"hey." seonghwa greeted hongjoong dryly from his usual seat. hongjoong glanced over for a split second, quickly turning his attention back to the television in front of him.

"um.. hi." hongjoong quietly responded, slightly confusing seonghwa.

"ok... what are you watching?" he tried to make conversation with the younger, but hongjoong just pointed to the tv without speaking to seonghwa.

"what's up with you today, cat's got your tongue? why are you being so quiet?" seonghwa asked and hongjoong instantly began panicking. 

"u-uh... i--"

"you know what, i'm not really sure why i'm questioning it. it's better when you don't speak, because then i don't have to answer." seonghwa shrugged his shoulders and looked down to his hands, opening his phone and scrolling through the instagram app.

hongjoong let out a quiet sigh. he was extremely nervous, more nervous than he's ever been around any guy he's ever liked.

while seonghwa looked down at his phone, hongjoong watched the older from afar. hongjoong noticed that he wasn't dressed as nice as usual this morning, wearing a simple black t shirt and gray sweatpants rather than his usual leather jacket and black skinny jeans. hongjoong didn't understand how the boy could make such a simple outfit look so effortlessly beautiful.

hongjoong began admiring all the little things about seonghwa as he stared at him. he noticed how seonghwa was constantly running his fingers through his hair, moving it out of his face when it fell in front of his eyes. seonghwa would squint ever so slightly every time he seemed to be reading something, sticking his tongue out a bit in the corner of his mouth when concentrating. he was always licking his beautiful plump lips, even picking at them occasionally.

hongjoong realized that if he didn't stop staring at the boy, he'd eventually catch him. he quickly turned his attention back towards the tv and tried his best to focus on the scenes in front of him.

after about a half an hour of silence, seonghwa looked up to make sure the boy was still sitting in his seat and didn't wander off when he wasn't paying attention. he saw hongjoong sitting quietly and staring at the television so he turned his head back down to his phone. after a split second, seonghwa shot his head back up and realized there was something different about the boy's look.

seonghwa stood up and walked towards the blonde, catching his attention. hongjoong started shaking a bit once he noticed seonghwa's eyes were intensely studying his face.

"you put on makeup today." seonghwa stated, looking deeply into hongjoong's eyes.

"yeah i-i did. i was bored, that's why i did it! there was no other reason, i-i swear!" hongjoong stuttered out, trying his best to defend himself in the situation.

"it's literally eleven in the morning, who wakes up early enough that they can be bored before eleven?" seonghwa questioned and hongjoong nervously shrugged.

seonghwa looked the younger up and down and noticed the makeup wasn't the only different thing about his appearance today. hongjoong's typical crew neck and sweatpants were swapped with a nicely designed shirt and a pair of jeans, slightly shocking seonghwa.

"you also dressed up more than usual. there has to be a reason, just tell me." seonghwa grew a devilish grin on his face, making hongjoong more nervous at his change of expression.

he has to know... maybe i shouldn't have gotten so dressed up this morning, hongjoong thought to himself.

"why do you think there's a reason?" hongjoong asked.

"i don't know joong, but this isn't like you. i guess someone really does like me. as i've said in the past, i know i'm irresistible... so i understand why you might want to go the extra mile for me." seonghwa chuckled as he sat back down in his usual seat.

hongjoong's heart began racing. he felt like his cover was blown and there was nothing he could do about it. he was absolutely embarrassed.

"i- i, uh... why would you t-think that! me, like y-you? oh, never! that could never happen. y-yeah, like i definitely didn't wake up early for this, a-and i di-didn't dress nice for you... or do my makeup, i- i don't know what you're talking about!" hongjoong spat out, quickly covering his mouth afterwards. the words fell out like vomit, as if he couldn't control what he was saying.

seonghwa's eyes widened. after hearing what hongjoong had to say, he realized the boy might've actually liked him. he was honestly just messing with hongjoong, but he quickly realized he shouldn't have done that to the younger.

"oh my god, i'm so sorry hongjoong. i was joking. i didn't know... i don't know if you see me like that, but i don't think of you that way. i'm sorry." seonghwa wholeheartedly apologized, genuinely feeling bad for what he said.

hongjoong's head fell. he didn't mean to confess to seonghwa. hongjoong knew he wanted to tell him, to let seonghwa know that he liked him, at some point today. he even spoke to his friends about it in school... but he wasn't ready. that wasn't the way he wanted it to come out. he wanted to create a plan in his head, one that could've actually worked in his favor... but instead, hongjoong spoke from his heart rather than his head, and now he regrets it.

"i-i'm so sorry, s-seonghwa. i didn't mean to s-say that..." he stuttered out, on the verge of tears.

"it's ok, hongjoong. it was wrong of me to say those things to you without knowing how you truly felt first. i messed with you and that wasn't right. i didn't mean to out your feelings before you were ready to out them yourself, i'm unbelievably sorry joong." seonghwa scooted towards the boy, putting an arm around the younger's back to console him.

hongjoong's heart began racing once again. the physical contact from seonghwa was something he didn't think much about, but now that he's experiencing it, he never wanted the older to let go.

much to his dismay, seonghwa took his arm off and began backing away again. seonghwa didn't want to lead hongjoong on, and he felt if he continued touching the boy, he might get the wrong impression.

"don't be sorry, seonghwa. that was just really embarrassing." hongjoong giggled, trying to break the awkward tension that was filling the room.

thankfully, it worked. seonghwa began laughing along with hongjoong, smiling at the smaller boy.

"ok, now that that's over, how about we go make lunch? jongho said he left some pizza dough and sauce for us, we can make pizza if you'd like?" seonghwa asked, making hongjoong bounce a bit in his seat.

"yes! i love pizza!" hongjoong cheered and ran towards the kitchen without bothering to wait for seonghwa to get up from his seat.

seonghwa watched the boy run off and quickly stood up, not wanting him to attempt to make the food without him to help.

"hongjoong, wait up!" he called out to the boy as he sprinted, thankfully getting to the kitchen before hongjoong could even find the ingredients.

"did hyung buy pepperoni too?" hongjoong asked while jumping in his spot.

"i'm not sure what he bought to be honest with you, so let's check the refrigerator." seonghwa said as he opened the refrigerator and took out the ingredients he saw sitting in a plastic bag labeled 'pizza ingredients for seonghwa and hongjoong'.

"ok, looks like we got pizza dough, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni!" seonghwa exclaimed and hongjoong squealed, clapping his hands rapidly.

"perfect! let me wash my hands, then can i roll out the dough? please please please! jongie always lets me do it." hongjoong begged, giving seonghwa puppy dog eyes.

seonghwa's heart did a little flip. the boy in front of him was undeniably cute, and he couldn't tell him no with that adorable face he was making. "of course you can."

"yay!" hongjoong screamed and washed his hands as seonghwa turned on the oven for it to preheat.

as hongjoong was dealing with the crust, seonghwa opened all the packages of cheese, pepperoni, and the jar of sauce for the boys to use.

"seonghwa, can you finish this please? it's getting too hard for me to do." hongjoong asked the older, who nodded his head yes.

seonghwa finished spreading out the dough, putting it on a pan that can go in the oven. he then smeared on the sauce, making sure to use enough to match hongjoong's request. after seonghwa had finished, hongjoong began adding the cheese and pepperoni to the pie.

"do you want some help?" seonghwa asked.

"no, it's ok." hongjoong giggled slightly as he added an excessive amount of pepperoni to his pizza.

seonghwa just chuckled to himself and let the boy do as he pleased. he still felt horrible for what happened earlier, and he didn't have the heart to tell him to stop.

once hongjoong finished with the toppings, seonghwa placed the uncooked pizza into the oven. rather than wait in the kitchen, the boys decided to walk back into the living room and wait there for the food to be ready. they had a good twenty minutes before the oven would beep, so they figured they could watch some more television to pass the time by.

after the appropriate wait time was over, the boys walked back into the kitchen to eat their food. seonghwa took the pizza out of the oven, letting it sit for a few minutes as he got drinks for the two of them to drink. hongjoong busied himself by getting the plates and napkins needed for the two of their meals.

seonghwa then cut the pizza into eight triangles, taking three for himself and putting two on hongjoong's plate as the boy requested. they sat down to eat, hongjoong wasting no time to dig in to the still burning hot pizza.

quickly, the boy regretted his decision.

"ow!" he screamed out loud, seonghwa laughing out loud at the adorable face he was making while trying to cool his mouth down.

"hongjoong, the food is still steaming! you can't eat it this hot!" seonghwa laughed even harder, making hongjoong frown and cross his arms.

hongjoong stuck his tongue out at seonghwa, then to the food in front of him.

"meanie pizza!"

now that didn't go too well... just like angelina's wedding!!! lol i'm sorry, don't kill me!!! i promise things will get better soon... i like slow burn, ok!? at least there were soft moments at the end of the chapter, it's going to start getting softer now!! at least a little...

-vic