You Rock My Heart

What's the worst that can happen?

As soon as Hongjoong turned his head he saw a breath-taking man sitting near the back of the bar and couldn't take his eyes off him. San was sitting on his phone and didn't notice but Jongho and Yeosang shared a glance and laughed. Hongjoong snapped back.

"What?"

"You're staring at the guy in the back of the bar," teased Yeosang.

"Am not! I was—" he looks around for an excuse.

"Uh—I was—looking at all of the flowers on the tables! It's winter here so I was just amazed that they had healthy flowers!" He attempted to defend himself.

"Lies," smiled Jongho shaking his head.

"If you think he's cute you should go talk to him!" said Jongho, elbowing his leader.

"Oh absolutely not. I have no time to be thinking about dating anyone."

"Who knows? Maybe he'll see who you really are and run away. Then you won't have to date him," smiled Yeosang innocently.

"I'm gonna let that slide because I owe you but you're pushing your luck," Hongjoong glared.

"You know he keeps looking over at you too," grinned Jongho.

"Wait what?? No he doesn't," Hongjoong turned his head to see the stranger immersed in conversation with his friends.

"Not when you're looking you dummy," sighed Yeosang.

"Just go talk to him. What's the worst that can happen?"

Hongjoong sighed and built up his courage. The guy probably wouldn't like him anyways. He was quite a bit shorter anyways and not all that interesting. Maybe it would just be a night of harmless flirting.
As he neared the table his heart skipped a beat as the stranger began turning his head. They met eyes and he could see the panic in the other's. He wanted to laugh but he kept his composure.

"Hi handsome stranger. Would you like a drink?"

The man swallowed hard and looked back to his friends who were all immersed in their own worlds.
"I—um—no, I'm good—um—I'm—um—so busy and—" stuttered the man.

"He would love to!" cried the two giants at the table who were definitely watching the whole time.
Hongjoong smiled.

"Then it's settled," he beamed and pulled the man out of his chair and over to the bar.

He sat there in silence, a deep blush covering his face.

"So, I didn't get your name?" Hongjoong grinned.

"What makes you think I'll give my name to a random stranger just because you're cute?" he retorted and then instantly went redder.

"Ahh so you think I'm cute?" smirked Hongjoong. He was amused at the other's clear struggle for words.

"Cute like a kitten is cute. Because you're small."
Hongjoong gasped and raised an eyebrow at the man.

"That was uncalled for. I was even going to say that you were cute too. I guess you don't get to hear what I think is cute about you now," he pouted.

"G-good. I didn't want to anyways," the stranger mustered through the brightest blush yet.

The man took a huge drink and tried to hide his face a bit with his hand. Hongjoong reached up and grabbed his hand from his face and held it in his on the bar, smiling up into the stranger's very startled eyes.

"If you cover up your pretty face I can't look at it anymore," he said with a cocky smile.

The man looked like he wanted to run right out of the bar but Hongjoong was surprised to feel his fingers become intertwined with the man's.

"Well if you insist on holding hands, at least do it right," said the man recovering quickly.

Now it was Hongjoong that was flustered. He felt his ears shining but tried to keep going nonetheless.

"Well if you won't tell me your name I guess I'll just tell you mine. I'm Hongjoong," he managed with an unconvincing smirk.

"I guess I can trust you. I'm Seonghwa," the stranger responded.

"Well then nice to finally know you," he teased.

The two chatted for what felt like an hour or so until they looked around and noticed their groups had left without them.

"Shoot! I was supposed to spend tonight with the guys and I totally ditched them!" Hongjoong realized and began to pull his hand away from Seonghwa.

"You too?" Seonghwa looked back with intrigue.

Hongjoong looked back confused.

"My friends basically kidnapped me from my work just to get me out," he laughed.

"Mine too!" Hongjoong giggled and started to sit back down.

"It's just that the work I do is important and sometimes I feel like they don't understand that I want to have fun I just have to prioritize," said Seonghwa, taking another long drink.

"No I totally understand, it's like they think I don't care about spending time with them but I'm just busy making sure we're successful!" Hongjoong leaned back in his stool.

"I'm glad I can finally talk to someone who understands," said Seonghwa with a soft smile.

"Yeah, it's nice," smiled Hongjoong.

The two looked at each other for a moment before feeling a bit awkward and decided to exchange social media.

"That way if we need someone to vent to we can always have each other!" said Hongjoong confidently.

Seonghwa smiled.

"Well I should really head back I have to finish what I was working on when they interrupted me," Seonghwa said and began to get up.

"Of course, do what you need to do. I've got some work to get done myself," Hongjoong laughed, but secretly felt a little bummed that the conversation was ending.

"Do you want me to walk you back? It's pretty late and I'm not far from here!" Hongjoong offered.

"That's alright I'm not far either," Seonghwa smiled.

"Thank you for the offer though. I guess maybe we'll meet again, Hongjoong."

"I hope so."

Seonghwa put on his coat and walked out of the bar. Hongjoong couldn't help but watch him until the door closed. He sighed and turned back to the bartender to pay his tab and grabbed his own coat. He sincerely hoped he'd be able to meet with Seonghwa again. They had so much in common and he was so easy to talk to. He finally had someone who could understand his situation. And even though he had originally approached him for his looks, he didn't think they had to form a romantic relationship so he wouldn't have to get in the way of work. But he couldn't help but blush as he thought of his sculpted cheekbones and dreamy eyes as he began his walk back to the studio.