(OLD VER.) Avenue 17 | SVT ENSEM.

[ 十七 ] SEVENTEEN

[ "and what if i did too?" ]

jihoon wiped his tears and took the two unfinished bottles of the milk. carrying them in the plastic bags soonyoung had left behind, he left the rooftop for chan's apartment. everyone was clearly at some stage of drunkenness. "where'd ya go?" seungkwan slurred at him as he entered, swinging an arm around his shoulders. jihoon removed his arm and headed to the kitchen, "nowhere." he grabbed the singular bag containing soonyoung's peach tea. he debated on getting beers but his hands were too full. anyway, he needed to have a good, sober conversation with soonyoung. skipping the beers and weaving through the bodies in chan's living room, jihoon slipped his way out of the party without saying goodbye.

【 ☆ 】

back to when soonyoung and jihoon slipped out, wonwoo tapped on joshua's shoulder boldly. the older greeted him with warmth in his eyes. wonwoo asked if he brought the drink he asked especially for mingyu and there was a sparkle in joshua's eyes as he replied that it was in the fridge. wonwoo smiled gratefully and went to grab it. he pulled mingyu to a side of chan's sofa that faced out to the balcony. "gyu... i got you this." wonwoo presented the drink as if he were a child presenting the artwork he did in class to his parents. mingyu's eyes widened. "is this the..." "almond sugar cookie black tea? yeah...i asked shua hyung to make one for you." wonwoo said, light blush dusting his cheeks. mingyu smiled with pure adoration for the cute boy and brought him into a hug, "thanks, wonu. you know i love this drink a lot."

mingyu gently shook it to mix the melted ice and the sweet drink. he punched the straw through the lid and held it out to wonwoo, "want some?" wonwoo did want some (because it was that good) but it was meant for mingyu, so he shook his head no with a smile. that didn't stop mingyu from lightly touching the straw to wonwoo's bottom lip, though. "i know you like it too." wonwoo almost thought he meant it in more ways than one. in the end, he did drink it. mingyu was right, wonwoo did love the drink as much as he did. wonwoo also loved mingyu as much as he loved that drink; he was sure.

【 ☆ 】

minghao had stuck with junhui for quite a while throughout the party and he saw junhui really get in his zone. how much more perfect could the atmosphere be? everyone was there to get drunk or talk around with people and it was just such a free and easy environment. minghao smiled as junhui bent forwards to let out a series of loud laughs and sipped from his cup. he had asked chan for anything since he was too busy keeping watch on junhui to see his reaction among his close friends and didn't exactly know what devils deed chan decided to carry out with this opportunity presented to him.

luckily it was plain beer. minghao wouldn't have chosen a beer personally, but whatever got him there. whatever got him distracted. the whole night, all he could think about was junhui leaving. he didn't know why but he was just... afraid of what could happen. junhui was really a pure soul who only wanted to give happiness to others. sure, he might not really think straight half the time but he's got his mind set on something and he sure as hell wouldn't stop for anything in his way of achieving it. maybe that's what minghao liked the most about junhui. he took a sip from his cup again.

well, he should start planning the weeks with junhui now.

"are you thinking about something?" suddenly, junhui was right next to minghao, leaning on the wall. "just... about what we should do while you're here." minghao answered a half-truth. junhui hummed as he was asked if he had anything in particular he wanted to do. "oh~ street food. we gotta." he said and minghao agreed, "always gotta try the street food." he said with a smile.

【 ☆ 】

jihoon finally made it to his apartment and it was silent. the living room was dark. he only saw a small light coming from a semi-open door. it was soonyoung's room. jihoon brought all three drinks with him as he attempted to knock on the door and slightly pushed it open to peek in. "soonyoung?" the boy was sitting against his pillows and looking at his phone. his room was dark, save for the light of the candle warmer in the corner. upon hearing his name, soonyoung looked up at jihoon. "ji, i'm really tired. i don't know if i have the energy to go through tonight again."

"i just want to talk, soon. i...have things to say." soonyoung sighed and shut off his phone, indirectly giving jihoon the green light to enter. as he sat on the edge of soonyoung's bed, jihoon poked through the lid of the peach tea cup and handed it to soonyoung. "i know you asked for it. no one took it so. here." soonyoung took it and sipped.

jihoon decided to start. "i'm sorry for how i acted tonight. when you first said 'romantic' my mind went blank. i really was just trying to process what you said." soonyoung placed the drink on his bedside table, "i understand. i should've maybe explained more but... i was nervous, jihoon-ah." jihoon understood. "i guess i was being overly nervous about the whole situation. i didn't mean to make things end so sourly. i just wanted a nice night with you on the rooftop of our building... so many things didn't fall in the right places and it just flung me all around in all directions and i-i didn't know what to do." soonyoung explained. jihoon felt bad.

part of him kicked himself for being nosy and following soonyoung up to the rooftop. but then again, he was nosy for all the good reasons. he was afraid that soonyoung was keeping something secret from him.

a part of soonyoung was running wild and screaming at him. what about the confession? what was jihoon thinking? how did he feel? soonyoung really tried to shut it off but it was too loud, a constant alarm blaring in his head. it kinda hurt too. and in the small silence between them, the sirens wailed louder.

jihoon had to take a sip of something. the tension was too high and his mouth was going dry. reaching for the closest thing to him on the bedside, his hand grabbed the bottle of strawberry milk. at that point, no one exactly cared who's drink it was. all the two cared about was each other and the thoughts in the other's head.

"and uh... about what you said."

soonyoung was ready to face rejection. it was rushed, unplanned and so not the way he had wanted it to go. if he rated the night from 1 to 10, it'd be a solid -100. because it wasn't perfection, soonyoung understood if jihoon wouldn't like him back or be "wooed" by him. he almost wanted to laugh at his dad attempt at "wooing" jihoon. ah, everything had just gone to shit.

jihoon played with the glass bottle, tapping his short fingernails on it. a part of him wanted to plan this out in his head before saying anything but... then he thought about their situation. they were in their youth. and that meant doing things unplanned, living in the moment, taking risks every chance you got. be wreckless and wild and just go for it.

just go for it...

"i like you too, soonie."

a/n: I ONLY HAVE 1 AND A HALF PRE WRITTEN CHAPTERS LEFT DJSJKSDHJ pls read my latest announcement on my board as well! also re-reading this, i realised i did most pairings in this chapter and wow me likey that a lot aha

very off topic but i've been listening to my old kpop bops playlist & girls gen came on n wow mr mr rly be my fav GG song. do y'all have an old fav/fav SNSD song?

(also if y'all have summer song recommendations that would be very lit for my playlist hehe)

호랑해!🐯
- eli