Chapter Text
"Hyeonie, can we go to your house?"
Sanghyeon whips his head around to stare at Anxin with furrowed eyebrows and squinted eyes. The Chinese boy stares right back at him, showing off his distinctive dimple and snaggletooth with a smile.
"You just want to ogle at my brother, you freak!" The accusation has Anxin laughing, covering his mouth while doing so, but it doesn't mitigate the noise at all because he is just so damn loud. Other students glanced at them a look of surprise or annoyance.
It irks Sanghyeon to no end that Anxin, his new friend (and kind of best friend at this point) in high school, suddenly took a liking to his older brother. The thought of it disgusts him, not that he liked Anxin or anything, but his brother was actually the most annoying species to have ever graced this earth. Even if they are both offspring of one set of parents, Sanghyeon likes to think that he inherited all the good personality traits while his brother got the annoying traits. He prays for all the people who ever had a crush on his older brother to go visit an ophthalmologist because what the hell do they see in him? This includes Anxin, by the way.
He suddenly remembers when it all first started—Sanghyeon and Anxin paired up to do their chemistry assignment together. Stupid covalent compounds naming, it doesn't have to be that hard, but for some reason it fucking does.
"Let's do it at your place this time!" Anxin suggests with excitement, curious to see the other's humble abode. Despite Sanghyeon's complaints of his brother being a nuisance, surely it can't be that bad? Maybe he will behave in the presence of a guest?
Sanghyeon mentally chuckles at the idea, even if his older bro knows how to behave when needed, that fucker will surely embarrass him in front of his new friend. Maybe not right away, but in the future for sure.
"Alright, hopefully my brother is busy and shit so we can have the whole house to ourselves."
"Mmm, true."
The two boys find themselves in Sanghyeon's house after the school day ended. Both students came from particularly well-off families with similar backgrounds and class, so it's no surprise that the home is of modern architecture with a white and royal blue color scheme.
R&B music softly plays from the living room television as Chemistry worksheets are sprawled all over the coffee table. Both Sanghyeon and Anxin are seated on the carpet, hunched over the table, and arguing about the last item of the homework when the front door opens.
They both paused talking to look at whoever walked in and interrupted their discussion. Emerging from the door is a tall, lanky dude with the same school uniform as them, stylized to indicate that he was of a higher level, a senior student.
Sanghyeon notes that it's his older brother, Geonwoo, so he brushes the guy off and continues from the point he was trying to prove to Anxin.
Anxin, however, is starstruck at the view.
He agrees with Sanghyeon's sentiments that Geonwoo is annoying… annoyingly handsome.
Brown hair that softly falls in gentle strands across his forehead, framing a pair of dark, watchful eyes and a face marked by smooth skin, a straight nose, and full lips that rest with the edges perked up.
Not to mention the height of this guy. Anxin thinks he's discovered something new about himself tonight.
Geonwoo closes the front door before walking past the two younger guys, straight to the stairs that lead him to the bedrooms. Anxin finds himself glancing and following Geonwoo's silhouette before he is finally out of their sight.
Anxin makes the mistake of looking back at Sanghyeon, who quieted down when he noticed that Anxin wasn't paying attention to him.
"Erm, hello?" Sanghyeon does a wave with his hand to pull Anxin out of a trance, and it works when the Chinese boy starts blinking back to reality.
"You never told me that your brother is hot."
Sanghyeon almost threw up from that.
His reaction is still the same. Months passed by, and Sanghyeon would gag every time Anxin ogled at Geonwoo when they were staying over at the Chung-Kim household. Sanghyeon would complain, questioning what Anxin sees in the guy, and Anxin would disregard Sanghyeon's complaints whenever Geonwoo was in the same vicinity as them. It's funny because Anxin would bat his eyelashes and use a softer voice when speaking to the older, and Geonwoo would indulge him, responding with the same amusement every time.
Sanghyeon wanted to strangle Geonwoo for playing along, but Anxin reassured him time and time again that it's all light-hearted and that he had no intentions of chasing after Sanghyeon's brother, just treated him as an eye-candy.
Back to the present, Anxin is still laughing at Sanghyeon's claim. He then gradually stops laughing to wrap both of his arms around Sanghyeon's left arm.
"Nooo, I was also thinking that we could watch a movie together. We've been so busy with school that it's been a while since we did something not related to school."
He supposes that Anxin is right. School had been hectic due to deadlines and examinations. It's starting to die down as the school year is about to come to an end.
And with the way Anxin was looking at him, how could he say no to those pleading eyes?
"Okay okay, what are we watching?"
They settle for a romantic comedy film, thankfully on Netflix, and they're setting up a huge fluffy blanket, pillows, and popcorn on the wide leather couch before settling in the comfortable space they curated.
Laughter and short commentary permeated the air as the two boys watched the movie. Halfway through the film, Sanghyeon found himself much closer to Anxin now.
Anxin was practically plastered to his side, his fluffy head resting comfortably against Sanghyeon’s shoulder while the soft glow of the television flickered across the room. One of Anxin’s legs was draped over Sanghyeon’s lap as if it had naturally found its place there, the rest of his body curled close, warm and unbothered.
Skinship is normal in their friendship. From random hugs in the middle of conversations, intertwined hands as they walked side by side, and shoulders leaning into each other without a second thought. None of it had ever meant anything more than comfort. But something about their position now made Sanghyeon suddenly aware of every small point of contact.
And for reasons that he couldn't understand, it was enough to send a soft flutter of butterflies through his stomach… what!?
No. Sanghyeon isn't supposed to be thinking of his best friend in this type of light—perceiving him as a pretty boy that anyone can fall for, noticing the softness of his features under the light glow of the television, or how easily Anxin fits against him as if he belongs there.
Sanghyeon finds himself stiffening in their current disposition, which has Anxin whining and lightly slapping Sanghyeon's thigh.
"Relax Xiaozhou," Anxin strings out the last syllable in a whine, "You're so comfy like this."
Sanghyeon does his best in doing so, resorting to gulping the nervousness away.
A pop of a notification interrupts the silence, and Sanghyeon notices that it came from his phone and that it was a message from his older brother, Geonwoo.
i won't be home tonight, staying over at a friend's. don't wait for me and cook yourself something for dinner lol
"Aw man, he's not coming home?" Sanghyeon immediately closes his phone as he maneuvers his head to face Anxin. Big mistake, they were like centimeters apart with their noses brushing from the abrupt action.
"Why were you looking over my phone!?" Sanghyeon shrieks out, hoping that Anxin doesn't notice the predicament he's in.
Anxin simply shrugs, "Didn't think it was that serious. Are you hiding something from me? Hm?"
Sanghyeon doesn't answer that and redirects his focus back to the movie. The lack of reply bothers Anxin, he thinks, because he snuggles against Sanghyeon's warm body even further, if that even were possible.
"At least we have the house to ourselves, no annoying brother." A yawn follows, and he already has a feeling that Anxin was about to fall asleep, with how his eyes kept drooping and his body relaxing more into the touch.
Sanghyeon laughs at the last statement, something he truly agrees with.
"Yeah, can't have him hogging all your attention."
Unexpectedly, Anxin drapes his arm across Sanghyeon's torso, essentially hugging the boy with half of his body draped on the other.
"…I like you better anyway."
Wait, what?
Before Sanghyeon could question what Anxin meant by that, a soft snore escaped the boy's lips. The fucker fell asleep on him! And left him with a puzzling question!
Surely, that meant that Anxin likes Sanghyeon's company better because they are best friends after all… right?
Sanghyeon finds himself overthinking (and admiring Anxin in his sleep, but he won't admit that). Getting lost with the plot of the movie and the noise of it becoming soothing background noise instead, Sanghyeon then succumbs into a peaceful slumber, holding Anxin's body against his.
Morning arrives quietly, but Sanghyeon's deep slumber is rudely interrupted by a sudden flash of a camera. The unforeseen burst of light cuts through his eyelids, causing him to groan softly and stir awake.
He blinks blearily, eyes slowly adjusting to the daylight, only to find Geonwoo crouched right in front of the couch, smartphone held up just inches from his face.
"Aigoo," Geonwoo coos, clearly pleased with himself, "You two look so cute just now."
Geonwoo's words make Sanghyeon jolt awake far quicker than the flash did.
Last night comes rushing back to him all at once. The movie, cuddling, and Anxin's cryptic last sentence. And fuck, they had really fallen asleep like that.
The front of the smartphone is then shoved just mere inches away from Sanghyeon's face. It doesn't take a second before he realizes that Geonwoo is showing him photos that he took. It was a photo of him and Anxin sleeping peacefully together on the living room couch, with Sanghyeon's head resting against the top of Anxin's.
He doesn't want to admit it, but they do look… kind of cute together.
Then Geonwoo swipes the photo to reveal a 0.5 shot he had taken of Sanghyeon, which explains the flash from earlier. It's undeniably an unflattering image.
Sanghyeon groans and curses Geonwoo under his breath. Geonwoo, of course, only laughs at his misery a little too loudly, causing Anxin to finally stir awake.
Anxin shifts with a groan, clearly displeased with the noise. Without even opening his eyes, the Chinese boy instinctively buries his face deeper, right into the crook of Sanghyeon's neck.
The sudden contact sends Sanghyeon reeling, his entire body going rigid, and he feels a heated blush crawling up to his face.
"Aww," Geonwoo teases with the most annoying tone ever, "I'm gonna leave you two lovebirds alone from now on. Adios!"
Who the fuck suddenly blurts out Spanish?
The annoying creature disguised as an older brother finally leaves them be in the living room. Sanghyeon sighs in relief before turning his attention back to Anxin, who was still clinging onto him and face still buried in Sanghyeon's neck. He pats and rubs Anxin's back, located between his shoulder blades, in a soothing manner.
"Good morning Xinie, time to get up."
"Don't wanna," Anxin's voice is muffled against his skin, "You're so warm."
Sanghyeon shakes his head, though the fond smile tugging at his lips betrays him, "No can do. I have to cook us breakfast."
Anxin whines a bit more before accepting defeat. With visible reluctance, he pulls himself away from Sanghyeon's hold and curls up against the sofa instead, dragging the blanket with him.
Sanghyeon watches him for a moment before getting up to head straight for the kitchen. Partly to start cooking breakfast and partly to give himself a moment to recover from the heat creeping up his face.
As the eggs sizzle in the frying pan, Anxin eventually joins him in the kitchen, still looking half-asleep, and leans against the counter beside Sanghyeon, who was sprinkling salt on the pan.
"Was it Geonwoo hyung laughing earlier?"
The question catches Sanghyeon off guard. He stiffens slightly before nodding.
"Yeah, took a photo of us sleeping and called us lovebirds."
Usually, this was the moment where Anxin's laugh came in.
But the Chinese boy is silent and manages a hum instead.
Sanghyeon glances at him briefly but doesn't question it.
Eventually, everything about last night is forgotten as the two ate their breakfast and went on with their normal conversations, as if nothing ever happened.
But even as Sanghyeon laughs along in their conversation, Sanghyeon can't help but drift back and relive every moment in his mind.