seonghwa shakily walked up to hongjoong's door. he internally debated on not ringing the bell, wondering in his head how bad it could be if he just turned around and drove back home.

no... hwa, you have to. you have to admit your feelings. think positive, think positive...

before he could convince his mind otherwise, seonghwa rang hongjoong's bell. he began sweating heavily, wiping the perspiration off of his forehead before hongjoong could notice. thankfully, hongjoong didn't take long to run up to the door and greet the older.

"seongie!" hongjoong smiled widely, hugging the boy after he let seonghwa inside and locked the front door behind them. seonghwa hugged hongjoong back tightly, ruffling the boy's hair.

"hi hun. how are you?" seonghwa asked, wanting to make some small talk before admitting his feelings.

"i'm doing great!" hongjoong answered, giggling into his hands.

"hello seonghwa." hongjoong's mom walked up to the boy, opening her arms for a hug.

seonghwa's breath hitched, leaning in and accepting her offer, "hi m-ms. kim." seonghwa slightly stuttered, stumbling a bit on his own words. ms. kim backed away from seonghwa after his greeting.

"i don't want to interrupt whatever you boys wanted to talk about, so i'll make my way to my room now. it's a pleasure seeing you though!" she smiled kindly, putting a hand on seonghwa's shoulder before walking away from the duo.

"well, what did you wanna talk about?" hongjoong rocked back and forth on his feet, smiling innocently at seonghwa.

seonghwa gulped, nerves getting even stronger as time went on, "joongie, i want to tell you something important. can we go somewhere more private?"

"of course! let's go to my room." hongjoong chirped, grabbing the older's hand and dragging him upstairs. seonghwa took the opportunity to intertwine their fingers, not planning on letting go anytime soon.

once the boys made it upstairs, hongjoong opened his bedroom door, allowing seonghwa to walk in behind him. he then shut the door behind them for more privacy and took seonghwa to his bed, sitting down next to the boy while still holding onto his hand.

seonghwa faced the boy, picking up his other hand and holding both of them in his own. hongjoong noticed now nervous seonghwa looked and began worrying himself, afraid of what the older wanted to talk to him about.

wait, does he hate me again? oh no, he was just being so nice to me... please please don't go back to your old ways, i beg of you. please seongie...

"joongie, as we both know you admitted your feelings for me a while back."

yep, there it is. he hates me! he absolutely hates me, hongjoong thought to himself.

hongjoong began tearing up and seonghwa quickly noticed. he began panicking, dropping hongjoong's hands and waving his in the boy's face rapidly.

"wait, no! baby, don't take this the wrong way. i know what you might be thinking, but i promise it's not what you think. please let me explain." seonghwa rambled, hoping hongjoong understood what he meant.

"so what is it, seongie?" hongjoong asked while frowning a bit.

seonghwa took a deep breath, grabbing hongjoong's hands once again.

there's no turning back now...

"i, um... i like you too, joongie. i like you a lot. a lot more than i thought i ever could." seonghwa smiled, looking into hongjoong's eyes as he spoke.

after seonghwa's confession, hongjoong frowned quickly turned into a huge smile. he began bouncing in his seat, unable to control the overwhelming happiness he felt.

"wait seongie, are you being serious? you like me back?" hongjoong asked, wanting to make sure it wasn't some sick joke the older might've been playing on him.

"i'm one hundred percent serious. i like you, joongie. i like you a lot. and if you don't like me back, that's o--"

"i like you too, seongie! i never stopped liking you!" hongjoong cut the older off, making seonghwa chuckle a bit at his adorable reaction.

"well thank god for that, i seriously thought you'd hate me after that one day i was extremely mean to you." seonghwa lowered his head and hongjoong put a hand on his chin, lifting it up to meet his gaze.

"i could never hate you seongie, and i mean that. no matter what happens in the world, i could never hate you." hongjoong spoke softly, meaning each and every word he was saying.

"hongjoong, you're way too nice sometimes." seonghwa shook his head with a low chuckle.

"what's the point in being mean when you can make someone smile instead?" hongjoong tilted his head, shrugging his shoulders with a smirk on his face as he asked the question.

"you're right." seonghwa smiled, grabbing hongjoong's shoulders and pulling him into a big hug.

"so what does this mean for us now?" hongjoong asked while continuing to hug the older.

"well, nothing just yet. we now know that we like each other as more than friends, but i want to get to know you better before sealing the deal. you know, like take you out on cute dates and whatnot. i want you to feel special, my beautiful baby boy." seonghwa said, letting go of hongjoong and beginning to play with the younger's blonde hair in his fingers.

"you know, i've never had someone like me before." hongjoong hid his face in embarrassment.

"well now you'll know what it feels like to have someone fall head over heels for you." seonghwa smiled, kissing hongjoong's forehead as he blushed a light shade of pink, "but let's go downstairs now, i want to spend some time with you."

hongjoong shot up, grabbing seonghwa's hand once again and rushing down the stairs into the living room. he quickly grabbed the remote control, shaking so vigorously from excitement that it looked like he was almost vibrating.

when seonghwa looked into the kitchen, he noticed hongjoong's mother standing there and making dinner for the family. he took this as the perfect opportunity to ask the woman if he could take hongjoong on a date, a proper date, before he could ever officially call hongjoong his boyfriend.

"joongie, i'm going to use the bathroom. i'll be right back." hongjoong waved goodbye to the older who began walking away, actually making his way towards the kitchen rather than the bathroom.

once again, seonghwa's nerves began acting up. the idea of asking permission to take hongjoong out frightened the boy to no end. but then again, he knew he needed to do this. he wanted to make hongjoong's first date one to remember, and he needed approval before doing so.

"ms. kim, i have a question." seonghwa began speaking to the woman who turned around, facing away from the pot of boiling pasta.

"what is it sweetie?" she replied sweetly.

"i wanted to know if i could, um... take hongjoong on a d-date tomorrow night." seonghwa stuttered out, looking at the woman with worry on his face.

thankfully, hongjoong's mother smiled widely after seonghwa asked her the question. seonghwa immediately matched her expression, the nerves evaporating in thin air after seeing how happy she looked.

"you know, i figured that's what you came here to talk about. but of course you can take hongjoong out. may i ask where though? just so i know where he's going." she asked, wanting to make sure her son was going somewhere safe with seonghwa.

seonghwa's heartbeat picked up once again. he honestly didn't think this far into the conversation, not expecting her to ask where they're going.

ms. kim picked up on seonghwa's reaction, laughing a bit before responding, "i can see you didn't think that far ahead. it's no worry, seonghwa. when you decide, please text me where you'd like to take him. let me have your phone, i'll put my number in."

seonghwa quickly took his phone out of his back pocket, handing it over to the woman. she typed her number in, putting her contact name as 'chinsun'.

"no need for ms. kim or any of that stuff, call me chinsun from now on." she put a hand on the boy's shoulder, reassuring him.

"thank you so much ms. k-- i mean, chinsun." seonghwa giggled, smiling at the woman. seonghwa waved goodbye, making his way back into the living room to see hongjoong.

"seongie! i picked sleeping beauty, i hope that's ok with you." hongjoong smiled as he sat cozyily on the couch.

"that's perfectly fine, joongie. by the way, tomorrow night we're going out somewhere!" seonghwa exclaimed and hongjoong screeched out in excitement.

"oh really? where where where, tell me please!" hongjoong begged and seonghwa shook his head.

"nope, it'll be a surprise! you just wait! be ready by six, i'll be here to pick you up." seonghwa sat down next to the boy, putting an arm around him as he began thinking of where he could take hongjoong.

"ugh, fine! whatever it is, i'm sure i'll love it since i'll be with you!" hongjoong answered and pressed play on the movie, resting his head on seonghwa's chest and smiling to himself, excited for the next day to come.

bitch, fucking finally!!! only took you forty three chapters to admit your feelings to baby joong, seonghwa!!! but i'm glad you finally did🤧he's growing up!!

also... am i about to spend a few hundred dollars on my brand new debit card on ateez's new albums? yes, yes i am.

-vic