sixteen

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"hey, ni-ki, can we talk?"

kim sunoo finds himself at the door of the practice room where nishimura riki is practicing some choreography in front of the mirrored wall by himself.

"sunoo! i always have time for my best friend," he exclaims, combing his fingers through his messy hair as he makes his way over to the latter.

"i just wanted to ask you about yesterday. you seemed really tense."

ni-ki shifts his weight from one side to the other uncomfortably. as the choreographer, he hated how he lost his cool back there. and as the youngest out of all of them, he felt like he had to hold it together more to prove his maturity and ability to be their choreographer. maybe he had put too much pressure on himself, though...

"i'm okay, sun. how about you?"

sunoo had a feeling ni-ki wasn't telling the complete truth, but when ni-ki does that, he knows as his best friend that it's his way of saying he's not ready to open up yet.

"i'm stressed, but i'm good. everyone is stressed and that's okay. the show will be fun! we got this," sunoo says, patting his taller friend on the arm reassuringly.

ni-ki sighs, relaxing his posture a bit. he just wants everything to go perfect. he's always been like that as a choreographer, but it was never as overwhelming choreographing for stray kids. so why was it so stressful now?

a voice suddenly sounds from the door sunoo stood at only minutes prior. "hey, guys, we're going live for a bit to have some fun before the show friday. wanna join?"

yang jungwon sends a dimpled smile toward the two boys, a hopeful glint in his eye.

and that's when it hits ni-ki. he doesn't want to look any less than perfect in front of yang jungwon. he cares what jungwon thinks of him.

he really cares.

"sounds good! can riki join?"

ni-ki and sunoo both look to jungwon for an answer. jungwon crosses his arm with a shrug, a smirk playing on his lips. "doesn't matter to me. i'm fine with introducing engenes to the beanstalk of hybe."

ni-ki's heartbeat couldn't help but speed up. if jungwon wasn't being flirty right now, then ni-ki is god awful at picking up signals. but if he is, oh, how the tables have turned.

you're gonna be the death of me, yang jungwon.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"hello, engene!" jungwon happily greets from the giant sofa of a room they chose to stream in. all seven boys were perched upon it. "before you ask, no, this isn't another new member of enhypen," jungwon explains with a chuckle, gripping the arm of the choreographer sat beside him. "this is our choreographer ni-ki!"

ni-ki waves, laughing from slight discomfort of waving to an ipad screen rather than real people. "i hope you all enjoy the choreography for the show on friday," he says, smiling, giving two big thumbs up.

"they definitely will," jungwon mutters, low enough for only ni-ki to hear.

ni-ki catches jungwon's eye for a moment, and he only sees sincerity. his heart flutters at the sight. god, what is happening to me?

to not upset or concern the boss, sunghoon and sunoo separated themselves by placing jake in between them on the sofa. if the two wanted to conceal their relationship, they had to be strategic and cautious. jake definitely didn't mind though.

the aussie swung both arms over sunoo and sunghoon's shoulders. "hi, engenes! how have you all been lately?"

heeseung holds the ipad in his lap, scanning the rapid responses flying in from engenes all over the world. jay peers over his shoulder to see it, too.

"someone said, 'i'm better now that jay is here' and i think that's entirely valid," jay says, matter-of-factly.

the boys laugh, heeseung playfully slapping jay's arm.

the live goes on for a half hour longer, consisting of questions, laughter, and stolen glances between...well, multiple members of the group.

before long, night rolls around, and they realize they have to wrap up. with only two days left before the show, time is of the essence and sleep is a fat necessity.

"i'm drained," jay whines, all seven boys finally having gathered up ready to go. "is the van coming to get us?"

jungwon, who was already glancing at his phone, lets out a tired sigh. "just got a message from manager. the van's running 20 minutes late."

the boys, all a little deflated, pout about having to wait a little while longer until finally getting to drown into the comfort of their mattresses.

sunghoon casually walks over to sunoo's side, throwing an arm over his shoulder. sunoo glances up in a bit of surprise, but he smiles nonetheless.

jake eyes the pair. "just to be completely clear here, we're all aware these two are a thing, right?"

"please, that's yesterdays news," jay scoffs, crossing his arms. "i've moved on to the next couple. keep up, bro."

"next couple?" heeseung chimes in, a questioning look on his face. jake mirrors his confusion.

"there is no other couple, i have no idea what jay is on about," jungwon instantly butts in, shooting jay daggers from the doorway in which he now stands at. "come on, guys, let's go wait in the practice room."

without argument, all seven boys head over to the rehearsal room while waiting for their ride to arrive. jake and jay wind up sitting on the floor by the entryway sharing their spotify playlists. heeseung, jungwon, and ni-ki hover by the mirrored wall, lightly going over some dance moves for their performance. sunghoon and sunoo watch them.

"how are you feeling about the performance now?" sunghoon asks him after a few minutes of comfortable silence tick by.

sunoo answers honestly. "extremely nervous and excited all at once. i mean, this has been my dream for so long. i can't believe it's finally happening."

sunghoon can't help but grin fondly at sunoo's pure emotion. "you deserve it, sunny. you have natural talent."

the glimmer in sunghoon's eyes as he speaks to sunoo proves his authenticity, and sunoo can't help but blush. not only was he about to do his dream show, but he had also found his dream person to go with it. honestly, how was he so lucky?

"the bathroom really does wonders for your acoustics, by the way," sunghoon teasingly adds, the hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

sunoo's blush turns to one of light embarrassment from the memory of being caught singing to himself in the toilets. but hey, if it weren't for that moment, would sunoo even be here right now?

"how are you this perfect at dancing!?" ni-ki sounds from across the room, hands on his hips as he gawks at jungwon.

said leader finds himself put on the spot, both riki and heeseung now looking at him. "i'm really not..." he mumbles.

they had just gone over a few moves in which jungwon had perfectly performed. ni-ki scoffed. "please, how can you be the dancer, singer, and visual all in one?"

by now, jungwon had lowered his gaze, hoping that by doing so, his heated cheeks would refrain from making themselves known..

"uh, excuse me? the ace of the group is right here?" heeseung spoke up, gesturing towards himself as if it was obvious.

ni-ki laughed, patting heeseungs shoulder. "yeah, yeah, you, too."

but ni-ki couldn't help being biased when it came to yang jungwon.

"yah!! i heard a honk outside, guys, ride's here!" jake suddenly calls from the front door.

at last, the seven make there way out into the night, hurrying to the van they'd been waiting for.

sunoo and sunghoon drag behind a bit, walking rather than running like the others. sunghoon lightly stops them in their tracks, taking sunoo's wrist. the latter turns toward him, puzzled.

sunghoon takes a moment before speaking. finally, he says, "i just want you to know that i'm sorry. i know i've apologized already, but i really want to prove myself to you. i treated you like shit, yet you still gave me a chance. i just hope i can live up to the chance you're giving me."

the sudden confession softens sunoo's mood. just the fact that sunghoon is being vulnerable feels like more than enough to prove his worth. sunoo brushes a loose strand of sunghoon's blonde hair behind his ear. "you don't have to apologize anymore, hoonie. i forgive you. i'm just glad i'm getting to know the real you. and i'm glad we can be on good terms for our first show together."

the smile sunoo displays tugs at sunghoon's heartstrings. here was the most genuine, caring, and understanding person he had ever met. sunoo is so special, and yet he still has so much more to learn about him. as the two stand in front of the building, the only light illuminating their surroundings coming from the dimly lit street lamps, sunghoon swiftly moves his hand from around sunoo's wrist to sunoo's cheek. his thumb padded the silky skin, reminding him sunoo was really here and that he wasn't all just a dream.

it was innocent and sweet the way sunoo musters up some courage to close the gap between them. with the slight help from his tippy-toes, sunoo reaches up to press his lips onto sunghoon's in a chaste kiss, something he'd wanted to do for a while anyways.

he pulls away rather quickly, sheepish from his actions, the adrenaline beginning to wear off. sunghoon blinks away his surprise, his hand still caressing sunoo's cheek. before the two can say or do anything more than stand their smiling like two idiots, a car horn beeps in interruption, grabbing their attention instantly.

"get in the van already, kids! we don't have all night!" ni-ki yells from the car window. the look on his face reminds sunoo that he probably witnessed their whole interaction. he'd definitely be hearing about that one from him later.

"sorry," sunghoon dryly exclaims, following sunoo to the van.

the boys finally take off into the night, their apartments and their beds awaiting them.

from a window on the second floor of the hybe building, a phone call is in progress.

"tell sunoo and sunghoon i need a meeting with them tomorrow," the boss says, his eyes following the van that just left the building. he hangs up the phone, his eyes now lingering on the spot he just witnessed the two enhypen members share a kiss in.