BUILD-A-BEAR .. nct（✓）

prologue.

january, 2016

the girl giggled as doyoung pulled her cap lower to cover more of her face. the sound, which was like handmade windchimes moving with a calm breeze, made the boy's heart flip in his chest. she wrapped a delicate hand around his wrist and carefully pushed it upwards, shifting the cap with it. she caught his sparkling eyes and smiled brightly as pink blush dusted his pale cheeks.

the urge to pinch his cheeks quickly vanished when doyoung pushed her cap, covering her eyes and leaving the girl blind.

he laughed, and she smiled shyly before lifting the cap once again. she opened her mouth for a snarky comment, but a gasp pushed itself out before she could stop herself.

"doyoung, look!" she whispered, her eyes widening with childish glee as she pointed to the store behind her date's head.

doyoung turned back to follow her finger and visibly sagged when his eyes landed on the overly lit store. the boy groaned as he faced his girlfriend, his face pouty but his eyes playful and mischievous. "mirim, no. let's get ice cream instead."

the girl shook her head stubbornly in response.

"you do know what'll happen if this gets out, right?"

"yes."

"i'll be ruined. my career, my future members, everything! i haven't even debuted!"

"i know."

"and you still want to go through with this?"

mirim rolled her eyes playfully, a wide grin on her face. she grabbed doyoung's hand and pulled him into the build-a-bear.

doyoung's face instantly reddened when he noticed that the store was only filled with children and tired-looking parents. he wanted to turn back, but the bright smile that took up his girlfriend's face made him stay.

of course, he'd been joking around earlier, but there was some seriousness behind his words. he was still a trainee, an sm rookie, and getting caught in a dating scandal was likely to end his career before it even began.

doyoung tugged his own white baseball cap over his healthy black hair. there'd been talk about bleaching it or dying it orange once he debuted, but doyoung wasn't one hundred percent set on that yet.

mirim's grip tightened around his hand when she saw something that caught her eye. the bunny boy was practically dragged as she hurried towards the build your own section.

"yah, doie, look at all the cute plushies!"

doyoung couldn't help but chuckle as mirim's voice raised three octaves. she gently ran her finger over the multiple plushie 'skins'.

"yeah, cute," he mumbled, but his eyes weren't on the stuffed animals. mirim looked back at him with sparkling eyes and stepped back to be by his side.

"you choose."

the boy scoffed, a grin tugging at his lips, "no way. we're here for you."

"and i want you to choose."

"mi-"

"we'll be here for hours otherwise, so..." she trailed off and glanced up at him without moving her head.

doyoung rolled his eyes and sighed, but the grin didn't leave his lips. rather than argue with the stubborn girl, doyoung scrunched his nose at her and turned towards the wall of plushie skins. her giggle echoed behind him as he focused on the decision.

his eyes scanned the multiple options; honestly surprised with the number of options there were to choose from. narrowing his eyes, the boy held his breath as he started down the third row.