eight

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"it's been a whole week already! how's life? i kind of miss you or whatever."

a whiny nishimura riki sounds on the other end of the facetime call he shares with sunoo. the latter chuckles. "awe, how cute. love my fans," sunoo jokes.

"wow, demoted from best friend to fan. fame has already gotten to your head, huh?" ni-ki says, slumping back onto the couch he's splattered on.

sunoo lays on his stomach along his bed. it's a saturday morning and heeseung is still sound asleep in the room next door to sunoo's. sunoo quickly learned the guy sleeps in.

"how can fame get to my head when my being in the group isn't even announced until tomorrow?" sunoo replies.

the week so far has consisted of him simply getting to know his members and some of the staff. he's grown to be really close to heeseung and jungwon the most, but he adores jake and jay as well. sunghoon has yet to really open up to him or hang out with him much for that matter. overall, sunoo feels hurt and confused by it, but he hasn't let it consume his thoughts too much. not when there's so much else to focus on.

aside from that, he also has learned more about what their schedules look like and what's to come in the next couple months. they're already preparing for a new album and sunoo will have to learn some of their previous songs and choreography for when they have upcoming performances, since he will have to be incorporated into them. there's a lot of work ahead, but he's excited nonetheless.

"fine, you got me there. i gotta admit, it's lonely without you here being a pain in my ass every day," ni-ki says, bringing the phone closer to his face as he pouts.

sunoo scoffs. "please, i'm a fantastic roommate. your slobby self on the other hand..."

ni-ki snorts, and just as he's about to retort, he quickly stops himself, bringing the phone up so close to the camera, sunoo can only see his eyes and up. "what are you doing?" sunoo asks, as ni-ki stays silent.

"uh...sorry. just reading something. hey, sun? i'm gonna have to call you back."

"oh, okay. bye," sunoo says. ni-ki immediately hangs up, leaving sunoo extremely taken aback. he doesn't have time to dwell on it though once a knock echoes from his door. "come in!"

a disheveled looking heeseung appears on the other end of it, earning a chuckle from sunoo. "can i help you?" he asks, smiling.

heeseung yawns. "i'm hungry. also we have to be at the studio in an hour."

sunoo jumps up. "an hour?! why are you only telling me now?"

"because i just woke up."

with a shake of his head, sunoo quickly gets ready before he follows heeseung out to the kitchen area. surprisingly, he finds two other people there. jake and sunghoon.

"good morning!" jake cheerily says. he turns to sunoo and adds, "how'd the official best first week of your life treat you?"

sunoo chuckles. "this is just the easy part. i'm glad i've gotten to know all of you, though," sunoo admits truthfully. when he says the last part, his eyes find sunghoon's.

sunghoon quickly diverts his eyes elsewhere and sunoo wonders if the boy thought that comment was directed at him. sunoo won't lie, he did somewhat look over at sunghoon hoping to find a guilty look in his expression, since the blonde has been the one member sunoo has yet to get to know. to his dismay, sunghoon turns away before he can analyze him.

unaware of the sudden tension in the air, jake exclaims, "well, i already love you. and i'm sure the fans will too since today is the day you're officially announced in the group!"

jake is practically squealing at this point. the guy loves good news. heeseung trudges over to him sleepily, lightly patting his shoulder as a way to tell him to calm down. the two busy themselves with finding breakfast, leaving sunoo and sunghoon alone.

is now my chance to say something? sunoo thinks to himself. but what would i say...

abruptly, sunghoon stands from his seat, and before thinking, sunoo blurts out, "where are you going?"

sunghoon faces him slightly. "to find the others," he states blatantly.

"can i come with you?"

what is sunghoon supposed to do, decline? it takes everything in him not to say no. for this past week, sunghoon has been torturing himself by purposefully avoiding sunoo. he thought giving himself forced space would help calm down his crush on the boy, but so far all it's done is make his heart grow fonder. sunoo probably already thinks he's a cold-stone jerk, which kills sunghoon inside, but there's nothing else he can do if he wants to protect their careers.

"sunghoon...?"

sunghoon purses his lips together. then he nods. "yeah, okay."

for the first time that week, sunghoon saw the biggest smile sunoo had ever given him. his eyes shot fireworks and his teeth gleamed. once again, sunghoon is reminded of how much he's infatuated with kim sunoo. how much he wants to get to know him better. how much he wants to allow himself to have a crush on him.

subconsciously, sunoo witnesses the ends of sunghoon's lips begin to quirk into a grin. the thought of that makes sunoo smile wider. giddily, he says, "let's go!" and wounds up leading the way for both of them.

despite sunoo's determination, the two hardly make it to jay's room because the rest of the boys are already standing two feet away from them.

"oh, there you guys are!" jay exclaims, relieved. "we're leaving early to go to the studio. the normal cars we take are being used, so we have to use a smaller one."

sunghoon quirks his eyebrows. "what do you mean 'one'?"

jungwon, who up until now stood silently next to jay, decides to answer. "it means we all have to take one car..."

six boys, one driver, and five seats. sunoo had to do the math for a second before realizing they would be two seats short. he noticed the irritation from the blonde beside him. right when sunghoon seemed like he was getting into a friendlier mood, something has to bring it down. well, not on sunoo's watch.

"i'm sure it's fine! how long is the ride there? two people can just sit on somebody else's laps in the back seat," he suggests, hoping to resolve some tension with his solution.

by now, heeseung and jake have emerged from the shared flat of heeseung and sunoo, finding their way into the conversation.

having overheard sunoo, heeseung replies with, "it's only 30 minutes from here. since it's the recording studio, we have to go somewhere else for that."

jay frowns. "it's illegal, but we don't have a choice today. all i know is one thing..."

the members eagerly wait for what jay has to say, the boy having gone silent. finally, he speaks.

"I CALL SHOTGUN!"

and then he's off like the wind.

jungwon yells after him. "yah!! no fair!! i'm at least getting a window seat!"

with all their bags already packed into the car, the only thing that seemed to currently matter is everyone getting their seat without having to be the one sitting on someone else's lap.

the six idols arrive at the car, in which the driver shoots them all an apologetic look before politely opening the car doors for them. jay practically flings himself into the front seat.

"have fun back there, losers," he snickers, dramatically stretching his limbs out in hopes the others will be jealous.

heeseung sighs. "i'm too mature for this. someone can just sit on my lap, i don't even care at this point."

"'mature' coming from the guy who throws tantrums playing mario kart," sunghoon remarks with a scoff. sunoo giggles under his breath, and sunghoon's ears catch it, causing his heartbeat to increase a bit.

heeseung rolls his eyes, but let's himself into the car, anyways. "sorry, wonie, but you're the smallest one here," he then says, practically yanking jungwon into the car with him and onto his lap before the latter can argue back.

"i'll take the middle seat if it means i'mnot being used as a car seat," jake says next.

sunoo's heart drops to his feet. so this leaves only him and sunghoon left...

as much as he doesn't want to, sunoo forces himself to sneak a glance at sunghoon's face, curious as to if his emotions are currently being expressed.

fortunately for him, they are, for sunghoon's face went from pale to beet red.

"hurry up, you guys! my legs are falling asleep!" heeseung cries, jungwon perched on his lap.

without a word, sunghoon enters the car and takes the final seat. sunoo stands, stunned, frozen in place as if he's unsure about entering the car too or not.

sunghoon realizes sunoo hasn't moved. he looks over to the younger and pats his lap. "the sooner you get in the sooner we get there."

it's not like sunoo doesn't want to sit on sunghoon's lap. he's just worried sunghoon kinda sorta doesn't like him for some reason. but now that the blonde has officially made eye contact and spoken to him for the third time that day, sunoo can let his nerves mostly wash away.

at last, he squeezes himself into the car and finally they're off to the studio.

it's obviously an unfortunate situation, but if everyone is feeling uncomfortable or annoyed, they're no longer showing it. in fact, heeseung has his arms wrapped around jungwon's waist as he leans his head on his back, practically snoring as he's fallen asleep again.

jungwon sighs. "great. now i'm being used as a human pillow."

jay and jake teasingly laugh at him, sunoo smiling too. part of him feels jealous at how close all the boys seem with eachother. and even though he understands he's still the newbie here, he hopes he can soon develop that closer connection with everyone, too.

"oomph!"

the car hits a speed bump a little too quick, and two arms are suddenly thrown around sunoo's waist, too. he jumps a little in surprise. park sunghoon has his arms around him.

one can only imagine his surprise (and rosy cheeks) when sunghoon keeps them there the whole rest of the ride.