone? You’re like twelve—ack!” Soonyoung complains a little too loudly, causing Chan to ‘accidentally’ tickle his foot under the table they’re sharing in the cramped practice studio.
“I’m a high school senior, hyung. I haven’t since we debuted, obviously, but I was a kid once too. It wasn’t anything serious, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Chan tells him with a slight pout. “Why are you so concerned about kissing? We have to play that dumb game all the time anyway.”
“Don’t remind me.” Soonyoung groans and puts his head on the table as Seungkwan kicks open the door, oblivious, cold drinks for the lot of them in his hands.
“What’s wrong with you, hyung?” he asks innocently. Soonyoung looks up at him with what he hopes is an appropriately baleful look; he’s already walked in on Seungkwan kissing certain people who will not be named at the moment. It saved him time at least, since he hasn’t even bothered to approach any parties involved about their kissing history in his quest that started with the Seungcheol conversation.
“Who knows what goes on in this hyung’s head,” Chan responds in lieu of Soonyoung, reaching over to poke Soonyoung’s forehead. “I think he might actually be dead this time.”
“Oh. Well that’s too bad, Wonwoo hyung was just saying he was looking for you,” Seungkwan taps Soonyoung’s head with the cold bottle in his hand, causing Soonyoung to jolt upright despite the fact that he was obviously perfectly fine with moping some more.
“I guess I’ll go find him. I could use a break anyway,” Soonyoung says, making sure to flick both their foreheads in revenge and, of course, dash out before they can retaliate.
It’s just as well that Wonwoo was looking for him, because the last but not least person Soonyoung has to confirm with is in fact Wonwoo. Jeon Wonwoo, who is kind of hot (according to the fans) and sort of perfect (according to the members) and has probably kissed dozens (maybe hundreds?) of equally beautiful people way before he joined the company or met Soonyoung even though he would’ve still been in middle school at the time. Lots of middle schoolers kissed. Besides middle school Soonyoung, anyway.
It’s not that they’re not close. No, he and Wonwoo are close and always have been—and that’s why it sucks even more, because Soonyoung thinks that Wonwoo is nice enough to actually feel bad for him when he’s not sure he can take anymore pity for the day. Wonwoo is sitting outside, on the back stairwell by himself, staring at the gray, late afternoon sky with a blank look on his face. Soonyoung knows that despite the vacant expression he’s usually thinking about something, even if that something probably doesn’t make any sense to most people.
He shoves his hands in his pockets and saunters over casually, nudging Wonwoo’s back with his knee. “Yah, the kids said you were looking for me?”
“Was I? I don’t really remember, but maybe I was.” Wonwoo’s ambiguous response comes after a pause, and he turns to look over his shoulder at Soonyoung. “I’m glad you’re here, though.”
He pats the spot next to him, and even with his bangs messily clipped back and no makeup on, he’s really gorgeous. Soonyoung sits down next to him easily enough, but he feels his heart drop a little. There’s no way someone as handsome as Wonwoo would understand what he’s going through…
“What’s it like?” Soonyoung begins, propping his elbows on his knees and resting his chin on his hands so he doesn’t have to look directly at Wonwoo.
“What’s what like?”
“Kissing someone? I’ve never done it before.” Soonyoung sighs, his exhaled breath making his bangs flutter upwards. “But also, I dunno, being the type of guy that people want to kiss.”
Wonwoo is thoughtful for a while, even for him, but then he shrugs. “I wouldn’t know either, sorry.”
“What? You don’t? But I thought…” Soonyoung tries to form more words, but his mouth starts flapping uselessly from shock. Wonwoo’s never kissed anyone either…? That just seems so… “That’s impossible.”
“Why not? I’m kinda quiet now, but it was worse when I was a kid.” Wonwoo shrugs again, seeming perplexed by Soonyoung’s utter surprise. “Is it really that weird?”
“It is for you! I mean… you’re the visual, aren’t you?” Soonyoung crosses his arms. “I can get me being 13th place, but not you of all people.”
“Why not? You’re handsome too, Soonyoungie,” Wonwoo says without a trace of embarrassment, and despite everything Soonyoung feels a blush start to creep up his face. “And funny, and talented, and nice. I’m the one who’s surprised you’re worried about something like that. It’ll happen sooner or later, right?”
It’s far from the first time Wonwoo has complimented him, but for some reason Soonyoung feels more flustered than ever before. He doesn’t really know what to say in response besides “Uh… right.”
Wonwoo goes quiet again after that, looking at the passing clouds again, and Soonyoung starts to wonder if he wants to be left alone. Just as he’s about to speak up, though, Wonwoo does first.
“What if… we were both 12th place?”
“Huh?” This time, Soonyoung is confused.
“I mean, what if we were both 12th place in kissing. That would mean neither of us is last,” Wonwoo says very seriously, even though Soonyoung is waiting for the punchline as Wonwoo turns to look at him with a sweet, small smile on his face.
“Unless… I mean… you didn’t want to. With me,” he adds uncertainly at the end, his face falling a bit.
Yeah, that’d be kinda weird wouldn’t it, is what Soonyoung fully intends to say, but when he sees Wonwoo’s sad puppy eyes he opens his mouth and the only words that come out are “No, let’s do it.”
“O… okay.” Wonwoo nods and closes his eyes, but then doesn’t move. Soonyoung immediately panics—is he supposed to do everything?!
He takes a deep breath. Wonwoo’s eyelashes are so long, and his face structure really is perfect. His mouth isn’t puckered cheesily, but his lips are just slightly parted, as if waiting.
Think of it as a dance, he tells himself as he puts his hands on Wonwoo’s shoulders, leans in smoothly, and tilts his head as his lips brush softly against Wonwoo’s. The sensation sends a jolt of emotion through both of them; Wonwoo jumps slightly under Soonyoung’s hands, and Soonyoung feels like sparks are running through every nerve ending in his body.
And it’s different, so different than the paper game, or even when he pretends to kiss or touch a lover as he dances. Even though it’s mostly chaste, just continued gentle presses of their lips, he can taste Wonwoo’s breath mixing with his own. And Wonwoo himself is so real and soft and warm and his that Soonyoung doesn’t realize how long they’ve been kissing until he pulls back and realizes that probably, it’s been a very long time.
“Soonyoung.” Wonwoo’s voice is hoarse but wracked with emotion as he leans forward and rests his head on Soonyoung’s shoulder, his hand coming up to rest on the side of Soonyoung’s neck. “Soonyoung-ah…”
The moment is so tender that Soonyoung doesn’t want to ruin it, so he bites down on his bottom lip (he can still taste Wonwoo on it, if he tries), and puts his arms carefully around Wonwoo’s shoulders.
“S’okay,” he says finally, once he’s at least partially collected himself, and his own voice sounds surprisingly rough as well. “It was—that was good, Wonwoo-yah.”
And even though Soonyoung was being serious for once, Wonwoo giggle-snorts cutely, his wide shoulders shaking a little as he sits back up to look at Soonyoung. Their legs bump together, as comfortable as before, but it also feels different in a way that Soonyoung can’t possibly describe. Everything feels different really, but almost imperceptibly so, as if he had just come home after someone shifted all the furniture in their dorm just a few centimeters to the left.
“Yah, don’t laugh. 12th place is still nothing special you know,” Soonyoung laughs too, but it’s mostly to hide his nervousness as he gives Wonwoo’s leg a light hit with his knee.
“Is that so? Well, it’s special to me,” Wonwoo responds, and takes Soonyoung’s hand in his. He squeezes it gently, and forget the kissing itself, this kind of stuff is what makes Soonyoung’s fingers and toes curl from sheer embarrassment. “You know I like you the best, right?”
“That’s not saying much when you consider my competition,” Soonyoung responds jokingly, because he really will die if this gets any cheesier. Not that he wants Wonwoo to think the feeling isn’t mutual... “But… yeah, I do know.”
Wonwoo doesn’t let go of his hand, and keeps looking at Soonyoung as if he’s waiting.
“Okay, so I like you the best too. But only because of your personality,” Soonyoung admits finally, grinning as he finally climbs to his feet. His butt is kind of sore from sitting on the steps so long, but he doesn’t complain as he offers his hand to Wonwoo. “C’mon, lets go inside. I need a snack.”
“I could use one, too.” Wonwoo takes his hand and stands up, and Soonyoung swallows hard when he’s reminded how much taller Wonwoo is than him. Before they head in, Wonwoo bends down and pecks a kiss to the corner of Soonyoung’s mouth.
“Ey, what was that for?” Soonyoung feigns annoyance, but mostly he feels like his head might explode.
Wonwoo pretends to be innocent, but he’s smirking widely. “Well, we don’t have to be 12th place in number of kisses too, do we?”
Soonyoung pretends to sigh, but he can’t help but smile back.
“No, I suppose we don’t.”